* Chapter 10 *

After the Sith ambush had been thwarted, another airspeeder had arrived to pick up Ben Skywalker, Nysilla Zabeth, and the other survivors. It ferried them to a collection of prefabricated metal buildings arrayed in a park near the edge of the Obsidian Towers blast radius. They had been designed as mobile medical treatment units that could be carried by ships and set up quickly in the event of an emergency. They reminded Ben too much of the prefab buildings that had made up the Sith base on Dromund Kaas.

As soon as they landed, a team of medics hurried over to give the survivors a quick once-over. Most of them were cleared and herded to one of the buildings to receive a decontamination shower. One of the medics explained that the chemical that had been released in the explosion had been identified as something called "jurquinnium." According to them, it was generally nonlethal, but it had been linked to long-term illnesses in the past. Therefore, everyone who had been in the vicinity of the explosion was required to undergo decontamination as soon as possible.

Ben, however, was told to hang back while a medic looked at the wound he had sustained during his fight against General Vonar Dykes. As he was being treated, he used the time to observe the pop-up hospital complex. Doctors, nurses, medical droids, and volunteers were rushing about as though they had too many patients and too little time.

That could very well have been true, based on the sheer number of people Ben saw. There were thousands of them—perhaps tens of thousands—in various conditions. Some of them appeared unharmed but shaken by the day's events. Others wore bandages, bacta patches, or casts. Occasionally, he saw a hovergurney being guided to or from a building. Most bore people who had been seriously injured. Others bore bodies shrouded by plain sheets.

That was when the scope of the tragedy truly hit Ben. It had been heartbreaking enough to see a handful of people who had suffered in the attack. But tens of thousands… He wondered how many more people had been affected by the attack. How many had been injured or traumatized or lost their homes or loved ones? Millions, probably, he figured.

After his wound had been cleaned and bandaged. Ben worked his jaw for a while, marveling at how weird it felt with the bacta patch covering his cheek. After that, he, too, was sent to the prefab building that housed the decontamination showers. Upon entering, he saw that the building contained a dozen stalls, each separated by a partition and with a privacy curtain hanging in front.

The stalls were the only private spaces, however, and everyone was forced to strip down in front of everyone else. No one complained; after all, brief nudity in front of a dozen strangers was a minor inconvenience compared to everything else they had just been through. Also, everyone seemed to have the decency to keep their eyes averted from one another. A droid attendant instructed Ben to remove his clothes, which had been contaminated by the hazardous chemical in the air, and place them in a waste receptacle. After his shower, he would be given clean clothes that had been donated.

Ben complied without a second thought. He had no attachment to his Jedi uniform. Besides, now that he was a fugitive, new clothes would help him stand out less. All he really cared about was that he could keep his lightsaber, comlink, and the handful of credits he had had on him. Once he had finished stripping down, he made his way to the nearest available shower.

Before he reached it, the curtain of the next stall over slid aside and the person behind it stepped out. They both stopped abruptly as they recognized each other. For a second, Ben and Nysilla stared into each other's shocked faces, trying to ignore the fact that they were both naked in front of each other for the first time. Ben tried his hardest to keep his gaze locked on Nysilla, but curiosity got the better of him and his eyes flitted downward.

It was only for a split second, but it was long enough for Ben to absorb every square centimeter of Nysilla's body. Even after he had forced himself to look up again, the image had been burned into his memory, and he was entranced by what he saw. He fought to keep his face straight, not wanting to look like an idiot in front of her.

Ben focused on Nysilla's face just in time to see her gaze flit upward to meet his. Curiosity had gotten the better of her, too, apparently. She, too, also tried to maintain a serious expression, but they both failed, and their faces broke out in wide grins. After taking one last appreciative look downward, Nysilla stepped past him to retrieve her new clothes. As he stepped into his shower, Ben craned his neck around to watch her walk away. To his amusement, she did the same.

He pulled the curtain shut, stood in the center of the stall, and squeezed his eyes shut in preparation for the automated shower to begin. Surrounding him was an array of nozzles that sprayed vaporized water mixed with decontamination chemicals. The mixture condensed as it came into contact with Ben's body, turning into liquid and washing away all of the dirt, ash, and dust.

Although his eyes were closed, Ben could still picture Nysilla's naked body. While the shower did its work, he pored over every detail he could remember, scanning the image from head to toe and savoring the sight of the woman he loved. Slowly, he scanned back upward from toe to head. Except it was no longer Nysilla's head—it was Vestara Khai's. Instantly, her body morphed into that of Vestara, as well, the way it had appeared when Ben had first gazed upon it that morning.

He expunged the image from his mind. What the kriff is wrong with you?! Don't think about her, damn it! He tried to recall the image of Nysilla, but he had lost it. Mentally, he asked himself, Is this going to happen every time I try to be with Nysilla? Am I going to think about Vestara all the time? He certainly hoped not. After all he had gone through to win back Nysilla's affection, he would hate to have it ruined by Vestara.

It's your fault for letting things go too far with her, he chided himself. If you had just kept it in your pants and saved it for Nysilla, you wouldn't be in this mess. He was referring, of course, not only to the emotional mess with Vestara, but also to the legal mess caused by his inadvertent treason.

Which brought up another point—what would he tell Nysilla? At some point, Ben would have to explain to her why he could not go back to the Jedi Temple and why he had to lay low. If he told her what had happened with Vestara, it would almost certainly kill any feelings she had for him. The alternative was to tell her a very convincing lie—one that would likely unravel very easily.

The irony was not lost on him; he had sacrificed everything to save Nysilla, and now he was probably about to lose her again.

Still, he thought optimistically, two beautiful naked girls in one day. Not bad.

"Chancellor, Colonel Diimas Tol-Terro of the Coruscant Defense Force is here to speak with you." There was a clear tremor in the voice of Don Dain's receptionist. She knew just as well as he did the reason for the colonel's visit.

Don pressed the intercom button on his desk and said, "Send him in." As he waited for the doors to his office to slide open, he mentally steeled himself for the news he was about to receive. He had already had five hours to process it, even though it had not yet been confirmed. There was a slim chance that his assumptions had been wrong and that he was actually about to receive good news. Despite his efforts to tamp down his expectations, Don felt a sudden spark of hope.

That spark was snuffed out when Colonel Tol-Terro entered the office and stood somberly before the chancellor. "Your Excellency," he began, "I regret to inform you that one of the bodies we have recovered… has positively been identified as Commander Mek Dain."

It was a good thing Don had been sitting; otherwise, he likely would have passed out from the sudden wave of nausea that spread throughout his body. For a moment, Don was silent as he allowed the news to fully sink in. There was no doubt about it now; his son was dead. His voice croaked as he finally responded, "May—may I see the body?"

Tol-Terro shifted uncomfortably. Slowly and carefully, he answered, "I'm afraid that would not be advisable, Chancellor." His unspoken meaning was clear; Mek Dain's body was not in a condition fit for viewing.

I can never see my son again. The realization hit Don like a punch to both stomachs. I can never say good-bye. I can never tell him I loved him.

"He fell from the sky," Tol-Terro continued tentatively, "wearing a spacesuit. We can't tell for sure, but it appears that he attempted to jump ship before the Reliant entered the atmosphere. Perhaps he hoped that he would remain in orbit long enough to be rescued."

Fool, Don thought. That poor, desperate fool. He could not really say he was surprised, though. Mek had always placed an unnaturally high value on his own life. That was why he had gone through his military career without taking any risks. Still, to willingly jump out into space, even while wearing a spacesuit, took more courage than Mek had ever shown. Perhaps I underestimated him all these years.

He realized that Tol-Terro was still standing there, waiting for him to say something. Don nodded his head meekly in acknowledgement and said, "Thank you, Colonel. You may go."

Tol-Terro respectfully inclined his head and turned around to leave. Before stepping through the doorway, he looked back at the chancellor and said, "Sir, I'm so sorry for your loss. I greatly admired your son, as did a great many people."

Don wordlessly waved him off, eager to be left alone. As the office doors slid shut, he returned his attention to the datapad on his desk, which displayed the speech he was scheduled to give that evening. One of his secretaries had written it for him; now he was editing it to give it his own personal touches.

However, he found that he could not concentrate on the speech. Instead, he reflected on the colonel's last words. They had been a lie, he knew. No one respected him; not even his own father. Regret flooded his conscience as he recounted all of his failings as a father. There were so many "I should have's" and "Why didn't I's"; too many, in fact.

And then he thought back to the last time he had seen Mek. It had been less than twenty-four hours prior, when Don had assigned him to the Reliant to evaluate Admiral Mo'Ari. Mek had vehemently protested, thinking the duty was below him. Ultimately, Don had forced him to comply by threatening to make it a direct order from the chancellor instead of a request by his father. If I hadn't forced him, maybe he would still be alive.

Don had to remind himself that it had been a reasonable request for someone of Mek's rank. Besides, neither of them could have known that the Sith would choose that specific day and time to attack. Mek had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No, I was not at fault here, Don told himself. But someone was. Someone betrayed the Alliance and allowed the Sith to carry out this attack. I will not rest until the culprits are found and brought to justice. They will pay for the death of my son.

The datapad pinged as a new document appeared on the display. It was a preliminary report about the explosion at Obsidian Towers. Don turned his attention to the report, which revealed that investigators had discovered the cause of the explosion.

"Jurquinnium?" Kyp Durron repeated. "Never heard of it." The rest of the Jedi Council murmured their agreement.

After the attack on Coruscant had ended, Ahsoka Tano had called an emergency council meeting in the tactical operations center of the Jedi Temple. They were gathered, either physically or via hologram, around the holotable in the center of the room, which displayed ongoing reports concerning the attack and its aftermath.

"That's not surprising," Kenth Hamner replied. "It was banned nearly a century ago due to safety concerns." He paused for a moment to let the irony sink in. "It was widely used as a refrigerant in heating and cooling systems. I won't bore you with all of the technical details, but, the key takeaway is, when dissolved in water and exposed to an electrical current, it absorbs enormous amounts of heat. The heat is then released quickly when the current is stopped. But it cannot be allowed to absorb heat for too long."

"Let me guess," interrupted the hologram of Kyle Katarn, "If it absorbs too much heat, it explodes."

"Precisely. That appears to be what happened here today. Earlier this morning, a worker at the water treatment plant near Obsidian Towers reported that the water was contaminated. He sent a sample to be analyzed, and I don't believe I need to tell you what they found."

"Did this worker report his findings to the authorities?" asked Cilghal, transmitting from the emergency medical complex near Obsidian Towers.

"Unfortunately, he never had the chance," answered Kenth. "The report was sent just before the explosion occurred. He was, sadly, one of the first victims."

"So," Corran Horn's hologram tapped his fingers thoughtfully, "the Sith put this… jurquinnium in the water supply, waited for it to be distributed throughout the area, and then detonated it with an electric current? And no one noticed?"

"No," Ahsoka replied ruefully. "No one noticed." Even after saying it herself, it still seemed too unbelievable.

She was not the only one who thought that. "That can't be," Kyp said, shaking his head. "That would have had to be a huge operation. Someone had to have known something!"

"Likely, they did not know exactly what they knew," Octa Ramis pointed out.

"Yes," Leia Organa-Solo agreed. Her hologram was being transmitted from the hospital, where she was with the rest of her family. "This attack is so unconventional that no one would know what to look for. The Sith probably did it all right under our noses."

Saba Sebatyne sissed angrily. "We should have sensed something was wrong! We must be blind!"

Ahsoka raised a placating hand. "Let's not overreact. The dark side of the Force clouds everything. The stronger the Sith grow, the harder it is for us to see." This was as much for her benefit as for the rest of the council. She was trying to convince herself that none of this had been the Jedi's fault. It was the only way to alleviate the burden of guilt that rested upon her shoulders.

Kyle spoke up. "I think the most important thing now is, we need to find out how they did it. Not just the explosion, but the destruction of the defense fleet, too."

"This one thinks it is obviousz," said Saba. "There is a traitor in our midst! Someone let the Sith in, let them bring their weaponz, and let them tamper with our shipz!"

"One person could not have done all that," Corran responded. "I fear we're looking for multiple people, most likely in the higher echelons of the military."

"Or even the government," Leia added. "We should try to investigate this as quickly as possible. The people are going to want someone to blame, and if they don't get a definitive answer soon, things could get ugly."

"What about the Sith who infiltrated the temple?" asked Octa.

All eyes snapped in her direction. "What are you talking about?" asked Kyp, his voice laced with sudden alertness.

"Master Tano told Chancellor Dain that she apprehended a Sith in the temple this morning."

Ahsoka winced. She had completely forgotten about Vestara.

Saba let out a loud hiss. "A Sith, here?! On our turf?! Why were we not informed of this?"

"In the confusion of the attack," Ahsoka explained, "there was no time to bring it up."

"Well, I'd say now is as good a time as any," said Corran. "This prisoner could be our best lead to finding out how this attack happened."

"Not anymore," Kenth replied ruefully. "She escaped during the attack and was rescued by Ship, the Sith Meditation Sphere."

"She got away?" Kyp repeated incredulously, channeling the shock shared by the entire council. "There was a Sith here, in the temple, and she got away? She could be bringing sensitive information back to the Sith right now!"

"How did she even get into the temple?" asked Leia.

Ahsoka turned to look at Leia and, for a moment, pondered what she should say. Leia, of course, had a right to know what had happened to her nephew. And the Jedi Council had a right to know about a breach in temple security, especially when it coincided with a gross breach in Coruscant security. But one thing stopped her from saying anything: Luke Skywalker. "I can't talk about it yet," she finally answered. "I need to speak to Master Skywalker about it first."

Surprise and confusion rippled throughout the room. "Master Skywalker isn't here," Kyle pointed out. "And even if he were, he doesn't hold any more authority than the rest of us. You should be able to discuss it with us."

"Yes, but… this is sensitive."

"Too sensitive to share with the council?" asked Cilghal. "I think it's safe to say that you can trust us, Master Tano."

"Unless you can't," Kyp put in before anyone else could speak. "Maybe you can't trust us because one of us is responsible." He paused for a moment until the shouts of outrage directed at him died down. Addressing the council as a whole, he asked, "Why else won't she tell us how the Sith got in?"

"Perhaps she is protecting someone," Octa suggested.

"In that case, she still knows who did it and won't tell us who!" Kyp's voice was beginning to rise. "Why wouldn't she tell us, unless she has something to hide?"

"I'm not hiding anything," Ahsoka said defensively.

"This one thinks you are," Saba rasped.

"Enough!" Ahsoka's sudden anger was startling enough to quell all voices of dissent. Forcing a calmer tone into her voice, she continued, "I understand that you all want answers. But you have to believe me when I say that Master Skywalker would want to know about this first before anyone else. Once he knows what has happened, I'm sure he'll decide to share it with the rest of the council. Until then, I need you to trust me."

No one spoke for a long moment as they considered her words. As the founding Grand Master of the New Jedi Order, Ahsoka was one of the most respected people in the Galactic Alliance. To question her was almost unfathomable—even more so than questioning Luke Skywalker. For that reason, the other council members agreed with her, albeit begrudgingly.

With the issue temporarily resolved, the council meeting continued. But Ahsoka was still disturbed by the fact that she was being forced to keep secrets from the people she trusted most. She may have just compromised her standing with the Jedi council to protect one Jedi.

Ben, she thought, why didn't you listen to me?

Ben was in agony.

Immediately after finishing his decontamination shower, he had been sent to one of the pop-up medical pavilions for a thorough examination. That had given him nearly four hours to mull over how he would explain everything to Nysilla. While waiting for the medical droid to give him a clean bill of health, he had passed the time agonizing over the finest details, debating what he should say, and silently rehearsing how he would say it.

Of course, once he was sitting across from her in the dining area, Ben felt utterly unprepared. Still, as his heart raced with heavy beats, he told his story as confidently as he could manage. All the while, he studied Nysilla's face in an attempt to gauge her reactions. She never interrupted him, never made any sounds or movements. She simply stared at him with wide eyes as he explained to her how much trouble he had gotten himself into.

The worst part was that, even after he had finished speaking, she remained silent, giving no indication of what she was thinking or feeling. Too afraid to push her for a response, Ben could do nothing but sit there and wait. He ignored the activity around him; the chatter of the volunteers serving food to the survivors, the sporting events being shown by holoprojectors scattered throughout the dining area, the scraping of chairs and clatter of utensils. None of it mattered to Ben compared with what Nysilla's next words would be.

They came one agonizing minute later. "So, you're a fugitive now."

There was no emotion behind her words, which left Ben unsettled. He merely nodded his head in response.

"And you've been going out with a Sith."

He nodded again.

"Who you met right after I turned you down."

Ben winced. When she said it like that, it sounded particularly bad. "I know, it was stupid. And it was not fair to you. I understand if you're mad at me and—"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

Ben gawked at both the question and the casual tone with which she asked it. "Sorry?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" she repeated. "We weren't a couple while you were with her, so it's not like you cheated on me."

So taken aback was he that it took a moment for him to answer, "Right…"

"And if she was as convincing as you say, you couldn't have known that she was a Sith."

That wasn't entirely true. Ahsoka had warned Ben that she had sensed something off about Vestara. He should have sensed it, too, except he was blinded by his anger at the universe. He did not say any of this, however; he simply repeated, "Right."

"And you ran away to save me. How can I be mad about that?"

That, Ben could not argue with. "You can't."

Nysilla shrugged. "So, I'm not."

"Then… we're good?"

She nodded and gave him a very slight smile. "Yeah. We're good."

Ben forced himself to smile through his bewilderment, fully aware of how awkward it looked. "Good." Silently, he asked himself, Is this really happening? Is she really okay with all this? It seemed too good to be true—which led him to wonder if it really was. Could she just be pretending to be okay with it when she's really not? Ben did not think that seemed likely. At least, he could not come up with a rational explanation for it. In any case, he had a feeling that he had not heard the end of it.

"To be honest," said Nysilla, "she fooled me, too."

It took Ben a second for the meaning of that statement to sink in. When it did, it left him with a mixture of shock and confusion. "Wait. What do you mean? Do you know her?"

Nysilla nodded. "I met her a few days ago, in the bathroom at Monument Plaza."

Ben raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I was there with her. I didn't realize you were there, too. It must have been right after I told her about Dromund Kaas."

"That's what she said, although I didn't know she was with you." Nysilla quickly summarized her encounter with Vestara.

As he processed her story, the gears in Ben's head began to turn. He remembered Vestara seeming genuinely distraught after hearing about Dromund Kaas. In light of that morning's revelations, he had dismissed her reaction as a ploy to garner sympathy from him. However, based on what Nysilla had just relayed to him, he considered that maybe it had been real. If that was the case, then it completely upended everything he thought he knew about Vestara.

Or maybe he was dead wrong. She could have been crying about something else entirely. Yes, that must have been it. "She was really crying, huh?" he asked. "I guess she really didn't like me badmouthing her people."

Nysilla eyed him curiously. "I don't know. Even after what I now know, I think she really was upset about Dromund Kaas. She talked about not agreeing with her people anymore and possibly leaving them."

"Wait," Ben held up a hand and scrunched up his face in confusion. "You think she was actually talking about leaving the Sith? That's ridiculous. You don't just stop being a Sith." Even as he said that, he knew he was wrong. His grandfather had been proof of that. But that had happened only a handful of times in the entire history of the Sith.

Nysilla shrugged. "People are complicated. Maybe she's just more complicated than the rest of the Sith."

"Maybe," Ben agreed, Still, he could not help but wonder. Could Vestara Khai really be open to turning to the light side? He thought back to the last thing she had said to him before her identity was exposed. Her words, spoken with shuddering breaths, replayed in his mind. I have to tell you something. I haven't been honest with you, but you need to believe what I say now. There's going to be…

What? What was there going to be? An attack? Was she trying to warn me about the attack?

It did not matter. Even if she had been able to finish her sentence, it would have been too late to stop the attack. Her warning would not have done any good, and she likely knew it. For all Ben knew, it had been another manipulation. Because that was what the Sith did; they lied, they manipulated, they killed. Even if she had morals, Vestara Khai was still a Sith—which made her no less guilty of their atrocities.

"Just tell me one thing, and be honest," Nysilla said suddenly. "How far did your relationship with her go?"

Ben felt his temperature rise. She had just asked about the one thing he had avoided telling her. Now he had to decide how to answer, knowing that the truth could be their relationship's death warrant. But if he lied to her, how long would he be able to keep it up? What if Ahsoka caught up with them and revealed the true reason he was a fugitive?

Perhaps honesty was his best option. He took a deep breath and softly answered, "We kissed." He tried to maintain eye contact with her, but he unintentionally found himself staring down at the table between them.

For a second, Nysilla said nothing. Then, "Is that all? Nothing else happened?"

This is it. He forced himself to look her straight in the eye and, summoning every bit of courage he had, answered, "No." No? Did I mean to say that? It was too late to pivot; he had no choice then but to double down on his lie. "That's all."

Nysilla stared at him appraisingly, as though she were peering into his very soul. For a horrible, gut-wrenching moment, Ben thought she was going to see straight through his deception. But then she nodded her head and said, "Okay. Good. Thank you… for being honest with me."

Based on the way she said it, Ben knew she suspected the truth. The question was how and when she would act on those suspicions. With a sinking feeling, he realized that he may have just doomed his relationship with Nysilla.

When the Jedi council meeting ended, Leia shut off her personal holocomm and stepped into the hallway. She had attended the meeting from inside an empty hospital room to keep the Jedi Council's discussions private. Now, she was on her way to rejoin her family in Jaina Solo's new hospital room—she had been transferred after her previous room had been damaged during the Sith's attack.

As she walked, Leia took note of the activity going on around her. Following the attack, there had been an influx of new patients who had been injured during the attack, either by the Sith or as a result of the attack. A lot of drivers had accidentally crashed their ships or speeders because their attention had been drawn by either the explosion at Obsidian Towers or debris impacting the planet's surface. Fights had broken out during the evacuations as everyone had wanted to be the first to flee. And there were, unfortunately, those who had been mistaken for Sith by armed vigilantes with itchy trigger fingers.

Whatever the cause of their injuries, they had all been brought to the hospital, which had not yet recovered from the damage caused by the Sith intruders. Workers were still removing the bodies of the victims. The survivors were emotional wrecks. Doctors and nurses were frantically scurrying back and forth, trying to treat everyone at once.

Leia was grateful that the immediate danger had passed, but she feared that the crisis was far from over. The galaxy would likely never truly recover from this attack. It would be dealing with the fallout for years to come. How do we even respond to something this big? she wondered. Where do we start?

Those were questions for another day. For now, Leia was content to be with her family.

When she entered the room, Han Solo was pacing back and forth, comlink in hand. Jaina and Allana were watching a holoprogram about home construction on various worlds. And C-3PO and R2-D2 were hovering nearby. When they had heard that Jaina had awoken from her coma, the droids had come as soon as they could. C-3PO was apparently in the middle of relating their adventures in public transportation.

"It was madness, I tell you!" the gold-plated protocol droid whined. "Why, I documented twenty-eight separate protocol violations, which I fully intend to report to the proper authorities! First, a post-adolescent human male with an egregious number of tattoos inserted himself into the front of the line! Oh, the nerve! Second…"

He was interrupted by R2-D2, who twittered in his binary astromech droid language.

C-3PO replied, "That is hardly an excuse, Artoo. In fact, I would argue that a crisis like this is precisely when the rules are most important. Not only do they keep people safe, but they are also our last line of defense against anarchy!"

R2-D2 emitted a series of beeps followed by a whistle.

The protocol droid straightened suddenly and exclaimed, "Artoo-Detoo! That is not an appropriate thing to say in the presence of children!" C-3PO turned his expressionless face plate toward Allana. "I am so sorry that you had to hear that, Miss Amelia. You must never repeat what Artoo just said."

Leia expected Allana to respond with some kind of witty question or remark. Instead, the girl silently looked away and focused on the holoprogram with a blank expression on her face. As a matter of fact, she had barely spoken a word since the attack had ended. Her encounter with the Sith had left her traumatized.

Jaina, hoping to break the uncomfortable silence, asked, "What did he say?"

"Oh, I could not possibly tell you!" proclaimed C-3PO. "It is too vulgar for young ears."

"Well, how's she supposed to know what not to say if you won't tell her?"

The droid stiffened while he processed Jaina's logic. Finally, he said, "Quite right, Mistress Jaina. Artoo told me to take my protocols and shove them up—"

"We get it, Threepio," Leia interrupted.

"He also called me a maker—"

"That's enough, Threepio."

"The vilest insult a droid could ever—"

"Threepio!" Leia's harsh tone made it clear that he was not to speak again.

C-3PO seemed to understand that, for he suddenly fell silent, save for a quiet "My apologies, Mistress Leia."

Throughout the entire exchange, Allana had not so much as cracked a smile. It broke Leia's heart to see her granddaughter like this. She shouldn't have had to experience this, she thought. She should have been allowed to keep her innocence a while longer. A disturbing thought crossed her mind: What if she never recovers from this? Has her childhood been lost forever? The Solos had missed half of Allana's life already; they weren't ready for her to grow up yet.

Yet another thing the Sith have taken from us.

Out of the corner of Leia's eye, Han let out a frustrated sigh. "You still haven't been able to reach Ben?" she asked.

"No," her husband answered. "His comlink's working, but he's not answering. I'm starting to get worried."

Through the Force, Leia sensed fear beginning to rise in Allana. Thinking quickly, she responded, "He's probably busy with the cleanup operations. Or maybe he dropped his comlink somewhere. I'm sure we would have sensed it if something had happened to him." That seemed to calm Allana down for the moment.

Han nodded his head, a not-entirely-convinced expression on his face. "How did the meeting go?"

Leia began to recount the events of the Jedi Council meeting. "Well, the important thing is, we now know what caused the explosion. The Sith polluted the water supply with an explosive chemical."

Eyes widening in surprise, Han let out a low whistle. "They're creative; I'll give them that much. Do we know anything else?"

"Not really," she admitted. Then she remembered what had happened toward the end of the meeting. "There was something else, though. Apparently, Master Tano captured a Sith who infiltrated the Jedi Temple this morning."

All eyes in the room suddenly pivoted toward her, their interest piqued. "Inside the temple?" Han asked incredulously. "How did he get in?"

"She," Leia corrected. Allana flinched, but she paid the girl no mind. "That's the weird thing," she continued. "She wouldn't say anything. She said she had to talk to Luke about it first."

Han's face contorted in confusion. "That doesn't make sense. The whole planet just got attacked by the Sith, and Ahsoka won't even tell the council everything she knows about them?"

"I know. It's not like her to keep secrets from the council."

"I saw her."

It took a moment for Leia to register that Allana had spoken for the first time in several hours. Everyone turned their attention to the girl, who bore a thoughtful, faraway look. "You saw Master Tano?" Leia asked.

"No," Allana answered. Then she corrected herself. "I mean, yes, but I wasn't talking about her. I was talking about the Sith."

"You saw the Sith?" Jaina repeated in bewilderment.

"I think so. I saw a temple worker with Ben this morning, and I sensed that there was something wrong with her. Later, I ran into Master Tano and told her about it. Now I think she was actually a Sith in disguise."

"And she was with Ben?" Han repeated. "Did he seem okay?"

"I don't know. He looked okay, but he was acting weird, like he was nervous about something." Her eyes widened and she gave her grandparents a fearful expression. "Did she do something to him? Did I leave Ben in danger?" Her breath came out in heavy gasps as she continued, "Is he dead because I didn't help him?"

Jaina reached out and squeezed her niece's hand. "You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, you did the right thing telling Master Tano. She's the best person to handle it. And Ben's not dead." She emphasized the last three words to drive the point home. "Like Grandma said, we would have sensed it if something had happened to him."

Allana calmed down somewhat, but she still seemed afraid that she had caused her cousin harm.

Han leaned in close to Leia and whispered, "Maybe something did happen to him. Maybe that's why he's not answering his comm."

Leia nodded in agreement and added, "And why Ahsoka wants to talk to Luke first." As the pieces clicked into place, she suddenly felt as though she were being weighed down by a sinking feeling.

Except the feeling was not new; it had been present in the back of her mind all day. It had begun as a sense of dread and foreboding, as though the Force was warning her about something. At first, she had assumed that it was about the Sith attack, but the feeling persisted even after the attack had ended. Leia had not known what to make of it.

Until now. Now, with her nephew's fate hanging in the balance, she understood. The Force wasn't warning me about the attack; it was warning me about something else. Something terrible is about to happen. She could only hope that it was not about to happen to Ben.

I think we all know where this is headed...

Thank you for reading this chapter! If you have any comments or questions, please leave them in your reviews or private messages.