I nod in agreement. "I agree, Alit'alor Kaira Saxon. And I hope your Clan will grow and recover under your own leadership." I turn to the greater crowd and beckon around us. "Tonight, we celebrate! For tomorrow, we set out for even greater glory!"

I pump my fist in the air. "For Mand'alor!" My words are echoed by hundreds of others, and the crowd begins to spread out throughout the plaza, quickly turning it from an battle arena into a party spot.



I walk silently through the crowd towards the kolto tank, Mako close behind. Ava floats unconscious in the tank, but I speak to her anyways. "You have made me proud, daughter. There is no shame in this lose. You served your time well." I place a hand on the tank. "Now rest."

"And with the conclusion of that, I think it's time you all met someone else." I turn to lead the way out, carefully avoiding the celebrating Mandalorians.



Raising an eyebrow at my son, I follow. "Quite the time to be mysterious."

Jakito and I follow. "Oh dear. More friends? As if we didn't have enough people in our little flock to look after."



"I say the more the merrier... just as long as they aren't conniving Sith Lords or Politicians or... both."

"Well," I say as I come around the corner towards them, "I don't know about scheming, but I'm neither Sith nor Politician." Jerus gives me a hug and I bow before embracing a stunned looking Zar'kun. Just holding him again set my heart aflutter, even decades after he thought I had died. "I am Alice Durana, Jerus' mother."

I exchange a surprised look with Jakito. "Oh, well that is certainly a surprise. But a very welcome surprised." I offer my hand. "I'm Becca Twilight, and this is my husband Jakito. He trained under Zar'kun in the ways of the Force, and his sister married your son. So... I guess that makes you our family as well. Happy to have you."

"A pleasure to meet you both." I look over them both. "Just by your presence in the Force, I can tell you've been through more in your life than most Wookies see in their entire lifetime." I chuckle. "And believe me, they live a VERY long time."

“Oh yes. We’ve met a Wookiee or two in our travels. There’s a lot to catch you up on. Remind us to tell you all about it some day.” My comm beeps and I answer it. “Luci? What’s up?”



“Hey, Jakito! Sorry I’ve been out of it most of the day. But now... well, you guys might want to get back to the hotel sometime soon. While all the Mandos were out, there’s been an... intruder.”



“What kind of intruder? Is anyone hurt?”



“That’s the weird thing; this intruder isn’t attacking. It’s just... wondering around. Its not very stealthy either because he’s tripping every security sensor. We don’t really know what to make of it, but we’re avoiding it for the time being. It’s just Koraline, Xan, and I, plus a bunch of wounded Mandos. Could use some backup just in case this thing means harm.”

With one arm still around Alice, I look at the others. "Then perhaps we should go see who or what has invaded the central command center."

I nod. “Probably a good idea. So much for the party, huh?” I look to Alice. “Sorry to cut the reunion short. I promise we’ll all have time later.” I motion everyone towards our shuttle.



As the group of Becca, Jakito, Jerus, Zar’kun and this new woman walk back towards the ship, I approach. “Room for one more?”



“Kam? I figured you’d want to be part of your people’s celebration.”



I shrug. “I’m not really in the partying mood. I’d much rather be doing something important, and from the determined looks on your faces, I’m guessing you’re all up to something. I’ll lend a blaster, if I can.”

"Not sure we'll be fighting anything, but the extra help is always good."

“Sure thing, kid. Just don’t start shooting unless we tell you to.” I wave for him to follow us to the shuttle. When we lift off the ground and start heading back to the command center, we find there is little to no sky traffic. “One of the few benefits of having just had a battle; nobody wants to leave their homes for a while.”

We make it back to the command center fairly quickly. Most of the lights are out, and there are no guards to greet us. “They really all went to the celebration, huh? Slackers.”



“The battle is over. Guess they feel they don’t need to be as tightly secure anymore.” Thinking of the intruder, I add “Guess they were wrong.” I pull my comm and try to call Xan. “We heard there might be trouble? You guys okay?”



I answer. “For now, but there is definitely someone lurking around. They started off in the lower levels, but I can sense them making their way up to Korre’s room.”

"I'll jet down along the outside, see if I can spot them. Hunter, you want to come?"



"And I will join the others in heading it of before Korrè's room." I glance at Alice. "And what about you?"



"I'll do what I do best." Using the Force, I begin to fade from sight. "Surprise it." And then I'm gone, creeping into the hotel and towards the presence I could feel.

I don’t even notice that Jerus calls me by my real name. I follow him as he does to look around the lower part of the outside perimeter. After only a few minutes, we find a door that looks to have been locked, but has been forced open. “This doesn’t look good.”



Upstairs, Jakito, Zar’kun and I head towards Korre’s room. Over the comm, I now speak to Luci. “Any changes?”



“No. I can’t pinpoint this intruders current location, but the last security he tripped was on your level.”



“This won’t take too long to sort out then.” We continue down the hall. So far, no sign of the intruder.

One saber was in my hands, but it was inactive. "I can't sense any movement ahead or behind us."



I don't see anything through my section of windows. "See anything, Hunter?!"

I peer around through the windows. “I don’t see anything. It looks like they entered through here, but...”



I come running from the street. “Jerus?! Is that you!?” I catch up to them, out of breath. “I’m glad I ran into you! Maybe you can help. It’s... it’s Salazar...”



I stumble though the halls of the hotel, my mind in a haze. I am disoriented and unsure where I am, but I am following the Force to guide my way. “Where is he? I must... must see.” I come to a door, and I know that whatever is calling me is on the other side. “Open up... Please.” I slump against the door, panting heavily.



I can hear the banging at my door and the voice begging to be let in, but I don’t open up. I just look at Xan, who is staying close by. The person on the other side of the door didn’t sound like they were trying to break in, and even like he wanted to hurt anyone. But still... I wasn’t going to let a stranger near my child.

Setting down in front of Vette, I hold up my hands. "Slow down, Vette. What about him?"



I move quietly through the halls, still cloaked with the Force. I hear the basically loud knocking on the door and follow it. "It sounds like they're already at the room."

“He’s... awake. I have no idea what happened, but one minute he wasn’t moving, then Satele Shan appeared and... then she died, or disappeared or something. Then the next thing I know, Sal shoots up awake!”



“You sure it was really him though and not Stoneheart? Because rumor has it they’re the same guy.”



“No, it was him. He recognized me, and said my name. But then... he sensed something in the Force. He said he hadn’t felt it in a long time, and before I could get him to explain, he ran off! Literally ran all the way from the space port to here, and I’ve been chasing him the best I could the whole time. What the hell could he want here?”



Jakito, Zar’kun, and I round the corner, and at the far end of the hall, I can see a large Sith Pureblood frantically banging on Korre’s door. I knew immediately it was Salazar Greshh, though he looked much different then the last time I saw him. He looked... healthier. Not like a corpse, but like his old self. He also now wore a Jedi Robe that was several sizes to small around his shoulders like a cape.

No words come to me as I watch the man pound on the door. I didn’t sense any anger in him, though I wasn’t sure if our old Force Bond was still intact.

Recognizing Salazar, a part of me still wants to charge the man in front of me and put him down, to drive my saber through his chest like he did Sevard and make him feel every ounce of pain my old friend and master did. But instead, I approach him and rest a hand on his shoulder. "Easy, Salazar. You look like you've only just found your way back from the land of the dead." When he looks at me, I offer a small nod. "I take it you can feel the presence on the other side of this door, can't you?" I was sure Xan and Korrè could hear me and would hopefully take that as a sign it was safe.



"It must be Valkorion, Korrè's son. Vitiate's been reset, to a child again. But...he's different. There's no malevolence from him."

I look confused. “Wait, that baby... is the Sith Emperor? How is that possible?”



Without further explanation, in rocket off into the sky, headed for Korre’s room window.



At Zar’kun’s touch, I turn around in surprise, but his calm words help me to relax a little. “Zar’kun Je’and... I remember you.” I look past him to the others. “Becca, my dear... and Jakito.” I look at his cybernetic arm. “I gave you that.”



“Yeah, you did. But no hard feelings, I guess. You weren’t fully in control of your actions... were you?”



“No, no I... I wasn’t. I was and I wasn’t. It was like... a bad dream.” I look back at Zar’kun. “In that room... it’s him, isn’t it? My old master. But... he’s different. I can sense it. He’s... just as powerful as before, perhaps even more so.... but the darkness is gone.” I pause, taking a few shaky breaths. “I... I want to see him. Please. I won’t hurt him. I just... after everything... I need to see for myself.”



I step forward, and in a very quiet voice, I say, “We aren’t the ones you should ask.”