Chapter X
The standard meeting place for those seeking an audience with the heads of the Smuggler's Alliance was on board the Errant Venture and as Han set the Millennium Falcon down he realized how alone he was. Previously, he'd almost always traveled with somebody. Even after losing Chewie, he'd picked up a companion who'd eventually become the leader of a covert intelligence group that spanned the galaxy and was all but unknown save in certain circles. So, it was quite natural that he was expected.
Looking as good as the last time he'd seen them, Lando Calrissian, Talon Karrde and Booster Terrik all waited for Solo as he came down the ramp. A faint frown crossed the former gambler's dark face at the sight of Han by himself but quickly faded into his usual wide grin and hearty slap on the back. "Good to see you too, old buddy," Solo said as he caught a second look that passed between Karrde and Terrik. The mere fact that he was alone had clued them in to the unusual nature of his visit. They ain't seen nothing yet, Han thought as he stepped forward and shook the hands of the other men. "I need to ask you a favor," Solo said.
"Of course," Talon said and Booster nodded. "I take it you had to cut your vacation short," Calrissian put in innocently. "Something like that," Han muttered, "Can we talk in private? I really don't feel all that comfortable in the open." "We're expecting other guests shortly," Talon told him, "Since they're friends of your family, I thought you might want to know." "Who's coming?" he asked. "Jagged Fel and Corran Horn," Terrik said. Solo nodded, wondering how that pair had ended up together.
Fel was supposed to be helping Mara and Jaina out at the Maw, while Han wasn't sure how the Jedi had been occupied since the end of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. "I need to get in touch with the Ryn network," Han said, "Since I didn't have any clue as to how to contact them other than ask one of them to pass the word along and I couldn't take that sort of time I decided to come here." "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Lando said, then added quietly, "There's nothing the matter, is there?" "Leia is following up a lead we had and is consulting with Grand Admiral Pellaeon," Solo said, "No, this is much bigger than that."
"Really?" Calrissian said, "Well, I wasn't going to bring this up but an old friend of yours is aboard. Just got here a few hours ago, in fact." "Who's that?" Han asked. "Zol Xarh," Karrde told him. Solo stopped in his tracks as the words affected him and he turned to Talon and said, "Who?!" "The bounty hunter who hired you and Luke to get him into the shipyards of Fondor," Terrik said. "Take me to see him," Han demanded, "Now!" The others didn't understand his urgency but if the man was who Solo thought it could provide many answers to his questions.
As he drank the brew that had been prepared for him, Luke glanced up at his jailer. Skywalker had been moved to a new cell following the test of his strength and now his captor kept him under constant surveillance. Most of the time it was one of the Yuuzhan Vong, but sometimes his student joined him. "I thought you were dead," Luke said plainly as he regarded Brakiss. "What is life?" Brakiss countered, "If you mean the existence where I served the Empire and was later led into the illusion that the Emperor had returned yet again, then I suppose you could say that the man you then knew is no more."
"The station you were on was destroyed," Skywalker said, "One of those who you had been close to felt that you were no more." "There is a legend that a small part of the last of the Sith Lords to die survived his death and was later recovered far from the spot he perished," Brakiss said. "You don't believe such myths, do you?" Luke said. "No, I don't," the younger man admitted, "But the fact is that not everything that occurs can be readily explained, can it?"
Remembering the account Talon Karrde of his trip into the area near here, Luke recalled that not everything the smuggler had described fit in with his knowledge of Force or normal laws of physics for that matter. "Did Sival clone you?" the Jedi Master felt compelled to ask. "Your mind has yet to expand to its furthest limit, Master," Brakiss said.
"You've only begun to reach the levels your students have achieved. Ask yourself, if your father destroyed the true evil in the galaxy why did those who wished to follow in his footsteps continue to rise up? Why did the Dark Side remain so prevalent in the galaxy, even in you? Anakin brought balance to the Force, but what Anakin didn't bring was harmony within those beholden to that power. Thus you have been beset by failures, differences and even conflicts within your own ranks. Until now, that is. Now, balance seems to be feasible once more in the galaxy. The only trouble is that such stability is tenuous at best. The slightest push either way could send things over the brink into an infinite abyss. Darth Sival has opened my eyes to the realization that what the Dark Side is matters not so much as what others think it is," his former student intoned.
Luke nodded, remembering his earlier conversation with the Sith Lord. Sival had achieved a kind of balance in his own way and was now trying to fulfill the ancient prophecy that had foretold the fall of the Jedi. "He can't possibly succeed," Skywalker told his former pupil, "The Dark Side cannot triumph." "You have eyes but cannot see, ears but you don't hear," Brakiss said, "There is only the Force and how we choose to use it. If what you term the Dark Side helps to maintain order and foster amity, is it wrong to support it?"
"The ends don't justify the means," Luke said, "My father stood by and let a whole planet die so that they could be one step closer to finding the rebel base. He killed his best friend because of a dispute that should've been settled before I was born. I followed the clone Emperor because I thought it was the best way to overthrow him, and like those before me I was wrong! Sival will follow the same path if he continues in this manner, it is inevitable." "You're right," the other man said cryptically, "You could say that he no longer fights the path that has been set before him and that he eagerly awaits the chance to finish his work. Only then will his destiny truly come to pass."