Chapter 33

Meanwhile, Marz Hak-the slayer of Shmi Skywalker-had fled to Corellia. Marz thought that he had successfully eluded the authorities. In fact, he had done so for a time and may have continued to do so indefinitely if he had not been betrayed. A sometimes employer of his-a Hutt named Jabba-had not only told the Jedi that Marz was the Gran that they were looking for but he had also them exactly where he could be found. Making a profit off the information was not Jabba's primary objective. Although he did charge the Jedi a fee for the information, his fee was less than the cost of cabfare on Coruscant. Obviously, the Hutt was displeased with Hak. Displeasing a Hutt was a very dangerous thing to do. Oddly enough, Jabba had always been pleased with the Gran criminal's work as a bounty hunter/thug/bodyguard. However, Marz fancied himself as a writer. He managed to convince the Hutt that he was a good one, and Jabba hired him to write a story for him. That had been grievous error on Hak's part. Jabba was not pleased with the story Marz wrote and demanded his money back. But Hak had already squandered it all. Jabba had been gracious enough to allow Marz to pay him back by working for him for free, but when Hak left Tatooine with his permission Jabba decided to sell the Gran's whereabouts to the Jedi for a very modest fee. Unfortunately for Marz, the Jedi were not the only ones who received this information. Jabba had also sold the information to a very high ranking Republic official.

When Yoda learned that Marz Hak was hiding out on Corellia, he contacted Nejaa Halcyon-a Corellian Jedi Knight-and asked him to find Hak and bring him back to Coruscant. Halcyon was a close friend of Corellian Security Force Inspector Rostek Horn. Halcyon and Horn teamed up to find the Gran killer. It didn't take them long to find the apartment that Marz Hak had been staying in. But when they arrived, the Gran criminal was already dead. And he had been killed by a Sith. A very powerful one. Marz Hak's entire body was covered with force lightning burns. His right arm had been severed at the elbow. The bloodless cauterization of the wound clearly indicated that a lightsaber had inflicted the damage. Hak's left hand and one of his eyestalks had also been severed. The irony of the situation was not lost on Halcyon. He wondered if the Sith who had hacked the Gran criminal to pieces had known his last name.

Chapter 34

The Fantastic Four's ship emerged through the portal and entered another universe. Looking at the stars around them, the occupants of the vessel had widely different thoughts. To Tahiri, Mace, and Aayla; the stars looked very familiar and they felt at home. As they should since this was their own galaxy. To Hal, Superman, and the Fantastic Four; the surroundings were far less familiar but they were relatively unfazed. All of them-especially Hal-had considerable experience with traveling through the great vastness of space. Spider-Man, however, was not nearly as used to space. In fact, it made him a little nervous. So of course he covered by making jokes, more of them than usual.

All of his companions noticed this behavior. Their reactions to it varied. The Fantastic Four were all used to his antics and while they understood the reason behind it none of them laughed, although Ben did crack a smile a couple of times. Hal was amused and laughed a few times. Spidey reminded Hal of a rookie Green Lantern he had trained a while back, a young artist from New York named Kyle Rayner. But Spider-Man was much funnier than Kyle.

Superman also laughed. This surprised Spider-Man a little. What Peter didn't realize was that-despite outward appearances-Superman was still a farmboy at heart. You can take the boy off the farm but you can never completely take the farm out of the boy. Ironically, Tahiri Veila did realize this. When Tahiri had been talking to Superman before, she had told him about Luke Skywalker. She mentioned that Master Luke had grown up on a farm and Superman had told her that he had grown up on a farm also.

Finally, there was the other two Jedi, Mace Windu and Aayla Secura.

Aayla: "Master Windu, does this Spider-Man not grasp the seriousness of the situation?"

Mace: "Don't be deceived, Aayla. I think he understands the seriousness of the situation as much as any of us. I believe his jocular behavior is a defense mechanism."

Chapter 35

Benjamin J. Grimm piloted the Fantasticship down to the surface of a frozen world which Tahiri identified as Hoth. It had been the closest world to where they had emerged from the dimensional portal.

Ben: "This is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here."

Johnny: "I would agree with you, Ben. Except for the nice place to visit part that is."

Ben: "What's th' matter, bic-head? Too cold for ya here?"

Johnny: "As if you had to ask. I'm getting cold just from looking out the viewport."

Ben: "Well, close your eyes then."

Here the fellowship of heroes from different universes splits three ways. Superman, wearing only a breath mask, flies off on his own power to the Outer Rim planet known as Sernpidal to prevent its destruction by the Yuuzhan Vong.

Hal Jordan uses his power ring to create a sleek starship. He, Spider-Man, and Tahiri Veila board the ship; and then head towards the galaxy's rim near Helska. According to Tahiri, this was where the Yuuzhan Vong worldship that was the advance ship in their invasion of her galaxy entered the galaxy.

The Fantastic Four, Mace Windu, and Aayla Secura remain on the Fantasticship. Ben, with the help of the two Jedi, sets a course for Rhommamool. There they plan to capture the Yuuzhan Vong infiltrator Nom Anor and thus put an end to his role as the leader of the Rhommamoolians, preventing him from starting the full-scale war between Rhommamool and Osarian, which he began in the original timeline. They also know that Mara Jade Skywalker will be there and hope to provide her with a cure to the disease that, unbeknownst to her, Nom Anor infected her with some time before. Dr. Richards is working on a serum that he believes will cure the strange disease.

Chapter 36

The Fantasticship was suddenly jerked out of hyperspace-or more precisely its equivalent of hyperspace.

Ben: "What the-"

Mace Windu, who was seated in the passenger seat behind Ben, saw a large cruiser looming in front of them. He estimated the cruiser to be 600 meters long. He realized that it must be the cause of their sudden stop.

Mace: "It's some kind of interdictor. But I've never seen one so large."

Ben: "What's an interdictor?"

Aayla Secura: "It's a ship which carries mass-simulating gravity-well projectors."

Mace: "They prevent spacecraft from entering hyperspace. Or they can forcibly bring ships out of hyperspace. That's what just happened to us."

The cruiser was hailing them. Sue, who was seated in the co-pilot chair, activated the communication console and started to open a line to receive the cruiser's transmission.

Ben: "Better make that audio only, Sue. My ugly mug might scare 'em."

Cruiser: "Unidentified vessel, identify yourselves."

Ben: "Uh...who are you?"

Cruiser: "This is the Sentry. I am Captain Kir Be. I repeat, identify yourselves."

Ben(to his companions): "Well, I don't think telling him the truth would be a very good idea. He probably wouldn't believe me anyway."

Johnny: "Tell him he can't handle the truth."

Sue: "Hush, Johnny."

(to Ben): "Make something up."

Ben(muttering under his breath): "Make something up, she says."

Sue: "Did you say something, Ben?"

Ben: "Nothing, Susie."

Sue: "I'll go tell Reed what's going on. I'm sure he can come up with something to get us out of this."

Johnny: "Tell him to hurry."

Ben(to Sentry): "This is the S.S. Fantastic. Captain Thomas Fulton speaking. How may I help you?"

Captain Kir Be: "What is your business in this sector?"

Ben: "Excuse me, could you repeat that?"

Captain Kir Be: "What are you doing here?"

Ben: "You yanked us out of hyperspace, remember?"

Sue: "Ben, Reed managed to remotely deactivate their gravity-well projectors. Let's get out of here before they notice."

Ben: "You got it, Susie Q!"

(to Capt. Kir Be): "Sorry Jack, I have to go. Been nice chatting wit' ya."

The Fantasticship disappears into hyperspace.

Chapter 37

There were two seats in the passenger area of Hal's ring construct spaceship, but only one of those two seats is occupied. Spider-Man is hanging upside down from the ceiling just above his seat using a webline. He has his legs folded into an Indian style sitting position. Tahiri Veila is buckled into her seat, which is directly across from Spidey's empty chair.

Tahiri: "Do you have to hang from the ceiling like that?"

Spider-Man: "Have to? No. Like to? Yes. Why, does it bother you?"

Tahiri: "Yes. A little."

Spider-Man: "Hal, does this bother you?"

Hal had just put the ship into autopilot and joined the others in the passenger area. He looks at Spider-Man, who appears to be hanging from a thin yet obviously very strong thread.

Hal: "No."

Tahiri: "What!? Do you think that's normal?"

Hal: "I think it's probably normal for him."

Spider-Man: "Thanks, Hal. I think."

Tahiri: "But he's hanging upside down like a spider!"

Spider-Man: "Hello..."

(points to himself)

"SPIDER-Man."

Chapter 38

When Superman reached Sernpidal, the planet was suffering massive earthquakes and seemed to be on the verge of literally crumbling to pieces. One of its two moons-the smaller one which Superman estimated to be about 20 kilometers in diameter-was "falling" towards the planet. Some type of gravitational device was pulling the moon towards the planet. If the moon wasn't returned to its natural orbit soon, there would be a catastrophic collision that would result in the destruction of the planet. In fact, that had already happened once-in the original timeline. He was here to prevent it from happening.

A saucer shaped freighter was lifting off from the planet's surface. Using his x-ray vision, Superman saw that the freighter was filled with evacuees.

"That must be the Millenium Falcon", he thought. Tahiri had described it to him. She had also told him about how her friend Chewbacca had died on this world when he was crushed by the falling moon. Superman saw the Wookiee now. Chewbacca was looking up at the oncoming satellite and roaring defiantly.

Superman flew to the side of the moon that was facing the planet and began to push it back into orbit. Due to the relatively small size of the moon, its weight alone presented no real challenge for Superman. However, this task was made much more difficult by the gravitational force being exerted by the Yuuzhan Vong technology known as a dovin basal, which was the root cause of the problem. As Superman pushed the moon away from the planet, the dovin basal continued to push the moon towards the planet. So Superman was forced to struggle against not only the weight of the moon itself but also the tremendous force which was pushing against it. It was a monumental struggle but slowly the moon began to move away from the planet.

From the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon, Anakin Solo sees an astonishing sight. He sees the wayward moon being pushed back into orbit by a man. The man is clad in a colorful blue, red, and yellow costume which includes a red cape which is billowing in the wind. At first Anakin is certain that he must be hallucinating, but when he closes his eyes and focuses using the Force he realizes that what he saw is real. At the same time he realizes that Chewbacca is alive and safe. Anakin wonders who the stranger is. Whoever he is, the young Jedi thinks, he must have powers far beyond those of mortal men.

Anakin: "Uh...Dad there's something you should see."

Han, still angry with his son for lifting off the seemingly doomed planet and leaving his best friend on the ground-although deep down he realizes that Anakin had no choice-does not respond at first.

Anakin: "A man is pushing the moon back into orbit!"

Han: "You're cracking up, kid."

Anakin: "He saved Chewie! Look!"

Finally, Han turned and looked out the viewport. He saw the same image that Anakin had seen moments before, but he also doesn't believe his eyes.

Han: "Now, I'm seeing things."

Anakin: "No, it's real Dad. I can sense Chewie. He's as bewildered as we are, but he's safe."

Eventually Superman had returned the moon to its proper orbit.

But he realized that merely putting the moon back into orbit wouldn't be enough. If the dovin basal wasn't neutralized, it would just drag the moon back down again. He quickly spotted where the dovin basal was located. The Yuuzhan Vong had placed it in the center of Sernpidal City. The dovin basal was about 3 meters in diameter and resembled a large, dark red heart with deep blue spikes surrounding it's body.

Due to the briefing he had received, Superman knew that the Yuuzhan Vong technology was actually bio-technology. Therefore the dovin basal was actually alive. Like an animal which, through no fault of its own, was being used for a devastating purpose by its masters. So Superman didn't want to destroy the dovin basal if it was possible to avoid doing so.

So using superspeed, Superman swooped down to the planet's surface and grabbed the dovin basal. Then he reversed direction and rocketed back into space. He carried the dovin basal into deep space, and deposited it on an uninhabited planet which had no moon.

All Han and Anakin saw was a red and blue blur.

Chapter 39

The Fantasticship emerged out of hyperspace above Rhommamool and Osarian. Rhommamool was an inhospitable world populated mostly by the descendants of criminals exiled to work in the mines. This planet orbitted its star in an ellipse that brought it very close to Osarian every ten years. Osarian was a pleasant, temperate planet which present close proximity served to highlight the harsh conditions of Rhommamool. The natives of Osarian managed the mines on Rhommamool, keeping watch on the exiles and reaping the profits of their labors. Nom Anor had rallied the Rhommamoolians to declare their independence from Osarian rule, and to denounce the New Republic. In the original timeline, a full-scale war between the two planets had broken out after the departing Nom Anor had fired a series of missiles at the city of Osa-Prime.

Ben: "Well folks, we're here."

Johnny: "Where is here?"

Ben: "Don't ask me, Bichead."

Mace: "Here, is Rhommamool and Osarian."

Reed: "I'm picking up a Yuuzhan Vong bio-sign aboard that departing ship."

Aayla: "Has he attacked Osa-Prime, yet?"

Reed: "Not yet. We still have time to stop him."

Ben: "Say no more. I'm gonna head him off at the pass."

Johnny: "Leave it to Ben to make this sound like a cowboy movie."

Aayla: "What is a cowboy movie?"

Chapter 40

Nom Anor was surprised when another vessel suddenly appeared before his forward viewscreen.

It appeared to be trying to intercept his own ship, Anor was not concerned. The other ship was

smaller than his, and appeared to be lightly armed--if it was armed at all. He felt confident that he

could destroy it with relative ease. Nom Anor casually flipped a switch to fire a missile at the

oncoming ship.

So there were no words to express Nom Anor's dismay when the deadly missile was just as casually

was bounced off of the small ship's shields. It was impossible, he thought. He briefly wondered if living

among the infidels for so long had finally caused him to lose his sanity. Perhaps he had hallucinated the

entire incident.

Meanwhile, on board the Fantasticship.

Ben: "He shot at me!"

Johnny: "What did you think he was going to do? Send you flowers?"

Ben: "It's Clobberin' Time!!!"

In the next instant, Nom Anor's ship was shook violently as it was hit by a powerful blast from

the small vessel. But instead of being destroyed as Anor had expected, his ship was simply

rendered powerless. A wave of despair washed over the Yuuzhan Vong agent as he felt his

ship gripped in a powerful tractor beam. He had failed in his mission. He prayed that the infidels

would execute him. Better that than to return home in disgrace.

Chapter 41

After setting Sernpidal's moon back into orbit, Superman had plotted a course for Osarian to rendezvous with the Fantastic Four. Aayla Secura had brought along a datapad which contained a map of the galaxy. Superman had memorized that map before leaving the Fantasticship. The same map had also been downloaded into the Fantasticship's computer, and Hal had downloaded it into his ring--which had its own artificial intelligence. Superman had found it to be very useful so far. It made transgalactic travel much easier.

Andi Eystar was jolted out of her bed as the luxury cruiser came to an sudden stop. The emergency alarm was echoing throughout the ship. The light hurt her eyes. The lights in her room must have come on automatically when the alarm sounded. She was wondering what was happening when she heard Captain Ashbee's voice come over the intercom. He was saying that the ship was under attack by pirates. The pirates had pulled them out of hyperspace using an interdictor cruiser.

The situation reminded Andi of a holodrama that she had starred in.

"Damn", she thought, "If her real life had to imitate one of her holos, why couldn't it be one of those dumb romantic comedies? At least the people in those usually didn't get killed."

Andi quickly put on her clothes and tied her long blonde hair back into a ponytail. Then she grabbed the small personal blaster that her agent had convinced her to buy several months before. She had never really thought that she'd need it, but fortunately she had decided to learn to use it just in case. Then she decided to venture into the corridor outside her room. Several people were franticly running down the corridor in both directions. Looking out a nearby viewport, Andi saw that the pirates had two ships. The Interdictor Cruiser which had yanked them out of hyperspace and a Dreadnaught.

She briefly wished that her former costar, Ben Afterburner, was there. Then she remembered that in real life, he was the polar opposite of the characters that he plays in his action holos. He'd be totally useless in this situation. Plus he's such a jerk that she'd probably be tempted to shoot him herself.

Chapter 42

Andi heard a loud clanging noise as the pirates' Dreadnaught attached itself to the hull of the luxury cruiser. They were about to be boarded.

Andi saw two of the pirates approaching. She fired her blaster twice, hitting one in the chest--a killing shot--and the other one in the right shoulder. The pirate who she hit in the shoulder stayed on his feet, but he dropped his weapon. So Andi took the opportunity to fire again, and this time she hit him in the abdomen. He crumpled to the floor in agony.

"Don't get cocky", she told herself. She knew that her initial success was more due to luck than skill. She saw three more pirates coming so she turned and sprinted down the corridor in the opposite direction.

When Andi thought that she had ran far enough to gain a lead on the pirates, she stopped and jumped up to grab onto a low hanging girder. She then pulled herself up into a crawlspace in the ceiling. She felt that her chances would be better if she could ambush the pirates. She was expecting the pirates to be coming her way in just a few minutes. But thirty minutes later she was still waiting.

When Andi had first climbed up into her hiding place, she could hear the sound of blasterfire coming from other parts of the ship. But during the thirty minutes that she had been hiding those sounds had gradually subsided. Now the ship seemed eerily silent. All blasterfire had stopped. Andi wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but she feared that it was bad.

Had the shooting stopped because all of her fellow passengers and the crew--or at least the ones who had weapons--were dead? For some unknown reason, she was more frightened by the idea that she might be all alone--except for the pirates of course--than she had been in her initial encounter with the pirates.

"Don't be silly", she said to herself. "You don't even know for sure that the others are dead. And regardless you're alone right now anyway."

"Great", she said, "Now I'm talking to myself."

"They say it's alright to talk to yourself as long as you don't start answering yourself", said a tall dark haired man who was standing in the corridor below her.

Andi had been so immersed in her own thoughts that she had not noticed him until he spoke. She was so startled that she dropped her gun. Now she was defenseless. But despite her fear, she couldn't help noticing the unusual clothes that this man was wearing.

"Aren't you dressed a little strangely for a pirate?", she said.

"I'm not a pirate", he said.

"Then who are you?", Andi said.

"Some people call me Superman", he said. "But my friends call me Kal."

Chapter 43

Once they had received permission to land, Ben piloted the Fantasticship down to the planet's surface. Nom Anor was incarcerated and charged with plotting against the Osarian government. Then after the Fantastic Four informed former New Republic senator Leia Organa Solo of Nom Anor's true origins and purpose, the New Republic added a few other charges including intergalactic espionage.

Meanwhile Hal Jordan, Spider-Man, and Tahiri Veila were traversing the intergalactic void(the void which separated the Yuuzhan Vong's galaxy from the GFFA). They planned to intercept the Yuuzhan Vong's main fleet. Tahiri was looking out a viewport.

Tahiri: "Wow! It's completely dark out there."

Spider-Man(in deadpan voice): "Yeah. I imagine that's why they call it a void."

Tahiri: "Are you making fun of me?"

Spider-Man: "Stop!"

Tahiri: "What?"

Spider-Man: "You quoted Natalie Portman. Don't do that."

Tahiri: "Who is that?"

Spider-Man: "An actress."

Hal: "And apparently one that Spider-Man isn't very fond of."

Spider-Man: "Well, I think she's a good actress. But she seems to be a bit of a snob. Dont'cha think, Hal?"

Hal: "Well, I've never met her--"

Spider-Man: "Lucky you."

Tahiri: "That was harsh."

Hal: "But from what I've read, she does seem to be a little mean sometimes."

Spider-Man(joking): "So you're saying that she's a meangirl?"

Hal chuckled lightly. While Tahiri, who didn't get the joke, fixed Spidey and Hal with a puzzled look.

Spider-Man: "But anyway, that's not really the point. It's that Tahiri quoting her just seems really weird."

Chapter 44

Mara Jade is lying on her bed resting with her eyes open. She isn't particularly sleepy, but she is very tired. She's been feeling chronically fatigued lately, and she isn't sure why. Even more troubling is the fact that so far her attempts to reinvigorate herself using force meditation have only been mildly successful.

Mara hears the main door of her and Leia's suite opening. Then she hears several voices in the main room. Mara recognizes one of those voices as Leia's. So Leia is back and they have company, Mara thinks to herself. With considerable effort, Mara is able to will herself to get up and go into the living area.

Standing in the entranceway of the living area, Mara takes a moment to size up their guests. There are three humans wearing form fitting blue uniforms and a shirtless rocky-hided alien wearing a pair of blue pants identical to the pants worn by the other three.

Mara doesn't recognize the alien's species. But she doesn't give that much thought. It's a big galaxy. There are bound to be some alien species that she hasn't encountered before. She's more surprised by what she senses she reaches out with the force, doing so more out of habit than for any actual reason. Her forcesense detects four human lifeforms--not counting Leia and herself--in the room. The only nonhuman presences that she senses are Leia's two Noghri bodyguards.

As Mara walks into the room, Leia introduces their guests to her.

Leia: "Mara. Did we wake you?"

Mara: "No, I was just resting."

Leia(pointing in the direction of the dark haired man and the blonde woman): "This is Reed and Sue Richards."

(then pointing to the blonde man): "This is Sue's brother, Johnny Storm."

(finally pointing to the large orange alien): "And this is Ben Grimm."

Mara shakes hands with Reed, Sue, and Johnny. But when she reaches out to shake Ben's hand, he grabs her hand--in a surprisingly gentle grip--and bows, kissing the back of her hand as he does so.

"Great", Mara thinks to herself, "A supersized Lando Calrissian."

Ben: "Pleased to meet you."

Mara: "Uh...thank you. Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Ben: "Yes, I am single. But I don't date married women. Sorry."

Mara is momentarily speechless.

Mara: "Uh...that wasn't the question I was going to ask."

Ben: "Okay, shoot. Well, don't literally shoot."

Mara: "I apologize if this sounds rude, but I'm curious. I've never seen one of your kind before. What are you?"

Ben: "I'm one of a kind, babe. You're looking at the Ever-Loving Blue-Eyed Thing."

Johnny: "Oh, brother."

Mara: "Huh?"

Sue: "Ben's appearance is deceiving. He's human."

Reed: "Technically speaking Ben, Johnny, Sue, and myself are all cosmically enhanced humans."

Ben: "Enhanced he says. Easy for him to say."

Mara: "What do you mean?"

Ben: "What Stretch here calls enhancement, I call a curse. I didn't always look like this, ya know."

Johnny: "I don't know, Ben. Most people would consider becoming as strong as you are to be quite an enhancement."

Ben: "I didn't say it was all bad."

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Leia and the Fantastic Four--Mara had learned that they called themselves that when she asked what the 4 on the uniforms stood for--had gone into the dining area. Mara was still in the living area so she went to answer the door. When Mara opens the door, she thinks that she's seeing a ghost. Her jaw drops open and she stares blankly for several seconds. Then she decides that the person she's looking at--whoever he may be--is too solid to be a ghost.

Mara: "I'm sorry. It's just that you look amazingly like Mace Windu. For a moment, I thought I was seeing a ghost."

Mace: "Your initial reaction isn't too far from the truth. I am indeed Mace Windu."

At first, Mara thinks that the stranger is lying or joking. But then realizes that what he is saying--however impossible it seems--is true. Her forcesense confirms it. Still, she doesn't undertand how he could be standing before her now.

Mara: "But...Mace Windu died almost fifty years ago."

Mace: "From a certain point of view, that is true."

Mara: "So Kenobi got that certain point of view stuff from you."

Mace: "I'm not sure what you mean."

Mara: "Nevermind."

Mace: "From your point of view, I died 44 years ago. But the Fantastic Four brought Aayla and myself back from the past."

For the first time, Mara noticed the Twi'lek standing next to Windu. Mara wondered how she could have not seen her there before. Had she been standing there the entire time or had she walked up while Mara had been engaged in talking to Master Windu?

Aayla: "Hello, Master Jade Skywalker. I'm Aayla Secura."