.:Building Trust:.

Over the next day or so, while Rick, Torne and Rain scouted the area around the Ebon Hawk, Kail and Hannah both spent most of there time in the Starboard Dormitory. However, during one particular time when Kail had gone out with Rick and Torne, Kinraar was asked to keep an eye on Hannah, since she was still new on the ship.

But Hannah didn't leave the Starboard Dormitory. Instead, she continued practicing touching the Force without her incantations. She accidentally reached out to far and began manipulating Kinraar's training battle against Rain with her Battle Meditation.

"Hey!" Rain suddenly realized how she had suddenly started losing. "Stop that!" She said. Hannah jumped in shock.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said. "I'm not used to having this much power, and sometimes I lose control of it."

Kinraar nodded. "I remember when I first learned I could use the Force. I also took a little while to get used to the power of it."

Rain shrugged. "I suppose that's okay then." She sat on the end of the bed Hannah was sitting on. "Why did you come?" She asked.

Hannah had been thinking that question herself. "I'm not sure." She said. "There was something about Kail, I felt like he was calling to me. Or pulling me..." She shook her head. "Okay, that just sounds weird."

Kinraar shook her head. "On the contrary; I have read about such things. They are similar to Force Bonds, except there is no actual connection."

The wookie thought for a moment. "It is like a piece of iron and a magnet. The closer they are, the harder they are to separate. Prolonged exposure to each other may also cause a permanent connection, or a real Force Bond."

Rain gave Kinraar a questioning look. Kinraar shrugged. "I did some research back when we were on Dxun." She said.

"Wow, Dxun. That seems like so long ago." Rain said. "I wonder if we'll ever-…" She stopped, seeing a sudden longing in Hannah's eyes. "Something wrong?"

"The pull, it's started again." She said. "I don't know how, or why." She closed her eyes, giving in to the pull, letting herself drift into the Force.

"Do you suppose we should tell Alison and Kevin?" Rain asked. Kinraar looked at Hannah for a moment, and then shook her head.

"Wait till we find out what it is." She growled. "If it is important, then we will tell Alison."

Hannah suddenly started shaking, and both Kinraar and Rain could feel the Force flowing into her. Actually, it was so powerful, they were sure it would be visible to someone who could see with the Force.

"Night Sisters." Hannah mumbled. She opened her eyes. "We've got problems." She said. "In the form of hideously deformed woman using evil spirit-I mean, using the Dark Side of the Force."

"Okay, now we can tell Alison." Kinraar said. She and Rain both sprinted out of the room, leaving Hannah on her own in the room. After a moment's thought, Hannah stood and left as well.

Kinraar and Rain found Alison in the Garage, adding some adjustments to HK-47.

"Something wrong?" She asked when she saw her friend and the wookie come into the Garage. Kinraar nodded.

"Hannah felt a pull toward Kail, and now she says that they are in trouble." Rain said. Alison looked at her friend for a moment.

"Let's go ask her." Alison said. "We'll find out what she saw."

Rain nodded, and she and Kinraar lead Alison to the Starboard Dormitory.

Then too the Port Dormitory…

And then too the Cockpit…

"She must have known you would want to question her about it." Kinraar said. "The look in her eyes, she believed what she saw was real, and she would not waste time."

Alison muttered something under her breath. "Okay, let's go find her." She said. "Rain, go get Mia and Kevin, Kinraar, get the droids ready."

Hannah sprinted through the desolate forest of Dathomir, following the pull she felt between her and Kail, letting it guide her to him.

She heard the sound of electricity, and a scream of pain. Seconds later, she came upon Kail, Torne and Rick, all of their lightsabers ignited, facing off against six hideously deformed women.

The six women were hurling bolts of force lightning at Kail, Rick and Torne, who were only just managing to hold it off with their lightsabers.

Hannah raised her hands. "Aliccio romendè!" She chanted. A blast of Force energy erupted from her, knocking the Night Sisters sideways. In two steps and two strokes each, the three Jedi rushed forward and killed each of the Night Sisters with their lightsabers.

Only then did they turn to look at her.

"Not that we didn't appreciate the help." Kail said. "But what are you doing out here?"

"I…" Now that she was there, Hannah felt embarrassed to say why she was there. "I felt you…pulling me." She said. "I thought you needed help."

Kail was about to say something, but Rick cut in. "While we would have eventually overpowered those…women on our own, you did help." He seemed to be somewhat reluctant to say it.

It seemed he was torn between his childhood best friend, and his new lover. "We would have been exhausted by the time we managed to beat their lightning attacks and not much use for quite a while. This way, at least the battle ended quickly."

"Look out!" Torne said, and he fired a blast of Force energy to catch a bolt of lightning.

"This ain't over yet!" Kail unclipped a short lightsaber and tossed it into the air. It landed in Hannah's hands.

Suddenly, Hannah felt like she had been born to hold a lightsaber. It felt so…right, in her hands, and she activated with no hesitation, using it as the other three had before to catch the lightning rather then be electrocuted by it.

"We are many, and you are few." Said the leader of the current party of Night Sisters (there were eight of them this time), and the Force lightning ceased, though all four of them could sense Force shields surrounding the eight women.

"Throw down your weapons; you need not die on this day."

"Not gonna happen, old lady." Rick said. He called upon the anger he'd felt with Kail back on the Ebon Hawk in the Cockpit, and fired his own bolt of lightning at the woman.

Unable to protect herself from electricity with her Force shield, the woman was killed by the electrical shock.

Then the whole scene erupted into chaos. So chaotic it was hard to tell who was winning, especially when Kinraar and Kevin joined the fight. They were followed a few minutes later by the three homicidal droids, Rain and Alison. With the whole crew in the battle, the Night Sisters didn't stand a chance.

Kail winced as Hannah dabbed the slash along his stomach. The Night Sisters didn't have lightsabers, but in close range, they had very sharp daggers and a few short swords.

Kail, Kevin, Rain and the droids had been the only ones to suffer to badly though, so what was left of the crew was dealing with the wounds. Hannah had been the one taking care of Kail.

In the Garage, Alison was busy taking care of a long cut on Rick's arm. In the Port Dormitory, Torne and Mia were healing Rain, who had by far the worst wound, where a Night Sister had managed a shallow stab to Rain's shoulder.

And in the Cargo Hold, Kinraar was dealing with Kevin's wounds. The three droids were standing in a corner waiting for the two crew mechanics to repair them.

"So, why did we come here?" Rick asked Alison as she finished healing him. "I mean, so far all we've seen are a few Rancor and now the Night Sisters."

Alison bit her lip. "I'm not sure." She said. "But, like Myrkr, I'm sure I'll find the reason why soon enough."

For the next couple of hours, nobody spoke much to anyone else, except Rick and Alison, Mia and Torne, and Kail and Hannah. Okay, so that's about half the crew speaking to someone else.

Either way, Rick and Alison were now in the Cockpit, Kail and Hannah had moved (with bedding) into the Engine Room for privacy, and Torne and Mia were talking in the Port Dormitory.

Rick looked at Alison for a moment. "What's wrong Ali?" He asked. "You've been hiding something from me."

"It's nothing." Alison said. "Really, I'm just tired." She added. Rick didn't seem convinced, but he dropped the matter.

"I think I need to center myself." He said. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Cargo Hold. Knock three times and come back later 'cause I'll be meditating."

He walked out of the Cockpit, none the wiser of what Alison was really hiding from him. He got to the Cargo Hold, and closed the door.

Almost immediately, he sensed another presence. He wasn't sure what, but he was sure that they were there.

Ignoring the presence for now, he sat down, and began to enter a meditative state.

In the corner of the Cargo Hold, a young woman materialized. She wore a white flowing silk dress, with white pearls embroidered impossibly into the fabric, and a pair of mauve sandals. She had long wavy white-blonde hair, with one crystal blue eye and one normal green eye.

"My brother has become unreachable." She whispered. "So I shall show him through you." She walked over to Rick, and held her hands either side of his head.

"See through the eyes of a Seer, Erick of Clan Ordo!" Rick shuddered, and was plunged into a vision.

…a young girl with white-blonde hair and emerald green eyes sat with a holovid of a swoop race in front of her. Beside her, her father, and Echani General, sat looking at his daughter with pride in his eyes…

…They were joined not long after by a young woman, not even twenty-five yet, carrying a toddler in her arms. The woman had a long red-brown hair cascading down her. The woman looked lovingly at her husband as she sat down on the other side of their daughter…

The vision ended. Rick's eyes were wide open in shock. When the vision had started, he had mistaken the little girl for Kail's mother. When it had ended, he knew the girl to be Kail's daughter!

And the mother had been…

Rick stood up, turned on his heel, and went straight to the Engine Room next door. He was about to knock on the locked blast door, but then thought better of it.

If Kail was doing what he thought he was doing… well, Rick respected his friend enough not to interrupt him.

And so he turned away, and went in search of Alison. He wasn't sure whether or not to mention his suspicions. He wasn't sure how she would react to them. For now, they would remain his suspicions only, he decided.

Hannah remained awake long after Kail had fallen asleep, exhausted but happy. She couldn't sleep, not since that voice…

It was always there, in her head, when she slept. Darkness, projecting fear into her… She had fought it, every time her eyes closed. But she wasn't strong enough. In her dreams, she was never strong enough.

But as much as she tried to remain awake, exhaustion caught up with her, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Hannah opened her eyes, slowly. She was standing atop some kind of ancient structure, perhaps a temple or palace. She looked around, and was met by a lightsaber descending upon her.

In an instant, there was an emerald green lightsaber in her hand, and she used it to block the red lightsaber.

A kick to her middle sent a seizure through Hannah's body, and she doubled over, before rolling to dodge another attack. She came to her feet and spun around to meet another attack.

None came. She looked around, but no one was there.

"Who-?" She began, before she was plunged into darkness.

Kail's eyes were open in an instant as soon as her heard Hannah's cry.

"Hannah?" He said, trying to wake her. She didn't respond. "Hannah!" He shouted.

She could hear his voice, but it was across an impossible distance. "Help me." She cried. And then he was beside her.

Hannah jumped back, stunned. "How did you get here?"

"Here?" Kail looked around. "I'm not really here." He said. "I'm a projection of your own needs, the need for protection." Kail took a step toward her. "And I will protect you!" He said.

And then she was awake.

Rick, Alison and the rest of the crew had all heard Kail's shout. Rick had raced to the Engine room, while Alison deactivated the lock from the Security Room.

He found Kail with his arms around a distressed Hannah; whose face was streaked with tears as she laid her head on his shoulder. Kail turned to look at his friend, shrugged, and then turned back to Hannah.

Rick shook his head, and turned and left the Engine Room, closing the blast door behind him.

They waited another three days before leaving the Ebon Hawk again, while everyone recovered. When it was finally time to leave again, they went in two groups: Rick, Kinraar, Kail and Hannah in one group, Mia, Torne, Rain and Kevin in the other.

Alison was staying back on the Ebon Hawk in case they needed to make a quick getaway. Rick was unsure whether it had been her first choice, but after an almost unnoticed conversation with Mia, Alison had decided to stay.

They didn't run into any Night Sisters, thankfully, though what they did run into was almost as bad.

The Dathomirian Witch's, while not evil, had a somewhat strict society: women were the superior race, men were nothing more then servants; something Rick, Kail, Torne and Kevin were not too happy about.

Thankfully, after Alison arrived, the Force using witches allowed each of the women to make a claim for the men.

Despite the order of things, Alison, Kevin, and Kinraar were sent to one hut, Rick, Hannah and Rain to another, while Kail, Torne and Mia were called to the Great Hall by the High Council.

"Our spies saw you in battle against the Night Sisters;" said the oldest looking witch, the one described to Kail, Torne and Mia as 'the Old One'. "You have great powers."

"But…Rick was the one leading us." Kail said. "Why not bring him here?" Kail asked.

"That one…he has a corruption within him;" said the woman to the left of the Old One. "You three, however, have either fought off corruption, or never been corrupt."

Not one of the three teenagers knew what the woman meant by that. As far as they had seen, none of their friends had shown signs of corruption, except perhaps Alison back on Derallia.

"Never the less, it was you two young men who were in the party that fought the Night Sisters originally." The Old One said.

She turned to Mia. "And you girl, are here because you have claimed one of them as your own, and it was necessary for your presence."

"We have called you two boys here," The woman on the right of the Old One said. "Because you have the power to help us vanquish the evil of the Night Sisters... We wish for you to teach our warriors how to use the Spirit Magic we use as you do."

"Spirit Magic…?" Kail repeated. He exchanged a look with Mia, who was also interested in the name the Dathomirian Witches used for the Force. "And you want us to teach you?"

The Old One nodded. "We are few and far apart. Without the power to defeat them, it is unlikely we will survive the next full turning of the moons." She said.

"You needn't answer right away. There is a hut not far from the Great Hall; you will remain there until we send for you, or when it is time for the Hunt."

Kail, Torne and Mia all bowed/curtsied, and then were escorted out of the hall.

Hannah sat on the bed in her hut, looking out for any sign that Kail had left the Great Hall yet. She sighed and laid back on her bed, unable to think of anything else to do, she decided to start practicing with the Force again.

She reached out to it, and seized hold of the cup of water beside her bed, making it levitate into the air.

Then she tipped it upside down, and caught the water in mid air, folding it and manipulating it. Eventually, it took the shape of Kail, with perfect and exact detail, despite the fact it was small enough to fit in her hand.

Hannah focused on cooling the temperature around the small water statue, and turned it to ice.

"Nice trick." Rain said. Hannah jumped and lost focus, dropping the statue out of the air. Rain caught it with a small nudge of the Force, and Hannah took it out of the air.

"I just felt like keeping myself busy." She said, sighing.