Star Wars 1. Chapter 1: Means Matter Not

As he walked down the hallway, the Dark Lord slowed his breathing. The air was growing progressively thicker with every step as he neared the last door on the left. From here he could tell that his sources had been right. His senses verged on overwhelming as he readied himself. It was the sum of all things; his anticipation, his disgust, his craving and the fact that his prey was now merely a few meters away.

His comlink chimed twice, the signal he had been waiting for. With a small team of soldiers positioned on the ground floor and a pair of snipers positioned across the street, all was in place for another extraction. He was one of the best "Pull Men" in the Empire. Sent in to investigate possible leaks and traitors, the "Pull Men" were a set of unique squads that operated independently of the Imperial Military chain of command. Once transferred into a Pull Squad, the soldiers answer only to their assigned Lord, who receives instructions directly from the Dark Council itself.

The instructions on this operation were simple enough. Investigate a possible force user that had been working with the local democratic movement. Rebel movements were common enough on Dromuund Kaas and often were contained within a few days, but force users tended to complicate simple things. Having a Zabrak terrorist with the ability to manipulate local officials or soldiers could be a major liability. Though originally unsure as to the validity of his information, there was no doubt in the Dark Lord's now.

He took one more second to take in his surroundings, shut his eyes and took one deep breath. He could taste it in the air, that kind of self righteous foolishness that got many young men killed, was about to have the same effect. There was a sense of pride with the faintest taste of fear. That made a small smile appear on the dark hunters face.

He knocked on the door in a very calm manner and felt his prey's surprise. Normally it would be considered foolish to patiently wait for a criminal to answer the door, but he could tell that there was nothing in that room for him to fear. Just a fool that thinks he can make a difference because he has a little bit of power. The footsteps grew closer, then the door's view hole cracked open.

"Yes?" a voice said on the other side of the door.

"Open the door," The knocker responded in a very flat and restrained tone.

"You don't need to come inside," the rebel dictated, giving the faintest hint of force suggestion. This made his new guest laugh.

"Paulo Dugonic, I insist, I've come all this way to see you. You will open the door."

Hearing his name made Paulo's pulse race. Suddenly the rebel knew that this was no mistake and there was no getting around it. When a Dark Lord of the Sith comes knocking at your door, what do you do?

The door slid open and Paulo's eyes met with man of average height. The mysterious man was wearing a metal mask that gave him an almost skeletal appearance. His robes were plain and worn with stitching and patching repairing the tears and cuts in the cloth that occurred over years of battling and training. He was covered from head to toe, giving no hint of his species or age, and emanated an aura of craving. The man walked past Paulo and began investigating the apartment in the casual manner of a potential home buyer checking the conditions of a prospective apartment.

"So what is going to happen to me now?" Paulo asked the mysterious monster that was now taking a seat at the dining table.

"You tell me," the guest said as he began to click the buttons and switches that unlocked his helmet.

"I suppose I mysteriously disappear, never to be heard from again, and my friends are killed in their sleep."

"When you say it like that, you almost sound like a Sith." undoing the last switch.

"What if I turned? What if I helped you instead?"

The helmet was placed on the table and the fear continued to grow within Paulo. He was surprised by the Sith Lord's youth, but the signs of his corruption by the dark side were plain to see. Veins stuck out of the young lord's face and neck pumping what looked too black to be blood. His eyes bloodshot with unnaturally dark irises and purple circles engulfing his eyes. There were scars in detailed tribal patterns going across his face and a lump in the ridge of his nose where had previously been broken. Paulo found himself focused on the eyes. It was as if there was something pulling him towards those dark eyes.

"If you turned, you would provide me with information. Nothing significant, just enough to try and earn my trust. You may even trade in your neighbors across the hall that are preparing to bomb the House of Lords."

Paulo's eyes went wide. It was easy to see that he was running out of ideas. Any hope that once lived in this man was now completely gone as he perfumed the air with his fear, and that fear only wet the appetite of the beast that was about to feed. The lord basked in the moment, savoring the sheer terror as he continued.

"The fact of the matter is that though you may claim to help us, you are weak. You do not possess the vision or will to do what is really in the benefit of your people. You stumble around like a child with his first taste of ale. Drunk on your power and idealistic principals you believe that you can not be stopped. That it is the will of the Force for you to... make a difference. One day you will try something foolish and prove that you weren't worth the keeping around to begin with."

"If you weren't planning on letting me live, why have I made it this far?" the now shaking man asked.

"Before this you were just a name on a list. I had to see you for myself, and now I can see exactly how this is going to end."

It was almost in an instant. A couple books and some chairs erupted from their resting places towards the Sith Lord moving barely a meter before freezing in place mid air. It was a sight to see. Paulo's arms fully extended and straining to push the projectiles forward, while this mysterious stranger still casually sat back in his chair. The robed man snapped his fingers and the Paulo was lifted from the ground. Everything started to swirl slowly around the room in a circular drag of destruction and the sith lord rose from his chair.

"Your power is new to you. It is unnatural...misplaced. You have something that you do not deserve, and it is time for it to return to proper hands."

What had started as a light push in the force and now escalated to a raging whirlwind, emptying cabinets and starting to tear away at the walls. The Sith's once dark eyes were now emanating a strange yellow glow and Paulo felt as his fear was forcefully maginified and intensified. Til tears poured and his wails of terror could almost be heard over the sound of the cyclonic madness that was going around the room, then as quickly as the exchange began, it ended. The spinning stopped, the fear stopped and a strange safe that had once been hidden in the wall floated to the middle of the room. It peeled open with a wave of the lord's hand revealing a collection of treasures from a number of planets. Some of them as old as the Immortal Emperor himself and found a small Holocron.

"The lost teachings of Ne'ro Joac. Considered blaspheme by some, but for others a means of shifting the force. Giving it to others, or taking it for one's self. It's a path that many have followed but few have mastered."

The frozen man floated towards the dark lord until they were inches apart.

"You have the holocron, you know about my friends. What do you want?"

The killer repeated to his victim, "You have something that you do not deserve, and it is time for it to return to proper hands."

After the feast was over the squad joined their leader inside. The troopers made their way over the debris spread along the floor. Books, pictures, and kitchenware, the mess covering the ground the was nothing compared to the bizarre remains of Paulo Dugonic. The body was curled in a ball near the Sith Lord's feet. His eyes open and covered in a strange blue sheet of gloss. In briefing they had been told that Dugonic was a formidable man of thirty-two years, with long brown hair, but the body that laid before them had to be at least seventy, and while some patches of hair remained, more of it seemed to be laying on the floor under his head. Cool air seemed to emanate from the corpse. The dark robed man was kneeled at the body facing away from his soldiers.

"Lieutenant Draxim, report..."

"We have detained the neighbors and contained their weapons. How should we proceed?" The broad shouldered Lieutenant responded as more of his troops filed into line.

"Bring them in," the lord said as he closed his eyes.

A pair of Twi'leks were brought in and thrown to the floor behind the focused Dark Lord. Draxim stood next to his master and tapped a switch on the side of his helmet.

"When did you slaves start becoming so much trouble?" the robed man.

The red skinned of the two Twi'leks spat on him. "What makes you think that you're people should be so entitled while the Twi'leks suffer?"

"You pathetic worm, do you really think your squirming matters to me. The Zabrak have sold you out. They told me where I could find you and what you were hiding."

The red-skinned Twi'lek erupted with anger while the blue one remained silent with a contemplative look across his face as if suspicious of something.

"Horn-headed Bastards! What did you..." His words started to trail off as he started to take note of Paulo's corpse for the first time. They had noticed it upon entering, but had paid it enough attention to really take it in and grasp what had happened to their accomplice. "Go ahead and kill us, our bombs will still go off. You can not stop that which you don't understand."

"I understand." The Sith responded, triggering surprise in the Twi'leks. "You feel abused...weak. You feel as though you have no control over your destiny and are stuck doing following a path that was dictated to you, while you wish to control you own fate. You feel betrayed. You feel afraid." He turned and revealed his face to them for the first time. Veins were pulsating in his neck and face as though there was too much blood pumping for his body to handle. "I understand, I just don't care." His eyes turned dark as night while the two Twi'leks slowly rose from the ground.

Their motion was fluid and controlled, but it was easy to see that control was not in their hands. "I'd care if you weren't so weak. If you could make me care, but you can't so I don't. Every breath you take, every word you say, is only an indulgence allowed by us. We allow you to live and spread your stink through our empire, and I'm tired of it. Every second that I breath in your filth, it strains me, but I've learned a way to deal with this stress. Would you like to see?"

He could feel excitement coming from his troops. They always loved to watch the kill. They're master had grown more creative over the years. They had even started gambling on how he would kill each next victim, until he found out and killed the soldier running the pool.

The Sith Lord leaned his head back and started to stretch it from side to side. The Twi'leks' heads started to bob in similar motion in sync with his own movements. Then with one quick twist the sith made a cracking sound with his neck, and his two victims dropped. Dead before they hit the floor.

Lieutenant Draxim clicked another button on his helmet. "Fixer 23, status?"

A voice came over their comm system reporting from their base, "I have the footage, almost done with my 'corrections' then I'll be read to leak the story to news teams whenever you are ready."

Draxim turned to his master. "We can be in position and ready to proceed within the hour."

"This should keep the public occupied for some time," the Sith responded while putting his mask back on. He turned to the holocron and summoned it to his hand. "When you are done, meet me back at base. There is someone I must see first."

"Yes Lord Ynot"

The cantina was dark, but warm. The Shaky Leg had a reputation for being very liberal about its dress code, and the owner kept the heat turned up to encourage customers to disrobe. All of the common vices could be found in the cantina, and plenty of uncommon ones. The smell of death sticks and spilt liquors would fill the air, if there wasn't a steady flow of aphrodisiac pheromones being pumped through the air system.

The dance floor was crowded with variety of races, but it was easy to tell who was their for pleasure and who was wearing a shock collar. To the side of the dance floor were a number of tables then a hallway that led to rooms with more privacy. You could get anything you wanted if you knew the right person, the club was filled with regulars that were known for getting the job done, none better than a Twi'lek named Rainhamer.

He sat at a table near the back accompanied by a Twi'lek Woman and a human boy. The woman at to the side of Rainhamer with her left arm wrapped around his shoulder, playing with his lekku. While they watched the young boy dance. Rainhamer was by no means a small man, by the size of his belly, one would assume he was more likely to eat the child than anything else, but anyone that had spoken to Rainhamer for more than 5 minutes knew far too much about what the obese Twi'lek liked to do with little boys.

A server droid approached the table with another round of drinks and a message for the smuggler. "Your guest has arrived and is waiting in the rear performance room for you."

Rainhamer stood up and lifted his glass. "To me," he chuckled as he downed his next drink in a single gulp and burped in the droid's face. "I wish you had a sense of smell, cause that was B-Utiful."

"My ability to smell is arguable. While I am able to detect the gases that you released, I am still physically unaffected by the sm..."

"I get it, sense of smell and sense of humor. Two things you can comprehend but clearly don't have. Tell security to bring in the goodies."

"Yes sir!" The droid responded as he waddled to the nearest security guard.

With a nod of his head, his two companions got up and joined him on his way to the back. He walked down the hall with his hand cupping the Twi'lek woman's firm behind. The child was running back and forth down the hall peaking his head into different private rooms and shouting random profanities.

When they arrived in the final private room, they found a single man. He was dressed in a simple green suit. His hair was well kept, and his skin tan. On first glance there was nothing special about this man, just an average guy in a cantina.

"Your late..." The man greeted Rainhamer without turning to face him.

"The droid told me that you just arrived?" the smuggler said in his own defense.

"I did. I came here soon after receiving your message that you returned to Kaas City, but the fact remains you are nearly a month late."

"If you're not happy, I can always take 'em somewhere else. I can always find a new buyer, I don't think you will have as easy of a time finding someone else that can get this job done. Especially not with these results."

As he said that two of the cantina's security droids walked in escorting a line of pale skinned women. Mostly bald, with tribal markings and simple yet stunning beauty.

"Rattataki are tough to acquire. The women are most formidable. I had the chance to sample the two on the end." Rainhamer said with a slimy grin, "They were quite delicious."

The man turned from Rainhamer and started pacing down the line, inspecting the product. He didn't bother with the two on the end, unsure of what they may have caught from their captor. He looked each one in the eye and assessed them. The Twi'lek smuggler looked a little perplexed as he asked, "You're really into the eyes aren't ya? Personally I'm more of a armpit guy."

"This one," the man stated while starring down the third woman from the end. There was a fire in her. While most of them had been looking at the floor defeatedly, she glared right back at him. She wasn't sad, she was angry, and he could taste it. Her anger burnt bright and focused, like instead of giving up, she was still waiting for her chance to escape. There was something about this woman that demanded his attention.

"Just the one? But you hired me to get ten?"

"And you have found me one, it's not your fault. It's like hunting with a hound that has no sense of smell. You didn't know what you were looking for."

"Listen, this cost me fuel, time, and I lost two of my guys on that damned planet. If you think you can just come in here and low-ball me..." the twi'lek put his hand on his pistol and unlocked it from its holster.

"No, you listen," the man said as he raised one hand. With that motion the twi'lek's boy-toy was lifted from the ground and pinned against a wall. "Your manners have been most unsavory in our dealings, but I allow it because you found what I was looking for. I allow it because I may have further use of you, but it is time that you realized that you are dealing with a Sith Lord, not some senator looking to get his kicks off." He squeezed his hand tighter and the boy started to scream out in pain as he felt his bodying being pulled from every limb. "If I wasn't happy, you would be aware." There was a popping sounds as both of the boys shoulders popped out of socket. "But as I said, you've done a good job, and because of that, you will be paid in full as promised. But don't presume to know me or what I am capable of."

In less than a heart beat Rainhamer pulled his gun from its holster and squeezed the trigger releasing one round. Then the smuggler squeezed out a smirk, "Don't presume to know me or what I am capable of." As he put down his weapon, the Sith Lord put down the boy, with his fresh bullet wound to the forehead. Seeing how easily the smuggler tossed his lover's aside made the lord smile as well. He had been surprised by the Twi'lek's reputation, but the criminal's skills and cutthroat instincts impressed the Sith. Looking at Rainhamer's female companion, this seemed to be common practice as she was unaffected by the murder and was lighting up another Death Stick.

"You continue to surprise me. Do you have any other engagements?"

"Just a couple spice runs through the colonies. You Sith don't seem to mind, as long as I keep it in the slums."

This caused a mix of emotions in the Sith Lord. Pride to see a plan he had helped devise working with such success, but also a bit of resentment. Though it was originally his idea to keep the lower class under control through the underground sales of spice, his master, Lagana, took credit for the plan. It wasn't until he killed Lagana a few years ago that the council learned the truth.

"When will you be returning to Republic space?"

"A couple weeks," the Twi'lek shrugged.

Without reaching into a pocket a cred chip floats from the sith towards Rainhamer before coming to rest floating a foot in front of the Twi'leks face. "You will find that there is more than enough on that chip. Consider yourself on retainer. There is much for you to do out here."

"I don't do leashes or shock collars, unless she's into it. And I don't like to sit around."

"Then don't. Go on your spice run. Go capture some more love slaves for the cantinas. Do what you like, but when I send for you... you respond."

The Sith turned to look at his latest purchase. Skin as pale as the moon, she glared back at him with clear disgust. He could feel her hatred as if it were a slap on the face, but this only pleased him more as he imposed his will on her. In a room full of people blind to the force, they were the only two people aware of this emotional conversation going on between the two. The Sith looked into her eyes and triggered a feeling in the back of her mind. Pain.

She felt as though her brain was being torn apart. It lasted only a second, but for her the pain was clear and vivid. It ended as quickly as it began, but the memory of it echoed, reminding her of the power her new master commanded. Then without a word he walked towards the door with her close behind.

The Twi'lek was clearly surprised by how quickly and silently the slave gave into her new master. She had been one of the most difficult catches of his career. He had almost let her go based only on the number of near successful escape attempts she had made, almost depressurizing his ship and killing the crew in the process.

As the two left the room, Rainhamer looked at the limp body of the boy he had shot in the face. "I'm gonna miss little Gandire," he said.

"I thought his name was Matt?" the female twi'lek responded.

Rainhamer rolled his eyes in annoyance and without looking at his companion, pulled his gun out and let out one round to her temple.

"I'm gonna miss you too, whatever your name was."

As he picked her have smoked death stick out of the tray, a young Twi'lek male ran into the private room. "Boss, we gotta get outta here."

"What's wrong?"

The younger man turned on the vidscreen halfway through a newscasters report. "...into a massacre. Though tension has been building between the two races for some time, we believe that this attack may be the start of a new stage in the conflict. This feud had been kept to the streets of the slums for some time, but with the bombing on the new Zabrak school in lower Kaas, this gang war may become open war. The following was a call from the home of known terrorists Kyla and Ygori Gambrig that took place just an hour before the explosion."

The vid switched to show a picture of a Red skinned Twi'lek next to a Blue skinned Twi'lek with stern looks on their faces. "What makes you think that you're people are so entitled while the Twi'leks suffer? Horn-headed Bastards! Go ahead and kill us, our bombs will still go off. You can not stop that which you don't understand."

The screen then switched to shots of the Twi'lek district with mobs of angry Zabrak destroying everything they could get their hands on. Buildings were catching fire and Twi'lek women and children were being beaten in the open.

"Start her up, we leave in ten."

"No can do," as the spoke the vid showed a quick shot of buildings catching fire, including the dock that Rainhamer had left his ship.

"Stang," Rainhamer said reaching for the cred chip in his pocket.

"Then I guess its time we got something new."

Quickly eyeing over the women still left over from his sale to the sith, he grabs two by the wrists and they make their way out the back escape a few seconds before the doors of the cantina burst open in a wave of hate, blood, and vengeance. As Rainhamer, his shipmate and his two slaves got in a speeder, something on the roof caught his eye. Looking down over the mayhem and carnage that filled the Twi'lek district was Rainhamer's new employer and his prize catch, enjoying the show.


	2. Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Sons

1.5 Years Later

Lord Ynot's Manor

The doors burst with simultaneous precision. Blinding light filled the halls as smoke clouded the air, making it impossible for anyone to really assess what had happened. There is a whirling of alarms as Imperial troopers raid the building bit by bit.

Rainhamer woke in an instant. His instincts sharp, he had trained himself to be able to wake in such a situation. His mind clear, he thought about the safety protocols that had been explained to him. Grabbing his gun and the essentials that he kept in a quick-pack near the door, he activated the security view cam for his hallway and assessed the situation. He donned a face mask that would help regulate the light in his eyes as well as filter out the smoke and made his way into the hall.

He moved with precision down the hall and towards the nursery. He always considered that a misuse of the word. Normally a nursery would be filled with bright colors and pictures of a variety of cuddly animals. The room that Rainhamer was entering was quite the opposite. A dark and quiet room, there was something about it that he found unsettling. He was surprised to find that he wasn't alone. Kneeling in the middle of the room was the Ynot's Rattaki slave Senjai, and on the floor before her was the baby.

Rainhamer was confused by a lot of Lord Ynot's actions, and was confused by the nature of certain things in the manor, but nothing confused him more than the Master's relationship with the slave.

She gave him council and was often found by his side, but they never touched. Though she bore him a child, they had separate chambers and gossip in the manor had made it clear that they were not lovers. Yes she was his slave, but she had many freedoms with very little limitation. She revered the Sith Lord and spoke to Rainhamer with the same condescension often poking at how little Rainhamer could possibly understand, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Rainhamer had always been liberal with his sense of morality, but he had done things in service of the sith. Things that could not be undone. Working with criminals, you often found people who didn't mind doing some damage here and there, but the Sith thrived on it. Hungered for it.

As he approached he noticed that the child had something on his face. Strange patterns had been drawn on the boys face in a design that seemed ancient.

"You've come to take him to safety," She said to him entirely as a statement. With this he saw a tear come to her eye, but it was unusual. Thicker than a normal tear, and darker. With one finger she picked the tear from her eye and swiped in a line under the baby's chin. It wasn't until the line had been drawn that Rainhamer realized that it was tear drop of blood.

The strange pale woman lifted her child from the floor and handed him to the Twi'lek. "Take Scheed far. As long as he is in Imperial Space, he is not safe."

Rainhamer nodded as he accepted the baby into his arms and made it for the door.

Lord Ynot's Manor

Hangar Bay

"Alright son, you've gotta hide." As he said as the human male took out a small necklace and put it around the infants neck and the baby giggled. It was clear that the child had no concept of what was going on, but his father was well to aware of the danger he was facing. Betraying a Sith Lord was never safe.

The necklace cost half his years pay and was worth much more. The Empire was known for identifying force sensitive children and singling them out for Sith training. Parents that refused would be killed and their children taken anyways. So amulets such as this that hide a users presence in the force were essential if you didn't want your child to be stolen away. He tucked the amulet under the child's wraps and secured him in place for take off.

The plan had been pretty simple. Get out of there before the raid begins and start a new life with Maris and their son working for Lord Tranik. Higher position, better pay, but best of all, Lord Tranik knew their sons situation and was willing to overlook it, as long as they lowered the Manor's defenses before the attack. Clearly he had underestimated the speed at which Tranik's forces would move in.

His lover, Maris, was in the cockpit trying to hotwire the ships systems, but she was unfamiliar with the security system. This model wasn't standard, and there had been many alterations by its owner. She fumbled through the wires trying to find the key to their freedom, but was running out of time. Nervously she looked out of the cockpit window and saw the last thing she ever wanted to see. One very angry sith lord.

She could barely see him, as he was on the opposite side of the hanger, when she noticed his attention was fixed on her. She couldn't move. She couldn't breath. She wanted to shout out to her husband and warn him, but her jaw rested open and unmoving. Her body started to shake and tremble, begging for more air, when her husband entered the cockpit.

He noticed immediately and tried to shake her free. Tried to hold her and kiss air into her lungs, but she died in his arms. To say that anger started to build in the man would be a gross understatement as it erupted into him in a mere moment. He dropped his lover to the floor and was heading down the exit ramp from the ship in less then a heart beat. He wanted to run out there and strike down the sith lord, but was surprised to find the man waiting at the ships entrance.

"I always knew you would be the one. You had a knack for deceit and a hunger for power, you just never could see things through."

"You've held me back for years. I could be a master by now but you waste my time on meaningless errands and folklore about things that don't exist."

"If you're so sure I held you back," Ynot said while extending his orange blade, "prove it."

Without another word the apprentice burst through the air arcing a bright crimson blade. When it clashed with his master's blade he could feel Ynot stumble back. It was just half a step, but that half a step gave him proof that he could be stronger than his master. He could out will him if he could just focus hard enough.

The blades swung in ballet of flashing lights. The red blade would nearly take one of Ynot's legs before having to defend an attack to the face. They beat each other back like two rams constantly fighting for an inch.

"You've grown slow and weak Master. You've grown soft in this castle with all of your servants. You've forgotten how to win your own battles."

With this there was a spark in Ynot's eyes as he hurled his apprentice against a wall, "and you've forgotten why you are such a disappointment to me." He shot an arc of pure white lightning at his fallen apprentice. "You have strength," he said before sending another shot of lightning through the man. "You have anger," another shock. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The smell of agony. Then suddenly there was something else. Strange and small, it came from behind him. He turned and saw the baby crawling at the top of the ships ramp.

"Poetic. I had been wondering who that whore had laid with. You must have worked hard to keep that one from me." He lifted a hand and the baby floated over to him. "Today you cost me much," He raised his blade in preparation to slaughter the child, "consider us even."

As he swung there was a sharp pain in his right hand and he lost grip of the blade. A shot. He turned to see Rainhamer, with a blaster in one hand and Ynot's child in the other, and released two more shots directly into Ynot's chest. Ynot, the second child, and the lightsaber all fell to the ground. The lightsaber bounced off the floor twice before coming to a rest and switching off.

His heart racing, Rainhamer lifted the burnt child from the floor and boarded his ship as quickly as he could. He went to the cockpit and find a dead woman near his controls. It took him a moment to recognize the woman as Maris, one of the servants employed in the manor. He didn't know much about her but figured the child must be hers. No time to dig deeper, Rainhamer looked out the window and saw the two downed sith. One laying on his back with a chest full of plasma and the other crying out from burn wounds. He'd consider saving the burn victim, but he'd had enough of the Sith for a long time.

His ship had been designed for cold starting, so he was out of the dock in no time. Determined to get out of Imperial space as soon as possible. Once the ship was able to engage auto-pilot, he turned back to look at the two babies. One he saved from certain death, the other from of life of certain horrors.

In that instant he flashed back to what the Sith's slave said in the nursery. "As long as he is in Imperial Space he is not safe." Safe from who? The men attacking the base, or his own father. There's been too much blood on Rainhamer's hands, there was something about these children he had to protect. As he punched in the coordinates he immediately felt a wave of relief. Tython, home of the Jedi. He may not know what to do with two Sith spawn, but maybe they would. The hyperdrive engaged and the Polly 6 never returned to Imperial space.


	3. Chapter 3: From Darkness, Comes Light

12 Years Later

Jedi Academy- Tython

"We shouldn't be doing this," Scheed said nervously as they entered the cave. The smell of sulphur flowed out of the dark passageway. Scheed and the other three boys slowly inched their way deeper into the cave, unsure of their path as the glow sticks barely showed a meter ahead of them. Generally the standard issue glow rods perform quite well, able to illuminate entire caverns, but their was something strange about this cave, something unnatural. Even walking felt awkward in the cave as the floor was horribly uneven and gravity seemed to be acting in excess.

"Stop being such a baby. If you're so afraid why don't you go back to the masters and cry about it," Bi-Pi chuckled as he shoved Scheed out of his way.

"I'm not afraid. The masters warned us not to go into the wilds. This must be dangerous," Scheed responded.

"We're not that far. If it really wasn't safe don't you think they'd put a sign up or something so people stay away?" Bi-Pi reasoned as he pushed further into the cave.

"That would require them living long enough to make a sign," Pollisix added.

Scheed was the eldest of them, though they were all around the same age. He and Pollisix had been brought to the Jedi when they were just infants. A Twi'lek smuggler named Rainhamer brought them here with very little explanation. Rainhamer knew the elder child's name to be Scheed and let him keep it figuring that a name could do little damage half way across the galaxy. He didn't know the younger child's parents as well, and had never heard the boys name. He was raised as Stephain, a traditional Jedi name, but soon took on the name Pollisix after the ship that brought him to the Jedi. The Jedi took them in and raised the boys, teaching them the ways of the force and preparing them for a life of service.

They met Bi-Pi fairly early in their training. He and Pollisix became dueling partners, as well as partners in mischief as they gained reputations for playing pranks on other students and sometimes even masters. Scheed was more reserved, doing as told and spending more of his time in studies than dueling or goofing around. He didn't get along with Bi-Pi often, but tolerated him for Pollisix' sake.

In the back of the group was Bi-Pi's younger brother Hew. He wasn't nearly as talkative or reckless as his brother, and Scheed liked him for this very reason. A few years younger, he had just arrived at the academy a few months prior. He didn't know his way around and his shyness prevented him from making many friends among his class, so he preferred to follow his brother.

The cave was silent other than the sound of their footsteps echoing of the walls and the faint drip drop of water somewhere deeper down the path.

"How far do you think it goes?" Bi-Pi asked turning to Pollisix.

"We're already pretty deep, maybe it comes out on another side. Some of the tunnels here are miles long with a bunch of entrances from the surface," he replied.

The sound of the water was becoming louder as they entered a larger chamber within the cavern. It was a large octagonal room from what they could tell. It had high ceilings and the floor and walls seemed smooth and even. The boys made their way to the walls of the chamber seeing strange patterns inscribed into the massive stone plates. It was quite dark, but after taking a brief look at the writing Scheed felt confident that even in perfect light he would be unable to understand this strange language.

"Maybe Scheed is right. I've got a really bad feeling about this place," Hew said in a soft but sure voice, sounding as if he was afraid of being heard.

"Really?" Bi-Pi responded to his brother, "If I had known you were gonna be like this I would have gotten a nice little dress for you to wear instead of those training robes."

Pollisix could sense it now as well. He wasn't sure what it was specifically, but his friends were right. There was definitely something amiss down there. He stood still for a moment and listened closely. Absolute silence...

"Everybody go ba..." Pollisix' words were cut short by a scream. The lack of light made it hard to see what was happening, but there was no question that Hew was on the floor in agony. There was a perverse growling sound coming from whatever was gnawing at Hew's leg. The other three boys pulled their training blades without a word and started swinging at the dark mass that still had the boy in its grasp.

The blades were designed for use in sparring. To prevent unnecessary injuries the blades were built to sting upon contact but not do any lasting damage. This was great for use against other students, however it was not great for use against mysterious monsters in dark caves. So the boys kept swinging their blades, beating the beast as it dug deeper into Hew's flesh.

Frantically flailing their arms, the boys battled to save their friend. Doubt had spread through them and they reached a level of fear they had never experienced when a familiar snap-hiss sound came from behind them and a purple glow began to shine over their shoulders. The saber flew above them towards the creature, illuminating its teeth for only an instant before the impact. There was a howl of sorts as the lightsaber made contact with the beast and bounced off of its tough exterior.

Though it appeared undamaged, the mysterious cave dweller released Hew's leg and ran back into the cave. Hew's screams lowered in volume, but continued as he squirmed in pain from his wound. The lightsaber had returned to its owner who was now cracking a pair of glow-rods to illuminate the cave. It wasn't until this moment that the boys realized the identity of their savior.

Master Grard stood before them. A slightly rounded Zabrak, he was not one of the academy's instructors, but had instead come to Tython a few months prior on Council business. He generally kept to himself, so the students didn't trouble him or gossip about his mission. His horns were located in an interesting arrangment, with small horns going across the top of his forehead, a row of longer horns going straight down the middle and short dark hair covering the rest of his scalp. He wore simple Green robe with brown ear rings and an dark leather belt now holding his lightsaber.

"We didn't know..." Bi-Pi begins before the Master raises a hand to silence him.

"There's no time. The poison is lethal in small amounts, and considering how long it had him, there's no telling how long he has."

"Can you heal him?" Pollisix added with a hint of hope in his voice.

"No, I know some healing trances, but nothing that can fix this. My speeder is outside the cave. If you get him back to the temple fast enough they might be able to save him, but we have to move now."

The three boys were about to lift Hew when the Master cut them off again. "Wait, no telling what damage might come from moving him." Grard raised one hand and the body floated into the air. The boys had been learning for levitation, but the master had such control over the body that they were amazed. Hew glided through the air without moving at all. His body remained perfectly still as it was walked to the speeder. It was a brisk speed, trying to balance the need to get Hew to safety with the need to keep him as still as possible. Once outside the boys found the two seat speeder parked behind a row of tall bushes.

"When you get to the Temple you must find El'Ram as quickly as possible. She's the only one I know that might be able to help," Grard instructed Bi-Pi.

"Shouldn't you take him? You know the jungle better. What if I get lost? What if I don't get there in time? What if..."

The boys concerns were cut short by harsh reasoning, "You children have already proven that you shouldn't be out here alone. I'll make sure you're friends get home safely. You need to take care of your brother, and fast!" Without another word Bi-Pi got into the drivers seat, check that his brother had been properly fastened into a seat, and took off.

Once driving he found the speeder's navigation system to be easy enough to follow. Driving in the jungle on the other hand was not as easy. He had only driven a few times before and found his inexperience to be taking a toll on his timing. Driven by the moans of his brother bleeding out in the passenger seat, he moved as swiftly as he could without running into to any trees.

As he approached the temple, Bi-Pi almost drove the speeder straight through the entranceway, stopping only a half meter short of the front wall. The crowd of Jedi and Padawans were stunned by the sight of a child parking a speeder in the middle of the front stairwell screaming for help.

"El'Ram! I need El'Ram! Please! He's dying," he cried into the air using the force to carry his voice so far that every Jedi in a 2-click radius must have heard it."

Tears were pouring down his cheeks as he saw a woman running full speed towards him. She had long dark hair, filled with streaks of grey. The wrinkles on her face showed years of hardships and struggles. With the sight of her Bi-Pi started to feel relieved, but that relief was short-lived.

"What happened to him?" the woman asked as she tried to assess the situation.

"We were attacked in a cave. Grard said that you could help him. Please," he begged her.

"I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do. The poison seems to have a fairly strong hold on him and the wounds are too deep."

Bi-Pi felt a tightness in his chest as he was unable to breath. He drove as quickly as he could. What else could he have done? What else could anyone have done? He took his brothers hand as he felt the last dregs of life slowly flowing out of Hew.

"Please make way. Please. Excuse me. Please move!" a voice shouted. With everything that was going on, Bi-Pi hadn't realized that a crowd had formed around them. Watching what was happening as a Padawan laid dying on their temples front steps.

The crowd parted a little as a young girl made her way through. She couldn't have been 10, but there was something unmistakably aged about her. It wasn't in her hair or the cracks of her face, but in her eyes. Now standing a few meters from the dying boy, she was unphased by his condition and even looked determined. She knelt down beside the boys and put both hands just above Hew's leg. A shot of life went through the young boy as he cried out in a new way. Confused, Bi-Pi looked down at his brother's leg and saw that it was starting to sizzle and steam. Agony swept Hew's voice as he wailed and shook on the ground.

Bi-Pi raised a hand and lashed out with the force to push the girl back. As she was lunged back into the crowd she was caught in the arms of her fellow Jedi, and to his surprise Bi-Pi now found himself being held back by other Padawans. The girl now placed back onto the ground went straight back for Hew, not wasting any time.

She raised her hands again and the screams returned to Hew's lips. A strange smell seeped from the wound as it begin to sizzle again.

"Let me go. She's going to kill him!" Bi-Pi pleaded as he watched his younger brother twist on the ground as if being struck with lightning. Then the cries stopped. The sizzling stopped.

The young girl rose from Hew's body and walked towards Bi-Pi. "I came as soon as I heard you call for me. It's a good thing you got here as quickly as you did, or he wouldn't have made it."

"He's going to be okay?"

She gave him a little nod, "He'll live, but I'm not sure about that leg."


	4. Chapter 4: Belly of a Beast

3 years later

Dathomir

The smell was pungent and burnt his nostrils as Pollisix stood in the elevator. The lift was completely sealed, but still the odor found its way through the microscopic gap between atoms. It was a relatively small elevator, especially when being shared with a husky pair of Gammoreans and a Wookie. The ride was slow as they made their way further down, and felt like it was lasting an eternity considering the fact that the three aliens didn't speak a word of Galactic Basic, and he didn't speak in the animalistic grunts and howls that their voices made. So he put on his best Sabacc face and continued to wait.

For a second he paused to close his eyes and extended his awareness, and was relieved to sense his backup making his way down above the elevator. At least with the elevator moving this slowly it wasn't too difficult for Bi-Pi to keep up. Well, as difficult as it would be for a Jedi to climb his way down an elevator shaft into the belly of a Sarlacc. If the smell seemed bad inside the lift, one could only imagine how unbearable it was on the outside.

When the elevator reached the bottom it opened into a large room. Filled with a dozen large tables and about fifty or sixty workers, mostly Twi'leks. They were busy doing a variety of tasks, some pouring various powders into bags and packages while others where taking completed packages to a second room on the far side. Spice miners. They profited off the suffering of others, developing stronger and more addictive variations of their drugs every year. If you make the crash hard enough, you will have customers hurrying back to you consistently, until they died.

Pollisix and Bi-Pi had been sent in to infiltrate the mine and find out who is behind the operation. As he walked into the chamber, the only other human in the room shouted out to the guards and workers, "Everyone back up! Make Space! Get away from him!"

Alarm suddenly shot down Pollisix's spine. Had he been discovered so quickly? He didn't have his lightsaber on him in case they searched him, convinced that his backup was close enough to be able to help, but he could tell through the force that Bi-Pi was still making his way down and was not in an observing position yet. Then the human addressed him directly.

"I'm very sorry, my good sir, but there's two things I can tell you about these slaves. They can work for days straight without sleep if given the right stims, and they're the ugliest bunch of head tailed bastards I've ever seen," as he spoke he showed a faint smirk and walked over to Pollisix with his right hand extended in greeting.

"This is quite a facility you have, not many people can say 'I've survived a sarlacc pit.'" Pollisix said shaking the mans hand.

The man held his hand firmly and pulled him in close whispering "You haven't gotten out yet," then there was a moment of silence before the two broke out laughing. "Say, your a little young to be working for the Red Krayt aren't you? Shouldn't you be in school or something?"

Pollisix looked the man in the eyes while tilting his head. "Yeah, right after this I have to hurry and get back to the academy."

"Academy? Woah woah woah, I'll have to warn the boss that we are dealing with a regular Fire Freckin' Jedi." The two started laughing again. "Can I get you anything? Spice? Deathstick?"

"Nah, I like to stay sharp when I do business."

"Hahaha, I should tell that one to the boss when he wakes up. How about a stim?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of blue vials. "This isn't like that poodoo we give the slaves, it's clean. All ride, no crash. Makes you feel like you've got two brains and the strength of a rancor."

"I'm fine... really. Did you say that your boss is asleep?"

"He'll be up in a minute." The man said as he moved to a seat by a datapad "Where did you say you flew in from?"

Pollisix could feel suspicion growing from within the man. "Nar Shadda" His wristband vibrated two quick soft bursts, a subtle signal, but a big relief.

"I use to go out there on runs all the time. Now I'm just stuck here in the belly of the beast. What's the name of that cantina that the Krayts get the slavegirls for?"

Pollisix paused for a moment, unsure how to respond, he had done some backround research for the assignment, but didn't get as much time as he would have liked. "You'd have to be more specific, there are a few."

Now was the time to see if his bluff worked. "Really? I was under the impression that they stopped dealing slave girls after Zen Kesh's men accidently sold Zen's own sister to the Hutts." The jig was up. He had been given more than enough time to assess the situation. There was clearly only one way in or out, there were plenty of slaves, but they seemed to be coming down from working on stims for the last few days and probably won't assist their slavers. He quickly clicked a button on his wristband, and the wall erupted.

Bi-Pi had been following from a distance for the last few hours, using his ear piece to listen in and record every thing Pollisix could hear. The toughest part was following the elevator down into the sarlacc pit. There was no other way down, so he had to make his way down the outside of the elevators shaft using magnetic gloves to help him slowly descend to the bottom. He had to take his time avoid the long drop to the bottom. Every once in a while acid whizzed by, shot from the walls of the belly of the beast.

When he finally made it to the bottom he used his tracker to find where Pollisix was and positioned himself by the far wall. Bi-Pi was still new to explosives so he was unsure as to the effectiveness of the bits of plastic he was applying to the side of the building. Listening to Pollisix try to lie to the man inside was torture. Pollisix was clearly struggling to keep up the act, while the man was merely stalling. He probably didn't seem threatened by the young man and was having too much fun messing with him. Bi-Pi knew there could only be moments before it would be too late, so he quickly finished applying the explosives and sent the signal to Pollisix. They had learned the importance of keeping there cues subtle so that targets wouldn't notice or be tipped off. Any sound could give them away, so a very soft vibration was sent to Pollisix wrist comm unit. So soft that even Pollisix wouldn't notice if he hadn't trained to pay attention to it.

Now it was a matter of waiting, so Bi-Pi pulled his lightsaber from his waist and extended the blade. It was a cold dark blue and though it retained its color, it didn't eminate much light. Bi-Pi and Pollisix had found this kind of Paqi crystal while visiting a dig site with their masters a few months before. Extremely difficult to manipulate, some ancient jedi manuscripts referred to them as Shadow Crystals. Because of their rarity and fragility, most jedi that use them build their lightsabers around the crystal so that it will fit perfectly, causing them to be less regular in size and radius. Pollisix blade was thin and light allowing for swift motion and quick response, while Bi-Pi's crystal was fit for a shorter and thicker blade. Though it was heavier and slower, It was able to burn through some materials that other lightsabers struggled with. It's strength befit its wielder as he fought with such focus and might. While training he found that the combination of his blade and his will created an almost unstoppable force that often caused other students blades to fall from their hands.

He closed his eyes for a second to center himself while he waited for his final cue. With detonator in one hand and his lightsaber in the other, he expanded his awareness and for the first time really took in his surroundings. It was hard to imagine the true size of the sarlacc as it expanded in so many ways under ground that were unseen, but the belly was at least half a kilometer in diameter and it felt hungry.

Then the signal came and Bi-Pi squeezed the button in his left hand and watched as the wall erupt in a shower of flames. The explosion almost was strong enough to force Bi-Pi back, but instead he lunged forward through the flame with his lightsaber held high over his head. Landing on the other side of the fire he took a moment to get a lay of the land. Slaves were screaming and stumbling over each other. He didn't see the Gammoreans before the blade of one of their axes swung towards him. He leaned back as far as he could to avoid the blade and fell to the floor. He rolled backwards over his right shoulder and regained his stance.

"Bi-Pi!" a voice shouted through the smoke that had filled half the room, and Bi-Pi quickly grabbed the second lightsaber that had been hanging from his waist and flung it towards his companion.

The smoke started to clear, revealing Pollisix with his lightsaber now secure in hand and extending. Bi-Pi refocused his attention on the three Gammoreans that were now surrounding him, As the one in front of him began to swing Bi-Pi kicked him in the side of his right knee, it wasn't strong enough to knock him down or break anything, but it did interupt the swing and throw the brute off balance enough for the jedi to jump, spin backwards and hook kick the green beast right in the face, as he swung his lightsaber to cut the handle of another Gammoreans axe. As the first monster dropped face first to the ground the seconds face lit with fear. As he reached for the blade, Bi-Pi used the force to push it away and hit the struggling guard over the head with the handle of his lightsaber rendering him unconscious.

Turning to face the third guard, Bi-Pi saw that the guard had ran to hit a switch on the wall. Suddenly a series of five sentry turrets dropped from the ceiling. They were in a line going down the middle of the room. The four on the outside all looked the same while there was something about the middle one that looked different. As lasers started to pour out, he started to deflect the beams with his blade. Trying to redirect the lasers, first to hit the guard that had activated the guns, then at the guns themselves.

The fat pig-man was an easy target, but the turrets proved to be more difficult, he had deactivated 2 of the outside turrets when he saw something shoot out of the middle turret. It barely missed him as he knocked over a table to use as a shield. Bi-Pi then saw the remains of a cracked weaponized syringe next to him on the floor.

"Watch out for Tranquilizers!" Bi-Pi shouted out to Pollisix, trying to scream over the sound of blaster fire from the turrets. He turned just in time to see his friend drop to the floor. With a very satisfied human standing over his body.

The explosion had been more than Pollisix expected when signalling his friend. He was expecting enough for the wall to blow and maybe a little smoke, but the force of the eruption hurled tables and equipment from the far side of the room all the way over towards him. He tried to find cover for a second as he remained unarmed as the smoke filled the room. It was way too much, Bi-Pi had messed this one up. Choking on smoke and unable to see Pollisix struggled to calm his body. He knew what was going on and what had to be done, but he had to force his body to return to his control. If he was a master he would know how to overcome these things with great ease, but there are only so many things that you can learn by this point that Pollisix was unprepared.

Clearing his mind listed the things he needed to be aware of. Lightsaber, middle man, boss. He cried out to his companion, "Bi-Pi!" and in half a second the familiar shape of his lightsaber rested in his hand. Middle man. If he couldn't see, he needed to find his opponent another way. Closing his eyes he sensed around him, he could feel the fear of the slaves, he could sense his friend on the far side of the room as Pollisix was kicked a Gammorean across the face, then he felt the pressence of the man that had welcomed him. He could sense the man run to the back room and he ran after the man, using the force to augment his speed.

After vanishing into the back room, the man returned revealing an automatic shotgun. The man pulled the trigger releasing a round straight towards. The Jedi quickly re-evaluated his trajectory and hid behind a table, The man blindly shot chunks out of the table with his spread shot, leaving Pollisix with very few option. Then suddenly turrets dropped from the ceiling. One of the guards on Bi-Pi's side must have activated it, unleashing a turret that came out 7 feet above Pollisix' head. Quickly scrambling, Pollisix ran to find a new source of cover, feeling the heat as the turret's fire came closer, then one blast hit Pollisix in the left arm as he was about to reach the next table. It didn't burn though. It was an odd electric sensation. The turrets must be set to stun. A blast like that would usually render a normal man unconscious, but it had barely grazed his arm, and a jedi is normal man. The arm felt oddly numb and heavy, with waves of sensation feeling like pins and needles.

He peeked around the table to see where the man with the shotgun was, and was immediately greeted with another blast from the shotgun. He withdrew into the force again, reassessing the battlefield. Bi-Pi had destroyed the 2 farthest turrets, but not the three close ones. Pollisix visualized a plan in his mind. If he timed it just right, he could dive out throwing his lightsaber at the turrets and reposition himself at the table he had been hiding behind under the turret. A few more rounds punched the shotgun's footprints through the table, and as the gun recharged, Pollisix made his move. Launching himself out, he threw his saber towards the turrets and in one big curve it swung through the first turret, made its way through the turret that he had hidden under, and barely missed the middle one. As he landed on the floor behind the table, he lifted his face towards the man with the shotgun used the force to throw him off balance onto the floor. As he stood and recovered his lightsaber, he heard a shout from Bi-Pi "Watch out for Tranquilizers!"

Then there was softest prick in the back of Pollisix's neck, and things started to go slowly. His vision became fuzzy and distorted. Everything started to go dark, and he willed himself to stay awake. The man he had just blasted was getting back to his feet and walking over with a grin on his face. The man raised his gun, took aim and...

He woke to the sound of an explosion. His head was pounding dealing with the payback of his mid day drinking. He tried to get up and fell off the side of the bed. Gunshots. As he tried to regain full conciousness he reached under the bed and pulled out his twin blaster pistols. The door to his room burst open as his assistant ran in with a very concerned look on his face.

"Rainhamer, we've been busted, come on!" The man shouted as he pulled a shotgun off the wall rack. "Jedi!" The man quickly returned to the main room and Rainhamer quickly activated the monitor for his security cams, just in time to watch one his guards get a swift kick to the face. The picture on the monitor was fuzzy and unfocused, but it was clear enough to witness how flawed all of his security measures had been. He heard one of the Jedi shout something but couldn't quite make it out, and watched the other Jedi collapse to the ground after receiving a dart to the neck. Then something clicked and he recognized the victim.

Just as soon as he recognized Pollisix, he saw his assistant walking up to Poly with his shotgun. Rainhamer quickly ran into the main room shouting "Stop! Friendly! Stop!" but he could tell by the look on the mans face that there was no stopping him. So in the blink of an eye Rainhamer had his gaze fixed and shot the mans hand, dropping the shotgun to the floor. The man let out a scream of agony as Rainhamer shook his head, "I said stop!"

Then he heard his name called out from across the room. "Rainhamer," There was something off about the tone. It wasn't a greeting. It wasn't a question. It was firm disappointment. The Twi'lek turned to see Bi-Pi running towards him with lightsaber still extended.

"Woah woah woah, hold on buddy. Just wait one second," he tried to calm the Jedi, but Bi-Pi responded with a punch to the fat Twi'leks throat. As he fell to the floor struggling to breath he received a swift kick to the chest. He tried to say more but was unable to control his breath long enough to make out a word, let alone a sentence.

"What did you do to Pollisix? What was in that tranq dart?"

He let out a heaving cough before he was able to respond, "Liquid... carbonite... compound. Quick, get one of those stims." Still on his knees the Twi'lek pointed to a pile of stims that had been knocked over. The other man still laid on the floor screaming in pain as he was clutching at his good hand.

"Liquid carbonite?" Bi-Pi questioned while hurrying to the stims. The other man still laid on the floor screaming in pain as he was clutching at his good hand.

"Once it makes its way into your bloodstream, it slows your system down until it finally solidifies, leaving you a standing sculpture."

"Why the hell do you have that?" he asked while carrying a handful of stims to Rainhamer.

"MY HAND!" the man continued to scream.

Rainhamer now clearly annoyed by the mans screams raised his pistol and finished the job. "Gives us time to get some answers out of them first. Find out who sent them." He took the cap off one of the stims and slammed it into Pollisix chest.

Life. The last thing he knew he was fading away staring down the barrel of a shotgun, but now he felt alive. Unbelievably alive. Uncontrollably alive. His eyes opened and time froze. Suddenly he was fully aware, and not only of his own senses, but of everything around him. He could see the entire complex in his mind. Every scratch in every corner. He was aware of Bi-Pi and Rainhamer, the Gammoreans that Bi-Pi had rendered unconscious and the man that Rainhamer had just shot. Then in a quick burst, time continued.

Pollisix jumped to his feet and immediately kicked Rainhamer back to the floor. Then he extended his blade towards his former friend and said in a strong and focused voice. "Rainhamer, you are under arrest for crimes against the Republic."

"Poly, come on kid, don't be like that" the Twi'lek responded.

Bi-Pi, clearly startled by his friends quick recovery asked Rainhamer, "What did you just give him?"

Still staring at the lightsaber an inch from his face, Rainhamer responded, "The good shit."


	5. Chapter 5: Sight in the Dark

Nar Shadaa

The smell disgusted Scheed. It was like being stuck in a can of rotting fish. Being surrounded by the plague of their... pleasure. As he walked through the crowd he people made way. It was a subtle shift, one that the bar's patrons wouldn't realize on their own but was clearly being affected by something, or someone. As he reached a table in the corner he saw a Chiss man and woman stacking empty bottles to create a monument to their inebriation.

The man was broad with a military physique. He was well kept and had an endearing smile on his face. The woman on the other hand did not match the man's tidy appearance. She was dressed less formally in a short dress and a long trench coat. Her hair was a crazed assortment of strands spiking up thanks to gel and she didn't wear much make up other than that she used to accent her blood red eyes.

As the Scheed approached the table he skipped greetings and got straight to business. "How long have you been here?" He asked the pair of Chiss.

The woman responded lightheartedly "Long enough to get a little comfortable." As she turned to see her accomplices reaction, she saw the blue skinned man shake his head from side to side quickly before he turned to respond himself, "Sir, we arrived a few hours ago. I've contacted our man here and he is getting the gear you requested and we will be go with the drill in the morning."

"And the rest of the team?"

"They will arrive shortly. We are meeting in the Red-Light District to avoid attention." The Chiss man responded."

Then the woman added, "Are you sure its here? Nar Shadaa is a pretty busy place, hard to think that anything could have been left lying around that long."

Then Scheed leaned in closer to the woman. "I see things in a way you could never comprehend. You may be good with a gun, but thats it. You are the gun, and I am the hand that pulls the trigger. Question me again, and..." as he said this the woman's body made one quick jerk, as though she was intending to pull something from her coat, but barely flinched before being pulled back against her chair. She felt an invisible force holding her down with her hands by her side. Scheed turned to the Chiss man giving him an inquisitive look.

The man responded defensively, "She's rough around the edges, but she's worth it in a fight."

"She had better be. The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am and I am too close now to be undone by a sloppy drunk." He released the woman from his telekinetic grasp, "If you fail me, I will kill you myself. Serve me well and you will be remembered as one of the heroes that brought an end to the Republic." The words caused momentary horror in his own mind. Why would he say something like that? As he turned to leave the bar Scheed looked in a mirror and was even more alarmed by the sight.

His reflection was not that of a teenage boy, but rather a middle-aged man. His smooth chin was replaced with a full beard that came down a few inches below his chin for an elongated goatee. His eyes were bloodshot with yellow and red flakes in the iris. Thick dark veins pulsed through his face and down his neck. Though his clothes were fairly common attire for Nar Shaddaa there was an amulet hanging from his neck. There was something about the amulet that he couldn't describe. Still looking in the mirror he started to rub the amulet and smile.

Then he woke up.


	6. Chapter 6: Something Seems Wrong

Jedi Temple

Tython

Usually meditation brought peace and answers, but as Scheed returned from his meditative state a barrage of questions came to his mind. Was this a vision or a dream? Was this a fear of what could be, or was this a glimpse at what was really in his future? Though there were differences, he couldn't deny his similarities to the reflection, but why would he want to end the republic? And what was that amulet?

"What's wrong," Hew asked.

Scheed turned to his friend that had been sitting by him.

"Nothing, just a dream," he tried to assure himself.

"Must've been quite a dream," Hew responded while giving a gesture that Scheed should wipe his nose.

As Scheed rubbed his sleeve under his nose, blood stained the light tan robe, the sight of which turned his complexion two shades paler. When he was younger he was more prone to nosebleeds, something he had grown out of with time, but there was something so familiar about this feeling that it shook him to his core. He immediately took his feet and and briskly headed for the door.

"What did you see?" Hew asked him matching his speed two steps behind him. Though his artificial leg was not ideal, Hew had become more than efficient enough to keep. It wasn't an elegant strut, but it got him where he needed to go.

"It was nothing. Really, I'm fine," Scheed responded while rounding the corner to the outer courtyard.

Scheed felt a sense of danger, just in time for him to turn around as Hew shoved him to the ground. "Do you think I enjoy sitting around in there, trying to reach out to the force? I do it cause you say it works. My leg may not be great, but I don't need it to slap the truth out of you," He warned as he raised his arms to a ready attack position. It was true, though he wasn't as old as Scheed, Hew had developed natural strengths that Scheed couldn't compete with, namely a wicked right hook. "I'm starting to have a vision. You are going to tell me what you saw."

As Scheed sat up he looked at the bloodstain on his sleeve. "I don't know what it was. It..." he thought back to the vision. Looking back now he could see how it all felt wrong. "I..." He remembered looking in the mirror. The look in bloody yellow eyes. The amulet. He remembered it distinctly. "We need to talk to one of the Masters."

Looking at the serious look on Scheed's face, Hew knew that his friend was right and was now more concerned than he was before.

Jedi Archive

As he finished drawing the strange amulet he was still confused by its familiarity. The markings on it almost made sense to him, but it was like no language he had ever seen. He entered it into the database and sat back.

"How long do you think it will take?" Hew asked.

"Could come up any second now, could take days. It's cross checking the drawing with everything in the database. Every picture. That isn't like typing a keyword."

Suddenly there was a chirp on Scheed's comlink. He unclipped it and responded, "Scheed here."

Then he heard the familiar voice of his friend El'Ram, "Just got a call to head to the landing strip. Bi-Pi and Poly are comin' in hot with wounded on board, and last time I checked, neither of them knew how to fly."

Hew jumped into the conversation concerned for his brother, "Who's hurt? What happened?"

"I don't know yet, I didn't talk to them directly, but you guys should haul tail over there."

"On our way."


	7. Chapter 7: Rough Riders

Aboard the Gold Defender

2 days earlier

His body felt heavy and sluggish. Even the act of keeping his eyes open seemed straining. It had been only a few hours since the battle in the sarlacc pit, but the time weighed on Pollisix.

"You don't look so good, friend." Rainhamer said from across the chamber. His hands and legs were strapped in restraints against the wall.

"Have you looked at yourself lately, Chubs?" Bi-Pi taunted the Twi'lek.

"You mind yourself shorty, Poly here is like blood to me, and that bloods running slow. The stim must not have been enough."

It was a struggle to say anything, he wanted to ask so much but the only sound Pollisix could force out was, "What?"

"I was hoping you were a little fatter, the carbonite wasn't that strong, but the less fat you have the stronger it is. I was hoping the stim would help break it up, but your gonna need a healer. Stims will help for now, but you gonna need some of the Jedi mumbo jumbo to get right."

Bi-Pi went to the medkit and pulled out an adrenalin stim. While hurrying over to Pollisix, Rainhamer interupted him, "You might wanna use a couple more than that. I ain't kidding when I say he's in trouble, and your medicinal sugar water don't do much."

With a stern look on his face, Bi-Pi walked back towards the medkit and pulled three more stims. "If this doesn't work out, Pollisix won't be the only person we lose on the way to Tython."

"Bi-Pi," the heavy voice of Grard echoed across the cabin. "Jedi do not threaten prisoners."

"Yeah, how about you put those in our friend over there, and then I think you need a class in Jedi manners." As he said that a small box fell from a shelf above Rainhamer, striking him on the head.

"Just because I don't want my apprentice to slit your throat doesn't mean I will tolerate any more of your nonsense. You've endangered the lives of both of my students today, and not made a friend in me." Grard stated.

"Big man to send a couple kids in to storm a guys home and insult me for my crew trying to defend themselves. You put them in danger when you sent them my way." Rainhamer reasoned.

"No, it's a big man to hide in the belly of a beast and sell addiction and death to the rest of the galaxy."

Bi-Pi readied the four shots and stuck them into his friend, and the world went wide in Pollisix' eyes. He stood up, immediately punching into the air as if doing speed drills against an invisible punching bag. He stretched his back and turned from side to side, causing sounds that would lead one to believe he hadn't cracked his back in years.

"I'm fine," Pollisix said to his allies. "I'm good. Really, I'm good. And he's right, I can feel it in me, they can fix this. For now lets grab a couple more of those stims, and I'm gonna go run back and forth down that corridor to keep my heart rate up." He started to run to the door then turned back to add one last thing. "He'll know the same dirt when we get to Tython, but there it won't be our problem. I'm done with this guy." After he left the room, the other two followed him out.

"Try not to cause too much damage back here," Grard added as he left the room.

"Try not to cause too much damage," Grard echoed in a high pitched voice. He immediately started to pound his left hand against the wall. "The last thing I'm gonna do is go to Tython and let a bunch of prude's in ugly robes judge me." He slammed his hand against the wall a couple more times. "Work you stupid..." he mumbled in frustration right before he heard a pop in his hand. Suddenly the hand and fingers folded towards each other in an extremely unnatural way.

Years before re-entering Republic space, Rainhamer had lost his hand in a hunting accident, and he couldn't count on both hands how many times his collapsable artificial hand has helped him out of situations like this. After freeing his left arm from its captivity, he flicked his wrist outward causing the false hand to return to normal position. He then reached into his mouth and pulled out his back left tooth. Another casualty of his adventures, he replaced the tooth with a small lazer pick that worked wonders in slowly cutting off metal bands, and was much quicker against these leather straps. Just as he was about to free his left foot from the final strap, Grard entered.

Extending his lightsaber, Grard asked in a joking manner, "What do you think you're trying to do. You really think an unarmed slob could really beat three Jedi and claim the ship?"

"You're right, that would be foolish." As he slowly started to rise, he suddenly revealed a small throwing knife that had been concealed under his belt, and tossed it directly into the Masters throat.

There was an utterly shocked look on Grard's face as he dropped to his knees, then finally the ground.

Bi-Pi and Pollisix came rushing down the hall as if an alarm had suddenly gone of in their minds. Rainhamer hurried to free himself and stood freely on the floor just as the two Jedi entered the room.

Pollisix looked at Rainhamer with an utterly disgusted look on his face. "What have you done?"

Bi-Pi starred down at his fallen master and clenched his fists. Suddenly Rainhamer was hurled back to the spot on the wall where he had been held before. This time it wasn't as comfortable.

"You!" Bi-Pi shouted at Rainhamer. "You claim that you care about Pollisix, yet he is dying because of you, and to top it off you do something stupid like this?"

Pollisix stood between Rainhamer and Bi-Pi. "Hold on buddy, let's think this through..." but the words were cut off by the side of Bi-Pi's hand chopping into Pollisix throat, dropping the Jedi to the floor.

"You don't deserve to be shoved out of an airlock," Bi-Pi said as he started to apply pressure to Rainhamer's throat. "That would be too easy for you!" Now as both Rainhamer and Pollisix struggled for air, Poly swept under Bi-Pi's leg, dropping him to the floor and releasing Rainhamer from his hold. The fat Twi'lek took no time to recover as he made a dash down the hallway and around the corner. Bi-Pi and Pollisix hurried after him but they were too late as he locked himself into an escape pod, and then he was gone.

Pollisix shoved his companion against the wall. "I was saying think it through, neither of us know how to fly this junker and he was our best bet. Now what do we do?"

As Bi-Pi got to his feet he started to walk towards the cockpit, "We have a couple days before the auto-pilot gets us to Tython. You search the ship and find as many stims as you need to make it home. I'm gonna go up top. There's got to be a manual in the cockpit somewhere."


	8. Chapter 8: Crashtones

2 Days Later

Entering Tythons Atmosphere

"What do you mean the engine is failing?" Bi-Pi shouted at Pollisix as a disturbing amount of alarms wailed throughout the ship.

"I mean, I don't know what I mean 'the engine is failing', but there is a little orange light that says 'ENGINE FAIL' and it's flashing." Pollisix explained. His mind was crazed after being awake for the last two days. He had to administer a regular dosage of stims to treat his condition, and it took a toll on his mental state. Not to mention the trauma of having to dump his former masters body out of an airlock. He had used up the last of his stims an hour ago, but his tolerance had been building, causing them to wear off sooner.

"I can't steer. I can't turn. We've completely lost control, get on the comm with the temple. NOW!"

Pollisix hurried to the comm terminal and saw a choppy video of an air traffic controller. It wasn't working more often than it was. So he just kept repeating the same words over and over in hopes that they'd catch enough. "Coming in hot towards the temple. Injured. Coming in hot towards the temple. Injured." Then everything seemed so chaotic yet so peaceful to Pollisix as he looked around, momentarily unaware of his surroundings. He woke from the daze when Bi-Pi shoved him out of the way to try anything that could save them.

The two struggled, flipping every switch they could find. Slamming their fists against the control boards. They were in a burning metal ball heading straight down with no hope.

Jedi Temple

It was a crazy idea. One that he had never heard of before, but Hew figured that he had to try everything he could to help his brother, so as he stood in a crowd of Jedi outside the temple he looked up at the sight of the ship, carrying his brother and friend, crashing through the sky directly towards them.

"All right, Our timing is necessary, if we wait too long we may not have the strength to stop it. We have to work together. On my count." The crowd closed their eyes and fell silent, leaving only the sound of the incoming ship. "3... 2... 1... NOW!" Then the crowd released a cushion of telekinetic energy. It slowed the ship but was unsuccessful in stopping it. As the ship continued to fall towards them some apprentices screamed and ran. While some stayed and pushed. Hew felt his energy as part of the whole. He felt the ship as if it was a boat and he was the sea, cradling it. He felt the ship through the force in a way that he had only heard from friends. He was fully aware. Sweat pumped from his brow as he felt the weight of the ship push back against his force. He could feel bits of his artificial leg, popping under the pressure and dropped to his knees to keep pushing. Then it stopped.

The momentum had slowed and and half charred ship sat floating above their heads. Still holding their hands up towards the ship, the remaining Jedi looked at each other, there were only 9 of them that hadn't given up and run for cover, El'Ram and Scheed among them. Scheed smiled at Hew acknowledging the amazing task that they had just undertaken, and amongst the silence, the 9 could now hear two boys cheering inside the ship.

They lowered the ship to the ground and the hatch opened revealing a small boarding ramp. Bi-Pi and Pollisix exited the ship. Hew ran towards his brother, glad to have saved him and it wasn't until he got close that he realized how grey Pollisix skin was. Suddenly the sick Jedi's legs gave way under him and he collapsed falling down the ramp.


End file.
