Chapter 58

In the meantime Han tried to convince general Madine to set up a quick action in the Palomintar System, but the general told him that he needed support and conformation of Mon Mothma.

A week after their landing Leia and Han met with the Supreme Chancellor.

"Welcome back, Leia," Mon Mothma said affably, "You too, general Solo. You've been away a long time, leaving me unaware about what was going on in the Palomintar System. Where is your brother, Leia?"

"My brother is still on Palomintar Four, finding a way to undo the injustice that has been done to the Quelans of Ribana and to eliminate the danger that Darth Golluth represents to Quelans and possibly to the New Republic."

Mon Mothma rose, walked over to her desk and pressed a button on the infocom on her desk.

"Yes, madam?" the holographic image of her secretary asked.

"Cancel all my appointments for today and tomorrow, and tell general Madine to come to my office at once. The next two days I don't want to be disturbed. Will you make sure that while I'm awaiting the general enough food and drinks will be brought to my office, and make arrangements for lunches and diners."

"Yes, madam," The secretary answered and the image disappeared.

Mon Mothma walked back to the sitting area.

"How is your padawan, Leia? What happened to him?"

"Ian is assisting Chewbacca at the space port. He is fine, madam, thank you. He fully recovered after he got some very sever burns."

In a nutshell Leia told Mon Mothma what had happened to Ian and how Toallin and Mugin had taken care of him during his recovery. She didn't tell anything about the way of his recovery, but focussed on what Toallin and Mugin had done for him and what they had told her, Han and her brother about the occupation of Ribana and the forced flight into exile of all the inhabitants of Ribana to the other landmass Tyr. Han added the part about the force labor most young male Quelans had to do to prepare Darth Golluth' underground realm under the mountains near Ribana to Leia's story.

Mon Mothma listened carefully and took notes. She nodded approvingly when Leia and Han told they had accompanied the two former governors of Ribana to their home town to do some first investigation. She was highly surprised when Leia told her that they had had an encounter with Darth Golluth in Ribana, but that he hadn't noticed their presence.

"Isn't that odd, Leia? I thought, that Force users feel the presence of each other, no matter if some one is a Jedi or Sith. What's your opinion about that? You just said that your brother clearly sensed Darth Golluth' presence before he showed up," Mon Mothma asked.

The door of Mon Mothma's office slid aside and general Madine entered. He greeted Han and Leia wholeheartedly. Mon Mothma gave a recapitulation of Leia's story.

"So, miss Solichor's adversary isn't probably a Force sensitive user," The general concluded, after he had heard about their first encounter with Darth Golluth. Leia immediately tempered is optimistic view of the situation.

"Neither Luke, nor I, can exactly tell you, what to think about him. Sometimes I feel as you do, general, but on the other hand we mustn't underestimate him. Liane has told us that he has spend a lot of time on Morantan. He also has been a member of the echelons around emperor Palpatine. It's possible that he might has gathered some dark knowledge one way or the other."

"You forget, darling, that Liane told us, that also your father wasn't convinced about admiral Matrik's real Force focus." Han said.

"So we still don't know what kind of Sith lord he is," Mon Mothma concluded.

"If he's already one?" Han added.

"Tell me the rest of your initiatives."

Leia told about their visit to Cantamaga and the reunion of Toallin and Mugin with their families. Mon Mothma nodded with a smile.

"That's good to hear, but I fear that the exiled inhabitants of Ribana aren't in a position to recapture their city on their own. As Darth Golluth has forced many of their men to work for him I fear that not many have survived."

"That's right, madam. Toallin and Mugin were able to escape and so were two other groups. They are still living in exile on other planets of the system, or have found a new life elsewhere. The group of Quelans in Cantamaga consist of the women and children, middle-aged and elderly Quelans and the harvesters. It's those harvesters upon the Quelans in Cantamaga have established their hopes."

"Those harvesters form a kind of militia, Leia?" Madine asked.

"No, general. They are bunch of tough men who spend a lot of time on Tyr, harvesting the fruits of the nut trees. They live in the wild for most of the season."

Madine looked doubtful.

"I had some doubts in the beginning, general, but they are a well organized bunch of men who came up with a possible plan to get that weirdo from that dwelling under that mountain. You won't believe their plan, but I have seen the spot they want to use as a starting point and I believe they might succeed with the next five or six years." Han continued cynically.

"Han! That's very unfriendly, they want to do their share, that's all," Leia said.

"Is it, Leia? I don't say it can't be done. I only want to indicate that they lack the equipment to carry out the plan."

"Can you tell, what they want to do, general Solo?" Mon Mothma asked.

Han nodded and explained the plan of the harvesters to the Supreme Chancellor. Mon Mothma shook her head. Han looked with a glimpse of triumph in his eyes to his wife. Leia neglected his look.

"Chancellor, there's another more serious development you need to know. As we went back to Myr we took the harvesters with us. They wanted to continue with the work they had started before the inhabitants of Ribana had to be evacuated to Tyr. Luke and I wanted to visit Ribana again and see if there would be a way to meet Darth Golluth directly. As we lifted off from Tyr, we encountered the Basilisaea of admiral Vestor just outside the orbit of the system. We decided to change our plans and go back to Irithim right away to inform you," Leia said looking very worried.

"A very unusual spot for the only imperial star destroyer that escaped the downfall of the empire. Did they see you?" Mon Mothma said sternly.

"They did, but we shook them off, chancellor." Han said proudly.

Mon Mothma looked at her strategic counselor, general Madine.

"General, we've already been discussing possible assistance in the Palomintar region. It's no use anymore to send those scouts to Palomintar Six, so you can withdraw those men. I think, we'd better let admiral Vestor know, that his presence in the Palomintar System isn't impressing us. It's an infringement of the truce we've signed with the temporary imperial government on Coruscant," She said before she turned to Leia.

"Leia, did you meet Wedge Antilles on Palomintar? I've got a message, that he was heading to the Palomintar System to assist your brother. Unfortunately he didn't send me any further report. I hoped he would have contacted me one of these days, for I want him to go to Na'ctaMagh'Ba to see if Liane is alright, but we also might need him now if we want to set up a strategic plan to liberate Ribana."

"Luke has already send Wedge to Liane, because she told my brother about a strange call she's got on the residence communciation system." Leia said.

"A intruder got access to the residence communication system. That's very serious, Leia. Do you know what happened? She didn't answer that call, did she?"

"She didn't. Artoo and Threepio prevented it. Artoo has intercepted and recorded the illegal access to the system. Afterwards the droid has disconnected the whole system."

Mon Mothma heaved a sigh of relieve.

"And Wedge Antilles is with her now?"

"Yes, with his padawan Yarmod Martan. If you agree to send help to Palomintar Four, madam, Luke wants me to go to the residence with my padawan; come back with Wedge Antilles and leave Ian Tydon with Yarmod and Liane."

"Excellent plan, Leia," Madine said, "Wedge can also take that recorded call with him, so we can investigate that intruder."

Mon Mothma laughed.

"I've got the impression that you and your brother have already prepared parts of our strategic plan. I'm very relieved that Wedge Antilles is with Liane at the moment, for I can't find time to go there myself. Leia, I will make an emergency request to the leaders of Dalmaran to get permission to use the submersible to get you and your padawan to the residence. In the meantime you, general Solo, will team up with general Madine and prepared our fleet to be ready to go to the Palomintar System. My first order is to make full use of our total fleet. We have to scare off that last imperial star destroyer. I don't want you to get involved in a fight. A little demonstration of our full space fleet power must be enough to refrain admiral Vestor of any thoughtless actions. Thank you all for your time. May the Force be with us."

Liane looked up from the page projected on the display of datacron reader. On the opposite seat Wedge Antilles and Yarmod were equally involved in reading one of the old books of the Jedi library. She smiled as she recalled how she had explained them they had to focus on the Force to be able to understand the old writings in Jediese. In the beginning their progress had been slow, but after their third visit to the Jedi library they could read the texts almost fluently.

Liane was still studying the small yellow-orange box with Nomi Sunrider's story. So far she had followed her ancestral mother on her trip with her husband Andur to the Stenness system. She had read about the devasting murder of Andur and Nomi's arrival on Ambria and her first Jedi-training under Master Thon. Meticulously she had copied a transcript in Basic on her datapad. That Basic copy she kept with her all the time, because it allowed her to read about Nomi Sunrider without using the datacron reader. To know what had happened to Nomi Sunrider gave her a way to grasp the scope of her own relationship with the ancient female Jedi Knight.

She leaned back against the cushions of the lounge and closed her eyes for a moment. Her thoughts wandered off to Luke. How wonderful it would be to have him here and tell him what Nomi had taught her.

'How are you doing, my dearest? Thinking of me?' A soft familiar gentle voice said in her mind.

'Luke, is that you?'She answered amazed.

'Of course I am,'The voice continued.

For a moment Liane didn't know what to answer.

'Are you ... still on Palomintar Four, or ... ' She didn't finished the sentence.

'I am still on Palomintar Four and you make me very happy with your use of Jedi telepathy.' Luke's voice sounded with a familiar laugh, 'You still want to teach me how to read Jediese, don't you, my dearest comrade?'

'I do, but, Luke, I don't understand. You're so far away and I still can talk to you without using the Jedi-pendant.'

'My dearest pixie, the ability to use Jedi telepathy isn't limited at short ranges, as we practised on Endor. Jedi-telepathy works through the Force without the need to be close to the person you want to reach. You're Jedi knowledge is growing, Liane. The more you learn about the Force, the more she becomes your ally, the more your skills expands. What are you doing at the moment?'

'I'm still reading Nomi's story, Luke. Her story makes me feel happy and sad at the same time.' She said with a happy feelling, 'Have you made any progress with your plans?'

'Enough to be satisfied. Luke said elusive, 'And can you get along a bit better with my friend Wedge?'

Liane silenced.

'I appreciate his presence, but he's not like you, Luke, but's nice to talk to him and Yarmod. We're having the same kind of discussion you and I have had. He has helped me tremendously using my lightsaber. Yarmod and I are doing lightsaber training every day.'

'That's good, Liane. I have to say goodbye now. I blow you a kiss, my dearest friend. May the Force be with you.'

'May the Force be with you, Luke'Liane whispered and looked up.

Wedge looked at her.

"Talking to Luke," He asked with a smile.

"Did you hear what I said?" Liane asked abashed.

"No, I didn't, but I felt your Force contact with him. I didn't know you're able to keep in touch with him using Jedi-telepathy?"

"Neither did I, so far I always used the Jedi-pendant to get in contact with him." She answered, "We have been practising Jedi-telepathy every now and then, especially when we were together, but I never used it while he was on the other side of the galaxy."

"Liane, may I ask you something?" Wedge asked and took a seat next to her.

"Sure, what you want to know?" Liane said suddenly smiling about his humble voice.

"Are you willing to show me the Jedi-pendant Luke has given you?"

"You've never seen a Jedi-pendant?"

Wedge shook his head.

"There's a picture in Jedi path. The book Luke's father studied when he was a padawan learner. But an image isn't like the real one, of course," Liane said and unfastened the chain with the pendant

She handed it to Wedge Antilles. He carefully took it in his hand and studied it for several minutes.

"Do you like it?" Liane asked.

"It's very well done. It's very difficult to make. Luke has told me how he made, when I was on Tatooine with him to assemble my own lightsaber. Did he tell you that those little glowing crystals he used on the blade are very tiny Illum crystals?"

"I've never asked Luke, how he made it, Wedge. Are you sure, these are Illum crystals?" Liane asked.

"While he had retrieved the Illum crystal he had chosen to use in his new lightsaber, several shards snapped off. He has saved these shards to serve another purpose. Later when he had gone back to Tatooine to forge the Jedi-pendant, he used the shards in the blade of this pendant."

Astonished Liane looked at the pendant in his hand.

"Thank you for telling me, Wedge," she said using his first name.

Wedge Antilles handed the pendant back. They looked at each other.

"I know I've hurt your feeling, Wedge," Liane said gently while she fastened the chain at the back of her neck, "I know, you've been wondering if you did something wrong, when you told me I had to quit my explorations. Don't deny that my restrained behavior has raised many questions in your mind. I felt your worries about your relationship with me. I know, you're here with the best intentions, you want to be a friend, like Luke, and I've hurt your feelings with my uncooperative behavior. I apologize for being that rude, Wedge, for I want you to be my friend."

She stretched out her hand. Wedge looked at her, then he reached out and took her outstretched hand. Neither of them spoke, but the look in her eyes told Wedge that she had finally accepted him as an equal. He held her gaze for a moment.

'I'm glad you want to see me as a friend, and no longer as a stranger, Liane,' He said using the common way for the Jedi to communicate.

'Thank you for accepting me as a friend,' She answered at his telepathic words.

Liane's infocom bleeped. She reached for it and pressed the button.

"Yes, Threepio, what's the matter?"

A series of angry binary bleeps were heard. Liane looked at the tiny holodisplay and started to laugh at the tiny figure that bumped up and down on its sturdy wheels.

"Artoo! Are you furious, because we've lost track of the time? Where's Threepio?"

"Mistress Liane, Artoo wants to know when you will be back?" The holo image of the protocol droid asked.

"We're leaving now, Threepio," Liane said and switched off the info com, "Wedge, can you ask Yarmod to release himself from his Force reading trance?"

Wedge laughed

"That's easy," he answered. He walked over to his padawan and tapped him on his shoulder. Almost immediately Yarmod retreated himself from his Force trance.

"I've done a very nice long reading, master," He said, "There's a lot in here about the founding of the Jedi Order and the Old Republic, very interesting."

Suddenly he rubbed his stomach.

"Boy, I'm hungry, shall we go to the residential area."

To his surprise Liane and Wedge burst into laughter. They carefully locked away the boxes they had used. Wedge and Yarmod took their cloaks, Liane put on her flashlight and after having dimmed the lighttubes they head back to Mon Mothma's residence.

Lieutenant Whain gritted his teeth and bowed to the screen in front of him. He cast a quick glance at the half empty water bottle and the plate with some undefinable mash. He blinked to focus his attention again on his work, but his eye sight was blurred caused of a lack of enough sleep. He turned half around to the two droids who stood behind him.

"I need a rest," He grunted

"Confirm you found the file our master needs," the droids said in unison.

"If you say that again, I'll blast you to pieces," Whain grunted again, but he knew his threat was useless. The two droids were heavily armed, before he could eliminate one the second would have attacked, maybe even killed him. He turned to the screen again and started typing a series of codes. He leaned back, grabbed the water bottle and took a bite of the mashed food. It tasted like desert sand mashed with Bantha oil. Whain washed it down with a gulp of water, but it still tasted horrible. On the screen mad blinking series of binary code flashed on and off. Finally a message appeared. Whain uttered a curse. No luck, access denied again. His work was useless, the new protection layer of the New Republic wasn't easy to crack. So far he had been working almost twenty hours a day to find a loophole or a secret backdoor to enter the Quoith computer system.

"Any luck, lieutenant Whain," a voice said next to his ear.

The unexpected question nearly scared him to dead.

"No. I've told you it's impossible with this rattling system to hack a communiciation system as sophisticated as Quoith."

"I need that file, lieutenant Whain, no excuses, or lamentations." the voice continued.

"I know, I know, you've already repeated that a hundred times. Can you sing another song?"

A heavy electric bolt hit Whain in the back. He slammed forward unto his desk.

"I don't like your sense of humor," the voice hissed, "Get to work on that file. You, droids, see he's working this whole night, no food, no rest."

A soft click of a door lock was heard. Whain was again alone with the two menacing droids. He rubbed his head and his back. Once again he entered a series of codes. The maddening flashing started again, but suddenly Whain noticed a very familiar combination of binary numbers.

'The Basilisaea!' He thought, 'She's still in the Palomintar System? I have to leave a message in her system.'

He stopped the flashing coding and scrolled back through the massive data. He found the combination, isolated the series of binary numbers and started to send a coded message, using a seldom used imperial encryption method. He carefully disguised his action against the optical sensors of his bionic guards.

On the mountain ridge Luke was following a path through the forest that lead to the line of trees that hid the waterfall. He had noticed that the young deputy-harvester Fanoll had gone to the waterfall to fetch water. The young Quelan had left the cave without being noticed and was now following the path through the forest to keep out of sight. Luke silently observed him and smiled.

Fanoll was very busy filling some large containers with water, when a shadow fell on his hands.

"Why are you hiding this way, Chati?" Luke said.

Startled the girl looked up.

"I'm Fanoll, master Sky... " She stammered, but before she could finish his sentence Luke put his hand on her arm.

"Chati, this is your next important Force lesson. Never try to fool a Jedi Knight. I already sensed your presence on board the Falcon. Why didn't you stay in Cantamaga?"

"I'm sorry, master Skywalker, I tried to mislead you and the other. I didn't realize you can't be fooled. Are you going to bring me back to Tyr, master Skywalker? Please, don't, master Skywalker. Cornell says I can learn to do the same work as his men."

The voice of the girl sounded guilty, but Luke also senses a glimpse of hope.

"Your father would be glad, if I could get you back safe and sound to Tyr, Chati. He was very worried when he found out you hadn't slept at home. However there's one big problem; I can't bring you back for the time being, for the Falcon has gone back to Dalmaran. You have to stay with me and Cornell and his men from now on, for we feel responsible for you and your reckless action. Chati, this is not what a Jedi should do. You've only thought about the excitement that would lay ahead. I told you I wanted you to become aware of your actions, but you didn't consider, not for a minute, any of the consequences your deed would have. Haven't you thought about your father, your mother, all the others?"

Chati bowed her head.

"No, master Skywalker, I haven't. I wanted to go with you, your friends and the harvesters to take part in the retake of Ribana."

"And how do you see your role in it?"

"I don't know, sir, but there certainly will be possibilities for me to be useful," Chati said and looked up hopefully, but her eyes only got Luke's stern face.

"And put yourself in danger. Chati, this isn't a mission for enjoyment. This is a mission against the Dark Side of the Force."

Chati silenced. She felt the firm grip of Luke's fingers on her arm and knew she had been misjudging her plan. Luke released her and took one of the water containers.

"You get the other one. We're going back to the cave to have a word with Cornell. Afterwards I will explain to you why the Dark Side holds a danger especially for you."

"Thank you, master Skywalker," Chati murmured and took the second container effortlessly on her shoulder. She went back first followed by Luke Skywalker, who admired the young female Quelan in silence. To be honest Chati remembered him of his own reckless deeds, before he had become a Jedi under master Yoda though training, and she also reminded him of Liane.

As they neared the path to hidden entrance of the cave Cornell was watching them. He looked with a stern face at Chati.

"I told you, that you should stay away from the Jedi master. Get inside, I'll talk to you later."

Luke raised his hand in an appeasing gesture.

"It's alright, Cornell. It's not her fault. I deliberately followed her. I knew from the beginning who she was, although you did a good job to give her a camouflage as a harvester. No one would have recognized her as Chati Toallini in this outfit." Luke said using a soft Force tone in his voice to ease Cornell, "Maybe we'd better get inside and talk about what consequenses Chati's presence has for our plans and how we can protect her."

Cornell mumbled something inarticulately, but stepped inside and beckoned Luke and Chati to follow him. Before they entered the path between the bushes Chati looked up at Luke and saw how he smiled at her reassuringly. He sighed relieved. The Jedi master wasn't really angry at her.

Once inside the cave Cornell strode towards the rear wall and pointed to some rocky seats. The other harvesters were looking in their direction. Luke had placed his hand on Chati's shoulder.

"Cornell," Luke said still using his Force voice, "We'd better have a talk inside the alcove you've set up for me."

The leader of the harvesters looked up, thought about Luke's proposal for a short moment, rose and walked over to the alcove which had been separated from the main cave with a rough piece of heavy leather. Once inside Cornell sat down on the only turned up crate and looked at Luke and Chati with a stern face. Luke pushed Chati gently forward and pointed to the thick fur layers that served as his sleeping place.

"Sit down, Chati," he said and took a seat next to the girl, then he looked at Cornell.

"Thank you, Cornell, for taking care of this stowaway. From now on I would like to share the responsibility you feel for her." Luke said.

"Master Skywalker, she shouldn't be here. I've already scolded her, after I've found her in one of the hidden cargo holds of the Millennium Falcon. She's always been a nuisance; she's never behaving like a female Quelan should do. From the moment she arrived at Cantamaga she has always been causing trouble. I wanted to punish her for her unruly behavior and I have to keep an eye on her to make sure I can bring her back to her parents safely. I ordered Ronall, my son, to teach her our manners, so she knows how to use our weaponry. I want her to work and stay with the others."

"She still will do as you have ordered her, Cornell. Teach her the way the harvesters work and live. It will do her well. You will teach her to be responsible for others and to work in a team. There's nothing wrong with your approach."

Cornell watched Luke with some distrust.

"You leave her under my supervision?" He said thoughtfully.

"I do, for I have things to do." Luke answered.

"Thank you, master Skywalker, my apologies. When I saw you come back with her I thought you would look after her from now on. You, Mayan, get out of here and get to your chores. You've heard what master Skywalker just said; he has no time to listen to your daydreams and fantasies, he has other plans and you're not part of them," Cornell said and pointed sternly to the leather curtain.

Chati rose and slipped away. Cornell looked at Luke.

"I know you have been talking to her in Cantamaga a lot. I've seen you both several times on the hill behind the town running up and down the steep side of it. What was the meaning of that, master Skywalker?" Cornell asked suspiciously.

"Just some simple exercises, Cornell, nothing in particular. But you're right, I have been in the company of Chati a lot. You're not the only one who scoffed her for her daydreams."

"And I won't be the last, I presume, master Skywalker. I never told anyone, but I have seen that girl more than once in the nut tree forests, holding a branch in her hand and wielding it as a kind of sword, as if she was attacking unseen enemies. I always kept an eye on her, because those nut forests aren't without danger. We, harvesters, aren't carrying our weapons for nothing. The canopies of the nut tree are the breeding grounds of the Urams, fierce birds of prey, that attack any intruder of the nut forests. I've been attacked more than once and so are the others, so I was always alerted as I saw Chati going into the wood to play her odd silly games under the trees. One thing is very strange however; those Urams never ever have attacked her, never have done her any harm. I saw them watching her, but they never came down. It looked like they were accepting her presence. I tell you this, master Skywalker, because I can't explain what's wrong with the girl."

Luke leaned back against the wall.

"I'm glad you entrusted me with your story, Cornell, and thank you for telling me. You said you'd never told this to anyone. Let's keep this a secret between you and me."

"You can make sense of it, can't you, master Skywalker?" Cornell asked surprised.

Luke nodded.

"I do, Cornell. You've told me about the Jedi friends of your father. You've never met them, did you?"

"No, my father always met them in secret. All I know is, that they always came unexpectedly and never stayed long The eldest was about his age. The other one was much younger, but my father once told me that they were close friend, like brothers. The circumstances weren't good for a close friendship at that time. There was a war going on between many systems in this galaxy. Everybody cheered the emperor when he ended those wars, but peace was short lived. The empire wasn't bringing peace and justice, there was oppression, people disappeared, never came back, that probably has happened to those two Jedi as well. If we're back on Tyr you should talk to my father; he can tell you more about them. I told him about you and your friends, and he wants to meet you. Unfortunately he couldn't join us after he has been wounded during our last nut harvest."

The leader of the harvesters was silent for a long while. Finally he looked up. "It's good to talk to you about these things, master Skywalker, but what about Chati, what are we, no, what are you going to do with her."

"As I said, Cornell. Make a harvester of her, give her that no nonsense education of your men."

"I certainly will, master Skywalker, but you didn't answer my question about the odd behavior of those Urams. Why didn't they attack her, while they are always attacking us and they know we're coming back twice a year."

"The Urams probably sense Chati's connection with the Force, Cornell. The girl is Force-sensitive. It's very unlucky that we met that imperial star destroyer which was drifting in space outside the Palomintar System, otherwise I would have asked Han to turn around and get back to Tyr. I certainly would have brought her back to Cantamaga. Due to the unexpected appearance of the imperial star destroyer I didn't dare to make that decision, because I feared those imperials might detect Cantamaga and would start an investigation. My first obligation is to protect the Quelans who live there. That's why my brother-in-law played a kind of hide-and-seek with the star destroyer."

"You're very honest, master Skywalker, thank you for taking into account the well-being of the people of Cantamaga. So, Toallin's daugther is Force-sensitive. Will she become a Jedi Knight, like you?" Cornell said, while he started to laugh, "You will have a tough task, master Skywalker, to teach a girl like her some obedience. May I wish you luck?"

Luke started to laugh too.

"I not only wants her obedience, Cornell. I expect her full commitment to her task as a Jedi Knight. It won't be an easy way for her. While she will be trained as a Jedi in a far future, she'll certainly wish every now and then, that she had stayed with you and the harvesters, or with her family in Ribana. Your training surely is tough, but I assure you, being trained as a Jedi is a lot tougher. For now, Cornell, we both will take care of her, that's what we owe Toallin. There's one more thing I want to asked you. Do you have some spare harvesters' outfit about my size, so I'll be disguised as one of you."

"You're wise man for your age, master Skywalker. I'm honored to have a Jedi Knight among my friends. Sometimes history is repeating it's self."

He gave Luke a firm hand, his face had an inviting smile.

"I'll make a harvester of Mayan, afterwards you'll may transform her into a Jedi Knight. Agreed? And I will get you our clothes, equipment and weaponry. Maybe I should make a harvester of you, too, master Skywalker."

They shook hands and went back to the main cave.

Leia and Ian stood on the underground platform of the government building in Irithim, waiting for the submersible to arrive. Mon Mothma stood next to them.

"Come back immediately, Leia. We need Wedge Antilles to help us set up a strategic intervention plan. Ian, it will be your responsibility together with Wedge Antilles' padawan Yarmod Martan to take care and protect Liane Solichor, " The Supreme Chancellor said.

"I'll do as you wish, madam. It will be easy, Liane and I are getting along very well, and so is Yarmod. On Endor we both helped her, as she was taking care of the wounded Ewoks, using her healing powers."

Leia looked with a warning glance at her padawan. Ian quieted.

"There's your transport, Leia. Have a good trip. May the Force be with you." Mon Mothma said, while the submersible emerged along the underground quay.

"Thank you, madam. Come on, Ian. Let's get on board. I want to get away right now."

The hatched opened automatically and Leia climbed on board the bobbing boat. Ian followed her. The hatch closed again and slowly the submersible sank under the waterline. Mon Mothma watched it go and sighed. She turned around and went back to her office, where Han, Chewbacca and general Madine were waiting.

"They just left," she said when she entered her office through the secret exit.

"Good," Han said and looked at his chrono, "They will reach the residence less than a day. Stop worry, Chancellor, we'll get this all fixed in no time."

Mon Mothma laughed.

"I'd wish I had just a tiny bit of your optimism, general Solo. Anyway, let's hope for the best. The only thing we can do at the moment is wait until Leia returns with Wedge Antilles. General Madine, are your preparations on schedule."

"There's a tiny delay, because I had to recall several of our ships which were doing some routine flights through our neighboring system. Most of them are on their way. I'm awaiting confirmation of three other ships."

"Send them an urgent message, general, and tell them it's my order that they abandon their missions immediately and return to Dalmaran. Oh, and, general, when our fleet is complete I want to inspect it. Will you make sure, I've got permission to board the Tychorion. I will instruct our commanders on board our main frigate."

"Will see to it, madam. As soon as the fleet is ready I will invited all the commanders on board the Tychorion. They will be pleased to see you, madam."

"Thank you, general, and now will you please get on with your preparation. I call for you again as soon as Leia has come back. That will be at earliest within two days."

Han, his Wookiee friend and general Madine left and headed for the space port to discuss the technical and logistic details of the operation.

To be continued...