Carsallas was sitting in his personal quarters, a place no other living being had seen, reading a data pad.  His former lover, Lena, certainly had paid the price for violating the sanctity of his personal quarters, the place that revealed his innermost desires and his plans.  He clicked on his comm. unit, “Ludaru, is the ship ready for launch?” he asked.  “The droids have been placed in the cargo holds and all pre-flight tests have been successfully,” the bounty hunter reported.  “Good, meet me in the cock pit” responded Carsallas.

     Upon arriving in the cockpit, Carsallas had taken the pilot’s seat with Ludaru assuming the co-pilot’s position.  Carsallas started the engines and looked to Ludaru, “the mines have been placed and set?”  He asked the bounty hunter who nodded in affirmation.  “Excellent, prepare for impact” the dark force user reported as he began maneuvering the newly constructed vessel through the intricate underground tunnels.  As he reached the end of the tunnel, he fired several rounds of torpedoes causing a grand explosion through which he flew the ship.  The vessel emerged where the bar he visited earlier in the day once stood.  As the ship soared through the sky towards the atmosphere, Carsallas pressed a small red button on the right side of the ship’s console resulting in a large explosion that destroyed the tunnels and all of the areas Carsallas had utilized as his head quarters while on Tattoine.

     The dark force user then stood from his seat as the ship entered the darkness of space and instructed Ludaru to assume the piloting position.  As he exited the door, Carsallas ordered, “Make the necessary calculations for a hyperspace jump to Yavin 4.”   “Yavin 4?” Ludaru questioned.  “You heard my orders.  I will be in my quarters.  Buzz me on my comm. when we arrive.”

     Carsallas made his way to the sacred halls of his personal quarters where he returned to reading his data pad again.  “Yes, Yavin 4 is the place to start.  Even with what the Vong did to the planet, the dark force energies that were so prevalent on the planet where the Jedi once housed their academy were bound to still be present.  That is where my journey is to begin.  I can feel that it is the right place to go.”  Carsallas said to himself.  Knowing that the journey would take a few hours, the dark force user opted to rest in order to conserve energy until their arrival.

*****

     The buzzing of his comm. unit awoke Carsallas.  Ludaru informed him that they had arrived in orbit around Yavin 4 and the dark one made his way to the front of the ship.  Upon entering the cockpit, Carsallas closed his eyes and reached out toward the planet with the force.  The planet presented an array of different feelings through the force.  There were many voids that were created by Yuuzhan Vong technology that was grown on the planet and seemed absent from the force.  Then there were areas that felt strongly in the force from areas that the Jedi teachers and students had traversed.  But there were a few areas that felt cold and dark.  One such area was located in the southwestern aspect of the planet.  This area seemed more cold and dark than the areas.  Carsallas opened his eyes and ordered the bounty hunter to take the ship down in the area he just sensed.

     As the ship set down in a clearing less than a meter from the darkness Carsallas had sensed through the force, the dark man made his way to the ramp and ordered Ludaru to remain back with the ship.  He began walking through the dense jungles of Yavin 4 while reaching out through the force for the dark energy source he felt from orbit.  He knew he was close and began walking in the direction he know felt.  On his way he came across several species of wild animals and some that he felt the Vong had transplanted here.  Each met a similar fate with his lightsaber.

    After about 2 hours of walking, he came to the source of the dark energy he had felt.  “Now what?”  He said to himself.  “Something had drawn me to this place, but what am I supposed to do now” he mused to himself but was quickly pulled out of his thoughts when 4 large two-legged beasts appeared out of nowhere and began to attack him.  The first one that approached was swiftly cut in half by Carsallas’ lightsaber.  “That was pretty easy,” he said to himself as the second one approached.  He went to bring his lightsaber down on his attacker but this beast was quicker and dodged the lightsaber swing.  “So this one is going to be more of a challenge.”  The dark one said to himself as he force leapt over the beast, which confused the animal allowing him to cut the beast down.  “OK, two more to go” he said to himself.  The third beast was even more of a challenge than the first one dodging several of Carsallas’ attack but eventually he cut this attacker down as well.  “Now one more” he thought to himself as the last one began his assault but this attacker was even more skilled and not only dodged the lightsaber attacks but also lashed out with a clawed hand at the Carsallas’ right hand, the one that he was holding the lightsaber with, causing the dark one to drop his weapon.  Startled by the accomplishment of his attacker, Carsallas had momentarily lost his concentration which allowed the beast to score another hit on the dark man sending him through the air and hard on to the ground.  The beast ran after toward Carsallas again with the ferocity of a wild beast about to make a kill.  Carsallas, however, had other plans. 

     Seeing the beast approaching, Carsallas raised his hands and let out streams of dark force lightning that caught the beast in mid-step and hurled it to the ground.  The dark man then proceeded to stand and continue to send bolts of purple dark force energy at the beast.  The screams of pain that the beast let out only brought a smile to the man’s face as he proceeded to fry the beast to a crisp.

     “Very good, indeed you are worthy of Sith training” came a voice from behind where Carsallas was standing.  Turning around, he saw the apparition of a man dressed in a dark cloak, which covered most of his face.  “Who are you?” Carsallas asked. 

     “Who I am is not important.  I know why you are here.  The force has sent you here and it is that same force that is allowing me to appear to you now.  I am the collective avatar of the dark side energies on this planet.”  The apparition paused.  “So you want to revive the Sith order.  You know others have tried and failed.” 

     “I will not fail” Carsallas said with a mix of anger and reverence toward the apparition.  “Am I to assume that the creatures who attacked with increasing levels of ability were your doing?”

     “Not my doing.  They were the doing of the dark side.”  The apparition revealed, “Just as it is the will of the dark side to allow you to attempt to revive the Sith.  I am to be your guide and trainer.  The dark side is allowing me to leave with you and reveal to you the secrets of the Sith.  Hurry, we must return to your ship.”

     “Where are we going?” Carsallas asked not knowing whether or not to trust the apparition.  “We are going to Korriban, one of the planets once held by the Sith.  Much of the dark force energies are still housed there.  That is where you quest will begin.”