Ren gazed at the Jedi Master in disbelief. He could barely process what he had heard, and yet as soon as the words had left the old man's lips, Ren had sensed they were true. He could instantly see features of his own face, aged and reflected across from him. The posture, the voice, and even aspects of the Force were echoes of Ren's own attributes, or perhaps his attributes were the echoes of Donthar's.

Ren had never been told anything about whom his father was. His mother had simply told him the matter was not of concern. There had been very brutal consequences to persisting discussion on anything she did not wish to discuss, and he had let the matter drop. In Ren's countless hours of solitude on the various planets his mother inserted him into, he had invented numerous men that were his father, some of them criminals, some mercenaries, some famous diplomats or presidents, or Sith lords. Jedi Master had come up quite a few times, but this fantasy was particularly difficult to sustain, given that his mother had killed several Jedi knights in her career. Even as a young boy, Ren understood the difference between Jedi and Sith, and what those differences meant.

"We can... confirm this in a few seconds with blood samples," said Donthar.

"What's the point?" said Ren. "You can feel it, can't you?" He gazed into the eyes of his father.

"Yes, I believe I can, though perhaps not so strongly as you," said the old man.

Yesri spoke suddenly, her face contorted: "Master, how could you - with a Sith assassin? With THE Sith assassin?!"

The old man grimaced. "I am... not proud of this," he whispered. "I don't really know how to explain."

"It's not completely your fault," said Ren. "My mother chose you." He spoke the words as they fell into place in his mind. "She must have wanted a father for her child who was extremely powerful in the Force, and for many reasons you were a more pragmatic choice than one of the great Sith lords. I'm only surprised she let you live in the end. I wonder if that was for my sake or for yours."

The Jedi gazed into the glowing filaments in the wall next to him and Ren sensed that he was reliving some past moment. "Magretta - your mother - was such a fearsome soul. We came upon one another on conflicting missions, and we fought... oh what a fight... we were so perfectly matched. We dueled on an uninhabited world for hours with neither one of us able to gain the upper hand on the other - the two of us the only souls for light years in every direction - and then... when our bodies could barely move and our lungs were burning, she looked at me with the strangest smile." He swallowed dryly.

Ren looked away. He had long since let go of ever finding his father, and had certainly not expected to find him abruptly on a world at the far end of the universe. Much like the Neeka's affection for him, this reunion was not something he felt ready for, and so he withdrew from it, and slipped into cold analysis. The old man had been correct in his musings: this must be the work of the Force, and probably of Kalethian himself. It was absurd to think of both of his parents being on this world as a coincidence. This was all part of some grand design, but for what possible purpose?

Ren silently probed the Force. It offered him tiny flickers of vision of his father and mother, much younger than they were now, facing one another in on a hot, desert world as his father had described. He knew things as he saw them. His mother was the only lover his father had ever had. He was her second. They had shared something very strong and, to his surprise, his mother had let pieces of her heart open, if ever so lightly, to the man. Ren sensed these things with preternatural clarity, and yet he saw nothing of what it all meant to his destiny. As to why he had met his father on this world, the Force was utterly black and silent.

Dalvin's voice came in rather suddenly over the wrist computers: "Sorry to bother everyone, but I thought you should know that I just got an interesting chunk of information from the Sith's computers. Shall I send you an encrypted file?"

Ren instantly understood the question Dalvin was actually asking: "Are we sharing information with the Jedi?"

"Just tell us," said Ren.

"I don't really know what's changed in the last thirty minutes, but all priority has been shifted to apprehending you, Ren. They have your image and they know you go by the name Ren."

"What about Blakthar?" said Ren.

"I can't confirm if they know your parentage or not."

"Any word on my mother?"

"I am unable confirm if they have found her or not either."

"Your mother is here?!" said Donthar, his eyes going wide. "You said she wasn't with you."

"She isn't. She just showed up on planet a little while ago. I haven't found her yet."

Donthar sighed. "I can't tell if this is good information or bad."

"Probably bad," said Ren. He looked at his father. "I'm going to go find her now."

"Then I suppose I should go with you."

Ren thought on this for a moment, and then said: "Does it change things, knowing I'm your son? Will you be able to kill me if the time comes?"

Donthar grimaced at these words. "I will do my duty to protect the galaxy, whatever it is," he said in an uncomfortable, but grim voice.

"Good," said Ren.

"I've really heard enough about all of that," Neeka hissed. She was glaring at them both. "Can we get moving, please?"

"I suppose we should," said Ren.

"Do you even know where to look?" said Donthar.

"The Force knows where she is," said Ren.

"And you're that attuned to it?"

"Yes."

The tiniest smile entered the old man's features. "Alright then. Lead on."

Ren broke instantly into Force-augmented speed down a corridor. Neeka and his father kept pace easily, though Yesri had a bit of trouble maintaining her Force energy levels after the first minute or so. Ren could vaguely sense anger in her toward her master. It was of very little concern to him how she felt about anything, but the judgment she seemed to be casting on his father was telling of the Jedi philosophy. Ren sensed that Yesri more upset that her master had mated with a woman than that it was with a Sith. The strict denial of such emotions was burned into the Jedi mind early, and much as they suffered from it, they seemed to see it as a virtue and mark of respect. Ren wondered if this philosophy could truly twist love and intimacy into something ugly and contemptible. Such things were not ugly to him, nor could they ever be. He had no moral judgments to cast on his father at all. He was grateful that the old man had betrayed his vows, for that betrayal had given Ren his life.

It took the better part of an hour for the echoes of Ren's mother's presence to grow louder in the Force. Eventually he felt that they were drawing near to her, and as this perception grew, they came upon the first dead body. Ren halted as the black, armored figure came into view on the tunnel floor. The helmeted head was about a meter away from the body and in another direction was the right arm, which still clutched a blaster rifle. There was no blood trickling out of the open wounds of the soldier. The flesh had been cauterized as it had been cut, clearly indicating that the damage had been done with a light saber.

"She's up ahead a bit," Ren whispered.

"What do you want to do?" said Donthar.

"I'll go and see her alone first," said Ren.

"No," said Neeka.

"Yes," said Ren. He turned and looked into her eyes, letting her see the resolution in them. "I've let you come with me this far, but she needs to see me first. This will all be too much for her."

Neeka hesitated, studying Ren silently. Then she nodded in ascent.

"Wait right here," said Ren. "If any of you move closer, she'll sense you."

Ren stepped over the dead body and walked down the tunnel, moving slowly and silently as his mother had taught him. Five more dead bodies appeared in his path, all horribly dismembered by lightsaber. Further down, he could hear shrieks of pain in a guttural male voice. Echoes of death and suffering reverberated through the Force from all corners of the cave. As Ren moved further through it all, the familiar, terrible aura of his mother began to grow in his perception. It was oddly comforting.

He came rather suddenly upon her from behind in a wide opening in the cave. She was standing over a bound soldier, the crimson blade of her lightsaber glowing in the darkness over him. She was poised to injure, rather than to kill. There were three other bound bodies, lying next to her, each with its head cut off. Apparently she had been nearing the end of her interrogation cycle.

When Ren was near her he ceased masking his presence from her. She didn't turn to face him upon his arrival, but a small gasp escaped her and she straightened, going stiff. It took her a moment to speak, and when she did her voice came out in a hoarse whispered: "What are you doing here?"

"It's quite a long story," said Ren.

"I gave you only one command: to stay away from me," she hissed.

"I didn't come here for you. I've actually been on this planet for over a day."

His mother took a long, slow breath, and then, so fast that his perceptions could barely account for the movement, she slashed downward. The head of her the last soldier rolled off onto the cave floor. Then she turned and faced Ren with her sightless eyes. "I gave you your life, Ren," she said, her voice ice cold. "All you had to do was disappear. You could have gone and found all of the happiness your heart longed for, but instead you come here, into the heart of Sith matters."

"This is where the Force willed me."

"Why?" she snapped. "Do you even know what's here?"

"Yes, better than you do," said Ren.

His mother tensed at these words, and very suddenly she sprinted across the cave to him, moving so fast she almost seemed to vanish and reappear. She leaned her head within centimeters of his. "Something is very... different about you," she whispered. "A change in your power - one that you could not possibly have achieved through training in so short a time. What have you done, Ren?" Her lightsaber edged close to his torso. She had not switched it off.

"Kalethian seems to have chosen me for his knowledge," said Ren.

A quick gasp escaped his mother. If expression could be read on her mouth - the only part of her face visible - it seemed to show shock and awe. Then that mouth curled into a faint smile. "My son," she whispered. She took a step back and grinned at him. "It was you who killed the triplets, wasn't it."

"Yes," he said, and he gestured down at the three extra lightsabers on his belt.

"All three at once?"

"Yes."

"My son," she said again. For the first time in his life, Ren heard his mother laugh with what seemed like delight. He had never felt such an intensity of pride from her over him. "So Kalethian chose you," she said. "It must be for your talent, rather than your soul. Even if your power has changed, you're still you." Some of the old resentment returned to her voice as she finished the sentence. "You are still not Sith, are you, Ren?"

"No."

She took a slow breath, processing the information. "Did you actually speak to Kalethian?"

"No. I do not know if he even exists in a form where he can speak or be spoken to anymore. One of his puppets transferred pieces of his memory into me. I'm still sorting them out. I have new powers as well." Ren held out his hand and focused his mind, and a blast of searing fire shot out and sprayed into the wall of the cave.

"Interesting," said his mother. "What else?"

Ren held up his hand again, palm upward, and reached into a different part of Kalethian's knowledge. Force energy poured from him in a way he had never before known, taking physical shape and solidifying. He almost unconsciously formed wings and claws and eyes teeth. A gray, reptilian, bat-like animal the size of a fist was materialized from his own power, and as soon as the technique was complete it was alive. It looked up at Ren, and through its limited consciousness he saw his own face.

"I didn't know I could do this," said Ren.

"Is that creature real?" his mother said.

"It's an extension of my life and my energy," said Ren. He gave a mental command and the creature shot off his hand and flew in a circle, and then returned to its perch on his palm.

"Fascinating," his mother said, staring at the creature. "However, I do not see anything thus far that would kill a Sith lord like darth Sakar. I assume you know who that is."

"I do," said Ren. "And you're correct, I don't yet have anything that give me the advantage when I face Sakar." He closed his hand and the reptilian creature vanished from existence, it's energy returning to him.

"You believe you're going to face him?"

"I have seen it," said Ren. "I've been trying very hard to prepare, but I don't think anything I've done has been enough. If I face him as I am now-"

"You will die," said his mother in a harsh tone. "Darth Sakar is probably the most powerful Sith lord alive, Ren. I came here because he and I are very old and bitter enemies, and I knew that if he found any ancient knowledge here and increased his power even further than it already is, he would be completely invincible, and that would mean my death, and eventually yours. I hoped to take whatever was here from him, or at least prevent him getting hold of it." She gave a small laugh and said: "Imagine my surprise to find you here having already beaten me to my goal."

"And where does that leave us, mother?" Ren said.

"Oh, Ren," she whispered, "if you were anyone else in the universe, I would hack your limbs off and rip all that you'd taken from Kalethian from your brain as you died." To his surprise, she leaned in and kissed his forehead. "My brilliant son. You must know how I hate you. You're the only thing that has ever held back my ambition. I should never have had you, but here we are."

Ren gazed down. These words were the closest his mother had ever come to telling him she loved him and it made his heart ache, for he was keenly aware of how deeply he loved her, even after all the horrible things she had done to him.

"I have to fight Sakar," Ren finally whispered. "The moment is coming. I can feel it looming over me."

"You cannot defeat him. I do not even believe I can."

"I do not have a choice?"

"No? Why not?"

"I feel through the Force that a battle is inevitable."

"Nothing is inevitable," she whispered, and in a fraction of a second her crimson blade was at his throat, its fierce energy humming so close to his skin that the ambient heat stung his nerve endings. "I could kill you right now and this inevitable fight would not occur. You could kill yourself. Whatever the Force shows us, we may defy it, Ren."

With the searing blade so close to his trachea, Ren whispered very slowly and quietly: "Not this time, mother. I will not kill myself, and..." he gazed into the cloth where her eyes would be if she were human and said: "You will not kill me."

The old woman sighed quietly and withdrew her blade, retracting it back into its metallic hilt. "No, I suppose I will not," she said, and there was a distant bitterness in her voice. "Damn you for coming here, my son. I must face my greatest opponent while saddled with my only weakness."

Ren swallowed. His mother's words stung his soul, yet they held several backhanded compliments. This was all he would ever get from her. Several seconds of silence passed between them, and then he said: "What do we do now, mother?"

The old woman tilted her head down and said in a soft voice: "I suppose we fight together, as you wished in the beginning. If it is your destiny to fight Sakar, then I will fight with you, even if it means my death."

Ren wanted to put his arms around his mother in that moment, but he held still, knowing such affections were repulsive to her. Instead, he only smiled and said: "It will be good finally battle along side you."

"Just the two of us then," she said.

"Actually-" he said, and he paused, thinking about what to say. After a few seconds, fishing though his thoughts, he suddenly became aware that a technique had been passed to him from Kalethian which would work well for the situation. "I need to show you things, mother." He held out his hand to touch her forehead. She flinched slightly, not used to being touched by him or anyone else, but after a second she inclined her head and let him place his hand over her cloth-covered forehead. Ren focused his thoughts and began to infuse memories to his mother the way Satral had transferred memories to him. The flow was slow and awkward at first as he assembled sights, sounds, smells, and even thoughts and feelings together in a single, stable stream of information. He showed her coming upon Cathock, and then Neeka, and then saving the two of them. He showed them his trip through the galaxy, and his meeting with Malanctha and Dalvin as well, and the first moment he learned about Kalethian's tunnel. Strings of thought and accompanying context flowed out of him and he found it was difficult to stifle individual aspects of his memories, such as the private feelings that had developed between himself and Neeka, but there was little time for such concerns. He poured all of his memories out of coming to the planet, meeting the Krell, fighting the triplets, until he came to the moment when he met his father. At this, he felt his mother grow very tense, but she did not pull away, and so he showed her the conversation they had had. More than any other part of his memory, he used the entirety of his will to suppress the part about his father agreeing to kill him, for he knew his mother would not approve. Having skipped that section, he leaped to finding his mother in the tunnels, and then he pulled his hand away. He had passed all of the information to her in the span of perhaps a minute.

His mother breathed softly, seeming disoriented, but she stood firm. "That was most enlightening," she whispered. "You've shown me so much more than you know." She straightened and said: "So the Jedi is here. You are quite correct in assuming it is no coincidence that the three of us are here together. We are all being manipulated by this Kalethian - perhaps we have been for many, many years."

"What do you mean?"