Jasra tried to use the Force to sense for where Crystal might have gone, but being inexperienced and with so much life around, she was finding it difficult to separate everything out. The shard being so full of Force energy, was also distorting what Jasra was sensing. "Crystal?!" Jasra called out for her as she scanned through the underbrush. "Crystal, where are you? Don't run from me, please!" she pleaded.

She turned back to Tegan. "Did I hear the Doctor say that you had jungles on your homeworld?" A strange animal called out from the brush ahead, an unfamiliar growling/burping sort of noise. "Tell me, did it also have weird and dangerous creatures?" she added apprehensively.

"Well, yes, but... nothing as wierd as I could imagine living here..." she answered. "Australia is much more friendly than this planet."

Just then, what looked like a tree trunk scuttled across their makeshift path using its 'roots' as legs, found clear spot, and burrowed its roots in the ground. Within seconds, tendrils started to appear from the base, sprouting long thin leaves. One of the tendrils quickly wrapped around Tegan's ankle and she let out a startled scream.

Jasra swung her lightsabre in an arc, cutting the tendril in half. The part around Tegan's ankle withered, but the remainder wiggled, then sprouted a second shoot and shot off in the opposite direction. Jasra pulled Tegan away from the plant and swallowed hard. "Even the plants are dangerous here. C'mon. Let's get going. I think Crystal is just ahead." She began to hack through the undergrowth. "At least I hope she's up ahead."

Tegan walked quickly along behind Jasra, keeping to the path she was cutting with her lightsaber. "I think I prefer Australia," she said, almost falling over a protruding tree root - then making sure it was indeed a tree root. "No killer plants, no Force infused crystals, or whatever it is these Shards are made of..."

"C'mon, guys!" Atton shouted back to the others, blasting a round at a bush that had moved, "We have to keep moving! Force only knows where Kira is, and I'd rather find her before she finds the Shard."

~*~*~

This was what she was looking for. Kira stepped through the wall of vines she had just sliced neatly appart, and stared at the half-submerged temple before her. It was ancient, that was for sure. And noting the vines that grew along its length and the delapitated appearence, it hadn't been touched in centuries. She smiled, her fangs larger than ever.

"This-" Karda hacked through several reptilitan creatures, "Is-" He ducked and rolled under one of the flying insects, "the last-" He jumped through the brush and ran up to the rest of them, "time I visit this planet."

"Kira!" Karda shouted. The rest had started heading out to look for her. Feeling out through the force, he felt something a little off to the right of him. He hurried on, hoping that they could catch up to Kira before she got the other shard. I really hate that thing.

Brax stalked, moving silently through te dense forest ... when the group seperated he went after 'Nyssa' and Jasra, keeping an eye on them. Smirking when the plant attacked the defenseless one. Thos ewho could not defend themselves did not deserve life.

He slid closer, moving up behind Nyssa, and taking out a stun gun, he lifted it and shot her in the back of the head.

The Doctor turned as Nyssa collpased behind him - and was face to face with the beast that had killed Revan - and almost killed him.
*KARDA!*

"KARDA!" The shout echoed throughout the dense forest. Karda paused for a moment, torn between rushing back to the Doctor and finding Kira. Finally he jumped through the dense forest, aided by the Force, and with one bound landed next to the Doctor. "What-?" Then he saw the creature.

"You... You were the one that killed Revan!" Karda reached for his lightsaber.

"This has got to be the..." Jasra smacked her arm, squashing an insect that was trying to make her 'lunch'. "...absolute worst place I've ever..." Suddenly, she paused. She felt him. Brax. He was close by.

She looked around, ignoring Tegan's question of what was wrong. "We have to go. That way. Now." If anyone could help her find Crystal and Kira, it was her teacher, Brax.

Again, she ignored Tegan who was now asking why, and what about Crystal, and shouldn't they...."

There was an abrupt sucking sound, and then a small cry of surprise from Tegan. "Tegan?" Jasra turned around to see what was wrong, but didn't see Tegan at all--at first. Then she looked down. "Tegan!"

Tegan was half-way up to her neck in quicksand. Jasra started forward, then backed up as the spongey earth began to sink under her feet as well. She looked up. There were no tree limbs over head. "Crap! The one place in this jungle where there aren't any trees!"

She tried to keep calm. Panicking didn't help much when trying to use the Force. She began to concentrate, and by using the Force, began to lift Tegan from the mire. Then Jasra noticed Tegan's eyes grow suddenly wide, and her mouth began to gape at something she saw behind Jasra.

"What?" Jasra said, holding Tegan still, but not daring to turn around and look, lest her concentration break.

"Big... white... sp... sp...." Tegan swallowed hard. "Spider," she whispered.

Jasra let Tegan go, and ducked and dodged to the left, sensing the movement behind her. When she turned, she saw that Tegan was right. It was a big, white, spider. Really big. And the spongey surface they had been walking on was the spider's web set over a pool of quicksand.

Lightsabre ignited, she thrusted and dodged hairy legs and fangs, while trying to keep the spider away from Tegan as well as herself. But she was on dodgy ground. For some reason, the spider legs weren't easy to hack off with her sabre, perhaps due to the proximity of the shard.

Jasra struck out with her gauntlets, no longer invisible as she was concentrating more on not being dinner than hiding them. The blades made a dent in the spider's tough exoskeleton, and it screeched out--more angry than in pain.

It lunged forward, more determined than ever after its prey, and a fang ripped through Jasra's tunic, scraping the skin beneath and infecting her with its venom. She felt her arm grow hot as the poison began to seep in.

"Brax!!" Jasra called out to him, hoping that he would come to her assistance.

((OOC: She has no idea that Brax is confronting the Doctor and Karda. Only that he's very near.))

"Brax!!" Another cry came from the forest, and Karda felt Jasra and Tegan in serious danger. But he couldn't leave - not now. Jasra knows this creature? So much for 'sticking together'...

(Crap, i menat to shoot the one with Jasra :P Oh well i'll go with it)

He held the stun gun still pointed outward, now directed at the Doctor. "I killed him in an honorable duel"

"Brax!" He heard the call, and frowned ... and then turned and leapt ... he was practiaclly flying as he launched toward the scream. It took a few force aided jumps, but he knew exactly where Jasra was, so it was only a matter of moments before he was upon the Spider. He tore into it, a howling scream filled the forest for quite a distance. His? Or the spiders? It was impossible to tell ... but after a few moments he stood inside of the beast ... there was blood everywhere.

"Whoa!" an astonished and soft voice said from the other side of the clearing. "Creepy... disgusting..." Crystal stared and shivered slightly. "Yuck, yuck, yuck."

Looking down at Tegan, she said, "A pretty fine mess, you're in."

Then, giggling, she told Brax, "A pretty fine mess, you've made."

Turning to Jasra, she said, "A jumble, you find yourself in."

She tapped Jasra's gauntlets, which were still showing. "I knew about them, saw them, wasn't talking about them, but now Tegan has seen them." Glancing at Brax, she said, "And now he's here... and you called for him and he came. He was having a chit-chat with Doc and Karda... secret's out, Jazzy."

She shrugged. "Sorry." Then, she headed off in the direction she'd come from.

While Brax attacked the spider, Jasra sank down to her knees, weakened by the spider's poison. She laid down on her belly and crawled towards Tegan. "Here," she said, extending her hand to her.

Crystal suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Jasra was feeling rather incoherent, and only caught part of what Crystal was saying. But she did manage to catch the part, "...secret's out, Jazzy."

"Grab hold," she said to Tegan, as Crystal once again disappeared into the jungle, not caring if Tegan saw her gauntlets or not. She pulled Tegan, using the Force to help her free her from the sucking, sloppy, wet sand mixed with spider silk. In a moment, Jasra saw that Tegan was crawling up onto more solid ground. Safe, Jasra thought.

And then, overcome by the poison, she collapsed, too tired to move. "Brax? I need help."

Brax walked out of the corpse slowly ... watching as Jasra used the last of her strength to save the strange human. He moved to Tegan first, grabbing the back of her shirt and pulling her the rest of the way out of the sand, laying her down on her stomach. Then he moved to Jasra, kneeling.

"Virulent poison isn't it? Good lesson to learn." He put his hand on her forehead. "Give yourself over to me." He whispered, and his mind slid down into her own, like when he had taught her before. Anger rushed into her ... hatred, that spider. She wanted to bash it's corpse, wanted to turn it into paste. And Brax focused this hatred, this anger ... showing her how as he did. The poison was being burned up in her blood ... a faint green sheen started to cover her skin as it oozed from every pore that was near some of it in her blood.

"Now control the hatred I showed you. Karda and the Doctor should be here any moment," He turned to Tegan. "I suggest, strongly, that you just lie there. Karda may be a challenge to me, but if he tries anything I will make it my goal to kill you and both your friends before him."

The creature, Brax, stiffened, and then turned and lept away extremely quickly. Karda first jumped, then ran toward where he had gone and lept using the Force also. He could hear sounds of lightsabers, and of ripping flesh, along with a voice that sounded like Crystals, kind of.

He cleared the last bush, then came upon the remnants of a dead spider and the four of them, Crystal, Brax, Tegan, and Jasra. He drew his lightsaber again and faced the creature, hearing Crystal say something like, "...secrets out, Jazzy" in a giggly voice. "Jasra, you've met this creature before, secretly!"

"Secret's out," Crystal repeated. Then, she turned and vanished into the surrounding jungle.

Still weakened from the spider venom, Jasra rose unsteadily to her feet, standing in between Karda, poised with his lightsaber, and Brax, the claws on his gauntlets clicking together in anticipation.

"Jasra, you've met this creature before, secretly!" Karda said to her.

She found it difficult to look at Karda, not just because he was blurry to her as an aftereffect of the poison, but because she felt slightly remorseful about the necessity of hiding her relationship with Brax from the others. "Yes," she admitted quietly, stretching her numb hands in her gauntlets that Brax had given her. "Put your lightsabre away, Karda. I won't let you fight him."

Karda didn't move, so Jasra ignited her own sabre. "I won't let you fight him, Karda," she repeated, blinking to focus. "He saved my life. Tegan's, too. Leave him be. I know I'm weak right now, but I'll fight you if I have to, so just leave him be."

Brax? she asked him through their mental link. Is it possible for you to alter Tegan's memory so she doesn't remember you? It might help the situation.

"Please," she said to Karda. "We don't have time for this right now. We have to get Crystal to a safe place and find Kira and the shard." She paused, as she momentarily wavered in balance. "If you need an explanation, I'll give you one. But later. When we're back on the ship and everyone's safe. Just lower your weapon and leave him be. Please," she added, hoping that Karda could sense she was being genuine. She frowned worriedly. "Please."

Tegan stood. *As much as I hate to admit it... she's right, Karda. You can't fight him. We can't lose you, like we lost Revan. We need you. Please, just out your 'lightsaber' away.*

He looked at Karda, his gauntlets flexing slowly, anticipating battle. But he washed his emotions down, and turned to Tegan.

"Tegan, forget that you saw me. Jasra slaid this beast, and then Karda came to help her."

He looked at Karda for a few moments, his pale grey eyes locked on the Jedi's. "I have no quarrel with you, I wish words with you and the doctor. But Jasra is right, now you need to get Kira away from that shard, and get Crystal safe as well."

He paused only a moment, then spoke again. "I am not your enemy despite all that you may think." He took a step back, and glanced at Tegan, not sure if he had affected her mind or not, but a second attempt would do no better, so he turned. And leapt, again, like he had before clearing great distance in a single leap. Then pulling the force around him, and pushing it into a layer over his skin. Disapearing.

"I am not your enemy despite all that you may think." The Omwati spoke. Then he turned, and started to leap. Karda moved toward him, but then stopped. Jasra had pleaded with him not to attack Brax. But he couldn't control the rage that filled him, over this beast, this animal that had slain Revan in cold blood. Just as he hesitated, Brax was gone. It was too late.

Despite his training, anger and hatred were filling him, at Jasra, at Brax, even at Tegan for trying to stop him. He turned to Jasra. "You met with him... After what he did to Revan?! 'Leave him be,' you say, and you've been going behind our backs. I TRUSTED YOU!"

Her lightsabre still activated, Jasra took a defensive pose as she saw the anger rising in Karda as he turned to her and spoke.

"You met with him... After what he did to Revan?! 'Leave him be,' you say, and you've been going behind our backs. I TRUSTED YOU!" said Karda.

The words echoed in her ears and stung her worse than the spider's fang had. She knew exactly what he was feeling. It was the same feeling she had felt when she had last stood in the Room of a Thousand Fountains at the Jedi Temple. Betrayal.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, backing up a step just in case he decided to charge her. "But you don't understand. Yes, he killed Revan. But you don't know what circumstances led him to do that. You don't know what drives him. You don't know how his people view and use the Force. You're judging him without giving him a chance to defend himself." She paused. "I'm sorry I betrayed your trust, but I knew you would react this way. You, Kira, the Doctor...all of you," she said softly. "I only knew Revan by reputation. But I do know that killing Brax won't bring him back. Nor help Kira or Crystal."

She slowly lowered her sabre. "I don't want to fight you, Karda. I'd lose. You're more skilled than I am. And that's exactly why I met with Brax. To learn. So, if you're in the mood to pass judgment and sentence me for doing that, then do so now. I won't stop you." She closed her eyes, turned off her sabre, and waited for him to strike her down. "I'm sorry I let you down," she whispered, both aloud to Karda and silently through her link to Brax.

Tegan stood, shaking her head slowly. She had a splitting headache, and moaned in pain as she straightened up. She looked over at Jasra - and saw Karda approaching her slowly, his lightsaber drawn, and Jasra just standing there, here eyes closed. Her pain and fatigue forgotten, Tegan rushed forward, and grabbed Karda by the arm.
"What in blazes do you think you're doing?!" she yelled, trying to pull his arm to the side. "Put that thing away!"

"Yeah, you're right." Karda said angrily. "Killing Brax won't bring Revan back - Brax is the reason why Revan is dead!" He felt Tegan grab his arm, and realized that his lightsaber was raised. Karda forced himself to turn it off and drop it to the ground, then turned on Jasra again.

"You met with him, to learn - learn what?! To murder great Jedi?! Is that what he was going to teach you?! How to secretly meet with a murdering beast, one that killed perhaps one of the few people who could help us right now?! I don't want to hear some defense, to learn 'what drives him'! Revan is dead! He isn't on vacation, he is dead! Murdered by your own precious teacher!!!"

Karda picked up his lightsaber, still filled with rage. She had betrayed him... And now Revan was dead, and she was being taught by this beast. He didn't care what the Omwati or Jasra said, he would no longer trust her; he would hunt Brax down and kill him.

Stoke his fire Jasra. A whisper in the back of her mind, then Brax pulled back, his mind cutting itself off from hers.

While Karda ranted angrily at her, Jasra heard a barely perceptible whisper in the back of her mind. Stoke his fire, Jasra.

“So nice to see the Jedi Code is alive and well,” she replied back to Karda. “What was it again? There is no emotion, except when it suits us to have them? There is no ignorance, but only when it comes to not seeing other people’s points of view? There is no passion, except for when we want to sulk and seek vengeance?” She snorted. “And didn’t you say that to me on Manaan no one is beyond forgiveness and redemption? Well, what a lie that was! You want to go after Brax and get yourself killed? Fine. Go ahead. See if I care. I’ll find Crystal and Kira and the shard on my own.” She eyed him critically. “You’re no different from me, Karda, except for one thing. At least I know I’m not a Jedi.”

She was feeling stronger now, the effects from the poison wearing off, but she didn’t reignite her lightsabre. Instead raised an invisible force shield, combining the techniques she’d learned from Crystal and Brax along with her own technique of Force Reflection. If Karda attacked her, he would get whatever he gave right back in his face.

“So nice to see the Jedi Code is alive and well. What was it again? There is no emotion, except when it suits us to have them? There is no ignorance, but only when it comes to not seeing other people’s points of view? There is no passion, except for when we want to sulk and seek vengeance?”

Karda stopped and looked at her. He then sighed, and slowly came back to her, most of his anger gone, but some still in him. "Yeah, your right. I did say that." Karda looked up and added, "Maybe it was a lie, and maybe I'm really not a Jedi; or at least I probably won't be if I go after Brax. Maybe this is why I almost never completed the trials."

He put his lightsaber back on his belt and glared at her. "And maybe the Jedi Code is nonsense. Sure, I was always tought that no one is without forgiveness and redemption." He paused and then added, "And I'm human, too, even if I pretend to be a Jedi. I offered you the chance to come back to the Jedi, to forget whatever you had done."

Try as he might, Karda couldn't control the anger and rage that kept rising inside of him. I should be able to control this, to calm myself, but I can't. He thought. I feel like when I was first training, and Master Ylar kept reprimanding me for my emotions. "Well," He spoke again, "I can see that was a mistake to offer redemption to someone who apprentices herself to a murderer, and feels no remorse about the murder."

"Tell me, Jasra," Karda said slowly, "What is this defense, this thing 'that drives him', the somehow justifies Brax and yourself."

Jasra eyed Karda cautiously, but she still wasn't letting her guard down. "According to him, Revan was the murderer. He murdered the leader of the Umwati people, a high priest, and then he fled. He was sent after Revan--to avenge his leader's death. And isn't that exactly what you are planning to do now? Go after someone in revenge for killing one of your people?"

She paused. "You judge him, and you don't even have the courtesy to ask him what his motives are. You condemn him to death without even allowing him to speak. You don't know what Revan did while he was in the Unknown Regions. But you seem to forget that Revan was once a Sith Lord, as well as a Jedi, so don't paint him as someone who wasn't capable of committing acts of evil.

"And another thing," she added, somewhat angrily. "I'm not his apprentice. I'm his student, and I don't have to jusify myself to you or anyone else for accepting him as a teacher. I've had many 'teachers' after Master Kelva died--some Force Adepts, some not. Crystal's taught me things. So has Kira. I seek out knowledge to protect myself, to keep one step ahead of the Sith.

"He is powerful in the Force, and he's taught me how to use my emotions to enhance the Force, balance it within me, use it to defend myself. Hardly the 'Dark' tools of assasination as you seem to believe." She paused, then snorted. "I'm sorry you feel betrayed my actions. I truly am. I never wanted to hurt you like this. But you didn't offer to train me, you only said that the Jedi might take me back. But that's all assuming that I get out of this current situation alive and intact. And without more training, I'm afraid that's not going to happen." She looked at the spider's mutilated corpse, then shivered. "If he hadn't come when he did, I wouldn't be alive." She glanced at Tegan. "And neither would she. Then again, we're not 'powerful and great Jedi,' so I suppose our lives are rather insignificant in the eyes of a Jedi Knight like yourself."

That said, she tried to tuck in the rip in her sleeve from where the spider's fang had gouged her. After a couple of tries, she gave up and ripped the shreds of cloth away and tossed them to the ground. "C'mon, Tegan," she said, giving Karda a sideways glance. "Let's go find Crystal and Kira."

Kira quickly ran through the corridors and rooms of the ruined temple, cutting easily through cobwebs, dust, and dirt. She flew across the flagstones and jumped stairs with easy, measured strides.
She slowed her pace as she found the room she wanted. It was rather large, though it was hard to tell by the dim lighting. A hole in the ceiling allowed weak light down into the room, creating a small arc around a single object in the room. It was a small pedestal, with something glittering on it.
At last. she said, smiling greedily as she proceeded towards it.
"We were wondering when you were going to decide to show up."
Kira's head snapped up, her hand flying to her saber as three men, seemingly Dark Jedi, stepped from the shadows.

The Jedi who spoke removed his lightsaber from his belt, the other two doing the same. He pointed the hilt at Kira. "You were a fool to come here alone, Exile," he said. "Where are your precious 'friends'?" he asked ammusedly.

"They fell behind." Kira said, not at all deterred. She had killed much more than three men by herself. This would be easy. She pulled her double bladed saber, her fingers poised to activate the twin, crystaline blue blades. "Why? Am I not enough entertainment?"

"Battle with you will be a temporary distraction," he taunted. "But you're outnumbered three to one, Exile. I suggest you drop your weapon and surrender yourself to us. The Dark Lord is... eager to meet you."

"Is he now?" A Dark Lord, eh? "Well, he won't be the first. And I'm sure I'll be much more than a distraction for you."

"We shall see."
All three men ignited their lightsabers and moved towards her. "Surrender. The Dark Lord wants you alive."

"Who is this 'Dark Lord'?" Kira asked, stepping back into a fighting stance and igniting her sabers, "Because whoever he is, he's a fool to think that the three of you could possibly beat me."

The Jedi moved forward, maitaining the arrowhead formation. "If you only knew the power Lord Thanatos wields! You would beg to serve him!"

"Leave it to men to get inflated egos like that." Kira murmured, but she spun her saber threateningly. "Very well then. You've been asking for a fight. You sure as hell got one." she leapt forward at the man who had spoken, her saber poised to strike.

"According to him." Karda shouted after Tegan and Jasra. "Did you ever ask why Revan killed his leader, Jasra? Or did you not even care? Were you just so anxious to become powerful enough to defend yourself that you didn't ask any questions, just went along with this murderer and assassin? You seem to forget that Revan knew he was once a Sith Lord, had every chance to regain that power with nothing to stop him. But he didn't. He remained a Jedi."

"And Jasra, even if what you say is right; You are also judging Revan right now. You are also condemning him, having no regret about Revan and thinking that he was the one who did the evil here. You don't even have the courtesy to ask this 'Brax' what Revan's reasons were!" He stepped forward. "And you have the nerve to stand there and to tell me that I don't have the right to go and kill him. If you don't remember, didn't Brax do the same thing I did? Murder someone in revenge for another supposed 'murder'? Have you forgotten that side of your 'teacher'?"

"Or was it maybe because you're too blind." He spat. "Maybe because you were so insensitive and only concerned about yourself that you forget what he did, and what you are doing. The only thing you are concerned about is learning to 'defend' yourself. And you don't care one single bit who does it, or what he did." He stopped and looked at Jasra, angry for her still.

"I would have tried to save you from that thing too. I do care about your lives. But the only difference is, you only care about yours. You wouldn't give Revan, or mine, or any other people's death as long as it didn't concern you."

Jasra stopped dead in her tracks. She took a deep breath, trying to control the anger that was rising in her. Jedi Code. Balance in the Force. Opening herself to others. Concentration. Her mind was becoming muddled with thoughts, voices from the past, and way too many feelings for her to contain.

She slowly turned around to face Karda. "It's obvious to me that you are not going to let this go. You want a fight. Fine." She ignited her lightsabre. "I'll lose, but I'll fight you, if that's what you want. Take your revenge out on me for Revan's death. Kill me, and then you won't have to worry about me betraying anyone else."

She flourished her blade, then charged at him.

Karda really hadn't expected this. Maybe a few minutes earlier he would have met her head-on, slammed her into the murky ground. But even while the rage was still in him, that feeling of betrayal, he was a bit more collected now. Less ready to chop somebody's head off.

But he rolled quickly to the side, force pushing Jasra. "I'm not seeking a fight. At least, not anymore. I'm just trying to understand, or maybe make you understand. But it is likewise obvious to me that you won't hear anything about Brax. Evidently you really don't think that much of the Jedi at all, or-" Karda suddenly stopped, and felt that same sensation that he had felt at first... and another presence, something evil. Karda looked away from Jasra, forgetting about Brax and Revan for a moment.

Brax's claws flexed as Jasra charged ... his whole body wanted to leap forward, to join her in her attack. There is Peace. There is Anger. There is Fear. There is Power. There is Death. There is Immortality. There is the Force. The words flowed through him, calming him ... Jasra felt them, as he reached out to her again. To reassure her that he was there, if she decided to take this fight farther. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. But you should be after Kira, there are Sith in the temple.

(Wee 100 posts)

((Congrats, 3yks! Triple digits! :) Yay!))

“What?” Jasra gave Karda an incredulous look as he paused mid-sentence and looked around. “Decided that you would help find Kira now?” She rolled her eyes as she switched off her sabre. “Unbelievable…” she muttered, as she picked herself up off the ground. “I wish you’d make up your…” She paused as if suddenly realising something. “ ….mind.”

She knelt, putting her hand on the ground. The Darkness felt stronger on the ground for some reason. She glanced over at the dead spider and where it had built its web. The web had to be anchored someplace she reckoned. She looked up. Not in the trees. She looked back down, then took a closer look at the ‘quicksand’ that had covered the web. It wasn’t quicksand…it was sand mixed with…

She shivered and grimaced at the same time. She didn’t even want to think about what it was mixed with. But the fact remained, that the web had to be anchored somewhere and the spider had to have someplace it had rested while it had waited for its prey. And Jasra thought she knew where.

She picked up a stick and began poking at the ground, until.

“Hey, I think I found somet….” Jasra was suddenly sucked underground, leaving nothing behind but a hole.

“Eew!” her muffled cry echoed from below the surface. There was silence for a few moments. “Erm…Karda?” Her voice sounded pretty far away. “I think I found the temple.”

~~~~~~~~

Jasra had fallen several feet into a pitch dark cavern, but had landed in something…soft. And sticky. Jasra flicked on her lightsabre to use as a torch. “Eew!” She had landed in what could only be described as the spider’s midden heap—the remains of the spider’s larger, furrier prey. Using her sabre to cut away the sticky portions of web, she climbed down from the pile of dusty, silk covered animal corpses and skeletons and found herself at the entrance to a tunnel that led upwards. This must be part of the temple Brax had mentioned.

“Erm…Karda? I think I found the temple.” She stepped further into the tunnel. She could hear the clash of lightsabres up ahead. She looked over her shoulder. Should she wait for Karda? She shook her head. She liked him, for the most part, and she didn’t blame him for hating her, for feeling betrayed. But he wouldn’t care if anything happened to her now. Plus, he had Tegan to look after.

She moved on until she saw a faint light up ahead. She drew in the Force to hide herself, like she had always done, but this time she extended the Force to make herself invisible like Brax had taught her to do with her gauntlets. Extinguishing her sabre, she crept forward.

The tunnel opened up into a large room. For a moment, her heart leapt into her throat. Kira was there, fighting with three Dark Jedi. Jasra's Force signature masked, and virtually invisible with her cloaking, none of them had noticed her.

Then Jasra’s gaze was drawn to the glittering crystal shard on its pedestal of honour in the middle of the room. Her eyes flicked back to Kira. She was holding her own in the fight, but that meant her attention was on the Sith, not the shard.

Instead of going to Kira’s aid, Jasra crept forward towards the shard. Her gauntlets had protected her from the effects of the last crystal. She had no reason to think that they wouldn’t do the same for this one. She had to get it away from here, take it to the Ebon Hawk where it could be safely stored in the TARDIS. Away from Kira and Crystal. It was the only way to save them both.

Kira clashed with the dark jedi, completely unfazed by their threats and numbers. "Oh c'mon, is this all you got?" she taunted, kicking the legs out from one. As the two still standing swept at her legs, she flipped backwards, springing off the ground with her hand to land several feet away. She grinned triumphantly, and reached into the V-neck of her robes. "Sorry boys, play time's over."
With that, she yanked the container from the chain around her neck and flipped the cap open, emptying the Shard into her palm where she allowed it to dissolve into her skin. The Shard was now semi-part of her. As was it's power.
"C'mon!"

The dark Jedi scattered, their lightsabers blazing. The leader gave a silent command for the other two to stay back - he wanted this fight for himself.
"I've been looking forward to gutting you, Exile!" he yelled. He jumped through the air, landing behind her. He raised his lightsaber to strike...
((FFWM, we didn't really plan this fight very well.... I controlled the last one between two of our characters - you get this one.))

"Hey Jazzy," Crystal said quietly, seeming to appear from nowhere. "You don't want Ki-Ki to see yous... the pretty golden glassy thingy makes her crazy... makes her crazy..." She tapped her own forehead. "Golden strands of thought mess up the mind, mess up the girl. She has lots and lots of power now... she can't use it all."

She looked over to where Kira was dueling with the Dark Jedi. "Ki-Ki's baddy now, Jazzy... see golden glassy thingy takes her over?"

Atop the pedestal, the new shard lifted slightly. Then, it vanished only to appear hovering over Crystal's hands. "Take it, Jazzy... sharp to kill things made this holdable last time..."

For just a second, Crystal's eyes paled, back to their original blue-gray color and her words came out rather clearly. "Ugh, even a mental connection with this thing twists my mind."

Then, her eyes darkened again and she whispered. "Go, Jazzy! Ki-Ki must feel this glassy thingy isn't where it was. Run!"

Jasra clasped her gauntlet over the shard. She could feel its energy pulsing through her, though it still wasn't as irresistible as she imagined it might be.

She had no idea how Crystal had managed to see her, or how she had managed to get into the temple, but Jasra got the sense that Crystal didn't seem that worried about getting out.

But Crystal was right about one thing. Kira would soon notice the shard was missing from its place of honour.

Nevertheless, Jasra hesitated. Karda had been dead wrong when he had told her she didn't care about anyone but herself. That might have been true at one time, but not now. She cared about Crystal, and she didn't want to leave Crystal alone in here with Kira and the three Sith without knowing for sure that she'd be able to escape. "Crystal, come with me," she whispered to her, as she slowly backed up into the tunnel the way she had come.

"Have it your way." Kira said, her demonic transformation once again complete. She charged at the Sith, cutting through the air like a blade. In a second, she was upon him.
Their sabers of red and blue clashed together as the two spun in a dizzying dance of death. As Kira's movements quickened, the Sith was beginning to loose nerve. She could sense the fear in him as her saber became a simple blur, and he hardly kept up.
"I figured you'd be stronger than this, what with all your banter. Obviously, you're all talk."
She pulled her lower blade up, parallel to his chest as he stepped back hurriedly. She quickly swung her upper blade from right to left, clashing with his as he tried to block. The Exile brought her lower blade around again, easily cutting clean through the Sith's arm, severing the limb at the elbow. As she was about to strike a finishing blow to the withering Sith, Kira's attention was drawn away. The Shard was moving.
She turned her back on her opponent, her eyes scanning the room as she stepped away from him. Where had it gone?
She sensed a presence that the clouded part of her mind was the true Kira recognized as Crystal. However, her Shard-possessed mind recognized it only as the theif.

"Ooh!" Crystal shrieked. "Bad Ki-Ki things us thieves!"

She lunged at Jasra, knocking them both over and gripping Jasra tightly. As they lay there, Crystal began frantically chanting, "Think straight, think straight, think straight, think straight..."

Then, suddenly, they were back above the ground, not far from where the spider had been slaughtered. "Run, Jazzy. Ki-Ki thinks girl was thief. She wants fight with thief. So fight she gets until girl can push bad away."

With that she vanished again and reappeared just behind Kira.

"No, no, Ki..." Crystal began. Then, suddenly she stopped and frowned. Her hair straightened and darkened slightly and her eyes paled. "Kira. You are Kira Starr, Jedi Exile."

Crystal's lightsaber was in her hand, but she had not activated it yet. "Come back to your senses, so mine can leave me again. This will not be over until all the shards are found. You want that, don't you Kira? The second shard is safe. Jasra has it and is returning it to the ship."

As she spoke, she reached out and lightly touched Kira's mind with her own, attempting to soothe Kira and separate her from the shard.

Jasra clutched the shard tightly in her gauntleted hand. She was back on the surface, slightly disoriented and confused at what had just happened. As she looked around her, she saw Karda and Tegan standing near the hole in the web where she had fallen through just moments before. Crystal was no where to be seen.

"Erm...nevermind about that temple," she said to them, as she gathered herself up off the ground. "I've found the shard."

She frowned worriedly. She was concerned about about Crystal and Kira, and she knew she had to get the shard away from them and into its storage box in the TARDIS, but there was a new concern now. Karda had been angry with her before she had gone into the temple. Now that she had the shard in her hands, she wondered if he would be influenced by its Darkness.

"Let's get back to the Ebon Hawk," she said to them, taking slow steps backwards towards the path she had cut earlier. "Once the shard is safely stored away, we can come back for the others."

Crystal...I can't...
Kira wheeled on the smaller woman, her blue lightsabers humming and illuminating the area in a pale, eerie light. Her amber cat eyes glinted in the artificial light, as she focused on Crystal.
"Ha." she said, "No kidding I'm the Exile. Who did you expect? Revan himself?" she advanced on Crystal, her sabers poised.
Please...leave me...I won't...
"As for the Shard, the only safe place for it is in my hands."