In his meditation, Darth Saaron chuckled. ::Indeed that one was simple, my apprentice. You are becoming even more powerful than the Jedi can even dream of, like me. Your power will continue to grow as you grow stronger in the Dark Side of the Force. Moving on, Through power, I gain victory.::

Darth Maera smiled in her meditation. ::Through power, I gain victory. Another simple one.:: As she grew more powerful, she would eventually be able to defeat anything that stood in her way. ::Is there more, Master?::

Darth Saaron smiled again, his apprentice is grasping the aspects of the Sith Code perfectly. ::Yes, my apprentice. I can sense your eagerness. But know this, understanding is more important than the speed you learn it in. Through victory my chains are broken.::

"Let me check..." CSI punched some keys, and murmured: "Strange...I can't locate that ship anymore." His eyes stay fixed on the monitor.

"That's impossible...Wasn't it right there?" Vergil came over and pointed at the screen.

"Yes, that is supposed to be there." CSI nodded.

"Wait...take a look here." Vergil shifted to another view, and saw a hyperspace trail near it. "They went into hyperspace."

CSI shook his head in disbelief, "Blast, now we need to change our plan a little...Arion? There is a change of plan. We're coming to you. Please transmit your current location, and we can commence Hyperspace procedure."

::Yes, master.:: Darth Maera paused. ::Master, this one.... is confusing. My chains are broken? What does that mean?::

* * *

Arion nodded. "Transmitting now.... stand by." He punched in their co-ordinates and sent them to the Phoenix. "We'll, ah, wait for you here, I guess. See you soon."

Sarela entered the cockpit. "Is there a problem?"

Arion sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine. One thing's for sure, something's not right. I just- I just can't figure out what it is." He tried to reach out for Aurora, but found nothing. I hope she's okay.

"Let's go." CSI raised the Jedi Phoenix into the deep space, and it flicked into hyperspace.

"Wait...this coordinates...they're near Tatooine..." Vergil looked at the coordinates.

"Oh blast...Wait, let me shift to manual." CSI punched in another set of coordinates, "Here we go."

----

After a while, Jedi Pheonix exited the hyperspace, and noticed a small vessel nearby. CSI shouted into the comm: "Arion, CSI here. We got out of hyperspace, and we noticed there is a small vessel nearby. Can you identify yourself, so we can begin crew transferring? After all, this is your ship, sir."

::I would have been supprised if you were not confused by it, my apprentice. This has been argued by many Sith. One way of looking at it, the chains could represent a being's restrictions. However, not just a Sith but any being in the universe. These restrictions could be placed upon someone by someone else, or inflicted upon oneself. The goal of any Sith is to free themselves from such restrictions. But know this, my apprentice, this does not mean that you can simply do whatever you want.:: He paused giving her time to think, ::Look at me, I broke my chains when I killed my former master and father.::

Darth Maera thought about this for a while. ::Yes, master. I think I understand.::

* * *

Arion glanced outside, and smiled a little when he saw the Phoenix there. "That's us, CSI. Eh, there's not a lot of room on this ship, we'd better transfer over to you.

"Okay, here goes the hard part." CSI murmured, and tried his best to manuveur Jedi Phoenix as close to the vessel. "Commencing crew transmitting...Pressure Room--Zero Pressure. Clear for Opening the hatch...Hatch opened...Welcome aboard, Arion."

Vergil, still in the ARC outfit, stood at the door of Pressure room.

Darth Saaron smiled, his apprentice would make a great Sith indeed. ::Very well, my apprentice. The final part of the Sith Code is, the force shall free me.::

Darth Maera was glad that her master was pleased with her. ::The Force.... shall free me.:: She felt that this line was interconnected with the one before it, and directed her concentration on this link. The Force.... shall free me from my chains? But that contradicts the verse before it. Wait..... Victory will *break* my chains, but the Force will free me from them. ::I understand, master. Thank you, I have learned a great deal.::

* * *

Arion stepped aboard the Phoenix, and smiled. "It's good to be back." Sarela followed him, and he turned to introduce her. "This is.... wait, er, I don't think I got your name?"

"Sarela.... Sarela Tan," she replied, softly.

Arion nodded. "Sarela, this is Vergil. I think CSI's still at the controls. Come." He led the way to the cockpit.

Darth Saaron ended his meditation and had a dark smile on his face. "You have done well, my apprentice, I am very pleased with your progress. I can sense that you have grown stronger in the Dark Side during your meditations. I sense that you will become a *great* Sith one day. For now, come with me." He led her into his quarter's common room and sat down on a luxurous, black couch that was in his father's quarters already.

Darth Maera rose from her meditation, proud that she had been able to please her master. She followed him to the common room and, after a moment's hesitation, seated herself next to him. "What is your will, milord?"

* * *

Arion entered the cockpit, followed by the others. "CSI, good to see you. What's the status of your mission?"

Darth Saaron spent several moments looking at Darth Marea sitting next to him, admiring how beautiful his apprentice was. He locked his burning yellow eyes onto her's, and asked "What did the Jedi Order order you to do before you... had a change of heart, my apprentice? Also, what was their reaction to your feelings towards me, I can still sense them you know, and you are hiding them, curious." He chuckled.

Darth Maera looked away, uneasily. "I had convinced them to let me try to- to redeem you," she said, in a low voice. "I... I think they were displeased with me for having feelings for you, but they said they would discuss it with me.... when I came back." She was a little confused.... she hadn't thought she was hiding her feelings from Darth Saaron.... was she? "Hiding them, milord? I don't understand."

"The Jedi are fools, they deny the true power of the force, only a select few, like yourself, can every truly be both worthy and able to understand the force." Darth Saaron hissed in a dark voice. He continued, his tone back to a casual conversation, "I wanted you to suppress your Jedi past. However, you are also unknowingly suppressing your feelings towards me. Release them! Through passion, I gain strength!"

Darth Maera bowed her head. "Y- yes, milord. I'm sorry for displeasing you." She closed her eyes, focusing inward, to release her feelings from their constraints. Finally, she looked up again, a small smile curving the edges of her mouth. She reached up to turn his face down towards her, and began to kiss him, with a passion she hardly knew she possessed. ::Happier now, master?:: she asked him, eyes glittering with amusement.

CSI smiled at Arion: "Hey, Arion, we meet again." Then he stood up, "The control is yours--after all, it's your ship, anyway. And as promised--she didn't stratch a little, except these bounty hunters tried to take over your ship. And that's lucky that your ship doesn't have a satellite dish."

Vergil entered the cockpit and said, "We heard that Master Starfire had 'failed', but we don't know why, and where they are. Well, my greater prestige sense tells me that something worse happened, far worse."

CSI nodded in agreement, "What's your plan, Master Starfire? And...who is that lady?"

Vergil introduced: "This is CSI, my friend. This is Sarela Tan."

CSI bowed politely: "It's an honor to meet you, madam."

Arion sank down in the pilot's seat, and held his head in his hands. "Worse? You don't mean she's dead, do you..... no, I'd know if she died. I'd know. Worse...." Arion looked up, an expression of horror on his face. "No.... no, no, no. She couldn't. She'd never fall to the dark side. And- and yet...." He shook his head. "I have to find her. There's got to be a way to figure out where she is."

CSI jumped from his chair: "What did you say? Huh? Aurora fell to dark side? Hey, we never got live proof of that. So don't jump to the conclusion."

Vergil replied: "Well, we're working on that, but they went into hyperdrive, so there is almost impossible to trace them, but...we mignt can trace them...using the old method."

CSI suddenly got an idea: "Well, Vergil is right. The last time we spotted the Executor-class destroyer by using the heat signature and energy consumption. The golden rule: The bigger the ship is, the more energy it consume. So it worths a shot...Since we just came from Korriban, let's focus on that planet. And according to the database, there are several Sith Planets: Korriban, Ziost, Unknown Regions...But of course, that depends on luck, sir."

Vergil nodded: "Yeah, that worths a shot, what do you think, Arion?"

Arion nodded. "Anything. If it even has a chance of working, then let's try it. Where do we start?"

Finally, Sarela spoke. "Your sister is with my son, isn't she?"

Arion stared at her. "Your son? You- you mean Darth Saaron.... is your son?"

She bowed her head. "Yes, he is." She got to her feet. "If there's anything I can do to help you locate them, let me know." She turned and left the room.

"Eh, who is Darth Saaron?" CSI stratched his head, "I don't think we met him before, did we?" Vergil shook his head.

"Anyway, let's start with Korriban. Then Ziost, then Unknown Regions...And we start over after 1 hour. I don't believe they would never come out of Hyperdrive." Vergil added.

"By the way, I think I begin to like Sarela." CSI joked and Vergil gave him a stare. "Never mind, bad joke." CSI apologized, "Anyway, here we go!" CSI stood up, and entered the main lobby. On the console he pressed a few button, and a galaxy map appeared. "Now we check the heat signature near the Korriban. Filter--Executor Class Destroyer." Then the camera began to focus on Korriban, and zooming it in. After a while, several small red dots appeared, and vanished because of filter. "No, not on Korriban. Now let's try Ziost..."

----

After 15 min, CSI reported: "No heat signature so far. Let's refresh after 45 minutes. Meanwhile, we got nothing to kill except time."

Darth Saaron watched as Darth Marea unlocked her emotions. When he saw her her smile, he returned it with his own wickedly amused smile. As they kissed with a passion they never knew they had, he could feel their power in the Dark Side growing. He heard her through the force while they were kissing and replied, ::Very, my apprentice. You see how these feelings can also make you stronger as well, can't you?::

Darth Maera felt her power growing, strengthening, in the dark side. ::Yes.... yes, my love, I can feel it. It's just as you said.::

* * *

Arion shook his head. "You remember Ben Flameshadow, right? He he fell to the dark side, and took the name Darth Saaron. An- and Aurora's in love with him." He stood up, and stretched briefly. "I'm going to practice lightsaber forms for a while. If you find anything, please let me know."

::Of course it is, and this is only the beginning, my love and apprentice.:: Reluctantly, he ended their passionate kiss and slowly got up, putting on his mask as he did so. "Come with me, my apprentice. I have a supprise for you." He waited for Darth Marea to follow him down to the detention block, where all of the Dark Jedi who were torturing Arion were being held in a interrogation room. He stepped in and motioned for his apprentice to do the same. "As you are aware, my new apprentice, these are our survants who were torturing your brother. Do whatever you want with them. I will be here as a observer. Have some... fun, my apprentice."

Darth Maera smiled, eyes glittering dangerously. "Thank you, milord." She began to pace the room, slowly, watching the prisoners. Her eyes fell on the ones who had been imprisoned in force cages, and with a touch of the Force, she turned the cages' interrogation systems all the way up, unleashing powerful electrical shocks on the prisoners. "You.... will.... feel.... everything.... my brother felt, fools," she hissed, glaring at them.

Darth Saaron watched Darth Marea with great pleaseure as he heard the screams of the prisoners. She is already a great Sith, indeed. I am truly going to enjoy watching this. She will be a great Sith Lord when her training is complete. Once we get rid of the Jedi and their Republic, we will establish our own rule and crush those who stand against us! Darth Saaron thought as he watched, a dark, savage smile on his face.

"Ben Flameshadow? Well...It's on my bounty list. But I never seen that person before...have we?" CSI asked Vergil, and as response, Vergil shook his head again.

"Well, here we go again..." CSI reached for the console again as Vergil yawned, "Well, I'll get a nap. It's all yours, CSI."

"No problem. I got it."

Darth Maera watched the prisoners scream, for a while, then turned her attention to the others. She eyed several strapped to a table, and they glared at her defiantly. She took two slow steps towards them, fury building within her. Her fingertips crackled, and without thinking about it, she lifted her hand and blasted them with lightning. Once the lightning had abated, she held up her hand and looked at it, a little surprised. ::Master?::

Darth Saaron watched his apprentice torture her prisoners, satisfied at her approach. He then watched her discover a new force power for herself as she blasted some of the prisoners with Force Lightning, looking a bit puzzled. ::My apprentice, you have just discovered one of the Force powers that is of the Dark Side. The Jedi would never teach you this, anything can be done with the force.:: He then reached out to her mind and created a link between them. He allowed her to see that as his rage filled, he channeled it in to the force. Forcing that energy to his fingertips, begging to be released, and doing so, released a even more powerful lightning than she was able to produce onto the prisoners strapped down onto the table. Listening to their screams made his power increase, increasing the power of the lightning. Darth Saaron continued to smile at his prisoners with a savage, dark smile as he continued to unleash the lightning. Through the force he called to his apprentice, ::Join in, my apprentice, make them suffer!:: As he sensed the Dark Jedi becomming weaker and close to death, the table they were laying on injected them with a IV filled with bacta, keeping them from death.

::Yes, master. Thank you.:: Darth Maera followed what he had shown her, and unleashed another blast of lightning at the dark Jedi, this time purposefully. She tortured them for a while longer, then finally directed her attention to those dark Jedi who had not been incarcerated. She smiled, wickedly, and said in a low voice, "You have four seconds before I begin to hunt you. That's one second less than you gave my brother. Now go!" She watched as the remaining dark Jedi scattered, and with a chuckle, vanished from sight and sense, beginning her hunt.

Darth Saaron continued to increase the power of his lightning, even as his apprentice joined in. The cries of complete agony echoed through out the interrogation chamber, even as Darth Marea left to hunt. The Dark Jedi in the room only wanted to let death take them over. Darth Saaron let out a evil laugh as he continued the lightning, amused that he would not grant what these Dark Jedi wanted. Death would have been too good for them, and it provided a execelent oppurnity for training his apprentice.

Darth Maera moved silently through the halls, lightsaber in hand, trapping the dark Jedi one by one and picking them off. She could feel their fear as they ran, using it to track them. Finally, the only one who was left was their leader. She began to taunt him through the Force, mocking him. ::How does it feel to be the hunted, rather than the hunter, fool?:: She closed in on him, remaining hidden, and finally, stood quite still in a passageway, waiting for him. As he ran past, she tripped him, finally revealing herself. She began to circle him. "You didn't think you'd ever be in this position, did you? Hunted.... trapped....." she turned him over with her foot, and held her lightsaber blade at his throat. He gulped, and tried to speak, but no words came out. "Going to beg for mercy? Do you really think I'd put you out of your misery so soon? Think again. You're going to feel everything my brother felt, before you die screaming." Hate burned in her eye, and she released a powerful wave of lightning on him, more powerful than she had ever been able to achieve before.

Darth Saaron felt the ship come out of hyperspace and thought we need to enact the next phase of my plan before the Jedi sense us. He stopped the lightning on the prisoners. However, before going to where Darth Marea was, he injected both of the Dark Jedi on the tabe with a drug that kept them in agony while he was gone. He walked up to his apprentice and watched her exact her vengence on the leader of the Dark Jedi with a dark sastifaction.

Darth Maera continued to blast the dark Jedi with lightning until he fell unconscious. Oops, she thought to herself, half amused, half chagrined. Maybe I should've decreased the power, he might've stayed conscious longer. She turned and noticed that Darth Saaron had come to watch her. "Milord, do you have need of me?"

Darth Saaron nodded his head towards the knocked out Dark Jedi. "I have something that you might consider a present." A dark smile formed on his face behind his mask, while he let out a dark laugh. He then forced his way into the mind of the knocked out prisoner and began to send extreme amounts of dark energy into the pain centers of his brain. The Dark Jedi instantly snapped awake, screaming in complete agony as every nerve in his body fired all at once. "He should be sufficently awake now, continue."

Darth Maera smiled. "Thank you, master." She looked down at the dark Jedi, and unleashed a new attack. She listened to his screams with satisfaction for a while, then said, "I'll finish with you later." She then lifted him with the Force, and carried him to the interrogation room and strapped him to the table with the other prisoners. She injected him with a bacta IV, and then, with a wicked smile, switched on the table's electric current. When she had finished, she returned to Darth Saaron, and asked, "What would you have me do now, milord?"

Darth Saaron smiled at his apprentice. "How do you feel?" he asked as he was walking back to his quarters. "I am amazed at your progress, my apprentice. You are going to be a great Sith."

Darth Maera smiled, glad to have pleased Darth Saaron. "Thank you, master." She paused, considering his question. "I feel.... stronger, more powerful. And yet.... there is so much I have yet to learn." She kept pace with her master, walking beside and a little behind him.

Darth Saaron chuckled as he entered his quarters. "Indeed, you are right, my apprentice. You have grown a lot more powerful in the past few hours, I can feel it. And I have barely taught you anything, think about the future, think about what you will be able to accomplish, my love." He said, sitting back down on his couch, motioning for her to sit down next to him as he took off his mask.

Darth Maera seated herself next to him. "Thank you, master. I am eager to learn more, whenever you are ready to teach me." She was quiet for a while, gazing up into his eyes. She had never known what it was to be alone before... in the past she had always had Arion, or other Jedi, near her, but now she realized that all she had left was Darth Saaron, and the thought was both reassuring and chilling at the same time, though she was not sure why.

* * *

Arion had gone to the cargo hold to practice saber forms when he realized that his saber was gone, and berated himself for letting Darth Saaron take it from him. So instead of forms, he had begun building a new lightsaber. Finally finished, he ignited it, pleased with the result. A silver blade emitted from each end, and with a twist of the hilt, it separated into two single-bladed sabers. Closing it down, he clipped it to his belt and walked into the common area. "Hey, CSI, any luck?"

"Eh, I'm still working on it." CSI taped several keys, and the monitor showed Korriban first. "Nope, no luck."

When the monitor showed up Ziost, CSI spotted a pretty big red dot flashed near Ziost. He clicked and zoomed it in, and it showed "Eclipse Destroyer, orbiting Ziost."

"Arion! This sure looks like it." CSI reported in.

Arion's face lit up, and he moved closer. "Great work, CSI!" He surveyed the data, and nodded. "I'll go input the co-ordinates into the navicomputer, and get us under way." He walked quickly to the cockpit, and charted a course for Ziost. He keyed the comm. "Y'all might want to strap in, we're about to jump to lightspeed." The ship rocked slightly as went into hyperspace.

"Ahhh...I should let master handle the work." CSI said relaxing, and Vergil came out: "I sense we're in hyperdrive, you got any luck?"

"Yeah, we got a potential lead in Ziost, and we're going there." CSI nodded.

"Should we change the equipment to robes?" Vergil asked CSI.

"That won't be nessensary--oh, here they are...your lightsabers. Got them from one Sith." CSI handled Vergil a small bag.

"Thank you. I owe you one, mate." Vergil said.

CSI replied grimly: "Don't worry about it."

Darth Saaron gazed into Darth Marea's eyes and smiled. "You finally understand what it was like for me with my father. I only had him, just like you only have me." He paused, "I sense some Jedi are approaching, we must hurry and get you more training before they get here. Otherwise, we may have problems indeed."

Darth Maera quickly got to her feet. "Yes, master. I am ready." She was eager to learn more, and also curious about the Jedi, and Darth Saaron's plans for them.

* * *

Arion walked back into the room. "We'll be there in a few hours. Till then, we might as well get comfortable."

Darth Saaron lead Darth Marea into his training room where some soldiers were. ::This is where you will learn how to use your rage. Use it to crush these incompetient soldiers.::. "The Jedi will try to weaken you, to try to take your power away from you, they must be destroyed in order for us to be sucessful."

Darth Maera nodded. "Y- yes, milord." She frowned, willing her rage to grow within her, eyeing one of the troopers darkly. She clenched her fist, using the Force to lift the soldier into the air and crush his chest, then hurled him against the wall. ::Like that, master?::

::Yes, my apprentice. Now, try using your rage, hate, and anger to impale your opponets with a scream that will kill them upon hearing it. Just like I did back at the acadmey.:: Darth Saaron watched his apprentice and smiled darkly, impressed with her abilities. :: Do not worry about harming me, it will not affect me.:: He added afterwords.

Darth Maera hesitated, but only for a moment. ::I- I'll try, master.:: She concentrated for a moment, then released her pent-up hate, rage, and despair, infusing it with the dark side, culminating in a scream through the Force. Its shockwaves blasted through the troopers, causing them to cry out in pain before killing them. She released her hold on the Force then, trembling slightly. ::M-master?::