Chapter 8

I'm glad that Verdin's destruction is behind us… Oliso thought, watching stars through the Cosmic Dragon's viewport. But I have that feeling: destruction will rear its ugly head on Uunja as well. She was so very happy to leave Verdin and she could see Nerca was as well.

Oliso knew Nerca's secret though Lexoc, Keldu and Jesbra did not. She had seen and felt through the Force the regret and a hint of fear on Nerca's face when they had first set foot on Verdin. Oliso hoped, for Nerca's sake, that the others had not seen or sensed her emotions.

"Oliso, look there it is," Nerca said pointing. "Uunja. Roloc is on the other side."

Oliso looked along Nerca's finger at the small planet that the Cosmic Dragon's computer identified as Uunja, around the planet it identified as Gol'etra. Uunja was more like a large moon than a planet compared to the gas giant Gol'etra. A small swirl of blue and green next to an orange monster.

Oliso could already see a ring of ships circling the forested planet, but most looked to be Uunjaian with the symbol Nerca had previously called the Crest of Flames. Supposedly, it was Uunjaian lore that made the crest the planet's symbol.

Keldu made a shuffling sound behind Oliso, and she turned. Keldu sat, eyes closed and legs folded. Oliso knew that through the Force, Keldu was seeing a path in the future.

Though the paths that the future took were always changing, always moving, always switching places with one another, the Force had given Keldu strength in seeing it. Sometimes she would see many of the future's paths, other times one.

Long ago, Keldu Lujac had been named by the Council as having an extraordinary gift in that area. It was one of the traits of Keldu that made her a truly unique Jedi, just as Nerca's knowledge-retaining skills and piloting, Oliso's healing, Lexoc's fighting and Jesbra's persuasion.

Keldu sat for long moments without moving. Then her hazel eyes opened and she shook her head.

"Keldu, what did you see?" Oliso asked.

"On Uunja, old secrets will surface. Old fears will return. Old acquaintances will find their way back. A dark warrior will join with another and they will prove themselves a difficult match. And something fearfully unexpected will happen." Keldu shuddered. "Something that is unfortunately a loss to the light."

"A loss?" Jesbra asked, gasping a bit. "Can you tell what?" She paused. "Or who?" Her voice was a concerned whisper.

"No," Keldu replied shaking her head. "But right now I don't dare wonder."

"Is the loss that great?" Lexoc asked.

"I can't tell its size." Keldu sighed deeply. "All I see is dark will harm light." Keldu buried her face in her hands. "I wish that I could tell you more!"

Oliso could feel Keldu's frustration at not being able to supply her friends with more information, and Oliso's heart stretched out to Keldu.

"Don't be angry or sad, Keldu," she said softly. "It's not your fault. Maybe we aren't meant to know details."

"A map, a vision is not," Nerca said echoing Master Yoda's words without turning. "A vision is of what might be, not always what needs to be done. It shows perhaps will happen, not always what we should be doing. For the future is always changing, always in motion, affected by our present actions. We should be mindful of the future but not at the expense of the present." Nerca swiveled her chair to face Keldu. She pulled Keldu's hands from her face and held them in her own. "If we knew the details we would be trying to prevent and not be thinking clearly. What is meant to be will happen regardless of our prevention. And what you saw may not even happen."

"Thank you, Nerca," Keldu said smiling. "How did you know?"

"I've had that sort of vision before."

"Really?" Jesbra said, her voice anything but questioning. "Then perhaps it is your past that will surface." Her eyes went blank and emotionless. She obviously thought that Nerca was keeping something from her, and Jesbra was not very happy with that thought.

Lexoc's eyes went back and forth between the two, thinking over what Jesbra had said. Then her eyes stayed on Jesbra for a moment longer. Oliso could feel her decision to agree with Jesbra flow off of her like she felt the wind rustle her hair.

Nerca's eyes steely locked on Jesbra's.

"Per…" was all that Nerca got out before the Cosmic Dragon shook violently.

Nerca spun back to the control board so fast that her chair almost snapped loose from the floor. Her hands flew across the controls at a lightning pace, twisting, pulling and pushing. Oliso's eyes darted around the black abyss of space that surrounded them but she saw nothing except Uunja and stars.

She stretched out with the Force and extended her senses, searching for ships near them.

She had just located the starship clinging to the Cosmic Dragon's port when the Identifier Friend or Foe beeped. The IFF showed an Uunjaian police freighter with its landing claw attached to the Cosmic Dragon's hull. Behind it hovered a large carrier, one that looked like—and probably was—a moving prison.

Both ships were heavily armed with repeating quad-lasers and ion cannons. Oliso could see three gunner mounts and a turbolaser on either side of the prison carrier and the police freighter sported four proton torpedo launchers, each carrying two torpedoes.

The Cosmic Dragon was unmistakably out-gunned.

The wide range comlink sounded. "Cosmic Dragon, this is the Uunjai Police and Security Force. Prepare to be boarded and searched. Dart and you're dead. We will shoot. Repeat. Prepare to be boarded."

Oliso slapped the comm off in disgust. The Kindred Knights were helping Uunja, and they were being searched like criminals.

Nerca's eyes squinted, her teeth clenched and she slapped the comlink back on. She grumbled angrily through the comm, "Not in your lifetime."