CHAPTER IX

"It was a massacre, my lord. Ninety-seven victims, crew included."

Darth Vader did not acknowledge the colonel's words. He had seen the initial report on his way to Formos. Mostly families and migrant workers. Their wounds matched that of a lightsaber, supporting the distress call received immediately after freighter Ebullient had emerged from hyperspace. A crew support droid had raised the alarm and claimed the attacker was a Jedi.

There were no bodies on Ebullient now. They had all been removed prior to his arrival. He had been offered a chance to see them, but the images of the wounds were enough. He did not need to see victims in person to know they had been killed with a lightsaber –and there were only so many beings in the Galaxy who knew how to wield one.

"Where did the ship come from?" he wanted to know.

"Drualkiin. It started from Centares and followed the Triellus Trade Route. Headed for Syvris. It does this route routinely."

"I want security footage from each spaceport Ebullient made a stop at. I want each passenger identified."

"Or course, my lord."

It made no sense as a target for a Jedi or any anti-Imperial terrorist for the matter. It was not an attack against the Empire and killing civilians in this manner was not typical for a Jedi who sought his attention. The attack baffled him.

"Have any recordings been recovered yet?" Vader asked. The initial report stated all security footage had been deleted and the droid had been destroyed to the point it was unlikely anything could be salvaged from it.

The man wetted his lips uneasily. "No, my lord. We are a small outpost. There's no equipment or specialised staff. We've requested–"

"I will have crew from my Star Destroyer assist you until the technicians arrive."

"Thank you, my lord. That will speed up the process."

Vader hoped so. The alleged Jedi was long gone, but perhaps he could at least be identified. For now they only had some images taken from above the forest as the Jedi fled. It only served to confirm he was of humanoid species. The far more interesting lead they had was a recording of the suspected Jedi's voice over the comm.

"Negative. There's no distress. Everything's all–"

The young man's voice was then cut off by the droid and he never responded again. Darth Vader played the short clip over and over again. Something about it bothered him, but he could not quite place it. The voice seemed too young to belong to any of the still missing Jedi he had personally been acquaintance with.

Something familiar lingered on Ebullient. He could feel dark remnants, but that could easily be due to so many violent deaths in an enclosed place.

"What about the ship that took off without a clearance?"

"Ah, yes. Millennium Falcon. We will keep our eyes open for it, but it's likely unrelated, my lord. It carried some cargo from Kessel. Perfectly legal, but in light of recent events... Smugglers, my lord. Petty criminals who freaked out because of the take off restrictions."

"Perhaps," Darth Vader mused. "I want that ship found."

Regrettably it was unlikely the ship would be found. Especially here on the Outer Rim. The list of ships and vehicles wanted by the Empire for varying reasons was endless.

There was little for Darth Vader to do here. Under normal circumstances an Inquisitor would have been sent, but Vader suspected Sidious had specifically sent him as some kind of a punishment. The news of the attack came soon after his confrontation with Starkiller.

It worked for him. It gave him an opportunity to make arrangements for Starkiller without his master breathing down on his neck. Or so he had thought.

Darth Vader did not often find himself subjected to being thrown around like a ragged doll, but that was exactly what his master did to him once he returned to Coruscant. He had been a fool to think he could keep Starkiller from his master.

"I told you to kill the boy," Darth Sidious seethed.

"We can still use him," Vader attempted to reason as he painfully dragged himself on his knees. His prosthetics had suffered some damage and the left leg especially pressed against his skin sharply.

"Use him? What use does he have?" Sidious spat out and Vader found himself thrown at the far end of the room again. "This boy of yours is dangerous if let loose."

"He's loyal and strong in the Force," he began as he got up yet again and limped back to kneel in front of his master. "His skills exceed those of any Inquisitor or Hand. He killed Shaak Ti."

"Loyal?" Sidious questioned as if he thought it amusing. "After you stabbed him?"

"He has no one else," Vader maintained. "He will return to me and obey me. He has no other loyalties, he has nowhere else to go or turn to."

Darth Sidious walked towards him. "And if you are wrong, Lord Vader?" he questioned once he was right in front of him, standing over his hunched, beaten frame.

"Then he will die," Darth Vader simply said. There was no alternative, just as there was none for him but to bow down and obey –or resist and die in vain.

His master seemed to truly consider his words. The smirk that spread on Palpatine's face was sickening as he turned to address him once more. "Do you speak from experience, Lord Vader?"

His silence dragged on for a moment and despite himself he probably hunched even further. "Yes."

The Sith Master laughed and his hand rested on Vader's shoulder plate. "Rise, my friend. Very well. I shall keep Starkiller for now."

Darth Vader did as he was told and followed his master silently to his throne where Sidious took his seat, summoning his court and advisors back. His eyes gleamed with sudden greed and Vader knew he'd got him. Sidious wanted his apprentice for himself and so Vader was soon sent away with a promise that they would find use for his experiment.

With spies watching his every move it was difficult to act, but with time Vader knew he would succeed. He would have his apprentice.

Bubbles floated slowly past Galen's eyes. He watched them go by for what must have been an eternity. Behind he could make out movement of shadowy figures and lights.

Where..?

He felt heavy yet weightless. He tried to move and his body was in agony instantly. A muffled, weak cry escaped his lips sending more bubbles float past his face. He could feel their gentle brush against his skin.

Water?

He heard noises, but they were indistinguishable and far away. The pain was almost unbearable. It was difficult to keep his eyes open, but he tried anyway, attempting to make sense of his surroundings.

Something pressed against his face and his throat burned with pain. He was going to choke and the pain worsened as he moved anxiously. Each movement hurt, but the more pain he felt the more he found himself twitching. The liquid against him felt thick and he just knew he was about to drown in it.

Smaller, more violent bubbles emerged from below. He saw a dark figure move closer and despite the agony each movement caused, he thrashed violently in a futile attempt to get away. Darkness brushed against him, its phantom touch burnt his mind and sent it to a full blown panic. The pain began to ease, his body went limp and in a state of confused, groggy terror his eyes closed and he fell back into a world of uneasy dreams.

Standing amongst medical equipment was nothing new to Darth Vader, though usually it was him subjected to whatever treatment or operation performed. Not today. He stood motionless, studying the naked, broken form of his unconscious apprentice submerged in a bacta tank. Tubes ran into his nose and throat, and a mask kept them in place. There were needles and more tubes attached to his arms and thighs.

Last time Vader had properly looked upon the boy he had been a broken, swollen mess. Time had been crucial in saving what was left of his apprentice if anything was to be salvaged. An average Human could survive up to three minutes in the vacuum of space without any permanent damage, though conscious only up to twenty seconds. A Human with the Force could do better, but Vader had just nearly killed the boy.

Predicting the Emperor's ultimatum, Vader had arranged a probe droid ready to collect Starkiller's body immediately. Everything went as planned and Starkiller was delivered here –one of his many, many pet projects: a medical research facility. He had meant to follow soon after to oversee what was to be done, but the attack on Formos had prevented that.

So far the investigation had gone nowhere. The Emperor had already dismissed the incident entirely, and it was therefore given little attention. It remained at the back of his mind, though for a completely different reason his master may have imagined. Weeks later Vader had noticed a total of three thousand credits taken from the funds reserved for Starkiller. The transaction was made well after his apprentice was in medically induced coma.

Due to his own security measures it was impossible to say where the transaction was made and where the credits were transferred to, but the timing seemed to oddly coincide with the mysterious attack on freighter Ebullient. Perhaps it was a coincidence. Lekauf had access to Starkiller's funds, but he had his own funds similarly to Starkiller to cover both his living expenses and his research. As far as Vader knew, he had never touched Starkiller's funds.

Beru received a generous amount of credits twice a year through numerous proxies. If she needed more, she could have requested it through Lekauf. Perhaps there was an explanation, but for now he would not be able to hear it.

There was nothing linking Starkiller to Luke anymore. The instant Darth Sidious made his wrath known for Starkiller killing Mara Jade, Vader had severed everything that could be traced back to his son. The only thing he did not touch were the funds sent to Beru and those reserved for Lekauf and Starkiller. It would have been far more suspicious to suddenly suspend them.

Lekauf now had no means to contact him, nor did he have any immediate means to contact Lekauf –and that was how things remained two months later as stood watching the boy he nearly killed. Starkiller was nowhere near well enough to be released yet and therefore this was likely how things would remain until the foreseeable future.

It was a setback, but Darth Vader remained certain Starkiller would still prove useful despite Sidious. He knew he had brought down Starkiller's entire world by stabbing him in the back, but it had been a necessary move.

The desperation in the boy's voice when he begged Vader not to obey Sidious had touched something forgotten within him. When Vader smashed him against the wall with power previously reserved for his enemies, the torrent of fear and betrayal and despair he felt from his apprentice had been nearly overwhelming.

So much so that it had almost been a relief when the emergency shutters closed and Starkiller was as good as dead. A part of him had wanted to do so for years. A great part of him had wanted to leave it at that. He had already wanted to shred the boy in pieces when he learnt Starkiller had ill-advisedly killed Mara Jade and still let himself be discovered. Of course, as it turned out, Sidious had known of Starkiller's existence regardless, but it was unlikely things would have taken this turn without Mara Jade.

At least she was dead.

He did not regret his actions. His apprentice had failed and near death was a fitting punishment. What he had done to the boy had been necessary. And yet... The words that had echoed through the Force still besieged him.

I'm sorry. I understand now. I failed you, my master.

In what he thought were his final moments Starkiller had apologised. He had of course done so hundreds if not thousands of times throughout his life, but the acceptance and odd serenity in those words haunted Darth Vader. He was well aware of Starkiller's partial death wish (he was after all intimately familiar with the feeling himself), but he had expected anger. He had felt that in the boy numerous times before –a hateful dare to take his life and cold acceptance at the face of it.

He did not know what to think of it.

His apprentice was broken, but by no means beyond fixing –one way or another he would have his apprentice back. Physically at least. The rest remained to be seen. The doctor leading the reconstruction of his apprentice had informed him Starkiller's body was responding well to the treatments, but he would remain submerged in bacta for a long time. So far they had managed to keep muscle loss to minimum, though once up the boy would surely be sore and stiff despite the best efforts.

Vader's hand curled into a fist as he attempted to find the cold resolve needed. Coming here, looking at his apprentice had evoked feelings he wanted nothing to do with. The boy was a tool and nothing more he reminded himself.

A sudden movement in the bacta tank caught his eyes. The body twitched. Starkiller's wild eyes shot from side to side and he seemed to attempt to lift his arms. Alarm sounded and one of the nurses rushed to the tank's controls.

"Subject is conscious!" he called.

"Again? Sedate him immediately."

Vader stepped closer to the tank as the sedatives were pumped into the bacta. Starkiller's emotions flared like a violent flame in the Force, shattering a glass left by the nurse's datapad and cracking each screen in the room. Vader reached out to feel Starkiller's confusion and savage fear that the mental connection only fuelled. The sedative took effect almost immediately. The boy's eyes fluttered shut, his body relaxed and he lost consciousness once more.

Darth Vader stood in silent vigil until checks were run on his apprentice's vitals. Once satisfied with what he had seen the Dark Lord marched away without looking back. The Emperor's project on Kamino awaited him.

I'm...dead.

What a confusing thought. Why do I think I'm dead?

...do I think?

Galen couldn't tell. For the longest time he thought he was floating. It was...almost peaceful. There were shadows and lights hovering just at the edge of his vision. He felt a distant ache that might have been pain.

There were moments when his whole world became a forest. Tall trees reached for the skies and in the distance he saw a figure clad in white. He couldn't tell who she was. Her features were blurry as if he were looking her through misted glass and as he approached she moved further from his reach until he could not see her anymore. Fear choked him as he heard the black monster's breath behind him. He looked up at the monster in bewildered horror, paralysed at its feet, clutching a lightsaber way too large for hands of a child.

He screamed as his master's lightsaber pierced through him, reliving the moment over and over and over again in a torturous loop.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..!" he sobbed into PROXY's metal chest. His only companion in the vast loneliness of the Executor extended his arms and held him as he cried for the pain of his injuries, for how frightened he felt, for how terribly he missed... He didn't know what or who he missed, but he missed it all the same, but all he had were PROXY and his master.

Darth Vader stood so incredibly tall and Starkiller was so small, so weak and so insignificant. Starkiller feared him, but even so...he was familiar. He was safe. This man was his entire world and he loved him more than anything. He would have done anything for him.

If only Luke didn't exist. He wished Master had never found him! He wished Luke were dead. He wished he could kill Luke and take his place.

Starkiller gripped the lightsaber with both hands, ready to strike. Luke looked up at him –through him– in fear. "Galen? Galen!"

Luke's fear morphed into anguish and his anguish became rage. The setting suns dyed the sky in hues of purple and pink above them and he could feel Luke's suffering as he pressed on searching, but for what? Galen did not know.

The Sith always betray one another, Shaak Ti's voice echoed in his head. You betrayed him.

"Vader will not be your master forever."

Starkiller pressed his lightsaber down with all his might until the blade met with Rahm Kota's face and the man shouted in pain. Another voice joined in and he spun around to see a figure shackled in darkness.

"Galen!" the prisoner called as distance between them grew. Galen lunged forward, but mist arose around them until he could not see the figure anymore. He stumbled forward, feeling the soft ground below his feet.

Trees again, yet different. Overgrown they blocked daylight from reaching him, leaving him amongst the fog rising from the swamps until it fully enveloped him and he was floating in water again. He heard machines beeping rapidly as his panic grew.

Where am I? What is happening?!

The snow suffused him with desperation. He wanted none of this, yet he knew he could never run from it. The icy wind cut his face with its fury and he fell down with no energy or will to get up. Let it all end here.

He saw Juno, heard her voice somewhere far away as she spoke of the snowy meadows of her home. He tried to reach her, but with each step her expression grew more pained and soon she screamed and cried and begged. She was suffering because of him and Galen couldn't bear it.

"Juno! I will find you! I will save you!" he swore, trying to make himself heard beyond the impossible distance stretching between them. He clutched his lightsaber, striking at whatever forces where keeping her from him.

Luke screamed and held what was left of his arm. Starkiller staggered back. His master lay on the floor, legs severed, his breath wheezing unnaturally and his life-support destroyed. Starkiller stared at the sight in silent horror. A sickening feeling at the pit of his stomach told him he had done this.

No...

He stepped back, stumbling and falling down. He rolled off to get up, but froze as he came face to face with Juno and her dead eyes staring into the rainy skies above.

No...

He scrambled back on his feet, eyes darting from corpse to corpse. PROXY, a mangled piece of metal. Luke stabbed through the abdomen still at his seat, black smoke rising from Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen who lay motionless on the floor. Erv's scarred face completely missed the unscarred half. Everyone he knew from school scattered dead across the passenger freighter's cabin. Rahm Kota, Shaak Ti and every single untrained Jedi and Padawan he had ever slain were there and no matter which way he looked he saw bodies –and then he stopped dead at a face that ought to have been familiar. Amongst the corpses a man clad in brown Jedi robes approached him with a sorrowful smile.

"I never wanted any of this for you," he said, voice carrying heavy regret.

"Who are you?" Starkiller demanded. He did not know this Jedi. Should he have known him? The man's expression became alarmed and with desperate urgency he shouted: "Run!"

"Father!" Galen cried out in realisation, desperately reaching out for the Jedi, but it was too late. The monster had found him, he could feel its black eyes on him. The Jedi faded away and in his place stood Darth Vader.

"Father," he cried again, not knowing whether he spoke to the ghost of a Jedi or his master. He felt his master's arm wrap around him and he saw the lightsaber stick through his stomach. He staggered away, gasping for breath, but the arm found him and the lightsaber pierced through him once more. He could not escape it. No matter which way he stumbled his master always found him and the punishment was always the same.

"Lord Vader."

Darth Vader turned around to see a young officer.

"What is it?"

"An update regarding the attack on Formos. We have a face, my lord," she announced and extended her arm to offer him a datapad. He could not recall her name, but she was from ISB and had been keeping him up to date regarding the investigation on the Formos incident.

Vader accepted the datapad. "Excellent."

As his hunt for this particular attacker was not deemed priority, the manpower looking into the security footage from Ebullient's stops had been minimal. The investigation had taken over four months now, so it was about time he could see the face of this potential new generation of Jedi. He brought the datapad up to the line of his sight.

If his heart could have skipped a beat it would have.

Though grainy, he would have recognised the face of a young man in the zoomed image anywhere.

It had been years since he had laid his eyes on the child, but among Lekauf's regular updates were holos. Mostly footage of the two boys sparring for him to analyse their progress, but occasionally... Occasionally it was simply a holo of a boy that was his son.

Luke...

It was undoubtedly Luke.

Vader skimmed through the rest of the images quickly. He wore dark clothes and a dark robe. In most of the photos the hood hid his face, but it had been visible when he boarded Ebullient. Vader opened the report accompanying the images. The attacker could be no one else. All other passengers were ruled out. Either they had disembarked earlier or been found dead onboard. The attacker, Luke, had boarder on Centares under a false name. Thank the stars for that.

How? How and why had Luke been on Centares? Where had he been going? Where was he now?

"Is that all?" he asked, willing his tone to remain disinterested.

"For now, my lord. We will find him," she pledged.

"Yes," Vader agreed gripping the datapad. The Emperor's spies still watched his every move. There was nothing he could do.

Luke marched into the cantina. There weren't too many people inside this early in on the day and he located the man he looked for quickly. At the very back a man sat alone with a bottle and a glass. His grey hair was unkempt and his eyes were covered with a dirty rag. Luke had only seen PROXY wear the Jedi's likeness once, one in which he had been younger and more dignified, but he recognised him nevertheless.

He marched at the table and slammed his hands against it, startling the old man.

"Are you General Rahm Kota?" he asked.

"Who's asking?" the blindfolded man countered, hand feeling the table until he found the bottle.

"I'm asking."

"And who are you?"

"Someone who knows what you are," Luke stated. "Stand up. I didn't come all this way for a drunken old man who can't even sit up straight."

"In that case you'll find yourself out of luck, my boy," Kota said, pulling his glass closer to pour himself another drink. "I came here to have a drink, not to pick up a fight. Leave while you still can."

"Not before I've spoken with you, Jedi," Luke said, boldly taking a seat across him. Kota sighed frustratedly.

"You've got the wrong man. I'm no Jedi. Can't you see, I'm blind."

"You weren't four months ago," Luke countered. "I know what happened."

Kota tensed at his words. "What do you want?"

"My brother."

Kota scoffed. "I don't know your brother. I don't even know who you are."

Luke's eyes narrowed in determination. "My name is Luke Skywalker. Son of Anakin Skywalker. A Jedi Knight."

"Skywalker..?" Kota repeated the name dubiously. Then he laughed. "Skywalker? I recognise that name, sure. You couldn't pick a name more obvious? You don't even need to be a Jedi to know that name."

Kota leant over the table and spoke sombrely: "My boy, Skywalker died years ago. You are not a Jedi."

Luke watched him take a generous gulp of his drink and then laugh again. "I may be drunk and I may be blind, but I can still feel the darkness in you. Even if you were Skywalker's son, you are now nothing but one of Vader's pets. Like the one who blinded me."

"I am not his pet, nor was the one he sent to kill you," Luke growled. "What have you done to him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What have you done to my brother?" Luke roared, wiping everything off the table with his arm. "Where are you keeping him?"

"I don't know about your brother. Go back to your master, boy. I don't care about the Empire anymore. Leave me be and I won't kill you."

"You think you could kill me? Why don't we try, General?" Luke drew his lightsaber and pointed it over the table at the Jedi's throat. Kota stumbled up and various exclamations of surprise could be heard around them. Few screamed and within moments the cantina was in chaos. Some made a beeline to the doors, others drew their blasters.

"Do I look like a warrior to you?" Kota asked, hands raised close to his face. "I don't even have a lightsaber."

"All too easy for me, then," Luke smirked, striking at the blind Jedi. Though drunk, Kota's reflexes still functioned and Luke's 'saber cut through a wooden chair the man had grabbed for protection. Several blasters were instantly pointed and fire at them, and Luke had to turn around quickly to deflect the shots.

For a moment Luke stood still, staring down at the other customers. He raised his free hand for everyone to see, and the crowd gasped as lightning gathered between his fingers.

"Stay out of this," he warned the bystanders and turned on his heels to shoot the lightning at Kota.

The Jedi was ready. His right hand reached out, stopping the bolts and gathering them together until he could release the deadly energy straight back at where it came from. Luke grunted as he was forced to protect himself from his own lightning.

Somebody fired at him again. The shooter moaned in pain and fell on the floor as Luke deflected the bolt straight back at him. Kota took his moment of divided attention as a chance to move further away from him.

"No you won't," Luke spoke under his breath as he charged to make sure the Jedi would not be able to step out of the cantina. The bartender shouted at them to leave in Huttese, then ducked behind the counter as Luke drove Kota closer to his direction. Around them the cantina had become near abandoned.

"What have you done to my brother?" he demanded again, lightsaber held in attack position.

"Boy, you are good, but not good enough," Kota said calmly. "I don't know anything about your brother. This is your last chance. Leave and I'll let you go."

"Not until I've got my brother back! He's alive, I can feel he's alive!" he shouted, releasing yet another blast of blue electricity at the man who held out both hands to keep the energy from reaching him.

"I warned you, boy," Kota said. The lightning hit Luke back with deadly accuracy, and a Force push immediately after sent him fly across the room. Luke jumped back on his feet to face Kota. The Jedi's stance and demeanour had changed.

Across the cantina Kota stood straight with his head held high. Luke grit his teeth and surged at him, gripping tightly at his lightsaber. The General was unarmed. At close range this would be an easy victory.

His attack run came to a sudden end when a table came flying straight at him, too quick for him to do anything but scream when it pushed against him, swiping him off of his feet. He didn't even have enough time to get up when a chair flew right at him, but this time at least he managed to deviate its course away from himself. The next one he cut in half with his lightsaber. It was far from over. Chair after chair flew at him. He was now battling furniture –not a Jedi.

With one powerful Force push Luke managed to send anything and everything that wasn't bolted to the floor fly away from himself. He smirked victoriously and charged at Kota once again –exactly as the Jedi expected him to. Though he wielded no weapon, he held his ground and only stepped out of Luke's lightsaber's way at the last possible moment. It had Luke lose his balance for a mere moment, but it was enough for Kota. He hit Luke on the back, and Luke fell. A boot just missed his face as Luke rolled around to safety.

He tried to get up, but Kota threw him against the bar with the Force, then gripped him and hurled him against the nearest wall.

Luke groaned in pain. Somewhere at the back of his mind fear began to rise its head. He had underestimated Kota. Even drunk and blind he stood against Luke.

I can't give up, he thought. He had to find out what had happened to Galen. Kota would pay.

He got up, closing the distance between them quickly and swung his lightsaber at him. Kota moved out of its reach each time. He ducked behind Luke, his hand grasped for Luke's wrist and with one quick movement the Jedi disarmed him. The hilt clattered on the floor and Luke shouted in rage as he spun around to physically retaliate.

Kota dodged each punch and kick, using Luke's own momentum against him. Kota's knee hit him in the abdomen. In the moment of disorientation it caused him the man gripped his arm and threw him hard on the floor. Before he could move the Force sent him crashing into a group of chairs.

He reached out to call his lightsaber back, and for a moment the hilt trembled on the floor before flying out of his grasp and into Kota's waiting hand. Luke grunted as he picked himself up. He felt the air for the destructive energy of a Sith lightning, but the Jedi's hand guided the Force to violently hoist Luke up before he could act. Try as he might, he was not able to move against the Jedi's iron hold.

Kota held him in place, slowly walking at him.

"I told you you should have just gone," he said, fingers gripping thin air to keep Luke suspended. A familiar snap-hiss of the lightsaber igniting sounded unusually loud in the deadly silent cantina. His toes just about reached the floor, his arms were stiff at his side.

"I would have let you. But the Galaxy will be a better place with one less pet of Vader's."

The red blade hummed against Luke's neck. One quick movement, and his own lightsaber would chop off his head.

"I am not his pet," Luke snarled at the Jedi. "I am his son."

He stared at the Jedi, full of hatred for him. He could sense how the man was taken aback by his words. By the truth that rang across the Force. And while the man could not see him with his blind eyes behind the rag that covered them, Luke could feel him answer his gaze. He could feel the wheels turn in his head. Kota had tried to get Darth Vader's attention by forming a small army and attacking Imperial targets for months. All for naught. But if this boy in front of him spoke the truth, what better way to get the Dark Lord's attention?

"It's your lucky day, junior," Kota announced. He let go of the ignition button. Luke reacted quickly, breaking himself free of the invisible hold.

He wasn't fast enough. The old man turned his palms at him, sending him fly across the room and slam hard against the wall. Luke slumped to the floor. He could feel his consciousness slip away. The last thing he saw and comprehended were Kota's boots as the Jedi walked towards him.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know your thoughts if you have a moment. I love hearing from you guys.