The Intruder Wing Rangers Present.....

A Master Production.

Fall from Grace 2.

The Dark World.

Three Days after Master’s Departure from the Intruder.

The Horuset System is rarely traveled, mainly because of there not being many planets in the system also because of the unstable stars which are close to going super-nova.

The Vornskr had landed on one of the Asteroids in the system. Master walked slowly from compartment to compartment remembering his time with Kristy in the ship. It had been the best time of his life, then a few days later it was taken all away.

Master sat down on one of the couches in the lounge. He thought of all the time he had spent with Kristy. The memories flowed as did the tears to go with them.

Same Time.

"But Sir, you have to let me go after him, you don’t need me around here, Hippie is teaching the new recruits with Admiral Macintosh, Diamond is in the simulators and in all honesty im sick to death to beating them all" Narm said to SA Kevin.

"I cant afford to lose another of my pilots, even for a short amount of time, you don’t know where he has gone, it’s a big galaxy out there" Kevin said sitting in front of Narm on the other side of his desk.

Narm rubbed his eyes "I know, if flown through a lot of it, and your right I don’t know where he is, but I have a good idea where he is going".

"Where"? Kevin asked.

"He will go back to Onderon to take revenge, you read the news report, they thought it had to do with a gang, he will go back there and take revenge on the gang and anyone else who will get in his way" Narm replied.

"Revenge? Not his style" Kevin noticed Narm looked very tired "When was the last time you had any sleep"? Kevin asked concerned.

"How many days ago was it when Master left, ill sleep when I get him back here" Narm replied. "Sir all you have to say the word im behind you 100%"

"Thank-you Narm" Kevin replied.

"Seriously say the word ill be ready in three seconds, hell even two seconds"

"Narm"

"Hell im ready now, just say the word Kev"

"Narm! Just…..get the hell out of my office" Kevin said sighing.

"Yes Sir" Narm said turning to leave

Kevin rubbed his own eyes, it had been days since he himself had, had any sleep.

Kevin walked off towards SA Stan’s office so they could discuss what should be done.

The Vornskr had just cleared the Asteroid field, the navi computer said it needed another few moments to calculate the jump to Onderon. It started counting down, it reached two and Master hit the emergency stop to kill the jump. Master could feel something nearby, the Dark Side and it held great power. Trusting the force Master turned the ship towards it and hit the accelerator. The ship speed towards what ever it was.

A small planet came within view, the navi-comp said it wasn’t suppose to be their but Master could feel the dark side coming from it.

After scanning it he found a group of temples and landed the Vornskr near them. The planet was a wasteland nothing but one large desert, a few canyons and some temples. Master entered the temples and was greeted by a small man in a robe. "Your kind is not welcome here, only an idiot would come to this damn place if they knew what it was".

Master walked up to the human grabbed him by the neck and pulled him so he was a few inches away from him. "Unless he was already damned, now what is this place"? Master said with anger in his voice. "ahh…Korriban" the human said. Master let him go, "Korriban is a myth, the planet of the Sith doesn’t exist". "Doesn’t it" a voice came from inside the temple. Master turned towards it and walked into the temple, perhaps to his doom.

"Who’s there" Master said pulling out his lightsaber but restraining from lighting it.

Master walked further and further into the catacombs. He stopped when he reached a throne which had a caved shape of the Emperor on it. Master turned to leave when he heard a voice "Come forward my student, do not leave so suddenly". Master turned to see the spirit of the Emperor. "My Lord" Master said bowing. "Forgive me my lord, I thought you were slain".

"Indeed I was, by that cursed Skywalker, but it is in the past, you have come to remember what you knew long ago, when you were an agent of mine, you were powerful, but never powerful enough, you could have been as powerful as me, do you want that"? The Emperor said. Master thought back to when he was a student of the Dark Side, the power was overwhelming, however it had brought out the worst in him he did not want that to return.

Week Later.

Hippie was working on his personal Lightning Interceptor the Outrider which he recently bought. He was doing it to take his mind off Master running off and a few other things. He pulled out a few of the fuses and replaced them then started working on the upgrading the sensor package.

Hippie heard Narm approaching and knew exactly what he was up to, "Hope your not going to stun me and take off after Master, Narm".

"How do you know" ? Narm said coming into Hippies view.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to go after him, supprised it took you this long, you know I cant let you go, not like this" Hippie said getting up from under his ship.

"Yea I know, but I’m going to go no matter what you or Kevin says"

"I’m going to call Kevin, don’t go anywhere"

Narm started to protest, Hippie held up his hand "Trust me Narm"

Hippie made to call.

"Yea Hippie what is it"? Kevin said.

"Sir, I found Commander Narm trying to sneak out of the Intruder to go after Master"

"That doesn’t supprise me at all knowing Narm, good work" Kevin replied.

"Thank you sir, and because of this I have decided I’m going with him" Hippie said.

Narm laughed in the background.

Kevin rubbed his eyes, "Well this wasn’t expected, I discussed it with SA Stan earlier he says we should let Narm go, so I’m saying you both go, you have one month to bring him back, and Hippie bring him back alive" Kevin said before closing the connection.

"You heard all that Narm"? Hippie asked.

"Yep, good to see Kev still cares"

"So how do we do this"? Hippie asked.

"Meet me at these co-ordinates, I’m gunna pick up the Dream"

"And I’m going to fly what, the Outrider isn’t finished"?

"Hmmm, take Master’s Tie Defender its got enough of anything we will need, including an ion cannon if we need it" Narm said.

"I’ll see you at the co-ordinates then" Hippie said doing a informal salute as Narm ran to his ship.

Week after Master arrived.

Master trained day and night, not that it changed on Korriban, but sleep was no longer needed as it was replaced with anger, emotion and despair. "You have done well my apprentice" The Emperor said.

"Thank-you my Lord" Master replied.

"Only one thing remains in your training" The Emperor said.

"And that is"? Master asked.

The Emperor waved his hand and where it once was showed the Eternal Pyre which was several kilometers away. "Go to the Eternal Pyre, there defeat the Keeper and claim the prize".

Master knew better than to ask questions so he bowed low and turned walking out of the temples towards the Eternal Pyre.

The Pyre come within view, no one was around and the sound of the flames was deafening. Master walked up to the platform which was near to the flame. All of a sudden the flame fell silent. Master was not startled when he heard a voice behind him

"What is it you want, or do you intend to throw yourself into the flame to end your miserable life". Master turned to see a old hunched over man, "HA, you’re the Keeper, an old fool. Tell me old man what is the prize you hold and tell me where it is and I might spare your life" Master gloated. A strange, evil laugh which was not the old mans echoed around as the noise from the flame silenced. Before Master’s very eyes the form of the old man changed into something else. It was taller than a wookie, pitch black & it’s face was like it was in a shadow "You have come for my prize, for the last four melinia I have guarded it, and I will keep it for the next four, so come puny human, show me what you can do" the creature said in a deep voice.

Master grinned like a fool, "I will show you what I can do, and after I have defeated you and taken your prize, then I will think of sparing your life". Master grabbed his Lightsaber from his belt and in one swift motion ignited it and swung at the creature. With blinding speed the creature moved out of the way and ended up behind Master.

"What the fu.." Master said silently to him self as he turned to face it.

Out of the creatures hands came a blade much the same as a lightsaber but it was pitch black and it seemed to bade like a flame, but that was not the strangest part. It extended from the creatures hand, there was no handle of any sort.

The creature swung the blade towards Master directly downwards which would have chopped him directly in half. Master brought his own blade up to parry, but as they hit, Master’s saber seemed to flicker from the extra energy being "injected" into it. Also from the force of the blow Master fell backwards. His blade slipped out of his grasp and headed for the edge of the Abyss which went into the Eternal Pyre. Master dived for his Saber and managed to grab it as it skittered over the edge. Master turned to see the creature running towards him with his own blade extended, Master thought of all the pain he had gone through. All the anger swelled inside him and it erupted forcing the creature back with tremendous force into a rocky outcropping. Master walked slowly towards it.

The creature slowly got up, red blood trickled down its black back. The creature’s blade vanished and it stood looking straight at Master who was waiting for it to make a move. "You are powerful human, but not powerful enough" it said with a evil grin. Master sneered but remained silent. The creature closed its eyes apparently deep in concentration. The air around the creature shimmered and Master stood ready to do whatever was nesacery to destroy this monster and take its prize.

All of a sudden Fire erupted in front of the creature and headed towards Master.

That’s not good, Master thought. Master embraced the dark side, he remembered all the suffering the Nightsisters had caused on his home planet of Dathomir, he remembered the suffering the slaves on Enourq had gone through, and most of all he remembered the death of Kristy, the anger built up. The fire surrounded Master and covered him. He sucked in as much of the energy from the fire as possible.

As the fire surrounded Master for a second the creature thought it had won.

The flames shot out at the creature causing it to hit the rocky outcrops, but that wasn’t all. It then flew high into the air over Master’s head into the Eternal Pyre and into the Abyss below never to return.

Master’s knees gave way and he fell to the ground with a thud completely tired. Spots appeared on Master’s eyes and all his strength had vanished.

After a while the ground started to rumble and it split open a few feet away from him. Master slowly rolled onto his side and watched as a stone pillar came out of the crack. It rose a few meters above the ground then stopped.

Master slowly rose to his feet and clipped his Lightsaber back to his belt then walked towards the pillar. When he reached it he looked on top of it there surrounded by Sith writing was a holocron. Master picked it up carefully and looked it over, it looked the same as the one Luke Skywalker had but darker in color. Then out of no where appeared a small ghost like image of an Sith Lord.

"I am Freedon Nadd the gatekeeper of this Dark Holocron, This holocron hold all the secrets of the Sith, with it you can become truly powerful. What is it you wish to know"?

Master was shocked, the rumored Dark Holocrons had been destroyed in the great Sith war, yet this one had survived, it would come in very handy.

"Tell me Gatekeeper, if the Sith power is so powerful can I use it to bring someone back from the dead" Master asked.

The image seemed to flicker for a moment as it searched for information. "Yes the Sith is powerful, you must find something which has been lost, you alone know where it is, for it is a Jedi way" Nadd said, then the image disappeared.

Master put the Holocron in his cloak pocket and headed back towards the temple, trying to figure out what the holocron had meant.

The Vornskr lifted off from Korriban. Master had returned to the temple only to find no trace of the Emperor. So making his decision he decided to return to Onderon, to take vengeance. On his way to the Hyperspace point, the last part of what the holocron had said echoed through his mind "For it is a Jedi Way" . It didn’t make sense….or did it. Master then thought of the bit before hand "Only you know where it is". Then it hit him. Master typed something into the computer.

//////

>Computer access secondary Navi computer

>Enter Password……

>******

>Access granted, Secondary Navi Computer Online.

>Course Change Planet Tomarie

>Password Required for Planet Tomarie…..

>************

>Access Granted, Course Change Approved, Estimated Arrival Ten Days.

/////

The Ship moved to change the trajectory. The counter clicked down, as it hit Zero Master hit the Hyperspace level and space changed into Starlines.

Same time.

"I hope your right about this Narm, other wise we have no idea where he is going" Hippie said from the co-pilots chair. He had flown Master’s Tie Defender to the co-ordinates Narm had given him and they had meet up. Now they were both on the Dream and the T/D was latched to the hull.

"Yea so do I but it’s the only lead we have, and we owe him that much, he tried to talk me out of it when I was going to leave after I had that duel, and he help me go after you when you ran off" Narm replied as he checked some of the systems.

Hippie nodded then said "I still cant believe all this, they were so happy together, you should have heard her on the Vornskr on the way to Dathomir, she loved him a lot".

"Yea, Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be just proves what i've always said, the galaxy is full of brainless fools" Narm replied looking at Hippie.

"No disagreement there my friend, no disagreement their" Hippie said.

To Be Continued………

©Copyright Lt Cmdr Master 2000