The Children of the Stars

The Compass

"Yellow, like your mother," Ben murmured. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

Allana shrugged as she turned off the blade again. "But that's beside the point. I believe you said earlier that you have a mission for me, when I'm ready?"

"Yes." Ben gestured for her to follow him outside of the Kenobi house. The Falcon was a large shadow in the desert night, blocking out the twin moons that also passed over Tatooine.

Then the loading ramp descended, letting light flood out, and with it, Valin Horn.

"The Jedi Masters held a council last night," Ben began. "We all came to an agreement. The next best course of action is to find Rey and bring her home."

"Why can't you find her?" Allana asked. "Don't you have that bond—"

"I can't see her surroundings," Ben reminded her. "And she keeps closing the bond before she'll tell me where she is."

"Are we sure we should be looking for her, then?" Valin asked. "It sounds like she doesn't want to be found."

"She's making a plan of some sort, on how to save Thea," Ben said. "I don't know all the details— but at the very least we can help her with the plan if we know where to find her."

"So how are are we going to go about doing that?" Allana asked.

"That's where the two of you come in," Ben said. "Chewbacca's agreed to stay here for the moment, as he wants to help us with the repairs, and we could use his strength. You two will take Artoo and the Falcon and go to Jakku."

"That junkyard?" Valin cried.

"I thought Mum said Jakku was pretty much nowhere, with nothing important." Allana wrinkled her nose.

"There is something of value besides old Star Destroyers and ships," Ben promised. "I know you've studied a lot of history, Allana. You know about some of the Emperor's projects, don't you?"

"Observatories, vaults, hidden research stations, of course." Allana could recite it from the screen of one of her Holo texts. "They were all near sites of interest to the Empire, because of hidden lore or strong connections to the Force—"

She paused. "Jakku has a legend about it, I now remember. One that Mum used to tell us when we were little. That Jakku used to be green, and a lush planet like Naboo. But one day, it all just died. Some say it was a curse, for some act that's been lost to time. But now Jakku is a cold desert."

"There's a little more to the story than that, but you've got the gist." Ben nodded approvingly. "The Emperor investigated the legend and found a large Force nexus. He built his observatory there, nearby. New Republic excavators couldn't get everything in the observatory once it was abandoned. Some of it had doors that were locked, that could not be undone by even the most dedicated of slicers."

"So some Sith sorcery was used." Valin jumped in, eyes lighting up. "We need to unlock it, then."

"What if they're meant to prevent anyone who wasn't Darth Sidious from entering?" Allana asked. "The archaeologists are running into that problem all the time at the Valley of the Sith right now."

Ben shook his head. "That won't be a problem for you."

"Why not?"

Ben hefted a sigh. "There was one thing that Rey and I always disagreed on, on how to raise you and your sisters and brothers. Do you remember what I told you about my discovery that Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker were one and the same?"

"You were twenty-three, sir," Valin chimed in. "You found out from the HoloNet after Leia Organa was publicly revealed as Vader's daughter—"

"Yes." Ben cut him off, closing his eyes. "That was a major point in my fall to darkness. I hated that I'd been lied to, and that no one would ever look at me the same way again. . ."

He then opened his eyes. "But that's not the point. I wanted to make sure you never had to go through that. I told you about Vader because I never wanted to lie about the Skywalker burden."

"What does this have to do with Mum, though?" Allana asked. "She has no family, and she took the Skywalker name when she married you."

"That's jumbling up the sequence of events a little," Ben said. "She took the Skywalker name in defiance of her real family. She didn't discover it until I told her."

"Well, then where was she from?" Allana wished that her father would stop beating around the bush and would just get down to business.

"Her grandfather was Darth Sidious himself, her grandmother was the famous Ysanne Isaard." Ben sighed again. "I wanted to tell you— but Rey never did. She said it didn't matter, that it wasn't a legacy she would accept. But it's time for you to know now, and I'm sorry."

"Wow," was all that Allana could say. "So she was lying when she said she was a nobody?"

"Not really— well, it's complicated," Ben finally said. "We can talk about that later. The main thing is, I found the trail of the Sunrider, and its last flight was on Jakku. That was all that the spaceport data box would reveal."

"So Mum went to Jakku before wherever she went." Allana recognized the name of her mother's personal ship— named after the Jedi mother and grandmaster of legend. "We go there, look for clues, and see if great-grandpa Palpatine left us anything useful?"

"Yes." Ben reached into a hidden pocket in his cloak. "This is a compass Luke took from one of the observatories he raided— it belonged to Palpatine himself. I don't know if it will be important or not— but I have a feeling it could help you on your journey."

"Thank you." Allana placed it in her own pocket. For the second that she held it, however, it was heavier than she expected.

But she could sense it wasn't a physical difference, no.

There was a residue in the Force, for a lack of a better word.

"Interesting," Valin said. "Don't worry, Master Solo, I'll make sure Allana gets back here safe and sound."

Allana rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself just fine, Valin. I'd rather you worry about yourself."

Ben coughed awkwardly. "There's Artoo."

The droid rolled in, swearing in Binary with a vulgarity that never failed to make Valin or any of the other Jedi raise their eyebrows.

However, Allana was used to it, and in fact learned creative bits of Hapan and Huttese insults.

"Nice to see you, too, rust bucket," Allana teased. "I guess we should get going, then, shouldn't we?"

"Yes, I have one more thing." Ben tossed several packets of New Republic rations to Valin. "Jannah Calrissian sent these. Says they're the best rations in the New Republic military."

"Where did Aunt Jannah get her hands on these?" Allana asked. "Isn't she still busy running Asteroid City?"

"She has her contacts— I suspect Maz Kanata may also have something to do with it," Ben admitted. "I'm guessing you have a datachip with access to Hapan credits?"

"Yes, and my old account from the New Republic Security Union," Allana assured him. "We'll have money."

"Why aren't you going with us, Master Solo, sir?" Valin asked.

"I have to work with the Jedi Masters here," Ben said. "And I want to oversee Jacen's recovery personally."

Allana nodded in understanding.

Her brother, as much as he tried to fake it, wasn't really alright. He still had nightmares, would still stare off into corners sometimes, and complained of phantom pains.

Even when he talked to them, Allana suspected that there was some part of him that none of them would ever reach, a depth in his brown eyes.

"May the Force be with you, then," Valin said awkwardly. He then went up the loading ramp, clutching the abundance of rations packs.

Allana stared at her father a moment as even Artoo left them.

"Make sure to comm if you have any problems." Ben said. "I worry about you."

"I love you, Dad," Allana said.

"I know."

They then hugged, and parted. Allana walked up the loading ramp and into the cockpit of the Falcon. It was time for another adventure.