After watching the devastation he had caused, Carsallas ran along the rooftop of the building that was adjoined to the bar he just destroyed with the Ithorian’s head in hand.  He leapt from building to building until he came to the edge of town where he began trekking across the desert terrain.  Although it was several miles that he had walked in the mid afternoon sun, Carsallas didn’t even break a sweat, for he had more resolve than to be succumbed by the sun. 

     Finally, he came to a small igloo shaped shelter that looked quite normal on the outside and even on the inside for that matter.  It seemed like a small living space for one person, but upon entering the room Carsallas headed directly for the back corner of the wall.  He raised his hand and suddenly a large door opened which revealed a long flight of steps that took him several meters below the surface.  It was here that he had yet another surprise.  Who would have thought that a small shelter would be the underground base of operations for an up and coming dark force user.  In the large cavern that he had constructed sat a large YT-1300 class type ship that seemed to be almost completed.  Surrounding the ship were hundreds of maintenance droids that Carsallas paid no attention to as he walked to the side of the ship and headed up the ramp into the ship. 

     The cavern was certainly a site to behold, a natural formation that Carsallas had discovered a few years earlier on a trip to the planet.  It was then that he had “acquired” the maintenance droids from several despicable junk dealers with whom he used force persuasion to buy the droids for a meager pay.  The droids were then set on their task of creating the shelter, digging the stairs to the tunnel, and setting the cavern up as a ship yard.  It had taken several years to construct but like many before him, Carsallas was patient and could wait. 

     As Carsallas entered the vessel he walked past the tall, dark haired bounty hunter he employed—Ludarus.  He had met Ludaru on Corellia during the war with the Vong where the latter was trying to make a living but there didn’t seem to be much need for bounty hunters during the war, at least for this bounty hunter.  Feeling that the young bounty hunter was force sensitive, Carsallas took Ludaru in and immediately took him to Tattoine to oversee his construction project.  It was Ludaru who, with methods only a bounty hunter would employ, managed to collect all of the pieces needed to construct the YT-1300.  Carsallus didn’t particularly care for the bounty hunter.  He was just a means to an end.

     Upon arriving on Tattoine, Carsallas placed his own vessel in storage and gave everyone the appearance that he was purchasing the small shelter from Ludaru, who the towns people came to know and hate.  Upon the “purchase” Ludaru disappeared from the surface completely to give people the impression he left the planet while in reality he just spent all of his time in the cavern.  With the near completion of the vessel, all that Carsallas needed to do was find a way of getting the ship out of the cavern.  While finding a way to have a large ship exit would be challenging to most, Carsallas had it mapped out just like the rest of his plan.  After determining the trajectory needed to launch the ship from underground, he located the exact spot he would need to exit from on the surface.  There was currently a bar there and that was when he decide to destroy the structure and have some fun while he was at it.

     Carsallas met Ludaru’ gaze as he entered the ship and said, “Our exit site has been cleared.” To which the bounty hunter looked at the head of Ithorian in the other man’s hand and said, “I see you have another trophy.  You must have had a good time destroying the structure as well.”

     Carsallas scowled, “Of course I did.  Is our guest securely in his ‘quarters’?” as he walked over to a small cupboard that turned out to be a small freezer.  Inside this freezer sat the head of a blond haired human male resting on a small stand.  Next to this head was a row of empty stands and Carsallas placed the Ithorian head directly to the right of the human head.  Carsallas smiled to himself thinking of how he would soon have all of the stands filled with the heads of his enemies.  They would be symbols of his rise to power.  The first head marked his independence since that head had belonged to his former master—the dark Jedi who had trained him in the ways of the force.   He was no longer the student, he was the master and having won his master’s head in a lightsaber duel proved that. 

     Carsallas was pulled from his reveries by Ludaru, who was answering his prior question, “Both of our guests are aboard.  And actually your invited guest is becoming more of a problem than the other.”

     This brought yet another scowl the force user’s face.  “Where is she?”  he asked to which the bounty hunter replied, “In your quarters.  She’s actually in your bed waiting for you.”  This further annoyed Carsallas.  “Why did you allow her to go in there.  She has no business in my personal quarters.  It is strictly prohibited.”  The Corellian responded, “Well she thinks of herself as the lady of the ship and has made herself at home.”

     The bounty hunter had never seen such a disgusted look on the dark man’s face before and suddenly became frightened—an emotion that he did not frequently have.  Carsallas picked up his comm. unit and signaled for the Twi’lek female named Lena to join them at the current location.  Lena was not part of the original equation.  She had been a dancing slave girl that one of the local cantina patrons had owned.  When Carsallas had taken a liking to her, he challenged the cantina owner to a game of sabaac with the girl’s ownership being the prize.  Carsallas, of course, used the force to win the game therefore taking ownership of the girl.  Now the sins of the flesh were coming back to haunt the man.

     Lena joined them and immediately snuggled up to Carsallas giving him a kiss and saying “Welcome back honey.  Did you complete your mission?”  The dark one didn’t give her kiss any type of emotional response.  Instead he looked at her asking, “What were you doing in my quarters.  I told you they were off limits.”  The blue skinned Twi’lek looked up at him and responded, “I wasn’t in there sweetie.  I swear.  What did he tell you that?”  pointing to the bounty hunter.  “He’s always trying to get between us.  He treats me badly when you’re not around and now he’s accusing me of things just so that you side with him against me.”  The bounty hunter tried to respond by Carsallas raised a hand indicating he should not speak allowing the Twi’lek to go on, “He’s plotting against you.  This ship is complete and ready to take off and he’s going to kill you and keep the ship for himself.  I know he is.”  The bounty hunter again made an attempt at a rebuttal but was stopped by the dark one again.  “You have heard him speak of this?”  Carsallas asked to which Lena nodded.  “He’ll deny it, but who are you going to believe?  Him or me?”  she said with a smirk at Ludaru. 

     Carsallas took a step away from Lena and unclipped his lightsaber from his belt igniting the red blade.  Ludaru swallowed hard knowing that he soon was to lose his life.  For although he did not say such things, deep down he had considered killing Carsallas and taking the ship as his own.  Ludaru knew that the former probably was able to use the force to know the treachery he had considered. 

     Carsallas raised his lightsaber and began his swinging arc with the blade and Ludaru closed his eyes awaiting his death.  After a few seconds, realizing that he wasn’t dead Ludaru opened his eyes to see the severed head of the Twi’lek female on the floor with her body slumped next to it.  He looked at Carsallas with surprise to which the former said, “No one gives me ultimatums.  So be warned Ludaru.  If I am willing to kill a lover for treachery, know I would do the same to you if you even attempted to do what has crossed your mind.  Now go gather the droids and get the ship prepped.  We’re about to launch and begin our quest to reveal ourselves to an unexpecting galaxy.”  Carsallas then placed the Twi’lek’s head on the third stand in the freezer as yet another milestone in his quest.