Space. An infinite expanse of blazing stars and beautiful planets. One could not travel through the void without finding beauty in it. Whether it was in the silent darkness that fell like a velvet curtain, crushing you in the silence; or in the oceans, forests, and skies of a million worlds, each one so different from the last; or in the cacophony of stars that spread out in all directions toward infinity. One needed only the eyes to see.

Eyes that once seen the galaxy with such wonder had gone dark; the optical lenses gray and lifeless. Large hands that had been so strong, that had held every danger at bay, now listed empty in the absence of gravity. All the strength and determination in creation was worth nothing when lost in the vacuum of space. He knew not how long he drifted. Long ago he had powered down his eyes and closed his mind. He did not want to see, for there was nothing to see but the bodies of those he failed to protect floating alongside him and the distant glittering gem of Ossus that he could not reach. There was nothing to contemplate but the loss of so many friends; innocent and brave souls that were dying all around him; each extinguished life a burning stitch in his psyche. There was nowhere to go, lost here in this nest of debris, except into his own mind.

And into his mind he went, receding from the physical realm as meditation took him somewhere else; somewhere serene. Here there was no death. Only the Force. No pain. Only the Force. There was no loss or failure or anger. Only the Force. A welcome haven to those lost. Every once in awhile he would drift back to consciousness, but nothing had ever changed. Ossus was still far away and the Jedi were still dead. Despair would return and with it retreat back into meditation. An endless cycle, propagating repeatedly for years unknown.

His mind stirred. Something roused him from his rest. Optic lenses flared to life; a dull orange in the inky darkness. Something was coming. He felt it in the Force.