The Apprentice

Prologue

He was eighteen years old before he finally escaped from Tatooine. 

When Vin Tanner arrived on Coruscant, he was terrified and alone. Tatooine had been a place of wide, open desert, wastelands that were devoid of life as far as the eye could see. The Sand People who had for a time given him refuge and taught him their ways moved in scattered nomadic groups, following the trail of water. After he had freed himself of the tracer device Jabba the Hutt had implanted in all his slaves, he had been forced to hide amongst their number. They accepted him because they recognized his spirit was not too dissimilar from theirs. He remained with them for as long as it took to save enough credits to gain passage off world. That endeavor had taken almost two years and finally he boarded a cargo transport with the desire that it take him as far away from Tatooine as possible. He never wanted to come back.

Until he arrived on Coruscant.  

Tatooine, despite the ugly memories it held for him was a place known. He could survive in it. Coruscant was life nothing he could possibly imagine; an entire planet incased in urban walls. From the moment he stepped off the transport ship onto the landing platform, he had never been surrounded by billions of people. To actually touch the ground of Coruscant was a damn impossibility. The age of the planetary metropolis was thousand of years old and during that time, building and rebuilding had occurred at a frantic rate until now most citizens lived high above in the skyline made up of platforms, towers, spires and skyscrapers. The sheer volume of people nearly sent him scrambling back to that ship. However, he knew he could take care of himself and so he ventured into the unknown a tried to survive. 

He found work easily enough because he was unashamed of doing anything. Being a slave tends to inure one to thinking that any certain vocation was not quite good enough. He had no difficulty being humble and subservient when it served his purposes and he saved his money, having no friends, no woman to spend it on and no real expenses other than the basic necessities made his existence rather frugal. He continued this way for a year, drifting aimlessly unaware of what to do until the advent of the Clone Wars. In truth, he joined the New Republic forces for the lack of anything better to do with himself and admitted the idea of becoming a part of something greater than himself had always held great attraction for him

He never saw a Jedi during his entire tour of duty. 

He had heard of them of course. One had to exist in a vacuum to not hear about the Jedi but they seemed too mythical to be real and he often wondered, when he was fighting the enemy wearing identical faces, if the Jedi were just a creation to boost morale. Certainly they seemed unreal to him. When the war ended, he found himself with no wish to remain in the rank and file. Organized killing was not for him, though he suspected that ultimately his fate would be entwined in a vocation that would utilize his superior tracking and combat skills. He bought himself a ship and drifted a little longer before meeting an old bounty hunter named Crawl. He had found the Modrek about to be vaporised by an old mark who had a grudge and his untimely arrival saved Crawl from death. Crawl gave him direction he sorely needed in his life, impressed by his survival of the Clone Wars and the fact that his tracking skills came from the Sand People of Tatooine, one of the most secretive races in the galaxy. 

Crawl gave him the contacts he needed and his first job was not as a bounty hunter but rather a bodyguard. Crawl had called him green and had been attempting to ease him into the profession by giving him something simple to start out with. At that time, odd things were happening around the galaxy. Whispers about Jedi exterminations, about the Republic caving under his own weight and a secret agenda that Palpatine supposedly had that would instill him as Emperor. Coruscant shrugged off these rumors as organizations old and set in their ways was often did when they were arrogant enough to do because the notion of weakness was simply too unbelievable. 

By the time he arrived in Commenor, one of the worlds that made up the core systems, Palpatine had become Emperor and the new age had begun. He stayed out of these things. Hearing the legendary Jedi were being driven into extinction sent a twinge of sadness through him, though he could not imagine why. The feeling lasted briefly until he arrived on Commenor to protect the wife of the new Imperial Governor from danger. She had gone into hiding from enemies Governor Will Richmond refused to name but was adamant she be protected from at all costs. After arriving on Commenor, he was sent promptly to Bespin where Richmond's wife was presently hiding until the danger had passed. 

Her name was Charlotte and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

In truth, he did not know many women. During his years as a slave, there was not much opportunity to meet any when he spent most of his time on a moisture farm, taking care of vaporators. When he left, the social skills required to interact with the opposite sex confused him and he gave up all together trying to make contact. When he was in the army, he discovered the emptiness of paid encounters and realizing that other than the physical release, the whole experience of intimacy with a woman was rather overrated and certainly not warranting all the literature that seemed to be written in its name.  

But Charlotte was different. From the moment he saw her, he understood that he was lost, utterly and irrevocably. She looked at him with laughing green eyes and her smile speared his heart, through all his defenses with little or no difficulty. He had not been able to stop staring from first time he saw her and she understood instinctively that his feelings were deep and passionate, that it was more than just lust or a need to protect her, but also to be with her. He took his responsibility to protect her very seriously although she never told him any more than Richmond did about whom she was being guarded against. Still he had a sense that it was not because of any distrust but her own desire to protect him. 

He had tried hard to remain objective during his first few days as her guardian but Richmond had wanted a minimal complement of guardians, so he found himself completely alone in the suite of rooms she occupied on Bespin. However, he was soon drawn to him almost against his will and for a young man having fallen in love for the first time and hard, the lure of her was too much for him to withstand. He did not know how long it was before he arrived in Bespin that he became her lover but it was not long. It was as if she were made for him and as they came together night after night, in a tangled mess of limbs and heated pleasure, he decided that he could never be without her. Charlotte told him that it was foolishness to let himself think that because their relationship was terribly forbidden and she could not leave her husband no matter how much she loved him. 

At first he thought it was because he was a nobody in comparison to her rich husband who had money and power but later he came to understand that it was something more, something to do with why he could not know whom he was protecting her against. After a while, she began to fear for him, claiming on numerous occasions that he needed to leave that he should not be here when they found her. He never understood the reasons for her fears, as if somehow the danger to her would spread its ugly tentacles to take him as well. When he asked her to explain, she merely shrugged citing it as foolishness but he could in her eyes it was more than that.  

She was afraid, not for herself but for him and he could not for the life of him understand why.

And there was something else too, something that did not make sense to him until later years when he come to learn a few things about himself. She always seemed to know exactly what he was feeling with an almost uncanny insight. He supposed that was why he fell so completely in love with her. The idea of meeting someone who knew you with so much understanding was a once in a life time experience that he refused to let go and discovered that though he loved seldom, he also loved passionately. She seemed to always know what to say to make things better and the months they spent together, lovers enthralled by forbidden passion was the best time he had ever had in his life. He had never thought he could be that happy.

Having already broken the rule of bodyguards becoming too personally involved with those they were meant to protect, he had little difficulty in allowing himself to think that there might be a future for them as well. Charlotte indulged him a little even though he suspected she had a better grasp of reality than he. He convinced himself that he was capable of protecting her from anything even though he had no idea what it was that threatened her so. But their future together was never in doubt. He just refused to believe it. In the end, there was little choice but to accept the truth when news of their love affair reached Richmond who immediately terminated his services. To add insult to extreme injury, his replacements ensured his removal from Charlotte and she was spirited away.  

They had left him battered and half dead but he managed to track her. It was at that point, he realised how adept he was at finding the people who did not want to be found. He tracked Charlotte across the galaxy and found her in the Corporate Sector. His intention had been to take her away from Richmond forever because the days leading up to finding her had been torture. He never thought he could burn for anyone the way he burned for Charlotte. However, finding her did not put an end to his suffering for Charlotte was expecting him but she had also been keeping a secret from him.

She had been carrying Richmond's child. 

By the time he had found her, she had already delivered her baby, a little girl with reddish blond hair called Lilith. Finally he understood why Charlotte had asked him to leave on so many occasions. She had a child to raise, a child he had almost wished was his if it would make her come away with him. Charlotte perhaps having more sense that he, told him to leave and never look back, to forget her because she would have to forget him. He knew it was not that simple and remembered begging her to come with him. He did not care if the child was not his, just as long as its mother was. Yet Charlotte would not be swayed and she even went so far as to tell him that he would be in danger if he remained with her. 

He had translated as that being some kind of a threat from Richmond but later on, after he had left her, his keen insight was not as certain as before. He started to believe that Charlotte had secrets that had to do with more than just her being pregnant but he could not fathom what it was. In the end, he had no choice but to leave her when she told him he could not protect her or her baby if they were together. It had hurt him to hear her say that and walking away from her had left an open wound in his heart that had never really faded entirely. Still before he had left he had promised that if she had ever need of him, he would be there.  

After she was gone from his life, he had returned to Coruscant, bitter and angry.  

He spent the two months drowning inside of a bottle until Crawl came to his rescue by offering him a real job as a bounty hunter and Vin supposed it was a good way as any to forget about Charlotte. Eventually he did of course and she faded into his memories, even though he dreamed about her at night and could sometimes feel her, though he could not understand how that was possible. He did not know how many bounties he had brought in before he gained his fearsome reputation but did not really mind it that much since his infamy proved to be quite useful during his final years in the business. 

During those years he tried not to think of Charlotte or how she might have been, aching still because she had asked him to leave her and decided she probably never thought of him at all, except as someone who once made her forget that she was unhappy.  But he was wrong. Charlotte Richmond thought about Vin Tanner a lot and she never forgot his promise to help her if she ever needed him. 

Unfortunately, others did not forget either.

PART one

This was pure hell.

The blood red sun staring down at the garrison of stormtrooper seemed to be waiting for something. The men were sweltering under their uniforms, wondering whether there was any point to this exercise that would kill them before they were done accomplishing the mission they were sent here to undertake. However, indecision and questioning the orders of Coruscant was never a wise thing to do whether one was a foot soldier or an upper echelon officer of the Imperial forces, the consequences was almost always the same and though it was unspoken, everyone knew that that meant. A swift death usually delivered in secret. There were lots of secrets in the Empire these days and once again, it was an unspoken rule that its citizens continued their daily existence without ever mentioning them.

Most people still pined for the Old Republic; unable to come to terms with the new rules even though it was universally agreed that there was certainly more order in the galaxy now that the Empire was in charge. No endless squabbling by senators who could never get anything done because the foot of bureaucracy was holding them down allowing confusion to reign. At least with Palpatine's rule, actions was swift and decisive, opposition was dealt with ruthlessly and the Empire grew beyond the dreams of avarice until within a few short years of its establishment, felt like a dark monolith that had always been there. A surprising number of star systems found it easy to be yoked to the great machine of Imperial rule because of the order and infrastructure it allowed them to stabilise their own governments. 

And then there were places like this one, who fought the assimilation of Imperial rule with every fiber of their being, who were determined to break off the shackles of Imperial rule no matter what the costs to themselves or their world. Okanah was a star system on the edge of the Minos Cluster, a wholly unremarkable world except for the mother lode of deutronium ore that seemed to exist beneath the surface of its desert sands. Their open resistance was met with Imperial force and that seemed to drive the rebels deeper into the desert. Since the bulk of the deutronium was found in the desert belt, the rebels had been relentlessly attacking the Mining Guild's efforts to extract the ore. Finally an Imperial task force comprised of a garrison of surface shock troopers were deployed to deal with the rebels on Okanah.

It was meant to be a smooth and simple operation. The stormtroopers would sweep the desert like locusts and destroy anything that came across their path. Unfortunately, it had been anything but simple or textbook for that matter. The soldiers were in the desert belt for a month before conceding to finding nothing. With no sign of activity anywhere, the Guild was allowed to mine its ore without incident. The directives from Coruscant ordered them to keep searching and so they continued their mission of search and destroy. Weeks passed and still they found no trace of the rebels. Resources were dwindling as rapidly as morale. The heat was damn near insufferable and soldiers were plagued with heat stroke on a daily basis.

Then the attacks began. 

Small guerilla incursions slipped into their encampment in the dead of night. Casualties were small, often limited to just wounded. There were deaths but only a small number. The day after the first one of these attacks, the Imperial commanding officer had made an oath that the rebels would pay and so the pursuit in the deep desert began. For days on end, there was no success and the commander had started to think that perhaps they should be thinking of turning back. That night another attack followed with the same kind of casualties and the chase continued. Deeper and deeper they went until they were so far from civilization that turning back was impossible without an extraction by ships.

During the last of these attacks had seen the rebels destroy their communication equipment. Now they found themselves in the desert alone and cut off from reinforcements, supplies and escape. The mood was dismal and many had tried deserting but with desert terrain surrounding them in every direction for hundreds of miles, there was nowhere to go even if they did escape without being shot. The commander was certain that they were close that if they persevered just a little longer, they would find the rebel enclave and complete their mission. After all, they were the ground-pounding arm of the Imperial war machine; they could not be defeated by a group of deutronium miners who had suddenly taken to insurrection. Eventually, military superiority would win out because the Empire had it in abundance and the Okanah had nothing but pride.

*********

 Actually, the Okanah did have one thing the Empire did not; Mary Travis.

The lovely blond rebel leader peered through the binoculars that allowed her to see into the heart of the enemy camp, a little smile crossed her lips because things had transpired exactly as she had planned it. When the Okanah had contacted the Rebel Alliance two months ago, pleading for assistance because the Empire was coming to take control of the planet, there had been little the Alliance could do in furnishing aid to the distant world. The Alliance was still a fledgling movement and while it had ships and weapons, it had nothing that could even compare to the awesome might of the Imperial war machine. However, the threat of what a garrison of Imperial troops would do to the even more fledgling local resistance movement demanded the Alliance at least try to make some effort to help the Okanah. 

The help arrived in the form of Mary Travis and a group of her best warriors. No sooner than she arrived Mary had assessed the situation the Okanah faced with and came a battle plan that would allow them to survive their confrontation with the Empire. Other than deutronium, the Okanah had very little on their planet that could be called redeeming. It was mostly a mining world that for centuries had enjoyed the protection of the Old Republic and thus had no army or military forces of its own to speak of. However, Mary soon came to the conclusion that conventional weapons were not needed here.  

To win against the Empire on Okanah would require a very different kind of weapon. Desert power. 

"They're done." She stated firmly with a smile curling the edge of her sun cracked lips after lowering the binoculars from her face and retreating beneath the cover of the sand dune from which she had been making her observations. 

"Are you sure?" The Okanah beside her asked.

Aleyan son of Lahis, was the leader of the rebel movement on Okanah. Aleyan had won this distinction because he was the last surviving member of the ruling body known as the Habasha. The Empire's first act upon annexing Okanah for its own was to kill all the members of that august body, including Lahis who was its First Minister. As a memorial to the institution that had led the Okanah through many years of peace, the rebel movement given life in its harsh deserts called itself the Habasha, so that the people would always know that the Habasha survived in spirit if not in form. 

"Yes," Mary nodded, meeting his eyes with a nod. Okanahs were mostly humanoid in shape with darker skins and their strong limbs characterizing them after centuries of mining. Their body's ability to store water in their tissues, far more than humans were capable, made them the perfect desert dwellers. They had no eyelids to speak of but a translucent layer that slipped over their irises to protect their vision from Okanah's harsh desert storms. An Okanah in the desert could last for weeks, while a human would die in a matter of days. They had little hair on their bodies and distinguished themselves and their family name by the symbols that were tattooed on one side of their face.

"I can sense their fear." Chris Larabee remarked next to the two rebel leaders. "They're disorientated and afraid. If we attack them now, they'll never regroup in time to offer any kind of resistance."

"Perhaps we should wait a little longer?" Aleyan suggested, not at all eager to take their battle to the next level when the guerilla tactics they were employing had work so well. 

"Nope," Mary pushed herself upright and started walking. "We can't afford to waste too much time lingering on this." 

Chris gave Aleyan a look, which told the Okanah that he was free to argue with the headstrong woman if he liked but it was pointless. Once Mary made up her mind on such things, there was very little that could change it unless the reason was extremely compelling. At the moment, Aleyan's fear of failure did not fall into that category. Besides, if there was one thing Chris had learnt by now, Mary was the best military tactician he had ever fought alongside of and when she directed a battle, she almost always won. Both men were quick to follow her as she proceeded to the trio of Roia steeds awaiting them. The Roias were sleek, graceful animals that were usually the preferred mode of travel by the Okanah.

"Why not?" Aleya asked as Mary climbed into the saddle of her steed. "We have spent weeks on guerilla attacks and they seem to be working, their numbers are dwindling rapidly. Many are dying just being in the desert." 

"Yes that is true but as I explained this to you before," Mary said with a hint of impatience. "A full frontal assault on a garrison of fresh Imperial stormtroopers would only have gotten every one in your Habasha killed."

"Will not attacking them now do the same thing?" Aleya demanded. 

Bad mistake, Chris thought as he saw Mary inhaling deeply, usually an indication that her patience with her Okanah counterpart had been taxed to breaking point. The Jedi considered saving Aleyan from himself but then gave up the idea when he decided that he simply enjoyed watching Mary in action too much to let the opportunity slip by. For the past weeks, Chris had watched Mary turn a crack garrison of Imperial shock troopers into a scattered, disorganized bunch of desert wanderers about to reach breaking point. He awed at the mastery of her strategy and knew that the Okanah would not only survive the enemy that had invaded their world, but thanks to Mary, they were going to defeat them. 

"No," Mary straightened up in her saddle glaring at the man with imperious fire in her eyes. "Look at them," she threw the binoculars clipped to her belt and allowed him to catch it before speaking again. "They're done. They've been marched to hell and back. We've worn them down. They are in no shape to mount a defense, let alone be able to withstand a full front assault at this stage. We'll wipe them off the face of Okanah because they'll have no comprehension of what hit them until its too late. However, if we wait any longer, Coruscant might wonder why their garrison has not returned any of its scheduled transmissions and might send someone to investigate, investigations like this are usually accompanied by a Star Destroyer. Trust me, you do not want a destroyer in Okanah space. If they choose they'll annihilate you from orbit or at least turn this planet into a radioactive ball of mush out of sheer if they think they can recover their troops." 

Aleya's throat rippled with rings of fear at hearing that possibility but Mary was not about to discontinue her speech just yet. "Our only chance of them defeating them is if we strike before those reinforcements come. How did you think this was going to end? I never promised you a way of defeating the Empire, just a way of solving your immediate problem. If we wipe out this garrison, we may make the Empire believe that its complete failure would make a further occupation of Okanah unfeasible. The Empire is currently deploying all its forces to consolidate the worlds its been annexing, Okanah is a minor consideration at this time. They won't waste a ship trying to recover troops who are already dead and their decision making regarding Okanah will be made for the purpose of expediency. The Empire has dozens of worlds eager to the yoke where deutronium can be mined easily without the danger of local trouble but all this depends on taking care of that task force out there first." 

She made a compelling argument, Chris thought as he watched her waiting for Aleya to give her an answer even though Chris could tell that she was confident of what that response would be without the benefit of telepathy to give her any special insight. In truth, Aleya had no choice but to follow Mary's lead because the Okanah had come too far too turn back now. Their open defiance was known to the Empire and unless they showed Coruscant that they were a forced to be reckoned with, the Empire would run them into the ground as it did so many other worlds that had been forced to accept its occupation.

"Alright," Aleya conceded gloomily and very much against his will and he mounted his own steed, his gaze still staring at her in a mixture of hope and fear of what Mary might bring upon his people. "We will attack. I hope you are right about this."

Mary was right about this. As Chris climbed into his steed next to hers, he could feel the strength of her conviction that this was the time to act that they had waited long enough. She had been waiting for weeks, ever since this campaign of exhausting the enemy to this point had been put into effect. There would be no better time for their final attack then at this moment. Even Chris was convinced of that by now. For the rag tag resistance group known as the Habasha, they would never have a better opportunity to defeat an Imperial garrison. If they waited too long, the chance would slip past completely and reinforcements would come, bringing an end to any chance the Okanah might have had of surviving Imperial occupation.

"He's afraid." Chris remarked gently when Aleya broke away from them and started riding back to camp.

"I know," Mary said in understanding. "He's the youngest surviving member of the Habasha and he's scared of letting his people down. It's a big responsibility for him to have so soon. It should have been years before he was called on to make such decisions for the Okanah."

"I guess the Empire didn't give him much choice." Chris sighed feeling some measure of pity for the youthful leader of his people.

"One makes the choices one has to," Mary replied sympathetically. "Unfortunately assuming responsibility and leadership of your people is a choice. You are either up to it or you're not. There are no in betweens."

 "I suppose," Chris replied. "But some people aren't you either." He pointed out. "You need to remember that."

Mary groaned and looked at him with a frown. "I hate it when you do that you know." 

"What?" He looked at her innocently.  

"You know, making me feel bad because I might be just a tad too insensitive." She glared at him with a crooked brow.

"Me?" Chris said nonplussed. "I never do that."

"Sure you don't," she retorted dubiously.  

The sun overhead was glaring down across the sandy white landscape, baking the grains until it appeared almost like crystallized glass. Even though it seemed as if there was nothing ahead but sand dune after sand dune, the Habasha's encampment was very close by. How close would have surprised the Imperial garrison if they knew. The Habasha had been following the Imperials for as long as they had been wandering through the desert, allowing the Empire to believe they were the hunters when in fact it was the garrison who was being stalked so expertly. At least by the end of the day, the question would be settled once and for all. The Habasha was just as eager to end this as the Imperial troops sweltering under the heat.

"Vin will be glad to know we're finally moving." Chris commented, thinking about how the apprentice's disposition had been of late. They all knew what was at the heart of it but most of them had said nothing, least of all Chris who knew just how private a person Vin really was. Even though he was good natured and generally unflappable about most things, Vin considered things close to his heart a non-issue he discussed with no one. Buck Wilmington who could never keep his mouth shut when he really should know better had been on the end of a very stinging rebuke when Vin had told him in no uncertain terms to mind his own business when Buck had tried coaxing Vin to talk. 

"Yes, I've noticed he's been a little twitchy lately." Mary remarked.

 "He's been twitchy ever since Alex left." Chris pointed out because it was no great secret. 

"Well I don't think she was too eager to leave him either," Mary agreed, recalling how close Vin and Alex had gotten since the operative's stay at the rebel base. "Unfortunately, she is the best covert operative we have. She could not stay away out of the field for too long." Mary had to confess that she missed Alex almost as much as Vin. They had been friends for almost a life time and it had been good having Alex back on a day to day basis rather than the fleeting appearances they had been making in each other's lives the last few years. "Still I don't think it will be too long before she gets back, not if the way she was looking at him was any indication."

"I have a feeling he falls for women hard." Chris responded, unwilling to pry into Vin's pysche to find out if that was true or not. Like Mary, he was intrigued by the reference Jabba had made to the lover that Vin would absolutely not talk about to anyone, not even him. He remembered that when Mary's husband Stephen had surfaced for a time, Vin had made some mention of pining for a former lover he could not have. Is that why Chris sometimes sensed a dead zone inside his friend that nothing could penetrate? Its substance and consistency resembled the wall he erected around his emotions about Sarah and Adam. Was Vin's experience with that past love just as tragic? 

"Of course he does," Mary agreed without hesitation, utilising that female intuition that guessed things so accurately at times. "He's young, probably didn't had many opportunities to meet women when he was a slave on Tatooine and trying to forge relationships when one has been in an emotional vacuum for the first twenty years of life can be difficult."

All this without the benefit of Jedi abilities, Chris thought as he stared at Mary in affection. "You're probably right. So," he met her gaze seriously, moving to a more important subject. "We're definitely attacking today?" 

"Yes we are," Mary nodded, her tone becoming serious now that they were discussing warfare. "We don't have much time. The Imperial outpost in the Kathol Sector are probably wondering why the task force has not made its scheduled check in yet. If Kathol follows standard Imperial procedures, they'll attempt communication with the garrison to find out if the situation is nominal. If there is no response within 4.5 hours, they'll make a report to Coruscant. We cannot allow that to happen. I've already got Casey decrypting the Imperial codes from their stolen communication equipment. Once she cracks the correct security codes, we'll contact Kathol ourselves and send a false transmission that the garrison's situation is fine. We'll use the codes to delay Kathol's report to Corsucant indefinitely but for any of this to work, we have to finish the garrison today."

"Do you think the Okanah are ready for this?" Chris inquired. "I'm sensing a lot of fear from them Mary."

Mary could very well believe it and responded softly, "I've seen it but if they intend on resisting an Imperial occupation, they are going to have get blooded. I know that's insensitive but I cannot think any other way. The course the Okanah has chosen for them does not give them the luxury of second chances. The Empire has them marked as hostile territory now and unless they're willing to defend it, the occupation if it comes will be brutal. If the Okanah are afraid that's not entirely a bad thing. A little healthy fear will keep them alive. I don't mean to be hard on them Chris, but I don't want to see what happened to Wookies on Kashyyyk happen to the Okanah." 

Chris could understand that. The Wookies were now a slave race, being sold off world as a hard labor work force thanks to the Empire. The complete destruction of its society was only the first in the long list of atrocities that were being committed against non-human worlds across the galaxy and Okanah would be treated to the same brutality if Imperial occupation was allowed to take place on their planet. Sometimes Mary's ability to think like the Imperials made him glad that he was just a Jedi.  

In no way would he ever want to be forced to think the way she did in order to lead. There were some thing even too hard for the Jedi. 

**********

Vin Tanner felt like a teenager. 

Or worse yet, a rancor with a bad tooth. He could not believe how much he missed her. In fact, Vin had not been this miserable over any female since.....  

He could not even bring himself to say the name for fear of reopening old wounds that would only double his emotional torment at this time. The truth was Vin knew that Alexandra Styles would have to leave sometime. She was a commander in the Rebel Alliance, one of their best covert operatives. She had a life that did not halt simply because she had met him and yet ever since she had gone, from the Siraj base, Vin could feel nothing but this unending ache in the pit of him for the want of her. The days following their return from Tatooine had been wonderful. Even though their relationship had been heated, neither had been foolish enough to rush into anything intimate and Vin tended to think that made the power of their attraction all the more intense. It was good being with someone who cared for him unconditionally and cared little for what he was or the fact that he had nothing to offer her but his affection. 

Was he in love with Alex? If his reaction to her being gone the past few weeks were any indication, Vin would say, hell yeah.

He was in love with her and it was good to know that she felt just as strongly, that she had no secrets to keep from him and the facets of her heart was splayed openly for him to explore. Vin sat inside his tent, away from Okanah's hot sun staring at the holo-crystal with Alex's image inside of it. It was taken only days before her departure because he knew that it would be all that he had to remember her by when she was gone. Despite knowing that she was very good at what she did, Vin could not help worry that she was living a very dangerous life. As a covert operative, garnering secrets for the Alliance, she could be discovered at any time and the casualty rate for rebels in that line of work was invariably high. He saw her smiling back at him through the crystal and felt a stab of pain at imagining what would happen if she were taken from him.

Vin could not go through that again. 

He had almost died the first time it happened. Everything that felt anything was destroyed the day she had told him to go away and leave her be. He did not think he would have survived it and barely felt anything emotionally until the day he came across Chris Larabee who with his friendship healed Vin somewhat. If Vin were to lose Alex, he did not think he would be able to recover at all. Even though their relationship was fledgling, Vin suspected how much he felt for her now was only a splinter of what could be when enough time was given them. He felt whole when she was with him and now that she had gone, his heart felt as if it had been cleaved in two and she had taken one part of it with her. 

"Hey," Buck Wilmington drew the tent flap back and entered the cool confines beneath the canvas. 

Vin looked up and groaned inwardly, hoping that Buck was not here to try and cheer him up again. The pilot had made it his personal business to nurse Vin through this difficult period of initial separation and Vin was nearing the point where he was either going to shoot himself or Buck, whichever came first. Buck believed that his experience with the ladies as he called it put him in excellent stead to dispense advice even though Vin had made it clear that he did not want it. However, a man who refused to leave Chris Larabee alone following the death of his wife and son was either in possession of a monumental death wish or a great aversion to seeing his friends suffer and thus was not easily deterred. 

"Buck." Vin tensed, waiting for the usual plethora of cheerful words that told him that she would be back and that absence made the heart grow fonder or some other meaningless platitude.

However, this time Buck did neither. The big man saw Vin putting away the holo-crystal and let out a little sigh. "Vin," he said, in a tone that was very different from the one he had used to approach Vin on previous occasions, much to the apprentice's chagrin. "You're gonna have to let her go."

"I'm fine Buck." Vin said gruffly, having no wish to discuss this. 

"No you're not." Buck retorted firmly. "If you don't want to talk about it that's up to you but you need to let her go. She loves you and she'll be back but you're no good to anyone if you let her the best of you every time she goes." 

"I'm doing fine." Vin repeated himself but something of what Buck said was penetrating. He knew he had been difficult to cope with the last weeks since Alex had left. Chris was too much of a private person himself to meddle, while Nathan and Josiah seemed reluctant to say anything because Vin had made it clear that he had no wish to discuss his feelings. JD was too young to offer anyone advice but Buck Wilmington did not care. He went freely where angels feared to tread and it was one of the things that made him such a great pilot but an even better friend. 

"Vin," Buck sat down in front of him. "When Inez started going with Ezra, I never thought I would be able to stand it seeing her love someone else. I guess it ain't no secret I still felt strongly about her." 

Vin could not disagree with that. Buck's disposition had been like his was now. The pilot was openly disgruntled about Inez's relationship with Ezra even though Buck considered Ezra a friend and had no right to feel any kind of jealousy, considering his track record with the ladies since he and Inez had gone their separate ways. "Not a very good one." Vin remarked with a smile. 

"Right," Buck laughed and continued. "I hated seeing them together but then I realised that I had to let her go. She don't belong to me any more and she's certainly let me go. Now it ain't exactly the same thing with you and Alex, cause there's no hiding the fact that the lady is crazy about you but you can't hold someone like her too close Vin, what she is, demands freedom. You tried to rein her in and you'll just lose her. Just like she would if she tried to do the same to you. Reason you both get along so well is cause you're both something unexpected. Two kinds of different making sense together." 

"You got a way with words Buck," Vin found himself saying because Buck's reasoning did have some sort of logic to it. He always fell hard for his women and sometimes his passion overrode good sense and Alex was something wild and free, like himself he supposed. He would not want to clip her wings anymore than he would like his own hindered the same way. "Maybe you're right. It's been a long time since I've felt this way." 

"I kind of guessed that," Buck smiled, no hint of teasing or usual cockiness in his voice. "She's a beautiful woman and I'm sure she'll be back in no time but even if it is some time before you see her again, you just got to know by the way she looks at you that she loves you." 

"You think so?" Vin asked softly, his head still dancing with Alex but Buck was right. He had to start thinking straight or he was going to get himself killed; or worse yet someone else. 

"She must," Buck retorted. "I mean how else can you explain her looking straight past me and going for your scrawny ass?" The pilot grinned. 

"Taste?" Vin returned with a chuckle. 

"Maybe some women are more accommodating than others," Buck teased when suddenly a voice interrupted them. 

"Hate to interrupt this intellectual conversation you two got going," Nathan Jackson remarked having caught the tail end of Buck's talk with Vin, "but Chris and Mary are back. Looks like we're going to attack." 

"Finally," Vin replied starting to rise to his feet. "Time to put those bastards out of their misery."

 "You got a strange concept of mercy, Vin." Buck frowned as he did the same. 

"Trust me," Vin gave him a look. "I grew up in a desert, nothing worse than being lost in one. We're doing them a favor."

 Buck supposed Vin was right but still he would not call it a favor. When the Okanah attacked the Imperial garrison out there on the dunes, it would be a massacre, nothing less.  

Unfortunately, the Empire did not deserve anything better.

PART TWo

Mary Travis let her gaze sweep across the faces before her.

She knew her friends. Chris Larabee caught her attention first, he almost always did. Then came Vin Tanner astride the roia beast next to him, Nathan Jackson followed and then Josiah Sanchez. The four men were watching her closely, waiting for her to speak while the Okanah were hoping she could say something that would allay their fears. It was not the first time Mary had ever led men and women into the battle and she dare say it would not be the last time either. She was on astride her own mount, allowing the sight of all these faces to sink into memory, to give her the momentum needed to say the right words. They had to believe they would survive this or else the battle was lost before it even begun.

"For weeks we have followed the enemy," Mary started speaking and felt all eyes on her as her mount stamped its impatience on the sandy group to begin. "We have watched them shifting through the sands for us. They believed Okanah would be easy to find. They believed that they were invincible because they superior to the Okanah and sooner or later they would find us. But it is later and we still elude them. We are still smoke!" As she made that statement, the Okanah mesmerized by her words nodded amongst themselves, others lifting their blast rifles over their head and cheering out in agreement of her declaration.

"Today our smoke will have flames because we will become a fire that sweeps through the desert like a scourge from hell! We will go forward and we will kill everyone wearing an Imperial uniform. We will send a message back to Coruscant that no army may take Okanah unless it is prepared to run the desert red with blood first. We will show them that we will fight to the last one of us before we allow them to rule this planet. They will fight for every ounce of deutronium they wished to take from these sands before we give up. Today we come for them and we will not stop until they stop and leave Okanah to its people!"

The battle cry that followed in the wake of that stirring speech was an explosion of sound that filled the world in its entirety. Chris had to shield his thoughts to keep the overwhelming feeling of power infused in the psyche of all those present by Mary's speech from turning him insane with battle lust. However, he could not deny that he was starting to see visions of glory himself as he heard her words and knew that as a Jedi he should never want to kill but sometimes, it felt very good to be fighting the good fight. Vin Tanner felt the same way and turned slightly to Chris, making himself heard over the crowd as he grinned with the same kind of pleasure. "I guess you have to die sometime!"

"I guess so," Chris replied with a smile. "See you all on the other side." He said not only to Vin but also to Nathan and Josiah.

"The Force be with you all," Josiah responded, feeling just as euphoric as everyone else.

"Let's get it done!" Nathan shouted, waving his own rifle in the air, just as eager to begin.

Whether or not Mary heard all this banter was unknown to them but the rebel leader turned her steed towards the direction of the army and raised her own rifle. She was a magnificent figure astride her mount as her blond hair free from confinement blew in the dusty wind, like a banner symbolizing their cause. The sight of her leading the charge had almost as much significance over her army than her speech itself and Chris wished he could frame the moment because it certainly needed to be recorded for posterity.

"We ride!" She shouted without further a due and dug her heels into the flank of the roia's body, sending the creature surging forward in powerful gallops. No sooner than she had riding, her army thundered forward with equal strength, galloping ahead at full stead as they rode hard towards the enemy that had no idea about the storm that was coming for them. It was time to show the Empire that worlds like Okanah would not simply sit still to be subjugated that for some, oppression was unacceptable no matter what the consequences. The Empire believed that it could subjugate worlds with machinery and supposed military superiority, Mary was about to show them how misguided such a belief could truly be.

Today it was one Imperial garrison. Someday, it would be entire Imperial fleet.

*********

The first indication that there was trouble came with a low rumble of power engines in the distant sky. The Imperial garrison turned their weary eyes upwards and saw nothing at first although the sound was strong and alerted everyone to its presence. Bodies lethargic with heat, shifted slowly to life, moving across the encampment as heads became to tilt upwards, staring into the blue vastness above them, trying to discern from which direction it was coming. Sensor equipment was hurriedly produced to give more accurate readings and was in mid adjustment when suddenly out of nowhere two ships appeared in the sky and swooped downwards.

The X wing extended their wings, gun ports coming into view as the first of the two descended in need sweep that would take it right across the encampment. The enemy began to scatter, screaming orders at each other to ready artillery weapons but the orders had come to late. The X-wing was soon in position and the strafing run began. Thick bolts of blue energy exploded out of the narrow gun ports in quick succession, carving a path of destruction through the heart of the encampment. Screams followed as some bolts impacted on flesh, the others on the ground creating explosions that send bodies flying. Disarray ran rife through the camp as the enemy struggled to regroup from this deadly assault, not realizing the second craft had slipped into attack position during the confusion and was coming in for the kill.

The first X wing pulled up as the artillery fire began, ascending in a tight loop and gaining altitude as it eluded enemy fire and prepared to make another run at the encampment. Artillery batteries aimed at the one did not have time to readjust its tracking system for the secondary target as the other X-wing began a similarly devastating attack. This time its fire was not aimed at the center of the enemy camp but rather focusing on where the artillery batteries would place. Torpedoes replaced laser fire and the projectiles swooshed through the air upon ejection, fixing on its target with relentless efficiency. Artillery operators seeing the coming disaster quickly abandoned their weapons and leapt for cover as the explosion reduced the heavy combat weapons to little more than scrap. A second torpedo was launched and the remaining battery soon met a similar fate.

The attack ceased as suddenly as it had began as the camp was licking its wounds, trying to assess the destruction in lives and equipment when another sound was heard. This time, it was nowhere as easily identifiable as the loud drone made by the X-wings. This was decidedly different and had an unsteady rhythm, a sound that at first seemed like a rumble until one realised that it was merely a number of sounds spaced so closely together it was hard to distinguish one from the other. It increased in its intensity until suddenly, it was no longer a distant rumble but rather a looming presence they could feel in their bones.

No one knew who saw them first but someone obviously did because the Imperial soon found themselves staring at a landscape filled with riders thundering forward at a devastating pace. It took a few seconds to register what was happening, to understand that the events of the past month had been to soften them up in the same manner one would tenderize meat that was prepared for the cooking. The Imperials ran for their weapons and attempted to form some kind of battle line but it was clear that there was a ring of steel enclosing them in all directions for their encampment was out in the open desert, devoid of natural landmarks to protect them. There was no chance for cover or concealment. The rebels had waited patiently until they were at their most vulnerable to attack.

And they were at their most vulnerable now.

Time seemed to freeze as the enemies caught sight of each other across the sandy plain and for a moment, no one seemed capable of speech. Eyes met eyes across the wide expanse of sand and space, a myriad of thought flickering through the mind of all present as they understood that for a brief instance they were trapped in the same place of not knowing what would come next. Somewhere beyond time and space the event was already recorded in the pages of a book no one would read. All it required of them now was to play the part.

The moment lasted for just a split second but when it ended, the call to charge was made and the riders on their mounts thundered forward with an explosive rumble of sound. In the encampment, the Imperial rallied to form a firing line and they did so while seeing the approach of the hundred of riders, never allowing their nerve to falter even though lesser trained armies caught so much by surprise would be running for their lives by now. An uneven battle line was forming with blast rifles taking aim at the oncoming rebel force, soldiers steadying their weapons and waiting to fire when their targets came into range.

Chris Larabee saw Mary surging ahead, taking the Okanah forward. She was a stronger rider than he had thought and was surprised by just how much ahead she was. As she galloped forward, leading the charge, blond hair trailing behind her, Chris had never seen her more empowered or magnificent. If he were a painter, he would be recording the image of her on canvas, immortalizing her forever. However, he brushed such romantic notions aside for keeping her mortal at least for today, forcing his steed forward, Chris came along side her and Mary shifted her gaze enough to meet his eyes. Her lips pulled back into a smile, as if it were a challenge to keep up.

Then the first sounds of gunfire ripped through the air and anything in the moment that might have caused Mary to smile was driven away as she faced forward and unsheathed her weapon with one hand, while the other still clutched the reins. Like wise, Chris did the same, only it was a lightsabre that he wielded, not a blaster. The first waves of fighters all reacted the same, removing their weapons and creating a barrage of firepower, clearing the path for those behind them as they closed the distance between themselves and the Imperial. The bolts of energy fired met their marks. Chris could see bodies collapsing to the ground as the line facing them was assaulted.

It was not to say that the Empire was the only ones suffering casualties. Even as the Okanah led by Mary Travis advanced upon the Imperial task force, Chris could see riders being unsaddled as they tumbled into the sand, the victim of return fire. He himself was deflecting bolts of energy with his light saber. If it were not for the fact that he was a Jedi with abilities that allowed his reflexes the speed needed for such a task, he might have well been one of the casualties. Mary was keeping her head low but still doing her damnedest to break the line of defense mounted by the Imperial stormtroopers. Next to her Josiah Sanchez and Nathan Jackson was doing their best to help. As the distance closed rapidly between themselves and the enemy, Chris could see the tactic working. Some of the Imperials were breaking off and retreating. Trying to reform the line deeper in the camp.

It was a gesture of eminent defeat.

The body of riders protected by the front line defenders now spread out, forming a right ring that surrounded the camp. The battle line forged by the Imperials was more or less coming undone as the gap between soldiers and riders narrowed until soon; they had converged into chaos of violence. Chris saw Mary remaining in the saddle as she fired at the stormtroopers on the ground. She was fighting fiercely and he knew for a fact how deadly she was with a blaster. She was almost as good as Vin. Almost. Chris saw a stormtrooper taking aim at the lovely blond commander and immediately put his lightsabre in between her and the bolt of energy that would have taken her head off her shoulders. He had no idea how she knew through the cacophony of sound but she turned sharply to him for a moment and realised what he had done. For a moment, the self-assured features of the commander evaporated and the woman surfaced, telling him wordlessly not to die until they could be alone so she could thank him .

"Chris on your right!" Vin called out and saw Vin Tanner crying out in warning.

Chris blinked and his senses returned to his superior alertness although he was chagrinned that his mind had been so distracted. He deflected the shot that would have knocked him off his horse and saw Vin forcing his horse through the bodies to take a swipe at the person who had fired at his friend and mentor. Chris watched Vin as his padwan learner cut a swathe through the Imperials who dared to come up against him. His lightsabre was a zigzagging streak of energy, delivering death behind high-pitched screams as the formidable blade cut through bone and flesh. Chris found himself mesmerized at the former bounty hunter's skill and saw the enemies that fell beneath the hooves of his steed. Suddenly, he was hit with something powerful, a waking dream as it were. It was not unusual for the Jedi to experience such things but the last time he had sensed something so powerful was before he had found himself facing Darth Vader....

***********

Terror was pounding his heart as he watched from the high place.

The apprentice was swinging wildly, trying to defend himself against a master, whose power was beyond the imagination of even the most powerful of the Jedi. The younger man was defending himself with every ounce of strength he had, meeting the more experienced combatant blow for blow. His fear should have made him useless but he was controlling it. Still Chris could feel his terror struggling to remain suppressed, it was bursting at the edges of control, demanding release with each desperate attempt to block the blows coming at him. He stumbled to the platform, sweat glistening visibly on his skins, frightened eyes staring at the black mask that regarded him with a mixture of amusement and admiration.

"I feel your fear." The raspy electronic voice spoke.

"Go to hell!" The apprentice screamed, scrambling away and seeing the blade coming down at him just in time to block the blow, although the force of it drove his lightsabre almost to his throat. Lashing out with anger, he slashed his blade wildly, pushing the other out of his face so that he could get to his feet.

"Give me what I want and I will let you leave." The black mask speaks to the young man, oozing seduction in each word. "I will even let you take her with you."

"NO!" The apprentice shouts in defiance. Not because of outrage at the offer but at the avenue of escape that had been offered, the temptation that he would be forced to fight in order to remain true to himself and his oath as Jedi.

"I WANT MY SON!" The dark lord roars and his voice fills the world like a clap of thunder.

"You'll never get him!" The apprentice shouts back, feeling some measure of exultation at being able to sense the Sith Lord's frustration with him. "I will die before I tell you anything about Skywalker!"

"I won't kill you!" The dark lord warns and pulls back. "I'll kill those that you love. I'll kill HER."

Something inside the apprentice snaps and even as Chris watches, a voyeur in this waking dream, he tries nonetheless to shout the warning that he knows the apprentice will not hear. He watches as the dark side in full vent comes up and swallows his young friend and the power that it gives the padwan makes him attack the Emperor's dark avenger with ruthless accuracy. Lightsabres clang powerfully against each other, echoing through the place where the battle is being waged but Chris senses something inside his friend. Perhaps an understanding that he was being led down a path he may not survive even if he does kill the evil one before him and it makes him pause. The apprentice halts and he remembers that Jedi does not attack, he defends, even against a Sith Lord.

Unfortunately, his ferocious attack has inspired one of equal viciousness from his opponent and the blows that come from the dark lord are perhaps the most powerful the man had delivered. Soon it is the apprentice who is in retreat and suddenly, in what seems to be a frozen moment of time, Chris' eyes widens as he sees the killing blow swing into existence. Chris opens his mouth to scream, to warn the padwan of what is coming but the young man is too inexperienced to be able to see and like a terrible play that Chris does not want to watch, the nightmare unfolds before him reaching its bloody conclusion.

The apprentice turns perhaps realizing on some subconscious level the danger but does not keep the blade from penetrating his skin. He screams, possibly for the first time in his entire life, as the excruciating agony slices through his arm until all that remains between it and the rest of his body is a single twist of meat. Blood spills forward like a red tide and he falls to the floor as the dark lord's blade lowers, the breathing behind the mask slowing as the padwan lies on the steel deck, a spread of crimson cradling him.

Chris could only scream "VIN!"

***********

"CHRIS! WATCH OUT!"

There is pain and this time is very real indeed. The blaster bolt caught Chris Larabee square in the chest. He hears Mary screaming as he topples from the saddle and hits the sand, face first. Grains sting his eyes, as his cheek rubs raw against the surface. The roia beasts around him panic. Discipline and conditioning had taught them never to trample a rider and he hears their confusion in the feet that stamp about awkwardly in an effort to avoid him. Around him the sounds of blaster fire was still ringing in his ears but Chris paid little attention to it. As the sand became wet beneath him, he did not have to see to know that it was his own blood that was flowing through the sand. He was dying and he knew it. He tried to see Mary but his eyes were becoming foggy and came to the realisation that he had a very short time to act or he would never see her again and some how that made passing out of this life completely unacceptable.

Taking a deep breath even though the action send slivers of pain through him, Chris Larabee closed his eyes and let the Force take him into its warm comforting arms away from the blistering Okanah sun. He felt its cool against his skin and thought as his mind slipped into the darkness, that the Force had the same comforting scent as Mary and Sarah.....

**********

The battle was over but no one was happy about it.

Aleya and the Okanah were celebrating their victory over the Imperial task force and despite themselves, the members of the Rebel Alliance could not take their victory from them. It was a great achievement to come up against the might of the Imperial war machine and survive. The Okanah deserved their victory and while none of the off worlders would dampen their celebration, neither could they take part in it. At the moment, Nathan Jackson was within the tent, utilizing his skills as a medtech on Chris Larabee who had been seriously injured during the battle. As of yet, they had no indication whether or not he would survive the wound inflicted and nerves were becoming frayed all around.

"I should have been watching his back!" Vin Tanner growled as he paced the ground outside the tent. "I mean I should have done something!"

"Vin," Josiah said gently. "It wasn't your fault. We were in the middle of a battle, there was no way you could watch out for Chris and yourself."

"He's right junior," Buck Wilmington added. Buck was just as angry as Vin about being there for his oldest friend in the world but he knew enough to assuage the younger man's guilt. "You were busy and Chris isn't some wet behind the ears kid, he's a Jedi whose been taking care of himself a hell of a lot longer than you, I might add. If he couldn't stop himself from getting hurt, chances are neither could you."

"I know that," Vin muttered angrily. "But he just stood there for a whole minute! You didn't see it." He tried to explain to the others the daze Chris had experienced just before he had been shot. "He was somewhere else."

"Maybe it's a Jedi thing." JD ventured a guess. "I seen him have them kind of flashes before. Maybe he saw something that stopped him from paying attention."

"I should have been able to sense it then." Vin replied not about to absolve himself that easily. "I could tell he was someplace else but I couldn't see what he was seeing. Goddamn it, I should have seen it!"

"Vin," Mary Travis spoke up for the first time. She had been sitting in silence unable to savor what should have been a spectacular victory for her because the one person she wanted to share it with might die and that was something she could not even begin to face, let alone imagine happening for real. "Please don't do this. Chris certainly would not condone and I will not either. We are in a war and people die, those are the rules. It's not anyone's fault. It's just the way things happen. Chris would tell you that himself if he were here. Sometimes the way of the Force is hard to understand."

"How can you say that?" Vin snapped at her. "You're supposed to care....." Vin halted himself before he could say anything further but the pain in her eyes was evident and so was the intent of that scathing remark.

"Vin," Buck rose to his feet immediately. "Cool off." The threat in the pilot's voice was unmistakable.

"I'm sorry Mary," Vin apologized immediately, feeling like the fool he did for allowing his emotions to get the better of him again. It was obvious by the look in Mary's eyes that she was barely hanging on herself and he crossed the space between them to place his hand on her cheek. "Hey I'm a jerk alright?" He tried to smile. "I know how you feel about him and if he pulls through this, its going to be no small part because of you."

The others pulled away a little, allowing the duo a little privacy since it appeared they had a little fence mending to do. Vin was grateful for the gesture and reminded himself to thank Buck later on for keeping him from behaving like a stubborn nerf.

"Thank you Vin," she swallowed, allowing the tough mask to lower just enough for him to see the fear in her eyes at losing Chris. "It wasn't your fault you know," she said softly. "I saw him fade too and there was nothing you could have done."

"I just wished I understood it more sometimes," Vin confessed. "Being a Jedi is not something I wanted. I met Chris and suddenly it just seemed like the right thing to. Master Yoda said I was too old to be trained even though I had the mind for it but I wonder if he was right. Maybe it is too late for me to become a Jedi."

"Don't say that," Mary countered. "Chris is so proud of how far you've come. We all are."

"I don't think he would be too proud of me today," Vin sighed unhappily.

"Just because you're a Jedi doesn't mean you're not allowed to feel Vin," Mary said sounding very much like the wise rebel commander she was. "The Jedi make mistakes too. If they didn't I would not feel comfortable around them."

Vin stared into her blue grey eyes and smiled warmly. "You know something Commander Travis, you are the best thing that's happen to all of us."

"All of you?" Mary's brow wrinkled in confusion. "I don't understand."

"Before you came into our lives, we were drifters. Me, Chris, Buck, JD, Ezra, even Nathan and Josiah, we didn't really have a place or a direction until we met you. You gave us that and then you gave us each other. We became seven because of you Mary and sometimes, I think we stay seven thanks to you. You give us purpose and for a bunch like us who never had it before, that's quite something."

It was possibly the nicest compliment she had ever received and her emotions, already on a ragged edge seemed to tip over with that. "Oh Vin," she felt the tears spilling down her cheeks. "If anything happens to Chris, I don't know if I can go on. I can't do it alone."

"Sure you can," Vin responded gently taking her into his arms. "That's why he cares so much about you, because you go on when no one else can."

They held each other for a while, saying nothing but leaving those words to swirl around them as they waited for news. It came what felt like a lifetime later, when Nathan appeared through the tent flap and drew the rest of the seven to him like the fireflies to the flame.

"Is he going to be alright?" Mary asked, still in Vin's arms.

"Yes," Nathan nodded. "I got the droids working on him now but he's going to be okay. It could have gone the other way though." The captain responded, unprepared to delude anyone on how close Chris Larabee had come to dying. "If it weren't for that Jedi healing state they go into when they're hurt bad, he might have died."

"Thank the Force." Josiah sighed.

"I knew he was too tough to kill!" Buck laughed and expressed his own happiness by ruffling JD's hair, a gesture the young man hated and immediately swatted Buck's hand away.

"You see," Vin looked at Mary. "I told you."

"Yeah," the lovely blond laughed. "You're pretty smart when you're not being a jerk."

"Thanks," Vin retorted with a grin.

PART THREE

To be the Imperial Governor of the planet Commenor was unlike anything else.

Commenor, like Alderaan, Corellia and finally Coruscant made up what was known as the Galactic Centre. It was from these worlds that earliest institution of galactic unit was founded and most of the civilizations that were spawned from them were usually of the oldest races in the galaxy. Commenor was no exception. It had been a Republic stronghold and now under the iron fist of its latest serving Imperial Governor, it had become a focal point for the Imperial war machine. To look out a window upon the Commenor Prime, the largest city on the planet and its capital, was to look out into the face of the fading Republic as the wheels on its evolution turned it slowly into the model of Imperial efficiency. It was a society of excess, mechanized, urbanized and completely confident in its superiority over lesser worlds. Its citizens not merely believed Palpatine was their Emperor but they absorbed his politics and the grandeur of his vision for the Empire like it was an elixir that would give the m immortality.

It was a heavily guarded bastion of Imperial power. For the man who controlled it, who belonged to an elite inner circle, shrouded in secrecy, composed of other regional Imperial governors, Grand Moffs, Grand Admirals and one Sith Lord, it was to be in the reach of unspeakable power. The inner circle of the Imperial Security Elite was the real power of Palpatine's rule. Even though the masses believed that the Imperial Senate made the decisions about the Empire, those in the Rebel Alliance and the higher echelons of Imperial power knew that the body was a paper tiger. It was a showcase to lull the insecure into the belief that some semblance of the old order still remained. The Security Elite were bound by their ambition to serve Palpatine and they did it well.

William Richmond had never chose to become part of this circle but there were forces at work in his life that had given him little choice but to play the role of the loyalist. Whatever was asked of him, he did and in doing so, hid away his own secrets although sometimes he hoped that perhaps the Emperor did know the truth and considered him valuable enough not to mind. That thought had comforted Richmond for a long time. He sustained that belief by performing his best for the Empire even though there were many nights when sleep did not come easy and there would be a day of reckoning that no amount of power or money would ever put right.

Unfortunately for him, the day of reckoning he hoped would come when he had had shed his mortal existence made its appearance rather prematurely. When he had been told that the super star destroyer Avenger had slipped into orbit above the planet, Richmond knew that there was only one explanation for its presence in Commenor space. The Avenger was the pride of Imperial fleet, the first of the super star destroyers to emerge from the Sluis Van shipyards that had driven the dreadnought class warships into obsolescence. It was virtually undefeatable by any other warship that currently flew the space lanes and the craft was well suited in its disposition for its master.

If the Avenger was orbiting Commenor then so was Darth Vader.

An honor guard had been hastily assembled to greet Vader's shuttle when it arrived on Commenor. Imperial troops stood at attention, flanking the length of carpet that made up a walkway for Vader when he stepped off the ramp of his ship to be greeted by Richmond and his entourage. Richmond tried to present an image of complete confidence at this unexpected visit even though inside he was quivering in fear. Vader did not make personal visits nor was he sent on trivial errands. If he was here, it was a matter of great importance and while ambition told Richmond to take advantage of the opportunity, something inside him was uneasy. As he watched the gleaming white-hulled Imperial shuttle sweep into the landing bay, he tried to calm himself because his fear would show to Vader and he could not afford that. He could see the tension of his junior officers as they awaited the arrival of the Sith Lord and for singular moment, shared more in common with them then their entire service together.

The ship hovered over the steel deck briefly before lowering onto the floor with a loud metal clang that seemed to make everyone react involuntarily with a slight startle. Richmond felt beads of sweat running down the side of his face and forced himself to push away his fear, remembering the lessons taught a long time ago about how to deal with Jedi. It had been too long since he had any practical need for that knowledge and feared his lack of usage would not allow him to give much resistance when the dark lord cast his obsidian gaze upon him. The shuttle door lifted and the first two occupants to exit the craft immediately took flanking positions next to the doorway as they waited for the third to emerge. Richmond did not wait and was already striding forward.

He had just reached the ramp when the cloaked master of the Avenger made his appearance. In truth, Richmond had heard the heavy breathing that always preceded Vader's appearance before actually seeing the Sith Lord himself. Richmond sucked in his breath as he saw Vader raise his helmeted head and stared directly at him. Although he could not see Vader's eyes, Richmond knew he was being scrutinized behind the masked visage of the Emperor's most trusted henchman.

"Lord Vader, this an unexpected pleasure." Richmond greeted politely, trying to inject as much enthusiasm into his voice as he could muster.

"I'm sure it is." Vader said dryly, knowing perfectly well that it was a lie. "I am here on important business Governor," Vader wasted no time as he walked down the length of carpet. The troops making up the honor guard snapped to attention immediately but no one was terribly disappointed when Vader continued past them.

Richmond struggled to keep up but Vader was a tall man and he was capable of out pacing Richmond with ease. "Important business?"

"We will discuss it in your office," Vader returned briskly and strode out of the hangar.

"Yes Lord Vader," Richmond swallowed glancing at his junior officer's in anxiousness and saw in their faces that none of them envied him at this moment.

*************

The governor's office was located in the tallest spire of the imperial city.

The facade of glass gave its occupant a picturesque view of the Commenor Prime while its lofty heights ensured privacy. Richmond demanded that his desk faced the windows so he could see the fluidity of the city and watched the hover cars, skimmers and transports zipping back and forth across the sky. There were moments when he basked in the splendor of it, in periods where he paused long enough in his day to day activities to appreciate it. On this occasion, the beauty was lost upon him and upon his visitor who barely gave the spectacular vista the merest hint of a glance when they entered the confines of the room.

Vader did not waste time getting to the point once they were alone and when the doors closed behind them after the departure of his personal guards, Richmond found himself facing the dark lord and his reason for being here.

"We know about your wife Governor." Vader stated abruptly.

Richmond's eyes widened and felt the air suddenly evaporate from the room because he could not breathe. "Charlotte?"

"We know what she is." Vader retorted, watching Richmond closely.

The governor was breathing hard and managed to make it behind his desk before he lowered himself heavily into the chair. "How long have you known?" He managed to ask. There was no point denying it. If Vader was here then it was too late for anything. It was over.

"That does not matter," the Sith Lord returned. "We do and that is enough."

"What are you going to do?" Richmond swallowed.

"Imperial troops are already on the way to Atura to retrieve her. My presence here is merely as a courtesy to you." Vader replied, attempting to sound magnanimous but his voice made that his words all the more sinister.

"Please," Richmond started to beg. "I've been a loyal servant of the Emperor. Don't hurt her. She's harmless to you."

"Her destiny has been written Governor." Vader said mercilessly. "I am here to consider yours."

"Mine?" He exhaled loudly.

"The fact that you are a loyal member of the Emperor's circle is the only reason why you are still retaining your position and I might add your head. The Emperor does not squander resources and you can be forgiven for alliances made before the change of the politics of the realm. You married her before the establishment of the new order. The Emperor understands that matters of the heart can make a man act out of his own best interests and your conduct in his service shows that you are a loyal Imperial citizen whose only crime is your wife. The Emperor does not want to lose a valuable resource because of your past affiliations. If that minor matter were removed, there is no reason why you cannot retain your position as Governor."

"My wife...." Richmond muttered, aware of what was being offered.

"Listen carefully Governor Richmond," Vader leaned in close. "You have no choice in her destiny. You may yet save yours but I will have your answer right this minute or you will not leave this room alive. Do we understand each other?"

Suddenly, he felt something pressing against his throat, invisible fingers that began pressing down on his larynx, forcing the air out of his lungs. All sound drained from his ears except that heavy breathing, electronically emitted that sounded like the death choking him. Richmond tried prying free the fingers he could not see but knew was there around his throat. His head began to swim and he could no longer remain focussed. He started to slump forward when just as abruptly as he had began, the invisible talons disappeared and his freedom was exclaimed with a loud gasp as he fell forward against the table.

Breathing hard, he took hungry breaths of air until once again, he became aware of Vader's presence. Raising his eyes to the Sith Lord with no illusions as to his fate should he refuse, Richmond finally spoke.

"Alright," he conceded. "What do you want me to do?"

************

For six years, Atura had been her hiding place.

As refuges went, it was a pleasant enough location. It sat in the heart of the Corporate Sector where money could buy virtually anything and in this instance it had bought privacy. Atura was a rustic world, forgotten but beautiful. It had one major city, which was mostly for the purpose of housing the inevitable commercial center that emerged from the development of any large space station. However the majority of the planet was still covered in large oceans and undeveloped continents. It was place that the rest of the galaxy seemed to have forgotten because there were other worlds of similarly idyllic beauty closer to the galactic core and people who came to the Corporate Sector were uninterested in beauty but rather profit. Atura had no commercial value in ore or precious metals and was thus largely ignored.

Charlotte Richmond did not mind this one bit. Noise and crowds made her uncomfortable. She resided in a house befitting a governor's wife hiding from the world at the edge of the Eliandera coast. The house sat on top of a cliff overlooking the Northern Sea far away from the populated center of Atura, She had a small ship which she utilized to collect supplies and make the occasional visit to town when the isolation became too much for her, which it rarely did. In her private sanctuary, Charlotte raised her young daughter Lilith with her companion Maria in virtual solitude and had been quite content with the course her life had taken, though there were moments in the small hours of the night, where she wished secretly for things that could never be.

Her husband made monthly visits to her and though she would have liked to have seen him more, there was never any doubt in her mind that he loved her despite the difficulties they had faced in their marriage through the years. Charlotte loved Will Richmond and knew that he had sacrificed much because of her. He walked a fine line in the real world and if anyone should discover the truth, the consequences to himself would be dire. Charlotte herself had no fears of death but she did worry for her daughter just as she knew Will certainly did. Lilith was the reason they endured the separation, why she remained hidden away from the public eye. Lilith was only five years old and she was the centre of Charlotte's world. Charlotte would endure anything and had sacrificed much already to ensure that her daughter lived. For her child, she had become a shell of a person because to be herself was to condemn Lilith and Charlotte would not risk her life for anything.

"My Lady," Maria emerged from the house and called to her as she was teaching Lilith her lesson in their garden beneath the delicious afternoon sun.

Maria had been her friend and companion for as long as Lilith had been in this world. She had found Maria a teenager, scraping a living in the slums of Arturo and given the girl a home as well as something of an education. Those who met Maria would never believe that there was a time that she was from the exotic beauty she was now, with just a hint of mystery in her manner to indicate she was not all she appeared. For what Charlotte had done for Maria, she had earned the girl's undying gratitude and unswerving loyalty. Charlotte was confident that gratitude would ensure that Maria would protect Lilith if the situation ever required it.

"There is a communication from the governor." Maria announced as she joined Lilith and Charlotte on the lawn.

"It must be important." Charlotte stated, immediately stopping what she was doing and getting up to her feet. Will seldom communicated unless it was absolutely essential. Normally they relied upon data crystal carrying long letters to each other for their personal correspondence. Will did not use conventional forms of communication unless there was a good reason for it. Charlotte was suddenly overtaken by feelings of anxiety as she hurried into the house. The com unit was kept in her study and when she reached the digitized screen, the grave expression on Will's face revealed just how much her fears were justified.

"Charlotte." Will smiled through light years of distance between them. "Thank the Force they haven't reached you yet."

Charlotte's heart stopped cold in her chest. "What do you mean?" She asked fearfully.

"Charlotte they know." Will Richmond announced.

Charlotte closed her eyes and felt the sirens screaming in her ears. For a moment, she was overwhelmed with a sensation of such dread, she thought she might double over in panic and retch there. Somehow, she managed to spare herself that humiliation. Pulling herself even though this was what she had feared for six long years, Charlotte composed herself because she had to remain strong for Lilith's sake. Taking a deep breath, it was a few seconds before she could trust herself to answer him.

"How?" She managed to ask.

"I don't know." He answered wearily, his eyes revealing to her that he had wracked his mind with that same question and had come to no satisfactory answer. "But they know. I had Vader come to Commenor today. He came to my office Charlotte and said that he knew what you were."

Vader! Charlotte felt a resurgence of panic once more. Why of all people did he have to be the one? "Are they coming?" She managed to ask, her voice little more than a soft whisper.

"Yes," he nodded, making no effort to pad his answer. The time was past for that. They were dealing only in truths now and the expediency of quick answers was required, not sentimental efforts to make the news any easier for her to bear because nothing he said could accomplish that. "He sent a destroyer to Atura. It's on its way there now."

"We have to leave." Charlotte muttered, the need to flee impressing itself upon her brain as she thought quickly about what she had to do.

"Charlotte he doesn't want you." Will said suddenly.

Charlotte stared at the screen sharply. "What do you mean he doesn't want me?" Subconsciously she knew what the answer to her question was before she had even asked it but the horror of the situation refused to let her see the truth until it was presented in all its stark reality.

"He wants Lilith. He thinks that she's young enough to use. Charlotte's the star destroyer is coming to take her, not you."

"NO!" Charlotte shouted. "I won't let it happen!" Her fists shook in rage which each word spoken. "She' my baby! I won't let them turn her into some kind of monster!"

"You have to get off Atura, Charlotte," he said, nodding in agreement. "You have to leave now."

"Yes," she nodded, her mind reeling. If a destroyer was on it's way to Atura then they had very little time. Vader would not have tipped his hand by revealing his intentions to Will unless he was very certain her husband could not do anything to thwart his plans by warning her. The fact that Will was still alive showed how confident Vader was in acquiring her. She had to go somewhere with Lilith that was beyond Vader's reach, beyond the reach of the Empire. Suddenly it came to her in a flash of inspiration or desperation, she was uncertain of which, knowing only that it was the answer she needed.

"Will, we have to go the rebellion." Charlotte announced.

"Charlotte's that's treason." Will gasped.

"I know Will," she swallowed. "You have to abandon us while you still can. I don't want to you to pay for my sins."

"Charlotte I love you, I could not abandon you or our daughter." Will pleaded and she saw the sorrow in his eyes and also guilt because somewhere in the back of his mind he had considered it. She did not blame him of course. He had always been an ambitious man, she knew that before she married him. But she also knew that while at times appeared as if he was thinking of his own interests, Charlotte knew he was fortifying his own position with the Emperor to ensure her safety and that of Lilith's.

"Will you must." Charlotte said softly. "You've stood by me, even when I didn't deserve your love. Don't think I don't know how much that must have hurt you but I have always been sure of that and so you must be sure of mine. I won't let you suffer because of us. Not any more. You have to let us go Will. Now."

He blinked and tears glistened in his eyes. "Do you even know how to contact the rebellion?"

"No," Charlotte shook her head in response. "The rebellion is after my time. The people whom I call friends who might know are all dead now."

"Then how will you reach them?" Will asked.

"I know someone who might be able to get me in contact with a member of the rebellion." Charlotte offered cautiously.

"Who?" He looked at her, sensing that there was some type of reluctance in her voice.

"Its better that you don't know." Charlotte replied automatically. "If we manage to escape the destroyer that's coming for us then Vader will know that you are his only link to us. He'll shred your mind for any information he can use to his advantage. I will not risk your life that way."

"It's not a risk." Will responded sadly. "I love you and I love Lilith. I'd die first before I let him hurt either of you."

Charlotte touched his image on the screen and knew he meant it. "I know that my love." She smiled. "But I still won't let you be harmed if it can be avoided."

"How will I know if you're both safe?" He asked as he saw that it was time for them to sever their connection.

"You and I share the same soul Will," Charlotte smiled. "We carry each other wherever we go. You'll know when we are safe, I promise you that."

"I'll hold you to it." Richmond whispered. "You better start packing." He suggested after composing himself.

"Goodbye." She said softly and hoped it was not forever, when the screen returned to static.

He was right, there was not much time to lose. Charlotte immediately hurried out of the study and saw Maria standing at the door, sensing something was wrong and waiting in expectation for Charlotte to tell her what it was.

"We have to go." Charlotte said firmly. "They're coming."

"Oh no my lady!" Maria exclaimed, her hand covering her mouth in shock. "How much time do we have?"

"Not much at all," she returned abruptly as she hurried to Lilith's room to pack her daughter's things for their hasty departure. "We have to leave now."

"Where are we going?" Maria asked.

Charlotte paused and let the disjointed plan in her head suddenly take cohesive form. "We will go somewhere I can make a scrambled transmission to Coruscant."

"Coruscant?" The faithful young woman stared at her mistress and her friend. "What is there?"

"An old bounty hunter named Crawl." Charlotte responded softly, allowing herself to think of the one person she had tried to forget the last six years and was certain, he would have tried equally hard to forget her. "A friend of mine used to work for him. He may know how to contact Vin."

"Is this Vin someone you can trust?" Maria asked.

"Yes," Charlotte said with a small smile as she savored his name on her tongue. She had not even wanted to speak of him since she was forced to send him away. "You could say that."

PART FouR

It was strange how easily Chris Larabee had become apart of Vin Tanner’s life.

When Vin had first stepped off the ramp intending to bring in the bounty on the Jedi’s head, he had no idea that he had reached a turning point in his life. So many things had changed for him since that fateful day that Vin no longer recognised the life he once had in comparison to what he had now. He was a Jedi apprentice at a time when it was exceedingly dangerous to be one. The Jedi were fading into the mists as Chris often said so sadly, usually when they had shared one too many drinks and his master was particularly somber. Even though Chris was a Jedi, he still had such moments of sorrow where not even the Force was able to ease the pain of a grieving heart. Though such instances were becoming rarer as the days tumbled by; Vin nevertheless shared Chris' anguish at seeing not only the end of a great institution but the passing of an entire way of life.

Chris called them the last of the old Jedi order. There would be a new order, Chris had said; but it was unclear whether he or Vin would be apart of it. Their destiny was written together and yet differently, Chris had stated enigmatically during one of his more inebriated and reflective moods and Vin was not entirely sure he was comfortable with that. He knew that he was one of a handful of Jedis still left in the galaxy that had not been hunted down and murdered by Vader. Vin did not even consider himself that; at this time his true appellation was more appropriately an apprentice. Though Chris did not speak of it, there was usually some defining moment, some baptism by fire or blood that all Padwan learners had to experience before they become a real Jedi.

Vin wondered if this was the moment for him.

He stared at Chris lying on the bed in the medical centre, still locked in his Jedi healing trance, giving aid to the medical droids who tended to him while tubes flooded his body with life giving nutrients. The wound was severe indeed and while he still lived, his recovery would take time, even if he had kept himself alive using the Force. A normal person would have been killed instantly or damn near close to it. Somehow Chris had managed to put himself into the healing trance before the point of no return. After Nathan had saved his life on the planet following the Battle of Okanah, as its natives had so grandiosely called the skirmish with the Imperial task force, Chris had been transported to the Purgatory’s sophisticated medical centre to receive more expert help.

Vin had known subconsciously that the bond he shared with Chris was strong. From the moment they had met, there was something between them beyond the ability of words to explain. A kinship perhaps in the recognition that each man had exactly what the other needed to heal. Knowing Vin had allowed Chris to open his heart once more, to learn how to care about people again after the devastating loss of his wife and son. By the same token, Chris had taught Vin that it was not a sin to want to belong and that he was entitled to find a place for himself as anyone did. Their friendship had open up new possibilities for both of them, had brought Chris face to face with a future with Mary Travis and given Vin a sense of understanding about himself that he had never had in his life.

Now that Chris was lying in the limbo of the trance, Vin felt like part of him was there too.

He stared at Chris in that bed, like a lost child not knowing what to do. He tried to remind himself that he was someone before he met Chris Larabee but the truth was, Vin didn’t like that person too much and found himself lingering in this room during most of the journey back to the rebel base on Siraj. The droids and Nathan had said that Chris would be fine. Even Mary had made mention of it once or twice herself when she just how deeply his fears for the Jedi ran; but Vin could not shake the feeling of apprehension because he could not imagine what he would do if Chris Larabee were gone from his life. It would be like losing a part of himself and he knew that without the Jedi, he would always feel something was missing if he were not there at the man’s side, watching his back in times of trouble. 

"Vin," he suddenly heard a voice next to him and jumped.  

"Josiah." Vin muttered in surprise, realising his thoughts must be trouble indeed if he allowed the former Republic Senator to enter the room without noticing it. 

"How is he?" The big man asked as he lowered himself into one of the seats provided for visitors. 

"Still out of it." Vin sighed. "I can feel his healing but it's all on some subconscious level I can’t describe. He probably could though." 

"You are allowed," Josiah smiled faintly. "You’re still pretty new at this." 

"I know," Vin gave him a sidelong glance. "Sometimes I wonder if I’m not over my head, that maybe things were simpler if I’d just stayed the way I was." 

"The Force abhors stagnancy." Josiah pointed out. "Living creatures must evolve, that is the nature of things." 

Vin cracked half a smile. "You're better at this then I am. Maybe you should be the Jedi." He pointed out. 

Josiah let out a small chuckle and then added in a more serious tone. "When I was a boy, that was all I ever wanted to be."

 "Really?" Vin stared at him. Josiah was such an able diplomat it was hard to imagine him as anything else.  

"Yes," Josiah nodded; remembering back to those bitter sweet childhood memories of the dreams left behind or worse yet, never realised. "I used to dream about it and waited for the day when it would be my turn to take the Jedi testing."

Vin could not even begin to imagine what that must have been like. He could not picture the selection of future Jedi being so clinical. He thought of young children put to the test, their whole life decided in that one defining moment. Chris had once remarked that had he been born in the Republic, he would have been tested and singled out for training early because the Force was strong in him. But he wasn't born in the Republic, Vin thought bitterly. He was born on Tatooine, a wretched hive of scum and villainy as a slave, never knowing his father, barely knowing his mother before she was taken. What right did someone like him have to be called a Jedi? 

"So what happened?" Vin asked. 

"The Force was not strong in me." Josiah replied with an expression on his face that indicated clearly that he had become accustomed to this disappointment in his life. "So that was it. I just didn't have it in me to become a Jedi." 

"I'm sorry," Vin found himself saying. 

"Don't be," Josiah responded automatically. "I was disappointed for a while but then I continued with my life, I saw the galaxy, married a good woman and lost her and I was a representative of the Republic." 

"You were married Josiah?" Vin exclaimed, not knowing that about Josiah.  

"A long time ago," Josiah nodded, trying to think about his wife. She had entered his life in his youth and disappeared from it just as quickly. Although he still missed her, it was not so difficult to talk about her now that she was years lost in his past. His memories of her were sweet and there were other loves that had been since her, Maude Standish being one although Ezra seemed to always get pale whenever the subject of their past affiliation came up. 

"I didn't mean to pry." Vin remarked, feeling a little embarrassed for surfacing such a painful memory. 

"You didn't," Josiah reassured him and then glanced at Chris who was still lying motionlessly on the bed. "So are you alright?" He asked the young apprentice. 

"I'm just a little on edge." Vin confessed. "I just realised how big a part of my life Chris' become. I can almost always feel him in my mind on some level. The last time he was in this healing trance, I hadn't even started my training so I couldn't sense him being gone but now, I have this empty place inside me where he used to be. I know it sounds strange." 

"Not really," Josiah answered. "Anyone who has seen you and Chris together understands that there's some kind of bond there. We all recognise that." 

Vin was not certain how to feel about Josiah's statement but took it in the spirit it was given, as an effort to let him know that he was not alone and that his anxiety was not unfounded. "I guess I'll be glad when he finally comes out of it." 

Suddenly he felt something in the back of his consciousness, a feeling that seemed to tug at the edge of awareness, not really probing but making itself felt even though its ability to do so was weak. It was a familiar sensation and Vin immediately rose to his feet without saying another word and made it in two easy strides to the side of Chris’ bed. Josiah looked at him in puzzlement at first before realizing what it was that had inspired the young apprentice to react so strongly. 

"Chris." Vin said clearly. "Can you hear me?" 

"What is it?" Josiah asked. 

"I felt him." Vin returned, needing to make no more explanation than that. "I felt his mind. He’s out of the trance." 

"Are you sure?" The senator looked at him skeptically because Chris for all purposes was just as immobile as he had been. To onlookers, he appeared merely to be in a deep sleep but those who aware the situation, knew better. His mind had shut down in order to let his body repair itself and no energy could be spent on anything else. The brain required far too much of the body’s reserve to function and while the Jedi were able to shut down parts of their bodies to allow vital systems to be repaired, an injury such as Chris was stretching the boundaries of even that extraordinary ability. 

"Yeah," Vin nodded slowly, resisting the urge to touch Chris because he was not sure whether or not he ought to let the Jedi emerge from his limbo state at his own pace or give him the aid needed to return to the land of the living. Fortunately, the dilemma was more or less a moot point when monitors around Chris’ bed began registering the increase his vital signs just before his eyes opened and focussed on them unsteadily. 

"Welcome back." Vin responded, trying to hide just how relieved he was to see Chris awake even though he was certain the powerful Jedi could read his overflowing emotions easily. 

"Its good to have you back brother." Josiah said wrapping his hand around Chris’ fist and squeezing tightly in a show of friendship. 

Chris was still terribly weak. Although he had managed to breach the walls of his Jedi trance to return to them, his body was still suffering the effects of the injury that he had yet to recover from. It was a struggle to remain conscious and the inviting pull of sleep was difficult to resist. However, he could feel the emotions emanating from his friends, forcing him to keep his eyes open, to show them that he was all right. Vin seemed particularly fearful but that was hardly surprising when Chris remembered how closely linked they were. Master and Apprentice, the bond was always strong but Vin was more than just a student, he was a friend and Chris sometimes forgot that to the young man, he was the only link Vin would ever have with the Jedi. 

"I wish I could say it was good to be back." Chris muttered weakly, licking his lips because his throat felt dry. The action immediately prompted Josiah to remedy the problem when he held a glass of water to Chris' lips so the Jedi could take small sips.  

"Give it a few days," Vin retorted with a smile. "You just got the business end of a blaster." 

"Oh is that what happened?" Chris mused and eased back onto his pillow again. "I'm guessing we did okay with the Okanah?" 

"If by okay you mean we won, I guess we did." Josiah remarked, not entirely happy to revel too much in their victory. While he understood the need to bear arms for an ideal, he would never be one who could celebrate over the death of another. 

"Mary?" Chris asked quietly, trying not to sound as emotionally involved as he did. 

"She's fine." Vin responded quickly, aware that subject made the Jedi exceedingly uncomfortable and decided to spare Chris the ordeal of being forced to ask after Mary's welfare. "She's on the bridge now. Actually, we better tell her you're awake. She's been pretty worried."

"She has?" Chris croaked, trying to sound not too interested in the answer. Vin kept the observation to himself that even a Jedi can behave like a teenager when it came to a special woman. Vin was glad he was not the only one. 

"Of course she has," Josiah said as a matter of factly. "She's been to see you a few times but you've been in your healing trance." 

Chris absorbed that information and felt a sliver of pleasure knowing that Mary had been with him even when he was not locked in his limbo like state. However, he said nothing more about it because his feelings about Mary were private and existed in too fragile a state for him to wish discussing it. "So we're on our way back to the base?" 

"Yeah," Vin nodded. "We should be arriving there in a couple of hours." 

"Boy I must have been out of it." Chris sighed, realizing how much time had actually been lost during his immediately recovery. He was still far from recovered and could tell by his present weakened state just how badly he was injured. If not for the Jedi healing trance he had placed himself immediately after being shot, he would have most likely died on the desert floor. Suddenly a memory surfaced in his mind with such force that he saw Vin stare at him sharply, because the shock wave had reached the apprentice with just as much force. 

"Josiah." Chris said weakly. "I need a moment with Vin. I need to tell him something." 

"Sure," Josiah responded automatically, taking no offense at the request because the two men were Jedi and there were some things that they could not share with the others no matter how much they wanted to. Josiah had come to the firm conclusion that it was not a matter of trust but rather one of safety. Josiah had a feeling if they knew half of the secrets Chris and Vin had inside their heads, Vader and the Imperial fleet would be hunting them down just as ruthlessly. Although Buck, Nathan, Josiah, Ezra and JD had not spoken out loud about the secret that Vader had almost wrenched free from Vin's mind during the kidnapping of Princess Leia Organa, they came to the conclusion that it was better if they did not know. Something told them that it was information that could not be bandied about too many people if it was to remain safe. 

"I'll tell Mary you're up and about," Josiah said to Chris. 

"Thank you Josiah." Chris smiled gratefully at him for taking the request so well and with so much understanding. 

Vin was puzzled at emotions he had suddenly sensed from Chris but did not speak about it until Josiah had left the room. For a moment, the apprentice had been bombarded by this overwhelming sense of fear and what surprised him was the nature of Chris' anxiety. It was fear for him. For some reason Chris Larabee was frightened for him. Vin could not even begin to imagine why. He was standing in the room with the Jedi as far from trouble as one could possibly get. There was no need for it unless Chris knew something he did not and that sent a sliver of apprehension through him. 

"What is it?" He asked Chris once Josiah had gone. 

Chris took a deep breath to steady himself. He was tired and he needed to rest but he had to tell Vin what he had sensed. He had to do it before that terrible vision that had allowed him to be careless enough to get shot became a reality. Something was coming at them and he sensed that the wheels of it were already in motion but had yet to reach his best friend. Even though he was in a weakened state, the Force was still with him and it was warning Chris that the vision that he had seen with Vin fighting Darth Vader was already more of a reality than he knew. 

"Vin," Chris swallowed, having no idea how to say this. It was one thing warning a man against something that was going to happen but warning him against something that he had yet to do? "I had a vision out there in the desert."

That did not surprise Vin in the least. He recalled the expression on Chris' face a few seconds before he had been shot. The look in his eyes that told Vin he was no longer fighting a battle with them but was rather somewhere else all together. Only a vision could distract Chris enough to allow him to be harmed by a stray bolt during the battle. Chris was more than capable of defending himself against such attacks than anyone else and Vin began to fear what the Jedi had seen to cause a lapse of such magnitude.

"I guessed as much," Vin said tautly. "Couldn't see any reason how you couldn't have gotten hurt otherwise."

Chris nodded weakly, trying to choose his words carefully. He did not want to reveal too much because a man knowing his future may attempt to avoid it by any means necessary. Time had a strange knack of manipulating its currents to reach the end it desired especially when one was trying its hardest to go the opposite direction. Vin's attempt to evade Vader might be what inadvertently put him in danger in the first place. There were a thousand variables to consider and Chris wished he knew how to say the right thing to avoid all of them. 

"It was about you." Chris stated. 

"Tell me." Vin urged after a pause. Had Chris seen his death or something as equally terrible? Is that why the Jedi looked at him with such fear? 

"I saw you fighting Vader." 

Vin felt his heart freeze inside his chest. He knew the name and remembered the sensation of Vader inside his mind when he was on Zhar. That dark, insidious cold that had invaded his consciousness and prepared to rip apart all he was to get to the truth the dark lord needed so desperately. Vin still had nightmares about the occasion. Although he had never seen Vader himself, it was more than once that he had woken up in the night, sheets plastered to his skin, certain that he could still that rasp of a voice speaking through a mask, breathing just as heavily. Vin knew that these were impression of Vader that he had picked up from Chris but that did not make the experience any less daunting. 

"Fighting Vader?" Vin hissed. "Why?"  

"I don't know," Chris shook his head, wishing that the images were a little clearer but he was weak and injured and he could not interpret all that he had seen, only the more intense imagery that had been seared into his mind. "You were fighting him Vin. You were fighting him with everything you had." 

"Did he kill me?" Vin dared to ask. 

"No," Chris said immediately without hesitation. "I didn't see that but you were led to him." 

"Led?" Vin's eyes widened, becoming more and more confused. "What do you mean?" 

"Something brought you to him." Chris closed his eyes, his energy reserve draining until he was imparting what he knew to Vin by sheer will power. "A woman brought you to him." 

"Alex!" Vin exclaimed. "Something is going to happen to Alex?" He thought of Alex being in Vader's hands and knew that if anything could make him take off and face the dark lord, to ignore the fear the man engender within him, it was Alex.  

"No," Chris shook his head. "Its not Alex. I don't know who exactly but you can't go Vin."  

"If Alex is in trouble...." Vin started to say. As frightened as he was of Darth Vader, he was not about to sacrifice Alex for anything. 

"It's not Alex." Chris felt the last of his strength start to give out. He could feel the soothing black of sleep calling him with its siren song and for once he wanted to be swept away by it. "Vin, you got to promise me not to do anything rash. Things aren't always what they seem. Sometimes our emotions get in the way, they alter our perception of things, make us go one way instead of another. It's powerful and its dangerous, you have to resist the urge to give into them. It's not quite the dark side but it can lead you there." 

"I don't understand Chris," Vin replied, trying to reach him as he felt Chris' mind slip away into fatigue. "If it's not Alex, who're are you taking about?"  

However, Chris was unconscious once more and Vin had no wish to rouse him out of his sleep when he so obviously needed the rest. Still, the words he had spoken lingered in the room with them for a long time after Chris had slipped back into slumber and Vin felt uneasy in the wake of that revelation.  

"What aren't you telling me Chris?" Vin whispered even though the Jedi was unable to answer. "What can't you tell me?"

PART Five

The message from Crawl was waiting for him when he returned to the rebel base on Siraj.

Thanks to Casey’s skill as a slicer, she had created a veritable maze of scrambled frequencies and boosted signals riding piggyback on normal subspace chatter that made it virtually impossible for any communication between Vin and Crawl to be traced. In reality, all the transmissions waited for him in a small, barely functioning transmission storage facility on Bimmisari, which forwarded the latest transmissions directly to the scrambler on board Vin’s ship, the Tracker. It was more than a day after it had been originally recorded that Crawl’s message finally reached Vin but it did so without anyone being able to trace the signal and ascertain the location of the rebel base.

As always, upon returning to the base after being a way for a number of days, Vin made the obligatory check on the Tracker. Though no one came near his ship when he was absent other than technicians performing standard maintenance tests on the craft, Vin liked to make a personal inspection for his own benefit. The ship was the first home he had truly called his own and was not merely a vessel but a trusted companion. It had serviced him through numerous adventures and was his prized possession. Coming on board the craft, Vin nestled comfortably into the cockpit, settling into the command chair that had been molded to suit him after years of use.

It was good to be back in the cockpit of his ship. Here at least, there was no confusion. This was all his and as he stared through the cockpit window and saw the hive of activity bustling beyond the confines of the craft, it was good to know that he could escape the world briefly by wrapping himself in its familiar surroundings. He would have been here sooner but he had first visited Chris in the medical centre following their return to the base. The Jedi was still in no condition to leave and at present would require bed rest for at least a few more weeks. That he was too weak to protest this was an affirmation of how ill he was. Vin had remained at his side for most of the journey from Okanah, often being relieved by the others and by Mary who came and sat by the Jedi’s side when the bridge could permit her to the time to get away.

Mary was with Chris now and Vin wanted to give them some privacy, so he had left the Jedi in the lady's capable hands and took the opportunity to carry out some personal errands. The last had been to check on his ship. Vin noticed the light flashing on his communications terminal and realised that he had messages waiting to be read and felt a surge of anticipation at that discovery. When he first had Casey set up the system for him to receive external transmissions, he had done so in the hopes of hearing from Alex. He was painfully aware of how difficult it would be for her to make regular trips to the base, especially when much of her work required her to be deep under cover most of the time. This was the only form of communication that would pass between them during the periods when she was under deep cover.

Vin immediately activated his message viewer and eased back into his chair, prepared to bask in the sight of Alex on the holographic imager before him however, to his disappoint, it was not Alex who appeared but rather Crawl. The former bounty hunter sat up abruptly in his seat, aware that such communication would only not originate frivolously because Crawl knew his affiliations these days and would not risk contacting him unless there was something terribly urgent to be discussed. He hoped that Crawl was all right because he was fond of the old bounty hunter whom had given him his start in the profession and hated to see any harm coming to him.

The hologram crackled into being with a slight burst of static before the image steadied and the audio input began transmitting. "Tanner, I know that we had agreed that it was a good idea that I didn’t try to contact you but this situation is something of an exception. I wasn’t sure I wanted to pass this message on to you because you seem into be in enough trouble these days with the Empire without this little gem making things worse but I figured that it isn’t my choice to make. Besides, you were crazy enough to become a Jedi, you’re probably crazy enough to do this too."

Vin tensed. He could feel the tremor in the Force telling him immediately that trouble was coming at him and he braced himself to receive it. Crawl’s words seemed ominous and the sliver of ice that was slowly snaking up his spine conveyed the feeling most succinctly. The holographic image of the old bounty hunter before him disappeared in another eruption of mild static as Crawl encrypted a new message within his own. The face that materialised before Vin drove the air from his lungs when he realised whom it was. It was a face he had spent years trying to erase from his memory with little success and when she appeared before him again, the recognition of her brought with it a tidal wave of longing and regret of what had been and would never be again.

"My name is Charlotte Richmond," she introduced herself as Vin continued to stare, feeling his heart stop beating at about the same time he had forgotten how to breathe. "I am the wife of Governor Will Richmond of Commenor. I am trying to find Vin Tanner, he once told me that you were a person that could be trusted."

Vin remembered that, he remembered telling her that he trusted Crawl with his life and that the man was completely trustworthy, particularly when Crawl guessed the reason for his determination to stay by Charlotte’s side back in the days when he was still her bodyguard. Crawl had given him advice he should probably taken when he started to fall for Charlotte; that is to cut and run. Of course she was the first woman that Vin had ever truly loved and leaving was impossible for him then. He was young and he was head over heels. It was as perfect a recipe for disaster as any that had ever been created. It made sense that she would contact Crawl in an effort to reach him. Friendships like the one shared with Crawl lasted years, usually unto the death. It was probably the only avenue Charlotte had to find him, now that he had joined the rebellion and had dropped out from sight.

"I need to get in touch with him urgently," Charlotte continued her transmitted message to Crawl. "My daughter and I are in danger and we must find safe haven with the rebel alliance. I know that Vin has joined them and that perhaps you may have some way to contact him. Please, my life and that of my child’s are in your hands. If you are able to contact him, please tell him that we are presently on Ithor, hiding in Seleusa Secanda, the capital city of Ithor. He may find us under the name of my companion Maria. Please," her face showed the lines of her worry and fear even through the holographic projection of her image. "We don’t know how long we can keep out of Imperial hands. If it was just me, I could accept the dying but its not me they want, its my daughter Lilith and if all else, I need the rebellion to protect her. I care nothing for myself."

With that noble statement, the recording ended and for a long time after its demise, Vin could only sit in his chair, recovering in stunned silence. Even though he seemed statue like, inside he was a tidal wave of tumultuous emotions. What cruel trick of fate was this to bring Charlotte back to him now? He had yearned for this moment for years, had dreamed about it in the lonely nights that followed his separation from him. There were times he would have preferred to die then go on living without her. He had loved her that much and the intensity of that was still as fierce because his emotions at this time were in a confused frenzy. He thought of Alex and suddenly it became even worse, he was in love with Alex but now he was torn because Charlotte was back. Charlotte whom he always wanted, who had been the first person to love him and made him feel as if he was worth carrying about.

Why now, he asked himself in anguish? It was not fair!

Fair or not, she needed his help and that part at least was clear to him. He had to go to Ithor and bring her back here. Perhaps along the way, he would decide how he felt about her and how he felt Alex and be able to make a choice on what he wanted to do. For the first time, she had understood why she had never specified what kind of danger she had been in when he had been hired to act as her guardian. No bounty hunter in his right mind would have accepted a job protecting anyone that was wanted by the Empire. In the days of the Old Republic, such a thing was acceptable because the Republic was weak and was not extreme in its dealings with those acting against their wishes. The Empire however, was an entirely different animal, which was not weak but rather merciless. A bounty hunter finding himself pitted against the Empire would lose and lose big.

Had she trusted him so little even after they had crossed the line with each other that she could not tell him the truth? That angered Vin a little and he knew he was clinging to this little piece of outrage so that he could balance out the urge to be swept away by his emotions for her. He needed to think clearly because if he helped her (as if there was any question he would not), he would be coming face to face with Imperial hunters and that was a course of action that required extreme consideration before one embarked upon it. In the end however, it was a battle lost even before it began, he knew he would go. In fact, there was never really any doubt because of one thing;

He had promised her he would.

When they cast their final gaze upon each other and walked away for the eternity that had concluded just a short time ago, Vin had promised Charlotte that if she ever needed him, she could count on him to come to her aid. He promised that he would help her because he knew that she had enemies and that someday, not even Richmond and all his money was going to save her from her written destiny. Despite the fact that she had sent him away, that she had asked him to leave and never look back, Vin had made the promise using it an anchor to the dwindling hope that she might need him and he could have reason to see her again. Now she was holding him to that promise and no matter what the consequences to himself he would not let her down.

He sat in the cockpit of the Tracker understanding at last that this was what Chris had been referring to in his sick bed. This situation with Charlotte would undoubtedly lead him to face Vader and whether or not he survived the encounter was a secret Chris could or would not tell him. He should have felt angry at the Jedi but he could not. Chris had done everything required of a good friend trying to save his life. He seen the vision of Vin's fate and had almost died himself to bring Vin that revelation. What Vin did from this point on was no one's responsibility but his own. When Chris had spoken about a woman bringing him to ruin, Vin had expected it to be Alex. Never in all his imaginings did he conceive that it would be Charlotte.

Now that he knew the truth, it did not seem so surprising. Charlotte had brought him to the brink of destruction once before and it appeared she was going to do so again. He made his decision like a man going to his execution and yet he knew that even though it was easy enough to ignore her desperate cry for help, he could not. When he left Tatooine, Vin had barely the clothes on his back and a few credits in his pocket to get by but the one thing he had, worth more to him than all his meager possessions, was his word. A man could lose everything in life but he was still not destitute as long as he had his honor. He had given Charlotte his word that he would come when she needed him and for better or worse; he would keep that oath.

After making that decision, he realised that he would have to leave the base immediately. The message had taken days to reach him which meant that Charlotte was still on Ithor awaiting him. An ex-bounty hunter knew how dangerous it was to remain in one place whilst one was being hunted by Imperials. She could not stay there long even though she was no doubt taking great precautions to be anonymous. Eventually, the Empire would find her. He could not even get word to her that he had received her message and was on his way. Even though she said that she could be contacted via someone named Maria, Vin would not take the risk. The Empire was notorious for the traps it was capable of setting and he had no intention of finding himself in one. While his Jedi senses told him that the result of all this would be the confrontation that Chris had seen in his vision where Vin found himself facing Vader, Vin was going to nonetheless take every precaution to avert that outcome.

He just hoped Chris would understand.

***********

Less than an hour later, Vin found himself standing at the paneling of glass that made up one of the walls to Chris Larabee's room in the medical centre. The Jedi was resting comfortably, still in critical condition and would remain so for several days until he regained his strength. Chris was asleep in his bed and Vin saw no reason to wake him up. In truth, Vin would rather avoid telling Chris what he was about to do, not simply to spare himself Chris' attempts to stop him from going through with this but also to save Chris from the refusal Vin would inevitably have to give him. The words the Jedi had spoken still weighed heavily on his mind, not to mention the plea for him not to act rashly. Vin was not acting rashly but he simply could not walk away from Charlotte. She needed him and only he knew just how much it took for her to ask him.

He stared through the glass at Chris, certain that he was taking the coward's way out by simply leaving but he knew Chris and if he were to tell the Jedi of his intention to go, Chris would either try to stop him or go with him. Vin would not risk the Jedi's life for anything. Chris was the best friend Vin ever had in his life. He was someone who had not only opened up a world for him but also revealed that a part of himself, he had always thought to be an aberration, as something to be proud of and to be celebrated. Chris had given him the world of the Jedi and for that, Vin would be at his side forever except for right now because he had to do this. A short time ago, he wondered if watching Chris being shot was the defining moment that transformed him into a Jedi. Now he knew better.

His trial would be to confront his fear of facing Darth Vader. So he would do that. He would confront that fear and accept the consequences of that, whatever it may be.

"Vin," Buck Wilmington's voice suddenly called out to him.

Vin looked up and saw the star pilot approaching him from down the corridor. Judging by the emotions of concern emanating from Buck, Vin guessed he must have heard about his departure. "Buck." Vin said shortly and faced front again, continuing his observation of Chris in his slumber.

"I hear you're leaving." Buck declared in a statement that was no surprise to Vin. "One of the techs preparing your ship made mention of it."

"Yeah," Vin nodded. "I have some business to take care of on Ithor."

"Care to fill me in?" Buck asked, knowing Vin well enough to know that he did not just leave without good reason.

"It's a long story and I don't have time to tell it to you." Vin returned.

"I think you do." Buck answered in a tone that made Vin look at him.

"It's none of your business Buck." Vin stared at him. "I have to take care of things."

"Vin, you're a member of the Rebel Alliance, like it or not. We don't just leave, not when our capture means compromising the security of everyone in this place. I'm the last person to lecture you on that but you're planning on leaving without even telling Chris, which kind of makes me wondering what you got yourself into that you can't tell him, unless of course its something he won't let you do if he knew about it."

"I have to go." Vin turned around and started walking.

"Vin don't do this." Buck tried once more. He had no concept of the Force but his instincts were strong and everything he saw in Vin's face right now, told him the young man was skirting on the edge of disaster and it would harm Chris Larabee irreparably if anything happened to Vin. Buck would spare Chris that pain again, not when he was finally on the road to recovery. The bond between the two were strong and sometimes Buck envied it but he also understood that friendships evolved and that his and Chris had changed and it was in some ways stronger even if it was also more distant. He accepted it and he accepted that Vin had much to do with Chris' return to the land of the living. "If anything happens to you, he'll never forgive himself."

Vin paused and let out a deep breath, knowing that part was true. He turned around and faced Buck. "I gave her my word Buck, I told her that if she ever needed me, I'd be there. She needs me now."

"Are we talking about Alex?" Buck asked but instinctively, he guessed that they weren't.

"No," he shook his head. "We're not talking about Alex. We're talking about Charlotte Richmond."

Richmond. Buck went silent for a second as he tried to remember why the name was so familiar. After a moment, he lifted his eyes to Vin. "She got anything to do with Governor Richmond of Commenor?" Buck was almost afraid to ask.

"She's his wife." Vin said quietly.

"Hell Vin." He sucked in his breath. "Are you sure about this?"

"No," Vin replied honestly now that he was bearing his soul. "I'm not sure about anything. I only know I have to go. She needs my help and if she's asked, it means she has no one else to turn to."

Buck nodded in understanding. He knew better than any one what it was to be completely lost in the affairs of the heart. How many times had he risked being shot by an angry husband over some of his dalliances? If Vin had fallen for this woman as hard as he had fallen for Alex, then there would be no reasoning with him. Buck was not even sure if he should try because if it were he, no one would be able to convince him otherwise. Buck would already be on his ship and going to the rescue, no matter how fool hardy the exercise might seem.

"Vin this could get you killed." Buck pointed out.

It was not the first warning he had heard about this issue and Vin supposed that Buck was probably right but he still had to go. "I know."

"Let me come with you," Buck offered and he meant it too. Whatever Vin was embarking upon was fraught with considerable danger and his manner had all the indications that he did not expect to come back. This did not sit well with Buck at all. "You can use the help."

"No," Vin shook his head, not even considering it because he would not. There was no way he was risking any one of his friends where Vader was concerned. It was one thing to throw his own life away on some foolhardy mission to save an old love but he was allowing no else to risk losing their lives because of him. "I have to do this myself. Chris told me something of what's going to happen. You can't be there. None of you can."

"I hate this Jedi stuff!" Buck exclaimed angrily. "All of you are the same! You rush off alone and get into more trouble than you know what to do and you won't accept any help! Goddamn Vin let us help you!"

"You can't." Vin returned. "I'm going to help Charlotte and if I can get back here I will but you can't join me. Chris saw what was going to happen and I can live with it if it's just me but I won't be able to if any of my friends get hurt."

"Vin...." Buck started to protest but Vin stopped him from saying anything further by interrupting.

"Buck, I loved her once and I wasn't able to help her then. I have to do it now. I don't know whether I still love her but I can't say no to her." He started to turn away when suddenly he remembered something and faced the pilot again.

"Tell Alex I'm sorry." He met Buck's gaze. "If don't make it back, tell her I love her but I had to do this."

Buck wished he knew what to say but he did not. The Jedi's way were mysterious and the affairs of the heart were shrouded in even greater mystery. Vin's course was set and short of physically stopping him, which would have been a very bad idea even if Vin was just an apprentice, Buck knew that he could do little to prevent the younger man from leaving. He did not even know whether he should even try. All he could do was nod, offering Vin the silent promise that Alex would hear his final message if he did not come back from Ithor. Before Buck could respond with anything further, the Jedi apprentice turned on his heels and disappeared out of the corridor, leaving Buck alone.

************

When Chris Larabee's eyes fluttered open some hours later, he noticed immediately that something was out of balance. For a number of brief seconds, his consciousness struggled to find a reason for such an odd sensation. He was still weak and answers did not come to him with the speed he might have liked but he could feel the Force and at the moment it was telling him something was wrong. The memories of the past days immediately allowed his intellect to narrow down the possible causes even if his extra-sensory perceptions were lagging a little in his injured condition. He sat up in his bed and swept his gaze across the room, finally resting his eyes upon the empty space that should have been occupied by the Jedi apprentice since Chris had found himself interned in this room, he finally understood what was different.

Vin was gone.

Whatever wheels were set in motion during the battle of Okanah, it had finally reached the young man and despite Chris' warnings, he had gone nonetheless. Not only had he fled while Chris was too weak to stop him, he had also gone without even saying goodbye. Chris would have almost been angry if he did not understand why Vin had done it. The answer was simple enough; Chris would have tried to stop him and Vin, for whatever reason had been compelled to go, could not be stopped in this endeavor. Even now, Chris could sense him drawing further away until the bond between them existed by the filmiest threads of connection.

He sensed someone coming and immediately shifted his eyes towards the door. Buck Wilmington entered the room and Chris stared at him sharply because he could feel the emotions emanating from his oldest friend and as well as the memory of Vin inside Buck's mind.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Chris demanded as soon as Buck came through the door.

"I didn't have a choice." Buck replied softly, having anticipated the question the moment he saw Chris' eyes on him.

"Vader is after him." Chris said firmly. "If he has left Siraj, Vader will get him."

Buck swallowed, understanding at last why Vin refused to let anyone accompany him. "There was nothing I could do to stop him Chris," Vin replied. "It has to do with a woman."

"I know," Chris nodded. "Not Alex though."

"No," Buck answered. "Her name is Charlotte Richmond. She's Governor Richmond's wife."

Chris exhaled loudly and felt back into his bed, almost defeated. "She's also going to lead Vader straight to him."

"I think he knows that Chris." The pilot whispered. "I think he is perfectly aware of that."

Chris started to get up and immediately prompted Buck into action. "Chris what the hell are you doing?"

"What do you think?" Chris grunted as he pulled himself up into sitting position. "I'm going after him because if I don't, not even with the Force will he get out of this alive."

PART Six

There were very few worlds like Ithor.

The entire planet was encased in a fist of green vegetation, the product of a completely agrarian society whose belief in the sanctity of the land bordered almost on religious fervor. Inhabitants of the planet had long ago abandoned terrestrial living in favor of large floating cities called herdships. The move was made to protect the cycle of regeneration and growth of the planet's extensive forests. Ithor had become one of the richest sources of food crops in the entire galaxy, feeding billions thanks to the efficient management of its agricultural industry. It had been such during the day of the Republic and it was the same now that the era belonged to the Empire.

Vin admired the planet surface as the Tracker proceeded towards the capital city of Ithor. The capital, Seleusa Secanda was actually the largest herdship of all the floating cities and the only one equipped with docking facilities for private and commercial starships. The native Ithorians, or hammerheads as they were most commonly known, had no love for the Empire. They were generally a peaceful race, finding destruction a waste of time when theirs was the business of giving life to seeds and making things grow. They accepted begrudgingly Imperial rule although they did not go out of their way to be cooperative. The Empire tolerated their idiosyncrasies mostly because the Ithorians fed a great deal of the core planets and were reluctant to disrupt the flow of its production.

Vin could understand why Charlotte would have chosen Ithor as her hiding place. Most Ithorians did not look upon collaborators with any mercy and were known to kill them for their betrayal. All life on Ithor was precious and Ithorians took great efforts to protect those who came to their herdships for sanctuary. With such dislike of informants a matter of public knowledge; those who practiced the craft preferred to stay off Ithor, thus there was little danger of an informant giving Charlotte away during her stay here. Vin however, was not foolish enough to think that she could remain here indefinitely without arousing suspicion. Whether intentional or not, someone would give her away and the Empire was known to monitor their communications channels of planets they knew were unsympathetic to them.

The Tracker had been provided with the same false registration codes that the Rogue had been provided when it made off world trips. Since he had become a fugitive, his ship had become just as wanted as him and was on record at Imperial outposts everywhere. Although the space station on Seleusa Secanda was controlled by Ithorian authorities, their records still needed to be sent to the local Imperial stations for review and if they recognized the Tracker, it would only be a matter of hours before a destroyer was in orbit around the planet. Considering that he had had done this without help, he would prefer not to have a run in with a destroyer because attention like that would undoubtedly bring Vader as well.

Vin had discarded his Jedi robes for something more conventional with his lightsabre tucked beneath his jacket where it would not be seen. The weapon was a dead giveaway he did not really need right now and he hoped Charlotte would understand when he tried to explain it to her. From a bounty hunter to padwan learner was going to take a great deal of explanation but no more than why she was running away from Imperial agents he supposed. Entering Ithorian space dock proved to be without difficulty. The hammerheads took his registration codes as gospel and allowed him to land in a berth without incident. Something for which he was extremely grateful.

Most of the travelers to Seleusa were usually here for the business of trading so when he entered the city after departing the space dock, Vin was careful to blend into the groups of traders moving towards the commercial districts where the main body of lodging houses would be situated. If Charlotte wanted to be found, she would not make it difficult for him. Seleusa was like any busy city even if its traders were mostly farmers and large scale agricultural wholesalers. They came in every different shape and size; not even elitist policies of the Empire could contain the economics of interstellar trade. It was good to see that some semblance of the Republic was still alive and Vin felt strangely comforted by the chatter of so many languages. It allowed him to become just another face in a sea of faces.

He was moving through the city, confident that he was not discovered, nor his intentions known when he started to sense something on the edge of his consciousness. At first he thought it was his mental bond with Chris because Vin could sense the Jedi no matter what the distance between them. However, this was different. It was very close and also very familiar. There was a moment of stark terror as he approached the lodging centers when he thought Vader might be here but calmed himself because he knew how that sensation had felt and no way could the Sith Lord be here without him having more than just a feeling about it. The last time he had even felt the man's presence, Vin had known about it instantly and even then he was not as adept as he was now.

Through means he could not understand, there was a Jedi here.

Vin took a deep breath and told himself that there was nothing to be done about it now. The other Jedi would have sensed him just as surely as Vin would have felt his presence and he still had to find Charlotte. Hopefully, the Jedi would not get in his way of that and just to feel secure, Vin patted his jacket and felt the secure shape of his lightsabre hidden in its folds. There were a number of lodging centres in Seleusa when he finally arrived at the appropriate district but common sense told him that Charlotte would pick one of the less frequented ones. Thus Vin conducted his search in all the smaller facilities, ever mindful of the Jedi whose presence he could feel but made no attempt to contact. He guessed that if the Jedi wanted to hide, this was a good a place as any. The Ithorians were a spiritual people and their belief in things unseen also extended to the Jedi.

After an hour of searching, he was met with success and retained enough of his old skills as a bounty hunter to ensure that no one would be following his trail. He learned from an elder Ithorian who seemed to stare at Vin as if he knew more than he should; that a woman by the name of Maria was in fact lodging here. Vin wondered who Maria was and considered that it might be an alias but that would be too simple. He doubted that Charlotte would travel alone with a child but supposed six years could change things considerably and he had no idea what her life had been like since his departure from it. He did not wish to think too much about that because it would bring up feelings he had no business having.

As difficult as this all might seem to him now, the truth was; he had left Charlotte behind and he was in love with Alex. What he had said to Buck was not a lie no matter how confusing things might be right now. Even now, the thought of dying and never seeing Alex drove a knife through his heart despite the reasons that had brought him here. Vin tried not to think about her, aware that his survival from this point on depended on his being focussed. However, as he made his way towards the suite of rooms being occupied by the woman called Maria, Vin could not help thinking about Charlotte and how it would feel to see her again.

Unfortunately even thoughts about Charlotte became difficult to sustain when his sense of the Jedi became so strong that it was impossible to ignore. He came to the realization that the Jedi was close, allowing Vin to sense him but also blocking his thoughts so that Vin could not know any more than that he was here. Suddenly fears about Vader returned to him and Vin knew that whether or not Vader was here made no difference, he had to find Maria to find Charlotte and so he would continue. After what seemed an eternity of time, he stepped onto the corridor where her lodgings were and could feel the presence of the Jedi more strongly than ever. Vader had her, he thought to himself. Vader had her and was waiting for Vin to arrive.

It was so easy to turn around and leave. He was under no obligation to risk his life but to do that would be to condemn her and her child to death and Vin was not ready to do that. He made up his mind quickly as he stood in the corridor at what he would do. He would offer Vader his life to let Charlotte go. Once she was gone with her child, he would kill himself. It was not much of an alternative but that was better than allowing Vader access to his mind where the secret of Skywalker would be exposed. Vin thought of that innocent child on that moisture farm in Tatooine and knew just how much the future relied upon him to know that he could never fall into Vader's clutches. 

And he would not. Vin would rather die first. 

He reached the door and was about to activate it when it opened before him. If anything confirmed that Vader knew it was here, it was that one final act. Vin let out a deep breath and accepted what would happen as he stepped into the room. The first thing he saw when he entered was not a phalanx of stormtroopers or even the dark lord himself, instead he found himself in front of Charlotte. She was just as he had remembered her, soft eyes; a smile seemed to light up her face upon seeing him. Her eyes glistened with emotion as they faced each other for the first time in so long and suddenly, she was in his arms and they were kissing each other as if the years had never been.  

He felt her mouth melt over his and for a short time, it felt as if they had never been apart, like he had never walked away from her so many years ago. However, he soon remembered that he had, that she had asked him to leave and someone else had picked up the pieces of his heart, someone he loved. The memory of Alex alone forced him to pull back and when he did, when his mind was not so clouded by his emotions, Vin was able to sense something else and the discovery drove him back in utter shock.

"Charlotte," he managed to say once the shock had dissipated enough to allow him speech. "You're a Jedi."

*************

 "What are you doing?" Mary Travis asked when she entered the confines of Chris' quarters in the Medical Center and found him attempting to climb out of bed despite the collective protests of the medical droid and Buck Wilmington. 

"What does it look like?" Chris asked as he slowly attempted to get dressed, an action that produced a grimace on his face each time he tried to move. 

"It looks like you're about to be put back into bed whether or not you like it." She said calmly, her arms folded as she stared at him critically. 

"Mary, don't try and stop me." Chris retorted just as defiantly. "I have to go after him." 

"And do what?" Mary came around the bed so that she could look him in the eyes. "So that you can help him? What exactly do you think you can do for him other than bleed profusely?" 

"Vader's going after him!" Chris barked at her. 

"And naturally you are going there because you are in perfect shape of course to fight Vader." Mary returned smoothly, her cool voice a stark contrast to the agitation displayed by the men present.  

"It’s like talking to a mynock." Buck grumbled, in complete agreement with Mary. "Chris, you go after Vin and you’ll do is give him something else to worry about." 

"I’m not discussing this with a committee." Chris retorted and struggled to slip on his shirt. 

Buck opened his mouth to protest but Mary gave him a brief look, instructing him to let her handle this. "Chris we are not a committee and you are not going. Buck and I will go." 

Chris shot her a sharp look over his shoulder and retorted. "This is supposed to make me feel better? So instead of Vin I have to worry about, I’ll have you and Buck too?" 

"Well that’s awful sweet of you Chris but if you’re so worried about us, maybe you wouldn’t be behaving like a damned fool so we’d have to go to these lengths to keep you from busting all the new seams you got inside of you." Buck glowered.  

"Buck you don’t know what’s at stake." Chris stared at his old friend trying to make him understand. Vin knew the secret that the remaining Jedi were prepared to die to keep from being exposed. Above all else, the safety of the Skywalker twins had to be ensured. Chris knew with certainty that Vin would never willingly give up the information to Vader but that was not to say Vader could not extract it from him. Vin was just an apprentice and Vader was possibly the most powerful Jedi there was. Chris could not be certain that Vin’s mental shields would be able to keep Vader from stealing what he knew straight out of his mind. 

"I know it's important." Buck returned firmly. "I know that it scares you to death that he may let Vader in on it but he might surprise you. To tell you the truth, Vin didn’t seem all that eager to have a run in with the guy and he’s smart enough to cut and run when he knows trouble is coming Chris."  

"He may not get the chance." Chris muttered, still remembering the terrible vision where he had seen Vin and Vader do battle until the dark lord had struck the apprentice down. He remembered Vin’s scream of pain and the blood that washed the floor of their battleground. 

"That’s why Buck and I are going." Mary stated firmly, bringing them back to the original point of discussion.

"Please Sir," the medical droid implored in its erudite tones. "You must return to bed. Your vital statistics are still below normal, you must recuperate from your injuries."

"Vin’s an apprentice Jedi and he may not be able to stand against Vader," Chris declared, finding his reserve energy starting to dwindle and knew the droid was right about that much anyway. He was weak but he was damned he was going to show it to either Mary or Buck. "What makes you think you two can?" 

"Because we’re going in a warship," Mary responded aloofly. "And if we have to bomb the city from orbit to help Vin get away we will. If we leave now, we can get to him before Vader does." 

"You can’t be sure of that." Chris retorted, not about to give up yet but her words were starting to effect him and also he was finding it difficult to stand. Under the thermal gauze covering his wounds he could feel blood escaping through fissures in tender flesh and knew that he had reopened some of the medical droid’s intricate repair work on his body. 

"No I can’t," Mary returned coolly, sounding every much the commander and when she was in this frame of mind, nothing would make her budge from her set course. "But its still a better way of getting Vin back then you going after him because that has disaster written all over it." 

"Sir, I detect fresh bleeding." The medical droid moved towards him and was soon overtaken by Buck who managed to catch Chris as the last of his energy withered and was about to sink to the floor. The big man helped Chris to his bed, taking note of the widening red stain seeping through the thermal gauze. 

"You’re one stubborn son of a bitch you know that?" Buck shook his head as he and the droid both helped Chris into his bed once more.

 "You should talk." Chris groaned as he was forced back into the soft mattress. As much as he worried for Vin, he could not deny that it felt heavenly to be able to sink back into its softness and realised though rather begrudgingly that Mary and Buck were right. He was in no shape to go after the younger man.

 "Chris," Mary waited until he nestled back into the sheets before she placed a hand on his cheek. "We’ll find him, I promise you."

 "You have to find him Mary," Chris held her hand against his face, liking her touch and amazed by how much comfort it seemed to provide him. "You can’t let Vader get to him first. The consequences would be extreme, not just for him but for the entire rebellion and the galaxy. He can’t know what Vin does."

Mary nodded in understanding even though she did not know the secret. There was something in the way he spoke that told her that it was the truth; that more than she could possibly know rested on Vader being denied what was contained in Vin Tanner’s head. The secret frightened her because it was a terrible thing to know so much rested on an unknown, one that was not even safe for her to be aware of. "I won’t let it happen Chris," Mary said in the same tone of confidence that Chris had often used to allay her fears about things. "We’ll find him."

He had to believe that she could because if the consequences would be dire if she failed. 

***********

At last he understood.

All those times when she seemed to know what he was thinking, how she always knew how he felt without his having to say a word. Vin had thought it was because she knew like no other woman had ever done but now he realized that all that belief had been based on an illusion. Even his own insight into her feelings and her heart was now merely the connection engendered by two people who were Force adept, Vin almost felt cheated. In what other way had she used her abilities in the Force to influence him? Had falling in love with her been part of it too? A part of him felt betrayed and humiliated almost as if he had been subjected to the same invasive intrusion Vader had inflicted upon him when he had tried to extract information about Skywalker from Vin’s mind.

Charlotte’s expression of happiness to see him soon disintegrated into a mask of dismay when she understood what was running through his mind. She stared at him for a few seconds, eyes beginning to glisten at the anger in his thoughts that she could feel most clearly at the moment. Swallowing hard, it took a few second for her to come up with some kind of response although she was uncertain whether or not he was in any frame of mind to listen to her. Still she had to try, she had to explain why she had never told him the truth. It was as much for his protection as it was for her own. However, she had never used her abilities to produce some false sense of feeling for her. It was the one thing that had drawn her so much to him; that what he felt was from the heart and she could feel it. 

"It wasn’t like that." She said quietly. 

"What was it like?" He demanded.

"I did love you and you loved me." The steps he had taken backwards seemed like a chasm of great distance but she held her ground instead of moving towards him, aware that he had reason to feel what he had. "Nothing about that was ever a lie. What we felt was real."

"I have no way of knowing that." He glared at her. "You lied to me about everything, right down to what I was. I thought you understood me. For the first time in my life, I thought that there was someone else in the galaxy that could understand what I felt but it was all a lie! You used the fact that I knew nothing about the Force to make me feel for you!" 

"Vin it wasn’t like that!" Charlotte exclaimed, horrified by the notion. "I didn’t tell you because you had no idea that you had the Force and it was best that you didn’t know." 

"How could it be best?" He accused. "I had no idea what I was for the last six years. I went through my life having this feeling about myself but never knowing for sure. You could have told me that I was Force adept instead of hiding it from me."

 "And what would telling you have served?" She asked. "Vin, do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be a Jedi now?"

"How can you be a Jedi and ask that?" Vin stared at her in shock, unable to believe that she and Chris Larabee were one and the same. How could they be so different? Whatever might have happened to Chris, even through the tremendous losses of his life, Chris had never abandoned his Jedi faith. He might have strayed from its path but to utterly walk away would have been incomprehensible to the seasoned Jedi.  

"I have been a Jedi for as long as I can remember." She glowered angrily at having her faith challenged with such revulsion. "My mother was a Jedi and her father before her and if I want my daughter to become a Jedi or to know the Jedi ways, I have to protect her. If that protection required me having to walk away from what I was, I was willing to do it." 

"You should have told me!" Vin hissed, unable to accept her explanation. If she wanted to protect Lilith by hiding that part of herself, that did not exonerate her from keeping secret what she knew him to be. "You had no right to keep something like that from me. I needed to know!" 

"Vin if you knew, you would have insisted on finding the Jedi, is that not true?" She asked, refusing to believe that what she did was wrong. 

"You know I would have." He retorted. "If you didn’t, you would have told me the truth." 

"If you became a Jedi, they would hunt you just as they were hunting me." Charlotte said softly. "I have seen so many friends and families die because of the Emperor’s insane desire to destroy the Jedi. Vader was one of us! He turned to the dark side and now he’s obliterating every remnant of us across the entire galaxy. I did not want that for you Vin. I didn’t want you to have to run." 

He was still angry with her but he also understood that she was trying to protect him. Hadn’t Chris Larabee been the same when they had first met? Chris was reluctant to have him become an apprentice because he feared that the Empire would come after him just as it had done with the rest of the Jedi. Why should Charlotte be any different? However, Chris had given him the choice. He had allowed Vin to decide for himself whether or not he wanted to be a Jedi or to follow the path. "You denied me the choice Charlotte." Vin stared at her mercilessly. "Whatever your reasons, you denied me the right to choose." 

"Vin, please." Charlotte implored "I did what I had to do to protect you. I didn’t want you to get hurt." 

"Its too late." Vin declared. "I’m a Padwan learner." 

"I know," Charlotte nodded. "I sensed it the minute you came on board Seleusa." It was true. Though she had resisted the urge to look into his mind, she still sought his presence and she could sense in him the discipline in his thoughts that he had lacked before. "Vin, I know I can’t make up for what I did but this is a new beginning." 

"No it’s not," he shook his head, his eyes meeting her dead on. "I will help you Charlotte. I will help you get to the Rebellion but that’s all I can do. What we had between us isn’t possible any more."

 Charlotte stared at him and swallowed visibly. "Is there someone else?" 

Images of Alex involuntarily surfaced in his mind and he was certain she was privy to all of it. The rush of feeling that filled his soul whenever the lovely operative was near immediately gripped his heart and infused it with warm and longing. He wished things had been different because for so long he had awaited this day. Years ago, it was all he could think about. The irony that now she was here, he no longer wanted her because his heart had gone to someone else. In the last few hours, he had become certain of that fact despite all the confusion that had pursued him until this point. 

"Yes," Vin nodded slowly. "Her name is Alex."

"Is she one of us?" Charlotte asked quietly. She had feared it but supposed she should not have been surprised by the revelation. She had continued with her life when she sent him away. It was pure wishful thinking to assume he would not have done the same. 

"No," he shook his head in response. "She’s not Force adept and I don’t need her to be. I guess I know she loves me because she doesn’t need the Force to know me."

The obvious rebuke impacted on Charlotte with a sting but she said nothing because she did deserve it. "I understand." She responded not knowing what else to say, if there was anything to say in the face of his disclosure.  

"Where is Lilith?" Vin asked, taking stock of the luxurious room and realizing that he had not seen the little girl for whom her mother had sacrificed so much.  

"I had Maria take her to the Observation Deck." Charlotte responded glad to leave the earlier awkwardness for the time being. There was much for them both to deal with and it was best that they concentrate on getting to the Alliance in one piece.  

Vin was all for leaving immediately. They had so far managed to avoid any Imperial entanglements but Vin did not want to gamble on their luck holding out indefinitely. It was tempting fate too much that they were all together in one place, too easy for some Imperial to capture them all and make a name for himself. "Pack enough to last you the trip to the Alliance," Vin ordered. "We're leaving." 

"You have a ship?" Charlotte asked hopefully. 

"Yes," Vin nodded. "She's docked in the space port. Once you pack, we're out of here."

************

Far above the twilight space beyond Ithor's atmosphere, a section of space no different from any other in the star system, began to cackle with energy. The shift was barely noticeable because in a vacuum, even energy seemed inert. A blue tendril here and there, almost like hairline fractures in the indigo canvas, converged at the fix point for a few milliseconds. Then suddenly, like a giant leviathan exploding out of the ocean, the great ship entered Ithorian space. Its entrance was dramatic; appearing as if it had dragged the stars behind it from whence it had emerged. Space seemed to contract around the ship and then expanded again, a dazzling array of a light and technological magnificence rolled into a one-second display that no one except a passing ship would ever see. 

The super star destroyer Avenger hovered in place for a few seconds as across the floating metropolis, technicians and officers were ensuring that the journey here had been made with minimal incident. Following the fraction of a second it took to make this determination, the massive rear engines of the craft flared to life with blue intensity heat and sailed towards the Ithorian orbit. Through the observation window of its bridge, Lord Darth Vader contemplated the brief journey and gave orders to proceed. 

The trap was sprung.  

Now it was time to claim his prize.

 PART SEVEN

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