The Sith System
by Brendon Wahlberg (bwahlber+@pitt.edu)

Author's note: This story is a sequel to Shooting Stars
(part 1) and Rising Stars (part 2). It features some
characters and situations from Splinter of the Mind's
Eye, by Alan Dean Foster, as well as versions of the
Marvel Comics characters Flint and Lumiya, revised
to fit with current Star Wars continuity.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Prologue

The Emperor was dead. Darth Vader was dead. That
news took little time to spread across all of Imperial space. It
signified something different to all who heard it. To
members of the Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic, it
meant victory, revenge, freedom, or hope. To some within
the Empire, it meant defeat, or despair. To others, it meant
opportunity, relief, or redemption.
To Lord Flint and Lady Lumiya of the new Sith, it
meant that the treacherous Emperor who would destroy them
was himself destroyed, and that the Dark Lord of the Sith
who would rule them was gone forever. It meant that the
time of Sith ascendancy had begun again at last.
Piloting their stolen assault shuttle through the acid
storm clouds of the barren world of Vjun, Lumiya turned to
her gruff companion with a patronizing smile. "You see
Flint? It's just as I said. The Dark Lord's troops and guards
have deserted his castle, now that they don't have him to fear
any more. When the Devastator left orbit, it took everyone
from Bast Castle with it."
"Hmm. Perhaps you're right," mused Flint. "I'm not
picking up any scanning or tracking signals from the castle.
And I don't sense the presence of anybody skilled in the
Force, either. It would seem to be safe for us to go in and
get what we came for." He placed a gauntleted hand on his
cyborg companion's metallic gray shoulder from where he
stood behind her, looking out the rain spattered viewport.
Lumiya tolerated the contact, and even seemed to draw
strength from it.
She turned back to look up at him, her long red hair
falling away from her deeply scarred face. "Always the
cautious one," she said, slightly mocking. "Even if Bast
Castle was full of troops, they couldn't stop us from
walking in right under their noses, and back out again, too.
Only Lord Vader could, and he's as dead as everyone
thought we were for all these months."
"You sound almost pleased that our old Master is
dead," Flint said.
"I'm pleased with the freedom this gives us, to start
fresh, and recreate the Sith our own way. The passing of a
Dark Lord has always meant the rise of a new one, or, in our
case, two new ones. That's already one departure from the
past. And we have so many plans." Lumiya turned in her
seat and put one gleaming finger in the middle of Flint's
armored chest. "Plans you dreamed up and made me believe
in. Plans we could never have made real if the Emperor
hadn't been destroyed. And if Vader had survived the battle
of Endor, there might still be an Order of the Sith, but it
would be his, not ours. Don't get me wrong, Flint. I know
we owe him a great deal, but I also enjoy being in charge."
"It still bothers you, doesn't it, that Vader refused to
let you go after Skywalker?" Flint asked, looking steadily
into her eyes. He saw a spark there, always burning, flare
slightly at the mention of that name. Flint frowned. He had
hesitated to bring this up, but now that they had come to an
important juncture, he had to know. "Now that you're free
of him, is that what you're going to do?"
Lumiya looked away and faced out the wide
viewport. She began piloting the shuttle towards the high
stone spire on which the Sith castle was perched. She was
silent as they approached, until the dark structure, a replica
of the lost Sith monastery of Horuz, loomed out of the
storm. "I've thought about that..." she said quietly, "and
I've decided that my commitment to the Sith is stronger than
my need for revenge. Luke Skywalker's death can wait for
the day when our order is secure."
Flint knew she could sense his relief at her answer.
He simply let the matter drop and sat down next to her in the
co-pilot's seat. Without talking, they maneuvered the
Gamma class shuttle to a gentle landing on the empty
platform next to the deserted looking, helmet shaped
complex. After suiting up in protective gear, they crossed the
acid lashed landing area and entered the Castle, unobserved
and unmolested. The inner halls were equally deserted. It did
appear that, after Vader's death, the keepers of his private
sanctum had quietly abandoned it, taking anything of value
with them. Flint and Lumiya walked the long corridors of
durasteel-reinforced stone in silence, haunted by memories
of their year-long training in this place. Well-remembered
Sith carvings and heavy statues remained, as did the great
domed hall with its painted parade of Dark Lords of the
distant past. Now, no one would be there to paint Darth
Vader's image onto that ceiling. This place would be left
behind as a mute testimony to a long history, whose
continuation would belong to another future time and place.
Once past the central hall, the Sith climbed a spiral
staircase that led to the castle's single high tower. They
paused at the sealed entryway to Vader's own private room.
Flint keyed in a recognition code on the door's control panel,
and it slid smoothly aside. Inside, they crossed to the
gleaming black meditation pod, ignoring the brooding Sith
statues that inhabited various alcoves around the room.
Lumiya opened a panel on the side of the meditation
chamber, and entered a code that she and Flint had been
entrusted with a year ago by their Dark Lord. She and Flint
stood back. There was a deep mechanical groan, and instead
of the top and bottom halves of the chamber separating to
open it, the entire pod rose towards the ceiling on a black
cylindrical column. On the face of the column was a
magnetically sealed door, with no visible controls.
Flint looked at Lumiya. "All right, this is it. Are you
ready?" She nodded, a hungry expression on her face.
Both of them closed their eyes, and opened
themselves to the Force. Through the Eyes of the Force,
they could see past the closed door to the opening
mechanism behind it. With a combined push from their
minds, it grudgingly shifted into position and the door
swung smoothly open, revealing a large storage
compartment within the column. It was what the Sith had
come for.
Lumiya immediately knelt beside the opening and
began to pass the contents to Flint. These included a number
of thick leather-bound books, obviously of great antiquity,
an ornate dagger with a glowing yellow jewel set into the
hilt, a collection of scrolls, several medallions, and a purple
box made out of crystal and inscribed metal. Flint held up
the latter.
"Here's the greatest treasure," he said reverently.
"The Holocron of Exar Kun, given to Lord Vader by the
spirit of Kun himself."
Lumiya passed him a long gray sword and began to
get up. "That's everything," she said. "Not much after so
many millennia, but it'll have to do. Then a tiny gleam
caught her eye, deep in the shadows of the hidden
compartment, where she had almost missed it. "Wait a
moment - there's something else here." She reached in a slim
metallic arm and withdrew a small box lined with dark
velvet. It was open, and nestled in its soft interior was a
deep red crystalline sliver. The fragment glowed softly, a
rich light that seemed to dance on the crystal like red sunlight
on water. Lumiya handed the box to Flint.
"What's this?" he asked, taking it. "I've never seen it
before. Is it new, or did Vader hide it from us?"
"I have no idea," she replied, "but whatever it is, it's
attractive. It makes me want to touch it..."
Flint removed one gauntlet and carefully lifted the
splinter from its box. He was moving to pass it to Lumiya
when a startling shock pulsed through him from his hand.
He recoiled and dropped the crystal to the floor.
"What's wrong?" Lumiya demanded. "Did it burn
you?"
"No...no, I'm all right," said Flint, recovering. "It
isn't hot at all. It was more like...a sudden rush of the
Force, pouring into me. I was just surprised, that's all. I
think it magnifies the Force, somehow."
Lumiya bent to pick it up. She held it in her
prosthetic palm and frowned in disappointment. "I don't feel
anything...well, no matter - we'll take it with us for study."
She snapped the small box shut with the sliver inside, then
swung the compartment door closed. When the secret door's
seal was restored, the column descended again, lowering the
meditation chamber to the floor.
Flint looked at the tooth-shaped closure of Lord
Vader's pod, somehow expecting it to crack open, rise apart,
and reveal the Sith Lord glowering at them within. But of
course it never would again.
Lumiya was looking at the small pile of Sith artifacts.
"This won't be enough," she said thoughtfully. "We'll need
more knowledge to accomplish our goals."
"Then we'll just have to find it out there
somewhere," said Flint. "We'll sift through what we have
here, study the Holocron. Maybe we'll find clues, lost trails
to follow to the places of old Sith power..."
"Let's get out of this heap of cold stones and head
for space then," said Lumiya impatiently. "It's just full of
old ghosts anyway."
The Sith returned to their ship and lifted off without
looking back. Behind them, Bast Castle crouched like a
crustacean huddling alone in the pounding rain. Darth
Vader's lofty house was empty, for now...

*  *  *

Eleven Years Later...Yavin Four...

Master Skywalker stared disconsolately at the huge,
empty chamber at the heart of the decayed Palace of the
Woolamander. The ceiling stones had recently caved in and
tumbled to the floor, allowing dusty light to invade where it
hadn't been welcome for four millennia. The weak
sunbeams cast light on the eroded flagstones at the Jedi
Master's feet, but they provided no illumination for him.
There are no answers here, thought Luke. Exar Kun is gone
forever. We destroyed him ourselves. But somehow the Sith
live on...and I don't have the slightest idea what to do about
it.
A tentative electronic warble reminded the Master of
his faithful droid companion, R2-D2. The little blue R2 unit
was always able to sense Luke's moods somehow, and like
a patient and compassionate pet, listen to Luke's troubles
while offering simple support. This was certainly a time
when Luke needed that. He felt overwhelmed by the burden
of his choices, weak with indecision, and entirely bereft of
the optimism he needed to see this through. Artoo had no
idea what he was up against, but Luke appreciated the
droid's trying.
"Oh, Artoo..." said Luke, letting his inner despair
come out in his forlorn tone, "what am I going to do? Part of
me, a crazy part I guess, just wants the dark side to go away
forever. For the battle to just be over. But it seems like I can
never have that. Even when the Emperor and Vader were
gone, there were still the Nightsisters of Dathomir, and then
Master C'Baoth." Luke snorted. "Then the Emperor reborn,
and Exar Kun. Why can't we defeat the dark side once and
for all?" Artoo emitted a sympathetic sound.
"And now there's the new Sith," Luke sighed. The
new Sith had seemed to come out of nowhere, an order fully
formed, to rival the fragile new order of Jedi Knights. Luke
was full of anxiety for the survival of the Academy he had
worked so hard to build. Another Sith War, like the one
fought against Exar Kun so long ago, would most likely
destroy the Jedi, so soon after their rebirth. But the specter
of war was not what most disturbed the Jedi Master. War
was something he could understand. What particularly
unbalanced him was that the new Sith claimed to want peace.
A truce. Luke couldn't believe it. That simply wasn't how
the dark side operated.
"Artoo," said Luke, "play me back the message from
the Dark Lords again." Luke didn't know why he asked. He
had already seen it a dozen times. From the first time, when
the holomessage hyperspace capsule had been delivered into
his hands after being picked up near Coruscant, to the most
recent, the message continued to bewilder him with its
implications. The patient droid's holoprojector lit up, and
soon two figures were standing by Luke, flickering in the
dusty gloom: Flint and Lumiya, the Dark Lords of the Sith.
After seeing the message for the first time, Luke had
been shaken by the sense that he had met both of them
before. Somewhere, years ago, he had encountered Flint,
the tall, stern man in the black plate armor. And Lumiya, the
slim, red-haired woman clad entirely in gleaming, form-
fitting silver-gray metal. Luke had used Force-enhanced
memory skills to solve the mystery, but what he found only
puzzled him more.
He had met Flint on an Imperial industrial world
called Belderone, during the galactic civil war. The young
man had wanted Luke to train him in the Force, and had
accosted Luke in a crowded marketplace. Luke had firmly
told Flint that he could be no one's teacher - Luke had not
even met Yoda yet - and moved on, putting the encounter out
of his thoughts.
As for the other Dark Lord, Luke remembered her as
Shira Brie, a rebel pilot from Kulthis Base when Luke was
briefly stationed there. She and Luke had been introduced,
and had talked a few times, but that was all. Before he could
learn more about her, she had been killed in a raid on
Vader's fleet, during the evacuation of the base. Yet, here
she was, apparently alive.
None of it added up.
As the holoimage played, Luke heard the rough,
deep voice of Lord Flint speak the words that were
becoming very familiar to him.

Greetings, Jedi Master Skywalker. We are
Lord Flint and Lady Lumiya, Dark Lords of
the new Sith. We are aware that you have
reestablished the Jedi Order, and we want
you to know that the order that gave rise to
Darth Vader has also been reborn through our
efforts. It thrives in a hidden location far
from New Republic space. The Jedi and the
Sith have been enemies for countless
centuries, and in the most recent conflict,
Emperor Palpatine took advantage of this to
bring both orders to near extinction. Now,
two young new orders have arisen from the
ashes of the old. It should be clear to you that
a new conflict could wipe out both of us. But
we don't have to be slaves of the past. I say
we can learn from it instead. We can create a
truce between the Jedi and the Sith, and
flourish independently. We thought that you,
who has walked the line between the dark
side and the light, would understand the
Force enough to see the importance of this
proposal. We invite you to the Sith System,
for formal negotiations to establish a truce.
Your personal safety, as well as that of any
companion you bring, is assured. We will
meet on the Sith homeworld on the last day
of the third standard galactic month, if you
agree to come. The precise location of our
world must remain, understandably, a secret
until negotiations are concluded. For this
reason, we have arranged a rendezvous in the
Dagoris system. From there, you will be
taken to the Sith System on one of our ships
-"

"That's enough, Artoo," said Luke abruptly. "Turn it
off." Flint and Lumiya winked out, leaving the Master alone
with his thoughts again. Luke simply didn't trust the offer of
the message. No darksiders he had ever met before would
keep their word once a truce was established. Why should
these two be any different? The invitation itself could well be
a trap, designed to capture or kill the only Jedi Master left,
himself. On the other hand, could he afford to ignore the
message? Lord Flint's point about a conflict between the
orders was important - it could destroy both. Could a truce
really work, Luke wondered? Could he ever trust the dark
side enough to make any agreement worth the risk?
Luke had lived with the dark side for a long time
now. It had corrupted and killed his father, separated him
from his twin sister, and taken his mother away. In the form
of his second Master, Emperor Palpatine, the dark side had
almost corrupted Luke himself. Only his Jedi sister had
saved him from his doom. Luke suspected that his level of
conflict with the dark side set him apart from even his
Master, Yoda. Had Yoda ever faced so much darkness? On
his less charitable days, Luke sometimes thought that Yoda
had taken the easy way out by hiding from the conflict on
Dagobah. But he knew that wasn't true. The true conflict
with the dark side was internal, not external. Luke had
faced, and gone beyond, his own darkness, years ago. He
shouldn't be so torn up about it at this point. So why was
he? Why was it so personal after all this time?
The answer was there, just behind a wall of pain in
his mind. Callista. Callista, his lost love, had been taken
from him by the dark side. Her powers in the light side had
been blocked, and they had been horrified to find out that
Callista could only surmount her block by giving herself to
dark side. Unable to live with Luke but without the Force,
she had left him to search for answers on her own. Alone
and miserable, Luke had fallen into a depression, a deep rut
in which he still remained. Worse, he had become fatalistic
and pessimistic, changes his friends could see were
dangerous to him. A few months ago, he had even come
close to a kind of suicide. Tortured by the Force-disrupting
influence of the crystal star, Luke had faced being consumed
by an alien creature called Waru. He had felt such bleakness
in his soul that he had whispered, "Yes, take me...", and
only Leia had saved him again. Now Luke seriously
wondered if he was emotionally fit to go and face the Sith.
He might harbor a reckless lack of concern for his own fate,
or a desire for vengeance against the dark side itself.
After hearing the message for the first time, Luke had
shared it with some of those closest to him, hoping for
advice to push him into a decision. Predictably, his sister
Leia, the Chief of State of the New Republic, had been
skeptical...

"Luke," she had said, "think about who must have
trained these people! It could only have been our father, and
you know what that means. How can you trust anyone who
had Darth Vader as their teacher? Besides..." Leia's face had
creased with concern. "I'm worried about you. And I think
you know what I'm talking about. Han's worried too.
Maybe you shouldn't go on this mission. Could you send
someone else to represent you?"
No, Luke couldn't. Because of who he was, Vader's
son, he felt responsible for dealing with what his father had
left behind.
"At least take lots of Jedi with you," she had said.
"Take Kyp, and Kam at least. Promise me."
Luke had promised he would think seriously about
everything she said.

Kam Solusar and Kyp Durron had been all in favor
of coming along. Luke had contacted them in their respective
systems, where each was acting as a Jedi Guardian. Kyp
had been rather agitated at the news. "The Sith!?" he had
exclaimed. "I can't believe it! After we went through so
much agony with Exar Kun around, suddenly a whole
bunch more of them show up? This is ridiculous!"
Kyp had been taken over by Exar Kun and used to
nearly kill Master Luke and Han Solo. He had killed his own
brother during the destruction of Carida. There was no love
lost between him and anything connected with the Sith.
"I say we go in with a New Republic fleet and blow
them into little pieces, before they have a chance to come to
Yavin and do the same to us. This is one problem we can
solve before it gets out of hand."

Kyp's volatile response was of little use to Luke, and
while Kam Solusar was more reasonable, his advice ran to
the opposite extreme. "I wouldn't worry about it, Luke.
They're probably worried about us! Think about it...they're
alone out there, somewhere, few in number, and they know
we're this no-nonsense Jedi force that can take down people
like the Emperor, and wipe out places like Byss. As far as
they know, once we find out where they are, they're next.
So they send this message, asking for a truce. It really
shows that they're weak. Listen, Luke, I say you tell this
Flint that he has to come to you. Don't let these posturing
pretenders dictate terms to you. And whatever you decide,
I'm there if you need me."

But Luke's instincts told him he couldn't do what
Kam said. They told him that this truce was too important
for the future, and that he had to play it straight. Luke had
learned to trust those instincts. He had been right about his
father, and he was right about this...or was it his death wish
creeping out again, as it had with Waru? How much of that
despair on Crseih Station had been due to the crystal star,
and how much had come from inside him?
Luke's comlink rudely interrupted his thoughts. He
held it up, annoyed. "Luke, this is Tionne," the comlink
crackled. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but you have an urgent
message. The caller said you would want to hear this right
away."
"Well, who is it?" demanded Luke, frowning.
"She says her name is Halla," said Tionne. "She's
calling from Tatooine. She says it's not her that needs to talk
to you. Something called the Kaiburr Crystal does. Luke,
does that make any sense to you?"
Luke couldn't answer for a long moment. His eyes
were wide, his body frozen. Finally, he stammered, "I - I
don't know. I mean yes. Maybe. I'll be right there!" Luke
switched off the comlink. "Come on, Artoo. Things have
just gotten a whole lot better...or a whole lot worse!"
Luke ran from the ruined Palace.

*  *  *

"Come in, come in boy," said Halla, motioning Luke
into the doorway of her simple one-story stone dwelling.
"You're probably not used to the heat anymore. Come on in
and I'll bring you some water. Hey, still got that little droid,
I see. Hello, Artoo. You keeping this high and mighty Jedi
Master from getting into too much trouble?"
Artoo beeped affirmatively as he rolled in after Luke.
Halla's home was crowded with looms and weaving
machines, heaps of fabric and bundles of thread. Luke found
a seat among the clutter and relaxed. In a moment, Halla
bustled in carrying two glasses of cold water.
"How's business?" asked Luke, taking the glass
gratefully.
"Oh, same as usual. Always a demand for quality
clothing in a place like this. Do you know I even sell to the
Sandpeople? 'Course I have to bring the merchandise out of
Anchorhead to the desert, 'cause they won't come anywhere
near here, unless it's for a raid. But you should see some of
the beautiful crystals they give in trade." The gray haired,
tough looking woman eyed Luke critically. "You could use a
new set of Jedi robes yourself, you know. That one's
looking pretty ragged." She smiled. "And your credit's good
with me." Halla took a long drink and sighed. "It's good to
see you, boy. Been a few years since the last time, hasn't
it?"
"Halla," said Luke gently, "about why I came."
Halla's face fell and she paled slightly. "Yes, yes of
course, Luke. I know I made you rush here, and I'm
thankful that you did. I was just scared, and I didn't know
what to do. All these years, I've taken care of the crystal for
you, and nothing's happened. It's been peaceful, and I've
been happy here. Got lots of good friends, good people.
People stick together out here, but you know that...Then, all
of a sudden, the crystal seemed to...to wake up. In the
middle of the night, it started blazing away in its hiding place
and calling for you! I was so frightened, I thought
Pomojema himself might show up. It's been quiet since
then, and I've calmed down, too. I suppose you'll want to
see it right away...?"
"I think that would be best," said Luke. Halla led
him to her small bedroom. She moved the bed to one side,
and cleared away a variety of weaving supplies to reveal a
small trapdoor in the floor. Her wrinkled fingers lifted it up,
and immediately, a warm red glow bathed her time-worn
face. She reached in and lifted out a multifaceted crystal as
large as her head. The crimson radiance pulsing steadily
from the gemstone seemed almost alive. Luke immediately
felt the stirring in the Force as Halla's flesh and minor Force
sensitivity caused the crystal to react.
"Here it is, Luke," she said reverently. "The Kaiburr
Crystal. All that time, I hunted for it on Mimban, thinking it
would bring me such power, then I found out it simply
wasn't for me...and it ended up hidden here under the bed,
just waiting...I wonder if maybe it just got tired of
waiting...?"
"I left it here for a reason," said Luke, gazing into the
shifting luminescence. "At first, I didn't want it to fall into
the hands of Vader, or the Emperor. At the time, I knew that
if it came to a fight, I couldn't keep them from taking it. And
that would have had some awful consequences. Things just
seemed to come thick and fast, even after the war ended. I
never had the time to study it any further. And really, it was
just as well. The Emperor wasn't really gone, and I fell into
his service for a while...If Palpatine, or even Master
C'Baoth had possession of the crystal, there might not be a
New Republic today. I've been afraid of the crystal, too, I
guess. I didn't understand it, and I wanted to be a Master
before I dared to use it..."
"Oh!" said a high-pitched, gravelly voice behind
Luke. "Master, are you? Hmm? Heh heh heh!"
Luke nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun as
Halla recoiled in surprise, her eyes wide. Sitting on the bed
was the transparent blue apparition of a wrinkled little alien
with long pointed ears and stubby clawed hands and feet. It
smiled impishly at Luke and Halla.
"Master Yoda," gasped Luke. "I - I don't believe it!"
The softly glowing figure raised one finger and
pointed critically at Luke. "Don't believe it? Taught you
these lessons before, I have. Always students forget what
they have learned. Obi-Wan told you, always with you
would I be."
Luke shook his head and blinked, but Yoda
remained. "I'm sorry, Master, it's just that...well, Ben said
he could no longer contact me, so I assumed -"
"And yet," Yoda interrupted him, "here I am, with
you. The crystal changes matters. Powerful it is. It allowed
me to call you. Now, we have much to discuss. Yes,
important challenges do you face, young Skywalker."
Luke marveled at how quickly he had gone from
Master to student in Yoda's presence. He also felt a pleasure
he had missed for a long time. The pain of Callista's loss
receded for a while. Luke had his old teacher back. He
couldn't help but smile, even as he raised the topic that had
troubled him so much. "You mean about the return of the
Sith."
"Yes, Luke. In your hands, the future rests. A better
future, if you succeed. A long time have the Sith and the Jedi
fought...Hmmm. But peace you must achieve, for the Jedi
to survive."
"Excuse me," said Halla weakly, "but what's going
on here, boy?"
Luke had forgotten Halla. He turned to her
apologetically. "Halla, this is Master Yoda, my teacher.
Yoda, this is Halla, a good woman who helped Leia and me
find the Kaiburr Crystal and guarded it here for years."
Halla stood stiffly, and gave a little nervous bow.
"Glad to meet you, Master Yoda." She was startled when the
little wizened creature gave her a sly wink and an admiring
once-over.
"Good taste in women you have, young Skywalker,"
Yoda said matter-of-factly to Luke.
"What?" said Luke. "No, she isn't - Halla is just a
friend," he protested, amused. This was a side of Yoda he
hadn't seen before, but years ago, an old woman named
Mother Rell had warned him about it on Dathomir.
"About the Sith," said Luke, changing the subject.
"Am I doing the right thing in going alone to create a truce
with them?"
Yoda turned serious. "Many challenges have you
faced, Luke. Often have you defeated the dark side. This
time, your struggle is not for victory." Yoda leaned intently
towards Luke. "Luke, the dark side and the light side are
both part of the Force. Necessary are they. Both sides need
expression in living beings. And find it they will. The dark
side hungers for domination, but the Force will find a
balance. Between the Sith and the Jedi, a balance there was.
But, a balance of creation and destruction it is. Both the Jedi
and the Sith were nearly destroyed. Then grew the power of
the Emperor. Destroyed the balance, did he. And so, strong
was your destiny to restore it. And recreate the Jedi you did.
But now, a new balance must be found, with the Sith."
"I think I understand," said Luke. "But Master Yoda,
can I trust the Sith? I know avoiding war is something to
strive for, but what if this is all a lie, or a trap?"
"Decide you must for yourself, what the truth is,"
said Yoda calmly. "Already know you, that which you need
- the Force is your ally. And so is the crystal. Its master are
you...use it well, Luke. Help you it can!"
"Its master?" Luke protested. "I don't even
understand it!"
"That matters not. Tested you, it has. Now, it is
yours. It answers your need, in the dark time ahead. Need it
you will, to succeed."
"Tested me?" Luke asked. "What do you mean?"
"In the Temple of Pomojema," said Yoda patiently.
"In the Temple..." Luke frowned, remembering.
"Master Yoda, there are things I still don't understand about
that day. The strangest thing about it was that I faced Vader
in that Temple, and...I won. I beat him. Later, I interrupted
my training and left you to confront him so confidently
because I'd beaten him before. But when I faced him again
on Cloud City, he seemed almost like a different person. He
was too strong for me. He could have killed me, like he tried
to do on Mimban, but he didn't. Instead, he told me he was
my father, and asked me to join him. I've never been able to
reconcile those two times we met..."
"The cave," Yoda prompted. "Remember your
failure at the cave on Dagobah."
Luke turned his thoughts inward. Finally, his face
filled with understanding. "In the cave..." he said softly, "I
let my aggression take over and I fought Vader...and killed
him. But it wasn't real. It was a test. So the fight at the
Temple of Pomojema wasn't real either? It was another test?
The crystal's test?"
Yoda only nodded.
Luke looked at the crystal, pulsing in Halla's hands.
"The crystal tested me. It created Vader out of my own mind
to test my strength. That's why Vader was so different. He
was just the way I imagined him at the time. Wanting
revenge for the Death Star, arrogant, ready to kill me, but in
the end, weaker than I was. So I beat him. I conquered my
own dark side."
"No, Luke," Yoda corrected him. "That challenge
came later. In the Temple, you mastered the crystal.
Mastering yourself was the greater task."
"So," Luke said, "I'm to take the crystal with me, to
face the Sith? Well, at least I'll have a way to defend myself,
alone among my enemies."
"You will not be alone," said Yoda, smiling slightly.
"Two people will you take with you. Confronted the new
Dark Lords have they, in the past. Much can they tell you.
You will need them to succeed as well. Find them you
must."
"Who are they, Master Yoda?"
"Already do you know them, hmmm...Tank and
Shally Boma are their names..."

*  *  *

Luke looked glumly at the neatly kept little house on
the orderly residential street, so typical of the peaceful planet
Balfor. Seeing the evidence of Tank's domestic bliss merely
reinforced his depressed mood. Suddenly, his own ascetic
lifestyle on Yavin, living in a stone temple in the jungle
without a wife, seemed empty and primitive. Tank and
Shally had a good marriage and a happy life - why couldn't
he? Luke opened the front gate and went reluctantly up the
path to the house. His feet seemed to drag; the momentary
joy he had found in contacting Yoda's spirit had left him as
soon as the sprightly ghost had faded away. Luke had said
his good-byes, and taken the crystal from a bewildered
Halla, who was relieved to see it go. Hiding the gem inside
Artoo Detoo's storage compartment, he had flown his X-
Wing to Balfor, thinking all the while that he couldn't have
an unlikelier ally in this than Tank Boma.
Sure, they had grown up knowing each other on
Tatooine, but they hadn't been friends. Tank's
possessiveness of Biggs had led to a lot of friction between
Tank and Luke. It was only made worse by their different
backgrounds and value systems. Tank had grown up on his
own as a street thief, taking on Biggs as a reluctant, belated
father figure, while Luke was strictly raised by Owen Lars
as a hard-working moisture farmer. By a strange twist of
fate, both Luke and Tank had flown in the Battle of Yavin.
Tank's grief at Biggs' death had been evilly manipulated by
a dark spirit, almost certainly Exar Kun, and Tank had
blamed the loss on Luke. Accusing Luke of betraying Biggs
to his death, Tank had kidnapped Luke and tried to take him
to Darth Vader, a potential disaster that was narrowly
avoided.
In the aftermath, Luke and Tank had come to
understand one another enough, if not to become friends,
then to cease being enemies. They had gone their separate
ways to fight for the rebellion, and Tank soon fell in love
with his pilot partner, Shally Edrin. At her invitation, Luke
had officiated at their wedding. He knew that both of them
had gone on to accomplish brave missions for General
Cracken's Intelligence team, including the discovery of an
AT-AT factory, and the liberation of three Mon Calamari
Star Cruisers from an Imperial blockade. They had even
flown their Y-Wing in the Battle of Endor. After the
formation of the New Republic, they had continued to serve
NRI, both rising to the rank of Commander while ferreting
out the schemes of the remnants of the Empire. All that was
very impressive, and Luke knew Tank and Shally must be
highly competent, but he just couldn't imagine what use they
would be against the Sith.
Luke pressed the signal key next to the door and
waited. It slid open, revealing a tall, serious looking woman
in her late thirties. Her long brown hair had an odd streak of
white to one side, adding an unusual touch to her mature
beauty. The woman's gray eyes widened in surprise, and
her thin lips parted in a small gasp.
"Tank, honey?" she called. "You'll never in a million
years guess who's here."
A short, thin man who looked a little over thirty came
up behind her. He had large dark eyes below a thick mop of
black hair, and a nose like a hawk's. His jaw dropped as he
saw Luke. "You're right," he said. "I see it, and I still don't
believe it!"

Tank's credulity was strained even further when he
learned why Luke was there, and saw the message from the
Sith Lords.
"You want us to do what ?!" Tank shouted, as Shally
cringed. "I don't believe it! Luke, you've got to believe me
when I say I never wanted to see those two again. That
woman tortured me! She came this close to killing the both
of us. I'd be crazy to go anywhere near her! And how did
you find out you needed our help again? A little Jedi ghost
told you? Shally, we're going to have to have our names
taken out of the afterlife directory. That's the second mission
from beyond we've gotten this week-"
"Calm down!" Shally said firmly, glaring at her
husband. "Luke knows what he's talking about. Remember,
this is the man who defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor,
and who brought back the Jedi."
"Okay," said Tank. "Luke, I'm sorry. Seeing that
image of Lumiya really did something to me. I just
overreacted."
"Then I did come to the right place," said Luke.
"You have encountered both of the new Dark Lords before.
You have to realize that you two may be the only ones who
have. I need to know what you know about them. I know
it's a lot to ask, but I really need you to come along with me
on this mission."
"Luke, we've been on dangerous missions before,"
said Tank seriously, "but never anything like the time we ran
into these Sith. The Empire, I can handle, but the dark side
of the Force? I don't know how you manage. It's like the
worst times in my life were because of the Sith. The Dark
Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, killed Biggs. And you told
me it was a Sith spirit that took over my mind at Yavin. And
during the siege of Calamari, these new Sith tortured us and
tried to kill us."
"Don't forget, Tank," said Shally, "one of them
saved our lives and let us go free."
"Maybe you'd better tell the story then," said Tank.
"I'm a little too worked up over this."
Shally put a comforting hand on his shoulder and
related their meeting with Flint and Lumiya. Eight months
before the Battle of Endor, Shally and Tank had infiltrated an
Imperial blockade of the Mon Calamari shipyards, in an
attempt to sabotage the Imperial ships and let the newly
constructed rebel Star Cruisers escape. Their mission had
seemed to fail when they were captured, but the worst was
yet to come. Commanding the blockade were the mysterious
Lord Flint and Lady Lumiya. They interrogated Tank and
Shally with drugs and torture, and discovered information in
Shally's R2 unit that exposed weaknesses in the rebel
shipyards' defenses. But the information had been planted
for the Imperials to find. The shipyards were a trap,
complete with decoy cruisers whose detonation destroyed
the Imperial blockade. The real cruisers, constructed in an
undersea shipyards, escaped into space, but Shally and Tank
had to face the wrath of their captors. The deadly cyborg,
Lumiya, had tracked and cornered them in a section of the
crippled Star Destroyer.
"It was awful," Shally said quietly. "She used some
kind of power on us, reducing us to helpless terror. We
were at her mercy, and she had none. Just before she could
kill us, Flint came and stopped her..."

"Flint," Lumiya called out uncertainly. "I have the
rebels that escaped. The ones that caused this to happen to
us."
"No, Lumiya," said Flint. "We did it to ourselves.
They simply gave us the means to defeat ourselves. I can't
let you kill them. You have to let them go, and give up your
hatred of the rebellion. They're not the ones who destroyed
your life. I did that. But I can save your life, if you let them
go, and come with me now."
"Are you going to fight me to stop me from killing
these two?" Lumiya demanded angrily.
"If you force me to, Lumiya," came his calm reply.
"So be it, Flint."

"The two of them fought like they could have killed
each other, but suddenly Flint got the upper hand. He told us
to get in the escape pod and go. That was the last we saw of
them. I guess, seeing the message, that she decided to go
with him. At the time, I remember I almost felt sorry for her,
if you can believe it. Tank told me what made her the way
she was, and I found I understood. I guess Slaughter, the
person I used to be, and Lumiya had something in common.
She and I both almost died in Starfighters, and we both
wanted to use what was left of our lives for revenge.
Fortunately, I had Tank to help me find something better."
"Shally, I can remember who she used to be, too,"
said Luke. "She served at Kulthis base as a pilot when you
and Tank were there. When I was there with Wedge and
Rogue Squadron, I spent some time with her. Her name was
Shira Brie, wasn't it?" Shally nodded. "So how did she get
to be this Lady Lumiya?"        
"She told me, Luke," Tank spoke up. "And this is
something you really ought to know before you go on this
mission -" Shally gave him a kick under the table. "- before
we go on this mission, all right. Don't kick me," he sulked.
"She told that you destroyed her life, Luke. She said you
shot down her TIE fighter during the evacuation of Kulthis
Base. The Empire saved her body and turned her into a
cyborg, but she hated herself from then on. She used to be
an undercover agent for Imperial Intelligence, and she
blamed you for taking it all from her. I'd watch out for her,
Luke. She really wants you dead. Maybe that's why they
invited you there in the first place."
Luke sat silently, digesting this troubling news. The
story of Lumiya reminded him of his experience with Mara
Jade, and he certainly didn't want to go through that again.
"I had no idea," Luke said softly. "I remember that battle.
We were in stolen TIE fighters, attacking Vader's strike
fleet. We were using a special frequency to tell our own
pilots from the Imperial ones, but they caught on to that and
jammed us. Most of our pilots decided to jump for
hyperspace at that point, and there was a moment..." Luke
paused, trying to remember. "There was a moment when a
TIE fighter was coming for me, and the only way I could
decide whether to fire on it or not, was to use the Force. I
wasn't a Jedi yet, but I was able to sense the other pilot's
mind - an Imperial, an enemy. I fired, and the other ship
spun away, shattered. It must have been Shira. If she was
really a spy, then that explains it....And now she wants
revenge..."
"Don't be too hasty in judging her, Luke," said
Shally. "Remember, it's not just Lumiya waiting for you.
Flint is with her, and he's had twelve years to moderate her.
I think, as Dark Lords go, he can be trusted to do the right
thing. He wants this truce, not your death starting a war with
the New Republic. Besides, twelve years is a long time.
Maybe her hatred has faded by now."
"You see, that's what I need you there for," said
Luke, taking Shally's hand. "I need you both to evaluate
Flint and Lumiya. Help me decide if they can be trusted to
keep the truce." Luke put a hand on Tank's shoulder as well.
"And I need you to watch my back." Luke looked steadily at
each of them in turn. "Master Yoda said I would need you. I
trust him, and I hope you'll both trust me."
"I'm with you, Luke," said Shally, smiling at the
Jedi Master. She looked at her husband.
Tank sighed, and nodded. "Biggs would never
forgive me if I didn't watch your back. But I have to say,
I've got a bad feeling about this..."

*  *  *

An X-Wing and a Y-Wing drifted in space, alone, at
the coordinates specified by the Sith message. Luke, Tank,
and Shally had been waiting for about four hours for
someone to meet them. There was little to do except talk, and
Luke was glad to do so in order to take his mind off their
mission and his doubts about it. Not that his doubts weren't
valid. There they were, one Jedi, depressed, and two
civilians, both reluctant to face the Sith they feared, sitting in
two snub fighters in deep space with no idea what was
coming. It just didn't help to dwell on it. However, when
the conversation somehow turned to Luke's relationships, he
began to wish for the wait to end quickly. But Tank had
been so curious, and Shally so supportive, that piece by
piece, the story had come out.
"Let me get this straight," said Tank over the comm.
"You actually fell in love with a disembodied spirit, living in
a computer. But she was able to enter the body of a student
of yours who wanted to die, so she could be with you. Then
you found out her Jedi abilities were completely  blocked.
And there was no way to fix it, but she couldn't live with
that. Then she realized she could use the Force, but only the
dark side. She felt she just couldn't be close to you, so she
left you with only a good-bye note, even though you told her
you loved her the way she was...Damn it, Luke, that really
burns! I don't blame you for being upset. I'd be biting
blaster bolts if it was me. I mean, what does she want? How
many Jedi Masters will she find out there? Who does she
think she is, dumping the hero of the rebellion?"
"Luke," Shally stepped in hastily, "From what
you've told me, Callista must truly love you. Through the
Force, you were as close as two people could ever be. She
knew how wonderful you are, and she knew you deserved
the best. She must have felt she couldn't give you the best
part of herself until she overcame her problems. She said
she'd come back to you, and I believe she will. If I were
her, I'd want to come back as soon as I could. Have faith,
Luke..."
Luke sighed. He was beginning to feel somewhat
better, thanks to the distinctively masculine and feminine
support of his companions. He was grateful to have them
with him...until Tank broke the spell.
"Wouldn't it be horrible," Tank asked, "if we found
Callista out there with the Sith?"
An uncomfortable silence settled over them all.

The X-Wing's long range sensors picked up an
approaching vessel. Artoo emitted an excited warning and
brought up the data on Luke's onboard computer. It was an
old Imperial Star Galleon, a large, boxy ship well adapted
for both cargo hauling and battle. The new arrival came up
slowly alongside the two fighters. Abruptly, Luke's and
Shally's cockpit comm units boomed with a deep voice.
"Master Skywalker. This is Savuud Thimram of the
Sith. You may land your ships in our Star Galleon. Then we
will jump to hyperspace and proceed to Thaarn. I will await
your company in my quarters. We have much to discuss..."
the voice concluded with a trace of dark humor, "former
Supreme Commander Skywalker."
Luke shuddered at the blunt reminder of his service
to the Emperor. So, the Sith had at least one of the
Emperor's adepts among them. He set his jaw grimly. There
was no turning back now. For good or ill, the Sith had
arrived.

*  *  *

"Tell me, Savuud Thimram," said Luke, "why
you're here with the Sith now." The Jedi Master leaned back
in his chair, regarding the powerful adept across the table.
The adept's long eyes narrowed in hostility above his
pug nose and stiff, tiny mouth. Thimram also leaned back
and placed a leathery four fingered hand on his pointed chin.
"You have some curiosity as to my poor fate, I take it? Well
then. Perhaps we can exchange information of interest to
each of us."
Luke nodded, his expression neutral. "What is it you
want to know?"
"It's been a long time since the days on Byss when
we were both in service to the Emperor," said Thimram. "I
had the Master's trust, then, no small thing to accomplish.
He was a great teacher, wasn't he, Master Skywalker? He
taught you much about the dark side, didn't he? Do you
share these things with your own students?"
Luke didn't answer.
"No? What a waste. Perhaps some of them would
find them...interesting." Thimram leaned forward, clasping
his hands together, his brown triangular face shadowed in
the dimly lit cabin. "I understand you were there when he
died at the hands of your small group of Jedi. I want to
know how he died."
"There's not much to tell," said Luke, his discomfort
growing. "He came for my sister's child, wanting to live in
his body. He would have been defenseless as an infant, I
thought, but  he was insane, suffering from clone madness,
and he was dying. Han and Leia were desperate to stop him
in any case. Your Master was shot with a blaster...his
energy form was released from his last clone, and a dying
Jedi took it into himself. That Jedi died in the light, and took
your Master with him, forever."
"An ignominious end, for the Master and for Byss,"
said Thimram, looking away. "I was off planet when it was
destroyed by the Master's own weapon. When I
returned...there was nothing to return to. We lost a great
deal, that day. Most of the Emperor's adepts, his Sovereign
Protectors and Sentinels, the Citadel, countless Imperial
forces, many of the Emperor's books, his laboratories and
creatures, even his Grand Vizier. And, I should add, the
entire resident population of the planet, innocents all. The
rebels took a terrible toll in lives for the light side, did they
not?" Thimram watched, pleased, as Luke's discomfort
showed. "The survivors, such as myself, were beaten and
close to hopeless. Some of us held out hope for Palpatine's
miraculous return, but I suspected it was not to be. Once, he
needed physical proximity to his clones to transfer to them,
but as his power grew, he was able to enter them from
across the galaxy. If he was going to return, he would have
done it quickly. But now I know why he could not, and that
he never will. Now, I can leave the past behind."
"How did you become part of the Sith?" Luke asked
again.
"Lord Flint and Lady Lumiya came to us," replied
Thimram, "ready to pick up the shattered pieces of the Dark
Empire and build them into the new order of the Sith. They
were to be the Dark Lords, of course, but by then, most of
us didn't care about who had the most power. We only
wanted shelter from the storm. And Flint and Lumiya were
strong. They were Vader's students, heirs to the Sith way.
We joined them willingly. But we were still few in number,
and without a home. That was when I remembered Thaarn."
"That's where we're going now?" asked Luke, his
pulse quickening. "The world of the Sith?"
"The homeworld of the Thaarnian race," said
Thimram, "but being part of the Sith suits them. They've
always been prone to strong aggression, quick anger, and
deep fear. They have a long history of wars, mistrust, and
struggling for survival. At some point, Force sensitivity
manifested in them, but their racial tendencies led them to tap
into the dark side exclusively. They believed that talismans
and magic books were needed to release their powers. Very
primitive, don't you think? But the Magian tyrants, the
adepts among them, organized and civilized the people.
Their harsh laws kept whole populations in line. They still
had wars, but they resolved them through contests between
the Magians themselves."
"What kind of contests?" asked Luke.
"Force battles, one on one, often to the death,"
replied Thimram, smiling darkly. "The winner extended his
or her rule over the loser's territory, and the loser was killed
or exiled from Thaarn."
Luke had the distinct impression that the adept
wanted to engage him in just such a contest.
"It was because of one such exiled Magian,"
Thimram continued, "that the Emperor discovered the
Thaarnian homeworld. His name was Urn Zelotes."
"I remember that name," said Luke, "from when I
was...on Byss. People said it in fear, as if he had done
something horrible."
Thimram grimaced. "Four years before your arrival,
Zelotes and ten other adepts nearly succeeded in murdering
the Master. Their punishment was...memorable. Because of
his exile, Zelotes was consumed by a need to restore his
power. He sought out the Master's teaching in hopes of
going back to Thaarn and retaking his territory from Jarra
Latinek, the Magian who beat him. But he never returned to
challenge her. Once he saw how powerful he could be in the
Dark Empire to come, he abandoned such petty plans. It was
the failure of that dream to become reality that pushed him
over the edge. So, Zelotes became infamous back on
Thaarn, when his assassination attempt was cited as the
reason for a ban on any subsequent Thaarnian emigration.
Any of their race was to be killed on sight within Imperial
space. Their whole world was exiled from the Empire.
"But after the fall of Byss, I realized that Thaarnian
beliefs about the Force could be easily blended with the Sith
way. The Sith, too, used artifacts like swords and
medallions, books and scrolls, to access and amplify their
power. Flint and Lumiya agreed with me, and I gave them
the location of Thaarn. They contacted the Thaarnians with
the news that the Emperor was dead, and offered the
remaining Magians partnership in creating the new Sith
Order. It would be a new era of Sith knowledge, created out
of Darth Vader's heritage, the lore of Byss, and Thaarnian
magic alike."
"With Lumiya and Flint in charge of it all. Not a bad
arrangement for them," Luke observed.
"They created the new Sith," said Thimram firmly.
"The right to rule is theirs."
"No wonder the Emperor liked having you around,"
said Luke.
"Just so," replied Thimram. A call came over the
cabin's comlink, the thin raspy voice of a Thaarnian
announcing their arrival in the Sith System. "Come to the
bridge and join your companions as we approach Thaarn,"
Thimram said, standing.
"One thing, before we go," said Luke, still sitting.
"I'm wondering why one of the Emperor's most powerful
adepts is sitting here talking with me rather than taking his
chance at revenge for the Emperor's death?"
Thimram's eyes were cold as he looked steadily
down at Luke. "Lord Flint wants this truce to happen. Don't
delude yourself concerning the depth of my goodwill.
Another time, another place, and we would see, you and
I...but for now..."
Luke's eyes were equally hard as he met Savuud
Thimram's stare and slowly nodded.

The creepy Thaarnians running the ship around them
were making Tank and Shally very nervous. To the humans,
the lizard skinned aliens looked cold and cruel. They
generally had wedge shaped faces with wide, bald, bony
heads tapering to grim pointed chins below lipless mouths.
Their eyes were the most chilling thing about them. These
were heavy lidded and set within deep folds of flesh, a pair
of milky orbs that seemed to perpetually squint in an evil
glare. Each Thaarnian wore distinctive flowing robes in a
variety of colors and styles, from which their grayish arms
emerged. They worked the Star Galleon's controls with long
claw like fingers, saying few words not necessary to pilot
the ship. Tank and Shally were deeply relieved when Luke
came to the bridge, safe and sound after his encounter with
Thimram. Tank had been sure he wouldn't see Luke alive
again. He forced aside his fears as he saw the Jedi Master
enter, and tried to revise his beliefs about the Sith. So far,
they hadn't been hurt. Unless, of course, a suitably sadistic
death was prepared for them on the Sith homeworld. Tank
held close to Shally and smiled a little to show Luke that they
were all right. Behind Luke, Savuud Thimram entered and
began checking the navicomputer. The adept was apparently
satisfied, and he faced the three humans.
"Esteemed guests," he said in his deep hollow voice,
"Welcome to the Sith system." The main viewport behind
him now displayed the vast curve of a planet. Also visible
was a distant orange star. "It's not a very pleasant world,
compared to what you're used to," commented Thimram as
the ship descended. "Most of the surface is an arid
wasteland, barren, cracked, uninhabitable. Those bodies of
water you can see are concentrated salt seas. The Thaarnians
live in the fertile valleys of the seven major mountain ranges.
It's not a lot of habitable land and resources, so as you might
guess, there have been a lot of wars to control it over the
centuries. In the beginning, it was valley against valley, but
the Magians were able to conquer larger territories...until the
deserts stopped them from ruling over more than one
mountain range. Below us now is the mountain State of the
Magian Orl Lettow. You'll met all the Magian rulers once we
dock at Sky City. There the Sith rule the planet from on
high, above all the former mountain States, part of no single
territory. That's important to the Thaarnian Sith. They're
very competitive to say the least."
Tank carefully observed the Thaarnians as Thimram
talked on. They seemed to ignore the adept standing in their
midst discussing them. From their subtly subservient body
language, Tank decided that they were probably afraid of the
adept, and didn't dare to comment or interrupt him. As a
race, they certainly seemed to know their place. Were they
just tools of the Sith, to be used for whatever Flint and
Lumiya were plotting? The thought of this grim race as an
army in the hands of someone with the ambitions of an Exar
Kun disturbed Tank a great deal.
The appearance of the majestic Sky City in the
viewport did little to calm him. The orbiting atmospheric Sith
sanctum was enormous, and was shaped like a trapezoidal
solid. It looked too massive to be up in the air at all; if there
were any propulsion systems, they were cunningly hidden,
giving the impression that the structure had been lifted up by
magic and set in the sky to rule those below. The top of Sky
City was equipped as a modern spaceport. Each sloping side
of the building, however, was designed like a great temple,
with row upon row of heavy columns parading past recessed
corridors open to the air.
Tank imagined that the interior was crowded with
torture chambers and prison cells. As the Star Galleon
moved in to dock, he wondered if he'd ever see the outside
of the Sith stronghold again. His best guess was that truce or
no truce, Lumiya wouldn't let him and his wife out of her
hands a second time. But he was doing this for Luke, and he
had to trust Luke to make things come out all right. Tank
would have to do his best to evaluate the Sith for the Jedi
Master who trusted him, even if every instinct cried out to
start shooting his way out of this place. He felt he owed it to
Luke, for all the things Luke had done to help the New
Republic come to be. If a hero like that needed help, you had
to give it to him. Besides, somewhere, Biggs was watching,
and if Luke went in where Tank feared to tread, the old King
of Beggar's Canyon would never let him live it down.

*  *  *

Lumiya watched as Luke Skywalker entered the
negotiating chamber, keeping her expression calm, but
seething inside. There he was, after all those years. The one
who had taken her old life and left her with a painful
existence as a cyborg, half a woman and half a cold, shining
droid form. She felt Flint's eyes on her, but she showed no
sign of her turmoil. She had hidden it from him for long
years, and now was not the time to betray herself, not when
her revenge was so close. At one time, she had almost
believed Flint that her need for vengeance would naturally
fade over time, but it hadn't happened. Every day, she
suffered a constant stress, an eternal, low pain from the
flawed interface between her cyborg systems and what
remained of her flesh. When it inevitably became too much
for her, and she had to slump in pain alone in her quarters,
her thoughts were inexorably drawn to the one she held
responsible. Luke Skywalker. Even the name filled her with
hatred. It had been a challenge to hide her feelings from Flint
as the truce drew near. She did love the gruff, handsome
Dark Lord, and it was hard to fool him like that. It made her
feel terrible to destroy the plans he had worked so hard on,
but if the truce depended on Skywalker living, the truce
would have to go.
The need to kill the Jedi Master was like a living
thing inside her. At times, she worried that that part of her
might not be entirely sane when it whispered that if she ever
wanted her pain to go away, she had to return it to the one
who gave it to her. She knew that sounded mad, but after all
this time, she desperately wanted it to be true. After Luke
was dead, at least some of the pain would surely go away;
whether the mental or the physical, she didn't care.
Lumiya wondered if Flint would still love her after
she did what she had to. She hoped he would. Over the
years, as they worked together to rebuild the Sith, she had
come to value his companionship greatly. In time, she had
even overcome her physical self-loathing. Flint's patient
support had carried her past her sorrow that no physical
relationship was possible between them, and shown her that
a deeper bond was possible through the Force. Even now,
Flint must be probing along that bond, concerned for what I
might do, she thought. Thankfully, Vader taught me the
same mind-screening techniques he used on the Emperor.
Let him wonder. Let him suspect. I'm sorry, Flint, but
there's nothing you can do. The scales must be balanced.
Pain for pain, a life for a life...

Luke walked solemnly down the wide steps to the
large stone table, trying to take in all the details he could
before the talks began. The decor of the great hall revealed
much about the new Sith order. Like the rest of Sky City, it
was primitive and warlike in style, with an emphasis on
majesty. Thick columns lined the walls, and ornate weapons
hung between them. Tapestries depicting the violent history
of Thaarn were prominently hung. Clearly, the Thaarnian
heritage was allowed to take center stage instead of the old
Sith history. Flint and Lumiya evidently did want to start
over with a fusion of the old and the new, and because this
was the Thaarnian homeworld, it was only fair to honor their
culture in this fashion. Seated at the table were the living
embodiments of that culture, the ruling Thaarnian Magians.
With their colorful, many layered robes and tall staves
topped with glass globes, the stony faced leaders looked like
they belonged in the fantastic setting. Luke recalled their
alien names as told to him by Savuud Thimram: Ahz
Granicus, Tuster Monduth, Jarra Latinek, Serl Chathos, Orl
Lettow, Mov Ondos, and Jeth Sandage. He suppressed a
shiver as their sunken eyes turned slowly to study him with
reptilian coldness.
The legacy of Palpatine was not found in the decor,
but in the persons sitting with the Magians at the giant table.
Luke saw Savuud Thimram next to his old rival, Gwellib, an
alien adept with a porcine nose set in a withered face below
milky, pupil-less eyes. He also recognized Jappi Qaff, a
dwarf darksider with a tall cylindrical hat, and Zenick Fesi, a
tall, skeletal being with an impossibly long face crowned by
a black skullcap. There were a few others he recalled from
Byss, like Wim Joct, Deg Zorze, and perhaps a dozen more
of the Emperor's former students in the dark side. Thimram
had been correct. It was a pitiful remnant, compared to what
had flourished on Byss. But they're still dangerous, Luke
reminded himself. Especially against just one of me.
At the head of the table stood the new Sith rulers,
Flint and Lumiya, the disciples of Darth Vader and the heirs
to the secrets of Exar Kun and all the other Dark Lords of the
past. Flint was wearing his black plate armor and blue cape,
with his mirrored helm on the table in front of him. A long
sword was belted to one side of his belt, a lightsaber to the
other. Luke met the man's somber blue eyes and found
himself surprisingly reassured by the big warrior's rough-
hewn, open visage. His strong first impression was that
Flint was unusual. There was something almost noble about
him. Suddenly, Luke's expectations realigned themselves.
Perhaps there was hope for this meeting, after all.
Then Luke shifted his gaze to Lumiya, and he felt his
hopes sink. She met his stare with a look of piercing hate.
Luke almost stumbled when he saw it. So, he decided, it's
to be vengeance after all, and Flint doesn't know it. Luke
forced himself to look steadily back at Lumiya, taking the
opportunity to study her. She wore no mask, and her long
red-brown hair fell free around her beautiful but arrogant
face. The left side of her face was marred by a network of
deep scars, running from her high forehead to her proudly
defiant, jutting chin. Lumiya's cyborg body was composed
of sleekly shaped sections of gleaming durasteel, cunningly
fitted to blend into a smooth yet stark representation of the
female form. The area of her stomach and thighs displayed
complex circuits and controls, destroying the illusion that
she might simply be wearing armor. From her modular belt
hung a device Luke didn't recognize, a long cylinder, larger
than his lightsaber, from which emerged a number of coiled
metallic strands.
Luke looked into her eyes, and sent out a mental
message through the Force. Lumiya, he said silently, I don't
want to fight you. I know you blame me for what happened
to you, but I never did it on purpose. I didn't know it was
you in that fighter. I couldn't have known what would
happen to you later. Whatever happens here between us, I
wanted you to know that.
There was no reply.

Flint watched Luke Skywalker and his companions
file in, followed by their two R2 units, one green, one blue.
He was impressed by how calm Luke seemed, walking
steadily in his long brown Jedi robe, surrounded by the Sith.
Flint wondered if he could be so calm if he was walking
alone into a Jedi stronghold. Flint met Luke's eyes and held
them for a moment of understanding, perceiving that the Jedi
Master was committed to this mission. Flint breathed a sigh
of relief. If Luke was going to cooperate, then all he had
worked for was worth it. All the favors and persuasion to
convince the survivors of Byss, all the promises made to the
Thaarnians, and all the delicate work of winning over
Lumiya. With this Jedi Master's help, a new and better
future could be created for both of the orders to survive in.
Flint turned his gaze to Luke's companions. He was
startled to find that he knew them. These were the very same
rebels that he had stopped Lumiya from killing twelve years
ago, on the Star Destroyer Guardian. He couldn't recall their
names, but he was certain of who they were. Yet, their
presence puzzled Flint. He had expected Luke to bring
powerful Jedi with him, not two normal humans. It was
good for Flint that Luke had not brought Jedi, for no doubt
his fellow Sith would feel less threatened and more
cooperative. But why this particular choice? Flint wondered
if it might be for some kind of subtle psychological
advantage. These humans had handed Flint and Lumiya a
humiliating defeat back then. Perhaps they were here to
remind the Dark Lords of their own fallibility.
Luke and his friends sat down at the table, with their
droids close by, and Flint decided it was time to begin. He
rested one gauntleted hand on the hilt of his ancient Sith
sword and raised the other high in the air. All eyes turned to
him. "My fellow Sith," said Flint, "I ask you to welcome
Master Skywalker to our assembly. He comes at my request
to negotiate a truce between the Jedi and the Sith."
Luke stood up from his chair. "Thank you. These are
my companions," he said. "Representing the New Republic,
Commanders Tank and Shally Boma, from the planet
Balfor. They're here to evaluate the Sith to determine if the
New Republic needs to be concerned about you. Even
though I am a Jedi Master, I cannot speak for my
government. These Commanders are authorized to create a
report for the Chief of State, Leia Organa, on whether the
Sith are a military threat."
Flint saw the dark-haired man, Tank, give Luke a
perplexed look, then Luke continued. "I am here to speak for
the Jedi. I'm ready to hear your terms of peace."
Flint glanced at Lumiya. She seemed withdrawn,
self-absorbed. That was good. At least she wasn't trying to
kill the Jedi or his companions. When they had come to sit
down, Flint had caught a flash of hate from Lumiya like a
sliver of ice in his gut. He had almost expected her to leap
over the table and tear into the rebels who had shamed her
and move on to finish off Luke as well. Flint resolved to
watch her carefully throughout this whole thing. He loved
her, but he knew he'd be lying to himself if he said he fully
trusted her.
Facing the Jedi Master, Flint began his rehearsed
speech. "The terms I propose are simple, and will not
require long and detailed negotiations, because the issue at
stake is simple. Survival. The great Sith War of four
thousand years ago has had grievous effects on the Sith.
Exar Kun's few followers who survived the Jedi retribution
managed to form a small monastic order on the planet
Horuz. There they lived up until the last century, no longer a
threat to the Jedi, preserving their lore in secret, so that an
invaluable body of knowledge of the Force would not be lost
forever. Emperor Palpatine brought all that to an end. He
raised up Darth Vader as the Dark Lord of the Sith, and
convinced them that their lost glory had returned. Then he
sacrificed the Sith to the last man, in order to weaken the
Jedi, his enemy. He made the last Dark Lord his servant,
and Vader lived with that shame for years. Finally, the spirit
of Exar Kun contacted him and convinced him to train a new
generation of the Sith. Lumiya and I were his students. We
kept the legacy of the Sith alive. But it is not a legacy we
blindly follow. We do not embrace the rapacious nature of
Exar Kun, or the Imperial Warlord's power of Darth Vader.
We do not plot the destruction of the Jedi or the New
Republic. Instead, we wish to coexist, independent, but at
peace. It was my initiative to create a truce. I knew that if the
Jedi and the Sith were to encounter each other unexpectedly,
there could be misunderstandings, leading to destructive
conflict, and our mutual downfall. It would be like the
Emperor's purge all over again. I decided to make us known
to you before that could happen, and appeal to the Jedi code.
The Jedi have always claimed to favor peace over conflict. I
propose a simple mutual non-aggression pact. The Sith will
remain localized to this system, and the Jedi will not interfere
with the development of our order. What do you say to this,
Master Skywalker?"
Luke seemed to pause in thought, then gave a steely
reply. "So the Sith pledge to forgo aggression. The Jedi
have no need to pledge that. Violence on our part is always
defensive. We need no formal agreement to express our
commitment to peace. On the other hand, the dark side has a
poor record for trustworthiness. What assurances are there
that the Sith will keep their word?"
"Always defensive?" said Lumiya sharply. "What
hypocrisy is this? The Jedi have been infamously destructive
of followers of the dark side. Need I remind the great,
pacifist Jedi Master about the Emperor? And the last Dark
Lord of the Sith, his own father? And the Darkside Warriors
of Byss? And Master C'Baoth? And the entire planet of Byss
itself? Do you call that non-aggression? There is a great deal
of death on your hands, and on those of your followers.
And you ask for assurances of our good behavior. It is you
who should assure us of your changed ways, Master
Skywalker!"
Flint stepped in to calm things down. "Very well,"
he said loudly. "It is obvious that neither the Sith nor the
Jedi can prove that they will honor the truce in the future.
But think about this. The reason I called for the truce still
exists. We still hold each other's destruction in our hands. If
we only follow common sense, neither of us will break our
agreement."
"Do the Magians favor this truce?" Luke asked
abruptly.
In response, one of the Thaarnians stood. He was
gaunt and robed in the color of dried blood. His bald head
had a cloth covering, from which two long strips hung past
his perpetual frown. His eyes glared out from beneath his
shadowing brow, giving the unmistakable impression of
power, ready to lash out at any time. "I am Orl Lettow," he
rasped, just loud enough for Luke to hear. "The people of
Thaarn joined with the Sith for their own betterment, not to
attract destruction from the fleets and the Force users of the
outer Galaxy. We favor this agreement if it will allow our
world to go on as it has, unmolested."
Luke gave a small bow to Lettow, and the Thaarnian
sat back down. Then the Jedi Master faced the Dark Lords.
"I need to have a few minutes alone with my companions,
before I give you my answer," Luke said.
"Of course," replied Flint. "Take all the time you
need."

"What was that about Leia Organa and our report?"
asked Tank once they were alone.
"I thought if I made you official," said Luke, "they'd
be less likely to harm you."
"I can tell this situation has really got you rattled,"
said Shally, "but you're holding up really well."
"Thanks," said Luke. "Now what are your
impressions about Flint and Lumiya?"
"Flint is just like I remember him," she said.
"Despite what side he's on, I think you can trust him to keep
his word."
"I agree," said Luke.
"But Lumiya's a different story," Shally continued.
"I had hopes that she'd have changed, but I have to say,
when I saw the way she looked at you, I knew she'd only
gotten worse. She doesn't seem to care about Tank and me
any more, but I think she wants to kill you."
"I know, Shally. And with the two Dark Lords
divided against each other, no agreement we make will be
worth anything. I need time to think about this, time to try to
work things out..."
"Okay, Luke," said Tank. "I have an excuse we can
offer to buy some time. It's something that's been genuinely
bothering me, anyway. The Dark Lords and the Emperor's
old cronies, they're kind of a known quantity. We know
what we can expect from them. The real unknown here is the
Thaarnians. We don't know much about them, and they're
half of the Sith. I've been wondering where they really stand
in this order. Are their people really being helped by the
Sith? Or are they just tools? Maybe dangerous ones that can
be used against us..."
"I see your point, Tank," said Luke. "What can we
do?"
"Well, the only way to find out the answers is to go
down to the surface and look around. That should give you
the time you need, too."
"I knew there was a good reason I brought you
along," Luke smiled.

Back in the great hall, Luke addressed Flint and
Lumiya once more. "Dark Lords of the Sith," he began, "as
it stands right now, I'm in favor of the truce. But," he said,
raising one hand, "before I make my final decision, I need to
satisfy myself about something. You've pledged that
aggressive Sith rule wouldn't be extended to other parts of
the Galaxy, but I need to see that Sith rule isn't aggressively
destroying this system. I need to see that the Thaarnians
really benefit from this arrangement. Unless I know that, I
cannot, in good conscience, create a treaty with potential
oppressors." Luke turned to Orl Lettow. "I request that I be
given a tour of your state, Lord Lettow, so I can see your
people where they live, and put my concerns to rest."
Luke saw Lumiya begin to form an angry retort, then
inexplicably refrain from commenting. She did continue to
glare at him.
"Is this acceptable, Lord Lettow?" asked Flint.
"I will tolerate it," said the Thaarnian dismissively.
"Then we will make arrangements for a tour," said
the Dark Lord.
"Thank you, Lord Flint," said Luke, bowing.

Lumiya watched Luke from her chair, staring at him
obsessively. She was memorizing his face and imagining
how it would look bloodied in death, lacerated by her light
whip. The Jedi Master's plan to go down to Thaarn served
her well. She knew a place there where she could trap Luke
away from anyone else. Then he would be hers, and hers
alone. Right up to the end. Smiling coldly, she began to
construct her plan...

*  *  *

The next morning, Luke gathered early with his
companions on the landing platform of Sky City. The
morning sun bathed the clouds in delicate orange as the three
humans conferred alone, before the arrival of their guides.
"Tank, Shally, I'll need you to help me watch
Lumiya while we're down there," Luke said. "I think she'll
try something today. If that happens, I'm going to need
Artoo Detoo by my side. I have something hidden inside him
that Yoda told me I'd need to see this through."
The little blue droid rolled over and softly bumped
his Master on the leg.
"No, not yet, Artoo, but thanks," Luke said, patting
Artoo's dome.
"We'll do our best, Luke," said Tank, "you know
that." Both he and Shally put a hand on Luke's shoulders.
Artoo Beesix chirped and rolled over to the little
group as well. Shally smiled down at her droid. "Of course
we'll need you, too," she reassured him.
"Here come our hosts," said Tank. Walking towards
them were Lord Flint and Lady Lumiya, followed by the
dignified Magian, Orl Lettow. Flint's deep blue cape and
Lettow's rust robes billowed softly in the morning wind.
The Sith leaders greeted their guests formally. Tank watched
Lumiya carefully, but the cyborg seemed calm. If she was
planning anything, it didn't show.
They all boarded a shuttle, and lifted off from Sky
City. Soon, they were descending towards the high
mountain peaks of the State of Lettow. They flew over
sparkling mountain lakes and shadowy valleys. The closely
populated lowlands seemed clogged with the evidence of
civilization. The lower mountain slopes appeared to be used
for terrace farming, but the highest areas remained a cold
wilderness. High on the slopes of the tallest mountain was a
complex of impressively large buildings. As they passed
over what looked like a palace, Orl Lettow informed them
that this was his former seat of government before the Sith
came. It was fitting to the Thaarnians to have their rulers
literally above them. Now, however, it was a mere
household, as Lettow ruled from Sky City as part of the
Sith.
The shuttle dropped smoothly down into a dimly lit
valley that contained an apparently typical Thaarnian
community. They disembarked into the steamy air and were
immediately assaulted by the sounds and movement of a
bustling crowd streaming around the simple landing area.
Everywhere they looked, the streets were thronged.
Thaarnians hurried in all directions, their long robes turning
the scene into a riot of color. One odd thing Tank noticed
was that, unlike in cities like Mos Eisley, there was no
jostling or colliding. Every Thaarnian seemed to keep his
distance from every other, despite the crowded conditions.
That would, he reflected, make it hard to be a street thief
around here. The buildings Tank saw were primitive, made
mostly of wood and stone, with an occasional metal
structure. Transportation seemed to be strictly on foot, so the
group stepped out into the flow of pedestrians. Tank wasn't
surprised that Lord Lettow was given an extra wide berth by
the common people as he strolled along carrying a tall staff
with a smoky glass ball on top. Magians were evidently well
respected, or at least feared, by the populace. Even so,
Tank's instincts were on edge. He sensed an undercurrent of
contained hostility in the seeming order of the teeming
aliens. It was not long before he was proven correct.
As they walked, Tank was suddenly distracted by the
beginning of a conflict on the other side of the square they
were in. He grabbed Luke and pointed as the crowd
instinctively recoiled from the center of the disturbance. One
running Thaarnian had slammed into another, seemingly by
accident, sending them both into a humiliating crash as they
fell into a fruit stand, collapsing it. One of the aliens
clambered out of the wreckage, wiping at the smeared fruit
on his clothes. As far as Tank could tell, he was loudly
proclaiming that it was a mistake, but the second alien
wasn't listening. He struggled to his feet with an
unreasoning anger contorting his face. He lunged at the
clumsy offender, who managed to duck away. Surprisingly,
the first Thaarnian didn't fight back; facing his attacker with
his arms at his sides, he backed slowly away. But the
second Thaarnian had taken up a heavy piece of wood from
the fruit stand, and was using it as a club. It whistled
through the air, barely missing the head of the first alien,
who ducked and fell to the ground. As the enraged
Thaarnian moved in to smash his victim, he was suddenly
stopped in his tracks. His arms were lifted up and pinned to
the air as the club flew from his wrenched open fingers. A
wild fear filled his eyes as he struggled, hanging on nothing,
while his victim scrambled away. Four yellow-uniformed
Thaarnians ran up to him and secured his arms behind him.
The desperate alien fought crazily against them, twisting and
kicking in an attempt to get free.
Then Tank saw Orl Lettow step forward, raising his
hands toward the violent captive. The prisoner seemed to go
slack suddenly, hanging loosely in his captors' arms.
Without further disturbance, the four Thaarnians in yellow
held up their left hands to Orl Lettow in a kind of salute, and
hustled the criminal from the square.
Luke was staring at the Magian in angry surprise.
"You stole his life energy, didn't you? I felt it. It was what
the Emperor's adepts used to do on Byss!" he accused.
Flint quickly faced Luke and hastened to explain.
"Don't judge too quickly, Master Skywalker. We haven't
recreated the Emperor's world here. Yes, the adepts of Byss
taught the Magians how to take life energy from others, but
they only use it to calm the aggression of those who cannot
follow the law. It serves a purpose here, not like on Byss,
where they leeched the life from the population just to feed
their own dark side power and prolong their own lives."
Luke was silent for a moment, then he nodded, and
reluctantly faced Orl Lettow. The Magian was glaring at him,
irritated at his outburst. "My apologies, Lord Lettow. I'm
the alien here, and I don't understand your ways yet. It
won't happen again."
"Very well," said Lettow after a long moment of
discomfort.
"I imagine it must be difficult to keep order, with
such a concentrated population," Luke said, trying to change
the subject. "Savuud Thimram told me earlier that you have a
history full of wars, but you seem to have overcome that.
Despite what we just saw, it seems to be under control
here..."
Lettow's face showed a flicker of pride. "You were
told the truth. Our history has been a bloody one. But even
before the Sith arrived, we had instituted rule by the
Magians, and overcome many of our more unfortunate traits.
Without the order brought by rule through the Force, my
people would still be uncivilized and brutal, engaged in war
or murder. But now you have seen our Force-sensitive
police, as well as the effectiveness of our law."
"What are your laws like, Lord Lettow?" asked
Luke.
"You can see them written in many places. Here,
over on this stone pillar, for example. Constant reminders of
the law help to keep the people in line."
The group clustered around a tall obelisk with lines
of writing chiseled into the polished surface. "Here are the
basic commandments of our society," said Lettow,
translating the alien script for the Jedi Master. "These things
shall be punished by death: committing murder, intentionally
committing or inciting violence outside the arenas,
committing theft or destruction of property leading to
violence, the possession or use of any weapons outside the
arenas -"
"Pardon me, Lord Lettow, but these laws seem
rather harsh to me," interrupted Tank.
"You, too, have the perspective of an alien, human,"
said Lettow. "The common people must fear the law more
than they fear one another, for there to be any order here. If
this were not so, the incident you just witnessed would have
resulted in two executions, instead of just one."
"Lord Lettow," said Luke, "I see you have a
functional system here...but how has the coming of the Sith
improved things?"
"I can answer that, Skywalker," Lumiya spoke up,
"since you're so concerned about the welfare of the
Thaarnians. Sith rule is better than rule by individual
Magians because when the Magians used to kill each other
over who ruled which States, the loser's people were usually
made into slaves. Now that the Magians are part of one order
as equals, they don't have to try to do away with one another
to keep their power. Lord Lettow here killed seven rival
Force users to win his State. Now, instead of such waste, all
those who show Force sensitivity are trained in an academy.
The most powerful ones can become part of the Sith. The
rest are used throughout society in useful roles like the
police. I mean no offense, Lord Lettow," said Lumiya with a
hint of condescension, "but your race still had a long way to
go when we got here. There was still a lot of uncontrolled
aggression and deadly violence, even with your great laws."
Lettow gazed with subtle menace at the Dark Lord.
"Let us move on to an important aspect of our society," he
said, giving Lumiya one last hard look before turning away.
"The arenas."
As they walked, Lettow explained that when wars
were eliminated, the soldiers and their combative natures
were channeled into violent games and team sports. These
took place in enclosed arenas, where the fighters could duel
to the death singly or in groups, for the benefit of a large
audience. These contests soon became an important part of
the culture, focusing and venting the aggression that would
otherwise savage the cities. The ultimate expression of these
contests was the maze combat between two opposing
Magians. To determine who would be the victor, and who
would be killed or exiled, the dark side rulers hunted each
other through a labyrinth of death traps, trying to slay each
other with all of the Force powers at their command. Lettow
led the group to one of the giant buildings constructed for
this purpose, unused in recent years since the maze combat
was phased out by the arrival of the Sith. A great stone
archway covered an open tunnel leading into the towering
vault like structure.
Tank peered into the darkness inside the tunnel.
"Can't see much," he muttered. "I wonder what kind of
death traps they have in there...?" But Orl Lettow was
already leading the group away to take them to a public
fighting arena several blocks away. Reluctantly, Tank turned
his back on the intriguing old building and hurried to catch
up. Dodging the crowding aliens in his way, he rejoined his
wife. Then Tank noticed two things in the same instant. One
was that both Luke and Lumiya were gone. The other was
that a massive door had dropped down into the giant
archway behind him with a thundering boom. Luke's R2
unit let out an electronic wail and raced to the door, only to
smack into it with a pitiful clang. The droid began beeping
frantically as it drew back and rolled into the door, again and
again. Tank and Shally raced to the door and held the droid
back while Orl Lettow stood his ground in confusion. The
door looked immovable and impregnable. Tank and Shally
beat on it in frustration. "Blast it! Luke was afraid this was
going to happen," Tank grated, "and now Lumiya's got him
trapped in there!"
Flint ran up to them, his own face full of anger. "I
knew she was going to do something like this! But I wasn't
able to stop it! Don't waste your energy trying to get past
this door. Lumiya chose her battleground well. The only
way to get to Luke is from the other side of the maze."
"The other side of this building?" demanded Shally.
"No, the other side of the city," said Flint, scowling.
"The maze goes underground for miles. There's a system of
natural tunnels down there. They open out way over at the
central plaza, where the winner used to come out and claim
his new slaves. We'll never get there in time to stop
Lumiya."
"Wait a second," said Tank, "you're going to help
us?"
"Of course," said the Dark Lord, glaring down at
Tank. "I want a successful truce with the Jedi, not a dead
Jedi Master and a war on my hands. Do you think Luke's
sister would take kindly to that? We'd have the New
Republic sending Sky City down in flames before you could
say 'Exar Kun'."
 Tank nodded slowly in amazement. Flint, he
decided, really was sincere, against all his expectations.
With the Dark Lord's help, they just might be able to save
Luke. After all, Flint had beaten Lumiya once before to save
Tank. If he could just pull it off one more time...Tank
looked around hurriedly, and was dismayed at the futility of
fighting the imposing crowds milling all around. Then his
eyes rose a little higher, to the rooftops. Of course! When he
was a boy in Mos Eisley, the fastest way to escape the police
was always the roofs. "Can't we go over the buildings?" he
demanded. "Use the rooftops to get over the crowds?"
Flint and Shally both lit up at the idea. "That could
work!" said Flint. "Who's going with me?"
"Tank, you go with him," said Shally. "Watch
Luke's back, remember? I'll stay here with Lord Lettow. He
knows this maze. Maybe there's a way to get this door open
somehow..."
"All right," said Tank, looking at her longingly.
"You just be careful, do you hear me?"
"I'll be careful? You be careful. You're the one going
after that crazy cyborg. Promise me you'll come back in one
piece."
He stepped into her arms and held her fiercely. "I
promise."
Lord Flint was removing a small box from a
compartment on his belt. He opened it carefully and removed
a bright crimson crystalline splinter. He removed his left
gauntlet and put the shard onto his naked palm, closing his
fist on it so tightly that the sharp ends had to be piercing his
flesh.
"What's that?" asked Tank.
"Something I've been saving for an emergency,"
Flint said through gritted teeth. He seemed to hunch over
with pain for a moment, then he grimly straightened. The
Dark Lord raised his left fist and shouted to Orl Lettow. "Do
what you can to help this woman. I'm going after Lumiya!"
Then, Tank and Flint rose slowly into the air, leaving Shally
and the droids gaping at them in astonishment. The Dark
Lord brought them to roof level and set them down.
Below them, Artoo Detoo was shrilly whistling, and
Tank suddenly remembered something important. "Luke's
R2 unit, the blue one - we need it!"
Flint looked skeptically at Tank.
"I'm serious! He said he'd need it to beat Lumiya!
We have to bring it with us!"
Flint's expression seemed to say he knew there
wasn't time to argue. He raised his left fist again, and Artoo
Detoo rose up to join them, whistling excitedly. Artoo
Beesix warbled a good-bye and good luck from the ground
below, then turned his attention back to scanning the giant
door. Tank waved once to Shally, then turned with Flint and
began to race across the rooftops. He turned to look for
Artoo Detoo, and was surprised to see him sailing along in
the air behind the Dark Lord, keeping pace with them
through the Force. Grinning like a kid again, Tank gathered
himself for the leap to the next building. Hang on, Luke, he
thought as he flew across the gap. If you can hear me, help
is on the way!

*  *  *  

Luke had been about to turn and leave the entrance to
the Magian maze, when he was halted by a clear voice in his
mind. The tormented tones of the cyborg, Lumiya, were
meant for his hearing alone. Luke, she said, come to me.
He turned and saw her standing deep inside the
tunnel behind the arch, waiting. Luke hesitated. The moment
was upon him, but it was his choice to make. Suddenly,
Luke wasn't afraid. He felt as he had when he had gone to
meet his father on Endor, certain inside that he was doing
what he must. The Force had ordained that moment, years
ago, and it had ordained this one, too. Yes, the Force was
with him, as Yoda had said. He was a Jedi Master, and
facing Lumiya was part of what he had come to Thaarn to
do. His clinging depression and doubt fell away from him
and vanished. He had something important to do, something
that would shape the future of the Jedi and the Sith. Next to
that, he realized, his own sorrow over lost love was
insignificant. Losing Callista hadn't changed who he was.
He was still Luke Skywalker, the man who had walked
unafraid into the hands of Darth Vader. Strange that it had
taken Lumiya to remind him of that.
Calmly, Luke walked beneath the arch and into the
shadows where the Dark Lord waited to kill him. He looked
back once, out into the light, and called Artoo to join him.
Yoda had said he would need the Kaiburr Crystal to
succeed, and it was hidden inside the little droid. Bringing it
into the midst of the Sith had been a risk from the beginning.
He couldn't touch it without creating a huge disturbance in
the Force that the entire Order of the Sith would perceive.
Then it would be a struggle over the possession of the
crystal, with Luke alone against all the Sith. Luke wasn't
sure he could survive that...but then, what if the 'success'
Yoda referred to, and survival, were not the same thing?
Responding to his summons, Artoo rolled towards
Luke. That was when the unbelievably thick and heavy door
crashed down between them, leaving Artoo and the crystal
out of reach. Luke stood in the pitch blackness that
followed, dismayed. He suddenly wondered where Lumiya
was. He concentrated on all his other senses besides sight,
trying to detect her. He couldn't hear her, or sense her
through the Force; perhaps she was screening herself.
Thinking furiously, he stared into the inky nothingness all
around. He needed some light, that was obvious, but would
a light merely pinpoint his position to Lumiya? She definitely
had the advantage here. She could lie in wait for him
anywhere; she probably knew the layout of the maze very
well. But Luke didn't. And Orl Lettow had said the place
was full of death traps. Luke had no choice. He ignited his
green-white lightsaber blade, starkly illuminating the stone
corridor around him. Luke considered trying to cut his way
back out the door, but he had glimpsed its thickness. He
would have to tunnel his way through it, leaving himself
vulnerable to Lumiya's attack. The only way to go was
straight ahead. Luke began to walk carefully down the
tunnel.

Deeper inside the maze, Lumiya heard the faint
sound of the lightsaber being activated. So, he was coming,
just as she had predicted. And all she'd had to do was call to
him. She had judged his personality correctly. He was the
kind of man who lived up to his own responsibilities.
Skywalker was responsible for creating her, and now he
was dutifully marching forwards to deal with his mistakes.
Let him come. She was ready. Lumiya placed a gold
jeweled medallion in the shape of a blazing sun over her
head, to hang from its chain upon her breast. The Sith
artifact would multiply her power, making her more than a
match for poor Luke. Next, she took a small dagger,
extensively carved with Sith letters, from its sheath. A
yellow gem glowed softly from the end of its hilt. Cradling it
in her hands, she moved off silently into the darkness. If an
organic heart had remained to her, it would have been
hammering in excitement.

Luke walked warily through the descending
corridors, hugging the walls as he went. He picked his path
at random, hoping that chance would delay his confrontation
with Lumiya until he could retrieve the crystal. So far, he
had survived three primitive death traps. The first had been a
giant blade that suddenly swept out of the wall at the level of
his stomach. Luke had been grateful for his lightsaber, for
one swift blocking stroke had severed the blade near the
wall, sending it harmlessly clattering to the stone floor. The
second trap had been in a stretch of natural tunnels. The
floor had unexpectedly dropped off into a steep slope strewn
with small rounded pebbles. Luke had begun to slide
helplessly towards a deep crevasse, but his Jedi agility had
saved him. Switching off his lightsaber, he had leaped ten
feet into the air to clasp onto a stalactite. From there, he had
swung over the chasm to land on the other side. The most
recent trap had been back in the halls of carved stone. Only a
tiny grating sound had alerted him to it in time. Luke had
rolled out of the way as an immense block of stone fell down
into the corridor behind him, raising a choking cloud of dust
and shaking the floor under his feet. Luke had gazed at the
block with an odd satisfaction. If Lumiya had been
following him, she'd just have to find another way around.
Now Luke was moving steadily down a long,
straight corridor, by the light of his Jedi weapon. He hadn't
seen a trace of Lumiya since he had entered the maze.
Perhaps she was content to let the traps take care of him for
her. Well, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of taking the
easy way out.  
His strained ears picked up a sound in the distance. It
was a barking sound, very faint. No, a lot of barking
sounds. Some sort of dogs? He hesitated as the sound of the
unknown creatures drew nearer. What kind of animals were
they? Should he run, or stand his ground? The ferocious
barking reverberated from the stone walls, making it sound
as if it was coming from all directions. Luke fought to calm
his instinctive fear. Then he saw them. A pack of huge,
razor toothed Dire Wolves, surging down the corridor from
where he had come. The shaggy lead animal was four feet
tall at the shoulder, and its red eyes shone in the dark above
its slavering wide open jaws. Behind it, Luke guessed that
there might be a dozen more.
He ran.
But even as he sped down the corridor, he seized on
a sudden doubt. What would a pack of Dire Wolves be
doing in a place like this? How could they live? Lettow had
said the maze had been unused for years. The Wolves, he
decided, must not be real. And if they were an illusion
created by Sith magic, what was the point of the attack?
Illusions couldn't hurt him. But, he realized suddenly,
barreling down the halls of a maze full of death traps could.
Luke suddenly halted, spinning to face the creatures. He
held his lightsaber defensively in front of him as the first of
the Dire Wolves leaped, seemingly ignoring the blazing bar
of light.      
To Luke's immense relief, the animal passed right
through him, as did the rest of the pack, vanishing into the
darkness behind him, yapping wildly as they went. Now
Luke proceeded carefully after them, step by step. He found
it had been a close thing. A few meters down the corridor,
his probing foot encountered a pit, hidden by an illusion of
the floor. He scooped up some dirt from the filthy stones,
and cast it ahead of him. It vanished into the floor. But ten
feet away, another handful of dirt and pebbles clattered on
solid ground. Luke smiled grimly, and gathered himself for
the leap. Gracefully, he sailed over the hidden drop and
continued on his way.

Tank and Flint continued their frantic run across the
low stone buildings of the Thaarnian city. Tank was winded,
but Flint seemed unaffected, despite his heavy armor. It
must be a Force thing, Tank decided, panting. "Flint," he
gasped, as they pelted across a long, flat roof, "how tough is
Lumiya? Is Luke in trouble?"
The Dark Lord spared him a glance. "I'd say they
were evenly matched in power. The problem is Lumiya's
light whip."
A sudden memory of being helpless in front of
Lumiya came to Tank. She had been wielding a devastating
weapon that had looked like long supple bolts of lightning,
striking like a fistful of venomous snakes. "You mean that
energy weapon she had? With the long strands all blazing
away?"
"That's the one," Flint replied. "It was designed by
the Sith a long time ago, just for the purpose of defeating a
Jedi lightsaber."
"Luke's in trouble," said Tank, running even faster.

The cyborg Dark Lord of the Sith waited in the
darkness for Luke to approach. In her hands was the dagger,
which she called Heart Seeker. Its blade was full of Sith
poison. She meant to use it to paralyze the Jedi Master and
torture him to death at her leisure. Standing silent and
motionless, she waited as the hum of Luke=D5s lightsaber drew
closer. Concentrating on the Force, she channeled her will
into the yellow jewel on the weapon, so that it would be
unerringly guided on its flight. The gem pulsed softly in
response, filling with power.
Now she could hear Luke=D5s footsteps. He didn=D5t
suspect she was there. Good. Crouching, she held the
dagger=D5s blade in her metallic fingers, readying the throw.
The footsteps slowed, then stopped. Abruptly, the green
glow of the lightsaber vanished as the blade was turned off.
Lumiya frowned. Something was wrong...did he suspect?
She strained, listening, but heard no retreating footsteps. So,
he was waiting for her to make a move. Her frown became a
cold smile. No matter. Heart Seeker would find its target just
as easily in the dark.
Lumiya crept forward, exerting all the control of her
cyborg systems not to make a sound. She drew back her
arm. Here=D5s a little gift for you, Luke, she thought. It=D5s
payback time. With a powerful thrust of her machine arm,
she threw the Sith dagger.

Luke had been alerted by a minute yellow gleam in
the distance, and so he extinguished his light and froze,
waiting to see what would happen next, closely attuned to
the Force. The attack came in the form of a small rush of air,
some projectile aimed straight at him. Reacting on pure
instinct, Luke=D5s fingers brushed the activation stud of his
lightsaber. The pure green blade returned in an instant, held
vertically in front of his heart. The Sith dagger=D5s blade struck
the energy blade squarely, melting against it in a shower of
sparks. The hilt struck an instant later, bringing the ancient
yellow jewel into contact with the burning green Jedi
weapon. The Sith jewel exploded, releasing its power into
the air. Luke was knocked from his feet and dazzled. He sat
up groggily, and heard the sound of running feet, moving
away down the corridor. It had to be Lumiya. Suddenly
Luke was tired of this game of evasion. Shaking his head
and blinking his eyes, he stood up and called after her. "I=D5m
coming, Lumiya! It=D5s time to finish this." His lightsaber held
firmly in his hand, but a little unsteady on his feet, Luke
went down the corridor after his opponent.

Flint and Tank dropped from the last rooftop into the
crowded central plaza. Thaarnians pointed at them in
surprise, as Flint levitated Artoo Detoo to the ground beside
them. Just ahead was another towering stone vault with an
arched entryway, the twin of the building Luke had vanished
into. Flint led Tank through the press of aliens to the stone
tunnel opening. Beyond the arch, the corridor angled down
into blackness.
"We have to go in there, huh?" asked Tank, his
earlier enthusiasm fading rapidly.
Flint looked impatiently at Tank and firmly gestured
towards the maze. "Do you want to save your friend?" he
demanded.
Tank swallowed hard. Now that he actually faced
going into the dark after Lumiya, he hesitated. But there was
truth in Flint=D5s words. Tank really did think of Luke as a
friend after their adventure in the Sith system together. A
long time ago, he and Luke had been enemies, but the past
was the past. It was over and done. Now it was time to
make sure they had a future to start over in. "Wait just a
second," he said to the Dark Lord. "I=D5ve been thinking about
Lumiya=D5s weapon." Tank hastily scanned the crowd until he
spotted a wealthy looking Thaarnian with a tall, sturdy
walking staff. He ran up to the alien and placed his hands on
the wood. "Excuse me, Sir, but the Dark Lord of the Sith
over there needs this. Would you mind letting him borrow
it?" Not waiting for an answer, he yanked the staff out of the
Thaarnian=D5s clawed hands and hustled back to Flint. The
Thaarnian started to protest, enraged, but one glance at the
Dark Lord made him turn away in a pragmatic retreat.
"What the hell are you going to do with that?"
demanded Flint scornfully, as Tank went past him with the
staff.
"I=D5m going to save Luke=D5s Jedi skin," Tank shouted
back as he jogged down into the dark. Artoo rolled quickly
down the smooth slope after him, activating a brilliant
spotlight that lit up their way.
Lord Flint rolled his eyes and followed them.

"You=D5re right, Luke," said Lumiya as the Jedi Master
came out of the tunnels and into the big dead-end cavern.
"It=D5s time to finish this. But maybe not in the way you=D5d
like."
Luke glanced around the room. He could dimly see
that they were in a large open space with a high roof and a
level floor. Some twenty feet from the entrance, the cavern
was bisected by a huge crack running from one wall to the
other. It appeared to be a rather deep chasm, yawning
hungrily after its long fast alone in the dark. "You don=D5t have
to kill me, Lumiya," said Luke reasonably. "I didn=D5t follow
you to try to kill you. I wanted to resolve this another way.
Isn=D5t the truce more important to you than your revenge?
Think about what Flint would want. He loves you. I could
feel it. Don=D5t destroy his dream. There must be something I
can give you, besides my life, to make up for what I did so
many years ago, in self defense."
Luke was surprised to see that Lumiya was crying.
But they were tears of rage at his words.
"Yes, there=D5s something you can give me, besides
your life," she choked. "There=D5s your pain!" The cyborg
clasped her hand around her jeweled golden medallion and
shut her eyes.
Luke staggered as a wave of emotion not his own
swept over him. He felt overwhelming fear and confusion as
the dim cavern around him wavered and vanished, to be
replaced by the cramped cockpit of a TIE fighter. He was
caught up in a perfect illusion, all his senses deceived.
Though he was aware of that fact, there seemed to be no
way to break free of it. He looked around in a panic, peering
out the viewport into the midst of a chaotic space battle. It
was the Battle of Kulthis all over again. He was in a stolen
Imperial fighter, wreaking havoc amidst Darth Vader=D5s strike
fleet to give Kulthis base time to evacuate. Explosions and
laser flak burst all around him as he gripped the controls.
His fear made it hard to concentrate on piloting. Suddenly
another TIE fighter loomed up in front of him, its weapons
ready to blow him into a fiery cloud. Luke=D5s hands
scrambled instinctively over his firing buttons, trying to get a
lock on the enemy ship. It was too late. Searing green bursts
of energy flew at his face across the void, and his world
shattered. The heavy transparisteel window broke into large
shards that sliced into his chest and arms. Below his feet, the
weapons systems exploded, buckling the hull in and
crushing his legs. The pain was all-consuming, taking
thought far, far away, leaving only a pulsing terror. His only
release would come with death...and Luke realized he would
die, illusion or no illusion, if he could not make it stop. But
instead, it just went on and on.
Yet, a small part of him remained stubborn,
unwilling to accept the reality of his injuries. He hadn=D5t died
in the Battle of Kulthis. He had gone on to defeat the
Emperor and redeem his father. He realized he was
experiencing the death of Shira Brie, but even that was not
being truly recreated as it happened. In reality, Luke had
been in the other TIE fighter, and Shira had tried to kill him
first. His sensors had detected her firing lock, he
remembered, and his Force probe had identified her as an
Imperial enemy. If he hadn=D5t fired on her, he would have
been shot down himself.
Luke began to fight back, filling his mind with
images of his loved ones...Leia...
Han...Callista...Jacen...Jaina...Anakin...even Tank and
Shally. For their sakes, he couldn=D5t give up. You can=D5t do
this, Lumiya, he screamed in his thoughts, fighting the
agony. It isn=D5t real! It=D5s all a lie. You can=D5t do this to me... 
         Gradually, the pain began to fade, and to
Luke=D5s immense relief, the cockpit of the ruined fighter
faded away as well. He was still standing in the cavern,
holding his lightsaber. Lumiya was on her knees, shaking,
with her head in her hands. Luke started to go towards her,
when she stood up suddenly and unhitched the long cylinder
from her belt, letting the metal coils unravel from it.
"I don=D5t know how you broke free, Skywalker," she
said in a hollow, gasping voice, "but I=D5m not finished yet.
Only one of us gets out of here alive!" Lumiya activated the
mysterious weapon and swept the coils through the air over
her head. It was like a whip with multiple lashes. Burning
white energy poured out into the cords, arcing and snapping
with raw force.
With a merciless grimace, she swept the fiery coils at
the weary Jedi Master. Luke barely lifted his lightsaber in
time to defend himself. But there were too many strands to
deflect at once. Some of the lashes of the light whip sliced
through his robe and cut deeply into his chest and arms. One
lash bit into his forehead, sending a stream of blood pouring
down into his eyes. The rest, he deflected with the
lightsaber, forcing them away as he staggered in pain and
surprise. The strands weren=D5t cut by his light blade, but
merely slid crackling off of it.
Luke was half blinded by his own blood. He wiped
at his eyes and forehead as Lumiya, her stance wide, drew
back the whip with inhuman speed and lashed out again.
Luke stumbled back, desperate to avoid it, holding his
lightsaber overextended to protect himself. The energy
lashes struck the hand and arm holding the saber, wrapping
around the green blade with uncanny precision. With a skill
honed by years of practice, Lumiya swept Luke=D5s lightsaber
from his hand. It clattered onto the stone floor and
deactivated, leaving only the hellish glare of the light whip to
illuminate the cyborg=D5s victory. Luke huddled over his
slashed arm, backed to the edge of the chasm.
Lumiya drew back to strike a third and final blow,
when a bright light appeared across the chasm. On the other
side, from another tunnel, emerged Luke=D5s Artoo unit,
followed by Tank, then Flint.
Oh no, not this time, Flint, she thought. No last
minute rescues. She swept the light whip up over her fiery
red hair.

Flint immediately saw what he had to do. He ran to
the edge of the chasm that divided him from Lumiya and
drew the long gray Sith Sword. He clutched tightly to the
red crystal shard, feeling the surge of the Force flow through
him. Flint drew back the sword and struck with it, just as if
Lumiya was standing next to him. A powerful telekinetic
blow drove Lumiya back and away from Luke. Flint swung
again, and she staggered against the cavern wall.
Then Lumiya looked up and across at Flint, clutching
her sun-shaped medallion. Flint felt the full force of her
anger hit him like a fireball. It was too much. The sword fell
from his hand, and he went to his knees, stunned.
But Tank was already moving. He ran up to the
chasm=D5s edge, crying "Luke! Catch!" He hurled the wooden
staff like a javelin across the gap.
The stricken Jedi Master looked up and caught it,
gaping in amazement at Tank and Flint. Then, a crackling
sound alerted Luke to his renewed danger, and he turned to
see Lumiya coming after him in a murderous run, the light
whip sweeping grandly towards his battered body.
"The staff!" shouted Tank. "Use the staff!"
For a moment, Luke seemed too tired to do anything.
But he was marshaling his last strength. In one continuous,
smooth move that Tank would remember for the rest of his
life, the Jedi Master reached out with the staff of wood and
caught the lashes of the light whip around it. Then he
dodged aside and heaved on the strands, forcing the
charging Lumiya off balance from her own momentum.
Luke continued to turn with the staff as Lumiya fell past
him, bringing the other end of it completely around to crack
against the back of her head. The light whip flew from her
fingers, and with a look of horror, she pitched forward into
the chasm and fell screaming into the darkness. A moment
later, there was a metallic crash, then silence.
Luke shook the coils of the whip free of the staff and
used it to keep himself from collapsing.
Flint staggered to his feet and looked around. Tank
was staring into the chasm where Lumiya had fallen. The
little R2 unit rolled over to Tank and aimed his bright light
down into the crevasse. Flint peered down into it and was
crushed by what he saw. Lumiya...his Lumiya, was lying
some fifty feet below on a bed of jagged rocks, unmoving.
Her slim cyborg body was twisted in several places, and her
red hair mingled on the rocks with a spreading pool of
crimson blood.
Luke looked down as well, and his face filled with
despair. "No..." he murmured. "It wasn't supposed to end
this way..." He looked at the grieving Dark Lord across the
chasm. One glimpse of Flint's stunned and miserable face
brought back vivid memories of how Luke had felt when he
thought Callista was dead. "It can't end this way," Luke said
firmly. He reached inside himself for a little more energy.
He held out his hand, palm down, and shut his eyes. He felt
the Force flow into his wounded frame, lending him the
strength to do what he needed to do. To succeed.
Beeping in surprise, his dome spinning around,
Artoo Detoo rose into the air and floated across the crevasse
to land gently at Luke's side. Then, the broken body of
Lumiya rose slowly out of the chasm, hanging limply in the
air, cradled by the light side of the Force. She, too, settled
gently on the stone at Luke's feet.
"Come here, Artoo," Luke said, reaching to open a
panel on the droid's back. As he moved aside the small
white door, a rich red light immediately spilled out and
dispelled the shadows around the cyborg's still form. Luke
drew out the Kaiburr Crystal. It felt so warm to his touch
that he smiled. The glow from the crystal intensified, bathing
the entire chamber in its living luminescence. Then the light
was in motion, running swiftly up and down Luke's limbs
and over his face. Where it caressed him, his wounds
healed, sealing and vanishing as if they had never been
there. A vast feeling of refreshment came over Luke, giving
him a sense of peace and control. Then, leaving Luke, the
crystal's radiance shrank down again, to dance closely
around the crystal's facets.
Luke looked at Lumiya in sorrow, wincing at the
sight of her shattered face. He closed his eyes, and the red
glow emerged from the crystal once again, climbing up his
arms to halt at his elbows. With the fantastic light
shimmering on his hands, the Jedi Master gently touched
Lumiya's mortal wounds. The glow seemed to be absorbed
into her, penetrating her body to search out deep, hidden
injuries. For long moments, Luke was poised motionless
with his hands blazing brightly over the cyborg, channeling
the crystal's power into her. Lumiya's form flared brightly,
her body lost in the glorious radiance, then just as suddenly,
the living light receded back into the gemstone, dimming the
cavern once more. Luke sat back, breathed deeply, and set
the crystal down. For the second time in his life, he had the
strange sensation that he had just been reborn. He looked at
Lumiya, gratified to see that she was restored and breathing.
With a shock, he realized that even her scars were gone,
leaving her beauty untarnished. The cyborg Dark Lord slept
peacefully at his side.
Luke looked across at Flint, who was staring back at
him in unabashed wonderment. "She's alive," Luke said to
the armored Sith Lord. "The Kaiburr Crystal brought her
back to you. It's a powerful talisman for healing."
Flint opened his left palm and held up the glowing
crystal sliver. "All this time, I've had a piece of it, Luke. It
amplifies the Force, doesn't it? The dark side, the light side,
it doesn't matter which, does it?"
"It's true," Luke admitted. "I didn't want to reveal its
existence, because I was afraid the Sith would try to take it
by force."
"But you gave up your secret to me in order to save
Lumiya," said Flint, wondering. "You're a very interesting
man, Master Skywalker. It's too bad we're not on the same
side. But you don't have to worry about me. I owe you a
debt, for saving her. Consider this the repayment...your
crystal is safe." Flint gazed at Lumiya with profound relief.
"If she had died, I'm not sure if I would have let you leave
here alive..." He met Luke's eyes. "That would have been a
shame, because I still think the truce can work out between
our orders. I wouldn't want to destroy that for the sake of
stealing your talisman."
Luke let out a long sigh of relief, smiling at the
honorable darksider, something he once thought was an
impossibility.
Tank Boma, who had been uncharacteristically quiet
and subdued, spoke up softly, "Now that that's all over
with, what do you say we all get out of this miserable pit.
Shall we?"

*  *  *

Luke, Tank, and Shally gave the final checks to their
fighter craft as the setting sun painted the Sky City spaceport
in warm tones. The two R2 units were lowered into their
respective sockets, as Tank wandered over to Luke.
"That's it," said Tank. "We're ready to go home.
And I, for one, have no regrets about leaving."
Luke looked up, closing an access panel on his X-
Wing, and smiled with satisfaction. "We can go home
proud, Tank. The truce has been formalized, and the Jedi
and the Sith can look forward to a new era without strife."
"Yeah, until the next time it all falls apart," said Tank
cynically. "Uh oh, here comes trouble..."
Flint and Lumiya approached the fighters, walking
side by side. Neither one appeared to be armed.
"Relax," said Luke. "They're just here to see us off."
The Dark Lords of the Sith stopped in front of the
Jedi Master. Flint smiled slightly. "Have a safe journey
home, Master Skywalker. You've done the right thing here,
and I promise you won't regret it." He turned to Tank and
Shally. "Commanders, I hope your report to your Chief of
State will be a favorable one."
"I think so," said Tank smoothly. "The system you
have here does seem to work for the Thaarnians. The New
Republic doesn't have to worry...for the present."
"I'm glad to hear that," said Flint. "It would seem
that I've been more than amply repaid for that time I saved
your lives."
"You remember that, huh?" said Tank. "Listen,
speaking of saving lives, does Luke have to worry
about...um..." Tank faltered under Lumiya's sharp stare.
"If you're attempting to ask if I'm going to try to kill
Luke again," she said sternly, "then no, you don't have to
worry about that." She faced Luke. "You can go free,
Master Skywalker, without fear. The scales are balanced
between us. Once, you took my life away. Now, you gave it
back to me. And more," she said, touching her smooth face
where the network of scars had vanished. "For a long time, I
lived with constant pain. It kept my hate alive, almost drove
me mad. But now it's gone. That crystal of yours seems to
have healed the interface between my organic and bionic
parts. I...I'm grateful for that. I don't think I'll ever
understand why you did what you did, but..."
"If it helps, Lumiya," said Luke, "I did it for the sake
of the balance. It's something my teacher told me. The dark
side and the light side both need expression in living beings.
I'd rather it be through you and Flint, than someone like the
Emperor. Of course, I know things can change...the dark
side has its price, and it can change people, even destroy
them."
Flint spoke up. "I'm willing to pay that price, Luke.
The Sith can be more than what they once were. I won't
change so much that I won't be able to guide them in the
necessary direction. I want to be around to groom my
successor. We both know what could happen if someone
with more...ambitious tendencies takes over."
"I know that if the Sith decide to move out into the
rest of the Galaxy, the Jedi will be ready," Luke said
seriously.
Flint simply nodded, knowing what Luke meant.
The Jedi would have the Kaiburr Crystal for their defense.
"If it was up to me," said Lumiya, "You might not
walk out of here with that crystal so easily. But Flint
promised, didn't he...You're lucky the Magians don't know
about it. We told them the huge disturbance in the Force they
felt when you used it to heal me, was really from our battle.
They think we fought to a standstill, and are parting as
respected enemies. The Thaarnians tend to be impressed by
that kind of thing."
"Thanks," said Luke, "I think. Anyhow, it's not far
from the truth. I do respect you...as an enemy." Luke
paused, then looked to Flint. "It's time to get back to my
students," he said. "But I just wanted you to know, I
remember that time on Belderone, and I'm sorry I turned
you away. You would have made a good Jedi."
"Hmmm. Is that a compliment?" asked Flint gruffly.
"I tend to believe in destiny, don't you? I think it was
probably necessary to bring all this about...Good-bye,
Master Skywalker. And...may the Force be with you."
With that, the Dark Lords of the Sith turned and
walked away together, Lord Flint's hand resting comfortably
on Lady Lumiya's shoulder.
Good-bye, Flint, Luke thought. I wish you luck. You're a
darksider who treads close to the light, as I have walked
close to the darkness...
"It probably makes a big difference that they have
each other," said Shally, watching them go. "This could all
work out."
"It made a big difference to me that I had you both
with me, that's for sure," said Luke, stepping between Tank
and Shally and putting an arm around each of them. "Tank
here even saved my life. I guess that evens things up for that
time you kidnapped me, right?" Tank started to sputter, but
Luke continued over him. "Listen, what would you say to a
nice vacation on Yavin Four? I have to go back there, but I
don't want to say good-bye to you both so soon."
"Are you okay, Luke?" asked Shally. "About
Callista, I mean."
"I think so," he said. "I still miss her, but I know I
have my life to live while she's gone. I know when she
comes back, I want to be the kind of person worth coming
back to. But that's not why I want you to come back to the
Jedi Academy. You've done a great service to the Jedi. You
deserve a hero's welcome, both of you."
"Yeah, Tank is a hero, isn't he?" teased Shally. "And
a good husband. He's come a long way from the selfish kid
you used to know."
Tank shot her a defensive look. "Hey, I wasn't so
bad. Luke, tell her about the time when I saved Biggs from
those Tusken Raiders when he was too injured to fly his
Skyhopper home-"
"Oh, yes," Luke said to Shally, "Biggs told me about
that one. Tank did save his life. I'll admit that the hero in
Tank did occasionally show through back then."
"Occasionally!" Tank challenged, and Shally smiled,
enjoying the setting sunlight of the Sith System.

*  *  *

A week later, Luke took the crystal from its new
hiding place in an upper floor of the Great Temple on Yavin
Four. Carrying it wrapped in a soft cloth, he rode the
turbolift to the uppermost level, where, years ago, the
victory of the Battle of Yavin had been celebrated. The vast
open room with its tall, vine covered pillars and beautiful
shafts of sunlight, was Luke's favorite place to meditate.
Peacefully, he sat down on the ancient stone steps and
unwrapped the Kaiburr Crystal. Bathed in its warm glow,
the Jedi Master closed his eyes and opened himself to the
Force.
"Master Yoda," he called softly. Luke felt the
presence of the old spirit, and opened his eyes. He smiled to
see the wizened, gnomish image, glowing softly with bluish
radiance upon the steps at his side.
Yoda's face was weary, as if he had been exerting
himself mightily. "Luke... difficult it is to return, once I
have joined with all that is," he said, looking with gentle
sadness at his former student. "It may be that speak again we
do not."
Luke gazed at his mentor with infinite affection. "I'll
miss you, Master. It's been so hard, sometimes, trying to
bring back the Jedi when I knew so little. Seeing you again
really made it easier."
"Luke, you are the Master now. Great success have
you had, with the Jedi, and the Sith. You will not need me.
Already know you -"
"- that which I require," Luke finished. "I know.
And with the crystal to study, the Academy will grow and
prosper, calling in Jedi students from all over the Galaxy.
I've got a lot of work ahead of me."
"Hmm. When for eight hundred years you have
taught Jedi, then you may speak to me of work. Humph."
"Master Yoda," Luke asked hesitantly, "Will the
truce with the Sith endure?"
"Oh - the future. So certain are you that you wish to
know? Enough of a miracle it is, that it came to be at all. A
narrow path did you walk, to make it so."
Luke looked speculatively into the crystal's aura. "If
I had died, or if Lumiya had died, things would have been
very different. I suppose I don't want to know the future,
even if I could see it for certain. There's more than enough
trouble to go around for the present."
"Taught you something I have, then," said Yoda
with a wrinkled smile, "for that is the wisdom of a Master."

THE  END

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