will1@earthling.net Fanged Butterfly Vol. 2: Knightcross Chapter 59 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Marvel's are Marvel's. LFL's are LFL's. Any original characters are mine. The rest belong to their owners/creators. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. WARNING: Violence, language, themes. ------------------------------------------------------ 40 ABY: Bast Castle, Vjun, Outer Rim Territories, Galactic East: ------------------------------------------------------ He ran. #Stangit ...# Jacen thought - he was just a kid, why'd HE get stuck fighting his uncle's crazy Sith ex-girlfriend?! A bookcase had slid aside when the boy had torn away old, probably priceless, flimsiplast volumes, and one had leaned toward the teen to open the secret door; then he'd raced down through tunnels, and into what had to be caves. The hiss of Lumiya's lightwhip helped quicken his pace. "Little geneling ... come, little construct. You've no hope; let me end this, and I will make it quick," the cyborg teased Jacen, as they ran into a room full of what he guessed were stasis pods ... he wasn't a mechanic. He missed Jaya and even Ani ... Jacen yelped when he bumped into one of the pods, and didn't feel even a faint trace of life; most of these people were DEAD. Almost. There were two ... some guy older than Jacen, dressed like some Jedi from millennia ago, and a Snivvian ... Then Lumiya cut the power cables above their cells, and the pods opened - Jacen rolled, and tried to Force-push the cyborg - she moved. A little. #I'm no good without Jaina. Even Anakin'd do better ...# Jacen groaned inside - but then the Jedi and the Snivvian MOVED?! They WERE alive, and the kid mumbled something, "... Jarael?" "ZAYNE! No time - help the kid - we've got - OK, TROUBLE!" the Snivvian yelled - kind of archaic sounding, Jacen thought, he HAD learned something from Threepio's dumb lectures on ancient dialects - and the Snivvian and Zayne leapt away from Lumiya. "Lord Vader's hobbies always were - OW!" Lumiya yelled, when Jacen grabbed a power cable her lightwhip had cut loose and threw it at her with the Force - ZRRAPPPP She dropped, twitching, and Jacen tried to relax, as the Snivvian and Zayne smiled. "Thanks," the Snivvian said, shaking Jacen's hand. "Marn Hierogryph." "Jacen Solo. How'd you and Zayne end up in my grandfather's basement?" Jacen asked, watching as Zayne lit his saber, a yellow one, and did a few moves - then fell, his saber flying, and it fried the door control to the stairs into Bast Castle. Well, Jacen hadn't wanted to go back INTO the castle ... "No idea. We were fighting Mandos at Althir, and one of our commanders made a noise about dragging Zayne and our friend Jarael to Malachor V, but the Revanchist wasn't amused ... next thing I knew, we woke up here," Marn said - and Jacen blinked; Althir and Malachor were battles from the - "Wait. You were fighting in the MANDALORIAN WARS? We're talking, 4,000 some YEARS ago?!" Jacen gasped, while Zayne retrieved his lightsaber. "'Fought' is such a ... loaded word. I'm a freelance supplier of various goods. In the case of the Revanchist's forces, food supplies. Zayne ... OK, he's a terrible Jedi. Great kid, don't get me wrong, but terrible Jedi," Marn said - and Zayne almost ... pouted. He kind of reminded Jacen of Anakin, but Jacen didn't SAY that; Zayne must've been 20-something, older than Jacen, and Jacen wasn't gonna insult a Jedi from the Old Republic. (And Ani wasn't THAT bad a pest ...) "4,000 YEARS? Kark. What can we do? I mean, if everyone we knew is dead ..." Zayne gulped - and then someone touched Jacen's mind - and he gulped. "We gotta GO! The guy who I think was holding me prisoner - he's HERE! C'mon!" the boy blurted, and Zayne and Gryph followed him. Maybe they'd steal Lumiya's ship ... Jacen hoped. He missed Jaya ... ------------------------------------------------------------------ DAMNIT! #She woke the clone. The boy wasn't supposed to be some kind of damn Palpatine-ripoff clone body; he was a safeguard in case *I* died,# Jacen - the original, the adult - seethed as he stormed through Bast Castle ... He'd taken over the fortress as much out of a favor to Luke - when they were still on the same side, before he'd had that horrific vision on Lumiya's asteroid of Luke dying should Nelani live - as for a place close to Hapes, yet far enough off the beaten hyperlanes for privacy. And there were echoes here ... Jacen wondered if he hadn't used this fortress for other purposes, in other timelines. #Focus. The schutta came here expecting to find ... something. Probably some artifact of Vader's. And she lectures me on sentimentality?# Jacen reflected, analyzing the damage in the biolab ... not too bad. Just the missing clone, decanted ... #At the equivalent of when I was 14. Oh, SHAVIT. I was such a whiny PEST then - barely competent as a Padawan. Ben is so much more mature and capable than I was then ... well, hey. I'm not a bad teacher,# Jacen thought ... it was rather prideful, but he wasn't being a good Jedi these days. #Well, the Order needs a swift boot in the shebs. And if it's my jackboot ... well, we all make sacrifices,# Jacen reminded himself. His eyes narrowed as he trailed Lumiya - who was pathetically in pain, honestly, she'd suffered more than even HE had, what kind of Sith WAS she? - into the catacombs; there were all kinds of Sith artifacts and rather disturbing leftovers from Grandfather's era. #Especially the war-droids. Sympathy for what his armor looked like? Anakin peeking out through the Vader persona?# Jacen wondered, igniting his lightsaber to illuminate his path from the shaped metal and stone of the fortress as it transitioned into the planetary crust of Vjun. Something had damaged the lock to the catacombs - the door was easily opened - and Lumiya heaved herself to stand, still smoking. Jacen took in the severed power cable, cast his farsensing back a bit in psychometric mode, and smirked. "My 14-year-old clone - A TEENAGED WHINY BRAT - an unlucky young-adult Padawan fresh out of stasis, and a Force-blind Snivvian made a fool of you?" he taunted, savoring Lumiya's seething. "Arrogant -" Lumiya started - but Jacen had had enough. Of her. Of all that this Sith SHAVIT had cost him. "You and your pathetic manipulations have cost me my family, threatened peace ... driven me to become an outcast. Distracted me with inciting chaos, when order is what is needed. You are such a SAD little thing, Brie - a freak experiment, lust-crazed for any Skywalker who tosses you a scrap," Jacen hissed ... Lumiya SCREAMED - but Jacen didn't even move. He'd learned from more than his esoteric teachers on his Force trek ... and the Horns were admirable for more than their tenacity. The cyborg woman sputtered, her servos and circuits suddenly sapped of electricity - Jacen didn't kill her, just drained her non-essential energies, then converted them to a lightball with a Dathomiri "spell," and shut down his lightsaber. She fell on her face, and he rolled her over - she shouldn't suffocate. "It would be a Sith apprentice who would kill you now, I believe. But I am a poor Sith ... and you can't do any more harm. Not here. By the time you recover, I'll be far away from here ..." Jacen sighed - and he let Lumiya see how much he'd disappointed her. "YOU LET NELANI *LIVE*?!" she managed to SHRIEK - such VENOM! Jacen smiled - no, he wasn't so Jedi after all, enjoying humiliating the treacherous schutta. "What, you think I'm stupid enough to TRUST a Sith acolyte on a dark-side asteroid when she'd been playing with illusions? That vision of myself versus Luke depending on Nelani's life or death could have been faked," he said. He growled as he added, "And you threatened Ben. SCHUTTA." His beskar-toed boot caught her in a fleshy part of her torso, and her gaspy grunt brought a dark smile to Jacen's lips ... no, he was no good Jedi. Even if Nelani was alive in stasis underneath GAG HQ. But he was human. Maybe moreso than he'd been in some time. And for that, he let Lumiya live. #Now, whatever to do about my clone ...# Jacen wondered as he left. ---------------------------------------------------------------- One standard galactic week later: New Alderaan, Core Worlds: ---------------------------------------------------------------- The emergency call had been as short as it had been frightening: "General, Mrs. Celchu has been critically injured. Your son is missing." Tycho thanked the Force that he hadn't been sent to the front lines - that the war everybody feared hadn't erupted yet - he'd been packing at the New Aldera Militia HQ when his comlink had lit up. Gossip traveled fast in a small, close-knit circle of warrior-brothers like those found among the descendants of Alderaan's survivors; a cadet had offered Tycho his swoop bike. Tycho was infintely grateful. Tycho blazed up in front of his home - AlderSec forces were swarming the place, and - to both his surprise and gratitude - so was Tyria Sarkin-Tainer, a former (no - forever) member of Wraith Squadron, and a Jedi Knight and friend. Her husband, Kell, was there too ... and - Cilghal. The Mon Calamari Jedi Master, the Order's expert healer. Winter was as white as her hair, wrapped in bacta bandages and lying on a stretcher, as Cilghal's Force energies literally visibly poured into her. The Mon Cal gave Tycho a nod, letting him kneel beside Winter, and said, "Tyria had a vision - we believe this was not a random act." "A man - his HANDS, like claws - didn't hurt Tace, but took him - Tycho, FIND him, PLEASE. Ask - ask Jacen - I know he's thuggish, but - KAFF -" Winter whispered ... Tycho squeezed her hand, and he looked at Cilghal. "I'd best put her under. She was stabbed ... as if by claws. Many times," Cilghal said - and if SHE was trying to remain calm ... The other medics lifted Winter's stretcher into the medispeeder, and Cilghal left with them, while Tyria walked over, Kell's arm around her shoulders. "Tycho - I'm sorry. I just - we came as quick as we could, but many of the Jedi have been ... clouded, until just recently," Tyria tried to explain. "You probably saved her. Whatever help you've given - thank you, Tyria. How's Doran?" Tycho asked - his friends' son was a Knight himself, now, about the same age as Valin Horn, the son of Corran Horn, a former Rogue. Tyria looked ... uncomfortable, but Kell tried to smile. "Out getting into trouble. He and Valin left with Kettch the Ewok and other young Knights to help Wedge and Iella - Myri was hauled off a few days ago by CorSec for fighting Thrackan. They even left the Order ... well, Valin did," Kell said. "The others had BETTER have left the Order. The last thing we need with Luke and the Solos missing is for Corellia screaming that the Jedi went off and started open warfare with the Five Brothers, even if Thrackan deserves it," Tyria said, and Tycho sympathized with the worry in her tone ... She managed a weak smile, then squeezed Tycho's hand. "Hey. We'll get Tace back. I've swept the place - I've got a mental signature on the maniac who attacked Winter. And Tace has a strong Force-aura," Tyria said - but that just made Tycho freeze. "Tace is Force-sensitive?" he asked, and Tyria raised an eyebrow. "You didn't know? I'm surprised Winter didn't say anything - she'd be able to pick out a Force-strong child, having practically raised the Solo kids," Tyria replied, growing concerned as Tycho paled. "The Solo kids. Oh ... oh, it's all so OBVIOUS now - listen, do you still have access to the Jedi Temple medical files? Genescans, especially?" Tycho asked, leading his friends into the house ... and recoiling at how much blood was on the living room carpet. Kell put a hand on Tycho's shoulder, and a look passed between them ... "She'll make it. Cilghal said the stab wounds were surgical, almost; whoever did this wanted Winter to live long enough to send a message," Kell said. Tycho just nodded, then went into his and Winter's bedroom. He tried not to look into Tace's - the sight of the colorful, snubfighter decorated room caused a lump to form in his throat - #If he knew, would he want to leave ...?# Tycho couldn't help but think. NO. Who had been there for Tace's first steps, words, simulator ride? #He's my son. Mine and Winter's. I don't care what ... others ... say, what tests show,# Tycho vowed, getting a lock of Tace's hair from Winter's locket on her dresser, then returning to Tyria and Kell in the kitchen. Nobody wanted to be in the living room, with all that blood. Tycho gave the hair to Tyria, who scanned it with her datapad ... and she gasped, her jaw dropping, a moment later, at the result. "It's - NO! Tycho, how is this POSSIBLE?! Tace's -" she whispered, and Kell's eyes bulged when he read over her shoulder. Tycho's voice was as cold as space as he replied, "He's my son, and Winter's. "Jacen Solo can kriff himself. Come on - let's get Tace back. And teach whoever did this that the older the Rogues get, the DEADLIER we get." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Presidential Palace, Coronet, Corellia: ------------------------------------------------------------------- The infiltration had taken a week to set up. Kolir Hul'ya, the team's female Bothan, had posed as a infochant, wooing Thrackan Sal-Solo's contacts with the growing movement among Bothawui's dissatisfied ruling families to leave the Galactic Alliance ... and getting updated layouts on Thrackan's fortress. Apparently, the old man had been held captive at a CorSec safehouse compromised by the ... Skrulls ... the GAG had been hunting; he'd tricked one of the dumber of his captors into letting him go to the refresher alone. CorSec had thus ended up with a half-dozen Skrull corpses for study. Nobody said Thrackan was an idiot, or slow on the vibroblade, no matter his age. Thann Mithric, the team's male Falleen, used his pheromones and decidedly non-Jedi wiles to convince Thrackan's ... lady friends ... to talk about his new prisoner. Fortunately, Thrackan was no less suicidal politically than he was in his personal security. Myri Antilles was far more valuable alive as a bargaining chip against her parents' leaving for the Alliance - or some third-party seeking to use the war for their own motives. And Tiu Zax, the team's blue-skinned Omwati female, was stealthy enough to sneak into Thrackan's compound, set up loopholes in the security grid, and get out again ... that left Valin and Doran to wait. And their trump card. In the end, it was the Toydarian take-out deliveryman disguises that got them inside; Kolir and Thann had already bargained or connived their way into the place. Not in Thrackan's presence; he was a human chauvenist, but also pragmatic enough to have nunhumans do his dirty work. Literally dirty - laundry, etc. Tiu, with barely a trace of ego, had just hidden in the service tunnels. After drugging the ysalamiri, fortunately. After Centerpoint, Thrackan had learned to watch for Jedi. "Ah, Toydarian take-out! Welcome, gentlemen," Thrackan - a slightly more polished, white-haired, moustachioed version of Han Solo - said from his throne - Valin was disgusted, the man had a DAIS. With his girlfriends of the moment wearing ... little. It was ... Huttlike. And so hypocritical that when Valin and Doran offloaded the big box of "Toydarian stir-fry," Valin almost smirked ... "Choke on THIS, Sal-Solo," Doran sneered - as the door to the slicers' den exploded with a violet lightbeam, and Kolir cut her way into the main audience chamber. Thann - surrounded by rather smiling, bemused guards - strolled in, his green blade twirling deceptively lazily. And Tiu Zax just popped out of a service conduit, her blue blade swinging into guard position as Valin and Doran pulled off their bad fake moustaches and lit their own "hydrospanners." Thrackan ... applauded. "Very nice performance, gentlemen, ladies," he drawled ... and Valin felt relieved, if worried, when Myri - rainbow hair and all, wearing thankfully a tasteful black jumpsuit, apparently intact - was hauled out of an antechamber, cursing and kicking, by two guards. Wearing masks, so Thann's pheromones were useless ... and 20 guards, with blasters and masks, burst in, ringing the rebel Jedi. "And I have olfactory blockers, so you, Mr. Falleen Jedi - is that even LEGAL? It's almost over the top - are out of luck. I'm a Solo. A wicked, lustful, election-twisting Solo with a sense of DRAMA, so please - you kids did well, but you're done. But I'm always up for a challenge ... and I might not kill you, if the stir-fry is good," Thrackan taunted as the guards disarmed Valin and his friends. Two of the guards hefted the huge box of stir-fry up the dais, and Thrackan rubbed his hands - one of his girlfriends gave him a fork - and the flimsiplast package popped open. To reveal a stir-fry covered, brown-furred Ewok. "KETTCH!" Myri cheered. "Myri!" Kettch cheered back - then growled at Thrackan. Thrackan cackled, and asked, "Don't Ewoks eat THEIR enemies?" Kettch growled, "Yub. Let Myri go. Take stir-fry instead." "You, sir, are a TEDDY BEAR! I do NOT negotiate with TEDDY BEARS!" Thrackan bellowed ... and Valin sighed. Thrackan was going to be difficult ... "YUB!" Kettch yelped back - and he lit his green lightsaber. Thrackan at least had the sense to LOOK scared. "I think ... negotations before dinner," he offered. ------------------------------------------------------------- Queen Mother's Palace, Hapes, Hapes Consortium, Inner Rim Territories: ------------------------------------------------------------- She couldn't sleep. #It is as if something tugs at my heart,# Tenel Ka worried, pacing near the hallway to Allana's room for what felt like the hundredth time that night. But the Force was rippling - as if someone close to Tenel Ka was in terrible danger, and that same haunting fear was stalking Allana ... It was ridiculous, of course; Allana was well-protected, both by Tenel Ka's loyal guards, and four of the Queen Mother's closest Jedi friends - the Barabel Tesar Sebatyne, the Chadra-Fan Tekli, and the human men, Zekk and Ganner Rhysode. Still ... Tenel Ka headed down the hall; she would do what she needed to in order to quell rumors of her "overprotectiveness" toward her 5-year-old daughter. Then she smelled the burning. As if ... DeeDee, Allana's Defender Droid and nanny, lay sliced apart in the doorway to Allana's playroom - fresh cuts. Tenel Ka's heart clenched - those were lightsaber marks - and the Force was rippling HERE. Alien - warped - she lit her rancor-tooth lightsaber at a shadow in shadows, nearing Allana's bedroom, and leapt - a familiar, horrible male cry rang out, and the lights came on at Tenel Ka's Force-push of the switch. "ZEKK?!" she sobbed - the cut had destroyed his left kidney - but as he fell, he CHANGED, his skin turning GREEN, his chin, wrinkled, and his ears, pointed - then a stun bolt from Allana's bedroom caught the Queen, and she couldn't deflect enough of it to stay standing. "Mama?!" Allana cried - and another of those strange aliens ran off with her daughter, turning into a THRANTA - and flying off, as Tenel Ka tried to reach her ... All she could think, as she blacked out, was: Jacen had warned her. -------------------------------------------------------------- Korriban: Valley of the Dark Lords: -------------------------------------------------------------- /What do we know of these strange invaders?/ the ... presence, in the stasis pod rumbled, his power its own statement in the Force. As new as she was to this - taking what she wanted, THAT was nothing new, it had been her adolescence - the woman once known as Marie LaVonne could draw clear parallels between her existence as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants' mind-sifting power-drainer and her Sith identity as Darth Rogue. There was a hierarchy. But acceptance, also - danger, certainly, weakness earned punishment, maybe even death, but contributions to the well-being of the group earned respect. #And Lord Krayt's a might more impressive than Mystique was,# Rogue reflected ... she squelched her sorrow. Killing Raven Darkholme, her foster mother and the last tie to her old life ... well, except for Marie's son Charles, but he was beyond her reach ... had been painful. Sith strengthened themselves through sacrifice and pain, though. The holocron of Darth Malak had made that clear ... and Rogue was so far beyond draining others' minds. Had been since she'd been 18, and Magneto had changed her powers to magnetokinesis. Metal, steel, ferrous alloys were her playthings; other substances, to a lesser degree, thanks to the gravitokinesis that accompanied her powers. The Force ... Marie had always thought it a joke, an aspect of the movies. But she knew better now. Knew that her ability to drain knowledge had been but part of her true potential. That mutancy was a pathway to abilities some considered to be ... of a galaxy far, far away. #'Cept it ain't. I'm here, accepted, not one of two, always at risk ... but part of something bigger, worthier, than anything the X-Men could offer. I'll have my revenge,# Rogue thought, as she knelt before Krayt's stasis pod, and his Chagrian aide, Darth Wyyrlok, returned her bow. "Ah have fought these Skrulls, my Lord. What knowledge ah possess, ah shall share with One Sith, so that we may use it to hasten the downfall of the Jedi," Rogue said. And then maybe she could get back to her other pastime here ... who knew Luke Skywalker's clone was so fun in bed? "White Eyes" just winked ... and despite their fun ... Rogue shivered. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Galactic Anti-Skrull Guard Headquarters, Coruscant, Core Worlds: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Jysella Horn might be only 19, but she wasn't stupid. She wasn't nearly as respected as Jacen Solo's aide-de-camp in GAG wasn't as Ben Skywalker had been. And it was pretty stanging obvious ... sure, there were female troopers. Plenty, in fact. But where Ben had been a "kid brother" to people like Lon Shevu, Jori Lekauf, and Garson Wirut ... and the guys DID treat Jysella with respect, if rather at a distance ... most of the other female troopers considered Jysella ... #They think I'm a kriff-toy. If Jacen DID look at me like that, it might almost make the crap I've faced so far - the stink-eyes, the whispers, the lack of invites to after-raid drinks - worth it. Worth leaving the Jedi,# Jysella said, finishing closing her locker after dressing for the day - there was Patra Tebut. A lieutenant, like Jysella supposedly was - and one of the few women who tried to be friendly, so Jysella smiled back. "Hey ... the girls and I've been talking. Some of them get that they've been ... schutta-mouthing you. It's not why you might think, either," Patra advised, and Jysella nodded - she was mature enough to listen to advice. "It's ... it's the Jedi thing. The powers - when Ben did it, it was cute. He was a kid, trying to fit in, and then he proved himself, and you know how guys are - tougher they act, the more they bond. Where you ..." Patra trailed off, looking embarrassed ... and Jysella blushed. "They think I got my position just because of my Force powers. Patra, believe me, being Jedi is something I'm trying to FORGET. The older Knights and Masters are acting like they just woke up from a fog, and the Council's on the verge of fracturing over what to do with Jacen -" Jysella said - she wasn't betraying the Order; Girdun's Intel spooks could figure THAT much out from the comlink taps on the Temple. Then an anguished - HOWL - of RAGE, POURED over the PA - the women shared a horrified look, and ran for the offices. That had been JACEN. And as awful as he sounded aloud ... the Force was black as night around him, and Jysella quaked. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "Sir -" Shevu tried to calm Jacen - Jacen ignored him. Objects danced in the air, a telekinetic whirlwind filling his office ... Girdun's report had been Hoth-ice-clear: Skrulls had taken Jacen's kids. "GET ME ALL NON-ASSIGNED PERSONNEL. We FIND these children - and we PUBLICLY *BUTCHER* the Skrulls involved! Yes, BUTCHER! Get me the Galactic City Market - and the med division, I want to know if Skrull is edible!" Jacen ROARED - OK, now that was just stupid. He calmed down, carefully setting the items down ... and Shevu, also. "My apologies, Captain. It's just - children. Innocent children ... these Skrull scum have NO morals. None," Jacen snarled, as Shevu closed the door and gave him an ... insightful ... look. "Sir ... forgive me for asking, but ... the Chume'da Allana, and Tace Celchu ... they are both connected to important women in your life. The girl, the daughter of your ... close friend, the Queen Mother of Hapes ... and the boy, the adopted son of Winter, your nanny," Shevu probed ... Jacen was acutely aware of Shevu's level of access to the DNA files. "You know," he said - matter-of-factly; Shevu was no fool. And he was one of the few people in GAG whom Jacen truly trusted. Sympathy crossed Shevu's face as he stopped at the door, and said, "And only I will, sir. I ... can understand, why you gave the boy up." "Thank you, Captain. Please, rally our forces," Jacen said, and Shevu saluted, racing out the door ... That was when Jacen's comlink rang, and he muttered, "Yes?" "The Works. One hour. ALONE. Or your children die. Your interference is over, Vader Lite," a taunting, icy voice rasped. "You - fine," Jacen snarled, ignoring the dark chuckle on the other end. Fools. Ysalamiri, snipers - whatever the trap was - would fail. He was beyond Jedi OR Sith. The Force was his great shield. And shields could bash skulls - or Skrulls - as well as protect. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Nirauan, Outer Rim: Galactic North: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Han finished the pre-flight check - the flight from Earth to the Fel estate had only taken a day, thanks to Pellaeon's updated charts, and they'd needed the rest Soontir and Wyn had kindly offered, after the craziness on Earth ... everyone was on edge, about facing Jacen again. He turned as Leia, looking scared, signed off of her commcall with Face Loran, of Wraith Squadron. "The Rogues and Wraiths are asking for help - someone's kidnapped Tace after attacking Winter. And Allana's been taken also - by some nonhuman that matches the description Ben gave of Skrulls. They're meeting on Coruscant," she said from the comsuite. "Stangit," Han breathed, nodding when Chewie powered up the systems, and Luke ducked his head into the cockpit - he'd been in the refresher at the Fels for a little long. Han hoped everything was OK. "We're strapped in in back. Leia - we'll rescue the twins," Luke promised, and Han thanked his brother-in-law for his confidence as the Falcon launched. Weird, though - Luke's eyes looked ... kind of white, at an angle. --------------------------------------------------------------------- tbc ...