equipment inside.
He found Bane there waiting for him, standing still as stone.
'Back so soon, Kaan?' he asked. 'What happened to your glorious battle?'
'Reinforcements,' Kaan snarled. 'Somehow Farfalla found a way to break through our blockade.'
'I told your fleet to engage the Jedi,' Bane said, his words as casual as if he had been discussing the weather.
Kaan's jaw dropped. He had suspected treachery, but he wasn't prepared for the traitor to openly admit it! 'But… why?'
'I wanted all the Jedi here on Ruusan at the same time,' Bane replied.
'You blasted fool!' Kaan shouted, waving his arms madly as if they were gripped by uncontrollable spasms. 'Victory was ours! We had Hoth beaten!'
'That is your goal, not mine. I'm after a prize far greater than the death of General Hoth. He is but one man.'
Kaan barked out a harsh laugh. 'We all know what prize you seek, Darth Bane. You're here to take over the Brotherhood.'
Bane shrugged indifferently, as if it didn't matter one way or the other to him.
He seemed so calm, so certain of what he was doing. It was all Kaan could do to keep himself from leaping at the larger man's throat. Didn't he understand what he had done? Couldn't he see that he had doomed them all?
Kaan slumped wearily into a chair. 'If you lead them against the Jedi, you lead them to their slaughter.'
Now it was Bane who laughed, a low, sinister chuckle. 'How quickly you've fallen into despair, Kaan. It seemed only hours ago you were certain of victory!'
'That was before Farfalla and his reinforcements arrived,' Kaan shot back. 'Back when we had the advantages of numbers and air superiority. All that is gone, thanks to you. We can't possibly defeat them now.'
'I can,' Bane vowed.
Kaan sat up straighter in his chair. Again, there was that unwavering confidence. Bane knew something he didn't. Some trick. 'Another ritual like the last one?' he guessed.
'I know many rituals. Many secrets. And I have the strength to use them.'
Dread gripped Kaan. 'The thought bomb,' he breathed.
'Your leadership has failed!' Bane declared. 'Now I will take the Brotherhood down the path to victory.'
'And what of me?' Kaan asked, already knowing the answer.
'You can swear your loyalty to me with all the others,' Bane told him, 'or you can die here in this tent.'
Lord Kaan knew he was no match for Bane, either physically or through the power of the Force. Yet he wasn't about to surrender so easily. Not while he still had cunning, guile, and his unique talents of persuasion on his side.
'Do you really believe the others will follow you?' he asked, pushing out with the Force to plant the first seeds of doubt in his rival's mind. 'They are still wary of you after your last ritual.'
A flicker of uncertainty passed across Bane's hard features. Kaan increased the pressure of his invisible compulsions and continued to speak. 'The Brotherhood is about equality, not servitude. Asking the others to bow down before you will only drive them away, or turn them against you.'
He rose from his chair as Bane nervously stroked his chin, weighing the arguments. 'How do you think the others will react when I tell them how you orchestrated the arrival of the Jedi reinforcements?'
Bane's dark eyes flashed angrily, and his hand dropped to the hilt of his lightsaber.
'Killing me won't keep your secret,' Kaan warned him. 'The others know you weren't at the battle when Farfalla's ships arrived. More than a few of them probably already suspect you of betraying them.'
Kaan pushed even harder with the Force, trying to twist and warp Bane's very thoughts. 'You may be the strongest among us, but you can't defeat us all. Not by yourself, Bane.'
The big man staggered and clutched at his head. He stumbled over to the chair and collapsed in it, the wood groaning under his massive frame. He hunched forward, hands pressing hard on his temples.
'You're right,' he said through tightly clenched teeth. 'You're right.'
'There's still hope, though,' Kaan said, stepping over and placing a reassuring hand on Bane's broad shoulder. 'Follow me and I will keep the others from turning against you. Join us in the Brotherhood!'
Bane nodded slowly, then turned his head to stare up at Kaan with a desperate, hopeless expression in his eyes. 'What about the Jedi? What about their gunships?'
Kaan stood, slowly releasing his mental hold over the other man. 'We can nullify their air superiority by retreating into the caves,' he said. 'I know General Hoth; he will follow us. And there we will unleash the thought bomb against them.'
Bane leapt to his feet eagerly. Kaan was pleased to see that his powers of Force persuasion were as strong as ever. Even Bane was not immune to his manipulations. 'I will do as you say, Lord Kaan!' he exclaimed. 'Together we will destroy the Jedi!'
'Peace, Bane,' Kaan urged, extending tendrils of soothing calm. He had nullified the threat to his position that Bane represented, but he knew the effect was only temporary. In time Bane's hostility would return, as would
