Korriban

0-o-I-o-0

A month after the battle for Hapes

Alema Rar stood atop a time-worn sculpture to some Sith hero of ancient past, her body impervious to the sandstorm whipping about thanks to the several layers of clothing she had on. Not the most comfortable in the cold heat of the planet, but bright blue skin on a planet of dull reds and browns really stood out. And right now the last thing she wanted to do was stand out.

It was a dangerous game she was playing. One her fellow player Vergere had evidently lost at if the currents in the Force were anything to go by. That was definitely saying something. She knew that the Fosh Force-sensitive had been at it for many decades, had pledge allegiances to so many sides that eventually those pledges would catch up to her. The means were justified by the ends, or so Alema liked to think.

Why else would she have integrated herself with a secret Sith cult for the past decade and do things so unspeakable she couldn't look herself in the mirror anymore? Why else would she voluntarily hang out with a boss that liked to flash her with lightning every now and then, help him plot to take over the galaxy? A galaxy currently being propped up by everyone she had once considered friends.

What was a friend to her now but a crutch, a weakness. Something she couldn't afford to have with all the firaxan circling around her. She had no friends, had no family. Just as she understood Vergere to be loyal only to herself, Alema held a similar view. What she did was for herself, for her own happiness…

And the happiness of the people she cared for.

"She make it back to Corellia okay?" Alema spoke to the figure in the holo-comm unit in her hand.

"What's left of her."

"She's still alive, I can feel it."

"We both know there's a difference between being alive and actually living, Rar. I understand the reasons for what you did, but I can't forgive you in the slightest."

"If that investigative, crafty husband of yours even gets a hint…"

"I know what's at stake here," Mirax Terrik Horn said coolly. No warmth in her voice. "It's the only reason I haven't told them anything no matter how badly they're hurting. And Valin, is he doing okay…"

"What's left of him," Alema said in turn, swallowing heavily as she did. She looked off into the distant sunset, the oranges and reds lighting up the sandstorm swirling around her. "You know the difference between being alive and living."

"Jysella…She's no longer the person we know, knew…"

"Gone dark?" Alema said with a faint laugh. She didn't even want to reach out to try and check on the girl she saw as a little sister. After all, it'd be just her luck that she had ruined another life. That seemed to be the pattern with anyone who got to know her. Maybe, she mused, that's why she jumped in bed with the Sith. Hoping that the same cruel twist of fate that hurt everyone she cared for would also hurt the Sith.

"Not…not all the way. At least not according to Corran. She's just grieving. We're going to join Anakin's little force out in the Unknown Regions. Apparently there are more bugs on the way."

"Anakin's in charge, you guys will make it out. But if you think this war is something…" Alema shook her head, her wry smirk hidden behind the wrap covering the lower half of her face. She let out an almost insane choked sob. "The galaxy's going to burn so badly and there's absolutely nothing I can do to stop it. I set in motion a whole bunch of things that have just tumbled out of control. We take any action and they disappear. We don't do anything and we get steamrolled. We lose either way."

"At least you're still grouping yourself with the clueless 'us' over here. Still won't tell me where you've taken my only son or why you two have to cut yourself off from the people that care about you?"

"Still won't." Alema confirm. "Look, I have to go. Thanks for the latest update. I'll pass it on to Val."

"Tell him…well…will anything I say help him at the moment?"

Alema shook her head soundlessly.

"I thought as much. Please, Alema. I feel like such a horrible mother, sacrificing the sanity of my daughter for that of my son. But I know what Valin had turned into, I stare at it every day now when I see Jysella. Make it worth it."

"I can only promise to try my best," Alema said hoarsely, glad that her goggles kept any tears from showing. "Hey, tell Sella that she shouldn't forget to dance every now and then, no matter how bad things might get."

"I'll pass the word along. Good luck and may the Force be with you."

The holo flickered off, and Alema slipped it into the folds of her clothing. She sensed someone else approaching and lithely jumped off the towering remains of the statue to the dusty ground.

"Looking for me, Morto?" Alema asked the large Togorian dark Jedi.

"Out for a walk, Night Herald?" The furry dark Jedi growled. "Here to bid the sun farewell and greet the evening?"

"Claustrophobic," Alema said airily. "Grew up as a slave crammed in cages, can't stand enclosed spaces and those tombs you guys like to camp out in definitely qualify. You need something?"

"Our Master demands your presence."

"Oh, so did the boy I bring pass?" Alema walked in time with the larger creature, stepping out of the dying sunlight and into the shadows cast by the giant cliff walls around them.

"You know he did."

"Don't have to sound so disappointed. I brought him here to strengthen the glory that is the One Sith."

"Sarcasm does not become you."

"I thought it was very becoming of me," Alema pulled off her head wraps and shook her lekku free. "That disappointed that you won't see Lord Krayt shock me into unconsciousness again?"

"Very," Morto replied tersely. "Your failures have been numerous of late and I was hoping that the boy would be your last."

"Hate you too, Mort," Alema shortened his name, reducing the big, bad furry dark Jedi into a Gamorean parasite. She took a small amount of pleasure in the spike of annoyance and anger she caused.

They fell silent for the rest of the trip through the tomb, the narrow passageways illuminated by torches along the wall. Alema kept her gaze straight forward, the flickering lights playing with the numerous dark geometric tattoos that now covered her arms, face and lekku. Passing from one threshold to another, her eyes shifted from green to yellow, her smile taking on a more manic overtone as she stepped into the main chamber of the tomb.

Awaiting her was the ruling council of the One Sith, including its leader Darth Krayt. Valin was in the middle of the room, on bended knee before the humanoid Sith lord, looking none-the-worse for wear in the dark miasma of the tomb. Surrounding him were several bodies, all unfortunate slaves or explorers who had been abducted by the One Sith's hunting teams.

"My Night Herald," Krayt chuckled raspily. "You never cease to amuse me."

"I live to serve," Alema performed a mocking, sweeping bow. She then gestured to the bodies surrounding Valin. "I take it you approve of the boy?"

"He is very much like you," Krayt inclined his head. "Bitter with the Force. He has anger, hate, despair. When he faced the apparition of his sister in the tomb of Ragnos, he slew her unflinchingly. Same when told to rid the galaxy of the filth you see around him."

"That's my boy," Alema said cheerily. "So, can I keep him?"

"He will kill you one day, you are aware of that?" Sith Lady Brood commented mildly. "His hate for you burns in his very core."

"Oh, I have no doubt about that," Alema smiled toothily. "Part of his hate comes from the pain I've inflicted on his family by taking him away. But that just makes it all the more fun, doesn't it? Helping him grow, waiting for the day he has the right stuff to take me down? Isn't that the dream of every parent and proud Sith Lord or Lady, having their young grow big and strong and surpass them?"

"As insane as ever," snorted Lord Namman Cha. "You should join Lord Ternaax's group."

"He's a bit old for me," Alema said dismissively. "I don't want to hang out with a bunch of senile senior citizens. Lord Krayt, I assume there's more. You never summon me for the good news."

"You are right, of course," Krayt nodded. "Oh, and you may keep the boy, if only to amuse us all when he finally disposes of you. No, I've called you here to introduce someone who can possibly be the newest addition to our council. Someone, whom I believe you are acquainted with."

Alema tested the Force, then blinked very slowly. "You've brought that witch's apprentice here?"

"I disposed of her for us, I thought you'd appreciate it," Lady of the Sith Lumiya emerged from the shadows of the gathered members of the One Sith. "Hello again, I'm glad to see that my lessons have made a lasting impression."

Ignoring the half-cybernetic Sith, Alema knelt before Krayt. "My Lord Krayt, no disrespect meant, but Syo, or whatever she calls herself these days is hardly worth a council position. Sure she killed Vergere, but as you said, anyone can kill. And that old bird had one foot in the door already."

"You are bold to approach…"

"Only for the good of the One Sith, my lord," Alema said quickly. "Vergere always had her own agenda, a trait she passed down onto that half-woman there. Vergere and Lumiya never joined you for a good reason, is it so wise to welcome her with open arms now?"

"You have some gall," Lumiya stepped forward, glaring.

"When we first met, Syo, I was only a learner. Wouldn't you say I've learned my lessons well?" Alema said cheerily.

"Silence. Night Herald, using my own words now?" Krayt leaned forward in his seat, resting both hands on his walking staff. "Tell me, what am I to do with her then?"

"Give her to me, my lord," Alema said, hiding a sadistic smile. "Have her serve me, and any scheming she does against the Sith will be my fault. No risk to this council and yourself, and we still can make use of her abilities."

The Chagarin Sith advisor to Krayt spoke up. "She does speak the truth, my lord. Therefore, I'd advise you to listen. Despite her failings, the Night Herald's advice has not yet led the One Sith astray. If it is the long game she is playing, then she has outwitted all of us here, and I do not believe she is that crafty. Therefore, it'd behoove us to again listen to the madness she spews. Should Lumiya continue her Bane's antiquated ideals, then she is a threat to you, my lord. Therefore, we should put her at a distance, make the Night Herald the first casualty should Lumiya turn on us."

"Thank you Wyyrlok," Alema inclined her head slightly.

"Very well," Krayt smiled, as if amused by the exchange. "Both the boy and Lumiya are now under your command, Night Herald. With your years of service, you've earned that much."

"I am honored," Alema tilted her head. "Thank you for listening to my rambling words, my Lord."

"Be gone now, I'll let you set up the dynamics of your little group. Should you need any slaves to train that boy of yours, just let me know. I'm feeling generous today."

"And I am grateful for that generosity." Alema rose again. "Come, Valin, Lumiya. We have a lot to do."

They left the council room, but the moment they stepped out into the Korribani sunlight, a new presence made herself known.

"You emerge at last."

Alema and the others paused at the doorway. Alema smiled falsely. "Lady Sani. You're still alive."

"As are you."

"The kids?"

"I left them in the hands of some Imperial general," the raspy-voiced woman said dismissively. "Completely anonymous drop-off of course as that intelligence general isn't one of our people. I'm sure the Rae girl you were so fond of will fit in just fine with that Imperial Order of theirs."

"Good. I'd hate for you to continue to use them as leverage since I returned as promised," Alema said darkly. She looked to Valin and Lumiya. "Go on ahead to that place Darth Krayt said we could use, I'll be with you shortly."

Lady Sani emitted a snort. "That remains to be seen, Night Herald. My apprentice tells me you've been very bad at being loyal."

"Morto will say a lot of things," Alema said, leaning casually against the supporting pillar of the tomb they were in front of.

The older lady of the Sith, face hidden in the shadows of her hooded robe, remained where she was. "But there are always grains of truth to his words. Your new apprentice, scion of the Halcyon line, for example."

"You're well informed."

"Genetic tests are easy to come by, even out here."

"Your point?"

"Just that a Halcyon has never fallen as far as you claim this one has."

"Always a first."

"That boy strays, proves weak or a detriment to the One Sith, I will not hesitate to have Morto end his life."

"As expected of the One Sith's counter-intelligence leader, getting others to do your killing for you," Alema mock applauded. "Are you going to make any more threats? You do realize that I hardly care whether Valin lives or not. If one of you kill him, it'll just go to show he wasn't up to the job."

"Merely letting you know that my eyes are on you."

"As are all the other members of the council," Alema answered back. "You all have been watching me with a microscope for the past nine years, and I have done nothing but prove time and again that my actions benefit the One Sith in ways no one else would have been able to do. Lord Namman Cha is more likely to betray Darth Krayt than I, but I don't see you siccing your pets on him."

"Lord Cha learned his lesson and is half the man he once was because of it," Lady Sani answered back. "He knows his place. You, however, continue to push the boundaries on what our Lord allows. I will say it again. Your apprentice will die by the hands of my own if he steps out of line. Please remind him of that, he looks like such a promising young man."

"Go bother Cronal now," Alema made a shooing motion. "I hear he's starting to have delusions of grandeur again."

Lady Sani tilted her head slightly, and went her own way.

Only then did Alema exhale in relief. Taking time off to reconnect herself to the light side of the Force had been a huge risk for her. She had justified it as an 'intelligence gathering' period, getting the lay of the land, an updated who's who in the Jedi Order. She doubted many of the council bought it, but her reports kept them satisfied. Returning, but with the son of a famous Jedi Master, had been even riskier. She hadn't told Valin, but there had been a very high chance of them killing him outright rather than risk him being a turncoat. She was just grateful that his talent for mind-manipulation and shielding hadn't degraded in his current state of misery.

Collecting herself once more, Alema put her all-purpose smile on and went after Valin and Lumiya. Sure she might have won a battle keeping Lumiya off the inner council. But now that treacherous woman was her problem, one that would more than likely come back to bite her later. Wasn't much Alema could do now though. Picking up her pace, Alema let the desert canyon landscape of the Valley of the Dark Lords whip by her. She hoped the Force would continue to be with her. If not, everything was going to end really messily, and that wasn't really preferable.

0-o-II-o-0

"Don't look so dour, Lumiya," Alema chirped with a laugh, pacing around the main chamber of the tomb they had been given as a training ground. "I'll give you plenty of people to kill. You'll be like my own little pet assassin."

Lumiya's eyes glared daggers at Alema. "You know not the plans you are messing with, Alema."

Alema cleared her throat. "Eh hm, you're addressing Lord Krayt's personal Night Herald. And if you're referring to your plan to mess with the Solos, forget it."

Lumiya raised an eyebrow. "Plan?"

"Don't insult my intelligence, Lumiya. It's no wonder you never made it big time. You went after Anakin, but he's too family oriented to go full dark. Vergere had her claws in Jacen, and you figured he'd be a good apprentice for yourself so you offed Vergere. You joined the One Sith so they'd let you scheme and plan to your heart's content, building up Jacen so he'd be the next big bad Sith."

"And you are going to stop me?"

"No, I'm going to give you a better plan," Alema said. "You see that boy there, Valin Horn? You're going to help me train him since I have zero experience in training apprentices. The only difference between him and your past apprentices is I'll be around to make sure he stays among the living. Then, you're going to help me make this faction the most powerful in the One Sith. Forget Bane's Rule of Two. How can two Sith ever hope to hold the whole galaxy together when hundreds of Jedi can't?"

"The Solos…."

"Are off limits," Alema said, her yellow eyes flashing murderously. "You even think about messing with that family and I'll kill you myself. If they fall in Darth Krayr's return, then it is clear that the Force doesn't want them alive, but you are not going to help the Force along in that regard. Clear?"

Staring at the shimmering silver blade hovering centimeters away from her throat, Lumiya raised an eyebrow. "Crystal."

"Glad we have an understanding. You want power, revenge, and all the fun things us dark Jedi want. I can give them to you, but you need to be patient."

"The Skywalkers, then."

"I couldn't care less about them," Alema shrugged. "If your problem is with Master Skywalker, have fun."

"Then we have an accord," Lumiya tilted her head.

"Great, I'd hate to have to kill you so quickly after our reunion."

"Your boy is being very quiet," Lumiya gestured to Valin's seated figure.

"Ripped of his family, absolutely despairing," Alema said lightly. "Can't you feel how dead he is inside. I did half the work for you."

Lumiya studied Valin for a long moment, then looked back to Alema. "His mental barriers are impeccable. Much like your own. Does Lord Krayt know of your schemes, Rar?"

"Schemes?" Alema said with the same tone Lumiya had used only seconds earlier.

"Now who's insulting whose intelligence? Lady Sani didn't stop you just for a pleasant chat," Lumiya chided. "You were never the serving type. As strong as your barriers are, you maintain a sliver of a connection to the light. And I have no doubt that sliver is powered by your feelings for that Anakin boy. Or if you've forgotten, I was a witness to everything the two of you did on the asteroid."

"Great, I found a perverted, voyeur, failure of a dark Jedi to train you Valin, doesn't that sound great?" Alema said without reacting to Lumiya's words.

"Just wonderful," Valin said deadpan.

"Perfect," Alema's yellow eyes flashed to Lumiya. "You can bring up the past all you want, but I've changed since that time. Light side, dark side, does it really matter what part of the Force we use? We're part of a group that wants to cut the population of the galaxy back by a couple billion and establish their own rule. Even when we both have goals contrary to that. You help me, I'll help you. You want revenge against Skywalker, I can help. But you also have to make Valin here the scariest thing the acolytes in the training grounds have seen and felt."

"You want to help? If I had you kill Mara Jade Skywalker, or even their son, you'd do it?"

"The Skywalkers never did me any favors," Alema shrugged. "Carry out your end of the bargain first though."

"Of course," Lumiya said, regarding the blue-skinned Twi'lek. "You have definitely changed since the Home."

Alema's responding smile held no warmth. "And don't I know it."

0-o-III-o-0

"So now what?" Valin said, when Lumiya finally left to prepare for his training. "Are we going to spend the rest of our days plotting evil deeds in the shadows of this Force-forsaken place?"

"Man, you really are that far gone if killing those slaves didn't so much as leave a dent on you," Alema commented mildly. She was sitting cross-legged, quasi-meditating and listening to Valin at the same time. "I mean, I've known some cold-hearted people, but don't you feel even the slightest bit of guilt over their deaths?"

"If I hadn't killed them, one of the others would have," Valin shrugged, taking a seat in front of Alema. "At least this way, their deaths helped me pass my initiation and kept my head on my shoulders. Like most things in the galaxy, it was either them or me. I chose me."

Alema opened her eyes, which were bright green now that she no longer had to put up her dark-side mask. Her face softened at the almost emotionless, dullness in Valin's eyes. "The others were right, you know. One of these days, you're probably going to kill me."

"That won't happen."

"Why did you come with me in the first place? You know your sister and father are suffering, can probably feel them."

"Would it have been any different if I stayed," Valin answered. "I'm a Jedi with a death-wish, and the chances are I would have brought the rest of them down with me."

"You're not here for power? For a chance to be better than who you are?"

"I'm here because you promised that the training you have in store for me would make me better."

"I didn't say better," Alema shook her head. "It will break and then rebuild you. Whether that new you is better than the old new will be entirely up to you."

"Still playing games, Twi'lek," Valin shook his head.

"Of course, human. How else would I pass the time?" Alema dusted off her pants and stood. "Come with me."

"What?"

"Follow." Alema said tersely, her green eyes cooling. "You think your tough-guy routine will get you through this, will protect you from what Lumiya and I have planned? Well I got news for you, it'll only make you break all the more faster, all the more harder. This planet isn't Force-forsaken, but seeped in the dark side. It's in the air you breathe, in the ground you walk on, in your dreams, in your very sweat. The more you resist it, the faster it claims you. There's a reason why the Jedi were never able to maintain a presence down on the surface at any point in time. A reason why the Jedi have all but forgotten about this planet."

"What's the point, Twi'lek?"

Their footsteps fell heavy and fast in the long-forgotten tomb. "I wasn't joking with Lumiya when I told her to help me make my faction the most powerful in the One Sith. Jedi alone cannot beat Darth Krayt, he's too skilled in VongForce and the dark side. Someone skilled in the dark arts, as well as the light, however, can. That someone is you."

"You're making me into a weapon?"

"Yes," Alema's eyes were completely yellow now. "You want a purpose? A goal to strive for other than a quick death? Here it is. You are going to break and then mould yourself into the weapon this galaxy will need you to be. Like me, you will be the vibroblade at Krayt's throat. The Solos and the others will be too busy taking down the rest of Krayt's sycophantic council. Will no doubt be tied up for years. All the while we will bide our time, build our strength, and then decapitate the head at the most opportune of moments."

"From what I've seen, Darth Krayt is hardly stupid. Do you really think he'll let you be that vibroblade at his throat?"

"Oh I'm sure he's expecting me to betray him," Alema smiled crookedly. "He's an expert at the long game too. In fact, if it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have attacked the galaxy for another century at least. But so long as I play the good servant, kill the people he tells me to and destabilize the area he wants in chaos, he'll keep me around."

They emerged out into the Korriban night, the air warm from the heat leaving the rocks all around them. The distant cries of the tuk'ata were the only signs of nearby life on the world lit by the seven moons in the sky. The two were mere shadows as they traversed the ancient training grounds of generations of Sith.

"And what was that bit about me killing you?"

"It's simple. You mentioned earlier that Krayt won't keep me around forever. I fully expect him to have you prove your loyalty to the One Sith by killing me. It's the Sith way after all."

They entered the ruined remains of another tomb through a hole just big enough for someone to crawl at the bottom of one of the cliffs.

"You really are crazy," Valin shook his head in disbelief, inching forward behind Alema. The crawl was short, and they emerged in an antechamber of sorts, Sith writing carved into the very walls.

Alema lit a small pool of oil with a burst of Force-fire, and the blue lighting traversed down a niche along the wall deeper into the tomb.

"You'd think so, right?" Alema said, smiling wryly. The flickering light causing her tattooed form to look even more striking. She stopped in the center of the antechamber and turned around to face Valin. Her eyes shone almost manically as her lips twisted in a distorted grin, arms held out at her sides. "Everything I've done up until now, it's all been for the better. At least that's what I tell myself so I can sleep at night. The lives I've taken, ruined, twisted, it was all so I could stay at the side of this Sith Lord and mess with his plans to take over the galaxy. Like you said, what's one or two lives that would have been killed anyway to the lives of the millions or billions of others we'd be in a position to save later on. My only wish when I die is for you to remember the me I once was, before the universe decided to turn against me. Remember me as that beautiful, fun-loving, strong, brave, admirable Twi'lek who befriended your family and tried to do the right thing."

"You're not dead yet."

Alema chuckled at his naivety. "Do you truly think I'm going to survive the coming war, Valin? I've burnt too many bridges, made too many enemies. Even I can see my end. Whether I die at your hand, at Krayt's, or some random Jedi who was lucky enough to catch me off-guard, I'm going to die. And you know what? I don't care in the slightest. As long as I die fighting for what I believe in, as long as I die 'me', then it's enough."

"And what makes you think I'll last any longer?" Valin asked, meeting her green-eyed stare unflinchingly. "You've dragged me into the same plot."

She smiled sadly in turn. "Because you still have a family that will love and care for you. A place that will welcome you with open arms, without reservation. You still have a place in the Jedi Order, a place on Corellia or wherever else you decide to set your roots. When you return to them, you'll be able to walk along the streets lauded as a hero, as a brave and daring Jedi who successfully managed to infiltrate the first truly Sith Empire in millennia and bring it down from within. You're Valin Horn, heir to that twisted family line of yours with a history that goes back to who knows when. The thing that annoys me the most, Valin, the reason why I pulled you away from that, is because you were taking all that for granted."

"I was n…"

Alema surprised Valin by taking a step forward, hauling him up by the collar of his shirt, and slamming him into the nearby wall despite him being nearly twice her size. Her green eyes took on a yellow tint as she hissed angrily. "Jysella practically idolizes you, and she's still among the living! You have a mom and dad—also still living despite all the wars this galaxy has seen—who'd move whole planets for you. Heck you even have a home planet, a house, had hundreds of people willing to look to you for orders. Compared to me, you were living the kriffin' high life. I never knew my parents, had no cozy bed to sleep in as a kid or people to read me bedtime stories. Heck, most of the things that happened in my bed as a child were stuff of nightmares. My only company during those dark times as a slave was my sister, who had her face melted off in front of me by a voxyn. My master was killed when I was fourteen. I'm wanted on nearly every single Galactic Alliance planet with a police-force so I can't even settle down. And the most screwed up thing is, the closest I ever got to feeling loved after the death of my sister was in the arms of Anakin on that dark-side asteroid Lumiya lured him to. And now I've heard he's married and has a pair of tots running around. Then I see you, going through the motions of daily life because the Vong War screwed up your brain. Boo-hoo! It's like you don't even care that you have a loving, living, family when billions of others don't."

"I care…"

"You have a funny way of showing it," Alema let him go and turned around, hugging herself with one arm. "You really don't know how lucky you are, Valin. How, there are days when I wish I'd wake up and be back in Anakin's arms on that asteroid, or dancing with my sister in that great stage in the sky. Your sister is an amazing person, and like everything I touch, I ruined her just by being her friend. Your dad, he gave me a chance when none of the other masters would, let me into your family even after everything he knew about me. And your mom, she's the smartest of the bunch. She's the one who figured out I faked our deaths, was the one who sent out feelers in the underworld and got my comm frequency. Something about not believing someone is dead until she can see the body. And you were ignoring them all!"

"Alema…"

Alema sniffled, and wiped at her eyes, her lekku twitching. "You were ignoring them all, wasting what the Force was nice enough to let you have. Now you see why I had to act!"

Valin swallowed. "I didn't ask for your help, didn't want it."

"And I sure as Sith didn't want to screw with your family any more than I already have, but not everyone can get their way," Alema said, turning away from him and beginning to walk down the blue-lit passageway. "Come on, we need to go to the inner-sanctum."

"Why?"

"Are you ever going to just do what I say without asking questions?"

Valin followed her despite his doubts. "Dad trained me to be an investigator."

"Right, your dad has his downsides too," Alema chuckled. "To answer your question, we're getting you a new wardrobe. You can't very well walk around on this planet in Jedi robes or those standard-issue 'I-am-Sith' jumpsuits those other trainees are wearing."

"You want me to wear some dead old Sith's clothing?"

"When you put it that way," Alema sighed, shaking her head. "You really have to take the fun and sense of adventure out of everything, don't you? We're tomb-robbing! Going to get you the robes of an ancient and powerful Sith of a bygone era!"

"Some dead guy's clothing," Valin repeated blandly.

"I knew I should have kidnapped your sister instead," Alema said dourly.

"I thought all these Sith tombs had traps and the like," Valin spoke. "At least according to Master Tionne's stories."

"They do, the main one was at the entrance."

"It was?"

"Sith were big on sacrifice. To safely pass through, you had to weaken yourself mentally."

"Wait, then everything you said…"

"True, every word. Do you really think I'm the type of girl who suddenly spills her guts like that?"

Valin just shook his head in amazement. "How'd you find this place?"

"Went exploring my first few months here. The ship I came in pointed the place out to me and warned me about that security measure."

"A ship pointed the place out and warned you?" Valin repeated incredulously.

"Well, yeah. It flew off a year later on its own, stranding me with the crowd we're in. Still kind of upset about that. I liked that ship."

Valin didn't quite know what to say to that.

"Anyways, this was a relatively minor Sith, I think. It's the only trap that I've found so far."

"And the clothes of the dead guy?"

"Resplendent robes of an ancient Sith," Alema corrected.

"Yeah that…have you tried looting it yet?"

"Nope, fully expect that guy's spirit to pop out and do something," Alema said cheerfully.

"It could collapse the tomb on us," Valin pointed out. "Many ancient tombs have that failsafe."

"We'll be careful."

The inner-sanctum of the tomb turned out to be a pretty cramped, square room with a simple sarcophagus in the center. A small hole in the domed ceiling allowed a pale beam of moonlight to illuminate the central region of the room. Unlike the gray-black stone of the sarcophagus, the walls were made of the same brown-orange rock that was prevalent across Korriban. The walls were blank, with no script or images surviving the tests of time. The blue flames had stopped a few meters from the actual chamber, so the only source of light was the beam coming through the ceiling.

"Now what?"

"This," Alema fired lightning at the sarcophagus, which promptly blew the stone lid to pieces in a noisy crackle-bang.

"Very subtle. I thought we were being careful." Valin grimaced, holding up a hand to ward off the pieces of flying rock.

"I am, if the trap was touch activated, no sense touching the sarcophagus."

When the dust settled, the two peered into the open casket. The body and most of the clothing had long dissolved into dust, leaving only a black and gold-lined mask.

"Oh well," Alema looked a bit disappointed. She leaned forward to pick up the mask. "I guess the guy really was a minor Sithy."

"WHO DARES!?" An apparition materialized above the sarcophagus. Decked out in full Sith refinery, face obscured by the spectral version of the mask in Alema's hand, the spirit did not appear all that happy.

"Look, it's the minor Sithy," Valin said in an almost a bored tone. "Major Sith wouldn't say something as cliché as 'who dares.'"

"Hi Minor Sithy. Mind if we take your mask?" Alema said perkily.

"I am the Right Hand of Marka Ragnos, Lord of Destruction, Conqueror of….!"

"Great, can we take your mask?" Alema cut him off. "Or do we need to find the Left Hand too?"

Valin hung his head, wondering not for the first time about the sanity of his supposed 'savoir.

"That mask is imbued with a fraction of the strength of Marka Ragnos, a reward for when I slew the Jedi Grandmaster Af…"

"Yeah, yeah, look, can we take the mask or not?"

"Insolent whelp! Know the power of the Hand of Ragnos!" The apparition fired lightning at Alema, who promptly jerked to the side and let it blast a hole in the wall behind her. Her lightsaber then snapped to life and intercepted the rest of the barrage.

"Valin, you want to handle this guy?"Alema said, the strain of warding off the barrage slightly apparent by her intense focus.

"How do I kill a ghost?" Valin said in disbelief."It's not like I can cut him in half or anything."

"The guy's made of Force-energy. You absorb Force-energy, do I have to draw a diagram or something!"

Valin blinked. He reached out with the Force and felt the malevolent spirit before him. He thought of Alema's idea, then shook his head. "You do know that absorbing a ghost isn't the same as absorbing a blaster bolt."

"Do you want to absorb his lightning instead!" Alema gritted out, beads of sweat now running down her forehead.

"I was not the one interrupting the ghost and trying to take his mask," Valin protested.

"Valin!"

"Fine!" Valin clenched his jaw and began to draw on the Force energy that surrounded the spirit.

Though he had never absorbed a spirit before, he didn't think the concept was too far off from absorbing blasterbolts. Taking the natural energies of the nature around him and making it his strength was a family trait. Only he didn't think the Jedi would be too happy with this particular usage of that trait. He was essentially absorbing the life-essence of a Force-creature with the clear intent to destroy it. But heck, he was on Korriban, lightyears away from the nearest person who might lecture him.

Said spirit immediately realized what was happening and jerked his head towards Valin. "You will not bind me!"

Alema deactivated her lightsaber and caught the lightning barrage with both hands, forcing the attack to stay on her. "Nah uh, I'm the one who's stealing your mask, remember? He just wants to absorb your essence."

"Would you quit antagonizing the minor Sithy!" Valin grunted, feeling the Sith resist with considerable strength as its anger spiked. "He's pretty strong for a dead guy!"

"Just make him go poof already!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do! I've never absorbed a spirit before!" Valin strained against the counter-pull of the Sith's will, wondering how long Alema could keep up what she was doing.

"Well stop thinking about doing it and do it, otherwise I'm going to get more crispy than I bargained for!"

Valin mentally swore, fighting the Sith for every iota of the being's essence. Alema was visibly beginning to wilt under the sustained barrage. If he didn't do something quickly, her sacrifice wouldn't have done anything but wasted her life.

Then, the thought came to him…sacrifice. Sith tomb. A weakening of mind, of body. Eyes darting to the jagged edge of the shattered sarcophagus, he gritted his teeth and abruptly ran his hand across the stone surface. A cut opened up, blood bubbling up out of the wound. On instinct, he held his hand over the sarcophagus, letting the blood flow freely and unabated. As the blood dripped into the inner recesses and onto the Sith's dusty remains, Valin felt the Sith's strength ebb.

Eyes hardening with knowledge of his immanent victory, Valin redoubled his efforts. He drew upon all of his loathing, his own hate and despair, that bit of insanity that had taken him after the war. He called upon his family lineage, his courage and tenacity. He summoned power from both sides of the Force, the energy roaring the chamber with cyclonic force. "Submit to me!"

"NEVER!"

Valin allowed a cocky smile, his face looking for a fraction of a second like the young teen he had once been pre-Yuuzhan Vong War as he discharged all of his emotions, everything that had built up in him over the years, into the spirit. "You don't have a choice, buddy."

With one powerful yank, he shattered the Sith's defenses, the Force energies whipping about the small chamber. The lightning attack ended, and Alema promptly poured her own strength into Valin. The Sith, caught in the web of Valin's Force attack, wailed futilely as his body began to break apart.

With one last yell, Valin ripped the spirit to pieces, sucking in the energy, and then sending the absorbed energy shooting out through the top of the tomb in a brilliant display of light.

Sagging, Valin took a seat, using the remnants of the sarcophagus as a back-support. He tore a strip from his robes and used it to bandage his hand.

Breathing heavily, Alema sat next to him, holding out their prize. The ebony mask appeared to be made of some sort of composite material; wood, metal, and cloth fibers dyed a midnight black. By the intricate carvings, the mask was designed to resemble someone who's eyes and mouth had been sewn shut. A single slat allowed the wearer a line of sight and was masked by the various etchings on the otherwise smooth surface. It looked so simple and deceptive, but definitely had an aura of a Force-imbued object.

"Here's your mask ,Valin. Wasn't that fun?"

Winded, exhausted, and slightly delirious, Valin managed a ghost of a smile and took it from Alema. He stared at the inky surface, then emitted a weak laugh. He had to admit, venting all that bottled up frustration on a millennia-dead Sith felt kind of good."Yeah."

0-o-IV-o-0

Present day

"Impressive, isn't it?" Alema murmured to her masked apprentice.

Valin had now been on Korriban for a year, being trained in the unique way Vergere and Lumiya trained their apprentices but tempered by Alema's input. After spending that time in seclusion, often brought to the brink of insanity in one ancient tomb or another by Lumiya's training methods, he was now standing on the threshold of the One Sith's training academy.

The months had passed by in a blur for him. Whether he was starving and cold in the wilderness of Korriban being hounded by ravenous tu'kata, shut up in an ancient tomb with Sith spirits for a full week, reliving the worst moments of his life and being forced to forget the best, he'd rather not think of that lost time. But Alema had definitely kept her word. The unorthodox training methods she and Lumiya employed had forced him to face his demons, to face the very things that had eaten away at him since the Yuuzhan Vong War. In true Sith fashion, he didn't just talk his way through his problems, but violently fought them as well.

One memorable 'training' lesson was when he had been sent into a tomb and had been forced to fight manifestations—light and dark—of his own self. The light could only be hurt by his anger and hate, the dark by his empathy and understanding. It had taken him to a point near death to comprehend that, and he had barely emerged from the tomb alive. But emerge from the barrage of sadistic training lessons he did.

Gone was the shell-of-a-man he was once, the man who didn't care if he lived or died. Like Alema had said, he also wasn't the Valin of old either. Where before he had been a walking ball of anguish, loathing, and despair, one could barely sense anything from him now. He had learned to draw strength from the very darkness that permeated the planet, learned to shield his emotions but not ignore them. In fact, his feelings were every bit his source of power, fueled his desire to see what he had signed up for through until the end.

Taking in the sight, face covered in the ancient Sith mask and a hooded robe shrouding him, Valin's hardened eyes swept the colonnade and worn tiled floor. "It's a decrepit building one blast shy of collapsing on itself."

"At least Lumiya hasn't changed that part of you," Alema said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, the other adepts are participating in the monthly sparring tournaments."

"The what?"

"It's a monthly tournament. The winners are presented to the full dark Jedi and have a chance at being chosen as an apprentice."

"The losers are killed?"

"Please, we're dark Jedi, not barbarians. It'd be hard for us to rule the galaxy if we kill off our cannon fodder. No, the losers have seriously bruised egos and their hate, shame, or anger drive them to improve themselves for the next tournament. You'll find that once Darth Krayt accepts an adept, only he has a say over whether they are executed or not."

"Nice of him," Valin muttered, their footsteps soft against the aged tile.

"Nah, he's just learned from all the other crazy Sithy people who thought that killing their underlings would be a good idea and then later wondered why they ran out of servants."

"So, how many were you able to bring into the fold? A dozen, two dozen?"

Alema smiled mysteriously. "You remember all those reports your Jedi Order had about those Force-sensitive children identified but no longer present when the recruiting teams went out?"

"Every praxeum had assigned someone to investigate it." Valin paused in his tracks. "Alema, that was well over two hundred missing recruits over the ten-year period."

"Two-hundred and eighty-five if you want to bean-count," Alema said airily. "And that's not mentioning the Force-sensitive children the One Sith identified before the Jedi did. My convincing Krayt to emerge jump-started their recruiting-side of things."

"Alema…how many?"

"Darth Krayt wants to take over the galaxy," Alema said softly. "He needs an army to do it."

She pushed open a pair of massive wooden doors, revealing a cavernous room full of many individuals. Many were sparring, red blades humming and clashing at rhythmic intervals. The crackle of lightning being thrown, the oppressive weight of dark-side techniques being used in combat, the life-forces of so many Force-users radiated outward. "The One Sith is currently training over four-hundred adepts, with another fifty already ready to take on Jedi Knights in combat. Morto, my lovable arch-nemesis, is one of them. Draken, Tandral, Visat, those others you saw your first day here, were some of the other more advanced students. In another year or so, we should have a viable force of close to three-hundred fully trained dark Jedi."

Valin's jaw dropped, though he was saved from embarrassment by his mask. "The Jedi Order, they're in no way ready. They'll be wiped out."

"Pretty much," Alema nodded. "Especially since the bug-war wiped out most of their next-gen Jedi."

"How'd you get so many to agree to join the One Sith?"

"Combination of being very persuasive, Force tricks, and assassinations," Alema answered back. "You'd be surprised at how disillusioned many people are about the Jedi after the decade of instability caused by the bugs."

"Assassinations?"

"Couldn't get it by you, huh? Yeah, in case a family objected but the initiate was willing, we offed the family. Even if the initiate was unwilling, they were sometimes persuaded by the death of everyone they cared for. We then incinerated the bodies and made it look as if the entire family just packed up and left before the Jedi got there."

"You recruited many of them?"

"Part of my role as the Night Herald," Alema confirmed with a nod. "And before you ask, yes I also killed many of their families as well. They were obstacles, loose ends we didn't need. Don't worry, not everyone's family was killed. Just the unwilling ones."

"A lot of them are teens now, so…"

"They're living with the guilt that their refusal to be part of a stronger and more disciplined order led to the deaths of their families," Alema said evenly. "Yes."

"What makes you think they won't betray the One Sith the first chance they get then?"

Alema smirked at Valin. "Because I am wholly clueless as to the repercussions of my actions."

"You deliberately killed their families…made them hate the One Sith…all so they'd betray it later?" Valin did his best not to yell at the insanity of it all, grateful that they had yet to actually step into the room. Every time he thought he had an angle on the Twi'lek, she did or said something that would once again force him to re-evaluate his opinion of her. Even after a year—ten months full months—of being trained under her guidance.

"You can do great things as a bad person," Alema's smile fell slightly. "When everyone thinks you act in the name of evil, they'll blame all those actions on evil. Some will be repulsed by it. Some…" she gestured to a group of acolytes. "Will embrace it whole-heartedly and even help you kill their families."

There was a sudden flurry of motion, and Valin barely had time to act before a red-bladed weapon hummed through the air on a direct course for Alema. The Twi'lek didn't even blink as she overpowered the thrower and wrenched the twirling air-borne saber from his control. Catching the saber, she deactivated it and flipped it around in her hand.

"Still not strong enough Cinatae," Alema said to a young teen who was glaring at her with undisguised hatred. "And pretty stupid too. Had you killed me, you'd have about a dozen lightsabers sticking out of you."

"I hate you!" The teen snarled, eyes slightly teary.

"Yeah, I know." Alema practically chuckled, her eyes a poisonous yellow. She sauntered over to the teen, everyone else near him taking several steps back as she reactivated his saber. "But so far, that hate isn't enough."

"Go ahead! Kill me! Finish it! You killed everyone else in my family!"

"Nice saber," Alema hefted the weapon and spun it around a couple of times. "For a pre-fab one, that is. But your childhood tantrums and mass-produced saber will never be enough to kill me, Cinatae. Get stronger, make your own saber, then try again."

She handed the acolyte his saber back and turned away from him. With a yell, the acolyte immediately re-activated his blade and charged. Not even looking back, Alema flicked her wrist and sent the young teen flying backwards. "First attempt was free. For that act of stupidness you have refresher cleaning duty for the rest of the week."

Alema continued back to Valin's side, Valin aware that all eyes were following the Twi'lek with varying degrees of emotion. "You killed his family." Valin commented.

"Yup, mother, father, younger brother, wasn't Force-sensitive, and their grandma," Alema answered, everyone slowly returning to their training. "She was a tough old thing."

"You remember that much?"

Alema looked at Valin with a chilling gaze. "I remember every life I've taken since joining the One Sith. You better as well."

"Night Herald," a young human woman, svelte and athletic in appearance, approached and fell to one knee before the Twi'lek. She bowed her head so that all Valin could see of her was the single braid of midnight-black hair that ran all the way down to the small of her back.

"Zevia Nist," Alema sighed in turn. "Still insist on kneeling?"

"You are Darth Krayt's Night Herald. The spark that will ignite a wild fire that will consume the galaxy so it can rise from the ashes. You freed me from the family the New Republic had placed me in, enabled me to reclaim my family name and…"

"Yes, yes, yes," Alema looked almost sheepish at Valin. "See, not everyone hates me. Val, meet Zevia Nist, someone on the opposite side of the spectrum as Cinatae."

"And…who is he, my Lady?" The pale-skinned young woman looked over to Valin, as if noticing him from the first time.

"Zevia, meet my apprentice, Valin."

"Your apprentice?" If the woman's blue eyes could grow any wider, they would have popped out. Her exclamation immediately drew the attention of those nearby, their expressions mirroring her own.

"Is there a problem?"

"It is just…in the years you have been here, in all the tournaments, you've never chosen one."

"Jealousy does not become you, acolyte," Alema practically laughed.

"If you have chosen him, he must be powerful indeed."

"He's getting there," Alema said, still chuckling. "Now would you get off your knee and stand? Looking down on you when I talk to you puts a crick in my neck all the time."

The dark-haired woman rose, crystal blue eyes gleaming almost fanatically. "As you command."

"Great. Take my apprentice and show him around. Now that he's had his initial training out of the way, he could use someone to show him the sights."

"But…my training? I was to fight in this tournament. This time I'll prove I have what it takes to be a part of your faction."

"Nah, don't bother," Alema said with a dismissive wave. "You can be my second apprentice without wasting your time in the pit."

Valin really wondered about this woman as pure joy flashed across Zevia's face before quickly being schooled back into a neutral expression. "You…you're taking me as your apprentice, my Lady?"

Alema, shared a grin with Valin. "Did I misspeak, Valin?"

"Don't think so."

"I will show him around at once!" Zevia said almost eagerly. "Thank you, Night Herald, you will not regret your choice!"

"Let me talk to him for a moment, you can finish up here and then move your belongings into the Tomb of…"

"Ajunta Pall, yes, Night Herald. I know the place your faction was given residence." Zevia said quickly, eyes bright. "I'll move my belongings now."

The young woman performed a quick bow, then took off.

"It looks like you just made her year," Valin commented with mild amusement.

"What do you think of her?" Alema said casually, gesturing for Valin to continue walking with her through the room. Gradually, everyone again returned to their duties, though more than a few eyed them as they passed by.

"A bit unbalanced," Valin said neutrally. "Please tell me that sycophant thing was an act."

"Sadly, no," Alema flashed him a small grin. "She was one of the first I had the pleasure of bringing here. Her biological dad had been some big dark Jedi hotshot back in the Empire days; mom one of that guy's conquests. Dad was killed before she was born, mom shortly after. The New Republic placed her in a foster family."

"Let me guess, you killed her foster parents."

"You have such a high opinion of me."

"You seem to be willing to kill anyone that doesn't advance your agenda," Valin pointed out.

"Killing her family would have brought too much attention, given who she is and the fact that her adoptive father was a planetary senator and mother a local governor. We simply had her vanish one day, with no one the wiser."

"And you chose her as your second apprentice, because…?"

"A gift for you," Alema answered absently. "I figured you could use a sparring partner…and some companionship. She's broken just enough for you to make her better…or worse, depending on what you want her to be. Since she was a kid, her dark Jedi dad was whispering to her in her sleep from half-way beyond the grave. I had to send him the rest of the way when he tried to take over her body. She'll do anything for me if I ask."

Valin stopped in his tracks. "I don't need…"

"Yes, you do. You need someone to remind you that you're still human, still have boundaries you won't cross. That sure as heck isn't going to be me or Lumiya. I brought you here to learn the 'dark' side of the Force, not become a drooling red-bladed fanatic. Zevia will be your Quor'sav in a coalmine if you will. You start going down the drooling fanatic route, she will too. You already see how she reacts to me and what that says about my red-saber waving days."

"Doesn't she have a say in this?"

"Nope," Alema said. "She doesn't obey me, she returns to the academy to await selection or graduation into the ranks of the cannon fodder."

"Like me, you're using her."

"Yup, a means to an end," Alema said truthfully.

Valin took that with an accepting nod. He understood that Alema wasn't a nice person. Had done so many evil things in the name of 'good' to rightly deserve the list of deathmarks she had. Had long accepted that Korriban would be his home for the near future. This was just another aspect, another twist that the corrupted nature of the planet had thrown his way. "So, what now?"

Alema gestured to the hundreds of acolytes going through their training. The humming of lightsabers, the yells and battle cries, the pinging of remote-fired blaster bolts deflecting off sabers, the atmosphere was that of a military academy. "Pick a group, challenge them, join them. Have fun. For the next few years, they will all become like family."

"Family." Valin repeated, peering through the slot of his mask and surveying the room.

"Love 'em, hate 'em, that's your choice. But every single one of them is Force-sensitive, and most will kill you if you get on their bad side. On the flip side, earn their loyalty and you can have them do things they might not ordinarily would. This is the life you've chosen, my apprentice. Make the most out of it, and one day we'll be in a position to save the galaxy."

0-o-V-o-0

"The time to act draws near," Darth Wyyrlock announced, standing next to Darth Krayt at the head of the rectangular table. "With the Jedi Order becoming fully integrated into the Galactic Alliance, it will not be long until they are strong once more. Therefore we must begin preparations to launch an all-out assault by year's end."

"I concur," Lady Brood said. "We have waited long enough, now is the time to act."

"With the Queen Mother returning, Hapes will grow stronger as well," Kyrisa hissed.

"And I say we wait," Alema was reclined in the stone chair, feet resting on the stone table.

"Oh?" Krayt looked in amusement at the Twi'lek. "You do now? And what, pray tell, is your reasoning this time? You first advocate that we strike, but when the issue comes up, for the past three times, you have had us hold off."

"Good thing I did too, otherwise we'd have been in that whole Killik mess with the rest of the galaxy," Alema said.

Namman Cha, spoke next. "The Jedi have never been weaker thanks to the Solo family getting so many killed in the war. The galactic government is undergoing a transitional period, instability rife."

"And we pop up now, we give that government a target to rally around," Alema answered back. "Yes the Jedi Order is weakened, but the Solos are stronger than ever, even have governmental positions now. If they could bring down entire Vong fleet groups with just themselves and a rag-tag group of ships, imagine the damage they could do with the galactic government at their fingertips."

"If we allow them to remain in control, they could use that power to strengthen the government," The half-cyborg Namman Cha argued back.

"Or let politics drown them," Lumiya spoke up from behind Alema. "Just as we have done for so many governments, we turn public opinion against them. We get them to step down so that their influence and power will be limited."

Danaan Kerr, the deranged Lord of Ternaax, cackled and nodded. "That does make sense. A Solo depowered is one we won't have to worry about when we attack."

"Plus, we still have the majority of the Jedi Knights and Masters spread throughout the galaxy," Lord Cronal commented, his hologram appearing as a shrouded person made up of stars and galaxies. "It is better to wait until they are in one location and fell them all at once. We all saw how unsuccessful Palpatine was in rooting out the survivors of his purge."

"Outvoted again, Wyyrloc," Alema said flippantly.

The Chagarin glared. "You are not so indispensable as you might think. Therefore you should watch yourself, Night Herald."

"Enough," Darth Krayt rose from his chair, and the others fell silent, their holograms flickering in the dim lighting of the chamber. "Whether we attack at the end of this year, or in ten or even a hundred years will mean nothing if our forces are not prepared."

"Dread Lord, my forces have secured Zonama." The flickering image of Yuuzhan Vong dark sider Vongerella spoke up assuredly. "As we speak, the Slayers continue to whisper to the slumbering Sekot, turning her to our views. My legions grow by the day, and the resistance put up by the natives falters. You have but give the word and my forces will return and avenge Onimi."

"Both the Grand Moff and Admiral Daala have paved the way for my return as well. They simply await your word," Lord Cronal added. "The mercenaries are still on the fence, but I have no doubt we can persuade them to join our cause."

"I have received assurances from Houses Gheer and Galney that their forces can move against the Queen Mother at a moment's notice," Kyrisa confirmed. "And the Night-clans you evacuated from Dathomir have all seen the error of their ways and have given me their complete loyalty."

"My own contacts have fully infiltrated the Corellian government. To truly kick the legs out from under the pathetic Galactic Alliance, all you have to do is command it and Corellia will have new leadership favorable to your rule, my Lord," Lord Namman Cha concurred reluctantly.

"And we are prepared to release the Sithspawn viruses on the heavily populated centers of over a dozen Core-worlds," Lord Ternaax said gleefully. "I just can't wait to see the effects on the Jedi-loving cities."

"My own brood is eager for blood," Lady Brood spoke evenly, her dark-side wrinkled face twisting with hate. "And I am eager for revenge."

"Great, we're all raring to go," Alema said. "But right now we only have fifty or so acolytes ready to take on the Jedi. In five, ten years, we'll have hundreds. We'll only get one shot at this, so let's not blow it by attacking too early."

Darth Krayt nodded once, standing to his full height in his vonduun crab armor. His face, deeply tanned and worn like the cliff-face in a desert, radiated a sadistic satisfaction. "And I am in agreement. With our forces ready now, they can only grow stronger with time. Keep our agents in place, continue to sow discord and darkness. When the time comes, no one will be able to stop us. When the time comes, the Sith shall return to the galaxy and then there truly will be a millennium of peace."

0-o-Epilogue End!-o-0

A\N: Yes! It's finally over! Done, finished, no more bugs! Leave a review if you would like, they're greatly appreciated. You might even find yourself as an anagrammed-OC in my next story…though my OCs do tend to die so sorry in advance =).

Now on to the sneak peek for what's in store for part 2 of the trilogy!

*Sneaky Peek 1*

Taryn kept a casual watch as Cassa, Allana, and Jayce played in the fresh snow in the back garden of the Royal Winter Retreat, accepting a steaming cup of cocoa from her husband, and leaned back against him. "It's so unfair how you Jedi can run around barefoot in the snow and I need three layers to keep from freezing my butt off."

"Normally I would have a witty remark for that," Zekk kissed the top of Taryn's head. "But we're next to a bunch of Force-sensitive kids who'd hear anything I whispered."

"You can whisper it to me later then," Taryn quipped with a grin. They watched the young Solos play for a few more minutes, enjoying the serenity of the morning. Looking back over her shoulder to Zekk, Taryn lightly pressed her cheek to his shoulder. "When do you want to have a few little ones of our own, Zekk?"

"Daughters?" Zekk murmured.

"Daughters, sons, doesn't matter to me," Taryn murmured back. She glanced back at the frolicking children with a whimsical smile. "They'll be our kids, so the other nobles will just have to deal with it."

"Things have been peaceful recently," Zekk said thoughtfully. "Stable enough to start a family. I'm game if you are."

Taryn grinned broadly, setting down her drink to wrap her arms around her husband. "Always ready for whatever the galaxy throws my way."

"Later tonight then," Zekk murmured, kissing Taryn's neck. "I've always wanted a family of my own."

Just as Taryn was about to enjoy his affections, her grin promptly fell away as her commando-trained instincts picked up on a faint movement through the frost-ivy covered gates. She placed a hand on his chest, a hand drifting down to her blaster.

He picked up her change in mood and looked the direction she was gazing in. "Taryn?"

"I…I thought I saw something," Taryn frowned. She pulled out her comlink. "Southern security team, report in."

"Team One, all clear, sir," a female voice came back over the comm.

"Team Two, no problems," another agreed.

Taryn was about to lower her comlink, but then thought better of it. "Teams One and Two, please relay your security code. Counter-sign Rainbow Gem."

At that, nothing but silence answered Taryn.

"I'm not sensing anything out of place," Zekk frowned, but he was reaching for his lightsaber nonetheless.

"Hey kids, play time's over," Taryn called out. "Come back inside."

"Awww, do we have to?" Allana whined.

"Yes," Taryn said, keeping a smile on her face despite the situation. "You…"

Two things happened at once. A red blade seemed to appear out of thin air and fly straight towards Allana's small form, and Zekk's own red saber flew out and knocked it aside.

"Get inside!" Taryn yelled.

Zekk leaped from the doorway, through the light snowfall, and landed between the children and the direction the saber had come from. A wide-eyed Cassa, Jayce, and Allana scrambled through the torso-high snowbanks towards Taryn, an inch away from panic.

"This is Captain Zel to Security Room, put the estate on lockdown! The chume'da is under attack! Security Room, come in!"

Just then, two figures, moving like wraiths, leaped over the garden wall. They were completely covered in black cloth, wearing no armor at all and carrying no blasters, but the red-lightsabers they wielded were a more reliable indicator of their abilities. Both held two, the blades shining a red glow in the snow before them.

"Auntie Taryn, behind you!" Allana screamed.

Taryn whirled around only to be tackled hard, the wind leaving her as she was driven back into a duracrete wall. She struggled to regain the initiative, but her assailant slammed her against the wall again, and this time she saw stars. Hands gripped tightly around her neck, lifting her dazed figure off the ground.

Before she lost consciousness though, her assailant hissed in pain and released his hold on her. An amphistaff was sticking out of his stomach, its venom already fast at work. Almost in disbelief he followed the amphistaff to its holder, a determined and fiercely green-eyed Cassa.

"I won't let you hurt her," Cassa growled. She then looked to her amphistaff and praised it. "Tu'q, Sa'il. Do-ro'ik Hapes pratte!"

Her assailant wasn't so easily beaten, however. With a snarl he gestured and an invisible, sledgehammer-like force slammed into Cassa and sent her small form flying through the air. He yanked the amphistaff from his body and threw it to the side, quickly spinning back to Taryn as she fired off several shots from her blaster. At point-blank range, it was hard to miss. Even when an invisible force snapped the bones in her wrist, Taryn ignored the blinding pain and continued to pump the assailant with blaster-bolts. Just when it looked as if the man wouldn't go down, a flash of light from the top-most part of the estate turned his head into a liquefied mess.

"Thanks, Hiana," Taryn panted, cradling her injured hand. The sound of lightsabers clashing, however, quickly drew her attention elsewhere.

Zekk was in the middle of a fierce fight against two very nimble opponents, his Jedi robes billowing in the arctic breeze. One attacker would engage with lightsabers, and the other would fire lightning at Zekk's opposite side, but he was holding his own. The snow flurried around them, looking like molten lava in the glow of their red blades.

Then the two switched up strategies, and Zekk was forced to battle against four different lightsaber blades. He was pushed onto the defensive, his motions becoming rigid as they began to restrict his options. Hiana's sniper rifle flashed again, but this time the assassin dodged it. The assassin then proceeded to rake Hiana's perch with a long-distance blast of purple lightning. The wooden roof burst into flame after a second of contact, turning the top of the estate into a blaze another moment later.

Zekk took that opportunity, however, to halve his odds. Using a blast of Force energy to send one of the assailants flying into a nearby tree, he whirled about and plunged his lightsaber into the distracted Force-lightning user from behind. The first attacker sprung back into battle a second too late. Zekk parried the flurry of attacks, then elbowed his attacker in the chin before delivering the finishing blow to his stunned opponent. Even with the attacker falling to the ground, however, Zekk didn't deactivate his lightsaber. His gaze was instead directed outward, the Force no longer shrouding the surroundings.

Kneeling beside an unconscious Cassa, it was only then that Taryn realized how much trouble they were in. The trio of Force-using assassins were just the advanced guard. The weather chose that moment to clear a bit, the morning fog lifting ever so slightly. Just outside the wall, she could see several squads of black-clad individuals lining up shots down the barrel of blaster-rifles. Quickly pulling Allana and Jayce behind her, Taryn dropped to the ground as low as she could.

A deafening volley of blaster fire cut through the crystalline fence that ringed the garden. Dozens of red lasers burning holes into the estate's exterior. A second and third volley followed, the estate wall crumpling under the continuous barrage.

Zekk and his lightsaber made easy targets, and he sprinted away from Taryn's prone form to draw some of the fire off of her position. Not that it mattered with the dozens of other attackers still bombarding the area with everything they had.

A frag grenade landed next to Taryn, who quickly picked it up and lobbed it back in the direction it had come. She pulled the unconscious Cassa behind a snowbank, taking with her the two other terrified children in the process.

Jacye and Allana were clinging to Taryn in abject fear as the evil intentions of their attackers became clear to their Force-sensitive minds.

"Stay down, stay here," Taryn whispered gently, switching her blaster to her other hand. "I'll keep you safe, promise."

Another red-lightsaber burst through the snowbank, but Taryn rolled to the side at the last moment and the red blade narrowly missed her. Before it could return to its sender, Taryn targeted the only unarmed person in the line of attackers and drilled him with two precision shots between his eyes. The red-lightsaber, which had been on a return trip, fell to the snowy ground next to Taryn with a sedate plop. She quickly grabbed the saber and attached it to her utility belt. Though she might not be able to fight with one, she had learned at a young age that a lightsaber was a very handy can, door, and vehicle opener.

The blaster-fire picked up again, and Taryn pressed herself back to the ground. The odds were not looking good….

*Sneaky Peek 2*

Jedi Knight Jysella Horn briefly wondered if her day could get any worse. Waking up late for an important meeting with the Corellian Senate, she had spilled hot caff on her robes on the trip over. Only to learn that the meeting had been rescheduled earlier that morning for some distant date. She then discovered that the Corellian government was once again slashing the budget for the Corellian Praxeum. The Corellian government had been decidedly anti-Jedi ever since the Swarm War—though the Jedi were indirectly responsible for the loss of a good portion of Corellia's military capabilities during said war. Lastly, she just discovered that she hadn't passed her trials for Jedi Master. 'Too young' the masters had called her. 'Impatient' was another word she remembered.

Ever since her brother had died during the Swarm War, Jysella had pushed herself hard to be the best Jedi she could be. She had to be Jedi enough for both Valin and her, but evidently, seven years of hard work was not enough. Seven years of helping the helpless, bringing peace to the ungrateful, and otherwise trying to be a Jedi in an increasingly hostile Corellian climate. Frustration was something she was becoming very familiar with. In fact, if her dad wasn't the leader of the Corellian Praxeum, she would have considered quitting all together.

With everything piled on, Jysella couldn't possibly fathom how her current day could become any worse.

And then it did.

"Jedi Knight Horn!" A panicked voice called out, followed by footsteps hastily running through the hall. "Jedi Knight Horn!"

"What?" Jysella sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Does another refugee group need relocating?"

"Jedi Knight Horn!" The Corellian Jedi Apprentice scrambled into Jysella's office, panting as he did. "Trouble! The Corellian Defense Force has declared the Praxeum an illegal military institution and are marching on us!"

"What?!" Jysella stood, her eyes darting to her window.

"Head of State Denjax Teppler was deposed as well! It's why this morning's senate meeting was canceled."

"What?" Jysella repeated again. "Who's in charge then?"

The apprentice grabbed the HoloNet control and turned on the monitor. Jysella's jaw dropped, her hands fell limply to her side.

"…and I, Thrackan Sal-Solo, promise to reverse the trend of decline that these so-called Corellian Jedi have inflicted on our great peoples! As I speak, the Corellian Defense Force and a special group of concerned citizens are rounding up the Jedi to execute them for treason. Just as I promised all of you loyal followers at that farce of a trial over a dozen years ago. I'm back. Back and here to clean up our planet of the weakness that has taken root."

Jysella looked out the window, her eyes bulging at the sight of hover-tanks and legions of soldiers marching down the main road to the still yet-to-be-completed Jedi Praxeum. But then she narrowed her gaze at the group of individuals leading the military. The 'concerned citizens' or so Thrackan had called them, were Force-sensitive.

Two figures were at the forefront of the entire group, both masked and hooded, but obviously male and female. Humanoid male and Twi'lek female. The male waved a finger in the air in a circular motion. Before Jysella could think of anything else, the hovertanks opened fire. Windows blew out, walls crumpled. There was a deafening rumble again, and the entire building shook.

"We need to get to the landing bay," Jysella hissed. "No way can we fight all of them."

But that option was made a lot more difficult a second later when Corellian Chase-X's roared by, quad-laser cannons blasting off the green mirrored jewel at the top of the building in a definitive statement.

"What are we going to do?" the apprentice said in panic.

"Well, we run or die," Jysella said tersely, gesturing for the teen to follow her. "If the entire planet wants us dead, then that's all we can do."

"But we're Jedi. We've been helping them for the past ten years!"

"And evidently they don't need us anymore," Jysella replied as the building shook from another bombardment. She made a gesture as several more frightened apprentices joined her. "Life is never fair."

They rounded the corner and saw a squad of Defense Force commandos at the opposite end. Both Jysella and the commandos readied their weapons at the same time. Her yellow lightsaber hummed as it deflected the laser bolts, and when a few seconds passed, the squad of commandos was dead on the floor from their own projectiles.

"Keep moving," Jysella said dispassionately.

When they reached the hangar bay, the escape by ship went from difficult to impossible. The commandos had destroyed all the vessels sitting in the hangar, and there were three other commando squads present with weapons raised.

"Surrender, Jedi," the lead commando ordered, voice mechanical in nature because of his helmet.

Red lightsabers lit up and three of the black-dressed, hooded and masked people Jysella had seen outside emerged from the ranks of the commandos.

"Don't bother, captain," one of the three dark Jedi said lazily. "We got this. If you want you can blast the brats later."

"Darth Moderus said that we weren't going to kill kids," the commando protested.

"Very well, then we'll finish off the apprentices after we deal with her," the dark Jedi said dismissively.

Jysella held out her hands to either side of her and addressed the apprentices. "Stay back."

"We can fight."

"I said, stay back," Jysella repeated, holding up her lightsaber. She pressed a second button and a second yellow beam of light emerged from her saber-staff. "This will be over quickly.

Jysella went on the offensive, her saberstaff twirling about in her hands with a deadly hum. Her body whipped about, avoiding the thrusts and slashes of her opponents, her feet constantly in motion. An over-the-shoulder block turned into a sweeping attack. The three dark Jedi were forced back slowly but surely. Her saber whooshed and buzzed, slicing off the sleeve of one of the dark Jedi, scorching the cheek of another. Throughout it all Jysella remained unscathed. She might not have been made Jedi Master, but she had made damned sure she was on the same combat-level as one. Then again, the three she was up against weren't the best bladesmen she had faced either.

Then, the three dark Jedi attacked in perfect unison, two trying to tie up her blades while the third went in for the kill. Only, the third was suddenly blasted with a ball of Force energy and rebounded painfully off the smoldering wreck of one of the ships.

"Mind if we even the odds a bit?" Falleen Jedi Knight Natua Wan asked with her usual detachment, dropping down from a hole in the ceiling.

A second dark Jedi was sent flying in another direction as Natua's Selonian apprentice Shrona dropped down from another hole in the ceiling. Now a teenager, the lithe polecat form of Natua's apprentice radiated a silent fury at having her home attacked.

"Let's finish this up then," Jysella said, taking advantage of their arrival to skewer her surprised opponent.

The commandos seemed to remember that they had guns in their hands and frantically brought them up to bear. Even heavily armed and armored, they were no match for the three Jedi that quickly carved through their ranks.

"Great, now we still need a ship," Shrona commented simply, pushing the last commando off of her sky-blue saber. Several more younger apprentices dropped through the hole Shrona had come through to join the survivors. Even then the building continued to boom and shake from constant bombardment. "And fast."

"And the Force has provided one for us," Natua pointed out the open bay.

A civilian transport appeared to be defying all odds and was weaving around the laser fire of several Chase-X's in pursuit.

"Everyone get ready to jump!" Jysella yelled out in warning.

The transport swung by, side-door open. The two-dozen Jedi leaped in unison, tumbling into the hold as the door slammed shut and the ship rocketed away. From the viewport, the Jedi could only watch in disbelief as the building they had spent the better part of a decade in crumbled under the barrage.

"What happens now?" Asked one of the apprentices in a hushed voice.

"Now we continue to live, to learn, and take strength and comfort in the fact that we have survived this day," Natua answered, knowing that Jysella would be distracted due to their rescuer.

"Tarc," Jysella managed at the door of the cockpit, staring in disbelief at the pilot.

"Jedi Horn," Tarc replied without any warmth.

"Guess I deserved that."

"Mind strapping in to the co-pilot seat? I think some of those Chase-X's in pursuit have Jedi pilots. We're not going to last much longer up here."

Of course, Jysella's day happened to get much worse. A missile fired by one of the fighters impacted with the side of the ship. Military ordnance versus civilian manufactured taxi wasn't exactly a fair match up.

"Blast it!" Tarc groaned over the smoke and blaring alarms. "We're going down!"

For those on the ground, all they could see was the flaming ship careen off several buildings before disappearing into the forests just outside the capital in a blinding fireball.

Back in front of the Praxeum, the attack had been halted.

"Darth Moderus," a masked figure knelt in front of the attacking force's leader. "The building has been cleared. All survivors are now in our custody."

"And what of Jedi Master Horn?" Darth Moderus said without emotion. The flames of the burning Praxeum reflected off the glossy ebony mask he wore. Carved to resemble someone who's mouth and eyes had been sewn shut, the mask was just as expressionless as his voice. "I left instructions for him to be left alive so he can be made an example of. Were your people up to the task Lord Saedis?"

"He chose to fight, my lord, killed eight of our initiates before we subdued him."

"And Corellian casualties?"

"Nearly a hundred were lost sir. Close to fifty were in the advance team by the landing bay, including three more initiates."

"The Jedi?"

"Eight Green Knights were killed in the fighting. But we've secured twenty of the apprentices."

"This Praxeum had nearly twice that in apprentices."

"The ship that eluded our fighters…"

"The aerial assault was your responsibility, Lord. Let us hope your successor does better." Darth Moderus ended the report by skewering the man's bowed head with a blood-red saber.

The others shifted nervously, knowing full well their commander had a reputation for punishing failure and rewarding success. He also wasn't too discriminatory in that respect, considering the fact that the man he had just executed had been a fellow dark Jedi,

"Secure all Jedi! I don't want any more slip-ups," Darth Moderus barked. "When High Master Namman Cha returns from Coruscant, I want the Sith Praxeum of Corellia fully up and running."

"Sir!"

The remaining lightsaber-wielding attackers hurried off to do his bidding.

"See? Wasn't that fun?" Darth Moderus' until then silent companion said lightly. "You got to kill a very bad man, a Sith Lord, in front of an army of dark Jedi and no one cared. Could never have done that as a Jedi. You felt their fear, didn't you?"

Moderus ignored her. "My sister?"

"I had the charter request put in to DonoSlane Excursions. I assume that was the crazy pilot who braved the squad of Defense Force fighters. Now the question is, what are you going to do about your father?"

"I'll let you handle him, Alema," Valin said evenly, removing his mask to let the cool Corellian air wash over his pale face. "I have to give you some fun after all."

"So kind of you, my apprentice."

"I have to make up an excuse for Namman when he gets back from Coruscant. I doubt he'd accept the fact that Saedis' incompetence allowed half the population of the Praxeum to escape."

"You're good at thinking on your feet, Darth Moderus. I'm sure you'll come up with something," Alema retorted, slinking off towards the burning entrance of the building. "Aren't you glad the long game is finally paying off?"

"Not glad," Valin replaced his mask, and with it his air of indifferent cruelty. "But relieved. Sooner or later, this will all be over."

*End of Sneak Peak*

No promises, but hoping to start posting this by November of next year...