Verishia stepped into Brutin's office and waited while he set his brandy glass down and put his paper aside. He looked up at her and smiled his face was one of serenity and calm but turned to surprise as he saw her face portraying joy and happiness.

"Well, this is unexpected. What may I do for you?" He asked and she could not help herself, she was overcome with happiness. She grinned.

"I need to take a leave of absence to go back home." She said and watched as the confusion and then worry pass before his eyes. "I am not going immediately, I haven't informed Hex yet so I will wait until the Legion is static and he can spare a few days. I won't be staying long at home but returning here immediately afterwards" She said and he nodded, his eyes narrowed as he observed her.

"Is Larr okay? He is not sick is he?" Brutin asked and she smirked. How thoughtful.

"No. He is fine. Actually I am making my decision based on what happened last night and I wanted to come here and alert you first." She said pleasantly, barely able to contain the joy.

"Yes, I had heard." He remarked and her eyes fluttered. Someone had taken her announcement away from her and she felt a twinge of anger. That had been her right to say, not someone else's. She let it pass but would nip that in the butt. Damn Brutin's spies.

"Then you know I have come upon great power and I have spent all last night and today refining that power. I am in control of it now and there is more coming. I am going to save Ammy and free her from that evil spirit within her. But it is time to for me to complete my training. I am ready to move on to become a Master in my own right." She said proudly and her chest swelled with it.

"But how can you complete your training? You have been away from Jerrod for some time now." He said and she grinned, giddy.

"I am done with my training, at least the training he is willing to give me. I am going to complete my move to Master in the Sith way. I am going home to kill my Master and take his place." She announced and her heart sang, she had dreamed of this day for years and never had she thought she was worthy but she was ready. She could feel it. "I am going to take an apprentice if I find one and start their training, I am going to remain at my post with the Legion until Hex can spare me and then I am going to go home and take his place." She saw the fear in his eyes, his face go slack in shock and she tried to reassure him with a smile. "Don't worry about it, I am anxious but I will not shirk my duties. And once he is dead I will come back here and continue. I have learned so much in such a little while and Hex... Hex!" She laughed joyously.

"What about him?" Brutin asked warily but she just grinned at him, he was worried for his people.

"Hex is like a mirror of my Master, training me to be calculating and rational, using emotion only for combat. I have learned so much under it that I should consider it my Master and not that...thing Jerrod. But that is just it, Hex is not attuned to the Force. It can't focus the force and therefore will never be my rival! I am safe to learn from it everything it can teach me and I will never have to destroy it in fear that it may try to take my place. It has broken the Sith chain of learning and I will always be thankful to it for that." She laughed then, clear and honest, she was so happy, sure, this attitude would dampen her powers and dull her edge but she was among friends!

"I see." Brutin managed to say but she ignored the less than exuberant attitude.

"I am so thankful to you for bringing me here, without your quest to destroy one of my kind I would never have improved as I have. And with the orb and Ammy the Chaotic I will increase my power levels and control. Then I will be free to destroy all of your enemies! What better way to repay you for this opportunity? I know this is all so sudden and you have to forgive me I am just so excited. I would make you my apprentice but I haven't sensed any Force ability in you. But for you I will take a measure of your blood and test it if you wish." She said excitedly.

She looked down at Brutin finally and saw him scowling. "Jerrod is my friend and a powerful ally. I need him." He said and she shrugged. What did she say to that?

"I am sorry, this can't be helped." She admitted to him and his eyes narrowed to those calculating depths and she realized she was in danger. "What's wrong. Why aren't you happy for me?"

He stood up and faced off with her, the desk in their way. She felt the prickling of his anger as it increased and it started to dampen her good spirits. Bringing her mirth under control. "That is my friend, you will not kill him." He commanded and she blinked at him appalled.

"What are you saying? Because he is your friend I can never challenge him? I am his apprentice. This is the way it works." She said but his face never lost that hard edge, so like Master, he didn't display emotion either. But he was seething inside.

"I am saying that if you challenge him and fail, I lose a body guard and commander of the Legion, at a time of war I might add. If you succeed I lose a friend and major contact in the Empire, someone with Star Destroyers at his disposal as well as a Governorship. Either way I am bound to lose, I cannot allow this." He said and she stepped back from him.

Of course! She had failed to see the implications of her statement, she had not thought it out fully. Still, if this was a defect in Jerrod's training, Hex would erase it, she didn't need Jerrod. She would become a Sith Master and still gain power, Hex was like a holocron in it's own right and she would do whatever it took to glean all of the information she could from it.

"I promise you, I will not leave for Home until I have saved Ammy from her spirit, brought the Legion home or placed my command in a place where they can survive on their own for a few days without me and made sure you are not left in the lurch. Then I will go home and I only ask that you don't tell Jerrod that I am coming home to kill him. That is unfair if you betray me. I doubt it will make a difference though." She said and realized she was lost in her thoughts. She looked over at Brutin and had to look up since he was standing. She realized that most of the time she dealt with him, he was sitting down.

"I have already told you, you are not going home to kill my friend, I deny your leave, I will warn him of your treachery and I will have my people stop you." He said and her eyes flared in anger.

"How dare you!" She shouted as Brutin stepped away from his desk, into a clear space so he could fight, he was going to fight her and she laughed. "You can't be serious. I am your bodyguard, you can't outfight me. I am a Sith Lord training for combat, don't be ridiculous." She said and he replied with a smile. A sudden crack of lightning seemingly appeared out of no where and she fell down stunned, her cheek on fire. She blinked back the white hot sheet in front of her eyes and looked up at Brutin towering over her. He has slapped her with his open palm. "You dare strike me? I have never done anything wrong and only ask what is my right!" She got to her feet but just before she regained her balance he was on her.

He was weak, he sat around drinking brandy all day and had others fight for him, three times she had executed in his name and not once had he decided to even sully his hands. During the attack she had engaged two enemies at once while he had used a table and sword to defend himself. He was no warrior, how dare he strike her with an open palm!

She grunted as he lay his full weight on her and tried to crush the wind from her. He was strong, that stupid high gravity planet he was from gave him an even greater edge. But she was faster, if she could worm her way out from under him she would dance circles around him and then make him bleed. He grinned in her face and she snarled at him, letting the anger wash over her, her strength increasing before her head was jerked by. He had a large knot of her hair in his grasp and he was pulling, threatening to yank it out at the roots.

She couldn't force push him, her hair would go with him, he was laying on top of her, she couldn't move or use her speed and he was stronger. He had neutralized her in seconds. Her fury built, how dare he! She put her hands against his lower ribs and poured force lightning into him and he cried out in pain and leaped feet into the air. She rolled away thankful he had been forced to let go of her hair.

They got to their feet at the same time and she started to circle him but he didn't wait. He charged, feinted and caught her as she sidestepped. He seemed to know her every move before she made it and she pumped the Force into her, speeding her up and making her movements quicker. She spun away from him and kicked him in the back of the head. He grunted and turned to face her as she leaped up and away from him, anticipating an attack.

She cried out in surprise as one of his chairs swung round in his hands and scooped her right out of the air, slamming her down on the desk and then over the back of it. She hit the floor and fell back against the wall, her breath leaving her in a storm of pain. Damn he wasn't as quick but he could anticipate. She started to get to her feet but no sooner had her torso risen above the rim of the desk and he sailed into her, his head planted in the middle of her chest just below her breasts. She slammed back against the wall and he nailed her to it, feeling like something cracked inside and she slide down the wall into a lump as he rolled to his feet.

She spat blood and threw her arm up to push him with the Force. He dodged to the side but her new found powers had made her much stronger, he was caught a glancing push and forced off balance and she was up and on him within seconds. She had her speed now and the initiative. If he wanted to fight she would show him why not to cross a Sith Lord. He would never forget this.

She slapped him with her open palm to return his favor but he only smiled at her with that damn smile of his. She hadn't phased him. She reared back her arm and punched him and that got his attention. His face screwed up with anger and he threw his head forward in a headbutt. He struck squarely where his earlier attack had marked her and pain stabbed through her chest.

She coughed an felt the taste of blood in her mouth but she managed to mow him down with more lightning. He fell straight down and shook with the after effects, his lifeforce washing over her. She wasn't sure if he was trying to kill her or not but she would not hesitate. She reached for her saber to cut him down swiftly and end this but it was gone. She tried to think of how she lost it, if she could find it she could bring it to her hands and cut him down without missing a stroke but it was not on her person, not at her feet and not in sight.

And Brutin had recovered. He gripped her black shirt and yanked, the fabric ripped and suddenly she shirt was torn, her chest exposed. How it mattered to her in the middle of a battle but letting a man see her, even if it was a bra, made her uncomfortable so she shocked his hands with the Force and then pushed him gruffly across the room, his back bumping the bar twenty plus feet away with a large thud. She gathered the material of her shirt and closed it as she turned looking for her saber. She could threaten him with it and end this farce, this was her right and she wasn't going to back down.

There is was! The saber had come off her belt when she hit the back wall on the other side of the desk. Now she could retrieve it, holding her shirt closed she bent down to pick it up, her chest on fire and it occurred to her she hadn't used the Force to call the saber to her. Her thoughts were interrupted however as Brutin managed to grab her by the collar and yank her back off her feet. She screamed in surprise and then fell, her reflexes weren't so fast at the moment and she wondered just how much damage had been done to her, but she couldn't take the time to check, he was out to kill her, she was sure of it.

Suddenly there was a foot in her back, her shirt was nearly off and she felt herself blush, this bastard was stripping her naked, he wasn't taking this fight seriously. She was going to kill him for this! He leaned forward to grab her hair but she was reach, she reached up and grabbed his wrist, pulling him over her shoulder and came crashing down on his back in a huff of wasted air. She got up and scrambled back to give herself time to to breathe but she couldn't. She coughed and blood came up. He must have punctured a lung. She would have to repair this damage or risk death.

Her shirt was shredded and she couldn't find enough material to cover herself so she roared in frustration and used her hands, right before she went through a coughing fit.

Suddenly his hand was in front of her face, reaching for her bra, he was going to yank it off and expose her so she bat his hand away but another took it's place and she danced back fighting off the hands, always heading for that same spot in the middle of her chest. This was a fight to the death, how dare he!

Her back hit the wall and she felt her head hit. A moment passed as if in slow motion and then fire exploded from her cheek. The strength was like a punch to the face but she knew that he had open handed slapped her again. She slide to the side and hit the floor, her vision gone in a white sheet. She tried to get up to her hands and knees and scramble away but his hand dug into her pants and suddenly she was hoisted up off the floor. At least there was no pain with the motion. He then jerked his fist holding her and she rose and then fell hard enough to snap the button on her pants. She nearly fell head first into the floor as the zipper gave way.

He was going to strip her naked. No! She reached to her belly and held her pants closed as he dropped her and she had to let to go guard her face as she fell. He yanked on her pants and they almost came off. She braced her fall and then grabbed her pants again, turning on her back so she could use her feet to kick him off of her.

He was hovering over her, his face set with determination as he continued to scramble with her clothing. He saw her panic and then smiled, that smile! and he slapped her, her hands entwined in her pants she couldn't let go fast enough and again the room went white. In fact the white wouldn't go away and threatened to turn black, she was about to pass out which startled her and she concentrated on using the force to clear her eyes.

She was lying face down on the floor, her arms tied behind her. Her ripped pants were down around her thighs obstructing her movements, her shirt was gone but she still had her bra. She turned her head to see Brutin sitting on the side of his desk holding his finger to his bleeding nose, his left eye a mass of swollen tissue. That would turn into a shiner to match is right eye. His coat was off and his shirt was covered with blood and ripped. He was breathing heavy but he was smiling.

"I win. You will not go Home until I give you the word. The next time you challenge me I will not throw you off balance by stripping you naked. In a fight modesty has no place. Once your shirt came open you stopped using your force powers. You spent the rest of the fight trying to remained clothed instead of fighting me. And the next time you challenge me I will beat you, take your virginity and then kill you." He said and she shuddered.

She was a fool! She had lost sight of the goal and been lured by him into fighting on his battlefield instead of hers. She coughed up blood which stained the carpet and then closed her eyes to mend the damage.

Brutin stood at the window and glanced out. Hex's words battered down his defenses. Rishi was a treasure, forged for combat, powerful and observant. She was an excellent addition to the SA and served up to this point flawlessly. She had had a few setbacks but less than every one else to be sure.

But her request. He closed his eyes and thought of his friend and their relationship. He had been there for him during the training, for the war, supported him when he was down and Larr had done the same for him. In trouble? Have a star destroyer. Plagued by fools? Have some stormtroopers to kill for you. And of course, the blaster as a gift. Having a blaster among sword wielding foes had put him clearly on top. Especially since he was just a sword wielder himself.

I am going home to kill my Master and take his place.

Such an innocent look on her face. She was still so young. But because of RhyDin and the powerful beings that visited she had obtained power too quickly, she was doomed if she did not learn patience, a Jedi trick the Sith did not concern themselves with.

Hex's hostility towards Rishi, not emotional, a perceived danger. Hex was rarely wrong and then only ever due to a lack of facts. That meant there was danger there. He sipped his brandy and contemplated.

At what point did an employee's welfare override his own? She was doing nothing more than what she would had he never come along. This was Sith tradition and the way they worked. Gathering power for themselves. And then to slay their Master and take their place.

But Brutin stood to lose on either account. And desperately so. The lesser evil was Rishi. Alert Larr and let him prepare for her and chances were she would die, he would maintain his friendship with Larr and he would continue to have access to the Imperial Fleet.

He only had to break an 800 year tradition.

The root power of the SA was loyalty. Employees remained loyal, this happened everywhere but unlike those other places Brutin returned that loyalty and kept his people safe, obsessively one might say and then engendered even more loyalty. The SA was undefeatable because every single person within the halls would fight not for their jobs, but for their homes. They had a say, they had a stake. It was an Association centered around him, for him but everyone had their say regardless of who they were.

So could he break that loyalty and cut Rishi down simply because she wanted to fulfill her destiny without any thought of malice?

And could he use employees from the SA to do it? Could he have their hands covered in blood for his well being? They would do it, and gladly.

Because of that loyalty.

Larr had given him the key when Rishi was first assigned to him. She was strong and tough as nails in some cases and left dependently weak in others. On purpose.

He remembered Rishi challenging him. He could not give her time to reach her weapon, his gladius that could repel lightsaber strokes hung on the wall of his bedroom, not in his office. She was made for combat and he had survived it. He had killed Sleen, Larl and other manner of creatures on the Red Sands. He could over come her. And he did. But because of the secrets Larr had given out.

The minute he had exposed her it became a struggle to keep her clothed, she stopped using the force and was just an innocent little girl with no experience with men. If she had no worked for him it would have been pathetic. Instead it had hurt him and he exploited it and beat her down into submission, he could not afford to let her challenge him again.

She passed out and he had tied her in a humiliating position and then allowed her to wake up. The lesson was clear and he had confirmed it last night. He would brook no interference.

But was that his policy? What did he do about his friend, his business source and his employee.

He stood at a crossroads and he smiled. He gave his enemies two or three choices, neither of which would lead to pure salvation. Only the hard answers. Well, now he was dealing with his own.

And someone was going to die.

You are reading this now because it's too late to stop me. I have noticed over the last several weeks that I have become suspicious to some of the other members of the Association and that I'm being carefully monitored. I also know that if I step out of line I will be killed.

I was sent here to serve you and I have to the best of my ability asking for nothing in return. But it is clear that eventually I will be in conflict with your people. Your people. I should be in there somewhere. You encourage us all to grow and prosper but I seem to be outside of that rule. I thought I would be content because I had power to gain here, but I have been blocked and watched closely.

To continue my advancement here I need a container. I know where to get one and I am getting it. If Jerrod gets in my way because you warned him then I guess we'll see if I am ready to advance further. I seem to be the only one keeping to promises. What happens now is in your hands.

I wonder what kind of homecoming I will get.

Brutin looked up from the letter and looked over at Hex. He reached down into his drawer and pulled out the blaster housed there. "You are in charge while I am gone. I should be gone only a few days. In my room is a pedestal with a crystal in the middle, it is a communication device and we can speak when you need it. If anything happens, do not wait to here from me, deal with the situation." He turned and walked down the hall heading for his room while Hex followed.

They passed down three hallways and ended their journey as Brutin burst through the doors into his suite. Nadine screamed and dropped three neatly hung three hundred dollar silk shirts. "ya scared me." she breathed and immediately scooped up the shirts and then jumped out of the way as Brutin passed her.

He started stripping off his clothing and throwing them on the large pillow strewn bed. Nadine obediently gathered it and set it where it belonged like this was a common occurrence as she watched Hex, her hand outstretched.

No sooner than Brutin got done undressing than he started redressing. This time he layered himself in the many robes of a Jedi and then opened up a drawer and pulled out a lightsaber. He attached it to his belt and then looked at Hex and Nadine smiling.

"yer a jedi???" Nadine asked and Brutin shook his head.

"I bought these robes the last time I visited and the lightsaber is real but Larr took the crystal out so I would not hurt myself." He said proudly and posed for them. "What do you think?"

"yer weird." Nadine said calmly and he glared at her. "Master." She added and Brutin nodded and started off for the compound landing pad.

"Wish me luck. I have to use every ounce of skill I have to get there before her and I do not know how to fly."

Brutin felt the shuttle touch down and stretched which did not really work for him so he stood up and repeated, his muscles responded by shrieking at him for all of the inattention. He watched as the ramp dropped and light spilled into the compartment and he stepped out and into the heart of Sector Headquarters for High Admiral Larr Jerrod.

As he stepped down he noticed a large contingent of storm troopers standing around a small sleek craft that had come in just before he had set down and as technicians swarmed over the small starship the troopers faced out. Several noticed him, some pointing as he made his way across the deck and others around the huge landing bay picked up the vigil.

He was heading for the lift that would take him to the command bridge, he had been here enough times to know his way to the spot his friend would undoubtedly be in but noticed that an officer and four troopers peeled themselves off of the duty station by the lift to march towards him. Bureaucracy.

"Sir, may I ask who you are and where you think you are going?" The officer asked politely while the four troopers casually aimed their weapons at him. He smiled having caught the actions, we are all friendly here, no need to worry, keep him covered. Nice.

"Stand down Captain." The voice roiled with confidence, as if a storm brewing on the horizon and the Captain didn't bothering turning around, he simply stepped back and his troopers turned and saluted with their rifles as Larr Jerrod stepped into view. "What are you doing here?" Larr asked and glanced over the shuttle Brutin had brought.

"I thought I would drop in for a visit, I was bored." He replied swiftly and smiled as he turned and followed Larr who was making a path towards the sleek craft surrounded by guards.

"Liar." Larr said without much emotion and Brutin smiled. "You almost got shot dressed like that." His friend commented. Brutin put on a hurt expression and opened his outer robes.

"You do not like? I even brought the light saber you gave me." He showed with a hip thrust the slim weapon on his belt. "The very one you tried to deactivate so I would not hurt myself." Brutin added just a little annoyed.

"And did you rebuild it?" Larr asked as they neared the craft and stopped, the man studied the craft for a few moments and then nodded at a technician who opened the hatch.

"I had someone do it for me." Brutin said as he watched the technician work. "It is a training lightsaber." He said and Larr nodded. The technician grabbed something and started for the both of them.

"I know you would disobey and have someone reactivate it. I had to be sure you didn't kill yourself." Larr replied as the Technician stopped, saluted and then handed over a small data card which Larr examined.

"Someone you know?" Brutin finally asked with a pleasant smile.

"You know full well who this belongs to. I had thought this craft had belonged to someone else and I was going to question him why he was sneaking about the duty decks. I am sick of his antics and lack of discipline." Larr commented with an annoyed tone Brutin had heard before, it was time to tread carefully.

"I have come to moderate. I am your friend." Brutin said and the lift whisked to life and Larr turned to look at it, his eyes ablaze with some inner fire. Brutin turned to see a familiar cloaked figure step off and point her finger at the Captain who had tried to detain Brutin. The captain hesitated expecting something but nothing happened and he just stood there confused as Rishi passed him by.

She saw Brutin and a flicker of some emotion passed over her face but her eyes screwed up towards Larr and Brutin was no longer necessary. Rishi's clothing was slightly worn as if she has been through some action, her pants had a rip on the left thigh that exposed her skin but there was no hint of blood. In her hand she carried a bag.

She stopped easily fifteen feet away from Larr and pulled her hood back, she had perfected that in the Dragon but Brutin had never paid it much mind after the first few times, now he realized just how menacing she could make that action.

"Just remember that...." He said but both of them looked at him and because he was not instantly disintegrated by those twin stares he closed his mouth.

"There is no way I can allow you to leave, I can sense how strong you have become in the Force. It nearly equals my own." Jerrod said and Brutin watched him. The cold calculation of knowing that this girl would eventually come back and destroy him ran through the man's head and a decision had been made. Rishi tensed, prepared to fight but she had not yet sprung into action. "You have killed my new apprentice, you have stolen my property and you threaten my life. You must be destroyed." Jerrod said and out flashed his hand, in an instant Rishi had drawn her saber and ignited it.

The Force lightning encountered the saber and Rishi held off the attack through it. She perked up slightly, not realizing perhaps that she could do this and moved in to close the distance. Jerrod stopped his attack so that he could draw his own saber and suddenly they were a swirling mass of light and bodies. Jerrod was a military man and had been so for several years before Vader had chosen him for the honor of becoming a Sith Lord. He had concentrated on what he knew, saber skills came first.

Now Brutin watched as these two beings danced around the flight deck, troopers and flight officers standing by to watch this clash of titans. The movements were fast and confusing, both sabers were red and it was hard to tell them apart because they moved so fast. The fight angled towards Rishi's ship and then suddenly two troopers were down, cut in half by one of the deadly blades and Brutin realized that Rishi was fighting a retreat to her ship for escape.

Jerrod let her get close to the point where she would climb that ship to get in the cockpit to make her escape and then he ended that avenue by slicing off the tip of the ship with his saber. Rishi saw the damage as Jerrod disengaged from her and jumped into the air, her body somersaulting as she landed on the other side of the ship, out of sight.

Brutin walked to his left as Jerrod finished off the ship, it was going no where and suddenly Brutin saw from behind the stricken ship arms, a leg and half of a stormtrooper fall to the ground. Rishi was cleaning house on her side of the ship. More troopers and duty officers came running away from that side of the ship. One trooper was not fast enough and went sprawling across the shiny smooth floor of the deck until he hit the far wall an incredible distance away. Then suddenly a deck officer lifted into the air and his body contorted as immense pressure was allied until he snapped.

The figure dropped lifelessly to the deck and then Rishi was in view, her saber still ignited but unused as she cleared the deck around her, troopers and officers running for the far walls to get out of the way. Jerrod sped around the craft so quickly that to Brutin he looked like a flash of light and the sabers were connecting again.

Brutin stood silently by as they continued their fight, the sabers were smooth efficient weapons but there was no way to bleed an opponent to slow or tire them down. He studied the both of them carefully, there would possibly come a time when he would have to fight a Jedi or Sith again and it had been centuries since he killed his last one.

Both of the Sith were sweating with exertions as neared him but unlike the rest of the people on the deck he stood his ground. In fact he did not move a single inch except to turn in place to face them and when they got close enough, he froze and moved not a single muscle. So in tune were they to their surroundings that they fought past him close enough for him to reach out and touch without extending his arm and yet he did not even suffer a close call.

But he did have a front row seat when they locked blades and Jerrod put his hand up on her chest. The move looked almost sexual, as if he were grasping at her breast but no sooner did he have his hand up and Rishi went sailing back, skidding across the floor on her back. No sooner did she come to a stop and she pointed off in Brutin's direction and he was suddenly sailing towards Jerrod.

He was caught by surprise and thankful that he had not drawn his own weapon but Jerrod extinguished his saber as they impacted each other in a sprawl of arms and legs. Brutin knew better and stayed down, rolling away as if unraveled from a carpet as Rishi descended from overheard to bring her saber down in an overhead arch.

Jerrod brought his saber up and to life just in time to block the blow and then he grabbed her arm at the wrist as blue electrical current shot through Rishi and she screamed as she wrenched herself away from the current and her opponent.

Brutin was on his feet and watching as Jerrod pressed his attack, getting to his own feet and throwing out his arm. Rishi shook as if slammed by something and her body slid back several feet as her saber came free and went a different direction. Jerrod was moving towards her now but his incredible speed was gone, much of his energy was spent. Rishi saw him coming and reached her hand out for her saber which sailed at her command straight to her hand and ignited.

She managed to get to her feet throw her own hand out as Jerrod was slammed back but he threw himself back and did several handstands until his balance returned and he stopped on his feet. Brutin did not care who he had seen in his long life fighting or that he himself had survived so long as a gladiator, that flat impressed him.

They collided again and the sabers clashed, Brutin noticed that he could follow along easily now as the two of them tired, their energy reserves were limited and the strain of fighting each other showed. Rishi's youth had been counterbalanced by the damage she had taken.

As they locked sabers yet again both seemed prepared for the other to use a Force Tactic against the other which stalled the fight but then suddenly Jerrod punched Rishi in the stomach, that underhanded swing that Brutin had taught him so long ago when they had traded fighting skills. Brutin had learned to fight with a saber and Jerrod had learned to disable at close range.

Brutin watched dispassionately as Rishi bent over in surprise, the fist had gone up into her ribcage just as he had taught Jerrod to do and she could no longer breathe. As she doubled over Jerrod brought his knee up into her upper chest, his thigh colliding with her face, a stunning impact that would not damage the face too severely and as Rishi was brought back up to a full standing position, Jerrod back handed her.

Rishi collapsed as if she were a puppet with it's strings cut, her saber falling out of nerveless fingers, directly at his feet. She was helpless. Jerrod watched her for a moment as she blinked her eyes and struggled with her breathing and then he raised his saber to finish her off.

"Halt!" Brutin yelled and started walking towards them. Jerrod glared at him as if affronted but held his arm.

"Don't tell me what to do on my own ship." Jerrod cautioned him but Brutin did not respond to the statement.

"She has lost. The fight is over." Brutin commented and Jerrod nodded and prepared the death blow. Rishi froze and looked up at the bright red blade hovering over her. "I said stop Larr. I meant it." Brutin cautioned and this time Jerrod looked at him closely. Brutin had never spoken to him in such a manner. Shock had gained the Sith Lord's attention where words had not.

"You are testing my patience my friend, I will not spare her life, she challenged and lost." Larr said and Brutin shook his head.

"You replaced her after assigning her to me. You had no intention of taking her back. You knew her potential. She has training yet to go through but it is clear she will not be able to do it here, not with you. It is clear to me that you cast her out in hopes of her death." Brutin said and Jerrod shrugged.

"She was already dangerous, it was time to move on to a more pliable Apprentice." Jerrod admitted and the look in Rishi's eyes told Brutin everything he needed to know. He knew the exact flavor of the betrayal Rishi tasted at this moment.

"But you miscalculated. You gave her over to me and now she is mine." Brutin said and Jerrod looked from him to her and then back up before smiling.

"I see, you wish her for a slave. I will give her to you." Jerrod said and stepped back away from Rishi as she watched Brutin finally stop above her.

"You will give me something I already own?" Brutin chided him and Jerrod looked at him quickly. "I told you, you gave her over to me and I have accepted her, she is mine. No one will make her a slave, myself included. She will return with me to RhyDin and she will continue to train and then she will take an apprentice and there in RhyDin there will be a Sith presence, but serving me." Brutin commented and then went to a knee.

He brushed Rishi's sweat soaked bangs out of her face and then smiled down to her. "What if I don't agree to your terms?" Jerrod cautioned and Brutin smiled up at him.

"You know very well what happens to those that attempt to harm my employees Larr. Would you break our friendship and cause one of our deaths over a cast off?" The words flowed over Jerrod and Brutin watched him settle down. Jerrod was a thinker just like Brutin.

"You play a dangerous game." Jerrod breathed and Brutin shrugged.

"Mine." Brutin said as he scooped up Rishi into his arms and turned towards his own shuttle. She weighed nothing and he smiled down to her before looking at Larr. "Sorry to trouble you old friend." He said and Jerrod nodded to him as if nothing had happened. "Rishi, your saber." He said as he began walking for the shuttle and he heard a scrapping sound before Rishi brought her hand up and deposited her saber on her belly before her hand dropped back out of sight.

Brutin walked up the ramp into the shuttle as Rishi put her head against his chest, her eyes closed. Once he had gotten her to a bunk he set her down and she just lay there like a straw doll. The only thing she moved was her eyes.

"This is the way it should be little one. This is a proper homecoming."