The Dark Ring

by Dave

The Empire uses brains and brawn to threaten the New Republic's stability. UPDATE! I have published Fantasy Novels on Amazon. You can search for my name, "David Pontier," or the title of the first book in the series, "The Scepter of Amon."

2. Part 2

Chapter 9 "Reaching out"

The E-wing dropped out of hyperspace with an acute bang and drifted slowly toward the forested globe. Anakin was eagerly looking at the planet that he had heard so much about, totally unprepared for the emotional onslaught that befell him moments later.

The Darkness pressed in on him. The long dead spirit of the Emperor hung around the planet like the stench from a dead animal. Anakin was caught off guard, but he was no novice and was able to push back the strong feelings of hate and fear. When he was comfortable again, he continued the approach to Endor.

He broke through the atmosphere and was struck by the similarity to Yavin IV. If it hadn't been for the Emperor's spirit hanging around the moon, Anakin thought that Endor might have been a good spot for an Academy. Besides, Yavin IV had had the spirit of Exar Cuun, a spirit of much more power than the Emperor's. Exar Cuun's spirit had been unknown at the time Luke had started the Academy, or else he might have given Endor more of a look.

Mentally Anakin searched for the spot were his uncle had burned the remains of his grandfather. Sensing it about ten kilometers to the east, Anakin turned the craft in that direction and punched the atmospheric thrusters. He skimmed over a small tree village. The ewoks looked like little wookiees, and Anakin smiled to himself when he saw their hyperactive reaction to his ship. He probably wouldn't see them again, but it would be nice to visit their village sometime. He had heard stories of how when his father and uncle had dropped in uninvited, they were almost cooked alive for dinner. Anakin knew that now, however, the little fur-balls were more acceptant of humans. The idea of his father tied upside down to a pole, screaming at Uncle Luke to do something always brought a smile to Anakin.

Up ahead Anakin could see a tall tree in the middle of a small clearing. Knowing that this was his destination, he headed toward it. There was a small area to the left of the tree, and Anakin set the E-wing down there. He deactivated the engines and carefully climbed out of the cockpit. His legs were sore from the long trip in hyperspace. He had spent the majority of the journey in a meditative trance, so he was not overly hungry or tired. Anakin got all of the tools and equipment for his lightsaber out of the cockpit and sat down in front of the tree. He calmed himself, trying to remove all of the distractions of life from his mind and began to assemble his lightsaber.

* * *

Jaina woke suddenly. The images from her dream were flashing around madly in her head. Her father and uncle were in some kind of trouble. She was panicked but tried to calm herself. She closed her eyes again and reached out with the Force to try to grab hold the fleeting images. The door to her room burst open, and her brother rushed in, breaking her concentration. "What's wrong!" he said in a frantic voice.

Jaina blinked and shrugged off her brother's intrusion. She tried to regain the images, but they were gone. She looked up from her sitting position and stared into the worried eyes of her brother. "Dad and Uncle Luke are in danger."

Jacen looked incredulous. "They just went on a simple diplomatic mission. Dad and Uncle Luke are more than capable of taking care of themselves." The look in Jaina's eyes was telling Jacen an entirely different story.

"I can't feel Uncle Luke. Like he's not there. I don't feel that he's dead, just some how out of the Force." Jaina was obviously struggling with the memory of the flickering images, but try as she might, she could not get a solid grasp on any one of them. All she could get was an overall picture of doom.

Jaina stood up from her bed, with her mind made up. "Get dressed Jacen. We're going to Hastrin."

"Wait just a minute, sis," Jacen held up his hands to slow down his sister. He paused, taking a good look at the grief in her eyes. "I'll get my stuff together and meet you down by the Scavenger."

Thirty short minutes later, the twins emerged from the forest into the clearing containing their ship. They both hurried into the ship and made their way through the narrow corridors of the ship to the living quarters. They threw their packs on the floor and were about to leave for the cockpit, when a groan came from the corner of the room. Jacen stopped in his tracks and starred into the dark, where he knew there to be a bed.

A familiar hairy figure sat up in bed and grunted a question. "Master Lowbac . ."

"We're leaving, Lowie," Jacen said before Em-Tedee could translate. "Our father and Master Skywalker are in trouble. We're going to Hastrin to see what the trouble is. You don't have to come."

Lowbacca quickly put in his concern for his friend's rash decision, but he also, as Jacen knew he would, agreed to go along. Em-Tedee was getting frustrated that he was getting ignored as a translator, and shut himself off. Over the years Jacen had been able to use the Force to understand his large friend. Jacen had found that his abilities to communicate with animals had often allowed him to bridge the gap between languages. He had used this skill for his mother a few times when she was supposed to meet with worlds that wanted to join the Republic but didn't speak Basic.

Jaina had left for the cockpit, while her brother and Lowbacca had been talking. She didn't find it unusual for their friend to be sleeping in the ship; he worked late and slept here often. Jaina had inwardly hoped that he would, in fact, be here. Although she didn't relish the idea of sending her friends into danger, she knew that Lowbacca was an incredible asset, and she feared that they were going to need all the help they could get.

Jacen and Lowbacca appeared in the cockpit just as the Scavenger was lifting off. The Scavenger rose into the air and wasted no time leaving Yavin's atmosphere. A few moments later the ship burst into hyperspace, and the only evidence that it had left was a clearing that had three deep indentations shaped like landing pilons.

* * *

Streen looked out his window, and for the second time this week, watched a ship leave Yavin IV. "Will they come back?" Tionne asked from behind him, remembering what Streen had said about Jacen failing.

"I hope so."

* * *

Captain Tallon walked down the spotless white-walled corridor. His military-style boots made a loud, echoing clomp as he moved his muscular frame toward the end of the long hallway. The hallway was empty. There were very few people who knew about this hallway - three to be exact.

Tallon approached the door at the end of the hallway. He went through the complex routine of taking the security tests and passed them with his usual efficiency. Tallon entered the lab and, what had become in the last few months, Dr. Kendel's residence. Tallon was surprised to find that Dr. Kendel was not alone and that Admiral Thrawn had beat Tallon to the lab. The Captian nodded toward the Admiral, remembering Thrawn's request that the formalities involved with their rank and employment be neglected unless they were amongst other lower ranking officers. After all, the charade of the formalities was only in place to teach respect to the lower officers, not to encumber the higher ones with unneeded responsibilities.

Tallon walked into the middle of the room and for the first time saw the operation table in the corner of the five-sided room, and on it, the reason he was called down. Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, lay quite sedated on the table. He was needlessly strapped down, and a fourth of his head was shaved. Tallon could only see the slightest of scars on the bald section of Skywalker's head and was reminded once again of Dr. Kendel's skill. Dr. Kendel had just finished putting away the last of his instruments, and Tallon realized that Thrawn had been there early to watch the procedure. Tallon had only been informed the operation was going to take place the previous day when Skywalker and Solo had been captured. Tallon was sure that Thrawn had seen far enough into the future though, and had probably been formulating his plan as his body had been maturing in the cloning cylinder.

Tallon had at many times tried to figure out Thrawn's mind, but had come to the final conclusion that Thrawn's ability to plan ahead and strategize was not only unexplainable, but unmatched. Thrawn's ability to plan a strategy for a battle before the reason for the battle had even taken place, was so amazing that Tallon doubted even the best military minds would be able to come up with better, more thought out plans, if they worked at the time of the battle, not to mention trying to organize a plan three months previous.

Tallon studied Skywalker's prostrate form on the table, another one of Thrawn's plans, Tallon was sure. Tallon had a rough knowledge of what the operation entailed, but he was no medic, and he was waiting for the report that he knew Kendel was formulating in his mind right now.

Kendel cleared his throat, disrupting the silence that had invaded the room since Tallon's arrival, and turned to look at the Captain. "Captain, as you know, I have been studying ysalamiri at the request of the Admiral, to find out more about their unique Force talents. After much research I have found that their brains, though not sentient and mostly confined to base instincts, are different from ours in a more unique way." He paused to take a breath and formulate the next part of his speech. "There is a small node in the left lobe of the brain in most animals and all sentient life. Scientists and doctors have never been able to discern what this node is for. Since most life forms use only a small percentage of their brains in the first place, this type of node is not that uncommon. I have found that ysalamiri also have this node, however unlike any other life form that I am aware of, their node is orientated opposite of all other life forms. As scientists, we are able to trace a large part of the brain's activity by following the trails of electrical stimuli. We can tell which direction the stimuli is flowing through certain parts of the brain, and the ysalamiri have this particular node 'wired' backwards."

Kendel paused to make sure that Tallon was absorbing all of this. The Captain nodded in confirmation, and Kendel continued. "The Force is known to be hereditary, and no one who has looked has been able to find anything different, physically, with Force strong people as compared to everyone else. I theorized that this node in question has something to do with the Force, since the only thing of any substance about it is that it is 'wired' backwards in ysalamiri, and they project a negative Force field.

"I experimented with a few ysalamiri by 'rewiring' their brains. The difference between the new ysalamiri and the old was very distinct. The new ysalamiri disliked being near the old ysalamiri immensely. From this I gathered that the new ysalamiri were now Force strong, and the Forceless bubble projected by the old ysalamiri was adversely affecting the new ysalamiri. Finally, what I've done with Skywalker is 'rewire' his brain so that he will project a Forceless bubble just like ysalamiri."

Tallon looked at Luke Skywalker. Tallon was definitely impressed with this procedure. Keeping someone who was as strong in the Force and as well trained as Skywalker would have been very difficult and risky. It would have been easier to just kill him, but Tallon knew that Thrawn wanted him alive, for now. Tallon wondered what Luke would think when he woke up. Tallon noticed Luke stirring ever so gently and realized that his question would soon be answered.

Luke was slowly filled with the feeling of consciousness as he aroused from the sedating drugs. He awoke to darkness. He opened his eyes, but the darkness remained. The darkness clouded his mind. He tried to sit up but was held back by unseen restraints. He looked around, his eyes focusing finally on his surroundings. His vision cleared, and he saw three people standing around him. Luke recognized Tallon immediately and the memories of his capture came flooding back to him. Luke saw Thrawn as well, but Luke had never seen him before, and so he didn't fully understand what a dire situation not only he was in, but the whole New Republic. Luke looked at Dr. Kendel without a hint of recognition. Luke had to free himself from these bonds. He tried to use the Force, but it wasn't there. Luke was momentarily shocked. He had been in a Forceless bubble before, but this was something totally different. Before Luke had always been able to sense the Force in himself just not in the things surrounding him, giving him nothing to draw on for power. Now it was like the Force wasn't even there. Normally he could reach out with his arm and grasp the Force. In an ysalamiri bubble he could still reach out, but he wouldn't find anything. Now it was like his arm had been removed, and he couldn't even reach.

Tallon enjoyed the look he was seeing on Luke's Force. "I'm sorry to disappoint you," he said, breaking the stillness in the room, "but your days of fighting against the Empire are numbered, and your days of wielding the Force are over."

Luke didn't want to believe what he was hearing. He could feel a small tingle on the side of his head, and the cool breeze of air conditioning against that portion of his scalp told him that that section of his head had been shaved. Luke also recognized the garb of the third person in the room to be consistent with that of a medical officer. Had they performed a medical procedure that had removed his Force talent? Impossible! The Force wasn't a physical attribute, was it? Everything Luke had learned from Yoda and Ben told him that the Force was something totally indescribable, but it was definitely closer to the spiritual aspect of a person than the physical aspect. If you could simply perform an operation to remove Force talent, was there an operation that could give someone talent? This would totally re-value the gift of Force sensitivity. Could the Empire create an entire army of Force strong soldiers? Luke shuddered at the thought of thousands of Dark Jedi. With cloning cylinders they could make millions of Jedi. Luke had managed to only find about twenty-five people over the course of twenty years. The Empire could produce at least one hundred times that many in about a week. Luke looked back towards Tallon for more information. "What have you done?"

Tallon smiled a smile that told Luke it might possibly be worst than he had thought. "The good Doctor has merely removed that awesome burden that you have been carrying around for your life. It must have been terrible. All of the responsibilities involved with being the galaxy's only Jedi Master must have been incredible. I'm sure you'll agree that your life has been made much simpler now."

Luke failed to feel relieved. Yet in the midst of his dilemma there seemed hope. The Empire wouldn't go through the trouble of this operation if they didn't plan on keeping Luke alive. Also Luke had learned to never give up hope. It was necessary to believe that what ever they had done to him, the New Republic doctors would be able to undo it.

Tallon nodded to Kendel. "That's enough Doctor, I think he is ready for his cell." Without responding vocally, Kendel walked over to Luke, bearing a syringe. As the Doctor inserted the needle into Luke's upper arm, Luke tried to fight against the knock-out medicine. His futile attempt reminded him of his Forceless condition just as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Chapter 10 "Illegal Procedure"

Tenel Ka stormed into Chief Sangrine's office with Artoo and Threepio trailing behind her. She stood there, her anger simmering over as the Chief of Security sat behind his desk, having not even looked up yet. "You didn't knock," he commented, still looking at the unorganized arrangement of scattered papers that covered his desk.

"No I did not!" Each of Tenel Ka's words were stressed heavily.

Sangrine's head popped up from his desk so quickly that he nearly fell backward on his chair. He had thought that his unannounced guest was simply another security officer. "Princess," he finally managed to stammer, "I didn't know that it was you. I'm sorry."

Tenel Ka ignored his insubordinance and launched into her complaint. "Why are Princess Leia and Chewbacca in custody?"

"Princess Leia is charged with first degree murder and grand theft. The wookiee is being held on counts of assaulting security officers and as a possible accomplice to the theft."

Tenel was shocked. She had heard Threepio's report on what he had found out from a brief conversation with some guards at the time of Lea's arrest, but it she hadn't wanted to believe it. Now that she had confirmation of Threepio's story, she could feel all of the surprise that she had held back. "What proof do you have?"

"The thief got into the building through a back alley-way door. The lock was broken cleanly without any trace of a cutting device. Either the thief was incredibly strong or they had a special device or ability. When they arrived at the vault, they made a quick precision kill, one that was definitely done by someone who was more than familiar with their weapon. The door to the vault was thought to be indestructible, but the thief cut through the door with considerable ease. In the video we have of the robbery, an unidentified cylinder is visible hanging from the thief's waist line. The cylinder and the door together led us to believe that the thief used a lightsaber. The lock in the alley could have been broken by the Force. Finally our scientists have been able to get a rough estimate of the height and weight of the thief from their outline in the video, and Leia matches the height and weight determined."

"Lea's average as far as height and weight go," Tenel Ka pointed out. "There are probably thousands of people who could fit the bill. And if you're looking for someone who is strong in the Force and owns a lightsaber, why didn't you arrest me. Besides if I was a thief and I had to get through that door, a lightsaber, whether I was a Jedi or not, would be the perfect tool. I'm sure that they're not that hard to get a hold of."

"That might be true Princess, but other than yourself we know of only one person who has a lightsaber, and until we find a better suspect, we will continue to hold Leia responsible."

"This is outrageous," Tenel Ka said. "What's her motive? Surely you know of Leia and the New Republic's wealth. What purpose would she have for stealing a few jewels and risk putting her future in jeopardy?"

"If there is one thing I've discovered Princess, it is that rich people have the best motive for robbery. What is the point of being rich, unless you can get richer?"

"Have you found the jewels yet?"

Sangrine frowned slightly. "No we haven't. My people are still looking for them."

"Until you find the jewels, I demand that Leia is to be released."

"I'm sorry Princess, but I can't do that."

"I give my word as the next ruler of the Hapes Cluster that she will not leave the city."

Sangrine stuttered. He couldn't very well refute the Princess' word. He started to make a reply but Tenel Ka cut him off.

"Or perhaps you would like to have my mother come down here. I understand that she and Leia became good friends on Dathomir."

Sangrine was shocked. He had been Chief of Security for twenty-three years, but a run in with the Queen would put an immediate end to his job. "We'll see what we can do."

Twenty minutes later Leia, Chewie, Tenel Ka, and the droids left the security building. Two security guards had been detached to look over the paroled prisoners, and they traveled behind them at a safe distance. One of them was still nursing a bruise the wookiee had given him.

When the group reached Tenel Ka's luxurious royal mansion, Tenel Ka and Leia finally managed to talk. Leia had been allowed a set of prison clothes to replace the robe she had been arrested in, and she wore it now.

"I'm sorry about this whole affair," Leia lamented. She cradled a cup of hot tea in her hands that one of Tenel Ka's male servants had given her. She sipped the tea in an effort to wash away the events of the morning. "I can't help but feel that this whole ordeal is my fault."

"Nonsense," Tenel Ka rebuked her. "I don't believe for a second that you would commit such a heinous crime. Surely you have an alibi for last night?" As soon as Tenel Ka asked the question, she remembered that Leia had unexpectedly canceled her reservation for the dinner last night.

"Yea, I have a pretty solid alibi. I was asleep alone in my apartment. I also agree with the Chief that I am the most likely suspect." Leia took another long sip from the delicious gourmet tea. "The real problem is that I'm not certain that I didn't commit the crime."

"What are you talking about?"

"Last night I was feeling unnaturally tired. I mean I was more than tired. I was barely able to send you that message before I passed out. Now that I have had time to look back on the event, I'm almost sure that I was in some way drugged."

"If you think that you could have done the deed in your sleep, I can tell you that I've seen the video of the crime, and the thief was not wearing a bathrobe."

"I'm sure that if I was hypnotized or drugged that I would have changed my clothes before and after." Leia paused. "I'm just not sure what happened."

"Don't worry, Leia," Tenel Ka consoled. "We'll find out who did this."

* * *

Laya moved silently. More quietly than anyone would have guessed possible for her four hundred pound mechanical frame. She crept amongst the trees at the edge of a private landing zone. She left three separate stunned guards in her wake. They would wake up with no recollection of who attacked them, because Laya had struck from behind. The large outline of the Millennium Falcon was becoming visible through the thin foliage that she was traveling through. She saw two guards stationed at the entrance to the landing pad. They were standing on opposite sides of the gate to the fence that surrounded the pad with their backs to the Falcon. She walked up to the three meter tall gate, careful not to trip the motion sensors she was sure surrounded the gate. She looked around for a tall sturdy tree that was close to the gate. Finding one, she quickly scaled it and moved to a branch that was four and a half meters off the ground and close to the gate. Laya gracefully leaped from the branch, did a flip in the air for fun, and landed noiselessly inside the gate.

Laya crept quietly up to the raised landing platform, keeping a careful eye on the two guards who still stood with their backs to the Falcon. She leaped straight up onto the platform, her soft shoes cushioning against her metal feet. She crept carefully and cautiously toward the ship. Laya was disappointed that the gangway was not open on the Falcon. She decided quickly to dispose of both guards rather than risk either of them hearing her enter the ship. Laya drew a small pistol and fired two quick shots, one at each guard. The darts were aimed true, and neither of them made a noise as they flew through the air, and like-wise, both guards remained silent as they slumped to the ground.

Getting the gangway open was no problem, and Laya was in and out of the Falcon in a few seconds, taking time to stash the jewels under one of the mattresses in the bunk rooms. Before she could leave, she had to account for all of the unconscious guards. Laya reached into her small pack and pulled out a mask. She put on the mask, transforming her face into a black stocking with two eyes. She was dressed in a nondescript green outfit that blended beautifully with the forest. She wasn't wearing the lightsaber she had used earlier, but had the dart gun strapped to her side.

Laya crept toward the building at the edge of the landing pad. The doors slid open and she walked into a short hallway. The hallway ended in a small room that was elaborately decorated. There was a table with several comfortable chairs and an expensive centerpiece had been placed in the center of the table. Laya decided that the landing pad was often used for important guests, and this was a meeting room to accept them. There wasn't anything of great value in the room, and there wasn't anyone here to see her steal it.

There were two doors that left the room, other than the one she had used to enter. She moved to the door opposite the hallway, and put her ears up against it. Laya turned up the volume on her sound receptors, but could hear nothing through the door. It was an old fashioned door and had a doorknob. She tested the knob to find it unlocked, and she turned it, opening the door. There was another, much bigger room on the other side of the room. Laya could see that the other door in the meeting room also led into this room. The room was large. The carpet consisted of colorful, concentric circles with a large chandelier hanging four meters above the center of the circles. It looked like a large lobby. There was a desk up against the wall and in-between the two doors that led into the meeting room. The desk was on Laya's left, and on her right there was large glass display cases exhibiting ornament bowls and artifacts. Past the display cases was a large stairway curving up and out of view. Directly in front of Laya was large glass double doors that led outside, and on the far left wall were a few small, insignificant doors.

Laya was just about to give up when she heard a small flushing noise and the sound of running water. She spun to her left and saw a security guard coming out of one of the doors wiping his hands on his pants. He began to return to his post behind the desk when his eyes locked onto Laya. "Hey what are you doing?" The guard drew his weapon and Laya bolted back through the door, hearing glass shattering behind her as the guard's shot missed. She heard him open the other door into the meeting room, and she raced down the hallway, hearing another shot whiz by her face and splatter into the wall ahead of her. She raced back onto the landing pad and made for the nearest fence. The guard raced out into the open after her, but paused when he saw the fallen guards. Laya leaped onto one of the fences, and alarms went off. She quickly scaled the fence and raced away on the other side. A couple distant shots missed by a few meters, and she was safe.

Laya slowed her pace and headed back into the forest. She glanced about to see if anyone was following her and smiled inwardly. Another job done, she headed back to her ship.

* * *

Lando, Yova, Trince, Mansenchin, and Herta were sitting around a large table eating breakfast. Yova and Trince had been there almost a week, and Lando felt that their progress was a little slow. After the big scare with the false floor and explosives a few days ago, they had found only one other such trap. It had been a locked door that had a combination attached. Yova had been able to crack the code easily and the door slid open without blowing anything up. Lando or Mansenchin had gone down with the Jedi each of the past few days. Each trip down after the big day in the booby trapped cavern had been pretty much the same. Yova and Trince would travel down the tunnels until they had reached new territory. They would then creep cautiously forward. Their trip would contain numerous long stops in which they would simply stand there and concentrate. Neither of them ever talked, and Lando or Mansenchin were forced to stand there patiently until the Jedi were done. After covering a few hundred meters of new territory, Yova or Trince would declare that that was as far as they were going to go that day. There were some days when they only gained two hundred meters. Lando was getting frustrated. If Yova and Trince had been anybody other than Jedi, he would have thought that they were simply trying to increase their pay by increasing their hours.

The group was just finishing the meal when Herta broke the silence. "How far have you guys gotten?"

Lando looked up at her. "We've uncovered about two point five kilometers."

Herta looked surprised. "But didn't we estimate that there was almost ten kilometers worth of tunnels before the actual mines? It's been almost a week and you've only gained a little over a kilometer from our original position."

Lando didn't want to speak out his criticism of Trince's and Yova's performance in front of the group. "Going has been slower than expected."

"We've ran into a few traps and the like," Mansenchin put in.

Herta looked a little concerned. She had heard the explosion a few days ago and the explanation that followed, but she had heard of nothing since. "What kind of traps?"

Lando was about to jump in and say that they hadn't really seen anything else, and that they were just being careful, but Trince jumped in before Lando could open his mouth. "Since the false floor, we've encountered two cave-ins, poisonous gas, and small group of venomous cave spiders."

Everyone except Yova looked surprised at what Trince had said. Herta was amazed that so much had been going on, while Lando and Mansenchin were looking at each other wondering if they had kept information from each other about their respective treks down into the caves. After they decided that neither of them knew what Trince was talking they confronted him.

"What are you talking about?" Lando and Mansenchin said in unison.

Yova shrugged. "None of those events actually happened because Trince and I prevented them."

"For example," Trince explained, "yesterday we tripped an undetected motion sensor that triggered a cave-in. I caught the weight of the rocks as soon as I felt that we had tripped the motion sensor. Together with Yova's help, we were able to re-secure the trap and solidify the roof of the cavern."

"What about the other things you mentioned? Cave spiders?"

"They were all similar instances," Yova answered. "We either sensed the traps ahead of time and tried to disarm them or we accidentally set them off and then had to try to stop them. The cave spiders were placed in hibernation, and they awoke when our body heat warmed a certain section of the cavern. It took all of our combined strength to put them back into a hibernation that wasn't as sensitive to our heat."

"So all those times that you two stop, your actually countering a trap that you just set off?"

"Not always," Trince responded. "Most of the time we are just searching ahead for any potential danger. All of our long stops, though, are usually the result of us either disarming a trap or our efforts to contain something that we just set off. The reason that we aren't traveling very fast is because each trap that we have to disarm or prevent takes a lot out of us physically, and we don't want to continue into uncharted waters unless we are in peak condition."

Lando nodded in both understanding and in agreement. "And here I thought that you guys were just stalling." Lando's opinion of both of them leaped astronomically. He remembered back to the time when he found the asteroid mine. He originally had thought to just take a scout team into the caves and try to absorb what was thrown at them. Lando now realized that the scout team wouldn't have gotten past the first trap.

Yova pushed away her finished plate and looked up at Lando. "We should be able to cover a few kilometers today. Trince and I went down alone last night and searched ahead with the Force. We couldn't find any more traps."

Lando nodded happily. They were in the cavern early that day. When Lando heard that they would be able to gain extra ground today, he was eager to start. This time down, Lando and Mansenchin both accompanied the two Jedi. As they walked through the old caves, Trince would point out the locations of the previous traps. The cave-in locations were invisible to the naked eye, and Lando and Mansenchin had to take it on faith the that the ceiling of the sections Trince pointed out, were indeed as fragile as he said. Lando was especially intrigued at the fake wall that the spiders were sleeping behind. Lando was more than familiar with the illusion of solid stone that the Empire had been using to mask their traps. He had nearly tumbled to his death because of one. The tank of gas was similarly hidden behind false walls. When they arrived at the place that they had stopped at the day before, Yova and Trince slowed the pace a little and continued ahead cautiously.

Yova had been right, and they traveled three kilometers before they stopped. "What is it?" Lando asked eagerly.

"We are just scanning further ahead," Trince answered. "However, on any future stops please don't say anything. Any distractions might hinder us from being able to safely disable a trap."

Lando nodded and allowed them to finish their scan without further interruptions. After a few minutes they continued down the cave. The group went another three kilometers before stopping again. According to Lando's original estimations of the underground system of caves, they were just about at the end. After the brief stop, they once again set off down the cave. After only about two hundred meters, both Jedi stopped abruptly.

"Oh, my," Trince said under his breath. Yova's shock was equal to Trince's, but she said nothing. Trince turned to Lando and Mansenchin. "We have a bit of a problem." Lando waited for Trince to explain. "There is a giant cave worm at the end of the tunnel."

"How big?" Mansenchin asked.

Yova snapped out of her initial shock. "No, the question you should be asking is, 'How huge?'"

Lando remembered the story that Han had told him about the giant cave worm that he had landed the Falcon in, mistaking it for a cave. The Falcon had barely gotten out of that 'cave' ahead of the chomping jaws of the huge beast. "Can you kill it?"

"I don't know, Lando," Trince responded. "The first thing we usually do when we encounter a new life form, isn't to decide how we are going to kill it."

"What ever we do," Yova said, "we're not going to do it today."

Trince nodded in agreement, and the troop turned around and trekked back to the surface.

Chapter 11 "Premium Information"

All of the officers were sitting around the large table again, and this time Tallon had made sure that there were enough chairs. Tallon was pleased with the progress he and his men had made in the short time since Thrawn had woken up. They had drawn quite a lot of attention to themselves though. The entire time that Tallon had spent on Hastrin had been relatively quiet. They had had no skirmishes outside of simulated battle. There had been no sign that anyone else had even been aware of their existence. Now they had obliterated a small fleet of New Republic ships and had captured two of its most prominent figures. Although they had been careful not to let too much information leak out as to what had actually taken place during the two instances, Tallon was sure that their existence wouldn't remain a secret for too much longer.

Seated beside Tallon, Thrawn cleared his throat. Tallon collected his thoughts and put himself in the frame of mind that was necessary to participate in the meeting. "We have moved forward well, and it is now time to take the next step toward the annihilation of the enemy."

Tallon watched as General Oskiman grinned wickedly. Tallon and his men had not engaged in battle before, and Tallon was experiencing his officer's reaction to warfare for the first time. Tallon had guessed that Oskiman's response would be something along the lines of pure enjoyment, and was happy to see his guesses confirmed.

Tallon was also not disappointed by Commander Snotzenexer's reaction. The Commander remained as impassive as ever. Tallon had often thought that Snotzenexer was an android, emotionless with an incredible calculating mind. Tallon had not yet given into his temptation's to have Dr. Kendel scan him, but he might in the future if Snotzenexer continued to remain emotionless, especially after they crushed the New Republic.

Dr. Kendel and Frowinger didn't play any major roles in battle, but he could sense that they were pleased with the progress and performance of their creations. Kendel was still bubbling over with success from the operation he had performed on Luke Skywalker. He had studied the ysalamiri for several weeks and was glad to see that it had not been in vain. Frowinger was pleased that the first report in from Laya, his personal creation, had been a positive one.

Tallon was not able to tell anything from the two Salynoids. Borock and Thorock simply conveyed facts and information, paying no heed to emotional or morale matters. Tallon appreciated this kind of efficiency. He knew that no matter the situation, those two would always perform their duties to best of their abilities without getting caught up in the surrounding mood, whether it be good or bad.

"Step one included catching the New Republic off guard. They had not suspected any kind of attack what-so-ever. As we speak, they are likely holding a similar meeting to decide what to do next. The difference between their meeting and ours, is that we have all of the facts, and they can only make speculations.

"Step two will involve letting the Rebels know who they have to thank for their recent losses by giving them more losses. This time we will not take care in hiding our identity or location. Through a series of hit and run attacks, we will put the New Republic off balance and scrambling to assemble an offensive counter strike. A strike that will surely fail."

Thrawn paused for the first time and turned to the General. "You will need to assemble five medium sized fleets. I would recommend that they not contain either of the Super Star Destroyers. I have carefully selected ten targets. These planets, or in some cases outposts, were chosen because of their insecurity with the New Republic. Quick, destructive attacks should turn that insecurity into outright distrust. I recommend that you choose four officers and yourself to command the fleets."

Thrawn turned to Snotzenexer. Tallon knew that Thrawn liked the commander. Tallon thought that this was because Thrawn saw a reflection of his own strategic mind in the appealingly shy officer. "Commander, you will not go with the fleets, but will wait until the New Republic is effectively dispersed before you enter the battle. You will be executing a vital ground attack. I believe that you know the target. You would do well to review the events concerning the last attempted attack on this target and why it failed."

Thrawn nodded toward Tallon, telling the Captain that he was finished. "Are there any reports that anyone wishes to make?" Tallon asked the collection of officers. Tallon scanned the faces of his men and paused when his gaze crossed Frowinger's hesitant expression.

"Speak Mr. Frowinger," Thrawn said before Tallon could say likewise. "There are very few things in this wide galaxy that are unimportant."

Frowinger smiled. "You might change your opinion when you hear what I have to report, sir. One of our outposts," he paused and looked down to his notes, "on the edge of the core systems and nearest to the Flansping system, has recently changed the strength of its signal."

"Explain," Tallon prompted.

"Well the signal from the asteroid base had always been very faint, but a few days ago the signal suddenly strengthened in power. The other scientists are blaming it on a bad battery that is experiencing a power surge."

Tallon quickly scrolled through his mental star charts, but could not remember any base in that area. He looked over at the Admiral, knowing that Thrawn was the veteran officer, and it was more likely that Thrawn knew of the base. Tallon could picture the brain waves flowing through Thrawn's head as the Admiral's usually emotionless face registered recognition and then concern.

"I suggest that you personally go check out the base," Thrawn finally said. "Take with you no less than thirty elite storm troopers."

Frowinger's face registered shock, but seeing that Thrawn was not going to explain himself further, he decided wisely, not to question Thrawn's decision in front of the other officers. Frowinger would meet with Thrawn later to see if he could get more information from him. No, he corrected himself. He would check into this mysterious base first to see if he couldn't come to the same conclusion that Thrawn had come to. If after an investigation, he still could not discern the reason for the Admiral's concern, then he would approach him.

Tallon was not that patient, and as the meeting dismissed, he motioned to Thrawn that he wished to talk. The two highest ranking officers in the Empire walked side by side down the hall toward Tallon's office.

Tallon entered his office first and took his seat behind his desk, while Thrawn sat across him in one of the two other chairs in the small office. "The name of the outpost is Cryst 32," Thrawn said knowing Tallon's question.

Tallon had expected this and had already turned his desk computer on. After entering the name and waiting a few nanoseconds for the name to register, Tallon had the Imperial file on the outpost in front of him.

Thrawn saw the flash from the screen on Tallon's face and continued. "Cryst 32 is a industrial crystal mine that the Empire discovered during the clone wars. It was one of three such mines, and the Empire relied on it heavily for weapon crystals. Because of its ideal location on the edge of the Core Systems, the Empire also used it to house weapon technology and prototypes.

"It was abandoned many years ago because of the New Republic's intrusion into the Core Systems. The Empire retreated from the position with the optimistic view that they would return and that the New Republic would pay very little attention to a meager asteroid in orbit around a planetless system. They did rig the asteroid with multiple traps and security devices designed to not only prevent unauthorized invasion into the mines, but also to destroy all of the weapon technology stored there.

"I am aware of all of this because I have studied the outpost myself in preparation for the time in which we can repossess it. I will not bore you with the statistics of it because I'm sure that you have them in front of you now."

Indeed Tallon was scanning the information that was flashing in front of him and becoming more excited by the second. This had indeed been a rich mine, and Tallon wondered if they could move ahead in the agenda to take back the mine sooner.

"The signal coming from the asteroid is being used as a silent alarm." Tallon didn't need Thrawn to spell it out for him and was glad that Thrawn didn't. Tallon knew that the first step in attempting to take the mine would be to jam all out going signals and replace them with signals of your own.

"From what I'm reading here," Tallon pointed out, "The mine looks impenetrable, unless you had a complete schematic and all the codes. I highly doubt that the New Republic would be able to obtain such plans."

"As do I."

"Then don't you think that thirty storm troopers is going a little overboard?"

Thrawn smiled, something he'd been doing a lot of lately. "I agree that a normal group of miners would be overmatched to such an extent that concern for the mine and the secrets it holds would be a waste of time. It is that same thinking, however, that was the reason for my defeat in my previous campaign. How many of the traps that you see there are Force-proof. I think that if we assume that are enemies are not complete idiots, we will come to the conclusion that it is more than likely that they would employ the use of Jedi to excavate such a protected mine. Also the mere fact that the new signal is still transmitting, means that the security of the mine is in jeopardy.. You can see that several of those traps are capable of destroying the entire asteroid. Since the signal is still transmitting we can assume that the group on our asteroid has either gotten past those traps safely or are so cautious that they have not yet attempted them. Either assumption tells us that they know more about the asteroid than they should."

Tallon understood completely. "Then thirty storm troopers seems far to few. Send a hundred."

"Again I agree. I also hope that Frowinger, after careful review of the asteroid and all of the possibilities, will come to the same conclusion."

Tallon smiled and hoped that Frowinger would pass the test. "There is one more question I have. What is the target that Commander Snotzenexer is responsible for?"

Thrawn cocked his head in curious wonderment. "What other target is there? Yavin IV, of course."

* * *

Wedge looked across the table at the small group gathered around the table. Ackbar, Senator Bislin sitting in for Leia, Admiral Drimil the head of the NRI, and Ransig were seated with Wedge. The situation they were looking at was grim.

"Let's start first with a clear description of what we're facing," Bislin said. Leia would have been in charge of this meeting if it weren't for her absence, and so the senator who was replacing her for the time being was in charge. "Leia could not be reached," he continued. "It appears that she is in a bit of trouble herself and has been placed under arrest." This was only news to Ransig, so the shock was minimal. "Although that is a problem, it is not the problem we are here to discus. Admiral Drimil could you please present us with all of the information you have on the recent activity in the Danzig system and surrounding areas."

The Admiral nodded and consulted his notes. "The small fleet that was sent into the Danzig system to inspect reported Imperial activity has not reported back since entering the system about a week ago. It is believed that the super nova of Danzig 359 destroyed the fleet. Whether this explosion was natural or induced by the Empire is still unknown. All sensor probes in the area are being in some way jammed or blocked. The extent of Imperial activity, or even the existence of any activity is unknown."

"I think we should closely examine this second idea on the actual existence of Imperial activity," Wedge spoke up. "We have only the word of Hastrin that such activity exists."

"Why would the Hastrins lie to us?" Bislin queried.

"It is possible that they are an Imperial world and they simple planned on luring us into a trap," Wedge explained. "They obviously new of the stars condition, and they perhaps planned to use it against us."

"That may be," Drimil started, "but how easy is it to predict the explosion of a star?" Drimil turned to Ransig, for he was at this meeting for a reason. "Mr. Ransig, is it possible to accurately predict a nova?"

"Yes," Ransig said after a moment's thought, "it is possible to predict the explosion of a star to within a couple hours as much as a month in advance. I feel that I should point out though, that it is much harder to predict the arrival of a fleet."

"I agree," Ackbar spoke up for the first time. "The Hastrins might have known of the time of the explosion, but we told them nothing of the arrival time of our fleet, only that there would be one."

"This whole line of reasoning depends on the treachery of Hastrin," Bislin piped in. "We must not rule out the possibility that there might very well be Imperial activity in the Danzig system."

"Point well taken, Senator," Drimil conceded, "but we must also consider this whole affair in light of what happened to Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. We lost contact with them around the same time that we lost contact with the fleet."

"It is possible that the Empire intercepted Hastrin's distress call and decided not to leave Hastrin alone anymore," Wedge reasoned. "They could have been waiting for Solo and Skywalker at the planet. If that is the case we have no reason to believe that they experienced a fate any different to that of the fleet."

"It is also possible that Hastrin was Imperial controlled from the start and played us for the sucker," Ackbar added.

"So our final conclusion is that there is indeed Imperial activity in some way or another," Bislin said. "Now, what are we going to do about it. It is clear that we cannot ignore such an obvious attack against the New Republic."

"I believe that we should wait," Ackbar advised. "I have never known the Empire to be laid back. They will make another advance against us and we must be ready for it."

"I agree," Wedge put in. "We don't know enough, if anything at all, about the Imperials. Such lack of knowledge already cost the lives of an entire fleet and probably those of two of the New Republic's most prominent figures."

"I'm not so sure that Solo and Skywalker are dead," Drimil countered. "Men of such prominence as those two, would certainly be more valuable to the Empire alive."

Everyone at the table nodded in understanding. "So our final decision is one of no action?" Bislin asked.

"On the contrary," Ackbar corrected, "We should mobilize the fleet and put them on patrol on our borders. We should alert all of the worlds near the core system to be sensitive towards Imperial activity. And we should attempt deeper and more powerful sensor probes of the Danzig system."

Again everyone nodded in agreement. "That line of action shouldn't be too hard to get the Senate to agree with," Bislin said. "I just hope it will be enough."

"We can only hope."

* * *

Anakin held his finished lightsaber up in the air examining it. It was a fine lightsaber, he knew. Better than any he had seen before. He had expected it to be excellent when he had started, but this far exceeded his expectations. He ignited it and watched in silent awe as the white blade cut effortlessly back and forth, humming through the air. The blade itself was so intense he was worried that his sister's filters would prove useless on the weapon. The crystal that Lando had given him was definitely the most superior focusing device that he had ever seen.

Anakin deactivated the weapon and attached it to his belt. He knew what he had to do. The questions about the Dark Side that had been bombarding him for the past few weeks had to be answered.

Anakin sat down in front of the great tree that had sprouted from his father's grave and closed his eyes. He reached out with his mind, not certain of what he was looking for, but sure that he would find it. His mind drifted away from the tree and ventured out into a more broad area of awareness. He immediately contacted the dead spirit of the Emperor. He felt confident in his strength in the Force and allowed himself to probe deeper into the Dark echo.

Anakin was pulled back in time to the manifestation of the Emperor. Anakin's senses started to become aware of a change in the surroundings. He began to see images of the inside of a space ship. No, a space station. The Death Star. He began to hear voices. They were familiar voices. Luke. Anakin looked about and saw his uncle and Darth Vader standing in front of the Emperor. Anakin also became aware of another feeling. Emotions. He could not only see the trio's reflected light and hear they emitted sound compressions, but he could feel their deep emotions.

The Emperor and Luke were the easiest to feel. The Emperor had an overwhelming feeling of contempt and control. Contempt at the fleet that was presently attacking his "invincible" battle station, but also in Luke's apparent boldness. Luke was feeling both confidence and resigned defeat. He felt confidence in his ability to stand up to the Emperor's temptations and to Darth Vader's will, but also defeat in his ability to survive the confrontation. Luke seemed resigned to die, but confident that he would do so instead of turning to the Dark Side.

Vader was full of confused emotions. He was still struggling against the words Luke had spoken to him earlier about there still being some good in him, and with the will of the Emperor. He was feeling loyalty to the Emperor, but also a feeling of concern for the well-being of his son. His feeling of uneasiness told Anakin that the real battle that would take place wasn't between Luke and the Emperor, or even between Luke and Darth Vader, but between Anakin Skywalker and the Lord of the Sith.

The Emperor and Luke began talking, but Anakin tried to disregard their words and instead focused on their feelings. The Emperor spoke with boastful unfounded statements of ultimate victory both with regard to the space battle and that battle which would occur between him and Luke. Luke responded with his confident denial of ever turning toward the Dark Side. Vader was both taken aback at Luke's boldness in talking back to his master, yet was also proud of his son.

Luke moved over to the window and was allowed to view the space battle. Anakin could feel Luke's feelings shift from that of confidence to despair and anger. Fueled by the Emperor's words, the anger in Luke grew until it exploded into a direct attack against the Emperor. Luke's anger was easily deflected by Vader's feelings of protection and concern for the well-being of his master. The first battle of emotions had been fought. Both sides being equal (Luke and Vader had the same strength in the Force, disregarding training), the feeling of protection and devotion had won over anger.

Luke and Vader began to duel. Neither of them had any prominent emotions, and neither of them gained an advantage. Finally, Luke, not wanting to fight his father, broke off the attack and hid. Luke began to think of everything at stake and of everything that the out come of this confrontation would effect. His mind drifted toward Leia, and Vader pounced on the thought. Vader pressed his point with a false sense of confidence that Leia would turn to the Dark Side as well.

Luke's emotion exploded into one over riding feeling. Love. Love for his sister and for all that she meant to him. His overwhelming feeling of protection for her was expressed in a sudden flurry of action against the source of Lea's potential danger. Vader still clinging to the false pretense of confidence was over powered immediately. The Emperor watched and smiled inwardly, mistaking Luke's emotion for that of anger.

Luke stood over his defeated foe, and his love shifted from Leia to his father. With the threat against Leia neutralized, he now showed concern for his father. Luke heard the Emperor's voice tempting him onward. Luke felt no anger toward his father, or even toward the Emperor. He deactivated his lightsaber and tossed it aside without even contemplating the Emperor's suggestion.

Luke turned to the Emperor and set up a barrier against him fueled by his love for his father and sister. The Emperor's determination was no match for Luke's barrier. The Emperor quickly shifted his feelings from confidence to anger. Luke's feeling of despair came once again. Instead of feeding off of the love that he had used successfully against Vader, he feel back in fear as the Emperor attacked.

Vader's feelings were once again in a jumble. Anakin felt love for his son and the Sith Lord felt anger for his missing hand and recent defeat. When Luke was on the brink of death, he cried out to his father. Anakin won, hurling the Sith Lord away into oblivion. The Emperor was totally unprepared for the two arms that heaved him into the air, and a few seconds later, into an elevator shaft.

Anakin Solo watched and felt the whole event unfold in front of him. The explosion of power that the Emperor emitted, blinded him and woke him from his trance. Still in a semi-meditative state, Anakin contemplated what he had just witnessed. He understood that the Force was funneled through a Jedi's emotions and that the feelings of anger and hatred belonged to the Dark Side. These were strong emotions, and they gave the Dark Side its power. Always in the past the Dark Side had proved stronger than the Light Side, but in reality the Force was a single energy source, and it would be impossible for it to be stronger than itself. The Dark Side of the Force was the same Force as the Light Side was, it was only used in a different way.

The battle between the two sides could better be described as the battle between negative emotions and positive emotions. The Jedi had always been taught to maintain a passive attitude, not to be the aggressor. When facing an enemy, a Jedi should only attack if it was in defense. If a life had to be taken to protect the innocent or the good, then it was acceptable. Never should a Jedi strike out at an enemy, even if it was an evil enemy deserving death, unless there was an immediate threat. It had been thought that striking out against an enemy for any other reason was a sign of the Dark Side.

Anakin now understood why the Jedi had always been over powered and out matched in the past. They had been fighting aggressive emotions with passive ones. You can't defeat anger with hesitance. Reluctance doesn't stand a chance against fear. You have to fight fire with fire. Instead of anger, love. Instead of fear, confidence. Instead of revenge, justice. Instead of hostility, compassion. Instead of arrogance, affection. Instead of rivalry, friendship. Instead of war, peace.

Anakin opened his eyes and looked around. He had the feeling that more time had passed than the few minutes that the trance had seemed to have taken. He became aware that he was very hungry. The feeling that days had passed became more real to him. He looked around at what he had first thought were bushes, but now he realized that he was surrounded by ewoks.

Seeing that he was awake, one of the ewoks approached Anakin with a piece of meat on the end of a long stick. Anakin knew of Jacen's skill with communicating with animals and like everything Anakin tried with the Force, had been able to duplicate this skill. Anakin took the meat and thanked the ewoks. After he had eaten, Anakin followed the ewoks to their village. He agreed to stay with them for a while, and the ewoks were more than eager to hear stories of the New Republic. The small furry creatures took pride in the fact that they had helped bring down the evil Empire and were anxious to find out if the Empire had been fully defeated yet.

Anakin found that he was quite exhausted from his meditation and he appreciated the hospitality the ewoks showed him. He would just stay there for a while and relax.

* * *

"Does it hurt?" Han and Luke had been in custody for almost a week, and Han had finally gotten enough courage to ask his friend about his bald spot. Luke had immediately told Han what it was when he had come back from the surgery five days ago, but he hadn't elaborated.

Luke rubbed the bald spot. He could feel the prickling of the short hairs that had already started to grow back. "It doesn't hurt physically, but it hurts emotionally more than you can possibly imagine. I have come to rely on the Force quite heavily in the past decade and have always had it with me ever since I ran into the ysalamiri of Thrawn and C'boath. I guess I could have learned a lesson from Tenel Ka about over-dependence on the Force, but I had thought that it would always be with me."

"What is it like to have the Force?" Han asked again. He had come along way from his original outlook of the Force as a hokey religion. He had a wife, three kids, and a good friend who used it, and he couldn't very well deny its existence anymore.

"It is a feeling of life and power. Not so much a feeling of self power, but an awareness of the power around you. It's like having a protective guardian always looking over your shoulder. The feeling that you're not alone, and anything you do in its will, you will be supported."

Han looked at his friend and could see that the strain of the situation was taking its toll on Luke. Luke had over the past thirty years aged maybe five years. Han had chalked this up to the Force, and now his hunch was being proved correct. Luke had made up for his lack of aging, by aging almost a decade in the past few days. His hair was slowly turning gray and for the first time Han could see facial hair on Luke. "Do you feel older?"

Luke didn't have a mirror, but knew what Han was talking about. He could feel his own face his limbs actually felt weaker with age. He had always used the Force to revitalize himself. He had stunted his hair growth, saving him the trouble of shaving or getting a hair cut. "Yoda once said 'When nine hundred years you reach, look as good you will not.' At the time I thought he was just trying to be humorous, but over the past few years I realized that there was some truth to that statement. I won't live for a thousand years, or even five hundred, but the Force will probably keep me alive for quite a while. Or it would have anyway."

"Don't worry, Luke," Han consoled. "If it's just a medical procedure, then I'm sure that our New Republic doctors will be able to undue it when we escape."

Luke didn't smile at Han's casual reference to an escape that seemed impossible. "But that's the whole point. If the Force is something that you can simply turn on and off with a medical procedure, then it ruins everything."

Han sobered a little when he heard the strain in Luke's voice. "It's my turn to ask you a question," Luke said, breaking the tension he had created.

"Fire away."

"How does an interdiction field work?"

"Wow, talk about changing directions." Han was initially taken aback by Luke's question, but he realized that Luke probably wanted to change topics as quickly as he could. "I thought you knew all about machines and such."

Luke shook his head. "I only know what I've had experience with and what people have taught me. I've never been around an interdiction field long enough to take it apart."

"OK," Han said, accepting reason. "First, do you know how ships travel through hyperspace?"

"If it will make it easier to explain, let's assume I don't."

"OK. Space is made up of an infinite number of points. When I say points in space, I don't mean Coruscant or Yavin, I mean infinitesimal points." Han held up is index finger and thumb and tried to illustrate a tiny particle. "When we move we are constantly passing through these points. It is impossible to get from point 'A' to point 'B' without passing through all of the points in-between.

"When we travel through hyperspace, however, we jump from one point to another. In essence we jump from point 'A' to point 'B' without wasting time in-between. Since it is impossible to miss all of the points, when we skip, we are actually at every point in-between 'A' and 'B' at the same time. This is why the stars appear as lines when traveling through hyperspace. We are seeing the stars from an infinite series of points at the same time. It would be like exposing film to a light and then walking in a straight line while keeping the film exposed. When you look at the developed picture, you see the light from all of the different angles along the path you walked.

"Each of these points in space, as I said before, are infinitely small and have a corresponding infinitely small mass. As you know everything that has a mass has a gravitational field surrounding it. What an interdiction field does is increase each point's gravitational field a little bit. This small increase in the gravitational field of each point goes virtually unnoticed except in hyperspace. As you can imagine, hyperspace travel is a very delicate thing, being as how it takes the laws of physics and throws them out the window. As each point in space grows in gravitational strength, they become harder and harder to skip. When the gravitational strength grows too much, it becomes impossible for a ship to simply skip points in space, and it gets yanked back into real space."

"So normal motion isn't effected at all?"

Han paused. "Well according to how a interdiction field works, it is theoretically possible for an interdiction field to impeded motion in normal space, but it is in actuality quite impossible. The amount of energy needed to create such a field would be astronomical. If you could do it, the result would be like trying to walk through a thick cream. Each point in space would be pulling on you a little harder than normal."

Luke nodded in understanding, so Han continued. "Well I've answered your question, now you have to do me a favor and tell me what you think of my speech."

Luke sighed sarcastically, but complied.

Chapter 12 "Cryst 32"

Lando, Lobot, Yova, Trince, and Dexter sat around the table, preparing to discus this latest road block. Lobot had spent most of his time in the communication tower with Jalence and Herta. Lando had asked him to participate in this meeting because of his vast data banks. Lando was certain that there was something Lobot would be able to access about the giant cave worm that could help them.

"I've been doing some tremor testing around the site," Dexter said. "I've determined that the tunnel system that the worm occupies is fifty meters in diameter, and the tunnels wind about for quite a few kilometers. I can't tell how much of the tunnel system the worm takes up, because the tremor tests themselves cause the worm to move around a lot."

Lando turned to Lobot. "Do you know how big the average worm is?"

Lights flashed about on Lobot's Hamarin interface band. "There have not been very many recorded sizes, except to say that they are no shorter than a kilometer and range in thickness from forty to one hundred meters across."

"In that light, fifty meters doesn't sound so bad," Lando extrapolated. He turned to the Jedi. "Have you to been able to make any head way on this thing?"

"We have tried to put it to sleep, but it's mind is so large and it spends so much time in a semi-hibernating state, that if it could sleep, we can't make it," Trince reported.

"As far as quenching its appetite, it doesn't have one," Yova informed the group. "This worm probably hasn't eaten in hundreds of years. When it senses anything its instinct is to eat it, hungry or not. Stunting an instinct is a little above our abilities."

"My best suggestion would to be to set up some kind of blockade," Dexter said.

"A worm that size would be able to break through any thickness of steel that we could obtain," Lobot said. "It would also be able to chew through any amount of rock."

"What if we could set a force field to contain it," Lando offered. "It would probably be able to break through, but the shock it would get when it touched it would make it think twice before it tried."

"That might work," Trince agreed, "but where are you going to get the force field?"

Lando paused realizing the point of Trince's question. He had that kind of equipment here, but nothing strong enough to deter a giant cave worm. "I would have to take a trip to Coruscant. We are low on food as it is."

Dexter nodded his head. "I've been meaning to ask you if I could take a trip to Coruscant. Now that we are so close to the end of the tunnel, I wanted to pick up some more instruments. I know Jim is thinking the same thing."

"It's final then," Lando announced. "I'll take Lobot, Dexter, and Jim back to Coruscant to get some equipment. Meanwhile, you two can try to see if there are other alternatives. Don't hesitate to try something, even if it makes my trip for the force field generators useless. No reason we can't have two plans of attack."

Half an hour later the Lady Luck shot off into space leaving Mansenchin, Herta, Jalence, Yova, and Trince on the asteroid. A thousand light years away, two other ships shot off into hyperspace, but they planned on adding to the population of the large asteroid.

* * *

Frowinger checked the status of his four shuttles before giving the command to jump to hyperspace. Frowinger had no rank. He had never gone to the academy. His world had been taken over by the Empire when he was only fourteen. As an IQ kid genius, he had been in an advanced education facility. When the Empire found out his unique intellect they recruited him into their science department. Frowinger had been surrounded by older academy graduates and had felt intimidated. Dr. Kendel had taken the youth under his wing and taught him a few things. When Frowinger was sixteen and Kendel was relocated to the Hastrin base, Frowinger thought that his life was over, but Kendel requested that Frowinger be transferred as well. Ever since Frowinger had made giant leaps forward in physics and medicine.

Frowinger's lack of rank didn't prevent him from being in charge of this expedition. The lowest ranking storm trooper in his group technically out-ranked him, but Thrawn had personally placed him in command and their wasn't anyone who was going to buck that command. Everyone had an enormous amount of respect for Thrawn, and everyone who knew Frowinger, had just about as much respect for him.

Frowinger's lack of rank didn't mean that he had no military experience either. Tallon had recognized Frowinger's intellect and his youth and decided that he could make a great officer. Frowinger had accompanied Snotzenexer on several military drills and had proved Tallon correct at being quick on the uptake in military tactics as well as in science. It was that tactical prowess that had Frowinger in command of one hundred storm troopers, over three times as many as the thirty that Thrawn had recommended.

Frowinger had looked at the information pertaining to the asteroid mine and had come to the conclusion that it would be next to impossible to get past the traps and guards set up at the facility. If it wasn't for the fact that he had recently worked on the ysalamiri with Dr. Kendel, the idea that the Jedi might be part of the mining team would have never entered his mind. To defeat Jedi you needed a few more than thirty storm troopers.

Frowinger saw that all of the shuttles checked in as ready, and he gave the order to jump.

* * *

The camp on the asteroid was calm for the next few days. Trince and Yova spent a lot of their time down by the worm. They had still not seen the monstrosity, which was fine as far as they were concerned. On third day after Lando had left, Trince and Yova decided that they would try to get past the worm. They invited Mansenchin to come along.

The trip to the end of the tunnel was made shorter by the use of a small personnel transport that Dexter had deemed safe for the tunnels. They stopped the transport a few hundred meters short of the end of the tunnel. Mansenchin had never been to the end yet and was a little to eager to get a glimpse of the creature.

"If all goes well, we won't see the worm," Yova said, bursting Mansenchin's bubble. As they approached the end, Yova slowed her pace, and the other's fell in step.

"It hunts through vibrations," Trince whispered to Mansenchin, "so we have to approach it in a slightly unique way." Trince paused. "Don't be alarmed."

Mansenchin was about to question Trince's last statement, when he took his next step. His foot did not connect with the stone. He glanced down, startled, at his feet. They were hovering a few inches above the cave floor. Mansenchin took another hesitant step forward, testing his new elevation. His foot reached out to push off something, and his toes reached down slowly and connected lightly with the floor. He pushed off gently, careful to make as little noise as possible. After a few more practice steps, he felt confident and quickened his pace slightly. The walking technique was similar to what he had dreamed walking on water would be like. Pushing off with each step, but finding only a semi-tangible surface from which to propel yourself.

Trince and Yova waited patiently for Mansenchin to acquire his walking technique and then continued forward. Soon a large cavern was visible in the distance. Mansenchin could see that the tunnel was indeed fifty meters in diameter, as Dexter had predicted. The enormous worm tunnel crossed the path of the trio's small route at a right angle and disappeared into the darkness in either direction. The middle of the large second tunnel was at the same level as the trio, making it look like a huge dry river bed running by.

Trince and Yova stood at the edge of the deep canal at looked longingly at the other side, only fifty meters away. Mansenchin stood only slightly behind them and voiced his opinion. "Can't we just float across?"

Yova shook her head. "We're not sure if it knows we're here or not. We were careful, but if it has more sensitive nerves than we thought, it could very easily come charging out of the darkness when we are suspended over the middle."

Mansenchin nodded and peered over to the far side of the side cavern. The smaller tunnel continued on after the fifty meter expanse and curved out of sight. "So how are we getting across?"

"Yova is trying to soothe the savage beast, and I'm trying to disguise our presence," Trince said in a strained whisper. "We'd appreciate silence. It'll take a few minutes."

* * *

Herta entered the communications tower, walked over to her husband, and kissed him on the cheek. She remained leaning on the back of his chair and scanned the screen he was looking at. "Good afternoon, hun."

"Oh, morning, dear."

Herta frowned. "Jalence, it's sixteen hundred. Morning's gone; afternoon is waning; and it is nigh unto night."

The last comment from Herta broke Jalence's spell, and he turned away from the screen he had been staring at. "Sorry, I was a little distracted. What did you say?"

Herta sighed and shrugged. Men, she thought, but then her attention was pulled to the screen as well. "That hypercom echo," she said, pointing to the lower right hand corner of the screen, "that means that-"

"That ships are approaching in hyperspace," Jalence finished for her. "We are out of the space lines, so unless someone is lost, we're going to get visitors, in about two minutes."

Herta was puzzled. Few knew of this mining outpost, and even fewer would have a reason to arrive unannounced. "I suppose we should go outside and great our visitors."

* * *

Frowinger watched as the hyperspace countdown changed from minutes to seconds and then down to nothing. The starlines shrank down to dots, and the Imperial mining complex Cryst 32 filled the forward view. Reports rang in from all of the shuttles' stations.

"Their is a large oxygen shield surrounding the entire asteroid."

"There appears to be only a few small buildings set up on the face of the asteroid."

"Sensors only report two life signs on the surface, but the sensors can't penetrate the asteroid."

"Two people are visible on the surface."

Frowinger studied the scene in front of him. There was indeed very few buildings of any great stature. Frowinger thought for a few seconds about taking out the communications tower, but decided that the nearest planet that could respond to a distress was days away at best. Besides, if the miners hadn't penetrated past the defenses yet, then the Empire could still use the asteroid. "Bring the shuttles down in front of the radio tower, and be ready for an immediate, armed dissembarkment."

* * *

Jalence and Herta stood transfixed, staring at the four Imperial shuttles descending onto, what they had considered over the past month to be their asteroid. "Welcome home doesn't quite seem adequate," Herta said. Jalence remained frozen to the ground.

The couple had no weapons other than a large laser mining drill, which neither of them knew how to operate. The shuttles touched down and emptied their contents onto the barren rock. Jalence and Herta put up no fight and raised their arms in a gesture of unconditional surrender. Storm troopers swarmed around them, keeping the couple always in their gun sights. Groups of four troopers searched each of the buildings. One group came back with a small box of crystals, and another group brought back a few blaster rifles that neither Herta nor Jalence had been aware of.

No one spoke to either captive. Finally, the ring of storm troopers around them opened, allowing an important looking man to approach the couple. Jalence was somewhat familiar with the Empire, and it didn't look like that this man was wearing an Imperial uniform.

"Are you the only two on this asteroid?" Frowinger asked, getting right to the point.

Jalence still hadn't found his voice, so Herta felt that it was her job to be the spokesman, although she didn't know if she should answer the question. They wouldn't believe "no" without proof, and she had none. If she answered "yes," she would be betraying her friends' trust. She remained silent.

Frowinger was no idiot, and he knew Herta's dilemma. "I expected as much." He turned to an officer not in storm trooper armor. "Captain, send twenty-five men down into the tunnels with the speeders. I assume you have obtained the codes and locations for all of the traps. If they have penetrated into the mines, blow them up." The captain nodded and motioned for several of the encircled group of storm troopers to follow him.

Jalence finally managed to speak. "What about us?"

Frowinger smiled at the way his voice cracked. "Is that what you care about?" He decided to play with his captive. "Your skin is valuable to you, eh? Maybe you should have thought of that before you trespassed on OUR asteroid. What about your friends? Do you not care for them?" Frowinger was allowed to be cocky when he had Thrawn and Tallon to back him. "I'll not kill you, yet. If everyone on this rock dies, then who will there be to tell of the exploits of the Empire?"

"Your storm troopers are all dead, and you don't even know it!" Jalence blurted out much to Herta's disappointment.

Frowinger smiled as he recognized this threat for what it was. "Ah, the Jedi are in the tunnels. I almost forgot." Jalence's face turned ashen. Frowinger turned to another officer. "Commander, you better send another twenty-five troopers, to thwart the mighty Jedi," he said with more than a little contempt.

Frowinger turned back to the couple to find a foot aimed at his head. Herta was an expert in Corellian hand-to-hand combat. Frowinger stumbled backwards as Herta's heel connected solidly with his face. Even with his limited military experience, Frowinger was no slouch with a weapon. His draw was one of the fastest in the Empire. Herta found this out the hard way, as Frowinger fired almost before Herta knew he had drawn his side arm. Her knee buckled as the bolt of energy shattered her patella.

Jalence gave a startled yip as his wife crumpled at his feet. He bent over to help her, but his anger got the best of him, and he straightened up to charge Frowinger. Ten storm troopers grabbed him from all sides and forced him to the ground.

Frowinger wiped the blood from his face and spit at Herta. "Take them into one of those buildings," he said to one of the troopers, "and make sure they don't cause any trouble."

* * *

Yova suddenly jerked up from her crouched stance. "Someone is coming. No, many people are coming, fast."

Mansenchin looked at her, trying to discern more information from her facial expressions. "Who?"

"Unknown, but they're definitely hostile."

Trince pulled his lightsaber from his belt but didn't ignite it, not wanting to give away their position. Mansenchin was carrying a lantern on a long pole, and he detached the lantern and prepared himself to use the four foot metal pole for a weapon. Yova kept her lightsaber on her hip and continued to try to make contact with the cave worm, knowing that if there was going to be a battle, it would be next to impossible to keep the beast from making an appearance.

Trince could feel the enemy presence only a few seconds before he could hear them. He could hear them only a few seconds before they rounded the bend in the tunnel. The first few storm troopers on the bikes had only a few seconds after they rounded the bend before Trince lopped of the front of their speeders with his lightsaber and they crashed into the wall.

After Mansenchin and Trince dismounted ten bikers, rendering them either unconscious or out of the battle, the rest of the storm troopers stopped well before the duo. About ten of the remaining storm troopers began firing their riffles while the other five were working on a large piece of equipment.

"Get behind me!" Trince yelled at Mansenchin. Mansenchin didn't waste any time complying to the Jedi's plea as blaster bolts streaked past. Trince worked furiously to deflect all of the close shots, and Mansenchin could see that he was tiring quickly.

Yova came up from behind them with her lightsaber lit and began to help. "It's coming," she said. Neither Trince nor Mansenchin needed the "it" to be clarified.

"How long do we have?"

"Not long."

"Then it's now or never," Trince turned to Mansenchin. "How fast can you run? It's a little under eighty meters, half down-hill, half up-hill."

Mansenchin shrugged, but understood that they were short on time. He turned to find the ditch right behind him. His first step found him going down faster than he had thought, and he fell, tumbling down to the bottom. He sat up and could feel the ground trembling beneath him. He looked to his left and right into the blackness of the tunnel, expecting to see the huge worm shoot into view with its teeth baring. A yell from Yova got Mansenchin back on his feet, and he scrambled up the steep opposite side.

Trince and Yova stood on the edge of the ditch fending the fire of the troopers. Trince had managed to ricochet three bolts back to their point of origin, but the remaining seven kept firing. Yova began to play with their minds and vision, and the elite storm troopers' aim began to look like normal credit-a-dozen storm troopers' aim.

Yova took this opportunity to leap backwards over the edge. She skied down the side on a cushion of air, letting her momentum carry her halfway up the other side. Yova scrambled up the rest of the way to where Mansenchin was standing.

The storm troopers began to charge Trince when they realized that their aim was off. Trince leaped backwards into the air, flipping high and landing gracefully in the middle of the ditch. The seven troopers wasted no time following him into the ditch, fairing little better than Mansenchin had. Trince stood ready to meet the oncoming charge, when a yell from Yova brought him to his senses. He sensed something large coming in fast from his right. One glance at the storm troopers told Trince that they were oblivious to their predicament. Trince filled himself with the force and flipped thirty meters up and back. He had barely landed on the far cliff when a huge, grayish mass shot past, filling the entire ditch. Trince stumbled backwards when he landed and sat only a few meters from the edge. He scrambled back and away from the fleshy worm that was still traveling past at a terrific speed.

It took almost a minute for the entire length of the worm to pass by. Yova estimated its length at a little over two kilometers. Mansenchin scrambled to the edge of the ditch to see what was left of the storm troopers. Mansenchin could see only a few red smears and some bits of white armor. Those storm troopers were gone.

Trince was right behind Mansenchin, figuring on disposing the remaining five storm troopers. He was just about to leap across, when Yova grabbed his shoulder. "What is it?" he asked.

Yova didn't say anything, but pointed at the five storm troopers, who were currently being backed up by twenty-five more. Instead of leaping across, Trince turned and ran away from the ditch as blaster bolts splattered into the floor and walls around him. The three of them rounded the far bend of the tunnel, effectively putting them selves out of sight from the firing storm troopers. They meant to keep running but the came up against a huge metal slab, blocking their way.

* * *

Captain Mistk was still in awe of what he had just seen. Seven of his best men had just been eaten by the largest monster he had ever seen. He was still staring at the empty ditch where his men no longer were when he heard a transport coming in from behind him. He turned around to see twenty-five more storm troopers coming in.

Commander Skrinned walked up to him. "It seems you were met by a little resistance. How many were there?"

"Only three," the Captain said, "But I gathered that two of them were Jedi. Our biggest loss came at the hands, or I should say the mouth of a huge beast that is guarding the other side."

The Commander walked up to the edge of the ditch and examined the scene. "A giant cave worm. The report on this asteroid said nothing about a worm."

The Captain stood behind him. "I trust what I saw with my own eyes, and I'm not sending any more men across that ditch."

"Agreed," the Commander stood up and turned back toward the device that Mistk's men were just finishing with.

"I have orders to blow up this cavern," the Captain said, "and I intend to do just that." Mistk walked up to the large bomb. He punched in his activation code on the keypad, and a small panel slide open, revealing a digital display. He set the time for fifteen minutes. After all of the troopers had boarded the transport, Mistk initiated the timer.

* * *

Jalence and Herta had been herded into the make-shift mess hall. Frowinger was pacing in front of them, sucking on his split lip. Jalence had tried to talk to Frowinger, telling him that the Jedi would defeat any attack that his storm troopers could muster. His tone was somewhat subdued due to the fact that it is hard to trash talk someone when you are tied to a chair, your wife has passed-out from the pain in her leg, and you're surrounded by twenty armed storm troopers.

Frowinger only half listened to Jalence's rambling, he was more concerned that they would have to blow up this valuable outpost. He knew that it was the best choice and that the alternative of letting future New Republic mining teams have access to the facility was definitely worse.

The com on Frowinger's belt beeped twice, and he reacted accordingly. "Report."

"I've set the bomb for fifteen minutes, sir. We took heavy casualties, twenty."

"What of the Jedi?"

"No casualties to report, sir. Although they have no way to leave the tunnels before the bomb goes off."

"Very, well. Frowinger out." He turned to face Jalence, planning to respond to his boasts for the first time. "Do you like your Jedi well done or extra crispy."

Jalence tried spit at Frowinger, but Frowinger saw it coming and slapped him. Frowinger turned to his men. "We've got about ten minutes to leave. I want everyone back in the shuttles now." He was the last one out of the building and turned back to Jalence before he left. "Don't worry, the bomb shouldn't take out the entire asteroid. You and you're one legged friend here, still have a chance."

The door slammed close, and Jalence was left alone before he could respond.

* * *

Trince, Yova, and Mansenchin made their way back to the edge of the cliff when they were sure that the Imperials had left. They had waited ten minutes extra just to be safe. Mansenchin scanned the other side. He could see multiple crashed speeders and three dead storm troopers that the Imperials had left behind to rot. "It's just like the Imperials not to clean up when they leave."

"Why did they leave?" Trince asked, puzzled.

"Trince," Yova said, and Trince picked up the edge in her tone. "I don't like the looks of this. That black box over there-"

Trince could see it now too, and he was picking up the same negative ripple that Yova was. Two quick leaps brought Trince safely to the other side. Yova was close behind, but Mansenchin was more hesitant, both because of his last trip and the knowledge of the cave worm.

Trince ran up to the bomb and recognized it for what it was immediately. The digital readout proclaimed that they had about a minute left to live. "What is it?" Yova asked as she ran up to him. "Not again," she added when she saw what it was, remembering their last encounter with a bomb.

"It's too big," Trince said, "I can't maneuver it down the tunnel like I did before."

"What if you had you had a bigger tunnel."

"Like wha-" Trince started, but realized what she was talking about. "We don't know where it goes."

"But we do know what will happen if we leave it here."

Trince surrendered, and the two of them moved the bomb to the edge of the ditch. Fearing that he was missing something important, Mansenchin decided that now would be a good time to become brave and cross the ditch. He was more careful this time and didn't fall until his second step. Yova saw Mansenchin fall to the bottom of the ditch and yelled at him. "You'll bring the worm back!" Sure enough, Yova could feel the worm acknowledging their presence and begin his trip for another pass.

Trince glanced at the clock and saw that there was thirty seconds left. He quickly used the Force to lift Mansenchin out of the ditch and then moved the bomb to the middle of the large tunnel. The bomb moved slowly down the tunnel at first, but as Trince fell deeper and deeper into his Force trance the bomb began to accelerate faster.

Yova felt the worm nearing and she put a Force cloak over Trince so he wouldn't be distracted when it came past, which it did only a few seconds later. Yova thought that the worm would slow when it realized that its meal was no longer in the ditch, but she sensed that it still had a meal. It was then that she realized that the worm was chasing the bomb. Trince realized this too, and he could feel the worm catching up to it. He pushed the bomb with all his might, ebbing as much strength out of the Force that he could. The worm was incredibly strong, and being over two kilometers, it had a lot of leverage to propel itself. If the worm caught the bomb before it reached a safe distance, it would likely slow down or even return. Trince couldn't let that happen.

Yova realized her partner's predicament, and she began helping him. With their combined strength they were able to increase the distance between the bomb and the worm to four hundred meters before the bomb exploded.

The shock wave shook the entire asteroid. Trince, still exhausted from propelling the bomb, tensed himself for the potential of the tunnel collapsing. The tremor passed and the cavern they were in stayed intact. Trince did a quick mental check on all of the traps, and was glad to find that they were still secured. He turned to face Yova and found her with a puzzled expression on her face. "What is it?"

"The worm," she started, "it's gone."

"Dead?"

"No, just gone."

Mansenchin walked up to the pair. "Where?"

Yova shook her head. "I don't know."

* * *

"Five minutes until detonation, sir," Captain Mistk reported. Frowinger nodded his head. He, the Captain and his remaining five troops were the last shuttle of the asteroid.

Frowinger made his way to the cockpit. "Pilot," he said once he arrived, "see if you can knock out the communications tower before we leave. The bomb might not take it out."

The pilot complied. It took only a few seconds to get into position, and the shuttle fired two accurate shots into the base of the tower. The building and all the computers in it, burst into flames. The tower itself, buckled and came crashing down on top of the mess hall. Frowinger smiled at the thought of Jalence trapped under the large tower.

The fleet of four shuttles circled the asteroid to get into position to jump into hyperspace. After all four shuttles had calculated the jump, Frowinger decided to wait and make sure that the bomb went off. He watched the timer count down on a panel in the cock pit: four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . zero.

In front of him the surface of the asteroid exploded and flame shot out of the rock in a kilometer long plume, consuming the first shuttle. The second shuttle just avoided the eruption of flame, but exploded a few seconds later when a one hundred ton chunk of asteroid slammed into it.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Frowinger screamed, and the last two shuttles just avoided the explosion. "We must go back!"

"Sir, look!" Mistk shouted and pointed out of the rear view. The cave worm was coming out of the huge hole. Its head was burnt black, and its mouth was open revealing its many ten-meter teeth. "Sir, it's gaining on us."

Frowinger's shuttle was now in the lead, and the other shuttle was almost over taken by the enraged cave worm. "We have to jump out now or we'll be dead!"

Frowinger hesitated only long enough for the forward view to become dark from the inside of the worm's mouth. Frowinger could see the teeth closing in front of them, and he didn't waste any more time. "Hyperspace!" he yelled.

Both shuttles burst forward into hyperspace, Frowinger's shuttle just squeezing between the closing jaws, and the second shuttle bursting into flames against the worm's teeth.

* * *

Mansenchin, Trince, and Yova emerged from the cave on foot. The Imperials had disabled their transport. They weren't encouraged with the sight of the wrecked buildings. "They're in there." Yova pointed to the mess hall, which was crushed underneath the radio tower. They all raced over to the building, Trince being the first one to reach it.

Trince began excavating the site immediately, hurling huge pieces of metal and wood in every direction. He slowed when he felt that he was getting close. Jalence moaned. Yova could see him pinned under a large piece of the tower. His arm looked broken, but his life signs were stable.

"Don't worry about me," Jalence mumbled. "I'm fine, but Herta-"

Yova felt Herta's life signs, barely. Three meters to the left she found her crushed under a pile of stone and wood. A quick Force aided injury check told Yova that Herta had several broken ribs, a punctured lung, a crushed pelvis, her left leg was broken in three places, and her right knee was blown apart and burned. Yova could tell that this last injury hadn't occurred from the collapse, and she cursed the Imperials' needless brutality. She quickly threw off her anger and focused on the task at hand. "Trince help me with Herta, but be careful. She's in trouble."

Trince moved next to the pile and lifted the entire mess off the injured woman at once. He gently pulled away the stone and wood, clearing her body by three meters before hurling the mess twenty meters to the left.

"Mans," Yova yelled to Mansenchin, "Help me get Herta over to one of the other buildings." The strong man scooped up Herta in his arms and hurried after Yova toward one of the living quarters.

Trince knew that Yova was very good at healing with the Force, so he stayed with Jalence. After he had freed Jalence, the two of them made their way to the building where Mansenchin had taken Herta. Jalence was limping badly, and Trince could see that his pants were becoming soaked with blood.

When they came to the door of the building Trince stopped. "I know you're concerned about your wife, but the best thing you can do for her is to let Yova care for her." Jalence nodded, and the two of them went through the doors.

Jalence was stunned at the sight of his wife laying broken on the table, and it was only Jalence's weakened condition and Trince's words that kept him from rushing to her side. Trince too was awe-struck. Yova had removed Herta's shirt revealing her torn and bloody side. Several ribs were protruding though her skin, broken and warped. Her pants had been cut off at mid-thigh and her knee was a sickly site. The kneecap itself was gone and the flesh missing, exposing the vulnerable joint. Her other leg was black and blue and obviously broken.

Trince helped Jalence over to a bed and got him comfortable before he went over to see if he could help Yova. Yova was in the process of pushing the ribs back into place. Trince noticed that Yova had first placed Herta in a Force coma, rendering her almost breathless and with a very slow heartbeat. Trince was certain that Yova could heal her, but it would take a long time. He wished that Lando would come back soon, but he knew that Lando was still a few days from Coruscant and he would still have to make the return trip. Trince looked again at Herta's wounds. They would make it.

* * *

The Lady Luck dropped out of hyperspace two and a half days short of Coruscant. On Lobot's suggestion, Lando decided to check the planet of Farnestic for supplies before going to Coruscant, perhaps shortening their trip by several days.

Lando got in contact with the flight control and received clearance to land in one of the major cities. Farnestic was known as a friendly place and quite rich. It was on these two pieces of information that Lobot rested his case for stopping here. They could have picked up the material anywhere, but Lando didn't have the money available, and had to buy everything on credit. Lando knew that he would have the money once he got at the crystals. Coruscant also knew this, and they had more than a little respect for Lando as businessman. Anywhere else other than Coruscant would likely turn him away without even considering Lando's case. The universe was turning into a "cash on purchase" kind of place. Lando understood these planet's concerns and he was quite content with spending the extra days in hyperspace to get to Coruscant.

Lobot argued that Farnestic, being a member of the New Republic, was likely to be sympathetic towards Lando's cause. Also being a rich planet, they might also be more willing and able to deal in credit.

Lando set the Lady Luck down into the hanger he had been appointed to, and the troop exited the ship and entered the streets of Strempix, the third largest city on Farnestic. It didn't take long for them to find a military outpost. It took even less time for Lando to get permission to speak with a general. And Dexter was sure Lando set a record for the shortest business conversation, when Lando emerged two minutes later with a smile on his face.

They spent the rest of the day loading the Lady Luck with supplies. That night before they left, Lando got permission from the general to send a holo message to Coruscant.

Lando waited patiently while the connection was established, his security codes were confirmed, and for someone to pick up at the other end. Wedge's face appeared and Lando smiled, noticing Wedge's hair. Apparently he had woken the Admiral. "I'm sorry, Wedge. Did I wake you? It's tough to remember Coruscant's time table."

"Yes you did wake me, but it is the middle of the day. I was only taking a nap. Just about to get up anyway. What do you want?"

"Napping in the middle of the day? You must be pretty worn out. What's going on?"

Wedge spent the next five minutes telling Lando about Luke and Han, the situation with Leia, and about the tragedy in the Danzig system. Lando was shocked. The New Republic hadn't been in this much trouble since they had fought against the Empire, and Lando told Wedge as much.

"I agree," Wedge replied. "It's unbelievable that these events could all come so close."

"Come on, Wedge," Lando said. "These events didn't happen independently. I'm willing to bet a trillion credits that the same people are involved with all of them. If this is the Empire, and it looks like it is, then they got someone in charge who really knows his stuff. They managed to capture or detain the New Republic's three most important people in the time of one week. If I didn't know that he was dead, I'd say that Thrawn is back in charge. Is there anything I can do?"

Wedge shook his head. "Right now we're not even doing anything. There's nothing we can do except wait. Besides, if the Empire is back in business, then I suggest you get back to your mining complex as quick as possible. They might pay you a visit."

The reality of Wedge's warning dawned on him, and Lando realized that if the Imperials attacked while he was away, the asteroid was more than a little vulnerable. Lando wished Wedge luck in his endeavors and quickly closed the connection. With out asking, he sent another message out to the asteroid. An error message came up on the screen saying that the message was not being received.

Lando bolted from the room and raced back to his ship. Getting clearance to leave, Lando took his ship out of the hanger and rocketed out into space. After the jump was calculated, the Lady Luck disappeared into space.

Lando got little to no sleep during the trip, and when the ship reentered normal space three days later, Lando's anxiety had increased ten-fold. When the asteroid came into view Lando's pulse skipped. His fingers flew over buttons in the cockpit while his eyes stayed transfixed on the sight of the downed tower and crushed buildings. His hands stopped they're frantic scrambling, and he looked at the readout to see the result: five life signs.

Lando breathed a sigh of relief. "Now the question is, 'Whose five life signs are those?'" Lobot spoke from behind him, quite emotionlessly. Lando spun around to find Lobot and Jim standing behind him.

"What are you talking about?"

"It is quite evident that there has been some action here while we were gone. To think that this was a simple equipment malfunction would put a lot of distrust in your people. It is much more likely that there was a second party involved. There is no more reason to believe that those five people are ours than there is to believe that they are not ours."

"Jim," Lando said, "remind me next time I need an emotional boost, to keep Lobot off of my list of people to call."

Lando wasted no time in getting the ship on the ground and was greatly relieved to see Trince and Jalence come out to greet him. After listening to Lobot, he half expected to be met by storm troopers. Lando saw that Jalence was wearing a sling, and both of them were wearing grim faces.

"We had a little visit while you were gone," Jalence informed him.

"I hope you took a message for me."

Trince nodded. "Get off or else."

"Who?" Lando asked.

"Imperials," Jalence said. "We can tell you all about it when we get inside."

Lando followed the pair into one of the living quarters while the rest of the crew began unloading the ship. Once inside Lando saw Herta. Her face was drawn and tired, but she was sitting up and smiled at Lando.

Jalence told Lando what had happened up on the surface and Trince informed him about what had occurred in the tunnels. Trince also told Lando about how Yova had meditated afterwards and discovered what had happened to the Imperials.

"It seems that we had sent the bomb to the edge of the asteroid. When it blew, it took out two of the shuttles. The worm had been chasing the bomb and chased it right out into open space. It got one of the remaining shuttles, and the other one made it into hyperspace."

"Have you been down there since it all happened?"

"No," Jalence answered, "we've been too busy trying to rebuild. Mans and Yova are preparing dinner right now."

"I think we should try to get down there as soon as possible," Lando said. "There's obviously something down there that is pretty valuable. I don't think that crystals justify bringing in one hundred storm troopers. Plus, the New Republic is having serious problems with the Empire right now, and if there is information down there, it could prove very useful. Time is a precious commodity."

As precious as time was, food was more precious, and they waited until after dinner to make the trip. Trince and Lando were the only people not occupied with the injured, or injured themselves, so they went alone. The other transport they still had made for a speedy trip down, and it wasn't long until they were standing in front of the same metal wall that had stopped them three days previous. Trince mentally searched for any traps and found none. He had not expected any, but always liked to play it safe.

"Is there some device to open this door?" Lando asked, examining the wall around the door.

"Yes," Trince said, "right here." He unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and made short work of the door.

Lando and Trince stepped through the smoldering door and into another world. The walls of the room were covered with computers. The room itself looked like the inside of a spaceship, without any rock to be seen. There were several doors in the room that Lando guessed led to other similar rooms. "Jack pot."

Chapter 13 "Kidnapped"

Chief Sangrine looked at the scene with more than a little confusion. Why would someone break into one of their embassy buildings without stealing anything, not that there was anything worth stealing anyway. None of it made any sense. He had talked with the guard who had discovered the intruder and had received little information. The sex of the intruder was still up for grabs.

His men were still searching the place for finger prints or hair for a DNA sample. Sangrine had been sure that they would find something because the thief appeared to have been so careless. However, as it became clear that they wouldn't find any evidence, he began to think that there was something more here than just a simple fudged robbery attempt. He walked out to the landing pad where the Millennium Falcon was sitting and where the thief was reported to have entered and exited.

The Chief stared at the old freighter while he was contemplating the events. An idea began to creep slowly into his head. "Has the Falcon been searched yet?" he asked a guard who was standing near him.

"Uh, no sir."

"Well do it. I want it stripped from top to bottom. Don't break anything, but I want you to find each dust bunny, understand?"

The guard nodded and beckoned for a few other guards to help him.

* * *

This time when the guards came to take Leia away, Chewie wasn't there to protect her, Tenel Ka was.

"What are you doing, Chief?" Tenel Ka asked as security guards put a much more relaxed Leia in cuffs.

"We agreed that Leia could remain under house arrest until we found the jewels," Sangrine told her. "We found the jewels."

"Where?"

"In the Millennium Falcon."

Tenel Ka was caught speechless. She agreed that all of the evidence pointed directly at Leia, but she couldn't help feeling some what betrayed by the Chief of security. "I will prove her innocence."

"You better be quick about it," Sangrine informed her. "The state isn't to lenient with murderers."

Tenel didn't need Sangrine to spell it out for her. She knew how strict and swiftly crime was punished in her government. While the system decreased crime, it also often punished the innocent before they could be proven as such.

Tenel Ka stood in dismay as the guards led Leia away. She prayed that she could find the proof she needed, but doubted she would.

* * *

Laya smiled as she read the news report. She had tapped directly into the main computer system of the city and was sitting comfortably in her ship while the days events scrolled in front of her. Leia had been arrested again. This time she wouldn't be let out on bail. The evidence Laya had piled up against the President of the New Republic was indisputable.

Laya was still smiling when the latest bit of news scrolled up. Her smile quickly faded. Leia was scheduled for execution tomorrow morning. No! They wouldn't execute the head of the New Republic. Not without a trial. This information had to be wrong. Laya did a quick back check on the report's source and found it to be authentic.

Leia couldn't die. That would ruin everything. Laya's computer mind raced for a way out. She couldn't let Leia die. Thrawn wouldn't allow it.

* * *

Leia was laying on the cot in her cell, knowing that she wouldn't find the sleep she was looking for. Her mind tried to replay the night of the robbery, but it was all a blur. As the hours crawled by, she almost convinced herself that she had indeed committed the hideous crime.

The knock on her door came in the middle of the night. Leia guessed that it was about three in the morning. What would they want from her at this hour. The knock came again. Leia soon realized the futility of the knocking. She couldn't open the door from the inside anyway. Her puzzlement was soon over when the door opened and a dark figure rushed in.

"Are you awake? You have to get out of here?" The voice was female and oddly familiar. It was dark and Leia couldn't make out the face of her visitor. Leia used the Force to get a feel for her, but she didn't show up as a presence in the Force, almost like she had no life energy.

Leia, although she hadn't gotten any sleep, was tired and groggy. "What do you mean?"

"I'm here to rescue you. You've got to escape."

Leia woke quickly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not guilty of the charges. Running will only make me look guilty."

"Don't be stupid!" Leia couldn't even see her rescuer's mouth move. Leia figured that she had some kind of mask on. "They're going to execute you tomorrow."

"What?!" Leia hadn't been informed of that. She was sure that they would have told her if this was to be her last night. "I'm not going to be exe-"

Laya had no more patience. She grabbed Lea's wrist and jerked her off the cot. "We are going, now!"

Leia couldn't free herself from the iron grip, and the idea that she was scheduled for execution, scared her more than a little bit. She allowed herself to be dragged from the cell.

Outside the door, Leia could see to guards lying unconscious or dead on the ground. The pair moved swiftly through a maze of corridors, occasionally passing a few guards who were lying motionless on the floor. Leia noticed in the dark that they were moving through a lot of little used corridors and back storage rooms. They finally came to a door that led outside. One swift kick from Laya removed the door from its hinges, and they were outside.

Leia stopped. "What about all of my stuff? They still have my lightsaber." Without a word Laya tossed the pack she had been wearing to Leia. A quick check revealed that her lightsaber and clothes were inside. Laya insisted that they hurry, and Leia had no choice but to follow.

They had exited the back of the prison facility and were on the edge of town. They ran up the side of a grassy knoll and were soon over it and out of site. Leia stopped running and regarded her companion for the first time.

"Who are you?"

Laya removed her mask. Leia gasped as she looked into the perfect likeness of herself. "I'm you." Before Leia could react, Laya rendered her unconscious with a swift blow to the neck. Laya heaved Lea's limp form onto her shoulder as though she weighed no more than a heavy coat and continued away from the city.

* * *

Sangrine woke to quite a surprise. Not one alarm had gone off, and the prisoner was missing. He had gone to the security wing of the department only to find twenty unconscious guards and one prisoner missing. They had a short video of the actual rescue. A masked person shot a blaster set on maximum stun at both guards in front of the cell. The person then opened the cell door quite effortlessly, and a few moments later, emerged with Princess Leia.

"Sir," a lieutenant pulled him away from the video, "we have located the door from which they left the building, but it is undetermined where they went from there."

Sangrine nodded, knowing that they were dealing with a professional. "Lieutenant Stranch, I want you to officially drop all charges against Princess Leia, and I want you to send a sincere apology to her government."

"Ah," smiled Stranch, "you wish to draw her out. Make it look like we don't want her anymore."

"I don't need to explain my orders to you. But you do need to carry them out."

"Yes, sir." Stranch clicked his heals smartly and left.

Sangrine knew that he would receive another visit from Princess Tenel Ka as soon as word that the charges had been dropped came out. He was not disappointed when two hours after he had given the order, Tenel Ka followed by a large wookiee came bursting into his office. "Yes, Princess."

"Don't play with me Chief. I could get you in big trouble for this." The wookiee bellowed his opinion, and Sangrine didn't need a translation to understand that Chewie agreed with Tenel Ka.

"I believe that you should listen to what I have to say, Princess."

"No! You listen to me. You're setting a trap for Leia, and not only will it not work, but it will ruin your reputation."

"I agree that I set a trap, but it was not for Leia. Besides, the trap has already been sprung, and the prey has gotten away."

"What are you talking about?"

"Princess Tenel Ka, I dropped the charges against Leia because I truly believe that she is innocent. The guilty person is the one who rescued her."

Chewie growled a comment, and Tenel Ka repeated it in Basic. "Explain yourself."

"Certainly. I do not know if you are aware of the New Republic's current troubles, but as Chief of Security in the capital of the Hapes Cluster, I have to stay informed as to what's going on in all of our allied systems. Right now the New Republic is being assailed from all sides by an unknown adversary. First there is Princess Lea's condition of being convicted of a heinous crime, then a fleet of New Republic ships were destroyed in an unknown cluster while inspecting reported Imperial activity, and finally Luke Skywalker and Han Solo have disappeared."

After this final bit of news, Chewie let out a furious roar. Sangrine had expected all of the outbursts by his guests except this one. Sangrine knew of Chewie's connection to Han, but he didn't understand the depth of that friendship. Tenel Ka turned around to try to calm the enraged wookiee.

"Chewbacca, we have to help Leia now. There's nothing we can do for Han right now. I'm sure the New Republic is doing everything they can to find him. Luke will be able to take care of him."

After Chewie had settled down into a somewhat subdued state, Sangrine continued. "Well, I thought that all of these things happening at once was a pretty big coincidence, and I had started to have my doubts as to why Leia would commit such a crime." Sangrine held up a hand to stop Tenel Ka's forthcoming statement. "I know what I said before, but at the time all of my information pointed to Leia as the guilty party.

"Now I think that Leia is being set up by the same people who are harassing the New Republic. I also figured that since they were framing Leia instead of trying to kill her, what ever they had planned, involved having Leia alive. I arrested Leia and posted a note on the news bulletin that she was to be executed today." Sangrine read the shock in Tenel Ka's face. "It was a bluff. I had no intention of killing the President of the New Republic even if she was guilty. My bluff worked, and who ever was framing her, rescued her last night. That was the only part of my plan that went wrong. I had heightened security as much as I could, but it didn't even slow their pace."

Tenel Ka understood, and her attitude toward the Chief changed from one of distrust to one of respect. "Now both Leia and her rescuer, who now is probably her kidnapper, are missing. My men are searching the hills and woods on the outskirts of town right now. What I need from you is if Leia comes back or escapes, I need to talk with her."

* * *

Laya was furious. Everything was going wrong. She had just read the report that all charges had been dropped. She saw through the trap within a trap instantly. Leia was to smart to come out of hiding just because it was reported that all the charges had been dropped. This was official. Laya had blown her cover by rescuing Leia. She should have seen the nested trap right away.

Laya stormed through the corridors of her small ship and came to the cabin where she was keeping Leia prisoner. Normally Laya would be a little nervous about holding a Jedi captive, even an untrained one like Leia, but the few ysalamiri that Thrawn had given her rendered Leia quite harmless. She opened the door and stormed in. Leia was sitting on the small bed, unprepared for this sudden intrusion. Laya walked up to her and had every intention of throttling the life from the person that was causing her all of the trouble.

Laya stopped herself with her hands on Lea's throat. Leia had taken only a few seconds to compose herself after Laya's sudden entrance. Leia didn't struggle or fight. She seemed quite content to die right here. Laya shook herself, trying to quench her rage.

"You won't win," Leia said quite calmly.

Laya backhanded her in the face, almost breaking her jaw and sending her across the room. "Tenel Ka will come for me. She is a better fighter than you."

Laya almost ran over to Leia to hit her again, but she contained herself. Tenel Ka was not a better fighter than she was. She was the best hand to hand fighter in existence. Even with the Force Tenel Ka would not win, and if she came here, the ysalamiri would keep the Force from her. Leia's words rang true, though. Tenel Ka would indeed be able to find her ship. An idea began to form in her mind.

Laya turned to Leia, who still lay in a heap where she had landed. "Tenel Ka will not come here if I go to her first."

* * *

Lieutenant Stranch was leading his search party through the woods. They had found no trace of Princess Leia, and he was about to give up when his short-range, hand-held sensor started beeping. "I'm picking up some metal about fifty meters that way." He pointed of toward some thick brush. "It might be her lightsaber."

Laya could here them coming toward her, and she lay motionless on the ground. When she sensed that they were within visual range, she stirred slightly. Stranch ran over to her side, and his sensor began going crazy. Stranch quickly shut it off, and Laya was glad, knowing that it wasn't the lightsaber she was wearing that was setting off the metal detector, rather her entire body.

When Stranch helped her to her feet, she made sure not to rely on his help too much, knowing that her weight would be a dead give away that she was an impostor. Still, Stranch groaned a little as Laya got to her feet. "What happened to you?"

Laya tried to portray confusion. "I don't know. I was rescued by someone. I'm not sure who he was, but he sounded like he was from this city, the way he talked. Anyway, when I was outside the building, he knocked me out, and I just woke up."

"Well if you come with me, we'll get you taken care of."

Laya smiled weakly. "Thank-you." Frowinger was no slouch at programming, and her performance was accepted without question.

Sangrine had a few questions, though.

When Laya was brought in front of the Chief, she was grilled for almost an hour before Tenel Ka came to her rescue. "Chief, why wasn't I told the instant that Leia was found."

The Chief looked up from his notes at the same pair who had burst into his office three hours earlier. "I had a few questions for the Princess and I-" the Chief stopped when he noticed that he was being ignored. Chewie ran over to Laya and gave her a hug. Laya returned the hug, though she was a little repulsed by the hairy creature.

The threesome started to leave the office when Sangrine called after them. "Wait! I'm not done."

"I think you are," Tenel Ka replied curtly.

"We still need to run some medical tests on the Princess. She might have been poisoned or hurt."

At the mention of medical tests, Laya looked at Tenel Ka with true terror. Tenel Ka took the look as the look of someone who was exhausted and was just looking for some place to relax, instead as the look of someone who was composed of sixty-five percent metal and desperately wanted to keep that fact a secret.

"All of the charges against Leia have been dropped, correct?" Sangrine nodded in defeat, knowing where Tenel Ka was going with this conversation. "Unless you think you can detain the President of the New Republic against her will, I think we will be going."

Laya mouthed a "thank-you" to Tenel Ka and they walked out of his office. A transport was waiting for them outside of the security building, and it whisked them back toward Tenel Ka's royal mansion. During the trip Laya had some deep thinking. This part of the plan was the whole reason that she was made in the likeness of Leia, but it was definitely plan B, not A. To pull off this charade she would have to be perfect, especially because she had to fool a Jedi. Laya smiled at how she had performed so far and was sure she could pull it off. This time when she committed terrorism, she would have witnesses, and there would be no question who had done it.

* * *

The Scavenger popped out of hyperspace a couple hundred million kilometers away from Hastrin. Jacen hovered over Jaina and Lowie like an apprehensive parent. "Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Trust me," Jaina said, using a phrase that she had started to use too flippantly. "I saw this in a holo-vid once."

Jacen frowned. "That's fiction. Our father and uncle's lives hang in the balance here."

"I'm sorry," Jaina confessed. "I guess I'm starting to act like Dad." Jacen knew what she was talking about. They had heard plenty of stories from their mom and uncle about how no matter how dire the situation, their father had always had a witty comment. Jacen knew that such a comment could break the tension of such a situation and allow everyone to perform better, but he felt that it was inappropriate in this situation.

Jacen had the feeling that this whole mission was his to complete. He knew that it was because of his ego, which had swelled to enormous proportions throughout his years at the Academy. But for as many times as his teachers told him that he was fallible and not indestructible, he would go ahead and exceed their expectations. Now things were different. This was his first official Jedi mission. He had had several adventures while he was still in the Academy, but this was his first mission as a graduate. Jacen also knew that if they got in a fight, he would be the person his friends would rely on to get them through.

Jaina was worried for her brother. She knew about the kind of responsibilities that the top students in the Academy had placed upon themselves in the past. Jacen was definitely mature enough in the Force to handle just about anything that was thrown at him, but they were only twenty-two years old, and their experiences were limited.

Lowbacca was busy with the calculations for their next jump, but he was also thinking about his friends. He could feel their eagerness mixed with their apprehension. He knew that he would have to remain solid in his resolutions and support his friends.

"What happened in that holo-vid?" Jacen asked.

"They pulled out of hyperspace too late and crashed into the side of a mountain."

"Wonderful."

Lowie growled that he was ready. "Wait," Jacen said. "Explain to me again what exactly you're going to do."

"It's simple," Jaina said, another phrase she used all too often. "From this distance we can accurately calculate the speed and projected positions of all the ships orbiting the planet. The goal is to calculate a hyperspace jump so we renter normal space inside the planet's atmosphere, past the fleet, and under their sensor grid."

"I thought a hyperspace computer had built in safeties that didn't allow that."

"They do, but Lowie and I programmed this hyperspace computer ourselves. We can easily override the safeties." Jaina pressed the last few buttons before the jump. "Well here goes nothing."

"No, here goes everything," Jacen corrected.

The scavenger disappeared. Thirty-five point two nine two seconds later it reappeared skimming over the tree tops of Hastrin. Lowie had aimed the ship at the edge of the planet, so if they over shot it, they wouldn't collide. Now that they had reentered normal space, the gravity of Hastrin was pulling at them, demanding the collision that they had so far avoided. Jaina pulled back desperately on the altitude stick, trying to pull them away from the trees. Lowbacca decreased the velocity, and together they managed to bring the ship under control.

They continued to speed over the tree tops making their way around the planet. A mountain range loomed large on the horizon. All three Jedi looked at each other, knowing that this was where Han and Luke were being held. Lowie set the Scavenger down a few kilometers from the mountain and the trio disembarked and started to hike the rest of the way.

* * *

Tallon's communicator beeped twice, and reached across his desk to receive the message. "Yes?"

"Sir, about three minutes ago we picked up an unidentified ship dropping out of hyperspace. It appeared to be some type of civilian vessel. It reentered hyperspace two minutes later on a trajectory that would bring it dangerously close to Hastrin. Our sensors have not detected it since it reentered hyperspace. It seems insignificant, but you requested all local traffic to be reported."

"Very good. It might indeed seem insignificant, but I would like you to double security personnel around the perimeter of the base for the rest of the next shift, just the same."

"Very well, sir." Tallon ended the communication. These next few hours could prove to be very interesting. Tallon was glad that Thrawn had insisted on surrounding the mountain base with ysalamiri. The atmospheric hyperspace jump that was necessary would be near impossible, but Jedi loved to surprise their enemies. Tallon had actually expected this rescue attempt earlier. Tallon left a message for Thrawn concerning the situation. Just before he left his office, Tallon had an after thought and left a second message for Kendel, telling him he might be receiving new patients by the end of the day.

* * *

Jaina, Jacen, and Lowbacca were crouched at the edge of a clearing. Lowbacca had left Em-Tedee on the Scavenger. They were just inside the trees and staring across the four hundred meter clearing at the base nestled in between two large peaks. Several squads of storm troopers were milling about the front of the building, making themselves look busy. The Jedi knew that storm troopers were on alert twenty-four hours a day, and therefore were relatively lax in their attention span.

"I think if we circle around and approach over that steep slope," Jacen pointed at the peak on the right, "we should go relatively un-noticed." Jaina and Lowie nodded in a agreement. The reasoning was sound. The cliff the Jacen had pointed to was almost straight up. No one could climb that cliff without considerable help. The defense systems at that portion of the base, if even existent, should be mild.

The group retreated back into the trees and took an eight hundred meter detour that brought them near the cliff.

"Something is wrong," Jaina announced, but the others were thinking the same thing. "There is darkness up ahead."

"Could it be Dark Jedi?" Jacen asked.

Lowbacca shook his head and growled a negative. Jaina agreed with him.

"Well we have to keep going what ever it is," Jacen reasoned.

They trudged forward and as they reached the cliff wall, the darkness closed in on them. "I can't feel the Force," Jaina said. "There's no way I'll be able to climb this cliff."

Lowie growled that he thought he still would be able to. Jacen didn't doubt the wookiee could make good on his claim, but he voiced the opinion that they should stay together. "We'll just have to find another way in."

"How about the front door," a voice spun the trio around. While they had been staring at the cliff and considering their Forceless condition, an entire squad of storm troopers had surrounded them, trapping them against the cliff. "I could even give you an armed escort," the officer added.

Lowbacca howled a ferocious battle cry and charged the nearest group of storm troopers. Lowie had his lightsaber out in a flash, but against forty storm troopers, even with the Force Lowie would have been over matched. Five troopers fired, and each of the stun blasts scorched Lowie's fur and sent him into unconsciousness.

Jaina and Jacen were slower to react, and after they saw the ineffectiveness of their friend's charge, they hastily reconsidered any action they might have been planning. "We'll go quietly," Jacen said, and raised his hands as he slowly walked forward.

Jaina looked at her brother with confusion in her eyes. It wasn't like Jacen to give up on a fight so quickly. Suddenly Jaina saw Jacen's trick. As he was walking toward the storm troopers, he was also inching along the edge of the cliff which curved away from the main base. He was testing the limit of the field of darkness.

Jacen fought the urge to smile as he felt his mind clearing and his senses returning. A storm trooper walked up to him with his gun forward, beckoning Jacen to follow him. Jacen's arms moved in a blur. Before the guard knew what had happened, Jacen was standing tall with both blades in his hands, and the guard was staring at the hand that was holding his gun, finding both it and the gun lying on the ground.

Fifteen bolts came flashing toward the Jedi, but only eight were accurately fired, and Jacen's blue lightsabers made short work of them, sending half of them back at their sources.

With all of the activity focused on her brother, Jaina ran forward and made a flying tackle on the nearest guard, sending the guard tumbling and sending Jaina back outside of the darkness. She picked up the gun and fired at the guard on the ground. She turned to help her brother. Jaina was able to take down three guards before her fire was returned. Jaina quickly found out that a blaster was some what deficient when it came to deflecting blaster fire and took a shot in the arm and leg before she dropped the blaster and drew her lightsaber. The shots weakened her, and she was only able to block one of the next three shots aimed at her chest. She was fighting with the Force, and it took more than usual to bring her down, but the next shot sent her to the ground and the next two sent her into blackness.

Jacen saw his sister go down, but it only strengthened his resolve.

Tallon was watching the whole scene from the top of the cliff. He found himself almost rooting for the lone Jedi. Tallon could appreciate the kind of resolve that would inspire one person to take on forty. It was that same kind of resolve that had allowed one fighter to destroy the first Death Star, or allowed a pathetically out gunned rag-tag bunch of ships to win against a behemoth at Endor. Tallon's appreciation for Jacen's fighting skill began to escalate as he noticed that his men were out flanking him, forcing him back into the ysalamiri's grasp, yet Jacen was still able to deflect the bolts aimed at him. "A true swordsman," Tallon said to himself.

As much as Tallon enjoyed watching the young Solo fight, he was also watching his own men going down. "It's a pity," he said as he raised his gun and fired.

Jacen felt the sharp pain in-between his shoulder blades and was knocked out of his rhythm. As the bolts pounded him, he remembered the words of Streen, "You are not invincible . . . I fear that someday you will walk into something that you are not ready for." With that final thought, Jacen slipped away.

Chapter 14 "False I.D." (prelude)

This time Tallon was already in the lab when Thrawn arrived. The two officers greeted as Kendel cleaned up. Thrawn looked upon the three Jedi for the first time. Jacen and Jaina were obviously siblings. Their brown hair was a perfect match and they reflected their parents well. Jacen had the outdoor ruggedness that defined Han so well, and Jaina lacked none of her mother's beauty. Lowbacca was lying on one and a half tables, and Thrawn was quite relieved to see the large frame unconscious.

"What surprise do you have for me this time?" Tallon asked the Admiral. Tallon wasn't angry that Thrawn kept most of his plans secret from him, in fact he enjoyed the surprises that Thrawn was constantly sending his way.

"Oh, I think you'll like this one," Thrawn smiled.

Kendel stood in front of them, waiting for them to finish. "I'm ready," he said finally. Kendel walked over to the wookiee first. Before explaining what he had done to each of the Jedi, he turned to Tallon. "Are you aware of the Eye of Palpatine?"

Tallon nodded. "I've read of it."

"Then you are aware of the mind control technique it used to brainwash its solders."

"Yes, I am. But wasn't the technique used on Luke Skywalker and proved ineffective on Jedi?"

"Yes and no. It was used on Luke Skywalker, but it wasn't proven useless on Jedi, because Cray, a Jedi who was captured along with Skywalker, was effectively brainwashed until Skywalker reversed the effect. I have taken three precautions to make sure that this time it will be one hundred percent effective. First, I did not attempt to brainwash Skywalker, a Jedi Master, but used students right out of the Academy, as Cray had been. Second, the Eye of Palpatine had one program, and in the case of Cray and Skywalker, it clashed violently with reality. I have instead used programs that would be more readily accepted into their minds. Third, the kind of technology used on the Eye of Palpatine is over one hundred years old, and I have made drastic improvements."

Kendel paused only briefly, respecting Tallon's ability to learn quickly. "With the wookiee I have turned him into a performer for the Arena."

"Arena?" Tallon queried.

"The city that the extra clones have been building has several entertainment facilities," Thrawn explained. "The Arena is by far the most popular. Animals duel to the bitter end in front of thousands of cheering men. I thought that it would be appropriate to give our men a new champion."

Kendel continued with his explanation. "The wookiee are an old race, and they have been hunting as long as they have been alive. Before they became more civilized like they are today, they often had a village champion who would fight for honor. I have also allowed him to use the Force by explaining it as a god of battle. Since he naturally has the ability and knowledge to use the Force, I just gave him a different means to access it. Now when he wishes to perform spectacular feats of strength, he just calls on his god, Kyskkrrin, for strength. He has a fake memory of many battles, and I have already contacted the Arena, making sure that they give him a good tittle."

Tallon smiled and made a mental note to visit the Arena when Lowbacca was scheduled to fight.

Kendel moved on to Jacen. "Jacen is the one that I did the least with. Using the biography of Darth Vader, I have turned his grandson into the next Lord of the Sith. Both of his fictitious parents were killed by the New Republic. He has a vivid nightmare every other night about Skywalker killing his grandfather. He turned to the Dark Side, while he was a member of the Academy on Yavin IV. So the only main difference is that his motivation is anger against Luke Skywalker. He will be obedient to either of you, recognizing you as superior officers, but is likely to treat others with contempt, like Vader did."

Tallon was liking this little surprise more every minute. His imagination began to scream out possibilities. He had seen Jacen in battle, and now the idea of having him as his right hand man was more pleasing than ever.

Kendel wore an evil grin as he walked up to where Jaina lay. "I must admit that I had fun with Jaina. I used her familiarity with the witches of Dathomir, to have her trace her roots back to them. Both of her fictitious parents were also killed by the New Republic. For revenge, she has joined the Empire as its deadliest assassin. Beautiful, yet deadly. She has memories of countless operations which she has pulled off flawlessly. If you wanted to, you could use her to knock off any New Republic official, and she would never fail."

Kendel's smile increased ten-fold when he picked up her lightsaber. "I've been intrigued by the Jedi weapon, ever since I helped Frowinger build Laya's lightsaber. With Jaina's, I took the liberty of making a small adjustment." Kendel pressed the button on the smooth handle, and a sharp snap-hiss sounded in the lab. The blade, however, seemed absent from the end of the handle. Kendel swung the handle back and forth, and Tallon could here the tell-tale hum of a lightsaber, but the blade remained invisible. Reality finally struck Tallon, and he realized what the Doctor had done, but Kendel voiced it anyway. "I simple moved the light of the blade out of the visible spectrum, creating an even deadlier weapon than before."

"Very good, Doctor," Tallon said and meant it. The capture of these Jedi not only removed three potential threats to the Empire, but it gave the them three new weapons.

Chapter 15 "False I.D." (Part I)

Lowbacca woke up feeling hungry. He got up from his bed, fully rested from his short nap. He made his way down the winding stairway to his grand dining room.

"What may I get you, Master?" an eager clone yipped at him.

Lowbacca replied with a hasty bark, sending the waiter back to the kitchen. Lowbacca took his seat at the large table, and was not disappointed when seconds later a large, succulent piece of meat was placed in front of him. He growled his thanks and bade the waiter to leave. The meat was perfect, cooked long enough to purify it, but still raw enough to let the juices run free, spoiling none of the taste.

Lowbacca paused long enough in the middle of his meal to take a long swig from the crystal clear water that was placed in front of him. He set the goblet down and looked around the room, as if seeing it for the first time. There were beautiful dwarf trees surrounding the inside of the wood paneled room. Decorative vines hung from the ceiling, and the carpet was a lush forest green. It all reminded him of his home on Kashyyyk. All of the rooms in his house were designed similarly. His house. He liked the sound of that. He had earned this house through battle. Every night he won in the Arena he made more money than any wookiee still living on Kashyyyk could imagine. He knew that he owed his fame and money to Kyskkrrin, his god of battle, but Lowie couldn't help but think of all he had done to gain his wealth.

Lowbacca continued with his meal and began to get in the mind set for the battle he had tonight. He didn't know who or what he was going to fight, but as he ripped the last piece of meat from his bone, he knew that it would die.

* * *

Lowbacca stood behind the double doors listening to his name being announced. He could here the roar of the crowd, and the light from the auditorium shown through the door, making a rectangular outline on the floor around him. He was wearing a small metallic skirt, a vibrant red sash, and a gold chain. It was all covered by a large robe with a flashy emblem on the back. Lowbacca didn't like the clothes, but his agent assured him that it helped his image.

Lowbacca heard his cue from the loud speakers and ran through the doors, basking in the crowd's noise. He stopped and stood in the spotlight, looking up and around at the huge crowd. They cheered their hero onto battle. Lowbacca liked nothing better than the collective voice of fifty-thousand thousand people, all eager to see him spill the blood of his opponent.

Lowbacca walked down the red carpet toward the Arena. The carpet was red for a reason. Not because he was royalty, but so when he exited from the Arena, his bloody footprints wouldn't make visible tracks.

The Arena itself, was a circular battle ring fifty meters in diameter. When activated, it had a domed force field over top of it that turned the ring into half a sphere. The force field acted as a brick wall, fully transparent. It allowed nothing in and nothing out. It was very much a one way door, because half of the people that went in, didn't come back out, at least not in one piece.

Lowbacca walked slowly up the stairs, shedding his robe and giving it to one of his eager attendants. He stepped out onto the sandy turf of the Arena, raising his arms and played with the crowd some more.

Lowbacca calmed when the announcer began to introduce his opponent. The crowd fell to a hush too, waiting to see if the wookiee would be up to the challenge. "Now to fight our champion we have a special adversary. It was just flown in from the jungle world of Granchin (actually it was just cloned this morning), a Kayin Saber-Tooth."

The crowd "oooohhh"ed in respect of the creature's reputation. Their last champion was killed by a Claw-Cat. The Kayin Saber-Tooth was the only animal in Granchin higher up on the food chain than the Claw-Cat. Lowbacca had wanted to fight someone instead of something, but a Saber-Tooth was definitely acceptable. The cat weighed over four times as much as the wookiee, and its twin sabers were as thick as Lowbacca's arms. Lowbacca used no weapons, although he usually stole them from anyone he was fighting, then used them to embarrass his opponent.

The cat was being transported to the ring from the opposite side of the Arena. A very scared looking clown made his way into the Arena. As the caged cat was wheeled up to the edge of the ring, the clown tried to get its attention through a varied array of squeals and squawks. Before the cart driver opened the gate, several armed storm troopers surrounded the cage in case the cat got loose. The clown was getting quite edgy. He had never lured out as deadly an animal as this before. The cage opened with a clang, and the clown who was only fifteen meters away, broke into a run toward the edge of the Arena. The cat stayed crouched in the back of the cage, though and didn't move. The clown leaped over the deactivated force field projection device and looked at the force field operator to activate the protective shield, thinking that the cat was right on his heels.

The announcer began to chide the scared clown, but was secretly glad that it wasn't his job. "Come on Fwinky." The crowd echoed his name. "The cat is still in the cage. Go back and try again. Allen won't turn on the force field until the cat comes out."

Fwinky was scared stiff, but to the crowd's delight, Lowbacca went over to him and hoisted him back into the ring. Fwinky crept carefully back in front of the caged beast. "Come on out," Fwinky pleaded under his breath. The cat eyed Fwinky suspiciously. Fwinky took another cautious step forward. Like a tight spring, the cat sprung out of the cage, halving the distance between it and the clown in a fraction of a second. Fwinky's bladder burst, and he raced for the edge of the ring faster than he thought he was capable of running. The cat paused only briefly to smell Fwinky's puddle before giving chase. Fwinky dove head first toward the mats on the outside of the Arena, but collided with the force field. He looked at Allen with unbelieving betrayal in his eyes. Allen merely shrugged in indifference.

"Oh, my," the announcer said with heavy sarcasm and mocked concern. "It looks like Allen has activated the shield too soon - again!" Allen played his part by mouthing "I'm sorry." Everyone screamed with laughter. Almost everyone. Fwinky was emitting more of a blood curdling scream, and was far from finding this situation funny. Fwinky soon stopped yelling, though, when twin teeth pierced his back, breaking his spine, impaling his beating heart, and effectively gutting him.

The Saber-Tooth finished his meal quickly and turned to regard Lowbacca for the first time. The cat was busy licking its large jaws as the wookiee started to flank the creature. The crowd began to yell un-unison chants, ebbing Lowbacca on. They both charged each other. They met in the center of the ring, but Lowbacca took a giant step backwards before the leaping cat. The cat came up short and was hit in the side of the head by a two fisted swing.

The cat rolled into the dirt, but came up fast, eyeing the wookiee more cautiously now. Lowbacca initiated the attack this time, and the Saber-Tooth reared up on its hind legs. Lowbacca drove his shoulder under the front legs of the great cat, trying to flip it on its back, but the cat was too heavy, and it fell forward on top of Lowbacca.

The crowd gave a collective gasp of genuine concern, but the champion was not so easily defeated. Lowbacca rolled out from under the beast with a swift punch to the beast's belly. He kicked out the cat's back legs causing it to crash to the dust once again. Lowbacca scrambled to his feet and turned his back to the cat. He called on his god Kyskkrrin for extra sensory perception. He raised his arms in triumph to the crowd. The crowd gasped again at this move. Placing one's back to a Kayin Saber-Tooth was not on most peoples' "smart things to do" list.

Lowbacca could sense the cat getting up behind him. Lowbacca walked toward the edge of the ring, with his back still turned toward the cat. Lowbacca could feel uncertainty in the cat as to the reason for Lowbacca's behavior, but it didn't plan to pass up the opportunity for a quick kill. The cat scrambled back to its feet and charged Lowbacca's unprotected back. The wookiee didn't need the crowd's warning to know that twelve hundred pounds of muscle and teeth were flying at him at break neck speed. The wookiee flipped backwards over the leaping cat and watched as it crashed into the shield with a terrific force. The cat turned, a little groggy, but determined.

Lowbacca met the charge and grabbed both sabers before they could strike his flesh. The wookiee and cat stood locked in place, both straining against the other's awesome strength. Lowbacca decided to end it. "Kyskkrrin!!" he yelled in his wookiee tongue and was filled with an incredible strength. With a great heave, he pulled both teeth from the cat's skull. Blood poured freely from the cat's torn mouth, and it reared up in pain. Lowbacca held each tooth up, pausing only for effect, before slamming them into opposite sides of the cat's head. The powerful teeth crushed the weak cranium of the doomed beast. The blood began to slow its flow from the mouth of the cat as the brain stopped telling the heart to pump. The cat no longer gasped for breath because the brain had become indifferent. The cat's last sight before its eyes closed forever, was the wookiee holding its limp body aloft by its impaled head.

The wookiee held the heavy cat off the ground a little while longer for the crowd, before hurling it one last time at the force field. Lowbacca kept the teeth for trophies, though he didn't know if he would have room for them amongst all his other accolades. Maybe another room could be built.

Chapter 16 "False I.D." (Part II)

Jaina woke quickly. The sun was setting, and the night was just beginning. Her time was the night. She was a nocturnal predator in a male dominated society. Pitiful, weak men. She enjoyed her work. She dressed in her non-descript clothing and black cloak. She hooked her invisi-blade to her belt under her cloak. She had a job to do tonight. There would be no mistakes.

Jaina made her way out of her small room and down the flight of stairs. She nodded at the building manager, and made her way to the back exit. She entered the alley way through the little used door and crept silently toward the light of the main street. She tapped into her witch craft and made her self unnoticed as she stepped out into the street. She released the spell a few moments later, making it appear as if she had always been walking down the street, instead of just having stepped out of the alley.

Jaina quickly and smoothly walked down the street, making sure to both, not look at anyone yet to stay alert to her surroundings. Her destination came into view, and she didn't hesitate at the doors of the building.

The bar was hazy and loud. She stood for a moment, taking inventory of the large room. Jaina's hooded cloak still hid her identity, and no one paid her a second glance. She saw her target sitting by himself in a side booth. His name was Frintip Thooglen, a smuggler. It had been reported that he had done business with the New Republic in the past as a friend of Talon Karrde. It was possible that he was here to spy on the Empire. It was unknown how he had sneaked his way onto Hastrin, but it was Jaina's job to make sure he didn't leave.

Jaina kept her hood up as she moved gracefully through the crowded bar. Frintip was not looking at the room and did not see Jaina approach his table. When she slid into the opposite bench, he finally acknowledged her existence by looking up from the drink he was brooding over. "Yea," he almost spat, "what can I do for ya."

He was drunk. Jaina smiled to herself, realizing how much easier this was going to make her job, and how much more fun. "No," Jaina said as she pulled her hood back, "the question you should be asking yourself is, 'What can I do for you?'"

Frintip almost dropped his mug when he felt Jaina's hand on his leg. Jaina smiled her most seductive smile and sent him sensual images with her mind. Frintip couldn't find his voice, he looked nervously around, trying to figure out if he was being set up. No one else in the bar was looking at them. Jaina was hiding her identity from the rest of the bar. To everyone else she looked like a middle aged man, and anyone who had recognized her when she had entered the bar, knew how deadly she was and had no intention of getting involved

Jaina was beside herself with pleasure. She knew what was going through Frintip's mind, even if she couldn't read it with her magic, which she could. He was definitely on Hastrin for a reason and had a responsibility to perform well. Most likely that responsibility didn't involve prostitutes. On the other hand, Jaina knew how beautiful she was, and the mental barrage she was sending him was impossible to resist. He looked back at her still uncertain. Jaina's hand moved further up his leg. "How much?" he broke down.

Jaina leaned closer to him across the table. "We just met. How about a drink first."

Frintip nearly knocked the table over when he jumped up to signal the barman for another drink. Jaina kept up her smile as she played with her drink and tried to get Frintip to talk. Drunk as he was, Frintip managed to keep his mission under raps. Jaina got tired of the foreplay and signaled that she was ready to go.

They walked out of the bar, Jaina with her hood up again. As they walked toward Jaina's room Frintip began to get nervous again. "How much?" he repeated, trying to use money as an excuse to back out.

Jaina realized that she was loosing her grip on him. They passed a dark, empty alley, and she grabbed his arm and swung him violently into the side street, slamming his back into a brick wall. "More than you have," she answered.

Frintip could feel the strength in Jaina's grip and realized that he was up against more than just a simple hooker. "But . . . I thought that-" he stuttered, sobering quickly.

"You thought wrong." She spun him away from the wall and deeper into the alley. She kicked out his legs from under him and he hit the ground. Frintip scampered backwards on his hands and feet, looking past Jaina and into the street for help. Jaina ignored his desperate attempt for help. As soon as they had entered the alley way, she had set up a magical shield at the entrance to the alley. Anyone in the street would see the alley as totally empty.

Frintip was still backing deeper into the alley, when he looked behind him and saw that it was a dead end. "If you want money, I've got plenty," he pleaded.

Jaina laughed. Of course she wanted money, but she would earn more for this job than Frintip could possibly have on him. "What?" she asked. "Are you giving up without a fight? I'm just a helpless, unarmed woman."

As if inspired by her comment, Frintip decided to take her up on the challenge. As he crawled backwards his hand closed on a metal pipe. He sprang up and swung the crude weapon at Jaina. Jaina had seen the weapon before he had picked it up and was more than ready for the move. She blocked the side swing, catching the pipe in both hands and yanked it from Frintip, causing him to stumble forward. In one smooth motion, she bent the pipe into a horseshoe right in front of Frintip's amazed eyes, hooked the back of his neck in the crook of the pipe, and brought his head down into her knee. His nose crunched under the impact, and Jaina kicked him back, dropping the pipe.

Frintip stumbled back and slammed into a dumpster. The top lip of the dumpster caught him just below the waist, and he almost flipped in. Frintip tried to gather his wits. He heard what sounded like a blaster firing and looked down at himself, expecting to see a hole in his chest. Finding none, he looked up at Jaina. She was holding a metal cylinder in her hands. It didn't look like much of a weapon, but as she swung it at him, he felt a searing blade cut across his chest even though the end of the cylinder was still almost a meter away.

Jaina swing her invisi-blade back and in line with the smuggler's face. Frintip could hear a slight humming and could sense that the invisible sword was millimeters from his broken nose. "Yield?" Jaina asked.

Frintip nodded furiously, burning his forehead on the invisi-blade. "What do you want me to do?"

"It's very simple," Jaina said maliciously, "die." Jaina jumped up and flipped backwards, lashing out with her leg. Her booted foot caught Frintip directly under his chin, lifting him up and backwards. He fell neatly into the dumpster. Jaina walked up to the dumpster and saw Frintip looking back at her from the bottom of the smelly garbage dump. "Good-bye now." Jaina activate a hidden mechanism with her mind, opening the floor in the dumpster. Frintip and a load of trash fell three meters down into the lower chamber.

Frintip realized what was going to happen, and as the walls began to close in, he tried to jump out. Jaina was one step ahead of him and closed the false floor, sealing the smuggler in. She closed the outside lid to the dumpster as well and walked away, wondering what Frintip would look like as a cube.

Chapter 17 "False I.D." (Part III)

The two figures fought. They swung brilliant, glowing blades at each other. Both of them were clad in black, and one was clearly winning. Jacen stood and watched the battle, wishing desperately to be able to help his grandfather, but he was some how secured and restricted to being a spectator.

Darth Vader stumbled slightly under his foe's vicious onslaught, catching himself on the railing. His opponent took advantage of his weakened position and hammered away. Vader desperately tried to block the attack, but he was soon over powered and his hand fell victim to his enemy's lightsaber.

The victorious opponent raised his weapon for the final blow. "No!!" Jacen sat up in bed, sweat dripping down his forehead. He slowed his breath, and slowly lowered his body temperature. Luke Skywalker had killed his grandfather. Skywalker had done it before Jacen had been born, making sure that Jacen never got to know his mother's father. Jacen had obviously not been there when he had done it, but the Light Side of the Force gave him the nightmares.

Jacen smiled when he realized what day it was. Luke Skywalker had to pay for his father's death, and today he would. Jacen got out of bed and began to dress for the event.

* * *

Han and Luke were awakened from the cold, hard floor by the opening of their cell door. Four storm troopers came in, armed with blaster riffles. "Get up!"

Han and Luke groaned as they came to their feet. In a normal circumstance, Han would have been calculating the chances he and Luke would have if they rushed them, but he and Luke were weak and in no position to take on two to one odds. They had tried to exercise, but the lack of nourishing meals, had stunted their efforts.

Luke was excited for the possibility of leaving their cell, even for a short time. Luke took a moment to laugh at his pitiful state. Leaving a room was now excitement. The troopers led them out of the room and down the hallway, two in front and two behind.

Two minutes of walking brought them to their destination. Luke and Han were ushered through the door, and were surprised to find them selves in a shower room.

"Take your clothes off," one of the storm troopers ordered. Han and Luke eagerly stripped off their smelly clothes. They walked over to the showers and were soon under the jets of warm water.

"This is much better treatment than I ever got from the Yevetha," Han said.

"Quiet! The prisoners won't speak to each other," the trooper said as if he was repeating orders he had received.

Luke and Han didn't try to bend the rules anymore. They tried to enjoy their shower, but it ended too soon. They were each given a towel and then brought to a pair of sinks. Sitting in each sink was a shaving kit. Han played with the idea of trying to remove the razors from the power shavers, but thought twice and remembered the guns pointing at their backs.

After a few minutes, Han and Luke looked presentable. Luke still had a small bald spot, but he could effectively hide it with a comb. They were then taken over to the wall, where on two hooks hung Imperial uniforms, neatly pressed. Han and Luke exchanged confused looks, but followed orders and put them on. Neither of the uniforms had a rank.

Before Han and Luke left the shower room, they were both hand cuffed. They walked a short distance down the hallway, and soon found themselves standing outside. They both squinted at the sunlight, which was a few million times brighter than their cell's glow panel. They were escorted onto an eight-man transport where two more storm troopers were waiting.

After they were boarded and were whisking down a forest road, Han gathered the courage to question their guards. "Where are we going?" Han got no reply and decided not to try again. Speeding down the narrow road surrounded by trees reminded Luke of Endor.

After a turn, they could see a few buildings ahead. As they neared the edge of the forest, they could tell that what they had thought to be just a few buildings, was in fact an entire city. The city was composed of large structures that looked to have been built just recently. There were hundreds of people milling around in the streets. As Han looked at the crowds, he noticed that they were only about twenty different faces. Clones. And from what Han could see, lots of them. Han wanted to risk talking to Luke about it, but he could see that his friend was seeing the same thing he was.

The transport pulled up in front of an especially large building. They entered through the grand double doors and were ushered through a lobby that rivaled those in Coruscant. On the opposite side of the lobby, two double doors were open, the prisoners could see that this building housed a huge auditorium. The noise from inside the auditorium led Han to believe that there were several thousand people inside.

When Han and Luke reached the entrance to the auditorium, two red clad Royal Imperial guards replaced their storm trooper escort. Behind their escorts, Han and Luke made their way down the long center aisle. The auditorium was fashioned in the same way as the New Republic's Grand Assembly Chamber. A second's thought reminded Han that it was the Imperial Assembly Chamber before the New Republic took over Coruscant.

Han and Luke walked in between row upon row of Imperial civilians. When they had entered the large chamber, the crowd had begun cheering loudly. Han made a rough estimate of the number of people on the main floor and in both side balconies and guessed that his prediction of several thousand was plenty accurate. When They reached the front of the room, Han saw that there was also a huge rear balcony, and Han added another thousand men to his estimate.

The front of the chamber was designed like an old Imperial court room. Han and Luke were set behind a table facing the front of the room. The crowd hushed as a robed figure made his way to the judge's podium. Han recognized him as the captain who had met them when they had first landed. Two black clad individuals escorted Tallon. Each person was wearing a hooded cloak and their identities were concealed.

As an officer stepped up to a microphone preparing to speak, the Royal Imperial guards stepped up next to Han and Luke and put a collar on each of their necks. "The Imperial court is now in session. His Honor the Captain Tallon presiding. On trial for crimes against the Empire are Han Solo of the New Republic and Luke Skywalker of the New Republic."

Han noticed that the crowd cheered and booed at all of the appropriate places. Han was curious as to why the Empire would go through so much trouble to get at, what Han was sure would be, an execution. The old Empire would have simply shot them as soon as they had stepped off their shuttle. All of this fluff was a waste of time. It was obviously being done for the sole purpose of the audience. Han could imagine what kind of morale booster this kind of trial could be for an Imperial fleet. Han wondered who was calling the shots now. Who ever it was, he was a great strategist. An idea passed briefly through his mind, but he dismissed it. Thrawn was dead.

Han and Luke were seated on the left side of the court room. On the right side a commander was getting ready to speak. "Commander Snotzenexer, are you ready to make your opening statement."

Snotzenexer nodded. "Yes, your Honor." Snotzenexer strolled to the middle of the court room and turned to face the crowd. He was glad that Thrawn had asked him to play a part in this trial. He would enjoy watching the two prisoners trying to argue against him. He laughed to himself. Tallon probably wouldn't even let them speak.

"Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are the two worst criminals in the history of the Empire. They are the main reason that we are now hiding in the Core Systems. Together they have shed more Imperial blood than any other living being."

Han was restraining himself, knowing that an outburst would likely be punished. The Empire had killed more people on Alderaan alone than Luke or Han could ever count, much less kill themselves.

"First, the charges against Han Solo. He is responsible for the deaths of a countless number of storm troopers and officers. He played a major role in the destruction of the first Death Star, and his held responsible for the destruction of the second Death Star." Before Han could make his rebuttal, Snotzenexer cut him off. "Imperial regulation 5.3.11 states that in a murder trial, both the murderer and the owner of the weapon used in the act are to be executed. The murderer for the act, and the owner of the weapon for negligence. But you weren't negligent when you lent General Calrissian your ship. You knew exactly what he planned to do with it. Plus you made it possible for him to blow up the Death Star, by deactivating the force shield your.

"As a general in the New Republic," Snotzenexer continued, "Han Solo was in command of numerous ships on countless missions of destruction and death, aimed at the Empire." Snotzenexer turned to Tallon.

Tallon stared hard at Han Solo. "Han Solo, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty, you sons o-" Electricity leaped from his collar and tore into his voice box, cutting Han's retort short.

"The defense is out of order," Tallon stated. "In the future the defense is advised to answer directly the questions asked him. You can save your immature insults for a more informal time, like when you are back in your cell." Tallon nodded back to Snotzenexer.

"Second, the charges against Luke Skywalker. He is responsible for the deaths of approximately five hundred thousand officers in the destruction of the first Death Star. He can be traced to the death of almost thirty tie pilots and to the destruction of many walkers, of which the normal personnel rating is five. In hand to hand combat, he has killed countless storm troopers and a few officers. But perhaps the most grievous crime, is the assassinations of both Darth Vader and his Majesty the Emperor." This last charge brought a loud hissing from the crowd.

"Luke Skywalker, how do you plea?" Tallon asked.

"The defense enters the plea of self defense," Luke said, seeing no other way out but to play along.

"The prosecution would like to make a final comment," Snotzenexer said, expecting Luke's reply. "In just about every government in the galaxy, a traitor or a rebel is considered to be a felon. And no felon on the run can claim self defense against the government that is chasing him, seeing as how he brought the government down on himself. The prosecution rests." Snotzenexer strode back to his table without out looking at the defense.

"Does the defense wish to make an opening statement?" Tallon asked.

"Yea," Han spoke up, "for starters, you can all go to-" the collar cut him off again.

"The defense is out of order again. They forfeit their opening statement." Tallon turned back to Snotzenexer. "The prosecution may call their first witness."

"Thank-you, your Honor." Snotzenexer walked out from behind his desk and turned to the auditorium. "I would like to call five thousand six hundred seventy-two witnesses."

Tallon knew this was coming, but tried to act surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Each person in the chamber is a direct relative of a victim. Everyone here has one less uncle, one less brother, no father, or is missing several cousins because of the defense. Han Solo and Luke Skywalker have made thousands of lives empty as the result of their senseless killing."

Han looked around the auditorium, recognizing again, all of the clones present. Han almost laughed to himself. They could only find about one hundred different people who could actually claim to have had a relative killed. "The defense would li-" Han was cut off again. He scowled at Tallon. He hadn't been hadn't been out of order that time. He wanted to try again, when Luke nudged him and pointed toward their table. Three buttons were visible. They were labeled objection, comment, and rebuttal. Han pressed the comment button.

Tallon saw the light blinking on his podium. He didn't want to acknowledge the comment, but above anything else, he was fair, even if this was a kangaroo court. Besides, he had enough confidence in Snotzenexer that anything Han might say could easily be defeated. "The defense wishes to make a comment?"

"Thank-you, your Honor," Han said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Han half expected to be cut off right their, but Tallon held off. "The defense would like to point out that the majority of the audience are clones. There are probably no more than one hundred different people in this room, and I bet that only half of them can even trace their biological line back to a, quote-un-quote, 'victim.' Do you have at least one person that you can honestly claim is a relative."

The crowd went insane with angry noise. They didn't appreciate Han's direct statement against the validity of their existence. Tallon had to pound his gavel several time to regain order. Inwardly he was pleased. If the crowd learned to hate Han, all the better. Tallon turned to Snotzenexer.

"Before I reply to that outlandish statement," the adjective received several cheers, "I would like to point out your obvious disregard for the quality of life. Your wife is the head of the New Republic, is she not? I believe the New Republic holds the value of one life just as highly as it holds a thousand. To hear you try to claim that the lack of value of five thousand lives out-weighs the value of, as you claim, fifty lives, is blatant heresy. As a member of the New Republic, you should not be arguing for the quantity of life over the quality of life."

The following ovation had to be quieted by Tallon again, although this time he let it go on for about thirty seconds before pounding the gavel.

"To answer your request, although you have probably lost all accountability in the eyes of this court, I will produce one person who has an honest claim of direct relation to a victim." Snotzenexer turned to Tallon. "The prosecution would like to call Jacen Solon, Dark Lord of the Sith."

Han froze at the name, and Luke froze at the title. Jacen, one of the black hooded figures flanking Tallon, pulled back his hood and took his place in the witness box. Han was shocked. Collar or no collar, Han couldn't get his voice to work properly.

"Darth Solon is the grandson of Darth Vader." Snotzenexer turned to Han. "Do you wish to dispute his claim of ancestry?"

Han was still in shock. He desperately wanted to believe that the man in the witness box was a clone. Even if that was the case, where did they get the blood sample. Han could see a small scar above Jacen's left eye, an injury he had gotten twelve years ago. This was no clone.

"The prosecution will repeat the question. Do you wish to dispute the claim that he is the grandson-"

"He is my son!" Han yelled. Tallon was late with the switch, but left it in longer than usual to compensate. Han gagged on his collar violently.

"Answer the question!" Tallon fumed.

"He is the grandson of Anakin Skywalker," Luke said.

Tallon hesitated over Luke's switch, but decided to let the answer pass.

With his witness' identity confirmed, Snotzenexer began his line of questioning. "For the record, what is your name?"

"My name is Jacen Solon," Jacen answered.

"Who were your parents?"

"My father and mother were named Hansin and Leon Solon. My mother was the daughter of Darth Vader."

Luke pressed the comment button. Tallon trusting the prosecutor again, allowed Luke to be heard. "That is not the lineage I agreed to."

Snotzenexer turned to Luke to regard his comment. "My earlier question did not inquire as to the lineage of Darth Solon. It would have been impossible for you to answer a question I did not ask, although Solo seems to be quite good at it. You agreed that he is the grandson of Darth Vader, who was previously known as Anakin. That information is all that is necessary for the court."

Luke thought that he had backed Snotzenexer into a corner. "Then why did you bring up the lineage if it is not important."

Snotzenexer walked right up to the table where Luke was standing. The Commander had a friendly smile on. "You've never been in a court room, have you?" Snotzenexer didn't wait for Luke's response. "As the prosecuting attorney, it is my job to make you look like the scum of the galaxy. To do that I have to make the ruling council, in some cases a jury, but in this case, his Honor, feel that what you have done is just awful." Snotzenexer was talking to Luke like he was a child instead of a Jedi Master. "In order to get the judge to see your crimes as awful, I have to get him connected to the victim in some way. Asking about his parents wasn't necessary and that's not what's on trial. I was trying to paint Darth Solon as a real human being that the Judge can relate to. Someone he can feel sorry for. Someone who he can avenge. I'm trying to give him a reason to have you executed for what you did to his grandfather. But I'll get there."

Snotzenexer returned to the witness stand. "What happened to your grandfather?"

"He was killed by Luke Skywalker."

"The same Luke Skywalker that is one of the defendants. I'm sorry, but with all these clones running around, you can never be sure," Snotzenexer said this last comment as he looked directly at Han. The crowd laughed.

Jacen didn't so much as crack a smile. "They are one and the same person."

"How old were you when this happened?" Snotzenexer asked.

"I was not yet born at the time of my grandfather's death."

"Then who told you about it?"

"No one did."

Snotzenexer walked away from the Jacen and turned to play with the crowd. "You mean that he was killed before you were born, and no one has ever told you who killed him?"

"That is correct."

"Then how do you know that Luke Skywalker did it?" Snotzenexer asked, pointing at Luke.

"I have seen him kill my father over two hundred times in my dreams."

"That's one heck of a nightmare," Snotzenexer got a few isolated agreements from the crowd. "I have bad dreams too. One where I am in a small room, and it starts to fill up with water. I have another where I am being chased by a rancor. Neither of things have ever happened before, and I hope that they never do. How do you justify what you have seen in your dreams as the truth?"

"I have the Force," Jacen said matter of factly. "It is the Light Side of the Force that gives me these nightmares. It is the weak effort of the Light Side, trying to get me to turn back to my former master by telling me that he saved my grandfather by relieving him of the Dark Side. Actually he killed him because he was scared for his own life. He was scared to face the reality that the Dark Side is actually stronger," Jacen directed the last few comments right at Luke.

Snotzenexer snickered at Jacen's hostility. "Let's get back to this Force. It lets you see the past?"

"The Force shows me what it wills. But I can control it as well."

"Perhaps you can give us a demonstration of this Force."

"Of course," Jacen complied. He stood up from the chair and pointed his hands at Luke, sending a series of lightning bolts toward his former master. The surgery that was sending out a negative Force buble protected him, and the lightning sparks danced around the globe of protection.

"Jacen, no!" Han screamed. Tallon reached over for Han's switch, but Jacen beat him to it, aiming the lightning at Han. The shock that registered in Han's face was even greater than before. His own son was attacking him. Han was standing close to Luke and the buble was protecting him too.

Jacen's demonstration lasted only five seconds, but to Han, it seemed like an eternity. To finish off his display, Jacen grabbed the edge of the table, which was outside the bubble, and flipped it with the Force onto his father and uncle.

"Thank-you, Darth Solon," Snotzenexer said. "I believe the court understands a little better now. No further questions."

Tallon turned to Han and Luke. Luke was just getting up from the floor, and Han was struggling under the weight of the heavy table. Luke began to reach for the rebuttal button, but Tallon saw it coming. "No questions," Tallon observed. "Very well. Does the defense wish to call a witness?"

Before either of them could speak, Snotzenexer interjected. "Your Honor, I believe that the court should seriously consider that neither of the defendants are of a sane mind right now, and should not be allowed to defend themselves."

Tallon nodded his head at Snotzenexer's quick thinking. "The court agrees. The defense will call no witnesses. I here by hold the right to pass judgment." Luke had regained his vertical posture, but Han was still struggling. Tallon waited for both of them to be fully erect before he passed the sentence.

"I find both defendants, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, guilty of all charges brought against them. I sentence them to a public execution," Tallon paused, making sure that everyone in the court room could here him, "in the Arena."