______The planet Yavin was a violent menagerie of fierce storms and raw potential energy. The gases that maintained its shape and reddish tint could also provide fuel for any ship equipped and daring enough to brave the proximity of the planet's outer atmosphere.
______If the planet contained a solid core, it was likely no larger than one of many small moons orbiting the gas giant, the pressure compacting it into a mass of unimaginable density. Years ago, many had theorized that it could have fused into a precious stone, the value of which would be immeasurable. Finding a gem of such value could topple entire economies, they asserted, and offset the galaxy's delicate trade balance.
______That was all speculation, however, and would likely remain that way. No ship in existence or devised could survive an expedition to the planet's core. The pressure or the storms would rend it to pieces before it reached even the middle atmosphere.
______And besides, talk of economics had only mattered in the days of the Republic, and those days had long since passed. During the long reign of the Emperor Palpatine, fear was the only currency that mattered.
______As it sat suspended in midair, the planet Yavin didn't seem to spin so much as the storms churned angrily about its surface. It was oblivious to any speculation about whatever untold wealth might lie at its heart, and apparently indifferent as well.
______The image was somewhat translucent, and through it Aeon spotted a small blue-green orb, a moon, circling behind it.
______A ring enclosed that blue-green moon and a yellow arrow blinked twice to affirm the selection.
______The image of the fourth moon grew predominant, replacing the image of the larger planet. It spun on its axis at an artificially accelerated rate, the motion of which seemed to further accentuate the planet's significant list to the right. Aeon would guess it was almost twenty degrees.
______Now I'll add the stars, Kavolo said. With the touch of a button, the major constellations in Yavin's sky appeared around the fourth moon. They hovered over Yavin IV, encircling it in an outer shell.
______This is how they appear to us now, he added, and gestured toward the stars. His hand broke the plane of the holographic image, ruining the illusion.
______What do you mean-now? she inquired.
______I'll get to that in a moment. He went on to explain that he had programmed the constellations himself when working to correlate the temple patterns with the stars.
______It took her a moment, but Aeon was able to recognize the Solace system. She was seeing the reverse of how the stars normally appeared to her-she was on the outside, looking in.
______Solace was her reliable landmark-the one system that had been identified to her when she first arrived. It occurred to her that much of the celestial sphere was probably familiar to her. She searched for another system and saw a star pattern that she recognized, but couldn't quite place.
______Is that Orde Mandell? she pointed.
______No, that's Utapau, Kavolo informed her. He gestured to another star nearby. Orde Mandell is here.
______Oh, Aeon nodded, and studied the star shell. She was always amazed at the wealth of knowledge he had at his fingertips. Even people who didn't necessarily get along with him-such as her father-would acknowledge the man was a genius.
______What had her mother thought of him?
______Kavolo was studying the image intently. He shook his head, and mused to himself: Is it possible...?
______Is what possible? Aeon asked. He was on the verge of speaking, but stopped himself, and smiled.
______I'm forming my conclusions too early. That's bad science.
______What conclusions? she wondered aloud.
______Bear with me, he grinned. He was up to something, and, being the showman that he was-wouldn't give her much of an indication until he was about to piece it all together. When you had your dream, or vision-or whatever it was, you said the stars were displaced?
______Aeon nodded.
______Can you remember approximately where Solace was?
______It was almost at the top of the sky, I remember that-but just off a bit. She studied the holographic image, and approximated to a point that wasn't at the top of the image, but just under where the planet's axis would intersect with the stars.
______About here, I'd say, she said.
______And you told me that it wasn't just that constellation, but that the entire sky had moved, correct?
______Right.
______He entered the data into the imaging computer, and the constellations shifted in relationship to the planet while maintaining their positions relative to each other. Solace was now in the upper latitudes of the outer sphere.
______Aeon's curiosity was getting the better of her. What are you getting at? she asked impatiently. Did he suspect something that might validate her story?
______Just give me a moment, he said, holding up his hand to appeal to her patience. He was entering data furiously into the computer. I'm inputting our latitude now. This should show how the stars appear from our horizon.
______Indeed, the image shifted to a horizontal plane punctuated by computer generated holograms of four ziggurat pyramids.
______Where the plane met the holographic horizon, Aeon saw an accurate representation of the night sky.
______Okay, she confirmed.
______Kavolo nodded, and began loading new data into the computer. There, he said emphatically.
______The stars shifted again, ascending slowly into the sky. From below the horizon, new constellations crested, replacing that sky that was so familiar. In moments, the movement stopped, and the celestial canopy was as alien as it had been that night on the balcony.
______She looked up, as she had then, and saw the star system Solace near the top of the holographic hemisphere created by the imaging computer.
______How's that look? he asked. She shifted her shoulders nonchalantly.
______Looks good, she replied.
______He seemed to disapprove of her body language. Well is it right, or isn't it? Try to be as precise as you can.
______She studied it for a moment, and tried to be more critical. She forgot that sometimes he could be difficult to work with, but she didn't mind. That was how he treated all of his assistants, he had told her once, and she like being included within that group.
______She remembered something else he told her: that he only got that way about something he considered important. If I remember correctly, that's about where it was. I didn't get a very good look at it because I felt I was being watched.
______By the old witch...
______Right, she nodded. He had indeed paid close attention to her story, and his obsessions with the minutest details made her suspect that he knew something about her story, or possibly about the crystal itself.
______She walked around the computer, and approached him. What aren't you telling me? she asked.
______He sighed, as if she had finally broken through his resistance, but in truth, he never revealed anything he was ready.
______He tore his eyes away from the holographic projection, and met her own. Have you ever heard of procession?
______No, she admitted. What's that?
______Procession is a celestial phenomenon...wherein the stars move slowly throughout the sky.
______Like during the orbital cycle?
______No, this is different, he informed her. He turned his attention again to the imaging computer, and hit a button. The display returned to the complete image of Yavin IV surrounded by the constellations. The stars were still in their wrong positions.
______Procession occurs on almost every world, but only developed civilizations have even discovered it yet. But that's not surprising when it takes more than the life span of the average person to compile any conclusive data-and that's if a civilization has the requisite knowledge of mathematics and astronomy.
______This was all very fascinating. She loved to learn about new scientific phenomenon-especially when it was related to astronomy. But how did this relate to her vision?
______What do you mean-the stars move? she inquired. How?
______Well, of course they don't move-the planet moves. But the perception is that the stars ascend or descend at an almost imperceptible rate.
______Over time, the stars rise and fall in relation to the horizon, but the deviation is so slight that it often takes generations of astronomers to make the discovery.
______What causes it?
______The tilt of the planet's axis-or in this case-the moon's. As the planet travels through space, it actually warbles back and forth along its axis.
______Then our ancestors saw an entirely different sky then what we see. she deduced.
______Not exactly, Kavolo replied. Its cyclical. The stars shift, but will be in the same positions again one day-it's just a matter of how long that will be.
______Aeon looked at the holograph projection. So the stars once looked like this here? They looked how I saw them in my vision? The realization made her pulse quicken.
______Kavolo nodded slowly, seeming to realize at that same moment the full ramifications of what he was implying.
______When? she demanded.
______Yavin IV has a processional cycle of eighteen thousand years--
______Eighteen thousand? she asked incredulously.
______Yes, Kavolo nodded. He gestured toward the holographic image. The stars appeared, and will appear, this way at the top of each processional cycle. We're just under the half-way point of the cycle right now.
______Aeon stared at the holographic representation of Solace. How long...? she asked, not sure if she was ready to hear the answer. How long since the peak of the last cycle?
______Kavolo paused a moment. Ten thousand years... he replied.
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