The Children of the Stars

Echo

It wasn't obvious where the next place was. But it didn't take Allana all that long to figure it out. Instead of her mother speaking, it was the recording of Luke Skywalker speaking— not with any of the Force in it, like it was once his holocron or anything. No, the quality of the image revealed that Rey had recorded with the holocron a recording from Luke on a datapad or some other holo device.

"It was outside Echo Base, on the wastes of Hoth, that I saw the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi." Luke smiled. "I never expected to find him when I was hanging upside down in ice, about to become a wampa's lunch. Luckily, thanks to his intervention, I was able to be freed."

He then went on about the strength and clarity of his connection to the ghost of his mentor, only to be matched by Dagobah in its intensity.

Despite Rey taking on his surname, Allana had almost never heard about Luke from her parents growing up. Some of the other Jedi spoke of him fondly, yet distantly. None of them had ever known him, after all. He was just the myth, the legend.

Any time she'd asked about the mysterious third member of the trio that had saved the galaxy from Palpatine the first time, her father or mother would grumble incoherently, in a way that suggested the topic to be off-limits.

Allana wondered why, staring at what remained of the Jedi's mind. Ghosts didn't stick around to give the living any idea of what they were like.

But anyone could see in this copy of his holocron what a bright and strong young man he was. Filled with conviction to his ideals, his very eyes revealed a deep empathy and ability to love.

This was the man that had seen good in Darth Vader, after all. That had found it within him to forgive a man who had committed the atrocities in the history texts, and saw him for what he truly was— a man.

Would he have found the light within Darth Keera? Or would he have thought that Thea was gone forever, as she suspected her siblings did.

But given the subject matter of the holocron, it was easy to figure out where they were supposed to go next: Hoth.

To Echo Base, specifically.

Allana drew her cloak more tightly around herself as she left the relative warmth of the Falcon to the ice cold snows of Hoth.

The sky had become a dark and moody blue-gray above them, and the winds whistled between the mounds of snow.

In the sunlight, according to the holos, the place was supposed to be beautiful, like living in diamonds. But Allana could not imagine that Hoth, not now.

They'd landed on an old launch pad for the Rebellion. It had suffered the wear of the snows of Hoth, but the landing lights still glowed in the wake of the war.

Despite it being nearly sixty-years prior.

Serenity's crew disembarked as Valin left the Falcon.

"Well, this is just perfect weather for a picnic, isn't it?" Nellith grinned as she pulled some goggles up from where they dangled around her neck.

"Let's hope Master Skywalker made it warm in there," Kyp grumbled, clutching his own cloak more tightly around himself. Allana recognized the cloak as a gift that her own father had given him back when he first joined the Order.

"Come on, then," Allana said. "We'd better get a move on. You think anyone would bother our ships?"

Artoo was on the Falcon, after all, but Serenity—

Nellith laughed. "Trust me, no one wants our Ugly. And even if they did, I doubt anyone's been here in a long time."

"Right."

They took a step forward, and Valin fell face-first into the snow.

"Valin!" Jysella cried, rushing to help her brother.

"I'm okay," he assured her as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees. "I'm okay. It's just— it's so strong. The light—"

Allana and Nellith exchanged a glance. "It's dark, Valin."

"I don't mean the physical world." His voice was hauntingly slow. "Beyond it— or just under it. Humming under the surface, the light— it's beautiful, it—"

"We'll get him back to the Falcon," Jacen said. "Tahiri and I can handle this."

"Let me help," Jysella begged, as Jacen and Tahiri lifted her brother out of the snow. She followed on their trail, and Allana felt a surge of guilt sour her stomach.

She had done this.

She'd asked him to push forward, despite whatever was happening to him.

She hoped that here, she would find Rey.

Or else she had pushed him to wherever he was now for nothing.

Echo Base had been empty since the Rebels were forced to abandon it in the Battle of Hoth. Fifty-six years had passed since anyone had set foot in here, it seemed.

Allana's footsteps echoed in a ghostly chorus with the rest of the group. For all of Valin's words about the light, Allana did have to admit that he was making some sense.

As they delved deeper into the abandoned Rebel Base, Allana felt a peace and clarity that bordered on eerie. No chaos, no passion, just harmony and serenity. It was the pure Light Side of the Force, humming just underneath the surface of reality, threatening to upheave all of it.

But Allana didn't sense Rey at all. Not even the trace that had been present at the other sites where Rey had left a holocron.

It was in the computer room, where they found another holocron.

"Again? Seriously?" Nellith groaned.

Allana picked it up and attempted to open it. But it wouldn't. She tried again, trying to sense a flicker of whose aura resided inside it.

"There's nothing?" Anger came from the bottom of Allana's stomach, coursing through her blood, drumming on her temples. "SHE LEFT US NOTHING!"

Allana threw the holocron against the wall, and it shattered.