Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan or George Lucas.
Luke, Mara, and Lowbacca (in an escape pod), on Kesh.
The escape pod approaches a Keshiri island.
Mara. This is Kesh. Emperor's Bones, how did the Anakin Solo travel so fast overnight? That's like . . .
Luke. Five hundred thirty light years.
Mara. [stares at Luke] How do you know that?
Luke. I . . . I'm not sure.
Mara. [frowns] Luke. What's our position?
Luke. Quadrant U-10, at the edge of Wild Space. [frowns] Stang. How did I know that?
Mara. Because of your father. When you're at sea, you have perfect bearings. This is so astral.
Lowbacca taps Luke's shoulder.
Lowbacca. Another ship is coming.
Luke turns to see the GA Star Destroyer Mon Mothma draws nearer.
Luke. We can't let them catch us. They'll ask too many questions.
Mara. Keep going into the Ragnos Lakes.
Luke directs the escape pod into the Ragnos Lakes, moving in on Meori Cove.
There. Past that sandbar.
Luke, Mara, and Lowbacca deboard the escape pod, cover it up, then begin marching onto the Meori Cove.
Come on. It's just down the bank.
Luke. What is?
Mara. Just follow.
Luke and Lowbacca follow Mara through the Keshiri landscape.
Lowbacca. I don't like this.
Mara. Here.
Luke, Mara, and Lowbacca stop at an old campsite once used by Jacen Caedus, Jaina Solo, and Mara Jade.
Luke stares at the place in awe.
Luke. A Jedi hideout. You made this place?
Mara. Jaina and I . . . and Jacen.
Luke. So, you don't think Jacen will look for us here?
Mara. [shakes her head] We made a dozen safehouses like this. I doubt Jacen even remembers where they are . . . or cares.
Mara sits and begins rifling through their bags.
Luke. [to Lowbacca] Lowie. Would you mind scouting around outside? Look for a Wild Space convenience store or something.
Lowbacca. Convenience store?
Luke. Yes, for snacks . . . like doughnuts or something. Just don't go too far.
Lowbacca. Doughnuts. I will look for doughnuts on Kesh. [calling] Here, doughnuts.
Exit Lowbacca.
Luke. Mara. I'm sorry, you know, about seeing Jacen.
Mara. It's not your fault.
Mara starts cleaning her vibroblade.
Luke. He let us go too easily.
Mara. [nods] I was thinking the same thing. What we overheard him say about a gamble, and "they'll take the bait" . . . I think he was talking about us.
Luke. The Healing Crystals are the bait? Or Corran?
Mara. [studies her vibroblade] I don't know, Luke. Maybe he wants the Healing Crystals for himself. Maybe he's hoping we'll do the hard work, and then he can steal it from us. I just can't believe he would poison the tree.
Luke. What did he mean that Jaina would have been on his side?
Mara. He's wrong.
Luke. You don't sound sure.
Mara. [glares at Luke] Skywalker. You know who you remind me of most? Jaina. You guys are so much alike, it's scary. I mean, either you would have been best friends, or you would have strangled each other.
Luke. Let's go with best friends.
Mara. Jaina got angry with her father at times. So do you. Would you turn against Tython because of that?
Luke. No.
Mara. Okay, then. Neither would she. Jacen's wrong.
Luke. So, what did Jacen mean about Wookiees? He said you of all beings . . .
Mara. I know what he said. He . . . he was talking about the real reason Jaina died. [sighs] You can never trust a Wookiee, Luke. Six years ago, on the night Corran was leading us to the Jedi Praxeum . . .
Enter Lowbacca, with a handful of doughnuts.
Lowbacca. Doughnuts.
Mara stares at Lowbacca.
Mara. Where did you get that? We're in the middle of no where. There's nothing around for . . .
Lowbacca. Fifteen meters. Lost Tribe of the Sith shop, just over the hill.
Luke and Mara follow Lowbacca back to the Lost Tribe of the Sith.
Mara. This is bad. This shouldn't be here. It's wrong.
Luke. What? It's a doughnut shop.
Mara. Shh.
Luke. Why are we whispering? Lowbacca went in and bought a dozen. Nothing happened to him.
Mara. He's a monster.
Luke. Oh, come on, Mara. Lost Tribe of the Sith doesn't mean monsters or an actual Sith tribe. It's a chain. We have them all over Coruscant.
Mara. A chain. And don't you find it strange that one appeared right after you told Lowbacca to find doughnuts? Right here in the middle of Kesh?
Luke frowns thoughtfully.
It could be a nest.
Lowbacca whimpers nervously.
Luke. A nest for what?
Mara. Haven't you ever wondered how food chains pop up so fast? One day, there's nothing. And then the next day, boom, there's a new restaurant or a tapcafe or whatever? First a single store, then two, then four, exact replicas spreading across the galaxy?
Luke. Er, no. I've never thought about it.
Mara. Skywalker. Some of the chains multiply so fast because all their locations are Forcefully linked to the life force of a monster. Some children of Yun-Shuno figured out how to do it back in the Imperial Period. They breed . . .
Enter the Zillo Beast, ninety-seven meter-high monster with three arms, a spiked tail, a tough hide, and a forked tongue, covered in green and brown scales.
Mara freezes.
Luke. What? They breed what?
Mara. No sudden moves. Very slowly, turn around.
Luke turns and sees the Zillo Beast.
Luke removes his lightsaber.
[aside, to Luke] Not yet.
Luke nods and waits.
The Zillo Beast steps forward, sniffing around, as if it is hunting. It is ripping apart a tent, which has clearly come from the Jedi campsite.
Luke gulps.
Luke. [aside] I've seen a stuffed Zillo Beast head trophy at the Praxeum before. But that does nothing to prepare me for the real thing.
Trembling, Lowbacca steps back and accidentally snaps a twig.
Drawn by the sound, the Zillo Beast turns toward the Jedi and hisses.
Mara. Scatter.
Mara dives right, and Luke rolls to the left. They just barely avoid a blast of an acidic poison ejected by the Zillo Beast. It burns right through a Keshiri tree, toppling toward Lowbacca, who stares, petrified.
Luke. Lowie.
Luke jumps forward and knocks Lowbacca out of the way, just as the Zillo Beast lunges. The tree topples on top of the fierce monster.
The Zillo Beast stumbles backward, yanking itself free, then wailing in outrage at the fallen tree. The beast shoots acid at the tree and destroys it.
[to Lowbacca] Move.
Luke activates his lightsaber, drawing the Zillo Beast's attention.
The Zillo Beast hisses and bares its teeth, turning away from Lowbacca.
Instinctively, Luke slices off one of the Zillo Beast's heads.
Mara. No.
In a flash, two more heads grow in the decapitated head's place.
Skywalker. You just opened another Lost Tribe of the Sith shop somewhere.
Luke dodges a spray of acid.
Luke. I'm about to die. And you're worried about that? How do we kill it?
Mara. Fire. We have to have fire.
Luke. [aside] Now that she says that, I remember the story. The Zillo Beast's heads will only stop multiplying if we burn the stumps before they regrow. That's what Anakin did, anyway. But we have no fire.
Luke backs up toward the river, followed by the Zillo Beast.
Mara fights off the Zillo Beast with her vibroblade, but it knocks her back into the mud.
Lowbacca. No hitting my friends.
Lowbacca charges, putting himself between Mara and the Zillo Beast.
Lowbacca smashes at the Zillo Beast with his immense Wookiee strength.
Luke and Mara back up, dodging sprays of acid.
Luke. [aside] I know we're only postponing our deaths. Eventually, we'll make a mistake, and this thing will kill us.
Enter the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera, manned by her long-dead Imperial crew and commanded by Jedi Knight Saba Sebatyne.
Mara. What's that noise?
Lowbacca. Star Destroyer.
Luke ducks as the Zillo Beast spits acid at him.
Luke. What?
Saba's Voice. There. Prepare the proton torpedoez.
Tschel's Voice. They're too close, Master Sebatyne.
Saba's Voice. Kriff the demigodz. Full steam ahead.
Tschel's Voice. Aye, Master Sebatyne.
The Chimaera moves forward.
Saba's Voice. Fire at will, Major Tschel.
Mara. Hit the dirt.
Mara dives, followed by Luke.
The Chimaera fires its proton torpedoes at the Zillo Beast and blasts it to pieces.
The Zillo Beast explodes and dies.
Mara. Gross.
Lowbacca. Imperial Star Destroyer.
Luke, Mara, and Lowbacca look up to see the Star Destroyer Chimaera, onetime flagship of Imperial Captain Horst Strage.
Enter Saba and the reanimated corpse of Tschel, a young Imperial officer.
Saba. Foolz. But this one supposez this one must rescue you. Come aboard.
Luke, Mara, and Lowbacca follow Saba and Tschel on board the Chimaera.
Exit all.