Ren looked around at the gray skinned aliens. There were hundreds of them in the great cave, and many silver eyes were locked on him. He let himself perceive them all with the full array of his senses for the first time, and a very strange impression entered his mind. He could feel both their fear and their wonder, and also something else: There was a faint flicker from each of them hinting of power in the Force, but it was strange – unlike Sith or Jedi. His best assessment of what he was sensing was that there were somehow missing pieces in their connections to the Force, though why or how such a thing were possible he could not guess. Even odder was that each and every one of them seemed to have the same level of Force energy residing within.

"Dalvin," he said into his wrist computer, "if we scan some blood samples with our wrist computers and send the results to you, can you determine midi-chlorian levels?"

"Yes," said Dalvin, a touch of excitement in his voice, "I've been wondering about that myself; I was just waiting for an opportune moment."

Ren turned to Neeka, but she was already moving toward a small pile of bandages she had built up in a little corner of the cave where she had treated the children. She began picking up the little medical pads she had used to clean wounds and scanning them with her sensors one at a time. Ren moved next to her and did the same. Within a few standard minutes they had sent Dalvin twenty-six samples between the two of them.

"Oh-h-h-h wow," Dalvin's voice said shortly after they finished. "This is certainly – improbable. Twenty-six unique DNA strands all containing a midi-chlorian count of exactly six-thousand-five-hundred and forty-one."

"What are the odds of that happening?" said Neeka, the sound of shock ringing in her voice.

"Statistically, un a small population like this, seven billion, six-hundred-eighty-three million, five-hundred forty-eight thousand, two hundred and seventy-three to one."

"There it is," said Ren. "I'm fairly certain you could scan every one of these people on the planet and get that exact number."

"If you have any theories as to why such a thing would be, I would love to hear them," said Dalvin's voice.

"We are created to serve," Ren said, repeating the old man's words. "That's only clue at the moment."

"Are they clones?" said Neeka. "They all look like individuals, but-"

"It's scientifically impossible to clone midi chlorian levels," said Dalvin, "they don't obey the normal laws of biology."

"That doesn't mean they don't obey other laws," said Ren.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" said Dalvin.

"A massively powerful Sith lord with thousands of years to develop his control over the Force, down to the level of the midi-chlorians themselves... Could Kalethian actually have created these people with the Force?"

Before anyone could even voice a guess to this question, Ren very suddenly picked up on a strong impression in the Force, and it was not coming from any of the planet's natives. The dark side, as twisted as Ren had ever felt it, was burning fiercely somewhere behind Ren's back. He stood and whirled as soon as he felt it, his hand going to his light saber. His eyes moved to the source, and when they did, he could not believe what he was seeing. It was Cathock.

"What is it, Ren?" said Neeka. She had drawn both of her guns in the fraction of a second it had taken Ren to spin round.

Ren stared at Cathock, trying to make sense of what his mind was telling him. Then he saw them. They were cloaked heavily in the Force, so that Ren had to push his senses nearly to their limits to perceive them, but there they were: three thin, very pale skinned, blond haired young women clad in black robes. They were standing in a circle around Cathock, their hands raised in the same gesture. They were performing a work of Sith magic upon Cathock that was somehow breaking through all of the biological defenses of his brain, and he stood there seeming not to notice them, his eyes instead focused on Ren. Even from the twenty or so meters between them, Ren could see rage in those yellow eyes, and it was growing by the second.

"Cathock is going to attack us," said Ren.

"What?!" said Neeka.

"He's not in control. The Sith have-"

Before Ren could finish his sentence, Cathock let out a roar so loud and fierce that the stone beneath Ren's feet vibrated. The massive warrior took several bounds toward Ren and then leaped high into the air, drawing the massive vibro-sword from behind his back as he did.

Ren readied to dodge to the left, but he felt hesitation in Neeka's mind. She was in shock to see her brother attacking the two of them, and it was about to cost her the time she needed to move out of the way. Not knowing what else to do, Ren sent a wave of the Force through his palm and sent her sailing through the air, away from harm. That act very nearly cost him his own life, for Cathock made a great, powerful swing with his blade as he came down that Ren was only able to dodge by centimeters by way of a quick roll to the left.

Ren sprang up to his feet instantly just in time for another attack. If he had had more time, he might have gone on the offensive with his powers, but Cathock was in a rage, pressing his attack hard and pushing Ren into the place he least wanted to be with the hulking monster: a melee battle. Ren brought his light saber up just in time to block a lateral swipe that would have cleaved his body in half. He focused the Force through his weapon, anticipating Cathock's inhuman strength, but he was not quite prepared for the magnitude of it. It felt as though he were trying to bat away a star ship crashing into him at hyper-speed. The raw power of Cathock's swing was far beyond what Ren had imagined it to be, and even though he managed to channel enough of the Force through his weapon to block the attack, the bones in his arms threatened to shatter from the reverberation.

Ren whipped back, already gasping for air, but Cathock didn't seem tired at all. He charged at Ren again, this time with a downward strike. Ren was able to dodge to the right with this attack, and he moved quickly to counter attack with the Force as the great weapon slammed down into the place where he had been, but one of Cathock's arms let go of the weapon and shot toward Ren. The blaster rifle that had been grafted to the bottom of Cathock's forearm armor fired and Ren was Forced to deflect the energy projection with his light saber rather than attack. In the instant that that took, Cathock recovered from his failed swing of his blade and came again.

Ren had vaguely imagined that Cathock's great size cost him agility or at least slowed him, but there were no such deficiencies in the enormous creature. On the contrary, the great creature was very nearly as fast and lithe as Ren's mother in combat, and his attack range with his long, heavy sword was far greater.

Ren knew that he had no chance at winning such a battle with his light saber. Instead he took a chance and summoned the Force through his body, launching himself six or seven meters straight up in an instant just as Cathock rushed in at him. The brute leaped up after Ren, his powerful legs launching him with a speed to match Ren's. This is what Ren had wanted though. Ren reached down with the Force and took hold of Cathock in the air, encasing him with the Force so that the brute couldn't move and hurling him upwards. Cathock let out a fierce growl as he shot up past Ren at blazing speed. He slammed upward into the cave ceiling, his skull impacting so hard that large fragments of stone broke away and fell down. Ren let Cathock fall with them, but as he did he was surprised to find that Cathock had not lost consciousness. The great soldier had dropped his sword and he was stunned, his cat-like face was covered in blood, but he was still glaring at Ren with murderous rage.

Cathock slammed down on the stone floor below. It was a fall that would have snapped half the bones in a normal man's body, but Cathock caught himself with his hands and feet, and was standing in half a second, both arms raised at Ren. He fired two shots in unison from his arm blasters. Still in the air, Ren had to twist his body to dodge one while deflecting the other with his saber. As he did, Cathock snatched up his sword, which had fallen just to the left of him. He ran to where Ren was falling, ready to cleave.

Ren had only a split second to react. He let loose a powerful torrent of Force lightning through his left hand. Cathock raised his sword instinctively to defend himself, but the lightning only arched through it into his body. Cathock roared in pain as he was electrocuted and Ren dropped just in front of him, keeping the lightning flowing. Impossibly, Cathock remained standing even as enough power ripped through him to kill twenty men. His limbs trembled and he snarled with more pain, dropping his sword to the ground, but he managed to raised his arms and Ren saw the thick, hooked, white claws at the tips of his fingers extend to double their normal length. Ren knew those claws, with Cathock's great power behind him, could tear his body to shreds in an instant. He also knew that the continuous stream of lightning was draining him and that at his current rate he would soon run out of power.

"See sense!" he shouted at Cathock.

Cathock only roared in raged, and brought his trembling claws closer to Ren's face.

Ren knew he had to use what power he had left to incapacitate Cathock, one way or another. He summoned a great surge of power from his waning reserves, the effort coming very close to killing him, and sent a massive surge of lightning – at least five times the magnitude of what he had been attacking with – through his hands. With a great scream of pain, Cathock was knocked ten or so meters back, and went skidding along the cave floor. Ren's whole body was on fire. He had not pushed his connection to the Force to its limits like this in years, but he could sense the job was not finished. Even after all of that, Cathock and though his body seemed to have finally been significantly damaged, Ren sensed that another attack would come if he did not act.

With one final desperate surge strength, Ren reached up to the cave ceiling above Cathock and took hold of the stone. He wrapped invisible tendrils of the Force around a mass of stone several times Cathock's size, and ripped it free from the rest of the rock. Then he let gravity do the rest.

Somewhere behind him, Ren heard Neeka scream: "NOO!" as the great chunk of rock fell on Cathock's body. The was a resounding crash throughout the cave as it struck and then rolled off Cathock's form.

Neeka dashed across the cave to her brother, who Ren could vaguely see was lying bloody and finally unconscious on the floor. He couldn't tell whether Cathock was breathing or not.

"No, please!" Neeka shrieked as she got to him and clutched his head in her hands. She turned to Ren, her face already wet with tears. "His heart is still beating, but he isn't breathing! Help me!"

Ren felt like passing out, but he ran over to her. Vaguely, he searched for the three Sith, but they seemed to have disappeared from the cave. Cathock was just as she had described. Only the faintest flickers of life still emanated from his form. Ren knelt down over him.

"What do we do?!" Neeka shrieked. She was in a state of shock. She had been since her brother had attacked.

"I don't know if I can help him," said Ren. He knelt down over Cathock and put his hand on the soldier's bloody forehead. He had long tried to master powers that resided in the light side of the Force, but he had never had a proper teacher. He had spent many years trying to master the power to heal, but his skill was shoddy compared to those of a Jedi. Still, he had developed sufficient skill to save his own life a handful of times. He was hoping that power now, combined with Cathock's own internal regeneration, would be enough to save the great soldier's life.

Every instinct told Ren he had no power left. He reached deeper than he ever had into the pits of his power, forcing every last bit of strength out, if only to stop Neeka's crying. He felt one final surge of his own energy flow out of him, and then the world went black...

Ren's eyes opened slowly and he saw two blurred faces in the darkness. He blinked several times until he could make out Neeka and Cathock, and Satral, the old gray-skinned alien from the tunnel, gazing down at him. Neeka smiled at him and leaned in and kissed his forehead several times, and then hugged him gently to her chest. "I actually prayed to the Force for you," she whispered. She laid his head gently back down on something soft and said: "Your pulse was very weak for a while there. I kept injecting you with adrenaline to stimulate you, but your body somehow channeled it all out." She gave him a wry smile and said: "Your powers seem to work even when you're unconscious. I ended up trusting them to take care of you." She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead again.

"Hey, can you talk?" said Cathock.

"Yeah," said Ren, focusing his eyes on Cathock. His mutant alien flesh had done a great deal to repair itself, but it still seemed to be a strain for him even to kneel over Ren.

"I don't remember much from our... fight," Cathock said. He seemed embarrassed, if not ashamed. "I heard you won," he said with a little chuckle, "I sure as hell didn't believe that would happen. But still, this is getting rather ridiculous. That's three times you've saved my life now."

Ren sat up and stretched, his neck cracking as he tilted it from side to side. "How long was I out?" he said.

"Only about ten minutes," said Cathock. "Just long enough for your friend to finally catch up to us." He gestured to Satral.

"No advancement form the mandalorians?" said Ren.

"None," said Neeka. "Dalvin's confusing their communications array. It will be a while before they realize their men are dead."

"Good," said Ren. "You two should organize these peoples' defenses. There is plenty of cover in these caves. Get them ready for a fight."

"They are called the Krell, by the way," said Neeka. "Satral told me that while you were out."

Ren recognized the word and let out a dark chuckle.

"What?" said Neeka.

"The word means servant in the ancient Sith tongue – either that or slave."

Satral grinned down at Ren. "Your knowledge is most impressive. No visitor to this world has ever figured out what we are so quickly."

"I still haven't," said Ren.

"Part of you has," said Satral, "you're just not ready to fully realize it yet. Your conscious mind is holding itself back."

"Explain it to me plainly then," said Ren.

"That is not my part," said the old man. "God wills that you discern such matters in your own way. It is a test."

"Is God a Sith lord named Kalethian?" said Ren.

"He was," said Satral, a small smile appearing on his face, as if he found the words amusing somehow.

"What is he now?" said Ren.

"God, as I have said."

"Well, where is God," said Ren, feeling slightly annoyed at the circular exchange.

"You cannot find him. No one can."

"Are you sure about that?" said Neeka.

All the amusement went out of Satral's expression and he looked almost annoyed suddenly as he turned to her. "My dear, none of this is meant for you."

"She is with me and you will not show her disrespect," Ren said without even thinking. His instinct to protect Neeka, it seemed, had become automatic.

"My apologies," said Satral. "I am merely performing my holy duty, and that duty is to speak to you alone, Ren Dakthar."

Neeka's hand fell on Ren's shoulder and she gave him a little smile, as if to prove to him that the supposed prophet's words did not hurt her. "That's your family name?" she said. "You never told me."

"I never told him either," said Ren. His eyes shifted to Satral's. "If you're a prophet then tell me your prophecy."

"My power is not for you to command, nor for me to summon. It is for God to choose what and when to speak through me."

Ren reached out to the old Krell's mind and found that the man was not manipulating the truth in any way, which disturbed him. "Would you care to expand on why I cannot find him?"

"He has ascended corporeal form. He is everywhere."

Dalvin's voice came in through the computer: "If he is dead, perhaps this old man could direct you to the body?"

"Can you?" said Ren.

"I do not know the way to his tomb. It is deep within the heart of this world – further than any Krell has ventured in thousands of years."

"So it's down then," said Cathock, sounding suddenly extremely interested in the conversation. It seemed logical to Ren that he would be. A tomb seemed the most probable place for the treasure, and also for any ancient scrolls or holocrons, or other means of storing knowledge.

"Have other visitors gone looking for the tomb?" said Ren.

"Oh, yes, many times," said Satral.

Dalvin's voice broke in: "And presumably none have found it, or at least none have done so and come back. Are there no legends about the contents?"

Ren's eyes shifted to Satral's. The old man sighed. "The visitors who come to this world are often after the things that once belonged to our god. It is meaningless to us. We have no use for his treasure. What could we buy with it? And it is blasphemous for us to seek his knowledge. Thus we have never sought. But eventually, those that make down into our cities often come to the conclusion that what they seek is hidden in the tomb. What can we say to them?"

"How does your god feel about people coming to terrorize you?" said Neeka.

"His wisdom and his purpose are beyond our understanding," said Satral.