The only ship that had been left for Abeloth to use to escape that damned jungle world to which she had been imprisoned for untold millennia was the one that had the one Joiner, the Chadra-Fan Killik Joiner ThurVahk. All of the other vessels which had come to her—the Mandalorian ones, the Killik dartships—were destroyed or otherwise rendered useless by the avatars that she had created down on that prison world and the ones in orbit. No Killiks were left to assimilate as units of Abeloth's existence, as she had no desire to turn members of the species that had helped imprison her so unimaginably long ago into parts of her, while ThurVahk and the Mandalorians that he and those dreadful Killiks brought with them all became one with her.

Now, after that ship—a QUXR-90 light freighter known as the Nest Refuge—dropped out of hyperspace into the Almanian system, two of the avatars—ThurVahk and Seek Ryontarr—looked out through the vessel's forward viewport for the moon that held such promise to them: Pydyr. The other avatars in the passenger compartment saw through their eyes and, because of the fact that they were all Abeloth, shared in their anticipation for what they were about to bring to this moon.

I would not be so confident if I were you, the voice of Callista said in Abeloth's hive-mind; the human woman's tone was flat, giving no real indication as to what she thought of her immortal companion's ambitions and goals.

All of the avatars in the Refuge stiffened in place. Yes, we have not forgotten, Abeloth replied to Callista through the Force. What Jaina Solo must have seen in the Pool of Knowledge may be troubling for us. But that will not deter us; not after we have come so far.

You mean after you have come so far, Callista pointed out evenly.

The shared sneer on all of the avatars' faces matched the impatience in Abeloth's immense Force-presence. Do not forget that we are together in this, Callista. Because you gave me companionship when I had been alone for so long before, I allow you to remain as you are.

And for that, I am grateful, Callista said. Because I feel what you do to those you fully consume; it is horrifying.

Abeloth chuckled. You need not feel anything for these worthless creatures, Callista. The most glorious thing they could ever be in their lives is to be part of me.

I wish I could tell you differently, Callista said, but I know you would not listen.

And for that, I am glad that you will not waste anymore of my time with your pathetic Jedi moralizing, Abeloth responded. It grew tiresome even when we had nothing better to do on that prison world... Though I cannot help but wonder, would you rather the Jedi killed us, Callista? Would you rather have it be so that you were to die, too?

If I said yes, would you let my soul join the others where you have taken them? Callista asked.

You are too special for that, my dear, Abeloth answered. And besides, after what you had told me of your time as being part of the Eye of Palpatine, I could not in good conscience make you experience a pain greater than that, no matter what you say to me.

I'm glad to hear you still have some scruples, Callista responded sardonically; it only gave some depth to the flatness of her tone.

Thank you. Abeloth had completely missed the irony in Callista's statement. And, anyway, there is nothing you can do to stop me.

I am all too aware of that, Callista replied.

Indeed, Abeloth replied with some annoyance. Just as you would be all too aware that you cannot stop me from simply taking a few avatars that I will have created down on Pydyr to the Dagger of Mortis before Luke Skywalker, the Solo twins, or any other of their precious Jedi can get their hands on it.

Then I suppose all I can say, Callista said, since you basically guaranteed that I'm safe from the fate of the other souls you took, that I hope the Jedi find the Dagger first.

Abeloth's growl echoed from the mouths of her avatars. Nevertheless, she said nothing more to Callista, nor Callista to her, before her ThurVahk avatar piloted the Refuge toward the unguarded and unsuspecting Pydyr.

. . .

In between vain attempts at contacting Jaina through their twin bond, Jacen sat on his bunk in his quarters aboard the Solo Quest II looking at a holoimage of himself and his sister from when they were young. In it, they stood in a group pose with their dead brother Anakin and their closest friends: Zekk, Tenel Ka, Tahiri, and Lowie, all of whom—with the exception of Tenel Ka—were now dead. In the background, the Great Temple of Yavin 4 towered above them; while Jacen knew that it still stood, he felt like it might as well have been gone along with the rest of his childhood. And it had all been thanks to the Yuuzhan Vong and the lingering effects that their galactic invasion had, especially when it came to his friends and family.

While Jacen yearned to be back with Tenel Ka and their daughter Allana, what he wanted more now than ever was for everything to just turn back to the way things were; back when he and his siblings were just kids on Yavin 4, and their friends were all still alive and happy, even with the dangerous adventures they had when it came to organizations like the Shadow Academy. Yes, he had the ability to flow-walk, iffy though it was after Jaina's turn to the Sith, and he supposed he could go back to Yavin 4 after Abeloth and the Lost Tribe of the Sith were defeated and revisit some of those memories as if they were holorecordings.

But he knew they wouldn't be the same even if his flow-walking was as it used to be. If anything, he feared it would only make the pain in his heart even greater than it was now by reminding him of everything that he himself had lost. He doubted, too, that he could alter the past like he seemed to when Raynar Thul—also dead now—had seen him just shortly after the Tachyon Flier's crash on Yoggoy, or when Tahiri had seen him from the near past on Hlest, or when Jaina had seen him just after she killed Jagged Fel. At any rate, though, whatever the Force had allowed him to change or influence with flow-walking seemed to be gone now, and he had a feeling that it had nothing to do with whatever affected his esoteric powers after Jaina renounced the ways of the Jedi.

Jacen was, by all means, grateful that he still had Tenel Ka, Allana, his parents, and Uncle Luke, but everyone else, including Jaina who was still alive, was gone from his life and could never come back... or, in Jaina's case, not as they were, anyway.

Jaina, who tried to atone for her crimes as a Sith Lord, only to revert to being the selfish narcissist that she had become. He didn't think his heart could be any more broken after he learned that she committed those massacres on Coruscant and the Errant Venture, but, somehow, he did. And while he wanted to be glad that she didn't fully go back to being Darth Judicar, the fact that she abandoned him, Luke, and the rest of the Jedi Order when Abeloth was on the loose did nothing to alleviate his mind.

Jacen was jolted from his thoughts when he heard a knock on his door. He opened himself more fully to the Force to sense that Luke was outside.

"Come in," Jacen said.

The door slid aside to admit Luke. When he stepped inside, he stopped and asked, "May I have a seat?" He waved to the spot on the bunk that was available to Jacen's left.

The Jedi Knight nodded. "You may, Master Skywalker."

When Luke took his seat, he sighed and said, "I suppose we have a lot to talk about."

"Yes, we do," Jacen said with restrained emotion; the memory of his attempt to kill him and Jaina—not to mention slapping him in the Quest's galley—was still fresh in his mind.

Luke hesitated. "I don't know if you would accept my apology for my actions. It was unbecoming of me as both the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and as an uncle. I feel ashamed of myself for that and for allowing myself to get so emotionally invested in my last discussion with Jaina. I am sorry, Jacen."

The Knight looked away in thought. "I want to accept your apology, Uncle Luke. I want to forgive you. And I understand completely why you said what you said to Jaina." Then Jacen looked back at him with a repressed frown. "But right now, I'm having a hard time just looking at you."

Luke looked downcast for a moment. However, that expression faded quickly before he asked, "Will this affect our working relationship as Master and Knight going forward, Jedi Solo?"

"As long as you don't attack me for no good reason, Master Skywalker, I will follow your orders," Jacen replied more professionally, "just as I did on Sinkhole Station and beyond shadows."

"Then I have some questions for you."

Jacen nodded.

"Why didn't you come to my aid when Abeloth was fleeing from us?"

"Because I had to stop Jaina from looking into the Pool of Knowledge."

"The Pool of Knowledge?"

"It's a... the best way I can describe it is that it's a metaphysical pool beyond shadows that, when you look into it, you'll be bombarded by great knowledge. Some wonderful, some terrible."

"Why didn't you tell me of this, Jedi Solo?"

"I was honestly hoping we wouldn't have to use it when we went Mind Walking. I was hoping we would be able to find out about the Dagger of Mortis' location some other way. What that way could have been, I don't know, and I thought that when we spoke to my grandfather-"

"What is so wrong about looking into this Pool of Knowledge?"

Jacen's lips firmed. "Always in motion is the future was what Master Yoda told you, Master Skywalker. So that was my mindset when I looked into the Pool during my sojourn throughout the galaxy. And there I had seen..."

"What, Jedi Solo? What did you see?"

"I saw Jaina... leading a horde of Sith through the Jedi Temple; I think it might have been the one on Ossus, though. She had a red lightsaber and she looked like Darth Judicar."

Luke looked aghast. "You had this vision and you told no one about it before now?" he asked with disgust.

Jacen closed his eyes against the feeling of tears streaming from them as he looked away from Luke again. "I didn't want to believe it, Uncle Luke. I didn't want to believe that Jaina could be capable of such evil. So I kept it to myself and I forgot all about it; I disregarded it as only a possible future, no more likely than if you were to rejoin the dark side and eliminate the Order yourself. And even when Jaina was turning, I still didn't think that she could become what she ultimately became."

He tore his eyes open and looked into Luke's grave face. "But you know as well as I do, Uncle Luke, that what I saw didn't come to pass, not really. Jaina never led any Sith invasion on the Temple, and it wasn't on Ossus. So, in a way, we were able to stop it from happening."

"Did we really, Jacen? Did we really?" Luke asked as he stood up to tower over him. "Jaina may not have led an invasion of the Jedi Temple, but you know what happened? She helped the Lost Tribe of the Sith get off of Kesh, and even after she betrayed them, they still mounted an invasion that cost many Jedi their lives and took my son into their hold! So, in a way, Jacen, what you saw came to pass anyway!"

"I'm so sorry, Uncle Luke," Jacen said as he bowed his head; a part of him thought that it was surreal that, not a few minutes ago, Luke came to him to apologize for his actions when they were aboard this ship with Jaina. Now that he was the one apologizing, Jacen couldn't help but feel powerless against the man who had lost his temper on him. "I'm so sorry! I-"

"Enough!" Luke shouted.

Jacen fell still and kept his eyes to the floor.

Then Luke leaned forward to whisper, "When this is all over, Jacen, and Jaina is back in our custody, you will tell her everything. You will tell your parents this. And when they have been properly informed, I will come with to return beyond shadows and you will tell Mara about this. You owe her that much. And when Ben is old enough, you will tell him, too."

"Yes, Master Skywalker," Jacen croaked. "I will."

Luke said nothing more before he stood back up to his full height, turned around, and left Jacen alone in his quarters to mull over his shame.

. . .

"How's Ben?" Han asked from the Millennium Falcon's pilot seat as his wife entered the cockpit.

"Still wants to be alone," Leia answered as she sat herself back down into the copilot seat. "Not much progress with his soul-searching. At least he's eating now."

"Guess that's the best we could hope for," Han remarked as he looked out the forward viewport at the flash of hyperspace going by.

"How long until we're finally out of the Peshvit Nebula?" Leia asked.

"Couple more hours, give or take," Han answered. "I wonder if Felds and the other Knights are gettin' antsy about us."

"If they are, they won't let us know about it. They're all too good as Jedi to let that show."

Han nodded. "Well, at least Bwua'tu will have some decent recon data about the Sith's presence in this nebula."

"Of course, that's assuming the Sith won't just move again," Leia pointed out.

"Yeah, they wouldn't be stupid enough to just stay there after we got away," Han agreed. "Surprised none o' their ships came after us, though. I mean, at this point, they'd know this nebula better than us."

"They're probably thinking about what to do and where to scatter now that someone outside their group knows they're there," Leia postulated.

"Hopefully, they won't get too far before whatever fleet Bwua'tu sends after 'em intercepts 'em," Han said.

Leia nodded, and for the next two hours, they made idle small talk until they dropped out of hyperspace several light years outside of the Peshvit Nebula.

Hovering in an empty star system, Han brought up Admiral Bwua'tu's comm number and input it into one of the Falcon's cockpit consoles. He and Leia waited a few minutes before the Bothan's shockingly dishevelled and disturbed visage appeared via hologram before them.

"Captain Solo, Princess Leia!" Bwua'tu practically shouted. "Now's not a good time to call!"

"Why, what's going on, Admiral?" Leia asked worriedly.

"The Yuuzhan Vong are invading the Corellian system!" Bwua'tu exclaimed. "They've already destroyed several of our ships! We can barely-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, the Yuuzhan Vong?" Han asked. "What are you talkin' about, Bwua'tu? The last of the Vong were exiled into the Unknown Regions years ago."

"Well, they're here now!" Bwua'tu replied. "Just look up the HoloNet!" Then the connection ended on his part.

Han and Leia shared a worried look before they turned back to face the viewport. The former then connected the Falcon to the HoloNet, as Bwua'tu suggested, and they looked up the news on the Corellian system.

Indeed, there was a battle going on, as reported by the system's local news teams. However, instead of a fight going on between Galactic Alliance and Yuuzhan Vong forces, it was, instead, being fought among the GA and Corellian sides, and not necessarily just between them; it seemed like it was a free fire between both groups of ships.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Han asked, not really expecting an answer from Leia.

"I think we need to investigate this, Han," Leia said.

"Agreed," he replied. "Try to contact the Horn siblings. Maybe they'll know something about this."

A few minutes later, Leia turned back to Han and said, "I'm not gettin' anything. Neither nor Valin nor Jysella are responding."

"Then it looks like we'll have to look into it ourselves," he said with determination.

"What about Ben, Han? We just got him out of danger, we can't just put him back into it!"

Han sighed. "You're right. We'll have to take him back to Shedu Maad and then get whatever Jedi are left there to head to the Corellian system."

Leia turned her attention back to the news playing over the Falcon's dashboard. "I don't know if we can get to the bottom of this. Not after what Bwua'tu told us."

"We'll see," Han said before he plunged his ship back into hyperspace.