Luke Skywalker paced endlessly in front of the bacta tank that held his unconscious son, Ben.

Wounds, just recently stitched together, covered Ben's torso, arms, and head. A red slash stretched from his right shoulder to his left hip. A jagged gash ran from his left eye down to his chin. His arms were a painting of different cuts. His legs were the worst though. Cilghal, the Jedi healer had cast them using metal rods, but it was obvious that they had been broken and lacerated in multiple places.

What worried him most was Ben's failure to rejoin the world of the living. Cilghal had told him that the longer Ben drifted In the blackness of unconsciousness, the less chance he had of ever waking. She had said that he could remain comatose for the rest of his life. Luke pounded his fist against the wall, frustrated at his helplessness. Nothing he could do would bring his son back, He had tried every Force method he could think of to get even the smallest response out of Ben. Nothing. He could barely even feel his son in the Force, and he certainly couldn't reach him.

He had to find out how this had happened. He spun and strode out of the room, leaving the care of his son to the medical personnel.

~O~

Vestara Khai sat in her jail cell, twisting the stun cuffs around her wrists nervously. She looked up through the transpariglass wall as Jaina walked in, carrying a tray of food.

"I'm not hungry," Vestara muttered.

"Come on," Jaina coaxed. "You've got to eat something."

"Never mind that. How is Ben doing?"

Jaina sighed. "Exactly the same. No one can get the slightest response out of him."

"I could," said Vestara. "If they would let me out of this prison cell."

"You know Uncle Luke won't let that happen. Until Ben wakes up, he has no way of knowing what happened in that cave. He is still certain that this is all your fault."

Vestara pounded her fists against her legs. "But everything is pointing the other way!"

Jaina shrugged. "All he knows is that you ran away, Ben got a message from you, telling him to come meet you, and when we find you guys, he's teetering on the brink of death."

"But he's not even listening to reason! Does he really think that I'd almost kill Ben, and then bandage him up? And come with you willingly? And what about the fact that Alyah mysteriously vanishes afterwards?"

"He doesn't even think Alyah actually exists."

"What!?" Vestara spoke incredulously. "But you guys shot at Ship as he flew off!"

Jaina nodded. "We shot at Ship, not Alyah. And he's convinced that Ship only left you so he could capture Allana."

Vestara closed her eyes, as if that would make this awful situation go away.

"For what it's worth," said Jaina, "I believe you."

"Great, now if you could just convince your Morastka of an uncle, then maybe I could get out of these." She rattled her stun-cuffs meaningfully.

"I'm guessing Moratska isn't a good thing."

"It's Morastka. A thick, slow bovine creature the Keshiri slaughter for meat."

"Uncle Luke usually listens to reason, it's just that he's emotionally tied to this."

Someone cleared their throat, and both of them whirled to face the door, where Luke stood leaning against the frame.

"Sorry to interrupt your lovely moment. Jaina, I think your mother wants you."

Shooting an apologetic look at Vestara, Jaina left the room, avoiding her uncle's gaze.

"Now," said Luke as he pulled a chair over to the bars, "let's talk. Tell me everything."

Vestara rasied her eyebrows, determined not to show that she was scared. "Again. I didn't know you liked story-time so much."

A vein bulged in Luke's forehead, but his voice was calm. "Look, I'm just trying to find out what happened."

"Well, I've already told you three times, I don't know what else you want to hear."

"I'm glad you're sticking to your story. But until Ben wakes up, I can't be sure you're telling me the truth."

"Well," she said, "if you got rid of the Ysalamiri in this room, you could probably sense it. Or better yet, you could let me go see Ben, and I'll try to wake him up."

Luke folded his hands in front of his chin and stared into her eyes with his piercing blue gaze.

"That sounds an awful lot like you're trying to get out of the Ysalamiri. And then escape. Now, the story again, if you don't mind."

Vestara rolled her eyes. "Well, one day I met Karick. You know, the dead body your brother-in-law saw in the cave?"

"The one who Ben probably killed before you overpowered him.?"

"Yes, him." Her tone was condescending. "Anyway, I met him and he knocked me unconscious..."

~O~

"And then can we go see in the the galaxy's largest singularity cluster? And after that the Kathol Rift? And could we go to the Maw? Are you good enough to fly in the Maw? My Granpa says Kyp Durron once flew through there without any charts, and he didn't even die! Could you do that, huh?"

Alyah sighed. "Yes, I'm sure I could, Allana. I think I have an even greater understanding of the Force than Kyp Durron." Allana had prattled on almost endlessly since they, she and ship, had brought her aboard.

"And could we see the Medusa Cascade? And go down the galaxy's longest slide? That's in the corporate sector. I've always wanted to go there, but my mother and my granparents never have tie to take me."

Alyah smile brightly. "Exactly. They never let you have any fun. But we're going to take you places you want to go. And we'll teach you stuff, too. Stuff your mother thinks you're too young to know."

Allana nodded eagerly. " I'm old enough to know anything." Her voice took on a hushed tone. "I even know where babies come from."

Alyah groaned inwardly. "Really? You are so mature, Allana."

"I know," she said, grinning. "Now, will you tell me?"

"Well, you know all about your father, right?"

Allana suddenly turned solemn. "He was a very bad man. He killed people."

"See? Now who told you that?"

"My mom."

"Exactly. She doesn't think you're old enough to know the truth."

"What truth?"

Alyah looked around, as though someone might be listening. "Your father did the right thing. He was trying to make the galaxy a better place."

"By killing people?" She was skeptical now.

"Your father did what he had to so you could be safe. And after all that, his own sister killed him. She killed him, even though he was doing the right thing. Now, who do you think was worse?"

"Bu-but, Auntie Jaina-"

"Killed her own brother. That's what happens when you're a Jedi. You kill your own family. Did you know your Great-Uncle-Luke killed his father?"

Allana nodded, her eyes wide. "But he said-"

"He lied. I'm so sorry, Allana, but your family and friends have been lying to you from the minute you could understand them."

The girls eyes were filling with tears. Alyah pulled her into her lap and hugged her. "It's okay, sweetie. I'm your family now. And I'll never, ever lie to you."

As Allana sobbed in her arms, she heard Ship speaking to her.

Well done. I cannot wait to see the Jedi shatter when this precious young one denounces them and claims the Dark Side as her own.

~O~

"Is there any news of my daughter?" The anxious voice of Tenel Ka, Queen Mother of the Hapes Cluster emanated from the Academy's slightly dilapidated holocomm system.

Leia grimaced. "I'm afraid we still have nothing. Han and Jag have swept the planet where they last saw her three times over. Which means we can only conclude that she was indeed taken by Ship."

"I see. What will this 'Ship' do to her?"

Leia sighed. "To be honest, we just don't know. Have you felt anything through the Force?"

"I have not felt her death, if that is what you were asking. But neither can I feel her life. She is closed off to me. However, I am confident that I would feel if anything bad happened to her."

Leia looked up as Jaina entered the room, her face questioning. "Queen Mother," Leia said to Tenel Ka, "we are doing everything in our power to get Allana back. I know neither Han nor I will rest until she is back in your arms."

"Thank you. That is...reassuring. Good luck, and may the Force be with you." The Queen paused. "May it be with us all." With that, she signed off.

Leia rubbed her eyes and sighed again. True to her word, she had not slept since her husband had returned fifty-three hours ago, bringing nothing but bad news.

"Mom?" Said Jaina. "I heard what you just said to Tenel Ka, but you're not going to be any use unless you get some sleep."

"I know. I'm going now. Let me know if anything happens."

"If a ladar bird flutters it's wings on the other side of the planet," Jaina joked, "you'll be the first to know."

Leia didn't even smile.

~O~

A few hours later, Jaina was still sitting in front of the comms, now holding a sleeping Davin. Holding her baby boy, she could suddenly see how Luke felt. When Davin had been stolen, she had almost been driven crazy by sadness and worry. How much worse it must be to have your child horrendously injured, and not be able to do a thing about it. Jaina thought, not for the first time, that maybe the Jedi of the Old Republic were right to do away with marriage and children.

If Davin's life were on the, line, weighing against a hundred innocent people, Jaina knew she would choose her son. And that was the problem she was struggling to find a solution to. Luke was putting his love for Ben, his absolute refusal to lose another member of his family, up against his logic. And Ben was winning.

Jaina stood, she knew what she had to do. Leaving Davin in the capable hands of his nanny droid, she snuck through the silent academy towards Vestara's cell.

~O~

Vestara lay on the thin cot in her prison, pretending to sleep. Suddenly, she heard the door at the end of the hall whoosh open. Tensing, her mind raced as she tried to figure out who would be visiting her this late.

"Psst!" She heard a whisper. "You up?"

Recognizing Jaina's voice, she rolled over to face her. "How could I sleep?"

"That's what I thought. Honest answer time. Do you really think you can wake Ben up?"

Vestara nodded, certainty in her eyes.

The clear door to her cell retracted into the ceiling. "Are you serious?" She asked with trepidation.

Jaina shrugged. "just don't try to escape, and don't tell my uncle. Oh, and I'm not taking off the cuffs."

"Fine by me. Can we go see Ben now?"

~O~

Vestara and Jaina tiptoed into the medical ward and crept into Ben's room. Vestara went straight for the bacta tank, pressing her hand up against it as she stared with horror at the wounds that criss-crossed her boyfriend's body.

"I didn't think they were that bad," she whispered.

Jaina just nodded.

Focus. Vestara said to herself.

She reached out with the Force, searching for some hint that Ben was in there somewhere, that she wasn't just looking at an empty body, a husk that once was living.

~O~

He was in the darkness. No, he was the darkness. He encompassed it, and it him. His thoughts were scattered, floating in the black, never able to come together in one place long enough to make sense. He knew nothing else, had no memory, he just was. But then something tugged at the edges, threatening to pull back the dark, and let in the light. This was bad. The light hurt, and he very much wanted to avoid it. He tried to ignore the tugging, to see if it would go away if he gave it no attention. But it was persistent. He had to fight. He had to strike back.

~O~

Jaina watched as Vestara, brow furrowed in concentration, stood with both hands pressed against the side of the tank. Without any warning the girl collapsed to the floor, still keeping her hands on the tank. Jaina rushed to her and knelt alongside, lending her strength through the Force. Vestara was shaking with the effort, and sweat was glistening on her forehead.

Something had gone wrong, Jaina knew it, but there was nothing she could do but give the girl her power.

~O~

Vestara was lost, trapped in a nightmare world, where everything was darkness, and darkness was everything. At first it seemed that she would be able to push the dark away and find Ben somewhere, but then everything changed, and the darkness attacked. It overwhelmed her, choking her as she struggled against it's black power. Seconds later, or maybe years, she began to fade, started to forget who she was. But then she snapped back. The light filled her again, and she found the strength to fight back once again. Somewhere she could feel Jaina, helping her. She pushed the dark back farther and farther, searching all the while for Ben.

~O~

He-Ben? He didn't know, didn't understand. The light was winning, getting closer and closer. It would find him soon, and there was nothing he could do about it. Suddenly, agony washed over him. Everything came flooding back. Who he was, what had happened, and over it all the pain. Searing through him, every nerve-ending groaning with the hurt.

And yet he felt joy. He was alive. And Vestara was near him. He saw now that it was she who had rescued him, pushed back the dark. Someone else was there too, someone familiar. At last, he opened his eyes, surrendering himself completely to the world of the living.

~O~

Vestara let go off the tank and collapsed to the floor, completely spent.

Vaguely she heard Jaina asking if she was okay, but all she could do was nod slightly. She just wanted to curl up and go to sleep. Pulling Ben from the black that surrounded his mind, was his mind, had taken all of her energy. Ben. She sat up, all exhaustion forgotten. She found herself staring into the blue eyes she had never thought she'd see again. Though the rest of his face was hidden behind the breathing mask, she knew he was smiling at her. She grinned back.

"So," his voice, filled with pain, crackled from the speaker on the wall, "what'd I miss?"

With those words, Vestara knew everything would be all right.