• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Caedus nodded. “Many people died. And though I tried to get you far away from them, I couldn’t get far enough away.”

“You were…” Allana struggled for the words. “You were bad. I hate you.”

Another stab to his heart. “No, you don’t. You can’t hate someone who loves you. I love you, Allana.”

“No, you don’t! You took me away from Mommy. You said you had permission and you lied. You’re the same as anyone else who wants to hurt me. I hate you.” She raised the injector again.

“No. Allana, you can’t. It’s not possible, and I’ll tell you why.” Caedus remained in his chair by force of will. Every instinct made him want to hold the little girl, to comfort her…every instinct but the one that told him she needed to be free to decide, free to act. “You’re right that I took you without permission. But I don’t need permission.”

“Yes, you do!”

“No, I don’t. I’ll tell you why. And you’ll believe me, because I can’t lie to you about this. You’d know it if I lied. All you have to do is open up your heart and you’ll know how I feel. You’ll know the truth.”

Defiant, she kept her injector at the ready. Her expression dared him to reach for her.

“Allana, Tenel Ka has the right to decide where you go, and what you learn, and how you are to be protected, and she has that right because she’s your mommy. She has had that right for all your life so far.

“I have the same right…because I’m your daddy.”

Allana froze, her expression transforming from defiant to unbelieving. She shook her head.

Caedus waited, pouring his love for her into the Force, trying to send it through his eyes into hers. He nodded. “You always knew you had a daddy. Your mommy had to keep who it was a secret. But now you’re old enough to understand it. I’m your daddy.”

He felt the fear within her, the lingering pain from the events of two days earlier, begin to erode. Allana lowered her injector. Through the Force, he offered her nothing but the truth—for the first time in months, perhaps years, there was nothing of Sith training to his thoughts, nothing of the Jedi, no strategy, no planning. There was only what he felt.

She came to him, clambering over the bed and into his lap. She put her arms around his neck. “Daddy.”

“Yes. Your daddy, forever and ever.” He held her to him, stroked her hair. “And when the war is over and the bad people have been taught how wrong they were, and everyone is happy again, we can tell everyone that I’m your daddy. And you can sit right next to me and help me decide how things are going to be for everyone. Won’t that be nice?”

KORRIBAN, WORLD OF THE SITH

On a ruin of a planet, they stood in the ruins of a citadel—themselves the ruins of an ancient organization, the Sith Order.

In a circular meeting chamber, its stone walls darkened by age and weathering, they stood in a circle, dark hooded robes obscuring their identities. It was an unnecessary precaution; there was no one present who was not part of their Order. But legends and records had taught them the merits of caution, of maintaining customs of secrecy and self-preservation even when in their safest havens.

One of them, a dark-skinned human female whose pale geometric-patterned tattoos stood out in sharp relief on the skin of her cheeks, bowed to the assembly. Her voice was surprisingly light and musical, considering her somber appearance, as she answered the question put to her. “Yes, my lord, I have news and even speculation concerning Alema Rar.”

“We will hear them, Dician.” The words came from the man guiding this conclave, a human whose fully white eyes suggested blindness but whose alert mannerisms said otherwise.

Dician continued. “The ersatz Sith Holocron provided to her traced her path back to her point of origin. It is an asteroid belt in a star system near Bimmiel. When a cloaked ship comes available, I will requisition its use to pinpoint her location exactly.”

The white-eyed leader’s voice suggested skepticism. “You think her significant enough to devote important resources to such a mission?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

Dician took a long breath, a delaying