"So what great adventure are we after?" Aidia chimed in.  Luke didn't turn around to answer her he continued to look at the instrument panel, "We have some friends who need us."

Evie picked up on Luke's tone and it wasn't a good one, "Luke, I've sensed things too."

"Yes, I've tried to tell myself that all is okay. But I'm not so sure of myself."    With that the ship lifted from the trees and rocketed into the atmosphere. Suddenly Evie felt as though she could hear someone calling out Luke's name... she looked over at Luke to see if he had heard it as well, and by the look on his face, she could tell that he had. He looked back at her.  "Are you picking that up too Evie?" Luke asked as he saw the confused look on her face.

"Yeah... Someone is calling out to you..." Evie said. "Maybe we can hone in on that signal." She said. She then looked over at Aidia, who had decided to take a nap. "I don't think she'd mind terribly if we stop to help whoever it is."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Luke said as he spoke back to the person through the Force... Luke wondered why it always seemed when he was on track for one thing something else cut across his path. Now they were off to find someone who he had no idea who they were or why they were contacting him through the Force.  "I don't mind a side trip, as long as we get to the others as soon as possible. I don't sense as much danger as before, but that doesn't mean anything." Luke said as "Luke Skywalker" resonated through his mind one more time. He got a mental image this time of a planet and a ship, and finally a woman.

"So...where do we find this person?" Evie asked.

Luke ran his hands over some controls," I think I've got an idea." he responded.  Suddenly the Lady Luck popped out of hyperspace. As real time engaged itself, the instrument panel in front of Luke screamed out an alarm.

"What is that horrible noise?" Evie shouted.

"Just the proximity indicator." Luke said as he took a firm grip of the controls and pulled the ship back around towards where they
had just jumped in.

"Well, turn it off. PLEASE."    Luke grinned and hit a button that quieted the ear splitting sound.

"See that," he pointed out the foreword viewport. "That's what we were to close too." Evie and Aidia seated themselves in a compartment that was a fair distance from the cockpit of the Lady Luck. They had so much catching up to do, and they didn't want to waste any time on filling each other in on what had happened in the other's absence. Evie listened closely as Aidia recounted what she remembered of the fateful day they were separated. 

"Well, I remember them coming in on us while we were preparing to go to bed. One of Mom's guards told us that they couldn't find Mom. I remember that you asked about Dad." Aidia said. 

"Yeah, I remember that now. And the guard got really silent and wouldn't say anything after that." Evie said.

"Yeah, how odd..." Aidia's voice trailed off. "Anyways, two more guards entered just then and told us to run and hide." Aidia said. "I also remembered that they had taken a fist full of mud mixed with dirt and had patted it on my face. I didn't get the significance of that until you had told me that that is an identifying mark of our family. It makes sense if they were trying to protect us, they would cover it up."

"And after that?" Evie prompted.

"After I saw you and the other guard board the other ship, I was told that your ship had crashed and you had died. Someone I think is trying to cover his or her tracks... I don't think we were ever meant to find each other again..." Aidia said.

"I really didn't think so either." Evie concluded. "You know, with the ship crash and my surviving, it threw off the plans of whoever it was that tried to keep us apart.  I think they later discovered that I had survived, as someone came back and killed the people who raised me.  They also killed my husband, and would have killed me too, if I had been around." Evie sighed. That was another mystery to figure out.

Luke was taken aback at the sharp tone of the woman's voice that came across the comm. Luke spoke up, "We are on a diplomatic mission. On our way to a rendezvous." Luke pushed with the Force, he knew this was the one who called out to him, but he would play along to see what she would do. He hushed the COM, and called to Evie and Aidia then waited for a response from the hailing ship.  Evie heard Luke's call and decided to go up to the cockpit to see what was up. Aidia followed her for lack of anything better to do. They had not exactly done all of their catching up, but that could wait. It seemed that right now there was something more interesting about to happen.

"Hey Luke, what's up?" Evie said.

"Well, I'm waiting for a response from the ship that just hailed us." Luke said.

The woman's voice came over the COM. "I am glad that you made it. I was beginning to worry. How long till you can either get me out of this ship or attach it to yours?" Luke thought of what they were to do with the lady's ship if it was unfit to fly.  Suddenly it hit him, he almost doubled over in agony. A strong sensation of agony and hurt came over him....Mara and the rest. They had to get to them. He hadn't heard from them in awhile and through the Force he had picked up strong emotions and turmoil but nothing of this magnitude.

Luke got on the COM, "You there?"   

"Yes, just awaiting your response." The young woman replied.

"Good, a matter of utmost importance calls us. As for your ship we may need it. I'll give you the coordinates. Follow us into hyperspace."   

"But...." she countered.

"I'm sorry, no time for discussion," Luke replied urgently, "some friends need us immediately. I'll feed you the coordinates. Luke out."     The transmission ended abruptly.

"We felt it as well." Aidia spoke up in a concerned voice.

"I know, I've got a bad feeling about this." Luke said as he punched in the Jade's Shadows last known coordinates.  "Strap yourselves in ladies. This may get wild." With that they shot in space, with their new companion following behind. As they came out of hyperspace, both ships were hit with debris. They used evasive maneuvers to avoid the biggest chunks of what looked like what was left of a huge ship. They had felt a tremor in the Force while in hyperspace that sent chills running down their spines, but what they felt now was worse. Evadne and the others had felt the death of a Jedi who had such great potential.  They would morn the loss later once they understood what had occurred.

"Luke, what is going on? I felt someone's death. Who was it?"  Evadne asked. She sees another two crafts, heading just aft of their port. One is following close behind the other, like a bird of prey after its dinner. She could feel the pain in the ship trailing the other and could feel someone in the forward ship. She then read the thoughts of one of them of the danger that lie ahead.  She knew it was someone whose sole mission was to warn the temple on Yavin 4 of the impending attack from the Trade Federation. She frowned as she watched the remainders of a large vessel, just forward her viewport, burning into nothingness.  Evadne waited for Luke to tell her what to do now. She felt numb and could not decide for herself what to do next. The sensors aboard the Lady Luck went crazy.  

Aidia, not seeing what Evie had seen, screamed, "You dropped us in an asteroid field."

"No, No...I don't think so." Luke said as he took the controls, and threw the ship into a few evasive maneuvers. "It's actually a..." then he stopped. The realization struck him. When they had been in hyperspace, he had felt it. But now the agony washed over him completely. It came from all around.   Luke scanned the space in front of him with his eyes. There. That ship. He touched the minds on it. LaDessa, Jada, and Mara. A tangled mix of loss, grief and love came back to him. He didn't know exactly what had happened. But he felt Guage's loss. All he could think of was, why? He should have been here to help. For a moment he clenched his teeth a bit, then replied to their newfound companion following behind, "I'm sorry to say, the death
you feel was a friend. A fellow Jedi, a beloved one. I'm sure he died honorably."  

"Oh..."she paused, "I'm so sorry."  Yet, Luke couldn't get past the darkness that seemed to hang. Something gnawed at the back of his mind. He thought he felt a tinge of something dark. But it was more of a latent aura he felt, as if it had just been there then gone. Something though was blocking a portion of his sight into the Force....so he pushed a little harder....the Sith. This changed the whole perspective of everything.   Now that he noticed more clearly it appeared that Mara's ship was in pursuit.

Luke hailed the Jade's Shadow, "Mara, need any help?"  Before she could answer the ship they were pursuing winked out, shooting off into oblivion.  

Evie looked around into space through the viewport. "What just happened?" She asked. It had happened so fast that she really didn't know what was going on. She could feel that her sister Aidia was getting tense. She wondered if there was anything serious that she should be worrying about.   The ship drew closer to Yavin 4 and landed.  Both girls got out and walked towards the temple.