Chapter 17

The Menarai Mountains was one of the few areas on the entire planet that was not encompassed by the metropolis of Imperial City. As the shuttle carrying the group landed at the foot of one of the numerous entrances leading into the tallest mountain, Leia could see that Xizor's base, which began in the yawning entrance of the cavern, seemed virtually deserted.
Despite the severity of their situation--the space battle was still raging in orbit above them, and not all of Xizor's clones had been destroyed yet-- Leia managed to smile. Xizor obviously must have been so confident that no one would be able to find his base, that he did not even bother leaving anyone behind to stand guard.
Good for us, bad for him, she thought, as the shuttle's ramp extended. The group disembarked, with Leia, Han, and Luke leading the way. "So, did you find Boba Fett?" Leia asked Luke as she fingered her lightsaber, which she had found stashed away in the weapons compartment in the palace after having killed the Xizor clone.
Luke nodded. "Yeah, we did."
"Did you get any information about where the children are?" Leia asked hopefully. Luke shook his head sadly. "Nothing. He was just as unknowing about it as we are." The next thing he said took them both by surprise. "He's dead, now."
Leia and Han were unable to hide the surprise and shock that appeared abruptly on their faces. "He's...dead?" Leia finally said, unable to believe the news. Somehow, the idea of the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter dying didn't make sense to her. She wasn't even sure if Fett could be killed.
"He tried to attack Leanna on the Slave IV," Luke explained. "He was about to kill her when I interfered. It was as simple as that."
"Seems kinda...anticlimactic," Han oberved, making a strange face. "Oh, well. He had it coming to him. Especially considering that he was the one who took Hope away in the first place..."
"And that he blew up your ship while we were on Garkonis," Luke added, his voice barely heard, as if afraid to speak out loud. Leia's eyed widened, but her shock was nothing compared to Han's horrified expression.
"He what?" he demanded.
Luke suddenly seemed afraid to be around them. "Yeah, I hate to tell you, Han, but...when we were looking for that Imperial outpost, Fett...managed to take us by surprise and implanted some explosives on board the Falcon."
The horror on Han's face then changed to anger. "He blew up my ship?" he stammered, his voice hoarse. "Fett blew up my ship?!" He seemed ready to strangle someone, when Leia gently laid a hand on his shoulder, soothing his thoughts with the Force in an attempt to calm him down. "That's it! I'm glad that Hutt-kissing runt's dead. Too bad I didn't get a piece of him."
"But the Falcon is still reparable," Luke pointed out. "It's still on Garkonis. Once we've taken care of this mess on Coruscant, we can--"
Their conversation was interrupted by a hoarde of blaster bolts that hailed from the cavern entrance. Leia fell to the ground, quickly followed by Han, Luke, and the others. Leia looked up, but she couldn't see their attackers. Within seconds, another volley was fired at them.
"Look out!" Luke shouted, raising his lightsaber blade, and deflecting a shot that would have struck Leia right between the eyes.
Leia rolled to her feet, and switched on her weapon. She saw their assailants pouring from the base entrance: a force numbering around two- dozen or so, all heavily armed, and determined to gun down their adversaries until every last one of them was dead and smoking on the ground.
"I thought you said there wouldn't be any resistance!" Leia shouted over at Luke, as she blocked another bolt.
Luke gave her an exasperated look. "Leia, I think it was you who said that."
"Will you two stop arguing and start fighting?" Han demanded, as he fired several shots, hitting one Black Sun warrior in the thigh, and dropping him down. "I'd love to," Leia said with a smile, and the first wave of men were upon them.

Wedge had felt an incredible surge of joy as the reinforcements unexpectedly arrived, taking both sides by surprise. Within seconds, the Black Sun fleet was reduced by half, their Star Destroyers going up in flames as bolt after bolt struck them.
"Excellent!" Wedge shouted, as several other Rogue pilots echoed his sentiment. "Okay, guys, the back-up's here. I need you to find all the X- wings and Y-wings that have the marking of the Imperial Palace, and shoot them down. Black Sun has hijacked several of our ships."
Wedge took the controls of his fighter, and flew into the heat of the battle with renewed hope.

The Black Sun soldiers were harder opponents than Leia had thought. Several of their numbers had fallen, but there was still plenty of more left. And so far, they seemed determined to keep fighting. Xizor trained these guys well, Leia thought, as she cleaved through a Gamorrean's arm, then took his head off with a clean swipe. They sure don't want us to reach the cloning chamber.
"Han! Luke!" she shouted over the din, slicing another soldier in half. "Cover me! I'm going in!"
Han and Luke exchanged brief glances, and Leia could sense their uneasiness. But they obeyed without argument, and the threesome proceeded to head for the cavern entrance, cutting down any Black Sun soldier who stood in their way.
"Wait up!" Leanna exclaimed, running after them. A Gran stood in her way, swinging a vibroblade toward her chest. Leanna dodged, her hair flying around her face like a cape, grabbed the blade by the hilt, and shoved the tip upward into the Gran's ribs. The three-eyed alien bleated in pain as the vibroblade cut deep into his chest, and he fell. Leanna ignored her fallen opponent and followed Han, Leia, and Luke into the Black Sun base. Kirana Ti and the rest of the Jedi pushed forth, ruthlessly mowing down the remaining soldiers. As soon as Leia entered the base, she could see the light from outside vanish, replaced with the cold darkness of the cavern. She could barely make out the outlines of various starfighters and freighters. She looked up toward the ceiling and saw that the lights had been switched off. From what she could tell, they were alone.
"Where's the cloning chamber?" Han asked. Leia half-closed her eyes, and stretched out with her mind. Beside her, she saw Luke do the same. She felt the Force comb the entire chamber, searching for any signs of life. She could detect the small molecules and microbes that penetrated the air and their bodies, but nothing larger than that, until--
--until she sensed a deep disturbance. An almost newborn presence, although not quite real. She could feel its thoughts: panicked, furious...with a tiny trace of insanity.
Xizor's next clone had just been activated.
Leia's eyes snapped open, and she and Luke said, "I found it."
"Where?" asked Leanna, the awe in her eyes betraying her stone-chiseled face.
"Follow us," Leia said, and she led the way, with Luke next to her. Han and Leanna, after a moment's hesitation, followed suit. Outside, the battle seemed to be drawing to a close. Darkness surrounded the group, the cold light from the lightsabers lighting their path like glowrods. They reached a door at the end of the chamber, made from tons of durasteel. It quickly fell victim to Luke's lightsaber, and in two hacks, it fell away like melted butter.
After the smoke had cleared, the group entered the small room displayed before them. Leia looked at the room's contents, a grin of satisfaction spreading across her face. They had reached the clone room. Over half a dozen clones resembling Xizor--looking almost perfect; though Leia had witnessed cloning numerous times in her life, she was still amazed by how well-done and realistic they were--surrounded them, wrapped in a white suit, and protected by cryo-tubes in the walls. Their eyes were shut, as if they were sound asleep, unaware of the unexpected visitors. Leia was ready to make sure that they would never wake up.
"Han," she said coldly. "Bombs."
"Already one step ahead of you, Princess," Han said, pulling out three Talesian detonators from his hand. "This should be enough to demolish the entire base."
Leia nodded, looking around at the collection of clones. "Okay, set the timer for five minutes. When these things go off, they will go off really quick. Just one Talesian grenade can take out this entire mountain; three will destroy the entire mountain range. We need to be out of here before that happens."
Leanna eyes twinkled at the thought of destruction. "Then let's get to it. I want to see how well these babies work."
"Um...guys?" Luke said. Leia turned to him, surprised by the concern in his voice. "What is it, Luke?" Luke pointed toward one of the cryo-tubes near the door, and Leia saw with horror that the clone from it was gone. The tube was mostly a mound of shattered glass, and it was then that she remembered that one of the clones had been activated.
Han followed her gaze, and his eyes widened. "Hey, where the hell is the clone?" "Behind you," a voice said from behind.
Leia knew where he was before he even spoke. With a simple twirl, she and her friends found the source of the voice, standing right in front of the door, barring their only escape.
Xizor's third clone.
The group stepped back, their hands clutching their weapons tightly. Leia's lightsaber was held out in front of her in a defensive posture, the sky- blue blade aimed directly at Xizor's heart. With just a single jab, she could--
"Thought you'd be rid of me, did you?" Xizor said with a grin as he stepped closer to her, one hand going up as if to touch her. His eyes were frenzied and bloodshot, and Leia could sense the smallest amount of insanity present in his voice. That was both a good and a bad thing. Insane clones were very unpredictable and dangerous, but were also easy to kill, as long as you were careful.
"Xizor, just give up already. It's four against one. There's no way you can beat all of us." From the corner of her eye, she could see Han back up against the corner, one of the Talesian grenades buried in his palm. "Surrender now, and we can end this war once and for all. Why drag it out any further?"
Xizor laughed, a frightening, maniacal cackle that Leia had never heard from him before. It sounded like the crazed laughter of a Kowakian lizard- monkey. "Foolish little girl!" he hissed. "You can't stop me. Black Sun can't be stopped!"
"Sure, whatever," Leanna said, then leaned in to whisper in Leia's ear, "If you ask me, this guy is suffering from serious delusions of grandeur."
"I heard that!" Xizor said, pointing an accusing finger at the woman. "You will be the first to die!"
Leanna rose to the challenge, pointing her blaster pistol at the Falleen clone's throat. "Wanna bet?" she snapped. "Just one shot, bucko, and I blow a hole right through your cold-blooded throat." She smiled a little, as she set the charge to KILL. "So, do you wanna dance?"
Leia eyed Xizor, every muscle in her body as tense as stone. She continued watching Han from the corner of her eye, and saw him set the grenade timer to five minutes, and place it gingerly on the floor next to one of the cryo- tubes. She silently thanked the Force that Xizor hadn't noticed. Even if they all died at that moment, the remaining clones would at least be destroyed with them.
But she had no plans to die here today.
"These are the last of your clones, aren't they, Xizor?" Luke asked, pointing his saber threateningly in Xizor's direction. "If we destroy these, then you will have lost. Why continue fighting a war that you know you can't possibly win?"
Xizor smiled at the Jedi Master, showing off his sharp canines. "Because I can, Jedi Master," he snarled. "Now...which one shall I kill first?" His eyes settled on Leia.
Han saw it as well. "No!" he shouted, as he ran over to Xizor to knock him down. Xizor smiled, as his fist flew into Han's jaw the moment he was a mere two inches away from him. The force of the blow threw Han back and into Luke, causing them both to fly into the wall. Luke shut off his lightsaber, careful not to injure Han, who was on top of him, semi-conscious.
Leia pursed her lips, and strode over to the Falleen, with Leanna close behind. But the clone was too fast for her, and he threw her back with a powerful uppercut. She slammed back into Leanna with enough power that they were thrown against one of the cryo-tubes, causing the glass to crack and shatter, spilling the deactivated clone onto the floor. Several glass pieces cut into Leia's skin, drawing blood, and she stifled back a gasp. Xizor laughed, as he surveyed the scene.
"Is this the best you can do?" he snapped, watching as the group slowly began to stagger back up. "Then this is going to be really easy for me." Leia looked over at Han and Luke, saw that they were not too badly hurt, and back to Xizor, a look of pure hatred on her face. Her eyes flashed back to the grenade.
Two minutes remained. Xizor beckoned them all with a wave of his fingertips. His eyes seemed even more mad-inducing, and Leia realized that the clone was becoming unstable. "Now...who's up for round two?" The four exchanged a brief glance...then took off running.

Xizor watched, startled, as his opponents dashed out of the cloning chamber, without so much as putting up a fight. He was now alone, with the remaining five clones, one of which was sprawled on the floor, as lifeless as a corpse. Xizor looked through the open doorway, barely able to contain his laughter. Two Jedi Knights, a smuggler, and a bounty hunter...all four had barely even lifted a finger against him. It was almost sad, in a way. Xizor stood just outside the doorway, calling after the running four, who were now almost out of the darkened base.
"That's right, you cowards! Go ahead and run!" His laughter resounded throughout the gigantic chamber. "I told you that you couldn't stop me. Now, Black Sun shall crush the New Republic once and for all, and I will become--"
A small beeping invaded his eardrums, coming from somewhere in the cloning chamber. Xizor turned around, and re-entered the small room, his eyes narrowed as he scoured the area. That noise, it sounded so familiar to him...
That was when his eyes laid upon the grenade that had been planted in the room. A Talesian thermal detonator, he realized, powerful enough to destroy a large building. The timer slowly ticked down, with only ten seconds remaining. Xizor immediately realized that there was no way he could escape. His dreams and hopes of ruling over the Republic shattered around him as he watched the seconds painfully melt away on the timer. Melting away, just like his life would be within eight seconds.
Six, five, four, three, two, one... "Oh, sh..."

"...it!" Leia cursed as the group ran out of the base, and practically leaped into the shuttle--Kirana Ti and the others were already on board, having finished fighting Xizor's minions--just as the entire mountain exploded. Debris and flaming pieces of rock rained down upon them, as the shuttle took off, heading back for the Imperial Palace. One large piece almost struck off one of the ship's wings, causing it to shudder and list under their feet. Leia held onto Han's hand tight as they sat back, their eyes squeezed shut. And then, it was all over.
The shuttle streamed toward Imperial City, untouched by the explosion. Leia opened her eyes and looked around at the group gathered around her, at Luke, Leanna, Han, the Jedi. And began cheering. Within seconds, the rest joined her in celebration. The cloning chamber was now gone, Xizor's headquarters in ruins. The Black Sun fleet had been routed by Republic reinforcements. After weeks upon weeks of negotiations, death, destruction, and fighting, victory had been achieved at last. Leia exchanged hugs and kisses with Han and Luke. Everyone began congratulating each other for the excellent work. Leanna sat away from the rest, a satisfied look on her face, but unwilling to join in the celebrating, as if her mind was somewhere else. They cheered all the way back to the palace.

Callista had no idea where she was going. She had last seen the Kerash rebels disappear into the jungle after having lost the skirmish at Semaj. She didn't know if they had returned to the sanctuary of the Kerash caves, or had made camp out in the far reaches of the Anasazi jungle, where Armenia's minions could never hope to find them. She followed her instincts--something she had been doing for quite some time now--and continued running through the jungle, somehow knowing that if she wanted to find the rebels, she would.
As she ran, her mind kept returning to her dream, of what the Force had told her--that magnificent, beautiful voice that had come from the sky-- that Hope was the Calthazar Sonya had spoken of. Her daughter was the key to defeating Arak and the Kerash.
Why didn't I see this before? Callista thought as she leaped over a fallen log, using the Force to futher boost her leap. She landed on her feet in a small puddle, causing mud to splash over her legs. I always knew that my daughter was born for a special purpose. What better purpose than to ensure the safety of the universe by defeating a god? Although so many of her questions had been answered, she still had many, many more. How was Hope going to destroy Arak? Did the portal have to be opened in order for them to fight her? What was the purpose of the fyorga, the Angel of Light? And what did those images in her dream mean? The body, the bottle, Luke's back turned to her.. The girl's sobs...
Callista looked up at the sky. It would soon be evening, and Anasazi's sun was slowly becoming obscured by the planet's moon. The first signs of the eclipse. I'm running out of time...
Yes, Callista, you are. I told you that you couldn't hide from me forever. We're finally going to meet, face-to-face. And there's nothing you can do to stop me... I am coming at last...
Shut up! Callista shouted in her mind, her teeth cutting into her lip. She felt a slight burning pain, but it felt trivial compared to the terror she felt plunge through her heart as she ran. Get out of my mind, you bitch!
I'm coming Callista. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide... The voice cackled--a deep, low-throated laugh that shattered Callista's eardrums, causing her to sream--and disappeared into oblivion.
She finally reached a small clearing in the jungle. The first thing her eyes fell upon the cluster of tents that had been set up protectively around each other. She could barely make out the faint images of people wandering about, all heavily armed with weapons. The Kerash rebels, she realized. Relief flooded her, and she ran over to the camp, which seemed so far away from her. Her knees buckled, threatening to collapse if she dared to stop.
A man stood in her way, holding one hand out toward her. "Halt!" he shouted. "Who are you?"
"I'm a friend," Callista panted. Her throat was parched, and her voice came out harsh and raspy. "My name's Callista. I'm..."
The rebel's eyes widened as he recognized her. "Fyorga," he gasped, and bowed down to her, his rough exterior having vanished. It was as if he was standing before a great deity. "Please, come join us. We were just about to leave."
"Where's Kieran?" Callista asked, as he led her inside the camp. All around them, rebels dropped to one knee and bowed their head in respect to the Angel of Light. "I saw him get shot by an arrow in Semaj. Is he--?"
"Kieran is all right," the man replied, then pointed toward the rebel leader, who had just exited one of the tents.
"Kieran! Our savior has rejoined us at last!"
"Thank you, Trahman," Kieran nodded, and he smiled at Callista. "Welcome back, Callista."
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Better." Kieran pounded one hard fist against his breastbone, where Armenia's arrow had struck him. "It will take more than mere arrows to bring me down." He looked around at the people gathered around them. "Forgive us for our failure at Semaj, Callista. We fought as hard as we could--"
"Don't worry about it," Callista said, laying a friendly hand on his shoulder. "You did the best you could. Armenia will be a hard opponent to beat."
She looked around, addressing all the rebels. "But we will beat her, no matter what the cost."
"Yes. In fact, we were about to head for the Temple of Arak," Kieran explained. He pointed upward at the sky, toward the slowly-forming eclipse. "By now, the Kerash must be preparing for Arak's arrival. You know what must be done."
The gathered rebels silently nodded, giving each other worried glances.
"My friends, I am almost sorry that I dragged you all into this," Kieran began in a soft voice, meeting eyes with everyone, even Callista's. "I don't wish death upon any of you, and I certainly didn't want anyone to go into battle." His voice became rougher as he continued. "But Armenia and Tsin have given us no choice. They have decided to do the unthinkable...release Arak from her prison. They have no idea of how many will die if that happens.
"I have tried to put this off for so long, but now I cannot. The Ritual of the Coming will begin in less than two hours. We must reach the temple before they succeed. I can't guarantee a victory for us. But I can promise that we will fight to the best of our ability, to ensure that the Kerash will be destroyed once and for all, for the good of the universe. We have the Angel of Light on our side now." He gestured toward Callista, who nodded back. "We must trust in her abilities. She has been called down from the stars to guide us in our war against evil."
"Would the Fyorga wish to speak to us before we depart for the Temple of Arak?" Trahman suddenly asked.
The other rebels murmured in agreement. "Yes, speak, speak!" they repeated.
"We would love to hear what you have to say," Kieran encouraged, offering Callista the floor now. Callista looked around at the people gathered closely around her in a circle. All clad in black robes, muttering amongst themselves, viewing Callista with a mixture of awe and apprehension. It seemed so vaguely familiar...
Callista cleared her throat. "I really don't know what to say," she said. "But I do know that Arak is evil, and that you all are fighting the good fight. A few hours ago, I had an epiphany. The Calthazar needed to defeat Arak...is my own daughter." The rebels gasped, their whisperings growing even louder. Callista waited until it grew quiet again, and then continued.
"I am a Jedi Knight, and I know what I must do. I must fight in the name of goodness and light, against the forces of darkness. My daughter is the key to bringing Arak into our world...and she's also the key to stopping her. I...I am glad that I am not the only one who will be fighting Armenia and her warriors. Because I can't do it alone. I may be the Angel of Light, but I'm not invincible. Armenia has already beaten me twice, and she can do it again. I need your help."
She strained to fight back tears as she spoke. Funny, I'm about to cry over a bunch of people I don't even know...
"I don't know any of you personally," she said. "But I do know this...you're a brave group. You're outmanned and outgunned, but you are still willing to do what is right. Sonya was a brave soul, as well." She felt a pang as she recalled having held the woman's dying body in her arms, just as she had held her mother's..."I just hope that most of us will get through this. And that's really all I have to say."
The group nodded in agreement, offering Callista grateful smiles. Several bowed again, and Keiran stepped away from them, holding a sword in one hand.
"Then we must go," he announced, pointing in the direction of the jungle. "The Kerash have to be stopped."
The rebels dispersed, and headed back into their tents to arm themselves. Trahman came back with a club and a sword. He offered the sword to Callista. "For you, Fyorga," he said.
Callista smiled and accepted the weapon. "Thank you."
Within minutes, the rebels had abandoned the camp. They, along with Callista, traveled through the thick jungle, intent on reaching the temple. The sky began to darken as the eclipse swallowed up the evening sky. And as they walked, Callista sent out a single message through the Force, transmitting it across the vastness of space, toward one person. The one man she loved more than anyone in her life, the one man she had betrayed, the one man who had no idea of the son they would never have. It felt like ages since she had last seen him...and she couldn't defeat the Kerash without him.
Luke...help me...

After another hour of fighting, the remnants of the Black Sun fleet, after having heard of Xizor's demise, finally surrendered. The remaining Star Destroyers were confiscated, and the Black Sun officers were imprisoned, where they would wait for a fair trial. Although the New Republic had achieved victory at last, their losses had been horrendous. The statistics totaled up to over two or three million people, most of them civilians who died from the implanted detonators. Over dozens of ships had been destroyed as well, and millions injured during the battle. The space around Coruscant, already littered with wreckage from earlier wars, was now even more crowded with remains of ships than ever. Even now, Leia had sent excavation teams up into orbit to start the clean- up process.
Imperial City, itself, remained completely unscathed, which was good. Boba Fett--after it was verified that he was truly dead (one can never be too careful with bounty hunters)--had been ejected out into space, where he would forever cruise aimlessly through the black, airless night with the rest of the wreckage around Coruscant. The Slave IV had been sold into scrap, which would be used to repair the Falcon.
Leanna had seemed strangely quiet ever since her skirmish with the bounty hunter during the battle. Luke had considered talking to her about it, but a single, cold look from the woman convinced him otherwise. Luke had not witnessed such carnage since the early days of the Rebellion. The Republic had come so close to losing Coruscant forever. He knew how long it would take for the Republic's wounds to fully heal. It would take years, maybe even longer, for them to recover from this ordeal. And, to top it all off, he was still no closer to finding Hope than he was when the whole mess started.
Up until now.
Luke stood in Leia's office, watching as the civilian transports began landing down on the planet, ready to unload everybody and send them back home. Leia and Leanna were with him, along with a now-repaired Cray, who recounted everything that had happened to her since she and Callista had left Coruscant. Han had gone off with Chewie and Threepio to reclaim the Falcon from Garkonis and set to work repairing it.
Cray, sitting on the chair across from Leia's desk, told them everything, about having freed the Kerash from their cell, accompanying Callista to a planet named Anasazi--Luke had never heard of the planet before, and neither had Leia nor Leanna. She told them about having been captured by Armenia, and about the Kerash's intent.
Luke was completely at a loss for words. "A god?" he said.
Cray nodded. "Yes, a god. And not a very nice god, at that. The Kerash plan to bring her back from Raximidaj."
"I don't know what to say," Leia said, after a long silence. "I mean...a god? Surely, gods don't exist. None of our Jedi records ever mention about deities, good or bad--" "Jedi don't know everything!" Cray snapped, surprisingly angry. "I know it may sound blasphemous to you, but they don't. I've never seen Arak, but I know she's real. And I know how powerful the Kerash are."
She looked at the three people gathered around her, looking for support. "Come on, you have to believe me!"
"I'm not sure if we do," Luke said, crossing his arms over his chest. "After all, you're the one who started this mess in the first place. First you try to kill us, then you kidnap my nephew--"
"What she's saying is true," Leanna suddenly said. It was the first she had spoken since the battle.
Luke and Leia gave her surprised looks. "Leanna, are you sure? She could be lying just to--"
"Anasazi was where I was born," Leanna broke in. Her ice-blue eyes seemed harder than ever.
Luke sucked in a deep breath. Any more surprises? he thought, as he said, "You came from Anasazi?" Leanna nodded, looking at both Luke and Leia. "My family left when I was four. I don't remember much from it. My parents didn't approve of the yearly sacrificies the priests performed."
"Sacrifices?" Leia asked. "Every year, the Kerash priests sacrificed a child in the name of their sun goddess, Arak," Leanna explained. "According to my parents, I was to be the next victim on my fourth birthday. So my mother, my father, my brother, my cousin, and I left in the middle of the night before that could ever happen."
She swallowed a lump in her throat, obviously reliving the nightmare. "We hardly ever spoke of Anasazi. Too many...bad memories."
Luke nodded as he observed Leanna, wondering what other "bad memories" haunted her in her mind. "So, Cray is telling the truth?"
Cray sighed in exasperation. "That's what I've been trying to tell you all along!" Her tone softened, as she favored Luke and Leia with sympathetic eyes. "Look, I really am sorry about what I did to you all. I was...misguided."
Leia scoffed. "So, that's your excuse? You were misguided, that's all? So, we just forgive you and forget the fact that our children are still out there in the galaxy, and if what you're saying is true--"
"Hey, I helped you with Black Sun down here, didn't I?" Cray broke in. "And you still don't trust me!"
"You may have helped us, Cray, but that doesn't excuse what you--"
"Take it easy, Leia," Luke said softly, clamping a hand over her shoulder. He turned back to Cray. It still unnerved him that he was looking at the face of the same woman whose body Callista now inhabited. "You've done some really terrible things to us, Cray. The real Cray would never have done such things. But you can still redeem yourself. Help us save our children, and rid the galaxy of the Kerash."
Cray nodded. "Oh, you bet your ass I'm going to help. I'm going to kick the Kerash's sorry ass all the way to the next galaxy, after what they did to me."
"So, when do we leave?" Leia asked, looking over at Luke.
Luke was prepared to reply, when he suddenly felt a chilling sensation in the Force. It flowed through his entire body, turning his heart to ice. As his body tensed, he heard Callista's voice, soft and beautiful, ring through his ears.
Luke...help me...
"Callista?" he said, and turned to Leia, who had experienced the same feeling. "Leia, did you--"
"Yes," she replied quickly, her eyes widening.
We leave now, then, Luke said. His eyes lowered down to Cray. "Can you take me there?"
The HRD nodded. "No problem. I'll need a ship, though."
"You can take mine," Leanna offered, drawing herself up to her full height, standing even taller than Luke. "The Silver Wings. But I'm going with you guys." When she noticed the look Luke gave her, she added, "Personal business."
Luke nodded, and turned to Leia. "Will you be joining us, or--"
Leia shook her head. "I need to stay here and assist with the clean-up operations." Luke could feel the massive amount of stress building up within her. There were dark rings under her eyes from lack of sleep, her skin paler than normal. They had all suffered greatly in the past few weeks, but Leia had had it even harder than any of them.
Luke smiled as he kissed his sister on the forehead. "You'll be fine, Leia," he whispered. Leia hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Just come back safe," she said, "and with our children...and Callista."
"I will," Luke said, as he broke away from the hug. "I promise."

Hope sat against the wall of her cell and tapped her feet. She was tired of waiting for something to happen---she wanted her mommy and daddy, she wanted to go home. Outside, she heard the noises of shuffling feet and low voices. Finally. She stood up, nudging Anakin. "They're coming." she said. Her heart was pounding, and she knew she only had a matter of hours before the ceremony was going to begin.
Anakin stood up beside her, taking her hand in his own and squeezing it tightly. "I'm scared, Hope." he whimpered. Just as Daddy had taught her to, Hope reached out and searched for her parents through the Force. "Don't worry. Mommy's coming for us. Daddy too." She squeezed her cousin's hand and looked up at him. "It's all going to be okay. We're okay."

Kinshur lay curled on a straw mat, the prickly sticks poking into his yellowed, papery skin. His dystrophied muscles tightened painfully as he drew a breath, his poorly healed bones crackled as he shifted. He tried to move as little as he could these days, the pain was so great, but every time his nerves tore him apart, he reminded himself of the glory he would receive at the eclipse--he would die, yes, but everyone would remember him as the vessel that brought Arak back from Raximidaj.
Snarling, Kinshurr banged his head against the wall to punish himself for such selfish thoughts. He felt the blood trickle over his scar tissue and down his neck, saw spots in front of his eyes. The door in front of him banged open, and shadowy figures assembled around him.
"It is time. For Arak." One of them said, bending over Kinshur's crippled form. Groaning, Kinshur nodded. "For Arak."
The sun crested over the hills, half-hidden behind the moon's shadow, signifying the beginning of the day that Arak would return.

"Okay, whose bright idea was it to plow right through the Nivea asteroid field?" Jacen snapped derisively at his sister as Jaina piloted Teneniel's shuttle through hyperspace on a course set for Anasazi.
Jaina snorted, casting a disdainful glance at her brother. "Well, maybe if you weren't so busy with all your whining, that incident would never have happened! And hey, we managed to survive. So, I say bravo for us." She clasped the controls even tighter, muttering under her breath, "Why couldn't I have been an only child? My life would have been so much more peaceful..."
"I heard that!" Jacen said, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"You were supposed to hear it, you ignoramus!" she shot back. "And anyways, it wasn't me that almost got us sucked into that black hole in the Ghrutag Sector, was it, Mr. Smarty-Pants?"
Jacen sighed. His sister was like a squealing lizard-monkey, only not half as endearing. And she kinda looked like one, too, he thought.
"Why do you always do that?" he asked. "You always somehow manage to change the conversation back to me. We're not talking about me, we're talking about you. How come you always change the freakin' subject?"
"It's because I'm a lot smarter than you," Jaina said haughtily.
"Yeah," Jacen scoffed. "In your dreams, maybe. But in reality, you make a blurgg look like a professor at the Imperial City University."
"Well, at least I don't sleep with a Wookiee stuffed doll every single night!" Jaina retorted. "Unlike some people around here."
That was it for Jacen. She had finally crossed the line. Anyone who talked bad about his stuffed Wookiee, Cuddles, was asking for trouble. "You leave Cuddles out of this!" he said. "And you're doing it again! You're changing the subject."
"I guess I'm just too smart for you," Jaina said, focusing on the starlines that engulfed the cockpit viewport. "Face it, Jacen, I am the Queen of Comebacks."
Jacen had to laugh at that. "More like the Queen of Morons," he whispered quietly, knowing that Jaina would still hear him. And, judging by the extremely poisonous glare she thew in his direction, Jacen was proved right. "I heard that!" she shouted.
"Hey, Jaina," Jacen said, making his voice sound as arrogant and prissy as possible, "you were supposed to hear it, you ignoramus."
"That is it!" Jaina said, clutching the hyperspace lever so hard that she almost snapped it in two. "As soon as we get to Anasazi, you are so dead! I'm gonna--"
Their fight was rudely interrupted by a flying dagger that flew through the air and punctured the space between the twins, making a small hole through the console. Jacen and Jaina turned their heads back, startled, to see Tenel Ka standing behind them, another tiny dagger held in one hand, her face as hard and emotionless as stone.
"Will you two please cease the fighting?" the little girl demanded. "Sisters of Light, if I was your sister, I would've given myself up for adoption a long time ago."
Jacen and Jaina looked over at each other, then back at Tenel Ka, then at the knife she held. Seconds later, they exchanged hasty, completely fake apologies, and concentrated on the viewscreen. Jacen felt a ripple through the Force as Jaina's voice rang in his head.
Nice job, doofus. Now she's mad at us.
Hey, you started it, Hutt-face.
No-uh! You did, slime-eater!
Bantha butt-licker!
Ronto pus-eater!
Idiot!
Moron!
I can still hear you, Tenel Ka's voice said through the Force, her voice easily dwarfing Jacen's and Jaina's. You are not the only Force-sensitive people around here. Remember that.
Darnit, Jacen thought, as he turned over to Jaina. "We'll settle this, later."
Jaina grinned. "I'm looking forward to it."
"So, Tenel Ka," Jacen said, changing the subject, as Jaina refocused on flying the shuttle, "what's all this talk about the Sisters of Light? You mentioned it several times already."
"The Sisters of Light, friend Jacen, is merely another name for the Force," Tenel Ka explained, practicing teras kasi moves with her small dagger. "It was the Force that spoke to us in our dreams."
"The Force?" Jacen gasped, and he saw Jaina do a double-take at that. He looked over at Tenel Ka, and saw no change in her expression. "Are you serious? Was it really the Force that talked to us? It was the Force that told us to go to Anasazi? It was the Force that told us that it was up to us to save the universe?"
Tenel Ka nodded. "Yes, Jacen. I cannot believe that you are surprised. Who did you expect it to be? Captain Zarckan?"
Jacen giggled. Apparently, Tenel Ka was a huge fan of The Adventures of Captain Zarckan as well. It was Anakin's favorite holovid program, as well. And as Jacen though of his little brother, he felt the sadness start to return again, and he averted his gaze from the warrior girl, staring down at his hands.
Tenel Ka must have sensed his turmoil, for she went over to him and placed a strong hand over his arm. "Do not worry, my friend," she said calmly, her voice still hard...but with a tiny tint of love and caring to it. "We will find your brother and cousin."
Jacen looked up at her and smiled. For the first time, he noticed how gray her eyes were. They were so...gorgeous.
"Thanks," he said. "I really appreciate you coming along to help us, Tenel Ka. It means a lot to me."
"I am glad to be of service," Tenel Ka whispered, and the two locked eyes upon each other, as if a special rapport had suddenly developed between them. Tenel Ka's eyes seemed to yearn for Jacen, and Jacen too longed for her. Their faces leaned in together, slowly--
--when Jacen suddenly pulled away and exclaimed, "But I can't believe that it was the Force that spoke to us! That is so cool! Oh, if only Uncle Luke had been there to see it. It would've knocked his socks off."
Tenel Ka nodded, slightly disappointed, slightly embarrassed, and stepped away from his seat. "This is a fact," she whispered, as the shuttle pulled out of hyperspace, displaying a large, lonely green planet, surrounded by over a dozen moons, one of which, a large white-blue behemoth covered with thousands of small craters, seemed to be directly in front of the system's sun, forging an eclipse that would encompass the entire planet.
"Well," Jaina said, navigating the shuttle toward the planet, "here it is. Anasazi."

Hope and Anakin shrank back against the cold, slime-ridden wall of the dungeon as the door creaked eerily open. The two children clasped hands together, giving each other strength, for it would probably be the last time they would hold each other before-- No, Hope silently admonished herself. Don't think bad thoughts like that. Mommy and Daddy are coming for us. They'll save us from these bad people, and we can all go home...
But a new fear plagued her mind. What if Mommy and Daddy arrived too late? She had sensed them coming, true, but they were still so far away. Even Jedi Knights had their limitations. What if they arrived at the temple, only to see their daughter die? Hope cringed at the thought of death. She had never been this close to death before in her life, and here it was now, staring her right in the face. She didn't want to admit it--she refused to admit it--but deep down, where she knew she couldn't lie to herself, she knew that she was going to die. It was a strange feeling, knowing that your own death was approaching. It was an experience Hope had never felt before, and she hated it.
The door opened, and the darkness that permeated the cold, uninviting dungeon gave away to the flames from a torch. Hope could hear several people enter, their footsteps echoing off the stone floor. They would be within arm's length of her and Anakin within seconds. The moment she had been dreading had arrived.
"Hope," she heard Anakin weakly whispered. She looked into the boy's blue eyes. "Before we...before the ritual...there's something I want you to know."
Hope swallowed a lump in her throat, prepared for the worst. "What?"
"I love you, Hope," Anakin said, his grip on her hand tightening. "I've always loved you, and I always will. And, no matter what happens, that will never change."
Hope held back the tears that threatened to spill, and she hugged her cousin. Her face touched her shoulder, and that was when the sobbing started. She couldn't help herself. No amount of control could stop her as she wept openly on Anakin's shoulder. Her whole body shuddered, and she felt like she was falling apart as she let out all the fear and sorrow she had been keeping locked within her heart for so long.
"I love you, too, Anakin," she said, choking on her own words, as if she couldn't believe she was saying her final goodbye to her best friend, couldn't believe that she was going to..."You're my friend, Annie. The best friend I've ever had." She tried to say more, but the sobs overwhelmed her.
"Shhhh," Anakin soothed, returning her embrace with strong arms. "Be brave, Hope. The Force will be with us. Just wait and see. We'll get through this just fine."
A voice cut through the darkness like a burning blade. "Do you really believe the Force is going to save you now, children? Nothing is going to save you from the will of Arak."
The two turned, eyes wide with fright, as Armenia towered over them, flanked by four of her fellow Kerash warriors. They were no longer in their black robes, but in fine, ceremonial clothes, made of red and gold silk. Armenia, in particular, looked lovely, with a red dress, topped with a golden-laced vest that covered her chest, with three gold buttons buttoned all the way up to her neck. A tattoo of a burning sun had been emblazoned on her cheeks, giving the woman a malicious appearance. The light from her torch illuminated the two children, and Hope saw the dried blood that covered their clothes and skin, from the earlier baptism. She felt a shudder course through her body as she remembered the priests pouring the foul substance on them, her urge to scream as blood ran into her eyes, nose, and mouth...blood that wasn't even hers.
"Awwww," Armenia said in a singsong voice, turning to her comrades, and gesturing toward Hope and Anakin. "Aren't they adorable? So scared, and helpless, it's almost cute in a way." She added, with an edge of dark malevolence, "Take them."
Hope and Anakin remained locked in their hug, as the Kerash pulled them apart. Hope screamed and kicked, hitting her captor several times in the shins, but he didn't even flinch. She saw two grab Anakin by the arms and drag him away. Taking him away from her forever.
"Annie!" she shouted, feeling the tears start to return. "Annie, come back! Leave him alone! Please, bring him back! If you're going to kill us, at least let us die together!"
Armenia chuckled. "How moving," she said in a flat, sarcastic voice. She brought the torch close up to Hope's face, the flames almost touching her blood-caked, grimy face. "You make another sound, little girl, and those pretty eyes of yours will be melted away." She looked up at the Kerash holding her, and nodded. Hope made no other sound as they took her out of the dungeon and toward the Main Hall of the temple, where the Ritual of the Coming would be performed.
Toward her death.

A jungle...
Luke found himself standing in the midst of it, covered in small beads of sweat, dressed in a black jumpsuit. No longer was he on board Leanna's ship, the Silver Wings. He looked around, and saw no sign of either Leanna or Cray. It was as if they had just...disappeared.
Where am I? he thought, as he pushed aside a drooping tree branch, marveling at the size and shape of the strange behemoths that surrounded him. For a moment, he thought he was on Yavin 4, but in no way did the Massassi trees on the small jungle moon look like this. No, he was somewhere else. A place he had never seen before.
Anasazi...
The smell of burning ozone filled his nostrils, and Luke barely held back a cough. It smelled eerily familiar to him. Fire, he realized. Something's burning...
The fire...
He followed the scent, pushing aside vines and branches, wishing he could just slice them with his lightsaber, had he had his weapon with him. He pushed aside the last purplish-green vine, and saw a small clearing in the midst of the rainforest. There, he saw the flames, the smoke rising up into the reddish-gold evening sky. People were gathered around the fire, draped in black. He couldn't see their faces, they seemed so blurry. Fading away...fading away...
It was a funeral pyre, he realized. That was why the scent had seemed so familiar to him. He had smelled the exact same thing when he had burned his father's lifeless body on the forest moon of Endor. Someone had died. But who...
The sound of crashing waves filled his ears, mixing in with the crackling sounds of the fire. The sounds of a large ocean...but where? He looked around, but saw no signs of any bodies of water nearby. An ocean...in the middle of a jungle? Someone stepped up beside him, taking him by surprise, for he had not heard anyone approach him prior to that. He spun to his left, and looked into the face of a kind old woman, a face he had not seen for over a decade.
"Aunt Beru?" he gasped.
Beru, the woman who had looked after Luke on Tatooine before her brutal murder at the hands of the Empire, smiled sadly at him, then turned to the funeral before them. "Through dying suns and midnights grim..."
Luke recognized the words. It was the song she had used to sing to him when he had been a little boy, when he couldn't sleep because of the "monsters" that hid under his bed. No matter how scared he was, that song always managed to put him to sleep, forgetting about the "monsters"...
He looked over at the fire, and the faces became clearer to him. He still couldn't see them, but they were slowly becoming less blurry. One seemed to be staring directly at him, ignoring the raging fire.
"Beru, what am I doing here?" he asked the old woman. "Why are you here? What does all of this mean?"
"And treachery, and faith gone dim," Beru continued, ignoring his queries. Her eyes seemed to glow an inner yellow. The evening suddenly became darker. Luke looked up at the sky, and saw that Ansazi's sun was slowly being dwarfed by a moon, creating an eclipse. In his ears, he could hear a distant chanting. Voices, men and women combined, swirling around in his head, deep and threatening.
Arak, Arak, Arak, Arak...
"Whatever dark the world may send..."
The faces of the people became more distinctive, as the flames on the pyre built to a raging climax, and Luke finally saw the face of the one staring up at him.
Himself. As Luke stared, horrified, as his doppelganger, the other's mouth started to move, forming words.
"Still lovers meet at journey's end," he whispered, finishing the final verse of the song.
"Except that they don't meet at journey's end," Beru suddenly said, turning to face Luke. Her eyes glowed even brighter, demonic and evil. "Do they, my dear?"
Luke staggered away from her, unable to disguise his terror. "What is this?" he demanded, his voice shaking. "What are you doing to me?"
"Nothing," the other Luke answered coldly. "You are the one causing all of this. This is your dream." Luke finally understood.
"A dream," he repeated, his heart jumping painfully in his throat. "A dream...this is just a dream. And any minute now, I'm going to wake up from it, and you will all be gone--"
"Oh, it's not that easy," Beru said with a chuckle, and Luke saw, for the first time, how pale his aunt looked. Her skin hung loose from her bones, melting away like wax, revealing the skeleton underneath. "You can erase this nightmare, but it won't go away. There is always the future, Luke. And when you least expect it, death shall finally come." Greenish-black pus oozed from her pores, eating away at her flesh like acid. She looked horrifying. "Would you like to see it?"
Luke backed up against a tree, averting his eyes from the disgusting sight. He looked back at the funeral pyre, and saw a figure rise from the flames. "What is...?" he gasped, watching as the flesh from his other half began melting away as well.
"It's your future," the dream Luke growled, his eyes falling loose from their sockets. The sickening smell of decay wafted through the air, drowning out even the scent of the smoke from the fire. "Come closer, Luke, and see."
"No," Luke said, trying to cover his eyes with his hands. But they refused to budge. They remained locked on the fire, on the figure that had burst from the flames, that was now walking toward them, a mass of charred flesh. "No! Keep away from me!"
"What are you afraid of, Luke?" Beru asked, her voice low-throated and monstrous. Not human...not human at all. She laughed, and the people gathered around the fire, all reduced to mere skeletons, joined in, their laughter surrounding Luke, penetrating his ears and reaching his mind, growing louder and louder.
Luke screamed, his voice nothing compared to the roar around him, and the burned figure stopped in front of him, revealing a set of beautiful eyes, familiar eyes. Eyes the color of...
Then there was nothing.