Chapter 12

Location: In the depths of Luke Skywalker's mind.

Luke saw the blue orb from his left hand discharge into a powerful wave of energy. At that moment the room began to turn.

He watched as the floor started to lift upward and Dena, who was curled up at his knees, begin to rise towards him. Dena started crashing into his face. He then realized it was him who was falling not Dena that was rising. He fell right onto the poor woman, no... through her. He fell past Dena, past the floor, past the whole station. It felt like he would fall forever. Slowly all context flew away and he was left in the dark. He was uncertain if he was falling anymore. He heard voices, fragments of the past or the future, he couldn't tell.

Then in front of him was the beam of a holoprojector pointed right at his face. He couldn't see anything but white light. Then the holoprojecter moved off to the side, and as his eyes began to adjust to the light, he saw an image that had changed his life forever. There in the dark was a small sized projection of a woman in white. The words she said only came in pieces drifting in and out from all around him

"Help me... your my... only hope ... only hope..." the hologram had been projecting away from him, showing the woman facing away from him.

But he knew who the woman was: His sister, Leia. At the time he didn't know he was her brother, he only knew she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen: A princess out of a story book. Unbeknownst to him, the force had impelled him to save that princess (or maybe it was the other way around), and embark on a lifetime journey of preserving the light and fighting the dark.

But as the hologram slowly turned so that Leia was facing him, he knew something was wrong. The omni directional words came more into focus.

Instead of: "Help me Obiwan Kenobi..." he heard : "Help us Master Skywalker, you are our only hope."

It wasn't just the words that were different, the voice was different yet still very familiar. Then a red spot as of blood appeared on the top of her head covering, growing and spreading down her white robes, until she was entirely cloaked in crimson.

After another cycle of: "Help us Master Skywalker..." she paused, bowed her head, and when she rose again her face was... not Leia... it was... Vestara Khai!

She looked at him, and with a flirty smirk to her face and a sultry tone to her voice she repeated: "Help us Master Skywalker , you are our only hope."

Her eye's began to glow gold with the fire of the dark side and her voice was joined by others, all making the same plea. Behind her, crimson hooded figures began to appear. And although his sight couldn't penetrate the shadow of their hoods he could see a pair of glowing gold eyes in each hood.

There, were thousands, no, millions, and all repeating the same plea in a thunderous boom: "Help us Master Skywalker, you are only hope."

"Kesh" The words came out of mouth and like the powerful beam of the Death Star, they obliterated all the millions of crimson figures standing in front of him.

And with a flash of light bursting through a slit in his world, Luke Skywalker's eyes slowly opened. The slit of light became...

Dena Yus? She was dressed in white. At first he was afraid that he was still trapped in that same cyclical vision, until realization dawned: She was wearing a white med gown, not robes.

Him and Dena were each on Medbeds laying across from each other in a recovery room.

Seeing his eyes open, she gave him a relieved sigh with an accompanying smile and said: "Master Skywalker, whatever are we to do with you?"

He found himself grinning like a farm boy, until his memory kicked in. He then propped his upper body up on one arm and in a somewhat panicked voice he asked: "Dena, you were shot! are you Ok?

She pulled down the top of her gown just enough to expose the top of her petite sholder which had a Bacta bandage on it.

"On the Mend." She replied.

Thankfully all on the investigation team had put on a slim armoured breastplate underneath their tunics and robes before disembarking the shuttle for a station full of every kind of scum and villainy. According to Master Cilghal, that had been the only sane part of their little trip.

Dena's response did not entirely seem to reassure him. "Really, I'm ok. It's just a bit of Blaster bleedthrough. But, I'm ok now. Honest!" She insisted.

In a tone the was one part ashamed and one part stern Luke said: "Dena, why?why did you jump in front of me like that? You could have been..."

but she interrupted him with an equally firm voice that lacked any shame: "... No Luke! You could have been killed! A thousand Dena's die everyday, but the galaxy is not ready for Luke Skywalker to die!"

That did nothing to abate his feelings of shame, in fact it amplified them.

She continued in a softer voice that had a confessional tone to it: "Luke... when I was being controlled by the Qrephs, I had no hope that life as I knew it would be... could be any different. I overheard you were comming to the Chillon Rift... and... and it changed my Life."

She looked so sincere but Luke was battling back disbelief.

"It changed your life?" He asked with a blatant skeptical tone.

"YES IT DID!" She replied defiantly.

"That is how it is for all of us thousands of Dena's out there in the galaxy. We are all just stuck in a hole so deep, there is no hope of getting out. Luke Skywalker is hope.. He breaks all limitations and boundaries, and... and if someone is fortunate to have her life grazed by his... it's... (a single tear leaked down her flushed cheek as her eyes drifted down)... It's enough to break free. It was enough for me to break free."

She wiped her cheek with her hand and said "Sorry, look at me I'm a mess here. Luke I'm not telling this to make you feel like you have the galaxy on your shoulders I'm telling this to let you know that your name is a message of hope."

All he could say in response was: "I think the galaxy deserves better...but...thank you for saving me Dena."

He was still a bit taken aback by her powerful sentiment.

"So, if you don't mind me asking: What happened back there? I mean everything seemed to be well in hand and then the next minute..." She trailed off.

He took a deep breath than spoke: "Back on the station, I...I finally felt like me again... even better than me...I can't even describe it."

She nodded.

"You were quite the spectacle." She acknowledged with a grin.

He couldn't help grinning bashfully in response.

Then his smile faded. "I have always tried to avoid fighting if I could. And If I'm forced to fight I've tried to avoid cutting someone down if I could help it, but this time it felt different... It was like... ahh (he sighed in frustration)... it was like the force has forbade me from fighting... I mean..."

He noticed his lightsaber on a tray table across the room and summoned it to his hand. It flew into his hand like it had countless times before. He pressed the activation switch. It snap hissed into a bright flash and then nothing. He tried the same thing again, with the same results. She looked at the device with a frown and postulated : "Could it be broken?"

He in turn gave her a look of put upon patience: "It's not." He said.

"No? Prove it!" she challenged him, with hand out stretched.

He looked at her hand for a moment and then relented by placing his hilt in it.

It felt denser and yet lighter than she had expected. "Woah, ok... hmm... let's see... I just Press..." her words were cut off by the snap hiss of the green blade bursting in to life.

Dena's lips formed a perfect "O" as she was cut off guard by the feeling of holding such elegant power in her hand. She pressed the button again deactivating the blade. She had found the experience exhilarating and ... a bit discouraging.

She knew that her success with activating the blade confirmed what Luke already knew: The problem was with him not the blade.

"What does it mean?" She asked him while offering his hilt back to him.

"I feel... I don't know... I thought I was beginning to understand what was happening to me and now... It's like... like I'm back at square one."

With hand still holding out his lightsaber she said: " Whatever happens, you'll figure it out... I mean it! I believe in you Luke Skywalker."

He locked eyes with hers, deeply wanting to believe her... no, he did believe her.

He reached for his sabre but then changed his mind and used his hands to curl her small yet strong outstretched fingers back around the cylinder and said: " Dena can you... can you keep it safe for me until I can use it again."

He absolutely did not know what motivated him to do that, but the force assured him it was the right course of action so he obeyed it. Was that wise, blindly following the force as if it nullified any free will he might have. He had never obeyed the force, he was always been guided by the force. But this was different, he felt like Destiny had forced him to abdicate the reigns of his will.

He was now along for the wild ride, and he was only sure of one thing: He could no longer use his lightsaber predictably, and he would be damned if anyone was going to get hurt saving him from here on out. At least he knew where his blade was if he could ever use it again and at least it could be used by Dena in an emergency so, the force willing, she wouldn't have to take blaster bolts for him ever again.

She held it to her chest and said: "I guess that means I'm still part of the team." He smiled and was about to say something clever (he thought so anyways) when he heard voices approaching the opposite side of the room's door.

They listened as Ben's voice came in to clear focus: "...He's my Dad! I don't care how Barvey he is, I still love him!"

At hearing this Dena burst out into laughter and Luke just sighed, rolled his eyes and with a smile said: "Where would I be with out Ben to come rushing to my defence."

Before their privacy was interrupted Luke reached out to her hand which instinctual reached back to his and he said (in an almost after thought kinda way) "...There is not... a thousand Dena's...There is only one."

They quickly drew their hands apart before the door opened (they didn't know why, it was just instinctual).

As expected Ben came bursting through the door, and he wasn't alone. Tahiri, Jaina, and Master Cilghal also were with him.

"Dad!" Ben cried out in surprise at seeing his father conscious and sitting up.

"Yes Ben, I'm ok" he said while grabbing his Son's shoulder and pulling him in for one of their Father/Son half weird hug thing. "Dad, that was the most Astral thing I've ever seen, And I've seen Abeloth, so that's really saying something." He admitted.

"Yes, very Astral!" Cilghal said sarcastically as she moved from behind Ben to face Luke.

"Master Skywalker, this is, without a doubt, an important investigation, but it certainly can't Justify taking on a whole pirate Station." She scolded.

"Cilghal, what's most important is we made it out of there in one piece." Luke tried to counter.

"Well we were not so sure about that.

" She said while lookingat him up and down with her large eyes, before continuing: "Luke we couldn't wake you for 12 hours... we were worried that you were..."

"I was having a Vision." He said, cutting off Cilghal and freezing the room with anticipation.

"This was, in fact, my second vision in less then a week and I think it's connected with this investigation. I think it's part of something much bigger."

He said. "What did you see Uncle Luke?" Jaina asked knowing that visions always meant something big and messy. He thought of telling them everything, but hesitated. The details, weren't important. His final path wasn't important, after all he now was convinced that the future, although always in motion for the rest of the galaxy , for him, was locked. It wasn't right or wrong, good or evil, it was the future, soon to be the present, and then the past. That didn't mean he wasn't scared. The path between here and there could involve heartache and loss that could rip him to pieces. But there where two things he knew for sure: " The vision." he started, then paused "The vision is about Kesh. I have been there, Or I will go there." He said. For everyone except Dena, this revelation had blindsided them. Sure finding Kesh was on the Top Priority List, but no one suspected the investigation would lead to Kesh.

Before anyone could start asking questions he just plowed on through: "Vestara Kai is involved somehow, I'm not exactly sure..."

"Did you just say Vestara Kai?" Corran asked, interrupting Luke.

He had just entered the room holding a small flat holoprojector in his hand. "What is it Corran? Jaina asked.

Corran fully entered the room and placed the coaster sized device on the bed beside Luke. "This was was taken from the database you infiltrated in Hutt space." With a push of the activation button a hologram sprang to life. It was... Vestara.

She was speaking presumably to a pirate at the Cantina base: "My client Assured me you would have the device. I need it to carry out my Mission ! ... (The receiving party's image wasn't recorded, they could only see Vestara's side of the conversation ) ...It's the middle of the night Coruscant time. Do you really want me to wake him up... Remember... he is your boss too... I'll be at the station in 20 minute, and YOU! You Better be ready."

With that the Hologram ended and shrunk down. Everyone looked at everyone else and just stood there dumbfounded. Ben changed that when he blurted out: "Oh Bloah!"