Luke's breath had become labored, breathing in surprisingly dry breaths, heaves from all the running. Galen had become dazzlingly thirsty, despite the abundance of water. Nothing on this mountain could be trusted, that was for certain.

Both of them simultaneously decided they hated this planet.

But, the dislike that had festered during the past few hours of trudging along the wildlife of Wayland, guided only by the Force, was quickly beginning to dissipate. A new smell tickled their noses.

Freshwater.

At the mere thought of the word, Luke and Galen broke into a sprint, ignoring their protesting bodies for the sake of something to drink. Somewhere to wash the disgusting muk off of their bodies. Somewhere to wash their clothes free of the disease ridden filth of that cesspool.

The moment they burst through the forest line and saw the huge body of water, they wasted no time. Not even sparing a glance at their surroundings.

The lake reflected the moonlight, rippling with the soft breeze of mountain winds. Stark change from their previous body of water, the bottom was actually visible in just the moonlight. Large, smooth, multicolored stones covered the lake's floor.

For a moment, Galen didn't believe something this beautiful could have existed on the same planet as those oversized, flesh eating bugs and massive tentacle creatures resting in a fetid pool of dead animals.

Maybe, he'd died and this was the Force.

Only the constant pain in his sides reminded him of his current situation.

Luke had already ran passed Galen kneeling at the edge of a man-made wooden dock, robe, tunic and gear tossed lazily to his side, cupping the water and drinking it in an indiscriminate fashion.

The dock caught Galen's attention. It was man-made, or made by some sentient creature. Very little - if anything at all - was known about this planet by the Republic. Wildlife was widely uncatalogued, sentient life was unknown, if there was any.

This planet was a mystery to the Republic, at least officially. Old, corrupt data existed from the Corporate Sector who had once been in control of Wayland, countless millennia ago, but even then, most of the information was outdated by thousands of years.

The dock was proof that either sentient life inhabited this planet, or someone used this lake as a retreat from the base.

Scanning the area, Galen noticed that the dock wasn't the only hand made structure. A decent way to Galen's left stood a resolute building, hidden by trees. A home, and a fairly large one, at that. It's architecture was definitely foreign, but such was to be expected. Three stories tall, and pretty wide and long with large windows and an earthy color tone. A summer lake home? It was certainly ostentatious enough, at one point possibly being a beautiful retreat. Fountains in the yard, a large gate surrounding the property. Now, it looked abandoned for years, the wildlife overgrown, parts of the gate rusted into obscurity. It looked like some bad horror holo-drama setting, an old mental hospital or something. A vampires castle...

Galen shook his head.

It was the only structure on the entire lake, and the lake was large. Very large.

Hopefully it was abandoned as it looked. Perhaps there was an old communications device in there.

Galen would check it out after he was clean and no longer dehydrated.

There was an odd feeling that came from the home, the same feeling that beast in the lake gave off. A seemingly synthetic blackness through the Force. Unnatural, though, not nearly as potent as the beast had felt.

Galen turned away from the house as he heard Luke call his name.

Marek shook his head. He was being paranoid. No way a house can radiate the same darkness an evil creature in the forest could.

He walked to the lake, and knelt down to get some water in his system, placing his things next to Luke's. Splashing his face, he removed what remained of the mud from, thanking the Force that he wasn't subjected to the awful smell anymore.

The water even smelled amazing...

"I'm pretty sure this is the greatest water ever." Luke commented through breaths.

Galen rid his hands of the residual mud, and cupped some of the water, bringing it to his lips.

He nodded to Luke in agreement.

Luke plopped himself backward, staring up at the moon as Galen continued to quench his thirst.

"I hate this planet." The blonde boy mused as Galen continued to cup water into his mouth. "Who do you know that gets attacked by giant bugs?" He asked sarcastically. "I mean, seriously. Giant, kriffing bugs." He tossed his arms up in mock exasperation.

Galen chuckled at his friend's choice words. "Who gets attacked by tentacle lake monsters?" He quipped.

Luke sighed after a small laugh. "You think it's karma or something?" He asked as Galen joined Luke in staring at the stars. "I'm not the perfect student, I disobey Master Kenobi a lot... But I don't mean to give him trouble..."

Galen stayed silent. He didn't necessarily believe in Karma, but sometimes he had to admit, maybe sometimes this stuff was deserved.

"I should apologize to Master Kenobi." Luke concluded.

"You should stop worrying." Galen corrected, a small smile on his face. "You're a kid, you're rebellious, and you're a Skywalker. Nobody's holding anything against you, especially not the Force." He chuckled at the last bit.

Luke sighed. "Yeah, you're right." He then chuckled in irony. "Here I am complaining about bugs and karma in front of the Galaxy's number one victim." Luke lay on his side, and stared at Galen with a stupid grin on his face.

Galen tensed just a bit at Luke's words, not sure if it was a joke, or a form of pity coming from his friend.

Galen frowned. "I'm not a victim." He stubbornly replied.

Luke paused for a moment before replying, studying Galen's face, recognizing both the discomfort and the stubborn pout. "Yeah, sorry." He gazed back up to the sky. "I forgot, you hate talking about that stuff." Luke answered calmly. Lowly...

Galen resisted the urge to grind his teeth together. Pity, that's all he ever got. Pity!

He didn't need it, he was strong! He was a Jedi! Not some poor little four year old who lost his parents, not anymore! He didn't need pity, and especially not from Luke!

"Relax." Luke broke the silence. The Force radiated with Galen's irritation. "Why are you getting mad over that?"

Galen ignored the boy, eyes staring up at the stars, and yet, not really seeing them. He wasn't mad, just irritated!

"You should talk about that stuff with someone." Luke added, turning back to Galen. "Might help with some of your anger." He suggested. "It helps when I talk to my dad about things-"

"I don't have a dad." Galen snapped, eyes still on the sky.

The sound of Luke's head twisting to stare at Galen incredulously was the only sound on that dock.

Galen's brow was furrowed, jaw set at Luke's words.

It was childish, Galen knew, to reply with such a stupid comment. But, he felt the need to shut Luke up. He didn't need to talk to him, or anybody about his problems. He already knew where they stemmed from, he was intimate with the monster that resided in his chest and erupted at the most inopportune moments. There was no amount of talking that could destroy that beast. No amount of Jedi training, meditation or releasing emotions to satiate his monster. The dragon that was his rage, was birthed from Darth Seren himself, and raised by Galen's torn up emotions.

Nobody could help him but himself. And, especially not Luke who had his own issues with anger and brashness!

"Pull the rock out of your eye before you point out the dust in mine." Galen said in a low, angry voice.

"Wow... Okay." Luke said with a shake of his head. "Only you would get offended over small talk. I didn't mean to offend you, sorry, jeeze."

Galen rolled his eyes. "This isn't small talk. You're prying into something that has nothing to do with you." He snapped.

"Nothing to do with me?" Luke asked incredulously "You thought I didn't sense it, didn't you?" Luke continued. "The reason that monster came out of the lake and attacked. You don't think I know the reason?"

Galen stayed silent, jaw clenching just a bit more.

"Because you touched the Dark Side to stop that bug from impaling you." Luke said in a terse voice. "And it reacted."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Galen replied lowly, denying Luke's words.

"Don't I?" Luke quizzed. "I sensed that creature just like you did. It only reacted once you got pissed, and used your anger to fight that bug!"

"So you're saying it's my fault you got dragged into the lake!?" Galen glared at Luke.

Skywalker sighed and shook his head. "No, I'm just telling you that you're not the only person your anger affects! I'm trying to help you, not start a stupid fight over nothing."

"Then stop assuming you understand what I feel like!" Galen's voice rose an octave.

"I don't! Because you never let anybody in!" Skywalker shouted back.

Both boys still stared up at the inky blackness of the sky, it's beauty completely lost on both of them in the heat of the argument, however.

"Because it's none of your business." Galen's low voice was an indicator that this conversation needed to end. Now.

"It is." Luke replied just as lowly. "Because regardless of what you think, you're my brother. You're family. I'd hound Leia if she was the same as you, and she'd slap the anger out of me. That's what family does, they help."

Galen shifted, laying on his side, back to Luke. "My family's dead." He answered.

Galen sensed Luke's hurt and anger flare through the Force. He shut his eyes, realizing his mistake. His stupid comment.

"Oh shut up!" Luke snapped in irritation, making Galen jump slightly in surprise. "You've got a family, with us and the Admiral. Don't feel sorry for yourself, because I'm not gonna, and neither is anybody else." Luke snidely reminded. "You've got issues, and you need to fix them before you hurt someone you care about." He paused for a moment. "Or someone who cares about you." Luke paused, his glare still on Galen. "Force, I say one thing and you cry over it like some helpless victim. If you can't talk about it with me, then who can you?"

Luke was right. Galen could tell that Luke was sincere, his anger at the situation was proof enough. But, he didn't want to talk about it. Not now, not ever. It only brought up bad memories and negative emotion.

"Enough. I'm done with this conversation." Galen snapped irately.

Luke heaved an exasperated sigh. "Fine..."

He had no idea what he was talking about anyways! At least, in Galen's mind. How could he possibly understand what it was like to see both parents die amongst the endless horrors of a battlefield? And then, be spurred into a rage and massacre living creatures?! How would Luke know what any of it felt like?

Galen huffed defiantly in his mind. Stupid Luke…

He pushed himself to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Luke asked.

Galen didn't pay the boy a glance. "To get some firewood." He said in a low voice. "Clean yourself up before it gets too cold."

Galen walked away.

What the hell was Luke's problem anyways? He poked at a closed wound and expected, what, Galen to be okay with it? A victim? Galen Marek, a victim? Even worse, the Galaxy's number one victim?

No, he refused to be a victim. He may have been once, back when he was a helpless child, but now he was a Jedi. He had the power to stop this kind of stuff from happening! He wasn't a victim!

The sound beneath Galen's boot changed from a soft crunch of sand to the harsh snapping of twigs as he entered the forest's edge.

Normally, walks helped him, especially in this rather "peaceful" environment. But, for some reason, this planet didn't feel peaceful, even with all of it's natural beauty surrounding the lake. No, since Galen had stepped on this planet, a strange worry had encompass him, a sense of foreboding that was so vague, it could be warranted off as tension of the mission. But it lingered worse than the scent of the cesspool mud. Like the planet was warning him.

Of what?

He thought back to the murky lake, and how easy it was to give into his anger. Even in that sort of situation, life threatening -in which he'd been in many- it was never that easy to seize the power of his anger. He had to actively seek it most of the time, but it just came to him.

He shook his head. This planet was dark. It was the only explanation.

The twigs beneath his feet were still snapping, and leaves crunching. It was surprising that the forest floor was this dry, considering how much it had rained since they'd been here. The hard part of finding firewood would be the tinder. The sticks on the floor were still too damp to light a proper fire. Once tinder had lit, it was easy to use the Force to feed the fire and light the larger blocks of wood.

Galen stared down at the twigs and leaves, sighing at his predicament.

Stupid planet.

A sound from the forest beside him caught his attention. A clicking sound. But, not of twigs snapping. A very familiar, mechanical clicking.

The sound of a blaster whirring to life.

Galen stared intently where he heard the sound, hand resting on the hilt of his saber, reaching out with the Force toward that direction. If it was a droid, he wouldn't be able to sense it's actual presence, only the unnatural feel of metal. The Force flowed in everything.

But, his senses caught, among the many life forms in the forest, one that was sentient. A human, a boy, actually, thoughts focused on watching and being prepared.

He had received orders to watch Galen and be prepared... to shoot him... The boy was scared, and nervous, his idle thoughts lingering in how uncomfortable the weapon felt in his hands, and how heavy it actually was compared to his... hunting rifle.

Hunters.

Galen stayed motionless, staring off into the distance where the boy was, trying to physically see him. He wasn't alone, but Galen couldn't afford to take his senses off of the most immediate threat. He prodded at the boy's mind with the Force, urging him silently to put the weapon down.

The boy grew confused at the random urge.

Galen saw him then. Hidden behind a bush laying on his stomach, the barrel of a very high powered blaster rifle, definitely military grade, pointed at him several dozen meters away. That rifle would blow his head off...

Hell, it would blow a Rancor's head off!

The boy -who was probably just a few years younger than Galen- noticed that the Jedi had made eye contact with him. He reeled in surprise.

"Relax, kid." Galen said, putting his hands out in front of him, his tone hushed. "Don't do anything stupid..." He said softly.

The boy stayed deadly still. Galen sensed his finger resting on the trigger.

Galen tensed. He could block that blaster bolt, but it would probably rip his saber out of his hand... And he still had yet to find this boy's father, or whoever had given him the order to watch and wait.

"I mean no harm..." Galen spoke. "I'm just trying-"

A blur of motion exploded into his vision, and Galen was pummeled to the floor by a heavy body.

He hit the ground with an oomph, his wrists grabbed by two large hands and pinned above him.

Galen caught his breath quickly, and looked up to his assailant. A man, or a teenager, rather. A brother, perhaps?

Galen reacted instantly, kicking the older boy in his back, causing his grip on his wrists to loosen. Galen slipped out of the guy's grip, and pushed his hands into the assailant's chest with a nudge of the Force. The teen sailed off of him, landing just a few feet away as Galen jumped to his feet, already knowing what was coming next.

A loud bang from the rifle spurred Galen around, saber in hands and swinging at the bright, green bolt of energy flying right at him. He hit it like a baseball, and as he thought, his hilt was nearly jerked from his grip as the green energy slammed into the ground in front of him. Galen tumbled easily passed the second shot, the heat of the plasma heating the air around him.

Another loud bang echoed through the forest. Galen dodged once more.

This kid had poor aim, and Galen was thankful.

But, the older boy was in his feet again, crouched down and circling Galen with a wary, angered look on his face.

The shots stopped for the moment.

"What are you?" The older boy spoke, a tone of wariness and confusion.

Galen kept his eyes on him. "I'm a Jedi representative of the Galactic Senate of the Republic." Galen answered. "I come in peace." His nerves were still on edge, hands gripping his saber tightly, while his other hand was out in front of him, urging them not to attack.

"The Republic?" The boy asked. "Your base is up the mountain, you're breaking the treaty by being this far into our territory. Go back or we'll shoot." The older boy threatened.

Treaty? Galen's brow furrowed. These civilians had heard of the Republic base, while he hadn't even known there were humans on this planet. As suspected, that base had once belonged to the Republic. "That base is no longer under Republic control." Galen responded tightly. "I'm on a mission to figure out what's inside there and report back to my superiors." He explained cautiously. "I'm unaware of any treaty…"

The older boy sneered. "I don't believe you." His challenging voice was offended, as if he was asking if that excuse was really going to fly. "I don't know what a Jedi is, but you've got the same weapon as that Guardian up there. You here to kidnap some people and force them to work?" He accusingly asked.

Galen's head tilted slightly. "What?"

"Don't play dumb, kid. That Guardian of the base has come down every month for decades and enslaves humans, and Psadans to work in that damned base! You're the new Guardian, huh?" He asked accusingly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about.. You're saying that a man wielding the same weapon I am enslaves the local population?" Galen repeated. "What color was his blade?"

The older boy shook his head in irritation. "I don't know! You're not welcome here! You're not gonna take anymore people up there, we have a treaty!"

"Listen! I'm not here to kidnap people! I've already told you why I'm here. That base isn't guarded by anything but the Separatists." Galen plead.

The older boy's eyes narrowed. "Separatists?" He repeated. "Never heard of them."

"You've never heard of the Separatists? The Confederacy of Independent Systems?" Galen asked. "The Droid Army? General Grevious?"

"Enough of these questions! Put your weapon down," He reached into his coat pocket, and tossed something shiny at Galen. "and put those on. I'll take you down to a holding cell where you can explain everything to the guard."

Galen sighed irately, glancing down at the shiny object. Handcuffs. Did he really think those would hold him, even for a second? "I really don't have time for this. And I really, really don't want to hurt you."

The older boy stiffened.

"I'm not here to hurt anybody. In fact, I'm just here looking for firewood. I'm not leaving with you, and I'm not going back up that mountain, so unless you'd like to find out what exactly a Jedi is, I suggest you leave." Galen said sternly. He looked the boy up and down, noting his choice of clothing. Camo, on his hip was a large knife. They were hunting. "Besides, it doesn't look like you want to cut this hunting trip short."

The older boy glared for a moment, thoughts wild and unsure. "I can't leave you here unwatched." He replied finally. "You're trespassing on treaty-sanctioned property as a Republic soldier. You're in violation of our laws -laws Darth Sidious promised his men would follow."

Galen's eyes shot wide. "Woah, wait, Darth Sidious?" He repeated.

The boy stared at him in confusion. "Yes… the bases' leader?" He said as if Galen were stupid.

"Force! Palpatine… I should've known…" He muttered to himself. It explained why the planet was dark. It explained why this base was sanctioned as a Republic base… "Do you know what they do inside that base?" He asked.

The older boy shook his head. "No…"

Galen sighed. Figures… But, it had to be something big, big enough for Palpatine to come here himself and speak with the local government under his Sith title.

"Hey! I told you to put those on!" The older boy shouted impatiently.

Galen stared at him for a moment. Perhaps speaking with the local government may prove to be helpful… after all, they were planning on rampaging through the base with no real strategy. "Does the word Sith mean anything to you?"

The boy was again confused at the question. "The ruling class in the Republic, why?" He answered automatically.

Galen actually chuckled. That's what Palpatine told them?

It all came together. That lightsaber-wielding Guardian was probably a dark Jedi of some sort, one of Palpatine's lackey's. Possibly even Dooku's pet, Ventress.

He needed to find Anakin and Obi Wan.

"You got a com device on you?" Galen asked.

"Stop asking questions! Put the damn cuffs on!" The older teen stepped threateningly forward.

Galen sighed. He really didn't have time for this. Sheathing his blade, the silver cuffs rose from the ground as Galen's hand slowly rose as well. The boy stared at the floating cuffs with wide, disbelieving eyes. Galen's hand formed a tight fist, and the cuffs crumpled into a mangled ball of metal. "They're broken." He deadpanned, dropping them to the floor.

"What the-" The boy started.

"Now, I need a com device." Galen repeated, sternly.

At that moment, he felt a light tap against the back of his head. Shocked, Galen tensed, recognizing the feel of a blaster barrel. Where did this come from?! How did he not sense it?! "I'm afraid that's not possible." This voice was definitely a man's. Dignified, it commanded power, but it wasn't intentionally offensive like the older teen's was.

It was… disquieting...

"Now, drop your weapon, Jedi."

The S.I.B. taught Agents many things during their training, training which lasted for years and years upon recruitment, usually as teenagers or even in some cases, children. The number one rule of Intelligence was completion of the job, no matter the cost. But, even beyond that, to make sure nothing was traceable back to the Republic.

So, Agents were fitted with new identities, usually code names -numbers- to protect their identity within the Republic, and a fake name to use while in the field.

Agent 13 earned his number after his recruitment by the S.I.B. Being only twelve at the time, he was taken to Coruscant and placed into a foster care where he was eventually picked up by Intelligence. While profiling his personality they flagging him for a complete lack of empathy regarding the human condition, and even life itself, for that matter. This child, with an I.Q. Of over 180, was classified as a functioning sociopath. This was no more evident than when they found him, as a child soldier on Ziost. Conscripted into soldiering by a resistance group, he was employed in a vicious civil war that was of no consequence to him. He was just told to point and shoot, and shoot he did. When the Repubilc came to intervene, they were able to identify his targets by the scale of improbability that was involved. It was rarely known, even to experienced troopers, for a marksman to achieve ranges beyond the effective range of conventional rifles. Especially by a child. They could not reasonably send a child off to be a prisoner after the conflicts resolution, so Intelligence picked him up.

He was put through the rigorous training, and passed with flying colors, moving into the assassination branch of Security and Intelligence.

His list of confirmed kills was longer than his personality profile. When a politician needed assassinating, they called him. When a battle was at a stalemate, they called him to shoot the enemy General. When a high priority Republic Official went to speak at a dangerous location, they called him for protection.

Amongst the Clones, he became known as the Ghost Shooter. On record, the top five longest confirmed snipes since the dawn of the Republic had been in place for five hundred years, the last one being the fifth longest, was broken at that five hundred year mark.

The Ghost Shooter broke the top three.

He became the epitome of a holo-movie spy, being capable of going toe to toe in hand to hand combat with any foe, never being spotted in any missions, and thwarting several Separatist plots to destroy the Republic.

His only confirmed miss of a shot was against none other than Darth Seren on Kashyyk.

But, it was of little consequence to him.

"If you're not going to take the shot, then let's leave." A smooth, core world accented voice said from beside his prone position.

Agent 13 ignored it, staring down the scope of his modified Czerka Adventurer Slugthrower at his target.

Or, targets, rather.

A band of Separatist revolutionaries on Caridia who had caused a lot of drama for the Caridian Government, becoming popular enough to lobby for a Separatist Political Party.

Intelligence wanted them snuffed out. The leaders, at least. Six of them of different species were holed up in their base, their "secret" base, discussing something that Agent 13 didn't really care to know.

From the cliff side of the rocky terrain, the building they were in was spacious, only boasting a few windows, making his vantage a difficult one.

But, he wasn't the legendary Ghost Shooter for nothing.

His scope rested on his first target, mentally memorizing the other's positions. His finger squeezed, the first shot went off with a loud bang.

His scope quickly went to the second target, not needing to see if his first hit, knowing innately that it did. The trigger squeezed the second and third shot in quick succession, and moved to fire the fourth only a second later, and the fifth and sixth as the last two scrambled to run out of the base and into the open plains.

The last man dropped in mid sprint, painting the night sky with arterial spray of bright red.

Agent 13 went back and scanned for bodies, satisfied that they were all dead.

Like the scene of a horror-drama, the walls and table were painted bright red, chunks of gray matter on the floor, caked to the walls and resting on the table where the first of his target's head-what was left of it, anyways- rested. Slugthrowers were not simply sniper rifles, they were instruments of art. And this particular piece was a message to the newly found Separatist Party of Caridia.

He'd specifically bought mass produced ammunition from the Czerka Corp. to paint them as responsible to the local law enforcement. Big business interests. It wasn't unheard of for wealthy, powerful people to snuff out anything that threatened their economic success and financial interests. Or, at least, it wasn't unheard of in the past.

But, to the officials of Caridia, a corporation was responsible for this… massacre to send a message to the hyper-liberal, socialist Separatist Party.

13 continued to survey the carnage, marveling at how efficient those bullets actually were. Hollowed out tips completely obliterated the section of the various heads he'd hit, leaving only destroyed skull fragments and chunks of brain dangling freely from the half-head that remained. It was like an abstract work of art.

13 frowned as he noticed one of his targets. Head still intact... "The third was hit in the neck." He said, staring at the body resting in the chair, still alive, at that, huffing for breath it couldn't find. This target would suffocate slowly on his own blood. "How lazy of me." His accent was even deeper core than his accomplices was, monotonous and devoid of any feeling at seeing his target choke to death.

He pulled his eye away from the scope and stood up, long trench coat falling down his legs. His eyes, a piercing blue, were icy and precise, hair slicked back and cheekbones set high. He had a disquieting look about him.

"Twenty-seven seconds from the first shot." His accomplice, a Chiss Agent, spoke. "Lazy indeed." He sat atop a large boulder, simply watching the spectacle with his arms crossed and an amused expression.

Dark blue skin and piercing red eyes that accompanied this Chiss were little different from the rest of his species, each disquieting in their own way. Any knowledge of this particular Chiss, however, was only skin deep, a fact terrifying in and of itself. Not even his contractors knew of his motives, nor his origin, only that he was the absolute best at what he did. Espionage of the highest degree. Beyond this, only Armand Issard and Agent 13 knew of his full capabilities. And neither were willing to cross him.

Agent 13 leaned down to retrieve his weapon. "Slugthrowers have recoil." He replied slowly. "These mass produced Czerka bullets are innately flawed. I was forced to compensate with on the spot math that you, my friend, couldn't even do on a calculator."

The Chiss sat, unfazed. "Perhaps." He spoke gently. "But, these are merely excuses, my dear Raviont." He replied with a smirk. The two worked together for almost a decade now, the Chiss was used to Raviont's behavior. "You forget, I was a competent sniper myself once." He pat the mid-ranged rifle strapped to his back.

Raviont rose an eyebrow at the remark "Competent? Yes. Regarded, no." 13 quipped, breaking the rifle apart to store it in the metallic briefcase. "Did you check the server?" Raviont asked offhandedly.

The Chiss shook his head. "The encryption was from a class 3 Agent. I assumed someone from HQ would check it." Class three was really no concern to them, the big shots of Intelligence.

Raviont tilted his head. "Curiosity doesn't affect your species, Kro'Vect?" He quipped.

"Not in the slightest." The Chiss-Kro'Vect replied confidently. "Don't tell me the human condition is curious about a class 3 Agent."

"Server 6 is your area. Someone you trained at some point. Espionage and political destabilization tactics." Raviont answered. "If they've been caught, I'd like to know how."

"So you can one day sneak up on me and kill me?" Kro'Vect asked in amusement.

"I've no need for shadows to deal with you. It's just good practice to study potential enemies' movements." 13 responded evenly. "Should you ever decide to betray the Republic, I'll be the one to kill you."

"Touché." Kro'Vect replied with a slight tilt of his head, arms crossed over his chest. "And the same to you, respectfully." The Chiss stood up, reaching into the pocket of his military jacket to retrieve his datapad. "I'd just have to look for the highest vantage." The Chiss fingered the device on as Raviont merely smirked at his comrade. "I suppose I'll satiate your curiosity this time." He connected to said server, Raviont moving to stand beside him and watch.

The screen flashed as the message began to replay, and a familiar face popped on the screen. "Agent 23 of the S.I.B. I have important information regarding an attack on Anaxes. Please respond."

"Agent 23." Kro'Vect muttered, his own brows furrowing. "That rookie sent to retrieve data on Pestage's sudden interest on super-dense crystals."

"Please… somebody respond!"

"I'm aware of the fascination." Raviont stated. "And I'm also aware of Issard's obsession with conspiracy revolving around a Separatist Superweapon." He added. "A Superweapon that could, or could not exist."

Kro'Vect frowned. "Indeed. What might crystals have to do with Superweapons, would be the natural progression of questioning…"

"Kriff!" 23 snapped his head toward his left as a strange sound filled the room. "I don't have much time… I overheard a conversation between Sate Pestage and some sort of Bounty Hunter hired by Darth Seren. Pestage plans to attack Anax-" Stopping abruptly, the young man's face turned back toward the same direction after a loud bang. "Force… that was fast…" He muttered under his breath. "Anaxes is going to be attacked! Their target isn't the planet, but the Admiral's son. It's a desperation ploy by Pestage to save his own skin." A terrible sound filled the speakers, the same one as before but a lot louder, like an oversized fusion cutter slicing through metal. "If Pestage fails, Darth Seren will kill him and take complete control of the Separatists. This message needs to reach the Admiral before it's too late!" The young man looked toward his left once more, as the sound all but dissipated. Looking down, he frantically scrambled to key in something before a loud bang made him jump in surprise.

The video cut off abruptly.

Kro'Vect and Raviont stared at the blank screen for a moment longer, processing what they'd just heard.

"I do bet you're glad humans get curious." 13 said.

Kro'Vect sighed. "Indeed. But now the question is, what to do with this?"

Raviont turned. "That's obvious." He spoke curtly. "We'll handle this ourselves."

"And risk the wrath of our ever so generous Director?" Kro'Vect queried. "I do like the sound of that. Perhaps we can bring his mind back from Separatist conspiracy to the War where it belongs."

Raviont shook his head. "I care little where Issard's mind is, if it's still sane... I simply don't trust him to handle a situation like this."

"I was thinking the same." The Chiss responded. "Isard's actions would only drive Intelligence and the Military further apart."

"He'd use this as ammunition." Raviont confirmed. "Honestly, I don't care much for political peace." Raviont said. "I'd just love to kill Sate Pestage myself."

Kro'Vect smiled at his comrade's words. With a chuckle, he nodded in agreement. "Quite the target, I must say." He said. "Let's make a bet of it, shall we? How much is the decapitated head of the Separatists Leader worth?"

"I'd say more credits than we're worth combined."

"In that case." Kro'Vect pocketed his datapad and walked to Raviont's back. "You'd better contact your financier."

"Didja hear me, boy? Drop your weapon."

Galen's thumb rested on the activation switch of his saber, sensing the tension almost as if he were swimming in it. "I can't do that." He replied tersely.

The barrel pressed harshly into the back of his head. "I ain't askin' you." The man said in a low, threatening tone. "I'm tellin' you."

Adrenaline filled Galen's body for the umpteenth time. He was sure that he could disarm this man quicker than he could pull the trigger.

Actually, he was sure he could disarm any normal person. But this man, this man was much different than any normal person. Even now, Galen had a very difficult time sensing this his intentions, as if he were a trained Jedi, or impeccably strong willed. The latter seemed to be more plausible. He had a feeling through the Force akin to that of Stafford's. A trained soldier, deadly and fierce. "Listen to me." Galen spoke seriously. "I'm not your enemy."

"I ain't askin if you're my enemy. I ain't here to listen to your excuses neither. You drop that weapon, or I'll blow that pretty little braid right into your skull." The gun pressed harder against Galen's head.

Galen scowled. It didn't seem he had an option. He didn't want to chance this man's reflexes, especially not in the state he was in; quickly dizzying as his muscles seemed to slowly lose their strength. "Fine." He allowed his hilt to slip from his grasp.

"Good boy." The man said tauntingly. "Rother, cuff this boy." He called out to the older teen in front of Galen, tossing a separate pair of cuffs to him.

A shrill whistle pierced the air as the older teen, Rother, stalked toward Galen with the cuffs. "Come on out, boy!" The man called into the forest.

Galen's hands were jerked roughly behind his back, and the cuffs were clasped onto his wrists firmly. From the dense forest, the boy who shot at Galen walked out, holding the massive rifle in his hands.

The man tapped the back of Galen's legs with his foot lightly. "On your knees."

Galen followed the order.

"Dad, he's just a kid." The younger boy said, staring right at Galen. Both this boy and Rother shared dishwater blonde hair and sharp, green eyes. Rother had a chiseled jaw and a structured body. He was fit.

The man, their dad, walked in front of Galen, staring down at him with cold, green eyes that sent a chill over Galen. In his late forties, his hair was the same color as his boy's with hints of gray running through it. Stubble on his cheeks and chin, his jaw was defined, square like his older son's was, wearing similar clothing to both of his kids. Hunters for sure, this man looked to be some sort of ex-military. Figures he'd carry something like handcuffs... "Now, you're gonna tell me why exactly you're running around in our territory. None of your Republic mission bull, either." The man's deep, disquieting voice demanded.

"I've already told you." Galen replied. "I don't know what you want me to say." He stared defiantly into the man's eyes.

The man stared down at Galen for a tense moment, glaring distastefully. He spit on the forest floor. "You expect me to believe that Republic base up the mountain has been compromised by some sort of Droid Army?" He asked tensely. "And you've come to investigate... your own base?"

"Whatever Darth Sidious told your people was a lie." Galen replied, gazing right into the man's unconvinced face. "That base was never even approved by the Senate. We have no idea what's going on in there, and now, the enemy has gotten their hands all over it."

"The Droid Army." The man deadpanned.

"Yes. The Confederacy of Independence Systems." Galen explained. "And one of their leaders, General Grievous has captured this base."

"The base you had no idea existed..." He stared, unconvinced in the slightest.

Galen locked his teeth for a split moment. "Darth Sidious orchestrated the entire war between the Republic and the C.I.S. He needed a way to gain power in the Senate to turn the Republic into an Empire and kill all of the Jedi." Galen enlightened. The short version of the story should suffice. "He built this base for some reason, and we're trying to figure out why the Separatists are so interested in it."

The man stared at him, face still blankly disquieting. Reaching down, he grabbed Galen's lightsaber, juggling it around in both hands, inspecting the metal cylinder as if it were some sort of small statue or something.

He glared back at the Jedi before him. "An army." He repeated blandly, clipping Galen's saber to his belt. "Of robots..."

Galen resisted the urge to sigh. He just explained the biggest news in the past millennium in Glactic history... And this man was stuck on the Droid Army...

"Listen, kid, I don't know about you, but it sounds like you're trying to pull one over my eyes." He placed the blaster against Galen's chest, a menacing look on his face. "I don't like being lied to."

Galen rolled his eyes. "Force! You stubborn idiot! I'm not lying to you!" The man's head tilted at the insult. "Listen to me, whatever's in that base just became priority number one, especially if Darth Sidious is involved! There could be some hidden Sith secrets, and if Darth Seren-"

"Shut up." The man's deep voice interrupted.

Galen stared incredulously at the man, who glared right back at him. Was this real? "Really?"

The man nodded once. "Really."

Galen groaned in exasperation. "Look, I don't want to hurt you!" Galen repeated.

The man smirked as an eyebrow cocked, amused at the statement. "Make my day, outsider."

"You're serious..."

"Dead serious. I don't like your kind, coming down from the mountain, wavin' this laser sword around like that damned Guardian, disturbin' the lake creature and tellin' me all these lies like I'm some kind of idiot. An army of robots's the best you can do?" He taunted. "So go 'head. Give me a reason not to take you in. I've fought in three wars, and sat on the Table of Generals, son, you ain't even seen a battle yet." He poked Galen in the chest roughly.

"I've fought in more battles than you can count, old man." Galen defiantly replied.

The man huffed. "Mystical imaginary battles with robots?" He mocked. "Look, kid, if you ain't Republic from that base, you're some sort of jacked up experiment. Look at you, raised in the forest." He shook his head. "Kind of self respecting boy wears a braid?" His statements earned chuckles from his boys.

Galen stared at this man. He had to be the strangest human he'd ever come across in his life. And that was including Coruscant's under city. Nobody in their right mind would pick a fight with a Jedi, not even the younglings were picked on like this.

"Ain't no laser swords come from anybody but this mountain." The man continued. "So, tell me the truth, now. You escaping from the base? Your Guardian kidnap you from one of our villages and teach you his…", he paused for a moment and said, "Magic" while waving his fingers through the air.

Galen exhaled and an exasperated breath. "You've never seen an outsider from off planet, have you?"

The man's eyebrow rose suspiciously. "You in league with Noghri Command?" He asked in a low, tense voice. "If you came here to spy, boy, I won't think twice about putting a blaster bolt between your eyes." The pistol pressed firmly against Galen's forehead.

"Noghri Command? No! I'm a Jedi!" Galen argued.

The man's scowl didn't lighten. "Alright, Jedi. I'll cut you a deal." The man stood up, spitting once more on the ground, his back turned. "Supposing you can escape those cuffs and beat us in a brawl, I'll let you go. Go back to living with those creatures in the forest, or spying, or whatever you do." The man seemed to smile at his own proposal.

Galen tilted his head, completely confused at the offer.

"You seem like a capable fighter, shouldn't be too hard, right? 'Specially with all those "battles" you've been in." The man stated, staring mockingly at Galen over his shoulder.

Galen was getting rather irritated with this strange turn of events.

Getting attacked by giant bugs, a lake monster, and now this ex-military "billy bad ass" hunter?

"Force... I hate this planet." He muttered. "Fine. I'll make your day. But when I win, you give me a com device. Sound fair?"

"You're betting kid?" The man smiled. "Fine. You get a com device. But, if we win... You come with us willingly. You and your friend by the lake."

"What for?" Galen asked.

The man shrugged. "I have some use for capable fighters." He simply replied. "So! We got a deal, Jedi?"

Galen sighed. What did he have to say to get this man to believe that he really meant them no harm! "Sounds good to me."

"Dad, you should be careful..." The older teen, Rother warned. "He's got some strange powers."

The man nodded. "I saw." He answered, eyes still resting on Galen. "its curious, but I doubt he knows how to use it." He sure was confident.

"You're sure about that?" Galen asked. The man nodded slowly, confident as ever. "Alright. But I have a question before we get started."

"What might that be?"

"Do you want me to instantly knock you out, or would you like a demonstration of what a Jedi can do?" Galen smirked, matching the man's confidence.

The hunter only rose an eyebrow in confusion.

Then, he was sent careening backward by the invisible wave of Galen's power.

The Jedi was in midair in a split second, the man finding his footing, sliding backward on his feet with his pistol raised. Two bright red bolts of energy sailed at Galen in midair, precisely where he was going to be.

Expertly, and narrowly, Galen weaved through the shots in midair, forcing the handcuffs off of his wrists, he flung them right at the hunter.

Covering his face, the cuffs bounced off of the man's arm as Galen landed, and burst forward with a rush of speed.

The hunters blaster angled downward, firing three quick shots, his sharp eye keeping track of Galen's quick movements. But, the Jedi dodged fairly easily.

Galen was ready to disarm the man in a mere instant when a forceful warning entered his mind. He stopped instantly, feeling the heat from the younger kid's blaster rifle shoot passed right in front of him.

He resisted the urge to wipe the sweat from his brow at the close call.

In that moment, the older teen jumped into the fray, rushing at Galen with his hunting knife poised in a backhand grip. He swiped the blade at Galen, who caught his wrist and jerked it painfully backward, disarming Rother. He twisted the teen around, standing behind him while he faced him at the younger boy and his blaster rifle to stop the boy from firing.

With a quick flick of his wrist, the oversized rifle skidded to the ground at Galen's feet, leaving the boy shocked and confused.

But, Galen didn't expect Rother to struggle against him. The teen's elbow rammed into Galen's ribs, right where one of the wounds from the bug creature was.

Galen yelped in surprise and pain, releasing Rother who spun around and decked the Jedi right in his face.

Galen stumbled backward, dazed from the solid hit to his cheek, regaining his balance in enough time to duck underneath another wild punch.

His palm slammed into Rother's chest, pushing him back a few meters with the Force before quickly grabbing the fallen hunting knife with the Force, and flinging it at the pistol shot fired by the hunter. The knife absorbed the blast, spinning in midair and digging into the ground off course. Galen rushed at the man, sweeping his hand down to grab the rifle off of the floor. He was in front of him in seconds, twirling the rifle in his hands, and slamming its stock into the man's stomach, twirling it once more and smacking the back of his head.

The man rose his hands and caught the rifles stock at Galen's third swing. He gripped the stock tightly, reaching and grabbing the opposite barrel as well, and forcefully slammed it into Galen. The Jedi stumbled backward, releasing his makeshift weapon as the man aimed the gun right at him. Galen jumped haphazardly backwards, avoiding the powerful blast. He yanked his arms toward him, pulling the man down to the floor as Galen landed sloppily from his leap.

The man found his feet quickly, the rifle barrel angled toward the Jedi.

Galen growled.

The loud sound boomed through the night air, and Galen reacted as quickly as possible, yanking a decent sized boulder nearby from the ground, and hurling it in the blaster bolt's trajectory. The rock detonated, half of it completely destroyed.

Catching the remainder of the bolder, Galen sent it sailing toward the hunter.

Just for distraction. As the remaining rock detonated in collision with the blaster, Galen gathered the Force around him, and quickly thrust his hands in front of him.

A wave of hurricane speed Force energy tore through the loose foliage of the ground.

The hunter's eyes widened in shock just before he was slammed with the power, hurdling backward and coming to a sudden stop against a tree trunk.

The overpowered rifle lay just a few feet away from the groaning Hunter.

Dizziness overcame Galen in the next moments. Grabbing his head, he knelt down to try and ease the spinning in his head.

Did he over strain himself?

He put his hand on his side, right where he was elbowed, right where the bug's barbed leg ripped out of him before being taken by the lake monster. It had stopped bleeding a while back, but now, it was pouring down his side, mixing in with the residual mud.

But, he knew he didn't lose all that much blood, especially in this short amount of time.

It had to be something else.

He noticed he was a bit feverish as well.

An infection. A fast acting one at that. Made sense, the mud on his body was from a cesspool, and when that creature stabbed into him, it probably pushed some of that gunk inside his body. And he knew that wasn't good.

"I'm impressed, boy!" The Hunter commented in a yell, a wide smile on his face. as he pushed himself up. He limped over to where the rifle lay, and dragged it into his hands. "I'd hate to see what you can do if you were healthy." He smiled crookedly.

Galen looked up at the man curiously. "You knew I was hurt?"

The man chuckled. "You smell like death, boy. That smell's from the lake creature up the mountain, and it's stagnant pool of dead animal bodies. I saw the blood on our pants. Those wounds only come from the Quexassiri females. They stab those front legs into your sides and carry you off, digesting you with their pincers only to drop your dried out corpse to the forest floor when they're done." He limped over to Galen, and knelt down in front of him. "That there," he poked at the wound, causing Galen to flinch backward. "is a festering infection in a humid climate. It'll kill you in less than three days of you don't clean it and get some medicine."

Galen frowned. So he would die, just not from the creatures of the planet.

From an infection, of all things. After he'd survived three attacks... An infection!

"So what now?" Galen asked the hunter harshly. "You gonna kill me? Or take me in?"

"Here's what I think." The man replied. "I think you can kill all three of us fairly easy, even in the state your in."

True... But Galen wouldn't...

"But you didn't. You defended yourself from us, even from the beginning. You ain't so bad. But you're still under a binding deal. Here's what I think, we take you back to the cabin and fix you up so you're in prime condition to appear in front of the Table of Generals." The man finished. "Sound fair?"

Galen shook his head. "I can't go back with you into town. My Master was expecting us to be back at a rendezvous point several hours ago. For your safety, I suggest you just let me go."

"Master? You slave?" The Hunter asked.

Galen shook his head. "No, I'm a Jedi, my Master is my teacher. A Jedi Master."

"So he's even stronger than you?" The older teen asked from behind his father.

Galen nodded with an ironic chuckle. "Infinitely."

Rother stared at his father, a worried look crossing both of their faces.

"We'll figure this out in the morning." The Hunter stood up and pointed to his boys. "You two take him to the lake, get his friend, let him get cleaned up, and bring both of 'em back to the cabin."

The brothers nodded, and the Hunter went off to grab his fallen pistol.

He turned back. "Don't let him escape."

"What is it?" Currently, only wearing a tight underlay jumpsuit that typically went under a suit of armor, seated comfortably in her cabin on board the Eclipse, Spirra Kirov answered her beeping comm device, only to see the faces of Kro'Vect and Raviont.

She hated dealing with these two. Everything was always so... cloak and dagger with them.

Before they could respond, she reached up and pulled a lock of dully dyed pink hair from her face.

"My dear Spirra." Kro'Vect smiled warmly. "Such a greeting is mildly offensive for a comrade, wouldn't you say?" His holographic face frowned ever so lightly.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm on standby by orders from your boss." She said, twirled her finger around at the last word. "This isn't a good time for your antics, Kro'Vect. What is it?"

"All business as usual, I see." The Chiss replied.

"We've a mission, should you be interested." Raviont chimed in. "A mission that would definitely make you a load of money."

Spirra smirked. "That's the introduction I was looking for."

"We're operating outside of Intelligence on this one. Are you comfortable with breaking a few protocols?" Kro'Vect asked.

She huffed. "I'd love the opportunity. Maybe that'll teach Issard to put me on standby. The prick!"

"Great. I'll personally transfer half of the funds to your account now." Kro'Vect stated.

Spirra's eyebrow craned. "Without Issard's approval?"

Kro'Vect chuckled.

"Issard likes to think he has us under his thumb." Raviont responded. "The exact opposite is the case. Let us worry about backlash. You've a job to complete."

"Fine. Details, names, locations. Go!" She said in a playful tone.

"Sate Pestage has decided to attack Anaxes. We can't think of any logical reason why, other than the fact that-"

"The Admiral's kid's on the planet." Spirra finished for Raviont. She sighed. "Babysitting?" She almost scoffed "This isn't worth my time."

"Don't be hasty, dear. Remember who it is you're rescuing." Kro'Vect reminded.

"And, how much daddy is actually worth." Raviont added. "Tell the Admiral that your resources came across the information, and that you're willing to personally oversee the rescue. Tell him, it's a show of your goodwill. Once the job is completed, the man will no doubt offer you your regular fee, on top of what we are willing to pay you."

"You want to strengthen the trust between myself and the Admiral?" Spirra questioned.

Both Agents nodded.

"Why?"

"Remember, Spirra, we know a lot more about the Galaxy than you do." Kro'Vect responded.

"We like the fact you have Nar Shaddaa's economy by the throat. It gives us leeway with the Black Sun, especially after Prince Xizor's sudden change in loyalty." Raviont expanded. "It's most... Odd."

"You are the Republic's secret weapon against Xizor. Trust between the Admiral -who is also one of the two the leaders of our governing council- and yourself is quite imperative." Kro'Vect added smoothly.

"I see. So I'm just another pawn in the political game." She deadpanned.

Both Agents simply nodded.

Spirra rolled her eyes. "God, you two are so dense." She muttered. "Fine. I better get a fat paycheck, or I'm gunning for you!" She threatened, snapping off the communication abruptly afterward.

Falling to her back, she released a sigh. Dealing with Intelligence, even as a freelance agent, always seemed to have its price.

Nevertheless, she also had her own price. Only that could make her smile, glancing over to the advanced armor piled on the floor.

She groaned as she stood up. "Time for work."

Galen walked in front of his new captors, a silent tension looming about all three of them.

It gave Galen a bit of time to scan their minds. Both were easy to read, unlike their father, who was much more difficult. The older boy, Rother, was eighteen, Galen found out. Not wanting to pry too deep into his privacy, Galen only scanned the top foremost thoughts. A bunch of strategies and scenarios of Galen's escape, and how he would react to them, mostly. But, a bit deeper, he sensed Rother's unwillingness to actually treat Galen as an enemy. He believed Galen's story, but, he also had a deep respect for his father, and wouldn't disobey.

The younger boy was like an open book. Eleven years, he was both scared, and vastly intrigued by the concept of a Jedi now that he'd seen one in action. He had no doubt in his mind that Galen was telling the truth, but perhaps it was simply the bias of a young boy. He wanted to help Galen, actually.

But, unfortunately, his respect for the Hunter would prevent him from disobeying.

They exited the forest line, onto the soft sand of the lake's beach.

And Galen found himself irritated beyond belief.

There, lying on the dock, sleeping like a baby was Luke.

While Galen was being attacked, Luke slept.

Galen felt like a cartoon character, face turning red, pressure about to blow his top off. This had to be some joke!

He stomped onto the deck and stared down at Luke. He hadn't even cleaned himself up!

"I swear, if I hadn't taken an oath not to kill defenseless life, I'd choke you in your sleep." Galen muttered. He placed his boot on Luke's chest, and shoved him off of the deck.

The younger boy's chuckle was almost silent, and even Rother had a grin on his face.

Luke surfaced, a surprised look on his face as he huffed for air. "Galen! Blast it all!"

"Don't 'blast it all' me! You didn't hear the blasting blaster shots blasting me!?" Galen growled through clenched teeth.

Luke pulled himself back onto the dock. "No? What blaster shots?" He glanced behind Galen at the company. "Who are they?"

"Oh, you know, just some locals who attacked me and are now forcing us to go to their city and spend some time in jail!" Galen sarcastically replied.

"What?" Luke stood up, slowly, staring at the two boys.

Rother pulled out his blaster, not pointing, just preparing defense, as the younger boy scooted closer to him.

"They attacked you?" Luke asked.

"Yeah. They did." Galen answered curtly. "But they're also the only ones with medicine for my infection." He added. "So we're stuck with them."

"That's right, kid." Rother spoke. "Now, toss over that laser sword." He motioned to the hilt laying atop of Luke's robes.

Luke glanced at the teen incredulously, and then back at Galen. "He's joking, right?"

Galen shook his head.

"Wait, you gave them your lightsaber?" Luke asked.

"They took it. Luke, were in no condition to fight them, and run after their dad and retrieve my lightsaber. Our best option is to just go with them for now."

"Dad and Master Kenobi will come looking for us." Luke said. "It's gonna delay the mission even more. We can't just let the Seps have more time with that base!"

"There's a lot of weird stuff about that base. It might be good to ask the locals some questions before we storm in unprepared anyways." Galen replied. "Let's just do what they say. I'm not in any condition to rampage through a Separatist base anyways."

Luke stared at Galen for a long moment. "You're sure about this..."

"Yes. I'm sure. We really don't have many options, anyways."

Luke glanced hesitantly back toward Rother and his brother. "You know, we can take them."

Galen sighed. "Luke!"

"Fine, fine. We'll do it your way." The younger Jedi conceded. "Didn't expect you to be boring." He muttered.

Galen ignored the comment. "Let's get cleaned up."

Luke nodded.

Rother lowered his weapon. He grabbed the younger boy's shoulder, and reached into the bag strapped to his back. He tossed two white objects to Luke and Galen. "Soap. Use it to get the gunk off your clothes too." He explained. "Try and hurry before the cold front comes in."

Luke and Galen stripped off their muddy, damp clothes, happily, too. The smell would finally be a thing of their past.

"Galen, you're bleeding pretty bad." Luke commented as Galen slowly lowered himself off the deck and into the lake. "You should clean that out with bacta."

Galen ignored Luke's concerns. He still wasn't in the mood to talk to him outside of duties.

Luke dropped into the lake. "Did they do that to you?"

Galen shook his head.

"Are you giving me the cold shoulder?" The blonde Jedi asked. "Seriously?"

"Just stop talking, please." Galen replied lowly.

Luke stared at his friend incredulously, and shook his head. "Why are you acting like a nerf herder?"

Galen ignored Luke, rubbing the mud caked on his chest into the water.

"Wow. Whatever. You wanna be stupid, fine by me."

Galen snapped his head to Luke. "I said shut up!"

Luke stared at Galen, a surprised look crossing his face.

Sure, they'd been in fights, they'd yelled at each other, and even had a few fist fights. But never over something so...

Trivial.

"What's wrong with you?" Luke asked quietly as Galen turned back to grab the soap off of the deck.

Luke had only ever heard rumors of Galen's legendary anger. He'd never seen it, never sensed it, never even knew it existed outside of rumors, really. But, he had to admit, Galen felt strange through the Force. He was a bit grayish, a bit less warm and just a tad too hot, like his anger was brewing.

But something was heating it up.

Maybe Luke did say something stupid, but he honestly meant no offense by it. After all, if it were Anakin who said it, Galen wouldn't have gotten so angry at it. He would have taken it as advice, or a lecture and moved on.

But that's what Masters were for, to point out flaws to correct and learn from them. Luke wasn't Galen's master. Maybe that's why he got so offended. He probably didn't like having his flaws pointed out by someone younger than him.

But still, to get that angry over it?

Luke sighed, dunking his head beneath the water and getting all the gunk out of his hair and off of his face.

It was the mission. It had to be. Darth Seren was a sore subject for Galen, that was well known. The fact that Seren was silent, suspiciously silent about all of this was strange. Maybe Galen was fearful that Seren was somehow behind all of this, setting up some grand scheme to kill him, or capture him, as unlikely as it was.

Heck, the thought even chilled Luke.

Luke surfaced, reveling in the fact that he no longer smelled like the digestive tract of a Sarlacc, and thankfully, the soap was unscented. He severely disliked scented soaps.

A splash of water made Luke turn to see Galen pulling himself onto the dock.

The side of his chest where the wound was was black and blue, like a nasty bruise. Luke could tell it was deep, much deeper than Galen let on. It poured blood down his skin, cascading with the water.

Luke shook his head. He didn't even want to ask Galen if he was alright. He'd just get snapped at anyways.

Galen knelt at the edge of the dock and began washing his pants with the soap, obviously struggling with the awkward position. The day's strain showed clearly on his face, eyes sunken, eyelids a light shade of red and low hanging. He looked visibly sick, breathing more labored than normal, skin pale, face looking as if he'd vomit any second. Then, there was a red spot on his cheek, swelling the cheekbone just a bit. He'd been punched.

The blonde Jedi sighed. Waddling over to Galen, he grabbed the pants from him. "Put your robe on and tighten the belt around the wounds. It'll help with the bleeding." Luke advised.

Galen said nothing, allowing Luke to take over cleaning duties.

He turned and washed the pants.

Luke tossed the pants across the deck, and reached for his own.

"Come on, hurry it up!" Rother shouted from the forests edge.

Luke finished up with his pants, laying them next to Galen's and pulled himself out of the lake, attempting to ignore the pain in his own ribs. He turned and sat with his feet in the water and inspected the damage on himself. His chest, while not as bad as Galen's, was bruised a dark red outward to a bright green on both sides, the circular patterns around his chest with little, red holes still bled just a bit, beading a bright red before being swept away with the water.

He was thankful that whatever venom that monster injected in him wasn't strong. He was only a bit dizzy, muscles weaker than normal with a dull ache that could be attributed to the day's strain or lack of sleep and water.

"Come on." He heard Galen say from behind him.

Pushing himself up, Luke slipped his feet inside of his boots and tossed his robe over himself, huddling into the warmth it provided from the light breeze. He tossed his belt over his shoulder and grabbed his wet pants, following Galen back to their new captors, noting that not only had Galen not followed his advice by applying pressure to the wounds with his belt, but it was as if he'd simply ignored them all together.

Luke found himself clenching his jaw.

Padme Naberrie-Skywalker was many things. Strong willed, hot tempered, opinionated, loyal, very educated, pacifist when called for and yet, a fierce fighter in her own respect when needed. With these qualities, and many more, she earned her the title of Queen at fourteen years old, and Galactic Senator just shortly after, where she'd stayed for a very, long time. The Republic needed her, anybody with any sense could see that. She was the bleeding heart, the face of the Senate like Anakin was the face of the Jedi, and Stafford, the face of the Navy. The word Senator almost immediately followed up with Amidala, it rolled off the tongue.

She'd seen it all. Assassination attempts, imprisonment, conspiracies, traitors, and even the front line of the battle field. She'd even seen more war than some of the Clones.

But, not to say she was infallible, or even without help. No, she gained an army of allies and supporters throughout her near two decades in the Senate, some powerful voices of reason, of peace, and even some frighteningly powerful people with pull enough to mobilize battalions of Clones.

And even the man with his own army at his disposal allied himself with the Senator, and in turn, the Republic.

Prince Xizor.

The Underlord of the Black Sun Crime Syndicate.

To associate herself with criminals was rather out of character. Even she knew this. But, the Underlord had a very keen interest in forming a strange loyalty with the Republic after Anakin saved his family and home planet of Falleen from the Separatist Army. They formed a plot to poison the entire planet with a powerful neurotoxin for refusing to submit to the Seperatists. Anakin thwarted the scheme and after that, as acting Underlord of the Black Sun, he promised to... minimize his illegal activities inside of Republic Jurisdiction, and even offered his help in sabotage and espionage. The help, while this news would be publicly controversial, it was well received by the War Council and the few Senators that knew about it. The public and the mass majority of the Senate was kept in the dark.

Prince Xizor was quite possibly as wealthy as Admiral Stafford was, influential in how and where he placed his money at any given time. If he so pleased, he could have the next Supreme Chancellor elected just by campaign funds and powerful lobbyists.

Oddly enough, he became a very strange- and very illegal- source of military funding. Off the books, of course. And, his intelligence network was vast, even larger than the Separatist and Republic resources combined.

It wasn't the first time she'd acted outside of the Constitution. And, it probably wouldn't be the last so long as this war continued to rage with no end in sight. Something needed to be done!

Padme knew the implications should the public discover this amnesty the War Council had given the Underlord, and even worse should they discover she was a main backer of the treaty. She, Padme Amidala, was being pressured by the War Council to act an advocate for the secret Black Sun Amnesty Act.

The thought alone seemed inscrutable. If someone had told her ten years ago that she'd be willing to have dealings with the Black Sun, she would have laughed in their face.

And even if the Falleen was a shady individual, and not completely transparent with the War Council, the political alliance was in every bodies best interest. It didn't seem that loyalty was in his nature. And sometimes, she even questioned it in the back of her mind.

If anybody could read a Falleen, it would be Anakin or Obi Wan and they could sense a trace of betrayal in him. But, he was a Crime Lord.

And here, Padme never thought in a million, billion, trillion years that she'd be receiving the leader of a savage Criminal Organization into her office to discuss politics.

What had the Galaxy come to?

But, to say she wasn't excited to test her wit against the likes of Xizor would be a lie on her part.

"Miss Padme, allow me. The kitchen is no place for a woman like yourself."

Her eyebrow arched at 3-PO's comment. Was flattery a new program Anakin installed, she idly thought to herself? She waved her hand in dismissal. "It's fine, 3-PO. Just make sure you watch the door for any guests." She finished pulling the cork from the wine bottle with a light pop.

"Are you sure? It's in my programming to serve our guests. It's very improper for the hostess to gather beverages while a protocol droid such as myself stands around and waits for the doorbell to ring." The golden robot replied, dignified and proper as always.

Padme smiled. "3-PO, we need to make sure that we don't leave any late comers stranded, now do we?"

The droid sighed dramatically. "Of course not Miss Padme, I will resume my post."

Shaking her head at the quirky droid, Padme poured the wine for herself and Xizor, heading toward the office in her apartment where Xizor stood, and eyed a rather rare piece of art on a stand in front of the large view port to the Cityscape. "That was a gift from Anakin." She explained, placing his wine glass on the table between the couches in front of her desk. "It's an original piece by a local shaman from Ralltiir."

Xizor's fingers lightly traced the air around the sculpture, delicately admiring the subtle craftsmanship.

"It's a token of good will from their village. It's supposed to make your children grow up strong and healthy." She elaborated.

"It's quite the exquisite piece." Xizor spoke in his hauntingly smooth tone.

It was strange for Padme to here the Falleen Underlord speak. It was almost like talking to the Admiral. Both were intelligent and dignified in their own respects.

Classy, even. Xizor wore some of the most expensive robes, his hair silky to perfection. He'd make a very handsome human.

The reptilian Crime Lord turned around, gazing at Padme with lizard like eyes that had a certain charm to them. "Ralltiir is an artisans planet, much like Naboo. T'gronish and Teronoto hail from there."

Padme's head tilted in recognition. "Sanctuary artists from the Mandalorian War era, right?"

Xizor nodded at her. "Indeed. Your taste in art is refined." The Underlord scanned the apartment, eyes resting on a painting adorning a wall behind Padme. "It's delicate and meaningful. I do admire it." He smiled at her once again.

"Thank you. It takes a lot to put a piece of art in a home if it doesn't mean much to you." Her chuckle was a bit more serious, though.

Xizor shrugged, and half-nodded. "Perhaps in a home."

Padme moved around the couch and sat down, offering the wine to Xizor. The green skinned humanoid obliged, and sat across from her. "You're a collector, right?" Padme asked.

The Underlord sipped at the wine. "Indeed, my dear. My art collection is among the largest in the Galaxy." He stated with a self important smirk.

"Obtained legally, I hope." Padme lightly jibed.

The Falleen merely chuckled. "I'm afraid that's an incriminating question."

Padme shook her head with a smirk. "I'd love to see it. My daughter loves art, especially abstract paintings. Her room is filled with Ku Chusar pieces, print outs mostly." She chuckled.

"As a Jedi, they're not allowed to indulge in the purchase of such things." Xizor said, a bit of a frown on his face.

Padme shook her head. "No, they have their Credits for necessities."

"Well, I do have a Chusar original at my home on Falleen. Perhaps a gift for the young Jedi?" Xizor offered flauntingly.

Padme shook her head lightly. "I appreciate it, but she's not allowed too many personal belongings. I know she'd love it, but she'd gift it to me so she could enjoy it without owning it." Padme chuckled. "As silly as it sounds."

Xizor brought the crystal glass to his lips and tasted another drink of the red wine. "A hard life, that of a Jedi. One might argue that the Sith have it better." His eyebrow craned.

Padme recognized the light taunt. "In some ways, perhaps." Padme conceded the point. "But, I've met Sith. They're not sophisticated beings, they're narcissistic and care for no beauty but their own. Even if they had art, it would be for the show."

"Indeed, that sounds quite like Palpatine." The Fallen chuckled along with Padme. "His taste in art was rather..."

"Macabre?" She finished.

"That, but, I was going to say distasteful." Xizor smiled. "The vases in that office of his always seemed to make the viewer uncomfortable, the sculptures even more so." Xizor shook his head at the mere thought of Palpatine's decor. "And the sheer number of Vases..."

"I know." Padme laughed. "I always wanted to get him flowers to put in them, lighten the office up."

"I'm sure they would've died in those dreadful buckets." Xizor grinned back.

"They would've died in that man's very presence." Padme mused.

"Much less the vases." Xizor smirked. "I am relieved at the Jedi victory over him. I couldn't imagine living as I am under a man like him."

Padme shrugged one shoulder. "He might have let you continue business in Republic Jurisdiction unimpeded."

"Possibly, but nothing is as it seems with that man." Xizor replied with a poised eyebrow.

"Well said." Padme stated.

She indulged her first drink of the wine at the silence that followed. Awkward wasn't the right word, nor was uncomfortable per se. It was more... Strange. Strange to have such a frivolous conversation with a Crime Boss, even if it was a bit of a political game of Pazaak.

"I must say, I'm surprised at the lack of security." Xizor spoke. He placed the glass down on the table. "You, a revered Senator, who accepted a meeting with the Underlord of the Black Sun. Have I somehow earned your trust?" The amusement in his voice was apparent.

"Trust is a strong word, Prince Xizor." She motioned. "I just happen to know that you're a smart man. And, I also happen to know how much respect you hold for my husband after Falleen."

He nodded in concession. "Touché. How foolish of me to tease a politician." He jibed. "It's your job to battle with the minds of the many until the very end."

"It's also my job to sniff out anyone who's disingenuous. Somehow, I don't get that vibe from you, unless your species is uncanny at hiding emotions." She said, almost tauntingly, taking a drink from the wine.

"Well, I would be lying if I said that wasn't true." The reptile Prince replied, unfazed by her taunt. "The Republic holds a sense of value and honor to me, especially after your husband's heroic deeds on Falleen. The higher-ups could have easily seen this as a way to rid themselves of me with the slaughter of my family. But they didn't. I'm no Wookiee, but I do owe the Republic my respect and gratitude. It would speak...poorly of me if I could not give something in return" Pausing to sip on his wine, a small, ironic huff escaped his lips. To ally himself with the very government he sought out to corrupt and use to his advantage because of a good deed performed by a Jedi. It could've let the Separatist bio-weapon cleanse the Republic of major Black Sun players. But Anakin Skywalker didn't.

Xizor shook his head slightly. "I have no hidden motives, no agenda to push forward." He gazed at Padme, gauging her reaction to that declaration. "Save for the eradication of the Separatists and Darth Seren." His voice darkened toward the end of his statement, setting the glass down on the table.

"Is that why you wanted to meet?" Padme asked, a bit challengingly. "I assumed this was about a funding agreement of some sort."

Xizor shook his head, reaching down to reclaim the wine glass in his scaled hands, nails tapping on the crystal as they wrapped around. "There is no issue with our funding agreement. But, I do propose we finish our wine before diving into... detailed business." He took a sip of his drink, glancing down at the dark liquid, swirling it around just a bit, impressed with the taste. "This affects the Jedi much more than it affects me." His voice was casual, though, it did leave a bit of foreboding lingering in the air.

Had he found something?

"Let's talk about lobbying for Supreme Chancellor." He changed the subject sporadically, as not to give away too much too early.

The Senator played the game willingly, and shook her head, waving a hand back and forth. "Let's not get too crazy. The purpose of the recent changes to the Constitution are to end the gratuitous loopholes Palpatine left to allow your... colleagues to crawl into our system in the first place. I hardly support using that corruption for my own good, or anyone's good for that matter."

Xizor smirked. "Always the voice of reason." A small chuckle escaped his throat. "As much as you are against corruption, I propose using that corruption to end Darth Seren."

"Though he plans to use it to end us?" Padme replied matter of factually.

"Which is precisely why we should be using it."

Padme's eyebrow arched. "A proposal like that belongs in the War Council Chambers. I agreed to be the liaison to communicate your interests to the Republic, I can't make decisions, nor will I give you the go-ahead to do as you please." She chided lightly.

Xizor chuckled. "What would the Senate do without your vigilance." The Underlord merely shrugged to himself. "I concede your point, Senator. Perhaps I'm getting a bit… overzealous."

"Perhaps?" Padme poked.

"Democracy's flaws are endless, Senator. A man like Darth Seren knows them all by heart. And yet, in that respect, he and I are the same." Xizor paused for a moment, gauging Padme's reaction to his statement. She was both intrigued, and wary of where this was going, understandably. "I propose the War Council allows me to fill those cracks in the Democratic armor, strengthen the Republic by means of corruption, in a sense. That way, the flaws will not be exploited by Seren easily."

"You're overstepping your bounds, Prince Xizor." Padme chided. "Your track record with corruption isn't the best."

The Prince nodded. "Indeed, the Republic is wary of me, as she should be." He took another drink from his glass, allowing the pause to sink in. "Perhaps after what I have to share about the Jedi, you will feel a bit different about sealing the leaks in your sinking ship."

Padme frowned.

This news didn't sound particularly good at all, and Padme found herself almost dreading what information Xizor could have come across.

She took a nervous sip of her wine, outwardly controlling her nerves. After all, it wouldn't be good to let Xizor know he had something that she didn't.

At least, not yet.

"Gentleman, the stakes have been raised to a point we can no longer ignore." Admiral Stafford addressed the War Council, calling an emergency session while arousing many angered and sleepy delegates. "A bit ago, I received an unmarked transmission that used a Jedi Encryption Code that was outdated by a few months." Stafford explained. "Along with the transmission, which was indecipherable, I received a strange map detailing the places this Jedi had most recently been." The Admiral keyed a few buttons on the transmitter, and said map appeared on the hologram on his desk, as well as the hologram on the Council Table's desk.

Few stared at the map, attempting to discern what it was that Stafford had come across, while others paid it no mind, wishing for the meeting to get on with. "The last place, assuming the final destination is Wayland, was Bandomeer."

Realization hit a few of the upper members, including Kota. "That's our last known location of Master Windu."

His name sparked interest in those who seemed uninterested.

"His chase for Darth Seren…" Issard muttered, a bit shocked, and a bit wary at the information.

"This means that Master Windu has traced Darth Seren's location to Wayland." Stafford concluded.

"Even more reason to pull out!" Issard stiffly replied to Stafford. "We aren't equipped to handle Seren commanding both fleets."

"His capture could end this war for good." Bail Organa defended.

"Or, we could suffer the loss of the Republic's two greatest hero's." Dadonna chimed in. "We must think rationally about this, gentleman. Should we rush into anything at this point in time, our window to capture Seren could close as quickly as it opened."

"Marshal! You're not honestly thinking about this?" Issard asked Dadonna, appalled at the very thought. "Darth Seren knew Master Windu was on his trail! Do you think an adversary like Seren would simply allow his location to be known to us with no plans?"

"I agree." Stafford said. "Seren is notorious for intricate plans."

"Something needs to be done, regardless of the repercussions." Dadonna replied. "This opportunity has never been presented to us."

Stafford hesitated, resisting the urge to bite his lower lip. Sure, he saw the political victory capturing Darth Seren would be, however…

Galen Marek was still a giant unknown in Seren's plans. Stafford couldn't allow anything to happen… "I propose sending a command squad down to the planet to rendezvous with the Jedi. They are now considered our best source for information."

Dadonna agreed with a nod. "I second that motion."

Issard sighed, but, to the surprise of Stafford, nodded his head. "I suppose there's no going around this…" He muttered. "I agree. But, I also propose sending a battalion of Clones to the surface. I have a field agent hidden among the command ranks." He revealed.

Stafford was actually unsurprised. It wasn't uncommon for Issard to have eyes and ears everywhere. He smiled. "The Bounty Hunter?" He asked.

Issard nodded.

Stafford shook his head and grinned in amusement.

It was only a few months ago when a woman, known only as the Pink Devil in the dark underbelly of the Galaxy came to Stafford with valuable information regarding a Separatist shipping yard not too far from Nar Shaddaa, earning the Republic a massive victory. She hated the Separatists, for reasons Stafford didn't care to know, and offered her services on a rate that made them both happy. So, Stafford employed her as an unofficial ranking officer, deploying her on high profile missions requiring the… intricacies of a Bounty Hunter.

Also, being the head of the prestigious Kirov family, a branch of the Black Sun that had most recently declared themselves independent from Prince Xizor, Stafford was well aware of the economic gain and political power she held when it came to the Black Sun.

The Pink Devil: Spirra Kirov.

"She'll perform wonderfully under these circumstances." Stafford smiled delightfully. "It will give us a good chance to recruit the locals, as well."

"My only request is that my agent be sent along with the Commando's. She will feed us information directly." Issard stared at Stafford with hard eyes, obviously not wanting this request to be challenged.

Stafford nodded. "Agreed. I will contact you all once the operation is under way."

"Before we part", Chimed the voice Mon Mothma, "I do not believe that it would be prudent to assume that we received this information by chance. Surely Master Windu would have contacted us much sooner about this relevant information. The fact that we have only acquired it now suggests that it was being jammed or intercepted.

"Which means the enemy let the message come to us delayed to set us in a frenzy" Daddona postulated.

Mon Mothma continued, "They may be attempting to force us to make decisions in the spur of the moment and take advantage of us."

"Even still, we cannot ignore this" Organa stressed, "If we do not use this to our advantage then surely the enemy will. Admiral, you had mentioned that Piett was in reserve at Mandalore correct?" Stafford nodded at the question. "Perhaps we can…"

"Throw everything at them that we have in the entire sector?! Absolutely preposterous!" Belted Armand Issard.

General Kota further interjected, "Issard has a point. This could equally be an opportunity for them as it is for us. I sense something beneath what we see and we must prepare for the unknown. Give the alert for Piett to scatter the fleet and begin preliminary scans of any hyperspace activity."

"Counter measures have already been anticipated and analyzed by my staff. Fleet Commander Thrawn has concurred that even in the event of this being a feint and an all out assault is launched on a separate target, we are positioned in correlation with Piett's fleet to intercept any enemy activity before they get a parsect through Mid Rim space." Stafford explained. "Necessary precautions have been taken and contingency plans have been prepared in the event of the worst case scenario."

Dadonna sighed, "Unfortunately all we can do is play this game we have jumped into. Let us hope we can play by our own rules."

The word 'cabin' seemed to be a bit of an understatement.

Sure, it looked like a cabin; made with trunks of trees, it was very quaint inside, and a furnace that heat up the entire place. But it was large. Almost as large as the house they'd seen by the lake.

All around the living area, trophies of various slain animals were hung up. Animals that Galen had no idea about. Save for the red, bug looking creature…

How could he forget that?

He flinched, a sharp pain shooting up the right side of his torso.

"Apologies, young man."

Galen ignored. Apparently, the Hunter that attacked him in the forest came from a wealthy family. The man kneeling beside Galen, cleaning out his wound very thoroughly, was the Hunter's father. A politician back in his days, and a war veteran prior to that. Dull, gray hair with a matching beard, this man dressed in a casually, classy sort of way. Well, at least that's what Galen could discern 'classy' was on this planet.

This old man, Maxon Signas -as he so elaborately introduced- was the family head of the ever popular Signas family. This planet had an archaic sort of government in comparison to the Republic. A Caste system. Galen was rather disinterested in the various Castes that Maxon had described, only seeming interested in the man's son, the Hunter who attacked him.

Kazic Signas.

Wayland's history was a bloody one. Three wars had occurred in Kazic's lifetime, and he'd fought in all three. The first and second being border disputes with a local tribe of surprisingly resilient Psadan's. The third, and the most fierce, was when refugees from Honogohr; Noghri began taking land for themselves after the Separatists attacked their world.

All three were eventually ended, and the three different species lived in forced harmony, completely separate from the other two under an unsteady treaty put in place by none other than Palpatine. A treaty that dictated the four separate factions stay away from each other, the fourth being the Republic.

Kazic was an experienced soldier, and a brilliant commander, from what his father had to say about him. The old man was actually shocked to find his son allowing Galen and Luke to live, thinking they were enemies of the treaty.

Galen had merely sighed and shook his head at that statement. He'd come to the realization that these people didn't trust him simply because he wielded a lightsaber.

Humans were all the same, no matter what planet they were on. They feared what they did not understand.

"Alright, young man." Maxon said, propping his hand on his knee and standing up slowly. "I'll stitch those wounds up for you, then you must drink that tea." The old man motioned to a pot sitting on the table in front of the couch Galen was on. "It increases white blood cell count to fight that infection."

Galen simply nodded. He could sense his infection through the Force, and actively fought against it with the mysterious power. The tea honestly wasn't necessary. But, he found himself unable to be rude and decline.

Even if he was in handcuffs…

Maxon grabbed his cane from its stationary position against the armrest, and hobbled off to grab what tools he'd need.

Galen sighed at his predicament. He was sure that under any other circumstances, he could be friends with this family.

"Don't worry. Grandfather was the top medic in his division."

Galen gazed over at Kazic's youngest son, still equipped with the large, military rifle on his lap. Rylie Signas.

The boy smiled awkwardly at Galen before gazing down to the weapon in his lap. "F- food should be done any time now…" The boy added. "Rother… he's a good cook, too…"

Was it bad social skills this kid had, or was he awe struck at seeing Galen in action? The Jedi couldn't figure it out. "Thanks." Galen muttered. His eyes followed the contours of the large room around him, marveling at the size of some of the animals on the walls, and the design quality of the very room itself. Opulent wasn't quite the word to describe it, detailed seemed more accurate. Like every piece of stone surrounding the fireplace was meant to be there, every support beam on the ceiling was both practical, and gorgeous. For not having a central heating device other than the fireplace and a furnace in the basement, it was surprisingly warm.

Comfortable. That was the perfect word.

Even the blanket atop his waist and legs was soft, delicate, and yet, heavy at the same time.

He only wished his treatment was as easy as Luke's had been, so he could sleep on the comfortable couch like his comrade, with the comfortable blanket covering him.

A lot of kids at the Temple made fun of wealth, playing a question game to mock it. "If you were rich, what would you buy?"

Most answers were absurd, like pet Krayt Dragons, or Coruscant's star. But, that was the point of the game. It seemed that all rich people bought the most pointless things, Admiral Stafford included. The man had a Krayt Dragon's pearl in his office aboard the Eclipse, for a "paper weight."

Of course, there were things the kids said that they would actually enjoy spending money on. Leia's guilty pleasure was art, abstract art, which caused a lot of teasing from Galen and Luke.

Luke, like his father, was all about speeders. How fast could he make something go.

Galen, on the other hand, never really gave it much thought. He'd always said he'd use that money for peace.

But maybe, he'd actually found something he'd buy for himself. A cabin in the woods like this one was perfect. He could only imagine waking up every morning to the smell of the dew covered leaves, the sounds of exotic birds chirping. As dumb as he thought it sounded, he'd enjoy walking in the forest and picking berries. Growing his own foods, hunting his own food.

The mere thought made him smile.

"Th- that power…"

Rylie's voice broke Galen of his thoughts. He turned to the boy again.

"What is it?" The boy asked curiously.

Galen smiled subtly at the curiosity. "It's called the Force." Galen answered. "An invisible energy that's responsible for all life in the universe. Nothing is without the Force."

Rylie leaned forward as if he were being told a story about a superhero. "What can you do with it?"

Galen shrugged. Such a vague question. "Well, in theory, there's nothing that's impossible."

"Woah… So like, can you fly?"

Galen chuckled. "No. Afraid not. I'm sure it's possible, just not practical."

Rylie's eyebrow's furrowed. "Well, why not?"

"The amount of energy it would take combined with the concentration would drain anybody in mere seconds." Galen responded. "And, it hasn't been accomplished before."

"Oh." He simply responded, a bit disappointed at the answer he received. "So, no flying. But you can pick things up with your mind?"

Galen nodded.

"Is there a limit to how big?"

The image of Darth Seren holding up the massive corvette on Kashyyk popped in his mind.

He shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of." He answered slowly.

"Why do you fight with a laser sword? Wouldn't it be easier to use a blaster?" The kid asked.

"Tradition." Galen replied. "A lightsaber is much more suited for Jedi. It's both a powerful weapon, and a symbol of peace. Jedi don't kill unless they're forced to. All living creatures are sacred to us. By using a lightsaber in combat, we can actively avoid fatal wounds while defending ourselves from any enemies." Galen didn't really feel like delving into the philosophy of a lightsaber with a kid who probably didn't care in the first place.

"The old Guardian used one of those lightsabers. Same color as yours, too." Rylie stated. "Everyone was afraid of him 'cause his powers. They said he could shoot lightning out of his fingers." He wiggled his fingers for emphasis.

Galen's gaze became a bit more curious. "Force Lightning. A manifestations of pure energy through hatred." He muttered as if he'd read it directly out of a textbook. "Odd… there've been no Jedi to leave the Order since Dooku, and a few lesser padawans. Someone with a Jedi's blade had the power to use Force Lightning."

"Is that… a bad thing?" The boy asked.

Galen shook his head with a shrug. "Not really. He's dead now, right?" Rylie nodded. "So it doesn't really matter." Galen sighed. "Just more mystery to this base."

"Are you stronger than the Guardian?" Rylie asked.

Galen huffed a chuckle. "Not sure."

"Maybe if you were pissed off enough." Luke muttered from the opposite couch.

Galen frowned. "I thought you were sleeping."

Luke shrugged, his back facing the room. "Can't sleep." He turned over and gazed at Galen.

Galen turned away.

"You could be stronger than the Guardian if you were mad?" Rylie asked curiously.

Galen shot a glare at Luke, who returned it. "Airing out dirty laundry to our captors? How thoughtful, Luke. It's not like they can use anything for ammunition." He snapped impatiently.

Luke shrugged. "I'm not worried. This is your plan, remember? If things go south, I'll-"

"You'll what?" A new voice boomed from the living area's entrance.

All heads turned to see Kazic, dressed down in a more casual attire, stroll into the room, glaring at Luke challengingly.

Luke huffed. "I'll show you what a Jedi is made of." He haughtily replied.

"Enough, Luke." Galen hissed.

Kazic stood next to his son's chair, glaring the two Jedi down. "So this is the thanks I get for patching you two up? I could've left and let you die on that forest floor." He stared at Galen angrily.

"Why didn't you?" Galen asked. Curiosity forced the question out of his mouth. It was strange, hearing Maxon talk about Kazic the way he did contradicted the man's actions today. Galen sensed some sort of ulterior motive at play.

"'Cause I need answers just as bad as you do." The man replied.

Galen sensed the lie almost immediately. Narrowing his eyes, he stared at Kazic, scanning his mind with the Force.

As usual, the man was a closed book. "One good thing about using the Force is that I can read people's emotions at the time they feel them. I can also sense certain things about organic life, like how your heart is beating just a bit faster than normal, and how your shoulders tensed up like they did." Galen pointedly spoke to the man. "Those are indications of anxiety. So, what do you have to be anxious about? It couldn't be that you're lying to me, right?"

Kazic frowned. "The good thing about being your captor is that my motives get to stay just that. Mine."

"If he really wanted to, he could forcefully pry the information from your mind." Luke quipped. Kazic stared at Luke for a moment, a look of disbelief crossing his features.

Skywalker merely shrugged at the man.

"If I feel my safety is in jeopardy, or my mission is in jeopardy, I won't hesitate to use force." Galen said with steely resolve.

Tension between Kazic and Galen tightened. The silent battle for supremacy with glares had begun. And, Galen was winning. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the locals like this.

"That won't be necessary."

The tension was immediately released with Maxon's voice accompanying his cane thudding against the wooden floors as he reentered the room.

Slowly, he limped over to Galen, a tin box in hand. "These boys pose no threat to us." He groaned as he knelt back down, leaning his cane against the couch once more.

"Father, they broke the treaty. The law dictates-"

"They broke no treaty." Maxon interrupted. "That they were aware of." The old man pulled the tin open, reaching in to grab a small cup, a surgical needle, and thread. "I sympathize with you my son, but this route is dangerous."

Kazic's head tilted in curiosity, eyes narrowed just a bit. "What are you talking about?"

Maxon fiddled with the thread for a moment, pushing it through the needle's eye on his first try. He poured a bit of liquid into the small cup, and dipped the needle in to let it soak while he pulled on some gloves. "Two days ago, Noghri Central Command contacted the Table of Generals and sent a messenger to the Psadans. It seems their advanced technology relating to space travel has detected three gatherings of large ships. They called them fleets." Maxon explained, never taking his eyes off of the needle. He pulled it out, and firmly pressed two fingers on either side of Galen's wound. "Try not to move." He muttered to the Jedi. He set to work moments afterward. "They also detected what they called a residual ion trail leading to the base of these mountains. Ion trails that can only come from the thrusters of an ion engine."

"What does that even mean?" Kazic asked carefully.

Maxon continued to thread Galen's wound shut. "It means that an outside party has landed on these mountains for one reason or another, and that they came from one of those fleets." He tugged lightly on the thread as Galen bit his lip. "There's been reports from the Psadans of large objects in the sky above them."

"The Separatist Fleet." Luke muttered.

Maxon ignored the comment, grabbing scissors and slicing the thread.

"Three separate fleets?" Galen asked as Maxon gestured for him to turn around. "There should only be two clusters."

"Three clusters separately. Two of them are very far away, from what I was told." Maxon answered, pushing the needle into Galen's other side. "And very large."

"I heard that Admiral Stafford was contacting Admiral Piette…" Luke said. "That third cluster could be his fleet."

Galen nodded thoughtfully. "Could be. But we still need to report this."

"Agreed."

"So what you're telling me is these two cannot be tried under our laws?" Kazic asked, ignoring Luke's and Galen's conversation.

Maxon nodded. "That is correct. If one is unaware of our laws, they should be taught, not punished." His attention rested solely on Galen's wounds.

Kazic sighed deeply, running his hand through his hair.

"Besides, you should not worry, my son. Noghri Command contacted us out of goodwill. A gesture that has gone a long way." The old man explained. "These two boys should not be necessary to recruit if there is no war."

"What?!" Galen snapped, turning quickly toward Kazic. Maxon, luckily, had enough sense to drop the needle and thread, lest it tear through Galen's skin. "That was your plan? Force us to fight a war for you?"

Maxon glanced around the room, surprised that they weren't told.

"We need capable fighters." Kazic responded after a sigh. "The Noghri… they'll demolish us if we go to war again. With you on our side, w-"

"Absolutely not!" Galen shouted. "We're not here to start wars! In case you hadn't realized, we're already fighting one! With the robot army, remember?"

Kazic shook his head in exasperation. "I just thought if you heard our story-"

"We'd join you in a war?" Galen asked incredulously. "You're joking, right?"

"I thought you'd be more willing to help is all." The man said, a bit of anger present in his voice. "Their technology completely outranks our own. We have numbers, they have weapons to deal with numbers." Kazic narrowed his eyes. "Look, I know you two are capable fighters, hell, more than just capable if you were able to escape the Lake Creature." His hand flung toward the direction of said creature. "If we had someone like you on our side, the Noghri would think twice about waging war! We wouldn't have to sacrifice capable men!"

"A request like that goes directly to the Jedi Council." Luke chimed in, seemingly as irritated as Galen was. "It's not in our mandate to stop your local dispute."

"You don't realize how important this base is to the Republic, do you?" Galen challenged. "This could be decisive in our victory, or even our defeat! This affects trillions of people around the Galaxy! Do you know how many people will suffer if Darth Seren wins this war?" Galen shook his head in near disgust. "And all you're worried about is some stupid war that is easily avoidable if you'd just let us handle things!"

Kazic's face darkened in anger. A mere boy was questioning him about things he knew nothing of! "The nerve of you kids!" He snapped, more so to himself. His sharp gaze found Galen and Luke. "Look, you self entitled, snot nosed kids-"

Suddenly, a sharp crack resonated throughout the entire home and sent everyone into a shocked silence. Their attention rapidly turned to the source, and to their surprise it was Maxon's cane that had slammed into the floor.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Barked Maxon with a voice unlike anything the young Jedi had hear from this man. Maxon resumed with his eyes ablaze with an intense vindication. "Your accusations, your questioning, and your belligerent folly has caused nothing but angered guests and bruised children! Bridle your tongue and retract it back within that chasm you call a head lest your dribble stain our dignity any further! The Table of Generals has already agreed to meet with the Noghri and Psadan at a gathering of our clans. If you let loose your clamber when our people meet, we will chain you with the dogs to sniff out rats before you even sit at the council again!"

A silence more encompassing than the emptiness of space filled the room. If it could be possible, even the Force would stand still at such a display. Kazic's face immediately hollowed and his body weakened into a slump that would have fallen through the floor if it could. Luke and Galen had not seen anything that could have compared to a lecture from Mace Windu, but this was definitely close. Oh, but the man was not finished.

"There is a specific reason you were thrown off of the Table of Generals, reasons of which you've displayed quite proudly tonight! And I will be damned if my son, my son, gets cast out a second time. Since you have little real power, your say in this matter means just as little! I will handle this situation from here on out. Unless you have any other ideas that are productive to add to this conversation, I suggest you stay silent."

Kazic's pale face suddenly filled back with color, a warm blush on his cheeks as if he were seven years old again, subjected to a lecture due to something stupid he had done. To say he was humbled would be quite the understatement. He nodded, very respectfully, to his father. "I do..." He cleared his throat. "I do apologize, father." His voice was a bit shaky. "And... I will allow you to take this matter in your hands. My behavior was unacceptable tonight." He turned to the Jedi. "I apologize. My own passions seem to have gotten the better of me."

Galen and Luke, still absolutely stunned at Maxon's display of utter dominance, cleared their own throats, nodding in acceptance of the apology.

Kazic turned back to his father. "I do have a suggestion... If I may."

Maxon merely nodded, returning to his work on Galen's wound.

"I'll help you get inside that base if you help us." Kazic offered.

Galen eyed the man suspiciously. "What could you possibly offer that could help? I can get in by myself, much less with two Jedi Masters and my friends."

"Seventeen years ago, when that base was first built, I lead a group of Commandos to storm it and seize it." Kazic explained. "I know what you're looking for, and I know where it is."

Galen glared at the man. Blackmail. "I'd rather take my chances than provoke a war."

"I'm not asking to start a war." Kazic replied. "I'm asking you to prevent one. If you go in and knock out their scanning technology, we might have a chance."

Maxon threw Kazic a cautionary glance.

But, Galen's mind had already wandered.

Scanning technology…

Sudden realization smacked Galen in the face, he turned and gave Luke a serious look. "The Separatists know..."

Luke's head tilted slightly.

"Force. The Noghri Command spotted us, Luke."

Luke's eyes widened in realization. "Not good..."

"What? What does that mean?" Kazic butted in.

"It means the Separatists know we're on the planet." Galen shook his head. "Kriff! They could've gotten to the shuttle already!"

Luke shifted quickly. "We have to go now!"

Galen's hand came up to stop Luke. "Wait! Just think." Galen quickly replied. "There haven't been any ripples in the Force, so nobody has died." It seemed to calm Luke down for the moment. "We need to find a way to get in contact with Fleet Command and Admiral Stafford. The Sep's knew about the Noghri technology and have hacked into it. That's why they were so confident in openly amassing fleets here. They had eyes on us through the Noghri while we're blind."

"If we can get a hold of the Noghri's system scans, whatever the Sep's planned will be a lot easier to deal with." Luke chimed in, eyes resting on Galen thoughtfully.

"And, we can blind them at the same time."

"If the Noghri agree to help us."

Galen nodded his head. "They will. The Separatists are the reason the Noghri are here in the first place."

Luke looked up to Kazic. "We need some way of contacting the Noghri."

"Hold on! Trying to openly contact them as outsiders could be..." Kazic began

"We're Jedi, Kazic. Noghri love Jedi." Luke interrupted. "And they hate the Separatists even more than they like us. Once they realize that General Grievous is on the planet, they'll do everything in their power to remove them from this planet."

Kazic shook his head. "If we contact them before the meeting happens, we could possibly arouse suspicion. This is still a delicate time."

"You're missing the point here, Kazic." Galen responded. "General Grievous knows we're here, you might not even get the chance to have the meeting. If we don't act, The Separatists will enslave this planet, just like they enslave all the others they come across, and use your people, the Noghri, and the Psadans for forced labor."

"We won't let that happen without a fight!" Kazic willfully declared, fists clenched in determination.

Luke audibly sighed, giving Galen a short glance. "I can't believe I'm about to say this…" Muttering to himself, he gave Kazic a stern look. "There are alternatives to fighting."

There it is. Chapter 4. I'm gonna apologize about the extreme delay on posting this, but finals month was indefinitely difficult. Anyways, as always, if you enjoy the story, leave a comment, subscribe... all that fun stuff. Thank you all for the reviews and I hope this delay hasn't put you all off of reading this. Next chapter, stuff get's real. I promise. :)