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She paused, as if contemplating her words, then continued, “After I got away, I drifted. Daala’s command-level escape pods had extra propulsion systems. But once I was out of danger, once I escaped, I realized that I could not come back to you—not yet. I’m sorry, Luke.

“The Jedi powers are closer to me now, but they are not yet within my grasp. The wall of the dark side blocks me from them. I’m afraid I’ll be tempted again if I work too closely with you, because when I’m with you, Luke, I want so much to have my powers back that I’m willing to do anything … almost anything. I can’t risk that.”

“No, Callista,” he whispered to her image. “Please.”

“I have to go on my own odyssey,” she said. “I’m confident that someday I will rediscover my powers. That way I can come back to you on my own terms. I need time, Luke. Just some time. I promise I’ll be back—if ever I can prove myself worthy of the great Jedi Master I love.”

She swallowed. Her image moved away as if she meant to switch off the recorder, but then she turned back. Her gray eyes were wide and bright and strong. “We will be together in time, Luke.” She took a long breath. “And there is a lot of time in the universe.”

Her image winked off, and he reached quickly, his fingers brushing the air as if to capture just one more second with her—but Callista was gone.

His heart swelled with inner turmoil, a huge elation that she was not dead after all. Callista remained alive, alive!—but he had still lost her, for now.…

He stepped outside the Great Temple in the waning afternoon of Yavin 4. The other Jedi Knights moved around him, busy at their activities. He gazed up at the huge orange planet and reached across space with his thoughts, telling Callista of his love and of his hope that her search would someday be successful.

“There is a lot of time in the universe,” he echoed, “and we’ll be together in time, you and I, Callista.”

The new Jedi Knights continued their work, linked together in the Force, and Luke Skywalker went to join them.

About the Author

Kevin J. Anderson is the author of nearly 100 novels, 48 of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists; he has over 22 million books in print in thirty languages. He has won or been nominated for the Nebula Award, Bram Stoker Award, the SFX Reader’s Choice Award, and New York Times Notable Book.

Anderson has coauthored eleven books in the Dune saga with Brian Herbert, as well as the new original novel, Hellhole. Anderson’s popular epic SF series, The Saga of Seven Suns, is his most ambitious work, and he has completed a sweeping fantasy trilogy, Terra Incognita, about sailing ships, sea monsters, and the crusades. As an innovative companion project to Terra Incognita, Anderson cowrote (with wife Rebecca Moesta) the lyrics for two ambitious rock CDs based on the novels. Performed by the supergroup Roswell Six for ProgRock Records, the two CDs feature performances by rock legends from Kansas, Dream Theater, Asia, Saga, Rocket Scientists, Shadow Gallery, and others.

His novel Enemies & Allies chronicles the first meeting of Batman and Superman in the 1950s; Anderson also wrote The Last Days of Krypton. He has written numerous Star Wars projects, including the Jedi Academy trilogy, the Young Jedi Knights series (with Moesta), and Tales of the Jedi comics from Dark Horse. Fans might also know him from his X-Files novels or Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein: Prodigal Son.

By KEVIN J. ANDERSON

Star Wars:

The Jedi Academy Trilogy

Darksaber

Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (editor)

Tales from Jabba’s Palace (editor)

Tales of the Bounty Hunters (editor)

The Young Jedi Knights series (with Rebecca Moesta)

Dune series (with Brian Herbert)

The Prelude to Dune trilogy

The Legends of Dune trilogy

The Road to Dune

Hunters of Dune

Sandworms of Dune

Paul of Dune

The Winds of Dune

The Sisterhood of Dune

X-Files:

Ground Zero

Ruins

Antibodies

DC Universe:

The Last Days of Krypton

Enemies & Allies

Original Novels:

The