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She gave him an uncertain grin in return and, igniting her own lightsaber, moved forward. With each step, Luke felt, and knew the others felt as well, the dark side pressing in on them, trying to push them back. He steeled himself and kept moving forward, sending waves of reassurance to those Jedi less certain than himself. There was no censure in it. None of them had been trained to stand against something like this. He was extremely proud of them, and felt them rally at his touch in the Force.

Their path led them to a large open area. Luke recalled what Ben had told him about discovering Ship. Ben had commanded Ship to appear, and it had done so, forming a crack in the surface of the planet and climbing out.

Luke wasn’t sure it was Ship in there. But there was definitely a presence. This was where the energies were concentrated. They had cornered their foe in its lair. Dark-side energy, focused and contained, pulsed hatred at him so intently he could almost feel his flesh burn with it.

Luke, like his son, would order whatever was in there to appear. But unlike Ben, he did not need to speak to it in a language it understood in order to be obeyed.

“Everyone, get ready,” he said. “I’m bringing it out.”

They all dropped into combat poses, each according to his or her individual strengths. The Jedi ships now flew into formation above them, awaiting orders to attack, defend, or retreat.

Luke extended a hand.

Come forth.

No. If coldness, and terror, and pure malice had a voice, it would speak like this.

You will.

I will not.

Luke frowned and put more persuasion into his words.

Come. Forth!

The ground bucked. A crack appeared in front of them, angry and zigzagging and bespeaking nothing of order, only wildness and chaos. The gap widened, huge chunks of stone falling down into the chamber below or else hurling themselves at the Jedi, who easily turned the objects away. Luke gripped his lightsaber in one hand, the other extended, staring down at the darkness and bracing himself for the sight of the hideous form this dark-side entity—entities, he amended—would assume.

A pale lavender face peered up at them. It would have been attractive, had it not been swollen with bruises and sliced with cuts. The figure, female, was bound hand and foot. A cord arched her body painfully, so that if she struggled, she would choke herself.

“Help me!” she cried. “Please!”

For a precious second, Luke was taken completely off-guard. A Keshiri Sith? Imprisoned and clearly tortured? Yet it was plain that she was the source of all this dark-side energy. What was going on? He felt almost battered by the confusion of his fellow Jedi.

“It’s got to be a trick, Uncle Luke!” Jaina cried.

“A trick,” said Luke, “or a test?” His mind was racing. If they killed this Sith without ascertaining she was their enemy, all of them—the entire Jedi Order—would have taken a huge step toward the dark side. And nothing would please Ship or Abeloth, or indeed the Lost Tribe, more.

“Please,” grunted the woman. “She took away my powers. She left me here to die …” Tears formed and slipped down her cheeks, making tracks in the dust that paled her face.

“Who are you?” Luke demanded.

“T-tola Annax,” the Keshiri woman said. “I served under Gavar Khai. I got his command when he died, but Abeloth decided she didn’t need me anymore.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” the woman cried. “Please …”

A sliver of darkness appeared along her skin. For a second, Luke simply thought it another track of her tears, revealing darker skin beneath the white dust.

But then he realized what it was.

They couldn’t help Tola Annax anymore. She was already dead.

The crack widened, and more darkness was revealed—darkness that was luminous, pulsating. Abeloth had somehow managed to harness all, or close to all, the dark-side energy that permeated this world, and compress it into this one pitiable being. What had once been Tola Annax now contained unfathomable dark-side energy waiting to be released. It had been both a trick and a test. Had they attacked her, leaping into