Chaoticians (Southstar)

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The little freighter exited hyperspace in the middle of a private fleet. Although the reaction was immediate, the pilot didn’t flinch, merely steered right through en route to Nal Hutta.

Je’gan Olra’en, displaying an extensive bandage over his upper left arm, sat in one of the two passenger seats directly behind the pilot’s shock couch. His fingers toyed with the lightsaber by his belt; Azubah rather than Kurai, rapier rather than shortsword, claymore and everything in between. At his other hip was a bag containing the head of Jaros Detra. Beside him, his master Southstar sat.

He chuckled. Sith turned bounty hunters.

“Take us in.”

[Southstar]

Southstar ran through the plan in his head. Drop off the head, get the credits, leave. He wanted to stay on Nal Hutta as short as possible. The planet was a hive of Hutts and that only meant bad news for anyone who set foot in the slimy ground.

He swung the ship around after obtaining clearance from ground control and set the it down. They had previously traded their stolen Osidian carrier ship for a standard Sith frigate. Southstar also made a note not to destroy this one.

Southstar exited the ship first, followed by Je'gan. They caught a transport to a small palace. This was getting more and more dangerous as time went by. The hutt could double cross Je'gan and him and get away with it.

As they entered the palace and Southstar found it to swarming with guards and mercenaries. They walked down curving halls and into many different rooms, Southstar did his best to keep track of the way out. They entered a giant room full of pillars and little corners that men could easily hide in. Southstar looked around and noticed a balcony with quite a few guards watching intently.

They exited the room and Southstar felt like he was going to back there very soon. They were now in a through a long, thin corridor that ended with the Hutts main room. There he sat, Hutts always disgusted Southstar. They smelled, they were slimy and fat.

He looked to Je'gan and gave him the go-ahead. Je'gan defeated Detra, he got to claim the reward. As Je'gan stepped forward to finish the agreement with the Hutt Southstar looked around. Not only were there an abundence of guards, but there were quite a few mercenaries. He looked behind the Hutt's massive form and noticed someone in a black cloak watching things from his sheilded eyes. If Southstar didn't know any better, he would have thought it was another Sith.

The Sith walked out a back door followe dby some dancers and servents. Everyone who wasn't armed was leaving and it looked like the Hutt was about to depart as well. The Hutt seemed to be getting stingy with Je'gan; it was apparent he didn't intend on paying. He spoke to Je'gan telepathically, It's a trap!

[Southstar]

Southstar ran through the plan in his head. Drop off the head, get the credits, leave. He wanted to stay on Nal Hutta as short as possible. The planet was a hive of Hutts and that only meant bad news for anyone who set foot in the slimy ground.

He swung the ship around after obtaining clearance from ground control and set the it down. They had previously traded their stolen Osidian carrier ship for a standard Sith frigate. Southstar also made a note not to destroy this one.

Southstar exited the ship first, followed by Je'gan. They caught a transport to a small palace. This was getting more and more dangerous as time went by. The hutt could double cross Je'gan and him and get away with it.

As they entered the palace and Southstar found it to swarming with guards and mercenaries. They walked down curving halls and into many different rooms, Southstar did his best to keep track of the way out. They entered a giant room full of pillars and little corners that men could easily hide in. Southstar looked around and noticed a balcony with quite a few guards watching intently.

They exited the room and Southstar felt like he was going to back there very soon. They were now in a through a long, thin corridor that ended with the Hutts main room. There he sat, Hutts always disgusted Southstar. They smelled, they were slimy and fat.

He looked to Je'gan and gave him the go-ahead. Je'gan defeated Detra, he got to claim the reward. As Je'gan stepped forward to finish the agreement with the Hutt Southstar looked around. Not only were there an abundence of guards, but there were quite a few mercenaries. He looked behind the Hutt's massive form and noticed someone in a black cloak watching things from his sheilded eyes. If Southstar didn't know any better, he would have thought it was another Sith.

The Sith walked out a back door followe dby some dancers and servents. Everyone who wasn't armed was leaving and it looked like the Hutt was about to depart as well. The Hutt seemed to be getting stingy with Je'gan; it was apparent he didn't intend on paying. He spoke to Je'gan telepathically, It's a trap!

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Cheema wutchki!"

Je'gan's tone was incredulous. The Hutt was, to put it bluntly, stiffing them. Not only his business sense was outraged, but his sense of justice as well; he and his Master had personally gone through quite a bit, including incarceration, a minor war and a victim who wouldn't stay dead, to bring this particular head to this particular Hutt.

"Flaima ghee bargro!"

It's a trap!

After that mission, Je'gan trusted Southstar implicitly. He launched himself forward. Azubah ignited, sky-blue blade decapitating both the Hutt and an overzealous defender with two quick sweeps. Blaster fire began to echo, forcing the young Sith to take quick stock of the situation.

All the noncombatants were behind him now that he'd turned, and everyone with a blaster was now firing at him. Taking a minor hit despite his defensive web, he was forced to leap behind the Hutt's carcasse for cover.

Man, if I thought Hutts smelled bad on the outside...

The control panel for the repulsor bed was only a few metres away. It was, however, right in the line of fire for the swarming mercs. He was about to create a distraction before he realized that, yes he was a Sith, and yes he could do minor telekinetics.

It began as a comparatively smooth ride, but various bumps began to mar the integrity of the repulsor field. In a room this crowded, it was very easy to trip and get trampled by the bed. After a suitable number of bumps, he deactivated the repulsors and crushed the guards underneath to jelly, then activated it and kept going.

Levitate, crush, repeat.

The guards weren't complete idiots. Some ran around the bed and opened fire. Je'gan began deflecting, but Form II wasn't good for this. Fortunately, the assault was soon reduced to only one vector, as he sent the bed hurtling into the wall, crushing those attackers rather nastily and disposing of the few that escaped with a negligent flick of Azubah.

[Southstar]

Making replies difficult...

[Southstar]

Blaster fire shot around the room as the Hutt was kille. Je'gan took care of himself, while Southstar activated his lightsaber and began to deflect shots. A masked mercenary began to shoot at him with two blasters; from the looks of his arms, he was Trandoshan. Southstar gradually made his way forward backing the trandoshan to the wall when he leapt into the air, over Southstar and fired from afar.

Southstar spun and deflected a shot from a guard, sending it to its source. Then he saw from the corner of his eye a merc taking a careful aimed shot at Je'gan. Southstar ended his life with a quick thrust through the back. Southstar was beginnign to slow down and called on the Force to give him stamina, he picked up his pase and deflected and slashed his way to the Trandoshan.

He placed the thought in it's head to back away to the left, rather than the right and it soon led him to a corner. Southstar amped up his speed and cut both blasters followed by a strike across it's cheast. It narrowly missed the attack and then slashed at Southstar, but it only cut his garb. Southstar caught its scaley arm with his free hand and threw him across the room, aided by the Force. From seemingly nowhere, the repulsor bed crashed down and killed the Trandoshan.

Southstar deflected a last shot from a guard across the room back to its source while the rest were stamped out. Southstar turned to Je'gan, "Well, that was mildly exciting. Now let's get out of here."

He pushed open the double doors that led to the long corridor and found quite a few more guards behind a heavy blaster cannon. He swore and then ducked back to the room they were just in, narrowly missing the stream of fire. He turned to Je'gan and gave a quick plan. "Ok, I'm going to try and Force jump over them and disable the men operating the gun. I'm going to need to you to charge over there as fast as you can and keep the guards from ganging up on me."

He gave Je'gan a quick nod and ran out intot the hallway. He used the Force to give his legs power and he sprang in the air. The guards with their own blasters began shooting at him, only to have the bolts deflected. He came down hard and managed to decapitate the man at the cannon while knocking the gun over. Guards and mercenaries began to fire rapidly at him. Southstar did his best to deflect the bolts, but they were coming too fast. Hopefully Je'gan was on his way.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The apprentice was, actually, just behind Southstar's field of view as well as the man himself. The removal of the cannon as a threat made for a quick and easy trip, anteceding his Master's by perhaps a second.

Just over half of the guards focused on the younger man, not only because he was noticeably the weaker in deflection, but because he had killed the Hutt personally. This forced Je'gan to hit them with a broadband mental assault, staggering them backwards and giving him time to duck under their field of fire and take several of them out. He was in their midst, though, and couldn't hold out for long; he was relying on his Master to complete the job.

[Southstar]

Je'gan came from the back and distracted half of the men there. Southstar deflected several bolts and then advanced into the crowd cutting several of them down in a single slash. He kicked another over while turning about to face the back of a guard with a large vibroblade about to strike his apprentice. He cut through the guard's torso and gave a Force push on those who he was fighting only a few seconds earlier.

Southstar jumped over the fallen men and pushed through the door, which lead to the large room with pillars. At his first sight he saw several men standing on the balcony who immediatly fired once Southstar was in sight. On instinct he rolled to the right and engaged in combat with two guards. One bolt from the balcony struck a guard and Southstar took the other and used him as a shield.

With his recently deceased sheild Southstar crept to a pillar that provided cover for the moment. He felt safe for the moment and took the oppertunity to look back to see how Je'gan was faring.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

A fewchoice blows mopped up the remainder of that squad. Je'gan shut down his lightsaber, mindful of conserving power, and picked up a nasty-looking blaster rifle. He wasn't terribly good with ranged weapons, but it didn't take much skill to spray the overhead galleries from the relative safety of the hallway until most of his sense of impending danger faded away.

He kept the weapon raised as he entered the gallery, strafing the balcony again, and discarding the weapon's depleted powerpack. It took less than ten seconds to spot another weapon of the same make, and soon the blaster was reloaded.

A door was straight ahead, but the Force was practically screaming at him not to go that way. Instead, by means of a quick mental broadcast, he communicated his intentions to Southstar, then commenced a running jump that carried him high into the air to land lightly on the balcony. The gallery behind it contained a second door, as he'd suspected from the lack of obvious stairwell. This one felt dangerous too, but not nearly so much as the one below.

He kicked open the door and strafed the corridor, cutting down retreating troops like mad. Some of them turned around in time to let loose a few surprisingly on-target shots; Je'gan's superior acrobatic ability enabled him to merely lean aside and occasionally wince as gusts of hot air singed him.

Nothing but bodies remained in the corridor, bodies which impeded his movement down the hall to the staircase they'd descended. A fallen grenade came to his free hand; checking the yield and tapping the activator, he bounced it down the stairs. A thunderous explosion drove him back in a blast of superheated air. The dangerous sense from downstairs disappeared.

Thirteen point five seconds later, the door swung open, and Je'gan was beckoning for Southstar to follow.

Just ahead there's a three-way intersection. The left has the heaviest resistance, but I think it might be a bluff. Do you remember the general direction we have to go?

There. He'd 'said' it. The Apprentice had somehow or other lost his sense of direction.

[Southstar]

The balcony was riddled with blaster fire, the remaining guards were occupied with Je'gan, who was quickly thinning out their ranks. Southstar stepped out from behind his pillar and dropped the body he was using for a shield. At first, it seemed as if he was the only one on the ground floor. Soon enough the illusion faded and several men stepped out from behind pillars.

Southstar swung his lightsaber around with his wrist and leapt into battle. Several shots were fired as soon as he advanced, but an weak, expanding Force bubble pushed the blasters and threw off the shots. Before a guard knew what was happening around him, he was run through by a navy blue lightsaber. The men fell so quickly Southstar wondered if they even knew ahead of time they would be dealing with Sith. Perhaps they just underestimated the Sith's power. Either way it worked to Southstar's advantage.

Quickly, he made his way to Je'gan while picking up his telpathic message. Southstar did his best to recollect how to get out, unfortunatly, it wasn't coming to him. If the left had the most resistence, or at least appeared to, then it meant someone didn't want them to go that way; that was reason enough to go left.

"We'll go left." Southstar said and began to head down the hall to the intersection. He turned to the left and found several guards. Focusing the Force into his fighting he and Je'gan attacked and easily defeated the guards. It was too easy, there must have been more guards there before and the few that had just died couldn't have pulled a good bluff on their own. "Well, I don't think they set a trap." Southstar said, "Something's up. Any ideas?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

It's possible that they've turned this into a trap. I don't sense any life in the vicinity, but-

Oh-

The acolyte's lightsaber snapped up as a small metal ball rolled around the corner they'd come through. He dove instinctively, but still catching a nasty set of shrapnel wounds in his lower back. The grenade took out the hallways. Debris clogged their exit.

We're being herded, Master. What say we let them have it? Cutting their way through rubble being the only other option, really.

[Southstar]

The ball rolled along the ground and Southstar heard it coming. Instinctively he jumped back and threw up a Force shield. He had remained unhurt for the most part, a few tiny bits slipped through. He looked back at Je'gan, although he didn't show it, he was concerned about the wound.

Changing the subject in his mind, Southstat brought his attention to the debri clogging the hallway. They could cut through the rubble or they could continue on the same path. It was obvious, as Je'gan had stated, that they were being herded. But to what?

"Let's continue on the same way." Southstar said and began to hurry before any more grenades came their way. As they rounded a corner they came to an intersection. The path ahead was clear but from each side about five guards were running towards them.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

These fellows ain't too bright, Je'gan sent wryly, whipping Azubah around to stop the first tentative blaster bolts. Once the barrage had reached his limit at to how much he could deflect, by prearranged signal he and Southstar leapt out of the way, allowing the two groups to shoot mindlessly at each other. A simple but powerful mental image, driven into the mind of one of the men who survived the initial bloodshed, was of his comrades continuing to fire at him. That kept them occupied until the two Sith finished the guardsmen off.

You, uh, wouldn't mind teaching me a few higher-end techniques, would you? All I can do just now is make things explode and do basic illusions. A gross oversimplification, of course, but not by much. As far as the Force went, his main skill was in the mind, followed closely by physical enhancement, with telekinesis and telepathy trailing far behind. Reasonably powerful he might be...but not powerful enough that he could survive for long in active circles with only the techniques he now knew.

[Southstar]

Southstar turned around and cut the last of the guards down. "Higher end tricks, huh?" he responded to Je'gan. "I expect you should have figured the mind trick out by now. It's kind of a combonation of telepathy and illusion." Southstar began to head futher down the hallway and talked as he did so. "There is one trick you may want to try. Using the Force to kill cells. But I don't suggest you try that now, it takes quite a bit of energy."

The hall ended at a large room with a massive stained glass window. "I think we've found a way to get out." Southstar said. He glanced around and took in the image of the luxurious room. It didn't seem that there would be a trap, it would be too costly to blow the the room up or fire blasters. Something was up, they were in that room for a reason, but Southstar couldn't pinpoint why the guards would herd them there.

Then a figured dropped from the ceiling to the floor. It rose from its crouched position and removed a lightsaber. The red blade ignighted from the hilt and the figure took an offensive stance. "Imposters." It said in a well disguised voice and charged towards Je'gan and him.

Southstar caught the hacking attack with his own lightsaber and swung it around in an effort to create an opening where he could kill this impostor. The person glided easily with it and turned the defensive manuver into an offensive against Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan, a skilled practitioner of Form II but overall weak on the defensive, seemed to glide just enough out of the way that the saber strike missed. Azubah hissed into a blur of assaults that sought openings relentlessly. All the while, his footwork was making a slow circle around their attacker, eventually putting the acolyte between the mystery being and the stained-glass window.

He'd once, not too long ago, seen Southstar use a similar huge window as a fantastic weapon. Unfortunately, Je'gan simply couldn't duplicate that feat. What he could do was a considerably lesser thing, yet it could help.

A flip took him to the window, albeit with a fresh ache from his back. Nevertheless, he landed it and slashed three times with his saber, freeing a large triangle of glass. He turned to face the mystery Darksider, donned a triumphant grin, and sent the glass flying edge-on at the fellow. A simple enough target to deflect, really...

But not for long.

Even as the triangular panel began to waver from a countering Force-grip, Je'gan clenched his free fist and the it exploded. The cloud of shrapnel accelerated and shredded robes, skin and flesh.

He summoned the Dark Side again and leapt, striking madly as he fell towards his opponent. Even wounded, the man managed to evade both Je'gan and Southstar.

"You're not worthy of a clean kill," the unknown being spat in a hoarse, almost digital voice, advancing in a careful Form V position and launching a flurry of precise strikes at the two Sith. Je'gan though it somewhat wiser to respond in kind than to use words, and soon the three were immersed in a literal whirlwind of blue and red. This fellow was good, though, and he wasn't wounded or tired...or at least, not significantly. It was only a matter of time before Je'gan had tripped and was staring a saber in the face.

[Southstar]

The three broke apart from their tangle and began circling. Southstar began to grab ahold of several things in the room with the Force. Picking up speed as they soared through the air a few crashed into the darksider, who was trying to deflect them as best as he could with his lightsaber.

Southstar took a mental note that the darksider hadn't used telekinesis at all. It could be a weakness. Southstar began to pummel the man with objects.

"I'm not sure who you are," he began to say "Or who you think you are calling us imposters. We are true Sith of Corellia." Southstar then dropped the objects he held with the Force and leaped in attack against the darksider. Their lightsabers clashed and the man was finally looking tired from all the abuse he was receiving. Soon Southstar was backing the imposter Sith up to the window. His anger was flowing freely inside him and the darksider was becoming overpowered. The battle culminated as the darksider took a slash against Southstar, which was caught and Southstar muscled the mans lightsaber to the ground. He waited a moment to let the imposter Sith know he was outdone, then he gave him a strong Force push, which sent him out the window. The man wasn't dead, Southstar knew that, but he couldn't get far in the condition he was in.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan, in contrast, didn't see the point in letting their ambusher get anywhere. Leaping to the windowsill, he looked down, the equivalent of about two stories; the unknown Darksider was just picking himself up.

"Serves you kriffing right."

He clenched his fist and the man's head exploded.

The acolyte turned back to Southstar, a deep sigh betraying his fatigue. Telekinesis, especially such a differentiated variant as the exploding-objects trick, was by no means his forte.

"Now what?"

[Southstar]

"Well, I was interested in finding out who that man was and where he might lead us to, but we can't do that anymore, now can we?" Southstar said and as he finished a blaster bolt zinged by his head. He tured around to find a little group of guards taking aim. Southstar looked down and saw a little ledge eventually would lead them to the ground.

"Come on then." He said and leapt to the ledge, using the Force to keep from falling off. Once securely on the ledge he moved as fast as he could without falling. Then from window sill to window sill he made his way to the ground; Je'gan close behind.

Because the Palace wasn't set oout on a seperate section of land and rather amongst a busy part of the city they were in, escape was going to be easy from there on. Southstar glanced back to where the Sith had died, there was a crowd forming around the body. He approached the crowd and forced his way through. They couldn't take the body with them and Southstar wanted to examine carefully. His eyes scanned over it for anything that might give a clue as to who this was. His search was soon interrupted as sirens echoesd between buildings.

"Time to go." He said to Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan was close to seething, but held his outburst back. He might have overestimated the danger represented by the unknown Darksider, and Southstar might have underestimated it. What was done, however, was done.

Sirens screamed. The Acolyte paused a moment, then knelt by the corpse and, oblivious to the brain matter everywhere, removed the man's belt. On it were several small pouches, which might yield a few clues.

The law enforcement speeder cleared a nearby corner, and people scattered. Je'gan took the opportunity to duck into the shadows with Southstar, but snatched his Master's sleeve before they'd gotten farther than half a block.

"We can probably take that cop car," he said quietly. "Would buy us time to examine the body further."

[Southstar]

Southstar was heading towards the parallel street when Je'gan tugged on his sleeve. Je'gan spoke and his idea wasn't a bad one. Southstar turned back to the scene and along with the police car there was a a medical vehicle as well. "We'll take that one." Southstar said to Je'gan as the medics loaded the body onto the stretcher.

Southstar hurried to the corner and waited the officer was speaking with a few people who saw the incident and the medics were cleaning up the blood on the ground. He crept right by the officer using the Force to make them walk right by the officer without grabbing any special attention. With both medic preoccupied the crept to the cab and got in. Luckily the keys were in the ignition.

The speeder hummed to life and in less than a few seconds it sped off away from the scene. By now, the officer had noticed something was wrong and got in his speeder and began to chase them down. Southstar called to Je'gan to take the wheel and he got up from his seat and walked to the back section.

The rear doors flew open and flapped in the wind. The task would be simple, all it took was a Force push. An invisible hand seemed to come down and push on police car into another, who had just joined the chase. The two cars crashed into a wall and hit several bystanders. The Nal Hutta police and emergancy team would have more than enough to occupy them, hopefully enough to for Je'gan to drive them to the spaceport only a few miles away.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Hang on!" Je'gan hollered, flooring the accelerator while mentally keeping tabs on his Master, just in case the respectable drives of the medical speeder tossed the older man - or the stretcher - out the back. The street was mostly unobstructed ahead of them; all it took was some creative driving to evade traffic, and they were well on their way.

After a minute or so, a decidedly unprofessional roadblock came into view. The vehicles were somewhat shabbier than he would have expected from any self-respecting rim-world, and the weapons larger, and even if they hadn't just finished killing a sluglike crime lord, that screamed Huttese.

"Looks like these guys are in a bad mood. Any suggestions?" He himself had plenty, but after all, Southstar was the Sith Knight here, and Je'gan would trust his master's experience.

[Southstar]

Southstar turned and walked back to the cabin. "We don't have time for this." He said and analyzed the situation. He could use the Force to move them out of the way, but then reconsidered. Several speeders as well as large guns plus the people. He didn't have the energy for that. Only the guns, on the other hand, he might be able to disable for the moment. With the Force he gave a strong push and knocked over the men with them as well as the mounted guns.

"We can try to push through or," He said and noticed a slender ally way. "We can try to squeeze through that." He pointed to the ally which led to the parallel street.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan grinned humourlessly.

"Oh, I don't know. They shot at us, us, an ambulance carrying a body." He ignored the fact that the body was his fault entirely. "I'm a bit ticked right now..."

He gunned the speeder's engines and crashed through the roadblock, taking heavy collision and blaster damage and incurring a hint of whiplash. A quick survey and danger-scan showed that the ambulance wasn't yet in critical condition. Decelerating and handling the controls with a certain finesse, he repeated the stunt he'd pulled with the Hutt's bed until all opposition ceased.

The ambulance wheeled and headed at a significantly reduced top speed for the spaceport.

[Southstar]

As the ambulence crashed through the roadblock Southstar fell into the back room. The body, on a repulsor sled, began to slide out the back door. Southstar cursed himself for not shutting the doors. He scrambled to his knees and leapt and caught the body by its clothes. The sled, however, bounced out and tumbled down the street hitting a police man and a bystander.

He drug the body to the cabin and tossed it in the seat. It slumped over lifelessly. Southstar grabbed hold of a bar and held on tightly, he didn't want to repeat that past accident. As Je'gan rounded a corner the spaceport was now in sight. The ambulence crashed through the gate and came to a halt. Je'gan exited out his door and Southstar out the back. He opened the passanger door and slung the body over his shoulder.

He turned around and began to run in the direction of the ship. Then something stopped him in his tracks. Several guards and police vehicles we standing right by their ship. The two pilots were in the back seat of a speeder. Southstar turned to Je'gan, "Well, that isn't helpful." He said and looked around for a solution.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Even tired, even with a few fresh wounds (and cauterized, luckily), Je'gan was capable of a great deal. The problem was, his mind was stalling. He couldn't think of anything, and as the mental blank persisted, he couldn't think at all. He shook his head sharply, trying to clear it, and succeeded at the price of a minor twinge in his temples.

"They haven't spotted us yet," he murmured. "We don't have ranged weapons. Head straight for them at a slow walk, and be ready to use your sabre."

He headed towards the group, a hand near Azubah, and began summoning mental attacks as fast and as hard as he ever had before. Four of the eight men crumpled; two dead and one blacked out. That was about the limit of his abilities, unless he wanted to lose consciousness himself. As it was, that twinge had returned with reinforcements.

The other half of the small force began looking around as soon as the second body fell, and as he completed the fourth attack he was forced to begin dodging the incoming fire, defending the corpse-laden Southstar until his master dropped it. With a few deft flicks of their sabres, they began slaughtering guards with precisely deflected blaster fire. Je'gan dashed for the transport.

[Southstar]

The body slumped from his shoulder and in not more than a few seconds his lightsaber was in his hand and activated. Blaster shots ricocheted off the blade and headed towards their source. Two more bodies fell. They couldn't stand there forever and deflect shots, it was only a matter of time until one of the guards got lucky enough. What they needed was close combat, something the guards were reluctant to give them.

Je'gan deflected a few more shots than ran off to the transport. If they knew that the ship was ours and we're smart enough to guard it, then they likely set a trap in case anything went wrong. Southstar didn't want to risk it. he began to back between two ships, blaster fire striking the surfaces. The ramp was open to one and no one was in sight, they could steal it.

Southstar ran up the ramp with the body and threw it onto the floor. "Hey!" a female voice called "What do you think you're doing?" Southstar turned to face the business end of a blaster. Slowly he backed up raiseing his lightsaber cautiously in the air.

"No need to shoot." He said. With the Force flowing freely in his body he cut the blaster in half at a inhuman speed. The blade was now only inches from her neck, her hair fizzed and popped as the dark blue blade touched it. "Start your ship. You're taking us out of here."

She nodded slightly and Southstar walked with her to the cabin. As she began to run the primary systems, Southstar gazed out the windo. A large squad of men were approaching the Sith transport. Having seen the type of set up displayed on the control panel before, Southstar knew where the triggers for the man blasters were. He reached over the woman's shoulder and hit several buttons dispite her protests. Blaster fire poured on the men and all but two had died. Hopefully, Je'gan hadn't run into too many obstacles getting to the Sith trasnport.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan cleared the ramp at a running dive, deflecting fire at a furious rate. He rolled to his feet and slapped the ramp controls with his free hand, catching a blaster burn to the edge of his hip. His teeth gritted, Je'gan limped to the cockpit.

"Who's this?" he said raggedly, if with a certain strength. "And how well can she fly?" The implication being, of course, that if either of the two Sith could fly this ship better than Southstar's hostage, her life would be effectively worthless.

[Southstar]

Southstar hadn't been aquainted with their host, he didn;t know her name or anything about her. Je'gan brought up a god point, how well could she fly? "I think it would be better if we took over from here." He said and grabbed the woman by the arm. He yanked her out of his seat and pulled her over to the side wall of the cabin area.

Since he was familiar with the style of the control panel he reved the engines. The repulsor lift took control and slowly lifted the ship off the ground. From the side window Southstar saw a few guards running to the ship. They were out of his sight but he could assume that they were making a jump for the ramp. In the distance he heard a few thuds.

"Where's the ramp control?" He asked out loud. By now the woman had taken the copilot seat and she reached for the switch. The door had shut, but he was sure that at least one of them had made it in.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan swivelled grimly at Southstar's words, heading back towards the airlock. The inner door wouldn't hold the boarder for long.

His mind raced. Azubah was of limited utility aboard ship, especially when the craft was in motion. His dirk was even more limited, seeing as the boarder would undoubtedly have blasters.

He stopped in front of the hatch, hearing sustained blaster fire from multiple weapons. If it had only been one man he could have dealt with the fellow easily, but there were at least three life-signs there. With a grimace, the Force leapt from him and knocked the boarders unconscious. It was definitely an effort, but when the hatch hissed open only one of the three was in any shape to move. This one was quickly - and literally - disarmed, after which Je'gan disposed of the three and headed back to the cockpit.

"I sincerely hope you can get us around that Huttese fleet," Je'gan remarked drily. "I can take the guns if you want to go right through, though. It's your call, Master."

[Southstar]

Southstar didn't need Je'gan to point out the relatively large Huttese fleet, he could see it for himself as they head straight for it. He glanced at the 2D map on the console; there wasn't an abundence of friendly planets. Then the solution floated right before him as the ship took a hard turn: Nar Shadda. He scanned over the scene quickly to decide if it really was a good plan. The traffic was thick, they could easily loose anyone that may be following them. On top of that security was poor in the area, it was very possible that they could get in undetected.

"If you wouldn't mind." Southstar said referring to the Je'gan's manning of the guns. This was a scene played out too many times it seemed; Je'gan on guns and himself piloting. Southstar pulled up hard as two snubfighters flew by from underneath firing their laser cannons. Fireing the thrusters hard he sped for the distance between the planet and its satillite, the capital ships of the fleet wouldn't be able to touch them there, not with all the traffic. He threw the ship into evasive manuvers, he was uninformed when it came to how strong the shields were on the ship and didn't want to die finding out.

His eyes glanced down to a scan of the ship and its surroundings, several blips, likely more snubfighters, were approaching. "Doesn't this thing go any faster?" He said out loud.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan felt a certain frustration, too, but perhaps not quite for the same reasons he was hearing from Southstar. Although they had entered a major traffic conduit, their attackers were still pursuing them, and the traffic made it hard for the Sith to get a clear shot.

With a mental shrug, Je'gan decided to ignore the intervening civilians' presence and merely continue to shoot at the fighters regardless of if they were obscured or not. First one, then two damaged freighters spun away under partial control. One was incautious enough to hit a snupfighter and both craft vanished.

People finally started getting the hint that shots were being exchanged, and the way cleared for a burst of strafing that removed another three fightercraft from the playing field. One had been merely luck...but if Je'gan couldn't keep up this rate of favourable chance, they were as good as dead.

The shields flickered, finally; like most Huttese ships, the fighters were pretty much junk. The only problem was that he wasn't entirely sure how much better this transport could be.

He continued firing and the transport continued to lose shield power. By now there were only four pursuers left of the original full squadron. Those four, however, were the elite. No matter how hard he tryed, they managed to evade everything coming at them. He didn't want to think about the likely result should this turret have been on the top or bottom of the transport rather than dead aft. They were dangerous enough without a blind spot the size of, well, those pilots' employers.

The shields died in tune to the elimination of the last fighters. Tiny drive glows told of another set of fighters inbound. From what Je'gan guessed, they'd be within Nar Shaddaa's atmosphere before those small craft arrived, but there wasn't much room for error.

They cleared the atmosphere and veered crazily through the artificial canyons until a suitably hidden landing spot hove into view. They didn't have long before those fighters found them, though, and Je'gan was at full speed exiting the transport.

A set of black streaks passed high overhead, decelerating for a round turn. They had to get out of here...

[Southstar]

It didn't occur to Southstar that powering down was pointless. But he went through the motions anyway and now only a few lights marking the path out were left on. He got out of his seat and immediatly began running towards the exit. "If you want live, I'd suggest you leave as well." He called back to the woman. She had evidently got the right idea and was following close behind him. He took a hard left and followed Je'gan down the ramp.

"There." he said and pointed down the alley to abridge that lead across to a door lit dimly by a sign that read 'Neb's Tavern.' He ran in that direction with Je'gan and the woman, who was protesting the abandoning of her ship, in tow. As they crossed the bridge a fighter soared overhead, but luckily it had no way of identifying them.

The three entered the bar and Southstar signed and exasperation of relief. It was unlikely the Huttese would find them there. The best place to hide was in plain sight. He walked to a table and sat down. He leaned in his chair and extended his arms, giving them a stretch.

The woman broke the silence. "We can't leave my ship there you know."

Southstar responded, "You can go back. But you'll have to deal with that Huttese fleet." He paused and thought about the consequesnces taking flight in that ship again. "I'd bet the Hutts will put a bounty on that ship's pilot as well."

"Well I want payment for both the ride and what is necessary to remove the bounty... and damages." She said.

Southstar looked across the table at Je'gan, he had all the money they had made off of their previous excursion.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The situation warranted a choice, and finance was not something the young Sith was anxious to get involved in, especially with the pain he was currently in. It had subsided - a bit - but the sensation wasn't exactly pleasurable.

He balanced his options. Truth be told, he wasn't sure why they were keeping the woman alive in the first place. She practically reeked of mediocrity. Perhaps, he mused, it was because she was a local.

Whatever the reason, Southstar seemed just fine with letting her live, and he threw his lot in with his Master. The money pouch - thankfully filled with hard currency - wasn't all that essential. A drop or two off the top wasn't going to hurt anything.

"Fine," he said tersely, not bothering to reach for the money pouch. "How much? And don't expect it all at once; I'm not reimbursing any of that bounty until I know how much we're talking."

[Southstar]

Off the top of his head, Southstar couldn't think of how much the Hutts would demand for the ship and its pilot. But then again, the Sith Order had power in Hutt space, they paid the Order for protection. A few strings pulled and the bounty could be gone. It was something to consider.

"I'm not sure." the woman said. "Figure it out, I'm going to use the restroom." She got up and walked away to the far end of the bar.

"Have you seen her belt?" Southstar asked, he was genuinely curious if he had noticed the major similarities between hers and the one he had removed from the body on Nal Hutta. "What do you think it means?" He continued. "I've checked, she has no significant presence in the Force. Not like the fighter in the palace anyway."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Could be cultural," he guessed, throwing a dirty look at the woman's retreating back and wiping a leftover fleck of brains from his shoulder. "My best guess would be a mark of service, though." He shook his head once, sharply, and focused back on the table.

"I don't see why we owe her anything, Master. She's irrelevant and disrespectful. Why exactly is she with us? OK, never mind," he continued, gesturing frantically. "But why are we accommodating her? Of what possible importance could she be?"

[Southstar]

"I think she may have connections to the mock sith we ran into earlier." Southstar said. "We don't owe anything to her, but I don't want to chase her away. You'll keep your money if that's what your worried about. But she has the idea that we owe her money now and she's not going to leave us." Southstar turned and motioned to a waitress and told her to get him a water.


"When someone feels that you owe them something, it is within your power to make them your puppet. So long as you hold onto that money she will do what we say in order to get it. I think this will be useful in the near future. That is if I am correct about her connection to this mock sith. If I'm wrong, I'll give you the honor of killing her."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He retreated into his drink to cover his chagrin. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious.

"My mistake, Master. I'll pay her when she gets back; I'm not worried about the money. Money is pretty irrelevant to my lifestyle."

Interesting thoughts on manipulation, Je'gan mused. He'd have to look into that a bit more, and hope that someday he could become as good at being Sith as Southstar was.

The belt suddenly caught his attention, and he began fishing through its various pockets. A few out-of-character items yielded themselves; ID cards, for example, as well as authourization to carry weapons, which wasn't exactly a common thing to find on Nal Hutta.

And, among other things, a gun. Small but serviceable, it contained three rounds of flechettes.

"Here," he said, tossing the pouches' contents over to Southstar. "Take a look at what our friend was carrying."

[Southstar]

Southstar caught the pouch and began to scavange through it. The woman was armed, possibly dangerous to any ordinary person. He dropped the weapon back in the pouch and began to examine the ID cards. The woman was authorized to travel through most of the galaxy. Somehow she had obtained both a Sith Order and a New Republic authorization card. Normally the Sith would have turned her down if she already had a New Republic pass. and vise versa.

"One of these has to be fake." He said and tossed them to Je'gan. He searched through a few more pcokets and did not find anything spectacular until he reached the last pocket. He pulled out a peculiar looking object, it was solid and had a hexegonical shape. The top flat side held an insigna, but it did not match that of the belt.The bottom had little bumps and grooves. It didn't seem to be electronical.

Southstar's concentration was broken as he heard the door in the back open. Quickly he stuffed the pouches contents back into place, except the object, and tossed it to Je'gan. As she approached the table Southstar slid the object into his own pocket.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Were it him, Je'gan mused, he would have queried her about the strange object immediately...but it was Southstar's call, after all, and he had to remember that.

As she began her approach, the younger Sith slid the belt off the side of the table, just in time to prevent her noticing that they'd been rooting through it.

"You know," he said conversationally, "this is an interesting belt. In fact, there's a corpse back in your ship that's wearing an identical one. Know where I could get one?"

"The money." Terse and abrupt, she settled herself across from him, thumping her elbows on the table. "Now, if you'd be so kind. Or aren't you in an honourable mood today?"

The barb irritated him; he swept it aside and met her gaze hard enough that she backed down. "You'll have to wait. That was a substantial bounty we collected, but not enough to cover everything and leave my Master and myself with some working capital." A bluff, but she wasn't a Forcer to detect it, and he was reasonably skilled in keeping his face under control. The bounty would easily cover everything. One didn't just assassinate a Hutt and get away with it.

Of course, on second thought, that swung both ways. And for better or for worse, the cards were about to be laid out on the table.

"Tell you what. You give us everything you know about that Hutt's Dark Jedi bodyguard, and we consider a...bonus. The Sith Order isn't destitute, you know."

[Southstar]

Southstar watched as her eyes lit up at the mention of a bonus. Je'gan was baiting her and taking her for all she was worth. Southstar knew the woman was full of information, but intuition suggested there was more to be revealed.

"There is a... um, a... a business organization with that belt symbol. I work for them, but I've never heard of employing Jedi... or Sith." Her hesitance and studdering betrayed her immediatly, she was clearly hiding something.

"Now wait, this mock sith was clearly working with the Hutts; a hutt heavily involved in crime. I'm thinking your 'business organization' is more of a crime group." Had the organization been operating against the New Republic, they would have to pay a tax and be registered with the Sith Order. He would be at least knowledgeable of their existance if they had abided by the rules.

"I think you're lying." Southstar stated. "You have to know about this darksider. So spill it or no credits."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I - that's -"

A pause.

"Yes, yes I do.

"Here it is. There's an old Barabel Dark Jedi out in the borders of Hutt Space, goes by the name of Cuulvaer. He's been dabbling in the Force since long before the Sith Order came to Corellia, and he's got money - don't ask me how."

"And what does he do with it?"

"He teaches people."

"The Force?"

"Anything. He's got Forcewielder disciples by the handful, and hundreds of other people, normal people like me, who go to him for piloting or military training, or even just for an education."

"Charitable bloke," Je'gan said, voice flat. "Hires his people out to Hutts, then?" He ignored the obvious question: why no word had come out of the area about this setup; why TSO in particular hadn't heard of this Forcer.

"Debt. It's a fair trade; the Hutt clan hides him, and he sends some of his best people to work for them."

"To what end?"

"End? Ah, I've never heard him speak of one."

"You're lying again. Don't make me amputate a limb."

"Yeah...

"Ah..."

"Spit it out."

"He's not fond of Sith. In fact, he's got something bad against a few members of the Order on Corellia. Something about his friend getting killed during a TSO training mission..."

Je'gan's eyes flicked to Southstar, seeking some sort of comment on how things should go. He had a pretty good idea how the elder Sith would comment, but he wanted to be sure.

[Southstar]

Southstar searched his memory to try and find out who might have been killed on a Training Mission. As far as he knew, no one from the Sith order had died on a mission. Maybe someone they killed, that was probably what the women meant. That could be anyone.

Without a doubt, this Barabel... what was his name? Cuulvaer?, had to be taken care of. "So where is this Cuulvaer located?" He questioned, knowing ahead of time she was going to lie she was going to either lie or deny knowing.

"I don't know. I just pick up cargo and take it somewhere; I've never meet him."

"Right. You brought that mock sith to Nal Hutta, you had to of because there is no way two members of this little cult happened to be within ten miles of each other." He said "This cult has to be very small or else the Order would have crushed it long ago. I think that you must have had direct contact with this Barabel; so where is he?"

"I honestly don't know, the group is scattered all over."

Southstar leaned back in his chair. He didn't get an exact planet as he hoped for, but he did get a bigger description of how the cult worked. Southstar was still convinced she knew where Cuulvaer was, but wasn't giving them the location for a reason. He reviewed the facts in his mind again; they hated the Order and Sith, and the group was small enough that the members probably shared the same passion.

Southstar concluded that She wasn't giving them the location because she feared they would leave and attack later with a strong force. However, he was willing to bet that she would take Je'gan and himself without telling them where they were going, the cult would have some advantage against two Sith then.

"Why don't you take to where you picked up the warrior? If you help us, you may be able to earn a job within the Order. And I guarantee the pay will be much better." He bribed her.

"I don't think so." She replied. Whether she was genuine in her refusal or just trying to make it seem so, she was going to take them no matter what. He looked towards Je'gan, who seemed to have taken on the 'bad cop' role in the conversation.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"You see this dirk at my side?" His tone was conversational, matched for normalcy by the expression on his face. "The one with the thick handle? It contains microcircuitry that allows it to function as a neuronic whip."

The woman's face went utterly white.

"You would be most unwise to turn down an offer from the Sith Order, mistress. Most unwise. I suggest, though, that if you're still hesitant about accepting employment, you simply take us to anywhere you know members of this group to be. That failing, to where you picked up the Dark Jedi."

He wasn't expecting this to be easy. Amazing what a little fear could do, though. Something he might want to look into in his studies with mentalics.

"Done." Once she'd said it, a bit of colour returned to her face. Je'gan smiled.

*** *** ***

He awoke the next morning, Southstar having taken the last sensing shift before sunrise. The woman's hotel room was sandwiched in between those of the two Sith; even so, they weren't taking any chances. He tossed on the simply cut black robes that seemed so popular within the Order, buckled on both Azubah and the lightsaber he'd taken off the Dark Jedi's corpse, and took his sweet time in the 'fresher before going to relieve his master at the room's door.

"No disturbances, I take it?"

[Southstar]

Southstar rubbed his eyes and answered the knock at his door. "Not one." He responded. For the most part, he was ready to go, now they only waited on the girl. She had been up for nearly an hour, there shouldn't be any excuse for taking more time. He exited his room and knocked on her door, after a minute the door opened and the woman was dressed and ready to go.

They walked out of the hotel in an uncomfortable silence, but Southstar and Je'gan had kept up a light conversation telepathically. Then the silence was finally broken after the woman realized they were going somewhere, but not towards where they left her ship. "Where are we going? My ship was towards the east."

"We're not taking your ship. I've arranged for the Sith Order to lend us one of their ships." He responded.

"We can't just leave my ship here!" She protested.

"We can and will. That thing is flying target right now and will only bring us trouble. Now come on, our ship is this way." he said and rounded a corner into a small port. They walked for a few minutes until they came to a small office building.

"Wait here." He said to Je'gan and the woman. "I'll find out where our ship is." As he walked through the door he heard the woman start speaking again.

"You know, they'll recognize a Sith Order ship." She said triumphantly as if she discovered a hole in the Sith's plan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Not this ship," he said, a bit of gloating creeping its way into his voice. "For one thing, without the markings it looks and scans more or less exactly like a standard bulk cruiser. Its ID and crew are totally clean. Forged records, too; as far as anyone knows, it asked for orbit clearance three days ago, and the Hutt family that controls this particular chunk of space over Nar Shaddaa isn't the one we just ticked off. They won't notice in time."

"Obviously they sometimes work to common goals," she rejoined. "Or had you forgotten that-"

"I know perfectly well that those mercs were allowed free run of this sector's airspace. Communication between families, though, is substantially slower than communication within a family. If the timing's right, we'll be out of the Nal Hutta system before they catch on. Ah, here's Southstar now."

[Southstar]

"Over there." Southstar said as he walked and pointed two rows down. "It should be on the aisle." he was referring to the one they were walking down at the moment.

"By the way, the hutts have released a statement that they're looking for our girl here." He said and jerked a thumb her way.

"Why me!?!" She protested. "Why not you two? You did all the damage!"

"Because the Hutts can't just state outloud that they want us dead. Because if they did, the Sith Order would come down on them without mercy. Keep in mind the Hutt planets are in Sith space, much like this renegade Barabel operation." After speaking he approached the ship and entered the code for the boarding ramp to open.

"Even the Hutts fear us, girl." He said and boarded the ship. It was not much like any of the Order's ships, this one was a little old and not as fast. But it would serve it purpose.

"Get this thing running and in the atmosphere." he ordered the girl and then he turned to Je'gan. "We obviously can't just fly the ship in and set down. The girl is without a doubt going to warn them of our presence, throught he Force I'm expect. But I don't think they'll take out our ship with her in it. She doesn't want to die and I don't think her boss wants her dead either." He mused.

"Make it clear to her that she is going to die unless she is rescued. The Barabel's men will have to board, we take our chances with them, defeat them and have the girl announce that we're dead to the ground forces and we take their boarding ship and keep the surprise. Keep in mind we're dealing with other Force users, guard your thoughts."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Good plan," he said succinctly, throwing a glare at the largely uncompliant woman. "Let's just hope our pilot here can get us off Nar Shaddaa."

*** *** ***

"Jara control, this is the transport Howl, bound for Emrah with a cargo of livestock, over."

Jara, according to their pilot, was a colony world that hadn't yet reversed the direction of support between itself and its founding system. Ships like this one were fairly commonplace.

And yet they still managed to attract the attention of what passed for a planetary armada in these parts. It looked like Southstar had been right, and the girl was a Forcer. Je'gan wasn't terribly surprised at being wrong. When it came to Master, a being possessed of considerably more skill and inestimably greater foresight, he usually was.

It looked like an old Imperial ATR, and it scanned as one too. Je'gan and Southstar hid in the reactor room to reduce lifesigns, leaving the woman comatose at the controls thanks to a neat set of mind manipulations. Best part of all, if there were Forcers on that transport, they'd feel a disturbance in keeping with a Dark Side battle and not much else. Mind powers weren't the most common of a Sith's skills.

The trap went well. The two Sith managed to circumvent the boarding party and take the ATR without major fuss. They then disposed of the troops remaining on the TSO craft, albeit with difficulty. Loss of communications with their commanding officer had tipped off the twenty or so crammed into that vessel.

Mental discipline, as Southstar had emphasized, was paramount. It turned out that the boarding party had included one lightsaber-swinging fanatic who'd lasted a whole six seconds against the Sith. Thinking ahead for once, Je'gan knocked him out and implanted a set of compulsions that would prevent him from waking up.

"Now what, Master?" he said. "Do we split up and take both craft? I'm certainly not leaving her alone here."

[Southstar]

An light armored soldier was breathing heavily on the ground and bleeding. Slowly, his breaths became heavier and eventually died. Southstar didn't know exactly why he got a rise out of causing another's pain, but the lack of answers never slowed him down. That was the last man of the invasion force, now it was down to himself, Je'gan and the woman; who was hovered over the recently deceased lightsaber wielding maniac.

"Now what, Master? Do we split up and take both craft? I'm certainly not leaving her alone here."

Logically, if the twenty men had won the little skirmish then both ships would be taken to be docked. To keep up the illusion they would have to take both ships in.

"Assuming you can fly, we will take both. You take the old Imperial ship." He said to Je'gan. He didn't want to leave him with the woman, she had yet to fufill her purpose to them. They parted and Southstar walked past the woman towards the cockpit.

"Get up, we have things to take care of yet." He told her as he gazed out the window and saw four junky fighters approaching. through the yet to be closed tunnel betweenthe two ships he heard one of the fighters pilots hailing the old imperial ship. Hopefully Je'gan could convince them that there was no reason to suspect anything was up.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Roger-" a glance at the IFF "-Slide Flight. Mission accomplished."

The words were to buy time only. As soon as those fighters entered scanning range, they'd realize that there were far fewer lifesigns aboard the ATR than there really should have been...namely, one. And that was not going to be pretty.

"Returning to base."

He reached out through the Force and slipped a mental image into the minds of the passing pilots: a false scan, showing a roughly normal amount of lifesigns. As it was expected by the pilots, it was comparatively easy, and the deception went off well.

Je'gan blinked and activated the controls for the airlock. See you groundside, he sent to Southstar, and disengaged the corridor. As the local enforcer, the Apprentice took point, guiding the two vessels down through the atmosphere. The fighters had moved on, which was a good thing. The old ships made it intact, and guided themselves towards a large tarmac pad, the ATR considerably shakier than the TSO craft. Je'gan was a fast learner and was listening to the Force for all he was worth, but he was no pilot.

The board pinged: they were being scanned.

Oh, joy.

How long do we continue the deception, Master?

[Southstar]

As he walked to the cockpit the woman responded to him quietly. "You killed Jamar..."

There were a number of ways to responding to this. For one he could justify the action by pointing out that they attacked first. Or he could pass it off to Je'gan, who likely implimented the killing blow; Southstar didn't know exactly who ended 'Jamar's' life, it all happened so fast. For all he knew, Jamar could have died from a hard attack upon seeing the two Sith.

"Deal with it." To be honest, he wasn't in the mood for the bantha fodder. "I thought you were supposed to be a darksider, or something like it."

She frowned and didn't move for a moment. Had it not been for the Force, Southstar might not have seen the woman grab the lightsaber on the floor and jump to stab him in the back. Without turning around he used telekinesis to grab the girls spinal nerves and he pinched them, hard. Both the lightsaber and her body clattered to the floor.

"Nice try." He remarked. "You know, you're lucky you're still alive. You'll be lucky if you're still alive after this." he waited a second to give it a chance to sink in. "But you've still got a chance... Get up here and expose every secret this little organization has, and I'll let you off."

Southstar honestly didn't know if she would live after it all. So what if he broke his promise. He had a lot more that he should get a guilty conscience about. Braking a promise was nothing new.

"You're lying." she stated. "I know it."

"Look, I know you have the darkside mentality. You're not going to give up your life for anything; neither of us are Jedi. You can die now..." He pinched her nerves a little harder. "I could paralyze you." Anger poured into his voice "Or you can do as I say!"

Through tears and quiet cries of pain she winced. "Fine... FINE! You're right, just... just stop it."

Sometimes the only incentive people needed was a solution to the immediate problem, regardless of future consequences. He let go of her nerves and turned his attention back to the fleeting fighters. Je'gan had closed the corridor and lead the way to the nearest dock.

---

I think we can lift the illusion. Southstar told Je'gan telepathically. They're going to find us in a few moments anyway. Drop your boarding platforms and come out swinging.

He told the woman next to him to drop their boarding ramp and ordered her to follow him. He paused at the door and waited a moment.

"Hey! There's only three people total on board!" The guard cried.

Upon hearing the guard's discovery Southstar ran half way down the ramp and leapt towards a small group of armored men. They barely had time to raise their rifles before they clattered to the ground, limbs attached. His navy blue blade became a blur as it killed and wounded the men.

After only a minute the sound of running men sounded from the single hallway that lead from the docking bay. They appeared in sight seconds after and they were carrying two old blaster cannons. Southstar wondered if they worked or were just there to scare the Sith into hiding. More men rushed into the room and split into two groups. One charged towards him, blasters firing. The other ran behind the old Imperial ship to engage Je'gan, who, from the sound of the falling bodies was handling himself well enough.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

KaBANG!

As one, the front line's blaster power cells detonated. Je'gan waded in to dispose of them with dirk and lightsaber, taking numerous small wounds in the process.

He paused to catch his breath, and then his danger-sense flared as a pair of minor Darksiders leapt at him. A blaster cannon opened up, and for a moment - all it took him to focus a detonation inside the blocky generator - he was dodging frantically whilst fending off the Dark Jedi weapons.

The explosion was more massive than that he had caused directly, a side effect of the sheer energy being released in the generator's collapse. He rode the shockwave, letting it buffet his arm into an unexpected backhand that removed one of the Dark Jedi as a threat.

The other was more capable, and actually caught his thrown dirk quite neatly. His satisfaction was replaced with horror, however, as Je'gan activated the dirk's neuronic whip function telekinetically. The Apprentice finished the man and retrieved his dirk, then hit Southstar's few remaining attackers from behind, the Sith Knight having already disposed of his own blaster cannon.

"I...ah...now what? Did you get the location for their main base out of the girl, or do we have to take a look at traffic control before we level it?"

[Southstar]

"Main base?" He turned and asked the girl. Hopfully she would give a straight answer.

"Through the tunnel to the left all the way down until you reach the next major complex." She replied.

Southstar wasn't about to take her word for it. On the ship he had managed to establish a constant connection to her mind when she had been weakened by his telekinesis attack. In an instant he could have full access to her mind, but only for a few moments due to growing yet to be done by the link. it only took a second of seaching her subconscious to know the tunnel to the left lead the to main base. The tunnel to the right lead to the barracks.

"You had better not lie next time I ask you a question." If he asked her another question. "Je'gan. See if you can lock those doors." He said and pointed to the doors to the right tunnel. "We'll be going this way."

Southstar grabbed the girl by the wrist and dragged her behind him as he approached one of the fallen guards. He was right, just as he expected, the guards were carrying stuncuffs on them. He removed them from the guards dead bodya nd placed them on the girl.

"I wouldn't try anything foolish if I were you." He said expecting her to know that a full shock from the cuffs could send a human into a coma.

Je'gan, I'm expecting this Barabel to be a fairly decent fighter as well as experienced in mentalics. We have a small edge, two against one, but we will use this girl to offset his focus. Do you know anything about the physical traits of Barabels? he asked telepathically.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Likely pretty strong, physically that is. The Apprentice reached out with the Force, frowning as he tried to penetrate the blanket of malevolence that prevented his limited Sense skills from getting much of a reading on the Dark Side presence down in the base. There seemed to be more than one, but how many more he couldn't say.

Watch out for the tail, he continued at last. I don't think it's prehensile, but it'd make an effective bludgeon.

We're pinioned between the control center and the barracks, Master. Those doors are pretty sturdy, and I melted the lock, but they might have Forcers in the barracks who are capable of hiding their signatures. We'd best hurry.

They continued down the hall some ways, a certain Sithly cynicism as well as their own skills barricading them against an oppressive mental influence. Southstar had been right, or at least partially: among the Forcers present in the command centre - and there were definitely more than one - there was found a not inconsiderable skill at mentalics. They would have enough to deal with. Je'gan set up barricade after barricade behind them to delay the inevitable response from the barracks. They were less than fifty metres from the command centre - judging by how far away the minds felt - when he got an idea.

Master, I'm going to try something. Cover me...

Taking a deep breath and calling the Dark Side, Je'gan dropped his resistance to the mental assault and let the negative emotions flow through him; despair, fear, horror, and worse. It was powerful, but he was Sith and a mentalist besides. He reached out and felt the connection between his mind and the unknown Darksider's, hovered on the edge of snapping it with a precise, razored blow-

And instead began to draw it in. The Dark Jedi took it as victory, which gave Je'gan a precious few moments to begin reinforcing the link and turning it into a true bridge, and then farther, melding, melding...the Dark Jedi was resisting...the Dark Jedi was winning...

...the Dark Jedi...

...was gone. Two protoplasmic lobes of the same gigantic, miraculous construct - a sentient mind. Two lobes. Becoming one.

Absorb. Absorb. Meld.

...agh barakk ishn. Emmur rep...

Some language thoroughly unknown to Je'gan. He felt the Barabel - it was likely Cuulvaer, no, it was Cuulvaer most definitely - and felt his thoughts as if they were Je'gan's own. The Sith Apprentice felt also the Barabel's muddled response to sensing Je'gan's psyche as part of his. He smiled mentally, felt confidence, felt the Barabel suppress his fear...

...fear...

...hatred...

...confidence...

...confidence. Je'gan's own confidence.

Nothing else.

A minor eternity later, he opened his eyes. Somewhere, drained of a soul, a dead body lay. The Apprentice blacked out for a moment, leaning against the wall just as a trio of cloaked figures rounded a bent and pointed themselves at Southstar. They moved carefully, with an undeniable grace, and each was armed with a lightsaber.

"G'luck...I'm out of it for the moment..."

[Southstar]

Je'gan's body collapsed to the floor and Southstar swore. He had managed to follow along with what Je'gan was doing mentally, however he did not approve. Je'gan was a still an apprentice and he had just mentally taken on a knight level (at least) darksider. But he had succeeded and impressed Southstar in the process.

Perhaps he is ready for promotion. Southstar considered mentally. But it was a thought for another day. Right now he had Je'gan's unconscious body and the girl. He couldn't just hide Je'gan somewhere and come back later, there were Barabels present, they saw though infrared vision and would catch him instantly anywhere he hid. He swore again and picked Je'gan up and slung him over his shoulder.

"Come on." He barked at the girl. He travelled the 50 meters with ease and came upon the control room, which was filled with a dozen darksiders. The noise of twelve lightsabers ignighting filled the room, however, none of the darksiders seemed prepared to make a quick move.

Fear. He commanded over and over with his mind, the word being pronounced repeatedly in the minds of the young darksiders. Southstar drew on all the images of violence he had seen firsthand in his life; whether it was the wars he had experienced or an up close murder. The images pulsed from his mind to theirs.

He didn't need to break through their defenses to drag them into his trap, this was violence and these were darksiders, natural curiosity would draw them in. Judging by the stillness in the room, Southstar could tell they were all captivated. What made this effective was that no one could become completely desensitized to violence, not even a Sith Master. Seconds passed and Southstar had accomplished what he set out to do, the apprentices were shaken up knowing that their fate could be any one of those shown in the images in their mind.

A young Falleen leapt at him lightsaber held high in the air, arcing down, an attack designed to cut him in half. Southstar stepped to the right and forward, withdrew and ignighted his lightsaber, and swung it so that the side of his navy blue blade was in the back of the green skinned alien. All the while he did not remove his glance from the other apprentices. With its spinal cord severed the recently deceased alien crumpled to the floor. Never sacrifice attack power for show.

Fueled with anger, mostly at the fact that all these... children, had been led astray by this Cuulvaer. The Sith Order had so much more for them, but it was too late now. A Mon Cal and a Devaronian were slayed and fell to the ground, followed by their Wookie friend. A Rodian with much more skill than his peers enganged Southstar next and managed to cut Southstar across the chest. He ultimately died at the hand of his careless Twi'lek friend; who soon joined him. Two more Nikto attack from the right, possibly brothers (but Southstar could never tell with aliens), one died and the other was killed staring at his bother's severed head.

Left now was a Barabel, a hairy alien and two humans, whom Southstar felt the most remorse for having to kill. The humans attacked from behind while a Barabel and a Bothan, possibly a Selonian, attacked from each side. Southstar spun around and caught both the human's lightsaber with his and ducked the slashing attacks of the other two. He pushed the humans back with the Force and kicked the Barabel and hairy alien. One human attacked and lost his hand as Southstar spun around and defended against the Barabel, and split the hairy one in two. The human lost his other hand as Southstar engaged the other human. The Barabel attacked from behind and found Southstar's Force enhanced leg planting a kick in its gut. The handless human was then decapitated by the same diagonal cut that cut the legs from his human friend, who was left to bleed to death.

For a moment the Barabel and Southstar locked eyes. The Barabel had showed the most potential in the Force out of them all, Southstar suspected he was Cuulvaer's child. Maybe. They circled each other for long seconds. Any moment now the Barabel would attack, they were a viscious species. Southstar spit blood, he wasn't aware he had taken a hit that would cause this, but using the Force to blind him from pain had this side effect.

The lizard flicked its tongue, sensing the blood on the ground. Whatever doubt it had that Southstar was at full power left its mind and it engaged him in combat. Southstar could parry the Barabel's lightsaber attacks easily enough, but a few scratches from its claws was what was causing the real damage. Barabels were natural fighters, they didn't necessarily need the Force in combat. They dueled for ten to twenty minutes but it seemed like hours, until Southstar took a hit to the side from its tail and he rolled across the ground. Immediately he got up and engaged the lizard again, striking at its head. The lizard brought its lightsaber up to deflect, but with his telekinesis Southstar dislodged the focusing crystal and the lightsaber shut off. The Barabel instinctively ducked and met Southstar's boot face first followed by his navy blue blade being driven through its chest.

He turned off his lightsaber and faced the girl who was quietly sobbing in the corner. A belly laugh burst from his mouth and echoed throughout the chamber. Honestly, he couldn't help it. The Barabel was too focused on combat to guard against any telekinesis attack. Such a simple trick as dislodging a focusing crystal could be a man's downfall. He approached the girl and smiled.

"So, what did you think?" He asked but did not expect a response. "Your whole organization has been brought down around you."

"Cuulvaer is still alive. He's going to kill you." She said and spat at him.

"Alive, maybe. but with a mind of his own, I doubt it. You don't think Je'gan would collapse for no reason do you? Of course not, you've been watching the whole time, you saw what Je'gan did. Through the Force I mean." Southstar started stepping away from her. "You've been keeping your Force presence small this entire time, just to throw us off. So that we wouldn't suspect..."

"I was running the show all along, well, co-leading. Cuulvaer actually began the organization, did a lot of the operation planning himself, I covered teaching and training." She responded and sighed. She threw the stun cuffs to the floor. "How'd you know?"

"I suspected it since the bar. Your telepathic connection with the others on the ship confirmed your Force sesitivity. And this confirms my theory."

She nodded and looked at the floor. An idle lightsaber laying across the room flew to her hand as she swung at Southstar. However, He did not move, Je'gan had been awake for the past minute or two, listening to the conversation. But if Southstar was aware that he was awake, then so was the girl. Anyone who could make their Force signature seemingly disappear was at least at a high knight level, she would be prepared for a surprise attack. But all Southstar expected was that Je'gan catch her lightsaber with his. The girl needed to be aware that she would be facing both of them.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Crackbang!

The power cell in the woman's lightsaber detonated, spraying all involved with shrapnel. The living flinched, the dead couldn't have cared less.

Another soared to her hand in fractions of a second, but by that time the two Sith were fully engaged with the enigmatic teacher. A still-weak Je'gan found himself taking a natural backseat to his more experienced, more energetic, and more skilled Master. He was still fast, but his mind and soul were tired. His Force skills had trickled to levels comparable to those of his early apprenticeship.

And that meant trouble. Je'gan knew full well that his survival against so many Forcers had been mainly luck, blended with a healthy does of paranoia. The only way to survive against someone like this was to dance, to maneuver in and out of their guard with all possible speed. It was a method that one usually ascribed to women, because of their inferior strength as a rule, but Je'gan felt no embarassment: without Force enhancement he was fast but not as fast as she, strong but not to her level.

Fortunately, Southstar was better, even after the exertion of taking out a full dozen Darek Side cultists. Good enough, in fact, to match the teacher. She knew it, and thus Je'gan fell under more than half of the attacks. Defense was not his strong suit.

She spun to strike at the older Sith, sliding under his saber and past it in a whirl that caught Je'gan off guard and knocked Azubah from his grasp. Southstar aimed an excellent strike that would have filleted her, but she spun her weapon in a circle behind her back and knocked both that and the follow-up totally off course. Je'gan used the opening, leapt forward, but found himself immersed in a storm of blades. The deceptively young Dark Jedi amped up her physical enhancement, and for the first time the Sith were really being driven back, in fact herded together by skillful, ballet-like motions.

This advantage of hers had to end. With a tiny telepathic signal that came almost simultaneously from each of the Sith, they rolled away to either side and slammed feet-first into a pair of consoles.

hi/lo

hi

After the almost subconscious communication, it took perhaps a second. Each pushed off towards the Dark Jedi who was pinioned between them for the moment. Je'gan skidded along the tiles face-up, flicking about with Azubah. Southstar, by contrast, was spinning about his long axis horizontal to the floor and laying down a tornado of navy fire. Perhaps because of the sheer oddness of the attack, she moved a second too late, and two shades of blue flame met in a burst of yellow static just behind her stomach.

They hit hard, Southstar recovering faster than Je'gan despite having a longer distance to fall after he hit the wall. Each was tired, battered...but the danger-sense was going haywire. The people in the barracks had finally made it through the barricades and were coming very, very fast. Boots slapped on metal decks, dozens, and by mutual agreement the Sith were out of there, entering the backup turbolift and heading for the surface.

Je'gan took full advantage of the time to catch his breath, surveying his Master as he did so.

"You all right?"

[Southstar]

The shrapnal that exploded from the lightsaber was beginning to cause more pain than he could handle in his weakened state. He pulled on a large bit that was embedded in his chest.

"You know, I honestly wish you hadn't done that." He said and discarded the piece of metal. Something ached in his cheek and after another second of picking, another piece of metal was removed. He ran a mental check over his body, taking note of every cut and bruise there. He inhaled deeply and exhaled, his lungs hurt, they had been overworked in the past hour or however long they were down there. What time was it anyway? he wondered.

"But all is well." He said and picked another piece out of his forearm. "But you need to start thinking before you act, at least a little." Thinking before throwing the switch on the console might have cost both the Sith their lives. Je'gan's impulsive actions had also costed them some information that may have been valuable when he caused the masked Sith's head to explode. Maybe they could have avoided the surprise attack the girl held on them.

Maybe he pondered.

Southstar reached out and hit a lower floor button on the display on the turbolift wall. "We're not done yet. While the girl hid her Force signature I managed to find out a little about this little thing." He said and removed the polygonical shaped object he stole from the girl at the bar. "It's a key to a large vault on the northwest hemisphere. We should be approaching the general vicinity in just a moment."

Southstar wished he could scan the deck for any life signs, but it would be too costly on his mind and body. "I don't expect anyone to be up there. Both their leaders have just been killed, everyone on the base is most likely at their bodies." If Southstar believed in a god, he would be praying right now that no one was on the deck. They approached the floor and hid against the walls so that anyone looking in wouldn't immediately see them.

Ding!

The lift stopped and the doors opened. Southstar waited a moment and glanced at Je'gan. No footsteps or voices, they didn't need telepathy to know the other was thinking no one was there. Southstar stepped out first lightsaber in hand and ready to atrike anyone who dared to move against him. Nobody did.

"Good." He stated and began walking to the stone turret that stood out from the metal like Wookie in the Emperor's court. The whole thing was very primative looking. Symbols decorated the sides in a repeatitive manner and on the top was a very large symbol that was very similar to that on the girl's belt. Though primitive looking, Southstar assumed it had been built within Cuulvaer's lifetime, but who knew how long a Barabel lived. In the middle of the giant symbol was an indentation, what went in the indentation was obvious. Southstar placed the polygonical object into it and the symbol shuddered and began to break apart into four even pieces. The two Sith stepped back onto the ledge to avoid falling into the newly formed hole.

Besides a gaping hole, the symbol revealed a set of stairs, which the two Sith followed. As they walked deeper and deeper the air became colder and drier. To be honest, the place was beginning to give him the creeps. Finally the stairs ended and Southstar gave it a look around but all he could see was black. Protruding from the seemingly endless black was a heavily breathing lizard; Barabel to be specific. Southstar nearly ignighted his lightsaber and attacked but he refrained from doing so realizing the Barabel was completely mindless. He sighed in relief, he didn't think he could handle another fight.

"Mistriss Galarra?" An old voice croaked. "Master Cuulvaer has lost all signs of consciousness and... Oh." An old Twi'lek, obviously a slave, stopped speaking and stepped into the light, close to Je'gan and Southstar. "I suppose you will kill me too then. Eh?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"No, we most certainly will not be." Je'gan, having really caught on - at last - to the concept that living people were generally more interesting and/or informative than dead ones, was slightly irritated. "You've done nothing against us, and aren't likely to be able to, so why should we bother?"

He looked around as the Twi'lek stammered, trying to get some idea of what lay beyond the ring of light from the single overhead lamp.

"What is this place?"

"It was Master Cuulvaer's home; he called it his little sanctuary." The Twi'lek's expression was forlorn. "I assume you killed Mistress Galarra?"

"We did."

"And she did not-"

Je'gan became impatient with the ensuing silence. "She did not what?"

"Disintegrate. That's what powerful Darksiders do when they pass on, is it not?"

"No, she didn't. I really doubt - hang on a second. What do you mean by 'pass on'? That's not an idiom you find in Hutt Space..." Something was nagging at him, but he didn't know quite what. He rather suspected that if his connection to the Force was stronger, he'd be able to interpret.

"Pass on. Forsake her body at death and move to another. She said she had done it before."

Je'gan wheeled on Southstar, eyes wide and blazing. "Body-trading, Master!"

[Southstar]

"You can't be serious." Southstar muttered. Body-trading? How powerful are these people? He asked himself. Who could she possibly- Southstar turned quickly to check if the Barabel was still sitting in his seat, he was not. Southstar uttered a curse as his attention was brought to the closing door. Galarra, or Cuulvaer was locking them in.

"Barabel's see with infrared vision. It can see us through the dark." Southstar said to Je'gan as he looked carefully through the darkness. His back was to Je'gan, who was thankfully guarding it. They were both in a weakened state, both had exerted such energy and strength that Southstar wondered how he could even stand. Southstar ran through the possibilities. It was possible that Galarra had in her hands a fully charged body, ready to pounce on the two Sith. But then again a transfer of minds could have taken its toll on her ability to use the Force. A thought occured to Southstar as he reachedout witht he Force to try and find the barabel inthe Force. Nothing. The mock Sith at the Hutt's palace, the one Je'gan killed, that was Galorra. Who transferred to the pilot girl Southstar and Je'gan knew her as. Who was now the Barabel that lurked in the darkness waiting for the right moment.

Southstar knew how weak he was at the moment, what he wouldn't give for the whole Sith Order to burst through that stone door and handle this. But that was a fantasy, this was reality.

"Fear is the path to the darkside." He uttered quietly, remembering a quote by a long dead Jedi. "Fear leads to anger." He was feeling it now, anger burning strong. "Anger leads to hate." He felt as the Darkside filled his body, the pain from the cuts, the bruises, the overexertion. It all disappeared. "Hate leads to suffering..." Though that Jedi master meant suffering towards the person consumed by hatred, Southstar interpreted it in a different way.

The Barabel made its move and leapt at Southstar. Its reptilian mouth snapped, obviously intending to cut Southstar's face from his skull. Had the Darkside not been with him, he might have been dead. He jacked his palm into the lower jaw of the Barabel; one of his fingers was split open from it's teeth. He followed it up with a swift kick to the dark scales of its belly. The reptile retrated back into the darkness. Southstar could now see the Barabel running through the darkness, through the Force.

Je'gan, there has to be a temperature control down here. Find it and raise the temperature to about 98 degrees. He commanded.

Galarra had little power through the Force when Southstar and Je'gan had first met her. She had none right now, fresh after the transfer. She was depending on her Barabel traits for survival now. But Southstar could see her through the Force, once the temperature went up they would become invisible to her senses.

I'm counting on you. Southstar sent telpathically. He didn't need Je'gan to let him down, not now.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Slack nothingness took the young Apprentice, a sort of dry despair that wouldn't let go no matter which way he turned. He had received Southstar's message just fine, but that was all; Je'gan Olra'en had nowhere to turn.

He looked around frantically for the Twi'lek, but his quarry had disappeared. The sound of a door closing prompted him to look behind him; the slave was using the turbolift. With Force enhancement he could have caught the doors before they closed. Now he and his Master were trapped down here with a vengeful Darksider, a Knight at the very least. A Knight they had already killed twice.

He ignited Azubah as Southstar and Galarra fought, using the blade's light to try to discern irregularities in the walls. None presented themselves, forcing him to walk up and down the surprisingly small cavern until he found something. It wasn't the temperature control; it was a pedestal of unadorned rock with an empty top.

And suddenly, he knew why the slave had run.

Body-trading, his readings had told him so long ago, required an artifact.

He kicked the pedestal viciously and resumed his search. Time was running out. In his haste, he almost overlooked their salvation: environmental controls. Within moments, the room became warmer, much warmer. One set of footsteps stopped. The Barabel was confused. Je'gan decided to move in, shutting off his saber and replacing it with a steel dirk over two feet in length. He moved towards the place the footsteps had stopped, trusting in his danger-sense and the mild combat bond he and Southstar shared.

I'm behind him, Master. Care to do the honours?

[Southstar]

Je'gan lurked off into the darkness, which meant Southstar was alone in the little circle of light. He could hear the claws of the Barabel clicking as he moved around on the stone floor. He took a deep breath and moved out of the light with his hand on his lightsaber hilt, ready to attack and finish this off for good.

What is he doing? Southstar asked himself as he waited anxiously for Je'gan to alter the temperature of the room, then dry cold began to heat. Warm air poured out of the ventalation system, hiding the two Sith in its flurry.

I'm behind him, Master. Care to do the honours? Je'gan said telepathically. Southstar didn't need to respond, he would let his actions do the talking. He paused a moment to savor the triumphant feeling that the body swapping Galarra was finally going to die, the final pillar of this operation was going to crumble.

He took a large step forward and brought his arm back to swing. A moment too late, the Barabel heard the dirt and gravel slide under Southstar's foot and he recognized what the Sith was doing. With his arm back, muscles tensed, he ignighted his lightsaber and swung to chop the lizard in half at the belly. Southstar's actions were apparent to the Galarra as she pushed back with her legs to avoid being cut. Southstar watched through the Force as the Barabel leapt back, as anticipated, and he cut through her hard scales, leaving a giant gaping gash.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan blinked as Southstar's weapon ignited, but held his cool, recognizing the flitting silhouette of a clawed Barabel arm in the navy flame. He leapt instantly, dirk flashing and Dark Side guiding him...and a moment later, Cuulvaer/Galarra was down, with an eighteen-inch blade at his neck.

Does she live or die, Master?

[Southstar]

"I don't think it has much of a choice." Southstar said looking at the shaking Barabel in the blue light. It had a dirk in its neck and a deep gash that spanned across its belly.

"But just to be sure..." Southstar brought the tip of his lightsaber blade to the lizard's forehead. In a second he thought of the possibilities. Galarra could jump again, or could she? Southstar's eyes darted from the reptiles to Je'gan's hand, which held an artifact of some sort. Galarra wouldn't be jumping anywhere anymore. Southstar forced the navy blade into the forehead of the Barabel and it collapsed to the ground.

Through his fleeting grip on the Force he sensed Galarra's Force presence drain from the Barabel body to the artifact, where it would stay for as long as Southstar lived and likely longer, much longer. It was his intention to take the artifact and lock it away in one of the vast Sith warehouses on some backwater planet no one would bother to find.

Southstar held his lightsaber at his side ready to move at a moments notice. "Je'gan, you merged minds with Cuulvaer and now that whatever hold his body had on his mind is gone, it is possible for him to Force presence to jump..." Southstar was expecting Je'gan understood what he was getting at. Cuulvaer could have, or at least attempted, to take control of Je'gan's body. He waited for Je'gan's answer, whether it was Je'gan or Cuulvaer who answered, remained to be seen.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"No."

Je'gan's voice was tired and quiet. He replaced the dirk at his hip and stood, tossing the small artifact to his Master.

"He didn't survive the experience. In retrospect, I almost didn't either. That was a stupid thing to do. I haven't merged minds very often, and never to that level. Here." He opened himself to the Force and revealed his mind to Southstar. "It's me. You can feel it."

[Southstar]

Southstar quickly intruded into Je'gan's mind, it only took a few seconds, but that was all that he needed. "I can." He responded and deactivated his lightsaber. He caught the artifact which contained Galarra's Force presence. He looked over it in the single hanging light that was in the underground cavern.

Now only one problem remained. Does it ever end? "I don't suppose you managed to see how that Twi'lek got out, did you?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Doors. Right there." Je'gan's voice was clipped and still tired. "The way we came in. Kinda hard to see, but I'm working on my sense of direction."

Lightsabers made short work of the obstruction, and they ascended the stairs. No-one was in sight, which was a good thing. The route to the TSO craft was open, and the door hissed away easily. Je'gan's danger-sense confirmed that the ship hadn't been booby-trapped.

"I'll pilot, Master. I think I'm getting better."

[Southstar]

"Good." He replied. "I'm too tired for piloting." He said and sat in the co-pilot's chair. He leaned back and kicked his feet up in the corner of the control panel. Staring at the grey metal ceiling, he recollected the events of the past week.

"Hell of a week, huh?" He said to Je'gan, though he didn't necessarily expect an answer.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Indeed."

Clumsily but effectively, Je'gan started programming vectors into the navicomputer, keeping an eye on the sensors as he did so. There were a few spaceborne craft that might have interfered with the graceful exit of the Sith, but as he watched, he became convinced that they showed no sign of altering course to intercept.

"I'd thought it was longer than that, really." He coughed up a glob of mucus flecked with blood, spitting it into a trash receptacle. "It's been rough."

His eyes fixed on Southstar's. "I don't think I ever got around to thanking you for taking me on as an apprentice; a rebellious, charitable bloke who'd fallen in love with a Jedi. I may be the worst Sith ever." His eyebrow raised. "What'd you ever see in me?"

[Southstar]

"I suppose it's all part of the greater plan. The Sith Order has seemingly become weak, we need more knights, more masters... We can't let the Jedi get the best of us." He paused to think about it. "You've got talent." He admitted. There had been sometimes where he'd even felt Je'gan had been showing him up. "I think everyone at the palace could see that immediatly. But you definitely needed guidence. That whole Jedi ordeal could have landed you in big trouble." Had Je'gan actually switched sides, he likely would have been dead by now. The Order wasn't kind to traitors.

"You're going to be a hell of a knight." He stated. "The kind we need. You're pretty skilled you know. Not just in combat either." There were so many who had simply come to the Sith Order just for that, they didn't quite get it. "And I understand you're taking on mentalics as your specialty. You've exibited lots of skill in that department; you're pretty well rounded..."

"I suppose I took you on because I knew that, knew that with the right guidence, the kind I thought I would be able to give, you'd make this master proud. It's been mutually benefitial, I suppose I got educated a little too during the process." That was the truth, he had learned quite a bit from Je'gan and he was definitely proud of what the knight Je'gan was going to be.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The Apprentice looked down and sighed.

"It's been a long time since anyone was proud of me. It's a nice feeling. My parents have been dead for just over three years, you see. Speeder accident." He raised his eyes half-defiantly. "I was driving.

"That's why I became a Sith, or that's why I came to the Order. My family hasn't done anything significant in over three thousand years. I checked. I wanted to make sure that we didn't go gently into the night, and it's just me and my brother. He's got Force potential too, probably more than me - in fact, there was this one incident at a public pool, but I won't get into that - thing is, he's got no ambition. He dropped out of school. He works at a burger joint.

"So I always saw it as up to me to do something big. And that's why the charity fiasco scared me so badly, once I'd figured out by how much I'd screwed up." He grimaced. A roomful of displeased Sith Elders had not been comfortable. "Because Jedi don't actually do anything worthy of remembrance, and I'd rather be dead - in a blaze of glory, naturally - than be forgotten."

[Southstar]

"That's the way to die. Leave your mark on this galaxy so no one will forget it. Civilizations have been living by that rule since the dawn of time." He said.

"Out of curiosity, but what ever happened to that Jedi girl?" Southstar never heard the rest of the story from any of the elders, all he needed was the approval to begin Je'gan's training; it wasn't really his business, but he was curious now.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Ceres Duvall..."

He stared off into space for a little while.

"I killed her. Put a lightsaber right through her heart. I was taking her to safety at the time; I doubt she ever saw it coming."

[Southstar]

"Ouch." Southstar said quietly and smiled. "Do you regret it?" He had to ask, though he thought he knew the answer. Je'gan was talking to his master.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Now and again, for about a second each time. Then I remember why I killed her."

[Southstar]

"Which is..." Southstar trailed off.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Come now, Master. To prove myself capable of choosing my priorities properly."

[Southstar]

"Prioritizing is necessary, always remember that you, and consequently the Sith Order, come first." He said but knew that Je'gan already knew this.

"Assuming that the elders deem you worthy of knighthood, what is your next move going to be?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Work on some more powerful mental techniques. I've heard good things about the study of illusions, and at one point I came across something on altering someone's mind. After that... I suppose I'll take an Apprentice or two. Salem Ave's defection crippled our training programs. We've got a lot of bored Disciples hanging around the Palace, and some of them have real potential."

The computer beeped, and Je'gan reoriented. "Looks like our Twi'lek friend has finally cleared the atmosphere. We're right behind him. Forty thousand klicks and closing."

He watched with growing concern.

"It's not gonna be enough, Master. He'll get away with the body-trading artifact. He's going to hyperspace-quick! Lend me whatever Force energy you've got; we HAVE to get his destination!" He was prepared to pluck the surface thoughts from the old slave's mind, and he might be able to summon some last bit of connectivity to the Force, but he sincerely doubted it was enough. Southstar, on the other hand, might have enough to complete the operation...

[Southstar]

Je'gan was right, they did have to get the slave's destination. Southstar used the Force to reach out and find the Twi'lek, but could barely find him. He was tired, sore and weakened; he wasn't sure he could grab the thoughts of the Twi'lek. He pushed himself and called on the Force to amplify his efforts. The slave was now more visible through the Force, but his thoughts seemed unattainable.

"Back me up." He said quietly to his apprentice. With their power through the Force combined, maybe they could do it. Southstar's mind was being strained as much as it could, a splitting headache emerged.

"Come on, come-" he mouthed but stopped when the Twilek disappeared all together. Southstar opened his eyes and saw nothing but an endless ocean of nothing. "He's gone." He threw his fist at the console in anger, but for some unknown reason his anger died and a new thought took its place. He couldn't stop thinking about their trip to Kruthia.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The Apprentice was in worse shape than his Master, half-curled upon himself in the pilot's seat. He'd matched Southstar's power in that last endeavour, but he was and would always remain measurably weaker than the Sith Knight. His connection to the Force just wasn't terribly strong.

Minutes passed as he tried to regain control enough from the depths of his fatigue to sit up straight. At last he faced Southstar, reasonably collected. Even in this state, however, he still recognized that the other man was thinking about something.

"Did you get it, Master?"

[Southstar]

He bit his lip and nodded his head. "Kruthia. But we can't go straight there, we need rest." Southstar brought the map up and gazed at it to find a course that would get them there while taking a long enough time for them to get some substansial rest.

"Look here." He said and traced a course with his finger. "We'll take this, it will give us about 9 standard hours and we will only arrive a few later the Twi'lek. Assuming one of the military ships doesn't destroy him first. From there, we land, get this guy, and get out. Good?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Good," Je'gan replied wearily, keying in the course. He didn't have much energy left. He needed, absolutely needed, sleep.

The autopilot had his gratitude. The Sith Apprentice would have given it his thanks himself save for the fact that he was already asleep.


Kruthia

"Looks like the war's still going on."

Je'gan blinked the last of sleep from his eyes as he scanned the system. "There's a massive troop concentration down there, and a few ships still in orbit. What IFF are we broadcasting, Master?'

[Southstar]

Southstar was just beginning to wake up when Je'gan spoke to him. He peered at the screens on the display; the war was indeed still raging on.

"I'm not sure." He said regarding the IFF. "You had better check the console." He sat up completely and rolled his neck, his body still ached from his combat experience back at the mock sith headquarters. As Je'gan checked the console, Southstar grabbed his belt and accounted for everything. He was ready to finish the whole thing off at that moment.

Now standing up, he put on his belt and approached the co-pilots chair. Studying the display, he decided on the best course of action. Flying out to the peaceful side of Kruthia would be the best idea, they could run a check on incoming ships and see where their man had landed. From there, finish him off and get that artifact before any more trouble was caused from it. Before he gave his opinion he decided to ask for Je'gan's. He was the pilot after all.

"So what do you think the best course of action is?" he asked.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I'm no combat pilot," he replied, fully aware that his Master would have a plan of his own. Nothing would be more in-character for Southstar, even - perhaps especially - after nine hours sleep. He scratched at the stubble on the corner of his jaw, and checked once more to make sure Azubah was still there on his belt. Southstar could think ahead all he wanted...for Je'gan, living by the moment worked a bit better, more due to a reluctance to accept responsibility than anything. He was wise enough to know that he'd have to get rid of that at some point, but pragmaticism told him he could get away with it for a little longer.

"I'd say keep our distance from anything that looks military; even if we're broadcasting as a free trader, around a backwater like this free traders fill the role of megacorps in the Core. A peaceful zone's likely to be either leveled or fortified. If we can find one that's not, perhaps a fringe town, we can see if the infrastructure is in one piece. That may or may not be the case; if it is, I see no alternative but infiltrating something fortified.

"So what's your plan?"

[Southstar]

Southstar took in his apprentices input and considered it. Getting into Kruthia was going to be difficult, the Obsidians would likely be trying to cut off any connection between Kruthia and the rest of the galaxy, trying to starve them off. Je'gan was right about nearly everything being fortified, even the peaceful side would be.

"First, we fly to just outside the system and hijack a supply ship. We can use that to get us in easily enough. While on the safer side of the planet we'll be able to find out what happened to our man, we can nab him from there."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He began fiddling with the tabs and panels on the control surface, setting a course to the edge of the system proper.

"What about vessels guarding this transport? There's a war on; shouldn't supplies be transferred in something that at least approaches being a convoy?"

[Southstar]

"Yes, and I think that there will be many vessels guarding it, but we're only one ship and that will make them cocky. Once we've boarded the supply ship they won't fire on us, the supplies are too valuable. They'll escort us down to Kruthia and try to handle us there, they won't be counting on two Sith. Just a few slick moves in the beginning and we should be set." He explained his theory as the craft rocketed into hyperspace.

The trip through hyperspace was quick seeing as they were only traveling to the edge of the system. Now it was just a matter of time before a convoy appeared. Luckily it was only a few minutes before one burst through hyperspace.

"Follow it, but let's avoid being seen." He said and ran a scan on the computer to find out the details of the convoy. To his surprise, the convoy wasn't heading towards Kruthia at all, it was an Obsidian convoy. Since the Obsidians controlled the area of space they were in, it was lightly guarded. This wasn't what he wanted, but as he thought about it, it was better.

"Let's take it." He said to Je'gan. The Kruthians were going to love a captured Obsidian vessel. Along with supplies, the ship likely contained information on the major trade routes the Obsidians had. On top of that, once they caught the ship the Kruthians would likely come to defend them against the small guarding force escorting it. He turned to Je'gan hoping he came to the same conclusions Southstar did.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Fingers working madly, the Apprentice commanded the ship to take a microjump to a point fifty thousand klicks in front of the convoy. That was as close as he dared make it; Je'gan Olra'en was nobody's idea of a skilled pilot. Space lurched around the TSO-aligned transport as it snapped in and out of a coruscating blue-white dimensional tunnel.

The Osidian craft loomed ahead, and Je'gan slapped every powerup switch he could see. The engines gave them a jolt, to the tune of beeps and hums from the defensive systems. He scoured his memory for stats on the ships that were now scattering to get out of their way. Two Skipray Blastboats, half a squadron of TIE uglies, and a beefed-up bulk cruiser.

Looked like the main defence was the supply ship.

They'd need all the luck they could make.

"We've got two concussion missile launchers, Master, and two quad lasers. I can't manage more than the missiles, not while piloting." Trusting the elder Sith to take the lasers from his console, he keyed for paired fire and began unloading at the ancient Blastboats.

Armed attack, he mused, hadn't been likely to come from a simple transport, and their move had caught the convoy commander off-guard. That worked to their advantage: the fighters were disoriented and their formation had skewed itself almost ninety degrees. He was tempted to let a missile go in that direction, but the Blastboats were starting to fire, and they monopolized the firepower of this little taskforce. The Bulk Cruiser was as yet out of range, although it was closing with every erg its swollen engines could summon. Even this supply ship had some firepower.

Impact after impact rocked the TSO ship from dead ahead, mainly from the turbolasers and laser cannons outfitted on the Blastboats. The storm of plasma made it difficult but not impossible to target concussion missiles; of the six he launched, only two got through, hitting the rightmost nose-on and shredding its shields, generator and all. The incoming fire diminished as he put a third, Force-targeted, through its viewport.

The second looked about to sweep over them, guns still blazing, and the TSO warhead launchers were fixed forward. At the last moment of the targeting lock, then, he fired off a brace of four and hoped they tracked. Their transport's shields were dangerously depleted.

Thirty seconds elapsed as he waited for the Skipray to come back and finish the job. He counted thirty-one, and the boat vanished. The missiles, or at least enough of them, had tracked true.

[Southstar]

Southstar could barely hear Je'gan speaking to him as he was running to the back end of the ship to man one of the quadlaser turrets. The other one had been set to fire at whatever reached its motion detectors first, not as reliable as a person, but it would help. Southstar was in the top turret, firing as soon as his hands reached the trigger.

A couple of the patched up TIE's were the first to appear inhis sight, by the time they had passed through, there were two left. He couldn't follow the other two as a the other group of three approached, lasers firing. Southstar returned the fire best he could, but he wasn't finding any luck this time. What was worse was that they had launch two torpedos his way. He concentrated with the Force and skewed the path of one of the torpedos, the other took out the ventral gun. In a fit of anger he rapidly fired at the returning two and managed to destroy one and damage the other enough where it would have to report back to its home ship. The other three soared past him , only one got away this time, but they had also given a fair amount of damage to the shields.

The ship jerked and spun, heading towards one of the Skiprays. This was good because it gave Southstar a perfect shot at the last patched up TIE. He fired away and created a firey explosion inside the TIE, killing the pilot and ending the threat. From the TIE's anyway.

An explosion from the left side of his window caught his eye as he realized Je'gan had taken out one of the blast boats. Now it was down to just one more and the cruiser, which most likely held the supplies headed for Odsidia. He set his quadlaser on automatic and slid down the ladder, no sense in having him there as a few laser bolts couldn't do much damage on either of the remaining ships. He ran down the corridor to the head of the ship and stood behind Je'gan.

"Well done." He said. "But now we have to get by that other blastboat and somehow survive boarding that cruiser. Any ideas?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"The blastboat's history," he said tersely. "I'd suggest putting maximum power to forward shields and engines. Apparently intending to ram the cruiser, we turn almsot a right angle and skim along the hull, putting the engine power into shields. That should give us enough time to get inside their effective field of fire.

"It's just an idea. I'm no expert at this."

[Southstar]

"Do you think that we could make them pull us in with their tractor beam?"It would be most effective in getting them aboard the cruiser, but the problem was convincing them to pull the Sith Order craft in.

Think, think... He told himself, then he had an idea. "Who says we need this ship anymore, right? Set the auto pilot and get the ship running full speed towards the bridge of that last blastboat; frontal shields up too. As our ship passes the cruiser, we eject in the escape pod. Our ship knocks out the bridge of the Skipray, incapacitating it for a good time, meanwhile, the crusier drags us onboard.

It's a bit of a gamble, but I don't see why they would vaporize an escape pod. So unless you have any major objections to the plan, let's get started. get the Skipray following us so they don't have time to turn around when our ship starts coming at them."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"The second Skipray is a ball of expanding gas." He pointed to where the the debris field had crept out from behind them, visible from the edge of the viewport.

"I agree with using the escape pod, but we can't just fake a sudden critical injury when a) the cruiser is still out of range, and b) the rest of the ships are gone. Oldest trick in the book. There's only one thing for it; the Force. And that call, Master, is up to you."

[Southstar]

OOC: Really sorry. Work plus everything else, the summer just gets too hectic sometimes. Then again, this thread did drop off my list in my user CP (Happened to a few theads... making me angry ::shakes fist:: Again, apologies.

IC: The Force. Southstar wasn't positive on what Je'gan was hinting at but the solution would likely be found in the Force. He thought to himself for a moment.

"Fly towards the cruiser." He said while concentrating as best as he could. Southstar glanced at the control panel, they were within firing range now, yet nothing was coming from the cruiser. Illusions weren't Southstar's strongpoint at all, but he was definitely capable of them. Hiding a ship behind a blanket of stars and darkness was not that hard. "I need you to zig-zag a little." He said as he realized that the sensors abord the ship were probably picking them up. Without visual confirmation, however, the gun operators would be slow to fire.

They were creeping awefully close to the cruiser. Gun fire had finally erupted from the craft, but nothing was coming close. Just a little more closer and they would be close enough to fool the sensors into thinking they were gone. "Dock against the hull and make sure the escape pod is facing the hull of the cruiser as well.

As Je'gan manuvered closer to the ship Southstar headed to the escape pod and went through the plan to break into the ship. The Sith Order craft docked gently and in the appropriate position, as asked for. Southstar called for Je'gan and explained his idea. "I'm going to use the Force to hold off the pressure changes while you cut away the side in the pod. I've already released the escape pod, so it's against the cruiser hull pretty tight, but I don't want to take any chances. You're lightsaber will weld the metal together so once the hole is cut we should be set. You ready?" Southstar said and prepared to stave off the vaccum of space.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

OOC/ No problem at all.

IC/ He felt anything but ready, but after a moment he nodded. Azubah flared blue in the pod's close confines. Carefully, he drove it almost up to the hilt in the floor, and began to cut a circle in the hull plating of both pod and cruiser. A cool tugging at his hand told of the breach to space; he wasn't sure how Southstar was holding in the atmosphere, but it was working. The decompression should have been a lot worse.

The circle fell down to the tune of some odd gravitational effects; the grav panels in the floor were sparking, but some were still active. Je'gan leapt through, prepared to encounter the resistance his danger-sense was warning him of.

The first impression he got was that the cruiser was in ill repair. The war hadn't gone well for the Osidians. Free cables decorated every visible surface.

The second impression was that they were sealed in. Bulkheads had slammed down as soon as his lightsaber had pierced the hull. In both directions, the corridor terminated in scuffed, dirty steel pressure doors.

"I can't telekinesce the manual override, Master. Can you?"

[Southstar]

Southstar's mind was being stressed as he kept the air from escaping into space using a Force shield. On a deeper level it was the air molecules on the edge of the vaccum being held in place which allowed the other air molecules to richochet off them and therefore maintain pressure.

Upon entering the Osidian cruiser Southstar realized that once they were locked in, the Osidians were likely going to try to kncok the Sith Order craft from the cruiser's side. This would cause him and Je'gan to be left to the open cold of space.

"I can't telekinesce the manual override, Master. Can you?" Je'gan had said. But it seemed that the override was going to take too much time and effort to deal with. For a moment he stared at the ceiling, cables hung from it like it was some sort of technic jungle. Through the darkness he found what looked like the alternate plan that would save them.

"Look." He said and pointed to the corner of the open ceiling. "I think it's a tunnel. Something to keep all the electrical wires in one place." It made sense, it made maintainence much more easier. "I hope you're ready to do some pull ups." He said and hurried over to the vertical corridor. He jumped up and held a thick wire, coated with a rubber-like substance, and pulled his torso into the hole. Again he reached up with one hand, then the other, and pulled his whole body. This method of travel was goign to be a little slow, but it would work for the time being. All they needed now was a place to break through another wall and continue to take the ship.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He followed his Master up the conduit for several metres, barking his shins on outcroppings but still doing his best to make use of them. The worst were the vents; rough inner surfaces, little or no toehold. Irritating as anything.

A slight, rythmic thump caught his attention. Ahead - or, rather, above - there was a pair of half-moon pressure doors opening and closing. They looked a little crooked. He rather suspected that these had been part of the seal-off, but the overall shabby and damaged nature of this vessel's equipment meant that they simply couldn't seal it off.

Which meant that the crew was closing another door, farther ahead, one that worked.

Which meant, the vents being unsealable due to some pathetic excuse for bad tactical planning, that the floor they were currently level with was in the process of being evacuated.

Azubah came out as he relayed his deduction to Southstar, and slicing a rough doorway through the vent he found himself in a hastily emptied corridor. Unless he missed his guess, it lead forward.

His fear finally emerged; the cooled-metal seal between pod and hull couldn't last long. They had to get to the bridge and past at least one set of pressure doors, and that as quickly as possible.

[Southstar]

Southstar pulled himself through Je'gan's makeshift door and stood in the corridor evaluating the situation. They needed to move fast, very fast. The pressure doors at the end of the hall were beginning to close.

"Let's go." He said and began running at a Force amplified speed towards the narrowing gap. Sweat broke from his brow, not so much from the physical exertion, but the fact that this was probably the closest to dying they had been yet. Not like this He thought to himself. As he neared the gap he dove through the air. The gap was too small and his shoulder hit the closing door. Dissprite the accident he had made it through for the most part, unfortunatly his ankle was between the closing doors. The saftey systems had kicked in and prevented the doors from closing all the way.

From his position on the ground he saw the taloned foot of one of the Obsidians working to get the doors to shut completely. The doors pinched his foot tightly, so he couldn't get up. He reached for his lightsaber and activitated it. The Obsidian fell tot he ground, legless and howling. Three more heard his cry and appeared in the hallway blasters aimed to kill. Upon seeing him in his near-harmless state, they held their fire and approached slowly. They didn't expect another to be behind the doors, but Je'gan wasn't in a position to do much with the narrow gap as his only route to them.

Southstar swore as he tried to jerk his foot away, but only found pain as he realized it may be broken. Giving them a Force push entered his mind, but he didn't need to agitate them into killing him. Southstar watched one of them flick a switch on the blaster and take aim. Stun. He thought as a bolt hit his torso. The three Obsidians jerked his limp body from the doors which resumed closing completely. Je'gan was on his own now.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He'd known the doors might not stay open long enough for them to get through, but it was still something of a shock to see the tiny diamond of light wink shut after his Master.

Not as much as the sound effects, though. Blasterfire.

Followed by the abrupt disappearance of his Master, the Sith Knight Southstar, through the Force.

His first instinct was that the older man was dead, but he really didn't want to believe that. Southstar had gone through more than Je'gan could imagine. He couldn't be stopped by a blaster. The thought was flat-out ludicrous.

He stretched out to the Force and replayed his short-term memory frame by frame, searching for a clue. The blasterfire sounded like...well, he really didn't know. Having no practical experience with blasters, he'd been grasping at straws.

Something was nagging at him, but he wasn't sure what it was. He tried to sense what was going on beyond that door, even if Southstar was alive or not, but in this case his Sense abilities just weren't up to par. He could tell that there was something alive on the other side, and he thought it was leaving, but he couldn't be sure. In an effort to confirm it, he amped up his hearing and was gratified to hear muted clicks that had the spacing of rapid footfalls.

Very well. He'd go on that assumption.

Set for action - albeit a little unsure of exactly what sort of action was required - something fell into place and he stopped. A clicking noise...

Eagerly, he replayed that portion of his memory. The halls were quiet (which stood to reason; they'd been evacuated!) and he could hear, just before his Master was shot, the sound of a switch being flipped. It would stand to reason that they'd keep it on 'kill', this being a thick-hulled warship and this system being embroiled in a war. The Osidian weapons had only two settings, one of which was 'stun'.

So his Master was alive.

He reversed course at top speed and headed back down the corridor, straight through the other side of the maintenance crawlway and into another corridor like the first. Nobody was in sight. The pressure door was shut.

The Force told him that nobody was on the other side. Very well, then. The Sith Apprentice set to work.

There was a manual override on this side of the door, but it had been disable for obvious reasons, sheared off right next to the hull. That, he could deal with. Telekinesis could grip the stub from the inside out. The downside was that he was not, repeat NOT, any good at that.

Gritting his teeth and pouring in every bit of focus he could muster, he began to experiment. A twist in each direction, then a pull; that was the plan. The twist to the left worked, popping the doors. He hustled through and closed it behind him with the mate to that override.

He took a moment to sigh in relief. He was now out of the zone that could depressurize at any time.

And now he could focus on finding his Master.

[Southstar]

When his eyes opened his vision was hazy and he was staring at the floor, which was moving slowly away from him. He didn't feel the stun blast at its full effect, he had used the Force to absorb some of it. His plan was to convince the Obsidians to believe that he was out of the game for a few hours at least, the usual time for a stun blast to knock a human out. As far as he could tell, they belived it.

The trick now was figuring out where they were taking him from there. If it were an ideal galaxy, they'd take him to the bridge to show him to the commander; but no one could be that foolish. A holding cell maybe? Doubtful that the piece of junk had one. Probably a room with a lock and two guards at each side of the door. Escape was going to be easy and he would have regained the element of surprise with everyone under the impression he had been caught the same worked for Je'gan, as far as he knew, the Obsidians hadn't seen Je'gan at all.

Southstar was pulled into a dark room and thrown upon a cold table. One of the lizards spoke over a comm, presumably to his superior officer. Something was amiss, the way Southstar was interpreting the thoughts of the creature, it was telling the officer he had been sealed out of the ship and the vaccum had taken him away. Why wouldn't he want his commander to know he had been captured?

The free Obsidian shut the door and walked over to Southstar placing a claw on his belly. For the second he had to read what was going on, all signs pointed that the Obsidians intended on eating him.

Cursing as he rolled off the table he fell to the floor and kicked withhis feet under the table causing it to flip over and hit the Obsidian. The other dropped the comm and hissed at Southstar, the other snapped its jaws and showed its claws. Barely moments after he had stood up, the first one had tried to slash at his face, but Southstar caught his hand and bent backwards, tightening the elbow and putting pressure on the bone, which finally gave way and broke. With the Force aiding his strength and speed he figured he should be fine against the two. It was more coming that he was worried about.

The other attacked faster, slashing with both claws, missing twice and leaning in bite Southstar's head. With its massive jaws, it might have been able to fit his whole head in its mouth. But he was doig his best to ensure that didn't happen. Southstar dodged the attack and struck his palm into the lower jaw,shutting its mouth. With his other fist he pounded it in the belly and follwed up with his other fist.

The one with the broken wrist was up and lunging with its jaw wide open. Southstar called his lightsaber fromthe belt of the other and cut its snout while dodging the flying body. The other one died in relatively less pain as it died due to decapitation while its friend squirmed on the ground. Given a moment for him to enjoy his triumph, Southstar put it out of its misery.

In case you're wondering, I'm fine for now. I don;t think I'm too far away from the bridge. He sent to Je'gan. Let's see if we can meet there.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

A slow grin broke over Je'gan's face as Southstar's voice appeared in his mind.

See you there.

He doubled his speed and went through the first security checkpoint with saber whirling. In these close confines, there wasn't anywhere the defenders could go, and a few expert slashes removed them from existence.

Boots tramped on the deck just ahead, and Je'gan decided on a less direct approach. He pumped all the power he could manage into making himself inconspicuous, the effect being that the approaching soldiers simply didn't see him. He waited for them to pass, cut them down from behind, and took the best of the weapons from the corpses.

He turned a corner and found himself at the end of a long hallway that showed a tantalizing glimpse of transparisteel and terminals at the end. Nobody was in sight. Bringing up the blaster carbine, he began to walk towards what he thought was the bridge, spraying fire the whole way.

A handful of seconds later, the whole thing went straight downhill.

He blinked incredulously as the pulser in the handle went off; low charge.

He blinked again as someone stepped into the doorway at the end of that hall and blasted the gun straight out of his hands. His danger-sense was screaming, but he hadn't noticed. Fatally stupid.

It screamed again as something large and scaly grabbed him from behind.

Teras Kasi training took over. In a flurry of blows, he took the large Osidian apart and turned back to the gunman, who had stopped firing for fear of hitting his comrade. A slow smile came over Je'gan's face as, lovingly, he wrapped his telekinetic fingers around the gun's power pack and blew its wielder to pieces. Je'gan's saber ignited again and he charged forward into the bridge, where Southstar was already taking care of the guards at his end of the long room.

It was over within seconds. Je'gan ignored the officers, merely taking the time to disarm them. If Southstar wanted them dead, then so be it, but he'd learned his lesson; kill when necessary, and as a last resort.

[Southstar]

OK.He told himself. The bridge should be up and to the left. No problem. Southstar began his short journey to the bridge by exiting the lower quarters where he was being held just moments ago. For the most part, it was pretty easy, the two who had planned to make him their meal had arranged for most to be out of the vicinity. The real trick was getting up the levels on a lift without having to stop to allow anyone to board.

He had finally achieved getting an empty elevator after he had nearly alerted an Obsidian exitting the lift and heading towards the room where he had been held captive. Soon it would be out that he had escaped. He had two options: one, was to kill the lingering Obsidian; the other was to try and make it as far as he could without being exposed. Three bodies were harder to hide than two, and he had therefore boarded the lift.

He had managed to crawl through the emergancy hatch at the top of the lift and secured a spot to the bridge level without any trouble. Now on the top level all he had to do was get to the bridge without being stopped. Withhis lightsaber in hand and ignighted he dropped down into the elevator car and charged out, prepared to take down anyone who was near. There was no one. He crept along the hall listening with his Force amplified ears, the hallway sounded dead so he quickened his pace.

Finally as he approached the bridge he found several Obsidians waiting there for him. They all died quickly as Southstar was in a no-bull mood. The sooner they controlled the ship, the better. He was anticipating that most of the officers and guards on board were far from the best Obsidia could offer, the best were on the frontlines. With this in mind he charged the bridge shouting commands and translating them through telepathy.

I am a Knight of the Sith Order on Corellia, this ship is belongs to me now. Surrender and your lives will be spared. Again he said it until he was sure that most had understood. Those that didn't, or just had a death wish attacked him with their blasters and some were brave enough to fight him in closely. Before too much time was up, Je'gan had brought up the rear and was dealing with those who were making their way to the bridge.

As the fighting died down Southstar did a head count of who he thought were officers and calculated how much he was going to ask from Kruthia for each one. Stealing this ship might prove to be the most profitable thing to happen yet.

Southstar had finally reached the control panel and closed the door behind them after Je'gan had made it through. "Make sure no one can come through there." He said while keeping an eye on those who had surrendered. He then barked orders to them and had the ship directed towards Krutian held space. Once there he would alert them that the Obsidian ship had been taken over and they would collect a handsome reward, along with getting a good start to finding their runaway Twi'lek.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Make sure no one can come through there."

Je'gan turned back to the door with a nod as Southstar began shouting behind him. The Apprentice secured his saber and scooped up a pair of repeaters. To simplify things, he blasted the controls of one door and stationed himself at the other.

Fortunately, with the chain of command gone to the dogs, there was little in the way of retaliation. Prescience flooded through him each time, giving him the edge and allowing him to blow the piecemeal attackers away. He reveled in the heavy, stuttering recoil of the sleek weapons; the Osidians may have been ridiculous in starship maintenance, but their weaponry was pretty close to top-notch. Serpentine bodies were littering the corridor. He could get used to this.

He craned his neck around to the bridge behind him, where Southstar was looking every inch the naval officer. The planet of Kruthia loomed in the viewscreen.

A voice crackled through the comm lines, a human voice. The Kruthians had eyes.

"Osidian vessel, you are hereby called to surrender."

A trio of Kruthian patrol boats swooped overhead.

[Southstar]

He no longer cared if the Obsidians picked up on the transmition. If they were listening in, they would have figured that the ship had been taken by now. "This ship has been hijacked and is currently under my control. I am willing to bargain the ship and its knowledgable crew in exchange for both credits and a favor of the Kruthian government." A long pause from the other side until a gruff, male voice came through..

"You're a long way from home pirates... We're sending a droid to negotiate, be prepared to recieve it within a few standard minutes, over."

Southstar turned to Je'gan to see if he had caught that. He debated with himself whether or not to send the apprentice to get the droid or not. If the Obsidians realized what was going on, they would tear the droid to pieces and all negotiations would cease to even begin. The Krutians would likely disable the ship and take them all hostage at that point.

"Your duty is to make sure that droid gets here safe and sound." Southstar said. He realized he was sending the apprentice into quite the hellhole; a ship full of angry, lawless Obsidians. "I'll handle the door and those in here." He added as if he felt Je'gan was concerned for his masters safety. Southstar picked up the automatic weapon and shot down one giant lizard barreling down the hallway.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan nodded, ducking down the hallway and taking the first turn present. The room was simple, a weapons locker - now mostly empty. There was no immediate danger, and none associated with cutting through the aft wall. He did three more like that before he found himself in a corridor, practically on top of a small group of armed Osidians with weapons levelled. They died fast and hard with involuntary motor control shredded. Two got off shots first; Azubah flicked them away with deceptive ease.

He paused as the sound of ion impacts rattled the cruiser; the patrol boats, irritated by sporadic fire, had disabled the weapons systems and probably a few others to boot.

The other side of the corridor had danger-tags associated with it, so he moved down the hall. The main airlock was back a ways, and three or four floors down. The floor, as always, provoked a very strong reaction from his danger-sense when he tried to cut it, so he had to move by turbolift.

Except that the nearest turbolift was dead. As was, in all likelihood, the entire system.

A low growl echoed down the hall as he headed for the nearest service tube, a structure that seemed practically identical to the one he and Southstar had ascended by. His lightsaber drew a long oval in the sheet-metal casing, and a Force-grip made it fall out instead of in. Azubah's blade retracted; keeping the weapon in his hand, he began to climb down.

Three floors and six Osidian technicians later, he had reached what he believed to be the main airlock. A droid was waiting, protocol-type, a Cybot Galactica model if he recalled.

"You are the privateer?"

"I am." He pursed his lips; transporting this hunk of metal through the service ducts would be impossible, and Southstar couldn't leave the bridge alone. He hesitated.

"One moment, please."

He reached out through the Force to contact Southstar, and going deeper than he usually did in the contact, invited his Master to speak through him.

[Southstar]

This ship rattled as ion bolts struck and the lights dimmed, flashed and then went out. Maintaining control over the Obsidians would be a little more difficult now, but not impossible. He could maintain a vision through the Force and ensure that no one was up to anything that might compromise his position as captain of the ship. One foolish Obsidian dared to attack Southstar in the dark, he met the end of his glowing lightsaber, which now convienently lit the room. A determined stare illuminated by the navy blue blade was all that was needed to prove he was still in every bit of control as he was before.

After a moment he felt Je'gan reaching out to him in the Force. It seemed everything had gone well getting to the droid, but why weren't they back yet? Southstar began to get an idea of what had happened as he communicated with his apprentice.

That would be very difficult. He said telepathically, referring to dragging the droid through the air duct.

After a moment he understood what Je'gan was offering and took control of the situation. "This ship contains food, weapons, and intel. The whole ship and its contents can be yours in exchange for our free passage onto Kruthia to pursue a runaway bounty. We also ask that we have access to all incoming ships within the past day." Southstar didn't really know if the ship had any large amounts of either weapons, food, or intel. But the Kruthians didn't know that. Southstar awaited the Force transmitted response from the droid.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan watched the droid intently as it either debated with itself or communicated with some distant operator. He blinked several times; the sensation of not being in control of himself was...irritating. But it had to be done.

"Your price," the droid said at last, "is granted. Please hold position for boarding."

[Southstar]

Southstar withdrew his hold over Je'gan and resumed speaking telepathically. Easy enough. he sadi and brought his attention to the window where he could see plenty of ships approaching, ready to pour their men aboard. Make sure they know who you are. We don't want to get swept up and taken as prisoners. He said as he made it obvious that he whad the control over the Obsidian officers on board.

The ship connected to theirs with a jerk and Southstar could feel the presence of hundreds of Kruthian soldiers enter the ship. They would be on the deck in only a few moments to take the Obsidians and do as they please with them.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Armed, stock human troops - Kruthians - advanced through the airlock behind the droid. The negotiation automaton moved off to the side, presumably to get out of the way. Je'gan stayed where he was.

"You one of the pirates?" asked one, whose bearing named him officer even if nothing else did.

"Olra'en, at your service," the Apprentice replied composedly, hands clasped behind his back. "Decks nine and ten are sealed off and exposed to vacuum from our own boarding effort. The Osidians managed to evac in time; there are still a few holed up here and there. My partner is on the bridge with the senior Osidian officers. You may encounter some resistance on your way there, but once you're within a few corridors of the bridge you're as safe as you can be anywhere."

"He's that good?" the officer asked skeptically. Je'gan spread his hands.

"There are only two of us onboard, and you won't find any bodies without scales."

The officer gave him a piercing look and motioned his troops on and around Je'gan. Within moments, the sound of sporadic fire trickled back to the Apprentice, who hadn't yet moved.

Commandeered vessel, designed for big lizards and without a crew. Shall we change rides to go planetside, Master?

[Southstar]

We Shall.

Southstar waited a moment before moving from his post until he heard the sound of blaster fire and the boots of Kruthian troops on the metal floor. That was his cue to exit.

-----

They were aboard the Kruthian ship now, which was still waiting next to the Obsidian craft which was full of soldiers. He supposed they were still rounding up the last of the Obsidians and making arrangements to tow the ship farther into Kruthian space. For the time being they were stuck in a waiting room.

Southstar tried to think of a way to get to the planet, but the Kruthians had yet to speak with them since the dealings with the droid. He couldn't just assume that the cruiser they were presently on was going to take them to Kruthia.

The hissing of the opening door interrupted his thoughts as the droid walked in slowly. "Since your ship has been disabled, a Kruthian ship will escort you there and bring you to your destination. Follow me please."

There was something he liked about droids, they always seemed to get to the point quickly. There was something he hated about what the droid said.

This is going to be trouble.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan frowned, concentrating on his danger-sense. There might be something there, at that...yes...there was...and the fact that the droid was still in use...

You're right, Master. Something bad's about to happen. My bet is those vents by the door. Gas?

[Southstar]

Too bold. Southstar sent telepathically as he exited the room glancing at the vents. They were outside now, walking through the halls filled with Kruthian soldiers scurrying about. He was positive the droid was taking the to a ship; that was where he expected things to go wrong.

They were in the docking area now and in front of them was a simple Kruthian tansport ship. Southstar wasn't picking up any signs of life aboard. "No weapons..." He said quietly. They obviously weren't taking the chance that they could try to overrun the Kruthian ships, he was picking up a sense of fear in the Kruthian soldiers. With good reason. he thought to himself.

The droid made it known they were free to board the ship, but Southstar didn't right away. He had been reaching out with the Force to get a feel for the commanders intentions. For a while he hadn't found anything, they were tough to break into. But now, he had an idea. They were simply going fire upon the transport ship once it left the dock. Isolate the problem, then destory it.

Before formulated a plan he noticed another thought, a single thought from one commander. It seemed that someone up there thought in their favor. He wanted to let them go to Kruthia to persue their bounty. Not for any reason of compassion, but he wanted to see exactly what they were up to. A suspicion that they may be able to help them against the Kruthians.

Je'gan, do you sense what I do? he sent and guided Je'gan's mind to the thoughts of the single captain. As they conversed telepathically, he lead onto the ship. This will be excellent practice, persuade him to express his opinion and persuade the other commanders to accept it. It will be difficult, but if you need, I can help.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The man's mind seemed to swim out of oblivion, becoming more and more discernable by the second. Familiar nodules of thought and action presented a target.

He'd long since perfected the art of removing nodes, but consciously altering them was a whole other ball game. Then again, perhaps he didn't need to. Perhaps what was needed was a more comprehensive approach.

When he spoke into the officer's mind, he did so lightly, with words that barely crossed the threshold of existence as such. Overall it was more like a feeling than a coherent thought, and he managed to bolster the officer's considerable courage while he was at it. It wouldn't do to let the man suspect his mind was being influenced - assuming he knew who and what the two Sith were.

Je'gan frowned distantly as he snapped back to full consciousness. Did that do it, Master? I can't quite tell.

[Southstar]

As his apprentice spoke the ship picked up speed into space and Southstar picked up on some fighters leaving the dock behind them. He did his best to extend his thoughts out to the commanders, but there was just too much to focus on at the moment.

He stretched his mind and found the commander's, but finding out what was happening aboard the cruiser wasn't easy. He couldn't quite tell if their fate was sealed on the tiny ship or whether they were set to return to Kruthia and persue their bounty. Southstar watched with the Force as the fighters increased their pace and came within firing range. They continued to increase their speed until they were along side the transport ship.

Whether the pilots realized it or not, Southstar held a telekinetic grip on one of the fighters. All he had to do was think and destruction would ensue. But judging by the ships positioning, it seemed that they were being escorted, rather than hunted.

I think you got through.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Kruthia
Some time later

"Yes, of course," the data processor said nervously, glancing at the impassive pair of Kruthian guards that flanked the Sith - their tacit authourization to go snooping through traffic records. "And what model of craft are we looking for?"

Je'gan glanced at his Master. To the best of his experience, Southstar knew more about ships, and if the Apprentice hadn't been able to ID the fleeing Twi'lek's craft, maybe he had.

[Southstar]

"Corvette... " He said and paused to try an recall some of the details. "Pre-Imperial days. That's about all I could tell you." Southstar knew ahead of time that the droid wouldn't be able to find it. This was a waste of time. "We don't even know if registered on its way through." He stated but knew the droid didn't care, or the robotic equivelant.

Southstar walked to the other end of the room which featured a window out into the capital city. He gazed at the thousands of vehicles in the sky, this was going to be difficult.

The droid seemed to have dissappeared and then returned with a copy of all preimperical vehicles to have legally entered the system in the past days, then at the bottom those who had entered illegally and had been caught.

Southstar scanned the names, they all meant nothing to him. The most he knew to look for was either Cuulvaer or Galarra.. but the likelyhood of either listing their name as the registered owner of something so easily identifyable was slim. He turned to Je'gan to see if he had any ideas.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Taking a deep breath, he dove into his own mind. The tightly-woven sphere parted for his probe, and dark, spherical depths loomed ahead. The sensation of pressure began to manifest itself.

Thoughts and processes floated around, great globules of insane complexity. But they all seemed very familiar, very him. All part of his own mind.

Somewhere, though, he was coming to realize that elements of Cuulvaer had to have stuck around. His procedure had been too sloppy for total annihilation.

After a subjectively long amount of time, he came across something that could be what he needed: thought-nodules from Cuulvaer's psyche. Memory was very durable. It should have survived at least mostly intact...

And it had. Four general queries later, he had the answer.

"It's a Dolana GBG Corvette," he said. His eyes came open. "The ship's name is either Freestar, Bal'thas or Imitrope."

[Southstar]

Upon hearing the information Southstar skipped through the database and came across two ships that matched the description, but not the name. Name change was easy, it wasn't necessarily something one had to register. Still, it was limited down to two ships, which was a much better start than before. Southstar looked through the other information given. They shared the same destination, which was in the capital city. But it didn't necessarily mean they were going to stay there. It seemed to him there was nothing to do but to look into the two registared ships.

"We'll look into it." He said.

Hours later...

Traffic had been slow getting to the first site, and it was slow getting to the next, which was where they were headed. The first one had proven not to be what they were looking for. Instead of a Twi'lek the found an mid-aged Rodian (which was just as bad). As his story went, he was a pre-imperial ship collector. He was on planet to buy off some of the ships left or sold by the fleeing Kruthians in the midst of war. The Force confirmed his story and now they were on their way to another site, which most likely would prove to be as equally a waste of time.

"Tedious, isn't it?" He said and approached Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He sighed, twisting the wheel to get them farther ahead in the near-gridlock. "This bit, yes." Not to mention coping with our escort, he added telepathically, tipping his head back and around just slightly to indicate the Kruthian militiamen in the backseat of the speeder. But brain-dead as they are...

[Southstar]

...It shouldn't be a problem. He finished. Even if they came across the runaway Twi'Lek, there wasn't much the guards could do stop them. He wasn't concerned.

Picking up the datapad which contained the information on their next owner Southstar noticed something he hadn't noticed before: the date the ship was purchased was no later than a day ago.

"Look at this." He said and showed the screen to Je'gan to glance at as he drove. "The purchase date. I think we might be onto something."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan scanned the screen and handed the pad back to Southstar. He nodded, relaxing from the unconscious tension that anticipation of confronting another cultist had brought on.

The speeder pulled to a halt in front of the transport; the Sith and their escort disembarked and interrogated the owner, who'd been alerted by comm to expect them. Just to be sure he was an innocent - relatively - Je'gan infiltrated his mind and poked around a bit while Southstar distracted him. There was nothing there, save a distinct picture of the Twi'lek and some miscellaneous data.

"No," the new owner was saying as Je'gan returned to full consciousness of the present. "No, he didn't leave any contact information."

"You're lying," Je'gan said flatly. "Give him the flimsy you wrote the address down on."

The man blinked, looked back and forth, and procured a strip of flimsiplast with writing on it. He handed it to Southstar.

[Southstar]

Southstar didn't need to look at it to know he didn't know the location. He flashed it to one of the guards.

"It's a hotel, just a few miles from here."

-Later-

Ten minutes had past and now Southstar stood with his apprentice in the hall walking hastily towards the appropriate room. The two guards were no more than ten yards behind them. Like the Sith, the guards were anticipating trouble and had their blasters withdrawn.

we'll storm the room as soon as we get to it, I'm sure we can handle any surprises behind it. It will only be a few seconds before we find out who the guards are going to side with, so be prepared to fight them as well. Southstar instructed telepathically. The door was seconds away now, their movements would have to be smooth and quick.

Three, two, one.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The idea of the guards taking the fugitive's side caused him to blink. Only a quick second thought stopped him from glancing back to check on their escort. Paranoia would keep one alive, but it couldn't be obvious paranoia. That drew attention and neatly reversed the preservative effect.

He drew Azubah but did not ignite it. Then he hit the door's lock with a perfect Teras Kasi sidekick; splintered, the door slammed inward, revealing a normal room and a terrified but stalwart Twi'lek. In one clawed hand, he was holding the artifact. It looked fragile this close...and the Twi'lek appeared ready to break the artifact should any harm come to him.

[Southstar]

As soon as the door gave way to the two Sith, Southstar leapt in the room. The Twi'lek had the artifact in one hand and a communication device in the other. Telekinesis proved to be the solution to the problem of the Twi'lek's possession of the artifact. It sped from his hand to Southstar's.

As oppertunity presented itself to his apprentice Southstar turned around to see how the two guards were faring. Both of them stood at the door watching events closely. Neither had made a move yet, however, both seemed prepared for what happened next.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Advancing towards the aged Twi'lek, Je'gan kept a firm mental 'eye' on the guards. If Southstar was correct in that, that they might attack, then the two Sith would have little room to maneuver in such close confines.

The Twi'lek...yes, the Twi'lek was no longer a threat, but it wouldn't hurt to be sure. Overpacing the retreating figure, Je'gan took one final, rapid step and slashed through his target's left leg. Through the Force, he felt the guards wince. If any-

Down!

Southstar, however, didn't need the warning. Before the guards' blaster muzzles could even lift to firing position, the Sith Knight had blurred into action with navy blade flying. A Force-leap took Je'gan across the room and into the thick of it. Less than a second later, it was all over. The Twi'lek's moans had subsided.

Now what?

[Southstar]

"There will be more coming. WE need to leave now!" Southstar said and exited the room. He ran down the hallway towards the end where a large glass window stood and one side of it was a stair case, the other an elevator. As he got closer to the end of the hall, he could see military ships coming their way. They weren't anything too spectacular, but each carried enough firepower to kill both Sith.

They're not holding anything back... He stated. THey were at the end of the hall and without stopping he charged down the staircase.

They reached the bottom only to find several sets of soldiers ready for a fight. The ships loomed overhead, Southstar could practically feel the targets on top of him.

"This is the Kruthian Military. Set your weapons down and your hands where we can see them." One soldier said over a loudspeaker as he looked over the small army at the two Sith who were pressed against the hotel wall.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Is this how you treat honoured guests!"

His voice, soaked with Force energy and as much telepathic persuasion he could muster, boomed out across the square. The closer guards reacted as he'd anticipated; relaxation, decreased readiness, interest in what he had to say. The farther ones were less effected, and that included the heavy firepower in the gunships.

"We're putting down our weapons!" He bent slowly towards the ground, changing tracks to talk to Southstar.

Master, if you've got any tricks up your sleeve, this would be the time to use them.

[Southstar]

He wasn't sure there were any tricks for dealing with a small army. We could run... he thought to himself. We'll run. He sent.

Je'gan's mental persuasion had put a majority of the men off guard which gave Southstar the advantage over them. Telekinetically he gripped a missle hanging from one of the gunships and compressed it until detonation. The fiery explosion caused just about all the troops to look back for just a second, but when they turned around they found the two Sith weren't there.

Southstar's feet pounded down the steps which lead to the unused levels of the hotel. In the lower levels of the city it would be easier to hide and make there way to somewhere safer. Not to mention the army wouldn't be able to use major weapons as they would be too damaging to the foundations of the buildings. If Kruthia wanted the two Sith, they would have to come down and get them; which was what they were doing.

Split up. Southstar ran ahead on the level while Je'gan had the choice to go down the stairs or move to either the left or right on the same level. Either way, breaking the army up into pieces and dealing with it was going to be the easiest route.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

He went left, hitting a right-hand door with a quick Force-push to make it swing on its hinges, and letting the left door swing about as much before dashing on.

An even dozen soldiers dashed after, but he could sense other disciplined minds encircling the hotel. Nevertheless, he continued on, eventually ducking into a laundry room.

Excellent.

Now this was more like it: laundry was well within his telekinetic capabilities, and filling the air with a blizzard of clothing was not only a perfect cover but something that not even the best troops would expect. When the door slammed open again, he was ready, and articles of clothing crowded the room's airspace. He moved closer, ignited his lightsaber, and took them apart within seconds. The blizzard of laundry faded and died.

The back wall blew in, and more soldiers appeared. A fully-enhanced Je'gan dove through the door he'd entered by just ahead of a literal firestorm. The door took a few shots before it collapsed; diving to the side, he found a grenade with his mind, called it to him, pulled the pin and threw it back. The second party largely disappeared from his mental view. He got to his feet and re-entered to dispose of the survivors.

[Southstar]

The hallway before him was long and narrow, which would aid him as the soldiers split up and persued him. They wouldn't be able to group up and fire at him all at once. While running, he was doing his best to skew the blaster shots fired with the Force. As he rounded a bend he came to a set of locked doors which he barged through with the Force and his body.

The room was dark and moist. With the seconds he had to try and realize where he was he came to the conclusion he was in a maintainance room filled with pipes leading to heating, and water pumping machines. With his lightsaber he slashed at several hot water tanks which poured out in front of the chasing dozen soldiers. Southstar wasn't going to cut them a break and began cutting at several of the over head pipes. More hot water and steam poured into the room.

With some blinded by a burst of steam or hot water, plus the added darkness of the room, none of the soldier would have a good view of where Southstar went. He had slipped into the tiny spaces behind the giant water tanks and other machinery. Those who weren't incapacitated had their blasters drawn and pointed in all directions. Aided with the Force he unhinged one of the water tanks and pushed it towards the group of soldiers. It toppled on the majority of the group and from there Southstar made short work of the remaining few.

He headed back in the direction he was originally heading and found another set of locked doors. He pushed through them to finally come to an intersection. The sign before him read that the laundry room was to the left, he had come from the maintainence room and to the right was the storage for all the laundry. Ahead of him were offices.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The young Apprentice, flustered, slammed through the door of the laundry room and almost tripped over Southstar. He recovered quickly and silently save for a short yelp.

We're surrounded. Any way you can create us an opening? Or would you like me to try it?

[Southstar]

"No, I think I've got it." He responded as a plan came together in his head. He summoned up his energy and called on the Force to yank the doors from their hinges and onto the ground. They slid forward to the end of the hall. Next, office funiture was bursting through the plaster walls and cluttering in the hall. All of it pushed to the end of the hallway.

"I want you to lure them into the hallway. Telepathically or physically; it doesn't matter." Southstar approached the mess and came to the conclusion this endevor was going to drain him dry.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

With effort - he, too, was beginning to tire - Je'gan forced an image of himself and Southstar into the mind of one of the more disciplined of those surrounding them. The images were indistinct but recognizable.

After a few minutes, he realized that nothing had actually happened. None of the soldiers seemed to have moved, or be moving. Tsking softly to himself, he created a broad-scale illusion, visible to everyone: two running men in cloaks. To do so was at the limit of his abilities, but he did it anyways.

The soldiers moved within minutes, his danger-sense giving him plenty of warning. Even though he relayed the development to Southstar, he had the feeling that the Knight knew already.

Je'gan shrugged and prepared to fight.

[Southstar]

If one were to come through the doorway from the outside, not the laundry room, they would find a peculiar, smaller hallway that led to a wider one. The doors formed the inside walls and with their repetitive pattern the wall of the hallway didn't seem so out of place. The rest of the junk that had been removed from the offices was on top, all held together by the Force.

The smaller corridor allowed for possibly two men to walk through uncomfortably side by side; which would slow their rate of advance to Je'gan. Southstar could feel the soldiers getting closer and soon the first small group began creeping through. As predicted, the rate of advance was slow and soon the little corridor was cluttered with troops trying to get to the young Sith. Southstar watched as the first two attacked followed by a second. His position was above the mess looking in through a small crack.

Just a few more seconds...

[Je'gan Olra'en]

It wasn't exactly easy to deflect blasterfire with Form Two; not easy at all. Most bolts came uncomfortably close to his hand. But with so few streams of fire, he could do it without apprehension.

They got too close and died. More got too close, and died. More yet were behind them, and learning; they kept their distance, a matter of three metres or so. Je'gan held them off for the requisite time...

[Southstar]

Southstar released his minds hold on the faux corridor and it crumbled down on the soldiers and blocked the doorway. He breathed a heavy sigh and tried to force the headache from his head.

"So forward is out of the question now, so is back." He said outload while he surveyed the surroundings. "The main road should be overthere." He said and pointed with his hand to the east. "I'd bet there would be a parking garage." He didn't go on as he headed in the direction making short work of the plaster wall with his lightsaber. "Let's get out of here already."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

They ran, blowing past the cordon at full Force Speed, and reached the garage within literally seconds, far ahead of their pursuers and around enough corners that they weren't under fire. A family-type speeder was idling; he leapt in the front door and punched the engine, trusting his Master to get in before they pulled out.

[Southstar]

Southstar was barely in his seat when the speeder jerked away from its parked position. He was surprised that the family type speeder could meet such speeds; thankfully it could. They burst through the restriction bar at the end of the garage and were met by a decent sized Kruthian task force.

Southstar used what mental ability he had left to use telekinesis to push the nearby parked speeders in the way and form some obstacles to try and slow their persuers.

"We need to get out of here fast." He urged Je'gan.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Forcer reflexes let him drive far faster than he usually did, and using a more abrupt style. His foot never stayed off the accelerator as he wove around slower vehicles. Pursuit screamed after them, a pair of bikes; reaching back with his mind, he implanted a strong image of an incoming wall with emptiness on either side. The speeder bikes veered to compensate and hit the walls on either side.

On many other worlds, they could have been spotted easily from orbital satellites. Here, though, such things had long since been burnt away. After some time, he slowed to a normal pace and slipped into some heavier traffic. No further pursuit bothered them.

At last, he pulled them into an underground parking lot and keyed the engine off. A long, low sigh escaped him as he got out and stretched. There was, as far as he could tell, no more danger.

"Time to rest," he said tersely. "Do we use the speeder or do we pick an empty apartment?"

[Southstar]

As they fled from the Kruthian military Southstar couldn't help but notice it was a little too easy, even for Sith. He wondered to himself if maybe the Kruthians wanted the Sith to escape. But why? He came to the conclusion that it was only going to be solved with time. Until that time, he planned on regaining his strength.

"Let's grab an apartment, across town. I don't want to be anywhere near this identifyable speeder." He said and looked at a posted public transportation schedule on the wall. "A railcar will by soon. I expect we can catch that to the eastern side. Its a poorer district, plenty of places to hide and rest."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Sounds good," he said affirmatively, snapping out his back. Tension eased nicely, causing him to let out a brief sigh.

"What about disguise? Should we risk being at all in public looking like, well, us?"

[Southstar]

Southstar considered a telepathic disguise, but decided he wasn't up for it. "Just don't look anyone in the eye." He responded. "Anyone who might see us and even recognize us probably won't do anything about it. Sith reputation will keep anyone away."

--Six hours later--

A Force sleep for about five hours was all Southstar really needed, aside from something to eat. He stretched his arms and shoulders as he refamilierized himself with his surroundings. The room was located within a small abandoned apartment complex. The room they stayed in was far from the luxuries of the Sith Palace on Corellia, but it suited its purpose well enough.

He looked out the window at the poor, rundown neighborhood as he waited for Je'gan to awake. They had to get off planet next, which would be difficult due to the heavy security. He ran through various scenarios and options while he waited.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Daylight called, forcing Je'gan up from his aimless dreams far enough to register that his danger-sense said nothing was wrong. This being the case, he permitted himself another handful of minutes before pushing himself upright and sliding out of bed. The taste in his mouth was undefinable, like so many before it, a mixture of leftover fear and hatred and the cereal he'd had for breakfast the day before. That was all that came to mind; he didn't remember the brief lunch until he had padded barefoot to the 'fresher.

He re-entered the main room, buckling his weapon belt around his waist. Southstar didn't look tired at all, which irked him.

"There wouldn't happen to be a Sith technique for sleep, would there?"

[Southstar]

"Actually yes." Southstar responded as he faced his apprentice. "It requires a combonation between using the Force for body amplification and a calming technique for the mind. And actually sleeping. I wouldn't say it's not above your level, you're practically knight level."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Calming technique..." he mused, fingers tapping on his lightsaber.

"I think I may be in need of that. What would you say, Master? Am I stable?" Half a joke...and of course, half not.

[Southstar]

"Stable enough." He replied with a half smile. He gazed out the window for a moment. "Are you about ready to move out?" He asked. If his apprentice needed more time to assemble, time was what they had; or at least so it seemed

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Yeah, I'm ready. Although I'd like to learn that calming technique first..."

[Southstar]

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed the Force amplifying your abilities in combat. The concept is the same, but the result is different. As always, allow the Force to consume your body and it will naturally focus on your wounds and exhausted body. The final move is to allow the Force to consume you more than it usually does, let it take over. Allow your body and mind to rest, like you allow you body and mind to sleep and the rest will happen as it does."

"Being Sith, an unespected side effect will take place." He smiled slightly. "You can expect some nightmares. When we use the Force, it feeds off our feelings, our passions... anger, hate." His face was more somber now as he recalled his own little nightmare scheme from the night before. "The result is worth it though."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"More nightmares," Je'gan said sourly. "Wonderful.

"What about Illusion? I've picked up how to do simple things by watching you and others, but I always feel like I'm missing something..."

[Southstar]

"Illusion isn't near my specialty." he responded. "But I too have picked up on a few tricks. It involves primarily telepathy and the coersion of your target's mind. You know how to do basic telepathy, illusion is just adding more push to it in more dimensions than thought exchange. But the real trick to illusion is accepting the illusion yourself. If it isn't believeable to you, then it won't be to your target."

"It's kind of tricky." More tricky than Southstar was often willing to deal with. "Convincing yourself but not getting sucked in. Practice with caution." He added a grim smile. "An apprentice I had trained with had attempted illusion as one of his Force specialties and got sucked into the delusion and delerium never to return."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"They say I've got a more complicated mind than most."

He moved about the room, gathering up a few effects beginning to don his socks and shoes.

"I've encountered that problem, but it hasn't really been a problem yet. Then again, I've only done simple illusions." A cloaked figure, lacking all detail, appeared in the middle of the room as Je'gan focused on belief while keeping a small part of his mind properly objective. Edges, textures, a few of the more intricate features, all appeared and disappeared. After a few moments, he waved his hand and let it fade.

"Now I'm ready."

Slapping his hands to his knees, he stood.

"I know you've got a plan by now, Master, but in the spirit of practice, do you want me to try to formulate one of my own first?"

[Southstar]

Southstar waved his hand through the cloaked figure in amusement. Then Je'gan made his suggestion.

"Go ahead." He replied.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"We take the uniforms of a pair of pilots on patrol, making sure that their vessels are hyperspace-capable, then break the routine once we're far enough from the main body of the Kruthian forces."

[Southstar]

Southstar nodded his head trying to think of possible problems that could arise. Fromt eh point of rational thought, it seemed like a good plan. "Alright, we'll do that."

Southstar searched his pockets to make sure everything was present; the artifact was there in his pocket. He turned to the door and lead the way out of the run down building while looking at the three dimensional map of the town.

"There is a military space port here." He said and pointed it out. "It's integrated with a civilian spaceport, so this might not be too hard. We just need to head into the busier part of town, east from here."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Integrated, eh?" Je'gan jibed quietly, wrapping his cloak closer around his frame to hide his portable arsenal. "More like created...in a place like this, with a war going on, I'd say a place like that would probably spring from the retrofitting of a civilian starport. They do things slipshod, too. Any changes to the normal civvy layout should be pretty obvious."

[Southstar]

Southstar nodded in agreement as he turned to face the train station. He lead the way towards the eastbound rail and awaited the train.

--less than 20 minutes later--

THe traffic around the spaceport was incredible, however, the crowds of people made the traffic pale in copmparison. People must be in a hurry to get off planet. From the looks of things, accessing the military terminals was going to require going through the civilian sectors.

"I think we're going to need those uniforms and passes sooner than expected." He said as he surveyed the main gate. Guards and personel blocked the entrances, allowing only those with tickets, documention of ship owner ship or military passes through.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Simple enough to get around," Je'gan said quietly. "I can see a couple of other ways to do this. Number one, take someone else's tickets and ID and fog the guards' minds. Number two, create illusory tickets and ID."

[Southstar]

"Forget illusions." Southstar said as he approached a couple of men. "Excuse me, boys. Can I have a word with you." Southstar called to them. "Now I'm going to need your tickets, and if anyone asks, you lost them."

"Yeah..." the two handed over the tickets to Southstar with a dazed look upon their face.

"Let's go." He said to Je'gan and handed the ticket over to him. "And fog the guard's mind."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

As they made their way to the end of the line - mind tricks would have gotten them to the start with ease, but mind tricks couldn't fool the retrofitted holocams that surveyed the entrance wickets - it occurred to Je'gan that this wasn't the hardest mental task he'd ever been assigned. He spent the next ten or fifteen minutes getting a feel for the minds of these particular guards. Once the two Sith achieved the wicket, he was more than prepared to project a calm, almost fuzzy acceptance into specific areas of the guards' minds.

"Anything to declare," rang out as he'd expected. Je'gan let his influence become a bit stronger as he denied that he and his Master were armed or had contraband of any kind. Inside a minute, they were through and looking out at the spaceport.

[Southstar]

"No." He responded to the guard concerning declarable items.

"Are you carrying any weapons or anythign that resembles a weapon?"

"No." He announced and proceeded towards the weapon detectors. With the Force he pulled at a few random wires and componants inside the machine. Hopefully an alarm wouldn't go off and announce it was tampered with. Luckily, no such thing happened.

He looked around the spaceport, trying to get a feel for it. There was a blocked off area that seemed to be in use by the military. "There." Southstar lead the way past the guards, fogging their minds. He was beginning to anticipate finally leaving the forsaken planet. As he passed by the windows, he began picking out the ships and deciding which ones where takable. Screams interrupted his thoughts.

In the sky, a barrage of missles came storming over the horizon. Missle defense was taking them out, slowly. Southstar swore as he ran to take cover behind a metal cart, which he reinforced with the Force. Finally, one hit on another side of the spaceport and another not too far away.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

As long as none hit the fighter bays, we're OK...hang on. No, we're not. His danger-sense screaming, Je'gan glanced around the side of the cart they'd taken refuge behind. The remainder of the missiles seemed to have either been stopped or crashed down in the large civilian enclave. Flame lit the spaceport on all sides. The Kruthians will scramble. We have to move now.

He ducked back into cover and took a look at the military enclave.

I've handled a lot, but mind control is beyond me, and mere fogging probably isn't going to get us inside an alert military cordon.

[Southstar]

The next big idea that came to mind was to fight their way out. But that wouldn't do as the concentration of soldiers was increasing.

I think we might be able to just go with it. People are too preoccupied. Southstar slid out from the giant nunk of metal and began to run forward, pushing his way through the scurring soldiers and medics. Befoer long he was stopped.

"Excuse me, but where do you think you're going." The medic asked while stopping them from going any further.

"We need help, there's some people stuck under that cart, there." He said and pointed to where they just were.

"Ok, Show me where..." Before the time the medic finished his sentance the two Sith were lost in the sea of oncoming people.

"Mind manipulation doesn't always need the Force." Southstar said. "Just a paniced mind and a white lie."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan struggled to maintain a straight face, but Southstar could feel the amusement that bubbled up in his Apprentice - some of it, a bit sheepish in tone, directed at Je'gan himself.

Yes, Master.

His eyes flicked back and forth over the crowd, at last locating a military restroom.

How's this: we go for the 'fresher stalls at two o'clock, then give some pilots the idea that they really should make a pit stop as they scramble.

[Southstar]

Or we could just follow them.. He said as he trailed behind two pilots as they rushed to the refresher.

"They're talking about invasion forces landing on the eastern hemisphere." One said to the other as they passed a second door.

"Man, I really don't want to go out there."

Southstar waved his hand behind them and put the two to sleep. They collapsed to thte ground and Southstar wanted to add a little quip about hwo they wouldn't have to; but he felt that would just sound silly.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan eyed his Master as he knelt and began scavenging the uniforms. Identical squadron insignia and ranks, but one was smaller than the other. Je'gan tossed the larger uniform to Southstar and began donning the smaller one over his clothes.

Any particular trick to making people fall asleep?

[Southstar]

"It's more of an application of telekinesis." He responded. "Slow the blood flow to the brain and they'll pass out easy. The trick is maintenance." Southstar slid the jacket on over his clothes. It was a little big, but he wasn't going to complain. "This will last maybe a half hour. But we'll be gone by then."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

His lip twisted as he hauled the first body into an empty stall and sat it down on the toilet seat. Stepping back out, he locked the door by telekinesis and proceeded to stow the second pilot away in a similar fashion, taking up a second stall.

And that, he reflected sourly, was stupidly close to as much TK as he could manage. For the first time it was really irritating him. He would try that technique later, of course, but he honestly doubted it would succeed.

They left the 'fresher with helmets in place and moved into the panicked crowd at top speed, heading for the fighter hangars. While they'd been in there, though, it looked like another missile or two had come in unabated. Only one of the huge semicylinders was intact. It was slow going, but they made it to the gaping flight door, only to be accosted by an armed guard. Before he could say anything, Je'gan spoke.

"Our snubs were in there," he said frantically with a slight Kruthian accent, indicating the blasted wreck of the hangar beside this one. "Do you have any spare ships we can take up?"

The guard hesitated, and Je'gan felt a surge of pride: he'd managed a mind trick without the Force. "Ask him," the young guard - younger than Je'gan - growled, and pointed at a cadaverous man currently running at full speed between the fighters and their pilots. Je'gan nodded his thanks, and the Sith proceeded into the hangar.

The hangar coordinator was even more of a pushover than the guard had been. Southstar was sent to a spic-and-span, early-model Headhunter against the far wall, and Je'gan was given a Koensayr Y-Wing, the craft they were currently standing beside. The coordinator's only injunction was to hurry; the scramble was in full effect, and the last pilots had already trickled in. As luck would have it, both craft did indeed have hyperdrive - slow but essentially reliable. Je'gan wasn't sure how he would have handled a change of ships - possibly 'convincing' another pilot to switch places - but thankfully that was irrelevant.

He strapped in and reached out to the Force, trying to find the mind of another Y-Wing pilot. The chunky fighters were easy to spot, which gave him a much-needed immediate lead. He eased his way into the man's mind a third of the way through preflight, and began to listen in.

The first third of it, he could duplicate. That, too, was good.

Five minutes later, they were in the air.

[Southstar]

Southstar ran the preflight operations in his Headhunter and fastend the harness. Before he knew it he was in the air and heading towards the stars. Switch to a private channel. Southstar sent telepathically. As they seperated more and more telepathic communication was going to become more difficult.

After switching to the proper channel he spoke. "Alright, let's set a course for- uh-oh." He stopped talking as his computer picked up several capitial ships just outside the atmosphere. It seemed the Kruthians were battling off an invasion force.

"Forget them, let's just get out of here." Southstar said over the comm. He brought his headhunter towards the outer regions of the battle ground and made prepreations for hyperspace. He hit the final switch and waited for the stars to stretch and to enter hyperspace, but nothing happened. 'BLOCKED' was the only thing that his screen could tell him.

"Do you think they have an interdictor?" He said over the comm?

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Could be," Je'gan responded, wrestling with the controls. Even the simplistic, staid Y-Wing was giving him trouble - not mer than he could handle, but enough to keep him busy. "Not my area of expertise, though."

He glanced at the sensors and flicked through the more obvious options. "One thing I do know about interdiction," he said after a moment, "is that it only works to a point. Past that point we should be able to make the jump. Hang on a sec."

Fiddling with the controls, he managed to plot a course mainly by guesswork that would send them away from both the engagement and the planet's gravity well. Hardly optimum, but...

"Here you go," he said in a clipped voice, transmitting the route to Southstar and wheeling the Y-Wing harshly onto the new course. "Where are we jumping for?"

[Southstar]

"Nar Shadda." He said as he manuvered his fighter along the path figured by Je'gan. "It's the closest Sith controlled space and I don;t want to spend my time in this cramped fighter any more than I have to."

Southstar watched on his navicomputer as they exited the supposed region of interdiction. He plotted the quickest course to Nar Shadda and sent it to Je'gan. He ran the prepreations for hyperspace yet again but before he could finalize the task a colossal Obsidian fleet appeared before him.

He swore and opened up contact with Je'gan. "Avoid!" It was all he needed to say to convey the message. He wasn't going to get caught up in a firefight with such a multitude of capital ships. THey're going to flank the Kruthians. Invade..." He thought to himself as he drove his ship through he underbelly of the fleet. They're going to win...

The ships were not fire at him, thankfully. Two fighters were hardly worth noticing. "Kruthian fighters: we recommend you surrender now." The reptilian voice said over the comm.

"We're not Kruthian." Southstar replied. "We're bounty hunters." Bounty hunters? Eh, its partially true. "We have cargo from Kruthia to be delivered to... Decka the Hutt." THat name was made up, he was struggling to find an excuse that might be acceptable to the Obsidians. Comm silence gave away discussion amongst the officers aboard the ship.

Southstar dipped his ship a little more to avoid conflict with a small gun ship. They were about three fourths away from reaching the tail end of the fleet.

"We recommend you desist or face destruction."

If Southstar could have made the jump at that moment, he would have. But they had a little way to go before reaching jump point. The gravity or even tractor beams from the massive ships could be hazardous.

"Well that's too bad." He replied, but not into the comm.He dove the ship into a decent from the bellies of the ships. A the least he could do was get out of firing range. In the midst of the situation at hand, Southstar glaced at the computer, reinforcements from the Kruthian navy were arriving, but at a far enough point where it would affect the battle immediately. A threat though, if the Kruthians played their cards right, to the flanking Obsidian force.

"They're too tied up now. Let's get out of here." He sent to Je'gan over the comm. Within a few minutes the stars had stretched and the battle at Kruthia was a memory.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Nar Shaddaa

The two fighters cruised in tandem through the melange of starjunk that comprised Huttese shipping. Nothing linked Kruthia to Je'gan and Southstar - they went undisturbed. Aboard the Y-Wing, Je'gan was thinking.

"What did we get, in the end?" he said absently. "What did we gain? We destroyed a dangerous Forcer group, we obtained a body-trading artifact, we collected a very large bounty...what else?"

[Southstar]

The voice startled him from relaxation. "I think your you comm is still on..." he said like he hadn;t heard his apprentice's musings. He should say something.

"But I think you can figure that one out on your own. I mean, besides experience. There are always valuable lessons in everything, don't you think?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"And isn't that why we have teachers?" he replied calmly, relaxing into the chair. "To show us the lessons in everything?"

[Southstar]

"Success." He stated. It was what he saw most immediately. "Success breeds power. And power is my goal. Determine what you achieved by figuring out how close it brings you to your big goal. What is your big goal, Je'gan?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"To make a difference," he said flatly. It seemed forever since they had last discussed this - but had it even been two months? He didn't think so. "To change the universe."

[Southstar]

"Any closer?" He asked.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"A bit," he admitted after a few moments' thought. "Who knows how far that group had spread its efforts. It wasn't just Forcers, either - Cuulvaer's death and Galarra's imprisonment will throw a wrench into a whole mass of things." Not to mention all the Adepts Southstar had defeated. Twelve on one. For the first time, Je'gan had really understood what it was to be a Sith Knight.

[Southstar]

"Hmm." He mumbled. "We have the artifact too. Who knows what else it contains. I'm looking forward to tampering with it a little."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I'd like a crack at it too," Je'gan admitted. "Certainly not something one sees every day."

[Southstar]

"You know, I wonder if she's still floating around in here." He said. "Or around here. Not quite sure where these 'spirits' go exactly."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Trapped in the little one is my guess. Or anchored to it. I can imagine her watching us.

"YO, GALARRA!" he said loudly, chuckling. "ANY LAST WORDS?"

[Southstar]

Silence. He smiled. "Guess not."

"You know, I wonder if we should have left the Twi'lek alive. He might have done good for interrogation."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Quite likely," Je'gan agreed. "Not to mention that having a survivor wandering around - after we were done with him, of course - would have helped spread fear to other little Dark Side groups. Or else," he amended, stretching, "just brought them out of hiding."

[Southstar]

"I can't imagine too many Dark Side groups running around. Maybe resistance groups... Even factions of Jedi. Either way, no one seems to get real far before they're found out and ended."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Everyone wants power, Master...and this long after the Purge, there are plenty of Force-sensitives running around. I can easily see little clumps of Darksiders scattered around the galaxy. And think of all the Sith - and Jedi - that have gone missing, or outright left their Orders or Empires. So many unaccounted for."

He shrugged.

"But that's neither here nor there. What would you be inclined to do if we encountered another, Master? Destruction, or recruitment?"

[Southstar]

"Part of me wants to say recruitment, but its so difficult that I think destruction might be easier. Then again, you have to think about how the Sith Order might benefit." He cocked hi head a little. "Case by case analysis, I suppose. Recruitment is a consideration though. But I don't think many groups would be willing to join up."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Once they were destroyed as groups, perhaps. Take out any possibility of central leadership, then manipulate individual members."

[Southstar]

"True." He said and rubbed his chin. "But in Jedi groups... how difficult would recruitment be there?" He said but expected no answer, as it was almost obvious in the question. "But Jedi, they're so... stubborn, when it comes to matters of the Force."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Split them up, make them helpless. How hard could it be?"

[Southstar]

"The single Jedi isn't so easily broken."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Everything's relative. Then again, perhaps two would be better."

[Southstar]

"One to be the stone around the other's neck?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"More or less. I'm thinking torture one in sight of the other, stuff like that."

[Southstar]

"Eh, torture. I don't have the patience for that."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I agree, and to be totally blunt, I'm not sure I have the stomach to keep doing it like that." He paused. "I figure enough obvious mental influence and anyone'll crack."

[Southstar]

"True. And you've got the talent for that. Myself on the other hand, am medicore when it comes to telepathy."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Everyone's got talents. I can't match you in telekinesis or energy manipulation, and I doubt I ever will. Talk about a weakness."

[Southstar]

"Well you took out the 'lizard king'." He said and smiled. "You had me impressed." He didn't want to admit that he couldn't do it himself, but it seemed it was implied. "Each Sith is powerful in his own way, and that's what gives him the edge."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I guess so...I guess so. Sometimes it just seems like I have to work especially hard to get that edge. TK comes so easily to most of my peers - I've worked for my mental skills, worked my butt off. And I know a thing or two about work."

[Southstar]

"How much one has worked is relative to another's perspective. To all past experiences, yes, you worked very hard. In my eyes, I can tell you worked hard, I was an apprentice myself. But in the eyes of someone with immense power... for as much as you have worked, it is so insignificant in comparison with how much you have yet to do. In the grand scheme of your own life, in your path to greatness, you've barely begun to know what work is."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I don't like it," he said flatly after a moment, "but I suppose that's what'll keep me motivated. Nicely done."

[Southstar]

"Don't mention it. Greatness isn't easily achieved. If it was, everyone would do it."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan snorted with amusement.

"You know, Master, I never actually got around to learning your first name."

[Southstar]

"My first name, that's a bit of a well kept secret." He said and smiled. For a moment he wondered if he should give away his alias he had been using for long. "Well actually, the whole thing is an alias. It was a name given to me by friends when I first moved into more... populus space. My original name, what my mother gave me is Senuthius Marsphilic. I believe its origins lie in the native language of my home planet. Quite different, eh?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"One to remember," he chuckled, "that's for sure. Anyways. What now? Straight home, or do we have anything else on the agenda?"

[Southstar]

"Now that things are pretty much settled, I plan on returning to the the Sith cult home, Jara was it called?" He said and headed the craft for Nar Shadda. "I want to snoop around there. Cuulvaer had money and I'm sure he spent it on many valuable things."

"I'm going to dock at Nar Shadda and switch for a bigger transport ship and a crew. You're welcome to come, of course, if you want anything."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"I'm taking his books," Je'gan said determinedly, altering course to match. "Maybe I can find something on his mentalics - the stuff he used on us."

[Southstar]

"You're not getting all of them." Southstar said as took the craft down into the atmosphere of Nar Shadda. "There's a few I might want to get for myself. Now if you'll hang on a minute, my concentration is required to set down." The personal fighter set down in more of an exclusive docking area held by the Sith Order and other prestigious organizations.

Having relieved himself of sitting in the cramped cockpit of the fighter he stretched his arms and legs outside the ship. "You know, it's getting later in the day... I think we ought to catch a bite to eat and stay the night here. I'll make arrangements for a larger ship tonight and we'll leave in the morning."

---

The night was relaxing in comparison with the past days, it was most welcome. Southstar had arranged for a large Sith Order freighter to be ready to take them to Jara in the morning. For the present moment, however, he slept.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Though he very much wanted first crack at the books, Je'gan stayed with his Master rather than try to go ahead of time. Cuulvaer's group had obviously owned other things besides simply the books, after all; there would be plenty of interesting plunder, even if he didn't get as much of the library's stock as he wanted.

The morning dawned; Je'gan slept in until just past sunrise.

[Southstar]

The next day Southstar found himself on a large freighter headed to Jara. The nightbefore he had made some arrangements for the Sith Order to supply them with whatever they needed. The ship exited hyperspace and there was Jara before them.

The ship set down close to the area where Je'gan and Southstar had landed before. He stepped out with Je'gan onto the steel floor, the crew of movers behind them.

"So where do you want to start?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The place was a mess; the rapid egress of a great many sentients through this hangar bay had been without care for what happened to the fixtures in the process. A massive dent in the wall told tale of a heavy equipment accident. Torn flimsiplast and discarded odds and ends littered the deck.

"There's no significant danger in the Darksider complex, or in the barracks for non-Forcers. I'd say we can safely move on to taking apart Cuulvaer's or Galarra's chambers. We can probably expect some of the areas - trophy room, library, storehouse, lab, vault - to have some pretty decent protection: thick walls and doors, deadbolts, seals, maybe even a few minor traps. Darksiders are a paranoid bunch, after all."

[Southstar]

"True." He responded as he moved about down a hallway. "These seem to be trainee's quarters." He said pushing a door open. Some minor items appeared to be missing from the room but for the most part, there were many items left.

He picked up a book that documented the history of the Sith Order and its affairs in the Hutt Space region. He discarded it into a pile of other books and looked around until he returned to the books. Some of them appeared to be very old. He picked one up and found that he had stumbled upon a series of fiction novels by a prolific Corellian writer; all seemed to be first editions.

"Rich kid..." He mumbled. Then turning to three of the lackeys behind him he ordered them to box the books and load them on the ship.

Crossing over to the opposite room he found set of books on a shelf. Back to the lackeys: "Change of orders. Go into all these rooms and box all the books. Make sure they all get on the ship."

He walked down the hallway until he reached Je'gan. "Any idea where either of the headmaster's main quarters are?"

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan let out a slow breath. Cuulvaer's memories were patchy and threadbare; there wasn't much left after being subjected to the caustic environment of Je'gan's mind. Still, he had to assume that in dissolving, those memories had gone somewhere, perhaps even into his subconscious.

He reached out to the Force and looked about with something like new eyes. What, he asked himself, felt right? Or rather, what felt most familiar?

"This way..." he said slowly, proceeding down a series of halls until he came to a door like any other. "This...this is the one."

[Southstar]

Southstar followed Je'gan through the series of hallways until they reached the strange door. Southstar pushed on it with the Force and entered. Like the door, the room was unlike any other. To be honest, he was facinated.

He approached the wall and rubbed his hand against it. It was covered with 5 by 5 inch tiles, all featuring a patterned relief carving. In the middle was a table of stone legs and glass top. Several papers and disks were ordered neatly on top of it. Then, behind the table was another door in the same fashion as the first.

Apparently Cuulvaer had more than one room. On either sides of the room were two smaller doors. He walked to the right and opened it. The lights flickered on to reveal a private refresher, also gorgeously tiled.

"Must have had some real money." He said stepping out into the main room again. "He'd need it for something so extravagant."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Indeed."

Je'gan glanced back at a waiting team of loaders.

"I assume we're inspecting Cuulvaer's and Galarra's rooms before they're packed up? Personally, that is?"

[Southstar]

"We will." He said and sent the loaders to return to the trainee's rooms.

"I don't think Galarra's room is in this wing." He said as he glanced at a map on the outside hallway. "It seems it is the same general place as this room, opposite side."

He walked across the main room, past the table and to the large set of doors behind the table. They pushed in to reveal a short, wide hallway which lead to a decent sized library. "Found some books..." He said as he looked up the giant bookcases to the glass dome above.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan actually began to salivate as he perused the titles, darting back and forth to check for this book or that. His boots squeaked on the floor, and an intense, almost happy look dominated his eyes.

"Most of these are duplicated in the Palace library," he said absently, mindless of anything but the immense knowledge represented by the dead Barabel's collection. "There are more than a few, though, that I've never seen in there...here's Screwtape Proposes a Toast, for example; as far as I know, TSO only has the Letters. Hm. I'll take the ones that the Order already has copies of, how's that?"

[Southstar]

"Sounds reasonable." He responded, but his mind was barely there as he scanned through the books. "Hmm, here's an intresting one..." It was a series of books written during the Sith's rise to power and aquisition of Hutt space territories. He opened the first of the series and scanned the test. It was criticism of Hutt politics as they faced loosing the planet to The Sith Order. He put the book back on the shelf and grabbed the whole series, setting it down a table in the middle.

"But I'm just going to assume the Palace has these."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Je'gan didn't hear his Master; he was busy selecting the books that he hadn't seen in his frequent perusals of TSO's library, and piling them on the floor in a neat double stack. When the loaders, having finished with this wing of trainee rooms, attempted to help, he shooed them away, not even bothering with mentalics to do so, just gesturing fiercely but absently as he scanned shelf after shelf.

[Southstar]

He pulled another book from the shelf, not a subject that interested him too much, but maybe Je'gan. He tossed it in his pile without asking and continued to search through the books. It wasn't long until the whole library was taken apart, books in piles all over the floor.

"I think I've got everything I want." He said and motioned for the men to start loading his piles up. Without a word he left the library and headed back into the main room. There was still one more door he wanted to open. He did so and found a small room without windows that had a tunnel heading away from the end of the wing. It must have lead to the stone chamber where Je'gan and Southstar had found the body of Cuulvaer.

He left the windowless room and stood in front of the hallway leading to Cuulvaer's quarters. For a moment he thought of what it must have been like to be Cuulvaer, standing there and watching all of his trainees grow. It was like Southstar's own experience of guiding an apprentice, but something of the magnitude that Cuulvaer had going on. That was different.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

While Southstar looked at the last corridor, an impassioned Je'gan moved on, walking through the halls to find Galarra's room, a bag of choice books propped on his shoulder. The layout of this portion of the facility was at least reasonably symmetrical; he knew when he was getting close, and he could identify the door.

This room was locked tight, and yielded only to his lightsaber. Instantly, ignoring all else, he went for the library: a smaller room, to be sure, and with fewer books, but here he began to take a few that piqued his curiosity, some that he wouldn't get by default.

[Southstar]

Southstar followed Je'gan into Galarra's room, which was much different than Cuulvaer's. She seemed to be more occupied with current events rather than studies or Force theory. Newspapers littered the table in the entrance. The whole room as a whole wasn't as nice as Cuulvaer's. To be honest, if he hadn't known the significance of it, he might have assumed it to be just another room.

He pushed through the door that lead to the library. The shelves were no where near as full as Cuulvaer's. He picked up a book and skimmed through it. Nothing he was interested in. He looked through a few more and found nothing.

"Anything good?" He asked in case his apprentice might have stumbled upon the proverbial dimond in the rough.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Here's one," Je'gan said, not looking back over his shoulder but lifting the book for a quick visual inspection before stuffing it into his bag. "An autographed copy of The Book of Anger. It's got some kind of a spell on it, too: I wouldn't like to be the Jedi who gets near it. Hmm..." Book of Anger forgotten, he kept going, flipping through book after book. Though not as prolific a reader or collector as her Barabel comrade, Galarra had possessed several oddments.

"Here's one I don't need yet," he said at last, lobbing a plain specimen over his shoulder. "Notebook on the body-trading artifact."

[Southstar]

"They actually call it that?" He said and took the book, flipping though it casually. "I'm going to have to hang on to this one personally." He slid into one of his pockets. "Just so it doesn't get lost in the mess."

He walked out of the library and into the main room. "The 'fresher." He said and entered the door on the left. The place was symetrical and the room was indeed the refresher; also as plain as the main room. "So that makes this room what?" He crossed the main bit and opened the door.

No windows, like Cuulvaers, but it sloped down into the ground. He withdrew a flashlight and shined it into the darkness. The long room seemed to contain nothing, but he wasn't turning back until he reached the end.

tick tick tick

He heard the sounds and looked around with the light until he found it being reflected back towards him. It was cylindrical, but he couldn't get a good idea of what it was with the strong reflection. He pointed the light down a little and found the cylinder was glass. He illuminated its contents by pushing the light against the glass.

Thud

The noise startled him and what startled him more was the halfway developed person in front of him. It was clearly alive, most likely from the artifact he had in his pocket. But he had no concern as the likely clone had no Force power and was trapped within the glass cell.

"Wow." He managed to get out as he stepped back.

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Quite impressive, isn't it?"

Je'gan's voice echoed in the darkness from behind his Master. The flutter of pages was the only clue Southstar had that another notebook was flying through the air.

"Her notes on cloning."

A pause.

"Spaarti cylinders are incredibly rare...what would you suggest we do? Terminate the clone and take the cylinder, or lock this place up, keep the clone going? Galarra could be quite the asset...then again, she'd be very dangerous if handled wrong." He shrugged, invisible in the darkness. "Your call, Master."

[Southstar]

It was hard to call. One didn't make decisions like such quickly. "We'll let it go for now. If situation dictates it, then she will be terminated." He shined the light past the Spaarti cylinder and found that the tunnel didn't end there. There had to be a light switch somewhere. He found one against the wall just past the cylinder. The hallway lit up and revealed a large space, segmented into several rooms, ahead of them.

He caught a glimpse of another Spaarti cylinder. "These can't be original." he said and moved back to the first one he saw, eyeing one opposite of it. "Remakes maybe. He searched for some sort of insigna on the cylinder but found none. "And this might not be Galarra. In fact, both of these look more like... decoration."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"Possibly...possibly."

He shrugged, ending his scrutiny of the tubes.

"I'm considering going back to the library now, but there might be more...shine your light over thisaway, would you? Oh, and I want at least one of these tubes."

[Southstar]

"I'll investigate this further." He said and allowed Je'gan to go back to his books. He walked forward into the room. It was small for a laboratory, but it seemed whatever needed got done, disspite the space confinements. The main space seemed to divide into four quadrants, seperated by thin walls. He opened the first and found the Spaarti cylinders lining the walls. Each of them held a clone of some kind.

Two more of the rooms were for a variety of simple tests and observations. The last room was locked, but it gave way to his lightsaber. In the middle he found two heavily protected cylinders. Silently he thanked himself for leaving the artifact on board the ship. He could barely get a look at those inhabiting the cylinders, but he saw enough to tell it was two underdeveloped, former headmasters of the facility.

he left the room and hallway, reentering the main lobby of Galarra's quarters. He had a group of papers tucked under his arm. There seemed to be very much hidden about the cloning faculties on Jara. He believed the papers he held had the answers.

"Hey." He said to one of the movers. "See what you can do about moving those cylinders in there without damaging them."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

The first thing that became obvious as Southstar reentered Galarra's quarters was that the library was stripped. Every book she'd possessed was completely gone, as was any trace of loading equipment save for a single massive repulsor sledge in the main hallway. Boxes were stacked so high on the sledge that it dipped noticeably from its normal height. Galarra's entire library, save for a handful, had been packaged neatly; much of Cuulvaer's library also, save for the ones Southstar had wanted and most of the ones that were unduplicated in TSO's library to the best of Je'gan's knowledge. There were literally thousands of books in those boxes, and beside them were a few more boxes, containing a few small but reasonably valuable things from the surrounding rooms. Je'gan looked in through the door of Galarra's chambers with a wide and highly, well, ditzy grin on his face.

"How many Spaarti cylinders were there, Master?"

[Southstar]

"About a dozen and I think they really were genuine, though altered." He stood up and piled the papers, sliding them into one of his own boxes.

"You know I had an idea for this place." He said as they entered the hallway, empty rooms on each side. "The facility is in good shape, everything works and with our possession of Cuulvaer's assets, namely his money, this place can be funded for at least a century. We might as well use it for what its worth. My first idea was a training center for force users, but then again we have the palace. What do you think about a re-education camp for disobediant citizens? The major ones of course."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

"High-security, of course," Je'gan said, nodding slowly. "This place has a definite dark aura; it'll depress some but it'll make others almost uncontrollable. We could assign some low-level Sith Adepts to this place."

[Southstar]

"We could." He agreed and reached out to one of the doors. It was flimsy for the most part. "We'd need stronger doors as well. Bars on the windows for dramatic purposes, perhaps?" He continued walking. "The dissidents might even make for good practice dummies for the Sith trainees."

[Je'gan Olra'en]

Plans, plots, manipulations...everything had such an atmosphere to it, one that Je'gan had gotten used to over the last few months, completely without his knowledge. He had begun to really feel like a Sith, and that was truly priceless. He understood Southstar's point of view because in most ways it was his own. It was fascinating and a little frightening to see how much he had changed.

But fear, after all, led to anger...

~FIN