Chapter 3

Callista, Luke, Leia, and Han--who had just spent over an hour recuperating in a bacta tank--sat in the waiting room of the Imperial Palace as the New Republic guards interrogated the captured prisoners for information. It had been almost four hours since they had brought the six mysterious warriors, and so far, they had refused to cooperate.
Callista rubbed her bandaged arm, which had been broken in her fight with Armenia. She had been offered to be placed in a bacta tank for a few hours, but she had vehemently refused. She had already been in a bacta tank before, and she did not like it at all.
Luke sat by her side, laying his hand on top of hers. "It'll be all right, Callista," he said in a soothing voice.
Normally, Callista would be comforted by his words, even his very presence, but not this time. "I can't calm down, Luke," she said. "I just can't. My daughter is still missing, and if what you're telling me about Black Sun is true, there's no telling--"
"Shhh," Luke said, softly stroking her hair. "I know exactly what you're feeling, but we have to stay calm. Panic isn't going to bring Hope back."
"Neither is staying calm," Callista said through clenched teeth.
Luke cast a worried glance at Han and Leia, then turned back to his wife. "Perhaps...but it'll make you feel better. I promise."
Callista violently shook her head. "Nothing will make me feel better until I have my child back. And these bastards know where she is. I can feel it."
Luke kissed his wife on the cheek, wishing he could do more for her. But Callista's thoughts were dark with despair and anger. She wasn't angry at anyone in particular; she just felt that she needed to take it out on someone. Anyone.
"I've informed Mon Mothma and the other members of the Senate of Black Sun," Leia said, attempting to change the subject. "I'll have every last man in my disposal comb the entire city. We'll find them sooner or later."
"That's not enough!" Callista snapped, standing up from her seat. "Leia, you don't seem to get it, do you? Black Sun wants my daughter, my daughter, do you hear me? We need to find them immediately!"
"I know that," Leia said coolly. "We're doing everything we can, but-- "
"Yeah, and you're doing a real bang-up job so far," Callista cut in, glaring gray daggers at Han and Leia. "If I remember, we trusted Hope with you. And look what happened! She's gone now, no thanks to you."
Leia was taken aback by her sharp comment. "Callista..."
"No, I don't want to hear it!" Callista said, almost on the verge of screaming. "This whole mess is *your* fault!"
Luke stood up and grabbed Callista by the arm, trying to quiet her down. "Callista--"
"I trusted you both! And you let my daughter go down into one of the most dangerous areas in the galaxy. Well, you can be sure that I won't ask any more favors from you ever again!"
"Callista--"
"And now you all expect me to be calm, when my own daughter is running around in Imperial City without her parents, without anyone she knows? Do you have any idea how terrified I am, that she may be lying dead in an alley somewhere at this very moment?"
"Callista--"
"Well, do you? Of course not, you could never understand--"
"Callista!" Luke tightened his grip on her arm, hard enough to almost bruise. "What's going on with you? This isn't like you."
"Well, I'm kind of sick of losing my children!" Callista shot back.
Han stood up, apparently having enough of this. "Look, Callista, I'm sorry about Hope, but don't you dare put this mess on our shoulders. She's your daughter; you should've known fully well that she would've attempted something like this. And may I add, she also put my own son in danger!"
"Yeah, but you got your son back," Callista said. "Which is more than I can say for Hope."
"Callista, we will find your daughter," Han said. "I promise. Nothing is going to happen to her."
"You mean like nothing happened to your kids when Hethrir kidnapped them?" Callista shot back. "Looks like you can't even take care of your own kids, right?"
Han stepped forth, his nostrils flaring. "Don't you ever, ever, say that about my kids again!"
"Some father you turned out to be!" Callista shouted.
Just as the two seemed to almost come to blows, Luke stepped in the way like a barrier. "This stops now!" he said, turning to Callista. Not angry, but shocked, and even hurt. "Callista, you're out of control."
Callista continued glaring at Han, who likewise stared back at her, his eyes hardened.
Just then, the lead guard stepped into the hallway. "Looks like I'm in the middle of something," he said, looking from one adult to the other. "Is everything okay?"
Callista sighed. "Yeah," she said, lowering her eyes to the floor. "Just fine."
Luke turned to the guard. "So, how'd it go?"
"Not good," he replied. "They refuse to tell us anything. No matter what we do, their lips are sealed."
"Then let me do the persuasion," Callista said in a low, menacing voice.
Before Luke could object to that, she was already heading for the interrogation room.
She reached the door that led into the torture chamber a few minutes later. She entered the code needed to open the door. When it refused to budge. Callista smashed the door open with the Force.
Behind her, she could hear Luke call out her name as he tried to stop her. She ignored him and entered the room.
The six Kerash warriors stood in the middle of the room, their hands and feet cuffed together. The Republic guards had just finished the interrogation and prepared to take them to their cells.
Callista ground her teeth together as she strode toward the nearest warrior.
"Um, Mrs. Skywalker," one of the guards said as he stepped in her way, "you're not supposed to be here--"
Callista knocked the man aside with a powerful Force blow and continued on, grabbing the closest Kerash warrior by the collar of his robe and slamming him none too gently against the wall.
"All right, talk to me," she said, her face close enough to touch the warrior's. "Where is Hope?"
By this time, Luke, Leia, Han, and the lead guard had entered the room. "Callista!" Luke shouted.
"Go kiss a ronto's ass," the man whispered, his breath hot on her face.
Callista growled and threw a punch that knocked the Kerash warrior to his knees, his jaw broken from the impact. One hand went up to his mouth, and he looked up at the woman who had hit him, fury and defiance in his eyes.
"Callista, stop this now!" Luke demanded.
"Shut up, Luke," Callista snapped. "They know where Hope is. They just won't tell us." She lifted the man up by his neck, pinning him against the wall. "Now, I'm gonna ask you one last time. Tell me where my daughter is, or I'm going to rip your throat out."
"Callista, this isn't going to bring Hope back," Leia said.
The man's eyes met Callista, and in them, she could see fear. "I don't know where your precious daughter is," he said, his voice muffled due to his broken jaw.
Callista replied by closing his windpipe with the Force, blocking the air to his lungs. "You're going to tell me everything you know," she said, her voice pouring with venom. "Or I'm gonna torture you so bad that you'll wish you were dead."
"Callista, let him go!" Luke said.
The man fell to his knees as he strained to breathe. Blood started to drip down his nose as oxygen stopped flowing into his lungs. His eyes looked up at Callista, pleading.
"Let him go!" Armenia shouted, and started toward Callista, but was pulled back by one of the guards.
"You want me to kill you, don't you?" Callista said, amused, as the Kerash warrior slowly died. "Stupid."
"Callista, please don't do this," Luke said, now begging. He ran to his wife's side and pulled her by the arm so that she was facing him. "You're killing him."
"He deserves to die!" Callista said, and gestured at the other warriors. "They all do! They took my daughter away from me, and they won't tell me where she is!" Warm tears began running down her cheeks.
"Look at him!" Luke said, pointing toward the dying warrior. "He's afraid of you. He doesn't know where Hope is. And if you kill him, it'll bring you one step closer to the dark side." He leaned in to Callista's face. "Jedi do not kill."
Callista wiped the tears from her eyes as she met her husband's gaze, then looked back at the Kerash warrior, who was seconds away from death as the life slowly left his body.
She released her hold on him.
The man collapsed to the floor, heaving in several gulps of air. He looked up at Callista and Luke, shrinking back in fear. "Please don't hurt me," he begged, on the verge of tears. "I don't know where she is. I swear I don't. Just don't kill me...please."
Callista stepped away from them both, her mind barely able to register what was happening. More tears fell from her eyes as she met the gaze of everyone in this chamber.
"Oh, stars," she sobbed. "I'm sorry, Luke. I'm so sorry..."
Then, without another word, she fled the room.
Luke found Callista in the waiting room, sitting in the corner, staring at the wall. He sat beside her and reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. "Please," she whispered dejectedly. "Don't touch me." The last was choked off by the lump forming in her throat. She refused to look at her husband, ashamed of what she had done.
Luke sighed. "Callista, what happened in there?"
Callista leaned forward, jabbing her elbows into her thighs and raking her fingers through her disheveled curls. "I don't know. I have no idea what's going on with me."
She tried unsuccessfully to hide a quiet sob. "I feel so lost, Luke. How could I say what I said to Han and Leia?"
Luke rubbed his hand up and down her back, and this time she didn't try to pull away. "They're just as scared as we are. On one level, they feel guilty that they let Hope and Anakin get away like that, and they're worried that we may not find her."
"But we will, Luke. If I have to die to get her back, so be it. I just want her back, safe." She sat up and rested her head on his shoulder.
Luke stroked her hair, and kissed the top of her head. "We'll get her back, honey. I promise you that."
A few hours later, after putting the kids to bed, Leia closed the door to her room and looked at Han, clearly concerned. "Han, I'm worried about Callista," she said softly.
"Tell me about it," Han agreed. "I've never seen her like that before."
"She's scared," Leia said. "That's sort of how I felt when Hethrir took our children. I was so overcome with anger that I wanted to hurt something. I even blamed Chewie for what had happened." Leia shivered as those horrible events that happened years ago returned to her mind.
Han looked up at her. "You mean, like how she blames us now?"
"She wasn't completely wrong, Han," Leia conceded. "We were supposed to watch over her daughter. We weren't as strict with her as we should have been."
"But that doesn't excuse what she did to that man," Han pointed out. "Leia, she almost killed him."
Leia nodded. "I know, and you're right, of course. But still...I know what she's going through. And I can't say I blame her." She sighed as she sat down on the bed next to her husband. "I'm just glad our son is safe."
"Yeah," Han said in a hoarse voice. Leia rested her head on his shoulder, feeling some of the tension in her gut go away. "But what about Hope?"
"I don't know," she replied honestly. "I can only imagine that the poor girl is alone and probably scared to death."
"Mmmmmm! More food!" Hope shouted to the cook as she hungrily gulped down the delicious food on the table.
The handsome man--his name was Xizor, he had said--sat across from the dining table, watching with a smile as she ate. This guy had some of the best food she had ever tasted: bantha steak, chocolate pudding, spiced runyip patties, sand panther meat rolls, potato rice, and best of all, alcohol-free juri juice, her favorite drink.
The human cook entered the dining room and set a plate of Ithorian spaghetti down in front of Hope. "Here you go, Mistress Skywalker," he said.
"About time!" Hope said as she dug in. "Now hurry up with the dessert."
Xizor chuckled. "I see Boba Fett did not properly feed you on your journey here."
Hope snorted. "Yeah, tell me about it. Mmmmm, this stuff is good. Much better than what my parents feed me."
"Oh, really? What do they feed you?"
"Stuff like health cubes," Hope said as she took a gulp of juice. "They say it's good for me, but trust me when I say that it's the yuckiest stuff in the galaxy."
"Well, don't you worry," Xizor said. "Because as long as your here, you'll never have to eat health cubes again."
"Cool!" Hope said. "You know, Xizor, you're pretty neat."
Xizor smiled even wider. "Well, I do try."
Hope let out a massive burp. "Excuse me," she said. She turned back to the kitchen. "Hey, where the heck is my dessert."
The cook poked his head out of the kitchen door. "Mistress, give me a few more minutes and--"
"That's it! You're fired!"
"But, Mistress, I--"
Hope responded by throwing her plate against the wall. The cook whimpered and dashed quickly out of the room.
Xizor laughed and clapped. "Very impressive. You take after your grandfather, indeed."
"Thanks, I think," Hope said as she chewed on a breadstick.
"Same fire, same commanding presence," Xizor said, starting intently at the little girl, as if he was looking beyond her eyes and seeing what was inside her. "You have the same darkness inside you."
"Uh...no. I have blood and guts inside me. I don't know anything about any darkness."
The handsome man laughed. "That was a metaphor, my dear."
"A mephador?" Hope tried sounding the word out. "What the heck is that?"
"A metaphor," Xizor explained, "is simply comparing two very different things. Like if I said, "My inner thoughts are a violent storm", that's a metaphor."
Hope looked at him blankly. "Huh?"
"Don't worry, you'll understand when you're older." Xizor stood. "Guri!"
Xizor's lady friend, Guri, stepped into the dining chamber. "My Lord?"
"Make sure the little girl is given a bath."
"Awwww." Hope hated baths. They were the most boringest thing in the entire galaxy. "But I'm not finished."
"We'll save it for later," Xizor assured her. "And look at you. You're a mess from all that food."
"But I don't need a bath," Hope complained loudly. "I can just wipe it off with my hand."
"Now, now, Hope, no more backtalk, or I'll send you to your room." He turned to Guri. "Take her to the cleaning chamber."
Hope groaned as the weird lady took her by the hand and led her out of the dining room.
Xizor watched as the two left, then chuckled softly to himself. The little girl was proving to be quite the company.
Too bad he would have to kill her once the ransom was paid.
"You're not going to kill her," a voice said from the shadows.
Xizor was not at all surprised to find Cray here. "How long have you been here?" he asked as the woman stepped into the light.
"A few hours," Cray said. "I've been watching the girl for quite some time now, Prince Xizor. She has so much power, which is to be expected since she is the daughter of Skywalker. And I will use all that power to my advantage."
Xizor scoffed. "You plan to make her a Dark Jedi?"
Cray laughed. "Oh, no, not at all. Hope is the key we need to bring Kerash back into the galaxy."
Xizor turned to her, confused. "I'm not sure I understand. What exactly is the Kerash?"
"That is none of your business," Cray said, as she turned to leave the dining room. "Now, I must go. I am going to have a little meeting with Callista."
"You seem to harbor a good deal of hatred for Skywalker's woman," Xizor brilliantly pointed out. "Why is that?"
Cray locked eyes with him, and Xizor couldn't help but shudder at the weight of her gaze. "Because she killed me."
Without another word, she left.
In her ship, Silver Wings, Leanna sat in her seat with her legs draped over the arm rest. While munching on a nutrient bar, she began to sort things out in a box when suddenly something silver fell from a small
opened box to the floor. Sighing, she set the other items to the floor, swung her legs around, stood up, and walked towards the fallen object. Picking it up, it revealed to be a locket necklace containing pictures of her family. Leanna froze as memories of that fatal day came flashing back.
It was a cloudy afternoon, and Leanna just got back from her class when she heard her mother's voice yell out, "Leanna Harmony Kai, get your butt in this house this instant." Breaking out into a full pledge run, she barreled into the door only to get tackled by her older brother's bear hug. "Happy life day, little sis," he whispered into her ear. With a sparkle in his light blue eyes, he ruffled her hair as he ordered, "Now go see Mom." Pulling herself from her brother's grasp she mumbled, "just wait until your next life day," then with lightening quick action she knocked the hat off her brother's head exposing his slightly darker sliverish white hair as she said, "no hats on in the house!"
Picking up his hat, smiling, he asked, "Who made that rule?"
"Me."
Cocking one eyebrow he questioned, "Since when did you become the boss, oh mighty sister?"
Grinning she replied, "Since now." Chuckling, he winked once and said, "Well, little boss, go see Mom."
"Fine."
Before she got to the kitchen, however, two tiny hands snatched hold of her ankle. Looking at her little sister she asked, "What are you up to, kid-o?"
As if to answer her question the child lifted her arms up. After being picked up she gurgled, "Happy life day, sis."
Laughing quietly, Leanna rubbed her nose against her sister's and said, "Thank you, young one."
"Welcome."
Setting her down near her toys to play again, Leanna headed into the kitchen and was hit by the aroma of freshly made cookies. Reaching for one of the closest cookie she only succeed in getting lightly swatted away by her mother and met with the look that said, 'you can wait until after dinner.'
Sighing, Leanna grumbled, "You do understand that this..." Waving her hand towards the cookies, " is torture, right?"
Nodding her head, her white hair bobbling with her, she smiled, and said, "Of course I do. Your brother and father inform me every year." Gathering her daughter into her arms she whispered in her ear, "happy life day, sweetheart. Now go see your dad. He said something about getting the sparring mats out..."
"Finally." Breaking out of her mother arms she ran toward the screen doors that lead toward the porch, to see her father standing in the middle of the mats, grinning.
Stretching his arms he winked and said, "Happy life day, Lea. So how many spankings do I get to give you today, nine?"
Rolling her eyes, she stepped on the mat as she replied, "Only if you defeat me in the sparring match and I have improve greatly since last year, dad."
"We'll find out won't we?" As they got ready to spar a blast rocked the house. "What the..."
Looking at the sky she noticed a certain kind of ship and thought, Boba Fett here? But why?
Following her dad she started to asked him but he interrupted saying "Get away from the house, Leanna."
"But..."
"Just do it."
"Not without all of you." She said defiantly as she ran around her dad, through the house, and picked up her little sister.
A second blast came shortly followed by crash from behind her. Looking sharply behind her, Leanna eyes widened in horror at the fully collapsed kitchen door and most likely the kitchen itself, "Mom ... Dad...."
As she was about to put her sister down to help her parents she felt her brother dragging her towards the front door. Struggling, she protested, " But Mom and Dad are in there. We have to help them."
Continuing to drag her toward the front door he told her regretfully, "It's too late, sis. It's too late."
No, it can't be too late....
Suddenly a third blast rocked the house sending the roof crashing right above them. Nooooo! Leanna mentally screamed, squeezing her eyes shut. Suddenly, the wood and metal shards flew to the side as if an invisible hand had smacked them away, all except one. It fell unseen, smacking her brother on the head, hard. It knocked him to the floor, unconscious, with a deep gash on the back of his head. Shaking her head in denial Leanna stared at her brother's body. "This can't be happening."
A couple of seconds later she heard the sounds of a ship landing.
Reacting as quickly as possible with her shaking hands, she set her sister down, ripped part of her shirt into bandages, and started to wrapped her brother's wound tightly, hoping to at least slow the bleeding. Once done, she look at the house quickly, seeing it ready to collapse any moment. She picked her sister up then whispered hoarsely, "Hold on brother... I'll be back, I promise." She carried her sister over the fallen timbers and out of the house. Moving quickly, she carried her sister to the shed. Punching the button with her free hand, the door slid open. Setting her behind a pile of junk, she said to her, "Now, listen up, sweetheart. I need you to stay here out of sight. I be back for you."
"Promise?" Her little sister asked with her emerald eyes pleading. "Promise." With that Leanna headed back to house running as fast as she possibly could. Getting to her brother, she quickly checked his pulse, sighing in relief that it was still there even though it was weak. Being careful to not bump any of his known injures she started to move him slowly to the door, moving objects when necessary. Once she got him out of the house she heard
her sister scream, "LEA!!!"
Lowering her brother gentle to the ground she took off towards the scream. Once closer she saw the form of her struggling sister in Boba Fett's arms. Putting the last of her energy into her flight she shrieked at the bounty hunter, "LET MY SISTER GO!!!" Boba Fett half-turned and fired two quick shots at Leanna. Following her instincts, Leanna threw herself into a shoulder roll, missing the blaster fire by a hair's width. Rolling to her feet she continue to run after Boba Fett. Suddenly, Boba Fett turned and instead of the blaster fire she expected, a stun beam rendered her unconscious.
Clenching her hand over the necklace's smooth surface, Leanna closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself, I told my sister that I would be back for her and I will not break that promise. I will find her even if I have to scour every corner of the galaxy to do it. Opening the locket she stared lovingly at the holo-pictures there, tracing the picture of a small child no older than two. I will find you, little sis and bring you home again. No matter what, I promise.
Narrowing her eyes she glared at nothing while saying, "I will make you tell me what you did to her, Boba Fett and I will make you pay." Looking at the farthest picture on the left, Leanna felt her heart tear even more. Swallowing a lump in her throat she thought, Big bro, I miss you so much. It's been so long since you fell into a coma. But yet, it feels like yesterday. Please wake up, I miss your jokes. I miss you. Slipping the necklace back into the small box, she started to repack everything into the bigger box and carried it into the cargo hold.
Walking into her quarters she sighed and said, "Come on, brother. Come back to me, I don't think a can handle another death in the family."
Changing briefly into her black cotton night clothes, she climbed into bed, careful of the knife in her hair. Closing her eyes Leanna let herself to relax.
It was dark and foggy, but she recognized it anyway. She was on one of the lower levels of Coruscant. Through darkness she could make out two figures, one was a small girl struggling to get away from ....Boba Fett. Trying with all her might, she realized that she couldn't move. Realizing that this was only a dream she allowed the events to fold out. She watched as he stunned the child.
Then, everything went black. After a short few moments, five figures appeared. One was the small child from before, another was a small boy, who seem to struggling against two of the three cloaked people. Sounds of fighting could be heard coming from the darkness, but it never came any closer. The little girl was screaming something with tears running down her face, but Leanna couldn't hear what she said. A sudden wind blew the hood of the third cloak person down revealing a child about ten years old. Her emerald eyes sparkled with an evil light. Waving her hand a door appeared. Slowly, creaking loudly, the door opened to reveal three bloody corpses.
There was a woman and a man and the third was...her!
Three deactivated lightsabers floated in a different corner about the bodies. All of a sudden, they activated, one green, one yellow, one a sliverish white, but stayed in their separate corners. The darkness of the shadows seeped toward them and the lightsabers started to flicker. As the blades were about to flicker out they flew to the middle of the room into a perfect circle, each blade crossing the other. Each blade gaining strength from the other. As the blades grew brighter the darkness shrunk and eventually disappeared all together and with it the three corpses faded from sight along with every evidence of them being there--except for the three shining lightsabers.
Snapping her eyes open, Leanna took a couple of deep breaths to calm her racing heart. Throwing the covers off she got out of bed and headed towards the cockpit. Following her gut instinct she pulled her ship from hyperspace and began to think. I should keep going after Boba Fett, he can give me the answers that I seek, but my instincts are screaming at me to go in another direction. Making her decision she plotted a slight flight adjustment, and pulled back the lever, throwing her ship back into hyperspace. Settling down in her seat she said to herself, "I don't know what that dream meant, if anything at all, and I don't think I want to know... But if my feelings are right then I'll find my answers soon enough." Grabbing a datapad she skimmed through it, thinking, I may be wrong, but I learned to trust my instincts a long time ago.
Callista laughed at tossed her wet hair back over her shoulders. She stood knee-deep in the surf with her brother, Josef, throwing a ball back and forth. She threw it hard, and Josef dove under the water to get it. As he did, another wave rolled over him. He stood up, sputtering. "You did that on purpose!" he shouted.
Callista was laughing so hard she couldn't answer. Josef ran and tackled her, knocking them both into the water. They wrestled until they were beyond breathless.
"Kids!" Mama called for them from the little beach house. "Time for lunch!"
Josef and Callista jumped up with a cheer, suddenly realizing how hungry they were. They raced for the house, kicking up sand behind us like the wake of water behind the boat. Callista made it through the door first, and tagged the wall. "I win! I win!"
"You...always...win!" Josef wheezed.
"Well, I'm older. Of course I always win!"
"Mom!"
"Come on, you two," Mama said, tossing her black braid over her shoulder and setting out plates on the table.
"Hello, children," the housedroid, T-402, greeted us. "I prepared your favorite today: shrimp sandwiches."
"YAY!" the children cheered and sat down. Tee put their plates in front of them, then disappeared to do the laundry. They ate like ravenous wystohs, and were both finished in less than five minutes.
"Well, you two certainly were hungry. It must be from all that running around on the beach," Mama said. The sound of the front door closing made us all look to the foyer. Callista's teenage sisters, Maya and Arkna, walked in. "What are you two doing home this early?" Mama asked, using that motherly tone.
"That moron!" Arkna said in disbelief. "I studied for that test all week last week, and Mr. Churcin had the nerve to give me a D plus. What gives?"
"He's probably a speciesist," Maya said. "He is a Calamarian."
"I take it your physics exam didn't go so well?" Mama said, raising her eyebrows. Arkna sighed. "I know, I know. It's never the teacher's fault. Only mine, despite the fact that I studied for that stupid test all kriffin' week--"
"And watch your language, young lady! Anyway, it is your fault because, if I remember correctly, you didn't study at all. You spent the entire week with that boyfriend of yours."
Josef and Callista snickered behind our hands. Arkna glared at them.
"Anyway, you shouldn't be so hard on Mr. Churcin. You know how hard it is for nonhumans to find decent jobs these days."
"Mom!" Arkna huffed.
"No more from you. You're grounded for a week, which means no leaving the house!"
Arkna rolled her eyes.
"I saw that. Do you want to make it two?" Mama said, standing up.
Arkna looked at the floor. "No." she said sullenly.
"All right, then. Now you two come have something to eat before you go back to school. Heaven only knows what they feed you there."
Callista's mooka, Jeebie, jumped into her lap with a whine. She patted his head and poked a piece of shrimp at his nose, and he snatched it from her fingers with a wag of his tale.
"Lissy," her mother warned. She hated it when Callista fed Jeebie from the table. The mooka leapt out of her lap and pattered to her room.
They ate in silence for a few moments, but Callista was never one for quiet. "When does Papa get home?" she asked.
"He should be back in a couple of hours," Mama answered. "Why?"
"He said he'd help me with my history assignment," Callista said. "I don't know much about the rise and fall of the Sith Order."
Mama smiled. "I can help you with that, Lissy. I'm fairly good when it comes to Galactic history."
"Thanks, Mama," Callista said. "But I'd prefer it Papa helped me instead."
"Well, why don't we wait until he gets home, then we can both help you with it?" she tried.
"It's okay, I think my projects turn out a lot better when Papa helps," her daughter said. Callista leapt down from her seat and went to her room to get started, never seeing the hurt look on her mothers face.
Callista awoke with a horrified gasp. She sat up and found herself back on her bed, in her room in the Imperial Palace. She turned her head to see Luke lying next to her, still asleep.
A dream. It had all been a dream...
But it had felt so real.
Sweat was plastered to Callista's forehead, and she could feel more dripping from her hair. Moving as quietly as she could, careful not to wake her husband, she slipped out of bed and put her robe on. She went outside of their room to stand out on the balcony overlooking the entire city.
As Callista stared blankly at the endless miles of skyscrapers and transports, her mind kept coming back to her dream...
No, she thought as realization slapped her across the face. That was more than a dream. That was more like a flashback.
It had actually happened.
All those years ago.
Callista's mother had died a very long time ago, killed herself by drinking an entire bottle of arsenic in her bathroom. It had been on the night of Callista's seventh life day, and she and her mother had been the only ones in the house at the time. Everyone else had left to celebrate Callista's life day at the beach that was next to their home.
Callista had been in her room, playing with the toy lightsaber her Uncle Claine had given her for her life day, when she had felt her mother scream through the Force. She had run to her parents' bathroom to see what was wrong--but by then it was too late.
Callista still remembered that day with vivid clarity, her mother's final gasp as she died, the horror and regret in her eyes, and Callista's own frightened sobs. It had been the worst day of her life.
Over the years, she had had many dreams of her mother and her death, none of them pleasant. But never before had her dreams felt so real. Until now...
Callista wiped a single tear that flowed down her cheek. As a child, she had always pushed her mother away, had never allowed her into her personal life. Although she hated to admit it, Callista had always enjoyed spending time with her father--Force, even her uncle--than with her mother. Whenever she had a problem with friends or school, she would always consult her father. Whenever she got an A on a test in school, she would always show it to her father first. Even when she injured herself playing, she would always call for her father rather than her mother. She loved her mother very much, true--she would even sing to her when she couldn't sleep; her mother had had a lovely singing voice--but they just didn't connect, for some reason.
Her mother had died because of Callista. Because she had been so foolish to have ostracized her from her life. Because she didn't love her like she loved her father. She had never fully appreciated her, had always taken her for granted.
How she wished she could have been given a second chance.
Her mother's spirit had visited her on her wedding night, and Callista had insisted that she never favored her father over her. And though Callista thought she meant what she said, deep down inside, she knew she couldn't escape the awful truth.
"I did favor Papa over Mama," she said aloud, gazing up at the black, star-spanned sky.
More tears flowed, and Callista tried to shove thought of her dead mother and her dream away from her mind. Instead, she tried to focus on the present, such as her missing daughter--and her earlier outburst at Han and Leia.
Callista still couldn't believe the horrible things she had said to them. Han and Leia had meant well; Hope's disappearance was in no way their fault. Her daughter was young and reckless; when she put something to mind, she was pretty much unstoppable. The guilt she felt was unbearable. And then there was that incident with the Kerash warrior. Callista had almost killed him, had almost given in to the powerful evil that had eaten away at her firstborn.
The scariest part was that it wasn't the first time she had almost given in to the temptation.
As she stood in the balcony, a flood of memories poured back to her:
Her fight with the Human Replica Droid on Yavin 4.
Her fight with the Sith Witch on board the Knight Hammer.
Her meeting with Kara in the ancient temple.
The Nightsister battle on Dathomir. Luke laying still on the snow- blanketed ground, an arrow protruding from his chest. Callista cutting down Nightsisters left and right with her lightsaber, overcome with a rage she had never known before...
Forever...
She is coming..
Callista looked down at the scars on her palms, the scars she had sustained from her crucifixion on Dathomir. It had almost killed her, and had almost allowed her to fall to the dark side.
Master Djinn Altis had told her that anger led to the dark side; he had drilled that into her head from day one. And yet, despite the lessons she had learned over the years, she almost gave in several times. And this time, she was even more perilously closer to the edge than ever.
What is happening to me? she thought to herself, tracing the scars on her left palm with two fingers. She thought about Hope, so frail and young. And she was gone, lost in the Underworld, where no one could ever hope to find her. Callista longed to see her daughter again, to kiss her on the cheeks, run her fingers through her soft brown hair...
As she thought of her daughter, she also remembered what Luke had said. Black Sun was apparently back, the leader so far unconfirmed, and they wanted her daughter. But why? Were they going to hold her for a ransom, train her as a Dark Jedi...or worse?
And there was also the cloaked woman who had attacked her earlier. Who was she? Her voice...it sounded frighteningly familiar, and yet Callista couldn't quite place it.
She is coming...
Kerash...
The name popped up in Callista's head again as she recalled what Armenia had said to her in the Underworld. She had heard that name before, but where? Perhaps it was she needed in order to find Hope...
Callista checked to make sure Luke was asleep, then quietly left the room. She headed for the Imperial City Database, intending to speak to one of the ancient Jedi Holocrons.
She needed to know more about this Kerash.
Cray strode furtively down the darkened corridors of the Imperial Palace, her black cloak flapping around her like the wings of a dragon. Her hood was still over her head, so that no one could see her true face.
It was just as well. She didn't want anyone to know who she was...until it was time.
As Cray walked, searching for the cell that contained her fellow Kerash, she remembered what had happened on the Eye of Palpatine all those years ago...
The Eye of Palpatine had been an early prototype Imperial battle station back in the days of the Old Republic--very reminiscent of the infamous Death Star. Palpatine had ordered the construction of the Eye for the sole purpose of exterminating the Jedi. But Callista--and her fellow Jedi companion, Geith--had been able to stop it, keeping it trapped in the Moonflower Nebula, where it laid dormant for decades, unable to use its destructive powers.
Eight years after the battle of Endor, Luke, Cray, and her lover Nichos Marr went off to finish the job. Things started to go well for them-- until Callista came.
Callista had managed to keep her spirit alive in the computer core of the Eye of Palpatine during all those years of dormancy. She controlled everything in the battle station, and she used that to her advantage.
Unbeknownst to Cray and her friends, Callista had activated the emergency destruct system, which would detonate the entire station in one standard hour. The group had continued on with their work, unknowing of the fate that awaited them.
Within ten minutes of destruction, an image of the fallen Jedi had appeared in every screen on the Eye of Palpatine, a frightening grin of triumph on her face, which still sent shivers through Cray's blood. She was able to remember what Callista had said as if it had happened yesterday:
Welcome aboard, Jedi. I am Callista, and I control this battle station. You have tried to tamper with my systems in an attempt to sabotage, and I cannot allow that. The emergency destruct system on the Eye has been running for at least an hour. Which means that you have ten minutes before this station explodes.
Her grin had grown even wider as she said, If I were you, I'd get out as fast as I could.
Cray had been appalled at the drastic change in Callista. Perhaps all those years being trapped in the Eye of Palpatine had slowly driven her mad. But it didn't, because in ten minutes, the entire station would be destroyed--along with everything and everyone in it.
The ten minutes that followed afterward were probably the worst ten minutes of her life. She, Luke, and Nichos had wasted no time and hurried into an escape pod. Cray and the Jedi Master made it out in time, both in separate pods--but Nichos was not so lucky. Her lover, the man she loved the most in her entire life, died in the violent explosion that ripped apart the battle station.
After that, Cray drifted aimlessly through space for over eight months, unsure of where she was heading. She put herself in a Jedi trance to prevent her body from starving to death.
Eventually, her pod crashed.
The people that found her took her back to their village and nursed her back to health. When she finally came to, she realized that she was on a distant planet that few people in the galaxy had ever heard of, Anasazi. Apparently, her pod had drifted past the Outer Rim and into a barely explored region in the universe, even farther out than distant worlds like Tatooine and Almania.
The people who cared for her called themselves the Kerash.
Eventually, Cray met the leaders of the village, and they took her to a cluster of temples deep in the jungles. There, she was surprised to find over thousands of warriors made their homes in the ancient structures. There, she learned of the Order of Kerash, its history, the goddess they worshipped--who was named Arak--and their fighting techniques. She was a fast learner, and eventually became the leader of the Kerash Cult.
Over the years, after Cray left Anasazi, she kept a close watch over Callista. She was shocked to hear that the bitch who had murdered Nichos was now alive and roaming the galaxy, but even more so, she was horrified to see that Callista was now married to Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Cray had respected the most!
He must be under some kind of spell, she surmised. Surely, Master Skywalker would never dream of marrying the woman who had once tried to kill him.
Until recently, Cray never quite found the perfect opportunity to get her long-desired vengeance on the woman. Then Black Sun came.
Apparently, Xizor wanted to capture the daughter of Skywalker and use her as a ransom. Cray had met up with the Prince of Black Sun, and an alliance was immediately formed. Cray would help find Hope and bring her to him, and in return, Xizor would help her kill Callista.
Cray herself had also taken an interest in the little girl, as well as her cousin, Anakin. She didn't want to train them like the Nightsisters had planned, or anything like that. Rather, Hope and Anakin had a certain power to them, and it wasn't just the Force. It was a mysterious power--a connection of some sort--that the ancient Kerash priests had prophesized eons ago, the power that would bring the goddess Arak into the galaxy...
Cray knew little about the theology of the Kerash, but the priests on Anasazi had insisted on bringing Hope back, and she had consented. As long as Xizor didn't kill her beforehand.
Of course, if he did so, Cray would have to kill him, long and slow.
Cray finally reached the prison block of the palace. She saw only one guard standing by the entrance. This would be easy.
Bringing out her lightsaber, but not switching it on just yet, Cray walked toward the man.
"Excuse me, sir," he said, putting a hand up to stop her. "This area is restricted to everyone except for the Chief of State and her brother. Visiting hours are on weekends."
Without an answer, the blade of Cray's lightsaber shot to life, piercing through the guard's chest and coming out through his spine. The man let out a long, drawn out groan of pain and slumped lifelessly to the marbled floor.
Cray stepped over the corpse and headed down the hallway, stopping when she reacehed the cell she was looking for.
With her lightsaber, she sliced through the durasteel door.
Within seconds, all six Kerash warriors--with Armenia in the lead-- stepped out of the cell one by one. "Thank you, Mistress," the woman acknowledged with a bow of her head. "We owe you."
"Indeed you do," Cray replied in a cold voice. "You failed in your mission to bring Anakin to my ship."
Armenia looked down at the floor. "I apologize. We won't fail again."
"See that you don't," Cray said. "Now go. Capture Anakin Solo and bring him to the Fallen Moon as soon as possible. Anyone who tries to stop you dies. Understood?"
The six warriors bowed in unison.
"But where will you be?" Armenia asked.
Cray offered her a chilling smile. "I plan on having a little chat with an old friend," she said.