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Reconciliation
By : LexiLupin
Category: Star Wars (All) > AU - Alternate Universe
Views: 3594 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars; I make no money.
Chapter List
- 1-Reconciliation
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-Part 10
- 11-Part 11
- 12-Part 12
- 13-Epilogue
- 6
- 7
- 8
Part VII
"I sense that something has… gone wrong for my friends, Master Skywalker."
Luke glanced down at the stoic, Dathomiri-Hapan girl and found her attention fixed up at the sky, where they anticipated the sleek shuttle-craft to be descending soon. "Yes," he murmured, "I have been sensing a certain amount of distress from Jacen and Jaina for some time; and now I'm beginning to pick up on it from Lowie as well."
"Strange," Tenel Ka said evenly. "I have only felt Jacen's and Lowbacca's uneasiness."
The Jedi Master nodded resignedly. "I'm afraid that what I sense from Jaina is more… inward. I think she's…" he wanted to say in a healing trance, but that didn't really feel right, "drawing in on herself."
The two of them had arrived with Kyle Katarn only an hour or so prior; they had felt Jacen's entreaties to return to Yavin while mid-jump between Kashyyyk- where this Shadow Academy had just completed staging a raid for which Katarn had luckily been present- and Dathomir, where the next line of investigation seemed to be pointing them. In fact, Luke had been most hopeful of gaining access to the Shadow Academy, using Tenel Ka's Dathomiri roots to locate the Nightsisters who had apparently been present during the Kashyyyk raid. Once they had discussed it and been convinced that the missing trio had escaped, they dropped out of hyperspace at a safe point and re-calculated to return to Yavin- conveniently located between Kashyyyk and Dathomir, and therefore, a fast jump for them.
Han, Leia, and Chewbacca, unfortunately, would not arrive for another day or two, coming all the way from Coruscant.
"I sense a fourth presence aboard the shuttle," Tenel Ka continued after a moment. Luke turned to her in surprise, but then Master Katarn approached and voiced his agreement.
"I did as well," he peered up and they could see the glint of the craft reflecting in the bright sunlight.
Luke frowned, reaching up… and felt the presence, but it was subdued and unfamiliar and… cold.
"It is… familiar to me, Masters. Though I am unable to determine the identity."
"Familiar?" Katarn looked at her, skeptical. "Strange- I thought I recognized it too." Now Luke was very confused, wondering what being unfamiliar to him would be acquainted with both Tenel Ka and Kyle Katarn. "Master Skywalker, have we considered the possibility that this may be a trap of sorts?"
He had, actually, but he shrugged. "Yes. But Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie are certainly aboard that craft either way, and I don't sense any sort of warning from them…"
"Just… disquiet."
"Fact."
The trio watched in mildly disturbed silence while the shuttle made its final descent to the landing pad in the clearing nearest the temple. It was a sleek little thing, of obviously new and state-of-the-art design, and Luke allowed himself a moment to be surprised and impressed that they managed to make away with such a vessel. As it settled down in the clearing, Luke, Tenel Ka, and Katarn strode forward, hands shielding their faces from the dust still being kicked up from the repulsorjets.
When the ramp descended and no one immediately appeared, Luke led the way up into the ship, the other two flanking him from behind. He made to turn to go to the rear of the ship, where he sensed Jacen and Jaina, when a lone figure emerged from the cockpit, causing him to stop in surprise.
He stared; Tenel Ka started forward; Katarn drew his lightsaber and put a restraining hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Friend Zekk!" she exclaimed in a more inflective tone than Luke could ever recall her using.
He started in surprise. "Zekk?" he asked, peering at the dark-haired, green-eyed teen who he'd heard much about but never met. "Han and Leia will be glad to hear you're alright, they were so worried after the raid on Coruscant that you'd been captured… they spent weeks looking for you."
The boy in question looked down, a shadow crossing over his face. Luke frowned in consternation, taking in Tenel Ka's confusion at his behavior, Katarn's immediate suspicion… and then was distracted when the sound of approaching footsteps drew his attention.
"Uncle Luke," Jacen said in relief, tinged with worry. "Tenel Ka, Master Katarn… it's a relief to see you all again, but I'm afraid we have more pressing matters at hand than pleasantries…" Luke peered down the short corridor and saw Lowie emerge with a large black bundle in his arms. It wasn't until Katarn started forward, biting back an exclamation, that his mind registered that it was Jaina that he carried. Katarn eased her from the young wookiee's arms. "She needs the med center right away," Jacen said quickly. "She slipped into unconsciousness yesterday and we haven't been able to pull her out of it."
Luke quickly approached the concerned Master and his limp niece, touching a hand to her face and reaching out for her… and quickly cringing against the dark turmoil raging inside her mind. "Go," he ordered Katarn. "We'll follow shortly." The Jedi Master obeyed, taking even but long strides across the landing field before disappearing through the small opening that tunneled into the lowest levels of the temple.
As they descended the shuttle ramp, Luke took in as much as he could; first, that it was Zekk who smoothly operated the ramp once they were down; second, that Lowie, relieved of his burden, remained within arm's length and wary of the other boy; third, that beneath Jacen's impatience to continue on to the med center to be with Jaina lay a cold, barely suppressed anger that Luke had never sensed in his nephew before; fourth, that Zekk glanced about uncomfortably, hands unconsciously fiddling with something attached around his right wrist.
"What's this?" Luke asked quietly, reaching out for Zekk's arm.
"Don't," Jacen snapped, and Luke looked at him in surprise; Jacen looked mildly chagrined. "I'm sorry, Uncle… but there will be time for explanations later, I need to be with my sister, and Zekk needs to come to the med center with me."
"Oh?" Luke turned again and eyed the uncomfortable boy in surprise and concern. "Are you injured?"
Lowie let out a low growl in the back of his throat and Jacen laughed derisively. "No, unless I broke his nose."
"Then why…?"
"Because with Jaina unconscious, Zekk is the only one in a position to tell the healers exactly what her assorted injuries are."
"I… see. And that would be because…?"
"Because I inflicted them."
Luke stared at the dark-haired boy sadly, lips pursed. His gaze drifted once more to the device around Zekk's wrist, and he reached out, trying to get a sense of what it was… and then he understood, and he kept his surprise at bay that Zekk had Jedi-potential and the twins hadn't realized, in light of his concern for Jaina and his sad resignation of what Jacen was saying. "Not captured then?" he asked softly. "Recruited?"
Zekk looked at the ground a moment before meeting the Jedi Master's gaze determinedly. "If they can offer you enough- then they're really one and the same, aren't they?"
Luke fought from recoiling against the swell of dark emotions rising in the young man, and instead gestured them all forward. "Come, then. We'll discuss this later."
X-X-X-X
He led Jacen out of the ward half an hour later, an arm around his shoulders, leaving Zekk behind to talk with the healers- under the supervision of Kyle Katarn, whose automatic suspicion of Zekk was beginning to make a little more sense.
"Zekk took part in the raid on Kashyyyk, didn't he?" Luke queried his nephew quietly as he steered him towards a small, quiet meditation room where they could talk alone while they awaited an analysis of Jaina's condition.
Jacen sighed heavily. "He led it, I think he said on the way here."
"Master Katarn was there, I think he recognized Zekk." His nephew nodded in understanding but remained silent as they entered the room and Luke closed the door behind them. "Jacen," he peered closely into the boy's eyes, "I sense a lot of anger in you right now."
Brown eyes met blue, and Luke read a whole plethora of painful emotions swirling in them. "I know," Jacen finally muttered. "I've been trying to fight it… for Jaina, to prove to Brakiss that he was wrong, that I couldn't be turned…" his breath shuddered violently. "But I just… I told Zekk what would happen, and he wouldn't listen."
"What do you mean?" Luke frowned.
"It's… complicated. It was obvious early on that Brakiss was manipulating Zekk, using our friendship to cull his resentment towards us, towards the Jedi. And I think Brakiss thought that using Zekk to hurt Jaina would hurt her more than… what they'd already tried to do," he mumbled uncomfortably.
Taking a deep breath, forcing himself to remain cool and calm, Luke asked, "Did it?"
Jacen hesitated. "Yes," he finally decided. "She withdrew the first time, forced herself to break our connection, pulled herself into a trance… but it didn't really work, because…" he winced, "I think because Zekk's heart wasn't really in it. He thought he was mad at her, thought he wanted her to suffer… but I think he's starting to understand just how manipulated he was by Brakiss, and that's tearing him apart more inside than he already was."
"How did he come to realize that?"
Now looking distinctly uncomfortable, Jacen turned away, staring at the wall. "They came back for us, put those impulse cuffs on us, and when Zekk started to use Force-lightning on me, Jaina demanded that they leave me alone, that… if they'd remove my cuff, she'd willingly submit to Zekk's torture in my place. Brakiss was… delighted, and he separated us, and sent Jaina off, forced her to stay in Zekk's quarters across the ship where he could get at her whenever he wanted. Zekk… claims that it wasn't his idea, that he had never wanted it to happen."
"You don't believe him?"
"Uncle Luke, I'm so furious with Zekk, I don't know what to believe of him anymore."
Luke sighed but nodded, relieved that, if nothing else, Jacen could at least see his own ire, and was consciously attempting to suppress it. "So he took her away… what happened?"
"I told Zekk that he was being played, that the whole ploy was to make him irrevocably evil, that Brakiss would push and push until he'd done as much damage as Jaina could handle- and that he would then order him to kill her. He laughed at me, told me that he would do as he pleased with or without Brakiss' say-so… and at first, it seemed like maybe I was wrong. Over the next…" he hesitated. "Week or two? Ten days maybe? He seemed to be hurting her less, but he was becoming… cruel and manipulative… in other ways, less obvious ways. He would put her on edge, make her uncomfortable by… making her sleep in his bed, that sort of thing, but he never really touched her…"
"He lulled her into a false sense of security?" Luke guessed, stomach clenching uneasily, beginning to see where this was leading.
Jacen frowned, thoughtful. "From what Zekk says- which isn't much, he's very confused… I'm not sure that he understood what Brakiss wanted of him. But then, Brakiss finally played his trump card, told Zekk that he had failed, that he was giving up on turning us to the dark side…"
"And from the person who gave Zekk everything, it was an unbearable criticism," Luke finished quietly.
Dejectedly, trying to force the memory of that painful night from his mind, Jacen nodded. "He vowed to break her and…" he hesitated. "I think had he tried to do so through brute force, she would have been alright. Hurt, afraid, damaged, yes, but I don't think she would have just retreated into herself like this."
"What did he do then?" Luke frowned.
"I… wasn't able to talk to her about it, but according to Zekk… he gave her a very simple choice- that he would rape her and hurt her when she resisted him; or that she could cooperate and he would try not to hurt her, and he would let her take off the bracelet, give her full access to the Force again."
Luke leaned heavily back against the wall and exhaled sharply. "I take it this did… not happen as planned?"
"He took off her bracelet and, when he could fully feel her again in the Force, it… I think it hurt him, to see how repulsive he had become to her, and he lashed out at her, put the cuff back on, beat her, raped her… and she feels utterly betrayed, because he let her think she had a choice in it, and then he reneged on his promise anyway. He hurt her out of his own self-hatred, and broke her in doing so, and then Brakiss had what he wanted- and he ordered Zekk to kill her."
"Just like you told him he would."
"Yes," Jacen muttered bitterly. "And he snapped, he realized what he had become, what Brakiss had tricked him into, and he determined to sneak us off the ship and sacrifice himself to Brakiss' punishment and, undoubtedly, his own death as his master's hands." Luke raised an inquisitive brow. "Jaina, uh… wouldn't leave him behind. She was really confused and loopy, he'd given her a stim-shot and some sort of pain-reliever just to get her to get up and go with him… and she demanded that it would be un-Jedi-like to just leave him."
Luke shot him a look. "Despite everything… she was probably right."
"I know," Jacen huffed. "That doesn't make it any more… palatable."
"No," Luke concurred. "But unfortunately, that is our lot in life. I just… don't relish the thought of explaining any of this to your parents. They will certainly have a harder time viewing Zekk's crimes as machinations of Brakiss as much as his own choices, which… from what you've said here… I'm beginning to think is the truth of the matter."
"You'd forgive him, just like that?" Jacen demanded.
Luke shook his head. "No," he said softly. "But when dealing with the dark side, it is essential to understand the source of someone's fall. Zekk listened to the manipulations of one man, and hurt a dear friend grievously; when you were young, Kyp Durron listened to the voice of an ancient Sith lord, and killed millions. Can I give Kyp a second chance, and not Zekk? Does the wellbeing of my niece come before the millions of Imperial soldiers and citizens who died when Kyp destroyed the Carida system?"
"I guess not," Jacen muttered. "But I don't know that he wants a second chance. He seemed pretty content to stay and let Brakiss kill him, until Jaina refused to go anywhere without him."
"Zekk will have to come to terms with his own actions first, before we can judge him for them. But let's not worry about that now…" he looked up moments before the door opened, and Kyle Katarn came through, looking slightly apologetic. "Kyle?" Luke asked.
The younger Master took a deep breath. "Master Skywalker, Jacen… I don't really know how to put this… but there's nothing wrong with Jaina."
Jacen stood quickly, eyes flashing. "What do you mean, nothing wrong? She's hurt and…" Luke held up a hand, urging him to be quiet and listen to Katarn.
"My apologies," he said ruefully. "That's not what I meant. What I'm trying to say… her wounds, while they are many and serious, are not causing her inability to wake up. Physically, she's recovering from…" a shadow passed over his face, "a wide range of injuries just fine, according to the healers."
Luke stood as well, nodding grimly and making for the door. "I was afraid of that, when I tried to get a sense of her earlier… it's her emotional trauma that's trapping her in her own mind, I think. She's trying to protect herself from any more, and she's closed herself off to do so."
"But…" Jacen felt hot tears sting his eyes, "she was awake, she was fine…"
Luke shook his head sadly. "Perhaps the horror took longer to fully set in. Perhaps something happened on the flight here…?"
"No," Jacen said, "she was in the med bay… quiet, but awake after she slept off the drugs that Zekk gave her. And then a few hours later, she just… passed out, just told me that she hurt, and the next thing, she was unconscious."
Looks were exchanged around the room before Luke sighed, stepping out into the hallway. "Jacen, you and Lowie should get some rest, and…" he trailed away, looking around. "Kyle, where's Zekk?"
A fast, dark look covered the younger man's features before he suppressed it. "I made him stay to get his own injuries tended."
"Injuries?" Jacen asked, and Luke looked puzzled.
"He came off… slightly worse for wear, after our encounter on Kashyyyk," Katarn admitted. "It's been more than a week, but he hadn't tended them too consistently."
"Alright," Luke put a hand to his head. "Okay. I'm going to see Jaina and talk to the healers; Jacen, your parents should be arriving tomorrow, early, hopefully we'll have more to tell them by then. And Kyle, I'll worry about Zekk from now on… I think he and I are going to have a lot to talk about."
X-X-X-X
Luke ran a weary hand over his face the next morning as he stood with a somber and silent Jacen and a tense Lowbacca, waiting for the Millennium Falcon to touch down.
There had been no change whatsoever in Jaina's condition, and Luke feared for his niece, at a loss for further options to help ease her emotional pain when she wouldn't let any of them past the walls she had constructed around her mind. He hoped that her parents' presence, or that of her younger brother, would accomplish something that Luke's and Jacen's had not, but he sensed his hope was ill-founded; quite simply, she did not want to be touched.
But what would it take for her to recover enough to wake up on her own?
When the ramp lowered, Han was visible before it even fully touched the ground, Leia stepping close to his side. Chewie and Anakin weren't far behind, and the four descended together, eyes alighting on Jacen and Lowie, and Luke could sense their confusion and worry at Jaina's absence. He was sure that Leia and Anakin would have sensed something was wrong by now, but he hadn't wanted to get into it over the comm and so said nothing when they arrived in system, just telling them that he would be waiting for them when they landed.
"Jacen," Leia rushed forward and drew her older son- already much taller than she was- into a fierce hug. Chewie growled softly and clasped his nephew's shoulder, barking soft questions and Lowie responding in kind. Han wasted no time and went right to Luke.
"Where's Jaina?"
Anakin murmured softly beside him, bright blue eyes wide. "She's… hiding…"
Han whirled on his younger son before registering his glassy-eyed look as Anakin felt for Jaina in the Force. "Kid?" he turned shakily back to Luke before drawing Jacen into a quick hug.
Before he replied, Luke nodded quickly towards Jacen and Lowie. Jacen draped an arm around his younger brother and said, "Come on- we're going to go see Jaina." Lowie growled something soft and inquiring towards Chewie and, after sending a confused look back at Han and Leia, the older wookiee followed his nephew.
"Luke…" Leia was pale now as she watched the other four retreat. "What's wrong?"
He took a deep breath. "I want to talk to the two of you- alone- for a few minutes before we go and see Jaina. She's in the med center."
Han sucked in a breath. "Why?" he asked quickly.
"First," Luke held up a hand, "let me say, for whatever it's worth, that physically, she's alright. She's hurt and recovering, but her injuries are healing properly."
"Physically," Leia repeated carefully. "Luke… what did Anakin mean, that 'she's hiding'?"
Luke stopped walking and turned to face his sister and brother-in-law, meeting their eyes in turn. "Han, Leia… while they were en route to Yavin, Jaina dropped into a deep unconsciousness, and she's shielding her mind from all outside factors, as far as we've been able to ascertain. She's suffered some heavy emotional trauma, and this is her way of dealing with it, but… well, she won't wake up."
Silence greeted him, and they stared at him, mouthing wordlessly for a minute. "Emotional trauma?" Han winced. "Luke, what the hell did they do to my baby girl?"
"This will be… difficult to hear," he warned them, cringing inwardly as their own dismay heightened. "But, I talked it over with Jacen, and we agree that it's best if you were made aware of… all of the circumstances now, that you be fully prepared when you go and see her." They just nodded mutely, eyes wide and worried. "Han, Leia… I wonder if you ever realized that Zekk had Force-potential?"
They blinked once or twice each before looking at each other, confused. "Zekk? No. Why?"
"Did they capture him too, after all?" Han asked grimly.
"Yes," Luke said softly. "And Brakiss discovered that Zekk has an extraordinary awareness of the Force; with this knowledge, he was able to manipulate him into serving the Shadow Academy."
Leia frowned. "Zekk? He's so… light-hearted…"
"He rose to the position of their 'Darkest Knight' by winning a duel against another student- a duel to the death, Leia," Luke said somberly. "Brakiss stamped all of his good nature out pretty quickly, and he was able to do it by offering Zekk more than he's had since he was a small boy- power, prestige, belonging…"
Han held up a hand. "That's… rough and all," he said slowly. "But I'm lost as to the relevance of telling me what exactly is wrong with my little girl."
"Getting there," Luke sighed wearily, leading them into a small chamber and sealing the door for privacy. "When Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie were captured, they were separated; the Nightsister, Tamith Kai, took Lowie as her project, feeling that his temper would enable him to embrace the dark side. Brakiss put his energy into converting Jacen and Jaina through… a variety of measures, according to Jacen. He tried hurting them, separating them, pitting them against each other in duels, sensory torture… nothing worked. They remained strong and defiant, and bolstered one another's strengths through their bond and their love, not through anger.
"So Brakiss tried a new approach. By now, apparently unbeknownst to the twins, he had trained Zekk into a powerful asset… and he began to foment a sense of resentment in Zekk, at the unfairness of his life, convinced him that Jacen and Jaina had been mocking him for years, had purposefully hidden the truth of his Jedi-potential… and he encouraged Zekk to direct that resentment… towards Jaina."
The other two stared in confusion, Leia absently reaching for Han's hand. He took it and leaned forward. "That's ridiculous," he muttered. "Zekk and Jaina… hell, when she's old enough to realize that boys are more than just potential co-pilots, they'll probably start dating…" he trailed away as Luke winced. "Alright, Luke, spit it out then… what happened?"
"It seems that Brakiss decided somewhere along the line that Jacen would be the more valuable convert of the two of them," Han scowled, "and… craftily… he manipulated Jaina and Zekk in such a way that left her completely under his power for a couple of weeks, cut off from using the Force, in an effort to sway Jacen."
"How could he manipulate that out of Jaina?" Leia asked, face turning slightly red in anger.
"By having Zekk hurt Jacen in front of her. She foolishly- but nobly, I suppose- offered herself in his place, and Brakiss twisted this offer to suit his own ends, and took her away from the cell they'd been sharing to… be quartered with Zekk."
The blood seemed to leave Han's face in a hurry. "Luke, kid… please don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me…"
Luke met his eyes steadily. "Either I can summarize for you the extent of what passed between the two of them for the duration of the time she spent with him… or you can read the detailed report compiled by myself and the healers from the various… accounts given."
Leia looked away, eyes suddenly wet, but Han remained wild-eyed, as though trying to deny the truth of what Luke was inferring. "But… if Jaina's unconscious," he stammered, "then you really don't know how accurate Jacen's and Lowie's deductions were…"
"Han," Luke spoke firmly, "there's no question; the healers' report came directly from Zekk and… it matches the condition of Jaina's physical wounds… as well as what he's told me."
His words took a minute to sink in, and when they did, Han stood in angered alarm. "From Zekk? He's here?"
"He freed them."
"But not until after-" Han began hotly, until Leia took his hand again and he calmed visibly, sitting back down and running a hand through his hair distractedly.
"Luke," Leia's tone was soft and hesitant. "Just to be sure that we're on the same page here… you're saying that Jaina's… trauma… is because Zekk raped her?"
His tone was soft. "I am, but that's not really the full extent…"
"There's more?" Han made to stand again, restrained only by Leia's firm grasp.
Luke hesitated, but decided they needed to hear it. "From what Jacen thinks- Zekk is still a little paralyzed on the subject by his own horror- she wouldn't have reacted so severely to a straightforward, violent attack, Zekk had already beat her, used Force-lightning on her… but after spending so much time with her, Zekk seemed to grow confused, and was stuck between his own residual feelings of friendship for her, Brakiss' desire to see her broken and used to turn Jacen and… I believe… his growing uneasiness of what Brakiss was turning him into. He didn't want to hurt her anymore, per say, and he contrived her into choosing the manner in which the… encounter… would proceed, trying to eliminate his own guilty conscience over it.
"One of the terms for her cooperation was that he would remove the device from her that kept her closed away from the Force- a small wristband that emits electrical currents," he explained, "preventing the mind from concentrating long enough to tap into its Force powers. Faced with an unpleasant alternative, she chose cooperation and the returned usage of the Force, but… and here, it's difficult to say what truly happened in Zekk's mind… he couldn't bear to feel her in the Force because, while it reminded him that he still did care for her, it also showed him just how far he'd gone down his path, because he could really read the horror, the revulsion she felt for him… and he couldn't stand it."
"Oh, Luke," Leia closed her eyes, tears leaking through the corners.
He sighed. "I think you can guess what happened… he reneged on their 'agreement,' put her back in the cuff, and… here, I suspect Brakiss' influence and control had a greater part to play than Zekk suspects, or is willing to admit… he lashed out at her in his anger, hurt her terribly physically and emotionally, hurt himself almost as much… and then snapped the next morning when Brakiss told him to kill her."
Han sucked in a breath and Leia paled a little more.
"So he snuck the three of them to the hangar in the middle of the night, put them on a shuttle, and resigned himself to a painful death at Brakiss' hands, but… now here, Jacen and Lowie both say that Jaina was completely out of it on the meds Zekk gave her just to get her to wake up and go with him, but I think they're wrong, that Jaina was channeling the Force more readily than the rest of them… but she refused to leave him behind."
Han recoiled. "Why?"
Luke shrugged. "For all of his failings, he had just saved their lives- hers, anyway. And I don't think she wanted to feel like Zekk's death was on their shoulders, and when Jacen and Lowie come to terms better with their own anger over everything that's happened, I think they'll feel the same way. For now though, Zekk is confined to quarters and restricted by one of those impulse-emitters, so you needn't worry about running into him."
"Good," Han bit, "because if I do, I'll be hard-pressed not to wrap my hands around his skinny little neck."
- 6
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- 8
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Reconciliation	By : LexiLupin Category: Star Wars (All) > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 3594 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars; I make no money.

Reconciliation