Galaxies Apart

Thirty-Five

Mos Eisley Spaceport. It hadn't changed one iota since Luke first jinked his speeder through its bustling streets with two droids, a Jedi Master and no questions asked in tow.

He smiled faintly at the memory. It had seemed so simple back then. The deaths of his aunt and uncle had burned raw within him. He had visualised a grand adventure, at the climax of which he would assume his longed-for place in the galaxy and avenge their deaths in one fell swoop.

For a time, running through corridors on the Death Star, dodging death at the hands of trash compactors and stormtroopers, swinging across chasms with Princesses in tow, it had seemed like that adventure was within his grasp.

He blinked as two Gamorreans walked straight through him without stopping. The Gamorreans never flinched, but then why would they? They were half a galaxy away, on the real Tatooine.

He raised his eyes to the virtual suns. So many times he'd watched them set with that wistful hope that this might be the last time, that tomorrow Owen would see sense and free him from the farming life.

He'd gotten that freedom. But as Luke had learned to his cost over the past few years, everything we want comes with a price, whether we realise it or not.

Owen. Beru. Obi-Wan. Biggs. Leia.

Yoda.

"Turn it off."

The one who called himself Kyp Durron complied with his request. Tatooine shrank to a pinprick of light amongst billions as it was replaced by the holo of the galaxy once more. Luke walked to the consoles that Kyp was operating, taking the long way around to avoid the sleeping forms of Han and Chewie. Mara Jade, still unconscious, they had placed a little apart from the rest.

Artoo bumped against Luke's leg and whistled mournfully, sensing his former Master's emotions. He had never lost that knack, Luke reflected. Threepio – currently powered down and propped up against an adjoining console, partially to conserve power and partially at Han's suggestion/threat – might consider himself the expert on protocol, but it was his diminutive counterpart who demonstrated an innate ability to relate to humans.

Luke crouched down. Artoo lacked eyes, of course, so Luke directed his attention at the central projector the droid had used to display that fateful image of Leia so long ago and far away.

"I'm sorry for leaving you, Artoo," he said softly. "I…wasn't myself. I wanted to disconnect from everything about that day over Yavin. That included you. It was wrong and selfish of me, and I'm sorry."

After a moment, the droid made a single affirmative beep. A compartment slid aside in the cylindrical chassis and Artoo's grasping tool emerged and moved toward Luke's hand. That tool, Luke knew, could crush metal if it so desired, but its tiny fingers took his hand with amazing gentleness and moved it up and down. Luke grinned, understanding, and returned the gesture, shaking 'hands' with Artoo. The droid burbled happily.

"Go power down," Luke suggested, "we're gonna need your help tomorrow with those old systems."

Artoo whistled his agreement and turned smartly on his axis before gliding off. It might have been Luke's imagination but there was a zip to his movements there hadn't been only moments before. He watched as Artoo parked himself next to his eternal companion before his lights winked out.

"We need to talk."

"I had a feeling we might," Kyp replied, returning his gaze unflinchingly. The two Jedi examined each other a moment more. Luke let his mind stretch out to the sleeping forms of Han and Chewie – he was no expert in this, not yet, but he could probably tell-

"They're sound asleep," Kyp interrupted his thoughts, obviously one step ahead. "It's been an eventful day."

Luke marvelled at the understatement inherent in that, before deciding to get straight to the point.

"Why are you keeping who you are from him?"

"You saw who my mother is?" Kyp shot back. He saw the recoil on Luke's face, on his Force sense. "Yeah, I guess you did. Do you wanna tell him that he was supposed to have a family with her?"

"I think he already knows," Luke said. "Some part of him…it's strange; Han is no Jedi, he never will be…but he looks at you and he thinks of Leia."

Kyp wasn't prepared for that, Luke saw. The young man braced himself slightly against the console. "He does?"

Luke nodded. "What's your real name?" he asked.

"Jacen. Jacen Solo."

Luke extended a hand. Looked like this was his night for building bridges. "Good to meet you, Jacen Solo."

Jacen shook his hand and smiled such a familiar crooked smile at the absurdity of it all that Luke was astonished he hadn't realised the young man's parentage sooner. "Likewise."

"Although I guess we already know each other, right? From the other timeline?"

"Yeah," was all Jacen said in response.

"You know, it's weird," Luke said ruefully. "I know I only spent a couple of days with your mother, but I'd always kinda hoped that I would be the one to-"

Jacen held up a hand. "Stop. Just…stop right there."

Luke grinned. "You probably didn't want to know that. Sorry."

"You have no idea how much I don't wanna know that."

"We're gonna get her back, Jacen," Luke said, all lightness dropping from his tone. "We'll fire up this place and go back and fix this. All of us. Put things back the way they were meant to be."

"I hope so," Jacen replied, staring deep into the virtual galaxy suspended above them, as if attempting to heal its wounds simply by wishing them away.

"I have to ask you something…" Luke said.

Jacen's momentary trance was broken. "What?"

"Yoda spoke of another…another Skywalker."

He felt that ripple of Force sense – that apprehension, that nervousness – emanate outward from Jacen before it could be suppressed. "He did?"

There was no mistaking that first sense. "You know," Luke accused him, "don't you? You know who he's talking about. Don't lie to me."

Jacen inhaled sharply. "I won't. But I don't know how helpful it would be for you to know, Luke. Time travel…it's unnatural. We're all agreed on that. We're going back to repair the damage it caused. So for me, a time traveller, to tell you all of the things I know to be true, to have happened…I'm not sure that's the best thing I can do. And that's the truth."

"I have a right to know," Luke shot back.

"I agree. But not from me, Luke. I shouldn't be here. Blast it, I haven't even been born yet."

"What happens if we succeed? What happens if things go back to how they should be?"

Jacen was thrown by the seeming change in topic. "I…I don't know," he confessed. "Time travel theory is vague at best…we might all be trapped in the past, or…"

"Or…?"

"Or we might all just…vanish, once the galaxy goes back to normal," Jacen admitted. "If we have no reason to go back and fix damage that never took place, we may simply cease to exist. Be absorbed back into the timestream."

"So if that's true," Luke pressed on, "what does it matter what you tell me? We've all got short life expectancies anyway, right?"

"It's just a theory!" Jacen threw his hands up. "What if what I tell you changes how you act when we go back? What if that means we fail?"

"What if it means we succeed?"

"I can't take that chance!"

Luke's eyes widened as realisation struck. "You don't trust me?" he said, anger rising up from within him. "That's it, isn't it? You don't trust me with the information you have? With the truth?"

Jacen refused to meet his eyes or answer the question. "This whole galaxy is wrong," he said instead. "The things that happened because of what Ben did…they've changed you, all of you, and how I remember you. I need to be sure that it hasn't changed you too much. Look at you now, Luke – you're furious at me. You haven't learned how to keep your emotions in check-"

"Ben?" Luke asked.

Jacen cursed his tongue. "Not Ben Kenobi," he reassured Luke. "Ben was…was the name of the Jedi Master who went back. He's the one we have to stop from changing the past. That is our mission Luke – the entire fate of the galaxy depends on it, in case you've forgotten?"

"You sure didn't get your mother's diplomatic skills."

And you have your father's temper.

The words remained unspoken, but only just. Jacen took a deep breath, trying to stay calm – it would be a little rich of him to accuse Luke of losing it when he was close to the edge himself.

"Things may change," he settled for. "Ask me again, sometime. But for now, for the galaxy's sake, for all of ours – please Luke, let's just work together on getting this place operational. We need that portal and we need it soon."

"Why the hurry?" Luke asked. "This place has been hidden for centuries."

"Had been," Jacen corrected him. "Have you forgotten that there is at least one other person out there who knows exactly where it is? And since he went to such lengths to change the past, I doubt he's gonna just sit back and let us undo of all his hard work."

Bring him on was the thought running through Jacen's mind as he spoke those words. Ben Skywalker had been responsible for him losing everything – for making him watch his sister Jaina die in the inferno of Site Zero's destruction.

In his dreams he could still see her…

Jedi concept or not, one way or the other he was going to have vengeance upon Luuke – Ben – whatever the hell he liked to call himself now. He would look into that twisted clone's eyes as he died.

Luke was sharp. "At least one other person?" he said.

Jacen's eyes fell on the still-unconscious Mara Jade. Luke absorbed his meaning instantly. "You think she-?"

"No. Not any more. But she was linked to him. Even though the link is broken, I'm willing to bet her last location is like a big red X in the galaxy map to Palpatine – he has that kind of power, and he knows what we're doing here," Jacen said, feeling a cold thrill go through his entire body.

Since he'd been born, he'd been told stories of the Jedi and the Sith, legends of old – the redemption of Revan, the stories of the Old Republic, and the resurgence of the Sith under Darth Sidious, the most calculating, manipulative Dark Jedi the galaxy had ever known. He had lain awake some nights as a child with Jaina talking breathlessly about what that fight aboard the second Death Star must have been like. Uncle Luke had seldom discussed it.

"He will be coming."

Both men started at that. The voice had not come from either of them, but rather from-

"Mara?" Luke said, moving over to where she lay. She refused his proffered hand and sat up herself, moving unsteadily, until she was able to rest her back against a console.

"How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough," she replied. "You're right. The Emperor will be able to track me to this location. And he will be coming. That's the bad news."

"There's good news?" Luke said, hardly able to believe it.

"Take a look for yourselves."

Jacen clicked his fingers, shaking his head at his own stupidity. "The map!" he exclaimed. His fingers began to fly over the map control console.

"How are you feeling?" Luke asked her, as Jacen continued to work.

"Not dead," she replied.

It wasn't an attempt at insolence, he realised after a beat. She looked, not to be blunt, like hell. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her face, so young and unblemished, seemed older, filled with shadow. It might have just been the low light of the control room, but he knew it was more than that; it was the lingering effects of Palpatine's full-scale invasion of her body and soul.

"Yoda is dead," he told her. She simply nodded. He felt a flash of anger at that. Fine, so he hadn't been her mentor, but he had fought to save her from Palpatine's clutches, and she-

"I was with him," she said softly. "When he died," she added, catching Luke's eye, answering his unspoken question. "He spoke with me."

"You were unconscious."

"Not in the Force."

He was about to ask her more when star systems began falling through the floor as the galaxy map zoomed in and Jacen – or Kyp, he amended to himself, he would have to get used to calling him Kyp again – gasped.

"What the hell-?!" Han spluttered. Several holographic suns passing before his field of vision had pulled him from sleep. Chewbacca was stirring nearby. The Wookiee let loose with a soft howl of amazement.

They beheld the sight of half the Imperial Fleet tearing lumps out of the other half. As they watched, three Star Destroyers succeeded in blowing another Star Destroyer's ventral hull wide open. The Destroyer lurched in space and then exploded completely, its holographic death throes lighting the incredulous faces of the onlookers inside the Control Room.

"There's your good news," said Mara Jade.

It began at that moment. Every single control panel in the huge room lit up, their lights and displays sparkling, whirring, fizzing with activity and power. The illuminations in the room increased to such a degree that everyone was forced to shield their eyes against the sudden jump in brightness.

A thrummmmm of power began to vibrate through the entire control room. Unknown to all gathered there, it had been building throughout the huge array since Palpatine's Force lightning had been discharged into the floor during the battle with Yoda. The energies contained within that lightning had jump-started the ancient systems within Site Zero back to full operational capacity. Power had been restored.

"What's happening?" Han cried. The floor beneath them was shaking almost imperceptibly, but no-one could have missed the build-up of power emanating from all around them. The Force-sensitives in the room clutched their heads – the power increase was being followed by an intensifying echo in the Force. To Luke and Mara, it was like nothing they'd ever experienced.

But Kyp…

"It's starting!" he called, his voice full of nervous excitement. "The station is charged up! It's getting ready to generate a portal!"

"No kidding?"

"No kidding," Kyp beamed at Han, blissfully unaware of just how wrong he would prove to be. "Sometime in the next twelve hours, Han ol' buddy, every single one of us is going back in time."