"If you guys do not hurry up we will be late. You don’t want to miss this, trust me," Jacen Solo called to his three children. Of the kids, Luke was built like Jacen, with brown hair and eyes the color of Corellian Brandy. He was the oldest of Jacen and Tenel Ka’s three at age 8. Next came Orin. At 6 years, she had the ice-blue eyes, and thin, wiry form that seemed to come along once a generation. Jacen joked that they should have named her Luke.
Finally, 4-year-old Jacen stumbled down the stairs of their roomy home on Hapes. He had the unlikely combination of his mother’s build and red hair, and his father’s light disposition.
"Where’s Mommy?" Jacen asked.
"She had some business. She’s gonna meet us at the Academy tomorrow," Jacen told him. "In the Rock Dragon," he added at his son's puzzled look, "We’re taking the Crystal Snake."
"Yeah, Jace, and you get to ride on the top!" Luke commented to his younger brother.
"Daddy, he-"
"Luke knock it off or you get to ride on the top. Now let’s get going!"
"Cryss! Jess! Let’s go!" Anakin Solo called to his adopted children, 12 and 9 year old Jess and Cryss Horn. Their Dad, Corona, had been killed in a battle. Their mother had mysteriously disappeared after her husband’s death. So, Anakin had stepped in and claimed the two. Though not twins, the two were inseparable. They came downstairs.
"Let’s go. In the Jedi Knight."
"Mom! Tell Riley to quit! He keeps trying to pull my hair!" Jaina heard her youngest daughter shout.
"Am not!" called Riley, the middle child.
All ten years old, the triplets, Ryn, Riley, and Ryss were 3 and 7 minutes apart, respectively. However, all three were quite different. Ryn was like his grandfather Han, always in trouble. Riley was like Zekk, mischievous, and those two got in quite a bit of trouble together. Ryss was different. She was mechanically inclined, like Jaina, but she had a lot of anger behind her dark brown eyes, which worried her parents and Great Uncle.
"All right, all right, kids knock it off!" Jaina heard Zekk call.
"Yeah, hurry up to the Skywalker before we’re late," Jaina added. Finally, they were off.
Luke Skywalker smiled at his two children, proud of their work. "Great job! It’s time to go meet the ships."
Ben was 15, and was tall and strong, like his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, but with red hair like his mother.
Mara was named after her mother, who died from birth complications. Luke had almost lost his spirit and life in the struggle to bring her back. Mara was just 5, and had blue eyes like Luke, and a small wiry body. Normally this blend came along once a Skywalker generation, but this time there were two, Mara and Jacen’s 6-year-old daughter Orin.
The three of them stood watching Anakin’s shuttle land. Finally, the doors opened, and Jess and Cryss tumbled out. Anakin soon followed, wearing his Jedi robes. The kids wore plain flightsuits. Luke stepped forward to hug them all and greet them.
"Anakin! Glad you’re here! How did you manage to get a vacation? Chief of State is quite a job."
"Well, negotiating runs in the family. At least one side of it," he amended.
Luke smiled again and led them to their quarters.
About an hour later, the Crystal Snake landed. Mara ran forward to greet her closet in age, except for Jacen. Luke came out next, and latched himself onto his namesake. Jacen came out carrying Jacen, Jr.
"Hey guys! Great to see you!"
"How are you, Uncle Luke?" Jacen asked, looking worried.
"Jacen, it’s been 5 years, and yes, I’m fine," said Luke, reprimanding his nephew with a placid stare.
Jacen was about to reply, but a noise distracted him. "Hey, it’s Jaina!" Jacen said, instead. Sure enough, the sand beaten Skywalker settled down, and the Organa family stepped out. Since Zekk had no last name, they elected to carry on her mother’s adopted maiden name.
The 5 of them wore the normal attire of Tatooine, which contrasted greatly with the Hapes finery of Jacen’s family.
"Uncle Luke…"
"Don’t you start, Jaina. Jacen already asked, and it’s been 5 YEARS. If I was going to have an emotional breakdown, it would’ve been before now."
"Well, it took you almost 3 years to recover. You could barely take care of your kids."
"I’m fine now. Anakin is the only considerate one in this family! He didn’t say a word."
"Mom! I’m tired and hungry!" Ryss whined.
Soon, everyone was fed and settled down, and the adults could talk.
"Uncle Luke, are you sure you’re OK?"
"Jaina. It’s been 5 years since she died…"
"Yeah but it’s only been about 2 years since you first recovered, and after Jamie died last month, I’m surprised…"
Luke sighed in exasperation. "Look, you worry about me too much. I AM FINE!"
The other 3 were watching with interest, but finally Anakin said "Jaina, you did not come all the way to Yavin IV to discuss his life."
Three different conversations started up around the table.
When Mara’s birth complications had begun during labor, Luke had linked to her in sprit to ease pain. When she died, he had remained in a coma for a month, then was bedridden for 6 months. Then, Ben’s twin Jamie, who was the only member of the family not Force-strong, had been shot down over Carida on his 9th mission with Rogue Squadron. He was the youngest member ever, and had proved himself more than worthy on several occasions. His death had been greatly mourned. Luke coughed, and all eyes turned to him in concern.
"Geez! I just coughed, could you people LOOSEN UP?"
Finally, they decided to go to bed. Luke found he had trouble falling asleep. He lay for awhile, then fell into a deep, dreamless sleep. Coughs awoke him at 3:27 am. He rose, and stumbled into the refresher unit. Luke coughed again, and he tasted blood in his mouth. Another feeling hit him, and he turned vomiting into the sink. He heard a noise behind him and turned, wiping his mouth of with his hand.
"Dad? Wh-what…" Ben was standing there. Luke realized him own anguish had had awaken the boy.
Luke shrugged, unable to speak, still gasping for breath. More coughs stared, and the whole world started spinning. That was the last thing he remembered…
Luke awoke. He groaned, rolling over. "Where-what," he stuttered.
"Dad! You’re OK!"
"Daddy!" his daughter ran to him, hugging him.
"Dad, you’re in the Yavin Med Center. It’s been two weeks."
"Two…then I guess everybody left."
"Well, they didn’t want to, but they did. Had to. But Orin and Anakin stayed. His kids went with Jaina and Zekk."
"Why’d they stay?"
"Don’t really know. They said they had a feeling. Oh, you know-"
An aid burst into the room. "Master Skywalker, there’s a very urgent recording for you."
"Thanks, put it up here."
An Imperial face Luke didn’t recognize appeared. "Master Skywalker. I do hope you enjoy my little…present. It took 20 years to develop this little organism. Oh, and don’t worry. It will only effect you. By the way, the Force won’t help and neither will bacta, as I believe you’ll find. I know you don’t recognize me, but I’m not quite ready to reveal my identity…" The recording faded away.
"Oh boy," Ben groaned, "this-" he cut off.
Luke rolled and threw up. He coughed and Ben saw blood.
"Ben-get the rest of them."
"But Dad, what about the little ones? Mara especially. She already lost a mother, how will she feel when sees that her Daddy is dying?"
"You’re in the same position. Just do it!"
Ben obliged and the other 3 arrived in time for one message.
"I-I don…don’t know what it is, b…but h-help me be-be…fore I die." He threw up again, and fell into unconsciousness.
Anakin worked on those words endlessly, while Ben took care of his father. He had to watch while Luke deteriorated, soon he lost control of all his bodily functions, and had to be hooked to heart and lung machines.
"Anakin!" Ben called, "Dad is dying. Do something now or don’t even bother."
"All right. Girls, you and Ben are backup. I’m going to do a complete mind probe."
Anakin entered Luke’s room and shut his eyes. He saw lots of memories, good and bad, but finally found what he was looking for. There was a cage, with a hole in the bottom. Anakin couldn’t get through, but now he knew he what he had to do. He broke free and reported his findings.
"Well," Ben said, "There’s only one thing to do. Send the girls in."
"All right," Anakin told the 5 and 6 year olds, "I’m going to help you in, but you must go down the hole. Got it?"
"Yep."
"You betcha."
Anakin lead the girls and Ben through memory after memory before finding the spot. The girls ventured down, holding hands, with Orin clutching the lightsaber. As Orin and Mara got deeper into the hole, it got darker.
"Mara-this is scary," Orin said.
"Don’t worry," Mara said, full of confidence. "We have to. For Dad."
Finally, they encountered a creature. It didn’t really have a shape, just darkness.
"What are we going to do?" Mara asked.
"I know! Remember that story Uncle Luke told us the night before he got sick? About Exar Kun?"
"Oh yeah! The way to extinguish a shadow-"
"-is to increase the light!" Orin finished.
"Worth a try. Let’s go."
Mara stepped forward, igniting the saber. Orin gave power to Mara. She jabbed the saber directly through the Thing. A freezing cold enveloped them both.
A Force-scream echoed through the air, effecting every being on the planet. The connection terminated.
"It’s dead," Orin announced.
"And it can’t bother Daddy anymore," Mara added.
Luke Skywalker rolled over and groaned.
"O-Orin! Mara! You…you’ve done it! You killed it!" He said, pulling the tubes from his throat.
"Sir! Don’t touch that! You’ll injure yourself further!" A droid disconnected him from all the medical apparatus.
Luke gathered his children in his harms
"Thank you, Jedi Knights, for bringing me back."