PY-HD switched off the micro arc welder attachment and inspected its work. Perfect, as it had expected. Why wouldn't it be? It was the best droid in the whole galaxy (as far as it was concerned) and its work was never anything less than exceptional.

Turning away from the low bench where it had been working on the navicomputer circuitry, the astromech rolled out of the tiny but well-lit machine shop on the lower deck of the Raventalon. It was time for a scanner check.

Captain Ordonia had programmed her astromech droid to constantly monitor the scanners while the ship was on the ground. If PY-HD had been given a task to perform, then the droid's programming would tell it to stop what it was doing and check the ship's scanners every 20 standard minutes.

Sure, there were also contingency rules in place in case of emergency, but they didn't apply at the moment, so PY-HD headed for the tiny turbolift just large enough for it to fit into, and shot up to to main deck.

Upon reaching the cockpit, PY-HD wasted no time in plugging into the computer interface terminal. It wanted to get back to work on the guts of the navicomputer. Progress was finally being made. But, programming was programming and it couldn't be ignored. At least ten minutes of monitoring was the rule, so PY-HD started a countdown and settled in to wait. This planet was empty, abandoned. What reason was there to scan?

A minute passed. Then two, then five, then nine. One minute to go.

And then, with just twenty seconds remaining on the mandatory scanner monitoring time, PY-HD picked something up.

The droid chittered in annoyance. Picking up anything out of the ordinary at all meant the clock reset until all had been quiet for double the usual mandatory time.

A quick secondary scan revealed that it actually wasn't anything unknown or suspicious at all. The hit on the radar had the exact same magnetic signature as-

PY-HD immediately disconnected from the computer. One of those contingency rules had been met. The droid bolted out of the cockpit and tore down the corridor back to the droid-sized turbolift and returned to the lower deck.

When Star Butterfly was younger, she had habit of chewing on her lightsaber. As subconscious behaviors go, it wasn't exactly very safe. Marco had tried very hard to help her stop before she accidentally ignited the weapon with her teeth, and had been successful in helping her break the habit.

Mostly.

On the occasion that Star was anxious, she reverted to her old ways. For whatever reason, chewing on her lightsaber gave her a slight feeling of comfort. On Moraband, where the strong presence of the Dark Side of the Force swirled around her like a fog, combined with Marco's absence causing her to worry for his safety, Star was incredibly anxious. Without even fully realizing what she was doing, her lightsaber had found its way into her hand, and then up to her mouth, the emitter ending up between her teeth.

"Star, can you hand me that flex pipe?" Tom asked from inside the center sublight engine, his hand extending out and pointing to the item in question laying on the floor.

"Haglaaang."

Tom's face appeared through the access panel. "What?"

Star removed the lightsaber hilt from her mouth long enough to say, "I said 'hang on,'" and crouched down to retrieve the flex pipe for Tom.

As he took the part from her hand and said "Thank you," Tom felt bad for Star. He could see the way that every aspect of their current situation was eating at her and wished there was something he could do to help. Nothing he could think of seemed appropriate, though. I think probably the best thing I could do is get these engines up and running again so that we can go pick up Janna and Marco, Tom thought. Being reunited with Marco would probably be the best help to her until we can get off this planet.

The demonicite's thoughts were interrupted by synthetic squealing. He looked out through the access panel again and saw PY-HD in the engine room doorway. "Pony Head? What's wrong?"

The droid bleeped something else. "A hit on the scanner? Really?" He began climbing out of the engine and Star set down her lightsaber to help him. "Thanks, Starship. Let's get up to the-"

"Whadidya just call me?"

"...what?"

Star looked at him blankly through wide eyes. "You...you called me...something."

Tom's purplish cheeks blushed pink."Uh...you mean...'Starship'?"

"Yeah. That." Her tone was not so much annoyed as it was confused.

"Did...did you...not care for that?"

"Yeah, please don't...don't do that."

"Sorry." Tom's face turned even darker red. "Uh, let's get up to the cockpit and check out that hit on the scanner."

"Mmkay."

They climbed the stairs to the upper deck while PY-HD took the droid lift and reconvened in the cockpit of the Raventalon. "Let's see what we got here," Tom said, immediately hopping into the copilot's seat and flipping switches to bring up the scanner readouts on his console screen.

"Uh...Tom." Hearing Star say his name he turned to look at her. She was pointing out the viewscreen. "I see it."

Some type of small craft was streaking toward them, kicking up a cloud of dust that hung in the air behind it as it went.

Tom leaned over the control panel trying to get a better look. Star did the same beside him. "What the heck...?"

Despite the cloud cover overhead, the daylight still caused an obstructive glare on the transparisteel veiwscreen. Star shielded her eyes and squinted. "Is...is that Marco and Janna?"

"I think it is!"

Simultaneously, they turned and made eye contact, each reading the surprise and confusion on the other's face. No audible communication was required. They both bolted from the cockpit, PY-HD following right behind them.

The trio ran down the boarding ramp just as the jump speeder was slowing to a stop in front of the Raventalon.

Janna and Marco were exhausted from their lengthy ride, sore from sitting on the bike's hard seats that had not been designed with lengthy extended travel in mind.

Janna turned the bike sideways as she brought it to a stop, angling it so that Marco's missing left leg was hidden from view.

"Marco!" they heard Star excitedly yell.

"Hey, Sta- Oof!" Marco groaned as Star literally tackled him off the speeder, landing astride him on the ground with her arms desperately wrapped around him.

Almost instantly, Star felt better. No longer did she feel any effect of the Dark Side on her mind, and no anxiety whatsoever. "Marco...I'm so glad you're back," she said quietly, squeezing him so hard that poor Marco couldn't breathe.

"I...missed...you too...Star!" Marco gasped. He couldn't even hug her back because she had his arms pinned at his sides.

PY-HD, watching with interest, whistled mockingly.

Tom meanwhile strolled over to Janna, who was slumped over the speeder bike's handlebars in exhaustion. "I didn't expect to see you until you'd found something to salvage to fix the hull," he said. "What are you guys doing back? Why didn't you contact us?"

"I tried, but there was some kind of weird interference on the comm channel. As for why we came back..." Janna slowly turned her head to look at her two Jedi friends. Star was still clinging to Marco, her head nestled in beneath his chin. Her eyes were closed, and it didn't look like she had any intention of moving. Her long mane of blonde hair hid Marco's injury and blood-stained clothing. "Give it maybe another twenty seconds or so and you'll probably see why."

Tom frowned in confusion and looked over at Star and Marco, the latter of which was beginning to turn slightly blue in the face.

And then Star felt something sticky on her fingers. She opened her eyes and released Marco, holding up her hands to examine them. Her fingers were smeared with blood. Her eyes went wide with terror as she followed the sticky trails of congealed dark red liquid on the sleeves of Marco's hoodie, which she still wore.

"M-M-M-Marco!" She looked over him, spotting the edges of the blood stain on the sides of his gray shirt, and the red spot on the hem where Janna had wiped off his lightsaber. "Marco, why are you covered in blood?!"

She jumped off of him in panic and spotted his missing leg. She froze in surprise, her suddenly whirling mind unsure of how to react.

"Marco, your-!"

Behind Janna on the opposite side of the speeder bike, Tom fainted. "Lightweight," Janna chuckled to herself as she watched her copilot lying unconscious on the ground.

"Marco-!"

"It's okay, Star!" he quickly assured her. "I'm fine!"

"Fine?! You're missing a leg and you're covered in blood!"

Taking stock of the situation, Janna pulled herself off the bike as quickly as she could, crouching down beside Star and putting an arm around the Padawan. "Marco's okay, Star. He's not bleeding anymore, he just needs to be cleaned up and have his burns treated."

"B-b-but...his leg-!"

"I'll make him a new one, don't worry."

Star's mind was racing attempting to process what was going on. "Wha...what happened?"

Marco swallowed hard. "Well, Janna and I were split up at the time, and I can't actually remember."

Behind them, PY-HD was nudging Tom's unconscious body and making sarcastic-sounding bleeps and bloops that no one was paying any attention to.

"As near as I can figure it, he fell down an embankment that was at the mouth of a cave, cut his leg open on...something..." Janna's voice trailed off. She appeared deep in thought.

"Uh...you were saying?" Star coaxed.

"Oh, right. Sorry. He cut his leg open on something and must have hit his head a couple times on his way down, too, which is probably why he can't remember what happened. It looked to me like he was trying to cauterize the wound with his lightsaber and, I don't know, passed out or something and accidentally cut his lower leg off instead."

"But it stopped the blood from gushing out, so at least I didn't bleed to death," Marco added quickly.

"Oh, Marco..." Star gently touched the burned stump just below Marco's knee with her fingertips. "I can't believe this happened to you..."

"Yeah...neither can I." In an effort to try to relieve some of the tension in the air, he added, "I didn't even get to lose my leg in a cool way, like in duel with a Sith Lord or something. I did it to myself like an idiot!"

Star cracked a tiny smile. "You sure are." But I still love you...

Janna got to her feet. "C'mon. Help me get Stumpy here onto the ship so I can treat his burn and check out the rest of him."

"Oh, please don't start calling me that-"

"Yeah, good idea, Janna. Let's go."

Star helped Marco to a sitting position and then the girls each pulled one of Marco's arms around their shoulders, Star on the left and Janna on the right. They dragged the injured Padawan toward the boarding ramp of the Raventalon.

Star noticed Tom still laying unconscious on the ground as they passed the jump speeder. PY-HD was prodding him with one of its various attachments. "What about Tom?"

"He'll be fine, Pony's watching him."

"Okay," Star replied without a second thought.

They walked on past carrying their burden, but no sooner were they up the ramp, PY-HD lost interest in prodding at Tom and hurried back into the ship, hoping to return to its work on the navicomputer.

And Tom was left lying passed out on the ground.

Janna cut the end of the bandage off and applied an adhesive strip to hold it in place. "That oughta do it."

Marco looked down at what remained of his left leg. After he took a very difficult sitting-down shower to clean off all the dried blood and changed into some of Tom's spare clothes, Janna and Star had carefully cleaned the burn and applied a bacta gel before wrapping the end of his stump with a bandage to keep it clean.

Star slowly came closer to Marco as Janna stepped aside. He was propped up on several pillows in a half-sitting position. "How ya feeling, Marco?" she asked quietly, placing her hand on his arm.

"Um...weak. Very weak, and tired."

Janna called, "Well, you did lose a lot of blood," from the other side of Tom's cabin. She picked up her data pad. "Well, my medical scanning equipment isn't exactly top-of-the-line, but it looks like you're mostly okay. You do have a mild concussion, but nothing too serious."

"I can help with that!" Star said. "With my Force healing."

Janna nodded. "Good, because I honestly don't know how to treat a concussion."

Marco raised an eyebrow. "But you do know how to treat blaster wounds and accidentally amputated legs?"

She ignored him, tucking her datapad under her arm and heading for the door. "I'll leave you two alone so you can concentrate."

She started to leave, but stopped when she heard Marco call, "Hey, Janna?"

Captain Ordonia turned back to him. "Thank you. For everything. I...I really owe you one."

"You owe me at least three," Janna laughed. Then she gave Marco a friendly smile. "You're welcome, Marco." She pointed to the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go crash onto my bed and pass out."

"I think you've earned it, Janna," Star chuckled.

"'Night." And Janna left, closing the door behind her.

And so, the two Jedi Padawans were left alone. Their eyes drifted about, each bashfully avoiding the other until eventually, their gaze met.

"Uh, okay, Marco, let's, uh-"

"Star, I love you."

Star blinked in surprise. "What?"

I said it. I can't believe it,I said it. "I'm in love with you, Star." There it is. Out in the open now.

For several agonizingly long and intense seconds, the two best friends stared at each other, neither quite sure how to react.

And then Star slowly leaned down close to Marco's face, her brilliant blue eyes looking into Marco's soft brown ones with reverence and nervous anticipation.

Slowly and gently, she kissed him.

Marco's heart pounded what blood he had left in his veins, and he felt lightheaded. He didn't care. His hands rose from the bunk and took Star by the shoulders, and she in turn gently placed one hand behind his neck, drawing him to her.

Neither was sure how long the kiss lasted. It felt like both eternity and a brief passing moment at the same time. They didn't care. They were relieved. Relived the other reciprocated their affections, and relieved just to still be alive and together.

And for a second time, the marks on their cheeks, both visible and invisible, glowed. But, for a second time, neither noticed. Their eyes were closed, and, when they reluctantly ended the kiss, the glow instantly vanished.

Star released Marco, her mouth curved into the most joyous of grins. "I doubt you need me to actually say it, but...I love you, too, Marco."

"It feels good to say it, doesn't it?" Marco asked, his mouth curling into an involuntary grin as joyful tears began to slip from his eyes. "I love you, Star."

"It does, it feels so good! I love you, Marco!" Similar tears slipped down Star's cheeks as she kissed him again, harder this time, and more desperately.

"How long?" Star asked when they broke apart again. "How long have you felt like this?"

"I don't really even know when it started. But it's been a while. Over a standard year, probably."

"Really? Oh..." Star's thoughts raced in her mind. "You...you were willing to abandon the Jedi Order...for me..."

Marco nodded. "Yeah, I was..."

"Because...you love me..."

A nod was Marco's only response.

"Wow..." Star sat down on the edge of the bunk. "Why confess now, though?"

"Well, for one thing, Tom and Janna both figured out that you were in love with me."

"Tom figured it out, too?! Man, I really didn't think I was being that obvious."

"Plus I just almost bled to death...kinda put things in perspective, you know?"

"Yeah...toooootally."

For a few moments more, they did nothing but smile at each other, neither wanting the singular beautiful moment in the sea of catastrophe they'd been experiencing since the night of Order 66 on Coruscant to come to an end.

"Maybe we should...actually...do something about your concussion now, you know?" Star said slowly.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea," Marco chuckled. "What do you need me to do?"

"Um...sit up a second?" Star instructed. Marco propped himself up off the pillows he was leaning against, and Star slid them back closer to the top edge of the bunk. "Okay, lay back down."

He did so, his head landing squarely on the center of the pillows in a perfectly horizontal position, looking straight up at the ceiling. "How's that?"

"Perfect." She stood at the top end of the bunk so that the top of Marco's head was directly in front of her. His eyes shifted up as he looked upside down at her face.

"Hi," he said simply, grinning at her.

"Hi," she said in returned, involuntarily smiling back.

Once again, they just stared at each other affectionately, neither having anything to say. Eventually, though, Marco did say "Okay, so now what?"

"Oh, yeah, right. The, uh, Force healing," Star laughed nervously, having been so blissfully lost in Marco's eyes that she'd completely forgotten what they were doing. She held her palms flat, vertically on either side of Marco's head, just a few centimeters from his temples and focused her mind, feeling the inside of his skull with the Force and using it both to relieve the pressure on Marco's brain and influence the midichlorians within Marco to repair the damaged tissue. She slowly circled his head with her hands, the swirling currents of the Force inside Marco's head lulling him into a peaceful sleep.

When she finished, Marco was still sleeping peacefully. He's so cute when he's sleeping, Star thought. I should let him rest. He's been through a lot. She gently kissed him on the forehead and quietly left Tom's cabin, looking back at him longingly one last time before closing the door.

She wandered out into the galley hoping to find Janna, but Captain Ordonia wasn't there. "Oh. Right. Janna went to bed." With a sigh, Star collapsed into one of the seats around the small galley table, feeling drained from the concentration and mental effort of the Force-healing session.

A moment later, Tom walked in, brushing dust off of his jacket. "Hey, I just woke up outside on the ground and I don't really remember how I got there."

Star quickly sat up. "Tom! Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, I completely forgot you were out there!"

"It's cool," he said, trying to sound nonchalant. "But how did I end up out there? I remember running out there because Janna and Marco were coming, but then...?"

"Oh, uh, well, you noticed that Marco...wasn't entirely there, aaaaaannnnnd...you fainted when you saw it."

"'Wasn't entirely there'?"

"Yeah, Marco is missing a leg. Well, part of his leg."

Tom cringed. "Ohhhhh. Oh! Oh my gosh! Is he okay?"

"He...He will be. Janna said she could make him a prosthetic."

Tom slid into the seat beside her. "Oh, yeah, she totally can."

"Has she ever made a cybernetic prosthetic- Heh, that was fun to say- Has she ever made something like that before?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But, honestly, I've never seen Janna be incapable of doing something she says she can do. If she says she can make him a cybernetic prosthetic- You're right, that is fun! -then I have no doubt that she can."

Star smiled. "Yeah. Janna's awesome."

Tom raised a curious eyebrow. "You seem...different, Star. Ever since we landed on this rock, you've been jittery and nervous, but all of a sudden you seem more like yourself again."

Completely unaware until Tom pointed it out, Star suddenly realized that she no longer felt the presence of the Dark Side of the Force pressing down on her. The incessant feeling of death no longer plagued her mind, her anxiousness was gone, and she felt far more calm and at ease. "Huh...I...I don't sense all the darkness anymore."

"Really?"

"I don't know, it's weird. Maybe I, like, subconsciously figured out how to block it out? Yeah, that seems just logical enough to make sense."

"I honestly thought it was because Marco was here."

Star quickly looked away. Ohhhhh...that actually makes a lot of sense. "Yeah, I guess that may be, too," she said, trying to hide her blushing face from the demonicite. She stood up from the table. "I'm, uh, gonna go get the blood out of Marco's clothes for him," she said, suddenly very thankful to have an excuse to go be somewhere else.

"Oh, okay. I'm sure he'll really appreciate that."

"Yeahhhh, I'm sure he will. Uh...later."

Tom watched Star scamper out of the galley and sighed. "Yup. It's definitely because of Marco."

Janna and Marco slept for a long time, Star periodically checking in on her best friend throughout the night, wishing she could be there beside him, but resided herself to sleeping in the crew lounge so that she wouldn't disturb him. In the morning, Marco slowly roused from his slumber at the sound of the door to the cabin opening and rolled over to find Star standing over him. "Aren't you a pleasant sight to wake up to?" he said with a smile.

Star giggled. "How ya feeling this morning, Marco?"

"Pretty good, actually. I slept really, really well. Best night of sleep I've had since the night before the attack on the Jedi Temple."

"That's great! But how's the rest of you feel?"

Marco test-shifted his arms and one-and-a-half legs. "Pretty good."

"Good!"

They awkwardly stared at each other silently for a moment, both Padawans wondering if the other's feelings had changed following last night's occurrences.

"So, uh..." Marco began, sitting up on the bunk, "I know I got knocked upside the head. I'm hoping my memory isn't messed up. Last night, did we...?"

Star giggled and took his hand in hers. "Kiss?"

"Um...yeah," Marco nervously chuckled.

She nodded and smiled at him happily, hoping to convey that her feelings had not changed. "Yeah, Marco. We kissed."

Marco was not sure how to reply despite the involuntary smile his lips were curling into. "Oh...that's cool. Glad, uh...my memory isn't messed up." He was met with more giggles from Star, obviously finding his inability to put his thoughts into words amusing. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Did, um...did you want to-?"

"Do it again?"

"Yeah, that."

Marco was not given a chance to say anything further before Star's lips met his own. Her arms wrapped him in a tight hug, which he returned as best he could from his awkward position in bed. This was not the same kiss as those shared last night. This was a hard kiss, passionate, as the two best friends who had secretly loved one another for so long were finally able to physically express their affections for each other.

"USE TONGUE!"

Star leapt backwards and Marco about flew off the bunk. They looked toward the sound of the voice to find Janna leaning against the bulkhead in the open doorway, smiling smugly. "Good morning, lovebirds. I was wondering how much longer it would be before you two couldn't resist anymore."

"Janna! What are you doing?" Marco yelped. Beside him, Star was blushing nearly as red as Marco's hoodie, which she still currently wore over her blue dress.

Captain Ordonia shrugged. "You left the door open. Soooo...?"

"So what?" Star asked.

"How long has this been going on for?"

"Um...not even twelve hours yet?" Marco answered.

"Which one of you caved in and fessed up?"

"Janna-" Star began, but Janna held up a hand and cut her off.

"Which one?"

"Marco did." And the boy in question blushed.

Janna nodded. "I knew he would. Anyway, I'm gonna help Tom finish up with the engines, or rather, he's gonna help me because I can do the work way faster than he can, so we can get this baby flying again," she said, rapping her knuckles on the bulkhead. "Then we can get back to searching for stuff to fix the hull."

"'Kayyy," Star said, still embarrassed and hoping Janna would leave. "Sounds like a plan."

Janna winked at them. "Later, you two."

And she left. Star held up her hand and focused the Force on the the door control, depressing the button. A second later, the door to the cabin slid shut. Groaning in frustration, Star sat down on the edge of the bunk, covering her face and holding her head in her hands. "That was embarrassing."

"You can say that again."

Janna found Tom already down in the engine room, getting to work. He and Star had made good progress on repairing the sublight engines and there wasn't much left to do. The Demonicite was already inside the center engine, loosening a stubborn bolt with a hand wrench.

"Hey, Lucy, guess what?"

"Hey, Janna. What?"

"I just caught Star and Marco making out in your room."

There was a loud clanging sound and Tom yelped "Ow!"

"You okay in there?"

"Yeah, I'm good. The wrench slipped off." Tom's face suddenly appeared in the access hatch. "Were they really?"

"Totally. They finally fessed up."

"Took them long enough. Gee, I hope they don't do...you know...other things...in my bunk."

Janna laughed. "Dude, they literally just confessed their feelings to each other last night. I don't think they're anywhere near that point yet. Plus, Marco just had his leg cut off and also has a concussion, I don't think he's in condition for any kind of 'rigorous physical activity.'" She made air quote with her fingers.

"Right, right."

"Now get out of there and let me see what you've got going on." Janna helped Tom climb out of the engine through the open access hatch, and as he did, she asked, "Incidentally, what would you care if they did?"

"Uh, because it's my bunk!"

"Right, right."

They suddenly locked eyes, both noticing the same thing.

"Did we both just-?" Tom began.

"Use the same...?"

"Yeah. We did."

Janna blinked. "That was weird."

"Yeah, lets never do that again."

As Star was busily re-bandaging his leg after applying fresh bacta-gel to the burn, Marco gazed at his best friend, his heart having never felt so full.

Star noticed his stare and paused in her work. "You are giving me the dumbest grin I have ever seen," she said.

"I am?"

She laughed. "Yeah, you are." Star cut the end of the bandage off and secured the wrapping, stepping back to appreciate her handiwork. "Perfect. Now how about we check out that cute little head of yours again?"

"Aw, my head is cute?"

She came around behind him and affectionately stroked his dark brown hair. "Very."

"Do you want me to put my head back again?"

"No, I think keep it upright this time. Just hold still."

Once again, Star held her hands vertically on either side of Marco's head and focused on his cranium with the Force, influencing the midichlorians to restore the damage. As it had last night, the effect of the Force on his mind had a strong calming effect on Marco, and he began to lull into an almost trance-like state.

Then, after several minutes of extreme calm, Marco was hit with a sensation of extreme clarity, and memories came flooding back all at once.

"Star!" he yelped.

"What?!" Surprised by his sudden outburst, she took a hasty step backwards.

"I remember! I..." He turned his head around to look at Star, and she could see that all of the color had drained from his face. "I remember how I lost my leg."

"Marco...are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"...I did."

"Say what now?"

"I did see a ghost, Star. Like, a real, live...um...dead...ghost!"

Star came over and sat down on the edge of the bunk beside Marco. "Okay, I'm gonna need more than that."

"Janna and I made our camp for the night inside this structure we came across that turned out to be a tomb. In the middle of the night, I heard something calling to me, coming from inside the tomb. When I went to see what it was, this- Star, I swear, it was on fire. The ghost was on fire. Or it was made of fire. Or...something!" He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close to his face. "Star...it was the ghost of Darth Bane!"

"...Yeahhhh, I don't know who that is."

"Of course you don't." He released Star and went on. "Remember that one time when Master Fisto was poking fun at Master Yoda? And he did an imitation of Yoda's voice and said 'Always two there are, no more no less. A Master and an apprentice.'"

"Ha ha, yeah! That was funny!"

"It's called 'The Rule of Two.' Darth Bane was the ancient Sith Lord who established it. The Sith Empire fell because it's power-hungry members killed each other, and Bane was the last one alive. He created the Rule of Two to prevent it from happening again."

"And it was his ghost?"

"Yup."

"And what did...Darth Bane...say to you?"

"He...He asked if I wanted to be his apprentice. He said I'd be perfect because..." Marco fell silent, too afraid to continue.

"Because why?"

"Because..." Marco swallowed nervously. "Because I have a lot of darkness in me."

It was Star's turn to go pale. "Yeah, that's not what you wanna hear from the ghost of an ancient Sith Lord."

"No, it is not."

Star suddenly jumped. "Oh my gosh! We kissed! Can darkness be transmitted through oral contact?! Am I gonna be infected with the Dark Side now?!"

"What?" Marco was genuinely confused. "No, I don't think that's how it works, Star."

"Hang on, wait. What does this have to do with losing your leg?"

"Well, I was kind of terrified...you know, like, beyond all rational thought, so I ran away. I don't even think I was aware of what I was doing, my body was just running on autopilot. At some point, I fell over the edge of some embankment at the mouth of a cave and tumbled down, and from that point, Janna's guess about what happened to me is correct. Hit my head on the way down, something sharp caught my leg and cut it open, I was bleeding out, tried to use my lightsaber to cauterize it, lost consciousness. And then I guess dropped my lightsaber when I passed out and it cut my leg off."

For a moment, the cabin became eerily silent. Then Star said, "So...what exactly does that mean?"

Marco shook his head. "I have no idea. But now that I remember what Bane said to me...I wish I could forget it. It's really, really scary. I think he even said something like 'I can see into your future, it is pointless-' No. Um...Fruitless, that was it. Fruitless. What a weird word. 'It is fruitless to resist.'"

"Well...I mean...no future is set in stone, right? How reliably have any Force-users ever been able to predict the future?"

"Hmm...I see your point."

"Exactly. Besides, you're Marco Diaz, student of Kit Fisto! You aren't gonna let some dumb ol' dead guy tell you what your future holds! You are a Jedi, and you've always been the best Jedi you could be because you love being a Jedi!"

"A Jedi who is currently super-breaking the Jedi Code with his best friend who also happens to be a Jedi," Marco quipped.

Star shrugged. "Eh, nobody's perfect."

Marco's last statement had been meant as a joke, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. "What if...?"

"What?"

"What if...you're the reason the Dark Side is taking hold in me? Because I have emotional attachment to you?"

Star didn't have an answer to that question, but she suddenly felt like a rock had dropped into the pit of her stomach. "What would you do if it was the reason?"

Marco swallowed, fighting back tears. "I don't know. I've been in love with you now for so long...I don't think I could stop if I tried, especially now that I know you love me back."

Star took Marco's hand and tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Well...I'm sure you'll be fine, Marco. I'll be right here to help you."

Marco managed to return her smile, and she leaned down to kiss him once more.

"By the way," Star went on, "what actually happened to your leg after it was cut off?"

"Oh! I totally forgot about that part! When Janna found me, this giant monster came out of the cave and attacked us!"

"And it ate your leg?"

"No. Janna didn't have her blasters, so I gave her my lightsaber to fight it off. Star, you should have seen her. For someone who isn't Force-sensitive and had never held a lightsaber before, she fought brilliantly! I mean, you or I would still beat her in lightsaber combat, but against that beast, she was great!"

"Wow! Janna Banana, when will you cease to amaze me? I wish I could have seen that. But if the monster didn't eat your leg, what happened to it?"

"After Janna killed the monster, it's, uh...stomach split open...it started spilling out all this gross liquid..."

Star looked as sick as Marco felt.

"...and all these giant worms came out...I guess they were some sort of parasite?"

Star cupped her mouth with her hands. "Marco, please stop describing it."

"Hey, just imagine how I feel. I had to look at it."

"Good point."

"Well, Janna had to fight them off, too, and there were a lot, too many for her to keep track of all at once, and one of them ate my leg."

"That is so, so gross."

"Yeah, it definitely was."

Star sat back on the edge of the bunk. "So Janna fought with your lightsaber. That's pretty awesome."

"Yeah. If I'm being honest..." Marco looked rather embarrassed. "I kinda have a whole new respect for Janna. Not just because of her fighting skill, but because she was fighting to save me. And she mostly carried me out of that cave, and she rode all through the night to get back here to make sure I got proper medical attention..."

"I know she's teased you and given you a hard time for...well, pretty much as long as we've known her, but I've always told you that she likes you. I hope you realize now that I wasn't lying."

"Yeah...I do."

Star plopped down beside him, lying on her side and staring into his eyes. "But I like you more. Leg or no leg, Dark Side or no Dark Side, you'll always be my best friend." And she kissed Marco on the cheek. "Just don't start killing people like Anakin Skywalker did because that will significantly alter how much I love you."

"Yeah...lets hope it doesn't ever come to that."

Star laughed, and as they kissed again, the muffled whirring sound of the Raventalon's engines coming online echoed through the ship.

"What exactly is your plan here, Janna?" Marco asked.

Captain Ordonia flipped a toggle switch on the control panel as she guided the ship at a modestly slow pace just a hundred feet or so off the Moraband surface. "Something about that cave I found you in bothered me. The ground was too smooth, almost as if it had been ground down. And, when I tried to contact Tom on the comm, there was some kind of weird interference that was messing with the frequency. Plus, I never looked to see if I could find whatever you cut your leg on. All the rocks and mountains on this planet are super worn down, nothing is sharp, so I don't think it was a sharp rock."

"And what?" Tom said as he checked their location on the scanner. "You think whatever it is may be is worth going back to check out?"

Janna rolled her eyes. "Good detective skills, Tom."

Marco really didn't want to go back. He had no desire to relive the experience he had had down in that cave the first time. "Heh heh, oh, too bad I can't walk or I'd totally go down there with you," he said, not even making an attempt at sounding sincere.

Star playfully punched him in the shoulder from her seat beside him. "Don't worry, Marco. I'll go with Janna this time."

"You will?" Janna asked skeptically while still looking straight ahead to fly. "What happened to the constant presence of the Dark Side or whatever making you go crazy?"

"I was not going crazy! It was just making me extremely uncomfortable." She pulled Marco's hoodie around her slightly tighter. "But I'm feeling significantly better now."

"Alright. Cool."

A few minutes later, they reached the tomb of Darth Bane. Janna set the Raventalon down just beyond the end of the concourse that lead up to it.

"Let's go check this place out again!" Janna said excitedly as she stood up from the pilot's seat. She circled around behind where Marco sat on her way out of the cockpit, but stopped when she heard her name.

"Janna."

When she turned back, Marco was holding out his lightsaber to her.

"Here. Take this."

Janna was rather shocked that Marco would offer up his lightsaber to her voluntarily and outside of the immediate threat of danger. She was, in fact, rather touched. "Really?"

Marco nodded. "Just in case."

Hesitantly, as if she thought it might be a trick, Janna reached out and took hold of the hilt. Marco, however, did not let go right away. He looked her square in the eye, his expression suddenly hard. "Do not lose this," he said seriously.

"Don't worry, Marco. I won't let it out of my sight."

Marco released his weapon, and Janna clipped it to her belt just as he would. She gave him a friendly smile. No words were needed to communicate the message. Then she turned to Star. "Ready, Star?"

"Just a second." She leaned over closer to Marco. "See you soon, Marco," she said, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Bye, Star."

As the girls left, Tom called after them, "Be careful!"

"We will!" Star yelled back at the exact same time that Janna yelled "We won't!"