It looked like it could have been any planet from above. Not every planet, but any verdant one, green over most of its surface interrupted sometimes by swirls of white clouds and blue ocean-pools. Their ships set down in the place Jaina called the Middle Distance. From the elevated landing pad you could see the valley stretching out for miles. The forest clinging to its ridges seemed to meld effortlessly into the city itself. Paved roads wound around low domed structures that looked like the animal-shells. No landspeeders crossed the paths, only people and beasts of burden Jade had never seen before. When they went into the city there were only a few scattered humans and other familiar aliens. There were more blue-skinned Ferroans and even more Yuuzhan Vong. Some were warriors like the kinds in the holo-vids from the war, hulking and encased in organic armor, though most of their faces lacked the ritual scarring she'd been told of. Others wore homespun cloth robes and tunics and carried no weapons. Many adorned their faces with white paint or tattoos with restrained, almost elegant designs that surely symbolized some religious purpose Jade couldn't guess of. Some had no markings at all; from a distance they could have passed for human.

Zonama Sekot was not like other worlds. Even if she didn't feel any sort of governing planetary conscious in the Force, at least not yet, she could feel that much.

Their guide was a woman named Tahiri. Jade had met her before, on one of her rare trips off-plant, but that had been many years ago. She was a small woman, about the same age as Aunt Jaina. When the sun hit it just right her long hair took on a faint gold sheen, but most of the color had been sharply drained by time. Despite the white hair and old scars that creased her forehead she moved easily; her voice was soft but strong. She seemed curiously young and old at the same time.

Perhaps it was the company. Jaina and Tahiri talked the eager, slightly wistful talk of old friends. Jade's aunt looked younger too, despite the shadow of Davek's death hanging over them. Those two led the way as they wound through the irregular, twisting streets of the Middle Distance. At one point Tahiri explained that the settlement had a population of over six million beings, mostly Yuuzhan Vong. That amazed Jade. The primitive technology made it feel like a mere village.

At one point Tahiri dropped back from Jaina and sidled along Allana. "We've been looking over the data from Karfeddion," she said. "Thank you for sending it."

"It's not much," Allana admitted.

"It's enough for our shapers to make some educated guesses. I'm sure you'd like to hear them."

"We're here for anything they helps us stop that thing Savyar used."

"Darth Xoran," Jade reminded them. She'd never think of her mother's killer as anything else.

The name stopped Tahiri in her tracks. "I'm sorry, are you saying a Sith is behind this?"

Ben frowned; they were in the middle of a public street, surrounded by Yuuzhan Vong, but almost all of the aliens were moving past them briskly, minding their own business. Jade knew that Tahiri trained a small host of Jedi here, which might explain why their robes weren't garnering much attention.

They shifted off the side of the path, to a place near one of the domed buildings Tahiri had called damuteks. They formed into a tight huddle: Jade, Ben, Tahiri, Jaina, Allana, and the senator's bodyguard Tanith Zel, a tall red-haired woman little older than Jade.

"Savyar is Darth Xoran," Ben said grimly. "She was at Hapes too."

Tahiri's green eyes stared into nothing. "Hapes. You mean..."

"She killed my mother," Jade said softly.

Tahiri blinked. "Oh. Oh Jade, I am so sorry… But Ben, are you telling me everything that's happening in Senex-Juvex, everything at Hapes, was all this Sith?"

"Not all of it," Allana said. "The discontent in Senex-Juvex was very really, and has been for centuries. And Hapes was never Jedi-friendly, even when my mother ruled. The Sith fan flames that are already there."

"Which Sith, though?" Tahiri looked at Ben. "Darth Krayt? The Lost Tribe? Something new?"

"I have no idea. I wish I knew."

"But you're sure Savyar is a Sith."

"We ran into her on Varadan," Jade said. "She nearly killed us. Me and two more apprentices. Master Mjalu was the only reason we survived."

"Mjalu didn't," Ben said simply.

"I met her only a few times," Tahiri said. "She was a great Jedi. She was very… gentle."

"She was," Jade sniffed. "But she fought Darth Xoran. She almost beat her, even without weapons."

Tahiri sighed. "So Savyar is Xoran. A Sith. Do we know anything else?"

"I wish we did," Ben shook his head.

"We do know something else," Allana said. "Somehow she found a Yuuzhan Vong worldship and turned it into a superweapon. Do any of your people have theories on how?"

"They do, actually," Tahiri said. "Come on. We're almost there."

The rest of the walk was brisk, tense. Nobody talked; everyone wanted to get to their destination and see what was waiting. What Tahiri called the shaper's damutek was a kind of spiraling column resting atop a ridge. It looked like a watchtower poised over the rest of the valley. The inside was hollow, and a smooth organic pathway corkscrewed around the outer wall toward the opening at the top of the column. Dimly, Jade wondered what they did when it rained.

Tahiri led them up one full turn of the ramp to a surprising sight: two angular artificial consoles, their metallic bodies hooked into the building's natural neural network by some kind of transponder. There were two Yuuzhan Vong waiting for them, both older. Tahiri introduced the female with the dark robes and shaper's headdress as Kodra Val. The male, with a gray face markedly bereft of any scars or tattoos, was Viull Gorsat.

"'Scut' is what we used to call him," Tahiri said with a little knowing smile. "But that was a long time ago."

"Your name doesn't sound human," Tanith observed.

"I was raised by humans," the Yuuzhan Vong said in accent-less Basic. "And I was a pilot for Wraith Squadron, as Tahiri said a long time ago. But my passion was always finding ways Yuuzhan Vong and Alliance technology could interact."

"Zonama Sekot was the job offer he'd been waiting for," Kodra Val said.

"You could say that." Gorsat placed a hand on the console. "We've been going over the information from Karfeddion. We think we're starting to get an idea of how that worldship operates."

"Dovin basals are, fundamentally, organisms that manipulate gravity," Kodra Val supplied. "Normally they're used for propulsion, or to collapse gravitic forces into a singularity, but the worldship seems to have simply used that energy to simulate physical force. The worldship basically punched through the fleets at Karfeddion."

"Sounds like Centerpoint Station," Jaina observed.

"Your people never did that during the war," Allana said. "No offense, but I figure they would have done it if it were easy."

"It's not easy at all," said Kodra Val. "To make a weapon like that, new dovin basals would have to be bred and implanted in the worldship's hull. They'd also have to coordinate with the worldship's brain and learn to act as one to create that kind of gravitic punch."

"Do you know how they could have made it?" asked Jaina.

Tahiri sighed. "I know a lot of Yuuzhan Vong went rogue once, but that was thirty years ago. We haven't had any movement of that kind of strength. Nothing close."

"Still," Jaina said, "Whoever made that worldship into a superweapon must have known what they were doing. I can't imagine anyone except a Yuuzhan Vong shaper being able to do that."

Kodra Val's eyes narrowed. "I can think of a few shapers we've lost track of over the past few years. None I've taught personally, but I've heard of a few who dropped out of our training programs. But that's not unusual. There are many Yuuzhan Vong on Zonama Sekot who've simply gone off into the jungle to live as they please. Unless they cause trouble we let them do what they want."

"Well, we need to figure out what shapers went missing and look for a pattern," Jaina said. "It might be our best chance of figuring how to stop that monster."

"It was a Sith weapon," Ben said grimly.

"The Sith." Gorsat frowned. "Well. That explains too much."

"What do you know about the Sith?" asked Tanith.

"They came here thirty years ago," Tahiri said. "They were allied with that rogue Yuuzhan Vong fleet we mentioned. There was… well, a lot happened, but we drove them off in the end."

"Vilath Dal," Kodra Val said, out of nothing.

It sounded like a name. "Who is that?" asked Jade.

"He was our first Master Shaper after we settled on Zonama Sekot," she said. "He was young then, but very smart. Very ambitious, too much so. When he decided he wasn't allowed to shape things he wanted here he joined the Sith."

"If he was with the Sith back then he should have died," Ben said.

Kodra Val shook her head. "We never confirmed his death. Of course, there was so much destruction it was impossible to be sure. But if he escaped..." The tentacles in her headdress writhed as if pained by a memory. "Vilath Dal was a genius, one of the best minds the Yuuzhan Vong have ever had. If he'd been born in another time he could have become a legendary shaper. But instead..."

"He sold his talents to the Sith to make monsters," Jaina said. "I've heard that story before."

"We don't know it's Vilath Dal," Gorsat said.

"But if it's not him I bet it's one of his disciples," said Tahiri. "Like Jaina said, we need to see if any shapers might have slipped off-world. Not just shapers. Warriors and other castes too."

"We'll do everything we can," Kodra Val said.

Allana said, "I'm here with the full authority of the Alliance Senate, so if you want me to pass any requests to Chief of State Sevash, the military or intelligence, I'll do it. Don't hesitate to ask."

"We won't," Gorsat said. "The Yuuzhan Vong have been a peaceful people for almost half a century now. If Savyar- Darth Xoran- thinks she can drag their name down with her, we'll do everything to stop her."

After that they slowly made their way back down the curved ramp. Tahiri sidled up to Allana and said, "Thank you so much for everything. It means a lot, knowing that we've got official backing here."

"Sevash trusts me, and I'm his link to Zonama Sekot. If it weren't for that..."

"Like I said, I'm thankful you're here." Tahiri put a hand on Allana's arm. "Whenever you want to see your mother, I have a flier standing by."

Allana stiffened. Tanith shifted awkwardly. "Is my mother… still where she was?"

Tahiri nodded. Her smile was weak, sad. "We don't have a way of contacting her, but I think you should be fine stopping by any time you want."

"It's been a long time since I saw Tenel Ka," Jaina said. "I'd like to go as soon as we have time."

Allana was hesitant. She kept her face stiff but everyone could tell; she couldn't hide anything in the Force. Jade was surprised at her indecision, confused. She asked, "Don't you want to see your mother?"

Allana looked at Jade. Their eyes met and for a moment it looked like Allana's would well with tears. Then she blinked them dry, stiffened her face, and said, "You're right. Tahiri, we can go whenever you get that shuttle ready."

"Not a problem. Come on. Let's start back for the landing field."

The three older women walked ahead. Jade and her father fell behind and Tanith lingered with them.

"Thank you," the Hapan said.

Jade blinked. "What did I do?"

"More than you know." As Tanith watched Allana's back her mouth set into a grim straight line.

-{}-

"We can't take back our mistakes," Admiral Worhaven said. "We can only try not to repeat them."

He looked out the window of his office on as he said it. Normally the space around Bastion was dotted with star destroyers, as befitting the capital world of Imperial Space, but not looked hauntingly empty. Most of those ships had been redistributed to Yaga Minor and Bilbringi to fill the holes left by the fleet lost as Karfeddion. The Jagged Fel, all that black nothing over Bastion felt like like an abyss waiting to swallow them all.

"What does that mean, practically speaking?" Jag asked.

"It means we're not letting the Alliance drag us into any more wars. We're not letting our good soldiers die because of their miscalculations." Worhaven turned and looked at Jag, slumped in the chair across the admiral's desk. "I thought you of all people would understand that."

"I understand your reaction. But still, the Empire is part of agreements. Treaties. There's the Treaty of Anaxes-"

"Never officially invoked," Worhaven said. "And I doubt the Alliance senate will do so now."

"There's also the Alderaan Convention." When Worhaven didn't argue he said, "As long as that Vong superweapon is roaming the stars, none of us are safe."

"Right now that weapon is in Senex-Juvex somewhere. That's the far side of the galaxy from us. It is not our problem and never was."

"If you always felt that, why did you agree to send a fleet there in the first place?"

Worhaven sighed and sat down at his desk. "I didn't know how much it would cost."

Softer, Jag said, "None of us could have imagined."

"What are you suggesting we do? Throw more ships against that thing? Send more good soldiers to die in a fight that has nothing to do with us?"

"I'm not saying that. I'm saying..." Jag sighed. "I'm sorry, Admiral. I'm not quite sure what I'm saying anymore."

Worhaven softened his tone. "No one can blame you for that. The fact is, all this is academic. The Alliance isn't going to invoke Anaxes or Alderaan right now. The Alliance doesn't know what it's doing. You've heard the latest?"

"I heard the League of Free Worlds of Senex-Juvex submitted formal articles of withdrawal from the Alliance. And the senate voted to accept them." Jag added, "It was a narrow vote. Barely passed the fifty percent threshold."

"Senex-Juvex is no longer part of the Alliance. That means it's not our concern or the Alliance's."

Jag thought about telling Worhaven that Senex-Juvex was now controlled by a Sith, but the admiral was an old-school Imperial in most ways and it wouldn't make a different to him. Instead Jag pointed out, "There are still worlds under control of the Houses. They've refused to acknowledge Savyar's authority and consider themselves part of the Alliance."

"And the senate?"

"I'm not sure where the senate stands."

Worhaven drummed his fingers on his desk. "I suppose I'll give you credit where it's due, Mister Fel. When you and Admiral Reige put in your…. reforms, you didn't inflict us with a huge, bickering legislative body."

"I figured an elected Head of State and Moff Council was bad enough," Jag said, faintly smiling.

"The Moff Council is drafting new legislature to make foreign ventures more difficult. The military will be giving it full support."

Jag didn't have the strength to argue. He didn't even know if he was on the right side any more. "Then that's that, I suppose."

It took great effort to push himself out of the chair. His knees ached as he shuffled for the door. Since Karfeddion he'd felt very old.

"Mister Fel," Worhaven said as he neared the door. "I'll say again, I'm very sorry about your son. From what I'd heard he was a model officer."

The words stung, but Jag forced a smile. "Thank you, Admiral. I know he was."

Jag rode his shuttle down to Ravelin from there, not because he wanted to go home, but because there was no place else. Davek was dead, Jaina was off on Zonama Sekot, and Arlen was chasing a criminal's trail. The Fel family condominium was all yawning empty spaces, and the memory of his family echoed between the walls.

Worhaven's last words kept hurting. Deep down, a part of Jagged has been pleased when his younger son was born without Jedi powers. As much as he loved Jaina and Arlen, he knew that a major part of their lives was something he could never touch and it had always bothered him. But then there had been Davek, as good an officer as Worhaven had said, a model soldier in the reformed Empire that was so much Jagged's creation. He'd been proud of the reforms and proud of his son, and that pride had joined them together in his mind into something even more: a legacy, made in his image, that would carry on once he was gone.

No more. Davek was gone and maybe the Empire he'd remade was going too, he didn't know. He couldn't be sure now. Since Karfeddion, he'd wondered how he'd ever been sure of anything at all.

-{}-

The flyer carried them high across the sky in a flight that was smooth and soundless, like only Sekot's organic vessels could provide. Rolling mountains, broad fields, lakes past beneath them. Jaina took the control and Allana sat beside her; neither woman spoke for the entire ride.

Allana spotted the mountain from memory. It rose so high in the sky its peak was ever-white with snow, but her mother's camp was only halfway up, in a space still thick with bora trees. There was just enough clear space downslope for the two-person flyer to set down. From the landing zone it was a short ten-minute hike uphill. Despite being seventeen years older, Jaina took the climb as fast as her niece.

It was late afternoon this part of the planet. The sky was starting to tint with the warm colors of sundown and Allana could see the thin smoke-trail of a campfire rising up. She paused before cresting the last ridge and looked at Jaina. The older woman placed a hand on her arm.

"I'll go first if you want," Jaina offered.

Her kindness made Allana feel a coward. "No. I'll do it. Can you just… give us a few minutes?"

"Take your time."

With that, Allana marched over the final rise. She saw the campfire, the broad circular tent hoisted around the thick trunk of a tree, and the woman sitting before the flame, roasting some meat on a spit. There was still some red left in the fraying gray braids hanging off her shoulders, but only a little. She wore animal-hide clothes and turned the spit with one hand; her other arm stopped just above the elbow.

"Hello, mother," Allana said when she reached the fire.

The former queen of Hapes look up at her daughter and didn't rise. "Would you like some food?" she asked.

Allana looked at the fire. "What is it?"

"The Yuuzhan Vong call it sem'nath. An avian creature. It tastes good even without proper seasoning and it's surprisingly nutritious."

"All right." Allana looked around. "Is there a place to sit?"

Her mother looked at the ground. Allana settled cross-legged in the grass. Tenel Ka turned the spit, watched the meat cook, and asked, "How often do you wear Jedi robes now?"

"Not often. I haven't worn them in months, actually."

"That is unfortunate."

"It is," Allana agreed. Her eyes drifted to the rancor-tooth lightsaber, still dangling from the animal-skin belt lashed around her mother's waist. She watched the older woman's arm. The muscles were still firm and strong, their motion plain beneath skin aged and weathered by over a decade living outdoors.

"When was the last time you had visitors?" Allana asked.

Tenel Ka let go of the spit. "I am not sure. A long time, certainly."

"Weeks? Months?" Allana paused. "Years?"

"Does time matter so much?"

"I think it does."

"Of course. You have all the responsibility of authority. All those people who depend on you and set their watches by your motion. I remember all of that."

Allana didn't bother to ask if her mother ever missed it. "It's difficult sometimes. But I'm trying to do my best for the people of Hapes. For the galaxy."

"Of course." Tenel Ka stared at the flames. "You were always… dutiful."

"Was I? I seem to remember giving Grandma and Grandpa plenty of trouble."

"They adored you even when you did. Especially when you did." The tiniest hint of a smile bent the the creases in her face, but it quickly died. "You were their last link to their son."

"I know, Mom. Have you..." She trailed off. She shouldn't have let the thought into her head.

"Yes?" Tenel Ka looked at her, expectant.

"It's nothing."

"Ask." Quietly demanding.

"I just wanted to know whether, in all the time you've spent here… I wondered if anyone ever talked to you. Grandma, maybe. Or Zekk, or Grand Master Skywalker."

"Your father."

She nodded. "Have you?"

Tenel Ka looked at the fire. She turned to spit again. The meat was almost done. "No," she said.

Allana looked at the grass beneath her. "What about the planet's guiding intelligence? Has it ever appeared to you?"

"Not to my knowledge."

Tenel Ka stood up and retrieved an animal-tooth knife from her belt. She began peeling off strips of charred meat and handed one long piece to her daughter. Allana took it and chewed. A strange taste; she couldn't recall eating Vongformed meat before.

When she swallowed she said, "I didn't come here just to come."

"Of course you didn't."

Allana fought a wince. "Jaina came with me."

"Then you have a reason for being here."

"Mom… Her son is dead."

That got to her. Tenel Ka turned gray eyes on her daughter. "Arlen or Davek?"

"Davek."

"How?"

"There was a battle. A really big one. It's a long story but millions of soldiers died, including Davek. They were killed by a Yuuzhan Vong worldship that's been turned into a superweapon."

Tenel Ka's face went grim. She looked back at the fire. "So that's why you're here."

"Mom, there's more. That worldship's commander is a Sith."

Her mother stiffened. "Is that a fact?"

"Mom, it's the same Sith from Hapes. The one who killed Katia. She must have been the one behind everything then, just like she's behind it all now."

Tenel Ka stared. Her voice was suddenly urgent. "How do you know that?"

"Jade got close enough to feel her in the Force. It's the same feeling as when Katia died."

Tenel Ka looked at the fire. Her hunched shoulders trembled. "I felt that too. I felt Zekk die just hours before that, but Katia…. I did not know her as well. I shouldn't have been able to feel her death in the Force, but her last moments were such... agony."

"I know. It's why Jade hid herself from the Force for so long."

"Jade… Is she here?"

"She is. So is Ben. I brought Tanith too."

"Tanith."

"Yes. She looks just like Taryn did as a teenager. You see old holos and its uncanny."

For a second Tenel Ka's face seemed to waver, collapse. Just before the tears came she gathered herself and stared adamantly at the fire. "Why are you telling me this, Allana?"

"Mom, if you're looking for echoes of the past you can find real, breathing ones just an hour away. Just a minute away."

"What makes you think I'm not perfectly content to remain here?"

Allana considered her answer carefully. "Because I know the woman who raised me. The mother who loved me. I think I know what she needs, deep down."

Tenel Ka took out her knife and peeled away another strip of meat. "You've been your own woman for a long time."

"I don't think so. I'm what you made me, Mom. You and Grandma especially."

Tenel Ka chewed, swallowed, and stared into the fire for another minute. Then she said, "We should call Jaina."

"Do you want to do it?"

Tenel Ka closed her eyes. She made no sound, but within a minute Jaina stepped across the clearing, through the deepening gloom to the campfire.

"Have enough for three?" Allana's aunt asked.

"I was not expecting company," Tenel Ka said, "But I'll always have something for you, my friend."

Jaina stood in front of them, hands on her hips. "Fresh-cooked meat's nice, but I was hoping for a warmer greeting."

Very reluctantly, Tenel Ka smiled. "This is a fact," she said, got to her feet, and clasped Jaina in a strong one-armed hug. Allana stayed where she was, seated in the grass, looking up to the two old women held in a tight embrace. There was so much that bound them together, things even Allana could never fully understand. But just seeing them like this, seeing her mother let slip some of the emotions she'd kept walled and guarded for so many years, was enough to give her hope.

"Friend Jaina, I am so sorry about your son." Tenel Ka said as they pulled away.

"It's all right, really" Jaina said and squeezed the other woman's shoulders. "There's no proof his ship was destroyed."

Tenel Ka frowned. "I see. Allana told me-"

"I know. What happened was a massacre. But there's no proof. Davek's missing, not dead. Just like Jacen was missing in the Yuuzhan Vong War. But he came back to us."

Tenel Ka looked hard at her friend, probably trying to figure out whether Jaina really believed what she said or if she was just fighting grief with denial. Allana still wasn't sure which was true.

"I see." Tenel Ka looked at the fire. "We should eat now, before it burns any more."

"I don't suppose you've got a bottle of lomin-ale or spice wine to wash it down?"

"I'm afraid not."

"That's okay. I'm sure we can improvise."

They sat down around the fire, all three of them, and began to pick apart their meal. The light in the sky died but the fire blazed on, bright and warm. It was a start, Allana thought. There was still such a long way to go, but the light was a start.