Path of the Gray {Book One}

The Truth

Here is a new Book I'm working on based on STAR WARS. I've had this in my head for a long while so I hope you like it.

I OWN NOTHING!!!!
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Years Earlier

Han had to see for himself what happened.

He returned to Leia from a job. A long time passed since they last saw each other and he still thought she was the most beautiful thing in the galaxy. There was still a rift between them due to sending Ben and Jacen to Luke's Jedi Academy. Han didn't want the boys to be sent away to learn about some mumbo jumbo while Leia believed it was in their best interests to learn to control their Force abilities. At the time, he found it hard to believe that sending his kids away was about their best interests and not about salvaging her political career after the "Vader Scandal" as the Holonet called it. That argument led to many hurt feelings and he hoped that an opportunity would rise that they all could reconcile and be a family again. But that chance was ripped from them.

Leia's cry of grief would haunted his dreams until the day he died. "They're gone!" She sobbed in his arms. "They're both gone!"

As fast as his feet could carry him, he fled to The Falcon with Chewie and flew to The Academy. It couldn't be true...it just couldn't.

The Millennium Falcon landed in the jungle outside where the Jedi Temple once proudly stood. There was nothing left but charred rubble and burned bodies. His gut twisted at the sight of younglings and adults of various species scattered across the grounds. "BEN! JACEN!" He called but received no reply.

Chewie howled at the edge of the jungle, drawing Han's attention to the destructive path that showed signs of a lightsaber battle. There were charred cuts on the trees and surrounding boulders. There was even one giant Boulder that was cleaved in two. The feeling of dread rose with each step he took, afraid of what he would find at the end. The duo finally reached the end of the the destructive path finding no signs of life. Chewie howled in sorrow while Han fell to his knees and cried. The edge of the cliff was stained in blood and a lightsaber he recognized as Ben's lay abandoned. He gently lifted his son's saber in his hands and clipped it to his belt. Maybe he was being selfish, but it was the last piece of his son that he had. It would be proper to give it to Leia but he wanted it for himself.

"Where's Jacen's?" Chewie asked. "Where's Lowie and Tenel Ka? They're always together!"

"Take a look around!" Han snapped. "They're gone! They're probably among the charred corpses at the temple or there's nothing left of them."

Chewie offered a low moan. "I don't understand...what happened? There has to be someone left? Wasn't Katarn and Kestis off planet?"

"I don't know." Han wiped his face with his coarse hand. "If they were alive don't you think they'd reach out to us?"

Chewie shrugged. "Did the survivors of Order 66 reach out to the Rebel Alliance? I have to believe there are survivors. If there are...they're hiding."

Han waved him off and turned to the smoldering ruins of the New Jedi Temple. His boys were gone. He wouldn't allow himself the same optimism Chewie was offering. Right now, they had to do something with the dead and he had to go home to Leia. The First Order took his sons and somehow he was going to make them pay.
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Present Day
Han settled his passengers in the recreation area while he tinkered away at The Falcon. Whoever Unkar Plutt was, he deserved a punch in the mouth for what he did to his "baby". Half the crossed wires and new plugs made no sense! She was already a mess but did the junker have to make it worse?

Tinkering away on The Falcon allowed him time to wrap his brain around the current revelation. Could it be possible that Luke was alive? If he was alive then maybe there were others...