"Remind me what we're doing?" Calista requested Bennar. They were alone in a hangar bay, and Bennar was peering out into the night sky.

        "We're expecting an arrival." Bennar replied. Calista's eyes widened. She stepped back and placed a hand on her stomach. "No! No. Not that. Not what I meant." Bennar said, starting to panic, then calming down. "I've been in contact with some friends, and they're doing all they can to help us defeat this Empire."

"They're coming here for what exactly?"

"This is the rallying point. We're going to take down the enemiy's secret weapon."

"That's a bit of a leap, Ben. How could you even know where it is?"

Bennar turned and grinned. Understanding where he was heading, she smiled back. They stood there, waiting for the arrival.

"What happened?" Calista asked after a moment,

"What hapened to what?"

"On Kamino. You never gave me details."

        "Oh. Cal, I'm sorry. I've been under a lot of stress because of the mission, and have kept it well-hidden. Believe me, if you knew of what happened, you'd be as scarred as I am." He said, slowly gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. Suddenly receiving a flashback, he clutched his head and shouted, then repulsed everything around him. Calista yanked out a small, strong, and handy knife and caught onto the ground to prevent an injury.

        Once Bennar recovered, she fell back on the ground. She looked around and saw the walls, floors, and ceiling cracked. She gazed back at Bennar and saw him recovering. Retracting her knife, she went back beside him and helped him up. "Is there anything I can do?" Calista asked softly.

"As far as I can think, no. I wish there was."

Then, Calista looked up and saw ships entering the atmosphere. "They're here." She told him. Bennar looked up and saw them too.

        "Alright." He mumbled. They backed up to give the ships room to land. They arrived and landed, then Bennar's friends exited their ships and approached them. They also took a good look around. When they reached Bennar, one of them asked, "What hapened here? It looks like this place was built forever ago and hasn't been touched since."

"It's hard to explain. It's good to see you Vustine." Bennar replied as they turned to start pacing around the bay.

Jedi explorer Vustine Farthen was a young, middle-aged man, near his thirties. He had a full bright brown moustache and beard, and short hair of the same color.

"You too, Bennar, How've things been?"

"Not too brightly, to be honest. This Empire has barely fought, and yet I feel like the Republic is slowly falling apart."

"How so?"

"I've felt a massive presence of the dark side within our ranks, and have failed to expose it. I know that if this goes on any longer, we could lose many."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"No. I'm not talking about a mole. The dark side has slowly crept into the Jedi Order; one Jedi, I feel, has already been affected by it."

"Well, maybe this attack will help ease us, and we can have an easier time finding out more."

"I don't know. This could be the riskiest move we've ever made. We lost many resources in a battle a short while ago; this is pretty much all we have."

"Well let's get to work shall we?"

"Um, talk to Calista. I'm not feeling it."

Vustine frowned. "You think there's a chance you're getting affected?" He asked.

"I don't know. Only time will tell."

Vustine nodded, then strolled back to Calista, who was talking with his wife.

---

"What's the current situation?" Bree Farthen asked.

"We're taking down the Imperial Superweapon. I don't know how well it'll work out, but I have hope."

"So do I. As I've been told: the force will protect us."

"Are you a Jedi?"

"I am force-sensitive, yes. But I've been focusing on other things. There are plenty of Jedi out there; they don't need every potential person to join them."

"What is it you do?"

"Other than being a mother, I work in the army alongside Sergeant Sisbar."

"Oh! I haven't been around much. Being Lieutenant Governor takes its toll and limits visitation."

"Keep up your work, Calista. You're helping the Republic still stand."

"I had no plans on stopping."

Then Vustine popped up. "Lieutenant Governor!" Once he got to them. "What's our plan?"

'I thought Bennar was going to tell them.' She thought as she saw Bennar exit the bay at the last second. "Just have all your friends follow me to the briefing room and we'll go over the plan." She finally answered.

---

"Guys, we should leave soon if we're going to make it back in time." Viran shouted from the meeting room. Jo was with him, and they were waiting for Aang and Exar to get ready.

...

"Think something's going down?" Jo asked.

"What?"

"Think they're 'going at it?' "

"They wouldn't be that quiet?"

...

"From what I heard, Exar was trained to be silent but deadly."

"They're not doing anything to each other."

...

"Think they're-"

"Please stop."

Then Exar and Aang emerged from their separate quarters, silently.

"They'll be waiting. Let's go." Aang proclaimed as they headed outside.

"Who exactly is this friend of yours?" Exar asked.

Aang sighed, then replied, "For safety reasons, he prefers if he wasn't talked about in the open."

"What about in the closed?" Jo asked.

"Let me rephrase." Aang emphasised strictly. "He prefers if he wasn't talked about at all."

"Gotcha."

They were outside and were getting into their fighters.

"What were you invited to the temple for, Aang?" Viran asked.

Aang sort of froze, then replied, "I don't want to talk about it." Then hopped in and closed his canopy.

Viran and Exar looked at each other with worry written all over their faces. They hopped into their fighters and took off. They reached space, connected fighters and lept into hyperspace.

---

        Erk flew his shuttle towards the superweapon, and it got bigger as he got closer. He looked forward, then as he got close enough, he saw an opening present itself. It looked like liquid metal coming apart. As he landed inside, he looked around at the several TIEs and troopers parked inside along with him.

--

"I still don't understand." Jayko said, walking along with Erk to the weapon control room. He handed Erk a report he finished. "You stop in the middle of a fight 'like your power drained', and you don't know how?"

"It just, happened."

"What specifically happened?"

"I'm not saying it again, Jayko. I don't know what happened, can we just leave it at tha-"

Erk dropped the datapad as he and Jayko recoiled and fell on their backs as they reached the control room. They quickly and nervously swerved up and kneeled down.

For their master was here.

"It's interesting that even with your combined intellect and power, you still manage to fail to kill the Jedi, don't you agree?" The Master asked as he turned around and faced them.

"W-well-um." Jayko was fumbling over his words.

        "You both were too busy quarreling that you couldn't accomplish anything together. Years of training in the dark side, yet you couldn't complete what your ancestors failed to." He said, his temper spiking. Then he calmed. "Then again," He said more calmly, "This is what I get for hiring teenagers. You are too inexperienced that you couldn't see the opportunities that were in front of your eyes."

"My master, if we just-"

"I wasn't finished." The Master said, turning his head to Jayko, who was suddenly struck with fear. He knew the master hated being interrupted.

        The Master turned to Erk, "You, had an open opportunity to take them down, but your fear kept you hidden in the shadows, and the Jedi escaped with the Republic." He looked at Jayko. "If you thought you and two heavily-armored troopers could take down a team of three Jedi, then you are surely one of my greatest mistakes." Jayko couldn't tell if he was angry at the master, or if he was disappointed with himself at the moment. Then the Master kneeled down in front of Erk, "A disappointing third attempt when you hired a ragtag group of undertrained to attempt to dispose of the Jedi, and a master of the Jedi Council." He stood back

Erk waited a moment, then realized it was his turn to speak. "My team has trained long hours each day since the purge. I had faith we could win."

"Did you?" The master asked, standing up.

Erk dropped his head.

"Did you really, think, that they were enough?"

"I did. I-"

"They trained for long hours every day, every year since the said purge, but still are no match for still-learning Jedi." He kneeled in front of Erk again and made Erk face him.

"I want you to admit it." The master stated.

Erk's mouth hung open, speechless -and not in a good way- at the master's request.

        "Your friends are softening you, Erk. To fully embrace the dark side, you learn to reject friendship, and anything of the sort." He grabbed Erk's face and growled, "Power. Power is what fuels you." He stood up and turned around, looking into space. "In order to be fueled for the dark side, you need the dark side -your anger, your hatred- to fuel your power, and that power fuels the darkness within you. And that darkness helps fuel your power, and that fuels you." He repeated. "The cycle goes on. And it never ends. Un...limited... power."

He went back to Erk. "But your power isn't being used all the way. Something is holding you back, and I intend to remove it. So, I want you to admit it."

"And reject them?" Erk whispered very quietly.

"Those weaklings weren't enough. Accept it." The master ordered. His emphasis on the words made Erk clench his fists at the thought.

        "Let me prove it." The Master tapped Erk's forehead, and in a flash, he saw himself and his team facing Jedi, and millions of alternate fates of them all dying. And he felt it. Erk scremed in both mental and physical pain. Screaming, his arms jerked outwards and sent out a dangerous force-repulse, and everyone -but him and the master- fell dead.

        The master smirked, sensing the dark radiance emerging. He then snapped his fingers, and everyone healed and came back to life. The master then grabbed Erk's head and made him look at him in his eye. "Your anger, gives you power. Use it." Then he dropped him. "And grow stronger. Now, you will remain here until further notice; I forsee an attack, and we will be ready."

"Yes, master." Erk and Jayko said simultaneously, then they got up and left.

"If we're satying here, what do you think he's going to do about the Jedi?" Jayko asked quietly.

"I don't exactly know, but we are in a planet-killer."

---

As the team exited hyperspace in Lothal's sector, Viran received a holocall. "Hey guys, we have an incoming transmission." He commed the team.

"Put it through." Aang said.

"Put it through, sir." Exar corrected.

Viran did so, and Anson appeared on all their projectors. "Mr. Tomas." Viran said.

"There you are. I've been trying to reach you all for a while." Anson said.

"What's going on?" Viran asked.

"My team and I were repairing our ship, and we didn't find the crate you guys brought. Did you guys happen to take it when we boarded the Republic ship?"

Viran remained straight-faced for a moment, then rached over and commed the team. "Team." He started.

"Yes?" Jo asked nervously.

"Please tell me you guys nabbed the-" Viran muted the hologram on his side "Holocron in the battle a couple weeks ago."

...

"Team?"

"We didn't." Exar said slowly.

"Well what are the odds the enemy has it? The battle took place in deep space." Aang reminded.

"Nevertheless, if there are odds, there's a chance they have it. We have to retrieve Aang's friend before we act." Viran said before unmuting. "Thank you for the information, Mr. Tomas."

"Always here to help."

The call ended, and they descended down to Lothal.

"Back again." Jo mumbled.

Aang didn't lead them to the city; instead, to the open fields. There, they flew gracefully. Loth-cats spotted them as they passed by, giving Aang some nostalgic memories.

They headed towards a valley of boulders and landed just outside of it. The team exited their fighters, and Aang took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "It is so good to be in these pleasant green pastures again. The force is strong here, and it flows everlasting. Just close your eyes and focus."

Everyone closed their eyes and felt the force, and suddenly felt very much eased. "Indeed." Viran agreed, opening his eyes.

"So where's this friend of yours?" Jo asked.

Aang looked back at the rocks and saw a white Loth-cat and smiled. "When in doubt... follow the white Loth-cat." He said before he started chasing it.

"Woah, wait up!" Everyone shouted after him.

They took a few turns, not going very deep into the maze, but Aang and the team stopped when they saw the Loth-cat jump and climb into the arms of his owner. Aang smiled as he saw his friend again.