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

9. Episode II: Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars

Fate of the Force

"I appreciate that Dr Quee, but I was actually wondering if Warmaster Choka knew of any other Vong forces that might not have followed the Sekot Accords." Releqy said as she observed the hologram of Danni Quee.

She had been a very instrumental scientist during the Yuuzhan Vong War, and had been one of the first to encounter the Vong themselves when Belkadan had been destroyed by Yomin Carr during the invasion of the Praetorite Vong. Now, she was one of the liaisons and unofficial Alliance operatives on Zonama Sekot who kept a watchful eye on the Vong on Sekot.

Releqy had called her to see if Nas Choka, the Vong warmaster, knew anything of the ship that had attacked Master Skywalker. Also present was the two Masters Solusar, as Kam was the acting Grand Master while Luke was away on this mysterious mission of his. Along with Kam and Tionne, Cilghal and Kyp Durron were also present representing the Jedi Council in this meeting and also to give Releqy benefit of their reading people abilities, especially since they all knew Danni from the war. Also present was the Falleen Jedi Natua Wan, who may also lend some help in such a capacity and Sothais Saar, who had a meeting with Admirals Niathal and Bwua'tu later on who Releqy had consented to stay in to observe the meeting.

"I asked Warmaster Choka Chied A'kla, but he insists that everything he can think of was destroyed during the Sekot Accords. Though he does not rule out the possibility of there having been some Tsavong Lah loyalists who refused to follow his commands." Danni said, her eyes looking worried.

Releqy nodded.

"Thank you Dr Quee. If anything comes to you, anything at all, please do not hesitate to contact me." She said, and Danni inclined her head and her holo shimmered out.

Releqy sighed and looked at the Jedi present.

"What is your read on the situation?" she asked grimly.

Kyp pushed his long hair behind his ear and looked grave.

"Well I reckon Danni was telling the truth as far as she knew it...and maybe as far as Nas Choka knows it. If what Master Skywalker said is true, and that this commander was the lover of Onimi and knew his true identity as the Supreme Overlord, then the possibility of this fleet being secret, much like Grand Admiral Thrawn was a secret, can't be ruled out."

Releqy frowned.

"Admiral Niathal has received reports from various locations reporting Vong ship sightings, and there are slightly more than the usual cranks we get. Admiral Pellaeon also registered the fact that a Vong gunship was seen floating around Yaga Minor. I do not like this my friends. These sightings could be the precursors of another Vong attack, and if so, the galaxy will not be fobbed off by a peace treaty this time, they will join in with Reh'mwa's faction of Bothans and want them all exterminated." She said darkly.

She was of course referring to the radical wing of Bothans that had declared ar'krai on the Vong following the death of Borsk Fey'lya during the Fall of Coruscant, and they had vowed not to stop until the Yuuzhan Vong were all but extinct.

"Then we must ascertain what is really going on...rogue ship or signs of a rogue fleet, we need to be certain. Only when we know the full truth about this phantom threat can we act accordingly." Tionne said.

"If I may Chief A'kla, there is a another reason that I am present. We received a disturbing report from Master Skywalker, indicating that a young Jedi inexplicably went insane on Lorrd. As I haven't had the chance yet to examine the poor soul, we must assume that it might have spread. This may seem premature, but insane Jedi could very well pose a serious risk..." Cilghal explained.

Releqy frowned.

"Is he alright?" she asked in concern.

"Yes, Mara subdued him, however if she hadn't...there could very well have been fatalities. I'll know more once I've examined young Seff." Cilghal said, and Releqy nodded, then turned and stood to face outside of her window.

"Strange Vong ship sightings...a young Jedi going insane...and Master Skywalker off on a mysterious mission. All very strange occurrences." She summed up, then turned to favour Natua with a smile.

"Well Jedi Wan, excuse me for the time that took...but I believe you have a suggestion for the ReCon Authority?" she asked as she sat back down.

The Reconstruction Authority was a task force dedicated to repairing the damage done by the Vong War, and for this group in particular, resettling species that had lost their homes due to the Vong attack, such as the Ithorians. Natua, since becoming a Jedi Knight, had become a fierce advocate of this, and thought she had found a new way to speed up terraforming processes, so had asked the masters if she could accompany them to visit Chief A'kla, who was always delighted to receive Jedi visitors.

"Thank you Chief A'kla. I came across several mentions of Telos being destroyed by orbital bombardment millennia ago. At the time, the Ithorians were able to slowly recreate Telos. As a result, I was wondering if the same thing could perhaps be done now, with the Ithorians guiding the Yuuzhan Vong, perhaps under Jedi supervision, to recreate devastated worlds." She said.

The masters looked at each other in shock. Natua hadn't told any of them what her proposal was, and this was certainly a bold one. Releqy recovered from this little bombshell by steepling her fingers in front of her snout.

"An unorthodox suggestions Master Jedi. However, I can't see too many people being thrilled with the very same people who destroyed their world in the first place being used to help rebuild it." She said, and Kam nodded, looking pensive.

"May I speak Chief A'kla?" Sothais asked.

Releqy smiled up at the Chev Jedi.

"Of course."

"Well while it does sound relatively preposterous," he said, and winced from the look of outrage on Natua's face, "I do think it has some merit. The Ithorians can work wonders, and combined with the Vong terraforming it may very well be feasible to give such a suggestion a trial run. People would be annoyed at first, but if the Alliance could ride out the storm and show the results...worlds would be clamouring for such an endeavour." He said, and Cilghal and Tionne both nodded, while Kyp had to shake himself slightly, as the Chev's slow voice was enough to send the entire Council to sleep on a warm day. Natua smiled at her companion and passed a datacard over to Releqy.

"I have done some reading and research that might be useful..." she said, and her usually green skin went yellow, the sign of a blush.

"An intriguing proposition Master Wan. Thank you for bringing it to my attention." Releqy said, smiling at the Jedi as the masters got ready to leave, and Sothais got ready to head to his meeting with Admiral Niathal and Bwua'tu, who he was informing on Hutt slaving routes that went through Alliance space so Niathal could try to crack down on them as well as the pirate groups she had been chasing recently.

Natua then looked around. Something wasn't right. Although the kindly Caamasi behind the desk did seem to be Releqy A'kla, she clearly wasn't. Neither were Kam, Tionne, Cilghal, Kyp and Sothais the real versions either. Something was wrong. They had been kidnapped. She had to find out where they were. And she doubted these copies would prove helpful without some motivation.

"Kam..." Tionne said warningly, and Natua lit her saber and swung it at Kyp.

Kyp immediately jumped away from the attack while Kam vaulted over the desk and forced a yelping Releqy from her chair to the floor, while Tionne and Cilghal lit their lightsabers.

"Natua, what are you doing?" Cilghal demanded as Kyp lit his own blade, while Sothais looked to the masters in shocked confusion.

"Copies! You won't take me!" she cried, and to their immense surprise a jet of Force lightning zapped from her fingers.

Cilghal and Kyp blocked the attack, and Sothais dove for cover, but Tionne caught a blast and she was thrown through the air, smashing through the window. The wind whistled from the office as the Jedi Master fell with a scream towards her demise.

"Tionne!" Kam roared, as Natua darted out of the office, deftly avoiding the security guards who had just arrived.

"Not to worry!" Releqy assured him and pulled a small grapple blaster from beneath her chair and shot the cable down towards Tionne, who stooped screaming as she caught it.

"Excellent work. Kyp, Sothais, with me! We must find Natua before she does something we all regret." Cilghal said darkly and they dashed away from the office.

Releqy started hoisting the cable up, stabilised by both Kam's physical and Force grip on her, while he also helped float his wife up a little quicker. As Tionne's hand came over the edge of the windowsill, the two hoisted her in, and Kam held her close, sighing in relief.

"That was a near thing Tionne my dear. Are you alright?" Releqy asked the Jedi woman, whose mother of pearl eyes were filled with tears.

"Yes, thanks to you Chief A'kla. Thank you." She said breathlessly, but the Caamasi waved it off.

"Quite alright."

"We're meant to be the ones checking if you're alright. Are you?" Kam asked as the three got to their feet and the security guards fussed over the head of state.

"Yes yes yes." She said in exasperation, shooing the guards away.

"May I ask why you have an ascension gun under your chair? Not that I'm complaining." Tionne said hoarsely.

"It is always better to escape than fight in my opinion. What happened to Jedi Wan?" she demanded, gesturing to the data card the Falleen had given her before she'd gone barmy, and waving idly at the remains of her office, which had glass and paper everywhere through it.

"Possibly the same thing that Cilghal told you about. But what worries me is how she used Force lightning. We do not make a policy of teaching our apprentices Sith techniques." Kam said darkly.

Releqy grabbed her comm.

"This is Chief A'kla to security. A Falleen Jedi is hereby described as armed and dangerous. Lock down the building and if at all possible allow the three Jedi pursuing to tackle her. Be careful." She warned.

"We shall help in the pursuit." Kam said, and pulled at his wife, though still managed to look concerned for her safety.

Releqy shook her head.

"No Master Solusar. Tionne can stay here, she's just dropped about forty stories. She needs something medicinal to get over that. You however should go and help the others." She ordered, and Kam nodded and dashed off.

"And now Tionne," Releqy said as her aides rushed in while she poured two liberal glasses of schnapps, "tell me what else you know about this illness affecting these unfortunate young Jedi."

XX

Admiral Niathal and Bwua'tu both left the briefing room. The staff meeting had taken a little while longer this morning, due to several of the members being delayed by an airspeeder pile up. As such they were cutting it rather fine for their meeting with the Jedi Sothais Saar, who had evidence of Hutt slave transportation vessels moving through Alliance space.

"What was wrong with Gavin this morning do you think?" Niathal asked.

Gavin Darklighter had been a young boy of sixteen, and Wedge Antilles had allowed him to join the reformed Rogue Squadron, and he had gone on to help take Coruscant from Isard, fought against Zsinj and had battled the Empire, Vong and Killiks, rising to the rank of admiral, and one of Niathal's most trusted advisors in the process. However, today he had seemed a million miles away and he had looked very sad and depressed about something.

Her Bothan companion looked at her oddly.

"Don't you remember? Today is the anniversary..." he began but as soon as he had said it she knew what it was.

Two years ago today, his wife Sera Faleur and three of his children, his three biological children, not the two adopted ones, had all died in the worst airspeeder collision Coruscant had seen in thirty years. Over one hundred and fifty people had died in the accident, and ever since Gavin had only had his two adopted sons and his sister in law Reina for company. And with another crash delaying everything this morning...

"Oh no, no wonder..." she said but she was then distracted as a Falleen Jedi came running down the corridor with her saber drawn.

"Master Jedi?" Bwua'tu asked worriedly.

Natua then swung her lightsaber at them, and Bwua'tu tackled Niathal to the floor just in time to avoid the green blade. Natua however continued on, her face showing surprise as she seemed to be moved against her will, and Niathal looked up to see Sothais Saar running down the corridor, and she turned in time to see Natua vanish from sight around the corner.

"Jedi Saar, what the devil is going on?" Bwua'tu demanded furiously as he got to his feet.

Sothais looked at him warily, then edged back, his blue blade rising.

"Where are the real Admirals?" he asked in a trembling voice.

Niathal exchanged a bemused glance with her companion. Nearly being assassinated by a runaway Jedi, and now being told they weren't real admirals wasn't doing her mood any good.

"We are very real Jedi Saar, enough to have you shot if that's what you're thinking of testing." She said icily.

"Where are the real admirals?" he demanded hysterically.

He then swung his blue blade, and the two admirals had no way to avoid it until another blue blade slammed into Saar's and forced him away from the two admirals. The two turned to see the lightsaber floating of its own volition, and its owner, Cilghal, dashing down the corridor, her wide eyes full of ire. She seized her blade from the air and glowered at her dazed victim, then smashed her blade into his own, hard, flicking it into the wall where it clicked and switched off on impact. She then switched off her own blade and clubbed Saar hard on the head with her hilt, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Admiral Niathal, Admiral Bwua'tu, are you alright?" she asked in a soothing voice.

"Alright? Master Cilghal, I greatly respect your order, but random assassination attempts could convince me otherwise." Bwua'tu said angrily.

Cilghal shook her head dolefully.

"My most sincere apologies Admiral Bwua'tu. I feared something like this could happen. Master Skywalker encountered a young Jedi who went insane for apparently no reason. He warned us the same could happen again, how he knows I do not know, and I fear that is what has befallen Jedi Wan and Jedi Saar. They did not intend to harm you, but their mental states seems to make them believe that we have been replaced by copies who they consider a threat."

"So the other one is dangerous as well?" Niathal demanded.

"Not for much longer she won't be."

XX

Natua evaded the guards and reached the hallway that led to the outside world. When she had done that, she could get a ship, then go and join the one who was calling her. Gathering her strength in the Force, Natua leapt through the air, landing on a hanging light, before she flipped beside the guards and scattered them with a Force wave. As the guards fell she wrenched open the locked door with the Force and ran outside, only to be met by the copy of Kyp Durron.

"How did you get here copy?" she demanded, readying her saber.

The not-Kyp smiled lightly.

"You'd be surprised how fast a Jedi Council member can go when they actually wish to jump out a building." He commented, glancing up at the shattered office window of the Chief.

"Go away copy, leave me alone!" Natua then cried unexpectedly and leapt at Kyp.

Kyp was already on the defensive, his purple blade moving to intercept. While she was usually quite a good duellist, it seemed as if her paranoia and fear was influencing her strikes, making her easier to counter. Kyp used his saber flawlessly, creating a purple shield of light that Natua couldn't penetrate. As her attacks became more wild and undisciplined, Kyp saw that he was gathering an audience and had to end this quickly. Leaping away from her next swing, he kicked her overextended arm, making the grip on her saber loosen. As he landed he brought his fist to her mouth and then crashed his blade into her own wavering weapon, flipping it up into the air and catching it deftly. Natua looked at him in horror then turned and ran. Kyp gathered the Force to him, and though he didn't wish to do it, threw the two blades at her, and brought them in a wide arc that cut the tendons in the back of her legs and made her fall to the ground, unable to move. He then dashed over to her and rested his saber at her neck, where she could hear its hum, and she finally desisted, and Kyp smiled slightly as the crowd applauded.

XX

"I somehow managed to convince the public that it was all an elaborate test of my security staff that got a bit out of hand. How I did that I haven't the foggiest idea." Releqy said remorsefully as the four masters and the two admirals joined her for a schnapps that evening.

"Well let's not complain about a good thing. God it's chilly in here Chief A'kla. Could you shut the window?" Kyp asked with a grin and even Niathal couldn't stop her own version of a smile coming onto her face as the wind whistled through the shattered window, that was still to be fixed as there were no sheets of glass big enough in the building, and the earlier airspeeder wreck had knackered up all transport for the day.

"So this happened with someone else?" Bwua'tu asked.

Cilghal nodded.

"Yes, Seff Hellin experienced much the same thing on Lorrd. Now that I have Natua and Sothais, and Lowbacca shall arrive with Seff the day after next, I may be able to determine what happened to them. This is awful. Young Jedi inexplicably going insane...I only thank the Force that no one was wounded." She said grimly.

"Yes, it was only our egos that were a little bruised. But it was a near thing." Niathal said darkly.

"Rest assured Admirals, Chief, we will investigate this as thoroughly as possible." Kam promised, his non drinking hand wrapped around his wife's.

Releqy looked out of her shattered window at the setting sun.

"We cannot allow this news to get out my friends. On top of these rising Vong fears, it may well be enough to start a panic. And with anti slavery movements such as Freedom Flight getting stronger, aided and abetted by that reporter, you know Admiral, the one I like," she said, looking to Niathal for support.

"Madhi Vaandt?"

"That's the one. Anti slavery reports, insane Jedi, growing Vong tensions, Master Skywalker absent from Coruscant, retaliations by desperate pirate groups who Admiral Niathal has ticked off and the Chiss still in the huff with us...if all of these were to combine, we'd have riots on our hands. We must keep this quiet for as long as possible." She concluded.

"But the problem of slavery is a very real danger Chief A'kla. We need to make a decision on what to do. The Hutts continue to enslave species under the Treaty of Vontor, and the Chevins continue to subjugate the Chevs like poor Sothais. These are but visible signs of a galaxy wide problem. But as you pointed out, groups like Freedom Flight and others are gaining a lot of popular support, and we have heard tell of slave revolts on worlds such as Tatooine and Orvax. People wish for it to change and all they need is for some bright spark, whether it be a person or event, and they will be clamouring for an end to slavery." Tionne elaborated.

Releqy nodded.

"I am all for the end of slavery...but that would risk a confrontation with the Hutts. If it were begun elsewhere however..." she said musingly.

"And if Admiral Niathal is successful in catching Hutt slaver ships then we risk fanning the embers of dissent into an inferno ourselves." Bwua'tu said, politely inclining his head towards Niathal.

"Right...we will leave slavery well enough alone. If things transpire into an actual issue that demands action, rather than just underlying resentment as it is, we shall act. Also, we shall keep quiet on the insane Jedi and Vong front, and the Chiss are still grumpy so they can stew a bit longer before we try yet again to be civil with them. However, Master Skywalker's absence has already been noted." Releqy said with a dour expression.

"And what of it?" Kam asked coolly, and Releqy looked shocked that she had insinuated Luke had something he didn't.

"Oh Kam, I intended no disrespect, certainly not. But people tend to wonder when Master Skywalker goes off somewhere...especially when he takes the Falcon rather than the Jade Shadow. And while the myth that he always brings back bad news isn't known to the public, people to tend to get a bit panicky when he isn't here. They see his presence as comforting, like a night light." She explained, and though Kam didn't like to admit it, she did have a point.

"They shall just need to make do with Kam for the time being." Tionne said, squeezing her husband's hand.

Releqy nodded and looked to Niathal.

"And what of your piracy campaign?" she asked.

"I have General Antilles leading four taskforces, one under General Celchu, one under General Janson and the other under Generel Klivian to track down other pirate groups. Antilles and Janson had dealings with such people during their time in Wraith Squadron in particular, and they all dealt with pirates during the Sate Pestage fiasco and also dealt with the Invids. But as you have mentioned some ambitious pirate groups, who we suspect Black Sun has a hand in, have been doing united strikes. I intend to send a force to deal with them but..."

"I'd be happy to command a task force." Bwua'tu volunteered.

Niathal pursed her lips and shook her head.

"No. If the Vong are up to no good, I want you close to Coruscant, not chasing rogue pirate groups somewhere out near Fornax. I might send Pash Cracken to have a nose around. I would send Admiral Darklighter, but he doesn't seem particularly with it at the moment." She said sadly.

Releqy and Tionne both looked sad.

"Of course the poor devil. I saw Senator Wuul give his commemoration earlier, it was quite moving." Releqy said sadly.

"Yes...and Admiral Klauskin isn't much better from what we've heard." Kyp said darkly, and Niathal pursed her lips again, and Releqy looked worried.

"Hmm...something is going on my friends. I fear we may all soon be tested. And in ways we do not wish to be." Releqy said grimly, and no one contradicted her as the sun slipped out of sight

XX

The Falcon was making good time towards Tatooine. In the main hold, K'Kruhk had cleared a large space so that he could evaluate all his Jedi companion's saber skills, despite Han's protests. Lumiya was sitting in on these too, claiming to be nosy as to what K'Kruhk would be doing with them.

Luke had gone first. His form was the most clearly defined of the lot, and was clearly Form V, Djem So, with the subtle nuances of his own skills added in, and he appeared proficient at some semblance of all the other forms, so K'Kruhk let him go without adjustment.

"Your skill is good. Djem So is a relatively aggressive form, can be used more easily for saber defence rather than blaster defence...you are quite the master of it, and your own subtle hints throughout are quite interesting. Your father was quite adept at it too. Hmm, young Mara if you please." K'Kruhk said, and Luke sat beside him, Han and Lumiya to watch what happened next.

He first had Mara defend against the same remote that Obi Wan had had Luke go up against nearly forty five years before. Luke couldn't quite grasp what K'kruhk was looking for, but as he seemed to know what he was doing Luke was quite content to sit back and watch his wife's fluid body movements. After a few minutes, in which Lumiya fixed her with a gaze Luke didn't like the look of, K'Kruhk got off and ignited his own saber.

"Now, I shall truly test you." He said and saluted her with his blade before going in for the attack.

The duel was small and not ferocious, as K'Kruhk only intended to gauge what her basic saber form was. They hammered at each other, with K'Kruhk making noises of interest and thought as he came at her and held her off consecutively. He then locked their sabers, then bowed as he disengaged his own weapon.

"Most instructive Mara. Your technique is good, your defence could use some work...your form is also Djem So, but not as ferocious as Luke's, it is more sedate, much like Aayla Secura's once was...but your skill does need some polishing. Young Leia, up next if you please." K'Kruhk asked as Mara harrumphed and sat down in K'Kruhk's seat.

"Bet you she gets hit by the remote." Han said with a grin, and sure enough, not long after K'Kruhk had activated the small droid, Leia yelped in pain, resulting in a laugh from her children and nephew.

"Oh shut up." She said grumpily and proceeded to block the shots, K'Kruhk taking notes while she did so. Afterwards, he again engaged her in the same exercise as he had with Mara, and finally he came to a stop.

"Most enlightening. Your basic form seems to be Soresu, Form III, but not aggressive enough to be considered like that of Obi Wan Kenobi, it is more fluid and graceful, such as that of Luminara Unduli. Very good. Jaina, let us test your new hand's capabilities."

The exercises continued, and K'Kruhk found Jaina to be proficient in Juyo. However, like her mother and aunt, she needed some work.

"Your skill is prodigious, you do not need as much work as your mother for example," he said, and Leia glowered at him and stuck an extra spoonful of sugar into his tea, "but once you have broken in your new hand and practiced a bit more, we shall have you pulling off stunts as if you were Rahm Kota."

"Oh I knew him." Leia commented.

"A fine chap...if a bit obsessive." K'Kruhk said, then beckoned Jacen forward.

"Kota...wasn't he one of the ones linked to the formation of the Rebellion?" Lumiya asked Mara as she stirred her tea.

"Yeah I think so. Leia would know better than I would."

Lumiya was finding all of this most instructive. Observing how they fought would come in useful later on...

"You do realise Lumiya is watching all of you practice like a hawk? She's measuring you up so she knows how to get you." Han said, and Luke arced his neck to see Lumiya watching Jacen go up against the remote intently.

"Yeah...I know but there isn't much we can do about it is there?" Luke sighed and continued peeling the potatoes.

K'Kruhk then entered the duel phase with Jacen. It began sedately enough, and K'Kruhk began to suspect he was also a practitioner of Juyo. However, then he began to feel what Jacen was doing and then Jacen leapt and swept his blade under him, and K'Kruhk blasted him from the air with alarm. Jacen thudded to the deck and Lumiya and Ben helped him to his feet.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

K'Kruhk was looking at Jacen with a very calculating expression, but at the same time looked as though he was staring through him. It gave Jacen the shivers.

"Yoohoo! Jacen to K'Kruhk! What did you knock me on my butt for?" he demanded angrily, as his rear was rather sore from where he landed.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, and Ben was looking at the aging Jedi with a stupefied expression.

"What was he doing wrong? I didn't feel anything dark...there were dark undercurrents but he was sort of recycling them into his lightsaber..." Lumiya said, then her eyes widened as she looked at K'Kruhk, then turned her own calculating expression onto Jacen, which made him step back.

"But what's he done that's so wrong? I don't get it." Ben said.

K'Kruhk looked at Jacen calculatingly.

"Because of what you were doing Jacen. You were using your anger, frustration and resentment of what happened and what you did in the other timeline and were utilising it in your combat...turning it into something positive." He said darkly, looking at Jacen worriedly, and Jaina could feel her twin was starting to get uncomfortable under the scrutiny of both K'Kruhk and Lumiya.

"What's going on?" Luke asked as he and Mara came out of the kitchen looking concerned.

"Where did you learn it?" K'Kruhk asked again, and Jacen shrugged.

"I don't know, I just sort of used it...it came naturally."

"Extraordinary." K'Kruhk said in astonishment and sat down.

"Well if he's using the bad stuff he's feeling and making it good, what's so bad about it? Though I don't particularly approve of him doing that, it doesn't seem that bad." Luke said, placing his hand on a confused looking Jacen's shoulder.

"It isn't, per se. What alarms him is the fact that was Jacen is doing is Vaapad. A very little used lightsaber form from the final days of the Old Republic." Lumiya explained, looking at Jacen with new interest.

"Vaapad? The one Vader would go against in his practices when he was particularly bored?" Mara asked, and she too started to look curiously at Jacen when Lumiya nodded in assent.

"Will you all stop staring at me?" he demanded irritably.

"You are performing Vaapad by instinct...but it had to be taught, the only one it wasn't taught by was Mace Windu himself, and that's only because he created it."

"But what is so bad about it?" Jaina demanded, getting angry on her brother's behalf.

"Because out of the three people who practised it, and were trained to use it, two of them went to the dark side. Sora Bulq joined the Confederacy and Depa Billaba went insane."

Luke shook his head.

"But that's impossible. How can he be performing a saber technique we have few, if any records of, and doing it well enough to make you recognise it?"

"That's the problem...he is doing it naturally." Lumiya said.

"Alright, I'll stop if you want me to then! Sheesh! If I knew even my saber form made me a Sith in waiting I wouldn't have bothered." Jacen snapped and stormed off. Jaina and Ben exchanged looks, then they both followed him.

K'Kruhk looked musingly at where Jacen had walked off from.

"Performing Vaapad by instinct...very intriguing. I shall consult with Master Saa on what this means, she trained Master Windu, she may know something. While it is good that he is turning his feelings into something positive, the allure of the dark side to Vaapad users is very strong. It debased Depa Billaba, and she was always a very centred and spiritual woman. But if he doesn't find some way to come to terms with what he feels, it could turn into something very ugly. We could very well have Darth Caedus here too." K'Kruhk said, and Leia shuddered.

"Shouldn't I be present if you're discussing Jacen falling to the dark side through use of a saber form? And isn't it his decision if he wants to stop?" Luke asked waspishly.

"Yes indeed...I simply wish to get all the facts my boy. Now, where is young Ben?" he asked, and Ben stomped out from wherever he had followed Jacen to, looking grumpy.

"You better apologise to him." He said and lit his saber, and Lumiya smiled in amusement.

K'Kruhk stroked his chin.

"Perhaps I did come over a bit too strong...I shall let him cool off for a bit. But for now my lad, let us evaluate your capabilities. Is your master not coming through because he's annoyed with me?" K'Kruhk asked, looking a bit mournful.

"Partly...and he also said he didn't want to see how bad I was." Ben said with a grin.

K'Kruhk chuckled and activated the remote. Jacen did eventually appear and glowered at K'Kruhk and Lumiya, while Ben impressed him with his skill at deflecting shots, which slightly improved his mood. He then too engaged K'Kruhk, and the Whiphid seemed a bit surprised by how good he actually was, further cheering Jacen up.

"Quite impressive young one, quite impressive indeed...a few tweaks needed but nothing major. Shii-Cho is your form, such as that used by Kit Fisto. Well, this has been most instructive. Thank you. Tomorrow we shall begin further exercises." He said, then headed over to Jacen.

"Jacen, I want to apologise for seeming like I was picking on you. You just shocked me by using Vaapad naturally, it was a shock to the old system, especially when I thought all knowledge of it had vanished. However, that aside, your saber technique is quite impressive. But the fact remains that you are performing it naturally...most curious." He said, and extended his hand, and to his delight, Jacen shook.

"Thanks. I didn't know I was doing anything I shouldn't be, especially considering me being a Sith in the other timeline...you reckon I should find a new form?" he asked uncertainly, and K'Kruhk saw that he had actually hurt the young man, and he was worried that this might send him to the dark side in this timeline too.

K'Kruhk pondered, then shook his head.

"No my boy. I believe you know enough now and are wise enough to use Vaapad...if we can perhaps improve your knowledge of it and make it a full fledged fighting form, then you could be very formidable in combat." K'Kruhk said with a smile.

"But, what about..." Jacen asked hesitantly., and K'Kruhk shook his head.

"I trust in you not to fall. And I think you are safe from that now. Just a feeling I have." He said, and Jacen smiled and went to help his father serve the dinner.

K'Kruhk's eyes then fell on Ben, who was chatting animatedly to Lumiya and he frowned.

XX

The Devaronian news reporter, Madhi Vaandt, smiled as she watched the celebrating Twi'leks. Ever since she had first done a piece on slavery when she had visited Vinsoth, showing the people who watched the Perre Needmo Newshour that slavery did still exist in the galaxy, she had become somewhat famous. Bigger networks kept trying to lure her away but she steadfastly refused, believing she could do more good as a reporter for a small show...albeit one with a large audience.

Since the contacts had begun, there had also been another reason to keep the bigger companies at bay. Big companies like that couldn't afford any scandal, and Madhi was getting a lot of support from the group Freedom Flight, an anti slavery group that was dedicated to eradicating slavery and helping freed slaves set up new lives. Madhi herself had done this when she had won Shohta Laar in a sabacc game on Vinsoth. She had freed the Chev and since then he had joined her crew, helping her identify places where she could ply her trade and also spread the message of Freedom Flight.

And she had just happened to be here on Ryloth when the news had leaked out. The new port master, who had replaced the aging Ko'shak, who had managed to escape the same discrediting the rest of his clan had faced years before, had owned a red Rutian slave. She had told her master that all she had ever wanted to do was travel the stars and earn her living as a news reporter, just like her dead grandfather had before her. Touched by this story, and perhaps feeling the recent loss of his own grandfather, the port master had freed her.

While this wasn't exactly common, it wasn't unheard of. However, when the young girl had appeared on the Holonet reporting headline news a few months later, the port master, in his excitement had told his new slave, and had then granted her her freedom in order to pursue her dreams. This girl had told other slaves, and a few listened and freed their slaves, and so the movement began. Dream Followers was started by the second freed slave and enslaved slaves, liberal minded people, and general do gooders all rallied to the cry of unification and the Ruling Clan was suddenly presented with massive protests across Ryloth as hundreds of thousands of female slaves demanded an end to their slavery. Now, ordinarily, the Ruling Clan would have ridden this out.

Two things stood in the way of this.

The first was the fact that other planets and enslaved peoples were also beginning to find their voice. With groups like Freedom Flight fanning the embers of the desire for freedom, and places such as Klatooine, Vinsoth and other slavery hotspots all kicking off (the problem on Klatooine breaking off after the Hutts were a bit overzealous in collecting some slaves who had run off, as they activated the anti-escape transmitter that blew slaves up, right beside the Fountain of the Ancients, damaging the structure and breaking the terms of the Treaty of Vontor), combined with the news that the Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance, Cha Niathal, was beginning to crack down on slavers in Alliance space, the anti-slavery movement began to gain more and more momentum, and when news leaked out that Chief A'kla disapproved of slavery also, it bolstered the already ever growing anti-slavery movement into an intergalactic news affair, and was now being watched with vested interest across the galaxy. As a result of this interest, and the host of reports like Madhi who were now on Ryloth, the Ruling Clan couldn't sweep it under the carpet, much as the Hutts, the Chevin and others couldn't.

The second thing that prevented the Ruling Clan from riding it out was the fact that two of the five members also believed in freeing the slaves. Under ordinary circumstances, they would never have gone against the general will and tradition of the Twi'lek people. But, as a result of the Dream Followers movement, they freed many slaves between them and began to push for the abolition of all Twi'leki slavery.

And now here they were.

"Are we ready Shohta?" she asked, and the Chev, smiling widely, nodded.

"This is Madhi Vaandt for the Perre Needmo Newshour. Celebration fills the streets of Kala'uun today, as the Ruling Council shockingly, and against all former precedent, voted in favour of the bill to abolish slavery across Ryloth. As of now, all Twi'lek slaves on Rytloth are to be given their freedom. The Dream Follower organisation clearly did its job, and has achieved what many had once thought impossible: the abolition of slavery on Ryloth.

But this poses an interesting set of questions? Will other worlds now follow suit? Will Vinsoth finally see the Chev freed from the Chevin? Will the Hutts yield to popular demand and give the species enslaved under the Treaty of Vontor, now null and void due to the damage done by the Hutts to the Fountain of the Ancients on Klatooine, their freedom? And on Malastare, will the cry for Dug freedom finally be heard? We live in a changing time, and all we can do is hope that these positive signs, along with Chief A'kla and Admiral Niathal's pledge to get tough on slavery, are a sign that things are changing for the better in the lives of the enslaved of our galaxy. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Madhi Vaandt, coming to you from the recently liberated slave workhouse of Kala'uun, reporting the liberation of the Twi'lek slaves. Back to Perre at the studio." She finished with an enormous grin and Shohta and her Twi'lek pilot, Remmik, winked at her.

"That was great boss. Times are really changing." He commented.

She smiled.

"I know, it's brilliant. I've never seen the entire galaxy get so caught up about something."

"It certainly is good for all the enslaved peoples," Shohta said as he dismantled the camera, "and you highlighting things that need changed is good too. Times are changing Remmik, and for the better I think. So what now boss?"

Madhi grinned.

"First, we call Ackmena and inform her of what's happened here in case she doesn't already know...and then we'll see what's going on at Malastare." She said, and the two followed her back to their ship, the Shooting Star.

XX

Releqy was sipping her morning cup of coffee and was just about to read her situation reports when the door tinged, to reveal the broadly smiling form of Tresina Lobi, another of the Jedi Council, and one of those on the Council who was a supporter of the anti-slavery movement, which Releqy herself did support, but couldn't officially put the Alliance behind in case it got on the fragile nerves of the Hutts, who had been rather provocative and territorial since their devastation during the Vong War.

"Ah, Master Lobi, it is always good to see you, and it does me good seeing such a smile this early in the morning. Are you just in a good mood or has something wonderful happened?" she asked curiously.

"A bit of both Chief A'kla. Have you seen the reports from Ryloth?" she asked, as Releqy passed her a cup of coffee.

"I was just about to read them, why?"

Tresina grinned.

"Slavery has been abolished by the Ruling Clan. Ryloth is now going to become a slavery free zone." She said with a smile.

Releqy looked at her incredulously, then quickly read the sitrep from Ryloth. True enough, there it was, in plain black and white. The Ruling Clan had abolished slavery. This was wonderful!

"Excellent! This is beyond excellent actually! That means..."

"The road to galaxy wide freedom has begun to be walked. Ryloth seems to have been a spark onto the kindling. There are anti-slavery riots and protests springing up everywhere. Orvax IV's government has been toppled, and the T'Surr government has fled. The slaves toppled the government and are now asking for Alliance help in setting up their new government and freeing all the slaves on the planet, and from what I hear, then wish to join the Alliance." She said with a grin, and Releqy couldn't have been more delighted if she tried.

Why couldn't she have other days that begun with such good news? It would certainly do a lot for her stress levels.

"So, Orvax has a new government...Ryloth has abolished slavery...it's all go isn't it?" she asked, and commed the button.

"Get me Admiral Niathal." She ordered her secretary, who gave an affirmative.

Releqy then smiled at Tresina.

"And even better, as it was begun somewhere not to do with the Hutts, I can now put Alliance pressure behind it, get more support, show that slavery will not be tolerated any longer, and that slavers, along with pirates, days are numbered." She concluded, and Tresina nodded eagerly.

Releqy knew, that as a Chev, the slavery issue was very close to the Jedi Master's heart, and knew that she had only paid a visit because she knew the Chief was just as anti-slavery as she was, and when informed of the news would be able to publicly announce it and bring the power of the Alliance to bear behind the issue. Not that Releqy minded much.

Admiral Niathal's holo shimmered to life and she inclined her head respectfully.

"Good morning Chief A'kla, Master Lobi. I assume you are calling about what happened on Ryloth? Wonderful news isn't it?" she asked with a Mon Calamari smile.

"It is indeed. And Orvax's government has been toppled by a slave revolt. They have taken control of their own destinies, and now wish to join the Alliance." Tresina informed her, but Niathal suddenly looked grave.

"Orvax? That leads to a problem." She said worriedly.

"How so?" Releqy asked, feeling her very good mood take a slight knock.

Niathal looked worried.

"We have received information from Droma's Ryn network. Apparently the T'Surr government of Orvax objects to being kicked off of the planet. They are gathering a large group of pirates, mercenaries and ships from their home planet and aim to take back Orvax." She said gravely.

"And as they are not yet part of the Alliance, we can do nothing." Releqy concluded, feeling her stomach drop.

Niathal nodded grimly.

"Are you sure we can do nothing? Such an event could unhinge the anti-slavery movement, which might undo everything that people are fighting for in trying to eradicate slavery. I know the Alliance is not meant to justify planetary revolts, but we only couldn't do something about Orvax and its ilk because of the Hutt monopoly of the slave trade. As such, we technically could justify intervention on Orvax now that it has a decent government which isn't built on slavery."

"But we aren't allowed to intervene in planets that aren't actually part of the Alliance." Niathal pointed out.

"Unless..." Releqy said, looking contemplative.

The other two looked at her, and the Caamasi smiled.

"Unless a ship just happened to be there to inspect this prospective new member of the Alliance, with a task force nearby that is on manouvres." She said with a glint in her eye.

Niathal grinned.

"Indeed. It's sneaky, I like it. The Senate will have our heads, but I like it. I'll send Admiral Darklighter, get him away from Coruscant and his memories. He can deal with observing Orvax, and if the T'Surr are stupid enough to still attack, then he can be there to deal with them. Perhaps you would like to go with him Master Lobi?" Niathal asked, and Tresina nodded.

"I would be honoured." She said, inclining her head.

"Very good. Right, I will announce that due to the events on Ryloth, the Alliance will put its support whole-heartedly behind the anti slavery movement. Some will criticise, but we can handle such things. Admiral, I trust you can deal with whatever happens at Orvax. Things are changing rapidly. So...that piece of good news aside, any news on the Vong front?" Releqy asked, and Niathal shook her head.

"Not at the moment Chief. But the Third Fleet is on manoeuvres in the area they were spotted, so they may yet yield some information on this new threat."

Releqy then turned to Tresina.

"And any information on our young insane Jedi?" she asked.

"None. Master Cilghal has examined them, but wants to wait until Lowbacca arrives with Seff Hellin before she and Tekli go any further." Tresina informed her.

Releqy gave a smile as she sat down.

"Slavery is on the out. This is good news. And I will give every piece of help possible to ensure that the good news that began my day today continues. Admiral, deal with the threat to Orvax, and see if you can't find a diplomat to go with you in case they still wish to join. Good luck to you Master Lobi. And may the Force be with the galaxy. Whether they be rebelling slaves, insane Jedi, or Vong targets, may the Force be with us all."

XX

The voyage had continued, with all of them improving in the art of saber combat under K'Kruhk's watchful eye. Pleased with their progress, he was still eager to talk to T'ra as soon as they arrived on Tatooine. The fact that Jacen was naturally performing a lost lightsaber form was a cause for concern at the very least. However, he was doing it quite well, and if it was helping him deal with the news of him being a family killing Sith Lord, who was he to complain?

The ship glided gently down into Mos Eisley, into the very same berth that the Falcon had originally been in when Han had first transported Luke and Obi Wan towards Alderaan. As Luke explained to Ben the berth's history, K'Kruhk hurried through to the comm station and called T'ra.

"Hello K'Kruhk," she said, wincing slightly as the holo came to life, "whatever it is, can it be quick? Abeloth is being quite vicious today." She reported and wavered a little as yet another tremor wracked Kessel.

"Alright, I'll get right into it. Jacen is performing Vaapad naturally."

Tra's eyes widened in shock as she focused on him after she had wavered again.

"Vaapad? But how is that possible? Only Mace, Depa and Sora Bulq were proficient in Vaapad, and with their deaths all knowledge of it should be gone. How can he possibly be performing it?" she demanded.

"That's what I want to know. But I've been watching him ever since he did that first technique, and he knows other Vaapad moves and is using the dark feelings inside him and putting them into his combat...and to make things even more interesting, he isn't being influenced by then, just like Master Windu wasn't."

T'ra looked at him.

"Well, if he is using it as Mace did and isn't being influenced by the darkness, I can't see any point in stopping him. Send a message to Master Sadhett and see if he can find anything on Vaapad in the Enclave, he can send it to Jacen."

"You don't think its a cause for concern?" K'Kruhk asked.

She shrugged.

"Provided he isn't doing anything wrong, then no. But, if he strays..."

"Then I shall take him to task. Thank you for your counsel my dear. How are things your end?"

T'ra frowned.

"Not good. She's getting stronger, and I fear the root of that is the fact that she may have killed some of our allies. She's getting too powerful." She hissed.

K'Kruhk nodded.

"Do not worry T'ra. After we get our hands on Alema Rar, we shall join you." He said, and with a smile and a wave she flickered out.

XX

While the others got ready for their excursion onto Tatooine, Lumiya slipped out of the ship. Knowing she didn't have a lot of time, she snuck across the spaceport and into the security guard's office, and quickly keyed in Krayt's private signal.

She knew it was very risky, but after all he had created enough of a risk by sending a trigger happy one of his own group out on a mission. If Rape had killed Ben, everything could have been undone.

The holo flickered to life, revealing an irate Krayt, flanked by Wyyrlok, Oracle, Krush and Cyclone.

"Lumiya! What the devil do you mean by calling me from a public terminal?" he demanded furiously.

Lumiya narrowed her green eyes to slits.

"Probably the same thing you meant by sending one of your clowns to Lorrd. The damn idiot could have ruined everything. What were you playing at?" she demanded with a hiss.

Krayt looked at her calculatingly, and Lumiya smiled. It was as Rape had told her, Krayt didn't know about this little operation. Whoopsie.

"Who was on Lorrd and why?" he asked in a grim voice, and Lumiya enjoyed watching his advisers as they began to squirm.

Wyyrlok, rather bravely in Lumiya's opinion, bowed his head and spoke first.

"Forgive me master, but myself and Lady Oracle...we acted to ensure there was no chance of her vision coming true. To do this, we hired the Jedi killer Aurra Sing to kill the Jedi K'Kruhk. But I do not know of the presence of Darth Rape, my lord, forgive me." He said, and bowed before his master.

Lumiya smiled. An utter fool he may be, but he, like her, did not suffer fools lightly. About the only thing they had in common. How would he deal with this?

"Is this true Lady Oracle, the events Lord Wyyrlok has described?"

The Bothan gulped, then nodded.

"Yes my lord."

"Very well." Krayt said, then the holo lit up as Krayt blasted Wyyrlok with Force lightning that sent the Chagrian scraping along the floor and stirring feebly as Krayt turned back to Oracle.

"Do you know why Lord Wyyrlok was punished Lady Oracle?"

Though the Bothan did not know the reason, Lumiya had a suspicion.

"Lord Wyyrlok, your master does not punish you for what you did. He punishes you, because your actions have denied him the considerable pleasure of killing Aurra Sing himself. He and she have history you see." Lumiya said with a wicked smile, and she was pleased to see that Krayt looked slightly alarmed about the knowledge she possessed.

"A thousand pardons my lord, it shall not happen again." Oracle said, and Wyyrlok wheezed his agreement.

"I had no clue my lord." Wyyrlok said as he struggled to his feet.

"All is forgiven Lord Wyyrlok. You acted with the best of intentions. But do not disobey me again." Krayt said in a threatening voice.

Lumiya scoffed from her end. Forgiveness? If Vader had bungled like that, the Emperor had normally taken off a mechanical limb. But Krayt wasn't even close to Vader...though the last lingering remnants of Jedi training within them was something that could prove a problem, giving them one link to each other.

"Lumiya, you say Sing is dead? By whose hand?"

"Boba Fett's." Lumiya supplied, and wondered whether Oracle would be praised or punished, as she was deserving of both for her illegal action in hiring Fett.

"Indeed. And who was it who hired Fett? You, Lord Wyyrlok?" Krayt asked, and Oracle stepped forward.

"It was I my lord. I feared that if Sing failed in her mission, the Jedi may get her to reveal about us, so I took precautions. I offer myself for punishment." She said, her head bowed.

Krayt gave a laugh, that sounded rather like a bark.

"Punishment? No Lady Oracle. You foresaw a potential problem in Wyyrlok's plan and acted to nullify it. Your actions may have saved us from exposure. Good work. Continue to serve me so."

Oracle smiled and took a step back, and Lumiya had to admit, there was something to be said of keeping them guessing as to what their fates would be.

"And does that lead us to the inclusion of Darth Rape in this little affair?" Krayt asked in a deadly whisper, and the Vurk stepped forward, his head bowed.

"Yes my lord. I suspected Lady Oracle of treason, and I sent Rape to investigate what was going on, to get proof of her heresy, of her blasphemy. I wished to expose her for the witch she was." Krush said dully.

Krayt nodded and rose, placing his hand on Krush's shoulder.

"I understand Lord Krush." He said with a smile.

"Thank you my lord!" Krush said, bowing and fawning, making Lumiya feel slightly sick.

Krayt turned, and then Lumiya's stomach felt a whole lot better as Krayt lit one of his lightsabers, turned and cut off Krush's right arm, making the Vurk yell out in pain and drop to his knees.

"You deserve this pain Krush. Your mind is too rigid, too used to the thinking of the ancient Sith, and the Rule of Two. My will is all of your will. And Oracle was only acting out of concern for me, even if it was against my orders. So I have to wonder Krush, that if she sought to protect me, is it perhaps you we should look to for treasonous thoughts?" Krayt asked, and Krush shook his head, flattening in front of his lord and master.

"My master! I only wish to serve you! I could not stand the slight against you, that is why I sent Rape! Forgive me master!" Krush wailed, and Lumiya looked at him as if he were something disgusting, an expression mirrored by Oracle.

Krayt glared down at the armless Vurk and sneered.

"Forgiveness Krush? The only reason you did not lose your head is your long history of excellent service. But fail me in such a way again and I will not be so lenient. Lady Oracle, only give him a prosthetic at the end of this week, not before. You will endure your pain until then Krush, and you will visit Lady Oracle daily so she can rub sand into your wound. The pain will be a useful instructor. Now go, all of you." Krayt ordered as he settled back in his throne.

The other Sith left the holo, and he inclined his head to Lumiya.

"I apologise. It has been dealt with."

Lumiya glared at him.

"I don't care if it has been dealt with, the fact was it shouldn't have happened. The fanaticism that some of your goons serve you with is very dangerous Krayt. Ensure this does not happen again, or there will be consequences." She said darkly, and Krayt glared back at her.

"You forget yourself Lumiya, you forget to whom you speak. I am the Dark Lord of the Sith."

Lumiya rolled her eyes and extended her hand. Before her, Krayt's eyes bulged in surprise and his hand went to his throat as the Force closed around his neck.

"You know, strangling someone through the Force was one of my master's favourite pastimes. He was always quick to deal with those who did not know their place...such as you Krayt. You aren't and never will be, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith. I am that. You are a highly glorified Dark Jedi who has just happened to convince a bunch of stupid thugs and sycophants that they are Sith. They, and you, are not Sith, and never will be. And if you ever risk my plan again, whether it be you or one of your subordinates, I will kill you. Do I make myself crystal clear?" she asked in a slow voice, as if she were talking to a particularly stupid child.

Krayt nodded, and took a deep shuddering breath as she let go of him.

"Remember Krayt...you and your band are not Sith. However, you are a necessary part of my plan. But screw up again and I will eradicate you and your little friends." She said, and flicked off the holo, before clearing the information and heading back to the ship, where she was met by an impatient Luke.

"Where have you been?" he asked suspiciously.

Lumiya smiled.

"I was oiling my joints. Sand's a bastard if it gets in prosthetic limbs. You know, the ones you were kind enough to give me." She said tartly, then headed inside, smirking at the look of annoyance on Luke's face.

XX

Krayt gasped as he got his breath back. So, the aging old space scow thought she was the true Lord of the Sith did she? He would have to instruct her otherwise. But...while the military equation was all but settled, as his Super Star Destroyer alone could destroy her fleet, there was still the possibility that Lumiya could pull something out of the bag, or that she would ally with that witch Vongerella to destroy him, and that would balls things up for his side. So, it was quite obvious that he had to improve his standing. Looking out of his vast window, he saw Ship where he had landed it, and smiled.

If Ship was a Sith vessel, it was obviously going to be a dark side vessel. As such, it might help him find other dark side groups, which he could then integrate into the One Sith. Smiling, he summoned Wyyrlok.

"Lord Wyyrlok, prepare Ship. I am going to see if my theory about it being a replacement for stasis is right. And I am going to expand our resources." He said and grinned.

XX

Bossk cracked his aging fingers against the table. The Trandoshan was old now, and he had never quite recovered from the temporary exposure to hard vacuum after the Vong's attack on the Jubilee Wheel, and his snout had never regained its former shape after Han Solo had broken it after Bossk had taunted him over the death of Chewbacca. But his mind was still as good as ever, and, though he was aging, he was still a very quick draw and formidable fighter. Across from him sat Dengar. The two of them had once been hired by Darth Vader to capture Han Solo and Princess Leia, though Boba Fett had won the race to that bounty. Bossk had called Dengar when he heard that his quarry was heading towards Tatooine, where the other hunter lived, and had asked for his help, saying that with the two of their skills, the bounty was a sure thing.

What Bossk hadn't told Dengar was who the bounty was. The bounty was the former Jedi Alema Rar, who had been mutilated by Leia Organa Solo during the Killik War. A substantial bounty had been placed upon her head by one of the leaders of the Chiss Ascendancy, and Bossk intended to accept, in order to prove he could still hunt and to get one last good workout before he retired for good. Dengar had agreed to take the job because his wife, Manaroo, had a disease that required either frequent and expensive treatments, or one operation that was very very expensive and could only be performed on Coruscant. While Dengar did have that much money stowed away, his wife refused to let him use all that money because he would leave himself short if anything happened to her. As such, he had agreed to take the job in order to make up the rest of the money from his smaller accounts, which after a lot of persuasion, she had been made to agree to by her concerned husband.

"Don't worry. I've hired a local swoop gang, and they will do most of the heavy stuff, all we need to do is finish her off and get rid of them, and everything will be fine." Bossk soothed.

"I don't know Bossk. Do we really have to kill them?" Dengar asked, and the Trandoshan laughed.

"You've been retired too long Dengar, you've gone soft." Bossk hissed.

Dengar glowered at him as he sipped his ale. They were in Chalmunn's Cantina, and it was a bustling hive of activity as always. The night time bartender, Ackmena, was on today, as Wuher was having a lot of trouble with a clan of Jawas that kept trying to force him out of his home as they wanted to store droids there, and he had asked her to cover. He knew the old lady and could see her bouncer, Tork, standing by the door and keeping an eye on things.

"Ackmena has a bouncer, we'll need to take him down. Who is this person anyway?" Dengar asked, eyeing Tork suspiciously.

Bossk grinned, showing his pointy teeth.

"Alema Rar."

Dengar glowered at him.

"That's the insane Twi'lek Jedi. You didn't tell me this bounty was for a Jedi!" he growled.

Bossk waved his hand to calm his companion.

"Calm down Dengar. I've told, I've got it all worked out." He soothed.

Dengar looked at him curiously.

"I heard the Chiss had sent the Fel boy to chase her down. Why they going back on it?"

Bossk hissed in amusement.

"They're not. Apparently, one of the Ruling Families don't want the Fels regaining their power and prestige."

Dengar mused. Corruption in the Ascendancy? That was news.

"So what is the plan?" Dengar asked, resigned to the fact that he was stuck in this job with the old Trandoshan.

Bossk grinned and leaned forward to talk to him.

XX

The group left the ship in the capable hands on Threepio and Artoo, as they were headed to Chalmunn's Cantina, and droids weren't allowed. As they moved through the streets of Mos Eisley, they saw dozens of people protesting outside at least three separate townhouses.

"What are they all protesting for dad?" Ben asked curiously, squinting so he could try and see the placards they were waving through the bright light.

"Anti slavery protests. Ryloth kicked up a hornet's nest when it abolished slavery. Now everyone else is demanding the same thing, even here. Good news for the galaxy if you ask me. There's protests all over the galaxy, and now the Alliance is putting some muscle behind it, we might actually be able to eradicate it." Luke said with a grin.

"Don't you read the news?" Jaina asked with a smile, though she didn't seem particularly cheerful.

Ben winked at her.

"Why do you think I keep dad and Jacen around?" he asked cheekily and Jacen swatted at him.

Lumiya was looking at the reports from Ryloth with interest. Slavery was apparently on the way out: perhaps opportunities were to be made. She then clicked to the next page and frowned.

"It says here that police on Corellia are looking for a very small Bimm with one eye...if he was that small you'd think they'd use two eyes wouldn't you?" she asked, and Ben and Jacen snorted, while she carried on oblivious.

They entered the cantina, and Ben looked around interestedly.

"Dad, what's the legal drinking age on Tatooine?" he asked innocently.

"Sixteen." Luke answered without thinking, and was then made aware of his error by the smack he got from his wife.

"Hey, I can have a drink!" Ben said excitedly.

"No you can't." Luke said.

K'Kruhk, who was laughing, winked at Ben.

"Of course he can. As you said, he's of legal age. He doesn't need your permission." He commented, and Ben beamed at him, while Luke and Mara gave him a sour look.

As they descended the stairs, the droid detector went off. Ackmena, the woman behind the bar, looked up and frowned.

"Are any of you a HRD?" she asked, not automatically detecting a droid in this eclectic group.

"No, just more machine than flesh, that's all. Thanks this guy." Lumiya said, and pointed at Luke, who went red. Jaina smiled and followed the Sith to the bar.

The group gathered at the bar, and K'Kruhk dealt with the ordering, getting Ben a gizer ale, and pointedly ignored the looks of annoyance on the face of Luke and Mara, though Mara's was directed at her husband rather than their Whiphid companion.

Ackmena served the drinks and smiled.

"Well, this is a rare honour. Such heroes," she said, then looked at Lumiya and her face soured a little, "and villains blessing our humble cantina."

"Yep...not changed much since we first met here has it? The only difference now is that Ackmena's behind the bar rather than Wuher. And old Obi Wan has been replaced by K'Kruhk, and we don't have Chewie..."

"And you instead have a wonderful family, a Sith guest and a load more wrinkles and grey hairs." Jacen chimed in, and Han and Luke both glowered at him.

Ackmena smiled. Unbeknownst to her guests, she was actually the leader of Freedom Flight, and she was delighted with everything that was going on in the anti slavery crusade. After all the years she had spent slowly freeing slaves and watching as the ones she couldn't help suffered, things were finally beginning to change. Ryloth was just the first step and now the slaves were demanding their freedom here on Tatooine. But she too was worried about the situation on Orvax. The news that the slaves there had revolted and had dislodged the slaver government, which was controlled by the T'Surr, had been wonderful. However, the exiled government, being made up mainly of the ferocious T'Surr species, had returned home and had summoned their greatest slaver, Nazarn, to the planet in order to take command of a task force that would be used to retake the world from the slaves.

In her work leading Freedom Flight, Ackmena had heard of Nazarn. A cold, merciless beast, he was vicious in his dealings with all sentients. He had once ripped the head off a young child simply because it had gotten lost on his ship, the Unyielding. A savage brute, he was feared throughout the Outer Rim and Corporate Sector, and it was said that even the Hutts disliked dealing with him because the slaves they got from him were so traumatised they were of little use to anyone. And now, that evil creature was about to lead a taskforce to retake Orvax for his government and then, he would have full reign over the rebellious slaves. Ackmena knew in her heart: if Nazarn landed on Orvax, the slaves would all be murdered, whether they were guilty of displacing his employers or not. And if he took Orvax, the anti slavery campaign would take a massive beating that it wouldn't be able to recover from.

"Forgive me for being so forward Master Skywalker, but I was wondering what the Jedi's policy on the anti slavery problem was?" she asked.

Luke shrugged.

"I'm sorry Ackmena, but I haven't been on Coruscant. All I know is that the Alliance is getting behind the slaves and is willing to bring pressure to bear in order to free as many as possible, and that Master Lobi has left Coruscant on a mission related to slavery." Luke explained, not wanting to divulge important military information.

Ackmena nodded.

"Then I hope she succeeds. The slaves are in revolt here too. Just last night, a Hutt crime boss was murdered by his Twi'lek slave dancer. She stuck a thermal detonator down his throat." She said, and they all winced.

"This stuff is quite nice." Ben said brightly as he sipped his ale, and Jacen grinned.

"Not wishing to alarm you, but we are being watched." Lumiya said quietly as she swirled her whisky.

"Who by?" Luke asked, none of them turning around, and Ackmena nodding worriedly to Tork, whose hand dropped to his blaster.

"Bounty hunters. Two of them." Lumiya said, and Han chanced a glance, then turned back with a groan.

"It's Bossk and Dengar. I thought Bossk was dead, and I thought Dengar had retired."

Ackmena looked over at Dengar pityingly.

"I heard he needs the money. His wife has a disease which is very expensive to treat, so he's been doing a bit of hunting to help support them." She explained.

"And with our luck, what's the betting that they aren't here for the same person we are?" Jaina asked darkly.

"But why would there be a bounty on Alema's head? The Alliance stepped back because the Ascendancy wanted Jag to get her, so there is no bounty." Mara disagreed.

Ackmena looked around then leaned in towards them.

"I heard them talking...apparently there is a massive bounty from the Ascendancy on Rar's head. Not that I told you that mind." She whispered.

Jaina looked at her mother.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would the Chiss insist Jag get a chance to restore his family's honour, then hire bounty hunters to do the job for him?"

Leia pondered as she sipped her drink.

"Unless one of the families doesn't want Jag and his family to have their honour restored...unless they wish to make sure the Fels stay in poverty. After all, the Chiss aren't exactly known for being warm and friendly even with their own citizens, let alone those who are only part of the Ascendancy due to their involvement with the Empire of the Hand. Maybe one of the Families is trying to stop Jag winning hack his honour." She theorised.

"Oh bloody marvellous. Trust him to stay loyal to a bunch of frigid, unwelcoming neighbours. At least dad became an honorary Wookiee, and they at least know how to loosen up and have a good time." Jaina grumbled, and Mara patted her shoulder.

"It'll be ok kid. After we're done with her, we'll wrap her up in a nice gift box and sent her courier class to Jag. He can then shoot her and you two can get on with your lives." She said.

"Why courier class?" Han asked.

"Keep her hidden from bounty hunters. And besides, even if she does get nabbed by bounty hunters, we'll get a refund if she doesn't arrive properly!" Mara said cheerily, and Lumiya rolled her eyes.

"The fact that your family is the one that brought down the Empire is rather disturbing...you spend so much time talking nonsense it's a wonder you actually agreed how to blow up the first Death Star in the first place."

Luke, Leia and Han glared, while Jaina looked towards the door.

"Heads up." She said, her eyes narrowed, and Jacen could feel her mood dip slightly as she saw Alema Rar enter the cantina. But why did it drop? Was it to do with Alema, or Jag?

Alema Rar had once been a beautiful Twi'lek Jedi during the Yuuzhan Vong War. However, the loss of her sister Numa and her master Daeshara'cor, along with the savagery of the war itself, unhinged her slightly and she felt isolated and alone. When Raynar Thul had called through the Force to the survivors of the Myrkr mission, Alema, because of her anger and isolation had joined the dark side nest, Gorog, and had replaced Welk as the Night Herald. However, the defeat of Lomi Plo and the resulting destruction of the Dark Nest, combined with the mutilations she had suffered during the war at the hands of Luke and Leia, had driven her insane. Now, rather than the full bodied, beautiful dancer she had once been, she had become malformed.

Her left arm was withered and hung limply at her side, a relic of her first duel with Luke. It had taken on a shrunken, wasted appearance and she could only use it if she used to the Force to effect it. Her right lekku had been maimed by Leia in their duel aboard the Admiral Ackbar, Admiral Bwua'tu's flagship. As such, she was no longer able to communicate through her lekku with others of her own species. Leia had later cut off half her foot on Tenupe, leading to a very pronounced limp. Her body was also deformed, humped and lopsided, the legacy of the spidersloth which attacked her on Tenupe in the final battle of the war. And now, even her face was scarred. During an encounter with Jag the year before, he had slashed her with a vibroblade before she had made her escape, and had taken off her nose, leaving only two bloody slits that she used to breathe. Her mouth was now cut open, giving her a long slice going back from the left corner of her mouth, which had been the result of a duel with Mara before the Jedi had allowed Jag to hunt her. And her eye was now also missing, as four years before when she had still been on the run, she had foolishly attacked Jacen to try and make Leia suffer as she had. Jacen had easily defeated her, but when he had gone for the killing stroke she had leapt, but her twisted form had made her misjudge the position of his blade, and his saber had taken out her left eye.

"Emperor's Black Bones! What have you people done to her?" Lumiya demanded in horror, and for once feeling thankful she had only lost her limbs and had a few scars..

"And you thought you had it bad." K'Kruhk commented in shock, not actually expecting her to be that deformed.

"Yeah, at least you're still marginally sane. She's as barmy as the Emperor was evil." Han commented.

Alema lopped into the bar, deciding to ignore the fact that it had gone deathly silent as they observed the deformed Twi'lek. Bossk and Dengar looked at each other in surprise, then Bossk grinned wickedly as both went for their blasters.

"No blasters, no blasters." Ackmena hissed, knowing her wish and the cantina's policy was about to be broken.

"I want served." Alema said, but before Ackmena could ask what she wanted a man clad all in black arrived and pressed a blaster to Alema's hump, a result of her stooped walk.

"Gotcha." Jagged Fel said triumphantly, and pulled down the hood he was wearing to reveal his black hair, scarred eye, and lock of white hair that went back from it. Jaina felt her heart jump as she saw the face of her boyfriend, and realised she had missed him loads...but she knew full well he wouldn't be interested in her until he took care of Alema. And as they were about to kidnap her...well things could get frosty between them.

"Now Jag...no blasters. And besides, you can't kill me...I need to bring...Balance!" she roared and blasted him across the room with a Force push.

The Jedi lit their sabers and leapt into action, but the Dark Jedi was already on the move, her blade coming down at Jag's head. Jag grimaced and brought his forearms in front of his face, and the blade shorted out. Jag then kicked a surprised Alema in the stomach and fired at her. Alema backflipped, and found herself facing K'Kruhk. Using the Force, she grabbed a set of tables and threw them at the family, and then she dashed for the door, with Bossk and Dengar hot on her tail.

The Jedi dashed outside to see Bossk and Dengar running away from Alema, who leapt onto a slave protestor's swoop, gunned the engine and took off in a cloud of dust. Jag then shouldered Han and Luke out of the way, and snatched another swoop, quickly following, to the ire of the slave protestors.

"Hello to you too." Han said grumpily, then Jaina came out of the cantina, leaping onto a speeder bike and gunning the engine after Alema and Jag.

"Wait, Jaina!" Jacen moaned in exasperation, and he leapt onto another speeder bike, and was joined by Ben, and the two of them shot off, leading the slave protestors to withdraw blasters and cock them at the group.

"You know, you Jedi are lucky grand theft auto isn't a capital crime." Lumiya commented, and she leapt into a V-35 Courier model, and was quickly followed by Leia and Mara.

"Now, watch how a real woman drives!" Lumiya boasted and ignited the engine.

"Hey, that's mine!" a moisture farmer yelled.

"Jedi business, we'll return it in good nick!" Mara cried as the speeder shot off.

"Hmph. Rogue Squadron said that to great uncle Huff, and look what happened to that."

K'Kruhk shook his head at the bursts of dust which were Alema and her pursuers.

"Always on the move." He sighed, and Luke dashed over to a X-34 landspeeder.

"Wait a minute..." he said as he looked over the brown vehicle.

"Just get in kid!" Han yelled and leapt into the passenger's seat, while Luke started the engines.

"By the Force..." a female Vuvrian said as K'Kruhk leapt into the landspeeder and landed on his belly, before rolling off the seats and getting trapped between the driver seat and the back seats.

"Damn it!" he cried as Luke waved everyone off.

"Jedi business, very important!" he cried as the landspeeder shot off, while K'Kruhk tried to wedge himself out of his predicament.

The various speeders shot across the desert, coaxing every bit of speed possible out of their vehicles. K'Kruhk finally managed to unwedge himself and gave a yelp as he looked up.

"What is it?" Han asked as the wind blew through his hair.

"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is!" the aged Jedi responded, and Luke and Han looked up to see a LAAT, flanked by four Skyhoppers, bearing down in them.

"Oh Sithspit!" Luke said, as one of the ball turrets opened fire and he had to swerve to avoid.

Lumiya looked up in shock as the LAAT, which Mara could barely see Dengar and Bossk riding in the hold of, followed them, the front lasers pounding at them and the sand it hit turning to glass.

"Oh buggeration!" Lumiya cried and swerved out of the way of the laser fire, before taking them up a canyon path, which bumped the three women about as they traversed the rocky road.

"This-is-why- you-don't-take-shortcuts!" Leia managed as the gunship came alongside them, and Bossk and Dengar started firing with their blasters. Mara managed to get to her feet and began to deflect shots with her lightsaber, which scattered Bossk, but Mara went pale as she saw that there was an entire swoop gang in the hold.

"Down! We need to go down!" she yelled urgently as the entire gang opened fire.

"I hate backseat drivers. Hold on!" Lumiya called and gunned the engine, veering sharply to the right and the speeder shot off the canyon path and went into freefall before landing with a thump on the sand beneath the LAAT. However, their pursuers weren't about to let them go that easy, and one of the Skyhoppers zoomed underneath the gunship and opened fire.

"Oh kriff." Mara hissed, turned and threw her active lightsaber at the attacking craft.

She could just make out the pilot swearing before the blade sliced through the top stabilising wing and the craft careened off into the canyon wall where it exploded. Mara nodded in satisfaction and sat back down, and to her great relief, Lumiya shut the cockpit.

"Bit too blowy...me veil might come off." Lumiya said as she pursued the others.

Luke watched as his wife dispatched one skyhopper, then hissed as he realised the explosion may damage their speeder. He grunted and twirled the speeder away from the explosion, driving the speeder into a wild spin.

"Luke-I-hate-your-wife!" Han yelled as fiery debris rained down on them all.

K'Kruhk grunted and used the Force to create a bubble around the speeder.

"Get us under control!" he barked, and Luke finally managed to do so, and then just managed to avoid the original top wing of the skyhopper falling on them as they followed the others.

"Jaina, what are you doing here?" Jag demanded as he accelerated after Alema.

"Look, I know what this seems like, but it isn't! But we need Alema! If you bothered to answer my calls, you would know this already." She grumbled as the two shot onwards.

"No! You can't take Alema! It's the only way I can get back my honour!" Jag yelled, then winced as a cannon shot barely missed the two of them.

"Jag, there is more at stake here than your honour!" Jaina yelled and in her irritation, she deflected the next laser blast with her lightsaber, and the skyhopper that fired exploded and the debris settled into the side of the canyon.

"Good shot sis." Jacen said as the gunship fired with its ball turrets.

"Can you deflect those blasts?" Ben asked from behind Jacen.

"Don't know, ask K'Kruhk, that thing came from the Clone Wars!" Jacen said, then began to cough.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked in concern as the other two skyhoppers and the gunship continued to gain on them and their quarry.

"Swallowed a bug." Jacen wheezed, and Ben giggled, before lighting his saber.

"Go left!" he ordered, and Jacen did so and they shot up a narrow path and came out on top of the rocky canyon.

"Ben, what are you planning?" Jacen asked worriedly, and he received his answer the next moment as his cousin leapt off the speeder bike.

"BEN!" he hollered in panic.

Down in their own landspeeder, Leia was looking up at the gunship, which was a bit too close to her daughter and her boyfriend, and had Jacen in its sights, and then frowned as something dark with vivid red hair leapt from the top of the canyon.

"What was that?" she asked, and Lumiya smiled in amusement.

"I believe it was the very rare, and now endangered species of Ben Skywalker. He's going after the skyhopper." She said with a grin, and Leia and Mara's mouths dropped open.

As he was busy driving and Han was busy shooting up at the swoop gang in the gunships hold, neither of them noticed the new flyer in the mix. K'Kruhk however did.

"Oh, his grandfather would be so proud." He said reminiscently.

Alema growled. Fel she could handle. The Skywalker/Solo clan, complete with Whiphid and Sith Lord, she couldn't. She also couldn't handle the pursuing gunship.

"This is not right for the Balance!" she whined as she headed down the next canyon.

Ben landed on the cockpit of the skyhopper and quickly cut it open. The pilot looked at the teenager with horror, then leapt out with a scream, resulting in him smashing hard into the sand. Ben grinned and took the vacant seat and gunned the engine, and smiled as he found the fire control.

The gunships ball turret was about to hit Jacen, and Ben fired, blasting it apart. The gunship was blown to the side by the impact, and its larger wing sheared the last skyhopper in half, and it bounced as it hit the ground and tumbled to a stop. Ben then accelerated alongside the gunship, and he saw the furious face of Bossk levelling a rocket launcher at him.

"Oh nuts..." Ben said and fired the engine, but not quickly enough.

The rocket took out the engine and sent the skyhopper into a wild spin. Ben tried valiantly to pull the craft up and when it was close enough to the ground, he leapt out, coming to a rolling stop in the sand. His skyhopper smashed into the arch of rocks at the end of the canyon, sending them down in a deadly cascade.

"Whoa, I gotta get me one of those!" Ben said in excitement.

Ben got to his feet and saw he had outpaced Alema, and the insane Twi'lek was coming towards him at a hell of a pace, with a furious Jag and Jaina right behind. Ben leapt aside and cut downwards as Alema went past, and the Dark Jedi gave a scream as her swoop spiralled in a circle, forcing her to leap to the sand.

"Little whelp. Your suffering might just pay your daddy back for my arm." She purred and leapt at him, her blade coming down at him.

Ben went on the defensive, utilising Shii-Cho just as K'Kruhk had taught him. Alema's attacks were ferocious as she came at him, but they were also uncoordinated, a reflection of her personality, and Ben calmly held her off with his simple defence. He then swerved to avoid a vicious cut and swept his blade up, and she screeched in pain as one of her blue ear cones came off the side of her head, leaving a deep gash.

"Hehe, oops, sorry." He said sheepishly as she touched the scar dazedly, then screeched, diving for his stomach with her saber.

However, before she could do so, two missiles shot into the rocks that Ben's skyhopper had brought down, knocking them both off their feet with the explosion. The force of the blast knocked Jaina and Jag off of their speeders as they came to a stop as well.

"We need to stop that gunship!" Luke cried, seeing the danger his son was in.

"Leave that to me. I'm an old hand at bringing these down." K'Kruhk said and gathered the Force to him, leaping high into the air to land on the wing of the hovering gunship. He then stabbed the missile tubes, preventing them from firing again, and he was immediately beset by blaster fire from Dengar, Bossk and the swoop gang. K'Kruhk flipped to the canyon side, then propelled himself into the hold, his saber cutting the first three swoopies in half. He then blasted another two with a Force push and cut the hands off two more, before deflecting laser fire into the other two. Dengar and Bossk leapt out of the gunship, leaving K'Kruhk behind. K'Kruhk then growled as he saw Bossk had taken the rocket launcher he had used to bring Ben down with him, and nudged the rocket with the Force, slamming it into the wall. K'Kruhk then jumped, his blade high above his head in a swing that cut the wing off the gunship and with a last mournful whine of repulsors, it slid from the air and crashed into the sand.

K'Kruhk landed just in time to see Bossk aim at the form of Ben, who was struggling to get to his feet. Bossk hissed in triumph, until a blue lightsaber took his left arm off, making the launcher too heavy. A furious Mara then jumped across to the two bounty hunters. Dengar threw down his weapon and sat down, his face pained, but Bossk was not quite so easy to defeat. He whipped out his blaster and opened fire several times before two blaster shots caught him in the face. The Trandoshan gave a final hiss from his dead mouth and then his body toppled to the ground, and Mara turned to see Han glaring at Bossk's body in irritation.

Alema and Ben had recovered and were back at it, and with an elegant parry, Ben took off a finger from Alema's useful hand. Screaming in rage, she let her guard down and Jacen leapt down from above, blasting her with a Force push that made her drop her saber. Ben then pointed his saber at Alema's neck, only to quickly reverse his blade to deflect a blaster shot.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jacen demanded furiously, pointing his saber at a grim Jag, who had just fired at Ben.

"Sorry Jacen, but Alema belongs to me." He said determinedly, then winced as a purple blade came up in his path.

"Lower the blaster Jag." Jaina demanded angrily.

Ben looked at Jag in disbelief. He had always sort of looked up to Jag as an honourable man, but here he was, willing to take Ben's head off if it meant getting his honour back.

"Ben!" Mara yelled in panic, as Alema reached for her blow pipe and fired a poison dart at her son.

She leapt into the way of the dart, which struck her in the shoulder, and she dropped to the ground, convulsing. Leia, looking the maddest she had ever been, snarled and blasted Alema with a mighty Force push that smashed her into the wall of rocks that had been dislodged, where she went limp and fell to the floor.

"Mom!" Ben cried urgently as he and Luke ran to her side, looking frantic.

Jaina glowered at her boyfriend.

"If she dies because of you..." she said warningly, and watched as her twin sunk to his knees, and began to apply the Force. Luke and Ben both watched him and Mara intently, then relaxed as he smiled as he located the poison and began to purge it from her body.

"And what do we do with you?" Lumiya asked a wheezing Dengar as K'Kruhk came over.

"Are you wounded?" he asked, and Lumiya smiled at him.

"Well isn't that a nice change? Someone actually asking about my wellbeing." She said with a grin, and K'Kruhk chuckled.

"I actually meant Dengar." He said, and patted her shoulder, while she rolled her eyes.

"Typical." She muttered.

"Yeah...busted my rib when I jumped out the gunship." He explained.

K'Kruhk began applying the Force, while Jacen sighed in relief as Mara's eyes opened.

"Ow, what happened?" she asked woozily as Luke kissed her and Ben hugged her.

"Oh, you only nearly got yourself killed in this timeline too, no big deal." Leia said cattily.

Lumiya was crouched over Alema, and injected her with a sedative.

"That should keep you quiet for a while. Now, let's see how well this goes down." Lumiya said cheerily to Alema's unconscious form, and sat down on a rock to watch the show.

K'Kruhk guided Dengar to stand in front of the assembled group, which Jag was keeping to the edges of, knowing full well that he was in for some severe trouble. But first, they had to deal with the bounty hunter.

"Dengar, why were you trying to capture Alema?" Luke asked in his soft voice, and Dengar looked uncertain in face of the Grand Master of the Order.

"The job paid well. One of the Chiss families are paying a fortune for Alema to be killed and for her head to be brought to them." He explained, and Jag went pale, his eyes widening in shock.

"That can't be! The ruling families decreed that I was allowed to bring her to justice myself. They wouldn't do that, he has to be lying." He said certainly, and Jaina rolled her eyes.

"I know you think the Chiss are above everything Jag, but maybe one of the families don't want the Fels regaining their standing within the Ascendancy."

"Yeah, maybe you shot at one of their cousins too." Jacen said irritably, and Ben grinned at him while Jag at least managed to look ashamed.

"Well, with all due respect to your skills kid, that was four years ago. Maybe they got tired of waiting."

"Why did you take the job? I thought you had retired." Han said, his blaster pointed at the bounty hunter.

Dengar looked grim, and his eyes seemed sad.

"Manaroo, my wife, has contracted Knowt's Disease. It's only in the first stages, but we need enough money to pay for the initial treatment and the aftercare, and she refuses to let me use the main account holdings to pay for her treatment, because if she died I wouldn't be able to support myself." He explained.

Luke understood. One of his crushes, Gaeriel Captison had married Pter Thanas, the leader of the Imperial forces at the Battle of Bakura, and he had later died from Knowt's Disease a couple of years before the First Corellian Insurrection. Medical advances had recently been made, meaning that it could be treated and cured, but only if it was caught in the first stage of the disease. And as it was so new, the money required to be cured was ridiculously expensive...something like a quarter or a million credits just for the initial treatment, then a few thousand for every bit of aftercare after that. That meant that Alema had to be worth quite a bit.

"I'm sorry to hear that. So, you took the job on Alema, and you and Bossk would off the swoopies and split it fifty fifty?" Mara asked, and Dengar nodded.

"Yeah...but obviously you'll be taking Alema, so I get nothing." Dengar said, as if resigned to the fact.

Luke and Mara then exchanged looks, and seemed to be having a mental conversation. Mara then nodded, and Luke smiled at Dengar.

"Well Dengar, perhaps you can recoup some of your losses. You see, the Jedi are missing a Jedi, Qwallo Mode, who disappeared some months ago. Our own investigations have turned up nothing, but perhaps a bounty hunter could succeed where the Jedi have failed." Luke said suggestively, and Dengar gave a wicked grin.

"How much does it pay?" he asked.

"Sixty two thousand five hundred credits. It isn't the full amount, but it is a start." Luke said, and Dengar nodded.

"Then Jedi, you've got a deal." Dengar said, and they shook on it.

Confident that that matter was dealt with, Luke, Mara and Jacen then turned and trapped Ben in between them, and he knew he was about to get into a lot of trouble.

"And what the hell were you thinking young man?" Mara asked, tapping her foot with her hands on her hips, looking stern.

Ben shrugged, looking sheepish.

"We needed to bring them down, otherwise they might have toasted Jaina, so I trusted the Force and sort of jumped." He said uncertainly.

"It was certainly a novel tactic, but please don't do anything like that again. It may have worked this time, but what if you had mistimed it? We'd have been scraping you off the side of the canyon." Luke said.

"Or if you do do something that daft again, make sure I'm not there to see it. You nearly gave me heart failure." Jacen scolded then ruffled Ben's hair.

They all then turned to Jag.

"And what the hell were you thinking, shooting at Ben?" Luke demanded.

Jag did manage to look sorry, but not as sorry as he should have done.

"I'm sorry Master Skywalker, but she is the key to getting my honour back! I refuse to let anyone come in the way of that!"

Jaina's eyes flashed.

"Well if you answered any of my messages you would know the reason why we need her. And for the record, shooting at my little cousin isn't a good sign for our relationship!" she said cattily, and the two began bickering.

Lumiya then walked over, and sharply whistled, bringing everyone's attention over to her.

"That's better. Now...we have Alema, the swoopies and Bossk are dead, and none of us are dead. We've done all we needed to, so why don't we all head back to Mos Eisley and then talk everything over like sensible human beings?"

They all agreed and Leia turfed Alema into the back of her speeder. Luke, Han and K'Kruhk went back to their speeder and Luke caressed his hand down it.

"Why did you hesitate earlier young one?" K'Kruhk asked.

"Because this is mine!" he said with certainty, and Han looked at him incredulously.

"What? No way!"

"It is, its the speeder I sold the day I first met you to get us to Alderaan." Luke said in delight as he took in every curve of his old speeder.

"Dad, can I get a skyhopper?" Ben asked hopefully, and Luke, who wasn't paying much attention, answered rather foolishly.

"Yeah, sure."

"Score!"

Luke then realised what he said and made a noise of terror as he saw the thunderous look on Mara's face, which rather offset the massive smile he had put on Ben's.

XX

Alema was restrained in the med room on the ship, while everyone else dealt with other matters. Dengar had gone home to prepare his ship, Punishing One for the mission Luke had hired him for. Han and Leia were recovering from the day's events over another drink in the cantina, where they chatted to Ackmena about the slavery problem. Mara contacted Kam to inform him of Dengar's job for them, and when she hung up she was rather concerned. They would have to tell the Council, Chief A'kla and Admiral Niathal what they were up to soon. Meanwhile, Luke and Ben said they had some business to discuss with a Vuvrian by the name of Wioslea. K'Kruhk meanwhile prepared the ship for takeoff, while Jaina and Jag had a massive blazing row outside the ship.

"Not once do you call me, all you do is go 'Alema this' 'Alema that'. You're obsessed with her!"

Jag shook his head angrily.

"I've told you why that is! If I kill Alema, then I get my honour back! I'm doing this for us!"

Jaina rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I don't want your honour you idiot, I just want my boyfriend." She said in a tense voice.

"Yeah, but you know I'm an honourable guy, so I need my honour back to even be halfway worthy of dating you!" he shouted.

"But you are worthy, you don't seem to get that! I love you, but you're too fixated on your 'honour' to care! How many times do we meet up, then I wake up the next morning to find you've gone on your quest for honour!" she yelled.

Unnoticed by either of them, Lumiya was sitting on a crate and watching the entire exchange whilst eating a small bag of popcorn.

"What are you saying? That I should give up and live out my days alone and friendless?"

"What? No! I'm saying you have more in your life than your quest for honour! But you don't seem to appreciate that! I come second to your honour, and frankly I'm getting fed up of coming second place. Did you even know that I lost my hand or were you too fixated on your quest to care?"

"You think I don't care about you? You are so wrong! I'm doing this for you, for us, so we can be together!"

"Well I'm fed up of being the third one in this relationship. You and your honour obviously matter more than you and me!" she shouted, getting really angry at how stubborn he was being.

"Well it's not as if that matters anymore though is it! You lot are taking Alema away, blowing any chance of me getting my honour back out of the water!" Jag yelled back, furious at how selfish she was being.

"We're taking her because the fate of the galaxy is at stake!"

"By the Force, you are so dramatic. You come and tell me when you want to finish being the great fairy princess who always has to rescue the galaxy and we might get somewhere!"

"Well I'm sorry if my job as Sword of the Jedi means I don't conform to your idea of a good submissive woman!" she yelled furiously, not even caring that that wasn't what he was getting at.

"I don't want a submissive woman, I want you! But now I see how high maintenance you are maybe I shouldn't bother! The galaxy revolves around Coruscant, not Jaina Solo, but you seem to think it does!"

"Whereas you think it revolves around your honour! It's me or that!" she said with a dreadful finality, and Lumiya sat forward in excitement.

"Well if you think I should change so drastically for you, then maybe we should just break up! I lost my honour for you, and I need to feel worthy of you, and without my honour I don't! So, do you want to break up, or is the fact that I'm an honourable man something you can cope with?"

Jaina gave a very sarcastic laugh.

"Honourable? You nearly blew Ben's head off! How is that honourable? If you think your honour is worth killing Ben for, you're as nutty as Alema is!"

"Fine! My quest to get my honour back is too much for you obviously! So I reckon we should just break up!"

"Good, suits me!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Jaina then turned, gave a furious sob and dashed into the ship, while a sour faced Jag ran out of the hangar, shoving a bewildered Jacen out of the way as he did so.

"Oh, that was the most fun I've had in ages! Ten out of ten for performance! But the script could use a little work." Lumiya said to herself, finished her popcorn and walked over to Jacen.

"Did they just break up? Is that what they did?" he asked urgently, more concerned about the storm of emotions he was getting from his sister rather than the fact that Lumiya had been watching the entire affair.

"Yep. Jaina was fed up of coming second to his honour, Jag was fed up of her not realising how important his honour is to him and appreciating that he gave it up for her in the first place. It was quite the show." She said brightly, then headed onto the ship, and Jacen dashed inside to find his sister.

XX

He found her looking miserable on her bunk, with tears in her eyes. Sitting down beside her, she snuggled into his arms.

"Men are scum." She said tearfully as he stroked her hair.

"Am I scum?"

"No you're not scum." She sniffed and lay in her brother's arms.

XX

Luke smiled as he finished his business, but the smile quickly faded as he met Mara outside.

"What are you two so happy about?" she asked suspiciously.

"Um, well, that is to say...I bought back my landspeeder." He mumbled.

Mara gave a high laugh.

"Honey, I thought you just said you bought back your old landspeeder. But, we have a speeder back on Coruscant. So why would we need another one?"

Luke smiled winningly, but Ben could see that his mother was changing into her expression which resembled a very ferocious tusk cat.

"Because it can be an heirloom for Ben. It was mine and one day it will be his!"

Ben could see that the vein in his mother's head was getting larger as her exasperation with her husband grew. Ben already stood to inherit all of their possessions, which included the Jade Shadow, and now Luke had gone and bought back his forty odd year old landspeeder at a considerable expense.

Mara narrowed her green eyes.

"Next you'll be telling me you bought him a skyhopper as well." She said dangerously, but when neither of them answered her laser like eyes, she swelled in fury.

"You did?" she demanded furiously.

"It was cheap! The two of us can work on it together, and then he can fly it just like I did in my youth!"

Mara was going red and Ben wondered if his dad's life insurance was paid up, because it seemed like his mother might be about to kill him.

"You bought back your old landspeeder, and a skyhopper for our son, which knowing Coruscant can be very dangerous, and didn't bother to consult me?" she demanded, and Luke went the colour of Hoth.

"Um, no dear, we thought..."

"SKYWALKER!"

Ben didn't wait around to see what happened and slipped off as his furious mother started ranting at her husband, exasperated by his actions.

XX

As they all got ready to depart, Alema awoke to find Lumiya at the foot of her bed.

"You! You did this to us!" she yelled, and Lumiya rolled her eyes.

"No. The Skywalkers and Solos turned you into the pitiful creature you have become."

"Have you come to laugh at us? We do not like it when people laugh at us." Alema said haughtily, wishing she had her saber so she could wipe that self assured smile off of Lumiya's face.

"Why did they bring us here?" Alema asked curiously, as Lumiya hesitantly undone the binder around her leg.

"There is a threat afoot in the galaxy, that threatens the Jedi, the Sith, and perhaps all life itself. As such, they figured we needed another dark side presence other than me, and you somehow manage to fit that bill." She said, undoing the other leg.

"Perhaps the extinction of both will be good for the Balance." Alema said suggestively.

"No. The galaxy needs both to maintain order, at least at the moment."

Alema looked at her maimed body pitifully, and touched the scar Ben had given her with her freed hand.

"What do we care if the galaxy lives or dies? We have no one left, our next is gone. Our sister is gone. Our master is gone. All that is left is us...and the Balance." She whispered, and Lumiya looked at her, as though concerned for her sanity, and then figured the poor girl was already as mad as a reek in mating season anyway, so shrugged it off.

"But if that was all that was left, what is the point in you living?" Lumiya pointed out, wondering what drove the mutilated girl now.

"We have told you, we serve the Balance! We must bring Balance!" Alema raved, and her one remaining eye rolled madly, making Lumiya pull back slightly from the insane Dark Jedi.

"Bring balance to the Force? You're no Anakin Skywalker." She stated, but Alema shook her head.

"You do not understand! We serve the Balance. All that has been done to me, must be paid back to those who did it to me!" she whined, and Lumiya nodded in understanding.

"Ah, I see. You feel you must make Leia suffer as you have suffered, Luke, Jacen, Ben, Jag, they must all suffer the pain you felt. I see."

"Yes, we must bring Balance." Alema said, then smiled her lopsided smile.

"You could help us. You could help us bring back Balance. They took our beauty, our society from us, you could help us pay them back, make them pay and limp and suffer!" she said excitedly.

Lumiya arched an eyebrow.

"What do you have in mind my nutty comrade?" she asked.

Alema sat up and grinned at the Sith, a slightly spooky grin that might have made her arms come out in goosebumps, provided she had any.

"You could help us turn one of Leia's brats dark, her deepest fear. We could make it become reality. She should pay for taking our beauty from us." She said, but Lumiya shook her head.

"There is no point in doing this just to get back at her for mutilating you. I too was considered beautiful once. But if you ask me, there is no point in fighting for something that you would have lost eventually anyway. However, if you wished to fight for your revenge, for the dark side, to further my aims, which would in turn serve yours, then we might have an accord." Lumiya said, and Alema looked at her curiously.

"You already seek to turn Jacen or Jaina?" she asked in excitement, but her heart fell when the Sith shook her head.

"No. But believe me, if you serve me well and do as I say, your tormentors will indeed suffer, and your Balance will be restored."

Alema gave a wheezing giggle, then tilted her head.

"And if we do not?"

"Then I will kill you. Nothing can be allowed to interfere with my plans. That includes you. So, do you promise to be a good girl?" Lumiya asked in a voice that she would maybe use if she was ever affectionate to children, and Alema nodded eagerly.

"Good! Then we have a deal then Alema Rar." Lumiya said triumphantly, her eyes flashing malevolently.

XX

Quinlan sighed in frustration as they finally reached the volcano. All of the other teams were dead, they had felt the Jedi get snuffed out through the Force. And everyone else in their team was also dead, aside from himself, his son, Drake and Ekria Logaan.

"Master?" Ekria asked nervously, her once blue hair now going purple with age.

"Onwards, but slowly." Quinlan ordered, and the four Jedi edged forward and entered the volcano where Abeloth dwelt.

The four lit their sabers and entered the dark inner volcano. There was some residual heat here, and that made Quinlan concerned. They were obviously dealing with something way beyond their capabilities. K'Kruhk had been right not to support this mission. But they were trapped here now. And maybe, just maybe, they would get lucky.

"There's no one here dad." Korto said, his blue saber raised high.

"Then where is she?" Drake asked.

"Through." Quin stated simply, and led the four of them into a large courtyard, covered in ruins.

But there was still no sign of Abeloth. So where was the beast?

"What have you done with my father?" Korto suddenly demanded, and Quinlan looked around in panic to see his son brandishing his saber.

"Korto, I'm right here! Ignore her, see past her visions! I'm here!"

"Korto, he's right there, look! See!" Ekria urged, but Korto gave a cry.

"My father, what have you done with him?"

And then Quinlan felt a horrible cold, a darkness, unlike any he had ever felt while working for Count Dooku during the Clone Wars. The tendrils of darkness wrapped around his wrists and legs, and his saber dropped to the ground as his hand became someone else's.

And then, his mouth opened and spoke.

"Confront me if you can boy."

The voice was not his own, and was terrible, feminine. And he knew what it meant.

"Korto, no!" Drake yelled, and Quinlan watched, unable to do anything as Drake Force pushed his son away from the man he was about to kill.

"Foolish Jedi." The voice cursed, and a terrible scream emitted from Quinlan's mouth.

Ekria was quick off the mark, using the Force to protect herself, and Korto was out of range due to Drake's Force push. Drake himself however, was not so lucky. Overextended due to his saving of Korto and Quinlan, he couldn't protect himself in time. His saber dropped to the ground as he knelt down in pain, clutching his head. Blood started to pour from his eyes and nose as he clutched at his head. His eyes then burst and blood gushed out from his head as the scream got louder. Ekria could only watch in fixated horror as her husband's once handsome face became a mess, and he gave a final wail before his head blew apart from the noise.

"NO!" she yelled and Quinlan could feel her anger growing.

"Fight it!" he said, and he felt Abeloth get forced from him as he concentrated and brought the light to bear.

Some fog then cleared to reveal Abeloth standing atop a pillar. Ekria glared up at her and sprang, her blue blade going for Abeloth's throat. Abeloth gave a throaty laugh and grabbed Ekria's head and legs with her tendrils. Quinlan knew a second before what was about to befall Ekria. The younger woman gave a furious, impotent cry before Abeloth pulled her head off and let her body fall to the floor.

"Korto, run!" Quinlan roared to his son, who had just got back to his feet.

Korto did so, looking desperately back to his father as he did so. Quinlan used the Force to light the other two sabers and threw them at Abeloth, before leaping himself. Abeloth sneered in contempt, and with a powerful push, blasted the two sabers backwards so they took off Quinlan's arms. Quinlan let off a roar of pain, then managed to focus, and crushed the thermal detonator on his belt.

As his body was incinerated, Quinlan saw with some satisfaction that the pillar Abeloth was on disintegrated and the foul creature was knocked spinning, fire licking at her.

Korto ran, trying to stop the tears he felt for his father. His mother, Khaleen, had died a few years previous, and while Korto had his own son and daughter, both of which had two kids of their own, he still lamented his end. But, perhaps he could still be of some use.

He knelt down and immersed himself in the Force, feeling outside of the Maw. He touched T'ra Saa's, for all intents his grandmother, presence and focused on sending a last message.

T'ra...all of us are dead. I soon will be too. You must find out more about Abeloth, or she will annihilate the galaxy!

Korto then opened his eyes and turned, to see a grinning Abeloth. Her mouth then opened, Korto fell in, and he was no more.

XX

T'ra fought back tears as she felt Korto get snuffed out. Another one she loved that she had lost.

But her honorary grandson was right. They needed to find out more about Abeloth. Nodding grimly, she sent a message to K'Kruhk.

XX

The ship was quiet. They had decided to stay the night on Tatooine, in the ship of course. Alema seemed to be relatively calm, and Lumiya had explained what was going on, and the lunatic had seemed to grasp most of it. However, how long she would remain relatively congenial was questionable. Luke meanwhile was concerned about how quickly Alema and Lumiya seemed to have meshed together. He was in the bad books with Mara for buying the speeder and skyhopper, and he felt it best to stay out of her way until she calmed down a little. And he did have to agree, they would have to tell the Council about their mission soon. Han wasn't pleased about the fact that Alema was now getting to stroll casually around the ship, neither was Leia too to be fair. Jaina was too busy being sad about her breakup with Jag, and Jacen was too busy comforting her, and K'Kruhk was in the comm station and didn't seem particularly happy with what he was hearing.

Alema was moved in with Jacen, Ben and Jaina, so they could keep an eye on her, and also make it more difficult for Lumiya to contact her mentally if the mood took her. There was some wisdom to this, Ben supposed.

He was walking down the corridor, when he looked in to the quarters and saw Lumiya meditating on the bed.

"Well that's about as helpful as a poke in the eye. Literally even." She harrumphed, and looked up to see him.

"Hello Ben. What can I do for you?" she asked politely, and Ben had to admit, she was relatively nice for a Sith, when she wanted to be.

"What's as helpful as a poke in the eye?" he asked curiously, leaning against the doorframe.

She looked at him, then beckoned him inwards.

"I was trying to figure out Alema's alignment. You will agree that she's as daft as a hat?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, I don't need to be a psychologist to see she's bonkers. Why?"

"Well I was trying to use the Force to see where her allegiances lay. Light, dark, in the middle. But she is a curious one. All of her is intermingled into a bizarre kaleidoscope of colours which I can't make heads nor tails of."

Ben looked at her curiously.

"You can see what side people support through the Force?" he asked.

Lumiya nodded.

"Yes indeed. A useful technique when dealing with Force sensitive foes actually, to see if they would be willing to join you or not. Have you heard of the Miraluka?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah. Is this thing you're doing the same way they see?"

Lumiya looked uncertain, then shrugged.

"I believe it is much the same, yes. For example, you are blue when I use the technique. Were you to use it on me, I suspect I would be a deep red. Does that make sense?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. Sounds pretty cool...could you teach me it?" he asked.

He didn't know what made him say it. But the technique did sound rather interesting, and it was just a harmless little Force technique that wasn't really harming anyone. And besides, it might help with the crazy Jedi situation. He knew his parents would disapprove, but what was one little Force technique? And she was probably the only one on board who might know this technique, as as far as he knew Jacen hadn't met any Miraluka on his voyage, and K'Kruhk seemed a bit down at the moment.

"Certainly. Sit with me." She said, and Ben sat on the bed, facing her.

"First close your eyes, block out all distractions..." she said in her soothing, teaching voice that made Ben hang on her every word, "now, focus on me. Listen to me breathe, but do not focus on the sound. Focus past it...to the life force, maimed though it is," she added tartly, "that lies behind it. Imagine the energy, the shape and feel of that life force, in tandem with the breathing. Now, step back in your mind's eye and see what vision remains."

Ben did as instructed, following her melodious instructions, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Lumiya for what she truly was. Her arms and legs were deep grey, with no colour at all, and hardly visible against the black and white background of the ship's wall. However, her torso and head however, were a vivid, deep red, the sort of scarlet you would find in a Sith lightsaber.

"Cool." He said impressed, and she smiled.

"You grasp such arcane techniques quickly. Interesting. Was I red?"

Ben nodded.

"Good. Now, combine that lesson with your last, but do not seek to see into the minds of the others, just seek to see them, and tell me what you see." Lumiya said, wondering if he would be able to manage this.

Ben did so, centring himself and seeing throughout the ship, just as she had taught him before. And then, he saw the others for what they really were. His father was a deep blue, the colour of an ocean from space. His mother's hue was a little lighter, a bit paler, and curiously there were little spots of red on her face, which he supposed was because she was still mad at Luke. Leia was much the same colour, a deep blue, but just a shade darker than Mara, pointing to a better light side connection. Mind you, she wasn't infuriated with her husband for buying a landspeeder they didn't need and a skyhopper for their sixteen year old son. Han was much the same colour as his wife and sister in law, not as dark as Luke or Leia, and maybe not even as Mara, but maybe a shade or two lighter, going paler. K'Kruhk was also a deep blue, close to his father's shade. Jaina was lighter, a paler blue than the rest, and Jacen was still blue, but Ben could see that a few shades lighter and he would be grey. Curious. And then he saw Alema.

"Whoa." He said as he came back to himself.

"I am impressed. Jacen should be proud." She said.

"I see what you meant about Alema. She's red, blue, grey, purple, black, white...boy she's messed up."

Lumiya snorted in amusement.

"We can agree on that. Now run along young one. It would not do for your bad tempered mother to discover me teaching you yet more Force techniques." She said with a smile, and Ben grinned.

"Thanks Lumiya." He said and made his escape.

"No Ben, thank you." She said with a wicked smile.

XX

K'Kruhk looked mournfully at the report T'ra had sent him. All of those Jedi dead...he wished they had listened to him. But now, it was clear. The galaxy was not ready to confront this monstrosity. So, they had work to do. But where to do it? Pondering, he left the comm station, totally oblivious to Ben's presence at the doorway.

"Hello to you too." He said, slightly put out as the old Jedi passed.

He then looked cautiously up the corridor, before entering the comm station.

He shouldn't be doing this. After all, this was Jaina's business. But, he hated seeing her so miserable. Jacen had told him that their best defence was to just take her side and not get involved.

But what did you do when you thought both players had made a mistake? Jag and Jaina loved each other, that much was clear, and the only ones happy about the breakup were Han, because he was Jaina's father, and Lumiya, because she got a bit of entertainment out of it. But Ben only wanted to help his cousin.

As such, he keyed in the number for the Antilles apartment.

Iella Wessiri Antilles smiled as she answered the comm.

"Oh hello Ben, how are you?" she asked.

"Hey Aunt Iella." He said, grinning at her.

Though not a real aunt, he called her aunt, just like he called Tendra aunt because she was one of the family's closest friends, just like Winter was.

"What's wrong? You look a bit down about something." She asked, her Intelligence training allowing her to see past his cheerful demeanour.

"Well, I just wondered...is Uncle Wedge there?" he asked, wondering his long it would be before someone found out he was talking to her.

"No sweetie, I'm sorry, he's still on his mission for Admiral Niathal with Tycho, Wes and Hobbie. I can help if you want." She offered, and Ben shrugged.

"Well, it's about Jag. Him and Jaina broke up." Ben explained, and Iella groaned.

"Oh no, I thought they were going steady." She moaned.

"Well they had a big blow up about his honour and her not appreciating him, I think a lot of it is stress. So they broke up. But you and I both know that they love each other and belong together." He wheedled, and Iella grinned.

"And you want us to talk to Jag to calm him down and see if he'll talk to Jaina?"

Ben grinned.

"Knew I could count on you aunt Iella, thanks." He said.

"You're welcome. I'll tell Wedge to have a word with our errant nephew. Stay safe."

"You too." He said, and signed off, then practically bounced from the comm room.

XX

The door to the bridge of the Fell Defender opened, and Admiral Ar'alani, on her final military inspection before her retirement tomorrow, entered to see a hive of activity. Smiling, she saluted Commander Shawnkyr, the commander of the Chiss Star Destroyer.

"Commander, permission to come aboard." Ar'alani asked, and the commander saluted smartly, before walking forward and shaking the Admiral's hand.

"It is an honour to have you aboard my vessel Admiral. And who...oh." Shawnkyr said in surprise as she saw who Ar'alani had brought with her.

General Baron Soontir Fel had once been the hotshot of the Empire in the years following the death of Darth Vader. Joining the Empire of the Hand under Thrawn and Voss Parck, he had become an integrated member of Chiss society, and everyone knew of the sacrifices his family had made for the Ascendnacy, as only three of his children remained. However, when the Jedi Lowbacca had attacked Supply Depot Thrago while under the protection of his eldest remaining son, Jagged, the Ascendancy had blamed the entire family, leading them to lose everything. Since then, they had scraped by, barely surviving, eagerly awaiting the day Jag would kill Alema Rar and restore their honour. Now, he, his wife Syal, his remaining son Cem and his daughter Wynessa had been appointed to act as Ar'alani's aides, which translated as looking after an elderly Chiss of about ninety.

"Don't worry about him, if Command wants to blame anyone they can blame me." Ar'alani said, as she looked out of the viewport as the white ball that was Csilla. Twenty five Ascendancy class Star Destroyers surrounded the planet, as if giving it a ring, and above and below them dozens of freighters and cargo ships travelled back and forth, plying their wares. Smaller military vessels flanked the Destroyers, while large transport ships were escorted to hyperspace by Clawcraft. Nodding in satisfaction, she turned, her walking stick clicking against the spotless deck.

"You run a very tight ship Commander Shawnkyr, I am very impressed." She said, nodding in approval.

Shawnkyr tried to hide her pleasure. Ar'alani was a legend. A consummate warrior and survivor, she had battled such threats as the Yuuzhan Vong, the Vaagari and the Ssi-Ruuk over the course of her career, and had been one of Thrawn's supporters when he was still part of the CEDF. Complements from someone of her stature were rare and should be cherished.

"Thank you Admiral. Feel free to observe...I like to keep my crew on their toes. Yes Ensign?" Shawnkyr said, giving the Admiral a quick salute as she turned to deal with a query.

"Tell me Soontir, does it feel good to be back on a warship again?" Ar'alani asked as she surveyed the crew, which, she had to admit, very good.

"Yes ma'am. Thank you for allowing us to come. It makes such a nice change to get out of the slums of Csilla."

Ar'alani waved off his thanks. She had always disagreed with the Ruling Families decision. As such, she had been more than willing to hire the Fels as her aides, or retainers, her critics would say, and give them occasional benefits, such as trips like this, and access to simulators and shooting ranges for the two children to keep their skills sharp.

"Think nothing of it." She soothed, but then saw one of the crewmen flush purple, a sign of stress, and her glowing, if slightly hazy, eyes narrowed.

"Commander, we have reports of something massive coming out of hyperspace!" he called, and Shawnkyr walked briskly to his station on the command walkway and peered down at his console.

"Very well Ensign. Send an alert to all civilian vessels and have them get behind the defensive line. If someone seeks to raid us, they are in for a rude awakening. Bring cannons online, and ready the standby pilots. Something isn't right." The commander said, and she exchanged a grave look with Ar'alani and Fel.

"She's right. My gut is going haywire, and I don't think it's my age." Fel whispered.

"Are your family secure?" she asked quietly, and he nodded.

"Good. Keep them out of harm's way." She advised then slowly made her way to Shawnkyr.

"You agree something is wrong? There shouldn't be anything large enough to challenge us around here." Shawnkyr whispered, and the Admiral nodded.

"I agree. Be careful Commander."

"Ensign, get the ships coming up from Csilla behind us, and tell Spaceport Command to get as many ships in the air as possible. If these are simply bold raiders, seeing all the ships in orbit will frighten them." Shawnkyr said, and the Ensign did as instructed, though Ar'alani didn't approve.

Civilians didn't belong up here if this was to turn into a military engagement. Especially when there were at least three large passenger transports, each carrying one and a half thousand Chiss. But, as the Fell Defender was Shawnkyr's command, she remained silent.

"Here it comes ma'am! It's a Yuuzhan Vong worldship!" the sensor officer yelled in disbelief.

Shawnkyr, Ar'alani and Fel all looked out of the viewport in time to see the massive vessel drop from hyperspace.

"They're launching thousands of coralskippers...and opening fire!"

"Power to shields!" Shawnkyr yelled, but it was too late.

A plasma blast hit the bridge, resulting in a heavy shaking that dislodged one of the ceiling panels. Shawnkyr saw it fall towards Ar'alani and shoved her out of the way, but the panel hit her on the head and she fell to the deck, unconscious.

"Get a medic here now. Give me a fleet wide communication." Ar'alani ordered, taking command of the ship, and with any luck the entire fleet.

Outside the massive worldship was coming forward and the storm of coralskippers flashed in at the Clawcraft that were running to meet them.

"Ships continue to come up from the planet!" an officer yelled.

"Tell the spaceports to close them down! Get those civilian ships behind us, and prepare for battle. All Star Destroyers, prepare for a asterisk formation. This ship will take point. I trust there is no question of my command of the fleet?" Ar'alani barked, and the captain shook his head.

"No ma'am. You're the highest ranking Chiss here." He said, and she nodded grimly.

What was an inspection a few minutes before was now a battle. Seven Destroyers were smoking hulks, their shields not having come up in time. Others were angling to prepare for the manoeuvre she had ordered.

"Launch all fighters, and let us remind the Vong that the Chiss do not suffer attacks like this lightly." She said confidently.

"Admiral, a Vong destroyer, a miid ro'ik, is moving out from behind the worldship. And we are getting very strange readings from both of them." An officer said nervously.

Ar'alani then watched in horrified disbelief as waves of plasma, a bright vivid orange, shot from the worldship.

"Take evasive action! Avoid those shots at all costs!"

The fleet immediately did as instructed and began to adjust. However, much of the fleet did not move quickly enough. The power of this new plasma weapon was revealed when a blast hit a Star Destroyer. Fire erupted from every viewport, and Ar'alani knew what she was dealing with.

"Those weapons are thermonuclear. Do not allow any through, or Csilla will be annihilated." She ordered darkly, then she lowered herself slightly to talk to the comm officer.

"Tell the spaceports to rescind my previous command. Get every civilian ship up in the air and full to the brim as you can." She ordered, and the young ensign looked at her in fear, but did as instructed.

The worldship then lanced forward, the massive behemoth of a vessel firing all its weapons. The Destroyers and their smaller escort craft began to adjust, but Ar'alani knew what this attack was meant to achieve. The two Vong cruisers fired dozens of thermonukes, and they hurtled at the Chiss fleet. The coralskippers were flattening the Clawcraft, and then, the capital ships started to die. Nukes slammed into Star Destroyers up and down the defensive line.

"By the Force..." Ar'alani mumbled as she watched six Star Destroyers die a fiery death.

"Admiral, the fleet is requesting instructions! We have lost thirteen Destroyers all ready, and two more are abandoning ship! The skips are chipping away at them and those weapons are flattening the fleet."

"Get the civilian ships to shotgun around the planet. Have the fleet form up on us and form a rear guard movement to enable the civilian ships to escape." Ar'alani ordered.

"But Admiral..."

"Look." Fel said in horror.

A thermonuke from the destroyer flashed past the viewport. Ar'alani turned to see the holo of the planet, and then saw a mushroom cloud expanding. The ice on the planet then turned into water as massive tidal waves of superheated water crashed over the planet. More nukes hit, and dozens, then hundreds, and then thousands of tidal waves ripped across the planet, utterly flattening the Chiss capital. All their history, all their culture, all their society...it was all flattened as the waves travelled. The last few straggling civilian ships, filled to the brim with as many people as could fit on board, managed to space.

"People, we have lost Csilla. Ar'alani to fleet. Prepare to retreat. Recall all fighters." She said, refusing to allow tears to show on her face.

When her stunned crew, who had just watched their home by wiped out, did not respond, she clanged her stick.

"Follow my orders. There will be a time to grieve later. For now, our primary concern is survival. To accomplish that goal, first we must survive. Full retreat, get all fighters in the holds and prepare to retreat. Any fighters that do not have a flagship anymore, tell them to slave their hyperdrives to ours and prepare for the jump to lightspeed. Tell the civilian ships to get underway and begin to clear the planet." She ordered in a determined voice.

Outside, space was chaos. Csilla, a gleaming white marble before, was now a tumultuous marble of deep blue. Ar'alani knew no one down there had survived. Meanwhile, flaming hulks of Star Destroyers started dropping listlessly towards the planet. Of the twenty five Destroyers they had had, now only eight remained. Coralskippers, the worldship and the destroyer were bearing down on them, firing at any ship that got in their way. Grutchins, though different colours from usual, were released and the vicious bugs landed and began to nibble hypercomm arrays.

"Electrify all hulls." Ar'alani ordered.

A defence mechanism against the blasted things, this allowed them to electrocute the damned bugs and stop them in their tracks. However, usually they weren't under a radioactive barrage while this happened.

The civilian flotilla was moving forward slowly and the Destroyers and support craft were fighting valiantly, but the nukes were just too many. Another two Destroyers were hit by the nukes, and coralskippers began to concentrate on the smaller military ships, chewing them up under continued fire. Ar'alani was watching the screen grimly as the Destroyers completed their slingshot around the planet. The civilians would soon be able to jump to hyperspace.

"The Vong Destroyers is here, and the worldship is overcoming the ecliptic!"

"We can't win. This ambush was well planned. It was designed to smash our fleet and our capital, and it has done both." Fel said sadly.

Ar'alani shook her head in disbelief. The last of the smaller escort vessels were destroyed by the swarming coralskippers, leaving only the remaining Destroyers. The Dark Emissary and the Baanu Venxis fired at them recklessly, some of their weapons now hitting civilian ships.

"All Star Destroyers are to form a shield between the Vong and the civilian ships! Get those ships to lightspeed now!" Ar'alani barked.

"They're requesting orders on where to go Admiral!"

"Signal the closest Star Destroyer to us and tell them to break from the wall and have the civilians slave themselves to their signal, then get them out of here."

Another Destroyer died, the one she had just signalled.

"Admiral, this is General Yogor! With all due respect, we cannot perform this task. You may be the highest ranking member of the Ascendancy left. We need you to survive. All remaining destroyers, form up on my ship." He barked, and they did so.

"This is mutiny General." She scolded, but all he did was salute and his signal died.

With a horrible feeling in her heart, knowing that it was kinsmen, other soldiers that she was leaving behind, she gave the order.

The Fell Defender entered the centre of the civilian flotilla, which had over two thousand vessels in it, and received the word that all of them had slaved their navigation to theirs.

"Jump to lightspeed." She ordered sadly, and the entire fleet leapt into lighspeed.

And only then did Ar'alani allow her tears to fall with the rest of the crew and all that remained of Csilla's population.

XX

Vongerella smiled. Her forces had reported total success. All long range communications had been wiped out, and the Ascendancy was smashed. She looked at Csilla, one an ice cube, now a boiling ocean. Her new plasma missiles had done the trick, as had her modified grutchins. The Chiss fleet was mostly a fleet of hulks and the worldship quickly finished the forces that had sacrificed themselves to allow the flagship and the civilians to escape.

Smiling, she turned to her commander.

"Signal my forces and congratulate them. They are to proceed with their plans for now, and then we will track down the rest of the Chiss. And once you've done that..."

Her captain looked at her curiously.

"Find me the Miskara of the Vaagari, and tell him I have a proposition for him." She said, smiling evilly.

Well that was a busy chapter!

Alema has been captured, the Ascendancy smashed, Abeloth's attackers destroyed, the slavery question brought to bear, Jaina and Jag have broken up, and more Jedi have gone insane.

Also, a lot of information this chapter too. Beware of the fellow Ackmena mentioned, Nazarn. He is introduced next chapter and is a nasty piece of work. Where does he fit into all of this?

So, next chapter we have a two battles, we see some old friends, plus a return of a rather famous group of people, old foes unite, the slavery and piracy questions accelerate in pace, face from the past is found and we see the return of Kyle Katarn!

What will happen next? Time will tell. Until then, please read and review!