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He wondered if the Jedi were subsumed in similar fashion. Even in life, did midichlorians behave in a Jedi as they did in a devotee of the dark side Were the organelles invigorated by different impulses, prompted into action by different desires He had encountered many Jedi during his long life, but he had never made an attempt to study one in the same way he appraised Tenebrous now, out of concern for revealing the power of his alliance with the dark side. That, too, might have to change.

Tenebrous died while Plagueis observed. In Banes age a Sith might have had to guard against an attempt at essence transfer by the deceaseda leap into the consciousness of the Sith who survivedbut those times were long past and of no relevance; not since the teachings had been sabotaged, the technique lost. The last Sith possessed of the knowledge had been inexplicably drawn to the light side and killed, taking the secret process with him

2: THE INNER LANDSCAPE Plagueis wasnt certain how long he remained at Tenebrouss side. Long enough, though, that when he rose his legs were quivering and some of the dust from the explosion had settled. Only when he took a few backward steps did he realize that the event had not left him unscathed. At some point, probably when he was focused on murder, a rock or some other projectile had pulped a large area of his lower back, and now the thin tunic he wore beneath the envirosuit was saturated with blood.

Despite the swirling dust, he inhaled deeply, eliciting a stab of pain from his rib cage and a cough that spewed blood into the hot air. Drawing on the Force, he numbed himself to the pain and tasked his body to limit the damage as best it could. When the injury ceased to preoccupy him, he surveyed the grotto, remaining anchored in place but turning a full circle. Littering the hard ground, injured hawkbats were chirping in distress and clawing through circles of their own. Far above him, a beam of oblique and dustmoted daylight streamed through the domes large oculusitself the result of an earlier collapse. Close to the jumble of stones the collapse had piled on the grotto floor sat Tenebrouss small but priceless starshipa Rugess Nome designalloy wings and snubbed nose poking from the artless mausoleum the explosion had fashioned. And finally, not meters away, lay Tenebrous, similarly interred.

Approaching the ship, Plagueis scanned the damage that had been inflicted on the deflector shield and navigation arrays, coolant ducts, sensors, and antennas. Tenebrous would surely have been able to effect repairs to some of the components, but Plagueis was out of his depth, lacking not only the Biths fine motor skills but his knowledge of the ships systems. Though unique, a marvel of engineering, the ship couldnt be traced to Tenebrous, since both the registry and title were counterfeit. It was possible that the rescue beacon was still functional, but Plagueis was reluctant to activate it. They had arrived on Baldemnic in stealth, and he intended to depart in like manner.