I felt Obi-Wan's hand on my shoulder. "It's all right. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried," I assured, clenching and unclenching my hands. "I just get a little jumpy at things like this. I'm not really scared, just...I don't know."

"Come," Qui-Gon gruffly demanded from the doorway.

Without pausing we moved to obey, though partway into the hall I thought of going back to get my boots, because the floors were cold on my bare feet. A safety light, unconnected to the house electrical system, cast an eerie bluish glow on the stairwell, and the little stumbling figures padding down it. Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and I followed Muira, who had the baby cradled in her arms, all of us thudding down the stairs like a herd of elephants in our haste. The Goeben family descended one by one into a basement through a heavy door that was disguised as a wall panel, while Colin directed from the top of the stairs. "Hold on to your brother's hand. Elia, you too. Shush, it'll be all right. We've been through this before, you know what to do." He looked up at the Jedi as his wife passed him, and I noticed in the dim half-light he looked more worn out than ever. "We'll just wait it out down here," he informed Qui-Gon.

"Is there nothing we can do?" the Jedi Master wondered.

"No, nothing. The house should be fine, it's...uh, shielded," our host said, his eyes darting sheepishly away. "Still, better to be safe. Come." He waved for us to go past him, which we did, and he closed the door behind us with a satisfying thud.

Emergency lighting ringed the small, cramped space with glowing yellow orbs. Like most basements, the family used it for storage, but also for shelter in cases like this. A patched-up comm system was hooked into the emergency generator that gave us the light, but it was silent for the moment. The Goeben children sat huddled together on whatever seats could be found on boxes and benches, the youngest cuddling in the arms of their eldest brothers, the housemaid, and Master Adi. Muira paced a little, trying to quiet the squalling infant in her arms. I slid down to a seat on the cold floor, pulling the folds of my robe as tight around me as I could. Qui-Gon stood with Colin by the communicator, while Obi-Wan hovered behind his Master trying to see what they were doing. There was a buzz of static, and then a voice fizzled out of the comm unit. "...they're long-range, not in our territory. It's gotta be. Everyone should seek shelter immediately. Damn it, why aren't the raid sirens working?"

"There's usually an alert, if an attack falls on Droste," Colin explained in a murmur. "It's not working, for some reason. Otherwise we would have been woken up and sent to shelter a lot sooner."

Halting snatches of conversation came through on the comm channel, which was apparently something like a police scanner, picking up random communications between officials and militia men. Once he established the nature of the attack and its extent, Colin turned the volume low enough that he could keep tabs on it, but it would not disturb anyone. Obi-Wan came and sat down beside me, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his bare feet in a fold of his robe. Qui-Gon moved quietly among the Goeben family, placing his large hand on the black-haired heads of the children to comfort them one by one, pausing at last in front of Adi, who held the whimpering youngest daughter against her chest. "What is it?" Master Adi wondered.

"It sounds like Thara is shelling the area from their batteries along the border," Qui-Gon replied, his voice a placid murmur. "The militia keeps saying it's long-range, not an attack. There's nothing that can be done except wait it out."

"We're safe here," Adi agreed, nodding. At that, Qui-Gon shot Colin a curious look bordering on a frown, but did not say anything more. Instead, he paced slowly back through the small basement, arms folded, listening. It was interesting to see him in this harried moment, his hair loose, rumpled undertunic peeking from beneath his robe, sleep pants pushed up around his knees by his boots, which he had hastily donned before ushering us downstairs. He paced back over to where I sat on the floor, and then leaned against the wall, a keen look on his face.

I glanced up at the Master. "So much for the break," I couldn't help but comment.

"It came sooner than I expected, but this is not a surprise," Qui-Gon muttered. I continued to gaze at him, but he fell silent again, only glancing down at me for a moment and flashing me a comforting smile. I smiled back to assure him I wasn't scared, and then shifted my glance to the others, noticing that the Goebens were trying to coax their children to sleep despite the chill and discomfort of the basement quarters. I settled in for what could be a long wait, laying my head on Obi-Wan's shoulder and closing my eyes.

We didn't spend the night in the shelter, fortunately. The shelling only lasted for about an hour, and then the communications scanner sparked to life with the orders for militia to be turned out, both to ensure no further attack during the night and to aid in rescue. No reports had come in yet about damage, but Qui-Gon started to say something about going out to help. Colin immediately stopped him. "It would do no good," he explained. "It's dark, there's no telling if power cables are cut and live, or if there's leaks, or even if there's damage at all. The militia can handle it, it's what they're trained to do."

"It's also what I am trained to do," Qui-Gon argued, straightening up. His towering presence alone countered Colin's protest. "I can't stand by if there are people in trouble."

"But..."

A determined glare silenced whatever Colin was planning to say. Qui-Gon hurried upstairs to get dressed, though he did not put the entire ensemble on, just belting his tunic with his utility belt. Obi-Wan followed his lead without being asked or ordered, and the two of them disappeared into the cold night before the rest of the family had even gotten back into bed. Master Adi was disturbed about something, and stayed up pacing in the downstairs rooms, but I went back to bed, hoping to get at least a little sleep.

Worry kept me awake for a while, but sleep did eventually come, and held me in its comfort until well after dawn. I awoke to find myself shoved into the far corner of the alcove with Obi-Wan sprawled beside me, his face smudged with dirt and slack with deep slumber. I glimpsed the mountain that was Qui-Gon's shoulder rising behind his Padawan, and guessed that Adi was on the outside edge of the bed this time. Not wanting to disturb them, I snuggled into the warm blankets and drifted off again, easily waking when I finally felt movement beside me. Obi-Wan rubbed his eyes and struggled to focus on my face, though his expression did not change when he finally was able to do so. "Hey," I whispered.

"Morning," he groaned, flopping onto his stomach and making as though to go back to sleep. I noticed that his arms and shoulders were bare - he wasn't wearing his undertunic. After a few moments of stillness he propped himself on his elbows and looked at me again. "Did we wake you when we came in?"

"No, I didn't hear you at all," I said quietly. Qui-Gon stirred, then, rolling onto his back. I glanced at Obi-Wan again, seeing the weariness in his face. "What time did you come back?"

"I don't know," the Padawan answered, ruffling one hand through his short, spiky hair. "It was late...or early, depending on your point of view."

I lay there gazing at both Jedi in my sight, at the dirt on their faces and dark circles under their eyes. "What happened?" I wondered.

Obi-Wan glanced at his Master, who merely stared up at the ceiling of the alcove, before answering. "The destruction was worst at the northern edge of Droste," he said tiredly. "A few shells fell further in, though. The closest was less than a block from here."

"Did you...was there anyone..."

"We managed to rescue a number of people from the rubble," Qui-Gon replied. "It was very cold, we couldn't leave them until morning. We were not able to save them all, though."

A pang of sadness ached in my chest, as I gazed worriedly at the two of them and their solemn demeanor. It was just like Qui-Gon had said on Chad: no matter how often they had to see it, they never got used to suffering and destruction. I reached up and wiped the smudge of dirt from Obi-Wan's cheek with my fingertips, and he smiled wearily in gratitude. "You guys did good," I encouraged. "Getting up in the middle of the night and going out into the cold to help."

"It is our duty," Qui-Gon murmured, and then got up and left us. Adi was already up and gone, surprisingly.

Obi-Wan stayed where he was, resting on his elbows and gazing absently at his pillow while he tried to wake himself up. "You okay?" I asked him.

"It's been a long night." His head turned slowly, and another pale smile illuminated his young face. "Yes, I'm all right. Nothing happened to us, except my tunic is filthy now. Under the circumstances, I came out very well."

"Ah." Well, that explains that. He pushed himself up and moved to get out of bed, then, and I indulged myself watching the muscles in his back ripple, the braid trailing over his shoulder and down his back, teasing his shoulder blades. It occurred to me that unless either of them truly wanted to encourage my feelings, I would have to have a talk with them about their sense of modesty.

It was later in the morning than the Jedi were usually accustomed to, but Muira was only too happy to see that we got a proper late breakfast. The house was abuzz with news and stories, everyone having something to share regardless of whether they were out or in all night. Colin's narrow-eyed friend was there with him, telling tales of what he saw or heard already that morning, while Adi and Qui-Gon listened to everything and debated the outcome. I gathered from them that the war was on again, and last night's shelling was only a prelude. Revin batteries had come through relatively intact and fired back, and now there was skirmishing along the border in the areas which we had safely traveled through only a day before. Parts of Droste were in ruins, but most of the city was unscathed, just shaken. "It's been a long time since we were last under fire directly," Colin lamented. "Last night was a wake-up call for many, I think. We're not out of danger, much as we'd like to think we are."

Qui-Gon folded his arms and fixed our host with an unnervingly keen look. "You mentioned something last night about the house being shielded. Would you care to explain that? Why your home shows no scars of battle even though a shell was dropped just a few doors down?"

Colin fidgeted, glancing at his friend. "We don't say much about it because it's illegal."

The keen look became piercing. "What is it?"

"A modified starship shield, meant to protect snub fighters. It's installed in the space between the ceiling and our roof," Colin hastily explained before the Jedi could ask any more questions. "It's not illegal to shield your house, but it is illegal for civilians to possess any military technology. Because of the war, you know. Muira's brother is in the militia, he got it from a damaged fighter."

Qui-Gon looked bemused, but let it go. "That is how we managed to escape harm ourselves."

"If you had seven children to look after, you'd do the same," Colin defended himself. "Laws or not."

"I will have to redouble my efforts to get a lasting cease-fire in place," Adi mused, changing the subject entirely. "This is a heavy blow. If the Tharin are willing to shell a location this distant, there is no telling what else they may try. I'll have to meet with your leaders as soon as possible."

"I would like to be there when you do," Qui-Gon said.

Adi frowned at him. "Why should you be? Your mission does not concern -"

"It has become clear to me that my mission does indeed concern the war between these two countries," the Master interrupted with controlled calm. "I don't yet know what caused Niall to fail, nor why he continues to hide on Salji when he could be safe from pursuit elsewhere in the galaxy, but I feel it relates directly to the war. There is something behind all this, either something we don't know or something which has not been told to me," he added with a scolding look at Adi, who faced him without wavering. "To anyone else this war looks like nothing more than petty bickering over a tract of land about which no one can be sure whether or not contains the riches it is rumored to have. But something about it caused a Jedi Knight to kill one of his own and prolong the fighting. I must know what it is."

"That, none of us know," Adi said ominously. "I'm sure many would like to find out what went on in Niall's mind while he worked here on Salji, but I'm afraid to do that, you will have to find him first."

"Perhaps not." Qui-Gon's arms dropped to his sides and he turned to leave the room. "Call me when your meeting has been arranged. We will be there. Obi-Wan, Stacey, come with me."

"Yes, Master," the apprentice acknowledged as we both trailed after him. He strode down the hall toward the door, pausing so I could grab the spare coat and we could all don gloves and scarves before going outside. Before I could ask, Obi-Wan did. "Where are we going, Master?"

"I have an idea." But that was all he would say as we strode away through the snow-covered streets of Droste. I clenched my hands up inside my sleeves to protect my chilled fingers; ever since they had gotten frostbitten during my senseless rush through the Tharin wilderness looking for Qui-Gon, it didn't take much cold air to numb them again. At least it was a little warmer, now, relatively speaking. Warmer than the past couple of days, but still dreadfully cold. Inwardly, I hoped that didn't mean a snowstorm was coming, like it did on Earth.

It took a bit of asking around and observing, but Qui-Gon eventually led us to the outskirts of Droste and one rambling garage in particular. I started in surprise as we came around a corner, realizing this was the same garage from which I had set out for Thara with Mowchie. Had I known that was our destination, I could have led us by a different route and gotten us there quicker. The furry creature was bent over his speeder's hull, tinkering with something. The clink of tools and metal-on-metal could be heard well before we entered, along with the distinct tones of a droid's gears maneuvering about. The droid spotted our entrance first and gave a flurry of startled squeals and beeps, making Mowchie look up sharply. He grinned when he saw who it was. "Ahh, Master Jinn! Mistress Stacey, how does the day find you?"

"I'm good, Mowchie," I smiled.

"Colin tells me it was a rough night in his neighborhood. How passes the day?"

His question was directed at Qui-Gon, who smiled very faintly as he answered. "It was rough, indeed, but things seem to have settled down rather quickly. I trust you had no problems?"

"Slept right through it," the Wookiee admitted with a sheepish snuffling chuckle. "These humans have been going about their battles for many long years, I am weary of it and can usually ignore it. So long as I have my job."

"You're not working today," Obi-Wan noted.

"The mines are dangerous today," Mowchie informed us. "Shelled too near. The safety workers want to be sure the tunnels are not damaged before allowing anyone back to work. It is well," he added breezily, patting the snowspeeder's hull. "I had a few repairs to make. We did not pass the border gates unharmed." Qui-Gon nodded understandingly at that but said nothing, leading Mowchie to peer suspiciously at him. "What brings you to me today, Master Jedi? I would think you had other matters to attend to, especially now that the border is closed again. No more trips into Thara."

"Actually, I intend to take a trip of a different kind," Qui-Gon said casually, pacing slowly around the speeder, glancing it over with a deceptively aloof air. "One that I need transportation to accomplish."

Mowchie straightened completely up and hefted the tool in his paw, looking suddenly threatening. He had a few inches on Qui-Gon, but the Master was not at all ruffled by it. "Ah, so another favor is in the asking."

"I know of no one else capable whom I could ask."

"Ask Colin. He knows many people, he can find you capable transport."

"Colin is not to know of this trip. Neither is Master Adi," Qui-Gon said, suddenly becoming urgent and solemn. "It is not a long trip, we haven't very far to go and we will return immediately."

Beside me, Obi-Wan stiffened. He seemed to want to question his Master's request, but for now he did nothing. I started to feel a little uneasy myself. Mowchie's nose twitched as he thought. "This is unusual," he remarked. "Where will this trip take you?"

Qui-Gon shot his apprentice a brief look before dropping the answer on us. "The Dospara."

The Wookiee's brown eyes widened. For a moment, it seemed to me that he cowered back from the Jedi Master. "I advise you to reconsider your plan," he growled anxiously. "Nothing can come of a trip into the Dospara. Likely you would not even get there, the militia holds all the passes in and they have well-armed batteries on the slopes of the mountains. The Dospara is scanned constantly to be sure no one is crossing it or settling on it."

"Which is precisely why we must go there," Qui-Gon countered evenly. "There is something about it which no one has told me, either they don't know or are withholding information. From what I now know of Niall's activities preceding his encounter with the Knight sent to investigate him, I believe he knew something about the Dospara, something that might have driven him to drastic measures. If no one will tell me what it is, I will go and find it for myself."

"Master," Obi-Wan broke in. He didn't need to say anything more, vehement protest and determination were contained in that one word. I could feel his resistance, like pinpricks, in the Force.

Master Qui-Gon gazed at his Padawan for a long time, finally breaking the stillness by gesturing Obi-Wan to come to his side, which he did at once. They withdrew from Mowchie, but not from me, allowing me into their conversation even though I chose to merely listen. "Padawan..."

"Master, this is not a good idea. Wait for Master Adi to contact you, meet with the leaders like you said you would," Obi-Wan strongly encouraged. "It won't help this conflict if we enter the very region these two peoples are fighting over. Niall isn't there, we were sent here to find him, not find out why people are fighting over the Dospara."

Qui-Gon quietly heard his Padawan out, then faced him sternly. "Obi-Wan, I must know what drove Niall to kill Taal Arvis Oe. I have seen both Reva and Thara, now, and I am convinced that there is nothing unusual about either region that would do it. Whatever his reasoning is, it is centered in whatever he found out about the Dospara. We must go and try to find it ourselves."

"Surely Master Adi knows," Obi-Wan continued to protest.

"I doubt she does," his Master said bluntly. "If she did, she is withholding it for a reason I can't fathom. I could see withholding information about the Dospara from Colin, if it would further inflame the war, but she has had ample opportunity to share it with me and has not." He glanced down at me for a second, but I wasn't going to get into the middle of this, so he went on. "Perhaps we won't find anything there," he said, more gently. "I should like to at least look on this land that two nations have fought each other for decades over. It will only be a short trip, a fly-over. Nothing more."

Obi-Wan drew in a deep breath and sighed through his nose, but his expression relaxed and he nodded in agreement. "Yes, Master."

Qui-Gon held his Padawan's gaze for a moment longer, and both of them seemed to me to breathe a little easier when the Master finally returned his attention to Mowchie. "Will you do it?"

"It is a bad idea," Mowchie grumbled. "I think you will not get far, and if you do, you will bring trouble down on all of us. Fighting is going on, weather is not to be trusted..."

At that moment Qui-Gon's comlink buzzed, and he stepped aside to answer it. I heard Master Adi's voice, and then Qui-Gon switched on the silencer, so that none of us but he could hear it. He said little, only, "All right," and "No, I have some things to look into, I will check back later." Obi-Wan and I stood together, waiting, and I tried my hardest not to fidget even though the atmosphere in the garage was becoming noticeably more tense. The Master returned to us, returning his comlink to his belt. "The meeting Adi wants to have will not take place until late tonight. Last night's attack has given her people more important things to take care of first. We have the rest of the afternoon, we should go into the Dospara immediately..." His gaze fell on Mowchie. "If you'll take us there."

A characteristically Wookiee sigh was his answer. "You put me in a hard place, Master Jinn. I have struggled a long time to stay out of the war, and now you ask me to throw myself into it. In a manner of speaking, that is."

"I'm sorry," Qui-Gon said openly. "I don't mean to make this difficult for you. But we are in dire need of help at this point, and my choices of who to trust are limited." He cocked his head, and a sly look started to dawn on his face. "If it bothers you that much, though, you need not accompany us. Obi-Wan is an excellent pilot, and I would be happy to compensate you for the use of your snowspeeder."

A low growl came from the Wookiee. "Where my speeder goes, I go. It would be wrong of me to send you off with it and not care what becomes of it, or you." He paused, mulling it over, eyeing Qui-Gon's tranquil face with a narrowed, reluctant gaze. The Master gazed back in silence, allowing time for him to make his own decision with no more cajoling. "Fine," Mowchie finally said. "You can trust me. I will take you. But on one condition: if anything happens to my speeder, you pay for it."

Qui-Gon smiled coolly. "Agreed."

"I warn you, unlike Thara, I do not know the way."

"I will handle that. I still have the information Gotach provided."

Mowchie moved to put away his tools and send his repair-droid away, and Qui-Gon glanced down at me. Obi-Wan stepped protectively to my side. "What about Stacey?"

"She'll have to come with us," the Master said heavily.

"What?" I protested.

"I can't send you back to Colin and Adi, knowing where we've gone. I don't wish to put you in a position of having to cover for us. Adi will be suspicious if you return to the house without us." He looked over at Mowchie getting the speeder ready for flight. "There's no time, anyway. If this is going to be successful, we need to leave now and get back before anyone has an opportunity to miss us. You'll have to come along."

I glanced at Obi-Wan, whose face tightened with dread. "Fine," I muttered. "As long as we're just flying over and having a look, I can handle that." I held up one pointing finger at Obi-Wan as he opened his mouth. "No coddling me," I reminded. "I'm not a baby."

The Padawan's eyes widened, but he recovered himself, thought about it, and smiled faintly. "You're right, I'm sorry."

We piled into the roomy speeder, myself and Obi-Wan in the back so Qui-Gon could navigate alongside our pilot. Mowchie was trying not to grumble to himself, but an occasional sigh escaped him as he drove us out of town, out to the rough tracks marking the progress of the militia up into the mountain range that marked the border of the Dospara. It stood like an impenetrable wall to the north and east of Droste, looming higher and higher as we sped closer to it at a much faster rate of speed than was necessary. The Master sat forward in his seat, his holoprojector in one hand waiting to be used, a keen gaze directed out ahead of us at the tall, cloud-coated mountains. Thick clouds had moved in and blanketed the sky, and I was sure as I looked out the windows that it was snowing heavily on the peaks of the mountains, right about where we had to go to cross over into the Dospara. Just thinking about the fabled region, rolling its name around in my head, filled me with a nervous anticipation. It would be just our luck to be able to penetrate the border guard and get into this disputed territory, only to find out that there's nothing there. I wondered a lot of things about the Dospara while we cruised up the high paths toward a mountain pass.

The diligence of the Revin militia showed itself as the speeder maneuvered carefully between the rocks and bluffs toward the pass. We came around a bend and found the narrow path blocked by a veritable army, several ivory-coated men with blaster rifles standing in front of a land-based tank and a couple speeders outfitted with cannons. Qui-Gon sat up in interest, quietly slipping his holoprojector away and gathering himself for action. Mowchie glanced at him. "I knew they would see us coming."

"I will talk to them," the Master assured, placing one hand on the hatch release as we coasted slowly forward to meet the guardians of the road. I couldn't help but feel nervous, since my only experiences with armies prior to this was make-believe, in a game, or far removed through pictures and news reports. This group blocking access to the pass looked very capable of shooting us all dead, and rather disposed toward doing so at the moment. Obi-Wan placed a gentle hand on my arm, and that was all the assurance I needed that it would be all right.

The moment the speeder halted, one of the armed men strode forward just as Qui-Gon opened the hatch and stepped out. He stepped confidently up to meet the soldier and engaged him in conversation immediately, offering both hands palms-up to show he had no weapons near to hand (never mind the lightsaber beneath his robe) before tucking them in his sleeves. The solider looked wary, stern, but not hostile as he listened to what the Jedi had to say and spoke a few words in return. The hatch had closed to, so we couldn't hear a word of the discussion inside. "What's going to happen?" I whispered to Obi-Wan.

"If all goes well, Master Qui-Gon will convince them to let us pass. One way or another," he murmured, glancing at me with a little smirk. "If not, we turn around and go back to Droste. I doubt we're in any real danger."

"For once I agree," Mowchie growled. "One speeder traveling alone is no threat. They made a good show of their force, don't you think? These high passes are well-guarded, Reva's border is secure on this side."

"Secure from what?" I muttered, though no one answered me. I could have sworn from what I heard from the Master, the Dospara was uninhabited. No one could even say for certain if it had any minerals worth mining under it. Who could possibly threaten to storm the border from an empty land?

As I watched the continuing conversation outside, I noticed that Qui-Gon was holding his ground, his back straight and figure rigid with authority, while the soldier he talked to looked around a lot and fidgeted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. At last, he waved to the drivers of the vehicles and then nodded at Qui-Gon. The Master gave a slight bow in response, taking his eyes off his adversary for only a moment, before turning and striding back to us. Not once had his hands come out of his robe sleeves, or I would have suspected the classic mind trick to be at play. "Everything's fine," Qui-Gon reported as he climbed back into the speeder. "I explained to the lieutenant who we are and what our purpose is, and after some thought on the matter, he understood me and decided to let us pass."

"That's all?" Mowchie wondered skeptically. "No mind tricks?"

I grinned at that, since we had been thinking alike. "There was no need," Qui-Gon replied. "The truth was enough. They've given us one hour, and will be monitoring our progress constantly. And we are to maintain communications silence."

"That won't be hard," Obi-Wan noted dryly. "We haven't communicated with anyone since leaving Droste."

"Which is what I told the lieutenant," his Master said smartly. "He is aware that no one from the cities knows we are here, and will keep silent about it until after we've gone."

"Where are we going, then?" Mowchie asked as he piloted the speeder slowly past the militia, who had removed themselves to the side of the road and watched warily as we passed.

The holoprojector was out and glowing with a three-dimensional map in an instant. "I managed to find this survey of one sector of the Dospara deep within the reports Adi had collected from Niall's mission," Master Qui-Gon explained. "I have heard mention more than once that Niall and the joint team of scientists had a few locations inside the territory from which to make surveys, take samples, and the like. Colin tried not to tell me that one of these locations, not far into the Dospara from Reva, was the last place Niall met with the team before he began acting strangely."

"What do you mean, tried not to tell you?" I wondered.

Qui-Gon glanced over his shoulder at me with a sly sort of smile. "He nearly said something about it in passing, but covered himself quickly. You don't remember me asking a few people about Niall's movements in the days prior to Taal's arrival here?"

"I remember that, but I didn't really understand what people were telling you," I confessed. "I don't think I heard anyone say anything about Niall being in the Dospara."

"You didn't," the Master said bluntly. "I uncovered this information the following day, before we left for Thara. You weren't with us at that point. After Colin made that slip, over dinner that night I believe, I felt the need to ask around about whether or not people have been inside the Dospara. It's interesting what you find when you ask the right questions," he remarked, turning his gaze back to the holographic map. "I chose my questions more carefully, and finally found what I needed to know. I didn't tell you about it because I didn't want you in possession of potentially dangerous information."

I slumped back into the seat, rubbing my temples with my fingertips. "Why do I even bother asking?"

"It's all right. You don't have to concern yourself with it." He went back to directing Mowchie now that we were crossing into the Dospara, so I gave up trying to figure him out and watched the scenery instead.

As we descended out of the pass and got our first mist-shrouded glimpse of the Dospara, my confusion and frustration with this planet grew ten-fold. This mysterious, forbidden "other side of the mountains" looked exactly like the civilized regions we had left behind! Tree-clad hills rolled away from the heights, descending into rocky valleys slashed into the fold of the land like great claw-marks rent through the ground. The mountain range stretched behind us and off to our left, forming a long, unbroken wall that separated the Dospara from both Reva and Thara. I knew from scattered conversation in the speeder along the way, many of the peaks and passes visible from here had batteries, long-range ion cannons, and lookout posts on them, though I could see none of them. It seemed to me that Thara and Reva were glaring at each other across a vast, uninhabited land that for all either side knew, was exactly like the lands in which they lived. Why in the world does nobody live here? I wondered to myself for about the hundredth time today. It's not like it's more dangerous or less habitable. It's a perfectly boring tract of land! Sheesh, these people!

Between the map and Qui-Gon's directions, it took more than a half an hour to get anywhere near the rumored location, which I found out as time went on, wasn't exactly marked on the map. But the Master was undaunted by a lack of information, he seemed to know exactly what to do. Mowchie had to press his speeder's power to the limits, because there were no roads or even paths in the Dospara anywhere, so he had to fly just above the trees at great strain to the aging repulsorlift on his engine. Suddenly, Qui-Gon pointed out the window and said in a low, urgent voice, "There. I see it."

"Where?" Mowchie complained. "I see nothing."

"There in the valley. It doesn't look like you'll be able to land near it."

I followed Qui-Gon's gesturing hand and squinted against the snow-glare to see what he had spotted. Along the edge of some spindly pine trees on a ridge, I thought I might have glimpsed a building of some kind, but it was hard to tell. I glanced at the glowing map instead, and once the speeder was oriented in the same direction as the map's image, I saw a tiny notation along the topographic contours of what could have been that ridge. We drew slowly nearer when Mowchie suddenly growled in triumph, making me jump because he sounded so much like Chewbacca all of a sudden, and steered the speeder in a steep banking glide toward the ridge. As suspected, there was no place to land directly on it, but further down there was a patch cleared in the trees. It looked unnatural, like axes and saws had carved it rather than wind and snow. At last I too could see the structure on the ridge, its pre-fabricated walls the color of rock and snow and nearly invisible in the overcast, wintry light.

I stepped gingerly out of the speeder into the snow, the last to disembark after Mowchie safely landed in the clearing. Sure enough, it had been cleared just for the purpose of landing vehicles, and a tamped-down footpath climbed up the ridge to the bluff where the structure perched. "Don't worry, no one's there," Qui-Gon reported as I stepped up beside him, peering anxiously at the building. "It's abandoned, or at least has been since fighting resumed and the study of the Dospara collapsed."

"All the same..." Mowchie ducked into the speeder and retrieved something, sliding it into a holster on his hip. A blaster. "Never know when you might need one of these," the big Wookiee quipped.

Qui-Gon fixed him with an unfathomable look for just an instant, and then pulled his hood up over his head and started away through the snow. "Follow me."

Obi-Wan started immediately behind his Master, then me, then Mowchie at the rear. The path was covered over in several inches of snow, since it had been weeks since last being used, according to what the Master knew. I slipped a bit, but trudged diligently behind Obi-Wan, trying to step in his footprints even though his stride was longer than mine. It was not fun being the shortest member of this party. A bitter wind sliced across the ridge, carrying flurries of snow with it and threatening to dump more on us if we decided to stay too long. Before too long I was chilled to the bone, wet up to my knees, and tired out from half-walking, half-climbing over rocks and through snowdrifts to the top of the ridge, and I was falling farther and farther behind Obi-Wan. The Padawan stopped once or twice to look back and see how I was doing, but there was nothing he could do to help me go faster, so I waved at him to keep going. Qui-Gon had reached the building and pressed on the door, but it did not yield. "Is it locked?" his apprentice asked as all four of us made it to the top.

"Sealed," Qui-Gon confirmed.

"What now?" the Wookiee asked.

"It won't be a problem." As I expected, Qui-Gon plucked his lightsaber from his belt and powered it, pausing only a moment to gauge where to strike before carving the blade into the door. The metal peeled away from the lightsaber's path like a birthday cake being sliced, and in moments the locking mechanism hung useless while a huge hole gaped in the door. Qui-Gon nonchalantly switched off his 'saber and put it away, pressing a little harder until the door slid open.

"That was so cool," I muttered under my breath, my teeth chattering.

The Master held up a hand to caution us from following, stepping through the opening first. There was a long, strained silence while we waited for him to acknowledge that it was safe to come in. Obi-Wan started to follow, but Qui-Gon's voice stopped him. "Keep Stacey back."

"What?" both the Padawan and I wondered. Unfortunately, Obi-Wan obeyed, and I grumbled. "What's wrong?" I demanded.

"You don't want to see this," Qui-Gon replied from inside. I could hear his boots on a hard floor, and some clanging as he moved things around.

Mowchie had no such taboo, and strode right in to have a look for himself. A distressed growl drifted to me on the wind. I bounced a little in place in my frustration. "Master, it's cold out here! What's so bad that I can't see it?"

Qui-Gon stepped right into the doorway so that his body blocked any view of the interior. He faced us with a hard look as Obi-Wan and I looked anxiously at him for news. "Master?" Obi-Wan questioned.

"Three Saljans, all dead," Qui-Gon answered grimly. "A long time, from the looks of it. The cold has slowed decomposition, though. You can still tell by what means they were killed."

On second thought, maybe I don't want to go inside.

The Padawan got the same look as his Master on his face. "What was it?"

Qui-Gon's eyes flicked back and forth between the two of us, and then he stepped aside. "Go, see for yourself. I want to know I did not make the wrong conclusion."

Obi-Wan stepped through the opening and disappeared into the darkness of the building. Torn between being left out and not really wanting to see frozen dead bodies, I took just one step in so I was out of the wind. Looking around, I could see that this was a research facility: banks of computer equipment slouched against the walls, charts and maps were affixed to any available space, and some larger pieces of machinery could be seen far back in the gloom, parked and unused. From just inside the door I couldn't see any bodies - no, wait. There were feet stretching out from behind a console, over which Obi-Wan was bent. His young face was drawn and grim as he investigated. "This can't be possible," he muttered worriedly, his voice echoing.

I wrapped my arms around myself, though the chill in my limbs wasn't entirely due to the ambient temperature. "What is it? What happened to them?" I whispered.

"They were killed with a lightsaber," Qui-Gon quietly answered me.

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan agreed, coming back over to us. "I see it also."

"Niall," Mowchie huffed angrily.

The Master's mood was sinking rapidly, I could see the embattled glare forming on his bearded face even in the dark and the fog from our breathing. "This is where his fall began," he said softly, clenching his jaw as if in pain.

"We have to find out what happened, here," Obi-Wan impatiently declared. "There has to be a reason he would have pulled his lightsaber on...unarmed civilians. We'll have to look around for any record of their activities."

"Unfortunately, Obi-Wan, the power's been cut to the facility. The cold has completely frozen everything, none of this will work even if we had power."

The news continued to get worse, it seemed. Shaken, I took a step backwards in search of the door, but I missed it and bumped into a metal shelf. It startled me, I must have been expecting horrific grinning dead bodies to jump out from behind me. I stumbled even further back from the actual door and slid on the cold floor, which was as slippery as ice. Something else was on the floor, and I cried out as I found myself falling backwards over it, landing with a thud on my butt.

The Jedi were hovering over me instantly. "Are you all right?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Yeah, fine," I groaned, sitting up and rubbing my lower back before reaching out to take his offered hand. "I just tripped over..." I was scared to look, thinking it was one of the unfortunate victims, but I glanced down anyway and was relieved to find nothing but a block of hardware backed up against the wall. "...over, what's that? Is that a droid?"

"It is a droid." Obi-Wan bent down and picked it up. It looked somewhat like a mouse droid, the little toaster-on-wheels from the movies. The apprentice turned it over in his hands, peering at it, and then scuffed his hand across one smooth panel. He scratched enough of a hole in the frost to let a weak glow through. "It's still activated, it has power. Not much, though, I'm afraid."

"We'll take it with us," Qui-Gon decided. "Perhaps someone in Droste can repair it, or get the information out of it. This may be our only witness to what happened here." He nodded at the Wookiee standing behind him. "Go and power up the speeder. We're leaving."

"Already? Nothing more you want to look at? Surely these poor souls deserve better than to lie here for eternity..."

"We don't have time," Qui-Gon interrupted Mowchie. "If we don't start back soon, the Revin militia will come after us to see what's taking us so long. I don't want to start an incident. Hurry."

Mowchie nodded and was gone, dashing back down the bluff to the speeder. Qui-Gon took one more look around, presumably for anything else that would either be evidence or information that he could use, before directing Obi-Wan to help him. I was stuck holding the frost-coated - and heavy - droid while they dragged the bodies to one location and covered them with a large tarp. I deliberately averted my eyes, not wanting to see the people who had met an unfortunate end here in this lonely, forsaken land where no one even knew they had died.

Qui-Gon waved a hand to me, urging me out of the building ahead of him. Clutching the droid to my chest, I started through the snow with my head down, jogging a little because I could see Mowchie down below us standing impatiently beside his humming speeder. The journey down was no easier than the one up, and the clouds were getting thicker, the sky darker, so it was harder to see what was left of the path. At least once I felt my right knee jar in just that way a knee is not supposed to, but I tried to ignore it for the time being, though I could feel the dull ache that spoke of straining the old injury starting in the joint. I just gritted my teeth and slogged on, squinting into the snow-laden wind that stung my cheeks. Only the sense of the tall, tireless bodies right behind me kept me from falling down and quitting right there.

As we neared the bottom of the ridge, the muffled sound of engines passed through the sky overhead, even though the ships themselves were hidden by the clouds. Obi-Wan grabbed the droid out of my hands and broke into a run, leaping nimbly down the last few meters of rock. I resolved not to let the Jedi down and started running, but I should have heeded the warning my knee was giving me. Slipping in the snow, I felt my leg lurch backwards and the pain exploded in my knee, while I crashed to my hands and knees with a little cry. Qui-Gon's hands came down on my shoulders and started to pick me up. "Hurry," he urged, just below a shout.

"My knee!" I protested, hissing in pain as it gave out on my attempt to get to my feet.

The Master paused, not so urgent now, and wrapped his arm completely around me. With that support I was able to stand and limp the last distance to the speeder, falling inside and not even bothering to properly buckle myself in as Mowchie gunned the accelerator and lifted us straight up off the ground. A flash whisked past the speeder's windows, and Mowchie barked in indignance at it. They weren't speeders, more like snub fighters of some kind, and they zeroed in on our location even as we took off. "Those Revin guards are impatient," I said, forgetting my knee for a second even though I clutched at it with both hands. "Has it really been an hour?"

Qui-Gon's head turned to follow another flash that zoomed past, but his hand flew out to restrain Mowchie from signaling with the communicator. "That insignia. That's not Revin."

"Tharin!" Mowchie wailed angrily.

"What?" I yelped.

"Time to go." The Wookiee pilot banked the speeder hard and aimed it for the mountains of the Revin side, though the craft dipped dangerously toward the trees as we started to gain altitude. The fighters pulled back a little, but I could still see them following if I turned and looked out the top of the hatch. In front of me, Qui-Gon sat perched on the edge of his seat as far as his safety harness would allow, watching our progress rather than our pursuers. Mowchie was grumbling threateningly under his breath as he wrestled with the steering controls. "A fine mess you have gotten me into, Master Jinn," he said loudly enough for all of us to hear. "I might just escape death only to be pegged as a traitor by my Tharin comrades and an instigator by the Revin!"

"Relax, we're not in trouble yet," Qui-Gon said harshly.

I nearly retorted, "What yet?" but wisely kept my mouth shut, wondering instead if we would be better off if Obi-Wan were at the controls as he was - or would be - in the bongo. The Padawan had gotten me to sit up properly and buckle myself in, but my knee was throbbing, so I was slumped back in the padded seat, holding it between both hands in desperation. No one was available to help me at the moment, but I had no problem with that, as there were more pressing things to worry about.

Qui-Gon reached out and flicked on the communicator, but made no move to use it. A voice buzzed through it, demanding, "Identify yourself! Who are you and what is your business in the no-fly zone?"

"If this is a no-fly zone, what are they doing here?" Obi-Wan muttered.

"Identify yourself or we will shoot you down!" the radio voice spluttered.

Mowchie shot Qui-Gon a look. The Master shook his head. "Say nothing. Just keep flying."

"We will not make it," the Wookiee hissed. "The repulsorlift is nearly gone. We go much higher and I won't be able to keep it above the trees. Our choices are to crash voluntarily or crash with the help of Tharin blaster cannons."

"Keep flying," Qui-Gon repeated sternly. He glanced behind us at the fighters, studied them for a moment, and then turned back around. I saw him take a deep breath, his shoulders lifting, and all of a sudden the Force surged all around me, its power concentrating into a thick pool which buoyed the craft. I glanced sharply at Obi-Wan and saw that he had closed his eyes, and was concentrated on the Force as well. There was nothing I could do, but I could feel it, and was stunned at how vibrant and intense the Force was. Of course I had felt it before, but never to this degree of power. It seemed that if they wanted, the Jedi could unleash this power and blast the snub fighters to bits. Instead, the Force merely surrounded our speeder, and our trajectory leveled off. The engines stopped whining in protest and purred a little easier, and the craft lifted off the tree-tops and gained altitude. Mowchie's grumbling was silenced in awe, and he stomped on the accelerator in the hopes he could now out-distance our pursuers. The radio had gone silent, but the Tharin ships remained a constant shadow, racing us to the mountains of Reva. We still had a ways to go, but with the Force pressing us like great hands lifting us off the ground, I began to think we would make it. And then the first blasts seared across the speeder's right wing.

It was just a warning shot, but it passed too close for my comfort. The characteristic blaster noise pinged from behind us and over us, much louder than I expected - loud enough to make me wince as the high frequencies stung my ears. Mowchie was hunched over the steering, practically willing his speeder to outrun the blasts, keeping it on a straight trajectory so as not to meander into any of the shots zinging around us. I realized, then, that we had no shields or weapons of any kind, and those fighters could knock us out of the sky with just one shot if they wanted. At that moment, Obi-Wan murmured, "Don't be afraid," even though he was still concentrated on the Force with eyes closed. The warmth of his voice calmed my fears just enough, and at the same time the speeder rocketed forward in a burst of unnatural speed. Ahead of us loomed the mountains, blanketed in thick white clouds that were dark underneath, coating even the pass which we had taken in. The clouds looked strange, though, and as we flew nearer it occurred to me that I was actually seeing snow falling, heavy and concentrated on the peaks. A gust of wind rocked the craft. Obi-Wan opened his eyes and stared. "We're heading into a storm."

"The storm may save us," Mowchie retorted, steering directly for it. Downdrafts were already making it hard to stay on course, but it was also hard for the fighters following, and their blasters quieted briefly while they also rode out the winds. A bright lance of red light suddenly stabbed out from the darkness beneath the snow-clouds, making a searing sound as it passed over us and nearly took out one of the snub fighters. Mowchie barked in delight. "The Revin do not sleep! Ha ha! Take that, my little insects!"

Qui-Gon finally moved from his still, trance-like pose, glancing quickly behind us and then forward again. Accordingly, the speeder's altitude dipped again, but we were close enough to the mountains to glide straight in through the rocky bluffs, no longer needing the Force to stay aloft. "There's an ion cannon on one of the peaks," the Master observed as more red beams shot out at us - or rather, at the Tharin fighters. One of them broke off from the pursuit, and within moments the rest had also turned and were flying back northward. The ion cannon flung a few more shots at their retreat just to make sure they didn't come back, but it looked like we were safe.

The snowspeeder dropped to its normal skimming altitude and hummed into the pass beneath the worst of the winds, which were swirling snow around in blinding sheets on all sides. Darkness closed in prematurely, through which a single red beacon-light could be seen ahead in the pass. Mowchie steered for the beacon, and then another popped up, and further down yet another. Following them brought us to a shelter built into the mountainside, where more light spilled into the snow as a door opened and let a lone figure out. It was the same lieutenant who had arranged for permission to enter the Dospara, I saw as we came to a stop beside him. He had his head turned to keep the snow from being driven into his face, and a long gray cloak wrapped around him which flapped angrily in the wind as he bent over the speeder's open hatch. "You're lucky we were monitoring you," he shouted at Qui-Gon. "You took a big risk going that close to Thara."

"I wasn't aware we were that close to Thara," Qui-Gon shouted back to be heard over the screaming wind and the speeder's engines. "Thank you. We owe you our lives."

"I'll show you where you can park, you should take shelter," the lieutenant continued. "It looks to be a bad one."

"No, thank you, we will return to Droste," the Master said. "There is much we need to do."

"These storms can be deadly -"

"No more deadly than blaster cannons, and we seem to have survived those." Qui-Gon moved to close the hatch, so the soldier wisely backed out of the way and let us go. Mowchie huffed but did as requested and continued on his way, heading back into the more civilized region of Reva. After a short silence Qui-Gon turned in his seat and looked concernedly at me. "Are you all right? What happened to your knee?"

I winced and rubbed at it through the wet leg of my trousers. "It's nothing, it's an old injury. I did it a long time ago. I think I just re-aggravated it, it happens from time to time."

He looked troubled, but nodded in acceptance. "We will look at it when we get back."

"Hush now," Mowchie interrupted. "I need to concentrate in order to get us home safe in this storm." He sighed heavily and shook his head. "I hate snow."

On to part 23

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