"We’ve tracked Chief of State Leia Organa Solo this far," Brakiss said solemnly, pacing ominously back and forth before the table of military officials that had gathered to hear him speak. He gestured out to the blackness of space behind him, out the window and to the stars. "According to our latest readings, sniper droids have followed her and the remaining Solo child to the Hapes Cluster. There is a young girl there who, under these grave circumstances, has risen to power with remarkable speed, and may soon pose a threat to us… if her alliance with the remnants of the New Republic holds true."

Zekk listened attentively as Brakiss spoke; memories of that "young girl" flashed before his eyes. Of their first meeting, as Tenel Ka had, with much grace and poise, looped him with her lasso and yanked him out of his hiding place. He remembered her cold gray eyes and how they had always subtly lit up as Jacen strolled into the room.

In all honesty, he’d never liked her. The idea of having to form an alliance with her and deal with her on a regular basis made his skin crawl.

"…must do all in our power to shatter the fragile bonds still tethering the Alliance to the Hapes Cluster! It is imperative, my friends and companions, that they regard one another with contempt." Brakiss spared himself a moment to give the others of the room a charismatic smile and lift a hand in a continuing gesture. "That way, when we move to the Hapes Cluster’s aid, they will be prompted by our shared dislike of the Republic to side with us. I am sure that I am not the only one who would not mind a trip aboard a Hapan Battle Dragon." He added this last remark with a smile, to which several military officials chuckled their agreement.

Zekk summoned a smile, but could not manage a laugh of his own. Hapan Battle Dragons were immense warships, and no doubt very admirable and elegant, but to him, nothing could compare to the grandeur of a first class star destroyer. He quirked an idle smile as images of past like weapons danced past his mind’s eye.

And so on went the conference. When they were dismissed, each military advisor leaving the Shadow Academy to return to his respective fleet, Brakiss pulled Zekk aside.

"Master?" Zekk inquired with a puzzled expression on his face.

"I left out certain… details concerning the location of Leia Organa Solo and Anakin Solo during the brief," he said in a dark, conspirator’s tone. "As you’ve made no progress concerning the other Solo boy, I took it upon myself to entice answers from him. Sadly, he gave me nothing of value, though it’s fair to say that I tried my damnedest to get him to speak. However… he did let one detail slip past his lips."

Zekk concealed his tremor of rage well; the very idea of Brakiss even laying a hand on Jacen made his blood boil. True, he cared deeply for his master… perhaps too deeply… but Jacen was still his childhood friend. Brakiss had no business ruining his mental stability.

"Are you listening to me Zekk?" Brakiss probed, a little ruffled by the distant look in his apprentice’s eyes.

"I am," Zekk answered and forced his mind back into attentiveness. "I apologize, Master, my mind was wandering."

"A year ago you were very interesting in our nearing capture of both Leia Organa Solo and her child," Brakiss commented idly. He began a steady glide down the hallway, motioning Zekk to follow. "Now it seems as if you couldn’t possibly care less. That worries me, Zekk, for you are my Darkest Knight. It would be unseemly of you to ‘retire’ from that position, merely because you cannot keep your mind focused on the task at hand, don’t you agree?"

The implied threat sent a shiver of discomfort down his spine, but he masked it well, actually smiling. "And where would you find a replacement with such a keen mind as mine, Master?" he inquired with a raise of his dark eyebrows. "I can assure you, I’ve observed each of your young recruits as they duel with each other and interact during break hours. And mind you, I say this without an ounce of pride. None of them even begin to match up to my mental and physical comprehension of the Dark side."

Brakiss was already chuckling and regarding Zekk with a fond glimmer in his blue eyes. "Very good, very good," he remarked and reached out to push a strand or two of Zekk’s almost black hair out of his eyes. "Outstanding retort, as always.

"But you’re right, my child. I could never find a replacement for you, could I?" He winked, quite an odd behavior in Zekk’s opinion, and gave a dismissive wave of his gloved hand. "I suggest you continue your hunt for the Solos, Zekk. I’ve other work to attend to, such as mapping out battle plans and the like."

"Terribly tedious work, isn’t it?" Zekk teased with a smile, but was already heading back towards his own rooms. Brakiss only replied with another smile, and then the two of them parted ways.

As soon as he was within the safety of his dorm, Zekk let his cheery facade fade, both physically and mentally. He knew for a fact that there were no observation cameras in his room; he had plucked them all out of hiding already and besides, Brakiss could trust him not to forge mutiny among the masses of Sith children, although many of them seemed to favor him over Brakiss.

He walked over to where his Hologram pad lay on his desk and sat before it. Opening the top, he switched the machine on and scrolled through his past research topics, his eyes quickly scanning each page from top to bottom. Bounty hunters sightings, casual comments in conversation… each gave him a tiny link to where Leia and Anakin were hiding, safe from Imperial hands.

Zekk, in all honestly, wanted no harm to come to either of them. That was why he worked so tirelessly to locate them before his superiors did. If he could pinpoint them, he could formulate a plan to get them to safety, away from both Hapes and the Second Imperium forces. And if Brakiss were to discover what he was up to… well. With Brakiss, an entirely different form of persuasion would be necessary to keep the silver-tongued man’s mouth shut.

Zekk had blackmail of his own against his beloved Master. He counted six times since he had begun to count that Brakiss had gone behind the Emperor’s back to complete a mission of his own. Of course, in reality, there was no "emperor" at all, just one of the aging Red Guards determined to hold onto authority. Now Brakiss filled the alleged Emperor’s roll, while at the same time making sure none of the other military officials were aware of that.

It would only take a casual slip in conversation to ruin him. Zekk knew it, and he could only smile at his own genius… well, bits of it anyway.

Jaina would have been able to respect the situation he was in. That thought brought a new assault of pain upon him, and he shook his head, dismissing the girl from his thoughts.

An article he had previously overlooked caught his attention. Curiously, he opened it and watched the text spring into existence before him, green text glowing against nothing, or so it seemed.

He overlooked the rest of the article and furrowed his brow. Of course, this freelance writer would just have to be smart enough to leave those locations out of his work. Damn him, whoever he was.

Well, now that he had some sort of a lead—wait.

What was it Brakiss had mentioned before? Something Jacen had said? Certainly, it could not be Dagoba! Zekk had led an assault there mere months ago and had found nothing, other than a few abandoned X-wing fighters and an out-of-date computer database program. Was it possible that Jacen knew nothing more than that?

That he was being tortured by Brakiss for no reason at all?

Get your anger under control, you idiot, he reprimanded himself sternly and clenched his slender hands into fists. Don’t think about it, think about what you should be focusing on.

He rose from his chair and strode across the room, a dark, menacing personification of rage given a physical form. He no longer had patience for his research; if he stayed cooped up in his room, he knew for certain that he would have to break something, to wrench something apart with his bear hands or… or worse.

Sparring. Zekk grabbed his lightsaber from where it lay beside his Hologram pad and headed out of his door, towards the sparring arena. There was a fine place to unleash his rage…

There was no one in the sparring arena worth practicing with, so Zekk loaded up an old sparring program from the archives and waited. Outside the arena, other young Sith trainees were already gathering to witness the spectacle; it was not often that their Darkest Knight practiced before them. Why pass up such a golden opportunity?

He paced slowly, his eyes closed and his fingers interlaced behind his back. ‘Give the young ones a show,’ Brakiss often counseled him. ‘Let them know what they are up against if they confront the Empire. You are the Second Imperium given a physical embodiment. You are my Darkest Knight, Zekk.’

Darkest Knight. Those two words inspired such… reverence in the eyes of the innocent killers around him.

At last, a Hologram opponent materialized before him. Zekk turned to face him, lightsaber withdrawn and ignited. He paused, caught off guard.

The man he was facing resembled none of the Sith lords whom he had studied during his stay at the Shadow Academy. In fact, he was not a Sith at all, but a Jedi. His hair was long, fading from brown to gray in his nearing old age, but there was nothing truly old about him at all. His eyes were a cool blue-gray hue, inquisitive and filled with wisdom. He wore a pale tunic with a weather-hardy poncho over the top to ward off the heat of the sun—when it was evident there was no sun to be protected from.

A hushed murmur of confusion arose from the gathering students. Curiously, the Hologram glanced at them, and even smiled. Fascinated, they came just a little closer, only drawing back as Zekk said none-too-gently, "What business have you interrupting my sparring session? Get back to your studies!" Frightened, the students shied from the sparring arena and fled through the metallic doors separating the rest of the academy from the room Zekk stood in.

The Hologram watched after the children wistfully, then looked back at Zekk. "You didn’t have to do that, you know," he said, somewhat sadly.

"Who are you?" Zekk snarled indignantly, "Or who were you? Holograms aren’t supposed to talk. They fight and they criticize, but they don’t talk."

"I was," the man went on with a little added tilt of his head to emphasize the word ‘was,’ "Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Long before your time, of course, before the time of Brakiss, and before the time of the late Jedi Master Luke Skywalker."

"Never heard of you," Zekk said in a lazy drawl, then took up a fighting stance. "Pleasantries now over, shall we commence?"

"I suppose you give me no other choice," Qui-Gon relented and ignited the blade of his own saber. "Have at me, child."

Stupid Hologram, Zekk cursed to himself, then gave an involuntary gasp of shock as Qui-Gon surged forth and engaged his blade. The Jedi master nearly over-powered him right then, pressing his entire weight onto the blade, forcing Zekk to stumble back a pace or two.

"Your reflexes don’t speak well of your training, child," Qui-Gon chastised him, maintaining a safe distance between himself and where Zekk stood, regaining his breath. "You should not be out of breath, either."

"Easy for you to say," Zekk replied and stood up straight. He inhaled through his nose, then gracefully slid back into his stance. "Holograms don’t get out of breath."

"Neither do Jedi," the other replied and pointedly lifted his eyebrows. Zekk felt a twinge of rage in his heart and fed on it, rushing forth to meet the Jedi Hologram in the center of the arena.

Qui-Gon sidestepped him easily and brought his elbow down on the small of Zekk’s back. Gasping in pain, Zekk staggered forward, before literally falling to his knees. "Get up," Qui-Gon said behind him, "and come at me again." The pain building in his spine was abominable, but Zekk bit into his lower lip to stave off a set of tears and whirled, parrying another blow from Qui-Gon’s weapon.

He could not understand it! What sort of Jedi existed during this man’s time, that they could crush a Sith warrior beneath their proverbial boot without even flinching or breaking a sweat? Luke Skywalker did not have this sort of concentrated power, nor did Jaina, nor did Jacen. Perhaps Anakin did. That was to be expected.

He gave one great shove with both hands and sent Qui-Gon staggering to the side. Zekk was on his feet again in a flash, but this time he was not arrogant enough to charge towards the Jedi master. He kept his distance, scarlet lightsaber humming and crackling and spitting, as if reflecting his rage.

Qui-Gon gathered his wits elegantly and move forward like liquid energy to engage Zekk in battle once again. His steps were rhythmic, like the old dances of celebration that Zekk had partaken in during his childhood on Ennth, except without the leaps and jumps and cries of ecstasy.

Brakiss never sparred with me like this, Zekk mused thoughtfully, and felt something sharp clip his jaw as his mind wandered. His feet flew out from under him and he landed on his back with a loud smack as he hit the ground. Qui-Gon observed him in sympathy.

"According to your records, you have performed most extraordinarily for the other Holograms. I am having trouble comprehending why you lose yourself when you fight me." Qui-Gon furrowed his brows. "Perhaps your headstrong mind is beginning to comprehend what your heart already knows."

And in that instant, the sparring simulator was shut down. Qui-Gon vanished, no longer an imitation of flesh. Just atoms and electrons, and now safe in the archives of the Shadow Academy. Zekk stared at where the Jedi master had been, and then gave a little noise of pain at the throbbing injury to his back.