Phalomir held Jharmeen closely, hearing the words of the Eyes but keeping his own closed for the moment.

“My love,” he said quietly. The words sang from his lips, sprouting first from his very soul. “There is no power that can compare with what I feel at this moment. I should have seen it before. I am offered hope, friendship, and love. This moment could last forever as far as…”

He realized that the moment could indeed last forever. He sighed and positioned his legs so he could stand, then did so, still cradling Jharmeen.

“Jharmeen,” he said, his lips close to her ear. “How much do you know of what has transpired here?”

He pulled back his head a little to look into her eyes.

"Fight, Galen!" he reiterated. "We still control our destiny here...you still control yours! And I am here to face it all with you, and that is not going to change, not by my choice anyway."

He paused, wondering if this was in fact what was causing her such terror...

...for he was certain that was indeed what it was. But that got him to thinking.

Now he did momentarily turn away from Galen to look towards Phalomir and Graysith. "That's it isn't it? It's not about all the little things around us controlling us...it's about us choosing to be a part of all those things and to effect them as well."

But I was shaken just one time too often... and that shaking was what brought me from the Abyss toward which I had been traveling and back to that mundane little place we call reality.

Came back to it I did, and with a vengeance. I hate being shaken, hate it with a passion, almost as much as I hate helmet-hair.

And so I burst forth from that edge of madness and into full and conscious awareness swinging for all I was worth.

One flailing hand struck the tuk'ata, which surprise, surprise, yelped.

The other hand contacted solidly with Terrin's face.

"NO!" I yelled, jerking back, stumbling, then gaining my feet and drawing myself shakily upright.

"There is no choosing, don't you see? Don't you understand what is going on?

"She should."

I pointed toward the quiet pair of Jedi, who cast a few pointed glances between themselves.

"They are always speaking of having a destiny; this is our destiny, and we can't change the way things go!

"What in Hell's Seven Circles else could that-- that Thing mean by the rules being broken, and paradigms being changed?"

Something which they had shared together, unbeknownst to the other, that day in the cave on K'eel Doba....

"Yes," she said simply, softly.

"I have seen this too. It is frightening."

On pure instinct, Terrin reached a hand for his jawline, the other reaching behind him as he then pulled himself to a standing postion and listened. The words he was hearing didn't offer anyone here much hope...

...but being someone who likes to have some say in just where things are going, he wasn't quite ready to give in yet...

...and he shot a stern look at Jasyn upon his last comment. He didn't entirely disagree with him, however, and on more than one count.

"There's gotta be more," Terrin then spoke up, looking to Graysith. "Why would we be here if there wasn't? You saw it yourself, and yet you are here, and you said yourself you would not accept the smaller things that the Dark Lords and Wicked tried to offer you. So then does everything just simply boil down to us all merely accepting we have a destiny, regardless of whether we like it or not?"

Even as he spoke these final words he took a step in closer to Galen, wrapping an arm about her...

..and wondering just why the Powers that Be thought it was so important that they see this.

"But, my ally, you are mistaken," she said softly, her arms wrapping about herself and gripping tightly. Her shining eyes widened, as though fear were tickling within their depths. Blinking, she thrust it from her and went on.

"What the Dark Lords all offered was far from small; indeed, it is what all beings are offered, the path along which they might travel, following that with what my Adept considers to be free will.

"These two offerings are simple, and quite disparate:

"Love, and Power."

She paused then, closing her eyes as the years she had traveled since that fateful encounter in the cave flashed across her brain. She shivered without knowing it; nevertheless, her hand shot out when Phalomir reached for her, concerned.

Gently rebuffed, he backed off; she drew in a great breath and opened her eyes.

"We choose to follow one path or another. Love or Power; the two are mutually exclusive, when one truly thinks of it. But conscious, free will ceases there."

Another pause. A pained look crossed her visage, and the Glyph flared in protest.

"Don't you see? We are not mere individuals existing in the Grand Scheme, but rather are inherent portions of it. Did you not hear what was told to us just now?

"We are It. Part and parcel, a manifestation if you will. Bits and pieces as the Game goes on, toward what end, I do not know.

"But in compensation for the fact that Life is expressed through us, we are given individual awareness, and a choice which all of us do make in that life.

"We think it is our life only, but truly it is not...."

She stopped and moved to Galen, took her by her shoulders and stared her straight in the eye.

"It is frightening, those who have this insight go mad or remove themselves from all that is. How awful to know the smallness of one, but yet how grand to realize how intricately we are all woven together...."

She let her hands drop then, and turned to face the others before finally lifting her face to stare directly into those obstinately silent, gigantic orbs.

“So, Jharmeen…. Is that what has happened to us here? Are we now excluded from the rest of the universe? When Mr. Eyeballs here says there is no time, what? Does that mean time has stopped? But why? All that time back there I could here this guy talking, while he blowing us all around, so I can only assume he was talking to all of us at once. What I heard was an answer of ‘yes’ when I asked if we had to use the life-blood, and I meant the All, to stop those would break the rules. Or something like that. So is that it? But if that’s the case…”

He turned to face the Eye again.

It had already stated what was necessary to state; all pertinent information was given. To offer more would be to challenge long-held paradigms, those set down in manners utterly unfathomable to the tiny motes who tried to understand.

...or at least she thought she was beginning...

...to understand.

"There is no Time," she stated, repeating the Being's words. "All we can deal with is what is Here and Now, and we have to make a choice, be it Love or be it Power. One does not coexist with the other, for in order to gain true Power, one will eventually bypass all Love they may have, and vise versa. If one chooses Love, they will eventually give up Power in order to save that which they Love."

Pausing at that, Shayla sent a meaningful look Jharmeen's direction. Then she continued.

"I can't speak for anyone else here, but I for one know that for me it is not Power, and I know that choice has affected much more than just myself. But now that this choice has been made and accepted..."

She trailed, pursing her lips, thinking as something continued to dangle just outside of her reach, "Wait a minute. Love and Power cannot coexist together, and one must choose one path or the other. It is impossible for these two things to coexist," she repeated, letting her thoughts turn about in her head, "And any attempt to make them coexist would break the natural order. Perhaps we have, at some point, all tried to do just so, and in the doing have taken part in breaking That Which Is. At any rate, I know that at some point I have..."

Panthar sighed.

“I take it from its silence that I’m either right or wrong, depending. I choose… right. Now, choices aside, if you recall there are things that broke the natural order. I still say that Eyes here had told us that there is something immediate that needs to be corrected, and there are also things that have the potential to break the natural order and we need to deal with those too. But for now, we need to figure out what fixes the immediate problem so we can end the current turn or whatever and get the game moving again. If I’m right, which would be incredible, what is it that broke the natural order?”

He looked sidelong to Galen, a sudden frown on his face.

“Um, forgive me for this but…”

He turned back to direct his question to the Eyes.

"Yes... and point."

"That Which is Broken must be broken no longer."

The Eyes blinked, and when they opened they appeared a touch brighter, the silvery streaks in them flashing like lightning arcing across a summer's sky.

...then paused suddenly, her own words bringing a particular situation to mind, a particular situation which existed right at this moment. Her eyes widened a bit. "Wait a minute," she then spoke up, casting her gaze first to the Eyes, then Jharmeen and finally Phalomir. Then she uttered one word. Or rather, one name. "Thoran..."

Phalomir shook his head.

Shuddered to recall how I had given myself to rescue him... a mere shade, though I didn't know it at the time.

"I don't know about any Grand Scheme... unless that's this Game our buddy here keeps talking about."

I tossed my head skyward, glowering at the eyes, which in turn seemed to glower back at me. I ignored the look as best I could, and went on.

"But I do know that there seemed to be no time passage in that Dark Place, the Dark Realm, or whatever you call it. Maybe it's just another part of all that is; didn't our pal here say there is no time?"

I fell silent with that, chewing on my lip, trying my best to appear belligerently thoughtful while in reality the army of goose feeties were running rampant from the nape of my neck clear down to the base of my spine.

Another thought struck.

Inspiration, one might add....

"Hey, Red, remember what I was telling you? About entropy and things? Well... could that be the natural order this dude is talking about? I mean, all things die, even the universe will some day; Terrin was brought back from the dead--"

I stopped a moment, casting an apologetic and extremely grateful look his way.

"Could that be what this thing means? Just the mere reanimation of his body?

"Well... that didn't take place in the Dark Realms; that took place here.

...but it was at that. And he'd been placed back in it by...

"Thoran, somehow," he answered Galen. "Gods only know how he did it, though...

“Allright, look, all I did was a little trick I learned in my profession. But let’s back up a minute, shall we? Is our friend here is upset that we brought Terrin’s body back to life, or that we brought him here with us in the first place? Panthar’s question didn’t really distinguish, so hey, here’s a novel idea, let’s not assume, and let’s ask.”

Terrin’s face brightened as it regarded the eyes.

Focus then pinpointed Shayla, going back to an interjection she had made earlier.

"And what was done must be done no longer.

"Point."

“What was done, folks? What was the thing we can trace back to? Travelling to the Darker Realms in the first place?”

"So we must use the Life's Blood to make certain that reanimation of an inanimate body cannot happen again."

Then--

"That Place is of No-Time; that place is in harmony with All That is.

"This is Our Place of Places, where Our slumber has been disturbed; what has been broken can not be broken again."

It then turned its attention to Shayla.

"The Life's-Blood must be used, that which is broken must be broken no longer."

"I am not certain what this great being means," she finally said, giving it a reverent look. For if she had learned anything at all during her self-imposed exile on Dagobah, it was what this Thing represented, and who and what she was to it.

As well as it to her.

"It is no mean feat; bringing the dead back to life is something not even Aelvedaar can achieve, even with his great knowledge of the All."

She paused a moment, suddenly embarrassed, a vague feeling of disquiet descending down upon her for no apparent reason. Something about being dead....

She shook off the strange feeling, and went on.

"How can we prevent something from occurring, when indeed it is something that no one should have the ability to achieve in the first place?

"How indeed was this deed done? Was it by using magicks greater than even the All...

"...or did something assist along the way? Is it not this Thoran alone who accomplished this, but something other, something about this place?"

A sudden non sequiteur struck, and she turned to Phalomir.

The only Sith among them.

Phalomir stepped closer.

“Are you perhaps suggesting that it is this place, either the temple or the area where we found Terrin’s body, that it provided the powers needed to animate the body? I do not believe Thoran would have that power, I have shared a mind with him, I believe I know his limitations. He has the ability to transfer spirits, such as I have done, and that is all.”

"When Lord Recinis brought Terrin's body down to the underlayers, he used something to preserve his body...

...and whatever in the Fates it was, it totally healed all the wounds which were inflicted upon his body. And not only that..."

Panthar had a niggling thought that he just had to say.

“Hey, is this a one-sided game? Or maybe it is played against someone- or something – like maybe the Darker Realms?”

He shook his head.

Something was niggling, very deep in her mind, something she had experienced during her brief stay on Dagobah.

Suddenly she jerked up her head, stared at Shayla, at Phalomir, and then at Panthar.

"Life..."

Life. The expression of the Universe, of All That Is, the warp and weft of space and time and all that fills it with glory and splendor.

The Living All-ness....

A hand flew to her mouth, and she stared up at the hovering orbs.

"This-- this is your Place of Places, in All that is?" she asked them.

"Is this the place of Life, as was suggested? Is that how Terrin's body was kept from following the natural order, from decaying?"

An image of a place of wonder, of life eternal, shot through her mind... marred only by one blot:

An entire population fleeing from it. She gasped, and took a step backward, whispering through her fingers as she did so.

They came to a halt mere meters over her head, floated there, blinked.

"Point," the Voice boomed out.

He scratched again at his horns.

“Well, anyway, now that we know this, what do we do to make sure it doesn’t happen again? We can't blow up the planet, or keep people from coming here, can we? Or can we hide it somehow? Do they make shields that can hide a whole planet?”

She turned to Panthar, once again waving off the coming Phalomir, who was undoubtedly yet concerned for her physical condition.

"Yes, there is such a shield which can make objects disappear from reality, or at least appear to. This is called a chronotic shield; what it does is produce a barrier about an object against which neither energy or matter can impact. Energy which strikes against it is immediately dissipated backwards and forwards along the timeflow...."

Strange that she hadn't noticed before, but so much of what the All allowed a user to command dealt with Time. Perhaps indeed there was no Time; all was a constant state of Now, with past and present mere quantities set aside from that Now for the moment. Perhaps the All worked by somehow bridging those quantities; though Lord Aelvedaar had taught her how to use her talents to bring such a thing about, he had never truly explained just how such a thing worked....

She jerked, embarrassed with the realization that she had drifted off into private musing. Clearing her throat, she went on.

"Matter which impacts this shield is immediately transformed into its energy equivalency--"

Galen, my dear sister, your eyes widen... Ahhh. You recall your physics, don't you?

"--and likewise dissipated along the currents of Time.

"These shields can be erected about anything, but the larger the object the more taxing it is to the user; My Dear-- that is, Lord Aelvedaar once emplaced one about Khar Delba, but he was unable to do anything else but maintain it while it covered the planet."

She paused a moment, reflecting back.

"But even then it was breached, but that is solely because Khar Delba generates a magnetic field, and an opening appeared in the shield directly over both magnetic poles."

She drifted into silence again, thinking, and all the while uncomfortably aware of how close she had come to lecturing. After chewing upon her lip a moment, she spoke up again.

"I don't believe this shield would achieve what we need to achieve, and that is the total elimination of this planet from the universe. That would involve great firepower.

"However, there is another barrier: I am afraid that my abilities, which might be able to destroy Koris'ian, would be fettered. There is Life here, and I am aware of that Life, and thus cannot use the All to destroy it."

She templed her fingers, placed them against her mouth, tapped against her teeth.

"Blowing up this planet would leave matter behind; what if this 'Life-Spot,' this nexus or whatever it is about this place, isn't simply the planet but the area in general?

"How does one remove space from spacetime?"

She turned to the others with a sigh, as she realized that the more she pondered as to their course of action, the more questions there were to rise up in resistance of it.

How could space be removed from spacetime? Was this even possible?

There was, however, one thing which came to Shayla's mind. She had been a pilot for many years, and there was one phenomena in which time was thought to somehow slow and even stop.

"What if we somehow created a blackhole?" she queried, uncertain of how to do such a thing or if this was even a plausible idea.

“Keep in mind that whatever is we do,” he said gravely, “it apparently must be done with time stopped. My lady, Korris’ian was moved here from its original location through Sith magick, was it not? If the planet itself if the Place of Places, then it most likely was at that time as well. This begs many more questions, which may or may not have bearing. However, if it is this space itself and not the planet, then the planet would move out of this space as it orbits the sun. I wonder if our friend is still with us to provide answers?”

Phalomir looked into the darkening sky and raised his voice to it.

...after all, that's what we were told just before we were released from below the Temple."

Pausing at that, she then turned inward a few minutes, once more pondering her idea of creating a black hole. Then she spoke once more. "The more I think of it, the more I really believe that creating a black hole would be the best way to protect this planet, and to achieve Resolution so Time can start ticking again. There would have to be some massive star nearby which could implode and create the black hole...

"No," she said with a little sigh. Taking a few steps forward toward the distant, western horizon, she then seemed to reach out directly to the setting sun.

"That would result in the destruction of this planet, and all life upon it. Some may believe me to be all-powerful, but I do have limitations placed upon me."

She turned back to Shayla.

"I cannot use the All to destroy this planet, or to create a situation where it would be destroyed. Hide it beneath a chronotic shield I can do, but there would be no guarantee that no one would ever stumble upon this place at sometime in the future."

She then turned to Phalomir.

"Yes, this planet was once a moon of Korriban, and was moved into an orbit of its own about the sun they share."

She waved a hand westward.

"This obviously took great power; Lord Phalomir, you are Dark Lord of the Armorers. Could this great deed have been accomplished solely through the magicks of the Sorcerers, or was some device used to move this planet?

"If that, would it be of any use to us in any manner, do you think?"

“I believe none of us would care to see that realm again,” Phalomir growled. “But perhaps that idea is not completely without merit. Let us keep that in mind for a moment.”

Phalomir looked to the western sky, then to temple that loomed directly behind them.

“Again, the planet was moved long before my time. But there is a legend of how this was accomplished. It did indeed require great Sith magick, but it required something else as well. A device was created, infused with all of the power the Sith armorers could call forth. It allowed tremendous magick to be channeled, and then they build a temple around it.”

Thoran chuckled to himself, then continued.

“For one, there is a transfer that should have taken place. Well, several, actually, but one that you apparently missed is the knowledge transfer. Usually there is this big ceremony of pomp and circumstance, and then you take the vow and touch the Shaldok. You didn’t touch the Shaldok, did you? Yeah, I can see by the blank stare that you didn’t.”

Thoran looked upwards, sighed, and turned to Jharmeen.

“Allright, before we go any further, I think we need to go into the temple and find the Shaldok. This is an ancient device – ok, all Sith stuff is ancient – but this one in particular is sort of like the library of the Armorer Clan. Sort of. When the Dark Lord touches it, it does both an upload and download, so all of the knowledge of the clan’s Lords is stored and shared with the next Dark Lord.”

Thoran looked at the stares he was getting.

She paused, pursing her lips and thinking. "What if we moved the planet into Elseness? If people can live there...

“As for the Elseness or the Darker Realms, I see no difference between the two, really. But there may be a way to hide the planet, or take it out of ‘reality’ somehow, without moving it. But, unless there are serious objections, I say we try the Temple. Perhaps our four-legged friend here knows where to find this Shaldok?”

At last... a direct question.

I let out a little puff of air, and fisted my hands on my hips.

"Well, to recap what has been suggested here, and to put in my two-credit's worth, I think we should give Thoran a chance."

I paused with an inward wince, waiting for the daggers I was sure were going to be thrown my way. Impossibly enough, that did not happen; if anyone thought what I had said was stupid beyond belief he was being remarkably capable in keeping that opinion veiled; shooting glances around our little circle, I went on.

"I think that this...er, Thing's Place of Places is this planet. Phal made a good point; if it was space itself the planet would have been moved from it, whether by being moved to its new orbit or simply by moving along its revolutionary path.

"Er, sorry Jharmeen."

She merely smiled; heartened, I went on.

"So, does anyone else make the link that this Place of Places happens to be the planet where great devices were created? I mean, this is the Planet of Armorers, right? We all know at least some of the things they made, stuff which really is beyond physics when you think of it."

I stopped again as images of Sith fighters and the Octahedron and that nasty Claw shot into my head; from the expressions on the faces of the others, I could tell they were thinking along these lines as well.

"So, there is some weird link here between the Place of Places, and the devices which have been created here; I agree that we really ought to rid the universe of this place if possible so no one can get here to make any others.

"Even though I think the Natural Order was broken by the dead being brought to life, which is opposite to how things are supposed to go."

Another pause; by now the looks I was receiving were beginning to slide from the "that's obvious, dingbat" variety directly into snide smugness. I hurried on.

"So yeah, if heading back into the heart of things, that Temple, is what we have to do so Phal here can get the knowledge he needs to figure out how to by-pass the restrictions on my sister, then I say let's do it."

Then I did something I never thought I'd ever do in my life. I walked a hesitant step forward, paused, then gritting my teeth hurried on until I had come up behind the great tuk'ata. That beast only turned it's eerie, pupilless eyes my way and yawned, displaying terrifying ten-inch fangs which gleamed like old ivory.

Which of course they were.

I placed a hand gingerly on it's flank.

"Let's give this critter the lead, and let it take us to where Thoran suggested."

I cast a quick glance around, coming to a stop with my husband, into whose eyes I now sent a deep look.

"And if he's simply trying to pull some stunt, I'm sure that Phal can somehow yank him out of you... and Sissy can turn him into a worrt or something."

“So, worrt or not, I’m in this with you. So, just to show you what a nice guy I am, Terrin, you take over now. But hey, Galen, I was only sort of kidding.”

Thoran winked, then allowed Terrin to resume control.

The tuk’ata glared at Thoran, then snorted and looked deeply at each member in the group. It finally paused on Shayla. After another snort it turned and trotted towards the temple.

The soft look I had been giving Terrin immediately transformed into a glare of magmatic proportions; without conscious thought my hand shot out and I took him by the chin.

"No way am I letting you slide off now, slime-o; you're the one who brought this up, you're not going to slip off into LaLaLand and hide while we go out into a possible slugfest!

"Get your sorry excuse for a spirit back here and stay with the group, or I'll show you just how nasty an eternal moment in Time can be!"

Thoran resumed control, smiling widely.

Then with a little snort I simply turned away, and headed off after the tuk'ata, which quickened its pace the nearer and nearer it got to that suddenly ominous Temple.

...until at length she really thought about what had happened to her the last time she was here.

She had been drawn into the Temple, had gone into that room...

...and at length had been yanked from the place by Thoran himself, thankfully to later be rescued by Jharmeen, but...

"You ok?" Shayla heard Erik beside her query.

She shook herself from her thoughts. "Yeah, I think. And I'm really not meaning to sound so negative about all this stuff," she then said to everyone, "But I've got the creeps. Bad memories from the last time I was here suddenly coming back," she then explained, glancing to Erik who seemed to immediately take her meaning. He reached out and squeezed her hand.

"It'll be allright," he then assured, "We're all together this time."

She took a moment to look into his eyes...

"Hey, I guess we'll save the smootchies for later then," he whispered to himself.

He then winked at the wind, blew a kiss towards the receding Shayla, and took off after the rest.

...he wasn't going to be wandering all that far away. For even with his seeming knowledge of Sith events and such, Terrin still wasn't quite sure whether they could entirely trust Thoran...

“I know this door,” he whispered. “But I probably don’t have to whisper, do I? This is where we found the frozen Phal and Gray, remember, Erik?”

Panthar pushed gently past Phalomir and pushed open one of the doors. Not surprisingly, there were two dark slabs on the floor, each about 1 meter square. A set of controls were visible on each, with a red light glowing from a diode. The floor was wet, and three sets of footprints led to the wall and stopped.

“I believe that is a mystery for later, Panthar. We have more pressing matters at the moment, that one will wait for us.”

The tuk’ata, as if in understanding, snorted and continued walking.

“I hope,” Phalomir added.

The tuk’ata led the group through more hallways. The deeper they went into the temple, the more twisted and turned the corridors and side passages became. It was if this part of the temple was designed to be a maze, to keep intruders confused perhaps.

Soon the tuk’ata stopped once more, this time in front of a non-descript door in long hallway of other doors. It walked a few steps more, then paused, and turned surprisingly nimbly in the small hallway.

Phalomir looked at all of his companions. All seemed to be looking back at him as if to say “hey, it’s your Clan!”

He nodded and pushed open the door.

The room was fairly small, but would easily accommodate the group. It was dark, the only light coming from a small white orb in the middle of the ceiling. The room held only a small table along the far wall, and on it was a silver dome.

She reached a trembling hand to the dome.

And staggered back a quarter of the trembling distance she had just traveled. Upon her brow, the Glyph flared in protest, blasting forth in dazzling splendor to dim the ceiling orb, reflecting off of the silvery dome to then blast into the eyes of those in the little group.

The tuk'ata yowled a protest, and she gasped, struggling to maintain her footing.

"There is great power here," she finally managed, steadying herself and fighting to dim the flaring sigil on her forehead.

“Um, maybe this is too simple, but um, maybe only the Dark Lord of the Armorers can touch it?”

Phalomir, in silent agreement, walked to join Jharmeen. He could feel the power emanating from the object, as if it were drawing him to it. He looked down at her, caught her eyes, and exhaled deeply. He then nodded again and turned to face the dome. He stepped forward and placed both hands on it.

The orb in the ceiling surged, then dimmed. The dome parted in the center and folded itself into the table, revealing another object.

It was a small block of what appeared to be stone, with a head at the top from which protruded two grips. It resembled an anvil of sorts, such as the blacksmiths of the clans would use.

Panthar turned to Terrin.

“Well,” said Thoran, behind Terrin’s voice. “Gee, I don’t know. If it smells like a womprat, and it tastes like a womprat, maybe it’s a Shaldok? I can’t believe you have to rely on ME for this. Yes, that’s it!”

Phalomir turned to Thoran, hesitation in his eyes. He then looked to Jharmeen as if looking for some sort of confirmation.

He reached for the two grips, placing one hand on each. The tattoo on his forehead flashed into life, streaking bright white tendrils in all directions. His immediately stiffened, his entire body suddenly straight as his eyes flew wide open to stare into nothing.

Swirling mists surrounded Phalomir’s mind. No longer seeing his companions, the space in front of him transformed into a long hallway. Lining the hallway on both sides were many Sith, each dressed in opulent robes and holding a torch. At the end of the hallway was the familiar form of Lord Rean, who now beckoned Phalomir to step forward.

Phalomir took a step, and the first of the robed figures lowered his torch to block the path. From behind his hood, the Sith spoke.

“The Clan of the Armorers is the oldest of the Clans,” the hollow voice whispered. “Heed well the words of those who have gone before you.”

The torch lifted and Phalomir proceeded. The next torch lowered and the figure holding it spoke.

“The burden of Dark Lord is not taken lightly,” the voice rang out. “The responsibility is carried not only through life, but through death itself. There must always be a Dark Lord of the Clan, less the race itself falter into non-existence. If the living body can no longer be the temple of the Dark Lord’s soul, the temple itself shall be. Such is the secret of the clan, such is the tie of the temple and the Place of Places.”

Phalomir started at this bit of wisdom, but continued down the hall when the torch lifted. The next Sith dipped his torch.

“The Triumvirate is more than a ruling body,” the shrouded Sith spoke. “Governments are only as strong as the will and cunning of the persons who run them. Triumvirate is the spirit of the Sith, the strength of the race. Government is power only, the true strength lies in something different. Think carefully of what you strive for as an individual, and you will see the meaning of Triumvirate.”

One by one, each of the previous Dark Lords halted Phalomir and passed on a bit of wisdom. He paid close attention to each, allowing the words to filter into his mind. At last he reached the end of the hallway, and faced Lord Rean. Rean held a white glowing scepter in his hands.

“The clan has been without a Dark Lord for too long,” the spirit said boldly. “For even as I breathed, the clouds of darkness had spread though the Triumvirate. The clan is now scattered, the halls of the temple are quiet and laced with the sins of the past. But what is, is, and cannot be undone. But you, Phalomir, have the charge of beginning a new time, and the choices you make will determine the course of that time. Fear not that you are disjoint, for time is of little meaning in the natural order of all things. It is a fluid state, it is not a constant.”

Lord Rean lifted the scepter and proffered it to Phalomir.

“In taking this you are given a choice,” the spirit continued. “Each of us before you were made to choose, some wisely, some not. It is a simple choice, the same that lies before all in the course of one’s life. In the end, you shall have your answers, or die asking the questions. Take this, and begin your quest, and make your choice.”

Save for the cracking of the torches, the hallway became silent. The flames danced along the walls, and the white glow of the scepter cast a shadow on the wall behind Lord Rean. Phalomir stared at the scepter. It was a simple shaft, with a single white jewel embedded at the top in a small sphere. With a nod, Phalomir reached out with both hands and accepted it.

To the observers, it lasted only a few short seconds. The tattoo dimmed, and Phalomir released his grip on the Shaldok. His hands moved to his chest, as if they were clutching something to his body. His eyes searched and found the face of Jharmeen. His mouth curled into the start of a smile, then his eyes glassed over, his face went blank, his legs buckled and the Dark Lord of the Armorer Clan collapsed to the floor, unmoving.

"Phalomir!" she called out, rising concern evident in the tone of her voice.

"Are you all right? What has happened? Have you been shown any answers?"

She fell forward, laying the side of her head on his chest.

“Oh, yeah,” he said meekly. “I forgot about that part. Um, he has to let the knowledge accept him… or something like that. Um, he should be out for just a little bit, then he’ll wake up and have the combined knowledge of the Dark Lords of the Armorers. All we need to do is wait, heh.”

Thoran wiped his forehead with Terrin’s sleeve.

The dark look I shot at Thoran was suddenly truncated when, from the dark corners of the chamber, our tuk'ata buddy suddenly began behaving in a manner most un-tukata-like. First it reared back on its haunches, face tendrils waving frantically, massive paws slicing the air as it waved them about. Then the room resounded with a mighty thunk as it came down upon all fours, only to bow it's head and scrape the cold stones of the floor with its fangs.

It then straightened, whirled an exact ninety degrees, repeated the performance, straightened, whirled, and again went through the pawing and scraping. After the fourth such antic, it returned to center stage, where it lifted its face to the ceiling and set the atmosphere ringing with a totally unexpected, extremely powerful but haunting song.

One with which, of course, the very rocks making up the Temple joined in.

My jaw dropped to lay, shocked, beside my feet. I couldn't move a muscle, found I really didn't want to in fact, that all I wanted to do was just sit there and take in the beauty of that other-worldly chorus now echoing about our heads.

"He will accept this, I know he will.

"He is strong."

Saying no more, she merely picked up one limp hand between the two of hers, squeezing it with all her strength, that even in whatever state the Sith was finding himself in, he would feel this.

She turned inward as the song continued.

Was it now Phalomir's turn to choose Love or Power? Perhaps indeed it was...

...and that choice would most definitely determine the course which many more would follow. And perhaps the whole Universe at that, since every little thing impacts everything else in some way.

All to meet an end already preordained. Depending upon which road was chosen, of course...

Even as she pondered these things, Shayla still struggled to move...

...but managed at length to step closer to Phalomir and Jharmeen as she continued to bask in the song surrounding them, and the song she was beginning to find somewhere within.

"I am here to help, should my healing abilities be of any use," Shayla then stated, still standing but remaining close by.

He waited, expecting a barrage of voices to ask him questions or demand him to make a choice. But there was nothing more than the quiet whispers.

Rean said the sins of the past haunt the hallways. I am charged with beginning a new time. Interesting choice of words, my Lord, for indeed we all are to begin time anew. But what of the knowledge? Wisdom you have passed, advice perhaps, but there is more. There is history, things perhaps even the great library of the Sith would not know?

But there is a saying, “knowledge is power,” and with power comes responsibility. The power to face Aelvedaar, the power to bring the rule of the Sith back to a real Triumvirate. The power to prepare the race for the coming of the Vong, that is my destiny! The Sith shall be strong once more, shall be ruled by strength. That is what is offered.

He voice of Jharmeen rose softly above the whispers. It was too faint to be clear, even with the keen hearing of the Sith, but it brought a new thought into Phalomir’s mind. A thought that originated not from logic, but from the heart.

No, the choice is not to whether to accept the responsibilities, that was made upon taking the scepter, was it not? Earlier than that, it was made upon my encounter with Lord Rean. But the choice I do see is a simple one. It is the same given to all life, and in the choosing we define who we are, and how we live our lives with what is offered. Do we use our gifts, our responsiblites, to attain power? The question is now clear, as the answer is indeed clear, it was always clear. Knowledge is but a tool, the answers come from another place. She was correct. I take the responsibilities, I accept the knowledge, and in the choosing, I choose…

And to the darkness, the whispers, to those who had come before, and to the room of companions, he declared his answer.

“Not power.”

Phalomir’s eyes fluttered open, his focus returning after a few blinks.

“Not power,” he repeated, softly, looking into Jharmeen’s eyes.

She smiled, just a bit at first, then more broadly as his own vision cleared in front of her eyes.

"I knew you were strong, as do I know you will lead your people wisely," she said, not knowing how it was she knew this, simply knowing that a promise of it shone out from his eyes more brightly than could ever shine the light which rang forth from her Glyph.

"And you will begin by removing this seductive threat which has haunted them for so long... with me to help you, my love."

Basking in the song, lost in the splendor of the green of Life, she waited to partake in whatever it was she had to do to assure the Place of Places was removed from the universe, all achieved without harming a single hair on the head of any of the wildlife which thronged upon it.

The answer was so easy, had been in front of their noses all along, had in fact been bandied about and seemingly overlooked upon more than one occasion.

"We can achieve the unachievable, my love; we can bring life and light to darkness."

She sat back on her heels, letting her hands fall to lie limply in her lap. The look she kept pinned on Phalomir, however, was deathly serious.

"Shayla was right. We must move this planet into the Elseness... along with its sister and its sun.

"Light and life where none has been... and in the eternal moment of that timeless place, life shall continue on Koris'ian for the rest of eternity."

“The effects upon the wildlife and vegetation of each planet should be negligible, if at all. The gravitational pull of the yellow star upon the red dwarf may have some adverse effects on the two other planets, I shall need to run an analysis, but this is indeed the start of a plan with much merit.”

He sat up, his eyes glowing with glee. A smile creased his face, and as he came into a sitting position he took Jharmeens hands from her lap and held them in his own hands.

“Oh, my lady, I’ve barely had time to tell you how happy I am for your safety, for your return. Without you I am only a fraction of myself, and together--” his smile widened, a laugh accompanying his words, “together we will move worlds.”

“If it were simple, we would not actually have to move the planets. The trick could be for you to open a portal large enough to allow each planet in turn to pass into via its own orbit. The star would be exceptionally tricky with that method, as it does not move, at least not enough to make that plan work. In addition, you would need to keep the portal open for a very long time.”

Phalomir stood, his face alight with thought. Jharmeen stood with him.

“And the distance between the planets and the star would need to be constant, else the temperature changes would have a radical effect upon the life on the planets. No, we need to send the entire trio into the Elseness at once, all at the same time, do we not?”

Phalomir stopped to breath, his hands still holding Jharmeen’s. He noticed this and laughed, then gave her hands back to her.

"But how to do it? Yes, there is the rub."

She lifted her head, stared into Phalomir's green eyes for a moment before lifting her head further to look into the periwinkle ones that yet towered over them. They merely blinked noncommitally; with a sigh she rose to her feet and addressed the group.

"The task is before us. This planet, it's sister and their sun must be moved into the Elseness... all in one fell swoop. I have the ability to create a portal, but I must make one large enough to encompass a very great deal of spacetime; additionally, since these bodies cannot be propelled through the portal by their own mechanics, they must somehow be induced, or pushed.

"This requires great power; the All is, as our friend here has stated--"

She indicated the great Eyes with a respectful bow of her head.

"--the All is the Life's Blood. Accomplishing this feat is but nothing to its power. However, although I use the All, I have not had enough experience to plumb completely into its depths.

“So, you plan to put the whole star system into this Elseness thing… ok. But you are not strong enough to do it… ok. So, you need assistance… ok. But the only others that we know of who might even begin to be powerful enough to help are, um, maybe the Master, Aelvedaar, and that monster Roan. Soooo…..”

He smacked his lips once and scratched his ear.

Phalomir turned to Jharmeen.

“There is some very surprising information, my lady. The planet was moved here using a device that amplified Sith magick and allowed it to form a bond with something else, something others of our party have some knowledge of. There is a conspiracy of sorts, a secret collaboration. Two thousand years before Aelvedaar reached into the future to find an escape from the Dark Jedi, the Sith were visited by other users of the Force: the Jedi Order themselves.”

Phalomir could feel the unrest in the room, especially from Shayla and Erik. He smiled at them and spoke louder.

“As we know, there is something extremely special about this planet. The Sith saw it, as did the Jedi. It once was a moon of Korriban, nondescript, except for the abundant plant and wildlife upon it. The Jedi were called here, following what they said was a ‘convergence of the Force’, but it was indeed more than that, as they soon discovered. To make a long story short, the Sith would not relinquish control of the moon, but agreed to hide the secrets of the world. You see, in its current position at the time, it was physically impossible for life to exist here. The proximity to Korriban, the temperate and atmospheric problems that should have been occuring but were not – it made no sense! The planet was moved here, to a position in space that would explain how a world so small could sustain the life it has, and the Clan of Armorers was put here to protect the secrets – and to learn from them as well.”

Phalomir looked back to Jharmeen, but still spoke so the others could hear.

“But through the centuries, the Clan discovered some of the other secrets. What our hovering, large-eyed friend has not mentioned is that Korris’ian is still tied to Korriban. It is a balance: while this planet thrives, Korriban is desolate. The Life’s Blood flows from one world to the next, as it flows in all things, but in this particular case the term ‘Life’s Blood’ is more literal. Without Korriban, Korris’ian would be very different. An example of this connection lies in The Black River, which was once home to the Rael N'kuht, a thriving valley in an all-but-dead world. We do indeed need to move both planets, and the sun.”

Phalomir paused, allowing his companions to process this information, and awaited any questions they might have so far.

"Am I right to understand that the collaboration between the Jedi and the Sith was that together they moved Korris'ian into an orbit about the sun, in order to hide the fact that life existed on a moon where conditions precluded it?"

She stared round the party, then drew in a deep breath as logic reached an obvious, at least to her, conclusion.

"Then-- are you saying as well that it was a combination of Sith Magick and the Force which was used to move the planet?

"If this is the case...

“Yes,” he said. “that is what I am saying. This was centuries before the invention of a planetary repulsor, and the amount of energy such a device would require to break the gravitational pull of Korriban would be beyond such modern devices. So the Armorers, ever ready to face a challenge, designed a device that could do the job. But Sith magick alone was not enough, so the main focus of the device was to use the powers of the Jedi to amplify the magick, work in harmony with it, and provide the power needed to move the planet. The device is rather large, built into the surface of the planet and now concealed by thousands of years of jungle growth.”

He looked to Shayla.

She paused, pursing her lips a bit as she continued to think. "Panthar suggested we find a device which he and Erik saw the Master through...

...would it be best to go to this thing and communicate with the Master that way...

“Thoran, you have done far more than make ‘one mistake’, but I will grant you leniency in that you were indeed under the control of the Master at the time. I sincerely hope you are now working under your own free will, Thoran, and you truly are loyal to your word.”

Phalomir then looked once more to each member of the group, their eyes all upon him. He nodded and looked finally to Jharmeen. His eyes lingered on her for a moment, sharing a silent exchange. He then smiled lightly and turned to rest of the group.

“There is much asked of all of us in accomplishing this task,” he said, walking to the door with Jharmeen. “What we are about to do is monumental, make no mistake that this will stretch our abilities to the limits, possibly beyond. We have had our minds enlightened as to the scope of life, and our place within it, and now we must honor our commitment to the universe. Bear in mind that no-one must know of what we do here this day, our deeds will be unsung. But we will know, and I will honor you all for it.”

Phalomir reached the doorway where the tuk’ata sat in wait. He held his hand out and the tuk’ata’s face tendrils wrapped around it.

“Lead us to the armory, my friend.”

The tuk’ata whined softly and hesitated. It’s eyes met Phalomir’s and it backed away into the hallway. With another whine it started down the corridor, claws clicking on the stone floor.

You will have to, Shayla," some voice deep within her spoke up. You must realize your true potential...

With a start, she halted for the barest of moments, uncertain of just where that last thought had come from. It sounded rather like something she had heard before...

...several times before, in fact.

As she shook herself from these thoughts she noticed Erik crooking a concerned brow at her. She got moving again...

...and then the flash of something else caused her to stop dead in her tracks.

That vision she kept having, the one of the Sith she had seen as a girl, who bore the Tatoo of Entitlement to the Sorceror's Clan and had spiraling horns...

...it looked so much like Aeylmaar, but the vision was still cloudy...

"The Sith, the one who I saw in my vision as a girl..." she then whispered, "I really think it was Aeylmaar..."

She trailed, her eyes turning vague as she no doubt was getting varying looks from everyone present, "Something tells me that this day was preordained to happen long before it ever arrived..." she breathed, something deep within her rising in silent recognition of a Destiny which simply was.

“The universe sometimes has an odd way of bringing things together for a greater purpose,” Phalomir said. “I never thought much of fate when I was younger, and I still do not fully comprehend or perhaps even believe in it fully. But when I look at the strange circumstances, the coincidences that have occurred since my arrival, it does indeed make me take note and wonder.”

The group turned a corner, the hall widened a bit.

“If the Sith in your visions is indeed Aeylmaar, and if your visions have some bearing upon our purpose here, then I am sure it will present itself to you in short order. Aeylmaar came to warn Jharmeen and me of a plot on our lives, conceived by Aelvedaar. He will be a powerful ally.”

The tuk’ata stopped in front of a large door, a hole splintered inward at chest level.

Panthar coughed, and laughed slightly.

“Well,” said Phalomir. “We must be here.”

He pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was dim, and appeared to be filled with various and sundry weapons. Along the far wall was one small crystal orb, red in hue, glowing atop a table along with something that looked like chisel and some other shaping tools.

“All right, you little red ball thing,” he said. “Show me the Master.”

The red orb glowed, the color inside began to swirl into different hues until it appeared to be full of red gathering clouds. The vision cleared, and the orb resembled a sort of hologlobe, for inside the orb was the image of a Sith. He wore bright yellow robes, had spiraling kudu-type horns that resembled those of Phalomir, and was pacing back and forth in a small darkened room. He paused, and looked up, as if staring directly at Panthar.

“Hey, guys, he’s home!”

“Oh, you again,” came a voice from inside the orb. “I would have thought Aelvedaar would have done away with you by now. What do you want this time? I can’t exactly port you out of the temple right now.”

Panthar turned to the group.

"Hey, I did the dailing, someone else do the talking!"

When the interior coalesced to the form of a Sith, who suddenly spoke to us, I couldn't help but leap back a couple steps in surprised alarm. But anger then flared, purportedly because of his snooty tone, but in reality....

In reality... Galen, you know what reality is now, don't you? What you are, what your sister is, who Terrin is, who everyone else is... Do you ask yourself now if there is true reason to continue on with this mad quest?

Of course you do... and guess what. It matters not what that you balk, that you raise your voice and cry out in resistance, for that is not how the Game is played now, is it...?

I shivered, wrapping my arms about myself, and forced that niggling edge of madness to trigger my temper again.

How dare it. HOW DARE IT!!!

"Ok, buddy, here's the scoop."

With no further ado and without a sidelong glance to anyone else in the party, I stepped back up to the Orb and glared right back at His Holy High Snootful, whose attention I seemed to capture enough that he turned a disdainful look my way.

"In case you haven't already figured this one out, Time is stopped. This planet is some kind of Life Spot in the Universe, and here we did a major no-no by bringing the dead back to life."

I trembled a little, but forced myself to go on, trying to remain totally objective about all this.

"Ummm... it appears that, er, the Universe doesn't like that we've broken some basic ground rules, and has, as mentioned, stopped time eveywhere but in this place. We have to remove this system from this Universe so no one will ever, ahhh... break that which must not be broken again.

Allright, Thoran, pal. You step up there and take charge of this, since this was your idea. No more of this hanging back. Like Galen said...if we go down doing this...

...you sure as kriffing hell are gonna go down with us, since you are our connection here.

And with no further ado than that, Terrin took enough control to step up closer to Galen, and nearby the red orb.

He was gonna stick close to her, he sensed that she was still very much troubled by all that had transpired...

...and Thoran in the meantime just wasn't going to get off that easily...

“This one, I like,” he said. “Crude, rude, but to the point. Your story is very… interesting. I must say I felt a strange sensation within the essence of all things, but even if I were to believe you, what sort of help could I provide? And what could you provide to me?”

He scowled once more, indicating Terrin.

But what?

I shrugged noncommitally, sending a sleepy stare to everyone before turning back to this Master, with a yawn.

Amazing how understanding what the Universe is all about can change your outlook on people and rank and such, and this guy, being bipedal, put his pants on one leg at a time, just like I did.

Assuming he ever climbed out of those girly robes...

"Oh, I dunno."

I drew the words out into a verbal shrug.

"Maybe you'd just like to get Time going again so you can keep on trying to rule this body and that again?

"Or maybe you'd like to get out of that silly little ball...?"

"Take care, Galen," she whispered in a low voice.

"There are powers here greater than you can possibly imagine. You would do well not to offend he whose help we have come seeking."

She gave Galen's shoulder a little squeeze, then turned her violet eyes to the figure in the orb. At first he didn't seem to see her; giving a little snort, she then allowed her Glyph to flash an introductory light.

Ahh. That got his attention.

"You are correct, Master," she said with a bow of her head, not knowing how else to address this obviously quite powerful Sith.

She raised her head then, and gave him a direct look.

"We come with some knowledge of, some use of the All, and that Living Part of it called the Force, and have with us the strength of the magicks of the Sith. What we are called upon to do is a mighty task, one which was once accomplished long in the past, and to a far lesser degree than is that which we are bid to do.

"We must move this system; once this place was a moon but by magicks of the Sith augmented with the Force it found succor as a planet orbiting the sun, there joining with that about which it in turn once revolved.

"But that was a mere move in spacetime only; our task is to move this entire system into the dimensionlessness of that which is called the Elseness, which takes greater power than we have at our disposal."

She drew in a breath.

"We have some ability to use the All. We know of the Device. But we need the strength which we have not.

"We need your help."

Forcing herself to quiet then, she stared a long moment right into the dark eyes of the enigmatic Sith. Then she simply fell to her knees before him, and remained still.

"But of course," she agreed with a quick bow of her head. Raising it, she looked at the Master through her lashes.

"Whatever you have done to whoever matters not; when you are freed, you and your son have a place with me in Phrinnchatka, where I am Dark Lady."

Currently sans Dark Lord.

Not that I had any mother hen's urge to protect Phalomir, but I remembered what he did for me in that horrid Dark Realms place; time to speak up for him.

Now it was my turn to step forward again, gently shouldering past Jharmeen and taking center stage. Something, I might add, that I am entirely too wont to do.

One day it's gonna turn and bite you on your--

"Ummm... hey, how about you take Thoran with you, and we get to keep Phalomir, and he and my sister can live happily ever after?" I suggested brightly.

I may be her sister, but I'm not blind. I saw that look she had sent his way.

Pausing at that, he collected himself and then finished with, "Why don't we just stick to the things that are business, and cut the poodoo. You can make schemes and plans as you like, but as long as we don't agree to them, you'll be just as stuck here as we are, and perhaps even more since it is you who are imprisoned. Now I just have to wonder, what is it you plan to do with Phalomir anyway?"

Dammitall, but what a a big bantha butt this guy was...

Graysith rose slowly and with great dignity to her feet. For a few moments she merely stared at the image in the orb, oblivious to the fact that the longer she stared the tighter and tighter her clenched hands were fisting, and the brighter and brighter her Glyph was flashing.

Finally she took a step forward, and spat on the shining surface of the Shar'tak.

"You are no father, to speak as such of your son. I will not let you bargain for your own pitiable life at the expense of Lord Phalomir's."

She stepped back then and snugged up against Phalomir, never removing her eyes from the sneering figure in the orb, answering him sneer for sneer, refusing to back down.

"We will find another way."

“Hey,” he blurted, “Wait, duh, DUH! Holy sh— no, no way, unh-uh.”

Panthar looked at each of the companions in rapid succession, held a finger up to the orb as if to say “one minute”, then stepped away from the orb. He glanced over to Phalomir, who simply returned a quiet, grim stare.

Panthar sidestepped to Jharmeen and Phalomir, and lowered his voice to a whisper as the rest of the group gathered around.

"He is doing this to gain control of all the Sith, isn't he?" she asked softly.

"That is what he wishes: power over the Sith, and eventually over all.

“Yes,” he said quietly. “That is indeed what he wants. A long time ago, he made a pact with the demons of the Black River, and when I was a child he tried to give me to them. He still wishes to complete his pact, to pay them for what they have done for him, whatever that was. This is why he followed me into the past, and why he allied with Aelvedaar.”

Phalomir smiled slightly.

“Master,” Phalomir said. “Do not bargain with those who cannot give you what you seek. Only your son himself can bargain away his life.”

“Call me father,” said the Sith in the orb.

“I do not know what it is you gained from the Black River, but it is not too late to stop your quest. There are greater things than power, than the rule of a race. There are far greater things.”

“Such as?” asked the Master, raising an eyebrow.

“Such as family,” Phalomir said. “The feel of the woman you love as she holds your hand, the laughter of your son as he runs through a meadow, the joy of living as you honor the Universe by your very existence. We have learned something here this day, father, something which changed our perspective of life. The natural order includes everything, and we as the living universe are given a simple choice of what we strive for in our short times. You need not choose power, father, join me in honoring all things by first honoring each other.”

The Master remained silent for a moment.

“Time has stopped,” he said at last. “It will not begin again until this task is accomplished?”

“Yes,” replied Phalomir. “That is our understanding.”

“And you need my assistance in powering the device?”

“Yes.”

The Master sighed. “Very well. I will do this in exchange for my freedom. We shall discuss the other matter further at a later time. Where is your female?”

“My fe--…?” Phalomir growled. “JHARMEEN is right here. Why?”

She raised her chin, looked down her nose at the purported "Master."

Master of what or who, this is yet to be declared, she couldn't help the non sequiteur from entering her thoughts.

Her eyes slitted a touch.

"I do not trust or believe you. There is nothing that can contain the strength of the All; if you are as powerful as you say, you should easily escape from your--"

She paused a moment, her eyes widening as a sudden thought struck her.

"You... you cannot access the All, can you?" she asked quietly, before shaking herself back into her former demeanor.

"No; you fulfill your half of the bargain from wherever it is you are. You had the power to control Thoran from there--

"What suggest you, my love?" she asked quietly, before turning to the others, her hands outspread.

"Look, I know what you can do," I said, shuddering as memories of Noghri and horrendous injuries inflicted upon my body flashed across my mind's eye, images quickly followed by that impossible morning when I had awakened to find myself hale and whole...

At her hand.

"I say this dude can just rot in his little ice prison until eternity ends..."

I flinched a bit, realizing just what it was I had said. Indeed, unless we got this show on the road, it looks like Eternity had reached it's endpoint, with us smack in the middle of it.

"I think we have enough power to do this, you just don't have faith in yourself, Sis.

"We are no mere Force users!" she snarled, trembling with the effort to refrain from blasting this Shar'tak and the creature it contained into the farthest depths of that place which he wished to send his son.

Hands upon her arms and around her shoulders brought her back into some semblance of herself, allowing the blinding light which flowed from her Glyph to quiet to merely ultraviolet splendor. She took in another breath, now sending a quick apologetic glance towards Erik, then a warm one, one which instantly bonded them together, to Shayla.

"We are two users of the All... you waste our time!"

Sneering openly then, she turned her back on Phalomir's father to face the others.

"I grow tired of this one; let us go to the device and attempt this on our own; perhaps Galen is correct, and my Adept and I have greater ability than I thought."

She paused, glancing momentarily to her husband and then looking to Jharmeen, "I agree, we can do this."

“You will free me now! Or we shall all perish together in a frozen second!”

The horns on his head, two spiral kudus, grew longer, twisting as they expanded. The red skin on his exposed face deepened in color, and tightened around his eyes until the eyes themselves protruded slightly from the sockets. The robes behind him fanned out until a long forked tail whipped out from under them. He wrung his hands together, the now extended claws clicking together in a sick chorus.

He walked closer to the orb, staring deeply into it.

And with a swift backhand sent the Shar’tak sailing across the room to smash against the wall. It did not break, but fell to the floor a solid black.

Phalomir continued to stare into the empty space on the table.

She let a great puff of air escape her, and began to turn round, then stopped.

"Yes, love," she began, holding up one slim hand to stay the others in their tracks.

"But first..."

Turning back then to the blackened Shar'tak, she stood over it, staring down upon its ominous form. Then, the motion quick, catlike, the Glyph blasting out in glory upon her brow for her effort, she closed her eyes, reached out with the talents taught to her by Lord Aelvedaar...

...and grasped hold of the very fabric of spacetime itself, still a congruent whole within their frail little bubble. A twist here, a turn there...

...and the Shar'tak was firmly ensconced upon the never-ending wheel of a Mobius time-loop, removed from the universe, there to spend something beyond eternity in an insanity-promoting eternal Now, forever trapped between one second and the next.

Then, not waiting any further, she let the images of the others fade away as she concentrated on what Phalomir was showing her. Upon her brow, the Glyph radiated brightly.

A wave of her hand, and a Portal opened, roiling blackness from which a soft green light emanated.

"Let us end this task, then," she said simply and stepped into the Portal, leading the others, emerging upon a terrain which appeared to be composed of trees and vines and brush and grass, under which a deep red and eroding soil let peep a tantalizing glimpse of something dark and shining and unknown.

She pointed to the exposed enigma.

"Is that it?" she asked, turning to the others.

He reached down to the ground and began to brush away the soil. A door, large and partially hidden below ages of dirt, was beginning to be revealed. Phalomir uncovered a large handle, and tried pulling it.

“Panthar, help me,” Phalomir called out when the door did not budge. Panthar jumped and strode quickly to Phalomir’s side. He grabbed the top of the handle and pulled with Phalomir. Both of the Sith grunted and heaved, and the door flung open.

A cloud of dust flew from the darkness inside. Within a few seconds it settled, disclosing a set of steps that led down into the ground. Phalomir and Panthar exchanged glances, then in unison turned to the rest of the group. Phalomir stood and descended, followed by Panthar.

After placing a foot on the first step, a soft white light clicked on to reveal just how long the set of stairs was. Phalomir continued his descent, calling for the others to follow.

At last the stairs ended in a room, approximately 4 meters square and a with low ceiling. The walls of the room were lined with various lights and gauges, while the center held four circular platforms, each about one meter in diameter and protruding just inches from the floor.

“We need two force users, and another sorcerer,” he called out. “And someone to man the controls. Panthar, I nominate you to man the guidance controls. Allow me to demonstrate while we wait for the others.”

Phalomir began to show Panthar the controls for steering the energies while the others made their way down.

...clearly worried. As they finally reached the bottom and she heard Phalomir's words, she spoke up. "We have two Force users," she reiterated, "And two All users as Jharmeen has said. But how are we going to get another Sorceror unless..."

She paused, pursing her lips thoughtfully, "How about two All users, a Force-user, and a Sorceror? Can the variables be altered any?"

Even as she spoke the question, she noticed Erik shift uncomfortably out of the corner of her eye.

"Otherwise..." she traled once more, frowning now as something else occurred. "Thoran has some Sorceror's abilities, does he not?"

For it was here that we, mere motes of matter that we were, were to determine the fate of the Universe, as grandiose as that sounded.

Ok, then, so it wasn't our idea anyway.

But... here. Right here, in this very room, underground -- again -- on the planet which had brought me the greatest joy in my life by giving Terrin back to me again.

This very planet... upon which we were most firmly and gravitationally bound.

"Umm... 'scuse me," I interjected, finger raised.

“Yes, of course,” he said. “But we shall leave that place when everything is secured.”

Phalomir checked an instrument on the wall, tilting his head as if in surprise. He shrugged, then looked around at the group.

“According to the readings here, it will be very difficult, extremely taxing on those involved, but we have what we need,” he said. Jasyn, will you assist Panthar and watch this blue dial? If it reaches past the black line let him know immediately. Panthar, if that happens then you must increase the flow to the diversion polarizers. Matt, watch the red dial, if it falls below the black line then… yell. Panthar will know what to do.”

He stepped onto a platform, and the gray turned a bright red.

“The other sorcerer must stand here, beside me.” Phalomir indicated the platform next to him. “Our force users must occupy these two platforms, and our people with the All may use the console next to Panthar to view the movement of the solar system, and open the portal when the bodies are in motion. Shayla? Erik? Terrin? If you would?” He indicated the other platforms.

He sure as kriffing hell hoped it worked.

Pushing back his concerns, he couldn't help but reach out and take Galen momentarily by the hand, squeezing it then as he looked at her. "I love you," he then whispered. And with no further ado than this, he gave her hand a final squeeze, and let it go, stepping up then onto one of the indicated platforms.

I stopped with a sigh, for it appeared no one was listening.

"Oh, never mind. I'm sure you all have enough power to get our buddy The Universe to send us home... at least I hope so.

"Is there anything I can do?"

...but he knew for a fact he wasn't. Sure, he was a Force user, but he had quit his training before his final trials to be a smuggler. He'd turned his back on his Corellian Jedi heritage...

...and it was that very heritage which they all needed now. Even as he thought this, he felt Shayla's gentle Force-touch try to allay his concerns...

...and he firmed in that.

Now when was it that this woman which he had fallen in love with transformed from the more hesitatant and cautitious person she was to this strong and steadfast individual?

The answer came simply, and surprisingly easily. It was when she finally learned to accept herself and all that she was, no parts omitted.

Which is precisely what you need to do now.

Finding even more strength with this realization, Erik nodded mostly to himself and stepped up, re-embracing a part of himself he had left back on Corellia in his teenage years...

"Ummm... this-- this ship?" I stammered, stepping back and taking a look around.

"You have got to be kidding!"

Then I did a literal double-take as the rest of the Sith Lord's words sunk in, my jaw gaping as I quickly whirled to face him.

"Did- did you say, my powers?"

My All powers???

"Ahh... 'scuse me again, but I think you have your sandcats all in a wad.

She only smiled, and nodded to me. Calm, cool, and very sure of herself.

Oh hell, we're in trouble now....

Then I shrugged, inhaled deeply, and stepped up where Phalomir had indicated. There I stood, feeling superfluous as all get out, not knowing what in Hell's Seven Circles I was supposed to do.

Yeah, I've had hunches. Yeah, something shot out from me that one day, knocking that nasty canasta of an ex-Dark Lord of the Warriors heels over hiney, the day we cut off Sissy's finger...

Ok, Galen, no need to go traipsing down memory lane. There have been enough inexplicable events in the last few years of your life that maybe, just maybe, this guy might be correct.

If nothing else, I've got a ringside seat from which to enjoy the show....

“Don’t worry,” he said. “He expects me to fly this thing after about 45 seconds of training.”

The reassuring smile faded into a concerned scowl, then he brightened and smiled once more.

“But hey, at least I won’t need to worry about running into anything out there, once the planet is gone.”

Panthar heard Phalomir call out for launch. He nodded, and pushed a series of buttons in what he hoped was the same sequence Phalomir had told him. The floor began to shake, and a definitive sensation of lifting came over everyone. In a matter of moments the shaking stopped and the screen in front of Jharmeen buzzed to life, showing a receding Korris’ian.

“Hang on, you guys, here we go,” he called out to the center of the room.

He pushed a few buttons more, and the lights on each of the platforms shot up to the ceiling, bathing each of the four in the center of the room in a different light. Each of them stiffened, and a swirling globe of light formed above their heads. The globe grew, forming white clouds within it. As it swirled and grew, each of the four appeared more and more stressed, until finally the cloud shot up into the ceiling itself and out into space. The four remained in place, unmoving, still under obvious stress. The colors from the platforms formed four distinct columns that now seemed to meet at the ceiling.

He was capable of so much more than perhaps he realized...

Focusing all of her thoughts and senses on what was at hand then, Shayla simply opened herself up further and further to the Force, letting it infuse every pore of her body, heart and soul. And even as she did, she could literally feel that energy she was tapping into being focused eisewhere, and by something other.

It was working. They could do this...

Thoran looked to Shayla, who seemed to doing well. His eyes shifted to Erik, bathed in orange light. His eyes were closed, but he seemed intent upon channeling as much of the Force as he could into the device.

Phalomir, in his red light, seemed very tense. His eyes were wide open, but they seemed to be staring off into nothing. He was sweating, and the veins on his neck were standing out. He suddenly let out a yelp and the light around him brightened.

Shalya let out a short gasp, and suddenly didn’t look so good. Her eyes were shut tightly and rivers of sweat were streaming from her forehead. The light shining about her was a bright green, but in it she seemed pale.

Wait, he thought. Is Phal is putting out more energy that I am? He is a true sorcerer, while my powers come from… well, hang on. If that’s the case, maybe he is somehow linked to Shayla, which would maybe mean that she has more of a challenge in keeping up with his energies.

In the middle of his thoughts he could hear Panthar’s voice screaming out something, perhaps having to do with needing more power. It was all he could make out before the drain within him increased as the intensity of the blue light around him increased as well. He managed to keep his eyes open long enough to see Shayla sink to her knees, then he lost control of his eyelids.

“Oh hell,” he thought, or said, he wasn’t sure. “If this keeps up she’ll be dead.”

But how could do anything about that? Why should he do anything? She has been against him from the start, even when he pretended to be on their side to get to the Master, she was never trusting him. Would she trust him after this was over? So what if she dies? What is one less Jedi in the universe?

But still…

He forced open his eyes again, and through a slit saw Shayla on her knees, shivering in the light.

Green light… Phal is red… wait, blue for me, orange for dinglebutt… they’re complementary colors! He is tied to me, his Force is binding with my magick, her’s is going with Phal’s. Oh cripes, I need to increase my output to match Phal’s, or we’re either not going to have enough or the device is going to suck Shayla dry.

But why do you care about Shayla?

I don’t know!

Thoran concentrated, focusing on his magick. He felt it gather within him, then winced as the device started it flowing out of him at a greater rate. He suddenly felt no longer in control, his thoughts all but ceased as all he could concentrate on was channeling more and more of the magick that came naturally through him. But it was going further now, siphoning off the powers that existed within him. He could feel his consciousness slipping away from reality, but still he continued to focus all of his magickal energies into to the flow.

He barely heard Panthar scream in delight about the planets moving before he slipped completely out of Terrin’s mind.

...and the next moment, it was like that weigt was totally taken off him. Upon initial shock, he fell to his knees, sweat pouring from his forehead.

What the kriffing hell? Was it over???

Suddenly realizing that his eyes were squeezed shut, Terrin focused on forcing them open, meanwhile calling out to Thoran.

Thoran, what the hell just happened...?

He paused, opening his eyes, and with no response.

Uhhh...Thoran? he thought out again. Still nothing.

Now his eyes snapped open, fully alert though body ached.
"Oh, hell!" he then exclaimed, looking up to the others in the room, "Something's happened to Thoran..."

Somewhere north of midline, another bright speck moved about against the starfield.

It was working. It was working!

She turned to Galen, reaching out to her.

"Quick, Galen; lend me your aid!" she commanded, the tone of her voice refusing to even consider anything Galen might respond with other than immediate obedience. Galen must have sensed this; although she opened her mouth nothing came out of it, and instead she reached her hand and took up Jharmeen's in hers.

They clasped their hands tightly, joining sister with sister, blood with blood, strength with strength...

All with All.

It was as if the fabric of spacetime itself ripped... which of course it did. For suddenly the starfield behind the sun and Korris'ian and the little bright speck blotted out, as a great, roiling non-ness whirled into existence, wrung from the warp and weft of That Which Is.

A deep, booming chuckle resounded throughout the ship then, as the entire two-planet system began shrinking, dwindling as it headed toward the immense Portal Graysith had opened with the help of her sister.

The tiny speck blinked out.

In sequence, the sun and Korris'ian disappeared.

Filling the screen then, nothing but blackness, a darkness born of more than non-light, a touch less than the simplicity of death itself.

"Galen, release me!" Jharmeen Qu'taro cried then, struggling to pull away from her sister's frozen grasp.

A jerk, a shudder... and Graysith separated from Galen. The stars burst back into view once again.

Of the little sun, and half of the Diamond of the Sith... there was nothing to be seen.

The deep chuckle segued into words.

"Resolution accomplished; let the Game continue.

"All is as it was...."

With that, Shayla jerked, shuddered, and fell to the deck, bereft of the All once again.

Graysith's eyes grew glassy and she joined her Adept on the cold deck, unconscious, while deep within her being a pewter-eyed Beast rose shakily to its haunches, shaking its massive head from side to side as if awakening from a drug-induced sleep....

Without the ship, time simply moved on from one second to the next, as if the most momentous event in all the Universe hadn't occurred at all.

Which of course, from the viewpoint of that Universe, it hadn't.

Then stopped.

“Well, I hope this ship has enough fuel to get us somewhere, since our other ship is now in the Elseness.”

He turned to the others, and his eyes widened even more. Jharmeen lay on the floor, unconscious. Galen sat on the floor, her back against the wall and eyes closed. Shayla, Erik, Terrin, and Phalomir all were sprawled on the various platforms, Terrin the only one moving. Matt and Jasyn were both looking around, until they noticed each other.

“Whoa…” said Panthar. “What do we do now?”

...at least, mostly. He gasped for air, and put a hand down to keep himself stable while the other remained on his forehead. He looked up to the others, particularly Panthar. "We can start...by helping them," he said unevenly, nodding towards the others who were sprawled out on the floor. Then he frowned, turning inward.

Thoran?

Still no answer.

His eyes gained focus, and he scanned the room, immediately seeing Galen against the wall, her eyes closed. With every single bit of energy he probably had in him, he crawled his way over to her, concerned.

"Galen?" he called in concern as he finally managed to reach her, placing a hand on her shoulder only after he steadied himself somewhat by leaning against the wall too.

But then a voice, a booming clarity, came to him.

"All is as it was...."

It took a moment for Thoran realize where he was. But then familiarity crept in, and a strange feeling mingled with it. It was almost… warm, cozy… joyous?

...gone. That realization, however, didn't seem to truly bother her, at least not for the moment. It was just simply what was. Resting a moment in this feeling of acceptance, Shayla felt a strange sense of comfort coming from somewhere...

...and then logic reared its ugly head and destroyed the moment.

If the All been removed from her, as she had been before, then...

Stretching out now in horror, her mind and soul still quite weary, she reached for the essence of her beloved teacher and friend and sister...

...and was immediately met with something dark and foreboding, and though perhaps momentarily weakened, still very real. Its pewter eyes calmly assessed her...

...and in that moment, her own eyes still closed, Shayla let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Noooooooooooo!!!!"

He stood, his legs crying out in protest, and stumbled for Jharmeen. He fell to the floor in front of her, his legs wanting to cooperate, and pulled himself to her. He reached within for his magick, but the device had drained away his reserves and there was very little to call forth. He must wait for his inherent magick to recharge.

“My lady,” he said quietly, “No.…”

He hung his head and rested it on Jharmeen’s arm. After a moment he lifted his head.

“Wait, things have been reset, changed back to what they were, presumably before the game paused… before time stopped. So then the Claw of Sla’an should be here…”

He took her hand in his. The pale artificial finger was bare.

“But it is not,” he said. “So not everything is the same…”

He reached out with what remaining magick he had left within him and touched Jharmeen’s thoughts, her mind. She was still whole, the power of the Eye of R’lous still flowed within her.

“She is still whole,” he said. “She lives, her life force is strong. But there is something else… something dark…” A flash of blackness and a loud roar sent Phalomir’s magickal probe reeling.

“The beast…”

Phalomir sighed. He believed that she could, with the power of the Eye within her, fend off the attacks of the beast by herself, At least he hoped.

One by one the group regained consciousness, with the exception of Jharmeen. Phalomir aided in helping the others to their feet and checking for injuries. Luckily no-one was physically harmed. When everyone was moving, he returned to Jharmeen and sat beside her, cradling her head in his lap. He remembered what they had done during the stoppage of time, he remembered visiting the temple and finding the Shaltok, he remembered the visions of the Dark Lords and their advice, and he remembered the decision he faced and its outcome.

But he no longer had the knowledge of the Dark Lords.

But his goal remained clear. Not only for the sake of Jharmeen, not only for his own happiness. No, there was much more at stake. And power would be the answer to the future of the race.

I bet I know where he really wants to go, I’m surprised he didn’t say to set a course for there. But oh well, we’ll get there eventually, I’m sure. Maybe this little rest will give me a chance to look for Galen’s daughter once more. OK, now, let’s see. Set the controls for K’eel.Doba…

The few seconds of training Panthar received had only included running the device, taking off, and steering. The rest of the navigation board remained a mystery to him, and the array of flashing lights, colored buttons, and touchpads made his nose twitch. He turned to Shayla, who was still sitting on the other side of Jharmeen, back to the wall, her eyes closed. He then looked to Galen, who although was stirring, was still not quite comprehending the world around her.

He bit his lower lip and turned back to the controls.

“Right… K’eel Doba.” He said to himself. He scanned the controls for labels, and managed to pick out a few that seemed to make sense. The ship appeared to have hyperspace capabilities, and a navigation computer, so at least maybe could program that if it had a good enough interface. Thanking his lucky stars he could still read Sith, he followed the logical progression of commands and reached the point in the programming where he would need to input the coordinates.

“Oh great,” he said. “Does anyone have a log book of coordinates? I need to figure out the… oh wait.”

He saw a small map symbol next to the coordinate input screen. He touched it and a star map popped up on the display. He studied it for a moment and managed to locate what he was sure was K’eel Doba. Just for fun, before he chose K’eel Doba, he looked up to where Korris’ian and Korriban had been, and was pleased to find them shown as a single planet with a large moon. Wait, no…. TWO moons. The last time he checked, Korriban had no moons. One of them was Korris’ian, but what happened to the other one?

Panthar glanced left. Everyone there was still pre-occupied. He glanced right, every one was still either unconscious or attending to the sleeping ones. This information would have to wait. He pushed the glyph for K’eel Doba and the computer beeped its acceptance. He then pushed the button for hyperspace, and the ship smoothly went into motion.

Pausing at that, she let her eyes close completely once more as she considered his other question, the one he had asked before.

What SHOULD they do?

"And as for what we should do," she then said, finally opening her eyes and looking directly at Phalomir, "I think going to Aelvedaar is a horrible idea, and I believe we've come to this very conclusion before. Remember...

...that's why we were going to the Master?"

Quieting a moment then, she gave Phalomir a frustrated look. "I know we left him back there in Elseness, and he didn't quite frankly he didn't meet my idea of a good ally...

...but what's the alternative?" she queried. "Aelvedaar is most certainly not an ally, and the Master is most certainly his enemy. And maybe, just maybe Thoran is right. In exchange for the right things, the Master may help us restore Jharmeen, and against Aelvedaar...

...we will desperately need her. But I fear the Mster's price to help us may be too high, unless he can be deceived some how into giving us what we need in exchange for something that's not quite what he believes it to be. Or unless you have another idea as to just how we're going to save Jharmeen from Aelvedaar's clutches...

...and believe me, I'm more than open to anything aside from going back to the Master. That little display of his back there was well more than enough to put him on my 'least likely to be an ally' list..."

“Aelvedaar is the key to all of this. He feels he is right, which makes our task even more difficult. He feels that the Sith must fall under a single ruler, and his betrayal – his usage – of Jharmeen is but a small part of that plan set to motion. Facing Aelvedaar requires two choices: one is to choose if he is right or wrong. You must choose for yourself, all of you, but I believe he is wrong. The Triumvirate has withstood for centuries, and to forsake it now is folly. Therefore the next choice I face is how to stop him. This is the same choice I was given within the Shartok, and my answer now is the same as it was then, as it always shall be.”

He turned his head to face Shayla.

“Not power. That is all the Master could offer, pure power. I wish to seek out Aelvedaar not to defeat him, but to bring him back to the Sith.”

...remember the book on the warship? I've seen that vong warship, and the vong who appeared to be in charge. Anyone who can even mess with something and someone like that..."

Something about this conversation bothered him, and he stood to pace. His attention was caught by Galen and Terrin, and he walked to them. Terrin sat with his hand on her shoulder, and she sat looking a bit dazed. He sighed and knelt beside her, and put his hand on her other shoulder. He then shook her back and forth, making a bubbling sound with his lips as he did so.

"Wait a minute," he said then, raising a hand to indicate that Panthar should stop. "She's probably pretty wiped out, after using her..."

He paused, recalling how he had always thought that there was something special and powerful deep within her.

"...her All abilities," he then finished. Then he reached out to massage her shoulders gently, hoping to help her relax and return gently to reality after what was no doubt a very taxing task, both physically and mentally. Slowly, it seemed like her eyes were starting to come into focus once more, less dazed than they originally were.

"Galen?" he called once more, gently, concern still evident.

“Maybe we should try smelling salt?” he said. “Try taking your shoes off.”

He shook his head and started to walk back to Phalomir and Shayla, feeling suddenly very irritable. He paused before reaching them, however, and turned back to Terrin.

“But, dang it,” he growled, “If we are going to avoid those imperials, we are going to need her awake, and soon. And hunny bunny massages aren’t gonna do it.”

Panthar walked back to Galen and pushed Terrin aside. He took Galen’s head in his hand and stared her in the eyes. Still dazed, they couldn’t quite focus.

“Listen up, Red,” he said sternly, “you tried to pull something like this back in the maze, now get your butt together and come out of this.”

There was no reply, her eyes still remained unfocused.

Panthar grunted and stomped to the console. He scanned the buttons, then scanned the writing on the wall panels. Finally he found the Sith words for “emergency rations”. He opened the panel, rummaged through it briefly, then pulled out a bottle and opened it on the way back to Galen.

"I'm only doing this because I care, and we really need you."

Terrin stood to stop him, but not before Panthar managed to dump most of the water on Galen’s head.

As she was sputtering and gasping, Panthar drank the remaining water.

So of course it would be logical, if not prudent, to try to put out that terrible heat with oceans and oceans of water.

I spluttered, yanked back from the dark little island which had been floating on all that lava, carrying me willy and nilly like so many gleeberflies dancing in the moonlight. My flailing arms waved uncontrollably, then one came into contact with something.

A soft oof was my reward for that; shuddering and blinking now it suddenly struck me that I wasn't on fire, that there was no volcano, that I was sitting on the deck of a ship, wet as a...

Well. As a wet hen.

And thrice as mad.

"DAMMIT!" I roared, spluttering, shaking my head to rid myself of as many of the annoying droplets as I could. Sniffling, I placed my hand back behind me on the deck; of course it landed in a puddle and whipped out from behind me.

It was only because I was stiffening with growing ire that I didn't whang my head on the deck. Instead, I blinked again, focused and then finally recognized, really, where I was and who I was with.

How I had gotten from Point A to Point Z was a quickly fading memory.

I sat quickly up.

"D-did we do it?" I said, feeling suddenly ridiculous, then shivering yet again as something my sister had yelled to me during all the turmoil solidified like cement in my head.

I had that same weird power she did.

“You and Jharmeen opened up a big old hole and we pushed the planets and sun right through it.”

He returned with a blanket in hand and wrapped it around Galen. He sat down beside her and Terrin.

"Er.. no. Ahh...

"I don't know."

I paused, suddenly flustered, then frowned to hide the bewilderment that was beginning to flood me. My lips pursed, I shot a glance to Panthar, to Terrin, around my immediate surroundings to where it fell on a somehow familiar sight.

That of my sister laying in the arms of the Sith, unconscious.

I gasped, scrabbled to my feet, utterly ignoring both Terrin and Panthar for the moment, and fell to my knees beside Jharmeen. Without thinking, I took up one of her limp hands in my own.

"What happened? Is she all right? She's going to be all right, isn't she?"

Again I shot a look around me, pinning each and every person there, silently willing everyone to respond in immediate and light-hearted affirmation.

“The Eyes said, before it vanished, that all is as it was. I take that to mean that it reset things as they were before time stopped. Mostly. I no longer have the knowledge of the Dark Lords, yet I remember the experience. Before time stopped, Jharmeen was barely awake, the power of the Eye of R’lous rekindling her spirit and keeping the beast within her at bay. I believe that is where she is now. But the strain of what she just did, with you, has left her weak.”

He looked to Shayla.

“When you have recovered, please try to give her healing.”

He turned back to Galen.

She trailed, quite nearly dragging herself to Jharmeen and the others, "It's going to have to be now."

Dammit, he thought to himself, She had just found the sister that she thought she had lost all those years, and that alone was enough to make this important, let alone the even grander spectrum. No way could they let things remain this way, not without a fight...

"Come'on everyone, help her!" he suddenly spoke up, walking over to the others slowly as he motioned to Shayla and Jharmeen, "Maybe if everyone who has powers of one kind or another contributes what they've got, we can do this. We've at least gotta try," he insisted, squatting then as he placed a hand on Galen's shoulder as something then occurred to him.

Thoran...you there? You think you could help out with this, cause if so...

He nodded, then closed his eyes and focused. Shayla would not face the beast alone, if it did indeed tried to once again attack Jharmeen. He let his mind drift towards her, felt the power and the warmth of her, and then connected with her spirit.

She was strong, he could feel her spirit’s power. But her body was weak, drained by the enormous task of opening a doorway into the Elseness large enough for an entire solar system. He could also feel Shayla’s healing energies within Jharmeen, and hoped he could protect them both while Shayla mended the physical damage. He then prepared his own magick for the attack he was sure would come, but hoped would not.

Please, Aelvedaar, he thought. Let her go. Let us be united, a Triumvirate rejoined.

Thoran’s thoughts rushed through Terrin.

She can’t! She’s not strong enough… oh crap! Terrin, just go to Gray, touch her, and don’t move.

Thoran focused, his essence drawing itself together into a tight ball of energy. His most famous trick, the one that earned him a spot on the Master’s team in the first place, was now called upon. With a shove of magick – combined with a little power left from his native realm – he launched himself from Terrin’s mind and into Jharmeen’s.

The move was a shock, for the relatively normal mind of Terrin was vastly different from the very messed-up mind of Jharmeen. He tried desperately to find a corner to hide his essence within, and could not find a quiet corner anywhere. He focused instead on the kernel of thought and power that seemed to be the center of all activity within the Dark Lady’s mind, and dropped his essence there. He could feel Shayla’s warmth, her healing, and could even sense Phalomir’s magick. But there was something else here, something powerful, belligerent. Something waiting…

As he was now waiting. One shadowy figure ready to face another.

He paused, looking worriedly at Shayla before he looked back, "I have flown a Sith warship, and probably would be able to do it. But for now, I'm going to help them," he ended, nodding towards the others who now surrounded Jharmeen, particularly Shayla. And then he too reached out a hand, laid it on Jharmeen's shoulder, closing his eyes and stretching out with the Force as he did so.
Any help would be better than nothing...

...and was quite surprised that he didn't.

Thoran? What the hell are you doing?

No response.

Allright, this is the second time. What the kriffing hell was going on here?

Suddenly her lips tensed, then loosened. Her lids fluttered, and a slight smile seemed to creep about her features. The Glyph on her forehead raised back into ultraviolet splendor from the near coal black state it had been reduced to; a breath of a sigh escaped from between her teeth.

From nowhere, it was as if an immense bolt of electricity had struck. Her body, after having finally regained something approximating its normal state, spasmed, sending her head thrashing back against Phalomir's chest. Her arms thrust upward and out, stiff and iron tense, striking one of the Healers who hovered so anxiously over her.

One leg raised, bent, and a sharp knee struck her sister a glancing blow to the side, sending her keeling awkwardly off to find a place on the deck nearby.

The author of those physical ramifications cared not a whit for the side effects of his rising. Deep within her very being, the Beast raised upright, stiff-legged, hackles raised, flat pewter eyes glaring at Thoran.

It roared a challenge... and swung a massively incorporeal paw, slicing into the other spirit, sending it reeling back into another corner of Jharmeen's mind. Not willing to let well enough alone, it then lunged, claws extended, ready to slice and shred this unwanted newcomer into nothing more than bits and pieces of memories.

"He's fighting it," she whispered unnecessarily, her eyes still closed. As she remained in place, she couldn't help the errant thought which wandered into her mind.

How could he do this to her, after seeming to show such concern for her, such love? How could things have changed so?

“Well,” he said, “that was stupid.”

The beast swiped at him again, and Thoran moved aside quickly enough to not be touched by the power of the paws.

“Phal, anytime you want to join in!” he called out. There was no time, however, as the beast sliced through him this time, leaving a searing pain ripping though his essence. If he didn’t get out of here now, he may become an ethereal corpse floating around Graysith’s mind, and that was unsettling enough for him to flash away to another corner of her mind to jump back to Terrin.

But Terrin was not within range.

“NOOO!!!!! Terrin, when I say ‘don’t let go’ I mean ‘DON’T LET GO’!!!!!!”

The Beast approached again, its eyes burning their way towards Thoran. Panic struck its way into him, and like a cornered animal he started looking for the fastest way out. His transfer powers only worked on someone who was touching the body or the mind he was inhabiting.

Thoran called up the ability and in a panic dove for the closest entity.

Directly into the beast.

And ended up in a place he most definitely did not want to be.

(((OOC: Join Thoran for an interesting ride inside the mind of the great Aelvedaar in My Enemy, My Ally in this forum. Thank you (and posibly goodbye… gulp))))

It was one red of skin, coiled of horn, molten-eyed and silken of tongue. Now, while the mere thought of Lord Aelvedaar did not produce the same kind of panic-stricken reaction that thoughts of his evil counterpart did, I was no fool. I had run into him more than once in the last four years; shaking my head, I let one hand drift across my body to rub against my ribs. The sweet little pain that provoked confirmed my hopes; while I was sure to sport one dandy of a bruise in the very near future, at least nothing was broken.

I craned my head upward, capturing Terrin's gaze with my own.

"I'm fine," I finally managed.

"But I don't think you're on the right track about Aelvedaar. He's not fighting the healing; I think he's fighting something else.

...and Galen's thoughts on the matter fueled her musings even further.

If he wasn't fighting the healing...

...then what? What was in the bigger picture of all of this, what was it that Aelvedaar was trying to maintain by fighting their efforts? And what would possibly be destroyed should they succeed?

An answer came, one which suddenly made all the sense in the universe.

Aelvedaar had, until Recinis left her, quite an amount of influence in Jharmeen's life. He'd influenced it from the moment he'd found her and she'd reached into the past and pulled him forward in time. But now, aside from the beast...

"The Beast within is the only thing he has left to control her with," Shayla whispered, her speech broken as Jharmeen continued to thrash, "He doesn't want lose that..."

“It was Thoran,”said Phalomir quietly, with a sudden awareness of what had happened, yet not aware he spoke aloud. “The Beast has finished him.”

Through foolishness or bravery, I do not know, but the quiet can only mean that he is no longer here within Jharmeen. But why did he do this?

Phalomir could feel the presence of the Beast, but not the malice of its earlier attacks on Jharmeen. Still, he maintained his protection, for what good it could do, and hoped he could keep her safe until they reached K’eel Doba and gather their strength before seeking Aelvedaar in person. He may have been alone in his desire to speak with Aelvedaar, but he still felt it was right.

Instead I just sighed, and slumped back against Terrin, smiling a little to see that Jharmeen had calmed and now appeared to be sleeping.

She has to be just asleep, she only snores like that when she's really, really tired....

I looked up to Terrin then.

"I don't know about going to Aelvedaar," I put forth with a little frown, "but I do want to get to K'eel Doba. Coming in under the auspices of their Dark Lady--"

Here I nodded meaningfully toward my sister, who merely garbled something and rolled on her side in Phal's arms, curling up into a most un-Dark-Lady-like little ball there.

"--is probably a helluva lot easier way to get a Sith fighter.

"We have to, you know... that is, I have to."

My eyes widened then as I derailed completely, right at the end of that sentence.

Dear Khaandon, Terrin doesn't know....

I turned around and put both hands on his face, tilting his eyes down to meet mine. Then, what the hey, no need dragging this thing out--

"Sorben has Darra on Coruscant, and I think a Sith fighter is our only way to get through the blockade there to find her."

I quieted with that, letting one corner of my mouth quirk up in a hopeful little grin; then I sighed and let my hands slither from Terrin's face to lace about his waist. I laid my head against him, closing my eyes to hear the beating of his heart.

"It's going to be good to rest a little bit first, though."

A clicking of two gears, perfectly aligned, resounded within Panthar’s head as previously disjointed thoughts came snapping into perfect harmony.

If Darra was on Coruscant...

...then they sure as kriffing hell were going to get to her. Galen had been searching for her far too long, it was time to have some success...

"If it's a Sith fighter we need to get to her...

...then it's a Sith fighter you'll..."

He trailed, unable to finish his thoughts as Panthar's words came slamming into his ears. He jerked to face him.

"What do you mean, he was looking for his daughter? He was the last person to have Darra. Unless..."

He paused then, shooting a dark look Shayla's way. "Shayla, he asked for Phalomir to look for his daughter on the Sith worlds. Do you know something about this?"

If just a touch shy of hysterically.

"W-wait a minute," I stammered with a gulp. Now my hands flew about myself and hugged fiercely, my brain simply not willing to entertain the thought that in all probability--

"Sorben lost Darra?!"

I shook my head, biting my lip to give some sort of excuse for the tears now welling up in my eyes.

Damned if I was gonna break down again!

I managed to draw in a shuddery breath, and finally found words.

"Why else would Sorben be here... with ships did you say?"

I leveled a fast glance toward Panthar, who only looked back at me, seeming to try to compose his thoughts. Not waiting for him, I went on.

"If Sorben came with ships because he thinks Darra is on one of the Sith worlds, I don't think there would be anything to keep him from attacking."

I slumped to the deck, coming to a limp cross-legged halt there. Blinking, I looked up at everyone.

"Does anyone know if K'eel Doba was attacked? I mean, is there any justification for it? I know he wouldn't be here, out in the open, if this was just a ruse; believe me I know him too well."

Far, far too well....

"Like you know him," I snorted, carefully climbing to my feet to stare at Shayla. The shaky friendship which had begun to bud between us seemed to waver, as if before a blast of icy winter's wind.

I shook my head.

"He'd do anything for Darra, anything; that's what I think," I finished, then plopped my hands on my hips and cast another look around.

...I'd have to conclude that she was the one who took her from Sorben. My concern, however, is what happened from that point. Did she hide Darra off in secrecy...

...or did someone else find her? After all, there have been several entities entirely too interested in her capabilities in the past..."

He trailed, his look growing impossibly darker...

...and entirely determined. He turned to Galen, this time taking her chin in his hand. "We'll find her, no matter what it takes," he stated, leveling his gaze with hers a moment before dropping his hand and then looking to the others. "We've gotta establish whether K'eel Doba is still in tact first though. This is a Sith ship we're in...

...could we do this through some of the Sith technology aboard?"

He turned back to Terrin and Galen.

“But, you know, I don’t think this Sorben guy was there just to find his daughter. I mean, he introduced himself as some big shot in the Empire, like third in command or some bull, and said that they were not there to conquer, but find out why previously dead worlds suddenly had life on them and all… And we all had a nice dinner, caught up on what’s been going on in the galaxy, had a long talk about how the Sith and the Empire can eventually be friends, and such. And the whole daughter thing came up afterwards when we had already left, and he sent a message to Phal about it as an afterthought.”

He'd do anything for Darra, anything; that's what I think. Just like I would.

Phalomir’s thoughts drifted back to a moment shared with Galen in the Darker Realms, when the both of them had come to terms with the fact that may both perish. She had opened up to him, told him everything that had transpired in her life since the death of her father. She had gone on and on, leaving out very little, both of happy times and terrifying times. But the tale of one character in particular stood out, and surprised him at the time, Sorben Tarnus.

He surveyed the situation within the Dark Lady. Shayla’s healing had indeed helped, and even the beast seemed content to wait. For what, Phalomir did not know, but the time for Shayla to withdraw her energies was now, and the power of the Eye within Jharmeen could afford more protection to her than Phalomir’s own magick could. He allowed himself to return partially to his physical consciousness, while keeping a wary link with Jharmeen’s spirit.

...well, dead?

"He did what?!" was all he could manage for the moment however, his eyes still wide, the look in them an admixture of horror and anger.

"I don't know," I said in a tiny voice, still staring into the landscape surrounding Quee's house, my vision blocked by the branches of the tree I had been hiding in with Darra.

"I-- I can't believe he did what he did; there had to be a reason, a damned good one. I mean, I don't know about me; I know Sorben always claimed to love me--"

He's a bounty hunter, Galen; admit it. They don't love anybody; they can't. Right?

Oh, right....

"--but I know he loves his daughter."

I paused with that as the incongruity of that statement rushed through me. For indeed, how could he love Darra when he never really had her in his life? I was already with Terrin when she was born; or rather, when she was... taken from me to be born elsewhere....

I trembled again, and gripped myself so tightly that my nails broke my skin. Thin rivulets of blood trickled down my arms to dry somewhere in the vicinity of my elbows; heedless of the harm I was doing to myself, I went on, my eyes not really seeing, my ears hearing only the words that were coming from my mouth.

"I know he loves her, and he wants her back safe with him again, I just know it," I finally whispered, not at all willing to entertain even the consideration that Sorben wasn't chasing after Darra because he wanted to be her daddy.

But to complete the only job he had failed in his life:

As her assassin.

Everything tuned out around me then, leaving nothing behind but the biggest question mark in the known universe, which in turn was challenged in size only by the sudden and unyielding ache in my heart.

...and all he could do for the moment was to physically reach out to her, wrapping arms about her. Then, unwrapping a hand to then place it under her chin, Terrin moved her eyes to meet his. But they were still vague, as if they were seeing something else, somewhere else...

...and he hated to know just what it was she was seeing.

Words.

Plain, simple little words.

"Galen, what do you, as her mother want... I'll do my damnednest to make it so...."

I jerked, startled.

How refreshing. Someone was asking me what I wanted, me! Finally, how nice to sink back into the softness of it, to relish this, for it sure as there's Treasure on Roon hadn't been happening much to me of late.

With the swiftness of a stooping hawk reality materialized around me. I found myself staring straight into Terrin's blue, blue eyes.

My lip trembled, I couldn't help it, damn me.

"I-- I just want her safe with us, at-- at home with us!

"Is that too damned much to ask of the universe?"

Reality remained all about me but suddenly seemed to lose its solidity, as tears welled up in my eyes to turn it into a vision seen through a dancing veil of water.

“I said I would help, and I still mean that. I have lots of credits we can use, contacts… oh, wait, so would Terrin...”

He stopped, paused, and jerked his gaze to Galen.

“Wait, I can’t be the only who thinks this, can I?” he asked. “I mean, this guy Sorben is the dung-hoppin’ third in command of the Empire! You know, the EMPIRE? The guys who think they rule the universe? Don’t you think he has something bigger in mind than finding his daughter so he can just whack her? What if he’s wants to get his hands on someone who can help him take over the Sith? I mean, he sure perked up when Shayla almost told him what the Eye was, what if he wants to get his hands on something Sith? And what comes to mind, hmmm, let’s see…oh, I don’t know, maybe that weird power that he wanted us to tell him about? A weird power that Galen has, and maybe he thinks his daughter has?”

No way in Hell was what she wanted too much to ask. And it was going to come about, he was determined...

But Panthar's final words grabbed his undivided attention, at least for the moment. "We could play the "what-if" game for a long time," he then stated, not really wanting to speculate regarding Tarnus's intentions, "But there's one thing I'm sure of...

...that Galen wants Darra home," he stated, turning to look at Galen as his words were specifically for her, "So we're going to get her home."

Pausing a moment at that, he simply let his eyes rest on Galen in silent promise. Then he continued, now looking back to the others. "It's going to take far more than credits and connections to succeed, however. It's going to take a good plan, and something else Galen's already mentioned. A Sith fighter is probably the only thing that will get us past that blockade around Coruscant."

He paused a final time, now looking to Phalomir, "You're a Sith and a Dark Lord; what strings can we pull to get a fighter once we reach K'eel Doba? Will coming in with the company of the Dark Lady be enough?"

He paused, turning back to Galen, really not liking the next question that was going to come from his mouth because of the answers which popped into his head, "Who else might have found her on Coruscant, and taken her from there?"

"If it wasn't the Dark Lady herself, then it would had to have been either Aelvedaar or Roan, cause the Empire has Coruscant locked down like she's nobody's business but theirs. Let's face it, we're gonna need a Sith fighter no matter how you slice it...

...cause if Darra isn't on one of the Sith worlds there's only one other place I'd think she may be, given Roan's past history: Kamino."

Kamino. Roan.

Nasty connection, that; especially since--

I cut that thought off even as it was forming, and my eyes grew positively huge. I started forward, my mouth working soundlessly as I tried to articulate the awful supposition which insisted on forming in my head.

"Roan," I whispered, still staring into middle space and seeing the image of him there against the blinding whiteness of the Kaminoan stilt-city's corridor, a flame-headed young female standing in front of him who was nothing more than self-centeredness dunked in an aura of invincible power and tied together with a certain haughty aplomb that I don't even think my sister could ever really put out. That lovely thought segued directly into one of Sorben getting lambasted, which led via a blur of white to me staring directly into the face of--

--of the instrument panel of the Sith fighter we had been sent to, upon which a tiny viewscreen showed us with quiet persistence the blue-green water world of Kamino which was dwindling steadily behind us...

I blinked, and stared around me.

"If she is there... or even was there, you know, knowing that bastard and how he- he can... persuade others into doing his will... there- there's no guarantee that Darra is even a ba-baby anymore!"

It might have been the awful possibility that my baby girl might have missed out on her entire childhood that did it, but I really knew the bout of stuttering that suddenly overcame me was due to the sheer terror provoked in me by the mere mention of Roan's name. No doubt about it, even though the slimebag was dead and buried.

Well... dead, at least.

Er... well, not in our universe any longer, that was a relief.

Terror ebbed; my stuttering lessened, but the awful and sudden certainty that I was on the right track simply exploded in me. I stared round about yet again, before singling the apparently weary Sith Lord out with an accusing look.

"You're Sith," I stated the obvious. "You guys are magickal, you said yourself that you're doing some kind of mumbo-jumbo to keep Jharmeen all in one piece until she wakes up and takes over on her own. Well... we're in a Sith ship now, aren't we? Do we need to go get a tiny fighter? This thing looks a little more spacious; wouldn't this thing have the same capabilities of the others?

"And hey--!"

I thought back to that briefly blissful time when Terrin and I had occupied a house in Phrinnchatka... but only after having hung around in the Temple for a little bit, and then after seeing glimpses of what were sure to be nothing more than unbelievable wonders as we walked the then-silent streets.

I narrowed my eyes, partially thinking, still pinning Phalomir.

"Don't you guys have, well... magickal stuff? I mean, I saw some pretty strange things in that city on K'eel Doba, haven't a clue what the heck they all were, but the machines I saw weren't just idle generators and so on."

I paused, frowning now as I tried to recall everything I could about what little I knew about Phrinnchatka.

"Is there any, well... thing, any means, and magickal spell or something you could whip up that could just show us where my baby is if we just asked directly?"

I fell silent, slumping back against Terrin, and let a long exhalation escape my pursed lips.

“There is such a device,” he said. “Within the library of Phrinnchatka. This device should give you the answers you seek, but we must be careful how we use it. I had an… experience… with it.”

He opened his eyes and looked down to Jharmeen, remembering the time when he first used the library. He was far from the Dark Lady’s good graces, and entered the library in spirit form. He had triggered a power surge and the device spoke to him of things to come, or prophecies.

And perhaps he was at that.

"What color were her eyes?" he half-spoke, half whispered, hoping like hell that Panthar was wrong or mistaken, recalling how, once upon a time, he and Galen were quite nearly forced into having Darra's age genetically manipulated by Aelvedaar. This time, whether it had happened or not, he would no longer stand idly by. Galen deserved more that that...

...and so did Darra.

...we're gonna find her, with this device Phalomir has mentioned if necessary. Only then will we know the truth. And if her age has been manipulated against Galen's wishes, well..."

He trailed, something dark flickering in the depths of his eyes, "We'll deal with that then."

If it was Galen’s daughter that he and Panthar had seen on K’eel Doba, then Jharmeen was somehow responsible. He could only hope that whatever her reasons, she would come clean. But why had she not said anything to this point?

“Galen,” he said evenly. He could feel her spirit, and it was reeling in thought. She needed to focus back on the moment.

“Galen,” he repeated firmly, sending what he hoped was an attention grabbing tendril of magick. “Galen, can you pilot this ship to K’eel Doba?”

Oh good lord, could I fly a Sith ship--?!!

--when the conversation took a sudden and complete swing off into left field. My mouth, opened to make the aforementioned reply, continued to hang stupidly open, but the emotions behind it ran a quick gamut from sarcasm to astonishment to disbelief, finally winding up on sharp and clearly defined anger.

I closed my mouth with a snap, worked it a little, and finally answered the Sith lord.

"Damn Skippy I can pilot a Sith vessel... any Sith vessel!" I muttered as I burst from Terrin's side and headed over to the navigation panel. There I seated myself, and began studying the confessedly enigmatic sigils which blinked solemnly upon it. For a moment I admit I was a little confused as the design was a touch different from the layout in the Jester's that I had flown. But then I began recognizing certain subtle similarities.

My hands seemed to have a mind of their own as they flashed out and began dancing a soundless tune upon those sigils. A few moments passed, then the viewscreen whooshed into the familiarity of hyper-driven star-smears.

I sat back, scowling and chewing my lip. Then I turned to the others.

"We'll be hitting the K'eel Doban system in a little under 48 standard hours," I finally said, my voice soft but not at all reflective of the dark shadows that were deepening in my eyes...

...which I couldn't help but direct toward the quiet form of my sister, who continued to snore peacefully as though she hadn't a problem in all the known universe....

He trailed, thinking better of continuing to speak along the lines where his thoughts were going. Instead he took a step closer to Jasyn and Matt, and a step closer to where Galen was piloting the ship...

...and consequently took a step away from everybody else, his blue eyes intense and dark as he continued to ponder upon the information Panthar had just revealed.

“Hey, wha!” he exclaimed. “This is I all just speculation here, right? We don’t know what’s going on, and even if Jharmeen did somehow have your daughter advanced in years, there must have been a good reason. Remember, she has not exactly been the most loving person, and with the hellish things she has been through who can blame her? I remember what a royal little biscuit she was when I first met her, she would have had us all killed at the drop of a bantha poo. But she is different, I can feel it. It’s like she's finding things, lost things in her life. Let’s not be too ready to burn her at the stake before she has a chance to explain herself.”

He checked himself.

“IF she even has anything to explain. Remember, we’re not sure. I think we need to focus on getting ourselves safely to the temple rather than dwell on speculations.”

...and before the stake-burning begins," he continued, holding up a bottle of Sith brandy he'd taken from a collection he was now gaurding. And who the hell knew where he had found them all. "We can talk about the possibilities and good reasons for things happening regarding Galen's kid...

...and I sure as hell hope our speculation proves wrong...

...but the long and the short of it is that just because there is a good reason for something that doesn't make it right."

He paused as Terrin cocked a brow at him. "Like my drinking habit, for example, eh Boss?"

And with no further ado than this, Jasyn popped the bottle of Sith brandy...

...and took a good drink, knowing that if things continued along the lines they were for the moment, it might be the last he'd have in a while.

But Panthar's words made sense, though they had to fight their way into my head for assimilation.

The thought of whacking Jharmeen... just once... for all she had done to me and those who had followed long the carousel I had been riding over the past years...

I knocked the image which waited at the end of that particular path from my head, and sighed. Then I blinked, realizing my heart felt, absurdly enough, suddenly light.

Hey, hope always springs eternal, don't ya know.

"Yeah, Panthar's right," I admitted. "Maybe we're just too caught up in speculation; you have to agree that our thought processes might be just a tad wee, ahh... warped at the moment, considering what we have just gone through."

I paused a moment to give the nav-boards one final once-over, than rose to my feet. Smiling, I went over to Terrin, passing Panthar en route and giving his shoulder a comradely squeeze.

"In the meantime, we have a couple days to kill before we hit K'eel Doba. Anyone for games-- assuming, that is, that this vessel has the Sith equivalent of them aboard?"

My mouth still blazing out an overly innocent smile, I then darted to Jasyn and yanked the bottle from his hand. Capping it, I turned to the others, doing my best to refrain from fidgeting while I waited.

...and focused on Galen. This was all it took, at least for the moment, to change his thoughts as she suggested possible games.

"I bet the guys can rig up some sabaac, somehow," he mused. "I'd place a bet that one of the two of them have some cards on them right now," he continued. "If not, a little exploration of the ship might be in order. After all, the Sith had to have included some entertainment options on this thing..."

He trailed, his mind lapsing into another time.

It's a pretty big galaxy out there, and I'm sure you've seen plenty. Anything you can suggest for entertainment that you've found along the way?

He couldn't help but grin a little at the recollection as he stepped in and wrapped an arm around Galen.

"The Captain would like a little one on one time with you too," he whispered into her ear for only her to hear.

“I am making up for lost time,” he replied flatly. “And I have lost her too many times to let her go now.”

He then lowered his head, stiffened his muscles, and stood from where he sat, his powerful legs lifting his enormous frame almost effortlessly. His back slid up along the wall as he came to his full height. Jharmeen, still sleeping, stirred slightly and then went silent again.

“As for a door…”

He looked around at the same things Panthar had studied earlier. Then his eyes came to rest on the control panel. He walked to the panel, glanced over the dials and buttons, and wrinkled his nose. He selected a button and pushed it, and a large section of the far wall immediately fell into the floor, revealing a dim corridor beyond.

Fates, but it had been... how long since we'd all sat down to a meal, let alone grabbed something on the run?

I cast a curious glance through the opened bulkhead, then turned to Phalomir. That worthy merely stood with an insufferably woe-filled look planted upon his tattoed face, looking for all the world like all the worries of the universe were likewise planted upon his broad, be-robed shoulders.

Jharmeen snoozed like a baby in his arms.

I couldn't stand it.

"You know," I started, pulling away a bit reluctantly from the blessed warmth of Terrin's side.

Hell's Seven Circles, but I'd missed that....

"She isn't gonna die if you set her down somewhere and join us. Unless, of course, you don't like our company...."

I let the end of that statement roll off into whatever possible conclusion his mind could come up with, and just stood before him giving him the ol' once-over. I couldn't help but shake my head; dang, but he hung onto my sister like a limpet. If Terrin ever hovered over me like that, I'd hit him, sure as there's Treasure on Roon!

I let a puff of exasperated air escape my lips.

"You managed to figure out how to open this bulkhead; maybe you'd be so kind as to find us the local galley? Assuming, of course, that this ship was meant for travel distance far enough to warrant a stocked larder..."

But then, how could he prevent it from happening even now? Standing here as he was, holding on to her as if she would vanish if he took his eyes off of her. Even if the beast once again tried to stifle her spirit, how could he defend her better than the power of the Eye that now inhabited her? And if she was somehow whisked away from him, what could he do to prevent it? He could not match the power of the All, and his Sith magick was not greater than Aelvedaar’s. If a confrontation took place here, he would place everyone’s lives in jeopardy. And, although he felt as if could, he could not hold her forever.

And this circle of threat, response, and running away would go on and on. There was no answer to this problem, no end in sight. And it involved not only this small group of individuals, it impacted the Sith race, and the galaxy itself. The Vong were involved, and possibly Aelvedaar with them. Aelvedaar needed to be dealt with. If he would not listen to reason, then other means must be employed.

And only one thought pushed its way to the forefront, only one image made itself clear as the way to a solution. A small, jewel-ringed device that seemed to call to him from his memories.

The channeler…

He looked down at Jharmeen’s peaceful face once more, and smiled. Yes, she would be safe at last.

“No,” he said, looking up to Galen. “You are correct. There is nothing more I can do for her here. She will be safe with the power of the Eye within her.”

He shifted her from arm to arm and removed his long robes. He let the luxurious cloth fall to the floor and spread it with his foot, then set her down gently on the makeshift bed. He waved his hand over her head, establishing a magickal watch over her that would alert him if she moved. He stood, dressed in a thin black satiny shirt and pants that outlined his muscular body.

“But if she is gone when I return,” he said, winking at Galen, “I blame you.”

He glanced over to where Jharmeen lay sleeping, snuggled up in Phalomr’s robes. He regarded her for a moment and cocked his head.

“I guess in a way, I can’t blame him too much. I mean, she actually is kinda cute.”

Yeah, she has a certain charm and beauty, in that evil, psychotic, schizoid, out-to-rule-the-universe-and-kill-her-sister sort of way.

“I really hope she has changed, you know, for his sake, and she really is the woman he thinks she is. Because if she screws us up again, or hurts him…”

I’ll kill her myself…

“I’ll really be mad.”

He looked back down the hallway.

“I’m going to go with him, anyone else going?”

"I...I can't leave her," Shayla said simply, turning to her eagerly waiting husband.

He frowned. "It won't do any good to just sit here, Shayla," he replied simply, his brown eyes not leaving her greeny-blue pair. "And we can always come back every once in a while and check on her."

Shayla was about to argue the point, her first instinct leading her to assume he was thinking of himself, without her while she waited on her friend. But the look in his eye stopped that thought...

...and the reality of the situation took shape.

He wasn't thinking of himself. He was thinking of her, sitting here alone, trying to battle something she wouldn't be able to face alone.

She closed her eyes a moment, then took his offered hand as he helped her up. "Allright," she said. "Let's go."

...at least health-wise. Now, how in the dark she was about things she had been up to since he had been gone...

His thought processes trailed a moment as he heard Erik and Shayla's exchange, and he frowned.

Kriffing hell, but Shayla sure hung all over Graysith like she held the universe in her hands...

But then Terrin's thoughts were totally interrupted, and he was jarred back into reality with, "Yeah buddy, we're right behind ya!" from Jasyn as the other man fairly trotted by him add began off with the others. Matt walked past right behind him, momentarily pausing and shrugging to Terrin as if to say "Some things don't ever change!" before he too followed the others. Terrin's lip quirked into a smile, and then he turned to Galen.

"Hey, we'd better get going before Jasyn finds the food first. Gods know he has a rather hearty appetite, especially when he's not paying for anything. Shall we?" he then ended with, quirking his arm and waiting for her.

"Ahhhh, hey there Sith dude, when will we get where we're going?"

He trailed, his eyebrow momentarily arched, wondering if Phalomir even heard him, let alone whether he would respond or not.

Jasyn then shot a sidelong glance to Panthar. "I sure hope he knows where the kriffing hell he's taking us..."

“On the contrary,” he said. “I am not taking you anywhere, I am exploring. I have never before been on this ship, and know no more than you do about what lies ahead of us. I personally am hoping for a supply of brandy, but I fear that may be too much to ask for.”

Phalomir turned and once again clicked his boots down the hallway. The hall was long, dim, and smelled slightly musty. The hallway eventually ended at a white door with dark stains running down from the handle.

“Well, our options seem to be limited. Shall we?”

Phalomir reached for the handle and turned it. It snapped off in his hand. He held it up to the others and raised his eyebrows.

Nope. That didn't work... as neither did the useless gesture I then followed that glare with.

I sighed, looking down at my empty hand, which had instinctively flown to where I used to hang my blaster.

"Ummm... anyone here have a weapon or a prybar or--"

I paused, then cut a calculating glance toward Panthar.

Panthar let loose with a blow that shuddered the floor as his fist hit the door. The sound of splintering resounded through the hallway, followed by the loud howl of a creature in severe pain. Panthar fell to his knees, holding his hand close to his chest. He put his head down and yelled some more, then rolled until his back leaned against the perfectly intact door.

“It-worked-in-the-temple!” he gritted out between gasps. Blood poured through the fingers of his good hand as he gripped his right.

"Here, I can help," she stated then, not waiting, reached out to place her hand atop Panthar's bleeding one. As she did that, she immediately closed her eyes and stretched out with the Force, channeling healing energies into the wound as she had many times before. Granted, this wouldn't make the wound disappear, but it would help to stop the bleeding more quickly.

"Well," I said, crossing my arms.

"If we can't go this way, maybe another direction?

"Did anyone pay any attention as to whether or not we passed any other corridors? For that matter, is there another direction from the central command area that we can follow? Perhaps our good Dark Lord here--"

I quirked an eyebrow.

“There were no other doors, no other windows, no other anythings.”

He leaned against the wall and folded his arms.

“And I am bit old to be ravaging walls,” he quipped. “But perhaps a little common physics would save the day. You see, a closer inspection of these hinges would suggest to a Sith that perhaps this door opens inward. Let us try this theory, shall we?”

Phalomir reached his hand outward as if grabbing at something in the air. A wave of Sith magick flowed from him, pulling at the door. It opened slowly, swinging inward on it’s hinges, pushing Panthar along with it. Panthar looked up at Phalomir, now standing right in front of him, a pained expression still on his face, his eyes shouting “Why didn’t you say something before I did that?”

Phalomir stepped to the side and peered inside the dimly lit room beyond. He turned back to Galen.

“Ladies first?” he asked.

...why don't you, Phalomir, since we haven't any clue in hell what might be ahead of us, and you would be prepared to deal with things more than any of us would?"

"You guys are cold!" I said with cold disapproval of my own. Leaving Terrin, I went to Panthar and took his hand. I couldn't help but grimace; he had done quite a number on himself at that.

"Sorry," I murmured, trying to think what I could do to help. Nothing much was coming to mind; I found myself trotting alongside him somewhat awkwardly, his wounded hand held between mine.

"I guess I shouldn't have made that wiseass comment that I did. I didn't know anyone would take it seriously."

I cut an apologetic glance up to his eyes, then turned away.

"Shayla, I thought you were a healer. And Jasyn, can't you rip off a part of your shirt or something; we're in unfamiliar waters here, and this hand really needs something to hold it together until it can be properly attended to."

Shayla's last comment came to mind; I called out to the Sith Lord.

"Hey buddy, ya wouldn't mind losing a couple centimeters of your hem there, would ya?"

“Hold his hand out,” he said, knowing that if Panthar decided to flinch, there was no strength among them that could hold him down.

Still, Panthar did not know this, and his bravery was more apparent every day, so perhaps…

Phalomir quickly wrapped the scrap around the severely wounded hand and tied it tightly. Panthar flinched but kept still, then let out a long breath when Phalomir was done.

“You need not prove your bravery, Panthar,” he said. “As no-one here need prove anything to any of the rest of us. The recent journeys have taken their tolls on our patience and sanity, and I for one apologize for my behavior.”

He began to roll his sleeves.

“But we have a long journey still, and we must find whatever supplies are here.”

...but he could make out several stacks of what looked to be storage bins.

“Thanks,” he said, “I’d even be happy with a bottle or two of that crappy brandy. Hey, if there’s storage bins, maybe there’s stuff in them. I’ll help check them out, like anything worse can happen to me.”

Panthar glared at the door, hanging open as if it were mocking him. He walked to it, pushed it further open with his shoulder, and grunted. Nodding, he walked through the open doorway and into the dimly lit room. He paused, looked around, and turned to face the others.

“Wow, it IS pretty dark in here, anyone got a light?” he called out. The room immediately clicked into brightness behind him, revealing a large room with several stacks of large containers, and a row of cots lined up along a wall. All of the cots were empty, made up with white linens, except for one cot which was disheveled, as if it had been used. Panthar looked around the room nervously and turned back to Jasyn, then to the others again.

"Why is this bed rumpled?" I queried, going over to it and laying my hands against the silken covers. They were soft and resiliant beneath my touch, and sure as Roon's Treasure didn't feel like sheets over 4,000 years old.

I turned a wide, questioning gaze to my companions.

...and he had to wonder just what the hell a crew would be needed for here. Supposedly this ship hadn't been used in 4,000 years...so why did it appear that someone had been here? Kor'risian hadn't moved from its location, at least the last he knew, so that ruled out that this was a place for the crew who moved the planet. But perhaps...

"I know one thing," Terrin then spoke aloud, "If this ship hasn't been used to move a planet in 4,000 years, I'd assume someone was here to protect something. And if that something isn't the ship itself..."

He trailed a moment, his blue eyes wandering to the storage containers. "Then perhaps there's something of significance aboard. Just what the kriffing hell are in those storage containers?"

Saying this, he began to wander towards the containers...

...and was stopped short as a magickal blast out of nowhere knocked him across the room and against the wall beside a couple of the cots.

"Kriffing hell!" he blurted, only momentarily seeing stars. "Someone sure doesn't want anyone inside those things..."

I had been in the process of taking a step toward one of the containers when Terrin beat me to the punch...

...then literally was punched in the solar plexus as something alien and unseen sent him reeling past me once again. I flew to his side, reaching out to make certain he was okay.

My eyes shot to the Sith Lord again, only this time they were filled with fire.

He paused, then continued, "Or gal--excuse me ladies--who was here?"

He quieted one final time, looking towards the Sith Lord, "I sure as bloody hell hope you are going to tell me he or she ain't here..."

“Another mystery,” he said. “We must refrain from exploring, else our queue of mysteries grow unmanageable. I do not know what is going on here, Galen. Simply because I am Sith does not mean I know of things that happened 4000 years in the past. Remember, I am not of that time.”

He looked around the room.

“But what I can tell is what I deduce. This does appear to be a crew’s quarters, converted into a storage room. These beds have not been used in some time, if the settled dust is an indication. The other bed is used.”

He walked to the rumpled bed and leaned to look closer.

“This bed has no dust, and has been used recently. This makes no sense to me, there should be no-one here. This room was locked, there was no sign of disturbance outside in the hall, or in the control room. It makes no sense, unless…”

A feeling of dread spread quickly over Phalomir.

I hunkered closer to Terrin.

"Ummm... 'scuse me but, seems to me that if this place was a shelter for somebody, then that somebody ought to be here, right?

"Ok, so then logic would say, as did our good Sith Lord, that if not a shelter, what we have left is the possibility of someone being imprisoned in here...."

Yeah, right. For 4,000 years.

Sure.

I shook my head; this was altogether too improbable. But then I remembered all I had been through in the past four years; I gripped Terrin so hard I'm surprised he didn't say anything.

"Unless that someone is invisible--"

Oh yeah. The Sith can do that, can't they?

"--did we just let someone out of here?"

I cut my glance to the door, which yawned provocatively open, yet in that gesture managed to remain remarkably close-mouthed about the entire possibility.

"Before we speculate further...

...and believe me, I can speculate plenty more...

...let's first all get the hell out of here ourselves."

I came to a screeching halt, pulling Terrin to a stop alongside me, and turned back to see the sudden arrival of...

Well, of someone, that's for certain.

...and right in front of his wife.

"Like bloody hell we've reconsidered," he growled. "I've had dealings with the likes of you before, back on Kor'isan with Panthar. You betrayed us then...

The Master’s dark eyes turned to Phalomir, who had already fixed a seething stare on the being.

“Perhaps instead my son has come to destroy me?”

He glanced around at the group in the room.

...and a wary eye on the sudden newcomer Shayla referred to as the Master and whom he now knew was Phalomir's Father. And the way everyone was reacting to him was already enough to raise his hackles even further.

He scanned the room again, with a concentration, settling on each individual for a moment.

“But you all have your reasons to join me, do you not? Surely, as I look into your minds, I see how Aelvedaar has touched your lives. He will destroy the Dark Lady, is that not enough for some of you? Friend, ally, love, sister? And if left unchecked, he will rule the Sith. But he will not stop there, for using his power he will extend his reach to other worlds, other systems, other realms. He shall bring forth most unholy alliances with dark powers in this realm and in the Darker Realms.

“Are not these reason enough?”

He directed a glare towards Galen.

He suddenly trailed, his eyes growing darker and slitting, "But you know, I find it strange you would mention it. There's something you aren't telling us, isn't there?"

The Master once again regarded the room, his hand held in front of him for emphasis.

“This is no longer about petty differences, or ancient promises, or even asking forgiveness. I am beyond that, and it is too late for erstwhile banter. Do you not see the dangers ahead of you, for the galaxy, or are you blinded by your own arrogance? I for one prefer the Darker Realms as they are, as I prefer my place within them to be unaltered. Allow me to join you, to lend you my power, I shall -- relinquish my claim on Phalomir. I shall take only Thoran, he does not belong in this realm.”

The Master looked directly at Terrin, as if waiting for a reply. All he received was the same antagonistic stare.

We could always wait. Waiting took no effort, and hence, was the perfect thing for us to do.

Not to mention its apparent new lord and master, Roan.

But this comment broke that ice as efficiently as a laser, drilling a hole directly into the few logical brain cells of mine yet remaining operative.

I cut a glance to Terrin, then piped up in turn. That weird hunch I always get was niggling for all it was worth; sure as there's Treasure on Roon but I just knew this "Master" would be singing us a far different tune if he knew about Thoran.

"Sounds like big words to me," I said, taking a tiny step away from Terrin and crossing my arms. Everyone shot me a startled glance; I shrugged as if this guy was no more dangerous to us than a gleeberfly, and went on.

"I mean, yeah. There's always somebody or other somewhere who is a dire threat to someone else, isn't there? And from my past experience, it seems that those with the largest plans for revenge or tight-fisted control or whatever are also those with the largest egos.

"Not to mention the greatest bark."

I blinked, fighting against the rush of images which swarmed into my head at my own words: pictures of Wicked and Desolist, of Actar and the horned Aelvedaar, our newest adversary, and of Roan. Of all we had gone through, of all we had battled against, of all I had battled against, whether alone or with friends or loved ones, and of all that had transpired.

And it all hit me squarely in the face then.

In the case of everyone of the above nasties, the greatest threat to us, and to the galaxy in general, was nothing more than overactive delusions of grandeur. I mean, yeah, there were battles, fights, peeps had gotten themselves killed and all.

But nothing big had come down the pike to utterly rearrange the workings of "life in general" in the galaxy. Even Sorben wasn't really that much of a galactic innovator; yeah, his ships circled the Sith worlds, yeah he had blockades here and there...

But what had come of it? Had any worlds been destroyed? Were we all being chased hither and yon as a seeming threat to him and his?

No.

Just like every other supposedly universal threat had petered out, so had his. The only one I thought truly capable of changing things for the worse was -- thank Khaandon -- safely stuck in the Darker Realms, where he could stay until he rotted. More so. If that was even possible.

I raised my chin and looked this guy square in the face.

"So what's this dire threat you're so all-fired up in arms about?" I asked nonchalantly, going so far as to life a relaxed hand to inspect my fingernails...

I suppose you can blame me. I mean, it's one thing to stand your ground in the face of danger; it's a far different thing to flaunt stupidity like a red flag in front of a charging reek. No sooner had I gotten halfway through my nail perusal when there came a strange kind of chiming throughout the ship.

Well... I can only assume it was shipwide; wherever it sounded its alert all I knew for a fact was that it was sounding right here. And the fact that it was an alert of sorts brooked no rebuttal: there is just something about a warning chime, no matter how alien, that just sets the tiny hairs on the back of your neck on end.

I cut my gaze around our group, who appeared decidedly more on edge than before.

"Uh guys, does anoyone besides me think it's a good idea to get on back to the bridge area?"

I then turned a look back to The Master, where it darkened and hardened upon him like molten coal. I'm sure he had some grandiose scheme or other up his sleeve; whether or not it turned out to be a figment of his imagination was yet to be seen.

...but then, that particular line of thought was cut short when the a warning began to blare. His look darkened in concern as he turned to Galen. "Yes, getting back to the bridge would be a good idea. Considering we're in hyperspace, a warning can't mean anything good...

...perhaps a ship manulfunction or even something interrupting our hyperspace path."

He looked to the Master, deciding to continue with his so-called arrogant bravado. "I don't care who it is you think is such a fatal threat to us, or what it is you may or may not be telling us...

...that is, considering we all might be dead anyway if someone doesn't get back to the bridge right now who can fly this thing and interpret what's going on. We'll continue this conversation later...

...but for now I agree with Galen. We should all get back to the bridge."

And with that, he turned and stepped in front of Galen. "Go ahead," he indicated to her both with his words and a nod of his head, "I'm at your back."

“You refer to the gift Aelvedaar gave you,” he asked, his annoyance apparent in his voice. “The exploding star? That was what pushed me over the edge with him. I was most pleased you survived, my son. Aelvedaar cloaks his fear by dismissing your power, then sends his underlings to destroy you. I have a surprise for you, when the time is right. But now, you must deal with this interruption. I shall cause you no harm.”

The mistrust on Shayla’s face stabbed through the air across the room. The Master locked eyes with her and spoke in an even voice.

Yes, he truly did belong to the Darker Realms…

Yet he had mentioned unholy alliances between Aelvedaar and the Darker Realms, apparently beyond the alliance Aelvedaar had shared with the Master. Why would this bother him? Unless Aelvedaar had made allies of the beings that the Master had previous ties with? Beings that for some reason granted the Master great powers in exchange for…

For his son.Aelvedaar has made the same deal, Phalomir thought. Aelvedaar can deliver to them what my father failed to deliver, and with Roan now gathering power in the Darker Realms, who knows what plans are being laid…

“I trust him,” he said, still staring at the Master. “Enough to not destroy him right now, anyway.”

He turned to Shayla, his face lightening a little.

“Let us investigate this alarm, together.”

He turned to the Master one more time. Then spread his palms in an open gesture, and walked through the door, hoping Shayla would trust him enough to understand for the time being.

((OOC: Walk through the door with Phal and the gang as they enter Of Masters And The Mastered in this forum, thank you!))