As they continued on their way to Kiffu, Ayanna walked back to speak with Kalin. She had spent a lot of time in meditation, in the hopes of clearing some of her thoughts which had become confused over the past weeks. She sat next to him in the cockpit,

"Kalin, what are we going to do? Once Li has been placed on Kiffex..... Are you wanting to track down this crystal? And also, what about the Emperor and Vader, they will surely know by now what happened at the lab, and considering I was the last one to ask to go there, and it is Li that is missing..... Well, it won't take long for them to conclude what happened, will it..... They'll kill me won't they...." She said with concern, as she had disobeyed orders from the Emperor himself about taking Li. Kalin was involved, but anyone would know that he was merely helping his acolyte.

Kalin thought over Ayanna's concerns about Vader and the Emperor. The ship was nearing Kiffu & Kiffex now.

"I'm not too sure if you should worry about Vader or the Emperor. I mean it's strange that Vader allowed you to go to the lab in the first place. I think he knew you were up to something, but why he didn't care if you would do something, I don't know. But somehow I get the feeling it has something to do with the crystal. After this we'll go and look on Mimban for the real crystal. If he wants it, we'll find it for him. This what I have in my arm is only a small shard of it, so he'll probably show much more interest in the complete thing."

"Unidentified craft, this is the tower. What is your business here?!" A voice sounded from the com-link.

"This is the Thranta requesting permission to land. I have business to talk to with the Sheyf."

After minutes of waiting they finally received a response.

"You may land on platform 42. Wait there for further orders."

"Thank you!" Kalin said and landed the ship precisely where they wanted it to be.

"It's now Ranté Vos who's in the Sheyf here, though I have my doubts if he's really in charge. I think the Empire just placed him there as a puppet after the CIS lost control over the planet and it was taken back by the Empire. I think they just placed the last remaining member of the Vos clan there as a pawn, but if he is of the Vos Clan, he might be of some use to us..."

Ayanna nodded, she felt a little nervous about leaving Li here, but it was too late now and there wasn't much of a solution to it. She looked at the planets that spun so closely together as they flew closer to the system. She'd never seen a system like that in her life, but she found it beautiful. She hoped that they would be able to come back and see Li, she did perhaps feel more of a connection to Li than she should have, but it was because there was no one else like her in the universe apart from him. He was all that was left of her family, he too was a descendent of An'ya Kuro, that had to stand for something, and she hoped that he would find himself through his solitude.

"Let's just make this quick...." She said in a concerned tone.

Altaïr looked at her and then to Li.

"Patience, we're talking about the Sheyf here. I can see they've put stormtroopers here too, though it seems this place is not as heavily guarded as I thought. That gives us an advantage. However be careful what you say too Tanté. He's a sensitive character, who feels betrayed by his family history. His aunt was a woman who killed most of her own family just to reign here and she even killed the parents of a Jedi named Quinlan Vos, cause she didn't want him to be a Jedi. She wanted him to become the next Sheyf. When he turned to the Dark Side, he killed her in cold blood when he learned the truth about all this.
Something tells me Tanté knows that Quinlan might still be alive, but he would never betray his whereabouts."

Kalin moved with Ayanna to the throne where Tanté sat. He was some cousin of Quinlan Vos. Kalin wasn't sure, but they were certainly related.

"Greetings Tanté. I know this is the first time we meet. However it's not the first time I've come in contact with your family. I've met someone you would like to know about. It's about Quinlan. I can tell you more about him. However we need your help. This is Li. He is a special case. My companion can tell you more about him."

Ayanna was reluctant to speak, but did so, "He is a humanoid species, of which there are only two.... He has powers over plantlife, he can only survive in an environment with a sun or plantlife, but the first in his case is safer..... We want to ask permission that he be kept on this system, imprisoned but not hurt..... He needs protection from others as well as himself...." She spoke, not wanting to reveal that in actuality she was the other of the species who he was like. It would be too dangerous, and she did not like that people would know her vulnerabilities.

Li didn't say anything, merely looking around, but mainly to Ayanna. She couldn't determine whether he was furious with her or not. But she felt that he should at least be grateful that he wasn't dead already, as he would've been if she had left him to rot on Coruscant. He may have still been barely alive now, but in terrible agony.

Ayanna waited to see if there was anything more that she needed to say, but she felt rather worried to say too much.

Tanté sat on his throne, but did not move much even after hearing Ayanna talking about Li. "Hmmm, why should I help you, even if you know more about my family? First of all I want to know more, then I'll determine if I will help you or not."

Kalin didn't like this. The Sheyf seemed like a difficult person to negotiate with. "Very well, was it you want to know?!"

"Everything! I want to know where he died, and how?!"

"The Empire or what was then the Republic assumed that he died on Kashyyyk. But even after enduring such heavy wounds, he managed to survive and escaped from Kashyyyk. There's even proof he's still alive. But for that reason he's still being hunted. He's married to a woman called Khaleen, someone who temporary worked for the Jedi as a spy. That's the only way I found out about her. I found her in the database and it said Quinlan would have left the Jedi Order after the war would be over. The war did end, but as a potential Jedi he's still hunted, so either he did die or he's still in hiding."

"That doesn't help me very much!" Tanté said. "Tell me about this prisoner. Why do you want him locked here?! If he's such a threat, why don't you bring him to Coruscant."

"That wouldn't be an option, sir. He's too dangerous and the Emperor would surely kill him. But there's more information. I will tell you the greatest secret concerning Vos, if you help me." Kalin said.

"If I think the information is valuable enough, I will.... So tell me."

"Khaleen was pregnant during the days of the Clone Wars. It is rumoured he had a son, called Korto Vos. He's hiding on Nar Shaddaa and sometimes goes to visit the Wookiees on Kashyyyk. That's where I presume he grew up. There is this Devaronian bounty hunter who helped Quinlan. He can surely help you. That's how I know all this. His name is Vilmarh Grahrk." Kalin explained.

"Okay, I'll help you. Guards! prepare a transport, we will leave to Kiffex to deal with this man."

Ayanna breathed a sigh of relief that they were going to help them. She looked to Li and spoke,

"Well, this is your stop.... We'll come back when we can...."

Though he did not respond to her. She didn't know if that was a good thing or not. Ayanna looked to Kalin, she seemed troubled, not entirely sure if what they were doing was right or wrong, but at least Li would not be dead, which was the best thing she had hoped for from all of this.

Kalin talked inside the prison of the security of the prison. How a special cell would have to be designed so he would have enough sunlight to stay alive, but he wouldn't have too much so he wouldn't remain a threat. The guards prepared a temporary cell, where Li would stay with for now sufficient sunlight, but they would start to build a new cell immediately. Kalin looked at Li, knowing that it was almost time for Ayanna to say her farewells to him.

"If you have some last words for him, now would be the time, Ayanna. I think you should say something to him. He might not listen, but he's still your family. It's a shame he doesn't appreciate that we saved his life by putting him here. We could have left him to die on Coruscant..."

Ayanna looked to Li, but in her heart she couldn't think of anything to say to him that she hadn't already before,

"You know what we spoke of before Li.... If you have any decency in you at all, you'll think on it....." She said coldly, but she didn't want to say any more, and instead turned her back, walking away.

Now that this was done, she wanted to get far away from this place. At least now she didn't have to keep looking over her shoulder, he was no longer going to be hunting her.

After leaving Li behind in prison, the sheyf brought Safira and Kalin back. The deal was made. Li was allowed to stay on Kiffex and now Ayanna didn't have to worry about herself anymore because of Li's lust for revenge. When they returned to Kiffu they said their goodbye to Tanté and left the city behind leaving back for the platforms.

They got back in the Thranta and Kalin talked to Ayanna about Li. "Are you glad this is over?! I mean it was a very hectic business with Li. He should be safe there and now you should be safe. I only worry now about the Crystal. We can have a research on Mimban if the crystal is still there. Cause I don't know how much the Emperor's knows about us breaking into the lab to free him."

"I don't know how to feel about all this.... I feel pretty..... Confused.... I'm glad and at the same time annoyed, it's hard to explain.... I just want to try to forget about him for a while.... I'll come back here when I'm ready, but when that will be I don't know..... Could be in a month.... A year.... Ten years, I don't know....." She said as she sat herself down, with Kaytoo beeping as he saw them again, "Hey Kaytoo...." She smiled, "Let's investigate this crystal then....." She sighed, trying to push all this business with Li behind her and focus on the future, though she knew it was going to be difficult.

"But we're talking about a whole planet. We don't know anything about Mimban. I don't even know where it's located, but I can find that out by the galaxy map. It should not be that difficult to find, but I really have no clue where to start. Maybe if we arrive there we should find more leads, but is there life on Mimban? We don't even know...."

In some ways Kalin wanted to go to Mimban, in some ways he didn't. The shard of crystal he had in his arm was sufficient enough for him to use Force Lightning, the only problem was that Vader if he knew about this would claim it for himself. But would that truly happen. He was sure he could take his way out of this and make Vader believe that this wasn't the Kiber Crystal in his arm but another. There were many crimson coloured crystals, who would be able to tell that it was the one crystal he would ache for.

Ayanna sighed, sitting back in her seat. She didn't feel like talking about anything, not the crystal, not Li, nothing. But perhaps she was still thinking of them all at once. The past weeks had been troubling for her and she wished that they would pass, though she wasn't entirely sure what she hoped to happen in the future. Usually it seemed very clear to her what was going to happen in the future, but now it was clouded. She couldn't see anything. It scared her a little, but then again made things more interesting, not so predictable.

Kalin had spent hours in the cockpit without leaving the planet. His thought kept dwelling on the crystal and out of nothing, the crystal began to buzz again, not only in his arm, but inside his head too. Kalin groaned of pain as he pressed his arms against his ears, hoping it would stop the noise.

Then the sound was gone. He opened his eyes and had a dazed look on his face. But then he sharpened his eyebrows again, determined with a new plan he would solve this problem with the crystal once and for all. He walked back to the centre of the ship where Kaytoo and Ayanna were talking and playing. Not that Ayanna could understand what the droid was saying, but he was sure that it must have some value to have 'someone' to talk to.

"I've made up my mind! If Vader finds out about this crystal then he'll have to face me and kill me, if he he wants to have it!"

"I'll become stronger than him and I exactly know how..."

It seemed Kalin was a lot attracted to the Dark Side, however this time it was his own doing. He wasn't possessed or anything. The Crystal just showed him something interesting that lured him to the Dark path, but would that mean it could be his downfall....

Ayanna was half smiling at first from talking with little Kaytoo, but when Kalin said these words, her expression immediately changed to that of a frown, "What?..... What do you mean Kalin? More powerful than him? Why would you want that?...... Does it matter who is more powerful? I thought it was only your 'cause' that was the most important...." She said, being careful with her words as she slowly raised up to her feet, from where she had been sitting with Kaytoo.

Kalin looked a little confused. "You're right. Nothing can stand in my way for my destiny. I already know that I should help Darth Vader, but I can't help him without this crystal."

Kalin thought of something else. "Well if I can't become stronger than him, I can at least try to become his equal! That way I have a chance to defend myself without actually jeopardizing Vader's own destiny!"

Then finally he explained how he wanted to accomplish this.
"Listen... I'm not sure you ever heard of Darth Revan... It doesn't really matter. He was a very powerful Sith Lord, who turned back to the light side of the Force. However before he did he created a Holocron, with all his teachings and the teachings of the ancient Sith Academy, where the new one is built on. If I can find the Holocron, Revan's teachings will help me to become stronger!"

Ayanna didn't say anything, she wasn't sure what to say. He was talking about power, that was a dangerous word in her eyes. All who ever did gain power would do anything to keep it, and she was certain that the same would happen with Kalin. The strange thing was that he wished to be stronger or as strong as Vader, rather than being content. To progress to be the best was a Sith trait, and she was worried where this notion came from.

"Why...... Why would you want something like that? Be better than Vader?" She laughed lightly, "You know you don't need to be....."

Kalin knew what Ayanna was thinking. He knew she was afraid he would go on the path of the Dark Side again and though he was convinced he wouldn't, there was a great chance that if he took this path, the Dark Side would be inevitable.

"I'm talking about becoming equals, I don't want to be stronger as that would lead to the Dark Side. But I am too weak to protect myself. How can I fulfil my destiny when I am so weak. Maybe compared to others I am indeed strong in the Force, but compared to Vader, I'm almost nothing. I need to be able to protect myself, even if that means protecting myself from Vader. I know the Will of the Force has big plans for him. His destiny to me is clear, however, if I want to help Vader, I must be stronger. I must be able to protect myself at all costs against him. I'm no use to him if I'm dead."

Kalin could still see the doubt in Ayanna's eyes.

"Would you want to see that this crystal falls in the wrong hands? Vader will return to the light side, however if he gets possession of this crystal, the Dark Side will be too tempting and he will never sway from the Dark path, not even by the influence from his son!"

"He's the Chosen One Kalin........ If he cannot resist it's temptations....... Why do you think you can?....." She asked carefully, she knew this was getting into dangerous territory, and she wasn't sure if she approved of it, but she kept her opinion silent.

Kalin thought a lot to himself. So many risks were involved in this plan. He was almost wishing he never found that chart of crystal, which he arrogantly placed in his cybernetic arm.
"What other option do I have, Ayanna? Flee and never return? They'll just hunt we down like a wild bantha and find me nonetheless. It's either get stronger or be killed." Kalin said giving a slight sigh.
He walked around the shio like crazy always dwelling on the same, namely Revan's teaching. Though he had no idea where that Holocron, now could be. His first assumptions of course were that it was on Korriban, though that seemed too obvious.

Ayanna did not reply, she was worried about Kalin's mindset. Perhaps she could have said more but she doubted it would have had any effect. Though she did pluck up the courage to say one thing,
"And what about the crystal, you don't even know where it is or even if it still exists, so why do you wish to seek it out. There are more important things in life, Kalin." She said with a soft voice, though she wasn't sure if she had the right to say what she did.

Kalin raised his voice. "I already told you, I don't want that blasted crystal any more. I want it to be hidden. Vader can't find it at all. However I want the power to protect myself from him, should he indeed find out about this secret. He would never let me get away with it and may take possession of the crystal himself that is inserted in my arm."
Kalin gave a sigh. "So you see? I have no choice, but to find that Holocron. It's the only way I can protect myself from him. The only question is where such a thing would be. Someone must have it. ".
Kalin had no idea where to start looking. Though something sprung in his mind.
"There is one possibilty. Emperor Palpatine keeps his real identity a secret, that being Darth Sidous. That is why you would never find anything that would relate to him as a Sith Lord in the Royal Palace. However Vader showed me where the Sith used to be hiding. It's a secret building on unguarded lands in the working district. It's where he forged his plans for the Clone Wars."

Ayanna looked nervous, "I'm starting to feel less and less like your Apprentice and more like your accomplice in crime." She laughed slightly at the idea of it, and his plans concerning the holocron, "You know I will help you with whatever you want, I just hope you know what you're doing. If we're found out, not just you will pay but I will too. And I'm not as strong as you, you can hide your feelings from Vader, I'm not so good at that." She said a little ashamed.

Kalin grinned at Ayanna's comment, "You'll still learn from me during this process, Ayanna. So in that manner you still are my apprentice. Or don't you wish to be any more?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Well I'm going to get back to the cockpit. Strap yourself in. We'll soon enter hyperspace taking us back to the capital city. Let's hope you are right and that I indeed know what I'm doing, Ayanna." Kalin said with a smile, though his comment didn't strike much confidence in both of them.
Concerning their feelings. To hide them would require to master a new technique, which Kalin heard of, though he never really practised it. Maybe it became time to do so.
After a while the ship was finally in Hyperspace leaving the twin planets Kiffu & Kiffex behind.
"Well, it will take a while to get there and we'll avoid to land nearby any Imperial Outposts so nobody is aware of our presence. They probably expect us to be on Korriban, while we are long from it." Kalin said in a calm voice, however he was feeling very nervous. Something he even couldn't hide from Ayanna.

Ayanna sat in the co-pilot seat, her face serious and worried. She wasn't sure what scared her more, Kalin's ambition or the thought of them getting caught for all of this.
"Kalin, what is it you are really planning? Concerning Vader I mean. Everything already is in such a mess. You are his apprentice, yet he is the apprentice of Sidious, and yet, I'm the apprentice of you. It's all a confused mess!" She said shaking her head, each one was deceiving the other, "I wouldn't be surprised if Sidious has a whole army of apprentices who don't know about each other." She laughed slightly.

Kalin tried to explain what the exact differences were in their relationship compared to that of Vader and the Emperor.
"Well I know there's a lot of secrecy. It's all part of being a Sith. The master wants to remain the master, while the apprentice seeks out to become the master. And that is what Vader expect from having an apprentice in secret. He thinks that with my help he can become the master instead. However that won't happen. I know that I'm here to guide Vader. But I won't be there in the end for Vader to reach his destiny. Someone will take my place and I think we both know who. Anyway all this secrecy is due to the rule of two. Which doesn't count for us 'Dark Jedi'. There are only two Sith. There can be no more. But for us there's no point in fighting our master, as no rule says you can't become a master yourself. You are my apprentice, Ayanna. But unlike Vader to Sidious you won't stay my apprentice forever."
After a while the ship was almost closing up to Coruscant.
"Well we better prepare ourselves and we'll see what happens on the capital. We must be cautious."