Ren followed his mother at a respectful distance through the tunnels. She had absorbed all of the knowledge about the Cathock and mandalorians, and was travelling to them, having evidently reached agreement with Ren that they were of use. Her nature dictated that she take the lead. Magretta Asango was many things, Ren knew, but being a follower was not one of them.

Neeka broke apart from the pair of Jedi, who were following from a bit further back, and caught pace with Ren. She wordlessly knitted her fingers with his, and he accepted her hand eagerly. "I agree with your mother," she whispered. "It is not acceptable to have a plan to kill you."

"It's not acceptable to have a plan to let me terrorize the universe," said Ren.

"That won't happen. You're too strong for anyone to possess you-even a three thousand year old Sith lord. You know you are."

Ren smiled ever so slightly. Believing in himself and the strength of his own will were what had brought him through one impossible situation after another. He had never failed to overcome an enemy. Neeka understood this aspect of him somehow better than any other, and she knew, without him telling her, that deep down he was not altogether unconfident that he could stand up to the ancient Sithlord in a test of wills.

"You won't fail, Ren," she whispered.

"Thank you," he said.

She smiled at him, but then very suddenly he felt her grip on his hand tighten to a severe degree no human female of her size could ever produce. "You should have told me about your backup plan. I'm not some stupid, fragile little girl you need to hide the truth from."

"I only made the decision to ask him to do it right when I said the words, but it was something I was thinking about loosely since Kalethian first touched my mind." He paused, then added: "I am sorry... I wasn't sure it was something I should discuss with you." It was the first apology he had ever given to anyone.

"I forgive you," she said, her grip instantly loosening, "and I understand. But if you want me to be-" she paused, and Ren caught the faintest change in color in her skin, "w-with you, then you can't keep anything like this from me again."

A thrilling little wave of nerves coursed through Ren's body as he said: "I do want you to."

Neeka gave what sounded like a small giggle, and she brought his hand up to her lips and kissed the back of it. Up ahead, they both heard his mother give what sounded like a sigh of exasperation.

Breaking the awkward silence that followed, Ren heard Dalvin's voice crackle through - not on his own wrist computer or Neeka's - but his mother's, saying: "Hello, my name is Dalvin. As I understand it, you've joined our group. I would like to include you in our communications if you don't mind."

"Hello, Dalvin," his mother responded. "I am aware that you have proved extremely useful to my son. I suppose it is fine for you to communicate with me when you find it tactically advantageous."

"Understood. I'll fit you with a booster when you come to the surface. Until then, you'll need to be close to one of the others to pick up my signal."

"Do you have any updates on your falleen companion?" said Ren's mother. "Is she near the planet's core?"

"There's an incredible amount of interference at that level of descent - I'm not completely sure why. Not even my technology can transmit through it. Therefore, she could be there, around there, or dead. I really don't know."

"Please update me if you find out."

"Of course."

Ren listened to this exchange with fascination. He had never heard his mother be cordial to anyone. She was quite well known and respected for working alone in nearly all circumstances. That was certainly how she had trained him to operate. Yet she had been alive a very long time. He wondered if there were aspects to his mother he had never before considered.

They all travelled together without much conversation until they reached the opening that led to the mandalorian base camp. Ren's mother waited for Ren to catch up to her before emerging. He stepped out first with Neeka and immediately saw a small troop of soldiers waiting for them.

"Master Cathock ordered us to wait for you here," said a tall soldier in green. "Are both of you alright?"

"We're fine," said Ren. "I'm sure our comrade, Dalvin, has informed master Cathock that we have returned with reinforcements."

"Yes, sir. One more Sith and two Jedi. We are to escort you back to the ship, if that is alright."

"It's fine," said Ren. He moved out of the cave and his mother, Neeka, and eventually Yesri and his father moved out behind him. Ren sensed tension between his two biological parents. He knew his mother would not hesitated to kill Donthar if and when the moment came. She did not make threats she wasn't willing and able to carry out. On the other hand he sensed his father was very conflicted about killing him, even if he showed signs of being possessed. Ren wondered if a great master of the Jedi order, with all of his discipline and high minded ethics, could kill his own son. Donthar had failed at least once very seriously in his vows as a Jedi, but that was perhaps due to Kalethian's manipulations as his mother had suggested. This was the most unsettling consideration of all. It was impossible to accurately predict what either of them would do even based on their nature, for it was impossible as yet to see where Kalethian's influence ended and free will began, or if there was even a definite line at all.

They all moved back to the ship, which was surrounded by heavy mandalorian guard. The bay doors to the vessel were open, and the soldier in green who had addressed them led them up the ramp. The mandalorian ship was fairly cramped in its sections inside, and fairly stripped of comforts. Crude, metal benches and chairs with no cushions served as the only means to sit down in the open, metallic rooms. The air inside had the salty, moist scent of heavy sweat from many men working hard in close quarters. All around them soldiers were engaged with computer screens or stripping and fitting weapons, armor, rations, and medical supplies. There was the sense of discipline and efficiency in action that Ren had come to respect in mandalorians above perhaps all others. Whatever else could be said about them, they were excellent soldiers.

"Welcome to my ship," Cathock's great voice bellowed through the noise of the men. Ren and Neeka turned to see him towering over the other men in what appeared to be a small control room.

Ren walked in, sidestepping several armored soldiers, and said: "How are the men taking to your command?"

Cathock moved closer to him and said in a quiet voice: "With shocking ease. Most of them act as thought I've been in command for years."

"That's good," said Ren. "We're going to need a clear command structure."

"Do you think we'll be fighting in the tunnels or on the surface?"

Ren paused at this. "I don't feel certain one way or the other. The only impression the Force gives me is that we will be fighting. I can only speculate that it depends on where we choose to be when they come since, as I understand it, they are more focused on me than going down into the planet at the moment."

"That's confirmed," said Dalvin. "The Sith don't seem to know we've joined forces with the mandalorians or anyone else for that matter. They're mostly focused on searching for you in the tunnels and they're trying to conduct planetary scans for our ship, but thus far their efforts have proved... insufficient to break through all the interference I've thrown up."

Cathock frowned at Ren and said: "What about finding us the way you find things through the Force I mean?"

Ren gazed around at the three other Force adepts in the room. He trusted himself and his mother to be able to remain invisible to even the most sensitive Force adepts in the universe, but the two Jedi were another matter. The light side flowed from them both in waves. It was beautiful and peaceful, but it was perhaps also potentially a liability.

"For the moment, take these," said Ren, and he took the necklace he had taken from Aleska and tossed it to Donthar, and then retrieved the necklace originally intended for Cathock and tossed that to Yesri.

"What are these?" said the Jedi master.

"They'll mask your existence from the Sith," said Ren.

Donthar held the amulet up and gazed at the tiny glowing cells inside. "I was wondering why you were so incredibly invisible to my senses," he said. "I thought these were only legend. How many of them do you have?"

"Only three."

"I wonder if this is too generous of you then," said Donthar, holding the necklace out. You shouldn't give away one of the few securities you have."

"It's a strategic decision," said Ren. "I'm judging you to be of greater value than the ability to sneak around."

Neeka slipped her necklace from her own neck and handed it to Ren, saying: "You take this one then."

"No, I want you to have it."

"No," she said in a very firm, and fierce voice. "You're the one they're all looking for."

"I know how to conceal myself from their senses."

"This will give you a better chance," she said, thrusting it out.

"She's quite right," said Ren's mother.

Ren turned to his mother. "I want her to have it."

"That's very noble," said Donthar, "but you're thinking with emotion rather than logic."

"So what if I am?" he said, turning on his father. "I'm not a Jedi."

"This is foolish," Ren's mother said. "That necklace is best suited to either you or myself, Ren. We are the ones who strike from the shadows." She turned her eyeless gaze on Donthar and Yesri, and said: "I really don't agree with the distribution of these necklaces at all. I can at least attest to your skill, Rylin, but I have no idea why we need to waist such a resource on your padawan. What the hell is she going to do in a fight?"

Donthar took a slight step between Ren's mother and Yesri and said: "What are you suggesting, Magretta?"

"I'm suggesting we think logically, as you have suggested to our son," she hissed. "Your padawan is the least powerful Force adept here by a significant margin. I suggest we find another way of silencing her from Sakar's senses, and distribute the necklaces between you, myself, and Ren."

"And how would we go about silencing her?"

"You could drug me," Yesri said. She had a fairly nervous, insecure look on her face. "If you render me unconscious, I won't be detectable."

"I'm not comfortable with that," said Donthar.

"To hell with your comfort," Ren's mother said in a low voice.

"Master, she's right," Yesri said. "I don't have the power to influence this battle the way you three do. This mission is far too important to the galaxy for you to be worrying about my welfare."

"Sir, if I may," said a mandalorian soldier in white armor. He walked up to the circle and said: "My name is Valdar Crain and I'm the medical officer on this ship. If you wish it, I can put the Twi'lek under a kind of anesthesia from which she can be fully revived within a few moments. That way she can be hidden away, but be brought back in the event we're attacked."

"I'm willing to do that," said Yesri.

Donthar gazed at her, and then at Ren's mother. After a moment he said in a bitter voice: "Alright."

Yesri took off the necklace Ren had given her only a moment before and tossed it back to him. Then she went with the mandalorian medical officer out of the room.

"I still want Neeka to have mine," said Ren.

"Oh dear me, this again?" said Ren's mother. "Put the damn necklace on, Ren."

"No," said Ren. It was the first time he could ever remember refusing an order from his mother.

"You little fool," she hissed.

She was about to say something else, when Donthar spoke, saying: "Ren, consider this point of view for a moment. If your friend were to get into trouble in a fight, you could sense her and come and help her, but if she had the necklace on you wouldn't even know if she were about to die. If you want to benefit her, the best thing you can do is keep yourself alive."

Ren blinked. There was logic to his father's words that he could not argue with. Neeka seemed to sense this, and without a word she slipped the necklace around Ren's neck, turning to smile at Donthar as she did.

Ren sighed and tossed the last necklace to his mother. She took it up and slid it around her neck under her robes.

"What do we do now?" said Neeka, looking around at all of her companions.

"Everyone but Neeka and I probably needs rest at this point," said Cathock. He looked at Ren. "You've been running around for nearly twenty-four hours. Unless I'm missing something, we don't have any reason to go down into the tunnels at this point, since soon or later the Sith are going to come to us. Here, at least we have our ships and our troops and guns all poised and ready."

"Agreed," said Dalvin's voice. "There isn't any strategic reason to venture out unless any of you feel extremely confident that you can stealthily pick away at their numbers. Otherwise we're best suited having the battle here, where we have four ships, a small army of mandalorians, and the numerous defenses I've setup. Don't worry about a sneak attack; I can pick up the flapping of an insect's wings ten kilometers away - not that there are any insects on this planet - and I'm even getting better and sensing underneath this planet's surface."

"Any objections?" said Cathock.

Ren, Neeka, and Ren's parents all looked at one another. Ren's father spoke first, saying: "I agree that we could all do with some rest. Whatever comes at us, we're better served with our full strength at our disposal."

"I will agree to this for now," said Ren's mother.

Neeka smiled at Ren and said: "Yes, lets take a break."

"Alright," said Ren, sensing the weariness of his own body and knowing that it was not the state in which to battle Darth Sarak, were such a moment still firmly fixed in his future.

Cathock grinned, bearing his great, white fangs. "Why don't we have a nice campfire?" He turned and looked at Ren. "Are there any trees on this planet?"

Dalvin's voice answered almost instantly: "None that I've picked up in any scans, and yet they have wooden structures underground. It's one of over six thousand pieces of data I've compiled on this planet that make no logical sense."

"Sir," said a soldier in gray armor, walking up and saluting Cathock, "we have long, hot burning chemical fuel we can use."

"Make it so," said Cathock. "Set up a campfire between the three ships. You're in charge."

"Yes, sir," said the soldier, and he disappeared out of the doorway.

"You're getting good at giving orders," said Neeka.

Cathock sighed. "They're all so disciplined. It's really quite amazing."

Neeka tugged on Ren's hand and gestured with her eyes to the ship's exit. Ren looked around at the others, and then let her lead him out. The evening air had a pleasant temperature. It was very strange looking up at an entirely black sky above without the faintest trace of a star anywhere, but strangely peaceful. Aside from the sounds the soldiers made, and the low hums that came from the three ships, there was virtually no sound anywhere. The entire world was really only a drifting rock in space that a mortal had attempted to alter into a life-bearing planet, or at least this was the impression that leaped into Ren's mind as he gazed around. Kalethian, in some ways, surpassed any other Force adept in known history, but he was not a god. Ren understood this. Kalethian had not had the patience or the mental fortitude to compose all of the billions and trillions of elements that went into a planetary eco system. Instead, the world, and the Krell, worked by a much simpler set of laws that Kalethian could manage.

Neeka and Ren walked together side by side around the camp, watching as the efficient mandalorians worked in a team to set up the chemical fire as promised. They brought perhaps twenty human-head-sized chunks of some strange white compound out into a circle of black and stacked them neatly. Then one soldier simply fired a small laser from his wrist and the whole stack erupted in a flame taller than Cathock. It burned steadily at this rate and produced a warm, pleasant aura around the camp.

Neeka walked with Ren up to the edge and they both sat down on a soft patch of moss. Neeka slid her arm in and around Ren's and rested her head on his shoulder. Ren felt calm and happy with her there next to him. She was a gift. How he had formed such a strong connection to her in such a short time after being so long on his own was a phenomenon to him, but it filled him with too much delight to dissect. Nothing and no one had ever made him feel so... happy.

Neeka gave a low chuckle and whispered: "I can tell when you're feeling happy. I hope it has something to do with me."

Ren let the side of his head rest against hers as he said with a dark chuckle: "Well, it certainly isn't my impending possession... or the impending battle I am to have with the most powerful living Sith lord."

"My son, the love struck fool," Ren heard his mother say. He turned to see her walking toward him. He hadn't felt her coming, probably due to a combination of the necklace and her already remarkable gifts for concealment. She glided up to them and inclined her head toward Neeka as if gazing at her with sightless eyes. Then she turned to Ren and said: "The two of you should go ahead and mate. An offspring with your power, Ren, and her physiology would be an even more formidable specimen than Sakar himself."

Ren felt his skin redden at these words and he turned to Neeka and saw that she was just as flustered as he. Ren's mother seemed to find this very amusing, for she gave a dark laugh before stalking away.

"Is she always so - abrupt?" said Neeka, her voice cracking just a bit.

"Abrupt. Direct. Callous. She's the top ranked Sith assassin in the galaxy. She doesn't carry in manners or tact."

"It's remarkable that you're so kind then, with only her in all the universe as your role model."