Drew Karpyshyn - Darth Bane - Rule of Two

Her arms dropped back to her sides, as did her companion's. For a second Johun worried that they might make a move for their weapons, but then he realized they were too distraught over the Star-Wakes exit to even think about attacking him.

"Don't let them go!" the man shouted, turning away from Johun to watch as the craft flew off and out of sight, then whirling back to implore the young Jedi once more. "Make them turn around! Tell them to come back!" There was a desperate urgency in his voice that mirrored the tone of his companion.

"Don't worry," the young Jedi assured them. "Another ship is on the way."

"We can't stay here," the woman insisted. "There's no time. He'll find us. He'll find us!"

"It's okay," Johun explained, holding up a calming hand. "I can protect you. I'm a Jedi."

The woman raised an eyebrow and gave him a skeptical glance. The slight young man widened his stance, placed his hands on his hips, and thrust out his chest, hoping it would make him appear noble and impressive. He tried to project the image of confident self-assurance he'd often admired in Hoth and the other Masters.

The man grabbed Johun by the arm, tugging it like a child clinging to his mother's apron. "We have to get off this planet," he said, the words coming out in a terrified whisper. "We have to go now!"

Johun shook free of the man's grasp with only minor difficulty. There was something unsettling about this whole encounter. From the way these two were dressed, it was clear they were experienced soldiers for hire. He suspected they were deserters from the recent battle-minions of the Sith who had fled the instant the Army of Light had broken their ranks. But their flight would have been an act of opportunistic preservation rather than fear or cowardice. Still, these combat veterans, accustomed to facing death and bloodshed, were acting like traumatized villagers after a slaver raid.

"Even if you are a Jedi, you can't save us," the woman muttered with a slow shake of her head. "You can't protect us from him."

"Who?" Johun wanted to know. "Who are you talking about?"

The man glanced around quickly, as if he was afraid someone might be listening. "A Dark Lord of the Sith," he hissed.

"One of the Brotherhood?" Johun asked, barely able to contain his eagerness. "Are you saying a Sith Master survived the thought bomb?"

The man nodded. "He killed Lergan and Hansh. Fried them with lightning from his fingers."

I knew it! Johun thought triumphantly. I knew it!

"He had a lightsaber, too," the woman added. "Sliced Pad and Derrin wide open." She hesitated for a moment, shuddering at the memory. "Rell got his head cut clean off."

Johun was about to ask for more details, but the sound of a rapidly approaching ship momentarily distracted him. He glanced up to see a Bivouac troop transport swooping in for a landing. Seconds after it touched down, three Republic soldiers jumped out, weapons at the ready. He recognized the senior officer in the trio:

Major Orten Ledes, one of the highest-ranking non-Jedi in the Army of Light's Second Legion.

"These the prisoners?" the major asked gruffly, pointing his blaster rifle at the mercenaries.

Johun nodded. Ledes gave a tilt of his head, and his subordinates moved in quickly to slap restraints on the enemy soldiers. Neither made any attempt to resist. Once their wrists were secured they were frisked and stripped of their weapons, then marched off toward the vessel. The whole encounter was conducted with the efficiency and competence that were the hallmarks of all troops serving under Major Ledes's command.

"You picked up Irtanna's message?" Johun asked as he watched the Sith minions being led away.

"We were in the area" the officer replied. "Farfalla sent me to come get you."

Something in his tone caught the young Jedi's attention. "Am I in trouble?"

The officer shrugged. "Hard to say. You Jedi tend to keep a tight rein on your emotions. But I bet the general wasn't too happy when he found out you disobeyed a direct order and snuck down here."

"Don't worry," Johun replied confidently. "He'll change his tune when he hears what those prisoners have to tell him."

Bane throttled back the swoop bike's engine as they approached the small clearing that served as the Valcyn's landing site. Originally presented as a gift to Lord Qordis, the vessel had been commandeered by Bane when he left the Academy on Korriban to seek out the knowledge of the ancient Sith. Qordis had never dared to try to take it back, and his cowardice had simply confirmed Bane's decision to abandon his studies and turn his back on the Brotherhood.

He brought the swoop to a stop twenty meters from the ship. Zan-nah released her grip on his waist and jumped off, then stood staring at the vessel.

Bane wasn't paying attention to her; the last ten minutes he'd had trouble focusing on anything but the pain carving up his skull. He'd hoped delving into the depths of the shimmering orb left behind by the thought bomb might somehow relieve the headaches, but if anything they'd gotten worse since their visit to the cave.

At least he'd been able to confirm that Kaan was truly dead. That made it easier for him to dismiss the ghostly form that materialized just then on the far side of the clearing. Pale beneath the late-afternoon sun, it was undeniably the image of the man who had founded the Brotherhood of Darkness.

Bane knew it was nothing but a hallucination, yet there was something compelling about the figure as it crossed the clearing to stop a meter or so away from the ship. The spirit turned and fixed him with a steady gaze, then reached out a beckoning hand.

"She's beautiful," Zannah breathed. Darth Bane snapped his head around in surprise. But his apprentice was staring raptly at the Valcyn herself. When Bane turned his attention back to where Kaan had been standing, the specter had vanished once again.

"I never thought I'd be leaving Ruusan in a ship like this," Zannah said.

"You aren't," Bane said as he stepped off the swoop. There was nothing he could do about the hallucinations other than act as if they didn't exist.

The young girl turned to look back at him, confused. "We're not taking your ship?"

"I am," her Master replied. "But you must find your own way off this world."

It took a moment for his words to register with the girl. When they did, her expression became one of utter shock. "I… I can't come with you?"

The big man shook his head. Spurred on by Zannah's discovery of the ancient tome in the Sith camp, he'd come up with a plan. He was heading to Dxun, Onderon's oversized moon, to seek out the lost tomb of Freedon Nadd. But he had other ideas for his apprentice,

"But… why not? What did I do?" the young girl choked out, clearly on the verge of tears. "Why are you leaving me?"

"This is part of your training," Bane explained. "To understand the dark side you must suffer through hardship and struggle,"

"You don't have to abandon me to make me suffer," she countered. "Take me with you."

"The strength of the dark side lies with the power of the individual" he reminded her. "The Force comes from within. You must learn to draw on it yourself. I will not always be there to teach you."

"But you said there were always two," Zannah insisted. "One to embody the power, the other to crave it!"

She learned quickly, and Bane was pleased to see she had already committed so many of his lessons to memory. But reciting the words meant nothing if she didn't understand the truth behind them.

"Why do you follow me?" he asked, posing a question to lead her down the path of wisdom.

Zannah thought about her answer for several seconds, carefully considering everything he had already taught her. "To unleash my full potential," she said at last, "To learn the ways of the dark side."