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Exar Kun was a long-dead Dark Lord of the Sith, whose spirit was trapped in a Massassi temple. Durron began secretly training with Kun. As he trained with both Luke Skywalker and Exar Kun, Kyp became even more annoyed at Luke's peaceful, patient ways. He confronted Luke several times, barely holding his rage in check. When Mara Jade arrived on the planet, Kyp heard for the first time how much destruction that Admiral Daala was wrecking on the outside. He stole Mara's Z-95 Headhunter spaceship and headed for the moon of Endor. On Endor, Kyp sought out the funeral pyre of Darth Vader. Luke had told the students that Vader, a Dark Lord of the Sith, had reformed at the end. Kyp thought this meant that the Sith Lords could still use the light side of the Force, and he grasped that thought as a way to ward off the intrusive influence of Exar Kun, who pulled the student towards the Dark Side. Kyp was determined that he would be the new Dark Lord of the Sith, filled with righteous vengence. That vengence first manifested itself on Ithor, where Kyp broke into Qui Xux's quarters and waited for her in the dark. When she returned from a day trip woth Wedge Antilles, Kyp used the Force to fillet her memories, removing anything that could be remotely connected to the Sun Crusher or the other weaponry that she had created at the Maw Installation. He returned to Yavin IV in the darkness of the night, landing atop the Massassi temple where he and the other Jedi had trained. As dawn broke, he felt Exar Kun's power join his. Together, they used the Force to raise the Sun Crusher from its gassy crypt in Yavin's heart and the super-weapon, gleaming and new, came to rest on the temple top. When Luke Skywalker rushed to confront him, Kyp derided the Jedi. Durron decided to use the Sun Crusher to destroy the Empire himself, and as Luke ignited his lightsaber to stop him, Kyp called forth Dark-Side lightning, striking his master. Exar Kun's spirit joined in, and together they split Luke's essence apart from his body, setting it adrift in the same netherspace that Kun himself inhabited. In the Cauldron Nebula, Kyp found his most hated enemy, Admiral Daala, with her Star Destroyers Gorgon and the Basilisk. As Daala prepared to lead her ships in an attack on Coruscant, Kyp launched sun-destroying resonance torpedoes to blow up the cluster of blue-giant stars at the heart of the nebula, all the while taunting Daala over the communications systems. Although the admiral realized the peril and ordered an immeadiate withdrawal, the cataclysmic explosion of the nebula caught the Basilisk full on, destroying it completely. As the nebula died behind him, Kyp took off to find his next target. That target was the Imperial academy on Caridia, where Kyp hoped to learn the whereabouts of his brother, Zeth, before he destroyed the Imperial system. The Imperial Ambassador Furgan attempted to bluff Kyp with faked news of Zeth's death, even as his fighters scrambled and attacked. Kyp easily fought off the fighters and launched a resonance torpedo into Caridia's sun. While he waited to witness the Academy's destruction, Kyp was suprised to hear another hail from the Imperials. They had found his brother -- alive -- and would have him soon. As the chronometer counted off the fleeting minutes, Kyp flew the Sun Crusher to the Academy, where he would meet Lieutenant Dauron and his brother on a roof. Dauron batter Zeth while Kyp moved in, and Zeth blasted the Imperial. As Kyp attempted to draw the staggering Zeth up to the ship with it's tractor beam, Caridia's sun exploded, destroying everything in the system. Zeth was immeadiately incinerated along with all the Imperials still left at the Academy. Kyp's Force powers locked in, helping him steer the ship and ride the waves of the explosion. Back at the Rebel base on Coruscant, Han Solo departed abord the Millenium Falcon, hoping to appeal to Kyp as his friend, and seeking to stop the carnage that lay in the Sun Crusher's wake. He and Lando Calrissian soon found that Durron had destroyed a red dwarf star, the site of several orbiting starship-construction yards and weapons depots. Aboard the Falcon, Han and Lando received the signal for the Sun Crusher and, suprisingly, they caught the ship in their tractor beam. Angered, Kyp planned to launch one of the torpedos into the Falcon. Han tried to talk to him while Lando used override codes to shut down the Crusher's power. Even more angry, Kyp used the Force to reactivate the ship. In his mind, he could hear the spirit of Exar Kun, telling him to avenge himself at any cost. Suddenly, Kun's spirit screamed and disappeared. Luke's students had destroyed the spirit back on Yavin IV. Free from Kun's influence, Kyp depowered the ship and surrendered to Han. Having been seduced by the dark side himself, Luke was more than willing to give Kyp a second chance. If he could be cleansed and trained, Kyp Durron had the potential to become one of the greatest of the New Order of Jedi Knights. |
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