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“Yeah, funny how that works,” Luke said. “I guess I can handle things going wrong in the world. I’m used to it. I can do something about it. It’s when things go wrong in here—” He rapped the side of his head with his knuckles as if he were knocking to get in. “—that’s where the problem is.”

“The crystals.”

“I don’t know. All I know is that it makes me want to die. No. Not die. Just … stop.”

“You know what makes me want to just stop?” Nick said. “Running. Especially running in ten kilos of floor-length fraggin’ robe.”

“You want to stay here? Go ahead. I’m sure Blackhole will be happy to make you another crown.”

“Are you this nice to everybody, or am I just special?” Nick sighed and kept on going after him. His time as Shadowspawn was hazy, but not so hazy he couldn’t figure out which way they were going. “Um, Skywalker? This is not the way out of here.”

Luke didn’t even slow down. “That’s because we’re not leaving. I came here to put a stop to all this, even before I knew what was going on. Now that I know, I’m not going anywhere till it’s over.”

“Over how?”

“However.”

“I guess you must be a real Skywalker after all,” Nick said, wheezing a little as he caught up. “This is just the kind of stunt Anakin would have pulled. But I didn’t know he had kids.”

“Neither did he,” Luke said grimly. “You knew my father?”

“Knew of him, more like. Met him a few times. He debriefed me once, after an op. So you really are his son, huh?”

“Is that so hard to believe?”

It wasn’t easy to shrug while running in robes, but Nick managed. “He was tall.”

“I’m told I favor my mother,” Luke said dryly, and for a second Nick thought he was going to smile. But only for a second. “You knew my father in the Clone Wars?”

“Kid, in the Clone Wars, everybody knew him. He was the greatest hero in the galaxy. When he died, it was like the end of the universe.” Nick’s gut twisted again at the memory. “It bloody well was the end of the Republic.”

Luke stopped. He looked like something hurt. “When he … died?”

Nick came to a halt gratefully, bending over with hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. “Way I heard it, he was the last Jedi standing in the Temple Massacre—when Vader’s Five Hundred First went in and killed all the Padawans.”

“What?”

“That’s where your father was killed: defending children in the Jedi Temple. He was not only the best of the Jedi, he was the last. Nobody ever told you the story?”

Luke’s eyes were closed against some inexpressible pain. “That’s … not the way I heard it.”

“Well, y’know, I wasn’t there, but—”

“And I am the last of the Jedi. I was trained by Ben Kenobi.”

Nick’s jaw dropped. “You mean Obi-Wan? I thought that was, y’know, just more holothriller gunk. Kenobi’s alive?”

“No,” Luke said softly. “Who are you?”

“Me? Nobody. Nobody special,” Nick said. “I was an officer in the GAR—the old Grand Army of the Republic—but I didn’t get along real well with the new management, know what I mean?”

“An officer?” Luke frowned. “Special enough. The Alliance could have used you. The New Republic still can. What have you been doing for the past twenty-five years?”

“Hiding from Vader, mostly. He’s the management I didn’t get along with.”

“You can stop hiding. Vader’s dead.”

“What, just like in the show? That’s good news.”

“If you say so. The Emperor died the same day.”

Nick tapped his head and grimaced. “I haven’t exactly been keeping up with the news. Did you kill him?”

“What? No. No, I didn’t kill either of them.”

“Not exactly like in Luke Skywalker and the Jedi’s Revenge, huh?”

“No,” Luke said, even more softly. “Not like that at all. But they are dead. That part’s true.” He lifted his head as if he was listening to something Nick couldn’t hear. An instant later, a new round of shock waves rattled the cavernway. “When this is over, you and I need to sit down together for a long, long talk.”

Nick’s breathing had barely started to ease. “I’m ready to sit down now.”

“When this is over,” Luke repeated. “For now, we run.”

“I was afraid you were gonna say that …” But Nick was already talking