After Jaina boarded the Millennium Falcon from the GLEN-34 shuttle with her now-sleeping infant cradled in her arms, she regarded her waiting parents in the YT-1300's rec room with a bittersweet smile. They, in turn, both looked dumbfounded as their sights were completely set on the snoozing baby; behind them, Cakhmaim and Meewalh stood stoically on guard while C-3PO was off to one side with neutral body language.

When they finally looked back up to her, Han asked, "But... how...?"

"I was in a space-time anomaly where time slowed down for me to the point that I could have him while only a couple or so months passed out in the rest of the galaxy," Jaina explained. "It's part of the reason why there's a ten million credit bounty courtesy of Galactic Exploitation Technologies on my head right now." She nodded down toward the baby. "His name is Zekk, by the way."

Both Han and Leia's brows lifted at hearing the name.

"Yes, I thought it was fitting," Jaina answered their unasked question wryly. Then, more seriously, she said, "And as much as it pains me to do this, I'm going to be giving him to you."

"What?!" her parents asked simultaneously.

Jaina nodded sadly. "I was going to give him to Tenel Ka, but since you're here-"

"Now hold on, Jaina," Leia interrupted, "what's this about giving your child over to us? You're his mother."

Jaina tamped her Force-presence down well enough so that her own mother, though not as well-trained in the Force as her, couldn't detect the real reason behind her decision for handing baby Zekk off to her and Han.

"In case you forgot, Mom," Jaina said, "I'm now not only a wanted fugitive from the law, but I have a bounty on my head that's as respectable as the one put on Dad's head when Jabba the Hutt wanted him. And now that I've had my baby, there's really no reason why I won't be facing the death penalty if I'm ever caught by proper authorities, and I doubt any bounty hunters would've cared anyway. So I figure I might as well hand Zekk off to you instead of have him be taken from me by GA authorities."

"But that's not all, is it?" Leia asked.

Jaina hesitated before she let out an aggrieved sigh; she didn't know if Leia had somehow seen through her mental Force-defense or if it was simple mother's intuition. Either way, Jaina didn't care.

"No, it's not," the younger woman admitted reluctantly. "I have to go out there and help the Jedi kill Abeloth."

"Look, Jaina," Han spoke up, "I know you're pretty useful in a fight and all, but really, what makes you think you can do anything substantive that Luke and the others haven't already done these past coupla' months?"

"Because, Dad, I know how to find the avatar of Abeloth whose death will end this whole thing," Jaina explained.

"That kinda sounds like Jacen's lynch-pin avatar theory," Han said to Leia.

"The what?" Jaina asked.

Her parents looked back to her before Leia explained, "After your uncle used the Dagger of Mortis to kill several of Abeloth's avatars with little to no effect, Jacen came up with the idea that somewhere out there is an avatar that, should it be killed, will be the one whose death will kill all of the rest simultaneously."

"Pretty much sounds like what I was going for myself," Jaina said. She cocked her head to one side. "I guess his thinking and mine haven't diverged too much after all."

"But, wait, Jaina, how did you find out about which avatar of Abeloth's to kill?" Leia asked.

"Same reason I found out to use the Bubble of the Lost," Jaina answered. "That was the space-time anomaly I mentioned earlier. Wait, did Uncle Luke or Jacen tell you about the Pool of Knowledge while I was gone?"

"I remember Jacen saying something about that," Leia elaborated. "It was only a week or so after Abeloth really started being a problem for the galaxy. He told us you saw something while you two and Luke were beyond shadows and that was what gave you the coordinates to the Dagger of Mortis."

Jaina nodded. "But here's the thing; I only know how to find this lynch-pin avatar. I didn't see I knew who it was; had I known that, I woulda left that info in the Solo Quest's databank along with the Dagger's coordinates."

"Wait, how could you know about how to find this lynch-pin avatar but not who it is, Jaina?" Han asked. "Why wouldn't this Pool of Knowledge just tell you that outright?"

Jaina's expression dropped as she prepared herself to give another reluctant answer; her sight brought her back to Zekk's peaceful form. "Because I don't think I was meant to learn who it was then."

"What do you mean?" Leia asked.

Jaina forced herself to look back into her mother's eyes. "Mom." She spared a glance to her father's eyes. "Dad." She went back to her mother's eyes again. "You both know I've done a lot of terrible things lately. I know I deserve punishment for those crimes as much as anyone else; not even you two can deny it."

"Jaina, we-"

"I'm not finished, Mom. I think, and this is just what I'm thinking, is that the Pool of Knowledge is only letting me know what I have to know to meet the fate that I must face."

"What are you talking about, Jaina?" Han asked. "You're starting to scare us." It was a real testament to his marriage to Leia that he didn't even need the Force to sense that his wife's fears aligned with his currently.

Jaina closed her eyes with another sigh before she opened them again; her sight became slightly blurred with an onset of tears. "Please, Mom and Dad, don't make this any harder than it already is. Just take Zekk and leave me be."

"Now, wait, young lady, you're not-"

Jaina cut her father off from completing that sentence when, with her free hand, she produced a torrent of Electric Judgment—not Force-lightning, but Electric Judgment—that enveloped and stiffened both her parents for a few seconds; that was all that was needed to wake Zekk up and prompt another crying session from him. When Jaina ceased the torrent, she let them drop to the deck unconscious before quickly producing a Force-shield that the two fast-running Noghri bounded off of before collapsing to the deck on their backs. Then, before either of them could recover, Jaina dropped her Force-shield and enveloped them in a torrent of Electric Judgment; in seconds, they were also unconscious.

With all four of them out for the count, Jaina looked over and telekinetically reached out to pull Threepio from the corridor to which he had hurriedly shuffled off; as soon as she started pulling him, he cried out, "Oh, goodness me! Mistress Jaina, please, stop! Put me down!"

Once the droid came back into view of the rec room, Jaina complied but then Force-pinned him to the bulkhead behind him, prompting him to yelp, "Oh, my!"

"Quiet, Threepio," Jaina intoned as she approached him.

"Very well, Mistress Jaina," the droid replied fearfully.

When Jaina stopped less than a meter away from Threepio, she leaned the wailing Zekk over to him.

"Take care of him," she said loudly enough to the droid. She then released her telekinetic hold on Threepio.

Hesitantly, the droid lifted both his arms to take Zekk from her while he said, "Oh, well, of course, Mistress Jaina." Gingerly, the baby was placed into his metallic embrace before Jaina swiftly turned away, her eyes closed against the warm tide of tears, and started walking to the airlock where the GLEN-34 waited at the other end.

"But, Mistress Jaina, what do I tell your parents?" Threepio called.

Jaina stopped at the threshold out of the rec room and spared a look over her shoulder. "You tell them exactly what happened, Threepio." She turned back to resume her walk, only to stop again so that she could fully turn back to him. "I'll see you at the end."

Then, after one last painful glance to her infant son, she turned away and left the Falcon.

. . .

Grand Lord Vol had, indeed, been careful in trusting the Jedi for the potential alliance against Abeloth that he himself had proposed; because after the Solo Quest II had dropped out of hyperspace into the system where the Lost Tribe's transmitter beacon had been located, all they received in turn was a recorded message from the Grand Lord rattling off a set of coordinates about where to meet next. From there, it was another day's flight through lightspeed before the Quest dropped out to another empty system where they met a ChaseMasterX frigate called the Black Wave, captained by a Keshiri male named High Lord Taalon. He strung them along on yet another day's travel through lightspeed to a system with a red dwarf orbited by three dead rocky planets that was only a few lightyears away from the Lost Tribe's last known hiding spot, the Peshvit Nebula.

From the Quest's copilot seat, Luke couldn't help but smirk; since Abeloth became a serious problem for the Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance, it figured that the Sith would once again return to where they had twice hid before.

Through the Quest's forward viewport, a series of ChaseMasters and a smattering of other fairly small capital ships waited like a pack of vornskrs around the ysalamir that was the YT-2600. Jacen was about to send out a hailing frequency to the Sith ships when Luke said, "No. We wait for them."

His nephew looked at him in askance.

"I want to see just how serious they are of committing to this alliance," Luke explained. "They've already sent out the opening plea, I see no reason why we shouldn't let them do it again."

Jacen's expression settled into reluctant acceptance—a mode that Luke found that his nephew was getting used to lately—before he nodded and sat back to mirror his uncle's patience.

Six long minutes passed before the Quest was hailed.

"Answer it," Luke ordered.

Jacen complied and Grand Lord Darish Vol's holographic visage appeared over the Quest's comm console with an obvious look of impatience along his scarred face.

"Do you have any idea how to truly kill Abeloth, Skywalker?" Vol asked without preamble.

"I'm good, thank you for asking, Grand Lord Vol," Luke replied mock-courteously. "How are you?"

"Do not play games with me, Jedi," the Grand Lord growled. "In case it somehow escaped even your notice, you are vastly outnumbered at the moment and we have no qualms over simply obliterating you right here, right now."

"But if you really wanted to do that, Vol," Luke said seriously, "you would've done it already. Which tells me that your offer of alliance with us is genuine. And, believe me, I am serious about this, too; every single one of my fellow Masters objected to this idea, informing me that it was a trap, but the Force told me otherwise."

Vol's brows lifted in consternation before narrowing in anger. "The Force, or the fact that Abeloth is truly a menace to the galaxy?"

"Why can't it be both?" Luke asked.

Vol grimaced. "You did not answer my question, Skywalker."

"About how to kill Abeloth? No, I don't suppose I did. Very well; my nephew here has a theory about how Abeloth can be truly vanquished from this galaxy. He supposes that there is something called a 'lynch-pin avatar,' which, if killed, will wipe out all of Abeloth's other remaining avatars in an instant."

"How much credence do you bear upon this theory, Jedi?"

"Enough to consider it a viable option in the face that no other considerations are readily available, Sith."

"Do you have any idea who this lynch-pin avatar could be?"

"None."

"Then we'll have to find that avatar and lure it out somehow."

"Do you have any suggestions, Vol?"

"Yes; you and I, the leaders of our respective orders, will act as bait."

Luke's brows lifted in surprise as Vol continued.

"Because we are the single most powerful agents of the Sith and Jedi," the Grand Lord elaborated, "I have little doubt that if we were to gather ourselves into the same place at the same time, this lynch-pin avatar, should it exist, will be lured out. Certainly, she would want to assimilate our powers and make us into avatars in general, but I think that with how great we are, she would want to have her most important avatar gain the pleasure of such a task."

"That sounds awfully magnanimous of you, Vol," Luke pointed out. "Highly uncharacteristic of a Sith."

"So is asking for help from the Jedi Order at all," Vol countered.

"Fair enough; I suppose it makes sense, what with the apocalyptic danger that Abeloth presents. Of course, even if I do agree to this plan, and even if Jacen's theory does hold any water, we really have no guarantee that Abeloth would be brazen or stupid enough to risk her greatest avatar just to assimilate you and me."

"Do you have any better ideas, Skywalker?"

"None at the moment, I'm afraid." Luke found himself sounding strangely less regretful than he actually felt.

"Then it will have to do," Vol said. "But before you formally agree, I must tell you that I impose a condition upon this alliance."

"You have the superior numbers, I don't see why you shouldn't," Luke replied casually; he didn't want to give Vol any more sense of power than he already had.

"You will accept a member of the Lost Tribe into your ranks, at least for the time being," Vol stated. "Namely, aboard the Solo Quest II."

"And I don't suppose you would accept a Jedi into your ranks, namely aboard your flagship?" Luke countered evenly.

Vol smiled viciously. "If I did, I assume you would be more compliant, Skywalker?"

"I'd be shocked at your sincerity, but, yes, I would be compliant," Luke replied.

"Very well," Vol said. "Who would you have aboard my flagship?"

"Who would you have aboard mine?"

"You answer my question first, Jedi," Vol intoned.

"Fine. Kyle Katarn."

Vol's eyes widened, as if he were impressed. "My, my; a Jedi Master so well-renowned aboard my ship. If only I could feel so honored."

"I take it, then, that you'll be sending me one of your great High Lords in return?" Luke asked.

"Would you settle for an initiate instead, Master Skywalker?" Vol asked in an oddly placating tone.

"An initiate?" Luke inquired as he made a wry expression. "I give you a high-ranking member of my Order and I get a mere initiate? That doesn't quite seem fair to me."

"Then why not give me one of your initiates instead, Skywalker?" Vol asked with the same autocratic authority that he had before.

"I'm afraid I don't have any apprentices aboard this ship, Vol. Would you settle for a Knight instead? Unless, of course, you want to wait for me to leave and get a Jedi apprentice from elsewhere?"

"No, I don't want to waste any more time on this. If a Jedi Knight is the lowest you can go, I can accept. But who would be this Knight you would give me in return for giving you an initiate, Skywalker?"

"Jacen Solo."

A gobsmacked expression came over Vol's face. "No. We will not accept him."

"Why no?" Luke asked.

"Because..." Vol trailed off as his face dropped into thought.

"Vol?" Luke inquired.

A moment later, the Sith regarded Luke with a newfound look of amicability in his expression. "On second thought, if you wish to give us Jacen Solo in place of one of our initiates, then we have a deal."

Luke's gaze narrowed in suspicion. For a moment, he was tempted to turn Vol's deal down, order Jacen to turn around, and jump into hyperspace before any of the Sith vessels could activate an interdiction field to prevent their escape. But something in his gut—not from the Force—told him that this might be a better idea that might actually expedite Abeloth's ultimate destruction; and besides, he was confident that a Jedi of Jacen's capabilities could defend himself from whatever the Sith cold throw at him.

"I will only accept this deal, Vol," Luke finally said, "if you tell me the name of this initiate you'll send me; only seems right that you do so after I told you who I'm sending."

"Not a problem," Vol replied conversationally. "Her name is Tyro Vestara Khai."

Luke's brows widened in surprise; he very well knew who that was. Still, he found himself saying, "I accept."

Author's Very Long Note: Hey, dear readers. I'm sorry I was so late in getting this chapter out; I haven't heard from my beta reader in over a week so I'm posting this last chapter just to inform you that, after all this time and effort, I may be abandoning this. It may seem strange to do so when it appears I may be crossing the finishing line, so to speak, for this story; the problem is that without my beta reader to tell me if the chapter can pass their B.S. detector, I don't really have the confidence to trudge on into finishing this story in a manner befitting satisfaction for my readers. Admittedly, I have a pretty high suspension of disbelief when it comes to consuming stories, so often times, I don't really notice many logical gaffes and inconsistencies, which would thus explain the flaws in the initial drafts of my chapters that no one here gets to read.

But for those of you who wanted to know how this story would have gone down, I would have had Jaina rendezvous with the Jedi and the Sith in finally killing Abeloth but at the cost of her own life. Darish Vol would have died, too, ideally in a duel with Luke, and the vast majority of the Lost Tribe of the Sith is reduced to maybe a few dozen, less than a hundred. Vestara would have gone on the run, with her father being among the dead. Ben would have truly begun an emotional healing process after having seen firsthand how truly evil the Sith were. And Jacen would have visited Jaina's spirit beyond shadows for one last goodbye and to let her know that baby Zekk was safe with Tenel Ka as he would be raised as if he were Allana's brother instead of her cousin.

I'm open to offers of new beta readers who want to see the story be properly concluded (I'm looking at you, Colo Kid and Lady Neeva, for your reviews). But as it stands, I'm afraid I have to cancel this fic and leave this trilogy improperly concluded. I have no intention of deleting this story altogether, it'll still be up. Nevertheless, this is, for all intents and purposes, the end of this story. I'm sorry. :(