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The end of their quest is the sole habitable planet in a system the Gree called Rohakalla. There is no name for the system in any other language they could find. It didn't even appear on standard galactic star charts. Located at the very edge of the galaxy, past the Gree Enclave on the outermost rim, was a system that matched the vision of Cade Skywalker had received in the Tho Yor: binary white and blue stars, orbited by four planets. Outermost was a blue gas giant, then a red one, then a grey dead rock, and finally, closest to the double-stars, was a single inhabitable world.

The description matched one in the index from Eli Horn's recovered Gree archives. With those coordinates as a guide, Mynock and Eli's shuttle tracked each other from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim's edge, to a place surrounded by the starless black of the intergalactic void, with the galactic disk a distant streak of lights. It was a strange, lonely, desolate place left behind after the Gree empire collapsed tens of millennia ago. It was the place they needed to be.

Cade felt like he was coming here a second time. His visions inside the Tho Yor no longer crowded out his waking thoughts as they had when he'd returned to consciousness, but they were with him still, less clear and ordered than true experience but more vivid than remembered dreams. When the Mynock exited hyperspace above the planet, however, the recalled images matched perfectly with what he saw before them. Sitting in the Mynock's co-pilot seat, he shuddered.

The others, thankfully, didn't notice. Jariah Syn was at the helm, with the Deliah Clone and Eternal Ranger Lowbacca strapped into seats at the rear of the cockpit. They'd come here prepared for anything, including a waiting Sith-allied fleet, but all they saw was a lonely planet, dark against the intergalactic void, lit ghostly blue-white in the overlapping glow of its suns. Mynock's sensors detected strange radiation, presumably coming from the stars, that was hindering their communications. They were effectively sealed from the greater galaxy, locked in a place of ancient mystery and uncertain danger.

Cade's mouth had gone dry; he found it hard to speak. Lowbacca roared, asking whether there were any ships in orbit, and Jariah checked sensors. "Nothing yet."

"The shuttle?" asked Deliah.

"No, but he might be a little-" Jariah paused. "Yep, there he is. Just dropped out behind us."

"Shields up?"

It took a moment for Cade to remember that was on him. Since Tython it was hard to stay focused; that was why he'd insisted Jariah fly them in. With effort, he worked his console and turned on Mynock's shields. Thankfully, Eli Horn wasn't coming in with blazing guns.

Horn began hailing them a minute later, as his shuttle settled in orbit alongside Mynock. Cade turned on audio and said, "Welcome to Rohakalla. How's your prisoners?"

All he got in reply was static. Cade scowled.

"Interference, remember," said Jariah.

"Yeah, that." He strained to glance out the viewport. The Sith seemed to be holding steady on their flank. Likely he was scowling at his own comm unit right now.

Deliah checked her console. "I think visual sensors are still working. I'll drop up into low orbit so you can scan."

"Right," said Cade, "And hope we find it before Talon's bukee does."

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back(My version)Où les histoires vivent. Découvrez maintenant