"Where are your parents?" the woman called Irtanna asked.

"They're dead," Zannah answered after a moment's hesitation, setting down what remained of the ration kit. The food was delicious; the simple physical pleasure of eating was a glorious sensation. But she couldn't allow herself to be distracted by it right now. She had to be very careful with what she told these people.

The man crouched beside her, bringing himself down to her eye level. When he spoke, his voice was soft and sympathetic. "Any other family? Brothers or sisters? Anyone?"

She answered with another shake of her head.

"A war orphan," Irtanna muttered sadly.

"My name's Bordon," the man told her, "This is Irtanna, and these are my sons Tallo and Wend. What's your name?"

Unwilling to reveal her true name, she hesitated for a second, "I'm ...

Rain," she finally offered, giving them her childhood nickname.

"Rain? That's a funny name. Never heard one like that before," the older boy, Tallo, said. He looked to be about sixteen.

"There are lots of names you've never heard," Bordon chided his son sharply. Then, in a softer voice, he asked Zannah, "Are you hurt, Rain?

Or sick? We have medicine if you need it."

"I'm okay. I was just hungry is all."

"Should we take her with us?" Irtanna asked.

Bordon kept his eyes on Zannah as he replied, "Why don't we ask her.

Rain, do you want to come with us?"

"I have to go to Onderon," Zannah replied without thinking. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted them.

"Onderon? Nothing on that rock but monsters and beast-riders, Tallo chimed in. "You must be pretty stupid if you want to go there."

"Hush, boy" Bordon snapped. "You've never been off Ruusan, so how would you know?"

"I heard people talking," Tallo replied. "Around the camps and stuff."

"You can't believe every tale you hear around a campfire," his father reminded him. "Now take your brother and go wait up in the front of the ship."

"Come on," Tallo grumbled, grabbing his younger sibling by the arm.

"That's not fair!" Wend protested as he was led away. "I didn't do nothing!"

"Why do you want to go to Onderon?" Irtanna asked once the boys were gone. "It's a very dangerous world. Not the kind of place for a little girl on her own."

"I won't be on my own. I... I have family there," Zannah lied. "I just need to find them."

Bordon rubbed his hand over his chin, tugging slightly at his beard. "It might be pretty hard finding them on a place like Onderon," he said. "Is there someone else we could contact for you? A family friend on Ruusan, maybe?"

"I have to go to Onderon," Zannah insisted.

"I see" the man said, then he stood up and turned to Irtanna. "Our young guest seems mighty determined to get off this world."

"We can't take you to Onderon," Irtanna said, "but we can take you with us when we leave Ruusan."

"Take me where?" Zannah asked, suspicious.

"We've got a whole fleet of ships...o...b..ting the planet, Rain. You'll be safe up there. Well find someone to get you cleaned up and look after you."

"I can look after myself," she answered defiantly.

"Yes, I can see that," Bordon interjected. "But I bet it's lonely being all by yourself." When Zannah didn't answer he continued, "Tell you what-it's getting dark outside. Why don't we take you with us up to the fleet for now? Then tomorrow we can figure out what to do next.

"If you still want to go to Onderon, we'll see if we can help. But if you change your mind, maybe you could stay here on Ruusan with me and my boys for a while. At least until we find your family."

Zannah's mouth dropped open at his offer.

Bordon reached down and patted her gently on the shoulder. "It's okay,"

he said. "You don't have to answer right now. Just something to think about."

Managing a slight nod, Zannah resumed eating her meal, her mind still reeling.

"I'll go get us ready for takeoff" Irtanna said as she left, heading up toward the front of the vessel.

Bordon grunted his agreement, then spoke to Zannah once more. "I have to go up front to help Irtanna. You just stay back here and finish eating, okay?"

Zannah nodded again. There was something comforting about the way Bordon spoke to her. He made her feel safe and important at the same time. She watched him disappear through the door separating the supply hold from the c.o.c.kpit.

"You just holler if you need anything," Bordon's voice called back to her.

A minute later the engines roared to life and the shuttle lifted up into the air, but Zannah barely noticed. Her brain was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. Part of her was silently screaming that she had couldn't just sit there-she had to do something nowl She couldn't let them take her back to the fleet. There were too many people there. Too many Jedi. Someone was bound to notice her special gifts and start asking questions. They'd find out about Darth Bane, and everything he had promised her-all the knowledge and power of the dark side-would be lost.

Yet another part of her wanted to go back to the fleet. Bane had warned that her apprenticeship would be a long and difficult struggle. She was tired of struggling. And Bane had abandoned her. Bordon, on the other hand, had offered her his home; he'd offered to let her be part of his family. What would be so wrong about simply accepting his offer? Bane had said she was the chosen heir to the legacy of the ancient Sith, but was that really what she wanted?

Before she could come up with an answer she heard a noise, and looked up to see Wend, the younger of Bordon's two sons, coming in from the c.o.c.kpit to talk to her. She guessed he was somewhere around thirteen-only a few years older than she was.

"Papa says you don't have any family," he said by way of greeting.

Zannah didn't know what to say, so she only nodded.

"Did they die in the war?" Wend asked. "Did the Sith kill them?"

She shrugged, unwilling to elaborate in case she inadvertently gave away some detail that would expose her facade.

"My mother was a soldier," Wend told her. "She was very brave. She went to fight the Sith when they first came to Ruusan."

"What happened to her?" She only asked the question because it was expected and it would have seemed odd if she hadn't. She didn't want to do anything to draw unwanted attention to herself.

"She died at the Fourth Battle of Ruusan. Killed by the Sith. Papa says-"

"Wend!" came Bordon's voice from the c.o.c.kpit. "Get back up here. Let Rain have some peace and quiet."

The boy gave her a shy smile, then turned and left her alone again with her thoughts. Thanks to his words, however, she'd made her decision.

Bordon had offered to take her in. He'd offered to make her part of his family. He was tempting her with a simple but happy life. But his words offered nothing except empty promises. Peace is a He.

What good were family or friends if you didn't have the strength to protect them? Bordon had lost his wife, and Tallo and Wend had lost their mother. When the Sith came they'd been powerless to save the one they most loved.

Zannah knew what it was like to feel powerless. She knew what it was like to have the things she valued above all else taken from her. And she had vowed to never let it happen again.

Bordon and his family were victims-slaves bound by the chains of their own weakness. Zannah refused to be a victim any longer. Bane had promised to teach her the ways of the dark side. He would show her how to unleash the power within and free herself from the shackles of the world.

Through power I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken!

The realization of what she was-the acceptance of her destiny-spurred Zannah into action. She tried to call upon the Force to give her strength, but she was still too exhausted from her previous exertions to use her talents. Undaunted, she began to rummage through the supply crates in the cargo hold, looking for something she could use to stop the shuttle and her crew from bringing her to the rest of the fleet.

She found what she was looking for just as Tallo entered the hold, catching her red-handed.

"Papa wanted me to see if you- Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Zannah wrapped her hand around the grip of the blaster a split second before Tallo crashed into her, tackling her to the ground.

"You kriffing little thief!" the boy swore at her, trying to pin her to the ground and pull the weapon from her hand. He outweighed Zannah by thirty kilos, but she fought with a savage desperation that kept him from getting a firm grip on her as they wrestled on the floor.

Drawn by the sounds of their struggle, Bordon came running into the room.

"What the blazes is going on here!" he shouted.

In that exact instant the blaster discharged. It was impossible to say whose finger had been on the trigger; Tallo and Zannah were each clutching at the pistol with both hands in their efforts to wrest possession of it from the other. But through ill luck or dark fate, when the bolt was fired the barrel of the weapon was pointed squarely at Tallo. The impact left a gaping wound in the center of his chest, killing him instantly.

The young man's hands went limp and fell away from the blaster. His body toppled forward, pinning Zannah's legs beneath its weight. Across the room Bordon's eyes flew wide in horror. With a scream of anguish he lunged forward to help his son.

Seeing the father of the boy she had just killed rushing toward her, Zannah acted on instinct and fired the weapon again. The bolt caught Bordon just above the belt, cutting off his cry and knocking him to his knees. He let out a low grunt of pain as he clutched at the smoking hole in his gut, then reached a b.l.o.o.d.y hand out toward Zannah. She cried out in fear and disgust and fired again, ending Bordon's life.

"Bordon!" Irtanna's voice came over the shipboard intercom. "I heard blasterfire! What's happening back there?"

Moving quickly, Zannah squirmed out from under Tallo's corpse and ran up to the c.o.c.kpit. She arrived to find Wend still harna.s.sed into his pa.s.senger's seat, trying to turn around to see what was going on. Irtanna was just rising from her chair to go help Bordon. She'd had to engage the autopilot before she could leave her seat, and the delay had given Zannah the precious seconds she'd need to gain the upper hand.

"Sit back down and don't move!" Zannah shouted, pointing the blaster at Irtanna. Her voice sounded thin and hollow in the tight confines of the c.o.c.kpit-the voice of a panicky child.

Irtanna hesitated, then obeyed.

"What happened?" the woman asked, her tone carefully neutral. "Is anybody hurt?"

"Plot a course for Onderon " Zannah ordered, refusing to answer the question. She could barely hear herself speak above the deafening thump of her racing heart.

"Okay," Irtanna said slowly, reaching up to punch the coordinates into the ship's command console. "I'll do what you want. Just stay calm." The ship's autonav chimed to acknowledge the new destination, and the woman half turned in her seat so she could look the young girl holding her hostage square in the eye. "Rain, put the blaster down." There was a cool self-a.s.surance in her words, and a grim determination on her face.

"I'm not Rain," the girl retorted through clenched teeth. "My name is Zannah!"

"Whoever you are," Irtanna said, standing up slowly, "you're going to give me that blaster."

"Don't move or I'll shoot!" Zannah warned, her voice rising shrilly. How can she be so calm? she thought, even as she struggled to slow her own breathing down. She was the one with the blaster, but somehow she felt like she was losing control of the situation.

"No," the young woman replied calmly, taking a single step toward her.

"You won't shoot me. You're not a killer."

The memory of the two dead Jedi back on Ruusan flashed through Zannah's mind, followed quickly by the image of Bordon and his son lying lifeless in the cargo hold.

"Yes, I am" she whispered as she pulled the trigger.

Irtanna managed a faint gasp of surprise, then collapsed to the ground-a quick and clean death. Zannah waited a second to confirm she was gone, then turned to point the blaster at Wend. He had watched the encounter unfold as if paralyzed, not even bothering to undo the buckle of his safety harness.

"Don't kill me!" he begged, squirming beneath the chair's restraints.

She could actually sense the fear emanating from him. She felt the familiar heat of the dark side flare to life within her, responding to the plight of her victim, feeding itself on his terror. It flowed through her like a wave of liquid fire, burning away her guilt and uncertainty and strengthening her resolve.

Zannah's mind was filled with a great and sudden realization: fear and pain were an inevitable part of existence. And it was far better to inflict them on others than to suffer them herself.

"Please don't shoot," Wend whimpered, making one last plea for his life.

"I'm just a kid. Like you "

"I'm not a kid " Zannah said as she pulled the trigger. "I'm a Sith."

Chapter 7.

Bane could hear the whine of the Vakyn's engines as the ship sliced through the upper layers of Dxun's atmosphere, protesting as he pushed the vessel to her very limits. Normally the trip from Ruu-san to Onderon's oversized moon would have taken a T-cla.s.s cruiser like the Valcyn between four and five days. Bane had covered the distance in just over two.

Within hours of leaving Ruusan-and Zannah-behind, he had been cursed with the return of the almost unbearable headaches. And with them had come an unwanted and most unwelcome companion. The spectral shade of Lord Kaan loomed over him in the c.o.c.kpit for the entire first day of the trip, a visible manifestation of the damage Bane's mind had suffered from the thought bomb. The spirit never spoke, merely watched him with its accusatory gaze, a constant presence on the edges of Bane's awareness.

The ghostly apparition had driven Bane to adopt an irresponsible, even dangerous, pace for the journey. He had pushed the Valcyn far beyond the recommended safety parameters, as if part of him was trying to use the speed of the ship to outrun his own madness. He was desperate to reach Dxun so he could find the tomb of Freedon Nadd and hopefully discover some way to rid himself of the torturous hallucinations.

Kaan had disappeared toward the end of the first day of his journey, only to be replaced by an even worse visitation. It wasn't the founder of the Brotherhood of Darkness that hovered beside him now, but Qordis-the former head of the Sith Academy on Korriban. Pale and semi-translucent, the figure was otherwise an almost perfect replica of what the Sith Lord had looked like at the time of their final meeting, when Bane had killed him. Tall and gaunt, Qordis had skeletal features that seemed more at home on a spirit than they ever had on a being of flesh and blood. Unlike Kaan, however, Qordis actually spoke to him, spewing forth an endless litany of blame, denouncing everything Bane had accomplished.

"You betrayed us" the phantom said, extending a long, thin finger topped with a talon-like nail. Bane didn't need to look at it to know the finger would be adorned with the heavy bejeweled rings Qordis had worn in life.

"You destroyed the Brotherhood, you brought victory to the Jedi. And now you flee the scene like a craven thief in the night."

I'm not a coward! Bane thought. There was no point in voicing the words aloud; the vision was all in his mind. Speaking with it would only be a sign that his mental condition was further deteriorating. I did what had to be done. The Brotherhood was an abomination. They had to be destroyed!