KAYLIRA TRAMINO

Kaylira woke up lying on the grassy forest floor next to the tree that housed her hideout, the Cliff. The sun was just beginning to set, but it was dark enough to still be able to see the rings of asteroids that surrounded Cialone. The third moon of the planet, which she was on, was just beyond the field, while the other two moons were inside it, which was why it was called the ‘darkened’ moon.

But something strange was going on with the rings. Some of the asteroids seemed to be… exploding. Certain ones would suddenly light up, and then disappear. It was as if someone were blowing up the larger ones in order to get through the field.

She then took a moment to wonder what she was doing here. Then she remembered that she had been doing some late-night meditation, and her vision. She felt a tweak of pain in her chest at the thought, so went back to thinking about the exploding asteroids.

I’ll have to do some reconnaissance work, she thought. Maybe, after that, I’ll understand a little more about the whole weird asteroid thing.

LUKE SKYWALKER

Luke fired at the small ship pursuing them, blowing up some of the asteroids in the process, but he couldn’t seem to land a single shot. The pilot was just too fast and too skilled, even in a field such as this.

The Force is with them, he thought. We can’t win this. Unless…

He thought for a moment, then continued to fire at his target, which was ever elusive. But, instead of sending laser blast directly at the ship, he sent them around their attacker, smashing the surrounding rocks and ice.

Then, as he had expected, one of the many pieces of the rocky debris hit the one-man ship’s engines. Apparently the damage was sufficient to order a retreat, and the small ship flew out of the asteroid field and engaged lightspeed.

Sighing with relief, Luke left the gun station, and walked towards the cockpit. There, a fuming Han was muttering curses and swear words as he jabbed at the buttons above his seat. The steady stream profanities escalated when a large grey switch spewed sparks at him.

“Is the damage bad?” he asked Han and Chewy.

“Yeah, kid, it’s bad. It looks like we’re going to have to land somewhere, and fast. The hyperdrive’s leaking, and I don’t want to be in a situation when it runs out.”

“Well, at least we’re lucky that we came out of hyperspace early because of these asteroids,” said Leia, who walked in, carrying a small box of tools. “The ship can land on that moon for repairs.”

“Yeah, sure. I just hope that we don’t run into trouble.” Chewy groaned, and Han tossed him a screwdriver for the controls. “Then reconnect the wires, fur ball, if it’s bugging you so much!”

“But we have to be careful. I sense something – something strange about that moon. Like there are things we’re not supposed to find on the surface.” Luke rubbed his forehead. He felt a spiritual presence of incredible power down there.

“Well, it’s uninhabited, so we’ll make a quick stop, and then we’ll get the heck out of there before Jadey comes back.” Luke suddenly had a feeling that Han was going to keep calling Mara Jade ‘Jadey’ for a long time.

“Fine. Let’s get going, then.”