The first stop on the Jade Shadow's search for Ben was the Hapan world of Andalia, home of the callously Jedi-hating Ducha Lorangal.
"I hope you have the fake transponder ready, Uncle Luke," Jacen said from the copilot seat.
"Oh, it's already generating a fake identity for the Shadow, Jacen," Luke said from the pilot seat as he and his nephew waited for Andalia's Orbital Control to contact them. "So don't worry."
"I'm not too worried about entering Andalia," Jacen said. "I'm worried about getting caught down there. Even Allana's influence won't be able to help us here."
"I haven't forgotten," Luke replied evenly. Although Lorangal tolerated, at best, having had three Force-sensitive women on the throne of Hapes, she made it very clear to Allana in one of their previous holocomm discussions that she would never allow any Jedi or any other Force-sensitive on her world.
And if any were caught, they would be hunted down and killed; and if the Queen Mother had a problem with that, she was more than welcome to address her concerns to her and conduct an official investigation into any and all disappearances of Jedi who just so happened to be on Andalia.
Thankfully, just as Allana had once told Jacen about all of this information, she also told him that, so far, there had been no reason to investigate Andalia; no Jedi had ever been there since before Allana's grandmother Tenenial Djo ruled the Consortium.
Jacen only hoped that neither he nor Luke would be the first Jedi during a Force-sensitive's rule of Hapes to die on Andalia.
It didn't take too long before the Shadow, under a false identity, was cleared through Orbital Control. With that, Luke piloted the ship down through Andalia's atmosphere and had it docked at the designated spaceport.
By the time Luke and Jacen disembarked, they had already been fitted with prosthetics that matched with the I.D. badges that they presented to customs. Luke had had his hair dyed black, his cheeks had been made to appear as if they had been raised, and he had green eyes in the guise of Kram Milla. Jacen, meanwhile, had his cheeks appeared lower, his hair was dyed a light red, and his eyes were a healthy shade of blue to match the identity of Nesjah Kleas. Naturally, both men wore plain civilian clothing instead of their traditional Jedi robes.
As for their lightsabers, which they both intended to have on their persons at all times, Luke and Jacen had them hidden within the folds of their trousers. And it took Luke's skill with projecting a Fallanassi illusion to trick both the agents who inspected their identities and the security cams into making it appear that neither he nor his disguised nephew had noticeable cylindrical bulges in the backs of their pants.
Once they cleared the spaceport and were out in the streets of Andalia's capital city of Pledos, Luke and Jacen walked side by side as they headed to the last known location of the cargo vessel that had taken Ben: an herbs-producing warehouse that was in walking distance from Pledos's spaceport.
During their walk, Jacen said, "Uncle Luke, I'm sorry."
"For what?" Luke looked genuinely confused.
"For not looking after Ben like I should have," Jacen answered.
"It wasn't your fault, Jacen," Luke replied evenly. "Ben made his own decisions. And it was clear he was actively disobeying you by being with that girl and not telling you or me about her. If anything, it's my fault for having forced him to go with you on the pretense of looking after Allana and helping Hapes recover from the Infestation. I'd thought that he would have moved past his hatred for Caedus and embraced you as his real cousin."
"So did I," Jacen said. "We should have given him more time. Time away from me, I mean."
"Maybe we should have," Luke agreed. "But what's done is done. And we can only hope that wherever Ben is, he's safe and we can take him back. That's all we can do now, so let's keep ourselves focused, Jacen."
"Yes, sir," Jacen said.
The two of them remained silent for several more steps before they both stopped in their tracks and seized up at the sudden feeling of dark side energy coming from nearby. It took both Luke and Jacen a moment to pinpoint the source of that energy to an alley across the street to their left.
And lurking over there, dressed similarly to the disguised Jedi, was a dark-skinned human male who was slightly younger than Jacen. He looked back at them with an arrogant smile and waved at them, as if he were greeting a pair of old friends.
"Uncle Luke," Jacen said without looking away from the man across the street, "what should we do?"
"I think it's only polite, Jacen," Luke replied, "to wave back." Indeed, he lifted up his cybernetic hand (which, of course, was fitted with prosthetic skin) and mirrored the mysterious man's wave.
Jacen followed suit; but like his uncle, he kept his guard up as the man approached them.
Once the fellow had crossed the street, he said, "Hey, guys? Wanna join me? There's a party goin' on over there." He pointed a thumb toward the alley from which he came.
Although the man's demeanor was polite and cheerful, his essence in the dark side of the Force was undeniable.
And it was clear from his presence that he was willing to risk an open confrontation that would expose all three of them in public as Force-users unless Luke and Jacen did as he "asked."
"If you insist," Luke said, mirroring the man's demeanor.
Both Jedi followed the dark sider back the way he came and entered the building off to their left through a side door. When they entered the dilapidated and abandoned warehouse and the door was closed behind them, Luke and Jacen's "friend" turned around and whatever politeness and cheerfulness they had in their outward expressions were completely gone.
"Who are you?" Luke asked sternly.
"Who I am matters to neither of you," the man said. "Only my role to you does. And I came here to give you directions."
Now Luke and Jacen looked confused.
"Directions?" Jacen asked.
"To find the young Jedi that you're obviously searching for," the dark sider elaborated.
Luke tilted his head inquisitively. "Why not just tell us where he is outright? Save us both the trouble."
"Or why not just give Ben back?" Jacen asked.
The dark sider crossed his arms across his chest before he spoke. "This isn't just about young Ben. This is also about Vestara Khai."
"We already know she's manipulated him into coming after he," Luke said. "And that still doesn't explain why you're helping us. Why should we trust anything you tell us when you're obviously a Sith?"
The dark sider's—the Sith's—nostrils flared before he answered. "Because Khai is in as much danger to falling to your pathetic light side as your son is to the dark side, Master Skywalker."
Luke and Jacen both looked taken aback.
"Explain," Jacen was the one to demand.
"The leader of my Order has approved of Khai keeping your cousin in her household," the Sith explained, "as part of a plan to seduce him to the dark side; quite literally, I might say. But after I rescued her from Hapes, when it was clear you were onto her, Solo, I sensed turmoil in her soul."
"So she's not as loyal of a lackey as she used to be," Jacen said.
"It seems as if my son is as positive an influence on her as she is a bad one on him," Luke observed.
"I wouldn't call your son a positive influence on Tyro Khai, Master Skywalker," the Sith replied with a sneer. "And Lord Vol has-"
"Wait, wait, who's Lord Vol?" Jacen asked.
The Sith froze as he realized the error in his slip of tongue. Then his expression became even more frustrated than before. "My leader," he admitted reluctantly.
Jacen grinned. "Thanks for the info."
The Sith looked angry. "Listen, I came here to try to make your path appear as plausible as it can be without implicating myself to my leaders. If you save your son, you also save Tyro Khai."
"Why is she so important to you?" Jacen asked.
"That's none of your concern."
"The Sith aren't exactly well-known for their compassion for others," Luke stated. "Not even for their own. So I hope you can excuse us our skepticism as to why you'd be willing to do this behind your Masters' backs."
"Well, well," the Sith said. "It appears you Jedi aren't so blinded by compassion yourselves. Your suspicion is admirable, if not entirely... developed."
"Answer his question, Sith," Jacen intoned.
The dark sider sighed. "Her father was a dear friend of mine. I know that sounds hard for you to believe, but so soon after his death by Abeloth, I don't want to see his daughter fall prey to the ways of the Jedi. I could never forgive myself."
"Okay, let's say that Jacen and I believed you," Luke said. "That you're willing to do all this and risk execution just to preserve your friend's memory. Answer me this: why didn't you warn your superiors about this possibility?"
"You really think I didn't? They wouldn't listen to me. Oh, yes, they did sense that Tyro Khai's interest in your son was genuine, Skywalker, that she was developing feelings for him. But they believed that the risk was negligible; I don't think so. I also think that your son might be the beginning of the downfall of my society."
"I don't follow," Luke said.
"If your son can influence Tyro Khai into turning to the light side," the Sith explained, "she could influence other members of our youth. It could turn into an ideological infection that would be the downfall of my Tribe."
"I see," Luke said, skepticism still in his tone. "In that case, where can you lead us that will make our discovery of Ben plausible without implicating you as a source of help?"
The Sith motioned for his belt. "If you don't mind?"
"Careful," Jacen said.
Indeed, the Sith moved slowly as he pulled out a datapad. "This should-"
It was then that all of their danger senses spiked and all three of them dropped to the floor.
Less than a second later, the warehouse around them was perforated by red laser bolts fired by the perimeter of police officers surrounding the building.