Ankrist came back into the dying Sith fighter like a gladiator returns from battle, chest filled with unsung battle cries, eyes wide with joy. He grasped the controls, now having to use manual aspects to make the ship move, to turn, indeed to coax it into being but a fifth of the fighter it was before he took its brain and rent it asunder.

But all this was of no concern to him. What was was the world circling endlessly below... a world still hidden away in the shrouds of mystery, lost to the annals of time...

A world once sere and dead and pocked with craters once assumed to be meteoric in origin, but which the Sith Warrior knew was as a result of great and unfeeling blasts raining down from the heavens.

K'eel Doba didn't show one single crater; there was not so much as one dry and dusky rock to mar her living and vibrant surface, covered with jungle, interspersed with road and town, settlement and village, alive now with growing things and wildlife and people....

He laughed aloud as he guided the ship into the bustling Ch'arlingua, coming to a steady, if somewhat harsh, landing there. A quick check of the systems, and he disembarked, stepping forth onto the tarmac, striding toward the tunnels where the transport waited to carry him into Phrinnchatka.

Enroute more than one menial Sith stopped in his or her tracks, to bow to him as he passed.

"My Lord," they murmured, until he left them in his wake that they could return to their interrupted tasks.

He paid them no heed, in fact, he scarcely heard them. There was room now in his ears for only one voice, room in his vision for only one sight...Room in his heart for only one love....

Time seemed an eternity as it often does in the last moments of it leading up to a long-awaited event. The transport had scarcely opened when he leapt out, then hurried on through the Phrinnchatkan streets, coming at last to the Great Temple of the Warrior Clan in its center. He took the steps to the top in fours, leaping up them with the easy strength of the panther, coming to the apex where an opening into the Temple proper awaited him.

Now his heart was in his throat, pounding there, throbbing with long-held desire. His hands trembled for the feel of a certain someone in them, his very arms ached. Wings were lent to his feet, and he burst through the courtyard, into the pillared foyer, past the Grand Dining Hall, soon to lose himself in the labyrinthine passageways beyond.

He came upon her in their Outer Chambers. She was dressed in the short but flowing tunic she loved to wear when working with her weaponry; she looked up at him in momentary startlement as he burst in only to stand there, drinking in the sight of her before him.

Those beautiful eyes, blue and violet... he had so longed to gaze into them. That shining platinum hair, how he wanted to feel the flow of it in his hands. Her lips....

Without another moment's hesitation, he strode in, two great steps, and future met past in the clasp of muscular arms.

He relished the feel of her lithe body in his arms, one hand now reaching up to take her face, cupping her chin, his fingers running up alongside her cheek, forcing her to look up at him, into his eyes.

Her wonderful, wonderful eyes....

He could scarcely breathe.

"I once said I would move Empires for you, my dearest love," he finally managed, whispering.

"And I have."

Then his lips descended on hers, and he crushed her body to him in an embrace it seemed he had waited four thousand years to receive....

Finally they parted, and she looked up at him curiously, an eyebrow elevating above its twin in question as she set her head against his chest and pulled closer to him for a moment before questioning "My lord... Why is it you seem as though youve been gone for an eternity? you only just left moments ago for a meeting with Lord Aelvedaar and Lord Rean..."

She then pulled away slightly to allow him another kiss which she sensed he desperatly sought... finaly she pulled away and smiled, "while i do not understand this sudden return, i must say, it indeed brings me joy... i have always said you need not worry yourself in the other's affairs, you are the only one among them which has the strength to lead..."

As she finished she began to move away so they might enjoy the morning together, a rare thing indeed... yet she was stopped as he again pulled her close, as though worried to let her out of his sight, now feeling his hand run through her hair, and seeing clearly the joy in his eyes... Joy she had never before seen... While she knew he loved her, and knew he help happiness towards her, this was just not right... "what has happened? why do you act so strangely, love?"

she couldnt help the little smile that was slowly spreading accross her face to see the look in his eyes, she had longed for him to become so open to her, longed for a chance to see him without his warrior stature... For even in there love, he could not remove himself from his title... Until now...

He couldn't get enough of her.

His face grew more than serious, his eyes becoming large turquoise pools, turquoise as the tropical seas, bidding her drown in them as he suddenly picked her up in his arms and holding her tightly, bent his head to kiss her, long and lovingly, once again.

He drew back only to whisper, somewhat enigmatically, to be sure,

"It was my love for you that gave me the strength to bring you back to me. I shall never make that grave error of hiding it from you again. This I vow as the Dark Lord of the Warriors that I am.

"You do not know how much I love you, Kreesha... my Lady...."

His words were stopped once again as he took her lips between hungry ones of his own, his grip tightening about her as he began moving forward, his feet following a path not followed for millennia, yet clearly remembering the way...

He only removed one hand from her to yank closed the bedcurtains behind them as he sank down with her against the regal covers they shared.

And there amidst those silks and satins he sought another means of moving Empires for her sake.

As well as bring them back into glorious life.

...and for a moment stood beside the bed. She lay there in deep slumber, a smile gracing her beautiful features, a smile of a type he had never before seen. His own lips broadened softly, and he bent, kissing her gently but not awakening her.

Then he slipped from their chambers, moving into the Guest Suites....

Soon he returned, a shadow in the predawn stillness, slyly pocketing the tiny dart he had obtained from his brief foray into the world of the Kamino cloners. He had scarcely slipped back amidst the cool sheets of the bed when a distant cry of alarm came clearly to his keen ears.

"Someone, help! Master Rean, he has died in the night...."

Roan's eyes glittered in the dim lighting, as he considered the enigma now facing the Sith. Actually, not too great a one; Sith have been known to just up and die while yet in their prime. But the real cause of Rean's death would never be ascertained.

How could it be? How would the Sith know of a poison and a device, coming from four thousand years in their future, created by a science beyond their ken?

Kreesha moved gently beside him, and he responded by placing an arm protectively about her.

For you, my Lady, he told her silently, hugging her close.

I remain in silent study of the Great Crystal Octahedron, watching the events which have transpired within these very walls, wondering again and again if I could have somehow done something different, if there could have been a way to foresee the direction in which my Chosen One's child was destined to travel, to now lead to this moment in time where I must protect myself from this city of the Sith indeed.

I shift my weight, tilting my chin so that it rests upon my chest, my volcanic eyes flaring as I ponder. Once again I consider the invitation of Lord Recinis, to travel to the world of Koris'ian, and there to...

To what? To hide? To plot? To analyze?

No, my devices are here in Phrinnchatka where I have brought them. The faithful Jinn whirrs and clicks, striving to tell me in her own way of other events of not quite the import of those to which I once more turn my thoughts. I sigh again, and turn from the Octahedron...

When it is as if the very fabric of space and time turns itself inside out, then reverses, spitting something from its maw of infinity....

My eyes snap open; I sense the immediate presence of others here within the chambers I have chosen as my own. A grip of ice encompasses my heart, for I know what that means.

What it could only mean.

Before anyone should wonder, I quickly raise my hands against the chronotic shield I had emplaced around my sanctum--

--even as a shadowy sense of... myself rises up from the mists of time, to find me here in great surprise, to war within as it tries to merge...

...and to disappear, unbeknownst to all, as I thrust it from me with a burst of the All, sending it into the shield which has protected me here for so long.

I frown, wondering at the discrepency, for I know where my placement should have been.

"So it is THIS time," I think to myself, recalling a far-away day when the Lords had convened, the shadow of war heavy upon their last stronghold, to implement the final and desperate plan.

And now we go on from here....

Quickly I reach out with my talents, scooping up all devices I had taken here: the Incubator, the Octahedron, various and sundry lesser machines; the protesting Jinn, the silent droid of the Adept, the now stealthily hidden tuk'ata...

All of it I take up in one great fell swoop, and with the greatest effort yet given I implement three events: the dropping of the shield about my Inner Sanctum, the opening of a portal back to my own Temple of Sorcerers on Khar Delba, and the simultaneous dropping of the shield about THAT planet...

...that we could be allowed entry therein...

...and its new inhabitants not fear the sudden darkness they had been thrust into any longer.

Once in my own real and private chambers, I hide the devices of a time yet to come, as far as the knowledge of the life I sense here would have it...

...and turn in response to the voice I hear gasping behind me.

"My Lord Aelvedaar," Aeylmaar states, surprise shining in his amber eyes. "You- you are back so soon.

"Is all well? Is the plan implemented?

"Shall the Sith yet live?"

He falls into silence before me, and for once I am quite at a loss as what to say in return.

She couldnt help but smile as two things came to her attention, one the continuing shouts of lord Reans death, and two the warm, fully awake grasp...

She was unsure, but she had a feeling she knew the cause of that mysterious death... A death that brought to her a quiet fire and she turned and pulled roan into a kiss, allowing her arms to twine through his and come about to masauge the muscles of his great back...

She pulled even closer into his embrace as she felt his own arms wrap about her in a hug which would crush a woman who held not the perfection that Kreesha knew herself to hold...

With a little smile as there lips broke she shifted, causing herself to roll atop so she might sit lookign down upon him, he hands then reached out to rub away the knots within his chest before coming down upon him with another kiss...

"Aye... my love, how true. There is much time in this day... a day where our peoples shall be introduced to the redundancy in having three to guide them. Your ears are as keen as mine; you know my 'brother' has fallen in the Night...."

He fell silent at that, a dark leer creasing his lips. Then that leer turned into quite another expression entirely, and one strong hand reached out to lazily run its claws up and down Kreesha's bared back. His lip curled when he sensed the series of tremors which followed those claws, rippling just beneath the surface of her sensitive skin.

"A day when it begins: my rise to power over all the Sith. And the first expression of that power...."

He grinned slyly, reaching out to take her and pull her with a strength that was almost harsh back down upon him. Then he moved, quick as a cat, and soon was again astride her, staring down into those wonderful, wonderful eyes. His hands pinned her arms next to her sides, his whole body kept her immobile beneath him.

"The first expression is that I shall respond to what merely seems to be a dire emergency... when I deem I am ready to do so."

The sly grin was then wiped from his face as he brought his lips down to hers, to once more lose his senses before the one power that could ever hold him in its thrall.

And so intent was he upon this blatant display of his own omnipotence that he scarcely heard the new cry now being set up throughout the Temple.

"The Lady Kri'faxx... and Lord! Ayieee-- no! Not the child as well, not the boy...!"

He smiled against the lips of his love, and continued with what he was doing. There was a time and a place for everything, after all.

Both immediately flare with magickal Sith fires... and settle into the steadily glowing signatures of the Dark Lord of the Sorcerers, his a deep and burnished brass, mine the true gold of current entitlement.

"Now you shall cleave unto me, my young friend," I announce with a grave smile. "More than Adept, yet less than Dark Lord; I take you as my own heir apparent, should the time come when such a successor is needed."

His look of shock widens into a broad smile; then he sobers.

"But my Lord," he protests. "You may yet take a Lady; you may yet bear your get; this is unnecessar-"

I quickly shake my head, and let my eyes flare into brief eruption. He quiets, sensibly enough, and the thoughts of One rush through me yet again. I put them away for the moment, knowing there could never be any other.

"I have Chosen you, Aeylmaar," I state gravely. "Do you accept this honor, or not?"

For a moment he remains in wide-eyed silence; then those amber eyes lid, and he tilts his ram's horns in deference to me.

"It is an honor to call you my Father, my Lord," he states the accepted reply in hushed tones. I nod slowly, and let a little smile waft across my lips.

Then I take him aside and explain in detail what has happened, where he is, how he came to be here.

As well as the fact that undoubtedly others will soon be joining our company. For an event of this magnitude cannot remain unbeknownst to any All-user; the rendering of the fabric of Time and Space was too great, too explosive.

My Chosen One shall be hastening our way... and I mean to see that she is met as befits her station of She Who I Have Chosen... for indeed, until Roan is exposed to the Sith for the Pretender that he is, she is Lady of the Warrior Clan no more.

Aeylmaar merely blinked his amber eyes, and let the remarkable knowledge assimilate. Then he bowed his head to his Lord and now father.

"Our peoples will be shocked when this revelation is given to them, my father," he said in a low voice. "Yet it must be done.

"I shall go make arrangements that our guests shall have suitable chambers within our Temple, that when they arrive they can be taken straightly there to rest and remain in solitude until we gather the people of Khar Delba together to inform them of what has occurred. Is this the correct path to follow, Lord?"

The Dark Lord of the Sorcerers merely smiled...

...and that smile sent shafts of sunlight spearing into Aeylmaar's chest. Filled with the utterly wonderful glow that his first effort as heir to the title was the right one, he hurried from the Sanctum Sanctorum, to put his words into effect. He knew the Lord's Chosen was coming; Kh'lldraan alone knew how soon that arrival would take place. He did not want her or her company to be kept waiting as a result of his sloth....

He hurried off into the passageways, barking orders here and there, flashing his new tattoo to underscore them, and smiling to see how quickly they were carried out.

Then quite suddenly she shifted, rolling atop him and sitting upright while running her nails over his chest and smiling as he attempted to reach her, and bring her down upon him once more, she shook her head slowly, and took hold of his arms, stoping his movement with her own strength, much the same way he had just held her...

She smiled before coming down slowly, and teasing him with a kiss, before nodding with a devilish grin, "You will respond to this 'crisis'when you deem it to happen? Then allow me to make you never wish that time to come..."

She smiled before turning into his ready lips once more, only breaking away for a moment to whisper, "I dont know what has happened to change you so... But i no longer care."

as time passed on her lips broke from his to speak to him about some random matter, but words were quickly put to stop as he grapped her horns and forced her lips back to his, in between hungry kisses she whispered to him, "now now, My lord, that is against the rules..." but the dark smile on his lips clearly spoke his feelings...

Recinis nodded to himself as they came from hyperspace, and approuched Khar Delba with all speed, slowing finaly in there decent, before landing softly upon the surfice...

Jasyn had been dropped off as he desired, and in that time the man named Flac had requested to be put in galens ship...

I suppose he does not trust us of yet... These humans... So hard in trusting.. If only all of them could be as true as Jharmeen...

As the thougth came to pass he smiled at his wife and gave her a little hug and a kiss before nodding to the others that they should take there leave, and then taking his son in between himself and jharmeen. They strode from the ship, and were greated instantly by a few eager attendants, with one holding a more charge taking pressence standing back and giving them a brief look over before approuching.

Recinis greeted the young sorcerer with a firm clasp, noticing immidiatly the simbol upon his wrist he nodded once more, "je;;p upimg sprccerpr o [rau tjeu gppd dau. os ;prd Aelvedaar [resemt?"

He fell silint then and awaited the mans reply...

((OOC: Follow Jasyn into Specter of Death in "CSWU" forums, thank you.))

He had always wanted to meat people of his sith heritage, he had already met a few from his human side, and now he would finaly be able to see what the other half of his blood was...

He looked down to the ever pressent Ghrr, who even through all that had happened had remained faithful, indeed, she had only not come from her hiding place to rend Roan to shreds due to jharu's silent wish that she not risk it... he knew she was strong, but he would not risk her so pointlessly.

He looked up from her and saw a few curious glances at Ghrr.. They seemed almost surprised that the animal was beside Jharu, he could see the disbelief that one his age had a blood hunt companion... He was unsure why they would have those feelings, but he knew that was the cause of the look, it was clear in there eyes... but he merly shrugged and gave Ghrr a little scratch before continuing his gaze about this place, his eyes drinking in everything about this civilization.

Maybe i can meet someone to play with... someone to talk to...

"Ghrr, You will help me find someone right?"
He smiled as Ghrr leaned against him, her more cat like instincts taking over from her fierce hunter ones.

"Thanks Ghrr..."

he then stoped his thoughts and remained quiet, suddenly taking in the sight of a sith sorcerer, it just had to be a sorcerer he had seen many pictures in books, the sorcerer was speaking with his father...

...a now populated Khar Delba.

As they exited the ship, she couldn't help but let her greeny-blues wander to look at all the beautiful life now springing upon this planet, life which had not been here the last time she was...

...not in the least. Though the circumstances surrounding this new life on the planet were troubling, Shayla couldn't help but feel thrilled by it even as the young Sith approached Recinis and they began to exchange words in what could be nothing other than Sith.

Khar Delba was alive. ALIVE. The Sith were alive...

...but what dire circumstances did indeed lay before them?

Shayla didn't let one speck of these darker thoughts appear in her countenance, but simply kept her eyes and her ears open.

Indeed, my son, learn of it you must. For one day this world will be one of the Diamond under your rule....

"Yes, Jharu," she replied, reaching up and ruffling his hair lightly, and ending by giving one of his horns a loving little tweak. Beside her son, the alert Ghrr turned her head into her face, following the movement performed on her charge, yet seeing quite clearly with her pupilless eyes the love which prompted that touch of endearment. She let forth a questioning growl, and hunkered more closely to Jharu, a face tendril twining down around his waist in a manner which stated as no mere words ever could that she would make certain the boy came to no harm.

"Ghrr will find her way back to us; tuk'ata have a remarkably keen sense of smell. Do not stay long, or make a nuisance of yourself in your eagerness to learn. Walk softly, keep your eyes and your ears open, and your mouth, for the time being, closed."

She rose up on her toes and kissed his forehead in parting, giving him a little push to send him on his way. Then, after watching her son and his faithful Blood-Hunt companion depart, her mood darkened a bit. Glancing to the tattoo which yet lay in quiet golden affirmation upon her wrist, there to match the one upon her husband's, she quietly waited to be led to their destination.

If Kh'lldraan himself had risen from the bowels of the earth he couldn't have been more excited.

To think: the Chosen One.

Here.

It had worked.

It had worked, it had worked, it had worked...!

But then again, how could he doubt? How could one single solitary "if" exist in his head when it came to the magickal strengths of his Lord and now father? Indeed, this was something he would have to be more conscious of, to eliminate entirely from his thoughts and his heart.

But it had worked!

He hurried on, his soft-soled boots slipping and sliding on the melting snow which lay about--

Snow? Oh yes, the chronotic shield. It had been here for quite some time; it would take a bit for it to totally depart. The sturdy nature of Khar Delban flora and fauna was more than amply displayed for the way it sprang into being amidst the snow-melt. Soon it would conquer it entirely, aided by the light of their red sun....

He came to a somewhat informal, skidding halt before Recinis and...

Her. It was her. He vaguely remembered... Lord Aelvedaar had mentioned the red hair, though he hadn't actually seen her through their magicks. He had been promised that he would....

He gulped, fumbling a bit. Then he collected himself, and bowed. His amber eyes couldn't help but follow her form, up to her wonderfully glowing violet eyes, up to the gentle glow of the...

The glyph. THE GLYPH.

There it was. The All, personified, just as the Master... that is, his father had claimed it would be....

He couldn't help gasping in awe; with a great effort he got himself under control for the second-- and he hoped, final --time, and finally managed to speak.

"Tje :ird os ed[edtomg upi. ,u we;cp,ed amd gemt;e beomgs." he said, instinctively reverting to High Sith. "Je bods upo vota;oze upirse;ves frp, upir kpitmeu. amd cp,e tp jos [resemce wjem ca;;ed i[pm tje ,prrpw."

With that he bowed, waved a hand in direction, and began to turn and lead the way. He couldn't help shooting a glance toward the tattoo blazing like a golden sun on the wrist of the imposing male Sith, one whose mirror image reposed on Her wrist.

Shaking his head at his manners, he finally got down to the serious business of leading the group into the thriving city, and thence into the great Temple of the Sorcerer's in its center. All would be divulged on the morrow; for now these new visitors needed rest and refreshment.

And the heartfelt knowledge that they were welcome in Khar Delba, by it's Lord, and by its people.

He couldnt help the wide grin splayed accross his face as he saw such new things, and even got to see the other sith going about there tasks... it was amazing, he had never seen so many things...
As he rounded a corner he stummbled upon a young sith girl, perhaps his age, maybe a little older... She was reading a book, and looking down repeatedly at a small pouch as if considerign something...

He smiled brightly at her in greeting, to which she returned with a pleasant nod.

He looked at her for a moment before asking, "What are you doing?" Watching as her eyes strayed to the book, he waiting patiantly for her to speak, "i am attempting to find the spell im looking for..."

Jharu nodded for a moment before turning and looking about, "Hey, Do you want to go play?" he smiled happily, but couldnt help but be taken aback as her smile suddenly melted into a little frown. "Playing is for children... I am a Sorcerress... Go find a child to bother, im busy..."

He couldnt help but feel a little ackward at her words, but stepped back slowly shaking his head.
whats wrong with having fun? After all this was a time of great joy... Did she even realize what had happened?

He almost spoke out in protest, in argument that she should be celebrating her life, rather then wasting it away, when she had already died, and was brought back for the soul purpose of living... But he remembered his mothers warning, that he should for the time being keep his mouth shut... Perhaps they were simply not ready to know that they were all by the rules of the univeres, dead, and had been brought back... as he turned to leave he shook his head, a bit dis heartened...

As he continued on he found a group of children, again his age, asking this time if they would show him around, which they gladly abblidged to do...

Would be.

Green at the equitorial regions... but green criss-crossed with highway and road, checkmarked with settlements here, populated centers there, filled with the busy thrumm of even busier lives of the Sith....

The Sith.

I shuddered, reaching carefully to hit the zoom option on the forward screen. We just happened to be passing over a thronging plaza of sorts...

Plazas. They have plazas here now. Last time I was here the only thing this planet had was a dark and brooding temple, a small hanger, a thin strip of dying jungle, and far, far too much snow and Noghris....

...and magnified the crowd below.

Bustling didn't even begin to describe the milling lot of horns and vividly colored eyes I saw there, going about their business as if popping back into the timeline after a hiatus of four millennia was quite the natural thing to do.

I couldn't help shuddering again... and with great effort stilled myself when DJ responded with a quick little series of sideslips in the air.

Flac turned to me with a crook of a brow. I smiled shakily, not daring to shrug back.

This planet was full of them. Yeesh... from what I now understood, there were two planets full of them.

Two planets of Sith... like that monster who killed my baby. And their monstrous pets... like the one who killed my husband.

My eyes turned to pig-iron and my mouth pursed into a wilting flower of death. Ever the observant one, Flac spoke up then, wondering what was wrong, and were we going to land or what?

I sighed, the flat and deadly look never leaving my face, and remained silent as snow.

Below, Khar Delba blurred past as DJ entered into her sixth orbit....

It didn't take any Sith magick, any power of the All to sense the little bit of effrontery growing within him for her sake. She let the smile transmutate into one of warmth and love, reaching out now through the Link they shared to touch directly into his heart.

This one is in awe, that is clear enough, my love.

Her smile broadened as she snuggled closer to him, then turned and gave him a lingering kiss, ignoring the wide-eyed look and the nearly inaudible yet utterly instinctive gasp this provoked into coming from Aeylmaar. She turned her gaze back to him, and nodded him on. He just nodded with a gulp of his own, and continued to lead the way.

Soon they came before the great doors leading into the Temple of the Sorcerer's on Khar Delba. Lady Q'utaro's mind couldn't help flashing back to the last time she had confronted them....

They would open only to the evil within a soul. Now they opened to the wisdom they found therein, the purity and honesty of heart and clarity of mind.

They opened at their approach, revealing not dark and dismal shadows and essences of the many darths who had come to appropriate it as their home...

...but rather light and color and glory and wonder.

There before her, the Grand Hall as she remembered it, leading to where the throne sat upon its dias. They entered therein, coming up to and bypassing that throne. She shivered a little, recalling Who it was she had once confronted as he sat upon that very chair of office, elevated above her head there upon the dias.

"I have, at last, arrived. To all the pale Jedi, I lift my face and cry, "Beware! For the Universe is in blackness, and I have touched the Night...."

She drew even closer to her love and Lord, closing her eyes against the memory of that One Day which indeed had started her upon the long road, a road filled with death and dishonor, yet alight with love and small glories, a road which led her to this one place and time.

Now she blinked, realizing that the Sith had led them through the double doors in the back of the Grand Hall, and into the narrow stone passage beyond. He was continuing on down that corridor, lit only by the gentle flicker of wall sconces, when she brought Recinis to a halt before a particular door. Her hand reached out to lay quietly against the smooth wood of it, covered with runes and glyphs, no longer draped with moss and vine.

"I-- I would like to stay in this room, if I might," she whispered quietly, turning to Aeylmaar, who was hurrying back to her, clear protest on his face.

"But, Chosen One, there are far better--"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand, as well as the suggestion that her companions be given those better accommodations, letting the Glyph flare just the slightest. He bit off his words, and bowed his head.

"Very well, I shall inform Lord Aelvedaar where you are staying. The Dining Hall is--"

Once again she cut him off, this time with a smile.

"I remember where it is, my young friend," she said softly. Then she nodded his dismissal, and turning away led her husband into the room she had chosen.

It was like a step back into Time... yet somehow not. Still the color scheme was the smoky grays and dusky violets and the lighter shades of pale, all created by Wicked to offset her own coloration. But the brooding aura of darkness was gone. In its stead, gentle shadows danced and flickered in the flames she now brought into life in the large stone fireplace, a kind of darkness that gives soft curvature to the harsh, rather than carrying that harshness on its back.

Moving ahead now, she went to the back of the room, where deeply colored velvet curtains were drawn. They opened before her, to reveal an immense stone balcony.

Deja vu.

She stepped out onto that balcony, coming to it's edge, laying her slender hands against the stone balustrade which ran along its perimeter, and leaned out.

Below her: buildings and roadways, trod upon by the occasional inhabitant of this city, going about some business so late in the waning day.

The last time she had done this, it was to view the rustling shadows of the encroaching jungle. To hear the wild calls and whispers produced by its denizens. To turn away to that bed... only to be surprised as a Noghri had leapt lightly over that balustrade, coming to her in her first night here, his words so enigmatic at the time, yet now realized as being the true harbinger of all which had followed in its wake:

"...Feelingssss... you... don't... know. ... ... Ssssoon... find... perfection...."

She smiled a little wistfully, then drew back from the balcony railing and turned back to the room.

For that was the Past... and waiting there for her was Recinis, her Present and her Future.

She smiled as she came up to him, holding out her arms as she came into his responding embrace, and there lingered, letting his essence wash away all traces of those shadowy memories of a day which occurred nearly three years in her past...

..but which had, in the end, led her to him.

Shayla smiled to him, nodding her head once in a show of appreciation. "Thank you for your hospitality," she said kindly, "We know the way from here."

Aeylmaar merely nodded once in response then departed. Even as he did so, Shayla pulled Erik into their chambers, closing the door behind them. She pulled him to herself, kissing him softly. Then she pulled back, turning in his arms to take in the purple satins and silks surrounding them as well as the rather large and luxurious bed draped with black velvet curtains.

Shayla turned and batted her eyes at him. "Beats the honeymoon suite we had before," she mused, pulling his lips to hers once again. He wrapped his own arms about her and leaned in, for a long and wonderful moment simply letting her drink his warmth in. Then, after a few moments of this, she pulled back from him a bit, still entangled in his embrace. "Hey, I hate to break this up...

...but I'm starved. Eating for two, you know," she quipped.

"Starved...and a bit curious?" Erik queried, quirking a brow.

Shayla's grin grew lopsided. "You know me."

He kissed her atop the head once then let her move out of his embrace snuggle into his side. Then he waved his hand expansively in front of them as if to say, Lead on, Madame.

And with no further ado she did precisely that, her greeny-blue eyes drinking the sights and sounds surrounding them in with keen interest as she did so.

"What is it?" he growled, not wishing to remove his lips from Kreesha's enticing lips, nor his hands from her even more enticing body. He cocked an ear, and the answer came wailing into it.

"My Lord, pardon the intrusion, but-- but it is Master Rean, and the entire Kri'faxx family...

"They are dead...."

Roan merely snarled, then smiled darkly. His eyes opened, seeing nothing but those of his love's. They glittered, passing even darker meaning back and forth between them.

"And Lord Aelvedaar--?" he growled, now pulling back reluctantly and looking to the yet unopened door. The sound of shuffling footsteps came from the other side.

"He-- he seems to be-- to be gone, M'Lord," came the somehow fearful reply.

Ankrist Roan started at that. Then his eyes slit.

Indeed, this was unexpected. For he had truly thought the Aelvedaar coming forth into this time period would be the more powerful of the two, as rightfully belonging in the same timeline as his peoples, and thus being the one to take hold over his doppelganger who had been brought this far into the future before the time for it had been decreed.

But clearly, he had misjudged his... Brother.

"I shall see to matters in due time," he growled in finality, keeping his head cocked until the fading footsteps declared the exiting of the servant who had come to him with the news. He turned back to Kreesha, who laid before him in sultry expectation.

Then, the movement swift and filled with nearly feline grace, he rolled onto his back, setting her once more atop his strong and muscular frame.

"You may continue, my Lady," he breathed up at her, something about his aspect beginning to lose itself in shivers of glorious expectation as he lowered every defense within himself, even as she once more lowered her lips to meet his.

There it was, just has SerKe had expected it to be. The 'Deceased Star' had just exited hyperspace a few thousande kilometers from Khar Del'ba. SerKe's sensors were picking up something strange though. lifeforms. There hundreds of thousandes of lifeforms down there.But I thought they were all gone!

SerKe grimaced a bit, but shruged it off. perhaps he would find his answers more quickly now. Picking up the signitures of a couple of spacecraft, He decided to land right next to them. After all, perhaps they who owned the only few spacecraft he could locate here would be able tot help him. Only those who knew of the Sith would know where this planet was. As his ship touched down, he looked about. He was stumped as to where to go as he exited the the ship, walking forward. He just started walking, taking note that there were no modern wepaonry here. It was as if these people came from the past...almost like someone brought them here.The Sith? The whole of the civilization, perhaps?

SerKe was utterly confused. From what little tidbits he knew of, he knew that there should be large temples. Then it hit him. The spacecraft...surely someone who flew a spacecraft here would have some type of modern equipment. So, he used his forearm apparatus to see if he could lock onto a powersource small enough to be a blaster or other modern peice of technology. And so he did.

He followed it for a while, until he was outside a rather large building. Ornate...a temple perhaps. SerKe grinned, his lionine features were quivering with anticipation. Perhaps his answers were to be had soon. And so, he walked into the temple...

...in her and Erik's general direction. Shayla could sense Erik tense a bit as he too noticed this.

Well, Shayla thought, Sooner or later someone was going to notice that the planet was inhabitated when once it wasn't. Didn't figure it'd be this soon but we're gonna have to start explaining eventually...

She set down the meat on her fork and turned to the approaching young man. He radiated an aura of total curiosity and keen interest. Still, the fact that anyone had found their way to Khar Delba, an uncharted planet, dictated a need for caution.

Perhaps this fellow was simply lost. No need to react to hastily.

“May I help you?” she queried quietly as she stood, waiting then to see what the young man might have to say. Behind her Erik stood as well, no doubt feeling a little bit wary concerning this sudden newcomer who had so easily homed in on she and Erik of all the peoples now inhabiting this remote Sith world.

He had spoken with her, actually spoken with the Chosen One! Oh, but it was all too exciting; to speak with her and to have the honor of being the first Sith of his world to answer to a command of hers!

He grinned as he hurried along, hoping that the rooms he had found for the people who had come with her were to their satisfaction. They were the very best the Temple had to offer; the last thing he wanted to do was to disappoint Her or any of her envoy.

After taking many differing twists and turns, sometimes going up stairs, sometimes down, he came at length to a tiny and somehow final set of steps. He climbed them quickly, coming to a trembling halt before the ornately carved and bejeweled set of doors at the top. They were covered with names of all manner, most of them being preceded by the term "darth." He frowned in wonderment, not understanding the implications of that completely, yet knowing they were a title of some sort for in each case the word was capitalized. His eyes slid down to one name in particular, written in a more simple manner, unadorned by imagery or jewel:

Darth Wicked.

Something about that name made him shiver as he raised a hand to knock upon his father's doors. They oiled quietly open, revealing the imposing form of Lord Aelvedaar, who only smiled at him before turning back to the Octahedron into which he had been staring.

"There are more to come, my son," he intoned in his deep bass voice, now turning to cast a molten-eyed gaze upon his new heir. "But we shall discuss these things with our new arrivals in the morning.

"For now...."

He trailed off, placing both hands upon Aeylmaar's shoulders, and squeezed them. A glint of what could only be humor flashed through those volcanic eyes of his.

"We have yet another guest."

He nodded to Aeylmaar, who heaved a sigh. Then without another word being spoken, he turned and departed his father's presence, to find the newcomer and accommodate him as best he could.

she shivered slightly in pleasure as she felt his hands trace down her spine, before finding there way to gently massage her lower back...

Suddenly she forced her lips tightly upon his, now allowing even the slightest breath to come through either of them, before she pulled those lips away so they could find there way to whisper into his ear, praying that the previous kiss had been strong enough that he would not starve without her pressence there.
" My Lord... I desire something... i desire you to give to me a gift... I want a necklace, My lord, a necklace which has chains made of the ground and compacted bones of Lord Aelvedaar... but this is not all my Lord, I also wish you to give me a ring carved from his horns, and set upon it a brillent ruby, a ruby which holds a red to match the burning fire of love you feel for me... This ruby shall be inbedded within the larges, and sharpest of Aelvedaars teeth..."
as he words died away momentarily her tongue crept forth to lick his earlobe playfully, before she continued, "may i have it my lord? will you give it to me?

I promise i will-" her voice paused momentarily as her lips came to kiss his ear gently, and send a shiver of expectance through his body, "I will earn it, and repay you for it 100 fold its value, I swear it my love..."

finaly he broke and lost himself in her gaze, being reminded of the first time he had had that pleasure, before he had hid within from the pain of his arm, now he simply basked in the radiance of pure love he found, no reason in doing so save the utter joy it brought him...

"That young sorcerer views you as a hero, a being so great that you can not possibly be true... Ah, how wrong he is... No, you are no such thing..."

He smiled slightly, with a little wink, "For such titles are so small in comparison to what you are, Ah My Love, Jharmeen, perhaps the sith were not brought back by your hands alone, but it is you who made my-" he paused for a moment before shaking his head and continueing "you who made OUR people able to return...

Now, you may finaly take a deserved break, so much have you done, so much you have been forced to endure... Words can not describe what you mean to me Jharmeen, I pray this will remind you once more of what you are..." quickly he smiled and gave to her a loving kiss, meanwhile reaching out between the link, and rising memories of all the previus joy they had spent together... Nights spent gazing at the stars, walks through gardens, time spent quickly together within the cold of empty planets...

Slowly he allowed them to come appart, "Jharmeen, while there is much to still do, finaly, dispite what others may end in thinking, we now have all the time in the world, And it is time for you to take a well deserved break from reality..."

He smiled gently and pulled her close in a hug once more, and turning to gaze out the wonderous windows, all the while drawing her down with him gently upon the bed, holding her close and once more renewing his eternal vow in a quiet whisper, "forever Jharmeen, I love you with all i have to give, take from it freely, my heart is yours, i feel them... The still beat as one."

"Well...It all depends. First off...I thought the Sith were long gone. I wonder, how are they all here? And secondly...Is there a hall of records or something of that nature where I can look up family lineages?"

Indeed, Jharmeen, that conscious part of herself spoke up in a bit of a lazy manner, struggling to say its piece before giving way altogether before that rising tide now coming from Recinis. Indeed, now is the time to rest, and bask in the glories of victory.

For he is right. Victory is won.

That little portion of herself now turned to the Beast, who was even now rising within her, a questioning whimper issuing from deep within it. One part of her psyche raised a smiling finger to another.

That epiphany you realized is true, isn't it? All that matters is the end....

Something within her gave a silent nod of affirmation at that, then died away, leaving yet another spot within her being for Recinis to fill with the wealth of emotion he was sending to her. She shivered in growing pleasure, reaching out to him a bit more strongly, allowing that additional bit to seek haven within his own essence, to there share with him the growing feelings within her.

But there was yet a stubborn little spot within. The Beast, not content to settle down before the onslaught of love which normally muzzled it, cocked a figurative head deep within her heart and pondered. Another whimper broke from its jaws, and rose within her to strike with the slice of one razor-edged paw that conscious part of her mind.

The enormity of what had happened hit her then. Really and truly struck deeply within her soul. For time had brought a strange familiarity to what she had become and the task which had been laid before her; now that task was complete, and suddenly exclaimed its existence in loud words of reality.

The Sith had been brought four thousand years into the future.

They really, really were here.

Of course she knew this had happened; on one level of consciousness she laughed at herself for this surprised redundancy now flowing through her. But the Beast knew better, for it was he who guarded her heart. He now shook his head, growling a little in fright, and with a great effort sent a worrisome thought into her head.

Take a break, as Recinis has said? One earned...?

No, not merely a break. A... a conclusion. An ending. You have served your purpose, Jharmeen JhinDar Q'utaro. The Destiny is fulfulled, through your mere existence and interaction with transpiring events. The Sith have returned to the Universe denied them, and what in that universe shall you do now?

Something cold iced her veins, shooting through the Link and into Recinis's being. She struggled to reduce that icy arrow, but to no avail. There was nothing for it but allow it egress from her, for it was a part of her and they promised to share themselves with each other, every tiny bit.

From the education given to her by her Sire she knew the Sith to be a magickal peoples, and a proud one, one who once held the entire Galaxy in their collective hands. One who once ruled that galaxy, in fact. Ruling peoples as a matter of necessity generate their own rules and laws to guide them and those beneath their rule, this was also common knowledge. But...

Where did she now fit into those rules? And more importantly, where did Recinis? The rightful heir to the Dark Lord title; something had happened in the past to take it from his lineage, and place it into that of Roan's. What was it? How would he be received by a people who were firmly convinced that it was Roan who was the true Dark Lord of the Warrior clan?

Another thought struck: what about Jharu? How would the Sith view him, to her knowledge the first non-pureblooded Sith to be brought into being? And son of the one now wearing the golden tattoo of the Dark Lord of Warriors upon his wrist...?

The ice reached out within her, sucking the heat from what it touched, expanding itself a bit. She shivered....

...then stopped as the Beast took another surprised look about itself, threw back its head, and howled.

You are not yet finished, that howl seemed to say. Neither you nor your love can truly rest. For another destiny awaits you...

His being the capturing yet again of his rightful title...

And you, with your adept and her husband, indeed with your sister as well although she must be treated delicately for a bit... you to act as moderator, as diplomat, as the envoy who introduce this wonderful event to the galaxy, that all realize the rumors and dark hints which burgeoned throughout the past four millennia regarding these peoples were indeed nothing more than mere dreamfluff and myth.

The Beast gave a satisfied little nod, secure in its continued existence within her. Then it lay down, clawed paws cradling the kernal within her which held that image of herself and her family...

Her family. A family given to her by the Sith.

...and allowed the love and growing tides of pleasure to put itself to sleep.

Indeed, it was this one who had buoyed him up through those long three years, the knowledge that She lay at the end of a destiny he had insidiously woven into the one created by Aelvedaar, and to his own never-ending great and darkened joy one which that Dark Lord had never had the slightest inkling to have existed...

...until it had been far too late. The machine of Time had moved in his favor, moaning and grumbling as its wheels turned.

But he had won, hadn't he. True, that victory was at the sacrifice of many beings created from his own flesh and blood, but--

He paused with that nearly unconscious thought, then gripped Kreesha more tightly to him.

They were not worthy of the name Roan, and thus deserved to be treated merely as the pawns they were.

It didn't matter. All that did was this glorious being astride him, who was doing everything in her considerable power to fan into wondrous life the growing flames of desire and passion within him. All else cooled in comparison: the deaths in the temple, the worried and frightened emotions now filling that temple, even the apocalyptic announcement he had yet to make to his own people.

All of it paled, and would wait until he had reduced his hungers for his Lady to more manageable levels.

Three years was a long time....

Now he broke away from her a bit, a loud guffaw of dark laughter exploding from him.

"Is that all you wish for, my Lady?" he growled, his turquoise eyes gleaming in the dark of the night which had fallen to curtain their passions, for indeed he had let the entire day flow away beneath the pure intoxication that was Her.

"Aye, I shall see to this gift for you." He reached up, his lips locking on her throat, holding there as his tongue ran languorously up and down it. His grip tightened upon her flesh.

"And to match the ensemble... twin armlets, glorious ones befitting the Lady which you are, and wrought from the bones of Rean. Set likewise with rubies, held in his teeth. I shall see to its implementation in the morning, my love. For whatever you desire, it is yours, and more.

"But for now...."

He grew serious then, drawing her down to him, taking her with one hand by one horn, the other cupping the back of her head, grasping those luscious flaxen tresses, holding her head to him as she continued with her promise of payment to him.

...when her keen eyes picked up on something. Or rather two somethings, mostly hidden by hair, but definitely there.

Horns. Was this guy part Sith? Or somehow related? He sure seemed to KNOW something about the Sith, if not much...

Finally Shayla answered him. "I think you will better find the answers that you seek in someone who is more knowledgeable about such things indeed," she replied.

Then, with the wave of her hand she lead him onward, seeking out to see if she could find that sense that was Lord Aelvedaar...

...when she at length instead crossed paths with Aeylmaar.

"Excuse me," she said, waiting for him to come to a halt and then motioning to the newcomer. "This one has some questions regarding the Sith. I am certain that you will be able to assist him in finding what he seeks, for I am but learning myself."

The Dining Hall... perhaps hunger had driven this unknown newcomer to somehow stumble upon it.

Turning in his tracks, he went back the way he had come, exiting the Grand Hall through the double doors at its back, re-entering the stone corridor once again, and there a few paces beyond the door leading into the Dining Hall he ran into the others who had come with the Chosen One and her consort.

A newcomer indeed was with them.

He came up to them with a respectful bow. Then he straightened.

"I trust your accommodations are satisfactory?" he asked Shayla and Erik, nodding his ram's horns one again to them as he waited for a reply. Yet his amber eyes could not help but slide to this newcomer, who looked so strangely... Sith, yet somehow not.

He now bowed his head to the stranger, striving to push away his rising curiosity regarding his unfamiliar manner of dress, as well as the strange items hanging upon his belt; indeed, hanging upon the belts of the others as well.

"I am to lead you to accommodations of your own," he said smoothly, then pulled back a bit to address the little group as a whole.

"All your questions shall be answered tomorrow; for now, it is time to rest and refresh and regain your strength. For all of you are new to Choyapenthe; we beg you partake of our hospitality until the time comes that my Lord shall call you before him."

He then fell into a somewhat anxious sort of silence, and merely half turned, indicating the stone passageway ahead with a wave of a polite and clawed hand.

Her lips drew even tighter to his as she devoted herself to the great love which was going to give her such a gift...

At her back she could feel one of his hands running through her hair, sending shivers through her... As she gave more and more of herself to him she almost growled to here a nock at the door, and the expectant voice of Errizal calling out to them politly, he was a young warrior whom she did not like at all... He was young, and cocky... She could easily sense that he saught to find the skill and power to overthrow her lord... But she would destroy him when the time came right should he try such a thing...

as the calling continued she felt roan begin to stir from his acceptance of her deeds upon him, but she quickly put a hand upon his chest, and shoved him back to lay flat upon his back, shaking her head slowly... "i will deal with this one Lord..."

She smiled wickedly for a moment, before allowing a much sweater one to splay upon her features...

Quietly arrising, allowing roan one more kiss before turning to open the door and address the calling warrior.

"excuse me my la-" his voice paused as his eyes met her body, and quickly turned away, not daring risk she have him killed for viewing her in such a manor.

"what is it?" her voice seemed to come out a soothing pure, just begging for him to give her reason to die by the silver dagger she always kept upon her belt, which was even now upon her, having only bothered to place that about her before answering his call.

"I... The warriors M'lady... we are waiting...for you and Lord Roan to give us your orders before we seek out our missions..."
he fell quiet then, eyes darting about wildly, quickly taking in the beauty before him, without allowing her to see it...

Her hand clenched tightly about the dagger at her side for a moment, considering the possibilities of slaying him right now...

Finaly she spoke in harsh tones, "Such things are not for a warrior to decide, you will recieve what we give when the time comes, Never knock upon this door again, for my lord would be happy to give your life to S'slan."

with that the door shut, and she removed her belt, quickly returning to roan she practicly leapt upon the bed, using her fierce agility to catch him as a preditor catches its prey, causing them to both slide upon the floor next to the bed...

But by the time they hit that floor, she had already renewed her acts of paying him for the gifts she so eagerly awaited...

As she continued, she smiled and gave Ankrist a teasing lick, noting the he had not even paid heed to the fact that no longer upon the soft folds of there bed...

She smiled giving his lips another quick lick before speaking, "I want his life as well My Lord... I want to watch your blade enter him inch by inch, before finaly allowing him to be fed to S'slan in shame..."

They entered the temple, and Jharu found his way to the dinning hall, making a plate for himself, before looking at Ghrr and giving her a light nodd, which sent her off on her own into the jungle so she might find food, and remove the tension in her muscles by running about freely...

SerKe looked to the Sith in front of him, about the same age as he, SerKe wagered.

"Listen, whoever can answer my question, please, bring me to them. I only have a few, and then I'll be on my way. After all...I have jobs to do."

SerKe looked to Shayla as he walked with the three, and took note of her emotions. He could sense that she thought...that he...didn't belong...

"Well, just in case you are wondering...

He moved his hair to show the two 1" twirled horns upon his brow.

It was all he could do to keep from snorting his amusement at the sight of the tiny horns which protruded through the mane of hair atop this stranger's head. Then he composed himself as the words the man had spoken sunk into him.

The pair coming with the Chosen One were polite enough, but this other.... Perhaps he was of the Warrior clan, visiting from K'eel Doba, bringing news of one thing or another? A diplomat to speak on behalf of Lord Roan, perhaps; he certainly did have that certain air about him which all warriors did, that aura of self-assurance and lording it over one....

He couldn't help but frown, his amber eyes darkening to smoky topaz as his thoughts continued within him.

That clan should be more grateful to ours, as well as to the weaponry one, he couldn't help but scowl. For where would they be without the wonderful blades forged by the Weapon Masters? How well would they defend us from harm without the magicks of we Sorcerers to aid them?

The threatening cloud flicked through his countenance like one passing across a blue sky, only momentarily darkening it but prompting no true storm to occur. He smoothed his features back to bland servitude, and bowed to them again.

"Lord Aelvedaar is not seeing visitors until the morrow," he announced, a touch smugly. "You will be called for... at his bidding."

Then his smile broadened into a genuine one.

"Come," he said to SerKe, motioning with one hand. "Let me show you to quarters, where you may... ahh, take the opportunity to formulate your questions of our Dark Lord. For his time is precious as well; you may sleep or not, as is your wont. But if you wish to speak with him, you must wait until at least the morrow."

He stopped then, halting the group in their tracks. Then he nodded to Shayla and Erik.

"I trust you have found your accommodations satisfactory?" he repeated his former query of them, gracing them with a half bow. "Have you yet supped; if so, would you be desiring an after-dinner wine? We can be most generous in that arena."

She paused for a mere moment, flicking her gaze to Erik then back to Aeylmaar. "--would you care to join us? I have to admit, I'm taken aback now that I'm surrounded by a living Sith planet. I'd love to learn more about it if you have the time..."

She paused at that, her greeny-blues radiating curiosity and interest...

"I would be happy... and proud, to sit and drink with you!" he exclaimed happily. He waved a hand back the way they had come.

"If you would be so good as to return to the Dining Hall, there is a small lounge at its back. A curving stone wall hides it; there is a small opening covered by hanging strings of platlah nuts. Enter there, and I will join you momentarily."

With that he bowed, then nodding again to SerKe led him onward through the depths of the Temple. At length he stopped before a door which he opened to reveal a bedchamber. Large it was, containing a fireplace and bed covered with skins and furs as befit a warrior. Weaponry of Sith and alien origin graced the walls, which likewise were adorned with the mounted heads of animals taken from many worlds.

A strangely striped and spotted hide lay on the stone floor; it soon glowed with the dance of flames as Aeylmaar waved a hand and a fire swooshed into life in the fireplace.

He turned to SerKe with a little shrug.

"I trust you will find this room to your liking, sir," he purred quietly, something dark flashing in the depths of his eyes. He then turned to leave, but forced himself to stop. A quiet sigh broke the silence as he forced himself to be polite.

For the sake of my father....

"Perhaps you would deign to join us for some wine?" he finally offered, finishing with, "We shall be in the small club at the back of the Dining Hall. I trust you remember your way there?"

With that he bowed once more, then left, hurrying back to where he had left Shayla and Erik. In a few moments more he had entered the Dining Hall, striding quickly past the various Sith of the Temple and court, who were all partaking of a late meal and whispering to themselves of the strange goings on of late. Their vivid, multi-colored eyes raked him as he moved past them, eyeing his new tattoo, seeing where he was headed. All whispers came to a halt...

...only to pick up behind him as he entered the club.

His eyes dilated quickly in the dim lighting, finding where the two had taken a seat, and soon he was sliding into a hide-covered stool at their table. He made a particular move with one hand, and before the newcomers could scarcely blink a lissome young Sith female was beside them, setting strangely shaped glasses down before them. A deep and richly green liquid sparkled there, filled with a strange golden tinge.

Aeylmaar bowed his head, and took up his drink.

"I hope you like this," he opened, taking a sip and then sighing as he set the glass down again. "It's a very good vintage."

He leaned forward a bit, now pinning the pair with an eagerness he couldn't restrain any longer.

"Tell me," he said in a soft but excited voice. "Who exactly are you, and how did you come to be with the Chosen One? Are you her hand-maiden and page?"

As he entered the place he found himself lost in a darker lighting looking about he finaly found where she had gone, approuchign moments after Aeylmaar had sat down...

As he reached there little table he looked pleadingly at shayla for a moment, "Can i stay here with you? I dont have anyone else to talk to... Please?"

Or... at least to rooms of his own....

...when he stopped. The club of the Temple of the Sorcerer's fell away as his vision tunnelled, his eyes now pinning to the tattoo gracing the young Sith's wrist. His eyes flicked to his own tattoo, then back to Jharu's.

He frowned.

I thought this lad was with the consort of the Chosen One? Perhaps he too is from Lord Roan, as is the other newcomer to our midst...

"I am Shayla Petrolu Kartan," she said. "This is my husband Erik. I was in training to become a Jedi," she explained then, a somewhat smug look crossing her features in tandem with the word Jedi, "when I came to be with Graysith by nothing other than the wll of the All; Erik joined us later as a pilot and ally, as well as a Force-user himself. It is my great honor to be Graysith's Adept and Chosen Sister."

She pursed her lips then, her own curiosities mounting, her keen greeny-blues noting the mark upon Aeylmaar's wrist.

This one was an Heir...

"Are you Heir to the Sorceror Clan?" she asked curiously, falling silent at that then taking another sip of her wine.

Gray--sith?

"Ahh," he finally answered, understanding clearing his eyes. "You refer to the Chosen One. You-"

He cut himself off abruptly, his amber eyes widening further.

"You-- you are Adept and... and Chosen Sister to... to Her?" he gasped, quietly enough, but with every ounce of respect in him. No sooner had the words left his lips than he leapt to his feet, and bowed deeply at the waist.

"My Lady," he murmured quietly; then, casting her a somewhat more nervous glance than before, he reseated himself and reached for his wine. An entirely too large a swig of it disappeared down his throat. He blinked a bit, then remembered he had been asked a question.

His eyes raked his tattoo.

"Y- yes, I-- I am the heir to the Sorcerers," he stammered; then pride filled his breast and he firmed. "I was Adept to Lord Aelvedaar; he rescued me from a horrid life in the weaponry clan, brought me here, and took me under his wing. It is only recently that this great honor has befallen me, and that I have been declared his Chosen Son."

Then, yeilding to a curiosity of his own, Erik quirked a brow and laid a question out on the table. "Could you tell us a bit more about the Clans of the Sith and about the governing system?"

Falling silent at that, he waited to see what Aeylmaar might reveal to them. And after all, if they were going to be here helping Lord Aelvedaar, Recinis, and Graysith they'd need to have a good understanding of these things...

He would do anything for her. He loved her that much... although, until recently, he had never let it show.

But now, the three year hiatus had straightened matters out for him; he had seen how foolish it was of him to remain so aloof, so standoffish to those very feelings which gave him strength. Someone had indeed once said: "The strongest of all are those who can take it upon themselves to be weak;" he had laughed when he read that, not understanding it in the slightest.

Now he did.

He growled against Kreesha's throat, his one hand crushing her to him, his other... busy implementing certain pleasurable acts upon her shivering body.

"Shall I give the prey chase now, my love?" he whispered hotly against her flesh. "Do you desire his blood now, in this chamber, that we wallow and drink of it together? I saw how he looked at you; I would have slain him on the spot had he not, for the vessel in which you dwell is the closest thing to being a goddess one could ever attain; such sacrilege is not worthy of a warrior. Yet I saw how he looked at you... I shall force him to gouge out his own eyes and present them to you, that they shall always be upon you... do you desire this, my love? Does this increase the flame in your heart?

"Or perhaps..." He trailed off, raining fierce kisses upon her throat, following the lithe lines of her neck down to the hollow of her shoulder, down, across, around, laying his lips wherever they might land, his hands gripping her fiercely, pressing her to him as his hot words continued against her body.

"Perhaps I shall command that he gnaw out his own tongue, for the impertinence he has brought to you this night. What say you, my Lady? For you have only to command it... the inch by inch sliding of blade into his sorry flesh is a waste of good Sith metal...."

His words trailed off then into an indecipherable murmuring as, gripping her yet more tightly to him, he proceeded to bring her to the soaring heights of delight that he knew only they could find together. The blankets blocked them from the universe in general then as, inspired by the heat of his own words, he took her up and led her into a totally different one.

And at the coming of the dawn... the heraldry of a new Sith Empire, one led by one, the Ultimate Dark Lord over all...

What did I do? Why was I apparently "brought back from the past"? So many questions...but no answers whatsoever. All these years, training, forging blades of steel and making blasters and sheilds and spare engine parts, earning millions of credits, and killing so many along the way. What was it all for? The Sith, Long gone, and I find out I AM one. I mean, why in the frell was I made to come back here. Why is it that I, SerKe Krif'axx Da'San are made to be here in the now only to realize I am nothing more than a clone. At least I can take comfort in the fact that there are no more of myself. The Kamino destroyed the original blood sample as soon as they got the information the needed from it. But still...why did I want to be killed in the past, only to come back now? Who am I really? What is my destiny? Oh for the ever loving galaxy, if only this nightly torture would cease!

SerKe lowered his head into his hands. For all he was and all he had become, he still hadn't a clue as to who he was. Like a flower torn asunder, He felt so incomplete. And a tear, pure and clear, fell from his face to the floor, a tiny pool of radiance in which he could see all his hopes and dreams...

Reaching out almost cautiosly, he took hold of the glass and brought it to his lips, sniffing first, before taking a small swallow, pausing a moment, and then taking another before putting it down and shaking his head slowly.

What IS that stuff? It tastes so WIERD...

his hand reached out then to push the glass away from him, his head shaking once more, "i dont think Mom would be to happy to know i was drinking that... She didnt seem to like it to much when Jasyn did..."

He then turned to shayla and turned his smile on high beams for a moment before turning to Aeylmaar and speaking cheerfully, "So now your the hier to the sorcerers clan... Thats neat... Do you think you could teach me about sith magick sometime? I dont really understand it...my father told me a little about it... But im kind of in the dark beside knowing that it can take shape in many different way's..."

And that had been the last of his words as they drifted through the wonderfully strong currents of there love, finding themselves within eachother all over again...

Finaly they had found themselves quietly simmering in the warmth of there love, holding eachother tightly, simply looking into the others eyes, bestowing kisses upon eachother at seeming random...

He couldnt help but smile brightly at her, for she was all he had in this universe, her and thier son, both of them made up his entire universe, and he would do anything to make them both live happy and wonderful lives...

"Jharmeen... We have both come far from where our lives started... You have gone from a human existance to one of sith, and i have taken a stroll through the boundries of time which no mortal could ever cheat...
It has become clear to me, that none of this would have been worth it, had you not been here to recieve me... I could not have ever found that this time could be my home as much as the time i came from, without you here to accept me..."
He then gave her another kiss and snuggled closer to her wrapping the soft blanket even more about them he sighed as he allowed himself to float through the pool of happiness she provided for him... Her mere existance brought him more joy then ever he could have found otherwise...
unable to hold back the impulse, he kissed her again before whispering a vow which he simply could not speak to her enough, "with all my heart i love you Jharmeen..."

"Indeed, how silly I was, my dearest love," she whispered through the kisses she was bestowing upon him. "To think that the return of your people to their glorious reunion with life would marshall the end of my purpose; I have been mindless to ever have once entertained the thought."

Now her eyes grew serious, and she lightly pulled upon his horns, pulling his face away from her that she could meet his eyes with hers. They glistened with love in the dim green light now surrounding them.

"For you and I are indeed two unique to our circumstances; where we have each other, therein lies our destinies, irretrievably intertwined. How long it has been, since we last shared the road to that destiny with each other...."

She pulled him to her again, hugging him closely, feeling the synchronized beating of their hearts. Then her eyes roved away from him, and took in the cool green jungle mosses upon which they were laying. A slow smile creased her lips; she turned her head now, catching his earlobe between her teeth, lightly tickling with her breath as she now whispered,

"I have another world to share with you...."

A simple act; she closed her eyes. The Glyph flared into brilliant life...

...and quite suddenly the cool green shadows were replaced by even colder turquoises and teals and icy, icy whites of pristine snow. For suddenly, the jungle around them had faded into nonexistence, taken over by the sudden encroachment of the pure beauty of a glacier; all about them the shadows reflected themselves, born upon the shining surfaces which everywhere they looked revealed images of themselves, arms enthralled with each other. Darker blues deep within spoke of the almost living heart of the ice, ice with strange and beauteous channel and swirl, crevass and tunnel, and sharp and musical icicles which hung over their heads. They let out wonderful notes of sound as their breath condensed, then echoed off of them, bringing them into a magickal pseudo-life all of their own.

He drained his first glass, and set it upon the tray of the departing young lady before turning to Jharu.

"The mark you bear upon your wrist denotes you as heir to the Warrior's clan, young one," he smiled. "I may show you a few simple moves, but I'm afraid that the mysteries of my clan must remain within it."

His smile broadened, and he shifted to a more comfortable position.

Then just as suddenly as it had came, the anger subsided and he looked down at his bleeding hand...

His eyes went wide and he snatched up a few napkins and wrapped them about his hand. "ooww.... That hurts..."

He then returned his once more wide eyes to the sorcerer, "What would make you think i was the son of...roan anyway?"
he couldnt help but wonder what it was that he simple did not have all of the information to see...
But that line of thought didnt last long as he turned his eyes downward to his hand. "ouch... That really really hurts... I have to remember not to do that anymore..."

"Here, let me help you with that," she said kindly, drawing upon the Force to channel some of its healing energies to Jharu's hand. Granted, she'd need some time if she was going to completely heal the wound--she could only speed up the rate of healing-- but she could at least put a stop to the bleeding fairly quickly.

Keeping Jharu's hand in hers and continuing to pour healing energies into it, she looked to him, sensing his confusion. "Roan is the Dark Lord of the Warrior Clan at this time, Jharu," she said quietly and simply, uttering not another word.

But yet a small voice in the back of her mind added something to that one statement. He was the Dark Lord of the Warrior Clan...

...for now...

Why DO you still call her Graysith, Shayla? While Graysith she is, truly she is Jharmeen Q'utaro, your friend and chosen sister...

...so why do you call one you are so close to by a name that is not representative of her true self?

Shayla refocused her gaze on Jharu. "You're right," she said aloud. "I should be calling her by the name that is true to her, rather than by the name that only denotes her station. For the Universe may come to know Graysith; but I have had the pleasure of coming to know Jharmeen Qu'taro, a true friend...

...and a true sister."

With that she fell silent for a long moment, her eyes soft with unspoken dedication and love. Then she turned her attentions to Jharu's other statements. "And you should know that while the Sith are now 4,000 years into the future that does not change the fact that Roan is Dark Lord of the Warrior clan...at least for now."

Then she turned to Aeylmaar, who seemed to be taking all of this in with great interest. Shayla wondered...

If the truth were to be told, however, his heart seemed to have leapt into his throat... taking off from its accustomary place behind his sternum to lodge itself there the moment the young Sith had fired back at him in that flash of brief anger.

The lad is a... Q'utaro?

He turned his amber eyes back to Jharu, who was sitting nursing his wounded hand, a somewhat contrite look upon his face for his quick outburst. For a long moment he just stared at him, as though never seeing him before. Then he turned back to Shayla.

"The Q'utaro lineage was a long and respected one, which led our clan through many generations," he said smoothly. "That is, up until the last of the Q'utaros, who was Dark Lord Kel'ren Q'utaro. He was the wisest and the strongest Warrior our peoples had ever seen; he died leaving no heirs, and the inheritence flowed into another lineage, the family Roan. I believe they were cousins."

He turned his head back to the young Jharu, and merely stared at him in silence.

If this boy is a Q'utaro... then who is this Recinis, the one he claims to be his father? Where did he come from... and more importantly, in all those years past, years which flowed by before he himself had been born, or even his father's father....

Where had he been, so obviously hiding from his heritage... and why?

He pulled his musings away from the dark road down which they had been wandering, and focused once again on Jharu's question.

"And as far as why your mother is referred to as Graysith," he stated, reaching for another sip of his wine. He held the glass then, turning it round and round between his long and sensual fingers, as though seeking the answer within the depths of the emerald liquid held within it.

"This is unknown to me," he finished at length. He set his glass down upon the table with a little snick.

"Perhaps it is something only known to your mother... and indeed, possibly to your father as well. For to all the knowledge I have gleaned from my Lord and father, she has only been referred to as the Chosen Daughter of the Sith."

SerKe wandred into the back club, sitting quietly at their table, a nod to them all.
He decided that lurking in the room given to him was not prudent...no need to sit there and sulk. He had things he needed to know, so why not know them now? Pouring himself a cup of the brandy, he took along drought, licking his lionine lips lightly at the warmth it provided.

This one says he has come from a far place.... he mused, the knowledge of just where he was at the moment a living entity in his eyes. Then he calmed himself, reining in that brief flame, for his father had not yet deigned to reveal to his peoples yet of the enormity of what had occurred to them.

He bowed his head in apology to SerKe, rising briefly to his feet as he did.

"I am pleased you joined us, good sir," he said, smoothly regaining his seat, but never letting his eyes stray from those gleaming feline ones before him. He waved a hand toward the bartender, and waited as he once more sent another round of drinks to their table.

He then lifted his wine goblet to his lips, letting it pause there while he inhaled the heady bouquet coming from the sultry liquid within it.

"Kri'faxx?" he said at length. "Hmmm... while I am not certain in particular, the name does ring a bell. I believe this name is connected to the Weaponry Clan, who lived on Koris'ian up until... ahhh... recent times.

"But Kri'faxx, Kri'faxx..." he mused, tapping one clawed finger lightly against a fang. "Ahhh... I believe they are linked by marriage to that of the Rean lineage... who currently hold title of Dark Lord of the Weaponry clan."

He fell silent then and took another sip of wine, wondering to himself how on earth this most un-Sithlike personage would have stumbled across that name...

...four thousand years after that line had died and crumbled into dust.

The sword seemed to call out to the blood of the man joining them, as if in utter recognission...
"He is... As was the creator... Vaguely..."

he heard the voice and was almost shocked from his skin... he'd heard that voice before... did it come from the blade?

He smiled to himself for a moment before turning to Serke and speaking, "as strange as this may sound, and you will probably think im crazy, but... My... Sword say's your related to the one that created it... Ah... The, weapons master?"

his head shook slowly before he spoke, "Im not sure why... But if my sword,err... Elresar say's that your releated... I, Well, From what ive read, its not ordinary for a sword to make claims like this... So i would believe it..."

He then looked to the door suddenly as he felt somethign twinge at his awarness, and no sooner had he looked up, then Ghrr came in from her hunt, taking a side by him, he looked about at all the faces that had just gone white and merly shrugged, "im sorry...ah... She worries..."

he reached down and gave her an approving scratch speaking to her as he knew she could understand his words.
"Thanks for being with me Ghrr, just remember to stay calm though, these people are not used to you... But its ok"

He then looked up, only pausing wierdly as he felt one of Ghrr's face tendrils wrap about his leg, a feeling he had still yet to become accustome to...

he smiled to himself once more, unable to keep his naturaly cheerful way's from spreading to his lips. "I was wondering... Does anyone by anychance want to play a game? im bored... Maybe we can talk while we play?"

he looked about, slowly shaking his head, "Ok, maybe latter..."
While outward he was still happy, and even managed to hold on to that innocent childness that he had become fond of, inwardly he couldnt help but frown to himself...

First they come forward, four thousand years, saved from the cruel death otherwise imparted to them by the dark jedi. A pause-- what happened to those dark ones? Were they still about? He would have to inquire....

Then the appearance of Her... and Sith, coming to them from the time in which they had ended; would wonders never cease? Kh'lldraan himself must be playing a hand in the state of affairs, for this certainly was an unexpected thing to have occurred, and right on the heels of their great victory.

Now these Sith bring up old lineages, and ties to them. Kri'faxx... and Q'utaro; to think. The son of the Chosen One was a Q'utaro... and he thought his sword was telling him that this stranger was related to Master Rean...

He froze at the creation of his own thought.

The... son of the...

Chosen One?

The table around which they were all seated nearly toppled as he scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide with shock and shame. For a moment he simply stared at Jharu, horrified with how condescendingly he had been treating him. Ghrr growled through her whiskers, hunkering down, a tendril tightening about Jharu's waist now as she tensed, ready to spring into action at a moment's provocation.

Aeylmaar literally trembled, all those seated at the table completely forgotten. He went down on one knee, his hands fisting and laying across his chest to rest on the opposite shoulders. In this stance, he bowed deeply, until his horns scraped the floor.

"My Lord..." he breathed to Jharu, then fell silent, still on one knee, his arms crossed in homage, his horns against the floor, the very picture of subjugation.

He stood slowly and kneeled down, tapping the sorcerer on his head, "Ah... why did you call me lord? Im just Jharu..."

His head shook slowly and he sat down again, Was this what mom and dad had implied about holding great respect among the people as a dark lord? but... Im not even a dark lord, heck, im not even a warrior yet... oh well...

he looked as the man continued to stay bowing he finaly just stood, and took hold of him, dragging him to his feet, and then forcing him to sit down on a chair, "I dont know why you would want to bow to me... but dont..."

He finally straightened and slowly regained his seat. His fangs gnashed the slightest bit as he became uncomfortably aware of the somewhat surprised glances the others were sending his way.

Ignore this, Adept... no, heir to title! he silently admonished himself. How could they all truly understand the depth of the honors being laid out before you this evening?

He started to reach for his wine, but halted when he saw how much his hand was shaking. For a moment he sat there, regaining self control; at length he was able to take up his drink and partake of it. He then set the glass down and turned downcast eyes toward Jharu.

"Very well, if this be thy bidding... I shall treat you in the former manner, my Lo- er, that is, Jharu," he said softly, nodding his horns to the lad in respect. Then he took up his glass once more and finished it in one gigantic gulp, then raised his finger to the bartender for another round.

But he couldn't help slide his eyes to Jharu in utter respect just one last time.

He planned it to be a monumental one... and there were certain orders to be implemented.

Which he did.

Now turning away from the trusted aide who had come running to his beck and call, he felt the arms of his Lady coming up from behind to twine about his torso and lay teasingly upon his chest, begging him to return to the blankets they had departed from. He took a hand in one of his, raised it to his lips, and kissed it tenderly.

"All in due time, my dearest love," he murmured, turning to gaze into her eyes once again. "All in good time."

Sometime later....

He stood at the apex of the Temple, gazing down upon the courtyard and streets below. Those pavements thronged with the populace of Phrinnchatka, which spilled over onto side lawns and streets, so great was the number. He had called them here before him, to make his grand announcement; to be sure, not all would actually hear his words. But runners stood ready to carry that news out beyond the perimeter within sight and hearing of him; indeed, into all of K'eel Doba as well.

He let a long moment pass, thrilling in the excited and expectant milling of the crowd below. And when he felt the tension was at its peak, he stepped forward, raised his arms, and began.

"My people," he began in his deep bass thunder. "A great woe has befallen us, a happening of dire proportions that can scarcely be dreamed of... yet from this calamity I have brought forth victory!"

He turned his head, nodding to more aides, who staggered up beside him carrying the Learning Orb taken from the Great Library there. They set it on a hastily erected pedestal; that is, they tried to; it immediately rose a foot in the air and hummed there, quietly awaiting a question.

Ankrist turned to the Globe, a smile darkening upon his fearsome visage. He knew that once the chronotic shield had fallen, the mysteries of the Sith magick had immediately reached out into the universe as this Globe proceeded to follow its own programming, its own destiny within that universe, and that being the sole capture of information for future display. By now, what with the various times that shield had indeed dropped, he knew the Orb was up to date, and now held the additional data of four thousand years of time.

In a low and persuasive voice, Roan began speaking of the Dark Jedi. Of those horrid end times; this was not new to the warrior clan, for in that time they had known a terrible enemy threatened them. Had not they opened their borders to the refugees from Koris'ian? -- although the majority of Sith from that world had chosen the more rural countryside of Khar Delba in which to flee.

Roan continued, and by careful questioning of the Orb showed the terrible End Times of the Sith: of the rampaging Dark Jedi, who came down and slaughtered each and every Sith they encountered, whether man, woman or child. The men had fought valiantly, the warriors beyond even their own estimable honor and abilty... but to no avail. They had not the technology at the time to defend against the Jedi's eerie use of the Force, their swords were slashed and melted by the lightsabers, and fierce energies had blasted down upon the planets like energy bolts from the gods.

Bit by bit the rising toll of bodies told the tale... Roan turned to his audience, a doleful expression on his face, and once more by careful manipulation of his questions told them the rest.

"You know by the scenes shown here that this event has happened... that it is in the past. Indeed, my dear people, in the past it was. For it did happen; you all did die on that faraway day so long ago."

A horrified murmur rippled through the attendant Sith, then the crowd began scrabbling about, questions searing the air. Roan merely smiled, waiting for them to calm, waiting for the moment in which he could continue, relishing every tiny, individual moment in which, one by one, face by face, they turned now to him -- to him -- for answers.

He continued, adhering to as much truth as he could. He was not so stupid as to try to display blatant falsehoods, which would be easily seen through and dismissed. Indeed, he knew there would be more than one Sith fascinated by his recitation, and who would later seek the Orb for continued answers. So he adhered to the truth... merely omitting parts of it, and by slick and oily persuasion using it to prove the Great Lie which he was subtly weaving into those truths.

He showed himself with Aelvedaar, discussing, planning... then approaching the Crystal Octahedron. The pair stood before it... then the image of Roan disappeared.

"I approached my Brother with the idea that perhaps a way to wring victory from defeat would be found in the future, my people," he explained, then continued. He showed Aelvedaar reaching out through that Octahedron, a cowering Aeylmaar at his side, reaching, seeking... and finally finding.

There in the crystalline depths, a visage swam into view: a woman, pale of face, red of hair. An eerie Glyph flashed into life on her forehead as the Sorcerer's hand reached out to her through the wonder of space and time, and simply touched her. Then that image faded away, to reveal in its place one of the Jedi who finally breached the Inner Sanctum on Phrinnchatka, swarming inexorably in....

First Aeylmaar fell beneath their mysterious, shining blades of light. Then the powerful form of Aelvedaar, who bore an even more mysterious smile on his face.

Roan turned to his people, his face solemn. He waved a clawed hand to the Orb. "Even our mighty warriors, and our wonderful magicks, were to no avail," he moaned quietly. About him the crowd hushed, suddenly realizing the oxymoron of their obvious deaths... as well as the even more obvious fact that they were alive. The turned their faces up to him in expectation, waiting.

The atmosphere was silent as a tomb. Roan continued.

Now he showed the image of the One... explaining her creation, carefully avoiding mention of the All in particular, stating it was a combination of Sith magick and her unique being, reacting to another in her own time, which would begin leading them all down the long road to life once again. The Orb revealed her brief affair with Wicked... how the quiet Glyph now flared into a brilliance to mock the suns in the sky. An image of her bringing Aelvedaar forward...

"Even he did not have the power to save himself," he stated simply, then went on. That image was swiftly followed by one of Wicked dying, being viciously quartered by another enigmatic being, who had seemed to disappear into the shadows after returning to undertake this dire assassination.

"The Strength was ignited, yet the Lock needed a Key..." he intoned.

He shot a series of commanding questions to the Orb; now it showed his initial meeting with Graysith, the Chosen One... the time spent upon the shores of the Corellian sea, their wonderful union there, the one time he had nearly slipped from the grip Kreesha had on his heart... it then sequed smoothly into the Triad, two girls and a boy, standing tall and strong, their obvious Sith blood shown by their horns and claws and fangs, ready to undertake their duty.

"They knew it was at their very own sacrifice, my children..." He broke off with a sob, crying crocodile tears. The Orb then showed a final scene: Graysith confronting him in fury in the Valley of the Dark Lords, all mention and imagery of those with her carefully omitted from the scene.

"Alas, she turned against me, no doubt to seek power over you all if I was successful," he mourned... and followed that terrible scene with one more damning.

The image of Aelvedaar raising that last chronotic shield about his Inner Sanctum, to place himself in self-imposed exile, turning away from his own city even as it was over-run by demons.

"He, who was also in the time I had been sent... he gave up.

"He gave up on you, my people. On the Sith. On his very heritage!

"While it was I..." he waved a clawed hand, now showing the Triad standing before the Eternal Flame. For although the Orb could not normally show anything of the dimensions surrounding reality, with the use of the All he had cunningly opened a tiny link, one to just that Valley and flame, that his children, children born by him of Graysith, were shown as they implemented the magick necessary to bring the Sith back to life.

The Orb quieted down into humming greeny-golden splendor. He nodded to his aides, then turned to face his people.

He raised his arms.

"I have brought you back," his whisper cut the air like a knife. "You have come forth into a new and glorious life, four millennia into the future, all by the deeds I enacted out of love for you, my people."

He quieted momentarily, then asked a final question of the warrior clan and those of the weaponry clan who were here as well in the city of Phrinnchatka. Even as he did, the bejeweled splendor of Coruscant sprang into life in the depths of the Orb, and spreading all about them in eerie holographic dimensionality, that they would know without a doubt his words were true. For no such city-planet had existed in their time, and the Learning Orb did not lie.

"The Weaponry clan did naught; the Sorcerer's clan was weak and abandoned you. Need you any other than the Dark Lord of the Warriors to lead you, my people?"

There was an instant of complete and utter silence, and a slight rush of a collectively indrawn breath. Then the air rang with the roar of the crowd, as the people of Phrinnchatka unanimously chose Ankrist Roan as the true Dark Lord, Leader and Head of State over the Warrior Clan of the Sith, and by proxy in that acceptance, over all the Sith.

For the Warriors were the strongest clan, and they would fight to make certain their Dark Lord would be King.

At first she had been angered he had children not of her blood... That he had actauly come to seek a human as his mate... but one quiet little fact reminded her, that she had been dead... He had done it all for her to live once more, and had come back to her immidiatly...

She stepped forward then, taking her place by his side, and bringing herself near, placing her head on his shoulder, allowing one of her horns to slide teasingly along his spine...
She looked over at him for a moment, a small smile growing on her features, before she spoke quietly, so none but he would hear her over the assembly of chearing and screaming sith, "A human woman my love? i now see why you held such hunger, having to deal with such a low and worthless creature so you could again hold me... I an pained by your sacrifice my love, i swear i will make you forget this pain that must be within your heart..."

She again smiled sweetly, once more allowing the side of a horn to run along his back affectionatly...
"Tonight will be like no other my love... For you have concieved children not of my blood, and i am second to know human...a true hier must be born, and no other save myself is worthly of baring that child...
mmmmm...no my lord, two children, One girl, and one boy..."

She nodded her head again.
I will not be second to any woman... let alone a human wench, undeserving of even a slap from My lord, let alone the honor of giving birth to his children...

her anger was calmed then though, as her lord placed a hand about her, once more claiming her from all other's to be his and only his...

She smiled and fell into that grasp, actauly wrapping into his flowing robes, to use them to cloth her scarcly covered body...

"We come here as friends and comrades. There is no need for such formalities, unless it is I myself who gives them, for I am but an Adept," she said softly, letting her hand then slip back to its resting place upon her lap, the nodding respectfully to him. Then she fell silent but for a moment, glancing at the ever-faithful Ghrr. She had to wonder if Al'iya was yet roaming in Prinn'chatka somewhere...

...and what of Leev?

Jerking herself back from that momentary drift in thought, a name which Aeylmaar had spoken finally struck a memory; a memory of a day seemingly eons ago on Sullust...

...the day Lord Roan had snatched her, all but killed her, then laid her at the very feet of her Sister, demanding that she be killed.

She'd never understood what had prompted Roan to act this way; she'd just assumed it was simply because she had spoken too much to the one who was questioning her that day...

but now...

Her frown deepened a bit further, but then she let all traces of it vanish. "I have spoken in the past with a...Jedi Master Rean..."

She trailed again, somehow simply knowing that Jedi Master Rean was no Jedi Master at all.

It was no coincidence he was on that planet with Terrin and Galen, with JhinDarra yet unborn...

...and how very well she recalled that he had taken the Claw from her, telling her that she knew not what it was. He WAS the Dark Lord of the Weaponry Clan, Shayla just KNEW it...

...but whatever happened to him?

Something within Shayla niggled as if to prompt concern. "This Rean was the Dark Lord of the Weaponry Clan," she spoke aloud suddenly. "I know because of his knowledge of the Claw of S'slan; not even a Jedi Master would have that kind of knowledge. Has he been brought into this time as well?"

"Even though it was solely to hold you once again in my arms, indeed I pain that your love had to be sullied by the feel of this... this human there instead. I plead apology to you, my love and my Light, for besmirching in so base a manner that great love you have given me, no matter how direly those actions I undertook were necessary."

He turned away from the crowd a moment, and took her in his arms in the full view of all present. The crowd responded by screeching at the top of their lungs, "Our Queen! Our Queen!"

"They pay homage to you, Kreesha," he breathed quietly, basking in the feel of her strong body in his embrace. "As would I now do, in repayment for the blight I have placed upon the honor of our love."

He nodded to his aides, who had been pre-instructed for when this moment would come. The scurried away, quickly to return with the limp bodies of Master Rean and the Kri'faxx family.

Roan turned to the throng, and indicated the last of the Kri'faxx. "Here are those who would assist in our leadership, so easily do they die in the night. Perhaps their strength was not enough to resist being brought forth to this time, so distant from when they were born."

The crowd roared in agreement, spitting and cat-calling. Roan nodded to the aides, who dragged the family to the edge of the Temple's apex, and tossed them over the side like so much garbage. The crowd fell upon them in a slavering heap, and soon nothing was left of their remains save a dark and ichorous splotch on the courtyard below.

Roan now indicated the limp form of Master Rean. "Who is this one to us?" he breathed, inciting the growing blood-thirst of the warriors.

"Naught! He is nothing, a mere speck of dirt to be trodden upon!" they shrieked in return, and with those word falling away from any acceptance or respect toward an entire clan and its Dark Lord.

Roan smiled like a rancor, then nodded again to his aides. They now stepped forward, unsheathing their swords, and in moments the dead Dark Lord was dishonorably de-horned, his sharply elongated canines yanked from his mouth. Roan nodded once more... and the dead Sith was quickly dismembered and flayed, until little remained that was recognizable. The aides then rose from their gory task, holding the skeleton of the once Master Rean in their bloodied arms.

Roan nodded meaningfully to them, then turned a darkly loving gaze to his Warrior Lady. "You shall wear your armlets as we beget our children this Night," he promised her seductively, holding back the kiss he saw she now so greatly desired from him, public be damned.

Instead he drew back from her, and guided her to a stone bench. "And now, my Lady, the piece d' resistance, all for your love and the fact that I had to give mimickry of it to another...."

A final nod, and yet other assistants came forward, this time dragging the struggling Errizal in their grasp. They came to a halt before Lord Roan, who only smiled and turned to the throng. He nodded a horn to the cocky young warrior, who even now was striving not to show how deeply he was frightened.

"This one came up to my Lady in the Night, and had the audacity to... interfere with her in a manner most arrogant. What is the judgment of the Sith?"

He stepped forward, his hands out to either side, feigning democracy, knowing their bloodthirst was fanned by the anger of the seeming betrayal they had just been shown. They didn't let him down."Death!" they screamed, taking it up as a mantra until the air echoed with its ringing cry.

Roan held up a hand; they calmed their cacophany to a duller roar. "The wish of my people shall be obeyed," he said simply... then rounded on the shuddering Errizal. That young warrior cast a pleading look to Kreesha... then firmed, to meet his death like a warrior.

It did not come easy. His own blade lost to the Darker Realms, given that his son could hold off the demonic hordes there long enough that the Twain could implement their magicks, Roan now reached out with the All. From thin air the molecules condensed, rearranging themselves, until in his grasp there materialized a deadly and elegant blade. Its metal was an oily, irridescent black, mirror-bright, and enscribed upon it were runes and glyphs in electric blue and silver. He held it up before the eyes of Errizal that he should behold the instrument of his death; that younger Sith gave forth a final shudder as a single electric current ran up and down the blade, dancing in the St. Elmo's fire of a tesla coil.

Roan's lips curled in a hideous smile. "Our people seek blood, and they desire a show," he whispered to the warrior. "I shall not deny them their desire."

With that he nodded to the aides, who backed the warrior up against a stone wall. With one immaculately placed blow, Roan drove that darkling blade into his throat, the width of the blade perpendicular to the floor, that it entered the flesh in the narrowest possible angle, missing entirely anything so vital as jugular or carotid or trachea or spinal cord. The Sith's eyes widened and he gurgled, as that powerful driving blow pierced through him and pinned him solidly to the wall... painfully wounded, but far from lethally.

Roan smirked, and held his hand out to his Lady. She came to his side, her hand on her own blade.

"He looked upon your bared magnificence, my love," he breathed, then turned and repeated it to the crowd. "He looked upon her!"

They howled... and he responded once again for their sake. Now he nodded to Kreesha, who stepped forward, her blade unsheathing in a silky movement. As did her love, she approached the warrior, and held it up before his eyes. Then, slowly, taking her time, she place the tip of that blade into his sockets, one by one, and gouged out the eyes which had offended her.

She looked down where they lay upon the stones at her feet, the frenzied roar of the crowd in her ears. Then she raised a foot, and stamped upon them. They burst beneath that blow, leaving little splotches there upon the stone.

Bowing to Roan, she returned to her seat. But he was not finished.

"He dared interrupt us with the crass impertinence of foolish words," he mentioned, again cocking an ear to the will of the crowd. Then, his smile growing more hideous, knowing the warrior knew what was coming but could not see his approach, he bided his time. Then he leapt forward, and forced the Sith's jaws apart. Reaching in, he pinioned the tongue between two of his claws, and yanked. The warrior gave an awful moaning gurgle as in a spurt of blood his tongue was torn from his mouth. Roan followed that by yanking out his canines, one at a time, slowly, that it took a bit for them to loosen from the bone which held them in his jaws. These he spit on, and tossed to the floor at his feet.

Finally he reached up... and with his bare hands broke off the warriors horns, one at a time. These were thick and spiralled ones, and gave great resistance to his strength. But he was inspired by the love for his Lady and his own glory; at length they shattered in his grasp, to likewise be discarded upon the stones.

Roan took a step back, his eyes blazing upon the dishonored warrior, who was still alive, still pinned to the wall. "I should let you live like this," he growled. "But I am merciful. You shall die now."

With that he reached out, taking hold of the hilt of his sword, and slowly, bit by bit, he turned the blade. It made a grinding noise as it pivoted in the stone in which it was imbedded; the noise it made inside the warrior's flesh was more of a sickening slurp. His sockets opened reflexively, his bloodied and torn mouth opened in a mumbling groan of pain and terror.

Then, the plane of the width of the blade now parallel to the floor, Roan gave a sideways yank... and halfway cut the warrior's head from his neck. A great spurt of blood burst forth from one severed carotid, from one severed jugular, as the strangling Errizal finally was able to fall to the stones, there to writhe and gasp out his last moments of life.

When he was finally still, Roan went to his body, and gave it a resounding kick. Then he turned to his aides.

"Toss him to my wolves," he whispered, watching then as they picked up the bloodied form and threw him as well over the side into the hungry hands of the Sith.

Roan then strode back to his Lady, covered in gore and blood, and took her roughly in one strong arm, crushing her to him in a passionate embrace, kissing her long and fully, relishing the taste of her before all who were present. Then, still holding her in one arm, he raised the other, holding his dark blade aloft, and listened to the roaring accolades coming into his ears.

She pulled back whispering, "My lord... that was... Spectacular... Thank you for his life..."

then she quieted, mouthing to him silently, "i night like no other..."

Then suddenly she broke away, walking over so those pressent below could hear her words, "My Lord has returned us from the past... I decree a statue of monolithic proportions shall be raised within the center of this city, something so great, that S'slan himself shall feel honored to have one such as lord Ankrist roan sharing his blood!"

She smiled to herself as the crowd again came to a frenzy, she returned to her lord and returned into his arms, whispering for his ears alone a small explanation, "subjugate the wills of those who serve you, and never can they think for themselves, raise yourself above the status of mortalality, and all will fear your power... This is a gift from me to you... One that will hold our rule steadfast to this land, and its people..."

She then pulled into his lips once more, losing herself in the strength he possessed...

He then took a sip of his drink and turned to erik, "hi... I dont think ive ever met you, Just shayla... My names jharu"

"Well, of course Master Rean has been brought forth with us!" he suddenly said, shaking his head a little bit in amusement. "He and Lord Aelvedaar have just completed a meeting with Lord Roan; my father has only just returned to us from the Warrior's Temple in Phrinnchatka."

Then, rummaging in his pilotsuit pocket for something, he at length pulled from it a small stone, its color green with streaks of lighter green and cream throughout as typical of marble. He handed it to Jharu. "Shayla and I picked this up on Azterri," he explained. "It's a marble that came from my home planet of Corellia; it's very expensive to buy so we just picked up a bit of since I was feeling sort of nostalgic at the time.

"I know you haven't gotten to see alot of planets in your young life so far," Erik continued, "And goodness knows I spent many a day on Corellia, looking at buildings constructed of that very marble. If you'd like...

...you can keep it...and maybe someday you'll get to see those marbles for yourself," he finished, leaning back in the comfortable couches upon which they were situated and taking a good, long drink. Then he asked Jharu, "What did you think of the city when you went out to explore? I wouldn't mind seeing some of it myself..."

Beside him, Shayla sat forward a bit, those greeny-blue eyes of hers dancing with interest of their own.

"Aelymaar...have you even bothered to ask my name?"

An almost twisted smile formed upon his lips, his lionine deatures looking ever so pleased. There were few simple pleasures in life, and this was one of them.

"My name, Aelymaar...is SerKe. I took the name of Da'San as it was the name of the only man I knew of as a father figure. But when I was "born", my name was, and still is..."

He almost wanted to burst into a gleeful laughter at this, because it was rare he could bring looks of disbelief in times such as these.

"You must excuse me, please, and forgive my abruptness in this," he stated in a low but clear voice. He turned to Jharu, Shayla and Erik, bowing neatly to them.

"Jharu, my Lady, good sir," he said politely, then straightened and turned to the leonine newcomer. For a moment he just pinned his eyes to SerKe's. Then he bowed, briefly, stiffly.

It was such a simple act of kindness... So simple a gift, yet to the boy who had been forced to view so much hate, so much death, that small stone acted as a tiny pinprick of light, which even as small as it was, could keep him from drowning away with the thoughts that perhaps love did not exist outside of the sheltered family life he had once existed in.

His wide eyed, gaze turned upwards to erik and he couldnt help it as his smile slowly, but surly took in his ears. "thank you so much... I really like it..."

He then nodded in reply to his questions "This place has so much to see, its really great!"

looking down at himself he stood, smiling at Shayla and erik, "im gonna go find somethign to do..."

Then he exited, and found his way to the ship they had arrived in.

reaching his room, he found the robes he had changed from to put on the flightsuit he now wore, and quickly changed into them.

he was again dressed within the extravogent robe it was a white so pure it was as if all darkness simply did not exist in its pressence... Yet at the same time it did... Sketched upon the edges of the sleeves were black, depthless runes, and about his waist was wrapped the most pure form of midnight one could ever hope to encounter.

he gazed at his appearance in the mirror for a moment, seeing his mirror image give him a nod of approval he turned to leave... For he truly did like these cloths better then the flightsuit.
As he exited the ship, he looked down at the stone that was still in his hand.
Such a simple stone, such a simple gift... Yet, even the smallest bit of kindness feels so wonderful after everything i have been forced to see... So much death, its getting to be more then i can bare...

He then found his way back into the temple, and just threw himself onto one of the couches provided there, closing his eyes, but not truly finding rest...

It was strange for the boy, just lieing there... His whole life, as much as he had lived anyway, had been filled with purpose, everyday held a task: training for the mission his parants would give him, seeking out the end of that mission... seeing the death of his uncle, and then of his cousin... Seeing the darkness of his sister... accepting what was to be, yes he had had time to play in between, time to enjoy life. But still there had been a purpose to return to... But now

Now.

Now there was only time, time to do whatever he wanted, time to enjoy life to its fullest. It was then that he clearly realized he did not know what to do, did not know how to live as a child of his age, did not know what he wanted to do...

But then, he was not truly sad with his life either, it was filled with joy, dispite the death's he had seen... But still, it was fine... He simply didnt know what to do now that he had the time...

Little did he realize that it was this that WAS typical of his age... Not knowing, never knowing... Time was of plenty, and there was so little to do...

But he was sure something would come to him soon...

He smiled to himself before standing and finding his way out of the temple, and into a small field outside, drawing his sword, much to his surprise that it did not remain in its sheath, and began practicing, running through things his father had taught him...

At the same time though he thought, allowing his mind to sharpen as much as his sword...

Deep within he examined his inward side, attempting to feel the balance within him... He had found it to a degree yes, but his mother had said the balance was important, and he would learn from her anythign she wished to teach...

"I think now is a good time to... retire for the evening," she said to him.

Erik merely smiled and nodded in response, standing and taking her up with him. She nodded once to Serke. "Goodnight, Serke," she said politely. Then she turned her greeny-blue eyes up into Erik's, something unspoken passing between them. Erik responded to that something by taking her by the hand and drawing her off with him down the corridors of this now amazingly alive Khar Delba, off to share the evening with each other.

while he again brushed his lips against hers, giving himself over to her love, while always pouring his own heart and soul into hers.

"Why...why me? Why was I brought into the universe like this?"

What was once a barren wasteland had been completely transformed. None of the craters that were common on the surface of K'eel Dolba could be seen. Instead, they were replaced by lush vegetation, teeming with wildlife...but it wasn't the fact that K'eel Dolba was no longer a dead planet that disturbed him.

A few days into his meditations, Taehun noticed that he had not been contacted by his master, Lord Roan. Strangely enough, he had felt almost disconnected from one of the only survivors of the Sith race...

But now, there were hundreds, thousands...maybe even millions of Roan's kind wandering about K'eel Dolba.

They had returned.

All of Taehun's rage was set aside for now. The Dark Jedi, in their first great conquest, had killed off the foolish Sith that had given them refuge. To his knowledge, there were very few survivors, if any. Now...there were millions of Sith.

They would want revenge. Were he a Sith, his whole mission in life would've been to avenge the deaths of his friends and family.

Despite his fears...ahh yes, fear. It was an emotion Taehun had not felt in a long time. It was what had eventualy led him to the path of the darkside...That emotion had returned now...and, well, it frightened him.

...lost in memories, her lips responding of their own accord as his brushed hers, now lightly, now fiercely, returning kisses to him in like, responding as his then moved to take possession of her cheeks and hair and forehead and eyelids... lost all the while in memories of their time together, going back, letting the beauty of the notes carry her back, step by wondrous step, all the way through every bit of time she had spent with him, every night and every day as magickal as the first, as soul-swelling as that first time in Phrinnchatka when he placed his hand upon her cheek and she realized how much she loved him...

...and then further back.

Back.

Now her eyes opened and she peered into the emerald depths of his, which had never closed, had remained open throughout, staring deeply upon her all the while, and now deeply into the violet ocean she offerred him. Her hands tightened their grip upon the simple Sith garments he wore beneath his robes, all he yet wore since honoring the body of her niece with his robes as her shroud.

"Where would I be without you, Recinis?" she breathed softly, her voice tinkling musically from the ice walls that surrounding them. Her mind instantly snapped back to the first time she had come to Khar Delba... and to who it was who had so volcanically taken her heart then. A picture of her sitting either at the side... or more than likely at the foot... of Darth Wicked leaped unbidden into her thoughts, the Temple brooding in unceasing darkness all about, Noghri skulking and whispering in the shadows, the echoes of millennia a sephulchre entombing them there.

A Darth and his Mistress... over shadows and designs and dark, dark, dreams....

She shuddered to think of where she could be had events not played out as they had. Her eyes grew moist then, and she blinked into his own steady ones. One slender hand reached up to cup his face; he turned into that hand, kissing its palm, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Life would have no meaning for me if it were not for you, Recinis," she continued softly, swallowing a bit. Her grip tightened a little. "Never had I dreamed a love as this could exist, or that I would be worthy of gaining it. No one could ever hold the place in my heart as you do; indeed, no one ever has. I love you more than you know, my dearest Lord. I can only pray that our dear son will one day find a love as pure as ours, and as true, with the meaning and depth and devotion that I have for you, and you for me. And--"

She cut herself off a little bit then, her thoughts suddenly flashing to one whom the fates had not treated as kindly.

"I hope my sister can one day gain a love such as this; she has suffered much..."

That thought merged into a moment of wonder about Galen; had she landed, found quarters? Was her companion Flac healed? She started to bring this up...

...but the look in Recinis's eyes stopped her, and his hands moved her into other areas of consideration. Her last thought on any other subject was a brief one that all would be dealt with in the morning...

...but for now she and Recinis belonged to the night.

As he came to an end, his blade finding it home at his side, he headed back to the temple, taking a deep breath his smile slowly returned as fingered the stone erik had given him, finding comfort in the smooth surfice...

Now within the temple he entered, and turned down little passages, stoping as he heard something, and following it back to where they had sat, looking at the sleeping form of Serke, who had obviously not bothered to take himself to his room...

The casual discarding of the Kri'faxx family on Khar Delba, and the dishonorable treatments the now-dead Master Rean has been subjected to.

"You say this one claims to be SerKe Kri'faxx, my son?" I ask in the lightest of whispers, shifting my arm from his shoulders and letting it fall before me. I turn to him then, my demeanor calm, but knowing he senses my own rising trepidation.

He nods, lowering his lids before me.

"Aye, my Father," he whispers, nodding again. "This he has claimed; would one make such a claim as this if one could not prove it?"

He raises his head, his eyes anxiously searching my own. A flash of deja vu: I am brought back for a moment to that terrible day when he placed such a look upon me, even as the blades of the Dark Jedi came slicing in to wrench his life from his body.

I purse my lips lightly, then turn back to the Octahedron.

"This shall be easily ascertained, Aeylmaar," I finally reply, trying to soothe away his anxiety by making my own manner even more calm and unflappable.

"If he is imposter, then he becomes a guest in our city, and we quietly discern his reason for being here.

"But if his claims prove to be true...."

I pause, staring deeply into the Octahedron, where Roan's atrocities upon the Sith warrior are now being enacted. I cannot help the shudder which races through me at that; a wave of one clawed hand, and the images fade away into obscurity.

"Then not only is he heir to the title of the Dark Lord of the Weaponry Clan... but his life is truly in great danger. Our opponent is far more dangerous than we first were led to believe, far more cunning...

"...as well as more powerful. I fear to think exactly where he plans to go with his evil actions, but a voice within me tells me he is not simply going to stop with the subjugation of the Sith. We cannot allow him to continue--

"--Come, my son," I finish, replacing my arm about his shoulders, and gently draw him away. The Octahedron reveals only swirls and shadows, yet his eyes are glued upon it, still seeing those last horrible scenes.

"It is time we speak with the others, and determine exactly where it is we shall go from here."

Gently then I lead him from my chambers, and together we hasten to the Dining Hall, there to find the others and have discourse with them, not only regarding the evil still about us, but their own places within the upcoming plans...

...as well as their own places within a galaxy now occupied with nearly 10 billion Sith.

As we walk the corridors of this grand Temple of the Sorcerers, I keep my deeper, darker thoughts to myself. For if this SerKe is indeed who he claims to be, then it is quite obvious he can be no other than a clone.

It is equally as obvious just who has been dealing with cloners far more of late than any of us had even dreamed of...

...as well as it is obvious that warriors need weapons....

Then he just nodded in affirmation of his words and returned to his plate...

His smile was as big as could be without actauly showing what it was he was smiling about, politly concealing it within his chewing mouth, drinking down some fruit juice as he returned again to the plate, finaley finishing it and pushing it away giving his tomach a quick little pat through the brillent white robes he now wore, which he had found a way of cleaning upon waking up.

"Brother, indeed it is good to be in your presence once again," I affirm, then release him. The greeting he has spoken runs through my mind; I nod to him, and reply.

"There is much indeed to discuss, Brother," I state solemnly, directing an even more solemn gaze upon him. "Indeed, this is not the place.

"If you, and my son... and indeed, you..."

Now I turn to the one who has called himself SerKe Kri'faxx, and pin my volcanic eyes upon him. The look I direct into his eyes betrays not a whit of the unease I feel as I take in his form. Indeed, he does not look like the SerKe Kri'faxx I know of; clone he must be, and one quite obviously not only advanced in age, but biologically enhanced as well, if he is indeed who he claims to be.

But by who... and for what purpose? From the foresight of one four thousand years in the past, that past meet future in his odd design? Or by one who delights in the creation of clones, for purposes of his own, enhancing this one to only further strengthen his powers by placing him in our midst as a spy?

This shall be determined....

"You," I continue smoothly, "shall accompany me now to a place where we might discuss matters more privately."

I turn and bow in apology to the others, then depart from the Dining Hall to trace my way back to my Inner Sanctum. I shall lead them into my chambers... but not into the heart of it where my magical devices are held.

And then we shall see what we shall see....

"You claim to be SerKe Kri'faxx," I state smoothly, calmly. "This is a startling statement indeed, and one needing to be proven. The proof is in the blood...."

Even as I speak I reach out and take up one of his hands, turning it palm up and with a claw make a light incision there upon it. It happens so quickly and painlessly the stranger has no time to do anything save widen his eyes; he appears to realize I mean him no harm then as I motion to my son. Aeylmaar then comes forward, first removing a vial from a nearby cupboard, which he then holds out to catch the small amount of blood now dripping from the wound I have made.

A wave of my hand, and the mysteries of the All respond, completely erasing the wound no sooner had Aeylmaar stoppered the vial.

I speak to my son through the Link I have established, quickly reciting a simple method of creating a map of this fellow's genes. Of course my son has no idea as to what this is all about, for such things were unknown to my peoples four thousand years in the past. But the procedure which I have gleaned from my foray into my own future is simplistic enough; he bows and departs to do my bidding.

"Soon we shall have a foundation of confirmation," I state at length. "But finding the original to use in comparison might not be as easy a task as it would seem.

"Again, your statement is a startling one, stranger, and must be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. You do not realize the implications--"

I fall silent a moment, pondering my own words. Then--

"Well, I am 20 years of age. I grew up for the first 10 years of my life on Kamino. Godawful existence, I tell you. Noting but schooling and training in the ways of a mercanary. Then I left with a man by the name of Da'San to the world of Tatooine. I worked with him uner the Hutts to reestablish there hold on the black markets. That's about it. The pariculars are of no interest, mind you. Then...then I was sent this message along with every record of my creation..."

SerKe tapped his forearm apparatus, and a holographic figure stood before him, reiterating that message...
"Hello SerKe Da'San, or should I say Mr. Krif'axx. I have something very hard to say, but I should get to the point immeditately-- you were spawned from the DNA of an old Sith, one who faught in the times of the Dark Jedi. He had himself killed on the planet of Rori, where he was buried and left a will wtih a blood mark carrying his DNA, along with his skeleton that rotted over the time. I, an explorer found the body when working for the Hutts, who you work for now, and used it for scientific matters, as I am a science explorer. Placing it in the Kamino's hand, I beckoned them to work on you, clone you into a being for the Republic Science legion to study upon. Instead of this, the Hutts got a hold of you after their ecnomoical downfall, and they used you as their Hitman. They wanted to use your Sith magickal abilities and your study at a young age in the arts of fighting, in hopes of changing their economical path.

"If you would like to learn anything more of your past, go to Korriban...their are scriptures probably within their soil telling of this man, known as SerKe Krif'axx, that you were conceived from...you may find a new path in Korriban as well...a better life then that of a black-market hitman."

The message blinked off. SerKe then shook out his hair lightly, and continued.

I return my gaze to this Serke.

"Come."

The word is more command than request; turning I now lead the way into the heart of my Sanctum, coming to a halt in front of the Crystal Octahedron. Casting a quick look at the leonine being, I wave a clawed hand...

...and into the mysteries of its greeny-golden depths images now arise.

Images of the dead Kri'faxx family being dragged to his feet at the behest of Ankrist Roan, images showing his quasi-acquiescence to his peoples. A wave of one hand... there he lies, the young Serke, a lad of no more than thirteen, barely coming into the edge of young adulthood....

They cascade one after another from the apex of the Temple of Warriors on our sister planet, their bodies tumbling almost in slow motion into the waiting hands of the Sith below....

And now, the dishonoring of the Dark Lord of Weaponry himself, and the terrible abuse given to his body....

Throughout this all I speak no word, but merely watch most closely this one claiming to be SerKe Kri'faxx, alleged clone of the only heir to the title of Dark Lord of the Weaponry clan of my people.

For either this one is being deceptive for his own, as yet unknown, purposes...

...or he himself has been misled. Perhaps the blood was indeed from the young Serke, and not from a Sith old enough to engage in battle.

But if that is the case, why the deception? Who would gain from this? Again my thoughts turn to Ankrist Roan; has he somehow manipulated this event, unbeknownst to us? His mastery of the All comes shudderingly close to that of my own; had he gone back in time at some point to place this insidious gamepiece into play?

How else would the name of "SerKe Kri'faxx" be brought into this time, if not by one from the past who is aware of it?

But then, why the misleading information which follows the revelation?

My frown deepens, and I continue to merely watch this one as he in turn now watches events as they unfold within the Octahedron....

His mind quieted then and he gazed at the man claiming to be Serke Krif'axx...Roan is one to weave such things, for the mere enjoyment of having them present... Could this be his work? and if so, for what reason?

"I do not believe this one is roan's plaything... It would not mesh well with what has happened concerning the warrior so far...

But there is one way sure enough to find out the truth... Roan is powerful, but would it truly be possible for him to travel through time for no purpose but to add this to the frey? My Brother, look through this ones memories, as you have done before... If he truly has lived 20 years, then roan had not yet come from the past to weave such things... And therefor would not know of Kamino, and not know of the future, and could not make such plans as for this ones creation..."

They had spent the day watching as huge stones were brought into the city, had watched as the best sculptures of the planet were gathered to honer there leader.

Also, sketches had been drawn, first of roan, but then it had been decided that she too would be within the marvelous wonder that was the be built, and so they stood together for sometime as the artist drew them from several angles, untill finaly showing the finished pictures, which had utterly pleased her... For this had been the first artist that held not one mistake on that eissile, the first artist ever to have the privledge of drawing her, and not dieing for the mockery of her body which had been made... This one had truly captured both her beauty, and the great pressence of her lord...

Then they had watched as work began, and also were taken to being measured for the statue as well, so all would be perfect...

Some time had also been devoted to her lord answering the feeble minded questions being directed at him from all area's..

But now... Now her lord was leading her through a doorway... She heard the hard click as the door was locked to save them from introsion, and then turned immediatly to wrap her arms about her lord, pulling into him for a long kiss before backing away but an inch, her eyes lidding seductivly as she tossed her long flowing hair about her with a shake of her head, and they pulled together once more...

"Who that danger is directed toward, has yet to be revealed...."

"Ahh... my lovely Lady," he purred at her, slitting his own eyes in anticipation of what he knew she held in store for him. "I know what fires your blood. It is She, the one I took to my bed... but know this now."

He stopped, directing a gaze into her hot eyes, a gaze which carried truth into the only being he would ever be totally honest with.

"I may have taken her to my bed... but I did not take her into my heart. There is room there for none other than you, my Lady, my desire, my Love and my Life...."

With that he pulled back yet further, for at his words Kreesha could only utter something that was a cross between a growl and a moan, leaning into him to begin showing him her own feelings. His smile deepened, and he laid a clawed finger gently across her lips, shushing them for a moment.

"This I promised you, my love..." Speaking these words, he now reached into a silken bag that an aide had brought to him at some point in their busy day, a bag he had hung upon the sash which now held his royal robes of office loosely upon him. Loosely, that is to say, for the manner in which Kreesha had opened the front, running her hands across his broad chest.

He reached into the bag, and drew out two exquisitely carved armlets. They were the gleaming ivory of highly polished bone, each one sporting an immense and flawless ruby in the middle of its ten-centimeter wide band. Those rubies were held in place by sharp Sith teeth... while two canines were mounted on either side of the ruby itself.

Roan smiled darkly, slipping the armlets onto the perfect flesh of his Lady, kissing their way up the length of her arm from wrist to where they halted three inches from her shoulder. He drew back then, merely holding her by her shoulders, staring deeply into her eyes, before finally whispering,

"And now, my dearest one, you promised me a night like no other...."

"Hey, Flac," I broke the silence. He didn't answer; now I frowned, wondering just how long I had been removed from reality. Had he fallen asleep? Was he still here?

Carefully, I turned my head; other than the forward screen reflecting a change in the direction the hull lenses were aimed, nothing happened. I breathed a sigh of relief, and continued to carefully turn my head. My eyes finally fell upon him; he was half sprawled against the bulkead, his legs out on the deck straight in front of him. His face was white; I grimaced, wondering how hurt he was.

That bastard Roan--

I quickly cut off my thoughts before they started leading me down the lane I had been lost upon, and now focused on my travelling companion. I didn't have a clue as to where Malf had gotten himself off to.

"I-- I can't land, Flac," I began hesitantly. "I-- I just can't bring myself to land on a planet full of-- full of Sith."

I fell quiet then, looking down toward my feet. The outside view promptly rotated to one-eighty, showing the Khar Delban surface directly beneath this odd little ship.

I sighed, then raised my head to look at him again.

"You want to know what's funny, Flac?" I asked at length. I waited a heartbeat, then went on. "It just struck me. I'm a widow...

"...a widow of the half-owner of Eagle Enterprises, and now the full owner of an SSD.

"An entire kriffing super star destroyer, Flac! Can you imagine that?"

I broke off with a little laugh; not the lighthearted joyous type, this laugh was of the icy, mirthless variety, the type which precedes the encroachment of the first black tendrils of insanity. I let my gaze drop to my feet again.

"I'd give it all up just to have him back, Flac. Just to have my daughter...."

I paused again, my jaw clenching so hard my teeth gritted within my head. An indeterminable moment passed, then I managed a somewhat shaky breath. I raised my head quickly, flipping my hair a little to one side by the motion.

"So, where do we go from here? What are your plans?"

Indeed, Galen Jhin'Dar Danner... and what are yours?

I shuddered with the realization that I had nowhere to go, and now that my daughter and husband were dead, no one to tie myself to. Now that my sister had seemingly completed that damned destiny of hers, she was out of the picture too.

As much as he hated to admit it, the jedi had done a pretty good job on fixing him up... He could barely feel the wounds that had once been mind numbing...

now he walked over to where galen stood piloting the ship, nodding his head, "im sorry you had to lose them galen...

I dont know why it is this all had to happen to you. Your a great person, with a wonderful heart, you dont deserve this..."

He sighed as his head again gave a little shake, "but thats all im gonna say, Words are worthless in times like these, and theres nothing i can really do to make you feel better..."

he wandered over to a little control pannel, hitting a few buttons and activating the screen that was normaly dorment.

He looked at the planet, quietly assessing it, taking out the little piece of sith metal from his pocket and examining it, before tossing it in the air, catching it and returning it to his pocket. "I have no plans really, Right now my plans are to stick with you, Being alone after all that has happened is not a smart move..."

Why do you have to be so... Soo... Why cant you decide on what to do? why cant you help her feel better?

its quite simple, i cant do anything, what should i do? dance around in a monkey suit and sing at the top of my lungs?

Ok, you have a point, but still, You should at least do something...

He sighed to himself once more looking over at galen. "listen galen, I dont know where to go... I dont want to go to the sith anymore then you... And then, i know how you feel about the empire, so that limits a lot of what we can do..."

With another little tap of the control board a map apeared and he looked over it for a moment. "...maybe... How about..."

He sighed and shook his head, "Just pick a direction, and take us wherever the wind may blow..."

a wall, therin drawing a sword and tossing it to him, before drawing her own sword, the smile

on her face wicked.
She noted the somewhat surprised look on her lords face, but to her utter pride she saw to

that he quickly conqured that surprise, and his eyes gleamed with readieness...

And so, without even a "ready" or a "begin" they engaged in combat, sword clashign against

sword, steel challanging steel... It was easy to see that neither held anything back, the

only difference from true combat was that rather then striking with a sharpened point, the

one who failed to keep there guard in perfect unison with the other, recieved merly a full

forced slap from the others blade...

But even with this, each only failed once, Kreesha had failed first, but had instantly

countered and returned the blow to her lord, afterwhich neither made a mistake to the others

skill. This continued onward for some time, untill they each held beads of glistning sweat

running down there faces, arms and chests.

Finaly after parrying a final blow, Kreesha sheathed her sword, before throwing her belt to

the side, nodding that roan do the same... When he had dissarmed himself she approuched,

taking hold of him with a gently sweep of her hand, and guiding him into another room, where

she had prepared, by having a large basin of warm water placed within.

Again her smile was a wicked one as she stripped from him his robes and pushed him into the

large tub. She looked at him with a dark grin, before she went to work wiping away the sweat

from his face, and arms, then joining him to cleans herself...

With them now clean, she lead him again into the main portion of there room, and laid him

down on the floor, begining to rub away at his back muscles, feeling him slowly loosen...
Now with him utterly free of stress, at the very edge of fallign asleep from the total

relaxed state she had put him in, she now turned him,her smile turning sweet and innocent for

a moment before she lowered herself to his lips, and simply lost herself in his strength,

Recinis shook his head again, "It becomes so difficult... Roan seems to grasp evertything so tightly, with plots and plants that twist and turn..."

The Hornett glided gracefully out of hyperspace some distance from the primary, establishing orbit. As she did so, Aaron Barnes merely stared out of the viewport, his mouth suddenly too dry for words. He shoved them out. “Scan the system for ships...

...and lifeforms.”

“There’s one ship in system orbitting the Khar Delba,” came the crisp reply, “Life form readings are in the billions...”

Aaron gulped, then frowned.

Who was orbitting Khar Delba?

“What kind of ship is out there?” he said aloud.

“Just a weird looking little fighter, not much. Would you like to have a look sir?”

“Indeed,” he said, coming up to the computer monitor. Behind him, Matt and Jasyn stepped up as well.

“I know that ship,” Jasyn said. “Galen was flying her.”

Aaron turned and cocked a brow. “You wanna handle the comm before they think we are the Empire after them?”

Jasyn nodded but once, headed over to the comm and wasted no time in opening a secured frequency with the ship which was probably being piloted by Galen still. “Hey, this is Jasyn Lancaster aboard the Hornett,” he said calmly. Then, “If you’d like a lift the kriffing hell out of here, I’d be happy to oblige and tractor you in, considering this ship is now your property anyway...”

He trailed a moment at that, a pain flicking in the depths of his eyes. Then, “Just say the word...”

I remained frozen.

Speak of the devil....

"Uhh... Flac?" I said in a low voice, carefully turning to him now. "We've got company...." I quickly informed him of the presence of the SSD.

My SSD....

I was about to make reply, when I froze yet again, considering. Suddenly the thought of facing them, the sympathetic faces, the hugs and offerred comfort juxtapositioned amidst the wary looks, the discomfort, the sense of what to say? How to say it? There are no words....

It all hit me like a runaway ronto. I didn't think I could bear it.

Not now. I didn't know if ever.

But-- but dammit Galen, think about it. It's a kriffing SSD. There's enough firepower there to go a long way towards reducing both these blighted planets to slag...

And it's all yours.

I shuddered. DJ shimmied.

I simply couldn't decide. I didn't know if I even wanted to decide.

I knew I didn't want to have the decision to make in the first place....

Slowly I reached a hand forward, fingers outspread. I turned my head to Flac.

"Whoever it is having the audacity to thus divert his Lord from creating his lineage, I shall disembowel before your eyes, and make him devour his own entrails!"

He growled again, latching onto Kreesha's luscious lips with his fangs and holding them as his tongue snaked out in a parting tease. Then, her flawless and newly decorated arms trailing from him, he drew back from her embrace from where they lay on the floor. He did not even deign to cover his body; still growling he gained the door in but a few powerful strides.

It flew open at his touch, to reveal a Sith aide kneeling humbly without, his horns bowed to him in respect, a shaking hand holding something out to him.

"A thousand pardons my Lord, for this interruption. My sorry hide is not worthy of the retribution you shall now enact upon it... but before I give my life to you to do as you will with it, I also would give you this. It is most urgent."

The Sith fell silent, still not looking up, his hand outstretched and holding a small device.

Ankrist stood over him like a thundercloud looming on some dark horizon. "You shall indeed die slowly, and most horribly, if this does not please me," he promised in an even darker voice; in one swift movement his clawed hand reached out and he yanked the device from the hand of the aide. It was a recording instrument, an eerie combination of ancient Sith technology and magick.

His thumb stabbed a button; the crystal imbedded in the mechanism glowed into life, revealing the image of an SSD coming out of hyperdrive.

Roan stood in utter silence at the sight. Then a slow and cruel smile crept across his face. He flipped the image off, then leaned down and grasped the aide by the throat. That unfortunage courier was yanked unceremoniously to his feet... and then completely off of them as the towering Dark Lord drew him up into his face. His hot breath blasted the aide's face.

"Indeed, remember this day and this time!" His whisper, though soft, seemed no less than a nuclear explosion in the ears of the Sith. "For it marks the Beginning... as well as the remainder of your life."

With those somewhat cryptic words he threw the messenger from his hold like so much garbage. Then, his powerful muscles rippling and gleaming in the dim light, he returned to his Queen and the wonders she had been bestowing upon him.

Utterly inspired by what he had seen, he now reached out for her, pulling her up from the floor and into an embrace as strong as the pull of the sun, and as hot. Then taking step by carefully measured step, he slowly moved her back, taking her back, until he had backed her against the side of the great stone fireplace. He pinned her there with his body, not letting her move.

"It will soon begin, my Love," he whispered hotly in her ear, running his lips around it, kissing and nibbling upon it. Then, his body heated by more than the proximity of the fire blazing away right next to them, he held her upright against the cold stones and began to return to her the favors and delights she had only moments before given unto him.

His plan would see fruition... his lineage would be The One... and the implementation of both would begin this very night....

"I shall stay, and find the answers to my heritage."

Then he looked to the one named Rencinis.

"And I am good to my word. My word is my bond."

A slight growl rushes from my lips; my son comes hurriedly to me, concern creasing his smooth face. I shake my head, and reach out to him.

"I shall not lose you again, my son," I whisper to him as I grasp him by his shoulders.

...who in the name of all Fates would take it upon themselves to clone a Sith?

Shayla frowned as an answer to that question popped into her mind, then she turned and directed her gaze into Graysith's violet eyes. A thought was pressing in her mind. There was one possible way she could think of to get to the bottom of the clone mystery...

...perhaps.

"Could the Book of Ages assist us in determining the truth of this newcomer's claim?" she queried quietly. "For if he's a clone to the Kri'faxx family...

...I'd believe that at least the tale of the cloning would be in the book. And perhaps..."

she paused, frowning once more, "...perhaps we should also consult the retro-biography of Roan, to determine if he, in fact, might have had a hand in this. Something about this just seems very wrong..."

Now she turned to Shayla, her very being calm and controlled once more.

"I do not know much of this Book, for it is something the sorcerer Naad had brought to us," she finally said after a little thought. "But from what I do know, it contains information of the Sith; once Lord Roan renounced his heritage in the Valley of the Dark Lords, he became Sith no more in the eyes of the book."

She paused, a sudden inspiration flashing in her eyes.

"Perhaps... perhaps this can be used," she murmured at length. "Perhaps if this is so, and if it is shown to those he is with, they will renounce him and his power over them in turn. Already he has lost the Mark of the Dark Lord; would this be enough that he would lose the false power he holds?

"But how--?"

She paused at that, shaking her head.

"This is a possibility I shall bring up to Recinis upon his return to us. And as for the stranger, I do not know how the Book would handle a clone, if it would accept that clone as Sith or doppelganger. That is something the Book itself would show; I do not know if the Book is yet with the sorcerer in whatever mysterious place he has taken himself, or if he left it with my Sire."

But he was mere Adept no longer; now he was son and heir, and needed to become accustomed to those titles, the unspoken privileges they bestowed upon him...

...as well as to the fact that he now had the unspoken permission to speak, to offer what input he could.

Something flashed into his mind like a stroke of lightning; he raised his head now, and stared deeply into Aelvedaar's eyes.

"My father," he began a bit hesitantly, fighting to prevent himself from dropping his eyes. They wavered before the rock-steady pair in front of him, then finally took strength from those and steadied themselves in turn. He straightened ever so slightly in Aelvedaar's grasp.

"The stranger here has identified himself to us as 'Serke Kri'faxx,' which is in turn all that was revealed to him," he said at length, his voice low but gaining in timbre with every word he spoke. In front of him, Dark Lord Aelvedaar's expression remained blank... but there was a hint of growing interest about it. Heartened by what he perceived, Aeylmaar continued.

"We leap to the belief that he claims to be cloned from the nephew of Master Rean, of the young lad SerKe who we know died in adolescence... both in 'our' time and here in the present."

Now Aelvedaar's eyes widened, and a light rush of air escaped him. "Why didn't I--" he began, then quieted, giving his adopted son the honor of saying the words. His grip tightened ever so slightly.

"Continue, my son," he breathed.

Aeylmaar drew in a great breath. "Could it be, my father, that perhaps this one is indeed cloned from SerKe Kri'faxx... but could that be another SerKe from our own past? What do we know of the Kri'faxx lineage? Indeed, Master Rean's sister married into the line, and the young SerKe was born, heir to the title of the Dark Lord of Weaponry.

"But what if this SerKe with us was cloned from an ancestor to Master Rean's brother-in-law? The story the stranger was given would therefore hold true... and even though it is retrograde, he just may yet be the only contender for the title of Dark Lord. Master Rean had no other descendents or relatives."

He fell into silence then, and merely waited quietly to see how his father would react to his speculation.

Now I let that self-directed humor rush out from me. My clawed hands grip tightly into this younger Sith's flesh; I throw my head back and let a roar of laugher escape me to strike the stone ceiling arching far over our heads.

"But of course!"

The words erupt ere my laughter has been contained; I lower my gaze now and affix the amber eyes with my own.

"How could we not see this possibility? How-- ahh, indeed I have chosen wisely in taking you to me, first as Adept, and then as Son and Heir!"

My excitement can no longer be contained; I bring Aeylmaar's unprotesting body to me in a great hug. It is the hug of affirmation, the hug one warrior gives to another on the field of victory...

The hug one Sorcerer gives another when he knows his magicks will yet lead the way to enlightenment and prosperity for his peoples.

Now I push Aeylmaar from me and, giving him a final confirming shake, release him. I move to the Crystal Octahedron; a wave of my hand, and the courtyard to the Temple of Warrior's is revealed.

Save for the shadows of the night which has fallen there, it is quite empty.

"The final truth is yet in the blood, my Son!" I whisper, joy carrying my quiet words into his alert ears. "But if this speculation be the truth...

"...then our peoples will again have the Triad to lead them, forward once more in the peace we once adhered to, forward into the life returned unto them. For Roan shall be toppled...."

I cut myself off with that avowal, turning to pin a suddenly heated look upon Aeylmaar. He is the farthest removed from the warrior of any Sith I have yet to meet, yet I see an answering glow springing into life in his own eyes. He nods to me then, and I turn to the Crystal once more.

It is but simplistic work to open a portal through the All...

...and step forth onto the sister planet of K'eel Doba. I blink once in orientation, then hurry to the noisome splotch which yet stains the stones of the courtyard, kept uncleaned as ominous reminder to those who would try to instigate rebellion against their new leader.

Now I frown, and turn back to the Orb.

"The Plains of Rori," I command it.

It flares into brief life, displaying a remote outpost upon a celestial body which has since come to be known as Ploatius.

I stare for a long moment at the image of that barren little moon, the fourth one of the planet Yarnig in the T'lyx system. It hovers before me... and suddenly erupts in one gigantic explosion. I raise a hand before my eyes; when the fireworks have died down, Yarnig has only six moons left to it.

I frown, wondering at this newest piece in a growing puzzle... but I am not totally in the dark. My Chosen Daughter is well aware of the destruction of that moon; indeed, she barely escaped from its fiery death throes with her life.

I nod to myself, a sense of content growing within me.

Then I open a portal and return home to my Inner Sanctum, where I immediately shush the questions from Aeylmaar's lips, and merely hand him the container. Instructions follow; as he sets about his work, I finally speak up.

"I go now to the Dining Hall to seek the others. When you have finished, bring the results to us there."

And then something that had been niggling in the depths of my mind flashed into explosive life inside me, like the birth of a star within its gaseous cradle, tau ceti winds sending the nebulosities of vagueness and uncertainty into eternity. How long this had been lurking there, simmering, building and gaining potential I hadn't the foggiest notion. All I knew was that suddenly it erupted into being, a solid and shining thing.

"Flac..." I whispered, my hand now freezing. "There is really something wrong... I mean, really wrong! Listen--"

I didn't know where to begin. It all was based on nothing more than a gut feeling. But those had served me in good stead; emboldened by my own small successes, I simply opened my mouth and leaped into explanation, mid-story. Khaandon help Flac pick up the missing pieces....

"A year ago, inside the temple on this very planet we're orbiting, I-- that is, Terrin and I were brought here. We came with some jedi, and Terrin's men; we were after a thing called the Nar Khelba; nevermind what happened to that, it's gone now. But Flac--"

I paused, daring to turn my head to him now.

"Back then, my sister, Jharmeen... I mean, Graysith; oh Hell's Seven Circles I don't know what to call her anymore! But she was involved with Roan, Flac! She nearly killed Terrin then! She and that monster would have killed me as well, but Darra--"

I gulped, blinking fresh tears from my eyes, then hurried on.

"Darra, who wasn't born yet, somehow lashed out and attacked them. Not simply Roan, Flac! But my sister as well! That other Lord was there, too; that Aelv- whatsisname. He was... well, frozen in place, I think maintaining that chronotic shield he's able to set up."

I stopped, and just stared at Flac. He stared back, obviously not quite understanding where I was going. Hell, I didn't blame him; I wasn't quite sure myself where I was going with this... but that insistent niggle in the pit of my gut kept whispering in its cold little voice that it was a road we weren't going to like traveling upon.

"Why would the All blast out against my sister, Flac, if she wasn't truly going to make good her threat to kill me? What kind of game is she playing here? Why would she make an about-face, and take Terrin up as a partner, for Khaandon's sake...

"...if not to just be stealthy, and bide her time, and wait until she knew she could set things up to kill him, and-- and Darra...."

I blinked, not liking the words I was saying one bit. I liked where I was heading in conclusion even less.

"Maybe these Sith aren't quite the harmless good guys they are trying to make themselves out to be. And if that is indeed the case, maybe we just might be needing my super star destroyer after all. In fact..."

I paused a final time, staring Flac right in the eyes, watching his darken as his pupils dilated in response to my speculations.

Not to mention the fact that this place was really giving him the willies.

10 billion kriffing Sith, peoples that were supposed to be DEAD, and they couldn't bring back one man and one little girl...?!

Was he the only one that saw something wrong with this picture?

He coughed nervously. Buddy, did he have the creeps. "Uhhh...Galen..." he muttered across the secure comm frequency, "You there?"

Oh how he wanted to get out of here...

His life had been stripped from reality, and placed within another, his family had died, and lost all of its intitlements as far as anyone in this time was concerned, and he knew it would be a long battle before those were recognized once more... And so, he had to trust, he had to help this one gain at least an understanding of the sith, so he might BE sith, even if it ends as that, without anything more...

His head shook slightly and he put the thoughts away into there own private place for further viewing later..

Now he came to sit beside Jharmeen wrapping an arm about her and giving her a brief smile, before quietly running over the main points of the meaning, for even though lord Aelvedaar had not had her join in that meaning, it was her intitlment to know what had occured...

But then maybe you wont have to, ever think of that Flac? You know, i sometimes wonder what life would be like if you didnt have me around to help ya out... Ok, heres the deal, we cant go close to the empire, we cant go close to the sith, where can we go?

His head shook, and he glanced at galen, "you know, that has got to be uncomfortable..."

He then walked over and searched through the ships panel, hitting a few buttons a small control panel came out and met galens fingers, likewise a chair came from the floor panels, "ya, sorry i forgot, stumbled on this when i was riggin it to let me fly out... I always wondered how my sister managed to do this all the time, apparantly it only needs to be flown like that in combat..."

Then he grabed a chair for himself, and sat looking outward at the SSD, "you know... A few hushed tips can go a long way, maybe we can get the empire to go into war with the sith, kill two rancors with one stone, so to speak... Course, the empires got some scary technology, and the sith... well, who knows, we might end up losing the universe...

Flac's words brought a touch of sanity back into me. My mind immediately flashed once again to the times when that eerie power had been used against us...

How easily they just pop in and out, grabbing and taking off with a person... how terribly they can wound with it, and prevent retaliatory action in turn... that awful, energy eating shield, against with all the might of the Empire is peanuts, unless they've come a long, long way in a short, short time...

I slumped, thankful for the seat I suddenly found myself in.

Shaking my head, I put my gloved fists to my eyes, scrubbing them, trying to ease the hot tightness there, a tightness which tears would appease but for which no tears would yet come.

"Flac... I-- I don't know what to do," I whispered. And for me, that was a terrible, terrible thing to have to admit.

...but he simply couldn’t believe that. His frown darkened further.

What if Roan had somehow gotten to them? What if...

He turned to someone on deck. “Are there any lifesigns on that ship?” he queried. “I’m not getting any response.”

A few moments of silence. “Yes, Mr. Lancaster, there are 3. Two human, one...

...unknown, possibly Wookie.”

Jasyn turned back to the comm, considering. The creeps were getting the better of him.

Was someone hurt...?

They just had to get out of here!

He turned one more time and nodded to someone else on deck, then turning back to the comm. “Galen, if you are out there, I’m gonna have the Hornett get a tractor lock on you, I'm worried about what's going on with the silence," he commented with concern. "You can choose what you want to do once you get on board, but I don’t think I can stand sitting around here any longer...”

He trailed a moment. “I’ve just got the creeps about this place,” he admitted. “You can at least get some rest, and decide from there...”

Jasyn then paused, his look darkening, “I hope everything is allright over there...”

With that he said no more, but then nodded to someone on deck one final time. In less than a second, the Hornett secured a tractor lock on the DJ and she started towards the opening for the main hanger bay. Jasyn turned on his heel, and headed there himself to meet Galen and her companions, completely ready to depart from this now disturbingly alive system of the galaxy.

Many hours passed, and Taehun continued to move through the city, hoping to find some sort of airport without being noticed. He was hoping to steal some sort of ship before angry mobs of the Sith strung him up. He had no doubts about his own ablities to hold off a few Sith...but their sheer numbers would be too great now. Stealth was now needed only to a lesser degree, for there were far fewer Sith wandering the streets.

As he approached a building with strange markings upon it, Taehun suddenly felt a disturbance...there was one whom he recognized here, on this very planet, but he didn't know who. After all, there were only Sith on this planet and...

Lord Roan!

Instinctively, Taehun closed his eyes, and opened up a portal for him to travel through another plane. Taehun's eyes seemed to flutter momentarily, and his body vanished.

...and then his body returend to the planet...in the same exact spot where he was sitting. He hadn't moved at all. Somehow, the powers he had been endowed with by Lord Roan had suddenly left him.
Damn!

He would have to find another way to get to where Roan was. He tried to feel out the direction of Roan's force signature, and immediately began to sprint towards it.

Common sense rammed home, and I settled back in the chair again. No way could I escape a tractor beam; leaping up and thrashing wildly about would only bring more strain to DJ's already straining systems; with a disgusted sort of snort I carefully disentangled myself from the connectors and then the suit itself. The ship responded with a little sigh of thanks as in effect her propulsionary systems were shut down, then gave herself over to a low but continual muttering as the invisible energy beams proceeded to haul us into Hornett like a fish being reeled in on a line.

Now I finished that truncated movement, turning thunderous eyes to Flac. His wide pair met my own, giving me a look that seemed to say, Hey. It's your ship....

To which I snorted, coming to my feet. My hands found themselves fisting at my sides.

"What in Hell's Seven Circles does Aaron think he's doing?" I seethed, the question aimed at nobody but the unexpected third road which was so suddenly opening up before us. "He's jumping to pretty big conclusions here...."

For in the end, that is all that matters, after all.

"I have gone to Phrinnchatka in their night," I say simply, stepping back and casting a glance around to encompass all. "Even now my son undertakes the procedure to see if our new friend here is who he was indeed informed that he was."

I pause a moment, then continue with a slight nod of my head in SerKe's direction.

"It has come into my thoughts that if he was indeed cloned of Kri'faxx blood, and SerKe Kri'faxx he truly is, then that is the fact we must accept. Perhaps the mystery of his being may one day be ascertained; I have already determined that no other Kri'faxx bearing the name SerKe existed in all of Sith history other than the nephew of our fellow Dark Lord of the Sith."

I now move to the food-laden sideboard, and set about preparing a plate for myself that I might break my fast. For it has been long since I have last eaten, and I am aware that a fed mind is a keen one. Yet even as I place food items upon the plate made of our wondrously irridescent Sith metal, I cock my head to the others.

"It may be that he existed after Aeylmaar and I were killed four thousand years ago; this, of course, cannot be proven by any other means than returning to that time, or at least to one prior to when my peoples have been brought here, and at that point seeking particular knowledge of it in the Great Library. Whether this is something we really need spend the energy upon, though, is yet to be seen.

"We have, after all--" I turn now, plate in hand, and come to once more stand in front of my Brother.

"--other items of much greater consideration on our plates at the moment."

I fall into a somewhat brooding silence with that, and with slow bites start eating that which I have taken for myself. For some reason the food is suddenly tasteless upon my tongue, and sits in an equally tasteless lump in my stomach.

If yet ONE MORE person was hurt while supposedly under the “protection” of the Sith he thought he’d just blow both planets below into smitherins, just to make sure it never happened again...

...but then, maybe he was already to that point no matter whether another person was hurt or not. He never trusted those damn Sith...

Even as the DJ landed securely in the hanger bay he stood waiting, hoping that his fears would be put to rest at least somewhat. Just as soon as he did so, however, the hatch of the DJ popped open, revealing a glowering Galen, her companion...

...Flac was it?

Behind her.

Jasyn shifted to look back to Galen once more.

Oh hell. She’s mad allright, buster.

He rose his hands in mute surrender, hoping the medical team surrounding him would serve to show the truth in his next words. “With the silence I got worried that someone was hurt,” he said simply and quite honestly. Then he added, “Fates know with 10 billion damn Sith in the area that's entirely possible, considering our track record with the few that have been around til now.”

He fell silent for a moment at that, his look darkening ever the slightest. Then he rose his wristcomm to his lips after pressing a button on it. “Everything’s allright,” he said into it, “Unlock the tractor.”

Knowing this was done immediately, he then lowered his arm once more. “You can go if you like or stay as long as you like,” he said quietly. ”She is your ship, after all,” he continued, waving his hand expansively to indicate the Hornett. “We were just analyzing the truth of the situation with the Sith when we popped in-system and happened to spot you.”

Then finally and only somewhat randomly he commented, “Funny how they can bring back 10 billion Sith from 4,000 years ago, and not bring back a little girl or one man, both wrongly killed...”

He then reached in his pocked, playing with one of the silvery balls held within.

Flac's head shook slowly and he sighed looking back into DJ's interiour, muttering quietly, "funny... Real funny..."

He then leaned against a wall, eyes closing momentarily while he took in a deep breath.

Alright flac... Your stuck... out of all the places in the universe... your in a SUPER STAR DESTROYER... and on TOP of THAT your in SITH SPACE... How do you always do this? all the time, out of the frying pan, and into the blast radiase of a thermal detonator...
Sheesh, one of these day's you had better retire, get yourself a nice little house, close to a beach, over looking a nice jungle... Ya that'd be nice...

And while your at it buddy, take along Galen and Malf, so your not alone... Ya, sounds good...

Ok, so im here... I have no where to go, cause im sure as hell not leaving galen alone in this state, she's likely to go off and get herself killed to avenge terrin and... and Darra... So what do i do?

You know what to do Flac, its time to plot... strategy is the key.

He then stepped forward and leaned next to galen whispering so only she would hear, "listen Brown eyes, I think its time we take a break to get a few things straight... Lets go somewhere quiet and talk about the sith, you told me a little, but i need to know everything if im gonna help you with whatever it is your planning... And if you dont have a plan yet, i think its time we get one..."

Then he glanced back at malf and gave him a nod, signaling the great creature to be careful...

Finaly he turned his eyes again to jasyn, "listen buddo, Show me a place to sleep, and a place for to eat... And ah, im sure malf would appriciate the latter very much, ya, hope this place has enough food... Cause he eats in one meal, what the average person eats in three day's..."

The last time I had entered this baby....

My brows lowered, still aimed at Jasyn, but my focus was not on him. It was elsewhere, months past, seeing other visions trembling there in the dark. I trembled too, as memory erupted in my brain, bringing me back to a time when my objectives were so simple, so naive.

How was I to know then of the complexity they would evolve into over the space of those many months? Of the great joys, or the awful heartbreaks? It was bad enough when She had killed Dad right under my nose, but now....

I couldn't help jumping when Flac leaned over and whispered his suggestion in my ear. It was almost as if he hadn't been there at all, as if Jasyn hadn't existed in the hell my personal universe had become. I jerked my head, grunting a little in reply to Flac, ignoring his attempt to lighten the atmosphere by his comment about our friendly walking carpet.

It seemed my eyes were on fire. I blinked, then finally released a touch of the tension which had me pinned in one spot with a sigh of breath. That opened up the logical portion of my head, which I now realized with a guilty start had been sitting there screaming for attention for quite some time.

This is my SSD, I thought suddenly. MY SSD. I own a kriffing SSD....

A brief flash of darkness found only in the iciest depths of intergalactic space rippled through my eyes; then I got hold of myself. Another start, to discover that I was still glowering like a live volcano at Jasyn.

Does that make him my employee? Maybe Aaron...? That random thought popped in from nowhere as I made the effort to turn down the volume of my hatred and single-minded thoughts of death and revenge. Somehow I managed a shaky smile.

"Quarters would be good, Jasyn," I finally whispered. "I am... a little tired, and I don't remember when I've last eaten. Maybe a little soup...."

I trailed off with that, turning to give Flac and Malf a "come along" look, then turned back to Jasyn and the hovering medical team.

For a moment, nobody moved at all.

Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he came to a complete halt in the middle of one of the Hornett’s many corridors. “While we are at it, let’s get the Hell out of Sith space for now too. I don’t wanna come back here unless it’s with more ships...

...and more allies,” he added a touch darkly, pressing a button on his wrist-comm. “Hey Aaron, I vote we go to hyperspace now, and come back when we are more... prepared to deal with the situation. Just take us to Endor, we can regroup and make plans on the way there and once we get there as well,” he commented.

“Got it,” Aaron replied. “I’ll be in communication with you shortly—let me know if anything changes before then.”

With that the comm frequency died down, and Jasyn began leading the way once more to Red Level, only stopping to place orders in the Dining Hall, all the while happily noting that the Hornett’s engines were now singing the song of hyperspace travel. Then he took them all to a quiet and private lounge on that same level. Food now placed before them, Jasyn sat back with a nice mug of Whyrene’s Reserve and pursed his lips, considering. At length he spoke up. “Got any ideas on what we’re gonna do about the Sith?” he queried. “Now that they are here, after all the things that happened along the road to get them here, I think I’d rather they go back into history where they belong...”

“...might be time we called a favor or two...”

(((OCC: Follow Malf, Flac, Galen, Jasyn and all aboard the Hornett to The Curse of the Uninvited in the CSWU. Thank you.)))