-Chapter 10-
Jasar Kasroc observed Ahsoka's T-6 shuttle hiding among a cluster of rocks under the twin moons of Jakku. Fierce winds sent clouds of sand particles swishing over the secluded craft obscuring it from his view but he knew who took shelter within it. In his hands was a tracking device and a red blip on the screen pinpointed the exact location of his prey.
Inside the T-6 shuttle, Luke soaked in the pale glow of the set of twin moons shimmering in the sky. He pondered upon his daughter and of Mara Jade. He believed he would find a clue on this planet of their whereabouts by finding the girl in his visions and the presence of the Falcon. He thought they were all connected, but both leads flamed out like a flame on a candle. And now he must begin his search anew.
Ahsoka emerged from her sleeping quarters and approached him from behind. "Unable to sleep, Master Skywalker?"
"I'm afraid if I sleep, I'll tell you all my secrets," he said with a smile. "No, I am restless tonight. I never asked why you were looking for me. Is there something you needed to tell me?"
"I do have something to tell you." Ahsoka dropped into the pilot seat and gazed out the window. "I never imagined I would be sitting here today talking with the son of my old master. But if you are anything like he was before he turned to the dark side, then I believe you can help me."
Luke suppressed his curiosity to learn more about his father during the time he was just Anakin Skywalker, but felt those stories were for another time. "Go on."
"I uncovered a dark secret of the First Order. They are kidnapping Force-sensitive children and placing them in prisons scattered across dozens of worlds. I've located one of the prisons on planet Carida. I cannot stand idle knowing children are being forced to serve the First Order against their will. If we could find others like ourselves, we could free and help train these children to use their gifts for good and not evil."
"You really think we can infiltrate this prison by…" Luke's words faded when he noticed a red light flashing on the dashboard. "Someone is trying to contact you."
Ahsoka examined one of the monitors. "It's coming in encrypted." She adjusted some of the settings on her comm system and then a modulated voice came over the speakers.
"Fulcrum…Are you out there?"
"Fulcrum?" Luke asked.
Ahsoka briefly silenced the comm. "It's an old codename I used when providing intelligence to rebel factions." She switched back on the comm and said, "Who is this?"
"Fulcrum…" The channel broke apart and static rumbled over the speakers. "Please respond…" The voice was barely audible this time and then the signal dropped.
"Can you track it?"
"Doing that now." Ahsoka punched commands into her ship's terminal and awaited the results to appear on her monitor. "It's coming from the Starship Graveyard. Deep inside one of the sunken Star Destroyers."
"It appears someone from your past has arisen. I think we should investigate."
"It could be a trap," Ahsoka responded, though the expression on her face belied her true feelings of wanting to find out who tried to contact her.
"But you're willing to risk it." Luke sunk deeper into his seat. "Shall we go?"
"Of course, Master Skywalker." Ahsoka's lips curled upward when she took control of the flight stick and ignited the engines.
The T-6 shuttle soared across the dark sky toward the Starship Graveyard. The engines glowed brightly in the darkness and caught the attention of anyone gazing toward the stars. In only a few minutes, it was circling around the source of the signal.
Ahsoka tried the comm system again, but received only static. She switched on the search lights and dropped altitude. "The signal came from somewhere down there. It looks barren. I don't see a thing.
"Land there," said Luke, pointing to a massive opening in the hull of the ship.
Following his directions, Ahsoka piloted the shuttle through the opening and then landed within a hangar filled with an assortment of debris. Inside were parts of Imperial ships, steel crates, and skeletons. A few spotlights flickered in the otherwise dark interior providing evidence a power source was in operation nearby.
The boarding ramp lowered and they explored the area for any signs of activity. They neared an elevator at the back of the hangar and a giant android, with laser cannons for arms, stepped out of the shadows.
"Identify yourself," the android said, raising his arms in their direction.
Luke reacted instantly and lunged forward with his hand, using the Force to push this menace away. The Android flew backward and smashed against a titanium wall. The robotic head tore away and the thing's arms began rapidly firing in random directions.
Laser fire bounced off metal crates and barriers nearly missing the two intruders. Ahsoka's lightsabers flared on and she charged the dysfunctional android, deflecting the fire. Before she reached the mechanical monster, the android shut down when someone stepped out of the elevator. Whoever it was, the shadows hid their face.
Ahsoka cautiously approached the mysterious figure; her body quivered from the sensations of familiarity. "Who are you?"
The stranger stepped within a semblance of light to reveal a middle-aged man with dark graying hair, blue eyes, and two scars on his left cheek. He smiled when he locked gazes with Ahsoka. "When my spy cameras picked up footage of a Togruta female at the trader post on the planet, I could only hope it was you."
"Ezra!" Ahsoka flung her arms around him. "I thought you were lost to us."
"I thought the same of you." Ezra glanced over her shoulder toward the annoyed-looking Jedi Master. "I am sorry about the android."
Luke shrugged. "Well, it did ask nicely that we identify ourselves. But I was afraid it was sending images of my face to the wrong people."
"You are Luke Skywalker," Ezra said with a sheepish grin. "The First Order is sending images of your face around the entire galaxy."
"Ezra, what happened to you?" Ahsoka's face remained bright despite the misunderstanding with the android.
"Let's get below where we will be safe. I have much to tell you." Ezra pressed a button on a small control box. The elevator doors opened and they all entered.
The Elevator took them down to a room stocked with computers, supplies, and monitors capturing images and sound from around the entire galaxy like a super spy network. Other than the equipment, there were people here. They were dressed in various attire from loose fitting robes to light armor, and carried lightsabers and blasters. None of them expressed happiness or displeasure when the three entered the area.
"Who are these people?" Luke asked. "I feel the Force in them all."
"It is a long story." Ezra sat down in a torn leather seat with tangled wires wrapped around the base. "I must confess, however, that both Jedi and Sith stand around you. I have trained them all but please do not judge them or me. In the upcoming war, we will need both to survive."
"What war are you talking about?" Luke rested on one of the crates and regarded the frightened expressions on some of those present. He imagined those showing apprehension were Sith.
"A war with the Whills," Ezra said. "Snoke is one of them. He is feeding off Force-sensitive beings and using that energy to waken his people. They are already appearing in large numbers across the galaxy."
"But there is more, isn't there?" Luke did not need the Force to sense the uneasiness of the man before him. "I want to hear this long story."
Ezra shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I figured you would. And it is one that will disturb you greatly. But I will tell you nonetheless. After I saved my home world Lothal, I found myself across the galaxy nearly buried alive in the wreckage of a ship. I crawled out of the debris, listless, battered. I was on a strange planet, a lifeless place, covered in ruin and decay. It is there I met Snoke. He brought me to place of tombs and said he would need my help waking his people. I felt something sinister there, a darkness that slowly fed on my soul. I began to lose my mind and fell under his power. Together we did terrible things. But he said there was one obstacle in his path needing removal before his people could rise to power."
"Me," Luke whispered.
"Yes," Ezra acknowledged. "Snoke predicted you would be a thorn in his side. He said getting rid of you would require great patience and so, he devised a scheme that would unfold over time, a devious plot, something you would never see coming."
Luke felt he knew the ending to this story and said, "His plan was to turn my nephew against me. I know this."
"It is far worse than that, I am afraid." Ezra wiped sweat from his forehead; his hands trembled slightly on the arms of his chair. He inhaled a deep breath and continued. "When he discovered news of Leia's pregnancy, Snoke did the ultimate evil act. He replaced Leia's baby with this changeling; an infant he stole and infused with some dark entity."
Ahsoka gasped.
Luke remained stoic. It made sense to him. He always felt an unusual aura around Ben, a darkness, something he thought spawned from the genes of his own father. But he felt something similar when he regarded the girl in the junkyard trader outpost as he did in the man before him. "There is still more to this story, isn't there? The child Snoke used was yours. And you have a daughter as well."
"You are as strong in the Force as the legends foretell." Ezra's eyes fell to the floor. "Yes. Ben is my son. And the girl you regarded intensely at the trader post is also my daughter. But they do not share the same mother. I will explain. Before Leia's pregnancy, Snoke devised a different plan. He hired despicable bounty hunters to capture witches on Dathomir. The witches are highly dangerous Force-sensitive warriors and he planned to turn them into his thralls using the same dark power he used on the child. Among these witches was a woman named Isabella who belonged to a coven called the daughters of light. I felt an instant attraction toward her. She was filled with a pure light that smothered the darkness in my soul. It led to a night of passion and she conceived a child. But Snoke realized I had broken his spell and imprisoned me. Isabella was chained and taken far away from me. I found out later he allowed her to give birth to the child. He drove the light out of this infant and implanted a dark entity that would grow within the child and serve him."
"Is there a way to drive this entity out of him?" Luke asked.
"I suppose a daughter of light perhaps." Ezra shook his head. "If any are still alive. Snoke has routinely sent his special army of Force-sensitive warriors to hunt any witches of light on Dathomir. He is determined to make them extinct."
"I have seen one of the prisons he is using to train these warriors," Ahsoka commented. "I suppose we would need a daughter of light to drive the darkness from them. Perhaps Isabella could help. Is she here?"
"She is dead," Ezra said with a sour tone. "After giving birth, Snoke murdered her. When I eventually escaped, I confronted him. I used every ability at my disposal. I reached into the dark side of the Force and shriveled his flesh and scarred his face. I almost killed him before his followers shielded him from me. I fled the planet and ended up here. Having lost Isabella, I became a shell of a man and each night drank myself into a stupor. I slept with anyone that would have me and had a child with a junk trader. The girl you saw at the outpost is her. It was purely out of lust and the woman had a husband. She asked me never to come near her again when her husband found out. They ended up selling my daughter to Unkar Plutt the junk boss. I have kept watch on her though. But I kept my distance not wanting to sweep her up in my troubles."
"She is confused and is searching for her parents," Luke said with a grin. "You owe her an explanation."
"I am too ashamed," Ezra admitted.
"Does Leia know Ben is not her child?" Ahsoka wiped a tear from her eye.
Ezra nodded. "I believe she does. I tried to send messages to her, but I am not sure any of them reached her. I'm afraid if I go personally, I could be bringing doom with me."
"And where is my real nephew?" Luke asked, afraid of the response.
"I don't know. I am sorry." Ezra stood from his seat and pressed a few buttons on one of the computers. "There is one other thing I need to show you. We've managed to hack into one of the security cameras at Starkiller base. I think you will be very interested in seeing this." Ezra pointed to one of the monitors. "There."
Luke viewed the monitor and appeared flabbergasted. "Who is that?"
Ezra froze an image of someone encased in carbonite and said, "I have found Mara Jade. How long she has been frozen in carbonite I cannot tell you, but she is being held at the Starkiller base. However, there is someone else I think you will have some interest in." He switched the image on the monitor to reveal a woman with ash-blonde hair and yellow eyes. It was Kiera. "This young woman, I believe, is your daughter."