Bonaden was calm and cool, a perfect night for catching up on much needed sleep. It was an idea that had permeated the minds of multiple Vinda Corp officials all over the dark side of the planet.

Among these sleepers was the Secretary of State, his head resting upon a dark pillow, the blankets pulled slightly back. His black hair absorbed the blue filtered light like a black hole, while his grey skin diffused the blue light making him appear to not really be there.

But he was there. And, strangely enough, tonight the dreams where calm, almost normal. There was no screaming, no visions of his past. The cool breeze through the window was probably helping. Or was it...


Amongst trees, running. Kas dreamt of himself searching for his sister. Ah, there she was. Dressed in white, preparing for her wedding while standing amongst thorns. A memory of her demise flickered through his mind, and the scenery changed again.

Amongst buildings, searching for his friend. There he was, way up there... how to get to him... Jump silly. No, must not use... There, a ladder, that would work. Too long, now he’s dead. You took to long...

Amongst thorns, searching for his wife. Where was she?


A small drop of sweat beaded on his Kas’ forehead, and rolled down his temple. They were turning sour again, and he was powerless to awake. He turned in the bed slightly.


The thorns scraped his face, causing dark blood to appear in two spots. Where was his wife? The scenery changed to a long, narrow hallway. The door at the other end never seemed to get closer.

Running, forever running down the hall.


A voice shattered his existence, coming from his past like a thunderbolt. A voice like he had never heard before.





Kas sat up in his bed, the down mattress he preferred groaning in protest. His black eyes scanned the area around him, searching for the voice, searching for the source.

He found something else instead.

A pair of eyes, twin eyes glowing a fiery red appeared before him. They blazed in an inhuman sense. The air around the eyes rippled, slowly forming the general shape of a head. Details were blurred, the only the eyes were discernable.

Kas mentally called to his shard, and the weapon responded. Slipping from its place on the wall, the cylinder felt cool and comforting in his palm. He stood, and faced the glowing eyes. Is this a dream? He could not tell. It felt real... But then, nothing was real, right? The incident on Vandelhiem had taught him this.

He was nothing.

And yet at the same time he was everything to the man's existence. He stood there as recognizeable and as real as a starship and yet he was as blurred and unreal as a mirage.

The red-eyed figure did nothing, he simply stood there, staring ahead as though nothing else were important. His features were blurred, but it was obvious by the whole of his demeanor that he was grim, his body unmoving.

Kas came to see that he was in robes, dark as a Sith Lord's, and yet there seemed nothing evil about this man, nothing inherintly wrong or injust. He simply stood there, watching, radiating an almost calm, a peace unnerving perhaps.

"Katta," he whispered, though the force and power in the voice made it boom louder than any acusticly designed room could.

And with that, Kas Katta awoke to the light of morning.

Disturbed throughout the day, Kas finally settled down after dinner into his chair. Unlike most dreams, the event of last night had not left him during the day. Some dreams stayed with him, but usually they had a premonition of something that would happen during the day.

Last nights burning red eyes had been on his mind all day today. He had even mentioned it to Mr. Vent, of public relations. Not to say he had said that he had dreamt it, but rather, an inquiry into whether Vent knew about any species of humanoid that had burning red eyes.

“Chiss, naturally”

Chiss? Kas had thought that the Chiss always stayed in their own territory, not coming out to the general galaxy. Thrawn was the exception, but a great exception was he.

He had done a little search during the day, and discovered that several Chiss had indeed come out of their territory since the Thrawn war. A notable entry was former emperor Chadwick Fearsons. It was documented by VC Intel that this man was half Chiss, and force sensitive.

But Fearsons had disappeared a while back... assumed to have gone back to Chiss space.

Sleep overtook Kas, lying in his char, his shard next to him ever watchful.

The dreams had become more constant, and the man less and less apprehensive with each passing night. More and more features came to Kas's vision, and it became easy to make out certain features - deeply tanned skin, burning red eyes, a great gash across his face - until one night when everything seemed to change.

"Katta," he spoke very gently one night, though it sent shivers down the man's spine. He awoke again, though again not in fear...in momentary confusion before the dream's very memory began to slip from his mind.