When Daala finally returned home in her high-rise apartment after a long day at work, she was about to remove her Chief of State's uniform when she froze. Sitting on her incredibly expensive sofa was Grand Lord Darish Vol, once again wearing his light-skinned makeup.
"I paid a visit to the LiMerge building earlier today while you were at work," Vol said without preamble. "Very interesting research you have your scientists working on there."
"What have you done?" Daala asked with both fear and anger.
Vol smirked. "Relax, Chief of State," he said as he stood up and walked over to her casually. "I did nothing more than a simple reconnaissance. Again, none of your security or scientific personnel noticed me thanks to my use of the Force; and you will find much of your security footage scrambled beyond recovery. As for the research itself, I allowed it to continue unmolested."
"If you know what I had those scientists working on, why didn't you-"
"I did not wish to waste any effort in destroying it," Vol said. "It was not worth it."
"Not worth it?"
"What you are having those scientists work on is a fool's errand," Vol said. "You cannot hope that they can succeed."
"Why is that? Why do you think it's a fool's errand?"
"The Force is more than a simple matter of manipulating midi-chlorians. It is a power beyond your understanding, and one that you can only hope to achieve, unless you were born with it, when you drink from the Font of Power and bathe in the Pool of Knowledge. Anything else is folly."
"So why did you come here?" Daala asked.
"I just wanted to let you know that there is nothing that you can hide from me or the Lost Tribe of the Sith, Chief Daala," Vol intoned. "Now I leave it up to you as to whether or not you wish to discontinue that research; as I have made clear, what you hope to achieve is a waste of resources."
Daala's mouth dropped in realization of Vol's true motives in this meeting. "Is this your diplomatic solution, Lord Vol?"
"To what?"
"To having me willingly discontinue my research into midi-chlorians without resorting to violence," Daala said. "After all, what you want from me is more resources, such as in armaments and ships. If you had to resort to going after the LiMerge building, or at least resort to sending some of your Sith to do the job, this is what would happen: there would be a decrease of potential resources for you to exploit and you may even lose a few Sith. You have nothing to gain from destroying the research and killing everybody there; if anything, it might also give you and your little Tribe some unwanted attention from the local authorities, even if it was over at an out-of-the-way location like the LiMerge. And I might not be in the mood to tell them to stand down from hunting you or your people down."
Vol was silent for several heartbeats before he finally spoke. "Fine. Continue to waste your resources on this pitiable experiment you have running, Daala. What the Tribe could have gained from a reallocation of those resources would have been negligible anyway."
"Will that be all, Lord Vol? Or would you like to stay for some coffee? Some tea?" She asked all of this with a self-satisfied smile.
Vol said nothing more before he left the apartment. Daala's grin only widened as she went to the refresher to take a long shower.
. . .
Once again, Jacen watched Ben as he went through Ataru and Djem So in the Fountain Palace's dojo. But this time, at his side, Jacen's Uncle Luke watched with him.
It was several minutes before Ben finished his rounds and stopped. And it was only then that he turned to notice that both Luke and Jacen were standing by the dojo's entrance.
But instead of giving his cousin a death glare as he might normally do, Ben gave his father a surprised stare.
"You're getting sloppy, you know," Jacen said. "Those techniques need to be executed with more precision strikes and a greater sense of personal balance. There were several instances where an actual opponent could have used it to his advantage to knock you off your feet."
Ben said nothing as he looked between his father and cousin, appearing to be unsure of what to say or do next.
"Well, normally," Jacen as he looked to the Jedi Grand Master, "he would have said something along the lines of, 'You have nothing to teach me,' or, 'Mind your own business,' or, 'I'm a Jedi Knight, not an apprentice anymore.' I wonder why he's speechless now, Uncle Luke."
"I may have a few ideas, Jacen," Luke said as he and his nephew entered the dojo to approach Ben. "All of them related to everything you told me in our last hypercomm transmission."
When they were both about a meter from Ben, they stopped in their tracks.
"Hello, Ben," Luke finally said to his son. "Jacen's been telling me some very... interesting things about your time here on Hapes. I'd like to hear your side of the story, if you don't mind."
Ben was silent for quite a while before his father asked, "Well?"
Ben allowed a few more seconds to pass before he finally said, "I was trying to find some happiness, Dad. And Vestara was providing it for me."
"Vestara, huh?" Luke asked. "And do you mind telling me who this Vestara is? When did you meet? Why didn't you tell Jacen or even me about it in one of our own holotransmissions?"
Ben then looked off to the side, as if there were something more interesting going on away from his father and cousin's general direction.
"Ben, look at me," Luke said. "You're gonna answer my questions. Because I have quite a few concerns about Vestara, given what Jacen told me about her."
"Oh, what did he tell you?" Ben snapped as he looked directly into Luke's eyes. "How she was a bad hostess to him after he threatened to cut her door down just to find out what I was doing there?"
"Jacen told me about that," Luke said evenly. "But that's not quite what concerns me."
"Then what?" Ben asked, his negative attitude still going.
"Jacen told me... that her Force-presence was quite... undefinable to him," Luke said.
Ben looked at his cousin with a questioning look. "What do you mean undefinable?"
"Like she was hiding something from me through the Force," Jacen answered.
Now Ben looked concerned. "Are you saying she's Force-sensitive?"
Jacen nodded. "I figured you didn't notice. I didn't out her right then because I didn't want to make assumptions, but there was something not quite right about her."
"What are you implying?" Ben asked. "That she might be a... a... a Sith or something?" The very idea obviously offended him.
"Again, I didn't want to make any assumptions," Jacen stated. "But it was obvious that she was having a negative influence on you, Ben. I don't know what it is, but your father and I both intend to find out."
"Jacen suggested that we go right to Vestara's place ourselves," Luke said. "But I ultimately decided that it would be best if you come with us."
Ben still appeared to be reeling from the possibility that Vestara was hiding her Force-sensitivity from him. So it took him a few moments before resolve returned to his expression and he said, "If you meet her and you find there's nothing wrong, will you leave her alone?"
"If she's not responsible for your attitude, Ben," Jacen said, "I have no intention of ever chopping her door down again."
"If all Vestara is is someone minding her own business," Luke said, "then all we have to worry about is the rot inside you that Jacen's been sensing."
"Rot?" Ben asked. "What do you mean rot?"
"It feels as if your being is withering from the inside, Ben," Jacen explained. "You have hate, you have anger. If you haven't been feeling it gnaw at your soul, then I don't know what you've been feeling."
"Jacen, you don't know what you're talking about," Ben said defensively. "There's no 'rot' in me. You better check your Force-senses."
"No, I sense it, too, Ben," Luke said. "When we're finished with Vestara, whatever comes of it, I'll take you back to Shedu Maad, Ben. I sense that you need help. Tekli has been shifting her focus from medical matters to that of the spiritual; I foresee her becoming a Master before the end of the year. Perhaps she can help you."
"I... I don't have any kinda rot," Ben said, disbelief permeating his entire being now. "I don't know what you're talking about, Jacen."
"I think you do," Jacen replied firmly.
"No, you don't. If anyone's got any rot, it's you!"
"What are you talking about?" Jacen asked.
"Jacen, I think it's obvious that Ben's in denial," Luke chimed in. He returned his attention to his son. "Ben, please. There's something wrong with you. We wanna help."
"Dad, I don't need any help, I'm fine."
"Ben..."
"I said I'm fine." His tone was obviously wavering.
"I heard what you said, but what you're saying isn't matching up with-"
"I don't need any help!" Ben yelled. "Not from either of you! And you should both leave Ves alone!"
Both Luke and Jacen looked taken aback by Ben's outburst.
Silence permeated the three of them again before Ben collected himself and said, "I... I'm sorry, Dad. Jacen. I don't know what came over me."
Luke held up a hand to forestall any further excuses. "Just take us to Vestara, Ben."
"Yes, of course," Ben said in a quiescent tone.
Less than half an hour later, the three of them stopped by Vestara's apartment and Ben knocked on the door.
"Hey, Ves, you home?" he asked.
"Can you sense her inside, Jacen?" Luke asked.
"No," Jacen replied after a moment. "And, keep in mind, Uncle Luke, even when her Force-presence was unclear when she and I were talking, I could at least sense she was there. She's completely absent now."
"Then I suggest we wait until she returns home," Luke said.
"That won't be necessary," an elderly feminine voice said.
The three Jedi looked off to the right and saw a woman who looked like she was in her eighties—all hints of typical Hapan beauty gone now, with no attempt to hide her age, either—holding a piece of folded flimsiplast in one hand and a cane in the other.
She hobbled over to Jacen and the Skywalkers. "The girl who lived in that apartment, she had to leave earlier today. She gave me this letter in exchange for twenty credits and told me to give it to you when next you stopped by, young man."
The woman gave Ben the flimsiplast, turned around, and headed back to where she came from.
None of the three Jedi paid her any further mind as Ben opened up the flimsiplast. But before he started to read it, he looked over to his father and cousin, who also seemed interested in what was written there.
"Can I at least read this by myself first before you look it over?" Ben asked in a not-quite-rude way. "It could have something... I'd rather you not read."
Both Luke and Jacen exchanged glances before they looked back at the younger man.
"Good idea," both men said simultaneously.
"Thank you," Ben said before he stepped away from his father and cousin.
He then read:
Ben,
I'm sorry I couldn't leave a call on your frequency back at the Palace. But something came up; my parents came home early today and told me I have to go with them right away. I only have enough time to write this note to you before I leave.
I don't know when I'll come back, or if I'll come back. I'm also sorry that I never told you anything substantial about myself; but that's what I liked about you. You didn't ask too many questions; you just loved me like I loved you. And I still do. Never forget that.
-Vestara
Ben gritted his teeth as tears formed in his eyes. He then crumpled the flimsiplast and threw it over his shoulder before he started to run down the corridor from where he, Luke, and Jacen came from.
"Ben, wait!" Luke called out as he went after his son.
Jacen was then left alone; he didn't join his uncle in the chase for Ben. Instead, he walked over to the crumpled letter and picked it up to read it.
When he was finished, his eyes narrowed.
There was something not quite right about that last sentence.
"Never forget that," Jacen said aloud. For some reason, there was something... oddly manipulative about that.
As if she didn't want him to move on.
. . .
"Jacen Solo, you say?" Sith Saber Odrok Degron said beside Vestara. He, a dark-skinned human Sith Saber in his early thirties, was piloting the Hapan cargo ship away from Hapes while she was seated in the copilot seat. "You think he figured you out?"
"I don't think so," Vestata replied. "But he was clearly suspicious; it took everything in my power to hide my connection to the dark side. And I think he still found that I had a connection to the Force. Moreover, he made it clear that he would call Ben's father."
"Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker himself," Degron said with a tone that made it sound as if he were impressed. "You were quite ambitious in... getting involved with his son. I wonder what you would have done if I hadn't picked you up at the last minute; how long do you think you could have stood up to him in a lightsaber duel?"
"No longer than if I were to challenge Grand Lord Vol himself, I imagine," Vestara replied as they finally made it out of Hapes's atmosphere and into space.
"Still," Degron continued as he started to input the hyperspace coordinates to leave the system, "I could only imagine the conflict on young Ben's face if he found out who you really were. How he'd react if his father were to kill you."
"The Jedi aren't like us, Saber Degron," Vestara replied. "They won't kill you just because you're on the opposite side of the Force."
"Not immediately, anyway," Degron said, not taking the rest of his concentration from inputting the coordinates. "They just wait for you to make the first move."
"Which we tend to do," Vestara said evenly.
Now Degron looked at her. "We're Sith, Tyro Khai. Of course we make the first move. That's how we'll win against the Jedi."
"Of course," Vestara replied in a deadpan tone.
Degron's eyes narrowed. "Do you have doubts, Tyro Khai, of our cause?"
"No, no, I don't," she said, this time with a defensive tone. "Not at all, Saber Degron."
After a moment, he said, "Good. You keep it that way, Tyro." He returned his attention back to his controls. Moments later, they were in hyperspace.