Wind drove loose ice across the hull of the Delta-7.
The modified starfighter rested upon a frozen plain beneath a colorless sky. Beyond the cockpit, low ridges interrupted an otherwise empty landscape of snow and dark stone. No settlements appeared upon the horizon. No orbital platforms had answered their arrival, and no transmissions had challenged them during the descent. The coordinates taken from the Commerce Guild records had led Khan to a planet the Republic claimed did not exist.
"Run the coordinates again," Khan said.
R3-T9 answered from behind the cockpit before reconnecting with the navigation computer. The display cleared, then rebuilt the surrounding sector from Republic charts. Several neighboring systems appeared around their position, but the space occupied by the frozen world remained empty.
Khan studied the result. "That is not a mapping error."
R3 released a doubtful series of tones.
"A planet does not disappear because a surveyor entered the wrong number." Khan opened the Republic's older astronomical records. The same absence remained. There was no planetary designation, no survey report, and no warning identifying the gravitational pull that should have affected every vessel traveling near the system. "Either someone deleted it, or they buried it deeply enough that the Republic's primary records no longer recognize it."
The astromech rotated his dome toward the rear communications system.
"Yes. Check Beacon's archive." Khan transferred the coordinates. "Use Vania's decrypted access codes. Do not connect through the Republic network."
R3-T9 issued a brief acknowledgment and began working. Several encrypted requests passed through the Delta-7's communications array before the Beacon archive accepted the codes. The first search produced nothing. R3 altered the coordinate format, compared several older navigation standards, and searched again.
A name appeared upon the display.
Alzoc.
Khan leaned closer. Beacon's information was limited. The archive confirmed the planet's location and environmental conditions, but contained little else. No government claimed the system. No recognized trade routes passed near it. The most recent entry had been copied from an independent navigational record more than twenty years earlier.
"Alzoc," Khan said.
R3 whistled.
"No. That does not explain why the Republic removed it."
Khan looked through the canopy again. The frozen wasteland offered no answer. Their long-range sensors had found no cities, power stations, or active vessels. If the stolen manifests had not placed the missing Commerce Guild shipments at these coordinates, there would have been no reason to descend.
"Continue scanning," he said. "Focus below the surface. If those transports came here, they had somewhere to unload."
R3 redirected the Delta-7's sensors. Interference covered most of the planet, scattering the scans across deposits beneath the ice. Khan waited as the droid filtered the false readings. The cockpit remained quiet except for the wind striking the fighter and the low vibration of systems kept active against the cold.
A signal appeared and vanished.
R3-T9 chirped sharply.
"I saw it."
The droid adjusted the sensors and found it again. The transmission was weak enough to disappear beneath the planetary interference, but it repeated at consistent intervals. R3 isolated the pattern and placed its approximate location upon the navigation display.
The source waited several kilometers away.
Khan pulled his cloak around his shoulders and opened the cockpit. Freezing air entered immediately, carrying hard grains of ice that struck his face and gathered against the controls. He climbed onto the wing while R3 disconnected from the starfighter and lowered himself onto the ground.
"Come with me," Khan said. "The interference may affect the handheld navigator, and I would rather not spend the night walking in circles."
R3 descended onto the ice and extended additional traction grips from beneath his wheels. He released a tone that suggested Khan was the one most likely to become lost.
"You may remind me of that after we find the signal."
Khan dropped from the wing. The cockpit closed behind him, sealing the Delta-7 against the storm, and they crossed the wasteland together.
The journey took longer than the distance suggested. Snow concealed narrow breaks in the ice, forcing R3 to test the ground before advancing. Several times, the signal shifted upon the navigator as the surrounding mineral deposits distorted its direction. Khan relied upon the droid's calculations while reaching into the Force for any sign of life ahead.
He found almost none.
Small creatures moved beneath the snow, their presence faint within the frozen emptiness. Beyond them, the world felt still. That absence disturbed him more than open hostility would have. The Commerce Guild had carried living Felucian samples here for a reason, yet nothing upon the surface suggested anyone had ever arrived.
R3 stopped near the edge of a ravine.
Khan approached carefully. The ground fell away beneath an overhang of ice, revealing dark stone several hundred meters below. Part of the ravine wall had been cut into a level platform. Snow covered most of its surface, but the straight edges beneath it could not have formed naturally.
A landing pad.
The signal came from behind it.
R3 projected a route toward a wide section of metal built into the stone. From above, the entrance resembled another shadow beneath the overhang. No lights marked it, and no path connected it to the surface.
"You found it," Khan said.
The droid produced a satisfied whistle.
Khan examined the landing pad and the surrounding ravine. The Delta-7 could descend between the walls if R3 followed a careful approach, and keeping the vessel nearby would give them a better chance of leaving quickly.
"Return to the ship. Bring it here and keep the engines warm."
R3 answered with an immediate objection.
"I am investigating the entrance."
The astromech continued.
"I know what happened on Felucia."
R3 repeated the warning more insistently.
"That is why I want the ship ready before I enter." Khan looked down toward the concealed facility. "If I do not contact you, remain outside. Do not follow me."
R3-T9's dome turned from Khan to the ravine and back again.
"That is not a suggestion."
The droid released a low, displeased tone before beginning the return journey. Khan waited until R3 disappeared into the blowing snow, then stepped from the edge.
He fell through the ravine.
The Force slowed his descent before he reached the landing pad. His boots struck the metal beneath the snow, and he lowered one hand to steady himself. Ice moved away from the impact in a widening circle.
Khan rose and examined the entrance.
The door occupied most of the ravine wall. Its surface contained no visible control panel, identification, or locking mechanism. No cameras followed his movement. No guards emerged to confront him. Even the weak signal vanished now that he stood close to its source.
He placed one hand against the metal.
Nothing happened.
Khan pushed. The door did not move. He reached into the Force and felt the structure beyond it. The entrance was not merely armored. The metal extended several meters into the surrounding stone, forming a single slab of extraordinary weight. There were no mechanical locks holding it closed because none were needed. No ordinary person could have moved it.
That was the security.
Whoever constructed the facility had designed an entrance that could only be opened by someone with considerable command of the Force.
Khan stepped back.
The Force gathered around the slab. Metal groaned deep within the ravine as pressure spread through the hidden mechanisms. Snow fell from the stone above him. The door resisted, its weight pressing against his control, but Khan continued. Slowly, the massive barrier moved inward.
Darkness appeared beyond it.
Khan held the door until the opening became wide enough to enter, then passed beneath it. The slab began closing the moment he released the Force. He glanced toward its inner edge as it moved past him. The metal was thicker than he had estimated, reinforced by layers intended to survive attacks from either side.
The entrance sealed behind him.
A narrow corridor continued into the rock. Thin strips of light activated along the floor, revealing walls without markings or decoration. No dust covered the metal. The air was cold, but warmer than the surface, and carried the faint sterile scent of machinery.
Khan moved forward.
The corridor descended before opening into a circular chamber. Empty platforms surrounded the walls, while inactive control panels rested behind dark transparisteel. The room contained no visible exits except the passage through which he had entered.
The door behind him closed.
Light gathered at the center of the chamber.
A hologram rose from the floor, first as scattered lines and then as the tall figure of a Muun. His narrow body was covered in dark robes. His elongated head rose above severe features that Khan had carried in his memory for four years.
"Plagueis."
The Sith Lord laughed. The sound moved through hidden speakers around the chamber.
"Look what the Force has brought me. My new apprentice has entered my laboratory."
Khan stared at the hologram. It was not a recording. Plagueis's eyes followed him, and the amusement upon his face responded to the hatred Khan made no effort to conceal.
"Come here and face me," Khan said. "I will kill you."
Plagueis's smile widened. "That is not very Jedi-like."
"Leaving you alive would not be mercy. It would be negligence." Khan stepped closer to the projection. "I will not allow the teachings you exploited to protect you from what you deserve."
"Good." Plagueis examined him with open satisfaction. "Your strength has returned."
Khan said nothing.
"I had wondered whether grief would leave you diminished after our last encounter." The Sith Lord tilted his head. "I am glad I killed that Twi'lek girl. Her death appears to have restored something the Jedi taught you to suppress."
Cold rain touched Aria's face.
Her hand lay motionless beneath his.
The memory entered Khan before he could stop it. Anger followed with enough force to drive every other thought away. The chamber shook. Metal panels bent inward along the walls, and one of the empty platforms collapsed beneath an invisible weight. Cracks spread across the transparisteel while the floor trembled beneath Khan's boots.
Plagueis watched without fear.
"Yes," he said quietly. "There you are."
Khan's hands closed at his sides.
"Let your anger move through you. Stop pretending it is something you must overcome." Plagueis extended one long hand toward him. "Accept it, and you may yet become the successor I require."
Khan drew one slow breath.
The chamber continued shaking.
He remembered Aria, but he did not allow Plagueis to control what the memory became. He felt the anger without surrendering his judgment to it. The pressure around the room weakened. The floor became still. Metal stopped bending.
When Khan opened his eyes, Plagueis was no longer smiling.
"I am not the man you fought six months ago," Khan said. "I will have my revenge, and I will destroy you. But I will never belong to you."
Plagueis's hologram remained motionless for several seconds.
"You will come around," he said at last. The amusement had left his voice. "For now, I require assistance with an experiment."
A section of the wall to Khan's right separated. The concealed door moved aside, revealing another corridor.
"Come and find me," Plagueis said.
The hologram vanished.
Khan looked toward the open passage. Every part of the facility had been prepared for his arrival. The hidden shipments, the unregistered planet, and the entrance only a powerful Force-user could open had drawn him into a path Plagueis controlled.
He could still leave.
The thought lasted only a moment.
For four years, Khan had followed evidence abandoned after the Sith were finished with it. He had found sanctuaries emptied before his arrival, intermediaries killed before they could speak, and records destroyed before he could understand them. Plagueis had finally offered him something more than another dead end.
A door.
Khan entered the corridor.
Artificial light appeared ahead. It grew brighter as he continued, replacing the dim floor strips with a pale glow that filled the entire passage. Warm air reached him, carrying moisture and the scent of vegetation.
The corridor opened into an enormous botanical chamber.
The ceiling rose several stories above Khan. Artificial suns shone from suspended frames, bathing rows of flowering plants in white-gold light. Vines crossed reinforced supports along the walls, while shallow channels carried water through soil divided into separate growing areas. Some of the plants resembled the samples listed in the Commerce Guild manifests. Others had been altered until their original species could no longer be recognized.
Khan stepped inside.
The door closed behind him.
Life filled the chamber, but the Force surrounding it felt wrong. Every living thing possessed its own presence, however small. Here, those presences appeared stretched together, drawn toward something at the center of the room. The sensation was not darkness alone. It was distortion—life forced into a shape it had never chosen.
Khan turned toward it.
A vine thicker than his body struck the ground where he had been standing.
He moved before the impact. Soil and broken stone erupted behind him as he crossed the nearest growing bed. Another vine swept through the flowers at the height of his chest. Khan lowered himself beneath it and looked toward the center of the chamber.
The largest plant rose from a wide pit beneath the artificial suns. Its central stalk extended several meters above the surrounding vegetation, supporting a flowering crown broad enough to conceal most of its upper body. Dozens of vines moved around it like limbs. Several ended in hardened points. Others curled around the supports and pulled the plant forward through the soil.
Hidden speakers activated above him.
"This is one of my experiments in creating life," Plagueis said. "It has been strengthened through the Force, but controlled observation has offered only limited results."
The plant turned toward Khan despite possessing no visible eyes.
"I want to see what it can accomplish against another Force-wielder," Plagueis continued. "Try not to die."
The nearest vines attacked together.
Khan jumped onto the first as it passed beneath him. The thick surface bent beneath his weight, but he continued running toward the central body. Three more vines changed direction to intercept him.
He thrust one hand outward.
The Force struck them in a single wave. The vines recoiled, tearing loose from the supports and smashing into the surrounding beds. Khan reached the end of the limb and leapt toward the flowering crown.
Gold light appeared in his hand.
His lightsaber remained active for less than a second.
The blade passed through the crown and the upper section of the central stalk before disappearing again. The severed mass fell behind him as Khan landed upon the soil. It struck the ground with enough weight to crush the flowers beneath it.
The remaining vines collapsed.
Khan watched the plant become still.
Then the soil moved beneath his feet.
A vine curled around his ankle. Khan pulled free before it tightened, but another struck his side and sent him across the chamber. He turned in the air, landed against one hand, and slid to a stop near the wall.
The headless plant rose again.
Its vines moved without direction from the severed crown. Pale fluid poured from the cut, yet the presence within the Force had not weakened. If anything, the distortion had become more concentrated.
Khan reached beyond what he could see.
The plant was not an animal. The crown was not a mind, and the stalk did not contain its life. Energy moved beneath the soil, spreading through an immense root system that extended throughout the central growing bed.
The roots were its center.
Khan stood as the vines gathered for another attack.
He raised both hands.
The entire plant stopped.
Soil lifted around its base. The central stalk strained against the force pulling it upward, and the surrounding growing beds split as roots tore through them. Several vines struck the ground, attempting to anchor the plant, but Khan increased the pressure.
The botanical chamber shook.
The plant rose from the pit.
A mass of roots emerged beneath it, twisted together around metal conduits and broken pieces of irrigation equipment. They extended deeper than Khan expected, some disappearing beneath the chamber floor before tearing free.
The vines thrashed in every direction.
Khan held the plant above the ground.
He allowed his breathing to settle. The anger Plagueis had awakened remained inside him, but it did not guide his hand. What came next was not rage. It was a decision.
Pale-blue lightning crossed the chamber.
The first arcs entered the exposed roots. The plant convulsed as electricity spread through the tangled mass. Vines struck the walls and shattered lights above the growing beds. Khan maintained the current, directing it into the deepest roots until their surfaces blackened and the fluid inside them began to burn.
One by one, the vines stopped moving.
The distorted presence within the Force weakened.
Khan closed his hand. The lightning disappeared, and the plant fell into the ruined soil. Smoke rose from the roots. Nothing moved again.
For several moments, the only sound came from water escaping the broken irrigation channels.
Khan looked around the chamber.
Small sensor lenses watched him from beneath the artificial lights. Others were hidden among the growing beds, positioned to record the plant from every direction. Several had followed Khan rather than the creature during the fight.
The plant was not the only experiment being studied.
Plagueis's voice returned.
"Very good, my apprentice. The data will serve my next experiment."
Khan turned toward the nearest sensor. "Enough of these petty tricks. Do you fear me so much that you refuse to face me yourself?"
Silence followed.
A vine slipped from the ruined growing bed and settled against the floor.
"In due time," Plagueis said. "Do not be in such a hurry, my apprentice."
Another section of the chamber wall opened.
Darkness waited beyond it.
"There is still more data for us to gather."
Khan looked at the dead plant, the sensors surrounding it, and the path Plagueis had prepared. The Sith Lord was measuring more than strength. He wanted to know how Khan fought, how he adapted, and whether anger could still be used to control him.
Khan understood the danger.
He also understood that every chamber carried him closer to the one he had hunted for four years. He entered the passage. For now, he would play Plagueis's game.
The door closed behind him.