Cover Artist: John Van Fleet

Darth Bane and Zannah make their way to the abandoned Sith camp on Ruusan where they find looters going through the tents. After killing most of them and letting the last two escape, Bane explains that rumors of the last two Sith are bound to get out, but if rumors are associated with scum like the looters, most people won't put much stock in them. He goes through the artifacts and finds a document that was collected by Lord Qordis, revealing the location of Freedon Nadd's tomb. He takes Zannah to the location of the thought bomb to show her what he did to the other Sith. While there, they encounter Zannah's cousin Darovit who attempts to attack Bane. Before Bane can kill him though, Zannah obliterates Darovit's hand, explain that there would be no purpose in his death. Bane sees through her attempt to save Darovit's life, but lets it go so that she can gain confidence with the Dark Side. Bane then takes her to his ship and tells her that she must find her own way to Onderon and leaves her on Ruusan. As he travels, he keeps having hallucinations of Lord Kaan and Lord Qordis, which causes him to crash on the moon of Dxun, barely surviving. He makes his way to the tomb, which he finds looted until he comes across a hidden chamber. Opening it, he finds a holocron, and carefully makes his way to it. Before he can retrieve the holocron, he is attacked by a nest of parasitic creatures and fends off all but two before he grabs the holocron and escapes. Researching in the holocron, he realizes the truth of what he has already begun to feel, that these parasites, known as orbalisks, feed on him but amplify his connection to the dark side of the Force. On Ruusan, Jedi Padawan Johun Othone finds the looters and sends his team to help elsewhere while he takes his prisoners to Lord Valenthyne Farfalla so they can tell him about the Sith they encountered. Farfalla doesn't believe them and convinces Johun that they must be lying, and they leave to Coruscant to meet with the Supreme Chancellor. The Chancellor believes that with the threat of the Sith eliminated, it is time for the Jedi to help the Republic transition into peace, with the Jedi as guardians, not warriors in the Army of Light and Farfalla agrees to help with the process. On Ruusan, Zannah finds the team that Johun left behind and they pick her up, thinking her a refugee. When they refuse to take her to Onderon, and instead want to take her to the Jedi fleet, Zannah forces the pilot at blaster-point to change the ships destination to Onderon, and then kills everyone on the ship. When she arrives at Onderon, she crashes into the forest in the territory of one of the beast-rider tribes. As they move to take her, they are attacked by Bane, who arrived just in time. He manages to kill all of Zannah's assailants and the two take the ship she brought to Onderon, abandoning it in the Japrael sector. Back on Ruusan, Darovit is nursed back to health by a Bouncer, and when he muses on what is left for him, the Bouncer suggests that he simply learn to be an ordinary man.