Warning: This contains MAJOR spoilers for my FATE OF THE JEDI work, which is not yet finished. If you read the previous version, without the warning, I would suggest rereading this first chapter, as it is much different.

Dramatis Personae

Allana Solo Solusar; Jedi Master (female human)

Ben Skywalker; Jedi Master (male human)

Darth Krayt; Sith Lord (male human)

Han Solo; Captain, Millennium Falcon (male human)

Jagged Fel; Interim Imperial Head of State (male human)

Jaina Solo Fel; Jedi Master (female human)

Leia Organa Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)

Luke Skywalker; Jedi Grand Master (male human)

Mara Padme Fel; Jedi Knight (female human)

Maryari Quilis; Galactic Alliance Chief of State (female Ishi Tib)

Megatron; Decepticon leader (male Cybertronian)

Natasi Daala; Former Imperial Admiral (female human)

Orion Pax; Autobot leader (male Cybertronian)

Sebastian Darklighter; Galactic Alliance Director of Intelligence (male human)

Starscream; Decepticon second in command, Seeker (male Cybertronian)

Thrace Solusar; Jedi Knight (male Chiss)

63 ABY: Kuat

Kuat had remained the capital of the Galactic Alliance even after much of the damage inflicted upon Coruscant, over a decade ago by a returned Abeloth, had been repaired. An extragalactic race, related to the Yuuzhan Vong, called the Terrans had claimed to be the Celestials and had started the rebuilding as a way to garner the galaxy's support for a carefully planned attack on the true Celestials, a race called the Nibu'i. The strike was a failure, and after the Terrans' defeat the Nibu'i continued the repair work started by the Terrans.

"So then, Dif Scaur was possessed by the spirit of a Sith Lord," said Maryari Quilis, the newly elected Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance. She was an Ishi Tib, and had the star shaped face typical of her species, with its two eye stalks, beak, and two cheek pouches.

"Well, not exactly a Sith Lord," Grand Master Luke Skywalker corrected, referring to the unfortunate event which had transpired during the presence of the Celestials. "It was the spirit of a Rakatan commander named Skal'nas. The Celestials had imprisoned his spirit and those of other powerful Rakatan in that monolith. Their power in the dark side created dark energy, which created the dimensional rift that allowed the Celestials to return. The Sith had released him so that he could find a... host. Skal'nas fed on Scaur's fear, and used that to convince Scaur to let Ska'nas's spirit in."

"So these spirits can only possess you if you let..."

Luke frowned as Maryari Quilis' voice became distant. The Chief of State and the walls of her office seemed to grow pale and then fade away. The Jedi Master found himself on a strangely familiar world he could not recognize. He stood among mountains of rubble, the corpses of slaughtered buildings. Fingers of smoke bled out toward a gray sky, as though longing to escape the destruction from which they'd been birthed.

Littering the ground here and there were the charred skeletons of downed fighters and their pilots. The nauseating stench of death filled Luke's soul. Something truly horrible had happened here. Wherever the Void 'here'...

A sense of foreboding bubbled up from Luke's subconscious, and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as though they believed themselves to be defensive spines. The Jedi Master spun around, his lightsaber snap-hissing to life. He instinctively drew on the Force as an enormous, gray blur collided with the ground. The impact created a shallow crater and threw a haze of dust up into the air. Luke directed a blast of Force energy at the horrible thing as it rose from its slightly crouched position. But it engaged some sort of rocket pack on its back, counteracting the attack.

The monster must have been at least fifty feet tall. It had a skeletal look to it and somewhat resembled a creation of the Yuuzhan Vong. But, something was different. It shouldn't have been alive, and yet it was. The face was the worst part. Two red red suns burning above a black hole full of long, needle-like teeth. It was slightly reminiscent of Abeloth's face, though she'd have been cute by comparison.

Luke was already extending his mind outward, toward nearby pieces of rubble, as the beast started running toward him. The thing plucked a long silver weapon, resembling a giant vibroblade, from each of its forelegs. The duracrete chunks Luke hurled at his opponent exploded into dust as they met the monster's twin blades, moving like silver blurs.

The Jedi Master knew there was no point in running. His lightsaber wouldn't do him much good, either. Luke took a split second to make sure he was securely rooted in the light side, and then reached out to the dark side of the Force. He visualized his foe being crushed like a can. But nothing happened; the armor was too strong.

Well, running certainly wouldn't hurt. Luke knew that no matter what he did or tried to do, he was going to die. But he took solace in the fact that his death would most likely be quick.

Luke? Master Skywalker? Luke spun around as he felt a hand on his shoulder. The Jedi Master was suddenly back within the safety of the capital building with the Chief of State. He was standing with his lightsaber activated. He lowered his weapon and shut it off. "I just had... a vision."

"I thought so," Maryari said dryly.

"I don't know where it was, but it had just been hit pretty hard. And there was this... I don't know what it was. It looked kind of like a Yuuzhan Vong warrior, but it was a machine. And it was just as alive as you or I."

The Chief of State sighed. "What do you think about raising the threat level?"

"That's not a bad idea, as long as we don't raise it too much."

Maryari nodded. If she elevated the threat level too much, it could tip off who or whatever was planning what Luke saw. "And I'll contact Admiral Kre'fey. He is a supporter of the Jedi so he'll take your vision seriously."

Imperial Remnant: Bastion

Jagged Fel sat up in his and his wife Jaina's bed, unable to sleep, and not for the first time. He was supposed to be the Interim Imperial Head of State; that had been over two years ago. After that whole debacle with the previous Imperial Head of State Moff Zedekiah Gatterweld being a Terran, no new players had been allowed into the political arena. Thus, the field of candidates vying for Jag's position was almost non-existent.

Almost. Unfortunately, a certain former Imperial Admiral named Natasi Daala had been after his position all this time. The dreadful hag and her hardliner supporters would only make a nice big mess of things in an already barely stable government. And so Jag had no choice but to lead a nation to which he did not truly belong.

Jagged Fel reached over to the table at his side of the bed, grabbed his laptop, and started going over reports to see what additional insight he might be able to glean. But, he could not seem to focus. Just because one couldn't sleep didn't mean that one wasn't tired.

He glanced briefly a small holo of him, Jaina, and their two children, Mara Padme and Anakin Ganner. The children were currently at the Jedi Academy on Shedu Maad. Jaina's parents Han and Leia were also there. Jag turned toward Jaina as he felt his wife stirring beside him.

"Watching whisperkit videos again?" Jaina asked as she opened her eyes. In the dim light cast by the laptop's screen, her dark brown eyes made her pupils look rather large, not unlike a playing whisperkit.

"No, it's far more exciting than…" he trailed off when Jaina starting staring off into space. She was concentrating intently on something.

One of the lights suddenly came on. "Grab a couple blasters," Jaina ordered.

A couple minutes later the lights were back off. Jaina had run into the closet, while Jag had gone into the 'fresher. He couldn't help but smile. Of course the woman would get the closet.

And then the door to the bedroom exploded inward in a shower of metal shrapnel and the fake wood that had once decorated it. Screeching filled the air as red needles of light crashed into Jag and Jaina's bed, which promptly caught fire. They'd have been dead… had Jag not woken his wife by using his laptop.

Several of the intruders went down as the married couple fired off a hail of green blaster bolts. But just returning fire wouldn't be enough, not against this many people. Another of the men fell down as Jaina used the Force to send a large white candle slamming into the side of his head to shatter.

Jaina doubted she and Jag would be able to hold these goons off long enough for a security team to arrive. The door to the 'fresher suddenly started to close. And the Jedi Master was running from her hiding place. Crimson blaster fire ricocheted off her lightsaber's blue blade, taking out a few more of her and Jag's guests. Jaina grunted as several bolts found their way past her lightsaber. The red fire burned through her skin, but didn't hit anything vital. The smell of burnt flesh reminded the petite Jedi Master of a barbecue, and actually made her a bit hungry.

Jaina dove for the closing door, and rolled herself up as tightly as possible. She reached out toward the sink to pull herself in faster. Jag heard a cracking sound as the sink started moving. But it stopped short of being torn from its roost as Jaina's body was practically slammed into the tiled floor. The Jedi Master was rising into a fighting stance even as she grunted from the impact. Not that there was any reason for it at the moment, since the door had just closed.

"Glad you didn't use the toi…" Jag trailed off as he followed Jaina to the far wall. She started hacking away like a madwoman. When faced with no escape route one had to make their own. Jag scrambled through the hole after his wife.

"They're all over the place," Jaina commented as she led Jag in the direction of the hangar bay. The two emerged, a few minutes later, into a fierce firefight between the Palace's security forces and... however the other guys were.

Jaina deflected a crimson hail of incoming fire as she led her husband over to his Chiss Clawcraft. Jag tossed in his weapons and fired up his fighter's repulsors and deflector shield as he scrambled in. The would be assassins scattered and dove for cover as he opened fire on them.

Jaina ran over to her X-wing as Jag took his turn to cover her. Her astromech droid, Sapphire had been taken out of her astromech slot and, thus, the Jedi Master had not been able to order the droid to start up the X-wing. But, luckily, a member of the security force was escorting the little droid over to Jaina's fighter. Jaina had informed Sapphire of the proper evacuation protocol, a while back, at Jag's suggestion.

Jaina levitated Sapphire into her niche behind the X-wing's cockpit, and leapt up into the cockpit before the canopy had finished opening.

Having already planned for similar scenarios, the two didn't have to discuss their next move. Jaina and Jag took their fighters through a circuitous route to an ancient, abandoned warehouse. After all, who'd be stupid enough to remain on the planet? Sometimes, stupid was brilliant.

"Well, that was exciting," Jag said later as he met up with Jaina outside their fighters and hugged her.

"Yeah, that's a word for it."

Jag looked at Jaina a moment, and couldn't help but smirk. She was wearing one of his shirts. On her it was like a dress, almost reaching her knees, due to her tiny frame. "Sorry about the shirt," Jaina said.

Jag shrugged. "Clothes are worth more with holes in them these days."

"Gotta wash the blood out, first, though."

Jag frowned. "But doesn't Jedi blood have magical powers?"

Jaina sighed. "You're a dork."

"Yeah. But you decided to marry one. I should look at your wounds."

Jaina nodded. "They're through the holes in my… your shirt."

"Thank you, sweetie. I'd have never guessed-"

"Ow," Jaina said as her husband started cleaning a shoulder wound with something that stung. "Sometimes being your wife is painful."

"Well, you can handle it," Jag said. "You're tough."

"Thanks."

"Daala must've been behind this," Jag said, getting into something more serious.

"Really?" Jaina asked drily. "What reason would she possibly have for killing you?"

"You're too cute," Jag said. "Unfortunately, we can't bring any accusations against Daala without proof. Otherwise it would just sound like mudslinging. Heck, I bet the old hag would say that I hired those thugs and tried to pin it on her. That I got those men killed just to make her look bad."

The Maw: Shelter space station

Han Solo leaned against one of the Millennium Falcon's bulkheads, sipping some caf, as he watched Anakin Ganner and Mara Padme doing some light repair work and exploration of the inside of the YT-1300 freighter.

Though Han was remarkably healthy for a human male of his age, all his years of heroics had begun to take a toll on his body. He could no longer crawl around inside the guts of his beloved ship like he used to. It was partly because of his back and partly because of his knees. But that was what grandchildren were for.

"So, how old is this ship?" Anakin asked his grandfather, as he replaced a bulkhead panel on the interior of the Millennium Falcon.

"At least a hundred." Han's grandson was silent a moment, as he tried to think of some witty comeback. It was amazing how much Anakin looked like his late son of the same name. He had those same blue eyes and the same blond, somewhat messy hair.

"Wow. That's almost as old as you," the boy said with a crooked grin.

"And what part of 'respect your elders' do you not understand?" Han asked in mock seriousness.

"Um…" Anakin turned around toward his older sister. Mara was currently upside down, with her upper body inside the guts of the Falcon, doing some rewiring.

"What in the Void is this?" Mara asked.

"What's it look like?" asked Han.

"It's some sort of cube. It's not attached to anything. It looks like it was just stuffed in there."

"Ah. So that's where I put that old Cubix. Could never seem to figure out that blasted thing."

"Right," Mara said dryly as she crawled backwards out of the small space with a fist sized bronze colored cube in her hand. She looked up at Han as she stood up, to hand over the peculiar object.

Han couldn't help but smile at the sight of her soot covered face. Mara Padme had the same brown eyes and long dark brown hair as her mother Jaina.

Mara's eyes widened in slight surprise as the cube suddenly began drawing on the Force. It seemed to be alive, and a soft, golden light began to emanate from the cube, yet she could not see where it came from.

"I can… feel it," Han said. His granddaughter looked back up at him. "The Force," he clarified.

Leia walked into the room, stared at the cube a moment. Her face was a bit pale. It was apparent to Han that while his wife was intrigued by the strange object that she had something far more pressing on her mind.

Leia sighed and looked at Mara Padme and Anakin Ganner. "I don't want you two to worry, because your parents are fine, but... someone just tried to kill them."

"They called you?" Leia's granddaughter asked.

Leia shook her head. "Bastion Palace Security. Your parents went into hiding somewhere."

"And Palace Security doesn't know where," Han assumed. "Because there could be moles."

Leia nodded. "I'm sure they'll get here as soon as they can. They can't have the bad guys following them here." She looked back at the cube. "Now, what is that?"

"I found it just... digging around inside the ship," Mara said. "And grandpa can feel the Force."

Something seemed to occur to Leia. She looked back at Han. "That Solo luck. Han, what if you were using the Force?"

Han shrugged. "Maybe if I was using it without knowing. Subconsciously. And come to think of it, Lando had some pretty incredible luck. Until I won the Falcon from him in that sabacc game." He glanced back at the cube and frowned. "Could this thing be dangerous? I mean, if I can feel the Force… That Midichlore stuff allowed people to use the Force. And look what it did to them?"

"They all died," Anakin Ganner said.

"Not the Jedi who used it to regain the Force, though," Mara Padme clarified. She liked to clarify everything, whether or not it was necessary. Han thought it was adorable.

"Maybe, if you're around it too much. I think we should talk to Cilghal, just to be safe."

"Good idea," Han agreed.

Orbit of Kuat

The processing center of one of Kuat's many automated orbital satellites suddenly received a signal. It lasted only a couple femto-seconds, but it was adequate. This particular satellite sent out its own signal, to a massive warship traveling through hyperspace. Neither that first signal nor the ensuing conversation would be recorded. After all this was not, in fact one of Kuat's many automated orbital satellites.

Nemesis

"It has been found, my lord," said Soundwave's metallic sounding voice. "It is on a space station designated 'Shelter'."

A set of coordinates appeared in Megatron's field of view. "That is not far from the Nemesis' current location," the Decepticon leader mused.

"True, though it could be dangerous to bring the Nemesis into the system. 'Shelter' is located within a region called the Maw. It contains an unnaturally high concentration of singularities, which could pose a danger to the ship. I suggest we send our Seekers to investigate and determine what sort of defenses the region possesses."

"You may proceed," Megatron said.

"Of course, my lord. "