- Twenty Parsecs Outside of Korriban Station….Six Months after the Fall of the Jedi Temple....

It was a small mining facility singularly repurposed as a depot for smugglers and pirates. It was also as close as anyone could get to the New Sith Empire without drawing unwanted attention. Those who ventured there had various interest. Most having something to do with the Empire. War was big business and it didn’t matter what side you were on if you were conducting the business of funding or supplying a war effort.

As Caleb rounded the corner, the lift bringing him down from the zero-gravity landing platform, pressurized air shot from the side walls normalizing the atmosphere. The majority of the facility existed underground. Mostly due to the mining facility existing on a small planet sized asteroid, the rest to hide prying eyes from what was going on inside. Caleb wrinkled his nose slightly at the stale air, the fumes of hydro fluid, smoke from various substances; some not entirely legal and the stench of sweat caused him to pull up his hood on the darkened cloak he wore. Out of habit he touched the lightsaber on his belt. It was well hidden as was the Jedi battle armor he wore. He still looked out of place among the Mandalorians, smugglers, pirates and more nefarious types lurking the halls.

Entering the market place, he looked around. Not large for a ‘market’, but closed quarters enough that not everyone looked at everyone else. There was no space or time for any of that. People knew where they were going and who they were dealing with. Or they had no business being there.

It was war, everyone was nervous; Caleb was still a bit shocked he hadn’t been challenged as he landed. That close to the border, the Sith were undoubtedly looking for probes into their new territory. Or perhaps, concerning this facility, they simply didn’t care. Moving through the passageway, it opened up into a large storage area that now teemed with beings going about making various deals and conversing, some violently. He dodged a humanoid who had been struck by another, the man falling flat on his back as his attacker leapt over the table to continue his attack. His natural Jedi instincts to help though suppressed; he moved past them toward the makeshift cantina. An open air establishment set in an alcove of the storage bay. The voice that beckoned him causing him to turn back slowly.

“Dangerous move coming here….Jedi.”

Caleb did not allow his face to be seen as he looked on a similarly cloaked figure. Seated, the figure fumbled with a vibroknife; a distinct grin emanating from the bottom of the hood. Caleb moved toward the seat across from the figure, it could only be addressing him as Caleb could sense no other force users in his vicinity.

“You don’t sense them because they are not here, well not by you…the Sith are uncanny in their ability to hide themselves.”

Caleb kept his hand on his lightsaber as he sat, the being’s ability to almost sense his thoughts causing him to feel uneasy. The figure continued to fiddle with the Vibroblade as it looked up at him slightly. He tried to get a feeling from the figure, but all he could sense was like looking into a deep, dark well and it was bottomless.

“You can try, but you won’t feel anything…’I’ sense though.” The figure looked up slightly. Caleb could see darkened lips and a crooked smile. “You are looking for something, perhaps I can help.”

That caused Caleb to laugh slightly, “Why would you help me? You don’t even know me or why I’m here.”

The figure put the knife down gently sitting back in its seat, the smile from the huge grin never wavering.

“No, you’re right about that. I don’t know why you’re here. However, I do know that no one comes here without reason. I also know that in order to find this place, one must seek it out. Most who venture out this close to Sith space want something from them and nine out of ten times it has to do with Korriban.”

The accent from the figure was pure imperial in origin, with a slight tinge on the exotic. There was a highbrow way the figure talked, like it was above the denizens of the place. Even though it was dressed to blend with them and carried itself in a way that spoke otherwise. Caleb relaxed his grip on the lightsaber bringing both hands to the table and folding them into each other. Letting out a deep breath, he smiled back at the figure slightly.

“I guess it was that obvious…yes, I am seeking something on Korriban. Something that I caught a ‘feeling’ about several weeks ago.” Caleb spoke softly in an attempt to waylay any suspicions on his part. The figure looked up even more, dark red eyes joined the everlasting grin; it caused Caleb to shutter slightly, though he tried to hide it.

“Then, perhaps it was fated that we meet. For I am seeking something on that planet as well, something that was taken from me. And was waiting here for just the right person to go and retrieve it.”

--

- Gardurrga The Hutts Palace…

For a brief moment Caleb thought he saw a pang of recognition in Mrysti as she turned the chair around and sat down. Though her actions were very unlike the woman he knew, she did have that same look of brilliant curiosity, of wondering, that he was once accustomed to. As she glared at him, he realized it was more like a predator eyeing their prey before dinner. Something had happened to her, something thick and evil. But the time for finding out had passed.

“You want me to tell you something that will allow you to consider letting me live? Mrysti, you have already made your mind up…why come here now?” Caleb started to get up from the edge of the bed to move away from her. The frustration he felt was unbearable, how could he convince her that they knew each other? Mrysti’s face contorted in anger at having him turn his back on her and at having used her name.

“Sit down! I haven’t finished with you yet!”

Turning slightly, Caleb glanced back down at her. Her eyes lit with a fury at having been slighted by someone she already judged as beneath her. Slapping his hands on his thighs, Caleb very gently and deliberately took his seat again on the edge of the bed, a sarcastic placative look on his face.

“Fine. Please let me know when you’ve finished. I don’t think there is anything I can say. As I stated, you have already made up your mind up about me.”

Mrysti shifted slightly, she didn’t expect him to sit back down so quickly. They were enemies after all. Caleb could see her caught off guard and swallow a little as she tried to regain her footing. In that moment, he saw a look of the lover he once knew. She actually looked away moving a bit of her red hair out of an eye. The stroke of her hand, the slight curl of her fingers. All so familiar and something Mrysti did often in her way. Caleb smiled to himself, seeing her brush her hair from her eye like she had done in his presence so many times before. It was an opportunity, one he couldn’t afford to lose and pressed his attack.

“I did go…I went to Korriban in an attempt to find you or at least what was left of you.”

--

- Korriban Sector Space, Korriban Station…six months after the Fall of the Jedi Temple…

This was a bold move and a dangerous one. Caleb sat next to his generous benefactor looking at the space station through the forward viewport in the cockpit still trying to contemplate why they were going to the station instead of just straight to Korriban.

His benefactor now had her hood down, he could see her slight features as he ventured a look over at her. She was pale as one could get, almost sickly looking. From all accounts she was human, but the eyes kept throwing him off. From what he knew of Sith, only the Dark Side of the Force could change one’s eye color, but he still couldn’t get a good read on her. On the trip from the mining facility, they had spoken on all manner of things, nothing that pertained to what she actually wanted by going to Korriban. Caleb really didn’t want to know. Though Caleb was always a cautious Jedi, for some reason he just didn’t want to look this particular benefactor’s gift of help, in the mouth. Caleb was that desperate to find what he was looking for on Korriban.

“Tell me again why exactly we are going to the space station instead of just going to the planet’s surface?” Caleb raised an eyebrow at the woman, who by now he knew only as Muriel. She glanced over at him quickly before turning her attention back to the controls.

“As I told you before, Jedi…we have to pass inspection in order to be given permission to land. And, there are also those…”

Muriel pointed out the forward viewport. It appeared the Sith had made some changes to the Korriban Station since their untimely conquest of it. Riveted, bolted and laser welded to the stations surface were a series of very serious and very deadly looking long-range anti-ship cannons. Very likely of capital ship class and capable of defending the station against an assault by a large force of much larger ships than the little cruiser they flew in at the moment. Looking around the cabin, Caleb was suddenly glad they had left his own ship back in the mining facility and took hers on the little adventure.

They were almost in range, Caleb continued to look at the station looming ever closer. Muriel looked over at Caleb smiling slightly. He sat up in a rigid almost formal way in the seat as she giggled to herself. “See, that will get us both killed. You really need to lose some of that Jedi formality or we are never going to get permission to land. Sith, do not carry themselves that way…you need to act like one or we will never survive this.”

The statement brought up a series of questions. Questions that Caleb in his haste to get to Korriban had neglected to; or rather, just didn’t want to ask.

“What do you know of the Sith? For that matter, I have no idea why I agreed to this…the Empire undoubtedly had agents on that mining facility. No doubt to catch Jedi infiltrators and capture them. What the hell am I doing?!?!” He put his head in his hand, if it was a trap he was already caught so what did it matter.

Muriel backed off the forward thrust putting the ship in station keeping mode, turning in her seat. They were not yet at the outer marker, the Station had not deemed them as a threat.

“Four hours…it took you four hours to actually come clean and ask the questions you have been dying to know. And now, I have to stop us to school you on the finer points of being a Sith….” She laughed slightly, sudden realization coming to her face, “…it’s a woman, it has to be. I don’t have to be Force Sensitive to see it rolling off of you in waves. Why else would you throw yourself in the Gundark’s den if not for a woman…” Caleb had slumped slightly in his seat, but sat straight up looking at Muriel angrily.

“I beg your pardon! My reasons for wanting to go to this Sith forsaken place are none of your concern!”

Muriel lost the smile getting up from the piloting station to lean on the rear bulkhead. She glared at Caleb, the loss of composure in her allowing him to sense her for the first time. Caleb got up quickly moving toward the viewport away from her. The look of disgust clearly blanketing his features. She pushed off the bulkhead taking a step forward at the new realization Caleb had come to.

“Yes, your weak insight has finally given you the answer you seek. I am a Sith…why does that frighten you so?”, Caleb was speechless, but in his heart he knew from the moment their eyes met; the unnatural redness of them a large clue. He knew and he chose to ignore it. Muriel took another step forward. “Caleb, just because we are diametrically opposed as to the use and philosophy of the Force doesn’t mean we can’t work together.” Her wicked smile returned as she looked him up and down.

“I am a fool. I saw it and I chose not to truly see. Sith….you, your kind…all you care for is yourselves. You care nothing for the greater good. You do nothing without serving some greater self-interest.” The words brought a round of uncontrollable laughter from Muriel as she stepped back leaning on the bulkhead again.

“And you don’t?!?! Caleb, you crossed over into my world the second you got on that ship to come find the mining facility, the second you sat down at my table, the second you got on my ship…and right now in this very moment, the only thing that’s stopping you from trying to destroy me is YOUR OWN SELF-INTEREST…” She gestured at the seat he vacated, “Sit down Caleb, you are obviously as committed to doing this as I am…” Muriel sat back down moving the ship a little further away from the Station, he raised an eyebrow. “And just for the record, I knew approaching the station would illicit those Jedi feelings about all of this, it was my plan all along. And no, I am not an Imperial Agent, nor do I plan on turning you over to them. I need you as much as you need me at the moment.” Muriel ventured a look over at him, Caleb’s curiosity still eating at him, “No…I don’t want to know why you’ve come to find this woman, don’t bother denying it…we both know that’s why you’re out here. It has nothing to do with the Jedi or the Sith. Men, in general, are fools when it comes to love…”

“What would a Sith know about love?”

Murriel turned in the seat. Wide eyes and an almost surprised expression. “You really are daft when it comes to emotion. They steel in you so many ways to hamper and subdue the thought and feelings within you that when faced with one; Jedi have no idea what to do.” Murriel turned the yoke and positioned the ship toward Korriban, reaching down to flip on an Imperial transponder. Identifying the ship as an Imperial asset. Looking over at him again, she smiled wickedly. “Love…Jedi, is the source of almost every powerful emotion a Sith can use to channel our power. From Love, all things flow…hate, rage, jealousy. Love…is the most powerful emotion there is…”

--

Gardurrga the Hutts Palace....

Mrysti knew exactly what he was doing and she didn’t like it, flinging the chair out from under her and standing. Caleb arched both eyes at her as she raised to her full six-foot eleven-inch height. He made no aggressive moves as she raged, glaring at him, almost willing him to do something to further anger her.

It was interesting, even though Caleb could feel how badly she wanted to kill him his thoughts went elsewhere. All he could think of was how much she changed. Those thoughts gave way to others as Caleb looked her up and down. Mrysti’s choice of clothing left little to the imagination and was a far cry from the robes she once wore as a Jedi. Though he tried not to, Caleb couldn’t help it. His thoughts went back to the fateful day they decided to share one another. In thinking it, he looked up at her. A vision of how terribly vicious she must be in bed. How most likely making love was no longer an act for her, but a sport. She was not the same girl. Curious as to how she changed in other regards.

Mrysti’s face contorted in confusion as she stopped raging to look down at him, she felt his change in demeanor. A twisted look creased her scarred features as she cocked a hip to one side, putting one of her hands on it. Caleb smiled. It was a typical Mrysti move. The Mirialan arched an eyebrow at him reading his feelings.

“Seriously??” It dripped with sarcasm, speaking while she looked down on him sitting placidly on the bed. “You know I want to kill you and your sitting there thinking of bedding me?” Caleb grew red in the face, looking down shyly.

“It’s that obvious?”

Though she was not truly Sith and not completely still a Jedi, Mrysti was a creature that had functioned for years on her emotions. It was all she had. Locked in her cell, void of memory; all she had were feelings. The feelings that her former Master worked hard to cultivate and nourish. Her times on the torture rack, the blissful pain of being forced to do things; terrible things to herself and to her Master for his pleasure. Nights on end of longing and looking forward to the next time she would get another dose of emotional response. Something new to ponder, think on and savor until the next time and then the next. It was passion, it was hate, it was every feeling she could imagine that she had lost memory to associate with.

It was that moment. Mrysti knew it was inevitable. But, Caleb was not going to find the ‘girl’ he made love to years ago on Coruscant, when it was forbidden. When it was something they both were ashamed of. What Caleb was about to learn was there was no shame in her, there was only lust. She wanted something, she took it. It was just that simple.

With a quickness that could only be enhanced by the Force, she leapt at him. Simultaneously ripping the tunic from this torso as she forced his back down on the bed; straddling him between her thighs. Balling the reminder of the cloth in her hand she flung it over her shoulder as she looked down at him, eyes flashing a brilliant red. Caleb was taken aback slightly, but he didn’t resist. Though he gave her a worried look.

“This…changes nothing Jedi Master Caleb Goss…In the morning, I WILL kill you….” Mrysti bent forward at the waist nibbling his upper lip before moving her cheek across his face to place her lips at his earlobe, “….unless of course you die during….”