Fate of the Force

by lordtrayus

The death of Jacen Solo and the last war was a disaster. A new force has undone what happened in LotF and given the galaxy a fighting chance against a great evil. By doing so however, the galaxy becomes even more perilous than it was before as the rising power of the dark side and the Sith threatens to snuff out the light of the Jedi, and of the galaxy once and for all...AU

8. Episode II: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Fate of the Force

The Sith Dragon dropped out of hyperspace, arriving into the midst of the fleet that Darth Krayt had assembled for his Sith Order. A group of Star Destroyers, nine in all fell into flanking position beside the massive SSD, and a group of other small ships, such as Dreadnaughts, Lancer Frigates, Interceptor Frigates and Interdictors all surrounded them as the large fleet travelled across the barren looking planet of Korriban.

In the hangar of his mammoth flagship, Krayt entered Ship, smiling as he did so. His arrival at the meeting in a Super Star Destroyer had certainly thrown Lumiya and Vongerella for six, and Krayt had taken a large amount of smug pleasure knowing that he had shocked Lumiya, who would undoubtedly be trying to amass enough ships to one day successfully combat his fleet. It was but a forlorn hope. While it was small compared to the number of ships the Galactic Alliance commanded, it was more than adequate to totally flatten Lumiya's puny fleet.

The plan she had outlined would work, and during the course of it she would get the revenge that she had so long wanted. It would also return the Sith to dominance years earlier than he had planned, which suited his ends. However, it unfortunately meant that as he and Vongerella didn't know everything about the plan, he had to keep Lumiya alive for the moment, complicated by the fact that Vongerella didn't like him much either. Alliances between different factions of Sith were notoriously difficult business, especially as the various parts were always trying to get one up on the other.

Ship glided out of his cruiser, descending towards the planet. Krayt had to inform Wyyrlok of recent developments. As Krayt's Voice, it would be his duty to ensure their part in the plan was prepared for while Krayt returned to temporary stasis.

Ship descended from the fleet in orbit, a flanking force of four TIE Fighters escorting him down to the Temple that they had created underneath XoXaan's tomb. Ship settled into the hangar and Krayt stood with a vigour that surprised himself. Ship, apparently realising that Krayt has getting on, was using its own powers to lessen the trouble he had standing up. Long years, combined with the torture of the Yuuzhan Vong, had made Krayt not as whole as he should be. His joints sometimes ached, and the Vong growths covering him were kept at bay by use of the dark side extensively. However, on Ship, he felt normal, almost whole. Interesting. Perhaps Ship could be used as a partial substitute for stasis.

Pondering this, he strode from the sphere, and saw his four most useful and powerful servants awaiting him. The Chagrian Darth Wyyrlok was the first among his many Sith servants, his Voice during his periods in stasis. Trained by Krayt himself, he was his closest supporter, and assumed command of the Sith when Krayt was unable to do so. His right hand horn was a stump that led to a scar trailing down to his mouth. Wyyrlok acted as an adviser and as a caretaker for Krayt and as such was the second in command of the entire Sith Order.

Next was Darth Oracle, the Bothan female in charge of Sith Intelligence and Assassination. Her fur had been traced with jagged black tattoos, like those exhibited by the rest of the Order, as had originally been displayed by Darth Maul, Darth Sidious' first apprentice. Cold, powerful and merciless, she had been found by Darth Wyyrlok during his first solo mission and he had brought her back to Korriban for training. She was responsible for all espionage, torture, assassinations and all the other secret, shadowy acts that her sect excelled at. She was also highly vision prone and foresaw things with excellent clarity, making her a very useful member of the Order and she was capable of identifying threats or tracking down leads without even having to deploy agents.

Third in the line was Darth Cyclone, the Trandoshan Fist of the Order. The Fist served as Krayt's military commander, leading the army of minions and the fleet in orbit in whatever Krayt required. A hulking brute, his skin dyed black and adorned with red tattoos, a departure from the rest of the Sith in the Order, he was an incredibly powerful Sith and one of Krayt's most loyal servants.

And finally there was Darth Krush, a Vurk male, his head red with jagged blades of black tattoos. He was Krayt's Hand, one of his most loyal and deadly servants, his own personal assassin, and his skill with a lightsaber was second only to that of Krayt and Wyyrlok themselves.

"My lord." Wyyrlok said in greeting, bowing with the other three.

"Walk with me my lords." Krayt ordered and they fell into step behind him, with Wyyrlok standing by his side.

"How was the meeting with Lumiya my lord?" Krush queried, his voice full of contempt.

Krayt suppressed a smile. Krush had begged Krayt many times to allow him out to kill the other Sith, only to be refused by Krayt. He saw Lumiya's refusal to officially ally with them and submit to Krayt's wishes as downright treacherous and believed that Krayt was the only Sith worth following. He viewed Lumiya as a traitor to her own cause, and wanted nothing more than to kill her and make Krayt the true reigning Dark Lord of the Sith without any competition.

"As well as can be expected Lord Krush. However you will be aggrieved to know that I have agreed to, for the time being at least, cooperate with Lumiya. She has a plan which will return the Sith to dominance all the quicker, and break the spine of the Alliance in the process. Vongerella and I both agree that the plan has merit. As a result, we will allow the plan to develop, and once it succeeds...only then will you be allowed to kill Lumiya, and then we shall take the galaxy for our own." Krayt promised, and Krush smiled, showing teeth.

As they progressed, he filled them in on the details of the plan.

"Very well my lord. I shall prepare our forces and have them ready to go at a second's notice." Cyclone informed Krayt.

"Very good Lord Cyclone, see that you do." Krayt ordered.

"I shall investigate whatever her plan may be, try to identify her allies. I can make some educated guesses but I would prefer to be sure." Oracle said, and Krayt nodded as they entered his chambers, with him sitting on his throne.

"Lord Wyyrlok, the ship I arrived in is a Sith Meditation Sphere. In it I feel more powerful, more myself. Could it possibly be used as a partial replacement for stasis?" Krayt asked curiously.

Wyyrlok pondered this question, while all present stared at him.

"It is possible that it could be, yes my lord. Provided it is a tool for the dark side, it could perhaps be used as such a device." Wyyrlok theorised.

"Excellent. The ship seems to wish to go somewhere. I shall allow it to take me there and see what occurs. I suspect that it can feel out other dark side presences that could be made to join the One Sith. If I succeed in this, integrating them will be your responsibility Lord Wyyrlok." Krayt said, and his servant bowed.

"My lord, I have heard reports that a certain Jedi is travelling with Luke Skywalker, a Whiphid from the days of the Old Republic, by the name of K'Kruhk." Oracle informed him.

"Yes I know Lady Oracle, Lumiya saw fit to tell me of this news." Krayt said.

"I received a vision my lord." Oracle said in her soft voice, which befitted a politician much more than a Sith Lady.

"Indeed?" Krayt queried, wondering what she could have seen.

"I foresaw him facing you in a duel Dread Lord. And you did not seem to be winning." She concluded worriedly.

For a minute silence reigned, and Cyclone and Krush both dropped their hands to their sabers, ready to strike Oracle down for her blasphemy. Wyyrlok looked at them, ready to stop them if they should move without the say so of Lord Krayt, and they tensely waited for Krayt's reply. Oracle herself looked as though she was petrified, and her fur kept rippling, indicating that she was scared that she had told her master the truth of her vision but would still suffer for it.

Then, Krayt laughed. With that, Cyclone and Krush pulled their hands away from their sabers, though still glowered at Oracle. Wyyrlok breathed a silent sigh of relief as Krayt turned to Oracle.

"Lady Oracle...K'Kruhk is even older than I am, and has seen a lot more damage and death over the last several generations. He is also a dogmatic follower of the Jedi Code. He will not be able to challenge me. Perhaps all you saw was me feinting to draw him in enough so that I can take his head." Krayt said, waving his hand.

Oracle bowed her head, though his dismissal of the threat K'Kruhk posed to her master worried her. Her visions were rarely wrong, and the fact that Krayt dismissed it showed her that he was relying a little too much on Lumiya's plan. Worriedly, she looked across at Wyyrlok, but his face was clouded.

"Leave me. I shall meditate here for a while before returning to the sphere." Krayt ordered, and all of them bowed before leaving.

Oracle stayed close to Wyyrlok as they left Krayt's chambers. Krush and Cyclone went on ahead, leaving them alone in the corridor.

"I did foresee that master." She growled, and Wyyrlok nodded.

"I suspected you might have. You think this K'Kruhk is a threat to our Lord Krayt?" he queried, entering his quarters and beckoning for her to follow.

"Yes I do, and although I am not comfortable admitting it, I believe he is wrong in dismissing the threat." Oracle said quietly.

"Then we shall have to deal with this threat Lady Oracle. I shall make a call, and we shall head off this threat to Lord Krayt." He said, and activated the comm unit.

Oracle stood impassively behind him as Wyyrlok made the call, to a famed bounty hunter who they had used before, an old hand at killing Jedi. She would be quite useful in the coming battle.

The pale white face and sunken eyes of Aurra Sing came into view, and she grinned.

"I take it you have a job for me?" she asked.

Wyyrlok nodded, though her tone displeased him slightly. It was about time the people of this galaxy recognised that Darth Sidious' era of Sith was dead, and they were the new face of the Sith. But, considering how good Sing was at killing Jedi and the fact that she did know of the true Sith, he supposed he had to keep her on side.

"Yes bounty hunter. A Jedi of the Old Republic has dared rear his ugly head once again, and he may pose a threat to our lord Krayt. I want him eliminated...and if at all possible his companions as well." Wyyrlok said grimly.

Aurra's eyes flashed with malice.

"A Jedi of the Old Republic? About time I got to kill another one of them. Who's the target?" she asked, excitement in her voice.

"An aged Whiphid by the name of K'Kruhk. Do you know him?" Wyyrlok asked.

Aurra grinned.

"I've heard of him. Hmm, imagine...Vader, Grievous and Ventress all failed to kill him and now I'll finish the job. Who are his companions?"

Wyyrlok exchanged a glance with Oracle, who nodded.

"The Skywalkers and Solos." He said simply, and a flush spread in Aurra's alabaster cheeks.

"K'Kruhk I'm willing to take out, but you want me to take on the leaders of the New Jedi Order?" she demanded, her eyes narrowing.

Wyyrlok smiled tightly.

"If at all possible."

"Then I want extra. An extra ten per cent per head plus my usual fee." She said firmly.

"An extra ten percent? You ask much bounty hunter." Wyyrlok said warningly.

"If you want their heads, then I'd better get it too." Aurra purred, knowing full well that she was safe from the one horned Chagrian as he wanted the Jedi out of the way.

"Very well bounty hunter. Lady Oracle, where are they headed?" he asked.

Oracle closed her eyes and perceived a Vong Cruiser, most likely that witch Vongerella's, bearing down on the Millennium Falcon...and a mention of Lorrd.

"They are heading to Lorrd." She reported, and Aurra smiled.

"Then Lorrd will become their grave then won't it?" she said and her holo shimmered out.

"Insolent..." Oracle hissed.

"Yes, she is. But she has killed a great many Jedi, and the old Whiphid probably thinks her dead so she may have a chance of taking him out whereas others wouldn't." Wyyrlok explained, though the insolence the Jedi killer had shown rankled with him as much as it did his former apprentice.

"Still...the sooner this plan comes about and we can kill Jedi ourselves the happier I will be." Oracle sneered.

"I quite agree my apprentice."

Oracle stood in silence and peered into the future once more, and saw green blades flashing, and a sense of foreboding crept into her stomach.

"What if Sing fails?" she asked worriedly.

Wyyrlok looked at her disdainfully.

"Oracle, she is a Dark Jedi. Her loathing of them will keep her quiet." He said confidently.

"Of course my master." Oracle said, bowing, and she left his quarters.

Oracle pondered as she swept down the corridor to her own quarters. Far beneath them, in the deepest recesses of the temple, Spaarti cloning cylinders were creating troops for their eventual return to dominance if they were forced to move before the Sith outnumbered the Jedi. At present they had around about two hundred members, and that number was growing daily. The clones they already had were in command of the large fleet that protected Korriban, reporting to Sith masters.

The problem was Darth Krayt and Wyyrlok were too focused on the plan of Lumiya's. Clever and workable it may be, but Oracle didn't believe that they should move so soon even with Lumiya's help, as the so called Dark Lady of the Sith would betray them as soon as it was in her best interests, and the bitter old witch had already registered her dislike for the One Sith and was clearly using them. And while Oracle did have confidence in the abilities of Darth Krayt, when it came to betrayal and manipulation, there were few like Lumiya. His reliance on this plan of hers was worrying to say the least.

And there was also Darth Wyyrlok's refusal to see that using Aurra Sing may lead to trouble later on. Yes Aurra Sing detested Jedi and wouldn't talk willingly...but under the scrutiny of the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and his exceptionally powerful nephew she may not be able to keep her head. And as Director of Sith Intelligence it was Oracle's job to make sure the One Sith remained hidden until it was time for them to reveal themselves to the galaxy.

Entering her quarters, she keyed for the Mandalore system and pulled her cowl up over her face.

The helmeted face of Boba Fett, the most infamous bounty hunter in the galaxy, materialised before her, with his granddaughter, Mirta Gev in the background. Mirta had been a surprise for the entire galaxy when the news had gotten out that Fett had a granddaughter. Her mother, Ailyn Vel, had been betrayed by her Hutt employer on Etta IV and had been killed in an ambush there. Mirta had originally sought out her grandfather in order to get revenge on the Hutt, which she achieved, and rumour had it Fett was now moulding her to become Mandalore after him.

"Boba Fett." She said in her soft voice.

"And who might you be?" he asked, feigning disinterest, but he had learned from long experience that shadowy employers often made for the most interesting jobs.

"You know my type Mandalore. You often worked for one of the most infamous in the galaxy. Recall the queen Selestrine and the pitched duel you fought on the lava banks of Maryx Minor." Oracle purred.

Fett narrowed his eyes behind his helmet. This Bothan, whoever she was, knew a lot of stuff she shouldn't already. Very few in the galaxy knew about the confrontation he had had with Darth Vader on Maryx Minor in the stronghold of the Ancient Order of Pessimists. In fact, due to the fact that Vader had destroyed the hermitage, Fett suspected that he should be the only one left in the galaxy who knew about it.

"You're a Sith." Fett said plainly, though wondering how this could have happened.

As far as he knew, Darth Vader and the Emperor had been the final Sith Lords...aside from Lady Lumiya and for all he knew she was long dead. So who was she? A new apprentice of Lumiya's...or a new sect of Sith entirely?

"Indeed I am Boba Fett. My name is Darth Oracle, and I have a very important mission for you." She said, and Fett shook his head, indicating for Mirta to deal with it.

"Look lady, Sith or not, we don't want involved with whatever you've got in the works, we have enough with keeping the Galactic Alliance off the massive vein of beskar that we dug up." She said and moved to turn off the projector.

Oracle smiled, showing her pointed teeth.

"But if you do not hear me out, your grandfather may not be able to settle a score in his father's memory." She purred, and Boba, more out of curiosity than anything else, stayed Mirta's hand.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"You are familiar with the bounty hunter by the name of Aurra Sing?" Oracle queried, sensing him biting her hook.

Fett frowned. He had assumed Aurra dead years ago, after a fight with the fugitive Jedi Jax Pavan. He'd had a strange relationship with her during the Clone Wars. When they had first met, she had tried to steal the fortune his father had left him. After outwitting her and escaping her grasp, she had later came to him and apologised for her earlier actions, saying it was a test that his father had wanted him to pass. He hadn't believed her, but knowing that she was a known Jedi killer, he decided to let it go in order to get her help in killing the one who murdered his father: Mace Windu. This failed, and she had been defeated by Anakin Skywalker's apprentice at the time, Ahsoka Tano. She had later escaped and they had parted ways for good.

"Yeah, I reckoned she was dead. She's alive?" he asked curiously, and Oracle nodded and affirmative.

"My master has hired her to perform a service but I believe she may not be up to the challenge." She explained.

Fett scoffed.

"Look lady, if your master hired Aurra she'll get the job done." He promised her.

Oracle nodded.

"Indeed. Her primary mission I have little doubt she will succeed in. However it is her secondary mission that I do not trust her to succeed in."

Mirta looked at her grandfather. He did seem to respect Sing, and didn't seem convinced about the Sith's fears. But...why would the Sith be so worried otherwise?

"What's her secondary mission?" she asked.

"To kill the Skywalkers and Solos." Oracle said simply.

Fett whistled. No wonder she didn't think Aurra could handle it. No matter how good a Jedi killer she was, even if she hadn't deteriorated a bit with age, then Aurra would still be overmatched. Luke and Mara Skywalker were two of the strongest Jedi in the order, and would be even more dangerous if their brat was threatened. Leia Solo was also the daughter of Vader, meaning she wasn't to be sneezed at either. And as for her kids...well Jacen Solo was just scary and his sister had killed the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster after all.

"I can see why you might be a bit concerned. But Aurra won't accept my help and I don't see any reason for me to give it. Win or lose I don't care either way." Fett said, ready to turn off the projector again.

"You misunderstand me bounty hunter. I do not wish you to engage the Skywalkers. My problem is Aurra Sing. If she fails she will be captured, and despite her legendary hatred of the Jedi...I do not feel she will be able to withstand their interrogation for long." She explained.

"So if she gets caught you want me to kill her?" Fett asked shrewdly, and she nodded.

"Indeed. Will you take the job? I am willing to pay one hundred thousand credits if you succeed."

Fett pondered. If he took the job he may very well be killing a sort of friend. But then again...bounty hunting was a job. You didn't get personally involved.

"Very well." He said grimly, and Oracle smiled, showing her fangs.

"Excellent. I suggest you make your way to Lorrd with all haste." She said, and flickered out.

Fett turned to Mirta.

"Get a Trak'ad ready, with a squad on it. We'll need to distract the Jedi to get close. Tell them they'll get ten percent each." He ordered, and she nodded and headed off while Fett sat back in his chair and thought.

Would he have to kill Aurra Sing? He hoped not. Or at least not until she had taken out another few Jedi for the good of the galaxy. Smiling he went to get Slave I ready.

XX

Darth Krush stroked his chin as he heard the conversation between Darth Oracle and Boba Fett. It was bad enough that she thought Darth Krayt might actually be harmed by this pathetic Jedi, but to be actively condoning a mission because she was afraid for his health? Her heresy had to stop. Krayt could never fall. The Dragon of the Sith was immortal. As it was his job to protect Lord Krayt from threats to his rule, he had to get proof of Darth Oracle's treason. Yes, Wyyrlok had done it out of concern, but Oracle's action just reeked of blasphemy. And so Krush would protect his master.

"Darth Rape, come here." He ordered.

A Nikto Sith emerged from the shadows, and bowed.

"Yes Lord Krush?" he asked.

Krush had seen to Rape's training, and he was one of his best agents...though unfortunately did not come anywhere close to being as sneaky as those belonging to Oracle.

"Go to Lorrd. Observe the bounty hunters Aurra Sing and Boba Fett and record their actions. I will show Lord Krayt Oracle's lack of trust in him...and then he shall remove that witch." He said in grim satisfaction.

Rape looked at the delusional Vurk. He even thought swearing to a god that wasn't Darth Krayt was blasphemy. Darth Oracle was probably just trying to ensure Krayt and the One Sith's well being. After all that was her job. However, Krush was his superior, and as such had to be obeyed. As such, he bowed low.

"It will be as you command master." He said and swept from the room.

Krush smiled. He would crush that witch Oracle. It may go against the rules of the One Sith...but she was a threat with her precognition. If word got out she was worried about Krayt it would destabilise his power base. Yes. He had to get rid of her. For the good of the Sith.

XX

The ship shuddered out of lightspeed and began limping down towards the planet, smoke emitting from several ruptures on the hull caused by the coralskippers.

"Welcome to Lorrd." Han said as he set the ailing ship down in a dock of the spaceport.

Threepio looked out of the viewport as technicians started pointing excitedly and running forward with extinguishers to put out the small fires on the hull.

"Yet another planet to add to the list of planets that the Falcon has been repaired on." He commented idly.

"How long is this list?" Lumiya asked drily.

"About ten pages long at last count." Jacen said cheekily, earning him a glare from Han and an indulgent smile from Lumiya.

"Right...plan?" Jaina asked.

"Me and the droids will stay here and see to the techies doing the repairs, then I'll come and catch you up. You two, stay here at all time...people might want to steal the ship." Han said.

"Of course Captain Solo." Threepio responded.

Lumiya gave Han a sly smile.

"I doubt you need to worry about someone stealing this ship Solo. The only thieves that would take this ship will be down on their luck and had to do it for a dare just to prove they can still do it." She said tartly, and Luke and Ben had to turn away from each other to hide their grins.

Han glowered at the Sith.

"Right, K'Kruhk and I will go and inform Chief A'kla and Admiral Niathal of the Vong Cruiser, just in case there is a rogue fleet out there that's about to start causing trouble." Luke said, and K'Kruhk nodded.

"Indeed. We have enough problems with Abeloth out there. We don't need round two of the Vong War."

"What will we do with her?" Mara asked, pointing at Lumiya.

"Lock me in my room like a bad girl?" Lumiya said teasingly.

She might be able to get peace to meditate...and catch up on all the messages she had been receiving whilst in hyperspace.

"I'm not leaving her on my ship! She'd run off with it and strand us here." Han said grumpily, and Lumiya snorted.

"If I want to leave that badly, I'd shoot myself instead to save me the embarrassment of being seen in this junkpile." She scoffed, and Han's cheeks went red.

"Well," Leia said, smiling at Han's unexpressed fury, "she can come with us. We need to get some more supplies."

Lumiya nodded.

"Very well. And while they deal with other matters, we can have a coffee somewhere, I'm dying on a real cup, not the recycled sweat the machine cranks out."

Mara looked at her curiously.

"Are you buying?"

Lumiya rolled her eyes.

"Oh I suppose so."

"Alright then." She said brightly.

"And what do we do?" Ben asked curiously, trying to get the image of his aunt, mother and Lumiya all sitting down and sipping coffee in a cafe out of his head.

"You go and explore, you're young, make the most of it." Luke said.

"And make the most of your limbs too, they tend to go missing in present company." Lumiya said tartly as she followed Leia from the cockpit.

Luke rolled his eyes. Granted, she hadn't been much trouble since they'd escaped the Vong ship. While certainly not missing a chance to rub any of them up the wrong way, drop a subtle hint about her injuries or sneer loudly about the state of the ship, she was generally alright. She helped do the dishes and made a fine cup of tea when she put her mind to it, and she'd had a few long talks with Luke and K'Kruhk about Abeloth and the threat she posed. She had also taken to playing holo chess and had beaten Jaina, much to the young Jedi's great disgust. She had also taken the pranks Ben had been playing on her in good grace, such as the time when he had used the Force to jam the toilet door shut when she was in it for several hours, and had only relented when his mother had threatened to cut his hair unless he opened it as she was quite desperate.

"Come on K'Kruhk, let's go break the bad news to the powers that be." Luke said, and the large Whiphid followed him out.

Han flumped in his seat. Having a Sith on board stank. Especially when she kept making cracks about his ship. And the thing that annoyed him most about that...a fair few of them were probably true.

XX

Lumiya followed the two matriarchs down the ramp. The last two days had been fun in their own sort of way. Annoying the crew in any way possible had certainly made it worth the effort of getting up in the morning. But, the problem was the Skywalker boy, amusing though he undoubtedly was...for Lumiya had actually cracked a few genuine smiles at his jokes. He had seen fit to exasperate her at every opportunity, despite Jacen's warnings of 'not to piss off the evil Sith wifey'. As such, she would find herself locked in the toilet for several hours, crept up on when she least expected it, or interrupted during her meditations. If it wasn't for the fact that she was outnumbered, and her plan, she probably would have diced off a limb to teach the boy a lesson. And then she could gloat to Luke as well.

But now, she was on the ground, and would finally be able to check her messages from the small implant in her brain. A prototype that was meant to be implanted in the skulls of all Emperor's Hands, it allowed the user to receive messages directed to them without the benefit of a terminal, meaning that provided you were on ground or on a large enough ship that wasn't in hyperspace, you could received messages at all times, that wouldn't disturb you from what you were doing. Codenamed the Emperor's Ear, it was meant to be installed soon after Lumiya herself became a Hand...but then Palpatine had died at Endor and she and her counterparts had been spared. However, Lumiya had found the plans when she had visited Carnor Jax, her former apprentice, at Ord Cantrell after he had taken over the Imperial Ruling Council under her machinations. She had then adapted them to fit in with other cybernetic implants, and now wore it at all times and now she had a continuous feed of messages. She quickly deleted most of them, however, she left the most recent report from General Wethen and Captain Valek untouched to pursue when she got a minute...when Mara and Leia weren't looking over her shoulder.

As they progressed through the city streets, Lumiya kept a little behind them, while they chatted about goodness knows what, as Mara was catching Leia up on a soap that might have been different because of the timeline. As such, Lumiya had a chance to check her messages.

The first was from General Wethen.

"My lady, the repairs to the Invidious are coming on apace, and I am conducting regular drills to keep the fleet in full combat readiness. Also, your agents at Yaga Minor came in with an interesting report. They report that a Yuuzhan Vong gunship was seen at the edge of the system. It may be nothing, but I thought I should alert you in case it was Lady Vongerella. General Wethen out."

Lumiya pondered the report. The report on her own fleet was satisfactory. However, the report on the Vong gunship at Yaga Minor, while not worrying per se, did make her feel slightly uneasy. Yuuzhan Vong ship sightings happened several times a week. Old gossips who just wanted to talk to someone important, drunk pilots who were boasting to their friends, or those who felt that the Vong should have been exterminated and wanted to try and goad the Alliance into going after Zonama Sekot...there were plenty of choices. But, Yaga Minor was close to the Unknown Regions, which was definitely where Vongerella was rumoured to be last, so the reports could actually be true. And if they were, Vongerella clearly had something up her sleeve. After all she was a Sith, and she was a Sith who Lumiya had trained. But...what was she up to? If it jeopardised her plan in any way...

Grumbling slightly, she went onto the report form Captain Valek, only an hour or so old.

"My lady, I have good news. Tavira, after a lot of grumbling, has managed to procure us an Interdictor going by the name of the Crucible. I am awaiting a caretaker force to take it back to Bimmiel to get it embedded into the fleet. She also believes she can get us a Star Destroyer, and is making significant strides in that field. However, I am slightly worried by her interest in local pirate groups. I will continue to keep an eye on her my lady."

Lumiya smiled. An Interdictor, excellent. And if Tavira managed to get them another Star Destroyer so much the better. And she decided not to let the news that Tavira was investigating pirate groups bother her. If she got out of hand...Valek would deal with her.

Mara led them into a clothes shop, as for the last few days she had been complaining about the state of Jacen and Jaina's jumpsuits.

"Aren't they a bit too old for their mom and aunt to be shopping for their clothes?" she asked disdainfully.

"Being a mother is being able to dote Lumiya. And besides, they have no taste." Leia said simply, and Lumiya couldn't suppress a grin.

Mara was looking over at the women's section with a sad eye as she saw a black dress that even Lumiya had to admit looked nice.

"You reckon Luke would take you know, more notice, if I wore something like this?" she asked, taking it off the hanger.

Lumiya's eyes widened. Well here was news. Luke didn't take much notice of that sort...interesting indeed.

"Aww Mara, look on the bright side...at least you're alive to not have notice taken of you." Leia appeased.

She was no expert but Lumiya didn't think that would improve Mara's mood, which seemed to have gone slightly down.

"Well there's still love there, but not like what you and Han have...you two still have passion too." She lamented, then hung the dress back up, looking wistful.

Lumiya looked at her former nemesis, and at her former nemesis' sister in law. Both of them were looking slightly wistful, as though missing something long gone. If she had to spend the day with lovelorn middle aged women she was going to break the truce in record time. Time to take drastic action.

"Oh for the love of the Sith! Will you two listen to yourselves? Just because you're both Jedi and both getting on doesn't mean that sort of stuff needs to stop you know! You're strong, powerful, independent women! Act like it! Luke and Han, for all their skills and powers...are men! They're notoriously easy to satisfy. By the Force, you're getting on, you're not celibate...or dead. So, let's see..." she said ponderingly, while Leia and Mara looked at each other in surprise.

"Ah!" she said triumphantly and withdrew a slim blue dress that looked very classy, she showed it to Mara, who smiled.

"Is it wrong that I actually like that?" she asked their companion, who shrugged, appraising it.

"A romantic dinner...a few glasses of wine...this dress...the galaxy's your oyster." Lumiya promised.

Mara sent the Sith an odd look then took the dress and went to try it on.

"Now, let's find something sexy for the momma to wear." Lumiya said, and interested despite herself, Leia went to join her.

Lumiya picked up a few random dresses, a green 'no you shall look like a lightsaber', a white 'who the hell told them to bring back Imperial chic? That with the buns simply isn't on', a red 'no people will think you're a harlot' and an orange one 'that will never do, it's much too loud, you wouldn't be able to hear it over your husband's snoring'. She then found a deep purple one, which even Leia couldn't contain her delight at, and as she went to try it on grinning, Lumiya felt quite pleased with herself...until she realised what she had done.

"What am I doing? I'm a Sith not a personal shopper! And worse I'm helping my enemies pick out dresses to attract their husbands attention. It must be that ship, I'm going crazy! Forget the coffee I'll need a good strong brandy instead," she said, then saw the assistant looking at her as if she was indeed crazy, "hey how you doing?" she asked, and he backed away.

Lumiya sighed in frustration. She was going to have to go and kill a few people or plot some new scheme or even just kick some kid off their bicycle just to feel like a Sith again. For goodness sake, what was happening to her?

Ten minutes later, they left the shop, and to add insult to injury, Mara and Leia had actually bought the damn dresses!

"See doesn't helping people feel good Lumiya?" Leia asked with a grin.

"No it bloody well doesn't. Just because I want the galaxy to be united and peaceful doesn't mean I have to be nice about it." She responded grumpily, and the three headed for a cafe.

XX

Dass Jennir struggled out from the smashed in door of his group's Consular frigate. Two of their smuggler friends, a Xexto and a Quermian partnership had been killed by the crash, leaving them only eight to try and find the others with. He was one of the three Jedi in the group, and the commander of this frigate. His second in command was Noriah Na, the former Padawan of Simms, who had been killed during Order 66. She had been urged into hiding by Kai Hudorra and had found the Survivors purely by accident when she had crash landed on the planet after having been outed by Jerec as a Jedi. She had escaped and stayed with the Survivors since.

The other Jedi present was Maris Brood, the last Padawan of Jedi Council member Shaak Ti. Having escaped Vader's assassin on Felucia, K'Kruhk had found and redeemed her totally and she had remained with them since.

"What the hell was that?" Varks, a Kubaz, asked.

Dass turned to look at the Kubaz, who was even older than he was. The other four members of the crew, aside from him, contain a Barabel, a Gamorrean, a Nautolan and a Bothan.

"I think it was our enemy...so be careful. Come, and stay behind Noriah, Maris and I." He ordered.

Dass then led the way out of the crippled ship. After entering the atmosphere, Piru's ship had unexpectedly dropped from the sky. Before they could do anything, Dass' ship had been hurled away as if caught by some powerful Force push and it had slammed to a stop at the edge of a barren area of scrubland. Dass didn't like the feel of this place at all. He had argued to agree with K'Kruhk and Tra's plan to wait, but Quinlan had overrode his objections, and now he too was leading a part of the expedition. But in his gut, there was a horrible feeling that Dass had come to associate with imminent misery over the years.

He had survived the Great Jedi Purge by keeping busy and with the help of a few friends who were sadly no longer with them. After losing his faithful companion Bomo Greenbark he had decided to cut himself off from the Force completely and had headed to Myrkr...where Tra Saa had found him and had taken him to the enclave where he had become a member of the Survival Council. And now here he was...on this mission to stop the true threat.

He led the team onward, the odd sun beating down on them but not actually making them warm, which struck Dass as slightly odd.

"Master Jennir? Can you sense the others, because I can't raise them on the comm." Varks said.

The guarded look he received from Noriah and Maris told them they had the same problem.

"No...but that does not mean we should give up hope." He said firmly, though he too was worried.

They came to the edge of the scrubland, to an area of cracked ground where small hisses of gas were escaping.

"I don't like the looks of this." The Nautolan, Zec, commented.

"Be careful." Maris said, looking up and seeing the volcano in the distance and having a horrible feeling that not everyone would get over this cracked earth alive.

They made their way over slowly, all of them looking around. Noriah looked at Dass, and she could feel his worry. Abeloth had brought down the entire task force, and may already have killed the others. Rendered unconscious by the crash, and their Force sight blocked by Abeloth's dark side pall, they couldn't find the others even if they were still alive.

They were just near the edge of the dried out scrubland when suddenly a large burst of gas forced itself out of the crust, totally boiling apart Varks in the process.

"No!" the Bothan, Druvisk, cried out in despair as the old Kubaz was boiled off the face off the galaxy.

"Quickly, to the edge before any more of the field goes up!" Dass ordered and led the group over the scrub, eventually getting out of the way of all cracks.

"Was that the Force that did that?" Zeyer, the Barabel asked.

Maris shook her head.

"No, that was Abeloth. She means to pick us off one by one." She said darkly, then beckoned them all forward.

Dass thought about what to do as they moved forward. For them to have gotten so far over the field and only to lose one meant that either Abeloth wasn't strong enough to kill them all at once or she was saving herself to cause them more suffering as they went on. Braat, the Gamorrean, looked out over the top of the strange things that passed for trees on this planet, and Dass, with his failing eyes, could barely make out the tip of the volcano they were making for.

"That's where she is alright. You can feel it." Noriah said with a shudder.

Dass nodded gravely. Abeloth felt calm, satisfied. Did that mean that she had already killed some of the party? He didn't want to think about it. They edged down a small rocky hill, and as they did so, a large serpent burst out of the ground. Two times longer than a lightsaber, it hissed at them as the party came to a stop and it made a retching sound, before globules of green mucus came flying out from its mouth. Dass, Noriah and Maris caught some of them on their lightsabers, making them hiss and sizzle as they did so. Zec however was not as lucky. One globule hit him right in the middle of the head, and a ragged circular hole burned into his forehead and he dropped to the ground, his eyes blank. Braat gave a cry and picked up the snake, which tried to bite him, and then he pulled it in half.

"What the hell was that thing?" Druvisk asked weakly, looking at their dead friend.

"Very dangerous. Stay close, and do not disturb and of the larger rocks if at all possible." Dass warned.

They slowly got down the steep slope, with Zeyer reaching the bottom first. Just as he turned to help Noriah down to the ground, the ground opened beneath him and he plummeted into darkness with a scream as the ground close upon him, trapping him for all eternity.

"By the Force..." Drivosk whispered, and Braat snorted in surprised terror.

"We should not have come here. I warned the Council..." Dass lamented, the lives lost weighing on him.

"Master Jennir, we cannot despair. It is what our enemy wants." Noriah warned and they headed onward, the team quiet.

For hours they travelled, and with nothing else happening, Druvisk and Braat seemed slightly more optimistic. However, Dass was filled with foreboding, knowing that Abeloth was most likely waiting to lead them into a trap.

And as soon as he saw the large canyon that they had to cross over, he knew he was right. Peering over the edge, Maris wrinkled her nose.

"There's something that stinks down there...and something that's moving." She said ominously, looking concerned.

Dass nodded.

"Right, Noriah, leap across first. Maris and I will then levitate the others over to you, then join you ourselves." He said, and the younger Jedi sprang over the gap.

Maris reached out with the Force, and she and Dass lifted Darovisk and Braat with the Force, Dass struggling a bit with the Gamorrean's bulk. However just as he was about to begin settling the Gamorrean down on the other side, a massive, thorny root shot up into the air from the bottom of the canyon. Dass blasted Braat to the other side of the canyon, but didn't move quickly enough to Darovisk. The root wrapped around his body, then pulled his screaming body downwards, before smashing him off the side of the canyon.

"Oh no...I..." Maris said, and Dass took a hold of her and, exerting himself and his grasp on the Force, leapt over with her in his arms.

Braat looked down at the bottom of the canyon and shook his head sadly. Dass sighed, clapped Maris on the shoulder, and led them on. The volcano was in sight, and the sense of the dark side was getting stronger as they reached nearer and nearer to Abeloth's lair.

"Right. You know why we came here, to try and destroy this monster. In light of our losses, it is now...even...more..." Dass said, and tailed off as Braat's vibroaxe shot into the air, swung round and took its owner's head off.

Noriah and Maris gasped as his dead body fell to the floor, and Dass looked at them both intently.

"Come. Together we can stop this menace." He promised solemnly and led them up towards the cave that could just be made out from their position.

But as they approached, Dass began to feel more and more uncertain. Faces of people he had failed, like Bomo, Resa, his former apprentice, others he had failed started to come to mind as they got closer and closer to the cave.

And then a scream pierced the silence.

"Master Simms! Master Simms, no I didn't, I didn't fail you! Or you Master Hudorra, I ran like you wanted me to!" she screamed.

Dass suddenly had a flash of warning and he knew what was going on.

"Noriah, hear me! You did not fail them, they are not there, they do not exist!" he cried, with Maris trying to shake her out of the vision she was having.

However, Noriah then grabbed at her chest, and her hair turned shock white and she fell with a terrified expression to the floor.

"She's dead..." Maris said in wonder.

"Frightened to death by whatever she saw. Guard your mind Maris, and let us go into the unknown." Dass said, and the two lit their blades.

As they did so, Dass glanced upwards, and Maris leapt up the rocky face of the volcano, intending to descend on Abeloth from above. Dass then entered the cave, and stopped short as he saw Bomo Greenbark staring at him.

"Jennir...you came for me." He said in wonder.

"Bomo? No, this is impossible..." Dass said, stopping short as he looked at his old friend.

"Nothing is impossible on this world Dass, you should know that by now..." Bomo said, grinning horribly, and Dass somehow knew what was about to happen.

Lava boiled up in a plume from below, though amazingly, Dass seemed to be in some sort of bubble, as did Bomo. The lava travelled up and Dass heard a horrified scream and saw Maris' red sabers disappear in the sea of fire, and as it stopped black dust fell to the floor, while the lava cooled around the edges of the volcano.

"You're not Bomo..." Dass growled, breaking from the illusion and brandishing his saber.

"Indeed not puny Jedi...indeed not!" Abeloth cried as she returned to her true form, and two large rocks flew out from the walls and hurtled at Dass.

He sprang into the air, but due to his age he didn't quite jump far enough and the boulders crushed his left foot. Screaming in pain he fell to the ground with the boulders and his saber rolled to a stop at Abeloth's feet. She smiled and picked it up with one of her tendrils, and then sliced him in two from the head downwards.

XX

Luke and K'Kruhk entered the comm centre and made a link to Coruscant. After a few minutes, in which K'Kruhk stumped Luke with a game of hangman (revealed to spell Lusankya, though Luke thought the clue of 'Imperial Ship' was ridiculously vague), the holo flickered to life with the form of Saba Sebatyne.

"Master Skywalker, it izz good to see you, we were beginning to worry." She said, inclining his head.

"Sorry Saba but we had a bit of trouble. Can you get us a link to Admiral Niathal and Chief A'kla? And you can sit in too, then you can report to the Council."

Saba nodded and made the connection, making it secure in the process.

"I mean how the hell was I meant to get that?" Luke asked irritably.

"Used the Force you should have young one, to reveal the answer..." K'Kruhk said in his best Yoda voice and Luke shot him an exasperated look.

"One, the Force can't fathom your many oddities and secondly that would be cheating." He said firmly.

K'Kruhk looked slightly wistful.

"Yes, that's what Master Rancisis said when he caught me using the Force to try and figure out an answer...which to me is rather silly considering we were young Jedi at the time..."

"What were you doing?" Luke asked with a grin.

The large Whiphid chuckled.

"Using the Force to bring me the answer sheet." He said with a wink, and Luke laughed.

Saba materialised once more, and then a new holo flickered to life of the kindly, pointed face of Releqy A'kla. The daughter of Elegos, the Caamasi who Shedao Shai had murdered early during the Vong War, after the retirement of Chief Omas she had become head of state and had been relatively popular ever since, and was somehow managing to keep everyone happy without much Jedi or military intervention.

Beside her, the Mon Calamari form of Admiral Niathal shimmered to life, clearly in her command chair on her flagship, the Ocean. After Pellaeon had gone and retired in order to spend his twilight years keeping the Empire and the Moffs in order, she had become Supreme Commander when Admiral Bwua'tu had turned down the position. Ever since she had been cracking down on pirate groups while improving fleet cohesion and granting some nostalgic rebels by refitting several old ships from the days of the New Republic. The Ocean was a Viscount class Star Defender, the only Mon Calamari cruiser designed that, in the days when they were fighting the Empire, was capable of taking on an Executor class Super Star Destroyer. Now it was one of the strongest ships in the First Fleet, aside from the Guardian, one of the said SSDs that it was able to take on.

"Master Skywalker, Master Sebatyne informs us you have news." Releqy said in cheerful greeting.

Niathal smiled at him.

"Please tell me its good news Master Skywalker. I have spent my morning do the annual fleet inventory and I'm beginning to get X-Wing images implanted on my brain." She begged.

"I'm afraid not." K'Kruhk said.

"And you are?" Releqy asked politely.

"A thousand apologies. My name is K'Kruhk, a Jedi of the Old Republic. It is good to meet you all." He said in greeting.

"And you Master Jedi." Niathal said, while Saba and Releqy inclined their heads respectively.

"So what is the news Master Skywalker?" Releqy asked.

"We were attacked by a Yuuzhan Vong cruiser." He replied darkly.

The effect of this sentence was profound. Saba slammed her tail against the ground and let out a long hiss. Releqy actually retreated back from the holo field and looked tired, drawn and wan all of a sudden. And Niathal leaned forward, her face mottling, her eyes widening.

"You're sure about this?" she demanded.

"Yes. A miid ro'ik cruiser attacked us, and I reckon it has to have been following us because no one should have known where we were." Luke reported.

Releqy exchanged a glance with Niathal.

"What is it?" K'Kruhk asked curiously.

"We have been receiving reports of Vong activity from planets such as Obroa-Skai. While reports are common, there have been a few more than usual. And they have all been in the general direction of Vector Prime. Perhaps the Vong are trying to return home." Niathal pondered.

"Doubtful. They are on Sekot now. What do they have to gain by going back to their own galaxy? Besides they have no world shipz." Saba stated.

"Well they did have that cruiser. And the way the woman in charge spoke, saying the True Yuuzhan Vong, makes me think there could very well be more of them." Luke explained.

"What ships have you had reports of?" K'Kruhk asked.

"Nothing more than a gunship but, if combined with the cruiser that attacked you it could very well be enough to restart the old tensions..." Niathal said darkly.

"...Which could in turn make people feel the Vong War may be restarting..." Releqy continued.

"...And that will be enough to plunge the galaxy back into war and destroy the peace we have been preserving since the end of the Killik War." Saba finished.

"Exactly. We must ascertain the truth of these claims. I will contact Warmaster Choka on Zonama Sekot and see what he has to say about this. But you cannot mention this to anyone. If word gets out, it will create a panic and we'll be right back where we were after we liberated Coruscant." Releqy ordered, and Luke bowed his head.

"No one on board will discuss the events Chief, you can be sure of that. But what will we do if Warmaster Choka doesn't know what the attack was about?" he asked.

"I believe I can send the Third Fleet for a patrol around that area without attracting too much attention. And if you could be so kind, could you please contact Talon Karrde? He usually knows things before we do. Perhaps we can see if these are just rumours and this ship is a loner, or if it is the harbinger of something more serious." Niathal said.

Luke nodded.

"Shall I send a Jedi?" Saba asked Luke, who shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. Seeing the Third Fleet and a Jedi floating about may create a panic that we wish to avoid...particularly since we don't know if this is just one nut job or part of a group." Luke said worriedly.

"If this news gets out, people will be clamouring for the Vong War Round II." K'Kruhk warned.

"Exactly. Keep us informed of any more problems. Thank you for informing us. May the Force be with you." Niathal said, and she and A'kla flickered out.

Saba looked at Luke in amusement.

"One day you will not bring us bad newz whenever you go travelling." She said wryly.

"Will you tell the rest of the Council?" Luke asked, trying to ignore the fact that Saba thought everywhere he went he brought bad news back with him, which was slightly true.

"Yez Master Skywalker, do not worry, I shall once again be the harbinger of doom..." she said, and sissing in laughter, she flickered out.

Luke frowned. The odd Barabel would certainly report to the rest of the Council. But rumours of Vong ships increasing? A rogue Yuuzhan Vong cruiser? Were they jumping at shadows or was something more sinister going on? That Vong woman certainly seemed to have it in for them, and something about the authority, the command in her voice...Luke had a horrid suspicion that that wasn't just a one off event. They would be back. And that thought filled him with dread.

The last Vong War had nearly destroyed the galaxy, nearly killed Mara, nearly prevented Ben from being born, had killed Chewie and Anakin, and according to Leia had totally knackered up the future. He didn't want something like that happening again.

"Do I really always bring bad news?" Luke asked wonderingly as they left the comm suite.

K'Kruhk gave him a funny look, with a twinkle in his eye.

"The news that an R2 unit had a bad motivator changed the entire galaxy young one." He said, and then at Luke's stupefied expression, he started to laugh.

XX

Mirta crouched down on the roof. The team was in position, to distract Leia Solo and Mara Skywalker, because if her grandfather was right, Aurra would lure him and K'Kruhk out. Fett himself would distract Han Solo, and was allowing her to strike the possible killing blow to Aurra Sing. Was he just showing confidence in her abilities? Possibly, but Mirta suspected there was another reason. He did not want to be the one to kill one of the last few remaining links to his past if he could avoid it. Mirta knew bounty hunting gained you few friends, but it seemed as if Aurra had been somewhat of a frenemy and a sort of mother figure to Boba in his early years as a bounty hunter. Mirta pondered her grandfather's last words to her before he had gone off to wait for Solo: 'only take the shot if you have to.'

Sighing, Mirta readied her rifle.

XX

Jacen, Jaina and Ben were walking through the city, looking at the hustle and bustle of the city, while Jacen had Ben point out the various species that were going about, to show how much he had learned.

Jaina then stopped, extending her awareness in the Force.

"Jaina?" Jacen asked, looking at her in concern, and she turned and smiled.

"Do you feel that?" she asked happily.

"What's going on?" Ben asked, a few steps ahead of him, realising his cousins had come to a stop.

His question was then answered as a hairy pair of arms lifted him up and squashed him in a hug.

"What the...? Lowie!" he exclaimed as the large Wookiee put him down and proceeded to wrap Jacen and Jaina in a hug.

As the twins and their Wookiee friend exchanged gleeful greetings, Ben edged back a little bit. He had never had any of the close friendships Jacen and Jaina had had at the academy. They had had their twin bond first, then they had found Lowbacca and Tenel Ka, and Zekk a while later. Ben had never really had any close friends at the academy. Most kids around his age had been too awed of the son of the Skywalkers to do anything other than stare at him, and as he had grown up they had kept their distance, overawed and slightly intimidated by his famous relatives, his father, mother, aunt, uncle and cousins. No one had ever really bonded with Ben, and it was with a heavy heart that Ben realised that the person closest to his age who would actually loosen up and talk around him was Allana.

As Jaina caught Lowie up on what she had been up to, Jacen turned and saw Ben edging away from them a little bit.

"What's wrong buddy?" he asked in concern.

Ben didn't meet his eyes.

"I think I'm just going to go and help Uncle Han with the ship." He said, and turned and headed off, going through the busy square before Jacen could stop him.

"Jacen, what's wrong?" Jaina asked curiously as she and Lowie approached, seeing her brother look worriedly at where Ben was disappearing.

"Ben. I think we made him feel sort of excluded..." Jacen said, feeling slightly guilty.

Lowie wailed, and Jacen nodded.

"I know, you're right. Poor kid has never really had many friends...at least not many his own age. Not like we did."

Jaina looked in concern as to where her cousin was vanishing. Lowie was right, Ben had never really gotten a friend. Poor little guy.

Lowie then tapped Jacen's shoulder, making him stagger, and yowled at him.

"Yeah...I'm fine now...come on, we'll go and explain over a cup of coffee." Jacen said, but then he caught the warning look Jaina was sending him, and he supposed it might be a little difficult to explain to Lowie why their mother and Mara would be having tea with the Dark Lady of the Sith if they saw her.

"On second thoughts, let's go to the shop and get something to eat first." Jaina said, and Lowie shrugged.

"So what are you doing here anyway Lowie?" Jacen asked, still feeling a bit worried about Ben.

Lowie, it transpired, was not here through any choice of his own. After solving a resource dispute on Ventooine, he had hit a micrometeorite shower that had knocked him off course, and he had had to land on Lorrd to effect repairs. When there, he had met Seff Hellin, a younger Jedi, who had been on leave and had decided to take in one of the few sights unmarred by the Vong War.

Just as he finished explaining, Seff himself decided to appear, and he too decided to join them for a bite to eat, with Jacen muttering to Lowie he would explain what was up later.

XX

Darth Rape had landed his modified Starchaser at the spaceport and had familiarised himself with his surroundings. Really, Darth Krush was jumping at shadows. And besides, if he knew Darth Oracle there wouldn't be anything to find anyway, especially, as Rape personally believed, there was nothing to find in the first place.

As Rape strolled through the streets, he extended his awareness. He couldn't sense Aurra Sing, but that didn't surprise him, the assassin was quite good at hiding in the Force. However, he could feel Lumiya, a dark star in the Force, simmering quietly a little bit away, and she seemed to be annoyed with herself. Drawing back before she sensed him (as despite what others said, just because she wasn't a member of the One Sith didn't mean she couldn't crush a fair few of them like gnats), he resigned himself to a long and fruitless wait...until he saw Ben Skywalker, his expression gloomy, walking back to the spaceport with his eyes down and his hands in his pockets. Rape smiled. They boy seemed fairly down, his senses were not where they should be...perhaps this wouldn't be a wasted trip after all...

Putting his hand on his saber, Rape pushed forward and started to close the gap between Ben and himself.

XX

"Well considering one of your oldest friends and one of the members of your council were on the damn thing, which blasted out of Coruscant no less, I expected you to get it without any prompting from me." K'Kruhk said idly as they headed to try and find the others.

"Well you were being deliberately vague...Imperial ship could have been a Lambda class shuttle for heaven's sake!" Luke argued, until he heard the noise of someone crying.

"Hello?" he called, looking down into the alley, which even in the middle of the afternoon was fairly dark and dismal.

There was no response, and K'Kruhk began to get a feeling that he didn't want to know what was down the alleyway.

"Luke, I don't think we should go down there..." he warned, but the younger Jedi ignored him and lit his saber, and K'Kruhk rolled his eyes and followed.

"Jedi help the innocent." Luke said as they progressed down the alley.

"Will it matter at all if I told you I have a bad feeling about this?" K'Kruhk asked, lighting his own saber.

"Not really." Luke said cheerfully.

K'Kruhk sighed, knowing Luke was secretly enjoying this, probably because it made him feel young again.

"I see he's inherited the Skywalker stubbornness..." he cursed, and Luke shot him a dirty look as they reached the end of the alley.

As expected, there was nothing at the end of the alley, which was quite empty aside from a few rats. But, there was still a sound of crying, which was coming from a recorder that was hanging off the wall.

"Oh joy, you've just got us involved in a kidnapping." K'Kruhk said irritably, as Luke reached for the recorder.

Then, K'Kruhk spotted some writing above the recorder.

"'Nashtah'..." he said, just as realisation hit him.

He blasted Luke with a Force push, hurtling the Grand Master out of the alley just as the recorder pulled the fuse out of the bomb and blasted apart the alley, sending K'Kruhk flying in a swirl of fire, rubble and dust.

XX

Abeloth smiled. More company was on the way, the last of those who had visited her sanctum. She wasn't as lonely anymore. Or as hungry.

As she reached out to try to locate her new guests, she could feel someone a fair bit away, a presence she had felt before. She had touched him then, and she missed his reciprocating touch back. Feeling the absence her touch had left, she gently caressed his mind, calling to him.

"Come back to me little one...we shall be happy...escape the non-believers and return to me..."

XX

"I must admit, Isard was not the brightest lightsaber in the sheath." Leia said with a laugh.

"Yes...it was the Emperor dying that eighty-sixed her I reckon. She was quite clever before that." Lumiya commented, drinking her brandy.

"Yeah, that and taking the Lusankya off of Coruscant didn't do her any favours either. Unhinged her a bit." Leia agreed.

Lumiya was about to speak again when a blast ripped through the town a few blocks up. As smoke and flame flared into the air, Leia and Mara looked at each other in concern.

"What are the chances of that not being related to our husbands or kids?" Leia asked, getting to her feet.

"Non-existent." Mara growled, getting up too.

"I'll go, I can move faster. The one advantage of metallic legs is that you don't get arthritis. Mind and pay the bill!" Lumiya called as she sprinted off, smiling slightly as she felt a bit more Sith like than she had a while ago.

Leia was about to get up when she turned and looked at Mara.

"She just made us get the bill didn't she?" she asked.

"Yep...but she said she had to feel Sithy again after being all girly. Now come on." She ordered, leaving the tip on the table and ordering the cafe owner to watch their bags.

XX

Rape was just about to ignite his saber and plunge it into Ben's back when a blast rocked the street they were on, and a hail of rubble and smoke came flying out into the busy street, now filled with screaming tourists. The force of the blast picked Rape up and he flew and smashed into a fruit stand, while Ben directed the smoke away from the civilians.

"Everybody, get up against the wall now!" Ben ordered, lighting his saber and hoping it would give him a small measure of authority.

The civilians did as instructed and as alarmed guards arrived in the street, looking ashen, Ben pointed him to the dazed civilians.

"Take care of them, I need to go and find everyone!" he snapped, and dashed off.

Leaving Rape to growl, while trying to extricate himself from several pallies.

XX

The blast rocked the town, and Jacen looked around in alarm.

"Ben..." he said, worry filling him. If something happened to him it would be his fault...

"Uncle Luke..." Jaina said in worry, feeling her uncle was a bit dazed.

Lowie howled at them and Seff was already listening in on the police channel.

"Massive explosion...apparently no one hurt, as it was mostly in an alleyway, but there was a lot of ordnance used and it could have trapped people under the rubble." He reported.

"Come on, in case someone's taking a pot shot at uncle Luke." Jaina said, just as police sirens started to wail.

Then, everything that could possibly go wrong in their little portion of the square did. Blasterfire started echoing from the street beside them, signifying nothing but trouble. Lumiya then dashed into the square from that alley and spotted them.

"Jacen, Jaina..." she said, then her eyes widened as Lowbacca gave a ferocious roar, lit his bronze saber and sprang at the Sith Lord.

Lumiya hissed and went for her lightwhip, bringing it up in a parry as she span out of the way of the Wookiee's attack. Lumiya had made an alliance with the invading Nagai not long after the Battle of Endor, and after she had been revealed to the rest of the galaxy, many of the Wookiees believed her to be carrying out her former Imperial master's plans by allying with slavers who attacked their homeworld, even though it was never confirmed she ever had anything to do with it. Added to the fact that she was the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith...

"Lowie, no!" Jaina yelled, her violet lightsaber bursting to life.

Seff looked at the scene in confusion. Jacen and Jaina were defending a Sith? That just wasn't right. But then, he saw that they clearly weren't the real Jacen and Jaina. They were very close copies, but not the real ones. Lumiya and Lowbacca weren't real either. Lighting his saber, he edged closer to them, as Jaina turned to her brother for support.

"Where are the real Jacen and Jaina?" he asked.

The two never heard him as they tried to stop their friend from attacking Not-Lumiya, who was looking murderous.

"Where are they?" Seff demanded and sprang.

"Jacen!" Jaina screeched, and Jacen turned just in time to prevent Seff taking off his head.

"What the hell? Seff, it's us!" Jaina yelled, deciding Lumiya could look after herself and going to help her brother.

"That's right, leave me fending off the large, irate, lightsaber wielding Wookiee! That's it, you just go and have fun now!" Lumiya said bitterly as she cracked her whip at Lowie.

It wasn't that she was worried about Lowie, fierce fighter though he may be. She was concerned though that she would kill him, which she felt would cast something of a pall over their truce. And that didn't suit her plans at all.

Mind you, neither did Seff suddenly attacking Jacen and Jaina, but he had that too. Interesting...something felt odd about the boy, but what?

Deciding to ponder it later, she span out of the way of a high blow Lowie aimed at her and decided to get back to defending herself.

XX

"I...hate...you..." K'Kruhk said as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Jedi do not hate." Luke said, though the wound on his backside was making it difficult not to agree with K'Kruhk.

"Alright, I'll resent you intensely. Come, we must get you out of here my lad. Aurra Sing is back in town." K'Kruhk said, lighting his saber.

"Correct Jedi!" a triumphant voice said from on high, and Luke and K'Kruhk looked upward, sabers raised, to observe the thin, alabaster form of Aurra Sing glaring down at them, two red lightsabers in hand.

"Aurra Sing." K'Kruhk snarled in greeting.

"Well K'Kruhk, we are both getting old. It's been a while. Now...how about you get Skywalker to run away while we take care of business?" Aurra said, flashing her pointed teeth.

"You have hurt innocent people. Stand down bounty hunter and we'll persuade the Galactic Alliance to go easy on you." Luke said.

K'Kruhk sent him a look that plainly said 'really?'. Aurra obviously thought so too, as she gave a cackle, then leapt down at them, her sabers flashing down to end their lives.

XX

Mara and Leia were running to where the sounds of trouble were coming from when a group of six Mandalorians jetted in front of them and raised their blasters.

"Just stay where you are and no one need be hurt." The leader growled.

Mara looked at Leia.

"Which one do you want?" she asked, nodding her head at the group of Mandos.

""I'll take the stupid one who decided to threaten us rather than shoot us while he had the chance." She said, and she and Mara lit their blue sabers and attacked.

XX

Luke and K'Kruhk were forced onto the defensive as Aurra came at them, her sabers singing with deadly menace. The two older Jedi were immediately on the defensive, defending against her attacks. It quickly became clear to Luke that she was trained in the old styles, with moves such as those that he hadn't seen many of since he had faced Vader. She came in hard and fast, forcing the two of them back down the street and into the main square. As Luke danced around an attack, he saw Jacen and Jaina locked in combat with Seff Hellin, and Lowbacca fighting a furious Lumiya. Wondering what the hell they were doing here, Luke blocked the attack from Aurra that came next.

Jacen hammered against Seff's blade, trying to make the younger Jedi see sense.

"Seff, we're Jedi!"

"You're copies! All copies! Where are the real ones?" he yelled, his wild and erratic swinging making it difficult for Jaina to block his attacks.

"We are the real ones!" Jaina grunted, blocking another wild swing.

"Don't lie to me!" Seff hollered, and kicked her to the ground, forcing Jacen to sacrifice his disarming cut to protect his sister from Seff's cut.

Lumiya cracked her whip, forcing Lowie back, but the wily Wookiee was good, she had to give him that. Lowie gave a war cry, and rushed at her, the edges of her whip singing his fur as he charged. Lumiya backflipped to the top of a table and used the Force to throw another one at him, which he cut down before jumping to another table and leaping across at the Sith. Lumiya hissed. It was all very well trying not to kill him but this was getting old. Snarling, Lumiya hoped for the truce's sake that someone came to help soon.

Aurra was like a demon, her two red blades flashing around them, using Djem So to hammer away at their defence. But now, the two older Jedi had the advantage. Coming at her from both sides, they were keeping her at bay, though even for her advanced age her skill was prodigious. Flipping high into the air she came down at them like a mynock, her blades crashing into theirs, knocking K'Kruhk off balance. As the older Jedi staggered, Aurra pressed her advantage against Luke, her red blades flashing. Luke blocked the attacks, thought it was more difficult than he thought it would be. She had an almost animal like ferocity about her that was pushing him back, his green blade a tapestry of light as she pressed her advantage. Smiling sinisterly, Aurra pulled a blade back and Luke readied himself for another onslaught.

"DAD!" Ben yelled, and with his saber in hand, cleared the vast majority of the square in a single leap and crashed his blade into Aurra's.

The bounty hunter snarled as Ben and Luke went at her together, father and son, keeping her off balance and forcing her onto the defensive. The large hairy form of K'Kruhk then arrived, a disapproving look on his face, but nevertheless the three of them started pushing Aurra backwards, and the bounty hunter was beginning to sweat as she was forced to hold the three Jedi off.

Jacen and Jaina were still trying to cope for Seff's mad swings, and the younger Jedi was foolishly backpedalling towards the duel Luke, Ben and K'Kruhk were having with Aurra. The insane Jedi was as much a danger to himself as anyone else, his eyes rolling crazily and shouting that they had all been taken by copies. His madness driven assault was making it harder for even their re-established twin bond to overcome. His blade wasn't letting them through, despite their best efforts.

Lumiya however, had now had enough and was pushing Lowie towards the centre of the square, though the Wookiee, deep in Wookiee battle rage, was pushing at her with all his might. The problem was the Sith Lord was far too powerful for that to work. Her whip was like lightning, singing fur as he was forced back towards the centre with a malevolent look in her eyes.

XX

Han had heard the blast and had rushed out of the hangar, leaving the droids to supervise the engineers. As he had run to the centre of town, past scared looking people and screaming mothers looking for absent kids, he burled down the street, then skidded to a stop as he saw Boba Fett standing right in his path.

"Fett? Aw you gotta be kidding me!" Han protested.

"Solo? Look, you don't want to go up there." He warned.

Han narrowed his eyes at the bounty hunter.

"And why not? What are you up to?" Han demanded.

"I'm not up to anything. But there's a three way lightsaber fight going on up there. Skywalker, his kid and some Whiphid guy against a Jedi killer by the name of Aurra Sing, your kids against some other Jedi kid, and old Lumiya against that Wookiee pal of your kids. I advise you to stay clear." Fett cautioned.

Han reeled. It was typical for Lumiya to be causing trouble, but what was she fighting Lowbacca for? Aurra Sing...he had heard the name when he was a kid during the Clone Wars, and from what he had heard she was a nasty piece of work, and if she was fighting Luke...well she would soon learn that one didn't just challenge the Grand Master. And as for the one Jacen and Jaina were fighting...

"I'm going." Han said, and shoved past Fett, headed to the centre of the square.

Fett shook his head and rocketed up to where Mirta was waiting, sniper rifle at the ready.

"You reckon she can do it?" Mirta asked sceptically, as she watched Aurra duelling her three opponents.

"I hope so..." Fett said, his voice tight, which his granddaughter chose to ignore.

XX

Leia blasted her last one with a Force push, while Mara chopped the arms off of her last one, dropping him to the ground, screaming in pain. Leaving the battered, bruised and maimed Mandalorians were they were, the two women dashed up the road just in time.

XX

Aurra angled her blades, then shoved away at Luke, making the man stagger, before she brought up a long, thin leg into Ben's head and sent him sprawling. K'Kruhk gave a growl and came in at her, his heavy blade coming down to cleave off her arms. Aurra gave a cackle and sprang into the air, her boot catching the elder Jedi Master in the mouth and sending him crashing to the floor. Aurra landed catlike in between the fight with Seff, Jacen and Jaina and with a wicked grin, she blocked the three of them just as Luke came at her. Shunting her weight into Jacen, she sent the Jedi falling to the ground. Aurra twirled, quickly blocked Seff's hack, and she then brought her own blade up...right through Jaina's wrist. Jaina screamed as her hand flew off, and then Jacen screamed in unison, bound by the power of their twin bond. Aurra laughed, then flipped to the top of the building, just as Seff raised his blade to finish off Jacen. Lumiya's whip cut in to Lowbacca's leg, and the Wookiee fell to the floor, and the Sith prepared to end the Wookiee, truce or not. Aurra then saw Luke and K'Kruhk struggle to their feet and with a cry of gleeful triumph she threw herself off the building towards them, her sabers angled to take their heads.

"No!" Han yelled as he arrived and fired several shots at her, which she casually reflected just as Seff swung his blade to kill Jacen, who was struggling to pick up his lightsaber in his numbed hand.

Seff then was blasted across the square, crashing into the wall as the red headed form of Mara leapt at him, her blade slamming into his, and allowing Jacen to get to his sister who was curled up on the floor.

Leia then deflected Lumiya's whip on her saber, making the Sith snarl in rage. Lowie went for his fallen saber, but Leia flicked it away with the Force, ignoring Lowie's betrayed roar as she saw Aurra get within striking distance of Luke and K'Kruhk. Aurra cackled madly, but then a burly teenager leapt off of an awning, flying through the air as he did so. The next thing they heard was laughter turning into a scream as two orange clad legs came off and a long, thin white arm fell to the ground, and Aurra's maimed body toppled to the floor, and rolled to a stop. Ben landed beside her and summoned Aurra's remaining saber to him and pointed the two blades at her neck, as she looked up at him in shock.

Mara blocked Seff's heavy handed, erratic attack.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" she demanded.

Lumiya looked over at the fight, and rolled her eyes. Taking a shocker off her belt, she fired, and the electric rod punctured Seff's skin, sending electricity through his body, making him scream as he dropped to the floor, unconscious.

And with that, the square was quiet again, with people looking on in shock.

"Jaina..." Jacen said, looking terrified as he lifted his sister to her feet, with her whimpering as he did so.

"Jaina." Leia said worriedly as she and Han rushed to their daughter.

Lowie howled from the ground, demanding an explanation, but he went ignored as Luke and K'Kruhk headed towards Ben and Aurra and Lumiya headed over to Mara and Seff.

"What happened to him?" Lumiya asked curiously.

"I don't know..." Mara said in grave concern, before she rushed towards her niece.

"Well done Ben. I owe you one." Luke said breathlessly, patting his son's shoulder.

"Unorthodox. But it worked. Well done young one." K'Kruhk said as he glared down at Aurra who was writhing in pain with her remaining limb.

The Jedi Master kept his blade at Aurra's throat, while Ben and Luke rushed over to Jaina.

"Oh god..." Ben said, as he saw the stump.

"Oh, that looks nasty." Lumiya commented idly as she joined them.

"You'll be ok sweetie, we'll just get you to a medcentre." Han soothed as she cried onto Jacen's shoulder.

"Right, time to divide and conquer. Jacen, take Jaina to the centre. Han, you take Lowie, Lumiya, make yourself useful and take Seff there. Mara, you deal with the locals, you lot interrogate your bounty hunter friend." Leia ordered, and followed her son and barely conscious daughter towards the medcentre. Lumiya heaved Seff up with a lot of grumbling, while Han helped Lowie to his feet and half dragged him off.

Ben and Luke returned to K'Kruhk.

"Now Aurra...who hired you?" the Whiphid demanded, and despite the pain she was in, Aurra snorted.

"I'm not telling you anything Jedi." She spat.

Luke glared down at her.

"Look bounty hunter, my niece is now handless because of you and whatever the hell you were doing here. So tell us who hired you." He demanded.

"Go to hell." Aurra said, rolling her head as though drunk.

Ben growled, and reached out with the Force.

"You will tell us who hired you." Ben said, and Aurra looked at him blankly. Then she burst into pain filled hysterics

"Did you think that would work?" Luke said sceptically as Mara joined them.

"No...but if we all work together..." Ben said suggestively.

K'Kruhk nodded thoughtfully.

"Indeed...indeed...Master Windu once did the same thing with Cad Bane."

As so, the four of them stretched out with the Force and brought it to bear against Aurra's mind.

"You will tell us."

They could feel her struggling, so they repeated the process, and she gave a cry.

XX

"Now?" Mirta asked.

Fett looked down at the struggling form of Aurra Sing and with a twinge of regret, he nodded.

XX

"You will tell us!"

Aurra screamed and started to pant heavily.

"Alright. Alright...just stop! It was..." she began, when a sniper round created a small circle in her head and she moved no more, blood seeping onto the pavement.

The group burled around to see a Mandalorian rocket up into the air. The other one lowered their head to the dead body, then followed.

"Was that Boba Fett?" Mara demanded incredulously.

"Yes. But why would he and his accomplice kill Aurra Sing? Most mysterious..." K'Kruhk said worriedly, looking at Aurra's body.

"What does it mean?" Ben asked in confusion.

"I do not know my lad. But I should very much like to find out." K'Kruhk said, stroking his chin in thought.

Luke nodded to the security staff and motioned for them to deal with Aurra.

"Come on, let's go check on the others."

XX

Mirta shot her grandfather a questioning look as they quickly made tracks away from the planet. With the entire city in an uproar because of the duel that had occurred in the centre of the town, the Trak'ad and Slave I had managed to get out of Lorrd without being questioned, as their security forces were more concerned with clearing up the mess of the duel, and none of the Mandalorians they had taken with them had been critical so, showing their true Mando toughness they had clambered aboard the ship and had made for space. And now, Fett wasn't saying anything, he was just looking out the viewport as Mirta piloted the ship. He regretted the necessity of having to kill Aurra. Maybe the famed bounty hunter was getting too old for this. Or maybe he was just regretful of having lost another link to his past.

Sighing, Mirta took them to lightspeed, and safety.

XX

A few hours later, Jaina had a prosthetic hand, and was getting the hand of it while they discussed the days events. They had agreed that Aurra was definitely sent to kill K'Kruhk but why they couldn't fathom. Lowie had been furious about the continued presence of Lumiya, but Luke had refused to let her out of their sight and into the streets just in case she caused the chaos she was so good at causing. They had explained that her presence was necessary for their mission, which they hadn't gone into specifics about, but he had still showed his disapproval and spent his time in the hospital bed glaring at her while she read a gossip magazine and his wounds were attended to.

However, no one could explain what had happened to Seff. Luke and Mara were both stumped, there was no history of mental illness in his family, and as she had been busy duelling Lowie, Lumiya couldn't have done anything either. However, K'Kruhk had then examined Seff and had felt an odd presence about him.

"There's something odd deep within him..." he said curiously.

Luke and Lumiya, both bound by their curiosity, though Lumiya's was purely professional, went forward and guided by K'Kruhk to touch the strange thing on Seff's psyche.

"What's that?" Lumiya asked in surprise.

The strange touch was odd. It felt sort of like a sticky, tar like substance that had latched on to the lattice that was Seff's brain. It felt otherworldly, feminine...and Luke didn't like it one little bit.

"I don't know, but it can't be good whatever it is... You don't think?" Luke asked, looking at K'Kruhk.

The Whiphid nodded concedingly.

"It could very well be Abeloth. However, I am good at basic healing only. Perhaps when Lowie takes young Seff here back to Coruscant, Master Cilghal will be able to discover more about this."

As Jaina broke in her new hand in a game of catch with Jacen, she looked slightly mistrusting, as if she didn't trust in herself anymore, and as a result, dropped the ball several times.

"Do not worry young Jaina. Once we are back on the ship, I shall fix soon get you back into the swing of things with some proper saber exercises." K'Kruhk promised.

Jacen looked at him in surprise.

"What deficiency? Jaina's good at duels." He said, defending his sister.

K'Kruhk shook his head.

"Yes, but not compared to the old masters. Never fear young Jacen, all shall be revealed soon." K'Kruhk promised with a twinkle in his eye.

Jacen was about to argue, when Han saw the warning signs, and eager to get things moving again now the ship was repaired, he looked at Jaina.

"You heard from Jag where Alema is heading?" he asked curiously.

Jaina nodded. She had taken the loss of her hand very well considering the circumstances, thought both Leia and Jacen could see that her confidence had been shaken. True, it had been a while since any of them had fought a proper duel, and Jaina was entitled to be a little rusty, but the loss of her hand here had nearly gotten both her and Jacen killed as a result of their twin bond immobilising the two of them. Ben looked slightly guilty every time he looked at her hand, as if he blamed himself for what had happened to his cousin.

"Yeah. I got a message from him saying she was headed to Tatooine and asking me to meet him there." She explained, with a look of resentment on her face.

"What, Tatooine? Aw come on!" Luke moaned, while Mara smiled.

"Bloody Tatooine. Who'd have thought that such a pokey little backward planet could cause so much trouble?" Lumiya asked snarkily from behind her magazine.

"What's wrong with Tatooine?" Jaina asked, scowling at the datapad she was checking her mail on.

"Both Luke and his father came from there and look what that did to the galaxy." She replied tartly, and Han sniggered, while Luke shot her a dirty look and made a rude hand gesture.

"I saw that." She said, and Luke scowled and lowered his hand.

"So Tatooine it is then. Can we all be ready to go in three hours?" Han asked hopefully, and after receiving their assent, he headed off to inspect the Falcon.

Lumiya lowered her magazine and stood up and stretched, while Ben went and sat beside Jaina.

"I'm sorry Jaina." He said sadly.

"It's not you I'm mad at, it's Jag." She said, looking up from her pad irritably.

"I know, I meant about your hand." Ben said, and she looked at him curiously.

"Ben it isn't your fault! You couldn't have done anything. If anything, we're all proud of you, after all, you're the one who stopped her!" Jaina said.

"I still feel like I could have done more..." Ben said sadly, but Jaina shook her head.

"No Ben. This isn't your fault, ok?" she said, and Ben reluctantly nodded.

"What does it feel like?" Ben asked curiously.

"Sort of like I'm wearing a rubber glove, and one thats got chilli around the edge at that. The doctors and your dad say that fades and it'll feel just like a normal hand eventually." She said, waving it around.

"Count your blessings. At least yours was only one hand. Mines was the entire shebang." Lumiya said with a wicked grin as she swept out of the hospital.

Luke, who was following her, turned and gave Jaina a sour look.

"I swear, if you join forces with her and start picking on me about absent hands, you'll walk the rest of the way." He said grumpily, and Jaina and Ben laughed.

XX

Lumiya prowled through the streets, searching for something. The appearance of Aurra Sing had been a surprise. Her assassination at the hands of Boba Fett was even more of a mystery. However, while Luke and the others remained clueless as to who was the true threat behind the bounty hunters, Lumiya was not quite so ignorant. She knew the One Sith were behind it. But, who was Sing's original target? Skywalker? K'Kruhk? Or her? Either way, Krayt's band of thugs had to be stopped before they meddled with her plans.

As such, she swept down a back alley, confident none of her companions were following her. Jaina was going through some more tests at the medcentre, Jacen and Ben were helping that bloody Wookiee to get Seff onto Lowie's shuttle, Leia and Mara were finishing their shopping, K'Kruhk was away to send a comm call and Luke was helping Han with the ship. Leaving Lumiya alone to deal with other matters.

She saw him heading to another side of the spaceport, and as he approached, she stepped out and dragged him into the alley, using the Force to disguise her movements so as not to arouse suspicion. She grabbed the Nikto by the arm and shoved him against the wall.

"Who are you?" she demanded irritably.

"Lumiya! I...I am Darth Rape." He said, smoothing his robes.

Lumiya raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here? What the hell is Krayt up to? Is he trying to get us caught?" she demanded angrily.

"No my lady, I swear! Lord Krayt had nothing to do with the bounty hunters. Lord Wyyrlok hired Sing to kill the Whiphid. Darth Oracle had a vision of he and Lord Krayt fighting, and apparently Lord Krayt wasn't winning."

Lumiya rolled her eyes in frustration. This fanaticism for Krayt was dangerous for anyone, but even more so for a group of Sith pretenders. And Darth Oracle was a nuisance. Her visions had a habit of coming about at the worst possible moment. And Wyyrlok, well the less said about him the better.

"So Wyyrlok hired Sing...who hired Fett?" she asked.

Rape rolled his eyes, knowing full well he shouldn't be talking to this Sith, but not having much choice. And he also knew she wouldn't think much of his answer either.

"Darth Oracle hired Fett to make sure Sing didn't talk if she failed, which she had a vision of occurring."

Lumiya growled. Bloody prophets should just keep their prophetic visions to themselves, everyone would be so much happier.

"Of course she did. Good thing she did then, or otherwise you lot would have been revealed. But that is besides the point...so why are you here?" she demanded, not seeing any reason for Krayt to risk exposure by sending one of his goons out into civilisation.

"Lord Krush sent me here." Rape said stiffly.

Lumiya pondered.

"Krush? Krush...the Vurk nutter?" she asked, and took a small bit of pleasure from the stiffening of Rape's posture as she described his boss as that.

"Yes, Lord Krayt's Hand. You see, he hates Lady Oracle and wanted evidence that she was acting against Darth Krayt. He wants to replace her you see. But she actually wasn't doing anything wrong, though if I told him she still believes Krayt might die then he might say that's bad enough." Rape said dismissively.

Lumiya shook her head. This One Sith business was dangerous, full stop. Too many fanatics all too loyal to that idiot Krayt...it was a recipe for disaster.

"Well you can return to Korriban then boy. And tell Krayt and his band...do not risk exposure again. There is far more going on here than their tiny minds can grasp but if they do anything to jeopardise my plans, their torment shall be legendary. And no more wasted trips. Go, now!" she barked, and Rape bowed respectively.

"Of course Lady Lumiya. But it wouldn't have been a wasted trip if that idiot Sing hadn't used a bomb. Good day." Rape said, and started to head out of the alley, but Lumiya's curiosity got the better of her.

"How?"

Rape smiled, showing pointed teeth.

"I nearly had Ben Skywalker in my grasp. If that bomb hadn't gone off...he'd be dead."

He began to walk again, when he gagged and suddenly saw a beam of scarlet sticking out of his stomach. Lumiya had just impaled him with his own saber.

"Of all the crass, misconceived ideas Rape...idiot. No Sith is to touch Ben Skywalker other than me. No one." She growled, and his body fell to the floor.

She then used the Force to raise his dead body into a dumpster, and then pondered what to do with the saber. Really, the One Sith were just enormous thorns in her side. However, she needed them for the moment. But the day when she would be rid of them...that would be the day.

Walking back the long way to the hanger the Falcon was in, she grunted in exasperation. Krayt's Sith were a pain in the backside. At least Vongerella was mildly predictable. The sooner her plan came to fruition the better. Speaking of which, it was time to get to work on that. Dismantling the saber as she walked, she took the crystals outside of the hilt and placed them in a secret compartment on her arm for use later on. Then she disposed of the several different parts in different bins across the city before she came to the Falcon. No trace. Excellent.

Now, on to the biggest part of her plan.

XX

After bidding Lowie goodbye, and giving him enough sedative to get Seff to Coruscant, everyone gathered on the ship. K'Kruhk seemed mildly worried by the comm call he had made, and Lumiya seemed slightly exasperated about something. Meanwhile, Ben was still feeling guilty because of what had happened to Jaina's hand. Luke knew it was just because he was young rather than him actually having anything to be guilty about. However, it was a bit of a worry with Lumiya floating around.

The Falcon swept away from Lorrd just as reports came in from the ground of a body being found in a dumpster. However, by that time, Han had set the ship for Tatooine, and took it to lightspeed.

As night came to the ship, things were quiet. K'Kruhk was playing Galactic Risk with Mara, and Mara was currently thrashing him with her Separatist fleet, with his Republic fleet only having about three Star Destroyers and a few Jedi left. Han and Leia were watching a holovid, while Luke read over some reports he had gotten from Kam Solusar, who was leading the Order in his absence. Lumiya was in the quarters, dictating a very annoyed message for Krayt to receive after they left lightspeed. And Ben was in the cargo hold, doing a workout.

Meanwhile Jacen and Jaina were in the med room, talking.

"He feels guilty? If anyone should feel guilty it's me." Jacen said grimly, but Jaina shook her head.

"It's no one's fault. Makes you wonder if old K'Kruhk is right though doesn't it?" she asked.

"About us not being as good as the old masters? I suppose, compared to some of the old Jedi, you know, Yoda, Mace Windu, Shaak Ti, we probably aren't that good." Jacen reasoned.

"you reckon he can fix that? According to him we've all picked up bad habits." Jaina said disdainfully, flexing her new hand,

"Maybe. He'll have a damn good try at fixing it. How you getting on with that?" he asked, indicating her hand.

"It's starting to feel a bit more normal now, but it still feels, I don't know...cold. Uncle Luke says that'll fade though." She said, looking at her right metallic hand ponderingly.

She then smiled and looked at him.

"You should be proud of Ben." She said.

"I am. Really proud. He's coming on so fast..." Jacen said fondly, smiling a little at how impressive their cousin had been today.

Jaina grinned.

"Then you might have to knight him fast." She said with a grin, but saw Jacen look slightly down at that prospect so desisted.

"What do you think of a new apprentice?" Jacen asked curiously.

At that moment, Ben walked past the door, and stopped when he heard those words. Did Jacen want a new apprentice? Did he want rid of him? No, Jacen wouldn't...but maybe all the fights with his father had gotten to him, maybe his dad had told Jacen to stop him being Ben's master. Giving the door to the med bay a betrayed look, he scurried off.

Jaina recovered enough to answer her brother's question.

"What? You offering me Ben?" she asked curiously, and Jacen shook his head adamantly.

"No way. He's mine." He said firmly, and Jaina smiled at how close her brother was to their cousin.

"Alright, then who?" Jaina asked, wondering why Jacen had brought it up.

He smiled.

"Well, Tenel Ka and I had a talk when we were on Hapes, and we decided that when Allana needs to be trained...you should be the one to do it." He said with a grin.

Jaina's jaw dropped and then she hugged her twin in delight.

"Of course I'll teach Allana, I'd love to!" she exclaimed, kissing her brother's cheek.

"Thought you might." Jacen said with a smile, and then dragged his excited sister through to the lounge, chattering away about what she could teach Allana.

XX

Lumiya finished compiling her message, and looked up to see an annoyed Ben stomping past.

"Ben? At the risk of boring myself, you don't seem very happy, so what's up?" she said.

Ben looked up and down the corridor, then sighed and entered the crew quarters, where she was sitting on her bed.

"It's Jacen. I overheard him talking to Jaina, asking about a new apprentice." He said in a sad voice.

This was a surprise. Jacen seemed devoted to teaching Ben. Why would he suddenly change his mind? Unless Ben had gotten it wrong...but if he hadn't things might be a little bit easier...

"Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?" Lumiya asked him lightly.

"Says the former spy." Ben retorted, and Lumiya was glad she wore her veil, it hid her smile.

"Alright, point taken. Oh very well. I shall help, just this once. If only because I don't want to spend the rest of the trip with a moody, hormonal male." She said scathingly, and Ben, knowing full well she was referring to him, decided to turn it on her.

"Don't worry, aunt Leia is quite good at keeping uncle Han in line." He said with a grin, and he felt slightly pleased when her veil twitched, indicating a smile.

"Very well. Sit with me." She said, knowing her plan was about to go into motion.

Ben looked at her mistrustingly, but when Lumiya pointed with her hand, he shrugged and sat down beside her. After all, what could she do with his parents only about two metres away, if that?

"Close your eyes...empty your mind, put your thoughts away into a secluded corner of your brain and empty it totally...now, imagine the sandy dunes of Tatooine, the sand gently blown by the wind into graceful spirals...imagine the tranquillity of the gardens of Hapes, the gentle lick of water against the shore...now, feel the ship round about you, underneath the metal, the minds of those you know and love, their thoughts as they think them..."

Ben listened intently to Lumiya's voice, soft and sleepy sounding, but he was still wide awake. He did what she asked, knowing he would probably get into trouble for this later, but he also felt strangely calm as he did it, and began to feel as she said, hearing what she wanted him to hear...

"What the hell? I have one Consular cruiser left and one Pelta frigate...how the hell is she doing this? And only one Jedi, who is it...Master Zao? Oh, what good is he going to be against General Grievous and his army and fleet? I can't believe this, I'm losing to a novice." Came K'Kruhk's thoughts, but sounding as if he saw speaking in some large cave, on the opposite side form Ben.

"If this is how he fought in the Clone Wars, no wonder he survived so long. The Separatists must have taken pity on him." Mara's amused thoughts said.

"Why does she insist on making me watch these soppy romance movies? I'm a good person, what did I do to deserve it? And whatever she thinks I might have done, I'm sure it wasnt my fault." Han's thoughts echoed, and Ben had to suppress a smile.

"Ha, break my vase will you? I'll get you. So now you can watch this with me for a change rather than going to the pub with Luke, Lando, Wedge, Corran and Tycho like you normally do." Leia's triumphant thoughts said.

"Tionne has registered some concern over some teenage students not doing their studies...I'm more concerned about a Jedi randomly going mad. I hope this isn't about Abeloth, because if it is a lot of Jedi could be in danger, not to mention the public." Luke's thoughts sounded troubled.

"He wants me to teach Allana! I can't believe it. I wonder what I should start with when I start to teach her..." Jaina's elated thoughts were like a foghorn.

"Offering you Ben? As if. He's my apprentice, and if the two of us have our way, he isn't going anywhere." Jacen said certainly, and Ben smiled and opened his eyes.

"Well done, I'm impressed. You performed quite well." Lumiya said with a slight smile.

"Thanks. Why can't I read Artoo and Threepio?" Ben asked curiously.

"The Force cannot be used on such things as droids...they will exist, but cannot be felt, much like your uncle, cousin and I's prosthetics. They cannot feel or utilise the Force, hence they are blind to it."

Ben nodded in understanding.

"You did very well. However, it might be best if we keep this our little secret. If your mother found out I was teaching you anything she would go nuts. Force-related things may get me thrown out the airlock." Lumiya said drily, as Ben stood.

"Yeah sure. Thanks Lumiya." He said, and smiled at her.

"You're welcome. Did you find anything about Jacen and his new apprentice?" Lumiya asked curiously.

"Yeah, I got it wrong. He was asking Jaina to teach Allana, that's all." He said with a grin, and waved to her as he left.

Lumiya pondered this. A pity Jacen wasn't trying to get rid of Ben, but it was far from essential. It would have been an added bonus that was all. Not to worry. But, now she had fertilised her soil. It was only a matter of time before things started to grow. Smiling, she went into a meditation.

XX

Tavira slumped down on the bed, exhausted. It had been a hard day, but she had finally done what the Sith witch wanted. She had gotten Lumiya new Imperial class Star Destroyer, by the name of Leviathan. The benefits of the Corporate Sector were many it seemed, as were the credits in Lumiya's accounts. That should keep the old bat happy.

Tavira smiled tightly. She couldn't help but think of Lumiya as older, even though she was probably a couple of years younger. Just something about her manipulative personality.

Valek however was a different story. After she had procured the Star Destroyer, and he had alerted Wethen and sent a message to Lumiya he had relaxed slightly, his mission accomplished. And that allowed Tavira to eye up the various pirate groups that were floating around. She had no intention of serving Lumiya any longer than necessary. As soon as she found a way out she would take it. But to ascertain her escape, she would need more firepower than just the Invidious or else Lumiya's fleet would flatten it before it could go to lightspeed. As such, she had seen the Xarback Pirate gang had recently lost their top members. Valek seemed quite content to allow her to talk to pirate groups, especially when they bought him drinks as he was technically now off duty, despite having to watch Tavira. And that had allowed her to sound out support and plant some seeds of loyalty which she was sure would soon sprout. However, in the morning Valek would insist on going back to the fleet. That did not suit her plans.

But she had something that did. Looking in the mirror, she saw with satisfaction that she was still a very attractive woman. Valek was much the same age as her. He'd had a few drinks, and she knew he had looked at her appraisingly when the two would go out for a drink after a day of looking for ships for Lumiya. She found him to be old fashioned and gentlemanly, but loyal to the Sith. But, things could always change. And he had had a few more drinks today than usual...

Admiring herself, she decided she could do worse. And it wouldn't be the first time she had slept with someone for her own personal gain. After all, that was how she had convinced Teradoc to give her the Invidious in the first place...that along with wiping out a group of pirates who had smacked one of his convoys.

Smiling, she got a bottle of wine from the cooler, and headed to see Valek.

XX

Vongerella smiled as the looked at all the villips awaiting her order. Her lieutenant, Draik Carr, bowed to her as he approached.

"Domina, the Pitiless has arrived. That's all of our gunships returned." He reported.

"Did we lose any?" she asked.

"Of course not lady. They were very stealthy." He said, smiling at the competence of his fellow warriors.

"Excellent. What news do they bring?" she asked.

"The nearest concentration of Alliance forces is the shipyards at Bilbringi. That, and the shipyards at Yaga Minor are the nearest heavy capital ships that might respond should they hear of our attack. However, there are rumours that the Alliance Third Fleet is going to be patrolling the area soon."

Vongerella bit back a curse. Her attack on the Falcon must have been reported to Niathal. But not to worry. It wouldn't upset her plans that much if everything went to plan.

"Thank you warrior. Activate villips." She ordered, a smile coming on to her face.

Events were on the move. Now, they would take back the galaxy for the Yuuzhan Vong.

Various faces of her commanders appeared before her, and her smile broadened. It was time.

"Gentlemen, the time is upon us. The foolish infidels will soon learn of their folly. Our time is now. So, here are your launch marks and locations." She said, and the information was generated to each cruiser in her sizeable fleet.

"Do-ro'ik Vong pratte!" she cried, and they repeated her cry and the villips closed.

Vongerella then looked out of the viewing bubble, as the Embrace of Darkness, her first Kor Chokk cruiser, flickered then vanished, bound for Avidich.

The Harla's Will then followed, on course for Cam'co. The Yammka's Revenge left next, headed for Chaf. The Ne'Shel's Creation then headed for Pesvari. Finally, her last Kor Chokk, the Shuno's Mercy vanished, this time headed for Rhigar.

Her three Ro'ik chuun m'arhs then started moving into position. The Pain of Loss headed towards Copero, while the Devoid of Life went to Sarvchi and the Place of Guilt disappeared, headed for Thrago.

Her three Uumufalh gunships next moved out. The Merciless left for Sharb, while the Unrelenting moved for Ool and finally the Pitiless flashed off, bound for Noris.

And that left her Miid Ro'ik cruisers left. The Screaming Void left for Ornfra, the Infinite Pain for Schesa, the Vengeful Slayer headed towards Kinoss, the Chaotic Silence flashed towards Csaus, the Deity Command went for Yashuvhu, the Infidel Reckoning moved for Shihon and the Chosen Heir headed for Tenupe.

Leaving only her own ship, the Dark Emissary and her worldship, the Baanu Venxis.

"Alert the worldship. Set your course for Csilla." She ordered, excitement building in her as she did so.

The Vong were about to take back the galaxy. Beginning with the Chiss Ascendancy. Their new weapon would make sure of that...and that they weren't interrupted.

And with that, the two ships lanced into lightspeed, Vongerella's laughter filling the bridge as they did so.

Hello again! It's been a while, so I thought I'd update Fate of the Force.

Aurra Sing is at last dead. Is Boba Fett perhaps getting too old for this? Are the One Sith really as different as Krayt think they are? Jaina has lost her hand, Ben has received a lesson from Lumiya. Now what is she up to? Especially since her fleet has now grown to include a Star Destroyer and an Interdictor. What will Krayt think of the death of Darth Rape?

But more to the point...the Chiss Ascendancy is in grave danger. Apologies for the length of the last bit but I felt I should show what exactly we were dealing with when it comes to Vongerella's fleet. Will the Chiss survive? What will happen next?

Next time, we see everyone's favourite dustball Tatooine. Our bounty hunter friends return, as does Jag, and something Luke might recognise from his youth... Along with that, we see how Master Vos is doing on Abeloth's world, an old foe who I'm sure you can figure out, Krayt makes a move, and last but not least we see some familiar faces at Csilla. What will happen next?

Until next time and you find out, please read and review!