Chakta Sai Kae (Rayna)

She followed Jehkran through the halls wishing she had a map. Though she had thoroughly studied the details available during their time on the ship, she couldn't help but feel lost in the labyrinth. Reaching out in the Force she searched for minds with the knowledge she needed, if only for security within.

"The court should be up a floor and towards the back." She said with semi-confidence. IN conception the plan seemed simple, get in there and sever the head of the dark snake of slavery. The reality of it all was more daunting.

She forced the thought of the would be martyr Gotal into her head, he was willing to die to strike at this system of evil, so should she as well. Fear for her own life lingered. She fought against it with the acknowledgement that the completion of this task would fulfill her goals for the past year. Did she long for justice? No, what fueled her was vengence in disguise.

Without words she eagerly took the lead from Jehkran and turned a corner to the stairwell. Pausing for a moment she looked at her partner, his face concealed behind a macabre mask. "Come on, I'm sure its this way."

"Sure"

The whisper did not escape from the disguise, but the sarcasm carried it's way through his body language. Before she could carry a glance back, he was on her tail awaiting the inevitable failure. Troubles always seemed impending with her feet ahead, or at least Jehkran felt that way. Every time he allowed his eyes to see her, to truly see her, his eyes burned with the truth.

Despite the justified guise she had grown to attire, she wasn't the woman he adorned with a crown of beauty and grace. Only in a mater of time her visage melted, her body sent in discord and her appearance thrown to the pits of her deceit.

Jehkran was on her tail like a backbone and there would be no cracking on his part. Step after step sent them down the dark corridors to gander at a few passerby. The Hutt's kingdom was unsettled, and the bustle of the chambers carried an uneasy cry below and above. Turmoil ingrained it's tendrils in the cracks and crevices of the palace until it became one. Hopefully soon, through the faith of the young Padawan, all would be cured by the hands of the Force.

Time had taught Jehkran to dependent on the elements unseen. Instead of the formalities of reality, he compressed the concepts of the Force through his being, idolized the capabilities the ultimate strength unseen by the naked eye. He had been blessed by the very force he had grown to cherish, and flourished through the tide that sent him down Rayna's pathway. Rayna was his physical teacher, but the only being Jehkran knee; too in tutelage was the Force.

"Lift is over there."

Before Rayna could drop out of her hardened shell, Jehkran gripped her wrist and twisted her about. A trot led the two the activated lift, and they were off. Soon the Jedi would stand on the very level the Hutt resided. Trouble was certainly around the corner.

Justice was around the corner. She could feel it, taste it, see it. The lift opened up to a large corridor, gates guarded by two men in the same outfit as them. She approached steadily down the hallway all the while considering the dangers of the Hutt's court.

She let Jehkran feel her thoughts.

Guards and bounty hunters, most likely. They needed to be neutralized if they were to strike there in the court. Could two Jedi combat the thongs of Jibuu's court? She could. The rage that built within her could supplement her body until the slug's head stared at its bloody body. But Jehkran... Her conscience attacked her course one last time. She should tell him to leave, it was a mistake to bring him along to her battle.

"Tell me, how do we do this?" She asked quietly. He could give his solution and she would listen, but whether she could follow she was unsure.

The court's vastness expanded across Jehkran's youthful eyes. Beauty was a word far from the horrendous smell that overcame his nostrils. Aliens of all type flooded about, faces once imagined were seen. Bounty Hunters eroded the grounds with their very presence, and the reek of foreign meals pasted the tables in the distance. A dim lit dance floor ahead pranced with a few Zeltrons, enjoying the party.

Jehkran had seen very little places like this before.

It made him smile.

Despite the evident wrong that deployed itself in the bundles, he recognized in all the spite there was spirit. In every horrid face, there was a smile to be found. Something was positive, and despite the rather devious visage there was worth in it all.

"We will first find Jibuu," the whisper escaped the Padawan's masked helm. The words dropped nowhere but his partners ears, he was far too cautious to be caught so deep in enemy territory.

Jibuu wasn't close by. Apparently the rustle that rumbled the courts only days before had merit only a few entrances by the palace owner. Applause would certainly warrant the two Jedi's attention, but until then they would have to wait and merge into the crowds. Words would spread, and information would be delayed.

Hopefully violence wouldn't be the absolute for all the folks in the room, but Jehkran was prepared to do so if necessary. All the studies that had led him to such a point were acquired for safety, not offense. The anger he felt in his former Master beckoned his third eye, but he could only blink. Eventually he would have to deal with that, however to uproot his focus would only disturb the goal.

Her eyes walked through the crowd, looking for a sense of structure in the courtroom's architecture. The room seemed like a crescent, though she could only see half, she assumed it was like a crescent but surprises may lie around the gradually curved corner. She began to walk, to stand still gawking seemed too suspicious, especially after she had noticed that eyes were beginning to drift their way.

Nobody suspects. She remeinded herself. No reason to be nervous.

Upon entering the crowd they melted into it and her heart resumed its controlled pace. They dressed as guards of Jibuu, warrenting some attention from the free-loading guests however no one dared to disturb them in their apparent duty.

As they penetrated deeper towards the black heart of Jibuu's empire the room revealed itself not as a crescent, but a snaking S curve. There was no direct route to the Hutt therefore no direct escape. It did not matter, once the slug was dead her own mission was accomplished, Jehkran would find a way out.

Her eyes wandered along the wall, following the pictoral narrative carved in a relief sculpture imbedded int he wall. It was a political story, myth rather, telling a tale of the strong overcoming the weak. All the figures were translated to Hutts, Jibuu in face only, was depicted as the hero. She followed the story with one eye, the other watching her steps as she drew nearer to Jibuu's chamber.

The story on the wall ceased openended, the final panel which should depit the hero installing a glorious reign of thousands of years was not present. Instead, Jibuu sat on his thrown of sin flanked by guards. The great snake curve ended with a lavish room filled with only the most privy of men and aliens. Dark eyes sat close to Jibuu now, evidently a protector in light of the incident with the Gotal.

"You two." A guard in similar uniform to their own said. "Why have you left your post?"

Rayna had been a great teacher, despite her cons. The adequate, wild knowledge she had gained as a Padawan learner had provided her with a specific paradigm that Jehkran could quickly catch upon. The theory remained that a friend was one of the best teachers. Never did the lessons supply the condescending behavior, leaving his mind to roam free with his spirit aligned with the Force.

He had gained his skills quickly.

However, he had been taught before to stay humble. Even the unwaivering power of the Force could not indulge him in arrogance. All the meaningless squabbles with his siblings left bruises that could not be forgotten. Egos could return, but not without the battered remains dragging at the waist side. Jehkran still stood there, eyes on the present, but vacuumed into the past. Still the memories had a pull on him, even with the aid of the immortal Force.

"We were commanded," Jehkran waved.

The motion was typical of a Force adept. The Force reacted quickly, sending a clutch on the man's brain. Behind the protection remained an error--the mind had no armor. In seconds time the strategic moved display it's product in a submissive response.

"We shall proceed without trouble."

One step pass, and the two were only seconds away from Jibuu. Jehkran had studied the plans thoroughly, but as the conclusion came near he could only hope that Rayna's initial response was not too volatile. The assassination would deflate the party, leaving more trouble on their hands than need be if the attack wasn't precise.

Her self control waned rapidly and her heart pumped blood through her veins more quickly with each beat. One cut and it could be over, her lightsaber was at her side. The fat creature of slime was meters away, a Force aided leap could get her there.

Wait.

Walk.

The two disguised guards walked closer to the Hutt, he failed to take notice but the guards left untouched by Jehkran became restless. She wanted to put her blade to his throat, the notion nagged at her without relief. She could take him hostage, put him on trial in his own court... No, this filth existed in the palace because of the sins propagated by Jibuu himself. The court's eyes were blind to justice, she would be the judge then.

"Lord Jibuu, assassins stormed your gate." She said using the Force to disguise her voice. "We are charged with guiding you to safety."

The Hutt's eyes widened and seemed to bulge more from their sockets than she imagined they could. He laughed as the pair of eyes scanned the court.

"Do you not see what lies before us?" His voice rumbled Rayna to her core. "Security fit for the Emperor himself."

Rayna glanced at Dark-Eyes and tried to guess how many other bounty hunters and undercover guards there might be. The plan called for taking Jibuu out of his court and following through with the execution. If the first insistance on Jibuu failed, they were to assert they stay as extra protection until Jibuu adjourned to his private chambers and wait until then to act. No, she could break the plan, it was made without full knowledge of the palace and situation; it was flawed to begin with and that excused her.

An earthquake shook the foundations of the palace until the pillars braced between ceiling and floor broke and gave way to the weight of the above room. Wookie-sized stone blocks crushed sleezy aliens as panic overtook the crowd like a plague. The trained soldiers stood out as they pushed against the retreating crowd in effort to get to the Hutt hey were expected to protect.

"No." She whispered as she unleashed a monsoon of Force power against them, sending them far out of reach from her and her enemy. She locked glares with Dark-Eyes as he struggled vigorously against her fury, but ultimately failed. At last a wall of rubble stood between them and the rest of the court. She paused, searching the makeshift wall for flaws but only found limbs and the x-faced head of one of Dark-Eyes' droids staring ahead, watching.

The remaining guards that once surrounded Jibuu had fallen, Jehkran was hardly the fool to allow them to act while she collapsed the serpent hallway. She wished he was not present for this confrontation, but his help proved necessary as she could not both disable the nearby guards and crush the hallway simultaniously. The helmet she wore ceased to hide her face any longer as she removed it and discarded it, all the while calling her lightsaber to her hand. At last she ignited it and pointed the blade at her enemy's throat.

"Ho, ho." He boomed in conspicuous amusement. "Jedi!"

The Plan?!

The confusion echoed through Jehkran's mind as his eyes rummage through the turmoil. Blocks and other figments of construction toppled under the formidable strength of the Force. The binder of all undid the fortitude, leaving it's adept at work. Impulses pulsated in his calves as he propelled himself from a falling pillar, his eyes dropping carefully on the demise that defile the world around him.

All of it for a simple Hutt.

Despite all the despicable actions the slug could claim, people within the court were of various backgrounds. Faces amidst the crowd bundled in the junk could proclaim to a less wicked life than others. Slaves engulf in the harshness of their environment were sent down derail tracks by the sheer anguish of one being.

It was not the Hutt.

Jibuu wasn't even a catalyst to such agony. He was a simple object, a figure to point the hatred at. Another barn-yard side to unleash an unstoppable magnitude of loathe. The transgression sent waves through the bind, rattling the child's attuned senses. In the depth of the Force came a barrage of misery. Woe slept the many fallen men as Jehkran abhorrence leaked into the pits of his eyes.

He glanced over his shoulder at Rayna's back within the silence beyond the chaotic destruction. Jehkran eyes flared, the memories of disenchantment haunting him. The truth revealed itself as he survey the scenery for a second before instincts expelled his focus. One step and he was sent dashing toward the many remaining enemies.

A sizzle ignited from his waist as he bid the many foe pain. From fingers to legs, many were left dismember in moments time as he listened intently at Jibuu inevitable end.

She inhaled slowly, held her breath, and exhaled. She had it initially planned in her head, how she would describe the sins propogated by the Hutt and his crime empire. Accuse him, declare him guilty, execute him and free the galaxy from his terrible grip; one more pillar of corruption and evil toppled.

"It's your fault." She blurted.

"Ho, ho! Jedi!" He repeated and narrowed his eyes at her. "My fault? Many of the galaxy's grievances eminate from me. You disrupt my trade, raze my property and now assult my court. What have I done to you to deserve this?"

"I could have had a better life. The spice, the sex, living in the slums of Coronet was all because of the web of filth you've built. Do you know what I've gone through, what I'm going through right now? I escaped from the Sith themselves, I should have had a better life but instead your- you trapped me!"

"Your afflictions are not my fault. You did not escape from the Sith, so I've learned, your body was freed, your mind salvaged by agents of my own!" The Hutt illustrated as his fat fingers twidled between themselves.

"Lies. My friend aided me, you stole me."

"Ha!" The Hutt bellowed.

"And you stole from me." She poised the tip of the lightsaber's blade dangerously close to the two slits in the Hutt's face that acted as nasal passages.

"Dear Jedi, calm yourself." The Hutt murmered, careful not to draw any nearer to the glowing blade on his own accord.

"My child." She said through clenched teeth. "I was three months pregnant when the Sith put me away. I was full term when I was freed. You've taken him from me, where is he?"

"Hmpf." The Hutt stumbled over his words before they left his wide mouth. He realized his next words could be his last. His guards were dead, his hired bounty hunters likely the same. No one was coming, his only hope was mutually assured destruction. To lie might send her elsewhere, the truth would devestate her.

"Dead within you when we recieved your disfunct body."

In the mangled remnants of Jibuu's defense stood an engross Jehkran. The battle demanded his focus, his mind, his soul and spirit to an extreme that training couldn't mimic. Deficiency overcame the crowd as pillars smother corpse, and frail bodies lay undone. Rage had not dealt the destruction, but a loyal guide through the terror that painted the walls. A new layer splash across the crumbled fortress, coated in a pure crimson. Blood trickled through the cracks on the floor, drenching Jehkran's boots in the sticky wetness.

The young Jedi panted. Time had pushed the body's will to outpour more energy than he expected, and his belly was left deflated. The trainee was pooped, but he remained. The fluidity of his offense cut the guardians effortlessly, yet he could not help but remain conscious through the ordeal. In the command of the Force he caught sight of a reflection. All the colossal anger that pronounced itself in his attacks echo through his mind.

He had done wrong here.

In the distance rose the sounds of a prate. A vengeful nature eroded the warm voice of his youthful teacher, forcing his eyebrows in a furrow. Confusion complicated the circuitry of his mind as the loud conversation bellow through his focus sense. Weariness faded under the intensity of the dialog, throwing him into an instinctive stupor. Morals spilled into his mind, and a case of sublimation sent him into a dash.

Jehkran could not swallow his hatred without action. He would make his killings right...somehow.

"Dead within you," the words slammed into his ears as he grew near, and his body separated his old master and her foe.

He stood as a bulwark, prepared to defend the very enemy they had come to fight. The assassination were for unrighteous cause, and he had been spiraled in the horrid tale. The story book ending would not be undone by a false paladin and her foolish lackey. Jehkran would stand to the selfish judgment.

"No."

Though Jibuu's nose was dangerously close to her blade, Jehkran now stood closer to the glowing heat. Who was he to stand between her and justice? Who was he, an apprentice, to tell her what to do?

No? She said in a voice barely recognizable as her own.

The darkside appeared clearly to her and called upon her to sweep him aside. She recognized it, she knew what it stood for, but now through the lense of experience she could make sense of it all. The darkside was the true path, it would give her what she wanted.

"Move." She said as the thrill of pleasure appeared on the Hutt's slimy face.

"You can't blame me for your own shortcomings, Jedi. Had my own empire not been there to drag you in, someone else's would have been. Someone else would have provided the spice." The Hutt said as he licked his lips. The two Jedi would kill each other over him, and then the great Jibuu the Hutt would emerge the winner, the bodies of two Jedi to offer to the Empire in exchange for unlimited immunity. The confrontation was not over yet.

"I don't want to have to hurt you Jehkran." She pleaded. "Please, just leave."

Hurt me?

The Padawan was rash, hectic and conflicted. Every impulsive thought trained through his being, and the exhaustion that swept him was caught in the breeze of his emotions. The whirlwind of his spirit doubled as his fiber stretched to call at the once unknown. The beacon to the Force formed him an object of fertility, prepared to expand on the abundance of skill.

A mixture fixed his body. The Echani arts meddled cleanly with the Jedi techniques, his hands calling at his Padawan symbol. Before the cold hilt could be embraced by his quick hands he had already ignited the blade. The obscure line of hatred had played a catalyst to the confused boy. Excitement spread his adrenaline into a rush as instinct linked him to the realm of the unseen.

Jehkran stood as a segment of his potential, but still surrounded in darkness. Rayna had coated the room with her realm, her afflicted disgusting leaking through the Echani's established shield. He could not hate her, but he fed senselessly on the rage within her. The response wouldn't leave him weak as before. All the mock confrontation on the fields of battle had set him for such an event.

The Force had guided the two companions to separate sides of attack. They were meant to clash. It was inevitable.

Destiny sway his body like liquid. A smoothness carried him to the side, beyond the impending doom of the blade tip, only to be followed by a lifting foot. The fight had begun, and his foot would start it with a strong bash against her chest. Memories flashed through his mind at the face he saw long ago in a cantina.

He loved that face.

It had been forgotten. Rayna had lost it long ago, and it made it all the easier for Jehkran to find it in her depths. This...abomination, would fall and the true Rayna would resurrect.

A kick to her chest caught her by surprise. The whole time she had been training Jehkran, the past months, he had never disobeyed her. But she should have seen it coming, in the forest after their non-violent confrontation. Her control over him was slipping and now he openly defied her.

She pushed herself up by her hands and held her blade before her, poised to attack. "Traitor." She snarled.

---

It is said that if you dodge enough bullets you might think you were invincible. Jibuu knew better, Force adepts were far to unpredictable and to remain present during this confrontation was foolish. He quietly chuckled as his tail felt around for the lever that would allow him to exit his crumbling throne room.

The colliding blades cast a shadow of their feuding wielders on the wall. Had he been more foolish he would believe that the dueling Jedi was a creation of his own. No, deep rooted flaws entrenched themselves in the relationship between the the two Jedi. That pot was already boiling, he had only removed the lid.

The female Jedi, the angry one, Jibuu observed, had more experience with the lightsaber. The other, the one who consequently saved the hutt's life, fought with a style of his own. Had it not been his neck hanging in the noose moments ago it would greatly interest him to stay and further assess the battle and its participants. However, he thought as his tail wrapped around a lever, it was unequivocally his time to go.

The floor dropped at a quickened pace, a replacement panel slid from the side of the hidden tunnel and sealed the throne room away. Jibuu glared at his servants who had apparently been in the tunnel for some time.

"Fools!" He bellowed. "How long would you have me captive in the hands of those maniacal Jedi!"

"You're highness, Jibuu. We were doing all we could to save you!" A weaselly alien replied.

"I'm certain." Jibuu replied with great acrimony. "Seal the room! When one of them kills the other, kill the remaining one! Contact the great moffs, tell them I have something that might interest them. And damn it, get me out of here!"

Though he was certain the Jedi would ultimately both be killed. The collateral damage could be quite large; already he had lost his grand hall. The battle, he thought, must be raging by now. A scene witnessed by so few in the history of the galaxy. It was unfortunate he couldn't stay, but his life,his empire, was worth more than anything.

Dismay wrong Jehkran's handsome face. Although she had become his Master, he was far from her servitude. Over the months he had grown observant, more so than before. Visions plagued his mind, even in slumber, infesting his brain with all the horrific possibilities. Conflict brew in his soul, but he had kept it at bay for years now. There was no point in depending on a weakened leg to trot to a fight. Jehkran re-energize himself with the absolutes, noticing how horrid she had become.

A true manifestation of darkness, there was no light but his own that could outshine her glorious doom. Despite the complications he held, Jehkran knew his motion was right. She had become something worth true judgment, and delay would leave her more room to grow like fungus. The galaxy would be overcome with her destructive behavior. The endeavor was a righteous one, and running away was no longer an option.

Nor were words.

She spat her vicious insults, but he regarded it without much change. Displeasure boil in his eyes as he pleased his body into a stance renown in the Echani fields. The remarkable stance embraced him, and he expelled himself forth with his lightsaber in hand. A shimmer dawn in the gloomy remains of the colossal hall, flour scent in all it's beautiful hue. The blade lifted with a swift notion to the sky before diving downward upon his foe.

Thoughts flush his mind as he prepared to take down her saber with strength. The offensive onslaught would command her attention, and certainly place her on the defensive. Hopefully her mind could expand and realize the fault she had placed on display. The master had fallen to the stance of an apprentice, and underling, in his eyes. She had wronged herself, and punishment was necessary to expose the reflection she foolishly illustrated.

She parried her former apprentice's attack and gaged his intentions as he pressed on. Did he intend to completely subdue her? Would he try to incapacitate her to the point where she wouldn't be able to help herself. Perhaps he intended to leave her to Jibuu's mercy. Perhaps the man had been working for the Hutt the whole time. Sent to infiltrate her from the beginning, bring her to the Hutt's Imperial core and execute her. No matter, he was never on her side. The whole time he used her to gain power through the Force and leave her with nothing.

Her insecurities and fears welled up inside her, she channeled them to unleash another offensive against her former apprentice.

Tutelage had taught Jehkran much. Over the months movements had been left calculated, maneuvers captivated for memory. He had hoped to eventually stand before Rayna with a complete understanding. Echani arts had delved deep in the comprehension of man through combat, and Jehkran could never fail his race. Despite the separation into the Jedi ways, he still retain his deep knowledge of his adversary with keen precision.

Every step revealed another emotional cord. The music played to his pattern effortlessly in his mind, but he still was challenged by her sudden relentless offensive. The desperation destined her into a pit of insecurity that Jehkran could see without a glance to her eyes. Rayna had formed a painting, and the Echani Padawan scrutinize with effortlessness.

A lift threw him over her strung strike, leaving him dropping only a few yards away from her. An eye casted of his shoulder as he prepared his hands with a quickened strike about.

If she could be downed with quickness, maybe he could end the fight before she unleashed her horrid depths.

His hand, not his blade, connected with jaw as she arrogantly and blindly turned to pursue the offensive. The blow only hurt her pride, she shook it off and hesitated before resuming the attack by forcing him to make a circle pattern.

How could she have not been prepared for his hand? She likely would have reacted to his lightsaber the same way, only instead of bruise she might be dead. She was loosing focus, under any other circumstance she would have caught the strike and countered. The get hit was unlike her.

Focus. Jehkran had an edge on her with his outside combat training, she knew that before but now it had questionably slipped her mind. While this darker aspect of the Force, she felt, could be a powerful ally. It's brute force was something she was hardly accustomed to. Years of training nearly since she could walk had taught her discipline, had taught her to thoroughly observe her opponent and meticulously plan an assault.

The dark force within in her needed more direction, more strategy. She would use her old training to plan and put her ex-apprentice in the position he least desired to be in. Give him nowhere to jump to, she would restrict his movement and then close in. The circling lead Jehkran to put his back to the wall of rubble, she could corner him there.

All plans and observations abruptly left her mind the moment she believed she had him. Carelessly, despite previous strategy, she superciliously charged ahead, lightsaber poised to take Jehkran down from this throne he had suddenly ascended to.

The fight had changed, quietly. In an array of sweeps, swipes, slashes and counters revealed a detailed plan. Despite the clearness that once overcame the Echani's impulses, they had grown into a disarray. A dis-pleasant rush threw him backward, on an endless path to defeat. The deficit grew as her offensive strike deviated his mind to doubt. Hope slowly slipped from his fingers, deforming his faith as he attempted a balance in his defense.

Echani housed a true understanding of combat. Emotions and truth drew all conflicts, and every Echani grasped such significant points. Tales were unfolded by bouts, feelings expelled in thrashings, defeats and conquers. Over the years that transpired the cultural discretion separated the Echani on a plane of combat no race could comprehend. They were not inheritable better, just keen in their senses and attuned to combat.

Battles matter in their creed, and all struggles, internal or external, were revealed in a man's attack.

Jehkran could feel the drain of his hope placed on complete display, as disarray squabble him of his good senses. Pressed against the rubble, trouble swallow his mind. The transgression had grown overwhelming, and the debris coated him in ways all his senses caught. There was no room for evasion, and she was on her way to a final blow.

The boy was scrappy. Since the days of Jabiim his style graced an undertone of eloquence, but his elegance stood in stark contrast in points of need. A swift thought was more promising than a poignant fall. Rayna had taught him well, but there were things she did not tell him. Details were built a top the foundation of the Jedi creed and beliefs, and Jehkran hadn't become acquainted with indicative natures.

Seconds dispersed all faults, and Jehkran reacted smoothly. There was no above, but there was a below. A kneel threw him to the surface as his teacher dash forward, leaving open a world of trouble. Peril intensify his eyes to a focus that overwhelmed his optics to a pinpoint.

The angelic hilt lay consumed in tighten clasp of it's owner. Emit from the darkness of his hold came the seething blade, shimmering the shaded corner. Anger coil along her leg, tearing through her being in demand for everlasting anguish. In the hand of anyone the blade was formidable, but a Jedi engross a fury within the blade.

Only a knee remained at his master's left leg, and he hoped that would be all that was necessary to take from her. Jehkran did not wished to fight any longer.

Again, Jehkran attacked and took advantage of mistakes made in the fury of the Darkside whelmed up within her. He struck with more harmful intent than the previous attack, her knee was the target. She called off her arcing blow to defend against Jehkran's blade, narrowly stopping it. The two blades crackled and lights quivered across the shadows.

Stay focused, don't give over to the Darkside. She told herself yet stared into the eyes of her declared enemy. If she were to defeat him, she must command every ounce of Jedi training. She had to move smoothly and gracefully, anticipating where he might try to harm her next.

Two two blades disengaged and Rayna spun distance between them. Voices of masters and lessons past gyrated through her mind. With determined intent to defeat the apprentice that had rebelled against her she renewed the assailment. Concentrated and guided by the Force, Rayna became observant of the Light and her combat benefited.

Why? She asked silently as light engaged light. Why had Jehkran defied her and betrayed her?

You're cause is unjust.

The realization stunned her, it was as if he had been telling her the all along. Her cause was unjust as it served only herself. She had tried to use him to assist that cause. Her attack failed her but the light stayed as she took to one knee holding her blade above, suspending the attack. The roles had been reversed and she failed to perceive it. He learned from her about the Force and its nature, but she couldn't teach how to adhere to it or follow its will. He already walked that path, it was her who had strayed far from it.

"I surrender." She said as her body confounded itself and refused to obey any will to attack.

Surprise rattle his composure as the sparkling crack flared in his eyes at the defensive response. Rayna rarely displayed her full potiental, but lost had gave her the strongest catalyst. The woman would not fall too easily, but nor would Jehkran. Deception crept in his mind as he threw himself upward in preperation for more. The bout had painted an endless streak in his mind, and he couldn't help to hold on.

She had done wrong.

Her transgressions would feel the wrath of righteousness.

Yet it all ended. Silence consumed the world about him, and his eyes gazed with absolute focus on his former master. The fight in her eyes turn dismal, and her words were unexpected.

She surrendered.

"Huh?

You what?"