Adam G Cowan's Ghost Cube

Ghost Cube 

The ghost cube was invented by Adam G. Cowan in 2008. Many variants are available.

There is a number of different variants of this puzzle available but I liked the look of the one below and decided this was the one for me. This is a fiendish variant on the Rubik's cube and the one I have found the most difficult to solve with the standard internal, 3x3x3 mechanism. Whoever came up with this has a wicked mind. It is an evil puzzle and not for the faint-hearted.

Each piece of the puzzle has a unique shape therefore to solve the puzzle, each must be put in its one correct position with the correct orientation. While all the pieces are different, some only have subtle differences, therefore, it is not always immediately obvious where they go. This is not a puzzle to tackle if you are not 100% with your algorithms! The frame of reference of a solved side is much less clear than on a coloured cube. It is all too easy to get confused and get lost mid-solve.

The picture below is of a solved ghost cube but the middle layer is rotated such that it has complete freedom of movement like on a normal cube.

Turning the middle layer like this, creates upper and lower layers be the default. It is important to be able to recognise them, as such, during a solve.

This is what it looks like when the puzzle is scrambled. The integrity of the cube shape is quickly destroyed.

Theoretically, anyone who can solve a standard Rubik's cube can solve this one too. In practice, it is not quite that simple. The first time I picked this up, it took me six hours to solve it!

It is a fun a challenging puzzle. The variant I own has never popped. Cornering is not great I sometimes find myself unable to execute a turn, necessitating re-aligning the puzzle. A slip is all too possible creating the risk of a false turn and losing track of what you are doing. Of course, one might view this as adding to the challenge.

Solving the Ghost Cube

The method I used to solve the cube is described below. Unlike on a standard cube, there are no, obviously,  colours to act as a reference.
Before attempting a solve, I studied the puzzle carefully. I worked out which pieces behave as centres. From those points of reference, it becomes clear which pieces behave as edges and which as corners. A "side" then is a piece that behaves as a centre and the corresponding eight pieces, "edges" and "corners", surrounding it. This becomes a layer. See the picture below to show a rotated "side".

Step 1 - Solve a Layer

First, I solved a "side", or layer, as described above.  Care needs to be taken to ensure that the correct pieces are used and that they line up correctly and squarely. This is especially true of the triangular "corners"; they are easy to get mixed up.
Due to how the cube works there are only two choices of a layer to solve at this point. It is important to be able to recognise their "centres".

Step 2 - Solve the Opposite Side

In some ways, this step is slightly easier because there are fewer choices of pieces. Though solving it is still far from trivial. I do the "corners" first followed by the "edges". However, before doing the corners I solve the two ridged "edge" piece to make it easier to visualise where the corners go.

It is possible to encounter a parity odd case at this step but this is easily solved by rotating this layer's centre and one on the E-layer by a quarter turn.

The top and bottom are now solved just leaving the middle layer. This is where it gets interesting...

Step 3 - Solve the Middle Layer's Edges

I found this to be very tricky. Before solving the "edges" it is necessary to work out where the "centres" go and then solve the "edges" relative to them. This is further complicated by the fact that the middle layer must be rotated away out of synchronicity with the upper and bottom layers. This makes this stage very confusing and significantly more difficult. I found it easier to orientate one of the "centres", at this point, so that I could use this as a reference point by turning the middle layer to the solved position and then check the positions of the "edges".

Step 4 - Orientate the Middle Layer's Centres

So, after solving the middle layer's "edges", it is time to orientate the "centres". This is not something to learn on a ghost cube but it can be mastered on a super cube (a normal cube with pictures or numbers on the stickers) or, the Fisher or Wheel cubes.

If it has been done correctly, turning the middle layer to the solved position will result in a perfectly square cube.

Update

I have since got another ghost cube, this one with nebulae printed on the sides. This puzzle is easier to solve than the one above.

 

 

DaYan Earth Bermuda Cube

After solving the Mercury cube, I wanted to move onto another puzzle in DaYan's Bermuda series. I could not find Venus for sale in the UK but Earth was available. Earth presented a significant upgrade in challenge compared with Mercury. I solved it on the second day of working on it.

Viewed from this angle, the cube looks like a Fisher cube but appearances can be very deceptive...

Turn it over and we see two triangular faces. The cube is a complex mixture of Fisher and standard cube style pieces.

In its solved state, there is only one freedom of movement available, the orange face. This must be turned 45°. This face now functions as one on a Fisher cube. The green face is now free to be turned. Turning the green face by 180° or by 45° frees up the red face while locking the orange one and so on and so on. The two triangular faces do an effective job bandaging the cube restricting the options available to the solver.

The puzzle turns easily enough. Cornering is less than smooth; it is better not to push it too much. It pops more easily than it should.

The bandaging makes it a little tricky to scramble the puzzle.  The integrity of the cube shape is quickly lost during the scramble. Care is needed to ensure that the cube is correctly aligned when performing a series of turns to reduce the risk of popping. The orientation of green and red faces have to be planned carefully during a solve.

Solving the Earth Cube

Summarised below are the steps I took to solve this puzzle. I describe what I did. This should provide some clues to anyone who is struggling to solve the puzzle but I shall not publish any algorithms here.

Step 1 - Partially Solve the Red Face

Solve the triangles and pentagons on the red face. The pentagons are easy but some wiggling of the red and green triangles is needed to manoeuvre the small triangles into the correct positions. This can be a tricky step.

Step 2 - Orientate all of the Remaining Pentagonal and Solve the Rectangular Pieces

Rotate all of the orange and green pentagons into the correct orientation and solve the two blue rectangular pieces. These two processes are done simultaneously in the same step. These pieces all behave like edges. After the two blue rectangular pieces are solved, a Petrus-like block is created. All future moves are restricted to the orange and green faces.

Step 3 - Permutate the Green Pentagons

This step is trivial and intuitive.

Step 4 - Orientate all of the Remaining Small Triangular Pieces

There are four orange triangles and three green triangles to orientate. They behave like corners. It is easier to solve the yellow/green and white green triangles during this process to ensure the orientations are all correct.

Step 5 - Permutate the Orange Pentagons

Permutating the orange pentangular pieces is another easy step.

Step 6 - Permutate the Orange and Green Small Triangles

The final stage is to get the remaining small triangles into the correct positions. This can be tricky but is not too difficult. I do the greens first, the easy bit, and the orange ones second, the less easy bit.

So there you have it, one solved Earth Bermuda Cube.

DaYan Mercury Bermuda Cube

The DaYan company has come up with a fresh and imaginative series of puzzles with its Bermuda line. Its unusual configuration intrigued me so I bought the first and simplest, the Mercury (there are eight variants, all named after our Solar System's major planets).

Seen from the angle pictured below, it looks like an ordinary Fisher Cube (if you are thinking of getting a Mercury and you are unfamiliar with the Fisher cube, it might be advisable to get one of those first to get accustomed to its configuration).

Turn the cube over and we see what is special about it...

The triangular centre changes the configuration of the cube such that the blue and red sides work as a standard cube with the other corner operating as a Fisher cube. This bandages the cube in an unusual way preventing certain turns that slice the white and yellow faces.

In the picture above, the triangular section can be rotated vertically; this is the only freedom of movement in the cube in terms of R- L- F and B-type moves. Rotate the top, yellow face by 45° and this releases the other sides of the triangle while locking the hypotenuse.

The cube moves easily and freely, provided it is lined up properly. Some care is needed to ensure the cube is aligned because it does pop more easily than it should do. The puzzle does corner but it is better, in my experience not to push it and care needs to be taken with the yellow face to ensure that it is turned correctly to allow smooth turning during a solve.

A scrambled puzzle quickly loses the integrity of its cube shape, which can make it confusing when performing algorithms and lining up it correctly to perform turns. This may be especially the case if you are unfamiliar with the Fisher cube.

It offers a step up in challenge compared with the Fisher or standard configuration Rubik's cube but I did not find it overly difficult to solve.

Parity

One thing I had not anticipated when I first set out to solve this puzzle was the parity issue that is possible. Fortunately, DaYan provided a means to avoid it with the logo on the white sticker on the middle piece of the white face. Before scrambling the cube, look carefully at this face and orientation of the centre piece. During the solve, return the cube to the same orientation; if it is rotated by 90°, a parity issue will rear its ugly head and no one likes that mid-solve.

Solving the Mercury

Described below are the steps that I took to solve this puzzle. I don't know if it is the best way but it is the way that I do it. It has an elegance that I find pleasing. I am not going to include any algorithms but the steps below should provide enough clues for anyone who might be struggling with this puzzle. The algorithms that I used were standard algorithms adapted for this puzzle's configuration.

Step 1 - Partially Solve the White Face

Solve three of the white pentagonal piece and the triangles between them, leaving one side free...

 

Step 2 - Orientate the Rectangular Pieces on the Middle Layer

Use the unsolved section to rotate all four rectangular pieces on the middle layer so that are all orientated correctly. Remember, these behave like centres on a regular cube.

Step 3 - Complete the White Face

Complete the white face. Care must be taken to preserve the orientation of the rectangular piece under the fourth pentangular piece. It is not quite as easy as it looks.

Step 4 - Solve the Squares on the Middle Layer

Manoeuvring them into the right positions is made more tricky by the bandaging on the yellow face but there are no orientation issues to worry about so it is not all bad. Remember the squares behave as edges. Care needs to be taken to leave the rectangular pieces in the correct orientation.

Step 5 - Solve the Rectangular and Pentagonal Pieces on the Yellow Face

Permutating and orientating the rectangular and pentagonal pieces on the yellow face is not difficult; they behave like edges.  Align the pentagonal piece with the green and orange faces. If the rectangular pieces are not in the correct places then there is a parity issue. The white face was not solved correctly. To fix this rotate the white centre by 90° and learn from your mistake! See Parity, above.

Step 6 - Solve the Yellow Triangles

Solve the yellow triangles. These pieces behave like corners. The small square pieces also behave like corners, so from a cube mechanism point of view, the yellow face has five corners.
It is possible to merely permute them and then orientate all of the pieces at the end but I prefer to do permutate and orientate these two pieces at this stage.

Step 7 - Solve the Yellow Squares

Finally, solve the yellow squares. These pieces both look and behave like corners. Manoeuvring the pieces into the correct position is not difficult but the bandaging of the yellow face limits options for rotating them into the correct orientation.

So there you have it, one solved Mercury Bermuda Cube.

Addendum

Updated 30 November 2018.
While playing with other Bermuda cubes a different solution for this puzzle popped into my head that is better than the route I describe above. It is more efficient and removes the possibility of a parity issue popping up to spoil the solve.

Step 1: Solve the Yellow Squares and Rectangles

An intuitive step.

Step 2: Orientate the Rectangles on the Middle Layer

Use the unsolved Fisher corner to rotate the rectangles of the middle layer to the correct orientation. These pieces behave like centres.

Step 3: Solve the Blue and Red Squares

These pieces behave like edges.
Completing this step creates a pseudo-Fisher style block.

Step 4: Orientate the Pentagons

It is not essential to do this step but it is easier to rotate them at this stage than later. Though they may go out of rotation later, or at least it is possible the way I do it.

Step 5: Complete the Yellow Face

The simplest way to do this is to the yellow pentagon first and then slot the triangles into position.

Step 6: Solve the Orange and Green Squares

This is a fairly simple step that should present few difficulties.
There is only the white face left to solve.

Step 7: Permutate the White Pentagons

This is a trivial step.

Step 8: Permutate the White Triangles

This can be done with familiar algorithms altered to take into account the bandaging on the yellow face.

Step 9: Orientate the White Triangles

Again, not a difficult step provided the bandaging of the yellow face is taken into consideration.

There we have it, a solved Mercury cube.

Rubik's Cube - My Journey

I am old enough to have be around when the Rubik's cube was a phenemon back in the day. It was invented and patented in the 1970s but it is mostly associated with the 1980s. It is claimed that it has since gone on to be the world's best selling toy.

My first cube was not an official one but a "wonderful puzzler". This cheap piece of crap soon fell apart and went into the bin to be replaced with the more expensive real thing. I still have my Ideal Games branded cube. It is showing signs of wear and tear but considering its age, it is holding up very well.

 

I did not manage to solve it on my own. To do that I had to refer to Patrick Bossert's book: You Can Do the Cube.

You Can do the Cube by Patrick Bossert

It is still available today but is probably of interest to most cube enthusiasts for historical reasons. The solving methodology is the most ineffiecient that I know but it does the job and is useful to get to know how the cube works...

Step 1: Solve corners of one side
Step 2: Solve the side's edges
Step 3: Permutate corners of opposite side
Step 4: Orientate the corners
Step 5: Permutate remaining edges
Step 6: Orientate remaining edges

To cut costs the book was printed in black and white therefore the different coloured faces were represented with different styles of shading. I cannot imagine a publisher getting away with that nowadays!

The method that everyone else used (at least everyone who I knew) was slightly more efficient, a precursor of the layer method used today...

Step 1: Solve corners of one side 
Step 2: Solve the side's edges
Step 3: Solve the edges on the next layer
Step 4: Permutate corners of last layer
Step 5: Orientate corners
Step 6: Permutate remaining edges
Step 7: Orientate remaining edges

I never got a cube with numbers on the stickers (thereby adding the complication of orientating the centres) but I did get Rubik's World...

Inevitably there was the 4x4x4 Rubik's Revenge. I went through a period of getting on the school bus with a scrambled cube and alighting it with a solved one. Alas, my original cube is broken but I do have a Rubik's-branded replacement.
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My interest in the cube waxed and waned over the years (along the way I acquired the Rubik's-branded 25th anniversary cube) but more recently I have become more interested in learning new and more advanced methods. I am working on mastering the Roux method (my prefered way of solving it) but I also like the slightly more difficult Petrus method.

The standard colour configuration has changed since I got my Ideal Games' cube. On my old cube, yellow & white and green & blue are adjacent instead of opposite.

It is interesting to see how solving methodology has evolved and changed over the years. The layer method (a.k.a. beginner's method) is now slightly different from the one I learned in the 1980s...

Step 1: Solve corners of one side 
Step 2: Solve edges of one side
Step 3: Solve next layer
Step 4: Orientate edges of last layer
Step 5: Orientate corners of last layer
Step 6: Permutate corners of last layer
Step 7: Permuate edges of last layer

I now have a new, modern cube, made in China. It is a fraction of the weight of my old Ideal Games cube and turns much more easily: no more painful Rubik's thumb!

The circle of life continues. I have bought a cube for grandson No. 1 and printed out the solution for him. I have challenged him to learn how to solve it with a monetary reward if he succeeds

There are now more puzzles out there than I could hope to collect. Puzzle inventors are very inventive and evil individuals. I am sure there is a layer of Hell with ever more difficult and fiendish puzzles to keep them occupied. Solving the one below did not, thankfully, open up a short cut to it...

Every Massacre has its Survivors

This was meant as a prologue to a series of scenarios I had in mind for FFG Star Wars: Force and Destiny roleplaying game. I have not got round to writing the scenarios yet, beyond sketching out some notes.

I

Not all of the ten thousand Jedi in the Galaxy were fighting on the front lines alongside the clones in the Grand Army.  Del Jarath had worked in the Acquisition Division of the Jedi Order for most of his career since being promoted to Knighthood, consequently, he was well travelled and well accustomed to dealing with persons of varied races and species.  His Padawan, Jorl Herran, served him well and faithfully; much of the training and many of the lessons were conducted on the starship, Zephyr, on trips to and from planets all over the galaxy.  They were tasked with retrieving Force sensitive younglings and bringing them back to the Jedi temple on Coruscant.  It was Jedi Knight Jarath’s duty to assess the children and if he deemed them suitable to remove them from their parents or guardians and take them to a new life in the Jedi order.

The war had hindered efforts to bring younglings to Coruscant: travel, especially in many parts of the Outer Rim, was increasingly hazardous and higher priorities delayed such missions more often than not.

Their current mission listed five children who had been identified on five different worlds within easy reach of the Corellian Run; part of the mission involved going to the fringes of Hutt Space: a region of the Galaxy that had seen more than its fair share of conflict during the war.  The children, all of different species, ranged in ages of one to four standard years, a Duros, a Bothan, a Zabrak, a Lethan Twi’lek and a human.

“Well that’s a job well done,” said Jorl Herran, glad it was now over.  He found acquisitions exhausting.  He was looking forward to getting back to Coruscant.

“Indeed it is,” replied Del Jarath, “I’ll be glad to be back safe and sound in the Temple.  Though the perennial backlog will probably mean…”

He was interrupted by the comms unit coming to life with an incoming transmission.  Jorl sighed, fearing the Temple had remembered another youngling at the last minute for them to collect.

“It’s coming from Itkotch!”  Said Del.

“Itkotch?”

“How curious,” continued Del, “they have been building orbital habitats.  I heard that the Jedi stationed on the Moon disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”  Jorl saw the face of his master darken.  Something was amiss.

“Yes.”  Del rubbed his chin and thought for a few moments.  “Yes, I heard something about the Temple losing contact with the Jedi there.  If only I could remember…”

“Should we contact the Temple and seek guidance?”

“No, no let’s take the call…”

A small hologram of an Iktochi priestess appeared.  “Greetings Jedi.  I am Shur’ell Tish.  Please come to Iktotch.  I have another child for you: a young girl called Fa’ale Lithin.”

“How did you know we…” began Jorl but was stopped by a hard stare from his master.  “Oh yes,” he said blushing.

“Come quickly, there is very little time.  I am at the Jedi Temple.”  Shur’ell’s hologram faded.

The harsh and uninviting moon of Itkotch orbited the gas giant Iktotchon.  The Iktotch System, were it not for curious Itkotchi, would be little more than a catalogue listing in the Expansion Region.  It was located a short jump from the Corellian Way and the Gamor Run.  Few non-natives visited.  The bleak and wind swept world was the only habitable world in the system.

The two Jedi approached the stout stone building that was the Jedi Temple, bracing themselves against the irrepressible wind.  Jorl plodded on realising that his robe did little or nothing to protect him from the weather here.  Finally, they arrived and were relieved to have reached shelter.  Inside the entrance hallway stood a priestess wearing the fine robes of her station.  The two Jedi recognised Shur’ell Tish; with her was a young girl wearing a heavy hooded robe.

“You must hurry from this place and take Fa’ale Lithin, with you’” said Shur’ell, speaking before either of the Jedi could utter a greeting.

Del Jarath replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of her on Cor...”

“No!” The Iktotchi woman interrupted, “It is neither safe for you nor for the children.  You must leave, there is precious little time.”

“Mother is right,” said Fa’ale, “we must leave like all the other Jedi.”

Jorl was about to ask about the other Jedi when the conversation was cut short by the sound of Del’s lightsaber igniting.  The Jedi took up a defensive posture and looked back towards the door as if expecting an attack from the entrance.

“What is it master?” Asked Jorl, the missing Jedi now forgotten.

“Stretch out with your feelings.  What do you sense?”

Jorl reached out with the Force trying sense the threat.  It was definitely there: an overwhelming sense of mortal danger.  There was no mistaking its presence but it was vague, lacking definition.  Their lives were in peril but from what and its origin of the threat were obscure.

“Danger, master, but nothing specific.  The Force.  It feels...” the Padawan struggled to find the right words, “...it feels... different.  Can’t put it into words… it is like part of it is gone?  Like it is… wounded?”

“We must leave.  Get the youngling back to Zephyr and get the ship fired up.”

“Yes, master.”  Jorl hurried back the ship with the youngling, while Del dallied to speak with the Iktotchi, extinguishing his lightsabre.

It did not take long to return to the Zephyr.  Eagerly, Fa’ale ran off ahead, seemingly oblivious to the driving wind.  The boarding ramp lowered as they approached and, unbidden, she rushed up it into the ship.  Jorl followed in her wake.  At the top of the ramp he saw the red-skinned Twi’lek girl, Fluera Femi.  She asked him, “Are we under attack?”

Jorl looked at the young Lethan and wondered what he should say to her.  He had no knowledge of what was happening.  He had sensed an indefinite peril, one that put their lives at risk, but no immediate threat.  That was it; that was everything he knew.  Jorl sensed the distress his hesitation was causing Fluera and he knew he had to allay her fears.  “No, of course not.  We… erm… we merely sensed a disturbance in the Force.  We are not under attack.”  He sent out sense of safety and security.  “Back to your room, we are about to take off.”  He went forward to the cockpit where he saw R2-C13 plugged in to the main console, leaving the carer droids to look after the younglings.  “Artoo, scan our surroundings.”

The droid beeped in response.

“I don’t know,” he replied, “right now I am playing it by ear.”

Not long later, Del clambered aboard Zephyr clutching a black case.  “Jorl, go and check on the younglings.  Artoo get the ship off the moon and into a close orbit around the planet,” he ordered as he entered the cockpit, “the radiation will make us difficult to detect.”

Jorl did as he was bidden.  As he made his way to the nursery, he felt the ship take off.  Just as he arrived, over the intercom, Del said, “Jorl, I need you up here in the cockpit.” He looked at the six children momentarily.  Satisfied that all was well with them, for now at least, he left them in the care of the two carer droids and returned to the cockpit.  There he found a very troubled Del Jarath.

After Jorl had settled into the co-pilot’s seat, Del said, “While I was taking off, we received a coded transmission...  We have been ordered back to Coruscant.” He touched a button on the communications terminal and Jorl saw the coded transmission from the Jedi Temple confirming what his master had just told him.

Jorl turned to his master.  The look he gave to him silently asked what does this mean?

“I shall meditate on this.  Keep the ship in orbit around the gas giant and do not reply to any transmissions, coded or otherwise.  Find somewhere to put this.”  Del handed his Padawan an odd-looking case.

Even as Jorl responded with, “Yes master,” Del was already on his way to his quarters.  Jorl examined the case.  It was made from metal sealed in black plastic.  It clearly was designed to open but there was no external catch or lock visible.  He gave it a quick look over and put it on the floor in the cockpit.  It could wait.  Jorl realised Del must have received it from Shur’ell.  He could not suppress the feeling that a gift from one of the most talented members of reputably the most prescient species in the Galaxy did not bode well; it did not bode well at all…

To pass the time during Del’s meditation, Jorl decided to do some training with the older younglings.  Nothing too arduous or fancy at this early stage: just some simple levitations to teach them some rudimentary control.  They were strong enough in the Force to move around small objects with their minds.  After several hours of this he got them to throw and catch balls while blindfolded.

Hours passed and the younglings became restless.  By now they were all tired and he put them all to bed after feeding them, leaving the two carer droids to watch over them.

Unable to think of anything better to do, Jorl returned to the cockpit and studied the swirling patterns of the storms in the atmosphere of the gas giant below.  He had lost track of time when he noticed that they had received another coded transmission from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.  He had been sloppy.  Events had moved on and his mind had been elsewhere.  Jorl Herran berated himself for his failing.  He read the message twice to make sure he had read it correctly.  His immediate reaction was to go to Del but he stopped himself.  No, wait until his mediation is complete.  Patience: over and over again he had been taught patience and to trust in the Force.  So, patience it was then.

Having nothing else to occupy him, he allowed himself to descend into a troubled slumber…

Jorl knew not how long he had been asleep when Del woke him.  His Master looked drawn and tired.  “I can no longer sense Mela…” he said, adding “…nor the Jedi.”  Del had a close connection to his twin sister and could sense her presence even over many light years; a connection even stronger than with his Padawan but that connection was now gone, severed, which could only mean one thing:  “Mela is dead.  I realise it now, I felt her death back on Iktotch.  But it is not just Mela, it is the Jedi Order.”

“How?”  Jorl was dumbfounded.  How was this possible?  How could this have happened?  His Jedi training at this moment failed him: he felt afraid, very afraid but there was still hope; there had to be:  “Not everyone.  Someone is still out there.  We received another coded transmission from the Temple.  We are to abandon our mission and go into hiding.”

Del Jarath had a sense of focus currently lacking in his Padawan: “Our mission now is to survive and to protect the younglings.  We must do our best to teach them the ways of the Force and keep the Jedi Order alive.  First, we find out exactly what happened and who or what did it.  I suggest we discard our Jedi robes and avoid using our lightsabers in public unless absolutely necessary.”  He blanched.  “Shur’ell, she tried to tell me but something like this, the enormity of it…  Mela dead.  How can that be?  She was an arbitrator.  She didn’t fight on the front lines.”

The pain and anger was all too evident in his master.  The Jedi order discouraged emotional attachments but emotional attachments do not go away when two twins enter the Jedi order.  From his conversations with his master, Jorl knew Del and Mela had not seen each other since they had became Padawans but they retained a contact through the Force.

Jorl turned to the navcomputer and looked at the nearby systems searching for inspiration regarding their next destination.  Tatooine and Rodia were nearby but he discounted them and looked farther out: “I think we should return to the Corellian Run and go back to the Outer Rim.  We could go to Koiogra.  It is on the Triellus Run, one of its lesser systems within the boundaries of Hutt Space.  Seven inhabited planets, main one being the seventh, Merebogee.  From there we can divert from the Run and go deeper into Hutt Space or we stay on it and continue to Republican space farther along the Outer Rim.”

The journey to the Koiogran system was uneventful except for homesick children crying for their parents with the notable exception of the Iktotchi girl, Fa’ale, who seemed to have accepted her situation without complaint.  In fact, she seemed rather excited.  She was even happy to help out with the younger children, doing her bit to calm and to reassure them.

Fa’ale had been quick to establish herself as the senior one among the younglings being the oldest, a role in which the Lethan girl, Fluera, saw for herself prior to Fa’ale’s arrival.  The Iktotchi had sensed that her Twi’lek counterpart had the potential to be more powerful with the Force than she but right now it was not strength that was needed to survive but vision and it was at this that her race excelled.  Unfortunately, her power of foresight, limited as it was, had diminished since leaving her homeworld.  Her mother had warned her that this would happen but she was still surprised by how much and by how unsettling it was.  Why hadn’t she foreseen this?

It seemed strange to her that two humans were instructing her in the ways of the Force.  So far, her mother had done most of her instruction with some preliminary lessons at the temple but none with the off world Jedi all of whom had been warned to leave and go into hiding some weeks earlier.  Meanwhile, her people had been returning home from around the galaxy and prepared for a blockade.  Whether or not she would see her mother or Iktotch again was something neither she nor her mother could foresee.  She knew all too well her future lay on the hands of two aliens neither of whom understood her culture.  Her mother had told her not to be afraid, no she had ordered her not to be afraid but she could not help it.

Fa’ale could sense the fear in the Fluera too as had the Jedi, or so she surmised, but they were too busy dealing with the downfall of the Republic and their Order to worry about that right now.  The only thing she could do was to try and put it out of her mind and concentrate on her studies.

For the most part these studies took the form of a game.  The game involved finding the location about the ship of the other children by reaching out with the Force to feel their presence.  Fa’ale and Fluera could find each other very easily.  Fa’ale, already knowing where this was leading, tried her best to suppress her presence in the Force.  However, this was easier said than done and young Iktotchi was frustrated by her lack of progress.

A voice in her said spoke: cargo hold two, easy peasy!  It annoying Fa’ale that she could hear Fluera speak to her in her head but she was unable to reply telepathically.  She assumed it had be something to do with being an Iktotchi.  Fa’ale took out her comlink, “...and you are in the cockpit.  I’ve told you before you cannot hide behind the Jedi!  See you back in the nursery?”

“I’ll be waiting for you!” Fluera was in a cocky mood.

Sure enough, she was there sat on the floor in the middle of the room pretending to meditate; an act that was ruined when she broke out into laughter.  The mirth was cut short and the Lethan’s face was suddenly serious.  She asked her new friend, “The Jedi are taking us to Koiobra.  The Jedi said they were picking up five children.  Then they picked up you.  Why aren’t we going to Coruscant?”

Fa’ale sensed the joy in her friend vanish and the nagging fear return, reminding her of her own.  “It is Koio-gra not Koio-bra.  There Del and Jorl and will find out the Republic and Jedi Order are gone.  They will then take us somewhere safe and teach us about the Force.  We are never going to Coruscant.”

“I don’t like this game,” screamed Fluera.

“This is not a game.  Mother told me what’s happening.  She sent me away like we sent the Jedi away to protect us from the New Order,” said Fa’ale, revelling in her fore-knowledge.

“I don’t like this game,” repeated Fluera, “I’m telling the Jedi.” She stormed out with tears in her eyes.

Fluera found both of the Jedi in the cockpit; neither they nor the droid reacted to her arrival.  As she had stormed down the corridor, she had visualised making a grand entrance but here she was being ignored leaving her unsure what to do next.  One thing was certain: the Jedi were not going to ignore her for long.  She decided, if her friend was getting into trouble she was going to get into real trouble: “Fa’ale has turned to the Dark Side.”

The droid made a series of bleeps and whistles that might have been its version of laughter; though Fluera felt satisfied interpreting its reaction as alarm.  The two Jedi turned to face her in unison and both stared at her coldly.  No, this was all wrong.  Why were the Jedi not doing anything about Fa’ale?  This was not the way it was supposed to be.  Frustration and anger welled up inside of her.  Jedi Knight Del Jarath bent down to look at her eye to eye. “There is no emotion, there is peace.”

What?  Is that it?  No discipline?  What in the name of the Force did he mean by that? “There is no emotion, there is peace?”  Fluera was very confused.

“Go to Fa’ale and say those words to her.  She will explain them to you.  ‘There is no emotion, there is peace.’”

“There is no emotion, there is peace.” The youngling repeated the Jedi’s words without an iota of understanding and rather morosely exited the cockpit, the thrust well and truly removed from her drive.

Fa’ale sat in the nursery waiting patiently for Fluera to return.  Both the carer droids were busy looking after the four younger children and had left her to her own devices.  She had guessed the Jedi would be pre-occupied.  Guessing was difficult especially when one was accustomed to foresight.  Her mother had warned her ability would wane as she journeyed farther away from her home and she was not convinced she would ever get used to being without it.  Is this how everyone else lives? The thought was unsettling.  How do they manage?

Mother had told her what to expect at the beginning of her journey with the Jedi.  They would learn what had happened to the rest of the Jedi and go into hiding.  Beyond that specifics of the future were vague, or so her Mother had said, though she expressed the hope they would be first of a reborn Jedi Order.

Fa’ale was originally given the name Sareen Tish; her Mother had recently got for her a new identity.  All of her life she had been raised not to expect a normal childhood, even by Iktotchi standards.  She had developed very quickly and had a very mature mind for her age, a mind that pondered over her current situation and possible future until her thoughts were interrupted by the return of Fluera.

It was easy to sense the anger and frustration in her new friend but there was also confusion.  Something must have happened while Fluera was in the cockpit, surmised Fa’ale.

“Jedi said there’s no emotion only peace?” said Fluera.

The words were familiar to Fa’ale; her Mother had already taught her some of the ways of the Jedi.  “It is part of the Jedi code.  We shall learn it soon.”  Her Mother may have given some preliminary lessons to her but she was yet to comprehend its meaning.  She said no more lest Fluera realise how little she actually knew.

The trip to Koiogra was not a long one by hyperspacial standards.  Artoo piloted the ship into a high orbit around the seventh planet leaving the two Jedi free to reach out with the Force searching for threats but there was nothing or at least the Force revealed nothing to them, just had it had not revealed the ruin of the Jedi until it was happening.  Both men felt a certain unease.

“Okay Artoo,” said Jarath, “log into the HoloNet and let us see what we can learn...”

Nothing could have prepared the two Jedi, nothing.  In theory, the Republic had won the Clone Wars but the reality was more complicated.  Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had proclaimed himself Emperor and the Republic was now being reorganised into an Empire under his absolute authority.

Count Dooku and General Grievous were dead, many other Separatist leaders were missing, presumed dead; the war was over and the clone troopers had turned on the Jedi, something to do with Contingency Order 66.  The official story was that the Jedi Order had attempted a coup.  Four Jedi Masters had attempted to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor, leaving him hideously scarred and he had ordered the clone troopers to turn on the Jedi and kill them, kill them all.  There was speculation that some had survived: there were conflicting stories regarding Yoda’s confrontation with Palpatine in the Rotunda of the Senate.  Was Yoda dead?  If he had survived there was yet hope, if not…

The clone troopers had turned on the Jedi.  The thought wedged itself in Jorl Herran’s mind.  The clone troopers had turned on the Jedi.  The Jedi and the clones had fought alongside each other for over three years, gained mutual trust and at the end the clone troopers had turned on the Jedi, without hesitation, without questioning their orders, they just wiped out Jedi Order is if it were just another battle in Clone Wars.

If that were not enough there was someone or something new on the scene: a mysterious black clad cyborg using the name of ‘Darth Vader’.  He was a Force user of some power, interestingly, wielding a red lightsaber.  The general consensus on the ’Net was that he was a Sith, though no one seemed to know what that actually meant.  How could they?  The newly self-installed Emperor had a suspected Sith as his ‘emissary’.  If Palpatine had a Sith underling, it stood to reason that he must wield great power himself.

Jorl Herran had not been able to quite believe his master after he had sensed the loss of the Jedi during his earlier meditation.  Now, he saw the truth, before his very eyes, on the HoloNet, there was no denying it.  He turned to his master and asked, “So, who do you think this Darth Vader is?”

The Padawan could sense the master’s bewilderment; it matched his own.  It took him some time to reply, “Good question.  Was he another apprentice to Darth Tyranus?  Or maybe another alter ego of Dooku?  No that seems unlikely, perhaps he is Darth Sidious’ apprentice and he was badly injured at the end of the War?”

“I don’t suppose who he was is important but who and what he is now.”

“You are right,” replied Del, still deep in thought.  “How ironic, the Sith, we were seeking, was right in front of our eyes all along.  You have to hand it to Palpatine.  He planned it all brilliantly.  So after a thousand years, after a millennium, the Sith have finally had their revenge.”

Jorl was dumbfounded: “It can’t be.  How could he live in such close proximity to the most powerful Jedi in the Galaxy and escape detection?  It is not possible!”

“Underestimate the Dark Side at your peril, Padawan.  You still have much to learn, as do I.  As did the Jedi Order, apparently.”

Jorl, needing to think of something more positive, changed the subject: “My feelings tell me Yoda survived; he is still alive in hiding.”

Del seemed unconvinced: “Are your feelings clear on this?”

Hesitation: was it wishful thinking or was Yoda genuinely still alive?  Jorl was unable to feel the little green alien’s living presence in the Galaxy as Jarath could his sister before her death and yet he believed Yoda still lived.  The more he thought on it the more he was convinced he was right.  Surely, if Yoda had truly fallen there would have been no doubt in the reporting of it?

Yoda was an enigma.  His origin was a mystery, even to the Jedi Master himself.  It was said he was nine centuries old.  Jorl thought this fanciful but he was a remarkable little being.  If at some point in the future Yoda were to lead a counterattack against the Dark Side he would need Jedi by his side.  “I trust in the Force master.  The Jedi Order is destroyed but the Jedi will return and we shall, once again, defeat the Sith.  We must drop out of sight, train the children and rebuild.”

Del said nothing in reply to his apprentice.  Instead, he picked up the case given to him by Shur’ell Tish.  He probed it with the Force and it popped open.  “Well, well,” he said, in mock surprise, “our Iktotchi friends anticipated our situation: fake identichips for you and me, two credchips and a new registration for the ship. And there’s a note: ‘Please accept my apologies, I am unable supply new identities for the other children.  I have supplied funds that should prove more than sufficient for you to make other arrangements.  Teach Fa’ale well.  Shur’ell.’  We had better get Artoo busy replacing the transponder…”

II

The Zephyr, or as it was now called, the Dual Dawn, travelled through Hutt Space in the vicinity of the Pando Spur and the Hollastin Run.  They had managed to get some work moving cargo between systems: nothing major, just small private loads unlikely to attract attention from the bigger players, especially the Hutts.

Del Jarath now went by the name Han Dessel and Jorl Herran had become Harith Varriss, freelancers from the planet Corellia.  All of the younglings now had new identities (the cover story was that they were war orphans) and the two former Jedi were feeling rather more optimistic about their immediate future than when they had since their visit to Koiogra.  Both of them were all too well aware that they were far from safe and were careful to remain vigilant and to keep as low a profile in the Force as possible.

All things considered, the past few weeks had been good.  So far they had managed to avoid the attention of the Empire and of the Hutts.  The same could not be said of elsewhere in the galaxy.  When they saw the news of the invasion of Kashyyyk and the enslavement of the Wookiees, the two of them were horrified.  The further news that the Empire had justified the action by accusing the Wookiees of aiding and abetting Jedi was too awful to contemplate.  It was difficult to take comfort in the knowledge in the confirmation that some Jedi had survived the purge when it was unclear if any of them had in turn survived the invasion of Kashyyyk.  Even if they had, it was far too dangerous to attempt to contact them; better to leave them to find their own way.  If the Sith could stay hidden, so could the Jedi.

The training of the younglings was mostly going well restricted to lessons aboard the Dual Dawn.  Han Dessel had hoped to reawaken the prescient ability in Fa’ale, but this had, so far, proved futile.  Coruscant was not built in a day.

In the general scheme of the Galaxy at large, the Hollastin system was only a minor trade centre. It acted as a clearinghouse for goods imported from regions beyond Hutt Space.  If it were not for the control of the Hutts it would probably been more important, more affluent and certainly more law abiding.  Hollastin suited the two former Jedi just fine.  There was work here for them here.  The society was cosmopolitan with beings coming and going constantly.  The idea was that no one would notice two small time ship owners with six war orphans in their care.  So far the idea had proved sound.

They kept a close eye on the news to keep track of the Empire’s activities.  Incursions were already being made into Hutt Space.  Stormtroopers had visited many worlds requisitioning supplies but, as yet, not as far as the Hollastin Run.  ‘Stormtroopers’, Harith found the clones’ new name rather chilling.

The current paid job of the Dual Sun was transporting supplies to the colony world of Berius III, located just beyond the terminus of the Hollastin Run.  Recently discovered, it was a new colony while in space claimed by the Hutts, it was not currently under the direct control of any of the crime lords.  Han and Harith had hopes that this world would prove suitable for them as a permanent home.

Dual Sun dropped back into real space at the end of the Hollastin Run in the Syvris system, notorious for spice smugglers and other rogues.  From here it was necessary to recalculate the final jump to Berius.  They had the possibility of some business here; they had a lead about a small group who wanted to resettle on Berius III and were looking for transport.  They had not expected to be spending much time here; the presence of a Star Destroyer made them less inclined to linger.

Imperator-class Star Destroyers were the next generation of capital ship that had made their presence felt in the Galaxy towards the end of the Clone Wars, an upgrade of the Venator-class capital ships commonly used by the Republic.  Each was, in effect, a small self-contained and heavily armed and armoured military base with a class two hyperdrive.  These distinctive dagger-shaped ships stowed six squadrons of TIE fighters, a legion of stormtroopers and their various machines of planetside warfare.  All too aware of this, Harith Varriss looked at it hanging in space in orbit around Syvris with both surprise and horror.  “What do we do now?”

Han Dessel remained calm refusing to let emotion cloud his judgment.  “Nothing, we carry on as normal.  Artoo, make the calculations now for the jump to the Berius system.  We go to Syvris, meet with our potential customer.  Do what we need to do and then leave.”

“What of the Imperial presence?” asked Harith, making no effort to hide his alarm.

“If we are to hide,” replied Han, still in control of his emotions, “we must do so in plain sight, right under the nose of the Empire and its machines of war.  This will be a good test of our new identities.  If they pass muster, we know we are safe.  If not… let’s not go there shall we?”

Deepa hugged Fa’ale.  “Be careful out there.”

“Don’t worry.  It will be fine.  You should be careful…”  Fa’ale pulled her hood over her head and followed Han out of the Dual Dawn.

“Why should I be careful..?” but Fa’ale was gone and Deepa’s question was answered only by the whine of the boarding ramp closing.

“You will be here on the ship with the others throwing balls at you,” said Harith, failing to make light of the situation.  “But before we do that, all of you sit down in a circle.  Yes, come along.  Relax.  Concentrate.  Now reach out with your feelings.  Can you feel Fa’ale’s presence?”

Deepa closed her eyes and lost herself in the Force.  Fa’ale was walking away from the ship but she could just barely sense her.  It was difficult and she had to concentrate very hard.  It was much easier to find her on the ship.  Then the connection was lost.

“I felt her!  I felt her!”  Deepa’s excitement broke her concentration but by now it hardly mattered.

“That is good,” said Harith, “now stay calm and focus.”

“She’s too far away now.  Too far to see.  Can we play another game?”

“Okay,” replied Harith, “get the balls.  You can play catch.”

“Oh goody!”  Deepa enjoyed playing blindfold catch.

There was a pounding on the door and a muffled voice called out: “Open up.  Open up in there.”

“You lot play catch but no blindfolds and no using the Force.  No using what?”

“No using the Force,” the children replied in unison.

“And keep quiet.”  Harith opened the main hatch.  He seemed startled but Deepa could feel the fear in the Jedi.  “What’s this about?” asked Harith.

“Just routine,” replied a stormtrooper as he lead seven of his fellows on board.  It was clear to all that was far from ‘just routine’.  “Ship is registered to…” he checked a datapad, “…Harith Varriss and Han Dessel?”

“Yes, that is right; my associate is off ship running an errand,” replied Harith.  The Force was warning him to be careful.  They were at risk but the feeling was, as usual, hazy and imprecise.

“These five all the children you have on board?”

“Yes,” replied Harith, “war orphans.”

The lead trooper said, “Cargo manifest?”  His fellows had a nosy around.

“As I said, just the orphans.”

Seemingly satisfied, the stormtroopers left.  Harith loitered at the top of the ship’s ramp watching.

 “Well, it looks like they’re not looking for us,” muttered Harith to himself with much relief.  He took out his comlink and contacted his master, “Han, Harith here.  Don’t hurry back, we have a platoon of stormtroopers outside.  They checked the ship.  Didn’t say what they wanted.  They weren’t too thorough.”

“Really?” asked Dessel, “I wonder what were they looking for?  Or who?”

“They didn’t say, but I told them we only had the children on board.  No cargo.”

“Acknowledged.”

He retreated inside the ship closing the door behind him.  “Han, the stormtroopers have gone.  Looks like they were called away.”

“Thanks my friend.  See you shortly.”

“You can go back to your training, now.” Harith told the children.  Deepa watched him retreat to the cockpit.

“Okay,” she said, “reach out with your feelings.  Last one to feel Fa’ale smells of poo doo!”

It hit her like a brick wall: the wave of anger and hatred.  Just as she touched Fa’ale’s mind it overwhelmed her.  She heard some of the other children crying.  Eeth said, “He is killing them.  He is strong.  I want to be that strong!”  The young Zabrak was the only not upset.  “I want master Han to teach me to be that strong.”

Deepa felt the fear in the others.  Fear she shared.

As quickly as it had started, it was over.  Her mind connected with Fa’ale’s again.  She got a sense of fleeing from danger.

III

Dual Dawn was now safely in hyperspace travelling away from Syvris.  Harith Varriss was at a compete loss; he had no idea what to do.  His master had retreated to his personal quarters radiating uncertainty and conflicting emotions like a bright beacon in the Force.  The younglings were asleep, helped along by some mild soporifics administered by the carer droids.

He had sensed echoes of his master’s anger all too clearly.  Han’s rage had killed eight stormtroopers.  Yoda’s famous words came to mind: “Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering.”  He wondered what long term effect this would have on the younglings.  A display of Dark Side power was the last thing these impressionable youngsters needed.  Harith pondered on it more.  Are we following the will of the Force by protecting and training the younglings or defying it?  Just how much had the prophetess Shur’ell Tish and her fellow Iktotchi foreseen?

His musings were interrupted by R2-C13’s whoops and beeps.  He followed the droid back to the cockpit where he realised that they had landed on Berius III.  Harith cursed his lack of mindfulness.  It was no use, they were here now.

“Artoo,” he said, his focus returning, “keep an eye on the system.  If a Star Destroyer appears let me know.  Plot a course out of here that avoids returning to Syvris.”

The astromech droid responded with an enthusiastic series of beeps and whorls.

It had been their intention to pick up some fresh food and tout for some business on Berius III but things had changed.  Harith took the ship off world with great alacrity and made the jump back into hyperspace.  After a short trip he found himself in the little known system of Dubrava.  After parking the Dual Sun in a tight orbit around a gas giant, he decided now was the time to reflect.

He had not seen Han since he had retreated into his room.  He was sensing a great deal of conflict from the man cloistered in his quarters and great uncertainty in himself not to mention a whole gamut of emotions from the younglings.  For now, he was content to leave them with the carer droids.  His first priority was to deal with his own feelings.

He lay on his bunk.  He took a deep breath.  He cleared his mind.  He opened himself up to the Force.  The Force sometimes showed visions of the future, or at least possible futures, but never to Harith Varriss.  Not once had he dreamt or received prophetic visions.  In the days when he was Jorl Herran he had often wondered why this was.  Was the lack of visions a good or a bad thing?  He never did work out the answer.  Now he wished the Force would show him the way: a few prophetic hints of what he was supposed to do.  Alas, the Force, as ever, revealed nothing.

The living Force around him was a maelstrom of chaos.  Was this phenomenon a consequence of the actions of the inhabitants of the Dual Sun or independent of them?  Strange, the nursery was an island of calm around which the turbulence eddied and swirled.

Harith’s mind searched for answers.  Was the island of calm a natural aspect of the Force reacting to the presence or had they somehow created it?  Another thought occurred to him: were the Emperor and his envoy so powerful they could perturb the Force this far away from Coruscant?  Coruscant: he doubted he would ever get used to calling it Imperial Center.  He seemed to remember that the name meant ‘shining’ in a nearly forgotten ancient language.  His mind drifted to recalling memories of the Jedi Temple.  He felt a wave of sadness pass over him with the thought that he would never visit it again.

Harith’s mind returned to the present.  He felt frustrated at his failure to find clarity.

Fa’ale sat cross-legged on the floor of the nursery with Deepa.  They were helping the one human youngling among them with some of his Force exercises.  When he had been picked up from the planet Kallook IV he had been called Tarrin but now he had the name Sev Vern.  Deepa and Fa’ale were levitating blocks on top of each other to build towers.  Sev was having trouble understanding the lesson.  Sometimes he would levitate the blocks clumsily, sometimes he would pick them up with his hands but he found greatest amusement from knocking the blocks over either with his hand or his mind.  He was yet to see his fourth standard year and his still developing brain had little control, especially of the Force.

Sev sent blocks flying to his great amusement. “All fall down!” he laughed.

This teaching malarkey was harder than it looked realised Fa’ale.  She looked up to her friend who was gathering the blocks up so that the practice could start over again.

Deepa said, “Has Han turned to the Dark Side?”

Fa’ale laughed.  “No.  He’s a Jedi.”

“Were white soldiers Dark Side?” asked Deepa.

“Dark Side,” parroted Sev.

“Now look what you’ve done,” said Fa’ale in her best serious voice.

“Well are they?” pressed Deepa.

“Troopers can’t use the Force, so not Dark Side,” answered Fa’ale, getting annoyed.  She wanted to play with the bricks.  Her short childhood had had little time for play and this time was precious to her and she was in no mood for serious talk, especially of the Dark Side of the Force.

“Dark Side,” repeated Sev.

Fa’ale sighed.  “Build a tower,” she said.  With her mind she moved the blocks.

Sev giggled and copied her, also moving them but very clumsily.  With some effort they managed a tower four blocks high, the current record, before Sev sent the blocks flying using the Force to his great amusement and Fa’ale’s joy.

Deepa called one to her hand telekinetically and looked at it closely though her mind was elsewhere.

Han Dessel hid in his personal quarters for days only emerging when bodily functions demanded attention and could no longer be ignored.  Even then he avoided contact with the others on board.  After he finally emerged ready to interact he looked drawn, hungry and exhausted.   Harith Varriss had one of the carer droids run some basic medical checks, which confirmed what his eyes had already told him.  Han submitted to the crude medical examination without protest, staying silent until the droid had finished.

“You should eat,” said Harith, wondering whether or not his master was going to be able to live up to the challenge of protecting and training the children.

Harith got some food and water from the ship’s store and gave them to his master.  Han bolted the rather bland but nutritious ration pack and washed it down with the beaker of recycled water.

There was silence between the two men for a short while until Han finally spoke: “There is nothing more I can teach you.  I hereby promote you to the rank of Jedi Knight.”

This was not what Harith was expecting; he could not say what he had expected but it certainly was not this.  He said, “Do you have the authority…?”

Han interrupted: “Until we know otherwise we must assume that we are the Jedi Order.”  He pulled his comlink out of his pocket.  “Artoo, come to the common room.”

The green astromech obediently trundled in.

“Lightsaber.”

R2-C13 whooped and whistled as it opened a side compartment revealing the Jedi’s signature weapon, which Han drew to his hand, telekinetically.  “I hereby promote you to a fully-fledged Jedi Knight.”  He lit the lightsaber and used it to cut off Harith’s braid.  It fell to the floor and there was a faint whiff of the acrid smell of burnt hair.  “There, it is done.”  Harith heard the familiar whoosh of a deactivating lightsaber and caught a glimpse as it flew across the room and returned to its compartment inside the droid.  R2-C13 trundled back to the cockpit.

“So,” said Harith, “you want to talk about what happened?”

Han Dessel looked back at his former Padawan and was silent.  Whether he was thinking about what to say or was merely reluctant to talk about it, Harith could not say.  Finally, he opened up.  “I wish I knew what happened.  It happened so quickly.  The stormtroopers approached us.  The sergeant ordered us to stop.  I saw them raising their blasters but it was slow, like time had slowed down.  And then it happened.  All the rage, the sorrow and the pain, they all came out.  It was so easy.  Killing them was so easy.  They never stood a chance.  Even without my lightsaber it was easy.  The worst part of it: I enjoyed it.  It was one of the most exhilarating things I have experienced in my life.  I have never felt so powerful, so strong.  If that was not bad enough part of me wants to do it again.  I want to break every stormtrooper out there in two.  I want to break them apart.”

He put his head in his hands.  Harith had no clue what to say or to do.  Not too long ago he would have sought the wisdom of another Jedi Knight or a Master but now, as far as he knew, the two of them were now entirety of the Jedi Order.  There was no one else from whom to seek council.  He was on his own.

“There have been no sign of any Imperial pursuit since we left the Syvris system.  I think we could go back to Berius...” suggested Harith.

“I concur,” replied Han.  “We could find an isolated piece of land to farm and train the younglings.  We must return to Hollast VII to buy some droids.” 

“While you were... fighting the stormtroopers.  I felt something or maybe someone.  I cannot say for sure.  It was such a brief tremor, I might be mistaken.  I don’t know.  It is possible there was another Force user on Syvris…” Harith let the words trail wondering if Han had felt something too, but also hoping he had not.

Han thought about this for a moment before replying.  “The Force is a strange thing.  One can find oneself stood next to a powerful Sith Lord and be ignorant of his true nature and yet feel the presence of a twin sister on the other side of the Galaxy.

“Do we truly understand the true nature of the Force?  Were the Jedi on the right path and if so why did the Force allow the Dark Side to destroy them?  Do we need to re-evaluate the way we use the Force?  Were we on the right path?”

“Do not say these things, Master,” replied Harith, shocked at Han’s doubts, “the Jedi endured for thousands, no tens of thousands of years.”

“Yes,” said Dessel, “but that did not save us from the revenge of the Sith.”

IV

Berius III was a planet still very much in the early stages of development and colonisation.  Most of the beings living there originated from Hutt Space and nearby systems in the Outer Rim, largely humans and Twi’leks but there were also some other species native to that vicinity of the Galaxy, most notably Toydarians.  It was a fertile and virgin world with indigenous flora and fauna making up a rich ecosystem lacking, according to the reports, a species that had evolved sentience.  It was not difficult to find a remote and fertile area to settle: out of the way but not too far removed from other settlers and a small but growing township called with the unimaginative name of Market Town.  They knew nothing about agriculture and livestock but the three droids they had bought had databanks filled with everything there was to know about farming.

They lived a quiet and isolated existence, which allowed the younglings to carry out their training in private.  Occasional trips were necessary to Hollastin for supplies and they soon picked up business transporting goods for other farmers on the fledgling world.

On the whole, life was good.  The younglings were healthy; they were growing up and growing stronger in the Force.  They spent much of their time, when not training with the Jedi, playing hide and seek.  As the younger children got older they joined in the game, seeking out the others using the power of the mind and trying to stay hidden by removing themselves from the Force.  Harith Varriss did most of the training with Han Dessel taking on a more distant supervisory role, still haunted by his actions on Syvris.

With Fa’ale, Harith played another game.  He had carved a chance cube with the numbers 1 to 6.  Fa’ale concentrated, allowed the Force to flow through her and tried to foresee the roll.  It was a long, tedious and frustrating game.  No matter how hard the two of them tried they were unable to rekindle her prescience.  Her predictions were slightly better than average: correct about twenty percent of the time.  Harith knew his knowledge was lacking and that he needed guidance from a Master.  For now, he continued as best he could, hoping he was doing the right thing though he recognised his methods were the fumblings in the dark by an amateur.  Yoda and the other Jedi Masters made tuition look so easy; the reality was far, far different.

Fa’ale’s frustration shone from her brightly: a frustration that matched his own.  Even Han was at a loss on how better to bring out the Iktotchi’s latent ability.

Harith held the datapad on his lap and rolled the numbered chance cube on the ground.  He recorded the results of the training game on the pad and analysed the results later.  Not that much analysis was needed to work out how little progress was being made.  After an hour of getting nowhere, Harith needed a break so he decided to speak to the little girl and satisfy his curiosity about some matters that had been on his mind for some time: “Why did your mother send you away?  Your people have returned home, they even built extra orbital facilities to accommodate them all.  The Empire is blockading your system not invading it.  You would have been safe there?”

There was change in mood in the little girl.  He had been impressed with how she had adapted to her new life so well and so quickly, no doubt she had been prepared by her prescient mother before the Jedi had picked her up.  A darkness fell over her and he could feel her sense of loss and loneliness.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean...”

“No,” she interrupted, “it’s Okay.  Mother said I had to leave.  She said Jedi would protect me.  It was the will of the Force.”

“Why?  You would have been safe on Iktotch.  It makes no sense.”

“Mother would not say.  She said I would understand one day.”

Why do prescient beings feel the need to speak in riddles?  Harith resigned himself to not getting any answers but clearly Shur’ell Tish had sensed her that daughter had to be sent away.  This was the species that had planned a welcome for the first Republic scouts to enter their system, such was their prescience.

He cast these thoughts aside and changed the subject: “You insisted on going with Han when we were on Syvris.  Did you sense something that made you want to go?”

“I just wanted to go with him,” she said, innocently.  She was thoughtful for a moment, perhaps wondering why she did want to go with him but she made no mention of it.  “No reason.”

Maybe she still has her latent prescient ability.  For the first time since he started Fa’ale’s training, Harith felt he had clarity.  Her prescience is still there; it manifests at the will of the Force.  These exercises are a waste of time!

“Tell me,” he continued, wondering, “while you were with Han and he was fighting the...”

“Not fighting,” she interrupted, “killing.  The stormtroopers weren’t fighting.  They were dying.”

Harith blanched.  Are all young Iktotchi like this?  “Okay, while Han was... erm... killing... the stormtroopers did you sense anyone else in the area?”  He was feeling increasing discomfort with this conversation.  Was she really so blasé about eight human clones’ deaths?  He hoped she was merely repressing the experience to save herself from its emotional consequences but he was failing in convincing himself that this was so.

“No.  No one else.”

Perhaps she did not recognise stormtroopers as beings?  It was easy to forget that there is living and breathing person under that armour albeit grown in a vat.

“Was there someone watching the fight, I mean… you know what I mean?”

“No.”

“Okay,” he said not wanting to pursue this any further, “we are not going to do this game anymore.  Go to that tree over there and collect some of the fruit.”

Fa’ale ran off to the tree.  She liked the fruit.  The task of gathering them with the Force was a bit easier than the other training tasks she had to do.  This left Harith Varriss to be alone with his thoughts.  His feeling clarity was all too short-lived.

Life was quiet and one might even say uninteresting for the two former Jedi and their charges over the next couple of years.  They claimed a small corner of Berius III as their own and built up a small farmstead; at first they had lived aboard ship on the ground but later they built some prefabricated buildings.  They had become part of a disparate community of colonists.  No one was truly self-sufficient and everyone, to some degree, survived with a certain amount of trade and co-operation.  Being in possession of a hyperdrive capable spacecraft made the two Corellians Han Dessel and Harith Varriss especially valuable.

They made regular trips to Hollastin and Koiogra for supplies, droids and news of the Empire and Hutt Space.  They were keen for news of the blockade of the Iktotch system but reliable information was scarce.  They chose to believe this was a good sign.  At least there were no reports of subjugation as there had been with other planets belonging to non-humans.

Each time they journeyed off world, Harith reached out with the Force to try and detect the tremor he had felt on Syvris but he felt nothing.  If there were another Force user out there, he or she was either keeping well-hidden or their paths had not crossed again.  Han remained convinced that there was no one out there but Harith could not let it go.  Before each trip off world, Harith was in the habit of speaking with Fa’ale to ask if she had any bad feelings about the coming trip but the answer was always in the negative and so far nothing adverse had happened to them since Han had killed the stormtroopers.  Han had killed eight Stormtroopers using a blatant display of the Force and the Empire had not come after them.  It sounded too good to be true.

Han continued to be distant from the younglings leaving most of the training and the overseeing of their exercises to Harith who had grown close to the children and was feeling increasingly like a surrogate parent.  After following the path of the Jedi, he had resigned himself to never having children and thoughts of having a family had been entirely alien to him and yet here he was, six young lives: his to nurture.  It would not have been by his choosing but the Force had thrust this ‘choice’ upon him.

He marvelled at and found great joy in watching them develop into individual persons in their own right: each with his or her own unique personality.  Each one was precious in his or her unique way.  He often wondered if this was what it was to love a child as a true parent would.  The Jedi Order had discouraged emotional attachment and yet here he was actually embracing it.

Garrick Gr’roff was a Bothan with leonine features; his name was Raf Tor’val when the two Jedi collected him.  He was the most outgoing of the six children as well as the most restless and the most inquisitive.  He picked up language remarkably quickly.  He loved to hear tales of the Bothan Jedi Master, Kai Hudorra, and he wanted to be just like him.

Luran Shar was the only non-mammalian child, a reptilian Duros.  He had developed a liking for exploration and more than once they have had to go out beyond the farm to look for him.  He was the most slippery of the younglings and was adept at suppressing his Force presence making him difficult to find when he wanted to stay hidden.

Eeth Hark was the child about whom Harith had the greatest concern.  He was a Zabrak, originally named Lom Zlat.  He was headstrong, impulsive and the most stubborn of the children.

The only human child was Sev Vern, given the name Tarrin by his simple farming parents.  He loved to use the Force for the Force’s sake.  Teaching the child discipline was proving to be a challenge.  Harith was concerned Sev’s recklessness would lead to their discovery.

Deepa Sha’fal was born into a theatrical family of red-skinned Lethan Twi’leks who had named her Fluera Femi.  She was the daughter of the actress A’lia Femi, to whom she had a strong resemblance.  It was recorded in the Jedi Temple’s archives that A’lia had had a Force sensitive daughter therefore it was important that she not be recognised.  Officially, Fluera Femi was dead.  Such had been reported on the HoloNet.  As far as Harith could tell, A’lia had said little in public about her daughter’s premature demise and had put on a stoic front, though in all likelihood this was an act.  Mourning the death of a child sent to the Jedi Temple would have been highly detrimental to her liberty and well-being in the New Order.

Finally, there was the Iktotchi girl, Fa’ale Lithin, the last and the oldest of the six to be collected.  She was mature far beyond her years.  Her innate prescience was much diminished since her departure from Iktotch but it was still there albeit, ironically, unpredictable.  Her progress in learning Force techniques had accelerated since Harith had abandoned his attempts to restore her precognition.

Of all the younglings he found Fa’ale the most curious.  Shortly after settling here permanently, Harith had realised that she was in the habit of absenting herself from the group and wondering off on her own.  Curious, he had followed her at a distance and watched.  She had found a spot in a grove that seemed to satisfy her and she cross-legged and meditated.  Harith observed her like this for some time.  She was rather fidgety and clearly was unable to descend into her meditation.  Interestingly, Harith could no longer feel Fa’ale’s presence in the Force.

Eventually, she gave up and abandoned her spot and set off back towards the farm.  As she did so, Fa’ale’s presence in the Force returned. 

She sensed the presence of Harith: “Can’t a girl get some peace, master?”

“I was curious,” replied Harith, feeling a little awkward.

“I commune with Mother.”

“You can reach all the way to Iktotch from here?” asked Harith, sceptical.

“Mother is strong with the Force,” explained Fa’ale, “our bond is equally strong.  I can sense her presence back home where she is safe behind the Imperial blockade.”

“How long have you been able to do this?”

“Months,” she said, “I hope to be strong enough soon to talk but today nothing.  It was like the Force had gone.”

Harith was worried.  It was his responsibility to watch over and protect these children.  Doubts continued to plague him.  The Force revealed nothing to him.  There was only calm and peace.  Then he noticed something in the branches of one of the trees: a lizard.

“Fa’ale!” He beckoned her towards him.

“What is it master?”

“Look there, in the tree…” he pointed.

Fa’ale turned to look.  “Oh the lizard.  Oh they friendly.  They live in the trees but you cannot see them in the Force.”

“What do you mean?”  Said Harith, both afraid and confused.

“Come see.”  She led him back to the grove.

The lizard was a curious animal.  It had an muscular body and had an unusually strong grip on the branch, so strong it had left marks on it, crush damage.

“Interesting.  Let’s try a little experiment.”

“Don’t hurt it, master!”

“No, no nothing like that.”  Harith scanned the area and called a small pebble to his hand with the Force.  He levitated it and then walked towards the lizard.  The stone dropped.  No matter how hard he concentrated the stone failed to move.  He backed away.  He could levitate it again.  “Let’s take this critter back to learn more about it.”

Fa’ale had left Harith to cut the branch off the tree to return the lizard to find another spot to commune.  After she was done, she ran back to the farm where she found R2-C13 repairing a labour droid. “Hi Artoo.”

The droid turned to see the approaching Iktotchi and beeped in welcome.

She sat down and watched the droid work.  It had never ceased to amaze her just how versatile it was; she almost believed it was bigger on the inside than on the out, it had so much packed away inside of it.  Like many other R2 units, it was a headstrong and self-reliant.

“Hey Artoo,”

The droid whirred and beeped.

“Have you ever reached out to someone?  Tried to speak to them but just couldn’t?”

R2-C13 responded with an excited crescendo of bleeps.

“Oh yes, I forgot.”  She suddenly felt embarrassed.  Come on, Fa’ale, I am better than this!  “I have... erm...” she thought about how to phrase what she wanted to say: “I have contacted Mother.  There were no words but I did feel danger.  She warned me of danger.”

R2-C13 stopped what it was doing and bodily faced the young girl.  It emitted a long decrescendo whorl.

“I cannot talk to her.  She cannot tell me what the danger is.”  She stared at the green droid searching for inspiration.

It made a series of bleeps in response and then extended an arm pointing towards the prefabricated farmhouse that Fa’ale now called home.

“You think I should speak with Han and Harith?”

R2-C13 emitted a long crescendo whorl.

“I wish they’d built you with a vocabulator!”

The droid responded with a series of staccato whorls that Fa’ale thought sounded a bit like laughter that made her chuckle too.

She left the droid to continue its repairs and headed off towards the farmhouse in search of the Jedi.  She found Han digging a hole.  He had not been the same since his encounter with the stormtroopers.  She had felt the anger in him.  It had given him strength.  The stormtroopers hadn’t known what hit them.  She had also felt his sense of exhilaration: he had got a buzz out of killing.  The fear Fa’ale had felt at the moment back then was not of the enemy soldiers but of Han Dessel, the man formerly known as Del Jarath, Jedi Knight.

Since the incident he had been remote and had kept his interactions with the younglings restricted to training.  Even Harith did not speak with him much anymore.  Han preferred to be alone.  Deepa had got into her head that he had fallen to the Dark Side but she had thought the same about Eeth after he had stolen a Berian apple from her.

Fa’ale stood there frozen, wracked by insecurity, watching the Jedi build a climbing metal frame with the assistance of one of the labour droids.  It was times like this that she missed her prescience the most.  Back on Iktotch she would have known what to say, how to say it and how Han would have reacted.  Here and now she was in the dark.  Fear welled up inside of her, together with the urge to run and hide.

Han must have felt her distress because he stopped what he was doing and turned to face the troubled child.  “Don’t be afraid.”  He said the words softly but Fa’ale could sense his irritation.

Not knowing how better to phrase it, she blurted it out: “We are in danger, master.”

He looked at her coldly.  Fa’ale did not need the Force to sense the lack of warmth in his smile.  “We are in constant danger, youngling.  Now run along...”

V

Fa’ale awoke with a start.  She sat bolt upright, her heart racing.  The dream had been vivid; it had seemed real but also frustratingly vague.  Harith is right.  There is someone out there!  It was over three years ago when Harith had thought he had fleetingly felt a presence in the Force.  Since then nothing, until her dream…

She rushed out of the youngling’s dormitory and into Han’s room.  He was already awake when she burst in.  Alarmed, he said, “What is it?”

“There is a man.  He was there on Syvris.  He is coming for us.  In my dream he...” she hesitated, her lip trembled, “…he stood over your dead body.”

“Was this a dream or a premonition?”  Han seemed rather unconcerned, which confused Fa’ale: she had just foretold his death.

“It was no dream.  It was a warning from the Force.”

“Okay, Okay,” replied Han, pitching his voice to sound soothing “calm down and tell me what you saw.”

Fa’ale took a deep breath and calmed her mind; her Jedi training was kicking in.  “A male being, he might be human but he was hooded so I could not see.  He is looking for us.  The dream was unclear.  I don’t know why he has taken so long.  Maybe he has been doing other things.  He is working alone.  He wants to kill you, Harith and us younglings.  He wants your lightsabers.”

“A lightsaber can be used as a proof of a kill,” replied Han, “this means he is either working for the Empire or is seeking to curry favour with the Emperor.”  He paused, thinking.

“Not a Sith, his lightsaber was green.”

Han knew what she was thinking, “No child, a red ’saber does not necessarily mean a Sith and a green one a Jedi.  He is maybe a fallen Jedi or perhaps he acquired a lightsaber with a natural crystal during the Clone Wars.   Be mindful not of the weapon but of the wielder.”

“Yes, master.”

“Go back to bed and let me know if you dream of this man again.  For now, don’t mention this to the others.  I’ll discuss it with Harith.”

The following morning Harith drove to Market Town in the speeder.  The town had doubled in size since they had first settled.  It was over two hours’ drive away, time Harith spent pondering what Han had told him earlier that morning.  Fa’ale’s dream was disturbing and he felt no satisfaction at being right about the presence of an unknown Force user with deadly intentions.

He had brought Sev along with him.  This was a good opportunity to teach the human boy the value of not using the Force when the situation warranted.  Sev had fallen asleep at the back of the speeder.

Harith wondered what he was going to do after he had arrived in Market Town.  Boldly making random enquiries about a newly arrived Jedi was unwise to say the least.  All he could do was mill about, make small talk and see if he could stumble across any information.  There was only one thing he could do: trust in the Force.  Or at least that was what he told himself.

Just as he was parking up, Sev woke up.  “We here?” He said. “We buy sweets?”  He jumped up and down with an excited expression no his face.

“I sometimes think all you think about are your treats,” laughed Harith, “come on.”  Whispering: “And remember what I said about not using the Force.”

Harith and Sev wondered about the market for an hour.  Both had a light late breakfast.  He made small talk with some beings with whom he had made an acquaintance and he listened to what others were saying but no one was talking about a suspicious newcomer to the area.  The main topic of conversation was a group of Toydarians who had arrived and were setting up some kind of junkshop.  Harith realised that this would impact on their income gained from importing goods but he was surprised no one had done this sooner.

Curious about them, Harith suggested to Sev, “Shall we go and check out the Toydarians?”

“What’s a Toydan?” asked the little boy?

“Toy-dar-ian,” enunciated Harith, “they are flying blue skinned aliens.  You’ve seen pictures.  Come on.”

He was about to lead the young boy off when a voice stopped him: “Harith!  Good to see you.”  It was their nearest neighbour, a young human woman called Rae Jah.  Harith recalled that she was living on a farm with her brother Sullan and a Twi’lek called Teeshia.  “How are you doing?  It is so good to see you.  We don’t see nearly enough of you, neighbour.”

Outwardly, he said, “Good to see you too.”  Though inwardly he was having different thoughts.  We don’t see you often because we like our privacy.

“Oh yes,” replied Rae, grinning, “you must come over.  Bring the war orphans.  We shall make a meal for you by way of a thank you for the power converter you brought us.”

“That’s not necessary,” said Harith, “you paid a fair price for it.”  He felt it better to refuse her offer but part of him wanted to accept.

“I know we did,” said Rae, smiling at him and her eyes sparkling, “but we get a little stir crazy just the three of us.  Having the children over will do us good...”

“Oh can we? Can we?” Sev was very enthusiastic jumping up and down.

“See, he wants to come over.”  She bent down to see they young boy eye to eye.  “You wanna see Teeshia’s lekku?”

“It’s decided then,” said Harith, “see you tomorrow night?”  He wondered if this was a good idea.

“Good, it is decided then,” she said, beaming.

“We are off to see the Toydarians,” said Harith, glad to have changed the subject.  “Young Sev here has never seen a Toydarian up close before.  You can tag along if you like.”  He had not consciously intended to invite her along but there he had said it.  He knew allowing others to get too close was very dangerous but he found her easy to be with.  He felt like he was behaving contrary to the Jedi Order’s policy prohibiting emotional attachments but Harith and Rae were merely acquainted and perhaps in time they might be friends, at least that is what Harith was telling himself as they walked towards the new junkshop.

Sev was fascinated with the Toydarians or ‘Toydans’ as he insisted on calling them.  They were moving into a recently built shop and stocking it with an abundance of used parts.  Four Toydarians flew about supervising a group of Gamorreans who were doing the lifting and carrying.

“The flying aliens are the Toydarians,” explained Harith to Sev, “they come from the planet Toydaria, spinward from here, deeper into Hutt Space.  The planet was taken over by the Hutts a long time ago and is still ruled by them.”  He felt a wave of fear emanate from Rae.  So, Rae is afraid of the Hutts; she must be running away from something, a Hutt maybe?  Perhaps she has something to hide too.  Has the Force brought us together for a reason?  He chose not to ask her about it.  Maybe he might find a way of discussing it tomorrow night...

Fa’ale awoke with a start.  She sat bolt upright, her heart racing.  The dream had been vivid; so like last night’s and yet different.  This time Han Dessel had defeated the Dark Jedi in lightsaber combat.  He was revealed to her as a male human.  Her mother had taught her that the future is in constant motion and often far from certain.  All a prophetess was able to do was peer into the flow of possibilities and interpret them as best she could.

This was all very confusing to the young Sareen Tish as she was back when her mother was instructing her on Iktotch and it had not become any clearer to her now she was Fa’ale Lithin on Berius III.  She remembered her mother’s words, which had been little or no help: “If seeing the future were easy, everyone would be able to do it.”  Fa’ale felt frustrated.  Her mother had been able to foresee the coming of the New Order and yet she was unable to foresee the outcome of the much less significant battle between two men.

If Han won the duel with the dark Jedi then all was good and she and the rest of the younglings were safe.  If Han lost, what could she do to protect herself and her friends?

Fa’ale knew she would not get any more sleep therefore she quietly woke up the others.  She informed them about the two dreams she had had.

The Zabrak boy, Eeth Hark, knew what to do: “We find bad Jedi.  Get him before he gets us.”

“We can’t do that, Eeth,” replied Fa’ale, “he is able to defeat a fully trained Jedi.  We stand no chance.”

“What do you know about him?” asked the Bothan, Garrick Gr’roff.

“Human, male.  Green lightsaber,” replied Fa’ale.

“Is he Dark Side?” asked Deepa, her lekku twitching.

“Yes, he is.” Fa’ale was feeling impatient with Deepa’s Dark Side obsession.

“Master Han will defeat him,” said Deepa, “he’s not Dark Side.”

“Let’s hope so,” said Fa’ale out loud but she was thinking but what if he doesn’t?  Mother had told her that the Jedi would protect her but right now did not feel reassured.

Harith found he was enjoying spending the evening with his neighbours more than he had expected.  He had half dreaded the experience but found himself very relaxed and at ease.  Even the children were having fun.  Han had declined to attend but was agreeable to the others going.

As the evening wore on, Harith found himself spending most of it speaking with Rae while keeping an eye on the children.  He had worried about one of them using the Force, despite his strict instructions not to do so but his worry proved groundless.  Teeshia kept the children entertained by making her lekku vibrate in interesting ways, ways Deepa struggled to mimic.

“So tell me, Rae,” asked Harith, “what brings you to this out of the way world?”  He felt the fear rise in her again.

She said, “We just wanted to escape to a place where we could lead simple and uncomplicated lives.  No one wants to live in the shadow of the Hutts and, well you must admit, this new Empire Palpatine has created is…” she hesitated, “well the Republic was far from perfect but the Empire is certainly no improvement!”

Harith sensed a chill when Rae mentioned the Hutts.  He reached out with the Force probing her feelings more deeply and hit a wall.  A wall?  Rae was strong willed; she had deliberately put up a wall to block him.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her face flushed with anger.  “Wait.  Hang on.  This... you can’t be?”

Inwardly, Harith cursed his stupidity and clumsiness.  He had tried to probe the feelings of a Force sensitive.  Why had he not picked up on her Force-sensitivity before now?  He was annoyed at his clumsiness and lack of mindfulness.  Through his incompetence he had given himself away and put himself and, more importantly the children, at risk.

“How did you survive?”

“Let’s just say we avoided potentially fatal Imperial encounters.”

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.  In fact, I could help you with your cover...”  Rae kissed Harith on the mouth, taking him completely by surprise.  He was even more astonished that he let her do it and even responded to her kiss.  It felt like electricity coursing through his body.  After the kiss ended, he felt breathless.  Is this the will of the Force or am I being weak? He wondered.

“Now that was not very Jedi-like behaviour,” Rae whispered into Harrith’s ear.

“Report me to the Jedi Council.”  Harith felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

“Yoda would not approve.” Rae giggled like a school girl.

“Approve of your kissing, I do not!”

“That is not very respectful,” she said in mock accusation.

“I don’t suppose it is,” he replied.  Curious about Rae’s background, he asked, “So what is your secret?  Why are you running from the Hutts?”  Her face paled and he did not need the Force to sense her fear.

She stroked his cheek and looked deeply into his eyes.  “I know you mean well but can we not talk about this right now.  Just hold me.  I feel safe in your arms.”

“Okay, I am sorry.  I didn’t mean…”

“Yes I know you didn’t.  Let’s just enjoy the moment.”

Harith Varriss held her in his arms and realised that he was happy.

The following morning Harith Varriss and Han Dessel were sat outside having a leisurely breakfast while watching the younglings doing their exercises.  The training still took the form of games to improve their Force skills, games such as bat and ball, catch and other ball games all done blindfold.  They continued to play their version of hide and seek and the younglings were now highly adept at keeping a low profile in the Force but that game they usually played in the evenings.

It warmed Harith’s heart to see the children playing so happily.  There was some competition among them to improve their skills; he had allowed the competitiveness because it gave drive to them but he kept a close eye on it lest it became more than friendly competition.  The Jedi masters of the Order would not have approved but their council and wisdom were no longer available.  In the here and now, it was Harith’s duty to train the younglings as best he could and that was what he was doing, as best he could.

After the two former Jedi had discussed the younglings’ progress, Han asked Harith about his evening, “So, tell me about our neighbours.  They don’t strike me as the frontier colonist types.  What is their story?”

“It was a most interesting evening,” replied Harith, “and yes you are right they are not colonists by choice.  They are running away from the Hutts or a particular Hutt.  I sensed Rae’s fear of the Hutts but she refused to say anything about it.  Interestingly, she is Force sensitive.  I was unable to make a proper evaluation of her abilities but I doubt she was strong enough to be considered for Jedi training.  I doubt she was even tested.  I thought it better not to press her too much.  She was able to feel me using the Force on her and, consequently, she now knows I am… was a Jedi.

“I think they will make valuable allies.  I believe the Force brought us together.  I am going to see her again tonight.  I am hoping to learn more.  It should be easier to talk without the children around.”

“Is that your only reason for your repeat visit?”

“Rae does make for pleasant company.  We could really do with some friends here.”

“You may be right but don’t let your feelings cloud your judgment.”

Fa’ale Lithin was tired after a day of training games: being the eldest she felt it was her place to help the others as well as doing her own thing but despite this she still went outside to her private meditation spot.  It was a chilly but she ignored the cold.  She closed her eyes and visualised her homeworld.  She visualised the Jedi temple, there.  She visualised her mother.  Her attempts to commune with her mother were not always successful and tonight was one of those dreaded nights where contact evaded her.

The living Force was in turmoil.  All around her the Force flowed in chaotic eddies and roiling unpredictably creating interference preventing her from making contact but within the turmoil she sensed something: danger.

The forewarning was unclear but Fa’ale felt sure this was it.  This was what her mother had tried to warn her about.  She took a moment to gather the Force within her and then she ran.  She ran as fast as her Force enhanced body would allow.  Her adrenal glands were in overdrive.  Her legs should have failed her but the midi-chlorians in her system gave her limbs the boost they needed to keep going.

Fa-ale!

The voice in her head was loud and clear.  She could sense Deepa’s distress and her fear; no not fear she was terrified.  Her friend was in danger.  All the younglings were in danger and Han.  Harith was safe for now: he was with Rae.  Emotions welled up inside her.  Had she been mindful of her current state of mind she would have been worried about the anger and frustration rising up inside of her.  The Force flowed through her.  She could feel it concentrating in and around her.  Her feet hardly seemed to touch the ground.

Fa’ale!  He’s killing Han!  Fa’ale!

It had been mere seconds but time had slowed down for Fa’ale.  Oh no he is not! She replied angrily not caring if Deepa was unable to hear her.

Finally, she got back to the farm where she saw Deepa waiting for her.  “Thank Ashla you here.  Han!”

Behind her were R2-C13 the other four younglings who were playing with lizard Harith had brought back from the woods.  They had named it Torch.

“This way,” said Deepa, “quick!”

“No wait,” said Fa’ale, thinking on her feet, “bring Torch.”

Sev and Eeth took the metal pole the lizard was clutching and struggled with it.  Of course, they could not use the Force to help them lift it.  The others assisted while Deepa and Fa’ale ran round to the front of the farm house.

There was the danger or rather there he was: a hooded man clad in dark robes.  He had Han held in deadly Force Choke aloft in the air.  The former Jedi was struggling but he was getting weaker and his efforts were feeble.  Fa’ale could feel the stranger’s hatred and his anger.  This was nothing like the emotions she had sensed in Han when he killed the stormtroopers.  That would have been like comparing a torch with a bonfire.

“So,” taunted the stranger, “you thought you can hide from Jordil Horus.  Well, I found you and your lightsaber will be a great prize.  The Emperor is recruiting Jedi hunters and you’re my way in.”

Han was unable to reply.  He struggled against the death grip but was powerless to resist.

“Put.  Him.  Down.”  Fa’ale’s words shot from her mouth like blaster bolts.  She had never been so frightened.  There was only one thing to do: purge her mind of emotion: There is no Emotion, there is Peace.

Suddenly Han dropped and fell to the ground, clutching at his throat, gasping for breath.

“What?” screamed Horus.  He turned to face the younglings.  “Why you little…”

Fa’ale smiled.  There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.  Though right now she did not feel very knowledgeable; her link to the Force severed by Torch’s Force nullification bubble.

He reached out with his hands, his fingers spread.  Nothing happened.  Horus stood there and stared at his hands in confusion.  “What is this?”

Fa’ale felt strangely confident.  She could not feel it bit she knew the Force was with her.  There is no passion, there is serenity.

Whether to mock or confuse him, Fa’ale knew not why she said the words: “There is no chaos, there is harmony.”

“A shut up little girl,” he spat the words out as drew and ignited his lightsabre; its blue blade lit up his snarling face menacingly.

“Blue?” said Sev.

“You said it was green!” said Deepa.

By then it was all over; Han Dessel decapitated Jordil Horus with his own green-bladed lightsaber.

“There is no death, there is the Force.”  Fa’ale finished the Jedi mantra.

Deepa stood over the corpse: “He was Dark Side.”

Han collapsed, falling unconscious to the ground.

Harrith Varriss had raced back from his visit to Rae in the speeder pushing the aging vehicle for all it was worth.  When he got back home he saw the decapitated body.  He rushed inside and saw the younglings stood around Han’s bed watching a carer droid take care of him.

“What...” stuttered Harith, “what... what... happened?” He was barely able to get the words out.

“Dark Side,” replied Deepa. “Han killed him.”

“We helped,” added Luran.

“Fa’ale’s dream came true,” said Sev.

“But she got the colour wrong,” added Garrick, “his lightsaber is blue not green.”

“Oh, shut up,” Fa’ale told the others, “I shall explain what happened.  The fallen Jedi finally found us.  He nearly killed Han but Torch stopped his Force and Han cut his head off.”

 “All right, we shall talk about that later,” said Harith, his head spinning, “how is Han?”

“Han Dessel is suffering minor injuries.  Only minor treatment is necessary.  He should not make a full recovery.  I recommend he is not moved for at least two days.  There is internal bruising in the neck around and just below the throat area.  He is breathing adequately without assistance but there is some swelling.”  The droid’s explanation was cold and rather matter-of-fact, clearly not designed with a bedside manner in mind.

“You stay here and keep an eye on him,” Harith said to the droid, “Younglings come with me.  We must find his ship.  We need to know if he was alone or if anyone else knows we are here.”

A quick search revealed Jordil Horus’ nearby ship.  It was a beat up old YT-series freighter that looked hardly space worthy, an older model; in fact Harith was unsure of its series number.  It took some effort but R2-C13 eventually managed to open the main door.  A quick look round revealed that the cargo holds had been converted into crude holding pens obviously designed for security and not with comfort in mind for the occupants.  Harith went to the cockpit with the droid while the younglings explored the rest of the ship.

Harith found the main computer console but it was encrypted.  Again, R2-C13 went to work.  Surprisingly, this was much easier for it to slice than the ship’s main hatch.  Harith had access to Horus’ logs.  It became quickly obvious that Horus had been making a living as a bounty hunter and a slaver.  Examining the logs in more detail revealed Horus’ attempts to track down Jedi Knight Del Jarath and his Padawan Jorl Herran: a sideline between paying jobs.  He had sensed their presence on Syvris but had lost the trail there.  While investigating the scene of the deaths of the stormtroopers he had attracted more Imperial attention and had fled.  Jordil Horus clearly believed the Force was protecting the two Jedi and his frustration was all too evident in his log entries.

Harith Varriss read this and some found comfort in Horus’ frustration and his difficulty in finding them but more importantly at the implication that Empire believed Horus had killed the stormtroopers.  The Force had indeed protected them.  He now felt confident that by hiding with the younglings and training them they were following the will of the Living Force.

Reading through the logs revealed that Horus worked alone.  No one else knew he was here and by inference no one else knew the two former Jedi and the younglings were on Berius III either.

A plan of action began to form in Harith’s mind.

VI

Harith was exhausted.  The past couple of days had taken it out of him.  He sat by Han’s bed.  His former master slept soundly.  In fact he had done little else and despite the carer droid saying he should make a full recovery there had been no change to his condition.

Han stirred in his sleep, muttering as he was now wont to do.  Qui-Gon?  Why does he keep saying that name?  Harith remembered the distress Qui-Gon Jinn’s death had caused Del as he was cslled back then.  He had never met the Jedi who had been the first official casualty to fall to a Sith since the Great Sith War.

“I’ve dealt with Jordil Horus’ ship.” He did not know if Han could hear him but Harith felt better giving the man an update.  Maybe it would help him to recover?  “The Empire should find it soon enough.  They will believe us to be dead.”

Han stirred again and his eyes opened.  “Did you say something?”  He still sounded very weak.

“I was saying, we have dealt with Horus’s ship.  When the Empire finds it, they’ll believe us dead.”

“Good.  Good.  That is good.  You have done well.”

“Han,” said Harith, “you keep saying ‘Qui-Gon’.  Are you dreaming of Qui-Gon Jinn?”

Han’s laugh was feeble and it caused him to cough.  “No, not dreaming.”  He paused for breath.

He looked oh so very tired.  Harith could not help but be concerned.  He dreaded the thought of training six children singlehandedly.  Training one person in the Force was difficult enough, that is why a Jedi only took on one Padawan.  He saw a twinkle in the sick man’s eye and he sensed a peace in the man he had not felt since before they had landed on Iktotch, now over three years ago.

Han smiled at his former Padawan.  “Bring in the children.  I want to see them one last time.”

“Yes, yes of course, no wait, what do you mean ‘one last time’?”  Harith’s heart was racing.

“Don’t be distressed.  You have done well.  The Force has tested you and you have passed.  I, however, have been found unworthy.”

“No master, please,” tears were rolling down Harith’s cheeks, “what are talking about?”

“Train the children.  The Jedi Order is gone but its memory and its values live on.  They live on in you.  Pass them on…”  Han’s strength failed.

“I… I can’t do it without you.”

“The children?  Time runs short.”

“Yes, master.”

Harith went out to fetch the children, the weight of his responsibilities seemed particularly heavy today.

Fa’ale sat in the grove and reached out with her mind.  The Force felt unusually calm today.  The Living Force surrounded her, flowed through her.  In her mind she imagined herself travelling to the Iktotch System.  She homed in on the gas giant Iktotchon.  From there she focussed her attention on its third moon, her birthplace, Iktotch.  On this moon, the Jedi had built a temple and this was where she expected to find mother.

“Fa’ale”

Her heart skipped a beat.  She got so excited she nearly lost concentration.

There is no emotion, there is only peace.

“Mother?”

No reply.  With horror, she feared she had lost the connection.

There is no emotion, there is only peace.

“Mother?”

“Concentrate, child.”

“Mother!”

Fa’ale felt a tear roll down her left cheek but she refused to let it distract her.

There is no emotion, there is only peace.

“This difficult so I’ll be brief.  You are safe, for now.  My daughter Sarreen Tish is dead but the war orphan Fa’ale Lithin lives.  It is your duty to keep them all, the other children and Harith Varriss, on the path.  Han is not with you in body but he has been shown the way.  His death created a vergence in the Force.  He is with in spirit.”

“I’m frightened, Mother”

“The Force will always be with you as long as you stay true to the Force.”

And then the contact was lost and Fa’ale was left alone with her thoughts contemplating her future and her Mother’s words.