Captain Rotok saw Emperor Suoidis walk by. Rotok left the stormtrooper he was talking to and tapped Suoidis on the shoulder. The Emperor spun around.

"Yes, captain?" he asked.

"Hello, Emperor," Rotok began. He looked down at the odd-looking lightsaber hilt hanging on Suoidis' belt. He had been wondering what had caused Epon's injuries. "I was wondering… are you good with a lightsaber?"

"No," Suoidis said. "I have not used my lightsaber in years. The Force is my weapon." He then turned and walked away.

"I see." Rotok said to no one.

…………………………………………………………….

Luke's X-Wing shot through space.

"Alright R2, here's the plan," Luke began. "We're going to stop at every major planet we can. I'm going to use the Force to find any Force-sensitive beings on each planet. Our last destination is going to be Tatooine." R2 beeped in acknowledgement, and the X-Wing jumped to lightspeed.

…………………………………………………………….

In his throne room, through the Force, Suoidis felt that Luke Skywalker had begun his search for him. This was good. Suoidis wanted Luke to find him…

So that the New Emperor could destroy him. To get revenge for Luke's destruction of the Sith by bringing the last Sith, Darth Vader, back to the light.

Suoidis raised his comlink.

"Captain?" he asked. A muffled voice came over the comlink.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Send the new 501st legion to Rodistran." Suoidis ordered. "Tell them to bring Luke Skywalker to me once they find him."

"Right away, my lord." Rotok's muffled voice said, and the transmission ended.

…………………………………………………………….

Luke's X-Wing came out of lightspeed.

"There's our first planet, R2. Rodistran." Luke said as a glum-looking planet came into view. "We have to be careful there, the planet's full of drunks and gamblers, OK?"

R2D2 beeped a reply.

"Good." Luke said, and they sped up.

…………………………………………………………….

After seeing the darkness of space for so long, the bright casino lights of Rodistran hurt Luke's eyes, and apparently R2's photoreceptors. The little droid crashed into three men in a row.

When people saw the lightsaber hilt hanging from Luke's belt, they either avoided him or gave him dirty looks. A Jedi on Rodistran meant a law enforcer.

Luke wasn't so calm, either. The Mos Eisley cantina had been bad enough. This place was worse than the cantina.

Much worse.

There were fights in every store and street corner. Drunks lay asleep on the ground. Buildings were engulfed in flames and nobody cared. Crashed speeders lay abandoned on sidewalks.

With every step Luke wondered why he had thought Force-sensitive beings would be here.

Suddenly there came a loud applause from and old, run-down building. Luke turned to the building and walked inside it to see what was going on. R2 followed closely.

It turned out that there was a hypnotism show going on inside the building. A dazed looking alien was just leaving the stage at the front of the huge room.

"Anyone else?" called a man in ragged, old robes. Luke realized that that man was the hypnotist.

Several shouts erupted from the crowd, all asking to be the next assistant. The hypnotist picked one alien, a Rodian, and the excited being ran up to the stage, only to be shot in the back. The shooter then ran up to the stage and took his victim's place.

"I am going to make this man," the hypnotist shouted to the anxious crowd. "Think that he is podracing!" The crowd roared and cheered. It then silenced as the hypnotist began.

Luke, interested, watched the hypnotist closely…

And then the hypnotist lifted his hand toward his new assistant and waved it.

Where had Luke seen that hand motion before? Memories flashed through his head… his father's redemption, Palpatine's attack, Jabba's palace, the Cloud City duel, meeting Yoda, the Battle of Yavin, saving Leia from Vader, Obi-Wan mind-tricking the stormtroopers…

That was it! Obi-Wan had used that hand-motion to use the Force!

Which had to mean…

Luke searched through the Force, and indeed, the hypnotist was using the Force! Luke used the Force to see if the hypnotist was using the Dark Side…

Not the Dark Side, but the Force-presence inside of the hypnotist was mad. Mad enough to create a Force Shadow…

Luke ignited his lightsaber and the entire crowd screamed.