Luke Skywalker, the Last Jedi, faces his toughest challenge yet. To rebuild the Jedi Order, he must give up his personal hopes and dreams. Every move is critiqued by not only the New Republic Senate but also the Force-ghost Jedi Council of the past...
❷ "Shuttle Tydirium Approaches Endor"—Return of the Jedi Extended ST
❸ "Departing Coruscant"—Attack of the Clones OST
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❶ The Republic ground troops looked up as the sun's rays were blocked. A star destroyer plunged from space, headed for their position. They abandoned their targets and retreated from the destroyer's crash point. Naluma pulled her unit to safety on opposite lips of the expansive sand dune.
Naluma sucked water from her almost empty pack. When she reached out across the Force-bond to check on Master Luke, she smiled with the joy that surged across the bond.
He was ecstatic—he was flying a speeder. She gasped as her eyes saw through his. A wave of nausea overtook her as he banked left through the legs of a walker. As she gulped down the bile, he spun into a barrel roll. She pulled out of his thoughts, knowing she could not handle much more.
She took another slurp of water to clear her mouth and swallowed some salt tabs as the earth shook on impact of a destroyer. Sand scattered everywhere, forcing the troops around her to lie flat and cover their heads.
About ten minutes later, she heard Namir in her helmet headset. "Bug out! Radiation leak. Our job here's done. Drop ships on their way in. RZ point ten clicks away. Namir out." He transmitted the rendezvous coordinates to each helmet.
A bright flash caught Naluma's eye. She rose, slower and tired, up from the dune, and shouldered her rifle. She scanned across the edge of the crash site with her macrobinoculars. What's this? Oh, no.
Two youth crested the closest dune and collapsed—their skin red in a blistering rash—the radiation from the megaton crashes already spreading their deadly disease.
Naluma worked some anti-rad meds from her pocket, swallowing them with a gulp of warm water before she slid down the dune toward the figures. She heard Namir in her earpiece. "Where are you going, Fau?"
"Gotta check something out, Captain."
"We've got orders to bug out. I can't stay back to help you."
"Understood, Cap." Naluma trudged through the sand toward the pair of children.
They halted about a hundred meters from the ship—within the immediate radiation zone. One of them dug something out of the sand and shoved it into a carry-all bag. The other moved forward a few paces and dug more pieces of the ship out. The ship spewed tall flames beyond them.
Naluma gritted her teeth and pulled in the Force to bring herself over to the duo. She yelled at them, "Stop! Don't touch anything."
When they both looked at her, she saw that they wore loose wrappings, goggles, and headscarves. She could not discern their genders. What she could see of the faces appeared identical.
