The Rebel ship had made base by orbiting around a local planet, Mansur. The Masuriens were a secretive race with humaniod bodies, clear skin, and varying (and rather unique) powers of sorts. If they would but cooperate with other beings, they would make powerful allies.

"Luke's out there, Han! I know it! I can sense him!"

The command room was silent.

"Can you sense exactly where he is, Leia? We don't have any more time to search for him. People need us. Coruscant has summoned us. There are rumors of a new sith. Luke would want us to go."

Leia's shoulders sagged and Han gently embraced her. "But I can't just leave him, Han... He's my brother..."

"I know, Leia. And we won't give up. That sense of yours, does it tell you Luke's okay?"

Leia nodded.

"Good, then let's make our way to Coruscant, handle the problem there, then we can come back... Besides, there's not much that that kid can't handle on his own..."

Leia turned around to face the ship officers. "Break orbit around Mansur. Set course for Coruscant."

Luke sat up on his pallet. Hateya was sitting in a corner, reading by candle-light. She looked up at the moon. It's barely past midnight... "What is it, Luke?"

Luke took a deep breath. "I sense a disturbance in the Force..." And I'm sure that Leia would've gone after it... Good.

"What kind of disturbance? Is it the Emperor?"

"I know all of you are having a hard time accepting it, but the Emperor is dead--of that I am certain. No... this feels different..." I hope Leia, Han, Tuari, and everyone else will be alright... Luke gave Hayeta a meek smile. "Everything's alright." He laid back down and went back to sleep. But it was a restless doze. At dawn, Luke rose out of bed and walked out to the grounds, staring off to the east until most of the other prisoners were awake.

"Luke...?"

Luke turned around. "Oh, good morning Hayeta."

"Here, thought you'd like something to eat." She handed him a bowl.

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

"What are you doing?"

"Just thinking."

"About your life... out there?"

Luke nodded. "My friends and family... Leia, Han, Tuari--my padawan..." Luke shook his head.

Hateya furrowed her brow at hearing the definately feminine name 'Leia', but let the expression fade in moments, before Luke could even see it. "I feel you using the Force."

Luke smiled. "Trying to focus the Force within me. It's good for control."

Hateya scrunched her nose, but shrugged. After a while, she spoke again, "I thought you would like to know that today is wash day, and to warn you that there's not much privacy. There is a screen, you undress behind it, they dump water on you, you wash with sandsoap, they dump more water on you, you rinse, they let you put on your trousers, then you leave from behind the screen and proceed to get fully dressed."

"Thanks for the warning."

Luke stepped from behind the screen and re-attached his false right hand. Everyone was staring at him. "What?"

Eron stepped forward. "Your body... It's covered in scars... And your hand..."

"I've been in many battles." Luke shrugged on his shirt and left to stand on the grounds and stare out into the east.

Hateya stepped up next to him. "Even when we were tending to your injuries, we did not see the extent of how scarred you were." After a pause, she asked, "How did you loose it? I mean, your right hand?"

"Vader."

"Your own father--!"

"I said Vader, not Anakin."

"But..."

"They may have shared a body, but their minds were lightyears apart."

Several others joined Luke by the gate facing east. Eron cleared his throat. "We heard you felt a disturbance... In the Force."

"Yes. A strong one."

"Anywhere near?"

"No, but it is not to be shrugged off."

Buthain, a human man and one of Eron's friends, snorted, "Then we won't have to worry about it. It's not like we're getting off this forsaken planet."

Luke allowed himself a faint smile. "I've been in worse..." He turned around to see a crowd starting to gather around a guarded trap door. "What's that?"

"That would be The Pit--for long-term isolation." Hateya grinned. "They must be letting Ezhno out."

Minutes later, Ezhno surfaced and was set free of the confines of the pit. Many people patted him on the back, or cheered, or spoke words of encouragement to him as he slowly, and calmly, made his way from the pit and towards Alden, who was now standing to Luke's left. His red, white, and complexion and the horns growing out of his head told Luke that he was a Togruta. NOTE: picture: http/en. (this is a female togruta, but u get the general idea

Ezhno spared Luke a respectful nod, asking Alden who the newcomer was with the questioning look in his eyes.

Alden nodded to him. "How are you."

"Well."

"This is Luke. Luke Skywalker."

"Son of Anakin?" he asked Luke.

"Yes."

Ezhno nodded. "You look like him, and your mother."

"So I've been told."

"What are you doing here?"

"My starfighter crash-landed here, and for now, I'm stuck." Over lunch, practically the entire camp took the liberty of telling Ezhno absolutely everything they had learned about Luke or seen him do.

Ezhno merely nodded again after all had been told--and after Luke had set all the facts straight. "Then you are one of the disturbances in the Force I felt. There were two others, one about the same time as when I felt you. The person felt very much like you."

"It was probably Leia. I may have mentioned her to you before, Hateya."

"You did."

Luke caught a hint of disdain in her voice and forced himself not to laugh, but a slight grin did escape him. "She's my twin sister."

Hateya arched her brow. "Your sister? You never mentioned that?"

"You never asked."

"You said her name with such passion and longing... I never considered a sibling..." Hateya flushed slightly, then cleared her throat. "I was raised never to meddle in the affairs of others."

Ezhno cut in. "Then she is strong in the Force?"

"Very strong; she just doesn't know it quite yet. What about this other disturbance?"

"Much darker, and much farther away."

This time, Luke nodded. "I have sensed that one, too. A new sith." Luke turned to face Ezhno directly. "You felt it when the Emperor was killed, didn't you?"

"Yes." He motioned to the distant, more deserted, part of the grounds. "Shall we walk?"

Luke nodded and the two headed off apart from everyone else. "No one else here is really strong in the Force, are they?"

"No, not compared to you and me. But, then again, we are both extremely powerful, you even moreso. Tis not fair for us to compair them to me and especially you."

"They are all decent with a lightsaber, though."

"That they are." For the first time since Luke had met him, Ezhno smiled. "So when are you planning on escaping?"

"What?"

"Do not think that I am unable to sense what you are doing."

"It's a rough plan right now. I haven't really worked it out yet."

"When you do, I will be ready to help. But it must be swift and sudden if we are to succeed. Until then, try not to attract unnecessary attention to your already vast skills. What you did with the lightsaber is alright; it proves your abilities to the others. But refrain from doing much more than that."

"Understood."

hey, everyone. i was wondering if u could review and let me know how you like it thus far. thnx!