Yavin IV. A place infamous throughout history. Steeped in the Lore of the Galaxy. With the remnants of the first Death Star scattered in the orbit of the planet, the skies above glinted with parts of the massive space station revolving above the atmosphere, the occasional piece descending through the atmosphere in a halo of fire, shooting stars marking their death knoll.

Quo stood near the ruins of an ancient temple, once the home of the Rebellion fighter base. Overgrown with tendrils and boughs of massive trees, the jungle reclaiming its own as the years progressed. Hard to believe that nearly forty years ago this had been the site of one of the most influential battles in Galactic history.

“Readings?” He said to his squad leader, Captain Relg. The tall, human soldier was staring intently at the information screen on his portable scanner.

“Nothing out there as far as I can tell from these readings. Are we confident that this is where they were?” He turned to Quo sharply, aware suddenly that he had questioned the Sith’s judgement. His body tensed, expecting to have his wind pipe crushed, or some other part of his anatomy. A look from Quo sent a shiver down his spine. He instinctively averted his gaze, suddenly very interested in the information coming from the machine he held in his hands.

Quo strode forward, his mind doing its own scanning through the Force. There was something out there. He could feel it. Dark, cold, and used to hiding. He admired this thing, it was a hunter, a stealthy one. “This is the area, and there is something here, I have felt its presence.”

Following him, Relg double checked his scope, still nothing. “It’s not showing on my scanner Sir, not yet anyway. OK everyone, ready status.” The rest of the squad checked their weapons, a plethora of clicks and snaps as their weapons were cocked and readied. ”Move out, squad formation Victor two seven.”

Falling into position around the Zabrak and their commander, the circle of the five other troopers formed a chevron. “Check your arcs, and zero comms chatter,” Relg ordered.

Making their way through the dense forest every one of them was on high alert, even Quo who was fingering the pommel on his lightsaber. Some three clicks from their muster position they finally came in sight of the entrance to the towering edifice of the temple like structure. From their vantage point some eighty meters from the entrance Quo could see the devastation in the clearing outside. Several battle speeders were reduced to twisted masses of metal and plexiglass, bodies and body parts strewn around the plaza before the huge entrance doors.

“Still nothing, Sir,” Relg reported, ”but what the hell could have done that?”

“I don’t know, but our job is to find out, and that’s what we’ll do.” The Zabrak was scanning the plaza for any sign of movement through a set of viewers. There are no blast patterns he though to himself. The scene was one of utter destruction, as if a divine wind had swept across the surface. Everything down there was crushed, twisted, mangled, and deposited in piles of debris, as if a giant hand had simply crushed them into pulp, even the personnel unlucky enough to be in its path.

“Spread out,” Relg ordered his small group, “watch and shoot, watch and shoot”

“Let’s move down, without attracting any unwanted attention,” Quo said to the Captain, “we need to get closer. But stay in cover”

The closer they got the eerier it got. No birds sang. The whole area was blanketed in a dome of silence, the animal sounds coming from far in the distance. Quo and Relg both knew that there had once been a squadron of fifty men, with two battle tanks, and a handful of speeder bikes here. Nothing recognisable remained of the hardware. It looked as if it had been dropped from a great height, much akin to a aircraft accident. Parts of disassembled machine lay in a debris field that stretched away to the edge of the clearing. The team sat at the perimeter, their faces a mask of disbelief at the scene that confronted them.

Bodies had been shredded. There was not a single recognisable body amongst them. Bits of arms, legs, torsos, and assorted viscera were splattered around the plaza, even up the face of the walls and the magnetic doors that sealed the monolithic structure. They stayed concealed in the shrubbery that skirted the open square, every eye scanning the vision, keeping alert for any indication of whatever had caused all this destruction. Even in the dark the carnage was evident.

“Near the doors, Sir.” Relg gesticulated the object of his interest. About twenty feet from the doors was a pile, resembling an ancient cairn. This was no cairn of stone work however. It was a cairn of human heads, perfectly arranged, the rictus stare of each of them a mask of terror. Every one of them had had any hair that they may have had in life had been removed, they were a statue of grotesquery, both in proportion and subject.

Relg’s squad were nervous. Quo could not only feel their tension through his connection to the Force, but by the tightening of their grips on the weapons they were aiming across the expanse of the open courtyard. Small creaks gave away the soldiers response of pulling their weapons tighter into their shoulders. The atmosphere was almost palpable.

“Drexxy, Millet, move to cover, I want triangulated fire at the middle of that monstrosity. Tergo and Pell, arcs left and right of centre, thirty degrees. Burl, you’re with me.” Relg arranged his troops to cover as much of the area in front of them as possible with his limited team. Travelling light had its advantages at times, but he wished he had some heavy weapons to back them up right now. He scanned his team, ready to go at Quo’s orders. Relg and Burl were crouched, waiting to go on Quo’s orders.

Sensing no immediate threat Quo motioned the team forwards. Relg and Burl moved low and fast over the ground, taking cover behind the debris as they pepper potted towards the obelisk of heads, constantly scanning for attack.

Burl broke cover, only ten meters until he was on top of the dark column of his former comrades, close enough to be able to make out individuals that he knew. The smell was sweet, almost sickly, with the massive stone slabs of the courtyard both slick and sticky from the blood and other fluids that had covered it. From his vantage point Relg covered him. From the middle of the perverted altar came a mist, a dark smoke, rising, curling into the air about a meter above the ground. Within seconds the mist had thickened becoming an opaque shadow that struck out enveloping Burl totally as he approached. The black sheath covered him completely, bulging around the big soldier until he was totally obscured. As suddenly as it had developed it disappeared with a ‘Schlup’ sound, parts of the soldier being dissipated in every direction. Nothing remained of Burl but a splattering of meat ejected from where he had stood. His weapon clattered to the ground a couple of yards away from Relg, twisted and mangled beyond recognition. He never fired a round, nobody had. The dismay was palpable.

“Fall back Relg!” Quo shouted the order towards his Captain. Relg hesitated, glancing left and right, his body pulsing with adrenaline. “Now Relg!!”. The Captain turned, covering the ground towards Quo’s position. Three meters from the cover of the forest a column of smoke snaked out like a black arm, covering the distance in the blink of an eye. Encircling the Captain in a grip of darkness, he was eliminated from view before he could make it to the jungle.

Quo struck out with an outstretched arm, lightning erupting from his fingertips, the whole of his pride and anger flowing into the effort. Sparks danced across the couple of meters to the enveloping fog, illuminating it from the inside. Faintly he could make out Relg, being torn apart, piece by piece. There was no noise, and the oppression of the darkness on Quo’s mental capacity was almost overwhelming. He knew the Dark Side, revelled in it in fact, but this was different, elemental, primeval. It was like a raw animal feeling, feral and lacking in conscience, like a base emotion, but concentrated into a physical force.

It touched Quo’s consciousness, and Quo pushed back, probing for a weakness. His ministrations of the Force seemed to distract the entity, releasing it’s grip on Captain Relg, ejecting it from its sphere of control. Relg landed twenty meters away, with a sickening thud, his head hitting the plascrete surface, smashing like an egg as it impacted the unforgiving surface, his brains escaping in a mush of grey and red.

The entity probed back and Quo could feel its tendrils entering his brain, tasting this interesting thing that was before it. Quo emptied his mind, allowing it freedom to meld with his mind, allowing it access to his very core. He must know the source of this power. He had to find a way to destroy it, or harness it. Yes. Opening his mind fully to it he enveloped it with his own consciousness, feeling the dark power surging through him, like a dark electricity it charged through every synapse in his brain. He fizzed with the glory of it, accepting it as his own, becoming symbiotic with the newly found malevolence. He could feel the raw consciousness joining with his own, fuelling his lust for greatness within him.

Quo was shattered, but ecstatic. It felt like hours since the being had first made contact with him. From the outside there was no difference to behold. The mist had killed their captain, and merely brushed against the Zabrak Sith before dispersing on the breeze. The troopers were still en guarde, however the cloying atmosphere was gone. Even the humans could feel the change.

Pell was still next to him, covering the area, still shocked at Burl and the Captains deaths. “Is it gone, Sir? Did you get destroy it?” The young soldier looked shell shocked, staring at their leader.

“It’s gone from here. Regroup, and we’ll go home.” Quo turned and set off back to the rendezvous point, a twisted smile on his face.

Parties were not Quo-Wing-Tzun’s natural habitat. Looking around the reception for his Master’s nuptials he could see a lot of smiling faces, and more than a few of them were glassy eyed with the excesses of alcohol, or possibly emotion, although he was favouring the former. Quo was watchful, eyeing across the crowds of people, forever on his guard. This was a throng, he estimated some 1000 people were in attendance, with more expected as the night wore on.

The venue itself was bedecked in flora of many hues, ice sculptures depicting both the bride and groom’s emblems, the wolf for Bentre, the dragon for Tasha’Vel. Every person’s dining place had been depicted by beautifully wrought, golden name plates, all adorned with both the crests. Quo had his secreted away in one of his carrying pouches.

Many of the revellers had been dressed in specially designed outfits for the occasion, the extravagance of the some of them being overwhelming to the senses. Most of the men were wearing some form of military uniforms, designating their standing within the Clan, and indeed within the Brotherhood in some cases. Quo, however, had worn the same thing he wore all the time, black. His Master would not have expected anything less. It suited him, and it contained all his weapons, one just never knew when they would be needed.

Making his way around the massive dance floor his eyes took in the sound system that had been installed for the evening, providing and audible backdrop to the celebrations. Currently there was a pianist playing instrumental background music for the post meal lull in exuberances. Quo made his way behind the speakers, checking for anything unusual as he went.

It was as he passed around the back of the towering monoliths of the speakers that his evening took a side step into the bizarre. Passing beneath the cables that powered the mighty speakers one of his horns snagged on it, its razor edged sharpness passing through the insulation, connecting both the negative and positive feeds through Quo’s head. The sudden flash, and subsequent shock, passed through his body making his muscles involuntarily contract, flinging him some thirty meters. His trajectory took him through the side of the temporary structure of the reception venue, depositing his slightly smoking form into the centre of the decorative fountain within the grounds of the Versea family seat. Picking himself up, he favoured the look of a drowned rat, and the water lilies stuck within his tunic did nothing to cement the look he had achieved.

Stepping out of the ornamental fountain, Quo shook himself, water running from him in streams. He made his way back up the slight incline towards the reception area, and the gap in the panel where he exitted the structure, backwards, in a sitting position. Already the repair droids were replacing the panel as he stepped back inside.

Bentre Stahoes was stood waiting for him when he stepped over the threshold. “¨Refreshed much?” He asked the dripping Zabrak. Quo shot him a look that most people would have run a mile from. Bentre chuckled to himself, turning away to rejoin the revelling.

Quo stepped forward, turning to his right, his right arm shooting out to his right from his shoulder. “What the....?” He turned around, circling to his left. His cybernetic implant made a right angle at the elbow joint, his forearm pointing upwards. He shook his head...... his arm was signalling to other travellers which way he was turning..... from state of the art machinery to an indicator in one easy move, could this get any worse?

He moved along the edge of the dance floor, towards the bar area. As he reached the corner and turned to his right his arm indicated his intention, promptly flattening an elderly couple who were dancing the military two step. In their supine position it was now a military excuse me. Quo carried on to the bar, this could become ridiculous, and there was nothing he could do about it here. Reaching the bar he ordered a Screwdriver. There was a curious clattering noise, and a spanner slid along the bar top towards him. A quizzical look crossed Quo’s face, he caught the spanner, and looked questioningly at the Bartender. “I never was any good with machinery,” he shrugged. The withering look Quo shot him made him pour a drink quickly, and send it along the same path as the tool had travelled. Quo downed it in one, slurping the last dregs with his drinking tube. Making his way over to the pianist he sat on the edge of the stool.

“Have you got a license to drive this piano?” he asked

“A...wuh.....the.....erm.......license?” Replied the bemused musician

“Yes, a license,” said Quo with a face like granite, “you can’t drive one alone if you haven’t got one”

“Er..... No,” came the stuttering reply

“Right, move up,” added the Zabrak as he shuffled the player down the stool. Looking at the music sheet propped on the piano’s stand he began tinkling the keys. The resultant sound was akin to a Steinway falling down a flight of stairs. Quo’s face frowned, confused, then the light of realisation dawned on him. Taking a knife from his belt he sliced the bottom part of the sheet from the manuscript. He took it and turned it upside down, his fingers again twiddling the keys, this time a lot more tunefully.

“Sorted.” He said, “Chinese arm, reads from right to left,” as if this was the most logical thing in the world.

Bentros, having watched all this from the bar looked baffled. “I’ll never understand you Quo,” was the only response he could find.

Leaving the piano seat Quo smirked, he made his way left, away from the piano, his arm making the left turn signal as he did so. Bentros found himself raising his own hand, immediately wondering why. That lunatic was catching!!

“Congratulations my Master, and yo u Bentros,” extending his prosthetic arm to the groom. Bentros hesitantly grasped the proffered handshake, unsure if the errant arm was about to fling him across the dance floor. “I must go and get this fixed,” he glanced at his right arm.

Tasha’Vel was watching from behind Bentros’ right shoulder, tears streaming down her face, her shoulders shaking as she laughed. “You sure know how to pick them, love.” Bentros chided her.

“I know darling,” said Tasha’Vel, “but he’s our idiot, and we wouldn’t have him any other way”

“No, you’re right, as always,” he replied, kissing her warmly. A crashing, cries, and a pair of thuds marked Quo’s progress from the room. Turning right towards the family House he almost decapitated a drinks waiter as his prosthesis continued to indicate his progress.

Tasha’Vel needed to pee, badly! And Quo needed more training, in more ways than one!!

I didn't even see the car, all I heard was the crunch as it impacted my legs, and the thud of my head as it went through the windscreen, then....... black.

Feeling more than a little groggy I sat up, the feeling slowly returning through the fog. Sitting up slowly, my eyes gradually growing used to the dazzling, yellow........ thing that I was looking at. My head was throbbing, a blinding headache thudding inside my skull, like an epileptic drummer at a strobe light convention. Focus was gradually returning to my eyes, and it was dazzling, hot, very hot. I guess that it's the sun then..... right next to the other sun...... hang on, other sun? There was only one sun wasn't there? OK, close the eyes, relax, and open them again..... nope, still two of them. At least I was sat on......... what was I sat on?

Looking around, confusion building by the minute, I started to make some sense of where I was.... sat on a sandy beach, with two moons, and a rocky outcrop some two hundred yards away. This was starting to look familiar, but no, that wasn't possible. Pushing the thought to the back of my mind I slowly rose from my sitting position...... oops... dizzy, gently, take a few deep breaths.........and relax.

Standing erect now, with my hands on my thighs, I straightened. I scanned around me, looking left and right, my eyes seeming to focus properly now. Over on the next sand dune there was a huge skeleton, massive, gargantuan! It looked like somebody's pet lizard had died in the foreground, whilst the background seemed to cradle its bones. I reached out a hand to try and touch it, just to make sure...... no, it definitely wasn't really close, so in that case it had to be further away..... which meant.... which meant...... it was big! Really bloody big!

I was pretty sure that all my limbs were now reacting as they should have been, but these things I was seeing, feeling, smelling, and tasting couldn't possibly be. I couldn't be here, could I? Everything was saying "Yes!", apart from my brain, which was mumbling incoherently at the bar of the terminally flummoxed.

Turning, I headed for the rocky outcrop, at least there may be some shelter from the sun.... the suns over there. My legs were working....... but I'd just been hit by a car hadn't I? Why weren't they broken? How could they still be working? They'd taken the full impact of the car...... Where was the bloody car? Or the road come to think of it? No, don't try and work it out yet, get a grip, pull yourself together, there's a logical explanation for all of this.

Then I heard it, a high pitched whining, and it was getting louder.. getting louder quickly. Looking round quickly I saw something approaching across the sand, like a speeding bullet, so fast, before it decelerated, coasting to a halt as something........ someone leapt down from the hatch at the top of it.

Clad head to foot in black, and with strange markings on his face, almost like a tattoo design, tribal, in contrasting yellow and black. They covered his whole head, apart from his horns....... his what?! Horns?

"Huh, a, wuh, I, er, Who are you?" I asked "Where am I?"

He stood before me, his face looking almost as confused as I looked.

"Quo-Wing-Tzun." His eyes narrowed, and a strange snap, hiss noise erupted near to my left, closely followed by him shoving what looked like a red florescent lighting tube through my chest. Just before it all went black again, I heard the words "Tatooine, you were on Tatooine"

So here we are, promoted to the dizzying heights of Dark Jedi Knight, with a totally awesome Master, and looking super fly in black, and what do we get to do? We get to right royally kick butt for the Brotherhood. I know what you are thinking. How come he got to be so awesomely brilliant, whilst I’m just a dweeb with a computer writing a story that may win me fictitious awards and medals? Simple answer, because I deserve to be awesome. Not everybody can be this good looking wearing yellow and black tattoos on their melons, and carry off the horned sex god look, but I make it look easy. But enough about me...... who am I kidding, there can never be enough about me, it’s my favourite subject.

OK, so here’s the gen. My Master, Tasha’Vel Versea, who by the way is hot, is in the hospital with blood clots. I mean that’s pretty serious poodoo right there, but not surprising considering that her heart has to contend with seeing me every day. It must be a tremendous strain on her ticker there, and blood can only move so fast before it starts colliding with itself. I’m not a doctor, but I guess that’s how it all works. Anyhoo, she’s laid up in bed, and not in a good way, so I have to go visit and try and lift her spirits somehow.

So I’m walking up to the hospital, minding my own business when her husband is there. “Hey, Quo, you going up to see her?” he shouts across the pathway.

“Yeah, can’t have her wasting away up there, thinking that world has stopped turning because she’s not in control”

I knew that had done the trick, Bentre even managed a half smile “Ain’t that the truth. C’mon, let’s show willing,” turning away towards the entrance, “I’ll let you tell her though. I wonder if there’s any food up there?” He shot a glance up the glass frontage of the building.

I followed his glance.... what the?..... You know when you see something but your brain won’t register it initially, but eventually it filters through.... a bit like when you first hear you Mum and Dad going at it like a pair of rabbits.... that initial disbelief, then the realisation, then flight into action, such as hiding your head under your pillow with your walkman on full.. well that happens right now to me. There was something crawling across the glass, so high up you could hardly see it, but it was there nonetheless. It was almost indistinguishable from the background, but it was there... and that’s definitely not something that has been said about me.

“What’s that up there?” I asked.

Ben looked up towards where I was indicating “No idea, but I’m sure as hell gonna find out” Drawing his blaster he knelt, steadying his aim, taking a breath in then releasing half of it before squeezing the trigger gently. I heard the ‘Fatoom’ as the crimson bolt arrowed its way upwards towards his target, impacting the torso of the figure above. We couldn’t hear it but the window exploded into thousands of pieces, and the figure began a slow fall from the front of the building. I watched the figure twisting and turning through the air, adopting the aerodynamic properties of a breeze block, as its speed approached terminal velocity, before it smashed, like a free fall washing machine into the pavement below.

“Did the Diplomatic Corps accept your application then?” I quipped, Ben shot me a withering look. We walked over to the mass of tangled wreckage. It looked like the Gods of all Droids had been having a clear out of the workshop, and all the parts left over had been shoved overboard to land outside the hospital. Whatever type of droid it was when it was up on high it was now nothing more than used parts. Do you get scrap value on slightly used droids? I’m sure we could make a few credits from it if we could find all the parts, or we could make the worlds most difficult construction puzzle.

“Assassin droid, and looking at the head this one was relatively new. Somebody went to a lot of trouble for this, but we don’t know who the target was. Maybe we can slice into the memory and find out who it was after, and who sent it.......” Yadda, yadda, yadda.... Ben really did love the sound of his own voice, I couldn’t help it, I just zoned out. A ‘thwack’ round the head meant that Ben had finished before I could regain consciousness, oh well.

“Let’s go see Tasha’Vel, and let the investigation team try and get to the bottom of this” Stahoes turned once more towards the entrance, I guess that I should follow. I don’t like hospitals, but needs must at times, and Tasha’Vel needed saving from Ben’s recounting of the events outside. Sometimes an Apprentice’s work is never done!

It was worrying. Tasha'Vel had called him here to brief him, and up to now she was two and a half hours late.

Whirling from the room Quo had a plan of action. Tasha'Vel wouldn't have been a minute late usually, this was something else, something sinister. Making his was from the Operations Centre Quo headed towards Tasha'Vel's quarters, sticking to the shadows as much as possible, there was no point in attracting attention to himself.

Quo's eyes scanned everywhere as he moved, covering the ground to the accommodation block in under twenty minutes, never once being sighted by the vizeyes, or the security details. He would have to raise that point with the Operations Chief once this little mystery was solved.

Slowing his breathing, reducing the output from his breathing prosthetic, he cloaked himself with the Force. To all intents and purposes he was invisible, only his footprints, should he leave any, would give away his position to the casual onlooker. Even someone trained in observation techniques would find it difficult to see him. Standing in the centre of the plaza in front of Tasha'Vel's block he looked around. There were only two buildings that looked onto it, and one of those was a guard post, unlikely to have any watcher from there. The other was a smaller accommodation pod, SevBee, and although only three stories high, would be a good vantage point for any watchers of her room windows, some two stories higher. Not ideal, but the most advantageous without actually climbing up the outside of the building.

Quo crossed deliberately to the side of SevBee, looking for an access route. Made of mostly plascrete, there were very few hand and footholds, but not unscaleable to someone brought up in the forests of Dathomir. He climbed, inch by inch, using grips he'd learned as a boy, seemingly inhumanly climbing the apparently sheer side. He paused at the roof, reaching out with his feelings, sensing for anybody, or thing, that was up there. All clea......... no wait....... over on the far corner, behind the communications array. Silently he crested the lip of the roof, landing silently, moving silently. Traversing the roof, keeping the array between himself and his quarry, he slinked, another shadow in the night.

He was now within a couple of yards of whoever was up here with him. Pantheresque in his movement, he stayed low and quiet. He didn't want to kill the prey, he needed answers. Maintaining his cloak of invisibility, he approached the corner of the communications box, housing pre-amps that boosted the signal, he looked around, cautiously.

Prone on the ground before him was a figure, clad in black, a sniper's slug rifle held into their shoulder. Quo looked along the line of the barrel towards the target. _Tasha'Vel!!!_. Through the window he could see his Master, seemingly unconscious, binders round her wrists and ankles, attached to a chair. Moving slowly Quo stood over his quarry. He had to strike quickly so that there was no chance of the shot being fired. His left hand struck out toward the breech of the weapon, pushing it to the right, simultaneously dropping his right knee into the back of the would be assassin. He felt reassured as the breath left the body below him in a voluptuous "ooomph". They never got chance to squeeze off the round before the rifle skittered and clattered across the roof.

Moving quickly Quo applied a lock to the assailant's arm, pinning them face down into the roof. Ensuring as he rolled his quarry that he knelt on one or two pressure points he quickly had them rendered harmless, and satisfyingly, in a fair amount of pain. Pulling the hood from the face, he finally looked down on the person trying to murder his Master.

"You have done well, my young apprentice, I never felt you coming until the rifle was ripped from my hands."

Quo looked from the assassin to the room opposite, a bemused look on his face.

"Oh her? She's just a shadow of my former self," she smiled slowly, "she is a useful decoy at times. Now, after you get off me, you lump, you can come and meet her, and tell me why it took nearly three hours for you to come looking for me"

Quo's Tie Oppressor came in to land, if you could call it land. It certainly couldn't sustain life, consisting of barren rocks, blackened, and glass like in appearance. Leaving his ship, Quo was stunned at how much devastation had been caused to this place, growing land originally, small farmsteads who made their livings from feeding the masses within the cities around. Nothing would grow here for a long time.

His gold and red eyes scanned around. It would be no use sending out probe droids, they would only sense that a life form was there, not whether it was force sensitive, or even sentient for that matter, just that it had a heartbeat and a nervous system. He stretched out with his thoughts and feelings, trying to sense that which Marcus had said was out here, a prospect, a hope. Marcus had narrowed the search parameter down to within 30 clicks, and there were at least 3 possible targets within that area.

Quo knew there were others searching differing sectors of the planet, where a deflection of the force had been felt, but as always, the Dark Side was a difficult thing to trace. Those Light Side wielders stood out like shining beacons, and were easy to track down and pinpoint.

A slight tingling, like a half itch, just behind one of his horn stubs was the first inkling that he had that there were others out there, watching, assessing whether he would serve well as an aperitif, or a main, or was indeed worth the effort. There were only three of them, whatever they were, and unsure they stayed low, hugging the ground to prevent a silhouette. Quo reached out to the nearest of them, giving a sharp jab mentally, add a bit of a burn, mix in a little fear, and away they scampered into the distance. He didn't need the distraction, he had a job to do.

Moving quickly and quietly he headed over the darkened ground, heading towards the east, using the natural cover of night to cover the five clicks to the settlement that the scanners had detected
on the ship's sensors as he approached. It wouldn't take long, he was young and fit, he would be there well before sunrise.

The settlements was not a lot more than a camp, arranged around a central wooden hall, with temporary canvas living spaces littering the site. From the size of the encampment Quo estimated that there were only twenty or occupants. He sensed that two of the targets that he was sent to investigate were here.

Taking his communicator from his belt he keyed the transmit button.

"Quo-Wing-Tzun to Marcus Kiriyu. I have found two of the targets"

"Capture them, do not take no for an answer," came the curt reply

Replacing the communicator Quo rose from his position, no longer needing to hide himself from sight, and made his way to the clearing where the camp had been made. A whining zing passed his ear, Quo was already rolling, the lightsabre igniting as he finished the roll. He had already worked out the trajectory of the projectiles flight, and was confident that he knew where the shot had come from.

The second dwelling on his left became his immediate target. Mentally scanning for the primary target that may be inside, and finding none, he focussed on the occupants. Two male, one female, the female being the shooter. His blade made light work of the fabric and wood structure, bringing it down on the three, leaving the dispatching of them an easy task. Three strokes of his blade and they were finished, without even seeing them.

Whirling on the balls of his feet he headed directly for the main hall, putting his boot through the door of the entrance. In the centre was a fire, around the outside, armed with cudgels, knives, and blades were the rest of the occupants of the camp.

"We saw your ship land," came a voice from across the fire.

Quo looked slowly around the room, all the adults had simple weapons, a couple having vibroblades.

"You are no match for me," Quo growled, glaring at them one at a time.

His eyes fell on two of the children, gripping tightly to the man who had spoken, looking frightened, uncertainty written across their faces. To his right another female, with hard, unblinking eyes glared at him. The anger was rising within her, he could feel it. Good. He saw his blade reflected in her eyes, reinforcing the red tinge that was already there.

"You have two things I want, and I will take them," Quo was brooking no argument from them with this, using the Force to reinforce the 'want' and 'take'. He heard the breath being sucked from several of the villagers as he spoke them.

"You will try!" It was the girl, speaking as she launched herself at him, her blade held in a reverse grip, the sharpened edge running from the bottom of her hand along the outside of her wrist, and up her forearm. Reaching out with her left hand she attempted a rudimentary Force throw of a smouldering log at him. Quo's blade slashed upwards and outwards in a smooth arc, slicing the log in two, deflecting both pieces away from him.

Her initial lunge was a bluff, in mid air she had somersaulted over him, swapping hands with the blade, now carrying it in her left hand. Impressive he thought. Her attack came at neck height from his left as she pirouetted to land, Quo leaning to avoid the blade cutting into his flesh, forwards, and to the right, using his movement to pivot on his right foot, bringing her back onto his centreline, his sabre completing it's arc right to return to his centre.

Eyes feral, and lips pulled back in a rictus snarl, she stood staring at him, balanced, and relaxed. Quo saw that her muscles were not tensed, but ready, primed for action. He feinted with his lightsabre, towards her right shoulder, she moved left, bringing her blade carrying hand up and across her body, just as Quo had hoped. Reversing the feint he jabbed her in the left shoulder muscle. Pain registered on her face, although the determination did not diminish one iota. Her left arm hung at her side, useless, although given time it would heal. She transferred her blade across to the other hand.

"You would do well to learn from this, you are not yet strong enough. With training though, you have much potential young one," Quo looked her straight in the eye, "and we can give you that training. You will become more powerful than you can ever imagine." Turning, he looked straight at the girl child gripping to the male, presumably the leader, "as will you youngling."

"You see, that's where the problem lies," spoke the man, "they belong to me, and I will protect them from all harm, even unto death." Pushing the children behind him, two of the other males moving to flank him.

Quo looked from one to the other of them, and back to the girl amazon next to him. He gently probed with the force, he sensed her conflict, that word power had had the desired effect. He fanned the rage within her, her confusion writing every twist and turn upon her young face.

Quo's left hand flew up, towards the shielding men, the merest glint of orange reflecting off the twin throwing blades making their way across the hall to slam into the eye of one of the flanking men, and the throat of the other. They were dead before they hit the floor.

Shock registered on the face of the leader, his mouth hanging open as he looked at the corpses by his feet. The girl leapt, driving the vibroblade into the open maw and upwards, killing him where he stood.

Good, thought Quo, good.

Taking the girl child by her hand, the slender young woman led her from the midst of the shell shocked group, following Quo as he headed back toward his ship. There was still another out there, but for the moment two out of three wasn't bad.

"Quo to Marcus, I have two, send a transport." Striding into the first light of dawn, he led the duo on their first steps of destiny.

Quo's communicator beeped. Who was calling him at this time of night? Quo rose from his light slumber, wrapping himself in a cloak that was lying on the floor at the side of the bed. Picking it up from his night stand he keyed the unlock button. Reading the message a curious expression crossed his face.

'Quo, I need your help, Keevo.' So, thirteen years of silence, ended in six words.

Keevo Danext was a Basilisk raketeer. His business, run from his adopted homeworld of Coruscant, ran from running protection schemes and gambling dens, through to assassination. He had give Quo his first employment after his flight from Dathomir, when he had spotted the potential in the young lad, and nurtured it to his own ends. That wasn't strictly true, it was to both their benefit in the long run thought Quo. Still, what kind of trouble was he in? Was it another job? There was only one way to find out. Striding over to the communications wall in his apartment Quo brought up the message template, and replied.

'What do you need?' was the simple message in return. Quo encrypted it using their old cryptology, hoping that Keevo was still using it, and more importantly could remember the key code to decrypt it. The old scoundrel was many things, but technology was not his forte, being more likely to break it than achieve whatever he had set out to do. Never mind, Quo was sure that Keevo had someone within his organisation that would sort it out for him.

Packing his travelling gear, basically anything that he could carry without being bulky, Quo dressed. Any other equipment that he required could be purchased when he arrived on Coruscant. He booked passage on the first ship that was going to Coruscant from Aeotheran, unusually finding that he was travelling on a passenger carrier, rather than his usual transport of fate, the garbage scow, or cargo transport. It would make a nice change travelling in style.

Dressed in his usual black garb, with a hooded top, Quo left for the spaceport, boarding the passenger vessel, and making his way across the Galaxy towards the Core. Within forty eight hours his feet were on Coruscant.

Making his way down the levels into the bowels of the City Planet, he re-covered old tracks, heading towards the centre of Keevo's business empire, making his way to a little frequented bar, he ordered food and a drink, settling into one of the booths at the rear of the establishment.

Removing his hood, he sat, finished his meal and keyed his comm. A burst of data was dispatched, flying across the ether. A beep rang out behind him, from the next booth.

"Hello Keev," Quo almost whispered the words, but with enough inflection through the Force to carry it to the listener.

"Hello, my old friend," rumbled the Basilisk as he rounded the corner, sitting himself opposite Quo in the gloomy booth. "I'm glad you came." He looked genuinely happy to see they young Zabrak, "How was the food?"

"Hot and filling, just what was needed, and surprisingly tasty." Quo looked around the bar, no body peaked his interest, but Quo knew that Danext would have one of his bouncers at least close by. "What can I do for you, old man?" He was never one for small talk, cutting straight to the point, even though he used his nickname for Keev. Keeve laughed, slapping Quo on the shoulder with one of his massive lower hands.

"I have a slight problem. A little job I took on a few weeks back, and easy job at first look, went a little bit.......er....."

"Kaka?" Suggested the Sith

"...yeah, you could say that. It was a hit, on a Corporate Guild employee, low to mid ranking, not a big deal, in-out job. Unfortunately there was a slight hiccough, when the agent I assigned the job was found with a terminal case of dead the night of the operation."

"So, hire a new assassin." Quo leaned back, looking relaxed, although a little confused as to why he had been called by Keevo for such a trivial matter.

"Oh I did, and the job was done, no comeback,"

"OK. I'm now wondering why you needed me to come here for this?"

Reaching into his pocket Keevo brought out a transparent, plasteel case, about four inches square, and three deep. He pushed it across the table towards the Sith. Quo leaned forward towards the table, not reaching out to touch it, just bringing his eyes closer to it. Inside the box was a triangulated projectile, about two inches long, and half an inch in diameter. Pointed, with cut out vanes, and a strange inscriptions on the side. It looked like it had be exploded, from the inside out looking at the fracture patterns.

"What is it?"

"That was what killed my assassin, we've never seen anything like it before, and it's possible that it came from Wild Space, or the Unknown Regions, but I've had it analysed, and the alloy is like nothing that my people have come across. There was one word that both of them kept mentioning, and that word was 'Dominion'," Keevo looked serious, even a little worried "but that wasn't the clincher"

"What was?" Quo was definitely interested now

"He was cut in two....... with a lightsabre

Quo felt as if he had been forceably struck. A lightsabre. A Dominion Jedi? A Dominion Sith? A Dominion...... something? He would have to report this. Keira Viru would definately be interested in this news, but so would his Master, Tasha'Vel Versea. Who to tell first?