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Skywalker, Ben

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this was the name given to the infant son of Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, born shortly after the Battle of Duro. Ben was born aboard the converted Star Destroyer Errant Venture, during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy. He was separated from his parents shortly afterward, both to protect him and allow them to fight against the alien invaders. Ben was taken in by his aunt and uncle, Leia Organa Solo and her husband, Han, and brought up on Coruscant. When the Yuuzhan Vong launched their attack on Coruscant, Ben was in Leia's custody as the Solo family made its way to the Millennium Falcon. However, the intervention of Viqi Shesh forced Leia to turn Ben over to C-3PO, who was whisked aboard the Byrt instead of remaining with the Solos. Ben was then kept in several secure locations for the rest of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, and Mara feared that this period of separation from his parents led to severe anxiety in young Ben. She found it increasingly difficult to locate him through the Force, and both Mara and Luke realized that Ben had started equating the use of the Force to the warfare and bloodshed of the conflict. Thus, despite having an exceptionally strong connection to the Force, Ben unconsciously shut it off. He didn't want to touch the Force, for fear that it might bring more bad things into his life. With the defeat of the Yuuzhan Vong, Luke and Mara resolved to spend more time with Ben, but the rigors of leading the new Jedi order continued to keep them apart. Luke and Mara acquired a Defender Droid to keep watch over Ben, but he found Nanna's presence infuriating. In several conversations, Ben admitted that he wanted to be more like his uncle, Han Solo: working on his own and doing things the hard way. During the initial stages of the conflict with the Colony, Ben unknowingly befriended the first assassin bugs of the Gorog hive, unaware that he was putting his mother in danger. His relationship with the assassin bugs gave him a connection to the Gorog hive, although he was not considered as fully immersed as a true Joiner. It was during this time that Luke and Mara discovered that Ben opened up more whenever he was around his cousin, Jacen Solo, and asked Jacen to take Ben under his wing. Jacen agreed, but was careful not to call Ben an apprentice, since the youth continued to ignore the callings of the Force. However, over time, Ben began to tentatively touch the Force, and his connection was strengthened with Jacen's help. However, the raw power that was within Ben often bubbled to the surface, as when Jacen traveled to Hapes to see Tenel Ka. They found themselves in the midst of a Gorog assassination attempt on the lifes of Tenel Ka's infant daughter - of which Jacen was the father. His connection to the Gorog became evident when he was able to accurately locate the killer bugs in the ceiling and hidden escape tunnels, which helped them escape from the Gorog and confront Ta'a Chume.