Kamon looked on in horror. Not at what Dak had done, but at what was going to happen. He could see it. He could see the evil grin on his brothers burnt face. Could see that that was the only burnt part on him.

"No Dak. Move away, now!"

He started to run at Dak. His brother was going to do something, something bad. He could see it. He could also see he wouldn't get there in time to stop it.

Khar Shian


The Overlord flew low to the ground, kicking up the snow like once before, and providing good camouflage. Within minutes, Kale and Luis had reached the darkside of the moon. Pulling his ship up, Kale shot through the atmosphere of Khar Shian, and out into the darkness of open space.

His sensors exploded into life, lighting up with all of the ships that were out there. Kale ran his hands across his controls, moving with the grace of an artist. The Capital ships didn't seem to care too much about the single freighter, and felt content at simply releasing their contingent of fighters.

Having gone mostly unnoticed do to the shadow of the moon, Kale increased his ship's speed as they shot in between the two nearest Star Destroyers. Kale recognized the TIE Raptors as he glanced up through the viewport, knowing that they were particularly well armed, but lacked the speed to contend with the Faster YT-2400 and its expensive modifications.

"Spinner, plot us that course for Ossus, please."

As the R7 droid went to work recalling the stored coordinates and loading them into the ships Navicomputer, Kale raised his forward shields, as the two large groups of TIEs headed towards his ship from both sides. Kale began to sweat, using the Force to calm himself as the TIEs neared.

Suddenly, the ship began to rock as the TIEs got in range and opened fire. kale was about to yell at Spinner when the little astromech droid beeped affirmation. Kale didn't hesitate, slamming the hyperspace throttle forward, and watching the stars turn into bright lines... Hyperspace...

"That was close." Kale said, looking over to Luis. "Was that fun, or what?"

*Janus landed on Khar Shian. He was stunned by the destruction the Jedi had caused. His anger rose greatly as he saw the destruction reighned apon his allies.*

The fog. Suspension. He walked across an unstable flooring, almost like unseen cushions as he neared the closest potency of Force energy. An entity amidst the mist, grown of strange fluctuations similar to the ones he himself possessed. This entity was familiar, a comforting aura as he neared its whispy white form, drawing him closer to its being. Arkan once felt such a presence within the Ruusan Force Fountain at the Jedi Burial Ground, a place whose power was of a joint composition of released Force energies from Force-possessing entities. This one seemed to clearly resonate with a life-force of its own, but it was with him even from the start, almost guiding him by the nose to something very alien, even to Arkan's own expansive understanding.

"Behold," its hard, cold voice said as it pulsed with each synonym.

The mists opened from them both and the ground seemed clear. They were the rotting bodies of dead people, although their decomposition was isolated in time --in thought. No stench came from any of their forms, just bodies woven into place to make the flooring even and inconspicuous to the wanderers of whoever roamed this realm. And the begging question to his mind was, 'Where am I?', a question rivaling ,'Why am I here?'.

The entity began to move away from Arkan, and Arkan followed closely by. "Every era's prosperity," the entity began, "its Golden Age, is eclipsed by conflict. Why? Because we are not just humanoids, we are mortals. It was understood that mortality evolved from being satisfied with itself, to being satisfied with perversions which at first, was taken as 'perversion', but was eventually taken for granted. This evolution in de-evolution created a rift between those satisfied with reality and those satisfied with themselves. Those satisfied with reality tended to want more of it, evolving more into materialism and thusly degrading to two sort of beings, victors or victims. Victors took advantage and indulged themselves in greater perversions, also known as the Seven Shortcomings to the ancient Revwien-Tyia.

"Victims were the subject of these greater perversions and could only continue to be subject or join the ranks of the victors themselves. Those satisfied with what they had tended to be a product of the victors-victims cycle, but were enlightened, growing each and every day to become better than they were the previous day. These enlightened people sometimes got caught up in the victors-victims cycle and tried to keep the victors from the victims, but in the end, they make the victors the victims and they themselves, are the victors."

Arkan moved carefully, not to trip on any of the corpses that served as their floor, hopping a bit to walk alongside the entity. Arkan understood the philosophy given by the entity and decided to make a response, "In that sense, the Jedi and Sith are much like this. The Jedi are the enlightened, those satisfied with what they have, whereas the Sith are those tied to the perversions of reality. Much in that sense though, the Jedi are those that get caught up in the cycle you speak of."

"Correct."

"So who are the true enlightened ones?"

"That is a matter of perspective," the entity stopped moving, "Each person is entitled to believe themselves enlightened, but those who are truly enlightened... those who are wise, do not need to believe they are enlightened but be satisfied with what they know, showing no pride in the process, for pride is one of the Seven Shortcomings. They need only be considered wise by others and that should be enough for them. Wisdom needs little."

Arkan walked around to what he believed to be the front of this white whispy entity, judging back the path it took going away from him earlier, "But doesn't wisdom require a lifetime of experience? I believe that all I have is knowledge."

"Wisdom knows no age, how you act shows wisdom. Avoiding consequences and reaping its rewards is a show of wisdom, morality and fulfillment in a reality where you would find none is where wisdom aides you."

Several pillars of stone pushed their way out of the ground, moving corpses aside and forming a ring of eight pillars surrounding them both. "I agree. Although I have to wonder... who are you and where am I?," Arkan asked, staring suspiciously at the pillars around them and realizing that where he once was before was on the icy ground of Khar Shian, possibly dead. Maybe that was it, but was he really dead? He looked at himself, he was wearing his black Sith robe and his standard earth-tone outfit back at the Praxeum. Not Yuuzhan Vong equipment about him at all. Quite strange.

"I am Jedi Master, Lord Hoth," it announced, "or would it be some other Jedi amongst the littered corpses from the Burial Ground's past."

"Or Sith," Arkan added as he knelt down to peer at each corpses decaying face, unappalled by the grotesque nature of this floor they stepped upon.

"What I am is irrelevant. Where you are is a level of the Force which many come to when they seek to meditate, this is the thin dimensional level before they achieve an out-of-body observance in the Force. Why are you here is the true purpose of why you are still alive instead of being dead on that Yuuzhan Vong experimental table years ago."

"And why am I here?," Arkan asked as the tips of the eight pillars sparked into blue flame. The Zabrak looked up at this, standing upright and looking at each of the pillars with faint curiousity.

"You already know the answer. The path you chose in your 'rebirth' was marked by the unyielding desire to observe, understand, and manipulate," the entity rose up at the center of the eight pillars, "Everyone in the chain of reality does not have free will, it is marked by experience linked together to establish chain-reactions to a given end."

"Why all the hassle?"

"It is already known by a number of people, it is not the destination that gives the most satisfaction, but the journey itself; whether joyous or painful. Because of mortality's complex needs at this day and age, the Force can operate on any level without the notice of so many beings who can only comprehend it within the rules of reality in their scopes. Every now and then, someone is chosen to create a sacrificial equilibrium in reality. Whether the sacrifice was known or not, that is irrelevant. But the chain-reactions to such a cause shapes the galaxy to another step in the manifold process."

"What process is that?," Arkan looked up to the entity.

"Only through death can one understand the process. You have been in death, so you have the sense to understand. It cannot be relegated to simple words, Arkan Tir-Dann."

Between the space of the eight pillars, eight entities of various colors formed. From these forms, eight Zabrak garbed in black robes emerged. They were all duplicates of Arkan. And these duplicates all glowed the similar grey aura, the one Arkan knew best as the secondary power he innately possessed, thanks to the training of the Jedi and the information from the Sith Archives.

"There are many questions," Arkan admitted, "But I believe I am seemingly content with all of this, as though satisfaction is composed of simple goals and nothing extravagant such as the materials in reality. But why? How am I so content with this?"

All of the Arkans spoke in unison, all hollow voices but possessing strength, "A philosopher from Chandrilla tells us that belief has nothing to do with how or why... we believe because it is absurd. Of course, it is all lunacy to understand this all, the Force and everything in it. But that is why we must believe. Faith, by its nature must transcend logic."

Arkan nodded. The feeling of fulfillment spread throughout his being, sending a tingle down his spine. He looked to the duplicates then to the entity hovering above him. "I understand," he bowed to it.

The chill of Khar Shian began to return to him. He was surrounded with darkness once again. Although Arkan believed he would visit that place in the near future, for now though, he had to return to the battlegrounds of blind consciousness.

Arkan awoke.

Luis smiled as Kale evaded the TIE Raptors and began the journey back to Ossus. He sat back in the seat. He was used to speeder bikes on his homeworld of Naboo, but nonetheless it was quite a rush.

"Yeah, great fun"

He said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes:

"That was some pretty intense flying, I'm still quite surprised we're still in one piece"

He said with a chuckle as he ran his fingers through his hair which had been messed up signifigantly in the fight and during the flight.

In Hyperspace...

Kale smiled, running a final check over his instruments. He had grown up on a Starship, so he knew a few tricks here and there. It seemed to Kale that most of his years growing up were either spent Running to something, or running from something. Either way, he had spent a lot of time 'running' in general.

"Thanks, I guess. Luckily for you, I'm just as solid a pilot when we aren't running for our lives." Kale smiled and turned to his droid. "Spinner, alert me if anything goes wrong. We'll be in the back." Standing up, Kale put his hand on Luis' shoulder. "Make yourself at home, my friend. We have a long trip ahead of us."

To home...

Luis looked around the YT-2400, and standing up, stretched his legs a bit, the warmth inside the ship was a welcome change to the cold wetness of the snow:

"Thanks Kale, I owe ya one, I probably would have died on that godforsaken planet. How did the mission go? I was too busy to notice anything, but I didn't hear any explosions?"

He said rather quizically.

Jade nods and snarls, Sumohn right behind her as she runs. After a few moments she slows down. The Darkside power was getting to her, calling her to change back.

Slowly, she turns around, and begins walking back the way. Sumohn grabs her ankle between her massive jaws as another Shadow Jedi, she has no idea if it is someone she knows or not, grabs her shoulder and yells in her ear.

"DON'T FORGET WHY YOU ARE HERE! WE WILL DEAL WITH THIS LATER!"

They pull her along only for her to be let go of and blindly follows them. She then shakes her head clear and goes back to running with Dak.

Zerxes laughed evily. He rolled onto his back and drew on the darkside. He amplified the strength of his legs and kicked out with them at Daks right knee. It shattered immediately.

Zerxes smouldering form stood. Dak's blade had been knocked away when Zerxes had attacked. Only his face was burnt as his suit had taken the brunt of the assault.

"You shouldn't have tried that. Even my brother knows it was folly. I should kill you now, but I'll save the pleasure until a later date. I must go brother, I have better things to do."

He lept up onto the nearest building and headed away. He used the rooftops to take him where he needed to go. He was looking for his Master but there were too many presences to decipher so he just jumped around searching.

Throughout the entire attack, he stood stock still, a look of simple bemusement across his face. As he lept the the rooftops, Dakkons smile grew wider as the Tenloss Disruptor Rifle dropped into a one handed grip from his belt. The rifle charged, he held it outstretched in a casual position as he drew a bead on the fleeing Sith that lept from rooftop to rooftop. Just as he was about to disappear, and 2 seconds before the rifle reached full charge he fired, Dakkon watching with satisfaction as the bolt slammed into the Siths thiegh as he made his final dive to safety. Flipping the blaster back into his body, it seemed to disappear as his Masters lightsabre took its place.

"Damn, it wasn't fully charged..." He shrugged, turning to Jade and Claire. "It couldn't have vaped him. Well, not all of him. I think it actually slammed into his upper left leg, so maybe it vaped his tibia... Meh, i think he came off worst in this one..."

To Dakkon it remained a neverending game of oneupmanship, although Claire was looking digustingly at his leg. Looking down, Dakkon smirked.

"Cerean training. It'll hurt later, don't worry!"

Chuckling, Dakkon strolled back towards where he had previously attempted to leave, this time pulling another charge from his pack.

"OK kiddies, lets go."

As he walked down the dank corridor, Claire and Jade could faintly hear the sounds of whistling in the air, humming an old battle hymn that unbeknowst to them came from Paris Island, the Masters first ever training facility.