BOOK 0 - Heart

CHAPTER I - A Little More Heart

Sullust, Residential Area; 9 ABY

On Sullust the people live in caves, preferring the darkness of the underground to the harshness and danger that light, and the surface world, brought. For on this volcanic, barren world, light meant fire. Light meant destruction and loss. Light was the enemy.

It was on this world that the Society of Shadows descended.

Once known as Clan Ar'Kell of the Dark Brotherhood, the proud clan had defected with their Grand Master, Crona, forming the Society of Shadows. This new, secret society, like the Brotherhood before it, had joined forces with one of the factions of the Imperial Remnant, the New Imperium, and using intel gained from this merger, they proceeded through the twisting alleys of the subterranean cities of Sullust. As the group of hooded figures glid across the rocky pathways, they split up in pairs, searching. 

Stopping outside of homes, they pressed themselves close to their front doors, feeling out through the Force. There had been reports of a Sullustan child with a high midichlorian count, a report that the New Imperium's spies had been able to seize before it got to the New Jedi Order, or countless other Force-based organizations and interested governments. The only problem was discerning where in this section of labyrinth the child was.

To their surprise, their search would be brought to a halt when their target came to them.

"[Is this what you're looking for?]" A Sullustan woman stepped out of a nearby home, speaking in her native tongue, a baby in her arms.

One of the members, a Bothan, pulled off his hood, approaching the woman, his gaze flickering between her and the child as he responded in fluid Sullustese. "[Yes. Are you giving him to us?]" He seemed puzzled. The Bothan had expected that they would be snatching the child from his crib, wrenching him from his mother's arms. 

"Take him."

The Sullustan had been married once, to a man who was Force-sensitive, a Jedi, and the child was the result of that union. But before the baby was even born, the man returned to Jedi Order, and out of a sense of duty, he died on the battlefield. She loved him once, but now she hated the man who abandoned her and her child, and she hated the Order he stood for, and she hated the child who reminded her of him.

Light was the enemy.

CHAPTER II - A Little More Soul

Tatooine, Dune Sea, SoH Waystation; 10 ABY — A few days afterward

The winds of Tatooine whipped wildly, spraying sand across the Dune Sea in a massive, rolling storm. The twin suns above were only barely visible in the shifting wall of sand, and yet they seemed to beat down more mercilessly than ever, their heat increased in the windstorm. No one would ever expect to find anyone out here, yet even in this desolation, life was found, and outside what appeared to be a moisture farm, a small figure stood waiting.

Across from the figure was a ship, and stepping off it was the Bothan, the Sullustan child in his arms. Stooping down to the figures height, the Bothan presented the child, and the three headed deep into the moisture farm. Once inside, the figure pulled off her hood, revealing her form, an Aleena standing at less than a meter's height. Excitedly, and with a wide grin, she turned the child over in her arms.

The Bothan spoke first, speaking in Basic. "I trust he will suffice?, Ai"

"Yes, he will! But some adjustments will have to be made." 

The Bothan wrinkled his nose. Like all Aleena, Ai spoke in an annoying, grating voice. But what really had him bothered was the mention of "adjustments". 

"What do you mean?", He asked, somewhat cautiously.

"I won't have a child who is much too taller than me, so I will make an adjustment." Carrying the child over to a medical table, she began to search through its equipment. "Sullustans are naturally predisposed to being short, so it will be a small adjustment." Ai laughed at her own joke, and the Bothan cringed.

Turning away from the scene, the Bothan scanned the room. It looked like the average home of a farmer's family, but in truth, the location was to serve as a waystation for members of the Society of Shadows, a base for anyone passing through the system. All around this room was a number of secret alcoves, hiding caches of equipment and credits, and he noted the location of each of them. But as he continued to look around, movement caught his eye; there was a Twi'lek girl in the corner, not much older than the Sullustan.

"Who is she?"

Ai raised her head, talking as she worked with a syringe, filling it with a viscous fluid. "She is Tai Liuzhu, and she is yours, Li. No adjustments for her, if you wish." She looked back down at the Sullustan on the table. "An will be mine."

Liuzhu? Ai, Li, Tai, and An? Of course, leave it to an Aleena to come up with the most annoying names possible. Still, the Bothan, 'Li', could offer no protest, this was the mission assigned to him by the Society of Shadows, to disguise himself as a moisture farmer and live on this base, rearing the two children with Ai, while hosting any Society members, and performing local missions. This was more or less what he signed up for, and if 'Liuzhu' was to be his new family name, then so be it. No matter where he was, or what circumstances he was under, Li would wage war against the Brotherhood.