"Salyta?" Rhen-Gahl addressed his sister, taking his mask off. "I know you rescued me back there, but I overheard something while I was there that I need to check on."

"Where?" the ex-Imperial Agent asked.

"Tatooine," Rhen-Gahl responded.

Salyta sighed before Grif, her traveling companion, a Republic Medic, jumped in, "What for?"

"I can't say anything now. I'm not even sure if I can trust what I heard," Rhen-Gahl said.

Grif's companion, a Wookie named Bowdaar, growled and Grif murmured quietly, "I don't trust this either, but I guess it's up to Salyta."

"We'll take you, Rhen, but remember, we just saved your hide back there," Salyta said. "This better not become a rescue mission."

"I cannot promise that, Salyta," Rhen Gahl said. He then muttered under his breath, "And I sure hope it doesn't."

After everybody was situated, Grif and Bowdaar, who were up in the cockpit, maneuvered the ship towards the Outer Rim and set a course. Salyta stood near the holoterminal and Rhen-Gahl stood awkwardly next to her. He then asked, "Is everything okay with your crew?"

Salyta looked at him hard and said, "They're fine. You just have to earn their trust."

There was a silence and then Rhen-Gahl said, "You just have to drop me off in the Dune Sea. I can get to where I need to go from there."

"Okay. You have your homing beacon, right?" Salyta asked.

"Yes, I do. Don't worry about me. It's like you forget that I'm older than you and that I am Darth Occulus."

Salyta rolled her eyes. "Alright, Grif, Bowdaar, we're ready when you are!" she said and at that, the ship jumped into hyperspace.

As they approached Tatooine, Rhen-Gahl told Salyta the generalized version of what he will do. "When I get into the Dune Sea, I'm going to head to a small cave in the middle of the desert. I'm going to search the cave, then I will come back with you. The only time I will use my homing beacon is if there are any problems and when you are coming to pick me up, but I will call you on the holo before I use the homing beacon."

Grif and Bowdaar then maneuvered the ship to hover above the Dune Sea, near Outpost Zaroshe and Rhen-Gahl, now with his mask on, leapt out of the ship. He got onto his speeder and zoomed off to the center of the Dune Sea.

When Rhen-Gahl got to the exact center of the Dune Sea, beyond where most people go, he started to search for a blind ravine. Once he found it, he headed into the north side of it, where there was a small ledge that served as a ramp into the ravine and lead to the mouth of a cave. In the cave an Imperial interrogation center was located. This was where most of the Empire's dangerous prisoners (the ones that are still valuable) end up. He had heard, while he was captured, that the Barsen'thor had also been captured. He knew that Sydrin, if she really had been captured, would be there.

As Rhen-Gahl approached the cave, he could tell that something was wrong. There were no guards posted outside. Rhen-Gahl withdrew his lighsaber as he crept toward the cave. As he entered the cave, Rhen-Gahl saw a few Sand People and attacked them. Rhen-Gahl was surprised when he realized that the Sand People were stronger than he thought. Though they were stronger, he eventually fought his way through to the high-security wing.

When he got there, Rhen-Gahl searched all of the cells; a third of them were empty, another third was filled with dying or dead prisoners, and the last third had some prisoners who only had minor injuries. The Sith lord formulated a quick plan for rescuing Sydrin, if he could find her, and afterwards. He went to the computer at the back of the room and pressed some buttons on it. He sent a holomessage to the Republic base, notifying them about the Imperial interrogation center and some of their higher-ranking military officers that were being held there and were in bad condition. Afterwards, he let the force fields that served as doors down.

Rhen-Gahl gathered the third of the prisoners that were only minorly injured. They were wearing rags and not their usual armor. He passed out medpacks and told them to quickly distribute them to the dying prisoners. Afterwards, he asked if they had seen a Jedi Master, the Barsen'thor, there.

One man, in the colors of House Organa, asked, "Why do you want to know?"

The Sith Lord decided to tell them the truth, whether they believed it or not. "I met the Jedi I'm looking for a while back, before the war started. She and I were civil and I've come because I came to know that she was being held here," he said calmly.

"We wouldn't tell you if you hadn't saved us…even if you had told us that story," a Cathar woman, in a Republic Commando uniform started. "Jedi Master Sydrin, the Barsen'thor, as you called her, was kept in that cell," she said as she pointed. "She healed us a little bit after each torture session – even through the force-field…she's that powerful. She shielded us and made sure the force-fields were up when the Sand People broke in."

"If she was that powerful, why didn't she break herself out?" Rhen-Gahl said, somewhat angrily as he headed over to the cell.

"She would have, but security was extremely tight here," another prisoner answered. Rhen-Gahl didn't doubt that, but he had heard of Jedi who could make themselves completely invisible, so he wondered how Sydrin missed that lesson.

At that, they heart the howls of new Sand People down the hallway. Rhen-Gahl lead them to a secret passageway. He told them to evacuate all of the severely injured people as best they could. He would hold off the Sand People until the Republic showed up to save them. He explained, "There's a guard room up near the surface. There are no Imperials up there; they all evacuated. Grab some weapons and water, just in case. Stay in there for now. If you go to the surface, you will dehydrate quickly." He then added after a pause, "I'll break Sydrin out." The prisoners did as they were told, evacuating the whole room, except Sydrin's cell.

After they left, and while the Sand People were still a ways down the hall, Rhen-Gahl approached Sydrin's cell and peered in. There was a figure chained to the wall; she was slumped against it. Rhen-Gahl gently called her name, as he approached her, "Sydrin?"

At his voice, the girl, now in her early twenties, moaned and looked up through slitted eyes, rasping, "Rhen? Is that you?" She then went unconscious. That was when the Sand People arrived in the room. The Sith Lord summoned all of his power, from the anger of what the Imperials did to Sydrin to the fear that she might die and fought off the Sand People, until the Republic troopers arrived. When he heard them approaching the location that he and Sydrin were in, he fled, carrying the unconscious Jedi in his arms.

When he reached the surface of the desert, Rhen-Gahl sent a quick holomessage to Salyta, then activated his homing beacon. At that, Grif's ship showed up and Rhen-Gahl lept on, still carrying Sydrin.

"Grif, I need your help NOW!" Rhen-Gahl commanded, sounding scarily like a dangerous Sith Lord. Grif led Rhen-Gahl to the med bay on the ship and tried to shoo him away.

"Rhen-Gahl, I know you're concerned, but the only way I can do this is if I don't have an angry Sith Lord hovering. I need you to go." Standing up to a Sith, let alone a member of the Dark Council was a gutsy move, but Grif was strong too, even if his strength was in his guns and his instinct.

When Grif refused to let Rhen-Gahl stay, the furious Sith Lord stormed to his quarters on the ship and did some dark meditation. Everyone stayed away from that part of the ship, because of how dark the atmosphere was getting.

Finally, Salyta came to try and talk to her brother. "Rhen? I know you're busy, but we need to talk."

"What?" Rhen-Gahl said darkly, without opening his eyes.

"That girl, that's Jedi Master Sydrin Lorien? The Barsen'thor?" Salyta asked.

"Yes, she is," Rhen-Gahl still hadn't opened his eyes.

"How did you know she was captured? And why did you go out of your way to save her?" Salyta asked.

"I heard some people talking about it when I was captured," the Sith Lord said, relaxing a tiny bit, but still not opening his eyes.

"You didn't answer my second question," Salyta said.

Rhen-Gahl looked at Salyta with his violet eyes. "Honestly, I don't know," he responded.

"How close are you with her, Rhen?" Salyta asked gently.

"Why does it matter?" Rhen-Gahl was starting to get defensive.

"I just want you to think it through. You know that I don't care if you get into any type of a serious relationship with her, but you need to figure out your own feelings as well as hers," Salyta answered.

At that point, Bowdaar showed up and said to Rhen-Gahl, -Grif is looking for you.-

Rhen-Gahl met with Grif in the cockpit. Grif said gently, "She's alright, just resting. She must have used all of her energy on shielding and healing the others, she couldn't heal herself."

"What injuries does she have?" Rhen-Gahl asked.

"She has a few bruises and scrapes. There are lacerations across her back, though they will be easily fixed and are being soaked with kolto bandages as we speak. She also has some broken ribs, so it's going to hurt for her to be breathing for a while," Grif responded.

"May I go and see her?" Rhen-Gahl asked, though getting up and heading toward the door. He wasn't going to let some Republic smuggler keep him from making sure that Sydrin was safe.

"Go ahead," Grif said. "She woke up earlier and was talking to me and asked for you, but she may have gone to sleep."

When Rhen-Gahl arrived at the med bay, he saw that Sydrin was bandaged up, and laying on her side, asleep. He quietly went to her side and stroked her cheek. "Sydrin?" he asked, hoping she'd wake up, but she didn't. Because she was already stripped down, Rhen-Gahl quickly looked at her back, and saw a red design on her back. He confirmed it for himself that it was a Sith marking.

Finally, Rhen-Gahl pulled off his mask, knelt next to Sydrin's bed and said, "I don't know if you can hear me or what this might mean to you, but I think I'm falling for you."

AN: I'm SOOOOOOOOO sorry about the long hiatus! It's been so long since I've had the motivation and ideas to be able to write. And I promise, this is NOT the last chapter. I don't have a next chapter planned out, but I promise that I will get it out sooner than this one. As another quick note, I wanted to say that in a few days (December 5), I will have been a part of this community for a year! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are always appreciated.