Fulcrum handed Galen off to a low-level officer to get him settled into his new room, so she could go back to her quarters and process what she just agreed to. She sat down on her bed, pulled her boots off, and buried her head in her hands. She hadn't dealt with children much, not since the handful of times she babysat Caleb for Master Billaba, or when she took that group of padawans to Illum, and they ended up rescuing her. She didn't know anything about training students, much less watching over them.

She had never felt so overwhelmed.

The next day, at five in the morning, Imperial Center time, she went to visit Vader in his quarters, knowing he would be awake. She had long since given up nagging him to sleep. Vader was at his desk, soldering something in his left hand. He was still putting his gloves back on when she came in, giving her a rare glimpse at his skeletal prosthetics. He asked, his mechanical bass sounding tired, "What is it?"

"It's about Galen," She paused, considering her next words, "I don't know what to do with him."

"You are supposed to train him."

Fulcrum very nearly rolled her eyes, "I know that, I just don't know how."

Fulcrum waited for him to understand what she meant. She didn't ask as a Lord of the Sith, but as a student, who needed her old master's help. He began, as gently as the vocoder would allow, "He must learn not only the ways of the Sith, but how to conduct himself as well. I cannot tell you how to teach him, that you must determine on your own. I only knew how to teach you."

She nodded her head, "Were you this confused when you first started training me?"

It was a bold question, Vader almost never even acknowledged the Clone Wars, but he responded, "I believe all masters are, although Obi-Wan would never admit it."

The dark side in the room flared at the mention of her grandmaster, Vader held a deep hate of Obi-Wan, that she knew. He had let slip once that Obi-Wan was there, on Mustafar. Fulcrum didn't know all the details of what had happened, but he had at the very least, failed to protect him, not to mention the rest of his failures.

"Obi-Wan would never admit to anything, he was far too perfect, obviously."

His vocoder made his version of a laugh, a choppy static sound. "Remember, you are more than his master."

He left the second part unsaid, it, as an old Jedi saying, went against the teachings of the Sith, but even they were not infallible. She mentally completed it as she went to wake Galen, "I am his protector."

When she arrived, he was already awake, sitting on the bed, resting his head on his hands. When he noticed her, he snapped to his feet, face full of fear. She waved dismissively to him, "You may sit."

He eased himself back onto the bed, gaze never once leaving her. She moved beside him, hands clasped behind her back.

"I take it you would like to know why you are here, yes?"

He nodded slightly

"I am Lord Fulcrum, head of the Inquisitorious and a Lord of the Sith, and I am in need of an apprentice. You are strong in the Force, and in time, you will

"My dad told me the Sith were bad."

"Your father was a Jedi, yes?"

"Mm-hm."

"The Jedi were wrong about a great deal of things, you will come to learn this."

Galen didn't respond. She told him, "Come with me, I will show you the training room."

She took the long way to the training room, letting him stare at the troopers and officers going about their duties. He took particular interest in one of the two-legged binary droids, which she let him stop and investigate it.

If he was impressed by binary droids and regular ship function, he would be in awe of the training room. He stared at the props lining the walls, a mix of worry and amazement radiating from him in the Force. She stood in the center of the mat to spin her lightsabers, slightly dimmer because of training mode, which based on the glowing look on his young face, he loved it. She waved him closer as the door shut, and asked, "Have you ever held a lightsaber before?"

He nodded slowly. She handed her shoto blade to him and he stared at it, entranced by the glow.

"One day, soon enough, you will have your own."

Fulcrum stepped back to let him twirl it, carefully watching his form. It was sloppy, but had the basis of training behind it. Someone had taught him the basics. She held her hand out, asking for the saber back. He handed it over, and she went through an advanced kata at full speed.

Awed, Galen asked, "Will I learn to do that?"

"Soon enough, my young apprentice."

Over the next few months, Galen proved himself to be a fast learner, and impressively strong in the Force. He took to form five almost instinctively, and was eager to learn the reverse grip. The boy always wanted to duel, and although Fulcrum would have been happy to stay on the Executor and train him all the time, she still had Imperial duties.

To keep Galen entertained and out of trouble while she was away, she commissioned a droid for him, and had it programed with both lightsaber combat and fanatical loyalty to him. After Vader tested it, by tearing apart both the code and the hardware until he was certain of it's quality, as he did to almost every droid he could, she gave it to Galen. He befriended the droid within the day, and within the week, he dubbed it Proxy.

Soon enough, and faster than expected, Galen had advanced to the point where he was ready to accompany her on missions, and learn in real scenarios, save for one issue. He still didn't have his own lightsaber.

Illum had fallen under the control of the Empire with the destruction of the Jedi Order, and recently they had begin mining the kyber for project Stardust. Officially, no one outside of the mining crews could visit, but, Imperial law effectively did not apply to the Sith.

Some Sith, particularly those of old, used synthetic crystals in their lightsabers. Fulcrum knew of them, largely thanks to Dooku's old lightsabers, and they had their advantages, but she would always be partial to the process of bleeding kyber. It created a connection with the crystal that couldn't be replicated in a forge, a connection she wanted Galen to have.

She took her apprentice and Proxy, Proxy only because Galen insisted, to Illum. She expected things to be different, the cave she visited with the younglings so long ago had to be long gone, but what she saw was beyond what she could ever anticipate.

There was mining activity everywhere, so much more than the small amounts at the poles she expected. Near the equator of the planet was a massive trench being strip-mined to the core. The formerly pristine snow was black in some areas from soot, and the air that once burned her lungs from the cold now burned with pollution. She was a few seconds away from getting back on that ship and asking Sidious about making synthetic crystals, but Galen stopped her. He said, "Master, how do I know what I'm sensing?"

The question caught her off guard, but she responded, "Open your mind, the Force will tell you."

He nodded and closed his eyes to focus, after a moment, he pointed to a seemingly random area, near a mining road, "It's telling me to go over there."

"Then that is where we will go."

They walked together to the spot, Galen leading but not rushing ahead. The boy had learned respect even faster than he learned the Force. He stopped without warning, causing Fulcrum to nearly run into him, and bent down to grab something. He held it out to her, and she couldn't hide her surge of pride. It was two perfect shards of kyber, completely free of cracks and the ideal size for a lightsaber. She took one to investigate further. While holding it to the sunlight, she asked, "Is this what called to you?"

"I think so."

"These are perfect to construct a lightsaber with, or in your case, two."

Galen nearly skipped with excitement on his way back to the ship. With Proxy flying, she sat him down to explain creating a lightsaber. Fulcrum had to think back to not only her first days as a Sith, but also her time as a padawan, and tried to explain how in the simplest possible terms. She finished by giving him the extra components and saying, "I cannot do any of this for you, the lightsaber must be your own construction. However, I have faith in your skill."

Fulcrum went to sit with Proxy in the cockpit to let him focus, and when they neared the Executor, she ordered him to circle to stall for time. She was in the middle of discussing Proxy's next upload when she sensed something through the Force. She checked around the door to check on Galen's progress, and watched as he floated together the components, including a bright red crystal. Keeping her Force presence quiet, she leaned against the doorway, feeling even prouder of her student. Vader's faith had not been misled, the boy would make a perfect successor.

—Bonus scene—

A few weeks later, after a long and particularly hard training session, Fulcrum received an unexpected comm, on a channel only one person had access to. She spared a glance to Galen, insuring he was still asleep in the corner, and dropped into a respectful kneel before answering. Sidious commanded, "Lord Fulcrum, you will return to the Imperial Center immediately, I have use of you and Lord Vader."

Keeping her head low, she asked, "Should I inform Lord Vader, my master?"

"Yes, you shall."

"It will be done, my master."

Sidious ended the comm, and she let out a deep sigh. Being called to Coruscant unexpectedly was never good. She picked up Galen, as she often did after training, to go tell Vader. This was as good a time as any to tell Sidious about the newest Sith