(Onboard Cerulean, in orbit around Aurora; 4.3 ABY)
"A fair wind carries the fortunate into blessed skies, but pulls the unfortunate down to accursed dust." The ancient proverb floated through Luke's thoughts as he walked along the near empty corridor. Unfortunately, this day proved the latter half of the saying to be true in the most simple and painful way that could be imagined. The Mon Calamari evacuation cruiser Cerulean had been dispatched to one particular corner of the Outer Rim for a rescue mission. Moff Lorin had invaded Aurora, one of the safe worlds meant to provide a haven from the storms of war, during his escape from the Fakir Sector. Everyone on the planet below became a hostage. Some were hand picked to serve as examples for those who dared to usurp control away from the Empire.
Ten thousand beings were left alive after the six-week occupation ended. Five hundred souls were now only memories.
Luke had requested to come along on this mission-for a reason that some might call selfish.
One of their first nights together, soon after Command Central set up residence on Ilysium...she dropped out of the stars for a flying visit to the new base, and to his cramped quarters.
"Surprise, Jedi boy!" In her right hand was a bottle of Whyren's Reserve, and the knuckle to forehead salute she gave him with her left hand reduced them both to laughter. The mood soon slipped into "tumble and grunt mode"...
Later, Cala got silly. Doing a naked bounce around the room to a hyper dance song off the Top 500, she tried keeping up with the lyrics, but lost track of the tune when she couldn't stop giggling.
There, outside the wide curved viewport, Aurora seemed like a paradise: round, dotted with blue water and green grasslands. The reflected light from the lone sun slowly drifting from behind a tiny pearl moon reached across to create shimmering waves across the planet's surface. No matter how remote this world was from the galactic center, it seemed almost perfect. Cala was the one who gave this uncharted globe its name: Aurora, Herald of The First Light, the promise of a new day in the universe, one of humanity's oldest symbols of hope.
But hope could not protect them from the grasp of evil.
Four months after the Battle of Endor, and the war still held most of the galaxy between two opposing factions. The Emperor was dead, but his evil touch wasn't eradicated. Devout followers had suffered enough losses to cripple their offensive rearguard, yet still they fought back against every Alliance attack.
He reached out and traced his fingers across the transparisteel. Was there room in the universe for anything that wasn't destructive? Could peace, joy...and love still exist?
Was Cala among the living? Only a partial list of survivors had been compiled since the first commo was sent, and her name wasn't to be found anywhere. But in the hidden ether, the energy signatures of all creatures vibrated. He could pierce that wall with the Force, and perhaps he would find her.
Luke closed his eyes. Memory gave him a crystalline focus...back to those days and nights when they were together. It once felt like they were merely two lonely pilots seeking mutual comfort in the midst of emptiness. But now, those times were luminescent in retrospect.
"First arrival in ten minutes." The announcement pierced to the center of Luke's awareness. Yes, Cala was alive, and she was on the shuttle soon to land in the hangar bay.
He shivered. Death had claimed too many of those dear to him. Yet life had intervened and spared one entity from crossing over into the Netherworld, that place so far away not even a Jedi could easily travel to its shores. Every life that was saved enervated the Light.
His pulse quickened. Not just another gain for the abstract definition of the universe on the left side of all existence. To think that way only created a lie within him. Of course it was a deeper, more personal feeling.
He turned away from the viewport and began a journey back along the corridor. Only ten minutes until the shuttle's arrival, and there were four decks between the observation deck and the ships' roost. Luke knew it was going to be impossible to arrive before the shuttle docked, especially now that others were headed in the same direction.
He rounded the corner, and saw a group clustered near a dual set of lifts. The next elevator might come along soon, or it might take longer than anxiety would permit him to endure. There was another route to the hangar bay, one that started and terminated with the emergency stairs. The access way was straight ahead, on the right, at the corridor's northern apex.
Luke reached the door that led to the fourth level steps. One slap of his palm against the access panel forced the hatch to slide open...but he could only wait long enough for it to open halfway before he dashed through the gap. Quick boot steps carried him down, down, down...
His trek concluded mere seconds after the shuttle was secured in its momentary home. The evac vehicle sat at the center of a yellow rectangle stretched across the polished gray floor. It was a typical Mon Calamari design, and gleamed under the illumipanels. Those who died were in the cargo hold, hidden away until the first group of survivors disembarked.
The small group he'd seen at the lifts was near the fuel lines, intermingled with other crew members. Everyone was drawn to the white and silver shuttle like a beacon. Once the boarding ramp was lowered, unspoken prayers to various deities would either be fulfilled, or destroyed.
Luke found no comfort from a hidden god figure. The Force was the only eternal power he placed every iota of faith pulled together over the years; through tragedy and triumph, the mysterious energy which permeated all things was enough to give balance to his soul. Gods or goddesses never fit comfortably with the Force. The lack of belief in a Supreme Being always dominated his concept of the universe; from his childhood, when Uncle Owen spouted
contemptuous words on the subject, to the present day, he never believed a higher intelligence that created all things, and controlled them.
But now, suddenly, something ancient called out from his unconscious; not a shattering cry to the heavens, only a simple wish cast out from silence into the ether, that veiled barrier which bound space and time in their eternal union since The First Hour.
The sound of escaping air and mechanical whirs floated through the vast area. All murmurs and whispers ceased, all heads turned in the evac shuttle's direction.
The ramp descended to the floor.
Time seemed to fall away, like the epicenter on the galactic horizon just before a ship entered hyperspace. They were all caught in the pause of one moment stretched out to eternity. Luke's mind was flooded with a surge of anticipation from those clustered in small groups around the hangar bay. It was overwhelming.
He stepped away, into the shadows, just to regain his concentration.
"Here they come!"
A young woman appeared in the entrance. She was human, with long blonde hair, clad in a green-and-black camouflage jacket. There she was, as if two years had never passed.
Cala turned to look in his direction. She stared at him, brown eyes meeting blue, just like that first meeting on Thila.
Luke stepped forward. His progress was halted three times by other individuals with the same idea, to meet their loved ones at the bottom of the ramp. His final obstacle came in the form of two Wookiee mechanics; their combined heights formed a temporary barrier both to his body and eyes. A few seconds passed before the path was clear once more. Cala was at the halfway point on the ramp...and in her arms was a bundle of white...a blanket wrapped around something or someone.
Their eyes met again. Then she glanced down at the bundle. Love emanated from her spirit. What she carried was the source of that emotional surge, that strong leap of joy. Her life had changed on Aurora.
Cala had a baby.
A gap in the crowd finally emerged, and Luke crossed forward until his journey came to an end at the bottom of the ramp. She was standing there, waiting for him.
Before he could ask one question, she addressed the obvious matter. "This is my daughter. And it's a long story."