Jedi Cool

chapter 10:
 
None of this makes Luke happy.  Vestara is dangerous.  There’s a chance she can be won over, but the odds are stacked against it.  Years ago, he’d banned all navigational data about Korriban from Jedi computers and asked the GA to do the same.  That’s making their task hard now.  He almost hoped Natua Wan would fail to find anything in the old records, but she did.
 
They are on their way now.  Luke had asked Vestara what she knew about the place.  Ves explains that the Sith were red-skinned beings who were native to Korriban.  The current Sith are descendants of Jedi who followed the Dark Side of the Force.  When the Dark Jedi were exiled, they arrived on Korriban and were treated like gods by the natives.  The Lord of the Sith title refers to those humans who became the masters of the native Sith.
 
Over time, the Sith species itself became extinct.  There was a strict caste system among those who now called themselves Sith.  There was no transitioning between them which Vestara thinks is an inferior life to what the Lost Tribe developed.  Anyone on her world can rise according to their ability in the Force.
 
The Sith Empire thrived until it was discovered by Gav and Jori Daragon which led to the Great Hyperspace War which the Sith lost.  The Omen crashed during that time and she knows nothing else.
 
Ship told them some things but only what it thought was important.  He wanted them to live in the present, not the past. 
 
Luke tells her that the Sith on Korriban haven’t existed for a long time.  They are headed to their burial grounds which are likely to be dangerous anyway.  There are what can only be described as demons there.  There are also creatures known as terentatek that look like rancors twisted with Dark-Side energy.  There are also tuk’ata that guard the tombs. 
 
Jaina remembers encountering one on Yavin IV that understood the Sith language.  But it left them alone after Jacen healed it.  There are other things there too, most of them unpleasant. 
 
When they arrive at Korriban, they head right to the Valley of the Dark Lords.  Luke warns them not to split up or wander off.  They are to report anything they sense in the Force immediately.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     •    We last visited Korriban in Riptide, but it’s appeared many times, including in the LoTF series, the Jedi Quest series, the Darth Bane books.
 
 

chapter 9:
 
The list just gets worse:  Dromand Kaas, Ziost, Krayiss II, Khar Delba, Korriban and on.  Ben is uncomfortable watching Vestara learn more about these places.  He would have thought she already knew about most of them.
 
She tells him that the Omen’s data bank suffered some damage and information was lost.  They didn’t have the technology to recover lost data until recently.  Ship prioritized bringing them up to speed on what is happening now rather than what has happened in the past.
 
She still has information on Sith worlds not listed here, but what she told his father still stands.  She does not want every Jedi converging on Kesh and destroying her friends and family.
 
Ben reminds her she is putting all of them at risk, especially if the strike team and Abeloth have returned to Kesh.  Vestara asks if he would be willing to guarantee that those who have not coorperated with Abeloth would be safe.
 
Ben really can’t do that and Vestara knows it. On the other hand, if they each had something on the other, it might work.  Ben could tell her who he thinks the Jedi queen is.  Ben tells her that the difference there is that Kesh is real and the Jedi queen is a figment of Taalon’s imagination.
 
Vestara isn’t so sure.  She knows that he and his father were uncomfortable when the subject was brought up.  Ben considers this and determines what the best outcome for each scenario is.  Finding Abeloth and the Sith fleet would benefit the Jedi, but Vestara could arrange the murder of someone who might be important to the whole galaxy. That’s not a good trade.
 
He asks where she thinks Ship might go.  He doubts there’s anything on Ziost as whatever is there would have freed Ship long ago.  Jaina interjects that Korriban is their best bet.  It’s the homeworld, after all.  Ben can sense Vestara’s heart light up at this news, but he doesn’t know if Jaina can.
 
When Ves admits she’d like to go with Jaina when she does explore, Ben is shocked when his cousin agrees.
 
Luke isn’t happy with this.  Jaina reminds him that Vestara probably knows more about the ancient Sith than they do. She can be trusted to protect her own interests.  If they come across something dangerous, she’s likely to reveal what she knows.
 
Besides, Ship has a bond with her.  If they get near him, he will find her.  Luke knows all this is true, but he’s still wary. Vestara is still a Sith, no matter what she may tell them right now.  He doubts she will throw her entire life aside so easily. 
 
Jaina doesn’t think Vestara is any different from Mara, Kyp Durron or Anakin Skywalker.  If Luke thinks they are, it could be because he’s worried about his son getting hurt.
 
Luke doesn’t deny he’s worried about Ben.  It’s not that he thinks his son will fall to the Dark Side, but because he wants Vestara to join the Light so badly that he could be hurt, both physically and emotionally.
 
Jaina reminds him that the power of love pulled two Skywalkers back from the Dark Side.  It shouldn’t be underestimated and neither should Ben.  If he believes Vestara can be redeemed, it could be because she can be.
 
Luke gives in.  Vestara can come with them, but he’s watching her every minute.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 
     •    I have to agree with Luke that there is a difference here.  He points to Vestara being raised a Sith.  We’ve been over the theory that Mara never was a Sith.  Kyp Durron and Anakin Skywalker were not raised Sith (Kyp never was a Sith) and had been good people before then.  They were brought back to the Light by appealing to the person they once were.  Vestara has never been anything but a Sith.  I’m not saying she can’t change sides, merely that Luke’s concern isn’t so easily dismissed, in my opinion.
 
 

chapter 8:
 
Jaina is certain the Sith ships have to be somewhere.  Ben and Vestara are playing dejarik and Luke doesn’t like it.  He tells her she could be doing some good by telling them where her homeworld is. She reminds him that, according to him, she is Sith and Sith don’t do good.
 
Luke thinks that, if she really wants him to believe that she has rejected that life, she will want to help them.  Vestara explains that she has done everything she can do to the point where she does not allow her people to fall into danger of being wiped out by the Jedi. 
 
Luke reminds her that the Jedi do not condone genocide, as they’ve been the victims of it more than once.  Vestara knows that Ship told her that the Order 66 which wiped out the Jedi the last time was issued by a Sith and carried out by a Sith who was Skywalker’s father.  For that reason, he would certainly be motivated to want to kill everyone on her world.
 
Luke thinks that Vestara still thinks of them as her people and it will be a long time before she doesn’t think of them that way.
 
Ben argues that they all want to find the strike team and Abeloth, so they should concentrate there.  Vestara agrees but points out she’s shared everything she knows there.  The Sith haven’t trusted her with the details of their grander plans.
 
Luke asks her what she thinks based on her knowledge of her people.  Vestara knows that history is important to the Tribe so they may go where they can learn more about other Sith.  The original plan was to capture and enslave Abeloth, but, if they felt it was to their benefit, they could work with her.
 
That would put Abeloth in charge of where they go, though.
 
Jaina asks about Ship.  It’s what Abeloth and the Sith have in common.  She may control it, but Ship doesn’t seem to care for her.  Abeloth doesn’t fit within his parameters of finding Sith and training their younglings. 
 
Vestara agrees that Ship was designed to serve the Sith.  Abeloth’s will is too powerful for him to break, but he would come to Vestara if he could.  Ben had once bonded with Ship the way Vestara had, when he found him on Ziost.
 
Ben’s will had been enough to resist the urgings of the dark side.  He’d given Ship to Jacen when he returned, but Ship hadn’t seemed to like Jacen.  Jaina believes that finding Ship will lead them to Abeloth. 
 
She would like to work with Natua Wan to do some research.  It’s important that those integrated back into the Jedi Order after being influenced by Abeloth feel that they are important.
 
At the Temple, Natua understands the worry that she sees in the eyes of others when they look at her.  She knows she endangered lives when she believed that the people she knew were imposters.  The librarian, Markre Medjev, has reminded her that the Jedi will eventually come to believe in their hearts that the afflicted Jedi are cured.
 
It is Medjev who pulls her aside with news of a request for Natua’s specific services.  Jaina Solo needs help researching the Sith and Ship.  Glad to know she is playing a part to destroy the being who violated her mind, Natua accepts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 7:
 
Moff Lecersen meets with his guests on his estate.  Senator Treen, General Jaxton, General Thaal, Senator Bramsin and Admiral Parova are gathered here.  Jaxton assures them all that Dorvan doesn’t know anything about this. His position is delicate anyway.
 
Those present at the earlier meeting can report on all the issues discussed, but it’s better to see if any situation can be turned to their advantage.  There’s nothing really to exploit on B’nish, whom none of them have heard of, but there is something about the would-be Senator Kameron Suldar that makes them think he belongs among them.
 
None of them want anything to do with the Klatooinian Ovin.  Thaal thinks that he could do them a favor, though, without realizing it.  The newsvids will keep their eye on him.   He’s going to bungle a few things, especially if he has help.
 
These liberated worlds throwing their orderly planets into chaos reminds them too much of the fall of the Empire.  Jaxton wants to throttle whoever founded Freedom Flight.  Lecersen actually admits that he founded it himself.
 
He tries to keep tabs on all places and he learned that there were isolated slave issues on small, distant worlds.  He realized he could turn this to his advantage.  These revolts became a big problem for Chief Daala.
 
He and Senator Treen had kept a few brewing crises in store to hit Daala with when they needed to.  All Lecersen did was organize a few things at the beginning and let it take a life of its own.  The chain of command had only a few clear links.
 
The assassination attempt on Bwua’tu, when he wouldn’t cooperate, distracted Daala who reacted by making bad choices that turned the public against her.  But Freedom Flight has a life of its own now.  Lecersen really can’t direct it at this point, much as he’d like to.
 
Treen still thinks there might be a way to exploit this.  There are corruptible being on every world.
 
When his guests leave, including the sleeping Senator Bramsin who had insisted he was resting his eyes, Lecersen finds that someone left him a note in a flowerpot.  It tells him that his unknown writer believes there is something to discuss to their benefit and asks to meet with him.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 6:
 
As Acting Chief of State, Wynn Dorvan promises his meetings will be productive.  He is replacing General Jaxton at Saba’s request, to the relief of the general himself. 
 
The transition of power at Coruscant is pleasant enough compared to those happening on other worlds where the replacement government sometimes is worse than the previous one. 
 
Now, Leia Organa Solo is here, substituting for Saba, Senator Treen, Gavin Darklighter, General Jaxton, Admiral Parova and Admiral Bwua’tu’s aide, Rynog Asokaji. General Thaal, Chief of Staff of the Army, is here for the first time.  His droid voice, replacing the lost voicebox due to an assassins’s blade, seems cold and intimidating.
 
Tycho Celchu and Carlist Rieekan are in attendance, as well.
 
Dorvan first would like them to focus and start prioritizing issues so that emergency meetings don’t become so commonplace that they overlook something really important. 

They have 14 worlds applying for membership to the GA.  B’nish is one, having been a slave world of little note.  Its representative is a pleasant man named Kameron Suldar.
 
They go through the list as quickly as possible until they reach Klatooine.  He asks Leia about her insights.  She gives a brief summary of the 25,000- year old Treaty of Vontor that was broken in the eyes of the Klatooinians when the Sith violated the Fountain of Hutt Ancients.  Despite a ruling that the Hutts weren’t at fault, the emotional Klatooinians revolted. 
 
They are not used to running an organized government, but she has hopes for them.  The Klatooinian elders are respected, but they are seen as being out of touch by the more passionate members of their species.  The assembled are unhappy, though, to see that Padnel Ovin is being put forward as a candidate.
 
Leia assures Dorvan that she got to know Ovin well during her time there.  She also points out that Ovin’s Sapience Defense Front isn’t so much different from the Rebel Alliance.  Whether they are a terrorist group or a freedom movement depends on how one looks at it.
 
She believes Padnel’s heart is in the right place.  Rieekan isn’t sure this process should be rushed, though.  It will be harder to remove Klatooine from membership if it doesn’t work out.  They should be able to wait a little longer to make sure they are ready.
 
Leia thinks they have a right to come to the table as equals after so long the slaves of the Hutts.  Going on Leia’s experience and instincts, Dorvan allows for Klatooine’s membership so long as it obeys GA law.
 
The planet Qaras is next.  They all know that Rokara Kem is submitted for a Senator position.  It is a divided world, though.  The Minyavish weren’t violent toward their slaves but are now being forced off the planet.  The assembled representatives don’t have much trouble approving Qaras’s admission, though.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

• Riekkan is still alive, then?  Yikes.
• I would also like to point out that General Jaxton’s relief at not being part of the triumvirate doesn’t seem to bode well for his part in the Lecersen Conspiracy.  With him and Parova both being conspirators, they were in a position to stymie Saba.  Do the conspirators think they can count on Dorvan, loyal to Daala, to support their position?

chapter 5:
 
Having severed ties with everything and everyone he’d ever known, Gavar Khai is understandably sober.  Tola Annax confirms they won’t be able to go back.  He knows that Abeloth probably attacked Vol, but, for now, Vol will have to made out as the aggressor.
 
He asks that they hail Ship.  He goes to his quarters to speak with Abeloth.  She assures him that he will be something greater than a Lord of the Lost Tribe.  She orders him to lead their enemies on a chase while she recovers.  The Lost Tribe may ally itself with the Jedi again.
 
He does wonder what she plans to do with the Jedi Queen.  She reminds him that all that is in the past.  That pursuit was Taalon’s obsession, not theirs.  Any queen that emerges from the Jedi will be a fly buzzing around Abeloth’s greatness.
 
What Abeloth is not telling him is how badly wounded she was after the attack by Vol.  She will recover, but it will take time.  To pass time, she has Ship gives her newsfeeds from all over the galaxy.  She learns.
 
On one station, she finds an interview with a female of the Jessar species who planet of Qaras had recently gone through a revolution.  The Jessar had overthrown their slaver masters the Minyavish.  It had been a relatively civilized coup and this female was in the center of it.  Her name is Rokari Kem, a lovely-looking creature, who tells Perre Needomo that words are important.  Her people never speak anything that is untrue.
 
They do not even have a word for deception in their language.  As a result, many slaves remained silent when asked questions that would require them to lie.  This often resulted in their deaths.  The Minyavish understood this practice and exploited it.  This is why they must leave the planet.  There is too much of a history of hate between the two peoples.
 
The Jessar do not know how to interact with the Minyavish as anything other than slaves.  They have to learn who they are, separate from their former masters.  It is the best thing for them both. 
 
She is thoughtful, sweet and peaceful.  She is going to Coruscant to take a position as a Senator.  Perre Needmo closes with a snippet of the celebrations on Qaras.  The Jessaran song celebrates Roki Kem as their mother and urges the children to come home.
 
Abeloth sees how much Roki Kem is loved and adored.  She is her people’s mother.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

chapter 4:
 
The Sith gather in front of the stage which features a small replica of the Omen which crashes on the world of Kesh.  Lord Vol doesn’t pay attention to it but watches Abeloth’s reaction.
 
He is surprised that Gavar Khai hasn’t told her about their history.  He explains to her that the Sith landed her millennia ago to be greeted by the ancient Keshiri as Protectors.  Their mythology holds that the Protectors would defend them when the Destructors came back.  These Destructors appears every so often to wipe out civilizations on inhabited worlds and return them to their natural primitive states.
 
It may or may not be a legend, but their research on this world shows that it has endured at least one planetwide catastrophe in its history.  The Sith, nevertheless, embraced the myth as it gave them influence over the Keshiri.
 
Abeloth turns to Lady Sashal, a Keshiri Sith, to see how she feels about her ancestors being exploited.  Sashal explains that the Sith allow opportunities for those with merit.  This allows the humans and Keshiri to stand together as Sith.  Genetics need not hold one back.  The Sith also brought technology, art and civilization to Kesh.  Her people are the better for it.  The Sith are destined to conquer this galaxy and Abeloth can be part of that.
 
Vol can’t help but note Abeloth’s amusement.  Though one of her strongest advocates, Lady Sashal hasn’t noticed she just treated Abeloth with a certain condescension.  This allows Vol to watch his enemy more easily. 
 
In his private quarters later on, Vol communicates via hologram with the five beings he trusts the most to get their thoughts.  Workan doesn’t trust Gavar Khai.  Some of his comrades have questioned Vestara’s true loyalties.  He may be having trouble detaching himself from the daughter over which he doted. 
 
Vol arranges to have a couple of Tribe members keep an eye on him.  After a few more discussions, Vol retires to meditate.  He thinks about the last few days, learning about Abeloth.  When he sleeps, he finds himself on the shore of the ocean with his lightsaber in his hand. 
 
Abeloth is there, appearing as a Keshiri, but he knows it’s a mask.  He sees her as the nightmare she is.  She tells him that he is silly to think that anyone could conceive of her vastness.  She will be the Protector and Destructor of Kesh.
 
She means to destroy him, but he dives into her mind after wrapping himself in the Force.  She surges forward and he feels the anguish that tears at her heart.  She has a great need for love and companionship, for anyone or thing to adore her and never leave.
 
Something that had been a part of her was gone forever.  He attacks her mentally, telling her that no one loves her.  Anyone who claimed they did lied to her.  Luke Skywalker saw her as she really was and hunts her in order to rid the galaxy of her.
 
She convulses, stopping her attack to try to escape.  Vol throws himself into the attack to try to kill her.  She pushes him back with her pain.  He surges out of the dream and finds himself on the floor next to his bed.  He sits up and summons a servant, telling him that Abeloth appeared in his dream.  He wants to be taken to his ship and the Lord to be awakened.  She is threatening the city.
 
The servant carries the weakened Grand Lord to his ship as quickly as he can.  Vol weeps, wondering why he thought he could use her. 
 
Abeloth had been wandering the city when she attacked Lord Vol.  She hadn’t been prepared for him to use the same technique Skywalker had, but with less care. The results send her thrashing about, unable to hold her form, releasing energy upon the city.
 
The Force energy sweeps through the City of Glass, making the Sith suffer as she had suffered. 
 
Gavar Khai is aboard his ship, asleep, when Abeloth’s agony wakes him up.  His crew can feel it, too.  They can see the city melting.  The ships at the landing area are taking off.  Ship tells him through the Force that they must leave now.
 
Khai knows he could stand with Lord Vol and defend his people.  Or he can side with Abeloth.  He finally decides they will leave.  Ship sends coordinates.  Those ships not leaving with the frigates fire on Khai’s followers. 
 
He orders them to fire on any ship that does not follow them.  Then they escape into hyperspace.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

chapter 3:
 
The City of Glass on the world of Kesh has come alive with the celebration.  In typical Sith fashion, much of this was accomplished with the ruthless disregard for life.  The crowds gather to see the arrival of Abeloth.
 
She floats out in her golden-haired form, greeted by Lord Vol.  Delicate Sith Victory flowers are tossed.  Gavar Khai’s wife grabs three, crushes them to get their sweet scent.  Abeloth is puzzled by this until Lord Vol shows her.  She pinches a flower herself.  Gavar Khai cannot help but shiver.
 
The parade is spectacular, with Abeloth taking several forms to please her audience.  Lord Vol invites her to their masquerade.  She floats up to him, looking over the city, watching fireworks.
 
The masquerade is the final event of the day.  The next day would be getting down to the business of negotiating this agreement between them.  For now, though, the Sith Temple is filled with revelry.  Gavar Khai arrives alone wearing the costume of the Dark Tuash of Alanciar.
 
In Keshiri folklore, there is a Bright Tuash and a Dark one.  They are giant birds that bring messages about the coming of the Destructors.  The Bright One brings news of their defeat.  The Dark One does not.
 
Abeloth makes the perfect entrance behind him.  Taking the form of a colorful wind.  It’s a Fallanassi illusion.  Lord Vol approaches her in plain brown and tan robes.  Abeloth tells him he would never be mistaken for a Jedi.  He can’t help but think that no one would mistake her for an ally either.
 
Vol compliments Gavar Khai on his costume whom the latter admits was his daughter’s favorite story.  Vol gathers it means she’s doing well.  Khai truthfully admits there have been times when he found it hard to know which side she was on, but his family have always been adept at hiding their feelings.  Her killing of Lord Taalon was necessary as he was becoming useless very quickly.  With the alliance with the Jedi over, she will bring the Skywalkers here.
 
Vol introduces Abeloth to Master Yur who runs the Temple.  She expects he’s proud of the younglings he’s trained, such as Vestara.  Such a teacher could die happy knowing his students excel.  Vol can see that Yur now realizes what he has already.
 
He changes the subject to the Masque.  A play is about to begin.  After all, theatre is all about pretending to be something one isn’t.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 2:
 
Gavar Khai takes the time to visit his estate. His cybernetic arm is doing very well and he may become even stronger with it.  If that happens, the taboo regarding disfigurement may not affect him so much.
 
The nearby fountain can only remind him of the one on Klatooine that Lord Taalon had foolishly tried to harvest.  It had cost them a full ship full of Sith that might have been the deciding factor in battling Abeloth. 
 
His wife, Lahka, comes to him, asking if he’s worried.  He admits he is.  Holding her, he tells her about his concerns for Vestara.  Lahka believes it’s possible that the Jedi boy will be swayed to their side.   Her husband fears he may sway their daughter instead.  There are times he knows she is their daughter and times he thinks she will betray them all. 
 
She assures him that their child may falter, but she will always find her way back to the right path.
 
After his wife returns to sleep, he goes to Vestara’s room, remembering the day he’d come here to tell Vestara she’d been accepted for training.  The servant girl, Muura, had been dismissed without a recommendation. But she’d been sent with clothing and food for several days and a couple of his friends with daughters had been told about her availability.
 
She had had such promise then.  She would have inherited everything and become a powerful woman.  He doesn’t know if she still could.  She is clever enough to continue to dupe Master Skywalker into letting her stay with them.  She could bring his son to the side of the Sith.  Is she playing the game they arranged or is her father the one being manipulated?
 
If she failed in her assignment, he is the one who will pay. 
 
He walks out into the night, into the uvak corral.  There are two, one is his, the other is Tikk, the hatchling that had bounded with Vestara when she was younger.  She had loved the creature, using it to take her to the Temple to begin her training.  Khai had known she would go through a type of hazing where the beast would be threatened.  When he was told to come pick up the creature, he was proud to know his daughter had successfully passed the test.
 
He lulls the uvak to sleep, then cuts off its head with his lightsaber.  It dies painlessly as it had done nothing deserving suffering.  Now, Gavar Khai can sleep.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 1:
 
At the Circle Chambers in the capital city of Kesh, the Lords meet.  Grand Lord Darish Vol meets with the remaining High Lords and Sabers.  Some believe that Abeloth is a savior.  Even Ship obeys her and it is the Ship of destiny.  Others insist that it is their destiny to rule the galaxy, not Abeloth’s.
 
Vol thinks it would be foolish not to learn as much as they can from this ancient being.  The most recent High Lord, Ivaar Workan, points out that she is not Sith.  At least, not in the same way, they are.  They cannot allow themselves to become dependent on her.
 
It is largely believed they should use her and get rid of her when she cannot teach them anything else.  Lord Yur suggests they string her along and unlock her secrets.  Workan reminds them that they have lost many Sith who have interacted with her.  If that keeps up, they won’t learn much.
 
Vol learns that Ship has made contact.  Abeloth and her escorts will be arriving soon.  He has decided that they will invite Abeloth her and give her a grand welcome.  That will give them time to learn more.  When they do, they’ll decide what’s best for the Lost Tribe.
 
Gavar Khai is glad to be home.  He’s spent his whole life here until two years ago, but he’s still drawn to his homeworld with its beautiful glass sculptures, purple sands, music, culture and orderliness.  The Tribe has lived here for 5000 years, with little choice in the matter, and made the best of it.  They dominated this world, embracing and subjugating the native Keshiri.
 
Those who are Force users can find a place in this society.  Those who are not are at the mercy of those who rule.  But sometimes there is love, along with mercy, as is the case between Khai and his wife.  She had supported him unwaveringly and had raised their daughter, Vestara, well.  Vestara had been the most precious possession of Gavar Khai.
 
He had never had to lay a hand on his daughter who had excelled so well in everything.  He’d once had great plans for her. 
 
Grand Lord Vol contacts him, with news of the parade and masquerade they will be holding in Abeloth’s honor.  Khai knows this is a trap to test his loyalties.  To force Abeloth to wait that long would be to put her in her place.  He explains that Abeloth might be insulted to have to wait three days.  Vol reminds him that he should do his best as a Sith Saber to assure her that this is necessary to show her the respect due her.
 
Abeloth already knows about this conversation when she meets with Khai.  He tells her that they are hoping she grants them three days to prepare to meet her in the manner in which she should be welcomed to Kesh. 
 
She is intrigued by the idea of a masquerade.  It’s very fitting.  She does encourage him and any others aboard to take the time to visit anyone on the planet they would like to see.  She doesn’t think will be tarrying too long.
 
He often wonders what she means when she says things like this.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

Epilogue:
 
The Sith flotilla forms up in a far-off sector.  Gavar Khai wonders what his failure will cost him.  He’s told that Ship is hailing them.  Abeloth invites him to discuss their mutual enemy.
 
On Coruscant, Tahiri finds a small forgotten room between two turbolift shafts.  She’s got nothing, reduced to scavenging and stealing to live.  The HoloNet reports that her only remaining family is returning to Coruscant.  She’ll have to creep through the shadows to ask them for help.
 
For now, at least she’s barefoot again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 End of Book 7
 
 

chapter 45:
 
Taryn Zel lands and helps Ben carry Valin up into the shuttle.  Jaina is with Zekk and Tyria Tainer.  Luke has Tyria come down so he can take her starfighter. Ben worries that his father hasn’t really recovered from his injuries fighting Abeloth the first time.  He shouldn’t be flying. 
 
Luke gets in the air anyway and spots Ship rising into the dark sky.  Abeloth is aboard, suffering with the loss of Callista, Nenn and the tsil.
 
Gavar Khai is told that two frigates have been destroyed, two crippled, but there is communication from Tola Annax.  He orders all withdrawal of forces from Nam Chorios.  He knows he was mistaken to rely on the Jedi being too distracted by the problems on Coruscant.  He won’t underestimate them again.
 
One of the Golans, Herkan Base, is firing, probably automatically.  Kyle Katarn, Raynar Thul and others are up in StealthXs, while Taryn is told to keep the shuttle away. While Raynar fires a shadow bomb, Luke takes a shot while Abeloth is distracted, but his ship spins.  His S-foils are knocked off by the explosion and he passes out.
 
When he wakes up, he finds himself on the supply ship, Verity.  Jaina tells him that Abeloth  got away while she and Zekk were working on saving him.  Some of the Sith frigates got away but they damaged several before that happened.  Luke has been dunked in bacta and had a lot of sleep.
 
Valin and Jysella are back to normal, along with the Theran Listerners.  They lost no StealthX pilots during the engagement. 
 
He wishes Abeloth had finally been destroyed, but Ship could’ve been damaged by the combined forces of the shadow bomb and Luke’s lasers.  At least, with the loss of Callista, Abeloth is not only damaged, but Luke’s old love is free to be one with the Force.
 
As the Millennium Falcon leaves Nam Chorios, R2 keeps making jokes at Threepio’s expense.  Threepio says the droid told him he had an explosive temper.  Artoo keeps it up, leaving Threepio to protest that he does not blow up at the slightest provocation and he is not going to pieces over it. 
 
Having enough, Threepio thinks the Manumission Militia may be correct and he’s going to have to assert himself.  He tells everyone he’s going to plan Allana’s next lesson himself and cuts off Han to say he will do it despite the recommendations of the GA Department of Education. 
 
Han points out that the droid interrupted him.  Threepio curtly says he’s so very sorry and walks off.  Artoo follows him, calling him a ball of fire.
 
Allana wishes they hadn’t come here.  Leia tells her that, if they hadn’t, the Klatooinians might have remained slaves.  Allana knows the concept of duty very well, but she prefers flying around on the Falcon.  Han tells her that, when he’s too old, he’ll give her the ship and she can fly it around, avoiding duty.
 
She asks if she has to take Threepio.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

chapter 44:
 
See-Threepio’s optics are sending transmissions to Dei.  They had grabbed the droid, powered him down, put a restraining bolt on him and used a weapons vendor to install the relays and an explosive charge.  They finally handed him to a member of the MMM that had been bribed.
 
Fortunately, the Solos’ little girl had found him.  Dei can’t help but notice the similarity in appearance between Amelia Solo and the Queen Mother Tenel Ka.  He begins to wonder if Tenel Ka has secretly borne a second child or if the first one, presumed dead, is still alive.
 
He will have to kill both of them to be sure.  For now, he’ll deal with the mother.  He reaches for the remote and finds it’s gone.
 
Allana had reached the top of the eastern ridge, the Millennium Falcon and the camp seeming to be so far away for now.  Anji is with her, but flops on the sand to groom her fur.
 
She reaches out to the Force and feels the darkness.  Following it, she spies the dark man.  Withdrawing her presence, she approaches and sees him using a datapad.  Her mother is on it.  His thoughts are open to her.  He’s not the fiery man, See-Threepio is.
 
She takes a step toward the remote.
 
Leia reaches the top of the hill.  She cannot sense her granddaughter’s presence, but can sense Anji and something dark nearby. 
 
Dei turns around sees the girl with the remote in her hands. He demands she give it to him.  She refuses.  He knows that she fears for her mother.  Dei explains that she would probably grow up to be like her mother and he does approve of both intelligence and beauty.  But his duty comes first and he has to kill both of them.
 
She runs.  He charges, but gets a face full of fur for his trouble.  The thing holds on, digging its claws into his face.  He flings the thing off as his face bleeds.  He burns with anger.  Leia Solo is here now, with her lightsaber lit. 
 
They fight quickly and strategically, but the damage caused to his eye by the girl’s pet is his undoing and he falls to Leia’s blade.  His last image is of the little nexu staring at him.
 
As his death is felt on the Cryptic Warning, Allana sits on her grandmother’s lap, telling her that she knew it had to be her.  Leia holds her, silently crying that this is happening too soon.  Allana assures her she’s alright, but they have to get the bomb out of See-Threepio.
 
It’s over by the time they return to camp.   Javon and the security forces have escorted the droid into the desert and disarmed him. But the Hapans will not allow their Queen Mother to remain after an attempt on her life, so they are leaving.  Allana takes a moment to find her mother’s sad face and gives her a wave.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 43:
 
Kandra is upset that they’ve gotten a feed including some Callista person but no Abeloth.  The signal has cut out and this is not what Skywalker promised them.  A Corporate Sector gunship has arrived now.
 
Beurth wants to leave, but she refuses until they get something worth recording.  A man asks them what that would be.  He ignites a red-bladed lightsaber and cuts their cable, telilng them to come with him.
 
Aboard the ship, Gavar Khai finds that the ships of his flotilla have arrived safely.  His goals are to capture or destroy Abeloth, kill Master Skywalker and retrieve his daughter.
 
They cannot establish contact with Tola Annax, though.  Suddenly, he’s told there’s a foreign device on the sensors.  A weapon detonates.  There are multiple signals indicating starfighters everywhere.  This has to be an ambush.
 
Vestara warns Luke a Force attack is coming in ten seconds.  As she counts down, Luke and Ben struggle against the attacking Sith, some of whom find Abeloth and lose their lives quickly. 
 
At the ten second mark, the Force hits Luke and knocks him to his knees.  The Sith spasm and fall.  Abeloth screams.  Vestara tells them to hurry before the others recover.  Luke sensd Ben to get Valin. 
 
While Luke and Vestara support each other and Ben carries Valin, Ben asks what that attack was.  It was like what happened with Ship attacked the tsil.  He realizes that Vestara took the spook crystal from the mining plant. 
 
She admits she took it, a compacitor from the TIE shuttle and a comm receiver to act as a timer and trigger.  Luke tells her that she killed an innocent being when she used the tsil.  Vestara argues that she cannot destroy Abeloth.  He might, though, which means he has to live and, since they were about to be killed, she did what it took to win that battle.
 
He shouldn’t criticize her for being hard enough to do that when he tricked her into luring her own people here, knowing that some of them would die.  When they reach the surface and determine there is a battle above, she realizes that the Jedi were lying in wait.  He waited to expose his own people until hers were discovered.  He’s more Sith than he wants to admit.
 
Luke tries to contact Kandra, but there is no reply.  He assumes she’s gone back to Hweg Shul.  He does get ahold of Jaina for extraction.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 42:
 
At nightfall, Allana heads down the ramp with Anji and greets Javon.  He reminds her that she’s supposed to stay here until the Solos get back.  He also knows Allana is going to cause him problems if he tries to make her stay.  So, he has the troops form up to let her look around for See-Threepio.
 
Javon tells her they will have to think of places where the droid would want to go, but he will not let them spread out.  She would rather go to the ridge where she’d seen the dark man, but she goes with Javon.  Half and hour later, they find Threepio arguing with the Manumission Mandate Militia.
 
Javon pulls the restraining bolt off the the droid and demands to know from the 2-1B droid what is going on.  The droid explains they wanted to demonstrate how easily droids who claim to serve of their own free will can still be enslaved.  Threepio assures his friends that his captivity wasn’t all that unpleasant were it not for the disorganized leaps in logic he’s been subjected to.
 
The 2-1B droid demands that restraining bolt sockets be removed from droids or be fitted for organics.  Threepio finds that there are several messages for him, one from Princess Leia wanting him in the main assembly. 
 
Javon starts to take Allana back to the Falcon, but, when he looks away for a few moments, she slips under the back of a tent and runs out the front into the night.
 
The Klatooinian delegation is pleased with young Raharra Lapti.  Leia gets a comm from Javon, telling her that Allana gave them the slip.  She sends Han to the Falcon to prep for launch in case they need support from the air.  Fortunately, Allana doesn’t know that Leia can track her comlink.  She quickly locates her moving eastward.
 
Tenel Ka would love to go with them, but she cannot be seen giving too much attention to the Solos’ adopted daughter. 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

chapter 41:
 
In the tunnels, Luke, Ben and Vestara find the Oldtimers laying on the floor, looking dazed and in despair.  They are horrified to find Sel among them.  Ben wonders if they should break the people out of it.  Luke reminds him that they are still under Abeloth’s control.
 
This does, however, mean they are close.  More bodies, those of Theran Listeners, are further ahead.  Among them walks an energetic Valin Horn.  He no longer believes the Jedi are imposters, but have merely been corrupted by an alien intelligence cutting them off from the true Force.  They will be cured as he and Jysella have been.
 
Grand Master Callista Ming is here and will hand over the title once Luke is cured.  Abeloth is nearby, maintaining the cure. 
 
Callista appears, greeting Luke.  Luke asks her to tell Abeloth to go back to the Maw.  He knows there is a part of Callista still in there, the one that loved him and will not attack him.  She agrees that it’s true.  Both she and Abeloth want Luke to join them.  She is so lonely and it’s her that gives Abeloth the little affection she has for Luke.  If he joins in, she will have a better perspective for his point of view.
 
The whole droch thing was just a lure to keep him occupied while Abeloth took control of the Listeners. 
 
Luke reminds Callista they’ve lived a lifetime apart.  He doesn’t think they were meant for each other.  His presence reaches out to embrace her.  Ben is able to see and sense the things of the past as his father lived them. 
 
Vestara nudges him to indicate that Valin is using a comlink.   There are the sounds of blasterfire nearby.  Valin accuses them of bringing Jedi.  Ben tells him that there are no other Jedi here and that it must be the Sith.  Valin thinks he’s lying and attacks him.
 
Ben has to defend himself.  Though concerned about the fight, as Valin has more experience than Ben, Luke concentrates more on Callista.  He knows Abeloth is hiding in here.  He reaches out and tears at Callista, pulling her Force essence from this body.
 
She shrieks as she’s pulled out.  The part of her that is pure Callista looks on Luke with love and gratitude before disappearing.  The body is still there, but morphs into Master Nenn who grabs a lightsaber and impales himself with it.  Valin collapses.
 
They hear Abeloth screaming.  Then Tola Annax arrives with a couple of dozen other Sith.  Ben asks if his father has any ideas this time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 40:
 
The crew of the Cryptic Warning have been working in the interim.  They’ve identified the droids as See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo, property of the Solos and their family for decades.  It stands to reason that they have achieved a special status in their owners minds and may be allowed certain privileges.
 
Dei has them work on getting more funds and building an explosive charge that will burn, not project.  There are rumors of an imminent change and he needs to be in place quickly before the Queen Mother leaves.
 
In the meantime, Kyp, Sothais Saar, Bandy Geffer and Raharra Lapti arrive on Klatooine.  The last is an apprentice so young she still has a training lightsaber and had been pulled from her lessons on Ossus.  But she’s Klatooinian and the impression that gives here is important.
 
Leia greets the group, telling them that there’s been some progress.  She shows them a recording of Padnel Ovin explaining that they can still honor their predecessors while acknowledging their imperfection.  For that reason, while he loves and honors his brother, he cannot condone the use of the Fireborn and the loss of life to make a point.
 
This is good because now they can show the four Jedi as examples of those that will be assigned to this system to help. 
 
Allana explores again with the droids in tow.  Javon checks to make sure she doesn’t need anything.  She tells him that she’s learned this could be going away soon and she wants to see more first.  She wishes she could confide in him, but he’s a grown-up and won’t take her seriously.
 
This is probably why Jedi travel alone…they don’t have to ask permission to act.   She walks so fast, she leaves the droid behind.  Javon catches up and tells her that.  She says they’re too slow and should go back to the Falcon.  Artoo rolls into view, but there is no sign of Threepio.
 
At the Falcon, Leia assures her that no one is going to hurt a protocol droid.  Allana reminds her that her Grandpa has threatened to many times.  Leia has to make an appearance with the other Jedi.  She’ll be back after that to look for Threepio.
 
It may take time that Allana doesn’t want to wait.  She even turns down an invitation to come with Leia, even though her mother will be there.  She is left aboard the ship with several guards around and only Artoo to help her do something.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 

chapter 39:
 
Jysella Horn gets aboard the Golan platform and uses the Force to get past the guard.
 
In Crystal Valley, Luke watches the nearby pumping station.  Ben and Kandra lay near him.  Beurth wants to leave.  Luke thinks both journalist and cam operator should get back to Hweg Shul and file it when ready.  Trying to get recordings of Abeloth may be the last thing they do.
 
Vestara reports that they should wait for the next big dust flurry and sneak in, slice into the city networks and find out where the hatches are.  It solves two problems:  Kandra can get her footage of Abeloth and get it from a safe distance that doesn’t endanger her life.
 
They’ll set up some datalinks to relay images out of the pumping station. 
 
An hour later, the three Force-users leave the crew behind.  Ben would rather just leave the two behind, but Luke claims they need the relay setup for themselves and the galaxy.  He won’t say why.
 
After setting up the relay, the Skywalkers and Vestara enter the hatch and close it behind them before moving into the pumping station.  Luke asks Vestara if she can contact Tola or her colleagues.
 
Vestara claims she is not in contact with her, but she knows the comm. frequencies they use.   If she sends a message, one would eventually reach her.  Luke has her send one telling them where they are and that Abeloth is here.  He knows that she summoned the Sith to Nam Chorios because she knew their power was needed.
 
He’s not angry or disappointed.  Her decision was the best one for the galaxy and he was hoping she would do it.  He was counting on the Sith following them here. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

chapter 38:
 
Querdan Dei is wearing clothing suitable to the planet now, within the camp, watching.  He analyzes the defenses here, watches a group of children play a ball game and spies the Solos arriving with their entourage, including the two droids he’d seen the night before.
 
When an errant ball gets too close to the entourage, a Hapan security officer jumps on it herself.  The astromech moves closer to one of the robed Hapan figures who seems to try to console him.  Dei cannot see if she has a missing arm or not.
 
When the situation is over, he thinks about how the droid seemed to want to protect the Hapan instead of its owners.  He suspects she may be Tenel Ka Djo.  That the droid cares about her and her about him is unusual.  He forms a plan. 
 
When the boy who tossed the errant ball approaches him, Dei gives him a few credits and tells him he’ll contact him if he needs him again.
 
Today, the security detail is dressed in desert garb to throw off anyone looking for predictability.  She looks around, spots a man walking away.  He seems familiar to her, like her father who had been alone and dark.
 
There is something about him.
 
Javon asks if she’s okay.  She decides to take them  in another direction that leads them closer to the strange man.  She sees him again up the path.  He is human, but doesn’t look much like her father. 
 
He passes by her and she feels something in the Force.  She tells Jovan she’s doing exercises.  Reducing her presence in the Force, she watches the man walk away until deciding she wants to go back inside to finish her lessons.
 
Inside the tent, Tenel Ka admits that any leader in the Alliance or the Jedi Order can be replaced at any time.  For that reason, neither she nor Leia speak in absolutes.  Padnel thinks an oath should be forced upon all participants, to be broken on the pain of death.  Leia reminds him that it may be the Klatooinian way of doing things, but they are not all Klatooinian.   Even when they all speak Basic, there are nuances that differ from culture to culture.  Padnel thinks that means they should speak as Klatooinians do.
 
Han and Leia meet during a short recess.  She tells him that, because Klatooine is most likely to end up the most viable world to be accepted into the Alliance, there must be a leader chosen.  The Council of Elders wants someone who can be blamed if something goes wrong. 
 
Both contenders are flawed.  Reni Coll is smart, but she lacks charisma.  Padnel Ovin has plenty of charisma, but he is turning off potential supporters because he insists on sticking to certain points.  He wants blood oaths that he’s not likely to get.
 
Han thinks he can fix this.  He approaches Padnel, Reni and Nialle and says he’s figured out that the problem is that Padnel has the brains of a sand flea.  Padnel reaches for his holster, but Han is faster.  He presses his own against Padnel’s snout, ignoring the guards pulling their own weapons and telling Padnel that this is where he can prove he’s smarter than they think. 
 
After all, Reni just has to sneeze, one of the guards gets twitchy and fires at Han who reacts by firing at Padnel.  Then Reni becomes the leader. She assures them that she would not behave so dishonorably.
 
Han tells the guards to holster their weapons.  He explains that he did this to make a point. Despite being a slave, Padnel would never have obeyed Han if he’d been ordered to fail to pull his blaster from his holster and look like an idiot.  Yet, Han made him do that just now because he wanted to.
 
That illustrates how much of a slave Padnel is.  Not just to the Hutts, but to his predictability.  His refusal to condemn his brother’s act makes him predictable enough that everyone here can manipulate him.  Nothing will change and he will never grow up to be a free man.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

chapter 37:
 
Tahiri watches Fett leave, a man jump onto a gurney and a woman in a prison jumpsuit leap on after it.  The repulsor gurney follows Fett.  Tahiri tries to follow it, grabs the collar of the man operating it and pulls him off, jumping on the gurney in his place.
 
Fett flies through his exit, Daala behind him.  The former Chief of State is unhappy to see Tahiri escaping at the same time.  Tahiri jumps, lands in an airspeeder and tells the occupants she’s a dangerous federal prisoner.
 
Daala realizes that the ship that looks like Slave I really isn’t.  This is probably not Fett either.  He tells her to come with him anyway if she wants to escape.
 
GAS inexplicably is able to ground the ship it believes is Slave I.  They find it’s a decoy.
 
Daala, wearing a blond wig, had been escorted by the real Fett a couple of kilometers away to a shuttle.  She understands the plot.  Though initially intimidated by seeing Boba Fett, the GAS forces will study the holocams and determine that it wasn’t the real Fett.
 
Combined with the decoy Slave I.  The freelancer posing as Tevarkian got away.  The real Slave Iis in the Coruscant system where they’ll rendezvous with it to get her away. 
 
He asks her if she intends to regain her political power. She tells him she’s going to fight to regain leadership.  That’s what the galaxy needs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     •    Another use of the decoy Slave I.
 

chapter 36:
 
Tahiri is meeting with Eramuth Bwua’tu at the same time.  He tells her he’s working on a way to get her out of the stuncuffs, as well as appealing the jury’s decision.  He is sure they will prevail, but it will be more difficult the longer the Jedi remain a presence in the Chief of State’s office.
 
He asks if she feels she’s in danger here.  She admits she probably isn’t any more than any other prisoner here, but it’s possible the Force could fail to alert her of an oncoming attack and she is limited in her ability to defend herself with these shackles on.
 
She wonders if she was meant to die here.  Bwua’tu thinks she’s letting the depression get to her.  He goes over the process of appeals, getting some unofficial Jedi help and getting a documentarian in here to do a feature on her that might enlighten the public as to what was going on while they were focused on the takeover of government.
 
She suddenly tells him to get down.  He jumps to the floor just as a booth explodes to the right.  She rolls around and sees Chief Daala scrambling through a gap in the transparisteel booth, escaping.  Tahiri scrambles after her, only to fall on her face due to the ankle cuffs.
 
The YVH droid starts firing, so she uses it to sever the cable between her cuffs and drops to the floor, finding a suit jacket and a blond wig there.  She lets the droid sever her wrist cuffs, too, and takes off.
 
Daala spots the man who had posed as her attorney with different hair now.  She crawls across the clothes he left behind and spies Boba Fett flying into the hall. 
 
The YVH droid is coming for Tahiri when she uses the Force to push it back.  Then she sees Boba Fett arrive.  The droid goes after him instead only to get a missile for its trouble. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

chapter 35:
 
In the corridor leading to the visitors meeting halls, Daala catches up with Tahiri who is still shackled at the wrist and ankles, escorted by a YVH droid.  They exchange barbs before Daala is escorted into a square chamber with a series of booths separated by partitions in front of a sheet of transparisteel. 
 
At booth number six, she meets her attorney, Otha Tevarkian.  Or, at least, a man who says that’s who he is.  He’s about sixty with thinning hair, expensive clothing and a briefcase that matches.  Daala admits she doesn’t know who he is.  He says that Tevarkian contacted the man’s employer to have him visit her today to discuss her escape.
 
He points out the several considerations that go into prison-building that make all manner of escapes possible, such as the proximity of this room to one of the facility exits.   From a  psychological point of view, it’s better for the prisoners to receive support from family and friends who are more likely to visit if they are not inconvenienced by lengthy security procedures. 
 
From a security point of view, it’s not a good idea.  He takes out some laminated documents and presses one against the transparisteel.  He pulls it down, leaving the laminated portion behind.  The security cameras are not sensitive enough to see that.
 
It’s laced with a potent material.  After pulling off several pieces against the transparisteel, he tells her there will soon be nothing separating the two of them and the facility will seal up.
 
That shouldn’t be good, but there are times when a civilian prison will not shutdown.  Suppose, for example, there is a poisonous gas released.  Shutting off ventilation would be catastrophic.  All prisons operate by GA Department of Corrections’ standard operating procedures.  They use the same computer system throughout. 
 
In a moment a signal will be sent to someone in the DoC who believes that Daala should still be in charge and will generate an alarm that the prison has been attacked by poison and has been cut off from all support due to a Yuuzhan Vong attack.
 
At that point, there will be a detonation and his employer will take over.  He himself will not look like he is now. 
 
When the countdown reaches one, they both duck under the table.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     •    Is there no monitoring of communications between Daala and her visitor?  I know there’s a security cam that they counted on the visual feed not being good enough to see the lamination left behind, but they had a very incriminating conversation there that I would think would be important.
 

chapter 34:
 
Dei has the Cryptic Warning approach Klatooine in Stealth mode.  The Hapan vessels make several orbits before sending landing craft from the flagship.  Dei has a parallel course plotted down. 
 
They recognize the Millennium Falcon’s configuration. Since the Solos are friends of the Queen Mother’s, it increases the odds that she’s aboard.  He has them land nearby, but far enough that they will be hidden from the camp.  Then, he hikes to a ridge to confirm the landing craft have arrived.
 
He spots several people milling about.  Five humans, two droids.  He spots the adults armed, the child has an animal hovering about her.  The adults separate and move around the landing craft while the child and the two droids head up the ramp.
 
In the entry lounge, Allana leaves Threepio and Artoo and takes Anji into the small antechamber to greet her mother.  Tenel Ka scoops her daughter to her.  Allana doesn’t tell her about the fiery man.  Her mother is strong and can take care of herself.
 
An hour later, Dei watches the child leave, then goes back to his own ship.  He summons the crew and takes reports.  The others have found that this is a gathering intended to negotiate without the consent of the governing authorities who have chosen to ignore it. 
 
Dei looks over a map of the camp and determines he will have to get into the camp somehow so he can get close enough to Tenel Ka with something powerful.  He’s warned that she used to be a Jedi which means she has the ability to perceive danger.  She may feel it if he approaches her with an intent to kill. 
 
He’s provided instead with a false Corporate Sector identity showing he’s a journalist.  He tells them he saw a delegation visiting the Hapan craft, but only a child and two droids boarded for about an hour. 
 
That night, Allana wakes up again, but doesn’t scream.  She rubs her eyes to wipe the tears away.  This time, the man of fire was back but approached her mother from behind.  She had been behind him, watching.  She had screamed and thrown herself on his back, only to burn herself.  Her mother felt her pain and turned.
 
She doesn’t know whether it would be her mother or her that dies.  She cannot go to her grandmother who will only tell her not to worry.  She is definitely going to do that.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
     •    Ever since the chapter in which Tenel Ka’s full name is used, people have been calling Tenel Ka by the name Tenel Ka Djo.  It seems strange as she’s never been called that before.
    •    I would think that Leia would be more careful about dreams that could be prophetic plaguing her granddaughter. Even if she doesn’t know that Jacen had the same problem with visions, she’s had enough experience with the Force to know that Force-sensitives sometimes have them.
 

chapter 33:
 
Kandra interviews Mayor Snaplaunce who is certain that Master Skywalker and his companions were not responsible for his injuries.  He explains that he saw them take off when the vibroblade hit him.  It was someone here in the city.  Fortunately, it was someone trying to kill a human, not an Ithorian, and stabbed him in the wrong place.
 
Kandra doesn’t understand why the Skywalker party is still under an arrest warrant.  He tells her that they are still investigating the murder of Dr. Wei.  The increase in Force storms corresponds to when Luke was here decades ago under an assumed name and the theft of speeders is probably related to the increase in visitors here, too.  The warrant remains in effect until he has the answers to these mysteries.
 
She tells her cam operator that this wasn’t anything she couldn’t have gotten elsewhere.  The Newcomers/Latecomers don’t have any info, the Oldtimers aren’t talking, the Listeners have disappeared and Valin Horn is nowhere in sight.
 
After lunch, she looks into the rise of speeder theft and finds it is increasing.  One was found destroyed outside the Kesla Vein community.  She finds that, at the moment of the explosion, another Force Storm erupted at sites around Nam Chorios.
 
She also finds that Crystal Valley has had the lowest incidence of reports, but only within the last few days. They will go to Kesla Vein first, then Crystal Valley.
 
After renting a high-speed landspeeder, Kandra and Beurth, her Gamorrean cam operator, head to Kesla Vein.  She is commed by security which warns her of the speeder theft problem and their suspicions that there’s a murderer loose. 
 
Kandra would really like to speak to Luke Skywalker.  She asks Beurth about a frequency Valin had given them if he needed to contact them.  She composes a message, in the hopes that it’s a general use Jedi frequency, asking Master Skywalker to meet with her.  She uses the name he’d used on his first visit to Nam Chorios: Owen Lars.
 
A couple of minutes later, she gets a response asking for her identity.  She texts back who she is.  She gets an agreement to meet.
 
She isn’t so happy when it’s time to meet Skywalker and finds herself in the middle of a battle between the legendary Jedi, his comrades and a man wielding a red lightsaber.  Luke jumps into the speeder, orders Kandra to the back and Beurth to drive.  He calls Ben and Vestara when another man jumps on the speeder.
 
Vestara deflects the blade, lands in the speeder, Ben lands on Beurth’s lap and tells him to move over.  Then Ben takes off in the pilot’s seat.  Luke cuts the transponders off so they can’t be tracked.
 
When they get far enough away for Kandra to tell her story, Luke has Ben set course for Crystal Valley.  In exchange, he offers Kandra the story of a monster from the Maw, the lost tribe of the Sith and a galaxywide threat. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

chapter 32:
 
In the Hapes System, Querdan Dei and his second, Haar,  watch three Battle Dragons leave the planet.  One is disguised as a medical frigate.  It appears that the Queen Mother is leaves Hapes.
 
Dei has his crew plot a course as closely as they can so they can determine where the flotilla is jumping to when it does leave the system.  This captured Corporate Sector ship does frustrate Dei at times, but it was assigned to him specifically by Gavar Khai, doubtless a sign of his faith in Dei’s abilities.
 
This Jedi Queen project is iffy, but Khai is determined to follow up on Lord Taalon’s vision.  He believes that the vision showed a woman similar in appearance to Tenel Ka who had once been a Jedi.  She is not the Jedi Queen herself, but she might have a child.  Having lost one child in a recent war, she may have another.  Their assignment is to take up position until they can gain access to the Queen Mother and kill her.
 
When the flotilla jumps, they plot a proximity to the planet Klatooine in Hutt space.  It’s a desert world that recently underwent a slave rebellion.  It was also the site of an interaction with the Sith and the Jedi.
 
Allana screams in her darkened room. Leia reaches the cabin with her lightsaber in her hand.  Anji looks ready to pounce.  Leia holds her granddaughter, telling her she’s just having a bad dream. 
 
Allana wakes up, telling her that she dreamed that a woman was on fire.  It was her mother.  She believes this wasn’t just a dream.  Her mother was wearing robes like those the people here wear and was smiling at her.  She was on the sand and Allana ran to her.  A man made of fire jumps out, grabbed her mother and she started to burn. 
 
Leia guesses that Allana may be getting a Force impression from when Tenel Ka lost her arm.  She does, however, admit that her mother is coming here.  Allana is sure the man on fire wants to kill her.  Leia thinks that they will stop anyone like that. 
 
After getting Allana back to sleep, Leia goes into the cockpit and tells Han they have a new problem.  Han asks if he can shoot it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------