The Betrayal of the Sith

[Drehlon]

I'm writing a story called "Betrayal of the Sith", which takes place 800 years before Ep. I. I'll let everyone know of my progress.....

[Drehlon]

O.K. Here we go.....

Prologue: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.......


THE BETRAYAL OF THE SITH

800 years before the Battle of Yavin, two of the few remaining Sith Masters are holding a meeting on the planet Dagobah to discuss the future of the Sith order. The Supreme Chancellor of the Republic has learned of this meeting, and has dispatched four Jedi Knights to investigate......

[Drehlon]

Chapter I

Space. Cold, empty, quiet, dead. It almost seemed like the ship was moving through a huge, endless block of black ice. Nothing moving. No sound, other than the hum of the engines outside the ship. But as large as this ship was, even that sound was a very faint one.
Piloting a ship never was something that Darth Bane looked forward to, and this was the reason. Loneliness. He was more one to seek to use his dark powers out in the field instead of piloting a ship, even a ship as stealthy and sleek as the Silent Sword . Still, he did have his apprentice, Darth Velke, with him (although Velke had stayed in a constant state of meditation for nearly the entire trip), and he did feel that they should be approaching Dagobah soon. This meeting, he thought to himself, is necessary enough for our existence that I'd fly this ship anywhere...Dagobah is far enough from Coruscant that we should remain undiscovered, but I'd go even further still if I needed to. But will Deloc agree with me? I can only hope so. The Sith have attacked one another for long enough. We need support one another for a change. Velke is such a superb apprentice, and so strong, I know he's with me on this.....but I sense something. Something I can't quite-
A beeping monitor interrupted Bane's thoughts. The ship's long-range sensors had located their destination. As Bane brought the ship out of light-speed, the rear thingypit door and Darth Velke entered next to him.
Bane, as he always did, gave way a little to Velke.
Bane was in no way and by no means weak in the powers of the Sith. He dressed in the traditional style of the Sith Master, with long, black, concealing robes, with the traditional Sith brooch clasping his oversized robe in place at the neck. He had long been considered one of the most powerful Sith Masters before infighting began within the Order. But, for some reason, Velke had always intimidated him.
Bane first met the Zabrak named Velke on his home world of Iridonia when he was 5 human years old. Bane had been in contact with Velke's father, Gojei, for some time when he learned that the elder Zabrak had gotten his hands on some black market lightsaber power crystals. He was in the process of purchasing the crystals when a Jedi Knight and his Padawan who were pursuing Bane arrived and a short but fateful battle insued. The aftermath of this battle left both of the Jedi dead. Both of the Jedi, and Gojei. Bane convinced Velke that the Jedi were responsible for the death of his father, and turned him to the Dark Side rather easily.
From the very beginning of his training, Velke showed remarkable self-discipline, constraint, and power. He mastered telekinesis very quickly, as well as healing and all matter of mind tricks. He was the perfect apprentice. But after only a short time, he encountered his first Jedi in battle, and Bane saw something so angry, so full of hatred, so evil, he has stayed wary of Velke ever since. Velke's skill with his self-made dual bladed lightsaber were beyond perfect, and he did not just defeat and kill that Jedi, he appeared to actually smile at the fact. He even seemed to be sad at the fact that there was nothing left to kill. He was the perfect apprentice, but perhaps too full of power and hatred, and this frightened Bane.
Velke's attire did nothing to alleviate this fear. His garb was made traditionally enough, but his tabards and stole were of a blood red color rather than the usual black and his shin guards were red, as well. His robe was extremely oversized to hide his figure underneath, and was lined in red as well. He had allowed his hair to grow very long, and it ice white strands hung down straight on both sides of his long face, a face covered in a solid black tattoo that covered the entire visible surface, except for a red design that resembled a curved "X" that spanned from the top of his hairline to the bottom of his chin. He'd been born blind, and although this had been corrected shortly after his birth and he could see clearly now, his eyes ahd always remained white, giving a sort of glazy, dead stare. That stare was the source of much of Bane's fear. That and, when Bane asked him why he used the red in his garb, Velke replied saying, "It reminds me of the blood I shed from the first Jedi I ever killed."
He was the perfect apprentice, but he enjoyed death just too much.
"Ah, Lord Velke," he spoke after moving out of his apprentice's way, "I see you've finished your meditation."
Velke replied in a low, soft-spoken tone. "Yes, my master."
"Good. We're approaching Dagobah now." Bane checked the main viewscreen of the ship and could see the planet drawing closer. "Remember, my apprentice, we must persuade Deloc and his student to see our point of view. If we cannot...you know then what we must do."
"Yes,"Velke answered with a bow.
"While I land the ship, come and run a sensor sweep. See if you can detect any other life form readings or technology."
"As you wish, my master."
Velke took the seat next to his master and began his sensor analysis. As his master worked his controls, Velke very discretely took a very small device out of a pouch on his belt, pressed a button on the side, and then put the device back in his pouch. He then returned to his scan.
Somewhere in the galaxy, deep within a dark cave, a tall, black-robed figure hears an alarm on a device on his belt. He removes and examines the device, then deactivates it and replaces it on his belt as reveals his orange humanoid face. He then takes his lightsaber and field gear from the table beside him and prepares for departure.......

[Drehlon]

Chapter II


Twilight was falling upon the surface of the planet Dagobah as Bane and Velke departed from the Silent Sword. Bane used a remote attached to a bracelet on his wrist to engage a cloaking device, and as the ship faded away into the darkening sky, the two made their way to a patch of open land with a small cave opening on the other side.
Bane stopped suddenly at the cave opening. The look on his face told Velke that the Dark Side of the Force was telling him something, something that Velke already knew.
"Velke," Bane spoke, "I want you to be on your guard here. I have foreseen....conflict with this place.....with this meeting."
"I feel troubled as well, Master," Velke replied.
Bane looked at Velke as if amazed by the apprentice's response. It had been difficult for him to foresee anything about their situation, or about the meeting, yet Velke seemed to have no trouble with it. Are his powers really that far advanced, he thought. And if they are, is he becoming too strong for me?
Velke continued nonchalantly into the mouth of the small cave, taking note of the fact that there was light pouring out of it and into the night sky. Bane cautiously followed, feeling that fear again. Fear of his own apprentice.
Once inside, Velke took a long look around the interior of the cave. There were lights hanging from the walls of the cave, all connected to a GNK-series (Gonk) power droid. In the center of the floor of the cave was a small black table surrounded by four chairs. Continuing on past the entrance, there was another large opening leading to what appeared to be a second room in the cave. Beyond these few items, the cave was empty. Bane moved around inside the cave, examining the Gonk droid, probably searching for some indication of how long it had been there.
After having a good look around, Velke approached the opening to the second room. As he drew closer to the opening, two black-robed figures emerged from the opening, directly in front of Velke. He gave no indication of being surprised or afraid, but simply moved out of the way and allowed the two to enter. Bane, however, was surprised to see Velke do this.
"Who are you?" he asked as he started to approach the two strangers, one of whom now stood in front of the other.
The one in front stood motionless, silent. Bane sensed power in this man, but also calm restraint. The other gave him a feeling of honor and loyalty to the first, but only to a certain degree. There was something about this second man.
"You've arrived," the second stranger said. Although his face was hidden by the hood of his robe, his voice told Bane that he was a rather young man, likely no more than 20 human years old, and Bane could see that he was quite tall. Still nothing but stone silence came from the first man.
Bane looked over to Velke in a manner that seemed to say What is this? Velke's return gaze offered no reply.
Again Bane asked the question, "Who are you?"
As the first man remained motionless, the tall young man reached up and moved the hood of his robe back, revealing an orange humanoid face that Bane could easily see was that of a Twilek. The newly revealed man gave a quick glance to Velke, then spoke to Bane.
"We've been waiting for you."

[Drehlon]

Chapter III

The smooth metal floor felt cold under Jedi Master Tempora's feet as she slid out of her bed. She had been in a very deep sleep when her Asrtomech droid , R7-G1, began its steady beep she had programmed it to use to tell her when she had a visitor. Who could it be this early in the morning, she thought. She had stayed awake late the night before, working with her Padawan, Shadir. The small, 13 year old girl was a dedicated student in the ways of the Force, and had shown considerable talent in healing, telekinesis, foresight and mind tricks, but her fighting skills left much to be desired. So the two had sparred quite a bit lately, and last night was especially grueling for Tempora. Her 40 year old body ached from all the exercises she and Shadir had run, and her mind was tired from fighting back the temptation of getting aggravated from showing Shadir the same moves over and over and still seeing the Padawan fail.
Tempora slowly stumbled to her feet and made her way to the door of her quarters.
"I'm up, I'm up. Stop the beep!" she shouted at R7.
Her numb, still sleeping hand fumbled around on the control panel beside the door and eventually found the button that controlled the comlink built into the wall.
"Who is it?" she managed to mumble.
"It's Kylaan," the reply came through the comlink.
Oh great, she thought. First, I wake up feeling like this, then my brother decides to come see me this early.
"Are you gonna open the door?" he continued.
She gave no response, but opened the door to the 25 year old, 6'7" tall man with long bolnde hair standing outside. He entered the room, took one look at Tempora, and gave her a huge grin.
"Shadir wanted to spar late again last night, didn't she?"
Still no response from Tempora, just a glance sharp enough to take Kylaan Miita's grin away. As she left the main room of her quarters and entered the bathing station, Kylaan continued to speak.
"Refi's waiting outside. I'd suggest you get dressed and get Shadir out of bed as soon as possible. We've got an assignment."
"An assignment?" she questioned from inside the bathing station. "What assignment?"
"I'm not sure exactly just yet, but got an interesting wake-up call from Master Jaska telling me to get Refi, you, and Shadir ready for a field assignment, and that we all need to see Chancellor Mologal before we leave."
Tempora looked and felt noticeably better after bathing and getting dressed. She came back into the main room of her quarters to see that grin back on her brother's face.
"Good morning, sister," he said sarcastically.
"Knock it off," Tempora replied dryly. "Let's go get Shadir out of bed."
Tempora, Kylaan, and Kylaan's Padawan Refi Smega arrived at Shadir's quarters expecting a lot of difficulty getting her out of bed, but all were surprised to see her awake and ready to go. Tempora smiled in spite of herself, feeling a bit proud of her Padawan. Her power of foresight was quite keen for her young age, and she had seen things that even some of the more powerful Masters had not. Kylaan just looked at her, his jaw dropped in disbelief. Refi moved toward her and bowed, then looked over at his Master as if to say She's good. Better than you. Refi Smega was born with no larynx, and therefore could not speak, but in the 18 years he'd been alive, he and Kylaan had learned to communicate well enough, and Kylaan recognized his sarcasm.
"Ha ha, very funny Refi," he said.
Shadir looked at each of the other three, seeing that they were all dressed in their field gear just as she was.
"So, where are we going?" she asked.
A few minutes, the four were in a shuttle, commuting from the Jedi Temple to the Galactic Senate Building. The city was busy as always, with thousands of shuttles going to and fro as far as the eye could see. The sky was clear and the temperature was excellent, but the minds of the four Jedi were elsewhere.
All of them could feel that this new assignment was important, but none of them knew anything else about it. They all had been out in the field on assignments before, but never had they been instructed to see Supreme Chancellor Mologal before leaving. He worked closely with the Jedi, that was true, but his dealings were always with the High Council. This just felt odd to all of them.
The shuttle finally arrived at the Senate Building. The four Jedi unloaded from the shuttle and made their way inside. As they did so, the shuttle lifted off again and left them.
That, too, was odd. They all had assumed they would be taken back to the Jedi Temple before departing for this assignment.
Once inside the Senate Building, a guard instructed them to follow him to a room at the end of a long hall. Both Refi and Shadir lagged behind their Masters, having never been inside the Senate Building before. They marveled at the beautiful dark maroon walls and ornately decorated ceilings. It was a drastic change from the interior of the Jedi Temple. It seemed to be small from outside, but here from within, it looked huge. Amazing. Gargantuan. Absolutely-
"You two keep up!" Tempora's words stopped their thoughts short, and they quickly shot a mischievous glance toward each other before scurrying to catch up to the two Masters.
"Enter," the guard instructed.
Supreme Chancellor Mologal was seated behind a desk inside, looking out the window. The two Padawans again noticed the beauty of this room, but this time kept their composure.
The Chancellor spun around in his chair, leaving the view of the window behind him and adressing the Jedi.
"Ah good. You've arrived. Please sit down."
As the four Jedi sat in the four seats in front of the desk, Chancellor Mologal continued.
"An anonymous ally, a spy of ours, has notified us that members of the Sith Order are holding a meeting on the planet Dagobah. I, along with the High council, have chosen the four you to investigate this meeting. I personally would like to see their kind eliminated once and for all. However, the Council feels it best if you bring any Sith you encounter into custody for questioning if at all possible. I understand the Jedi philosophy concerning the preservation of life, but I don't agree with it in this case. I advise caution."
Chancellor Mologal stood up from his chair and moved to exit the room. The four Jedi rose from their seats and gave a respectful bow to the elderly man as he exited the room.
As soon as Mologal had left the room, Kylaan turned to address the others.
"The chancellor is right." he said. "We should destroy the Sith."
Tempora was appalled at his opinion. "How can you say that?" she asked.
Kylaan, growing slightly angry, continued. "They are Sith, sister. One of them killed our father, and they deserve to die!"
"Look, Kylaan," Tempora said, in a tone meant to calm her younger brother, "I understand how you feel, I really do. He was my father too, you know. But I agree with the Council. They are living beings. The very essence of the Force mandates that they live, unless their destruction is our only option."
Shadir voiced her opinion. "I agree as well. If out only goal was to kill them, we'd be no different than they are."
After a few seconds, Kylaan looked defiantly at his older sister.
"All right, Tempora. We'll do this your way."
As the four leave the room, Kylaan stopped Refi in the hallway and spoke solemnly to his mute student.
"I want you to be extra cautious, my young Padawan. I have a bad feeling about this."

[Drehlon]

Chapter IV

"I am Darth Esnow," the orange-skinned Twilek finally announced, "and this is my Master, Darth Deloc. Please, be seated."
Bane recognized these two by name only. He'd heard of them before and knew they were the men he and Velke were here to meet. So when the Twilek man made this announcement, it made his feel a little bit more at ease. But only a little bit.
Velke turned, leaving the opening to the second room and the two Sith strangers behind him, and casually made his way to the table in the first room of the cave. Bane was utterly amazed by the air of calmness that was about his apprentice. With the importance of this meeting, he thought, and the sense of conflict we'd both had, how is it that he remains so calm?
He tried his best to subdue his feeling of distrust as he also made his way to the table.
Bane's feeling began to subside a bit as he took a seat at the small, black, rectangular table. Velke waited for Bane to sit before taking the seat at his Master's right side. The Master of the two strange men, who had yet to reveal himself (a fact Bane did not like), sat directly across from Bane, with his apprentice seated at his right side.
"Master Bane, Lord Velke." The man named Darth Deloc spoke slowly, and in a tone that made him sound as if he could be 100 years old or more.
"Welcome," he continued. "Esnow and I are very interested in what you have to say. We've been looking forward to this for a long time."
"Indeed," Bane answered quickly, "as have we. Let's get to it then. I called for this meeting because I feel that we must withhold from any future attacks against the Jedi, and that the Sith Order should be using its power to increase its numbers. Only with a large army of allies will we be able to eliminate the Jedi once and for all."
Deloc sat motionless for a long moment, dwelling on the words that Bane had spoken. Then, he drew in a deep breath and responded, "Bane, you are right about one thing. We do need allies. However, I disagree with you on attacking the Jedi. While we are by no means strong enough to overthrow the Republic, I think we should continue to strike the Jedi whenever possible."
Esnow, who had been silent since the four men had seated, now voiced his thoughts.
"Yes, I agree with my Master. Attacking Jedi out in the field on a one-on-one basis has proven successful thus far. We are slowly reducing their numbers."
Deloc gave a look of approval in the direction of his apprentice as Bane continued what was quickly evolving into an argument.
"But think of how much more quickly we could reduce their numbers," Bane spoke in a slightly raised and agitated voice, "if we had more strength. We could use our combined powers to persuade people, communities, planets, even entire star systems to see our point of view, to side with us against the Republic, and to eventually overthrow it. But how can it happen if even one of us should fall in battle. Look around you. There are so few of us left. We must build our strength."
Bane anticipated a fiery response, but Deloc seemed to completely ignore Bane's heartfelt speech, and instead turned his eyes upon Velke.
"Lord Velke," he inquired, "what have you to say?"
"I am loyal to my Master," he calmly replied.
Bane felt a sudden rift within himself, a wave, a feeling about Velke he'd never felt before. The conflict he'd sensed earlier....Velke picked up on it so easily......it wasn't with Deloc and Esnow.....it was-
"Then you are both wrong!" Now came the fiery response from Deloc. "Killing as many Jedi as we can now is what we must do. Otherwise, their numbers will continue to grow, and we will be at a growing disadvantage!"
Bane had been trying to keep his calm composure since this meeting had started, but this strange new feeling he had about Velke combined with the fact that Deloc had completely ignored him and went at Velke was too much. No more being intimidated, no more giving way to others. It was as if a switch had been thrown inside him. No more.
"You FOOL!!" he quite nearly screamed at Deloc. "If we continue to attack them, and they should kill even one of us, we'd be too weak to ever recover!"
"Fool?" came Deloc's overly calm reply. "I was a fool to ever agree to this meeting."
Bane rose slowly out of his seat and stood in front of Deloc.
"Very well," he said in a surprisingly calm voice, "meeting adjourned."
Bane then threw both of his hands toward Deloc and cast a deadly barrage of red lightening out of the tips of his fingers. Before Deloc could react, Esnow had ignited his orange-bladed lightsaber and deflected the blast. When the attack had ceased, everyone but Velke had risen from their seats.
Deloc made no attempt to return fire, but allowed Esnow to be his offense as well as defense. To his surprise, however, Esnow's attack was not against Bane, but Velke. And this time Velke was on his feet with amazing speed, deflecting Esnow with one blade of his dual-ended, red- bladed lightsaber engaged. One look at Velke's face told Esnow he was in way over his head. He shamelessly ran away from Velke, who quickly gave chase. Esnow ran into the opening leading to the second room of the cave, giving a quick glance to Deloc as he did so, and Velke entered after him.
Deloc seemed more disappointed than worried much about Esnow retreating.
"He never has lived up to my expectations as an apprentice," he said to Bane. "No matter. I'll deal with him later. But now, for you."
Deloc then proceeded to cast a furious array of blue lightening from his hands, but it stopped in mid-air as Bane used his red lightening as a barrier, blocking Deloc's attack.
Both of the Sith Masters stopped fighting for a few seconds, and Bane could see that Deloc was noticeably drained from the battle. He took the opportunity he was given by the cease-fire to Force-push the Gonk droid supplying power to the lights, causing it to fall over and the lights to go out.
What sort of trickery is this, Deloc thought to himself. Why doesn't he just fight me, if that's what he wants?
"What is this?" he shouted into the dark nothing in front of him. "Face me, Bane! Your fear makes you hide from me!"
If only Deloc had seen what was behind him, perhaps he'd have lived. Two small, round, red glowing spots appeared behind Deloc's head. As they grew in size and intensity, it became clear that the spots were actually Bane's eyes!
Still unaware of Bane's presence behind him, Deloc moved around in the dark, looking for the Gonk droid which was lying in the floor. He thought if he could restore power to the lights, he could deal with Bane.
He never got the chance.
Beneath Bane's glowing eyes, his hands had now taken on the same horrific, intense glow. In an inhumanly powerful voice, he shouted at his prey.
"DELOC!"
Just as Deloc turned aruond and realized what was behind him, Bane grabbed the sides of his face, causing his lethal red lightening to coarse throughout Deloc's body. As he slowly died from the powerful current, Bane spoke the last words Deloc would hear.
"You are the one who is full of fear. You should never have crossed me, Deloc."
Bane released Deloc's dead, charred body and let fall lifeless to the ground. He then used his power to locate the Gonk droid in the dark and lifted it off the ground, returning it to its original position. He again used his power to engage the droid's cells, returning power to the lights. He then kneeled to meditate on the thoughts he'd had earlier about Velke.

[Drehlon]

Chapter V

Velke had chased Esnow to a long, narrow chasm past the second room of the cave, trying to give enough of an attack to convince Darth Bane of his intentions. Now that he was sure he and Esnow were deep enough into the chasm, he disengaged his lightsaber and hung it back onto the power cell at his left side.
Esnow followed Velke's actions, disengaging his weapon as well.
"Do you think it worked?" he asked.
"Yes," Velke answered. "It worked."
The two apprentices walked calmly to the end of the chasm, which opened into a third room in the cave with an opening leading outside at the far end. Velke made himself comfortable in a chair next to a bed, and noticed a small table on the other side of the bed.
"Velke, I was beginning to think you weren't coming," the Twilek said as he took a seat on the bed next to his co-conspirator.
"We got off to a late start," Velke replied. "When we did arrive, I ran a sensor scan and found nothing. I was wise to give to the signal receiver. You do still have it, do you not?"
Esnow grinned slightly. "You didn't detect us because you undoubtedly ran a standard surface scan. We're underground here in this cave. And yes, I still have the receiver."
"Good," Velke started. "I-"
Something in the Force came over Velke then, and he bolted up out of his seat, looking around the third room, and then just as suddenly relaxing and sinking back into his seat. A menacing grin overcame him.
Esnow was puzzled. "What is it," he asked.
"I sense that....one of them......Deloc has fallen to Bane." He again stood to his feet, calm and in control, and wickedly happy.
He continued to speak to Esnow, who began to follow him as he made his way back to the chasm leading out of the room.
"Get to your ship. When I signal you again, use the ship's computer to find the exact frequency I'm transmitting to you. Then, trace that exact frequency, and that will tell you where I am. As soon as you know where that is, come there quickly."
Esnow gave Velke a puzzled look. "Do you not need me here?"
"No. Leave me alone here. I will deal with Bane."
As Esnow began to take what he needed from what was obviously his sleeping quarters, Velke made his way back to the original meeting area, where he immediately spotted the charred remains of Darth Deloc. He moved more slowly after this, unsure of his Master's state. Where is he? Velke thought. Is he wounded? And even more importantly, does he know of my betrayal?
He continues his path toward the main opening, but his movement is cut short when he sees Darth Bane kneeling in meditation at the opening, his face turned toward the outside and his back turned to Bane.
Velke was considering trying to turn back and leave through the same exit that Esnow was taking, but before he even got the chance to turn around, Bane spoke.
"Lord Velke, you return to me."
Velke was growing increasingly uneasy with this situation. The question burned in his mind. Does he know?
"Yes," he answered his Master.
"And Deloc's apperntice?"
"He is dead," Velke lied.
Bane drew in a deep breath, and his body seemed to swell a bit from the incoming air. He then exhaled, a long and slow push of air, and he seemed then to return to normal. The switch that had thrown within him earlier had his anger running on overtime, and it had drawn to a point when he had killed Deloc. But he'd realized while meditating that it was not Deloc, or Esnow, or this meeting. All this time, it was Velke. A realization that would burn him. Literally.
"I have sensed something in you, Velke. Deceit, treachery, A betrayal."
Bane had slowly begun to rise from the ground. He quickly spun and raised his hands to attack Velke, but not quiclky enough. Before he knew what happened, Velke had his lightsaber in hand and ignited, and took a powerful upward swing. The tip of the blade struck Bane, grazing the left side of his face.
"AHH!" Bane screamed out in agonizing pain as he hit the floor hard, face down, with Velke stepping toward him.
He turned slowly over onto his back. Smoldering skin and boiled blood now covered the area where left side of his face was just a few seconds before. He reached up, placing his hand on the wound, and managed to sit upright with his other hand. He tried to scurry backward as he stared in horror and disbelief at Velke.
"A betrayal indeed!" Velke sneered down to Bane. "You have grown weak. I will lead the Sith Order to end their destructive infighting, and become the strongest it has ever been! Stronger than the Jedi. Stronger than any other power in the galaxy. And if you do not share my vision, then so be it!"
I always thought he was the perfect apprentice, Darth Bane thought. How could I have been so wrong?
It was the last thought he had before Velke drew back his weapon and allowed a grin to overtake his face as he swung again.

[Drehlon]

Chapter VI

The Republic flag ship The Haven soared through hyperspace, its maroon and beige markings announcing their presence now several star systems away from the core world of Coruscant. Kylaan and Refi piloted the ship, while Shadir took advantage of the time that this trip had afforded her to practice her less than perfect swordsmanship. This left Tempora with some time to think long and heavy on the task at hand. Almost as soon as the four Jedi had departed from the Senate Building on Coruscant, she had begun to have the strange feeling that this mission was going to prove a dangerous one for all of them, but most especially for Kylaan.
Just as all siblings do, Tempora and Kylaan Miita had gone through their share of disagreements, bickering, and even the occasional vow never to speak to each other again. But, also just as all siblings do, they'd worked through their differences and eventually become the very best of practically inseparable friends. And the fact that they were both powerful in the Force made the bond between them even stronger. She didn't know quite what this feeling was, but she had absolutely no doubt that something was horribly wrong about this whole thing, and it was directly involving her brother.
She looked over at him as she thought. He reminded her so much of their father, a great Jedi Master named Yubin Miita. How she missed him. He'd been killed 20 years ago by a Sith warrior according to Jedi records. She was still in training with her Master, a Frogling named Yoda, when he died. But her brother was at home with their father when it happened. She remembered when he had been brought back to the Jedi Temple, his body in a black case and his head in another. Then Kylaan arrived, surrounded by Republican guards, his face a white frozen sculpture of fear and unbelief. For nearly a month he did nothing but sleep and eat, never speaking or coming out of his newly assigned quarters. Then, one day, he just showed up at her door ready to tell her all about it.
He said he and Yubin had just finished a sparring session outside their small house on the planet Krant when they saw a speeder heading right for them. The rider was dressed in a long, flowing red and black robe. Yubin immediately knew the man meant to attack and told Kylaan to run back to the house. The man never even let the speeder come to a stop, he just jumped off, ignited an odd looking lightsaber with two blades, and began to attack Yubin. Kylaan hid behind his father's speeder bike and watched as the black-robed man defeated and beheaded his father, then sped away as quickly as he had arrived, his long white hair waving out behind him.
He had never talked about it again, but she knew in some way he blamed himself, and she had no doubt that this was the reason for his hatred toward the Sith.
Her thoughts returned to the present as the ship's systems began to beep in an indication that they were approaching Dagobah. Suddenly a new feeling overcame her, and she vocalized it as Kylaan brought the ship out of hyperspace.
"They've finished," she said.
Kylaan turned to her and gave a questioning look.
"What?"
She continued. "I sense that we're too late to investigate any meeting."
"Even so," Kylaan replied, "we should still find a place to land and have a look around. There may still be someone here."

As the ship drew ever closer to the planet's surface, the ship's sensors gave out a new signal. Kylaan turned his attention to Shadir, who had returned to the bridge of the ship and was now standing behind Refi.
"There's another ship on the planet's surface," she announced.
Kylaan gave a quick glance to Tempora, but it was enough to say "I told you so."
He landed the ship near the side of the opening of a large cave. The sky was dark and thick with fog, but still they could see a small, one-man fighter sitting behind the cave. The four Jedi began making preparations to leave the ship, but Kylaan thought better of this, choosing instead to use this opportunity to challenge Refi, to let him handle this situation on his own.
He moved over to the rear hatch of their ship, motioning for Refi to follow him.
"Refi," he instructed, "I want you to go out and have a look. Report back here if you find anything. Be quick, and remember what I told you before. Be cautious."
Refi bowed with understanding, and departed into the foggy darkness.
Tempora, Kylaan, ans Shadir followed him out, but then stopped by the open hatch and watched Refi as he walked around toward the front of the flag ship, carefully approaching the opening of the cave. His Jedi senses were highly attuned, but with the for and the dark combined, he was having trouble.
When he had at last reached the cave's large opening, Refi suddenly felt two eyes on him, watching him from within. He instinctively drew his lightsaber and ignited its blue blade.
From out of the cave stepped Darth Velke.
"Refi!" Kylaan called out to his Padawan.
Velke ignited one blade of his saber and immediately attacked Refi. Sabers clashed and sparks flew as the two fought, Velke heavy on the attack while Refi did well at defending himself.
The other Jedi could see the fight progressing through the dark, and Kylaan ignited his green bladed saber while running to assist his student.
Before he could get there, Darth Esnow emerged from the one-manned fighter. He threw off his outer robe, revealing his full orange face, bald conical head, and long twin lekku (head-tails) which twisted around his body and ended at his hips, and rushed to the fight which was slowly shifting into Refi's favor.
Refi's advantage quickly faltered, however, when Esnow and Velke simultaneously attacked . By the time Kylaan arrived to aide Refi, the Padawan was obviously exhausted, physically and mentally. Kylaan took the fight to Velke, forcing him to disengage Refi.
Outside the flag ship, Tempora gave Shadir a nod.
"Let's go," she ordered her Padawan.
Velke was intently dueling with Kylaan when he looked up to see Tempora and Shadir quiclky approaching the fray. He managed to get Esnow's attention and motion to the Twilek's fighter.
"Go!" he shouted.
Esnow made a dash toward his ship, while Velke ran toward the open area directly in front of the cave's opening. Refi began to give chase, but Kylaan discharged his weapon and put a hand in front of his student.
"No," he told Refi, "Let them go for now."
Tempora and Shadir, who hadn't heard Kylaan, continued to pursue Velke. He managed to get a good distance ahead of the two Jedi, far enough that he could lose them in the fog. He reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled a small silver disc. He pushed a button on the disc and disengaged the cloaking device on his Master's ship.
He had just walked on board when Tempora spotted the ship. Thinking quickly, she took a magnetic tracking device from her belt and threw it onto the hull of the Sith's ship. Behind her, from the side of the cave, Esnow's fighter blasted away from the planet's surface. Tempora tried to run fast enough to get to his ship and track it as well, but the ship flew off too quickly.
The four Jedi regrouped and returned to the flag ship. While Shadir input the necessary information into the ship's computer so that they could track the Sith craft, Tempora turned to her brother and his Padawan.
"Kylaan....Refi," she asked with concern, "are the two of you alright?"
Refi nodded in acknowledgment, but Kylaan sat speechless.
"Kylaan?" she asked again, stepping closer to her brother and studying his face. All she could see there was shock. It was the same look he had on his face the day his father had been killed.
After a long moment, he got up from where he was seated and took the seat in front of the ship's controls. He powered up the ship's engines and blasted off of the surface of Dagobah. He then programmed the ship to auto-track the Sith ship using the signal emitted by Tempora's tracking beacon.
"It was him," he finally spoke.
She looked even more intently at him now, extremely puzzled. "It was who?" she asked.
Kylaan looked slowly up at her. "One of those two were the man that killed our father. I....I...."
Tempora's face instantly morphed from puzzled to unbelieving. "Are you....are you sure?"
"Yes. It was him. You should have seen his face. He wants nothing more than to kill us. He'd have killed him," he said, motioning to Refi, "without a second thought if we hadn't been there to help. All these Sith want is death for us. Do you understand now why they must be destroyed?"
As old feelings of anger, loss and fear entered her for the first time since that horrible day, Tempora let this question resonate within her mind for a long moment. I can't believe this, she began thinking. I was so sure that we could do this peaceably, I was so sure I was right. Is this the feeling I had about Kylaan? I'm just so unsure now.....
Finally she answered her brother. "Yes, I do," she admitted. "Unfortunately they've separated, and I was only able to secure a tracker on one of their ships."
"But Master, I sensed so much power and rage in that one," Shadir revealed to Tempora.
"And I feel that he is the key to all of this, the one we need find."
Kylaan gave an approving look to Shadir, recognizing her power in the Force, then turned again to Tempora.
"She's right. And when we find him, we can end this.

[Drehlon]

Chapter VII

Darth Velke calmly piloted his slain Master's ship, making his way to an obscure planet near the Outer Rim called Tatooine. As he set the coordinates into the ship's navacomputer and jumped to lightspeed, he went over the next phase in his plan.
Velke had contacted an old acquaintance of his, a Hutt named Bruga. This Bruga set up a meeting between Velke and a bounty hunter by the name of Riisco. Bruga had told Velke that Rissco was supposed to be the best, and that she specialized in hunting Jedi.
So the plan was simple. Allow himself to be followed. Let the bounty hunter kill the Jedi. Frame Bruga for putting out a contract to kill the Jedi. He and Esnow walk away with no problems. He had to admit to himself, these Jedi were more formidable adversaries than he had expected. But this Riisco was, according to Bruga the Hutt, very skilled in hunting, and used some treacherous techniques that had proven effective time and time again in trapping and killing Jedi. So he'd agreed to meet with her on Tattoine, discuss a price and see if she could eliminate his problem for him. Then, by an anonymous report to the Chancellor that she and Bruga had killed the four Jedi, he would eliminate them as well.
Seemingly endless patterns of stars flew by the ship as Velke's thoughts turned to Kylaan. There was something very familiar about that Jedi. But what was it? He didn't quite know, but he did immediately recognize the man's exemplary fighting skill. The Force was strong with him, Velke thought to himself, and if that fight had continued much longer, he could very well have defeated me. This thought brought a wave of fear into his unusually cold heart.
He had at last reached his destination, and brought the ship out of lightspeed in the planet's atmosphere. He then performed a surface scan, searching for Mos Eimus, the settlement where Burga the Hutt told him to go to meet Riisco. As he searched, he realized that the Jedi had slowed him down a bit and hoped he wasn't too late to find her.
After a few seconds, Velke found Mos Eimus and went in for a landing near the outskirts of the small town. He landed the ship and exited through the side hatch, taking with him a small black leather pouch. He walked the short distance to the outer wall of the town, found the opening in the wall that led to the town's only road, and entered.
The place was filled with primitive looking sandstone buildings merged with more modern technology, unlike anything Velke had ever seen before. People were everywhere, going from building to building, walking to and fro, some human but most some form of alien or another.
Velke took a long look around, absorbing the whole scene, letting his senses guide him to the right structure. He entered a building just inside the wall on his right and looked around to see he'd walked into a bar. Dozens of human and alien patrons sat at large round tables, socializing and enjoying their drinks. The bartender, a rather large human who looked to be about 50 years old, eyed Velke suspiciously as he took a seat at the bar. He neither said nor did anything, he just returned the man's gaze.
Velke knew he was in the right place, he could feel it. But where was this Riisco? He didn't even know what she looked like. Was she old? Young? Was she even human?
The bustling crowd of people behind him made the establishment rather loud, but a single smooth female voice behind him stood out over all the others.
"Veko" it said, and he recognized it as the Hutt word for his name. He turned in his stool to face the crowd, and he immediately found himself face-to-face with a tall, slender Rodian female, of about the age of 30 human years. She was dressed in a tan jumpsuit with armor-plated gloves and boots, and a double-barreled blaster hung at her side. Without ever even having to ask, Velke knew that he was looking at Riisco.
He offered her the seat next to him, and she took it with a bow of thanks. She began to speak softly so that only Velke would be able to hear her words.
"Ca, vata so batta (So, what's the deal)?" she discreetly asked.
Velke took another long look around, wanting to be extra cautious of listening ears. The feeling that they were not being spied upon make over him, and he then answered her.
"I'm prepared to pay a very handsome price, Riisco. But remember," he thought to remind her, " there are four of them. All Jedi. Can you handle four of them?"
"Ee, mesa cola (Yes, I can)," she reassured him with a nod. "Tu keena so wan (But how much are you paying)?"
Velke took the small leather pouch and opened in into Riisco's green hand. "12-5," he answered. " Each."
Her large silver eyes got even bigger as she looked into her hand and saw the money that had fallen out of the pouch.
"Vi-vi tana (Fifty thousand)?" she asked, overly excited. She then quickly snapped her hand shut over the money, regained her professional composure, and looked back at Velke.
"Hee-see wa tied (Consider it done)."

[Drehlon]

Chapter VIII

The startling revelation of his father's murderer had left Kylaan in no condition to pilot The Haven, so while he tried to calm himself and focus on the remainder of this mission, Shadir co-piloted the ship while Refi assumed the role of pilot, one of his stronger capabilities.
Refi Smega had many strong capabilities.
His popularity among other Padawans was surprisingly high. This was mostly due to his strikingly handsome appearance. At 6' tall and a muscular 145 lbs., with light brown hair in a traditional Padawan's style, many of the young female Padawans found him attractive, and even Shadir had referred to him as "cute" on more than one occasion. If not for the fact that he was a Jedi, he would have been considered quite the ladies' man.
But more importantly, he was strong in the Force. From the beginning of his training, his Jedi powers had been quite advanced. He had single-handedly developed a way to work around his lack of speech and communicate with Kylaan at the young age of 5 years, and had never ceased to excel at everything he did from then on. He was quite in tune with the Force, and he would soon be ready to face the trials of Knighthood. He had particular talent in dueling. On several occasions, when running sparring drills, he had fought his Master to a standstill, which was something few Padawans had managed to do. For this, he was well respected throughout the Jedi Temple, and he was well respected by Kylaan.
His string piloting capability continued to work to his advantage as Tempora's tracker indicated that the Velke's ship had stopped. Refi turned to Shadir and pointed at the viewscreen in front of him. Tempora, who was seated behind Refi, leaned forward to see what he was pointing to.
"The Sith craft has landed," she announced, "on Tatooine."
From behind the three of them came Kylaan, who had regained his calm composure and returned to the bridge of the ship.
"Tatooine?" he questioned.
"Master," Shadir said, addressing Kylaan, "that's quite a good distance from here. Perhaps we should hurry."
"Agreed," Kylaan confirmed, nodding his head in approval. "And we are following the one that killed out father, Tempora. I'm sure of it."
Tempora looked solemnly at her brother for a long moment. She realized that what she was about to do would take into a battle she had once felt unnecessary, but now it felt unavoidable.
"Refi," she said, her eyes never leaving Kylaan's, " input the coordinates for Tatooine into the navacomputer. Shadir, as soon as we're in range, begin a surface scan and search for that ship. Something tells me he wants to be found."
Kylaan looked back at Tempora with the same solemn stare as the two of them took their seats behind Refi and Shadir.
After Refi finished inputting his information, he engaged the hyperdrive engines and the ship rocketed off into the far reaches of space.

[Drehlon]

Chapter IX

After what seemed like a considerably long time, the Republic flag ship carrying the four Jedi through space had reached Tatooine. Refi had thought it a good idea to get in some sparring practice with Shadir, and had relinquished the ship's controls to Tempora. Kylaan continued to meditate on the current situation, steadily feeling danger about this giant desert planet. But no matter the cost, this Sith warrior, the murderer of his father, had to be stopped.
Tempora brought the ship out of lightspeed, and announced to the others that they had reached their destination. As the other three Jedi re-entered the bridge, she checked the signal being emitted by her tracking device to locate Velke's ship. She found his craft easily enough, and brought her ship down next to it, thinking again that this warrior wanted to be found.
"Kylaan," she told her brother, who now sat beside her, "We've landed. You and Refi stay here. Shadir and I will handle this."
This outraged Kylaan. "What?" he shouted. "Tempora, I can't just sit here while-"
"Trust me brother," Tempora cut him off, "The two of you should stay with the ship. If he should return here, someone should be here to stop him. Besides, I sense much anger growing in you. It is beginning to cloud your judgement. Stay here."
Kylaan looked at her for a long moment, then nodded in agreement. "Alright. Refi and I will stay."
As Tempora and Shadir prepared to leave the ship, Kylaan spoke again.
"Tempora," he added, "May the Force be with you."
Tempora bowed to her brother before leaving the ship, with Shadir following closely behind her.
"Be ready," she said to Shadir after they exited the ship, "he's here."
Tempora and Shadir cautiously make their way to the town near where the ship had landed, both of them sensing that they were close to finding the Sith warrior who they had been following. As the two entered the bustling town, Shadir was overwhelmed with the feeling that she was being watched. She turned her attention to the building to her immediate right of the opening in the outer wall of the town. Tempora had started to walk down the road leading through the town, but turned back to see her Padawan drawing ever closer to the building.
"What?" she asked when she had rejoined Shadir, but a split second later the feeling hit her as well.
"Let's go inside," Shadir said, drawing her lightsaber from her side. Tempora said nothing, but took her weapon into her hand and led the way.
Once inside the place, the two Jedi found themselves within a rather crowded bar. There were all sorts of life forms engaged in loud conversation and having drinks. Tempora and Shadir looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. It was going to be difficult to find anyone in this place.
The two searched the bar for quite a long time, but with no success. They both knew that the mysterious Zabrak Sith they were looking for had been in the place, but he was gone now. They turned to leave, both with heads hung low with a feeling if failure at not finding him. As they passed through the exit, the heavy-set man behind the bar looked straight at Tempora, slowly lifted his gaze to the ceiling, and then slowly back down to her. She gave him a nod of acknowledgment as she and Shadir continued on their way out.
Shadir turned to her Master after they were once again outside.
"What now, Master?" she asked. "Do you think he's gone back to his ship?"
"No," she answered, realizing what the bartender's look meant, "I know where he is."
At that moment, Darth Velke jumped down from the bar's roof, ignited one of his lightsaber's deadly blades, and attacked the two females.
If not for Tempora's lightening reflexes, and the fact that her saber was already in her hand, this surprise attack might have killed her. However, she was able to ignite the weapon's purple blade and deflect his blow in time.
Shadir was not so fortunate.
As soon as Tempora blocked Velke's first swing, he quickly used his powers to push Tempora back, knocking her off her feet. He then spun around and kicked the back of Shadir's knee with enough power to break it. She screamed out in pain as her now useless leg caused her to fall powerlessly to the ground. The evil attacker took the opportunity he now had to ignite his second blade at point blank range into the fallen Padawan's sternum, instantly killing her.
Tempora froze for a moment at the sight of this. He had moved so quickly that there was no way she could get back to her feet and stop him, but still she felt a wave of guilt and responsibility come over her. If I had worked with her more, she thought, if I had made sure her technique was better, she'd still be alive. She is dead because a Sith attacked her....and I failed as a teacher!
For perhaps the first time in her life, Tempora had a thought that made her truly angry. She used the Force to levitate the dead girl's lightsaber into her own hand, ignited it's purple blade, sprang up from the ground and attacked Velke with both sabers at the same time, looking somewhat like a blazing purple vortex of power, skill, and anger. Velke was very highly skill with his weapon, however, and was defending himself quite well.
As their battle continued, Tempora saw a maniacal grin emerge suddenly from the face of her enemy. Something within her told her to turn around, and so she did, just in time to see an orange-skinned Twilek in a black robe running right for her, wielding a lightsaber with orange blade. She instantly knew two things. One, that this was the second Sith from their encounter on Dagobah. And two, that she could not take on both of them alone.

[Drehlon]

Chapter X

The events that had unfolded since the Jedi had left Coruscant played over and over in Kylaan's mind as he and Refi sat inside their ship. He knew that the two of them needed to be where they were, but he still badly wanted to be with Tempora and Shadir, trying to find his father's murderer and end all of this.
Kylaan turned to a compartment behind his seat and removed a datapad, pushing keys and taking note of the displayed information as he turned back to the forward viewscreen of the ship. As he continued his work, Refi turned to him and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know," Kylaan answered, "I thought I'd find something to work on while we wait."
Refi nodded to his Master in understanding. He started to give Kylaan a smile, but instead suddenly bolted out of his seat, grabbing and igniting his blue lightsaber.
"What is it?" Kylaan asked, not sensing whatever it was Refi was feeling. Refi pressed the switch that opened the ship's side hatch and exited. Kylaan thought it best not to let Refi go out alone after the attack he suffered on Dagobah, so he ignited his green saber and went after his Padawan.
Once outside, Refi carefully patrolled the outer perimeter of the ship, with Kylaan following behind him, still not sensing anything. The two of them had just reached the rear engines of the ship when out of nowhere came alightening fast barrage of blaster fire. Refi was quick to deflect the first shot, then moved fast to cause the second and third shot to glance off of his blade. But the fourth, he did not block. It hit him square in the chest knocking him backward off of his feet and into the sand.
"Refi!" Kylaan shouted, raising his blade up and running in the direction the blasts had come from. The unseen attacker again fired the blaster, attempting to hit Kylaan, but the Jedi Master's skills were too advanced. In a whirlwind of blocks and parries, he deflected six shots, and then.....nothing. Total silence. No more blaster fire. No sound. Nothing.
Kylaan very cautiously walked toward a small rock protruding out from the side of a sand dune near the back of the ship. The blaster fire had come from this direction, and he knew that whoever his attacker was, they were behind that rock.
Kylaan reached the rock and slowly pressed his back against the edge. He then raised his lightsaber straight up, preparing to perform a downward lunge. He quickly spun around to the other side of the rock and found a female Rodian, dressed in a tan jumpsuit and the common arm and leg armor of a bounty hunter, lying on the ground. She had a hole in her left thigh, presumably from a deflected blaster bolt, and a double-barreled blaster pistol was on the ground near her. She looked up at him, noticeably frightened, and tried to speak.
"Ko na (Please)." she managed.
But the loss of Refi had been enough to push Kylaan Miita over the edge. He began to simultaneously feel anger, hatred and fear build up within himself.
Kylaan Miita was falling to the Dark Side of the Force. He hesitated only for a moment, then brought his lightsaber down in an incredible stroke of power, impaling the Rodian female.

[Drehlon]

Chapter XI

Tempora tried desperately to defend her life against the two deadly foes that she faced outside the now abandoned bar, but she was quickly finding that her attempts were in vain. She had assumed that she would probably have some difficulty with the Zabrak attacker, but she was finding it literally impossible to gain the upper hand in this fight against both of the Sith at the same time.
Immediately after killing Shadir, Velke had reverted back to one-bladed combat against Tempora, who was still using both her lightsaber and that of her fallen pupil. This was perhaps the one advantage she had, finding the use of two sabers was making it a bit easier to handle Esnow's entrance into the fight. But still, she was losing ground and the two of them together were tiring her. She needed help.
Tempora summoned the Force inside her, and made an attempt to telepathically communicate with Kylaan. As she tried, she could feel that something had changed in him, and that it was not a change for the better. The anger that was in him had grown greatly for some reason, though she knew not why.
After killing Riisco, Kylaan had gathered up Refi's dead body and returned to the Republic flag ship. He took his Padawan's body inside and prepared it for the journey back to Coruscant, then he went back outside. He was kneeling on the ground meditating when the voice of his sister entered his mind.
(Kylaan.)
His eyes opened and he rose to his feet, trying to concentrate on her voice through the mixed feelings of loyalty and rage, love and hatred, that raced through him.
(Kylaan, I need you here.)
He felt the Force in him and centered his thoughts on that, thinking about Tempora being in trouble out there somewhere, and thought a response to her.
(Refi is dead.)
(Shadir as well,) she thought back to him, (this is up to us now, brother, me and you. Come quickly, Kylaan, I need you here. Now.)
Kylaan took in a long, deep breath. He had begun down the Dark path, and had mercilessly slaughtered the bounty hunter out of anger, but at the same time he still loved his sister, and had to do something to stop her from being harmed.
He exhaled the deep breath, and went to help Tempora.

[Drehlon]

Chapter XII

Tempora found herself backed against a wall by the two Sith, yet still she managed to keep herself alive against their lethal attack. Velke was attacking her from her right side, while Esnow was advancing from her left. The bulk of her defense was going to the right, to Velke, the one who seemed to be the mastermind behind this whole thing. He was very powerful, more so than his Twilek accomplice, and she found that she was having increasing difficulty handling this one.
Suddenly something happened to make things a little easier for her. Right in the middle of an attack against her, Esnow disappeared. She looked out in front of her to see that Kylaan had Force-pulled Esnow away from her, and was now standing over the Twilek. She began to approach her brother, sensing the Dark Side in him. As she did, Kylaan raised his ignited saber up over his head, preparing to strike Esnow down.
"Kylaan, no!" she shouted at him. She knew that these Sith warriors had to be stopped, but she couldn't let her brother strike the Twilek down while he was defenseless. Self-defense was one thing, but that would be murder.
Kylaan didn't feel the same. Without a moment's hesitation, he brought his blade down and killed Darth Esnow.
Tempora started to run to her brother, but she was stopped in her tracks by Velke. He saw her distraction as a great opportunity to strike, and he took it, hitting her flat against her shoulder blades with his red-bladed weapon. She involuntarily dropped the two lightsabers in her hands and fell forward, landing in the sand face first.
"TEMPORA!!" Kylaan screamed. The anger in him grew ten-fold as he turned his attention to Velke, who had disengaged his weapon.
"All of your friends are dead, Jedi," he spoke to Kylaan, feeling the Dark Side in him, "and for what? Return to your ship. Tell your Jedi council that I escaped. Leave. Or I will destroy you."
"What's the matter?" Kylaan angrily snapped back, "Afraid of me, are you?"
"It is you who are afraid, Jedi. I can feel it in you. That is why I give you this one last chance to leave now."
This comment clearly angered Kylaan even more, and he had to draw in a deep breath to calm himself. He withdrew it and spoke with a surprisingly calm and clear voice.
"A Jedi knows not fear. You killed my father, my friends, and my sister. Now I will destroy you."
"You know not fear," Velke sarcastically mocked with a grin, "but vengeance, then?" He then raised and re-ignited his blade, and melted away his grin. "So be it."

[Drehlon]

Chapter XIII


Kylaan was a great warrior, very skilled in swordsmanship, but the fight he brought to Velke was like nothing he'd ever done before. He still fought with the same skill and finesse he always had, but this time it was different. This time, he also fought with anger.
Velke found himself immediately overwhelmed with the onslaught of blows brought on by the Jedi, and quickly found that retreat was the only was he was going to survive. He managed to find his chance to run from Kylaan, and used it to escape the town and get back to his ship. He entered the ship and sealed the hatch behind him, locking Kylaan out.
The Sith prepared to take off, realizing that he had failed in his plot. Esnow was dead, he was now alone, and he would have been killed if he'd stayed in that fight.
He reached forward to engage the engines when he heard something behind him. Has that Jedi found his way in here?, he thought. He started to turn in his chair when he was suddenly jerked up out of it, up so high that his feet were no longer on the floor. He looked in shock and horror to see that he was face to face with Darth Bane!
"Velke." His voice had again taken on the inhuman tone it had when he had killed Deloc on Dagobah. He had lowered the hood on his robe, revealing his long black hair and his horribly burned face, which showed evidence that he had attempted to heal it somewhat. But nothing could be done about his right arm, which had been removed by Velke's second strike. The one hand he did have remaining was holding Velke by the throat.
"Once you thought I was dead, stowing aboard the ship was all too easy! You should have made sure, Velke. Now, you die!"
Bane closed his eyes and used the Dark Side of the Force to levitate Velke's saber off of his belt, hovering it in front of his treacherous apprentice's stomach. He then Force-activated the weapon, impaling and killing Velke. He then dropped Velke's dead body to the floor and unlocked the ship's hatch.
Outside the ship, Kylaan heard the click of the hatch's seal being opened, and he hastily entered the ship to find Velke's body lying on the floor, with his saber nearby. He then noticed someone sitting in the pilot's chair of the ship.
Bane stood up and turned to Kylaan, slowly walking toward the confused Jedi.
"Kylaan."
This confused him even more. "How do you know my name?" he asked.
Bane grinned a bit as he answered. "I know more than you could ever imagine. I know your anger. I can feel it. Join me, Kylaan, and I could teach you turn that anger into power!"
Kylaan became angry again. "I'll never join the Sith!" he shouted.
"Oh," Bane questioned, his grin ever growing, "and why not? What else is there for you? Your friends are gone, your sister is fallen, and already you have begun your journey down the Dark path. With Lord Velke's betrayal and death, I need someone strong. I need someone like you. Join me now!"
Kylaan took his lightsaber into his hand and stood there facing Bane for a few seconds, thinking. This disfigured Sith Master was right. He could never return to the Jedi Temple after the things we had done. And he did have much confusion inside.
"Kneel before me, Kylaan!"
Kylaan made his decision. He threw his weapon to the ground and knelt before Bane.
"Now," Bane commanded, "arise before me as my new apprentice, Darth Ferris!"
The newly named Sith apprentice did as he was told, taking on a look of blind obedience on the way up.
"I am Darth Bane." Bane revealed. "And I am your Master now!" He then knelt down and picked up Velke's lightsaber and handed it to Kylaan/Ferris, who hung it at his side in place of his old one.
"Now, Lord Ferris," Bane ordered, "leave the ship. The Jedi Master named Tempora still clings to life. Take it from her. Kill her."
With the unwavering look of blank obedience about him, Darth Ferris exited the ship with Bane following him closely. Nightfall approached as the two made their way back to the town. As they approached the bar, they located Tempora lying on the ground, trying with little success to crawl back inside the empty bar. Her thoughts were confused, scrambled from the onset of pain caused by Velke's blow. Where is Kylaan? She thought. Where are all the people that were here? I have to find-
Tempora felt smoething at that moment, something that made her turn her head to look behind her. She grimaced at the pain that ran across her badly burned shoulders as she looked back to see Kylaan. But Kylaan was no more. Darth Ferris, the man who was Kylaan, now stood over his sister, the blank look still in his eyes as he drew ever closer to her. Her deepest fear was now realized. Kylaan had turned to the Dark Side.
"Do it NOW!!" Bane barked out from behind Ferris. He turned his attention to his Master momentarily, then he leaned in to the place where Tempora was lying wounded and defenseless on the ground. Without even the slightest hint of compassion, he removed his slain predecessor's lightsaber from his belt and activated one of its blades.
"No," came the weak voice of Tempora, "no, brother. Don't."
Tempora raised one hand and put it up over her face in a blocking position as Ferris lowered his blade down, just inches from Tempora's face. She could literally feel the energy produced by the red blade, and thought to herself, So this is how I'll always remember my brother, then? Ironic, isn't it? My murderer ends up being my closest friend!
She put her raised hand back on the ground as Ferris raised his weapon high up and back, preparing for an incredibly powerful swing that she could in no way defend. She simply closed her eyes as Darth Ferris, the killer who once was her brother, brought his blade down hard and fast. And beheaded Bane!
Kylaan Miita disengaged the weapon and dropped it by his feet, on top of Darth Bane's headless body. He then knelt down to his injured sister and took her up in his arms, carrying her back to their ship.
Once inside, Kylaan did everything he could to ensure that Tempora was as comfortable as possible, placing her in the co-pilot's seat of the ship. He then checked the wound on her back, a rather severe burn spanning the entire width of her shoulder blades. He cleaned and wrapped the wound, then calmly took a seat at the ship's controls.
Tempora had begun to regain some of her strength by that time, and she looked up at him
in amazement as he entered information into the ship's computer.
"I thought...." she started, heaving from shortness of breath, "I...for a minute there......you were going to kill me."
"For a minute there.....I was."
She continued to look at him, more puzzled and surprised now than amazed. "What?"
He seemed to disregard the fact that she had spoken, instead continuing on himself. "I've programmed the ship to take you back to Coruscant. Go before the council. Tell them we were forced to battle the Sith, and that no one but you survived the encounter."
"But Kylaan, you're alright, you must come with me, you-"
"No!" he sharply cut her off as he rose from his seat. "I have begun a dark and evil journey. I can never return." His voice calmed some as he continued. I must remain here. At least until I can once again control the fear and anger that has surfaced itself in me." He knelt by Tempora's side as he went on. "Tell the council that I am dead. As a Jedi Knight, that may as well be true."
Tempora thought seriously about trying again to convince him to come with her again as he rose to his feet, but the look in his eyes caused her to decide against it. Instead, she simply nodded in affirmation.
"Always remember that I love you, sister."
"And I you, Kylaan." she responded, adding, "May the Force be with you."
He looked at her for a long moment, but gave no response. He simply pressed a few buttons on the ship's control panel, then exited the ship's hatch as the engines roared to life. Tempora put her head in her hands and cried as the ship lifted off, thinking to herself, I'm never going to see him again.
Kylaan, out in the sandy abyss of Tatooine, did the same thing at the same thought about his sister.


End