Chapter Fourteen

.

Now, Reader, take heed;

The prophecy know:

Daughter of Light

To Darkness' Son go.

.

The last of one line,

The first of another;

Skywalker's end,

New destiny's mother.

.

"You're kidding, right?" Rupert said when he heard Luke relate Brenna's terms, knowing full well that Luke was deadly serious.

Luke didn't bother responding to the rhetorical question. "That's not all. She can control the visions in the cave. To what extent, I don't know. At the very least, she can block them. I've never known anyone who was able to do that. And there's more." He gestured with one hand to the small hand-held computer Brenna had given him, which was now sitting on the table. "She gave me that."

Rupert picked it up.

"Don't bother reading it," Luke said. "I have to take it back to her."

"What is it?"

"It's a log she's been keeping. It tells about Etan Lippa, how he was born, how he was raised... Back in the days of the Empire, Palpatine had Vader routinely inspect the Prisoner of War camps, including Croyus Four, for female prisoners who were Force-sensitives. These he transferred to special camps on the Emperor's private strong-holds. Brenna documents the existence of five such camps."

"Why?" Rupert asked. "I mean, why would Palpatine want them?"

Luke paused in his packing and turned to Rupert. "Breeding stock," he replied grimly. "Palpatine forced them to bear his children. But apparently, he wanted only male children. If the fetus was female, the pregnancy was terminated immediately."

"Sweet Deities," Rupert breathed. "So there's a whole little army of Etan Lippas out there somewhere?"

"Not exactly. Palpatine was apparently looking for some specific trait or traits. Most of the children were killed at about the age of three or four."

"That's about when a kid would show signs of a dominant Force-talent—if you knew what to look for," Rupert reasoned.

"Right. But Etan Lippa was allowed to live. It may be that he was the only one of Palpatine's sons to exhibit whatever trait the Emperor was looking for, but that's just speculation. He maintained the breeding camps, even after he'd decided to let Etan Lippa live, although he continued to destroy the products of those camps. At any rate, when Lippa was three, he and his mother were removed to a special facility, where the Emperor personally oversaw the boy's development. And according to Brenna's report here, it was not pretty. Apparently, when Lippa was about five or six, the boy's mother did something to anger the Emperor, and he made Etan Lippa a witness to her execution. Among other things."

Rupert let out a breath. "No wonder the man is such a sicko. So is Etan Lippa the only living offspring of the Emperor?"

Luke shrugged. "The Emperor left orders that if anything happened to him, the rest of the women and their children, except for Etan Lippa, were to be killed. After the Battle of Endor, this order was carried out-at four of the five facilities. At the fifth, the commander of the facility apparently didn't see the need to obey Palpatine, since the Emperor was already dead. Or maybe he foresaw the outcome of the rest of the war, and figured it would go better for him if he came to trial if he disobeyed Palpatine's last order. At any rate, there were nineteen women, three of whom were known to be pregnant, and twelve children ranging in age from infancy to three and a half, who were not killed right away. Of those numbers, five women and three children remain unaccounted for. The rest are dead."

Rupert frowned. "Dead?"

"Someone - Etan Lippa, probably-tracked them down and murdered them. The ones that escaped somehow managed to disappear from all public records."

"That's...not an easy thing to do."

"Not easy, but possible. I did it, when I changed from Luke Skywalker to Ben Owens. It's not something one can do without help, or without lots of money." Luke opened a shoulder pack and began stuffing food rations into it.

"You don't have to go through with this, Luke," Rupert said.

"I do have to go through with it. She's my daughter. I'd go through with it even if she hadn't ensured that I would by threatening the extinction of the Afterlife if I didn't."

"She's dangling hope out in front of you, like bait for a trap."

"A possibility," Luke admitted.

"Divide and conquer, remember? What if she's just separating us to make it easier to destroy us?"

"That's a chance I have to take." Luke picked up the hand-held computer and put it into his pack, then took Rupert by the shoulders. "If there's even the slightest possibility that I can turn her to the Good side, or that she never in fact left it, I have to go. Do you understand?"

"Didn't you say that the best way was for us to work together?"

"I might have been wrong about that. And there's something else. Inside the cave, I can sense something that I can't sense outside. It's almost like there's another presence, but I can't pinpoint it."

"Something generated by the cave itself?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Etan Lippa? Could he...somehow be with her? Maybe a telepathic link, or something?"

"I don't know. But whatever it is, I think it's generated by something in the cave other than Brenna. There's too much I don't know, Rupert. This seems to be the only way I'll find out. And by the way, Brenna said something about housebreaking you for your next mate."

Rupert blinked in confusion. "What?"

"That was pretty much my reaction. I don't think she knows, and I wouldn't go telling her, if I were you."

"Or it could be that she does know, and wants us to think that she doesn't."

"Right."

Rupert watched as Luke turned and placed a cylindrical tube in the sack. "I hope you're not planning to use that," he said. "I'm not sure I could let you."

"It's for training purposes only," Luke lied. He fastened the sack and slung it over his shoulder. "There's one more thing, Rupert. She doesn't know that the way I 'defeated' Vader and the Emperor was because Vader turned back to the Good Side. In fact, I don't even think she knows that Darth Vader was her grandfather. All she really knows is that Brenna Brellis was her aunt. When she finds out the truth, I suspect she'll be sorely disappointed. I don't know what she'll do. So stay alert. I don't know when I might need you."

"You know I can't hurt her. She's my mate."

Luke paused on his way out of the small hut. "I know."

"So…what should I do? What can I do?"

"I don't have an answer to that, Rupert."

"Best advice, then."

"Best advice?" Luke turned. "My best advice is to stay with her. Maybe...I don't know. Maybe as long as there's life...there's hope." Luke gave him a tiny, encouraging smile, shifted his pack to a better position on his shoulders, and headed off down the path to the cave.

When Luke returned to the cave, there were no voices to assault his ears, no visions to meet his eyes. Even the mist was gone. Brenna was where he had left her, but she had put her clothes on.

She was sitting cross-legged on the cave floor, and looked up when he approached. "Are you going to stay?" she asked, as casually as she might have asked for the time on his chronometer.

"I'll stay."

She smiled a little, then tilted her head to the floor beside her.

Luke sat.

"Now," Brenna said, "tell me how you defeated Vader and Palpatine."

"You first. I came here. I've agreed to stay. It's time for those straight answers you promised me."

"Very well. What would you like to know?"

"Let's start with the presence I felt the last time I was here, before you shielded it."

Brenna put her hand over her stomach, and dropped her Shield enough for the faint mist to reappear.

"That," she said, "is my son."

.

.

.

It had only been a few hours since Luke had gone into the cave with Brenna, and neither one of them had come out since.

This was the longest Rupert had ever been alone. Or, not alone, exactly, but in the company of animals without any human contact, without being in the Chasm.

He wasn't in any danger of losing control again—he'd been too well-trained for that. He was just feeling...lonely.

And worried.

But those were his own emotions, not those of the creatures around him, and so they were to be treasured, whatever they were.

Rupert rolled his eyes. He'd heard that enough times, he could almost believe it. He supposed it was better than the alternative, but that was all. He felt the presence of a hungry predatory reptile nearby and touched it. Uncontrollable bloodlust. Yeah, it was better than the alternative.

He broke the link with the carnivorous reptile, but there was another one wrapped around his ankle, one whose hunger was even more deeply ingrained into him. It wouldn't be much longer now before the krail would need to eat again. It was the krail's first feeding that had caused him to get lost in the Chasm, and he wasn't altogether certain that the second feeding wouldn't do the same. But the krail had to eat to live, and eating meant killing.

Another paradox. The krail had to take a life to maintain its own life.

Then he felt it. Luke's presence. The fact that he could feel Luke's presence at all meant that Luke was outside of the cave.

Rupert!

The younger Jedi started at the voice in his head, but he didn't hesitate for long. Luke! I'm here.

I'm at the cave! I need your help! Hurry!

Rupert ran at top speed down the path to the cave. The krail wrapped around his leg was entirely forgotten for the moment. His lightsaber was in his hand without his even thinking about it. He felt another presence now, too, and he recognized it as Brenna's. His mate's.

Ruper— The telepathic sending erupted into a searing streak of pain that Rupert felt across his neck. It stopped him dead in his tracks. He tried to block the link, but it was already beginning to fade. As soon as he was able to move again, he resumed his dash to the cave.

When he broke into the clearing he stumbled to another halt. Luke was there, lying on the ground, his lightsaber still activated and still in his hand. Brenna stood over him. Her own blade was still activated, too, and it was clear what had happened.

Rupert was speechless. His eyes traveled from Luke, lying on the ground, to Brenna standing over him, too stunned to say anything.

Rupert's lightsaber, no longer of any use, dropped from his nerveless fingers to the ground. He stared at Brenna, still not quite believing what his eyes and the Force were telling him.

Brenna saw him. She deactivated her weapon and put it on her belt, then stretched out her hand, and Luke's weapon flew to it. She turned it off, and hooked that on her belt as well. Then she stood up, turned, and walked away a few paces. Rupert willed his legs to take him to the place where Luke lay dead. He had to make sure. He knelt. There was an ugly burn mark on the left side of Luke's neck, and eyes that no longer could see stared upwards at the sky. Rupert laid two fingers on the right side of Luke's neck. The body was still warm, but there was no pulse.

He was dead.

Luke was dead.

With a trembling hand, Rupert closed the eyelids. Then he rose unsteadily to his feet.

Finally, he found his voice. "He's dead," he said quietly.

"Of course he's dead," Brenna retorted, not turning to face him. "I guess his unconditional love wasn't as unconditional as all that. Did he really think I'd believe that nonsense about Darth Vader turning back to the Good Side?"

"You killed him." Rupert was still incredulous.

Now, she did face him. "He killed himself. He knew what I would have to do if he left the cave."

"You killed him."

Brenna's anger flashed in her eyes, white-cold. "Only after I saved his life, Rupert! Both his and yours. His life was mine. I paid a high enough price for it."

"What...price?"

She laughed, amazed at his naiveté. "Did you think that time by the lake was the first time for me? Wake up, Rupert! What was the one thing I could give Etan Lippa that would convince him to give me the freedom to come here?"

"You killed your own father."

"His life was mine. I offered to sell his life back to him, but he broke our agreement. I wanted him to know what it was like for me all those years. He was to be as much my prisoner in the cave as I had been his prisoner on Tatooine, and again at the Academy. I would have seen to it that he had food, water, everything he needed. He knew what the consequences would be of his leaving, and he agreed to everything beforehand. I might even have let him out eventually. But when he found out I was preg—"

She stopped suddenly, and Rupert felt her guard slam back up.

"You're pregnant?" he breathed out.

She regained her composure. "I suppose you would have found out sooner or later," she said. "In fact, I'm surprised you didn't figure it out already. I was pregnant when I got here."

"You paid for our lives by agreeing to bear Lippa's child?"

"You disapprove. So did my father."

"But you killed him."

"Would you rather he killed me? Was I the only one holding a lightsaber? Didn't my father tell you that he wouldn't let me go back to Lippa, no matter what? Even after all I did for him, he still wanted to control me. Well, I won't be controlled by him, or by anyone else."

She turned and strode purposefully away.

"Where are you going?" Rupert asked.

"To fulfill a prophecy," Brenna replied. "The only thing that remains is for me to go to Lippa. You can either come with me, or stay here. It's up to you. I'll keep your precious Falcon and call your debt to me settled. You can have my ship, if you want it, the one you and my father came here in. What you do now is your own choice."

"We should do something about your father's body. Bury it, or something."

"I don't intend to wait. Leave him for your animal friends. Having been a meat-eater, you should understand their appreciation for the gift. Or stay and bury him, if you like, but I'll be gone by the time you finish."

Rupert was incredulous. "You can't just leave him there."

"It's just crude matter, Rupert. Nothing to concern yourself with."

Rupert looked at the body of his teacher and friend indecisively. He knew what he had to do, but he couldn't just leave Luke like this. Luke would want him to go with her, to turn her back if he could. "What kind of assurances would you give me if I went with you?"

"None," she said. "Except to say that if you aren't killed first, you might someday find the opportunity to either kill me, or save me."

"Or might not?"

Brenna shrugged. "The future is always in motion."

"What about the Afterlife? When Lippa sees me, he'll know something's up."

"Of course he will. But when I explain to him the advantages of the Afterlife, he'll see things my way. When one method of obtaining information fails, there's always a second. And everyone who made it to the Afterlife is gathered together in one neat, convenient location, if the need for disposal should arise. It will be somewhat more difficult, however, to convince Etan of the advantages of keeping you alive."

"So everything about the Afterlife is a hoax? You've just been using it to feed Etan Lippa information?"

"I haven't told him everything. For instance, I know in detail the defense capabilities of all the Malenta colonies and the names of their top Resistance leaders."

"You haven't told him that?"

"For the moment, it serves my purpose not to. As I said, I will not allow Lippa to control me any more than I allowed my father to. Now. I am going to my ship. You have exactly as much time as it takes me to warm it up to decide whether you want to come with me."

She turned and headed down the path. Rupert stared after her, then turned and knelt beside Luke. He didn't have time to take care of Luke's body properly, but he pulled Luke into a fireman's carry and bore him to a nearby bog. "Sorry, I can't do better than this, my friend," he murmured, and let the body roll off his shoulders into the muck.

Rupert entered the cockpit silently, as Brenna was running through the pre-flight sequence.

"Your timing is excellent," she said, without looking up. "You even have a few minutes left to spare." She barely glanced at him, and her gaze dropped immediately to the bottom of his left trouser leg. "Before you sit down, I'd advise you to tell your friend to stay where he is, unless you want his head sliced off. And move the trollis out of the passenger area to one of the cargo bays. I don't want it making a mess in there."

"How did you know about the trollis?"

She hit a switch, and the monitor showed a scene of the passenger area from a high angle. Another switch, and the picture zoomed towards the game table, where a paw could just barely be seen poking from underneath. "I had a complete analysis of ship's systems done while it was on Croyus Four, and had a few new features added. I probably know her better now than you do. It pays to be thorough, you know."

Rupert left the cockpit and returned a few minutes later.

"You may sit in the co-pilot's seat," Brenna told him, and he slid uncomfortably into the chair he had not sat in since his father had given him the ship. "And by the way, I had your cut-off switch disconnected."

She took longer to do the pre-flight than was really necessary, checking systems that weren't all that vital, including the grappling hook and the automatic hatch doors.

"You sure you don't want me to pilot?" Rupert asked. "We could have been off-planet by now."

Brenna looked at him. "Are you all that anxious to meet Etan Lippa again?"

No, Rupert had to admit to himself. He wasn't.

Brenna suddenly finished the pre-flight. It was an unusual one, certainly more thorough than any he himself had ever performed after a recent overhaul, but not a complete systems check, either.

She flipped a few more switches, and the Falcon hummed to life. "I suggest you strap yourself in." She activated the repulsor lifts, and the planet Dagobah faded in the distance.