The suface of Had Abaddon was a dense maze of tumbledown buildings, often open to the sky, making it difficult to tell street from interior. Luke steered the pressurized speeder through the tricky, twisty labyrinth at full speed trusting to his Force enhanced instincts and reflexes. Funny how it was so much easier to do that in a cockpit that with a sabre.

"Ben's dead." he blurted abruptly. Good going, Skywalker, real tactful!

"I know." Chani answered calmly, "I felt it." She gave him a sidelong look from dark rimmed blue eyes. "And I've seen him since."

Of course she had. "So that's where he keeps disappearing to." Luke muttered grabbing a few feet of altitude to avoid a fan of rubble littering the roadway. "And where'd you go to all those years ago? Word around Anchorhead was Ben had sold you to the Hutts."

She laughed. "Poor grandfather! I was thirteen and it was time to start my Padawan training, he sent me to join the other Jedi."

"Dai-Men was your teacher too?"

"Not likely!" another sidelong look, this one brimming with amusement. "I developed a major crush the minute I met him and infatuation plays havoc with the Padawan - Master relationship. My teacher was female, Kensai Anuril Windu. You won't be meeting her, I doubt she could get away if she even heard the Master's call."

"Where is she?" His hands automatically turned the speeder down a side way seconds before a precariously balanced wall collapsed across the road.

Dimples flashed. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

Luke glanced at her, she wore a dull gray thermo-suit just as he did but filled it out rather differently. He sensed worry. "Dangerous?"

Her answer held an acid bite. "You could say that." The speeder dipped into a crude, ill-lit tunnel beneath the wreckage of fallen towers.

"Why aren't you with her?"

"Because she wouldn't take me, damn her eyes!" Chani flared. Took a breath and deliberately changed the subject. "You were supposed to come too twelve years ago."

"I was?" Luke asked startled, veering around an all but invisible roof-fall.

"Absolutely. But Uncle Owen put his foot down. Grandfather could do as he liked with me but you were going to stay safe on Tatooine. None of this Jedi nonsense for you!" her voice softened. "He wanted to protect you of course. Understandable - and futile." she shrugged. "Grandfather knew the Force and your destiny would take a hand sooner or later so he decided to wait."

Luke shook his head disbelievingly as the speeder emerged into the light. "But if I'd started my training then I'd be a full fledged Jedi by now and Ben, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru would still be alive!"

"But you wouldn't have been on Tatooine to hear Princess Leia's call for help," Chani pointed out. "She would have died without delivering the Death Star plans to the Rebels and terror of the battle station would have cowed the outer systems into submission. Grandfather had more foresight than most, he knew what he was doing."

Luke decelerated to normal cruising speed as they entered the redoubt's detection range. The plan was to survey the surface before penetrating the redoubt itself. A plan that changed abruptly when a trio of white armored forms appeared on the roadway ahead of them. Luke hit the brakes.

"Restricted area." a bored trooper told them through the exterior mike. "Let's see your ID."

Luke dug in his pocket.

"What do you mean restricted?" Chani demanded aggressively, "this sector's down as unclaimed."

"My orders say it's restricted." the trooper droned.

Luke passed his Alliance Officer's card through the valve in the speeder's bubble, nudged with the Force. "It's in order."

"Everything in order here." the trooper agreed.

"So what's it about?" Chani persisted, "Somebody find something good and the Empire grab it?"

The trooper ignored her. "Move along."

Luke doubled back the way they'd come, pulled off into the shelter of a ruinous building and looked at Chani. "That's a surprise!"

"Sure is." she agreed, pulling out a comlink. It was a model unfamiliar to him, oval shaped and very compact. "Master? the situation's just become much more complicated."

Dai-Men's eyebrows rose and knit slightly. "Stormtroopers? According to the II file no Imperial action was being contemplated." he sat in the pilot's seat of the Jinx, with Jayce in the co-pilot's chair next to him and Raj cross-legged on the floor behind.

"A bit of personal initiative on the part of the local commander?" Jayce suggested.

"He'd have to be crazy to take on Mandalore with Stormtroopers." Mei-Qan pointed out.

"Maybe he doesn't mean to take them on." he persisted, "Had Abbadon is a dead end posting if ever there was one, perhaps he sees a deal with the Mandalore as a way out."

Raj sighed. "You have a depressingly cynical view of human nature, Jayce."

"But usually correct." the other Jedi retorted.

"That's what's so depressing."

"I don't think they know why they're there." Luke put in over the link. "Their sense was very bored, they wouldn't be feeling that way if they knew they were right on top of a bunch of Mandalorian Warriors!"

"They didn't turn nasty when I prodded," Mai-Qan added thoughtfully, "which suggests their commander keeps them on a tight rein and takes a dim view of mishandling civilians."

"Not the kind of man to conspire with Mandalore then." Dai-Men mused, "Interesting, I wonder what he has in mind?"

"Do we proceed?" Mei-Qan wanted to know.

"Yes, but be careful."

Luke, fervently: "You bet!"

Mei-Qan with mock hurt: "Always!"

Dai-Men rolled his eyes and cut the connection.

"A bit soon to be pushing him out of the nest isn't it?" Jayce asked, resuming the conversation the call had interrupted.

The Master sighed. "I can't let him become dependent on me. Luke has to be able to stand alone, he has some hard choices ahead and must learn to trust his own judgment."

Jayce shook his head. "Poor kid. You're expecting a hell of lot of him."

"I know."

Raj said quietly, "Does he know about his father?"

"I'm not sure," the Master answered. "I think he suspects, I sense conflict whenever Anakin's name comes up."

"Doesn't he have a right to know?" Raj pressed.

"Better not." Jayce argued. "If he's to destroy the Sith it won't help his focus to know one of them used to be his father."

Raj looked up at him, eyes glinting through a tangle of curls. "Used to be?"

"You sound like Obi-Wan," Dai-Men said disapprovingly, and quoted: "'Anakin Skywalker is dead, devoured by the Dark Side.'"

"Isn't that the way to look at it?" Jayce asked, then continued defensively in the face of his companion's evident disagreement: "Granted I never knew him personally, like you two did, but even I find it easier to think of Anakin Skywalker as a different person than Darth Vader."

"Easier perhaps," Raj said grimly, "but is it true?"

"He could have killed Luke on Bespin," the Master mused, "I'd like to know why he didn't."

Raj's wide blue eyes grew wider. "You think he has some feeling for the boy?"

"It's possible," said Dai-Men, "and if it's true it means Anakin Skywalker isn't quite dead after all." He looked at Jayce. "When I said as much to Master Yoda he told me there is no way back from the Dark Side, but you and I know better."

Long red eyebrows curled as the younger Jedi frowned. "But I was Dark less than a year, Skywalker's been seeped in the Sith way for over two decades." then he flashed a startlingly brilliant smile. "And he doesn't have you to help him."

The Master looked thoughtful.

"That's right," Raj said dryly, "Go giving him ideas!"

"No!" Jayce rapped out emphatically, "I won't let you do it!"

Dai-Men grinned wickedly. "You think you can stop me?"

"The three of us can." Raj said firmly, "Four with young Luke." a pause, then a rueful: "I hope."

The Master laughed. Jayce didn't. "If you challenge Vader you'll die." he said flatly, "Or don't you believe your own mother?"

"The present changes the future, as Mother always says." Dai-Men reminded. "Don't worry, Jayce, I doubt I could reach Anakin if Obi-Wan failed. Luke....Luke is a different matter. And maybe one other..." his voice trailed off pensively.

Jayce was not to be distracted. "I want your word, Master, you won't challenge Vader or Anakin Skywalker!"

Dai-Men bowed his head. "I promise."

His former Padawan relaxed warily. Surely that was plain enough that not even Dai-Men could wriggle out of it. Or could he?

'Forget past and future,' Dai-Men had said time and again, 'focus on the moment.' yet Luke couldn't help wondering how in the Galaxy his Master had managed to negotiate the tiny access tunnel without frying himself on the power conduits. Levitation? or had he somehow used the Force to shrink himself a few crucial centimeters? By now Luke was ready to believe almost anything.

A light appeared at the end of the tunnel, Chani was through. A few seconds later Luke followed her wriggling out into a distinctly familiar ambience. "Power core," he sighed, looking over the catwalk rail into the depths. "I always end up in the power core."

She nodded wisely. "It's a Jedi trait, we instinctively seek the center."

Huh? He stared at her. "You serious?"

Dimples sparkled. "No, but it sounds good."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Do all Jedi make bad jokes in the middle of a dangerous mission?"

She shrugged. "All the ones I know."

He heaved another sigh. "Guess I'll just have to get used to it then. Where's the map?"

Leia had chosen to remain in the relatively spacious and comfortably familiar confines of the Falcon. Chewy would have insisted on it anyway. He took Han's final order to take care of her very, very seriously. He might be willing to leave her with Luke but not with three strangers, Jedi or no. She sat alone at the table in the main cabin and fidgeted. Part of her formal training as a Princess of Alderaan had been how to sit still for hours at a time - yet she fidgeted.

There was nothing to do but wait, and waiting was not her strong suit. She was worried about Luke. She'd feel a lot better if Master Jinn were with him instead of that blond! She caught herself up, 'that blond' was a Jedi Knight and General Kenobi's granddaughter. The girl had barely said a dozen words to her so why did she feel so hostile? Surely not because she'd been Luke's childhood sweetheart? Leia could read print, she saw the signs.

'But - I'm in love with Han, so how can I be jealous of Luke?' She sighed. It was all so confusing....she did love Han, infuriatingly unsuitable as he was. The princess in her said it would never work, the woman didn't give a damn. But she'd become so close to Luke these last months. He was her best friend in the universe, yet there was more to it than that....Oh Damn! 'Face it, Leia, you want them both and there's no way that can work.'

She sighed again and sank deeper into the couch in depression, then pulled herself up with a surge of determination. It would sort itself out once they were together again she promised herself. Once they had Han back - she smiled; and that would be soon now, very soon – the three of them would work it out somehow. She loved them both and they both loved her and each other too. There would be a way, they'd find a way. She'd lost enough in her life, she wasn't about to lose either of her men! Oh, damn! What was taking Luke so long?

"I think you counted that one twice." Chani said into his ear, warm breath tickling the tiny hairs and sending decidedly distracting tingles down his spin.

Focus, remember focus. "They all look alike in that damned armor." he complained, sotto-voce."Don't they ever take it off?"

"Don't think so." he felt her shrug, causing still more distracting sensations. "You'll have to ask Dai-Men. Tatty looking lot aren't they?"

Luke had to agree. The concealing armor was scratched and scarred and the decorative half cloaks ragged. Only their weapons seemed in prime condition, including a few lethal looking devices he couldn't identify. "Any idea which one's Fett?"

"Luke, I'm only a year older than you remember?" came the sardonic whisper. "I've never seen a Mandalore before either. Your princess would know, she saw Fett on Bespin."

His princess?

"Guess we've seen all we need to." Chani concluded. "Shall we go?"

"How?" it was a fair question. The ventilation shaft wasn't really wide enough for two but Chani hadn't let that stop her. She'd crawled up his back to get her own view of the Mandelore armory below. Now they were crammed together like tube packed plion fish.

She laughed softly, "That's easy, turn on your side."

It wasn't easy at all. It was awkward and more than a little embarrassing, but eventually they were nose to nose. Chani put her arms around his neck, increasing his discomfort. "Now let go."

"Huh?"

"Let go!" she repeated and kicked loose the feet he'd braced against the sides of the shaft. They slid down the gentle incline, gathering speed. Luke's arms tightening involuntarily around his partner as they tobogganed around twists and turns to finally shoot out the end of the shaft landing on nearly thirty years worth of wind-drift at the bottom of the main ventilation well.

"Ooff!" Luke wheezed.

Chani laughed. "It's always easier going down."

He gave his childhood friend a decidedly unfriendly look. "Dai-Men's right, you haven't changed a bit."

She made a face. "You have. When'd you get so stiff and proper?"

"Huh?" Luke stared, "who me?"

"Yes you! What was it, your Rebel officer's training?"

"A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind." Luke quoted with an attempt at dignity.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, Yoda! I should have known." she got to her feet and headed for the access hatch.

After a startled second Luke followed. "You know Master Yoda?"

"Only by reputation." she replied over her shoulder. "Nasty, dreary little creature!"

"He's not!" Luke protested, ducking his head to enter the cramped access-way.

She snorted. "Well that's how he sounds. Grandfather likes him," she conceded, "and Dai-Men too, for all he was so mean to him."

"What?" Luke asked, "When? how?"

"When Yoda was training him as a boy." She answered, opening the hatch to the Power core. "And I call not letting a seven year old boy see his own mother mean, don't you?"

"Yoda did that?" he said uneasily, "why?"

"Because he thought Kensai Moriah would be a bad influence." Chani paused on the catwalk to tilt her head thoughtfully. "He may have had a point there, look how Raj turned out."

"Huh?" Luke was lost.

"She was his Teacher for a while." Chani explained, "And Raj is a bit odd, I'm sure you noticed."

Like he could miss it. "She's not my princess." He blurted out of nowhere.

Chani took the one-eighty without a blink. "No?"

"No. She's in love with Han, Captain Solo, the man she's here to rescue."

"Maybe. But she loves you too." a sly, sidelong glance, "and she wasn't at all happy about you going off with another woman!"

He'd picked up on that too. "She loves me like a friend - a brother."

Chani turned away from the opening to the power tunnel to look directly up at him. The crystal azure eyes she'd inherited from Ben were ablaze with an emotion Luke couldn't quite interpret. "She's your sister."

"Yeah," he said defensively. Okay, maybe it was the corniest old line in the Galaxy but that was how Leia felt to him, like family, the only one either of them had now. "We've sort of adopted each other."

"Nice." Chani said and disappeared into the tunnel.

Leia heard the outer lock open and bolted for the passage to find it full of Jedi. The fact that three of them were exceptionally tall had something to do with the crowded impression, as did the flowing brown robes they all wore, even Luke.

She stared at him. for the first time he was dressed as a Jedi in a high necked ivory tunic and a dark brown robe that was slightly to long for him. They looked like, and undoubtedly were, hand me downs. Yet in another, less literal sense, they fit perfectly.

Luke saw her staring and shrugged embarrassed. "My uniform got kind of messed up."

"Thermo suits stick." Mei-Qan said tersely, adding to Luke. "I thought you knew you weren't supposed to wear anything under it."

He blushed. "I never wore one before, I thought it was like a pressure suit."

"No great harm done." Master Jinn consoled as they entered the main cabin. "Except for that one, forgivable error you did very well. You got the information we needed and kept Mei-Qan out of trouble. I'm impressed."

"That's right, pick on the girl." she quipped back easily, "But I'm not the one who spent three weeks in an Imperial Labor Battalion!"

"We are none of us perfect." Dai-Men agreed tranquilly, while Jayce and Raj strangled laughter and Luke stared incredulously.

"The good news is the redoubt's almost exactly the way you remember it; two defensive rings around a core area including an underground hanger bay." Luke said, recovering himself and spreading the map Dai-Men had drawn for them on the table. It had only one or two scribbled emendations. "The bad news is there's a lot more of them then we thought. At least thirty, maybe a few more."

Leia and Lando exchanged a dismayed look. Chewy vented an unhappy roar.

Jayce lifted a curling brow. "Six to one? A little steep for me."

"Me too." Raj agreed.

Mei-Qan shrugged. "I'll do it if I have to."

"But you'd rather not to have to." Dai-men finished crisply. "As would I. Obviously it would be better if we didn't have to engage them all at once."

"Yeah but how are you going to arrange that?" Lando wanted to know.

"I'm not sure yet." the Master conceded. "But I think the first step is to have a little talk with the Imperial Commander."

Note: As I have a real problem with calling women 'Master' and obviously 'Mistress' will not do, (and I can't say I'm crazy about 'Madame' either) I have invented 'Kensai', an obvious adaptation of the Japanese word Sensei, as the Star Wars language equivalent of 'Teacher', just as 'Padawan' means 'Learner', and applied it to female 'Masters'.