Chapter 5

Luke awakened slowly from what may have been the deepest sleep he'd ever had. He didn't want to wake up, he didn't want to stop dreaming.

He'd dreamt Callista was teaching him to ride cy'een in the oceans of Chad. Long ago, Luke had promised Callista they would one day return to visit her homeworld, a second honeymoon of sorts. They never made it. Not until last night.

The dream had been so vivid Luke could still taste the salt on his lips. He could still hear the distant song of the cy'een. But he couldn't sense Callista. He couldn't smell her hair as it tickled his nose, couldn't hear her sweet laughter, couldn't feel her body pressed against his. Never in his life had he felt so empty.

Luke glanced over at Benji, who appeared to be sound asleep. He didn't want to wake his son, so he decided he would go for a walk. Perhaps if he could find some place to meditate he could recapture the dream. Just a few more minutes of Callista by his side and maybe he wouldn't feel so hopeless.

As he was wandering down random corridors, Luke noted that less than a third of the glowpanels built into the floor were fully lit. Many panels were dark, some were dim, and some flickered on and off— apparently, glowpanels were not a high priority for repairs on this ship. As he approached the split at the end of a corridor, Luke could hear quiet sounds and sensed that Dankin was down the corridor to the left.

Luke almost turned around, not much in the mood for conversation, but ultimately he continued around the corner, thinking perhaps Dankin would know of a quiet place where he could meditate.

Dankin was crouched in front of a darkened glowpanel, the cover removed and set on the floor beside him. He was fiddling inside the panel and looked up as Luke approached.

"Were you able to get some sleep?" Dankin asked as he reached deeper into the glowpanel.

"I was, actually." Luke noticed the corridor dead-ended up ahead. He wouldn't be finding his quiet spot around here.

"Good. Got it!" Dankin said, pulling his arm back into view. He was using a pair of tongs to slowly extract what appeared to be a long, thin, writhing wire from the open panel. A conduit worm.

Luke couldn't help wrinkling his nose at the sight of the squirming pest. "Do you have a lot of trouble with those?"

"We got infested during a stop-over at one of the less savory ports on Coruscant a while back. So far we've managed to catch them before they get too big and they haven't done much damage, just shorted out a few glowpanels. But we haven't found the nest yet, so they keep popping up. It would be nice if we could get a whisperkit to clear them out once and for all." Dankin continued to hold the worm in the tongs with one hand and popped open a plasteen container with the other.

"Whisperkits will go after conduit worms?" Luke asked.

"Sure," Dankin replied as he deposited the creature in the plasteen container and sealed it. "Not many people seem to know that, but it's true. When I was little, there was this whisperkit that used to sleep curled up around my feet at night. When the power went out—and it went out a lot—the other kids would freak out because they'd feel the conduit worms slithering around, looking for electric currents. But I never had to worry because that whisperkit would slurp up any worms before they got near me." Dankin replaced the glowpanel cover and stood up.

"So why don't you get a whisperkit?" Luke asked. "They can't be that hard to come by."

Dankin shrugged. "I figure Mara's got bigger things to worry about. I can keep them in check for now." Dankin positioned the container under his arm. "I'm off." He gave Luke a friendly nod and then headed down the corridor. He opened the farthest door on the end.

"Is that your room?" Luke asked. "Uh-huh."

"Why is it so far from the others?"

"It stays warmer closer to the engine," Dankin replied simply.

Luke nodded. He could tell that wasn't the real reason, and for a moment he wondered why Dankin would be evasive about such a simple question when he seemed so open about everything else. But the thought quickly passed. Luke figured it was none of his business where Dankin slept anyway. The emptiness around Luke seemed to get larger with each passing second, and he was eager to try to fill it. Maybe the dream was Callista's way of trying to reach him from beyond. Maybe if he immersed himself in the Force, Callista would be able to find him. "By the way, is there a quiet place on the ship where I could meditate for a little while?"

Dankin thought for a moment. "The cargo hold is only half full right now. That's probably your best bet. On the lower level, all the way aft."

"Have you told Mara the story about the whisperkit?" Luke didn't know why he asked, the question was out of his mouth before he even realized he was speaking.

"No." Dankin paused. "Actually, I don't think I've ever told anyone that story before." He gave Luke a slightly quizzical grin before disappearing into his room.

Some time later, Luke had found his way to the cargo hold and settled into a deep meditation. He was reaching out, searching for Callista deep in the Force, when the feeling of danger descended on him.

Luke's eyes snapped open a second before the alarms went off. It took him only a split second to pull his mind out of meditation mode and to focus on the present. He was on his feet and halfway across the cargo hold when he heard Mara's words in his mind:

Don't you dare.

I can help—

We're handling it. Stay with Benji. Before Luke could argue further, the connection was severed as Mara directed her attention elsewhere.

Luke continued to sprint towards the bridge.

Benji woke up alone and scared. He knew something was wrong, but he didn't know what. Tentatively, he reached out, trying to sense what was wrong through the Force. There were alarms sounding and everyone was rushing toward the bridge, but that was all he could gather.

I wish Mom was here, Benji thought. She always knows what to do.

Mara had told him to stay in his room if anything bad happened. But Benji didn't want to be alone and needed to know what was happening. Cautiously, he slipped out the doorway and down the corridor. Benji felt the familiar shuddering under his feet of a ship under attack. He quickened his step.

Just as he was turning the last corner, the ship bucked violently beneath him. As he went sprawling forward, he saw Mara and his father fall into each other, having met just outside the bridge. Then Mara shoved his father down the narrow shaft that led to the starboard quadlasers. Mara appeared to be heading toward the port-side gunstation.

Benji inched toward the bridge. His Uncle Han had on more than one occasion warned him against distracting gunners, so he knew better than to try to talk to Mara or his father. He peered onto the bridge, wondering if anyone would be mad that he had left his room.

"Benji!" Odonnl exclaimed when he spotted him in the doorway. "Take over the main sensor station."

Uncertainly, Benji slid into the seat usually occupied by H'sishi. For a moment he wondered where the Togorian was, but he quickly forgot that thought as the ship shuddered violently and more alarms blared to life.

Benji noticed Dankin was trying to communicate with him over the chaos. "I need you to tell me which weapons are active on the main ship."

Benji took a deep breath. Though he had more experience with starfighters, he knew basically how to read the sensors on Saber, so he ought to be able to do this. Looking at the panel before him, he saw no less than nine different screens of various shapes and sizes, and more buttons scattered among them than there were on an entire x-wing. Which screen was he even supposed to be looking at?

Experimentally, he pushed a few buttons. The images on the screens changed, but he still couldn't tell what was going on. Saber's sensors came up in green and red. These sensors were mostly gray, with bits of yellow and purple, none of it forming any shapes he could recognize.

"Forget charging the main ship," Benji heard Mara's voice over the comm. I think we got a path cleared through the starfighters."

Benji was tossed back into his seat as Dankin spun the ship in a hard ninety-degree turn. He straightened and continued to puzzle over the sensors, desperately wanting to be helpful, but feeling utterly useless.

"Sithspawn!" Mara's voice cut across the bridge. "Cloaked starfighter coming in! I can't stop it—"

That was the last thing Benji heard before his station exploded into shards of glass and shrapnel.