Chapter 9

Ari knew that it had only been a few minutes, but it felt like ages passed before Luke, Lando, Chewie, Taylor and Luke returned. They all looked tired, even Luke. There was no need to ask if they had found any leads. Their expressions told everything.

Han went over and hugged Leia. The Princess without a planet had always seemed to calm and collected, even after everything she bad been though. Now, she looked defeated. Ari knew that how felt. With her own children missing, she knew that each minute they were gone, they might be taken further away or something horrible might be happening to them.

Luke came over and pulled her close. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They had overcome so much. Yet, like this, it made her think about the cool desert nights, when they used to lay up and look at the stars. Something about a simple hug reminded her of those times as well as all they had faced to get to the exact moment they were now all attempting to fix. Luke kissed the top of her head.

Ari felt little arms wrap around her and without opening her eyes, she pulled Ben closer. She would not give up, no matter what. Not just for the lives of her children, who she was determined to rescue, but for their future too.

I heard we have another threat. The First Order? Luke spoke to her through the Force.

Yes. Ari couldn't stop herself from sighing. Another threat, though she seems to think this might be credible.

He gave a small nod before letting her go. Then he turned to Ben. "Hey, remember how I showed you how to clean Artoo?"

Ben looked up at his father and nodded.

"Well, you are old enough to do it. The adults have some things to do, but maybe you can help Artoo."

Ben seemed surprised by this request. "By myself?"

Luke nodded. "Maybe you can get your cousin to help. You can show him how to do it."

Ben looked pleased, but also a bit hesitant. "You aren't going far away?"

"No," Luke assured him. "Still in the apartment."

Ben seemed to accept this and walked over to Anakin.

"Are you sure Artoo can handle their attention?" Ari tried to tease.

"I think so. I don't want them to see whatever we are about to see."

Ari nodded and they went over to the other. They were talking quietly about the places that Luke, Lando, Han, Taylor and Chewie had investigated. Han still had some connections, but none of his informants had the necessary information.

Leia went to the holoplayer and motioned for everyone to step around. "This was encrypted but we managed to crack it. They are a group that calls themselves the First Order. We didn't think we had to worry too much about them at first. There have been at least have a dozen groups that have tried to bring back the Empire and they never even get close to succeeding. However, we have learned that the First Order might be the worst of these threats so far.

She played the video and the image was scrambled at first. Then it cleared up to show people marching in unison in white armor. It made Ari's heart jump into her throat. Though they were a little different, it was clear this armor was made to look like stormtrooper armor. It was new and shining white. Ari couldn't tell how many people were there, but it was clearly a large number. Hundreds, she was sure. Then the video changed to a human male with red hair, dressed in a black uniform. There was no sound, so they couldn't hear what he was saying, but it was apparently quite worked up. He seemed to be yelling because he was so passionate.

"Wait, pause it," Ari said, noticing something. The video was paused and Ari reached over, forcing the video to rewind a little. Then she pointed. There was another being who appeared to be standing in the shadows, behind the man with red hair. The being's face was obscured by the hood of their cloak, which was black. Ari did notice the belt though and she was almost certain that the only item there was the hilt of a lightsaber.

"Not a Jedi?" Han asked.

"Most likely a Sith," Luke murmured.

"He might have been the one there during the kidnappings," Ari said. She wasn't certain, but she had a feeling that was the case.

"That is worrisome," Leia said. "Let's see what else there might be." She played the video again.

This time the video showed a large planet, but it didn't look normal. It looked like someone had taken a planet and created a trench that went around a large part of the middle. There also appeared to be a large orange hole as if something was burning there.

The only thing that could be seen was this planet and a single small moon.

"I don't recognize the planet," Taylor spoke up and the rest of the shook their heads. They had not heard of a planet being changed that much.

Suddenly, there was a beam from the hole in the planet. The light was no longer just orange. It seemed red in color and even from the distance of this video, it was obviously much brighter and quite intense.

This beam of light, which turned out to be energy, reached the moon. It seemed to engulf the small moon and then in a flash of red, the moon seemed to explode. One moment, there was a moon and the next, just pieces of rock flying through space. No one spoke as the video faded to black.

Leia looked pale as she turned off the video and when she finally spoke, she said what they were all thinking. "They created another Death Star."