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Call of the Holocron

A Fan Fiction by Stallon Becket

Dramatis personae

Stal Lo'bec: Jedi Knight (Trianii, male)

Darth Xero: Sith Lord (Human, male)

Darth Brannux: Sith Lord (Twi'lek, male)

Darth Safira/Kyllistin: Sith Lord (Unknown species, hermaphrodite)

Darth Krayt: Sith Lord (Human, male)

Kayte Vloun: Freighter pilot (Zabrak, female)

Kiraz Fensi: Freighter crew (Rodian, male)

Droman Vengas: mercenary (Human, male)

Enjard Groone: mercenary (Human, male)

Junis/Zetha'rune'dapha: informant and double agent (Chiss, female)

Frega the Hutt: Gangster (Hutt)

Kyle Katarn: Jedi Master (Human, male)

Jan Ors: Intelligence Officer (Human, female)

Cilghal: Jedi Master (Mon Calamari, female)

Areight Deesix: Astromech droid

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Chapter One

Present time, 43 ABY:

The silence of space was seemly shattered as the battered old X-Wing zoomed from its destination and slowed to its normal cruising speed. The engines hummed and shined brightly as the craft reduced its speed even further and Stal who was leaning back in his seat sighed softly as he exited his Jedi trance and opened his eyes. The rust red and white colored planet below him spun slowly as he reached out with his force senses. All he could feel was blackness, the ever consuming dark side presence of long dead Sith.

He always thought that Korriban was an exaggerated legend; a long dead rock with some kind of historical significance to the dark side. Now here he was, in his lone little X-wing with only his droid to keep him company; about to confront a Sith Lord. Stal thought back to the events leading up to this moment; he reflected on all the many things that had happened, and on the beings that had suffered because of his actions.

Two weeks beforehand:

Stal laughed watching the younglings flipping in mid-air before floating down to the repulsor cushion. The Padawans' seemed so carefree, without a notion of the dangers they may someday face in their journey to become a Jedi. The Academy on Shedu Maad seemed to be bolstering the number of young Jedi in training. Stal himself had just been recently knighted, a Trianii was a rare sight at the academy; with very cat-like features and even a prehensile tail, Stal was one of the popular oddities of the Academy being one of the only Jedi that the children actually wanted to run up and hug because of his fluffy appearance.

One of the younglings approached him from behind and tried to grab his tail, Stal felt the presence of the youngling and swayed his tail out of the way before it could be grasped.

"Hey!" The Padawan said and tried for another grab at it. Stal just chuckled and moved his tail once more.

"Stal!" came and out of breath call and Stal turned only to be surprised as the Padawan who was recently failing to grab his tail snatched it and gave it a tug. Stal stiffened up and pulled his tail free indignantly. Stal looked to see one of the older Padawans running up to him. When she stopped she panted out of breath as Stal stood there watching with curiosity.

"Master Katarn... wants to speak to you." She said out of breath. Stal allowed what could be classified as a slight frown to form on his lips, there was hardly a time where Kyle Katarn wanted anything, except when it involves serious business.

"You summoned me Kyle?" Stal said walking into the chamber to observe Kyle Katarn sitting with a troubled look on his face.

"Yes, Grand Master Hamner has requested I choose a Jedi to go on a simple mission that is been requested by the Galactic Alliance." Kyle nodded to Stal. "Since you have been recently knighted, I'd thought I'd give you a vacation away from your training, especially after what happened here recently."

"You mean the attack on the Academy?" Stal inquired his white and orange striped tail twitching betraying the fact that he was still quite upset about the ordeal.

"Yes... we have hired a Freighter pilot to transport some crucial artifacts from here to Ossus, we feel that those artifacts would serve better to enlighten future Jedi if they were there." Kyle got up from his seat and walked over to Stal putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I know that you are still troubled over the attack on the Academy, but you can't let that wear away at you, and nothing, not training or watching younglings will help. You need to put it aside and this I believe might just get it off your mind." Kyle let his hand drop from Sal's shoulder as the Trianii sighed heavily and nodded.

"Thank you Kyle, I will leave at once to deliver the artifacts." Stal said with somewhat reluctance.

"May the Force be with you." Kyle said as Stal turned and walked out.

Stal picked up the hilt of his lightsaber and clipped it to the left side of his belt. He had already packed the rest of his clothes in preparation. His astromech droid Areight was busy in the hanger doing the final tune ups to his old XJ5. That clunky old X-wing fighter was still Stal's preferred type of spacecraft. But he went through the mission in his head. He would fly out enter hyperspace with a course set for Taanab and in a day would meet up with the hired freighter. From there he would dock with the star freighter and then they would proceed to Ossus. The Artifacts were packed into cargo crates that were just slim enough to be attached to an X-wing.

Stal's thoughts were interrupted when he lifted up his robe to put it on and there was a clattering and clinking of a lightsaber hitting the floor and rolling. Stal stepped back seeing the hilt of another Jedi's lightsaber roll to a stop at his feet. Stal swallowed the bitter bile that was building in his throat. Once it had been a joy to see that hilt, especially when it was attached to his friend's belt. Jaze was one of the Jedi that was killed during the one of the lesser known skirmishes of the Yuuzhan Vong war. Jaze was a Zabrak that had great potential as a Jedi, they were both Padawans at that time, and the universe seemed bright until Jaze was killed.

Stal flicked the on button and the saber blade came to life with a snap-hiss, its green glow reflecting brightly as Stal stared at it, listening to its monotonous thrumming and then finally deactivated it. He was about to throw it on the bed when he stopped. His hand seemed to balk at the idea of leaving his dead friend's weapon behind. Instead Stal dubiously latched it onto the right side of his belt.

"time for another grand adventure my friend..." Stal said solemnly and then with that he put on his robe and grabbed his duffle bag and headed out to the hanger. When Stal got there Areight was already waiting for him, snug in his droid socket. Stal nodded to Areight who beeped a greeting in return.

"Ready to go Areight?" Stal asked as he did a force assisted leap to the cockpit and swung into the seat gracefully. The little astromech droid whistled and booped indicating that they were set to go, the instrument panels were even lit up in preparation and Stal looked over them before he closed the cockpit shielding and grasped the controls. In twenty minutes they were in orbit and five minutes after they were set on course. Stal pulled back the hyperdrive lever and the stars streaked into brilliant white lines which became a swirl of multicolored lights.

It called out to him, it was near, and Darth Xero sensed it, the Sith holocron. It was the reason he had come to Taanab. For him it had begun five days ago when he had a particular force vision. At first he told no other Sith about it, but finally when Darth Krayt confronted him about his strange behavior Xero confessed about the vision. Darth Krayt sent him out at once, and Xero departed for Taanab with only a small shuttle, some supplies, and his lightsaber.

However there was one thing that trouble him about the vision, in this vision he also saw three lines of light red, blue, and green that seemed to dance around. Darth Xero knew however, that he would be the one to hold the holocron in his hands, and with those hands he intended to set the holocron in Darth Krayt's hands, all he had to do was watch and wait.

Xero went back to his current focus, in the confines of the room he was free to let loose. He extended a hand out and summoned his lightsaber to his hand and with a flick of his thumb the saber hummed to life and Xero focused all his hate and rage into his form. His saber twirled so fast that it seemed as though solid walls and disks of red light were being created around him; he imagined the day where he would have to face a Jedi and how he would use his speed and skill to slay them.

That glorious day when the Sith would rise again and rule the galaxy. Not some kind of plotting old man, or a foolish young boy; no it would be a strong and powerful warrior ruling the Sith, a powerful dark side user that would crush the Jedi under the heel of his boot. It had been a task to kill his master to become what he was, but that was the Sith way. In his mind he recalled the screams of his master as he drove his lightsaber through his master's chest and then pulled it back out with flourish.

Xero finally allowed himself to stop as the saber ended up in a reverse grip behind his back and he deactivated it hearing the sweet silence. This is what it would sound like, after the Jedi stopped screaming and died, there would be just overwhelming silence, just like with his master. Then xero began to chuckle to himself which escalated into laughter; laughter that howled and twisted with the influence and madness of the dark side.

"Come in unidentified XJ5, respond with your clearance code." Kayte eyed the hovering X-Wing that had just dropped out of hyperspace. The fighter seemed tiny compared to the large Action VI transport, but Kayte knew a few well placed shots from a fighter could completely cripple the massive vessel.

"This is X-Wing Delta Five Scimitar." Came a voice over the comlink as the code was transmitted, Kayte looked over to Kiraz who nodded an affirmative clearance.

"Identified X-Wing Delta Five Scimitar, you are cleared to land in the docking hanger." Kayte said and switched off her com before she nodded to Kiraz. "Lower the shields but make sure you keep those automated blasters trained on that ship."

The Rodian, Kiraz, nodded and shut down the outer deflectors and watched the view screen as the X-Wing carefully maneuvered into the cramped docking bay and set down on its skids. Once the docking hanger doors were closed the room filled with oxygen; Kayte and Kiraz then walked down to the docking hanger to meet their guest. They were told that he would be a Jedi and that was because the cargo in question was of a sensitive nature to the Jedi Order, Kayte had charged extra for that. The cockpit didn't open until they were down there, with a hiss of escaping pressure the clear plasti-steel cockpit lifted and out jumped the oddest looking Jedi they had ever seen.

The male was quite a sight, the feline-like features, pointed ears, light grey and dark orange fur to go with it, and vision was completed with a full two and a half foot long tail; Jedi robes hung off the cat alien as it slowly pulled back its hood to reveal its face.

In return the Stal looked over the two beings standing in front of him, he first eyed the Rodian that was dressed in a simple black pants, black boots, grey shirt, with a brown vest. A DT-12 blaster pistol hung at his right hip. The other being was a female Zabrak with a tan complextion, seven vestigial horns in a forward crown pattern on her head, her short brown hair was braided and off-set by the gray sharp edged angled tattoos that adorned her face, she wore brown trousers, and a black shirt with a red sleeveless over top, a DH-17 blaster rested in the holster at her hip.

"Greetings, my name is Stal Lo'bec of the Jedi Order." Stal said with pride.

"I'm Kayte Vloun Captain of the Lucid Star and this is Kiraz Fensi." Kayte said as she also pointed a thumb back over her shoulder to her Rodian business partner.

"A pleasure to meet you..." but before Stal could finish Kayte held up a hand.

"I mean no offense by this Jedi, but you don't get to know us on a personal level. This is strictly business... Is that the cargo?" Kayte said indicating the crates strapped to the X-Wing and at the same time abruptly changing the subject.

"No offense taken." Stal said and nodded as the cargo was identified.

"Kiraz get the loader droid to take that to storage locker C and then meet me back in the cockpit. Jedi, you may sleep in hovel four its empty and the refresher is just next to it." Kayte said and turned to walk away without another word. Stal watched the tan skinned female Zabrak walk away with a bit of regret; how could such an attractive specimen as herself be so jaded? But he decided to just shrug it off for now and concentrate on helping Kiraz get the artifacts unloaded. Once they had the artifacts secured Stal double checked to make sure that all the containers were undamaged and then he unpacked his bag from his ship and went to his room with Areight rolling faithfully behind him.

Xero opened his eyes and saw his target in sight. He watched patiently from a distance as a small X-Wing landed within the confines of a larger vessel, probably a bulk transport. He inhaled and reached out with the force to seek his objective; he also at the same time attempted to keep his force presence masked. The tendrils of his mind reached out and he felt it, the holocron, but he also felt three others as well. One of them was a very strong force user, most likely a Jedi, the other two seemed to be normal. No matter, when the time was right Xero would strike and take his prize.

He then retracted his senses and he sat back gripping the controls to his sensor masked ship. He slowly began to inch towards the transport; he knew he would have to follow them because right now they were on possible high alert with the Jedi on board. So now it was a waiting game, and Xero intended to win it at any cost.

It was there for a moment then gone, Stal had to pause and blink as he felt something brush against him in the force. He reached out with his own force sense and probed out in the darkness of space around the ship; Nothing. Stal sat back and instead he worked on the designs in his mind, he had once planned to build an identical lightsaber to his, but with a few modifications. He checked and then double checked his blue prints to make sure he had it correct. While looking upon the drawing Stal put his clenched fists together side by side as if gripping a broom handle in the center and he made a twisting motion in opposite directions with each fist. Satisfied he nodded and set the blue prints down. Just then Kiraz poked his head in through the open door.

"Are you comfortable Jedi?" he inquired to Stal in Rodese.

"Yes quite, thank you." Stal replied.

"I'm sorry about the Captain, she is awfully suspicious of beings she does not know." Kiraz said.

"So pretty much everybody." Stal said and stood up.

"It keeps us alive." Kiraz nodded "If you need anything I will be glad to assist you."

"Thanks I appreciate that." Stal said as he watched Kiraz retreat from the doorway.

"I think I should actually use the refresher Areight, my fur feels a little grimy after a day of sitting in our cramped little X-Wing. Areight bleeped a reply. "Alright you can stay here and shut down for a bit, I'll check some of your parts later, I have to take care of you too." And with that Stal grabbed a towel and his handheld drier and walked out the door and headed to the refresher.

Kayte had just finished dropping her clothes and was about to step into the sonic shower when the door opened. She knew immediately that it was not Kiraz because usually he heeded the rules, which was; knock before entering. She hastily grabbed a towel and used it to shield herself as she spun around to shout at the shocked Jedi that stood there with a wide-eyed expression.

"Get out!" Kayte shouted as she threw the nearest thing at him which just so happened to be a soap container. Stal ducked it as he backed out of the door and shut it.

"S-Sorry!" he yelled from the other side.

"Just wait till I get my clothes on I'm going to kick your kriffing keister!" Kayte screamed.

"Oh, forgot to tell you before you enter the refresher, knock first." Kiraz said from around the corner, no doubt the Rodian had done this intentionally and Stal had to quickly retreat back to his room to avoid the wrath of the angry female Zabrak. He did admit though he was very pleased with the view he had gotten, the Captain kept herself in great shape. A moment latter there was a heavy banging on the door.

"Jedi! You open this door right now!" Came Kayte's voice from the outside of Stal's door.

"Not till you have calmed down, I believe that Kiraz needs to explain to you that he neglected to mention a few details about the rules of your vessel." Stal said trying to sound as calm and diplomatic as possible. Stal even reached out with his force sense and could almost see the Zabrak throwing an angry glance at the Rodian who departed the area quickly.

"Ok Jedi, I'm calmed down, now open the door." Kayte's voice came. She sounded quite convincing and even though he knew better Stal opened the door but not before readying his force ability to absorb energy. The door slid open and of course there was Kayte, dressed in a haphazard way, pointing a blaster in Stal's face right between his eyes. Stal, of course, was unconcerned because he felt no intentions from her to actually kill him, also ever the observant being he was, he noticed the blaster was set on stun. She pulled the trigger anyways but the stun blast was instantly dispersed over Stal's face, shocking his whiskers a bit. Kayte stepped back with surprise almost dropping the blaster.

"Jedi can do that?!" she said with an incredulous look.

"Yes they can Captain, the best offense is to learn a great defense first..." Stal said with a half smirk as he pressed the button to close the door. "By the way, I have to compliment, you have a very nice body, goodnight." Stal said as the door slid closed.

From the other side Stal heard an infuriated scream and she yelled for Kiraz who had no doubt gone into hiding. Stal made a mental note to watch his back from now on as he settled in to get some well deserved sleep.

Kayte sat back in her chair with a sigh, after shooting someone she always felt better. She glanced to Kiraz laying on the floor unconscious and frowned.

"That backfired on you didn't it?" she said to the unconscious Rodian as if he could hear her while he was in that state. She also boiled still that the Jedi was so smug. She had to get him back some way or she could just charge the Jedi extra for the inconvenience. She decided on the later, after all it was mostly Kiraz's fault. She was about to set coordinates to Ossus when suddenly something rocked the ship, throwing her from her seat and making her collide into one of the side panels.

Kayte quickly recovered and saw some kind of attack craft zoom by the front viewport. She could only expect that it was some kind of attack. But pirates were usually not around heavily inhabited space like this. The ship rocked again and hastily Kayte brought up the deflectors. She was now regretting that she had stunned Kiraz. There was only one thing left to do, and Kayte seemed to loathe the idea.

"Attention! Jedi we are under attack!" Kayte broadcasted over the shipwide intercom.

Stal sprinted to his X-Wing with Areight barely able to keep up with him. When he got into the hanger he did a force leap up into the cockpit and closed the canopy. Powering up his craft he waited just long enough for Areight to come wheeling in and the robotic loader to place the little astromech droid into the socket before he took off. The ship rocked with hit after hit and Stal knew he did not have much more time. He shouted over his ship's comlink.

"Ok lower shields! I'm engaging!" Stal said in an urgent voice and once the hanger shield dropped and he swooped out of the hanger to fight off whatever it was that was attacking them. What Stal saw startled him, it was a Nssis-Class Clawcraft! Stal tried to focus in on the pilot in the craft. He felt nothing, something, or some kind of force mask was being erected against his senses. He locked his S-foils into position and dived in at the Clawcraft and squeezed off a few experimental shots.

The Clawcraft veered to the side and avoided the shots. Stal held back his feeling of being impressed, this pilot was good, not only that but avoiding a shot from him the way they did meant only one thing; the pilot of the Clawcraft was force sensitive.

Xero clung onto the handles of his magnetic grapplers. In that bulky vac-suit it was hard to focus on piloting the craft remotely by using the force and keep in mind his objective. He waited for just the right moment and when the shields went down to let the Jedi out he quickly propelled himself into the hanger and used the force to dampen the impact of his fall.

He looked at his wrist mounted remote viewing screen and used the force to move his ship and avoid a few shots from the Jedi pilot; he had to be swift! He began moving his ship in an evasive pattern hoping that the Jedi would give chase and while he did that he began going through the cargo. Xero sweated as he had to concentrate his feelings of anger and hate to keep up the constant strain of moving the controls of his fighter.

Xero activated his red bladed lightsaber with a snap-hiss and carefully cut into some of the crates. After digging through them frantically he found a box among them that seemed to radiate the dark energy that call to him. Suddenly his remote bleeped a warning, his craft had sustained a minor hit and Xero ran towards the docking hanger entrance. He used the remote to bring his craft close to the transport ship at nearly top speed, he then pulled his craft's controls at an odd angle and brought it to a full halt.

Stal was so startled he nearly swallowed his own tongue when the craft suddenly rushed at Kayte's vessel as if to attack and then pulled to a stop. Stal had to frantically pull up to avoid colliding with the Clawcraft and Lucid Star. He swooped around for another pass and saw something very disturbing. The hanger doors were closed, but from them there appeared a red glow and suddenly a red lightsaber blade came through and cut a hole through the thick hanger doors.

Stal didn't have a second thought as he shot at the figure that came through the hole, but the vac-suit clad, lightsaber wielder just deflected the bolts shot from his X-Wing as he calmly moved to the parked Clawcraft's now open cockpit. Stal pressed the attack as one of his shots clipped the Clawcraft as it began to speed off.

Then a sudden explosion rocked the transport from the hanger bay. Stal's com crackled to life with a frantic voice he heard Kayte yelling.

"We have damage to the ship! We have a hull breech! Mayday! Mayday!" Kayte's panicked voice came over the speaker. Stal was torn between chasing after the intruder or helping Kayte. He made his decision in a snap.

"Hang on Kayte! I'm on the way!" Stal slowed down as he neared the blow open hanger of the transport.

Four hours later after Stal had landed in the bay they switched on the emergency vac-sheilds and had put into place some temporary plates into place the hanger was somewhat functional again. Stal's use of the force to hold up some of the bigger plates to help wield them on had shaved hours off of the work. Kayte wiped the sweat from her brow and banged her fist gently on the final plate.

"For what its worth..." Kayte said and then turned to Stal.

"I'm sorry Kayte, nothing like this has ever happened before on one of my assignments." Stal said panting to let off some of his fatigue.

"Not your fault Jedi, but I still will have to ask for compensation for the damage to my ship." Kayte said as she set down the wielder and took a seat on one of the nearby crates that had been secured down enough not to fly off into space with the explosion. Stal nodded and leaned his back against the final repair plate.

"That intruder, he was after something, whatever it was he or she got away with it. Luckily we have taken precautions against such things." Stal said and held out some kind of device. "We now put tracking beacons on all of our cargo..." Kayte took up the tracking device from Stal's hand and looked at it before she spoke.

"I've never had this kind of problem before, and I always deliver my cargo, no matter what. We are going to get whatever they took, back. I have a reputation and a contract that I need to keep fulfilled." Kayte handed the device back to Stal.

"With an attitude like that you should have been a bounty hunter." Stal quipped.

"Bounty hunters don't live as long as freighter pilots, they usually find death at the hands of a blaster or lightsaber." Kayte then turned and walked back to make sure Kiraz was preparing for them to depart. After making sure that they were set to go they took a look at the tracking beacon.

"Looks like the tracking beacon is heading for Ord Cestus." Kayte said, "I think we can arrange a surprise for our friend there, I still have a few contact that can provide us with some information and maybe some interference..."

Xero approached Ord Cestus and smiled evilly inwards. He expected the Jedi would be hold up with repairs which would allow him to take a pit stop on the way back to Korriban. Besides he still have to link up with his other hired hands to make sure that the Jedi was properly taken care of. He locked in his coordinates so he could began his approach and set down.

"This is tower control to unidentified Clawcraft, state your designation and intent." Came a female voice over the com.

"This is Clawcraft eight one six dash tee of the Chiss Defense Fleet; I have sustained damage in a skirmish against pirates in the area and need a place to set down for repairs." Xero replied as he began to place into his eyes some red tinted contact lenses. Sometimes discretion was often better than a direct approach.

"Hold your pattern Clawcraft eight one six dash tee while we confirm." Tower control responded. Xero took the time now to put on some blue pigmentation salve. This would turn his skin a dark blue for forty eight hours currently he could only apply it to his face, hands, and arms; but it would not rub off. Now fully disguised he looked over himself in a hand held mirror and smirking.

"Clawcraft eight one six dash tee you are cleared to land in hanger eighteen. Proceed on current course." replied tower control. Xero, now disguised, piloted his craft in. He planned to spend a day or two in Chikatlik to restock before he continued on back to Korriban. He would also have to resort to consuming that cheese-like substance Kista so he could adapt to the water there. But something nagged at Xero. He thought it through over and over again as if something were amiss.

He pondered a bit more before deciding that it was just his imagination. Everything was going according to plan. As in his vision he looked down at the box at his side containing the holocron. He was tempted to open it, but he held off and decided to wait till he was back at Korriban before he did that, after all that is what the vision had shown him doing. For now Xero just sat back in his pilot's seat and basked in his success, with any luck the repair team would not notice the hole in seat back made by his lightsaber when he killed the original Chiss pilot to get this craft.

Junis nervously turned off the tower com and carefully made her way past the tranquilized tower operator. At least when the traq wore off the tower operator would find things in order although she hoped that the tower operator's memory was not that sharp to recall a craft they had not authorized to land. She quickly retreated into a secluded place and then turned on her personal comlink

"Kayte, I think your guest has arrived, we got a Clawcraft with a designation that seems was part of a convoy and was considered destroyed." Junis looked around before speaking again. "I will see what we can do to keep him here but I suggest you hurry."

"We are on our way. Thanks again Junis and be careful." Came the low reply over the comlink before it went silent. Junis hurriedly absconded from her hiding place and headed out to the landing pad putting on her full covered helmet with voice disguiser.

Xero set down his Clawcraft and carefully checked his appearance, slicking back his dark hair he looked at his visage. A perfect replica of a Chiss if there was ever one. He then opened the cockpit to his craft and stepped out holding his duffle bag; the arid air made his lungs burn a bit but he fought back the urge to cough.

"Keh'tahu dey'chua." Came a voice from an approaching being.

"Keh'tahu dey'chua." Xero responded hesitantly and coughed on purpose trying to hide the fact that he didn't know what the being had said to him.

"I need someone to help with repairs to my ship." He quickly spilled in basic.

"I see, I will have someone take a look at it for you. For now feel free to take a transport to find a place to be comfortable." The being said and motioned with its hand as three other beings came out and began to go over the Clawcraft. Xero taking the opportunity of the invitation to relax absconded with his bag to find a suitable dwelling to settle in.

Junis knew now for certain that the strange visitor was not a Chiss. He looked like it with the red glowing eyes, and blue skin, but that could be faked with special make up; it was the greeting that gave him away. She had told him there was a dangerous reactor leak, which also sounded very similar to a Chiss greeting. Any real Chiss would have asked her what she was talking about or maybe corrected her, but not this man. She now knew that this was the person that Kayte was looking for.

"Zetha'rune'dapha..." one of the mechanics started.

"Yes?" Junis said in response to her Chiss name.

"What do you want us to do with the ship?" he asked.

"Fix it for the time being, you will be paid for it, but I have to make a call." Junis said as she began to walk away, then she looked back over her shoulder. "To the Chiss Ascendancy..."

The swirl of hyperspace gave way to real space as the Lucid Star came into real space shadding a few pieces of clinging metal as it came returned to normal speed. Kayte knew that she sould have to have some real repairs done to the ship when they hit Ord Cestus. But she didn't know how long they would have to be on the planet.

"Coming up on Ord Cestus now." Kayte announced over the ships intercom.

"This is tower control to incoming transport, Identify yourself." Came a groggy voice over the ships com-link.

"This is Captain Vloun of the Lucid Star, we have suffered severe damage and require a place to set down for repairs." Kayte responded.

"Send your transponder code now." The voice came back. Hastily Kayte sent the transmission and in a moment the voice returned. "You are clear to land in hanger two proceed on course."

"Roger that tower control. Lucid Star out." Kayte then locked in the landing cycle as she prepared to set down.

"We must be cautious..." Stal said from behind her. Kayte nearly jumped out of her seat.

"I didn't even hear you come in! could you sort of announce your arrival please?" Kayte said with a scowl.

"Sorry." Stal said and then looked out the viewport at the planet. He inhaled and stretched out with his force sense trying to probe the planet to find the Sith. There seemed to be handful of force sensitives' on the planet, but the total amount could be counted on one hand. Stal then suddenly felt the cold barrel of a blaster pistol pressed to the back of his head.

"Are you really still going to shoot me after it clearly wasn't my fault?" Stal said trying not to seem nervous.

"Its set on stun, but at this range it will hurt... a lot." Kayte said. Suddenly her blaster pistol was yanked from her hand and floated gently overhead and came to a rest in Stal's opened hand. Kayte gasped again with surprise while Stal calmly pulled out the power pack and tossed both the blaster and the pack to Kayte.

"You Jedi are full of surprises..." Kayte said looking at her blaster pistol and then back to Stal.

"Well I apologize for walking in on you, if that helps any. I would not want to damage our business relations." Stal said and walked out of the cockpit so that Kayte could concentrate on getting them down to the planet.

Chapter Two

Present time, 43 ABY:

Stal locked in his landing cycle as his X-Wing began to descend down through the atmosphere of the planet; it was natural to feel nervous of course, but anger would only lead Stal to one inevitability that he would not, could not turn to.

"Areight, I want you to stay with the ship when we get down there, I want you to have it ready to go at a moment's notice." Stal said, his droid beeped and whistled a reply of affirmation and soon they were gliding down through the haze of Korriban's sky.

Stal soon locked into the signature of the ship he was seeking, the stolen vessel that had been obtained by the Sith. He guided his X-Wing in carefully.

A week and four days ago:

"I have to guide the Lucid Star carefully; this planet might be a rest stop for some unsavory beings." Kayte said as she maneuvered the ship down towards the landing pad of the hanger. Kiraz was keeping an eye on the instrument panels as they set down and soon they were on the ground with the hiss of escaping gasses signaling the touchdown of their landing gear.

"Kiraz go back there and inform the Jedi that we are prepared to disembark." Kayte said and Kiraz nodded getting up from his chair and walking back towards the hovels. He knocked on the door and when no response came he knocked again. This time the door opened and there was Stal sitting on the bed with his legs crossed seemingly asleep; his eyes were closed, but it was not the Jedi that was the center of attention but the parts in front of Stal floating as if they had a life of their own.

Kiraz had never seen a disassembled lightsaber before, but he got a fine look now as Stal concentrated on letting the parts slide together. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of watching parts dance and float the Saber came together and it set down into Stal's open hand. The Trianii Jedi opened his eyes and looked over his constructed saber before nodding and looking to Kiraz.

"Yes?" Stal inquired as he clipped the saber hilt to his belt and stood up.

"The Captain says we are landed and it's time to disembark." Kiraz said and then backed up a step before turning and walking back down the hall. Stal looked to Areight and then with a single motion of his hand prompting the droid to follow him he walked out the door with the little astromech droid at his heels.

"Your friend is here," Junis said to Kayte.

"We'll take it from here, can we get you to make some repairs to my ship while you are at it?" Kayte said with a crooked smile.

"Sure, I'll get the mechanics on it right away." Junis began to walk away then looked back over her shoulder. "Are you sure that you can handle this guy?"

"Don't worry we have some insurance." Kayte said and with that Junis walked off.

"The Jedi is on his way." Kiraz said from behind, and Kayte turned to face him.

"We'll let him handle this mess with the Sith. I just want to fulfill a contract and be on my way." Kayte sighed in exasperation. She looked towards her ship and saw Stal disembarking down the ramp and she shook her head. Why did she even bother, every single time Jedi were involved it was always trouble of some sort. She scowled a bit as he walked closer, his hood pulled back on his cloak. Kayte was thinking of some kind of sarcastic remark to make about the Jedi when suddenly Stal seemed to go on alert, his feline ears perked up and suddenly he grabbed his lightsaber form his belt and rushed right at Kayte activating it with a snap-hiss.

Kayte frantically tried to draw her blaster pistol, but the Trianii Jedi moved with unearthly speed, bringing up that aqua-blue glowing weapon and suddenly he was beside her his lightsaber blade inches from her face as a blaster bolt from up high was deflected off the blade and kicked up sparks as it hit the ground. Kayte was startled at first and then gathered her wits in a split second to look up from where the bolt came from.

There was the gleam of a scope up on a tower as another blaster bolt came down and Stal superimposed himself in front of Kayte deflecting it harmlessly away.

"Find cover!" Stal yelled as another bolt was deflected.

Enjard was stationed up high and had a good view of the hanger's exterior. He watched the Zabrak female and the Chiss woman converse as he lined up for a shot. It was textbook perfect in everyway, the sights rested on her horned head and he let out his breath as he squeezed the trigger of his E17-D sniper blaster rifle. He saw in the scope that the Zabrak female tried to draw her pistol for some reason, but he wasn't concerned, she would be dead before it could clear the holster.

Suddenly there was a blazing aqua-blue colored light in his sights; Enjard zoomed back out and this time tried to aim for center mass, but found some manner of alien in front of the Zabrak, not only was this alien cat-like in appearance it was holding a lightsaber in its hands! Enjard squeezed off two more shots in panic and the Jedi calmly deflected those shots while yelling something to the Zabrak and the Rodian.

As the Zabrak and Rodian took cover the Jedi looked up at Enjard, as if he could see him all the way up on his sniper position. Enjard took that as his cue to leave, he didn't know the extent or range of a Jedi's power and he didn't want to find out either.

"Are you alright?" Stal yelled to Kayte and Kiraz.

"Yes we are but... where are you going?!" Kayte said as Stal began sprinting for the tower that the blaster bolts had originated from.

"I'm going to have a chat with our little long ranged friend!" Stal said and high tailed it for the tower's entrance. It was a pretty lengthy run to the tower door and Stal had to weave through a crowd of beings to get to it. When he did get to it he saw a man exiting the door. The man carried a long rifle over his shoulder and wore a maroon colored suit that was typical of most mercenary units. As soon as the man saw Stal he pulled out a blaster pistol from a side holster and began shooting at Stal.

With an elegance that was almost hypnotic, Stal started stepping towards him and deflected the blaster bolts; with the last bolt Stal reflected back at the merc. The man was struck in the shoulder and staggered backwards from the force of the shot. The merc decided to run and gun, turning and fleeing from Stal as he shot backwards in desperation to get the Jedi off his tail. Stal batted aside bolt after bolt as he rushed to catch up with the mercenary.

"Oh bloody feck! Enjard is in trouble again..." Droman muttered to himself as he started up his speeder and pulled out into the causeway. He piloted the speeded towards Enjard's position trying to keep it slow as he eased towards the location. Suddenly he spotted Enjard, as well as the Jedi hot on his heels deflecting every shot that Enjard took at him.

It was almost comical in a way; Enjard was running at top speed to keep as much distance between himself and the lightsaber as possible, meanwhile the Trianii Jedi boldly chased after him trying to get into range to use the lightsaber. Droman was tempted to let the chase continue for a bit and maybe even take a holo-vid of it to post up on the zuu-tube com-net. But the prospect of losing a talented sniper like Enjard threw that temptation out the air-lock.

Droman moved his speeder into position behind the Jedi and gunned the accelerator attempting to run the Jedi over; but right before he was about to put the front of the speeder up the Jedi's tail, the Trianii made a magnificent leap and tossed his saber at Droman.

Stal felt a presence of danger and leapt in a backflip that sent him soaring nearly thirty feet into the air, at that same moment he tossing his saber blindly in the direction of the hostile intent. The pilot of the speeder ducked and veered the vehicle with catlike reflexes and the saber sheared off part of the speeder's cockpit window. Stal pulled his lightsaber back to his hand with a mental tug of the force and it deactivated as it landed in his hands. His feet touched the ground just in time for him to witness the sniper leap into the cockpit of the speeder.

Stal reached out a hand and tried to grab hold of the speeder, but he was already too late. The speeder slipped from his force hold and accelerated away leaving Stal in a perturbed state of being. Then he noticed the other beings staring at him and he looked to them all.

"Jedi business, move along..." he said projecting his will to the crowd making a flicking motion with his tail. The majority of the beings murmured slightly, repeating that it was Jedi business and that they were going to move along. Stal nodded and then sighed as he turned and headed back for the hanger clipping his lightsaber hilt back onto his belt.

"Are you sure you lost him?" Xero said as he looked at Droman and Enjard.

"Yes, but it was most definitely a Jedi." Enjard said rubbing his sore and stiff shoulder; his armor had at least taken the brunt of that deflected blaster bolt.

"This is more serious than I thought. I'd figure they'd never track me down." Xero said brooding as he ran a finger long his own lightsaber hilt.

"Maybe they have some kind of homing beacon on you somewhere?" Droman said. Xero went to his bag and took out the case with the holocron inside. He opened the case and gasped gazing upon the holocron. Its apex was shaped in a multi-spoked star pattern and jutting from its center gleamed a large clear crystal. So this was the holocron that the Jedi had discovered on Telos IV and it was magnificent. Xero pulled his admiration away and got to the task at hand. He looked over the inside of the box.

"Here let me have a look-see." Droman said; Xero took the holocron out and handed the case to the mercenary. Droman immediately drew is blaster and tossed the case down and shot it until there was only fragmented parts on the ground.

"We lost the signal." Stal said stopping as the sensor in his hand stopped beeping. "But we are close."

Kayte and Kiraz both drew their blasters as Stal pulled his lightasaber hilt off his belt. All three of them cautiously approached the doors to the apartments. Stal once more reached out with his force sense and tried to grasp the stands and lines that he felt when he was chasing the mercenary. Then he felt it; the two men were very close and he pointed indicating the door that he felt the presence coming from. Then Stal felt some kind of malicious intent and he activated his lightsaber as Kayte and Kiraz stepped back.

The door burst open from the inside and the two mercenaries came running out but right behind them also stepping out with a red bladed lightsaber in hand was a male Chiss, or what looked like a Chiss. He took a stance as the mercs fled off around the corner. Stal edged around the Chiss allowing Kayte and Kiraz to give pursuit.

"Hello there... Jedi..." Said the Chiss in a menacing tone. As Stal raised his saber in a defensive stance. The Chiss raised his saber and attacked with a downward slash which Stal parried and countered with his own horizontal slash. The Sith blocked the strike and spun around with a diagonal cut which Stal also parried out of the way. Stal initiated an upward slash and as the Sith blocked it he spun around to gain some room to maneuver.

The Chiss lunged and Stal brought up his saber catching the red blade against his own aqua-blue blade. The sabers binded together in a brilliant flash as now Stal and the Sith came face to face, the two blades crackled and strained with the strength of both combatants pushing to gain the upper hand.

"Who are you?" Stal said as he pushed against the forceful onslaught of the Sith's saber blade.

"Xero, Darth Xero... and you'll return to the force by my blade!" Xero pushed against his saber hilt and Stal disengaged from him with a backflip, swinging his saber to ward off any attack.

"And what is your name feeble Jedi?" Xero sneered bringing his blade up in a ready stance.

"Stal Lo'bec of the New jedi Order... and I think it will be, by my blade, that you will return to the force, Sith." Stal said as he readied himself for the next assault.

"We shall see... at least I will know what name they will carve into a duracrete headstone!" Xero grinned as he readied his next attack.

Kayte, with Kiraz following right behind her, ran full tilt after the mercs. They were just up ahead now heading for a vehicle port, the mercenaries were heading for some kind of land speeder, alongside all the rest of the miscellaneous speeder bikes and normal land speeders, but this particular speeder they were heading for had part of the cockpit glass sheared off. Kayte fired her blaster pistol desperately, but because she was running her shots went wide missing the mercs by great lengths.

"Worse than a stormtrooper..." Kiraz commented a bit out of breath.

"Shut up and shoot!" Kayte said as she opened up again with Kiraz also shooting as well, of course the bolts missed, but it did cause a reaction. The mercs shot back at Kayte and Kiraz, both parties missing with wild shots the mercs hopped into the land speeder and took off.

"Don't let them get away!" Kayte said and she leap-frogged onto a speeder bike at the protest of an angry Dug owner and Kiraz followed in suit leaping onto a different speeder bike.

"E chu ta!" The Dug shouted as they sped off after the mercs.

"Whoa! He wasn't happy..." Kiraz shouted to Kayte over the wind and noise as they accelerated towards the land speeder. Kayte fired off three shots at the speeder missing by a near margin and the merc in the passenger's seat turned fired back with an E-11 blaster. Kayte ducked and swerved the speeder bike to avoid the shots of red that came at her. Kiraz returned fire causing the passenger and the driver of the speeder to duck down a bit to avoid his shots.

"Hope the Jedi is faring better than we are." Kayte said as she shot at the land speeder again in the rally of the deadly high speed chase.

Stal and Xero's duel had now lead them down part of the apartment's clauseway and into a local shop. The startled shop owner screamed and fled as the Jedi and Sith clashed energy blades with one another. Xero backed up and leapt upon a catwalk in an attempt to lure Stal to engage in a particularly hazardous environment. Stal was no fool though and instead opted for another tactic.

Stal threw his saber at Xero and guided it with the force. Xero who was standing up on the catwalk prepared to black the deadly tumbling blade, but instead Stal altered the trajectory of it and it came upwards under the catwalk bursting up right in under Xero. The Sith Lord leap backwards to avoid the glowing spinning blade as it took with it part of his vest. Vexed Xero summoned forth force lightning from his finger tips. Stal had to hastily recall his saber to his hand and channeling the force he caught the lightning on his saber blade just in time.

Xero pressed the attack and leapt down with a roar of frustration as he pushed out more hate and rage towards the Jedi in the form of purple gouts of electricity. Still blocking the deadly Sith attack with his saber Stal motioned with his tail and a power converter flew from a table right towards Xero's head. Now it was Xero who had to scramble to stop his lightning attack and switched on his own red bladed saber to cut the projectile in half before it hit him.

Stal attacked with a swift one handed style as Xero now had to frantically block swift incoming slashes. Xero jumped backwards with an evasive flip and came at Stal with a heavy overhead slash. Stal grasped his saber with both hands in order to block the strong style attack and once more their sabers locked together.

"Give it up Jedi! You are no match for the power of the dark side!" Xero sneered as their saber blades crackled against one another.

"I might not be a match, but at least I don't have a broken nose!" Stal said grunting against the strain and then suddenly he let himself get almost too close for comfort in the saber bind. Stal singed his whiskers, but the surprise on Xero's face was well worth it as Stal unleashed a vicious head-butt. His forehead collided with Xero's face and the Sith Lord staggered back with blood streaming from his nose. Their saber blades disengaged from each other and Xero roared in outrage and backed up slashing wildly as Stal stepped back defensively with a smug grin.

"You'll pay for that!" Xero said looking down at his blue colored hand that was now splattered with his own blood. Then he charged at Stal stabbing and slashing fiercely. Stal backed up and patiently parried the blows as he counter attacked forcing Xero back on the defense. Xero decided it was time to get desperate. His next move was he backed up and focused a force wave out towards the lights, the transparisteel shattered and the room went dark save for the two glowing saber blades which now streaked long swaths of light as they collided and sparked.

Xero pressed his attack and he made a wild desperate stab. The Jedi tried to parry it, but it was no good; Stal gave an exclamation of surprise as the red blade snagged on something solid and Xero quickly pulled back as Stal fell to the floor thrashing. Xero was almost tempted to finish him off, but he also knew that fleeing at this time would be a logical choice. Not knowing if the Jedi was dead or alive he ran out of the shop and headed for his Clawcraft, he'd just have to kill the Jedi later.

Stal dragged himself from the shop clutching his left flank; he took the opportunity to open up his robe and take a look. A burn mark approximately four inches had taken off his fur and had given him a minor gash. A few inches to the right and it would have been a more grievous wound. Stal winced and limped towards the vehicle port his pride, more hurt, than his body. He had a feeling though that Kayte and Kiraz were in trouble.

Kayte came up on the left of the mercs while Kiraz came up on the right side. The mercs, however, were not amused by this tactic and tried to sideswipe Kayte by veering into her. Kayte put on the brakes and instead the land speeder missed her and she pulled up behind trying to take aim. It was no good, they were just moving around at too fast a clip for Kayte to get a good shot and Kiraz was not fairing much better taking pot shots at the land speeder.

The mercs turned a corner and were seeming to try and double back towards the vehicle port as they tried to run down anything and everything in their way. Kayte again took a few more shots and had to swerve to avoid the return fire. She gained on them and so did Kiraz, both of them shooting at the land speeder. They were almost back to the vehicle port when suddenly the merc speeder braked to a sudden halt.

Kiraz made an exclamation and was able to steer out of the way avoiding collision. Unfortunately for Kayte she did not make such a turn. Her speeder bike plowed into the back of the land speeder and Kayte screamed as she was sent tumbling through the air with the cold unforgiving ground waiting there to snap her neck upon her landing.

To Kayte's surprise and relief the ground was never felt as she ended up hovering a foot from her point of impact. The mercs took off and Kayte looked over to see Stal there on a stopped speeder bike. His right hand clutching his left side while his left arm was outstretched holding Kayte from her imperiled flight. Slowly Kayte descended to the ground and Stal let out a sigh before Kiraz pulled up next to Kayte.

"Are you hurt?" Kiraz asked helping Kayte to her feet.

"N-No." Kayte said still a bit shaken by the experience. Kayte looked over to Stal who now slightly slumped against the speeder bike. "But it looks like the Jedi could use a little attention..."

"Ow!" Stal said as Kayte applied a cleaning swab to the wound in his side.

"It doesn't look that bad." Kayte said and then she carefully placed a pad over the wound and wrapped a large binding around Stal's mid-section. "That should clear you up in a day or two. Again I'm going to have to charge extra, bacta solution pads can be hard to come by."

"Kayte..." Stal said, and Kayte looked him right in the eyes before he spoke again. "Thank you."

"Your welcome Jedi, just don't make a habit of using up all of my supplies." Kayte said and then stood walking out of the hovel. Stal lay back and sighed as he just closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the feeling of the force flowing through him. He let his mind and feelings wander, he felt the ship, the crew outside working to repair the damage, he felt Kiraz drinking in the galley and he felt Kayte in the cockpit of the ship sitting back in her chair, her emotions a swirl of confusion.

Stal tried to focus in on her and he sensed gratitude, anger, conviction. Stal then decided that the female was something that he would possibly never understand and instead of focusing, he fell asleep.

Xero was heading back to his ship with many thoughts. He thought about how he had spared the Jedi, for now; his overconfidence, and his failure to see the true intent of the Jedi. Xero reached up and wiped away the dried blood from under his nose and sneered. Next time he faced the Jedi he'd kill him. He was only ten meters from the Clawcraft when suddenly blaster bolts came down and strafed the ground in front of him. Xero leapt back and growled as suddenly half a dozen Chiss soldiers came out and pointed blasters at him.

"You are in possession of Chiss property! Give up now or we shoot!" one of the soldiers said.

Xero was stuck in between his response, he considered igniting his saber, but instead he devised something else. He used the force and grabbed the soldier that had given the ultimatum in a force grip. The Chiss soldier grabbed his throat as Xero swiftly pulled him to superimpose between the blasters and himself.

"Force user!" Yelled out one of the other Chiss soldiers and they shot at Xero anyways. Xero backed up as they Chiss riflemen heedlessly perforated one of their own. Then Xero dived for cover as he tossed the now dead body aside. He activated his saber as he prepared for a fight. A sudden explosion rocked the area and Xero stepped out with lightsaber at the defense and saw that the soldiers had blown the stolen Clawcraft to smithereens, possibly with a thermal detonator.

He cursed as they now advanced on him shooting at him with the strange weapons only known as Charrics. He could only block the maser weapons bolts, but they just dispersed on his blade making it impossible for him to reflect any of their attacks back at them.

Xero instead used his saber to block and extended his free hand out and he unleashed force lightning out at the Chiss soldiers. Half of them leapt out of the way, but two of them were instantly fried. They screamed as they writhed on the floor and convulsed as life fled from them.

The other Chiss now were shooting from cover making it hard for Xero to keep up his lightsaber weaving a defensive barrier. Suddenly one of the Chiss soldiers was struck by a blaster bolt and Xero ducked behind cover once more and looked at the direction from which the blaster bolt came from. He saw that from quite a distance away Enjard was there with his eye to the scope of his sniper rifle.

Xero grinned and he dashed out from cover and closed in on the last remaining Chiss, giving a force push he knocked them down and leapt at them his saber slashing the Charrics in half. He down ended his saber and drove it into the chest of the first Chiss soldier and the second one tried to back away, but Xero just glided up to him and cut him down with a single stroke to the chest.

"Looks like I'll be hitching a ride and paying more than I bargained for..." Xero said and deactivated his lightsaber before looking to the two mercenaries walking towards him.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Kayte said examining the wreckage of the Clawcraft and then looking back to Junis. The female Chiss just shrugged idly and Kayte stood up and walked over to Junis.

"Looks like the Chiss ascendancy didn't like having their pilots framed for a crime." Junis said with a frown.

"Looks like someone tipped them off." Kayte said and then placed the credit chips in Junis' hand. "Thanks for the help, I appreciate it."

"Well it looks like your Sith will be finding another way off planet." Junis said feeling the weight of the chip and then placing it into her pocket.

"Just as well it will buy me time till the Lucid Star is up and running again." Kayte looked over to Kiraz who was still examining the wreckage and she whistled. Kiraz looked up and nodded and both Kiraz and Kayte left hanger eighteen.

Stal woke up and stretched as he got up. His side no longer hurt and he curiously peeked under the bandage and found that his wound was completely gone. Only a slightly bald patch of fur remained and he took the bandage off along with the bacta patch. He felt over the area and went over in his mind what he had learned about the force.

He remembered that Grand Master Skywalker had once said that concentration could sometimes also lead to what was called a Jedi healing trance. If that was so then there was a way to block out pain as well. Stal would have to meditate on it, in the mean time he had things to do.

"Areight, see if you can contact Master Katarn, I have to report this disturbing news to him." Stal said and stood up trying to make himself look formal. Areight bleeped and blipped as he extended his communications array and Stal saw a light projecting from Areight signaling that the transmission was on.

"Master Katarn are you there?" Stal asked.

"Yes Stal what is it?" Kyle answered, in response Areight also projected a holographic image of Kyle that stood in front of Stal.

"We have some complications, I ran into a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Xero. I don't know where he came from, but he was disguised as a Chiss. I'm going to need to ask for some special equipment..." Stal said and he watched Kyle smile.

"I'll give Jan a call, she is in the area and she probably will be carrying some of the items you need, just try to return them in good condition." Kyle said as Stal relayed the coordinates to Kyle.

"Master I will keep in pursuit of this Sith Lord and try to retrieve the stolen items that he has taken." Stal said with finality.

"Sounds like a plan, just be careful Stal and may the force be with you." Kyle said.

"May the force be with you as well Master." Stal replied as the hologram faded and Areight retracted his communications array.

Xero was not happy laying low, he knew that it was necessary, but he felt like he could not tolerate it if he were to stay for a moment more on the planet. But the mercs had their own schedule and he would just have to show patience. In the mean time the pigmentation was wearing off and in the next three hours Xero would be able to go out as normal.

"Rough day for us all eh?" Droman said idly from the side.

"I pay you to do a job, not to be a psychiatrist. I still want those two freighter pilots dead." Xero said with an edge in his voice.

"With that Jedi protecting them it will cost extra." Droman said and stood up looking to Xero with a disdaining glance.

"Whatever, you will get your money for the job. Now go..." Xero said and closed his eyes to meditate on the task at hand.

Droman didn't say another word, he just motioned to Enjard and they both left the Sith alone in the room. When they were gone Xero suppressed the urge to take a closer look at the holocron. It looked the same as in his vision, but was much more magnificent up close. He was simply enthralled by it. He thought of all the knowledge it must contain and how the Sith would use that knowledge to crush the Jedi under heel. But first there was the matter of that Jedi, what was his name? Stal? Yes Stal had to die first before Xero would be satisfied.

Xero stood up and opened his eyes walking to a mirror. His now bandaged over nose causing him concentration problems. He smashed his fist into the mirror and he could still see in the shards his eyes glowing orange with hate. Oh yes, that Jedi would pay...

Chapter Three

Present time, 43 ABY:

"Its time Areight. If I don't come back in two hours you head back to the Jedi Academy and report what happened to Master Katarn." Stal said and with that he opened the cockpit and jumped out he felt the cool metal of both his saber's hilt and Jaze's saber's hilt against his hips and he inhaled the cool air befouled with the stench of the dark side.

Stal walked towards the entrance of the ruined temple where he was sure Darth Xero awaited him. The stolen shuttle was right outside of this stone ruins and Stal was determined to put an end to this escapade once and for all. As he approached he felt that dark presence of his adversary, he knew that Xero would try to lure him deep into the caverns of those ruins, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no escape, only darkness.

A week and two days ago:

"We have to see about tracking down this Sith." Stal said and Kayte flared up in anger again.

"Jedi always bring about bad news. " Kayte crossed her arms to emphasize the point.

"Right now it's all we can do." Stal replied.

"And you don't want to wait for that special equipment of yours to come in before going after him? He'll have those mercenaries with him you know. Right now that idea is about as stupid as putting a break-dancing program on your Areight droid." Kayte huffed and Areight whistled indignantly.

"So you suggest we wait here for our two mercs and Sith to just pop up?" Stal asked.

"They have to try and leave the planet some time, and nobody really gets off the planet unless they go through the tower." Kayte said and sat back in a chair and looked over to Kiraz who was busy playing with some cards.

"Tower Control this is Rancor Eye requesting permission to lift off." Came a voice over the com, Kayte, Kiraz, and Stal all looked towards the tower controller who at the moment was under the influence of Stal's Jedi mind trick.

"This is Tower Control, Rancor Eye please send your transponder code to make sure you are clear." The controller said. As the code was sent Stal reached out with his force sense and tried to determine if that was the ship they were looking for. At the very edge of his senses he felt that all familiar presence of two nervous men. They were definitely the mercenaries that had attacked them the day before.

"Shall I hold them?" The controller asked Stal who let out a sign and retracted his force sense.

"No... let them go, we will deal with them." Stal said.

"Rancor Eye you are clear precede on your course." The controller said.

Stal nodded and then with a flick of his tail he added "And you were glad to help us."

"I was glad to help you." The controller said almost monotone as Kiraz and Kayte got up and left, Stal gave once final look around and then left as well before the controller realized he had been tricked.

The Lucid Star powered up and Kayte looked to Stal sitting in the co-pilots seat for the moment.

"You got their transponder code?" Kayte asked.

"Yes, a Jedi tries to always be observant." Stal said as he entered the code onto a data pad and handed it to Kayte.

"Now let's see where they are going." Kayte said in a mischievous tone.

"We'll take you as far as Junction, we will drop you off there and try to slow down the Jedi and his friends." Droman said to Xero credits exchanged hands.

"From there I assume I'll be on my own?" Xero said as he disdainfully watched Droman pocket the credits with a greedy grin.

"You might say that, but we'll call when the target has been eliminated." Droman said.

"And you can assure me that they will be properly handled?" Xero turned away and then looked back over his shoulder.

"Yeah, we'll take good care of them." Droman replied and then walked off to check on Enjard.

Once Droman was out of the room, Xero looked over his cramped little room in the hull of the Rancor Eye and scowled. Xero knew he would have to somehow obtain a ship to get to Korriban; most likely he'd have to steal it somehow. He closed his eyes and made sure his force stealth was in place, so long as he kept it in place the Jedi could not track him. The legacy of the Sith would remain in place and would stay that way as long as the Jedi did not know how to track him down.

"I have to find out how to track him down." Stal said and he watched as Kyle made a face. "Master Katarn is there any way to find someone who can disappear into the force?"

"Not that I know of, unless there is some way to make him drop his force stealth and make him feel safe." Kyle said stroking a hand over his beard. "Stal did you ever learn how to conceal yourself in the force?"

"No Master, I regret it is one of the lessons I did not learn." Stal said.

"Well here is how you start..." Kyle said with a smile.

Kayte only listened in that far before she pulled away from the doorway and walked back to the cockpit sitting down with a heavy sigh. For some reason she was feeling unusually bothered; it was if she were feeling something she normally never felt. She tumbled it around in her mind a bit before realizing the emotions she was feeling. The Jedi protecting her ship, the Jedi saving her life twice, the amazing feats that Stal performed. Was she starting to feel attachment?

She shook it off and decided that she might just try and be rude or ignorant to the Jedi, after all it all started when she took this job. But there was the reasoning that even if she was abrupt with him he would frustrate her further by staying calm. Kayte sighed closing her eyes and the door opened behind her.

"Rough day?" Kiraz said walking to the co-pilot's seat and sitting down. Quickly Kayte feigned exhaustion and rubbed her forehead just shy of her horns.

"Yeah." She replied dully.

"First you almost get shot and then almost became street paste." Kiraz said lolling his head so that his multifaceted eyes could look to her.

"So I just have to be more careful, that Jedi is more trouble than he's worth." Kayte said, even though she really felt like she didn't mean it.

"Well we could just dump him off at the next planet and then hightail it." Kiraz said "We could just forget the deal give the money back but charge for damages and inconvenience."

"Forget that, then how would that look for business?" Kayte said as she watched the hyperspace chronometer counting down.

"Your right. Beside the Jedi is handy when things get dicey." Kiraz commented and looked at his instrument panel.

"Looks like the merc ship is heading to Junction." Kayte said as she looked over the coordinates.

"The path they took would lead them straight there, but should we risk it? I mean they could change course without us knowing." Kiraz replied in an uneasy tone.

"Knowing the mercs they are going to try and make a straight swift get away. We will stop at Junction and investigate." Kayte said and Kiraz nodded in agreement.

Xero pulled his cloak closed and looked back over his shoulder to the two mercs; Junction was as any civilized planet, but the worn down buildings and hustle of beings showed that this place had been around for a good while. Droman approached and laid his blaster over a shoulder.

"You'll be good?" Droman asked and Xero turned away.

"Yes, you'll be paid a generous sum for your labors. Just make sure you eliminate those witnesses." Xero said almost in a low growl. "Know any place that I might be able to get a ship?"

"You can ask around I'm sure that there are some beings that will oblige you." Droman said and turned to look back at the Rancor Eye.

"I will send you your payment later today." Xero said as he began to walk off.

"And what is your guarantee?" Droman said and for a moment he thought about leveling his blaster at Xero's head, but that thought went out the window when Xero looked back over his shoulder with that orange glow in his eyes. Droman had never felt more scared in his life when he looked into the actual face of darkness, and that darkness was pointing a finger at him. Droman gulped and took a step back his blaster almost dropping from his hand.

"I give you my word..." Xero replied with an edge in his voice and then walked until he was out of sight. Once he was out of sight Droman finally was able to exhale and noticed that his hands were shaking.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Droman said to himself.

Xero looked over the table at the Ithorian before him and the Ithorian eyed him back. Xero had not entered the bar more than a few minutes ago and he already found someone who would foolishly fly him up, he planned to kill the pilot and take the ship once they got off planet. The pilot seemed eager to leave.

"Is the ship fast?" Xero asked sipping his drink.

"Fast enough." The Ithorian replied.

"I can pay you some now and the rest once we reach..." Xero started but was interrupted by the feel of a blaster at his back.

"You two aren't going nowhere. Unless our little planet jumper can pay Frega the Hutt now we will be taking you both in." Said the bounty hunter behind Xero, the Sith could sense four more of them all with blasters drawn. He was almost tempted to kill them all when he decided that maybe discression might be the better part of the deal.

"Sure we'll cooperate..." Xero said and placed his hands up in the air the dismayed Ithorian pilot mirroring him.

They were lead outside to a speeder and hastily ushered in and after a few minutes of tense waiting they disembarked at gun-point. The bounty hunters corralled the two towards a door and knocked on it. A robotic eyestalk came out of one of the side ports and asked the nature of the visit in Huttese.

"We have the low-life planet jumper and one of his clients." The bounty hunter pronounced and stepped back showing his catch to the eyestalk. It muttered something along the lines to come inside and then retracted back into its housing before the door slid open. Inside Xero marveled at how tidy it was. There was barely a particle of dirt and the interior decorations were quite exquisite. There stood in front of them a silver protocol droid that bowed.

"I'am See-Five-Pea-Two and my master wishes for you to bring the pilot to him at once." The droid said with less than jovial enthusiasm. It turned and began walking and the bounty hunters prodded Xero and the Ithorian down the hall to follow. When they reached the audience chamber there was Frega the Hutt. As grotesque as most Hutts were, in terms of humanoid tastes, Frega was less repulsive than most. He even wore a short cylinder shaped hat on his head which somehow stayed in place as he smoked his pipe looking at the two captives with black and amber slitted eyes.

"I told you Ithorian, if you tried to jump planet without paying me you would regret it. I have in fact already impounded your ship, it is mine now." Frega said in Huttese with an almost nonchalant tone.

"P-please! Frega you have to understand I have to make back the money!" The Itorian said trying to plead with the Hutt.

"You take me for a fool?" Frega boomed and nodded to one of the bounty hunters who lifted up his disintegrator; a high pitched whine issued from the weapon as it charged and the Ithorian tried to back up but it was too late as the beam struck him in the chest. The smell of burning ozone followed as the Ithorian managed one final scream that was cut short as he was turned to ash and vapor.

"And who do we have here? An associate?" Frega now turned his attention to Xero as he spoke.

"A client..." I was looking for a charter flight to..." Xero started, but was interrupted by Frega.

"I don't care where you were going, I'am interested in what you are doing? What are you running from hmmm?" Frega said leaning forward slightly. Xero just gave a cold look back.

"Maybe you have a bounty on you?" Frega continued. Xero smirked slightly and motioned with his hand. Suddenly all the bounty hunters gasped as they felt the crushing grip of the force around their throats. Frega gasped as he watch all of them fall to the floor one by one from lack of air.

"What is going on?!" Frega said in a panic. Suddenly there was a snap-hiss and Frega found himself looking at the tip of a red glowing lightsaber blade.

"You will give me the ship and I will spare your life... maybe..." Xero said and looked up his pupils changing to the color of orange with black flecks.

"S-Sith!" Frega exclaimed with outrage.

"That's right! The ship... Now!" Xero demanded. Frega pointed towards a door.

"There is a shaft that leads down to a sandy area and just across it there is a tunnel to the landing pads." Frega said hastily. Xero tried to probe the Hutt for deception with the Force, but it was hard to discern.

"Deceive me and I will kill you." Xero threatened and went through the door as he deactivated his lightsaber. As Xero made his way down the corridor he came to an unlocked door which slid open for him. He walked out into a sandy area and he already he knew the Hutt's treachery. The tell tale blood splatter on the walls and claw marks were a dead giveaway. Xero looked up to see Frega with a Huttish grin on his face looking through a grate on the ceiling.

There must have been a trap door up on the ground level that the Hutt would use to drop his victims into this pit. Xero glared at Frega and in a flash activated his lightsaber and tossed it up to cut a hole in the bars to he could leap out and kill Frega. The blade of the saber connected with the close knit bars and bounced off them. Xero was shocked and recalled his saber to his hand.

"Mandalorian Iron Sith!" Frega said and then laughed before he pressed a button and a panel slid closed covering up the Hutt's face. Now Xero was in the dark with only his saber to light the area. Then Xero felt it, one, two, no five presences, all hungry, nasty, viscious. Then a low growl caught his ear and from the shadows emerged the starving Nexu' which Frega kept as pets. Xero took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of their malice, He fed off of the savage feelings of the beasts as he raised his saber in a defensive stance.

The Lucid Star dropped out of hyperspace and glided smoothly towards Junction; Kayte, at the controls, radioed in her identification and proceeded on course to dock in one of the bays. When they landed Stal disembarked and made his way towards the adjoining docking bay. There he was greeted by a slender woman wearing a tan flight suit and a bantha skin jacket. Her long brown hair was tied back and on her hip rested a blaster.

"Jan Ors?" Stal said and bowed politely his tail flicking lightly behind him.

"Kyle told me about your little problem..." Jan said in an almost uninterested tone. She pointed a thumb back over her shoulder to a box.

"This should help you out." Jan said and then turned back towards the ship which Stal had only seen in pictures, The Raven's Claw.

"Thank you..." Stal said as Jan was walking away. She paused a moment and then hesitantly looked back over her shoulder.

"Hey... Jedi... may the Force be with you." Jan then continued to the ship as Stal walked over to the box and started opening it.

Xero drove his lightsaber through the panel and the door hissed open as he stepped out into the dim lights of the Frega's private docking bay. He looked over his shoulder, down the hall, at the last dying Nexu as it twitched before expiring. Xero spat and marched towards the shuttle; two of Frega's goons came running out of the ship firing blasters. Xero with a flick of his wrist deflected the incoming blaster bolts and redirected them back into the two goon's faces.

Xero grinned and ran up the boarding ramp kicking the two dead minions off as he made his way to the cockpit. It only took him a few moments to fire up the engines; then he realized that the bay doors were still closed. Xero drew on his anger and held both his hands out with palms towards the doors. The dark side of the Force flowed through him as the doors started to rumble and creak. The doors shuttered and moaned in protest as gears were forced to turn. Hydraulic cylinders cracked and buckled.

Xero gave a roar of contempt and strained as his hands moved apart the doors mimicking his motions. The doors shrieked to a stop as they were now fully opened and Xero gasped with the strain, panting and sweating. After a few moments to catch his breath Xero checked all systems and then his ship lifted off the ground on shaky repulsor lifts before it took off leaving behind the now open and barren landing bay.

Stal had just finished donning the new equipment when he felt a presence in the Force, the same malice as before and he pulled his lightsaber off his belt. He heard the click of a blaster being switched on and he spun around igniting his saber with a snap-hiss.

"Not this time, Jedi..." Said Droman as he held up his blaster to Kayte's head, the Zabrak woman struggled against the grip of the merc holding her around the neck with one arm. To Droman's side was Enjard who in turn was holding his blaster to Kiraz's head. Stal inched forward, but stopped when Droman pressed the muzzle of his blaster harder to Kayte's head.

"Any closer and she dies!" Droman growled.

"Your fight is with me... not with them..." Stal said idly waving his hand and trying to open up to the two mercenaries with the Force. At first they started to slacken their grips then they looked confused before reinforcing their grip on their hostages. Stal cursed inwardly, they were just too conditioned to be tricked so easily.

"Throw down your laser sword, Jedi..." Droman said as Kayte gritted her teeth obviously trying to take in a breath of air. "Or she looses her head."

Stal let the Force flow around him preparing himself for what he knew would happen next; he deactivated his saber and let it drop to the ground. The hilt landed with a clanking thud on the ground and Stal raised his hand up in surrender.

Droman with a swift motion moved the blaster muzzle from Kayte's head to Stal's direction and fired off a single blaster bolt that seemed to strike the Jedi in the face. Stal flew back nearly two meters before landing on the ground motionless on his side.

"Nooooooo!" Kayte managed to scream as she looked at the motionless body laying on the ground across the landing bay. She tried to struggle free and found herself actually released as now Droman held his blaster back at Kayte's face. Droman motioned and Enjard let go of Kiraz as well both mercenaries now had blaster's leveled at the two freighter pilots.

"Give me your sidearm Enjard." Droman said. Enjard pulled out his sidearm with his free hand and tossed it towards Droman who caught it fluidly and leveled it at Kiraz.

"Check the Jedi, make sure he's dead." Droman said with a grin.

"You monster!" Kayte spat.

"Don't worry, you two will be joining him soon..." Droman hissed as Enjard walked towards Stal's fallen body. Enjard got up to the Jedi and roughly kicked the corpse over with his boot. Enjard was stunned to see that there was not a single burn mark on the Jedi's face, he was even more surprised at the sound of a snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting through his stomach.

Stal had dispersed the blaster bolt completely, made a very convincing fall and had just now called his saber to his hand. Stal looked into Enjard's eyes as the merc fell over incapacitated. Stal swept himself to his feet in a lightning fast Force assisted twist and held out his left hand. Instantly Droman found himself disarmed as both blasters flew to Stal who swung his saber severing them in half.

Kayte let out a yell of desperation and she and Kiraz tackled Droman to the ground and proceeded to engage in a brutal fisticuff with him. Droman somehow managed to kick the Zabrak and the Rodian off him and scramble to his feet taking off as fast as he could run. Stal in the meantime had placed stun cuffs on Enjard, just in case, and sprinted to help the two freighter pilots.

Droman pulled out his sidearm and shot back towards Stal who gracefully whirled his saber deflecting them harmlessly away as the chase continued. Kiraz and Kayte tried to keep up but the Trianii was just too quick and soon they found they were falling behind. Droman came to a balcony and placing one hand on it he jumped over the edge. Stal was in mid-leap when he felt his Jedi danger senses go off, but it was already too late.

Droman had held a grappling tag in his hand and as he jumped over and his cable line had left the merc hanging over the edge like a worm on a hook, but safe from the one hundred meter fall below. Stal on the other hand had no such time to pull out a grappler tag and cable. Instead his fur stood on end and his tail stuck straight out as he saw the very long trip down that he was about to have.

Droman watched the Jedi fall for a moment and then realized it was no time to idle and pulled himself up back over the railing. He quickly ducked into a doorway just in time to see the two smugglers race past his hiding place. With that Droman quietly slipped into the crowd and headed back towards his ship.

Stal looked at his situation in two ways; one he would become one with the Force today as well as one with the duracrete sidewalk below, or two he would be the first Jedi to survive an assuredly lethal fall. He opted for the latter; he reached behind himself to the small of his back where he kept his friend's lightsaber, unclipping it he whirled his own saber into a reverse grip position. He ignited Jaze's saber and also reverse gripped it. The ground was coming up fast...

Stal focused on the nearest building wall and he used the Force to pull himself towards it, he got just near enough to plunge both sabers into the plastisteel and he slammed his boots on the side of the wall. Still willing the Force to keep friction between the soles of his boots and the building he braced to slow his fall. The sudden initial jerk almost tore the sabers free of his hands, but Stal held them with a deathgrip of desperation.

Stal tried to feel at peace and let the Force flow through him, but the ever looming presence of the beings below made it hard to think about anything except how much the impact would hurt. Stal felt himself slowing down from his terminal velocity and repeated in his mind how it was not his day to die.

While Stal did not hit the ground at a lethal speed he hit the ground hard enough to smart something awful. In addition the pedestrians walking along were surprised when a Jedi landed almost on top of them as Stal lost his grip and both sabers deactivated and spun away from him.

"Hey there mister, are you ok?" inquired a young Twi'lek girl looking over the dazed Jedi laying on the ground.

"Yes... no..." Stal managed to groan before he passed out.

"He'll be fine; its' amazing that he really only got bruised." One voice said as Stal opened his eyes. There was Kayte's face over his along with another female who looked like some kind of medical officer. Stal groaned and sat up holding his head which now had a lump.

"A very worried little girl gave these to us..." Kayte said holding out both lightsaber hilts to Stal who graciously, but also painfully took them.

"That was lubed! That was like... like a sure kill fall, but I've never seen anyone handle it the way you did Jedi!" Kiraz said excitedly. "We even got a holo-vid of it from some tourist who got the whole thing on disk!"

"Wonderful... it can be a viral on zuu-tube..." Stal commented with a grunt placing both sabers back in their respective locations. Then Stal blinked in realization.

"Wait! They got it all on disk?" Stal said musing.

"Yeah!" Kiraz said nodding.

"Lets take a look at this holo-vid..." Stal said getting to his feet from the table.

Even though the holo-vid was fuzzy it was worth watching. The angle had been just right for Stal to catch a glimpse of which way Droman had ran after Stal had jumped off the ledge, but there was something else. Just when the vid had seemed to dead end Stal saw something odd.

"That being right there..." Stal said pointing to the scenery, there stood a hooded alien with a com-link in hand looking in the direction of the merc as he ran. Kayte looked carefully at the being and arched a brow.

"A Weequay..." Kayte said "There is only one person on junction that really employs them... Frega the Hutt..."

"Then I say we pay this, Frega the Hutt, a visit." Stal said turning off the holo-vid.

It wasn't hard to track down Frega, after all numerous beings knew about him, hated him, or were in debt to him. It took only one hour for Stal, Kayte, and Kiraz to track down someone and ask one too many questions.

"Please come with us..." said a muffled voice from behind a helmet. The trio turned around to see a half dozen bounty hunters pointing blasters in their direction.

"Of course." Stal said calmly and focused all his will on bounty hunter as he idly made a motion "we would be... honored to have an audience with Frega."

Either from the Jedi mind trick or from just plain dumb luck the three of them were marched into Frega's chamber where the Hutt had obviously more security than normal. There were a host of beings each of them with blasters and disintegrators, ready to kill at the Hutt's command.

"Why do you seek an audience with me?" Frega said with an edge of nervousness in his voice.

"Just information from one so generous as you." Stal said with overflattering diplomacy.

"Information has a cost." Frega said in a low tone.

"We have reason to believe that there is connection between our goals and a specific mercenary that your people have been following." Stal said trying to sound as calm as possible.

"And what are your goals?" Frega said now almost in an uninterested attitude.

"We are tracking down a Sith that this mercenary is associated with." Stal said with an emphasis on the word Sith. Frega seemed to jump a bit and then settled back and laughed in a very deep creepy tone.

"Your goal is moot! This Sith you have been tracking has assaulted my person, killed my men and pets, for this insult I will deal with him personally!" Frega boomed.

"Do you think that your men will really succeed? What if instead he kills them, then what? Will you send more men, letting the number of your minions dwindle? What if he decides to come back and try to take revenge while the number of your guards are low?" Stal said trying to find some measure of reason with the gangster. Frega seemed to swell with anger and then took a deep breath.

"And what would you do against this Sith? Just three against him?" Frega asked his eyes becoming slits.

"Well first off we are not part of your company and therefore would be doing a free service to you. The Sith will not think of coming back for revenge and we can deal with him in your name." Stal said "would that not be a boon? To have a Jedi take care of this... loose end... in your name?"

"You are a Jedi?" Frega asked is eyes opening wide and then suddenly the air became even more tense.

"I mean you not a single amount of ill will, I seek the same as you... to find this Sith and stop him." Stal said trying to be as ambiguous as possible with words to make the Hutt think that he would keep using lethal force.

"And you want to do a favor out of the goodness of your heart I suppose?" Frega said expecting Stal to barter for something else.

"I would, I only require a method to track the Sith." Stal said with a slow respectful bow.

Frega thought it over, one might even say they could see the wheels and cogs turning in the Hutt's brain as he mulled over the information and options. Frega then made a motion and his henchmen all lowered their blasters and a Weequay approached holding a device.

"This is a beacon that we had attached to the ship that the Sith took, when I own a vessel I always have a way to track it."Frega said taking the device and holding it out to Stal.

"You find that Sith, avenge the insult he has bestowed upon me and return my ship, and aster that I never want to see you again." Frega said and then made a dismissive motion.

"Thank you for your audience, we leave in peace." Stal said as he, Kayte, and Kiraz were hastily ushered out of the Hutt's parlor.

Xero was now on his way back to Korriban. He did have a thought about going back to kill Frega, but that could wait another time. He looked over the controls and once he was convinced that he was on course he sat back deep in the chair and gave a sigh. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the cockpit lights dimmed into total blackness. Hyperspace became solid stars once more.

Xero sat up in his chair and cursed; the emergency backup power kicked in and Xero ran a diagnostics. It turned out that the previous owner had problems with the hyperdrive system and had not yet bothered to fix it. Xero growled under his breath and got up from his seat; determined to fix the hyperdrive and be on his way.

When he reached the hyperdrive chamber though it was much worse than he imagined, the repair parts were there, but it would take precious time to fix it. Xero raged internally, but began to get to work on the hyperdrive. If it wasn't one delay it was another, and Xero was getting very perturbed at every kink that came across to stop his escape.

When Stal, Kayte, and Kiraz got back to the Lucid Star, they turned on the tracking beacon, the signal came through clear and Kayte plugged it into the navi-computer. All of them made sure the ship was uncompromised before take-off and then they proceeded towards the signal. They were not even out of the atmosphere when suddenly the ship rocked with the pulse of heavy blaster fire.

"We have another ship shooting at us!" Kayte said with panic in her voice.

Stal reached out with the force and found the other ship, in its cockpit was an ever determined Droman who was lining up his sights for another strafeing run.

"It's the Merc..."Stal said and looked to Kayte. "Do you have any weapons on this vessel?"

"What? Yes but this ship is hardly one for a arial dogfight!" Kayte yelled as the ship rocked again. Now both craft ascended up into space above the planet as the ship rocked from another salvo.

"I have a plan; do you have any vac-suits with mag-soles on them?" Stal asked.

"Yes! This way!" Kiraz said unbuckling himself from his chair and heading down the hallway, Stal was hot on his heels.

Droman was lining up another shot when he saw a most peculiar thing. Someone in a vac-suit was coming out one of the exterior hatches of the ship. Obviously the suit had mag-sole boots as the figure made its way towards the area where Droman was aiming. Suddenly an aqua colored lightsaber ignited in the figure's right hand and a green bladed saber ignited in his left hand as he took up a stance.

"Yeah right, Jedi..." Droman scoffed and pulled the trigger on his blaster cannons. The vac-suit clad figure spun the sabers around elegantly deflecting the larger blaster cannon shots with both sabers making them richochet harmlessly away from the hull of the target craft. Droman was now even more infuriated as he came around for another pass but the vac-suit clad Jedi moved with unerring speed and precision rendering his next volley useless again.

"Lets see you block this Jedi!" Droman screamed in frustration and clicked the thumb button launching a missile right for Stal. To the merc's horror and surprise the Jedi just passed his off-hand saber so he was clutching both sabers in one hand and then when the missile within thirty meters the Jedi made a pushing motion with his now free off-hand.

The missile suddenly diverted course in a flip of a U-turn and came right back towards Droman's craft. Droman yanked his craft to one side but it was no use. The missile impacted with the starboard wing of his fighter and detonated causing Droman's craft to spin wildly out of control and careen off towards the planet below. In a billow of smoke and fire the craft began its tumbling re-entry as Droman screamed the heat and fire becoming unbearable before his craft exploded in a shower of scrap metal.

"You know Jedi, you are crazy!" Kiraz said with a huff of amazement.

"Yeah, well I didn't know what else we could do about that." Stal said taking off the helmet to his vac-suit, his tone was more nervous than he cared to show. Just then Kayte came stomping into the airlock and pointed a finger at Stal.

"You know all of you Jedi are insane!" Kayte said with outrage. Then her hardened expression softened. "But... thank you... thank you for saving our ship."

"Don't mention it." Stal said as he took off the rest of his vac-suit. His fur was soaked with sweat and he looked a bit haggard and miserable.

"I think I need a shower." Stal said he marched off to his room to get a change of clothes.

Chapter 4

Present time, 43 ABY:

The stone halls were dry and crumbling, the air was foul with the scent of hate. Stal had never been to Korriban before, but he was sure of one thing; this place was not pleasant. It felt as though he had been walking for hours, but his chrono only showed minutes. He stopped at the top of a stairway and looked down into the yawning darkness. For moment he thought he saw shapes moving on the stairs. He ignited his saber with a snap-hiss and its aqua blue colored blade lit up the corridor.

The blackness seemed to call to him, but he only knew that it was Xero who was down there, waiting for him. Stal cautiously proceeded down the stairs, each footstep echoed and bounced off the walls. The only comforting sound was the humming of his weapon as it illuminated the umbra. Then Stal found himself at the bottom of the stairs in a large room with several pillars; shadows danced along the near wall and Stal stretched out his senses into the vast expanse of midnight.

Five days ago:

"It looks abandoned..." Stal said as the Lucid Star approached the shuttle. Kayte looked over the instruments and then back to Stal.

"No life readings, but it seems to be in fair condition." Kayte said. It had taken Kayte, Kiraz, and Stal a few days to repair the miniscule damage to their craft after Droman had attacked. They had speculated that Darth Xero would have been far to his destination by now. But they were surprised to see that he was not even two days away. Stal now hiding himself in the Force hoped to keep himself incognito from the Sith's senses.

They stopped a good distance from the shuttle and had been orbiting it for about a day and now they were certain that there was nobody aboard. They also wanted to return the shuttle to Frega lest they have an angry Hutt to deal with as well. Kayte cautiously engaged the docking arm, a long tube that had a magnetized end and a pressurization mechanism. The docking arm connected and the crew exhaled as they prepared to breech the shuttle.

Stal ignited his lightsaber and stepped through the passageway of the docking arm. The shuttle's life support was on, but only the emergency lights lit the hallway. Stal was followed by Kayte and then Kiraz. They did a sweep of the shuttle, but there was no signs of anyone on board.

"Looks clear..." Kayte said holstering her blaster as did Kiraz. Stal deactivated his saber and clipped it back on his belt.

"We had better look for secret panels, I remember Master Katarn telling me of how Han Solo once smuggled himself using secret panels on the Millenium Falcon." Stal said as the Rodian and Zabrak nodded.

Xero came out of his trance, it was one of the few calming techniques that his former master had taught him. He also was hiding himself in the Force as well. As soon as he was alerted that there was another ship dropping out of hyperspace he had tucked himself into one of hidden panels and had put the ship on an idle status. Now Xero had heard them doing a sweep of this ship and when they had passed down far enough he slipped out of his hiding spot and went into the refresher. He then heard them coming back and he froze, not moving and holding his breath.

"Look here is a panel." Said a Rodian's voice.

"Just like Stal said." Came a female reply.

"We should look for more just in case." The Rodian advised and the sound of foot steps clanking down the hallway signaled that they were moving on. Xero waited and then slowly opened the door to the refresher and peeked out. He saw a shadow moving down the hallway and using the Force he seemed to meld into the shadows.

Xero moved further down the hallway and stopped backing up when he saw the Rodian he had heard examining another hidden panel. Xero was ever so careful to not make a sudden move or sound as he crept up behind the Rodian. With saber in hand and desire to murder rising Xero imposed himself behind the unaware being.

A single thumbing of the activator switch was all it took as the red glowing blade of Xero's saber was driven into the back of Kiraz' neck and came out his throat. Kiraz stiffened and tried to scream to no avail as Xero deactivated his saber and watched as the Rodian pawed futilely as his own throat trying to breath. In meer moments Kiraz was on the floor convulsing spasmodically as life left his body.

Xero allowed to feel the emotions of fear that the Rodian felt to flow through him and he savored it like a fine wine. Then when it ended Xero turned and made stealthy haste downt he hall to find his next victim.

"Something's wrong..." Stal said suddenly with a blank stare. Kayte looked at Stal trying to discern what it was. They had just met up after what they would have called a clean sweep of the cargo shuttle.

"Kiraz!" Stal said and turned to head back into the docking arm, but stopped short from what he saw. A dark robed figure stood in the hallway of the arm and in it's right hand it held a familiar cylindrical hilt of a lightsaber. Kayte gasped and reached for her blaster. A snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting was heard as the Sith brought up the red blade.

"Your disgusting Rodian friend is dead!" Xero taunted.

"Kayte! Don't!" Stal yelled but it was already too late. Kayte fired a blaster bolt right for Xero's head and Xero just shifted his saber and the bolt went right back to Kayte hitting her in the stomach. Stal caught her as she tumbled back, her stomach was blacked by the blaster shot and still slightly smoking.

Xero laughed mockingly and flourished his saber in the narrow junction of the docking arm. Stal set Kayte down gently and pulled his own saber off his belt and ignited it. Stal's fur stood on end and he gave a low growl, as a tiger warning a would be opponent, to back off.

"Ooohhh! I'm so scared!" Xero said sarcasticly and launched into an attack. The narrow hallway only served to hinder all movement, the docking arm corridor was only twelve feet from side to side and only ten feet high, its span was just under nine meters. One false move is all it would take to compromised the hallway and kill every single one of them with decompression. Stal and Xero had to use very restrained moves in the docking arm, they were not more than jabbing at each other, no saber throwing, no wide arcing moves, no jumps or flips, all of those would spell instant death.

Stal maneuvered into position for a feint, but Xero countered and stepped back and then lunged forward once more. Stal parried and attacked with a short counter slash making Xero dance back to avoid being hit.

"Are you angry that I killed your friend's Jedi?" Xero said with almost a hissing in his voice. Stal stayed silent and instead jabbed with the tip of his saber which caused Xero to back up a step.

"I can feel your hate..." Xero taunted and this time advanced with short saber swings. The red blade and aqua beam collided with a shower of sparks the magnetic fields of both Jedi and Sith weapons causing them to bind in a saber-lock where both of them pushed against each other seeking to overpower the other.

Xero laughed maniacally as he inched his captured blade towards Stal's face, so close that he could see the whisker's on Stal's cheeks pull back away from the intense red glow. Stall suddenly shifted and rolled backwards and kicked up with his left foot. Xero flailed wildly and tucked his body, rolling to prevent his saber from striking anything.

Xero scrambled to his feet and let out a force push that Stal braced against, but still the force of the attack made him slide backwards, then Xero felt a tingle in head and he realized that Stal was standing past the inner hatch of the freighter ship; not only that but the Zabrak female was still alive and pointing a blaster at him from inside the hatchway.

"S-Sith p-poodoo..." She gasped and raised her blaster to aim over Xero and fired, just a split second after that Stal slammed his fist on the control panel as the hatchway shut closed sealing Xero in the now compromised docking arm.

Xero desperately dove for the hatch to the shuttle and got in sealing it just in time as the vacuum of space decompressed and tore the docking arm apart. Xero glared at the Lucid Star for a brief moment and then turned running for the pilot's compartment of the shuttle.

Stal knew that the shuttle with Xero was moving away to jump into hyperspace, but he didn't care about that. He quickly picked up Katye and carried her to the infirmary area of her freighter ship; not caring too much for her decency he tore away the midsection of her suit. He was horrified by the blacked pit of burnt flesh, but he knew if he acted quickly he could save her. Quickly he grabbed up some Bacta-patches and some antiseptic salve and began to apply his very novice skill of first aid to her.

Kayte was currently unconscious and looked pale, every now and again she would twitch and it caused her to cough and shudder; flecks of blood came out when she gasped and Stal knew that he might be too late to save her. Stal was desperate; so he did the one, and only thing he could think of... he called out with all his might, out loud, and in the Force.

"Master Skywalker! Master Katarn! Someone! Anyone! Please help me!" Stal yelled out as his voice echoed through the hull of the nearly empty ship.

Cilghal was meditating in her chamber when she suddenly felt a very desperate shout. She opened her bulbous eyes and looked around, but saw nobody. Then she felt it, far away, a faint cry for help in the Force. She closed her eyes again and concentrated on it. It was a mix of confusion, chaos, and desperation, a stewpot of emotions there where whirling out of control. Cilghal was calm non-the-less and she focused in on the voice.

"Calm yourself, why do you call for help?" Came a voice that echoed in Stal's head.

"She's dying! She's dying!" Stal said trying to hold back the urge to shout again.

"Listen to me, focus and calm yourself, this is Jedi Master Cilghal." The voice said. Stal took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself.

"Yes Master... what do I do?" Stal said in a shaky voice watching Kayte getting paler by the second.

"First of all open your mind to the force and search for her spark of life." Cilghal instructed. Stal was doubtful, but he had no choice; he closed his eyes and let them slightly roll to up into this head, he looked in the flowing currents of the Force, he tried to remain as calm as possible as he searched for Kayte's spark of life...

Kayte felt like she was treading in an endless ocean of ice water; her head just above the surface, each second she was sinking another centimeter and no matter how hard she thrashed to stay afloat there seemed to be duracrete weights on each of her ankles. She could not see, only feel, and she knew that if her head went under the water she would not surface again.

Fatigue was setting in and Kayte could only feel fear and desperation as her muscles seemed to wane on their own. She tilted her head back hoping to keep her face above the surface and she started to sputter as liquid seemed to fill her mouth. She tried to call for help, but no sound came out, she reached up with one arm desperately, one last time, as she felt the watery substance wash over her face filling her nose, mouth, and nostrils.

Suddenly she felt something, like a hand grasping her own. She clung to the arm hoping she would be pulled up. She felt it hauling her up, slowly at first but with each passing moment she was being pulled from her certain demise. The darkness was starting to become a dull grey then it started to escalate to a bright warm white, the cold seemed to vanish and there was a comforting feeling all around her.

Then everything was black once more, for a moment Kayte stayed there, without a recollection of time or date. Then with blurred vision she opened her eyes. Above her were the lights of her infirmary area, she was covered over in just a blanket. When she tried to move pain shot through her and she decided to stay still.

For a moment more she closed her eyes; then she heard it, the sounds of something, someone else in the room. She looked towards the noise and found the Trianii Jedi asleep in a chair next to her bedside, snoring. He looked drained and exhausted, but it seemed as though he was uninjured. His snoring suddenly tapered off into a slight wheezing as he began to open his eyes.

Kayte tried to speak, but her throat felt raw and she only coughed. Stal gently reached over and placed a hand on her forehead; his touch was warm and soothing and Kayte could not resist the urge to close her eyes and fall back into blissful unconsciousness. When Kayte awoke once more she was still on the infirmary bed, but this time Stal was there awake.

"You'll be up and about in a few hours; you've been out for a day. I left some food on the cart next to you. There are also some fresh clothes for you at the foot of the bed." Stal said as he stood up, he still looked a bit woozy, but he walked off to leave Kayte in privacy.

Kayte found she was able to get up, but with extreme pain and difficulty. She was naked with only the sheets to cover her. She finally was sitting up and she felt the twinge on her stomach, she looked down and saw a Bacta patch over where her own blaster shot had been deflected back at her. She carefully peeled part of the patch off to look under it. Kayte was expecting to see some kind of horrid blackened hole, but instead she saw a large scabbing, circular, wound.

Kayte flattened the Bacta patch back down and lay back on the bed with a grunt of pain. She felt as though she had been hit by a transport full of boulders, but how she was alive after a full powered blaster bolt still nagged her.

A few hours passed which seemed like an eternity, but finally after gathering up a bit more strength Kayte finally was able to get out of the bed, painfully; get dressed, and eat.

Two days had passed by and Now Kayte was able to walk around with a high level of discomfort. That and when she would settle in for the night Stal would come in and place a hand over the Bacta patch and murmur to himself about a master. However, when Kayte peeked under the Bacta patch that morning the scabbing was gone and in its place was a scar of noteworthy proportion. Stal explained to her that he had been channeling some kind of Jedi healing technique from one of the Jedi Masters, that's how he was able to speed her healing along, that was how he saved her life.

The explanation was brief though as Stal seemed to be rushing around, preparing for something, and when Kayte got to the cockpit she understood what it was.

"Korriban... a place where the Sith are buried. There are only a few Jedi that I know of that have set foot on that planet, but it usually strictly off limits." Stal said as Kayte eyed the planet in the viewport. "This is where I tracked the Sith's shuttle to, that is where I will face him..."

"Are you sure you should go down there? What if it's a trap?" Kayte asked.

"That's the thing, its most definetly a trap." Stal replied and got up after setting the auto navigation into an orbit around the planet.

"I will leave in two hours by my X-Wing, I want to you to leave as soon as I go; Areight will fly my fighter back and I will pilot the shuttle back to Frega if I succeed." Stal said with a not to confident tone. He then slowly began walking back to his compartment.

"I... I will go and take a shower." Kayte said trying to keep her cool,but she could already tell the air around them both was tense.

"I will meditate on this, I have to prepare myself for the battle to come." Stal said with a pause and looked back over his shoulder at Kayte. She saw an nearly unmistakable sign, Stals face was a mask of determination, but she could see that he was also preparing himself in case he did not survive, he was trying to sever all emotional ties so he could transcend after his death. He then looked away and walked down the hall, his door closing behind him.

Kayte went to the sonic shower and dropped her clothes, she activated the cleaning device and let the subtle vibrations cleanse the feel of three day old grime from her. She stood there for a while with her eyes closed and then she looked down at her abdomen, now adorn with the blaster scar. Its jagged uneven starburst pattern and the slightly pitted flesh in the center of it made her wince with remembrance of the pain.

Kayte reached down and carefully brushed her fingertips over the scar feeling how the darker area has smoothed into a sort of lump. Kayte closed her eyes again and leaned her forehead against the wall of the shower, her hand brushed over the scar again. Kayte reached out and deactivated the sonic shower grabbing a towel to wrap around her.

Stal was in his room sitting on the bed meditation, he knew Areight was out getting things ready for his journey to the surface of Korriban. He was deep in his trance but he felt a presence approaching; he opened his eyes as his door slid open and Kayte walked in with only a towel around her, Stal was startled a bit at this scene and his tail twitched slightly. Kayte just idly reached behind her and pressed a button on the panel near the door and it slid close and locked as she let the towel drop from her body.

Stal looked over Kayte's tanned skin, her body was athletic; not like he hadn't noticed before when attending to her. Now she stood there, perfectly nude with her arms wrapped around her own waist in a sort of gesture of shyness and at the same time covering up her scar on her mid-section. Stal had always been celibate, but it was not a personal philosophy. Truly he had never been presented with the opportunity to have sex.

Stal stood up, in this moment; it didn't matter what species they were. They were simply a man and woman. Stal reached out with the Force and allowed himself to connect to the strands of Katye's life-force and in return he let his senses and feelings flow through her. Kayte blushed lightly as she felt Stal's arousal rising as he began to discards his clothes slowly.

When Stal was down to only his trousers he stopped and walked up to the female Zabrak and looked into her eyes. His gaze told her that she didn't have force herself to do this if she didn't want to, but her gaze in return was one of certainty; she wanted this, she needed this. Kayte pressed up to the male Trianii and kissed him a bit awkwardly due to him cat like features. Yet she found his lips warm and willing as he returned her kiss.

Kayte now felt like she was in a warm stream of pleasure, she felt as though Stal was connecting to her in some way other than physically. She let the connection deepen; so this is what it felt like to feel the Force flowing through your body. Soon stal was fully naked and both he and Kayte made their way to his bed. Kayte slowly lay back as Stal climbed over her and kissed her tenderly. Kayte giggled slightly as his whispers tickled her skin.

Stal's fur was a little coarse, but it was still soft and warm, his naked body against hers was like a heated blanket. Kayte wrapped her arms around him her hands running along his back as she felt his powerful muscles ripple under his fur; she had no idea that Jedi were in such good shape. His tongue licked up along her neck and Kayte giggled again as she felt the top of his tongue was like wet, but soft, sand paper, but the bottom of it was smooth and warm.

Kayte then gasped as she felt him licking down, his tongue trailing over her right breasts and over her nipple gently. Kayte trembled and moaned gently as she felt Stal slowly trail his right hand down and his soft furred hand stroked along her inner thigh. Kayte spread her legs slightly allowing him access to her body. It was almost as if he were reading her mind, her thoughts, her desires.

Soon Kayte felt Stal's tongue moving down past her navel and onward to her quivering mound of desire. Her desire was almost tangible in the air as she anticipated what his tongue would feel like when he licked into her. Stal used the bottom of his tongue and traced around the tip of Kayte's clitoris letting her feel the texture of his tongue alternate as he teased her. Rough, soft, rough, soft, over and over it sent shivers through her body.

Finally Stal broke the threshold and his tongue dipped into her gently and he pressed the tip of tongue up into her and held it there flexing it around letting the semi-rough texture stimulate her to new heights of sensation. Katye let out a loud shout of pleasure that caused Stal to flatten his ears back, as she grasped the sheets as her hips arched in eagerness for more of Stal's assaulting tongue.

Stal licked deeply and he reveled in the feel of Kayte's body trembling in pleasure; he now wrapped his arms around her legs to keep her from wriggling away as he now diligently pleasured her his tongue licking as deep as it would go; rewarding him with more cries of pleasure from his lover. Kayte gasped as she felt herself on the brink of an orgasm and she panted hotly as she resolved to let her rising release take her.

Stal continued towards his goal; he felt her starting to tense up and he now strived harder to complete her fulfillment. He licked in hard and deep and he felt Kayte fully tense as she gave a shout before Stal felt hot liquids cover his tongue. Slowly he withdrew his tongue from her and moved up now looking into her eyes. Kayte's eyelids fluttered softly and she sighed gently as she looked back into Stal's eyes with hers half opened letting out another deep sigh of satisfaction.

Kayte only had a moments reprieve though as she felt Stal now rubbing the tip of his penis slowly up and down her over-stimulated slit. She gasped and her eyes rolled close as she felt him teasing her gently. He placed its length up to her clit and softly he moved his hips letting her feel it slide along her sensitive fleshy lips.

Kayte whimpered softly as she felt Stal starting to rub and press more eagerly to her wetness; but a soothing touch from him assured her that he had no intentions of being rough. Kayte relaxed a little and let him keep thrusting his length against her slit. Somehow she knew that he wasn't going to just suddenly enter her with merciless abandon. Kayte almost expected him to when he suddenly pulled away; Kayte opened her eyes and was met by a tender kiss.

She felt Stal, now rubbing the tip of his sex organ up to her slit and she knew that it was time. He pressed to her slit gently and let her feel him slowly starting to enter her. Kayte now realized that it had been forever since the last time she had sex, her previous lover had been just a manipulator, he had wanted to sex her just so he could use her like a number; a conquest, so to repay him for the humiliation she had stunned him with a blaster and left the planet.

But this time it was different, this man, this Jedi; she knew he was an honest person and probably the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Kayte softly gasped as she felt him sliding into her, the length of his shaft was not the like the size of any prominent erotic actor, but it was sufficient enough to fill her in a way that was pleasurable. Soon Stal's hips met Kayte's and she felt him fully in her. Stal gasped as he felt the woman below contract her canal of lust around his shaft of pleasure.

Kayte moaned and she clung to Stal now as he held himself in her and moved his hips in a circular motion stirring himself in her as she gasped from the sensation. Kayte rolled her hips up to his and it was the Trianii's turn to gasp as he felt her reciprocating the pleasure. Stal slowly pulled back until he was about halfway withdrawn from her and he sank himself slowly to the hilt in her once more. Kayte moaned and squeezed around him as she felt him give his first slow thrust, then another, and another, not just mindlessly pounding away, but a slow and steady pace that was pleasurable to both of them.

Stal felt Kayte writhing under him in the heat of passion and he kissed her affectionately as he rolled his hips to hers. Kayte had never experienced such passionate feelings before; she never thought she could after what she had gone through. Indeed the galaxy was a cruel place, but she now felt like there was some spark of hope that the Jedi brought to it. She let herself feel the warmth of Stal's body seeming to encompass her like an aura of ecstasy as he slowly pistoned in and out of her.

Stal never knew that sex could feel so good, he let the feeling of it overtake him as he let the Force flow through him and Kayte. Stal was pretty sure that Kayte could feel the pure power of the Force flowing through them as their bodies and spirits seemed to become one; both of them rutting lightly to each other over and over in ever increasing urge towards to goal of simultaneous orgasm.

Kayte was a bit startled when she felt Stal's tail wrapping around her left leg, but she was pretty sure that it was a sign of his impending climax; Kayte herself having recently been stimulated felt that sensation rising in her again as now they seemed to get only slightly rougher in their love-making. Stal could feel Kayte's urges, she wanted him to go faster, harder, deeper; and he obliged now, pushing his stamina to the limit as he now thrusted into her with the feeling of his impending climax bringing him to the brink.

Kayte was at the edge of her own orgasm and she clung to Stal moving her body, her erect nipples rubbing to the Jedi's muscled chest. She felt him about to also Cum and she finally voiced her desires between moans and cries of passion.

"Yes! P-please! Cum in mmeeeeee!" Kayte wailed.

"Kayte! I'm cumming!" Stal was able to grunt before he thrusted into her deep and held himself there as Kayte clung to him tightly. To both of them it was a like a supernova of pure bliss just went off, they both held each other as Kayte let out a long loud cry of lust as she felt Stal's hot semen geyser from the tip of his penis. His hot juices instantly splattered and coated her cervical wall and flooded her womb with his hot seed. Stal grunted as his cock let out at least four more spurt, making Kayte tense each time she felt it splash into her, before he was finally spent.

Their fluids mixed as Kayte realized she had also climaxed as well and in a moment they both were panting in the aftermath of the moment. Letting exhaustion take them in a pure embrace of pleasure, letting themselves drown in a sea of ecstasy, right now in this one moment, all they needed was each other.

Xero kneeled and basked in his success as Darth Krayt complimented him on his success, but was stunned when Krayt suddenly walked up and kicked him in the face. Xero rolled backwards and let his hand rest on the hilt of his saber.

"You fool! You lead the Jedi right to us! We are not yet ready to deal with an entire army of Jedi, especially not ones lead by Vader's son!" Krayt said as he towered over Xero, eyes glaring with anger.

"He is only one my Lord..." Xero began moving his hand away from his lightsaber.

"Which can bring more! You will have to deal with this. You will land your craft near the cavern of trials on the far side of the planet, you will wait for the Jedi there until you kill him, or he kills you." Krayt growled, he then motioned and another Sith initiate walked forth with a near perfect replica of the holocron that Xero delivered.

"The Jedi know not to dabble in our teachings, they will not open this, but it will pass for the one you took. Lure the Jedi in, kill him and make sure he has not alerted the other Jedi and then return to me when the task is done." Krayt turned from Xero with an air of contempt. "Now go..."

Xero bowed and then with the holocron in hand he backed up and then turned walking away without another word. Once he was out of the chamber Darth Brannux and his apprentice Kyllistin approached from the side.

"My lord do you really expect him to return?" Brannux asked in a low tone.

"Not at all, the Jedi has undoubtedly already alerted the others; even if Darth Xero slays the Jedi, more will come. He's already dead..." Krayt said and then turned walking away.

Stal and Kayte stared affectionately into each other's eyes as they lay side by side in bed. Kayte only slightly smiled as her naked body pressed to Stal's in the afterglow of their love-making. Kayte could feel Stal's somewhat coarse fur tickling her skin, but also keeping her warm as well.

"You know, as enjoyable as that was, nothing can really become of this." Kayte said hesitantly which made Stal looked down and sigh softly, but he nodded slightly. "You won't be telling any strange kid that your their father, or anything of that sort."

"I understand, but why did you want this? Was it because I saved your life? Or was there some kind of deeper meaning?" Stal asked pushing to get an explanation from her, but leering very close to a danger zone of emotions.

"A little of both." Kayte said after a bit of a pause.

"Search your feelings, you will find the truth will be clearer." Stal said.

"Are you trying to use that damn mind trick on me?" Kayte said with a slight flash of anger.

"No tricks, just answers." Stal said his hand reaching up and caressing her cheek tenderly.

"I... I'd rather not say... we'll just both be hurt by it." Kayte replied before she turned overin the bed facing her back to him. Stal was almost tempted to try and coax her to face him so he could kiss her, but he didn't, he knew that she must be confused over what they had done. Instead Stal slipped out of bed and began to get dressed. Kayte didn't say a word as he donned his clothing and gear and walked out the door towards the hanger. Only after he left did Kayte look remorsefully over her shoulder at the door.

Stal was even more distracted now, but he calmed himself, forcing his mind to maintain focus; He entered the hanger and with a Force assisted leap he cleared the edge of the cockpit without the aid of a ladder. He sat there while Areight made the final preparations for launch. Areight blipped and bleeped a question. The little droid's sensors and found Stal having an elevated heart-rate and increased body temperature.

"No Areight, nothing is wrong, I'm fine." Stal said as the cockpit closed and sealed.

Kayte watched the viewing monitors as Stal got into his X-Wing fighter and closed the canopy; Kayte was almost tempted to com him and tell him goodbye, but she could not bring herself to do it. She watched as the X-Wing lifted off the ground after the hanger decompressed and opened up and it took off into the emptiness of space. It swung around once past the viewport and then it banked lazily before it headed down towards the planet below.

"Please... Stal... come back..." Kayte whispered softly as she lowered her face into her palms and cried softly to herself.

Chapter 5

Present time, 43 ABY:

"So you have come Jedi..." Came Darth Xero's voice echoing off the walls. The vast room was only slightly illuminated by glowing spheres that were mounted on the walls, its cavernous design was easily one hundred and twenty square meters with about a dozen pillars of stone holding the vaulted ceiling up. Stal stopped and swiveled his ears listening for anything that would give away the Sith's position. He didn't have to look far as the robed form of Darth Xero stepped out from the shadows in front of him.

"Why do you seek the holocron that you stole?" Stal asked with his hand holding his lit saber as the two of them started to shift their weight in preparation for the fight to come.

"Why, knowledge of course." Xero said idly as he casually pulled his own saber off his belt.

"Sith knowledge is dangerous and I can't just let you walk away with it." Stal said slowly now grasping his saber with both hands.

"Well if you can take it from me you can have it back. You see..." Xero pause almost thoughtfully, but in a dramatic way. "I intend to be the ultimate Sith, one who will single handedly crush the Jedi."

"You have a long ways to go." Stal said as he watched Xero starting to circle him like a shark circling its prey.

"It's a work in progress, you'll be the first to die." Xero emphasized the last word by igniting his saber and flourishing it.

"Your work stops here." Stal said taking up a defensive stance letting the light from his saber reflect in his eyes, the aqua colored blade casting dancing illumination on the walls.

They faced off without a word as they first seemed to probe at each other with the Force, seeking weakness or a gap in each other's defenses. Each passing moment the tension grew till it was almost a palpable mist surrounding them both. The universe seemed to shift into a pinpoint of focus for both of them, there was nothing except the two of them, standing ready to fight, ready to kill.

Darth Xero gave a sudden roar as he launched into a leaping attack and Stal leapt in response as their saber blades met in mid-air and they somersaulted in unison landing as they began viciously attacking and counter attacking in streaks of red and aqua blue light. Stal lashed out with strikes of medium speed and strength while Xero forced Stal to defend himself from wide and heavy attacks. Each time Xero attack he left himself wide open only to surprise Stal with an unnatural speed in defense of the Jedi's counter attacks.

They both struck at the same time and their saber blades collided in sparks, locking together as they pushed against each other for supremacy. Xero suddenly kicked Stal in the stomach causing the Trianii to tumble and roll backwards to avoid being struck by Xero's saber. Stal tumbled skillfully away and sprang to his feet with some back flips added in to evade any other strikes and ended up on his feet facing Xero who was now a few meters away.

"You are delaying the inevitable Jedi, you can't evade my saber forever." Xero said flourishing his blade again. "Come on you can do better than this."

"You bet I will..." Stal said and reached behind him as he flipped his saber over in a reverse grip. From the small of his back he pulled his friends's lightsaber, also holding it in a reverse grip and he ignited it. Xero watched as Stal put the pommels of both sabers together and twisted. The two sabers locked together forming a staff saber of green on one end and aqua blue on the other. Stal twirled his now merged staff saber over and around him before he settled on his stance holding the center of the hilt out in front of him while his other hand balled into a fist and rested at his hip.

"Impressive Jedi, but futile!" Xero said and leapt into a second assault. Stal was a whole different fighter with his staff saber, it was hard for Xero to counter some of Stal's constant whirling of the double bladed weapon. Xero had to retreat back to avoid getting sliced to ribbons as Stal elegantly spun the staff saber with grace and precision. Stal drove Xero backwards with twirling strikes and sweeping slices.

Xero growled and frustration and this time aimed to sever the staff saber in the center. Stal was aware of Xero's attack and instead of trying to evade he just twisted in opposite directions and the saber's hilt came apart before Xero's blade could touch it. Stal whirled both sabers around deflecting another attack from Xero and in the blink of an eye Stal placed the pommels back together and twisted making his staff saber whole once more and twirled it defensively as Xero hissed in frustration.

Xero was running out of options and so he decided he would resort to dirty tricks, Xero leapt backwards and then lunged forward throwing a stream of force lightning from his left hand. Stal caught the lightning on one end of the staff saber rendering it harmless. Xero struck out again at the center of the Staff saber's hilt seeking to sever it. Stal once more just twisted and they came apart, but this time Xero was ready.

Stal was buffeted back by a Force push from Xero and Jaze's lightsaber flew from his left hand and Stal tumbled backwards holding his own saber in a current reverse grip style and rolled to his feet. Jaze's saber had instantly deactivated when it tumbled away from Stal and now Xero switched his stance.

"Die Jedi!" Xero roared and with Force enhanced speed dashed at Stal. The Trianii Jedi barely had time to react as he also boosted his own reflexes with the force to block his foes super swift saber strikes, but each strike was overwhelming and strong and Stal began to falter in his defense. Xero made a wide and hard swing and Stal could not back up in time, Stal's lightsaber was torn from his grip and deactivated as it tumbled away. Stal was startled even more by the swift hard kick to his stomach and he tumbled over the back of his head slamming into a pillar.

Stal could only see stars, but he felt Xero approaching for the kill; the Sith held his lightsaber up high over his head.

"And so it ends!" Xero said and chopped downwards as Stal feebly raised an arm to shield his head.

Kayte sat that the viewport for an untold amount of time when she realized she had cried herself to sleep. She rubbed her eyes and stood up shakily as she walked over to her own quarters and lay on the bed. She felt as though that yawning darkness that had tried to take her before was coming once more to consume her. The only difference this time was she was not dying of physical injury, but she was dying in her heart.

"Stal..." Kayte whimpered softly "Please be alright..."

Xero knew it was over as his saber came down upon the Jedi's arm, in a split second Xero would see his foe dead on the ground, and he would bask in the glory of his victory. Then suddenly the room went dim and Xero was confused. Xero was now holding a deactivated lightsaber hilt in his hands and the Jedi was still in one piece.

Part of the Jedi's cut sleeve shifted down and Xero saw a dull gray gauntlet that was strapped to Stal's arm.

"Cortosis... it shorts out a lightsaber." Stal said and suddenly Xero felt Stal kick him in the chin as the Jedi kipped up to his feet. Xero stumbled back and suddenly found Stal's fist connecting with his cheek in a vicious hook. Xero tried to turn his lightsaber back on but it would not activate, so instead he used it like a thug would use a roll of dimes as a knuckle duster and hit Stal in the face.

Stal spun around from the impact, but used its momentum to bring up his tail and slap Xero in the face before his boot connected with the Sith Lord's stomach. Stal then noticed something gleaming in the distance of the room and held out his hand. Xero rushed at Stal and pressed the button on his saber hilt. The red blade lit up and Xero roared again as he sought to cleave his target in half from head to crotch.

Stal lunged inside making Xero's attack futile as there was the sound of a metal object being caught in mid-flight. A suddenly snap-hiss and Xero balked as he suddenly realized there was an aqua blue glow between him and the Jedi. Xero looked down as saw the Jedi's blade going right through the center of his heart. The blade continued on out the Sith's back only confirming the fatality of the wound.

Stal spun around pulling the blade cleanly from Xero and flourished the blade as he looked into the dying Sith's eyes. Xero stumbled but did not fall and took a step towards Stal, Xero already knew that he was dead, but he wanted to still spite the Jedi even when the grim reaper was taking him to the great beyond.

Stal watched as his opponent took another step before collapsing to his knees, then the Sith fell to the floor and let out once last long breath before expiring. Stal deactivated his saber and after a brief search located the holocron in a side pouch that the Sith had been keeping it in. Stal then let out a slight sigh and after locating Jaze's saber walked out of the ruined temple to get back to his ship and return the shuttle.

Darth Brannux watched as the Jedi departed, but did nothing to stop him, instead he looked over to his apprentice, Kyllistin. The stange alien had a horse-like face, with a white mane, off-set by a deep blue colored fur. A single horn came from the center of Kyllistin's forehead, and despite the fact that the creature had breasts, it was quite confirmed that the creature was indeed both male and female.

"Darth Xero has fallen Master." Kyllisten said gently stroking hir own chin in thoughtfulness.

"We will bring the body back to Darth Krayt to make an example of faliiure." Brannux said.

When both of them were sure that the Jedi had fully departed they made their way down to the corpse of Darth Xero. They were about to pick up and carry the dead Sith when Darth Krayt's voice came from behind them.

"Leave him here, he shall rot in this ancient tomb." Darth Krayt said as Darth Brannux and Kyllistin tuned and bowed to him.

"Return to the chambers; we have planning to do, like finding out who I will make next a true Sith Lord." Darth Krayt said and turned around feeling the hate and anger starting to rise up behind him.

"Why not decide now?" Kyllistin said and suddenly turned to Darth Brannux and with hir right hand let loose a bolt of force lightning. Darth Krayt looked over his shoulder in amusement as Brannux raised his own hands and let forth his own force lightning to counter his apprentice. The Twi'lek grunted as Kyllistin raised hir left hand and let more lightning course forth, redoubling hir efforts. Darth Krayt now fully turned to watch this match between Master and student.

"How dare you go against your Master, you gender abomination!" Brannux said as he now tried to press Kyllistin backwards with the brunt of his force lightning. "You should have stayed on your backwater, slimy, mud-hole, planet, and become a mold farmer you pathetic little snot!"

"A farmer you say?..." Kyllistin said with a gleam in hir eyes. Suddenly Kyllistin lowered hir head and from the horn on the center of hir forehead another arc of lightning burst forth. Brannux was so surprised that he could not react to counter it. In truth there was no way to counter it as lighting struck Brannux' head and coursed through his body. That shock was just enough to break Brannux from his concentration and suddenly the Twi'lek was struck with the full force of Kyllistin's lightning attack.

"I'm a lighting farmer nerf herder!" Kyllistin said and with a bellow determination Kyllistin focused all hir rage, anger, hate, malice, and pure brutal passion as hir force lightning coursed through Brannux' heart, lungs, and brain. Each second slicing away pieces of Brannux' life force as Kyllistin unleashed hir full power upon hir former Master.

Brannux only managed one final scream as his eyes seemed to bulge and burst from his head and he was thrown backwards into the darkness; fingers of lightning still coursing over Brannux' already dead and smoking body. Kyllistin grinned as hir force lightning died down and the presence of Darth Krayt coming up behind hir caused hir to turn slowly in caution.

"Well done..." Darth Krayt said in admiration.

"Thank you Lord Krayt." Kyllistin said bowing.

"Hence forth you will be known as the dark sapphire, welcome to the Sith order, Darth Safira." Darth Krayt said and turned walking away.

"Thank you, my Master..." Darth Safira said darkly.

Kayte opened her eyes at the sound of distant machinery, she got up and drew her blaster as she walked towards the hanger. When she got to the main hanger entrance she looked into the observation monitor and saw Stal's X-wing, piloted only by Areight, cockpit empty. Kayte's heart sank in her chest and not it felt like she had been shot in the chest more than in the stomach. Suddenly her com-link beeped.

"Hello?..." Kayte said nervously as she thumbed the on button.

"Are we going to deliver this thing back to Frega or what?" came Stal's voice and Kayte's heart leapt with joy.

"Stal, are you alright?" Kayte asked.

"Perfectly fine, the Sith is dead. Let go take this crate back to the Hutt and well go from there, I also recovered the Holocron." Stal answered.

"Yes, lets go." Kayte said trying hard not to show too much happiness in her voice, and she ran to the pilot's compartment to see the shuttle zoom by the front viewport and circle around to align parallel with her ship.

"I'm setting my vector, feed my navi-computer the coordinates." Stal radioed.

"I'm sending it now." Kayte said and then paused for a moment before she spoke again. "You know Stal; I've never been to the new Jedi temple. Think that once we have all of these accounts settled that I could be invited for a visit?"

"It would be my pleasure to show you around."Stal said.

"The pleasure would surely be all mine." Kayte replied and smiled to herself as both the Lucid Star and the stolen shuttle coasted into their flight paths and then with a whine of engines they simultaneously shot off towards Junction in the beautiful kaleidoscope of hyperspace.

~Fin~