Star Wars Character Cafe - The Legend of Black Saber Chapter 2

THE LEGEND OF BLACK SABER

CHAPTER II

Though quiet, the five-day journey into the heart of nowhere was not at all soothing for Cloudia. She was more than happy to be away from Mersigh, but her longing for Erik was constantly growing. He should have been where Grip was, there to pilot and there to discuss the things that had happened and that would be happening.

The half-Churyen had always felt like she had had an empty spot inside of her, and as she sat there staring at the computer screen, trying to find any record of Drakhsah, the hole felt like it was ripping wider. She sighed, enduring, but just barely hanging on.

Cloudia felt dead until the moment Drakhsah came into view. The planet was odd, silver and glittery except for the occasional blue impressions of water. But as dazzling as it was, the world was nothing like Coruscant. There didn’t seem to be many signs of technology, but apparently there was some, for someone on the planet was trying to contact the Death’s Vein.

Grip flipped the visual comm switch on, something that Erik would have done if he were not floating in the preserving fluids, and two aliens appeared on screen. Their skin was the same metallic shade as the planet’s surface, and though they were very gaunt with spindly limbs, they looked to be about average human height. Both wore simple purple robes, and the one who looked decidedly masculine had shimmering onyx eyes and ruby hair. The one that looked feminine had sapphire eyes and emerald hair.

Then the male spoke. "I am High Priest Rhaaan of the Zepleen, and this is my secondary, Priestess Taaalsyk. I must ask who you are and why you desire to trespass upon the home of our people."

Valenteen rose from his commander’s seat and walked a few steps closer to the screen. "I am Urius Valenteen, and I have no desire to trespass on your people’s home. One of my crewmembers has been kidnapped and I wish to search this world for him."

"He is not here, Urius Valenteen. Leave us alone," Priestess Taaalsyk said, her voice icy.

"Whether you think my crewmember is on your planet or not, I would like to look for him. What harm would it do for you to allow my people and I to investigate?"
"We despise outsiders. Leave us or we will kill you."

The High Priest cut his secondary off. "Silence, Taaalsyk. It will do us no harm unless the deihaaan-mulkhtaul forbids their presence… Urius Valenteen, I kindly ask for you to wait as we kneel before our deihaaan-mulkhtaul. It is he who will decide if you and your people may land."

"Agreed," Valenteen said, and the image of the two Zepleen vanished. Then the commander turned to Cloudia. "Do you sense anything from them, Wandry? Can you tell what exactly this deihaaan-mulkhtaul is?"

The half-Churyen felt an odd sensation roll into her, but she didn’t know what it meant, just that it was somewhat different than the tense anger, distrust, and fear she had picked up on while the Zepleen had been talking with Valenteen. So she decided to reach out with the Force, hoping that it would clarify the matter. And then she was jolted.

She could see the Zepleen with resounding clarity, but their image was not on the Death’s Vein’s main screen. It was as if she were in their bleak chamber with them, seeing them kneel at the feet of the being that they obviously thought of as their god, and she had seen this ‘god’ of theirs before. It was the Dark Jedi that Joparan of Oxine had been taking orders from. Yet there was more to it than that. She could now see the man’s features.

He looked to be about fifty standard years old, he was completely bald, and he had an intricate oval-shaped tattoo stretched horizontally across his forehead. These things alone made Cloudia know that she had seen this man before, way before the vision she’d had containing him on Mersigh, but it was his white eyes which suddenly were engulfed by a void of blackness that made her know that this was the man that had killed her father.

It seemed as if those torturous eyes were grinding into her instead of looking toward his disciples, but the daughter of the former Jedi Master attempted to hold herself together as she heard the High Priest reverting to his native tongue.

This Dark Jedi, she knew that was what he was, wasn’t Mersigh’s Starkiller after all. He was a man named Xcelcior, perhaps trying to take up where the Starkiller had left off, but what didn’t make sense was that this Xcelcior hadn’t seemed to have aged a day over the past eighteen years.

After a few minutes High Priest Rhaaan stopped his reverent adoration and seemed to ask if Urius Valenteen should be allowed to land on Drakhsah. It was then that the Dark Jedi said, in Basic, "Tell this Valenteen to leave, and if he will not, attack him with the god-weapons and god-crafts that I have bestowed upon you."

Cloudia felt herself shiver at the full recognition of his bending voice.

"Seltah, deihaaan-mulkhtaul," the High Priest said in the Zepleen language. Then, as he rose, he continued to press his native tongue into the Dark Jedi’s ear.

Suddenly Priestess Taaalsyk cut her superior off with an angry hiss. "Blashtah!" she exclaimed, then spat forth a tirade of incomprehensible Zepleen.

Xcelcior glared down at Rhaaan, his lips tense with fury. "Taaalsyk is correct. What you said is foolish and borders on blasphemy. Promise that you will never speak like that to me again and I might spare you."

The High Priest gave his oath, but the Dark Jedi looked at Taaalsyk, planting a feeling of disgrace in Rhaaan’s heart as he addressed the priestess instead. "I know that this Valenteen’s fleet is bigger and that many Zepleen will die in the attack, but I desire for them to sacrifice their lives before me. You understand that don’t you?"

"Seltah, deihaaan-mulkhtaul," Taaalsyk said with a cruel, icy smile.

"Good…" Xcelcior said.

He slowly pivoted to face Rhaaan, then outstretched his hands and a blast of lightning pierced the disciple’s chest. The male Zepleen wailed and fell to the stone floor, convulsing, as the Dark Jedi continued to pound electricity into his follower.

Cloudia felt her own body jolt as she recalled her father’s heinous death.

The deihaaan-mulkhtaul pleasurably watched Rhaaan twist and moan in agony, and Taaalsyk was fearful, but also exhilarated. She knew what would come her way when the High Priest was dead.

After a moment of sheer enjoyment, Xcelcior electrified the disciple once more and the male Zepleen choked out a final agonized gasp. Then the Dark Jedi turned toward the woman again.

"High Priestess Taaalsyk, here are my orders. Go to the outer chamber and tell Maaavaug that he is promoted to the position of Zepleen Priest, then tell him to call forth the pilots and weaponry operators and put them into attack position. Return here and tell this Valenteen that I forbid his landing. When he chooses not to heed your words send the god-fleet out to attack and destroy."

"Seltah, deihaaan-mulkhtaul," the High Priestess replied.

"Excellent. And when these duties have been accomplished I will instruct you further."

Cloudia snapped out of the vision and saw that her associates were staring at her. "Alert all our ships! We must ready them for battle!" she declared, her entire body trembling.

Grip sent out the Delta Security Code, no questions, but Valenteen asked, "What did you see?"

"This deihaaan-mulkhtaul, he’s Joparan of Oxine’s Dark Jedi. He has ordered that we leave, and if we don’t the Zepleen will use the ships he has given them and they will attack us."

"Do you think they have a chance of winning?" Concern flickered briefly in the commander’s eyes.

The half-Churyen shook her head. "High Priest Rhaaan…" she winced but forced herself to continue. "I mean the former High Priest seemed to think that we would win, and even the Dark Jedi stated that a lot of Zepleen were going to be sacrificed. Personally I feel that we are going to win only to walk into a trap."

"We can’t leave Jake down there," Valenteen said sternly, glaring at Cloudia.

"I’m not even suggesting that. I just think that we ought to proceed with caution."

Suddenly Elian Riggs’ voice came over the comm system. "What’s wrong, Sir? They haven’t declared war on us, have they?" The Corellian Death Ray’s pilot sounded as if he didn’t believe that a sparsely advanced society would dare to strike out in such a manner.

"No, Riggs. Not yet, but I assure you they will." Valenteen’s tone was as serious as death.

Still that didn’t keep Riggs from saying, "You’ve got to be kidding."

The commander didn’t have time to say anything else for Taaalsyk appeared on screen. An onyx-eyed, sapphire-haired Zepleen male stood to her right. He was wearing a coarse, gray robe and he looked very stern, almost vicious.

"Priestess Taaalsyk, what was your deihaaan-mulkhtaul’s decision?" Valenteen made himself stick to the usual formalities, although he wasn’t sure why.

"High Priestess, Urius Valenteen. Rhaaan blasphemed against our deihaaan-mulkhtaul and had to be punished." Her intense smile and the frigid sparkle in her sapphire eyes seemed to send a wave of piercing cold through the screen.

"High Priestess, then," the commander said, nodding as if to casually accept the information.

"As I said before, Urius Valenteen, leave us alone. Go and look for your missing crewmember elsewhere. If you do not we will be forced to send the deihaaan-mulkhtaul’s fully armed crafts to annihilate you and your fleet."

"We must search your planet," Valenteen countered, his voice serious and calm.

"So be it. Priest Maaavaug, send out the god-ships!" Taaalsyk hissed, and the image faded from the screen.

Every Death Fleet vessel in the vicinity received the commander’s order, "Battle stations! Now!" And within less than a minute dozens of small, silvery ships tore out of Drakhsah’s atmosphere, firing relentlessly.

Quite a few of their sleek jade missiles connected with the Death’s Vein, but they were too weak to even think about penetrating the shields, and the Zepleen ships zoomed by, heading for the Death Ray. Most of those ships didn’t stand a chance as powerful blast after powerful blast slung from the cannons of the Corellian vessel, but many of the more agile enemy crafts blazed by, upping their firepower as they began to bombard the Death Claw.

Radiant green energy balls hailed onto the target, severely tilting the vessel and smacking out the shields. The Death Claw, with a massive amount of help from the Death Ray and surrounding ships, took out many of the aggressors. Yet the wounded target had sustained so much damage that one more direct hit made it space junk.

The Death’s Vein and its seven remaining backups went into a frenzy, taking out as many of the enemy ships as they could. It was proving rather easy, and suddenly became easier still. The remaining Zepleen pilots were the best available, and they were starting to make enormous mistakes. They’d fire too late or in the wrong direction, wiping out one of their allies. Some it seemed would purposely fly into their opponent’s gunfire, and soon very few of the Zepleen were left.

Throughout the space battle Cloudia felt as if she were being attacked in a more personal way. She could hear the Dark Jedi calling to her as he had on Mersigh. His vile whisper felt as if it was a metal spike driving through her skull, and it seemed like madness was preparing to devour her. Though she did her best to shake his voice from her mind, it was a very good thing that her immediate attention was not required for what was being called a battle.

It was this that made the half-Churyen know why they were all here in the first place. Xcelcior wanted her in his clutches so she could pay off her father’s so-called debt. The others here, and Jake on the planet didn’t matter. She was why all those men and women aboard the Death Claw had just been shredded. If only she could have seen this sooner, she would have been able to prevent their deaths. And Erik’s, she thought wistfully, and Erik’s.

In the midst of these musings, the Death’s Vein lurched. Something had blasted into its portside, but that was impossible. The remnant Zepleen had retreated. Had they come back with reinforcements? That was highly unlikely as well.

It was Grip who clarified by saying, "This is not good. A bounty hunter."

"A bounty hunter?" Valenteen echoed, furrowing his brows. He looked at the ship that had fired, and Grip was right.

The vessel was green and brown and disk-shaped. In the front, where the cockpit was, there was less rounding and bulging, as opposed to the starboard side, where the captive’s bay must have been positioned.

The commander knew that this was the Blaze of Glory, the ship that had once belonged to the infamous Jutlan Scar, but when the legendary bounty hunter had died, Tasha Sumrac his trainee had taken possession of it. And this Sumrac had carved out a sinister reputation of her own.

Suddenly the Blaze of Glory sent three missiles pounding into the Corellian Death Ray. Valenteen knew that he needed to know what was going on and he needed to know now. "Grip, open up the comm frequency immediately!"

The blonde lieutenant did so quickly, after giving a nod, and as soon as the channel was wide open the commander blasted, "Bounty hunter! Cease fire and tell me what you think you’re doing!"

***

A tight, unwavering smile was locked on Tasha Sumrac’s lips as she fired on the commander’s vessel and then on her real target. There was no losing this one, she knew. The moment she’d found out where Elian Riggs had been hiding was the moment she’d tasted victory.

Soon he would be dead, and she would be richer and the cement that locked her to Count Melox T’zarn would solidify even more. Admittedly, though, the latter was not very desirable, even when Tasha considered his expansive, somewhat illegally gained fortune.

After her third shot slammed home, the voice of the Death Fleet’s commander blasted into her ears. "Bounty hunter! Cease fire and tell me what you think you’re doing!"

She almost thought of telling him to shut up and stay out of it, that it was none of his business. But in fact it was his business. He owned the ship she desired to tear to shreds for one louse of a crewmember, but he still had to be silent.

She turned the Magnum Laser cannon toward the Death’s Vein, she could take out that ship with one shot, then the Death Ray too, and that’s exactly what she was going to do, until she felt a hand suddenly fall to rest on her armor-clad thigh.

The bounty hunter glared at her XUEdorian passenger, Melox T’zarn. The count smiled back at her, his scum-colored skin looking even more contaminated as he stroked the dangling tentacles of his flesh-goatee.

"Leave the commander be; I’d like to explain what you’re going to do to his battleship and why." His slimy, gravelly voice might have put most on edge, and though Tasha despised it, she had adjusted.

"You’re intruding on my territory. I don’t like it," she snapped as she shoved his filthy hand away.

T’zarn’s smile widened and his eyes said, I doubt you’ll be pushing me away later. Tasha knew that was true, but her frequent physical encounters with him were all for business’s sake, and she wouldn’t dare respond to such an unspoken comment right now.

Then he asked, "Would you like it better if I paid you less?" He gave a sickening laugh. "I’ll talk to the commander now… Commander, this is Count Melox T’zarn."

"This is Urius Valenteen, Count. I want to know what’s going on."

T’zarn couldn’t help but laugh audibly. He could gather that Valenteen was almost snarling. "Yes, Valenteen. I know of you. I’ve been wanting to strike up a business alliance with your organization for years, but you are very talented in making yourself scarce."

"I know, but that’s not a concern at the moment. I want you to tell me why you have a bounty hunter firing at my ships."

"I want to explain everything, I assure you. Of course I don’t know why she hit your precious Death’s Vein; I can only guess that it’s because she’s very excitable, but the Corellian Death Ray was her real target. You see one of the crewmembers, the pilot, has slighted me terribly."

"Whatever Riggs did to you, handle him elsewhere. Don’t destroy my property or I’ll hold you accountable."

Tasha felt her fingers flex toward the Magnum’s lever, and T’zarn slapped them away as if she were a child. Despite their great intimacy she hated him, and if he weren’t such a great source of income she would have snapped his neck then and there, then took out the entire Death Fleet just to sooth the rest of her aggression.

Then she felt a sudden, cold pain ram itself inside her head. The mutilating feeling was accompanied by an urgency to set a course for the planet below. Something waited there for her, someone, and she suddenly realized who it was.

She wanted to be anywhere but here, and if T’zarn hadn’t been with her she would have bolted. She didn’t feel like carrying on her family’s legacy of servitude to a Dark Jedi; that’s why she’d become Jutlan’s apprentice, to break that cycle and now…

T’zarn’s voice seemed to bring the bounty hunter out of her moment of anguish.

"You might think of me as wholly detestable, Valenteen, but we are very similar. I would be most unkind if you destroyed a vessel of mine, especially one with the capabilities of the Corellian Death Ray, but I will tell you that if Elian Riggs will transfer himself to my bounty hunter’s vessel, I will leave your battleship untouched. The man has two minutes to decide. Message him, and while you do I’ll tell you what your pilot has done to me."

"Unnecessary," Valenteen said, but T’zarn’s responded without haste.

"Ah, but it is because I say so, and make sure the man who slighted me gets to hear the story as well. I would like him to know every side effect of his treachery." The count paused, his features exuding vindictive harshness as he slowly manipulated his flesh-goatee. "Can he hear me now, do you think?"

"Yes," Valenteen’s voice sounded oddly hollow.

"Then I will begin… Elian Riggs seduced my daughter, but that is only the least of his wrongs. He caused her to fall so deeply in love with him that he was able to impregnate her. As much of a blemish as that was, I would have spared him if he had pledged to love her half as much as she loved him.

"But instead he left her and on top of that he dared to withdraw a substantial amount of credits from her accounts. That in itself was enough for me to desire his death, but there’s something else that happened that I doubt the fiend even knows about.

"Monni, my daughter, did not wish to disgrace me by laboring forth a fatherless child, so she went off to a secluded clinic to abort the life inside of her, but not only the fetus died. The operation was totally botched, and my daughter died as well, all because of the selfish actions of a spineless coward. And speaking of the spineless coward I want his answer now, or your vessel will be disintegrated."

"Riggs, tell him you’ll transfer. Do it now," Valenteen ordered, and Riggs’ stuttering voice came forth.

The Death Ray’s pilot seemed too afraid to say yes or no, and T’zarn who was now impatiently tugging on his flesh-goatee used his free hand to switch off the comm. Then staring forward he said, "Do it now, my familiar. Do it now, then set a course for Coruscant."

Tasha utterly hated it when he called her obscene things like ‘familiar’. She wasn’t his property, and it summoned so much anger to roost within her already anxious mind that she thrust her hands to the Magnum’s lever and yanked it toward herself with such harshness that she thought it was going to snap.

A thick blue laser screamed to life and propelled its throbbing beam into the heart of the ship. Tasha refused to even loosen her grip on the lever until the Corellian Death Ray had been obliterated. And the moment that the shattering explosion came, she set her course and disappeared through the debris, with little damage done. All that was left was for the Blaze of Glory to make the leap to hyperspace.

***

When the Corellian Death Ray exploded a cold shock wave raced throughout all those aboard the Death’s Vein. The organization’s leader was in awe at the monstrous brutality that had just occurred, and his features were tight with confusion and anger.

T’zarn was not a man who would be toyed with, but Valenteen made himself a personal oath. The minute they found Jake he would have Grip head directly to Coruscant, where the XUEdorian count had his hideout.

Valenteen would try not to do anything rash, but he would make no promises. If T’zarn would not compensate the loss in full, then Valenteen would be forced to collect the debt without clearance. And if the count didn’t like that, the XUEdorian would be dead before he even had the chance to put out a bounty. The commander, though usually calm and businesslike, would make it very clear that he would not be toyed with either.

Out of the others Cloudia had been the most disturbed. She had felt the crewmembers of the Death Ray perish. The ice of their fear and pain pierced her soul to its core, and this time she tried to make herself believe that it was not her fault. Those to blame here were Elian Riggs, the count he had wronged, and the bounty hunter. Yet she wondered if Riggs would have been taken down alone on Trangor L’sa if they had not been hovering over Drakhsah, bending to the Dark Jedi’s vile purposes.

"Grip, begin landing," Valenteen said, forcing himself to sit erect. "The Zepleen have retreated, and I call that clearance. If I wasn’t a busy man before all this, I certainly am now."

As the Death’s Vein began to penetrate the atmosphere Cloudia could hear Xcelcior’s call becoming louder, more taunting, and she could hear triumph in his sinister whisper. Things had been bad before this, but now they were walking into true heart of darkness. It seemed none of them would make it out alive.

"Wandry, where do you think we ought to put down? Jake could be anywhere." Valenteen said.

The half-Churyen was about to reach into the Force for an answer when the Dark Jedi told her, the southern quadrant of the day side… by the Western Edge of the burial mounds. And she could not help but relay that information to her commander. Then Xcelcior added, there’s a cave under the third mound. That is where the boy is, and that is where I am waiting.

Cloudia shivered. Yet after inhaling quickly, she said, "There’s a cave in the third mount, and that’s where Jake’s being kept."

Valenteen knew that she was right and nodded.

After a few minutes the descent was complete. The Death’s Vein was nestled by a glittering silver woodland, which sat next to the grand expanse of burial mounds. The trees would have been blinding and incandescent except for the fact that the clouds were starting to thicken in front of the midday sun, and as the four departed the vessel, it seemed as though rain was in the offing.

"All right. Let’s find this cave, get Jake, and get out of here as quickly as possible," Valenteen said, his authority emotionless and clear, as they all stood facing the mounds. Everyone got their weapons ready and nodded in agreement except for Cloudia. "Wandry, what’s wrong?"

"It’s just that I think that I ought to go down into the cave alone," she responded somberly.

The wind was beginning to pick up, and the rainy smell was intensifying as a distant streak of lightning pierced the sky.

Valenteen was the most effected by the half-Churyen’s words and he shook his head almost violently against the wind. "You can’t go alone. You’d be putting yourself at risk while we do nothing, and I won’t have that."

"I have a feeling the Zepleen will be coming, and if I’m right your hands will be too full to do nothing. Commander, I don’t know what it is, but I know I have to face this Dark Jedi alone. I’m the one he wants, and I don’t want anyone else to die because they’re in the way. Once Jake is freed I urge you to take him and leave Drakhsah."

The organization’s leader shook his head again and a crash of thunder sounded. The skin around his lips tightened and his dark eyes became more intense as the icy lightning flexed it fingers across the dooming, gray horizon. "No, if we’re not going into that cave we’re at least going to wait for you."

Something hopeless inside of Cloudia wanted to make her say, ‘you’re going to have a long wait then.’ But she held her tongue. She merely took Valenteen’s words as the okay she’d been looking for, and she spotted the third silvery mound, not hesitating to make her way toward it. She felt she had been behaving weakly since Erik had died, and now it was time to cast that shroud from her shoulders.

The young woman wasn’t sure how to get into the hollow mound, but suddenly a mechanical door, which matched the surrounding earth perfectly, opened without a sound. She walked to the opening and gazed down the gaunt, infinite-seeming stairwell, feeling the increasing strength of the Dark Jedi’s pull.

Yet there was no time to hesitate, although she was also fully aware that she shouldn’t proceed too hastily, and she walked into the mound. After only a few moments upon the stairwell blackness engulfed her, and the door made only the slightest echoing machinelike hum as it closed her off from her comrades.

But not all of them. The daughter of the former Jedi Master could feel that one of them had followed her. "Rensor?" she whispered.

"It’s me." The Mersighdonian spoke at near regular volume, and his voice, which was eerie and void of emotion, echoed into something almost frightening.

Cloudia’s heartbeat was beginning to pick up speed, but she tried to fight against her rising fear. If she maintained this feeling it would be like handing the Dark Jedi a weapon with which to kill her, or worse, to rip out her very soul with.

The half-Churyen let out a slight hiss to advise Rensor to lower his voice, for all the good it would do. Then she asked, "Why did you follow me? I told the commander that this was something I had to do by myself."

"I had to come with you…"

Rensor had not replied as loudly. Yet his tone was even more empty and soulless, and Cloudia remembered what the Mersighdonian had sounded like when she had used her Force skills on him. It was very similar to this. The difference was he seemed as if he had less control, and she knew that the Dark Jedi had a hold of him.

She didn’t know the reason, but she understood that Xcelcior was well aware of what he was doing. And as the two navigated the pitch-black stairwell, she could feel dark intensity and triumph radiating toward her, groping for her spirit like steel talons.

It seemed like a maddening eternity before the two left the narrow confines of the stairs and stepped into the dimly lit stone chamber. The room was desolate and empty except for Jake, who was standing in its center; a cylindrical, violet force field was dancing around him.

Within a moment, Vandor Strain appeared from the shadows. His ever-murderous eyes flashed toward Cloudia and slowly assessed her. In return she stood there, statuesque, accepting the glare and fighting down the raw emotions that it tried to stir within her.

Without the unbidden flow of fear and anger that was expected, Strain was not pleased, and he shot her a bitter, despising sneer. "My Master knew that you would come," he said, nearly growling, then he flung himself toward the half-Churyen, his lightsaber ignited and pointed at her chest.

And if not for her connection with the Force, Cloudia would have received a mortal blow, but instead, she had her own weapon ready and blocked the strike. Strain couldn’t hold back an impressed, yet altogether jealous snort, as he quickly slashed for her neck. Again his dire advance was thwarted, and with powerful fury, he momentarily extinguished his blade and rammed himself into the young woman.

She could not sustain her balance and tumbled to the stone floor, whereupon the dark warrior brought his weapon to life and aimed the blade at her as he thrust it downward. Cloudia rolled out of the way, the lightsaber was very close to penetrating her side but it missed and she was again on her feet.

Strain was about to charge at her once more. His gray eyes were scorching and revealed that he was determined to make a fatal blow this time, but then a voice filled the room. "This is finished for now. Put away your weapon, my young apprentice."

It was obvious that Xcelcior had spoken, but the Dark Jedi was nowhere in sight. His tone was calm, yet contaminated with sinister pleasure, and though the white-haired man still had the utmost desire to cut the half-Churyen apart, he obeyed his Master.

"You will shut down your lightsaber as well," Xcelcior ordered Cloudia, but at first she didn’t do it. "I said you will shut down your lightsaber." The Dark Jedi’s calm was vanishing and being replaced with a tone of discipline, and though the young woman felt uncomfortable with doing so, she called the blade to disappear.

"Good," the Dark Jedi said, his pleasure evident. Then the force field shimmied and was gone. "Boy, you may go to the surface. The others are waiting for you there."

Jake remained stiff and untrusting until Cloudia nodded and said, "It’s okay. Get out of here."

She sighed then; it was totally apparent that he had been used as bait to lure her to this place, and the fifteen-year-old disappeared into the stairwell. Only a second later a large stone plank shot out of the ground and covered the exit. This was it.

Then something started happening to the far wall. The stone was moving outward there, and suddenly it pivoted one hundred and eighty degrees. This large silver block was not just a piece of the wall; it was a throne, which Xcelcior was sitting upon.

His white eyes suddenly became soaked with blackness, and he smiled hideously. "Cloudia Wandry…" he hissed. "I’ve been waiting for you for a long time." Cloudia could not respond, but she wasn’t expected to as Xcelcior turned to face Rensor. "Marzan. Come to your Master," he bid the Mersighdonian.

Rensor obeyed the summons, walking to the throne with slow reverence, and when he arrived at his destination, he knelt and bowed his head before the Dark Jedi. He remained speechless, and Xcelcior petted the aide’s hair as if the Mersighdonian were a docile vornskr void of its Force-senses.

The Dark Jedi told Cloudia, "You have some sort of understanding of all this, but you know very little. In this instance you knew that I had control over this creature, for you once had such control yourself." He stroked Rensor’s hair more, then continued.

"But you haven’t even the notion that his ancestors have been the servants of my ancestors for a thousand years… You see I am the descendant of the Starkiller who once occupied Mersigh, and moreover the Rensor clan’s lack of ‘Force-use’ spared them and therefore allowed my family line to maintain its foothold over that place."

This intrigued Cloudia, but she tried not to show it.

"Do you actually believe that I cannot feel your growing interest? I am greater than any Jedi of the Order; my family’s connection and my personal connection with the Dark Side of the Force has made me beyond powerful. But you have many, many questions and I will answer them now. Go ahead. Ask anything."

The young woman could not restrain herself from asking, "Why did you kill my father?"

Xcelcior gave an amused snicker. "I will start by telling you why he left the Order of the Jedi." Cloudia’s mind flickered with disagreement, but she couldn’t have voiced her feelings even if she had desired to.

The Dark Jedi’s voice became harsh as he said, "Don’t try to contest me. I am Xcelcior Melgrot, descendant of the Starkiller, and I will begin where I think is best." There was brief silence before he snickered, "Your father…" Then he began his story.

"Your father left the Jedi because of the object you hold in your hand. I suppose that needs somewhat of an explanation, so you will have to wait a little longer to hear what you want. There were seven of these black-bladed lightsabers originally, they were constructed by the Starkiller a millennia ago. They were to be the weapons of his strongest Mersighdonian Force-users, for each saber had a very powerful Dark Side crystal at its core. These crystals could greatly enhance one’s link to the Force and give the user more control and more dominance to manipulate it.

"Those in the Jedi Order during that era caught on to what the Starkiller was doing and came after him. So he left Mersigh and had the weapons scattered throughout the galaxy, except for one." Xcelcior reached along side himself and revealed a lightsaber. He called the black blade to attention, and just as quickly shut it off again. "This he left as a legacy to his descendants, for he was the only one who had ever known where the others had been placed.

"Three hundred years ago, the Jedi were able to find and destroy four of the weapons. Though along the way many of these opponents were lost to the Dark Side. Such is the power of the crystal inside each saber. A person is drawn to the object, and once he has placed his hands upon it, he is forever linked to the Dark Side.

"Your father was on his way back to Coruscant after a mission when he felt something urging him to land on a miniscule planet called Fyrezyne. He hadn’t planned to stop there. He was merely in the process of returning home to congratulate Gorsedd Drudwyn, his former Padawan learner, for recently achieving the rank of Jedi Knight. But even that could not suppress his urge to answer the call of the crystal within your lightsaber.

"Corryn landed, and he used the Force to crack the red clay, which had entombed the saber for nearly ten centuries. When he finally saw the weapon and called it into his grasp he touched the Dark Side and was never able to let it go.

"It changed him, and he quickly drifted apart from the Jedi of the Order. They knew something menacing had taken over him, but their minds were clouded and they could not see the whole of what had happened.

"So within a very brief time he left the Order, and I, knowing what he had found, called for him. And your father came to me here without resistance, eager for me to teach him the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. I, myself, was more than happy to oblige him. Corryn would be a greater asset to me than my apprentice Severin Trundle was, for he had actually found one of the remaining sabers, while my own pupil had not.

"After much growth, I told your father how he could forever be turned from the light. He would kill Severin and take his place at my side. Your father was more than eager to do this. His affinity for the Dark Side was already great, and surely he would have replaced my apprentice.

"Yet he did not act fast enough. Severin approached Corryn with another proposition. If only your father would kill me, then and only then would he be completely strong in the Dark Side. This confusion delayed him even more. He was devoted to me, but if Severin was offering him more power then why shouldn’t he take it.

"It was this distraction that led him to doubt that he had made the right choice, and on the eve that I made it clear that he make his decision to strike my apprentice down—or to try and strike me down, although your father didn’t know I was aware of Severin’s plot to replace me—Corryn decided that he would not be turned.

"So I immediately killed Severin myself and began to send my agents after your father, who was trying desperately to run from me, as if he could. But Corryn, though he was very aware of its dark power, still hadn’t the will to destroy or even try to give up the black lightsaber, and with it he quite easily dispatched everyone I sent after him.

"And then after many years of this game I stopped wasting my servants and your father decided to settle down on Vega Minor. If I were to send anyone else after him there he would just use his saber to defend himself."

This thought made the Dark Jedi smile rottenly, but after the quick bout of amusement, he became serious and continued. "It was on Vega Minor that he met a Churyen named Reena Vaughn. He married the woman and had a daughter with her, and things were going along so nicely that Corryn started to become complacent. When your mother died he assumed the death natural, but I had sent out a spy/assassin named Zelda Kirk. She killed your mother, and as you already know, she married your father.

"This left me very open to kill Corryn, and you know why I murdered him. You were there; you’ve dreamt of the incident for years. Your father wronged me. He promised himself to me and he reneged, but even taking his life was not enough to pay off his debt. I wanted you and knew that I would have you.

"Your stepmother was to warn you against the Force and to tell you that I would come for you if you dared use it. That she did, and you were to use the Force in spite of her. And that you did. Then when you were older she was to bring you to me here, but that did not happen. She allowed you to slip through her fingers instead, and so I punished her. But I’ve always found my ways to watch you, to make sure that you would find your way to me."

After all this Cloudia felt ill. She wanted out. No matter what else the Dark Jedi had to say it was of little relevance. She had heard too much and she didn’t think she could stomach any more.

"And you did find your way to me, of your own free will I might add. Regardless of your sudden urges to leave me, you want to be here. I can feel that the Dark Side flows stronger within you than it did your father. You are helpless to join me. You want it too badly."

Though the young woman thought her dry voice had completely withered away during the long revelation, she forced herself to say, "I don’t think so," and she glared at him.

"Don’t you, now? I don’t believe that at all. You seem to be as stubborn as Corryn was, but you definitely share his weakness. Despite that you now know of its link to the Dark Side you will not get rid of your weapon… I know. I know. I can feel it feeding you many excuses. ‘It was my father’s’; ‘I need it to protect myself’. The Dark Side gave Corryn many excuses as well. It was only death that broke his bond with it, and it will be the same with you… my young apprentice."

"What!" Cloudia rasped with shock as she absorbed the blackness of his eyes.

Xcelcior smiled enticingly. "Despite your mere words, you are to become my ever-faithful pupil. I have foreseen many things, even this moment, and I have also seen you bowing humbly before me. You’ll never do that will you? Only when you have lived as long as I have and been connected with Dark Side for just as long can you dare to contradict me.

"Join me now, and with the Starkiller’s three remaining sabers—mine, Vandor’s, and yours—nothing will be able to stop us. Together the three of us will embark on a quest where we shall cause the ruination of the Jedi Order. Unless…"

Suddenly the room was filled with beeping. It sounded as if a thermal detonator was about to go off, but then the left wall turned itself inside out revealing a viewing screen, flickering upon it was Joparan of Oxine’s terrified face. It did not take a Jedi to realize that the Mersighdonian rebellion was doing well.

A tight look of disgust swelled upon Xcelcior’s face and his eyes blared with hatred. "Take that image from my sight, Vandor. I want him to know that I have abandoned him."

And as Strain went to the hidden, vertical access panel to make the image screen retreat, the Dark Jedi stated, "I know well that his reign is being torn out from under him, and I have foreseen that he only has a few days of life within him. Soon a new, more democratic government will rise, but in time I will put my hands back into the mix and use the new leaders as my puppets.

"But now they have a war to finish and I have better things to do than to deal with them. I must welcome you, Cloudia, as I welcomed your father before you, and then we must destroy the Jedi. But as I was going to say before that most inappropriate interruption, I will give you the chance that I gave Corryn. Kill the apprentice I have now and you will be completely turned to the Dark Side. You will be a force to be reckoned with and the whole galaxy will tremble in your wake. I lay that opportunity before you now. Take it, and prove yourself worthy of my guidance."

Cloudia shook her head. "I will not."

"So be it," Xcelcior said, and he gave his apprentice a quick glance as he nonchalantly waved his hand. "Destroy her."

And with that Strain ignited his lightsaber and charged at Cloudia. It seemed as if she had no time to move or defend herself. Yet before he could impale her she swiftly reached into the Force and shoved herself aside, giving her just enough time to call her own blade to attention.

The dark warrior was after her again, this time unleashing a terrible assault upon her. It was proving quite difficult for the half-Churyen to block every fierce stroke, and so she called upon the Force more, allowing it to fill her and aid her movements. Each parry seemed to perfectly match every violent stroke.

Then there was a pause in the fighting. As Strain glared into her, Cloudia could feel Xcelcior’s rising gratification, as if the Dark Master was the only one who could gauge what would happen next, and within the silence that now held sway, snaps of energy filled the air, seemingly waiting to fuel the conflict again.

Before Strain could even thrust his blade forward and slash it rightward to decapitate his opponent, the daughter of the Former Jedi Master could see what he was going to do. So she brought her own weapon forward and slashed it to the left. The lightsaber came in contact with the dark warrior’s wrist and severed it; Strain’s blade dissipated and the remainder of the weapon clattered to the floor. Yet this only made the gray-eyed apprentice become one with his fury, and he was not going to give up the fight until one of them was dead.

Cloudia knew this and gave a spectacular twirl. The white-haired man had hardly gotten a grip on his lightsaber when her blade went slicing through his torso. Strain groaned with anger, knowing that his unexpected defeat had come, and the two parts of him came unhinged and thudded to the floor.

A wave packed with many emotions crashed into the half-Churyen. First and foremost she was happy that she had gotten out of this exercise alive, but as she looked on at the pieces of Vandor Strain’s corpse, she felt a sense of excitement and pleasure rush into her.

She had killed him. It was vengeance for what he had done to Erik, but there was something more lingering behind her. The thrill of the Dark Side was with her, and because of what she had done and how she was feeling she knew that she was accepting it.

No. She couldn’t let that happen and she forced herself to brush away those feelings. She had only killed the dark warrior in an act of self-defense. There had been no hatred or need for retribution when she had taken Strain’s life, or had there been? Suddenly her mind was so clouded, and she couldn’t be sure.

"You have taken the final step that your father refused to take. Call it self-defense if you want, but we both know better, my young apprentice." Xcelcior rose from his throne, smiling sickly, as he walked toward Cloudia. The young woman shuddered as if caught in the web of a Veganite arachnid. "With this one deed you have turned to the Dark Side of the Force. You have chosen that path, and you will never be able to turn back to your prior way. It is impossible."

Cloudia glared at the Dark Jedi. Xcelcior’s words chilled her, leaving her feeling more vulnerable, and she thought about giving into her sudden urge to strike at him. "You hate me, don’t you? Good… good. It only proves that I am right."

Despite how weak she felt, the words were all the incentive she needed to shut down her weapon.

"That insignificant act does not cover your feelings from me. It changes nothing. You are mine," the Dark Jedi said, his tone stroking and icy as he continued his approach. And at that moment Cloudia knew this had to end here and now or she would be forever lost to the Dark Side.

She attempted to remain calm, trying to figure out a way to escape, and an idea came to her as Xcelcior extended his arms toward her, to embrace her into a life of corruption and evil. She used the Force to push a button she saw on the throne’s side, for she knew that it would lower the slab that blocked the exit. And as the slab began to disappear she used the Force again, ripping a large silver stone from the rightward wall and hurling it at the Dark Jedi.

It slammed into Xcelcior’s back, and he toppled sideways. Cloudia darted into the stairwell.

As the half-Churyen began her quick ascent, she heard her father’s murderer saying, "I will let you go, for I have already foreseen your return." Cloudia knew he was right. This didn’t finish things, not by a long shot, but suddenly her crushing personal thoughts disappeared. She knew that she had to hurry, for her comrades on the surface were in dire trouble.

***

Grip and Valenteen stood alone by the mounds in silence with their blasters ready, waiting for something to happen. Their hopes were the same; they both fervently wished that Cloudia, Jake, and Rensor would appear unscathed and soon, and that whatever Zepleen were nearby would not seek to be hostile. But the chances for both were unlikely, and if Grip had not known about the commander’s devotion to his people she might have suggested that the two escape from Drakhsah alone.

It wasn’t that the woman wanted to leave the other crewmembers as fodder for this Dark Jedi to tear apart. She respected Cloudia for her connection with the Force, even though Grip herself could not understand such things. She highly regarded Jake too. The boy was talented, and one day he’d be ready to take Valenteen’s place as the organization’s leader.

The blonde lieutenant wasn’t so sure she felt much esteem toward the Mersighdonian aide, but that might just have been because she wasn’t fond of the society he had come from. And still that wasn’t enough reason to leave him to die.

Rain began to trickle from the forbidding sky. The cool droplets felt good as they cascaded down Grip’s face, but they seemed to be an omen, as if death was creeping nearby. She felt an urge to panic, but she couldn’t allow that. She was a professional after all, and she twisted herself until she stood completely erect, all the while maintaining her watchfulness.

Then a voice rose over the stirring wind. "Urius! Grip!"

It was Jake. Finally… Yet as the two turned toward the serpentine mounds, they saw that the boy was by himself. Grip felt her suddenly relieved expression fall away. This was not a good sign.

"Where are Cloudia and Rensor?" Valenteen asked, his tone somber and almost hopeless, as the increasing rain pelted his squinting face. Another slightly closer streak of lightning flashed across the sky.

"When I was released I saw them, but they got shut off in the main room. I didn’t know what to do except to come for you."

The commander spoke the moment the boy finished. "You did the right thing, Jake, but now we’re going back down there. We’ve got to get them. This is a lesson for you. Never, ever leave when your people need you."

The boy nodded, but it was a familiar, arctic voice that issued a verbal response.

"Very noble of you, Urius Valenteen. Very noble indeed." It was High Priestess Taaalsyk, and she and a tribe of Zepleen were immerging from the southern bend of trees. "But you cannot carry out your plan. Dare to try and there will be no fruition."

"We mean you no harm. We have rescued my crewmember, but we have lost two more and we wish to retrieve them. Please let us."

Taaalsyk laughed viciously, and she flagged for her gray-clad Priest Maaavaug to follow her from her mostly shorter underlings, toward the three intruders. "I know all the facts, Urius Valenteen, and you should think yourself lucky that the deihaaan-mulkhtaul has given you back one of your people instead of devouring them all."

Grip brought her blaster in line with Taaalsyk’s chest and was about to fire when the commander rested his arm in front of her, urging her to hold off. If it were anyone save Valenteen she would have disobeyed the order.

"High Priestess, I beg you, let us save my remaining crewmembers. Once this is done we will leave you in peace and never return."

"Tell them, Maaavaug," Taaalsyk ordered her secondary, and the male Zepleen gave an obedient nod, before twisting his stern glare to the invaders.

"If you outsiders were only treading upon the Zepleen we might forgive you, but you tread upon the mighty robes of the deihaaan-mulkhtaul as well. That must not be forgiven, and as we are so devout we must not allow you to leave our world alive."

Maaavaug, though not as tall as Valenteen or Grip, was very strong, and he wrenched the weapons from their hands. He cast one to the High Priestess and fired the other. Blaster bolts tore into Valenteen’s gut and the commander plummeted to the sodden ground.

The air was embraced by screams. Grip and Jake were shocked, the lesser Zepleen were terrified, and Taaalsyk was furious.

"How dare you!" the High Priestess blasted, as she knocked the weapon from her secondary’s grasp. "You know that these are the sacrifices the deihaaan-mulkhtaul has given us to present to our ancestors." Then she went into a furious torrent of Zepleen, her voice and eyes blazing while she reprimanded the priest.

As this went on Grip knelt at Valenteen’s side, much aware of what Cloudia had went through when she’d found Erik, but she didn’t cry, if only because her surprise prevented it.

"Grip…" Valenteen rasped, his eyes flashed against the rain as if he couldn’t see her. "If you get out of this, you’re… in charge." He gasped heavily, fighting to stay alive though death was steadily approaching. "And… remember… remember that Jake…"

The woman put her hand in Valenteen’s and squeezed as if the act would keep air pumping through his lungs. Then she cracked a weak smile and said, "I’ll teach him everything I know, and when he comes of age I’ll give him control of the organization."

The commander nodded weakly, and Grip squeezed his hand tighter. She prayed for more time to speak with him, though she knew that the indulgence wouldn’t be afforded to her. The woman heard the High Priestess say to her secondary, "You better pray that he lives." And then it was over. Taaalsyk’s threat was a knell, tolling at the very moment of Valenteen’s death.

The High Priestess saw this and turned back to Maaavaug. "He is dead, you fool, but our ancestors will not be denied their third sacrifice. You shall join these outsiders… Guardsmen, round up these three. We will take them to the Sacred Pavilion and offer them to the starved spirits of our ancestors."

Six Zepleen guardsmen took leave of the crowd. They were dressed in black hooded robes and they were as tall in stature as the High Priestess and her fallen secondary. Two went to Maaavaug, whose head was hung in shame, a pair went to Jake, and the remaining made their way toward Grip, who was still kneeling by her dead commander.

"Get up, outsider," one of the guardsmen ordered Grip, his voice rough and ominous.

The former lieutenant glared at the speaker, and the Zepleen male yanked her to her feet. Yet Grip was not about to let herself become the centerpiece of some archaic, uncivilized ritual. She propelled her fist into the guardsman’s jaw. The Zepleen’s skin and bones were so stiff that no damage was caused to him, but the woman’s knuckles were swelling and looked as if they were going bruise.

"It is futile to fight," Taaalsyk declared arrogantly, but then she allowed her voice to become somber. "The spirits of our ancestors are very hungry. For one hundred and fifty years, since the deihaaan-mulkhtaul came to lord over us, the Zepleen have been forced to lessen our sacrifices to the great spirits of our people.

"The deihaaan-mulkhtaul desires that our many offerings be laid out in worship for him, which we gladly do, but our ancestors suffer much. And whenever we are granted the opportunity to give unto them as we did in ages past, we do not let it slip through our fingers… Come, all. Let us go to the Sacred Pavilion."

The High Priestess fell silent and began walking toward the western edge of the forest. The guardsmen and their prisoners were directly behind her, then followed by the massive tribe. Thunder boomed, and the rain increased as they walked into the cluster of trees. For minutes they navigated the labyrinth of dull, silver plant-life. The rain and the occasional thunder were all that could be heard, except for when a jagged bolt of lightning would sear the cloud-deck; then some of the commoners would wail in terror, thinking that the deihaaan-mulkhtaul or the dead Zepleen were becoming restless and angry.

The planet’s animal-life hid within the trees and under the cover of brush. All that was visible of them were their glowing eyes, which seemed to despise the intruding people, and they growled their discontent. Yet they must not have been predators, or at the very least they were too fearful to strike.

After a soaking, ten-minute trek through the woodland, they reached a clearing. Inside was the Sacred Pavilion. It was a large open dome supported by pillars obviously crafted from the trees, which had been downed in order to make room for the Pavilion. And scattered through the other parts of the clearing were more columns, with even more exotic slashes and curves etched into them. Grip supposed the symbols were words from the Zepleen dialect.

Taaalsyk turned around and raised her hand, ordering everyone to stay where they were. When all obeyed she called out someone’s name. "Paaayil-paul! Leave behind the crowd and come to me."

"Seltah, Lie Zhymenaaa," a particularly short, young Zepleen male said, before obeying the High Priestess, and when he reached her, he pointed his gaze to the forest floor, although looking expectant as he patiently waited for her to address him again.

"I need a new secondary, and I chose you, Paaayil-paul. Despite that you have not undergone the ritual bone-stretching yet, you will be permitted to help me in this sacrificial rite." The new secondary nodded and repressed his excitement as he muttered a harsh sounding Zepleen honor-phrase. "Come, and let us prepare."

Taaalsyk and the priest entered the Scared Pavilion alone and began to ignite the dozen candles, which were bracketed to the pillars. The place was full of an odd swaying light, and it seemed that the wind might extinguish the candles, but they blazed on, merely dancing with fervent grace.

Grip could see three charcoal-colored pallets lying inside upon the ground. It seemed like this was where she, Jake, and Priest Maaavaug were going to die. If only she could think of something, but there seemed no way out. Their weapons had been thieved and the guards were unbelievably strong. And if only Cloudia wasn’t the prisoner of the Dark Jedi, then she could use her own Jedi ways to free them. Still she refused to give up hope. There had to be something.

"Guardsmen, bring them in! We are ready!" Taaalsyk declared, and lightning flickered violently once more.

The guards obeyed, and with the ropes that the High Priestess had given them, each pair tied their prisoner to a pallet. All three were bound so tightly that loss of circulation could have almost been considered a probable cause of death. Then the guardsmen backed away and flanked the Pavilion’s pillars, looking like demonic sentinels.

Then Taaalsyk knelt and cast her eyes toward the domed roof, and Paaayil-paul followed suit. Those outside watched on with expectant wonder, and the High Priestess began speaking her words of reverence by calling out, "Lie spiritus ancestriiaaa!" An explosion of thunder came almost as a reply. Then Taaalsyk continued, the Zepleen words flowing from her mouth like an ice-cold river.

This prayer continued for a few minutes, then she rose, looking electrified and ghostly. She walked to Priest Maaavaug and knelt at his feet. Grip, who was bound to the middle pallet, heard Taaalsyk whisper something in the Zepleen tongue, before the High Priestess revealed a silver dagger that had been hidden underneath her purple robe. The weapon’s handle was encrusted with blood-colored gems, which sparkled sinisterly in the candle glow.

Taaalsyk brought the weapon ripping into the priest’s chest. The Zepleen male forced his moans of pain to remain trapped in his throat, and he did well at it, even as the High Priestess gave herself over to a spiritual psychosis and began a rampage of stabbing. Taaalsyk’s robes and flesh were soaked with silver gore by the time she was released from her bout of ecstasy.

She rose and turned to Paaayil-paul. "Dispose his body to the burn pit and I will continue," she said, breathless and worn from excursion.

The secondary obeyed with great difficulty. Then when Priest Maaavaug’s remains finally tumbled into the large pit behind the pallets, Taaalsyk knelt before Grip with the ceremonial dagger raised high.

"Maaasik hi sacrafeen," the High Priestess whispered in Zepleen. Yet before she was able to indulge in the ritual again lightning flashed and a few seconds later many of the tribes-people gasped.

There was so much terror in the sound that Taaalsyk found herself looking over her shoulder. She gasped as her eyes filled with fright. "Deihaaantil-mulkhtaul!" she hissed, hardly able to find her voice as she gaped at Cloudia.

The half-Churyen was standing inside the Sacred Pavilion with her lightsaber ignited, and before she could ask for her comrades to be freed, the High Priestess dashed forward and cast herself at Cloudia’s feet.

"Deihaaantil-mulkhtaul! What do you want? I will do anything you ask of me!"

The daughter of the former Jedi Master had not expected this, and because of her shock she could not post her order. She merely said, "I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not this deihaaantil-mulkhtaul."

"But you are!" Taaalsyk declared. "For over a century the deihaaan-mulkhtaul has prophesied of your coming, and all of the Zepleen have been expectant for just as long! He said that a woman, his god-wife, would come and murder one of his great servants to take her rightful place at his side, and I know that you have done this. I worship you, deihaaantil-mulkhtaul, and will do anything you bid me to."

Cloudia stood there stunned. None of it made any sense. Xcelcior had been telling these people that she was his wife and was to be worshipped… for over a century? She could not glean an ounce of understanding as she looked down at the trembling High Priestess, but she knew she had no time to search for any now.

"I bid you to release those two people and give them to me," the half-Churyen ordered sternly.

"Whatever you command, deihaaantil-mulkhtaul. Guardsmen, release the captives." The black-cloaked figures went about doing so, and Taaalsyk continued to gaze at Cloudia, terrified as she asked, "You will not kill me, will you?"

"Of course not," the young woman said, and since she felt no falsehood or anger in the High Priestess or any of the others, she switched off her weapon.

"The ancestors have remembered me," the High Priestess whispered, her immense gratitude evident. "Anything else you would ask of me, deihaaantil-mulkhtaul? I will do anything that I possibly can."

"There’s nothing else I want from you and your people," Cloudia stated as Grip and Jake approached. "But I thank you for your cooperation, and now I must go."

The half-Churyen wasted no time in leading her comrades from the clearing, and as they entered the thick grove, Grip said, "I’m really glad you came to the rescue. I thought we were going to be as dead as-." The blonde stopped herself from saying the former commander’s name, and for a moment there was no sound except for that of the lightening rain.

Then Cloudia said, "Valenteen," keeping her tone sensitive and quiet. Yet she didn’t look at the other woman, she merely watched straight ahead, keeping an eye out for predators. Still she felt that Grip had nodded a reply. "I saw him when I came out of the cave, and then I used the Force to locate you two."

"And thanks again for that. Neither Jake or I would be here right now if it hadn’t been for you." Grip paused for a breath, then she asked, "By the way, how did you escape, and where’s Rensor? Did something happen to him or is he getting the… ship ready?"

Cloudia shook her head. "There’s too much to tell, but I’ll make it brief. I don’t really think I escaped. Xcelcior, the Dark Jedi, he let me go because he thinks I’ll be coming back to him. And as far as Rensor goes, he’s a servant of the Dark Jedi. I wasn’t told as much but I think he was placed on our crew so he could keep an eye on me."

"You?" Grip revealed her curiosity.

"Yes, me," the half -Churyen said with a nod, and though she thought about coming out with the truth, she couldn’t make herself do so.

After a few minutes of silence they exited the forest near the Death’s Vein, and Cloudia scanned the area with both her eyes and her Force senses. Nothing stirred. It was almost too placid, and the daughter of the former Jedi Master couldn’t relax. She wouldn’t feel safe until they had collected Valenteen’s remains, hastened aboard ship, and left Drakhsah’s atmosphere. And even then she didn’t know if she would ever be able to feel secure again.