Youth Wars Part 4: The Cave Of Secrets

Chapter 6

Kaiyah, Ailurah, and Becky paid for spaceport tickets and boarded a ship to Tatooine.

"Becky, you know I'm now all for doing this, but do we have to go back there?" Kaiyah asked Becky. "That wasn't one of the destinations on the list; and I'm pretty sure he didn't do, whatever it was he did, on Tatooine."

"We're going to need every possible clue we can get if we are to fully understand everything going on."

"What do you mean?" Ailurah asked.

"It's not a simple, childish magic trick that Ephraim has a doppleganger. This is some heavy force use; we can't use it ourselves without knowing any consequences."

"I'm starting to understand, but it still doesn't answer my question." Kaiyah said.

"To have successfully performed something like that, Ephraim must have studied the ways of the force and prepared for it for a long time. He was the most experienced of everyone there, so I'd suspect as much."

"I'm not comfortable going back there." Kaiyah mumbled.

"I'm not either, but we made this choice to follow Ephraim's footsteps; we have to be willing to do whatever we can to do so. We have to do whatever we can for him. Right?"

Kaiyah nodded slowly.

"We must overcome our demons, Kaiyah."

"Wow." Ailurah said quietly. "Why haven't I hung around you?"

"It's all but a memory, Kaiyah." Becky told Kaiyah.

"Alright, alright. I get it. I'll stand it."

Calista brought Ezra and Sabine to Bennar, who was pacing around in his room. Once they entered, Bennar said, "Please tell me you have news." Then he processed that Ezra and Sabine were there too. "What's this?"

"Ben, you've been more stressed than usual, and it's worrying me. Jedi Master Bridger is here to assist."

"Jedi Master," Ezra mumbled with a chuckle. "Just 'Ezra's fine. Or, 'Mr. Bridger.' "

"Very well." Calista muttered. "Mr. Bridger is going to help you."

"I don't need help. I just need the head of the sith on my wall." Bennar said.

"Ephraim has been one of us for years; he doesn't deserve to die." Calista pointed out.

"He's been a sith his whole life!"

"Everything he's done was for the Republic. Becasue of him, we were able to destroy the superweapon."

"All a ruse. His master is still out there, and we have no idea where he is!"

"First off, what makes you think it's a ruse?" Ezra asked.

"The fact that everything that happened only enabled the sith lord to escape should tell you something."

"That's not really saying much; Bando chased him away."

"I don't trust Bando!"

"I don't trust him either, but after all he is my friend. He does everything he does for a reason, and his plans are very much flawless. His goals are always reached, and they're typically for the greater good."

"For a 'good' guy, he sure seems to scream vigilante."

"The point is: Ephraim does the same. Whatever is done, is done for the right reason. It's not always our way." Ezra said.