“The hell was all of that about?” Kal’or asked, doing his best to make it as casual as he could though he knew something was wrong.  He had that feeling ever since they came to the cursed planet in the first place, and he was kicking himself for not giving it the proper attention it deserved.  A Mandalorian that didn’t trust his instinct wound up dead.
     Jinx stood there for a long moment, Janet’s words still ringing in his head as a sudden sense of foreboding washed over him.  As he tried to fit the pieces together in his mind, he could begin to feel a disturbance in the Force growing…it was not unlike getting sick to one’s stomach, and yet the pressure it used against one’s mind could become numbing quickly as well.  “I don’t like this,” Jinx said.
    “Well, you gonna tell me what the hell is going on?” Kal’or barked, sliding his helmet back on and snapping the seal under his chin shut.  “We have incoming?” Asked his now filtered voice.
    “I…I don’t know,” Jinx said.  “Les is coming.  Here.”
    Initial instinct for Kal’or was to start laughing–while he knew little of the boy, Les was still a kid and an apprentice to Jinx.  The severity of the issue weighed heavily upon his comrade’s face though, and Kal knew it took a lot to do that.  “He meanin’ to pick a fight?”
    There–there it was.  Just as Jinx had meant to respond he felt the cold prickling stab of needles under his flesh, the darker side of the Force pouring cold water over his brain and along every nerve ending in his body.  “By the Force…he’s fallen.”
    “Aw sithspit, you’re tellin’ me he’s Sith now?”
    Jinx shook his head as if to shake himself out of his daze, raising his wrist and flipping a panel on his bracer open to reveal a hidden datapad.  He tapped out a few buttons quickly, confirming his security code.  “The Storm’s Revenge is heading over now, should take but a minute.  We’re going to need to get on the ship and out of here fast, Kal.”
    “I’m not followin’ ya, vod.  Why does he have you this worried?”
    “He’s not Sith, Kal…but he’s fallen.  The dark side’s consumed him right now, he’s so full of rage and…and…anguish, that he ain’t thinking straight.  Judging by him burning down the castle, I’m gonna assume that rage is directed at me.  So I’m the last person that’s going to be able to talk him down.”
    “I thought once you Jedi fall, that’s it.  No turning back and all that.”
    “No, not quite…but that’s probably right more of the time than it isn’t,” Jinx sighed with relief in his voice as he saw the ship coming towards them over the horizon.  “It usually takes a little more than essentially a tantrum to turn a Jedi.  Les is young and very naïve, my guess is he’s angry I wasn’t there when he’d expected to start training.  Again.” 
    “Happened before?”
    “More to it than just that I think, but I haven’t had a chance to catch up to him.  He was already pretty unstable before all of this happened, left thinking the Vong had killed his sister and then finding out she’s alive and all that brings with it.”
    The Storm’s Revenge turned above the landing pads on the rooftop of the apartment building, landing with the stiff sort of maneuvering to be expected from an flight computer.  Jinx felt the disturbance growing still and suddenly all he could think of was getting onto that ship and off of Coruscant.
    “So where do we go?” Kal’or asked again.  He was starting to feel useless, which frustrated him to no end.
   “We find his family,” Jinx said as they waked to the ramp lowering under the old YT-2400.  “Jan and Mark will calm him down, they’ve always had a close bond.  And then I’ll have to see what I can do.”
    “About him being a Jedi?” Kal asked, pausing at the ramp and turning out of habit to survey the rooftop.  Satisfied his helmet’s sensors picked up nothing he turned and headed up the ramp behind Jinx.  “I don’t think a kid like that having a lightsaber is such a good idea.  Doesn’t seem like he much deserves it, anyway.”
    “No, I’ll need to see if he’s able to be saved.  The Jedi path isn’t an easy one, and if he’s fallen off the path…well, I just don’t know.  Maybe I’ll have to–”
    “Have to what, Master,” came a voice completely foreign and yet all too familiar all at once.  “Kill me?”
    Jinx stopped, shocked and afraid instantly.  Les looked horrible, his skin a few shades lighter and bags under his eyes like he hadn’t slept for days.  There was something off about him, anyone could see that…but to a Jedi, his very presence in the Force was like a blazing inferno that bled freezing temperatures all over instead of heat.  It threatened to suck the air right out of one’s lungs, which it nearly did to Jinx before he managed to focus his thoughts.
    “No, Les…I may have to discontinue your training, is what I was going to say.”
    “Heh, you’d have to be there to train me in the first place,” Les growled.  “Why did you leave me?  Again?”
    “I had something to take care of something here,” Jinx replied with as much patience and soothing manner as he could muster for his voice.  “Something you’re still not ready to know about, Les.”
    Les looked hurt by the statement, eyes darting between Jinx’s wrinkling features and the imposing Mandalorian in full armor.  “But Kal’or here is, right?”
    “That’s right,” Jinx said.  “He is.”
    “He’s not worthy, it should be me by your side Master, not him.”
    “Les, I beg to differ…you standing here before me, like this, is all the proof you need that my judgment is sound.  You’re not ready.”
    “YOU KNIGHTED ME!” Les screamed, his voice booming and felt as much as heard.  “Why would you do that were I not ready?”
    “My path has nothing to do with title nor rank, Les.  What do you hope to accomplish here, coming to me like this?” Jinx asked.  The fear was beginning to creep into his mind again, the fear of losing another apprentice.  He had one once long ago, well before Les was born, and had lost him too.  Jinx had to end that situation then with his blade, and the thought of doing that here nearly crippled him with anxiety.
    “I…I don’t know anymore,” Les said, stammering for a moment.  Les could feel the conflict within him for that split moment, the small voice in the back of his mind warning him this was wrong.  Trust your Master, it pleaded.  You’re better than this, you know you are better than this.  The hardest step is the first one, everything will be fine after that.  Just give in…
    “Give in!?” Les shouted, knowing full well it would make no sense to his opponents and not caring.  The voice didn’t know a damned thing.  I’m the one that sees what is really happening here, not you.  “I see through your lies now, Jinx.  You never wanted me to succeed, admit it.”
    “That’s not true, Les.”
    Jinx was so calm that it just fueled his rage more.  The anger was almost overwhelming, he now found it was nearly impossible to fight the twitching muscles wanting to sneer.  His eyes were burning as though that hadn’t been closed in hours, muscles burning hot and begging him to start moving around more.  His hands began to shake as adrenaline and the Force mixed throughout his body, his hatred for his former Master fueling him.
    “I’m better than you,” Les said through clenched teeth.  “I don’t need you anymore.”
    Jinx opened his arms as if to plead no contest, Kal’or shifting his weight behind him.  “If that’s your wish, I’ll respect that.  You’re free to go your own way, Les.”
    Les stared at Jinx for a long moment, the silence deafening somehow between everyone.  The table was the only thing standing between he and the men, the ramp not far behind them.  “No,” Les said.  “No, you won’t.  You’ll hunt me, just like you hunted Kindarin.”
    Hearing that name brought a heavy weight to Jinx’s heart, knowing that with said knowledge it was unlikely he could ever convince Les he wouldn’t come after him.  Being honest with himself, he wasn’t even sure he wouldn’t.  “This is pointless, Les.  Why don’t we sit down and wait for your mother to get here, I’m sure Jan can offer you better advice than I can right now.”
    “You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
    “Yes, Les, I would.  I think it’s a good idea.”
    “No…you’d like it if she was here.  If you could sit there, looking at my mother.”
    Jinx was taken aback from the comment, lowering his guard.  “I…no, Les, it’s not like that.”
    “Isn’t it?”  Les asked.  The rage was nearly uncontrollable now, he didn’t even know why he was arguing with Jinx anymore.  Was there a point to it?  Was there anything he could possibly accomplish?  “You resented me from the moment you saw me,” he hissed.  There was almost an invisible hand patting his back now, ruffling his hair like his father would and congratulating him on a good job.  Yes, Dad would love this.  He would love to see Jinx out of the picture, wouldn’t he?
    “That’s not true,” Jinx said, this time more defensive than he meant to be.  Was it not true?  Had he never once wished Les had been his child instead of Marks?
    “I can sense your conflict, liar,” Les said.  Jinx’s presence in the Force was clear as day to him now, the emotions he used to bend the Force to his will had made him far more powerful than he had ever been before.  “I’ve become far more powerful that you could have ever made me, Jinx…I can see you were holding me back, teaching me the slow way to do things.  I think you fear this power, just like all the other Jedi.  So full of contradictions, not embracing what it is to be alive in the first place.”
    “Les…I can’t convince you of anything anymore, you’re not even really here with me,” Jinx said.  “I’m going to go to that cockpit now and fly us out of here.”  Jinx started moving to the passageway towards the cockpit on his right.
    “No…” Les warned, sliding his feet and reaching to his waist.  “You’re not going anywhere.”
    Something in Jinx snapped, the hunter in him that had been quietly tapping his shoulder the moment he saw Les.  He glared at the boy, narrowing his eyes and losing any sign of patience or kindness on his face.  He could sense Kal’or shifting to a better posture to fire his rifle behind him.  “You’re treading on real thin ground here, Les.  I’d choose my words more carefully.”
    “Oh, giving up so soon?” Les snapped back.  “You’re not going to that cockpit, I’m not done talking to you.”
    “Oh, you’re done talking,” Jinx ordered.  “You’re power trip is over, now sit the hell down you di’kutla child or this is going to go from getting your ass smacked to a side of me you’ll wish you’d never seen.”  It was over, Jinx knew it.  
    “I think it’s long past due I teach you how to treat me with proper respect,” he hissed.
    Everything seemed to happen all at once, time slowing to a crawl and yet becoming instant at the very same time.  Les’ amber blade snap-hissed to life and no sooner did the blade start moving forward did Kal’or have his rifle tucked into his shoulder and began firing.  Les blocked the first shot, deflecting the second into the ceiling and the third right back into Kal’or and tearing through his left shoulder.  Kal’or’s filtered scream disappeared as Les suddenly felt light on his feet and flew through the air past Jinx.
    Jinx pulled his outstretched hand back, working as quickly as he could before Les realized what was happening and blocked the telekinetic control Jinx had over him.  Jinx slammed him into the bulkhead, into another and then flung him out the ramp’s hatch to the landing pad below.  He unclipped his own lightsaber, pulling himself around the top of the ramp and leaping down it’s length to the tarmac.
    Les was a few meters away, Jedi tunics ripped and tattered on the back and shoulders.  He had a mean gash on his forehead, the blood trickling down along his temple and running along the edge of his jaw.  “Not bad,” Les laughed.  “And now I see the true Jinx Katarn.”
    “It doesn’t haven’t to be like this,” Jinx said.  He was worried about Kal’or inside, hoping the shot had only been a flesh wound at worst.  
    “Yes it does,” Les said, standing.  
    “What would your mother think of this, Les?  You want her to have to deal with what happens here?”
    “It’s your fault, not mine.  I’m just righting all of the wrongs you’ve done to me and my family.”
    “What?” Jinx asked.  It was as if there was just a shell of the boy he once knew before him, even Kindarin hadn’t been so far gone that he hadn’t been able to recognize him.  As Les stretched the shoulder he’d landed on, Jinx realized how different and alien Les’ eyes had become.  They looked like a sunburst was in them, only clouded in a bloody haze.
    Les shot across the distance between them like lightning, his blade slamming into Jinx’s with the same kind of overwhelming force Jinx used in his fights.  They swung and parried quickly, Jinx hopping back several times to regain his balance and technique against the relentless onslaught Les was unleashing on him.
    Jinx jumped up and back to a higher landing pad, reaching out through the Force and grabbing hold of the stack of containers there.  He flung them at the edge of the pad, shocked to see Les cut right through them mid-air and twisting around to bring his blade down upon Jinx’s head.  Jinx held his aqua blade up and pushed back as hard as he could to equalize the impact, then letting Les’ blade follow through as he rolled out of the way and threw both of his hands backwards where Les was just starting to recover.  He willed the Force like a massive wave to flow from his chest along his outstretched arms and slammed it into Les in a focused burst.
    Les flew back, spinning and twisting in the air to land five or six meters away on sliding feet.  He buried his lightsaber into the tarmac and it dragged along with him, coming to a halt with a glowing orange line ripped wide open before him on the deck.  Lunging, Les threw his lightsaber at Jinx with such Force that for a moment he thought he’d never see it again.
    Jinx ducked the blade, the act saving him from it’s deadly arc but setting him up perfectly for Les’ heel to crash down on his jaw.  Jinx tried to roll with the force of the impact, slamming into the side of a support beam instead and reaching out to the Force to pull him back to his feet just in time to see Les catching his blade as it returned to his hand and running to Jinx’s resting place.
    A blaster bolt sizzled through the air, Les whirling around to find the source.  Jinx was getting worn out…already was, really, from earlier and staying on the defensive was going to be the end of him if he didn’t think of something quick.  Les had always been swift during training, and now it almost seemed a blinding speed to handle.
    Kal’or came out from hiding under the ship looking deadlier than Jinx had ever seen him.  He fired several rounds at a blinding rate, alternating their position and intended mark to try and confuse Les.  It seemed to be working, Les was working furiously to block every single one of them while trying to deflect them back at Kal’or.  The distance was long though, a good 50 meters which made it near impossible for Les to match the now strafing Kal’or.
    “Come see what we Mando like to do to Jedi that get outta line, di’kut!” Kal’or teased.  
    Unfortunately for Kal’or, Les took the bait and sprinted after him with his blade twirling.  Kal’or dropped his rifle and pulled his pistol, firing several shots until Les closed in and then flew into the air on his jetpack.  A pair of discs seemed to materialize in Kal’s hands and he flung them to where he had been, the tarmac erupting into flames and black smoke.
    “No!” Jinx shouted, Kal’or turning his head to look to Jinx as he reached the peak of his jet pack assisted leap into the air.  Suddenly an amber blade shot out like a spear from the black smoke, embedding itself through both Kal’or’s chest and the jet pack.  The flames sputtered and died, and the man Jinx had come to know as a father fell to a crushing thud on the ground below.  “Kal!!”
    Jinx lost all sense of world around him for a moment as a new freighter suddenly roared overhead, Jinx just staring staring at Kal’s corpse.  A long moment passes as he stood and started to walk slowly, he could sense Les holding his position and watching Jinx as if to anticipate his move.  Jinx didn’t care if he attacked now, the only thought he had left in him was to get to Kal, to hold Kal.  As he came up to him and fell to his knees, sobbing now, Jinx pulled the helmet off the warrior and started crying harder as he looked at the lifeless face before him.
    The new freighter landed beside the Storm’s Revenge, a figure racing out of it towards the flames under Jinx’s ship and the destruction around it.  Jinx looked up to realize it was Janet.  “No!  Jan, get out of here!” Jinx shouted.
    Janet came to a halt, realizing it was Jinx there with the dead Mandalorian.  Who were they fighting?  Who could have done this.  “Jinx?  What’s wrong?  Where’s Les?”
    As if to answer his mother, Les came walking out from around the flames.  His eyes glowed like red hot coals now, lips curled back and he panted.  His face was not one of hate but torment, so much uncertainty and anger as the conflict played out before him.  “This isn’t your concern, Mom.  Leave now.”
    Janet was shocked…she knew that this was her son, and yet he was so–foreign.  Like a clone or doppelganger, it couldn’t possibly be him.  This couldn’t possibly be what she was seeing, even though it became painfully obvious in a split second what was happening.
    “Get out of here Jan!” Jinx shouted, his voice cracking and squealing a bit as he clung the dead man in his chest tighter.  “He killed Kal, Jan,” he sobbed, “…he killed Kal…by the Force he’s killed him…” 
    “I…I don’t…” Janet muttered, stumbling a few feet forward.  What could she say?  What could she do?  Jinx was in pain, such horrible pain…but it was her son there, her own flesh and blood and no matter how wrong she logically knew it was she had to hope there was some way past this for him.  It could be undone, it couldn’t be permanent.
    “I said go, now,” Les ordered.  He turned to face Jinx, lowering his head to collect his thoughts for the last push of the fight.
    “Les–”
    Les turned violently, shouting for her to leave as he threw a powerful fist of Force energy at her.  It smashed into her like a land speeder, taking the breath from her lungs and tossing her away as if she were a toy.  He twisted back to a screaming Jinx, a look of pure hate coming from him that Les could never have pinned the man capable of.  Jinx came rushing across the distance, Les preparing himself for the blow.  Just like that, they were back at it.
    Slashes, dodges, parries, the game was now obviously life or death.  Les started to feel heat of his hatred being washed away by the icy grip of fear as it consumed him.  This was not the Jinx he knew, not the Jinx he had seen fight…this was what Jinx’s enemies saw before they died.
    Jinx blocked, shoved back, then slammed his fist into Les’ mouth which sent him stammering back a couple of paces and spitting blood.  He continued, kicking Les’ knee with overwhelming force and Les could hear more than feel it snap into pieces…though there was no time to scream as he was suddenly lifted and embedded into a wall a good twenty meters behind Jinx.  He tried to get to this feet quickly, the dark side numbing his pain and lifting him and he twisted about to meet a blade that was clearly meant to sever his head.  Les shoved back.
    Janet looked up at the fight, her pain gone as the torment overwhelmed her watching the scene before her.  The man she once loved was thrown under a light, pulling himself up to his feet and looking like he was possessed by a sense purpose.  The boy she thought she knew, her son…her Les had killed Kal’or, was storming across the tarmac now to do the same to his former Master and friend, too.
    She pulled herself up, calling on her military discipline to ignore the aches and pains and started jogging over to the fight.  There was little she could do, she had no idea what use she would be with just a blaster between two Jedi, but she had to do something.
    Jinx smashed the hilt of his saber into Les’ eye, Les chortling through the blood in his mouth as he lost the momentum of his meant-to-be final blow on Jinx.  Jinx parried the blade to the side as if it were from a child, following through with the momentum of his swing and slashing upwards at Les.  The cut was clean and true, severing Les’ right arm at the shoulder as if it had never been there.  The arm flopped to the ground, twitching and flailing about.
    Les seemed unaffected at first, stabbing out with his right hand and catching the off-guard Jinx–still thinking he was triumphant from the dismemberment–at Jinx’s chest.  Jinx barely had time to deflect the bow from it’s intended target, the blade instead sliding through his torso and out the side.  Les pulled back, twirling his blade as the pain of his arm started setting in on him.  He looked down, almost confused as to why his left arm wasn’t there like it should have been.
    Jinx fell to one knee, gritting teeth as he moved and cauterized flesh tore itself back open to pour out blood.  He yelled in pain, pulling himself back to his feet to face down Les.  It was the finale, this was it…Jinx could sense it, knew that whomever survived this last onslaught would be the victor.  The Force was almost holding him now, assuring him everything would be fine.
    “Stop it!” Janet shouted, coming between them.  She looked at Jinx with two parts worry and one part warning, then looked back to what was left of Les.  “You can stop this.”
    Les took a mental note of how far away she was keeping herself from him though only a pace or two away from Jinx.  “I said to get out of my way,” he grumbled.  Gone was the frightening, powerful monster…replaced was the angst and torment, the conflict on his face.  
    “You know what you’ve done,” she said to him in the tone only a child could know from their mother, staring him into the eyes even as every ounce of her screamed to run away.  “You can stop it, you can stop it now.”
    “Mom, I…I can’t,” he said.  “I WON’T!  He has to die mom, he has to go….he, he…he’s wronged me, so bad Mom…and you, the way he looks at you, he…Dad would want this…I know this is right, it…”  He was shaking now, looking away from her gaze.
    “He’s gone, Janet,” Jinx said, rising behind her.  “He can’t be saved.”
    Janet turned to Jinx and pounded on his chest.  “You don’t get to say that!  That is my son!  I saw what you did to Hammer Jinx, I know what you do…he’s not like them, he’s not.”  She was pleading now, broken and lost.  “He can’t be.”
    Jinx looked down at her with empathy, his skin quivering with shock as his blood loss started making itself known.  “He’ll kill me, and then he’ll kill you.  Even if you get him away from here today he’ll turn again.  Les has tasted the power, he’s let it in Janet…you can’t change that.”
    “I don’t…I don’t need to,” she cried, burying her head in his chest as she had so many years ago.  Jinx looked past her at Les, who was starting to show signs of the pure rage al over him again seeing his mother with him.  
    “I’m sorry, Janet,” he said.  “I didn’t want this, you have to know that,” he said.  
    Les lunged suddenly at them, his blade coming down recklessly close to Janet.  Jinx blocked it with everything he had left in him, Janet turning under him and looking directly into Les’ face.  It wasn’t him, there was no way he was in there right now–it was like a creature under his skin.
    Jinx threw Janet aside, buckling under Les’ weight and falling backwards.  He kicked wildly trying to get a lock on Les’ waist, finding his hips and interlocking his ankles together to twist the pair.  His wound screamed at him to stop, the pain too much to bear and Jinx lost the momentum he had at first.  Les and Jinx turned into a rolling match, punching and hitting each other with their saber hilts as they were too close to get their blades in on each other.
    Les pulled out first, jumping back and running back in at Jinx.  Jinx rolled back, stabbing out and cutting Les’ thigh with a deep gash.  Les fell back, swinging blindly as Jinx saw his chance.  He jumped up, blade in the air and brought it back over his head for a final and powerful slash.
    Jinx felt an extra push on his side…like a hand nudging him forward, and he flew over Les’ shocked face and crumpled to the ground.  It didn’t seemed to quite add up, he couldn’t even recall feeing himself hit the ground just now…what had happened?  He tried to turn and found he couldn’t, and for a moment Jinx panicked and found he couldn’t breath at all.  Short gasps of air came, though it was progressively harder to take them.  Jinx rolled back to see Janet standing where he had pushed her to safety, her pistol’s barrel smoking.
    So, he thought to himself.  This is it…this is how I truly die…not by the hand of my enemy, but by the one I loved.  It was poetic almost, Jinx thought.  Odd as it felt, the only thing he could do as he started coughing up blood was smile.  The shot had rung true, straight through his right armpit and through his chest to come out the other side.  The only way it could have been more fatal were it to the head, though it was fitting he be allowed these final few moments.  He was vaguely aware that she came running to him, though his vision was becoming less and less reliable by the second.
    “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice so gentle and kind that it wrapped him up in it just as it always had.  She fell to her knees slowly, scooping his head up into her lap.  Her brown hair was matted on one side with blood, though not much which gave him some kind of relief all the while thinking it silly he was so clear minded.  “I’m so, so sorry Jinx,” she said, brushing bangs off of his forehead.
    Jinx smiled weakly at her, trying to nod though certain by the lack of feeling that he hadn’t moved his head much if at all.  Instead he pat her hand knowingly.  “I…….understand,” Jinx said as he breathed out.  “I…I understand.”
    The final words of Jinx Katarn.

– Jinx