The Harpoon lurched and tossed violently into hyperspace. It felt as if she was struggling just to keep herself together now.

"Zen? Zen! Damn it!" Iisska slapped the comatose man's face but his efforts yielded no result. Zen still lay there like a corpse and stared cold and blank into nothingness. He placed his fingers on Zen's neck and felt the light flutter of a pulse, faint, but insistent.

Iisska shook his head with a huff, "He's still alive, barely. Help me move him to his room."

With Sterling's aid they managed to move Zen to his bed so he could hopefully recover in peace. A deeply unsettling shudder passed through the Harpoon as they did so, leaving them all in a tense silence until it passed. Another would follow a few minutes later. The crew was managing to settle in and catch their breath when the next tremor hit. It was going to be a long trip anyway and the ship constantly reminding them that they were playing with a quick death would only make it longer.

"There's something wrong with the hyperdrive," Iisska muttered to Balva as he slipped below into the cargo hold to get a look at the engine monitors. Little numbers and meters, most of them in red, flickered on the screens. The readings were abysmal. "There's something wrong with everything," he sighed and leaned against the wall. He felt absolutely lost. They couldn't touch the hyperdrive that was currently holding their lives in the balance until they came out of the jump and he dared not cut their route short and possibly leave them stranded in the middle of wild space... or far worse. Quietly he mumbled and counted a list on his fingers. Missing landing strut, water in several electric systems, radiation leak in the ion converters (again), coolant low, hydraulic fluids low and contaminated, shield generators overloaded... His stomach growled loudly... Haven't eaten and haven't slept. With a frown he pushed himself off the wall and stood up straight.

"I'm gonna get something to eat and then get to work," he said to Balva, "We should at least be able to get her ready to land before we reach Hoth." The one planet where any parts what-so-ever would be impossible to come by. He shoved the thoughts out of his mind and climbed back up to the main deck.

---

Agent Quin splashed the stale water over her face and took her time clearing the grime and blood from her skin. She dabbed at the cauterized, swelling flesh on her ear but the pain became too intense for her to want to bother with it further. It would heal in time. She looked deeply into the tiny mirror then snapped her eyes to the door of the bathroom. Zenithar Ouran. Murderer. Psychopath. Dangerous. He had nearly dropped dead on the bridge and, from what she had seen, was hanging on by a thread. This was her chance. She had no weapons, but that had never stopped her before. The woman slipped out of the bathroom quietly. Her ears strained to hear any movement. The corridor was clear. With exceeding care and grace she padded along the floor in nothing but skin-tight under garments. They had carried him this way. Around each corner her pulse picked up like the rising beat of a war drum as the charge reached it's climax, but would then slow under her constant control. Wait for the moment. There was the door shuttered between her and her target. It wasn't even locked. The door hissed open revealing Zen still seemingly unconscious and waiting for her. He had to keep weapons around. To her dismay the room was immaculate. Clear of all clutter and useless trinkets... including anything that could be used to kill him with. She would have to do it with her bare hands. One step at a time she crept closer. His eyes were still open, but still lifeless and gazing far away from her. She reached out ready to yank the skull around in the way she was trained. Sever the spinal chord. No mess, no fuss. In and out.

A powerful hand wrenched into a chunk of her hair, close to the scalp, and yanked her backward to the floor. Quin gasped and yelled out in pain and landed hard on her ass. She clawed at her assailant's arm as they drug her out of the room and then threw her into the wall opposite the door. Her head spun and she groaned and hissed before glaring up into the barrel of a DT-57. The Togruta she had seen in the shipyard the night before closed the door behind them and then turned on her.

"You got a death wish, lady?" he growled at her.

She didn't speak to him. A strange pressure was pushing down on her chest, shortening her breath, making her body feel heavy, leaving her growing uncomfortable and anxious.

A long silence followed as the two of them sized each other up and waited for the other to do something stupid.

Finally he relaxed and pulled the gun out of her face and scratched his forehead with it. The pressure she felt evaporated. After a deep breath he spoke quietly, "I'm not gonna kill you... We're gonna need all the help we can get soon... But that doesn't mean you'll live long if you keep mucking up aggro!" he jabbed the gun at her again before holstering it, "I don't care for the bastard either, but you wouldn't be kicking if it weren't for him. None of us would... At least give him that for a few days," now he folded his arms and stood guarding the door, "Promise... If we actually manage to survive this, he's all yours. Deal?"

"You're all going to die or be locked up for the rest of your lives," she spat at him before storming off.

---

The turbulence of the frozen atmosphere beating against the ship on entry felt like they were being bombarded with torpedoes and lasers all over again. Iisska braced himself in the bridge keeping an eye on the monitors there and yelling over the comm, trying to get Balva to shut up for a minute. They had been awake and working away for the entirety of the journey and had managed to survive coming out of the hyperspace jump. Balva had confirmed the damage to the hyperdrive in the form of a hairline fracture in one of the cells. The entire debacle was a miracle of sorts. At least they were only plummeting toward the ground at the wrong trajectory and not exploding into tiny bits with enough quantum energy to thrust what was left of them into the next dimension. A million yellow and red lights were chiming repetitively to remind Iisska of the crew's impending doom.

"Trinity, not be brash but it kinda feels like you're piloting this thing ARSE ABOUT FACE!" he yelled over the warning siren that kicked on.

"Oh?! You think you're so good at driving a hunk of metal and rusted bolts?! You try!"

The ship threatened to veer off course now as Trinity took her processes off of the controls and Balva started screaming. "YOU BLOOMIN' IDGIT, APOLOGIZE AND STOP CRITISIZN' THE WOMAN."

"FINE! WATCH ME!" Iisska yelled back. He hunched over the controls and took the yokes in both hands and pulled up as hard as he could and only managed to get the ship back on it's erroneous trajectory. There must be some thrusters out or a rudder jammed or a circuit misfiring or one of a billion other things going wrong. Working quickly he shut off the upper thrusters leaving them with only the set toward the bottom of the ship. The trajectory righted itself somewhat but now they were falling too fast and risked going into a flat spin. He could feel the ship threatening to turn to one side in a descent that would surely kill them.

"T- Trinity..."

She appeared in hologram form next to him, sitting on a chair with her legs high on a table. "OH I'm sorry? Is it a little too hard?" Marquis came into the room then and looked between Iisska and Trinity and let out a disgusted "Uuuuugh!" He then slapped Iisska in the back of the head, making a clang. He slapped him again and again. "Get out! Get out of here!" He got Iisska out of the chair and slapped him out of the room."

"Thank you, Silver." Said Trinity, taking over the ship again as everything was accounted for and it righted itself again.

Zen was in his quarters, on the floor due to the ship shaking, his eyes fixed like a statue as he gurgled and moaned.

"No! Sterling! I need to be able to see what's going on! Sterling we're going to crash! LISTEN TO ME!" Iisska fought back but the door to the bridge slammed shut behind him. Before it did so, however, he caught a sickening glimpse of the snowy, glacial landscape rushing up at them at an astonishing speed, "Oh for fuck's sake," he gasped and looked for anything to hold on to.

When the sudden darkness ebbed it left his body freezing and numb aside from his head which throbbed and sent shocks of pain through his brain and down his back. Regardless he struggled and writhed his body off what appeared to be the floor. He winced against the dull white glow that diffused in from one of the portholes. The sirens and engine had stopped, leaving the ship in an eerie silence, but the red lights continued to flash. They were going to make him vomit. Iisska closed his eyes and sank back sitting on the floor with his head between his knees. They had crashed. They had fucking crashed the ship. The ship that was already broken to begin with. He put a hand over his face. It was wet, sticky and cold. The hand he had used was now coated in congealing blood. Of course it was. Through squinted eyes his vision cleared and he could clearly see the bloody dent where he had pile-driven his skull into the door.

Deep within the core of the planet...

A dark sanctuary, littered with rubble and debris, torches being the only source of light. The dust on the dark marbled floor shifted and moved in time with invisible footsteps, silent as the night. Picking it's way over the destruction of this once formidable true Sith temple. He sat atop the rock, uncloaking and revealing a daunting figure clad in metal and blades. Heads of what seemed to be former kills adorning his collar, strange in physiology, he hissed as he crouched on the rock, scanning the hall in front of him. He seemed to know this place well. He spied something on the floor, a rifle, ancient and weathered. He moved off the rock smoothly and quickly, going to the rifle and picking it up in one swift motion. He looked it over, hissing all the while.

After several moments, he froze and looked up into the air, seeming to be sniffing. His helmet retracted bit by bit, revealing a reptilian face, scarred by what seemed like countless battles, many of which being saber scars. His left eye was blinded. He opened his mouth to reveal a dual set of sharpened and pointed teeth. "Excccccellent...my prey hasss arrived...jussssst assss planned...time to finissssshh my life'ssss work..."

I come for you...Gallow.

_________________

"OH IN ALL OF THE VOID. IT'S KORRIBAN ALL OVER AGAIN...BUT MY TITS ARE FREEZING! IISSKA...I REQUIRE YOU TO WARM MY TEATS UP. ACCOMPLISH THIS TASK IMMEDIATELY. PREFERABLY WITH YOUR TONGUE FOR I FEEL SALACIOUS." Zen screamed from outside the ship, recovering from his ordeal from before and the ship crashing far faster than Iisska could recover from the probable concussion he got from hitting the wall. Zen ran back inside, covered in snow from the blizzard outside. The ship was running on emergency power as the primary generator core was damaged, as was just about every system on the ship. He found Iisska in the back rather quickly. "Did you not-" Iisska rightly shot up his middle finger and said that he was more concentrated on fixing the ship than he was on sucking Zen's tits. He recommended seeing Quin, though he chuckled at the thought of her pile driving him. He slipped into the engine compartment and got to work.

Marquis found his way into the cockpit and found Trinity's primary holoprojector, but it was damaged, as was much of the controls. He got down onto his knee with a grunt and opened it up, fixing the wires as quickly as he could. She hadn't been heard at all since the crash and he had to make sure she was alright. The ship was getting colder, the backup generator being taxed as it is because Zen never upgraded it. The lights started to dim a little, but he got the projector working after about half an hour and...nothing. She didn't show up. In a huff, he walked through the ship and found her portable projector, but it didn't light up or hum using it's internal battery. It's like she wasn't trying to connect, or couldn't. He instead found his way to the stern of the ship and worked his way into her A.I. core, seeing if there was an issue within it. Fortunately, nothing was wrong with it other than being shaken up...Unfortunately however, the lack of power was the problem. It was pitch black in the A.I. core and the power in the ship was so small that there was no chance that he could get Trinity back up and running. Giving up for the moment, he went back down to try and find Balva to see how the generator core was coming.

Zen stepped into the room that Quin had claimed and found her by her lonesome. "Oh hi there, Quin!" She sat with her back to the door on the ground with her legs crossed and hands on her knees in meditation, "Go away." she said, anger in her voice. "Aww, but what did I do to you?" he said, his voice slightly pleading for at least something interesting to happen. The woman took a deep breath as her body visibly tensed up, "You were born." "Now ma'am. I doubt I was your sole antagonist since before you were concieved." he said, his hands on his hip. "... And then you murdered my coworkers and my friends... and my lover. Now get out." She said, venom now laced in her very breath. "Now...to be fair...Terrik was cheating on you with your best friend...and running a smuggling ring." She froze for a moment before Suddenly she slammed both of her fists into the floor and hunched over, "Get out of my head, you scum," she hissed, "And stop spewing your nonsense. You won't pull me over to your side with wild lies." He stood his ground and crossed his arms, not moved by her screams. "If they are lies, then use your connections. Prove me wrong." The room seemed to grow darker for a few moments as he spoke. "The very same best friend of yours used her body to reach even into the senate, corrupting it and only adding to the turmoil that is coruscant. Aided by Terrik, whom smuggled arms, highly dangerous drugs, and mercenaries onto the planet. But...what do I know? I am but "scum", correct? Not a living well of the force, sight seer, neerdowell, or mercenary for hire, correct?"

She got to her feet quickly and stomped over to him, getting close to his face and looking into his eyes and scaning his face very carefully. It was as if she were looking for something. Slowly her expression turned from anger to worry. What was worse is it all made sense to her. She pulled back for a second in thought then immediately got in his face again after remembering what happened on Kamino. She would never be allowed back into the ranks after this... unless she came back with his head. "You ruined my life," she spat.

"I gave you a chance." he said, his eyes flickering blue for a moment. Gyro seemed to poke her head out of the shadows nearby, watching intently. "On the next planet, you'll have the chance to return to your corrupt home, a finger richer-" He said as he held up an index finger. "and a contract fulfilled. But curiosity is a fickle beast, and the terminals on the planet we'll be visiting may just have a connection to coruscant...what do I know? I am simply a man that never kills without due reason. This galaxy is corrupt, few are redeemable. Even fewer are redeemed. But then again." He put up his hands and pursed his lips. "I'm void-damning crazy from this cold freezing my tits up!" He laughed and bounded away, Gyro following at his heel.

The cargo bay was strewn with broken parts and pieces all laid out as neatly as possible, but they were running out of room. Iisska had convinced Zen to lift the ship out of the deep crater they had carved upon crashing so he could get a better look at it. It slumped pathetically to one side where the landing gear had been snapped and they had propped it up on a rock. Soon it became painfully clear that they would be going nowhere anytime soon.

Iisska shivered and bundled up tighter in his jacket, but it was almost no help at all. Much to his embarrassment he had vomited shortly after waking up thanks to what was indeed a concussion. He still struggled to think straight and with the medical stations offline he would just have to deal with it. At least there was plenty of deadly, deadly ice around to keep the swelling down. Trinity was missing. The ship's systems were failing. It was getting colder. He could already see his breath. Inside the generator core Balva relayed information to him on the outside and together they struggled to figure out why she wasn't turning over like she should. Instead of the constant deep hum it should have been making the core sputtered and flared any coughed up any energy it managed to produce. The fuel was intact, none of the coils were broken, rotors seemed to be working, and there was obviously an ignition cycle. They had agreed it had to be one of a billion connections or transfer points knocked loose on impact. Without being able to shut off the ship's systems entirely he couldn't be in the core with Balva and with only one set of hands working on the problem it would take twice as long to fix. Regardless, he was glad to have the little guy around.

"Oi! Link TC-8390 sound!" Balva shouted at him.

Iisska turned away from the makeshift metal smithing workshop he was setting up and marked off the link on a schematic of the generator core he had laid out. It was another among hundreds. Luckily they were making progress as the schematic filled up with check marks of parts that were fine or they had fixed, "Marked," he called back. This system had been going on for hours.

The bone he had been grinding between his teeth splintered. He spat it and the pieces out with the rest into the garbage and replaced it with another one from the dinner plate that was still sitting nearby. So many parts were charred beyond repair, smashed or otherwise in need of complete reconstruction or replacement. Though, replacement was not an option here. As far as he knew Hoth was a safe place to hide out, but that was because there were no settlements or permanent outposts. Everybody was expecting him to fix this. He was expecting himself to fix this. Even as the situation grew more and more grim he kept moving along with the work like it would get done sooner or later.

He jumped and stumbled, his head spinning and his heart pounding heard when there was a sudden clang and a slew of screaming from the core. Just Balva. It was always just Balva. He leaned forward and shook his head supporting himself on a homemade saw horse.

"AH! YE GREAT CANNIE TOSS O'SHITE!!," more banging and a sudden flicker and shutdown of all the lights on board followed, "AH'LL CHIB YER MUM AND PUT YER HOOS ON FIRE YA BASTART!"

With another series of clangs and what sounded like an electric whine the lights came back on somewhat brighter than before. Iisska looked around with a grimace and rubbed his temples.

"Link TC-8742 fixed!" Balva sounded suddenly far more cheery.

"Got it," Iisska mumbled and marked it off, "Think that one did something," he added trying to sound more chipper himself.

You are all going to suffer, freeze and die here no matter how much you try. Even if you manage to fix everything else, and you can't, you know you can't fix the hyperdirve. the thought pierced to the forefront of his thoughts and for a few moments his expression became vacant and distant. Again he snapped the small but solid bone between his teeth like it was a piece of straw and the floor and clutter and parts and tools around him shuddered and pushed away slowly like ripples in a pond. He glared at the ship's insides and balled up his fists. He could feel what he was doing and tried closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to stop it.

Think about something else, he urged himself, focus on something else. A coolant pump rattled into the wall and he watched it. Nine screws, nine bolts, four seals, three hoses, a cable box, two valves, two timing switches... The shuddering of matter around him died down and objects came to a stop. He visibly relaxed and then, You are all going to die. In a fraction of a second the coolant pump tore itself apart piece by piece. Every individual component was ripped out of place and distanced from the rest then slowed in the air like it had never been assembled to begin with. Then they all clattered to the ground. He took a step back just looking at the mess.

"Link TG-9531 check!"

"Y- Yeah! Got it..." Iisska checked it off and then went back to tearing into unnecessary equipment looking for anything that could help them fix major systems.

A hand was placed onto Iisska's shoulder, cold and mettalic. "Quite the unique power you have there." Marquis stood behind him, his eye a light pink. "Bang up job you're doing here. Trinity should be back online soon, I think. Doing alright?"

Iisska snapped away from the touch with a snarl before he realized it was only Sterling. He sighed and twirled a wrench around in his fingers while forcing a smile.

"Saw that didja? It's so unique I have no fucking idea how I did it or how to do it again, but that's life I guess," he said with an eyeroll, "I'm doing fantastic. Once we get this son of a bitch up and running and once Trinity is back things will go a lot smoother."

"So you're not going to tell me what's wrong. Alright." Marquis shrugged and turned. "Let me know if you guys need help with anything. I am not perfect with engineering but I will do what I can." He started to walk out of the room, leaving them to their business.

"Sterling. I can't fix... It's not going to be possible..." he clenched his teeth and tried to find a way to admit it, but couldn't, 'I'm gonna get Trinity back online first. At least then we'll have everyone accounted for... and then we'll just have to go fom there."

"Yes, yes you can." He stopped. "Gold can be made from the blackest of scorched scrap.Don't worry about it. Just focus on getting trinity fixed."
Iisska nodded.

---

Less than an hour later a violent kick start could be heard coursing through the entire ship. She rumbled hard and then stilled as the lights came back on full force. The heat followed along with other life support and control systems. Navigations were still down of course but at least now they wouldn't be going about the repairs blind anymore. The cab lit up brightly and computers booted up.

"Balva! What did you do!?" Iisska dropped what he was doing and crouched by the entrance to the generator core.

"Laddie, fit to voids ya think ahm doin! Ah sodder the bobs n bits an yell em tae the dunderheed teuchter next over, an ah donmind tellin' ya!" Balva retorted.

Iisska couldn't help but smile as he finally accessed the computers, "I have no idea what that is coming out of your mouth but I think we did it! Come on! We need to get to Trinity's A.I. core!"

He bolted off, not waiting for Balva. He took the steps out of the cargo bay two at a time and sprinted down the corridor to the cab to check Trinity's main projector. Finally. Progress. He skidded to a stop and slammed into the control panel.

"Trinity?"

He got no response. He tried turning on the projector manually and fiddling with it a bit. Still nothing. With a frown he went back to meet up with Balva who was working his way into the core now.

"Anything? Is something broken in there?"

"Dinnae see nothin," Balva answered, "Looks pure dead awrite. Dunno what tae tell ya, laddie."

The little alien squirmed back out into the hallway and shrugged.

Iisska turned in place, rubbing his head and pressing his lips together. After a few moments of silence he wandered off, "Dammit all... We must have missed something..."

Sitting within a small lounge within the ship, Marquis, Balva, and Iisska had found some solace to relax while Trinity's A.I. core booted up. Turned out that she was totally fine, but her A.I. core took time to ready itself for use. It would be a couple hours, but it was nice and warm in the ship, the food synthesizer was working excellently, and Zen was leaving them alone for once!

Iisska sat in one of the booths, his feet propped up, Marquis sitting across from him and Balva at the end of the table, his head barely poking up over the table. "So! Markey!" Balva spoke up. "We got us a cup'ah hours, what's yer story?" Marquis looked at the little man, a cup of hot oil in hand. He shrugged and started to speak, his eye a pearly white. "I was created on Nar Shadda by Radon Thexys, an Ithorian crime lord that had a habit of being overprotective. He did not enjoy conflict, nor having his personal property be gazed upon by those he deemed unworthy. In addition to being an assassin droid in his service, I was also his bodyguard. The estate where he lived was attacked quite a bit. Anybody that happened to survive the attack that did not have their head blown apart would be hunted down the next day." Balva was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Jus 'ow many people did ya kill in yer time thar?" Marquis took a swig of his oil and thought about it for a moment. "Seven thousand, eight hundred, thirty three. That was before I joined the crew of the Harpoon." Both Balva's and Iisska's jaw dropped at the number. "SO. Iisska." Marquis looked at him. "What is your story?" "My story?" Iisska looked up and shrugged, "Can't say there's a whole lot to tell... Nothing that would interest people like you guys anyway." "Oh whi don' ya jus' skip da modusty and jus tell us!" Balva yelled.

"Fine! Keep your pants on, shrimp. If everyone else is doing it..." he rolled his eyes, "Dunno where to start. Grew up in a mountain town on Shili, Dad taught me how to fix ships after Mom told the Jedi to take a hike and never come back. Mom could be a real nasty bitch sometimes," he chuckled and a soft smile spread across his face, "... 'Course they did come back for my younger half sister and that was the last we saw of her. Mom and Ty really had a nasty fight over that one. Uh, Ty is Dad's third wife and that was her kid. Anyway, Mom was a hunter and butcher and taught most of the girls, my sisters, the trade. I went along a few times but wasn't ever that good at it. Pretty normal stuff I guess... Until I got arrested. Mom died while I was in prison on Courescant and I went back after that, but it just wasn't really the same I guess. Didn't really fit in anymore and the neighborhood didn't much care for me hanging around so I left. Bummed around a few planets for the next few years. Heard Dad picked up a fourth wife and they had a boy, guess that makes eleven of us now... But at least he's happy. I hope."
_________________

Zen was outside the ship, after the talking had concluded, most of the crew started to settle down, especially Marquis and the recently reactivated Trinity. Zen however was outside, his robes whipping around his body as the winds sliced their way through their landing zone. He had his hood up, his lightsabers at his sides. From within the dilapidated ship, Iisska and Marquis were sitting in a small lounge, that had somewhat survived the crash, that was near the opening ramp of the ship. Iisska looked out a window to see Zen standing in the night snow. He asked what he was doing and Marquis poked his head close to the window to see as well and his eye turned a light green, then a dark red. "Iisska...grab your blaster. Something is not right." Just as he said that, Zen drew his sabers.

"Come out, you cowardly monster. I know you're there. " He had both his sabers humming quietly at his side, illuminating the area around him. Zen starred straight ahead, seemingly seeing something in the darkness of the tundra. Appearing slowly out of the storm, it's cloak disabling and revealing the hulking form of the hunter, it's arm blades shining in the light from Zen's sabers. "Tu'cha'kah." Zen spoke, his voice barely audible over the snow. "...Gallow..." It spoke. It's helmet retracted, the metal folding over itself and pulling into it's collar. A lizard-like man with deep scars all over it's dark green scaled head, it's eyes black as night and teeth filed to razor sharp points. A pointed tongue slithered out between them as it spoke. "Finally, Gallow. I have found my...prey." Zen stood fast, flipping his blacksaber to back hand with his whitesaber remaining front hand. "It is you, corrupted beast, that shall fall prey to my blades." A deep chortle echoed from within Tu'cha'kah's chest as he reached behind his hip to a pack and fished out a small metallic sphere. Just as he did, the lights on the front of the Harpoon turned on, casting a bright white light onto what will be the two warriors' battlefield.

Iisska had his blaster on him as he went down to the docking bay with Quin nearby. Marquis had climbed up to the top of the ship and sat down. The lizard reached up to click a small button on the sphere and it floated up in the air for several moments.

Without warning, Iisska went forward, slamming onto the ground, his head being sent into a maelstrom of pain and anguish a thousand times worse than any pain that he had ever encountered in his life. He gripped his head as he screamed and writhed on the ground, his wails filling the hanger. Outside, Zen was experiencing the same pain, he grit his teeth and was down on one knee, the pain being equivalent of somebody dropping a hundred Kaminos on him. He breathed slowly and in bursts, barely sustaining himself. It took everything he had to stand up and grip his Sabers. He flooded the force within him to his mind and tried to shove out the pain as Tu'cha'kah's helmet now covered his head and he bolted forward, arm blades at the ready, Zen grit his teeth to the breaking point and met his foe head on, bringing down a saber onto it's head only for it to be blocked and a thunder-backed punch hit Zen in the gut, sending him reeling backwards into the snow. He recovered quickly and dashed to the side as shoulder-mounted blasterfire came his way, glassing the water in the snow instantaneously, each shot getting closer to Zen as his foe recalculated. Zen zigzagged back and forth, narrowly dodging blasts that would destroy him in an instant. A rifle shot rang out from the ship, narrowly missing Tu'cha'kah's sphere as it floated next to him. He turned and fired on the top of the ship where Marquis was firing from, giving Zen enough time to blitz forward, jumping into the air and slamming down onto Tu'cha'ka.

Inside the ship, Iisska couldn't stop screaming, Quin and Balva managed to get him to the med bay, but they might as well have just started hitting him with metal objects as it would have helped just as much as they have.

His sabers screamed against it's armor, drawing deep scorch marks that bled to the scales below, making the monster scream, but it stood strong, haymaking Zen in the jaw, ripping across his chest with his massive arm-blade and preparing for the kill move, only for Zen to unleash what little force energy he had built up in a radial explosion, sending both of them backwards and giving time for Zen to recover, but it seemed to barely effect the monster before him as Tu'cha'kah walked towards Zen, laughing. "Assss prey, thissss issss your mosssst dissssappointing performanssse, Gallow. " He raised his arm, Zen's blood covering it. It flicked it to the side, sending the liquid into the snow. it approached the massively weakened Sith and gripped his neck, raising him into the air, choking the air out of his lungs. Blood covered Zen's face as he fought to stay conscious. "Our long hunt sssshall now come to a pathetic end, Gallow. Running can only get you sssso far." It raised his arm blade for the final lunge but froze as a shot rang out. Its spherical contraption exploded, falling to the snow in a heap. It looked up towards the ship and saw Marquis standing, giving a two fingered salute. It looked back at Zen to see him smiling, turning into a hysterical laugh. It went to deliver it's final blow, but it was far, far too late as the force seized it's body and threw it back into the snow. Zen dropped to the ground and rose up slowly.

Jumping up out of the snow, it wasn't prepared for Zen already making leaps and bounds for it's position. It didn't have any time what so ever so block the dual sabers tearing across it's chest in a large combo, coloring it's armor the darkest black as it was scorched to nothing. It flaked off bit by bit before it's underarmor became exposed where then Zen used the force to pop Tu'cha'kah into the air, back down to slam it's spine down onto Zen's knee, be thrown across the battlefield, into the nose of the ship, be slammed into the nose five more times, each consecutive impact greatly denting the nose, before being thrown into an arch into the glass that was created from earlier, raining shards about the area. It tried to rise, but it was constricted by Zen again, being held in the air. It's shoulder turret tried to fire, but it was crumpled into dust by Zen's immense power, as was it's arm blades. Its helmet was forcibly ripped off and now it was Tu'cha'kah that was gritting it's teeth and snarling.

"You vile, pathetic, corrupted piece of indescribable GARBAGE." Zen screamed. Marquis had run back down to the ship to find Iisska recovering from the mind shattering pain slowly. He would be fine, but Marquis turned on the audio in the ship's bridge, allowing them to hear what was happening. "You are NOTHING. Gallow. My master will exact vengeansssse on your pathetic life and your unworthy crew!" "You have brought darkness and corruption to this world..." he stood before Tu'cha'kah now, his arm held up, his hand tense, holding this monster. He started to tighten his grip. "For this, Tu'cha'kah...I, Sith Lord Gallow, Send you back to the void...FROM WHENCE YOU WERE BORN." The snow around Gallow seemed to move in waves as his grip tightened, his exposed muscles contracting from the effort. The monster before him began to shake violently and scream, it's limbs being turned inside out and forced inside it's torso. Gallow's robes started to move on their own, regardless of the wind, the force seeping out of him, making the snow withdraw from around him slowly. A dark glow appeared around Tu'cha'kah as he was imploded by Gallow's substantial power before finally it started to crumple and implode into a darkness within it. The dark aura was a black hole! Gallow's hand was turning into a tightly bound fist, forcing Tu'cha'kah into the black hole, bit by bit. It imploded and screamed as loud as it could, hurting even the listeners inside the Harpoon before it crumpled into nothingness and was sucked into the black hole, into the void itself.

Gallow stood motionless for a short time, the black hole in front of him imploding with it's new occupant. He gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists, yelling into the sky, the snow around him moving away in waves again as his force power was expunged, one of his greatest foes having been vanquished at last. He cut his scream short, throwing his hands out, palms outstretched and downwards, squatting, calming the sea of force power around him.

He turned towards the ship.

The pain and the darkness and the overwhelming urge to cut his own throat, to put the blaster in his hand to his head, to take his own life in anyway came to a sudden stop. There was a warm light over him that flickered and swayed between the shadows cast by the tall grasses and abundant trees. He rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up. It smelled like it had just rained. The soil and foliage was damp under his palms and knees. It was so familiar. He curled into a crouch and realized that he was barefoot and shirtless. A light tapping by his face drew his hand and he could feel the simplistic Togruta headdress wrapped around his lekku and montrals. There on a a leather strap hung a tooth from the single akul he'd ever managed to take down. Just the one, but it had been enough to pass out of childhood and it was only a formality anyway. A foreign tongue whispered to him from somewhere far away but resonated in a hiss on the wind. He followed it, slinking through and blending into the shadows of the garish, fire-tinted grass. Soon he came to a road paved with lava stones, worn smooth from thousands of years of travel. A preteen girl sat on a low stone wall that lined the road swinging her feet and plucking the petals off of a white flower. Not sure why exactly, he sat next to her.

"Hey, Iisska," she sighed.

"Hey, Myna," he said, "Long time no see."

"Yeah," she said quietly and looked at him out of the corner of her eye, "You got big. What do you do, lift things and put them back down all day? ... Can't be anything too strenuous. You were always lazy and looks like you still didn't get rid of that belly."

"It's not a belly," he argued, "It's completely average... after that much booze and human food."

That managed to get a giggle out of her, "And your montrals still look funny, even grown out. I've never seen anybody with them sweeping back that far."

"I don't have to listen to this" he started to stand up again.

"Iisska," Myna chuckled and twirled the beads on her headdress around a thin finger, "Come back. I'm kidding."

He slumped back down with a smirk, "Yeah well you were always pasty and bony."

She elbowed him in the ribs, playfully. Then they both fell into silence. He watched as more of the white petals were stripped from the red center of the flower and tumbled down to the stones. It wasn't until a few moments later that he realized the trickles of blood seeping out from under them when they landed.

"I thought we were going to get married," Myna finally whispered.

"I was twelve when I said that," Iisska blushed and scratched his head, "Besides, your mom hated me and my family. She'd never have sold me any of her girls, let alone you."

"That wouldn't have stopped you back then," Myna dropped the barren stem into the puddle of blood on the ground, "I would have loved to have seen the look on her face."

Iisska smiled, "Yeah, me too."

"Iisska..." she clutched at her chest.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Why did you kill me?"

The young girl turned to look him in the eyes. Her right eye was brilliant acidic green and filled with tears. The left was smashed along with the side of her skull into a bloody mess. Bone protruded through the ruined flesh and massive bruising spread out from the wound. Blood and pale yellow fluids flowed down her neck and chest. Iisska jumped up and recoiled away from her. She stood slowly and followed him.

"I didn't even do anything to you," she sobbed and tried to wipe away the tears.

"That's not what happened!," he backed away from her, "I wasn't trying to--"

"Yes it is!" she screamed in agony, her soft face twisted, "And you got away with it! They let you out! You should be rotting away in the RJCDC with the other filth! You shouldn't be allowed to be near anybody! Your mother should have abandoned you!"

The sky grew dark as she approached him and he suddenly found himself with his back against a wall and nowhere to run. Insectoid fingers reached out of the void and dug into his wrists and ankles, burning and tearing where they gripped.

He was starting to panic as the pain in his skull returned and he pleaded with her, "Myna! I swear it was an accident! I never would have--"

"You're dangerous, Iisska. You're a monster. You're evil..." she hissed.

The long sharp fingers shot into his heart and churned. The sky was black and the land was on fire. The road was a river of blood. Myna got so close to him he could smell her. The flesh was tightening and becoming brittle around her bones and her eye sockets were becoming hollow. She reached out with skeletal fingers and touched his face. Behind her bodies stepped out of the flames, all alabaster and beautiful, but devoid of a soul and starving. They consumed each other but could not satiate the hunger and the rage that drove them. He screamed in pain and writhed trying to get away from her touch and the black claws that held him down. He wanted to kill her again. Kill her and put her in a place where she would never come back. She needed to die. They all needed to die.

He forced the fingers from his body and blasted her down into the blood flow, holding her under until she suffocated and dissolved into nothingness. His skin darkened and black veins reached across it's surface. Fangs bared, eyes glowing red, headdress adorned with teeth ripped from the jaws of sentient beings. He could erase it all.

---

A sensation of falling overtook him and Iisska was jolted awake just before slamming into the ground. He scrambled up and tripped and rolled until he was huddled into a corner. There he caught his breath and remembered where he was. The medical bay on the Harpoon. It was quiet and still. He was alone. For a moment he put his head on his knees.

Sith Lord Gallow. The name repeated in his mind over and over again. Everything else had been a blur, but that stuck with him through the blinding pain. Just what was a Sith Lord anyway? Where in the damned 'verse was Zen? This was all his fault.

"Zen," Iisska growled while pulling himself up. He stomped out of the medical bay looking for the man. Iisska staggered to the ship's lounge looking for Zen, or anybody he could interrogate for that matter. It was empty for the time being. He walked over to the synthesizer and ordered the strongest drink it would let him and slammed it back in one breath before getting another. If it didn't help him remember last night maybe it would help him forget what parts he still had. Early morning be damned. Immediately he felt a stabbing nausea but held it back. Again he went looking for the crew.

"Zen! Sterling! Balva! ... Hello!?"

Balva poked his head out of a duct above Iisska. "Whut da bluddy 'ell are you screamin' aboot now?!" it was obvious that Balva was a little more than tipsy as well.

"I'm not screaming!" Iisska screamed, "I..." he cleared his throat and lowered his voice, "Have you seen Zen? I wanna talk to him."

"Nope. Not at all. "He retreated back into his duct.

Iisska sighed, "Well do you have any idea where he may have gone? C'mon man."

He was already long gone, Iisska's voice would go unheard.

Iisska glared up at the duct and took another deep swig from his drink before moving on. He stopped by his room to kick off his boots on his way to check on the A.I. core to see if Trinity was up and running now. She would be more help.

He knocked on the panel outside the core, "Anyone home?"

There was no response at the door. Trinity was not active yet.

He gritted his teeth and growled in his chest, "Uhg, dammit! Fine! Whatever everybody just up and vanish! Why not!? Not like we were all just very nearly killed or nothin'! Not like Zen's a fucking... something... But that's exactly the problem! Was I the only one who felt that!? Did you people SERIOUSLY not FEEL THAT SHIT!? I mean c'mon! That was like... I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT WAS LIKE!"

Iisska kicked in the door to the cab and slumped in one of the chairs before falling forward and slamming his head on the control panel in frustration. There was a long silence.

"Ow..." he mumbled.

Marquis came up behind him and slumped an arm onto his shoulder. "Hey buddy. What is wrong?"

"Everything..." he whined and tilted his head so his chin was now resting on the panel, "I don't know what's going on and I don't know what to think and here I am just rambling and talking to myself. Fuck. I hate being alone Sterling. I hate-- Wait. 'Buddy?'"

"What? I am unallowed to say the word "Buddy" now? He mused. "It seems to me that you are on the right track to forgetting." He gestured at the bottle. "Zen is being weird."

Remembering he had sweet sweet comfort he took another long drink as soon as Sterling reminded him of it. Then he grimaced as it hit his stomach hard once more.

"Weird? That's the most fucking erroron-- errorous-- erronous... yeah, erroneous statement I have ever heard," he grumbled, "Do you have any idea what he was talking about with that... thing or where he is now?"

"The...bit about how he is a sith lord...yeah. I am keeping my opinions to myself on that. At least until trinity is fully back online. As for Zen...I think he is in his room."

"There's that word again. Sith. What's a sith?"

"You...do not know? How long have you lived under that rock, Iisska?"

"OH!! OH OKAY!!" He shot up to his feet and nearly fell, but caught himself, "Everybody knows about this thing except me! That's fine! Not like I haven't been running around the galaxy since I was seventeen. Not like I haven't seen a bunch of shit and never once heard of this mysterious awesomeness that somehow everybody knows about but me! OH DARN! MUST HAVE BEEN LIVING UNDER A ROCK!"

"To be completely fair, Iisska. Anybody running about the galaxy since they were seventeen WOULD know what a Sith was."

"OH!! OH REALLY!! OKAY!! I'M A LIAR NOW TOO!! I GET IT!!"

The Togruta stood up straight, frowned and narrowed his eyes before taking a deep breath and placing a hand over his stomach in a pose of the utmost regal modesty.

"Sterling. Please. Just tell me what--" without warning Iisska doubled over and puked into the closest scrap bin.

If Marquis could, he would be smiling right now. Instead, he laughed. "Okay. Think Jedi, but wants to kill everybody. Think Jedi Master, but the reverse. A Sith Lord. Then think of Zen, whom is a Gray Sith, neutral, but follows the sith doctrine. He is a gray sith lord."

Iisska lay on the floor next to the bin, "That was terrible, Sterling."

"Oh. Right. You cannot think. Just know that he has earned his super powers."

"Oh. Right. You cannot think. Just know that he has earned his super powers."

"No, no... I get it. Kinda... Okay not really, but it's a start," he mumbled, "You. You knew this?"

"I did not know he was a sith lord, but I knew he was a Gray sith."

"Oh. I guess... I guess that's..." he sat up slowly and crossed his legs, "That's happened. It doesn't matter now, though. We're all going to die here."

"Not unless you get off of your ass and fix the engines. Trinity should be around soon enough."

"So, get off your arse." He kicked him.

Iisska curled up to protect himself then stumbled up.

"I can fix the engines... most likely. I'm super talented like that," he smirked, "That's not the problem, though. Nobody can fix a cracked hyperdrive. You have to replace the whole damn thing. Even the people who build them for a living don't exactly know all the ins and outs of the tech and they wouldn't dream of making a repair like that. Even if I do get those engines fixed we'll be thrusting through space for an eternity before we reach the next populated outpost."

"Well. Time to learn then. We have plenty of time for you to become the only hyper drive specialist in the known universe."

"Sterling. Listen. Just listen for a second. If I mess up," he spoke slowly with deliberate hand gestures, "Even just a smidge. If I look at the hyperdrive funny. If I sneeze and it gets upset. We all die a terrible disgusting death."

"Consider it a challenge then." He looked at him, his eye a light pink. "Trinity will be able to help, but the ship's auto repair system is shoddy at best. "

"Yeah I was afraid of that. We'll have to shut it out of the hyperdrive for the time being," he scratched his chin, "With Trinity's help... So. Just so we're all clear on this. You've all come to terms with death? Right? We're all in agreement that death is imminent?"

"We are in the midst of a Sith Lord. We are all bound to die one way or another. Hop to it."

"Fan-fucking-tastic," he rubbed his hands together, "I guess this way I will get to kill Zen after all," he chuckled nervously, "I'll see you around, Sterling... And thanks... I feel... well I almost feel better. A little. Probably."

Iisska left the cab still a little tipsy but feeling stable enough to work. Once down in the engine room he tied his lekku back and dragged his tools out of the million places that had wound up the day before, gathered the ruined parts he would need to focus on, and the salvaged bits he would have to tear apart to desperately patch things up. Then he maneuvered deeper into the engines where the hyperdrive lay in wait. It just sat there, shut down, slumbering, waiting for him to start stabbing at it so it could get angry and murder him. He reached out to the small fracture where the intricate patterning in the cells didn't line up. Then he stopped, afraid to even touch it. He just stared. He had no idea what to do. He wanted to fix it. For all his resentment and fighting and depressing nay-saying he really wanted to fix it and get out of here. He wanted to live. He wanted all of them to live. How, though?

Not knowing what to do about it now and having zero ideas he went back to work on the main engines.

"Aaah, that was a good...good...good...ALRIGHT. WHY IS MY ASS FREEZING?!"

Trinity appeared on the main console in the briefing room, three of her fingers slotted in the middle of her forehead as she sighed and ran diagnostics. "Why in the VOID am I buried thirty feet in the snow...why has somebody been tampering with my engines?! WHY is the hyperdrive cracked?! WHY IS MY NOSE SMASHED MULTIPLE TIMES?!" Several windows appeared around the infuriated woman, as well as a feed from what happened outside. "MARQUIS!" Her voice boomed out of each of the intercoms and everybody was roused from whatever they were doing. Marquis sprinted for the briefing room and poked his head into the door. "Oh! Honey! You're back on-" "Explanation. Now. The feed was knocked out by a SUPER POWERED ZEN."

One explanation later....

Her normal dark blue color turned red as she found out what happened to the ship. Gallow came running into the room as he finished, Iisska right behind him. She shot daggers at Gallow. "ZEN-" "I've decided to go by gal-" "ZENITHAR OURAN. You are banned from telling me where to pilot the ship." She snapped her fingers in the air several times. "Repair bots, Please assist Iisska with the repairs and get the DAMN hyperdrive fixed. " Zen stepped forward, his eyes squinted. "Wait, wait, hold on. You're telling me that I cannot cap-" She came right back at him, her voice growing more menecing by the word. "Shut the fuck up, Zen. You broke my nose." His eyes lowered and his hands clasped behind his back. "Yes ma'am." He backed away towards the door. "Go shovel my ass out of the snow, Zen." He bowed and backed out, running to go do as she said. Meanwhile, both Iisska's and Sterling's jaws were dropped. "...and why in the VOID is SHE doing here?!" She gestured towards Quin, whom had poked in as well. "She joined us out of need, Trin. She is...a marksman! Yes! Like me, but with automatics! Yes!" He made up a lie...or a truth, he had no idea. She sighed and nodded. "Silver." She said as she was just starting to calm down, returning to her blue color. "Yes, dove?" His eye turned a light pink. He was hoping that he wasn't going to get yelled at. "I need a hug." He nodded and sped off to jack in and be with her. Iisska was the last one there, his eyes wide. "Don't just stand there, Iisska. Fix the ship!" He nodded frantically and ran off, not willing to mess with a still pissed off Trinity. She sighed and retreated to her personal zone, where Marquis was waiting to comfort her.

Zen, outside the ship, quickly used the force to budge the ship out of a snowbank and let the floating repair bots in to fix the landing gear. Once it was finished, they went to work on the engine, patching up the serious damages and cracks with blow torches then retreated back to their slots, having finished quickly. Trinity herself came to Iisska and was there to help guide him with the hyperdrive repairs.

After the ship was let down, Gallows went to work on the nose, carefully undoing the severe dents against it.

Once everything was done, the engine was tested and it kicked up fine, it would be just enough to get them to a store to get actual repairs. Gallow retreated inside, his body frosted over from the blizzard picking up. He went into the lounge and was kicked out by Trinity, not wanting to even talk with the "mighty sithlord that slammed a lizard man into her face." and he accompanied Gyro to his room. Everybody else was in the lounge, discussing their next location....

The elderly Mirialan woman hobbled out of the great hall, leaning heavily on a twisted, hand-carved cane. Her face was partially hidden by the dark shawl which covered her hair and shoulders and flowed into the line of her thick robes. Many of the younger, busier senators whisked past her, caught up in their conversations, opinions and work. She watched them with a frown and tried to move to her office as fast as those aching legs could take her. Maybe she would get lucky and make it before anyone tried to talk to--

"Senator Imzad!"

She grumbled and pretended that she couldn't hear them. A moment of peace, the Spirits would refuse her even that. Incessant, ruthless, blind and starving creatures these young politicians. All of them running around, posturing, primping, arguing, deceiving, bargaining and fraternizing. The mental gauntlets and cutthroat games and the drive and energy to make them endless... Those were the good days.

"Senator Imzad," a gentle hand fell on her shoulder. The old woman looked up with a feigned look of innocent surprise.

"Oh my, Ia-Nys Otouta," she greeted the tall, dark haired man with a soft smile, "What a pleasure."

The man took her hand and shook it briefly. His chest was puffed out and he was immaculately groomed and dressed with perfectly white teeth.

"I assure you the pleasure is mine. It's been too long," he beamed.

"It has," she replied. These political pleasantries made the bile rise in her gut, "But I doubt our time apart has been brought to a close due to personal matters."

The man frowned a little, "I'm afraid not... Straight to business as usual then. You've been assigned a body guard."

"I'm honored the Senate has a mind to consider my safety, but I assure you it is hardly necessary."

"This is hardly up for debate," Otouta shrugged and held out a hand behind them, "This is Qazelok Danol, Jedi Consular."

She let out and audible sigh as she was forced to stop walking and make the effort to turn and make nice with yet another useless Jedi.

"Qazelok, this is Senator Sanora Imzad of Mirial."

When she had finished limping around to face the pair of men a deep frown pulled at the hashing of wrinkles that scattered and faded the smattering of tattoos on her face. Her brows were pressed together. She looked over the Jedi as if she were being swindled. An Iridonian... maybe... He had the horns and the stature, but his skin was pale, his hair was white and tied back into a short tail, and his eyes were glassy and colorless aside from a redish tint and any reflected hues they caught. An albino. A mutation that would not have allowed him to survive under the desert sun nor in his species' society. Not to mention the myriad of other health issues that must come along with such a deformity. Jedi Consular, Otouta had said. This one was still wet behind the ears. In what universe could he have had the experience and mental fortitude to become a Consular? And what luck with the vast majority of padawans being assigned the rank of Knight as their first promotion what with a war raging and fresh fodder needed for the front lines. The Senate had pushed a draft order through only weeks ago as the coffers ran deeper into the negatives and money for more clones drew beyond their reach. The damned Order wouldn't keep a warrior fit for battle here in the sheltered bosom of Courescant, nor would they waste such a resource on an aging, unpopular Senator unless he was a reject.

"Senator Imzad," Qazelok bowed deeply, "It is a great honor to be your body guard. I will protect you with my life."

Imzad looked on, baffled at such a display. She looked between the young Jedi and the Representative. Waiting for the punchline to this joke.

"When did you leave your master?" she grunted, "Last week? Yesterday? You've still got baby fat on your cheeks! 'A great honor?' Stowe your polite speeches, boy. You want to be out with your comrades, testing your skill on your own. Not looking after a dying hag. A Consular," she snorted, "When given to little ones like you that title becomes a fancy word for 'liability.' Otouta, tell his Order to put him somewhere else. Even if they want to keep this one on a shelf I can think of hundreds of places more useful."

The young Jedi's eyes grew wide, but he stood still and said nothing. The exasperated Otouta tried to put up an argument but Imzad turned on him and continued her slow limp down the corridor.

"It was so nice to speak to you two," she said sweetly, "Do come around more often."

As far as she could tell they had not bothered to follow. Good. The rest of the long walk to her offices was enjoyed in relative quiet with little interruption. Upon reaching the large door and the electronic pad next to it she found that the pad had been powered down and that the door itself was unlocked. She pushed it open slowly. The sprawling office, lit by the large windowed wall and setting sun was undisturbed save for a pale Jedi standing in the corner. He turned his eyes on her.

"For someone who was nearly assassinated for her radical views on war policies your security is abysmal. I'd almost be bold enough to suggest you may, in fact, want to die," Qazelok spoke casually.

"Get out," Imzad growled at him and jabbed a gnarled finger at the door, "You are dismissed. Fired. Trespassing, whatever it takes to get rid of you!"

"You can't fire me, Ma'am," he smiled, "You're technically not my boss. The Military is. And last I checked the government is currently under crisis and thus under Martial law."

Imzad glared at the audacious welp.

"Somebody powerful likes you," he shrugged.

---

The next morning after rudely being dragged out of the engine core, where he had slept, the Togruta was met with the misfortune of finding himself standing knee deep in the snow. He shivered and huddled against the biting cold in clothing that was nowhere near enough to stand up to the harsh elements.

"Z-Zen... What the gr-reat celestial f-f-f-FUCK are we doing out here?" he managed to spit.

Zen looked over the snowy plain in front of them, seeing the hundreds of faceless snowmen. "We must destroy them immediately! Lest they overtake our position and attack us from the rear!"

An eeire quiet swept over the pair of them save for the slow wind that swirled little fingers of snow through the air and tugged softly at them. The ship's frame creaked in the cold. The snowmen stood completely still and lifeless in their barren wasteland under the pink sunrise.

"I'm going back to sleep," Iisska grumbled.

A ominous growling came from the snowmen in front of them and they started to grow crazy snow arms! Zen shoved a saber into Iisska's hands and just used the force to throw Iisska into the snowmen to begin the attack!

Instinctively he curled and rolled to a stop before shaking off the snow. He was about to start yelling, but found himself surrounded by the horrible snow things. Immediately he threw a punch into the face of the one closest to him as it flailed it's long arms. It connected. The snowman's face shattered under the blow, but the stuff was hard as ice and absolutely bitter cold. Iisska clutched his hand to his chest groaning and backing off instead of fighting.

"ZEN! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! TRINITY!" he screamed back.

"I THINK IT'S FUNNY. I GAVE YOU A LIGHTSABER THOUGH, DUMBASS."

Iisska still gripped the damned thing in his left hand and now looked the wrong way down the shaft into the lense, his fingers dangerously close to the power switch.

"What-- How do you--" he turned it over several times like some sort of impossible puzzle toy. A heavy tentacle-like arm slammed into the snow, barely missing him. Blaster! Where was his blaster! He reached for the holster and found it empty. His heart sank.

"SHIIIITTT!!" he gave up and sprinted away franticly.

"CLICK THE POWER BUTTON WITHOUT LOOKING DOWN THE LIGHT TUBE-THING. POINT IT AT THEM AND GET SWIPEY"

"THERE IS NO POWER BUTTON, YOU FUCKING SADISTIC PILE OF SHIT MORONIC-- Oh... Wait... There it is."

With a flick of the wrist to get it away from his body, Iisska hit the switch and a long beam of white light shot out of the hilt. The heat was beyond intense and the rush of power nearly popped his arm out of socket. Without any more thought he took the saber in both hands and swung it wide and out of control into the neck of the nearest snow monster. It melted clean through and the snow slumped into an amorphous shape.

"Now do it again! But better!"

"Yeah, alright, okay, I totally get what you're saying-- A LITTLE MORE INSTRUCTION WOULD BE NICE!" he yelled while slicing a monster in half as if he were weilding an axe.

"Imagine they were all me! Then pretend it's a knife!"

"Go fuck yourself and die, Zen!" Iisska spat before plowing haphazardly into more snowy bodies. Several times he was hit in the face and gut and then thrown off his feet as the beasts became more numerous. The cold was slowing him down and every time he fell he feared the deep snow would suffocate him. Not to mention the damage these things could do if he went down for too long. His heart raced. Imagine they're all Zen. His blood boiled at the thought. They're all Zen... and I finally get to... kill... The ground shook beneath him and a sudden upheaval slammed the ground and flung the ice and snow into the air like a great splash of water that hung in slow motion. The monsters were flung every which way by invisible blows, many in pieces. Iisska shot out of the blast after a stray snowman, blindly slicing it down before charging after the next one with a roar. Unbridaled bursts of energy kicked up the ground and left deep cuts behind and around where he landed. Another violent slam split the permafrost under the snow and ice, causing sheets to cut upward into spikes. Iisska found himself flying through the air dozens of feet above the shattered ground after simply jumping out of the way of another blow and landed hard, sliding back several feet. The last monster came at him and somehow he could feel it rather than see it. Fuck the force, fuck the ship, fuck the hyperdrive, fuck the crew and most of all fuck Zen. He didn't even move, the monster simply exploded from the chest and crumbled into nothing.

It was like an explosion had gone off and he barely remembered any of it.

Once the damage was done and Iisska had blown everything up. Zen just gave him a thumbs up. "Wow. You really hate me. I feel so loved!" He turned to go back inside. "If you break my saber, I'll break you."

"Wh-wait!" Iisska stumbled after him and tripped after a stabbing pain ripped up the side of his ankle. He cursed and got back up, limping onward, "What did I just do!? Zen! You can't keep doing this to me. Not if I don't know what's happening or what I'm doing..."

But the great Sith Lord Gallow didn't so much as look at him. He merely continued inside the ship.

---

"My Queen," the huge man dressed in black and steel sank to his hands and knees on the floor of the ship. He dared not look up at her, "The majority of the new captives are still functional. I believe they are ready to be added to the ranks."

He could hear her heels pacing back and forth in the silence that clouded the bridge.

"Have you heard any interesting news from these... Republic territories?" her voice was deep and silken.

"Nothing that would cause us obstacle or interest, My Queen," he responded, "They are beneath us."

She sighed and stopped her pacing, "Can you not feel that? Feel it!" her sudden yell caused him physical pain but he did not flinch. He knew better, "What am I saying? Of course you can't... Everything in existence is linked through the tender spiraling wisps of fate and causality. There are no coincidences. None what so ever. Your men were destroyed by pitiful bounty hunters, leading us to unnecessary loss. The Republic forces chase down a mysterious outlaw only to be met with catastrophe and then sweep the incident under the rug. Major contenders are being knocked out of the game and each time it happens the Force has been bent to make it so. It is used with such mastery to make it seem as simple as breathing. The bastardized remnants of my ancestry did not and have not left this filthy galaxy after the exodus. Order is decaying in the face of war and death. Someone... Rather, someones... are tipping the balances of fate."

The man remained quiet. He did not follow.

"So loyal. So fearsome. So great. And yet you do not understand. The Lords, my Champion. There is no room for all of us in this universe."

"Is there someone you would like me to destroy then?" he asked.

"Oh, most assuredly, but we must find the second first."

"The second?"

"Only two. No more. No less."

"... Understood."

"Then leave," she ordered. Then she looked back out at the stars most peaceful, "I'm coming for you," she whispered.

---

You're a monster.

Iisska had been half asleep next to the hyperdrive again with a head on his knee, but a waking dream had ripped him back out of the stupor. So tired. The crack was still there. As it had turned out all he was good at was destroying things. Even then it just happened. It wasn't like he wanted to. It just was that way. So angry. The dream that had snapped him awake was the same as the one he had suffered after Gallow's fight. It made no sense. It made him sick. It wasn't his fault. He clenched his fists. He wanted to hit something. Anything to take out the frustration on. Why did the universe want him to fail? Why did it want him to self destruct? Why did it want to take away any sort of control he had on his miserable life? He raised his fist ready to punch the cracked drive right in it's stupid Zen-like face.

"What are you doing?" A female voice scolded him.

Iisska jumped and hissed, "What are you doing!?"

Quin leaned into the opening with a frown and watched him with a raised brow, "You've been working on this for at least three days. Aren't you quite done yet?"

"No. Get out. I have work to do," he growled at her.

"You mean sulking to do, surely."

"Get. Out."

"Why don't you just use your Jedi mind tricks to fix it?"

"Because I can't-- I don't-- Do you even listen to yourself!? For that matter why am I listening to you!?" Iisska turned away in a huff and started digging through his tools and supplies, trying to look like he had purpose, "That shit is for fighting and killing people, not fixing ships... and I'm no Jedi... stupid bitch."

"Excuse you," she frowned, "How do you think Jedi move objects, or illude people, or heal wounds? Do you even know what those powers are or what they do?"

"Nope. And I don't care. They're rubbish."

Quin sighed and shook her head, "So you're just a stupid boy with big guns and no discipline. Never mind then," she began to walk away.

"Hey! Hey!! Don't you just come down here and insult me then leave! I don't have to keep taking this shit from everybody!" he scrambled out after her, "I'm not the ship's whipping boy, I'm not their slave, and I'm not here for your amusement! I'm here to make sure this stupid junker stays in the air. I have a job. You're just here because you got lucky."

She shrugged, "Maybe, but at least I'm not wallowing around in my own inadequacies like a child."

"You..." Iisska rose over her and glared with his teeth bared.

"What? Gonna smack me around again? Gonna slash me to pieces with your little light up toy like you did with Zen's beasties?"

Iisska was silent and still.

"You're not going to do a damn thing. You're too weak and too wrapped up in yourself to even try anymore. You're going to let us all die," she shrugged.

"You're really starting to piss me off," he said quietly.

"No I'm not. I'm starting to make you scared. I've seen it thousands of times before and you absolutely reek of fear. You're not some big, tough, powerful, thug like you want people to think you are. You're a scared, aimless, stubborn, brat who won't slow down long enough to calm down, focus and actually think. I know your type, kid. You light up bright and burn out fast."

"Don't fucking lecture me," he got in her face before turning away, "Trinity. Can you make sure our stowaway stays out of the engine core and out of my way?"

He slipped back into the compartment and fumed for several minutes. I am not acting like a child.

It was hours before he had cooled off enough to slip back into an almost trance-like state as he tinkered with the few parts of the drive that he was brave enough to even touch in an effort to start understanding it better. He could almost feel it. All the links, all the cells, all the power amplifiers and relays, all the reaction housings. Every single one. Then there was the split. So wrong in every way as if it threw the entire construct out of balance. He started thinking about what Quin had said, about the past week or so, about the crew, about his whole life. How had things might have turned out if these people had never come to Courescant? How had things might have turned out if he hadn't been arrested? How had they might have turned out if his mother had just given him up like she was supposed to? If things had turned out right? If things were right...

He took a deep breath and stared at the split. It was everything that was wrong with everything. But he wasn't mad. He didn't have anymore energy to be mad. He just wanted it to be right. To be functional. To be whole. Still focusing on the obstacle he closed his eyes. They could be out of here so easily if not for... A relaxing wave spread over him while still in the trance and it felt like everything had come to a stop. Who was he kidding? Death and destruction were just a part of everything. Fighting it was futile. Things would be reborn in the place of the dead as long as life was kept in balance. They weren't the only living things that mattered. He wasn't the center of the universe... Somehow it felt better that way. Like his mind was in the right flow with everything else. What the fuck was he getting on about? This was stupid mystic mumbo jumbo crap.

He opened his eyes still hyper aware of the drive and all it's functions and malfunctions. Not. In. Balance. He focused on the split throwing everything out of whack and before his eyes. He understood the damn device so well he could just reach out and seal it back together the way it should be. It just had to slide and re-forge... just... like...

That. Before his eyes the crack sealed. He had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. It was one piece. He couldn't feel the barriers anymore, or the malfunctions or the power clogs or the jarring sickness he had when focusing on it before. Slowly he reached out and touched it. Dumbfounded he hurried out of the compartment, got hung up on the exit and face planted the floor.

"Hey! Trinity! Trinity!," he bolted the lead cover back onto the radiation shield, "I think I-- Something happened! Run a diagnostic on the hyperdrive!"

"Ohhhh!!! Ohhhh!" Trinity jumped in her projector as the diagnostics came back and she saw that the ship was fully warp capable. Iisska came into the room and she nearly tried to kiss him, but stopped herself and regained her composure. "Iisska I could hug you if I wasn't immaterial. You glorious bastard." She turned on her heel and looked towards the front, interfacing with a small holographic display as Marquis and Quin came into the cockpit. Marquis took the pilot's seat and began to start the ship up while Iisska took co-pilot. "Alright...Marquis, hun." "Where are we flying Trin? Bespin? Nar Shadaa? Please do not tell me we are flying to Nar Shadaa..." Marquis turned towards trinity, his eye yellow, full of fear for his former home. "Nar Shadaa was where I was going to recommend..." "I am being...hunted there. By a lot of hutts...and my former master, whom spent his entire fortune on a massive bounty on my head." Iisska turned towards him, slack jawed. Trinity just smiled and shook her head. "Bespin it is then. "

A low rumble started in the heart of the ship, the turbines kicking up from a gentle sputter into a fury, igniting the fuel, the cyclers, harmonic stabilizers, power couplings, and, finally, the engines. Glorious dark blue light erupted from the engines, flaring then outward and melting the snowbanks behind them, cutting a swath through the blizzard and acting as a beacon in the dense wall of snow surrounding them. "Come on...Come on..." Sterling whispered as the ship rumbled and slowly rose off of the ground. Trinity angled the ship upwards slightly as it drifted forward and finally upwards and towards the stratosphere. Everybody in the cockpit threw their hands up into the air and yelled with joy as Iisska's work was not sacrificed, the Hyperdrive kicked in and soon they were deep into FTL, speeding off to Bespin.

It wasn't very long before Trinity sent a message ahead to contact the Bespin authorities and gain a docking bay near a workshop to get repairs done and pay a small fee. With the autopilot set, they adorned to the lounge. Hot chocolate was served. It was glorious. It was still going to be a long night before they could get to Bespin, so they had plenty of time to kill.

Gathered around a small booth, Trintiy in her little porta-projector, they each had their big ol' cup of hot chocolate, though with quin being angry off in a corner as usual, Balva not being there, and Zen being grounded, it was just them three. Trinity tried to beckon Quin over, but it seemed like she hadn't warmed up to them quite yet. She summoned a little chair and sat down, listening to Iisska and Silver talk.

Iisska stared at Marquis for a small time and said something peculiar to the man. He mentioned Marquis' kill count and asked if he had any interesting stories to share. He placed a finger on his chin for several moments and thought back to his old career, sifting through the memories, nearly reliving each contract. His metallic skin tingled as he remembered the splattering of blood onto his chassis, the almost iconic slam of his rifle's buttstock against his shoulder, and the nearly mind breaking pleasure reward his assassination protocols would deliver into his system for each contract completion.

"There is...one contract that I am willing to share in polite company. Not exactly as long, arduous, and boring as most of my contracts, but gruesome nonetheless." He sat back as Trinity dimmed the lights a little. His eye glowed a solemn blue color as he recounted the events in his memory...

"I was chasing down an infamous Duros bounty hunter that had put Radon into the hospital. His name: Cad Bane...."

________

Sprinting along, his hand on his bowler hat to keep it from flying off, Marquis bounced from building to building, his target just below him on the street. The blue Duros hunter had just shot Radon in the shoulder, melting most of his shoulder bone and putting him in the hospital. Now he was running, fully aware that Radon's attack dog, M4R0U15 was on his tail. He cut down an alleyway and into a large crowd, but Marquis wasn't far behind him, keeping close with his rifle on his back, constantly scanning ahead for the perfect spot for the shot that would go into Cad Bane's head. That's when Bane did something unexpected, he fired a blaster shot into the air, making the crowd duck and sream, and he himself dashed into a building. Marquis jumped from the building down to street level and dashed into the building, only to be met with the butt of Bane's blaster slamming into his face.

Marquis staggered, a new scratch adorning his forehead as Bane tried to follow up, but Marquis blocked with his cane, snapping the barrel into Bane's cheek and using the butt to shatter his jaw. Bane tried to scream, but found that he was unable as Marquis ripped out the tubes that fed air into Bane's cheeks. He gasped for air and Marquis took the opportunity to maul him, slamming his metal fist into Bane's head multiple times, forcing him onto the ground and using his cane-

"Wait wait...hold on."
________

Trinity interrupted him with her hand up. "Cad Bane is still alive. He's on Corusant. There are headlines about him all the time. No way this happened, Silver." Marquis froze in his seat and his eye turned bright pink. "Well...you see..." He put up a hand, his eye half closing. "It was a long time ago, and..." "Sterling...."

"Alright, you have caught me." He put his hand down and sighed. "I do not enjoy talking about my hits. They bring back very...vivid memories. Even though I have the gift of true intelligence, I am still a robot. My memories are perfect recollections. Combine that with my 5 senses that activate upon reliving them...well...." Iisska put up a hand and said that that was enough, he understood. Trinity agreed.

_________

Like being torn out of a hole in the wall by force, the reptilian warrior found himself being yanked through an interdimmensional hole. His bones realigning, his skin reforming, his brain becoming as it once once, Tu'chak'ah fell to the ground in a slithering yell. He was lifted up by the force, used by whatever brought him from death. A cloaked figure, taller than he was. "You serve me now, beast." he said. At first, Tu'Chak'ah was apprehensious, but considering this powerful individual just brought him back from the dead, his will to survive overcame his instincts, and he bowed. "Yesssss...My masssster. To whom will you have your loyal Ssssservant pointed to annihilate...?

Meanwhile...

Deep in slumber in his bedchambers, the Sith Lord Gallow awoke with a start and fell from his bunk. He picked himself up quickly and held still, sensing the air around him.

"Damn it all to the void...this can't be good..."

Bespin. How delightful. The crimson atmosphere glowed with the glory of something divine under the rays of the planet's warm sun. Masterful works of art in the thousands had been painstakingly created while gazing out over her surface. Writers across the galaxy had compared the sight to wildfires, to the beauty of a female, to billions upon billions of flower petals drifting in the wind without care. The magnificent floating hubs and cities housed diversity unheard of, trade goods of the rarest sort and any service imaginable legal or not. Workers came from far and wide seeking employment within the gas harvesters. Tourists came for the flights, skies and exotics. Outlaws came for the refuge and leads. This truly was an escapist's paradise.

"I hate this planet," Iisska mumbled while scowling from under the collar of his jacket.

"Oi! Don' be such a lil' pun'er" Balva jabbed him in the side of his leg with a pointed elbow, "'Less ya want we should go straigh' on back ta Hoth?"

"No..." Iisska sighed, "I'm glad we survived. Even more glad to be off of the ice... Guess this place just makes be feel like complaining."

He scuffed his foot along the steel catwalk outside the docking bay. The two of them had been admiring the clouds while Sterling and Trinity contacted merchants for parts and services for the Harpoon. Iisska supposed he and Balva should be there for that, but after Hoth a little procrastination had been earned at least.

Below them there was nothing but atmosphere and a plummet into the clouds would send the victim falling deeper and deeper into more and more intense pressure until they were crushed to death. Unless the molten core was counted, you would never impact a solid surface. What a way to go.

Quin had ducked off the ship wearing nothing but her unmarked stealth suit almost the second they had landed. He wasn't sure they'd be seeing her again. Good riddance. At first he had been nervous, but who would she turn them in to here? And if what she had said about the galactic authorities had been true, he doubted she'd be trying to contact them at all. Iisska stifled a yawn and popped his neck.

"I still have a couple credits or so," he shrugged, "Up for some food that's not from a dirty synthesizer?"

"Celestials be merciful, laddie. I though' ya'd nevahr ask!"

It wasn't much of a miracle that the pair of them made their way through the floating city without being shot at, mugged, yelled at or otherwise accosted, but Iisska seemed to think it was. Upon recounting the events that had happened around him for the whole two cycles he had spent here on his last and only visit, Balva mentioned that none of the city hubs were the same. With more sulking and huffing piled on, the Togruta reluctantly admitted that the little guy probably had a point.

"Wha's yer bloomin' problem anyhows, laddie?" Balva rolled his eyes as they headed back after sundown, "Ya been bummin' 'round wit' dat stupid long face o' yers for days."

"Just thinking about stuff n' things, I guess," Iisska frowned.

Back at the ship Balva returned to the A.I. core and Iisska was left to his own devices. Horrible squirming insects filled his guts... figuratively at least. He found himself slowing as he walked past the door to Zen-- Gallow's quarters. He thought about stopping, but moved along. Several minutes went by and he was back. Then left again. On the next pass he raised his hand in a fist ready to knock on the door, but stopped. Maybe now was a bad time. He spent a grand total of about thirty seconds in his own quarters before turning right back around. Nope, now was as good a time as any to ask. He rehearsed what he would say carefully. Again he went to knock on the door, stopped and frowned. He forgot what he was going to say. For a second or two he paced. For a few minutes he sat on the floor by the door with his hands on either side of his head like the world was coming to and end. Then he stood up straight, puffed out his chest, pulled his shoulders back, balled up a fist and... slumped against the opposite wall and banged his head into it until his thoughts cleared.

"Okay, enough. This time for sure," he whispered to himself, "Just don't think about it."

Straightening up once more he pounded on the door with the back of his hand, confident and calm.

"Zen-- er, shit. Gallow, it's me. So things didn't go so well the other day with the whole snow beasts thing, but I... I think I can do better. Just not by myself. All you force user types take on students or something, right? I want you to teach me, or be your apprentice, or whatever... Please."