Begeren. Once a prosperous Sith world, it has been the site of numerous battles throughout the millennia. Grand halls and monuments were torn down and re-purposed by looting Republic forces thousands of years ago, before they were driven from the planet. Isolated settlements still dot the planet's surface, but the inhospitable, craggy, and desert-like terrain, along with the beasts common to many desert and Sith worlds, have kept most humanoids from colonizing. Occasional skirmishes have left debris scattered throughout the desert, and battles were fought here as recently as the Galactic Civil War. The planet is now under the control of the One Sith and is rumored to be full of all manner of priceless, ancient Sith artifacts.

The Dark Council has pushed forth to Begeren and the Grand Master, on his quest for ever more powerful items, has decreed the Clans and Houses seize anything of value. The unity shown by the Brotherhood during the beginning of this Crusade is fracturing, with the Clans and Houses growing tired and frustrated with the seemingly endless succession of battles. Tempers are flaring between former allies, with outright aggression no longer uncommon. Despite this, you have responded to the Grand Master's call—though whether it's to actually seize the items for the Brotherhood, destroy them, or use them for your own purposes, only you know. One such item, a Sith talisman, said to be inlaid with a dark side-infused gemstone, was lost in the quarries of Begeren during the liberation of the planet from Old Republic looters thousands of years ago.

The Force has drawn you here, to an abandoned quarry, in a mountainous region west of an expansive desert. Any mining equipment once used here is long gone, but the landscape itself remains surprisingly preserved from the days of the Old Republic's strip mining. Scrub brush, the only foliage present on this part of the planet, has taken root all along the sides of the quarry. The ledge overlooks a one-hundred meter drop into a crystal-clear basin of water; opposite the ledge is a more gradual, step-wise decline. The basin itself is peculiar, as no plants are growing in or around it, despite being one of the few bodies of liquid you have seen in the nearby area. A long, snaking ramp meanders down through the steps of the quarry towards the water below, beginning at the northward edge of the cliff you now find yourself on. You notice shards of gemstones crunch underfoot as you move, a hint as to the use of this quarry in ages past.

As the sanguine blanket of dusk covered the arid and isolated deserts of Begeren, the high and volatile winds that raced around the dust bowl of the quarry had finally relaxed to a warm breeze. Yet this refreshingly, frosty air preserved the chipped and smashed crystals that time forgot, and gave a sense of mystery to the region. In this area, a TIE-Interceptor lodged it’s feet into the sand, cut off from the majority of deserts, crevices and ravines which caressed the face of Begeren. The vessel’s fiery pads landed, and burnt most of the currently exasperating plants on the western lip of the quarry.

From this merited and advanced vessel, two shadows emerged from the aft landing ramp. With one bearing a long, heavy cloak, that attached to a dark hood, and another covered from ankles to head in a ragged cloth, that looked frayed or stolen from a Tusken raider’s body after a long and violent ordeal. These silhouettes were nothing more than the newly appointed Dark Jedi Knight, and his new gifted IG-100 Magnadroid called Bait. Bait appeared to be similar to the IG-100 requisites; however before he was placed under Lexiconus’ service, it had lost the top right part of it’s head, leaving it with one visor and half of it’s memory capacity. Its carefully hand-made fingers on it’s right hand were misplaced. Lex thought nothing of the disrepairs, and assumed one day it would fix itself. Pressing onwards, towards the northern steps of the quarry, Lex and Bait observed how the quarry was strip mined and the detailed structure of Begeren’s sediment crust.

“It seems that this planet is far older than we anticipated, the researchers estimated around eight billion years because of the formation of these dense crystals and the distance between the planet and the sun. But looking at the quarry face, and as we know the Principle of Original Horizontality, we can majorly assume closer to twelve billion years. Bait, collect the lowest layer samples in your cavity drawer.” Lex ordered to the droid as he continued to walk the circumference of the lip.

“Yes sire, I will try to gain the crystals too!” The Magnadroid stated.

With a low grumble, Lexiconus bared his canines at the droid in disgust and roared. “No! You fool! All of these crystals could of come from any old ravine. Stop talking you blathering fiend and get in that water. Or i’ll turn you into tin cans for Bothan stew!”

As Lex continued to sternly wave his clenched fist at the cold, misshapen metal face of Bait, the reluctant, but eager Magnadroid walked slowly to the lip, then dropped from the edge, and plummeted to the water. With a surging speed of heavy salt, crystal and calcite dust pelleting his robe, it surely came off and floated away, which left Bait bare to the elements, revealing all the mechanical, superior hardware. With a very low and loud slam, Bait’s metallic pads crunched and sunk into the watery ground. The force of the drop might have broken a bolt or two, but the emotionless droid shrugged at the locked joints and strided over to an alcove made into the sediment rock.

As Lexiconus patrolled mid-way through the southern lip of the quarry basin, he felt a presence of locomotion near him and making it’s way closer, giving him a strong feeling that it was indeed a Human, and a familiar male.

“Adam quit stalking and get out here!” As he shouted out to his Battle Team Leader, another Magnadroid came out. This was not Bait.

“Echo? Where’s…” Like a woosh of the furious Begeren winds, Adam soared from a three story level and slammed down in front of Lex’s robes, igniting his emerald lightsaber from his fist near his boot.

“Stand back, Adam! The Grand Master desires this talisman for his personal collection. We need to follow the law.” Lex stated with clarity in his voice. He peered down at the green blade so close to his bare, blue feet. It irradiated heat like a naked uranium rod. Young Lex carefully moved his own hand towards his belt for his own lightsaber.

As the Human rose to his feet, with his lightsaber still ignited in hand, Lex felt his heavy hand pushed him aside as he continued to walk to the quarry.

“We need to destroy it, it’s too dangerous to exist.” Adam lowered his head and placed one knee on the crystal-sand mixture near the quarry lip, slowly running his free hand through the fine pieces. Lex stood behind him, slowly bared his white canines and growled lowly to himself. The Togruta felt disgraced to even think of disobeying the orders. Blood rushed heavily to his head in a hazy mixture of anger, confusion and hysteria, he bravely marched forward to Adam and glared at his back. “We need it’s power and secrets, we must!” The angered Togruta began shaking his new lightsaber at Adam with impatience.

Lost in the red mist that shrouded his motives, Adam took the chance to grab a handful of crystal and sand. He stood and twisted his body, then launched his hand directly at Lex’s face. The hundreds of crystals shredded at the Togruta’s malnourished face; he helplessly shrieked and clawed the crystals off. Adam took this precious moment to grab Lex’s collar, then throw him towards the southern lip of the quarry basin, watching the Togruta stumble even closer to the ledge. Lex lost his footing and immediately fell from the lip. As the doomed Togruta felt the sharp sensation of the Force warning him, he gripped the lip of the cliff with his hands, panting in terror.

“Adam! You’re in trouble!” Lex roared out, but the Human stood above with his arms crossed and a soft smirk.

Meanwhile, Echo and Bait sat in the shuttle and watched from afar. “Looks like your master needs help.” Echo stated.

“Yup.” Bait blissfully replied, continuing to log his records.

Adam watched Lex scramble up the ledge, his confident expression masking his worry and genuine concern for the frail Togruta. As Lex pulled himself up and over the pith a little faster than anticipated, Adam kept his lightsaber close to his thoughts.

After pulling himself up, Lex scowled as he produced his own hilt, igniting the leaf green blade. Adam snapped his own to life to answer it. The weapons were twins in color, but their owners seemed more different than they had ever been in that moment. Lex kept one hand stretched in front of him, his saber trailing his back leg. Adam recognized the stance immediately; Niman, intended to attempt to use reasoning to end a fight peacefully or make Force based attacks readily available, hence the hand gesturing. He had advised Lex to train in it himself, taking the frailness of his body into account and recommending the form due to it requiring little physical specialization.

“So your loyalty is not to the Council?” Lex’s bloodied face twisted into a grim expression.

“My loyalty belongs to my team, Arcona, and myself. That means I won’t let you throw your life or your mind away for anyone’s sake on this damn treasure hunt of a war!” Adam vowed, taking the opportunity to try and overwhelm Lex with the first blows and end the fight quickly, as the core tenet of his chosen style of Ataru dictated. He twisted and swung the blade upward and right, like a snake uncoiling to strike. Despite the odd angle, Lex backpedaled and batted the strike away in a smooth but lackadaisical movement, characteristic of the easy swordwork Niman was known for. Adam kept the assault coming, raining blow after blow from several angles as they traveled around the lip of the quarry and moved away from the enormous drop. Legs flew through the air were where arms should be, and strikes were made from high and low towards zones of contact as Adam’s acrobatic display of offense chased Lex around the gargantuan ring. The duelists neared the layered ledges on the other half of the quarry as Adam increased the tempo of his assault. He moved in close before making a powerful Force assisted leap over Lex’s head, coiling his arm back as though he were preparing another strike. Lex prepared to block, but instead found Adam’s leg connecting with the side of his head as he twisted to dismount. He grabbed a stunned Lex’s collar, pulling him closer to speak to him.

“Done yet? Plenty where that came from.”

“Quit flattering yourself, you don’t scare me!” Lex hissed. Adam frowned, then sent him tumbling over the lip and down to the ledge below. He rushed the edge and kicked off into the air again, twisting his body to bring another blow crashing down on Lex. The Togruta was dragging himself through the gravel, before rolling onto his back and summoning his saber back to his hand, snapping it to life just in time to catch Adam’s heavy blow. Lex grunted as his arms nearly buckled under the force, even with the Force flowing through them. Adam’s determined eyes had an emerald glow even brighter than that of the locked saber blades as they bore into Lex’s face.

“You’re going back up that shuttle ramp, even if I’ve got to drag you!” Adam growled, and Lex snarled right back through his bared fangs.

“I don’t need your protection!” he howled as a telekinetic hand pushed Adam into the air, who gracefully righted himself like a cat to land on both feet. Lex rolled to his feet, a renewed vigor lended to his body as frustration set in. Adam’s face did not betray his surprise at how well Lex had fared thus far; he had held little back with his previous assault, and the Lex he had sparred with would have succumbed quickly. This Lex was different, his speed even occasionally matched that of Adam’s without the aid of the Force. His body was strengthening, he had taken to Niman as well as Krath take to anything, and it seemed as though his eyes were tracking Adam even when outside his field of view. At any other time, he would have been impressed. However, this was a time to win at all costs, for Lex’s safety, and Adam had already spotted his new tactical advantage. The Force weaved through his muscles as he spun like a wheel, the first strike turning Lex to the side. Adam kicked off the wall, hoping to use the height and the unpredictable angle to knock the saber from Lex’s grasp as soon as he turned around. However, the Togruta evidently didn’t need to, as his saber precisely met Adam’s without even turning to face the strike. Again Adam tried, only to find himself being given another telekinetic shove, as though he were dirt being swept off the shoulder of Lex’s new defense.

It’s like he can wrap his eyes all the way around his head! Wait, they're still his eyes...

Lex was growing confident as he repeatedly stopped Adam’s attacks, going so far as to open his chest and invite an attack.

“Something wrong?” he smirked, while Adam took a moment to breathe as Ataru took its toll. “There’s no angle I’m not going to see like this, but tire yourself out trying if you want.” Adam chuckled as he prepared to move again, the two duelists drawing ever closer to the dilapidated conveyor ramp that once carried rocks and ore up and out of the quarry.

“Well, with an offer like that…” he said as he rushed into Lex and pushed his saber towards the center of the quarry, then turned to leap off the wall again. Sailing through the air, he heard Lex laugh. Instead of raising his saber to strike, he wrapped his face in the inside of his sword arm and focused the electrical currents in the other, which united to explode from his palm in a searing burst of white light. The searing pain left Lex momentarily stunned, blind, and totally defenseless, which gave Adam an opportunity to grasp him with angry telekinetic fingers. The invisible force sent the frail Togruta sailing through the air and then skidding through the gravel, cutting his flesh even further before coming to a rest beneath the ramp. Adam bore down relentlessly on his fallen opponent, seeking to beat him into submission if it was necessary to save his friend’s life. His arm reached out again, extending its reach once more with the Force to close Lex in its powerful grip. He flicked him up to slam against the bottom of the ramp, then sent him hurtling back into the jagged gemstones, then crushed him against the rusted old machine once more, its decayed supports creaking and warping under the sudden strain of a body smashed against it. He let gravity bring Lex crashing to earth again, to stop himself.

Stop stop stop! You’re going to kill him! No way he can take much more of this...

He quickly thought to remove their weapons from the equation, summoning Lex’s saber to his open hand, and tossed both that one and his saber into the shallow water by the shore of the lagoon. Easy enough to find and repair later, he could sense them with ease, but now there was less risk of killing Lex. His train of thought was disrupted by Lex’s pained groans as he writhed in the gravel, saber several feet away from his grasp. He took a few steps towards him, preparing to try to reason with him again, only to see Lex quickly roll over and extend an arm, fingers angrily convulsing with energy. The intangible fingers became tendrils, which reached into Adam’s mind and sent it hurtling into chaos.

Adam looked down at his hands, horrified to see that they did not seem to be his, but instead twisted biomechanical nightmares. Sinew and bone were connected to jagged metal and jungles of frayed wiring, and all seemed to be covered in warm crimson droplets. They pulsated with energy, power that Adam could hardly have conceived of before.

No, this isn’t… this isn’t right… these can’t be…

His lightsaber glowed with a bloody ruby hue, viciously sparking as it grew increasingly unstable. Pain wracked his body in waves, coming and going in various spots, but Adam was also surprised that he didn’t seem to care, nor did the sea of regrets in his mind perturb him. The power was all that mattered, all that he could feel, all that he wanted to possess or understand. It was infinite, and not a single thing in the galaxy was relevant by comparison.

Not me… not me… not… me…

The crumpled form before him occasionally convulsed and whimpered, as the pain continued to rush through Adam’s twisted body. The figure and the sound seemed to match that of a child, apparently a very young girl. She was in horrible pain, and Adam knew he had done this. His body was not his, seemingly acting at the whim of another force. He watched his arm stretch out again, felt the power flow through it, and watched the frail little form rise into the air with it…

No, no no! I can’t do this! Don’t make me do this!

The fingers closed, he heard the whimpers intensify and rang more clearly as begging. The stretching of tendons, the gradual snapping of bone bending, then breaking…

No, I won’t do this! I won’t become this...thing. My body and mind are my own! I know you’re in here, Lex! Get… OUT!

The image of the small girl disappeared, and the source of the pain finally made itself apparent. Lex had recovered, and in the absence of his lightsaber had begun making precise Echani attacks on clusters of nerves in Adam’s body. Adam returned to consciousness just as Lex’s fist connected with his face once more. He felt the trickle of blood run down his face, turned back to his opponent, and spat it back. He leapt up and over Lex once more as his strength returned, landing atop the conveyor ramp. Lex followed suit, standing down the ramp from Adam. Lex watched some of the scratches and bruises inflicted on Adam heal within seconds, as Adam locked eyes again, their determination replacing the fear that had been there moments before. Lex took a breath to speak.

“I know you, Adam,” he began loudly and proudly, “I know exactly how afraid you are of yourself. You don’t hold back because of some self-righteous code. You do it because you don’t think you can handle your power. “

“Never get in my head again, Lex.” Adam said slowly and clearly. “You’re going to pay for that, and I’m taking you home.”