Chapter 7

Ari reached out for Luke through the Force. It wasn't as easy as if he was in the next room, but they had practice with it over the years.

Luke

What is it? Did you find something?

In a way. We had a message from someone who was considering sending her daughter to the Jedi. I had a feeling to contact her and it turns out that a male wearing dark robes and a lightsaber took her daughter.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Though Ari could have read his thoughts, she tried to never do that. The same as the one that took ours?

I think so. Which means it isn't just wanting our children.

Force sensitive children are being taken he finished for her.

I am coming up with many scenarios as to why, but I want all of them to be wrong Ari admitted.

We aren't sure of anything yet. We have some children at the Temple on Yavin 4 though. We might want to bring them here. I would feel better about it.

I agree. I will contact them right away.

Okay. I will see you soon, Ari.

May the Force be with you, Luke.

Ari sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"Talking to Skywalker?"

Ari nodded. "He thinks we should bring all of the children from Yavin here and I agree. If someone is taking Force sensitive children, they would be the perfect candidates. We can guard them better here."

"There are Knights with them," Mara pointed out.

"I know and they are very capable, but it would help to have everyone together."

"Some of the knights will be arriving soon to help," Mara reminded her.

"There are still others there," Ari reminded her as she contacted one of the knights. The knight didn't answer, so she recorded a message to be contacted right away. Then, she tried another knight. The same thing happened and she frowned.

"I would have thought one of them would have answered."

Ari could tell something was wrong. It was a feeling that caused dread to form. It was also a feeling she had been experiencing too much lately. She looked at Mara, who seemed to realize what Ari was thinking.

"They couldn't have gotten there so fast," Mara protests. "They couldn't have."

Ari didn't answer. Instead, she sent out an emergency call to them. It went to the communicators of all the knights, insisting it was an emergency that they had to contact the being sending the message right away.

She took a deep breath and let it out. "We can't help there. We can only wait. I will give them a few minutes to contact me back."

"And then?" Mara prompted.

"We'll see. I want to see if any others have had kidnappings. If they found other Force sensitive children, perhaps they are looking for more or they have already gotten them."

"Do you know how large the galaxy is? How many kidnappings there must have been?" Mara countered.

"Start with searches with the Core Worlds. Pantora is very close."

Mara nodded and both turned to the task, though they could both feel the tension in the room, wondering when they would hear from those still on Yavin 4. It was only a few minutes, though it felt like hours when Mara spoke up. "I found one."

Looking at records from Corellia, she saw that two different children were kidnapped from their homes during the night less than a standard week ago. No one had seen anything and the brief security footage found showed a being in a dark robe.

"That's got to be him," Ari said. "And that is two more. How many children have they taken from their homes?"

"That number could be large. And after the destruction of the new Temple, it means they are not afraid to be found now."

Ari nodded in agreement. Mara was right. Her mind was racing, thinking about any many children they could have taken.

"We have had trouble finding Force sensitives," Ari said. "How could they?"

Mara shrugged. "I don't know. But I am sure there are some Force sensitives whose parents don't want them to be Jedi. Or they might not even realize what they are capable of doing."

There had been a few who Ari met on her journey who were Force sensitive and hadn't noticed they were different. It just made their reflexes faster or they would get 'feelings' about certain situations.

Mara looked back at the screen and was about to say something when the comm link chirped. Ari gave a sigh of relief, noticing the coordinates were from the Temple on Yavin. Yet, something told her to be prepared for bad news.

The video connected and she saw one of the Jedi Knights, Rotarin Tampra. Her black hair was in disarray and her dark skin was covered in white dust.

"Ro?" Ari dropped all types formalities. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"Your warning came too late. Master Skywalker contacted us to tell us what happened and we had a feeling that we might be next. They didn't destroy the temple though. They were looking for the younglings."

A title they had learned about from Taylor and Siri's teachings years ago.

"What happened?"

"They were droids, not people. A ship came out of hyperspace and before we could contact it, there were droids everywhere. They were armed with lasers, normal and those that would stun. Some held pods between them. We all fought but…they got away with three."

Ari stopped herself from cursing. Three of their students were taken. It was getting even more vital that they stop everyone now. "Who?"

"Ganiv, Birnil and Onimair."

Ari sighed deeply. "And injuries? Any lives lost?"

"Minor injuries. We did the best we could but there were too many. And as soon as the droids were about to be destroyed, they would self-destruct so we couldn't reprogram them."

Even more bad news, which meant the being or beings they were dealing with were very smart. "Well, bring what you can. Maybe we can figure out something to do with the pieces."

"You still want us to come?"

"Yes. Bring everyone, even droids. Do what is necessary. Also, being the archives there and the holocrons, everything. We won't leave for good, but we should all be together. We can help one another and protect the children.

"What about-" the Jedi Knight was about to ask about the children that were taken and Ari was quick to speak up.

"Don't worry. We are going to find them. We will get them back. Just do what you have to do so you can all get to Coruscant safely."

"We will. May the Force be with you."

After the video faded, Ari dropped her head into her hands with a groan, letting the calm exterior slip away.

"So now what?" Mara asked.

"I don't know," Ari admitted. "We're supposed to have the answers, but I don't have any, except to know that we are dealing with smart adversaries. And I have a bad feeling about it." The Dark Side user talked about not yet born Skywalker twins joining them. There was no idea who or what might be 'them', but Ari knew it was the Dark Side.

Dark side versus light side. Light side were the Jedi and the dark side were the Sith or those that followed the Sith teaching.

"Could the Sith be back? And could they be taking our children to train them?" Ari asked Mara. The former Emperor's hand might know, though it had been years since she had turned her back on her old life.

"Sith or Dark Jedi," she said. "No guarantee one way or another. But I think they will try to turn the children into Dark Side users and if that happens…I fear for the galaxy."