"Leia, wake up," she dimly heard Han say. "We have company."
"Go away," she muttered in reply, not even sitting up to see who their guest was. It was probably Luke her to apologize. But she didn't want to hear it, and didn't care to even see him.
"He's gone, Mom." It wasn't Luke after all, but Jaina. Her voice sounded strained and concerned and puzzled all at the same time.
Although Leia already realized in the back of her mind who was gone and why, she still automatically asked, "Who is gone?"
Jaina took a deep breath and replied," Uncle Luke. I felt Ben disappear from the Force, and then I went to see how Uncle Luke was and he had just disappeared. Then I went to the hangar and saw that he had taken his StealthX. I think he's going to . . ."
"To hunt down Caedus," Leia finished softly. She immediately closed her eyes and reached out in the Force to her twin, sending comfort to him.
His presence was cold and tainted with anger. No, she sent to him. Don't do this.
Revenge, he sent back, the word making his presence seem even colder. Then, he totally shut himself off from her, severing their twin bond completely.
Leia opened her eyes and found she was lying on the floor, her head in Han's lap, with both he and Jaina staring at her with obvious concern. She shivered as if the cold she had felt from her twin was cooling the room around her.
"What's wrong?" Han asked. "Jaina, did you feel . . .?"
"Not dead, just gone. Cut off."
"How does that happen?" he demanded.
"He went to the Dark Side and didn't want to cause Mom any more pain."
Han shook his head, denial clear on his face. "Not Luke. He's too strong. He can't do this."
"Luke just lost his wife and son, Han. His defenses were weak, and I think he just gave up trying to resist the Dark Side's temptation." Leia pushed herself out of Han's arms and off of the chilly floor. "We have to stop him before he does something he'll really regret, like . . . like . . ." Kill Caedus, she finished silently. Kill the man, the Sith, who was my son.
She was angry now, intensely angry, at her brother for causing her a new round of pain. She would do anything and everything in her power to bring him back and keep him from hurting others.
"I'll warm the Falcon up," Han said, forcing a reassuring smirk on his face. "We'll stop him." He strode at the door; it opened automatically and he was out into the hall . . .
. . . Where he quite literally ran into Kyp Durron, who had been spying in on their conversation, using the Force to enhance his hearing. "I'm coming with you," he said matter-of-factly. "We have to stop Master Skywalker before he comes like Caedus, or worse."
Han gave a quick nod, and led Kyp, Leia, and Jaina toward the docking bay. Jagged Fel was waiting near the Millennium Falcon, standing at attention below the ship's cockpit. "Captain Solo, I . . ." he began, but was cut off by a quick gesture from Han.
"Get in before the whole ship knows where we're going and decides to tag along," Jaina said, reading her father's mood. "I guess we could use some more help."
The Falcon made it out of the battle cruiser and into hyperspace without any problem or too much questioning. "Now, where would he go . . ." Han muttered, to no one in particular. But still they answered him.
"Nickel One," Jaina and Kyp said simultaneously.
"Or to where Ben died, to retrieve his body," Jag offered.
Leia opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again and spoke. "To Dagobah, perhaps."
A low murmur began in Leia's head, interrupting her thoughts. It sounded like static from comm traffic, but she knew it wasn't, because the voice was distinctly Luke's. The words were jumbled together with seemingly no start or end; the words were filled with pain and anger.
Jaina gasped exactly as Leia asked," Do you hear that?"
"It's Uncle Luke, Mom," Jaina said, her eyebrows beetled together in concentration. "He's broadcasting his thoughts, almost." She paused and swallowed, a troubled look on her face. "Aunt Mara did this once during the Yuuzhan Vong war, when she was meditating, clearing her thoughts, fears, and angers out. Only Uncle Luke isn't clearing them out. He's feeding on them, like . . . like a Sith."
"I think you're right," Kyp agreed softly.
Jag and Han looked totally lost. "Well, can you understand what he's saying, uh, thinking?" Han asked.
"I heard Aunt Mara's thoughts just by reaching out to her in the Force," Jaina explained, then shrugged slightly. "We'll never know unless we try."
Leia was the first to reach out to her brother and was staggered by what she felt and heard. Luke had opened himself back up to her and was letting her see what was going on in his mind. She knew her daughter and Kyp were feeling the same thing by their startled reactions in the Force, before she tuned them out and just listened.