Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The darkness was eternal, all-powerful, unchangeable.

She begged the stars to keep the light

But they were fire, the heralds of Fate

And she was but dust

And the galaxy spun

And the darkness came.

Darth Fallax looked through the viewsceen of the Lambada out into the purple tones of Kesh. It had been a long time. Too long.

"There," she pointed out the viewscreen down at a large cluster of buildings surrounded by picture-perfect purple mountains.

"Yes ma'am," the pilot acknowledged as he took the reinforced Lambada in for a landing just outside the city. The people of Tahv had no idea what to expect. In all likelihood, they were expecting an old witch that looked like death warmed over. If that was the case, they were in for a surprise. A very...Sith surprise. Fallax was nothing like that. She was a striking young woman in her twenties, her near-perfect complexion thrown out of balance by a single scar: the only visual cue that she had encountered something that could come close to rivaling her power. As Fallax stepped down the boarding ramp with her four stormtrooper escorts, gasps and murmurs came from the gathering crowd. The stormtroopers pushed the crowd back, their shiny white armor in stark contrast with the dark browns and blacks worn by the common people.

"People of Tahv," Fallax started, using the Force to project her voice. "We have waited far too long for a Sith Empire. When we first left Kesh we found that the galaxy had been infested with the Jedi. We failed to stop them and take what was rightfully ours. But Ship has led me to a new Sith order. One larger. Much larger. One that is led by a man of vision, one not seen since the days of Marka—"

Over her own speech and the murmuring of the crowd, the Sith picked out a voice a few meters from the front shout "She's the Khai girl!" A rock flew at her from the direction of the voice at a speed that only a Force-user could manage, but she was able to stop it and start crushing it with the Force, leaving powder streaming from the cracks. Other than a few gasps, it seemed to quiet the crowd...then an overly ripe guama fruit smacked across her face, spewing sticky dark purple seed studded ooze that dripped off her nose and chin. After that, all peace went out the airlock. Trash, rocks, shoes, and whatever could be thrown was thrown. The stormtroopers were mowed down almost instantly by the angry throng and trampled underfoot. Over the commotion, she heard rude insults about "Jedi scum" and "traitor". Enraged, she blasted the encroaching mob with Force lightning, sending the first rows of people stumbling backward and about half their projectiles flying back faster than they were thrown."What the kriff is the matter with you people?" she bellowed before she was forced up the boarding ramp, getting bombarded with trash all the way up. She slapped the button to raise the boarding ramp. "Go, go!" she shouted at the pilot over the thunk thunk of objects being thrown against the Lambada's hull. "Get us out of here, and give the order for the Dark T—"

Her order was cut off as she tripped over a boot that was thrown into the cargo bay. She would have recovered almost effortlessly, had it not been for something wet and slimy she slipped on getting up, and fell on her face into slime. Intermixed with the salty taste of blood from her now split lip was the taste of something oddly sweet, but bitter and fermented...rotting? Gross. She got up and wiped the remnants of the slime and guama fruit from her face with the sleeve of her robe, only to find that was wet with something white and chunky like smeared wet cheese curds.

The compensators finally kicked in, and Vestara could walk somewhat normally to the cabin. Where had she gone so wrong in life? These were her people! She was Keshiri! Well, maybe not the species Keshiri, but of the planet of Kesh. These people simply weren't Sith. She didn't know what they were. But it was obvious now they opposed the Sith and deserved everything coming to them. In true Sith fashion, Vestara would win the support of Kesh one way or another. Since they declined the easy way of simply giving the One Sith their allegiance, Vestara was forced to take it. Right now, assault boats were docking with Kesh's ChaseMaster frigates and overwhelming them with sheer numbers of Dark Troopers, courtesy of Admiral Natasi Daala.

"How many frigates have been captured?" she asked the pilot. "Twenty-six out of sixty-seven, ma'am." That was impressive. In just moments, they had captured nearly half the fleet. Granted, they were small frigates, nowhere near as impressive as the Star Destroyers, but they would do. More importantly, the Lost Tribe was once again stranded on Kesh, unable to give the One Sith any problems. They could stew in their own juices for a few more centuries. "Good. Inform Admiral Daala we have the fleet and to rendezvous with us at Ziost four standard days from now."

"As you wish, ma'am." Vestara just chuckled to herself and shook her head. If there was one thing she got satisfaction from doing, it was getting revenge. Especially when it was so overdue.

Chapter Text

"A communications disruption can mean only one thing—invasion."

―Sio Bibble

"That's so bad!" Jaina squealed between giggles.

"What's up Jaina?" Ben Skywalker asked as he walked through the doorway to the Fel quarters. Jaina wasn't a giggler. At all. What was even stranger was seeing Kyp Durron and Zekk in his married cousin's quarters.

"Oh, come here Ben," Jaina said, wiping a tear from her face and motioning him in. She still had a huge grin on her face. Why did he have such a bad feeling about this? "Where's his?" Jaina asked Kyp, who reached into a container, pulled out a small toy and handed it to Ben. It looked like a Jedi action figure. He studied it for a second and noticed that it looked a bit like his dad, only stubbier and with black hair. Though most of it was black, he looked at the face. It was slathered with skin-toned paint and had two large blue blobs for eyes. He turned it over and looked at the bottom of its circular base. Emblazoned cheaply on the bottom was BEN SKYWALKER.

"That's not even close!" Ben snorted and looked at the toy in disgust and ran a hand through his fiery red hair. Everybody laughed, including Ben. "That's just pathetic."

"At least they got the lightsaber kind of right." Zekk remarked. Ben looked ruefully on the plasteel figure and observed the crooked blue rod coming out of what was supposed to be his right hand. Ben just snorted and shook his head. "Uh, Jaina, Master Katarn is holding a Council meeting. He wants you."

"Why didn't he just comm me?" Jaina asked, perplexed.

"He said he tried several times but you never responded."

"That's strange." Jaina checked her comlink. "No, I didn't get anything. Maybe his comlink is on the fritz."

"Maybe. But he does want you."

"Okay, I'll be right there," Jaina dug in the container for a second and pulled out an Imperial looking figure holding a large blaster. Ben could only guess was her husband, Jagged Fel. A wide grin once again on her face, she set the figure prominently on a table before leaving with the rest of the Jedi.

***

Kyle Katarn set a stack of datapads on the conference table and sighed. As much as he hated formality he missed the Jedi Temple. This deteriorating office building used by a mining company long ago here on Shedu Maad was quickly becoming outgrown and was in constant need of repair.

Compounding that irritant, Grand Master Luke Skywalker had gone on an indefinite hiatus. He claimed he needed rest after recent events and wanted to lead a simpler life for a while. As much as he generally trusted Luke, Kyle didn't buy it. Skywalker always put the Order first. The only reason Kyle could think of for Luke leaving was that he wanted to teach the Order he so carefully founded to stand on its own two feet without him so that when the time came for the Order to face Abeloth or the Sith again, they would be stronger than they were before. And if Skywalker was telling the truth about needing a break from the madness, Kyle agreed wholeheartedly.

And before he left, Luke had made Kyle the Grand Master in his place, with the stipulation that as soon as Ben made the rank of Master, that he would automatically take up the title. Kyle had no problem with this. He didn't particularly care for being Grand Master.

The door to the conference room opened and the Masters started filing in. Kyle took a seat at the end of the table. Almost three years later and it still felt wrong.

"Okay, everyone here? Where's Jaina?" Kyle asked as the door hissed open, and Jaina sheepishly took a seat, trying but failing to stifle her grin. Kyle merely ignored it.

"Okay, I've got good news and bad news," Kyle said. "I'll start with the good. One of the Quest Knights thinks he may have a lead on the location of the Dagger of Mortis." He let the statement sink in on the Masters.

"Where?" Corran asked.

"Korriban," Kyle said. That got a reaction from the Masters.

"You're kidding. There's no way." Octa Ramis put her head in her hands.

"I wish I was, Master Ramis. I hate sand." Kyle said, trying to lighten the mood. It elicited a few chuckles but nothing more. "But I am serious. Jedi Soroc's theory is solid. Anakin Skywalker was the last one to see the Dagger that we know of. He was with Obi-Wan on the Mortis Monolith and from what Luke tells us, it sounds like he took it. It's gone and has been long before the Qrephs could lay their dirty little hands on it. When Anakin turned into Darth Vader, he likely took it with him. If that's the case it definitely ended up in the hands of the Emperor, and ended up on Korriban during one of his trips there."

"That's a bit of a stretch," Corran remarked.

"Maybe but its what we've got. It's a lead." Kyle said. "All we need now are some volunteers. Who's up for going to Korriban?" Nobody seemed interested.

"I thought you said we'd have some good news. I'm still waiting." Kyp piped in.

Saba started sissing, the Barabel equivalent of a laugh. "This one agreez Master Katarn."

"Okay, fine, let's think about that and get to the bad news. The bad news is that the Imperial Remnant has been acting strange lately. We haven't heard from Head of State Reige in a long time, and Star Destroyers have been sighted all over in non-Imperial territory behaving very strangely. GA intelligence fears the worst: that Vitor Reige was assassinated by the Moffs and quietly replaced...or worse, not replaced. Either way, it's bad news and we need to investigate it. We were influential in putting those Moffs in place, and I feel partially responsible for keeping an eye on those monkey lizards."

"Who did you have in mind?" Kyp asked.

"Jaina, do you think you and Jag can handle this? He's got experience with that bunch and you can back him up if things get wily." Kyle asked the Master.

"I think so," Jaina said.

"Good. Now, back to Korriban." Kyle said. "Any thoughts?"

"Honestly I think Jedi Korr would be the wisest choice," Cilghal said. "He's got some solid experience on Korriban."

"What about Ben?" Jaina asked. "He's been there more recently."

"How about Jaden and Ben," Kyle suggested. "I don't see any reason why they can't work together." The Masters seemed to agree. "Alright, that's settled. May the Force be with you, you are dismissed."

The Jedi started getting up and filing out. All, except for Jaina, who reached into her robe and withdrew a light brown painted action figure. As she got up she slid it across the conference table to Kyle.

Kyle picked the figure up and raised an eyebrow. Jaina giggled on her way out of the room. The action figure was horrible. The paint from his hair covered what should have been his eyes, and his pants were blue. Kyle distinctly remembered what pair of pants they were trying to replicate there, and they weren't blue. They were brown. His beard was greatly exaggerated, reaching down to his chest.

Kyle just shook his head. Kids these days... He thought to himself. He set the figure down upright on its base so he could pack away the datapads. The figure promptly fell over, revealing KYLE KATRAN scrawled on the warped bottom.

They can't even get my name right. Kyle took his datapads and left the figure there.

Chapter Text

"I didn't want to rule. I had no intention of becoming a political leader—but you have given me no choice. I cannot leave the Empire in the hands of fools like you."

―Natasi Daala

Head of State Natasi Daala paced the bridge of her Star Destroyer, the Gorgon. "Darth Fallax" was precisely four hours and sixteen minutes overdue. It was beyond Daala why a whelp like her should ever be allowed to command her like this. But alas, here she was. She served the One Sith and ultimately had to do whatever Krayt wanted. His minion Wyyrlok expressly said to report to Khai. "Therefore" that's what she was doing, or at least hoping to do whenever Fallax decided to meander over.

Daala was getting ready to give up and retire to her quarters when a mess of Star Destroyers and ChaseMasters dropped out of hyperspace on the viewscreen.

"Finally." She muttered to herself. "Open an audio channel to the Bloodfin."

"Aye." The Gorgon's chief ensign opened the channel as requested. 

"Ah, Darth Fallax. How pleasant for you to drop in." Daala greeted coolly.

"Drop the pleasantries Daala." Vestara snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I would have showed up earlier if it wasn't for your decades old rust buckets. Nearly two-thirds of them were destroyed fighting Tyros."

"That's okay, Lady Fallax. The nice thing about droids is you can always make more."

"If I didn't absolutely need you I'd have killed you a long time ago just like I did that vachead Reige. When I say I want droids I mean I want ones that won't fall apart when I need them! Because of you I nearly lost to a shameful force like the Lost Tribe!"

Daala inwardly shuddered. Vestara was young and stupid but she was still frightfully powerful. During the One Sith's takeover of the Galactic Empire, she had gotten into a room adjacent to then Head of State Vitor Reige's quarters. She strangled him in his sleep through a wall and laughed about it for weeks afterward. The coroner was completely bewildered. There was no foreign DNA anywhere. His windpipe was simply crushed with thin air. The day after she killed Reige, she announced her takeover to the Moffs and won over most of them with money from the One Sith's near-limitless supply. There were still a few holdouts, so, even more frightfully, she decided to make an example of one: Moff Drikl Lecersen. She claimed to be able to see the weaknesses in his skull and forced it apart. His head exploded. It was overwhelmingly sickening. The rest of the resistant Moffs were quick to side with her after that. Daala and many others had a righteous fear of this psychotic girl Darth Krayt found.

"I'm sorry Lady Fallax." Daala managed through her dry mouth. She had no idea what the limits of Vestara's power were. For all she knew the Sith could vaporize her where she stood here and now.

"Next time you'll be dead so fast being 'sorry' won't even cross your decrepit mind." Vestara spat with disgust. "You can take these junk heaps back to the Maw where they came from. May as well leave them there. I'm going to find something a bit more promising." And with that Lady Fallax cut the transmission. 

Daala swallowed hard. She rubbed her hands together out of anxiety to find her palms had been sweating. 

"Uh, ma'am, there are thirteen haulers on a collision course." The nav officer said and looked at the Head of State expectantly. 

"Evasive maneuvers," Daala said, taking control of the situation as best she could. "Ensign, bring the tractor beams online and lock them onto the haulers. Divert them away."

"Aye." He started working on it. "Uh ma'am," The ensign said. "I can't divert all--" He was cut off by loud banging on the hull that reverberated in the deck. Daala winced. Klaxons started blaring.

Daala looked out the viewport on her beloved Star Destroyer. Three haulers had ricocheted off the hull and were spinning off into space wildly. Plumes of fire erupted from the spots on the hull where they hit. One of the haulers was spewing Dark Troopers from a break in its own hull. She sighed audibly. These Sith knew very well how to make a statement. She was sure this incident alone added at least a few more gray hairs to her head.

Chapter Text

"Do not underestimate the Sith. Though quaint, they will do whatever it takes to survive."

―Lord Vitiate

"Preparing for final approach," Ben said to Jaden sitting next to him in the copilot's seat. "I've got a really bad feeling about this." Truth be told, that was a vast understatement. It seemed like every cell in his body was revolting this trip.

"Do you think I feel any better?" Jaden asked. "Last time I was here I fought Marka Ragnos. That doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling coming back here."

Yes, I actually do think you feel better. Ben thought to himself. "Not really." he lied. 

"We'll be fine, Ben." Jaden said, not quite believing it himself. "Korriban is mostly deserted except for a few locals that run a spaceport."

"And demons. And monsters. And traps. And--"

Jaden put his hand up. "Okay, okay. Neither one of us likes this place, but we have to go here. It'll be worth the brief discomfort to get that Dagger back to Shedu Maad."

Ben sighed. "I know. And we're entering atmosphere." A few moments later he set the Lambada down in one of the few clearings in the Valley of the Dark Lords.

Jaden lowered the ramp. Hot air washed over both the Jedi. It was almost stifling. But they stepped out onto the blazing sand regardless. Jaden stretched, and Ben tried to get his bearings. Looked like they were just outside the tomb of Marka Ragnos. 

"Okay, let's see," Jaden said. He pointed to Ragnos' tomb. "I know what that is, and I'm pretty sure the Dagger's not there." He continued looking at the tomb for a moment, gazing toward the entrance at the top. 

"You okay Jaden?" Ben asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine...I think." Jaden said. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the tomb again. "Something's off about that tomb..." He stroked his chin for a few seconds, determined to figure this out.

"Looks like a normal Sith tomb to me." Ben said, and turned to keep walking.

"No, wait." Jaden said. "The entrance, it's clear."

"Any reason why it shouldn't be?" Ben asked.

"Yes, actually." Jaden remarked. "I blocked it off."

Ben looked up at the tomb entrance. It looked pristine. "Really?"

"Yeah," Jaden said, now starting to get concerned. "Back when I killed Tavion, I threw my lightsaber up at the head there, cut off several large chunks, and dropped them in front of the entrance."

"But the head is intact." Ben observed.

"Sure looks that way." Jaden said.

"Let's just find that Dagger and get out of here." Ben said. He didn't want to spend any more time on this planet than was absolutely necessary.

"Agreed." Jaden said, still perplexed. The Jedi Knights started walking at a brisk pace. "You said we were looking for the tomb of Darth Vader? I had no idea that even existed."

"Yeah," Ben said. "I had the misfortune of reading that as a part of a study I did on Vader while Jacen was on his rampage."

"How much farther?"

"If my bearings are right, it should just be a few klicks out, beyond that stone wall over there."

That stone wall was the one of the walls of the Citadel. They needed to get past that to get to the tomb of Darth Vader. Ben had been at the Citadel before with his father Luke, Jaina, and...Vestara. Years later that girl managed to upset him. Ben started getting angry all over again, and found it almost effortless. He remembered where he was: Korriban. That would do it. Letting his anger get the better of him here could be fatal. 

The Jedi came up to a crater. To their left was an altar of some sort. It was a large, elevated stone obelisk with a flat platform on top. Ancient pillars lined the perimeter, broken and decaying like rotting teeth. On the right was a sheer stone wall of a tomb. At the bottom of the pit, some twenty meters down, were broken pillars and all manner of rock shards and debris. Landing in the pit was out of the question. Even if they did survive the fall they may not get back out, Force or no Force. It did however look like they might be able to jump the chasm. 

"Uh that looks too far to jump, Jaden." Ben said skeptically. 

"Maybe, but it's either jump the chasm or run back to the Academy with our tails between our legs." Jaden said. "I'm going for it." He backed up for a running start, and started running towards the pit. He augmented his speed with the force and became a blur. Right at the edge he sprang and rocketed to the other side. He landed almost effortlessly on the other side.

Ben took a deep breath and fell into the Force. He just had to do it. He got a running start and Force-jumped. He landed on the rounded edge on the other side, but the soft sand gave way. He started slipping. He grabbed at the sand and tried to get a foothold on the smooth side of the pit. It slowed him, but not much. Not nearly enough. 

"Ben, hold on!" Jaden's voice could be heard above. He grabbed Ben's slipping hands and pulled him up.

"Thanks." Ben said, dusting his black robes off. "You made it look so easy."

Jaden chuckled. "It comes with experience, Ben. Let's keep going." He looked on. Ahead was another chasm, much larger. 

"Let me guess, we gotta jump that one too." Ben said sarcastically.

"No...something's definitely wrong here." Jaden said.

"So what's new?" 

"That obelisk there," Jaden pointed to a large black pyramidal obelisk with gold lettering on the other side of the chasm. "It didn't used to be upright. I pushed it over the last time I was here and made a bridge to cross. I remember it clearly, it fit perfectly."

"So you think someone just picked it up? It's gotta weigh over a hundred tonnes." Ben remarked. "I don't even see a crack at the base."

"That's what scares me." Jaden said. 

"So what do you want to do?" Ben asked. "The best I can come up with is we use the shuttle to drop you off on the other side so you can push it over again, I land the shuttle back over there," Ben said, pointing his thumb back over his shoulder in the direction where the shuttle was. "And I'm able to walk across and join you."

Jaden sighed and turned away. "Hmm. I don't think that will work."

"Uh, how?" Ben asked. "It's not like we need to land the shuttle over there or anything."

Jaden turned back to Ben and snorted in amusement. "You'll be too dead, that's why."

Ben couldn't believe his ears. Jaden ignited his yellow saber, and suddenly Ben felt he couldn't trust his eyes either. He was frozen. Jaden lunged at him and took a swing with his saber, and Ben trusted the one thing he could believe: the Force. His danger sense sent an icy prickle through his muscles, and he sidestepped the attack. Falling back into the Force, he ignited his saber and confronted Jaden.

Jaden came at him furiously fighting in a manner Ben had never seen before. He remembered a technique Jacen taught him for defense that made it almost impossible to land a blow. He used it now, hoping it would save his life.

***

A dark hooded figure spawned from a nearby shadow. He looked to his right, and set his white eyes on the two Jedi fighting. It was delicious to watch. But he had work to do.

Keeping his Force presence carefully concealed, he cautiously approached the Jedi's Lambada shuttle. He touched the control pad, almost fondled it. He, carefully as to not leave any evidence of tampering, pried the face to the control pad off, exposing the shielded wires. He withdrew a small gun-like object from his robes and shot it into the cavity. A glowing blue dart stuck in the small box, and then it came alive, spidering out wildly. As the spider's legs touched the wires, the leg slithered in under the shielding and disappeared. Hundreds of legs vanished in mere seconds. Soon, the spider was gone. White Eyes chuckled to himself and carefully put the face back on the control pad. As he slinked back into the shadows he stopped for a second to watch the Jedi fight. He wished he had a holocam, to capture the moment. Have a holo made, and hang it up in the Sith Academy with the caption Peace is a lie. 

He withdrew his comlink. "Lord Wyyrlok?"

"Yes Lord Jen?" The comlink answered.

"The shuttle is infected."

"You have done well. The Master will be pleased. The Jedi will soon be finished with their squabble. Therefore, return at once."

"Yes, my lord." White Eyes stowed his comlink and dissolved into the shadows.

***

Ben thought he might have started to understand Jaden's goal: use his agressive fighting to drive Ben backwards, and eventually off into one of the chasms. He had turned around three times already. Jaden still fought as hard as ever, as if he was a machine. Ben himself was starting to wear out, and he was using close, conservative strokes to preserve his own strength. Something was wrong with Jaden, obviously. 

Jaden almost had Ben back to the first chasm again. There was one thing Ben hadn't tried yet, though...

As Jaden tried to push Ben into the chasm, Ben feigned imbalance as he was being pushed off. At the last possible a second, he grabbed Jaden's robe and swung him into the pit himself. Ben used the Force to anchor his feet to the ground so he didn't follow himself. Jaden screamed, and Ben winced. Was this the right thing to do?

Jaden hit a rock and his limp form tumbled out of sight. Ben was shocked. Had he just killed a Jedi Knight in cold blood? In the heat of the moment he wasn't as aware as he should have been of Jaden's Force presence. He reached out, and didn't feel it. All he felt was the cold, oily evil of Korriban. 

Ben felt terrible. There was nothing he could do. He needed to get back to the shuttle, but he couldn't jump the chasm. Or could he? Jaden used Force Speed in tandem with his jump. Ben could do that, he thought. He would need to time it perfectly, though. He really had no other option, and he would need to get back there eventually even if he could go on. 

Ben decided to jump. It was either that or bake in the sun and wait for some monster to find him. He got a running start, just like Jaden did. He kept his eye on the other side, got a running start, and charged. He used the Force to augment his speed. He reached the edge and launched himself into the air. He sailed over the pit easily, and landed on the other side. He tumbled when he hit and landed on his back. He hurt but he was alive.

Ben got up, and brushed sand off his robes. Sand got everywhere. He spit some out of his mouth and brushed it out of his hair. He started walking at a brisk pace to the shuttle.

He reached the shuttle in just a couple minutes. He scanned his thumb on the control pad. It beeped, and the boarding ramp lowered. Finally. He scrambled aboard and sealed up the ship. The first thing he needed to do was inform the Academy what happened. He sat down at the copilot's seat, and started keying in the frequency to the Academy on Shedu Maad. He couldn't establish a connection. Of course this was Korriban, but he should still be able to get something. Puzzled, he keyed in the frequency of the Academy on Ossus. The same happened. It wouldn't connect. Ben couldn't figure it out for the life of him. 

Ben decided to lift off, get well away from Korriban and try again. He plopped down in the pilot's seat, and got cracking on the startup sequence. In no time Ben had the shuttle on a steep ascent, guiding the vessel out of Korriban's wretched atmosphere. 

Now that he was well away from the planet, he tried the two frequencies again to no avail. 

Ben leaned back in the pilot's seat and sighed. "Well...kriff." It would have brought a tear to his Uncle Han's eye for him to hear how naturally his nephew picked up the native tongue of the scoundrel.

After a few minutes of pondering his situation, Ben set a course for Shedu Maad. That was all he could do. The navcomp handled the intricacies of the jump, and the hyperdrive spooled up. The the stars wiped into streaks and the shuttle entered hyperspace. Ben couldn't help thinking he handled the situation wrong. He killed a Jedi Knight. Was there a better option? Maybe. If there was he sure didn't see it.

Chapter Text

5 years ago, Upekzar

The words Vestara had said ago still echoed in Natua's mind. The dark side washed over her like a shroud. Her leg was bleeding horribly now, from the rhak-skuri that had taken a chunk out of her thigh just minutes before. She knew she would be dead in just a few more minutes. The...things...spawned from the dark side of the Force, seemed to dance and gloat around her. Horrors, creatures...some looked almost like an upright walking bantha, with sharp pointed horns and rows of sharp looking teeth. Others looked simply devilish, skeletal, lizardlike, and seemed to be the epitome of death. And all the dozens of creatures reeked with the dark side. It was more potent than any presences she had felt before.

...It's not real...it can't be real...my mask...Vestara...why...

The answer to Natua's question came. She couldn't tell if it was in her mind from the pheromones, direct from the Force, or an actual sound, or even from the creatures, but the answer came nonetheless.

...Ssssssiiithhh...

The loss of blood made her consciousness start to fade. Things started to take on the quality of a dream. She fought for every breath now, rasping. She was so weak she felt paralyzed. She drew on the Force to stay alive. And, unexpectedly, the power was there. Like a reservoir, ready to be taken, used. And it was powerful. But there was a slight tinge to it, a dark tinge. A tinge that she could relate to.

...I hate that girl... Natua thought with newfound strength and clarity. I should have killed her instead while I had the chance. Then it occurred to her: she may still have a chance! A deep BOOM reverberated in the tunnel. There was hope. They were still there. Vestara could still die.

The creatures were gone. Whether due to her Falleen resistance to pheromones, if it was like a smell, that once you smell it long enough you no longer notice, or if it was some other reason Natua didn't know or care. She was concerned with one thing: the death of Vestara Khai. She would make it so excruciating, so brutal...it would be a death worthy of a—

...Ssssssiiithhh...

Yes. A death worthy of a Sith. In what little light there was, Natua looked at her leg. There was defiantly a huge piece missing, about the size of two or three fists. It didn't hurt much anymore.

She turned over to start to crawl, and felt something she hadn't noticed before. Something...longing. Powerful. Very powerful. She looked up. At first she didn't see anything, then she saw it. In the dark it looked like two small stars in the cave. Abeloth.

Chapter Text

"You must begin by gaining power over yourself; then another; then a group, an order, a world, a species, a group of species...finally, the galaxy itself."

―Darth Plagueis

Vestara was still laughing to herself about Jaden Korr.  In some ways it resembled a practical joke: it was immediately apparent to herself, being a member of the One Sith, exactly how the Jedi Academy on Shedu Maad was found and soon to be destroyed, but the Jedi themselves were still completely and utterly clueless. 

The truth was the One Sith had been spying and gathering information through none other than Jaden Korr himself for almost eight years now. It was so beautiful and classically Sith Vestara fought back tears. His apprentice, Marr, made the horrible mistake of not letting his master die. In his attempt to keep him alive in that selfish way the Jedi were so infamous for, he used a Rakatan Mindspear to transfer the consciousness from his dying master to a clone of Korr. A clone, who's body was hardwired to comm home and give the One Sith telemetry. Vestara honestly didn't think Lord Krayt could manage something that genius again if he tried.

But she couldn't die from laughter just yet. Right now she was in a junky SoroSuub yacht pretending to be a semi-normal person. She needed to keep herself together at least for now.

The One Sith supplied her with complete working IDs in her alias, Savarah Raine. Again she was amused at the thought of how easy it was for the One Sith to simply create an identity for any given person and make it perfectly valid and verifiable, anywhere. It was like re-writing history. 

The One Sith's fabrication for "Raine" was that she was an accomplished bounty hunter that had a darker side and sometimes dabbled in piracy. She was a Jedi defector and carried a lightsaber. Her "history" was complete with arrest records on Coruscant, wanted status on thirteen planets, and even an employment history with the Hutts. It was good to be Sith.

The trashy yacht finally dropped out of hyperspace, and the Errant Venture in all it's redness filled the viewscreen. It was appaling.

Of all the ways to ruin a perfectly good Star Destroyer. Vestara thought to herself. Gut it, turn it into a giant floating hotel, mall and casino, and paint it red. Brilliant. She did't have any bones about what was going to happen to it or it's stuck up passengers.

The yacht's handling was lackluster to say the least, but she managed to land it in the Venture's hangar without too much trouble. She stepped out onto the deck and started making her way to the Diamond Level. Other than a blaster strapped to her hip and a small scout bag over her shoulder, Vestara looked almost completely normal, and even subdued...exactly what she wanted.

The first step of her mission was find Booster Terrik, the captain and owner of the Errant Venture and get a minute with him alone. She needed to "persuade" him to order a hundred thousand YVH droids from his friend, Lando Calrissian. From there she would proceed to kill him with the blaster, and make it look like a scrappy pirate job. After that, she would activate a beacon that would let the Sith fleet know Booster was dead and start working over the Venture. Vesetara would access the main computer while the attack was underway. She'd wipe the surveillance holos and install software that would let the Sith control the ship remotely. Then she'd take her yacht, land it on the Bloodfin, and take the fleet out a ways. They'd monitor the Venture's sensor readings and wait for the shipment to come in. It was really quite simple.

Vestara strolled into the Maw Casino on the Diamond Level. In order to get to Booster she would have to cause some trouble. She spotted a Rodian betting on a Jubilee Wheel. Perfect. 

Using the Force she expanded her awareness. The Rodian had just lost, of course. The odds weren't exactly in his favor. He was about to walk away from it, but Vestara persuaded him with the Force subconsciously to keep playing. The Rodian turned around, paid the croupier again and picked another number: 63. According to the mainstream rules of the Jubilee Wheel, if you didn't pick a number within five from the number the wheel landed on, you lost everything you bet. Vestara was going to make sure it didn't even come close.

The croupier spun the Wheel again, and Vestara focused on it. She picked a number: 1. With a subtle wave of her hand she slowed the wheel ever so carefully, as to not be noticed. It eventually spun down and landed on 1. 

Now Vestara started influencing the Rodian again, persuading him to be angry at the croupier for cheating him. And that he did. His shouting mostly silenced everyone else in the casino. 

Vestara heroically walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, helping to disguise a subtle wave of her hand. "Can I help you, friend?" She tried her best to look as sympathetic and pious as possible.

The Rodian was stunned. He kept looking between the croupier and Vestara. He finally pointed a long, green finger at the croupier. "He cheat me!" The Rodian bellowed. "Two times!"

"Did you?" Vestara asked the croupier. 

He shook his head. "No, miss. We run an honest joint here."

Vestara couldn't suppress a smirk. "In that case, you wouldn't mind if I tried a few?"

"Not at all." The croupier said.

Vestara paid the man for five 1,000 credit bets. The crowd, which was comprised of mostly well-to-do creatures, was almost spellbound. Nobody waltzed in and laid down credits like that. Especially a mere girl that just cracked her twenties. This was going to be good, if for nothing more than a laugh.

Vestara picked the number 72 for all five bets. She subtly manipulated the Wheel with the Force, and all the numbers the Wheel landed on were multiples of five and were way off. She did her best to look upset. 

"Must not be my day," Vestara remarked. She drew her blaster and leveled the sights with the croupier's head. "Doesn't look like it's yours, either."

"Woah, hey," The croupier took a step back and showed his empty hands. "Ma'am, I didn't do anything!"

"You took both my money and his," Vestara motioned to the Rodian. "I laid down five thousand credits on your crooked wheel. I want it back. Now." She flipped the safety off with a click that seemed to echo in the silent casino.

The squeamish croupier paled and started backing away. Vestara knew exactly what he was doing. He reached under the table. She waited until she heard a click of a silent alarm being activated before she shot him in the arm, and then in a leg. He collapsed and scrabbled back. The smell of seared flesh and ozone wafted through the casino.

"Reaching for a blaster," Vestara shook her head. "Did you think I wouldn't know?"

In seconds she heard boots encircling them. "Security!" A voice bellowed. "Put your weapon down! Do it now!"

With a smirk Vestara let the blaster clatter to the deck. Instantly her arms were ripped backwards and cuffed. A blaster jabbed her in the back, hard, her cue to start moving. She complied. Everything was going as expected. She felt an arrogant presence coming. Booster. He stormed onto the deck of the casino.

"What the kriff is going on in here?" He demanded.

"This young lady nearly shot a croupier to death." One of the security guards explained.

"Ah, is that so?" Booster glared at Vestara with his good eye.

"No." Vestara said.

"Oh really?" Booster asked sarcastically as he looked over to the smoking croupier with MD droids tending to him. "Mind telling me what happened then?"

"You run a crooked joint, that's what happened." Vestara snapped. "It was obvious he was cheating both me and my Rodian friend there. He refused to give me my money back."

"So you shot him?" Booster asked, incredulous. 

"He was pulling a blaster from underneath the table."

Booster laughed out loud. "Look missy, except for security we don't arm our staff here. We run a straight game and we also expect the common courtesy of our patrons not being sore losers and shooting my staff members. Come over here." Booster walked toward the table where the croupier was being loaded up onto a hovergurney. He turned over the table far enough to see the silent alarm button on the bottom of the table. "Silent alarm. That's it. No blaster."

"He still cheated me and I still want my money back." Vestara said, feigning impatience.

"She's right," A patron, a wealthy looking Bothan said. "He did cheat them both. We all saw it."

Booster sighed. Even from where she was standing, some two or three meters away, Vestara could smell his t'bac breath. "Take her to the brig," He finally said, angered. "When that croupier can talk I want to hear from both of you. And that Rodian too."

The guards escorted Vestara down to the Mines, the bottom level of the Star Destroyer. The place was filthy and dark, but despite that was probably the busiest part of the whole ship. They walked her through the cheapest blocks of quarters, used mostly for the crew. They corralled her through dank hangars used for transporting large vessels. Considering that it used to be used for storing captured enemy vessels it came to no surprise that after passing through some of the ship's bowels they came to the brig. 

It was fairly standard as far as brigs went. Even considering brigs generally didn't have the greatest ambiance, this one was so dark Vestara couldn't even see a meter in front of her face. Booster's goons seemed to know the way well enough, though. 

On several occasions Vestara had the misfortune of smelling a rotting corpse. It was one of those smells that just didn't leave your brain easily, and you would do almost anything to avoid smelling it ever again. The brig had just that smell. Something or someone had died in there and nobody bothered to clean it up. She silently prayed to the gods of Kesh that she wouldn't be sharing a cell with a rotting corpse for the few days of her imprisonment.

To her relief as the guards walked her into her cell and stripped her of her weapons, she didn't see a corpse. Unfortunately the smell seemed to be slightly stronger. 

A guard snorted as he took her lightsaber, as if he had somehow magically disarmed her. Little did he know Vestara could kill him in many inventive and fascinating ways, none of which involved a weapon. Come to think of it, only a few required that she even lift a finger. 

The guards left her in the cold darkness of her cell and let the door slide shut. A door that Vestara could very easily unlock and slide back up at her leisure if she chose. The smell wasn't really an issue either. As a mere Tyro, she was required to be able to hold her breath for over an hour with the Force. Naturally, she had gotten much better at this over the years, and was probably capable of holding her breath for nearly half a day, provided she didn't exert herself too much. As she lay down on the cold durasteel floor, she started to get cold herself. Almost without even thinking about it she raised her body temperature until she was perfectly comfortable. A smile crept across her face. Oh, to be Sith.

Chapter Text

"Even when you think you have lost everything, there is always more to lose."

―Luke Skywalker

Jaina woke with a start, instantly waking up Jag next to her. 

"Jaina!" A voice called. Her eyes were bleary and her mind was too foggy to comprehend who it was, but reaching out with the Force, she identified him as Kyle Katarn standing in their doorway.

"What the kriff Kyle? This better be--"

"We're going to be under attack! Wake up!"

"By who?"

"I have no idea yet, but we need to wake the other Jedi before we're all dead!"

Jag wiped his eyes. "Woah woah woah Kyle. Why couldn't you just comm us?"

"I tried, it wasn't getting through. You need to hurry!"

"Okay Kyle," Jaina said as she got out of bed and headed for the hallway, going as fast as she dared being only half awake. Jag already had his blaster out from underneath his pillow and was reaching under the bed for something.

Above, Kyle could hear the whines of fighter engines, and heard the screaming of TIE weapons. In a flash the ceilings in both the hallway behind Kyle and part of the Fel quarters exploded, raining down stone debris. Kyle brushed the rock dust out of his hair and looked through the massive hole in the roof. The night was crystal clear, stars studded the inky black sky. They were blotted out in parts, in shapes of triangles. Strobes flashed, indicating their perimiter. Star Destroyers. 

Feeling that Jag was still okay, Kyle bolted for the hangar bay. He saw that other Jedi had the same idea. Many were carrying younglings. The whole thing was almost surreal.

Another explosion rocked the Academy, except this was was smaller and sharper...inside. This was not good. This was not kriffing good. 

Jedi Knight Tash Arranda seemed to be the last in line, rushing as fast as she dared with a dirty-faced, crying toddler in her arms. "Move it!" Kyle shouted. "Go!" He felt a raiding party getting close, he didn't want younglings in the crossfire.

Sure enough, Kyle heard boots running down a corridor after Tash. Lots of boots. He stood in half-destroyed corridor and waited a few seconds for them to close on him. Red sabers pierced the darkness of the night, bobbing as their carriers ran towards Kyle.

Kyle hurled a blast of Force lightning at the Sith. Two failed to ground themselves with their sabers in time and crumpled to the ground instantly. Kyle picked another up by his windpipe and slammed him into a wall, hard. He left a crack in the stone wall and fell like a wet rag. There were only about five more. Kyle pried a Sith's saber from his hand with the Force. The blade sprang wildly over the heads of the ducking band of Sith and the hilt landed squarely in Kyle's hand. Paired with his own saber he started his assault on the invading Sith. The first one, now defenseless Kyle scissored in half. Using the Force he hurled a fallen piece of stone from the ceiling into the head of another, hurling him backwards head over heels, dead instantly. One attacked Kyle, who blocked the sweeping blade with his own, and decapitated him with a stroke from his other blade. Kyle brought the fight to one of the last two, bashing the Sith's weapon out of his hand with one saber and cutting a deep furrow through his chest with the other. The last one, instead of retreating, charged Kyle. The Jedi Battlemaster kicked the Sith square in the chest, sending him careening backwards faster than he ran forwards. Kyle grabbed the stone ceiling in the Force and brought it crumbling down on the grounded Sith, entombing him with rock and completely blocking the corridor to the breached entrance. 

Kyle sprinted after the rest of the Jedi in the hangar bay, using the Force to augment his speed. He charged down the remainder of the corridor and slid under the closing door into the hangar. 

It was chaos. Sith had gotten in the hangar bay and were trying to kill the Jedi while they were vulnerable. Jaina and Jag were loading up younglings into the Jade Shadow, both occasionally slaying an interfering Sith. Jag's beskar armor was taking a beating but it was still there. Jedi half-dressed in flight suits were resisting Sith. 

A familiar Force presence fading out fast caught Kyle's attention: Corran Horn. Right outside his StealthX, Corran was being choked to death telekinetically by a Sith. Horn was unable to react: he was incapable of telekinesis. With a thought, Kyle snapped the Sith's neck. He fell over, dead instantly. Corran fell too, in a heap, wheezing. Kyle ran over to Corran and helped him to his feet.

Another explosion shook the Academy to its core. Dirt fell from cracks in the hangar ceiling, threatening to bury the Order alive where it stood. A StealthX fired up it's engines, clearing dirt for a good few meters around it and completely deafened Kyle. It shot out of the hangar faster than was typically safe, and blasted into the night, traceable by it's four glowing efflux emitters. Almost immediately the reassuring zap zap zap zap of X-Wing weapons could be heard among the screeching of TIEs. It seemed to liven the Jedi's spirits and give them at least a bit of hope as they rushed to save themselves and anyone else they saw. 

The Sith's numbers in the hangar were greatly reduced. Only a few more were being chased down and killed. There appeared to be no fatalities, thank the Force. 

Kyle jumped onto the nose of a StealthX and hopped in the cockpit. Using the Force to enhance his speed he flipped on all the systems and ran a quick pre-flight check. In a matter of seconds he had the StealthX out of the hangar and in the near pitch darkness of the Shedu Maad night. 

He looked down at his comm board. It was flashing NO CONNECTION. The Empire had been jamming comm frequencies. Thankfully, comm systems weren't as important as they could have been, since Jedi could communicate general ideas through the Force. But Kyle still didn't know how he would communicate a hyperspace jump to the others. He took a deep breath and let as much anger out for the Empire as he could as he waited for a shuttle or the Shadow to exit the hangar. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it. Three more StealthXs launched from the hangar. Relief started to overshadow the dread he felt. There was still hope.

***

Darth Wyyrlok stepped over the dead body of an Imperial officer on the bridge of the Firestorm. He had refused to obey Wyyrlok's command, seeing he was a Sith. He would now go down in history as that officer. It certainly worked to motivate the rest of the bridge crew, who were all working very efficiently now. 

Wyyrlok stepped up to the viewscreen and leaned his palms on the frame. They were close enough that some details of the planet were visible. Looking out, he saw a bright orange spot on the surface of the planet Shedu Maad. It was the Jedi Academy burning. 

He easily could have liquefied the entire structure with the Firestorm's turbolaser batteries, but as satisfying as that would have been, that wasn't the goal. The goal was to let the Jedi lead them to any other bases of operation they may have. He had a sneaking suspicion that the Academy on Ossus would be their immediate destination. But time would tell. 

Wyyrlok turned and paced the other way on the command walkway, stepping over the dead lieutenant again. 

An officer approached Wyyrlok cautiously and swallowed hard before speaking. "My lord, the Jedi have scrambled fighters."

Wyyrlok plucked the officer's name from his mind like a ripe fruit hanging from a tree. "That is permissible, Ensign Hern." He turned around to address the bridge. "Stop the communications jam. Do not engage the Jedi forces." The bridge personnel almost literally tripped over each other to follow the Dark Lord's orders.

All that was left to do now is watch where the Jedi went.

Chapter Text

"Don't look so amazed. The Sith were always born and re-born within the ranks of the Jedi."

―Darth Krayt

Ben Skywalker's Lambada dropped out of hyperspace. The familiar mottled green and blue planet of Shedu Maad filled the viewscreen, but something felt off to him. 

Being almost in the planet's atmosphere, Ben decided to give the comm another try. He keyed in the Academy's frequency, but he still couldn't establish a connection. The kark?

Comm or no comm he was landing. The Masters needed to know what happened to Jaden. He plotted a descent course for the Academy. 

In just a couple minutes he could see the Academy. Or rather, what was left of it. To Ben's shock, the Academy was just leveled. Gone. Immediately he wondered what had happened to the Jedi. Were they okay? Did anyone die? From the devastation he'd have been shocked if there were no fatalities. 

He steered the shuttle toward the hangar bay. A massive portion of the ceiling had caved in, spilling tonnes of rock and dirt onto the floor, but there was still barely room enough to land the shuttle.

He stepped out from the shuttle onto the hangar floor. For better or for worse there were no ships in the hangar of any sort. The door to the Academy was almost completely buried in the gigantic pile of dirt. Ben ignited his saber and cut a hole in the showing portion of the door and kicked it in. Being careful not to burn himself on the glowing edges, he slid in to the corridor. 

To be expected, debris was everywhere. Ben's boots crunched on the rock dust. About twenty meters ahead he saw the ceiling had caved in, blocking off the corridor. Around the pile of rock were bodies: black cloaked bodies. Sith, upon further examination. Ben clenched a fist and turned around. He was going back to his shuttle. He'd seen all he needed to see. 

***

"But they knew," Kyle argued. "They knew exactly where we were. They knew when we were vulnerable."

"Which means that we have a leak somewhere." Jaina surmised. 

"Exactly." Kyle said. "Right now everyone is suspect. Everyone." He swept his eyes over all the Masters present in the Council chamber. "And by coming here we've endangered an Academy full of younglings as well as ourselves. But there's something that just gives me an even worse feeling. They let us go. They wanted to see where we went and how we reacted. And nobody's going to be leaving here until we figure out exactly who or what that leak was and deal with it accordingly."

Kyle didn't like endangering the younglings at the Academy on Ossus, but there was literally no other place to go. It was a ruthless tactic on the part of the Sith and he hated them for it. 

Kyle's comlink chimed. He pardoned himself from the Council and stepped outside the chamber to take the comm.

"Katarn here, go ahead."

"Ben has arrived, Master." It was Seha Dorvald, a Jedi Knight about Ben's age.

"Good," He said. "Is Jaden with him?"

She paused momentarily. "Um, no," Seha said with a bit of uncertainty. "He says he needs to talk with you about it."

"Tell him I want to talk to him immediately then. Katarn out." He clicked off his comlink.

Kyle re-entered the Council chamber again and addressed the Masters from the doorway. "I'm sorry, but something's come up. You're all dismissed, we'll pick it up again tomorrow." There were a few murmurs, but the Masters started filing out. Kyle made his way to his office that was prepared for him spur-of-the-moment. He hated having an office almost as much as he hated proper titles. He hated formalities in general. He had to remind himself he was doing it for Skywalker.

Ben was waiting for him when he got there. Kyle took a seat behind the brushed durasteel desk.

"So, what happened on Korriban?" Kyle asked. 

"Well, we landed fine," Ben started. "Then Jaden started to notice things. He said he had blocked off the entrance to the Tomb of Ragnos, but it was clear. We had to cross a chasm, and he noticed that the obelisk he pushed over the last time he was there was standing upright again."

"If I remember correctly, that was a pretty large stone obelisk. Maybe around twenty five meters tall." Kyle remarked. "You say it was standing upright again?"

Ben nodded solemnly. "It didn't look like it was ever pushed over either. It looked pristine."

Kyle stroked his beard thoughtfully. "And then what happened?"

"Well, one way or another we needed to get across the chasm," Ben said. "The obelisk was on the other side, so pushing it over again was out of the question. I suggested to Jaden that I drop him off with the shuttle on the other side so he could push the obelisk over. It was then he just...snapped. He said the shuttle wouldn't work because I'd be dead. And he just attacked me."

"Did you have to kill him?" Kyle asked.

Ben nodded again. Honestly he wasn't sure if he had to kill him, but it seemed like the only option.

Kyle sat back in his chair and took a breath. He didn't say anything for a few moments. Ben knew Jaden had been Kyle's apprentice, and this was going to be hard for him to process.

"Well, I think that solves who our leak was." He finally said. But why would he do it? Kyle asked himself. It didn't make any sense. Jaden was a firm Jedi. Then something clicked in his mind. The last time Jaden had been on Korriban was when they were fighting the Disciples of Ragnos, a Sith cult led by Tavion Axmis, who was now just as dead as her cult. Before Tavion had the desire to revive Marka Ragnos, she had been a Dark Jedi, not a Sith. But when she started the Disciples of Ragnos, she started associating with the Sith. 

He remembered clearly Desann's Reborn troops. They were simply insane youth who were pumped through the Valley of the Jedi, handed a lightsaber and told to guard a door somewhere. The Shadowtroopers were little better.

But Tavion's forces were far superior. In a fight, the Reborn thought for themselves, and they used some fairly exotic Force techniques, like being able to drain the life from someone to fuel their own selves. They also said things like "The Sith will rise again," distinguishing them from the Dark Jedi of the previous regime. It was fairly black and white when he thought about it: Desann was a Dark Jedi and Tavion became a Sith. 

But what really caught Kyle's attention was the connection of the Sith to Jaden. While Ben's ordeal with Jaden was going on, the Sith attacked the Jedi Academy on Shedu Maad. Connecting those dots with what Ben and Jaden noticed on Korriban, the only logical conclusion was that Korriban was home to the Sith once more, and they were defending their world. Kyle needed to know more details.

"Ben, thank you. You're dismissed." He said to the Knight. Ben, grateful, got up and left Kyle's office and left the Master pondering his next move.

Kyle picked up his comlink and commed Jaden's Padawan, Marr Idi-Shael, a Cerean. "Jedi Idi-Shael, this is Master Katarn. Something's come up about Jaden and I'd like to speak with you about it."

After a moment Marr responded. "As you wish Master Katarn." 

While he was waiting for Marr, he continued thinking about Jaden's connection with the Sith. In the events that led to Marr becoming his apprentice, Jaden had, without filing a flight plan with the Jedi Order, pursued a Force vision to a frozen moon. There he found a Thrawn-era cloning lab where, unsurprisingly, the clones had killed the scientists that made them. But the clones were Force-sensitive, and led him on quite a grand escapade that in a creepy way, had ties to the Lost Tribe, who were possibly Kyle's mystery Sith.

The door to Kyle's office opened, and Marr stepped in. 

"You said something is going on with Jaden?" He asked as he took a seat in front of Kyle's desk.

Kyle sighed, wondering how to put it for Marr. "I'm sorry Marr. Jaden is dead."

Marr blinked a couple of times in shock.

"He was on Korriban and snapped," Kyle continued. "Something there influenced him, and he attacked Ben. Ben was forced to kill him."

"That's not possible..." Marr said.

"I'm afraid so, Marr." Kyle said, trying to keep any sharp edges off his tone. "I've also got reason to believe that he's the cause of the attack on Shedu Maad. Can you think of anything that happened to him that might have caused this? This is important Marr. Lives are at stake."

Marr sat dumbfounded for a moment. He swallowed hard before he spoke. "I-I think I do, Master." He seemed to not want to tell any more.

"It's okay, Marr. You've got a chance to help us in a very big way right now." Kyle said, trying to prod him.

Marr sighed. "There was a fight. Before we came back to the Temple. A clone of Jaden was after us trying to kill him. It had...something...in it's hand, it was made to move the conscience of one sentient to another. It killed Jaden. I got that thing from the clone's hand and stuck it in Jaden's head. I didn't want to lose him...and I took it and transferred Jaden's consciousness to the clone's body. I'm sorry..."

Kyle took a deep breath and put his head in his hands. This was bad. He needed to know who made that clone. Because of when it happened, long before the Lost Tribe was able to get off whatever planet they came from, it couldn't have been the Tribe's clone. Which would then implicate yet another Sith faction roaming free in the galaxy.

"Marr, it's ok." Kyle tried to reassure him. "There's no way you could have known. And by coming forward, you've probably just saved the Jedi Order from being wiped out."

Chapter Text

"No game of dejarik can be won without pawns, and this may prove to be a very long game."

―Darth Traya

Vestara woke up on the brig of the Errant Venture. She had been shivering in her sleep, and the smell of the rotting corpse assaulted her nose as soon as she inhaled. She tried to breathe through her mouth, but the smell was so bad she could taste it.

There were Force presences making their way closer to her cell. She probed at it. They were arrogant and hated being where they were. Probably guards here to pick her up. Vestara got up to a sitting position on the cold durasteel. She dared to take another putrid breath as she tried to get control of her body's temperature again.

She heard boots clanking on the deck as the guards walked up. Her cell door opened, and the guards strolled in.

Vestara feigned acting weak, and one of the guards yanked her up by the hand. The other jabbed a blaster in her back. "Let's go, move." He said as they escorted her out. She guessed they weren't talking much so they didn't have to inhale. A smirk crept across her face at the thought.

They escorted her back through the Mines and corralled her into a lift. A guard hit the button for the Blue Level. Vestara didn't know much about the Venture, but she wasn't so stupid as to go into an operation like this blind. She had done considerable research, or rather had someone else do research and had them present her with the highlights. She knew the Blue Level was where Booster Terrik's cabin was, and that gave her a shiver of excitement. 

When the lift doors opened on the Blue Level, Vestara was once more escorted down numerous corridors at a brisk pace. At last they came to an ordinary looking cabin door. At their presence it opened, and Vestara saw Booster Terrik behind a battered wood desk. A guard gave her a good push inside the t'bac smelling room, and they boxed the door behind her as it hissed shut. 

The croupier and the Rodian were present as well. Oh please, Vestara thought as she saw the croupier, half covered in bandages, laying on a hovergurney with life support equipment hooked up to him. The Rodian was simply hanging his head as he sat in a chair in front of Booster's desk.

"Ah, Savara, have a seat." Booster said. After a second of seeing that Vestara wasn't about to move, the guards took her forcibly and plopped her down in an empty chair right in front of Booster.

"We recovered your fingerprints from the blaster," Terrik continued, skimming information on a datapad. "And we looked them up in the Galactic Alliance public database. We found you have made quite the reputation for yourself. You used to be a part of the Jedi Order, a well respected organization. But for some reason you quit, and decided to become a pirate, serial killer, and bounty hunter for the Hutts." Booster laid the datapad down on his desk and looked her in the eye. "I don't know what possessed you to do the things you did, but from your age I can only guess you've had a tough break in life. After talking with my croupier and your Rodian friend here, I've decided that my man was in the wrong. I'm very sorry to both of you. It was disgraceful. So I've not only refunded both of your bets to your respective accounts, but I've also taken that amount that was cheated from you, and given you an on-ship credit for it. Spends like credits on anything you want here. Five thousand for you and three-fifty for him."

Vestara was shocked. She had not expected anything like this. At all. She had to consciously keep her heart rate up to keep her face from paling. She couldn't double-cross and kill Booster. She just couldn't bring herself to do it. But she was here. It needed to be done. How could she now, that Booster had shown her so much compassion?

She apparently had spaced out, because Booster was holding his hand out for a handshake with her, and raised his eyebrow at her as she stared at him blankly. She snapped out of it and shook his hand, still pondering how the kriff she was going to accomplish it. 

Booster held her semi-distant gaze. "I would highly recommend you put that credit towards a good meal. You look like you could use it." He said with a bit of a warm smile. Why did he have to make this so kriffing hard? Why couldn't he just be the tyrannical old coot she thought he would be?

Vestara nodded. "Okay. Thank you." She started to walk out of the room, a bit unsure of herself, but started to get lightheaded as if she were about to faint. Except she didn't. Instead she became somewhat detached from herself, as if she were simply a spectator from inside her own body, a similar sensation to being drunk...but she was perfectly aware. 

In a flash her body reached out with the Force and grabbed a guard's blaster pistol. She shot the other armed guard in the throat with pinpoint accuracy, and quick as lightning spun and shot the unarmed guard in the face. Both slumped to the deck, dead.

No, no... Vestara thought in futility.

Her body did not obey. Her vision lost all color and things took on a red-orange hue. She aimed the blaster at the croupier and shot him dead on the gurney. His body seized, and then fell limp. The life support equipment started beeping incessantly. 

Booster reached under his desk, attempting shakily to withdraw a blaster. He aimed the small hold-out weapon at Vestara and flipped off the safety, but before he could fire, she felt an icy prickle of danger sense. As if one with the Force her body responded instantly, and shot the tiny blaster from Booster's hand. The slagged remains clattered to the deck behind Booster. Terrik hollered in pain and held his hand. 

No! 

The smell of seared flesh, burning metal, and ozone permeated the room, mixed with the musty odor of t'bac. The Rodian's normally large eyes got even wider as Vestara leveled the blaster with his head and pulled the trigger. Before he could scream, it was over. He fell over in his chair and hit the deck smoking. The life support equipment was still beeping, but stopped after Vestara shot one of the instruments hooked up to the dead croupier. 

She aimed the blaster at Booster's head. "Now, you've got a comm call to make."

***

Lando Calrissian couldn't sleep. After hearing of Abeloth and the Lost Tribe, he never did sleep well. That was over five years ago. 

His wife Tendra and son Chance were both asleep. Lando paced his lavish, and at that hour dark, living room. He had decided to quit while he was ahead with the mining operation on Kessel before countless lives and fortunes were lost. So, the Calrissians' permanent residence had become Cloud City, which, coincidentally was not only the largest city on the planet of Bespin by a longshot, but was also administrated by none other than Lando himself. 

Restless, he attempted to stop pacing by sitting down on his plush nerf hide sofa. On the table in front of him was a sabacc deck, a staple of his. Lando picked it up and began shuffling it, reminiscing about his younger years. 

The comm array in the next room started beeping. Lando thought briefly about letting it go. He didn't want to wake up Tendra or Chance by talking to someone in the dead of night. But whoever was trying to get a hold of him must know what time it was here. It might be urgent.

He set the sabacc deck back down on the table and made his way to the comm array to see who was trying to get a hold of him this late at night. The comm system read BOOSTER TERRIK. Booster and Lando had been friends for a long time, much like he was with Han. He decided to answer. He made sure his bath robe was presentable and accepted the transmission.

A small hologram of Booster appeared. "Lando, good to see you!" He greeted. 

"Hey buddy, you too." Lando said, wiping his bleary eyes so they could focus on the bright hologram. "What brings you to comm me at 0200 in the morning?"

"Oh, um--" Booster stuttered. He glanced very quickly to his right before continuing. "I-I'm sorry Lando. I didn't realize what time it was there."

Sure you didn't. Lando thought to himself. Something was up, and he knew it. He kept up his deceptively charming sabacc smile though. He didn't know what was going on with Booster, but he wanted to see where the old man was going with this.

"I had a shipment of supplies that were stolen by Sith marauders," Booster continued. "They seem to resemble the Lost Tribe. They boarded the Venture and looted her. Six people are dead, and more are injured. I don't want this to happen again. They were able to hit on us once, they'll be back."

"Well, I can't blame you for wanting a little security. I think I've got some hardware that can make a nice example of your Sith friends," Lando consulted a datapad to see the current inventory of his company, Tendrando Arms. He had well over 500,000 new YVH droids in stock. "Exactly what did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking of some YVH droids," Booster said. "Assuming they work well against Sith."

"Honestly Booster, I don't think you can do much better than a YVH for guarding against Sith marauders." Lando said. "But I would make one modification."

"Such as?"

"Cortosis armor plates. YVH droids are tough, but they were never designed to be staring down lightsaber-wielding opponents. They're Yuuzhan Vong Hunters. Having them fitted with cortosis armor would be expensive but it would protect your investment." Lando said.

Booster stroked his stubble-studded chin, considering. "How much would ten thousand of those cost?"

"You starting a war over there?" Lando half-joked as he started running the numbers on his datapad. 

"I don't know yet." Booster said. "I hope not. But if I'm attacked again, I'm gonna bring the fight to those smookas."

"With the cortosis, that would land you about twelve and a half million." Lando said, sitting back in his seat.

"I'll do that." Booster said. "I don't want to come up short when I need them."

"Alright." Lando said. "When my boys get the plating on those droids and I get your payment, I'll let you know."

"Sounds good." Booster said. "Thanks Lando."

"Don't sweat it buddy, it's my pleasure." Lando said, beaming as he switched off both the comm system and his smile. Something was wrong.

***

"Very good, Booster." Vestara mock-praised, keeping the blaster trained on his head. "But unfortunately I have no further use for you. So I guess this is goodbye." 

Booster, with his one good eye, stared Vestara in her glowing orange eyes, unwavering. He hoped to call her bluff. She pulled the trigger. Booster's lifeless body fell off the chair and onto the deck.

Inwardly, Vestara couldn't believe what she had just done. She had just murdered not just an innocent man, but someone who had just had sympathy for her. But she was helpless in the matter. Her body retrieved her beacon and activated it. 

As she left Booster's office, the attack started. The entire deck shook from the fire the Venture was taking. The plan was underway.

Chapter Text

"The weapon of the Jedi is not to be taken up lightly...I'm physically capable. I know how to fight an opponent with it—but I'm not sure I'm ready mentally. Maybe I'm not mature enough emotionally."

―Jacen Solo

"Breathe," Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo said. "Breathe in the Force, and breathe out your anxiety."

Thirteen-year-old Allana Solo held her mother's lightsaber in a defensive poise. She couldn't see either the remote or the teal beam of the saber: she was blindfolded. Per her mother's instructions, she breathed in, feeling the Force flow through her. She could almost see the remote in the Force. Almost.

The remote fired again, and she blocked it. It fired two more times, the shots very close together. Allana blocked them both, keeping the saber in position to block more. She heard the hiss of the remote's maneuvering thrusters. It moved. 

Allana let the Force guide her. Left. She raised the blade to block before the remote even fired, and blocked the shot perfectly. 

Her mother's comlink chimed, and shattered her focus. The remote fired again, hitting her in the rear with a sharp sting. It's maneuvering thrusters hissed again. Allana had completely lost it now. She tried to find it again, but it fired once more and hit her on the arm and elicited a yelp of surprise from her. The pain almost caused her to drop the saber.

"Ta'a Chume," Tenel Ka answered, sounding oblivious to Allana's struggling. She tried to re-center herself, determined not to get shot in the backside again. The voices emanating from her mother's comlink didn't help matters. The remote fired, and Allana blocked. Twice, three times. 

"What?!" Tenel Ka exclaimed. Allana turned in the direction of her mother's startled voice, and was promptly shot again in the rear, in almost the exact same spot as last time. 

Allana wanted to lash out in the direction of the remote with her mother's saber. She quickly bit down that vengeful emotion, and extinguished the blade. She heard three sharp hisses as the remote floated over to Tenel Ka. Allana took the black cloth from over her eyes.

Tenel Ka had a look on her face that Allana almost never saw: one of great distress. She looked as if she were about to break down crying. Allana tried to listen to the voice over the comlink. 

"--destroyed. There's nothing left. We found efflux signatures that match Imperial Star Destroyers, but there is no indication as to why they chose to attack."

Tenel Ka swallowed hard. "Did you try contacting the Academy on Ossus?"

"We don't know anything for sure, your highness, but if the Academy on Shedu Maad was destroyed, it is likely the Academy on Ossus was attacked as well." 

Tenel Ka fought back tears and took a deep breath. "Send a scout ship to check on Ossus." She said. 

"Right away your highness." 

The Queen Mother switched her comlink off. 

"Did the Jedi Academy--" Allana left her question hanging. The Queen Mother just nodded. Allana let her mouth gape.

"If you did well today I was going to enroll you there," Tenel Ka remarked. "But now it appears that won't be happening any time soon. I'm sorry sweetie."

"D-Did anyone die?" Allana asked.

Tenel Ka sighed. Allana was wise beyond her years, and sugar-coating things for her usually didn't go over well. "It's possible, but no ships or wreckage from the Jedi were found on the planet. So it sounds like at least most of them did manage to get off in time."

Allana was relieved, but still puzzled. "How did the Empire even find Shedu Maad?" She asked. "That would mean they found a way through the Transitory Mists, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would," Tenel Ka confirmed, unable to hide her own uneasiness. "Obviously the only way the Empire could find out is if someone who knew told them." She mused aloud. She had already whittled her staff down to a fraction of what it should be because of her recent mistrust for them around Allana. So one of her own people leaking this information would be highly unlikely...

"Could the Jedi have told them?" Allana asked. Tenel Ka hadn't even considered it. She had automatically trusted them, and still did: the Jedi wouldn't knowingly pursue their own destruction. But she did question a non-Jedi that was allowed to stay with them...Jagged Fel. If there was anyone questionable among the Jedi, he was: he had Imperial ties. But even that scenario didn't make much sense, either.

"No honey I don't think the Jedi would have told them." Tenel Ka reassured her daughter. But I think I know who did. She thought as she reached for her comlink. "Lyra, if you get through to Ossus, can you request that Jedi Master Fel meet me in person here?"

"As you wish, Ta'a Chume," The voice responded. 

Allana handed her mother's lightsaber back. "We're done then, right?"

"For now," Tenel Ka confirmed. "But I've still got a surprise for you." She smiled at her daughter, though it was obvious she was faking it for Allana's sake. Her worry for her friends and family was self evident. She led Allana in from the pavilion where she was training.

Anji was sleeping just inside. As soon as Tenel Ka and Allana stepped inside from the pavilion, the snoring and drooling nexu, now fully grown, perked up and stretched. Anji's claws, each at least as big as Allana's face, scratched the polished stone floor. As the monstrous creature yawned, two rows of long, sharp teeth reached out into the air. Anji blinked her compound eyes, and followed the Queen Mother and the Chume'da into Tenel Ka's royal chambers. 

You wait here. Allana commanded Anji with the Force. The last time Anji was allowed in Tenel Ka's bedroom, she tried to kill her down bed...everything in the room was coated with feathers, and priceless Hapan quilts had been destroyed. Anji was almost banished from the palace that very day. The nexu blinked her four eyes and cocked her head, coming as close to "cute" as a creature like that could. Allana did her best to ignore the begging beast. 

Tenel Ka glanced around the room. Her eyes settled on a drawer in her dresser. She pulled it out partway, and reached under it. To Allana's surprise, she pulled something rather large out. A lightsaber. Allana's jaw dropped for the second time in a span of less than ten minutes. 

"Is it--?" She was too stunned to finish the question. Tenel Ka nodded solemnly, and held the weapon out for her daughter. Cautiously, Allana took it, letting the weight of the device sink into her hand. She took in the feel of the cold, brushed durasteel with her sweaty palms. Wide eyed, she thumbed the activator. With slight recoil she was't braced for, a brilliant emerald bar of light shot from the hilt with a snap-hiss. The semi-dark room was suddenly illuminated in a green hue. Allana had her eyes fixed on the blade, in awe.

Tenel Ka wiped her eye. "It...was Jacen's." Allana suddenly understood, and swallowed, a weight had been added to her shoulders that wasn't there before. She knew now what Jacen was and who he had become, to the extent of what the Jedi knew. Tenel Ka took a breath. "Now when you do undergo your Jedi training, you will be ready."

Chapter Text

"To believe in an ideal, is to be willing to betray it. It is something no Sith or Jedi has ever truly learned."

―Darth Traya

Vestara lay in her quarters on the Bloodfin, what used to be Vitor Reige's. What had happened on the Errant Venture deeply disturbed her. 

She had heard rumors of acolytes at the Sith Academy that had similar experiences, but she never took them seriously. She always thought that, as Sith might, they had a grudge against a Master there and attempted to take it out on the Academy by inventing horror stories that would make people rethink their allegiance. But now she knew they were right. It frightened her that her body could seemingly act on it's own while she watched inside, helpless. 

The rumors suggested that during training sessions, a Master would invoke a code word that would instantly put the acolyte into a trance state, in which they were highly susceptible to suggestion. The acolytes had no memory of the trance, but rumor had it that everyone there had only spotty memory of what exactly happened during training. And although she never spoke about it or gave it too much thought, she could hardly remember her own training by Wyyrlok.

And, ultimately, she was sick of it. Sick of the Sith, biting the very hand that fed them. Sick of the constant abducting of children on backwater worlds to become mindless Sith warriors. She was sick of watching scientists stick wires underneath a child's fingernails and electrocute them as a part of their "training." And she was sick of herself being used like a slave by this Sith order. 

She reflected back on her days on Kesh. The Lost Tribe never did anything this atrocious, and they still contrasted sharply with the Jedi. They were simply a Sith community. To be sure there was lying, deception, backstabbing and even assassinations among them, they were honorable. They had families. There was love, even if it had to be earned. None of that existed with the One Sith. It was just cold unrelenting ruthless power.

To be fair, the Lost Tribe, although not as bad as the One Sith, were most definitely still Sith. Shortly after Ship found them, he started to drive the Tribe toward hunting small ships in the area for technology they could use to get offplanet. He had stumbled on a Damorian S18 light freighter, which Lord Taalon told Ship to attack. They grounded the freighter on an uninhabited planet. When Ship arrived on land, the Sith discovered that the crew had already fled. The Sith followed the footprints while deliberating on the fact that the crew would be armed. The footprints split off in two separate directions. Vestara was separated from her master, Lady Olaris Rhea, into a band of three Sith. From there, her memory was a blur. They were ambushed by the crew, unsuccessfully. She was ordered to search the downed freighter, and found a stowaway girl. Ship had told Vestara to kill the girl, and she couldn't refuse. She herself would be killed otherwise. The girl ran, Vestara threw her parang and struck her. The sheer amount of blood...

She needed to do something to stop the One Sith. She picked up her datapad and began scrolling through the their internal network. 

She noticed Project Stars, an attempt to create a bioweapon based on the Rakatan Plague to kill Abeloth. The codename coincided with what Abeloth liked to be called, the "Beloved Queen of the Stars." Phase 1 involved trying the plague en masse on sentients. They had picked Kesh, a prime target, not just because they refused to join the One Sith, but also because nobody would hear about their extermination. However the One Sith were currently in Phase 2, testing it on sentients that had been injected with water from both the Pool of Knowledge and the Font of Power on Abeloth's planet. They were contained in Force-shielded cells in the Sith Academy, and, once they turned into an Abeloth-like creature, they were "fed" expendable sentients. Once they had two Abeloth-like creatures in the cell, it was pumped full of the plague in gaseous form. So far it had been a resounding success. In both Phase 1 and Phase 2, the subjects were not only completely separated from the Force, but also died in minutes. They had planned on not just using the plague on Abeloth, but the Jedi as well, provided they were able to get them both in the same place.

Vestara thought about the possibilities of meeting the Jedi on those premises. She could trick both sides, and would stand a good chance of slipping away from the Sith, with the Jedi or otherwise. But there was a slight problem: she saw what happened to Jaden. He became an unknowing spy because of telemetry implants in his clone body. Vestara had no idea if she had such implants. She suspected so, but had no way to tell. 

She opened the Holonet on her datapad, and connected to the One Sith's infrastructure. Being sure it was encrypted, she started to download information about the One Sith on Korriban and Daala's installation in the Maw. Her comlink chimed. Vestara stowed her datapad in a pocket and retrieved her comlink.

"Fallax," Vestara answered.

"I-I," The lieutenant stuttered. "I'm sorry I--"

Vestara's cabin door whooshed open. She hadn't sensed anyone outside...

"So that's what you're calling yourself now," A familiar voice said. "Darth Fallax. It does have a nice ring to it. The Dark Lord of Deception."

Vestara turned her head to look at the speaker, and felt her heart skip a beat. The speaker was Natua Wan, the Falleen Jedi she supposedly killed years ago. She leapt up from her bed and reached for her saber, but it slipped out of her hand...and right into Natua's. The Falleen ignited the saber with a snap-hiss, and not for the first time in her life, Vestara was confronted by an uninvited Jedi in her quarters terrorizing her with her own saber. She swallowed hard. This was not bringing back good memories. 

Natua picked Vestara up by the windpipe with the Force and pinned her against a bulkhead. 

"I've waited a long time for this. You are going to die, you lying piece of Hutt slime. Any last words?" A smile crept across Natua's face. Her eyes drilled into Vestara's. Glowing orange eyes. She didn't know too much about Falleen physiology, but she was reasonably certain that bright orange Sith eyes did not occur naturally in their species. Natua's question was obviously rhetorical, but it gave Vestara a few precious seconds to think of her next move, before she faded to black. The bedsheets.

Natua's grip on Vestara was iron-clad, and Vestara wasn't powerful enough to resist. She had no idea how one could even get as powerful as whatever Natua had become. In a last-ditch effort, Vestara grabbed the sheets with the Force and smothered the Falleen. A bloodcurdling scream of rage filled the small cabin as Vestara fell to the ground and dodged her own saber Natua was swinging wildly. The sheets started to burn away as they were cut through by the saber. Vestara's time was running out, but she refused to leave Natua with her lightsaber. While Natua was still on a blind rampage, Vestara kicked her knee in. The Falleen screamed even louder as she collapsed to the deck. Vestara kicked her head, using the Force to put some extra power behind it. Natua's head lolled, but she didn't stop screaming, writhing and swinging the crimson blade around. 

Still not wanting to leave Natua armed, Vestara pulled a vibroblade from a sheath on her arm and switched it on. Trying not to get cut in half by her own saber, Vestara kicked Natua's head again and stepped on her throat, pinning her to the deck. Natua reacted, bringing the crimson blade dangerously close to Vestara's offending leg. Vestara grabbed Natua's arm, knowing she couldn't hold it back very long, and cut if off with her vibroblade. Still clutching Natua's now amputated arm, Vestara raked the saber blade across Natua's body. The Falleen screamed even louder. Vestara pried her saber from the free arm's grip, almost letting it slip out of her own blood-soaked hand. 

The Sith bolted for the door, but something wrapped around her ankle, and she fell face down on the durasteel deck. Vestara looked back to see what had caused her to trip: a tentacle. A cold, gray tendril...attached to the now standing Natua Wan. Except it wasn't Natua. The Falleen's eyes were pinpricks of light in black wells. She was smiling literally from ear to ear, revealing two rows of monstrous teeth. Vestara wasn't about to let this Abeloth-Natua creature get anywhere near her. Vestara ignited her saber and slashed at the tentacle holding her ankle. In a spray of thick black blood, the tentacle was cut free, and she scrambled to the still open door. Another tentacle threatened to grab her and drag her down, but she swung her saber in a defensive maneuver in response to her danger sense, and the detached tentacle fell to the deck.

She ran for her life down the corridor making a break for the hangar bay, and felt a familiar presence nearby. She wasn't keen on meeting him again...not if he brought her here.

Stormtroopers rushed in opposing Vestara in the hallway. Then, they simply stopped, took firing position. Vestara, however, wasn't stopping.

Behind the stormtroopers, an officer rounded a corner. His eyes locked with Vestara's. She normally would wonder what he was up to, but she saw his eyes: sunken black holes, with pinpricks of light drilling into her very soul from a dimension she didn't even want to think about.

"Fire!" He ordered the stormtroopers. Despite facing a Sith Lord, they fired...at their own peril. Vestara batted the bolts back at the stromtroopers with her crimson blade, killing them all in a matter of seconds. She was about to rush at the officer, when her danger sense directed her attention to Natua coming up on her from behind. A tentacle swung at her, threatening to grab her head. Vestara had seen enough of what Abeloth was capable of when she had her victim's head. She wasn't going to give her...it a chance. She cleaved the tentacle off, and it hit the deck with a meaty smack, oozing black blood. The Abeloth-Natua creature screamed, but Vestara wasn't sticking around. Either way she would have to get through Abeloth. 

She charged the officer, perceiving him as the weaker of her two opponents. He didn't draw his blaster pistol, but simply smiled. A smile that grew wider and wider, cracking across his face and revealing two rows of teeth that were not human. Shaken but not stirred, Vestara attempted a running attack. She relied on her speed to dodge and sever the tentacles that were now jutting from his hands. 

With a forceful grip, the officer grabbed her wrist, diverting her saber harmlessly into a bulkhead. Using the Force to augment her strength, she twisted her wrist around and sliced off the offending tentacle. She spared a quick look at the officer's monstrous, wickedly warped face. She saw weaknesses, red lines radiating from where Abeloth's mouth cracked across his face. 

Vestara bashed him across the face with the hilt of her saber, pouring Force energy into the area as she did so. The officer's already gruesome head exploded, sending oily black blood everywhere. There was a tentacle still clinging to her arm, but she didn't dare stop to pull it off. Abeloth-Natua was right behind her and closing fast. Vestara ran for the hangar bay. And he was waiting for her there.

I'm sorry it has to end this way, Lady Khai. Ship's voice echoed in her mind. But it would appear I'm doing Lord Krayt a favor by killing a traitor.

She couldn't let Ship leave the hangar. She threw her saber at the organic linkage holding one of Ship's bat-like wings to the sides of his eye-shaped body. The wing section collapsed to the deck, and Vestara could feel Ship's agony in the Force. Despite the debilitating attack, Ship brought his weapon system to bear. Seemingly out of nowhere a metallic sphere the size of Vestara's head hurled at her from Ship's direction. Already in motion, Vestara was able to dodge the ball, which smashed through a durasteel bulkhead and shook the deck. She summoned her saber back to her hand. 

Klaxons echoed in the hangar. Vestara needed to dispatch Ship, or Ship would dispatch her. She knew he had much more in his arsenal. She hoped he never got around to the plasma cannons. A quick glance upward revealed a possible way of escape: TIE Interceptors. 

Vestara flourished her blade, daring Ship to make another move. She just needed to get him under one of the TIEs...

If you think you can do it, then do it. Vestara coaxed. Your games are getting old fast.

Ship hurled another attack, a slew of plasma bolts. Vestara redirected them with the Force to a docking clamp holding a TIE Interceptor suspended in the air over the hangar deck. The clamp melted instantly as the bolts hit, as well as a portion of the TIE cockpit that was being held by the clamp. The fighter began to fall. Vestara grabbed it in the Force and, with significant effort, hurled it into Ship. Ripples of surprise from Ship resonated in the Force as Ship was struck by the fighter and thrown to the deck.

Vestara rushed over to assess the situation. Ship was still alive, but was quite damaged. The eyeball-shaped portion of the Meditation Sphere was crushed, and his bat-like wings which once wrapped around the sphere like parentheses were now mangled and destroyed under the TIE.

Do it. Ship urged. Kill me. Kill me and fulfill your destiny as a Sith.

Vestara was about to go for the killing blow when her danger sense alerted her to a TIE being flung at her. She leaped out of the way, and the second fighter smashed into a bulkhead, exploding into a ball of fire. The shockwave sent her flying even further, and she skidded across the deck. Abeloth had just entered the fight.

The monster reached behind it with the Force, grabbed another TIE, and whipped the multi-tonne fighter at Vestara with ballistic force. Again, she leaped, but she was too slow: the TIE exploded and pieces of shrapnel peppered her back, blowing straight through her robes and light armor. Her flight now uncontrolled, she tumbled onto the deck in a bleeding heap. 

Shots rang out in the hangar. Vestara forced herself up. Stormtroopers were attacking Abeloth. They had her almost completely surrounded. And then, with a sweep of a tentacle, she sent all of them hurtling through the air with the ease of blowing dandelion seeds. Voices muffled by helmets were heard screaming as stromtroopers smacked into bulkheads, hit various objects, skidded across the deck, and free-fell from the height of the hangar.

A second wave of stormtroopers started attacking Abeloth, and several were setting up turrets on tripods. Vestara wasn't going to waste this opportunity. In a fair amount of pain, she leaped up onto the specialized TIE docks, jumped into the cockpit of an Interceptor, and closed the hatch. 

She had flown larger ships before and had spent time in simulators, so the TIE's controls weren't completely foreign, but it did have a learning curve. She was able to get the ion engines started, and proceeded to disengage the docking clamps. The fighter dropped, but was stopped from falling all the way to the deck by the stabilizers. Vestara eased the throttle forward, and the fighter started crawling out of the hangar. 

She gave the fighter more throttle to rocket out of the hangar and into the dark of space, however the TIE didn't accelerate. She gave it yet more throttle. The twin ion engines whined in protest. Something wasn't right. Vestara looked out the rear transparisteel of the fighter. Abeloth had cleared the stromtroopers and was now holding the TIE in the Force. This was not good.

A huge barrage of blasterfire erupted as more stormtroopers, apparently with significantly heavier weaponry, attempted to overwhelm Abeloth. A huge lightning storm erupted from the monster, and well over half the blasterfire stopped immediately. Abeloth's grip on the TIE didn't relent.

Vestara tried to figure out the TIE's weapons. She found the controls to the chin-mounted blaster cannons, but couldn't figure out the targeting system. After a few seconds of fiddling with it, and peeking over her shoulder at the unending slaughter of the Bloodfin's stormtrooper garrison behind her, she finally figured out how to swivel the cannon backwards. 

Biting her lip in determination, she found the writing mass of tentacles and lightning in the targeting system, and fired the cannons at what she guessed was the head. Abeloth fell over in a heap, and released her grip on Vestara's TIE. The Interceptor shot out of the hangar and into the unending black of space. 

Feeling confident that Abeloth wasn't going to stuff herself in a starfighter and come after her any time soon, Vestara got busy figuring out the tiny screen of the navcomp. In hindsight, she was glad the One Sith had injected more funding to the Empire: it had resulted in a number of improvements, including adding hyperdrives and shields to some TIE models...including the Interceptor. 

She found Korriban on the navcomp, and was about to calculate the jump when a brilliant flash shone behind her. Vestara turned around, painfully, and saw that the Bloodfin was exploding. The origin seemed to be the hangar she had just left. Three more explosions lit up the cockpit, then a moment later the entire Star Destroyer was vaporized. 

She turned away quickly: there was no blast tinting on the rear of the fighter, and she was seeing spots. And then Vestara felt it: hundreds of lives ripped away from the Force in an instant. The entire crew of the "pocket" Star Destroyer were dead, vaporized in that brilliant flash.

Vestara continued plugging numbers into the navcomp, her head feeling light. Abeloth was back.

Chapter Text

"Kid, luck's got nothing to do with it. Here's your first lesson in sabacc and in life, my young friend. Nothing is what it seems."

―Lando Calrissian

Ben Skywalker landed his Lambada on the starpad Lando had specified. He lowered the boarding ramp and stepped off onto the permacrete. Lando was waiting for him.

"Hey Ben! Glad you could make it." He greeted. "How's your old man doin' these days?"

"Hey Uncle Lando," Ben responded. "Honestly I have no idea. He hasn't contacted us for over a year."

"Hmm, that's odd." Lando mused.

"Tell me about it," Ben said. "But you had some...Sith problems?"

Lando sighed. "Yeah. Well I think so anyway. Why don't we talk about this inside?"

***

Lando led Ben into his penthouse, and into the living room. 

"So a couple days ago, Booster commed me in the middle of the night," Lando said, motioning for Ben to sit as he sat himself. "He claims the Venture was boarded and ransacked by Sith marauders from the Lost Tribe. He said he thinks they'll be back, so he ordered a large number of cortosis-armored YVH droids."

"You don't sound like you bought his claim." Ben stated, matter-of-factly. 

"You're right," Lando said. "He seemed antsy. Nervous."

"Did you sell the droids to him?" Ben asked. 

"Absolutely," Lando replied. "But since his story didn't give me good vibes, I had a backdoor added to the droids' programming. Turns out the haulers that were carrying the droids were attacked as soon as they dropped out of hyperspace near the Venture. I had some of my boys examine the sensor logs from the droids, and Booster was right: they were Sith pirates."

"So now the Lost Tribe has a Jedi-killing droid army." Ben said, rolling his eyes.

"Not necessarily," Lando said. "I can activate the droids at any time and have them turn on their new owners. But I'm waiting to see exactly where those laserbrains take my droids. With any luck, they take them back to their home planet."

Ben's eyes lit up as he suddenly got the genius behind Lando's logic. A protocol droid brought a tray with two cups of caf and set them down on the table.

"So, since they're Sith, what happened to the Venture?" Ben asked, as he picked up one of the piping hot cups.

"If they're smart, they left something to come back to," Lando said, picking up the other cup. "Come back after Booster restocks and take it all again, like harvesting a crop. But after having to deal with those Gungans while Abeloth was running around, this bunch doesn't strike me as the brightest out there. They're greedy to the point of being stupid, and from what I heard, cruel even to their own. So as much as I'd like to say I think they left her intact--" Lando let his voice trail off, and took a sip, shrugging uneasily.

"So you want me to check and see if the Venture is still in one piece?" Ben asked.

Lando nodded. "And investigate. If they are Sith, I think everyone will agree they need to be stopped quickly. If it's true, contact Wynn at the GA and tell him his friends with the red sabers are back, and they mean business."

Lando's mention of the Lost Tribe and Abeloth stirred up memories Ben wished would stay buried. Abeloth was still out there somewhere, and she was nightmare material as it was. If this truly did have to do with the Lost Tribe as Lando suspected, they now had two active Sith factions in the galaxy to worry about...just when Ben was hoping the Lost Tribe and the havoc they wrought had finally fizzled out. 

"Oh," Lando said. "And another thing: if the Sith have those droids they intend on using them." He pulled a comlink looking device from his pocket. "I was leery of these droids getting into the wrong hands, since they're theoretically just as effective against Jedi as they are against Sith. So I had these beacons made up. They send off a weak comm signal that is picked up by the droids. When they pick it up, they won't attack the source. In fact, they'll defend it. This is just one, for you. I'll send the rest to Shedu Maad--"

"There's a slight problem with that," Ben interrupted. "The Academy on Shedu Maad was destroyed."

Lando's jaw dropped. Ben continued. "It was invaded by Sith and destroyed by Star Destroyer turbolasers. It wasn't the Lost Tribe, though."

"Grife, I'm sorry Ben." Lando said, shocked. "Did anyone die in the attack?"

"No, thankfully." Ben said. "There were some injuries, but everyone survived. They let us get offplanet to Ossus."

"You surrendered?" Lando asked, almost completely blown away.

"No, they deliberately stopped shooting. Kyle's guess is they wanted to track us and see what other locations we had."

"Wait just a minute," Lando said. "Shedu Maad is in the Transitory Mists right?"

Ben nodded. "Kyle thinks we...had a spy."

"Spast, that's bad," Lando remarked. "So you want me to send the transmitters to Ossus instead?"

"I'm not sure," Ben said. "I don't know if we're going to be staying there or not. I suspect we'll evacuate soon."

"In that case, let the Jedi know that the offer is there," Lando said. "I'd feel terrible if they got wiped out by a droid army that I had a hand in making."

"Thanks Uncle Lando," Ben said, taking his transmitter. "I'll be sure to tell--"

Ben was cut off by a low BOOM that shook the floor. Both he and Lando leaped up off their seats and rushed to the door. Lando's son, Chance, burst in and nearly bumped right into them.

"Dad, Jedi Ben's shuttle just blew up!" He exclaimed, bursting with excitement.

Lando gave Ben a look that hinted he wanted to say something he shouldn't in front of his young son before the trio rushed off to the starpad. 

Ben's shuttle had indeed blown up. The blast from the explosion had moved the shuttle body itself, and in the flaming wreckage, the vertical wing creaked and collapsed as the metal melted. Burning fuel dripped from the frame and onto the permacrete, creating puddles of fire that added to the inferno. The Jedi Knight just stood, speechless.

Ben felt tugging on his robes. Somewhat stunned and feeling detached from reality, he looked down. Chance was holding out a datapad. Even more perplexed, Ben took it. Text was on the screen, a message.

THE THINGS I DO FOR YOU. YOU OWE ME NOW BEN. MEET ME AT THE STORED COORDINATES TO EXCHANGE PAYMENT. 

Cloud cars started swooping out of the sky, dumping flame retardant on the blaze as Ben tried to think of what the message meant, and who could have done this. Obviously someone who didn't want him to leave here...but that didn't make any sense. Lando wouldn't let Ben stay stranded here, especially considering the potential danger the stolen droids posed. Whoever did that was either incredibly naive, or made absolutely sure that he wasn't going to be using that shuttle again for one reason or another. 

"Let's get out of the way here," Lando suggested, guiding his son away with a hand on his shoulder. "We're not helping any by just standing here watching. These guys are top notch, they'll have it out in no time."

Ben followed Lando away from the massive fireball that used to be his shuttle. He had a sneaking suspicion that whatever the reason, it was no accident, and it had to do with the Sith. Anger welled up in him at being toyed with like this.

***

Lando had insisted that Ben stay the night. It supposedly had less to do with hospitality than it did with getting to the bottom of whoever did this, but Lando liked helping his friends, and usually an act of kindness was disguised as something that had to to with business. Both Ben and Lando suspected that because of the timing, the theft of the droids and the destruction of Ben's Lambada were connected...and it posed a unique opportunity to figure out who or what their real threat was.

Right then Ben was waiting on Lando's couch waiting for test results. The Bespin Wing Gurard were working on recovering fingerprints from the datapad and from inside whatever was left of his ship. Although it was incredible that DNA could be scraped from something that had completely burned or was thought to have been sterilized, Ben wasn't holding his breath. The shuttle burned pretty thoroughly despite efforts to extinguish it.

As he started to nod off, his comlink chimed. 

"Skywalker," He answered.

"Ben, we managed to nail down a suspect. There's also some things you're gonna want to see in person. We're at the Security Tower."

"I'm on my way." Ben said, scrambling up and rushing out of Lando's penthouse to pick up a cloudcar. 

***

"Ah, Ben," Lando greeted as a secretary led Ben to the Situation Room in the Cloud City Security Tower. "This is Sergeant Patras, head of security here on Bespin."

Ben shook the Sergeant's outstretched hand. "I've heard a lot about you Skywalkers."

"I hope some of it was good," Ben replied, trying to keep things upbeat. Patras chuckled. "Lando said you have something you want me to see, Sergeant?"

"Yes, yes," Patras said. "We found several fingerprint fragments that weren't yours on the control board. I had them ran through the database from the Jedi Order, and they didn't match anyone there, either. However, they did match someone wanted on Coruscant."

The Sergeant pulled up some files on a wall mounted computer. "Her name is Savara Raine. Allegedly a former Jedi, currently a bounty hunter, and did some dirty work for the Hutts. But something struck me as off about her file: she's just too young to have done all this. I dug a little deeper, and found that all this is fake. The files were created in the GA's database just a few years ago, and haven't changed."

Ben couldn't get over why that name sounded so familiar. He knew he'd heard it once before somewhere. He shook it off, certain it would come to him later. "Any idea of a motive yet?" He asked.

"Usually the motive reveals itself through the target. So, we searched the remains of the target, and found this." Patras pulled a small vial out of his pocket that was filled with some blue fluid that seemed to defy gravity and waft around in the container. "Nanobots, and sophisticated ones at that. They created all sorts of extra circuitry in the shuttle's systems. We can't tell exactly what it all was designed to do, but my guess is it was some sort of surveillance tech."

"So you think the reason 'Savara' blew up my ship is because of the nanobots?" Ben asked, not quite following.

"Between that and the message on the datapad that says that you owe her now, I would say yes."

The datapad...of course. "And there were coordinates on there." Ben said, recalling the message.

"Yes, Fellowship Plaza on Coruscant. There was no time given, so my guess is she's got eyes there." The Sergeant mused.

"Savara Raine," Lando pondered aloud. "Raine. Why does that sound--" His eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. "Galactic Syndicated." He said with disgust.

"Wha--oh no, no no no," Ben said, realization dawning on him. Galactic Syndicated was a ghost criminal corporation that was owned and operated as a front for the late Columi brothers, Craitheus and Marvid Qreph. Their co-conspirators were Mirta Gev, Boba Fett's granddaughter, and Vestara Khai, Ben's pathologically lying Sith ex-girlfriend. Who, at that time, used an alias: Savara Raine.

Sergeant Patras looked puzzled. "No what?"

"It's her!" Ben spat and stormed away from Lando and Patras. 

"Ben, where are you going?" Lando asked.

The Jedi Knight stopped to address Lando. "To sleep this nightmare off. Not like I can just leave the planet." And with that Ben stormed out of the Situation Room.

"What was that all about?" Patras asked.

"If I recall correctly, she's his ex-girlfriend. She's also a Sith." Lando said. "I just hope he doesn't go off and do something stupid."

Chapter Text

"If you think this is the dirty work, you better get ready for a wake-up call. It gets a lot dirtier where we're headed. The rings aren't on  Coruscant . They're underneath it."

― Jix   Berus

70 years ago,  Coruscant   Undercity  Level 1313

Raw sewage. That was the smell that assaulted Ahsoka Tano's nose as she woke up on the streets of the most notorious organized crime haven in the Deep Core. 

It was almost a year since she left the Jedi Temple. Then, she was unarmed and dirt poor. All she had was the clothes on her back. She thought that by going to the Coruscant Undercity, she could make money, given the anti-Jedi sentiment was so high on the surface. Oh, how wrong she was.

Overall, her situation had only degraded, slowly. As a carnivore, she had a bit of a difficult time finding something affordable to eat. Meat required preservation, and in slums like this, you took what you could get. In her case, Ahsoka went without eating anything for the last three days.

Her decision to steal a DL-44 blaster pistol was questionable at the very best. Did she just sentence the former owner, a homeless man, to death by stealing his only means of self-defense? She agonized over that for over six months.

Also questionable was her theft of ratty, hole-filled cloak that probably could be credited with keeping her alive this long. Even if it didn't do much to keep her warm while sleeping on the relentless cold permacrete, it helped disguise her and keep her from being recognized by Karazak. 

Ahsoka lived like this willingly. She could have all the money she ever wanted...if she would just give up. Surrender to evil and join any one of the criminal organizations or gangs that roamed level 1313. She would no sooner do that than start murdering random people, which, in effect, was all they did anyway.

Sitting up and recoiling against the side of a building, she breathed into her hands to warm them up. Rough looking sentients of all species sporadically walked by. Some minded their own business, some had wandering eyes that hinted at sticky fingers, and others were predators that eyed Ahsoka like a piece of meat.

She thought she could start fresh here, where nobody knew who she was. Start bringing a little hope to this wretched poodoo hole. Make new friends. Make enough money to catch a ride to her homeworld, Shili. But the reality was nobody here wanted good. Everybody seemed perfectly happy with the status quo. 

The only friend she had made turned out to be a quasi-friend, and once he was finished using her to escape from Karazak, he stole a ship and blasted off without her. And in turn, he made her an enemy of Karazak Slavers Cooperative. What a steaming mess she got herself into. It seemed after her mistake of leaving the Jedi Temple, the problems in her life started snowballing.

Still curled up against a cold durasteel wall with her knees up to her chin, Ahsoka's mind continued to wander. She tried not to think of food, but all around her the living hell of level 1313 brought her mind back to her constant misfortune. She still had one last trump card, for her absolute darkest hour. But she wasn't going to use it unless she absolutely had to. She had convinced herself that as terrible as her situation seemed, things could get worse still. Fatal disease was rampant, and Ahsoka had been very lucky to avoid any such disease for about ten months.

Over the buzzing of signage and various machines, trash blowing around, hushed talking, and distant speeder engines, the former Jedi thought she heard a familiar voice. Familiar voices, actually. She looked around, her eyes darting from one side of the street to the other. And she saw the source.

Maybe a hundred meters away, through the cloud of venting sewage and exhaust, she saw a squad of clones talking with someone outside a "butcher" shop. Such shops, Ahsoka learned, were fronts for crime families that sold the meat of tauntauns that were used as mules to smuggle in spice, another one of level 1313's horrible, yet very profitable evils. When she could afford to, she bought food there...far from willingly. The last time clones came looking for her, it ended in her getting expelled from the Jedi Temple. And during her time here, she also learned that clones being dispatched this far down was unheard of. Whatever they were doing here, it warranted her attention. She needed a closer look.

Slinking down a dark alley, and nearly slipping on a puddle of...something, Ahsoka leaped up onto a pedbridge that connected the two buildings on either side of the alley. Overhead were live electrical wires. She leaped up and swung from them, being careful not to touch anything else, as to not come to an unceremonious end. Using the momentum she gained, she let go on a forward swing, which propelled her lithe frame to a higher pedbridge.

From there she jumped across the corner of a building and down, using the Force to buffer her fall on the pedbridge going across the street she had been on moments before. 

After another series of Force jumps, she landed on a pedbridge almost directly above the clones and peered down below. Still, she couldn't figure out what was going on. Quieting her mind, Ahsoka used the Force to augment her hearing.

"--Looking for a Jedi. We think she's down on this level."

The clone, a captain judging by his blue-trimmed helmet, was explaining the situation to a Weequay, and was holding a holoprojector in his hand. Since she was gawking from the top down, Ahsoka couldn't make out the image very well...but the person in the holo had two lightsabers in a reverse grip...her own fighting style. All the clones were heavily armed. This was not looking good. Some aspects of the captain looked familiar, and Ahsoka refused to believe what she thought she was seeing. She couldn't be sure until she saw the front of captain's helmet, though.

She looked around for a possible distraction. A small Weequay gang was walking down the street, but didn't look like they were about to cause much trouble. Behind her was a Gran and a Trandoshan, sharing an improvised fire pit made from the decapitated body of an astromech. Ahsoka reached out with the Force, and pulled the droid shell over. The Trandoshan hissed as the durasteel can fell towards him, hit the permacrete with a ba-BANG, and spewed fire and sparks into the street.

"What the--?!" A clone voice excalimed.

Peering back over the other side of the pedbridge, Ahsoka saw the clone captain's helmet, customized with two angular features painted above the eyes. She had to consciously stop herself from gasping in shock. It was Captain Rex, from Anakin's 501st Legion.

Rex had drawn his blaster pistols and was advancing toward the flaming astromech. With his left hand he motioned for his squad to split up, and they flanked the burning and crackling droid cautiously. After studying the droid briefly, Rex and his clones started looking all around.

"She could be anywhere. Stay frosty, men," Rex warned. He activated his wrist comlink. "Lord Sidious, this is Captain Rex. We've observed some suspicious activity in the undercity on level thirteen-thirteen. Locals claim to have seen Tano as early as this morning. This is a big zone to cover, we could use some reinforcements."

A voice that Ahsoka recognized far too well responded. A voice that came within two words of sentencing her to death for a heinous crime she didn't commit. A voice she had nightmares of every night. "Lord Vader places much confidence in your competency, Captain. I am certain you will be able to find this Jedi whelp and kill her without trouble using your existing forces."

"It will be done, my lord," Rex said before turning off the holoprojector, obviously uncertain of Chancellor Palpatine's decision. "Alright men, let's get a quadrant going. Spike and Crackshot, take the southeast. Joker and Cross, southwest. Stave and Ace, northeast, and Blade and Chance northwest. Wheeler, stay with me. We're going to patrol this main street in case she shows up. Let's move!"

A Sith plot to destroy the Jedi? Ahsoka asked herself. How many have they killed so far? She had no way of knowing how far this had progressed, but it needed to stop. She was certain enough of her abilities that she felt she could, even in her weakened malnourished state, take care of a squad of clones. But this was Rex! Maybe he could be reasoned with. She decided to give it a try. 

With the rest of the clones long gone, Ahsoka leaped down on Wheeler with a hard kick to his helmeted head, sending him tumbling down on the permacrete, unconscious. Rex, almost unfazed by the sudden attack aimed his blaster pistols at Ahsoka.

"Wait--" The former Jedi protested, making a stopping motion with her hands, but Rex didn't heed her plea. He fired a relentless barrage, forcing Ahsoka to dodge the blue bolts. Finding a calm in the storm, she Force-pulled the blasters from his hands, sending them skittering away on the pavement. Rex leaped for one of the blasters, but the former Jedi summoned the weapon to her hand.

"I don't want to hurt you," Ahsoka warned, putting some Force suggestion behind it. For a second, Rex seemed to freeze. 

"G-Good soldiers follow orders," Rex stammered before tackling her to the cold, hard permacrete. Ahsoka fell backwards into a puddle on the street, the impact knocking the wind out of her. Rex wrenched on her hand to pry his blaster free, but she refused to give up. Using the Force to augment her strength, Ahsoka tried to aim the blaster in Rex's face. 

The clone was too smart and too fast. As she squeezed the trigger, he ducked, then smashed his metal-clad head into hers. Dazed, Ahsoka let her grip on the blaster falter. Rex pried it from her hand and attempted to shoot her while she was helpless on the ground. Tano rolled out of the path of fire and leaped to her feet. 

He continued firing at her with the single blaster pistol, however she was in a much better position to dodge the bolts standing up. Ahsoka gave him a powerful Force-push backwards that sent him sailing about a dozen meters. He crashed into a garbage hauler, tipping the container over from the bottom, which buried the clone in trash.

Alternating colors of yellow, magenta, blue, and red bathed Ahsoka in their hues as she stood in shock in the street. Something was wrong, inexplicably wrong. Sinister. Dark. Before Rex could dig himself out of the trash pile, Ahsoka bolted in the opposite direction. Now was the time for her Plan B.

Even in her shocked state, she remembered clearly where she was on the level, and where things were. Things like holobooths. Almost all of them had been sliced to make calls without prompting for credits, which was lucky for her.

As she ran, she tried to make sense of the events. Chancellor Palpatine...a Sith Lord? Rex did refer to him as "Lord Sidious." And apparently there were more Sith as well, which actually didn't surprise her as much as it should have. But what did surprise her was this mention of a Lord Vader, who apparently had good confidence in the 501st Legion. How deep did this conspiracy go? How could the Sith get such a strong foothold without Anakin seeing it in his own troops? What about the other Jedi, and the other clones? Were they affected, or was this isolated to the 501st?

Ahsoka made it to an alley, and turning down it she spied the holobooth she was after. Frantically she keyed in the comm frequency of an old friend. And she waited. And waited. Finally the connection timed out.

"Please, Padmé, answer me!" Ahsoka whined, keying the frequency in again. It timed out again. Of all the times for the senator to be busy! Padmé was the one person Ahsoka felt she could really count on, and she wasn't there.

But another possibility crossed her mind. She keyed in the comm frequency of a different senator. She waited. Just when she thought this one would time out as well, it was answered.

"Senator Bonteri. This had better be...Ahsoka?"

"Lux! Thank the stars!" Ahsoka hissed. "I've got a slight problem."

Lux Bonteri, once a romantic interest of Ahoska's, ran a hand through his thick brown hair. "I'm sorry Ahsoka. I can't help you."

Ahsoka's eyes got as big as saucers. "You didn't even hear me out!"

"I'm afraid I don't need to," Lux responded. "Lo-uh-Chancellor Palpatine has--" He let the sentence trail off. 

For some reason, Bonteri's apparel seemed to escape her attention until that moment. Ahsoka had expected him to be wearing something Senator-ish, expensive looking. Instead, he was wearing a Republic officer's uniform. "Lux, please!" She begged.

"I'm sorry Ahsoka. I--my hands are tied." Lux said, glancing behind him.

"You can't do this."

"I have to. I don't have a choice."

Ahsoka lost it. "Lux, you bastard!" She pounded her fist on the control panel for the holobooth. "You always have a choice!"

He sighed. "Goodbye, Ahsoka. May the Force be with you." Lux, with a pained expression, closed the comm channel. 

Ahsoka, tears streaming down her face, staggered back from the holobooth. She backed up against the side of a building in the alley, and slumped down. All this time, she felt that even though she was alone, help was just a call away at any given time. That had given her confidence, the strength to trudge on. But at least at the moment, she was truly alone. No friends to help her in her desperation, just enemies bent on her destruction for no reason other than for trying to do the right thing. 

But for as much pain, sorrow, and despair this brought, Ahsoka had to move on. She couldn't just sit there. Wiping the tears from her face, she forced herself to stand up and start walking. Now more than ever she regretted walking away from the Jedi. She wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep, and wake up at the Temple like nothing ever happened. Leaving the Jedi was the single worst mistake of her life. There was no one to turn to when things went awry, and mistakes didn't get a lecture, they meant the difference between life and death.

Ahsoka just walked aimlessly down the street, keeping a wary eye out for clones. Spice deals went down in plain sight on the street. Prostitutes solicited themselves wide out in the open. Although it hadn't happened in a while, people were simply shot in the streets. She witnessed much of this evil and more as she meandered level 1313. CSF didn't hardly patrol at all on this level. They had been bought off by the crime families.

In her mental fog, Ahsoka let her awareness drop. A blue blaster bolt sang by her head, and it took her a precious second to register it. Be it from undernourishment or sheer despair that clouded her thinking, it was irrelevant. Her life had nearly come to an end.

Ducking behind some empty plasteel crates, Ahsoka tried to find the sniper. After a moment of searching, she found the white armored clone on a balcony holding his standard issue blaster with the stock unfolded, trying to find her. She grabbed him with the Force, and spilled him over the guardrail. The trooper screamed all the way down to his brutal death on the street.

Tano questioned her decision. Was it right? He had tried to kill her, wasn't it self-defense? Did she go overboard? Was killing him in that way absolutely necessary? She shook the questions out of her head. What was done was done. She hated this. 

"There she is!" A clone voice echoed from down the street. "Blast her!" The voices arrested Ahsoka's attention from her agonizing over how she killed the sniper. She spared a quick glance back at them before she turned to run away from them with Force-enhanced speed. More blue bolts pinged off objects and walls. Most sentients on the street ducked or dove for cover. Some fired back at the clones. Behind her, Ahsoka heard inhuman wails of anguish as various sentients were shot by the clones.

Ahsoka darted down an alley, attempting to lose the clones. She jumped, grabbed another power line and swung herself up to a pedbridge where she waited, her back against a wall, as perfectly still as she could be. She heard the heavy footfalls of the clones running down the alley.

"Where'd she go?" One clone asked.

The other kept his rifle ready, and signaled with his left hand for the first trooper to go to the other end of the alley.

The second trooper scanned the alley carefully, looking in empty crates, kicking piles of trash, and examining windows. Finally he looked up, and saw the power line. It was still swinging from Ahsoka's swing from it. The first trooper took note, and shot a grappling line into one of the two buildings in the alley. 

Ahoska couldn't let this happen. She waited until the trooper was halfway up on his grappling line, and Force-pulled the tip from the wall of the building. The trooper fell to his death below. Yet another questionable decision that would haunt her relentlessly, but for the moment it allowed her to escape with her own life.

She jumped down from the pedbridge and bolted down the rest of the alleyway and down the street. She couldn't keep running like this. She needed to hide. There weren't many places where many beings congregated in a dirty slum like this, but the cantina definitely was one of the few. 

Ahsoka sprinted down the street and ducked into local cantina. She glanced warily around, making sure she wasn't in any immediate danger. Glancing over her shoulder she checked the door behind her. The clones hadn't followed. Yet.

She pushed through the throngs of people in the bar to try to put as much distance between herself and the clones as she could. She neared the back of the cantina where the people thinned out. Ahoska was almost to the back door of the building when something wrapped around her legs and tripped her. She fell on her face on the floor.

She rolled over to see what was coiled around her legs. It was a length of fibercord, attached to the arm of a droid. Ahsoka drew her blaster, ready to shoot whoevery it was. But a metal clad foot kicked the blaster out from her hand. The weapon skittered under a table several meters away. 

The former Jedi looked up to see who the foot belonged to. It was a Mandalorian warrior wearing armor that resembled that of the terrorist organization Death Watch. And Ahsoka knew exactly who was responsible for this: Lux Bonteri. He had been affiliated with Death Watch before, and he had used her to gain their favor. She was so disgusted with him she couldn't even put it into words to insult her captors. 

"I'm not going anywhere with Death Watch!" Ahsoka snapped.

The Mandalorian snorted. "I'm a lot scarier than Deathwatch. And lucky for you this 'Order 66' isn't going to be your problem today. You should be thanking me, really."

Ahsoka recognized his voice. He was a clone. She tried using her legs to yank the droid down with its own fibercord. It didn't work. The droid simply pulled harder against her legs, making the fibercord dig into her skin. 

"She's all yours, Boba," The droid said, severing the fibercord. Nobody in the cantina seemed to pay any attention to the scuffle. The music kept playing. People kept drinking and laughing.

As Ahsoka was grabbed by her cloak and forcibly lifted to her bound feet, something in her mind clicked. Boba. She'd heard that name before. Wasn't he the spiteful little brat that tried to blow up Master Windu? Her arms were wrenched behind her back and fitted with stun cuffs. 

She didn't know how Boba planned to move her, granted that her feet were bound. But as quickly as she was brought to her feet, she was shoved back down as clones stormed into the cantina. 

"If you like living, stay down," Boba said. He turned to the droid. "Kelic, take the left side, I'll take the right."

Ahsoka, with her face to the floor, only heard the fight. Blaster fire. Lots of fully-automatic blaster fire. Clones were trained to avoid using that. Two rockets, one right after the other. Clones didn't carry rockets that small. A crackling whoosh, and then multiple clone voices screaming. That must have been fire, some sort of flamethrower.

In a matter of seconds, the cantina was dead quiet, save for a few moans of wouned bystanders. The music started playing again where it had left off, and people carried on like nothing ever happened. Ahsoka couldn't believe it. Probably half a dozen clones were just massacred, lives lost, and nobody cared?

"You sure know what's good for you," Boba remarked, pullling the former Jedi to her feet. "But I'm not a gambling man."

Ahoska felt something sharp plunge into her shoulder, and before she could even shout in pained surprise, she blacked out and collapsed.

***

Ahsoka started coming to as she was being dragged into a building from the street. Her feet dragging through a puddle, the flashing signs hurt her eyes. She heard the hiss of a door opening, and was thrown inside by a durasteel hand. She fell in a heap on the cold permacrete.

"Well well well," A familiar voice said. "If it isn't Boba Fett. You've made quite a name for yourself, killing Cad Bane."

"You've got a reputation, too, Berus," Fett replied. "If you don't have my credits for this whelp, you'll be joining him."

"Yeah?" Jix goaded. The balding Correllian thug folded his arms. "I see Bane left his mark on you. I'm surprised that blaster bolt didn't make it to your thick skull."

"I'm surprised I haven't killed you already," Fett retorted.

Jix laughed. "Oh, I got your payment. Hey Thel!" He called back into the building.

"Yeah?" A half-muted voice shouted back.

"You got that crate?"

"What crate?"

"The one for Fett!"

"Oh! Yeah!"

"Bring it out here, will ya?"

"You need a crate for ten thousand credits?" Fett inquired rhetorically.

"Who said I'd pay you in credits?" Jix asked.

"You did."

Jix shrugged. "I changed the deal."

"That is unwise," The droid, Kelic, said.

"Who asked you?" Jix snapped.

A thug-looking man with a death stick hanging out of his mouth and a Trandoshan that looked equally thugish hauled a plasteel crate into the room. They hefted it up onto a table, broke it open, and spilled it's contents out haphazardly. They were blasters of some sort, some spilled off the table and clattered to the floor. 

"I told you if you didn't have my credits, you'd be just as dead as Cad Bane," Fett said. "And those aren't credits."

"That's very astute of you, Boba. I'm glad you've been paying attention," Jix said. His thugs armed themselves with two of the weapons. 

"This is my latest shipment from Tenloss. These are their latest models, the DXR-6 disruptor. I hear they instantly reduce beings to ash on a molecular level, but I never got around to testing them." 

Ahsoka, now coherent enough to focus on the Force, concentrated on the disruptor rifle in the arms of the Trandoshan. 

Fett aimed one of his wrists at the table, his Mandalorian helmet coolly stoic. "You're not in a very good standing with Ka--"

The disruptor zipped out of the Trandoshan's hands and cracked Jix in the head. The Corellian collapsed on the ground with a cry. The Trandoshan hissed in surprise, and the human thug impulsively shot the droid with a p-zap!

Kelic, now with a white hot hole in his torso, stuttered and collapsed in a smoking heap. Fett hit the table with one of his wrist-mounted rockets, and the room exploded with fiery concussive force. 

Ahsoka's head rang, but other than being pelted with shrapnel and bits of debris, she was unharmed. Deafened, she saw a fight ensue between Boba and more Karazak thugs that heard the fight start. 

Armed with blaster pistols and one or two Wookiee bowcasters, the gangsters unleashed torrential blaster fire on the clone that lit up the dark room. Fett returned fully automatic fire from a clone trooper's rifle as he backed toward the door and hit the button to open it. Several slavers crumpled and fell under Boba's withering assault. 

"You! Mandalorian! Drop your weapon!" Ahsoka heard, barely. It sounded like another clone voice, but she couldn't be sure. Blue bolts rained horizontally into the room from the open door. Fett kept his back to the wall on one side, clutching the smoking blaster. 

The thugs and the clones traded fire through the door. There were wails on both sides as casualties mounted. The unmistakable engine note of a Republic gunship grew stronger overhead, and settled in the street outside. 

Fett peeked around the door, tossed a thermal detonator outside, and pressed the button to close the door. Muted screams could be heard from the clones before a flash of orange light flashed through the transparisteel windows and a THUD that could be felt in the air permeated the building. The engines of the gunship could no longer be heard. 

The few remaining thugs took shots at Boba. One by one he cut them down with strobing blue firepower until there were none left standing. 

Satisfied the thugs were all dead, or at least in no shape to try to shoot him, Fett left the building, blaster at the ready. 

After the door closed, Ahsoka saw the room flash blue as shots were exchanged outside. Dazed, she didn't even sense anyone else in the room before she was grabbed by the ankle and dragged into the back of the building. Being in stun cuffs, she was impotent to do anything but glance at her captor, a Weequay. She just submitted. At least being in the hands of slavers, she wouldn't be shot on sight.

There was a single functioning glowpanel in the back room, dimly illuminating cages filled with sentients. But her captor dragged her past the cages and into another dark room. He pushed a button on the wall, and the floor was illuminated with red lights. 

An explosion shook the ground. The sound of clones shouting orders made its way to this chamber. Ahsoka knew she wouldn't make it.

The silhouettes of more slavers could just barely be seen in the passage. Something large moved up from the middle of the floor with a hydraulic whir, and a puff of some vapor was vented from this object. She had seen one of these before. It was a carbon freezing chamber.

Ahsoka was dragged to her feet by the stun cuffs. She saw the white-armored clones searching the cage room. The Weequay pulled a blaster from his holster, flipped the safety off, aimed it at Ahsoka and pulled the trigger. A blue ring of energy hit her square in the chest, and she collapsed unconscious. 

Chapter Text

"You were a great Jedi, Hett, and the son of a great Jedi. But you have given yourself over to revenge. It stops here."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi

Boba Fett guided Slave I into the atmosphere of Tatooine. He checked the status of his cargo. Still alive...enough. Hauling people stored in carbonite wasn't something he did regularly, but once in a while it needed to be done, and a few pieces of specialized equipment made it easier.

The irony of the situation wasn't lost on the Mandalorian: years ago he had taken Han Solo in a carbonite slab and sold him as wall art to Jabba the Hutt, here on Tatooine. Obviously his reputation with Vader preceded him if the Dark Lord's son would hire him to find some no-name frozen Jedi girl. 

Fett mulled over why Skywalker would even want her. He had his sources, and knew that the Jedi Order was in no need of new recruits. They had more than they could handle. So it had to be something to do with this particular Togruta girl. It wasn't like Skywalker to get involved in the slave business. If Fett didn't know better, he'd guess that's what he was up to. 

The bounty hunter set his heavily modified Firespray down on the sands at the south-western edge of the Dune Sea, just outside a half-buried hut. Fett stepped out into the sand. Luke was waiting for him there.

"You did find her, didn't you?" He asked.

Fett rolled his eyes under his helmet. All that he revealed to Luke was the stoic durasteel bucket covering his head. "Of course I found her. I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"Alive?" Luke questioned.

"Just like you wanted," Fett answered. "All that's missing is my payment."

A brief flash of annoyance crossed Luke's weathered face as he reached in his robes for his pocketbook and counted out ten thousand Imperial credits for the bounty hunter. Fett nodded, his payment received, and returned to Slave I. Luke could only guess this was standard procedure for Fett.

Moments later, he emerged, pushing out what looked like a gurney, only thicker. It's repulsors gently pushed away the sand, creating wisps that caught the wind. He brought it right in front of Luke, and walked at a brisk pace back to his Firespray.

The Jedi Master checked the life systems monitor. She was still alive. Barely. With a deafening roar, the Slave I lifted off the surface of Tatooine and blasted off out of sight. 

Luke sighed. He didn't like how Fett worked, but that was beside the point right then. He needed to thaw the girl out. He grabbed the carbonite block with the Force and started moving it behind him as he walked into the hut.

The hut Luke was using was abandoned, and as such it ended up getting buried in sand over the years. He had dug the door out weeks before, and there was a sort of half-funnel shape in the sand that led down to it. 

Gingerly Luke eased the carbonite slab down the slope and through the door. Continuing to use the Force he eased it upright against a wall.

He proceeded to start the thawing process. He hoped the shock wouldn't kill her. He needed her help badly...

The metal started to melt away, and the young Togruta started to collapse outward from the empty carbonite block. Luke caught her before she could fall face first on the ground.

She looked at him, squinting, trying to make out where she was. "S-Skyguy?" She asked shakily, reaching out with a sweaty hand to touch Luke's face.

"Not quite, Ahsoka," Luke answered, continuing to support her. "I'll tell you everything in due time, I promise. But right now you need to rest and regain your strength." And with that the Jedi Master led her toward the half-circle bed carved out of the wall.

After seeing that she was resting comfortably, Luke resumed going over Obi-Wan's personal logs. He was hoping to find the location of Mortis, though he was almost completely through all of the logs, and the odds of him finding what he was looking for in Old Ben's hut dwindled with every log he searched.

 However, he did come across mentions of one Darth Maul that had apparently hunted down Obi-Wan and tried to kill him and Owen Lars. Luke vaguely remembered a dark fateful night when his Uncle Owen was nearly killed by what Luke knew now to be a Sith of some sort. The Sith, however, was killed by Obi-Wan. Luke shuddered at the thought of being hunted even as a young boy. And he felt bad that his own son, Ben, had suffered much the same, only to a greater degree with the Yuuzhan Vong.

Also mentioned in Obi-Wan's logs was a maverick Jedi that survived Order 66. His name was A'Sharad Hett, and he was a human. However he was the son of the Jedi Master Sharad Hett and was born into the Tusken tribes. Apparently after the Purge, Hett went back to Tatooine and started killing moisture farmers, believing they stole land from the Tuskens. Like Maul, he set foot on Uncle Owen's homestead, and was defeated by Obi-Wan...barely. From what Luke read, the fight with Hett was much harder than that of Maul. But for some reason Luke couldn't figure out, Kenobi let Hett go.

Obi-Wan had also taken the time to sketch out a drawing of Hett on a piece of flimsi. The sketch nearly stopped Luke's heart cold. This was the dark man that haunted his dreams!

"Are you okay?" Ahsoka asked from where she lay. She had rolled over and was squinting trying to make out Luke. He concluded she must have sensed his shock and fear in the Force.

"I-I'm...fine," Luke said, in shock. He got up from where he sat to check on Ahsoka's recovery. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Marginally," the Togruta replied. "How long was I frozen?"

Luke did some quick math in his head, estimating that she was frozen sometime around Order 66, which coincidentally was the year he was born. The figure startled even himself. Was he really that old?

"About seventy years, give or take." He responded.

Ahsoka merely closed her eyes, wincing, and rolled over onto her back. 

Luke sighed and thought to himself. If she thinks this is hard, wait till she finds out about--

"Anakin," Ahsoka whispered, half to herself. "Did he...fall?"

Luke was taken aback by the girl's grasp of subtleties. She couldn't have known about Order 66, so she must have sensed something amiss with Anakin way back when. Which was unfortunate: Luke was going to give her the easy explanation, but it appeared she was a bit too sharp for that.

"Yes," Luke said. He paused a moment before continuing. "He became the greatest Sith Lord since the Mandalorian Wars. And he...was my father."

Ahsoka just stared at Luke with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. 

Luke continued. "But right now there's a very big threat, even bigger than what Anakin became. Obi-Wan's logs say that he, you, and Anakin were on Mortis, and saw the Father, Son and Daughter?"

"Yeah," Ahsoka confirmed, uncertain where Luke was going with this. "Why?"

"At some point, there was a Mother as well. However she was a mortal, not like the other Ones. One day she got greedy for power, and left them." Luke said, drastically simplifying things for the girl. "Her name was Abeloth, and she became what some cultures call the Bringer of Chaos. The galaxy as we know it was nearly destroyed by her. She almost wiped out Coruscant in an afternoon. We think that the Dagger of Mortis is the only way to kill her, but we need help finding it."

"We?" Ahsoka asked.

"The New Jedi Order." Luke answered. This was going to take a lot of explaining.

***

The Dark Man was there, and at his side was a Dark Lady who held herself with the air of a queen. But Luke was prepared this time. He knew who the Dark Man was.

He sneaked up behind Hett, and pulled his hood away. The Tusken Sith whirled around to face him, revealing his tattooed face, and a detail Luke hadn't noticed before when they had fought on Abeloth's planet: mismatched eyes. One glowed bright orange with hate, and the other appeared cybernetic. 

The brooding Hett drew and ignited two sabers. Like his eyes, they were a mismatched pair: one was the typical red of a Sith, and the other was green. 

This confrontation caught the attention of the Dark Lady. She turned around to face Luke as well. At first he struggled to recognize her through the dark clothes, orange eyes, and Sith tattoos. But it was the Solo nose that gave her away. She was Allana. Time seemed to stop as they recognized each other.

"Luke..." She said wistfully. "Luke!"

"Luke!" Ahsoka shouted, shaking Luke out of his dream by his shirt. "Are you okay?"

"I...think so," Luke said, sitting up, his eyes now even with Ahsoka's as she knelt by the Jedi Master's side.

"The Dark Man? Hett?" She asked.

"And Allana," Luke said. "It's possible she's in great danger."

Luke had spent hours that evening filling Ahsoka in on as many details of the galaxy as he could think of, and that included Allana, the Dark Man, and the throne of Balance. 

"So we're going to Hapes?" The young Jedi asked, her blue eyes lighting up with enthusiasm.

"I'm going to Hapes," Luke corrected as he stood up with more difficulty than he should have. "And I'm sending you to Coruscant."

Ahsoka opened her mouth to protest, but Luke simply raised a hand, signalling her to calm down, and continued.

"I need you to gain access to the Jedi Temple, go to the Archives, and gather as much information as you can on A'Sharad Hett. We need to get a good idea of what his main goal is," Luke laid a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder. "The fate of the Jedi and the galaxy may depend on it."

"But I thought we were going to go look for Mortis." Ahsoka said, puzzled.

"Abeloth hasn't cropped up in a while, so right now A'Sharad Hett poses a bigger threat to the galaxy, and for that matter the balance of the Force than Abeloth does. I hope that particular aspect of the situation doesn't change while we're dealing with him."

"But do we really have to do that now?" Ahsoka asked, glancing over at a window. It was still dark outside, and sand whisked by continuously, the effect of a raging sandstorm. Luke lived on Tatooine long enough to know full well the entire list of reasons not to even step foot outside in a sandstorm.

"Well, I suppose we have time to get some breakfast first." Luke said, surmising that if she were anything like Ben, food would be one of the first things on her mind. Judging by how her expression suddenly perked up, he wasn't wrong.

Chapter Text

"Once you start down the dark path , forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will!"

―Yoda

Ben landed the yacht Lando had loaned him on Coruscant. It wasn't like the Lady Luck, Lando's personal ship, by any stretch of the imagination. The ship Ben was loaned was simple and it got the job done. Being a SoroSuub of a similar model to the Jade Shadow, the Skywalker family yacht, was, of course, a bonus. Ben was already intimately familiar with almost every nook and cranny. He intended to use that knowledge to his advantage soon.

Instead of landing it softly like he had intended, Ben accidentally let the ship drop onto the starpad prematurely. He winced as he heard the landing gear slam onto the permacrete. 

You really need to slow down. Ben thought to himself. It was easier said than done. To say that he wasn't happy about Ves cropping up in his life again would have been a vast understatement. Quite frankly he was furious. He was determined to bring her back to the Jedi Temple either in shackles or a body bag. Her games would stop one way or another. He couldn't go on living like this.

Even after not being in contact with the schutta for over five years, she kind of had Ben trained. He had a brief relationship with Seha Dorvald, another Jedi Knight about his age that he had worked with on missions for Jacen. But he managed to ruin it by subconsciously treating her like Vestara: questioning everything she told him and not believing her when it really mattered. He hated himself for letting it happen, but even more, he hated Vestara for causing him to mistrust in the first place.

Ben quickly went over the things he was taking with him, making sure he wasn't missing anything. Lightsaber, of course. Vibroblade. Medkit. A few credits, courtesy of Lando, just in case. Datapad. Comlink, so he could get spammed by a comm-marketer while he was in the heat of battle. He seemed to be ready for most any little escapade Sleemo Sith Girl might have in store for him.

The Jedi Knight took a deep breath and lowered the boarding ramp. Upon exiting the loaned yacht, he noticed the Coruscant cityscape...or lack thereof. Abeloth had wiped out a good portion of Coruscant, and even now the planet hadn't fully recovered from the catastrophe. 

Most notably, Ben saw that the Justice Center, a massive tower that once loomed over Fellowship Plaza opposite the Jedi Temple, hadn't been rebuilt yet. He recalled the smell of smoke, and the rip of millions of lives being torn from the Force in a matter of seconds as he watched the building collapse on itself and the Coruscant undercity below. He also remembered Vestara's cold indifference to the dying people as she sided with Abeloth.

Not far away, Ben could see Fellowship Plaza, where he was supposed to meet her. But he wasn't going there just yet. He was going to the Senate Building to speak with Chief of State Wynn Dorvan about the Sith, and, with any luck, get some help dealing with Vestara. In his mind, it seemed like a win-win scenario was easily within the realm of possibility.

It was a long walk, but Ben eventually made it to the Senate Building, and after jumping through various hoops with the Mon Cal receptionist, he made progress. Desha Lor, Wynn's Twi'lek aide, led Ben to Wynn's office. He expected to be asked to wait in the lobby outside, but instead, he was ushered straight into Dorvan's office.

"Ben!" Wynn exclaimed as the Jedi was shooed into his office. "Thank the stars! You couldn't have come at a better time. Please sit."

For the first time in his life, Ben saw a frazzled Dorvan. Granted he hadn't seen the man in years, but the office of Chief of State didn't appear to have been too kind to him. Poor Wynn's jet black hair already had a considerable amount of gray, and it was somewhat disheveled as if he had been sleeping in his office and hadn't seen himself in a mirror for quite some time. All in all the effects almost looked like the aftermath of someone who was on death sticks their whole life.

But what intrigued Ben more was the woman in the office sitting across from Wynn and next to himself. She was obviously past her physical prime and was probably in her late sixties. She was an officer, wearing a similar uniform to the one he himself wore in the GAG. The rank indicator resembling two arches on her collar told him she was a general. Ben had been in some pretty high-security areas before, but this was the first time he'd ever been included in a private meeting with a general. 

Wynn took a breath and tried to compose himself. "General Ors here tells me that we have a problem with some Sith. They've been active on the planet for some time, apparently, but never seemed to pose a major threat...until now."

Ors nodded. "Several intel squads have come up missing. We found the body of a sergeant, and the cause of death appears to be acute lightsaber poisoning."

"That's bad," Ben said.

"Tell me about it," Ors continued. "We're not equipped to handle Sith. With the Jedi gone, apparently, they see the GA as a vacuum that needs to be filled. But we've dealt with the Lost Tribe before. This is a completely different bunch."

"Oh no," Ben said.

"Oh yes," Wynn corrected. "And we think they're getting Imperial help."

Ben started making connections, and the results were startling. It looked as if the Lost Tribe, the mystery Sith faction, and the Empire were all working together. And that was a scary proposition.

"Well, it looks like we're after the same thing," The Jedi said. "I was tracking a Sith here from Bespin, and we think she has ties with both the Lost Tribe and the Empire."

"What's her name?" Ors asked.

"Vestara Khai, and she also goes by the alias Savarah Raine."

"She's on the list of suspects," The General said. "We've had our eye on her since Galactic Syndicated."

"You guys knew about all that?" Ben asked, amazed.

"Ben, we know as much as we want to know," Ors said. "We're the best of the best. The Imperial Intelligence doesn't even come close to what we do. We know where she lives, we know her comm frequency, what time she gets up in the morning, and what her favorite news outlets are. We could tell you which leg she shaves first in the sanisteam. We know everything." 

"Then you should also know that there are two active factions of Sith in the galaxy."

"Oh absolutely. The Lost Tribe and the One Sith. The One Sith is an interesting bunch, and our main threat. Very advanced. Their leader who goes by Darth Krayt has remained in stasis for quite some time. We think he's afraid to die."

Ben drank this information up, his eyes wide. What else did the GA know?

"They've also been subtly influencing politics," Wynn added. "They take advantage of our democracy, set up fake news outlets, and sway the populace...against us. It appears they want to set up their own people in our government."

"It even goes beyond that," The general said. "This Krayt is a mastermind. It's set up in stages. We're currently tracking an effort to assassinate Wynn. If it goes as planned for them, it will force an emergency election. And with the people as deceived as they are right now--" She let the sentence trail off.

"Well, I think I can help," Ben said. "Vestara is here on Coruscant, right now. If we can capture her, we can interrogate her and learn how to take this Sith uprising out."

***

Ben strolled into Fellowship Plaza. He picked a paved path through the greenery and followed it. He could feel Vestara's presence. To his surprise it wasn't dark or malevolent. It was fearful, conflicted, and hesitant. But he wasn't fooled. Vestara had faked all sorts of emotions and became a master of deception. It was all a ploy and he knew it.

He followed his senses. He came to a clearing, and there she was, facing away from him.

"Well, I'm here," Ben said. To his amazement he didn't sense a threat. "You said I 'owe you,' and I think you're right."

Vestara turned around to face him, her expression betraying a good deal of hurt.

And now it's time for the crocodile tears. Ben thought. But they never came. Instead she stared blankly beyond him as if there were something of interest there. 

He recognized the blank glassy stare, he'd seen it before in people who were about to have a seizure. But she appeared to snap out of it, and her eyes burned bright orange with hate. He was right. She had become quite the actor.

Vestara ignited her saber and started to advance on him. Ben reached for his saber and ignited it with one hand, and brought the other to his mouth and whistled hard. Squads of armored CSF officers burst out of the shrubbery and surrounded Vestara, with their high-power blasters and rocket launchers trained on her. 

"Drop your weapon! Do it now!"

But she didn't. The CSF officers didn't move. They looked to their comrades. They didn't advance. Through the shroud of tension, life went on around them, oblivious. Except for the drone of lightsabers, it was quiet. Tranquil, even. 

And then it happened. One of the CSF officers was too tense, and inadvertently squeezed a shot off. With the speed of a Vornskyr, the Sith deflected the shot and retaliated against the entire squad. Her lightsaber sprang from her hand, and seemingly with a mind of it's own spun like a fan and brutally killed half a dozen officers. While that massacre was underway, she turned to another bunch of officers and blasted them with a strong Force push.

This was not going well.

Chapter Text

"The Sith control everything. You just don't know it yet!"

―Count Dooku

Ahsoka sat cramped in a corner on an airbus on Coruscant. It wasn't because of the lack of available seating: there was plenty of room between her and the Trandoshan sitting next to her, just the way she liked it.

The reason she wanted to sit so far away was the Trandoshan smelled like death. She wanted to be as respectful as reasonably possible, so she pretended to look out the transparisteel window as she tucked her nose in the Jedi homespun robes that Luke had given her. Due to the loose weave and porous nature of the fabric, it did precious little to mask the stench.

The Trandoshan's stink also reminded her about her being captured and frozen by Karazak slavers in the Coruscant undercity. Despite that, Tano tried to focus on studying the changes that happened on Coruscant that happened while she was in carbonite. Luckily there was no shortage of intriguing things outside. By far the biggest thing she saw was nothing. There were simply bare patches in the Coruscant cityscape with absolutely nothing. The late afternoon haze was too thick to let her see all the way down to the planet surface, but Luke told her before she left that this was, in fact, the aftermath of Abeloth.

It was one thing to hear about it second hand from Luke. It was something else entirely for Ahsoka to see the destruction with her own eyes. She wondered how many millions lost their lives in this rampage of Abeloth's on that apocalyptic day.

Buildings started coming back into view as the airbus entered a less-destroyed area. On the horizon, she could see the angles of the Jedi Temple glistening in the sun like a gem. It was almost picturesque if it weren't for obvious bare patches that still echoed the destruction the Force entity wreaked upon the planet.

The airbus continued approaching the Jedi Temple. But something felt...off. And she was fairly certain it wasn't just her stomach revolting at the smell of the Trandoshan. Ahsoka reached out in the Force, but was unable to pinpoint the disturbance. She tried to ignore it for the time being.

The airbus eventually started slowing down, and it stopped at Fellowship Plaza. A chime sounded, and a droid voice announced their arrival. Beings started filing out of the airbus. The Trandoshan simply shoved his way into the slowly moving crowd. Thank the stars he was gone. But the mass of people was too thick for Ahsoka to squeeze in. The Togruta simply resigned for the moment and sat down again where she was and rested her head against the transparisteel. She'd catch the end of the line.

Looking out into the gardens of Fellowship Plaza, Tano thought she saw flashes of light through the foliage. Her danger sense arrested her attention a split second before a dark object flew out of the trees and smacked against the transparisteel. The force of the impact dented the window Ahsoka's head had been on, and the figure, a soldier of some kind, slid down the transparent metal leaving a blood smear. Multiple screams echoed in the cabin of the airbus, and people started stampeding out, running each other over. She probed outward with the Force, and sensed lives being ripped away...and two particularly powerful Force presences. One was conflicted, fighting with itself. And the other, strong, resolute, but with a dark tinge of malice to it.

There was no way Ahsoka could exit the airbus with the rest of the people. The roof was too low for her to jump over them, and she couldn't join the crowd without getting mowed over. That left just one option. With a snap-hiss, she ignited Luke's saber that he loaned her, and slashed an X in the thin transparisteel of the airbus. Using the Force she bent the sharp metal outward and leaped out onto Fellowship Plaza.

***

Vestara had made quicker work of the GA troops than Ben originally thought. She had simply swept them all off the plaza with the Force and let them fall to their deaths. In between parries, Ben kept an eye out for any reinforcements that may come. He was hoping for something aerial, a gunship if he was lucky, but he wasn't holding his breath. 

With great difficulty, Ben held his own, keeping his form close, concise, and moderate, hoping to wear Vestara down. She could only last for so long pouring herself out on a ferocious offense. If he could efficiently hold his defense, he'd wait for her to get tired and start making exploitable mistakes. But that was taking too long. He wasn't sure how much longer he could maintain the stalemate without making exploitable mistakes himself.

And then something exploded out from the foliage. Someone, actually. Whoever it was was dressed in Jedi robes and started swinging at Vestara with a green lightsaber. The stranger landed a hit on her back, but it barely fazed her. The Sith merely turned around at an angle where she could engage both threats.

Ben pushed his new advantage, pushed himself, and used the Force to augment his speed and strength as he started plowing into Vestara, pinning her between himself and this mysterious stranger.

The stranger had the same idea. Vestrara leaped backward, out from between them so she could face both her assailants head on. Without their opponent between them, Ben caught a glimpse of the stranger. She was an adolescent Togruta, her face bent in aggression. He was familiar with most of the people in the Jedi Order, especially those in his age range, but he didn't recognize her at all.

Nevertheless, they kept pushing. Ben noticed that eventually Vestara would be pushed back to the edge. He continued hacking away, forcing Vestara closer and closer to the edge. He sensed hesitation in the other Jedi before she leaped over Vestara's head, trying to stop her from going off the edge and to add more pressure.

The Togruta's maneuver had the opposite effect. The Sith simply jumped headlong over the edge anyway, seemingly escaping both Jedi.

Ben sprinted the couple of meters between him and the ledge. He saw Vestara, plummeting down. He grabbed her in the Force with significant difficulty and suspended her long enough so that she was hit by an air taxi before letting her limp form free-fall. He turned to walk away.

The strange Jedi simply stared at him with wide eyes, in disbelief. "Was that really necessary?"

Ben didn't turn around. "Yup." He activated his comlink. "Skywalker to General Ors, come in."

The girl followed him. "Skywalker? You must be Ben."

Ben still kept walking. "Mhm. Sorry, no autographs today. Try again tomorrow."

His comlink crackled. "Jan here, go ahead."

This time Ben stopped to answer his comlink.

"General, the Sith Lord got away. She jumped off the west side. She's probably wounded and looking for a place to hole up. I can sense she's still alive. If you take a squad in there, I would highly recommend packing a ysalimir with them."

"Will do," the General replied. "It's possible she may try breaking into the Temple, being that it's abandoned."

"I'll check it out right now. Skywalker out." Ben put his comlink away and turned to face the mystery Jedi that seemed to want to talk with him so badly. "Alright, who the stang are you, and what do you want with me?"

"I'm Ahsoka Tano," The Jedi said. "I was sent here to find some files in the Temple Archives--"

"Oh yeah?" Ben cut her off. "Well, there's a slight problem with that. You're no Jedi. At least none that I've heard of. And you want to get into the Jedi Temple? How 'bout I just drag your Sith shebs to the Isard prison for interrogation and save us both some time?"

"What makes you think I'm a Sith?" Ahsoka protested.

"For one, I know the Jedi Order inside and out, and everyone in it. There's no way you're a Jedi. For two," Ben reached out his hand, and his father's lightsaber clipped onto Ahsoka's belt leaped into it. "This isn't yours. And--"

"For three I put my life on the line to save you from your psycho Sith friend," Tano snapped, getting angry herself. "And for four I never attacked you. You're right, I'm no Jedi. And if we're completely honest here, neither are you. You'd be smart to learn from your grandfather's mistakes."

She started walking away in a huff toward the direction of the Temple, but Ben was still left with more questions than answers. It was plain as day to him now she wasn't a Sith, but at the same time, she couldn't be a Jedi either. Her comments were poignant and thought-provoking. He couldn't just let his answers walk away. He pinned her feet to the ground with the Force.

"I'm not done just yet," Ben said. He held up his father's lightsaber. "Where'd you get this?"

Ahsoka turned her head to glare at him, clearly aggravated. "Your father, where else?"

"And there's no way in the nine Corellian hells he just gave this to you. So how'd you get it?"

"He did give it to me," Ahsoka said, her face betraying that Ben's questioning was getting old fast. "He thawed me out of carbonite and sent me here."

Ben was skeptical. "From where?"

"Tatooine." She said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"That makes no sense."

"It does if you're looking for information gathered by Ben Kenobi."

"What information?"

"The location of the Dagger of Mortis. The one I held in my hand when I was at Mortis with Anakin and Obi-Wan."

Ben laughed out loud. "Sorry, there's no way."

"Tadar'Ro," Ahsoka stated. "He's an Aing-Tii monk you and your father met in the Kathol Rift. Luke told me all about that, how your cousin Jacen first met the monks on his five-year voyage to learn about the Force. Believe me now?"

Ben had trouble believing her, but the only people that knew about him and his dad meeting Tadar'Ro and the Aing-Tii monks could be counted on one hand. Either she was an insanely masterful spy, which was especially unlikely given her age, the girl had interrogated his father, which was equally unlikely, or she was honestly telling the truth. He could sense her Force aura was open and honest, but these days that meant little to him. With the right mental gymnastics, almost anything was possible. Vestara had him trained well.

"I guess I really don't have a reason not to," Ben said, working out the logic, and setting his feelings aside. "You said you had some research to do in the Temple?"

Chapter Text

"What greater weapon is there than to turn an enemy to your cause? To use their own knowledge against them?"

―Bastila Shan

Darth Wyyrlok studied Lady Fallax's travel patterns in a holographic map of the galaxy. She went directly from Hutt space to Bespin, and then to Coruscant. She was supposed to report back to him on Korriban as soon as she was finished with the Venture. Apparently, that was too difficult for her.

"Wyyrlok, what is the matter?" Krayt asked.

Wyyrlok glanced over his shoulder at the brooding form of Darth Krayt. "Lady Fallax is not following orders. It appears she took a detour to Coruscant."

"If she obeyed everything without wavering, I would be worried. To push boundaries is to be Sith," Krayt said as he stepped closer to the hologram. "Has Darth Jen reported on her status?"

"He witnessed a fight between her, the young Skywalker, and an unknown Jedi."

"Unknown Jedi?" Krayt inquired, his eyes narrowing and anger seeping into his tone. "I am more displeased at your failings than hers. Did lord Jen give a description?"

"She appeared to be an adolescent Togruta female." Wyyrlok said. 

For a long moment Krayt said nothing as he stared absently into the hologram. "There are no Togruta in the Jedi Order. Where did she come from?"

"Records indicate she originated from Tatooine, and obtained passage to Coruscant aboard a smuggler's ship. Therefore, her interference likely has something to do with Luke Skywalker." Wyyrlok answered, trying to appease the seething Krayt.

"This complicates things." Krayt mused. "Tell lord Jen to kill this mystery Jedi and lure young Skywalker to Ossus. Failing that, ensure they both get to Ossus, and the planet is slagged. I want them dead! And send Darth Fallax to bring the Jedi Queen to me. Her disobedience will not go unpunished."

Krayt stormed out of the room, and lightning flashed outside. Wyyrlok choked down his unease. Krayt was very powerful. He feared the Sith Lord could go so far as to influence the very weather on Korriban and read minds like an open book. And he, Darth Krayt, the most powerful Sith lord possibly ever, was angry.

Chapter Text

"If I'm supposed to be the Sword of the Jedi, it's time I took it seriously."

―Jaina Solo

It had been nearly a week since Ben left to check on Lando's droid situation, and outside of a confirmation that Ben had landed at Cloud City, he hadn't heard from him since. Kyle didn't like that. 

He decided to give Lando a call. He checked his datapad to see what time it was at Cloud City. There, it was 0524, early in the morning. Decidedly it would be a bit rude, but lives could be at stake, and he had a feeling that Lando would appreciate the follow-up.

He keyed in Lando's comm frequency on the holoprojector on his desk.

After a moment, Lando answered, bleary eyed and still in his nightclothes. "Hey Kyle, what's up?"

"Hey Lando," Kyle greeted. "I haven't heard from Ben in a while, is everything going alright?"

"I wish I could say yes, but honestly I don't think so," Lando said. "It looks like the Lost Tribe was involved in the attack, and his old girlfreind Vestara may be the mastermind. While we were talking, she initiated the self-destruct sequence on his shuttle and blew it up right on the starpad."

Kyle rolled his eyes. What was it about these Skywalkers that somehow always managed to drag the whole galaxy into their personal drama?

"I hate to break it to you Lando, but it looks like we've got two Sith factions loose in the galaxy," Kyle said.

"Two? What's the second one?"

"I don't know, but they managed to infiltrate us and the Remnant," Kyle said. "We were attacked on Shedu Maad by Remnant Star Destroyers. They stopped attacking once the Academy was destroyed and let us offplanet. My guess is they were tracking us and they now know of our facility on Ossus."

"Grife, that's bad." Lando said.

"Tell me about it," Kyle replied. He took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "So where is Ben now? I bet he went after her."

"He did," Lando confirmed. "She left a cryptic message and some coordinates by the shuttle. It said to meet him at Fellowship Plaza because 'he owed her' for blowing up his shuttle."

"And Ben fell for it hook line and sinker." Kyle said.

Lando nodded. "And I haven't heard from him since. I imagine he's pretty busy though. I suggested that he let Wynn know of the developments, and they're probably working together to try and capture Vestara and interrogate her."

"That's not bound to go over well with an emotionally wounded Skywalker." Kyle stated matter-of-factly. 

"I know," Lando said. "I wish I could have done more to help."

"You did fine, thanks Lando. I'll send Corran and Mirax to check out the Venture since Ben is a bit tied up."

"Thanks buddy," Lando said. 

"No problem," Kyle said with a smile as he closed the comm channel. 

The smile quickly left his face as he was brought back to his current situation. Jaina had gone missing. She left a note for Jag, which he showed Kyle and left on his desk. The note, quickly scrawled on a piece of flimsi, read:

Jag,

I hate to do this to you, but I think Allana is in danger. I'll know more when I get to Hapes.

We talked about this before, about our duties and responsibilities. This is mine. I'm the Sword of the Jedi, and if Allana is killed, the Jedi won't be the only ones suffering for it.

I hope you understand. No matter what I still love you, and I always will.

--Jaina

Kyle wasn't upset that Jaina left. He was upset that she just...left. He couldn't say that she didn't say anything before she left, because she left the note. But she didn't tell anyone, explain herself, give notice...anything. She was just so impulsive and hard headed.

"I swear I'll never understand these Skywalker kids," Kyle muttered to himself. Kid. Jaina was almost forty. Suddenly he felt old.

Kyle plucked the comlink off his belt. "Corran, can you come see me in my office?"

"Sure," Corran's voice came from the doorway. Kyle jumped in his chair and fumbled his comlink. Corran chuckled. "Something up with Booster?"

"Yeah. He's your father-in-law, right?"

"Mhm," Corran said, waiting for Kyle to get to the point.

"Lando thinks the Errant Venture was attacked by the Lost Tribe. I volunteered you and Mirax to assess the situation."

"Sithspit," Corran swore. Booster Terrik, the captain of the Venture, was Corran's father-in-law. "Yeah, we'll check it out. Where was it last?"

"Just outside the Correllia system," Kyle said. "Galactic south, a couple parsecs out."

"Alright. We'll set out this afternoon," Corran said. 

"Thanks," Kyle said. "If they hit it once, they'll be back. Be careful."

"We will," Corran said. "I'm more worried about the Sith attacking this place."

"I know. It's far from an ideal situation," Kyle said. "It could be that they're waiting to slag us once we're all concentrated here. Or maybe they're waiting for one of us to leave and reveal yet another hiding spot of ours. Either way, they're waiting for something, and I don't like it. I think another attack is inevitable, the question is just when."

"If they're planning an attack of some sort, are you sure you can do without me here?" Corran asked.

"Well, if we can't, I'm sure you can stake out on Dagobah until a wide eyed kid drops in, and help start the Order over from scratch again," Kyle responded with a smirk, only half-joking.

Corran snorted. "Thanks for the good faith."

"Any time," Kyle quipped. Corran, chuckling and shaking his head, left Kyle's office.

***

Ahsoka stabbed a key on the terminal with her finger. The click echoed in the empty chamber of the Jedi Archives. She stabbed the key again. And again. She scrolled though the list of Jedi from the time Luke estimated, but there was still no record of this "A'Sharad Hett." She had tried rephrasing search queries, honing filters, and even just searched broadly for "Hett" just to make sure she wasn't spelling it wrong. There was nothing. 

The name was vaguely familiar to her, as if she'd been quickly introduced in a hallway or met him briefly before a mission or on the battlefield. It wasn't likely that he and Anakin got along well. Ahsoka remembered one of the few conversations she had with Padmé about Anakin. She remembered telling the Senator about how Anakin nearly lost it when he and Obi-Wan came into contact with slavers. Amidala said that it was a touchy spot with him, as were the Tuskens. 

She told the Padawan that Anakin's mother was held captive and killed by the Tuskens, and he slaughtered an entire tribe in hurt and revenge. Ever since then, he held a special hatred for them. Although it wasn't right by any stretch of the imagination, it made a certain amount of sense why Anakin wouldn't let his Padawan even get close to Hett. His blood probably boiled every time he saw the Tusken Jedi.

"Well, that was a bust," Ahsoka said to herself, her voice echoing ominously off the walls. Light streamed through the transparisteel ceiling from the late afternoon sun. It certainly did add a lot of light in what used to be a bit of a cave. 

Ben wasn't back yet. He had taken back his father's lightsaber, and was searching the Temple for any evidence of Sith activity. At least he'd made sure she had a comlink. Ahsoka didn't want to set Ben off even more than he already was by wandering off. She sighed in boredom.

After a moment, she hesitantly started keying in a name.

A-N-A-K

The computer automatically suggested ANAKIN SKYWALKER. She hit the submit key. Up came her old master's biography, in great detail. More detail, apparently, than Ahsoka had been privy to. Scrolling through the orderly sections of his file, she stumbled across a holo of Hett...with Anakin. Intrigued, she started reading the section.

During the Second Battle of Jabiim, Skywalker worked with Jedi Knight [13xNUL] helping at a temporary Republic military hospital. There, Skywalker attempted to save the life of Master Sora Mobari, but [4xNUL] insisted that he was only causing more pain. As a result, Anakin let Master Mobari die peacefully.

Ahsoka wasn't an expert with computers by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly appeared some data here was corrupted. She did know NUL literally meant a binary "0".  She also knew that when data was wiped or acidwashed, zeros were written over the old data to make it permanently unreadable. If she was guessing correctly, it looked like someone attempted to wipe a certain name from the Jedi Archives.

On a hunch, Ahsoka typed the name A'SHARAD HETT into the search field, and counted the characters. There were thirteen characters, including the space. If she was reading the error correctly, there were thirteen characters that had been "nulled" from the system in the first sentence of that paragraph. 

Following that lead, Ahsoka searched in the archives for "[13xNUL]". There was one bio, and plenty of links in other bios, including Anakin's. The summary for the nulled article was an opening bracket, and a string of numbers that was truncated to fit on the screen. The holo that would normally accompany the article was missing. Curious, she opened it. Or, tried to.

An error popped up on the screen, saying that particular archive was corrupted, and to contact the Temple librarian. 

"Looking for something?" A voice behind her asked sarcastically. Ahsoka jumped in her seat, startled. She hadn't sensed anything...and she still didn't sense anything. The voice didn't sound familiar, either. Boots clacked on the polished stone floor behind her. They seemed to boom in the silence of the Archives.

"Not particularly," Ahsoka said, poised to leap from her seat the nanosecond she sensed danger. She wasn't prepared for a fight. She had no saber.

"Then, you wouldn't be opposed to leaving," The voice said. 

"No," Ahsoka replied, turning the terminal screen off. With nothing on the screen, it reflected what was behind her. "I guess not."

Over her shoulder, Ahsoka saw a dark cloaked man behind her. The only thing she could see of him was a pair of eyes underneath the cowl of his cloak. She had seen Sith eyes more than once, but there was something different about his. They seemed...brighter. 

"Then I would suggest you leave immediately. The Jedi Temple is no place for a young lady to be unattended. You might get...lost."

She was puzzled who this man was. She couldn't feel anything in the Force from him, as if he simply didn't exist. But he probably wasn't a Sith, otherwise he likely would have killed her.

"Good point," Ahsoka said, as she slowly got up from her seat. She tried to steal a glance at the man. He was in dark robes, and, as she saw in the reflection, the hood obfuscated his face. But his eyes weren't yellow. They were white. 

"On second thought, I can't let you leave," The man said, almost as if he had sensed that she had seen him. "That would be risky. And I don't like risks."

Ahsoka stopped cold in her stride. She had a funny feeling she had just become a loose end.

Chapter Text

"We are alike, you and I-Abandoned by the galaxy, harshly shaped for our destiny by the Force-And hammered in that forge until our anger can no longer be contained."

―Darth  Krayt

Ben lurked in the Temple, searching for anything out of the ordinary. He wasn't finding anything. But then, something caught his attention. There was a disturbance in the Force.

He reached out, and felt a presence that wasn't there before. Dark, sinister. Powerful. He tried to pinpoint where it was emanating from. It was coming from the direction of...the Archives!

That bratty runt would draw attention, wouldn't she? Ben thought to himself. He bolted in the direction of the Archives.

***

White Eyes slashed at Ahsoka's waist with his crimson saber. But she was too quick, the saber merely buzzed through the air in front of her...but just barely. With no weapon, she would be hacked to pieces unless she could find a way to hold this Sith off, and with any luck escape.

Ahsoka somersaulted sideways, avoiding a diagonal stroke that would have cleaved her in two. Coming out of the roll, she saw the shelves in the Archives were stocked with datachips. She grabbed one with the Force and hurled it at the Sith's head.

With a crack, the chip ricocheted off his skull from behind and skittered across the polished stone floor. The Sith hollered in agony and held the back of his head with his free hand. Ahsoka bolted for the entrance of the Archives, but she collided with someone else running in, and fell backwards in shock.

Ben grunted and staggered back from the hit, but wasn't fazed. He was fixated on the Sith Lord in the Jedi Archives.

"You don't look like you belong here," Skywalker remarked brusquely, stepping toward the white-eyed Sith as Ahsoka picked herself back up.

"Neither do you," The Sith replied in a rough gravelly voice. He pulled back his hood with a gloved four-digited hand. He was an older man, with a scarred, weathered face and snow white hair to match his white eyes.

"I don't know what you're doing here, but I look forward to killing you," Ben said, anger seeping into his tone. "I hate you Sith and I hate what you do. And it's time for all of you to end!"

Skywalker charged at White Eyes, who merely smirked as he brought up his blade to defend. The smirk left his face as Ben ignited two sabers and began his ruthless assault. The Arkanian parried and stepped back.

"Ben!" A voice shouted from the far end of the Archives. Ben froze. He knew that voice. A voice he shouldn't ever have heard again. He couldn't help but look in its direction.

Clad in dark robes over a shiny black GAG chestplate stood none other than Jacen Solo.

"What are you doing?" Solo asked. The fight had stopped. Ben shot a glance at White Eyes. The Arkanian had a devious grin. Before he knew it, Ben was off the ground and choking. He glanced over to where Jacen was, but didn't see him anymore. The karking Sith projected an illusion!

Ben dropped a saber to grab at his throat and pry away the invisible hand that was crushing his windpipe. A hand that didn't exist.

"You stupid Jedi," White Eyes said. "We learned quite a bit from your little Twi'lek outcast, including that little trick. But that's as far as my patience goes."

White Eyes brought back his saber for a forward slash. But before he could bring it forward, the saber hilt that Ben dropped sprang to life off the floor between the Sith and the Jedi. White Eyes dropped Ben, who collapsed to the floor, wheezing.

"Looks like you're going to get an exercise in patience today," Ahsoka said, now once more wielding Luke's lightsaber.

"I pity you, Jedi," White Eyes stated, twirling his saber before resuming a defensive posture and glaring at Tano.

Ben scrabbled away from the Sith and used the Force to bring himself up, reigniting his saber.

"Save it," The Jedi Knight said. Both him and Ahsoka charged the Sith Lord. The Arcanian didn't defend though. He attacked.

So ravenous was his assault that even with Ben and Ahsoka occupying his attention on each side, he had both Jedi on the defensive. The Sith was a blur of calculated chaos, seemingly random slashes and strikes landed in the worst possible spots to defend.

"Ahsoka!" Ben grunted between parries. The Togruta merely shot a glance in his direction before quite literally losing her head. "I need you...to go find...Wynn Dorvan...get my...yacht!"

"Are you...seriously--" Ahsoka was interrupted by a crimson blade lashing out at her ankles.

"Go!" Ben demanded.

Ahsoka bolted from the fight, leaving Ben alone to defend against the Sith's relentless attacks.

White Eyes simply couldn't let this happen. He was supposed to kill the Togruta, not Skywalker. Skywalker needed to live. Arkanians were creative, and White Eyes was no different. He smirked as he locked blades with Skywalker. In a flash he had grabbed Ben's face and began to drain his life away.

Skywalker collapsed at the Sith's feet. White Eyes raised his saber, poised to bring the point down through Ben's chest.

Ahsoka turned, sensing Ben's presence in the Force diminish greatly. His saber hilt flew out of his weakened grip and into Ahsoka's. Now armed with two blades, she charged at White Eyes as he brought his saber down at Ben.

He turned the downward strike into a diagonal one that clashed with Ahsoka's blades. With a powerful Force push, he slammed her into a pillar. Then he leaped at her with his saber raised above his head, ready to rend the girl in two. As he brought the blade down, Ahsoka darted out of it's path and let it create a long vertical gash in the stone.

With the Jedi girl on the defensive, White Eyes raised a hand and unleashed a storm of lightning on her. Unprepared for the Force attack, Ahsoka lost her grip on the sabers, and her body bore the brunt of the attack.

The energy sent her reeling back, and she fell to the stone floor in agony. White Eyes approached her, his crimson saber droning. In slow motion she saw each of his steps and heard his boot heels clack against the floor.

And then something unexpected happened. A blaster bolt came screaming from the entrance and hit the Sith on his left side. It was followed by a full volley of red blaster fire.

The Sith, with a smoking hole in his side, started batting the bolts back at their senders, who happened to be heavily armored CSF troops. He wasn't entirely successful, two more bolts hit him. One tore into his shoulder, and another punched a hole in his thigh. But he fought through it, and continued onward towards his attackers.

Then the troops deployed a forcefield between them and the Sith Lord. They continued firing at the Sith, but as he deflected the shots, they bounced back at him from the shield. Within seconds, he was hit enough times that he simply collapsed.

The troops carefully surrounded him, stepping through the shield. One of which, their commanding officer, was wearing a black backpack.

The Sith Lord lashed out with his lightsaber in a futile attempt to prevent his grim future. The tip managed to find a soldier's shin and caused it's victim to fall to scream in agony and fall to the floor.

The uninjured troops scrambled to incapacitate the Sith Lord. A popping and crackling stun baton was administered to his shoulder, and the dark robed Arkanian spasmed and wailed on the floor.

"We'll just take that," One of the CSF men remarked as he dug an armored knee into the Sith's back and wrenched the saber from his grip.

Medics rushed into the Archives to treat Ben, Ahsoka, and the injured CSF officer. General Ors strolled purposefully into the chamber, observing the residual chaos from the fight and taking in the strong smell of ozone and charred flesh in the air.

Ben stood shakily, disregarding treatment the medics offered. "General," He greeted Jan.

"Jedi Skywalker," Ors said.

"I've got good news and bad news. The good news is I found you a Sith Lord," Ben stated in a light mood despite his condition.

"And the bad news looks like his name probably isn't Vestara," Jan surmised with a glance over her shoulder at the culprit.

"Yeah," Ben said. "Which is both good and bad at the same time. Vestara is badly injured. She jumped off a building and got hit by an air taxi by Fellowship Plaza."

"At least she won't be going anywhere fast," Jan said. "I'll get top men working on it. In the mean time, you and your...friend should focus on healing up for a day or so." And with that Ors left.

Chapter Text

"The dark side doesn't make you any stronger. It's faster, easier, more seductive. It's also more tenacious. Just as the light side brings freedom, the dark side brings only bondage. Once you enslave yourself to the dark side of the Force, you may never escape."

―Jaina Solo Fel

"Ta'a Chume, you have a visitor," Tenel Ka's comlink crackled. A visitor? Usually she would be suspicious of someone who didn't call ahead, but being a Jedi on the side had it's advantages. Reaching out with the Force, she didn't sense any malicious intent. Instead, she felt a familiar presense.

"I noticed," The Queen Mother replied into the device. "Tell Luke I'll meet him in the Hall of Masters."

"Queen Mother, another ship has been cleared for arrival. YT-1300 class, transponder reads 'Millenium Falcon'."

The Solos? Weren't they supposed to be touring the galaxy? Tenel Ka reached out again, and did indeed feel the vibrant presence of her mother in law Leia. What was going on?

"Have the Solos meet me in the Hall as well," Tenel Ka responded, walking at a brisk pace to the Hall of Masters.

When she got there, she found Luke had already been ushered in and was waiting patiently.

"Queen Mother," He greeted. He could have gotten away with calling her by her name, but he was on her world, and wanted to show respect. "I have reason to believe the Chume'da is in great danger."

"I did sense a disturbance in the Force," Tenel Ka replied. "Thank you for coming. Tell me, what is going on?"

"I think there is going to be a Sith invasion. I don't know when, but as near as I can guess it's going to be soon."

"Sith are coming for Allana?" Tenel Ka asked. "Should I ready the planetary security?"

"I think you'd better," Luke said soberly. "It appears the Sith have already been to Shedu Maad and they didn't leave much."

Tenel Ka sighed. "Very well," She grabbed her comlink and began talking with her security leaders. Jaina was led into the Hall of Masters, with Han and Leia following.

"Uncle Luke!" Jaina exclaimed as she embraced Luke in a hug.

"Jaina, why are you here?" Luke asked.

"Bad dreams," Han said. "Her and Princess both. We were on our way to Spira when she woke up screaming incoherently about Allana."

Luke looked with concern to his sister. "Allana and the Dark Man?"

Leia gave a somber nod.

"Both of us," Jaina said.

"That's not good," Luke stated. "For years it was just me. Now it's getting more widespread. I sense something big is going to happen. Soon."

Tenel Ka stowed her comlink. "I need to go get Allana. Please excuse me." She walked off briskly in the direction of the Royal Residence.

"Jaina, I saw what was left of the Academy on Shedu Maad," Luke said "What happened?"

"Sith happened," Jaina said, distraught. "It looks like Sith got their hands on a few Star Destroyers. Jag thinks one or more of the Moffs were cajoled into working with them."

"The Lost Tribe?" Luke asked.

"No, they sent ground forces to invade the Temple during the bombardment," Jaina said. "They were not the Lost Tribe. They were...something else."

Luke took a deep breath. "I think I know who is responsible."

"I bet it was Sith," Han said, a futile attempt at lightening the mood.

"More specifically, the Dark Man," Luke clarified. "I was on Tatooine at Obi-Wan's hut, going through his old records and journals. Apparently the Dark Man is the mystery Sith that helped defeat Abeloth...and a former Jedi."

"A Jedi?" Jaina asked, raising an eyebrow.

Luke nodded. "His name is A'Sharad Hett. He was a Jedi during the time of the Clone Wars. After Order 66, he fell to the dark side and assaulted Obi-Wan on Tatooine. From there, apparently he was exiled from the planet, and became a powerful Sith Lord."

"Well that's just great," Jaina said. "So let me guess, they're going to get all chummy with the Lost Tribe, and start tag-teaming us."

"From a small detail he let slip to me, I don't think he will," Luke said. "And it makes sense. After the fight with Abeloth, he tried to make me believe he was with the Lost Tribe. But I noticed that the Lost Tribe spends a lot of time and effort on physical beauty. Hett, on the other hand, obviously doesn't. What I think is more likely is that Hett's Sith order somehow wiped the out the Lost Tribe."

"Well, I can tell you now the Lost Tribe is alive and well too," Jaina said. "They attacked the Errant Venture. Lando thinks they're starting up their piracy again."

"I honestly don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Luke said, shaking his head.

"I'm no expert on Sith, but it sounds good to me," Han said. "Sith like to kill each other almost as much as they like killing innocent people."

"Maybe so, but we should still be cautious," Luke said. "If the two have joined forces, then this is going to be a long, hard fight. A fight we..." Luke paused. "We may not be able to win."

Sober silence hung in the air among the group as Tenel Ka led Allana by an arm around her to her extended family. The Solo girl smiled weakly.

"We're going to be having more company," Tenel Ka explained. "My security team thinks it's Lando, but I sense it's not."

"Friendly?" Han asked, who was told of Lando's situation by his daughter.

Luke reached out with the Force. "It's Ben and Ahsoka."

"Gazuntite," Han said, half to himself.

"Han!" Leia scolded. Jaina suppressed a snicker.

"Yes, Your Worshipfulness?"

Leia sighed in resignation and shook her head, turning back to Luke. "And who is this 'Ahsoka'?"

It was Luke's turn to sigh. He was unsure how to put it. "She was at one point a good friend of our father's. She was his...padawan."

Leia's jaw simply hung open, her brown eyes wide as saucers. Luke continued.

"Apparently the Council assigned her to him in hopes that he would learn to let go of his attachments, after hearing of his actions on Tatooine against the Tuskens. Near the end of the Clone Wars, there was a bombing at the Temple, Ahsoka was framed for it, and even after she was found innocent, she left the Jedi and Anakin. She fled to the Coruscant undercity in hopes of starting a new life, but her plans backfired. Eventually she ended up in the custody of the Karazak Slavers Cooperative, and was frozen in carbonite. Ironically, thanks to Order 66, Karazak's Coruscant ring was busted, and Ahoska was never shipped off and sold."

"But there were no records of this," Jaina observed.

"Considering how bad this looked on the Jedi Order at the time, it was probably a taboo subject," Luke said. "Having one of your own leave because you falsely accused them of a heinous crime doesn't reflect well, and would be disastrous for morale when they were already in a dire situation."

"Makes sense," Jaina said.

Ben and Ahsoka joined the small group.

"Did I miss something?" Ben asked.

Luke turned to his son to return the banter, but something about him was off. He struck Luke as more callous than he was when he had seen him before he left for Tatooine. Luke surmised it probably had something to do with the Sith's destruction of the Academy on Shedu Maad.

"Not much," Luke replied after a second. "I suppose your being here has something to do with what happened on Shedu Maad?"

"Not directly, but I think so," Ben confirmed. "I think Vestara was responsible for the attack."

Luke's eyes narrowed. Something had changed in his son. "Ben, don't you think it's just a little far fetched?"

"Not after what I found out on Coruscant," Ben spat. "She's the one pulling the strings. Somehow she weaseled her way into the Remnant, and she's got plenty of help from a cult called the One Sith."

"Did you find her there?" Luke asked, worried, but keeping his sabacc face.

"Oh I found her alright," Ben replied. "But I don't think I killed her."

Luke pursed his lips in thought. Dots were connecting, and he didn't like where it was going. Particularly this little triangle with Hett, the Empire, and Vestara. What he disliked even more was that, if what Ben was saying was true, Vestara could single handedly overpower his son...and Ben was no slouch when it came to lightsaber combat. At least, not anymore...

"Ahsoka, did you find any information about Hett in the Temple archives?" He asked.

"No, Master. Well, yes and no. I found what I think was evidence that A'Sharad Hett's name had been erased from the Archives. When I started digging deeper, I was attacked by a Sith Lord."

Luke noticed his lightsaber wasn't on Ahoska's belt. "Well, in that case, can I have my lightsaber back?"

Ahsoka glanced over at Ben, who handed his father back the weapon. Luke shot his son a look which said, We'll talk about that later.

"Ahoska, I did some digging in the rubble on Shedu Maad. The lightsaber is the life of a Jedi, and I don't want you to be without one, especially considering the situation ahead." As he reached into his robes to reattach his own saber he withdrew two and held them out to the Togruta girl.

Ahsoka recognized one of the hilts immediately. Gingerly she took both Anakin's lightsaber and the shoto. "Thank you," She said weakly, her eyes welling up.

"You're welcome," Luke replied. "Now I want us all to be prepared for anything. I think everyone here has at least heard of what happened at Shedu--"

Tenel Ka cut him off, stowing her comlink. "I'm sorry Master Luke, but I just got word that a fleet of Imperial II Star Destroyers has just dropped out of hyperspace in the system."

"If you have an idea of a way to keep Allana safe, now would be the time to employ it," Luke said.

Tenel Ka keyed in a code on her comlink. Dozens of droideka started dropping from disguised dispensers, some uncurling at doorways, and some rolling out of the palace altogether.

"As much as I would like to get her on the Star Home, with the Imperials here I don't think that would be possible," Tenel Ka remarked.

"We could get her there," Han said, a cocky smirk creeping across his face.

Tenel Ka understood what Han was implying. "That would be almost as risky."

"Hey, I've done more with less," Han remarked with a wink directed at Allana, who winked back at her grandfather.

A flash of light ripped across the sky outside and lit up the palace as something tore through the atmosphere.

"I think we're out of time," Ahsoka said, observing something like a meteor dropping out of the sky through a window in the palace. A delayed BOOM reverberated through the palace as the sound from the atmosphere being broken finally reached the surface.

"If we make a run for it we can get her to the Falcon," Han said. A larger BOOM shook the palace, causing a large chandelier above everyone's heads to jingle.

"As much as I don't like the odds, it would seem like our best option," Tenel Ka said.

***

Rapid deployment pods ripped through the atmosphere of Hapes. They hit the ground like meteors, shredding the landscape and vaporizing buildings. The pods cracked open like mechanized eggs, and droids crawled out. They were battle droids, boldly emblazoned with the Imperial insignia.

The droids, like ants, gathered. They formed ranks and battalions. Their red eyes stared forward at their objective. The palace.

A Lambda shuttle, escorted by TIE fighters, landed prominently in an unscathed patch of ground. Behind it were armored troop transports, which set down surrounding it.

Vestara stepped down off the boarding ramp of her shuttle. Unlike her forces, she herself wasn't such an impressive sight. She had two black eyes from a concussion, and she walked gingerly for fear of re-injuring her broken ribs.

She wasn't there to fight. She couldn't, not in the state she was in. That was the job of her Sith troopers, who were disembarking from their transports.

A trooper in red trimmed black armor, the pattern vaguely reminiscent of that of the Mandalorians, approached the Sith Lady.

"Lady Fallax, the troops are in place and are ready to begin the assault," He stated through his helmet.

"Well done commander Rann," Vestara said, and inhaled gingerly. "Find her and take her alive."

"It will be as you say," He responded with a slight bow, and turned to command his troops.

The droids formed the bulk of the fighting force. Small groups of Sith troopers commanded the droids, and all the troopers listened to Commander Rann.

Although she had no intention of fighting in this battle, Vestara did need to be present. She didn't trust the troopers not to hurt Allana.

The first battalion started advancing toward the Fountain Palace. Fire rained down on them, both from heavy artillery and snipers. It made no difference. The droids absorbed the blasterfire and returned rocket propelled grenades, and the Sith troopers batted away whatever shots came close to them with their sabers. Nothing the Hapans could throw at them from this range could break their ranks.

As Vestara advanced with the second battalion, Miy'til fighters started canvassing the area. Merciless turbolaser fire rained down on them from the Star Destroyers above, distracting them while TIE Defenders swooped down and flanked them, wiping them out before they could even start thinking about attacking the incoming Sith army.

So far it appeared the attack had taken them completely by surprise. What little resistance was offered was crushed with cold, brutal efficiency. And because of that, the Jedi Queen would live another day.

Chapter Text

" Hurt an enemy at the start of an engagement and he is yours, for as the fight progresses, his fear of you will intensify and will become your ally."

―Prince Isoder

Luke and Ben led Allana's exfiltration party toward the palace entrance. They could see the Hapan Security officers poised for action behind two droideka. Ben felt a sense of danger tug at his nerves a split second before the doorway was blown open violently. 

Both father and son used the Force to push back at the explosive force that threatened to funnel through the hallway like a cannon shot. They couldn't stop the blinding flash of light or the searing heat wave, but they kept the wind and debris at bay with the Force.

With spots in his eyes and ringing ears Ben ignited his saber, followed by Luke and the other Jedi. The droideka started firing towards the smoky entrance. Red blades poked through the fog and batted the shots away. The two droids were picked up with the Force and flung down the hallway. Their shields sputtered out as they lost the battle with the floor, and left the bare droids to tumble and slide. 

The Sith troopers advanced, backed by droids. Droids clad in shiny black Imperial armor, with glowing red eyes. They bore the same skeletal shape as a droid that was known very well: YVH droids. Luke Ben and Ahsoka stood their ground, with Han, Leia and Tenel Ka protecting Allana. The Jedi trio met the Sith squad, locking blades and severing limbs. 

Ben was the first to finish plowing through the Sith and began hacking away at a droid. He took a swipe with his saber at the neck of the mechanical menace. With a white flash his saber passed through...and sputtered out. 

The young Skywalker tried to reignite his saber. While he was doing so, the droid leveled an arm mounted rocket launcher between his eyes. In a flash, Ben gave the droid a hard Force push backward, and sent the machine crashing into half a dozen others behind it. 

"Not funny!" Ben exclaimed. "I think they have cortosis armor."

Luke impaled the last remaining Sith trooper and then struck him down before glancing his son's direction and staring down his own cortosis armored fiend. But Luke didn't strike it. Instead, he waved his hand. Instantly all the droids stiffened up, beeped and stuttered, then collapsed. 

"Let's find another exit before more of them show up," Luke said. A look of concern, borderline fear, was on the Jedi Master's face. These were machines dedicated to killing Jedi. Luckily Luke had mastered an ability to disable droids with the Force, but nobody else present was that lucky. 

"If this door has been breached, odds are the others will have been as well," Tenel Ka stated. "I know of a...less conventional way out, over one of the balconies."

"Let's go," Luke stated, letting the Queen Mother lead the way.

***

Vestara's regiment marched into the palace through the remains of the main door. The Sith troopers and YVH droids canvassed the area. But Vestara didn't need them to tell her that the area was clear. She sensed it. 

She strolled in, holding her side and surveying the carnage. Far more Imperial casualties than Hapan. But everyone was dead. Interesting...

As she stepped over the bodies and deactivated droids, the Sith sergeant gave the all clear sign. Vestara turned one of the dead Sith over with her boot. His right arm was missing at the elbow, a clean and cauterized cut. Lightsabers. Jedi. This complicated things. 

The Jedi were protecting Allana. Tenel Ka probably called for help. There was no way the Queen Mother and Allana alone could power through a squad of Sith troopers and lightsaber resistant droids. 

Vestara walked further into the palace and closed her eyes, opening herself to the Force. She felt the familiar Skywalker presences deeper inside the palace. And she could bet where the Skywalkers were, Allana would surely be nearby.

***

Ben watched the droids marching out of the palace from his perch on a balcony. They weren't able to find anyone inside. 

"How far out is the Falcon from here?" Luke whispered to Han. 

"Around the corner," Han replied in a frustrated tone with a nod to his left, at a protruding corner of the palace. 

Jaina peered over the balcony. On either side of the door where the droids were marching out a story below were two decorative pillars. She turned to Luke.

"Uncle Luke, I think we might be able to create a distraction," She hissed. 

"I already saw that, Jaina," Luke responded. "But how long do you think a diversion would last against a battalion of battle droids?"

"Depends," she replied. "How good are you at stopping blaster bolts?"

Luke simply shot a sideways glare at his niece. This wasn't the time for humor. But then he noticed that she was actually serious. 

"Use the Force, Uncle Luke," She said, smiling sweetly. 

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me?" Luke asked rhetorically. "You must be volunteering to help defend Allana after the army catches on, correct?"

Maintaining her smile, Jaina nodded. 

"Alright then," Luke said, formulating a quick plan. "I'll collapse those pillars across the doorway. Ben, Ahsoka follow me. Tenel Ka, Han, Leia, and Jaina will defend Allana and make a run for the Falcon and pick us up. If everything goes as planned, we should be trying to outrun Star Destroyers in about ten minutes."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Luke raised a hand, and caused the pillars to collapse on a row of the Imperial droids. An instant after, he leaped off the balcony, ignited his saber, and batted away a barrage of blaster bolts before landing on the ground. 

Ben and Ahsoka followed suit, the blasterfire now divided between the three of them. Once on the ground, Luke raised his hand once more and closed his eyes in concentration. The relentless stream of blaster bolts destined for himself, Ben and Ahsoka stopped in mid air, as did rocket propelled grenades. The droids kept firing, and added their firepower to the clusters of energy forming in front of each Jedi. 

Luke started trembling under the immense strain. A bead of sweat dribbled down his brow, furrowed in concentration. He felt the Force presences of the others jumping from the balcony and make a mad dash in the direction of the Falcon. 

Some of the black clad droids nearest the group of fleeing Solos started to catch on, and turned to fire on them. More and more droids picked up what was going on, and joined in. 

At that moment, Luke released his hold on the blaster bolts and grenades, and gave them a powerful Force push in the direction of their adversaries. The wave of energy decimated the ranks of droids, wiping out hundreds of the mechanical terrors in the space of a second. 

The droids firing at the Solos, sensing something was wrong behind them, turned to survey the sudden carnage. Finding nothing to blame except three armed hostiles, they opened fire once more on the Jedi. 

Luke, fatigued, with sweat glistening from his face batted away several blaster bolts from the droids before ducking for cover behind a decorative stone wall. Ahsoka followed suit, followed by Ben. Luke slumped up against the back of the wall, panting, and closed his eyes. His breathing started calming down. The trio deactivated their sabers. 

"Do you hear that?" Ahsoka asked Ben. 

"The blaster bolts eating away at our wall?" Ben asked sarcastically as debris rained down on the them from the latest shot. "Loud and clear."

"No," Ahsoka said, looking ahead near the palace. "Somebody's coming."

"I don't sense anyone," Ben said. 

Seconds later a Sith trooper emerged from behind another decorative wall. "There they are!" He shouted, igniting his saber. Suddenly a full squad of Sith troopers, crimson sabers in hand, charged at the three Jedi.

***

Allana was running so fast she thought she'd trip over her own feet. A shot from the droids managed to come dangerously close, but Jaina batted it away with her violet saber as she too ran for her life. The Falcon was just a few hundred meters out...

It happened. Allana tripped. She saw the ground loom in front of her face as if in slow motion as she was helpless to stop her fall. Blaster bolts could be heard zipping by. She didn't want to risk getting shot by standing up. 

Over the pounding in her head, the Chume'da heard the droning of lightsabers nearby, followed by the distinct zing sound of the bolts being deflected. A hand grabbed her arm and yanked her up. It was Jaina. 

"Go!" She shouted, releasing Allana and batting back more bolts side by side with the Queen Mother. She stumbled and took off towards the Falcon. In the distance she could see Han frantically punching in the security code to the boarding ramp as Leia kept blaster bolts at bay with her saber. She could almost hear Han swearing at the panel. 

Suddenly Allana heard something screeching behind her. Soil was kicked up all around her as green blaster bolts put craters in the permacrete. With a violent whoosh of wind and a deafening roar, a TIE Interceptor buzzed her, coming within meters of her head. She fell down again, but frantically scrambled up on her now trembling legs. 

A Lambda shuttle cut in between the Jedi and the Falcon, hovering several meters off the ground. The boarding ramp extended, and black robed Sith dropped to the tarmac. 

***

With Force augmented speed, Jaina and Tenel Ka rushed to Allana's aid. It was a race for the fate of the Cume'da. Blaster fire from the droids threatened to end their race prematurely. Both Jaina and Tenel Ka deftly batted away the bolts as they ran.

The Sith were closing in just as quickly, and with the Lambda between them and the Falcon, they were met with zero resistance. 

Jaina was determined to get there first. But the screaming engine note of a TIE behind her arrested her attention. The Interceptor opened fire on them.

Jaina spun around and batted one of the incoming green bolts back at her foe. The incoming TIE exploded into a ball of fire, headed their way.

Using the Force, Jaina leaped out from the fighter's path and landed on her feet on the tarmac. The TIE hit the permacrete and rolled, causing parts to fly off it's flaming chassis. The Jedi Master still sensed the Queen Mother's presence through the smoke from the TIE wreckage. She was alive.

Jaina wasted no time coming to Allana's aid. But she could already see she was too late. Even as she sprinted the last hundred meters, the Sith closed in surrounding the Chume'da.

***

Vestara seized the opportunity to abduct Allana. Each step brought dull pain to her chest as she raced to intercept the young Jedi.

Jaina was far enough away she wouldn't be a problem. Vestara ignited her saber as her Sith troopers rushed by to engage Jaina. But to her shock, the Chume'da, though obviously frightened, followed suit with her own emerald blade.

The Sith brought her saber down, aiming for Allana's arm. But the girl swiftly brought her weapon up to block. It was then when their eyes connected Allana recognized her assailant and remembered the near tragedy she caused in the Jedi Temple hangar bay.

The red headed Solo drew on the Force to hold off the crimson blade that threatened to plow through her body. Her arms started shaking under the strain.

"You need to come with me," Vestara said, her voice oddly firm and determined.

Allana was equally determined not to go wherever Vestara wanted to take her.

"No!" The Chume'da shouted, her arms shaking under the strain. She could no longer hold back Vestara's attack, and her saber was forced out of her hands. The hilt went spinning and landed with a solid metallic clatter on the permacrete.

***

"Kriffing Imperials tried to slice into her," Han said, stabbing frantically at the keys on the keypad trying to figure out how to get back into his ship.

Leia was covering his back, her teal blade being moved expertly, deflecting shot after shot from the battle droids in the distance.

"Can't you slice back in?" She asked.

"Yup," Han replied as the boarding ramp lowered. The couple darted inside, but Leia didn't follow Han to the cockpit.

"Where are you going, Princess? Flying works better with a co-pilot."

"Someone needs to get that Lambda out from between us and our granddaughter," Leia quipped as she descended the ladder to the bottom gun turret.

Han shook his head and headed toward the cockpit. He and Leia had different approaches to the situation. And maybe, if one didn't work, the other just might.

***

Luke, Ben and Ahsoka rushed towards the Falcon from the Fountain Palace. It still wasn't off the ground. Something had gone wrong. Han should've had the Falcon coming to pick them up.

Luke glanced slightly to his left. A figure he sensed was Jaina was battling several Sith troopers. Next to the Falcon was a Lambda shuttle. For a second he couldn't understand why it had set down there. Then he saw it.

Several meters in front of it's boarding ramp, someone was dragging a girl in an ornate Hapan garment aboard. Allana!

Luke had to clamp down a feeling of anger that made him want to lash out at the Sith.

Running up to the Lambda was someone with a teal lightsaber and red hair. Tenel Ka.

She might've been able to stand a chance at jumping on the shuttle, had it not been trying to flee an attack by the Falcon. It's deflector shields flashed as they absorbed a storm of fire from the Falcon's lower gun turret.

***

The Falcon's targeting computer chirped in Leia's ear as it locked onto the Lambda. She squeezed the trigger, and immediately the quad-mounted laser cannons began to chuff away, dispensing red bolts of destruction into the shuttle's hull. Over the noise of the guns she could just barely hear the engines on the beat up Correllian freighter try to start repeatedly.

The Imperial vessel's shields flashed white as they absorbed each pair of bolts, no doubt taking a beating trying in vain to keep Leia from punching through into the hull.

But then the shuttle lifted off the tarmac and began to turn. The Jedi Master tried to swallow down a sinking feeling in her gut as the Lambda faced her. She squeezed the trigger tighter, as if it would make the guns work any harder. The cold reality was the shuttle had something the Falcon didn't at that moment: shields.

As if in slow motion Leia saw the two blaster cannons on each side of the Imperial shuttle flash. Searing fire engulfed her as she blacked out.

***

Jaina had just cut down another Sith trooper as she felt a rip in the Force, coinciding with a thunderous explosion coming from the direction of the Falcon.

In shock, she turned her head to see what had just happened. The Falcon had a flaming hole where her belly turret used to be. She could no longer feel her mother in the Force. Jaina knew exactly what happened.

A buzz by her ear accompanied by a searing pain in her back and the smell of her own burned flesh brought her back to the moment.

Ignoring the pain, she turned, enraged, and with a shout of mixed fury and emotional anguish plowed through the Sith's defensive poise with her saber and cleaved him in two.

Before both his halves landed on the tarmac, Jaina turned to face her last assailant. With the Force she grabbed the Sith by the neck, and with a thought she snapped it and flung his lifeless corpse onto the pavement.

With tears streaming from her eyes and blurring her vision, the Sword of the Jedi switched off her saber and ran to the spot where her mother had just died.

Chapter Text

"Everything and nothing is personal with Sith."

―Ben Skywalker

The Lambda set down in it's designated hangar bay on a Star Destroyer. The boarding ramp lowered and Allana, her hands bound in stun cuffs, was escorted off by Vestara.

They weren't alone though. The hangar was alive with TIE pilots, engineers, and mechanics about their duties. There were no stormtroopers or any other sort of formal guard, just as Vestara had promised.

"How do I know you're not playing me for a fool instead of Darth Krayt?" Allana asked, her eyes darting around, expecting to find something to prove Vestara had lied again, and that it was all a set-up. She couldn't find anything.

"Because I have unfinished business with the Jedi," Vestara stated flatly. "And you're the only chance I have of getting both the Jedi and Sith together to find a way to destroy Abeloth once and for all. Just play along, and the Jedi will live. If you don't, we'll all be dead."

Allana pondered what Vestara said as the Sith guided her into a turbolift. The doors closed and she was confined with the very person that had tried to kill her years before.

After a moment, the doors slid open to reveal the bridge, buzzing with activity. Nobody dared even step away from their work to acknowledge Vestara. They knew something about her.

But the two didn't step out onto the bridge itself. Instead Vestara led the young Jedi around a corner to a small chamber with a hologram pod.

The Sith put a hand on Allana's shoulder. The Chume'da obediently knelt beside her.

***

Luke sat cross-legged, meditating in the cargo hold of the Falcon. He needed to feel the pain of his loss of Leia, and let it go just as it came.

Jaina and Han were both taking it hard. The last time he'd gotten up to walk around, Han was locked up in the cockpit and Jaina was curled up and sobbing by the gun turrets.

But Luke couldn't let the pain overwhelm him. This was war, and this war needed to be won, more than any that came before. Without the Celestials, the balance of the Force, and the galaxy, depended on the struggle between the Jedi and Sith. And little Allana was the fulcrum.

Luke opened his eyes as he sensed a hesitant presence in the doorway behind him. "Ahsoka. Something bothering you?"

She snorted. "The shorter list would be the things not bothering me right now."

"I think that could be said for all of us. Please," Luke gestured for her to come sit.

Still a bit hesitant, Ahsoka came and sat at Luke's side, facing him, and emulated his cross-legged posture. "There's just something I don't get."

Luke smiled. He didn't need the Force to tell him this was going to be deep. "Which is?"

"Well, you were telling me about Jacen and Tenel Ka, and why you think he turned Sith. It sounded like a selfless act."

"You're concerned about Ben," Luke said.

"I see a pattern, and I understand that Ben is going down a dark path. But I don't understand why. I sense a lot of the same emotions that eventually consumed Anakin, but it was cut and dry. It was his own selfishness, he simply couldn't let go. With Jacen and Ben, it's different. It's...selflessness. But isn't that the Jedi way? We sacrifice ourselves for others to maintain peace, right?"

Luke took a deep breath. "You're right, Ahsoka. Selflessness is the Jedi way. But it can also be used as a hook to lure one to the dark side, an excuse. At it's core, the dark side is pure selfishness. So, logically, we should be able to find a selfish root cause, correct?"

"I guess," Ahsoka said.

"Let's use Caedus as an example," Luke continued. "On the surface, it appears he turned to the ways of the Sith for selfless reasons, like staving off Abeloth, or not letting the dark man control the balance of the Force. But underneath those layers of benevolent excuses was a selfish motive. He didn't want his daughter to die."

"But I thought you said Caedus thought he was doing the right thing?"

"He lied to himself," Luke said. "Just like Ben is lying to himself. He keeps telling himself that he is responsible for Abeloth. If that were true, I would be just as guilty. But he's convinced himself that to prevent evil of this magnitude in the future, he has to kill Vestara."

"So...he just wants to kill her?"

"Vestara hurt Ben badly by earning his trust just to shatter it, and then stomp on it for good measure. If I understand correctly, he thinks that by killing her he can kill the source of his pain," Luke surmised. "But that's not going to go the way he thinks. If anything, that path is only going to lead to more pain. And he'll keep spiraling down in that dark, vicious cycle."

"I know," Ahsoka said. "I...saw it firsthand. That's why I don't want to see it again. But doesn't he know that what he's doing is wrong? He has to know there's more than one way to skin a nexu."

"He does," Luke confirmed. "Every sentient knows the difference between good and evil. That's what sets us apart from non-sentient life forms, like a tree or an insect. But you can choose to ignore that prodding of your conscience for your own selfish desires. And since that appears to be Ben's choice at the moment, I couldn't risk him adding to the already sticky situation...and I temporarily separated him from the Force."

During her studies at the Temple, Ahsoka had read about such powers being used in the days of the Old Republic. It seemed counter-intuitive, using the Force to keep someone else from using it.

"But won't we need Ben?" Ahsoka asked. "Our situation doesn't show any signs of getting better. We'll need everyone we can get."

"The will of the Force will be done Ahsoka, with or without any of us," Luke explained. "Jacen could see and try to prevent the things of the future from happening. But he couldn't do it, could he?"

"Considering we have to deal with what he tried to stop, I guess not." Ahsoka replied.

"Excuse me, Master Luke," C-3PO interrupted, shattering the quiet conversation. "Grand Master Katarn wishes to speak with you. It's quite urgent."

Luke took a deep breath and stood up. What else could possibly be going wrong?

"What is it, Threepio?" Luke asked the droid.

"Master Katarn has received a holorecording from the Empire. He wishes to talk with you about it immediately."

Luke nodded and turned back to the Togruta girl. "Never shut out the guidance of the Force Ahsoka."

And with that he stepped out to take the comm call.

*** 

Kyle stroked his beard waiting for Luke. He knew C-3PO wasn't built for speed, but he couldn't help but feel it was taking the gold colored droid just a little too long. Especially since time may have been of the essence.

Several moments later, Luke finally stepped into the bounds of the hologram and plopped down into the Falcon's pilot seat.

"You needed to talk to me Kyle? It's kind of a bad time."

"Yeah no kidding," Kyle replied. "I just got a message from one of the Star Destroyers in orbit. I don't know if they're trying to be the new Meatlumps or what, but they've resorted to terrorism. They're using Allana as a bargaining chip."

The hologram wasn't particularly high-resolution, but Luke very clearly rolled his eyes before putting his head in his hands. "What do they want?"

"I don't think I could do the message justice," Kyle said. "I'll play it for you."

***

Tenel Ka watched from the doorway as the hologram behind the Falcon's cockpit instrumentation fizzled out and changed to that of Vestara with Allana kneeling at her side. The Queen Mother tried to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat, but it grew.

"Master Katarn," Vestara started. "I'm sure you recognize this girl, your Jedi Queen. Luke Skywalker, Ben Skywalker and yourself will meet Lord Krayt, Lord Wyyrlok and myself in the Valley of the Jedi in ten galactic standard days from now to help us destroy Abeloth. If you don't, your future dies."

In a flash Vestara produced her saber, ignited it, and sliced off a lock of hair that was hanging in front of Allana's face. Allana, terrified, jumped as the crimson blade passed over her head, leaving a singed black spot of hair near her forehead. The lock of hair fell to the floor, a small flame starting to consume it.

Vestara pointed her saber at the forward holocam. "If any one of you doesn't make it, for any reason, she dies. For your sake I hope that message is clear. Do as I say, and she lives."

And then the holorecording ended, and Kyle appeared once more. "I've got my own theories, but what do you think about this Skywalker?"

Luke sat back in his seat and folded his arms. "I think if she's telling the truth, we can't afford to gamble with Allana."

"I think she's not," Kyle stated flatly. He looked down as he played the holo again, this time without sound. The image cut out for a second before showing a blown-up image of Vestara's eyes. "For one, either this is someone impersonating Vestara, or she's not a Sith like she claims."

Luke noticed what Kyle was talking about. Her eyes were brown. One of the first signs that the dark side was beginning to take its toll on one's body was that their eyes glowed orange with hate. Vestara's didn't; they appeared perfectly normal. But that alone wasn't enough to draw a conclusion...

"What else do you have?" Luke asked.

"Well secondly and most obviously, this has to be the first incident of Sith resorting to terrorism. Usually they'll use the bait-and-switch method."

"Good point, but that's not solid enough to go on either," Luke mused. "And what's to say this isn't a part of a bait-and-switch?"

"True," Kyle admitted. "But there's one more thing. Allana's going along with it. Willingly."

Luke narrowed his eyes. "I think you lost me Kyle. What makes you think Allana would ever go willingly with someone who tried to blow her up for short term gain?"

"She flinched," Kyle pointed out, playing in slow motion the part of the holo where Vestara took off a lock of Allana's hair. "Standard procedure for terrorists is to drug people when they need them to stay still for a holo. Allana flinched. You don't flinch if you're on those kinds of drugs."

"Kyle, you make compelling arguments. But unfortunately I don't think it's enough to not take action," Luke said. "Besides, either way, she's set us up."

It was Kyle's turn to be puzzled. "What do you mean, Skywalker?"

"I mean she's given us an opportunity to stack the deck in our favor. Think about it Kyle. We have a shot at stopping the Sith dead in their tracks."

"You mean to tell me that the Jedi Order in it's ragged state right now stands a chance at destroying an Empire-backed Sith cult?" Kyle asked, incredulous.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Luke said with a smirk.

Chapter Text

"Still...still spouting the wisdom of the Jedi, I see. Maybe there is more truth in their code than I ever believed. I...I cannot help but wonder, Revan. What would have happened had our positions been reversed? What if fate had decreed I would be captured by the Jedi? Could I have returned to the light, as you did? If you had not led me down the dark path in the first place, what destiny would I have found?"

―Darth Malak

Darth Krayt watched the intercepted transmission Vestara had sent to the Jedi. He had tasked her with finding a way to kill both Abeloth and Luke Skywalker. She had certainly done so. Project Stars would eradicate both Abeloth and the Jedi in one fell swoop. And she had captured the Jedi Queen. But something seemed...off about the message. The Dark Lord couldn't quite shake the sense that something was amiss.

He watched the holo repeatedly. What was it? He could call down lightning on beings, see into the future, summon the spirits of dead Sith from centuries gone by, and cheat death with the Force. But he couldn't find the nagging problem.

Krayt furrowed his brow and stared into Vestara's holographic eyes. Her image noiselessly pointed her flickering red saber at his face in seeming defiance, with Allana bound and on her knees at Khai's side. And suddenly he realized the problem.

He knew her past, and she had even admitted as much. She was too much of a Jedi to truly be a Sith. The eyes are the windows to one's soul, and her eyes didn't burn with the passion and hate of a Sith Lord. Perhaps the meditation sphere had been mistaken in it's assessment of her.

She may have been able to deceive the Skywalkers, but she would never deceive him.

***

Jaina peeked around a pillar at Ben's yacht sitting on a starpad. It had already been breached. Two stormtroopers stood guarding the boarding ramp, which had been lowered.

An Imperial engineer in a soiled brown uniform stepped off with a datapad, no doubt full of information about where the vessel had been and what it had sent and received.

Jaina waited until the worker was out of the view of the guards. As he was walking to his shuttle, she stretched out her arm.

It came so easily. The Jedi harnessed her anger and hate for the Empire for killing her mother, and made a fist with her hand. The engineer stiffened up mid stride and grabbed at his throat.

Jaina squeezed harder. His head tilted to one side. She let go, and he collapsed onto the tarmac. Ahsoka watched from behind another pillar in silent horror.

But Jaina wasn't done. In a flash she leaped out of the hangar at the first stormtrooper, bringing her purple saber down across his armored body and cleaved him in two.

As the second trooper turned to face Jaina, she sliced the barrel of his blaster off, then brought her saber back and severed his head from his shoulders. His armor-clad mass fell to the permacrete with a metallic racket. The only sound left was the hum of Jaina's violet blade.

Ahsoka hesitated to follow the Jedi master up the boarding ramp. So this is why attachment was forbidden, She thought to herself.

The Sword of the Jedi had already strapped herself into her seat's restraints as Ahsoka made it into the cockpit. As she strapped herself into the copilots seat, Jaina was busy checking the base model SoroSuub's systems in a pre-flight checklist.

As they lifted off the planet, Tano couldn't help but wonder if she was flying into an Imperial blockade with the next big threat to the galaxy.

***

Kyle waited with Jag on the starpad as Jaina and Ahsoka stepped off the shuttle. Jaina and Jag immediately ran to each other and embraced in a long hug before they kissed. Ahsoka merely passed the couple and made her way to Kyle.

However it was Jaina that Kyle noticed. She wasn't wearing her Jedi robes and her saber was no longer on her hip. Something was wrong.

"Master Katarn," Ahsoka said, standing in front of him. Kyle set his jaw in suspicion before facing the Togruta Jedi.

"I'm sorry," Kyle said. "Ahsoka isn't it?"

"Yup," Ahsoka said with a smile.

"Skywalker speaks very highly of you," Katarn remarked. "I'm glad you've chose to help us with our situation."

"I don't feel like I've been much of a help," Ahsoka said. "I told Master Luke already...the Monolith is gone."

"I heard," Kyle replied. "Even something like that helps. If we didn't know it was gone, we'd still be wasting time trying to find it."

"Kyle," Jaina called. "I need to speak with you."

Kyle took a breath and stepped over to Jaina and Jag. A tear had left a wet streak down Jaina's face. "What is it Jaina?"

"I...I can't do it. I'm sorry," She said as another tear dribbled down her cheek.

"You can't do what Jaina?" Kyle asked, hoping she wouldn't say what he thought she was going to say.

Jaina held out her Jedi robes rolled around her saber hilt. "I can't be a Jedi anymore. Not after what happened on Hapes."

Kyle was aware. Luke had told him on the comm call. He still had trouble absorbing it. "I understand," He replied, taking her robes and weapon, just as Luke had done for him all those years ago. "May the Force be with you Jaina."

"It hasn't been so far," Jaina quipped as she turned and embraced Jag again, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Master Katarn, we're going to the Sartinaynian system. We'll get the Empire out of your hair," Jag said. "But could I ask a favor?"

"Sure," Kyle said, fully aware of what the Sartinaynian system held. "What do you need?"

"I'd like to take Ahsoka with us to Bastion," Jag said. "If she truly is from the Clone Wars, her experience with Order 66 will be invaluable."

"Well Ahsoka isn't a Padawan. She can make her own decisions," Kyle replied. He turned to Tano. "Do you want to go?"

"Master, as I understand it you don't want the Jedi to leave Ossus," Ahsoka stated, confused. "Why do you want me to leave?"

"Because quite frankly I'm not sure," Kyle said, uncertainty creeping into his voice. "At any time these Star Destroyers in orbit could start working over this planet. And if all the Jedi were here at a given time, that would make an abrupt end of all of us. So follow the will of the Force, whatever you do."

"I will," Ahsoka replied. "I'd be honored to help you...um," She wasn't sure how to address him.

"Call me Jag," Fel replied. "In that case, let's get out of here."

***

Ahsoka followed Jaina and Jag into the yacht and strapped herself into the navigator's seat as they took the pilot and copilot seats.

"So Jag," Ahsoka said. "What exactly is our plan of action here?"

"You remember Order 66, right?" Jag asked, simultaneously taking care of a pre-flight checklist. "The Chancellor in that case sent a command to wipe out the Jedi, and the Clones did just that. But there was another order. Order 65. That was the order for the Clones to destroy the Chancellor should he be unstable. Those orders are still law in the Empire. And once we get to Bastion, we're going to use Order 65 to get rid of this Darth Krayt."

Though Jag seemed nonchalant about Order 66, the blood drained from Ahsoka's face at the thought. She was beginning to wonder what she had gotten herself into. A feeling of dread gripped her stomach as the yacht lifted off.

Chapter Text

"The only dark side you need fear, Jacen Solo, is the one in your own heart."

―Vergere

Ben was intently working on the damage to the Falcon from the inside. Armed with an arc welder and scrap durasteel, he and Tenel Ka were executing repairs. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead underneath the welder's mask, and it trickled into his eye. It burned. But it didn't stop him. It merely added to the blaze of anger begging him to free it.

His father had separated him from the Force. A lot that'll do to stop me, Ben thought to himself. Vestara needed to die for this. There was no alternative. Thanks to his cousin Jacen, he was a trained killer.

Luke had his hands full with Han, which was why neither was helping. Ben could only guess what his uncle Han would do. He wanted to skin Vestara alive long before she blasted his wife to oblivion. By now he probably wanted to ram the Falcon into a Star Destroyer at lightspeed.

Ben brought the arc welder down the final side of the sheet, connecting the bead of metal to where it started.

Suddenly the boarding hatch opened and Han stormed in, with Luke following.

"And if those goosestepping idiots up there think we'd make good target practice for their turbolasers, we're a sitting duck!" Han exclaimed.

"Han, let's be realistic here," Luke said calmly. "If the Empire wanted to destroy us they would have done it already."

"My calculations agree with Master Luke," Threepio piped in. "It appears the Imperial ground forces are falling back to the dreadnoughts."

"When did you notice them starting to leave?" Han demanded, taking a step towards the droid jabbing a finger in his direction.

"I noticed it exactly two hours and forty six minutes ago," Threepio said with pride, taking a step back to allow his photoreceptors to focus on Han.

"Spast!" Han exclaimed. He turned to Ben and Tenel Ka. "You kids got that hatch sealed?"

"Uhh..." Ben lifted his welding helmet to glance at the gaping hole where he could still see unobstructed tarmac through the destroyed gun turret. "No."

"Well we still need to get outta here," Han said.

"What's the problem Han?" Luke asked.

"The Empire doesn't just pull out of an occupation like this," Han replied, shaking his head. "They're pulling out for a reason. They're going Base Delta Zero. With us here."

Ben learned was Base Delta Zero was in his time with the GAG. It was the order to slag a planet.

"Isn't the Falcon still technically space worthy?" Tenel Ka asked.

"Only if you don't mind technically not breathing," Han replied. "The only way to take her into space would be to seal us all in the cockpit. With no air circulation, we'd all be dead in hours."

"Well Jedi Knights can hold their breath almost indefinitely," Ben said. "Three of us are Jedi―"

"Two of us," Luke corrected with stinging authority, glaring at his son. He turned back to Han. "We'll need to relocate then. The Empire only has so many Star Destroyers on assignment here, we could probably find a quiet place on the dark side of the planet to start repairs."

Anger boiled up inside Ben at his father's rebuke. He bit his tongue to prevent himself from lashing out.

"Besides," Luke continued. "Just because she's space worthy doesn't mean she's hyperspace worthy."

"Yeah," Han agreed. "Sounds like our only good option."

As Luke and Han were talking, Ben noticed from the corner of his eye that it was starting to get dark outside. Funny, He thought to himself. I could have swore it was just late afternoon.

His focus became riveted on the dusk sky visible through the boarding hatch. The voices of his father and uncle seemed to fade. He stepped to the hatch and looked out. After he took his welding helmet off completely he saw the sun. Or rather, the red-orange corona of the sun that was blotted out by a dark triangular shape. In the darkening sky he could see more dark triangular blobs, their strobes at the corners highlighting a shape barely visible otherwise.

"Uh dad," Ben called back. "We've got a problem on the horizon."

Luke, Han, and Tenel Ka stepped outside to witness the simulated eclipse.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Han said, observing the Star Destroyers overhead.

"Han, just because they're getting closer doesn't necessarily mean anything," Luke remarked, his arms folded. "They're probably getting closer to make picking up their troops―"

Luke was cut off by a brilliant flash of crimson from the sky, followed by a loud crack. A turbolaser bolt fell from the sky like a burning raindrop. It struck the Fountain Palace, which erupted in a ball of fire.

"We're doomed!" Threepio exclaimed from behind the trio, running back into the Falcon with his arms in the air as fast as the golden droid's legs could carry him.

"Everyone in the Falcon!" Han ordered. Luke and Ben hustled into the freighter, but Tenel Ka seemed paralyzed. Han grabber her arm and yanked her onto the boarding ramp before another turbolaser bolt fell from the heavens onto a hangar bay.

"W-Why would they do this?" Tenel Ka stammered, still riveted on the apocalyptic scene unfolding before her eyes.

"C'mon Princess, we need to move!" Han shouted over the rumblings of destruction as he heaved the Queen Mother on board. The firey shockwave from the hangar washed over the Falcon, filling the freighter with a blast of scalding air.

Han slapped the button to close the hatch. As the door came down he made an effort to stand, but the violent quaking of the ground underneath the Falcon made it almost impossible. Another blast caused a deafening roar and made the freighter shake more than Han thought was possible. Numerous bangs and thuds could be heard above his head as debris from the planet rained down from the sky bombarded his beloved ship.

"Luke!" Han called in the direction of the cockpit. No answer. "Luke!"

Luke darted out of the cockpit. "What is it Han?"

"Tenel Ka," Han said, trying to talk over the thunder of buildings collapsing outside. "She's unconscious!"

Luke rushed to take the Queen Mother from Han's arms. "Get us out of here Han! I'll take care of her."

Han rushed to the cabin to find Ben trying to get the engines started from the copilots seat.

"Forget it kid, let me handle this," Han said sitting down in the pilot's seat. His fingers flew deftly over the controls, only to be met with the sound of chugging and whining as the world outside burned.

What could have changed between the time we set down and now? Han puzzled. It's as if we're not getting enough power to ignite the fuel...

"Ben, divert auxiliary power to the engines," Han ordered.

It took Ben a precious second to find the switches. Once he found the group he flicked the switches to the engine position.

"Done," Ben replied.

"Come on baby, work with me," Han said under his breath as he tried the engines again. They chugged, and then they roared to life.

Ben felt pushed into his seat as the dialed-back compensators didn't quite do enough to stop the g-forces in the cabin as the ship accelerated. Since his Uncle Han flew partially by feel, he tended to keep it that way.

Raining debris continued to pound the Falcon's hull as the Corellian vessel plowed on through the blazing inferno. Han intentionally kept the Falcon as low as possible to avoid detection by the Star Destroyers' sensors.

Ben had a gut feeling they were going to be on the ruins of Hapes for quite a while.

Chapter Text

"In my book, experience outranks everything."

―Captain Rex

Ahsoka was doing her best to try not to stare into hyperspace. She heard lots of anecdotes about people losing their sanity from doing so, and although she doubted that it was possible she didn't want to find out.

Almost an hour ago she tried spinning her seat. Once she got tired of that, she had pulled Anakin's saber from her belt and ran her fingers over its features and scratches that belied both its age and her own.

Done picking at the relic, she put it back on her belt and got up. Jaina was passed out in the copilots seat and Jag was ready at the helm, studying a datapad.

Ahsoka decided to go explore the yacht. She really hadn't gotten a chance to before. She stepped out of the cabin and down some steps into the foyer. It's warm and welcoming look was a stark contrast to Republic gunships she had become so familiar with. It was almost like a Coruscant home.

Ultra-realistic imagery of stars were projected on the panels of transparisteel that would normally allow one to look out, each separated by supports that made it seem like she was in the belly of a beast. Warm lighting lit the space, and combined with soft red carpet made it feel like a cozy refuge from the dark, brutal cold of space outside.

At the aft end of the space was a small circular bar. She took a seat at one of the stools and laid her hands on the glass counter. It was frosted and lit from behind, which made the edges of her hands glow.

A thunk sound from the aft of the yacht made her jump. Instinctively she reached out with the Force, but felt nothing out of the ordinary. She knew that not all threats could be sensed in the Force, and let a hand reach for her saber.

After a moment, there was a whir of servos. Ahsoka got off the stool and pulled her saber from her belt. She took slow, soft steps to the area behind the circular bar. Her thumb was pressing on the saber's activator, requiring just a little more force to make the blue blade spring to life.

The whirring sound was getting closer. It was coming from around a corner behind a bulkhead.

"Who's there?" Ahsoka demanded, trying not to let any hint of fear into her voice.

She was answered with a string of beeps and whistles. The cause of the noise rolled around the corner. It was a blue and white astromech.

"Artooey!" Ahsoka exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Artoo let out an excited tweedle, and started rocking side to side on his wheels with robotic glee.

"You realize I'm going to have to tell them you're here don't you?"

The astromech emitted a sharp buzz of protest and rolled back a few centimeters in defiance.

"Yes, really." Ahsoka insisted.

***

"This...complicates things," Jag said, shooting a glare at Artoo from the pilot's seat. "We're going to the capitol of what is at this moment a very hostile Sith Empire with the former Head of State and two Force-users. We are no doubt walking on thin ice as it is. Add an uninvited droid to the mix that we can't explain, and they may very well tear both him and us apart thinking we're spies. Or worse, some sort of strike team."

Ahsoka racked her brain for a long second. Taking Artoo with them was a risk, no doubt. But he had a knack for helping when things got dicey. Leaving him in the ship and potentially letting him get confiscated by the Empire could cost them the mission.

"I don't know what experience you've had with Artoo, but he's always helped dig me and Anakin out of problems we got ourselves in," Ahsoka said. "It might be a good idea to take him along with us."

"My brain says you're wrong, but my gut says you're right," Jag replied.

"Take him," Jaina said. "We're going to need him."

***

"Ravelin Base to unidentified SoroSuub yacht, identify yourself, over," A brusque voice commanded over she ship's comm.

An alarm on the instrument panel began beeping, indicating Ravelin base had a target lock on the ship. Jaina flipped the appropriate switch, and the noise stopped.

"Spacer's Delight to Ravelin Base, this is Jagged Fel requesting permission to land, over," Jag replied.

The seconds dragged by. Everyone held their breath in anticipation. The cabin was dead quiet save for the drone of the engines.

"Ravelin Base to Spacer's Delight," The voice crackled over the comm after several long seconds. "You will land at docking bay 42-D. We are transmitting a flight plan. Your vessel will be destroyed if it deviates from this plan. Upon arrival your vessel will be searched. Welcome to Bastion, over."

"That's a little harsh," Ahsoka remarked.

"That's right, you haven't had any experience with the Empire have you?" Jag considered, half to himself. He turned his head her way. "For your own sake Ahsoka, you may want to keep your opinions to yourself out there. Imperials don't usually take kindly to non-humans as it is, let alone mouthy ones."

"Thanks for the warning," The Togruta replied.

As Jag piloted the vessel, Ahsoka peered out the viewscreen. There wasn't much light outside, and the sky was pitch black. Looking farther down, she saw a scene like one may have seen on Coruscant. Except, however, there was far less light. No flashing signs, far less traffic, and seemingly less...life.

Studded between skyscrapers were turbolasers. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she saw them trained on their yacht. And on the horizon, in the corona of a setting sun, Ahsoka saw the silhouette of something large and round on top of a tower. Looking closer, she realized it was an ion cannon, the size of which would suggest it was capable of disabling capitol ships.

Within moments Jag had the yacht landed in the docking bay. As the trio of humanoids and their droid filed off the boarding ramp, they were greeted with two rows of stormtroopers standing at attention to either side of them, blasters in their hands.. Two came walking down the aisle of white armor towards them.

"Hand over your weapons," One said, addressing everyone, but stuffing the business end of an E-11 blaster exclusively in Ahsoka's face. The visitors complied, and the stormtroopers went on to search the yacht.

When Tano returned her gaze to the rows of stormtroopers, she noticed a man in a freshly pressed Imperial uniform striding towards them. A look of relief washed over his face as he apparently recognized Jag. He picked up his pace and passed up his escort.

"Head of State Fel!" The man exclaimed before shaking Jag and Jaina's hands. "To what do I owe this honor?"

"Believe me Ephin, the pleasure is all ours," Jag said, forcing a smile.

Ephin's smile dissolved for a second as he realized the gravity of the surprise visit. "Forgive me sir," He said. "It's been a stressful few months. You have no idea how much it means to us to have you back."

Jag sighed and glanced at his wife. Jaina was staring blankly at the ground, holding back tears.

"It's been...stressful for all of us," Fel replied. "Are you ready?"

"The 501st is always ready sir," The Moff said, a smirk creasing his mouth.

Chapter Text

"Jan is dead; anger is all I have left. Anger and revenge."

―Kyle Katarn

Ben woke up to the sound of heavy irregular static from an incoming comm transmission and a pounding head with incessant pounding ringing that came as an unpleasant reminder from when his head had impacted with the console of the Falcon. The stench of ozone and smoldering circuit boards burned in his nose and eyes as he struggled to gain clarity of what had just happened.

He clutched his pounding head with a wince while recalling the moments just before the crash and regretted following everyone else in their haste and not fastening their crash webbing. His body had been thrown against the central control console in the crash, but it seemed he had it the best of everyone there.

Han had been launched from the pilot's seat and was wedged between the bulkhead and the control yoke. Tenel Ka was halfway under the pilot's seat in a pool of blood that could only be hers, and his father was strewn half under the copilot's seat.

The young Skywalker pulled himself out of the copilot's seat with a grunt of pain, and stood shakily. Of the all the other crash victims, the Queen Mother looked the worst off. Ben got on his knees and dragged her out from underneath Han's chair, leaving a streak of blood on the deck. She was unnervingly pale.

Ben grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse. Not feeling one, he felt for her jugular underneath her jawbone. Nothing. Tenel Ka was dead.

"Spast," Ben cursed to himself.

A long moan came from Han as he lifted his head off from against the bulkhead to behold the good meter of soil pressed against the transparisteel viewscreen, and a narrow view of a red-orange sky visible above that.

"Someone shut that alarm up," He said, as he smacked the control console with his palm several times and missing the damage control system each time.

It was then Ben actually heard the comm transmission coming in.

"...Admiral Nek Bwua'tu aboard the Admiral Ackbar. To any and all survivors, respond to this transmission and we will send a rescue team to your location. This message will repeat..."

The message continued to repeat itself. Luke crawled out from beneath the copilot's seat, wincing. He was banged up but alive. Gingerly he pulled himself into the copilot's seat and disabled the damage alarm, then reached over to the comm board and keyed in a frequency.

"Falcon to the Admiral Ackbar, this is Luke Skywalker. We've been downed almost a hundred klicks west of the Fountain Palace. Please respond, over."

After a few moments, Bwua'tu responded in his deep growly voice. "Master Skywalker, good to hear your voice. We are sending a shuttle down to your location. Please stand by."

***

Luke didn't think the situation could have gotten any worse. But it had. While Ben and Han were working with some of the crew to use the Ackbar's tractor beams to bring the Falcon aboard, he and Bwua'tu were comparing notes.

"Wait, why would there be an attempt on Dorvan's life?" Luke puzzled, walking down a bright corridor of the flagship with the Alliance admiral.

"Honestly we don't know," Bwua'tu replied. "The public used to be strongly in favor of his administration after Admiral Daala was ousted. Recently however, his approval numbers have been slumping and many people are starting to seem...irrational."

"Irrational?" Luke asked, a sinking feeling forming in his stomach. "Like Jedi psychosis irrational?"

"Perhaps not quite, but close." The Bothan said, the slightest change in his tone revealing concern in the career military man. "People protest raids on secret Sith facilities, and happily vote in people who are either sympathetic to the Sith or are unabashedly and openly Sith. I fear the vacuum the Jedi left on Coruscant is being filled, Master Skywalker."

"Nature does abhor a vacuum," Luke agreed. "I'd offer Jedi assistance but we're dealing with Sith as well, likely the same ones. As we speak there's a fleet over the academy on Shedu Maad. They destroyed the academy on Ossus."

"Interesting," Bwua'tu mused as he thumbed a button for a conference room with a furry hand. "They're flushing you out. Similar to how they flushed out Wynn."

Luke paused in astonishment. "Flushed out Wynn? As in off the planet?"

"Yes," The admiral confirmed. "Things are getting rather unpredictable on Coruscant. We couldn't risk losing the Chief of State." He gestured for Luke to sit near the end of the mirror smooth conference table.

"What kind of Sith are they?" Luke asked as he took a seat. "Any Keshiri?" He didn't think they were, subverting a government seemed far more elaborate a scheme than the Lost Tribe was capable of, or would ever aspire to be. But he didn't want to rule anything out just yet.

"None as far as we've seen," Bwua'tu confirmed, taking the seat directly across from Skywalker. "However on some of the successful raids we've organized, we have found ties to the Empire."

This was not looking good. Krayt was behind this, and the Sith seemed to be using some sort of blanket mind trick meld, or maybe even some Nightsister spell to bring Coruscant and the GA under their control. Such things were not unheard of, of course. Most notably Luke recalled the Sith Lord Vitiate, who many thousands of years ago drained an entire planet and it's inhabitants completely of the Force. Obviously this dwarfed in power whatever Krayt was doing, but it was on the same scale. And on a deep level, that shocked Luke, especially since nothing like this had been done for millennia.

"Well I may have some good news for you," Luke said. "Jag and Jaina have secured the 501st Legion. The Sith shouldn't have the Empire for much longer. Without a main base of operations or a near limitless supply of soldiers, they shouldn't be too hard to get rid of."

"It sounds like a good strategy," Bwua'tu said. "So long as the Sith aren't permitted to metastasize in the GA."

Luke nodded soberly. "That's what I'm afraid of."

***

Ben sat alone in the guest quarters on the GA Star Destroyer. It was located in a sector the crew had cleared out for survivors. In his hand was his lightsaber. It was mostly smooth, shiny durasteel, but it featured four channels circling the weapon's girth. They were designed to keep it from slipping out of one's sweaty hand. It had served him well, but as he examined it in his boredom, he wanted to throw it against a bulkhead. Hard enough to make sparks fly and hopefully destroy the weapon.

No. Ben thought to himself. I'll keep it. I'll keep it and use it to kill her and finish it all.

Then a thought came to him. It solved everything. Vestara herself had said it earlier.

The young Skywalker sprang up from his seat, ignited the blade and weaved it in a well-practiced kata, ending in a decapitating strike by the door. Before the blade came to a stop the door slid open to reveal his uncle Han, who immediately swore.

"I didn't survive all that planetside just to get decapitated by my own nephew playing with a weapon." Han said, obviously angry. But Ben got the feeling Han's anger wasn't completely directed at him.

"Sorry," Ben said as he deactivated his saber and clipped it back onto his belt. "Get the Falcon aboard alright?"

"Yeah," Han said as he plopped down in the seat Ben was previously occupying. "Those vac heads operating the tractor beams wouldn't listen when I told them they needed to lower her so she'd clear the containment field generator for the hangar."

"Oh," Ben said, putting the rest of the picture together in his mind.

"Three X-Wings and half a dozen engineers," Han continued. "Whoosh. Gone."

"Bloah," Ben remarked. "Someone's going to lose their job."

"You think?" Han responded. "So what were you doing when you nearly took my head off?"

"I've got an idea." Ben said. "I can end this charade once and for all but I've gotta do it fast."

"Woah back that speeder up," Han said. "What are you talking about?"

"Kill Vestara." Ben said flatly. "Allana is with Vestara. Find one, find them both. Without Allana the Sith lose all their leverage."

"That's not a bad idea, but you don't have the Force anymore," Han mused. "She'd kill me almost as fast as she'd kill you."

"That's why I need to go to Ruusan first." Ben said.

Han started putting the pieces together. "And to get to Ruusan you need a ship."

Ben nodded. "Get my Force powers back on Ruusan, find Vestara and kill her." He knew Han would like the idea. He'd wanted to kill her ever since she threw that thermal detonator at Allana. Shooting his wife with a blaster cannon surely didn't do anything to mend that relationship.

"That's great but how do you plan on getting to Ruusan?" Han asked. "And after that how do you plan on finding her?"

"Well," Ben "I guess I could use some help."

"One condition," Han said raising a finger. "You find her. I blast her."

Chapter Text

"There is no greater good than justice; and only if law serves justice is it a good law. It is said correctly that law exists not for the just but for the unjust, for the just carry the law in their hearts, and do not need to call it from afar. I bow to no one and give service only for cause."

―Boba Fett

5 years earlier, Gorsh system

Vestara woke up in a daze. The last thing she remembered was the searing pain of having her knee and ankle blasted by an outraged Columi. 

It took her a second to realize she was in some sort of hospital. Everything around her was a sterile white. She tried to move her left leg under the sheets, where her knee had been obliterated. She was able to move her leg, but a dull pain shot down to her foot. Her knee had been fixed. 

However just as she wiggled her toes on her right foot to verify that her ankle had been patched up as well, Mirta Gev strode into Vestara's room as if she in fact owned it. 

"Good morning, Vestara." Mirta spat. 

Oh kriff, Vestara thought. Somehow Mirta had figured out her real name, a name she never gave to anyone after joining the One Sith. A sinking feeling tugged at her stomach. This wasn't good. 

"The Columi--" Vestara tried to interject and diffuse the situation, but Gev wasn't having it.

"You lied to me! You strung me along! There never was a cure for the nanokiller!" The Mandalorian drew her blaster in a flash and squeezed off a shot at Vestara's head. But she wasn't as fast as a Sith. Before the blaster bolt could close the distance the young Sith Lord had rolled out of the bed, however she hit the hard permacrete floor on her left leg. Between the debilitating pain and the lack of blood circulation in her body, she nearly blacked out.

Your pain is your ally. A voice in Vestara's head said. It was Ship. And he was close. 

Drawing on her pain, Vestara Force-pushed the hospital bed into Mirta. The Mandalorian, caught off guard, fell backwards and hit her unarmored head on the transparisteel wall behind her with a deep BONG. Seemingly unfazed, Gev kicked the bedding away with a grunt, brought her blaster pistol to bear once more and squeezed off another shot at Vestara as the Mando stood up once more. 

The bolt flew wild over her head before leaving a nasty molten gash on the transparisteel wall. Before Mirta could line up another shot, Vestara stuck out her hand. The blaster slipped free from Mirta's hand and landed squarely in Vestara's own. Aiming in the general direction of her assailant, the Sith sent a volley of blasterfire Mirta's way as fast as she could pull the trigger.

After about a dozen shots, Vestara stopped. She had peppered both Mirta and the wall around her with blaster bolts, and the result was a gruesome sight and an even worse smell. But Mirta was clad in beskar armor. Was she truly dead?

Vestara slowly got up and gimped over to where Mirta was, being careful not to arouse her or get too close in case she wasn't dead. Once she was about two meters away, she leveled the blaster muzzle with Gev's skull, the only part that wasn't covered with the Mandalorian Iron. 

As the Sith started squeezing the trigger, Mirta brought her wrist up and launched a small rocket in Vestara's direction. Sensing danger, Vestara started to leap away, letting the rocket hit the wall behind her instead of herself. It erupted into a concussive ball of fire and blew everything in the vicinity into deadly shrapnel. Warm swamp air rushed into the room from outside, the thin transparisteel window perforated by debris.

Now flat on her back in something sticky and warm, Vestara felt cold metal hands wrap around her neck and squeeze. Mirta, enraged, was on top of her trying to strangle her. Her vision closing in and unable to hear anything, Vestara realized she was still clutching the blaster.

She dug the muzzle in between two armor plates in Mirta's side and pulled the trigger. Mirta's eyes transformed from being spiteful to shocked. The beskar fingers loosened but didn't relent. 

With her brain running low on oxygen, Vestara squeezed the trigger several more times. Mirta collapsed on top of her, dead and sizzling. The crushgaunts released from her neck, but Vestara was now under the dead weight of a beskar-clad Mandalorian. 

Blood rushing back to her brain, pain started to set in once more, as did the smell of ozone, charred flesh, and decaying plants. Mustering all her strength, Vestara pushed the armored body off of her and attempted to stand. As she got to her feet she started feeling dizzy. She reached out for one of the last vertical things left in the room, which was a wall. In her daze, her hand fell short of the wall and she fell to the permacrete floor, consciousness fading fast.

Vestara felt the warm swell not just of blood underneath her but in the Force as Ship's presence as well. 

It is not yet time for you to meet your demise, young one. Ship's voice said in her mind. Seconds later, her vision faded to black.

***

Present day, Imperial Star Destroyer Black Dagger

Allana's heart was pounding. Letting the Force control her movements, she brought her blade up and blocked a strike at her torso. One, she counted in her mind.

She swung the blade down at an angle, blocking a strike at her knees. Two.

Although she didn't see it, she could sense an overhand chop coming for her head. She brought her emerald blade up horizontally to block. Three.

Next she sensed her opponent's blade swinging around on a trajectory for the back of her neck from the opposite direction. She countered, bringing her blade downward diagonally in a motion that made her shoulder burn. Four.

Her opponent's next swing was a flat horizontal slice at her chest. Allana blocked this one easily, as the motion was almost exactly returning to a ready stance. Five.

Six. A strike lashed out near her chest, a hard one to block. She brought her hands upward and rotated her saber down to block the tip of Vestara's blade.

"You're getting better," Vestara said from beyond Allana's blindfold, before bringing her saber up in a ready stance. "Let's try it faster this time."

The Chume'da nodded and brought her blade up in her ready position, the tip of the blade angled below the level of her eyes. Once more she went through the motions, and counted as she went. One. Two. Thre--

Out of nowhere a blast of Force energy hit her square in the solar plexus, painfully forcing the air from her lungs and sending her sliding on her backside across the hangar floor.

Once she stopped and was able to breathe again, she sat up and ripped her blindfold off. "What was that for?" Allana asked, anger from hurt pride seeping into her voice.

Vestara, who had cleared the distance with a single leap, was now at Allana's side offering her a hand up. "Do you know what the most valuable lesson I learned growing up as a Sith?"

"What?" Allana asked, still upset. She refused the helping hand and got up from the deck herself.

"It's never just training." Vestara replied. "When I was ten years old I was forced to prove myself a worthy apprentice by fighting four creatures on my homeworld called rukaros. They're kind of like rancors. They had been starved almost to peak aggression. I made quick work of the first three, but I couldn't kill the fourth before it caught the corner of my mouth with one of its claws. That mistake could have been my neck instead."

"If the whole point is to train you, why would they put you in a situation where you could die?" Allana asked. "You can't learn very well when you're dead."

"Because the Sith believe that only the strongest survive," Vestara responded, instinctively clamping down on her emotions before Allana could sense them. But anyone could sense the quiver in her voice. "Because they think that anyone and anything is expendable and can be replaced. And in many cases, they're right."

"I'm sorry," Allana said, as it appeared she had struck a nerve without even trying.

"It's not your fault," Vestara reassured her, distant, her voice so soft it could barely be heard over the hum of the sabers. "I think we're done for today. I need to go meditate."

***

"Preparing for final approach," The pilot said as he guided the dropship to the underbelly of the Star Destroyer. He was a middle-aged man with a stony, almost skeletal, weathered face and clad in shiny white stormtrooper armor with a black pauldron on his left shoulder.

"Copy that," The man next to him in the copilot's seat said in a deep voice, also in gleaming stormtrooper armor, only with a white pauldron instead. Unlike the stony faced trooper, his face was more full, and covered with a black beard. He grabbed his helmet from atop the vessel's instrument panel, got up, and strode into the main hold of the dropship.

"Alright ladies, look alive!" He announced to the eight other stormtroopers before donning his helmet. "In case I need to remind you, this is primarily reconnaissance. If you see something, say something. Do not engage anyone, especially any Sith troopers or Dark Troopers. Stay on our tac channel, we don't need our chatter coming across Sith comms. Am I clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" All eight said in unison.

"Good. Lock and load." He said before grabbing a TL-50 heavy repeater himself and donning his helmet.

"TC-6464," The pilot said over the in-helmet comm system.

The bearded trooper touched the side of his helmet to transmit. "What is it corporal?"

"Sir, it looks like we've got a situation already," The pilot said. "I've got eyes on the Sith fugitive and the Emperor's niece."

"Copy that," The sergeant said. "Let Torrent-Five know I'll handle this and to continue the mission. Then inform Jedi Commander Tano and Empress Fel we have positive ID on them, and transmit coordinates and vessel information."

"Yes sir." The corporal responded.

The dropship set down in the Star Destroyer's hangar, and the troops filed out leisurely with their unusually high-powered weaponry. None of them used the standard issue E-11 blasters. There was another dropship that had landed on the other side of the hangar, and it's troops stepped out in the same manner.

Vestara, watching the scene unfold before her, approached the closest dropship and motioned for Allana to stay where she was.

"Sergeant," She asked the stormtrooper with the black pauldron. "What's going on here?"

"There's been an influx of Sith pirates lately," The sergeant lied. "They take control of mouse droids and disable the ship before they send in a boarding party. We've lost three Destroyers to them already."

Vestara studied him for a moment. "Why wasn't I notified?"

"You'd have to take it up with the commander," TC-6464 explained. "I just follow orders."

The Sith just nodded and gave the stormtrooper a fake smile. "Well I hope you're able to stop the pirates." And with that she walked out of the hangar with the Solo girl in tow.

Something stank, and the sergeant couldn't quite put his finger on it. This operation was going too smoothly. As soon as they were out of earshot, he activated his comm unit again. But this time it was to the Torrent company commander.

***

"Do we need to worry about pirates then?" Allana asked, trying to make sense of what just happened as Vestara led her down an L-shaped corridor.

"Not at all," She replied. "The sergeant lied. There are no pirates."

"Well then why are they here?" Allana prodded.

"They're here for us," Vestara explained. "Those stormtroopers are with the 501st Legion. They're the best of the best the Empire has, and they're good at killing Jedi."

"Did Darth Krayt do this?" Allana asked.

"No," Vestara said. "Krayt would want to kill us himself if he suspected anything. And he won't do that because we're the bait. Think about it. Who would do this?"

"Um," Allana thought for a long moment. Then a thought came to her, but it seemed too good to be true. "Is it Aunt Jaina and Uncle Jag?"

"You catch on quick," Vestara praised. "Yes, it's them. And they're coming to kill me, which would stop our only chance of destroying Krayt and the Sith. Which is why we're going to sneak off with a TIE and hope they haven't infiltrated other Star Destroyers as well."

***

Jaina stared into the oblivion of hyperspace. This was one of the very few times in her life she was too furious to fly herself. Instead she stood brooding over the pilot and copilot, her arms folded. She had expected the 501st would find Vestara, but she didn't think they would find her this soon.

Jaina practically swam in her repurposed Sith trooper armor. All of the Sith troopers were male and generally tall. Being an especially short female, even after having the suit trimmed, the armor plates were quite large for her small frame. But being made of cortosis fibers, they would greatly deaden lightsaber strikes.

Preliminary reports suggested that there were no Sith troopers or battle droids aboard, but they could be wrong. Or help could just be a call away.

Behind her in the transport hold of the shuttle was Ahsoka and a squad of Torrent Company stormtroopers, armed to the teeth. You're becoming the very thing you wish to destroy. Ahsoka wanted to say. But she didn't dare. Not right now.

Jag had stayed aboard the Qordis, insisting that moving on Daala while they still could would divide the Sith's attention and leave them more vulnerable. It was risky though. The 501st was outnumbered over 100 to 1, and that was before adding Sith troopers and battle droids to the mix.

The shuttle dropped out of hyperspace moments later, the viewscreen filled with a dark wedge, highlighted by running lights. The Black Dagger was aptly named. Jaina glowered in silence, and Ahsoka reached out in the Force. She expected to feel the cold, oily presence of the dark side here. To be sure there was a darkness, a foggy bitterness that hung in the air. But there was nothing that stood out to her like the presence of Dooku or Maul.

Instead she felt only one presence, strong, bright and inquisitive. One that tried to make itself small and insignificant, but ultimately failed. It had to have been Allana. Straining to reach out farther in the Force, she tried to get any clue as to where Vestara was. The Togruta's concentration was instantly shattered by the shuttle setting down in the Star Destroyer's hangar bay, and the subsequent lowering of the boarding ramp.

The stormtroopers grabbed their weapons and started to file out, but Jaina brushed by them and stepped out onto the deck first. She stared out the gaping entrance to the hangar into the one on the opposite side like a statue, cold and unmoving. The stormtroopers that followed her out were on their comms communicating with the other units. Ahsoka watched from the boarding ramp.

Jaina could sense Vestara and Allana. They were in the other hangar. Vestara wasn't stupid, unfortunately. Jaina knew her well enough to know she would make a run for it.

"Close the blast doors in the other hangar and lock out the controls," She commanded the stormtroopers.

***

Vestara keyed in the code for the TIE hangar door again. Again it rejected her input. "No," She said under her breath. "No, no, no!"

"There is no emotion," Allana said quietly, as if in two minds about speaking up.

Vestara hung her head in resignation and let out a breath. "There is peace."

"Can't we cut through with our lightsabers?" Allana asked.

"In the time it would take for that, we'll be overrun with stormtroopers." Vestara replied.

"But isn't it worth a try?" Allana prodded. "We'll be blasted into oblivion if we don't."

"No, I'll be blasted into oblivion," Vestara quipped as she ignited her lightsaber and plunged it's red blade into the blast door. "You hold them off. They're going to have a lot to answer for if they harm you."

With a nod, Allana took position behind Vestara and ignited her green blade. The seconds dragged by like minutes. Suddenly she heard a hiss come from around the corner, and footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Soon enough one, two, three stormtroopers rounded the corner and opened fire. A spray of white hot metallic bolts riddled every surface around her and ricocheted in every direction. It was immediately joined by bursts of small supersonic projectiles and heavy blaster fire.

Due to the less than ideal range the stormtroopers faced at the other end of the corridor, most of the shots were wildly inaccurate, pinging off the bulkheads and the deck. However amid all the projectiles, there were some red blaster bolts, and those were accurate. But they were few enough in number Allana was able to bat them away.

"Get down!" Vestara yelled Allana's way. Both danger sense and a solid Force-shove hit the young Jedi like a ton of bricks, and she stumbled and fell face down into the direction of the blasterfire.

An instant after she hit the ground, the door Vestara had been trying to cut through erupted in a violent, fiery explosion. Allana crawled on her belly to the safety of bulkhead supports on the side of the corridor as a withering volley of blaster bolts of assorted colors and sounds erupted from the new opening.

Smoke filled the corridor. Allana sputtered and coughed on the thick smell of ozone. A figure walked past her with a blaster pistol in each hand. He wore red armor from head to toe, and on his head was a helmet bearing the unmistakable T-shaped visor of a Mandalorian.

Allana focused hard on trying to become small in the Force. She knew that even though he wasn't a Jedi, the Mando could probably still feel eyes on him. More troopers in Mandalorian armor were backing him up, continuing the relentless barrage.

The red Mando on point was suddenly struck in the torso by a flechette blast. Most of the supersonic darts were deflected from the Mando's beskar'gam, pelting bulkheads instead. But one seemed to find a chink in his armor, as he immediately collapsed to his knees and clutched his chest.

He was immediately grabbed by his comrades under his arms and dragged backwards. One of the Mandalorians, a female on Allana's side of the corridor, caught her gaze for a split second through her helmet. The Chume'da's heart skipped. Out of the chaos, she was spotted. The Mandalorain shouted something in Mando'a back through the door where they came from.

But before they themselves could make it out, Vestara's saber lashed out and decapitated the Mando opposite Allana. Startled, the female that spotted Allana dropped her comrade and fired at her new assailant. The green blaster bolt was batted back at her, and was deflected from her armor. She kept firing in vain an instant before the crimson blade halved her blaster, and then the Mando herself.

Allana noticed the stormtroopers had stopped firing. Vestara had turned her attention to the Mandalorian in the red armor.

"You're dead, demagolka," The Mando spat. But before she could bring her saber down on his unarmored neck, her legs were pulled out from under her by a fibercord that had zipped around her ankles. She fell on her face on the deck.

Vestara turned over and was able to sever the fibercord with her saber, but her feet were still bound tight. The Mando in red was now back on his feet, and aimed his wrist at her. Two small metallic darts shot out from his weapon and stuck into Vestara's side, and the instant they pierced her skin, they crackled to life with electricity. A dull moan escaped her as her body seized and spasmed.

Allana started panicking, and she started losing control of her Force hiding technique. Red Mando was joined by another Mandalorian in battered green armor plates. He bound Vestara's hands in stun cuffs.

"Te'habir ibic osik'lyc teh ner'hattyc!" He ordered, and two more Mandalorians hustled over to remove Vestara from the scene.

"That osik'lyc isn't going anywhere, Fett," A female voice rebuked sharply from down the corridor. It was Jaina, and judging by the large numbers of footsteps, a sizable entourage with her.

"If you prefer, my men can start massacring yours again," Boba stated flatly as Vestara was dragged away.

"That won't be necessary," Jaina stated. "I'll just have my new droid army hunt you down to the ends of the galaxy."

"I knew you stinking Jedi are all the same," Fett spat, a rare show of emotion from under his helmet. "It wasn't enough for you to hunt down and kill Mirta, to end my clan."

"What are you talking about?" Jaina asked, now surprised. Mirta had been a good friend of Jaina's for years, going so far as to even attend her wedding on Mandalore. But she hadn't heard anything from her in years.

"She found information about a cure for the nanokiller," Fett said. "The last comm I have from her, she said she was in the Gorsh system with her source over there, Savara. Heard nothing from her for weeks, Orade went out to investigate. Found her dead in an abandoned Genetech laboratory."

The news would have cut Jaina to the quick, had she not been cut to the quick already this week. "I'm...so sorry. She just killed my mother."

Fett was silent for a moment, then nodded. "So you get it." He said, his voice cold steel. "She will be executed on Mandalore for her crimes."

"No," Jaina said, fighting to stay composed as the emotional wounds from Hapes were torn anew. "You will hand her over, and I will let you have this schutta back when I'm done. I will also find you the cure for the nanokiller. With the Empire's resources, one will be found quickly. If you do not comply, I will be forced to kill you."

Fett was silent for a moment as he stared into Jaina's eyes, trying to determine if she was bluffing. "Alright Jedi you've got yourself a deal. You've got one week to get whatever you want from her, then she's mine. If you don't keep your word, there will be nowhere in this galaxy to hide."

As if on cue, the female Mando that helped pull Red Mando out of danger drew a blaster rifle that was slung behind her back. Except it was no blaster rifle. She instinctively aimed the weapon at a cluster of stormtroopers without looking down the integrated scope. With a zap-hiss a red beam was emitted from the front of the weapon, and instantly passed clean through one stormtrooper and into another. The two collapsed, crackling. There was no cry of agony. Their armor fell in a pile, with smoldering white ash pouring out of the chinks. 

The remaining stormtroopers raised their weapons at the Mandos, and a few swore. Jaina raised her hand for the troops to hold their fire. It was her turn to be silent. From this even alone Fett was guilty of crimes against the Empire. She might be able to remove him from the picture entirely, but in the chaos she may lose Vestara. But the alternative would be letting Fett free now, and potentially having to return her prize.

"Leave now," Jaina demanded, almost a mutter.

Boba nodded in the direction of Red Mando, and he reluctantly pulled the shock darts from Vestara's skin and handed her over to the stormtroopers. One grabbed the lightsaber from her belt, then TC-6464 jabbed her in the back with his heavy repeater. "Move it, sleemo."

Allana watched the brutality unfold in silence from behind. "Let's go, Allana," Jaina said as she passed her niece, not even looking her in the eye as she strode by.

Chapter Text

"Welcome, Lord Hoth. Welcome to the grave and darkness from which none will ever emerge."

―Skere Kaan

Ben stepped cautiously ahead, his senses on heightened alert. It was partially from the nervous energy that came with stealing an X-Wing from the New Republic, and partially because he didn't know what dangers could be lurking on the planet Ruusan. He didn't bother keeping his blaster in hand.

Han on the other hand, who was walking side by side with him, was also on high alert with his blaster drawn.

"You realize if there's anything out here drawn by the Valley that wants us dead, that blaster isn't going to do anything right?" Ben asked.

Han shrugged as he scanned the top ridge of the valley for humanoid silhouettes. "Blasting things makes me feel better."

All around them were large statues of what Ben could only assume were ancient Jedi Knights and Masters of varying sizes, some were over 100 meters tall. Some cropped up out of the ground, some seemed embedded in the side of the valley, and some were on the surface. A high-pitched hum was audible, almost like that of a singing bowl he had seen some Jedi use during meditation. Everything around conveyed a sense of immense energy.

The tone got louder as they approached, then seemed to split off from the main source of the noise, and turn into a different high-pitched whine as it passed them. Ben's head perked up immediately. Ships approaching.

"Twenty credits says they're with the Republic," Ben quipped and he picked up the pace.

"I hope so," Han replied, his mind immediately going to the Sith. "The alternative ends a lot worse for us."

As they both broke out in a sprint for the nexus, the sun was blotted out by a ship overhead and the valley was filled by the deafening scream of X-Wing engines. One set down behind them where Ben and Han's stolen X-Wings were, but another roared over their heads and set down near the nexus itself where it had room to land ahead of them to cut them off.

The two closed in quickly on the X-Wing ahead of them. The pilot quickly hopped out, sticking out like a sore thumb with his bright orange jumpsuit. He drew a blaster pistol and squeezed off a shot above their heads. "Hold it right there!"

Han and Ben stopped where they were. "Split." Ben whispered as he drew his blaster. Han nodded in agreement and started walking to the nose of the vessel, Ben strode to the rear.

The pilot was initially confused. "Stop or I will shoot!" He exclaimed as the two circled around him, switching between aiming his single blaster at one of them at a time.

Ben smirked. His blaster was trained on the pilot, but he brought the muzzle to his temple instead, and started backing up towards the nexus. "What if I shoot first? What then smoothbrain?"

The pilot whipped around from aiming his blaster at Han, and seemingly opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Ben kept backing up. He was only several meters from the nexus now.

A sharp click echoed in the valley, like a switch being flipped. The pilot's face changed from shock to a smirk. Ben picked up on what was going on as he saw the pilot's finger depress the trigger. Ben dropped to the hard, parched ground as a stun bolt whizzed above his head and struck the stone-hewn mound that emitted the nexus.

Ben scrambled to get up as another stun bolt hit the dirt where he was lying. The distinctive sound of Han's DL-44 went off, followed by a wail.

"Go, kid!" Han exclaimed as he squeezed off another shot in the direction of the other pilot. "I got this!"

Ben leaped up and darted for the nexus. He could hear more shots being fired behind him. He hopped up onto the mound and let himself be pulled into the stream of power.

He seemed embraced by the warm glow, and once more he felt the Force flow through him. But it was different than when he could wield the Force. He felt less like a Force-wielder, and more like a conduit for something else.

Faintly he could hear Han's voice. But something caught his eye. It was a small, bright orb. It seemed to resemble a large soap bubble, except it seemed to emit it's own light. Semi-consciously, he reached out to it to touch it.

But the instant before his finger could make contact with the orb, Ben was blinded with light. It wasn't the same kind of light as a sun, the warmth was different. And although it was blinding, the light didn't hurt his eyes.

When the light faded enough that he could start to see other things again, he noticed a humanoid form standing before him, seemingly standing on air. Ben couldn't be sure if he was hallucinating or not. He recoiled his hand in surprise.

As the light continued to fade after a few seconds, Ben could start to see the features of this being. It's face was stoic, emotionless, and unmoving, like a mask. It's eyes were white white spots of light in what looked like an otherwise empty socket, and the surface of the being's face radiated light. It had a slender body, and wore dark brown robes not unlike those of various Force-using traditions he'd seen.

The eyes of this being reminded him of Abeloth's, and he reached a leg backwards to take a step away. But he was floating on the aura with the being, and had nothing to help propel himself away.

"Who are you?" Ben asked. "What are you?"

"Don't be afraid, young Skywalker," the being said in an echoing female voice. "I am merely a servant of the Force. What is it you seek in this place?"

Ben's mouth went dry as he tried to conjure up a lie. But this being seemed to have a very strong connection with the Force. A lie simply wouldn't suffice. "My family is in danger, and I've been cut off from the Force. I need my powers back to correct a mistake I made and stop more damage from being done."

The Servant was silent for a moment. "I sense much darkness in you, darkness that clouds the mind. There is much that has been done that is not the will of the Force. You, young Skywalker, will restore balance."

"I'm not gonna argue that the Force is pretty unbalanced right now," Ben quipped.

"The last One must die, the One that was not indented to be," The Servant extended a thin gray hand to Ben. "You require the Dagger of Mortis. Come, I will take you to it."

Ben hesitated. He couldn't sense any malevolence in the being, but that wasn't to say there was none either. He also wasn't sure this was an offer he could refuse. "Alright," Ben said at last after taking a deep breath, grabbing the almost withered hand. "Let's go."

Before he could realize what was happening, he felt pulled through a portal. He could hear a muted shout from Han, but he kept his eyes forward into the black oblivion ahead.

Chapter Text

"The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

―Darth Vader

Vestara was curled up on the bench in her cell. She was stripped of all but basic clothes, her shoes included. With nothing on her feet, the already frigid cell in the brig felt like a meat locker. The intended psychological effect was not lost on her, but being raised a Sith she easily set her discomfort aside.

Jaina had seen to it that the cell next to her be populated with ysalamiri. That deadened her Force abilities, but still couldn't stop her mind.

For the half a day so far she was in her cell, she had been thinking. Planning. Or, at least trying to. Krayt had known exactly what he was doing with her, and as a result, no one would believe a word she said. Even if someone did, what good would it do? She was dead no matter where she went or what she did.

Vestara had been mulling this over for several hours today by the time the cell door slid open, and two stormtroopers stepped inside. But these stormtroopers looked markedly different from every other stormtrooper she had seen before. The eye slits on the helmets were smaller, there was less visible venting, and the armor around the troopers' torsos weren't quite the same.

"Turn around, hands on your head." One said, breaking the silence. Vestara obeyed, rolling her eyes. Even unarmed and without the Force, she could give the two a very bad day. But not now. Not just yet. She felt the cold stun cuffs click around her wrists.

"Let's go, move!" The other said, grabbing her shoulder and shoving her out of the cell. She was then escorted to a turbolift. As they all got in, Vestara felt the familiar feel of the Force return to her. Letting her have access to her abilities meant her captors were confident she couldn't escape. It was a pretty good bet they were in hyperspace then.

The turbolift opened up on the bridge deck of the Star Destroyer, but they didn't head to the bridge. Vestara was escorted instead to a meeting room on the port side.

As the door slid open, the stormtroopers unlocked the stun cuffs. Vestara was escorted inside, and the door behind her slid closed.

"Have a seat," A man in an Imperial uniform said, seated himself, and gestured to the seat across from his own. He was a middle-aged man, his hair was black save for a white streak above his right eye, and he had a solid couple days of salt and pepper stubble on his face. It was Jagged Fel. The uniform he wore appeared to be an altered Imperial uniform. It was the familiar gray double-breasted tunic and trousers, but with the Imperial roundel emblazoned boldly on his chest below his collar, which was trimmed with gold.

Cautiously, Vestara sat as well. She didn't sense any obvious traps. Jag was seated across from her, and on the table in front of him was a datapad. "Vestara Khai," He said. "This is long overdue."

"I'm guessing I wasn't hauled out of my cell for tea and crumpets," Vestara remarked.

"Not in the slightest," Jag confirmed. "You've committed some grave crimes. Off the top of my head we have attempted murder of Grand Master Skywalker of the Jedi Order, Captain Solo, and since we're past the charade, my niece Chume'da Allana Solo. For the people you've actually murdered, we have second degree murder of Mirta Gev, Jedi Natua Wan, Jedi Bazel Warv, Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo, and Master Jedi Organa-Solo. But I don't even want to get into how many people you may have wantonly murdered along the way to get there, or the fact that your behavior appears consistent with the rest of your family."

Vestara just shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm dead anyway. I did what I had to do."

"So you had to kidnap my niece after trying to blow her up with a thermal detonator?" Jag questioned. "Something doesn't add up here."

"You wouldn't get it." Vestara said, folding her arms and leaning back in the chair.

"Try me." Jag challenged.

"I was an apprentice to Master Skywalker at the time," Vestara started. "We were on Coruscant after the mission on Upekzar. I was taken captive by the Sith at the Temple, and sneaked off when I could. They chased me down, I killed some of them. They captured me, and the only reason they took me alive because I told them what I knew about Allana. After that they sent me to kill her. I was outnumbered, I had no choice."

"If they were going to kill you anyway, you could have cooked off the detonator and took them with you, sparing innocent lives" Jag pointed out. "But you didn't. I know why. I've been going over your file. It's just a conglomerate of your personal files stored on Imperial systems, logs from your datapad…and some files from a ship you were on a couple of years ago."

Vestara's eyes widened in rage as she leaned forward. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

"And do you know what I found?" Jag continued without missing a beat. Vestara just stared, stunned, simultaneously trying to hold back tears and wondering how quickly the nearest blaster rifle could turn him into a smoking lump of charcoal. "I found who you are."

"No the kriff you didn't," Vestara snapped. "You have no idea what happened on Upekzar."

"You're a selfish coward," Jag stated, unmoved by Vestara's tone. "In every circumstance you care only for yourself. And when that backfires every single time, you move on to the next closest thing to a family unit that will take you in, and you suck it dry. The problem is, you're at the end of your rope."

"What do you want from me?" Vestara asked, her voice quivering in rage, on the edge of an outburst.

"I know enough of what happened on Upekzar," Jag stated. "Simple math, it doesn't take a genius. But that still doesn't excuse any of what you did. I just want to know, what were you doing with my niece?"

It took Vestara several seconds to choose her words. "I was trying to set Krayt up, and I needed to guarantee the Jedi would play along. He plans on killing both the Jedi and Abeloth with the Rakatan plague in the Valley. The details of the antidote the Sith will use are on my datapad."

"Oh I'm aware," Jag said, now looking down and flicking through some files on his datapad before returning his gaze to Vestara. "Keep going. That wasn't all you wanted."

"I-" Vestara stammered. "I don't know."

"Allana seems to know," Jag replied. "Would this unsent letter to 'Papa' from a few years ago refresh your memory?"

Vestara clenched a fist under the table so hard the joints in her hand popped. She could feel her face flushing.

"I don't need the Force to tell me the thoughts running through your head right now aren't very Jedi-like," Jag stated in a cavalier tone. "You're no longer a piece on the djarik board of this…situation. Let me put it another way, so I'm crystal clear: Vestara Khai and everything she was, is, and will be is going to die for her crimes. Right here, right now. One way or another."

Vestara broke eye contact and simply stared down at the reflection of the ceiling on the shiny black table.

Jag stood up, leaving his datapad. "If you're ready to do this peacefully, follow me," He said as he walked out of the room. "Plan B is an airlock, by the way." He added from outside the room.

Vestara was frozen as emotion swirled inside her. Shock. Rage. Heartbreak. And now the pressure of making a snap decision. She pushed her chair back, got up, and followed Jag out of the room. Plan A couldn't be worse than the airlock.

Jag turned left after a few meters, through a door that led to the bridge of the Star Destroyer.

"Emperor on the bridge!" A voice shouted as soon as he set foot on the deck. All the personnel stopped what they were doing and knelt on one knee.

"At ease, back to your posts," Jag ordered. "Captain!"

"Yes sir!" An officer on the deck responded and came to, wearing the same type of uniform Jag was wearing, with the Imperial roundel centered below the collar.

"Are we at the coordinates?" Jag asked.

"Aye, and the weapon has just disembarked from the hangar," The captain replied.

"Excellent. When this young lady gives the order to fire, do so," Jag ordered.

"What?" Vestara asked, trying to figure out what was going on around her.

"Aye!" The captain acknowledged.

"Go up to the forward viewport and tell me what you see." Jag directed, irritation seeping into his voice.

Half out of pure curiosity, Vestara did. The cold deck on her bare feet combined with the energy of whatever was going on here was almost enough to give her the chills. When she got to the viewport, she looked out for a second, then whipped back around.

"What is this?" Vestara asked, confused, starting to snap. "Fire what? Why?"

"Over eight million corpses," Jag said sternly. "That's what we found when we sent probe droids down to that little purple marble out there. Not a single soul alive. Nasty thing that plague of yours. But that's almost irrelevant. We can't undo the past, but we can prevent this from spreading across the galaxy."

Vestara looked out the viewport once more, her mind racing, going back to her childhood, growing up on that planet out there. And if she didn't give the order, it went without saying Jag would. It was the last time she would see her home planet no matter what choice she made. She swallowed, trying to choke down the emotion. Tears started to streak down her face. "Fire."

The captain started barking orders, and Vestara started to lose track of what was going on around her as time seemed to go into a blur. She heard some words among the commotion on deck, but a few that struck her were "hyperdrive," "shields," and "danger close." It took her a few seconds to realize they weren't going to work over the planet surface with turbolasers. No, they were going to completely destroy the planet, and after they did, Kesh's solar system would likely collapse in on itself in a matter of just moments.

Several seconds that seemed like an eternity later she saw what looked like the observable streak a vessel makes when going into hyperspace. In the space of a fraction of a second, the entire bridge was lit up by the brightest light Vestara had ever witnessed. Another fraction of a second later the blast tinting compensated for the new mini-sun outside.

Through the spots in her eyes, she watched the fire die out within another second, and all that was left of Kesh was a somewhat spherical cloud of bright blue plasma that was rapidly growing in size. Klaxons sounded on the bridge, and then the Star Destroyer began to shake violently, likely due to a cloud of debris moving at near the speed of light. If it weren't for the Star Destroyer's powerful shields, the microscopic particles would likely be punching fist-sized holes in the hull.

Orders were barked on the bridge, but Vestara couldn't focus on anything. Space outside seemed to stretch towards her as the hyperdrive spooled up, and then nothing could be seen outside save for the swirling blue miasma of hyperspace.

Chapter Text

"It is only here that I can control them. A family in balance—the light and the dark. Day with night. Destruction replaced by creation."
―The Father

"So," Ben remarked. "This is it then."

"Indeed," The being responded. It pointed a slender figure at the portal before them both as a Jedi in homespun robes produced what Ben could only assume was the Dagger from his belt. "There it is. Whenever you are ready, just step through."

Through the portal Ben could make out several figures in the dark. One appeared to be using what looked like red Force lightning on another. A faint shout reverberated through the portal. "Anakin! Now!"

Ben let out a breath. More voice followed. He stepped back a couple paces and opened himself up to the Force, letting it course through him. He sprinted forward leaping through the portal.

Immediately the glass strewn cobblestone below him was illuminated for an instant as if by a flash of lightning. Everyone in the vicinity looked toward the portal in surprise that Ben had just left. Below his feet was Ahsoka, and she appeared several years younger, just a child. But her irises bore the yellow glow of the Sith.

Ben came down on Ahsoka with a boot to her temple as she held the Dagger. Ahsoka collapsed in a heap, dropping it, and Ben skidded across the stone terrace to a stop. He extended his left hand in the direction of the Dagger and summoned it to him. It's hilt landed in his hand with a satisfying smack.

Everyone including Ben was stunned for a split second. The Jedi that remained standing and the Ones stared at Ben, dumbfounded. Ben stared back with his own expression of shock on his face, as if wondering what would happen next.

"No!" The black clad male of the Ones bellowed, shattering the silence. Ben could only assume this was the Son. His face was deathly pale with Sith-looking tattoos. His eyes, like Abeloth's, were empty black voids with a pinprick of light in each. Except on the Son, they weren't white, they were an enraged red. And they were riveted on Ben.

Ben turned and ran in the opposite direction to take a leap off the terrace and use the Force to open a portal that would return himself back to Ruusan. But suddenly his windpipe was squeezed as if in a vice, then dragged downwards. Ben fell to his knees, grasping at his throat with his right hand. He opened his mouth gasping for air, but none came.

The Son vaulted upwards into the air and then descended in front of Ben with the ease of a bird, his slender form towering over Ben. He began to extend a hand for the Dagger, but before he could, Ben began to stand up. For the second time that moment, the Son's expression changed to one of surprise.

Ben grabbed his lightsaber in a flash and ignited it, still clutching the Dagger in his left hand. He slashed first with his saber, then with the Dagger in the direction of the Son. The Son stumbled backwards, then morphed into a winged creature and proceeded to fly away over the terrace. There was silence except for the hum of his lightsaber. Ben switched it off, and in the absence of it's blue light, things seemed much darker.

"Who are you?" A male voice behind him with a thick Coruscanti accent asked.

"It doesn't matter. I'm taking the Dagger." Ben said, beginning to take a step forward in the opposite direction of the voice.

A snap-hiss broke the silence, and the ground around Ben was once more bathed in an unstable blue light. "You're not going anywhere." The voice said.

Ben paused for a second, watching his shadow seemingly jump around from the light of Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber. He swore under his breath and turned around, leaving his own lightsaber clipped to his belt in what he hoped would be a show of good faith. This was not going smoothly.

As Obi-Wan's gaze caught Ben's his eyes widened and mouth hung open. The Jedi Master switched off his blade. "Anakin, you never told me you had a brother," He called behind him in a half-mocking tone.

Anakin, who was a ways behind Obi-Wan helping Ahsoka to her feet with the help of the Daughter, got up and brushed his Jedi robes off. "That's because I don't." He replied as he walked over to Obi-Wan. About halfway over he looked up and saw Ben. Anakin stopped dead in his tracks, and his gaze hardened.

"This isn't funny Obi-Wan," Anakin snapped, beginning to step forward again. "Who are you?" He demanded.

Ben's mind raced. "Do you really want to go there, present company included?" Ben noticed Anakin's eyes widened ever so slightly, but didn't allow his Force aura to change. If Kenobi noticed anything at all, he kept it to himself.

"Look, we're just trying to stop the Son before he's able to cause even more trouble," Obi-Wan explained, gesturing with his palms up. "Can we please have the Dagger?"

"No," Ben said flatly, putting a hand on the hilt of the Dagger that was wedged in his belt. "I've got a funny feeling it'll help with this planet's stabbings per capita."

"How could you ever have need of such a thing?" Asked a female voice inquired. It was the Daughter. She had a radiance of her own as she stepped forward with the Father, Ahsoka in tow.

"Does anyone ever wonder what's missing from this happy little family?" Ben asked rhetorically. "You've got goody-good Daughter, evil Son. Goody-good Father...but where's the evil Mother? Maybe these fine folks forgot to tell their guests about the psyco-demon stepmom they marooned in the Maw."

"How do you know this?" The Daughter asked, seemingly offended.

"So all that is true then?" Anakin asked her, anger seeping into his tone. "You kept that from us the whole time!"

"Why does this remind me of that one episode of Galactic Horror Story about the cannibal neighbor on Ryloth..." Ben's voice trailed off.

"Silence!" The Father bellowed. Everyone fell silent. "It is true, we did leave Mother on our planet, and with the help of the Killiks, we created Mortis." The Father explained. "It is also true that when the Force becomes imbalanced, she can find a way to escape the Maw. That is why it is imperative that the Son be stopped."

"Obviously your god-tier foresight didn't account for a planet full of Sith discovering Abeloth, crowning her 'Beloved Queen of the Stars' then taking her to Coruscant where she could murder millions with a snap of her fingers. Not like that affected the 'balance of the Force' at all." Ben quipped, his statement dripping with sarcasm. "But that's not really it is it? No. You're the only safe ones from her here in this Monolith."

Obi-Wan stroked his beard in thought, gears obviously turning in his head. But he kept silent. Anakin glowered, obviously not happy about being lied to.

"Yeah, we're done here," Anakin stated flatly as he started to leave. "Come on, Ahsoka."

"Not if Son takes your ship first," The Daughter pointed out. "You're going to work with us whether you like it or not."

Anakin stopped his his tracks and turned around, fuming at the deception. But before he could speak his mind, Ben spoke his.

"So you cowards just resort to blackmail. Classy," Ben chided. "Exactly how stupid are you clowns? First mortal didn't work out so now you want a do-over? What could possibly go wrong trying a terrible idea twice?"

"This Abeloth was mortal?" Obi-Wan asked, perplexed.

"That is none of your concern Jedi!" The Father and Daughter shouted in unison.

The Father whirled to face Ben. "You cannot be permitted to leave Mortis with the Dagger!"

"To the contrary I think I'll just let you 'die,' whatever that means since you're immortal," Ben responded. "That would leave us with just the Son and the Daughter. Without this dagger here, the way I see it they'd be keeping each other in balance for a good long time. And with Abeloth gone, there's no reason to step foot off Mortis."

"My my, it looks like we have quite a philosopher here," The Son stated as he floated to the ground behind the Father and Daughter. "Tell me, have you also thought about how all of you would actually leave?"

In all honesty Ben hadn't. If he left via a Force-portal back to the World Between Worlds, he would be stranding the Jedi on Mortis. They wouldn't be able to leave without killing the Ones which was impossible without the Dagger, while the Ones could kill them. On the other hand if Ben told the other Jedi to leave for their ship while he kept the Ones at bay himself, he would not be able to escape without killing all three of them. And that would not be an easy task.

Look for the third of two options. His father's voice echoed in his head. Ben reached over the terrace behind himself with his right hand, making sure to keep the Dagger in front of him should the Ones try anything. It took a fair amount of concentration both in front and behind, but he was able to open a portal. "Go!" Ben shouted at the Jedi.

With a quick visual check to make sure the Ones were fixated on Ben, Obi-Wan went first. He got a small running start, leaped onto the ledge and through the portal.

Ben ignited his saber, ready for action at any second. The Ones all had rage etched on their faces, but they didn't dare charge Ben. Instead they slowly began to surround him.

Anakin saw what was happening. "Ahsoka move!" He hollered. And she did. She leapt over the ledge, but she couldn't jump far enough. Anakin gave her a Force-push to propel her through the portal.

The Ones had Ben halfway surrounded now. Anakin bolted for the portal and leaped over the edge of the terrace. He too was gone through the portal.

Ben was now almost surrounded, the Father standing before him, the Son to his left and the Daughter to his right. If he lost focus the portal would close, and he would have to exert more energy to open it back up again. Ben stepped back a couple paces, nearing the ledge. The Ones could no longer meaningfully surround him. The young Skywalker summoned the Force and propelled himself into a backflip over the terrace, still clutching the Dagger tight.

The Son and Daughter morphed almost instantly into winged creatures and moved to intercept Ben before he could fall into the portal. But the Son grabbed Ben's leg in his talons before he could fully enter the portal. The portal enveloped Ben and the Son before closing.

Now in the World Between Worlds, the Son still would not release Ben. The claws on the Son's talon had dug into his thigh several inches, causing it to bleed profusely. Ben pulled the Dagger from his belt with a shaky hand, and with every ounce of energy he could muster, he drove the Dagger into the Son's ankle.

The Son shrieked, a hollow, bloodcurdling cry that resonated in the nothingness of this World.

As his vision began fading to black, Ben saw a blue lightsaber blade hack through the joint of the Son's right wing, severing it. The Son finally released Ben's leg, but now with nothing in the wounds it bled even quicker.

"What have you done, Skywalker?" An echoing voice scolded. It took Ben several seconds to place the voice. It wasn't the Son, it was...the Whill. "You were supposed to retrieve the Dagger, not the Jedi!"

Ben could barely keep his eyes open. He didn't feel like fighting with anyone right now. "No...charge." He rasped.

"What is going on here?" Anakin demanded.

"There is no time," The Whill explained.

Chapter Text

"You are not Sith. You wear the trappings of the Sith, you fight like the Sith, but this can be imitated, however. You lack a vital quality found in all Sith. Sith have no fear, and I sense much fear in you."

―Count Dooku

"Fear," Jaina whispered, while simultaneously trying to hide her Force aura. "Do you sense it too?"

Luke nodded. He didn't reply, instead he listened intently to the receiver for the bug placed in the adjacent chamber. "Plan B is an airlock, by the way," could be heard faintly as Jag stepped out of the room. Several seconds later came a series of noises Luke couldn't quite identify, and then the door hissed shut.

Still clenching down on his own Force aura, Luke started to tear down the receiver kit. "But not a fear of being threatened," He pointed out as he folded the antenna and began coiling the cable around the receiver. "Seems like there's more to the story than she's letting on."

Jaina snorted, seeming more chipper than he had to be feeling. "Uncle Luke, did you forget who we're talking about here?"

"Touché," Luke responded with a forced smile. "Let's meet Jag on the bridge." Luke waved Jaina out the door first and followed her out. He still couldn't help but squirm inside seeing his niece wearing an Imperial uniform, much less the black and red of a Sith trooper officer's.

"Fear of what though?" Jaina asked, half to herself as Luke picked up the pace slightly to come up along side her. It didn't take much, Jaina wasn't all that tall. "She faced Abeloth before with Ben. From his telling of the story she didn't seem shaken."

"I'll be honest, trying to imagine Abeloth at the Valley of the Jedi doesn't fill me with confidence," Luke said. The deck began to tremble beneath his feet. Both he and Jaina stopped and put a hand on a bulkhead. Klaxons began echoing down the corridors, and the lights dimmed for a second. "But she knew of that ahead of time as well and didn't seem this shaken. Something changed."

Jaina thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I almost don't want to think about it."

More vibrations could be felt in the deck as the hyperdrive spooled up. "For better or for worse we're going to have to find out," Luke remarked.

A second or so the quaking of the deck ceased and they were able to walk normally. The klaxons had stopped.

"Should we tell her about the chip?" Jaina asked as the two resumed walking.

Luke thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, at least not immediately. If I were to tell her that an Em-Dee droid removed a biochip in the base of her skull that seemingly was able to override her consciousness, don't you think that would affect her decision?"

The two rounded the corner and stepped onto the bridge, which hummed with activity. Jagged Fel stood in the middle of the bridge observing the events that had just transpired, hands clasped behind his back.

"Well?" Luke asked him as he approached.

"Kesh has been dealt with," Fel said. "And your wayward Padawan is all yours."

"Thank you," Luke replied.

"We'll give you a minute." Jag said, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist as they left for the readyroom. Luke gave a slight nod of acknowledgement. As they both left the bridge, Luke caught Vestara's glance in the reflection of the transparisteel. She quickly looked away into the miasma outside.

"You're wasting your time here, Master Skywalker."

"That would mean you think you already know why I'm here." Luke responded.

"Don't I?" Vestara asked rhetorically, hurt creeping into her voice. "You're going to say that even though I've proven that I will always be a Sith that there's some hope you have that I'll change. You're wrong. And you're wasting precious time."

"I seem to remember having this conversation before," Luke said, recalling his conversation with her over Drommund Kaas. "And I think it's because we currently have a fundamental misunderstanding. There was nothing you could have done that could have changed the outcome on Upekzar for the better."

That was enough for Vestara to finally turn around and make eye contact. With eyes reddened from tears, she gave Luke a look as if he had just sprouted a second head. Before she could interject, Luke continued. "Where you went wrong was when you deliberately threw a bomb at a little girl." He said in a tone that implied that such things should have gone without saying.

A moment passed as Luke waited for a reaction. "I'm sorry Master." Was all Vestara was able to muster, no longer able to look him in the eye as she said it.

Luke simply nodded. "If it weren't for that same little girl vouching for you a few days ago for some reason that's beyond me, you would be in a much worse place," He assured her. "I've been talking with Jaina and Jag. They planned on retaining you in a new order within the Empire, hunting what's left of the Lost Tribe after Abeloth is gone. Although I think that might merit, it seems like a waste of both my time and your abilities. If you manage to make it through this battle with Abeloth and Krayt alive and without any treachery, I think that's a trial worth granting you the title of Jedi Knight."

Vestara's eyes widened. "Even after betraying you time and again?"

Luke actually laughed out loud, to Vestara's utter shock. "Remind me to introduce you to Kyp Durron after we're done on Ruusan," He said. The Jedi Master's tone grew more serious. "Your treachery was a grave matter, no doubt. We seem to be back at the same three options you presented to me at Drommund Kaas. Some of the people you've scorned think we should kill you, and you've given them good reason to think that. Jaina and Jag think you should be kept on a short leash, but only because of Allana's testimony. I think you'd be a far more valuable asset as a Jedi if you can commit to keeping your nose clean."

"Why would you do this?" Vestara questioned, eyes narrowing, not-so-subtly trying to find Luke's angle.

Luke paused a moment, choosing his words carefully. "No one could have known at the time, but knowing what I know now, it was not fair of me to send you on that mission on Upekzar. Life is seldom fair, but I feel partly responsible for taking your resolve for granted and letting you spin this far out of control." He said. To be sure, that wasn't the only reason. The reason Luke didn't give was how disturbing Vestara's Force abilities were, and how much stronger she was in the Force than his own son at the same age, even as far back as the events on Klatooine. Now was not the time to bring that up, however.

She nodded soberly. "What about Fett?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Luke replied. "If Fett wants to kill you he's going to have to stand in line behind our 'Beloved Queen of the Stars' and a scorned Sith Lord."

There it was, Luke felt it again. That same raw fear he and Jaina had sensed earlier had sprung up at the mention of Krayt. As quickly as she had let the feeling slip, Vestara had clamped down on it. "Why bother?" She asked, her tone suddenly a bit overly cold and emotionless. "I've betrayed you countless times. You should have killed me."

"Maybe," Luke entertained. "Or maybe we're just 'wasting time.' I don't think Abeloth is going to die of old age waiting for you to make up your mind."

***

Xyrias stepped into the throne chamber and knelt down on one knee. The room was dark, but lightning flashing outside outlined a tentacle-dotted blob of flesh. Acid rain sprayed against the transparisteel windows of the room behind the thing, nature trying in vain to claim the ancient castle.

"Have you found it, young Wyyrlok?" Asked the writhing, undulating mass in an oddly smooth and sweet female voice. Body parts that were once human seemed to jut out of the blob randomly, intertwined with tentacles. There was no face that the young Chagrian could see, if there even was a face buried beneath all that flesh somewhere. Xyrias Wyyrlok was doubtful.

"I have," Wyyrlok replied. "The Valley of the Jedi awaits your arrival my Queen." She had lied the whole time to Abeloth, albeit carefully. One had to believe the lie somewhat themselves in order to not raise suspicion in the person for whom the lie was intended. She and the One Sith stationed on Vjun had all "pledged" allegiance to Abeloth and were "helping" her to locate the Valley of the Jedi. It was a razor thin line to tread, especially for a mere fourteen year old girl.

Part of Abeloth twisted and morphed to face Wyyrlok. It didn't exactly resemble a head per se, but it had two black, sunken eyes, pupils like pinpricks of light. The mouth was warped in a smile that stretched wider than should be possible on any known creature, exposing two rows of monstrous, razor sharp teeth. Tentacles on the ground writhed like burning snakes in what the Sith could only guess was unconstrained glee. "Good. The Son and Daughter?"

"The Daughter is still aboard the Black Dagger," Wyyrlok started. "The Son...has disappeared."

The grotesque grin of pleasure began to vanish from Abeloth's "face". "Find him!" She demanded, a tentacle thudding on the floor driving the point home. "They must both be present. We will begin anew."

Chapter Text

"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova, and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"

―Han Solo

"I'm glad everyone could make it," Jag remarked. Himself, Jaina, Ahsoka, Luke and Vestara were there in the flesh, while Kyle Katarn, Admiral Bwua'tu and Lando Calrissian were present via hologram. All were circled around the holoprojector in the Qordis' comm room.

"The plan so far is to disable all Imperial vessels capable of hyperspace," Fel began, bringing up a holographic diagram of the hyperspace lanes in the galaxy. "This should be simple enough, all Imperial navicomps receive updated star-charts from Bastion. For the first part, we'll make some slight randomized adjustments to the hyperspace routes. That should leave all the vessels we're worried about effectively neutralized until they comply...if they're smart that is. If they choose not to comply, their next jump could very well be their last. It should be a mostly self-correcting problem."

"What's stopping them from simply rolling back your little gift and using the old star-charts?" Katarn asked.

"Most navicomps in Imperial use only have storage space for the current star-charts, plus a little room to grow," Jag explained. "Having a space for a full backup is largely unheard of."

"What about the Moffs conspiring behind your backs?" Lando asked. "All it would take is a call to their Sith buddies in the GA to either come pick them up or bring them accurate information to replace ours."

"That's where the second part comes in," Jaina said. "All Imperial comms are encrypted with an encryption module, and each module has a digital key. Every key expires daily, and it requires a new key to be obtained from a central authority, Bastion. Each module will also need a corresponding decryption key for all other modules in order to communicate securely. The second part of the plan involves updating all the encryption keys with random garbage. So effectively, no Imperial transceiver will be able to communicate with any other, save a select few. Everything ranging from the subspace transceivers on a Star Destroyer to a stormtrooper's individual comlink will be isolated."

"But they could still communicate in the clear, after disabling the encryption module in their transceiver." Bwua'tu stated, seeking clarification. "Some may be brazen enough to try that."

"Some will be brazen enough to try that," Jaina confirmed. "By the time any problematic Moffs are able to find anyone else willing to conspire over an insecure subspace channel, there won't be any more Sith sympathizers left in the Empire no matter how Ruusan turns out. And without encryption, there is no way to verify the sender of a transmission, so anyone receiving will have to go through extra effort to verify who they're actually communicating with."

"What would stop someone like Daala from setting up their own central authority to generate and distribute encryption keys?" Ahsoka asked.

"In addition to time that would also take coordination, which we're not going to give them the luxury of," Jaina responded. "We'll have the few hours of chaos and confusion we need to deal the fatal blow to their command and control."

"Ahsoka, I want you to be the tip of the spear in this operation and bring in the Head of State," Jag said. "If you tracked down the likes of General Grievous, tracking down Daala and bringing her in to face her just reward should be a total blue milk run."

Ahsoka swallowed nervously, but nodded.

"Luke, you had said before you wanted to investigate Ben's disappearance?" Fel asked.

"I've got a solid hunch." Luke replied, his tone belying that he was not thrilled in the least. "The hyperspace jump coordinates of Ben and Han's stolen fighters seem to line up a little too nicely with Ruusan, Vestara and I will start our search there."

"Good, if we can find Ben we may just be able to string Krayt along for a little while longer," Jag said. "Kyle and Lando, do you think you could handle that Imperial presence in orbit over Ossus once their comms are knocked out?"

"I've taken down my fair share of those whaladons," Kyle remarked. "What's one more?"

"Well hopefully Kyle doesn't draw all these Sithspawn to Bespin this time." Lando said lightheartedly, only half joking. "I lost a lot of good men that day."

"You'll have plenty of time to reminisce on the way," Fel said, getting the conversation back on track. "I think everyone knows what they need to do. Let's get a move on. And may the Force be with us all."

***

"I think we're owed some answers," Anakin said, still holding an ignited lightsaber.

"I owe you nothing, Jedi," the Whill stated flatly. With a casual wave of its hand, the portal re-opened behind him. Through it, a red and white painted Republic shuttle was visible. Echoes of the two remaining Ones' voices could be heard emanating through the portal. "You must leave while you still can."

Anakin paused for a moment. The mysterious Jedi who had swooped in from nowhere lay at his feet, unconscious; and the Son next to him, dead. None of this made any sense.

"Gladly," Obi-Wan replied for Anakin. "Let's get out of this...place." He said, glancing at the inky black oblivion all around them. Hesitantly, Anakin switched off his blade.

As the Jedi left through the portal, the Whill knelt down beside Ben and put a hand on his wound. The bleeding subsided, and Ben came to. Within a couple of seconds, he realized where he was and suddenly remembered his horror as he scampered out from under the maimed corpse of the Son.

"Your actions have condemned trillions to death," the Whill stated as Ben brought himself to his feet.

"What?" Ben asked, incredulous. "I've got the Dagger, that's what you told me to do!"

"You killed the Son, and in doing so, you have caused a rift in the past," the Whill explained. "Of course, you will not reap what you have just sown. In the divergence you have just created, Darth Sidious is eradicated, the Republic wins the Clone Wars...and the imbalance in the Force releases the Destructor from her planet. Without the Dagger, she cannot be stopped."

Ben paused a moment trying to make sense of this seeming riddle the Whill had told him. "What in the nine hells is that supposed to mean? The dark side is gone, the Force is balanced!"

"You have learned nothing," The whill said, clearly vexed. "Come Skywalker, you must return."

Chapter Text

"This has been done with honor, without error, and by my choosing. Niathal out."

―Cha Niathal

Ruusan filled the viewport before Luke and Vestara as the loaned shuttle dropped out of hyperspace. Also filling the viewport was a Star Destroyer. This didn't bode well.

"I think you should be the one to hail them," Luke said. "I don't think the Sith down there would appreciate it if they knew I was headed their way."

As Vestara was opening her mouth to respond, the comm crackled to life. "Shuttle BD-248a, this is the Star Destroyer Ephemera. You are in a restricted area. Identify yourself, over." Luke just smirked as he guided the shuttle into it's approach angle, seemingly disregarding the message.

"How did you...?" Vestara asked, her voice trailing off.

"You forget I'm a Jedi Master." Luke said, his smirk growing into a smile. "But I don't need the Force to tell me that ensign is getting impatient."

The comm broke squelch again. "Shuttle BD-248a, identify yourself. Now."

With a bit of hesitancy, Vestara held down the talk button on the comm system and leaned forward to speak with more authority than she felt. "Ephemera this is Darth Fallax. Stand down. Now."

"Lady Fallax," The voice, now tinged with fear, came from the comm. "You have our apologies. We hadn't expected you here."

"No one does," Vestara responded before closing the comm channel. She released the talk button, and took a deep breath and she leaned back away from the comm controls.

"It's a bit different being on the other side, isn't it?" Luke asked as the planet loomed closer.

"You could say that," Vestara said. A few long seconds of silence passed awkwardly as Vestara declined to elaborate.

"This changes things a bit," Luke remarked. "It can either be you or me coming out of this shuttle, not both. It would raise too many questions, and it may undermine Fel's plans."

"What do you propose we do then?" Vestara asked incredulous. "If you expose yourself to the these Sith alone, they can and would blast you into oblivion without a second thought," She said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the Star Destroyer looming outside. "If I go alone, we may never find Ben. This mission is kharked, we should cut our losses and leave while we can."

"There's always a third of two options," Luke said. "Have a little faith."

***

Daala lie awake in her quarters. Sleep had eluded her. She checked her wrist chrono. It read 0137, well into the ship's sleep cycle.

Something was off and she couldn't put her finger on it. She decided to take a walk to try clearing her mind.

As she got up out of the cot, Daala thought she heard something. She stopped and listened. For several seconds it was dead quiet, save for the faint hum of the Gorgon's engines. The Head of State resumed getting out of bed and began donning her uniform.

Again, she heard something. It was a faint click sound outside her cabin door. Daala quietly reached for her blaster on an end table by the cot. She flicked the safety off with it's own click.

"Come on, hurry up." She heard outside. It was a modulated voice that was the result of someone speaking through a stromtrooper helmet. Someone forgot to set their comlink properly.

With her blaster in her right hand, Daala grabbed her comlink with her left hand. "Security to the flag quarters." She muttered. Several more seconds went by. There was no response from the comlink. Unease washed over Daala as she came to the realization that help was not coming. Quickly she bunched the blankets around a pillow on the cot to make it look like the shape of a person, then she proceeded to duck into a poorly illuminated corner.

It felt like an eternity for the stormtroopers to finally get the door open. As it slid open they appeared to follow standard procedure. The sergeant used hand gestures to tell his men to surround the cot.

One of the troopers merely shook his head, and the others started looking around. Their thermal imaging no doubt didn't register a heat signature in the bed.

Before she could be spotted Daala blasted the sergeant square in the back. He collapsed between his comrades. Startled, two of the other troopers turned Daala's way and blasted in the general direction of their assailant. Both missed.

Daala squeezed off another shot, blasting another trooper in the face. He fell instantly like a rag doll, and Daala made a mad dash to a table. Kicking the small slender table over to create cover, she blasted another trooper twice in the chest. He collapsed in a heap.

There were three stormtroopers left, counting the sergeant who was climbing back up and calling for reinforcements. Daala shot a third trooper in the groin. He fell backwards and then curled into a ball, wailing. She ducked behind the table again as blaster bolts created red hot welts on her side, the durasteel barely able to stop the blaster fire from cutting clean through. The table wouldn't take much more of this abuse.

She charged the sergeant, who was standing once more, with the table and smashed him against the wall. He hollered in pain as pressure was applied to the wound on his back. The other trooper was startled, but started to bring his blaster around. Daala grabbed the barrel, and the trooper discharged the weapon into the deck. The trooper overpowered her, pried his weapon free, then bashed her in the face. Daala fell on her rear, cheek bleeding, but grabbed her blaster pistol she had dropped charging the sergeant.

The trooper fired at Daala and missed in the heat of the moment. She shot back, hitting him once in the chest. The trooper staggered but shot again. This time he was wildly inaccurate, the pain must have been debilitating. Daala squeezed the trigger twice more, and twice more a new hole rent the plastoid armor, and the trooper fell dead and smoking.

Daala slowly managed to pick herself up off the ground, she wasn't as spry as she used to be. "Security to the flag quarters!" She yelled into her comlink.

"Daala!" A young female voice came from behind her. A snap-hiss echoed in the small chamber and the dark room was bathed in a bright blue.

Daala turned to fire on her new assailant, but her blaster seemingly leapt out of her hand with a mind of it's own and skittered across the floor. Before she could even move a muscle in any direction, the Jedi raised her hand. Daala felt something invisible that seemed to be about the size of a speeder ram into her gut before she slammed into the bulkhead, a good deal of pressure now holding her wrists and ankles in place.

Her new assailant looked like she couldn't be more than twenty years old, a young Togruta Jedi she had never seen before. Or...had she? There was something vaguely familiar about her but Daala couldn't quite put her finger on it. Not that she could put a finger on much of anything being pinned to a bulkhead.

"Looking for your precious security?" The Jedi produced some sort of fob from her belt with her off hand, and pressed a button on it. A red light began to flash on the fob, and within a couple seconds two Imperial YVH droids dutifully marched into the room. Their malevolent looking red eyes were riveted on Daala.

"This party is over Daala," Ahsoka said with a hint of a smirk. "You're under arrest for high treason."

"Arrest?" Daala questioned, in far more confidence than she should have had. She shook her head, an eerie smile growing on her face. "No. Do you really believe I would let you humiliate me in a tribunal like that?"

Ahsoka edged the tip of her saber closer to Daala's face, stopping mere centimeters from her chin. "I believe you don't have much of a choice."

Daala gritted her teeth hard, her smirk widening. Ahsoka didn't get it for a moment, then beginning to panic, realized what was happening as Daala's eyes glazed over. Almost a full second later she began foaming at the mouth. Ahsoka released her Force-grip on Daala, and she subsequently collapsed face down on the deck at the young Togruta's feet. Daala was motionless. Dead. This did not look good.