As the hyperdrive sputtered and whined, Regis and his companions dropped out of hyperspace before reaching their destination and instead landed on the Outer Rim world of Eriadu in order to make repairs.

Regis sat on a worn-down boulder beside a shallow stream and kept an eye on their surroundings. They had landed on a grassy plain beneath tall, forbidding mountains. An orange halo hung over the jagged crown of peaks as the sun set behind them, casting a featureless black cloak over the mountains. Though he would have preferred to think of Eriadu as an untamed wilderness with nothing to fear but wild beasts, at the far end of the plain stood a city once known as Tarkina. From this distance, Regis could make out gray towers prodding gray sky. It was an industrial town with blinking lights of signal towers and the perpetual pall of rising smoke. Regis knew that Tarkina was once ruled by the Tarkin family, of Imperial fame, but the navigation computer had told them that Tarkina now held the wholly disingenuous name of Hope City.

Regis would not have minded a visit to the dreary city, back when he was young and cared about such things. He probably would have been excited to learn about the Imperial officer who became a Grand Moff before dying aboard the first Death Star, during the Battle of Yavin, which was around the time Regis had joined Omicron Squadron. But now he only saw the city on the horizon as a threat, a place from which New Republic law enforcement could drop down on them at any moment.

He was distracted by Vasili’s sudden yelp of pain. He turned and watched his old friend lying on his belly atop the Righteous, doing his best to repair the hyperdrive with a giant Wookiee looking over his shoulder. Regis did not know the creature’s name, and the truth was, none of them were sure why he had come along. The big shaggy alien had followed them after a quick discussion with Luke, and during the hasty retreat from Naboo, they had all been too heated to discuss why the alien was there. It had mostly stayed with Luke in his room, looking sullen and unapproachable, only coming out occasionally to destroy the restroom, and then immediately stalking back to Luke’s room.

“These wires are completely rotted out, though!” Vasili snapped. “What can I do, patch them up? There’s nothing to patch!”

“UUuaawaaugh, wagh, wagh,” said the Wookiee, throwing up his hands.

“Well, I mean… I guess we could take materials from life support systems. But it’s going to be one uncomfortable ride.”

“Waaaugh!”

“Yeah, true.” Rolling onto his side, Vasili called out, “Sindo! You mind getting me a hydrospanner?”

Sindo did not bother to answer, but stared down the barrel of her blaster. She pulled the trigger and sent a fist-sized rock spinning away from a line of targets she had set up.

“Sindo! Can I get some help?”

“Vasili, I’m out of practice,” Sindo finally responded. “I couldn’t hit that greenskin, even with her standing right in front of me.”

“Okay, but I got the wrong hydrospanner, is the thing. I need a smaller one for this type of job!”

“Send that big gorilla in to get it,” she said, firing another shot that sent a stone skipping away.

Regis pushed himself up from his seat. “I’ll get it, I’m heading inside anyway,” he said. He was relieved to see that Sindo was not pining for her old life, so he did not want to pull her away from what she was doing. “Laser-brain here can keep an eye out for trouble.”

“Thanks, Sergeant,” said Vasili.

Before heading up the entryway, Regis craned his head to look up at Vasili and the Wookiee. “Hey,” he said. “Can you get this thing fixed?”

“Yeah, we can get it running. Thing is, I don’t think anybody’s been maintaining this ship. I can’t believe they had a Lucitor and special forces in this thing. It’s a perfectly fine ship, but it’s running low on just about everything but fuel. And lots of basic systems haven’t been touched in years, from what I can tell!”

“UuuUuwaaughhhh,” the Wookiee chimed in.

Vasili frowned. “Well, I know guys hauling refined bantha poodoo in hundred-year-old freighters who keep things in better shape than this,” he said. “The New Republic is going to fall apart on its own, if this is any indication of what’s happening at the top.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” said Regis. He winced at a sudden thought, but hesitated when he noticed the Wookiee staring down at him. Seeing as they were out in the middle of nowhere with a giant creature he did not even know, he decided to speak carefully. “Then again, if the Cheka had to rent a bunch of bounty hunters from the Hutt Cartel just for basic law enforcement, then that probably answers any questions about who will be running things once the New Republic falls apart on its own.”

Vasili nodded, turning back to his work with a scowl.

Regis jogged up the entryway hatch, then stepped over the pile of equipment and wires Artoo had stripped out of the maintenance hatch. Regis looked over the tools lying around, then glanced further down the hallway. The door to Luke’s room was open. He took a step toward it, but hesitated.

Regis knew that he needed to have a talk with Luke. Ever since finding out that his original goal of finding a secret Imperial hideout on Dagobah had been a lie, he nevertheless felt as if he was on a mission. Even if he had wanted to go back to sorting scrap, that was no longer an option - and not just because he was a hunted man. As heated and angry as he had felt since the bounty hunter attack, he had to admit that he was glad they had come after him. He would never understand the aliens who ruled over him by proxy, and they could never understand him, but with weapons in hand they could at least speak a universal language understood by all.

Still, he had no long-term plan. He was grateful that his old friends were in this with him, but if they were looking to Regis for some kind of master plan, they would be disappointed. Regis knew they needed help. So it was that he forced himself to make his way toward Luke’s room, intent on forcing the Jedi Master to either help him come up with an actionable plan - or finally admit that there might be a flaw in his pacifist ideals.

Regis knocked on the wall beside Luke’s door, then entered. He found the Jedi lying on his bed fully clothed, with his fingers laced over his chest. His eyes were closed.

“Luke, buddy, sorry to wake you,” said Regis. “But we really need to talk.”

Luke’s eyes remained closed. Regis sighed in frustration. He considered leaving, but then again, he had been meaning to speak with Luke since Naboo. He felt that if he let Luke enjoy his nap time now, more bounty hunters could show up at any moment and then they would be stuck in another situation of running and gunning without any direction. Though he felt rude, he stood over Luke and shook him by the shoulder.

“Luke, man. This is important.”

Still he did not move. Regis furrowed his brow in concern. When he realized he could not tell if Luke was breathing or not, Regis placed his fingers on Luke’s neck. He could not find a pulse.

“Luke? Luke?”

Regis shook him roughly. He did not want to alert anyone prematurely, so he got down in Luke’s face and whispered forcefully, “Luke! Get up! Get up!”

Regis stopped, overwhelmed by the bizarre nature of what was surely a dream. He leaned back against the wall and slapped a hand against his forehead. Then it suddenly all made sense.

“Those powers, all that strange stuff,” Regis said quietly. “You pushed yourself. We pushed you. And now… now you’re dead.”

Vasili suddenly entered the room. “Sergeant? Everything alright?” Turning to Luke, he said, “Oh. Sorry.” Narrowing his eyes to peer even closer, he added, “Is he okay?”

“Vasili. I think he’s dead.”

Vasili shook his head and went up to Luke. “He’s not dead,” he said, feeling for a pulse. “He’s just… oh. Huh.”

“Well?” said Regis.

Vasili slowly turned to him. “Did you…?”

“No!”

Vasili turned back to Luke. “Did those bounty hunters get him with some kind of poison?”

“No, not that I saw.” Regis took a deep breath. Though he doubted Vasili would be able to handle the truth, he had to say it all the same. “Vasili, I think Luke meditated himself to death.”

“What?!”

Regis nodded. “I think he meditated so hard, he just… he just keeled over.”

Vasili sat down on the bed beside Luke, then quickly leaped up and moved away. “It’s those Midichlorians!” he stammered.

“The what?”

“Yeah, it’s something they have in their blood. I heard some guys talking about these Jedi types. It’s some disease they have in their blood or something!”

“Is it contagious?”

Before Vasili could answer, the giant Wookiee stooped and entered the room. Regis had done a good job avoiding the alien, but suddenly confined to close-quarters, his heart took off at a dead run. He had no desire to see what the beast would do when it saw his friend lying dead with two former stormtroopers standing next to him looking nervous.

“Look, bud…” said Regis, extending his left hand. “You speak Basic? I can explain.”

The Wookiee moved toward Luke with a surprisingly casual gait. “WauuuUaughah,” he said, almost to himself. Regis could not speak Wookiee, but glancing at Vasili, his teammate’s bloodless face and wide-open eyes did not put him at ease.

“See, the thing is,” said Regis, “I mean I just walked in here, and I saw him like this, and… and it’s the same with Vasili, so we… I mean, we didn’t…”

The Wookiee ignored Regis as he shook Luke. “Woffgh!” he said, but received no answer.

Regis’s mouth suddenly went dry, and he glanced at the door. Would he be able to draw his pistol in time, or should he make for the door? His thoughts were interrupted when the Wookiee suddenly grabbed Luke by his ankles and lifted his body up from the bed, leaving only his head lying on the pillow.

“Hey!” Regis shouted, overcome with indignation.

With shocking force the Wookiee slammed Luke’s legs down on the bed, not only shaking the bed but causing the entire ship to rock back and forth. Luke’s eyes shot open.

“Chewie?” he said. “Everything okay?”

“Wuuuagh.” The Wookiee turned and left without further explanation.

Regis’s mouth fell open and Vasili pressed back against the wall as Luke rose into a seated position. “Sorry,” he said, “I was in a very deep Jedi meditation.”

“You were dead!” Regis shot back.

Luke stretched and rolled his head back and forth. “It’s hard to explain. I guess you could say I left my body to check on Han. I think he’s going to be okay!” Luke smiled with an open, almost childish expression.

Vasili scoffed loudly and made his way out of the room, muttering to himself. Regis did not blame him. It seemed like every time he tried to have a simple conversation with Luke, something strange beyond belief happened that shocked him to his core. He fell into a seat and looked him over, shaking his head.

“I saw my niece and nephew, too,” said Luke, looking over Regis’s shoulder as if they were standing right there. “They’ve grown so much! Do you have any family, Regis?”

“Not anymore, no. Just the jarheads on this ship. They’re all I’ve got.”

Luke nodded, his smile slowly fading. “You’re afraid of what might happen to them,” he said.

“Probably doesn’t take Jedi powers to figure that out,” said Regis. “Here’s the thing, Luke. We’re on our way to see another one of your friends. Right? Someone Han told you to go see.”

Luke nodded.

“But this is after we already got one of your friends shot, and we nearly got killed, or arrested, too,” Regis continued. “I want to trust you, Luke. I really do. But I’m afraid that you and all your friends, as impressive as you are, might be too out of touch to understand what’s happening.”

“Things will change at our next destination,” said Luke. “My other friend is… a little more practical than Han. He can help us.”

“Okay. Okay.” Regis looked Luke up and down. “But if this doesn’t work… Luke, if your other friend turns out to be just as out of touch as Han… and you, too, for that matter… I mean, if he’s just some rich guy with a bleeding heart and too many alien friends and too many responsibilities to help us out-”

“I understand,” said Luke.

“If he can’t help us out,” Regis continued, “then I want you to do things my way. No more kid gloves. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more hoping the New Republic will give us a pass.”

Luke studied Regis, almost seeming to probe his soul. While Regis felt out of his league trying to push a man who had already thrown him around like a rag doll, he forced himself to hold Luke’s gaze. He could tell that Luke was grappling with something. Regis did not need to be a Jedi Master to know that Luke was trying to reconcile the fact that Regis was a stormtrooper… as well as an honorable man who had put his life on the line for him.

“Okay,” said Luke. “If my friend on Mustafar can’t help us come up with a peaceful solution, then we do things your way… Sergeant.”