Ren was surprised to find he had slept for a good three or four standard hours in the chair. His mind drifted in many directions, but he had obeyed his mother's command and not tried to reach out to her. His sleep had been restful, and during its course he had processed the enormous changes his life had gone through during the past day so that upon waking he did not think of himself as a Sith apprentice, but a drifter in the galaxy. He felt stronger.

When Ren gazed down at his body he found that he had been covered by a blanket. He was surprised that his senses had not alerted him to such an action when, most of the time when he slept, nothing could get within five meters of him without his knowing.

Cathock came into the room just as Ren sat up and stretched. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," said Ren.

"Neeka said you were having a bit of trouble," the massive creature said. He was behaving much differently from their last encounter. His posture was different, as was his tone, and the expression on his face. Cathock's mind was as guarded as ever, but from its depths Ren caught impressions of two distinct emotions: gratitude and shame.

"It was only for a moment," said Ren.

"Good." Cathock swallowed. "I wanted to thank you for saving our lives... again. That was—amazing. Your powers and your battle instincts are incredible, but it wasn't only that. You kept calm and focused throughout that whole fight and got us out of a situation that should have been certain death."

Ren stiffened just a little. He wasn't used to compliments. "The blond men who attacked you—were they brothers?"

"Varied clones," said Cathock, gazing away, "it's a bit of a long story. Perhaps I'll tell you about that another time. Actually, we've landed and I was wondering if you would join me in a cantina to have a few drinks. There are quite a few things I'd like to discuss with you."

Ren felt himself frown. "I am willing to go to this place, but I do not consume alcohol."

Cathock chuckled just a little. "Is it against your religion or something?"

Ren thought on this. "I suppose it is against my philosophy to render myself defenseless. Alcohol slows the mind and dulls the connection to the Force and those are my most powerful weapons."

"Hmm," Cathock muttered, "after what I saw, I don't blame you. Suit yourself, but I need to take the edge off before we have our talk."

"Alright," said Ren, only partially understanding what the "edge" was. There was something in Cathock's mind that he was deliberately hiding from Ren. For all the enormous alien's brutishness, Ren was finding a true respect for the cognitive strength of his mind. Ren had faced dozens of mercenaries specifically trained to block the mental probes of a Sith, and Cathock dwarfed them all.

Ren followed Cathock down the cargo stairs to a small platform amidst a great metallic spaceport. There were fiercely burning lights in every direction, and tall spires of architecture with sharp curves connected to wires and arching radiation fields. The planet on which the spaceport sat was in a state of night, but that scarcely seemed to register to the multitude of humans and aliens moving about. Ren had never seen so many sentient beings at one time. They were conducting business with one another or sharing laughs or arguments. What seemed most remarkable was that no one seemed to be trying to kill anyone else. There was conflict, but by and large the multitudes were at peace. This was something Ren had only experienced in his dreams.

"Come on," said Cathock, walking toward a great arched doorway of glowing yellow fibers. They entered into a large, almost cavernous space filled with loud, surly characters from dozens of different species. The air was thick with the musk of sweat and smoke and alcohol. This was all alien and exhilarating to Ren, but he felt Cathock relax in a way that surprised him.

Ren sensed waves of fear throughout the cantina as the two of them walked across the black stone floor and took an empty booth. Ren sensed that many of the patrons were terrified of Cathock's massive, lethal looking form. Conversely, Ren seemed to frighten no one except by way of being connected to Cathock.

"Hey, Cath!" a very pretty, white skinned Twi'lek waitress in a scant black outfit said, walking up to the table. She reached out and ticked the tuft of hair under Cathock's chin and said: "Shall I get your usual, big guy?"

Cathock's left lip curled up into a confident smile of thick fangs. "Make it a double, and bring my friend here," he gestured to Ren and paused, "I guess a water."

"Water?!" the Twi'lek said loudly, her eyes going very wide.

"My friend is very... religious," said Cathock.

"Then what's he doing here?!" The Twi'lek said, and then she instantly burst into cackling laughter at her own words. "I'll bring that right out, boys," she said, and then she whisked back toward the bar.

"Why are we here?" said Ren.

Cathock's yellow eyes met Ren's. "Relax a bit. We'll come to the point soon."

Ren tried to probe Cathock's mind. There was something very serious brimming at the forefront of his thoughts, but Ren could not pick it out.

"That doesn't work," said Cathock with a slight smirk. "I've gone through thousands of hours of cognitive training, and my brain is especially designed to shut people like you out."

"You can tell when I try to read you?" said Ren, surprised.

"It's a little tingle I've been trained to recognize – barely perceptible really. Honestly you're exceptionally good, but Exar Kun himself couldn't get inside here." Cathock tapped his temple.

The Twi'lek girl came back just then with a glass of water for Ren and a very large pitcher of a viscous, purplish fluid. She placed both beverages down on the table and then leaned in to Cathock and said: "I get off in a few hours if—" she glanced at Ren and then Back to Cathock, "you're not busy."

"We'll see," said Cathock, producing a second smirk.

"Alright," said the Twi'lek, giving him a wink and then prancing away.

"She's a cute little thing, isn't she?" said Cathock.

"I suppose," said Ren.

"Hah! You're a cold one, aren't you?" Cathock took a long, slow draught of the purple liquid and then tilted his head back, smiling. "Tilsian ale is strong stuff," he said in a slower, more subdued voice.

To his own surprise, Ren found himself a little curious. "What's it like?"

"Being drunk?" said Cathock. "It's a sort of an artificial warm, happy feeling. Anxiety is numbed for a little while and I feel immensely confident – perhaps even rowdy."

"If you were to get rowdy half the people in this Cantina might end up dead," said Ren.

Cathock grinned. "Probably not you though—at least not if I'm drunk. What do you think?"

Ren stared at the monstrous creature before him in silence. He had played out several different scenarios of fight to the death between the two of them in the back of his mind. It was impossible for him not to do so; he was trained as a Sith. The fight would be a challenge to say the least. Cathock would be an extremely difficult enemy to kill compared to most of the foes Ren had faced over the years. The great monster had a bevy of weapons, such as the blasters affixed to his wrists, the variety of grenades attached to various points, the gas emitters, sonic screamers, flash generators, and plasma burners concealed away that he did not know Ren knew about, which would all cause Ren to have to work hard to stay alive while he struggled to kill a being designed to stand up to the powers he wielded. Then there was the anti-matter warhead, which would go off if Cathock's heart stopped beating. All of it represented a great and fascinating challenge if Ren were to engage in such a battle.

"Sorry, I just can't help myself," said Cathock, taking another large draught from the pitcher. "I spent the first decade of my life being programmed to think of your kind as devious, horrible enemies who needed be put to death. You've saved my life twice and I still can't completely shake the contempt and suspicion out of my head. I suppose it will take time."

"Time?" said Ren. "So you think we should remain together?"

Cathock gripped the pitcher firmly and tilted it toward his great lips. Through several slow, drawn out gulps he consumed the rest of the fluid. Almost immediately the Twi'lek girl appeared with a new pitcher, and Cathock took a large drink from it. "It's difficult for me to become inebriated, and even more difficult to stay that way. Hyper-regeneration has its drawbacks."

"Is this something people do in conversation?" said Ren. "You evade my question by telling me about the first thing that passes through your mind."

"It is something people do," said Cathock with a low chuckle. "You're right, I am evading. Frankly, I do want you to stay with us, but that little part of me I just told you about is raging."

"I'm not a Sith," said Ren.

"You have a red-bladed light saber, and I saw you use the Force to choke the captain of the ship that attacked us. How the hell are you not a Sith?"

"I was rejected. I was too flawed."

"You? I have spent hundreds of hours going over military analysis of Sith capabilities. From the way you killed those brotherhood men with lightning—at your age—you have enormous talent! How the hell would you be flawed and rejected?"

Ren stared at Cathock. He was not used to explaining himself, but somehow he sensed this was an important moment. "A Sith must be completely ruthless," he said quietly. "My mind reaches out all the time to others. I've been isolated from others my whole life, but I still learned all about humanity, and how to feel. I actually—I guess you could say—I like people, by and large."

"Do you lust for power?" said Cathock in a grim voice.

"There's a certain joy I feel in developing my command over the Force, and perhaps a certain thrill in defeating a particularly dangerous enemy, but power over others? No."

"How is that possible, if you wield the darkside?"

"I don't know." Ren paused, debating whether or not to speak what his mother would consider to be blasphemy. "Being a Sith is a negative, just like being a Jedi."

"What do you mean by that?" said Cathock. He hadn't touched his drink in several minutes. He was completely transfixed by Ren's words.

"I've read many of the same interpretations of the Sith mind as you have. So much of the time scholars and psychologists presume that the light and dark sides are opposite ends of a spectrum. In some ways they are, but in others—" Ren paused, choosing his words, "nearly everyone experiences anger, hatred, and jealously. The Sith did not invent such things. In turn, nearly everyone experiences moments of calm and clarity, and most people happily live their lives in adherence to some kind of moral code, just as the Jedi do."

"What are you saying?" said Cathock. He looked completely sober again.

Ren breathed slowly, feeling a little thrill pass through him. He had never been able to explain his thoughts like this before to anyone. "It is perhaps an oversimplification to think of light and dark as opposite ends of a line, but it works for this analogy. You see, most people live their lives going through differing points of the spectrum on both ends. What both Jedi and Sith do is attempt to live their lives entirely at one end, cutting themselves off from the rest. In the end, being a true Sith is just as much about self denial as being a Jedi."

"I don't think I have ever heard an interpretation like that," Cathock grunted.

"My connection to the Force is unique though. My consciousness constantly reaches outward, and waves of psychic energy flow into me from hundreds – even thousands of light years away. Thus, I can never truly live in the light or the dark because I can never sever myself from either."

Cathock thought on these words for a moment, and then said: "Even if I take every word you are saying as true, I still don't know if it means I can trust you."

"I don't know what to tell you, except to say that you will come to trust me."

Cathock frowned. "Does the Force tell you this?"

"Yes," said Ren, and it was true. The connection between himself and Cathock and Neeka was becoming more distinct all the time. Their fates were tightly bound, that much was certain. As he gazed down the length of the thread he could see no enmity between them, but quite the opposite.

"What else does the Force tell you?"

Ren gazed at Cathock, and something else became clear. "You have a secret. It's something you're not ready to tell me, but something to which my fate is tied." Ren felt a small explosion of anxiety course through Cathock as he said these words.

"You're an unnerving little bastard. You know that?"

"I had no idea, actually. Almost everyone I've interacted with in my life I have simply killed."

"HAH!" Cathock bellowed, slamming his fist down. The surface of the table was a dense metal, but Cathock's great fist left a head sized dent in it.

Ren, for one of the first times since he was a child, let out a laugh himself. He felt a strange sensation as he gazed into the fierce eyes of the mutant alien across from him, knowing that they were both caught up in dark humor together. He had never connected with anyone like this before, and he felt instinctively that this simple moment between them carried great significance.

"Alright," said Cathock, pausing and gulping down the remainder of the fluid in his pitcher, "you can join my crew—at least for now."

"I accept," said Ren.

"Let's drink to it then."

"No."

"Bah!" grunted Cathock.

Just then the Twi'lek waitress returned once again with a very concerned look on her face. "He's here!" she hissed. "You have to get him away from the other patrons quickly."

"What?" said Cathock, raising an eyebrow and looking around. "Why's he so early?"

Ren followed Cathock's gaze through the bar to an extremely strange looking human perhaps four or five years older than himself standing at the entrance. The man had metallic plating over the right side of his face and Ren could see, across the expanse of the bar, the dim blue glow of an electronic eye. The cybernetic man was dressed in an armor-plated cloak that looked something like Jedi robes, but Ren spotted a mechanical hand on the right side. He couldn't tell how far up the machinery went. The man was tall and broad shouldered, with shoulder length, wavy black hair and a small beard around his chin. As he moved into the light of the bar, Ren saw that three black remotes moved with him; two were hovering at his sides and one was just behind his back.

"You remember what happened last time?" The Twi'lek hissed.

"Yeah," said Cathock, "don't worry, I'll get him."

Cathock stood and crossed through the bar and Ren, sensing no personal danger to himself, followed suit. When they came within about five meters of the man his head snapped up and his blue eye burned brilliantly in the dim light of the bar. Walking briskly up to Cathock, he said: "Where is Neeka?"

"She's alright," said Cathock. "She's back on the ship, doing some repairs."

"No permanent damage?" said the man, his voice terse and focused.

"Neeka is fine, old friend. Her wounds have completely healed and she's already making jokes about the whole experience. Please, will you come and have a drink with me to her health?"

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" a fairly large, fairly round human of middling age slurred out from a nearby table. He was wobbling on his feet, staring at the cybernetic man.

"What the hell am I supposed to be?" the cyborg said in an irritated voice and his mechanical hand began to emit a high pitched whirring sound. Ren sensed a massive swell of energy.

"Let's calm down," Cathock said, letting out a nervous laugh. He moved between the cybernetic man and the drunken fool who had spoken and faced Ren, saying: "Ren, this is Dalvin. He's an old friend of Neeka's and mine. Dalvin, this is Ren..." he paused, and they both realized that Ren had not revealed his last name.

"Just Ren," Ren said, feeling it extremely imprudent to reveal his mother's family name in public.

Dalvin seemed to lose interest in the drunk and eyed Ren. "You're the one who rescued them?"

"Yes," said Ren.

Dalvin smiled and he held out his metallic hand.

Ren scrutinized the gesture. He had read about the embrace of hands people often performed at greetings and partings, but never had he partaken in it. It took him a second to figure out what to do. He held out his own hand and let the cold, dark, lifeless fingers curl around his palm.

Their hands shook, but Dalvin did not release Ren's hand right away. Instead he gazed at Ren and held a wide grin. "No revulsion at all. Interesting."

"What?"

"This is just very unusual for me for a first meeting with someone. You don't seem to be the least bit shocked or revolted by my cybernetic parts."

"No, they're very impressive," said Ren. "The sensor array on your eye looks extremely advanced. I wonder what you can pick up."

Dalvin's grin widened and he gestured to a small, blinking patch where his left ear might have been, saying: "Actually, I just made some improvements. I have quantum spectrometer interfacing directly with a positronic—"

"Perhaps you can discuss this later," said Cathock, sounding impatient.

Dalvin's head jerked to Cathock, and Ren heard a sort of whirring servo sound accompanying the movement. "Neeka!" Dalvin grunted, as if he were just remembering something incredibly important. "Is she alright?"

"Yes," said Cathock.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there," said Dalvin. "If it's any consolation, I've already started tracking the movement of this brotherhood. They use a fairly unimpressive encryption method for their communications. I cracked it completely in less than two standard minutes. I'm going to violently murder them all, of course—the ones you two haven't killed already."