• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

She turned to him. “It’s … quite large.”

“Jedi have been on Coruscant for a very long time,” Ben reminded her.

“Sith have been on Kesh for a very long time as well, and yet our Temple is much smaller.”

Ben filed that away for further inquiry later. “Well, once we’re done in the library, we can go anywhere you’d like. You had a chance to study the plans. What sounds interesting?”

Vestara, who had been closed and somewhat shy toward him since their arrival, suddenly melted. “Everything!” she said, sounding almost more like Allana than her normal cool, controlled self. He gave her an answering grin and squeezed her hand.

It was hand in hand that they entered the library. Ben braced himself for beings coming up to him and welcoming him back, but the library was hardly a hubbub of socializing, and what few beings were here seemed engrossed in their research.

Even, it seemed, Natua Wan, whom they finally found as Jaina peered behind several stacks of datapads.

“I commed you about seventeen times,” Jaina greeted her.

Natua glanced up and did a double take. “Jaina!” she exclaimed. “Ben! Welcome back. I’m sorry … I had it turned off. I was completely lost in some research I’ve been doing.”

“So I see.” Jaina grinned.

Natua had risen to greet them, and now turned to Vestara. “You must be Vestara Khai,” she said. Ben winced inwardly at the caution she was exuding, both in the Force and through her species’ natural release of pheromones. “Master Luke tells me you wish to become a Jedi.”

Vestara nodded. “I do.” Her unguarded sincerity seemed to reassure Natua.

“I look forward to talking with you,” Natua said. “I didn’t know much about the Sith culture before I started doing research for you all. Now I find it fascinating.”

“I think I will like learning about Jedi,” Vestara offered. “Of course, I’ll tell you what I can to help.”

Jaina carefully moved a pile of ’pads from a chair and sat next to Natua. Ben and Vestara emulated her. “I wanted to come and thank you for all you’ve done,” Jaina said. “You’ve been extremely helpful.”

Natua grimaced a little. “Even if all you reached was a bunch of dead ends?”

“Even so. It’s hardly your fault the Sith have a lot of hidey-holes we need to investigate one by one.”

“Well,” she said, “the wild caranak chase just might be done. I was going to comm you myself shortly. I wanted to do a bit more research first, but since you’re here, you might as well know.”

“What have you found?” Jaina, Ben, and Vestara leaned forward eagerly.

“I’m not certain,” said Natua, “but … I might have found Ship.”

“What?” Jaina’s yelp was so loud that a few heads turned her way. Natua laughed. Ben, too, felt happy and excited, and didn’t care that the feeling largely flowed from the pheromones that Natua was emitting. He’d feel the same way regardless—if they really could find Ship.

“I know that we wanted to focus on known Sith worlds, going on the idea that if we knew about it, the Lost Tribe would as well,” Natua said. Ben could sense that despite her pleasure and enthusiasm, Natua was going to present things in an orderly fashion. “But one night, I decided to just randomly start reading about worlds we knew very little about, or that didn’t really play a significant role. One of these worlds is called Upekzar.”

She touched a datapad, and a display of a rather nondescript planet appeared. Ben, Jaina, and Vestara rose, peering over Natua’s shoulder.

“Upekzar has been mostly forgotten,” Natua continued. “By and large, this seems to be a pleasant and temperate planet. There are polar ice caps, rain forests, oceans, plains, mountains, forested areas—most climates are represented here. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the unpleasant spots are where we need to target our investigation.”

She pointed at the image on the datapad. There was a chain of islands and coastlines clustered in one part of the world. “See this ring here?” Natua drew a finger along the chain, starting near Upekzar’s south pole, going up through its equator, toward the north pole, and then down again. “The ancient