AUTHOR'S NOTE: None of the familial relationships in this story are confirmed. They are merely the pure speculation of the author for plot purposes and should not be taken as fact.

This is a work of fan fiction and all characters and scenes herein are the property of LucasArts. Please do not reprint story without author's permission.

The doors slid open and he stpped through, calm and collected outwardly. The room was small, and, like every other room in the Jedi temple, decorated simply and tastefully. A carpet of plush blue material covered the floor and imported lamps fit in the corners of the square room, glowing softly. At the far side of the room, in front of a large window that looked out over the city, two figures stooped over a viewing screen station. They did not turn as he enetered, but he knew they knew he was there.

The shorter figure turned, features relaxing as she saw him. "Eeth. You're here."

He frowned. Adi Gallia was never edgy, but the expression on her face and her trembling sense indicated otherwise.

"Adi? What's wrong? What are you doing?"

The other figure straightened. Even past his prime, Mace Windu was a powerful presence, radiating confidence and wisdom. His sense was clouded. Koth could not make out anything definite from Windu's dark expression, but it certainly boded ill.

He looked from one to the other. "What's going on? Mace?"

The other stared wordlessly at him for a minute, then beckoned him over. "We've been doing some cleanup work from the Naboo invasion. Chancellor Palpatine thought we should do some research into the Trade Federation's motives."

"Dig up some dirt," put in Gallia wryly. "Just the three of us...the rest of the Council is busy with something or other."

"And?" Koth prodded.

"Here." Windu reached forward, picked up a stack of datacards from the desk beside the station. "You see these?"

Koth took one of the disks. "Recordings?"

Gallia nodded. "From the Theed palace. The Senate doesn't know we have these...which gives us an advantage. A gift, from Queen Amidala. She thought they would aid us in our...research."

"Hmmm." Koth peered over Gallia's shoulder at the small reading screen, which showed a motion-frozen shot of what he assumed were Trade Federation battle droids firing at something. "Oh. Hidden cams. Very smart."

Windu shrugged, put the recordings back on the desk. "The Federation should have known that most high security buildings have them. They must have been more careless than we thought if they neglected to deactivate them."

Gallia nodded. "Overconfident. They must have been sure they were going to win."

Koth pointed at the screen. "What's this?"

"Battle between Federation droids and the Queen's guards inside the palace, I think." Windu stopped the tape, ejected it. The screen went blank. "We just finished that one. Nothing there."

He glanced at Gallia, who nodded slightly. Koth looked at them, feeling that he had just missed something. "What is it?"

Windu stared out the window for a moment, as if considering. The Coruscant space lane traffic flowed by in its unceasing orderly lines. The Jedi turned and looked at him, a strange expression in his eyes, as if seeing him for the very first time. Koth felt a prickle up his spine.

"That recording."

"What?"

Windu gestured to the one Koth still held in his hand. "Put it in."

Koth reached forward, popped the tape into the slot. The screen blurred slightly, then the sound of lighsabers filled the room. Koth frowned. "That's Jinn, isn't it?"

Gallia nodded. "Jinn and Kenobi."

He leaned forward, trying to make out the black-robed attacker in front of the two Jedi. The cam wasn't high off the ground, but the combatants were too far away for Koth to make out much of the fighting. Whoever the attacker was, he seemed to be giving the two a hard time.

Suddenly, he started. "A double-bladed saber?"

Windu nodded grimly. "That isn't the half of it."

The combatants neared the cam, the black- cloaked attacker keeping his opponents at bay with ease, swinging the double blades effortlessly. He lifted one hand, sent something in his path crashing into the wall. Koth squinted. Something about him...he sensed Gallia and Windu focusing intently on him, waiting...for something...what? The attacker spun, lept, passed inches away from the cam...

Without thought, Koth reahed out, jammed the switch down. The clip froze, showing the attacker's face in vivid detail. The rotting teeth. The tatooed face. The horns...

"That's a Zabrak," Koth said. His vision blurred. His voice sounded strange in his ears.

He sensed confirmation and mixed emotions from the other two. "That's what we thought," said Windu. "It's our only lead."

Koth was only half listening. He narrowed his eyes, studying that face behind the red and black tatooes. There was something...no. It couldn't be. Not after all these years.

He suddenly found he was breathing heavily and he staggered backward, falling into the nearest chair. Gallia was at his side instantly. "Eeth! What's wrong?"

"Khameir," he said. He swallowed, trying to calm his thoughts.

"What?"

"Khameir...but it can't be. He's dead."

Galia looked helplessly at Windu. The dark man knelt, meeting his eyes. Koth felt a Force touch at the edge of his mind, and then strength flowed into him. He took a deep breath, seeking the Jedi calm that had eluded him so far, twisting his fingers together to stop the shaking.

"Thank you."

Windu's eyes were intent. "Eeth, if you know something, anything, tell us. This is our only lead."

Koth swallowed, A glass stood on the table next to the chair. He reached for it but Gallia had already guessed his intent. She snatched it up before he could, hurried to the far side of the room, filled it with something from a stone pitcher. Koth took the proffered glass, drank, made a face as the liquid went down.

"Alcohol is the last thing I need now, Adi."

A shadow of a smile passed across her face but she said nothing, watching him gulp down the remaining drink. He pointed at the screen. "What is...is it..."

"A Sith warrior."

Windu's words seemed to darken the room and for a moment Koth felt a disturbance in the Force, as if merely mentioning the name were enough to stir the dark side.

"A Sith." Koth met Windu's eyes. "You're sure."

The Jedi nodded. Koth's hand shook and he placed the glass back down on the table before he could drop it. He leaned back, closed his eyes. "Good skies...he was just a boy."

"You know him?"

Koth opened his eyes, staring up at the ornate ceiling. "I'm not sure. It's been eight years...people change, and...well, if I'm wrong, then I'll be glad. But if I'm right..." He trailed off. "All these years, I thought he was dead..."

A cool hand on his arm. "Eeth. Tell us. We need to know."

Koth did not move, the memories crowding before his eyes. "Gods." His voice shook. "He was just a boy."

Silence. He felt the tension cut through him like a knife. He knew he needed to tell them, to tell what he knew, all he knew. In the name of the light, it was the right thing to do. And if it were indeed him, it was well the Council knew everything. So he would be dealt with at once. Nothing like that should be allowed to go free.

He was just a boy.

"His name-if this is indeed him-his name is Khameir. Khameir Sarin." There. He had said it. That name which he had not spoken in eight years, had vowed never to speak of again. "He was the son of one of my distant younger cousins...I suppose that would make me his uncle in human terms. In Zabrak terms..." He considered explaining, decided against it. "Well...I'll say I was his uncle."

He remained staring at the ceiling, sensed the eyes on him. He couldn't look at them. "I'd known Khameir since he was born. Watched him grow up. I'd been living on Coruscant for years now, but I'd managed to visit now and then."

He felt the memories unravel, years of them passing before him. "Khameir was my favorite out of all of them. And he knew it. Independent, talented, incredibly intelligent for a child. Shy around strangers, but always very kind. I remember he'd always be the first to greet me when I came home to Iridonia. He'd get into scrapes now and then...needed me to pull him out of them without his parents finding out." He shrugged. "One of those things a favorite relative would do."

Koth leaned forward but still did not meet the others' eyes, staring at the floor. "Strange. I never even knew he had Force ability when he was young. I never thought to test him. Otherwise I'd have brought him to Coruscant for training."

Galia's hand tightened on his arm, as if she knew how painful the next part would be. "Go on."

"As he got older he'd still treat me specially, but I sensed a distance between us. He was growing up. I wasn't the world to him anymore...It hurt a little, I suppose, but I accepted it. My visits...well, I didn't visit quite as often as I used to. Once every few months, perhaps only once a year. Khameir was about eleven the last time I stopped by on the way to Coruscant. I didn't see him at all...he was out with friends or something. When my cousin-his mother-talked about him, though, it was different." He frowned, thinking. "It was a long time ago, but the things she said...and just her sense. It made me think that Khameir had changed more than I might have guessed. He'd always been mischevious, but..."

He shook his head. "Anyway, I didn't see him again for five years. I'd just been inducted into the Council and stopped by Iridonia to tell them the news. Again Khameir wasn't there, but this time it was for real. He'd met someone from offworld-a space merchant or the like, and he'd been hired. He never told his family where he went with the trader, but he came back with money and that was enough for them. From what I gathered, he was home only about three or four times a year, and that only for a few days."

He blew out a breath, clenched his hands in his lap. "Apparantly, though, Khameir was on Iridonia at the moment, just not at home. He'd spend most of his time on planet with the merchant too, my cousin said. She didn't seem too pleased...I asked her about it but she wouldn't tell me anything except that Khameir was old enough to make his own decisions."

"And...the space trader?"

Koth shrugged. "I don't know, Mace. I didn't ask. She never said anything about him other than the fact that Khameir worked for him, but I doubt she'd even met him once."

"Hmmm." Koth glanced at Windu, but the big man had gotten to his feet and walked over to the screen, staring at the terrifying red-and-black visage glaring from the depths.

"I was leaving...walking out the door to catch a ride to the spaceport...and Khameir was walking in. I greeted him, we talked...I was going to tell him about being on the Council. He was the one I'd originally planned to tell first, but...I didn't." He sensed Gallia watching him intently. "Something had changed, and it wasn't just that we had grown apart. I felt...wrong. Cold. Talking to him on the steps of the house, every Jedi danger sense I had was tingling. He didn't say anything to lead me to suspect something amiss, but..."

He trailed off. The words wouldn't come.

Gallia's cool hands cradled his. "After that?" He sensed her Force probing, trying to give him strength and comfort. But it was too late for that.

"After that?" I went back to Coruscant, tried not to think about it..." He took a deep breath. "Then I received word that Khameir had been killed."

The tears came, and he blinked them away, fighting to retain his calm. He held Gallia's hands tightly. Windu had turned, eyes on him, boring into him. He swallowed.

"I never knew the details...the message was short, impersonal. He'd been home for a few days, then left with the space pilot again. Hyperdrive trouble...their ship...exploded. Nothing left. At least, that was the story." He nodded towards the screen. "I'm beginning to think otherwise."

"And the space merchant?"

He smiled, a bitter smile. "Was probably not."

"Khameir Sarin." Windu rolled the name around on his lips. "If this is indeed the boy you knew, he obviously went to a great deal of effort to hide how he learned all this." He pointed at the screen, unfroze the recording. Koth watched as the Zabrak spun his double saber carelessly, almost flaunting his skill before the Jedi. But it as the face that gripped Koth. Such anger, such hate as he could not have imagined existed in the soul of one single being.

"Eeth?" He looked up. Windu looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, but...I'm asking you to record all that for us. What you just told us about Sarin. I know it's hard, but..."

"It's the only lead you've got," Koth finished. "I understand."

Gallia released his hands and he stood awkwardly, feeling the effects of the alcohol she had given him. He felt her worried gaze on his face.

"And what if it isn't Khameir Sarin?"

Koth shrugged. "If it is, you'll have your lead. And if it's not...well, he'll still be dead."

Windu cleared his throat. "We believe he may be dead anyway. Kenobi says he killed him himself."

Koth remained staring at the ground for a moment. "Kenobi says many things..but I hope he's right." He saw Gallia start. "If that's what Khameir has become...it's better he were dead. Better for all of us."

Better for him...

He was just a boy.

Koth walked slowly to the door, and to his surprise they didn't try to stop him. He paused at the mirrored door, seeing himself in the glass, imagining that tatooed face next to his and feeling the sticky grip of a five-year-old boy in his own.

Just a boy.

He stepped forward. That report would take some work, and he had much to explain to the rest of the Jedi council.