Star Wars: Rise of the Sith
Chapter 5
YES!!! NEW PEOPLE REVIEWED!!! I love my reviewers, you guys are the best. Rock on.
There's a big Podrace in this chapter and it'll probably suck because I'm not too good on action sequences, but know I tried.
Nike instantly realized that there was a major difference between racing on an empty arena and racing in a full one. There were other Pod racers and they were all trying to kill her. They were all bunched together, and the girl felt as if she were in the very center of it. Another Pod hit hers and caused her to feel as if her head had just been jerk off her.
The Pods began to spread out as the made their way out of the arena and onto the course. Nike searched for an opening between the Pods and found one. She pushed down on the accelerators and streamed through it in a blur. She wasn't sure what place she was in, but by the amount of Pods in front of her she knew it wasn't very good.
The course led them into a cave, although this one had a lot more rocks in it then the one she had trained on. She maneuvered around them, passing a Pod on her way.
She exited the cave and found herself in a place that seemed more like a dream then anything else. Great sculptures of dirt and rock towered above her, and had been worn away by the wind into peculiar shapes. She had to weave in and out of them to make her way through. One unlucky Pod was knocked into one of these rock formations, and exploded right in front of her. Nike had no time to steer around it, so went straight through. The heat singed the small hairs on her arms, but she couldn't think of that then, her whole mind was on the race.
She moved forward in the line of racers, passing three more before entering a cavern that was thin enough that each racer had to go through one at a time, and quickly or the person behind you would gladly run you over.
There were three Pods in front of her. She had no idea who was in the other two, but she knew the leader was Sab'lou. She was suddenly out of the cavern and into open desert again, and could see the arena straight ahead.
"She's gonna die, she's gonna die, she's gonna die," Ben kept saying over and over as he paced back and forth.
"She won't die," Moria said, not with any dryness or sarcasm, almost casually, but with something else in her voice, something almost mystical, "she'll be fine."
"Here they come!" Sylor declared, and Ben, Nord, and Moria all gathered around the edge to watch.
"And its Sab'lou in the lead," the announcer called, bringing cheers from Sab'lou's fans, "followed by Remo then Sumo! And look at that! In forth place the human, Chewie Loso. Most say that humans can't Podrace, well folks, look at this little girl."
"I hear it's her maiden race too," the other announcer said.
"GO N-CHEWIE!" Moria screamed. Dame made his way over to the side and seemed to hold his breath as he peered down at the arena.
"How's she doing?" He asked.
"Fourth place," Sylor told him, "didn't you hear."
"I was too busy hurling out all the whiskey I drank because of our altitude," Dame explained. Apparently he had some kind of fear of heights, as well as flying, which made him an oddball in this group.
"This is the most terrifying thing I think I've even seen," Threepio said and Zero toodled in agreement.
Moria closed her eyes and focused on Nike. Although the boys were using the holoscreen to watch her, Moria wanted to focus on her cousin in her mind. She saw her there, going through the cave again, using some colorful words to describe her competitors who kept getting in her way.
Remo was pegged by a falling rock, which ended some of Nike's trouble, but she still had Sumo and Sab'lou to worry about. As they approached the cavern Nike was riding alongside Sumo, who tried numerous times knocking her Pod, but it didn't steer her off course.
They were side by side right up to the cavern where one would have to pull up. It would have to be Nike because she was more off course then Sumo. But as they got closer and closer Moria began to worry.
Pull up pull up! Nike you idiot PULL UP! She knew that she couldn't send these thoughts to Nike, but she thought them anyway. And right before she thought her cousin was going to die, Nike turned the Pod sideways.
The crowd went wild. One announcer was in utter shock while the other was screaming his head off. Dame looked as if he would faint, Nord laughed, Ben swore loudly, Threepio had a panic attack and Sylor just stared with his mouth open at the holoscreen as Nike somehow navigated, in a Pod, through a canyon, in a space hardly wider then a meter, on her side. And the question everyone in the arena suddenly thought, all at the same time was:
Is that possible?
Sith sith sith sith sith sith, Nike cursed over and over in her head as she drove through the cavern. She tilted her head up a bit and saw Sumo's engine right in her face. SITH SITH SITH!!! She screamed in her head, pretty sure that this was the end and that she was going to die.
Finally she was out of the cavern and turned back normal, cutting in front of Sumo and causing him to run into a big rock. Now it was just her and Sab'lou. She took a deep breath and pushed the accelerators in some more, and sped up to catch him.
She looked over at him in his rather large Pod and he looked down on her in her rather small one and she wondered why in all of Alderaan's graveyard he would want her Pod when he had his.
They entered the arena, side by side and left it in the same fashion, all the inhabitants standing and cheering and Nike wondered which voices were her friends'. Not that she could even hear that well with the sound the Pods were making.
They were out of the arena as swiftly as they had entered and the two Pods soared across the field. Sab'lou began bumping her and she would have loved to bump him back, but had tried once, and her Pod being so much smaller, it had only gotten her bumped out of the way.
She was behind Sab'lou again and she was pretty sure she heard him call her "bantha fodder" which she took as meaning something not-very-nice, but wasn't one of the curse words she remembered her father ever saying when the Falcon wouldn't work.
Sab'lou knocked a rock sculpture with his Pod so that it would come down on her. She was forced to swerve way out of the way to avoid it, and watched as Sab'lou entered the canyon. She growled and shot forward.
And that's where things went wrong.
The rocks hadn't stopped falling and she got off her safe course and headed straight under them. One rock came down and crashed into her Pod. The Pod swaggered and she tried to straiten it out, but then notice something funny. The Pod wouldn't turn. The rock must have damaged the axle.
Emperor's kriffing vaping poodo black bones! She swore fiercely, trying to straighten out her jammed Pod. She held her breath as she entered the canyon lopsided, banging its walls, which caused her to actually straighten a bit.
She blew out her breath and focused on going faster. She would have to be close enough behind Sab'lou that she could pass him as soon as they got out of the canyon. She accelerated quickly, trying to gain on him, and when she was right behind him she pulled back on the accelerator.
Or she tried. The sticks just sat there. She yanked back on them, trying to slow her Pod down, but the most they did was give a rusty squeak.
"Sithspawn!" she screamed out loud, and her mouth was instantly filled with dust. She tried to spit it out and then her jammed "sithspawn" Pod hit the back on Sab'lou's.
He tried to accelerate, but she had somehow gotten attached to his Pod. He turned and screamed at her, but she ignored him, contemplating if she should jump out and hope she didn't die, or cover her head and hope she didn't die.
She chose the latter.
There was a sickening wrench of metal being ripped apart and an explosion over her head that was one of Sab'lou's engines getting ripped off. She was under Sab'lou's Pod almost entirely, ducking her head and wondering if there was anything she could do to still win the race.
You idiot! She screamed at herself, don't think about the race! Think about your vaping LIFE! She couldn't though, even though she wanted to live, the thought that she might lose the race…well, it was just more reason for her to go to boarding school or to do what her parent's wanted her to do.
She was going to win this race, or she was going to die trying.
Since Sab'lou was pretty much doing all the steering for them, and couldn't squash her because it was her engines that were keeping him running, at least while they were in the canyon, so Nike bent down low and began to feel around where the accelerator sticks met the floor of the Pod. She felt for whatever was keeping the sticks from working.
Her fingers hit something that was smooth and somewhat squishy and her mind was instantly drawn to just a few hours ago and Ben and Sylor ignoring her order to not eat in the Pod and dropping their sticky…whatever they had been eating in the Pod, and then neglecting to clean it up.
I am going to kill them, she told herself, and began trying to peel the disgusting stuff off. She worked as fast as possible, and ripped it off the whole way just as the Pods shot out of the canyon. Nike yanked back on her sticks and the Pod pulled back, ripping itself away from Sab'lou's. His hit the ground, and then bounced back off and burst in to flame. She shot forward, through his flaming engines and watched as his cockpit bounce next to her and he screamed at her. She continued on, not even sure if she could slow down or even steer, but knowing that she had won the race.
She wanted to scream with joy, but after her last experience with opening her mouth she refrained. She entered the cheering arena and cut off her Pod, and it made a loud sound that was it either dieing or backfiring. She flinched, but was suddenly pulled out of her Pod by Sylor and Ben, who were jumping around and yelling something about money and a ship.
Moria rushed up and hugged her, and Damian pulled her helmet off roughly. Her face was dusty, expect for around her eyes where her goggles had been, which Sylor pointed out, made her look like a nerf.
Nike just smiled and hugged them, happy that she was actually alive, but thrilled to be a proven pilot.
"Dad."
"Not now Lane."
"First off, I'm Launie, which I know we're identical twins but sith, I do have a massive white strip in my hair, thanks to you. Which by the way can I get that dyed?"
"No. And don't say sith."
"Thought you'd say that. So anyway, I was wondering if maybe I could be let off command room duty for a while."
"No." He heard the exasperated sigh that was something he normally heard from Nike or Ben, the exasperated teenager sigh, and he suddenly found himself fearing that his daughters were older then he thought. But when he looked up he was relieved to see nine-year-old Launie with her arms crossed and all her weight on one foot- the pose her mother often took when vexed.
Jag was lying on his back under his clawcraft, trying to make some repairs on it before any other attacks occurred.
"But Dad it's so boring," she moaned, "Can't I help you work on a ship or something?"
"Look honey, I know that you want to be down here helping with the ships, but your mother and I believe it's safest for you and your sister if you're in the command room," he explained to her. Launie scowled even more.
"It's not fair, Moria's only three years older then me and she gets to hop around the galaxy, and I'm stuck in the command room," she said. Jag sighed a rubbed his temples, leaning his head against the cold floor.
"Moria wasn't supposed to go 'hopping around the galaxy' as you very well know. She and the others did it without permission and will get in trouble for it," he explained. "And if you even think about following their lead and dragging your sister and Reuben along with you on whatever you're planning out in that mind of yours, I will personally drag you by your ears all the way to Bastian and you can just stay there with your grandfather." Launie flinched and Jag smiled. The suggestion that she might have to live with General Baron Soontir Fel was enough to shut her up.
"Dad, am I ever gonna be able to do anything fun?" She asked. Jag sat up and rested his arms on his knees and squinted up at his daughter.
"Do you really think this is all just fun?" He asked her. She sighed and sat next to her father.
"No, but it's a lot better then sitting around listening to Lane talk about senators and her cuticles all the time," Launie told him, "I want to be out there were the action is. I want to be doing something helpful. I know that I'm strong with the Force, but what good is it if I never get a chance to use it. There's a whole herd of Sith out there, some of them my age, and I should be fighting them, not sitting around."
"Well, young Jedi," Jag said, "you need to have patience."
"Now you sound like Mom."
"Well, your mother's a very wise woman."
"Then why was she hurling in the 'fresher this morning?"
"Well, when your mother's pregnant there's a lot of things that make her feel sick," Jag told her.
"Like what?"
"Well…lettuce, for some reason, it doesn't even really taste like anything, but she won't let it near her until she's had the baby. Canned nerf is another thing."
"Canned nerf makes everyone except for Grandpa Han and Nike want to hurl," Launie informed him.
"Hey, I used to like that stuff before I saw your mother puke it up once," Jag replied with a smile, "that was when she was pregnant with you and Lane." Launie nodded absently, her mind some place else.
"What are you thinking about?" He asked her.
"Well…I was just thinking…how exactly did mom get pregnant?"
"Well she um…" Jag coughed, and Launie noticed that he was getting quite red.
"I'll ask later," she suggested, and felt her father relax.
Nike slipped over the side of her bed, her stiff body aching with every movement. She had never expected Podracing to be so exhausting. Her whole body hurt, and she wasn't even sure what she had done to make it so.
"You're up," Nike looked over groggily at Moria, who had just walked into the room.
"Yeah," she murmured, rubbing her eyes. She fumbled around on the bed stand for her wrist chrono, and found it floating towards her.
"Thanks," she said to Moria.
"No problem," her cousin replied, releasing the watch.
"Force, it's thirteen hundred hours already," Nike moaned, running her fingers through her hair and realizing how greasy it was. "I feel so gross."
"You look gross too," Moria replied with a smile. "The 'fresher's open so you might want to take advantage of that."
"You got it," Nike replied and stood up. She limped over to the door and scowled at Moria, daring her to laugh and her awkward walk.
She got into the fresher and stripped herself of her clothes. She turned the water on and let the warm beads fall on her rough skin. She lathered herself in soap and shampoo, rubbing off layers of dust. She breathed deeply, enjoying every moment of it. So much in fact that she didn't even hear the door open.
"GRAH!" She jumped back, hitting the wall of the 'fresher and looked over to see Damian, who was trying desperately to get out of there and close his eyes-and his mouth-all at the same time.
"Get out!" Nike screamed, trying to find something to cover herself with.
"Sorry!" Damian cried and got out of the 'fresher as quickly as he possibly could. The door shut and Nike found herself actually trembling, and knew that her face was red, and it wasn't the warm water.
Dame walked swiftly away from the 'fresher. He had just walked in on a very naked woman. He looked at the ground, knowing full well that he was blushing like crazy. He cursed himself for not knowing that she was in there, seeing how he should have sensed her through the Force. If she had locked the door he would never have even gotten in, so it wasn't entirely his fault.
"You're as red Hapan tree fruit," Ben informed Dame when he entered the front room.
"Shut it, Skywalker," Dame ordered.
"I didn't know Sith blushed," Sylor mused.
"I'm not a Sith and I'm not blushing. It's just hot."
"Yeah," Sylor said, rolling his eyes, "and I'm not an orphan, my parents are just dead."
"I swear if that blush has anything to do with my sister you're a dead man," Ben warned.
"It's doesn't," Dame replied.
"Good."
"And the Dark Lord of the Sith admits to blushing," Sylor broadcasted.
"Shut up."
"Alright ladies," Nord said, waddling in, "break's over, get back to work."
"You know Nord," Dame said, "I've got enough money that I could buy this little shack and then you would be working for me."
"Fine by me, then I wouldn't be paying the taxes for this place," Nord said. Dame and Ben exchanged smirks. "Ben, when you getting your ship?"
"Later today," Ben replied, running his fingers through his sweaty auburn hair.
"And what are you planning on doing after you get this ship?" Nord asked.
"I don't know," Ben shrugged. "I want to explore the galaxy, but I can't ignore the fact that there's a war going on. There's so much I want to do, but adventure seems so far off."
"Have patience, young Skywalker," Dame said, "your destiny will unfold itself in due time."
"You're out," Moria stated when Nike entered their room, with only a towel on and her dirty clothes in her hand.
"That was the most beautiful thing that's ever happened to me," Nike sighed, throwing the clothes on the floor and looking for something clean, "except for the part where Damian walked in on me."
"Ah. So that was the 'grah!' I heard from Dame earlier. Too bad it wasn't vice versa."
"That's disgusting." Moria laughed.
"No, what's disgusting is your butt hanging out of your towel."
"That hurts."
"Just get dressed. I need to talk to you and I can't do it when you're naked."
"Ooo…serious stuff." Nike stumbled into her breeches, hopping around the room on one foot, trying to get them on. Zero sat in the corner, watching her curiously, wondering if all humans put their coverings on so.
"I've been having more visions," Moria admitted, plopping down on her bed. Nike pulled on a white long-sleeved shirt.
"Of the future?" Moria nodded. "Well don't all Jedi get those?"
"Not like I have," Moria explained, "they're in my dreams, in my every thoughts. They come randomly, I can't control them. Nike I…when you were Podracing I…I saw the entire race. I saw you pass Sumo and I saw you and Sab'lou get tangled….I knew what was going to happen before it even transpired."
"So you're like what…a seer, or something?"
"I don't know," Moria said mournfully. After a moment she opened her mouth again, as if to say something, but then shut it quickly.
"What? What is it?" Nike asked.
"I've…" she didn't seem to trust herself to speak, "Nike…I saw Anakin."
"What?" Nike asked, clearly taken aback.
"He was…I saw Anakin on Hoth."
"Hoth…what? Moria, Anakin's dead, he has been for like, fifteen years."
"I know…that's why…"
"That's why what?"
"That's why I think we need to go to Hoth."
"I would love to say that I'm young enough to go on these sort of missions," Corran Horn confessed to Kyp Durron as the came out of hyperspace, "but I fear my age is beginning to catch up with my body."
"I follow that course," Kyp said with a smirk. Corran looked over at the slightly younger Jedi Knight. It hadn't been too long ago, during the Yuuzhan Vong war, when he remembered having a conversation with Mara about subtle ways to kill Kyp. They had been joking, of course, but back then Kyp had been an overconfident, arrogant, annoying slime ball that thought that he knew everything and could do anything. Apparently though, and fortunately, some sense had gotten knocked into him during the war. Now he was a highly respected Jedi, even a member of the Jedi Council.
Luke had selected Kyp and Corran for the mission to Hoth. Corran wasn't exactly sure what to expect when they arrived, apart from the cold, but he knew that it wouldn't be good. The fact that there was cloning sent chills up his spine. The Emperor and Darth Vader had done a lot of damage when there had just been the two of them with clones. Corran hated to imagine the damage these clones could do when there were dozens of Sith.
"We've still got a good day till we reach Hoth," Kyp informed him.
"Good," Corran said, and kicked his feet up on the control panel in front of him and shut his eyes, "I could use a nap."
"You've had about ten already this morning, grandpa," Kyp pointed out dryly.
"Shut up."
My name is Anakin and I died. Was this true? He was sure it was. He had been sitting in his dark cell, wondering where he could possibly be. His mind had been very jumbled, but he had finally realized that he was a Jedi Knight named Anakin Solo, and that he was supposed to be dead.
But this isn't how I remember being dead a few days ago. Actually, before he had found himself in this cell, he could vaguely remember having a heated conversation with Obi-Wan Kenobi about which hyperdrive motivator could make the jump faster, a T-17 or a BN-34. Of course it was the BN-34, but Obi-Wan was too stuck in the Old Republic to know anything about the latest hyperdrives.
He leaned against the cool wall and his body ached with his movement. Well it has hardly ever been used…unless this is my old body…I don't think that's possible.
He wished that he knew where he was, or when he was, or why he was even thinking these thoughts. He should be part of the Force.
But they're coming, he knew that 'they' were coming, but wasn't sure who 'they' were. Something inside him just told him that someone was coming. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to sleep.
"Nike! Moria! Come look!" Nike and Moria stopped their conversation and glanced over at the door, as if Ben was actually standing at it.
"I wonder what's going on," Moria pondered.
"You mean you don't 'see' it?" Nike joked.
"You are so cheesy," Moria rolled her eyes and walked out.
"Come on, Zero," Nike said to the droid as she grabbed a black vest and walked out the door, putting it on. His dome revolved around to look at her and he toodled before moving his body around and rolling after her.
Nike followed Moria out to the back lot and by the mounds of parts that had become somewhat more organized in the time Moria had been there. The girls walked out the back opening of the walled-in lot, where Nord and Damian were watching Ben and Sylor run around the outside of a ship, running their hands along it and examining every corner.
"Wow," Nike breathed. The ship was beautiful. The shinning metal gleamed as the rays of the twin suns hit its surface. It was sleek with an arrow shape, rounded along all sides but the front, where it was pointed. Twin engines stuck out near the back on either side. The ramp into the ship was opened and it's end set in the dust.
"So where's the three gun rooms?" Moria asked dryly.
"You can't see them from out here," Ben snapped back, "but there's one on the belly, one on top port, and one of top starboard."
"So where to the guns come out?" She asked. Ben ran excitedly to the bottom of the ship.
"Right here, they only come out when you need them, it makes the ship look nicer. Right here is where the one-way window. The gunner can see you but you can't see the gunner," he explained. Moria nodded and Nike headed up the ramp.
"Let's see her insides," she suggested.
"Just don't break anything," Ben ordered. Nike entered into a small corridor that reminded her of the Falcon's corridor, except not as rickety looking-if her father had known she thought that she would be disowned. The corridor led two different ways, and Nike chose the one that led towards the front of the ship. She quickly came to a three way fork, one path behind her, leading to what could only be the sitting area of the ship, and the other two were right next to each other, both leading into cockpits with two seats. Why someone felt the need to make two cockpits was beyond her.
Her impatience prevented her from actually exploring the cockpits more, and hurried her to see the rest of the ship. The living area was large with a semi-circle couch-much like the Falcon's, with a dajarik table in the middle. Another couch was up against the adjacent wall, next to a doorway. Peering out it she saw that it led her right back to where she had started.
She walked to the back of the sitting area, where there were two rooms. One was a kitchen-which Damian was exploring with great earnestness-the other was a med center. Since doctors and medical centers made her queasy she decided not to explore that room. Back beyond the med center were two bunkrooms, each with a refresher station. She left the rooms and came back to the sitting area, where Zero was kicking Sylor's butt in dajarik.
"Blast it you stupid pile of rust!" Sy snapped as Zero killed one of his players.
"Remember playing that with Lowie?" Moria asked.
"Yeah, we'd always let him win," Ben recalled.
"Threepio always told us that if we didn't let Wookies win then they'd pull our arms off," Nike laughed.
"A word of advice I received from your father, actually," Threepio informed them when he entered. "I must say that this is a very nice ship you have Master Ben."
"Thanks," Ben smiled.
"I was expecting something more like the Falcon," Nike's head shot up and she glared at the droid.
"Are you saying the Falcon's not good or something?" She growled. If he had been able too, Nike was sure Threepio would have blinked his photoreceptors at her.
"I beg your pardon?" Threepio asked.
"You know what I-"
"Drop it Nike," Ben said.
"He's vapin' my ship!"
"Your ship?" Her cousins and Sylor asked in unison.
"Yeah, my ship. Inheritance anyway," she shrugged.
"What makes you think you're inheriting the Falcon?" Sylor asked.
Bad move, Moria told him mentally.
"What is THAT supposed to mean?!" Nike boomed.
"Uh…"
"Hey Sy, the droid just kicked your nexu's butt," Damian said through a mouthful of food, "you died."
"Who else would get the Falcon?" Nike growled.
"Well you do have two other siblings…"
"So? They're old. They don't need a ship. Jacen couldn't fly it anyway, and Jaina has the Queen."
"What about Lane and Launie?" Moria said.
"Yeah, or Padme?" Ben said.
"Padme?" Nike hissed, "you think that my own father would give his ship to a three-year-old and not to his own daughter? And Lane? Please. When Lane wants the Falcon I'll change my name to Jabba the Hutt and eat large amphibians."
"But there's still Launie," Sylor pointed out, "and she's looking to be a great pilot too. I mean, how can she not with the parents she has."
"Yeah, well I can pick her off easy enough."
"YOU CAN'T KILL YOUR OWN NIECE!!" Ben cried.
"I was joking you womp rat," Nike said, rolling her eyes.
"So anyway, were should we take this thing?" Sylor asked. The question prompted everyone on board-minus Nord-to sit down and think.
"I'm thinking Hoth," Nike said. Moria shot her a glare.
"Why Hoth?" Ben asked.
"Isn't that the really cold place?" Sylor asked at the same time.
"I had a vision," she said dryly.
"You shouldn't joke about the power of the Force," Damian warned her.
"Sure," she rolled her eyes, "anyway, I didn't have the vision, which I'm sure you all knew, Moria did." All head's turned to Moria, even Nord, who was sensing that this vision thing might be some kind of a big deal.
"You've had a vision?" Ben asked.
"Well…um…" Moria stammered, "not a vision. I've had lots."
"Lots?!" Ben declared. "Why didn't I know about this? Does Mom know? Does Dad? How come Nike knew and not me? Why-"
"Chill, Skywalker," Sylor commanded, "I'm sure Moria had her reasons for not telling us, I mean, it's just some visions, it doesn't make her a seer or anything." Nike coughed. "Oh I suppose you've suddenly been endowed with some kind of knowledge of the Force to be able to cough like that at my statement."
"I think we should let Moria explain this," Damian said, before Nike could open her mouth and start a fight with Sylor.
"Well," Moria said as all eyes turned to her, "I've been having all sorts of visions, and not just during meditation, or when I'm attuned to the Force, all the time I have them. I saw Nike win the race before it happened, I…the whole reason I suggested that we should come here instead of Coruscant was because of Dame, and Nord, I knew we'd meet them, and I knew Ben would get his ship, and…I've seen us on Hoth, and I know that's where we need to be."
"I'm not so sure," Ben said, "sometimes visions can be misleading. Remember when Jacen told us about how he had a vision of his freeing slaves early on in the Vong war, and then almost died and Dad had to come save him? The same thing could happen."
"Besides, what's going on at Hoth that's so important?" Sylor asked.
"Cloning," Damian's words demanded attention for the entire group.
"Cloning?" Nike asked.
"I'm not talking Stormtroopers, unfortunately," Damian said gravely.
"What exactly are they cloning?" Sylor asked.
"Everything," Damian said, "Yuuzhan Vong, more Sith, old Admirals, everyday people, workers for the Empire, pilots, smugglers, bounty hunters, they've got more bounty hunters then I'd ever want to see."
"How…" Nike couldn't even finish the rest of her sentence she was so stunned. Was this true? It couldn't be. It was impossible.
"Scientists-blast them all-they found a way so that they only need any small essence of a person and they can duplicate them. And if you can duplicate someone once you can do it again, and again. For all we know they could have parsec full of Grand Admiral Thrawns."
"I still don't understand," Ben said. Damian sighed deeply.
"Look, they…mold bodies I guess you could say. They make them look just like the original. The only trick is, you gotta be able to put what that person knew into their head…"
"Go on," Nike urged, wanting to know how all this was done.
"There are Sith who can…communicate through the Force with those who have already passed on to the Force."
"You mean they can talk to dead people?"
"There is no death, only the Force," Damian said almost absently, causing Nike to wrinkle her nose, "Anyway, if the host is willing then they can be transmitted, in a way, into the body of the clone, making themselves alive once again."
"You gotta be kidding me," Nike muttered.
"I wish I was. But, if the host chose to be alive again, then only one of them can be made because only that one would be able to hold their unique qualities that they are being used for. But, if the host decides to stay apart of the Force, they can give their knowledge and wisdom to any number of different clones."
"So who all's been cloned?" Ben asked.
"Um…I'm not exactly sure, they keep all that confidential," he said.
"You have to at least know a few," Nike said, sensing that there was something more.
"Thrawn has stayed a part of the Force," he said, looking at the ground, "so clones of him are coming out our armpits. Bobba Fett also stayed with the Force, Darth Maul is alive and kickin'-"
"Who?" Ben and Moria asked in unison.
"Some Zabrak Sith from the Old Republic, he's rather grumpy," Damian continued, "but that's about all I know."
"There's something else," Nike tried to meet his eyes, he fought not to look at her, but her eyes demanded that he look into them, "tell us." He took a deep breath and looked at her squarely. He wasn't sure how what he needed to say would affect her, but he couldn't see it being anything too great.
"You wouldn't happen to be related to an Anakin Solo would you?"
Thanks for the reviews!!!! I actually proof read this time!!!