Jade Shadow; In Transit Through Hyperspace
Seated in the pilot seat of the Shadow, Luke gripped one hand to his chest in pain and sorrow as he felt the deaths of hundreds of Jedi. He could even feel some individuals pass away; Jedi Knights Yantahar Bwua'tu, the comatose Jysella Horn, and even Master Saba Sebatyne, among so many others.
Something terrible had happened on Coruscant, Luke knew.
"Dad!" Ben's voice called from outside the cockpit.
Luke turned to see his son stand at the threshold of the cockpit, his face tinged with sadness and worry over what he, too, was feeling.
"What's happening?" Ben asked. While it was obvious even to a Knight like him, Ben still thought he had to ask, as if this wasn't possible, as if this wasn't real.
"The Jedi Order is falling, Ben," Luke said. "Just as it did under Palpatine."
Ben's face was now contorted into rage. "The Sith must've been behind this. I'm gonna make that shavit in our cell tell us-"
"The Sith aren't behind this, Ben," Luke said, stopping his son from turning away to interrogate the imprisoned Sith teenage girl in one of the Shadow's cells. "I would've felt that. No, someone else was responsible."
Ben turned back to face his father, and realization dawned upon his expression. "Daala."
Luke nodded wearily. "This is what it's all come to, Ben. Daala wanted the Order under her complete control, and when she couldn't have that, she decided to eliminate us."
He then turned back to the Shadow's control console to drop the ship out of hyperspace in the middle of an empty star system before beginning to establish a HoloNet connection. Once it was set up, he switched the frequency to a news station, specifically The Perre Needmo Newshour.
The Chevin anchorman's face reported the news with restrained shock and horror on his face. "As those on Coruscnt know," Needmo said, "Chief of State Natasi Daala has just ordered military action against the Jedi Order, which as resulted in the destruction of the Order's Temple here on Coruscant."
The image of Needmo was then replaced by various images of the smoking ruins of the Jedi Temple, a symbol of hope and freedom for all throughout the galaxy. Needmo's voice continued over these images: "Hundreds of Jedi have been reported dead, with only two dozen or so having escaped the Coruscant system with the turncoat military forces of the Alliance of the Galaxy, led by Admiral Gavin Darklighter. Among the Jedi survivors are Masters Kyp Durron, Cilghal, and Acting Grand Master Kenth Hamner."
The footage of the ruined Temple were then replaced by a montage of clips of the battle of the AG forces in orbit over Coruscant, which ended with several ships hyperjumping out of the system. "Reports are coming in that Chief Daala had ordered these aggressive actions against the Order on account of an intercepted transmission between Acting Grand Master Hamner and the leader of the Mandalorians, Mirta Gev, who had previously declared war on the Alliance of the Galaxy for the death of her grandfather, Boba Fett.
"While the details of the transmission are unclear and have not been released to the public as of yet, Admiral Nek Bwua'tu, one of many military leaders still loyal to Chief Daala, has confirmed to the press that the communication between Master Hamner and Mandalore Gev was in regards to consorting with each other's forces to act against the Chief of State and the government."
Ben then reached past his father and slammed the HoloNet connection off with the side of his fist against the button. Luke looked at his son with a disapproving glare.
"That's because Hamner knew that Gev was telling the truth about Daala causing Qwallo Mode and Valin Horn to go crazy like that," Ben said.
"Ben, we need to see more of what's going on-"
Luke halted as he reached back to reactivate the HoloNet connection when more pain and sorrow seized him and Ben. When the wave passed over, they realized, with exchanged looks of horror, that they just felt even more Jedi deaths; among them Masters Kam and Tionne Solusar, the overseers of the Jedi Academy on Ossus.
Luke then plotted a course for Ossus and the Shadow jumped for the planet.
A few hours later, the ship jumped back out to find that the once lush blue-and-green world of Ossus had been reduced to a desolate, radioactive wasteland. The landscape of the giant orb before them was nothing but black and brown; death where life had once flourished, and that was all the more truthful to the Skywalkers as they felt the ghosts of the pain and suffering of every single sentient being that once lived there.
Which included every single Jedi that had been on the planet when it had been rendered to this.
"What happened here?" Ben asked, his tone and expression drenched in grief and terror over seeing what had once been a breeding ground of skill and ability for the Jedi.
"They used a baradium missile," Luke muttered more to himself than Ben.
"What?" Ben asked, confused given that everything he knew and loved from childhood was falling apart into nothingness.
"Daala finally ordered a baradium missile to be launched," Luke clarified, not looking away from the dead planet ahead. "The first use of such a weapon, and it has now decimated the Jedi Order as we know it."
"Kam," Ben said, tears now streaming out of his eyes. "Tionne..." He backed away from the sight of the lifeless Ossus before hitting a wall next to the exit from the cockpit. He then allowed himself to sink to his hindquarters and began sobbing against his curled-up legs.
Luke watched as his son mired himself in his misery; during the Yuuzhan Vong War, when Luke and Mara were too busy fighting the invaders, Ben, as an infant and toddler, had been raised by the Masters Solusar in the Maw Shelter for young Jedi apprentices. Kam and Tionne had raised Ben as if he were their own in Luke and Mara's absence, just as they had with nearly all the children they had in Shelter. And while they would never match up to the relationship that Ben would later grow with his own parents after that war, Ben had always cherished them in his heart; and now that they were gone, he was once again feeling a pain akin to the one he felt when his own mother had died three years ago.
Eventually, Luke approached his crying son and embraced him in a wordless hug. The two of them sat there together like that for several minutes before Ben finally looked up to look his father in the eyes.
"We have to fight back," Ben said with the uncertain determination of the teenaged boy he really was. While Ben was more of an adult than most people twice his age, he could still, at times, be a simple, regular teenager who didn't really know if everything that he was talking about could really stand up to scrutiny; and right now, with the deaths of so many Jedi, including those who had raised him in his parents' absence, and his eyes streaked red with tears, that was more true than ever. "Even with who-knows-how-many-Sith are out there right now, we need to get back at Daala and bring her down!"
"I agree, Ben," Luke said with a nod. "But we need the help of everyone who will agree to be on our side. We need what remains of the Order, our turncoat allies in the Alliance, and even the Mandalorians themselves."
"And possibly the Lost Tribe of the Sith, as well," a feminine voice said from the threshold of the cockpit.
The Skywalkers quickly looked up to find their Sith prisoner - who they learned was named Vestara Khai (if that was really her name) - standing their with an arrogant smirk.
Luke and Ben quickly stood up with their lightsabers unhooked from their belts and their respective green and blue blades ignited and pointing at her.
As Vestara raised her hands above either side of her head, Luke asked, "How did you get out of your cell?"
"I have my secrets," Vestara replied.
"We'd like to know 'em," Ben said stiffly.
Vestara cocked her head. "Let's just say I've been trained since childhood to escape from cells like that, even without the Force as my aid. But that's not really important right now; what is is the fact that you'll be going up against the Alliance of the Galaxy, and you'd be damned fools if you think you won't need the Lost Tribe's help."
"Why?" Luke asked. "What do you know of the Alliance of the Galaxy?"
"Just what we've learned incognito through the spy cells we've established on certain planets," Vestara answered. "We learn fairly quickly, I'll say. Such as the history that goes back to the final years of the Old Republic all the way to after the Second Galactic Civil War, which I understand you two played a big part in."
Both Luke and Ben hesitated; Daala's accusation that Luke had propagated that war when he could have so easily ended it at the Battle of Kuat came back to haunt him for a moment. But the exiled Grand Master shook that off before saying, "But you haven't answered my first question: Why do we need the help of the Sith?"
"Because even with the allies already on your side, and the ones you'll most likely achieve with the Mandalorians," Vestara began, "you'll still be outnumbered about... I'd say three to one at worst, two to one at best."
"Those sound like good odds to me," Luke said. And I'm not even Han, he thought in spite of himself.
"Perhaps," Vestara acknowledged neutrally. "But can you really afford to wage a war on two fronts, against the Alliance of the Galaxy and the Lost Tribe of the Sith?"
"That depends on how powerful the Lost Tribe is," Ben said.
"Oh, I'd say we're pretty powerful," Vestara countered. "We have the dark side of the Force with us, and greater numbers than the Jedi, if nothing else."
"That doesn't always guarantee victory," Luke said. "Believe me, I know this firsthand. When a force like the Empire or the Sith go against the Jedi and their allies, nine times out of ten, the Jedi's enemies always lose."
"Well, given what's happening to your Order right now," Vestara countered, "this could be a one out of ten situation."
Luke grimaced. "Who are you that you could guarantee an alliance between our Order and your Lost Tribe?"
"The daughter of the Lost Tribe's Grand Lord, if you must know," Vestara answered with a smirk. "I'm pretty sure Daddy'll be able to agree to this."
"How do you know?" Ben asked.
"Because this can help the Sith reclaim the galaxy," Vestara said.
"Which gives us even less reason to ally with the Sith," Luke said.
"Do you really think so?"
"I know so," Luke replied.
"Hmm," Vestara said. "Well, tell you what; let's say you do agree to this alliance, for the sake of argument. Once we all take out the Alliance of the Galaxy, our orders can kill each other then. How does that sound?"
"You'll be the ones who will lose," Ben said confidently.
"If you believe that," Vestara said, "then what's stopping you from joining the Lost Tribe in an alliance?"
Luke and Ben looked at each other again, this time with skeptical expressions.
"We shouldn't do this, Dad," Ben said before glancing back at Vestara to make sure she wouldn't do anything stupid.
"Perhaps not," Luke said. "But she's right about one thing; at this point, the Order and its allies can't afford to have many enemies right now."
Ben looked at his father in shock before they both turned back to Vestara.
"When this is over," Luke said, "and Daala has been defeated, then the Lost Tribe will either surrender to the Jedi Order and its allies, or you will all be destroyed. It's your people's choice, but I warn you not to underestimate the Order's power, even with our reduced numbers."
Vestara sneered. "If that doesn't work on me, it certainly won't work on my father."