The Days That Are No More

[Brandon Rhea]

The back alley bar in the slums of Chazwa smelled of whiskey and urine, and the combination was nauseating. Jhon didn’t know if it was from the impoverishment or the scum that hung around this area, but he suspected it was a little of both. He kept his nose in his glass of whiskey, trying only to take in its aroma yet still being unable to help smelling the cocktail of decay and suffering in the area.

And the man sitting next to him sure didn’t help. This man was a smuggler, or a mercenary, or something like that. Jhon didn’t know for sure. He didn’t care enough to ask. The one thing he knew for certain here was that the more questions he asked about a person, the more questions he risked being asked of himself. A supposedly dead Jedi Master in Imperial space, even on the far edges of it, was in danger like almost no one else in the galaxy, especially a former Grand Master. If the new Imperial leadership found out that he was alive, and they were able to capture him, the things they would do to him... Their legitimacy as warriors of the dark side would come through tearing him limb from limb.

That was why Jhon, undercover, changed his appearance somewhat. He shaved off his entire beard, and he dyed his hair a light brown, as it was when he was younger. He abandoned his traditional robes and cloak, instead opting for a suit of light body armor covered in a light jacket, a typical smuggler and mercenary type of outfit that would let him blend in. Hanging from his belt was a blaster, a crude weapon for a Jedi, but his lightsaber was hidden in his jacket. He was not about to abandon it completely, and he had the Force with him.

“So, in your line of work, you must hear a lot of chatter about the galaxy, huh?” Jhon asked the man beside him, trying to ignore the stink from the dirt and sweat that covered his ragged clothes.

“Eh, I guess you could say that,” the man said, followed by a belch that nearly made Jhon throw up in his own mouth.

Jhon coughed, trying to suppress a gag, as he said, “I was surprised to hear about a new Emperor. You must be a little worried, seen as how Exodeus’ reign gave you a lot of work opportunities, no?”

“Do I look like a guy who gives a damn?” the man asked. “No, see, whoever’s in power, I couldn’t care less. So long as there’s a war with the Alliance, the work’ll keep on flowin’. I’m the ugly side of the military industrial complex.”

There’s a side that isn’t ugly? Jhon thought to himself before saying, “I wonder what happened to the Empress after Lightell took over. You hear anything about that?”

“So many questions!” the man exclaimed. “If I wasn’t drunk out of my ass I’d probably think you were a fed or something,” the man let out a hearty laugh, which Jhon faked in reciprocation. The man continued, “But yeah, no, I ain’t heard nothing and I don’t care about that Sith whore either.”

All the pent up anger Jhon had been carrying these last few weeks wanted to burst out and grab the man by the throat, but he resisted, instead slamming his fist onto the bar, which got the man’s attention. The man said, “Jeez, buddy, don’t get so upset. Who did you say you were again?”

Jhon stood up from the bar and said, “I didn’t.”

“Suit yourself,” he said.

But Jhon wasn’t done, not yet. He threw a few Imperial credits onto the bar in the direction of the bartender, and then a few more towards the man, for one last question. Bribery was just as important a currency in these parts as the currency itself.

“One last question,” Jhon told him. “I’m looking for information on a Sith called Geist Weiss. Ever heard of him?”

“Look, pal, this ain’t exactly the place you go for Sith info,” the man said. “You want to know about Sith, you gotta head closer to Bastion. We got no Sith around here, at least not many.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

With that, Jhon turned and left the bar, heading back out into the streets. It was raining now, making the stench of the area even worse. The only worse smell than the decay of impoverishment was wet decay. He covered his nose with his jacket, trying to avoid it as much as possible, but was distracted by...something.

He stayed in the doorway for a moment, trying to figure out what it was. There was something nearby, something familiar. It was a presence, a presence he’d not felt since...

Tython.

 

[GABA]

Patience: it was something Ebberla Daw was quite talented with, especially when she wanted something. It was that something now, that she was on her way on achieving, only a quick ship jump across the border and she would be free. Freedom, well in her hopes it would be freedom, but the odds that she still could be stopped by the member of the Imperium were still quite high. She did not have proper IDs or anything that would cause eyes to look the other way. Ebb frowned at the thought, she hated those odds, but nothing was like a challenge for her to find a way to beat them.

The former Jedi Councilor had been dragged from world to world, sometimes loitering carefully in GA space, but the Sith had made sure always to bring her back to Imperium territory. Each time, she was presented with an opportunity to escape, she saw them clearly and even thought Thaed was playing tricks on her, but nothing ever became of those plans. Instead she stayed with him and though reluctant to admit, she was enjoying the lessons of the Sith Thaed was presenting to her. Though his lessons, in her opinion were quite unorthodox at times, it lead her to better understand the Sith and the dark side.

Ebberla had made her way out of the Casino district of Ord Mantell and down to the run down slums and bars visitors and patrons avoided unless they were looking for trouble. She had been to Ord Mantell on a handful of occasions before the rise of the Sith Imperium during her journeys with her smuggler pals. It was a prime location to find smugglers and bounty hunters, and from what Ebb observed currently some of the sleaziest looking prostitutes she had seen in a while.

The sky had torn open, rain quickly soaked the streets and its pedestrians who still travelled, some eventually give second thought as they headed inside buildings. Ebb had given it some thought, but decided against it, the quicker she moved, the faster she was out of any looming danger. She zipped her jacket to her chin, feeling the Sith’s lightsaber against her chest. The jacket did good to cover her shirt printed with the kaleidoscope of blood and mud stains she acquired from her travels with the Sith Lord, but it didn’t do so well to keep herself dry.

Ebberla moved from street to street, short cutting through alleyways as she looked for crowds to blend in with, eventually losing a sense of time as she focused. Any moment she had lost focus, Thaed was surely there to fill in her thoughts and she would feel a sudden strike of sadness pain her heart.

Keep focus Ebbs… she scolded herself as she darted down another ally exiting into a sector of Ord Mantell that reminded her much of Nar Shaddaa, but cleaner. Ebberla stood in the ally way, leaning against the wall for a moment as she observed the string of bars and shops that individuals entered and exited. She scanned for potential threats and crossed her arms, watching silently and with patience. A pair of roughed Gotals crossed her path. She waited two paces before she fell out from her spot in the alley following them until they entered a bar, having to walk around a smuggler who stood in the door way. Ebb, however, continued on for about a block before entering another bar herself in hopes to trade some intel involving trade routes for a ride across the border.

She knew it would a tough deal, but it was worth a shot. She took a seat at the bar and ordered a 'ballsy bantha', though she received a water instead, informing her there were no informants present. She took a sip, signalling she would would wait. "What about droids, are they in the shop?" she asked the barkeep.

"Their kind aren't served here." he replied, Ebberla nodded, no Imps.

Her eyes carefully studied the bar through the hazes of exotic smoke, each face she took in scrambled in her broken mind, the soft mutter of conversation didn't catch her anything of use. The bar was something familiar to her and she let out a deep breath relaxing as she waited.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

The rain was beginning to pour harder, bringing with it all of the foul pollutants in the air, making visibility even just meters ahead increasingly low. Jhon looked forward, seeing someone that seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite see who it was. There was a presence, a familiar one, a person he had not seen since he was last on Tython, but only a faint one, like they barely registered in the Force. It could have been any number of the Jedi Councilors, save for Kara, who were there, none of whom were still on the Council. He had chided Kara for that very fact before he left for Chazwa; their unity was meant to be unbroken. He had charged them with working as one.

His interests piqued as to why a Jedi would be in the ass-end of Imperial space, Jhon slowly followed the person into a nearby bar. The fog of smoke from the patrons nearly overwhelmed him at first as he coughed, brushing the foggy air away with his hands as he searched for the source of the light presence. He couldn’t find anyone at first; he could barely see in here either. But that soon changed.

“Ebberla.”

Jhon’s voice was a faint whisper. No doubt she could not have heard him. She was sitting at the bar, looking relaxed, far more than most Jedi were, yet that was not what surprised him. Her being there at all was nothing he ever expected. He had been led to believe she was killed during a battle against the Sith, dying a valiant death in pursuit of peace, yet here she was. But why? Why would she have returned? Could she have...

No. He wouldn’t entertain such a thought. That was not the Ebberla Daw he knew, the Ebberla Daw he had appointed as Sage Master, the one whom he entrusted with his long-held seat on the Jedi Council when he assumed a mantle of leadership and destiny he had never wanted nor asked for. Such a person could never fall to the dark side. Could they?

 

[GABA]

Ebberla turned the water glass with her thumb and forefinger, creating a series of condensation rings on the bar counter. A Zeltron male had caught notice of her and decided to break conversation with the Corellian. Ebb kept her handless arm tucked in her lap to avoid any unnecessary questions, her eyes stayed focus on the entrance as beings came and went from the increasingly busy bar.

She paused her fiddling of her water glass and fully tuned out the Zeltron as her attention snapped her to full alert. A particular human male had made his way inside the bar; Ebb immediately tried to place familiarity on the man, only to be reminded how jumbled her memory currently was for the time being. The Zeltron must have felt something from her as his attention now turned to the man at the entrance.

"What is it baby?" he asked, looking between Ebb and Jhon.

Ebberla shook her head, where did she recognize him from?

Another being had to walk around the man and it hit Ebberla, it was the smuggler from down the street! However, there was more to this than what she was able to put together. Now all the better, his attention was on her also.

A part of her stomach dropped as she feared the worst, was he an agent of the Imperium? She probably identify him better if she were to get closer, but why would she risk that? Fear and frustration now gripped the young woman, she was getting so close, so close that she wasn't going to risk it just to satisfy her curiosity.

The Zeltron touched Ebb's shoulder and she quickly turned to him, leaning in closely, she needed a distraction-

"That man!" she whispered as quietly as she could, "He's my ex! I've been trying to get away!" her voice now lined with panic and fear overcame her features, "He keeps finding me and beating me!" Ebb quickly explained acting as battered victim; and just to add icing to the cake, she lifted up part of her shirt and jacket, exposing a nasty bruise on her side she had recently acquired, "See!" she cried.

This of course, was more than enough to infuriate the Zeltron, "Don't worry about him babe." he said throwing back the rest of his drink. He got up and waved to three more of his thug buddies at a nearby table: two trandoshans and a feeorin. They positioned themselves in front of Jhon, cutting him off from getting closer to Ebberla; the Zeltron spoke to Jhon:

"We hear you like to hit girls." Then without warning, he threw a punch into Jhon's jaw.

Ebb watched in amazement to how quickly that escalated; she would sit watching for a moment before taking cue to leave. One of the many rules she learned about bar fights, you don't stick around unless you intend to finish it. The Corellian snaked her way to the back of the bar, her blaster in hand, safety off, and exited into the ally behind the bar.

The rain kept falling and the back ally offered little protection, she looked to her right, no exit; she looked to left: an exit to the streets, not much of a choice, and if that man was an operative, that exit would surely be a trap. She could go back in and find her way back to the front, but she had a bad feeling about that also...the Corellian sighed and walked in a circle before facing the exit door again.

There was always another way.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Not a moment went by before Jhon reacted. As the man lunged towards him, swinging his fist towards Jhon’s jaw, the Jedi Master leaned to the side, letting the fist pass by him. As it did, Jhon grabbed the back of the man’s shirt and tossed him across the nearest table, knocking off drinks and food as the man flew into the patrons, knocking them all onto the ground.

“I don’t like to hit girls,” Jhon growled, “but, so far, I’m enjoying hitting you.”

What had been only one adversary was now three, with the patrons ready to join the fight, but it was the same man whom he had thrown across the table that came back out in front, leading the charge.

“You’ll regret that,” the man barked.

Jhon scoffed. “Zip up your man suit and deal with it.”

He wasn’t going to deal with it, at least not in a peaceful way. The man drew a blaster, aiming it at Jhon’s head, but he would never have the chance to let out a shot. In the half a second before he could fire, Jhon called to the small cylinder hidden in the sleeve of his jacket, snapping it into his hand. At once, a shimmering blue blade came to life, illuminating the dim corner of the bar.

Before the man even knew what was happening, he was falling back against the same table he had been thrown into, screaming in a horrifying agony as he cradled the bloodless stump where his arm had once been. Tears streamed out of his eyes, the once tough man being reduced to a whimpering mess. As the patrons, including the other two people that were ready to fight with the man, fled the bar and the owner hid beneath the counter, the man looked up and knew that he had made a stupid mistake.

A Jedi had come to the Empire.

Jhon didn’t stick around to answer why. He turned towards the back of the bar and sprinted out of the building, where Ebberla was still standing in the back alley. He stood there too, assuming she would finally recognize him, but... No, she wouldn’t, at least not right away. There was an absence there, more than just the absence of the Force, like everything about her had been wiped clean.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said as the blue blade, which remained active just long enough for her to see it, slowly slid back into the hilt of the lightsaber. “You don’t remember me, do you, Ebberla?”

 

[GABA]

The door opened before Ebberla could ready herself. Her arm snapped up gripping her blaster firmly before she even registered who had exited. It was the man from inside, though he was carrying a lightsaber, its blade a traditional blue hue seen that with many Jedi. It wasn't what Ebb was expecting, but she didn't relax, her blaster barrel still pointed at him even after he extinguished his blade. Something was off to her, even if he were a Jedi, why would he be here, in all places as so far into the Imperium; to her, it seemed too convenient, the odds not likable.

Jhon spoke, her mind scrambled to place his voice as well as his face. It was on the tip of her tongue; it frustrated her as she was unable to place him immediately. "I know you.” She snapped with her half-lie, she still filtered through facial images as she thought about trigger events and names. The Corellian narrowed her eyes, lifting her chin slightly to peek over the ridge of pointed blaster, "How do you know me?" she asked in response, her tone sharp. Ebb needed a clue, a trigger, maybe if she got him talking, something would spark.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

He thought back, trying to find the right words, the last words he spoke to her. His mind, at first, wandered to the time he returned to the temple at her request, when he secretly intervened in a dispute between Kara Vaalki and the Lore Master. Yet he didn’t see Ebberla there, only Kara. She summoned him, but only through code. No, their last time seeing one another was Tython, when he turned away from the Council and walked back down that winding path from the mountains to the enclave below. Now her memories were as broken as that Council.

“I told you that the Force would be with you...always,” he said. What he wanted to say, though, but didn’t was, And I was wrong.

 

[GABA]

It was a phrase Ebberla was too familiar with. One that was said and heard on numerous occasions, so much that it eventually lost meaning. But unlike most Jedi, Ebb wouldn't recognize this until she was broken, the Force was really with her, up until that day. The mere thought made her flinch in front of Jhon, but quickly pushed it aside burying it with a shield of anger.

"Kriffing Jedi." she sneered under her breath, his words didn't spark a thought. The rain was letting up, and she finally lowered her blaster, replacing it back into the holster of her belt. "Many told me that and in return I've told others so. Try again." her eyes fell onto his lightsaber hilt and she frowned, "Though I'm not sticking around here if you were flashing that about, I advise you move also." she took a couple steps backwards from Jhon, still weary about who he was, "A Jedi in the Empire? Either you're a fool or just a poor lair about being one." Ebberla turned on her heel and quickly made her way down to the end of the ally, aggravated she now needed to start again on her search for a way across the border.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

“Wait.”

His voice was a bit frantic, though he was loathe to admit it was not out of concern. Rather, sheer confusion on his part. How much did she not remember? Why did she not remember? Was this a result of the burden he placed upon her? So many questions. One thing was clear to him, though. She would not have been in this position had he not appointed her to the Jedi Council. He felt some measure of responsibility for whatever was happening.

“Think, Ebberla,” he pleaded. “Think about who put you on the Jedi Council. Look at my face. Look at me. You know who I am.”

 

[GABA]

Ebberla came to a sudden stop as she reached the end of the ally and swiftly turned to look at Jhon. It was exactly why he looked so familiar. Her mind begun tracking, thinking all the way back to when he had first approached her, not just to sit on the Jedi Council, but to have his former position as Sage Master.

“I do,” She started, “I do remember you.” Ebberla focused on Jhon for a moment longer. She wanted to smile and jump for joy, he was someone she knew, the Grand Master of all people. What were the odds of her running into him here?

Pretty damn low.

The Corellian’s widen hazel eyes now narrowed; she looked over her shoulder, then back to Jhon, quickly scanning the ally for anything amiss. It was times like these where she would have loved to have the Force, to quickly pick out danger, to determine if Jhon before here was really him. She clenched her only hand into a fist, tensing, but then relaxed it. He was Jhon, he had his eyes, though they looked worn, it was something illusionists had trouble picking up on; and he was missing something, she had thought he had a beard, or she was sure he was fatter, Ebb couldn't recall, it had been so long.

“Grand Master Jhon Cordatus.” She said recognizing his title, taking a step forward, eying him carefully, “What business does the Grand Master have in Imperial Space?” another step, her tone suspicious, “Nonetheless here, on Ord Mantell’s most dangerous sectors?” Ebb asked, she still didn’t trust this situation at all. It was unusual. Though she did trust the man before her, it was the situation that made her uneasy.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

He could sense her mistrust. Her feelings of doubt blew out of her and spread like a wildfire, with an inability to contain even the basic hint of of what she was feeling. Perhaps a result of her loss of the Force. He had read about such cases—Meetra Surik, the Jedi Exile, came to mind—but never encountered one. That gave him a certain amount of leverage.

“I mean to capture someone, someone very important to me... and to the Jedi, and the security of the Alliance,” Jhon told her, unwilling to divulge who it truly was but still prepared to test her memory. “It’s someone I told you about the last time we saw one another. Do you recall who that was?”

 

[GABA]

The woman paused in mid-step, she was really hating this recalling, nothing seemed to be in order, there were holes, but she tried thinking back and she shook her head. She needed to stop thinking, but it was like the pink bantha, now the idea was there or in this case stood before her, she could not stop thinking of the webs that connected him to certain thoughts, in this case, certain thoughts that weren't there.

Ebberla gave him a look, she wondered what type of question that was.

"Why would I tell you who it was if its dependent on the security of the Alliance? If you cannot remember yourself, obviously they picked the wrong person to assign this task to." the Corellian mocked, her mind raced to pin whether or not he really did tell her something, if he spoke truth in such a situation that seemed abnormal to her. Ebberla opened her mouth to belittle the Grand Master some more but stopped herself, something clicked, all the holes that came from a single thought about Jhon, the webs that were weaved, some broken in places others damaged, but it seemed to all be linked back to him, what did he tell her?

"What did you tell me?" she demanded, her tone cold; it was the only reason she could make sense from, her own safe guards placed in her mind, she knew they were activiated, she had made the mistake of grinning to the Empress in success, but for what? For her to have so much damage, this secret must have been dangerous.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Jhon felt his gut knot up, twisting and contorting at the thought of what he was about to say. She didn’t remember Lana, that much was certain to him now, but he still didn’t know whether he could trust her. She was not the same Ebberla Daw he last saw on that Tythonian mountaintop. So much had changed, for both of them.

"Nothing," he lied, smirking so as to play up the act. "I haven’t seen you since I swore allegiance to the Empire, so I wanted to make sure we were playing for the same side."

 

[GABA]

Shit.

Ebberla's eyes stayed focused on Jhon, she suppressed her thoughts, her mind searching for any hint of Force play on her mind. She didn't want to believe what he just said, the Grand Master? Pledging allegiance to the Empire? A flush of questions rushed through her mind, she suspected denial of the situation, but she wasn't sure, "Playing for the same side?" Ebberla shot up an eyebrow.

"Just what side do you think I'm on? Do you think I willfully waltz to the Empire? Gave up the lives of my friends, Jedi I swore to protect as they me? Gave up my hand and surrendered to a bastard Darth? Proclaiming my loyalties to a Sith whore who would steal the Force away from me?" she said letting her anger build, "Just what exactly do you mean playing for the same side? Last I checked, I didn't betray the Jedi, however, Grand Master, tell me what they offered you? Power? Strength? Lies?" The Corellian had enough, all she wanted was to go home, but by all means of the Force, it seemed it would make sure to make this as complicated as it could.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

Every word she said faded away into irrelevancy for him once she spoke of Andraste as nothing more than Sith whore. Losing control, just like he had with Kara weeks earlier, his hand found itself stretching outward. Energy from it built in the palm of his hands before he let it lunge forward, wrapping around her and strangling her every move. It tightened its grip around her body to the point where she could no longer move, a paralysis so tight that it would begin to close her airways and blur her mind’s ability to so much as even think. With no Force to save her, she was an easy outlet for his newfound hatred.

“You don’t talk about Andraste like that,” he growled, letting his anger truly get the better of him. “No one does.”

He kept the energy flowing, feeling the life begin to fade out of the former Jedi, before he finally saw her desperate gasps for air. He let go of his telekinetic grip and stumbled backward, recovering his composure quickly so as to not fully let on that he was not who he was now claiming to be. He still had no idea who she was.

“Now that you’ve learned your lesson…,” he mumbled. “I never said anything about a Darth, least of all one whose parents weren’t married. So far as I know, there aren’t many Darths out there, so why would you think to say that to me? Is it perhaps because you were trained by one?”

Bluffing, he said, “I’ll know if you’re lying. After all, I am a Darth now.”

 

[GABA]

Fear struck Ebb as she felt her body submitting to his will, she couldn't resist, she felt her body desperately searching for ways to counter but there was nothing she could do. She was helpless beneath his grasp, she wanted fight, but she felt her mind cloud, her heart fight against the paralysis, she couldn't catch a breath and stars blinked in front of her eyes. The fight still burned within the Corellian but it was losing.

But as what seemed that she would face her end to a traitor, he released her. Ebb fell to the ground coughing and gasping, her head pounded as oxygenated blood rushed through her veins. She pushed herself up slowly, her thoughts returning, the cloudiness gone for now. Ebb forced herself to sit back up, Jhon's words fought against the ring in her ears. She immediately thought back to Thaed, her Sith keeper, her stomach dropped as to her though if he were to see her as weak as she was now.

A surge of adrenaline rushed through the dark haired woman, "So? And what if I was?" she stated sharply, eventually pushing herself to her feet, "Suddenly that makes me one of you? A Sith?" Ebb patted her body sarcastically, "Just checking for a moment," she patted her cheeks, "Nope, no Force, can't be a Sith, can't be a Jedi neither." Ebb seemed unphased by Jhon's power display, but remained cautious, "But, please do tell, what was offered to you? The Grand Master, our trusted leader, gone turned, Sithy. Were you captured too? Did that who- I mean Andraste offer you a chance to join their ranks? And instead of fighting back you joined? Thinking someone will come to save you eventually?"

 

[Brandon Rhea]

“I don’t need saving.”

He thought that was true regardless of the lie. He may not have joined the Sith, but he still didn’t think he was going down a self-destructive path that he needed to be pulled out from. This was where he wanted to be, at least for now, flying into the heart of Sith space, ready to kill anyone who so much as looked at him the wrong way.

“You may not want to tell me who you are these days, but you’ve still told me something,” he said. “You don’t watch the HoloNet very much. My joining the Sith was big news. I don’t remember my exact words in my statement to the masses, but it was something about the lies of the Jedi and the Force shall set you free, et cetera et cetera.”

But he was more interested in her than perpetuating his own lie. "So tell me, Ebberla. If you're not with the Sith, because of course your Force power totally has everything to do with allegiance, why are you still in Imperial Space?"

 

[GABA]

"Been a bit isolated." Ebberla mumbled referencing to his comment about the Holonet, curiosity bubbled.

She studied Jhon before replying, his words turning in her head. Her own words sat on the tip of her tongue, willfully holding them back, leaving a silence between the two as she tried to figure out a plan of escape; eventually she did speak, "I'm going home." she said quietly, her voice unusually calm, she wasn't sure what to tell Jhon other than truth, "My Sith keeper released me. His allegiances don't fall under the new Emperor. Did you follow him here? Us here? I know they were trying to contact him." Ebberla explained, her tone hinted concern as she now thought back to the Darth. She was certain he was off world by now, she too wished the same for herself, she didn't want to go back to the Emperor.

 

[Brandon Rhea]

“Unless your Sith keeper is named Geist Weiss or can tell me where to find Andraste, he is of no concern to me.”

Going home, she said. Curious words. Welcome ones, to be sure. When he first saw her here, sensing that she had become part of the Empire, he did not expect to hear this. He assumed the worst; he assumed that like Andraste, Ebberla was lost in the abyss of a soul crushed by the death of dreams and the faded hope of an idealistic Order. He assumed she was like him now, broken and lost.

“Why are you going home?” he asked. “What’s left there that you could return to?”

 

[GABA]

More questions, she never met a curious Sith unless he was up to something.

"Why do you care?" she asked, "I have nothing here either." she felt frustration returning, he was right, there was nothing to return to, home as in Corellia, she would have to start from scratch, a new life; home to the Jedi, what would they do with a forceless grunt like her? And with time she had been away, who knows if her friends were still alive, she didn't have very many to start with, and as the war progressed on, she watched them one by one fall to the darkness that was consuming the galaxy. The feeling knowing to be the last standing gripped her chest and her heart sank.

"You took it all away from me. Its your fault we are in this war, were you a secret sith then too? The day you announced the declaration of war to the galaxy? Or were you blinded by their actions? Feeding right into what they wanted, the one thing as Jedi you and I were supposed to prevent, war, and yet you gave it to them. Catalysts of chaos, that's all they wanted and they thrived off of it too."

We gave them that power and now, now we are paying dearly. I watched my friends die in battle, I watched how strangers put their lives before mine so I could continue the quest to bring 'peace'. I returned from a battle in which I shouldn't have survived, and do you remember what you told me?" she asked pausing for a moment, "You told me: We may have lost Salecumai, but we just won the psychological battle. What psychological victory?" she questioned shrugging her shoulders with sarcastic enthusiasm, "We won nothing, peace is a lie, at least you Sith have something right."