That is, before where the planet ought to be. Blanketed securely beneath the chronotic shield which Aelvedaar had erected in parting, there was nothing to indicate a planet was even beneath them. Or at least, not to a superficial scan.

Shayla merely turned to her Teacher with a grin. "Piece of cake," she commented lightly before she turned back to the helm, aiming toward the unseen gravitational source warping spacetime in this particular area of space, piloting the little craft in a direct line to it's northern pole where all it's magnetic field lines converged. There she found the tiniest of openings... but one just large enough that the little enigmatic Sith ship could slip through. Without ceremony it did just that, disappearing in turn from the Universe in general.

From the viewpoint of the two women, it was as if they had plunged into the darkest of night. The merest glint of light beamed toward the surface below, coming in through the hole where the maglines converged, but other than that all was absolutely dark. No light issuing from the planet's sun or moons or the stars without could penetrate that impenetrable shield, being sent along the twists and turns of time in two directions instead. Unfortunately, the same thing was occurring beneath the shield: while some of the infrared slowly being emitted from the planetary surface did manage to reflect back from low level clouds to keep a modicum of heat within the atmosphere, most of this radiation likewise hit the shield and disappeared into other timelines. As a result, the thin band of green about the planet's equator had gradually given way beneath encroaching snow and ice; Fates only knew how cold it was at the poles.

Shayla mentioned as much to Graysith.

"Yes, sister," the Chosen Daughter replied softly. "Our Temple remains secure but at the sacrifice of this planet's ability to sustain life. We can only hope that the new disturbance growing throughout the Galaxy will subside before this place is nothing more than a frozen waste.

"But then--" She shrugged her shoulders. "All the better to deter curious eyes and ears from coming to this place. We have the All at our disposal; we shall not freeze."

Now she leaned forward, looking eagerly out of the forward port, watching with bated breath as the Great Sith Temple hove slowly into view in their external lights. Shayla brought the ship to a graceful landing just without the ancient entrance to this sacred temple; they settled like a drift of snow, where the ship lent itself to the shusshes and whooshes of outgassing as it prepared to go to sleep until needed again.

Graysith rose smoothly to her feet, reaching out with her talents as with a brief wave she opened the hatch and lowered the gangway. An arctic blast rushed at them, clawing them and demanding sustenance from their vulnerable flesh; Graysith simply ignored the icy cold but continued down the exit ramp until she stood at its foot, her feet lost in snow, her hair whipped by ice-crystalled gusts of wind. Motioning for the others to follow her, she went up to the double doors, the tracks she left behind disappearing before the wind almost as soon as they were laid down.

The doors remembered the darkness in her, and oiled open with deceptive ease. They closed as easily behind them as, all members now safely out of the elements, they now proceeded through the dark entrance Hall and into the Great Room beyond.

There they paused while Graysith reached out even further.

"She is not yet here, my sister," she purred quietly. "But-- I believe she will arrive. It is a logical move on her part; my blood-sister was nothing her entire life if not a logical sort."

Turning to Shayla, she blinked her violet eyes, then smiled slowly.

"Let us go prepare a...welcome, my sister," she whispered. Then she continued on through the Great Room, through the smaller double doors at its back, and down the hallway there to the rooms she once occupied, and had then given to her Adept. Her own private rooms she would not seek out; that memory was yet too painful.

She stopped at a certain mouldery place, reaching out to gently stroke the mosses on the stone, resting her hand lightly there as a deep responding rumble sounded through the depths of the Temple and a doorway slowly yawned open before them.

Knowing her sister would understand, flanked by her tuk'ata and trailed by the others, she once more set foot into the quarters once given to her by Dark Wicked, so long ago and so very, very far away.

At last, they would have Galen Jhin'Dar and her friends at their very whim. At last justice would be served...

Suddenly Shayla's mind shifted to a yet colder thought, one sparked not only by the rememberance of recent atrocities one person had committed but also fueled by a righteous flood of hurt and anger resulting from events long past.

It wasn't just that he'd hurt her and left her. He'd chased her across the galaxy, threatened the business she'd worked so hard to establish, and threatened her very existence.

And though he'd paid for the crime he'd committed upon her Sister's person, he yet still owed for the removal of the Claw.

He would get his just desserts, Shayla would see to that, though she knew she wouldn't have to. And as for the woman Mr. Danner had by all appearances truly fallen in love with...

...her Fate rested entirely in the hands of Graysith, where Shayla knew it belonged...

But I will return, my Corellia...I shall return.

At least, achieving orbit around what should have been Khar Delba.

Shawn gazed at this odd discrepancy with confusion. And even Terrin was a bit thrown. Matt and Jasyn, they didn't seem too surprised however.

"What the Hell now?" Terrin muttered, reaching over to tweak a sensor switch.

Truthfully he was trying to fill time before the next horrible revelation was made...whatever it would be.

The planet that wasn't below them was still managing to emit a gravational field...

...weird...

"Remember the last time we were on Khar Delba?" Matt asked into the quietness of the cabin.

Yeah buster I sure do, something loud and totally obnoxious suddenly blathered in Terrin's head. Remember, Galen ran from you then too! You shoulda read the signs!

Terrin closed his eyes in borderline defense for a moment, as if the voices in his head would simply go away.

No such luck.

You shoulda stayed a loner, pal. Shoulda kept to the ship industry...

Terrin couldn't help but wince, to Hell with what everyone else was thinking or waiting for him to say. Life without Galen meant nothing. He couldn't honestly return to just being a salesman, completely oblivious to reality, ever again. Life without the purpose he'd found with her was just...not worth anything at all.

Turning to face the curious looks of the others, Terrin replied. "I'm not sure I understand what you are getting at but yeah, I remember."

A flash of another memory and image surfaced about that time...one not too old and seemingly random. But it wasn't. I do so love you, Mr. Terrin Danner.

Matt's reply broke his thoughts. "Last time the planet had some sort of weird shield. Galen managed to fly through it, and Aaron too. This looks suspiciously like that same shield."

Terrin nodded, his mind still elsewhere.

Matt picked up on this. "Are you sure this is what you want to do, Terrin? Galen was on one of our escapepods, I'm sure we could find her..."

"But that's not what she wants," Terrin suddenly blurted, whirling to face the others. Then his gaze locked on Shawn's. "And you know that she's right in wanting us to find the baby now."

Shawn's look turned inward a moment, then he nodded. "Yeah, I do tend to agree. The baby has powers that are going to be developing from the moment she is born. Finding Galen is still important because of her genetic make-up, but right now the baby is the more immediate concern since her powers are more readily accessible. She needs to be in the right hands before it's too late. And I suspect Galen has a plan we aren't aware of yet anyway."

Terrin quirked a brow. "Oh? You do?"

The question was more retorical than anything, but Shawn answered regardless. "You said yourself she was up to something on K'eel Doba."

Terrin frowned in thought, leaning back. Then a spark of an idea began to niggle its way upward.

"You know..." he started, still fitting the pieces of a newly-developing idea together as he leaned back in the pilot's chair, his hand going to his chin, "Maybe we can use Galen's absence to our advantage here."

"How?" came Jasyn's rather blunt question. "I thought she was the one of us who had the most expertise. Seems like a disadvantage, to me."

"Yeah," Terrin replied. "In alot of ways, it is. But remember, we've been to Khar Delba too."

And the only reason they'd ever left was because one little girl had shot out something to protect her mother. Might she help those that she sensed were trying to help her as well? Could a young infant even sense this?

Suddenly a realization squirmed its way to the forefront of Terrin's mind, suddenly melting all the inner demons that had been hounding him since Galen had gone off on her own.

Galen's trusting you to find the baby. That means that she thinks you have enough of a connection with the infant to do that. Though you might not have the Force or have the link that Galen has with Darra, she has acted to protect even you, on more than one occasion...

After all, how was it that Galen, out of all your crew members, managed to wake herself up in time to save your life that day aboard the Devil-May-Care? Technically, she should have been out for hours after that imp hit...

Something...something had happened that day.

Terrin sat up, sudden determination and assurety filling him. "We're going down. I saw Galen pilot her way out of Khar Delba with that shield up..." He turned to Matt. "...and so did you."

Then he turned back to the navboard, flipping a few switches as Matt and Jasyn looked at him rather quizzically.

"...how are we getting down there, exactly...?" Jasyn finally muttered. "Before we were in the Eagle and the Falcon. Those ships are alot smaller than this baby."

"Simple. Escape pods," Terrin replied, standing and turning to look at Matt. "You think you are up for piloting?"

Matt's green eyes met Terrin's. "I think I can handle that, yeah."

"Ummm...what were our plans? Strategies?" Jasyn queried as they began to all head out of the cabin on Terrin's heels, Shawn closely behind.

Terrin stopped and turned a moment, his look a cross between borderline amusement and something else all together. "To get captured."

Then he turned and headed onward to the two closest escapepod bays. Behind him, Jasyn simply groaned.

Shawn, ever the alert Jedi that he was, spoke up as if to calm Jasyn's thoughts that Terrin had lost his mind all together. "I think I know what he has in mind."

In the lead, Terrin actually managed a bit of a lopsided grin, knowing exactly what Jasyn would have to say to that.

"You could share this with the rest of the class..." Jasyn grumbled.

Don't worry, pal, Terrin thought. You'll know soon enough...

How silent was the Temple without his disarming laugh, she brooded as well. How I miss him...

...as well as do I miss Nikk. Never was there one so clever and loyal, save perhaps for his lieutenant, Leev.

She sighed into the echoing silence about her. Indeed, with only the four of them rattling about the Great Temple's cold interior, it was far too silent for her liking. Even the ever-present murmur of sith shades was gone; it was as if when Aelvedaar had pulled them all out and away to safety, he had taken them along as well.

She even missed Jinn's chatter.

Waiting is indeed the most difficult of tasks, she thought, not only to herself but to the soul of her true Dark Heart, wherever it had been laid to rest. Yet how well do I remember the painful lesson of it that you taught me.

She turned away from the throne with another little sigh, and began moving down the dias to where her Adept stood in a silence to match that of the shadows. Farther back, the dim light whispered the presence of the two lizard-cats, who hunkered there awaiting orders or instruction.

Graysith came up to Shayla, then stopped in her tracks. Her eyes seemed to suddenly brighten with the Glyph upon her forehead, which burst abruptly from its quiescent state into glorious and radiant life. She cocked her head a bit to one side, reaching out, sensing....

Then she nodded in satisfaction, blinking her brilliant violet eyes once before turning back to Shayla.

"We have company," she whispered.

Then, reaching out with her talents, she made a small gesture. Outside, the great ornately carved doors leading into to the Temple yawned open in welcome.

Smiling predatorily, Graysith moved up the dias to the Throne, and seated herself upon it. The two tuk'ata rumbled from the shadows, coming now to lay in twin guardianship on the floor before the dias; Graysith smiled to see Shayla moving into position as well. All about the richly paneled walls, great iron sconces burst into light, their flames sending shadows to flicker and dance upon the walls and the stone parquet floor of the impressive chamber.

Frozen in this tableau, one designed to present them to the intruders exactly for what they were, The Chosen Daughter of the Sith and her entourage, they waited.

"I'm still waiting to hear the plan," Jasyn grumbled.

Terrin turned to regard him, cocking a brow. "That presupposes that we actually have one."

"Look, buddy," Jasyn growled. "I didn't come here to go on a suicide mission. I came here to help you find Galen's baby."

"Good," Terrin said. "That's what I plan on doing." Then, his eyes darkened a little with his next statement. "But we really don't even know if she's here."

At that, Shawn stepped up next to Terrin. "Not that I've been around the baby long enough to track her...but I honestly don't sense her here."

Well, that's about as surprising as the fact that they'd made it to the surface of the planet unscathed. Which wasn't very much.

"The Sith though?" Terrin asked, a curious sort of look suddenly glinting in his eyes.

He could have sworn the Jedi looked a bit...shaken before the words ever left his mouth. Shawn closed his eyes. "They're here. They are most definitely here. At least, two of them are."

For a moment, the sounds of the Khar Delban jungle was all that could be heard. Then Terrin spoke at last, his voice evidencing a bit more compassion than even Shawn expected. "Shayla?"

Shawn nodded slowly, his eyes still closed. "Yeah." Then he opened them, casting a greeny-blue look Terrin's way. "I gave you my word that I wouldn't let her get in the way of what I've promised to do, Terrin. Trust me on that."

"Oh, I do," Terrin replied. "Besides, it's a little too late to debate the topic."

Shawn started to respond to this, then paused, frowning.

Terrin picked up on the change in mood. "What?" he asked.

"They are...waiting for us."

"Well then, I suggest that we do not keep them waiting."

With that he turned and began walking towards the Temple, Shawn and the crew not far behind him.

Whatever Fate laid ahead, he hoped the plan that was just beginning to form in his head would help him find little Darra while he still had the chance...

She frowned suddenly, turning to call down to Shayla.

"There is a Force user amongst them, sister," she purred quietly. Then, her lips curled into a slight sneer, she waved one pale hand and erected a blanketing All shield about herself, her Adept, and their guardian Beasts. She could still sense out through this blanket... but only those who used the All could penetrate it from the outside.

"Our thoughts are now our own, my Sister," she spoke up again. She shifted upon the thick apportionments of the throne, settling herself more comfortably, drawing her signature cloak about herself to hide her combat and practice doba from view. Then, in an almost offhanded manner--

"One whom I expected to be with them is not there as well."

Now she lowered her brows, piercing Shayla's greeny blues with her own violet gaze.

Galen was not with the others. Maybe this was some sort of diversion? Or worse...had Lord Roan already gotten to her?

This could mean real trouble.

But...if ANYONE knew where the Claw was, either Galen or Terrin Danner did. They should proceed carefully.

"Well, I'm concerned that Galen's absence could mean something very bad for us. If she's away from the group, she's open to others finding her. We'd best find out if Danner and his group have the Claw. And of course find out what they know of Galen's whereabouts," Shayla ascertained.

"And," she added in an almost offhanded manner, "The Force-user accompanying Terrin Danner and his friends is he who I once called my brother."

Having said this, Shayla quieted, her demeanor utter calm. Even so, a tinge of something not entirely pleasant crept up in the depths of her eyes.

Two temple doors, standing wide open.

Terrin and Shawn were the only two of them who didn't look completely thrown.

Jasyn continued to ogle at the two wide-open doors of the Temple. "Is it too late for me to say I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Of course it is," Matt quipped. "But you said it anyway, didn't you?"

"Hush you two," Terrin said, biting his lip in thought.

He wondered if...

"Whomever is in there does not want a Force user sensing them, but somehow still wants us in there," Shawn interjected.

Terrin's frowned deepened. "What do you mean?"

"There's a block up. Has been for a while," Shawn responded.

Oh. Goodie.

Terrin simply shrugged. "Doesn't matter, we're still going in."

Turning, Terrin took one last deep breath, fortifying himself both physically and mentally for whatever might lie ahead.

It's not like you left a good last impression the last time you were here, buddy, a shoulder devil hissed.

Stepping into the open doors of the Temple, Terrin simply chose to ignore that particular demon all together.

"They come like mice, my Sister." With those words she straightened, turning to Shayla with her teeth exposed in a laugh of pure amusement. "Perhaps they need reminding to move with a bit more...alacrity...

"M'wonBo'o! A'liya!"

Realization dawning, he gulped, his memory fully in tact.

"Wh...what's that?" Jasyn said worriedly.

"Something we don't want to tangle with any time soon," came Terrin's reply. "Get on the move. We aren't going to be of much use if that Beast of hers gets a hold of us."

Jasyn gulped then firmed, his hand going to his blaster.

As if that is going to help you, buddy...

They hurried onward, meeting entirely too soon with not one, but two of the rather massive and deadly beasts. Shawn's eyes widened as the group suddenly came to a horrified halt, only Terrin managing to press onward.

For a moment the others were merely surrounded by the pretators, and then they were flanked by them and pressed onward as well. Shawn thumbed his lightsaber as if to make sure it was still there.

At length Terrin at last entered the Throne Room of this altogether horrible place, the others behind him. Even so, he was at this point seemingly oblivious of their presence. He had his goal on his mind, and nothing else.

With a courage that he wasn't even completely aware he possessed, Terrin headed to the front of the Temple and centered himself with the Throne upon which she sat. For only a brief moment did he even cast his gaze over to Shayla, who was giving him a look that, if it could have, probably would kill.

But his blue eyes were only for the red-headed woman that had once been Galen's sister. He knew he didn't have to speak a word for her to know exactly what he wanted.

The others coming to a halt behind him, Terrin simply folded his arms, shot an icy blue glare the violet-eyed woman's way, and waited.

She rose gracefully to her feet, spreading her hands out to each side of her.

"Greetings, Terrin Danner," she said at length, her voice a whisper of ice. She held her right hand up in front of her, the fingers loosely curled downward save for the prosthetic, which was in turn held aloofly erect. She then turned it palm toward her and held it there a moment, considering it quietly before her eyes slid over her knuckles to fall into Terrin's own gaze once again. Then, after that entirely endless moment had finally passed, she turned from him toward Shawn. "And to you...Jedi."

She held her position a moment longer, her eyes shifting between the two, then finally settling directly into Terrin's cautious yet strangely confident blue gaze. Totally ignoring the others, she sank down onto the edge of the throne once again, arranging her cloak about her, her hands now lifting to fling back its hood and release her hair from its bonds. It cascaded down upon her shoulders like a fall of molten copper.

"We shall waste no words between us, Danner," she said abruptly. "Well do I know why it is you are here, as well as what it is you are seeking. Now tell me, why is it you think we should assist you, especially after the last... impression... you made while making your presence known between these walls."

She was totally trying to play mind games with him. He didn't much like that, either.

He only responded at first by glaring even harder.

At length, however, he spoke. "Assist?" he queried, looking at the violet-eyed woman curiously. "I'm surprised you put it this way," he said in apparent non-sequiter. "In fact, I wonder why it is you have decided to entertain my friends and I at all. Unless," he continued, his eyes boring into the other's, "you know that there are yet others out there who might successfully capture your ex-sister. Who possibly have already done just that. And who will, after that, seek out her child, fully aware of who must have her and where she is."

Here he paused, tilting his head to the side. Then he continued, managing to cover the shudder that accompanied his next statement. "I think you know very well what their...plans will be for Galen, as well. And of the damage the success of that plan might cause to your own. Even with the one child you have stolen, as well as possibly yet another whom that little demon of your entourage has taken, you will be hard-pressed to defeat them with the birth of yet other babies with Galen's genetic make-up." Here, Terrin didn't even bother to surpress the shudder.

"Sounds like a highly justifiable reason to blast us all right now," Terrin said. "But if these guys are after Galen you know just who they will be after next. But, if you...assist me in finding Galen's daughter...my daughter...

...perhaps you will find yourself down yet another enemy in the form of your own ex-sister's daughter, who will always know who her real mother is, as well as of where she truly belongs. Should you keep her here against her will, I suspect there will come a day you will find yourself regretting you took her from us."

Here he delibrately looked over at Shayla. "Taking a child from where she wishes to remain rarely results in anything positive..."

"Strange you speak of a... possible capture of the very one who I expected most to be with you," she finally said in a quiet whisper. "'Ex-sister,' I believe you called her; strange indeed I find this use of words coming from your lips."

Now it was her turn to send a quick yet equally penetrating glance over to Shayla. Her Adept remained stonily silent, unmoving; yet Graysith could clearly feel the emotions raging just beneath the surface.

Graysith's eyes flicked back.

The tension mounted in degrees which were palpable to all.

Now the Chosen Daughter rose to her feet, quietly gliding down the dias to stand directly afront the silent Terrin Danner. He remained rock steady as she came to a stop before him, tilting her head up a bit to meet his steady gaze with her own.

Yet there was something she could read there in the depths of that look....

Graysith didn't even move when quite suddenly Terrin found himself bent abruptly over, his head coming down now to the level of the flame-headed Daughter of the Sith. For a breathless moment she held him there, the two tuk'ata now straining forward, their warning growls escalating just enough to keep the others in their own places.

"How easily you let information come from your lips," she said without an ounce of inflection in her tone. "You would do well to keep such bottled carefully away. One never knows where there are eyes watching, or ears listening over one's shoulders...."

Terrin's tall frame rebounded upright with a nearly audible snap as Graysith released him from her unseen grip. She turned around then, and carefully maintaining a stately aura slowly mounted the dias once again. There she whirled about before seating herself upon the throne again.

She cut her eyes over to her Adept, who was fairly glowering at this point.

"The child of whom you speak is bound to destiny now, as are... others," she finally said in a marginally less icy whisper. "I am afraid that I cannot concede to your... desires in this matter.

"But--!" Now she straightened upon the dias, firming herself regally upon it. "There is more truth than you would believe woven throughout your... speculations, Terrin Danner. There is far more at stake here than the life of a child... or the lives of two."

She paused again as an expression of utter grief passed like a flitting shadow across her face. Then it disappeared from view entirely, gone so fast the little group wasn't quite certain if they had seen it there or not. Once again she rose to her feet, only this time remained standing quietly in front of the massive and bejeweled throne.

"You have something I want... something I need, and which... certain others must not lay their hands upon. Something they are most certain to discover if it is not... placed into the most appropriate of safe-keeping.

"This is something that we need to speak of, Terrin Danner. But here and now is not the place. I am certain you are... fatigued from your journey to my home? Perhaps my Sister--" Now her eyes cut over to Shawn as the highly stressed words fell from her lips. "--would be so obliging as to provide you with quarters where you might rest and refresh yourselves."

Once again she descended from the throne, coming to a standstill directly in front of Terrin. This time she tilted her own face up so as to maintain the gaze they held between them.

"There is much you have to learn of us, Mr. Danner."

The words were spoken as lightly as the falling snow without the Temple. And into their wake there came a similarly muffled silence, one broken only by the raking clatter of claws as M'wonBo'o stepped out to follow his departing Mistress, who now swept past Terrin altogether and left the Receiving Room to her Adept and the little group who had come to them.

Then her greeny-blue gaze fell directly into Terrin's blue one.

"We must get you and your companions to some quarters, Mr. Danner, she growled, clearly not interested in playing the part of the hostess. Meanwhile she completely ignored the others, especially Shawn. Even so, she was very aware of them all.

Al'iya stepped in next to her before she began to move down the steps.

"Shayla..." Shawn started.

She froze, shooting him an icy glare. "I'd suggest you hold your tongue and appreciate the kindness afforded you."

Before Shawn could get another word out, Terrin spoke. "Kindness?" he growled. "We're wasting precious time...

...and you know what you are doing is wrong."

Shayla cocked her head, glaring even more darkly. "As did you, on more than one occassion, Terrin Danner. Funny how things change when the shoe is on the other foot. One person's evil is another's good."

"Funny how people change too, isn't it Shayla Stargazer?" came the responding question from Terrin.

"I have no time for your word games, Mr. Danner. Either you follow me to some quarters or I'll find somewhere better for the lot of you to stay. Take your pick."

She didn't even bother to raise her hood, but merely stood there, her eyes raising upward to the heavens... and there to crash against the impossibly black wall of the chronotic shield arcing over her head.

She sighed, now closing her eyes, and for the first time since fleeing Phrinn'chatka let her thoughts drift back to those of the Dark Lord of the Sorceror clan. A single tear defied the elements for a short moment before freezing into a diamond upon her cheekbone.

My Sire, she let what was close to a silent plea waft out from her, wishing he could sense her, knowing he could not. How I need your guidance now.

Be with me now in all that I do... for the sake of my child, and for that of the Sith.

He folded his arms and glared at Shayla, wondering just exactly why Shawn had yet to do anything.

It's the perfect opportunity...

"I suspect you'll do what you want regardless."

The thing that was obviously hers growled deeply at this.

Maybe they could take her. There were four of them, and one of her. Well, one of her and something really mean with razor sharp teeth and claws up against four other people. Maaaaybe that waas a bad idea...

...but he and Galen had taken that other one...

...Galen...

Oh Jeez, Sweetheart, I'm trying to get the baby...

The Sith just HAD to have her. But was she here? They had to find out.

Shayla's look darkened further. "The whereabouts of the child is no longer your concern."

"The child is my daughter," he growled, suddenly really tired of hearing her being referred to as though she were some sort of object to be trifled with.

Shayla tilted her head. "Well then, you must know that biology matters not, in the end."

Her look then shifted from Terrin's blues to her brother's greeny-blues. "I tire of this conversation. It will profit none of us. Except perhaps gaining some of you less desirable sleeping quarters," she growled, her look shifting back to Terrin's blues.

Face it, buster. If you are EVER going to have a chance to find the baby at all, you might as well stay on Shayla and her Sithette friend's good side. That is, if either of them even had a good side.

"I suppose we should then proceed onward," he prompted, "I'm certain we will be seeing much more of each other than any of us would like anyway."

Shayla's lips crooked into an almost disturbing smile. "Indeed we probably shall, Mr. Danner."

With that she walked in front of him, cocking her head to gaze up at him, those greeny-blue eyes of hers looking like glaciers. "I trust this will be a most...enjoyable visit for you. After all, I'd hate for you to find yourself missing more than just an arm," she finished with, sliding past him.

She grinned, seeing the visible shudder that raced through Terrin's frame, as well as the looks of disgust coursing through the expressions of the others in his party. Only Shayla, on her immediate right, remained coolly aloof, calmly reaching out to tear with equal vigor into a haunch of her own.

Graysith's smile deepened... then grew vague at the thought of where she was about to lead the group. She reached a slyly quiet hand into her cloak, lovingly fingering the object she had hidden therein, her thoughts now scrolling back to run through the events that had transpired within the last few hours....

Hours spent alone, away from the presence of the others, masking herself even from the powers of her Adept lest she try to follow and risk possible injury... there had, at the time, been no telling who might have been aboard the silently orbiting yacht...

...the little yacht that had brought Terrin Danner and his party to Khar Delba, the very same yacht which Graysith was keenly aware of being still in orbit, and which she had quietly departed for using the Sith ship she had taken off the world of the Sith... the same yacht which, though being under the auspices of an All-shield, surprisingly enough, still operated as did any ship made of matter, and thus was entered by the Chosen Daughter in a manner almost laughably easy...

...entered to seek The Claw of S'slan which she had to find... Fates be with them all if Galen had taken it along with her, but no... the moment she had stepped foot into the ship the Glyph on her forehead began ravening up the electromagnetic spectrum until it had bypassed the hard radiation levels of gamma, its powerful glory sending eerie radiance washing throughout ZZ'shzq as it sent itself out, like seeking like...

...and like the dianoga who becomes invisible just before it strikes, quested about in a manner which would have been unseen had anyone been aboard the yacht, questing and nosing and seeking and searching...

...searching and finally finding, secreted away in a small storage locker in a back-access alley to the hanger bay, nestled there inside the convoluted innards of a hydrospanner, of all things....

Graysith's smile grew broadly dark with the memory, and she raised the back of her hand to wipe her grease-dotted lips. Then she sent an awakening stare down the table, directly into Terrin Danner's eyes. He returned the look unflinchingly; for several long moments they remained in this ridiculous impasse until at length the others noticed the oddly darkening atmosphere about them and grew silent in turn.

The Chosen Daughter curled her lip, reaching into her cloak to now withdraw the Claw of S'slan from its folds. She let it dangle between her fingers like a moment in history.

"And now, Mr. Danner," she purred in a deadly velvet voice. "Pray tell how it is again that you may in turn assist us,... and exactly what it is that would now be preventing my Adept and I from killing you all on the spot."

Her eyes blinked once then blackened, and she smiled the sweet smile a rancor gives before the kill.

As it was, he managed to stay put, but ended up clutching the sides of his chair. He’d long before put down his fork, giving up eating whatever the Hell dinner was in exchange for not dying of some curious disease from uncooked meat.

Maybe he should have enjoyed it, seeing as it could very well have just become his last meal.

Oh HELL. So much for diplomacy.

Beside him, Shawn was sneakily fingering his lightsaber, clearly pondering if he should try using it or not.

Why didn’t you think about that a few HOURS ago, pal? was all Terrin could think, wanting more than anything to shrink away from the deathly look in the violet eyes that even across the table were boring into his soul.

He frowned blackly. Lady, I didn’t know where Galen had stashed it to begin with! Not that I would have just given it to you anyway...

What had Master Rean said that thing did exactly? Focus the...the All it was. So that it could be directed against another being.

Ahhhh...but this was gonna be fuuuuuun. For Graysith and her little Adept maybe.

Terrin really wondered why she hadn’t offed them all the moment she had found it.

Maybe he still had something to bargain with that she knew of...something he hadn’t thought of...

...or maybe she just wanted the sheer joy of seeing him squirm before she killed them all.

This just had to be stopped from happening. Kinda hard to save your wife and child if you’re Huttslime.

But once again...what did he have that a Sith would want? What could be his bargaining chip to save he and his friends? And maybe even Galen and the baby, if he played his cards just right...?

Let’s see:

A ship-building company.

Not of much importance to those who could pop in and out anywhere they wanted to. Not to mention to someone with those little Sith ships. Scratch that.

Some big ships...an Eclipse-class Star Destroyer to his name.

See reason why asset number one is worth nothing. Next.

One hot-commodity wife.

Not an option, sheesh. Especially considering Graysith would rather see Galen dead than alive.

Good grief. If you thought of that pal you really are out of options! Anything else?

Hmmm. Good connections with both Imperial and New Republic civilians and leaders. (what, am I filling out a resume here?)

Hmmm...

...maybe...

Terrin leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, meeting the deadly violet stare with a gaze that at least equaled it. The room was silent enough for someone to hear the feather of a cloud-dancer hit the floor.

He hoped that if this worked Galen wouldn’t kill him herself when she found out what he might be setting them up for to save her and the baby both.

“Seems that even with that you have enemies coming from at least two sides of you. It will be difficult for your small group of companions to defeat both the evil that is seeing out my wife and daughter and the evil that is apparently taking over the galaxy while you wait for it to pass over. I might not have much in the way of Force-skills, but I do have some long-standing and secure connections in this galaxy. With enemies coming at you on both sides, it’d be a shame to have yet a third one to deal with when you could instead use the third to your benefit...”

His eyes never leaving Graysith’s, Terrin held his breath, praying that this could save all their necks.

Galen, I hope you’ll understand just why I’m doing this...

She remained totally immobile, one hand gracefully upraised from which the Claw yet dangled, the other resting lightly upon the tabletop as she kept her eyes riveted to Terrin.

Eternities passed between them.

Suddenly she placed the Claw upon her finger, wiggled it for fit, then steepled her hands together on the table.

"Why Mr. Danner," she smiled sweetly across the glistening expanse of wood, her words cutting into the thick silence floating about the room. "Are you suggesting an...alliance with the Sith?"

No one dared say a word, but it was as if the entire room drew in an audible gasp of dismay.

Your wife is going to kill you, a little shoulder devil popped up and blathered in his head.

In response to that, Terrin simply thought that he'd rather be killed by her than never see her ever again. Which, if something wasn't done right this moment, was exactly what would happen.

Through all the thought, he maintained an icy look directed right into that firey violet one still baring down on him. "In exchange for my daughter...and my wife...

"Do you truly realize what that entails, Mr. Danner?" That brief statement, though whispered, rang through the room with explosive force. "Do you truly... truly ...realize just who it is you will be getting yourself involved with... and for what duration?"

Another eternity passed between them; then Graysith cut her eyes to where Shayla sat glowering like a volcano about to erupt. The haunch the young adept had been nibbling away on was poised midway to her mouth; she looked like she wanted to throw it at Terrin.

Graysith reached out a hand and gave her Adept's arm a loving squeeze. "Your input is valuable to me, sister," she said softly yet meaningfully. "Can this one be trusted?"

His...WIFE?

She turned the most glacial greeny-blue gaze at him she possibly could. "No," she said darkly. "We shouldn't. He's been known to cut and run on promises more than once. I can garantee you he thinks once he has Galen and his "daughter" he can cut and run yet again.

I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw a feather."

This had gone far enough.

"Will you THINK about what you are saying, Terrin?" he blurted.

Terrin shifted his blue eyes to Shawn. Even though Terrin was doing a fairly good job of covering it, Shawn knew he was scared as hell.

"You make a bargain with these people and the baby is theirs, pal."

Terrin looked as though he could throw up right then and there.

Hadn't thought about that, had you friend?

Terrin closed his eyes, and pursed his lips, an evident pain crossing his features.

Shawn knew he'd struck a cord of sensibility. He sat back down, ignoring Shayla's look altogether as she had ignored him earlier.

"Thank you, Sister," she said softly. Then she fell silent.

Minutes ticked inexorably by. Silence reigned. The tension in the room mounted even higher, grew even thicker.... then the Jedi rose to his feet with his rather loud protests, overcoming what sensibility Terrin had been approaching with the words that made the young man suddenly switch rontos in midstream.

"Oh dear," the Chosen Daughter of the Sith said mildly. "Once again I am not surprised by the inevitable yet somehow lackluster wisdom of the Jedi."

With that she suddenly rose to her feet, still pinning her eyes on Terrin, now reverting back to answer her own earlier question to him.

"Regarding your keen understanding of galactic affairs in general...no, Mr. Danner, you do not."

Now she pushed back the chair on which she had been seated, and came around to the side of the table.

"You haven't the slightest notion of the forces involved here, do you?" she said as she walked slowly toward him, fiddling a bit with the Claw. "You tremble before the name of the Sith, yet you have no real idea as to what-- as to who we in fact really are.

"You have no idea as to what you are up against, of the importance the child plays in the events about to unfold, of the fact that 'my foes,' as you call them, are not mine alone, but yours as well, indeed, and to the myriad worlds which make up this once-called Republic in which you live."

By now she had reached his side, stopped there, letting the Claw rest upon the table directly beneath his nose. It's sharp tip made a steady tic-tic as she lightly rapped it there.

"You have no idea... else you would have recognized the wisdom in the words you were brave enough to speak to me... and would not have backed down at the foolish behest of this useless Jedi."

For a long moment she just stood there staring deeply into Terrin's widening eyes, quietly assessing him. A strange sort of... sadness seemed to well up hauntingly in the depths of her own violet pair, darkening them to the hue the sky reaches directly before night falls. Then she straightened with a sigh.

"I said it once, and I will say it again. The child is bound over to destiny now... as apparently is your wife. I wash my hands of you and yours, foolish one.

"Shayla!"

Now she whirled about, the call ringing harshly upon the thick silence of the Dining Hall.

Terrin didn't even flinch as Shayla stood and began to cross over their way, evident glee glinting her eyes.

All that you've fought for. All that Galen has fought for...gone. This Alliance is the ONLY thing that will gain them ultimate protection, no matter what it will do to you.

If you love Galen and her little girl as you say you do, you'll sacrifice at any cost. Any cost.

As Shawn stood to reach for his lightsaber, Terrin closed his eyes and opened his mouth. For a moment or two, nothing came out. Then the thought of who he would be saving prompted the words to come. "Wait...please..."

The brief command seemed to well up from some deeply hidden spot in the very soul of the Chosen Daughter of the Sith, her hand unnecessarily raised to emphasize the single word.

She didn't have to turn about to know her Adept had come to an obedient-- albeit greatly disappointed --halt at the tone that one word had been delivered in. For a moment she remained thus, one hand outstretched, her back yet to the others, as though she was considering whether to proceed in a certain direction or not.

At length she turned.

"Now we take the first step in crushing misconceptions, my Sister," she said in an unexpectedly soft voice. Her violet eyes shone brightly in the dim light of the Dining Room as they turned now from Shayla's back into the thoroughly frightened pair belonging to Terrin Danner.

"Never in the name of the Greater Good shall it be said that I acted in the manner of... a Jedi..." she almost spat the word now; "...whether he be a dark user or a wielder of the light.

"Proceed with the words you wish to speak, Mr. Danner."

The guys would think he'd lost his mind. Galen would think he'd lost his mind. But just maybe...

"In exchange for little Darra and to save my wife..." he started, finally opening his eyes to meet the strangely calm and even somewhat soft look Graysith was regarding him with, "I'll do whatever is required of me...

...you have my word."

"Your wife... that we can do something about." Slowly she raised the Claw, wiggling it for emphasis even as an even slower smile came briefly to soften her features. Then it faded.

"Your daughter..."

She didn't bother to finish the statement, but stepped forward now and approached Terrin. Coming right up to him, she reached out and quietly took his left hand into her own. Pausing a moment more, she then spoke up, her voice becoming quieter and quieter while in direct opposition the Glyph began flaring brighter and brighter.

"Your word, Mr. Danner." She said meaningfully. "In blood."

With that, before anyone could do so much as cry out in protest, she upended his hand and slashed the razor-sharp tip of the Claw of S'slan deeply across it. The lethal point wet with Terrin's upwelling blood, she then turned it immediately upon her own left hand with equal vigor.

She then stood quietly, her had upraised, palm out toward Terrin, blood dripping down her arm, and simply waited to see how he would react, and what he chose at that point to do.

Galen, love, please, please understand why I'm doing this...

He turned his own left hand, palm placed outward to face that of the violet-eyed woman's. The tension in the room built til the air was literally the consistency of mud.

"You have my word in blood..."

"Do not forget. The Sith hold the Oath of Blood in the highest and most solemn regard."

Lashing out with her right hand now, she grasped Terrin's left wrist, her fingers spreading up across the back of his hand to hold it steady. There was amazing strength in the grip of her small hand; to his utter amazement Terrin found it difficult to move his pinioned hand.

Should he even have wished to attempt such a foolish thing at this point.

Graysith never removed her eyes from Terrin. "In blood," she repeated in something less than a whisper.

Then she brought her own bleeding palm up and pressed it firmly against Terrin's, letting their blood mingle and course together. Something weird and almost magickal seemed to pass between them, cementing them somehow in a bond to transcend the end of the universe itself.

"For all eternity, my friend," Graysith finished in a whisper. "We stand together."

His hand was shaking. All two meters of him were shaking. Still, he raised his own left hand to his lips. Closed his eyes as the weight of what he was doing came slamming down upon him.

With his crew members and Shawn Petrolu literally gaping, while Shayla scowled in the background, he licked the blood on his own hand clean.

Well, stupid, Shayla thought at him, At least Terrin DID have the guts to get something done.

Her smouldering gaze again rested on the blonde-headed man. She frowned as a thought she wasn't all too pleased with came niggling its way into her mind. Maybe she had misjudged him. He was risking an awful lot, considering who his wife was. As if that little thought wasn't bad enough, something else occurred. Maybe he'd done this because he truly did love Graysith's ex-sister. Because he'd sacrifice ANYTHING to help her.

Shayla's gaze shifted from Terrin to Graysith. Maybe she had misjuged him. That or he'd really changed.

And Shayla knew that on some subconscious level Terrin Danner probably believed enough in his wife's love that he trusted she'd forgive him. He had to.

Her look finally shifting from the angry one to something entirely more calm, Shayla simply waited to see what would happen next.

"This one needs rest," she said quietly. "He has been through much stress for one such as he, and on very little sustenance. See that he gains the solace of the quarters my sister has chosen for you; my Companion--"

Here Graysith snapped her fingers, and the tuk'ata came rumbling obediently up to butt his head against her side.

"--will carry him there."

Directing the animal to his task, Graysith now turned to the still gaping and very much concerned Jedi.

"There is much you need to learn, young one," she said to him evenly. "You would do well to pay heed to your... ex-sister."

Now she raised her head, taking a step back to address them all.

"Rest now, my new allies; other sustenance more to your liking will be found in your quarters. We will begin making plans for retrieving Galen Jhin-- for retrieving Galen Danner, as well as outlining what we can do against those who stand in our way, on the morrow.

"For now, rest well."

Shawn, meanwhile, watched him pace as though he had nothing better to do.

"What are we gonna do?" Jasyn blurted, whirling to face the Jedi. "This is even worse than the time when we working for that damn Moff!"

Matt, who was sitting on a rather plush couch, responded. "We're going to wait and see what happens."

"Matt, we are aligned with the Sith. The SITH, dammit!"

Before he could even stop what he was saying, he spotted Terrin leaning heavily against the wall adjacent to the one he was facing.

He turned ever-so-slowly to face his employer, who quite frankly looked like Hell. Jasyn told him as much.

Terrin let his head roll to the side a bit awkwardly, then looked up again. "I'm...I'm sorry guys," he muttered. Then he ambled over to the couch and sat. "I should have never brought you into this. Or you," he said, shifting his gaze to Shawn.

"We'll talk about it later. You should get some more rest."

Terrin shook his head. "Can't. Every time I think of how I will lose her..."

"Terrin, you don't know that," Shawn said. "Don't get me wrong when I say that I'm more than a little frightened about this. But I do understand why you did it. Faced with the only possible opportunity you had at the time to save us, Galen, and the baby, you did the only thing you could."

Terrin eyed him curiously. "You make it sound so noble."

Matt shot Terrin one of his classic insightful looks. "Well, maybe it was. Let's just see if the Sith uphold their end of the bargain."

"They'd better, or I will bail," Terrin growled.

"You'll get yourself killed," Jasyn said.

Terrin met his look with a pained blue one. "I'd rather get myself killed than to ever be part of something that would hurt either Galen or her daughter...my daughter. If the Sith go against her on something I'm just out, even though that means death.

...And if she doesn't understand what I've done and can't ever forgive me..."

He trailed, his shoulders slumping as though some invisible weight had settled itself there.

"Don't count the banthas before they hatch," Matt said philosophically. "We are in league with those who have the baby. We might not be heading the right direction, but at least you're trying."

"But at what a cost," Terrin said bluntly.

"We'll just have to proceed with caution and see how things progress," Shawn interjected.

Terrin spoke no more, but simply nodded. Then he eyed the bottle in Jasyn's hand. Not that he was a drinker, but...

"You got anymore of that...?"

Sheesh buddy! This is DEFINITELY not you! What the hell happened???

Sitting up, he tried to figure out exactly what was going on here. And why he was so befuddled.

Too much Whyrene's, pal, a shoulder devil growled entirely too loudly. You never did take alcohol well...

...What the Sithspit possessed you to start now, of all times?

...of all times???

Terrin frowned to himself. Remember, buddy, you blood-bonded with Galen's Sith ex-sister. Even licked the blood off your hand...

Suddenly, Terrin's stomach did a few summersaults.

...DID WHAT?

He was about to stand up and run to the fresher when his foot hit something other than the floor.

It was actually kinda soft...but it also growled.

Oh HELL, he thought, frowning blackly as he resigned himself to getting over the nausea as he sat back on the bed and retracted his foot from the animal's back. I'm surrounded!

Then, hoping to get back to sleep, Terrin grabbed the other bottle of Whyrene's he'd left on the nightstand.

When the morning came, he'd pay for this. But until he had something better to calm his nerves, the sleep would be nice...

The Jedi master stared at the empty void. "R-12, transfer power from weapons to shields and engines." Paul pushed the throttle upwards, moving the ship ahead. "If there is a planet there, maybe we can survive the crash..."

He had much to think about, and much to be concerned about. First off, there was this whole Alliance.

Shawn knew that Graysith was implicating that they had many dark Forces against them, and quite honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if they did. But to agree to work with the Sith to gain protection...

...Shawn just didn't know about this.

Still, there was the fact that he was quite certain of the reasons Terrin had chosen to take this route. And Shawn DID fully believe that Terrin had the interests of the baby and Galen at the forefront of his mind. That in some strange yet truly almost noble way he'd sacrificed everything he had to save them.

But he wasn't quite sure if Terrin understood this yet. THAT was yet another concern. Terrin had to come to grips with the reasons he'd done this, or he just might go crazy, thinking he'd somehow betrayed them all. That's not what he'd done at all. But Shawn wasn't quite sure if the Sith could be trusted to hold up their end of the oath...

...after all, they were Sith, and he was a Jedi...

In the midst of his thoughts, Shawn was keenly aware of the door sliding effortlessly open then closing behind an all-too-familiar form.

Shayla.

Her intense greeny-blue eyes met his quite calmly. "I came to retreive A'liya," she said. "I trust you all will be staying put."

Even as the words came from her mouth, the massive animal gracefully slipped from Terrin's room where she obviously had been sleeping.

Ah, Shawn thought with a bit of amusement, THAT'S why I sensed the little jolt of surprise from Terrin's way not too long ago. Then, he sobered, his look turning outward again to his sister, who was still standing at the door even though her companion had joined her there.

"Why do I suspect you aren't here just to get...that?"

"Perhaps your insights still serve you well, just as they always have," came the reply. "Just as they always will. Pay heed to what you know has occurred this night, and why."

Then her look turned inward, her voice growing softer and more thoughtful. "Terrin Danner did something tonight tbat I never thought he'd have the depth of feeling to ever do."

Shawn cocked his head, curious. He knew very well what she meant, but he was truthfully surprised to hear it from her. "Shayla, where's Erik?" he said, changing the topic.

For a brief moment, her look shifted to something tinged with a bit of longing. But there was something else there that Shawn wasn't quite ready to read. Love...?

"He is safe," she said quite calmly. Then she added, "No thanks to the Jedi."

Shawn arched an eyebrow. She wasn't going to divulge any further, but somehow he trusted that she was telling the truth.

"Surprised to find lighter emotions still within me, are you?" she asked softly into the stillness of the room.

"Shayla...you can still come back..." he started.

She cut him off with a glare. "Funny you should say such, now that you are part of a team whose leader is bound to the Sith. Again I urge you to pay heed to your deeper instincts, Shawn Petrolu. If you truly believed Terrin Danner had completely lost his mind and that the Sith were completely evil as so many think that they are, you would not have remained here. Proceed in your thoughts and actions with caution...

...Jedi."

With that she reached to stroke the fur of her tuk'ata, her eyes boring into his. "Morning will come soon." With that she grinned, eyeing an empty bottle that once had Whyrene's Reserve in it. "Perhaps sooner than some of your party would like. We can continue this insight into the soul then, perhaps."

At that she turned and departed altogether with her tuk'ata, leaving a quite befuddled Jedi in her wake.

You're no better than Sorben Tarnus anymore, you know, a black demon whispered harshly. He made a deal with the dark in order to find Galen. And so have you...

Terrin frowned, trying to stifle that thought all together. Even so, he knew he had to face it. To face the truth.

The room was spinning a bit, so he closed his eyes. Sure enough, the image of his beautiful wife popped onto his inner lid. For a moment he simply basked in remembering her as she was.

"I do so love you, Mr. Terrin Danner."

But can you trust me after you find out what I've done? I know you'll always love me but...

That particular inner demon was slapped into Huttslime when something Terrin didn't entirely expect came to the forefront of his thoughts.

And what have you done exactly, Mr. Danner?

Made a deal to assist the Sith...

...yeeeeesss...

In exchange for the safety of Galen and YOUR DAUGHTER...

Your daughter...

YOUR daughter.

Terrin's eyes snapped open at this particular discovery, finally realizing something on a gut level that he hadn't up til now.

Although the room was now spinning again, he did manage the smallest of smiles.

Biological daughter or not, Terrin suddenly knew without a doubt that he loved her. That he'd risk everything he had to protect her.

And this suddenly wasn't something that was simply coming in relation to his love for Galen.

Granted, that sort of love was all well and good, and generally that's how men who adopted children not of their own blood usually began to love them.

But at some point, that love, if it is EVER going to be real and mean ANYTHING to the child, has to come from a gut-level.

And Terrin Danner know that was exactly what was happening with him now.

A sudden calm washing over him, Terrin at last fell into the sleep which he so desperately needed.

Now she found herself once more sitting across the lengthy expanse of richly shining wood, staring out over foodstuffs more to the liking of the people likewise sitting around the table with her, her eyes once again arrowing into Terrin's somewhat bleary blues ones.

She smiled a bit, noticing his haggard appearance, knowing what had fueled it, knowing as well how lengthy a road they all had yet to travel upon together. Her eyes remained calm, her face expressionless, but the fact of the matter was she had her doubts as to the strengths of the forces Terrin, in turn, had promised to them. For a moment longer, she just stared down the table at him. Then--

"The time has come, Mr. Danner," she quietly broke into the heavily distrustful silence laying upon the group like a pall. "...to speak of many things...."

Of plots... deceits... and fragile lives...

...and if our hopes have wings.

Folding her hands upon the tabletop, she cut her glance over to where her adept sat, quiet but clearly distancing herself from the group. Then she rose to her feet, and as she did the night before strode the length of the table and came to a halt beside Terrin. There she leaned down, whispering into his ear, her breath warm and tickling.

"We have no time for preamble, Mr. Danner," she breathed. Then she straightened, reached out a hand which seemed to hesitate just the barest fraction before it finally settled upon Terrin's brow and temple.

As did her Dark Heart to her on a day so very long ago... and so very longed for ... she flung back her head, her eyes closing, the Glyph blasting into Terrin's eyes, which squinched shut and remained that way.

Knowing the great risk she was taking in this, but keenly aware of the even greater risk that would entail if she did not disclose what she was about to, Graysith let her thoughts push forth into Terrin Danner's mind, easily breaking through the initial fear and trepidation she found cowering there, seeking the innermost core of his very consciousness.

Once she was there, she gently reached out, and deposited the images she and Shayla had received in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban.

Then she backed out of his mind, opened her eyes, let her hand drop, and waited.

And somehow he KNEW this was the truth of what things would be if something drastic did not happen to stop them.

Another moment passed, still without a breath, without a sound.

That one figure...and the other drooling one...

Finally Terrin took in a deep shuddery breath, his eyes slowly opening to reveal the puzzled and horrified looks of his little party.

He couldn't bear to look at them at the moment.

Standing, he turned and wandered to the edges of the Dining Hall, still trying to sort everything out. His mind wandered back to that image of those evil beings, surrounding Galen as though she were some prize to be had, some object to be used, all those evil beings...

Including the one who had ripped off his arm for the very one he'd just established a Blood Oath with. And the one who had later raped Galen and taken their daughter to begin with...

Oh Galen, what have I done to you? To little Darra?

Even as the thought crossed his mind, something still didn't fit about all this.

If Graysith was still associated with Lord Roan and his little demon, then why the pretense of the Blood Oath? Why the revelation of information he could clearly use as a highly justifiable excuse to distrust her?

Unless in securing this oath from him she supposed she could get to Galen through him for Lord Roan...

Terrin shuddered.

So much evil...so many unknowns...

What had he done...?

Then quite suddenly the missing puzzle piece that he so desperately needed to see fell into place. In all of this that he'd seen, WHERE WAS GRAYSITH? And where was his daughter?

It truly appeared as though the Sith he was now entangled with were on a completely different plane than the ones that Galen was heading for.

Dark and Desolist...

Another realization careemed into Terrin's brain, drawing a gasp.

Desolist wanted to recreate a Sith empire. He and Gravin Dark had sent Sorben Tarnus after Galen. Terrin and Shawn had suspected those particular two intenties intended to somehow use Galen to make Force-sensitive children...

...wait, little Darra WASN'T just Force-sensitive, WAS SHE???

The All...

Terrin closed his eyes, and took another deep and shakey breath.

Lord Roan, with two figures...

Dark and Desolist...?

Somehow he just knew it.

Which meant that...

...Sorben Tarnus WASN'T just taking Galen to Dark and Desolist. He was taking her to DARK LORD ROAN.

So many emotions were slamming into Terrin's psyche that he just didn't know which one to feel.

Utter horror. Completely justifiable anger. Stark terror.

There was just one thing he needed more than anything to secure all of his speculations.

Quite suddenly he whirled to face the others. His blue eyes rested on the violet pair that were seemingly assessing him with total calm. "We indeed need to discuss what should be done to stop this," he said softly. "But I--" he stopped a moment, closing his eyes.

He had to know.

"--I somehow need to see my daughter. I need to know that she is safe," he whispered, his eyes finally opened to meet Graysith's, seeking understanding.

She bore images ahead of her as if they were trophies.

Pushing aside the cloying confusion she found so prevalent within the psyche of Terrin Danner, she once again found that innermost core of his consciousness. There she planted a single image, before backing quietly out of his mind.

The image of a Sith incubator, a near-birth child floating gently within, watched over with the utmost of care by Erik Kartan...

Sweetheart...if you only knew. If you could only see...

Then his inner eye shifted to that of Erik Kartan. Although Terrin hadn't known where the info-smuggler was, this didn't surprise him.

But perhaps was it another cue that he could trust here?

After all, Erik Kartan had been taken to the Temple on Khar Delba when they had been here before, and he could have very well been killed by one of those creatures of theirs. The thing certainly beat up Cella Poliani...

Terrin slowly opened his eyes, which quite suddenly seemed much clearer than they had before...yet still not completely clear of the despair which still lurked within him.

He flicked a momentary blue-eyed gaze to Shayla, who was staying behind just a bit, clearly not trusting of him or his men. Let alone her brother.

If Erik Kartan was alive, that most likely meant he still meant something to her.

Strange...for a Sith Adept.

His look turned inward again as he yet returned to that mental image of little JhinDarra.

Hmmm...

The other particular character in this picture Terrin had only seen once, in this very dining hall.

Back when he and Galen had retreived the Claw...

Terrin couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever see her again. If he'd ever hold her again. If he'd ever be able to take her to her own daughter.

He shoved this bleak thought aside, refusing to give in to such thinking. He WOULD find her. She WOULD understand.

Somehow...

One final question presented itself.

He glanced over to Graysith once more, his blue eyes yet again meeting her violet ones. "What of the child my wife carried and gave birth to?"

Then he fell quiet, his eyes never leaving those violet ones.

Something told him he wasn't going to like the answer to that question...

Why, why had Terrin Danner done such an impossibly insane thing? He should know it must be some kind of trick! Love makes men do mad things, she recalled, but this was madness on a galactic scale. Still, the wash of the Force guided all, and none knew what would happen in the end. Hopefully, Galen's baby would soon be recovered...although Cella trusted the Sith Lady about as far as she could throw her.

And far more disturbing, Cella sensed that Galen had met with trouble soon after she left the ZZ'Shq. She knew Galen had told Terrin not to go after her, but something told Cella that Galen had not expected the kind of trouble she was in right now...had not expected to meet with her erstwhile ex-husband again...

But she couldn't just up and leave. Even if the Devil-May-Care was fixed up, who knew what might happen to Terrin down on that hell of a planet? Cella had experienced the Sith Temple firsthand and knew how treacherous it could be if one did not sense all the dangers. Shawn was there, certainly, but he was sure to share Terrin's fate if something evil befell the captain. And Cella's presence was a secret weapon--Graysith wasn't aware of it, and it might prove to be some kind of advantage.

ShaRhylla....

Several moments passed before she had herself under enough control to answer him. She turned slowly round, biting her lip as she considered just how much this man needed to know...

...and abruptly found herself beneath the minute scrutiny of her mind's eye, berating a Sith Lord for his lack of trust in her.

A wealth of considerations now flowed through her thoughts. Caution was indeed necessary, but not at the price of deception.

The line must be drawn somewhere... and this was the place where it all must begin.

Her jaw worked soundlessly; then she firmed and cast a steady look deeply into Terrin Danner's eyes.

"That child is my daughter," she said slowly, unbearable grief tinging her voice. "Through an... act of Lord Roan, ...her father ...and unbeknownst to me... "

She paused again, stumbling over the words as a brief shudder racked her frame.

"...was switched for that child of Galen's. My Lord Aelvedaar is seeing to the birth of yours, while my own daughter..."

Now she broke off again, tears pooling again in her eyes. Blinking in fierce anger at her weakness, she whirled about, now staring at the floor, unable for a moment to speak.

Finally she found the strength to continue. Slowly she turned around once more, looking directly into Terrin Danner's eyes yet again... yet clearly seeing something else.

"By this time has probably gained the perimeter of another galaxy. I believe the one who has taken her is associated with the Vong... and somehow has become involved in the machinations of Lord Roan as well."

The child had been switched...

BY LORD ROAN?

Terrin frowned blackly as realization dawned.

The rape...

He'd never known just exactly what had happened. He had suspected something had happened then, but to be faced up front with it was horrifying.

But there was something else.

Was that...despair he'd seen in her eyes?

Clearly, Dark Lord Roan HAD to be out of the picture. And if ANYONE was going to defeat him...

Terrin sought further and further inside himself for that which he needed so very much at the moment. What he needed, quite frankly, was a little bit of that old Terrin Danner he'd been trying so very hard to get rid of.

Just a tiny bit of Mr. Self-Assured.

Old Terrin Danner was a regular nerfherder, but he certainly DID believe in himself. A little TOO MUCH at times. To the point that eventually he became Mr. Totally in Denial of the Truth. A balance of the Old and the New was in order...

...but this would take time of course.

And Terrin knew a piece of him would always be missing so long as Galen was. He'd just have to do his damnedest to find her, now that he knew where their daughter was.

Starting right here and now.

The fog in his eyes clearing, Terrin returned to the Dining table, briefly noting the curious looks aimed his way and the way of Graysith. Meanwhile, Shayla stood and took the other's hand as if to calm her, her eyes filled with something akin to concern.

Terrin broke the silence. "We should get to the planning of just what we intend to do to stop all this..."

Her eyes darkened into pools of oil. A sly little grin flitted across her features as she raised the Claw and waggled it.

"You have already helped us immeasurably, Mr. Danner," she said, her voice heavy with unfulfilled but greatly promised threat. Fortunately for the blond-haired man, that threat was directed elsewhere; he couldn't help but shiver at the returning look which Graysith now shot at him.

"The plans are simply made, not so simple to accomplish. We must find and destroy Lord Roan; I believe that with this Claw I will be able to overcome even one as strong as he. But it is the finding of him that is the challenge, Mr. Danner. He is skilled in the All, and uses it to hide from us."

She paused a moment, then continued on in a manner that was almost blithe.

"After he has been properly disposed of, we must then seek out my daughter, and reunite her with the Sith here. With us the two children will be raised with love and guidance, to fulfill their particular destiny Fate has laid before them."

She paused a moment, raising her hand now to the obvious questions she knew were forthcoming. All remained silent as she considered whether or not to take that one final step....

The line is drawn here.

"And that destiny is to implement forces undreamed of ever before... and by the use of these forces ensure the physical resurrection of the entire Sith civilization... one which met an untimely death over four thousand years ago.

...but then, at the very least he DID know where she was. All else would be discussed at a later date.

At the moment, however, Terrin would love nothing more than to assist in blasting that demon from Hell who dared lay a finger on Galen...and on little Darra too, for that matter...right out of the Universe.

Finally, some of the personality traits of the Terrin Danner that had been coming into being...

...the Terrin Danner who loved, who was loyal, who was learning to give of himself...

...and trust another who loved him, as well as those who cared about him and his own...

...the Terrin Danner who was coming into being since he'd bumped into Galen that fateful day was beginning to reemerge.

He tilted his head to the side just a bit, thinking. "Lord Roan may use the All to hide himself from the Universe, but there still has to be some way to find him. Unless he has gone to another galaxy himself, he must be lurking here somewhere."

Terrin rubbed his chin, running through ideas. At last something occurred. "Lord Roan's obvious associates, Desolist and Gravin Dark, had hired on a bounty hunter to find Galen. He's been successful once, and while I have no idea where he went from there, he just might be the key to finding Lord Roan's little hideout. He had to at least have some sort of contact point with Gravin Dark, he was headed well on his way to deliver Galen to him the last time he had her."

He he turned slightly to look at the completely shocked Shawn Petrolu. "You said yourself the destination was blocked, correct?"

Reluctantly, Shawn nodded.

With that confirmation, Terrin turned in a surprising move to Shayla rather than Graysith, continuing to outline the plan he was again forming on the fly.

Should really be used to this sort of thing by now...

"I'm certain between our two rather expansive companies we can find a way to at least discover the whereabouts of Sorben Tarnus, and then perhaps go from there?"

As he waited, one dark thought managed to squirm its way to the forefront of his mind. Galen, I hope we can find you in time...

Then quite suddenly she turned to Graysith, her eyes ablaze with sudden hope.

"Is Sorben Tarnus's ship still in orbit around K'eel Doba?" she asked breathlessly.

The ship's computer was in less-than-desirable condition, but Shayla knew that Terrin Danner's crewmen were good with computers. They might be able to fish some information out of those fried circuits. And at the very least, she had been able to open the transmissions file aboard. Maybe they could at least get a link on where Tarnus might have gone off to...maybe they could find Roan someway through him...

...maybe they could simply get a lock on his signature. They'd been able to do it before...

"Yes," she replied at length. "The ship is still in orbit about K'eel Doba. But you forget; I have dealt with this Mr. Sorben Tarnus before. While he is insufferably full of himself and his abilities... his attitude does not arise falsely.

"He is good... very good. I somehow doubt that he would have the coordinates of our adversaries just laying about in his computer, no matter how deeply they may be buried. And of course, this is not taking into consideration just who our adversary is. Roan is cunning--"

She sighed a little, then looked over to Terrin.

"However, as at the moment we really have no other option, it cannot hurt to check out the possibility that there might be something, somewhere aboard his ship."

Hesitantly at first, then with greater assurance she reached out and lay a cool hand upon Terrin's arm. "Take my Adept with you, and what men you need. Take care when boarding the hunter's craft, however, for I have left... a little surprise behind should he have returned."

Now she backed off, looking back and forth between Shayla and Terrin.

Just like old times, eh? This is gonna be utter Hell...

But Terrin didn't say a word of this. Instead he turned to his men. "Matt, Jasyn, I need your computer minds. Shawn, I think you can stay back on this one, Shayla is more than capable of handling this I'm sure."

Shawn started to argue this, but thought better of it.

Good. No need risking any disagreement between you and Shayla. Besides, leaving you behind and giving Shayla charge will convey a modicum of trust. That's something we need to keep here, if this is going to work.

Some kind of dark shadow seemed to cross her features at Wicked's name, and she fell silent. Her footsteps barely making any sound, she led the way through the Temple back to the ornate and still-opened entryway. There she didn't so much as slow her pace, but continued on into the elements which were beginning to howl again outside. The frown now marring her pale face was one born of pain for what the shield was doing to the planet she loved and had come to call home; now that a near blizzard was revving itself up for a major blow at so early a time in the day was more than cause enough for her consternation. She couldn't help but sigh again, wondering if warmth would ever return to Khar Delba.

So lost was she in her thoughts she almost didn't realize that they had reached their destination. The great stone hangar rose up out of the gray and white gloom like a ghost, bringing memories flashing to the forefront of her mind that she now found herself striving with all her might to forget. She blinked against the wind, not daring to drop a tear lest it lead to others and their freezing upon her lashes; strengthening herself with the thought of finding her daughter, she drew in a breath and stepped forward into the great stone facility.

A light popped on to penetrate the gloom, revealing in its dim blue glow row upon row of TIEs, all sitting in silent patience, waiting to be put to use. Graysith cast a look around, then pointed to a particularly lethal looking and highly modified defender. The little assault craft had been linked to another identical to it; similar to the cloud-vessels of Bespin, this craft now utilized two pilots. In a pinch, four people could be accommodated within its cramped interior.

"This is the only ship here which will hold all of you," Graysith now said, pointing to the ship. "In addition, it bears hyperdrive, so you may go and return with all due haste. Each component bears twin ion cannon and four laser cannon, in the unlikely event someone should try to hinder your progress. It also bears proton torpedoes and concussion missles, but I doubt you will be needing to use those."

Graysith made a quick gesture to the yawning hangar door, then crossed her arms about herself, drawing her cloak more tightly against the ever-present wind. Her hair whipped about her head like M'wonBo'o's face-tendrils.

"I must go back to the Temple, my friends," she said in a louder voice, raising it to top the screech of the wind. "Take care."

"I'm piloting," she ordered rather than asked.

Close quarters with Terrin Danner. Lovely.

Terrin merely shrugged, probably not too surprised at this. Shayla gave him a good measuring look.

He doesn't even seem the least bit bothered by this...

As if this wasn't enough, he had the nerve to speak up. "We should get going," he said.

She slitted her eyes in response, noting the icy determination in his eyes.

Maybe this was some sort of alternate Universe or something. Terrin Danner, concerned about someone else? Weird...

Then she forced herself to get back on track. "I can do a hit and fade," she said. "This'll take no time."

With that she turned and headed for the defender, her charges...her allies?! Sheesh...behind her.

How typical. How he wished Galen were here piloting instead...

He managed to remain civil and simply let Shayla have her way, however. The goal of their little mission was far more important than who had access to the controls and who didn't.

Carefully boarding the sleek little YT-1500...

...niiiiice ship...

...Terrin and his crew braced themselves for whatever surprise Graysith had mentioned. Shayla, however, didn't even blink.

"Someone is lurking nearby trying to catch a spaceslug," she growled. Then she turned to Terrin and his men. "We must hurry, and use caution."

As the men went to work, Shayla reached out into the All, to that place between space and time, tweaking the very particles that made up spacetime to freeze around the Aftershock and protect them from unwanted eyes and ears...

Graysith sighed from her position on the balcony. Her grip tightened painfully on the stone railing which ran its perimeter.

This must cease, she thought, closing her eyes against the sounds which made her heart positively ache. Danner is correct: there are too many adversaries, rising in too many directions at once. While the most unsettling of the lot is Lord Roan, the others can only...

Complicate matters.

She dropped her face down, hiding behind her hair which whipped freely in the howling wind, wishing she could reach out and sense the presence of the one who had once filled her with joy... but one thoughts of whom now filled her with a pain so deep as to border upon mindless rage.

She scowled now, her eyes growing vague and blackening as she considered.

What options were open to her?

Now she beat back the rising crescendo of her inner Beast, focusing her thoughts back to the days when Roan was with her, straining to remember everything he had ever said to her, every little nuance hidden in each word.

"You have always known me."

Shivering with a cold not produced by the wind, she whitened her knuckles against the stone, and thought.

You have always known me....

Always known him.

Suddenly her head snapped up, her violet eyes widening before visions suddenly presenting themselves to her. Faces swam before her inner eye, blurry and segueing one into the other, faces bearing a singular and common backdrop of dreary stone, grating sand, and dim red light.

My father, it was here you brought me to face your death.

My Sire, it was here you brought me to renew your life.

My dearest Dark Heart, it was here you brought me to face your adversary... only indeed it was not you!

...and it is here the Sith have maintained their silent and hidden stronghold throughout the four thousand years of their death.

It couldn't be! How could the coordinates from one place in spacetime lead to another? Yet, knowing the capabilities of the Ancient Ones as she did, she knew she was foolish to even question this apparent discrepency.

Graysith whirled, her cloak flying about her as backing up a step or two, she then leaped lithely forward to catapault entirely over the railing and land in the cold and bitter snow beneath. "M'wonBo'o!" she cried out as she moved out quickly, aiming in a direct line to where Shayla had landed the Sith ship when they had first returned to this place. Mere moments passed before she heard heavy breathing in her wake, felt the face tendrils of her Beast reaching out to touch her with the assured protection of his presence.

Though she didn't bother to turn about and look, she could clearly feel the dismay of an utterly stunned Shawn Petrolu, who by happenstance had entered the room to speak with her even as she had departed from it in so abrupt a manner. For a moment longer she ignored him completely; then, out of respect for her newly developed alliance sent a quick probing tendril of her essence into his mind.

"Hurry."

Then, gritting her teeth, she hurried on, soon gaining the Sith ship, it's hatch flying open at her merest thought, flying inside to take quick command of its pilot's seat and in moments more send it blasting into the utter gloom of the Khar Delban atmosphere, her tuk'ata scrambling to find a place to lay, jerking his tail in even as the hatch slammed closed behind them as they soared up toward the impossibility of non-stars above them.

Upward and outward they flew, heading toward the tiniest of openings which existed over the northern magnetic pole of Khar Delba, her heart quickening in her chest with the sudden realization that her sister and party were at that moment quite probably poking about in the ship a certain bounty hunter had left behind him, one in orbit about the very planet she needed so badly to reach.

One which, if her suspicions were correct, was a planet she had visited on more occasions in her life than she earlier believed... for if there was one battle tactic she had learned from the Dark Lord that long ago day they had fled here to face Sorben Tarnus, it was that a good tactician never spreads his resources too thinly.

Hides them well. Yes. Well enough, perhaps, that in the case of a degenerating and distrustful race one hand may not indeed realize exactly what the other one is holding.

But held near enough to one another that he who holds knowledge of both may use their strengths to protect each other if necessary. Close enough that revered capitol city and even more revered shadow-laden temple were not beyond the auspices of each other....

Clenching her teeth, her eyes bright with the knowledge that she just had to be right, the Glyph flaring with the realization that her Adept might be in danger completely unbeknownst to her, she guided the little greeny-gold enigma through the tiny portal and zoomed out into the freedom of the stars. Beneath her lurked a black void in space, yet one which reached out with eager fingers to draw her back against its surface.

She would have none of that. Yanking the controls to full throttle, within the space of less than a second she had the ship accelerating to maximum velocity. Now beyond the blanketing influence of the chronotic shield, she drew a smaller one of her own about the ship, and thus protected from prying eyes and ears and psychical senses headed full-bore to K'eel Doba.

((OOC: Follow Graysith into the Morniie Alantiie thread in the "Complete SW Universe" forums, thank you.))

"I'm not alone."

"Must of been one mother of a worm programmed into this computer," Jasyn said, breaking the silence. "You think Galen programmed it in?"

To get away from Gravin Dark's clutches? Certainly she had.

Terrin turned, spreading his arms out as he spoke. "What can I say, she's good. Very good." His look turned wistful.

Jasyn turned and eyed him a moment, grinning. Then his look turned serious to mirror Terrin's. "I'm sure we'll find her. Or she'll find us."

Terrin nodded, then spoke, shifting the topic only a fraction. "No luck with that computer system, huh?"

"Like I said, it's pretty bad. Maybe I can unscramble it enough to get the last known destination, but that could have been K'eel Doba. There's an even smaller chance of finding the previous destination before that. And it might have never even been logged. Or could have been erased, to prevent tamperers such as ourselves from finding anything."

"Doesn't sound encouraging. I wonder if Matt or Shayla have found anything."

As if on cue, Matt returned to the bridge, sitting down disgustedly in the copilot's seat before saying a word.

"I guess that's a no on finding anything on your end," Terrin said frowning.

"Yeah, not much. Just a Force cage. And two missing escape pods, which isn't a surprise."

Terrin scowled a moment then his look suddenly lightened as an idea dawned on him. He was just about to open his mouth and say what he'd just thought of when Shayla appeared on bridge, holding up something in one hand as if it were a trophy.

Each man turned, curious looks forming on their faces as they waited for her to explain how her find could be at all significant...

"What the Sam Hell do you have that for?"

Shayla turned a greeny-blue gaze to the man at the navboard. "Because the simplest clues can be taken for granted," she said.

"So Sorben Tarnus had some incomplete rock-climbing gear. Wahoo." Jasyn muttered. "Most bounty hunters probably would."

"Yes, indeed they would. Rock climbing equipment that might have a piece of rock here, a piece of dirt there..." She trailed, waiting for the others to catch on. Another long, silent moment passed before understanding lit Jasyn's features.

"Might not be much, but could tell us where he's been," Terrin said, fully comprehending where Shayla was going with this. "But how does that really give us anything? He could have used that equipment at any time."

"I highly doubt that he has a spare kit," Shayla said. "Besides, parts of it are missing. That would indicate he's probably using some of it right at this moment."

"So maybe he never used that either," Matt said.

"But then why is it here?" Shayla countered. "A little analysis can't hurt."

Terrin nodded. "Ok. So count it among our possible assests, and we'll keep digging. I'd like something a little more obvious...if we can find it."

He turned to Matt. "We need to stop by the ZZ'Shzq before we go back to Khar Delba."

Matt arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Why, perchance?"

"Remember what you told me when I decided we should go to Khar Delba and look for the baby before going after Galen?"

Then Terrin simply waited for Matt to process this. Jasyn crooked a brow. He was about to say something when Matt, who was clearly thinking back, said, "Ahhhh yes. Yes we should. And soon..."

This place is dangerous. He has no idea what he's up against...

Terrin turned from navigation, where he'd been muddling through any computer logs, to regard him. "What's that?"

"Another bit of a communication. Could be nothing...but might be something."

As Jasyn said this, Terrin got up to have a better view of the comm monitor. "Play it."

Although the conversation that followed was mostly garbage, enough of an image of the speaker presented itself for Terrin to recognize him.

"Admiral Actar?!" he blurted.

Jasyn whirled. "That's him?"

"Yeah, it most certainly is." Terrin confirmed.

Now why would a bounty hunter who was working for a bunch of Sith have contacts with an Imperial Admiral, hmmm buddy?

Something was niggling in the back of Terrin's brain...a memory of sorts, trying to act as a clue...

"Not your turn, yet," he'd said.

Terrin frowned. Now who would want you for something you've done that would really make them angry?

Let's see...

The Moff. Not likely.

The Sith. Possibly.

The Admiral? Yes.

After all, you did help Galen escape from him not once, but twice.

But then, if the Admiral was after you...

...he'd still be after Galen too.

"Helloooooo???" Jasyn said curiously, breaking the silence.

"Got anything to save that message with so you can work on unscrambling it?"

"I can save it, yes. Unscramble it though, I can't say. I can give it a shot."

"Okay, do it. Can you tell how old that conversation is?"

"Not too recent, but within the past few weeks, at least. Probably was a contact Mr. Tarnus was keeping up, just in case he needed it. I doubt he's working both the Admiral and the Sith at the same time. If he is, he's crazy."

"Allright, keep looking for a bit longer. If we don't find anything else soon I say we get to the ZZ'Shzq then Khar Delba. I don't much like being out here in a dead ship."

"Yeah," Jasyn said his look turning glum. "Me neither."

As Jasyn turned back to his work, Terrin scowled at the words his shoulder devil hissed at him. Add one Imperial Admiral to your list of enemies that never seem to go away, buddy. Not that he has a chance in Hell of getting a hold of Galen or Darra, with Roan and his buddies lurking...

Which wasn't much, considering.

Getting back into their little Defender, Shayla made quick calculations for yet another hit and fade. In minutes they were in parallel orbit with the ZZ'Shzq. Shayla smiled to herself, happy to be in something more closely approximating a fighter for a while. She was so happy about this, in fact, she managed to get over the fact that she was in entirely too close a proximity to...other people.

"Please don't tell me we are going to go EVA," Jasyn muttered.

Shayla cocked a brow, grinning. Actually had to keep a little snicker from escaping at the comment.

Buddy, you are gonna LOVE this! she thought.

But she didn't bother to tell them a thing about how they were going to get over to Terrin's little yacht...

...yacht? What the heck had he done with the Eagle? She thought he'd never get rid of it. Sheesh...it was like the guy had traded in his sporty little ship for something more accomadating to a family transport.

This WAS an alternate Universe.

Leaving those thoughts she focused her eyes past the viewport of the Defender, ignoring Jasyn's grumblings. Opening a door in the All, she quite simply moved them out of their little Defender and into the cabin of the ZZ'Shzq.

Jasyn ogled at his surroundings a bit. "Wha--???" he started.

Shayla grinned. "You said you didn't want to go EVA," she commented.

"But--" he started. Then he realized he really had nothing to complain about, and closed his mouth, folding his arms.

That only made Shayla's grin widen. For a moment even Terrin and Matt, whom Shayla actually knew from back in her smuggling days with Terrin, shot the other man a bemused look.

The humor lasted only a moment, however. Terrin got over to the controls and went about doing what he'd suggested to her aboard the Aftershock. Granted, Shayla was skeptical of this idea, but as it was with everything so far, it couldn't hurt. So, she stood to the side and waited to see just what might develop...

Jasyn merely cocked a brow at him. "You sure this will work?"

"Well, it'll lead us somewhere anyway. We'll have to use a little logic...and whatever else...to determine if the information is of any use. I mean, logically, if Galen has been captured by someone they had to do something with the escape pod she took. We can hope they took it with them, and didn't just up and blast it," he said, his eyes defocusing a moment as he thought of her, possibly in that situation he'd seen in his head only a little while ago.

If only they could get a good lead...

"You're telling me this ship tracks its escape pods?" Shayla said, still clearly not believing it.

"Top of the line yacht, Shayla," he said. "If you're gonna put escape pods with hyperdrives in a baby like this you're gonna devise a way to keep tabs on them."

Shayla simply nodded. But before she could say a word, something on the navboard began to blink.

"A return already?" Matt asked curiously.

One of the Universe's best tactics was to hide right under the nose of those who might be looking for you.

Shayla just knew this was it. Which meant that, according to Terrin's tracking device, his wife was probably already there.

Something had to be done immediately.

Shayla knew she didn't have to say as much to Terrin. He'd already turned back to regard her as if to wait to see what she would do. And quite truthfully, what she read in his eyes was still surprising to her, even though she'd seen it well enough more than once the past day or so on Khar Delba.

The truth was that she'd read the same thing before in Erik's eyes. And while she'd known that Terrin could fall in love she'd never really believed it would ever happen.

Until now.

"We should go back to Khar Delba at once," Shayla said. With a simple embrace of the All, they found themselves back in their places aboard the Defender. Shayla immediately made it her business to get them back to the Temple.

Not to mention how distraught he was about the information he now had.

"That's not going to pass the time any better," Matt said from a seat at the Dining Hall table.

Terrin stopped a moment to turn and look at his assistant and friend. "I can't just sit around. I can't stand to let my mind be still enough to think of all the things that could be happening right now..." he trailed.

"Like you haven't thought of all of that already?" Matt queried.

Terrin just scowled and went back to pacing.

"At least we know the baby is safe," the other man interjected, trying to find something positive out of all of this.

"Yeah...for now," Terrin said skeptically while he continued to walk back and forth.

"The baby will be protected at all costs," Shayla said, stepping into the Dining Hall with that beast of hers.

Terrin whirled. "And what about Galen?" he asked suddenly. "At all costs?"

The question dropped dead on the floor of the Temple for a long moment as he awaited Shayla's reply.

Like you trust him any more than he trusts any of you? This is going to take some time and some proof via everyone's actions.

"You must learn to understand and trust that the Blood Oath you took works both ways," Shayla said simply.

His story seems truthful enough to me...the Force hasn't seen any false claims so far. But, still, I have a job to do... he thought. He then closed his eyes and started to meditate, in the middle of space in the eyes of a stranger...

About this time Jasyn wandered in, a few mugs of something-or-other in his hands.

"Hey, drinks on the house!" he said.

Shayla simply rolled her eyes, and Matt accepted a mug. Terrin continued to pace.

"Terrin, you gotta do something to pass the time aside from wearing a dent in the floor," Jasyn commented.

At that, Terrin turned and cocked a brow. "After my little experience with Whyrene's last night, I think I'll pass."

Matt meanwhile took a sip, then eyed the mug curiously, a strange look crossing his face. "What the hell is this and where the hell did you get it?" he questioned, grimacing.

Jasyn grinned rather impishly. "It's called Walk'nFall. Got it from Tarnus's ship."

"This is strong enough to knock someone out for a week!" Matt exclaimed, taking one more assessing sip. "I think I'll pass too."

"And you'd better pass as well, my friend," Terrin said, eyeing Jasyn. "Some action could be coming down the pike really soon, and I don't think you'll be too helpful in a drunken stupor."

Jasyn pushed the mug away. "Allright, fine. But there's more where this came from..."

At her side, her tuk'ata whined, shifting his great paws as he tried to get comfortable. These drops from hyperspace always seemed to somehow...tweak the animal's innards; he growled again, a tendril snaking around Graysith's ankle for reassurance.

The Chosen Daughter reached a slim hand down to rub his head with affection. "Be still, my friend," she soothed in a calming voice. "We are almost home, and all shall be well..."

...at least, I hope it shall be thus. The remainder of that sentence remained unspoken, and she turned her glowing eyes outward toward the approaching black void ahead.

Plans had to be devised as to the best way to approach K'eel Doba, if what she suspected to be hidden somewhere beneath its harsh surface really was there.

She raised her hand in front of her face now, the Glyph on her forehead flaring to life to bathe the Claw of S'slan in its eerie radiance. It appeared to flare in turn, reflecting that ultraviolet glow back into the violet one of her eyes.

"Tell me then friend, where im i to go? i have no place to go truly, unless you can point me where darkness dwells. perhaps i should just follow you for a while..."

Hmm, this guy is a little edgy...

I could use the help. But, my mission supercedes such a necessity...

"Listen, i understand you must not want the help of the council, but i am not off the council, please, allow me to help you, I know not the details of your mission, but as i havnt a signle lead to follow, perhaps assisting you would be in both of our interests?"

Trel sat within his ship, looking at the dark blankness about him, then asked "aaahh..perhaps you would be so kind as to...explain what exactly that thing over there is?"

Where was it? There aren't many Sith worlds around...yet I can still can't find her.

Looking once more at the black space before him he sighed, right now, im like a liferaft in a tifoon.... he thought to himself...

"is there some reason you refused to even consider my offer?" he then sent over the comm. "its not like im trying to kill you or something...i just want to help...at least be some good to this crazy univers we live in..."

...and came to an immediate and eerily inertia-less standstill before it.

It was not alone.

There in orbit around this forgotten and well-concealed planet of the Sith, two strange ships silently seemed to lay in wait where none had been before. Graysith frowned, turning off the proximity sensor which had alerted her to their position high above the Temple world.

She paused a moment, chewing her lip. It was of the utmost urgency that she return to the others with the information she had obtained; yet, she knew that if she dared land she would only be revealing the only means of penetrating the barrier to unknown eyes.

This would never do.

Leaning back in her seat, Graysith now closed her eyes, channeling a bit of the All's wondrous power through the Glyph on her forehead, letting it come into her very essence and whirl about in a wild tarantelle before allowing it the freedom to follow her designs. It burst from the Glyph, ravening about the interior of her little ship, igniting the interior in ultraviolet radiance before coiling up as though to consolidate its intentions...

...and then streaked through the mysterious interstices which exist between time and space, shooting out between the very atoms which made up her ship, and reaching laughingly across the void, shot directly into the minds of the pilots of the two ships.

As if stricken by an unknown irritant, both pilots immediately and simultaneously yawned, mouths gaping, eyes closing, breath inhaling... onward and onward, their abdominal muscles constricting, their diaphragms tightening...

...until at length both let go in a mighty series of sneezes. Their entire mutually shared affair, though unbeknownst to each other, lasted perhaps ten seconds or so. And in a similar manner, the sensors of both ships seemed to momentarily lock up in a series of frozen and informationless...

glitches.

But it was more than enough time for Graysith to set her uncanny little ship into motion. Her timing impeccable, she zipped beneath the very noses of the alien craft, pinpointed the northern magnetic pole, and followed the converging magnetic field lines to a safe and quiet landing outside the great Temple. The little ship had scarcely begun outcooling when she coded the hatch to open and stepped outside.

A blast of arctic air met her, but she paid it no heed. She merely drew her cloak more tightly about herself and hurried on. In but a few moments more she had reached the safety of the Great Temple, where she let an ecstatic M'wonBo'o lead the way to seek out the others and relate her findings to them.

The cold. The planet would die if this did not soon end. But what choice did they have, with such evil afoot?

Those thoughts were trucated by the sense of Graysith's imminent return to the Temple. Shayla somehow knew her sister had found something of great importance; she only hoped that their little find on their mission to Sorben Tarnus's ship would be equally important.

Somehow she knew that would be true as well.

Turning from the balcony, Shayla joined the others in the Dining Hall. Although the room was filled with the idle chatter of two out of the three men there, the mood therein was for the most part entirely foreboding. Terrin Danner, who had long given up pacing to sit in quiet anticipation, looked to her in question.

"Graysith has returned," she said simply.

As if on cue, Shayla sensed the opening of the Temple doors. She turned and waited as she was certain the others were doing behind her.

WHen he regained full control over his ship, and his mind, he sent a comm message to the X-wing. "what was that?!"

A yacht, hmm, shouldnt have been that hard to pick up....

Trel looked at his radar and sighed. top of the line eh? he thought to himself...

"open a comm to the ship" he muttered to his computer "done" the voice of his ship returned...

"This is Trel Kentar, aboard the lightwing, is there anyone aboard the yacht?"

Graysith cast a single look about herself which managed to freeze the others into yet greater and more hesitant immobility. "Phrinn'chatka is on K'eel Doba," she said without preamble.

Then she flung herself into a chair, her eyes darkening and growing vague as the impact of what she had seen began to hit home. For if deduction was allowed to follow through to a logical conclusion, it would appear their enemies were closer to them than she wanted to admit.

Phrinn'chatka was on K'eel Doba?

Shayla frowned as the obvious slammed into her.

Phrinn'chatka was where Aelvedaar and Erik were watching the baby. So then...WHY was the escape pod Galen had been piloting before she disappeared ALSO on K'eel Doba?

Unless...

A block of ice began to form in Shayla's stomach as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit into place to reveal an altogether disturbing picture.

While the others looked on with confusion, Shayla made one brief statement which would surely confirm the worst. "We've tracked the escape pod Galen took off the ZZ'Shzq. It's on K'eel Doba."

With that she fell silent while everyone else awaited the explanation of these conclusions.

"I'm not asking you to come along, but if you want to risk your life, follow me..."

Well, i havnt got anything better to do...

Must be the northern polar region... And so he proceeded to direct his ship towards the hole in the shield.

Although she hadn't yet any positive proof of it, by now she was fairly certain that not only was Galen's empty escape pod on K'eel Doba, but perhaps a few parties entirely too interested in her were as well.

Interested parties entirely too close to her Sire and one of the pair of all-important children.

She pursed her lips, now straightening up a bit to steeple her hands upon the rich wood of the tabletop. Her violet gaze assessed the others coolly: the dark and keenly aware look in the eyes of her Adept, and the growing confusion and concern in those of Terrin and his men. Amazingly enough, Shawn's remained totally unreadable; Graysith snorted a bit to herself, unwilling at the moment to try to seek more deeply beyond their masked surfaces.

She opened her mouth to go on...

...and froze.

Abruptly, her head flung up, the Glyph bursting into life, her hands gripping each other with surprising strength as now she directed her gaze somehow beyond those in the room, beyond the stone walls of the Dining Hall, beyond the protective barrier of the Sith stone of which the Temple itself was made....

Outward and beyond; that awareness arrowed into the arctic cold of Khar Delba, reaching out in response to a glimmering of something not quite right which was occurring elsewhere at this very moment. Finally touching it. Recoiling back within the space of a photon's pathway, back to its origins thereupon to flare in radiant magnificence from the Glyph on Graysith's forehead.

She leaped involuntarily to her feet, her hands flat upon the table, every sense alert.

"We are going to be having... company," she hissed in the voice of an adder's strike.

Then regaining her composure, she sat back down. Arranging her cloak around herself, she reached for a delicate hor d'ouerve upon which she began to nibble in a manner equally delicate.

Her eyes were anything but. Now darkened to blackness shot through with almost incandescent fire, they clearly betrayed the fury rising up from within her soul.

What the Hell was going on? Who was here?

This just COULDN'T be good...

He'd been waiting for someone to explain the significance of Phrinn'chatka and the possible link it had with Galen's escape pod...

No one had ever said there was a link. He just knew. He could tell from the looks he was reading from Shayla and Graysith...from the tones in their voices. He had a very, very bad feeling about all this...

...when out of the blue Graysith had announced these unsuspected visitors.

Visitors? Whomever they were, they either had entirely TOO good a timing to hinder events which were in the works or they had REALLY bad timing in that they'd picked just about the WORST time to show up. This could get a little bit ugly...

...but time was of so very much importance...

"The planet must have been destroyed," said Narcolm.No, it is there. I can feel it Replied Naad.

"I sense nothing," argued NarcolmYou are not a sith. growled the stone. My master has never been wrong, have patience. piped up the spirit of K'oth within NarcolmNo, let him be impetous and angry, he will need to use that power later.

Trel's ship glided downward, following the x-wing throught he small hole, as he did so he scanned the area with his ships sensers...

They indicated that that hole actualy existed, unlike the rest of the area, that gave his sensers a hissy fit...

Suddenly he felt the presence of a mental force following him through the void...

"Hmm, how anoying...who IS this guy?" he muttered to himself...

Then, drawing forth the force from within his own body, he sent a message to the mental force following him.

"WHy is it you follow me? who are you? and how do you know my name?" he then focused the living force within him to a slightly greater extent and forced the mental force back through the hole, where suddenly his power wayned do to the shield edges drawing forth the energy that he used, and splicing it throughout time...

"that should take care of him" he muttered to himself... WHY DOES HE KNOW MY NAME?! and more so, HOW DOES HE KNOW I WIELD THE FORCE?

The thoughts were pounding within his head when suddenly he looked out to see the planet they had desended to.

He let his mind open, and suddenly he realized, the planet was dieing, it cant get the energy it needs to survive from within this shield, how sad... oh well, sacrifices must be made in some cases, this planet must be very important...

Suddenly he sensed a presence on the planet. a mass of life somewhere, he couldnt place his finger were...some of the energy's had the use of the force, and some had...more...

Trel then opened a small compartment to his right and took out a matalic, pipe shapped object.
Griping the thing in his right hand he pressed a button, a cross bar snaped from out of no where into place, protecting his fingers...

"well, at least that still works..." he then pressed the button again and the cross guard vanished... Taking the object and strapping it to his belt he muttered to himself, "hmm, i had sworn never to do this again... Only the force knows though..."

'It might be best if I lay low until I can introduce myself in person...'

This guy doesnt seem to really want my help, but i gotta figure out whats going on...this is just to strange to disregard and move on...

Suddenly he realized that the damned loban guy had continued to follow him, dispite his own attempt to "hint" that he did not want to be followed...

Opening a comm he spoke to the guy again. "listen, i dont know where you came from, i have no clue at all who you are. how you know my name, and that i hold the force, is beyond me, are you a member of the council? if so, what ever it is you come for, ive long sense left that cause...and im not in a hurry to join again, what bussiness brings you? aw forget it, catch up to me, and come aboard..."

"computer, keep tracking the X-wing, make sure i can find where it goes after its done, open the lower hatch, and slow speed to 1% of current...were expecting company..."

The computers calm voice came forth, followed by a sudden slowing in speed, and a beeping sound on the radar, showing where the x-wing was... "process is done trel...we are now prepared to be boarded by 'Company' "

Going like the night are being....

...and the Glyph on her forehead ravened into slavering life. Within her soul, the Beast reared out of its long hibernation, scrabbling to rend and tear and destroy.

Who-- or what --had the audacity to send their two faithful guardians packing as if they were but a pair of soft Ferrerrean mishalopes, and not the most fearsome predators ever to grace the soil of Korriban?

She slowly rose to her feet, her eyes cutting meaningfully to Shayla as the impact of this unheard-of event finally struck.

Someone was within the Temple's very walls... someone with strength enough to frighten M'wonBo'o and A'liyah.

"Shayla," the name escaped her lips in a soft whisper. "Perhaps you may wish to see to the safety of our new allies. There is some-- one --who has entered into our very gates; I must go to the Great Receiving Hall and determine who this brazen intruder might be."

Let me formally introduce myself, my name is Lo-Ban Kenobi.

I know you have many questions. For starters...

I do come from the council, and they have volunteered you to be my master, can I assume they have sent me on a wild goose chase...? Here are my papers." He hands Trel a datapad:

Race: Human
Name: Lo-Ban Kenobi
Age: 18
POB: Tattoine
Midichlorian count: 18,000

Narcolm, for the life of him, could not understand how Naad could be so calm and collective. They had just been attacked by the bald felines from hell and Naad was suprised to see them! Narcolm shrugged it off at the request of K'oth and carried Freedon down the hall. This time Narcolm held the stone in one hand and his blaster in the other.
They wont be coming back Naad told him.

"how do you know," he inquired, looking cautiously around the corner.
I told them not too he said simply, as if this made all the sense in the world.

"We will approach the x-wing in 5 minuts trel..." Came the computers cool reply...

Trel then looked at the boy sitting next to him, and indeed he was a BOY dispite his age being almost that of a man...

Trel reached out and took the data pad gently from lobans hands, took one glace at it, then through it into a compartment filled with many other datapads, that seemed to be collecting junk...

"listen, i dont know how the council managed to track me down, i havnt been there sence i was a padawan myself...i didnt even think they knew i was still alive!" trel thought for a moment and then spoke again "Im not even a jedi...i have seen to much to ever go by that name...no ,i am simply trel kentar, a user of the force..."

Looking into the boy's eyes trel read something. "yes, i noticed your extremly high medichlorean count...as you might remember, the last person that had such a count, fell to the darkside... Why should i take such a berdon on?"

Thinking once again trel spoke "listen, if we get offa this planet alive, ill think about taking you on, but listen, dispite what you think, i am not a jedi...and therefor, my training would not prepar you for jedi life, it would prepar you to use to force wisly, it would prepar you to survive, but the jedi's are simply a bunch of fools who sit at there council, and debate the problems in the world!""we have caught up to the ship trel"came the computers call...

"listen, i will consider it, if you dont like my offer, ill stop now and you can walk back to your ship... take it, or leave it...you risk your life either way..."

Darkness rustled in the corners, seeming to laugh and taunt the small one who had the bravado... or stupidity... to enter into this sacred sanctuary of ancient Sith power and magic.

Graysith's violet eyes narrowed as Narcolm quietly entered the room, moving slowly but steadily up to stand before her. Her eyes took in every nuance of his appearance; the holstered blaster, the strange stone in his hands...

...a stone of most unusual ilk, one fairly radiating with power, almost as if it were alive....

In almost exact replay of this very scenario over two years ago, one in which she was the one to stride into this very room, so full of herself, so eager to display her strength, she now leaned forward a bit upon the dark and heavily carved and bejeweled throne. Her Glyph cast a radiant glow over the features of this newcomer, and chased the shadows farther back into the dim recesses of this grandiose chamber.

She cocked her head a bit to one side, still assessing the situation. Then--

"What is it that has brought you to my home?" she asked quietly.

"I am good at fixing things, and can handle myself in a fight. I won't be a freeloader..."

Naad hurled Narcolm back, THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOU TO SPEAK he cried, heaving Narcolm to a prostrating position with more force than he intended. under his breathe Narcolm cursed, as soon as he got the admiral, he was coming after this self important bastard.

Evil. A chill...

But even still, there was something else.

She didn't know precisely what was going on. She knew Graysith had been angered, and she knew something was most definitely wrong.

And she hated being left to "watch over" Terrin's band of men while Graysith faced this alone.

She continued to keep tabs on all that was occurring through that mental link she shared with Graysith, while the others continued to merely wait...

How the hell had someone just "entered" the Temple? Wasn't like the place was readily accessible...

He shuddered in spite of himself. Could be anything, with all the evil suddenly threatening all of them.

Thank the Maker little Darra was out of sight and out of reach...

...but Galen? She could be anywhere, someone could have found her even now...

...and with the looks of things, someone probably had done just that.

But gods, he hoped not...

In the meantime, however, he'd just have to resign himself to waiting. No use not facing a possible threat while it was still within these very walls. At least here the evil could be faced and possibly stopped before it spread elsewhere.

He only hoped that it could be stopped...

Atma.

With an instinctive jerk, she raised her hand to her throat as memory flashed the entire belittling scenario before her once again. The image was crisp, clear, as though it were truly being enacted before her very eyes:

Zekk Atma striding into this very Throne Room, tall and dark, his chiseled face darkened by grim purpose and determination for the sake of his "brother," Darth Wicked. His strong hands reaching for her, the gleaming blade of his Mandalorian sword, "Soul-Crusher," placed against her throat.

The mocking tone of his voice as he had presented her with her two choices: to die at his hand and Wicked's desire... or to serve him like some chattel awaiting his beck and call.

Her staunch devotion to Wicked... her quiet resistance to his looming threat.

And the fiery touch of his hand upon her throat as he branded her like a nerf, then departed after flinging her to the cold stone floor....

Another little jerk focused Graysith's attention upon the prostrate Narcolm, the eerily floating stone. Though well she remembered sensing the sudden curtailing of Atma's life, she had then dismissed it.

But his body was here, within these very walls? And why would this stone be seeking it?

A brief snort of uneasy laughter came to her lips at that last thought.

Stone. A stone... speaking for someone very, very powerful. That much at least she could sense.

She leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. Her slim hands tightened their grip upon the arms of the throne.

Three fools, heedless of what they were doing, were incoming.

Shayla sighed in disgust, closing her eyes a moment.

There was so much going on of so much greater importance than that of a small group of...Jedi?!...seeking One who had done nothing to them.

Fortunately, the walls of the Temple would protect them unless Graysith deemed it appropriate to grace these wanderers with her presence. Only he who had accepted the dark within, and was able to truly accept that, would ever venture into these walls unassisted.

These incoming fools would never pass that test. And even if there was a slim chance of them doing so, they might never see the light of day again.

For a moment, Shayla considered sending A'liya to keep watch on this incoming threat. Then she realized the threat was but a bother, and truly no threat at all.

Rather, the threat was here, within these very walls.

Her attention divided between everything which was occurring, Shayla sent out a message to her tuk'ata.

Guard the door to this room and keep alert, my friend. We must be mindful of all that occurs...

"well, you wanna play that do ya?" muttered a distracted trel...

reaching down and pressing a button belts came forth and locked loban into the seat, Then trel seemed to sink into his own seat, the pading taking on to the conture of his body, making a perfect air tight seal, yet alowing him freedom of movment...

He then pressed another buten, and two small tabs came down and pressed into his temples... Suddenly the ship began exellerating, past any speed that could be considered safe... yet some how trel managed to steer the ship perfectly, with only the slightest movment of his body...

his mind now linked with the lightwings central procceser, trel was the perfect pilot...and nothing could change that fact...

the sped on keeping close to the X-wing, dispite its every move to attempt to lose them...
Trel then spoke, his voice comming out mixed with the comm...

Strange to treat the one you plan to reward in so demeaning a manner, she thought to herself, debating exactly how to respond. There was much to consider; obviously this spirit had something to do with the Sith, or the little party would not have gained as easy an entrance into the Temple as they did.

But to resurrect Atma.... The very thought made her shiver.

She leaned earnestly forward, her violet eyes deepening. "You expect me to hand over the body of a very powerful Darth to assist in the further empowerment of this one." Here she nodded briefly toward Narcolm. "And you expect me to take you at your word that you will then blithely skip off and we will see you no longer.

"I don't think so."

Now she rose to her feet, crossing her arms across her breast as she stared down upon eerily levitated stone. "Yet I sense great power in you; I do not wish to provoke enmity between us. There is also the fact that you came here to me with diffidence and humility, instead of swaggering and with force.

Out of nowhere, Paul saw a rock formation before him settling beside a river. He quickly pulled to starboard, but one of the fighter's wings struck it and broke off. The X-Wing crashed into the darkness beyond...

Her hand rose to her throat seemingly of its own accord once more at that thought. Then she let it drop to her side, and in one flowing motion gracefully regained her seat upon the throne.

"Tell me who you are, and what interest one as powerful as you are has with this one," she addressed the stone, nodding her head toward the silent Narcolm. "As well as what will happen to the empty shell his spirit will leave behind."

Why was this mysterious being yet being so close-mouthed? Certainly it did not denote any degree of fear....

"Tell me who you are," she repeated, each syllable spoken in the softest and most musical voice...

Someone has had the audicity to land...or rather, CRASH...on the planet! This can no longer be tolerated!

In the next moment, her features returned to an icy calm. She turned to Shawn, who had been keeping rather quiet. "You...keep watch. Al'iya will stand outside. There is another intruder to deal with. I must leave you briefly."

Before Shawn could so much as say a word, Shayla opened a door through the All and stepped onto the frigid terrain of Khar Delba. For a moment, she took note of the snow covered leaves and vines with a touch of sadness, then she turned her attentions to the crashed X-wing.

This one was injured, and with the current state of things, there was no time for that. And her gift had always been healing. Hers and her brother's as well...

And wouldn't this throw a loop in this one's line of thinking?

Smiling at that, Shayla stretched out and sent healing energies to this brazen one who suddenly was finding himself uninjured although he knew he had crashed.

She tilted her head slightly, assessing.

"My name is Paul Arrakeen. I am a Jedi, but in no way am I here under orders from the Council. I need to speak to the one called GraySith! This is most urgent..."

This guy had an itchy buzzer finger. This would not do.

Drawing an All shield around herself, Shayla continued to search further. "And just what might be of so great an importance?"

"He's coming. He's coming here to kill you all, or so he thinks. Mad with power, and in a new form..."

SITH!!!

For a moment she paused, letting that sink in, part of her now beginning to pay heed to the half-heard sith shadows which all along had been moaning and crying and reaching out from places not quite seen within the dark recesses of this mighty Temple. A small motion caught her eye, and she cut her eyes briefly away from the man and the shade of Naad to discover its origin.

Her hands were trembling.

Clenching them together, she held them against her lap, pressing them against the material of her cloak until at length they gradually began to quiet. Then she rose regally to her feet, and bowed her head before the hovering stone.

"Your request is granted, Freedon Naad," she said simply. "How may I be of assistance to you in the matter of the rite you need to perform? As well, do you know the placement within this Temple of the body of Lord Atma? I myself am afraid I do not know exactly where it had been taken upon his death."

Shayla noted the guy was gripping his lightsaber for dear life.

Oh SHEESH.

In the blink of an eye she dropped her shield and "tweaked" the molecules of the lightsaber. It turned into a block of ice in his hands.

Shayla smiled in bemusement at the look on his face as he dropped the solid ice and looked up at her, shocked. She quickly sobered.

"I'll tell you if you unfreeze my lightsaber."

She wasn't too interested in granting this man's requests. However, she did want to know what he was babbling about.

"Very well," she said with the wave of her hand. In a moment, the block of ice in his hand again was a saber.

It would not remain thus if anymore foolishness occurred.

"My apprentice..." he said. "He is coming here to claim absolute power, not to be some pawn for fate and the galaxy. And to do so, he believes killing your master will be the first step in his plan of domination..."

Catacombs? She wasn't aware that they even existed. Yet, she had to admit, while she had poked and explored a bit throughout this sanctuary during her stay here with Darth Wicked, she really hadn't gotten to carried away about it.

And she had been too busy with other affairs since that time to do any spelunking into the Temple depths.

Forcing the Glyph to back down by several degrees, she now descended from where she had stood before the throne, and came to a halt next to Narcolm. She stood there for the space of a few seconds, letting her eyes bore deeply into his as if to say, Are you certain you know fully what you are getting yourself into? For even in the Sithly rites and incantations, the All was ever-present. All for the greater good....

She wondered to herself exactly how this transformation would be balanced out otherwhere.

Then she turned to the stone, bowed slightly toward it. Noted even as she did so its elevated position above Narcolm's head.

Smiled to herself. Powerful though this Sith spirit might be... he preceded her Sire, the Dark Clan Lord of the Sith Sorcerers. The All was on her side, and would protect her and her companions should that become necessary.

All speculation... from the strange spatial position of the even stranger sight of a floating stone.

"His name is Jakob Renard. Or at least it used to be. It's a long story...do you wish to hear it?"

Paul looked up at his audience. "The book was teachings of something called 'the All.' Do you have any idea what this means?"

That question in his mind, she waved her hand once more, and they found themselves in the quite empty Receiving Room of the Great Temple.

"After we read the journal, we begun to enter the chapters of the All, which explained what it is and what it is capable of." Paul stared downward, almost shamefully. "That was more than enough to convince Jakob to the Dark Side. When we started reading the parts of the book that showed how to exercise the All, I realized the existence of such power does not belong in our civilization...and I asked Jakob to burn the book."

Something about this whole tale didn't sit right with her. His connection of the All with the Dark Side...

"Al'iya!" she called suddenly.

In moments, the brown-furred tuk'ata was at her side. Right behind her came M'wonbo'o.
Watch this one until Graysith returns. If he so much as moves a muscle, well...

...you know what to do.

"...tricked Tylon into believing there was a price on your master's head. And so he comes."

A shiver coursed down Graysith's spine.

Atma. Him. The one her Dark Heart had sent to destroy her. The one who, laughing and scoffing and utterly disbelieving in her, had then not even granted her dignity in death, but had placed the foul brand of possession upon her throat.

If it hadn't been for Aelvedaar....

A low moan from the altar brought Graysith's focus back from the shadows of the past. Supressing a shudder, she stepped quietly forward, coming up to the lean yet muscular body which yet convulsed there, daring to look down upon it at this close range.

A heartbeat passed. She reached out a steadying hand.

"Be calm in yourself," she whispered quietly. But though her outward demeanor was calm and assuring, inside the Beast was slavering to rip this powerful man's lungs out through his throat.

He had dared to belittle the All and the Sith by placing his foul mark upon her flesh!

Now her jaw worked as she strove to fight her inner demons. This is not him, she reminded herself yet again. It is merely his flesh which has been animated, and that by--

A slight frown creased her forehead, sending the Glyph into strobe-like flashes of power.

Freedon Naad. Where had he disappeared to? For the manner in which he had departed, one would believe he had the All at his disposal. That was something she refused to believe.

A groan from Atma-cum-Narcolm now grasped her attention, and she turned back to the warrior. Even as she watched, the thrashes lessened in severity, the moans grew quieter, the pouring sweat cooled and evaporated into the fetid air of the catacombs. Gradually the man grew quieter and quieter, and at length stilled his throes altogether.

"stay here..." he muttered before leaving and approaching the remains of the X-wing

Trel Looked at the remains and sighed, what had happened here? he then found the devestated form of the R-12 unit and sighed... whoever had flown this ship, wasnt alive...

BUT WAIT! where was the corpse? and why wusnt there any hope?
trel then sat down and began mediating, letting his mind follow the force to places unseen.
Guide me...Show me the way...
WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!
His mind continued to follow the force, hoping that he could find what had happened to the man in the ship...

I wont be responsible for another death! he sreamed at his subconcious...

There are others out there, she thought angrily. No time for this nonsense. Time approaches to take care of much more important things.

Easily masking her message to her tuk'ata, Shayla ordered the animal back, then sent her on a completely new mission. In the meantime M'wonBo'o moved in closer to fill the gap created by his pack sister.

Shayla sent one last message to her Sister that would be heard by her alone. There is one before me who would CLAIM his Padawan has learned of the ALL and turned to the Darkside because of it, Shayla informed Graysith, her sarcasm apparent in the message. I believe it would be of great interest for you to meet this...wise one.

Then Shayla simply waited, knowing Graysith would in due time come and knowing her orders to Al'iya would be swiftly carried out.

Carry I unmoving being away, away to depths of Temple is being...

Rathal hated long trips in his ship ordinarily. He found that the thing was too small and that he always felt claustraphobic. To make things worse, he never slept well on his ship either. The final product was ordinarily a very irritated, ancy Rathal who just wanted to go to bed. Now if you were to add another person to the equation, well then multiply the results by two. Rathal was crunched up in a fetal position, the space between him and the wall of the cockpit occupied by a sleeping Galen. Rathal was munching on some kind of multi nutrient foodstuff when the navi computer began to beep. He jammed the remainder his lunch into his mouth and looked out the viewport window he saw nothing but a black abyss. He turned shaking Galen awake, perhaps she could explain this to him, god he hoped the nav computer hadn't gone berserk.

"K'oth," he croaked, already knowing what had the ansewer, "Is dead?"

That is hardly likely, she thought, but held her tongue. Then, newly armed with Atma's old sword, "Soul-Crusher," he turned away from the shell of his former body and faced her. No words were spoken, but the question was clearly inherent in his eyes.

"This way," Graysith said smoothly, holding out her hand to indicate direction then turning herself to lead the way. Through the murky catacombs they travelled, to all appearances just as though out for a stroll from which they were now returning. Graysith did not let out that she was using the All now to find their way back; indeed these dank cellars were a place she had never dreamed existed, let alone visited. If it weren't for the steady guidance of all potential in the Universe, she would probably have become quite lost.

At length the maze of corridors and great echoing chambers through which they wended their way opened up into a type of underground foyer from which several hallways spread in a maze. One was well-remembered. Still not speaking any word, she merely turned and continued down the hallway, one which really didn't look anything different from the others. As they progressed, the voice of her Adept came to her ears, bringing with it information of yet more strangers who had descended into their midst.

She almost came to a halt with that, but by sheer dint of effort kept her coolness about her and moved on. The only thing to portray her growing ire and disgust was the way in which she now played with the Claw of S'slan, now permanently affixed to her finger where it belonged, and the way her eyes darkened to the hue just before true night falls.

"Bring them to me in the Receiving Room," she sent the silent directive outward to her sister and Adept. Then she closed off the link, lest in any manner the resurrected one beside her would somehow key in upon it. Through corridors dank and dripping with mosses, up and down hidden flights of stairs, and through series after series of connected rooms they traveled, until they came at length to the hallway which emptied into the back of the Great Receiving Room itself. Graysith stopped, and indicated the set of ornately carved doors ahead of them.

"Through those doors is the room in which you presented yourself to me," she said smoothly. "And beyond is the hall leading to the foyer and outside."

Narcolm came quietly up beside her, standing there and looking down into her face. As he did, the scabbard of Atma's powerful sword brushed lightly against the signature cloak of the Chosen Daughter.

She couldn't repress the brief shudder which raced through her; then getting herself under iron control once again, she began to move toward the doors.

"Unless there is anything else of concern that you may desire to bring to my attention, you may depart this Temple in peace. And once you do, seek it no longer."

She stopped momentarily, sending a look that spoke volumes deeply into the piercing blue eyes once belonging to Darth Atma. Then she continued on and entered the Receiving Room, where she mounted the dias to seat herself once more upon the throne, here to face her Adept and the next in this unexpected string of visitors.

Terrin shot him a quizzical look, and in response he merely shrugged. "I don't know where she is," he said in reply to the unvoiced question.

"Petrolu, stay out of my--" Terrin started, then he stopped himself mid-sentence. "Nevermind," he said, sighing.

Sensing a grave disturbance in the Force, Shawn sought outward. There was a great Darkness within. A Darkness which was somehow here before...and yet...not.

He frowned despite himself. He didn't know what they'd gotten themselves into, aligning with these Sith. He didn't know if they Shayla's new "Sister" could be trusted to do what she had promised.

What he did know was that there was much darkness afoot, and they probably DIDN'T have any other way to even POSSIBLY get the child. Terrin was right about that.

But still, Shawn just didn't know if these Sith would uphold their promise. After all, they were Sith. The Jedi Council would have a field day with this if he ever got back to them...

Shawn frowned again as something occurred to him.

The Jedi Council be damned. They hadn't so much as barely lifted a finger to protect that baby when she HAD been in their reach. And when they finally had, they'd sent someone to Terrin and Galen who was more than just a bit questionable.

What they were doing here was just about the best that they could do for the moment, Blood Oaths with the Sith and all.

The Jedi Council be damned indeed.

Still projecting a complete aura of calm Shawn continued to wait for the next development in this quite unpredictable thing that was called life.

"This one," she said, waving at the Jedi, who still was being gaurded by M'wonBo'o, "Would have us believe that we are in grave danger of being destroyed by a bounty hunter who is...possessed by his dead Apprentice."

Then she leaned a bit forward, as if she were sharing a bit of a secret. "His apprentice who, in studying the All from an ancient book he and that apprentice once found, has turned to the Darkside. I thought that you would find his tale...most intriguing," she ended with, simply stepping back and seeing just what would happen.

She turned a powerful gaze to the quiet stranger, who was doing his best to be stalwart. His trepidation and growing fear could be felt squirming within him like a womprat caught within the claws of the sandcat; now she narrowed her eyes and let a bit of the darkness within her own soul peep through.

"Sooo," she hissed in something that was scarcely above a whisper. "You would warn us of one who would use the Darkside in the name of the All, would you?"

She paused a moment, letting the shadows about her grow dim, letting the eerie creaks and rustles from that dimness creep into the mind of this quiet intruder. Then--

"POPPYCOCK!"

She erupted to her feet in a blaze of rage, the Glyph igniting upon her forehead and arrowing into the eyes of the young man. He winced, turning his head aside to avoid that scathing look, but he didn't turn it quickly enough to hide the brief stab of anger which now rose up in his own face.

He remained quiet, whether out of awe, fear, or stubbornness Graysith didn't know. Nor did she truly care. She strode down the steps of the dias, sustained by her rage, and came directly before the silent young Jedi. Pausing there, her hand darted out and grasped him by his chin. The movement inexorable, she jerked his face so that his eyes could not escape hers.

"Where is this book?" she hissed, then drew back with a slow smile as the answer came wafting into her sight. The young man couldn't keep from revealing its destruction; Graysith merely nodded, backing off now to climb back up to the Great Throne.

"It was the Book which was of importance," she murmured. "Thank the Clan no one has penetrated its secrets, although one seems to think he has." Those last words were highly stressed, and she leaned forward now, a sweetly vicious smile coming across her features.

She abruptly pointed an imperial finger toward Paul Arakeen.

"I find it beyond amusing that you should feel the need to warn us of this so-called attempt by your padawan to use the All," she said evenly, her eyes narrowing. "Indeed this is not something the... Jedi Council is so wont to do, assisting the SITH in their affairs and by such warning indicating their willingness to side with us against what perhaps would be a mutual foe.

"No."

Straightening in the throne, she raised her chin and looked down her nose at the jedi.

"I feel there is more here than meets the eye. Until this can be fully revealed to me, I fear, my young friend, that you have come to know more than I feel it desirable for you to know.

Noticing for the first time his wounds he sat down and began meditating, delvign into the force to heal him at extremly fast speeds...

Heh, funny, for once, i wish i had learned to use these damned healing powers more efficently...

He surveyed the crash site...

'A damaged droid, lets see what I can do....' he said to the life-less mech droid.

With three quick strokes from his lightsaber, the droid was free from the wreckage.

She frowned, not quite believing the incongruity of the situation.

For years this Temple had withstood being found by the curious eye of outsiders. It was known only to the Sith, its coordinates passed from mouth to mouth, through the generations, never oriented on any map or starchart. Yet in the space of one day, not one, but FOUR disparate strangers had somehow managed not only to find this sacred planet, but had likewise broken through the barrier her Sire had placed about it and had had the audacity to tread upon its very soil.

This was absolutely intolerable.

"No."

The word sighed from between her lips and hung upon the air before the throne. Even as it fell, she rose to her feet. Her imperial stare passed from person to person.

"This will not be tolerated any longer. There is too much at stake; NO ONE MAY INTERFERE. NO ONE.

"You!" She pointed to the Jedi who wore a humble countenance like a wolf in sheep's clothing. "Your warning has been duly noted. Your presence here is no longer needed."

The action was almost off-handed; holding out her hand, the index and little fingers extended like horns, the others curled loosely beneath her palm, she aimed the Claw at the Jedi...

...and, opening a doorway through the All, sent him into the lower depths of the spice mines on Kessel.

Now she raised her head, noting the approach of the smirking Narcolm, the quiet Atma who looked a bit... concerned. Immediately put two and two together regarding them... and momentarily stayed her hand.

"Your assistance... may be required. Remain still if you wish to live."

Now she closed her violet eyes, reaching out through the All into the bowels of the Temple where yet another jedi languished. Frowning that this sacred place would be so tainted yet again, she gave her head a slight shake... outlined a mysterious sigil in the air afront her...

...and Trel suddenly found himself reunited with Loban and the little droid, sitting in stunned silence aboard their ship in a quite sudden and extremely unexpected orbit about Honoghr. Even if they immediately turned round to return to Khar Delba, it would take them at least three full days to travel across the Galaxy....

Graysith took in a deep breath, now putting every ounce of knowledge she had gained from Aelvedaar into play. Slowly she stretched both hands out to her sides, the fingers widespread as if to grasp the very atoms of the spacetime fabric and tweak them.

Which of course she did.

The great hidden planet of Khar Delba let out a groan that seemed to issue from its very core... and in its entirety slipped quietly and with no ado into that mysterious elseness which exists between one second and the next. To the eyes of the rest of the Galaxy...

...the planet was simply gone. It didn't even leave a gravity signature to mark its passing.

A huge shudder wracked Graysith's small frame as she brought herself out of the trance-like state she had needed to maintain in order to perform this drastic Sith incantation. A rather extreme measure used in the most dire of circumstances... which this most certainly was.

She cast her eyes to her Adept. A great weariness flitted across her face, and her arms slowly lowered to her sides.

Then she crumpled to the dias, completely unconscious...

"One moment I was putting the finishing touches on the droid I found in the wreckage back on that ice planet, and the next..."

"Oh well. They had their chance...and so did those damn fools who followed me." He heard coming footsteps, no doubt of the miners from Kessel.We will confront each other again, I'm sure of it, but right now Corellia is my mission...

Yeesh. I must have been tired to be out that deeply!

...I peered out the forward viewport.

There before me was an aching black void. It looked like nothing so much as a shadow against the infinite, its presence revealed simply by the lack of stars within its perimeter. I nodded to myself, and pointed to the blot.

"There's a planet in there, don't worry about it." I cast a quick look at a display; then my pointing finger moved from the port to the monitor. "See...? Gravity signature. It's shielded, that's all.

"But I know how to get in, don't worry. Just--"

With breathtaking suddenness, the blot disappeared. The light of the distant stars which filled its void was almost blinding by comparison; I blinked, my jaw hanging stupidly open as my words were cut off in mid-sentence.

What in Hell's Seven Circles--?

Under normal circumstances. But these were scarcely that.

Ransacker popped out of hyperspace midway between the orbits of K'eel Doba and Khar Delba like a cork out of a bottle. I immediately did a complete spherical scan of my surroundings...

Bingo.

There ahead was a nice little Ubrikian yacht which coded in as one ZZ'shzq, owned by a Terrin and Galen Danner...

Galen DANNER??

A scowl began to grow on my face and I found my breath caught in my throat. Then anger began to swell within me, fiery and cleansing away every last drop of hesitation I might yet be harboring about taking my wife--

My wife???

--to Admiral Actar.

No problem there, not anymore, is there buddy? The scowl grew blacker, and I expanded my scan a few hundred thousand klicks further.

There, just as I suspected. There was a Z-95 Headhunter hovering around... well, nothing, actually.

Wha--?

Now the frown deepened, but changed from one of growing rage to more of stunned puzzlement. Where in Hell's Seven Circles was the blasted planet? I was in the correct system, K'eel Doba was in it's proper spatial orientation. But Khar Delba had entirely disappeared.

I shook my head with a snort. First things first....

Thrusting Ransacker into full impulse, I screamed like a banshee over the bow of the little Headhunter, which appeared to be just idling about in the vicinity of the yacht. I didn't want any interference of any kind in what I was about to do; a couple well-placed ion cannon blasts instantly fried the circuitry of both ships, assuring me that their crews would be busy for at least a couple days getting everything repaired and online once again. My YT-2400 soared about glibly, almost laughing for her sheer ability to do just that in the face of the others who couldn't so much as make a left turn.

Allowing myself the luxury of a victory roll, I then bore down upon the helpless Headhunter. There was a slight thunk as my tractor beam latched onto its hull.

"Gotcha, sweetheart!" I sneered, my lip curled in derision. And I'm hauling you in to Actar like this, in disgrace. I'm not going to let you get one by me again! We'll see what he has in mind for you and your buddy....

Still snarling, I ran my hands deftly over my navigational console, and typed in a new set of coordinates. In but a moment more, I disappeared back into the comforting nothing of hyperspace, dragging my reluctant prey with me like a child would drag its favorite toy off to bed.

What? How the-- Then I realized the little worrt probably had a portable commlink on him. I growled, debating to myself just how many other little surprises this aforethought hapless little twit had on his person.

No way in hell would I go aboard his ship. No freaking way....

I reached out and slammed my gloved hand on the console, hitting the tranceiver.

"Look, pal," I snarled. "You just don't seem to understand. You're both marks, and it really doesn't matter in what condition you are when I haul your sorry carcasses in. In fact--"

Now I let a hint of amusement creep into my voice.

"You're already supposed to be dead. You can just consider it a favor that I haven't killed you already. But if you want to begin the rest of the job for me, well then, by all means:

"Go for it."

I ripped my hand from the comm, snarling blackly to the bleeping navigational console.

I swear... when I get these peeps to Actar, one way or another, I'm collecting the bounty and getting my butt as far away from these parts as fast as I can...

Did this guy totally flip out of his skull? What in Hell's Seven Circles did he think he was doing? Did he think he could just commit murder like this? Hadn't he ever heard of the old saw, "Where there's life...?"

Apparently not.

I gulped, my own eyes widening in apprehension for the fact that his were completely unreadable. Then I rose to my feet, my hands in the air.

"May I?" I asked carefully, indicating the commlink. "I really kinda know this guy, and I don't know if your approach is going to be one he's going to cave in to. He's really not the type."

Great Khaandon's Ghost, just let me try to talk some sense into Sorben!

I should have killed this guy when I had the chance, the little worrt. Never should have gone along with him, should have kept up my guard back on Kashyyk, odd that he had been so conveniently there....

But that was time past, and dwelling on the "what ifs" wouldn't get me anywhere now.

This was all getting to be a regular pain in the...

I let out a loud snort, keenly aware that he had left the commlink open so I could "overhear" their conversation. The problem was, I didn't know if it was a ruse or not.

Did I have enough gut instinct to feel if it was?

Could I take the chance that it wasn't?

Now I found myself shaking my head, growling to myself in not too much surprise to find myself answering that last question in the negative.

I didn't dare chance this. Actar would have my hide if Galen were killed; I knew he didn't give a dewback's hump about Rathal, but Galen....

"Very well," I growled, then snapped off the link. Bringing up the charts, I then tried to determine the closest place to make a brief stop. Trouble was, coming in from the Unknown Regions like this, there weren't that many known planets to land on.

Dammit. The closest was Fondor, with its orbiting shipyards and kilometers of worker barracks on the surface. How convenient for the little twerp, that he could get his ship repaired so handily....

I growled all the way into the system, where I took us out of hyperdrive. Then arrowing in toward the planet, looking for all the world like a tug bringing in a wounded ship, I brought us safely to a landing on the surface in the vicinity of one of its myriad junkyards. Snapping off the tractor beam, calmly got to my feet and went to the hatch.

An eternity seemed to pass before I opened it and remained standing at the top of the gangway in full armor.

Now I keyed in on my own personal commlink, calling up his frequency.

"Send her out, Rathal," I growled. "I'd be seven kinds of fool to stand here without protection, but you have my word as a-- fellow --bounty hunter that I'll let you go free. Unfortunately I can't promise the same for the little woman you have with you."

"when he comes to get you, distract him, that fancy armor wont protect him well enough for this," he said, poking her with his monster blaster. Rathal knew he wasn't in close enough range for an acurate shot, but if he were to come a bit closer he could get Sorben easily enough, he was a great marksman after all. Then hecalled out,

I sighed.

Calmly I walked down the gangway, my hands still up in the air.

Came halfway between us, just like the doctor ordered.

Then in a rapid sequence of events, a series I hoped would hit this guy right between the eyes, I hit my hidden jetpack igniter, blasting up and over their heads, zoomed in and even as he was beginning to raise his blaster at me swung even closer, jerked to one side, and turned off the jets.

I let fly with my needler and netguns all in one fell swoop.

The needles found their mark easily enough in the soft flesh of Galen's throat. She made a little whimper, and sagged against Rathal, knocking him backwards a bit and off-balance. This in turn knocked his now firing blaster out from pointing in my general direction; his instincts kicked in and he quickly released the trigger to aim and fire again.

Heh. It's every marksman's instinct, after all....

Not bad for a beginner... but no match. The tangler wrapped him and Galen together like a cocoon, and they fell to the decking of his gangway with a loudly discernable thud.

I dashed quickly up to knock the blaster from his hand. It too became tangled in the netting, but at least he wouldn't be threatening me with it any longer.

I knelt beside him, bringing my helmet right into his face.

"Actar wants you dead," I growled, then paused long enough for the words to sink in. "But he didn't specify when. You didn't kill the woman, and for that I suppose I owe you one. So I'll let you live now, hunter.

"But!" I continued as taking out a vibroblade I now began sawing on Galen's bonds. Soon she was freed of the net; I clomped a booted foot down upon the severed ends, effectively blocking the opening should Rathal attempt to wriggle out. I leaned down into his face once again.

"You'll never feel safe again."

"She'll need rest. And I'm not sure how much," Shayla stated at length.

Here they were again. Stopped from achieving the Greater Good by fools. And now, more time would be spent waiting.

Shayla had always hated waiting. She'd been a "go getter," "let's act now" sort of person.

But there just really was no other option.

Shayla turned to M'wonbo'o.

"M'wonBo'o, She needs her rest," she said. Even though this particular tuk'ata had never had a mental link with Shayla, he understood and went to the task of carrying Graysith to her room.

Then, Shayla looked once more to the blue-eyed stranger and his--companion? Master? What?

Should she afford these quarters and let them run amok about the Temple? Were they supposed to be allies? Hadn't Graysith said something about that?

"We should find you both some quarters to refresh yourselves and wait," she decided, breaking the silence.

She'd have to, in the meantime, talk to Terrin and his crew and Shawn.

Lucky her.