Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Author's Note: This is a fic that I'm transplanting, with edits, from my fanfic.net account as Certain POV. Throughout this work, I use snippets, if not whole sections, from Dark Nest I: The Joiner King by Troy Denning for my story. Although I intend for these snippets to be used as minimally as possible, I want to make it absolutely clear to any and all readers to this fic that it is not my intent to plagiarize Mr. Denning's work, but, rather, to do a rewrite of it for purposes that I hope will become clearer later on. So if you see any sections in this fic that can be traced back to TJK, don't be alarmed, I merely use them as a base as part of this rewrite. Moreover, if you notice any contradictions to the source material for this fic, I can assure you that it's part of the rewrite (though you're free to criticize such gaffes anyway). (not that I'll make any money from this, anyway, but, oh, well).

Title Crawl

It has been five years since the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War. The galaxy has been steadily rebuilding itself, with LUKE SKYWALKER's JEDI ORDER helping the healing process. Displaced refugees see their suffering mitigated while devastated worlds throughout the GALACTIC FEDERATION OF FREE ALLIANCES and Imperial Remnant are seeing steady degrees of improvement toward returning to what they once were.

But in the UNKNOWN REGIONS, the CHISS ASCENDANCY find themselves in a standoff with a mysterious insectoid race known as the KILLIKS. Encroaching on the Ascendancy's territory, the Killiks inadvertently threaten to start a war with them even as they struggle for food and resources. In spite of this, the Killiks gain new allies from both the Unknown Regions and from the wide galaxy. Among these new allies are young members of the Jedi Order, all of whom have one thing in common: a successful but tragic mission against the Yuuzhan Vong. These young Jedi, including JAINA SOLO, daughter of HAN and LEIA SOLO, have abandoned their duties to the larger galaxy without explanation to Master Skywalker or any of his fellow Masters...

When Jaina had finally downed the last of the curd, she lifted her wooden bowl in one hand and smashed it to splinters along the side of her stone bench. Naturally, all of her fellow Knights—Zekk, Lowbacca, Tesar Sebatyne, Tahiri Veila, Alema Rar, and Tekli—looked up in shock from the remnants of their food to her. She looked among each and every one of them slowly, like a predator evaluating its prey, while the rest of them sat frozen in place with the same worried expression, comical though it may have looked on even the Wookiee and Barabel. Each of these stares lasted for about five seconds, enough time for Jaina to evaluate each individual Knight with her Force-senses, before she moved onto the next one.

When she made it to the end of the line with her stares, Jaina breathed in deeply before she pointed down at the splinters of her bowl and asked, “Who's responsible for this?”

It was at that point that all of the other Knights decided to blink and shake their heads, as if Jaina simply speaking had broken them out of a unified trance. When they were done, they all looked at Jaina in confusion.

“Need I repeat myself?” she asked in a low tone.

It was Lowie who spoke up first in his native Shyriiwook. Jaina understood him as he asked, “What do you mean?” She noticed that he stuttered in mild fear of her; again, Jaina would have thought it somewhat comical had she not been angry at the moment.

“Y-you were the one who broke the bowl, Jaina,” Zekk pointed out, his semi-cowed tone matching Lowie. The fact that he pointed out Jaina's action, as if it were a suitable answer for her, demonstrated that he hadn't been totally cowed... yet Jaina levelled a darkened stare at him.

“That's not what I meant. Zekk.” She made his name sound as if she were calling him an idiot. “I'm talking about who thought of the thakitillo?”

Silence once again reigned supreme among the group as Jaina waited for nearly a quarter of a minute before Tesar hesitantly raised a hand from his own near-empty bowl. “It may have been this one,” he admitted. In spite of his hesitation, he didn't sound nearly as scared as Zekk or Lowie.

Jaina's nostrils flared in anger. “May have been? You either said something or you didn't.”

After he lowered his hand back to his side, Tesar's dorsal scales rose slightly just as the tip of his tail also rose up to be level behind his head. His eyes maintained contact with Jaina's as he replied in a defensive tone with, “This one said nothing. He thought it.”

“Don't try to feed me that, Tesar,” Jaina said as she maintained her low tone. “Taat can't eavesdrop on our thoughts.” She then looked back among her fellow Knights, abruptly breaking the tension with the Barabel. And though Tesar's posture returned to normal, Jaina could sense from his Force-presence that he would be ready to renew that tension should she bring that death-glare on him again. “One of you must have slipped.”

Yet another quarter of a minute passed as they all sat stone-still in silence while Jaina waited for one of her fellow Knights to reply to her accusation. But when that silence was finally broken, it came as an unexpected response from Alema: laughter. Jaina's expression became angrier than before as she asked, in as level a tone as she could muster, “What's so funny, Alema?”

The Twi'lek allowed herself a few extra seconds of guffawing before she responded. “You, Jaina! You!”

Jaina's head tilted slightly to the right as she asked in that same artificially level tone, “And why would that be, Alema?”

“Well, isn't it obvious, Jaina?” Alema retorted as she made the human's name sound like an insult the same way Jaina made Zekk's name sound earlier. “You're making such a big deal out of nothing!”

“Thakitillo is not nothing, Alema,” Jaina growled.

“Oooohhhh,” Alema mocked. “You tryin' to turn yourself into a Wookiee, Jaina? You'd need a lot more hair on you before you wanna get into Lowie's pants.” She looked over to the actual Wookiee in the group. “Oh, wait, I forgot! You have no pants!” She looked back at Jaina. “Well, I guess that makes it slightly easier for you, huh!” She renewed her guffawing, even allowing her bowl of thakitillo to slip from her grasp and fall to the arid, dusty ground beside her booted feet. Alema's laughter took a two-second pause as she looked down at the spilled food before she returned her gaze to Jaina. It was then that her laughter returned as it was interrupted intermittently by her saying, “Uh-oh, look! Look, Jaina, look! I spilled some of that nothing-thakitillo! Oh, you gonna get mad, Jainy-whany?! Jiney-whiney!” It was then that Alema shot up from her seat and began stomping down at the thakitillo in a mad dance, her laughter turning into a cackling that made everyone except for Jaina look genuinely concerned for Alema's mental well-being.

Of course, Jaina's face gradually reddened as her anger boiled not only to the surface of her physical expressions, but also in her Force-aura. Everyone else who was seated took notice of this as they shifted their attention from the prancing Twi'lek to the seated human woman who had started this bizarre interaction.

“Jaina-whany, Jiney-whiney!” Alema continued to shout in between her cackling.

After about half a minute of this, Jaina practically launched herself from her seat and tackled Alema down to the ground, her hands on the Twi'lek's shoulders. At this, everyone else abruptly stood up from their seats but froze once they saw that Jaina had stopped herself from doing anything else. Alema, for her part, had also stopped laughing, her expression having gone blank while Jaina stared down at her in barely-controlled fury. The two of them maintained this level of contact for about ten seconds, with none of the other Knights around them doing anything to intervene, before Jaina grabbed some of Alema's stomped thakitillo in one hand and brought it near the Twi'lek's face.

“This,” Jaina growled. “This is not nothing. And do you know why it's not nothing, Alema?” The Twi'lek was smart enough to know that the human had asked a rhetorical question, so she remained silent. Jaina then stood up from Alema and continued with, “Because of all this.” She spread her arms out at the environment around them.

Indeed, the moon of Jwlio, which orbited the gas giant Qoribu of the Gyuel system, had been mostly reduced to a barely habitable sphere for the Killik nest of Taat. Before Jaina or any of the other Knights had come here, Taat had been doing its best to harvest what little it could from the arid soil of Jwlio just to survive, and that had been on top of the attacks brought upon them by the Chiss Ascendancy. “When Taat can barely get by with what they have here, Alema,” Jaina said, “you think you have any right to stomp around that food that you had in abundance?” She once again looked back at her peers broadly. “It should be a crime for us to have the meal that we just had, and yet Taat gave it to us anyway! We can't keep eating like Hutts while Taat starve!” Jaina levelled her gaze back at Alema, who had picked herself back up. “So imagine what kind of sentence you should get for wasting that thakitillo.”

“Jaina,” Zekk said, his hands held up in a defensive but non-threatening posture, “you need to calm down.”

No doubt, Jaina thought, Zekk at least half-expected her to turn back at him and redirect her anger toward him, if only just to shift unwanted attention from Alema. Instead, she looked back at him in annoyance.

“Zekk,” was all she said for several seconds before she concluded with, “that advice would have been better spent on Alema.” The Twi'lek scoffed in response. Naturally, Jaina swivelled back to face her. “You have something to say?”

“Okay, that's enough,” Zekk said as he finally stepped in between Jaina and Alema. “We shouldn't be fighting each other here. Alema, Jaina's right; we shouldn't be wasting any resources when we're already low on them and in a conflict with the Chiss. And, Jaina, we really don't need to add any interpersonal conflict here when, again, we're essentially at war with the Chiss.”

“I'm not trying to add any 'interpersonal conflict' here, Zekk,” Jaina countered. “I'm trying to make sure this team holds together and doesn't do anything wasteful or unnecessary.” She directed those last four words at Alema, who looked back at her with a derisive snort.

“Jaina, can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?” Zekk asked.

Jaina said nothing, but allowed Zekk to lead them out of earshot from the others. The remaining Knights started to surround Alema in support, no doubt wondering if she was okay, Jaina thought bitterly.

When they were finally alone, Zekk asked Jaina, “What's gotten into you lately?”

“What, I didn't make myself clear back there?” she retorted.

“Look, Jaina, I'm here the same reason as you,” Zekk said. “I feel for Taat, I really do, and I wanna help. Everyone here wants to help, even Alema; that's why she's even here, if you remember. But you using the plight of the Colony as an excuse to-”

“Excuse?” Jaina interrupted. “Oh, so, you think I don't really care, huh, Zekk?”

“No, no, Jaina, that's not what I',m saying at all,” Zekk clarified hurriedly. “What I'm trying to say, what I'm trying to get at here, is that something else is bothering you, and it's not Alema.”

“Oh, yeah, then what do you think it is?” Her tone made it sound as if she were daring him to say something that he would instantly regret.

Zekk allowed a few seconds to compose himself before he asked, “You know you're wrong about it, right?”

“Wrong about what, Zekk?” Jaina asked, her tone evidently annoyed.

“About the Killiks,” Zekk said, “not being able to sense our thoughts.”

This time, Jaina's expression changed to one of mild curiosity instead of anger or annoyance. “Oh?” she asked.

“Look, between everything you said to Alema, and tackling her to the ground and all, I was thinking,” Zekk said carefully, “about why Tesar would have been thinking about thakitillo.”

“Go on,” Jaina said in a neutral tone, her arms crossing over her chest.

“You remember the last meal we had aboard the Lady Luck?” Zekk asked. “You know, before...”

“Vaguely, yes,” Jaina conceded, cutting him off before he could allow himself to say anything more. They both knew that he was referring to the Mission to Myrkr during the Yuuzhan Vong War, the same mission where they lost so many fellow Jedi, including Jaina's own younger brother, Anakin. Even now, after all these years, a small ache in Jaina's being tended to act up whenever she thought of him.

“Well, you can sense that Tesar is telling the truth, right?” Zekk asked. “That he didn't tell Taat or any of the other nests about the food?”

It took Jaina a few seconds to reply with, “Yes. I know he was telling the truth.”

Zekk nodded in relief. “Good. Good.”

“So Taat can read our thoughts, huh?” Jaina asked. “Alright. I can buy that. It's a little... unnerving, but... not bad, I have to admit.” She then nodded. “I could get used to it.”

Zekk gave a small smile as he patted Jaina's shoulder. “So can I, as a matter of fact.” Jaina gave a brief chuckle. “And to think that with the effect that the battle-meld had on us, which often made us get on each other's nerves, that somehow I'm more comfortable with having a bunch of insectoids in my head.” As Master Cilghal explained to all of them years ago, the boundaries between the minds of the Myrkr survivors had been weakened, and only really manifested itself after the Yuuzhan Vong War's end.

“That's weird, isn't it?”

“It is weird,” Zekk conceded, his smile not fading. “But in a good way, eh?”

“Yeah. It is weird in a good way.” Jaina reciprocated the smile before asking, “So I guess we should go back to the others and I should apologize to them and Alema especially?”

“Oh, no, don't apologize to her,” Zekk said quickly. “She had that coming.”

Jaina looked at Zekk in askance.

“She's a surprisingly horrible dancer,” Zekk quipped. “If you hadn't tackled her to the ground, I would have just on principle.”

Jaina couldn't help but giggle at that. “Oh, what, you mean because of the fact that she's a Twi'lek and she should be really good?” Now that she was in a good mood, it was obvious that she didn't mean that accusation.

“Hey, now that's something I don't think I've seen in a long time,” Zekk said pleasantly. “A smile? Say, when was the last time you laughed, anyway, Jaina?”

“Oh, I can't even remember,” Jaina replied as she shook her head. She then perked up, “Oh, I do remember smiling earlier today that made me smile. Ja- Oh, wait, you think I should tell the others about this, too?”

“Um, yeah, sure,” Zekk said. “Wait, were you about to say-”

“Oh, no, no, don't say it, don't say it,” Jaina said playfully. “I want you to be just as surprised as the others when I give the news. So pretend I didn't say anything just then, okay?”

“Okay, okay,” Zekk replied with a coy half-grin. “C'mon, let's go.” Jaina didn't need the Force to tell that Zekk had already figured out that she was about to refer to her twin brother—the one who was still alive, she thought with a bittersweet tinge—Jacen. Indeed, Jaina intended to tell Zekk and the others that Jacen was coming to join them; she hoped that Alema would have the decency and presence of mind to not talk about her brother in any suggestive manner that made Jaina even mildly sick.

Before Jaina and Zekk could take a step back to rejoin the others, they felt some kind of ripple through the Force. It was then that their expressions changed to a unified concern as Jaina and Zekk looked back at each other.

“You feel it, too?” she asked.

“Fear,” Zekk confirmed. “Surprise.”

“Resolve, too,” Jaina added.

Then Jaina, Zekk, and the other Knights looked and saw Killik dartships launch from the nearby valley to make for the skies above. “Another defoliator squad,” Jaina said in determination. She looked back at Zekk. “Let's turn 'em back.”

Chapter Text

Five days after the incident between Jaina and Alema, Jacen had finally arrived. He set his YT-2400, the Solo Quest, into the same hangar cave where Jaina and the others had parked their StealthX fighters. Upon disembarking, Jacen was naturally met by his sister and their friends. 

“Jacen, hi!” Jaina exclaimed in happiness as she quickly wrapped her arms around her brother. “Oh, it's so good to see you after so long!” Indeed, the last time that Jaina and Jacen had seen each other was on Kashyyyk when they and their family had dined over a celebratory meal after the Yuuzhan Vong War had ended. “We thought you'd be coming earlier, but we're glad you're here now!”

As Jacen reciprocated the hug with a smile of his own, he said, “Yeah, it took me a while, sorry. I missed you, Jaina.” They pulled back from each other, allowing him to look at their friends. “And I missed the rest of you guys, too. How are you all doing?”

Lowbacca roared that they were as good as things could be, considering the threat that they were all facing.

When the Wookiee didn't elaborate, Jacen asked him, “Yes, this threat. The Chiss Ascendancy, is it?”

Jaina and the others all nodded in unison. “They're hurting Taat and all the other nests, Jacen,” his sister said. “They're trying to starve them out, make them leave their territory.”

“So I take it then that all that arid landscape outside is part of the Chiss' doing?” Jacen asked as he waved an arm back toward the hangar exit.

“In part, yes,” Zekk spoke up. “So we're doing what we can to make sure that the Colony can stay where it is and do what it can just to survive, if not thrive, here.”

Jacen nodded with some hesitation as he looked around the rest of the hangar. Every now and then, he saw members of Taat scampering in, out, and around the hangar, just as he had seen many members outside darting here and there trying to harvest what food they could get from the cursed soil.

“You guys wouldn't mind taking me to this nest, would ya?” Jacen asked. “I'd like to know as much as the rest of you what's going on here.”

Jaina nodded with certainty. “That's a good idea, Jacen. And on the way there, we can catch up.”

Jacen smiled. “Yes, that would be a good idea.”

“C'mon, follow us,” Jaina said as she and the others turned to walk further into the hangar. There, Jacen spotted an egress that no doubt led to where his sister and their friends would be taking him.

Jacen followed wordlessly, his gaze washing over the hangar as the Killiks around him seemed to walk and crawl not only along the deck, but also along the walls and ceiling. There didn't seem to be any purpose for the insectoids who were present, unlike the ones who futilely tried to get what they could from the valley outside. And it was because of that apparent lack of purpose to these Killiks' presence that gave Jacen this strange and uneasy notion that the Taat around him were watching him more closely than any of the other Knights.

Especially these particular Killiks whose bodies were more blue-black than their counterparts.

“Hey, c'mon, Jacen!” Jaina called several meters in front of him. “I know this is all new to you, but trust me, you're gonna get used to it real soon.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Jacen said as he hurried to catch up.

Once all of them had finally exited the hangar and were now travelling downward through a cavernous warren to their destination, Jaina finally decided that now was the time to catch up figuratively. 

“So, Jacen,” she said as she allowed herself to cut back through the gathering to walk next to her brother, “how'd that sojourn of yours go?” She was referring to Jacen's solitary journey of exploring other Force sects across the galaxy following the Yuuzhan Vong War's end.

“It was very enlightening,” Jacen said, “though not in the ways I expected it to be.”

“Oh?” Tahiri was the one to ask. “How so?”

“Well, I admit it may have been a little much to expect to unlock the secrets of the Force from one of those other sects,” Jacen said, “but, honestly, I found myself more disappointed than anything.”

“You didn't get the answers you wanted?” Zekk asked.

“Not even that,” Jacen replied. “I mean, I knew that I would never again experience what I felt at the end of the war, even though I would paradoxically try to attain it again anyway. But at the same time, I thought I would get something other than a few new abilities and the realization that with all these other sects having their own interpretations of the Force, none of them were more or less valid than the Jedi Order's.”

“Any examples?” Jaina asked.

“A few,” Jacen said with a nod. “Like the Fallanassi. To boil it down so I don't bore you guys, their use of the Force, or the White Current as they call it, has the user immerse herself in these sort of ripples and currents instead of delving into the Force in the wholesale approach that we Jedi tend to do. It's really quite fascinating, as the Fallanassi tend to focus in on their own mental faculties than to try to affect the physical-”

“I'm bored already,” Alema piped up.

“Alema,” Zekk said, “that's not very nice.” Jacen couldn't help but notice that Zekk's tone made it seem as if he and the Twi'lek had a conversation of a similar nature before.

“Hey, I'm just sayin' what everyone else here is thinkin',” Alema said. “So I did everyone a favor.”

“Yeah, you're probably well-known for your favors around a lotta men,” Jaina muttered.

Alema snickered bitterly. “Oh, that's a good one.”

“Jacen, you said you had gained new abilitiez,” Tesar cut in abruptly. “Like what?”

Jacen allowed a moment to pass as he observed the tension that had quickly developed between his sister and Alema. But when it became obvious that neither were willing to pick it back up thanks to Tesar, he said, “Uh, well, for instance, if we wanna move away from the Fallanassi as a talking point, I picked up a coupla' things from the Aing-Tii monks, over in the Kathol Rift. They taught me how to teleport objects over short distances and how to flow-walk.”

“Teleporting?” Tekli asked. “That sounds impressive.”

“Well, I can only do it for small objects,” Jacen admitted. “And maybe about a few meters or so. Plus, I have to be in physical contact with the object in question. I haven't even tried to do it with anything living, and I'm kinda not looking forward to seeing the results.”

“What's flow-walking?” Jaina asked.

“Well, it's... kinda like time travel,” Jacen answered.

At that, everyone else stopped in their tracks, prompting Jacen to do the same as his sister and friends all looked at him in mild disbelief.

“Well, when I say time travel,” he elaborated, “it's not like in holodramas where I can go back or forward in time. No, it's more like... actually, using holodramas as an example is kind of apt, because it's like playing back a recording. When I flow-walk, I can see the history of whatever location I'm standing on.”

“Oh,” Jaina said as she and everyone looked much more relieved. “So you're basically just able to look back in time without actually interacting with it.”

“Essentially, yes,” Jacen said. He looked away at that.

Jaina tilted her head. “Jacen?”

“Yeah?” he asked. He still didn't look at anyone in particular.

“What are you not telling us?” Jaina asked.

Jacen sighed before he looked his sister back in the eye. “Okay, look, I think I may have used flow-walking to travel back in time earlier.”

“You think you did?” Zekk asked incredulously. 

“And maybe a little bit forward in time as well,” Jacen added with a reluctant tone.

Lowbacca roared, "Oh, I gotta hear this." It was obvious from his tone that he didn't exactly like what Jacen was implying; and by the looks on the faces of everyone else present, it was apparent that none of them did, either.

“Okay, look,” Jacen started, “on my way here, I made a stop over on a planet called Yoggoy. There, I found a ship, the Tachyon Flier, which, in case any of you remember, was the ship that those Dark Jedi used to kidnap our good friend Raynar Thul. Remember them?”

“Lomi Plo and Welk,” Tesar hissed. “Thoze treacherous Sithspawn! They left us to fend for ourselvez on that worldship!” He was referring to the Baanu Raas, the Yuuzhan Vong worldship over Myrkr.

“Yeah, well, anyway,” Jacen said, “when I was at the Flier's crash site, I flow-walked back to the point when the crash occurred. And when it did, Raynar, he... he looked at me, like he knew I was there.”

“He never told any of us that,” Zekk said.

“You guys have seen him?” Jacen asked.

“Of course,” Jaina answered. “He visited us here when we first arrived.”

“Though he's not exactly what he used to be, I don't think,” Tahiri said.

“What do you mean?” Jacen asked.

Jaina and the others who had been on Jwlio the longest were all silent for quite a few seconds before Alema finally said, “He's become something else, Jacen.”

“Something else?”

“He is the Prime Unu now,” Alema elucidated. “He is the voice of all the nests. And through him, the Colony will find its way to prosperity, no matter what the Chiss bring upon us.”

After a while, the only thing Jacen said as he titled his head back was, “I see.”

“Perhaps we can get you to see him again,” Alema said. “Or, rather, what he was become. It may take some time, but I assure you, it will be worth it, and I believe seeing you again will be worth his time.”

“Okay, hold on, let's not get side-tracked here,” Zekk said. “Jacen, you just said that although this ability doesn't necessarily allow you to time-travel back, you somehow did?”

“Yes,” Jacen said with a guilty tone.

“And you also said that you travelled forward in time, too?” Zekk asked. “Please explain.”

“Well, moments after Raynar saw me, I saw my mom. But she wasn't really there; at least she wouldn't be for quite sometime, but I knew that I saw her when she would be there, if that makes any sense.  And when my guide to the crash site told me where you guys were, I told her.”

“How?” Zekk asked. “If what you say is true, that flow-walking isn't a technique that can allow you to travel back or forward through time, how is it possible that you did?”

Jacen shrugged. “I honestly don't know. Perhaps it's the will of the Force.”

“The will of the Force allowed you to somehow transcend time in both directions?” Zekk asked in disbelief. “Jacen, do you have any idea how incredible this is? And not in a good way! The Force isn't supposed to allow anyone that kind of power! I mean, the implications of this are astounding!”

“Why is it so unbelievable, Zekk?” Jaina was the one to ask. “You know about when Jacen achieved oneness with the Force at the end of the war to kill Onimi, the true Vong Supreme Overlord. I was there, I saw it myself. If the Force allowed him to time-travel both back and forward, it's not exactly something that I think is beyond his limits.”

“And what implications does such a power have, Zekk?” Alema asked. “What frightens you about what Jacen can do?”

Zekk sighed. “I don't know, and that's what frightens me. I doubt it's something that even Master Skywalker can comprehend, and that frightens me even more. All I know is that if this kind of power fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be... unimaginable.”

“It also makes us, or at least me, wonder,” Tahiri said, “whether or not the future is always in motion. If Raynar had seen Jacen when the Tachyon Flier crashed all those years ago, and Jacen would be there years later for that to happen, then it implies a sort of inevitability, doesn't it?”

“A predestination paradox,” Tekli said. “Yes, Tahiri, Zekk's right, the implications are astounding. Never mind the idea if, say, a Sith were to gain this kind of power; what if we're all trapped in some kind of predetermined path that we can't escape, whether for better or worse? The philosophical implications of free will at that point are something for the more introspective members of the Jedi Order to ponder on.”

A heavy silence dominated the group as they all soaked in everything that they had all said.

Tahiri was the one to finally break the silence. “You know, as interesting as this conversation has been, I think a much more pressing matter to keep in mind is that if Jaina and Jacen's mom will be here soon, how much does anyone here wanna bet that Han Solo and the Masters Skywalker will be here, too?”

“This one's mother will also come,” Tesar pointed out. “I can feel it. She drawz near.” 

“I take it your absences didn't go unnoticed?” Jacen asked everyone.

“We were all in the middle of something in some parts of the galaxy,” Jaina answered. “Though I guess we shouldn't be surprised. I wonder if Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara can help you understand how and why you saw Mom, Jacen.”

“More importantly,” Zekk said, “what will their responses be when they get here?”

Jaina looked at him in askance. “Surely, they'd understand. The Killiks are the victims here, Zekk. Any Jedi worth their salt would be able to understand that, least of all my parents and aunt and uncle especially.”

“I'm not quite so sure if that'll be the response from them, Jaina,” Jacen said.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I might not have the political acumen that Mom has,” Jacen said, “but look at it this way. We're on the side of some insectoids in a conflict against a major galactic power like the Chiss Ascendancy, who were allies to the Galactic Alliance during the last war. I somehow doubt that Mom, Dad, Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, or even Master Sebatyne will see things quite the same way.”

“Can you really call the Ascendancy a major galactic power when they seclude themselves in the Unknown Regions, Jacen?” Tekli asked.

“They're certainly a major power in the Unknown Regions, so I think that qualifies, Tekli.”

“Okay, look,” Jaina said, “maybe things might look a little grey from the outside, Jacen. But when Mom, Dad, and the others all get here, if they don't think we're in the right, we can convince them otherwise by talking to them.”

“I hope you're right, Jaina,” Jacen said. “I hope you're right.”

Jaina's brows narrowed in consternation. “I am right, Jacen. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here.” Her tone was full of confidence that Jacen hadn't seen from his sister even during the war.

“And if you have any doubts regarding our cause, Jacen,” Alema said, “by the time we're done getting you up to speed, you'll be on our side completely.”

He looked back at the Twi'lek as his internal assessment of her changed from mild concern to a less mild suspicion.

Chapter Text

Upon seeing that the next four defoliators were escorted by a whole squadron of Chiss clawcraft, Jaina knew that the Ascendancy was getting serious; they really wanted the Killiks to leave their territory, even if they had to officially use military might to accomplish their goals. And as those vessels raced between Qoribu's moons of Ruu and Zvbo, where the nests of Saras and Alaala resided respectively, she opened herself to the battle-meld that she shared with her brother and their friends in preparation for the skirmish ahead.

Seated in her StealthX's cockpit, Jaina felt the thoughts of her fellow Knights and instinctively knew which among them wanted to approach this situation the careful way and which of them wanted to enter this battle with the intent of bloodying the Chiss' proverbial nose. Those in the former included Jacen, Zekk, and Lowie, who wanted to simply disable the defoliators without killing any Chiss, while Alema, Tahiri, and Tesar wanted to see the Ascendancy pilots, both defoliators and fighters, be blown out of the sky for their attempts at starving the Killik nests out. Had Tekli been in a StealthX herself—or a Sekotan skiff, as Tahiri had, or in the Solo Quest like Jacen—and been part of the battle-meld instead of standing by as a medic back on Jwlio, Jaina figured that the Chadra-Fan would have been in the former camp.

Jaina, however, felt very much like she and the Knights have been too soft on the Chiss lately.

She could feel Zekk reminding her that it was their duty as Jedi to remain dispassionate, to cut through the veil of obscuring emotion and find the core of a problem like the conflict between the Killiks and the Chiss. If the Jedi allowed themselves to seek retribution rather than peace, how could they bring a lasting solution to any conflict?

The Jedi in Jaina agreed. After all, this was a simple border conflict; turning it into a killing fight would irrevocably escalate it into an all-out war from which the carnage would be devastating on both sides.

But something in Jaina stopped her from agreeing with Zekk with her whole heart. It was that same nameless part of her that had lashed out to all of her friends on Jwlio over the thakitillo before Jacen arrived. Simply thinking about the tireless efforts that Taat, among other nests, had made for their homes, only for the Chiss to even try to starve them out like they didn't deserve basic sapient rights, was something that sickened her to the core of her being.

If Jaina had learned anything battling the Yuuzhan Vong, it was that any species that tried to oust another by rendering their worlds uninhabitable wasn't a species that deserved a light touch. Thinking about the arid soil on Jwlio brought to mind the devastation wrought on worlds like Ithor and Sernpidal, the very world where Chewbacca had died ten years ago.

And how long would it be before this simple border conflict erupted into all-out war anyway? What if, by simply disabling the defoliators rather than destroying them, Jaina, Jacen, and their friends were only delaying the inevitable? What if the Chiss were to attack them outright anyway? It wasn't unimaginable to Jaina that they would disregard their own honor system of never attacking first if it suited their interests.

In that, Jaina saw more of a comparison between the Chiss and the Vong. No doubt, at one point in their long history, the Vong were like the Chiss: peaceful, benevolent, and nonviolent. But they had ultimately become barbaric, war-obsessed, and stripped of the Force; to think that something like that couldn't happen to a people like the Chiss was a naive way of looking at things.

Soon, the Chiss vessels had entered the gap between Ruu and Zvbo, and when two of the defoliators branched away from the main body of the task force, those two were almost immediately swarmed by dartships piloted by Saras and Alaala. Jaina was painfully aware through the Force, and through the growing connection that she and the other Knights had with Taat and the rest of the Colony, of the nest lives being lost as they smashed against the defoliators' shields.

And all the while, the defoliators' pilots continued to live, with no regard for the units of existence that they were snuffing out by simply following their damned orders.

But even as these thoughts plagued Jaina, or maybe because they plagued her, a plan began to formulate in the more strategic part of her mind. As a result, Jacen and Tahiri's ships shot forward toward the defoliators and the Killik swarms around them.

Seconds after, Tahiri's voice appeared over the comm. She informed the Chiss Joiner of their group, ReyaTaat, to bring the Taat dartships with her and Jacen; although Tahiri didn't make it clear, it was to form a diversion for the Ascendancy ships while the Jedi StealthXs destroyed--

No, disabled. The StealthXs were to disable the defoliators. To destroy them was to invite all-out war upon the Killiks, and nobody wanted that.

Zekk's will was strong in that sentiment. Jaina blinked, wondering why that sensation had become so strong. And as Zekk's will faded into the background of the Jedi battle-meld, Jaina started to wonder why she had thought to destroy the defoliators in the first place.

She shook her head. Now was not the time to second-guess herself, especially in the middle of an active conflict zone. Ahead, the Chiss clawcraft were diving in front of several Saras and Alaala dartships, keeping them at bay from the two defoliators as the latter ships were given time to refresh their shields. Knowing that it was now or never if she and the Knights were to pull off this plan, Jaina throttled her StealthX forward for Ruu just as Tesar made his way for Zvbo while the remaining Knights took their invisible ships in a high-arcing maneuver for the last two defoliators.

Yes, Jaina thought as the skirmish proceeded. She would disable the defoliator ahead. All it would take was a pair of proton torpedoes right behind the Chiss vessel's thrust nozzles—not upon them, but just meters behind them—and then it would be rendered useless, just like the other defoliators she had disabled over these past two months.

This thought persisted at the back of her mind, even as the forefront of her mind was preoccupied with surviving the attacks that the clawcraft inevitably laid upon her StealthX. Amidst her maneuvers, Jaina had to relieve her starfighter of two torps just to distract her enemies even as her efforts had her shields go down on her and fill her cockpit with the acrid smell of fused circuits. She didn't need to read her status displays to know that it wouldn't take much more to blow her into oblivion.

Nevertheless, the sacrificed torps served their function, and as their lights momentarily blinded the Ascendancy pilots, Jaina took that opportunity to climb above the tangle of the battle. Hundreds of meters above, as she became a completely invisible predator in her StealthX, she found a vantage point from which she could launch her next two torps and disable the defoliator intended for Ruu.

And when she launched them, they served their true purpose.

After that, everything went wrong.

. . . 

Standing in the same hangar deck where they had parked their ships, the Jedi Knights didn't move from their positions as the Jade Shadow parked her landing gears upon the deck.

But Jaina did look around at her fellow Knights. Alema avoided eye contact with her, but even so, the Twi'lek had a look of defiance that betrayed her feelings of the battle that had passed. Tesar and Zekk both looked guilty while Tahiri bore a stoic expression that displayed no emotions; her Force-presence was as reserved as her facial and body languages.

In his attempt to mimic Tahiri's stoicism, Jacen, however, couldn't help but bleed some concern into his own minute physical expressions as soon as his eyes locked with Jaina's. She noticed that her brother was still guarding his Force-presence very closely to the point that she had to really probe him through their twin bond; in all the time that Jacen had been with them, Jaina hadn't thought to talk to him about that until now. 

A part of her wondered why that was. It wasn't as if there wasn't downtime in between fending off the Chiss raids. But Jaina had been so preoccupied by... she had been so preoccupied by...

Defending the Colony. Being with the Colony. Defending and being with her friends. The sudden appearance of these thoughts washed away any doubt that Jaina had with Jacen; he would come around to them, open himself back up to her, and join the Colony in his own time because there would be time. There was no need to rush any of this.

Yes, yes, Jaina thought. Whatever Jacen's reasons for guarding his Force-presence would become irrelevant in due time. She had to trust in that; Jacen was a different breed of Jedi who didn't see things the same way others did, who didn't need to see things the same way others did; so an indirect approach would work for him.

Yes. Yes.

So with those thoughts out of the way, Jaina returned her attention to the Shadow and renewed the defiant expression that she realized she shared with Alema. As loathe as she was to share anything with the inane and annoying Twi'lek, what they did today was something they both found themselves to be proud of.

Jaina wasn't quite sure how much time had passed since the Shadow had touched down, but she had a feeling that her aunt and uncle were deliberately drawing this out. The Knights' elders wanted the suspense to build, as the Masters Skywalker were going to confront them and their friends over this as if they were unruly teenagers. Jaina didn't think she ever felt so patronized in her life, especially after all that she had proven during the Vong War.

Finally, the Shadow's boarding ramp lowered, and bolting down from it was little Ben Skywalker, who quickly wrapped Jaina in a hug.

"Cousin Jaina!" he exclaimed happily. "Oh, I missed you! It's so good to see you again!" 

“Nice to see you, too, Ben,” Jaina said with a bittersweet smile. She stepped back to appraise him. “You've grown.”

“It's been a whole year.” Ben smiled mischievously, then added, “Boy, you guys are in trouble!” And by that point, Aunt Mara and a sallow-looking Uncle Luke were stepping off the ramp, and neither of them looked particularly happy.

So it appeared that their elders would need convincing, Jaina thought wearily. And to think they of all people would understand, what with Luke's history as a Rebel and Mara's retroactive view of Palpatine. Still, she maintained a smile for Ben. 

“I imagine we are,” she said.

“Well, I hope they don't take your lightsabers or anything like that,” Ben said.

Jaina's eyes flashed at that. There was no way that Uncle Luke or Aunt Mara would deign to think that; but then again...

Ben didn't seem to notice the newfound look of worry on Jaina's face as he turned to her brother and offered his hand.

“Hi,” Ben said pleasantly. “You must be Jacen. I'm your cousin, Ben.”

Jacen shook the boy's hand with an amused smile. “Yes, I know. Good to finally see you again; and quite tall since I last saw you.”

“I was two, as Mom and Dad told me,” Ben pointed out innocently. “Of course I'd be taller.”

Jacen nodded as if he wondered how something so obvious could escape his notice. “Of course.”

“You went off to study other orders of the Force,” Ben stated. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Some of it,” Jacen said.

Ben's face fell. “So you're going back?”

“No.” Jacen's tone changed to that of a person addressing an equal. “And though I might keep searching in other ways, I doubt I'll ever find what I'm looking for.”

“What does that mean?” Ben asked. “How can you search for something when you think it might all be pointless?”

Jacen shrugged. “It's what I feel I have to do.”

Ben looked confused. “Okay then. Look, uh, I have to go, but we can talk later.”

“Yes,” Jacen said. “I'll look forward to that.”

After Ben was escorted by his Yuuzhan Vong Hunter nanny droid Nanna back to the Shadow, an awkward silence fell between the Skywalkers and the Knights. While Uncle Luke remained behind his wife with as neutral an expression as can be expected from a Jedi Master of his years, Aunt Mara's cold, steely gaze washed over the Knights, no doubt trying to appraise them without having to draw on the Force to make her judgment.

“Okay, I'm going to say it,” Jacen spoke up. “Uncle Luke, what happened to you?”

A flash of embarrassment overcame Jaina; she had noticed how sallow her uncle had appeared. Yet in the tension that was building up between the Knights and their elders even before the latter stepped off from their ships, she didn't even think to ask that question. 

Then again, if he was willing to appear here, and Aunt Mara wasn't bringing it up, then perhaps the issue of Luke's physical appearance wasn't an important one, Jaina thought. 

“I'm fine... just a little worn,” Luke said. “We came to, um, talk about what's going on here.”

"Your parents will be here fairly soon," Mara told the Solo twins. "In the meantime, I have to ask: where is Jedi Lowbacca?" 

Jaina was caught off-guard by that, as it became an uncomfortable reminder of the Wookiee's capture by the Chiss. After Jaina had outright destroyed the defoliator intended for Ruu, the entire battle devolved into a killing match as Zekk had feared. After two more clawcraft squadrons were launched from one of the Ascendancy Star Destroyers, Alema had expressed glee in her kills as she shot the clawcraft to atoms. Tahiri allowed herself to get lost in the heat of combat as if she had the mind of a Yuuzhan Vong warrior rather than a Shaper. And Tesar allowed his natural Barabel instincts to take over as the battle went down.

Jaina supposed she acted just like Tesar had; though a part of her did take on some of the same mirth that Alema demonstrated through the battle-meld.

But for the other Knights, no such thrill was to be had; through the meld, Jaina had felt their desperation. Even Jacen's Force-presence became clear to her again, and above the fear that naturally came from trying to survive battling clawcraft in his own visible YT-2400, Jaina sensed from him a sort of confusion as to how all of this could have gone so wrong.

And it had gone wrong; many Killiks were lost that day, even if the Chiss lost a great deal, too, including an entire Star Destroyer. Had they not retreated with their capture of Lowie, who had to go extravehicular from his destroyed StealthX, Jaina had a feeling that the battle would have become a greater loss for the Colony than she could have realized.

She knew that Lowie was still alive. His presence in the Gyuel system was faint, but she could feel him through the connection they formed through the Force as children. And at times, she could even feel pain emanating from him. No doubt the Chiss were torturing him for information aboard one of their capital ships, which he was too strong to give in to. Just thinking about that added a layer upon Jaina's anger against them.

“Well, Jaina,” Mara said, snapping her out of her reverie, “where is he?”

“I'm not quite sure,” Jaina answered honestly. “Not after he went EV.”

“He's still alive then,” Mara gathered. “Which leads me to the conclusion that he's in the hands of the enemy, isn't he?”

“So you understand that the Chiss are in the wrong here?” Jaina asked.

“I didn't say that,” Mara said. “What I'm saying is that the Chiss are the enemy because you made them the enemy.”

“We didn't make them the enemy, Aunt Mara,” Jaina replied defensively. “They made themselves the enemy when they decided they didn't want the Killiks to make a living for themselves.”

“In the Chiss' rightful territory,” Mara pointed out.

“As if they needed more room,” Jaina said.

“That's not the point, Jaina,” Mara said.

“No, it's not. It's about the Killiks. They don't deserve the way they're being treated. If you'd spend any time with them-”

“We've spent enough time with the Killiks as it is, Jaina,” Mara interrupted. “And with what we've come to understand, the situation isn't as black and white as you claim.”

“What do you mean?” Zekk was the one to ask.

Before Mara could answer, a chest-high Killik came over and brushed Jaina's arm with an antenna, then thrummed something with its chest.

“She says the StealthXs are fuelled and armed,” Tahiri translated for the Skywalkers even as her tone wavered in trepidation. 

Jaina ran her arm down the Killik's antenna, then said to it, “Thanks. We'll be leaving soon.”

“With shadow bombs?” Mara asked. She pointed to the StealthXs, which had the propellant charges for their proton torpedoes removed and replaced with packed baradium. “That's not exactly rescue equipment.”

“We might need to create a little diversion,” Alema said.

“For the Chiss?” Mara asked.

“What else?” Jaina retorted.

Mara looked at her niece with bewilderment. “Nobody's going anywhere,” she said with a firm, authoritative tone. “Not until we have some answers. Things are too far out of control.”

Jaina's face grew hard. “Lowie is being tortured as we speak. If we don't help him as soon as-”

“Tortured?” Luke asked. “That can't be. I can feel his presence myself. He has gone into a Force-hibernation. I sense no pain from him.”

Jaina looked at her uncle in disbelief. “He was captured by the Chiss. We all saw it happen!”

“That doesn't mean they're torturing him,” Luke said.

“Then why would they be holding him?” Jaina asked. “And why can I feel his pain?”

“I... I don't know.” Luke looked genuinely concerned. “But I know that if Lowbacca is in a Force-hibernation, then the Chiss wouldn't be torturing him. My guess is that they're holding him and are waiting for him to wake up if they aren't already trying to wake him up right now.” 

Jaina couldn't help but sneer. “You guess. I know Lowie better than you, Uncle Luke. As a friend, I made a connection with him through the Force that you couldn't possibly make as one of his teachers. I would know better than you what his current state would be.”

“Jaina!” Mara snapped. “What has gotten into you?! Where has this disrespectful attitude come from?”

“From a place that won't sit idly by while one of my friends is being tortured, regardless of whatever your husband says,” Jaina sneered. “Now if you won't help us, then-”

“What? Get out of the way?” Mara retorted. She allowed a moment to pass before she asked, “That's what you were going to say, wasn't it? That's a very disturbing line of thinking, Jaina.”

“What are you implying, Aunt Mara?”

“I'm implying that you seem to have forgotten what it means to be a Jedi.”

“We are doing what the Jedi were meant to do, We're using our powers to help those who are wrongfully targeted by much more powerful entities, whether they be governmental or otherwise.”

“There are limits to how far one goes with such power, Jaina,” Luke finally spoke up. “Trust me. I know.”

“Limits, huh?” Alema asked. “So we have a limit to how much we can help those who need help. I'm sure Lowie would appreciate that sentiment.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she made it blatantly obvious how little respect she held for her elders. 

“There are always limits, Alema,” Luke said in spite of her tone. “We must follow them lest we lose ourselves to a darkness greater than any of you can imagine from even your own experiences. And right now, with what we know about the Killiks and their Joiners, we think all of you may have lost your objectivity in how you carry out your actions.”

“So what are you saying, Uncle Luke?” Jaina asked. “That we abandon the Killiks, that we abandon Lowie?”

“I'm not saying that,” Luke said. “What I'm saying is that we all need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.”

“Well, right now, I'm not interested in the bigger picture!” Jaina cried. “Here you are, trying to lecture us about how we're to conduct ourselves when, honestly, we've been doing more good here these past two months than everything we've all done put together in the past five years!”

“You may feel that way, Jaina, but-”

“But nothing!” she exclaimed. “You're just mad that we abandoned our posts because we weren't good little obedient Jedi who did every little thing that the Galactic Alliance or any one of those greedy rehab conglomerates wanted us to do!”

“I'm not the one who's mad here, Jaina,” Luke said sternly.

“Oh, no, of course, you're not! You can't be mad! You're Luke Skywalker, the man who brought the Jedi Order back from the dead! Getting mad is beneath you! But allowing a government or corporation to tell you what to do is all fine and dandy! Isn't that how Pal-”

“Don't say it!” Mara stepped toward her niece, drawing a rustle from the ceiling and walls as the Killik spectators shrank back. “It's bad enough to desert your posts and make us come here looking for you. Don't you dare make that comparison. There are some things I won't tolerate even from you, Jaina Solo.”

Jaina's eyes widened in shock. She stared at Mara for a long time, clicking softly in her throat, hovering between an apology and an angry retort that everyone present knew would open a rift between the two women that could never be closed again. To his credit, Luke did not intervene. He simply stood quietly, patiently waiting to see what decision his niece would make.

When the time came for her response, Jaina sneered. “Sounds like how Palpatine took down the Jedi Order.”

An icy silence fell over the gathering, and everyone stood frozen in response to what Jaina said. This lasted for several seconds.

At the end of those seconds, Mara slapped Jaina across the face, turned around, and marched back toward the Shadow's landing ramp.

When Jaina reeled from the strike, she looked at her uncle. The disappointment on his face was palpable before he turned away and followed his wife. 

“Where do you think you're going?” Alema asked the male Barabel.

“Jaina,” Jacen said once the Skywalkers were gone, “what have you done?”

She looked coldly at her brother. “What needed to be done; what needed to be said. Now, while our elders are busy, let's get back out there and save Lowie.” 

Chapter Text

Jaina, Jacen's presence said through the battle-meld, are you sure this is a wise idea?

What's wisdom got to do with this? Jaina retorted. By now, the StealthXs, along with Tahiri's Sekotan ship and the Solo Quest, were back in the space surrounding Qoribu and its moons; it wouldn't be long before they were joined by more swarms of dartships from several of the other moons. Their target was the Star Destroyer upon which they sensed Lowbacca. We're saving Lowie. And like I told Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara, the Chiss can't be reasoned with, so we have-

What about Mom and Dad? Jacen cut in. I can feel them aboard the same Destroyer that Lowie's on. Even if I believed that the Chiss can't be reasoned into releasing Lowie, what you're planning could very well endanger them and-

Mom and Dad can handle themselves, Jaina pointed out sharply. They may be old, but they still have a lotta fight left in 'em. You'd know that if you stuck around with the rest of us. 

She felt the note of pain in her brother's presence, but right now, she didn't care about how he felt; she sensed that he wouldn't jeopardize their only real chance at saving Lowie, so that was good enough for Jaina. And if Jacen had any counters to Jaina's biting remark, he kept them to himself as she saw two squads of clawcraft rush out from the Destroyer that Lowie wasn't aboard. 

Naturally, since they had run through this plan before they took off, the Quest and Tahiri's ship split off in different directions, with each of them drawing four clawcraft on their tails. That still left four fighters left from the depleted squadron as well as the entirety of the second one, who rushed past the invisible StealthXs to engage the swarms headed for them.

Alema veered to nip at the heels of the clawcraft chasing Jacen while Tesar covered Tahiri. The Twi'lek managed to destroy the leftmost clawcraft with a few well-placed laser shots in its rear, quickly overwhelming the fighter's shields and blasting it to oblivion. Simultaneously, Tesar took out the clawcraft that was second to Tahiri's starboard by blowing out its S-foils, which sent it spiralling away in a course that would inevitably drag it to one of Qoribu's moons.

Once those two clawcraft were dispatched, their comrades broke off from their shots at their respective targets and banked away in different directions to locate their invisible attackers. They all fired at the spots where they thought Alema and Tesar would be, but both alien pilots were smart enough to veer way off, with Alema breaking port and Tesar starboard, which would naturally make them more difficult to kill.

So far, so good, Jaina thought. And with the rest of the clawcraft dealing with the dartships, that left Jaina and Zekk to be the only ones who would embark on the actual rescue mission for Lowie. So, without further regard to their fellow Knights or the Killiks now sacrificing their lives to battle the clawcraft, both humans accelerated their starfighters for the Destroyer ahead.

Several hundred kilometers from reaching one of the capital ship's hangar bays, Jaina sensed her uncle's presence intruding into the battle-meld.

Jaina, don't do this, she felt Luke commune. You're only making things worse for everybody involved. If you won't back down now, we will come for you. 

Indeed, Jaina saw through her rear sensors that the Jade Shadow was tailing her; no doubt Luke was sensing her Force-presence to track where she was given her StealthX's invisibility.

Stay out of this, Uncle Luke, Jaina replied. And tell your wife the same.

Then you leave us with no choice, Luke conveyed before Jaina felt him leave the battle-meld.

A second later, the Shadow's turbolasers began firing at the rears of both Jaina and Zekk's StealthXs.

The former banked hard to starboard while the latter rolled quickly to his port. And from there, they each began executing various jinks and jukes to avoid the laserfire that zipped past them, all the while still making their way for the Star Destroyer that held Lowie.

Jaina, please! Zekk practically screamed through the battle-meld. The Masters Skywalker are firing on us! We have to surrender to them while we still can!

They won't blow us out of the sky, Zekk, Jaina responded. Those are low-powered bursts; they'll be enough to cripple us if they accumulate, but they won't be enough to blow us away. My aunt and uncle wouldn't risk it.

Are you sure about that? Zekk asked. After what Mara-

Don't distract me. I'm trying to concentrate.

After Zekk fell silent through the meld, it  didn't take long before one of the bursts struck at Jaina's port S-foil. The shields held, and they held much stronger than they would have had that laser been at full capacity.

The part of Jaina that thought that Mara was willing to kill her after what happened on Jwlio was relieved; but that relief was short-lived as she had to make a starboard bank to avoid another low-powered shot from the Shadow.

Moments after that first nip at her shields, Jaina caught another hit, this time on her starboard. A few maneuvers later, another hit collided in the exact same spot. Two seconds after that, another hit, right at that spot. 

And so that pattern went, in spite of Jaina's efforts, as Mara—she had no doubt it was her aunt—fired off scoring shot after scoring shot on the StealthX's starboard, rapidly depleting her shields to the point of nothingness. It wouldn't be long, Jaina knew, until her shields dropped completely and render her ship dead in space, allowing the Shadow to pick her up and abort her rescue mission.

But before that could happen, the rapidity of the yacht's fire decreased, allowing Jaina to dodge them more easily. Once that fire petered out completely, Jaina looked through her rear sensors again and found that her aunt and uncle's ship was now engulfed in a new dogfight as it was engaged in blasting away at the swarm of dartships surrounding her.

On the one hand, Jaina was relieved that she was free of the Shadow's pursuit. On the other, she felt disgusted that her aunt and uncle were now using fully-powered laser shots to blow away their insectoid attackers.

Regardless, the most Jaina could do at the moment was to send a sentiment of thanks through the Force to the Killiks now losing their lives to the Shadow's power. Once that was done, she and Zekk wasted no time in resuming their course for their destination.

Once they neared the Destroyer, its turbolasers began to blindly pound the space around the two StealthXs, in several instances only narrowly missing Jaina and Zekk. No doubt, the former thought, that in between blowing away their attackers, either Luke or Mara must have commed the Destroyer and let them know about the Knights' arrival, even if the Chiss didn't have any solid way of tracking their invisible fighters.

But if that was the case, Jaina realized, then that must have meant that...

Zekk, pull up now! Jaina screamed through the meld as she put her own words into her actions.

Unfortunately, Zekk wasn't as quick on the uptake as Jaina had hoped, for he realized too late that if the Destroyer had been expecting them, then they would have erected a ray shield to keep out any intruders. So instead of pulling up as Jaina had told him, he pulled hard to the left in an arc that would bring him around and shoot him away from the capital ship.

As a result, his starboard S-foil punched up against the ray shield blocking the hangar bay,  which sheered off that entire section of Zekk's StealthX and sent it into an uncontrollable barrel roll in a parallel line with the Destroyer's prow.

Jaina soon levelled out from her upward arc and brought it back down for the shielded hangar. She put Zekk's current predicament out of her mind, knowing that he was okay for the moment, before she fired a pair of quad bursts for the ray shield's generator. It erupted in a magnificent yet brief explosion, and as predicted, its emergency hull activated and began to close up from the port side onward. To compensate, Jaina aimed her fighter for the farthest point of the entrance, making it just in time before the emergency hull closed behind her.

Now that she had made it inside her target, Jaina slowed down and levelled out again. She set her ship to hover several meters above the deck as she looked around through her canopy, seeing that there was currently no one in the hangar, not even any technicians waiting on standby; Jaina figured they must have been informed by the Destroyer's command about potential intruders, so they were promptly evacuated further into the capital ship. The only two other ships occupying the bay were a long-range shuttle and the Millennium Falcon, a painful reminder that her parents were here in the vain hope of releasing Lowie, if not ending this whole crisis, peacefully.

Putting the presence of her parents out of her mind, Jaina knew that now that she was inside, where her StealthX was far more visible since it was out of space at the moment, she didn't have long before a security team arrived to take her in, if not kill her outright.

She wouldn't be surprised if the Chiss commanders sent their Destroyer's entire security force just to deal with her, even if they didn't know that she was Han and Leia Solo's daughter, or, more importantly, the Sword of the Jedi.

Indeed, after landing on a vacant spot on the hangar deck and powering down, it was only moments after Jaina unstrapped her crash webbing and popped her canopy open that all of the hangar's egresses were also opened. Rushing in from all sides were uniformed members of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, all of them armed with their charric blasters. The soldiers at the forefront of their groups already had their weapons aimed around Jaina's ship and held their positions as the rest of them arrayed themselves in a wide but tight circle before they, too, had their charrics properly aimed at her.

Before she allowed their leader to tell her to carefully step out of her ship and give herself up, Jaina used the Force to launch herself high into the hangar; immediately, the Chiss began firing their weapons at her ascending form even before she had her lightsaber in hand and ignited. It was only once she started to descend back to the hangar deck that she started to deflect the shots that actually had a chance of hitting her.

Knowing that projectiles fired by charrics were more difficult for lightsabers to deflect than the average blaster, Jaina exerted more effort through the Force in knocking away the blue particle beams. Once she landed in a crouch, she began to Force-sprint around the hangar, making it more difficult for the Chiss to fire upon her without hitting one of their own. With both of those factors now to her advantage, she began to efficiently and expertly slice off the barrels of each and every one of the charrics, and occasionally knock back their owners with a well-placed kick to one or two other of their brethren. 

As this went on, a part of Jaina's mind, the same part that had been so passionate in viewing the Chiss as being similar to the Yuuzhan Vong, wondered why she didn't simply kill these blue-skinned bastards; by leaving them unconscious but alive, she was only inviting them a future opportunity to regroup, gain new weapons, and come after her again. Moreover, why would killing them like this be any different than blowing them out of the sky? Death was death, after all, so it didn't really matter if it was brought on by the impersonal fire of a starfighter's turbolasers or by the intimate use of a lightsaber.

Because, Jaina thought, it was her duty to do only what she had to to resolve conflicts as peacefully as possible; by dispatching these Chiss non-lethally when she was in a position to do so, she was fulfilling that duty while still making her way toward saving Lowie without hindrance or delay. 

It would take a lot more to bring her to killing the Chiss from outside her StealthX, she realized. For now, this would have to do.

Within less than a minute from her high jump from her fighter, Jaina had cleared the hangar of all conscious Chiss and their weapons; while the latter lay on the deck in pieces, the former lay on the deck unharmed but out cold.

Moments after her single-handed defeat of the enemies around her, and with her lightsaber still active, one of the hangar's egresses opened up again. Jaina turned and instinctively lowered her lightsaber when she saw her mother and father standing there. Master Saba Sebatyne loomed behind them while Leia's Noghri bodyguards, Cakhmaim and Meewalh, took up positions on either side of the woman whom they called Lady Vader.

“Jaina,” Leia said, “put your lightsaber away and let's talk about this.”

Jaina's face softened as she deactivated her lightsaber; but it remained in her hand as she asked, “How's Lowie?”

“Lowie's fine, kid,” Han was the one to answer. “But, apparently, you're not.”

“Han,” Leia said as she looked at her husband sharply. 

He nodded submissively as his wife turned back to their daughter and said, “The Chiss have told us what you and the others have done. You've resorted to destroying unarmed ships now?”

“You're talking about that defoliator, Mom?” Jaina asked. “Those ships are weapons in and of themselves; they were made to drive out the Colony even if it meant starving them to death. Disabling them wouldn't be enough.”

But hadn't she tried to just disable that defoliator for Ruu? Jaina wondered to herself.

No, she reminded herself. She meant to destroy it all along; she just thought of disabling it to make sure that the Knights who still had their doubts—Lowie, Zekk, and especially Jacen—wouldn't stop her from committing to her truly intended action. 

Yes, that was why.

“So you admit to being the one to destroying it personally?” Saba asked.

“Of course,” Jaina answered firmly.

“Jaina,” Leia said, “what's gotten into you?”

“Aunt Mara asked me the same thing,” Jaina stated evenly. “And I'll tell you what I told her; I'm still a Jedi. I'm doing exactly what needs to be done. Look around you.” She waved her arms at the unconscious Chiss. “You see any dead Chiss here? I exercised restraint, even though they deserve death. All of these Chiss; I'm being kinder to them than I should be, and all so I can continue to balance what I think is right and what the Jedi creed tells me I should do.”

“What you think is right and what the Jedi creed tells you to do should be one and the same, Jaina,” Saba asserted sternly. “There shouldn't have to be any balancing act here.”

“I don't have time for this,” Jaina spat. “Where's Lowie? If you know where he is, tell me so I can rescue him and we can leave. We don't even have to kill anyone here.”

“Jaina, please, stop this!” Leia pleaded. Jaina noticed that tears were starting to form in her mother's eyes. “Get out while you still have a chance or nobody wins!” By now, several of the Chiss were beginning to stir back to consciousness. “Return to Ossus so we can see what's going wrong with you and the other Knights!”

“I'm afraid that option is no longer available to your daughter, Princess Leia,” a familiar voice said over the Star Destroyer's EPA system. “Because that blast door that shut the hangar off completely from space can only be opened by a code known only to myself and a select few members of my senior staff. Destroying that door's controls will render it shut permanently until it can be cut open after so many man-hours of using blast-torches after this Destroyer returns to base. You have nowhere to run, Jaina.”

“Jag?” Jaina asked. She only now realized that the voice over the EPA was that of Jagged Fel, her old flame from her time fighting the Vong and whom she hadn't seen since the war's end. 

“Stand down, Jaina,” Jag's voice commanded harshly. “Don't make this anymore difficult than we have to.”

“Or what?” Jaina asked as several of the Chiss around her were now completely recovered and were reaching for their backup blasters. “You'll torture me just like you did with Lowie?”

“Drop the weapon!” one of the Chiss commanded in accented Basic. “And put your hands on your head!”

“Do as he says, Jaina,” Jag's voice returned. “Because I doubt even you have an endless supply of energy to knock all of those soldiers back to unconsciousness.”

She doubted it, too. Which meant one thing...

“I said drop it!” the same Chiss repeated.

Instantly, her lightsaber was ignited again and Jaina moved in a blur for the shouting Chiss; he wouldn't have enough time to fire his weapon before she removed his head from his shoulders.

But then a blue-bladed lightsaber blocked Jaina's, and the next thing she knew, she was lifted off her feet and flung several meters back where she hit the deck to slide another meter. 

When she looked up, Jaina shared the same look of befuddlement as those of the recovered Chiss, for now Leia stood ahead and above her with her lightsaber active and in hand. Her expression was a complete blank, as if it took all of her willpower just to attack her daughter like that and not lose her composure.

“I won't let you do this, Jaina,” Leia said with a tone that matched her facial expression.

A mixture of anger and sadness crossed over Jaina's face. How could her own mother turn on her like this? How could she side with the enemy, against her own daughter? Mara slapping and disowning her for making the Palpatine comparison to Luke was one thing, especially since Mara was only Jaina's aunt by marriage, but with Leia, it was different. This was betrayal, pure and simple. 

When her face set itself into an expression of grim resolve, Jaina shrieked as she allowed a great burst of the Force to knock back everyone else in the hangar, including all of the other Chiss who were only now regaining consciousness and the two Noghri. As for Han and Saba, the latter Force-anchored herself to the deck as she wrapped Han up into her arms to keep him from toppling over. 

And like Saba, Leia stood firm as she Force-anchored herself to the deck, though her scrunched expression displayed that it was much harder for her to pull off than it was for the Barabel. Nevertheless, that still allowed Jaina time to leap to her feet and charge at Leia with a loud battle cry.

Only when she was a meter away, when she was finally able to get a good look into her own mother's eyes, did she stop dead in her tracks and freeze.

Only then did she realize what she had been doing; she had been about to charge in at her mother with the full intent of killing her. That was too far for her; she couldn't bring herself to do such a despicable act that was beyond even her own moral certainty. Killing an anonymous Chiss commander, or any other Chiss for that matter, wouldn't have put a dent into Jaina's conscience; but striking down Leia, even if she had turned on her daughter, was something that Jaina knew she could never live with.

Mother and daughter held their respective positions for an innumerable set of heartbeats. With the blast door leading out into space blocking out any view of the space battle from here, and everyone else present in the hangar remaining where they were to see what would happen next, it seemed as if time itself had stood still in anticipation of this moment.

The perspective of time resumed when Jaina finally deactivated her lightsaber, dropped it to the deck, and raised her arms in the air.

And just like that, as the Chiss got up and surrounded her with their backup sidearms, it was as if the extreme hatred that she had for them simply evaporated into nothing. She didn't know why; all she knew was that they no longer reminded her of the Yuuzhan Vong or their genocidal tendencies.

But as she was stuncuffed and hauled away by her captors, a new emotion replaced her hatred: fear. 

However, it wasn't fear of what the Chiss would do to her in response for her actions.

It was the unsettling feeling of being cut off, of being alone, from the sense of purpose that she had just lost.  

Chapter Text

As soon as Jacen felt Jaina drop out of the battle-meld, his ship took a major hit in the rear that dropped his shields from sixty percent to thirty. So, with that literal jolt back to reality, Jacen banked hard to port and did his best to try to shake his sole clawcraft pursuer, which was now more difficult than before given that two new clawcraft squadrons were launched from a different hangar bay from the Star Destroyer that wasn't holding Lowbacca. As a result, Tahiri, Alema, Tesar, and the remaining Killik swarms all became too preoccupied with these fresh squads to help Jacen, and it wasn't long before his tail was joined by two new clawcraft who added their own lasers to the mix.

At times like these, Jacen really wished that he had his sister's piloting skills, or at the very least an invisible starfighter, so that he could better dodge the projectiles that were just barely missing him. As it was, it was taking all of his relatively limited skills as a pilot to make sure his shields didn't drop to zero. But all of these gradual grazes from the near-misses were steadily chipping away at his shields, and some were even getting through and blasting holes in the Solo Quest's outer hull. Jacen had a really bad feeling that it would take a minute, maybe two, of this rapid set of barrages before his shields were gone completely and then he would be engulfed in a ball of flame that would end it all.

After surviving the Yuuzhan Vong War, it seemed ignoble to him to die over something like a border conflict that had gone out of control, even if he was doing his duty as a Jedi in helping defend these poor Killiks. It was a selfish thought, he knew, but one he had despite himself; still, he hoped that his fellow Knights and at least some Killiks could make it out of this somehow even if he couldn't.

But just as his shields had been reduced to five percent, all four of the clawcraft chasing Jacen suddenly broke away and began zipping back to the Destroyer from which they dropped out. 

Quickly, Jacen checked his sensors to see if there were any other Chiss fighters who were headed for his direction. Not only did he find that none were, but all of the remaining clawcraft had broken off from their own dogfights and pursuits to join Jacen's former pursuers back to the same Destroyer.

What? Tesar conveyed through the battle-meld. Why are they retreating?

Because they have Jaina and Zekk, Tahiri replied. They ended this before when they captured Lowie and because they sustained heavier losses since they weren't as prepared then. But now that they have Jaina and Zekk, they're going to want to see what they have to offer what Lowie couldn't give them.

We should go after them then! Tesar cried. We have to save all of them now!

No, Alema stated.

What?! Jacen and the others responded in shock.

We have lost too much today, Alema replied. As much as I hate the Chiss, I say we follow their example and fall back, especially when we have more reason to.

Indeed, many more Killiks had died than in the skirmish in which Lowie had been captured, and all of the Knights' ships had been damaged in some way or another. If they were to fight another day, they had to take this opportunity that the Chiss were giving them and return to their respective bases—in other words, their homes—so that they can get patched up, refueled, and resupplied with more proton torpedoes and shadow bombs.

Tahiri spoke up in the battle-meld. But Jaina and-

They knew the risks, Alema cut in. If we go in as we are now, we'll only end up being captured just like them, if not worse.

You're not the leader of this group, Tahiri replied. Jaina is.

Jaina was, Alema pointed out. You felt her drop out of the battle-meld just like the rest of us, Tahiri. Now that she's in the enemy's hands, someone has to take charge and make sure everyone else sees reason. But if the rest of you want to waste your lives and your ships on a doomed mission to save Jaina, Zekk, and Lowie, be my guest. I know for a fact that the Killiks and I won't be, at least not until after we've regrouped and compensated for our losses.

Jacen gritted his teeth in frustration. As much as he hated what Alema said, he knew that she was right, and he felt Tahiri and Tesar begrudgingly agree. Jacen pounded his ship's steering yoke with both fists before he communed, Okay. We'll pick this up later.

Tahiri and Tesar both conveyed similar sentiments through the meld. So, with that out of the way, the four Joiner Jedi turned back to Jwlio with several Taat dartships, while the ones from the other nests promptly returned to their own moons.

Joining them on their return trip to Jwlio was the Jade Shadow, and Jacen felt Uncle Luke reach out to him through the Force. 

And when he did, he knew that Luke was only talking to him; no one else in the meld knew about this.

Jacen was just fine with that.

They're all okay, Jacen, Luke said. Mara and I can feel it.

But what about what Jaina said about Lowie? Jacen asked. You said-

We can talk about this later, personally, Luke interrupted. Rest assured, though, no harm will come to Jaina, Zekk, or Lowie as long as your parents and Master Sebatyne are aboard that Star Destroyer. Now can you meet us outside this system?

You want me to leave the group? Jacen asked.

Are you willing to do that? Luke asked as an answer.

Jacen's first thought was to say no; after all, his friends were all here and now that Jaina and Zekk were being held by the Chiss, and he agreed with Alema that they and Lowie needed to be saved. But once Jacen actually stopped himself to really think about the answer, he realized that ever since he came here, he had been having a consistently uneasy feeling around the Killiks. Though he did care about them and had even found himself sharing their thoughts and feelings at times, which wasn't too dissimilar to the battle-meld he shared with his fellow Knights, he also found himself sensing this undercurrent of darkness among them. He couldn't quite place it, but he found that it seemed to be strongest with Jaina and Alema, and it had a good, if not as powerful, grasp on Tahiri and Tesar, too. Aside from himself, he found that this vague darkness was weakest in Lowie, Tekli, and Zekk.

When Jacen was done with this internal assessment, he finally sent back to Luke, Alright; just send me the coordinates. Do you want me to tell the other Knights?

Do you feel comfortable with that idea? Luke asked, again as if it were an answer.

Honestly, no, Jacen said, though he did feel a pang of guilt for leaving Tekli behind with Tahiri, Tesar, and especially Alema. Still, he also felt that no harm would come to the Chadra-Fan if he left her behind, given her role as a medic for Taat and even the marooned Chiss who ended up crashing on one of Qoribu's moons after a battle with the Colony.

Then here are the coordinates, Luke responded. A moment later, Jacen's navcomp received said coordinates.

Thank you, Uncle Luke, he sent.

The warm feeling that his uncle conveyed through this connection assured Jacen of his trust and of Jaina, Zekk, and Lowie's safety as Luke promised. But as the Solo Quest and Jade Shadow banked away from Qoribu's moons to a point that would safely lead them both out of the Gyuel system, Jacen dug beneath that assurance and found a fearful doubt about why Jaina felt that Lowie was being tortured while Luke sensed that he was in a Force-hibernation.

Considering Jaina's attitude lately, Jacen had a feeling that his sister's judgment was severely compromised.

. . . 

A pair of stuncuffs were locked onto each of Jaina's wrists and they had each been locked against a table leg in the interrogation room in which the Chiss had placed her. She sat in silence for two long hours in the dimly-lit spartan room, staring ahead and, aside from her consistent breathing, not moving a muscle.

By the end of those two hours, the room's door opened and Jaina found a lack of surprise within herself when she saw Jagged Fel walk into the room. Without a word, he sat himself down in the seat opposite her and laid a datapad on the desktop between them with military precision.

The two of them locked eyes and didn't say anything to one another for ten whole seconds before Jag finally asked, “You're wondering right now why you can't use the Force, huh?”

“Something to do with these stuncuffs?” Jaina asked back. 

Jag nodded. “After the Vong War, the Chiss Defense Force's scientific branch came up with a way to neutralize a Jedi's ability to use the Force through cuffs like those.”

“How prophetic of them,” Jaina replied wryly.

“Oh, they didn't need any premonitions from the Force to have the vision to come up with something like those. Even with the Jedi allying with the Ascendancy by way of the Galactic Alliance against the Vong, the Phalanxes considered what might happen should relations between our peoples collapse in the future; and what special precautions were to be taken if we found ourselves in need of taking a Jedi alive.”

“Today's friend could be tomorrow's enemy,” Jaina summarized his statement succinctly.

“Indeed. And for quite a while, I thought that my superiors were being too paranoid. After all, why would an organization like the Jedi Order turn against a righteous government like the Chiss Ascendancy?”

“Righteous, you say? What's so righteous about trying to starve out a displaced people and make 'em go away?”

“It's within our rights if they're within our territory.”

“How selfish of you, then.”

“That's not my call, nor is it yours to get involved in something that has nothing to do with the Jedi Order or the Galactic Alliance.”

Jaina opened her mouth to retort, only to hold back; she had been about to tell him about Raynar Thul, or UnuThul as he was now known, who was once a Jedi before he was kidnapped by the Dark Jedi Lomi Plo and Welk from the Yuuzhan Vong worldship Baanu Raas over Myrkr eight years ago. Instead, Jaina scowled at Jag.

When the latter saw that the former wasn't going to respond, he said, “You've killed quite a lot of Chiss lately, Jaina. The Defense Force needs to know why.”

“So this is their nice way of asking?”

“Believe me, it is.”

“So if I get to cooperate and answer your questions, Zekk, Lowie, and I can all be executed much more quickly?” Jaina snorted derisively. “Tell me that's not your incentive.”

“The Ascendancy is willing to grant you and your friends leniency if you tell us who is behind this Killik expansion,” Jag said, maintaining his cool military composure. “If you or your friends tell us, we will let you all go.”

“And whoever's behind this will be the one to take the fall?”

“Precisely.”

“And what'll happen to the Killiks? I don't suppose you'll let them live in the Gyuel system peacefully.”

“That's for my superiors to decide.”

“So if your superiors think they need to wiped out from the face of the galaxy, you'll just go along with that, Jag?”

Jag's eyes narrowed. “I don't have to answer that.”

Jaina scoffed. “No, of course you don't. You can just hide behind your orders like the coward you are.”

Jag's nostrils flared, but he still didn't break his composure otherwise. “How much torture do you think you can resist, Jaina?”

“My mom was tortured by Darth Vader himself. If I'm my mother's daughter, then I think I can take anything you can throw at me.”

“Alright then,” Jag said neutrally. “Let's assume you're correct; our expert interrogators do everything to you short of killing you and you still won't break. Can you say the same for Zekk or Lowbacca?”

Jaina's eyes widened in shock before they narrowed in fury. “You wouldn't,” she growled. In spite of her earlier belief that Lowie was being tortured—regardless of whatever Uncle Luke told her—she honestly didn't think Jag had it in him to torture her or either of her friends. If she thought he was bluffing about whether or not he'd be willing to torture her or allow her to be tortured by someone else in the Defense Force, she had much less doubt about whether or not the same could apply to Zekk or Lowie.

“I might not. But I can't say the same for any of the other officers aboard this Star Destroyer.”

“You'd let that happen to them?” Jaina asked in angry disbelief. “After everything you went through with us?”

“That was a long time ago, Jaina. As you've clearly demonstrated, things can change.”

“Clearly,” Jaina growled again.

Once again, they held each other's gaze for several seconds before Jag pressed a button on the datapad and spun it around so that Jaina could look at it right-side up. Displayed there was a list of what Jaina recognized to be Chiss names, translated from their native tongue, followed by serial numbers and images associated with the names. They flashed by at five-seconds intervals, as Jaina said they were being played in a looped recording.

“These are all the good men and women who died because of this border conflict, Jaina,” Jag said. “Take a good look at each of them. If you didn't have a hand in killing them from your invisible starfighter, their deaths are on your hands regardless simply for your involvement in this system.”

Jaina looked away from the 'pad and sneered at Jag. “You think showing me this is supposed to make me sympathetic for your losses?”

“Empathetic, Jaina. From one soldier to another, I'm trying to make you see what you and your friends have aided in doing. And don't tell me you don't feel anything other than disgust for these people. I know you; you're better than that. We fought side by side for years against the Vong, working alongside many other people of various different species, including the Chiss. So I know there's something in you that knows that what you've done is wrong and I'm trying to give you a chance to atone for that.”

Jaina looked at him with disgust. “If I were to show you a list and set of pictures of every single Killik who died in this border conflict, and tried to use the same rhetoric on you, you really think that would work?” 

“Fine then,” Jag said. “You leave me no choice.” He pressed another button on the 'pad, and the viewscreen switched to that of a live recording of Zekk being strapped down on a table in what appeared to be a medbay.

He was clearly conscious but inert as if he were drugged. Jaina also saw that he had a set of electrodes attached to his forehead. Surrounding Zekk were a pair of Chiss in labcoats, one of whom held a datapad in his hands while the other held a commlink to his side.

Jag brought up his commlink and pressed a button there before he said something in Cheunh. In response, the Chiss with the commlink brought up his own to his mouth and replied in the same language. Jag said one word, the Chiss said one word, and then the latter's counterpart pressed something on his own 'pad.

A second later, Zekk's body began to spasm in pain from the electrodes on his head. 

“No!” Jaina exclaimed. “Stop it!”

“Tell us what we want to know, then,” Jag replied firmly.

Jaina's eyes flashed back to the viewscreen; the shocking on Zekk only stopped for a few seconds before it resumed, and this time she could hear him screaming. She then looked back between Jag and Zekk for several seconds, uncertain as to what to do.

"Come on, Jaina," Jag intoned over the sound of Zekk breathing as he recovered from another bout of shock. The military officer raised his voice to be heard over another bout of screaming from Zekk as he said, "Don't make this any harder on him than it already is."

Jaina was too horrified by what was going on to Zekk that she didn't even keep track of the time or the number of shocks that her fellow Jedi was receiving. Yet, somehow, her will was gradually weakened with the sound of Zekk's ragged breathing in the all-too short breaks that his torturer gave him.

Eventually, she said, “Alright, alright, I'll tell you what you wanna know!”

Jag spoke into the commlink again. Then the Chiss with his own comm said something to his counterpart, who, in turn, shut off the electrodes completely.

“Go ahead,” Jag said to Jaina.

She sighed in defeat. “Do you know of a world called Yoggoy?”

“Tell me about it.”

Chapter Text

The Solo Quest and Jade Shadow dropped out in a nameless system that had a main sequence yellow star several million kilometers away. This system had three planets, all of them outside their star's habitable zone and therefore devoid of any life. The two innermost planets had a barren moon each while the last was all alone in its own orbit. 

In other words, it was a completely unremarkable system for anyone to find the two ships unless their owners wanted them to be found via hypercomm. So, with virtually no threat of being found by the Killiks, Chiss, or any other unwanted visitors, the Quest and Shadow docked with each other.

By Luke and Mara's invitation, Jacen came aboard their ship. He was met by them just after he entered through the airlock and they appraised him with guarded expressions.

“Okay, Jacen,” Luke said, “tell us everything you know about this conflict.”

Jacen shrugged helplessly. “I'm not sure of how much I can be of help since I was there for the shortest amount of time among the Knights.”

“Tell us anyway,” Mara said with an affirmative tone.

Jacen looked at her hesitantly; considering the fact that the last time he saw her, she had slapped his sister for bringing up Emperor Palpatine when Jaina was criticizing Luke. Not that Jacen didn't understand, since he was aware of Mara's history as the Emperor's Hand and how she regretted working for him, but Jaina was still his sister; so for that, he had, at best, mixed feelings around his aunt right now.

Still, those feelings didn't get in the way of his compliance. “Alright, but I'm guessing this is all stuff you guys know anyway.” In brief, he went through with his awareness about Raynar Thul being the Prime Unu, which was basically the Killiks' king, the fact that he had brought them together to forge ahead in their border conflict with the Chiss, and the call that had brought Jacen and nearly all of the other Jedi Knights who had survived the Mission to Myrkr eight years ago.

“Though I'm not surprised that Tenel Ka didn't come,” Jacen said. “She's got enough on her plate bein' Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium. I wonder how she resisted.”

“We could contact her and ask,” Luke suggested evenly.

This time, Jacen shrugged nonchalantly. “That'd be nice, if only just to speak to her again.” He smirked. “It's nice seeing you all again, even if they aren't exactly under the best of circumstances. Though I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more help.”

Luke nodded. “That's alright. You've shown that you still know your place, Jacen, which is more than what the other Knights have demonstrated.”

“They're just doing what they think is right, Uncle Luke,” Jacen said softly but defensively. “Including Jaina, even if she does say some... stupid things.” He avoided looking at Mara when he said that.

“Indeed,” Luke said. “But you know as well as Mara and I do, Jacen, that good intentions don't always necessarily lead to good actions. Tell us, have Jaina or any of the other Knights done anything unusually rash or violent in the time you've spent with them? Did they tell you about anything in particular before you arrived?”

Jacen sighed. “Well... if I'm being honest, Jaina hasn't been herself in the time I've spent with her and the others. In fact... she's been... acting quite unstable.”

“How so?” Mara asked.

He then told them about the incident that led to Lowbacca's capture by the Chiss. Both Skywalkers looked concerned when he told them about what Jacen felt through the battle-meld then, where Jaina had intended to simply disable that defoliator intended for the moon of Ruu, only for those proton torpedoes to destroy it and spark the fire that devolved the confrontation into a bloody mess.

“And I don't think it was a mistake either,” Jacen concluded. “She's too good for that, too experienced, especially if I'm to believe she only got better in the years since I last saw her. I think, in spite of what she told us in the meld, she had been intending to destroy that defoliator from the start. Though what worries me is that if that's true, then how could she have masked that from the rest of us?”

“We'd like to find that out, too,” Luke said. 

“But you know what else we'd like to find out, Jacen?” Mara asked. “How you pulled that trick on Yoggoy where you let your mother know where you and the other Knights were.”

Jacen grimaced. “You know, I had a conversation just like this when I arrived on Jwlio and met the others. I think it might have something to do with what I learned from the Aing-Tii monks, but I'm not quite sure how...” 

He trailed off as a sensation, this overwhelming urge, came over him. Jacen felt as if it were hunger, but before he could feel hungry himself, the sensation went away.

“Jacen?” Luke asked. “Are you okay?”

“I... I think so,” Jacen replied. He looked away from Luke and Mara and narrowed his eyes in concentration as he tried to find out where that sensation came from.

“Jacen, what's wrong?” Mara asked more urgently than her husband.

“I'm not quite sure,” Jacen said as he applied more concentration through the Force. “It feels... murky.”

“What?” Luke and Mara asked simultaneously.

“It feels... cloaked,” Jacen said. “Like it's... trying to hide from me. Wait... I've felt this. I've felt this before. Barely, but I know it, or I think I know it. It... it feels like... what's been... surrounding Jaina and the others. It surrounds her and Alema more strongly than the others. It's...”

Jacen's eyes widened in shock and he looked between Luke and Mara in horror. 

“You have an intruder aboard,” he told his aunt and uncle.

“Where?” Mara asked.

“In the galley, I think,” Jacen replied hurriedly.

The three of them then rushed to the Shadow's galley; upon arriving, they all stopped in their tracks at what they saw.

Ben's eyes were widened in terror as a blue-black Killik who was roughly his size held a knife up to the boy's throat. In the corner, Ben's YVH nanny droid stood slumped over, obviously deactivated; no doubt that was this Killik's doing.

“Mom! Dad! Help!” Ben cried. For that, the Killik held him up tighter, threatening to slit his throat.

“Oh, no,” Mara growled. “We have the Force, you overgrown cockroach.”

She reached out with one hand and the knife was yanked out of the Killik's grasp and into her own.

In response, the insectoid shoved Ben forward and leaped up to the ceiling, where the tips of its legs clung. As Mara, who had dropped the knife to the deck, hurried to catch and hug Ben, Luke reached out with the Force and grabbed the Killik, halting it as it tried to make its way for the door, no doubt trying to escape the three Jedi from above.

With the Killik halted, Jacen leaped up and plucked the Killik from the ceiling with both arms; he slammed it to the deck and pinned it there. But even so, the insectoid squirmed as it attempted to escape his grasp.

“Jacen, get off!” Mara called as she brought out her blaster; Ben was still being held protectively in one arm.

“Wait, Aunt Mara, don't shoot it!” Jacen said, still maintaining his hold on the Killik. “We'll need it alive! It can tell us why it's here and maybe tell us what's-” 

Jacen was cut off from finishing his sentence as the insectoid suddenly leaped up again, which threw Jacen off of itself. It then started to bound all across the galley as Mara started shooting stunbolts at it, which dissipated harmlessly off the hulls and deck.

Finally, Luke once again used the Force and froze the Killik just as it was in mid-jump. And with that, Mara fired a stunbolt and the insectoid fell unconscious; Luke gently lowered it to the deck.

Mara looked over at Jacen and showed off that the blaster had, indeed, been set to stun. “Already ahead o' you, kid.” Ben then held his mother tighter as he looked at the unconscious Killik, prompting Mara to put the gun away and hug Ben with both arms.

After Jacen picked himself up, he asked Luke, “You have somewhere we can hold her?”

“Her?” Luke asked.

Jacen nodded. “I can sense the Killik's gender.”

Luke returned the nod. “Right. Um, you think you can tie her up in the guest quarters?”

“As long as you don't have any guests planned soon,” Jacen quipped.

Luke smiled as Jacen picked the unconscious Killik up in both arms. “Let me show you the way,” the older man said. 

. . . 

In the Chiss Star Destroyer Guardian's hangar bay, where the Millennium Falcon and Jaina's StealthX were docked, Jag waited silently with Han, Leia, Cakhmaim, Meewalh, Saba, C-3PO, and six Chiss guards surrounding them. Behind all of them, the blast door that had slammed shut thanks to Jaina forcibly boarding the Guardian in her starfighter had been opened thanks to the code that Jag had input, and a backup force-field had been erected to keep the hangar bay separate from the vacuum of space. 

The wait ended when one of the hangar's egresses opened, and Jaina walked inside surrounded by three Chiss guards. Zekk came next, also with three guards. Lowbacca was last, and it seemed almost insulting even to Jag that he should only warrant three guards considering that he was way stronger than Jaina and Zekk combined.

Regardless, all nine incoming guards and their Jedi charges stopped and lined up so they were all facing Jag, his guards, the Solos, and their party.

“As promised,” Jag announced formally, “all three of you are free to go.”

Zekk shrugged. “Just like that, huh?”

Jag nodded with no change to his model officer's expression. “Just like that.”

Zekk returned the nod with a bitter smile. “Well, good.”

He then unleashed a Force-wave that knocked Jag flat on his back. In response, Zekk's three guards forced him to his knees, with all of their charrics pressed at some area of his head. The guards surrounding Jaina and Lowie formed tight circles around them, with their blasters aimed directly at their chests.

Half of Jag's own guards kept Han, Leia, and Saba back while the other half helped him to his feet. One of the latter asked him something in Cheunh, to which he responded in the same language as he waved them off and helped himself up.

He looked back directly at Zekk and asked in Basic, “Are you satisfied?”

“Not even close,” Zekk growled.

“Well, it'll have to do,” Jag said as he straightened out his uniform. “Try that again, and I'll have you back in your cell and I'll make sure you never set foot outside the Unknown Regions again. Or even see daylight on any planet, for that matter.”

“Duly noted,” Zekk said through gritted teeth.

Jag looked among Zekk's Chiss guards and said something to them in Cheunh that forced them to bring their charrics away from the Jedi's head and allow him to stand back up. Jag said something else to the guards around Jaina and Lowie, and they dissolved from the circles they had around their Jedi.

“What was that about?” Han asked Jag.

The latter turned to address the older man. “Let's just say I had to resort to some unpleasant methods to gain Jaina's cooperation.”

“You tortured Zekk?” Leia asked in horror.

Jag's expression became grim. “I did what I had to.”

Han's expression now coincided with Leia's as they both regarded Jag. Their anger toward him intensified after they looked back from Jaina, Lowie, and Zekk.

Jag kept his professional military tone steady as he asked, “Do you wish to stand around judging me for what I was ordered to do or do you wish to take your daughter and their friends away while you still have the chance?”

“While we still have the chance, huh?” Saba piped in. “Az I understand it, you allow us to have our Knightz out of political convenience with the Galactic Alliance.”

“And to see if the information that Jaina provided pans out,” Jag affirmed.

Han levelled an accusatory finger up at Jag's face. He looked like he was about to say something, only to swiftly turn away and walk over to Jaina, whom he hugged fiercely. Leia only gave Jag a disgusted glare as Han brought Jaina, Zekk, and Lowie over to the Falcon's lowered boarding ramp. There, Jaina shared a brief hug with Leia before she looked back at Jag.

“I will never forgive you for this,” she said to him.

Jag said nothing as she branched off from the group and made her way for the StealthX. Zekk was next, and he sneered at Jag; again, he didn't say anything or changed his expression one iota as he watched him walk up the Falcon's ramp. Lowie didn't even bother looking Jag in the eye as he walked past. 

Neither did Han, for that matter; and Leia had nothing to say as she followed her husband up the ramp. As well, neither Saba nor Threepio had any reason to say goodbye once they and the two silent and stoic Noghri were the last ones to board the Falcon.

Jag and all the other guards then stepped a great distance away from the ancient YT-1300 and StealthX as they powered up and lifted off from the deck. They turned and rocketed out through the force-field that led into space.

After the Falcon and Jaina's StealthX jumped into hyperspace out of the Gyuel system, that was when the Guardian and her sister ship Protector began procedures for their own jump to hyperspace.

By then, Jag had made it to the Guardian's bridge.

“Helm, plot us a course,” Jag said, “for the fallback rendezvous point.” Said rendezvous point was a system where the Guardian and Protector were to retreat should the campaign against the Killiks wind up so out of their control that they couldn't afford to lose anymore manpower or resources without much needed regrouping and repletion.

“We're abandoning this system to the Killiks, sir?” one of Jag's lieutenants—an overeager man a few years younger than him—asked in disbelief. His name was Uhana'ski'plataru, or Askip for short.

Jag shook his head. “For now. We're going to need to formulate a battle-plan with Admiral Peecar and some of the other captains.”

“Are we going to bring the hammer down on these damn bugs this time, sir?” the lieutenant asked.

“Maintain decorum, Lieutenant Askip.”

The officer stiffened in formality. “Yes, sir. I apologize for my hubris, sir.”

“Apology accepted. And in answer to your question, we are going to be planning a major offensive on the enemy. But not here.”

“Where then?”

“The Yoggoy system.”

Chapter Text

As the Jade Shadow hurtled through hyperspace, Luke waited in the copilot seat for Mara to return to her place in the pilot's chair. When she did, she said, “Ben's safe in his cabin with Nanna. She told me that the Killik got the drop on her by springing out from beneath the galley table. It climbed up her body and found her off-switch before she could do anything to protect herself.”

“We'll need to make her off-switch less accessible, at least against intruders, in the future,” Luke suggested. “You think we can give her to Lando for a while to install something like that?”

Mara shrugged. “We could, but Ben will have to go without a nanny for some time, and I'm not sure we wanna leave him that vulnerable. Especially right now. Then again, I guess we could still keep Nanna around until Lando gives us a whole new nanny with an anti-intruder off-switch.”

Luke tilted his head in agreement. “Sounds like a plan; let's hope no other Killiks get to that switch between now and then.”

Mara nodded. “I've already done a thorough internal and external scan of the Shadow. Jacen even helped me out by sensing if there were any other Killiks aboard after he tied it up in the guest cabin. As far as he can tell, there aren't, but since the one we're holding right now almost didn't get by him, I'm not so sure I can be so confident even in his senses.”

Luke laid his natural hand on his wife's forearm. “If Jacen senses that there aren't any other Killiks aboard, that means there aren't any others aboard.”

“I hope you're right,” Mara said.

“Hey, I know what you're feeling,” Luke said. “I was scared, too. But there's no danger to Ben right now. You can be sure of it.”

Mara shook her head. “How did that thing even get aboard? The ship's ramp was open on Jwlio for only a few minutes! Nanna was on lookout, and not just for Ben. And why didn't any of the Knights tell us about it? Why didn't Jacen, since he's the most trustworthy of them right now? Also, why didn't any of this ship's anti-intruder systems work? I paid good money for them!”

“I checked the security feeds while you and Jacen were on your search through the ship,” Luke said. “Let me show you what they found in the short time we were on Jwlio.”

He leaned forward and flipped a switch that activated a screen on the control console before them. The screen showed footage from the time that they, Ben, and Nanna had all stepped down onto Jwlio. It didn't take long before the screen fuzzed up, as if a connection had gone bad, right before Nanna took Ben back up the Shadow's ramp. 

At intervals of seconds, Luke flipped other switches, activating feeds from other areas of the ship. At a different time, each feed fuzzed up just like the one at the ramp. 

It wasn't long before the feeds just stopped and the screen went blank; and it was right before Luke and Mara had stepped back aboard the Shadow. 

“What a coincidence that should happen,” Mara said sarcastically.

“Force-trickery, no doubt,” Luke said earnestly. “Most likely was the same cause that let down the rest of the anti-intruder sensors to allow the Killik aboard. Do you think any of the Knights could have done it?”

“Not without us sensing them,” Mara said. “Perhaps another Force-user, someone who could have cloaked their presence?”

It was then that they both felt Jacen's presence approaching the cockpit. They turned in their seats to find their nephew stepping into the threshold.

“I couldn't get anything out of the captive Killik,” Jacen reported. “She won't even tell me her nest's name.”

“Don't worry about it,” Mara said. “We're meeting up with the Falcon. They managed to free Zekk, Lowie, and Jaina. Your parents told us that something is going to happen on Yoggoy and that we need to meet face-to-face.”

“What's gonna happen on Yoggoy?” Jacen asked.

“A Chiss invasion,” Mara answered evenly. “Jaina gave up that it was where the Prime Unu was so that she and the others could be freed. The Chiss think that by killing him and maybe wiping out every Killik there, they can break the Colony's hive mind and render the rest of the Killiks as fractured nests again.”

Jacen's eyes widened  “So we're meeting with my parents to plan a defense for Yoggoy?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Mara said. “We certainly don't have the firepower to take on the Chiss by ourselves, at any rate.”

“Then I have to warn the Colony,” Jacen said. “Say if they can start an evacuation, if not a fight.”

He turned away from his aunt and uncle, shut his eyes, and concentrated as he reached out through the Force to reach the meld that he had established with Taat, who would, in turn, reach out to Unu for him. 

The response that Jacen got from Taat felt stern and reserved, which made him concerned. Nevertheless, he felt that he was soon connected with the man who had once been his friend, Raynar Thul.

UnuThul, Jacen addressed him. Hear me, please. The Chiss are-

Traitor! UnuThul roared through the connection. Joining with his voice was the combined force of other voices, including Tahiri, Alema, Tesar, and even Tekli. Jacen was also very aware of how much the power of the nest of Unu, as well as all the other Killik nests, was put into this communication. You abandoned us! You left us, you left Lowie, you left Zekk, you even left your own sister! Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!

And just like that, the connection was cut off.

Jacen felt as if he had been cast adrift. The sudden feeling of loneliness overwhelmed him like a tidal wave, and he looked to Luke and Mara as if they could console him over this loss. Instead, they looked befuddled.

“Jacen, what's wrong?” Luke asked.

“They think I betrayed them,” Jacen said. “Unu, Taat, the other nests, even my friends still on Jwlio. They cut me off from the Taat nest mind and the overall Colony hive-mind.”

“Oh, Jacen,” Luke said. “I'm so sorry.” His tone was sincere; he may not have understood what Jacen had when he was with the Killiks, but Luke knew that his nephew was feeling the pain of a major loss right now.

Jacen shook his head, as if he were sobering himself from a stupor. “That doesn't matter. The Colony still needs our help, even if they won't listen to me.”

Luke and Mara both nodded. “We agree,” the former said. “So keep calm and wait until we meet with your parents and Master Sebatyne.”

Jacen looked like he was about to agree when he stopped himself. “Well, maybe I can do more than that. Maybe I can get something out of our captive after all. If I can use a mind-probe-”

“Mind-probe?” Luke asked. “Did you say a mind-probe?”

Jacen nodded hesitantly. “Yes, why?”

Luke stood up from his seat and approached his nephew. “A mind-probe is a technique of the dark side, Jacen.”

Jacen took a moment to respond. “It can be if used unwisely.”

Luke shook his head. “Wisdom has nothing to do with it, Jacen. A mind-probe isn't just about peering into someone's mind simply to extract information; it tears at their mind, rending it, fracturing it, in a truly painful, agonizing way. It can even lead to a coma, if not death.”

“I'll be careful,” Jacen said. “When I'm done, the Killik will be fine and-”

“It isn't just about that Killik, Jacen,” Luke interrupted. “It's also about your own soul. When you commit to a mind-probe, even if the victim is still conscious afterwards, it will do something to you. It can and will corrupt you, and even if you are pulled back from the dark side of the Force, that taint on your soul will linger. Trust me; I know. My own father, when he was still Darth Vader, used it on me to learn that your mother was my sister; the pain to my mind wasn't just from the existential horror that Vader gave me when he learned about Leia. So I'm telling you, Jacen, do not use a mind-probe on that Killik, for your own sake.”

“But we don't have much time!” Jacen protested. “If the Killiks on Yoggoy are in danger-”

“Don't let expedience become an excuse!” Luke bellowed.

Jacen took a step back from his uncle's sudden outburst; even Mara flinched from that.

Luke sighed as he gathered himself before he spoke again. “I apologize for that, Jacen. But, please, understand that we do not resort to abilities that are those of the dark side. If we were to do that, we would no longer be Jedi. After all, if we were to allow desperation to cloud our judgment, we would have never gone looking for a solution to the Yuuzhan Vong War that didn't involve wiping them out. We would have condoned Alpha Red and never searched for Zonama Sekot. But we did, and for that, we and the rest of the galaxy kept our souls intact just as the Yuuzhan Vong were allowed a chance to have future generations grow up without violence or barbarism. We may have even saved more lives and shortened the war by going for the nonviolent option. So, then, Jacen, do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?”

Jacen hesitated before he finally nodded. “I think I do, Uncle Luke. If we completely side against the Chiss like I did with Jaina and the others at Qoribu, we'll be making things worse. And not just for the Killiks, but the Chiss, too.”

Luke returned the nod. “That's right.”

“How much longer before we meet up with the Falcon, then?” Jacen asked.

“A couple hours, give or take,” Mara reported.

“I'll, uh... I'll go back to the Killik, anyway,” Jacen said with a note of defeat. “So if I can get anything without resorting to a mind-probe.” 

Luke nodded. “But don't beat yourself up if you fail. In the end, we'll find a way to resolve this peacefully without losing our souls. I'm certain of it.”

Jacen looked like he was about to say something, but only nodded. He then turned away and headed back to the guest cabin.

“You should talk to him,” Mara suggested, “in private.”

Luke looked at his wife. “For what?”

“You're right about what a mind-probe could do, not just to the victim, but to the user, too,” Mara said. “It is a dark side ability. But you forget, Jacen doesn't quite look at things the same way we do, not after Vergere. And since you're more philosophically inclined than I am, you'd be better at fully convincing Jacen why he should be less receptive to what she taught him.”

“I had a conversation like that with Jacen before the Yuuzhan Vong War ended,” Luke told her. “We both know how we feel about each other's philosophies; if I brought up the subject to him again, he'd probably ask me to stop repeating myself. I might even agree. Besides, I already convinced him not to go through with the mind-probe; I see little need to reinforce it.”

“Then perhaps you two can finish that conversation about what he learned from the Aing-Tii monks,” Mara said. “It might explain why Leia saw him on Yoggoy when he had already left by the time we arrived.”

“You won't join us to hear that conversation firsthand?” Luke asked.

Mara shook her head. “Someone's gotta man the controls, just in case we come out of hyperspace too early for whatever reason. Besides, you have more interest in arcane Force-powers than I do.”

“Very well,” Luke said before he turned and left the cockpit.

He met Jacen in the guest cabin and found him seated at the foot of the bed where the Killik was strapped down. The insectoid struggled vainly against the fiberchord that kept its whole body in place as it chattered away in its native tongue in a very aggressive tone.

“I take it she's not saying anything useful?” Luke asked.

“Not really,” Jacen answered with an exasperated sigh. “Was there something you needed, Uncle Luke?”

Luke was about to ask him about Leia's sighting of him on Yoggoy before he reconsidered. He instead asked, “Jacen, do you remember that conversation we had on Zonama Sekot years ago, before we ended the Yuuzhan Vong War? About the nature of the dark side and our disagreement over it?”

“Yes,” Jacen answered simply.

“Well, I know that you don't believe that it exists as we more traditional Jedi understand it, but I just wanna say that whatever you believe now, I'm glad you remained on the side of the light. And that you still respect my judgment enough to not utilize anything that might be of the dark side.”

“Of course I respect your judgment, Uncle Luke. I have my experiences and my own wisdom, just as you have yours. And just because I doubt that the dark side really exists, at least as the way that traditional Jedi understand it, doesn't mean than I'm beyond good and evil or anything like that. In fact, during my sojourn after the war, I've come to see that across all these different beliefs of the Force, evil, or the dark side as you call it, exists, whether it's within ourselves or if it as intrinsic as you believe it might be. In any case, my own experiences have told me to be as wary of evil as you are.”

“It's good to see that you have developed your own wisdom, Jacen,” Luke said sincerely. "Especially after what happened to me when I tried to use 'the whole Force' just before we saw you down on Jwlio."

"That was rather concerning," Jacen agreed tacitly. "I wonder why that was. I mean, I know I aged a little when I used the entirety of the Force when I killed Onimi, but I felt so much stronger and wiser for it. To see you try it and come out looking as you did... Well, I guess all I can say is that I'm glad you're looking better already."

"I take it then that that might mean something more significant in reconsidering what Vergere taught you, despite what you felt at the end of the war?"

"Perhaps it will, Uncle Luke. Perhaps it will. But I dunno. For now, I wonder whether or not we can resolve this current crisis so peacefully."

Uncertain as to what else to say on that matter, Luke's tone shifted to something a bit more pragmatic. “But speaking of your sojourn, you were about to say something about your visit with the Aing-Tii monks before we had to deal with our friend here?” He tilted his head at the still-chattering Killik.

“Ah, yes,” Jacen said. “Well, as I was about to say, I don't quite understand how it worked. Quite frankly, I'm not even sure how I did it. I mean, I know how to flow-walk, but to leave something of myself for my mother to see in the future, that's something I didn't know I could do. That, and the idea that Raynar had seen me when he had crashed years ago when I wouldn't arrive until a month or so ago is something I didn't even think was possible.”

Luke's eyes widened. “Raynar saw you, back then?”

Jacen nodded. “Yeah, the other Knights thought that was a big deal, too. I imagine it'll be something for you and the other Masters to talk about when this whole Chiss-Killik crisis is over. But right now, I don't know how this can...” He trailed off as a thought crossed his expression.

“What is it?” Luke asked.

Instead of answering, Jacen looked over at the Killik, who had suddenly gone quiet when they locked eyes.

“When I saw the Tachyon Flier crash,” Jacen said as he looked back at his uncle, “I saw Raynar drag two bodies out with him. It hasn't occurred to me until now what might be really going on. I don't know how I could have been so stupid not to have thought of this before.”

“What do you think is going on, Jacen?” Luke asked.

Jacen returned his attention to the silent Killik. “The nest you're a part of. They're in it, aren't they?”

The insectoid chattered with a negative tone; even Luke could tell that she was trying to lie to Jacen.

The Knight looked back at the Master. “Uncle Luke, whatever's going on here... I think the Dark Jedi Lomi Plo and Welk are involved.”

Chapter Text

It was only after the first hyperspace jump out of the Gyuel system that Jaina had decided to tell her parents over the comm why Jag had allowed her, Zekk, and Lowbacca all go. From there, they decided to contact Luke and Mara, and they agreed to rendezvous in a different system where they could speak discretely and not worry about any eavesdroppers--whether they were Killik, Chiss, or otherwise--about what to do from there.

While Jaina could have boarded the Millennium Falcon and let Han slave her StealthX for their trip into hyperspace, she had decided to board her fighter instead. Her parents commed her just before they took off, asking if that was what she wanted, and she had replied definitively, "Yes." There was no argument from Han or Leia as they left her that space; no doubt because the latter had sensed through the Force that her daughter needed to be alone with her thoughts for the trip.

Before he released her, Zekk, and Lowie into Han, Leia, and Saba's custody, Jag told Jaina that one of the conditions of the three Knights' freedom was that neither of them could contact any of their friends, whether they were Killiks, Jedi, or other Joiners, in the Gyuel system; had they or anyone else aboard the Falcon attempted that, not only would they be fired upon, but the Chiss would begin an outright barrage on the moons of Qoribu instead of simply leaving.

Of course, that meant that the Chiss were free to attack Yoggoy; then again, at least it would have been better than having all those moons and Yoggoy be bombed from orbit.

Before leaving, however, Jaina did attempt to reach out through to her friends on Jwlio anyway, though it was through the Force rather than by comms. Unfortunately, the feeling of loneliness and isolation that she received in return, which manifested as soon as she had decided not to kill her own mother aboard the Guardian, persisted, and all she could feel were the presences of her parents, Master Sebatyne, Zekk, and Lowie. The latter two Knights also conveyed their own sense of a morose disconnection from the Taat hive mind and from the rest of the Colony; so the three of them couldn't even contact the Jedi or any of the Killiks to even say hello, let alone inform them of the danger that was brewing for Yoggoy.

Hence, for a little over two hours, Jaina was left to stew in her own frustration and anger in her StealthX's cockpit as her ship hurtled through hyperspace on the same course that the Falcon had taken. And as time passed, she found that the frustration and anger at being disconnected from the Colony was compounded by the betrayal that she felt from Jag because of his torturing of Zekk.

She couldn't believe the fact that he would be able to do that; the man whom she loved, who fought at her side against the Yuuzhan Vong, who had been so righteous, selfless, and duty-bound to the cause of good, was so at odds with the man she had seen today. 

Yet, at the same time, a part of Jaina knew that it had been within Jag's character to resort to torture to get what he wanted. Raised within the strict Chiss society, he had ascended through their military's ranks even as a teenager, which was no small feat considering their species' xenophobia, bred, in part, by their isolation from the wider galaxy. To be moulded in a society like that could make anyone who could thrive in it as cold and ruthless in their actions as it could make them noble and heroic. 

When Jaina really thought of it, the same man who risked his life time and time again during the Vong War with his bravery and stoicism could also easily be a man who could resort to tactics that the likes of Grand Moff Tarkin or even Darth Vader would find acceptable. With this thought in mind, Jaina began to feel sick that she could ever fall in love with somebody like that. 

But what did that say about her? Just as Jag served the Chiss Ascendancy with his actions, whether they were heroic or underhanded, Jaina served the New Republic, the Galactic Alliance, the Killiks, and the Jedi Order in ways that made her feel as if her soul had been gradually chipped away into a sliver of what it had once been when she was a teenager, well before the Vong ever invaded the galaxy. If that was what she felt, was that also how Jag felt? 

Jaina had seen a good man there, from all the way back to when they met over Ithor to the last time they saw each other before he had to return to the Unknown Regions following the war's end. She supposed that a lot could happen in the years between then and now (after all, so much happened in the few years in which the Vong War happened), but when she had looked into his eyes in that interrogation cell hours earlier, she saw very little of the man she once loved. 

At the end of the hyperspace jump, Jaina's StealthX dropped out next to the Falcon into a system several parsecs from Yoggoy. All that was here was a dying blue dwarf star and some cracked, lifeless planets in the distance that looked like they bled out pieces of their rocky compositions into space as if in slow-motion. 

Jaina didn't even wonder what could have happened to destroy these planets at some undetermined period in the distant past; ahead, the Jade Shadow and Solo Quest waited for them.

It didn't take long for the Falcon and Shadow to dock with each other; Jaina, for her part, didn't bother to hail the latter ship, as she knew she wouldn't be on speaking terms with Mara. She doubted she could have parked her StealthX in the Shadow's docking bay anyway given that it only had enough room to carry Luke's X-wing, so Jaina had no reason to see anything over the comm.

As if to counter that thought, said X-wing rocketed out of the yacht's bay to hover in place a few dozen meters away before Jaina received a hail.

“Jaina, my X-wing has been slaved,” Luke said. “You're now clear to dock. Meet us in the galley; we think we may have important information.”

Jaina sighed before she replied. “Copy that. Coming in.”

Minutes later, Jaina was the last one to enter the Shadow's galley. Everyone else—her parents, Luke, Mara, Saba, Jacen, Zekk, and Lowie—were all seated and gathered around one of the tables. A vacant seat, which Jaina noted was far from Mara, was ready for her.

As Jaina took her seat, and made sure not to make eye contact with her aunt, Luke announced, “I want everyone here to know that we've contacted Yoggoy and let the Killiks know about the pending Chiss invasion. We would join them, but first, we need to get some other news cleared out of the way.” He looked to his nephew and said, “Jacen, share your hypothesis.”

After Jacen explained his theory that the Dark Jedi Lomi Plo and Welk—the very same Dark Jedi who kidnapped Raynar Thul from the Baanu Raas—were somehow behind the Killiks' push toward the Chiss' territory, Jaina looked at him in askance.

“How'd you discover this?” she inquired.

“Indirectly,” Jacen said, “through a Killik we'd captured aboard this ship; she'd sneaked aboard and we have reason to believe that it was done through some Force-meddling. Now, after I was cut off from the Colony when I tried to warn them about the impending attack on Yoggoy, I remembered about Plo and Welk from my flow-walking there. At first, I wondered why I didn't wonder about their fates when I saw them, especially since Raynar never brought them up, but then I realized that even as I remembered them, my time with the Killiks made me forget to question their fates.”

“How so?” Leia was the one to ask.

“I think it's the same reason that I and my fellow Knights have all been influenced into fighting the Chiss for the Killiks,” Jacen posited. “There's something about their physiology that makes us and other Joiners part of their hive mind. I think Cilghal will be better able to find that out when we come back to her with our Killik captive, but for now, I think I can say that I didn't wonder about Plo or Welk because they didn't want me or any of the other Knights to think about them.”

Lowie roared in indignation over this assertion. 

“Lowie's right, Jacen,” Zekk said. “That's a pretty big leap in logic there.” His tone indicated that he, too, didn't much care for the idea that he and the other Knights were being manipulated into doing some Dark Jedi's bidding, even if he tried to mask it with his skeptical response. 

“But let's say it's true,” Luke said. “Where could they be hiding?”

“It might not be Yoggoy,” Jacen said. “If Raynar has the ability to call on me, Jaina, Zekk, Lowie, and the others here through the Force from different parts of the galaxy, we have to assume that Plo and Welk, if they are controlling Raynar, are just as powerful, if not more, than him.”

“So how do we start looking for them?” Mara was the one to ask.

“Thiz one haz an idea,” Saba spoke up. “Although it will mean that Cilghal will not be able to get her handz on a Killik.” 

All eyes turned to her in expectation.

“Thiz Killik you have captured,” Saba said to Jacen. “Can you say that you recognize its nest by itz appearance?”

“I've seen others like her before,” Jacen said, “but I never asked about her nest while I was with the Colony. She wouldn't even tell me that.”

“Perhapz then,” Saba suggested, “her nest is the same as Plo and Welk's.”

. . . 

Jacen walked into the Shadow's guest cabin, where the captive Killik, still strapped down to the bed, looked at him. 

“You're hungry again?” Jacen asked after the door closed behind him. “Well, I suppose I could deliver another meal from the galley. Then again, I guess I could just let you get it for yourself.”

The Killik chattered in confusion. Then Jacen walked up to the bed and undid the straps holding the insectoid down. Once she was free, the Killik sprung up on her legs and regarded Jacen with suspicion and skepticism. She chittered a question.

“Why?” Jacen asked. “Because we have no further need of you. It's clear you won't tell us what we wanna know, so keeping you prisoner is pointless. And we Jedi aren't executioners, so we really have no choice but to let you go.”

Another question emanated from the Killik's mandibles.

“Yes, really.” Jacen then spread an arm out for the door. “You'll get no resistance on the way out. We even have a ship ready for you to take back home. So go.”

Several seconds of tense silence passed between Jacen and the Killik, and they each stared into each other's eyes.

It was only after Jacen casually blinked did the insectoid decide to jump off the bed and skitter out of the room.

Several minutes later, after the Killik had filled herself with food and water from the Shadow's galley, she headed for the docking bay where a StealthX awaited it. From there, it took off and rocketed through hyperspace.

From the Shadow's cockpit, one of the long-distance sensors registered a persistent ping that was getting further and further away from the yacht's current position. Luke and Mara were the ones to see this.

“Am I the only one,” Mara said, “who thinks it's funny that we bugged a bug?”

Luke gave her a slightly amused smile. “Not at all.”

. . . 

Since her StealthX had been sacrificed to let the blue-black Killik use it to return home, and thus potentially lead the Skywalkers, Solos, and their allies to Lomi Plo and Welk, Jaina decided to join her parents, Saba, C-3PO, Zekk, and Lowie aboard the Falcon for its next jump to hyperspace. But she was stopped from entering the YT-1300 by the Shadow's airlock by Luke.

"I just spoke with your parents," he told her. "They agreed that you, Zekk, and Lowbacca all need to return to Ossus right away."

"What?" Jaina asked incredulously. "Why?"

"Wherever Plo and Welk are, we can't have you risk exposure to whatever influence they had on you three, whether it's through the Force, something in the Killiks' biology, or some combination thereof."

"What, you think that if we encounter them, they're gonna make us turn on the rest of you, Uncle Luke?"

"We don't know enough about the Killiks still. It's a possibility we have to consider."

"But if Plo and Welk are so powerful, you're gonna need all the help you can get! If they can-"

"This is not up for debate or negotiation, and time is of the essence. The Shadow will follow the stolen StealthX before we lose the tracking signal, and if we need help, we'll call for it."

"Any number of things can happen, Uncle Luke! You could get your comms jammed, or maybe you run into some kind of mass shadow, or-"

"As I just said, this is not up for debate. You will be taken back to Ossus and be looked after by Master Cilghal. Even if she can't find out anymore about the Killiks from you or your friends, we can at least be somewhat assured that you won't be so susceptible to Plo and Welk's influence."

Jaina looked like she was about to argue some more, but she promptly shut her mouth and sagged her shoulders in defeat. "Fine. I'll let Zekk and Lowie know."

"Thank you," Luke replied with visible relief.

Jaina was about to turn back to the Falcon, albeit much more reluctantly this time, when she was again stopped. This time, it was by her mother, who sidled up next to Luke.

“Jaina,” Leia said, “do you want to tell me why there's tension between you and Mara? I sensed it in the galley during the meeting.”

“Why don't you ask her yourself?” Jaina asked. She nodded over her mother's shoulder, which prompted Leia to look behind her and see Luke and Mara approach them.

“Goodbye, Uncle Luke,” Jaina said before she turned and walked out through the airlock and into the Falcon. There, Han, Saba, Threepio, Zekk, and Lowie all waited.

Leia looked back to the adult Skywalkers. “Okay, what was that about? Mara, why didn't she say goodbye to you like she should have?”

Both Jedi Masters were silent for a long moment before Mara said, “Because I slapped her.”

Leia's face fell into shock. “W-what?”

As Luke stayed silent, Mara promptly explained the incident that occurred on Jwlio between her and Jaina. 

“That was why?” Leia asked in disbelief. “Because she brought up Palpatine?”

“It wasn't just that, Leia,” Mara said, her tone even. “It was about her questioning Luke's leadership, about his competence, implying that he could lead the Jedi Order to ruin the same way Yoda led it to ruin under Palpatine's secret influence.”

Leia's nostrils flared as she breathed in and out to control what she would say next to her sister-in-law. "You understand now that what Jaina said, it would have been part of the influence that these Dark Jedi held over her?"

"It could be," Mara replied. Her tone still didn't waver.

"Do you think they could have influenced you into striking her?" Leia asked.

Mara took a longer moment than Leia to think about her response. "I'm not sure. Although, since I didn't spend nearly as much time among the Killiks as her... I doubt it."

Once again, Leia breathed in and out through her nose. "Mara, as your sister-in-law, I love you, but you have to understand, if you hurt my daughter again... I will have nothing more to say to you." Through her Jedi calm, a greater, darker threat that stemmed from Leia's maternal instincts bled into her Force-aura and radiated into Mara's senses.

"I understand," the female Jedi Master said.

Leia looked over to her brother. Luke had a mixture of understanding and disappointment in his facial and body expressions, and his Force-presence was reserved; it was clear that he didn't need to say anything.

"Goodbye, Luke," Leia said simply. "Goodbye, Mara."

The adult Skywalkers said their own goodbyes to her before she turned and walked through the airlock to board the Falcon.

A moment later, Jacen appeared behind his aunt and uncle, who turned to him.

“If you can bring the Quest over to dock after the Falcon's disengaged,” he said, “I'll be leaving there. But I won't be joining you wherever our former captive will be leading you.” Like Luke's X-wing, the Solo Quest was slaved to the Shadow's controls so that the YT-2400 could be moved away for the Falcon to dock with the yacht. "I already let Mom and Dad know, so you don't have to bother telling them."

Both Skywalkers' confusion replaced the heaviness of their last conversation with Leia. “Where will you be going?” Luke asked.

“Wherever Plo and Welk are,” Jacen said, “I'm willing to bet it'll be fortified with an army of Killiks of their own. Which means you'll need some help.”

“From the Galactic Alliance?” Mara asked.

Jacen shook his head. “This is likely something they don't wanna get involved with, or at least Cal Omas doesn't want the headache that'll come with this. No, I was thinking if Tenel Ka was willing to lend some Hapan ships to the cause.”

“In that case, we'll let you know where the Killik takes us,” Mara said.

Jacen nodded and allowed his aunt and uncle to return to the Shadow's cockpit.

Once there, they sat back down in their respective seats and Mara began working the controls to first close her ship's airlock door and then retract the umbilical that connected them to the Falcon.

“You know, I have to wonder,” Mara said without taking her attention away from her current task, “if that was Leia's response, what will Han's be?” It was then that the umbilical began retracting of its own accord.

“Whatever it'll be,” Luke said, “I promise he won't a lay a hand on you.”

“You're right, I'll be able to use the Force to knock him back.” There was no mirth in her voice when she said that. She sighed before she asked, “Luke, are you sure I don't owe Jaina an apology?”

“Honestly?” Luke asked. “I think you do.”

Mara sighed again. “Why didn't you push me to do that back on Jwlio? We could have prevented Jaina and Zekk from being captured, for one.”

“Because I knew you weren't in the mood to be pushed, Mara,” Luke said. “And, at any rate, what's past is past. We have to focus on the present and future.”

“You sure we can't just call Han, Leia, and Jaina back here so we can get it over with?” Mara asked.

“That might be a good idea if we didn't have more pressing matters on our hands at the moment.” He nodded back at the long-range sensors that told them that they were losing the tracking signal on the stolen StealthX.

“I hope it won't be too late when this is over,” Mara said.

“Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get the chance. I can feel it.”

Luke felt no such thing; in fact, he felt dread at this coming mission to neutralize Lomi Plo, Welk, and whatever Killik nest they were a part of. 

Chapter Text

Two days after Jaina, Zekk, and Lowbacca were released from captivity aboard the Guardian, one of the Protector's sensor officers reported with a worried tone, “Captain Wenra... we have massive movement in the system.”

“Where?” Wenra asked.

The sensor officer looked at his captain in horror. “From all of the moons, sir.”

Despite his professionalism, Wenra's face fell so that it matched that of the sensor officer's expression. He turned to look out the bridge's viewport and stepped right up to it as he looked out among Qoribu and all of its moons.

Indeed, even from this distance, Wenra could spot swarms of dartships, as well as several Joiner ships, leaving all of the moons; to him, they looked like waves of poison water that the rocky bodies were purging from themselves.

The captain looked back to address the bridge. “All hands to battle stations! Launch all fighters!” They had just received fresh pilots and clawcraft fighters mere hours earlier thanks to Captain Fel putting in the request on Wenra's behalf; but even so, the latter doubted that they would be enough if the Killiks were so bold as to swarm them like this.

Within moments, all of the fighters that the Protector had launched from its hangar bays and surged forward to meet the Killik swarms for inevitable combat. 

But even before the clawcraft could reach the Colony ships to unleash volleys of fire upon them, the Killik and Joiner vessels turned well away from the incoming Chiss fighters and headed to a unified point in the opposite direction of the Protector.

Wenra squinted in confusion as he wondered where the insectoids and their allies were going. Surely, even with the Joiner ships' capability of launching into hyperspace, the dartships couldn't do so, as far as he knew.

But then, the Chiss forces here hadn't covered all of the Gyuel system's entry and exit points. When Wenra thought about it, he supposed that there were ways for Joiner vessels to transport hyperdrives to the dartships that were large enough to handle them without any Defense Force sensors finding out about them; certainly, the number of moons that Qoribu had would have blocked out those kinds of jumps. 

“Sir, Thrass Squadron's leader is hailing!” the Protector's comm officer reported. “He's requesting orders.”

“Patch him through here,” Wenra ordered as he sidled up next to the comm officer's station.

“Thrass Leader here, Captain,” a deep masculine voice boomed through. “Sir, are we still clear to fire on the enemy, sir?”

Because the enemy was fleeing away from Chiss space, Wenra had no choice but to allow the Killiks and Joiners to leave peacefully unless he wanted to face a court-martial. “Negative, Thrass Leader,” the captain responded after a moment. “Let them go and inform your fellow fighters to return to your hangars.”

“Copy that, Captain. Over and out.”

“Lieutenant,” Wenra said to the comm officer, “establish a hypercomm transmission to the Guardian.” He stood up and moved to the bridge's center. “Everyone, listen up! Even with the enemy force departing away from us, we maintain position here unless I order otherwise. Is that understood?”

A brief chorus of “Yessirs” emanated from everyone on the bridge.

“Good,” Wenra responded. “Now get back to work.” He returned his attention to the sensor officer. “Lieutenant, track their progress and pinpoint their hyperspace jump points.”

After the sensor officer obeyed with an affirmative response, Wenra returned to the viewport and watched as, swarm by swarm, the dartships and their Joiner allies left the Gyuel system's gravity well and jumped into hyperspace.

Within less than half an hour, every single Killik and Joiner had departed the Gyuel system, effectively leaving the Protector and all of its staff and crew alone.

“Sir,” the comm officer reported, “Captain Fel is waiting for you.”

“I'll take him in my salon,” Wenra replied.

Once he had seated himself in his command salon, the captain activated the holographic representation of Captain Jagged Fel.

“Report,” Fel commanded simply.

“As of now, the Killiks and their Joiner allies have departed the Gyuel system. They have all fled away from Ascendancy space. No one under my command fired a single shot as the enemy retreated, Commander.”

“That's good to hear.” Wenra could see through the formality of Fel's tone that the human wasn't really pleased. “Have their hyperspace jump points been noted?”

“They have, sir.”

“Make sure that data is sent to the Guardian, Captain Wenra. Once that's done, and you've made sure there are no further Killik or Joiner presences in the Gyuel system, have the Protector jump directly to the coordinates that my sensor officer will send to yours. When you do, report to me as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Captain Fel.”

Wenra signed off and returned to the bridge to carry out his orders. 

As all of his sensor officers had the Gyuel system swept to make sure there was nothing left of the Killiks aside from whatever material possessions they and their Joiners may have left behind, one of those officers reported, “Sir, you better come see this.”

Wenra complied and saw the numbers on the officer's screen. 

“These coordinates, sir,” the officer said, “that we're supposed to jump to are the exact same coordinates that the enemy jumped to.”

Wenra's eyes widened in shock. He shifted his attention back to the comm officer. “Comm, reestablish contact with the Guardian right-”

That was when the Protector's bridge erupted into flames.

. . . 

After Alema's shadow bomb sneaked through the Chiss Star Destroyer's shields, it detonated right against the bridge's viewport and incinerated everyone who was present there. 

From the cockpit of her StealthX, thousands of kilometers away from the dying capital ship, Alema herself giggled in glee over having committed such an act after being held back by her more morally righteous peers on Jwlio. Nearly all of them had left the system with the Killiks and other Joiners, and now Alema was aided only by Tesar in his own StealthX; Alema imagined that if Tahiri had a StealthX instead of that Sekotan ship, she would probably be in on the fun here. She certainly knew that Tekli didn't have the stomach to join in on the killing, considering her disposition as a medic on Jwlio.

Alema also couldn't help but figure that Jaina might have enjoyed the action, too, had the Unseen Queen believed that her capture didn't necessitate that she be cut off from the Will of the Colony. Not that it mattered, since the Queen could guess what would happen, as if she had prophesied it through the Force; Jaina's weakness for Zekk, who would have no doubt been tortured by the Chiss, would have prompted her to give up the location of the Joiner King UnuThul, Yoggoy. It had been the reason that Alema was against launching a rescue mission for Jaina, Zekk, and Lowie, and why the nests throughout the Gyuel system had remained quiet on their moons as they readied themselves to leave for the home of the King.

But the Unseen Queen also knew that that damn Chiss Destroyer might have given away their plans to their fellows outside the Gyuel system with a simple hypercomm chat, so Alema and Tesar were left behind to make sure that the ship's captain couldn't do that. Thus, with only six shadow bombs each along with their laser cannons, the two Knights had to make do with what they had; and with the Twi'lek having used one of six of her shadow bombs on the bridge, how she used her remaining five would be crucial in destroying this Destroyer, even with Tesar helping her with a full complement of warheads of his own.

With the bridge taken out, the next thing that she and Tesar had to do was destroy the Destroyer's hangar bays. Thankfully, neither Jedi had to worry about rushing over to them since they had the foresight to leave a trio at each bay. They both reached out through the Force to their respective missiles and propelled them through the protective barriers that separated the Destroyer's hangar bays from the vacuum of space; since the warheads passed slowly enough through the barriers, they weren't repelled or detonated prematurely, which allowed them to blow the hangars up in spectacular fashion.

But that victory didn't allow Alema or Tesar time to celebrate; they both knew that they still had a limited window of opportunity to take advantage of the fact that the Destroyer's shields were down. So they wasted no time as they rocketed their invisible fighters along the capital vessel's length until they reached what they knew to be the area where its reactor core would be. It only took two more shadow bombs from Tesar to penetrate the larger vessel's hull, which blew debris and Chiss bodies out to space. From there, he and Alema resorted to turbolasers to shred through layers of bulkheads inside the Destroyer until their combined danger sense tingled.

That was when they turned their StealthXs 180 degrees and zoomed off before the Destroyer erupted from a reactor core overload. 

Alema whooped happily inside her cockpit as she knew Tesar did from his own. And even in her physical isolation, she could feel her glee being shared by Gorog, by Welk, and especially by the Unseen Queen herself, Lomi Plo.

Their task done, Alema and Tesar headed to exit the Gyuel system's gravity well and followed their Killik and Joiner brethren to defend Yoggoy.

. . . 

After the Solo Quest dropped out into the Hapes system, Jacen answered the hail that came from his comm console.

“This is Hapes Orbital Control,” came the authoritative female voice on the other end. “Identify yourself or you will be destroyed.”

“This is Captain Jacen Solo of the YT-2400 light freighter Solo Quest. I've come to meet with my close personal friend, Queen Mother Tenel Ka.”

The comm was silent for a moment before the same voice responded, “Solo Quest, you are cleared to proceed once you have received the designated coordinates. Have a nice day.” As soon as the transmission was cut off from the other end, a set of coordinates appeared on Jacen's nav screen. 

He smiled at the sight of the coordinates; they were for Tenel Ka's home, the Fountain Palace. Without a wasted second, he plotted the course and headed toward the planet ahead.

Minutes later, after landing in the Palace's primary hangar bay, Jacen was met by an honor squad of all-female Hapan bodyguards. They wordlessly guided him out of the bay and into the Palace proper. From there, they guided him through the labyrinthine halls and levels of the massive structure until they came upon a set of double-doors, which opened by a use of the Force from Tenel Ka, as Jacen sensed.

“Come in, friend Jacen,” he heard her voice. From his vantage point, he couldn't see her, but he could make out other details of her bedchamber, which were extravagant even by Hapan standards.

Hesitantly, Jacen walked through the threshold, and with another use of the Force, Tenel Ka closed the doors, leaving them alone with each other. 

Jacen looked over and found Tenel Ka seated with her back to him, using her one hand to brush her red hair as she stared at her reflection in her vanity. She was dressed in a short green skirt that appeared as if it were made from some green lizard hide; Jacen thought there was a jungle aesthetic there. It wasn't surprising to him since he knew that Tenel Ka always felt more comfortable in a forested setting, whether it was on her homeworld of Dathomir or back at the now-destroyed Jedi Academy on Yavin 4.

“It is nice to see you, Jacen. It has been a long time.” Jacen knew she was looking at him from the reflection; Tenel Ka was seated at an angle that allowed her to look over her shoulder at him.

“Indeed, it has,” Jacen replied pleasantly before his tone became more regretful. “Though I wish this was just a social visit.”

“Ah, yes. My social secretary told me that you knew the reason as to why I had been sequestering myself in the Palace lately?”

“I did. She told me over the comm that you were too busy to see me in the immediate future, so I asked if you had been acting strangely lately.”

“I was. I had been hearing an urgent call that would have lured me well away from Hapes. I had to resist, but the call was so persistent that I could not function as well as I could have in certain court meetings and festivities.” It was then that Tenel Ka put down her hairbrush and turned in her seat to really look at Jacen this time. “What made you think I would have been acting strange, Jacen?”

“Because that same insistent call was something I heard, too. It had been the same thing that Jaina felt, what Tahiri felt, what Lowie felt, what Tesar, Alema, Tekli, and Zekk all felt. We honestly wondered where you had been.”

Tenel Ka's face fell as realization struck her. “This has something to do with Myrkr, does it not?”

Jacen nodded. He then laid out the entire Killik-Chiss crisis as succinctly as he could, as well as laying out the revelation about what Raynar Thul had become and the likely secret involvement of Lomi Plo and Welk.  

When Jacen was finished, Tenel Ka stood up and walked over to him. “I think I know what you want from me, friend Jacen. The Galactic Alliance does not want to get directly involved with this, does it?”

“That's why the only ones who were sent to try to smooth things over with the Chiss were my parents, my aunt and uncle, and Master Sebatyne.”

Tenel Ka nodded. “How many Battle Dragons and Nova cruisers do you think the Killiks will need, Jacen?”

“How many are you willing to deploy?”

“As many as you ask.”

“Well, that's the thing. I'm not quite sure just how many we'll need. Wherever this... Dark Nest is, it'll probably have a lot of dartships and Killiks willing to die for Plo and Welk.”

“Fact. But that does not bring up the issue of this impending attack on Yoggoy, if it has not already happened.”

Jacen's lips drew into a thin line as he thought. “The Killiks are the victims here. But now that I know they're being led astray by Dark Jedi, I can't in good conscience have whatever forces you bring to bear go against them, either.”

“So are you saying you only want my help to take out wherever Plo and Welk are hiding, Jacen?”

“Maybe not; perhaps you can offer whatever Killiks escape from Yoggoy some protection. I don't think the Chiss can attack you for doing that, even if it means you're aiding one of their enemies. By claiming it as a mercy mission, which it is, they can't attack any of your Battle Dragons or Nova cruisers so long as they don't attack first; it goes against the Chiss' non-aggression policy, as I understand it.”

Tenel Ka looked away for a moment as she thought about that. “Well, even if that does not turn out to be totally accurate, friend Jacen, I am willing to deploy some ships to this cause. I will need to speak to one of my admirals on this matter, but all she can do is argue about how many it would be wise to deploy; the actual order to deploy is something that she cannot refuse from me.”

“So you'll do it?”

Tenel Ka smiled. “It is for a good cause, and to help our friends. Of course I will help, friend Jacen.”

Jacen beamed. "Thank you very much, Tenel Ka. I truly appreciate this. I don't know how I can possibly repay you."

“What is there for you to repay? As I just said, it is for our friends and the Killiks.”

Jacen tilted his head as he regarded her; his expression dropped into one of a quizzical nature. "But?"

"But what, Jacen?"

"Well, Tenel Ka, it's just that... why do I get the sense from you that... you still want something from me?"

He thought he saw a trace of a coy grin flash across her face before it resumed its default stoicism. She approached him gingerly. "Why would you think that?" she asked. "Do you feel something in my Force-presence, Jacen?"

Now that he thought about it, he was feeling something from her that he hadn't really noticed was there since he stepped foot into this room. But now that he focused on it as she slowly closed the distance with him, he got the sense that she...

She shut herself off from the Force before he could really lock in on what she was trying to convey to him; he decided not to question it and allowed her to say what she doubtlessly wanted to say to him.

“As I said," Tenel Ka went on once she was inches away from him, "it has been a long time since we last saw each other. And since you brought up Myrkr, it brought back some awful memories.”

Jacen nodded with an empathetic frown. “That was an awful time. We lost a lot of good Jedi on that mission.” Namely his brother, Anakin; and it was also the mission that led to his capture by the Yuuzhan Vong and Vergere, where he had been tortured for quite some time even as he was reeducated on the nature of the Force by the enigmatic Fosh.

“Yes, we did,” Tenel Ka replied sadly. “And for a long time, we thought you had been among those lost, too. When I heard that you had returned, I was quite pleased, to say the least. Especially since... well, it wiped away a regret that I had developed since Myrkr.”

“Oh, yeah? What would that be?”

“That I had been unable to kiss you before Vergere took you, Jacen.”

Jacen's eyes widened. “Oh,” was all he said.

Tenel Ka nodded. Her face started to blush and she couldn't help but look away. “When I had heard that you had escaped the Yuuzhan Vong, Jacen, I thought that I had been given a second chance. Of course, the war had gone on, and you and I never had the chance to, as you would say, catch up as I had wanted. Then the war ended and you had gone off on your sojourn, leaving me alone again. So much for second chances, I thought.” She then looked him back in the eyes. “But here you are again, and I have to say, I would regret it if I did not do this.”

She then pulled him in toward her with her one good arm and kissed him deeply.

At first, Jacen felt shock at this; but he suddenly found himself closing his eyes and embracing the kiss. Without even thinking about his crush on her from when they were kids, he wrapped both arms around Tenel Ka's waist and leaned in upon her.

When they finally broke off to catch some air, Jacen said, “Wow.”

Tenel Ka couldn't help but giggle at that. “That is all you have to say?”

“Do I need to say more?”

“Not at all, lover Jacen.”

They kissed again and Jacen allowed Tenel Ka to guide them over to her bed, all the while never breaking lip contact until then.

Chapter Text

Upon arriving at the Millennium Falcon's weapons locker, Jaina saw that there was a keypad set next to the door. She pressed the button that would open the door anyway, only to find that, indeed, it was locked; apparently, it wasn't just for show and she really did need to know the code to enter.

“Not a problem,” she said before she unhooked her lightsaber from her belt and activated it.

Once she had completed cutting the door open, it fell inward, allowing her and Zekk to enter while Lowie stood watch outside. Moments later, Jaina found two of the items they were looking for: a belt of gas grenades and a belt of flash grenades. Zekk, meanwhile, found all three of them gas masks.

Lowie roared a warning to them: Master Sebatyne's coming!

Jaina hurried ahead to the weapons locker's exit and just as she sidled up next to Lowie, Master Sebatyne's form appeared in the corridor ahead. Without even registering the expression on the Barabel's face, Jaina wasted no time before she hurriedly grabbed one of the gas grenades, pressed a button on it, and lobbed it in Saba's direction.

While the grenade was in midair, it was stopped when Saba used the Force to halt its forward momentum. But Jaina didn't hesitate; she dropped to her belly immediately and used the Force to throw Saba's feet out from under her.

However, the Barabel had wisely Force-anchored herself in place so that Jaina's effort wasn't even met with so much as a minor stumble forward. Then Saba used the hand that wasn't holding the gas grenade in the air to Force-throw Jaina back into the weapons locker, where she collided with Zekk before they both dropped to the deck in a heap.

Lowie roared and charged for Saba. The Barabel then dropped the gas grenade between herself and the Wookiee; while the former shielded herself from the effects with a Force-shield, the latter stopped in his tracks and began coughing profusely from the knockout gas. Saba then used the Force to blow the gas toward weapons locker.

Jaina, thankfully, saw it coming and immediately placed her own mask over her face; Zekk did the same a second before the gas overcame them.  

Meanwhile, Saba stalked toward the weapons locker, where she almost casually brought Lowie to his back with an expert two-handed grab for one of his arms. Before the Wookiee could even register that he was down, Saba placed a hand over his head and sent calming, soothing thoughts that helped the knockout gas's effects into lulling him to sleep.

With Lowie dispatched, Saba stood back up and resumed her careful course for the fogged weapons locker. By then, Han, Leia, Cakhmaim, Meewalh, and passengers Jae Juun and Tarfang, rounded the corner behind her.

“Saba, what's going on?” Leia asked.

Saba spared a glance over her shoulder. “Leia, the rest of you, stand back! For some reason, Jaina and the others are-”

“Hey, Saba!” Jaina's muffled voice came from the locker.

A second after the Barabel turned back to the direction of the hidden Jaina and Zekk, a burst of bright white light blinded her and the other six people behind her. 

As Saba, her parents, the two Noghri, Juun, and Tarfang all reeled from the flash grenade's effects, Jaina rushed out with Zekk, who took the opportunity to lob a gas grenade in the direction of the older adults. Saba couldn't react in time before the knockout gas took effect and dropped her and the other six to the deck, unconscious.

It took Jaina only a few moments to locate the activation stud for the Falcon's ventilation system with the Force. From there, it wasn't much longer before the gas was cleared out of the corridor, which allowed her and Zekk to remove their masks and hook them onto their belts.

She looked at him when they stopped the seven unconscious figures and pointed at all of them except for Lowie. “Tie 'em all up and put 'em in the maintenance closet," she commanded tersely. "I have to set course for a world where we can drop off.”

Zekk appeared uneasy as he looked between Jaina and the charges that he would have to subdue before any of them awakened. "Alright. How long do you think it'll be before Lowie wakes up? 'Cause even using the Force, it's gonna be difficult on us."

“We have to leave him behind.”

Zekk stiffened as he absorbed what she said so casually, even if there was a militant undertone to it. As if to confirm what he just heard from her, he turned to look her directly in the eyes to find nothing but determined resolution there.

“Why?” he asked. "I mean, I don't think he'll be out for that long, Jaina."

She shook her head. “Someone's gonna have to look after them. Might as well be the strongest of us here.”

Zekk again looked between Lowie and the others who were all unconscious before he returned his gaze to Jaina. "You know, at best, he would only slow Master Sebatyne down. Maybe even only for a few seconds if she breaks free."

"When, not if. I doubt this'll stop them altogether, but this and leaving Lowie to look after them will be better than nothing."

He looked at her in askance. "Wait, so you're saying you know this won't really do much, but you're willing to sacrifice Lowie over this anyway?"

"Sacrifice? Don't be so dramatic, Zekk. He'll be fine. And, at any rate, my uncle's not totally wrong; one less Jedi for Plo and Welk to control might even work in our favor when we get back to Yoggoy."

He sighed in defeat. “Alright, Jaina, you win. I'll take care of them.”

Jaina turned back to head to the Falcon's cockpit before she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned back and said, “Wait. Leave the Sullustan and Ewok where they are. I have a use for them in this plan.”

“Master Solo, Mistress Leia!” C-3PO's voice rang down the corridor. “Goodness me, what is going on over here! I thought I-”

It was then that Threepio appeared around the corner, and Jaina simply turned to him and used the Force to flip his off-switch. After he slumped over in a standing position, she walked up to him and promptly pushed him out of the way, where he clattered unceremoniously to the deck.

She hadn't even slowed down on her way to the cockpit when she did that.

. . . 

Two days after the Killik departure from the Gyuel system, a fleet consisting of six Chiss Star Destroyers and eight assault cruisers dropped out into the Yoggoy system. From there, they began forming up at assigned points around the system's namesake planet even as swarms of Killik dartships and smatterings of other vessels—those belonging to Joiners—rose up from Yoggoy's surface, as expected. In response, each of the Destroyers and cruisers launched clawcraft fighters, who began to fire even before any of their enemies did.

From the Guardian's bridge, Captain Jagged Fel stood with his posture pitch perfect and his hands held behind his back as he watched the battle unfold through the viewport. When he had told the Chiss Ruling Council about the location of UnuThul, who had been given the nickname “Joiner King” by certain members of the Expansionary Defense Force, the Council had agreed that if they were to engage at Yoggoy, it would be pointless to hold back by not firing first. And with the Killik fleet having evacuated the Gyuel system to Yoggoy, everyone who had been present in that meeting agreed that no quarter could be given to the enemy. Admiral Peecar, who was leading the fleet in the attack, voiced no objections to this sentiment, or at least none that Jag had been aware of.

So far, the battle seemed to be in the hands of the fighters, so to commence an orbital bombardment at this point would risk taking out clawcraft and, more importantly, their pilots. And from Jag's view, the clawcraft squadrons seemed to be vaporizing dartships and Joiner vessels in quick succession; considering that there were so many of the enemy, he had an unpleasant notion based more on experience than on gut instinct that that wouldn't last long. Likely, he thought, the Killiks and Joiners would fight to the last, and as their numbers dwindled, they would fight more viciously and recklessly.

And speaking of unpleasant notions based on experience, Jag turned to one of his comm officers and ordered, “Lieutenant, have you raised the Protector yet?”

“Not yet, sir,” the comm officer replied. “They still haven't responded to our previous hypercomm hail.”

“Keep at it until you get a response from them or until I say otherwise.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jag turned back to the viewport, which still showed the battle going to the Chiss as their clawcraft blew away more dartships and Joiner vessels with no losses yet. The Protector failing to contact them before the fleet jumped into this system was worrying, even though Admiral Peecar thought it was acceptable to initiate the attack without Captain Wenra's Star Destroyer. Jag had suggested to Peecar via comm that a scoutship be sent to the Gyuel system in case something had happened to the Protector; Peecar said that the Ruling Council wasn't interested in any delays, so they had to launch without Wenra's command and worry about him and his crew later. Jag hoped that he had a damn good reason for not contacting them, because if he and his crew weren't dead, Wenra would be facing a serious court-martial.

But when he thought of Wenra, Jag had an unpleasant notion that gave from his gut instinct this time; he knew he didn't have the Force, but he still had a bad feeling that the reason for Wenra's failure to contact the fleet had nothing to do with a sudden turn of disloyalty from his people.

. . . 

When the Jade Shadow dropped out of hyperspace, Mara and Luke found themselves heading toward a slugging match between squadrons of Chiss clawcraft and swarms of Killik dartships, aided by many Joiner ships, over Yoggoy.

“Figures this would all lead us back to a battle,” Mara muttered cynically.

“The tracker says the StealthX is headed right for it,” Luke said.

“You think we'll get lucky and hope that Plo and Welk die in here?” Mara retorted; she knew their luck wouldn't bring them that kind of fortune.

“I doubt they'd be joining the battle themselves personally. If they are here, they're probably down in the central hive on the planet, most likely with Raynar.”

“And if only for him, we can't let the Chiss bombard the planet, can we?”

“Not just for him. The Killiks don't deserve to have a planet lost, nor do they deserve to be exterminated. Although we still only suspect Plo and Welk, we can at least reasonably assume that the Killiks are controlled by a dark influence that needs to be banished from their collective.”

“Even if we tell 'em that and they believed us, that's not gonna be enough to stop the Chiss from razing the planet. Hell, it might even convince them that doing that is a better idea than before.”

“Maybe, but let's contact them and see if they're willing to delay their orbital bombardment. I wanna go down there in my X-wing and see if I can find them in the central hive.” Luke would have had the Shadow taken down to the planet, but he didn't want to risk Ben's life if they couldn't find and neutralize Plo and Welk on time, and he knew Mara wouldn't take that risk, either.

She nodded and activated the comm to send out a general signal to the Chiss vessels; she hoped that at least one of them would respond.

Moments later, the Shadow received a ping. Mara pressed the reply button.

“Jade Shadow,” came the familiar voice on the other end, “this is Captain Jagged Fel of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force Star Destroyer Guardian. Please state your intentions in this system.”

Both Skywalkers' brows were raised at hearing Jag's voice after all these years. But they set that surprise aside when Mara replied with, “Captain Fel, this is Jedi Master Mara Jade Skywalker. My husband and I have reason to believe that the Killiks are under some kind of secret influence from some Dark Jedi who may be on the planet below. Are you willing to delay your orbital bombardment so that we can-”

“Negative, Master Skywalker,” Jag interrupted sharply. “This task force is set to wipe out all Killiks and Joiners from this system; we will let nothing stop or delay us from achieving that goal. If you do not turn around and leave this system as soon as possible, you will be marked as hostiles and be blown into oblivion. Is that understood?”

Luke and Mara spared a look at each other. Through their Force-bond, they communed with each other very quickly to convey their intentions.

Five seconds later, Jag's voice returned on the comm and he asked, “Jade Shadow, I repeat, do you understand what I have told you?”

Mara replied with, “Yes, Captain Fel, we understand you. We will turn around and leave the system as soon as possible.” At the same time that she said that, Luke had already unbuckled himself from his crash-webbing and hurried out of the cockpit.

When he made it to the Shadow's hangar bay and got himself into his X-wing, he cold-started the starfighter and, within less than a minute, rocketed it out of the bay and into space. 

Moments later, as he flew toward the midst of the battle ahead, the Shadow jumped into hyperspace.

. . . 

When Han, Leia, and Saba all awakened from the effects of the knockout gas, they all found themselves more or less stuffed together in the Falcon's maintenance closet. They were on their rumps, with their hands tied behind their backs with fiberchord, and their ankles were bound by the same material.

“They took our lightsaberz,” Saba observed after a moment.

“Ah, great, just great,” Han muttered. “Hey, Saba, you think you're strong enough to break outta these?”

“Believe thiz one, she iz trying,” Saba responded.

“No need,” Leia said. “I think I know just what to do. Just let me concentrate.”

She closed her eyes and reached out through the Force. A moment later, the three of them could hear C-3PO saying, “Oh! Oh, dear, how did I get on the floor?! What clumsiness could I possibly have-”

“Hey, Threepio!” Han called out. “Could you open up the maintenance closet?”

“Master Solo? Oh, dear, what are you doing in there? Why would you-”

“Ask later!” Han interrupted. “Just get us outta here!”

“Alright, alright, just let me get myself up!” Threepio replied tersely.

About a minute later, the closet door opened up and the protocol droid stood over them. 

“Alright, Threepio,” Leia said before the protocol droid could say anything, “now go into the galley. There, you'll find a vibroblade in the top right shelf. Come back here with it so you can cut us out of these bonds.”

“Certainly, Mistress Leia,” Threepio replied obediently before he hurried off as fast as his stilted legs allowed him.

“Can any of you sense Jaina, Zekk, or Lowie?” Han asked the women. "Or our Noghri, for that matter?"

After a moment, Leia replied with, “Cakhmaim and Meewalh are conscious but I think they're trapped in the refresher. But I can't sense any of our Jedi.”

“Wait,” Saba said. “Thiz one sensez Lowbacca.”

“Where?” Han asked.

“I think he's...” Saba trailed off before she concluded with, “In the cockpit.”

“Oh, he's got a lot to answer for,” Han muttered.

Four minutes later, after Threepio returned with the vibroblade, Han, Leia, and Saba were all back on their feet and headed over to the cockpit.

They stopped meters from it when they found Lowbacca standing at the threshold, facing them.

“Jedi Lowbacca, stand down!” Saba commanded.

The Wookiee stared back at them, his position held firmly in place. Saba, Han, and Leia all held similar stances, none of them blinking as they kept their eyes on Lowie.

A tense moment later, the Knight dropped to his knees and put his paws behind his head without even a growl of resistance.

Though Han, Leia, and Saba all looked at the Wookiee in stunned surprise, they recovered themselves from that before Saba said, “Jedi Lowbacca, come with me.”

Lowie stood back up and headed over to Saba, who turned and led him by the shoulder over to a guest cabin. 

Han and Leia paid neither Jedi anymore mind before they hurried the rest of the way to the cockpit. There, they found Jae Juun in the pilot seat and Tarfang in the copilot seat, both of them staring out ahead at the tunnel of hyperspace through the viewport.

“What the hell's goin' on here?” Han demanded to know.

Both Juun and Tarfang started in their seats, as if they were just broken out of a unified trance; Leia had a feeling that was exactly the case. The Sullustan and Ewok turned in their seats to regard the two humans with wonderment.

“Captain Solo?” Juun asked.

“I just asked you a question,” Han growled. “Why are you in my seat, Juun?”

“I don't know how I got here, Captain Solo!” Juun exclaimed.

Tarfang chittered something in his own language that sounded as if he shared the Sullustan's confusion.

“Get outta there right now!” Han demanded.

“Yes, sir, yes, sir!” Juun replied as he and Tarfang did exactly as Han wanted before vacating the cockpit entirely.

As Han sat himself back in the pilot seat, Leia blocked Juun and Tarfang's tracks away from the cockpit so she could ask, “Where are Jaina and Zekk?”

“Jaina and Zekk?” Juun asked. He looked at Tarfang for clarification; the Ewok offered nothing but a shrug of his shoulders.

Then Juun's eyes widened before he looked back at Leia. “Jaina and Zekk, yes! Now I remember! Jaina woke me and Tarfang before you and she told us to take the Falcon outta here as soon as she and Zekk left the ship! I don't know why we obeyed, but we-” 

“The both of you, stay here,” Leia said. “We might need more clarifying questions from you if the Falcon's flight log doesn't tell us anything.”

She entered the cockpit and sat down in the copilot seat. 

“According to the flight log,” Han said before his wife could ask, “we stopped by on some smugglers' backwater called Leniad several minutes after we were knocked out. In that time, the Falcon landed long enough for Jaina and Zekk to disembark so that Juun and Tarfang could take the ship back into hyperspace.” He looked at her. “I heard what those two said; Jaina used Force-suggestion on them, didn't she?”

“Sounds like it,” Leia replied evenly. 

“I'm dropping us off our current course,” Han said, “so we can turn around and head back to Leniad.”

“No,” Leia said.

“What?” Han asked.

“By the time we get back there, they'll probably already be gone,” Leia reasoned. “If they were willing to turn on us like that to escape going back to Ossus, I doubt they have any problem stowing away on some smugglers' ship and hijacking it not long after they left the Falcon.”

“So where could they be going?” Han asked.

“Where do you think?” Leia retorted.

Han's eyes dawned with realization. “Yoggoy.”

Leia nodded. “Drop us out so we can head over there.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Leia sighed. She hoped that by the time they got there, Jaina won't have lost herself to the influence of the Dark Jedi.

Chapter Text

Jaina and Zekk sat silently in the pilot and copilot seat respectively of the 3-Z light freighter that they had stolen mere hours earlier. Through the viewport, the tunnel of hyperspace rocketed them toward their destination: Yoggoy.

“We didn't have to kill them,” Zekk finally said. He didn't look at Jaina when he said that; he looked a little off to the side, as he knew it was generally a bad idea for one's mind to look at the hyperspace tunnel.

Jaina looked at him with a grave expression on her face. “What did it matter? They were spice smugglers; the galaxy needs a few less of those.”

“Wasn't your dad-”

“Don't you dare,” Jaina said sharply.

“Or what?” Zekk asked as he finally looked at Jaina. “You gonna slap me like Mara did to you just for mentioning Palpatine? Or, better yet, why don't you just drop me off on the nearest habitable planet and maroon me like you abandoned Lowie? Or, hell, it doesn't even have to be habitable, or a planet. Why don't you just vac me out and-”

Jaina cut him off by using the Force to slap him across the face. After he reeled from that, he massaged the struck cheek and said, “Well, looks like you went for the first option.”

“If you had any doubts about what we're doing, why'd you bother coming along? Why didn't you just rat me and Lowie out to my parents and Saba?”

“Because I believe that helping the Colony is a good thing, Jaina, and that the Masters Skywalker, your parents, and Saba were wrong to take us out of this fight. But leaving Lowie for no good reason? Killing those smugglers? We coulda just knocked them out or-”

“Like I said, leaving Lowie was an unfortunate necessity; better he be left to take care of Saba and the others than no one at all. And, again, I saw no reason to leave those smugglers alive. Not all of 'em are like my dad. They can't all be turned into Rebel generals and help topple corrupt empires. Some of 'em are just irredeemable low-lives.”

“You know that for a fact when you killed them?”

Jaina thought back to after she and Zekk disembarked from the Falcon on Leniad. When they had stepped out onto the spaceport's hangar bay and let the YT-1300 head back to the sky, Jaina led Zekk over to the nearest light freighter, a 3-Z, which had its landing ramp lowered to the deck. At the base, a stack of cargo crates were being loaded inside by an Aqualish and a Weequay, who didn't take notice of either Jedi as they approached the aliens.

“Hey,” Jaina had said when she reached them. When they stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her and Zekk, she waved her hand and asked, “What are in these crates?” 

It took a moment for them to fall for the mind-trick and become much more compliant.

“Unrefined spice,” the Weequay answered. “We're taking it to Kowlas where it'll be made into that sweet, sweet bliss.” His tone, even though it was still droning, carried a little bit of the addictive love that he had for the drug.

“Sweet, sweet bliss,” the Aqualish repeated in a similarly droning yet loving tone.

“Is it just you two running this ship?” Jaina asked.

Both aliens nodded dumbly.

“Take us aboard,” she commanded with another wave of her hand. “Leave the rest of the crates here; they don't matter.”

“They don't matter,” the Weequay and Aqualish said in unison.

Not long after that, Jaina and Zekk were aboard the 3-Z with the aliens, and the ship rocketed off for space. Under her continued mental influence, they launched into hyperspace to end up in an empty system a few parsecs outside the Leniad system.

When that was done, she told both of them to stand up from the pilot and copilot seats. After they obeyed, she activated her lightsaber and decapitated them in one swift stroke.

Upon putting her lightsaber away, she looked over to Zekk, who was looking down at the beheaded forms of the Weequay and Aqualish in horror. When he looked back up at Jaina, she cut him off from saying anything by commanding him to, “Vac 'em.”

With some hesitation, Zekk nodded while Jaina took her place in the pilot seat. A minute later, the aliens' heads and bodies had been blown out into space, and from there, she launched the 3-Z into hyperspace for Yoggoy.

When Jaina was done reminiscing about how she and Zekk had gotten here, she realized that he was saying something.

“Well, Jaina? Did you know for sure that those two men deserved to die?”

With confidence, she nodded. “I sensed their minds. They were drug-addled nobodies who would only drag more people down with them into blissful depravity if we had let them go.”

“That so? Well, be that as it may, that doesn't give us the right to kill them in cold blood.”

“Oh, please, Zekk, what would you have had us do, huh? Did you want us to alert the authorities about them? Then what? Even if we placed a call anonymously, we still wouldn't have been any closer to getting to Yoggoy. It would have only slowed us down.”

“I'm not saying they had to continue to run free. We could have kept them in holding aboard this ship and deal with them later, after we did what we have to at Yoggoy.”

“Keeping them alive as prisoners would have been an unnecessary liability. It'd be one more thing we had to worry about on top of this whole crisis with the Chiss. If anything went wrong, they could have escaped, and then there goes your justice, Zekk.”

“Sure, sure. Do you even hear yourself right now, Jaina? That's something that a Sith-”

With an effort of the Force, Jaina ripped Zekk from the copilot seat with her mind and dropped him prone to the deck. She got him in an arm-lock and said, almost casually, “Finish that sentence. Go on.”

When Zekk said nothing for ten seconds, Jaina disengaged the arm-lock and lifted him back into the copilot seat by the back of his collar.

As she leered over him, Zekk looked back at Jaina with a neutral expression that matched his reserved Force-presence.

“Don't question my judgment again, Zekk.” She then sat herself back down in the pilot seat and continued the wait until they dropped out for Yoggoy. 

. . . 

A fleet consisting of six Hapan Battle Dragons and nine Nova cruisers dropped out of hyperspace several hundred kilometers behind the Chiss fleet in the Yoggoy system. Among the Hapan fleet was Queen Mother Tenel Ka's personal warship, the Dragon Queen, which had her and Jacen aboard.

From his view on the Queen's bridge, Jacen saw that a battle between the Chiss and Killiks had been raging for some time now. Not only did he spot the debris of too many dartships and Joiner vessels to count, but he could also see the remains of clawcraft and the hulk of at least one Chiss cruiser floating dead in space. The other Chiss cruisers looked like they had taken considerable damage to their hulls, and at least two Star Destroyers looked like they had various hull breaches and destroyed turbolasers. 

He looked to his left where Tenel Ka stood. They shared a worried glance that dismissed the need for words at the moment.

“Open a channel to the Chiss,” Admiral Aleson Gray demanded from  one of the bridge's comm officers.

A moment later, the officer replied with, “Channel open, Admiral.”

“This is Admiral Gray of the Hapan Battle Dragon Dragon Queen,” he announced. “This fleet comes as a mercy mission to evacuate the Killiks and their Joiners from this system. Please respond.”

Another moment later, the comm officer reported, “We're getting a response, sir.”

“I'll take it at my station,” Gray said.

He headed over to his command salon, where he seated himself. Jacen and Tenel Ka followed; Gray spared them a glance before he opened up a channel. A meter-high holographic image of an elderly Chiss male in an Expansionary Defense Force uniform appeared before Gray.

“This is Admiral Peecar of the Star Destroyer Csilla's Pride,” the Chiss said. “I understand that you and your fleet came here on a mission of mercy for the Killiks?”

“We have,” Gray confirmed evenly.

There was a pause as a look of contemplation dawned on Peecar's face; clearly, he was mulling something over at the moment.

When that moment ended, Peecar said, “Broadcast your signal to the Killik and Joiner ships, Admiral. If any come to you, they are safe from us. But know this: if you dispatch any forces to enter the battle zone to save anyone, your forces will be treated as hostile and they will be fired upon even if you do not fire on us first. Is that understood?”

“Very clearly, Admiral,” Gray replied professionally.

“Then if there is nothing else, good day to you, Admiral, and I hope we do not end it as enemies.”

“There is nothing else.”

Peecar then shut off the communication. Gray promptly stood up, stepped back onto the bridge proper, and commanded, “Comm, broadcast a signal to the Killik and Joiner vessels. Inform them of our mission of mercy and tell them that they have to come to us; we cannot come for them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Jacen,” Tenel Ka said to him privately, “do you think... we will be able to save anyone out there?”

By the way that the Killiks and Joiners were fighting, it looked vicious and chaotic, as if they were giving no quarter. 

It appeared as if they would fight to the last being.

“I don't know, Tenel Ka,” Jacen answered honestly. He looked at her. “Would you be willing to send anyone in?”

“I hope I do not have to.”

“Signal has been sent, Admiral,” the comm officer replied.

“Very well,” Gray said. “Let us see who is willing to come.”

Everyone on the bridge waited. 

. . . 

Luke landed his X-wing inside the small, flower-shaped plaza that was enclosed by a dozen fused towers. It had been more difficult to fly in here without R2-D2 as his navigator, since the astromech had to stay behind on the Jade Shadow due to some technical problems that had been arising lately, but Luke had made it, and upon cycling his starfighter down and disembarking, he looked out upon the empty plaza.

But he knew that he wasn't alone, as he felt it in the Force. And, indeed, after a moment, Raynar Thul, or, rather, UnuThul, appeared from around one of the towers, alone, and walked toward Luke. In the emptiness of the plaza, UnuThul's boots echoed hauntingly as he stepped toward the Jedi Master; the younger man's scarred features were unblinking and unflinching from Luke.

Luke, for his part, didn't look away and simply waited in place until the former Jedi Knight was a meter away from him.

“Did you come alone?” Luke asked.

“Every Killik and Joiner in this system now fights for the Prime Unu,” UnuThul replied. “So the one you see before you, Master Skywalker, is all that is present here.”

“I don't believe that. There are others here, aren't there?”

UnuThul looked confused and angry. “There are not.” 

“Oh, yes, there are.”

A female voice that echoed throughout the plaza had said that. But Luke didn't look away from UnuThul's face; he saw no change to his expression or in his Force-presence. If the younger man had heard the voice that contradicted his claim, he didn't seem to register it.

Before Luke could ask who was there, a swarm of blue-black Killiks appeared from all around the towers. They looked as if they were flooding the plaza in a tidal wave. For a moment, even Luke feared that he would drown within that swarm.

But soon, the tidal wave that came from all around abated, and the blue-black Killiks settled all around the floor, leaving just enough room for Luke, his X-wing, and UnuThul.

From one of the towers ahead, two figures appeared: a man and woman dressed in black armor, with different bizarre features. The man, who was humpbacked, had a half-melted face and a Killik arm replacing his missing right one. The woman was much more bizarre: though she had both of her arms, she had a Killik arm grafted above each of her human ones, and her eyes were obviously that of a Killik's. Moreover, her lower jaw was replaced with that of a Killik's mandible, and one of her legs was replaced by a Killik's leg.

Both figures walked among the sea of blue-black Killiks, who parted before them to make way as they walked toward UnuThul's back. Luke said nothing and continued to remain where he was as the two figures approached. When they finally arrived, the woman took to UnuThul's left while the man too to his right, and they both levied their leering, hateful gazes at Luke, whose facial, body, and Force-expressions remained as they were when he arrived.

“UnuThul does not see or hear us,” the woman said, “because we will not allow him to see or hear us.”

“For all he knows,” the man with the humpback continued, “you and he really are alone here.”

“We remain hidden from all but you now, Master Skywalker,” the woman said. “Because we have waited for this for a long time.”

Instead of acknowledging the woman and humpback man's presence, Luke levied his gaze upon UnuThul. “So what happens now?” the Jedi Master asked.

“What do you want to happen now, Master Skywalker?” UnuThul asked.

“I want,” Luke said, “to eliminate the dark influence that will not allow you to notice it.”

“And how will do that without your weapon, Master Skywalker?” the woman asked.

Now Luke looked confused. 

“Go on,” the humpback said. “Activate them. We will not attack you.”

“Why should I believe you?” Luke asked.

“Very well then,” the woman said.

She then took off, from her belt, a lightsaber and a shoto, which she activated. The lightsaber's blade was white while the shoto's was purple. The humpback activated only a crimson-bladed lightsaber. And though he still didn't seem to acknowledge anyone but Luke, UnuThul activated a gold-bladed lightsaber.

But neither of them attacked; instead, they waited five seconds before Luke drew his lightsaber.

Only to find that it wasn't activating.

“I see,” he said, not losing any of his cool. He then returned the now-useless weapon to his belt. “A trick from one of you, I suppose?”

“Courtesy of this one,” the woman said, “Lomi Plo.”

“Which makes you Welk,” Luke said to the humpback.

The latter nodded; and if UnuThul was confused as to why Luke was talking to someone he didn't know was there, he didn't show it in any of his expressions.

“In that case...” Luke trailed off before he brought both hands up.

From his fingertips, currents of Electric Judgment flared out to engulf themselves around the hands of the three burn victims. UnuThul, Plo, and Welk convulsed as the lightsabers in their hands shorted out, and Luke noticed that the Killiks around them also seemed to convulse in pain, too. 

Not long after the blades shorted out, the hilts collapsed into pieces along the floor along with the focusing crystals.

Luke ceased his currents then, allowing UnuThul, Plo, and Welk to pant in exhaustion from what they had just endured.

“I will not kill unnecessarily,” Luke said calmly. “I offer you this chance to surrender.”

A pause ensued; then the burn victims began to laugh. And then the sea of Killiks around them clicked their mandibles in a twisted imitation of that unified laughter.

“Look around you, Master Skywalker,” Plo said. “We outnumber you; and even without our physical weapons, we still have the Force.”

“A powerful ally, it is,” Luke said. “Just as it is for me.”

It was then that the burn victims and the Killiks leaped toward Luke.

In response, he unleashed another wave of Electric Judgment, this one much more powerful than the last, and it extended out not only to the three human opponents before him, but to the nearest Killiks as well. Those Killiks outside the range of the electricity kept back even as they felt their fellows' pain. Those who were caught in the Electric Judgment were blown back, and though they seized up, Luke could feel them all fighting against it.

Luke kept up this stream for less than a quarter of a minute before his electricity met two waves of electricity, each one coming from Plo and Welk.

His effort soon took up defending himself from the waves of dark electricity; this allowed UnuThul, Plo, Welk, and the Killiks to return to their feet.

And then they all began to lurch forward against Luke's onslaught of Electric Judgment.

Chapter Text

Not long after she left Luke behind in the Yoggoy system, Mara dropped the Jade Shadow out in a system a few parsecs away and then plotted a new course that would bring her back through a more circuitous route. Before she jumped again, however, she made a hypercomm call to Jacen, who told her that he managed to convince Tenel Ka to bring a rescue fleet for the Killiks at Yoggoy and that they would be there before she returned to the system.

When the Shadow dropped out of hyperspace for Yoggoy again, Mara saw through the viewport that the Hapans had, indeed, made it before she did. She also couldn't help but notice how they stayed back and allowed the battle between the Killiks and Chiss to continue. 

Naturally, the next thing Mara did was reach out through the Force to find Luke down on Yoggoy. He was still alive, she felt, but she also sensed that he was in grave danger and that he was steadily weakening.

Mara opened up a line to Jacen's comm frequency, to which he responded almost immediately. Once he explained the ultimatum that Admiral Peecar made to Admiral Gray, Mara said, “Fine. Just get someone to clear a landing bay for the Shadow. I wanna offload Ben and Nanna before I head to Yoggoy.”

“I'll see what I can do,” Jacen said before he cut the line.

Two agonizingly long minutes later, Mara received a ping on her comm. An authoritative female voice told her to land in the main hangar bay of the Battle Dragon Dragon Queen. Once that was done, Mara put the Shadow on standby before she unbuckled her crash-webbing and headed over to Ben's room to collect him and Nanna.

Upon disembarking from the Shadow with her son and his nanny droid, Mara was met by Jacen and a pair of honor guards. 

“We'll keep him safe,” one of the guards told her.

Sensing the sincerity coming from the auras of both guards, Mara nodded and allowed them to escort a concerned Ben and the compliant Nanna toward one of the hangar's egresses. She looked over at Jacen, who said, “I wanna come with you.”

Mara took one look at Jacen's belt to make sure that he still had his lightsaber and said, “'Kay, let's go,” She turned around and rushed back up the Shadow's landing ramp with her nephew on her heels.

As soon as the yacht was back in space with Mara at the helm and Jacen in the copilot seat, the former wasted no time heading toward the heat of the battle ahead. It wasn't long after that that Mara began slaloming her way around starfighters, ships modified for battle, and projectiles, and within moments of that, the comm console started pinging.

Jacen answered and an authoritative Chiss voice said, “Jade Shadow, you have entered embattled space! Turn back now or-”

Mara cut the comm off before Jacen had the opportunity and continued to maneuver around everything that tried to blow the Shadow out of the sky, whether intentionally or incidentally. 

. . . 

The 3-Z dropped out of hyperspace to enter the Yoggoy system right behind a fleet of Hapan warships.

“Hapans?” Zekk asked. “What are they doing here?”

“I don't know and I don't care,” Jaina said tersely. “Let's contact our friends.”

Though the last time they spoke was, at the very least, a tumultuous affair, Jaina and Zekk had once again opened up to each other through their Force-bond and were now as in sync mentally as they had been when they were fighting for the Colony. So there was no question in their shared mindset that what they were here to do was not to help the Killiks and Joiners by blowing away any Chiss ships, but, rather, they were to help them by landing on Yoggoy, finding Lomi Plo and Welk, killing them, and finally ridding the Colony of their dark influence.

So, with that in mind, she and Zekk decided that, before they charged headlong into battle, it would be best to reach out to their friends, Tahiri, Tekli, Tesar, and even Alema. They deserved to know, Jaina and Zekk thought, that they were being led astray by the Dark Jedi who taken Raynar from them all those years ago.

Jaina and Zekk could also sense that Jacen and Tenel Ka were in the system, too, though neither of them seemed to be open to the battle-meld as the others were. Jaina and Zekk decided that they would inform them after they informed the other Myrkr survivors.

At first, the 3-Z hijackers felt as if they had hit a wall in entering the Jedi battle-meld that characterized what could be called a unity among the Myrkr survivors. Indeed, the two of them remembered that they and Lowie had been cut off after Jaina surrendered to the Chiss when she refused to kill Leia. But after another bout of effort in reaching through to the battle-meld, they could suddenly feel their fellow survivors again as clearly as before.

Guys, it's us! Jaina and Zekk conveyed through the meld together. We've come to tell you that-

Jaina, Zekk, aren't we glad you're both here! Alema's presence cut in. Tell us, does your ship have any weapons?

Jaina and Zekk looked at their controls. They had some military-grade turbolaser emplacements in the 3-Z's belly; not surprising since this ship's previous owners had been spice smugglers.

Yes, we have weapons, Jaina conveyed by herself.

Good, good, Alema replied. We are very glad to see you have arrived!

Yes, we are glad to know this! Tesar conveyed.

Now you can help us! Tahiri communed.

To do what needs to be done! Tekli concluded.

And it was then, like a rush of water bursting through a weakened dam, that the sense of unity with the other survivors overcame the bond that Jaina and Zekk shared between them. And with that unity came a renewed sense of hatred toward the Chiss that reminded both returning Jedi of what the Ascendancy had done to the Killiks and of what they were doing to the insectoids now.

With that renewed sense of hatred for the Chiss, each of the Myrkr survivors who had been fighting before Jaina and Zekk arrived pulled their minds further outward. From Zekk's mind, his torture, brief though it was, under those two Chiss scientists was brought to the forefront, as well as the isolation that had been brought on by his captivity and the arrogant look on Jagged Fel's face when he had let him, Jaina, and Lowie free.

From Jaina's mind, the anguish she felt at seeing Zekk tortured was brought forward, and the sense of betrayal that she felt from Jag at condoning this action had renewed that feeling in her. 

When all that happened, Alema, Tahiri, Tesar, and even Tekli announced in unison, We must destroy the Chiss! 

At this, Zekk screamed as an overwhelming surge of pain coursed through his mind; he thrashed against the crash-webbing that held him to his seat as both his hands grasped at his temples. Indeed, even as he felt himself being reconnected to his friends, a deeper, darker force that came directly from them was separating him from the connection that he shared solely with Jaina and was now forcing that darkness into his mind. It was if they were trying to drown him in a sea of thick oil, and he struggled to surface for the light that was the air above.

But Jaina was completely oblivious to the pain of her comrade as she said aloud, “Yes! We must destroy the Chiss!”

She then plotted a way around the Hapan fleet and rocketed into the battlefield, where she blew away two clawcraft within her first pass. 

. . . 

Even amidst dodging the stray projectiles, starfighters, and debris around them, it was an effort for Mara not to have the Shadow's lasers lance out at either the Killiks and their Joiners or the Chiss. Moreover, she had to suppress the urge to tell Jacen to man the guns; their objective wasn't to embroil themselves in this battle, but to make it to Yoggoy and help Luke defeat Plo and Welk, if not save him from the danger that he was now in. So as long as no one was actively trying to blow them away, Mara would focus on that mission, even if some projectile or piece of debris impacted at their shields despite her efforts every now and then.

After several minutes of navigating the obstacles of the battlefield, Mara's concentration was soon broken when Jacen started screaming and thrashing in his seat. She couldn't help but look over at her wailing nephew as he grasped his hands along his temples.

“Jacen, what's wrong?!” she asked.

It was then that he abruptly cut himself off from the Force and then exhaled with a look of horror on his face.

“By the Force,” he whispered to himself.

That was all the distraction that was needed for Mara, as a massive jolt hit something in the Shadow's rear. Alarms began blaring throughout the cockpit as she tried to wrestle control of her ship back; Yoggoy was now enveloping the viewport with each passing second at an uncontrolled rate.

“Talk to me, Jacen!” she exclaimed as she still kept her focus on wrestling with the controls. “How bad are we from that hit?!” 

“We lost attitude control!” he reported after a quick moment. “Hope you got us on a good descent course through the atmosphere, 'cause we're goin' in hot otherwise!”

Whatever had prompted him to cut himself off from the Force now took a backseat at their current predicament.

. . . 

Though hundreds of the blue-black Killiks had died around him and lay on the ground as smoking carcasses, still more surrounded Luke and tried to get at him. And still, he held them at bay and killed many more of them with his wide arc of Electric Judgment that now came from his whole being rather than just his hands.

But he knew that even he couldn't maintain this self-defense forever. Already, he felt himself tiring and weakening not only from the sustained effort of holding back the Killiks, but also from countering the dark electricity that came from the hands of Plo and Welk before him. 

For what it was worth, Luke was glad that he didn't have to spread his onslaught to UnuThul; the former Jedi was being protected by the Dark Jedi who stood in front of him. UnuThul, for his part, stood frozen in place, as if he was a character in a holodrama that someone had paused.

Instead of thinking about whatever hold that Plo and Welk had on UnuThul, Luke thought about how he was going to break the Dark Jedi's currents if his own weren't going to stop them. So, even as he continued to maintain his circle of Electric Judgment, the Jedi Master began formulating a plan.

Thankfully for him, it didn't take long. Within moments, he steadily lowered himself to a crouch, as if he was finally succumbing to the efforts of his foes.

But then he suddenly launched himself up into the air while he simultaneously ceased his circle of Electric Judgment. By the time he was still in the air, Plo and Welk had continued their currents of dark electricity ahead of where Luke had been, and had unintentionally fried several of their own Killiks.

Seconds after Luke disappeared, Plo and Welk finally stopped their own currents and looked up to where Luke was now. 

Hanging by his canopy's rim, Luke spared the Dark Jedi a single glance before he initiated a Fallanassi illusion.

Suddenly, the entire plaza was overrun by Yuuzhan Vong warriors who screamed from the tops of their lungs and rushed headlong toward Plo and Welk. From his angle, Luke could see the fear in both Dark Jedi's eyes even as the illusory Vong rushed through the sea of Killiks, both alive and dead, as if they were phasing through them instead of knocking them away.

Taking advantage of this distraction, and taking a wild guess at Plo's abilities at the same time, Luke pushed himself off from his X-wing and activated his lightsaber while in midair.

He was only meters away from striking both Dark Jedi down when they swiftly turned away from the illusory Vong to throw up a unified Force-wall. 

With no time to react, Luke collided hard against the invisible wall and collapsed to his back even as the false Vong faded away into nothingness. And before he had time to recover, his lightsaber deactivated against his will at the same time that he was suddenly enveloped by the sea of Killiks.

Unfortunately for them, even as they tried to restrain them, not even the Dark Jedi could stop him from accessing the Force to unleash another torrent of Electric Judgment that fried the Killiks that covered themselves over him. 

He then Force-swiped at both Dark Jedi's legs, tripping them so that they fell forward; without wasting time, Luke reactivated his lightsaber and hurled it at Welk and Plo. The weapon was, however, intercepted by the body of a child-sized Killik; the blade slashed through it, which slowed its speed long enough for Plo and Welk to throw up yet another Force-wall that the lightsaber bounded off against.

And before Luke could call the weapon back to his hands with the Force, it was jumped upon by an adult-sized Killik, whose weight prevented the Jedi Master from quickly reclaiming it.

He tried reactivating it, only to find that its blade didn't extend to cut through its Killik captors; again, Plo must have regained her concentration, Luke thought.

At that moment, he thought about finally jumping back up to his feet, only to see that the Dark Jedi had suddenly shot back up to their own feet and each unleashed a torrent of Force-lightning that pinned Luke painfully in place on the ground.

For a full minute, Luke was enveloped in an agony that he had not felt since Palpatine had tortured him in the throne room of the second Death Star over thirty years before. And even with his added years of experience and growing power, he now felt even more helpless than that event; then, he had his father to appeal to, and that appeal had saved his life, even at the cost of Anakin Skywalker's.

Here, now, Luke was alone.

When that minute had passed, the Dark Jedi ceased their combined torrent and allowed Luke to reel over the pain that they had dealt to him. But he only had a few moments to curl up and pant from the exhaustion before he was once again swarmed by Killiks, who promptly grabbed hold of his weakened limbs and splayed him along the ground on his back.

At this point, Luke was too pained to summon another bodily torrent of Electric Judgment to repel and fry the Killiks. But he was at least granted the small mercy of being allowed to not have his sight occluded by them, as the ones who weren't pinning his limbs down scattered away.

Then again, when he saw Plo, Welk, and even UnuThul looking down upon him with amused expressions, Luke thought that it would have been better for those Killiks to occlude his vision. And that thought only strengthened when he saw that Plo held his lightsaber in one of her Killik hands.

“How easy it would be to kill you now,” Plo said.

“But it is not enough,” Welk added.

“Your death,” UnuThul said, “must be seen by all.”

“Only then...” Plo said before trailing off.

“Can the downfall...” Welk continued.

“Of the Jedi Order...” UnuThul continued.

“Commence.” All three Joiners had said that simultaneously.

Plo then leered down at Luke and bent to get a better look at him. “And how delicious should it be,” she said, “than to have it come by the hands of your niece?”

Chapter Text

Alema and Tesar had only arrived in the Yoggoy system mere minutes before Jaina and Zekk had; because of their expenditures of shadow bombs on that Star Destroyer back in the Gyuel system, the two Jedi had to make a stop at a space depot that was friendly to Killiks and Joiners to resupply on proton torpedoes. Some extra time had been taken to get the propulsion systems removed so that the torps could better function as shadow bombs, so Alema and Tesar had already missed out on a lot of the action going on by the time they had reached Yoggoy.

Thus, they had yet to repeat their trick on that Star Destroyer with any of the Chiss capital ships here before Jaina and Zekk showed up; both Alema and Tesar had been too preoccupied using their StealthXs' lasers to blow away Chiss clawcraft to get anywhere near any of the enemy Destroyers or cruisers. And now that Jaina and Zekk were here, Alema and Tesar were taking part of their attention away from flying—though they could afford it somewhat given their starfighters' invisibility—to help the two human Jedi integrate better with the mindset of Gorog, a task that had already been fulfilled with Tahiri and Tekli.

Tekli had been somewhat difficult to integrate into Gorog from Taat, given her predilection as a healer that made her less mentally pliable in joining what could be colloquially called the Dark Nest of the Colony. But because of her prolonged exposure around the Killiks, and her lack of knowledge of Gorog's presence in her midst, even her life-caring ways had been overcome to the point that even she had been swayed into joining that hive-mind. And though she wasn't helping in the battle directly, her contribution to the battle-meld from down on Yoggoy was appreciated.

Tahiri, meanwhile, had been almost pathetically easy to subsume into Gorog's hive-mind. The fact that she was contributing to pulling Jaina and Zekk into that mind while still fighting in her conspicuous Sekotan skiff demonstrated her loyalty to the cause, even if a part of Alema thought that it was somewhat stupid and reckless.

Though she had long ago learned to merge her own personality with that of the Yuuzhan Vong implant of Riina Kwaad, a part of Tahiri was now forever tainted in a darkness that would be there, even if she kept it in control and under the surface. Her mindset was practically more natural for joining the Dark Nest than even Jaina, and that was saying something given that woman's mental scars from the Vong War.

And speaking of Jaina, the human had been taking the sudden and violent integration into Gorog's hive-mind well, as Alema could feel her fully embracing the pleasure of dogfighting clawcraft and occasionally blowing one out of the sky. Zekk, on the other hand, was resisting very strongly, and for that, Alema and the others who weren't Jaina had to separate her from her individual connection with Zekk to focus on him.

Thankfully, the Jedi who were already part of Gorog weren't alone; even now, they could feel the rest of the Dark Nest, including Welk and the Unseen Queen herself, contributing to this, which is why the Jedi could focus as well as they could on the battle in their ships. It helped somewhat, too, that they didn't have to focus at all on either Tenel Ka or Jacen.

The reason that Tenel Ka had to be excluded from being forcefully joined with Gorog was her lack of exposure to the Killiks, given that she had deliberately isolated herself on Hapes and thus didn't join her fellow Myrkr survivors at Qoribu.  

Jacen, meanwhile, had to be excluded simply for cutting himself off from the Force. Alema, and, by extension, the rest of Gorog, were aware that he could do that, given that his ability to sense Yuuzhan Vong could only be active when his Force-presence was invisible. They all knew that if Luke Skywalker wasn't the most dangerous Jedi they had to contend with, especially now that he was at the mercy of the Unseen Queen, Welk, and UnuThul, then Jacen Solo might fulfill that role if he didn't die with Skywalker's wife when they crashed on Yoggoy.

For now, however, there was only the battle with the Chiss to worry about. And as they dodged and maneuvered their way around enemy fire, Alema and Tesar decided that now would be the best time to head to the Ascendancy Star Destroyer that was at the heart of the enemy fleet, assuming that that was where the fleet commander was.

Once the Twi'lek and Barabel were halfway to the central Destroyer, only occasionally blowing away any clawcraft that came their way, they soon felt the presence of an intruder in the Jedi battle-meld. It was one with whom Alema had only been partly familiar, but whom Jaina had known quite intimately.

Leia.

The Millennium Falcon must have dropped out of hyperspace and was now behind the Hapan fleet that so foolishly believed that they would be helping any Killiks or Joiners from escaping this system. Indeed, after a moment, Alema saw the YT-1300 appear from above one of the Battle Dragons before it soared into the battle.

Jaina, please! Alema heard Leia call through the battle-meld. You have to stop this! These Killiks are--

The overwhelming power of Gorog blocked Leia out of the battle-meld, which shut her voice off from saying anymore. Alema then felt an urgent message directly from the Unseen Queen herself, who broadcast it to both her and Tesar.

Forget the Star Destroyer, Lomi Plo communed. Destroy the Millennium Falcon!

Whatever admiration that Alema had for Princess Leia was nothing compared to the power behind the Unseen Queen's command. So, without hesitation, Alema turned away from the central Destroyer, just as she felt Tesar doing, and rocketed toward the Falcon.

. . . 

Jaina blew away another clawcraft as Zekk, still crash-webbed to his seat, screamed and thrashed painfully from the agony in his mind. He tried vainly to use the Force to block out the sea of darkness that was trying to overcome him, but it was doing as well as his hands were doing on his temples. 

And the fact that he couldn't even sense Jaina when she was sitting right next to him was what worried him the most, even amidst the tide of evil working its way into his brain.

“Jaina!” he cried. “Why... can't... you... hear me?!” His screaming resumed, and he even ended up pounding his head against the back of his seat, as if that could alleviate this torture at all, and he was vaguely aware that Jaina blasted away yet another clawcraft.

But that was when Zekk heard a familiar voice call out to him, and for a moment, the pounding his brain was only slightly lifted. 

Zekk, Leia's voice called. Can you hear me? Can you--

The pounding in his head resumed with renewed fervor as Leia's Force-communication with him was abruptly silenced by the sea of darkness, and he saw Jaina blow away what seemed like the eighth clawcraft in a row. The mad glee on her face terrified him now.

It was then, knowing that Jaina's parents were here and not even Leia could help her own daughter break out of whatever had gotten to her and was torturing him, that he made a move.

Despite himself, Zekk managed to unbuckle his crash-webbing, and with a battle-cry that was mixed in with his continued agony, he launched himself from his seat and pounced onto Jaina. He wrestled her to the deck and pinned her there by the wrists.

“Get off me!” she yelled as she tried to pull herself out of his grasp.

“Jaina, we have to stop this!” Zekk cried. The pounding in his head somehow got even more violent; he was now acutely aware that his face was getting hot, and spots were forming in his vision. “You have to-”

It was then that the 3-Z shuddered; Jaina took advantage of the brief quake to wrestle Zekk onto his back and then headbutt him.

That was all it took to knock him unconscious.

. . . 

“What the hell is going on over there?” Han asked.

Ahead of them, the ship that Leia sensed Jaina and Zekk to be aboard, the 3-Z, was now being pulled in a double tractor beam by two other 3-Zs, no doubt piloted by Joiners, toward Yoggoy. Around them, even with all the losses that the Killiks had sustained, there were still so many dartships left that they rigorously defended the three freighters from any Chiss attacks as they made their way to their destination.

“Something's wrong, Han,” Leia said.

“You mean something worse than what's already happening?” Han asked.

Leia nodded without taking her eyes away from the sight through the viewport; even though some overwhelming force closed her off from communicating with either Jaina or Zekk, she got the impression that brief dive into the Jedi battle-meld that that same overwhelming force had plans for Jaina specifically.

“I'm following them,” Han said firmly. 

But just as the Falcon flew a few dozen meters forward, Leia's danger-sense spiked.

“Port!” she called abruptly.

Han obeyed without hesitation, and the second he threw the ship to the left, an explosion materialized right where they would have flown had Leia not made the warning.

“Shadow bomb!” Leia said. “The Jedi Knights are turning directly against us!”

Before Han could even make a grim remark about that, lasers from at least two invisible starfighters began to pepper the Falcon's hull. He threw his ship into a sharp dive, aided by a corkscrew maneuver, before he pulled up with lasers nipping at their heels.

. . . 

The Jade Shadow's crash-landing had carved open its underside when it skidded for nearly a hundred meters along the dusty ground. When it had finally settled in place, both Mara and Jacen were panting from the wild ride and looked at each other to make sure they were okay; they didn't have to say anything before they turned back to the controls to see what still worked on the ship.

“Sublight engines out,” Mara reported. “So are repulsors and thrusters. We're completely grounded unless we can find some spare parts.”

“We're a couple hundred kilometers from the central hive,” Jacen reported. “It's directly behind us.”

“Hopefully, the hoverbikes weren't damaged in the crash,” Mara said as she unbuckled her crash-webbing before she stood up to leave the cockpit.

A second later, Jacen was right behind her and he said, “Well, at least it wasn't as bad as Raynar's crash.”

“Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to being part of an insect hive-mind, either,” Mara returned without looking back at him.

A few minutes later, they were zooming away from the Shadow on a pair of perfectly intact hoverbikes and heading directly for the central hive of the Colony.

By the time they were less than 150 kilometers from their destination, Mara and Jacen looked up and found three 3-Zs descending toward the central hive. Two seconds after that, Mara sensed her nephew in the Force again as he probed for any presences whom he might know on any of the ships above. A few seconds after that, Jacen shut himself off from the Force again.

The comm console on Mara's bike pinged; she activated it. 

“Jaina and Zekk are aboard the one at the rear of the trio,” Jacen's voice told her. Above the sound of the bikes' engines, there was no other way they could hear each other even a few meters away.

“You think they know we're coming?” Mara asked. She had her own Force-presence cloaked as they approached the central hive; but since Jacen thought it prudent to sense if there was anyone aboard the 3-Zs, he might very well have given away their presence on the planet to the Dark Jedi.

She would have berated him for making such a foolish move, though she couldn't blame him, given that of all the ships fighting in the space above, she, too, would have wondered why these three ships were coming down. The fact that she and Jacen now knew that Jaina and Zekk were aboard one of those ships, which was obviously important information, didn't alleviate any of Mara's worry for her and her nephew's approach to the central hive.

After all, if she had been dampening her Force-presence when she could have reached out to see if her husband was alright, Jacen should have known better than to use it to satisfy mere curiosity.

“Maybe,” Jacen admitted. “Though, at this point, we don't have much of a choice, do we?”

Mara sighed. “No, we don't.”

With that, neither of them said anymore as they continued their trek toward their destination.

. . . 

After his defeat in the plaza, an agonized Luke was taken through a series of rocky downward corridors to a dark cavern somewhere deep underground Yoggoy. He was carried by the Killiks whom he didn't kill above by his weakened limbs to end up resting on a cot amidst even more blue-black Killiks mixed in with some Joiners.

Among these Joiners was Tekli, who looked down upon him with a twisted expression unbecoming of her character, a darkened Force-aura to match, and, in her hand, a syringe with some kind of grey liquid inside.

“Tekli,” Luke groaned weakly. “Why?”

“Gorog has shown me the weakness of the Jedi, Master Skywalker,” the Chadra-Fan said contemptuously as she bent to stab the needle in the side of his neck. After he winced, Luke started to feel much more groggy; although his pain was eased.

“Gorog,” he said with a slur. “So that's... the name... of this nest?”

Tekli nodded. “And Gorog shall be the last name you will ever know, for before this day is over, before the Chiss believe us to be gone forever, the galaxy shall see you die.”

“Tekli, please...” Luke groaned. “You have to... fight this... This... is not... who you are!”

“It matters not who she once was, Master Skywalker,” Lomi Plo's voice rang throughout the cavern. A moment later, she came into Luke's view, and Tekli stepped off to the side.

Plo bent down to get a closer look at Luke as she said, “What matters now is what we will do. The Chiss are but one obstacle to our goals. But you Jedi are an even greater one.”

“Your goals?” Luke asked.

Plo smiled. “What do you think they could possibly be?”

“Galactic... domination?” Luke asked.

She nodded. “Very good. As is the way of all Sith.”

“Sith?” His tone, even through the grogginess, sharpened when he heard that.

Plo chuckled dryly. “Yes, Master Skywalker. Gorog is Sith now.”

“You... and Welk,” he said, “weren't just... Dark Jedi?”

“Of course not. To tell your niece and nephews before would have jeopardized our plans. But now that you are here, at our mercy, we feel it is just right for you to know before you will be...” She trailed off as her head perked up.

A few seconds later, she looked back down at Luke. “Well. It appears your wife and surviving nephew are coming for you.” Her smile brightened. “Oh, the more, the merrier! How delicious this will all be! Now, tell us, can you feel someone else coming?”

Luke groaned as he tried to use the Force.

“Oh, yes, yes, we forgot!” Plo said with mirth. “You can't use it right now! So we suppose we must remind you of what we said before you were brought down here!”

“Jaina,” he said.

Plo laughed. “Oh, good, you didn't forget, even with that drug in your system! It was so good thinking about how your niece will be the one to strike you down before the galaxy! But now add in your wife and good old Jacen, and my oh my, how demoralizing it will be for your precious Order! Now combine all of that when the Millennium Falcon is blown into oblivion in the space above!” 

Her laughter seemed to literally carry her away as she began to dance and prance away; joining her in this mad dance were other Killiks and Joiners, including Welk, UnuThul, and Tekli.

Chapter Text

Because the StealthXs attacking them were invisible against the darkness of space, Cakhmaim and Meewalh, who were manning the upper and lower turrets of the Millennium Falcon respectively, fired blindly into the void. And even with the lasers that were being fired from the StealthXs, the counterfire from the Noghri proved nearly useless since the enemy fighters could easily shift positions at the drop of a hat and remain as unseen as before. If it hadn't been for the fact that the defensive fire was at least keeping the StealthXs from scoring any serious hits on the Falcon's hull, the only thing that was saving the YT-1300 was Han's flying skills that kept it constantly moving and maneuvering ever closer to Yoggoy.

What was worse was that Cakhmaim and Meewalh's stray fire hit Chiss, Killik, and Joiner ships alike, prompting fighters from both sides to start firing at the Falcon. Leia had transmitted on a broadband frequency that they were not deliberately firing upon either party, but, obviously, with the increasing rapidity of the fire that they were getting from both sides of the battle, it was clear that the message wasn't working. 

When Leia had finally given up on broadcasting the message, the Falcon took a hit from the underside that jostled her and Han in their seats.

“How bad was that?” he asked.

Leia look at a readout. “Thirty percent damage!”

“Might as well let Cakhmaim and Meewalh loose on everyone firin' on us, huh?” Han asked. His remark was punctuated by a hit in the rear of the ship.

With a frown, Leia patched in a connection to the manual turrets. “Cakhmaim, Meewalh, broaden your fire; take out anyone and everyone shooting at us!” 

“Yes, Lady Vader,” the Noghri replied in unison.

The rapidity of the fire coming from both turrets increased, and this time, more ships from both the Colony and Chiss sides were being blown into oblivion. Yet, at the same time, fire from the StealthXs continued at an interval of every five seconds or so.

But even under the stress of the situation, Leia couldn't help but feel like she had failed somehow; she and Han were coming for their daughter and she had hoped that they wouldn't have to destroy any ships on either side of this conflict to do so.

And now that they had, it seemed as if they wouldn't make it to Jaina anyway; with all the enemies they had just gathered about them, it looked like Han, Cakhmaim, and Meewalh were only delaying the inevitability that the Falcon would finally be blown to bits with the flying and shooting. A hit from the top of the ship seemed to punctuate that grim thought.

“Fifty percent damage this time!” Leia reported.

Han threw the ship to starboard, and Cakhmaim and Meewalh managed to take out three dartships and sent one clawcraft spinning away with a broken wing. Even so, the fire from other clawcraft and dartships, who would even occasionally break off to dogfight each other, kept on pounding against the Falcon's deflectors.

Another nasty hit, this time from port, prompted Leia to report, “Down another twenty percent!” Seconds later, a buckle stemming from starboard had her saying, “Another ten!”

“Cakhmaim, Meewalh, shoot faster!” Han called through the intercom.

From the underside, Han and Leia felt as if their crash-webbing almost broke out; had they not had those on, they might very well have had their heads hit the upper bulkhead. 

Leia almost hesitantly looked and said, “Shield generator just shorted out!”

“Get Tarfang down there and sort it out now!” Han yelled as he brought the Falcon into a barrel roll upward from Yoggoy for a quarter of a minute before resuming his previous course.

“Tarfang, you there?” Leia asked over the intercom.

“We're here, Princess Leia!” Jae Juun replied. “Tarfang's already working on the shield generator as we speak!”

“Well, tell him to hurry up anyway!” Han yelled before he shut off the intercom.

But just when she had finished, a hit from the dorsal port side knocked the Falcon off course and had Han piloting in the opposite direction for a few seconds. 

And in those few seconds, he saw that Miy'til starfighters were now heading in their direction. They opened fire in no time on both the Chiss and Colony starfighters, which almost immediately lightened the fire all around the YT-1300.

Smiling, Han spun the Falcon back around and resumed his course for Yoggoy.

“Well, looks like Tenel Ka made a decision on our behalf,” Han remarked.

“Yes, she did,” his wife said flatly. It may not have sunk into Han's head yet, but Leia could already tell that this decision, by itself, would have drastic consequences for Hapes going forward, no matter what happened in this battle.

The intercom activated again. “Shields back up and recharging, Captain Solo and Princess Leia!”

“Thanks for letting us know!” Han replied.

And from there, it seemed as if even the fire from the two StealthXs had petered to nothing, as the Falcon had no further trouble before it began entering Yoggoy's atmosphere. 

. . . 

“She is here,” Plo said to a still-drugged Luke with glee.

Entering the cavern from the same corridor that the Killiks had brought him in, Luke first saw an unconscious Zekk being brought in by six child-sized Gorog who carried him on his back like pallbearers. They brought the incapacitated Knight past Luke and settled him within their midst, as if they were some one great beast devouring him, and out of the Jedi Master's line of sight. 

A few moments later, Jaina entered with a glazed-over look, as if she herself was, like her uncle, on something. She took in her surroundings, her eyes falling upon Plo, Welk, UnuThul, some of the other Killiks and Joiners who were present (like Tekli), and, finally, Luke. With slow, tentative steps, Jaina walked toward her downed uncle and, once she reached him, she regarded him with an expression that gradually changed from one of drug-induced intoxication to that of pure rage.

“Jaina, this... this isn't... this isn't you,” Luke said during the change on Jaina's face. And even as he said that, his heart sank as the futility of his words hit him; it was essentially a repeat of what he said to the corrupted Tekli. “It's... the Sith... They... are the ones... corrupting you... Just like... your friends...”

“No, Uncle Luke,” Jaina growled. “This is who I am. All that Lomi Plo and Welk have done is simply release that part of myself that's been bottled up for all these years. Who I am now is a result of all the pain I've had to endure when I fought the Vong, not from any kind of brainwashing like you might think. For the first time in a long time, I feel truly free; I no longer have to hold back what I can or cannot do because of some pathetic notion of the light and dark sides of the Force. I can let loose on all those who deserve it, and you, Uncle Luke, are one who deserves everything that he is going to get.”

As she spoke, Luke noticed that both of his niece's palms sparked with lightning. 

“Yes, Jaina, yes!” Plo shouted. A few meters beside her, Welk, and UnuThul, a Duros Joiner with a vidcam was filming the scene. “Bathe in your pain, for it gives you strength! Unleash your true power! Unleash true justice! And give the consequences of your pain true meaning!”

More lightning gathered in Jaina's palms, and she raised them up over her head as she gathered that energy into a ball that was the size of her head.

But just as that happened, all of Gorog felt what Jaina was about to do next.

Instead of casting the energy ball down upon her uncle, Jaina cast it in Plo's direction. However, she and Welk threw up a Force-wall; when the ball hit it, its impact shattered the invisible defense, and though it disappeared by that point, both Sith were blown back to hit the cavern wall behind them before they collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Jaina then brandished her lightsaber and adopted a defensive stance, even as the Killiks and Joiners around her leered at her.

“You forgot something,” Jaina said to the Dark Nest around her. “My uncle is family, just like my mother. And even if I turn dark because of my internal scars, I will not betray my family.”

And it was then that all of Gorog understood that although Jaina had brought her pain to the forefront, it was merely a disguise for her true loyalties.

It was UnuThul who said, “Then you shall die with your family!”

It was then that all of the Killiks in the cavern began to charge in at Jaina. 

. . . 

Upon making it to the central hive, Mara and Jacen disembarked from their hoverbikes and headed for the pedestrian entrance where they finally dropped the cloaks they had around their Force-presences—in Jacen's case, it was actually turning his Force-senses back on like a light-switch—so that they could better detect any danger from this point on.

They sensed no danger upon their final approach, and once they entered, they could sense where Luke, Jaina, and even Zekk were, and they could tell that they were in grave danger. And though all of the Killiks and Joiners they could sense here were somewhere deep underground, they could also sense that there were a lot of them.

Once they were inside the hive with the mechanical door behind them shut, they made their way carefully down the darkened corridor before them with their Force-senses on alert. Even if there weren't any Killiks or Dark Jedi lurking from some nearby hiding places—such as a false wall or trapdoor—Mara and Jacen still kept themselves on alert for any potential traps.

Several minutes into their quiet walk, the two Jedi reached the end of the corridor and found themselves in the plaza where Luke's X-wing rested with the 3-Z light freighters from earlier in front of it. Surrounding the four ships, and even crushed beneath the 3-Zs, were dozens of Killik bodies that appeared to be fried to a crisp.

“Alright, we're on the right track,” Mara said. “But where to now?”

“You were here before, weren't you?” Jacen asked.

“Yes, but I can sense Luke, Jaina, and Zekk aren't where I, your uncle, your parents, and Saba were led to when we first came here,” Mara said. “They must have gone somewhere else.” She then started looking around to see if there was something she was missing.

After a moment, Jacen said, “Wait.”

Mara turned to him to elaborate.

“Give me a few moments,” he said.

She nodded and allowed him to commence what we would do next.

Taking a deep breath, Jacen closed his eyes and centered himself. He then commenced the flow-walking technique so that when he opened his eyes, he saw Luke being carried away by an army of blue-black Killiks being led by UnuThul and the heavily disfigured versions of the Dark Jedi that he knew as Lomi Plo and Welk.

After Jacen dropped out of flow-walking, he looked to Mara and pointed at one of the towers. “This way,” he said. 

He led the way toward the indicated tower, where he pressed both hands upon a particular section of its exterior. It gave way and swung open; a spiraling set of stairs leading downward were revealed. From here, Mara and Jacen could hear distant echoes of screaming, the clicks from Killik mandibles, and the distinct sound of a lightsaber being used against many opponents.

Mara and Jacen looked at each other, nodded wordlessly, then set down with the former in the lead.  

. . . 

Jaina's body moved like lightning as she slashed down Killik after Killik all around her; she never stayed in one spot in the cavern for longer than half a second before she had already moved on and cut down yet another insectoid opponent and the occasional Joiner. 

Yet, even with this rapid rate of killing opponents, Jaina knew that even she would run out of energy to fight before she ran out of beings to kill. And now that she had once again been cut off from the Colony hive-mind, she could only guess that Gorog's strategy was to wait until Plo and Welk awakened so that they could attack her; Jaina could see, between her all of her spinning, that Tekli was trying to administer some kind of salve to the backs of their heads to at least clean the wounds that Jaina brought upon them with her surprise attack.

Still, even with all of her power, Jaina had no other choice but to fight to her last breath; she wondered if this was how Luke was defeated before she got here. If only she could get enough room to breathe so she could muster the energy to unleash another wave of Force-lightning so that she could fry at least some Killiks, like she knew that her uncle had done when she touched down back in the plaza above.

But just as she thought that she was running out of energy, Jaina caught two figures emerging from the entrance that she took to enter this cavern. When she spun back around to see them, she saw who they were.

Mara and Jacen.

Even before her fast movements brought her back to seeing them, she had already heard their lightsabers active and swinging. They, too, became whirlwinds unto themselves as they sliced apart Killiks and Joiners in the massive cavern; and even as they cut down their own enemies, her aunt—whose presence was concentrated almost completely on the battle instead of whatever differences that she and Jaina had—and her brother lent her strength through the Force.

Thus, within half a minute, as Mara and Jacen began taking on a great deal of enemies themselves, Jaina's opponents stopped throwing themselves at her as if they wanted to die and began to try to attack her more cautiously. The circle of Killiks around her now tensed in place, with some of them lashing out with either pincers or even vibroblades that they picked from some of their fallen Joiner brethren. This, however, increased the rapidity of the blasterfire directed at Jaina.

All of these attacks, though, were easily defended by her, and she more than casually started to chop off limbs, heads, and even whole bodies either down the middle or across the thoraxes. Even the blasterfire started to peter away into nothingness, as Jaina soon gained the presence of mind to redirect some of the deflected projectiles back at the weapons themselves, thereby robbing the remaining Killiks and Joiners of the opportunity to use them.

It wasn't long before her surviving enemies--yet there still seemed to be so many--gave her just enough breathing room where, with her free hand, she gathered up a great deal of energy and manifested it into a glowing ball the size of her fist. When some Killiks tried to stab at her, she brought the energy down upon the ground and released it as a wave that knocked back her closest foes in crackling electricity.

The opponents who were still alive backed away, not even trying to attack Jaina, and she was aware that Mara and Jacen's foes backed away from them, too. By that point, all of the present blasters available to the surviving Colony members had been completely destroyed by all three Jedi.

With that much breathing room afforded to her now, Jaina, who panted heavily, turned to UnuThul and Tekli and said, "Surrender now. You can't win."

A moment of silence, interfered only by the hum of the three lightsabers, fell over the cavern.

Then even that unified hum was suddenly extinguished, much to their owners' surprise.

A combined throaty chuckle emanated from both Plo and Welk, whose bodies remained prone on the ground even as they looked up and ahead at Jaina. UnuThul and Tekli then joined in on the laughter. Then the other remaining Joiners added their own chorus. And, finally, the remaining Gorog Killiks drowned out even their laughter with their legion of mandible clicks.

Then the laughter abruptly stopped. Two seconds later, Plo and Welk sneered and stood up slowly.

"If we could defeat Luke Skywalker," Welk began.

""Then we can defeat you, so-called Sword of the Jedi," Plo concluded.

"Jaina, it's Plo!" Luke exclaimed from his downed position. "She can-"

"Silence!" the Sith woman shouted as she Force-flung Luke several meters into the midst of some Killiks.

"No!" Mara shouted; she was held back, with Jacen, by some Gorog who had grabbed onto them from behind.

And with some added help through the Force from UnuThul and Tekli, neither Mara nor Jacen could use the Force themselves to escape from the insectoids' clutches as they were forced to their knees.

So, too, was Jaina brought to her knees as two adult-sized Killiks grabbed onto her arms while two child-sized Killiks held down her legs. Two other Gorog had taken her lightsaber as she was pinned down for Plo and Welk to approach her; the former was the one to leer down near her face.

"Fine," the Sith woman scowled. "We suppose we will have the honor of killing Luke Skywalker ourselves." A trace of a grin appeared on her twisted features. "Oh, what are we saying?! It really is an honor! And it will still be delicious to see you cry for him as you watch when we kill him with his own lightsaber."

"No!" Jacen exclaimed. He had shut off his Force-presence to see if he could escape from UnuThul and Tekli's combined Force-grasp of him and Mara, but it didn't work; Gorog had already known about that ability and they weren't going to fall for that trick.

Plo unhooked Luke's lightsaber from her belt with one of her human hands and activated its green blade. She sneered at the color, but shook her head, as if she was bitter that this was what she had to settle with, then turned and and watched as the still-drugged Luke was carried back toward her. Jaina couldn't help but notice that the Duros with the vidcam had gotten near Plo and Luke as he filmed what would be the latter's death.

Plo raised the lightsaber over her head after she moved it in a two-handed grasp in her Killik ones, ready to strike the death-blow.

"This is the beginning of the end of your Jedi Order, Luke Skywalker!" she shouted.

"Not yet!" came a masculine voice.

Springing up to his feet from the crowd of Killiks around him, Zekk rushed forward and used the Force to blow Plo, Welk, and even the vidcam operator off their feet; the device that was meant to record Luke's would-be death smashed to pieces when it crashed to the ground.

Zekk then Force-blew Jaina and her Gorog captors back to the ground, where their grasps on her loosened. With her limbs freed, she was able to use the Force to summon electricity to zap them away from her. She then leaped to her feet, Force-pulled her lightsaber back to her hand, and jumped over to slash at the downed Plo and Welk as she activated her weapon in midair.

But just as she landed, her lightsaber abruptly deactivated again so that she swung a useless hilt along what was supposed to be a decapitating arc for both Sith.

"Nice try," they simultaneously sneered.

But even as Killiks and Joiners were rushing upon her from all sides, Jaina quickly unleashed a torrent of lightning from her free hand down upon the two Sith. Everyone who had been rushing at her seized up where they were, which allowed her to scream, "Try deactivating this!"

"Jaina, stop!" Zekk screamed from behind her. "You're using the dark side! You can't do this!"

"Shut up, Zekk!" she screamed without looking back from what she was doing. "This is the only way!"

"Stop this!" he screamed. He grimaced as he thought quickly; yes, what he was about to do may save Plo and Welk and even prolong this conflict, but he knew that he couldn't allow Jaina to corrupt her soul any further than it had already been darkened.

So, with a tentative inhalation, Zekk unleashed a powerful Force-blow to knock her off-balance.

But even in the midst of her keeping up her torrent against Plo and Welk, Jaina still had the wherewithal to step out of the way, which let Zekk's Force-blow break a section of the cavern wall ahead of them, before she used her lightsaber-wielding hand to Force-blow her friend back

And that was when said weapon's blade sprung back to life, and she ceased her torrent to reel back and deliver the killing stroke down upon the two Sith.

The swing first took Plo's head off of her body before it decapitated Welk, too, less than a second later.

When that happened, virtually everyone in the cavern froze in place for five deathly silent seconds. Then nearly all of the surviving Killiks and Joiners hurried out through the various egresses of the cavern. Jaina spotted UnuThul standing in place as he clearly looked about in what she sensed to be confusion. From his Force-presence, she picked up in two seconds that he was silently wondering why none of the Killiks or Joiners present were listening to his telepathic commands, why there were dead Killiks and Joiners around him, and, for that matter, what he was even doing here; his attention hadn't even fallen on Jaina yet within those two seconds.

But after she regarded the so-called Joiner King, she spotted Tekli running toward the egress from which Jaina had arrived. The Chadra-Fan had rushed past Mara and Jacen, whose captors had released them to flee from the cavern, and they both looked past Jaina at something that clearly horrified them.

But she paid no attention to either of them before she leaped through the air and landed directly in front of Tekli to block her path of escape.

"Where do you think you're going, you little traitor?" Jaina growled; her still-active lightsaber levelled itself up at the Chadra-Fan's throat.

They stood like that for about five seconds, Killiks and Joiners around them still fleeing, before Tekli moved for her own lightsaber.

Jaina, naturally, speared the tip of her weapon through the squat alien's throat and she fell back dead.

Without further thought of killing one of her longtime friends, she looked around to see who else she could prevent from escaping while she still had the power. But once her sight fell upon Zekk's downed form further back in the cavern, she froze in the same horror that overcame Mara and Jacen.    

Zekk was laid down with a stalagmite having speared him straight through his chest's center. Blood had curdled up into his mouth and the only part of his body that moved was his head as he coughed up that precious plasma.

After she deactivated her lightsaber and hooked it back to her belt, Jaina rushed over to Zekk and knelt next to him. She didn't even think about how this could have happened; her panic overcame her thinking as tears started to form in her eyes. In between his blood-flecked coughs, his breathing was shallow and ragged, and Jaina, not knowing what else to do in that moment, placed her hands on his cheeks and hurriedly said, "Zekk, just keep breathing, just keep breathing, everything's gonna be alright, you're gonna be alright. Just-"

"Jaina, please," he whispered just before he coughed again. "Don't... just..."

It was then that he breathed his last; he slumped back and was no longer part of this world.

"What?! What?! What?!" Jaina exclaimed rapidly. "How could this happen?!" By this point, all of the remaining Killiks and Joiners had departed from the cavern, which left her alone with UnuThul, Luke, Mara, Jacen, and all the corpses around them, of which Zekk was now a part.

"Jaina," Mara's voice echoed from behind her; she had closed the physical distance between them alongside Jacen and UnuThul. Luke had remained where he was thanks to the drug given to him by Tekli.

Jaina looked over at her aunt, the differences between them not factoring one iota in her thinking.

"There's no easy way to say this," Mara said calmly but sadly. "You did this." There was, shockingly, no judgment in it; just a clear and simple statement of fact.

"What?!" Jaina asked incredulously. She looked over to her brother.

Jacen looked much more horrified, and he hesitated before he elaborated. "It was an accident, Jaina. When you blew Zekk back with the Force, he, well..." He trailed off, as it was obvious that he didn't need to elucidate any further.

She looked back down upon Zekk's corpse, back in his lifeless eyes, before she collapsed next to his speared chest and sobbed.

"I did this, I did this, I did this," she repeated over and over as her voice was muffled against his body.

"Jaina," Jacen said before he placed a hand on her shoulder, "we have to-"

"Get away from us!" she yelled as she blasted her brother back with some Force-power.

When he landed on his back, Jaina's jaw dropped; she looked through her tear-fogged eyes back at the hand with which she used the Force even as Mara helped Jacen back to his feet.

The two of them regarded her warily even as she looked back between them and Zekk's body in both confusion and horror.

"Jaina," Luke finally spoke up, though his voice was still groggy.

She looked over at her uncle.

"There will... be consequences... for all... of this," he said firmly despite himself.

It was clear even to Jaina's grief-stricken mind that Luke wasn't just talking about her accidentally killing Zekk right when she had eliminated the king and queen of Gorog; it had been about everything that she had done under them.

"But, Uncle Luke, I didn't mean to, I didn't mean-"

"I know," Luke interrupted. "I... know. But it... is not... enough."

Jaina then collapsed back upon Zekk and wordlessly sobbed upon the corpse of her fallen friend. 

Chapter Text

Once the Miy'tils had decided to join the battle, Tesar's StealthX had been fired upon by several stray shots from them that had been aimed for dartships. The cascade failure that resulted from all those hits resulted in his starfighter self-destructing, though the Barabel was able to go EV.

Alema, meanwhile, only had her port S-foil damaged beyond repair, so the smoke had given away her position to a pair of nearby clawcraft. She went EV just seconds before the Chiss fighters blew her ship away.

Thankfully, Tahiri was nearby in her Sekotan skiff, and through the battle-meld, Alema could feel the human coming for her and Tesar. 

Two minutes later, after floating in the void in her vac suit, the skiff had sidled alongside Alema; by this point, Tesar was already aboard, and a section of the ship unfurled outward. Alema stepped into the open airlock, and once the door behind her sealed up, the door in front of her allowed her into the rest of the living vessel.

Tahiri was seated in the pilot seat, which didn't have either a copilot or nav seat, so Tesar held onto the back of the human's chair as she piloted them away from where she had picked up Alema.

Tahiri had destroyed one clawcraft and a couple of Miy'tils when a sudden feeling of loss overwhelmed the trio of fallen Jedi. Tahiri veered off-course and the prow of her ship was fired upon by a clawcraft that was quickly destroyed by four dartships converging on it.

When Tahiri recovered, she kept her focus ahead and spun the skiff away from Yoggoy. Only Tesar and Alema were allowed to look at each other and wordlessly convey what they already knew.

The Night Herald and Queen are dead, Tesar communed.

We have to leave, Alema returned.

Indeed, Tahiri was racing to the edge of the system's gravity well so they could jump to hyperspace; where to, they could figure out later. All they knew was that they had to leave right away.

They were still in the system once they felt Tekli die; this prompted them to double over in pain and for Tahiri to even shout the Chadra-Fan's name aloud.

“Focus!” Alema shouted.

“Shut up, I am!” Tahiri yelled.

Soon, she made it to the edge of the system, free of pursuit from either Chiss or Hapans—thanks namely to several Killiks who gave their lives for the Jedi who had helped them—and then the Sekotan ship launched. 

. . . 

Aboard the Star Destroyer Csilla's Pride, Admiral Peecar watched as his Star Destroyers and cruisers, who had turned away from Yoggoy, traded fire with the Hapan Battle Dragons and Nova cruisers. By this point, while the Hapans had lost two Battle Dragons and five of their cruisers, Peecar had lost three Destroyers and a total of six cruisers. And with two more Destroyers heavily damaged and one cruiser still fully functioning, Peecar was aware that he, if only relatively slightly, on the losing side of this battle.

Given that his forces had already been fighting the Killiks and Joiners, who were now in retreat, by the time the Hapans had arrived, it was not much of a wonder how Peecar could be losing. And while he may have been commanding a ship named after one of the most brilliant tacticians to come from the Chiss species, Peecar knew that he wasn't that brilliant to pull so easy a victory from these circumstances.

His grim thoughts were pushed to the back of his mind when one of his comm officers reported, “Sir, the Dragon Queen is hailing us. Shall we respond, sir?”

With two seconds of hesitation, Peecar answered, “I'll take it in my salon.”

“Aye, sir.”

Once Peecar was seated, the holographic representation of Admiral Gray appeared before him again.

“Admiral Peecar, I assume you're aware of the retreat of the Killiks and their Joiners?”

Peecar nodded. “What of it?”

“The Queen Mother wishes to sue for peace with you. She is not interested in fighting your Ascendancy.”

Peecar was tempted to accept the offer, but he said, “She should have considered that before she sent her fighter squadrons around my fleet formation, Admiral Gray.”

“Admiral Peecar, we've recently been informed that whatever dark influence has been prompting the Killiks to encroach on the Chiss Ascendancy's borders has been eliminated.”

“By whom, Admiral Gray?”

“Jaina Solo.”

Peecar's eyebrows lifted in surprise. “I thought she was part of this Killik Colony?”

“Not anymore, we've been told. The Prime Unu wishes to sue for peace, as well; he is scattering his forces out of the system so that you can't kill anymore of his... Kind, I believe he calls them. So, come now, Admiral, we can both see that your forces have taken a heavy beating. Don't burden them with this great a loss.”

Peecar's features settled in deep contemplation for about ten seconds; Gray waited, not saying a word.

“Very well, Admiral Gray. I shall order a ceasefire.”

“Thank you, Admiral Peecar.”

Minutes later, after the last of the Killik and Joiner ships left the Yoggoy system, all Chiss and Hapan forces' weapons fell silent.

. . . 

It had taken two whole days for the Killiks and Joiners who had fled the Yoggoy system to return under UnuThul's command. The only ones who didn't return were the ones who were Gorog, including Alema, Tesar, and Tahiri. 

Once his forces were back in place over Yoggoy with the waiting Chiss and Hapan fleets, UnuThul was shuttled, with no Killiks by his side, by the Millennium Falcon over to the Csilla's Pride where negotiations could be carried out.

Leia was aware of the complications between the Killiks and Chiss; the grievances that the former had when it came to planets and resources were still valid even with Lomi Plo and Welk dead. So she wasn't looking forward to being part of the meeting with UnuThul, Tenel Ka, Admiral Peecar, and a representative of the Chiss Ruling Council on what they would do moving forward.

But, in the meantime, while security preparations were being made for the meeting in the Pride's main meeting room, which would take place tomorrow, Leia had visited Jaina, who was sitting in the Falcon's lounge area.

Seeing this image brought Leia back about thirty-five years, when she had seen Luke grieving just like this when Ben Kenobi had died. Carefully, Leia sat down next to her daughter and tried to place one arm on the furthest shoulder while placing the other hand on Jaina's closest shoulder. 

She shrugged off the gesture without looking up at her mother. “Don't,” she muttered. “Just... don't.”

“Fine,” Leia replied gingerly. “But you know I'm here in case you wanna talk.”

Ten seconds had passed before Jaina shook her head. “I can't believe it,” she finally said; her tone sounded weak as tears formed in her eyes again. “I just can't believe it. Of all the stupid ways for him to die, he had to get pushed onto a stalagmite!”

She picked her lightsaber from her belt and slammed it loudly upon the table, prompting even Leia to jump a little in her seat. 

Jaina still didn't look at her mother as she continued. “Some Sword of the Jedi I turned out to be.” She snickered bitterly. “Then again, Uncle Luke said that I shall never know peace, though I'd be 'blessed' for the peace that I would bring others. Figures that when I bring an end to this crisis by killing Plo and Welk, I also ended up killing my best friend.” She finally looked at Leia with a deep frown. “On accident, no less.”

When Jaina looked back upon her lightsaber, she said, “There's nothing you can say that can comfort me, Mom. Not even the typical 'It's not your fault' line helps since, no matter which way you slice it, it was my fault that Zekk died. I pushed him to his death because he tried to stop me, not to save Plo and Welk, but to save my soul, to stop me from enduring what he suffered when he was at the Shadow Academy. But I didn't care; all I cared about was taking out those Sith.”

She looked back at Leia. “I don't deserve to be a Jedi, Mom.”

Leia's expression dropped in concern. “Don't say that, Jaina. You made a mistake and you-”

“You saw that mistake!” Jaina interrupted. “That's not a mistake that a Jedi Knight like me, that the Sword of the Jedi, should have made! I killed my best friend carelessly so I could strike down those two Sith, and I did it with hate in my heart! You heard what Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, and Jacen said; I was using the dark side to kill them!”

She turned back to the lightsaber and sobbed. When her mother tried to pull her into a hug, she stood up and headed over to the nearest refresher. Leia followed but couldn't catch up before her daughter closed the door on her.

“Leave me alone, Mom!” Jaina said. “I just wanna be alone!” Her sobs took over for her speaking.

Leia considered saying something reassuring; but she thought better of it, then turned and walked away.

Jaina needed time alone, she understood. It was best not to push things too far with her at this stage.

Leia headed for the cockpit, where Han was napping; apparently, from all of the action recently, he had needed a rest. So Leia didn't bother him as she walked away and left the Falcon to walk across the Pride's main hangar bay for the Jade Shadow, which was currently under repair by some Chiss mechanics.

Luke stood on the deck as he observed the work. Leia sidled up next to him and he said to her, “Mara's in the ship directing some of the more important repairs. Jacen is in the guest cabin aboard; that was left undamaged by the crash.”

He looked over at her. “He wanted to be alone,” Luke elaborated with a sympathetic tone.

Leia quirked an eyebrow at him. “Why?” A part of her wondered why Jacen wasn't aboard the Falcon right now attempting to comfort his sister the way Leia tried to with her daughter.

“Because of what happened to Tekli, as much as Zekk, surprisingly.”

Leia remembered. Upon reaching the cavern where Plo, Welk, Zekk, and Tekli all died, Han and Leia—who had been accompanied by Saba, a tentatively-trusted Lowbacca, Cakhmaim, Meewalh, Jae Juun, Tarfang, and C-3PO—saw that not only had Jaina been weeping for Zekk, but Jacen was sitting morosely next to Tekli's corpse. 

“It isn't just that Tekli was one of his friends, Leia,” Luke said. “After he left the Gyuel system with me, Mara, and Ben, Jacen told us that he was confident that even leaving Tekli behind, no harm would come to her.” He sighed. “After what happened, he believes he made a mistake.”

Leia mirrored Luke's sigh. “They have to talk to each other soon, Luke.”

“I know, Leia. But we have to give them time. And let's face it, Zekk was Jacen's friend as much as Jaina's, if I understand their friendship correctly.”

“Do you think...” Leia trailed off before she completed her question. “...that Jacen blames Jaina for what happened to Zekk?”

The line between Luke's lips thinned. “I hate to say it, Leia, but you know that's true. Even if Jaina didn't mean it, that is what happened.”

Leia's mouth was agape. “What will this mean for her?”

“There have to be consequences for this, Leia. You know it, too.” Luke's tone was morose when he said that.

“And what will they be, Luke?”

He said nothing for a few seconds. “Tell me, do you know if the Chiss will file any formal complaints about the Jedi's involvement in this crisis?”

“They might.”

“Then when the negotiations are done and you tell me, then Jaina's fate will be decided.” 

. . . 

It didn't take long into the meeting for Leia to explain the presence of the Dark Jedi—or rather, Sith, as Luke had told her—influencing UnuThul and the rest of the Colony into doing what they did. The man once known as Raynar Thul was outraged and horrified to learn how he had been controlled, but he managed to compose himself so that the meeting could remain more or less civil. 

Then, after two hours of deliberation—some of it having heated argumentation, namely between UnuThul and the representative from the Chiss Ruling Council—it was finally decided what would be done. 

Since the Chiss were unwilling to allow any of their territory to the Killiks, who really did need more room in the Unknown Regions, Tenel Ka volunteered her fleet to escort all of the Colony into the Transitory Mists.

“If it will be alright with you, UnuThul,” the Queen Mother said, “we would be willing to shelter the Colony within several of our systems for an indefinite but temporary period of time. So until we can find some suitable territory for you and your people in which you can live independently, you are welcome within my dominion.” The only evidence that Leia had that Tenel Ka recognized that the man to whom she was speaking was a childhood friend was through her open, calming Force-presence.

“We are aware of the rather violent politics that go on within your dominion, Your Majesty,” UnuThul said. Leia knew that he recognized her, but it was evident that he wanted to keep things professional here. “How can you guarantee the Colony any safety?”

“You have my word as one ruler to another,” Tenel Ka said, “and as a friend.”

UnuThul was silent for a moment. Then his scarred face brightened with a smile; Leia would have found it unnerving had it not been a signifier of good news. 

“We appreciate your hospitality, Your Majesty,” UnuThul said. “We can leave as soon as we can get all of the Colony, from throughout all of our space, to your ships.”

Tenel Ka nodded with a smile of her own. “I hope then that I will have as much time to get as many ships to this system just as soon.”

“That just leaves the fate of the Jedi Knights who had sided with the Killiks,” Leia spoke up. Her gaze was levelled at the Ruling Council representative. “What will become of them?”

“We will allow them to be taken back by their Order so that they may administer whatever punishments that your Masters deem fit,” the representative stated diplomatically. “Since we will allow the Colony and the Hapes Consortium to leave with the caveats that they never enter our space again, we extend the same courtesy to all Joiners who had fought on behalf of the Killiks, including your Knights.”

Leia could tell through the representative's Force-presence that he wasn't happy about the arrangement; there was little doubt in her mind that this man was against not launching a formal war with the Hapans for intruding on their conflict with the Killiks, or for not continuing the Ascendancy's campaign to exterminate the Colony. So, obviously, he thought that leaving the Jedi Order to its own devices when it came to the AWOL Knights was just one more bad idea made by his superiors that he couldn't protest.

“So then,” the CRC representative said, “if there is no other matter of which to speak, shall we vote that this meeting has concluded?”

Everyone else seated at the table said, “Aye.”

“Good,” the representative muttered. He was the first to stand and leave.

Chapter Text

While it would only take two days for Tenel Ka to summon three more Battle Dragons and four more Nova cruisers into the Yoggoy system, it would take yet another day after that for the last of the Colony to arrive in the system so they could leave for the Transitory Mists.

By that point, the Jade Shadow had been repaired, with no evidence of sabotage from any Chiss who were unhappy with the Jedi's meddling in their affairs with the Killiks. So, with that out of the way, the Skywalkers, including Ben and Nanna, were able to leave the Yoggoy system alongside the Millennium Falcon and Solo Quest to return to Ossus.

Five days later, they finally returned to the Jedi Academy there on a bright and sunny day, a stark contrast to the grim necessity that would have to be carried out later on. After everyone had returned with their things unpacked and other affairs settled, Luke put out a call to Jedi who were on assignment elsewhere in the galaxy, informing them of Zekk and Tekli's combined funeral that would take place within two days. 

Several Jedi said they had missions and priorities that they were unable to break away from; thankfully, almost none of these Knights or apprentices had been close to either Zekk or Tekli or even the people to whom they had known. The only exception to this was Tenel Ka, who was currently in the middle of managing things with UnuThul and the Killiks over which systems would be willing to take Colony nests in (or, at least, which systems Tenel Ka could convince or otherwise coerce into accepting Killiks). Everyone else had informed Luke via holocomm that they would be able to attend the funeral.

Jacen had been the one to take Zekk and Tekli's bodies; he had each of them placed in a cold storage container in the Quest's cargo bay so that they wouldn't have rotted on the way back to Ossus. After their offload from the ship, they were embalmed in the Temple's mortuary by one of Cilghal's assistants; the Mon Calamari Jedi Master had been unable to perform the task herself due to her closeness with Tekli. 

Nevertheless, by nightfall on the day of the funeral, a large congregation of Masters, Knights, and apprentices had gathered between the two funeral pyres that had laid side-by-side and the Temple. Jaina was with her immediate family—her parents and brother—at the front of the audience. Everyone else, who had been informed that she had been the one to kill them—one by accident, the other because she had been turned to the dark side—gave a noticeable distance from the Solo clan, whether it was behind them or to the sides.

Jaina didn't lock eyes with anyone present, not even with Lowbacca behind her or anyone else she had known from her days on Yavin 4, and instead kept them lowered. 

Luke, who had been standing two meters away from the Solo clan with his wife and son, stepped forward to approach the funeral pyres. When he reached them, he turned back to the congregation.

A Force-nudge from him prompted Jaina to look directly at her uncle; his expression conveyed only simple disappointment to her. Nevertheless, his expression softened when he spoke loudly for all to hear as the Force amplified his voice.

“Tonight,” he announced, “we gather here to pay our final respects to our fallen Jedi, Zekk and Tekli, whose lives were lost in the recent conflict between the Killik Colony and the Chiss Ascendancy. It is, however, with a heavy heart that I must acknowledge that Jedi Tekli had died as a servant of the dark side of the Force. I do not say this to disparage her name; rather, I hope to make sure that all of you gathered here understand that her fall to the dark side does not take away from the fact that for many years, she had done more good than evil for the galaxy as a healer and a Jedi. Which is why, even with her fall in mind, she will be given the same respect that Zekk will be given.

“As for Zekk, I can safely and confidently say that he had died as a Jedi. Though all of you have been informed about the specific circumstances regarding his death, that it was an accident made in the heat of combat, the reason for his death is nevertheless one we must keep in mind. He had died upholding the beliefs that we so value in this Order, as he had seen the dark side being used and had attempted to stop it.” 

Jaina sensed no judgment coming from her uncle; he didn't even look in her direction when he said that.

“For this,” Luke continued, “Zekk's passage into the Force is a marker of bravery and selflessness, emblematic of a true Jedi. Everyone who knew and loved him should remember him for that, as I'm sure you all will.”

That was when Luke levied his gaze at Jaina.

“If anyone would like to come up and say a few words on behalf of Zekk or Tekli, or both, you may do so now,” Luke said.

Lowbacca was the first to come up; floating beside him was an M-TD translator droid that he had rented solely for this occasion. 

“Zekk was a dear friend of mine,” the droid translated for the Wookiee. “And though I may not have known Tekli as well, I considered her a good friend, too. And I am aggrieved further to learn that she had died as a dark sider. I will not remember her as such, but it still breaks my heart to know this, especially since I had known her as such a gentle, kind soul in life.” Through the M-TD's words, Lowie's emotionally pained roars could be heard, and his tears were clear for all to see. 

“If there is any lesson to take from her death,” the M-TD resumed once Lowie sobbed for five seconds, “I think it is that the dark side can corrupt even the purest hearts, and that we should all beware of it... just like Zekk had been.” Four more seconds of sobbing later, he said, “Thank you,” then returned to his place in the crowd.

Jacen was next. 

“A part of me honestly feels ashamed to be here,” he admitted to the crowd. “Because that same part feels responsible for both of my friends' passing into the Force when they still had so much of their lives ahead of them. When I left the Colony to affirm my allegiance to the Jedi Order, I had left behind almost all of my friends to the influence of the Killiks, including Tekli, and for that, she had been left to fall to the dark side. I may not believe in the dark side of the Force as many of you still do, but what I do know is that because I did not do more, Tekli fell and died.”

By this point, Luke had approached Jacen from his side. The latter looked to the former and saw the unsaid question on his face: Do you really want to continue this? It wasn't a threat, only a gentle question.

Jacen nodded, then turned back and continued. “And Zekk's death weighs just as heavily on my soul. A childhood friend of mine, I will miss him as dearly as Lowie does, with my solace being that I know that he had died as a Jedi and that I will always treasure the memories I had with him when we were kids. Thank you.”

Other Jedi came up and said their pieces about Zekk and Tekli. Among them, Cilghal had been composed when speaking about Tekli; she didn't mention her fall to the dark side in her words for the Chadra-Fan, only their time and Master and apprentice. She had more or less conveyed Lowie's sentiments about what kind of person she had been in life, and that was it.

Once the line of Jedi who had words for Zekk and Tekli had petered out, Luke looked among the crowd and asked, “Is there anyone else among you who would wish to share some words for our fallen?”

No one did; Jaina simply shook her head at Luke.

“Very well,” he said. “Then let us recite the Jedi Code.”

In unison, all of the present Jedi, including Jaina, brought their lightsabers to bear, activated them as they held them laterally over their heads, and said: “There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.”

She felt disgusted with herself for reciting those words with everyone else; she didn't feel as if she deserved to say them. 

With his lightsaber in hand, Luke turned and set the blade upon Tekli's pyre, which was furthest away from him, and set it ablaze. He then did the same for Zekk's pyre.

Everyone watched until the bodies had been reduced to ashes. Only then did they deactivate their lightsabers and begin to leave.

. . . 

Two days after the funeral, Jaina, Jacen, and Lowie all stood side-by-side in the Masters' Council chamber before Luke, the only other occupant in the room. The Knights' postures were stiff, as if they were part of a military, and their facial expressions were as reserved as their Force-presences.

“All three of you were involved in the conflict that has just officially concluded between the Killiks and Chiss,” Luke stated, “to some degree or another. And while it is true that the Chiss will not hold any of you accountable for your actions against them, that does not mean that I will allow you to simply wash your hands of the entire affair.”

Luke first looked at his nephew. “Jacen, while you had been with the Colony for the shortest period of time among your sister and friends, and had brought about the least amount of damage, the fact of the matter remains that you were still a part of that conflict. You have proven your allegiance to the Jedi Order very easily, and for that, I thank you and appreciate your loyalty, but that will not excuse you from what I sentence you.”

Jacen said nothing; he didn't allow surprise to register in his face or through the Force.

“And my sentence for all of you is this.”

He allowed a solid five seconds to pass, letting some anticipation among the trio to build up.

“I assign you all to track down and either capture or kill the remaining Jedi Joiners.”

At this, Jaina allowed surprise to come through her Force-presence and face.

“Alema Rar, Tahiri Veila, and Tesar Sebatyne are still somewhere out in the galaxy. To atone for your involvement against the Chiss, you will be led by Master Horn into the Unknown Regions where you will work alongside an Expansionary Defense Force hunting party.”

Jaina started to ask. “But I thought the Chiss said we weren't--”

“I did not give you permission to speak, Jedi Solo,” Luke interrupted firmly.

Jaina swallowed and resumed her silence.

“I had spoken to the Chiss Ruling Council's representative before we had left for Ossus,” Luke explained anyway. “I had to explain the possible presences of our trio of missing Jedi so that there would be fewer complications between the Ascendancy and the Jedi Order. Thus, he has given special permission to you and Master Horn to look for Alema, Tahiri, and Tesar so that they will be unable to cause anymore trouble in the foreseeable future. 

“You will all be expected to report to them in the Drenais system, within Chiss territory, in exactly one week from today, which should give you enough time if you leave Ossus within the next six hours. Should you be late, I will have to field questions from the commander of this task force as to why you did not make the meeting, so do not make me do this. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Master Skywalker,” Jaina and Jacen said simultaneously. Lowie roared obediently for his part.

“Now, Jedi Solo,” Luke said to Jacen, “I had explained to the Chiss representative that you, your sister, Jedi Lowbacca, and Master Horn would be meeting up with the CEDF task force aboard the Solo Quest. That wouldn't be a problem, would it?”

“Not at all, Master Skywalker,” Jacen replied. “I have enough supplies for everyone to last two months.”

“Excellent,” Luke said. “Now do any of you have any questions?”

Jaina tried to ask, “Who will be-”

“Raise your hand, Jedi Solo,” Luke said.

Jaina hesitantly brought up her right arm.

“Yes, Jedi Solo?” Luke asked more calmly.

“Who will be the commander of the Chiss task force?” Jaina asked, letting her arm drop back to her side.

“This commander's core name is Jedak, and he is commanding the Star Destroyer Ar'alani,” Luke answered. “Any other questions?”

None of the Knights asked one.

“Then you are all dismissed,” Luke said.

Jacen and Lowie turned away and walked out of the chamber; Jaina stayed where she was.

“Jedi Solo, do you have something to say?” Luke asked her.

“Yes, Master Skywalker. I have to ask, why do you still trust me?”

“Trust you? For this mission?”

“Yes.”

“Why shouldn't I?”

Jaina looked confused. “Because of what happened. With Zekk and Tekli.”

“As I have made clear at the funeral, Tekli had fallen to the dark side. I wished we had been able to take her alive and redeem her, but I saw what happened, Jaina, when you struck her down. You made the right call, and believe me, that pains me to say it. You think I'm anymore comfortable telling you this than when I had told Master Cilghal about it?” His question was obviously rhetorical. “If I had been in your position, I would have done the same thing, if I'm being honest.”

“But Zekk-”

“Yes, Zekk was an unfortunate accident, one that you should have been much more careful to avoid even in the heat of combat. A Jedi does not allow her emotions to get the better of her like you did; and I will not forget your use of the dark side before you had killed Plo and Welk.”

“So why, Uncle Luke? Why won't you strip me of my rank? Or what happens if I just quit, like that?”

“Let me answer both of your questions with one answer: Because I won't let you just walk away from a second chance.”

Jaina looked dumbfound. “A second chance? After everything I-” 

“Jaina, I made you the Sword of the Jedi, and in spite of all the mistakes you've made lately, in the end, you proved yourself on the side of light, even with the darkness that I sense within you. That I still sense within you. But I cannot ignore the fact that even at the direct cost of Zekk's life, you still played a pivotal part in ending this conflict between the Killiks and Chiss when you killed Plo and Welk.

“So I give you another chance to redeem yourself, under Master Horn's supervision, and with the support of Jacen and Lowie, so that you will not be remembered as a disgrace to the Jedi Order. Because I know that you won't be; and because I know that even with the conflict, guilt, and regret in your soul right now, or, rather, because of all that, you won't just let the fallen Jedi who remain out in the galaxy to roam free. You won't let yourself allow Alema, Tahiri, and Tesar to escape justice, it isn't in you, Jaina.

“So, if you can, bring all three of them home. And if you can't, if you find yourself having to kill them like you did with Tekli, then make sure that Jacen, Lowie, or even Master Horn will be at your side to keep you from falling to the dark side again.”

Chapter Text

The first drop out of hyperspace from the Yoggoy system brought Tahiri's Sekotan skiff into a system with a yellow star and a dense asteroid belt. Dropping out with them were several hundred Gorog dartships and over two hundred Joiner ships who gradually took to looking into some of the larger asteroids to hide out.

Communing through the Gorog hive-mind, Alema, Tahiri, and Tesar all agreed that this would be one of several systems where the Dark Nest could continue to survive. Other Gorog and their Joiners were encouraged to find other systems from which they could build and thrive; it was better, after all, not to have all their eggs, literal and figurative, in one proverbial basket. This was especially important since continuing their war with the Chiss was out of the question at this point, with UnuThul and the rest of the Colony knowing about Gorog's existence, the Dark Nest were on their own now.

Of course, issues such as resupplying, especially in a system not conducive to supporting most life, came up within the hive-mind. Moreover, not all of them could live in dartships, and there wasn't enough room on any of the Joiner ships to fit all of Gorog. This meant that they would have to find at least one life-sustaining planet, or a habitable moon, without attracting the attention of the Chiss, the Jedi, or their allies. And as if those issues weren't bad enough, Joiners whose faces were known as such would have to lay low and take great care to help Gorog continue to live even in the state they were in now.

And speaking of conspicuous Joiners, Alema, Tahiri, and Tesar were all aware that the organic skiff they were in could very well bring unwanted attention to them and, by extension, the rest of the Dark Nest should they venture out to resupply for food, water, and other necessary cargo. 

That meant that at the soonest possibility, they had to rid themselves of the skiff for a more forgettable, and therefore more useful, ship.

No. No, they couldn't get rid of the skiff. The skiff was their friend; it brought them out of Yoggoy when Gorog lost their Night Herald and Queen. To rid themselves of this vessel was a slap in its proverbial face and an insult to its usefulness. They could find a way to make the skiff inconspicuous; all they needed was some time and resources...

“Tahiri, stop this,” Alema said aloud.
 
At the same time that the Twi'lek spoke, she, Tahiri, and Tesar muted their individual presences in the hive-mind so that they could have a much more intimate conversation in the skiff's cockpit.

Tahiri spun her seat around and stood up to face Alema. “Stop what?” the human asked testily.

“You know what,” Alema replied in kind. “We can't begin dividing ourselves like this. That's how the Chiss and Master Skywalker and all his Jedi lackeys will win if we keep it up.”

“By wanting to get rid of this ship, we are already beginning to divide ourselves, Alema!” Tahiri cried. “This skiff is as much a member of Gorog as we all are now! If we get rid of her for convenience, who else do we have to get rid of? Who else do we have to treat like refuse that needs to be discarded?”

“Your attachment to this thing is touching, Tahiri,” Alema said sarcastically. Then, more seriously, “But it won't help in our goals. It will only hinder us, and if left unchecked, it will destroy us. And if we let your love for this machine that looks so much like a Vong-”

“That's Yuuzhan Vong, Alema!” Tahiri cried.

The Twi'lek looked dumbfounded. “That still matters to you? After all these years?”

“You see these scars, Alema?” Tahiri asked as she pointed at the trio of markings on her forehead. “They will never go away. Just as my Yuuzhan Vong side will never go away, even after I completely merged myself with Riina.”

“Now, you see, Tahiri,” Tesar spoke up, “if we are to truly unite, we have to stop thinking in termz of 'I' or 'my' or anything like that. And we should not even be saying thingz like 'you' when we commune; we have to be one. And if we are to be one, we must let go of our individual attachmentz. Thiz skiff is a machine, Tahiri, not a full being like we all are here. This ship waz designed to be used, to be piloted; without a pilot, it iz worthless. So we must look at this ship as it is: just a ship, with maybe a mind of itz own, but still a ship nonethelesz. And most importantly, it cannot truly be one with Gorog; if it cannot be one with Gorog, it iz disposable. Do you underztand, Tahiri?”

The human looked aghast, but hesitated to speak. 

“We need a new ship, Tahiri!” Tesar exclaimed. “Why do we continue thiz pointlesz argument?”

“This isn't pointless, Tesar!” Tahiri countered. “If we get rid of this ship, we-”

Alema activated her lightsaber and moved to strike down Tahiri. The human, however, had her own lightsaber active and blocking the Twi'lek's weapon. The two women stood like that, sabers locked, and looking at each other over the heat of their blades.

“Should we continue from here, Tahiri?” Alema asked through gritted teeth. Tahiri's expression mirrored the Twi'lek's as she held her ground.

A quarter of a minute passed between the women before the fight left Tahiri's face; as Alema felt her friend—yes, they were still friends, they both thought—relax in her defense, they both disengaged amicably, deactivated their lightsabers, and stood back to their full heights like normal, rational adults.

“Alright,” Tahiri said. “We shall go and find ourselves a new ship.”

She then turned and placed a hand on the piloting console, as if she were consoling a friend; that was because she was.

“I'm so sorry,” she said as she tried to hold back tears vainly.

“These feelings will pass, Tahiri,” Alema said. Even now, she felt tears in her own eyes welling up; but she knew that they were a result of Tahiri's feelings bleeding into hers more than any love that she herself felt for the skiff.

“Yez,” Tesar said. His own eyes were also welling up, which wasn't something that was common to him. “All that matterz is that Gorog does not pasz away itself.”

. . . 

Even though Mara had made her Force-presence known to Jaina on her way to the younger woman's room, she knocked on it anyway.

“Jaina, may I please come in?”

After a moment, Jaina answered, “You may.”

Mara pressed the button that allowed the door to slide open, and before she walked in, she found that Jaina was standing in the center of the room expectantly.

After Mara stepped inside and the door slid shut behind her, she said, “I came to talk to you before you left with Master Horn, your brother, and Lowie.”

Jaina shrugged. “What did you want to say?” 

Mara sighed after a moment. “Look, I know this is a bit overdue, but I just wanted to say... I'm sorry.” She paused, hoping that Jaina would ask for what, but they both knew what Mara was apologizing for. “I'm sorry I slapped you when you brought up Palpatine in relation to your uncle. I know that you had said that because you were under the Sith's influence, no doubt because they wanted us to be pitted against each other.”

Mara chuckled ruefully before she continued. “The fact that it worked makes it that much worse, even if they got the upper hand temporarily. It was a stupid, petty move on my part, something that I should have been over; the thought that Palpatine still influences my actions, even that indirectly, even to this day, is something that makes me quiver with self-disgust. So, Jaina, are you willing to forgive me?”

Jaina walked up to within a meter of Mara before she spoke.

“Yes, Aunt Mara. I forgive you.” Her tone was completely flat.

And it was because of that flatness that quirked a curious eyebrow from Mara. “So why do you sound like you don't mean it?”

“Oh, I mean it. As much as I can, that is.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“If you remember that moment as clearly as I do, Aunt Mara, you know that things between us can never go back to the way they were before I ever set out to join the Killiks.”

Mara did remember that moment. A rift between her and Jaina that could never fully heal would come between them; they had practically felt that through the Force, and so did everyone who had been present for that moment.

“Maybe they can't,” Mara admitted tentatively. “But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. In case you forgot, your uncle is giving you a second chance to redeem yourself for your actions. If he has faith in you, then I do, too.”

“So if he didn't have faith in me, you wouldn't, either?”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, I have to ask, why didn't you make this apology to me until now?”

Mara's mouth opened, only for her to realize that she didn't have a solid answer. Indeed, it made her think back to when she had first seen Jaina, after their little incident on Jwlio, aboard the Jade Shadow when Jacen hypothesized Plo and Welk's dark involvement in the Colony; she hadn't spoken to Jaina then, and she even regretted it out loud to Luke after their niece had left their ship. 

And in all the time they had since coming back from the Unknown Regions—before Zekk and Tekli's funeral and even after—Mara hadn't come to Jaina. At first, she had rationalized it that she had been spending more time with Ben. They had needed it, given the danger that the boy had faced just with that event in the Shadow's galley with that one Gorog, who, last Mara had checked, had died in the Battle of Yoggoy piloting Jaina's StealthX, which had been confirmed to be destroyed.

But even Mara knew that it wasn't much of an excuse; for her to put this apology off until now was something that she didn't think to be a big deal. So, in the face of Jaina's question, Mara found herself at a loss for words.

“I... I don't know,” Mara answered honestly. She found that shame had seeped into her tone.

“Hmm,” Jaina said simply. There wasn't a hint of judgment in her tone at that, nor was there in her Force-presence, as if she couldn't guess at her aunt's intentions anymore than she could.

“Well,” Jaina continued before she used the Force to call forth her travel sack from behind her, “I have to go now. Nice talkin' to you, Aunt Mara. Have fun with Ben. You know your way out.”

She then walked past her aunt and left without another word. Mara stood, facing the direction in which she had spoken to Jaina for a few seconds, before she turned back to the door; she decided to stay inside and stand there until she was sure, through the Force, that Jaina had left the corridor outside to make way for the Jedi Temple's hangar bay.

Once Mara allowed herself to leave Jaina's quarters, she allowed the conversation with her niece to replay in her head. And when she came to her conclusion, one that she would be reticent to share with Luke, Mara realized that if the rift between her and Jaina had any real hope of healing, the younger woman would have to succeed in living up to Luke's expectations with her second chance.

. . . 

“Mazter Skywalker,” Saba said, “I urge you to reconzider.”

“I already told you, Master Sebatyne,” Luke replied sternly. “Your investment in your son's well-being makes you more of a liability than an asset. I cannot place faith in a Jedi Master whose judgment can likely be compromised during the course of this mission.”

The two of them stood in the Jedi Temple's hangar bay, where the Solo Quest was fueled, stocked, and ready to return to the Unknown Regions. 

“Mazter Skywalker, you are saying that attachmentz make uz weak, just like the old Order? If it were your son out there-”

“If it were my son out there, Master Sebatyne, I would trust in the judgment of a more dispassionate Jedi Master to lead the mission to return Ben.”

Saba looked at Luke in askance. “Do you not recall that you yourself, az well az your wife, embarked to the Unknown Regionz for Jaina and her friendz when the Chisz brought our attention to their involvement with the Killikz? Jaina iz, after all, your niece.”

“That was different, Master Sebatyne. That was an investigatory mission, and we had no idea of how much danger that the Knights were truly involved in. Yes, it had developed into something more, and we even allowed you to join because of your son's presence among the Knights. But now that we know what has happened to him because of his bondage to Gorog, I'm afraid that your presence in this mission for Tesar, as well as Tahiri and Alema, will not be as helpful as you argue that it might be. That's why I trust Master Horn with this assignment.”

“Waz Master Horn not Jedi Veila's apprentice during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Mazter Skywalker?”

Luke nodded. “Yes, but very briefly. Given that Jedi Veila had departed to the Unknown Regions with Zonama Sekot after the war, I highly doubt that Master Horn has the same attachment to Tahiri that you do to your son, Master Sebatyne.”

"Are you saying that Tahiri doesn't matter to Corran after all these years, Mazter Skywalker?"

Luke shook his head. "Not at all, Master Sebatyne. What I'm saying is that he is far less likely to have bias for Tahiri compared to your love for Tesar."

Saba allowed for a pause to pass before she relented and said stiffly, “I see.”

Luke cocked his head at her. “Will that be all, Master Sebatyne?”

“Just one more question, Mazter Skywalker."

"Go ahead."

"Do you truly believe that Mazter Horn can corral your niece, nephew, and Jedi Lowbacca for thiz mission? After all, they would have an attachment to Tahiri, Alema, and Tesar, not unlike me in Tesar's case."

"I'm confident in Master Horn's ability to maintain discipline among Jaina, Jacen, and Lowbacca. As for the issue of attachment that they would have for their wayward friends, the whole point of me giving them a second chance is to make sure that they would overcome that and do what needs to be done."

Saba's dorsal scales raised slightly. "So you send three Knights to redeem themselvez of their indiscretions against the Chiss, but you would not trust one of your Mazters to do the same?"

Luke sighed. "Master Sebatyne... this is not a situation that I want you to face. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be assigned a mission where you may very well be faced with the decision of having to kill your son, or be there if Jaina, Jacen, or Zekk have to kill him. Unlike my niece, nephew, or Lowbacca, you have nothing to prove in this mission. And while I genuinely hope that Tesar is brought back alive, along with Tahiri and Alema, so that they can all be redeemed, we have to keep in mind that that may not be an option in the end. I'm sorry, Saba, but I can't in good conscience allow you to be a part of this expedition."

Her scales flattened as she looked almost literally crestfallen. "So what am I supposed to do, Mazter Skywalker? Just sit in the Temple, hoping that Tesar will come back to me safe and sound?" She shook her head. "I cannot do that. It iz against my nature az a mother."

"I'll find something for you to occupy yourself with. There are plenty of rumors regarding pirates and smugglers within this sector of space. I even came upon rumors of some Yuuzhan Vong holdouts in the far reaches of the Outer Rim. Find these pirates and smugglers, then investigate these Vong holdouts. I'll give you the details on your datapad later."

"Mazter Skywalker-"

"This discussion is done, Master Sebatyne."

She eyed him warily; he didn't back down or look away from her.

Finally, however, she turned away and left the hangar. He turned back and watched as Jacen ushered Master Corran Horn, then Lowbacca, and finally Jaina up the Solo Quest's landing ramp.

But before Jaina disappeared into the ship's hold, she spared her uncle one last glance; she conveyed nothing to him through their Force-bond. 

Minutes after that, the Quest was up, flying, and heading out of the bay's exit.

However, unbeknownst even to Luke, attached to the belly of the freighter's hall, a transponder beacon, not unlike the one that had been affixed to Jaina's StealthX when it was taken by Gorog, was beeping a signal that could be tracked by anyone looking for it specifically for lightyears.

. . .

Mere minutes after she had returned to her dorm, Saba stood looking at the tracking readout on her personal datapad, which showed that the Solo Quest had yet to leave the Adega system. Beside her was the male human tech who had fixed the transponder beacon underneath the ship.

She looked at him. "Thiz smuggler friend of yourz you have called, Helmun. When did you say he would arrive again?"

"Before that tracking beacon can get outta range, I can assure you, Master Sebatyne."

She eyed him as warily as she did to Luke when she last saw him. But after a few seconds, she said, "Thank you. I owe you thiz favor, Helmun."

The helpful tech nodded graciously. "Think nothing more of it, Master Sebatyne. As much as I respect Master Skywalker for his actions, I, too, think this isn't the best course of action to put you on."

Saba's tone became less thankful when she said, "That will be all, Helmun. You can go now."

He only nodded again, his cheerful mood no less dampened by the Barabel's curtness, before he turned and left the room. But as he walked away from the dorm, he allowed his smile to deepen into something more sinister since there were no other Jedi near him at the moment. 

He could believe that he, a low-ranking member of the One Sith, had gotten away into fooling a Jedi Master as skilled as Saba Sebatyne. He could only hope that Plekos could maintain the charade of helpfulness on his part.

Chapter Text

The Ghtroc 720 light freighter Indubitable set down upon its designated landing spot in one of the spaceports on the southwest continent of Leniad. Its Rodian pilot and captain, Juko, cycled the ship down, unbuckled his crash-webbing, stood up, and left the cockpit with his Gran copilot, Saykel, to make their way for the landing ramp.

As they did, they made their way past the passenger compartment, which had three Jedi Knights—or, rather, former Jedi Knights—and seven Killiks, all of whom belonged to the nest of Gorog, just like Juko and Saykel. No words needed to be conveyed from the pilot and copilot to their passengers; because they were all of one mind, their intentions were made clear to the other Dark Nest members.

Juko and Saykel would enter town and buy a makeup kit, a pair of contact lenses, and a bottle of black dye for Tahiri Veila as part of her new identity. Alema Rar and Tesar Sebatyne, meanwhile, were not as willing to undergo any dye jobs for their skin, which the rest of Gorog agreed with. Thankfully, once they got themselves a new ship and left Juko and Saykel alone, or as alone as they could be as part of the hive-mind, Alema and Tesar could stay as much as they could in their chosen ship while Tahiri could venture out to collect whatever they needed in her upcoming disguise.

It only took the Rodian and Gran thirty minutes to buy the required supplies for Tahiri, as well as another forty to buy as much food and water as they could from what could charitably be called a grocery store on a backwater criminal haven of a world like Leniad. Regardless of the quality of the consumables that Juko and Saykel bought, which all looked like they could still be drinkable and edible given the rather unsanitary conditions by which they were surrounded, it would be enough to not only feed the Rodian and Gran, but also all of their fellow Gorog who acted as their passengers.

The mass snacking began aboard the Indubitable once its pilot and copilot returned and lasted for about five minutes altogether. When that was done, Tahiri went to the ship's refresher and began to apply the makeup, dye, and contact lenses upon herself, which took up the same amount of time that it took Juko and Saykel to buy the materials. 

Now in her new identity as Zhan Daraka, which had been backed up by some documents and identicard that an identity forger connected to Juko and Saykel had given her before the Indubitable arrived on Leniad, Tahiri was ready to get her nestmates a new ship.

She was the only one to disembark from the Ghtroc and approach a Nestt-class light freighter that was nearby. Tahiri could feel the others aboard the Indubitable agreeing with her that it was funny that she had been stealing a ship that sounded so perfect for a Killik hive; however, she knew that it could only take up four passengers, not including the pilot and copilot, thankfully. 

That wasn't a problem, Gorog thought. They had to restart small before they could begin finding greater targets of opportunity.

Tahiri felt no one aboard the ship, which was named the Lady Catcher, and its landing ramp was up. That wasn't a problem either, she and Gorog figured. All it would take was some Force-effort to get the ramp open and...

No, wait. That could set off an intruder alert from the Nestt freighter, which would attract unwanted attention to Tahiri and, by extension, Gorog. 

They could wait for the owner(s) of the Nestt to come back. But how long would that take? It could be hours, days even, and that was time that couldn't be wasted. Gorog needed ships, they needed supplies, and they needed them as soon as possible.

At this point, Tahiri wasn't sure who specifically in the hive-mind was arguing this; even she found herself agreeing with it completely. But what she knew was that they—and by they, she meant specifically her, Alema, and Tesar—wouldn't be in this situation if Gorog's dartships hadn't destroyed the Sekotan skiff back in that nameless asteroid system after the three former Jedi boarded the Indubitable.

Even now, Tahiri's heart broke—only hers, not anyone else in Gorog—just thinking about it when she had watched the skiff be blasted into mechanical-organic debris. She still remembered how everyone else aboard the Ghtroc coldly put it out of the hive-mind before the ship jumped to collect Tahiri's forged documents.

But after Tahiri remembered the destruction of her living ship, she felt herself grasping at her temples in pain. She could distinctly feel Alema's presence, and even a little bit of Tesar's, pressing into her mind. They were reinforcing in her what they had voiced aloud back aboard the now-destroyed skiff; Tahiri needed to put this sense of individuality, of her individual grief for her lost ship, if she and the rest of Gorog were to not only survive, but thrive later down the line.

Tahiri understood this, and she knew that Gorog understood this. Yet Alema and Tesar were still pressing into her mind; even with Tahiri's openness to them, they still didn't believe her.

We felt your truthfulness before, Tesar conveyed.

Yet you still see yourself as apart from us, Alema concluded.

By this point, Tahiri was on her knees moaning from the pain. And even through her splitting headache, she was aware of her current physical stance. She tried to convey that to Gorog, and to Alema and Tesar specifically, but the latter two still wouldn't listen; the overall hive-mind seemed to be of the same mind as the Twi'lek and Barabel Joiners.

“Hey, honey,” a sneering voice said behind her.

Just like that, the pressure in Tahiri's mind vanished; it was apparent that the other two former Jedi, and to Gorog, had understood that Tahiri's mental pleas to them weren't just for herself, since she had just attracted some attention that could very well be unwanted.

She turned her head to see a male Devaronian bearing down on her; his sharpened teeth were displayed through a predatory smile.

“You alright?” he asked. His tone indicated that he obviously didn't truly care\about why Tahiri had been on her knees moaning; his intention was to get her to moan in a different way back on his ship...

“We-I am now,” Tahiri said, quickly adopting a sultry grin before standing back up to fully face him. She and Gorog wondered why this guy was so bad at disguising his intentions; did he think that Tahiri was just naturally stupid because she was a woman? She wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Maybe I oughtta take ya back to my ship, getcha all checked out and all. I think I got somethin' in my medbay to help ya.”

Tahiri kept her grin on. “Would that be your ship right there?” she asked as she pointed at the Nestt.

“That it would, honey-pie, that it would. Just gimme a moment.”

As he moved to unlock and open up his vessel's landing ramp, Tahiri allowed herself to drop her grin and let her disgust for the man play out on her face. She didn't have anything against Devaronians, and he wasn't particularly ugly even for one, but the only thing that kept Tahiri from retching from his personality and intentions was Alema's low standards for men seeping into the hive-mind.

A part of Tahiri wondered why she didn't just use a mind-trick on this alien; but Gorog decided that right now, it wouldn't be necessary. They were getting as far as they did without having to use the Force.

It wasn't long before the Devaronian got his ship's landing ramp opened up, and he wordlessly waved her after him; his smile never slipped from his expression. If he dared to smack her behind, she would have no problem Force-choking him, even if it meant that someone might see her and alert someone; even here on Leniad, Gorog wouldn't be surprised if there was some scrupulous person who would inform whatever could be called an authority on this planet.

Tahiri knew that if Alema had been in her position, she wouldn't have minded such a physical display of sexual intent; and and the Twi'lek agreed.

Thankfully, the Devaronian was smart enough not to touch Tahiri as she walked inside. After he boarded, she let him close the ramp before she activated her lightsaber and literally stabbed him in the back.

She then conveyed to Gorog that, along with Alema and Tesar, up to three Killiks could come with them; all Alema and Tesar had to do was use some Force-trickery on their part to mind-wipe the few dozen people who were milling about in the spaceport's hangar bay and scramble the security cams. Indeed, they could feel that everyone present in the 'port was susceptible to having their minds wiped from remembering a Twi'lek, a Barabel, and even three Killiks walking from one ship to another.

Tahiri, and the rest of Gorog, hoped that the rest of their spoils could come this easily; on a more personal level, Tahiri hoped that she wouldn't have to woo anymore perverts so that their ship could be taken.

. . . 

The Jedi Temple's hangar chief, a female Nautolan named Trisk Hefto, was on the bay's floor when she looked up from her datapad to see Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne approaching her Skipray Blastboat. Hefto hurried over to block the Barabel's way from taking one more step to the ship.

“I'm sorry, Master Sebatyne, but I've been told by Master Skywalker that until further notice, you're grounded.”

“Iz that so? So it is only by his discretion that I can leave, eh?”

“He has made me completely aware of the circumstances surrounding your son, Master,” Hefto responded as delicately as she could. “So until he tells me personally that you're allowed to leave, I'm afraid I can't let you go.”

Saba was silent for a moment. “Chief Hefto, is it?” The Barabel was looking at the Nautolan's badge on her uniform. “You are not a Jedi.”

“No, Master Sebatyne, I am not,” Hefto responded evenly; despite her tone, she radiated fear through the Force. “But even if you were to attack me and, say, knock me unconscious, whoever's viewing the security feeds right now will alert Master Skywalker and whichever other Jedi Master is here about your actions. Even using your abilities to scramble the feeds will alert them. And you won't have enough time to escape since your Blastboat's fuel reserve has been siphoned, so that'll take you some time to get it refueled all by yourself, time which you won't have before you're confronted by your fellow Masters. Same with all of the other ships currently here, so even if you were to hijack any of these other vessels to go after your son, none of them will do you any good, either.” Her tone was professional the entire time she spoke.

Silence again. Then Saba hissed hysterically before she turned away. “Oh, Mazter Skywalker; you thought of everything.” She looked back at Hefto. “Oh, whatever shall I do now?”

She then knocked Hefto out with an elbow to the face and made her way for the pedestrian exit from the Temple's hangar. She found that it was locked, but with a few quick swipes from her lightsaber, the door fell outward, allowing Saba to rush out into the barren wasteland surrounding the Temple.

Two seconds later, as a shadow passed over her, she looked up and found that her ride had come just in the nick of time.

. . . 

As the Solo Quest travelled through hyperspace to make her way for the rendezvous point with the Chiss Star Destroyer Ar'alani, Jaina sparred with Corran in the YT-2400's sizable recreation area. Jacen and Lowie stood by in the corridor that led from the rec room to the cockpit to watch the duel.

“Very good,” Corran complimented once they stopped clashing and adopted defensive stances. “Though you might want to switch away from Ataru to something a bit more defensive, like Soresu.”

“Why?” Jaina asked. “It's worked well for me so far.”

Corran cocked his head. “If you say so.”

The two of them began clashing again; and after two whole minutes of sparring, Corran managed to get past Jaina's defenses and used his free hand to knock the lightsaber out of her hand. As Jaina's weapon clattered to the deck, Corran levelled his lightsaber up to her throat.

“That's why,” he said. “You gotta make yourself a little less predictable in how you fight.”

“That it, huh?” Jaina asked before Corran moved his lightsaber away from her.

She then used the Force to bring the lightsaber back to her hand and reactivated it. “Then I'll make things a bit more interesting.”

“If you two don't mind,” Jacen spoke up before either Jedi could clash sabers again, “I'm going to return to the cockpit to see how much time we have before we have to drop out.”

“Fine by me, Jacen,” Corran said without turning from Jaina.

As the two of them resumed their sparring, Jacen turned back and returned to the cockpit, leaving Lowie to watch the duel alone. Upon sitting back in the pilot seat, he saw that there were only ten minutes before they had to make their next dropout point.

Jacen stood back up and turned to see how the duel was progressing when an alarm blared. He turned back and saw the white lines outside the viewport rapidly shrink back to pinpricks against the infinite blackness of space at the same time that he stumbled forward from the sudden and unexpected deceleration.

And at the foreground of the void was a Chiss Star Destroyer.

“Jacen, what the hell is going on?” Corran asked as he hurried into the cockpit. Behind him, Jaina and Lowie followed him up to the threshold.

A ping on the Quest's comm console prompted Jacen to take his seat. “I guess we'll find out,” he answered Corran before he pressed the reply button.

“Solo Quest, this is the Chiss Star Destroyer Guardian,” a female voice with a noticeable accent said in Basic. 

“Guardian?” Jaina muttered. Her eyes widened as she remembered what that capital vessel was.

“Do not be alarmed,” the voice on the comm continued. “We pulled you out of your journey ahead of schedule for reasons that we will explain once we have tractored you aboard. Please standby.” 

Jacen replied, “Guardian, I was under the assumption that we were to meet with-”

“Please standby, Solo Quest,” the voice on the other end reaffirmed sharply. “Everything will be explained once you are aboard.”

Jacen sighed. “Copy. We'll standby.” He sat back in his seat patiently but with frustration permeating his body language and Force-presence.

“I sense no hostility from anyone aboard,” Corran said as they were pulled in to one of the Destroyer's hangar bays. 

“Me, neither,” Jacen said.

Lowie roared agreement.

Corran turned to the only Jedi not to say anything so far. “Jaina?”

Her expression conveyed as much worry as her aura. She looked away from the viewport to address Corran.

“Master Horn... please don't let me step foot on that Star Destroyer,” she pleaded.

“Why not?” Corran asked.

It was Lowie who answered in his own language.

Corran looked from the Wookiee back to Jaina in concern. “Why should Jagged Fel be a problem? I understand that you two-”

“Not anymore,” Jaina interrupted firmly. “And that's because he tortured Zekk.”

Chapter Text

After the Quest was tractored into the Guardian's port hangar bay, Jacen, by Corran's order, opened up the YT-2400's landing ramp. Thirty seconds later, Corran, Jacen, and Lowie stepped down the ramp to be met by Captain Jagged Fel and an honor guard of six Chiss troops, all of whom were as stoic as their human superior officer.

“Master Horn,” Fel said, “I understand that Jedi Jaina Solo is among your party, as well?”

“She's aboard the Quest,” Corran affirmed evenly. “I've given her permission not to leave the ship for as long as we're aboard yours, Captain.”

Fel glanced over briefly at the other two Jedi; neither Lowie nor Jacen gave anything away in their physical expressions. And since Fel wasn't Force-sensitive, he could only guess at their feelings toward him.

“Why is that, Master Horn?” Fel asked.

“Because she has no interest of seeing you, Captain,” Corran answered, his tone still even.

“I see,” Fel replied stoically. Corran felt annoyance radiating from the man. “Very well. Let's get down to business. As you had all been under the impression when you left Ossus, you were originally meant to meet with Captain Jedak of the Ar'alani. I regret to inform you that you were never meant to rendezvous with the Ar'alani in the first place.”

Lowie gave a soft roar of confusion; even at that, the six guards at Fel's sides tensed in place.

“Oh?” Corran asked, not losing his cool over potentially trigger-happy guards. “Do you mean to tell us that the Chiss representative had lied to Master Skywalker about this matter?”

“It was a necessary lie, yes,” Fel answered. “And the reason for it stemmed from concerns of operational security.”

“Operational security?” Corran asked.

“Since we don't know the whereabouts of this Killik nest known as Gorog,” Fel explained, “we also don't know what exactly their own operational capabilities are. While our analysts have estimated that this so-called Dark Nest is nowhere near as powerful without the rest of the Killik Colony to control, in terms of both numbers and technological advantage, my superiors in the military refuse to take any chances.”

“You mean because you think the Killiks could have been listening in on your communications?” Corran asked.

Fel nodded. “That's one concern, of course. A default concern, even with the most cutting edge encryption programs to defend against eavesdroppers. But when my superiors were informed that three of the Jedi who would be joining this task force to hunt down the remainder of the Dark Nest was a part of the Colony-”

“You thought we would we would rat you to our Gorog friends,” Jacen interrupted.

“Jedi Solo,” Corran said tersely. “You are out of line.”

Fel kept his composure in check. “No need, Master Horn.” He then regarded Jacen. “To answer your question, Jedi Solo, yes, my superiors were concerned that you, your sister, and Jedi Lowbacca may very well have still been under some influence from Gorog.”

Aside from minor annoyance over Jacen's interruption, which was less than what he felt for Jaina not joining them all in the Guardian's hangar, the only other thing that Corran sensed from Fel was ambivalence toward Jacen and Lowbacca. The former, on the other hand, radiated a sense of betrayal through his Force-aura, which the latter shared.

Otherwise, Corran would have had very little clue that Jacen and Fel knew each other before now.

“Well,” Corran interjected, “I can vouch for all three of the Knights with me, Captain. I can tell you that not one of them has any part of the Dark Nest hive-mind in their brains; Master Skywalker has confidence that they will cooperate completely in neutralizing the last of Gorog.”

“Is Master Skywalker's confidence in all three Knights complete, Master Horn?”

“I'm sorry?”

“Let me ask in another way. Why won't he trust these three Knights by themselves for this mission? Why were you sent with them? As I understand it, Jedi Knights are at least one rank above apprentices, and are thus not bound by the same strictures as apprentices when it comes to missions.”

Corran took a moment to respond. “Master Skywalker has tasked me as these Knights' supervisors for this mission.”

“Why?”

Corran sighed. “To make sure that their judgments are sound as they cooperate in this mission.”

Fel nodded; a hint of a petty smile showed through his demeanor for a moment before it was just as quickly replaced by his default military stiffness. “As Master Skywalker made readily clear to my superiors, who, by extension, informed me about it.”

“If you knew that, then why did you ask?” Jacen questioned.

Corran looked at Jacen sternly, but didn't say anything before Fel answered, “If you must know, Jedi Solo, as commander of this task force, one of my key concerns is operational transparency. I want to make sure that Master Skywalker's confidence in you, your sister, and your friend here is not in question.”

“That's not what you asked, though,” Jacen pointed out. “You just asked if Master Skywalker's confidence in us is 'complete,' as you say.”

“Yes, I did,” Fel answered with a minor note of irritation. “But I also wanted to make sure that Master Horn did not... exaggerate Master Skywalker's confidence in you.”

“Exaggerate, huh?” Jacen asked.

“Jedi Solo, return to your ship and wait for Jedi Lowbacca and me there,” Corran ordered firmly.

“That won't be necessary, Master Horn,” Fel said. “Jedi Solo can stay here; so far, his presence is not as disruptive as you might think. If anything, I'd say it's quite enlightening.” 

“Enlightening, you say?” Jacen asked. “In what way?”

“Well, as you well know, Jacen- I'm sorry, Jedi Solo,” Fel corrected himself, “I understand that you and your sister have a unique Force-bond, almost as if you were one mind.”

“Almost, yes,” Jacen answered evenly. “And?”

“Well, then, tell me, in the time that you were with the Colony with your sister, Jedi Lowbacca, and the rest of your friends, were you ever able to tell from her that she was under some dark influence? You were at Qoribu for the shortest period of time out of all the Jedi Knights who were there, so surely, you would have been able to, say, pick up on anything that may have been awry with her, if not any of your friends?”

Silence fell over the gathering; Corran looked over at Jacen.

“Well, Jedi Solo?” Corran asked. “Captain Fel's question has merit to it, I am reticent to admit. And at any rate, we have to cooperate.”

Jacen looked back at Fel and sighed. “I did feel a disconnect at first when I arrived on Jwlio. I even sensed that something was wrong then, but I couldn't place it. After a while, I chalked it up to being removed for so long from my sister, friends, and the rest of my family. In retrospect, I know better.”

“Interesting,” Fel replied. “So, tell me then, how is your Force-connection to your sister now?”

Jacen spared Corran another glance; the Jedi Master nodded and the Knight said, “It's as powerful as it was not long after the Yuuzhan Vong War ended.”

“So you can feel her emotions, her thoughts, just as she can yours?” Fel asked.

“That's correct.”

“Hmm. I see. Well, then... how is she feeling now?”

Jacen bared his teeth. “I don't have to answer that.”

Fel's eyebrows raised in consternation. “Not cooperating, Jedi Solo?”

“Oh, spare us!” Jacen exploded; the Chiss guards tensed in place again. “Stop trying to make this out as if you're making all of this part of operational security or some poodoo like that!”

“Jedi Solo, that's enough!” Corran shouted.

“You just wanna see my sister again, that's all it is! You think you can get back with her after all you-”

Jacen was cut off from saying anymore when Corran grabbed his left arm in both hands and brought him to his knees. 

“I said that's enough, Jedi Solo,” the Jedi Master muttered. “Now return to the ship. We will discuss your behavior later.”

He disengaged the armlock, which allowed Jacen to stand back up and return to the Quest without hesitation.

When Corran turned back to regard Fel, the latter held up a hand to forestall the Master from saying anything.

“No need to apologize for his behavior, Master Horn. And don't worry. While I may not have the Force to discern whether or not the Solo siblings or Jedi Lowbacca here have any remaining loyalties to the Colony or to Gorog in particular, I can tell that they pose virtually no danger to anyone who is part of this task force. Even with that outburst from Jedi Solo there, I can see that it had nothing to do with the Dark Nest. As far as I'm concerned, the eye that we'll be keeping out on you and your Knights will be one of default for outsiders rather than of heightened security.”

“That's... good to know.” 

“I must say, however, that it doesn't seem as if you or your Knights have any ships to pilot. Oh, yes, there is the YT-2400 that you came with, but I believe that while Jedi Jacen Solo can handle it well enough in a fight, you, Jedi Lowbacca, and Jedi Jaina Solo can each do well with a starfighter.”

“I see what you're trying to do, Captain, but I must inform you that the Solo Quest has two manual turrets. If we ever do end up in a dogfight with some Dark Nest dartships, I imagine that the YT behind me could use a couple people to man 'em.”

“And whom do you think would be best to man those guns, Master Horn?”

“Jedi Jaina Solo and Lowbacca, naturally.”

“And you?”

“I'll be there to supervise, of course.”

Corran could feel the disappointment in Fel's presence. “If you don't mind me saying, Master Horn, while I admire your dedication to your duties, and believe me, that's something I completely understand, I don't think having all of you Jedi aboard a single ship at a time during an engagement with the Dark Nest is a good idea. Because in the event that the Quest is destroyed, we lose the best assets we have in this mission; excluding our own forces, of course.”

“Then who do you think would man the Quest's turrets in such a time, Captain?”

“I would be more than happy to give that ship two of my best sharpshooters.”

“Would you now?”

Fel nodded. “They're just as well-trained in firing turrets as they are with long-range rifles.”
 
“I see. You know, even if Jacen were left alone with them, he could still pose a serious danger to your sharpshooters.”

“Well, as I said, I can see now that you and your Jedi pose no serious risk to anyone else in this task force, Master Horn.”

“Are you commanding us to do this, Captain Fel?”

“No, Master Horn. If you wish to have yourself and your Knights all aboard the Quest, I will not order you otherwise; I'm simply giving you my professional opinion.” 

Corran cocked his head in consideration. “Let's say I agreed to your proposal, Captain. I assume you'll be providing us starfighters.”

“The very best of clawcraft that we can offer you.”

Corran's eyebrows lifted. “Well, I admit, it'd be interesting for me to fly a TIE again. Though it'd be the first time I flew a Chiss fighter. If I agreed to this, I assume that I, Jedi Lowbacca, and Jedi Jaina Solo would be given training.”

“Our flight simulators are second to none. And I can guarantee that you will be given free rein when it comes to practice hours, all three of you.”

“Sounds like a tempting offer, Captain. There's just one problem.”

“And what's that?”

“Your intentions with Jedi Jaina Solo are as transparent as her brother has claimed.” Corran's tone was as courteous as it had been since Jacen returned to the Quest.

Fel lifted his scarred eyebrow. “You read that from my Force-presence, Master Horn?”

“I didn't have to. Though, before I officially turn down your offer to be trained to fly one of your clawcraft, I have to tell you that I've been informed of your actions toward Jedi Zekk by Jaina herself just before you brought us aboard. So if you had any notion of trying to mend whatever relationship that you had with her, Captain Fel, I am telling you right now, that would be the worst idea that you have made in your life. In fact, I daresay that it would compromise this alliance between the Jedi Order and your Ascendancy, as I can't guarantee that she won't kill you the first thing she sees you.”

“You would be able to stop that, would you not?” There was more curiosity than worry in Fel's tone.

“Oh, of course, I would, absolutely, you have my word as a Jedi Master. However, we Jedi Masters are not perfect gods; we're just sapient beings like you with a few extra powers. So while I would do everything in my power to make sure that Jaina doesn't kill you, that doesn't mean I won't fail in spite of my efforts.”

“I can tell you're not threatening me, Master Horn. You're just trying to tell me that I can't rely on you 100%, but not because of any deliberate negligence or wrongdoing on your part." Fel's tone, however, seemed to convey a threat in itself. "You are just trying to make sure that I don't make any decisions that would endanger my life, nothing more, nothing less.”

“That's correct, Captain," Corran replied evenly. "And now I must tell you this: I turn down your opportunity to train us to pilot your clawcraft. And your opinion on having us all aboard one ship instead of being spread out through multiple ships has been noted and dismissed. So is there anything else?”

Though Fel's Force-presence simmered in repressed anger, his military composure was still as perfect as it could be. 

“Yes, there is,” the Chiss-raised human answered.

“And that is?”

“If you and Jedi Lowbacca will follow me, my guards and I will escort you to our briefing room. There, we may convene over where we may start looking for any Dark Nest holdouts, namely where Jedi Veila, Rar, and Sebatyne are.”

“Lead the way, Captain.”

. . . 

After Jacen returned to the Quest in frustration over Fel's behavior toward him, he found Jaina sitting on the rec room's sofa crying. He hurried over to her, sat down next to her, and placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. She instead wrapped her arms around him in a strong hug, which he returned.

He didn't even need to ask; because of the twin bond with Jaina that Fel had grilled him over, Jacen knew exactly why his sister was crying. She had been aware of what the Chiss-raised human had said by deliberately widening her perception of Jacen's view of the meeting to see just how he was.

Jacen knew that Jaina wanted to see if any part of Jagged Fel was regretful over what he did to Zekk, over what he did to get her to betray the Colony. Like a child eavesdropping on an abusive parent to see if they were remorseful of their actions, Jaina wanted to be sure that the man whom she once loved was hidden beneath the uniform that had used Zekk's pain against her for his own ends.

Instead, she saw what she came away with: a coldly logical military commander whose every action while on duty was to serve his government, nothing more, nothing less. The fact that he had a family, like that cheerful little sister of his, Wynssa, was something that Jacen almost forgot; by the way Jag acted now, one would almost think that he had been a machine created entirely by the Chiss government to serve their purposes.

After a while, Jaina had ceased to cry, and she and Jacen just sat there on that sofa, looking forward at nothing in particular and not saying a word. They didn't know how long they sat there before Corran and Lowie returned; the twins didn't even sense their fellow Jedi's return.

“Both of you, up on your feet now,” Corran commanded.

The siblings, despite themselves, obeyed without hesitation.

Corran looked directly at Jacen. “What the hell was that?”

“My outburst?” Jacen asked.

“Yes, your outburst, Jedi Solo. What was that?”

“I... I...”

“You what, Jedi Solo? You what?”

“I don't know what came over me, Master Horn.”

“You don't know what came over you, huh? Well, that's not a good answer, Jedi Solo! Your behavior out there was completely unacceptable and not becoming of a Jedi Knight at all!”

“I'm sorry, Master Horn, I-”

“I wasn't finished! You realize that your attitude could have cost us this alliance with the Chiss? Just because it didn't doesn't excuse your behavior! You were acting like a child out there, Jedi Solo! As if you were a ten-year-old apprentice again! Do I have to have you take us all the way back to Ossus so you can sit next to a bunch of actual children and learn how to control your emotions like they do? Because, believe me, I know some who look like emotionally-deprived monks next to you, and that's not a compliment to them!

“So what do you have to say for yourself, Jedi Solo?” When Jacen didn't answer for a few seconds, Corran asked, “Well?”

“I'm willing to temper my emotions in the future, Master Horn,” Jacen finally said.

“Willing and doing are two completely different things, Jedi Solo! So are you willing to temper your emotions in the future or will you temper your emotions in the future?”

“I will temper my emotions in the future, Master Horn,” Jacen said firmly.

“You're damn right, you will! Now I want you to get down on that deck and meditate.”

Jacen looked confused.

“You heard me, Jedi Solo! Get down and meditate! Center your emotions! Calm yourself! You want me to stop yelling at you, you want me to stop treating you like you're in the GA military and instead of the Jedi Order, you'll do as I say! On the floor, now! And don't come out of it until I tell you to!”

Jacen dropped himself to the deck as ordered, crossed his legs over each other, closed his eyes, and began to focus himself through the Force.

Corran looked back up to Jaina.

“Tell me, Jedi Solo, were you at all aware of what Captain Fel said to us while your brother was with Jedi Lowbacca and myself?”

“Yes, I was.”/

Corran sighed. “I was afraid of that. You join your brother now.”

“Yes, sir,” Jaina said before she dropped next to Jacen.

Corran then looked over to Lowie. “We'll tell them later.”

“Tell us what?” Jaina asked.

“Do I have to yell at you, too?” Corran asked.

Jaina said nothing as she shut her eyes.

“That's what I thought,” Corran muttered.

Chapter Text

As the Kazellis-class light freighter Decent Chance sailed through hyperspace for the Unknown Regions, Saba practiced her lightsaber technique in the ship's rec room. It was the only thing she knew to do to pass the time, as she couldn't find it within her restraint to meditate; not when Tesar was still out there, and not when, at any moment, he could be found by that Chiss task force that Master Skywalker had mentioned and be blown to atoms. 

And as much as she respected Corran Horn as a former CorSec officer and especially as a Jedi Master, Saba still highly doubted that even he could protect Tesar from death. And she also had a feeling that neither of the Solo twins nor Jedi Lowbacca would be of much help in saving Tesar, even if they cared about him.

Eventually, even through all of the anxiety that she felt for her son's fate, Saba found herself tiring. Yet she continued with her moves, honing her craft as a lightsaber combatant, and imagined herself striking down any and all who came in her way of saving Tesar. She saw them as Chiss soldiers, firing their alien charrics at her, and she easily batted their bolts aside and cut them down without a second thought.

Saba continued on like this for an indeterminate period of time until even she finally slipped up—or, rather, tripped up on her own tail.

She collapsed on her back, and hissed as her rear appendage took the brunt of the impact. She then rolled to her front and grabbed at her tail, massaging it as best she could to try to numb the pain there; her lightsaber had clattered away, deactivated, from her grip.

Seconds later, she realized that someone was watching her. Saba looked and found the Chance's captain, pilot, and only other occupant, a male yellow-skinned Zabrak known only as Plekos. He stood leaning along the threshold that led out of the rec room and into the corridor that ended with the cockpit. Plekos looked down at Saba with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed over his chest.

“I take it you're tired now?” he asked.

“Thiz one feels some fatigue,” Saba admitted as she picked herself up; she removed her hands from her tail. “Though thiz one did not think she would trip over what gave her extra balance. That haz not happened to thiz one since she waz a hatchling.”

“Well, maybe you should give yourself a rest before you hurt yourself.”

Saba used the Force to call her lightsaber back to her hand. She then looked between the weapon and Plekos for a moment before her gaze returned to the Zabrak and said, “Perhapz that iz wise.”

“I'm glad even a Jedi Master is willing to take advice from some of us more simple folk out here,” Plekos commented with a sly grin. “But speaking of Jedi, I hadn't thought to ask 'til now: are we expecting any trouble from your Order for, you know, coming out here?”

“Honestly? Thiz one suspectz that Mazter Skywalker will have dispatched at least one Jedi Mazter, perhapz a Knight or two, to come after me.”

Plekos nodded. “And that's on top of entering Chiss space.”

“That iz correct.”

“Hmm. You know, the Chiss aren't exactly the friendliest people in the galaxy; oh, they might not be the Yuuzhan Vong in their heyday, but they're not a civilization we wanna be messin' with. Now I know you're payin' me good money to bring you to the Unknown Regions, but I have to ask, why are we risking getting caught by the Chiss?”

“If you had been so worried about them, why did you take the job, Captain?”

“Not all of us can be so choosy out here; man's gotta eat, ya know. But now, more I think about it, I'm startin' to wonder if I'm gonna live past the week.”

“Thiz one hopes you are not reconsidering our deal, Captain Plekos.” Her tone carried an undercurrent of a threat.

The Zabrak held up his hands defensively. “Not at all, Master Sebatyne, not at all. I'm just wonderin' what we're doin' out here, is all.”

Saba was silent for a moment before she asked, “Tell me, Captain, do you have any children?”

“Can't say I have.” He chuckled. “Though with the number of women I've, shall we say, known throughout my years, I'm not quite so sure if-”

“We'll say no, then.”

“Yeah, that's a good answer,” Plekos agreed quickly.

“If that'z the case, you would not understand why thiz one is doing what she iz doing.”

“Oh, you're doin' this for a kid?”

“My son, Tesar.”

Plekos sighed. “Well, at least I know what I'm riskin' my neck out here for.” His brow lifted again. “Say, I just remembered. How far are we from that ship we're trackin'?”

Saba reached into one of the pockets of her robes and pulled out a small rectangular device, one that was different from her personal datapad. She pressed a button on it, and as a beeping emitted from it, she saw the readouts on the miniature computer's screen.

She looked back up at Plekos. “About two dayz away. We're still heading in the right direction.”

“Good to know. Just what exactly is this ship we're trackin', if you don't mind me askin'?”

“The ship belonging to a Jedi party looking for thiz one's son and hiz friends.”

Plekos looked confused. “If they're already looking for Tesar, why are you-”

“Why must you ask so many questionz, Captain?”

Plekos held up his hands defensively again. “Fine. Fine. I can see I've stepped over some boundaries. I'm willin' to go back to my side, proverbially speakin', that is. You just let me know when we get close to this ship, 'kay?”

“Thiz one will.”

The Zabrak nodded before he turned back and returned to the cockpit.

But when he returned to his seat, he couldn't help but grin; that Jedi Master had no idea what really tripped her up over her own tail...

. . . 

“Saba's comin' here?” Corran asked. He was seated by the Solo Quest's holocomm terminal across from the rec room's sofa.

The meter-high holographic representation of Luke Skywalker nodded. “I've already dispatched Master Durron and Jedi Wonetun to come after her. However, they're not quite sure where to start their search, as Master Durron made apparent to me before he and Jedi Wonetun left Ossus. Please inform Captain Jedak of this development; if Saba's presence in the Unknown Regions causes any disruption in the search for Tahiri, Alema, and Tesar, as well as the rest of the Dark Nest...”

“I understand, Master Skywalker. However, there is something you should know; we didn't meet with Captain Jedak.”

“Oh?”

“We met with Captain Jagged Fel instead.” Corran went on to explain Fel's reasoning for the duplicity on the Chiss' part in this arrangement.

“I see,” Luke said when Corran finished. “I'm not surprised that the Chiss had done this anyway, though I am admittedly perturbed by their behavior. Still, this shouldn't compromise relations between the Order and the Ascendancy.”

“I agree.”

“However, given Captain Fel's unexpected involvement in the matter, I have to ask: how has Jaina responded?”

Corran sighed. “She refused to meet with him. Moreover, she influenced Jacen through their twin bond to lash out at Fel; it was as tense as it was embarrassing.”

“Hmm. That is troubling. I assume that you intend to do something about this, Master Horn?”

“I've already tasked Jaina and Jacen to meditate. I ended their session and had them engage each other in a sparring session before you contacted me.”

“How did the meditation and sparring go?”

“The meditation went smoothly, all things considered. The sparring session, on the other hand...”

“What, did something happen?”

“No, nothing bad happened, Master Skywalker, both Jaina and Jacen are okay. It's just that... I could tell that Jaina's heart wasn't in it.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, quite frankly, Luke, she dueled her brother quite lazily. It was like watching a drugged bantha trying to wield a lightsaber.” Corran tilted his head in reconsideration of his words. “Well, perhaps that's just a slight exaggeration. My point is, Jaina wasn't a hundred percent in that duel.”

“Really? I'm surprised.”

“How so?”

“I would think that the rage that Jaina would have for Jagged Fel over what he did to Zekk would motivate some darker impulses in her. While I'm glad that's not the case, hearing that she's performing lethargically isn't encouraging, either.”

“What do you suggest, Master Skywalker?”

Luke pursed his lips. “This may sound like a bad idea, Corran, but... I think it would be wise if Jaina were to talk to Captain Fel. Privately.”

Corran's eyes widened. “Really, Master Skywalker?”

Luke nodded. “Again, I know how it sounds, but if what you're telling me is true, it sounds as if she'll have to confront him so they can get their differences out of the way. While I know that it is our duty as Jedi to put our feelings out of the way for the greater good of the galaxy, you have to understand, Corran, that Jaina isn't... well, she's not the model Jedi that she used to be. If she has to resolve at least some of her issues through methods that non-Force-users have to resort to, I have no problem endorsing them as long as they're conducive to her redemption as a Jedi.”

Corran's lips thinned. “I hope you're right, Master Skywalker.”

“I hope so, too, Corran. I hope so, too.” It was then that Luke's eyes widened, as if an idea just struck him. “I just realized something.”

“What is it, Master Skywalker?”

“Search the Solo Quest, inside and out. I think you might have an idea as to where Saba might be going.”

Corran's eyes widened again. “Do you think...?”

“Just make sure, Corran. Report back to me once you've checked for a tracking beacon on the Quest.”

“I will. May the Force be with you, Master Skywalker.”

“And to you, Master Horn.” Luke then signed off.

Corran stood up and turned to find Jaina standing at the threshold leading to the Quest's landing ramp.

“How long were you standing there?” Corran asked.

“Since you started the transmission,” Jaina admitted without inflection.

Corran raised an eyebrow. “You hid your presence well.”

Jaina nodded. “Thank you.” Her tone still didn't betray anything she felt; her Force-presence also felt muted. “Jacen taught me a little of what Vergere taught him. I thought I'd try it out.”

“I see,” Corran said warily.

“I apologize, Master Horn, if my eavesdropping was uncouth for a Jedi Knight.”

“That's okay,” Corran said, still wary. “I'll let it slide if you get to searching for a tracking beacon aboard this ship.”

“We could just ask Jacen to see if the Quest has a detection system and-”

“No, no,” Corran said firmly; whatever wariness he had previously was gone just like that. “While I understand that time can be of the essence, right now, I think it would be best if you went over the ship. And by yourself at that.”

Jaina said nothing for two seconds before she said, “Yes, Master Horn.” She turned and left without another word.

Corran then headed to the cockpit where Jacen was seated in meditation in the space between the pilot and copilot chairs. 

“Jacen,” Corran said.

The Knight's eyes opened and he looked up. “Yes, Master Horn?”

“Why didn't you tell me that you had taught Jaina how to conceal her presence in the Force?”

Jacen's brows furrowed in concern. “Is that a problem, Master Horn?”

“I think it is. Stand up.” After Jacen obeyed, Corran continued. “Now answer my question. Why?”

Jacen shrugged his shoulders innocently. “I didn't think it was a problem. While Jaina and I were meditating, she reached out to me and asked if I could teach her how to make herself small. So I did; and because of our twin bond, she was able to learn pretty quickly. Why are you so concerned about this, Master Horn?” Some impatience had crept into his tone.

“Well, for one thing, Jedi Solo, it interferes with my duty as the Jedi Master who's supervising your sister's performance, as well as the performances of you and Jedi Lowbacca, by extension. If I find myself unable to sense your sister's presence with even a passive sensing of the Force, I won't be able to so confidently judge her path to redemption for her use of the dark side and Jedi Zekk's death.

“And second of all, Jedi Solo, as your supervising Jedi Master, you are under obligation to inform me of whether or not you teach your sister of Jedi Lowbacca anything related to the Force. As much as I'm reluctant to echo Captain Fel's words, we need transparency among each other; that means trust. And this mission is as much about restoration of trust as it is redemption; you not telling me that you gave Jaina a new ability hinders that restoration of trust, Jacen. Do you understand me?”

“Very much, Master Horn,” Jacen replied patiently.  

After a moment of combing through Jacen's Force-presence, Corran replied tersely with, “Good. And you make sure you never use that ability to cloak your presence around me. And if you want to teach that to Jedi Lowbacca, or if he expresses any interest in learning it... you run it by me for approval first.”

Jacen looked confused. “You're not telling me not to teach Lowie this ability, Master Horn?”

Corran shook his head. “Jacen, I'm not mad that you taught Jaina the ability to cloak herself. I'm mad that you didn't consult me first. That's the only issue I have.”

“I see,. In that case, Master Horn, would it be acceptable if I taught Jedi Lowbacca the ability to cloak himself through the Force?”

“I could see that being a very useful ability for Jedi Lowbacca, especially if it can be used as an advantage in apprehending or otherwise neutralizing Jedi Veila, Rar, and Sebatyne. After another moment, he said, “Very well. You go on and inform Jedi Lowbacca about this.”

“Thank you, Master Horn.”

“And just like that, Jacen, you've earned back some of my trust.” Corran's smile faded slightly. “I only hope your sister can do so, too.”

A moment later, Corran turned when he felt Jaina's Force-presence approach the cockpit. 

When she appeared, she held up a circular device the size of her palm. “I found it. It was on the hull's underside. It's deactivated; we were being tracked.”

Corran held out his hand and Jaina gave him the tracker. He looked it over for a few seconds before he looked back up at the woman. “Jedi Solo, I believe you and I will have to meet with Captain Fel about this.”

Jaina didn't conceal her presence outright like before, but she did keep it guarded through the Force nonetheless. The same went for her physical expressions.

“Of course, Master Horn,” she replied with an accepting tone.

Chapter Text

After he explained the tracking device's discovery and the circumstances surrounding it, Corran laid the inert machine onto Fel's desktop. Seated behind his office desk, the captain spared the tracker a glance before he looked back up at the Jedi Master, who remained standing despite the two guest seats between him, with a neutral expression.

"Thank you for informing me about this, Master Horn," Fel said.

"You're welcome," Corran replied. "Now I insist we turn it back on."

Fel's scarred eyebrow raised in skepticism. "Why is that?"

"Since Master Sebatyne is being pursued by Master Durron and Jedi Wonetun, I believe that it would be conducive to their search if we allowed her to come directly to us."

"This isn't a concern of the CEDF. I do not see why we should compromise or delay our search for the Gorog holdouts just to allow one of your own to capture a rogue element of your Jedi Order, Master Horn."

"In case you forgot, Captain Fel, Master Sebatyne is looking for her son, who is part of Gorog, last we knew. Given what Master Skywalker told me about her intentions to save Jedi Sebatyne, she could very well compromise our goals of neutralizing the Dark Nest and the Knights with it. 

"To specify, she might very well attack us to defend her son, at the very least, and I cannot guarantee that she won't find a combat-capable vessel that can deal damage to your Star Destroyer. Master Sebatyne might not be able to destroy your ship, but she might be able to take out a few of your clawcraft, perhaps destroy some of your Destroyer's turbolasers. Maybe even destroy the Solo Quest with all hands aboard. It's possible she can do all that before she, too, is neutralized by your forces."

Fel's presence once more radiated irritation through his mask of stoic professionalism; he hated that Corran called back his stated concern of having all four Jedi in the task force relegated to one ship during a battle.

"So, then," the captain said, "you are suggesting that we allow her to come directly to us so that she can be... removed right away as a potentially intrusive element in our search."

"That is correct, Captain."

"Do you believe that she can be taken alive, Master Horn?"

"If it can be helped, yes."

"And if it cannot?"

Corran composed himself. "I will be ready to do what I have to do to stop her from doing anything rash. Same as the Knights who are still with Gorog."

Two seconds later, Fel pressed a button on the tracking device that reactivated it. "I will order a dropout from hyperspace. We will stay in whatever system we end up in until Master Sebatyne arrives. I will give her two days, and then we resume course for the first rumored Gorog holdout, regardless of whether or not your wayward Jedi Master arrives. Is that understood, Master Horn?"

"I suppose it will have to do, Captain Fel."

The younger man picked up the device. "Please return this to the Solo Quest, where it was originally found."

Corran looked confused. "Why would it matter? It would still lead back to your Destroyer, Captain."

"Regardless, I prefer it to be where it can be led away from my ship, Master Horn."

Realization quickly dawned on Corran. "Oh, I see. If the Quest has to take off from the Guardian, then the tracker won't lead directly back to your ship, Captain."

"Correct."

The Jedi Master nodded before he took the tracker from Fel's hand. He then looked over to his right and slightly behind him, where Jaina had been standing silently.

"You said you found this attached to the underside of the Quest's hull, Jedi Solo?" Corran asked.

"I did, Master Horn," Jaina answered.

"Then I can put it back there myself. You two should have a word with each other." He looked back at Fel. "Don't forget to order that hyperspace dropout, Captain."

"I'll do it right now," the captain replied. He brought up his commlink from his belt and activated it.

As Fel started speaking Cheunh into the device, Corran turned over to Jaina and said, "I trust you, just as your uncle trusts you. Don't let us down." He laid a hand on her shoulder for a few seconds before he turned and headed to the door.

Just as the Jedi Master left the office, Jag had finished speaking into the commlink and replaced it upon his belt.

And that left him and Jaina all alone. The two of them started at each other warily as they had on the day that he interrogated her for the whereabouts of the Colony's central hive; the silence that lasted for thirty seconds was deafening.

"So you don't want to sit down?" he finally asked her.

"I'm fine just where I am," she replied coldly.

"Fine then," he replied before he stood up. "So... how have you been?"

She bared her gritted teeth at him. "You have some nerve, you know that," she growled bitterly.

"If such a question offends you now, what doesn't offend you? I thought Jedi were supposed to master their emotions well beyond us mere mortals." Condescension dripped from his tone; already, his professional demeanor was stripped away to reveal a much more incorrigible character.

"You know exactly what I mean. You tortured Zekk to get me to betray the Colony and you think that we can just back to the way things were during the Vong War? How dare you!"

"Oh, c'mon, I didn't even torture him that much! It's not like he'll need years of therapy from that!"

Her eyes widened at that and she used the Force to slap him across his left cheek.

As he nursed the pain there with his respective hand, he looked back at her with a dark gleam in his eyes and asked, "If you thought that what we did to Zekk was bad, you should've seen what we would've-"

"You shut up! You don't get to talk about Zekk!"

"Why not? He's what this whole tension between us is all about, isn't he?"

"No! It's what you did to him that matters! You resorted to torture! And I don't care if it was just a few jolts of electricity or if you fried his nerves until you killed him..." She trailed off as tears formed in her eyes; she blinked them away before she continued with, "What you did was evil, Jag. Plain and simple."

"I did what I had to for-"

"Oh, yes, here it comes! 'I did what I had to for my government, for my honor, for my family, for whatever poodoo excuse I have to justify my evil actions!'"

"I'm not your brother, Jaina. I'm not interested in talking about philosophy and what's right and wrong. I'm here to talk about us."

"There is no us anymore, Jag! You destroyed that completely when you showed me that you were willing to resort to the worst that the Empire had to offer in its heyday! I'm sure Palpatine or Isard or Daala or even Thrawn would've been proud of you for doin' what you did!"

"Don't you compare me to them!"

"I can compare you to whoever I want, you sanctimonious fascist!"

"Fascist?! You're calling me a fascist!"

"Yes, I'm calling you a fascist, you kriffing autocratic, draconian tyrant! And if you think you can use your notions of pride or duty or honor or whatever to try to seduce me, you got another thing coming, you... you-"

"Me what? Oh, I'm sorry, did you run out of words for fascist? Well, then, I guess it's my turn, you filthy, bug-loving anarchist bitch! You talk about doing good for the galaxy, for the poor and downtrodden, when you were on the side of a pair of Sith who were using the Killiks to further their goals of galactic domination! Meanwhile, I'm the one who was on the side trying to stop that from happening!"

"You didn't even know that! The Killiks were just a bunch of enemies for you stave off or exterminate from encroaching on your precious Ascendancy! But even if you did know that, is that supposed to justify you resorting to torture, Jag?"

"Oh, Sithspawn! You're still going on about that? If you only knew some of the things we've done to outsiders who've crossed us-"

"Yeah, I'm sure that it was all justified for the sake of peace and security, huh?"

"We do what we have to, Jaina, to secure our way of life out here! Some if it may be ugly, and we might not like having to do it, but we do it anyway, because otherwise, we have none of the things that we take for granted, like food, water, shelter, and, of course, security."

"Yes, yes, please, go on. Tell me all about the benefits of a society that would produce someone like Thrawn."

"They're better than the benefits of a society that would produce someone like Darth Vader!"

At that, she used the Force to pin him to the wall behind him.

Immediately, two Chiss guards rushed into the office with their charrics raised at Jaina's back. But before either of them could fire, Jag shouted something in Cheunh at them, which prompted them to hesitantly lower their weapons so that they pointed at the deck.

Jag returned his attention back to the woman Force-pinning him to the wall. "Deflecting bolts from charrics with your lightsaber isn't as easy as deflecting regular blaster bolts, Jaina."

"You know I've done it before and I can do it again," she replied tersely.

"Perhaps. But even if you kill me and those two over there, and every other Chiss soldier aboard this ship, do you really think even you can take on Master Horn, Lowbacca, and your brother all on your own? Would you even be willing to do that? Face it, Jaina, you can't win here, just like you couldn't win when I had Zekk zapped on that table." A cruel grin crossed his face when he said that last part.

Jaina bared her teeth again. With her free hand, and without turning to face the guards behind her, she Force-pulled the charrics out of their hands before she unleashed an invisible wave that knocked them back to the wall behind them; they fell unconscious almost instantly.

And with them out of the way, she initiated a Force-choke on Jag.

As she allowed him free rein of his arms so that he could vainly grasp at the pressure at his windpipe, she said, "That'll be the last time you say Zekk's name. Or anything, for that matter."

Five seconds of Jag gasping for air later, Corran hurried into the office.

"jaina, stand down now!" he ordered.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Make me."

"Jaina, don't force me to do this," he intoned.

She paid him no more mind before she looked back at Jag; she relieved some of the pressure on his throat, only to apply it again once he had a lungful of air.

She wanted to make this last, Corran felt with horror.

Without saying a word, he activated his silver-bladed lightsaber and moved to strike at her left leg.

Immediately, she swiveled around, dropped her Force-choke on Jag as she did so, and blocked Corran's strike on her leg with her own 'saber.

And with that, they began their duel.

The first two minutes were all about them warily testing each other as they traded jabs and thrusts that didn't score any hits on either side. While they had sparred before and knew what the other was capable of, they also knew that their respective opponent wouldn't necessarily resort to the same tactics as before. By the end of those two minutes, the clashing of their blades became an intense constancy that lasted for only one.

When that minute ended, Jaina got past Corran's defenses and scored a hit somewhere within his robes.

However, instead of it being a crippling or fatal blow, it barely singed his skin even as something from his person sparked. He backed away a couple of feet as he used his free hand to throw whatever was sparking.

Jaina didn't even have to spare a glance to know that she had just destroyed the tracker that was intended to be used to lure Saba to this ship; she just closed the gap between herself and Corran and they continued to clash.

As she and the Jedi Master stood their ground, Jaina remembered the advice that her opponent had given her back when they were still on good terms and mixed up her forms. Indeed, as she did this, Corran appeared to be taken aback, as if he had forgotten that he had given her this strategy in the first place. And it didn't seem as if the two Chiss guards, who had awakened at some point during the duel and reclaimed their charrics, had any interest in helping him take her down; she wouldn't be surprised if Jag had recovered from the Force-choke and waved them down from doing anything.

She also wouldn't be surprised if that rat bastard wanted to see how this would play out, if only to see how much it would amuse him.

As the minutes dragged on, Jaina allowed herself to believe that she could actually best a Jedi Master like Corran Horn as his defensive moves seemed to get more desperate and hurried.

But, eventually, she realized too late that it was a ruse.

Because, by the end, when he had dropped into a crouching stance, right when Jaina started to feel worn out, Corran activated his lightsaber's second phase. Instantly, the blade's length extended by several centimeters and changed its color to purple as he raised it slightly.

Thus, when Jaina lifted her left leg so that the lightsaber couldn't strike her, it wasn't enough; Corran's extended blade caught her right above the kneecap. The Jedi Master then pivoted out of the way as he pulled his weapon out and retracted it back to its shorter length just as his opponent collapsed in pain to the deck. She seethed in agony as she held both hands over her cauterized wound; her deactivated lightsaber clattered away from her grasp.

That was when Jacen and Lowie rushed into Jag's office with their own 'sabers blazing. They stopped when they surveyed the room, and at a gesture from Corran, they deactivated their weapons and warily placed them back upon their belts.

The Jedi Master looked over at Jag, who stood behind the desk again. "Would it be acceptable if Jaina used one of your medbays before we place her into a brig, Captain Fel?"

"Only if you and those two Knights over there are present, Master Horn."

"We will be."

Jag then said something in Cheunh to the two Chiss guards, who levelled their charrics down upon Jaina. The captain brought up his commlink again and spoke to someone, presumably to have a pair of medics come to his office and pick up the wounded Jedi.

Jaina first looked up at the disappointed Corran, then over at the concerned Jacen and Lowie. She groaned as she looked over to Jag, who had placed the commlink back to his belt; he stared back down at her blankly, as if nothing had come between them.

She said, "Did you even know-"

"Jedi Solo, you will remain silent," Corran interrupted.

She reluctantly complied.

Then it was Jacen who asked Jag, "Did you even know Zekk is dead?"

Corran looked over at the male Solo twin before he turned back to the captain.

Jag's eyes widened in surprise. "No, I was unaware of that." However, his expression became blank again when he returned his gaze back down to Jaina. But that doesn't change what happened here." 

Chapter Text

After Corran explained everything to the holographic representation of Luke about the events that led him to stab Jaina in the leg, he went on to tell him that was now in one of the Guardian's medbays. Even lying on a cot recovering, she was bound by the Force-restricting stuncuffs that had been previously used on her when she had first been captured for trying to save Lowbacca. Corran was told by the ship's doctor that Jaina would be good to be placed in one of the Guardian's brigs the very next day.

When Corran finished his report, Luke sighed. "This is my fault. I was the one who suggested that Jaina confront Jag about their differences. And now she's being held prisoner because I overestimated her ability to control her emotions."

"Master Skywalker, we both know that the blame falls squarely on Jaina's shoulders. She made her choice, and now she has to pay for it, I'm sorry to say."

Luke looked slightly aghast. "I understand, Corran," he replied in a surprisingly measured tone. "But what I'm concerned is... what do I tell Han and Leia?"

Corran sighed this time. "Tell them exactly what they need to know is all I can offer."

"That isn't very helpful," Luke said with an uncharacteristically annoyed tone.

"I know," Corran replied morosely.

"Do you know what her punishment is going to be, Corran?"

He shook his head. "Fel didn't say yet. He just told me that he had a lot to think about before he made a decision. Jaina did, after all, assault him and two of his officers. I don't think we can negotiate any release for her. She broke one of their laws and has to be held accountable. Even with her being your niece, Luke, I don't think we can-"

"Master Horn," Jacen cut in as he ran into the Solo Quest's rec room from the cockpit with Lowie right behind him. Once the two Knights stopped, the human continued with, "Captain Fel's trying to contact us. He's out on the hangar deck waving us down. He has his usual guards with him." His tone was completely neutral just as his Force-presence was guarded but still detectable.

Corran looked back at Luke. "Is it alright if we continue this discussion later, Master Skywalker?"

Luke nodded. "May the Force be with you, Master Horn."

"And with you, Master Skywalker."

Luke shut off the transmission before Corran stood up and headed to the Quest's landing ramp with Jacen and Lowie in tow.

When the three of them met Fel and his guards, none of the Jedi said anything; they let the captain speak first.

"I've decided not to press charges," he stated.

Corran raised an eyebrow before he crossed his arms over his chest. "Please explain, Captain."

"After considering the events that led to Jedi Solo assaulting me, I've decided that, although she was clearly in the wrong for doing what she did, she should not be held accountable beyond two days in the brig. You see, Master Horn, I've considered my own accountability over what transpired in my office and concluded that Jaina wasn't solely to blame for what happened."

"Oh?" Corran asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"I'm ashamed to admit it," Fel started with a notable contradictory lack in his tone, "but I failed to consider what would have happened when I decided to provoke an emotionally unstable Jedi. Really, when I think about it, it was my fault. Oh, yes, I had my security, but clearly, they weren't enough, and that wasn't their fault. After all, for all her faults, combat experience isn't one of them, Master Horn."

"So let me get this straight, Captain Fel. You're letting Jaina go because you're attributing what she did to you as ineptitude on your part?"

"I wouldn't say ineptitude precisely. More like a... tactical oversight."

"I see," Corran said as he tried to discern why Fel was going so easy on Jaina. When he looked over at the captain's guards, he saw that they bore subtle giveaways that they, too, thought that their leader's forgiveness toward his attacker was confusing.

A probe into Fel's Force-presence, however, gave Corran something interesting. Mixed in with the desire to deescalate the situation was another, deeper desire...

"So, to reiterate," Fel unwittingly cut in, "on the day after tomorrow, Jaina will be released back into your custody, Master Horn. However, if she is to wander my ship for any reason in a non-emergency situation, she will need your permission combined with my approval. Is that understood?"

"Yes, it is, Captain."

"Good. Then you can tell Master Skywalker that he won't have to worry about his niece rotting in a prison cell on a Chiss penal colony for the rest of her life." Fel held up a hand. "And don't you worry either, Master Horn. I wasn't having your communications monitored, though I would be well within my rights to do so. I just assumed you would have been informing Jaina's uncle about what had happened."

"Your assumption was correct, Captain," Corran replied evenly. "Will that be all?"

"Just one more thing."

"Yes?"

"How did Jedi Zekk die?"

Corran looked confused. "Why is that relevant?"

"It's not. I was just curious. While I was made aware of Lomi Plo and Welk's deaths given how relevant they were to the Ascendancy, I was surprised to learn about Zekk's demise. Not that you have to answer my question about the circumstances surrounding it, but if you would be so kind, Master Horn?" His tone was lenient, as if he would accept not knowing; Corran sensed it in his presence, too.

"He did, in an accident," the Jedi Master answered.

Fel raised his scarred eyebrow. "What kind?"

"The kind that I don't have to elaborate, Captain."

"Ah. I see. Well, then. I will return to my duties. Good day to you, Master Horn." He looked over at Jacen for two seconds and Lowbacca for only one before he turned to leave the hangar with his guards.

When the three Jedi boarded the Quest again a minute later, they stood in a loose circle in the rec room.

"Tell me, Jacen," Corran said, "what did you sense from Fel when he explained why he wasn't pressing charges on Jaina?"

"Permission to speak freely, Master Horn?"

"Well, not that this is the military, but permission granted, anyway."

"Fel still thinks he can get back into my sister's pants."

Both of Corran's brows lifted at that. "I wouldn't have quite phrased it like that." He shrugged. "But then, I did tell you to speak freely."

Lowie offered an offended roar. "I sensed Fel's intentions, too," he said in Shryiiwook. "The nerve of that man!"

"I agree, Jedi Lowbacca," Corran said. "Nonetheless, calm yourself."

The Wookiee bowed his head obeisantly. "Of course, Master Horn. My apologies."

Corran turned back to the other human. "Now, Jacen, was there anything else that you sensed in Fel?"

He shook his head. "That's just about it, Master Horn. Fel still thinks he has a chance with her. He's an idiot if he really thinks that's the case."

"I can't say I disagree. But I'll say this: as long as he is willing to give her up, regardless of his motivations, we should take advantage of that. However, when she is freed, she could still pose a danger, namely to Fel and, by extension, everyone under his command aboard this Star Destroyer. So, as he made quite clear, unless it's an emergency of if it's by my permission and his approval, Jaina is not to be let off the Quest."

"That doesn't sound any different from the original arrangement."

"Well, the difference here, Lowbacca," Corran said, "is that this time, Jaina's not going to be left alone with Fel. Clearly, allowing her to talk to him, in private at least, is out of the question. She's going to be escorted by at least one of us even if she's not going to see him."

"That does leave one question, though," Jacen piped in.

"And that is?"

"if Jaina really can't control herself around Fel, what does that mean for her path to redemption?"

Corran sighed. "You got me there, Jacen."

. . .

With nothing else to do as her right wrist was stuncuffed to the frame of the medbay bed upon which she laid, Jaina idly wondered how exactly these Force-restricting 'cuffs worked. She doubted that the Chiss got any access to ysalamiri; Myrkr was way outside their territory, and after the Yuuzhan Vong conquered it, ysalamiri had become an endangered spiecies. So the Ascendancy getting their hands on even one ysalamir was highly unlikely. Maybe these 'cuffs simply reached into a part of a Force-user's mind and just blocked it?

In any case, she doubted that she would get any answers from the Guardian's medbay doctor. The middle-aged Chiss woman sat at her desk as she went through something on her datapad, and every now and then, she would look to see if Jaina had somehow been able to escape from her position. The human thought that if she were to attempt to engage in so much as a polite chat with the Chiss, the latter would sedate her on principle; and as much as Jaina would love to pass the time through sleep, the more dominant part of her was more interested in being awake for whatever came next, whenever it came, good or bad (though it was much more likely to be the latter). 

After a few boring hours in the medbay, Jag finally walked into the room.

Jaina scowled at him while he returned her glare with the same stoicism that he used whenever he spoke to Corran.

He looked over at the doctor and said something in Cheunh. She replied as she nodded at Jaina; his response prompted her to nod at him before she stepped up from her seat and walked out the door.

Once again, the two humans were alone.

"What do you want?" she growled.

"I came to ask how Zekk died," he answered evenly.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "How dare you?! You don't get to ask that, you kriffin' scumbag! Now get outta here or I'll-"

"You'll what? You couldn't break outta those 'cuffs if you tried!"

She gritted her teeth. "So you won't leave until I answer?"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Answer and I'll leave. And answer honestly, please. I can find out later if you're lying. And things won't be so pleasant for you when that time comes."

"If Master Horn finds out-"

"Master Horn knows only what I want him to know. And I doubt that even your twin bond with your brother can help you here. Without the Force, I imagine it's like having a part of you cut off. I recall that you said something like that at least once when you thought that he was dead during the Vong War."

She couldn't help but chuckle bitterly. "If this is your idea of trying to rekindle our relationship-"

"it's not. I just want a simple answer to my simple question. How did Zekk die?"

"You would love to know, wouldn't you? Because it would make you sleep so much better imagining how the only other man who ever had a chance with me met his end, huh?"

Now he chuckled bitterly. "If he had such a chance with you, how come the two of you didn't hook up sooner? I knew you for much less time that him, and I got to you pretty easily, all things considered."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut the kriff up!"

"I'm not leaving until you answer me, Jaina! Now Horn already told me that Zekk died in an accident. So, tell me, what was the accident? Was he run over by a speeder? Did a giant rock fall from a mountain and crush him to death, reducing him to a bloody pulp on the face of Yoggoy? Did he choke to death on some bug-"

"I killed him, okay!"

Silence dominated the room for about fifteen seconds before he asked flatly, "Why?"

"Because he tried to stop me from using the dark side of the Force before I killed Plo and Welk!" Tears formed in her eyes. "He tried to blow me away to stop me, but I countered and sent him flying into a stalagmite! He was impaled and I held him in my arms as he died, right after I accomplished what I set out to do! So are you happy now?! Huh? HUH?!"

She looked away as she began to sob; he looked at her with more confusion than contempt or anything else.

He walked up to her but stayed just out of reach when she tried to swipe at him with her free hand; her crying didn't abate.

"Tell me this," he started while she sniffled, "if Zekk had succeeded, wouldn't Gorog have won? Was his desire to make sure your soul wasn't corrupted or anything like that really worth the loss that the galaxy would have had to face?"

"Kriff you! You know nothing of the Force!"

"I know what I need to know of it. And I can tell a coward from anywhere."

"Zekk was a braver man than you'll ever be!"

Jag looked like he wanted to sneer, but he held it back. Instead, he stood back up to his full height, turned, and left the medbay. 

Half a minute of crying later, the Chiss doctor reentered and resumed her position; she didn't seem to take any note of Jaina's sobs.

. . .

Hlest was an arid desert world that, on the surface, was not unlike Tatooine. But aside from the fact that this world orbited a single star instead of a binary, Hlest had none of the charm or beauty that Tahiri had come to appreciate growing up as an adopted child among the Tusken Raiders. For one thing, there were a surprising number of oases that dotted this planet, and the towns that cropped up around these water holes were much more numerous than the ones on Tatooine. Scarcely could one walk a few kilometers around this planet without running into one of these towns just on accident.

Tatooine challenged one to survive in its wastes; Hlest, by contrast, could be changed into a casino world if its clientele were of a higher class than they were. As it was, even the people who could be considered impoverished on this planet could still scrounge enough money just to get a bottle of water, as there was a startling amount of charitable people here. 

After a few hours here, Tahiri and the rest of Gorog determined that Hlest didn't have any centers for scum and villainy that a town like Mos Eisley was known for. It was shocking that a planet like this could exist in the Unknown Regions, and far from the Chiss borders, too. 

Nevertheless, the Dark Nest wasn't one to look a gift-horse in the mouth; but it did gave Tahiri a mild migraine for her individual reminiscing about her childhood on Tatooine. Now wasn't the time to dwell on what had been in the lives of any one of its members; they could do that when the Chiss, the Jedi, and their allies were all crushed. 

Tahiri found herself agreeing without reluctance; if she agreed with reluctance, Gorog would only apply more pressure into her mind. So she had agreed with the hive-mind's will; Tatooine had been another life anyway, and one that had been so limiting compared to what she had now. What good was freedom if those around you couldn't share your thoughts?

In one of the towns, which Gorog didn't bother to learn the name of, there was a spaceport with some well-stocked ships that were just ripe for the taking. While Alema and Tesar were off looking at some vessels, as if they were browsing for some useless trinkets in a shopping mall, Tahiri had already found one: a Barloz-class medium freighter. Yes, she and Gorog thought; this would be another good vessel for the Dark Nest to use for breeding.

But Tahiri stopped looking at the Barloz when she suddenly felt a familiar presence behind her. She turned around and her heart froze.

Jacen stood there; he looked back at her with a pitying yet judgmental look.

Then, all of a sudden, he just vanished like a puff of wind.

“Hey!” a deep, masculine voice called off to her right.

She turned and found a rotund, light-skinned human man with a thick black moustache approaching her; he didn't look happy.

“What are ya doin' near my ship, girl?” he asked as he neared her. “She ain't for sale, if that's whatcha thinkin'.”

Tahiri raised an eyebrow in feigned ignorance. “I wasn't looking at your ship.” Indeed, she had been looking in the opposite direction, so she wasn't really lying.

“I didn't say looking, I said near it. Plus, I saw you lookin' at it before you looked at whatever else you were lookin' at. So if you thinkin' about tryin' somethin'...” He trailed off as he bared his right hip at her, which had a handblaster in its holster. “I think you best be movin' on.”

Well, at least I'm not dealing with a pervert this time, she thought.

We! We are not dealing with a pervert this time! What one deals with, we all deal with!

That statement from the rest of Gorog gave Tahiri more than a mild migraine. She shut her eyes to try to deal with it as she placed a hand at her temple.

“Oh, no, you're tryin' somethin', I can tell,” the Barloz owner said. “This is your last chance, so don't you-”

He was cut off from saying anything else when the sound of a lightsaber ignited at the same time that it cut through something.

Tahiri opened her eyes and saw the man skewered on a blue-bladed saber from behind; she looked and found Alema standing there.

The Twi'lek then cut her lightsaber out through the man's body, which nearly took his head off, before she said, “Let's go.”  

Chapter Text

Two days after they lost the signal, the Decent Chance came out of hyperspace at their intended destination: a system with several uninhabitable worlds with a blue dwarf star hundreds of millions of kilometers from where the freighter dropped out. 

Plekos' eyes widened in disbelief over what he saw through his cockpit's viewport. 

“Uh,” he said to the Barabel sitting in the copilot seat, “are you sure this is where that ship-”

“Yes, it iz,” Saba interrupted. “I can feel the Jedi we were tracking aboard that Star Destroyer. They have been expecting us.”

Two seconds later, the comm console pinged and Plekos answered.

“Identify yourself and state your intentions in this system,” the strict-sounding man on the other end said.

“This is Captain Plekos of the Decent Chance,” the Zabrak replied. “I'm escorting Jedi Master Saba Sebatyne to a ship that we had been tracking for several days now.”

“That ship wouldn't happen to be the Solo Quest, now would it, Captain?” another strict-sounding man on the other end asked.

Saba was the one to reply in an even tone. “Yes, it iz, Captain Fel.” Plekos looked slightly taken aback that the Barabel just replied like that without his permission, but he waved it off.

“In that case,” Fel said, “you're cleared to dock in our port hangar. Master Horn is very interested in speaking to you, Master Sebatyne.”

A few minutes later, the Chance had boarded the Destroyer, with Captain Jagged Fel, six Chiss guards, Corran Horn, Jacen Solo, and Lowbacca all waiting on the hangar bay's deck.

Plekos stepped off his ship first with his hands raised in the air; it was a good precaution, Saba thought as she followed the Zabrak, considering the fact that all of the Chiss guards had their charrics trained on him.

When Fel waved the guards down, Plekos took that as a sign to adopt a more relaxed posture as he stepped off the landing ramp and onto the Destroyer's deck. 

“Welcome aboard the Guardian, Captain Plekos,” the Chiss-dressed human said. “I'm Captain Fel.”

Plekos nodded. “Thank you, Captain. Though I don't expect I'll be staying long, seeing as how I've held up my end of the deal that I've made with Master Sebatyne.”

By that point, Saba stepped upon the deck behind him, and she was looking at a stern-faced Corran.

“Master Sebatyne?” Plekos asked.

“Yes, yes,” Saba said as she turned her attention to the Zabrak. “Since you've already been paid, Captain, you are free to go.”

Plekos cleared his throat as he looked over to Fel. “Actually, that might be a problem that I'm hoping you can help me out with, Captain Fel.”

“And what would that be, Captain Plekos?” Fel asked patiently.

The Zabrak cleared his throat again. “Well, would you... be willing to... have my ship refueled? I burned a lot of-”

“Of course, we'll have that done immediately so you can be on your way as soon as possible,” Fel interrupted. He brought up his commlink and began uttering something in Cheunh into it.

When Fel was done, Corran looked over to him and said, “Captain, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with Master Sebatyne over in the Quest.”

“That won't be a problem,” Fel responded. He looked over to the Barabel. “Welcome aboard, Master Sebatyne.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Saba replied before she joined the three Jedi, who led her toward the YT-2400.

When the four of them were in the Quest's rec room, Corran first had Jacen and Lowie return to the cockpit. After that, it was just him and Saba, and he was the first to speak.

“What the hell are you doing out here, Saba?”

“You know why, Corran,” she replied stoically.

“Yes, I know why! That was a rhetorical question! But what I really wanna know is what makes you think you can act against Master Skywalker's orders to stay on Ossus until further notice?”

“If it were Valin or Jysella-”

“No, no, no, don't you dare put that on me.”

“You would do the same!”

“Maybe I would! Maybe I would! But that's not the point here!”

“Then what iz the point, Corran? Be a good little blind follower of Luke Skywalker's rulez and regulationz?”

“Saba, the reason Luke forbade you to come on this mission was because of the likelihood of emotional compromise because of Tesar being involved in this whole thing.”

“So that I wouldn't stop you if you had to kill him?!”

Corran went silent at that.

“That'z what I thought.”

Corran sighed. “Look, Saba, I got Fel to agree that we should stay here for a bit more time to let Kyp and Wonetun come pick you up. So if you'd just take a seat-”

“No! You'll have Fel take uz to wherever Tesar iz thiz instant!”

“We don't even know where he and the others are! And even if we did, Luke made it explicit that you're not to get anywhere near Tesar!”

“Um, Master Horn?” Jacen asked from the cockpit.

“What is it, Jacen?” Corran asked, not looking away from the rebellious Saba.

“Fel's waving us down again!” Jacen answered.

“Got it! Jacen, you and Lowbacca keep an eye on Master Sebatyne. I'll talk to Fel myself.” He then said to Saba, “This isn't over.”

Once Corran was back on the hangar bay deck and standing in front of Fel, he asked, “What is it?”

“We just got a report from the planet Hlest,” Fel answered. “Apparently, a human, Twi'lek, and Barabel all matching the description of the missing Gorog Jedi were spotted stealing a ship. We're tasked to investigate it as soon as possible, which means we have to leave within the next hour. We can't afford to wait for Master Durron and Jedi Wonetun to arrive.”

Corran's eyes widened. “But we have to wait for Master Durron and Jedi Wonetun to-”

“I understand, Master Horn, but I can't countermand these orders.”

“Did you even tell your superiors-”

“About the circumstances surrounding Master Sebatyne's unexpected involvement here? I did; I even told them about your request to wait for Master Durron and Jedi Wonetun. My superiors said that there are limits to how far they're willing to tolerate the Jedi presence within our territory, even with all of your cooperation. Now it's a day's travel to Hlest from here and-”

“What am I supposed to do here, Fel?” Corran asked, dropping all pretense of civility. “Just let Saba in on this op? Master Skywalker's gonna have my hide!”

“That's not my concern, Horn,” Fel replied with a raised voice. “And besides, I'm sure whatever punishment Skywalker has for you would be nothing compared to what my superiors would have in store for me if I don't carry out their orders as soon as possible. Is that understood?”

When Corran said nothing after a few seconds, Fel asked with more emphasis, “Is that understood?”

Corran sighed. “Yes, it is, Captain.”

“Good. Now I'll give you the time that it'll take to have Captain Plekos' ship refueled to inform Master Skywalker that you'll be taking Master Sebatyne with you; after that, we launch for Hlest.”

“Fine,” Corran replied bitterly.

Fel nodded before he turned and headed toward one of the hangar bay's exits.

“Just one more thing, Captain,” Corran called out.

Fel stopped in his tracks and turned to regard the Jedi Master. “Yes?” he asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

“When will Jaina be released today?”

Fel looked at his wrist chrono. “In another hour, she'll be released into your custody. You can see her then.”

“Thank you,” Corran said politely.

“Anything else?”

“No, that'll be all, Captain.”

When Corran returned to the Quest's rec room to find that Jacen and Lowie were still guarding Saba and nothing appeared to have happened between the three of them, he said to the Barabel, “Well, looks like there's some good news for you, Saba. I'll let you listen in on the conversation I'm about to have with Master Skywalker.”

. . . 

As Plekos waited for the Decent Chance to be refueled before he set off, Fel was gracious enough to allow him to visit the Guardian's galley. Though the food there was unfamiliar to him, it was more than tolerable for Plekos' digestive tract, and none of the off-duty soldiers there paid him much more mind than a few curious glances; some of them were also suspicious, if not outright prejudiced, but again, they all left him alone as he dined over at a secluded spot that he had chosen.

When he was finished with his food, Plekos asked one of the soldiers, hoping they would understand Basic, where the nearest refresher was. The troop he asked simply pointed in a direction that denoted two rooms, side-by-side, that were marked by gender differences. The Zabrak, naturally, headed into the one marked for males.

Once he was inside, he headed into one of the empty stalls; after he closed it, he lifted up one sleeve and bit down upon his bare arm. When he withdrew it, some blood leaked out.

Then, with the Force, he flung a decently-sized stream of his plasma up into the air vent above him.

When he came out of the refresher a few minutes later with a bacta patch on his arm, which was also covered over by his sleeve, he headed back to the hangar bay where the Chance was docked. The quartermaster there told him that his ship was refueled and ready to go; Plekos thanked him and was flying out of the Guardian's bay a few minutes later.

Only after he had launched for hyperspace did the Zabrak reach out through the Force to feel that the blood-trail that he had left aboard that Destroyer was as functional as any mechanical tracking beacon.

. . . 

When Corran had finished explaining the situation that had developed with Saba and the Guardian's course for Hlest, Luke's holographic representation asked, “Master Horn, is Master Sebatyne in the room with you?”

Saba made her visage apparent as she stepped next to Corran. “I am here, Mazter Skywalker.”

“Hello, Saba,” Luke said with a stern tone. “Chief Hefto didn't much care for being knocked unconscious when you escaped the Temple.”

“So she iz alright, Master Skywalker?”

Luke nodded. “She is. But that doesn't give you the right-”

“I don't have to listen to thiz. Send Kyp and Wonetun back to Ossus unless you want them to help me. Becauze I will not stop looking for my son.”

Luke sighed. “Very well. Will you please step off the Solo Quest, Master Sebatyne?”

“I am willing to do that much, Mazter Skywalker,” Saba answered before she left the rec room.

When Corran felt Saba's presence leave the ship, he told Luke, “She's gone.”

“Alright, Corran, now listen to me. I don't want anything rash to happen aboard the Guardian; Saba will remain free until you reach Hlest. She may assist in the investigation, if only just to make sure she doesn't ruin any leads as to the missing Knights' whereabouts. But after your party either finds something that will lead you to the Knights, or even if you come to a dead end there, you and the Jedi under your command are to apprehend Saba and keep her on the planet, even if that means that the Guardian will depart without you. You will remain there until Kyp and Wonetun arrive to take her in; I'll let them know where to find you.”

“What if we have to kill her, Luke?”

Luke sighed. “If it comes to that... I only hope you can do your best to see that that doesn't happen, Master Horn.”

. . . 

Corran slammed both hands on top of Fel's desktop and shouted, “You threatened her with torture?!”

The Chiss-raised human looked up at the Jedi Master with an unimpressed expression on his face. “Yes, I did,” he stated simply.

Corran looked even more shocked than before. “Wow, you even admit it?! You know, it's one thing to use that as a tactic during war, as disgusting as it might be. But to use it just to find out an answer that has nothing to-”

“I wasn't actually going to do it, Horn. Do you really think I would be stupid enough to actually make good with that kind of threat with a prisoner that I was going to have released within two days?”

“A threat is still a threat, whether it's empty or intended to be fulfilled, Fel,” Corran said as he leered over the man.

“So what do you intend to do about it, Master Horn?” Fel's tone was completely flat, as if he were a bemused teacher tolerating a child's pointless tantrum.

Corran's eyes widened as he suddenly felt deflated. Given that Fel didn't do anything more egregious to Jaina aside from merely intimating that he would torture her, Corran knew that that wasn't grounds enough to break off this alliance for the hunt for Alema, Tahiri, Tesar, and the rest of the Dark Nest.

“That's what I thought,” Fel said; Corran could feel him holding back a petty smirk.

When he returned to the Solo Quest and met Jaina in the rec room, he explained his brief conversation with Fel.

“No grounds?!” Jaina exclaimed when Corran finished. “No grounds to have him held accountable?”

“When this is over, Jaina, I can speak to Fel about how he conducted himself and-”

“And do what exactly? Make him apologize? In case I didn't make it clear to you, Master Horn, it wasn't just that he threatened me with torture!”

“Jedi Solo, you will calm down!”

“No, I will not! Jagged Fel manipulated me emotionally; not just in his office, but also in the medbay. He used my grief to his advantage like the sociopath he is! I shouldn't have to put up with that!”

“Oh, you shouldn't, huh? So, what? Am I supposed to just march back into his office, decapitate him with my lightsaber, ruin this whole alliance, and cause an intergovernmental crisis between the Jedi Order and the Chiss Ascendancy? And all because he hurt your feelings?”

“Are you saying that my grief for Zekk doesn't matter?” Jaina asked with a growl.

Corran was about to backpedal and say something along the lines of, “Of course it does, but...” However, he said, “In this case, no, it doesn't.”

Shock washed over Jaina's expression.

“Now, Jedi Solo, you've already disappointed me more than enough with how you've conducted yourself around Fel. But in spite of that, I still expect you to conduct yourself by staying put on this ship until I say otherwise. Is that clear?”

Jaina bared her teeth. “Oh, it's clear, alright!”

“Don't you use that tone on me! Now go to your quarters and stay there until I summon you!”

“Sure, Dad,” she said sarcastically. In spite of that, she still did as he commanded.

Only after she was gone did Corran place his right forefinger and thumb upon the bridge of his nose in frustration. When he heard a chuckle coming from the threshold of Saba's quarters, he looked over to find the Barabel looking over at him as if he were acting like a child instead of Jaina.

“And what precisely are you laughing at?” Corran asked bitterly.

“How you can have so much control of a situation,” Saba said, “yet somehow have zo little of it at the same time.”

Chapter Text

When the Guardian dropped out into the Hlest system, Jacen was notified via the Solo Quest's comm from one of the Star Destroyer's comm officers that they had arrived. After acknowledging the notification, he had his ship up and rocketing out of the Destroyer's hangar bay on a course for the planet. On the way there, the Guardian fed the YT-2400 the coordinates for the spaceport where Alema had killed a captain by the name of Simmonus Blebb before she, Tahiri, and Tesar stole his Barloz-class freighter, the Heavyload. On the way down, they were escorted by a Chiss shuttle that contained ten troops, two for each Jedi coming along on this mission. It helped, too, that each troop also had a background as a field investigator, so the Jedi knew they didn't just have grunts on their side who would just get in the way or otherwise not contribute anything beyond being extra muscle.

In the copilot seat, as Jacen had his concentration on piloting, Corran told him, “Now we'll investigate the scene for ourselves first, see what the local police got. After that, we apprehend Master Sebatyne. Is that understood, Jedi Solo?” The threshold leading into the cockpit had been closed off by a privacy door, so neither Corran nor Jacen had much fear that they would be eavesdropped by Saba.

“Yes, it is, Master Horn,” Jacen said without taking his sight away from the view ahead.

“You don't have a problem with that, do you, Jacen?”

“I don't. Master Sebatyne disobeyed orders from Master Skywalker, and she should reprimanded for her actions, just like like Lowie, Jaina, and me.”

“Alright. Good to hear. Now tell me, how is your sister feeling?”

“Very bitter. She didn't take kindly to you not considering her feelings when it came to Fel using her emotions to get her answer about what happened to Zekk.”

“Tell me honestly, Jacen. Do you think I made a mistake there?”

“Honestly? Yes.” Jacen still didn't take his eyes off the viewport.

“Do you think Jaina will be compromised when we take Saba in?”

“In spite of what you said, I don't think so. She seems keen on getting everything out here over with so she can go back to Ossus and grieve properly over Zekk. So she'll do what you ask when we take Saba in.”

“That's reassuring... at least somewhat.”

They said nothing more to each other as they made the rest of the way down to Hlest. 

. . . 

Because it had been the day after the murder that Alema committed in the spaceport, the Quest and its escort shuttle had to be diverted to a different spaceport a few kilometers away. From there, the Chiss squad commander had rented four speeders from the Altiri clerk.

Corran, Jaina, Saba, and one of the troops took one; Jacen, Lowie, and two troops took one with Jacen at the helm; and the rest of the Chiss soldiers took the other two. All four speeders rode toward the spaceport that was their destination.

When they arrived, it took several minutes to make it past the local police; they were, naturally, hesitant to allow the Chiss and Jedi to enter a property that was well outside either of their jurisdictions. But after some peaceful negotiation from Corran, combined with some light mind-tricks, the cops allowed them to pass inside, albeit reluctantly.

As the troops spread throughout the spaceport to see if there was anything that the police would have missed, the five Jedi approached the site that was marked as the spot where the Heavyload's theft and her owner's murder occurred.

“May all of you please give me some room?” Jacen asked his fellow Jedi.

“What are you going to do, Jacen?” Corran asked.

“Flow-walking.”

“Flow-walking?”

“I'll explain later.”

Corran nodded, then stepped back from Jacen with the rest of the Jedi.

Jacen closed his eyes, centered himself, and initiated his stated technique. When he opened his eyes, he saw Tahiri, her hair dyed black, standing in front of the freighter before she froze in place. When she turned to him, he could see that her eyes were a light blue instead of their natural green; contact lenses, he figured. But otherwise, this was definitely Tahiri he was looking at, and he couldn't help but look upon her with pity.

He wasn't even perturbed that she was obviously seeing him; if the same thing happened when it came to Raynar back on Yoggoy, he wasn't surprised that the same thing happened here. However, what did surprise him slightly was what he felt within her.

But just when he saw a portly man looking at Tahiri, with Alema somewhere further in the background, Jacen was abruptly brought back into the present.

“Well?” Corran asked; he and the other Jedi were in front of him now.

Now he was perturbed. He looked at the Jedi Master. “I don't know what happened. I mean, why I didn't see the murder; all I saw was Tahiri staring at me.”

“Are you sure you didn't see Tesar, too?” Saba asked.

Jacen shook his head. “No, I didn't see Tesar, Master Sebatyne. But when I saw Tahiri, I felt that... she had a great deal of conflict within her.”

“What do you think that means, Jacen?” Corran asked.

“I think it means she's not as in tune with Gorog's hive-mind as it wants her to be,” Jacen answered. He looked over at Saba. “I don't know if the same can be said for Tesar.” Then he looked back at Corran. “Or Alema, for that matter.”

“Perhaps this is the Force's way of letting you see what you needed to see,” Lowie spoke up. “Just like with Raynar.”

Jacen shrugged. “Perhaps. Maybe we'll see what we need to see when we see the recordings of what happened.”

“But if you could only sense that there waz conflict within Tahiri,” Saba said, “what doez that say about Tesar? Or Alema?”

Jacen shook his head. “I don't know. I can only hope they can be reached when we see them, Master Sebatyne; I really do.”

. . . 

For the next hour, the Jedi-Chiss party was shown the recordings from several different angles of Captain Blebb's murder and the subsequent theft of his vessel from the spaceport's control center; it offered the party nothing they already knew. Naturally, neither did the autopsy report; after that, there was no more evidence as to what had happened. And since Hlest didn't have any orbital stations that could have tracked the Heavyload's hyperspace coordinates after it left the system's gravity well, nor was the spaceport's groundside equipment suitable for that kind of reading, both Corran and the Chiss squad commander concluded that they had hit a dead end.

So with a farewell that was polite enough to the police, the Jedi and Chiss took their leave and began heading back to the spaceport in their rented speeders.

However, on their way back, Corran, who once again had Jaina, Saba, and the same Chiss troop as before riding with him, steered his speeder into an intersection that led out into the desert that was a kilometer ahead.

“Where are we going, Corran?” Saba asked from the front passenger seat. “The spaceport is that way!” She pointed back the way they came.

When she looked back, she saw the other three speeders, with the one containing Jacen and Lowie at the forefront, following behind. The looks on their faces, as well as that of Jaina's, were as stoic as the troops.

“Oh, I see,” Saba said with a neutral tone.

With a flick of her wrist, she used the Force to bring her lightsaber up to her palm; the one troop who was with them swiftly brought up his charric, but Saba's ignited blade had swiped its barrel off.

Then, in a blur of motion, Saba had cut off her own crash-webbing at the same time Jaina had her own blade in hand and activated. The two women traded a few clashes just as Corran halted his speeder, unbuckled his own crash-webbing, and brought his own saber to bear.

However, Saba vaulted out of the open-topped speeder and, upon landing, turned to the nearest alleyway. She expertly evaded the charric fire from the Chiss troops from behind the line of speeders before she ducked into the alley.

As Jaina and the troop beside her unbuckled their own crash-webbing, Corran had already leaped out of the speeder in pursuit of Saba. Ahead of him, the Barabel leapt up to the ladder that she reached and began scaling upwards toward the roof of the building to her left. Corran was right behind her as he began a slightly slower climb to the roof that she was approaching.

However, even as Saba disappeared over the edge of the roof above, Corran was aware that Jaina, who was behind him, was Force-leaping between the walls of the buildings beside her as she bounded her way upward.

Corran was still climbing the ladder once Jaina had made it to the top; she then flipped several times in the air before she came down in front of Saba, who was making her way for one end of the roof to the building over. Jaina had her blade out and active again, which prompted Saba to do the same. 

“You would do thiz, Jaina?” Saba asked. “You would still obey Mazter Horn after he disregarded your feelingz like that?”

“Yes, I would. He may be a little too concerned about not causing an incident with the Chiss, but that doesn't mean he should be disobeyed. And I know you care about Tesar, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to Master Skywalker! I thought you were better than this!”

“Give it up, Saba!” Corran said; by then, he had just made it to the roof behind the Barabel. His lightsaber was deactivated and back on his belt. “Now don't make this anymore difficult than you've already made it!”

Saba turned to him and hissed. “How often haz that line worked for you when you were in CorSec, Corran?”

“Not often enough, I'd think,” Jaina said as she took a couple steps toward Saba.

The Barabel looked back at her and hissed again. “Do you think thiz will help with your redemption, Jaina? Preventing a mother from helping her son?”

“It's not that simple, Saba!” Corran exclaimed; by then, Jacen and Lowie had joined him, their own lightsabers held but deactivated. He could sense, too, that the Chiss troops were making their way one-by-one up the ladder in the alley. “And you know it! Too much damage has been done because of the Dark Nest! Please don't compound that by turning against us!”

Saba turned back to face Corran again. “Against you? Against you?! Thiz one never betrayed any of you! You're the onez betraying thiz one!”

“Saba, you're not doing Tesar any good like this!” Corran reasoned as the troops began appearing behind him, Jacen, and Lowie. “So just come quietly and we won't have to-”

“Have to what? Kill me?” Saba asked angrily.

“You know we don't wanna do that!” Corran replied as the troops took position at either side of him, Jacen, and Lowie. “If you surrender right now, I'm sure Master Skywalker will-”

With a sudden Force-wave from her free hand, Saba knocked back the three Jedi and all ten Chiss troops to their backs. 

Jaina then rushed in from behind, only for Saba to swiftly turn and block what would have been a killing blow from Jaina. The Barabel stood her ground as her opponent slashed at her wildly; she varyied her attacks through different forms to add a level of unpredictability in dueling a Jedi Master with Saba's experience.

“Impressive!” Saba said as she expertly deflected Jaina's attacks. “Did Mazter Horn teach you that?”

And right after that, Saba dropped to sweep her tail across Jaina's legs. However, the latter leapt over the attack, only for the tail to grab her right ankle and smash her back upon the pavement. 

But before Saba could hurry to escape, she heard three lightsabers activate behind her. She hurriedly blocked the combined strike coming from Corran, Jacen, and Lowie and began moving about all across the roof, aided by her natural reptilian agility as well as her Force-enhanced reflexes, to compensate for fighting off three attackers at once.

“If you think you can take me alive like thiz, Corran, you're sorely miztaken!” Saba exclaimed over the clashing of blades.

A quarter of a minute after her back hit the roof, Jaina recovered and leapt to her feet. She reactivated her lightsaber and rushed in behind Saba.

The Barabel, though, swiftly turned around again to block her incoming strike as before, and then she began moving faster as she maneuvered her way into making sure her opponents were in, at the very least, a loose semicircle around her. Her green blade became an unbelievably fast blur as she parried all four lightsabers at once, and she maintained this momentum for about half a minute. 

When those thirty seconds were up, Saba once again leaped into the air and delivered another Force-wave upon the roof that blew all four Jedi back. However, they all landed with a roll over their shoulders before they rushed toward her again.

Saba chose to attack Corran since he was the deadliest opponent, even though he was the only one without telekinesis by his side. She traded a few clashes with him before the three Knights converged at her sides. But before any of them could land a blow on her, she leaped over Corran and delivered a double-kick to his back that sent him sprawling across the rooftop.

Now that she could duel three opponents again, and none of them as skilled as Corran, Saba spared each of them a few clashes herself before she back-flipped a few times. When the three Knights rushed at her again, Saba chose to dispatch Lowie, who was leftmost of her; she spun to his right and parried his blade well enough to sever his leg out from under him.

“Lowie!” both Solo twins shouted.

Saba took advantage of that distraction to knock Jacen unconscious with a well-placed elbow to his face. That just left Jaina to take care of, who was swinging more wildly than ever even as Corran was trying to pick himself up in spite of the pain that Saba delivered to his back.

The Barabel kept herself focused; with Jaina attacking with more abandon than before, it wouldn't be long before she could be disarmed and-

Saba's strategy for dispatching Jaina was abruptly cut off from her mind when the human parried away one of Saba's defenses to deliver a bout of Force-lightning with her free hand.

The lightning arced right into Saba's eyes and burned them out.

As the Barabel screeched in pain, her lightsaber dropped to the roof before she dropped to her knees.

“Jaina, don't!” Saba heard Corran cry out.

Then Saba felt the entirety of the middle of her body erupt in hot pain, and then it was over.

When Jaina came to her senses, she watched as both halves of the Barabel's body collapsed to either side of her, the insides of her body cauterized.

“Jaina!” Corran exclaimed in shock as he finally stood up. “What have you done?!”

She looked over at the Jedi Master darkly before she turned around and hurried toward a ledge. Immediately, the Chiss troops, who had recovered from being knocked down, opened fire by their leader's quick command.

"No, stop!" Corran screamed at them.

But Jaina halted in place and, with her free hand, used the Force to send the charric bolts hurtling back at all ten aliens. They dropped dead to the rooftop, and Corran gasped in further horror.

Chapter Text

As the Heavyload traversed through hyperspace, Tahiri and Alema seized up in the pilot and copilot seats respectively at the same time that Tesar let out a pained shriek from the passenger cabin. However, the two women seized up not from the sound, but from the feeling of agony that Tesar radiated through Gorog's hive-mind.

When Tesar stopped shrieking, his individual presence retreated from the hive-mind, which prompted Tahiri and Alema to step up from their seats and check on their fellow former Jedi. They found him curled up on his seat, rocking back and forth and whimpering like a frightened little child.

“Tesar!” Alema exclaimed angrily. “Why have you retreated from Gorog?!”

“My mother!” the Barabel cried out. “She iz dead! I felt it! I felt her go!” He went back to whimpering.

Alema approached Tesar and reached down to shake him by the shoulders. “Let go of your mother! You belong to Gorog now! We are as much your mother as we are your sister, your brother, your friend-”

“Get away from me!” Tesar cried out as he swiped Alema's arms off his shoulders. “Leave me alone! Let me grieve!”

“No!” Alema said as she brought up her right hand so that her palm faced the Barabel.

Tesar immediately unfurled himself as he reached both hands to his temples before he began groaning in pain. 

“You are no longer Tesar Sebatyne!” Alema announced. “You are Gorog now! We are Gorog! The woman who birthed you, who raised you, ceased being your mother when you joined us! Leave your past behind! Embrace your present and future!”

As Alema spoke aloud, Tahiri felt the pressure in her mind again; if she didn't help Alema into helping Tesar remember what he was a part of, she would suffer through the agony of this mental correction, too.

Without hesitation, Tahiri lifted up her right hand toward Tesar and contributed to his correction.

The Barabel hissed in agony as he began rocking from side-to-side in his seat. He then let out a battle-cry as he tore his hands away from his head and looked at Alema with deathly intent.

He sprung up from his seat with his lightsaber in hand and ignited it. Alema had her own blade out to catch the strike but had to backpedal toward Tahiri as Tesar's attacks were fierce.

“Tahiri, help us!” Alema cried out without turning away from Tesar.

Before Tahiri could do anything, she had to jump out of the way before Alema's back collided with her. Only after she turned to regard the duel that was gradually reaching the cockpit did the pressure come into Tahiri's mind again; it became just as fierce as it was down on Hlest.

Hurriedly, and with the knowledge that the duel leading into the cockpit would not only damage the controls but also lead them unprotected into hyperspace, Tahiri ignited her own weapon and went to strike Tesar down from behind. 

She pivoted out of the way of his tail, but when she moved to slice at his weapon-wielding arm, he blocked her attack and then positioned himself to take on both opponents simultaneously. Now that the women had the Barabel forced to stand his ground, it was taking all of their effort to keep him there and away from the cockpit's threshold two meters away.

The duel went on for half a minute before Tesar got past Alema's defenses and kicked her in the sternum, which propelled her into the cockpit where she landed between the pilot and copilot seats. That left Tahiri to fend for herself against Tesar, but since he had just been slightly tired by the duel already, the human was able to stand her ground against him.

That lasted for a quarter of a minute before Alema's lightsaber flew in from the cockpit and skewered itself through both of Tesar's legs. The blue-bladed weapon then flew back into the Twi'lek's hands just before she stood up; at the same time, Tesar collapsed in pain, though, this time, it didn't radiate through Gorog's hive-mind.

Do it, Tahiri felt Gorog say in her mind; Alema's voice was the most dominant.

She looked over at at the Twi'lek, who glowered at her. 

All it took was just the slightest bit of pressure for Tahiri to turn back and decapitate Tesar without giving him a second's worth of a look.

Good, good, Tahiri once again heard in her head.

After Alema turned back to return to the cockpit, Tahiri was left alone to look upon Tesar's beheaded corpse. It took all of her individual effort to keep herself from weeping; she only knew that she would share Tesar's fate if she broke down here.

. . . 

Not long after Jaina escaped following her murder of Saba and the killing of the Chiss troops, Corran heard explosions from where their speeders had been parked. When he went to investigate by peering over the roof, he found that three of the speeders that they rented were in flames while the foremost one was being stolen by Jaina.

Corran grimaced; he knew that even with Force-enhanced speed, he couldn't catch up to his fleeing charge. He looked back and his expression somehow dropped further at seeing the line of Chiss corpses further along the roof. At returning his gaze to Jacen's unconscious body and Lowie's mewling form, he hurried over to the Wookiee and knelt by him.

"Keep calm, Lowbacca,' the Jedi Master said as he took out a bacta patch from his utility belt. He tore it out of the plastic packaging and immediately applied it to the Knight's cauterized leg, which prompted a deep and pained growl from the Wookiee.

That growl, however, almost instantly became a roar that coincided with the unconscious Jacen stirring from his forced slumber.

Quickly gathering that both Knights felt something in the Force, Corran asked Lowie, "What is it, Jedi Lowbacca?"

"Tesar is dead!"

Corran winced; no doubt the young Barabel must have felt his mother's death from wherever he was and it somehow contributed to his own demise. 

Damn you, Jaina, the Jedi Master couldn't help but think.

"Don't worry about that right now," Corran advised, not knowing what else to say at the moment. "Just lay back and let the bacta do its work." He turned his attention to the human Knight and shook his shoulder. “C'mon, Jacen, wake up."

A few seconds later, Jacen's eyes flashed open and he sat up quickly to take in his surroundings. His eyes widened further when he saw both halves of Saba's body right next to him. He then looked back and saw all of the dead Chiss. When he looked back at Corran, he asked, “Master Horn, what happened?”

“Jaina killed Master Sebatyne unnecessarily, Jacen,” Corran explained.

“Unnecessarily?” Jacen asked. 

“Jaina used the dark side to blind Saba. Then, when she was at her mercy, she did that.” He pointed at the Barabel's remains. “She escaped; killed those Chiss when they tried to shoot her down, and destroyed all three of the other speeders before she took the last tone.”

“That can't be!” Jacen replied incredulously.

“I know, Jacen, I know. But it's what happened!”

“By the Force, Jaina, she... she...” 

Corran placed a hand on his shoulder. “We can help her, Jacen,” he said confidently. “I believe we still can.” Even if we can't help Tesar, he thought to himself morosely. 

His attention was brought away from his two downed charges as the whirring sound of an engine descended from the sky; a Chiss shuttle was rapidly descending on their general location.

Now came the part that Corran really wasn't looking forward to.

The shuttle soon parked itself toward one of the roof's edges and its side door opened; another Chiss squad immediately deployed with their charric rifles and quickly surrounded the three Jedi. Neither human nor the Wookiee made any move other than the steady rise and fall of their breathing--with Lowie's being particularly wheezing--before the squad commander barked, "All three of you, stay right where you are!"

"This Jedi needs help," Corran announced despite the weapons raised at him and the Knights.

More of Lowie's wheezing passed by for several seconds before the commander turned back to the shuttle and ordered something in Cheunh. An instant later, medical team hurried out with a stretcher for Lowie. When Jacen saw the two men struggling to lift Lowie up, he used the Force to help lighten their load, which allowed them to head back into the shuttle more quickly. 

The commander said something for his entire squad, which prompted them to disperse the circle around the Jedi as they went to collect the bodies of their comrades; two troops even collected both halves of Saba's body. As the bodies were loaded into the ship, the commander knelt down near Corran and said, "We tracked the general events here. Now can you be more specific about what happened?"

After the Jedi Master told him exactly what he told Jacen, the commander said, "The captain will have to be informed about this immediately. Get aboard, both of you."

"We have to find my sister, though!" Jacen protested. "We can't just leave her down here!"

"We will find her," the commander promised tersely. "Now come on."

Jacen's lips thinned in consternation, but he nevertheless complied with Corran. Once its door was closed by one of the troops, the shuttle rocketed into the sky.

When Corran saw this through one of the viewports, he looked over to the commander and asked, “I thought we were going to intercept Jaina.”

“We won't be doing that,” the commander replied. “I had two clawcraft dispatched to handle her.”

“What?!” Corran and Jacen shouted simultaneously.

“We won't allow her to return to your ship,” the commander said to Jacen.

“But that's my sister!” Jacen cried.

“That's not my problem,” the commander replied coldly. “She's a threat to us and must be neutralized as such.”

Jacen had his lightsaber out, active, and pointed right at the commander's throat. “Call it off now!” the human shouted just as the charrics of all the other Chiss were directed at him.

“I'm ready to die, Jedi,” the commander said. “And if you decide to kill me, none of my troops have any problem firing on you. Whether or not you die is irrelevant; those clawcraft will still blow your sister away. You can't affect that.”

“Jacen, put your lightsaber away!” Corran said. “I don't need three Jedi dying on me today!”

Jacen stared down the Chiss commander for ten seconds before he deactivated his weapon, replaced it on his belt, and sat back down in his chosen seat. Two troops moved toward him, with one of them holding stuncuffs, but the commander waved them off before he said something to them in Cheunh.

“I told them that won't be necessary,” the commander said for the two Jedi's benefit. “We all know you're not like Master Sebatyne; you have cooler heads.”

Jacen sneered before he shut his eyes. He opened them back up two seconds later and looked at Corran in worry.

“I can't feel Jaina!” he said.

“Is she dead already?” Corran asked.

Jacen shook his head. “She's made herself small!”

. . . 

When Jaina returned to the spaceport where the Solo Quest was parked, she hopped out and headed for the entrance. She stopped when she heard a distinctive sound in the sky that reminded her of TIE fighters. She looked up and found a pair of clawcraft screaming down at her.

“So that's how you wanna play it, huh?” Jaina muttered.

Lasers started raining down around her as they ripped through the spaceport and the speeder behind her with impunity. Jaina, for her part, immediately started running further away from where she had driven, and as she kept running, she ignited her blade and ducked into an alleyway.

The fact that this was what Saba had done before she died was something that Jaina put in the back of her mind as she began bounding off the walls like before to ascend. Once she was over the line of roofs, she saw both clawcraft swooping down toward her.

Even as they started firing upon her, she ignited her lightsaber and flung it to the leftmost fighter. She then used one hand to use the Force to pull herself back down toward the alley by using the ladder behind her as an anchor; simultaneously, her other hand was used to maintain her lightsaber's trajectory for her chosen clawcraft.

When Jaina grabbed hold of the ladder with the hand she used to pull herself down, she felt her lightsaber's blade sheer through one of the fighter's wings. Above, both fighters soared overhead, only one of them was now smoking and missing a wing.

Jaina then propelled herself back up; she landed on the roof in front of her and recalled her lightsaber back to her hand. She turned around and watched as the clawcraft that was now to her right disappeared over the horizon before it erupted in an explosion; she saw its pilot parachuting their way to the ground.

However, the remaining clawcraft circled back around and was spewing lasers at her again. As she ran across the roof, she jumped and dodged the lasers all around her, before she leaped across to the next rooftop. She continued this for two more roofs until she was mere meters from the remaining clawcraft. 

When that happened, she threw her still-active weapon forward like a spear; it went through the clawcraft's viewport and skewered the pilot through his chest. 

Jaina then leaped over the incoming craft, and as she flipped in midair, she used the Force to call her lightsaber back into her hand. It had smacked back into her palm even as she watched the fighter crash atop a rooftop several yards away.

The errant Jedi Knight then hurried and leaped off the roof to Force-cushion her landing into another alley. With a bout of telekinesis, she lifted up the manhole cover nearby and plummeted into the sewers below.

She would find a way off this planet one way or another; and when she did, she would kill Jag and anyone who got in her way, even Corran or Lowie.

If it were Jacen, though, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that as long as as she was making herself small as she did now, he couldn't sense her, and he couldn't help the Chiss track her down. Because she couldn't imagine that he would stoop so low as to try to kill her; Corran, sure, and Lowie maybe, but with Jacen, it was unimaginable.

And yet... she couldn't help but wonder.

. . . 

On the shuttle's way back to the Guardian, Corran saw two more shuttles launch from the Star Destroyer and make its way for the planet. When the shuttle that he, Jacen, the unconscious Lowie, and the Chiss troops were in touched down upon the deck of the Guardian's hangar bay, Jacen was one of the first people to step off before he approached Jag, who stood there with his guards.

“That's far enough, Jacen,” Jag said as his guards levelled their charrics at the Jedi.

Jacen stopped, but his breathing was ragged from anger just as Corran sidled up next to him. “You approved that attack on my sister?!” the Knight yelled.

“After Commander Hujol explained to me what happened over the comm,” Jag said sternly, “I had to agree with him. When she killed my men, it became apparent that she was a threat. I would think that was obvious, Jedi Solo.”

“Those troops attacked her!” Jacen shouted.

“After she killed Master Sebatyne in cold blood, is that correct?” Jag asked. "I would think that would be enough justification on the late Commander Greska's part."

“So? That still didn't justify them attacking her!”

“Jacen, settle down,” Corran intoned. 

“Tell me, Jacen,” Jag said, “do you sense your sister to still be alive down on Hlest?”

Jacen gritted his teeth. “I can't sense her; she's made herself small, as I taught her.”

“But even so, you would feel it if she died, correct?” Jag asked.

“I would,” Jacen replied.

“But you haven't?”

“No.”

Jag sighed. “Then the attack failed and we just lost two clawcraft for nothing.”

“Jaina brought down two clawcraft?” Corran asked. “So she got aboard the Quest?”

“No, she brought them down without the need of a ship,” Jag explained bitterly. “And when she disappeared; we think she might have made her way into the sewers of that town. Our scanners can't pick up her life-readings, so I've already dispatched two squads to look for her there just before you arrived.”

“So that's what those two shuttles headed there were for?” Corran asked.

Jag nodded. “They are. Oh, and by the way, Jacen, I'm afraid that the clawcraft attack on your sister brought inadvertent damage to the Solo Quest down below. I can have a repair team go down there, though I imagine they might have some trouble with the local authorities.”

“Wait, you mean to tell us that you fired upon a spaceport?” Corran asked. Now he was sharing Jacen's rage.

“Hlest's government doesn't have the firepower to mount a defense from any attack that the Ascendancy would bring upon it,” Jag said. “So they cannot launch a suitable retaliatory strike upon us that we can't easily blow away. Hence, whatever fallout this incident brings upon the Ascendancy, I assure you, it won't be something that the Jedi will have to worry about."

"You do understand that that's not something that your superiors will look kindly upon," Jacen intoned.

"You let me worry about that. However, that doesn't mean that the local forces won't put up a decent fight if we get groundside for your ship.”

Jacen growled. “Forget it. I can get a new one later.”

“Then I'll have guest quarters prepared for you,” Jag said amicably.

“Gee, thanks,” Jacen said sarcastically. “And I really hope you realized you have no chance with my sister after this.”

“You two,” Jag said to a pair of his guards in Basic. “Please escort Jedi Solo here to the nearest guest cabin. Make sure he gets there safely.”

Both guards responded in Cheunh before they approached Jacen. He allowed them to lead him out of the hangar bay.

“Now, Master Horn,” Fel said, “would you like me to lead you to one of our holoterminals so you can contact Master Skywalker and inform him of what just happened?”

Corran sighed in defeat. “Yes, please.”

Chapter Text

The holographic representation of Luke demonstrated his utter shock at the events that Corran had described to him. Once the latter had finished, the former immediately said, “Captain Fel, are you listening in on this conversation? I'll give you ten seconds to respond or I will cut this communication off.”

Five seconds later, the voice of Jagged Fel said over the speaker of Corran's holoterminal, “I'm here, Master Skywalker. What is it that you wish to say to me?”

“If I agree to keep out anymore Jedi involvement in your hunt for Gorog, will you call off your troops' manhunt for my niece and allow Master Horn and my nephew to look for her?”

“I don't see how that would benefit the Ascendancy, Master Skywalker. While we admittedly don't much care for your kind being out here as it is, they would still be useful to us in hunting down the AWOL Jedi who are still part of the Dark Nest; well, except for your niece, of course.”

“Then what if I sent you some other Jedi? Ones who have no connection to the Dark Nest Knights? I can guarantee you won't have another situation akin to Master Sebatyne or Jaina again.”

“No connection, you say? Well, wasn't your niece, nephew, and Lowbacca's connection to Jedi Rar, Veila, and Sebatyne part of why they would be so useful in the hunt for the latter three?”

“Yes, but as you can see, that connection has become more of a liability than an asset.”

“Not necessarily. It was only because of Master Sebatyne's involvement that everything went wrong. Or, rather, how you handled her. Quite frankly, if you hadn't assigned your Jedi team to try to apprehend her, she might have been an asset in locating the missing Knights; maybe even the rest of the Dark Nest.”

“Commander Fel,” Luke intoned, “if you or any of your troops are responsible for harming my niece-”

“Jedi Lowbacca will be instantly executed if you try to have Master Horn and Jacen go against anyone aboard my ship, Master Skywalker,” Fel interrupted sharply. 

It was then that a holographic representation of the Chiss-raised human appeared next to Luke's representation; his stoic visage was a counter to the desperation that appeared on Luke's face.

“Are you willing to have Lowbacca sacrificed to avenge Jaina, Master Skywalker? And let's not forget; I know you Jedi aren't all-powerful. Tell me, how many of my troops do you think Horn and Jacen can kill before they are gunned down by my surviving soldiers' charrics? Think through this first, Master Skywalker; you have no upper hand here.”

A moment of tense silence passed before Fel said, “That's right; you realize it now. Your Jedi, Master Skywalker, are mine. There is nothing you can do to save Jaina; all you can do is minimize the tragedy of her impending doom, as well as Master Sebatyne's passing, by tempering Master Horn and Jacen from doing anything rash. So, until Rar, Veila, and Tesar Sebatyne are all neutralized, one way or another, the Jedi who are aboard my Star Destroyer are as much hostages as they are assets. Do you understand that?”

As silence passed over again, Corran looked over his shoulder and found two Chiss troops standing there with their charrics across their chests. They looked intently down upon him; he looked back at the holographic representations of Luke and Fel.

“I understand everything that you have said, Commander Fel,” Luke said temperately.

“Good. I will make sure that my troops will bring Jaina's corpse back to Master Horn with as few charric bolts in her body as possible. I'm sure she will be presentable for her funeral; unlike Master Sebatyne, of course.” Fel then signed off from his end.

Luke then asked, “Corran?”

“Yes, Master Skywalker?”

“Do what you think is right.”

“Yes, Luke.”

From his end, Luke shut off the transmission. which left Corran alone with the two guards behind him. 

When he stood up and turned to face them, he used his ability to implant the image of Jaina suddenly appearing before them with her lightsaber out and active.

The guards, naturally, fired upon the illusion that only they could see; but just as Jaina's image dissipated, Corran had also disappeared from his spot, leaving the charric bolts that were fired to destroy the holoterminal that the Jedi Master had vacated.

When next he appeared, Corran was behind them, and less than a second after he activated his lightsaber, both of the guards' heads came clean off their bodies.

And even before their headless corpses collapsed to the deck, Corran called out to Jacen through the Force and conveyed, Get Lowie. We have to leave. He felt bad that they had to leave Saba's remains behind, but it couldn't be helped.

. . . 

When Jacen received Corran's message through the Force, his eyes flashed open and he leaped up from his meditative seat on the floor. He then expanded his awareness outward to detect any particular electromagnetic currents; he then felt the vidcams along this corridor and used the Force to scramble the feed. Then, after he sensed the two Chiss guards outside his door; he hurried over and used the Force to knock their heads together; they fell to the deck unconscious.

He then tried opening his door; unsurprisingly, it was locked. So he used the Force to blast it outward and hurried out to the nearest turbolift that would take him to the medbay where Lowie was. Along the way, he found three troops who had been casually heading in his direction taking notice of the guards and the broken-down door; with a current of Electric Judgment on his part, he reduced all of them to unconsciousness, too. 

From there, he had no problem reaching the turbolift; he slashed open the doors with his lightsaber and, after looking up and down to find no elevator heading in his direction, he jumped down toward the level where the medbay was. He slashed open the doors which led into the corridor; there, after landing in a tuck-and-roll, he got up in a crouch and took stock of his surroundings.

There was a Chiss troop on both his left and right as well as two ahead of him; the path ahead led to the medbay. So he burst up from his crouch and used a Fallanassi illusion to distract the guards in front of him; they saw a small swarm of Killiks heading in their direction.

They immediately began shooting at the illusory insects, none of which dissipated, even as Jacen leaped over them and used the Force to knock their heads together as he had before. When he landed, he turned back and deflected the charric bolts that were fired at him from the other two troops that he had spotted earlier. However, once their attention turned to shooting at the false insects along the deck, Jacen Force-threw the troops back to the bulkhead behind him, where they fell unconscious.

He turned back just as he allowed the illusory Killiks to dissipate away and rushed ahead a few more meters to Force-blast the door into the medbay that held Lowie just as a shipwide red alert went out.

Damn! Jacen thought. I forgot to scramble the vid feeds on this level.

By then, he had run into the medbay and found a bedded Lowie, restrained by fiberchord where he lay, surrounded by two guards and a doctor. He Force-knocked all three Chiss back so that when their heads hit the bulkhead behind them, they fell to the floor unconscious. Jacen then rushed to Lowie's side, cut off the straps which held him down, and placed one of his large arms across his shoulder as he tried helping him up.

“You still got one good leg, my friend,” Jacen said. “I won't let you fall on the other.”

“What's going on, Jacen?” Lowie asked in a low tone. Jacen could tell he was still drugged so he couldn't feel the pain of his lost leg; the stump there had a suture on it that may have had a Chiss variant of bacta, if it was bacta, placed there to replace what Corran applied.

“I'll explain later,” Jacen said as he helped Lowie take short, simple steps toward the medbay exit.

Once they were halfway there, a squad of Chiss came in and levelled their weapons at the two Jedi. But all it took from Jacen was to have more illusory Killiks suddenly manifest in the medbay, and then the Chiss all began firing upon each other as they tried to shoot down the insects that suddenly crawled all over one another.

It was only seconds before they were all dead, and Jacen and Lowie were able to hobble out of the medbay around the fried bodies.

Jacen only hoped that he could keep up this Fallanassi trick all the way until they escaped the Guardian.

. . . 

While Fel may have been correct that Jedi weren't all-powerful, just as Jacen told Corran that even a Jedi Knight as powerful as Jaina wasn't invincible, the Jedi Master felt that he was probably making the captain think the opposite by now. Because as he casually walked down the corridor ahead of him that would take him directly into the Guardian's port hangar bay, Corran's Force-shield was able to absorb and dissipate the charric bolts from the troops ahead seemingly without effort.

Of course, it took a great deal of effort on Corran's part to do so; but even as he kept the shield up, he allowed some of the energy from the bolts to come to him to absorb through the Force. And as he allowed this energy to build up from within; he allowed a meter-wide opening in his shield just long enough to have a great ball of white light fry the troops who were there. 

When Corran opened his eyes and dropped his Force-shield, he saw the crispy corpses of the dozen Chiss before him collapse to the deck. But when he heard the clamor of boots from the intersection of corridors behind him, Corran rushed ahead toward the hangar bay entrance, slashed open the doors, and hurried inside.

Around him, there appeared to have been over two dozen troops and a little more than a dozen technicians around some clawcraft in their racks above and in the six troop shuttles here. Their attention turned to Corran, and while the techs dropped to the deck, the troops brought up their firearms and began firing at the Jedi Master.

Of course, he became a blur as he induced Force-speed within himself; as he did, he managed to cut down about seven troops before they even knew that he was upon them. When he made it to one of the shuttles, he cut down two more troops before he used the Force to pry open the ship's landing ramp. After he hurried up, he had the ramp closed before he trotted to the cockpit.

He initiated a cold-start ignition sequence, which allowed the shuttle to get itself into the air immediately. He then began firing upon the troops that fired their charrics at him; his confiscated ship's shields held and he took great care not to fire upon the technicians who now made their way toward the various exits.

Even before the last technician left, streams of troops began pouring in from the egresses and peppered the shuttle's hull with their vain shots. However, Corran could see that they were mere distractions as he spotted some squads setting up large gun emplacements; they no doubt carried armament that was capable of taking the shuttle down.

It was a no-brainer for Corran as he began blasting away at the emplacements in between shooting at the other troops; he even had time to lay waste to the other shuttles so that none of the troops could use them to their advantage.

Hurriedly, he swung the shuttle's nose upward and fired upon the racks of clawcraft that were only now being boarded by their pilots. But even as Corran managed to destroy most of them, two pilots managed to enter their fighters and launched to begin throwing volleys of lasers down toward the shuttle.

Corran dodged the shuttle out of the way of the raining lasers and headed out through the bay's exit for space with the two clawcraft chasing him. He did his best to maneuver around, but this was a shuttle, not a starfighter, so more often than not, he found his rear getting smacked by the clawcraft's projectiles.

Naturally, Corran spun the shuttle around and began firing at both starfighters head-on. Now, as he started to feel doubt as to whether or not he could survive this, he hoped that Jacen and Lowie could find their own way off the Star Destroyer.

. . . 

On the Guardian's bridge, Fel watched the live footage over at the security station in anger as Jacen, who still had Lowbacca leaning upon him, carefully made his way down a set of emergency stairs toward the starboard hangar. Along the way, the Chiss troops who tried to intercept the two Jedi from above and below were seemingly ravaged by Killiks who appeared to manifest out of nowhere. This inevitably led the troops to kill either themselves or their comrades as they tried to shoot down the swarms of insects.

It took Fel a while as he watched the Killiks not even receive a scratch, but finally, he went to the comm station, activated the shipwide broadcast system himself (much to the comm officer's mild chagrin), and said, “Attention, all soldiers! Ignore the Killiks! They're not really there! They're some Jedi illusion; focus on the Jedi instead!”

He went back to the security station to watch the footage; in spite of his warning, it didn't seem as if any of his troops were listening. They still ended up killing each other, and Jacen and Lowbacca were making their way to the hangar unimpeded.

Fel pounded the console in front of him in frustration. “Damn it!” After he sighed, he looked to the footage provided by the Guardian's external cams that showed that, although Horn managed to destroy the two clawcraft who pursued him out of the port hangar, a squad from the starboard hangar had launched and was gunning for the stolen shuttle.

Fel couldn't help but give a bittersweet grin at seeing Horn pilot the shuttle away as fast as he could toward Hlest. Unfortunately, all it took to ruin even that moment of triumph was to look back and see that Jacen and Lowbacca had made it to the level where the starboard hangar bay was; with a quick slash of his lightsaber, Jacen got him and his hairy friend inside where a few squads of troops were waiting for them.

But instead of using more of the illusion—as if he had simply grown bored of it—Jacen unleashed a massive Force-wave, no doubt aided by Lowbacca (drugged though he was), that knocked all of the soldiers off their feet. Then, as the two Jedi slowly proceeded toward one of the shuttles, Jacen used the Force to have the charrics of the nearest downed troops flung away from them. For others, their weapons seemed to suddenly disappear, only to manifest in space nearby the Guardian. And for others still, Jacen dispatched them with green currents of lightning from the fingertips of the hand that wasn't supporting Lowbacca.

Fel never felt so utterly embarrassed in his life once the two Jedi managed to board one of the shuttles; mentally, he kicked himself for not having any of those ships grounded or had any critical components removed beforehand.

He had truly underestimated the Jedi today; they were far from the hostages that he claimed they were to Luke Skywalker.

“When they get clear,” Fel ordered to the gunnery crew, “blow them out of the sky!”

Moments later, the other stolen shuttle lifted off and rocketed out into space.

But none of the Guardian's turbolasers fired upon it.

“What's happening?!” Fel exclaimed. “Why aren't you firing!”

“Something's wrong, sir!” one of the gunnery crew reported without looking away from his computer. “We can't seem to get a lock!”

Damn Jedi! Fel cursed mentally.

He turned to the comm officer and said, “Break off half the squadron chasing Horn and have them blow up that shuttle!”

“Yes, sir!” the officer reported before she tended to her duty.

Not long after, the clawcraft squadron that was still chasing Horn's juking-and-jinking shuttle was halved as six of them turned their attention to the ship containing Jacen and Lowbacca.

. . . 

Just after six of the clawcraft chasing him broke off, Corran finally turned away from Hlest and began spewing some lasers toward the half-dozen that remained. They broke off, but one of them was blown away while another had its right wing clipped off; it descended in a spinning arc for the planet.

The other four broke off and began to circle away to initiate an attack run at the shuttle. Corran picked one of the clawcraft and blew it away before it could fully turn to meet him. But by then, the other three were ready, and he had to dive hard to avoid their incoming lasers.

When he broke out of his dive and levelled out, he found that the three clawcraft who were still after him were sticking right on his tail; they nailed him with hit after hit in spite of his piloting.

Then something critical was finally hit and Corran suddenly lost control as the shuttle spun away, thankfully, from Hlest, so he at least had no fear of burning away from an uncontrolled descent through  the planet's atmosphere. Unfortunately, that was no help to him as the clawcraft soared past him and began circling back to begin a run that would surely blow him away.

And to think it would all end like this, Corran thought bitterly. After failing so many Jedi, he would die so ignobly in the Unknown Regions, not even fighting a war this time. If only he could say goodbye to Mirax, Valin, Jysella, even Booster, for that matter...

Suddenly, just as the trio of clawcraft faced him, they broke off again; the one in the center chased away the one to Corran's right with lasers and blew it away within a matter of moments. And then that clawcraft was suddenly reduced to atoms by the clawcraft that was right behind it.

And then that last clawcraft was finished off by yet another Chiss shuttle.

Corran! Jacen's voice echoed in his mind. I can only hold back the Star Destroyer's guns off for so long with my powers! Quickly! Get ready to board my shuttle!

The Jedi Master hurried out of his seat and headed for the landing ramp; soon, as two more squads of clawcraft launched from the Guardian, he felt a slight bump when the two ships were connected and sealed. He then opened the landing ramp and trotted into the next shuttle.

He closed the ramp behind him, which prompted another buckling feeling as the two shuttles unsealed from each other, before he ran past the drugged Lowie, who was seated in one of the passenger seats. He made it to the cockpit where Jacen was piloting and asked, “What did you just do to get them to kill each other?”

“Fallanassi illusion!” Jacen explained without taking his eyes away. “Did the same to the other clawcraft that chased me! Even knowing they're illusions won't help them! Now take the helm and make our way to Hlest! I'll try to get rid of those other clawcraft!”

“Hlest, it is!” Corran agreed as Jacen quickly stood up from the pilot seat. The Jedi Master took his position and reoriented toward the planet while the Knight sat down in the copilot seat and concentrated on getting the Chiss behind them to kill each other.

Chapter Text

After he got the shuttle through Hlest's atmosphere without burning up, Corran asked, “Jacen, how are those clawcraft behind us?!”

“All gone!” the Knight reported as he sat down in the copilot seat. “If they launch another squad or two for us, I'll have 'em kill each other, too. But until then, I'm gonna try to look for Jaina through the Force. Hopefully, she isn't making herself small right now.”

He closed his eyes and concentrated; Corran, meanwhile, kept his eyes on the sensors for anymore enemy aircraft coming from behind as he soared down from Hlest's skies. Soon, he began flying over its various towns and initiated a search pattern over the particular town where he last knew Jaina to be. 

Within minutes, after Corran made a pass around that town, he saw the Chiss shuttles that he spotted leaving the Guardian earlier rise up from a distant spot in the desert and soar for the sky above. His eyes widened as realization dawned on him.

“Jacen!”

“Yes, Master Horn?”

“I think the Guardian is going to start an orbital bombardment for us.”

When Jacen looked through the viewport and saw the Chiss shuttles recede into the sky, it clicked in his mind; by now, Jag would have realized that it would have been stupid to send anymore clawcraft after the Jedi because Jacen would have just made them kill each other with Fallanassi illusions. And since Jag had no problem dispatching a pair of fighters to attack a spaceport just to try to kill Jaina, he and Corran had to assume that he and his crew wouldn't have any problem in launching an all-out orbital assault on the planet just to kill them and Jaina.

“Jacen,” Corran said, “please tell me you can deactivate the Guardian's turbolasers from down here.”

“Let me try,” Jacen said before he closed his eyes again. Moments later, his eyes flashed open and he said, “I'm sorry, Master Horn. The Star Destroyer's too far for my powers to work.” He half-expected Corran to berate him for letting a menial element such as distance affect his ability to use the Force by drawing a comparison to Yoda's lecture to Luke about how size mattered not. Jacen also figured that Corran would stress it with the circumstances that they were presently faced with.

“Well, let's hope we can find Jaina before they start shooting,” the Jedi Master said instead.

“Right,” the Knight replied before he shut his eyes to concentrate on finding his sister.

He knew better than to try to call out through their Force-bond now; if Jaina was making herself small, it would be a waste of time to call out for her. But that didn't stop him from trying to detect anyplace where the Force ought to be; the way he was searching for her, it was akin to looking for a Yuuzhan Vong before he received his Vongsense.

About a minute after he and Corran last spoke, his eyes flashed open and he pointed to a set of low buildings not far from where Jaina was last seen by them. 

“There!” Jacen exclaimed. “She's somewhere in the sewers beneath those buildings there!”

And it was right then that both their danger-senses spiked. Corran veered the shuttle off to port just as a giant green laser struck down through where they just were and impacted upon a parked speeder, which reduced it to a flaming wreck. The Jedi Master then flew straight forward and over the buildings that Jacen had indicated as a line of turbolasers began following them, pounding upon the pavement, buildings, and even people as they went. 

After half a minute of dodging the lasers that rained from above, Corran pulled the shuttle into a diagonal climb. Seconds after that, he had to slalom every which way once the lasers began to focus in on their location.

“Tell me when we're close enough, Jacen!”

The Knight didn't even have to ask; though he wondered what the plan would be after the Guardian's turbolaser cannons were disabled, he kept himself focused once they got close enough to the Star Destroyer.

By the time the blue in the sky faded into the blackness of space and the attacking capital vessel was in plain view for both Jedi, Jacen barked, “I got it!”

The turbolaser cannons fell silent, and that allowed Corran to settle the shuttle into a straight run for the Guardian.

“Alright, now what's the plan, Master Horn?” Jacen asked as he kept focusing through the Force on making sure the enemy's turbolasers didn't start up again.

“Just watch,” Corran replied with a cocky grin.

Within moments, once they were within firing distance of the Guardian's turbolasers, he fired off the shuttle's guns, which blasted away through the shields to eventually get at the Destroyer's cannons. Gradually, he made his way from left to right, as if this was a regular day of work for him.

Then a squad of clawcraft launched from one of the hangar bays.

“Uh, Jacen? Are you able to disable the turbolasers and make the clawcraft kill each other at the same time?”

“Sadly, that's one of the limits of my abilities, Master Horn. I'm not a very good multi-tasker.”

“Alright, then. Let's see if you can make those clawcraft take out those guns for us.”

“I'll do my best.”

Corran veered off to starboard as the Guardian's turbolasers came alive again; but within seconds, the Jedi Master made a daring run toward the weapons even as the shuttle was now being chased by the clawcraft squad. 

Along the way, though, a swarm of Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers suddenly manifested out of darkspace from the Destroyer's starboard and began spewing their plasma projectiles at the clawcraft. 

Jacen, of course, made sure through the Fallanassi illusion that none of the projectiles actually hit any of the clawcraft or the Guardian; he knew that there were limits to what could be accepted as reality when he was using the Force—or the White Current, as it was called in instances like this—to trick his opponents. And so far, this trick was working like before, because the clawcraft immediately broke off from chasing the stolen shuttle to engage in dogfights with the illusory coralskippers. As this happened, the false fighters moved in the direction of the Destroyer from their individual trajectories.

It was only a matter of time before the actual projectiles launched by the clawcraft phased through the Fallanassi illusion of organic fighters to strike upon the Guardian. They gradually ripped away through its shields and reduced the last of its turbolaser emplacements to slag.

And that was when Jacen turned the illusory coralskippers against the clawcraft, which prompted them to commit to maneuvers that destroyed the actual fighters within half a minute.

“Coralskippers this time?” Corran asked.

Jacen shrugged. “Thought I might vary it up, keep 'em on their toes.”

Corran nodded before he looked back to the viewport. “I wonder how many they're willing to throw at us now!”

As if in answer to the Jedi Master's statement, the Guardian began a gradual turn away from Hlest. Then the shuttle's comm pinged; Corran answered it.

“If you're thinking about finishing off my Star Destroyer, Horn,” Fel's angry voice came through, “I urge you to reconsider. I've already contacted my superiors and let them know of everything that's happened here; you Jedi are already in very deep trouble. If you finish us off, you will officially be declaring war on the Chiss Ascendancy!”

Corran and Jacen both shared a look of incredulity. The former replied with, “As if we're not already at war with each other, Fel?”

“Oh, but you see, my superiors are willing to grant you amnesty if you allow the Guardian to launch for hyperspace. Again, if you destroy us, you lose whatever chance you have of smoothing things over with my government.”

Corran muted his end of the transmission before he turned to Jacen. “He's lying about the amnesty; I don't even need the Force to tell me that. And as if we have any hope of 'smoothing things over' with the Chiss at this point.”

“I agree, Master Horn. But they're virtually defenseless now. As Jedi, we can't just kill them just to reduce the number of enemies we have later down the line.”

Corran sighed. “You're right; it's not how we do things.” He reactivated the comm. “Tell me, Fel; did you tell your superiors that you fired on an independent planet without provocation?”

“Without provocation? We were trying to destroy you!”

“Yeah, but does that really justify firing on a planet and killing who-knows how many civilians, all in attempts that have failed, by the way?”

After a moment, Fel exploded. “I don't have to answer this! Let us leave, and I promise that no one will attack you here!”

“But anywhere else in the galaxy is fair game, huh?” Corran asked snidely.

Fel didn't respond; he just cut off the connection then and there. For his part, Corran didn't move in to finish off the Guardian; he and Jacen just watched as the Destroyer moved out of Hlest's gravity well before it launched for hyperspace.

“Alright then,” Corran said evenly. “Let's go find Jaina.” He redirected the shuttle back at Hlest.

. . . 

The feeling of death from above sickened Jaina and only further resolved her drive to kill Jag. Though she remained hidden in the sewers and wasn't completely aware of what was happening on the surface, she just knew that whatever happened was Jag's doing and that he would pay for it.

Had she not been so angry with her ex-boyfriend, she would have blamed herself for at least part of the carnage he wrought upon this planet, relatively small though it may have been. But like with Jag torturing Zekk, while it may have been for a short time, what the Chiss-raised human did here couldn't go unpunished, either.

Of course, she didn't know why Jag had ceased what was most likely an orbital bombardment of this world, and so soon at that. She sensed that there were still people alive and who were in obvious physical and emotional pain. Jaina vowed that when she killed Jag, she would find a way to make him suffer for all the lives that he had taken here on top of hurting Zekk.

Upon finding a ladder that led up to the surface, she climbed up and used the Force to remove the manhole cover above. Even before she poked her head out, she could tell that she was in an alley, and since she didn't sense anyone nearby, she could emerge unseen and merge with the rest of the crowd. With the damage that this town and others nearby had suffered, she doubted that anyone would notice how badly she smelled for spending so much time in the sewers.

When she made it out to the streets, she slowed in her progress as she saw the charred remains of some buildings, vehicles, and even the crisped remains of some people. As bad as it was to sense the pain of the living from beneath, seeing it as people of various species were either in physical pain, even among those receiving emergency services, or emotional agony as they surrounded the corpses—or even pieces of corpses in some cases—of their loved ones almost made her want to scream Jag's name in vengeance.

In spite of that, she kept herself in control; she would unleash her anger in the proper time. In the meantime, she knew that she had to find a ship to get offworld; she imagined that that might be difficult since the whole planet was probably on lockdown from having anyone leave until the authorities could figure out what just happened.

She stopped in her tracks and looked up to the sky when she heard the sound of a shuttle flying overhead. The ship hovered in place fifty meters above her; when she used the Force to enhance her vision, she saw who was in the pilot and copilot seats respectively from here.

Corran and Jacen.

Jaina's eyes narrowed as she allowed her presence to become readable to them through the Force, if only so that she could get a read on them, too. She sensed that their intentions were non-hostile at least, and through their twin bond in particular, Jacen conveyed that he, Corran, and Lowie were no longer with Jag and the Chiss; they just wanted to talk to her.

However, just before she could give an answer through the twin bond, the Chiss shuttle was surrounded by a trio of police speeders. 

From the loudspeakers of one of those speeders, a masculine voice called out, “JAPD!” Jaina figured that was the acronym of the police force for whatever this town's name was. “Set the shuttle down slowly and step out!”

. . . 

“Jacen?” Corran asked.

“Got it,” the Knight responded.

Immediately, the sounds of Chiss clawcraft sounded in the air, and the police speeders which surrounded the shuttle broke off. Jacen maintained the illusion of six clawcraft that chased them for several dozen meters, right up until the speeders became distant specks to his and Corran's vision.

“Take the helm,” Corran said as he vacated the pilot seat.

“What?” Jacen asked even as he did as the Jedi Master told him to do. “Why?”

“You can fly and keep up the illusions, as you did above,” Corran said as he stood between the pilot and copilot seats. “I'll go get Jaina.”

“But, Master Horn-”

“No arguments. Just get us close to her.”

Jacen abruptly shut his mouth and dove the shuttle down toward where Jaina was. Swiftly, she turned away and began running away even as she made herself small in the Force again.

“When I'm out,” Corran said, “you pull out. I'll signal you over the comm to let you know where we are; failing that for whatever reason, I'll reach out to you through the Force. Understood?”

“Understood.” Jacen kept whatever resentment he felt at the Jedi Master to himself, or at least tried to when it came to his Force-presence; Corran could feel that all he wanted to do at the moment was to simply talk to his sister.

A part of the Jedi Master would have agreed to let him go after her. But he knew how Jaina could influence her brother's emotions through their twin bond; Corran couldn't afford to let the other Solo twin get drawn into whatever dark emotions that were affecting his sister should they be left alone together. 

After he arrived at the shuttle's rear and opened up its landing ramp, he jumped out, Force-cushioned his landing, and then turned and began chasing after Jaina on foot. Above, the shuttle banked off and disappeared over the horizon of buildings that surrounded Corran and his quarry. 

As they rushed past pedestrians who were too traumatized by the recent orbital bombardment to question what was going on, Jaina gave one brief look over her shoulder back at Corran before she turned back and used the Force to rip a nearby manhole cover out of its placement. Without breaking stride, she hurried to it and plummeted down its depths.

Corran followed, but even as he still descended in a free-fall, he had to whip out and activate his lightsaber to block Jaina's blade, which had swung at him from below. 

From the block, he used it as leverage to twist himself in the air before he landed in a crouch behind his opponent. The two stood off against each other; both of them had adopted defensive stances.

He realized what she had just tried to do; she had tried to kill him without provocation. Jaina really was on a dark path now; if she had any hope of being pulled back, Corran had to be very careful with what he said next.

“I mean you no harm, Jaina! We can still end this peacefully!”

“Can we now?” she retorted mirthlessly.

It was then that she opened her presence up through the Force again, and Corran felt what he had already deduced before his feet hit the muck of this sewer: the anger, the hatred, the rage, all directed at Jagged Fel. 

“You know what all that mans, Corran,” Jaina said as she made her Force-presence small again, “and why I can't go back with you, Jacen, and Lowie.”

“Fel isn't worth it, Jaina! He's not worth falling to the dark side!”

“Then who is?” Jaina asked bitterly.

“No one! You don't have to resort to the dark side of the Force to resolve any of your problems, or to use justice as an excuse to try to justify your behavior! Because I sense that you're using the death and pain that Fel just caused to fuel your desire for vengeance upon him, Jaina!”

She cocked her head at him. “Tell me, Master Horn. How does it feel to know that you didn't have to be the one to kill Saba?”

“What? That's not what this is about, Jaina!”

“Oh, but it is! You were ready to kill her, and I did what you had to do! And you think I'm some heartless monster that needs to be stopped because of it?”

“You used the dark side to burn out her eyes, Jaina! That was bad enough on its own. But then you killed her when she was no longer a threat! She could have been taken in at that point, badly maimed though she was, and then we could-”

“Could what, Master Horn? Maintain that precious alliance with the Chiss to hunt down and kill Tahiri, Tesar, and Alema? No thanks.”

“This is not what we Jedi do, Jaina, and you know that!”

“No, what we Jedi do is we do everything in our power to keep a mother away from trying to save her son! And when she tries to do just that, she cuts off one of my best friend's legs and forces me to kill her!”

Corran looked incredulous. “No one forced you to kill her!”

“You and Uncle Luke forced me to kill her, Corran,” Jaina growled. “Just as you force me to do this!”

She then launched herself forward to begin her duel to the death against Corran.

Chapter Text

Because of the Fallanassi illusions that he cast to stave off any police speeders that would have approached the Chiss shuttle, Jacen managed to set the ship down in the middle of one of the streets that had been bombarded by the Guardian. After cycling the shuttle down, he left the cockpit and helped Lowbacca stand up on his remaining leg so that they could disembark together. 

Once they stepped off the landing ramp, Jacen hobbled Lowie over to an ambulatory speeder, where two paramedics—one an Ebruchi, the other a Tarro—were already busying themselves with a pair of patients themselves. Nevertheless, Jacen set Lowie down several meters away so that he was propped up against the side of a building.

“I'm sorry, my friend,” Jacen said, “but I have to save Jaina.”

Still drugged, Lowie nodded. “Do... what... you... have to do,” the Wookiee groaned.

Jacen returned the nod, then turned in the direction of where he sensed Corran and Jaina's Force-presences, which he felt to be in the midst of combat. He ignored the sound of someone—probably a disgruntled paramedic—trying to call him back and chiding him for leaving his wounded friend unattended. Jacen would have agreed; after all, out here in the Unknown Regions, even on a planet as well-settled as Hlest, he doubted that Lowie could be treated properly since his species was probably not very well-known out here, if at all.

But as bad as he felt about leaving Lowie like that, even with him understanding in his drug-addled state, Jacen would have felt worse for not coming after his sister.

. . . 

As she screamed like a maniac, Jaina dueled Corran more aggressively than in their previous fight aboard the Guardian; her attacks were a lot more vicious, wild, and unpredictable with seemingly no immediately discernible pattern or form to her fighting style. And her attacks were doubly deadly as she bounced along the ceiling, floor, and walls of the sewer as if she were a professional grav-ball player. The occasional kick of muck toward Corran seemed to be something that she was heavily relying on, too, but the Jedi Master was able to erect Force-shields every now and then to keep the filth from splashing upon his face.

While conventional wisdom stated that a combatant who fought with less self-control and discipline was more prone to defeat by an opponent who had those things—especially when the composed combatant was generally more experienced and skilled—the fact was that Corran was doing everything he could to keep himself alive right now. His blocks and strikes had gradually become more desperate as he was forced to backpedal away from Jaina; he didn't even have time to think about how she could be beating him right now when he should have more of an advantage over her here than aboard the Guardian.

After several minutes of walking backwards without breaking his concentration upon dueling Jaina, Corran's danger-sense spiked. Unfortunately, due to the ferocity of his opponent's attacks, he didn't have a chance to react before he tumbled over the ledge behind him and plummeted toward the basin several meters below. He used the Force to cushion his impact, though it couldn't prevent him from being drenched in the stuff, and when he looked back up at the ledge from which he fell, he saw Jaina glare down upon him menacingly.

After she deactivated her lightsaber and hooked it back to her belt, she held both hands out and used the Force to churn the water in which Corran treaded.

“Jaina, what're you doing?” the Jedi Master asked.

Instead of answering, she lifted her arms up, and in response, so did the rest of the water. Corran rose up a few meters with it before Jaina plunged the water back to its previous level; it took the Jedi Master with it and pulled him under. 

Jaina then rose more water up and managed to keep Corran submerged as she did so; when she let it crash back down, the Master was plunged even deeper. Desperately, he tried to swim his way back up to the surface, only for his efforts to be thwarted when Jaina repeated the process with the water yet again. 

“Jaina, stop it!” an all-too familiar voice said meters behind her. “You're killing him!”

She lowered her arms back to her sides, which allowed the sewage to settle, before she turned and saw Jacen standing there with a pleading expression on his face. 

“Don't try to stop me, Jacen!” Jaina exclaimed. “I'll give you one chance to turn around and walk away.”

“Or do what? Kill me?” Jacen asked incredulously.

“If I do that,” Jaina said darkly, “it'll only be one more thing that I'll hold against Uncle Luke and Corran.”

By then, the water had settled enough for Corran to emerge and take a deep gasp of air through his mouth, rancid though it may have tasted given his surroundings. After he got his bearings, he spotted a ringed ladder that would take him directly back to Jaina; he only hoped that Jacen, whose presence he sensed now, could distract her long enough for him to get the drop on her.

“We both know you won't do that, Jaina!” Jacen said in response to his sister's last statement. “I can feel it through our bond! It would destroy you to do something like that! You'd be a monster to kill your own brother otherwise!”

“Why would it destroy me? You were dead before; I lived. And I became stronger for it, just like you.”

As she said that, Corran made it to the ladder, hooked his lightsaber back to his belt, and began to slowly and silently climb up to where Jaina was. 

“Just because I was cut off from the Force by Vergere doesn't mean I was dead, and you know that.”

“You might as well have been!”

“And what if I actually die, huh? And you're the one who delivers the killing blow? Think about it, Jaina, really think about it! As bad as killing Saba was, we both know that you wouldn't dare go as far as to kill me.”

“No, you just think that, Jacen! I can cut you off like a rotted limb! Because it was you who held me back from doing what needed to be done!”

“What needed to be done?” Jacen asked angrily.

Jaina nodded. “To rid the galaxy of Jagged Fel as much as it needs to be rid of Gorog! Your presence kept me from killing that bastard just as mine let you vent your anger at him! If I have to kill you, then I can only become stronger afterwards!”

Once Jaina finished that sentence, Corran had made it to the top of the ladder with his lightsaber in his right hand and he activated it; he aimed his blade for Jaina's left calf.

But the rogue Knight had used a burst of Force-speed to twirl around, swing her leg out of the blade's way, and activate her own blade. Less than a second later, she sliced Corran's weapon-wielding hand off at the wrist.

As the Jedi Master instinctively released his remaining hand's grip on the rung that he held, he fell back into the basin below; he screamed in pain as he grasped at the cauterized stump of his right arm.

“No!” Jacen screamed as he rushed forward.

Jaina pivoted out of his way and allowed him to dive into the basin for Corran; they both knew that if he didn't receive medical attention immediately, especially when he was presently wallowing in sewage that could exacerbate whatever infections he might get, he would more than likely die of shock before he died of drowning or a slow infection. 

After using the Force to enhance his swimming speed toward Corran, Jacen reached the wounded Master and grabbed both arms around him in a bear-hug. The Knight then used the Force again to propel them to the surface; there, as Jacen brought them toward the ladder, he could feel Corran shake even as he whimpered in pain.

But even before he reached the ladder, he saw that Jaina was already gone; she had used the distraction of Corran's present state to escape. 

Part of Jacen was relieved; though he regretted the allowance of his sister's escape, at least he wouldn't be conflicted in having to confront her. It would happen again, he knew, but right now, he just had to worry about getting Corran some help.  

. . . 

After sensing where the Guardian had stopped in its hyperspace route, Plekos had plotted a different route to Hlest that allowed the Decent Chance to arrive a few hours after the Star Destroyer made it there. That route also placed the ship on the opposite side of the planet from where the Chiss capital vessel would have arrived from hyperspace; that way, the Guardian would be far less likely to spot the Chance than if the latter had followed the former.

Upon arriving in Hlest's orbit, Plekos sensed that there had been great use of the dark side of the Force that occurred where the Guardian had shadowed the world. He expanded his senses further outward to try to isolate the dark side user.

After several minutes, Plekos found her; he didn't quite know who she was, but he felt the rage and hatred that matched the Force-signature of the power that he had sensed. And once she sensed him, the Zabrak used his own Force-abilities to initiate a telepathic connection with the other dark side user.

I will come for you, he told her.

Whoever you are, she returned, hurry. I'm not sure how long I have before my brother finds me.

Plekos then piloted the Chance down toward Hlest; once he cleared the atmosphere, he rocketed toward a bare patch of desert well outside any of the towns. Within less than two minutes, he was only meters above the barren ground, which prompted him to slow his speed as he approached the dark side user.

He soon stopped and hovered mere meters away from the person whom he felt; and when he got a good look at her face through his cockpit's viewport, his eyes lit up from recognition.

It was the legendary Jedi Knight Jaina Solo; and her presence was, indeed, brimming with the dark side of the Force.

If it weren't for that feeling, Plekos would have never opened his ship's landing ramp for her. But he did; when all other logic would have told him to do the opposite—to leave her behind and blast away from this planet to follow the Guardian to wherever it was heading right now—he instead allowed her to rush into his ship and join him in the cockpit, where she seated herself in the copilot's chair.

“Let's go,” was all she said to him then.

He nodded, as if they had been trusted partners for years; once he had the landing ramp up, that was when he took to the skies. 

Minutes after that, they left the system's gravity well behind them and entered hyperspace.

. . . 

Once Jacen had left Corran with a different paramedic team than the one that he left Lowie to, he felt Jaina's presence disappear from the Hlest system. He looked up into the sky, which was now settling into dawn, and he couldn't help but wince at the feeling of defeat that overcame him.

But as he stood in the midst of another street that the Guardian had ruined with its turbolasers, during which he wondered what to do, he soon felt two familiar presences enter the system. Moments after that, his personal commlink rang and he activated it.

“Jacen, it's Master Durron!” Kyp's voice came from the device. “Jedi Wonetun and I have arrived. What's happened?”

Jacen sighed. Now they arrive, he thought bitterly. He hit the reply button and began to explain everything that had happened since they and the Chiss dropped out into the system. 

. . . 

Several hours after they launched from Hlest, Plekos dropped the Chance out of hyperspace into an empty system.

“Why are we stopping?” Jaina asked anxiously.

“I need to confirm something with the starcharts,” Plekos replied as he brought up said charts on one of his console's screens.

“What's there to confirm? You told me about the blood-trail that you had on the Guardian, so we should be-”

“Just as I thought.” He looked directly at her. “They're going deep into Chiss space.”

“So?” she asked angrily.

“So that means we can't just enter without getting easily caught,” he replied testily. “And my ship doesn't have the firepower to take on even a single Chiss Star Destroyer, let alone a fleet of 'em.”

“So we just let 'em get away?” Jaina inquired incredulously.

“Well, unless all of Chiss space has been invaded and taken over by Gorog,” Plekos replied evenly, “I don't see the need to trace 'em any further. I'll check to see what passes for a HoloNet out here to see if there's been any Dark Nest activity.”

As the Zabrak moved to bring up any newsnets within this sector of space, Jaina asked, “You came out here for Gorog, Plekos?”

“Of course,” he answered without taking attention away from his work. “I put the blood-trail in the Guardian because I thought it would be the best chance I had of finding them. Funny you didn't ask why I put the trail there to begin with.”

“I didn't much care why. You tell me we were following the Guardian, it was good enough for me.”

At that, he looked away from his console and directed his attention upon her. “What quarrel do you have with that Star Destroyer?”

“Its captain, Jagged Fel, must die,” she uttered.

“Ah. Care to tell me why?”

“It wouldn't matter to you. Though I'm curious, why do you wanna look for Gorog?”

“I don't wanna look for any insects of that nest, if you're wondering. I'm only interested in meeting the Jedi who are part of it.”

“You mean Alema, Tahiri, and Tesar?" While she knew that the Barabel had died, she decided to keep that to herself for now. "Why are you so interested in them?”

“Well, not them specifically. I wanna know what they know.”

“About what?”

He grinned. “You know I use the Force, yet you still haven't asked what I am.”

“If you're a Sith, I honestly don't care anymore.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Tell me, do you still wanna see your friends, Jaina?”

She cocked her head in thought. “You know, after everything that happened on Hlest, I think I do. But now I don't want to bring them in, much less kill them. Though after what I did to Gorog, I don't think they'll be willing to accept me again.”

“Because you killed their queen and king, Lomi Plo and Welk?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I assume you knew them?”

He gave a coy expression. “After everything you've done, you wouldn't be accepted by either the Jedi or the Dark Nest. Where do you think you'll go now, Jaina?”

“I now live to see that Jagged Fel dies by my hand,” she said firmly. “If you take me to the closest Chiss planet where I can make my way to him, I will let you go the rest of your way to finding Gorog and its Jedi. Even if you can't get close to a military base, surely you can find a barely-secure outpost or something where they might not even pat you down for visiting.”

He pondered that for a moment. Then he said, “I'll see what I can find,” before he turned back to his console for information.

Chapter Text

Before they had even returned to the asteroid belt hideout where their division of Gorog resided, Alema and Tahiri had felt a profound message run through the hive-mind: they had found a suitable planet to inhabit. In the nearly two weeks that it had taken the Dark Nest since they had to flee from the rest of the Colony, it seemed too good to be true that they had been able to find any home out here in the Unknown Regions that wasn't either within Chiss territory or inhabited by some other faction.

This new home had been discovered by a scoutship consisting of a few Joiners and multiple members of their Killik brethren. The planet in question was primitive by many standards; indeed, it seemed that the world's bipedal occupants had yet to invent the wheel, which would make it perfect for Gorog's colonization. Moreover, this new potential home for the Dark Nest was about a week away from the asteroid belt hideout.

Nearly all of Gorog was in jubilation over this news.

Nearly.

“Do you believe this to be a trap set up by the Chiss and the Jedi, Tahiri?” Alema said out loud from the pilot seat of their stolen ship.

In the copilot seat, Tahiri looked anxiously at her. “I-We don't see how. We don't doubt what the scoutship found.”

Instead of receiving more pressure in her mind, Alema simply smiled, as if she were regarding a particularly stupid child. “Perhaps we have been too hard on you lately. We understand now how hard it is for you.”

Tahiri looked surprised. “What?”

Alema tilted her head as she regarded her. “We feel the pain that you hold for Tesar's death. He was a good friend, Tahiri. It was truly unfortunate that he had to die. But you killed him without hesitation, even if it was just to avoid the agony we have been giving you. There is hope for you yet.”

A hopeful expression brightened Tahiri's face, even as it was somewhat dimmed by her grief for Tesar and her guilt for not being a complete part of Gorog. “I am sorry that I haven't been able to join fully yet.”

“And we are sorry that we have been literally pressuring you into conforming to our ways as hard as we have been,” Alema said with a sincere tone; Tahiri could certainly feel the sincerity through the hive-mind. “We thought that breaking you was a suitable response, especially given your history with Riina Kwaad. But with Tesar's death, we understand now that it is much more complicated. We need to give you time, and for that, we will allow you a greater level of individuality; at least for a time.”

“How long?” Tahiri asked warily.

“For as long as needed. Because as long as you feel as if you are forced into joining the hive-mind, we fear you may never truly become part of us.”

Tahiri nodded. “Thank you, Alema. Or, I'm sorry, thank you, Gorog.”

Alema renewed her smile. “No thanks are needed from you. We should be thanking you for your continued loyalty to us, even after the pain that we have given you. Now let us turn to our new home.”

Yet, even as Tahiri sat back, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of something coming from Alema's Force-presence. It felt elusive, but when Tahiri couldn't reach out and feel for it, nor did Alema respond outwardly either, the human simply shrugged her shoulders and relaxed.

. . . 

Jacen paced anxiously back and forth outside the hospital where he sensed that Corran and Lowie had both been brought to. He also felt that as overcrowded as the building was with wounded from the Guardian's bombardment, he could feel that both his fellow Jedi's conditions had been stabilized and that they were probably resting as peacefully as possible right now.

Minutes after he arrived there, Jacen spotted a close-topped landspeeder with two familiar faces visible through the front viewport; at the helm was the Brubb Jedi Knight Wonetun, and in the passenger seat was Jedi Master Kyp Durron. Wonetun parked the speeder along the curb several meters from Jacen, and he and Kyp disembarked to meet the human Knight. Without having to say a word to one another, what with Jacen having briefed them over their last comm call and with Kyp and Wonetun being able to sense Corran and Lowie's conditions, the trio of Jedi headed inside to see if they could get their wounded fellows out.

Thankfully, it wasn't that difficult; with more critically wounded arriving every ten minutes or so, the doctors and nurses there seemed to only give Kyp, Jacen, and Wonetun half their attention at allowing them to take Corran and Lowie. The latter had been given a fresh dose of sedative that kept him groggy but at least numb to the pain in his leg, though he was given a fresh tourniquet over his stump. Corran, meanwhile, was completely unconscious, but Jacen felt relieved that he was at least mostly washed—the stench from the sewer was still quite noticeable, unfortunately—and his wounded stump had given a fresh tourniquet, too. 

Because of the buzz of activity in the hospital, Kyp, Jacen, and Wonetun accompanied the discharge volunteers who brought the two amputee Jedi out in less than thirty minutes on hoverchairs. Corran and Lowie were placed in the rented speeder's backseat, Jacen sat in the spare fifth seat between them, Wonetun took the helm again, and Kyp returned to the front passenger seat.

As the Brubb took them out of this town to the one where their Blastboat had been docked, Jacen asked Kyp and Wonetun, “So how'd you manage to settle down with the lockdowns going on?”

“Luckily for us,” Kyp began, “the law enforcement officers and port authorities here were easy to Force-suggestion even over the comm. We won't have any problem leaving, either.”

“Well, that's good,” Jacen replied distantly.

Kyp turned in his seat and looked at him. “You alright, kid?”

Jacen shook his head. “I can't say I am, Master Durron.”

Kyp's lips thinned. “We'll find her, Jacen. I promise you; and we will bring her back alive.” He looked between Corran and Lowie. “And in one piece.”

“I hope so. But now I can't help but think what that'll mean for Tahiri, Alema, and Tesar.”

“We'll worry about that when we return to Ossus.”

“They shouldn't be left to the Chiss. Nor should Jaina.”

“Because of what the Chiss will do them?”

Jacen shook his head. “Because of what they'll do to the Chiss.”

. . . 

Orbiting a moonless gas giant that was given the designation 08-12-50-SBTE was a space station called the Common Ground, as it was translated from Cheunh to Basic. It was deemed as neutral ground between the Chiss Ascendancy and several other species of the Unknown Regions. 

It was a surprise to both Jaina and Plekos when they learned about it, given how xenophobic and isolationist the Chiss were. But from what the two of them read on the Common Ground's history, it appeared that the blue-skinned race was not as closed off as previously thought.

08-12-50-SBTE's system had been previously colonized by a fairly friendly species known as the Ioulics, who had no idea that they had settled a few parsecs outside of Chiss space. Thankfully for the Ioulics, both they and the Chiss had drawn up a treaty where the space station could serve as a source of shoreleave for the former's Defense Force officers as well as a home for the latter. In the decades since, the Common Ground had developed into a haven for other individual parties who came out here looking for food, water, restocks of certain supplies, and a place to spend a few hours of rest and relaxation.

Of course, the Chiss and Ioulics had been smart enough to set up a checkpoint station several million kilometers from the Common Ground where ships had to dock to have whatever weapons emplacements they had disabled. Moreover, whoever was visiting the Common Ground also had to allow their weapons to be confiscated; even when the Chiss were on their downtime, they still weren't that lax on their security protocols.

Fortunately, Jaina knew how to smuggle her lightsaber past: in two pieces. For her focusing crystal, Plekos got a piece of fiberchord from his storage compartment and applied some glue, which he also had in the same compartment, to both ends of the chord; the glued ends were then applied to the crystal so that it became a necklace that Jaina put on. As for the hilt, Plekos helped her fit a tiny bulb inside so that it looked like a unique, custom-made flashlight.

That just left one problem; though anyone could visit the Common Ground without having to pay for it going inside, there were certain forms of currency that had to be paid if anyone wanted to hole up in one of the space station's lodges or buy food or drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, and Galactic Alliance credits weren't any good out here. Not that Jaina could use her credcard anyway, since even if it wasn't deactivated once the Jedi Order learned that she had turned to the dark side of the Force, they could find a way to use it to track her down.

Thankfully, Plekos ended up being a help in that area, too. He had provided six separate credcards, all with currencies that would be accepted by the Common Ground. He explained that he had spent years in the Unknown Regions and had become something of a specialist out here, so he had gained quite a number of identities with different credit accounts within different factions of this section of space for special circumstances that he wouldn't elaborate on. It was only before he gave Jaina the cards that he had slotted them into a port on his ship's control console that made sure that they all aligned with one single identity, even with each of them coming from different planets.

“But won't the banks on these other planets notice that kind of discrepancy?” she had asked after he gave her the cards.

He shook his head. “Don't worry; I have friends in high places there who can change things around on their end so that it won't seem suspicious.”

“Friends in high places, huh?”

“Well, I wouldn't call them friends exactly; more like... sleeper agents with handlers. It's a bit complicated, but it's not something that'll concern you.”

Even though this man was a dark sider, and most likely a Sith at that, Jaina couldn't help but trust him; perhaps it was because he understood her desire for revenge and was willing to help her along with that as long as she didn't get in his way of finding Gorog's wayward Jedi.

As they travelled through hyperspace toward the Common Ground, she asked, “Plekos, you don't hold anything against me for killing Lomi Plo and Welk, right?”

“I don't,” he answered simply. “Quite frankly, I hated them; not for any particular reason. It's just the way things are from... where we work. When I heard you killed them, I wanted to congratulate you, even though you were a Jedi. Of course, I do as I'm told by... my boss to find these Jedi who were a part of the Killik nest that Plo and Welk had led.”

She knew he wanted to admit that he was a Sith to her, but he sensed that his reticence was more from a fear of whatever Dark Lord he worked for than whatever distrust he had in her. Even with the surprising amount of trust that they had developed in the short time they'd been together on the Decent Chance, Jaina understood that there were things he couldn't just outright admit to her. Still, she knew that she could trust him once he let her off at the Common Ground.

“Can you tell me what you intend to do with my friends if and when you find them, Plekos?”

“It depends on what happens at their end. If they see me as a threat, and considering my troubled history with Plo and Welk, I think that may be the case, I'll probably have to make a fast escape whether or not I have to kill Alema and Tahiri." He had been informed of Tesar's death not long after they discovered the station. "But if they see me as a potential ally... well, if you ever decide that you have a higher calling than the Jedi or in killing Jagged Fel, Jaina Solo, I'll be the one to personally let you know what happens next.”

“I hope you don't have to kill my friends. Even Alema, as annoying as she is, is someone I respect. Not by much, admittedly, but we went through a lot together, so I can't be too harsh about her.”

For some reason, Jaina wasn't as perturbed as she felt that she should have been that this stranger might end up killing her friends. She held so much resentment at Jag for the lives he took on Hlest, as well as when he physically tortured Zekk and psychologically tortured her when they had been “allied” in finding Gorog, and she still carried a great deal of blame toward Luke and Corran for making her kill Saba. Yet, for some reason, she didn't understand why she was in such an amicable mood with Plekos when it came to the possibility that he would kill Alema and Tahiri, nor did she care why that was the case.

Plekos chuckled lightly. “Yes, killing them would be regretful. If it came to that, that is. I hope you won't hold it against me.”

“I'll try not to,” Jaina said off-handedly. “Though, if either of them is the least likely to be part of Gorog's plans, and the one you're most likely to kill, it'd probably be Tahiri. I won't fault you for her death, even when I grieve for her.” 

“Why would Tahiri be the one to be the most likely I'd have to kill?”

“My brother told me that was the case.”

“Where'd your brother's insight come from?”

“Flow-walking.”

“Flow-walking?”

“It's an arcane Force-power found among the Aing-Tii monks of the Kathol Rift, as I understand it. It lets you see into the past through the Force. Though, for some reason in Jacen's case, people from the past can see him, or at least other Force-users can. Raynar Thul, or, rather, UnuThul had seen Jacen on Yoggoy years ago while he was still in Yuuzhan Vong captivity, and Tahiri had seen him the day before we arrived on Hlest.”

Plekos' eyes widened in shock at this. “That... has... great implications.”

“That's what my friends and I all thought when Jacen joined us on Jwlio. Though, so far, the Force hasn't seemed to break or anything.”

“Break?”

“Well, I'm not sure how else to put it. Considering that I witnessed Jacen enter a state of oneness with the Force at the end of the Vong War, I wouldn't be surprised by what he could do.”

“Interesting. Very interesting.”

“You're gonna tell your boss or whoever when you're done with this mission, huh?”

“I think it's definitely something they need to be appraised of, yes.”

Sensing that the conversation had come to its natural end, Jaina settled back and waited for hyperspace to revert to the 08-12-50-SBTE system. But as she did, she decided to make herself small in the Force--she hoped that Plekos wouldn't notice or at least wouldn't comment on it--so that she could mask the twinge of anxiety that she felt for whatever he was thinking when it came to what Jacen could do.

Chapter Text

It took three days for the five Jedi to return to Ossus from Hlest in the Skipray Blastboat. During that time, Corran and Lowbacca were each placed in a bacta tank that had been installed in the heavy starfighter, as Kyp thought it was a good precaution to take when coming to retrieve Saba from the Unknown Regions. As he explained to Jacen, had either he or Wonetun been seriously injured by her and/or Saba herself had been seriously injured resisting her would-be capture by them, then the Jedi who wasn't injured in retrieving her could pilot them all back to Ossus.

Of course, now Kyp and Wonetun couldn't even bring back her halved remains; because Corran had elected not to retrieve her remains given the circumstances that he and Jacen had in rescuing Lowie and escaping from the Guardian, there was nothing left of Saba to retrieve. It was definitely something that Jacen regretted, and something that he knew that Corran regretted, too. But now, there was nothing to be done about it.

Upon their return to Ossus, the Blastboat had docked in the Jedi Temple's hangar bay on a clear sunny day, a stark contrast to the gloom that had developed within the starfighter. Chief Hefto had been apprised of the situation with Corran and Lowie ahead of time via comm, so she had Master Cilghal called down from the Temple's medbay with two assistants to help the amputated Jedi from their tanks. Kyp, Jacen, and Wonetun were, of course, escorted out of the ship first so that Cilghal and her people had all potential obstructions removed from their work, which allowed the three active Jedi to be met by a saddened Luke Skywalker.

“Jacen, I'm so sorry that all this happened,” he said with a tone that matched his facial expression and Force-presence.

“Please, just tell me that you'll let me go back out there,” his nephew begged. “We have to save Jaina. We have to save her more from herself than the Chiss or the Dark Nest or whatever else is out there.”

“Jacen-”

“And there's still Alema and Tahiri. They're this Order's responsibility, too! The damage they could wreak on the Chiss could be-”

“Jacen, calm down,” Luke practically barked.

The Knight fell silent and waited for his uncle to continue in a more civil tone.

“If I asked you,” Luke began, “to stay here and allow other Jedi to look for Jaina and the others, would do so?”

Jacen shook his head. “I don't think I can.”

“So you don't think that Saba disobeying my orders was wrong?”

“Honestly? No.”

Luke sighed. “I was afraid you'd say that.”

Before either of the three Jedi standing before him could say a thing in response, they all looked and saw Han and Leia Solo enter the hangar. Luke turned and regarded his sister and brother-in-law as they approached him.

“What the hell happened, Luke?” Han asked angrily even as he was still approaching him. “What the hell happened to my daughter?!”

“Han, I know you're upset-”

“Upset doesn't even begin to cover it!” Han yelled just before he grabbed both hands around his brother-in-law's collar and pulled him close so they were really face-to-face. “You told us that sending Jaina back out there could help redeem her of what she did when she was with the Killiks! But now Leia tells me she's gone to the DARK SIDE?! How'd you screw this up so bad?!”

“Han, let my husband go,” Mara said from meters behind the elder Solos; she had just entered moments before. Jacen had gotten the sense from her that she had been following his parents for some time now 

Han looked over his shoulder while he maintained his double-grip on Luke's collar. “Or what? You're gonna slap me like you did to Jaina? Or are you gonna go all Emperor's Hand on me and-”

He suddenly fell silent when Mara used the Force to swipe his hands off of Luke's shirt. Then he was abruptly flung several meters off to his left, where he hit the deck hard on his back.

In response, Leia used the Force to blast Mara off her feet. Unlike Han, though, she landed in a tuck-and-roll over her shoulder and raised her hands with her palms outward to prepare another telekinetic attack on Leia.

“That's enough!” Luke exclaimed as he came between his sister and wife.

Leia and Mara regarded each other warily before the latter stood up peacefully with her arms lowered to her sides. Luke then looked between the two women even as Corran and Lowie were helped off the Blastboat by Cilghal and her assistants, who paid no attention to the tension that had just developed in the hangar.

“Now I know that what happened was tragic,” Luke said as Han was helped back to his feet by Leia and Jacen. “But now more than ever we need to keep our heads cool. Now is not the time to fall into chaos among ourselves, especially when we could be facing a real threat from the Chiss. And with the Dark Nest still out there, aided by Knights of this very Order, we cannot allow any of this to sow the seeds of our destruction.”

Han sneered. “Nice speech. Hope you repeat it at Saba's funeral, Luke.” He turned away and headed out to the hangar's exit that led back into the Temple proper. He didn't even look at Mara as he passed her.

Leia spared Luke a parting, disappointed glance before she followed her husband out the same way. As she followed him, she exchanged a wary glance with Mara.

It had occurred to Jacen that in all that time, his mother had never said a word to her brother about Jaina. From what he had been able to read from his mother's Force-presence during the incident that just passed, she seemed just as angry at Luke as Han was. 

Perhaps she didn't say a word because her husband said all that needed to be said. And that made it all the more shocking to Jacen; he almost couldn't believe what had happened between his parents and aunt and uncle. For the two couples to turn on each other like that, after everything they had been through together over the years, was mind-boggling.

But Jacen knew that Han and Leia Solo loved Jaina deeply as their daughter as much as he loved her as his sister; and if there had been anything that could turn someone against their brother and brother-in-law, it would be over their child. Indeed, Jacen could even see Luke and Mara turning on Han and Leia in a similar vain if Ben had ever become involved in something like this as Jaina had.

When both elder Solos departed the hangar bay, Mara reached her husband and they hugged each other. 

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I'm fine,” she replied. “I don't think I'll even have a bruise after that.”

Luke nodded. “That's good to hear, at least.” He gently broke out of the hug and turned back to face Jacen (who had returned to his previous spot after he helped his mother get his father back to his feet), Kyp, and Wonetun. 

“I will have a memorial for Saba tomorrow night,” Luke told them. “While I understand that you would like to go back out and retrieve our wayward Knights as soon as possible, I would hope that all three of you will be able to attend.”

“I will come,” Wonetun answered simply.

“Of course I'll be there,” Kyp said.

Jacen nodded. “I'll attend.”

“Good, good,” Luke said. “Jacen, may I see you in my office?”

“Yes, Master Skywalker.”

“Master Durron, Jedi Wonetun,” Luke addressed, “you are free to return to your dormitories until I call upon you again.”

“Yes, Master Skywalker,” came from both of them.

As Kyp and Wonetun departed, Luke turned back to his wife and said, “Mara, you return to Ben. What I have to say to Jacen, I want to say alone.”

Mara nodded. “Okay.” She turned and left.

Minutes later, Luke and Jacen reconvened in the former's office. However, the former didn't even take his seat and instead remained on the other side of the table with his nephew.

“Jacen, while I appreciate your honesty, and while I understand your desire to help your sister, you have to understand, you can't openly disobey me like that.” His tone was stern and authoritative; it was a far cry from the warm gentle tone that Luke Skywalker was typically known for. “Especially in light of everything that's happened.”

“You asked for my opinion, Uncle Luke,” Jacen pointed out evenly. “If I had lied to you, I would have been disobeying you.”

“You know what I mean, Jacen.”

“No, I don't think I quite know.”

“Then let me spell it out for you. Ever since your sister and your friends departed from their duties in the galaxy to side with the Killiks against the Chiss, the Jedi Order hasn't been on the best terms with them. In fact, we may very well be facing a war with them, which could even pull the Galactic Alliance into this if and when the Chiss attack their territory. Moreover, our image and my leadership status has been put into question by the Galactic Alliance; Chief Omas has taken notice with everything that's happened.”

“Well, I'm sorry I've tarnished your image, Uncle Luke, but there are things that are more-”

“I wasn't finished speaking. I have now lost three Jedi to death since this Killik crisis began, one of them being a Jedi Master no less. And she died, in part, because she disobeyed my orders. Now you tell me that you would deliberately go against my commands because you can't help but want to save your sister, just as Saba couldn't help but want to save her son.

“I need to help lead this Order, Jacen, and I can't have belligerent Jedi go off doing whatever they want. If I did that, this Order could not possibly function as well as it should. It would inevitably lead us back into ruin, and with what could be a full-fledged war with the Chiss, this division that we're now seeing among ourselves cannot be tolerated. Is that understood?”

“I understand, Uncle Luke,” Jacen replied with a surprisingly calm tone. “You want to take total control of the Order because you think that it's the best course of action. What I don't understand is how you expect that to prevent any other Jedi to disobey you in the future like Saba.”

“It's quite simple, Jacen. After I deliver Saba's eulogy tomorrow, I will, of course, allow other Jedi who knew her personally to speak their piece about her. And when that's done, I will declare myself Grand Master of the Jedi Order.”

Jacen's eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“You heard me correctly. And after I do that, I will ask any Jedi who cannot commit their lives to this Order completely must renounce themselves from it.”

“I imagine you'll have a lot of dropouts then,” Jacen said bitterly.

“Perhaps I will. But I see no other feasible choice now. Everything that's happened at Hlest, though it may seem small compared to the Killik crisis that led up to it, has been an undeniable disaster that will have greater implications for us in the future. And part of it has been the result of at least two of my Jedi who couldn't control their own feelings. 

“You may think that I'm too concerned with the public relations side of things here, Jacen, but you have to understand that that's a big part of what keeps this Order functioning as well as it has been in the years since I've reestablished the Jedi as a collective entity. And if you think that what I'm doing is not what the Jedi should be doing, then I ask you right now whether or not you feel that you would commit completely to this Order.”

Jacen was silent for several heartbeats before he responded. “May I answer that tomorrow, after you declare yourself Grand Master?”

“I will allow you to think on it until then,” Luke said stiffly.

“Thank you, Uncle Luke.”

“You're welcome, Jacen,” Luke replied amicably. “Now that's all I have to say to you. Is there anything you wish to say to me before I dismiss you?”

“Yes, there is. Do you think that not allowing Saba to be part of this mission in the first place was still a good idea, Uncle Luke?”

Luke kept himself composed in spite of the biting nature of the question. “If you must know, Jacen, I admittedly hold some regret for what happened to Saba. But the fact of the matter remains is that she made her decisions, just as Jaina made hers. And if I begin doubting whether or not I should have allowed Saba to enter a compromised position where she could have potentially made things even worse than they are, then I fear the Jedi Order will fall within my lifetime.”

“I see. Then I have another question for you. Are you concerned that allowing me to go after Jaina will compromise me emotionally or will it make you look like you're being a nepotist?”

Luke sighed. “Both, honestly. But there's more to it than that, Jacen. It's not just that I fear that it will make me look weak or that I allow my nephew a special privilege to save my niece. If I were to allow you to go off after Jaina when I had previously barred Saba for doing the same for Tesar, then her death will have been in vain.”

“Or it could be a tacit admission to the Order that you had been wrong to bar her from saving Tesar.”

“Would it be?”

“It could.”

“Then what? It would simultaneously serve as an example that all our Jedi can be open to doing whatever they think is right, and that they can freely disregard whatever I have to say as if it were a piece of litter in the sidewalk. And look what happened when that was the case; you, Jaina, and the other Myrkr survivors went off to side with the Killiks against the Chiss without even knowing that you were all being manipulated by Sith! No, Jacen, I can't just allow Saba's death to serve as an example for something that I did wrong.”

“But you think you did something wrong, didn't you, Uncle Luke?”

“I hate to say it, but I do think that. I think that maybe I should have called Kyp and Wonetun back to Ossus; maybe I should have just told Corran to allow Saba to help him, you, Jaina, and Lowie in finding Tesar, Alema, and Tahiri. Maybe I had been wrong to think that Saba getting involved would have only ruined things; maybe she could have helped saved Tesar, if not Alema and Tahiri, too. But we can't know that, now can we? All we have now are the consequences, and I have to be the one who does the best I can to mend the wounds of those consequences.”

“So, instead of owning up to your mistakes, you're going to make Saba's death an example of what happens when Jedi disobey you?”

“Are you implying something, Jacen?”

“Yes, I'm implying something. Why aren't you allowing yourself to listen to the Force to tell you what's right?”

Luke looked shocked by that question. “You really think I haven't, Jacen? You think I didn't trust my feelings in the Force when I tried to prevent Saba from leaving Ossus to try to save Tesar? I remember what Saba was feeling when I last spoke to her; her whole being was drenched in the anxiety that she felt for her son. I trusted her to come around to being a proper Jedi Master and do what was right by staying out of the way, and that was in spite of my continued reticence on leaving her alone. Then look what happened.”

“So you sense something similar from me about Jaina?”

“Of course I do, Jacen.”

“Then I have nothing more to say until tomorrow, Uncle Luke. Good day to you.”

“Good day to you, Jacen.”

The Knight then turned and headed toward the exit. But he stopped and turned back just as Luke seated himself behind his desk.

“There is one more thing, actually,” Jacen said.

“What is it?” Luke asked patiently enough.

“If you fear that this Order will become weak if you start looking weak, Uncle Luke, then maybe you should start making sure that your and Aunt Mara's relationship with my parents gets repaired as soon as possible.”

As Jacen left, Luke's jaw opened in shock.

. . . 

Jaina had been staying in one of the Common Ground's motels for the past two days, and yet, every time she ventured out to its shops, foodcourts, and especially the cantinas, she hadn't spotted any Chiss military officers lounging around on shoreleave yet. Apparently, she must have come at a bad time this year; she hoped she wouldn't have to spend too much more time here. Not that the Common Ground wasn't a nice space station; she just didn't want to attract any unwanted attention from the people who actually worked and/or lived here.

However, she had taken the time to purchase and apply some much-needed prostheses, makeup, and a blonde wig to cover up what she figured would be a recognizable face by now. If she hadn't been wanted by the Chiss for her supposed crimes against them, she wouldn't have been so worried on her first day here about getting caught by some Defense Force officer who had been relaxing. Fortunately for her, she had been able to get the correct facial cover-ups without anyone being the wiser about her identity; it was too bad that Plekos hadn't been able to provide her with a makeup kit, since he himself never felt the need for one.

“If I ever find the need for something like that, I've screwed up in my job and should just bail out,” he had told her before he dropped her off here.

But Jaina would wait here for as long as possible. Even if she attracted too much attention over time and had to destroy this whole bloody station just to attract some Chiss attention so she could be that much closer to killing Jag, she would do it. But for now, she would wait and she would stalk any potential prey.

By the end of the second day, after she was in the midst of walking back to her motel room, she saw on a flashing billboard overhead that there was a new arrival: the crew of the Chiss cruiser Aranok. 

She grinned. Now was time to see which of them spoke Basic, which was weak-minded enough to fall for her charms, and then learn from that prey how she could stowaway aboard their ship. Right now, though, all she had to do was wait for them to board this station and follow them—discretely, of course—to whichever cantina they walked to.

Chapter Text

Plekos had settled the Decent Chance in an empty system several parsecs in the opposite direction from the Common Ground after he dropped Jaina off. Now, thanks to information that she gratefully provided before she left for that station, he was in the midst of going through the tedium of contacting the various smuggler “friends” whom he accrued over his years of working in the Unknown Regions. At this point, they were his best bet on tracking down Gorog and, more importantly, the Jedi Knights who were part of that hive-mind.

It took him nearly two hours going through those contacts in which he asked them questions about the whereabouts of the Barloz-class medium freighter Heavyload, which had belonged to the late Captain Simmonus Blebb. At the end of that time, Plekos finally got some kind of lead from a renegade Chiss who was known to the Zabrak for smuggling an off-brand type of spice throughout the Unknown Regions.

According to this Chiss, who was only known by his core name Oklip, he had spotted the Heavyload, as it was boarded by a brunette who matched Jaina's description of Tahiri in her disguise. Oklip's sighting of the person who could have been her occurred on a pit stop space station where both the Chiss' ship and the possible Heavyload were getting refueled just the day before; when Oklip spotted the brunette, he took to memorizing the details of her ship so that he could follow her in an attempt to fulfill some sexual desires that he ended up sharing with Plekos.

Instead of being aroused by what Oklip had wanted to do to Tahiri, Plekos was more annoyed; his mind was only on learning where Tahiri could have gone, for the moment. So he tolerated Oklip's detailed fantasies until, finally, the Chiss explained to him that he had managed to get her vessel's hyperspace coordinates, since both their ships had finished refueling right around the same time. The only reason Oklip didn't actually go on to follow the Heavyload was because he had a schedule to keep with some of the illicit product that he carried.

Once the Chiss had finished telling his story, he provided Plekos with the coordinates and the possible locations where the Barloz-class freighter could have gone from there. The Zabrak thanked the person whom he would call a colleague, told him he owed him one, and cut off the communication before muttering, “Deviant vermin.”

Plekos then looked through the possible destinations where the Heavyload could have gone and narrowed it down to the least likely destination: somewhere that hadn't even been charted by the Chiss Ascendancy yet. 

If there was territory that even the Chiss hadn't known about, there was a good chance that Gorog would go there for a haven. This possible destination was about two days away from his current position; so with that, he input the hyperspace coordinates and launched the Chance to where he would most likely find the Dark Nest. 

. . . 

On a night very much like the one that took place during Zekk and Tekli's funeral, Jacen stood with his parents at the forefront of the Jedi congregation like before for Saba's memorial. He saw that Kyp and Wonetun had attended like they promised yesterday, and even the amputated Jedi who returned from Hlest—Corran and Lowie—were present with robotic prostheses to replace their lost limbs. 

Naturally, those two were surrounded by their families; Corran stood next to his wife Mirax, with their son and daughter Valin and Jysella at either side of them, and even Corran's father-in-law Booster Terrik was behind him to offer support. Lowie, meanwhile, as he now stood sober and standing on two good legs—even if one of them was artificial—was supported by his father Mahraccor, mother Kallabow, and even his aunt and cousin, Mallatobuck and Lumpawaroo. 

Jacen sensed no resentment from Lowie; even though Saba had been the one to cut off his leg. All he sensed from his friend was his somber respect for a fallen Jedi Master, which was mirrored in Corran's Force-presence; it was obvious that neither of them were going to voice any objections to Saba receiving a memorial.

However, what was at the forefront of Jacen's mind right now was the noticeable absence of his sister in this proceeding. Indeed, he didn't even need the Force to know that his father and mother were saddened more by where Jaina could be and what she could be doing than by Saba's death, which occurred because of their daughter.

The time soon came for Luke to step up to deliver the Barabel's eulogy. 

“Tragedy has once again struck our Order, and so soon after we lost two good Jedi Knights, Zekk and Tekli. This time, however, it is a Master to whom we pay our final respects. Saba Sebatyne's loss has served as yet one more great blow to us, and that blow has been made that much harder because of the particularly unfortunate circumstances that surrounded her passage into the Force. As many of you have been made aware, Master Sebatyne had gone off believing that what she was doing was right, even if it was going against my wishes. I admit that I feared that something like this would happen, and while I regret that Master Sebatyne died, I do not regret the actions that had to be taken to make sure that she did not make a bad situation even worse.”

Jacen felt a tremor of anger run through the congregation by that statement, and he had no doubt that Luke felt it, too. He even felt it coming from Kyp, Wonetun, Corran, and Lowie, as if that had broken his inner Jedi calm. It was a wonder why no one here was yet voicing their discontent to his uncle right now; Jacen believed that perhaps it had been because of the respect that everyone here still had for Luke Skywalker, founder of the New Jedi Order.

Jacen's uncle went on to deliver a more personal eulogy for Saba, wherein he recounted more positive memories that he had of her. He also made sure to note that for her faults by the end of her life, she was still a good Jedi Master and a great asset to the Order, even if her legacy would be tainted for what her final actions implied for the future. Not unlike Tekli, Jacen realized.

When Luke finished delivering the eulogy, other Jedi like Kyp and Wonetun came up to express their thoughts and feelings about Saba given how much they had known and cared for her. After an hour of brief words from various other Jedi—none of them being Jacen, Corran, or Lowie, who all preferred to remain silent for the memorial—Luke took back his place at the head of the congregation.

Now came the part that Jacen feared.

“While I still retain the highest respect for Master Sebatyne, just as I had for Jedi Zekk and Tekli, I have come to the realization that these tragedies have occurred because our fellow Jedi took actions based on feelings that were not completely congruent to the realities of what needed to be done. Everything that has happened since the Killik crisis started has led several of our Jedi down misleading or even dark paths that led inexorably to disastrous results; indeed, my own niece, Jaina, is one of those Jedi, and with her whereabouts still unknown, it has become apparent to me that, now more than ever, this Order needs stronger leadership.

“While neither I nor Chief of State Omas have been contacted by any representatives of the Chiss Ascendancy as a result of the events at Hlest, nor have the Chiss made any public announcements to the galaxy at large as to what they will do next, it has become apparent to us that we could be facing a war with them very soon. Therefore, in light of all of these facts and that very likely possibility, it is with great reluctance that I must take a title that has not been used since the days preceding the dawn of Palpatine's Empire. It is a role that, on the surface, may seem autocratic and possibly hypocritical on my part, but I see no other viable solution as to how we can lead the Jedi Order as a united front.

“My fellow Jedi, I have brought you all here not just to honor Master Sebatyne's memory, but to announce my declaration that I will now be accepting the role of Grand Master of the Jedi Order.”

That was when hushed whispers and shocked gasps followed from the congregation; Jacen, for his part, shut his eyes and bowed his head. 

“Jacen?” Leia asked, bringing his attention to her. “Did you know about this?”

Before Jacen could answer, Luke called out, “My fellow Jedi!”

Silence fell long enough for him to resume.

“I can tell already that this is a controversial decision on my part. No doubt many of you believe this to be unethical and against our values. Which is why I ask all of you to look within yourselves and ask: Can I make a complete and total commitment to this Order? Am I able to set aside any and all other priorities for the continued existence of this Order? Do I have it within myself to make sure that whatever personal feelings I have for those I love, whether they be friends or family, do not get in the way of what needs to be done? If those I love should ever become involved in something dangerous or self-destructive, can I trust the Grand Master to do what needs to be done for their sake?

“Indeed, these questions seem like they would go against everything that we live and fight for. But if you find that you cannot make a true commitment to the Jedi Order, then you may feel free to come to me and explain why you feel that you no longer belong with us. And as you can see by that vidcam operator over there, this announcement will be broadcast to other Jedi who could not make it to this congregation tonight.” Luke indicated a Sullustan several meters to his left who had been wielding a handheld cam that was aimed at the Grand Master. 

“I will expect them to come to me,” Luke continued, “or at least send me a recorded message if they're too indisposed, to give me an answer. Thank you for your time.”

Nobody moved or said anything for a solid thirty seconds. Then Jacen watched as various Jedi moved past him to the forefront of the congregation; he wasn't surprised to find that Corran was among them.

Jacen waited as all these Jedi went to his uncle to give their reasons as to why they couldn't fully commit themselves to the Jedi Order. For the most part, Luke accepted them; from his vantage point, Jacen could tell that the self-proclaimed Grand Master was turning down very few dropouts. This surprised Jacen; the fact that people who felt that they should leave were told to stay was something that he wasn't prepared for.

When Corran walked back to rejoin his family, Jacen intercepted him and asked, “So?”

“The Grand Master won't accept my resignation,” Corran answered with a reticent expression. “He heard me when I told him that I would place my family above the Order; but he told me that my place was here nonetheless, and he couldn't see me leaving. He had faith that whatever trouble my family got involved in, they could fend for themselves. I agreed, of course. So I'm still a Master.”

As Corran explained himself, Jacen found that he wasn't surprised why Luke had turned down his resignation. As a Jedi Master, he was too useful and obedient, and with Saba gone, Jacen doubted that there would be any Jedi Masters who would disobey the Grand Master now. Indeed, not even Kyp had stepped up to offer a resignation; Jacen was surprised, given how rebellious and critical he had been toward Luke during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

How things changed, Jacen thought. But then, given everything he had gone through during the Vong War himself, and with everything that went down with Jaina, he considered himself to be one of the most knowledgeable people in the galaxy to understand how a person could change so radically over time.

Jacen allowed Corran to return to his family and continued to wait until the last resigning—or would-be resigning—Jedi petered away. 

Then he stepped forward.

“I resign,” he said simply.

His uncle nodded with a neutral expression. “Of course.” He then held up his artificial hand, which Jacen took and shook.

Luke then pulled him in close and whispered in his ear, “Bring Jaina back for us.”

“I will,” Jacen whispered back.  

He then turned away and returned to Han and Leia.

“So, Mom, Dad, you want to come with me to save Jaina?”

“What do you think, kid?” Han retorted. Naturally, Leia didn't look like she disagreed.

“Then let's go,” Jacen said.

. . . 

It had taken Jaina only an hour to convince a drunken Chiss ensign, who knew passable Basic, to bring her back to the Aranok for “some fun.” It wasn't that hard to slip past his similarly inebriated colleagues in the cantina where he and the disguised wayward Jedi had met; and because the security of the Common Ground pretty much ended with the weapons-disabling checkpoint station, there was virtually no problem for the ensign to bring Jaina aboard the cruiser. Even the anti-intruder systems that were activated while the crew was on leave had been deactivated by the ensign, and with a little mind-trickery, she was able to convince him to register her as another member of the crew.

As they travelled through the Aranok's corridors, she used the Force to scramble the security feeds so that she wouldn't be picked up later on. A number of minutes later, the ensign brought her to his quarters, and once the doors were closed, she placed both her hands on each side of his head and sent a deep urging into his mind.

He would return to his colleagues immediately and forget that she was ever here. However, every time he would come back here, he would bring extra food and water, even if he couldn't understand why. 

Once that conditioning was made clear to him on an unconscious level, Jaina asked him, “So, tell me, when does shoreleave end?”

“A week, I'm afraid,” the ensign replied bitterly. “Our bosses no give us more time. They say it because of something going on with Jedi. Possible war. Very bad.”

“I bet,” Jaina said neutrally. “Well, now, you run along and return to your friends.” She added a wave of her hand for a little emphasis through the Force.

The ensign nodded drunkenly, then turned and stumbled out of his quarters. Jaina let out a frustrated breath; another week here, she thought angrily. 

If any good were to come out of this potential war with the Jedi, it would mean that the Aranok might ship out much sooner than expected. And if that meant that she got closer to Jagged Fel, then that was good enough for her.

But assuming that it would, indeed, be another week aboard the Common Ground, Jaina would once again settle in and wait.

Chapter Text

As he sat alone behind his desk in his office, Luke waited. It had been two hours since he got out of bed, prepared himself, and headed here. And while he would have gone through this morning's reports from the Jedi who were still officially part of the Order—which were still a lot, considering that he expected more to have dropped out since his self-declaration as Grand Master—Luke did virtually nothing but breathe in and out patiently because of an urgent feeling that he had. He got the sense from the Force itself telling him that something big was going to happen, even if he didn't quite know what.

However, given the events that had occurred at Hlest a number of days before, he hazarded a guess that what was about to happen had something to do with the Chiss.

When his intercom's buzzer rang, he answered it promptly. “Yes?”

“Master Skywalker,” his receptionist—a non-Force-sensitive female Ryn—reported from the other end, “Chief of State Omas wishes to speak with you.”

“Thank you, Jurum; I'll take him on my holocomm.”

Luke then activated said device and a one-to-one representation of Cal Omas' head and upper torso appeared before him. The combined expression on the face and body of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances' Chief of State was both dour and anxious.

“Luke,” Omas said, “turn on your HoloNet transmitter now.” He then gave the Grand Master the frequency number.

Luke did as Omas asked and had the resultant transmission set next to the Chief's image. The broadcast that the both of them watched showed an elderly Chiss with whom Luke was familiar.

“Citizens of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances,” the blue-skinned alien said, “I am Ambassador Chaf'orm'bintrano, or Formbi for short, of the Chiss Ascendancy. I am making this broadcast over your HoloNet for this one purpose: to declare war on the Jedi Order on behalf of the Ascendancy.”

Formbi allowed that announcement to sink in for a few seconds before he continued. Luke, for his part, remained composed while Omas looked as if he was going to vomit.

“The reason for this declaration of war upon the Jedi,” Formbi went on, “is simple: members of their Order have broken an alliance meant to hunt down and neutralize the Killik nest of Gorog, which, to the best of our knowledge, has three Jedi Knights in its hive-mind. Many members of our Expansionary Defense Force were killed trying to neutralize the Jedi who broke the alliance. The names of those Jedi, for the record, are Jedi Master Corran Horn, Jedi Knights Jaina and Jacen Solo, and Jedi Lowbacca.

“Our own Captain Jagged Fel of the Star Destroyer Guardian and his remaining crew returned to Chiss territory with records of this betrayal from their ship's video cameras. The reason for this betrayal on the part of these Jedi is largely unclear. Regardless of the reason, the Chiss Ascendancy cannot stand by and allow the Jedi Order to continue to operate without consequence. However, we also understand that the Jedi are a part of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, and that to declare war on the Order is to declare war on the Galactic Alliance.

“That is why I, Ambassador Formbi of the Chiss Ascendancy, give the GA's Chief of State Cal Omas two days following the end of this broadcast to respond to me. His response will fall in one of two categories. One, he will standby the Jedi Order and invite a war against the Ascendancy. Or two, he will allow us to move in on the Jedi capital world of Ossus, allow us to bombard its Temple to oblivion, and then allow select members of our forces to roam Galactic Alliance territory for any and all remaining Jedi.

“To Chief Omas, I say this: I have no desire to see war break out between our peoples anymore than I wish for the eradication of the Jedi Order. But since the Chiss Ascendancy is willing to grant the Galactic Alliance leniency, something that we cannot give to the Jedi, I sincerely hope that you stay out of our war.

“And to Luke Skywalker, leader of the Jedi Order, I say this to you: while I personally have respect for you when you were among us even before the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy, I'm afraid that that respect will not spare you of the Ascendancy's wrath. However, while our forces intend to obliterate your Temple from Ossus' orbit, you can spare all of your Jedi if you give yourself up at the earliest opportunity. We will accept no other conditions, whether they be the excommunication, imprisonment, or execution of the Jedi who betrayed the crew of the Guardian. You, Master Skywalker, will have the opportunity to speak on behalf of your Order, to offer to spare the lives of even the previously mentioned Jedi, at the same time that Chief Omas will speak on behalf of his government.

“To reiterate and conclude, you, Chief Omas and Master Skywalker, have two days to respond. And make no mistake, while my people are known for being isolationists, we will come out of our territory when needed to enter your part of the galaxy to do what needs to be done. This decision was not made lightly by my people's Ruling Council, and our forces will not fight lightly if that is the option that you gentlemen would leave us. That will be all for now.”

The broadcast concluded and Luke shut off that part of his holoprojector.

“You caught every word of that, Luke?” Omas asked.

The Grand Master nodded. “I did, Cal.”

“Then you must understand that while I have the utmost respect and gratitude for you and all that you and your Jedi have done for the galaxy-”

“You can't pull your forces or the people of the Galactic Alliance into this war; it wouldn't be responsible of you as Chief of State.”

Omas nodded sadly. “I'm so sorry, Luke.”

The Grand Master sighed. “No need to apologize, Cal. Frankly, I would think less of you had you agreed to stand by my side on this matter. The Chiss are not the Yuuzhan Vong; I believe in Ambassador Formbi's words that his people will leave the GA alone if you stay out of this.”

“So what will you do then?”

“The decision for me to make is as hard as it is obvious. Given what the ambassador said, I must turn myself in if I'm to spare all my Jedi a war, or at least from being hunted down.”

“Why do you think the Chiss are giving you this kind of opportunity? If they really do honor it on their end, all that will happen is that the Jedi Order can just go on like before, right?”

“After a time, yes. But you have to remember, Cal, what I mean to this Order even before I declared myself Grand Master. I say this without vanity or ego: without me, the Jedi Order would not have been brought back to this point. If the Chiss take me, it will be a crushing blow to the Order's morale. And while the Chiss, as Formbi pointed out, are isolationists, they're not completely ignorant of us; they know that taking me will, at the very least, serve as an optics victory on their part, and it can even save them the necessity, or perceived necessity, of a war. And, at any rate, since I'm the leader of this Order, I can answer for the crimes of my subordinates and suffer the consequences alone.”

“They'll execute you, you know that. Right, Luke?”

“Undoubtedly.”

Omas' lips thinned. “If I may say so, I don't see your wife or any of your other family members letting you get away with making that decision.”

“Mara certainly won't. Though I doubt any of the Solos would be willing to drop their search for Jaina even for me.”

“Would you really be willing to go along with this?”

“If only so that the Chiss can know that Captain Fel isn't as forthcoming as Formbi thinks he is.”

“No doubt even Formbi would dismiss your claims about Fel's words when it comes to your Jedi.”

“Perhaps. But the ambassador is allowing me to speak before his people take me and-”

Luke was cut off from saying anything more as soon as the door to his office opened. He looked up to find Mara walk in with a look of horror on her face.

“Luke, did you see the-”

“Yes, Mara, I did,” he interrupted. He looked back at the Chief of State's holo. “Can I call you back, Cal?”

“Absolutely.” Omas then signed off from his end without further prompting.

Luke then stood up from his seat and walked around his desk to fully regard his wife. “Mara, you have to understand-”

“Don't! I know exactly what you're gonna do! I can feel it in your presence, your certitude. You're gonna give yourself up just like that?”

“It's either that or the Jedi undergo another purge. Or, if Cal decides that the GA shouldn't stand back and allow it to happen, we'll have a full-scale war on our hands and-”

“Then let there be another war! I don't care! I'm not willing to lose you! I won't let Ben go on without his father!”

“We can't be that selfish, Mara.” In spite of his words, Luke couldn't help but feel his stomach burn from having spoken that sentence. “Millions, billions, of more lives shouldn't have to be sacrificed-”

“None of those lives are yours, Luke! None of them are yours! And don't you tell me you're doing this for the greater good of the galaxy or doing what's right in general! If you followed close to that principle to begin with, you wouldn't have let Corran and Jacen turn on Jag just to try to save Jaina!”

Luke was left speechless by that accusation. But when he opened his mouth, he found that he had no reasonable comeback. Indeed, Corran had let him know that Jaina had fully committed herself to the dark side of the Force, sudden though it was, when she killed Saba; and when Jag wouldn't allow Corran or Jacen to get involved in capturing Jaina down on Hlest, Luke gave Corran permission to turn on the Guardian. 

And that was all for Jaina. Luke allowed Corran to end the alliance to look for Gorog and its rogue Jedi because Jaina was his niece. And in the end, neither Corran nor Jacen were able to bring her back to answer for her betrayal.

“Luke, please!” Mara said, snapping him back to the present. “Tell me you have a plan! Tell me I'm wrong, that you're not just gonna roll over and let the Chiss execute you for what Corran and Jacen did!  That isn't the Luke Skywalker I know and love! That isn't the man I married!”

“Mara, with the opportunity that Formbi gave me to spare the rest of the Order, it would be unconscionable for me to let every single other Jedi to be hunted down if I refuse his offer. What kind of Grand Master would I be if I were to do that?”

“A living one! That's what kind of Grand Master you'd be!”

“Mara, do you honestly believe that I could live with myself if I brought about the end of this Order because I couldn't bear to think about what it would do to my family? Do you think I could look Ben in the eye and feel no shame when I did so?”

“At least you'd be able to look him in the eye and watch him grow up to become a man! You could guide him, teach him, show him how he can survive being hunted down by the Chiss!”

“That wouldn't be good enough and you know it. Just because I'd be with him and you wouldn't erase the fact that I'd put your lives in jeopardy. And do you think that he wouldn't die by the Chiss' hands, Mara? If you or Ben were to die because of all this, I'd be the Grand Master of the Jedi Order who not only led the Order to be hunted down by the Chiss, but also be the one who couldn't protect his own family in the process! Formbi is allowing me the opportunity to do so, Mara! And considering that I'd give my life for any member of this Order, what do you think I'd do for my family?”

This time, Mara was the one who didn't have a comeback.

When silence had reigned over them for long enough, Luke sighed. “When I'm gone, I want you to assume-”

“No, Luke, no, I'm not doing that.”

Luke looked at his wife pointedly. “I want you to take on the mantle of Grand Master. I highly doubt that you'll receive any competition from any of the Masters. But if you do... well, just don't fight over it for too long. And if you become Grand Master after all, please, remember, don't do anything as selfish as you suggested earlier.”

Mara looked at him bitterly. “Selfish, huh? Well, then, maybe I shouldn't be the Grand Master after you. I'm not like you, Luke; I don't have your selflessness, your willingness to sacrifice yourself, and that's why I fell in love with you in the first place. So if you're really going to do this... don't expect me or Ben to stick around.”

“You don't mean that.”

“Yes, I do! You can't expect Ben and me to just stand by and let the Chiss take you away to be executed!”

“If you won't be there, you know that you'll regret it for the rest of your life, Mara.”

“I'll regret it if I go there anyway! And no matter what we choose, Ben will hate me for it! He'll hate you for it!”

“No, he won't. No, he won't. He may not understand at first, but as time goes by and he gets wiser as he gets older, he'll understand the sacrifice that I will have made for this Order. He may grow up without a father, but he will grow up with something better.”

“What? What could that possibly be?”

“A legend.”

“A legend?”

Luke nodded. “Mara, I never knew my father until one of the worst possible times in my life. When I learned about who Darth Vader really was, I wished that my father really was dead; indeed, for a while afterwards, I thought he was in a sense. But when he gave his own life for me, that event was one of the greatest points in my life that shaped my destiny as a Jedi.

“Mara, I want you to pass this story on to Ben after I'm gone so that he can understand, at least later in life, why I did what I did. Can you do that for me, my love?”

By now, after everything, tears had finally formed in Mara's eyes. And, naturally, she was looking away from her husband, afraid to lock eyes with him and acknowledge that everything that he said was true.

With his natural hand, Luke carefully brought his wife's chin up so that they could look at each other. 

“Mara, can you tell Ben why I will have made this sacrifice? Please. I need you to do this for me, if nothing else.”

As tears began to flow freely from her eyes, she nodded. “I will, Luke. I will tell Ben of why you will have made this sacrifice.”

After he returned the nod, he brought her in for a hug and let her cry on his shoulder. And it wasn't long before tears came from his eyes, too.

Chapter Text

Jaina had waited for a mere two days—which was five days shorter than expected—before she felt the Aranok depart from the Common Ground. Then, through the viewport of the cabin that she had been occupying, she saw that the cruiser had jumped to hyperspace.

Several hours later, the Chiss ensign whom she mind-tricked into allowing her to board returned to the cabin. And while he was clearly more sober than he had been when she first used him, he had done his part and brought back a bottle of water and a tray of food.

“I am sorry it took so long,” the ensign said as if they had been roommates for years, “but my shift finally ended. I pulled a favor from the cook to get a little extra for you; without revealing you being here, of course.”

“Thanks,” Jaina said as she took the bottle and tray from him. She sat down, opened the bottle, and drank a little from it before she chowed down on some of the nutrient paste that was the best that this ship had. Thankfully, it didn't taste too differently from what she used to eat when she had served the New Republic, and later the Galactic Alliance, during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

When she was done, she had left just enough for her “friend” to have; if she was going to have a useful servant, it made sense to give him just enough food and water to keep him active and healthy. 

As the ensign began eating the remaining paste, Jaina asked, “So where are we going?”

“Station DF-186175,” he answered in between chewing. “Day away from here at current speed. Crew transfers about to happen.”

“Crew transfers? What for?”

“Potential war may be coming after all. If Luke Skywalker doesn't give self up to us, we go to war with Jedi. Crew transfers necessary for this kind of thing.”

She looked at him pointedly. “Why does Luke Skywalker have to give himself up?”

“To answer for his Order's crimes against our people. To Guardian crew.”

“I see.” She let that mull around in her head for a moment. So Uncle Luke was given the opportunity to sacrifice himself to pay for Jacen and Corran's betrayal to Jag and the Guardian. 

A part of her just wanted to leave now, to return to Ossus to see her uncle. She wanted to convince him not to go through with it, to let him know that there had to be another way.

But then she reminded herself why she was here aboard this Chiss cruiser. She had turned her back on the Jedi Order, on Uncle Luke, and all she had left was to fulfill her vengeance upon Jagged Fel.

Which brought her back to the Chiss ensign bringing up the crew transfer for the next day. 

“Do you know what other ships will be present at this station tomorrow?” she asked just as the alien finished the last of the food and water.

“We been told that few other ships be there, yes.”

“Would any of them happen to be the Guardian?” she asked in a hopeful tone.

“No, it somewhere else. Need repairs.”

“Oh,” she replied in a disappointed tone.

“But I have friends on one of those other ships who can connect you. Maybe you find way to Guardian through him.”

“What do you mean?”

“My friend work in ship that rendezvous with Guardian. His ship called Oranas.”

“No thanks. I don't wanna be too much trouble.” Her real reason, of course, was that she didn't want to expose herself too much to other Chiss. She got lucky just controlling this one ensign; she couldn't count on happening upon another one just like him to manipulate and get her closer to Jag.

On the other hand, she knew she couldn't just sit here and hope that the Aranok would come upon the Guardian in the near future one day. If this Oranas was her best bet, she knew she had to find some way to get aboard.

“It no trouble,” the ensign responded. “I can have him come in here if you too shy to meet him out there.” His smile was one of complete obliviousness and servitude to Jaina.

She knew that if she tried to rebuff that offer, she might lose her mental hold on him. Too much negative energy from her could ruin the connection; so she smiled and nodded.

“That'd be lovely,” she said. Even as she said that, she was wondering how she could make it out  of here without attracting too much attention, and that was assuming that the officer whom the ensign would bring in here was as weak-minded as him.

Well, she could hack and slash her way out, but she imagined that there'd be a lockdown at Station DF-186175. And from there, the Oranas could disembark from the station and get as far away from Jaina before its crew alerted any Chiss from outside that system about her presence there.

Unless...

“Well, I have to shower,” the ensign cut into her thoughts as he stood up. “I can sleep on floor. You good with bed?”

“Uh, yeah, thanks, I will be.”

As she allowed the ensign to go to the refresher, she thought about how she could pull off her escape from this room without triggering any lockdowns here or at Station DF-186175.

But even as she thought that, an all-too familiar presence touched hers from lightyears away. 

Jacen!

Immediately, she shut off her Force-presence. Her brother was tracking her through their twin bond. If he had received a decent enough idea about where she could be...

She shook her head. She couldn't let that stop her. If she had to use the Force to trace a path of destruction for Jag, she would. And if Jacen was willing to come for her, then she would be ready to face him.

Yet a tiny niggling part of her wondered if she would be ready to kill him.

. . . 

The nameless jungle world that Gorog had found for what would be their new home reminded Tahiri of Yavin 4, long before it was conquered by the Yuuzhan Vong, as she looked out through the Heavyload's cockpit viewport. However, as the ship sailed down through the planet's atmosphere with hundreds of dartships and a few dozen Joiner vessels, the topography became different enough in Tahiri's eyes to make this world distinct. 

The Gorog fleet travelled several hundred kilometers over what seemed to be an endless canopy of lush trees before they found a clearing. And in view of that clearing was the entrance to a cave.

“That will be where we will nest,” Alema said from the pilot seat.

Tahiri looked at her from the copilot seat. “We don't know what's down there. Our scouts didn't look that hard to-”

“Open yourself, Tahiri!” Alema practically shouted at her. “Feel the life down there! We can take it!”

Tahiri turned back and stretched out her senses to feel the life that Alema said was there. Indeed, she sensed that there were probably dozens, if not hundreds of lifeforms, with distinctly primal mindsets that were characteristic of being animals instead of being a more sentient race.

“If that cave system is already occupied,” Tahiri said, “shouldn't we-”

“No,” Alema interrupted with a more controlled tone this time. “It is too perfect. We must take it.”

“But that will mean...” Tahiri trailed off as she opened herself up more to Gorog's hive-mind to sense what it had in mind for that cave system's current occupants.

“They are mere animals, Tahiri,” Alema said. “We are Gorog. We deserve to live more than they.”

Tahiri's jaw dropped. “We can find another home. We don't have to-”

“First that Sekotan vessel, now animals you know nothing of? We will tolerate your individuality up to a point, Tahiri, but this we cannot abide. Swear that you will help us in this! Or we will kill you right now!”

As Alema spoke, Tahiri saw that the Twi'lek's hand had moved for the lightsaber on her hip. 

The human sighed; she had a feeling that if she didn't do as Alema—or, rather, Gorog—asked, her mind would be assaulted by the hive-mind yet again and allow the Twi'lek to kill her easily with her lightsaber.

“I'll do it,” Tahiri finally said.

“Excellent,” Alema replied. She then looked back to the viewport and began to settle the Heavyload down toward the clearing. Tahiri saw that the other ships in the Gorog fleet were setting themselves down through the seemingly endless canopy around them.

Minutes after the two former Jedi disembarked from their ship, they were quickly joined by several dozen Killiks who had landed their dartships nearby, and they were all armed with blasters and vibroblades.

When enough of them had joined, Tahiri felt Alema say through the hive-mind, Let's go. And with that, they all turned to the cave mouth and filed inside two-by-two.  

. . . 

“I must say, Aristocra Gnascan,” Admiral Peecar's holographic representation said, “I find myself disagreeing with some of this redistribution of our military's resources.”

From the bedchamber of his penthouse, Aristocra Gnascan of House Nuruodo nodded patiently in response to Peecar's statement. 

“I understand already what your complaints will be, Admiral,” the Aristocra said. “That these movements will open up several of our worlds and stations to possible attack from outsiders. I can assure you that contingencies have been put in place that will counteract our defense vessels' departure from our space.”

“You haven't informed me of what those contingencies would be, Aristocra.”

“Indeed, I have not. Those contingencies are known only to myself and to the other members of the Ruling Council; everyone outside that circle, as you know, are informed only of what they need to know.”

Peecar didn't look satisfied. “As one of the highest ranking admirals in the Expansionary Defense Force, Aristocra Gnascan, I insist that you tell me what resources you intend to divert to help shore up what forces will be sent to deal with the Jedi.”

“You may insist, Admiral,” Gnascan replied stiffly, “but that does not mean that I am under any obligation, legal or otherwise, to inform you. All you need to worry about is the coming conflict with the Jedi Order, if not also the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances.”

Peecar's eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You believe that war with the Alliance and their Jedi is inevitable, Aristocra Gnascan?”

“It doesn't matter what I personally believe in this matter, Admiral Peecar. What matters is that our people must follow through, to the letter, what Ambassador Formbi promised to the galaxy.”

A moment of tense silence passed between the two Chiss before Peecar asked, “How did you convince Admirals Ulaska and Iosha to leave our worlds virtually defenseless for this war?”

“Again, Admiral, while I am not allowed to divulge any details of our worlds' defenses during our forces' absence from our territories, I can tell you that Admirals Ulaska and Iosha were reassured when I told them that there was a plan in place. If they can be so assured, why shouldn't you, Admiral Peecar?”

“Because, quite frankly, Aristocra, I do not appreciate being left out of whatever measures we have to defend our worlds. And while I understand the necessity of applying corrective action upon the Jedi Order for their actions toward the Guardian, I do not believe that they are worth diverting so much of our military away from where they ought to be.”

“Are you implying, Admiral, that I have informed Admirals Ulaska and Iosha of what our defense strategy will be but refuse to let you in on it for some reason?”

“Yes, I am,” Peecar replied proudly.

Gnascan nodded. “Well then, Admiral, if you are able to score a victory for us in the future that can make up for the debacle at Yoggoy, I will consider you worthy of being within my deeper circle of trust again. Is that clear?”

Through his standard military composure, Peecar looked hurt. Gnascan could tell that the loss at Yoggoy was still a great thorn in the admiral's ego. Given that the result of that battle prompted the Chiss to surrender to the Hapans and allowed the Killik Colony to depart to the Transitory Mists with virtually no consequence for what their Dark Nest had led them to do against the Ascendancy, Gnascan had a feeling that Peecar would shut up after that.

“Will that be all, Admiral?” Gnascan asked.

Peecar looked like he was suppressing a sigh out of sheer professionalism. “Yes, Aristocra Gnascan. That will be all.”

The Aristocra nodded amicably. “Good. Farewell for now, Admiral Peecar.” He then signed off. 

Gnascan stood up from his seat and moved from his holoterminal to regard his aide and secret lover, a young man in his early twenties known only by the core name Sihsak; what his family name was was unknown even to himself, as Gnascan understood. As they stared at each other, Sihsak mirrored the loving smile that the older man gave him.

“You did well, my love,” Sihsak said in a sultry voice. 

“Thank you, Sihsak. Though I must ask why you didn't think that Peecar was worth convincing.”

“As you pointed out, Gnascan my dear, that old codger's failure at Yoggoy hasn't exactly been that great to his name and reputation. His concerns will be dismissed by Ulaska, Iosha, and the others without a second thought; especially since they see the same reason that you and I see.”

Gnascan's smile brightened. “Yes, of course.”

The two of them moved in for each other and embraced passionately.

Hours later, while the Aristocra was asleep, Sihsak awakened early and headed for the apartment's living area. As he kept his Force-senses open to make sure that Gnascan wouldn't awaken prematurely and walk in on him, the young Chiss opened up a holocomm call from an encrypted frequency in this room's terminal.

The holographic representation that sprung up before Sihsak's eyes was that of a shaved and tattooed Bothan with glowing yellow eyes (though the blue tint to the representation obscured that fact).

“Report,” the Bothan said curtly.

“The fleet movements are ahead of schedule. Aside from some complaints from Admiral Peecar, there has been no resistance to the idea of leaving the Chiss' worlds defenseless.”

“Why does Admiral Peecar complain?”

Sihsak looked at the Bothan confusedly. “Why does it matter?”

The hairless alien appeared bemused. “There should be no dangling threads, Sihsak. If there is any room for doubt to spread, even in someone as disgraced as Peecar, our plans may fall into ruin. Carelessness is not an attribute that our people should be accustomed to.”

“I already know that.”

“Do you? I was not your Master before you came of age; I do not know just how much he taught you. Or what he failed to teach you.”

“I assure you, Peecar will not be a problem,” Sihsak replied patiently. In spite of his self-control, there was still a biting edge to his tone, indicating that he was all ready to begin a shouting match at the mere mention of his Master.

“Find a way to meet with him and make sure,” the Bothan said evenly. He seemed to ignore the anger in the Chiss.

Sihsak repressed his annoyance at his Bothan handler. “Yes, My Lord.” Since the Chiss didn't even know this alien's name, it was all he could address him by.

“Report back the same time tomorrow.” Then the handler signed off from his end.

Chapter Text

Tahiri stumbled out of the cave with her deactivated lightsaber in hand. Her whole body trembled as her mind attempted to process what she and the rest of Gorog had just committed. Again and again, the images of her and everyone else who had joined in the raid flashed before her eyes.

What had been believed to be animals from Gorog's Force-scan of them were actually members of a semi-sentient race of standard humanoid sizes. They had extra body hair than most humanoids, larger masses, and snouts and lips that resembled Yuuzhan Vong. And though they could hardly be said to be smart enough to know what one plus one would equal, they had a deep sense of emotions, such as love for their friends and family, that could be seen through their eyes as much as in their Force-presences. And it was their startlingly human eyes that was the focus of the images that rushed past Tahiri's mind's eye; their pained and fearful wails echoed loudly as she, Alema, and their Killik brethren slaughtered the lot of these mammals. 

For all of this species' increased speed and strength, they had been no match for the weapons that were brought against them by their more intelligent yet more violent attackers. And throughout it all, intermixed with their screams was the undeniable emotional agony that all of those cave-dwellers bled into the Force as they watched their loved ones die.

The physiology of their victims also allowed Gorog to distinguish between men, women, and children of either sex. Tahiri was able to count how many men she killed: twenty-two. The women she killed: fifteen. The children: twenty-five. She couldn't bear to think about how many of the cave-dwellers died at the hands of the other Gorog, nor did the hive-mind offer such a number as they were too busy... feasting, Tahiri thought with disgust.

Even as she walked away, Tahiri could perceive through the hive-mind that the dwellers' corpses down there were being cut to pieces and cooked by their Killik killers. Alema, of course, was enjoying her fill of the meat of at least two children as she sat in the middle of the cave system, and she made sure that Tahiri had known that she was enjoying the spoils of victory by making her aware of what they tasted like.

They tasted like the patties of nerfburgers; and they were delicious.

When that thought correlated with Tahiri's taste-buds, she finally fell to her hands and knees and vomited. After she was done five seconds later, she collapsed to her sides and began heaving sobs of what she and her fellow Gorog had done down there. 

She stayed that way for several minutes, not even realizing that she had been cut off from the Dark Nest's hive-mind, before a shadow came over from behind. She stopped crying and turned to her other side to see Alema towering over her with two child-sized Killiks at either side.

“You disappoint us, Tahiri,” the Twi'lek said dourly. “After everything you've done for us, you not only refuse to share in our victory, but flee in disgust from it?!”

The human forced herself to her feet and regarded Alema and the two other Gorog.

“That was evil, Alema,” Tahiri intoned. “That was wrong. We didn't have to do any of that! And they weren't even really animals! They were people!”

Alema tilted her head in one direction as she looked at Tahiri as if she were some kind of curious discovery. “People, you say, Tahiri? Gorog is more of a people than any of those cave-dwellers were. While they huddled in their precious cave, we travelled the stars and took what we could when our obstacles were so much greater!”

“You think that makes you better?” 

“Of course it does! And because of our greatness and the patience that comes with it, Gorog received the best meal it's had since we were forced to flee from Yoggoy and the rest of the Colony worlds. And while there isn't enough in that cave to sustain the rest of us, we will find other caves and repeat the same thing there for the rest of our nest!”

“No! No, you can't!” 

Alema looked at Tahiri with a straight head as her facial and body expressions tensed up in response. 

“Yes, we can, Tahiri. And we will. It is for the best of Gorog. And if you are not willing to do what is best for Gorog...” She trailed off before she brought her lightsaber off her belt and activated it.

“Then we don't need you anymore,” Alema concluded darkly.

The Twi'lek charged. Tahiri brought her own lightsaber to bear and activated it just in time to block Alema's first attack. From there, the human was driven back by her opponent's vicious strikes even as the two other Killiks circled around their retreating forms; from the periphery of her vision, Tahiri had seen that both insectoid Gorog were armed with vibroblades that were still fresh from cutting down the cave-dwellers.

Soon, Tahiri was forced back to the treeline. From there, she managed to drive Alema's blade around to slash at the ground between them before she flipped backwards thrice. Upon landing in a crouch, Tahiri Force-leapt up to a nearby branch that was thick enough to carry a humanoid body.

Naturally, Alema followed. The two former Jedi clashed blades there, and once again, Tahiri was on the defensive as her backside approached the main body of the tree that they were both on. The human also sensed that the two Killiks were climbing up the main body of the tree from the ground, and from their position, they could use their vibroblades to attack her from behind.

Once Tahiri was backed up to the tree, she flipped off to her right and slashed down at the Killik who had been climbing up from that direction. The insectoid's head fell from its body and hit the ground before Tahiri landed with a Force-cushioned impact on her feet. 

She heard Alema scream angrily from her perch along with the remaining Killik, which gave a more inhuman shriek. The insectoid Gorog then hopped on Alema's back before the Twi'lek jumped off the branch to strike down at Tahiri.

But instead of blocking this time, the human pivoted out of the way and tried to slash at Alema's left flank. However, the Killik on her back jumped off and tried to spear Tahiri with its 'blade. 

The human swiped at the other weapon with her own, which sent the Killik flying off to the side. Tahiri only had enough time after that to block Alema's next attack and begin another backwards trek through the jungle as her opponent did her best to kill her. 

Thirty seconds later, Tahiri's danger-sense alerted her to a threat from behind. After she swiftly blocked another strike from Alema, the human twirled around and cut down the remaining Killik, which had launched itself at her for a rear attack. The insectoid went flying in two pieces from the midsection at either side of Tahiri even as she managed to renew her defense against Alema.

Fifteen seconds after that, Tahiri blocked a high attack from Alema, allowed her to step in, elbowed her in the chest, and then swiped down to take the Twi'lek's weapon-wielding arm off at the elbow.

Alema fell to her knees, screamed in pain and grasped at the cauterized stump of her arm, as Tahiri levelled the tip of her lightsaber up near her downed opponent's face.

“We have to stop this, Alema. We both need help! We have to return to the Jedi Order and seek penance! We can't go on with the Dark Nest anymore!”

“You may not, Tahiri! But we can!”

The human opened her mouth to try to counter the wounded Twi'lek's claim, only for her to sense a great mass of beings approach them. 

It was Gorog. And from the cave and from all around, in every which way of this jungle, they were coming to rescue Alema, their new queen, and eliminate the last weak link that anchored her memories as a Jedi.

“That's right, traitor!” Alema seethed. “Run! Run! Run! For it's all you can do now!”

Before Tahiri could move her lightsaber just a few inches forward to kill Gorog's new queen, Alema, with her remaining hand, used the Force to slam the human backwards. Tahiri landed in a tuck-and-roll over her shoulder; but when she got up, she turned away and ran.

So far, even as Gorog began closing around her, Tahiri sensed that there was at least an area ahead where there was the least concentration of them. Within two minutes, she came upon five Gorog and two Joiners who ambushed her from the bushes; within ten seconds, she had cut them all down and resumed her course.

Three minutes after that, as the rest of Gorog on this planet converged and became a mass chasing after her less than a kilometer behind, Tahiri reached a cliff that led down into a waterfall. She gave herself five seconds to see that it looked like a hundred meter drop to the churning waters below.

All it took was the increasing sounds and vibrations of Gorog's impending approach that convinced Tahiri to take the jump.

. . . 

Sitting on his bed in the Millennium Falcon's guest quarters, Jacen meditated as best as he could to try to find Jaina's presence through the Force. Right now, she was making herself small, as he had taught her to do when they and Lowbacca had been with Corran and the Chiss, but that didn't stop him from trying to pick up her aura even with lightyears of distance separating them.

Of course, with the news of the Chiss' ultimatum to Uncle Luke to give himself up to spare the rest of the Jedi Order, Jacen's concentration wasn't as he thought that it should be. Moreover, his ever-present anxiety for what Jaina could be doing at the moment seemed to be compound his inability to muster whatever inner calm he tried to pull from his deepest self.

As if to free him of that tension, there was a knock on the door to his quarters. He sensed that it was his mother anyway, but he appreciated her for doing it nonetheless.

“You may come in, Mom.”

Leia opened the door and entered. “May I have a seat?”

He waved at the spot next to him. “Go right ahead.”

Once she had been seated, she asked, “How have you been, Jacen?”

“As well as I can be, Mom.”

She nodded in understanding. “I can sense your frustration, you know. I don't even need the Force for that.”

He sighed before he looked away from her. “I should've never taught Jaina how to make herself small.”

“You didn't know that she would... go down this path.”

“I should have, though. I was her twin brother. I could sense everything she sensed, feel everything she felt; when we allowed each other, we could have one mind, like when we were Joiners. So I knew how she felt about Jagged Fel; I should've done something. I don't know what, but I know that I should've done something. Maybe if I had taken it upon myself to... to...”

“To what, Jacen?”

“To kill Saba.”

“What?” Leia asked with some mild shock.

“That way, Jaina wouldn't be where she is now. Maybe we'd have found the Dark Nest and redeemed Tahiri, Tesar, and Alema already. I could have accepted expulsion from the Order, we wouldn't be on the verge of war with the Chiss, and Jaina could be further down her path of redemption.”

“You can't think that way, Jacen,” Leia said with a surprisingly gentle tone.

“Why not, Mom?”

“Because we both know that what happened to Saba was something that you could never bring yourself to do, even if you had the ability. Also, if I remember correctly, you had been knocked unconscious before she died, so there was nothing you could have done to spare either her or Jaina.”

“It doesn't make things seem any better, though.”

“I don't suppose it does. But if there's going to be any light at the end of this tunnel, we have to hope that it'll be Jaina's return to us.”

“I hope that, too.” He sighed. “Although I fear that where I last felt Jaina to be-”

“If she really is in Chiss space or anywhere near it, Jacen, it won't change a thing. Your father and I have been through worse scrapes than this; we're not going to let them keep us from our daughter.”

He smiled lightly. “I know you won't. And I know that there's good in Jaina still. I sensed her conflict when we last saw each other. She may have been willing to kill Corran, but she was fighting with herself over killing me. There is hope for her; trust me.”

Leia returned his smile for a moment before her expression became much more dour. “I do trust you, Jacen. In fact, I hope that we can find Jaina and help redeem her in time.”

“In time?”

She nodded. “I don't think I've ever told you this, but before either you or Jaina were born, I had feared greatly that I would bear a child who would go down the path of the dark side.”

“Because of who your biological father was?”

“Yes. But it was after I had seen who your grandfather was before he became Darth Vader that I realized that I couldn't live my life in fear of what might happen; especially if I'd be there to raise my children right.”

“But now that Jaina has fallen to the dark side, do you think that your worst fears have been manifested?”

She shook her head confidently. “No. Because while killing Saba was a step too far, Jaina has not done anything more heinous than that. As I said, I believe you when you say that there's still a chance that she can be saved, Jacen.” She patted him on the back. “Well, I won't take up anymore of your time now, kiddo. You go back to searching for your sister.” She stood up and headed for the exit.

“Mom?”

“Hmm?” she asked as soon as she had opened the door.

“When we do get Jaina back, whether or not the Chiss are going to hunt us down... do you think Uncle Luke will still allow her to be part of the Order?”

“Honestly, Jacen, I don't think so,” Leia said with a twinge of sorrow.

“Then... Jaina will have to face some form of justice, more than just expulsion,” he suggested with concern.

She turned to fully regard her son. “You think Jaina would face prison time for killing Saba, Jacen?”

“Wouldn't she?”

Leia looked away for a second. “Luke may think that would be the most... amenable option.”

Jacen sighed again. “I'll let you know if we're any closer to Jaina.”

Leia nodded and left without another word.

. . . 

When Tahiri awakened, she found herself coughing up a fit of water from her lungs before she sat up. Once the water had cleared her, she gasped and coughed interchangeably until she got her breathing back in order.

With all that out of the way, she finally took a look at her surroundings. She was sitting along a riverbank more than a dozen meters from the treeline, and right next to her crouched a female child member of this planet's native sentient population.

The curiosity in this child's eyes for Tahiri looked all too similar to the fear in the eyes of those animal children that Gorog had slaughtered back in that cave system. This prompted the human to back away quickly in a crab-walk from her until they were two meters away from each other.

The alien didn't react in fear at Tahiri's sudden movement. Instead, she said something in her native language that the former Jedi couldn't understand; it sounded like she was asking a question.

As Tahiri regarded the native more comprehensively, she found that this species was, indeed, a more advanced evolutionary offshoot of the animals that she helped kill. Judging by this one example in front of her, they had less hair along their bodies but with eyes that were just as large; their ears were surprisingly small, as were their lips. Their noses had a much more outward prominence, and assuming that there weren't any other skin pigments to this species, they seemed to be of an orange-yellow hue.

And since they weren't technologically advanced enough to have invented the wheel, as Gorog's scouts discovered earlier, they were dressed in tan-and-brown tunics and shorts that was suitable for the jungle climate that served as their surroundings.

But Tahiri sensed that she didn't have time for her amateur anthropological study of this new species. She sensed that somewhere, kilometers away in the jungle, Gorog was still looking for her; they must have realized that she wouldn't have died so easily jumping into that waterfall.

“Come on,” Tahiri said before she stood up.

She grabbed the child's hand and began running away from where she sensed Gorog. Naturally, the kid began protesting in her language, which prompted her to snag her arm away from the human and run in the opposite direction.

Tahiri stopped long enough to turn, but when she decided whether or not it actually was a good idea to call the child back, she realized in a second that it wasn't.

Whatever danger Tahiri was in, she didn't want to involve the kid who just saved her. So, with that considered, she turned back in the opposite direction of the kid and hoped that neither of them were faced by Gorog's wrath.

Chapter Text

Three Chiss Star Destroyers and six cruisers dropped out of hyperspace to enter the Adega system, home of the Jedi Academy world of Ossus. A minute afterwards, a shuttle launched from the central Destroyer and was escorted down through Ossus' atmosphere by an entire squadron of clawcraft.

All thirteen Chiss ships landed in the Jedi Temple's empty hangar bay. There, only one person waited for them.

Luke Skywalker.

The clawcraft pilots were the first to disembark from their fighters and they immediately surrounded Luke, who had his hands over his head, with their sidearms. Five seconds after, the shuttle's door opened and three troops disembarked before Ambassador Formbi followed; he, in turn, was backed up by three troops, and the seven of them approached the circle of pilots who made sure that Luke wasn't going anywhere.

Formbi said something to the pilots in Cheunh, and they parted to allow him to step up to Luke.

“I'm sorry it had to be this way, Master Skywalker,” the elderly Chiss said. “But I thank you for seeing reason.”

“I'm willing to come, Ambassador,” Luke said, “but tell me, do you think this is a reasonable offer?”

“It doesn't matter what I think,” Formbi replied evenly. “The Ruling Council has decided this; I am but their messenger. Although, before I order Captain Hosha here to cuff you and render you unable to access the Force ever again, I must ask: where is everyone else? Where are all the other Jedi?”

Luke shrugged. “I don't know. I ordered an evacuation from the Temple just yesterday. No one told me where they were going, nor did I tell them where to go.”

“Because you thought that we would go back on our word and hunt down the Jedi anyway?”

Luke nodded. “Also, I thought it would be better that they not be anywhere near here when you levelled this Temple.” He restrained his tone from bleeding out any resentment at what the Chiss had promised that they would do. 

“I suppose that is fair enough. It is regrettable, though, that this Temple will have to be obliterated; it is quite impressive. But my superiors said that your capture would not be enough, even if they are hesitant to launch an actual war against your Order, if not also the Galactic Alliance. The Ruling Council said that at least that much of a show of force was necessary.”

“I can't say I agree,” Luke said sardonically.

Formbi remained somberly silent in response. He then looked over at one of the Chiss—Captain Hosha, Luke figured—and nodded.

But just as Hosha moved to bring the cuffs to Luke, the latter said, “May I say something first?”

Formbi said something in Cheunh that prompted Hosha to stop in his tracks and return to his position. The ambassador then asked, “Is it something that you feel can't be said while you're in these cuffs, Master Skywalker?”

“It is. I just want to know who in your Ruling Council thought this was a good idea?”

“Why would it matter to you?”

“I'm just curious. Because surely, to launch a war against the Jedi Order, if not also the Galactic Alliance, had I decided not to give myself up would surely divert military resources well outside your borders.”

“That is House Nuruodo's concern, not my house's.”

“House Nuruodo, you say? Ah, yes, of course, they are in charge of military matters. And who would be the Aristocra or Syndic of that house?”

“Aristocra Gnascan. Why do you ask?”

“Aristocra Gnascan. I see. And he's on Csilla with the heads of the other houses, I assume?”

“Yes, of course. Now why do you-”

Suddenly, everyone but Formbi was suddenly blasted off their feet by a sudden Force-burst from Luke. The Grand Master then moved forward quickly, touched the elderly Chiss' forehead with his finger, and rendered him unconscious.

Luke caught Formbi in both arms before he hit the floor, then he used his artificial hand to raise him into the air. Then, with his natural hand, he formed an extra-resistant Force-shield to counter the charric bolts that were now being fired in his direction as he gradually moved toward the Chiss shuttle.

Once he made it in there with Formbi's unconscious form, he closed the door, rushed to the cockpit where he finally set the ambassador down in the copilot seat, and then activated the engines. He then used the Force to fling the charrics of the Chiss who were still in the hangar bay out of their hands so that they ceased firing on their own shuttle. 

As they scattered to collect their weapons, Luke brought the ship off the deck and rocketed it out of the hangar bay. Along the way, he fired the shuttle's lasers upon the clawcraft and rendered them all to slag so that they couldn't follow him and Formbi into space. 

Minutes later, the stolen Chiss ship broke out of Ossus' atmosphere and came into sight of the fleet ahead. Luke ignored the shuttle's comm ping; he knew that it would only be a useless demand for him to surrender himself and give up Formbi.

Instead, he shut his eyes and concentrated. He started off with the central Star Destroyer's tractor beam generator; within five seconds, its emitter was bent out of shape and rendered useless. He then repeated the process for the Destroyer to his left, then his right. 

Less than a minute later, the tractor beams of the six cruisers were also rendered useless. 

Then Luke decided to answer the hail that he had blocked out of his concentration.

“Master Skywalker!” Luke recognized the authoritative, and very angry, voice of Admiral Peecar. “What have you done to all of our vessels' tractor beam generators?”

Luke opened up the frequency on his end. “I just made sure that your techs will really work for their money for the foreseeable future, Admiral. So unless you want to dispatch a squad or two to blow this vessel into nothingness and face a lot of trouble for killing Ambassador Formbi, I suggest that you allow me to leave this system.”

“Well, funny you should say that, Skywalker. You see, Aristocra Gnascan said that something like this might happen, and that if it were to occur, Ambassador Formbi's life will be rendered forfeit.”

Luke was actually shocked to hear that. “You can't be serious!”

“I wonder if you will have enough concentration to use the Force to cripple our capital vessels' turbolasers while also dealing with our clawcraft!”

As Peecar signed off from his end, Luke saw a squadron of clawcraft each launch from the leftmost and rightmost Destroyers. 

He grimaced but threw the shuttle into a diving corkscrew to get beneath the two squadrons. Along the way, he initiated a Fallanassi illusion and threw up a wall of Killik dartships between the shuttle's rear and the forefront of the converging clawcraft squads.

As the clawcraft began engaging the non-existent dartships, Luke brought up more illusory Killik craft to act as confusion against the turbolasers of the Destroyers and cruisers. While still maintaining the illusions, he also relied on his danger-sense to dodge the incoming giant green lasers that tried to blast him and Formbi away.

It wasn't long until he was past the lines of Chiss capital vessels; seconds later, he had exited the Adega system's gravity well and launched for hyperspace. 

. . . 

When the ensign returned to his quarters, Jaina asked him, “Did you deliver the message?”

“I did,” he answered obediently.

“Good. Now, as soon as this ship departs this station, you're to go down to the maintenance bay and cut power to the lights, both main and emergency. After that, go and make sure that this ship's tractor beam emitters are turned off.”

He nodded. “Of course.” He turned and left.

Jaina had to wait another two hours until all the lights went out, as indicated by the lights in these quarters. As she grinned in the dark, feeling like a nocturnal predator, she relied completely on her Force-senses as she moved.

As soon as she opened the door to leave these quarters, she carefully peered out both left and right. To her left, there were three Chiss troops, and to her right, there were two, and all five of them held active emergency glowsticks as they moved toward each other and conversed in Cheunh. Evidently, their tones indicated confusion as to what was occurring.

She ducked back into her borrowed quarters before any of them could have spotted her. Quickly, she shut her eyes, reached out through the Force for the glowsticks, and exerted a great amount of pressure upon them.

The glowing rods erupted and sprayed shards and chemicals upon their handlers. As they stumbled back in confused panic, Jaina stepped out of the quarters and brought both arms up in either direction. With the Force, she knocked all five soldiers, all of whom were coated in the relatively harmless chemicals that made them glow, to their backs in such a way that their heads hit the deck hard; they were all rendered instantly unconscious.

As she relied on her memory as well as her Force-senses, she rushed to the nearest turbolift that would take her to the Aranok's hangar bay. Along the way, she came across more glowstick-wielding Chiss whom she quickly dispatched by knocking them unconscious as soon as they hit the deck; at this point, she didn't even have to blow up their light sources to momentarily confuse them.

When she reached the turbolift, both her eyes and Force-senses told her there were no Chiss nearby, conveniently enough. Therefore, she had no problem as she used her lightsaber to slash open the 'lift doors and jump down toward the deck that contained the Aranok's hangar. She landed with a Force-cushioned impact, and after she slashed down the next set of 'lift doors in front of her, she didn't hesitate to knock out the six glowstick-wielding Chiss she came across before any of them even registered her lightsaber.

From there, she encountered no resistance once she reached the bay. However, she felt several presences on the other side who would doubtlessly see her and be alerted to her presence before she had a chance to take them down. 

But she didn't need to take them down, just their glowsticks. So as soon as she opened the door, she stepped in and used the Force to send all of the Chiss' light sources crashing down to the deck just as they looked at her. Then, as she took advantage of that distraction, she lifted her arms and brought them upon the deck to unleash a great big Force-wave that sent everyone to their backs.

When she was done, she reached out to the ones who weren't rendered unconscious—and there were a few—and smacked the backs of their heads against the deck hard; she could feel them lose consciousness instantly. From there, she hurried to the nearest shuttle, which was made out by the glowsticks that littered the deck.

Less than two minutes later, she had the shuttle blast out of the hangar and into space. As predicted, the Aranok couldn't get a tractor lock on her stolen ship, and with all of the other cruisers who had rendezvoused around the nearby Station DF-186175 either already jumped into hyperspace or too far out in the system, Jaina had no problem jumping into hyperspace.

. . . 

When the Decent Chance dropped out of hyperspace, Plekos reached out and felt the presences that he had been looking for on the jungle world ahead. He smiled as he felt one particular presence reach back for him.

Who are you? Alema Rar asked through the Force. Her suspicion was quite evident, as was the aura of the rest of Gorog. What do you want?

May I see you? Plekos asked.

Why?

I only want to know what you know.

Know about what?

Instead of answering directly, Plekos used the Force to send forth an image of Lomi Plo and Welk as he had known them into Gorog's hive-mind. In response, which he felt was quite hesitant, he received an image as Gorog had known them.

A moment of horror overcame Plekos when he saw what Plo and Welk looked like when they were the Dark Nest's king and queen. Regardless, he stifled it from his aura, even though he knew that Gorog would have felt it anyway.

If you want to see us, Alema's voice came through, you may come.

Plekos couldn't tell if she or Gorog felt offended by his reaction to seeing Plo and Welk's final forms. Nevertheless, he couldn't sense even a twinge of hostility directed at him, only wary curiosity from the Dark Nest. So he took that as his invitation to go down to the planet to where he sensed Alema.

Five minutes later, he set the Chance down next to the ship that he soon saw to be the Heavyload. Once he disembarked from his own vessel, he stepped several meters away and headed to the cave entrance ahead.

He stopped in his tracks once a small swarm of Killiks suddenly appeared out of the cave. They quickly surrounded him, but he controlled himself well enough not to allow his hidden lightsaber to drop out from his right sleeve. So far, all that these insectoids have done was just surround him; a wise precaution on their part, he had to admit.

Not long after that, Alema finally appeared out of the cave, her right arm replaced by a Killik's; not unlike Welk. As the Killiks before her parted in her wake, she looked at Plekos with the same wariness that she had conveyed through the Force.

“You see us now,” Alema said aloud. “Tell us who you are this instant.”

“My name is Plekos. And as I said in our telepathic communion, I come to ask you of what you know from Lomi Plo and Welk before they died. Specifically, I want to know if they had passed on any knowledge of... what they were really a part of.”

“Really a part of?” Alema asked.

Plekos nodded hesitantly. “You see, before they became your king and queen, Lomi and Welk had been... Sith.”

“Ah, yes. We were aware of that.”

“So you know about... the Dread Lord and his grand designs?”

“The Dread Lord?”

“You don't know about him?”

“No. Who is he?”

“If you knew that Lomi and Welk were Sith, how could you not know about their true Master?”

“We were unaware that they had a Master beyond the Will of Gorog. Why should we believe you?”

“Ah. I see. So there were things that Lomi and Welk didn't completely let Gorog know about, hmm?”

“You lie!” Punctuating Alema's yell were the ominous beating sounds that came from the Killiks around her and Plekos.

He kept calm in spite of his apparently dire circumstances. “If you doubt my words, then I ask you to indulge me as I explain the Master that I served, just as Lomi and Welk served.”

“Why should we?”

“Because we believe that with the help of the One Sith, the Dark Nest can grow stronger and become a valuable asset to crushing the Jedi and bringing order to the galaxy.”

“One Sith?”

Plekos nodded. “I will allow you to put me under a mind-probe if you still doubt what I have to say. But I feel that, now that we know about Lomi and Welk's involvement in this nest, Gorog should be allowed a say in what Lord Darth Krayt has in store.”

Alema and the Killiks around her and Plekos fell deathly silent as they regarded the lone Zabrak for what felt like an eternally tense moment.

Finally, Alema said, “You may elaborate.”

Chapter Text

Tahiri lost track of the days in which she had been hunted by Gorog, but all she knew was that she was filthy and that every time she used the Force to sense them, she, of course, risked getting sensed by them in turn. Regardless, she had been able to stick to the parts of this jungle where she knew she wouldn't encounter any of them while she found convenient hiding spots whenever she had so much as a gut feeling that any of their members, Killik or otherwise, were nearby.

Now, after all this time, she had made it to a dartship that was large enough to fit her. While she would have preferred a ship that one of the Joiners would have used, this was the first vessel that she had come across that wasn't too small for her. She risked one more Force-scan of the nearby area, and when she felt no nearby Gorog, she popped the canopy and entered.

Her time with the Colony familiarized her with the vessel's controls; so even though she never piloted a dartship before, she knew exactly what to do to start the engine and launch. She rocketed away from the planet's surface and hoped to break orbit before any members of the Dark Nest saw or even somehow sensed one of their own ships leaving them.

Before she even broke atmosphere, however, her rear sensors told her that a Kazellis-class light freighter was speeding up from behind. Immediately, the other ship's laser cannons opened fire on her, which prompted her to bank to starboard and wheel around to face the Kazellis. She soon opened fire on it and the enemy broke to port. This allowed Tahiri to begin peppering the ship's rear with the dartship's own projectiles even as her quarry began slaloming as best as they could in the planet's atmosphere.

Thirty seconds later, the Kazellis pulled up hard and drove itself further into space. Tahiri followed and continued to fire lasers at its stern; she found it surprising that this freighter had been able to withstand so many energy attacks so far. She figured that it had military-grade shields that made the Millennium Falcon's look pathetically minute in comparison, but that didn't stop her as she continued chasing the Kazellis into space. 

It didn't take long before both ships cleared the atmosphere. And once that happened, the freighter executed a tight turn to engage the dartship head-on and fire off its own weapons. Once again, Tahiri broke to starboard but now found herself being chased again as the Kazellis was firing off its own laser cannons at a rapid pace.

Forty-five seconds later, Tahiri realized that she had been using the Force just to dodge these more recent attacks instead of her learned piloting skills; and when that realization struck her, her mind was assaulted by Gorog's hive-mind. Her hands instinctively reached for her temples, and the Kazellis firing on her was completely forgotten by her embattled mind.

But just like that, the mental attack ceased, and when Tahiri brought her hands away from her head, she saw that the dartship seemingly moved of its own accord. Moreover, the insectoid fighter's movement was at a slow and steady pace back to the jungle world; she peered over her shoulder to get a good view of what the dartship's canopy showed her.

The Kazellis was now directly behind her and its movements were in sync with the motions that the dartship made. She was caught in a tractor beam, she realized in terror.

Tahiri turned back to the controls and tried to wrestle the dartship out of the freighter's control. When it became apparent after several moments that that wasn't going to work because of the tractor beam's immense strength, she tried to reach out through the Force to cripple the tractor emitter. Unfortunately, she was met by another mental assault by Gorog, which stopped that attempt.

When that assault cleared from her mind, she found that she was back on the surface of the planet in a clearing next to a lake. And surrounding her, including several Joiners of various species, was a swarm of Gorog.

Naturally, at the head of this formation was Alema. The Twi'lek's missing arm was replaced by a Killik appendage; and she didn't look happy as she and Tahiri traded gazes.

Step out, Alema's voice rang through Tahiri's mind.

Quickly, Tahiri dropped out of the Force and into her Yuuzhan Vongsense so that Gorog couldn't reach her that way. With no further impediments, she reached for the dartship's weapon controls to fire upon the gathering, only to find that no lasers came from her stolen fighter. She looked back and forth between her controls and the crowd, who looked back at her with laughing and clicks of amusement.

Unwilling to step out just yet, Tahiri decided that it would be best to switch back to her Force-senses and ask, What did you do?

We deactivated your weapons, fool! Alema and the rest of Gorog conveyed. Now step out before we force you, whether or not you resort to your Vongsense!

Tahiri desperately tried to get the engines, thrusters, repulsors, anything back online so she could blast out of there. No dice; apparently, Gorog had been smart enough to disable or destroy those, too.

With a defeated breath, Tahiri popped the dartship's canopy and hopped out; however, upon landing, she held herself up with as much dignity as she could muster. She also dropped back into her Vongsense so that all Gorog could do was offer her physical pain; as someone who had been implanted memories of a Yuuzhan Vong life, she could deal with that.

Alema stepped up to her along with a few Killiks by her side. Neither of them spoke a word to each other for several moments before the Twi'lek used her Killik arm to smack the human across the face.

When Tahiri looked back at Alema as she ignored the swelling in her cheek, she asked Gorog's new queen, “I thought you wanted me dead.”

“Shut up,” Alema intoned. “Our new ally convinced us that you would serve us better still alive.”

“You know I can't work with or for you anymore, Alema,” Tahiri said confidently. “I'd rather die.”

“Yes, I'm sure you would,” a masculine voice said from behind her.

Tahiri looked back and found a yellow-skinned male Zabrak dressed in casual civilian attire that somehow conveyed the sense that he was a smuggler of some kind. He looked like a poor man's version of Han Solo before he joined the Rebel Alliance, with a grey tunic and matching trousers complete with polished black boots.

“But that would be too easy for you, wouldn't it?” he concluded.

“Who the hell are you?” Tahiri asked darkly.

“If you would kindly drop back into the Force,” the Zabrak said politely, “I will let you know.”

“And if I refuse?” Tahiri asked as she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly.

He tilted his head, as if he were at a loss. Suddenly, though, a lightsaber dropped out of his right sleeve and a red blade ignited. Quickly, he moved to strike Tahiri down.

Instinctively, she dropped back into the Force just as she brought her own 'saber to bear. She blocked the strike, but then found herself being pressed into place by the Zabrak's superior physical strength.

And as she winced under his power, she ended up feeling who he was, as he wanted her to.

As the color of his lightsaber implied, the radiance of his Force-aura also indicated that he was a Sith.

Tahiri was suddenly brought to her knees by a mental assault from Gorog; her lightsaber fell, deactivated, from her hands as she dropped to her knees. As her palms pressed upon her temples, the Zabrak deactivated his own blade and touched her head with his right forefinger.

And just like that, she collapsed prone to the ground. When Plekos picked up her unconscious form in both arms, he looked at Alema.

“I'll take her from here,” he told Gorog. “You already have the comm frequency for one of my other contacts.” He had given it to the Dark Nest shortly after agreeing to help hunt Tahiri down.

Alema nodded before she said with disgust, “Take her out of our sight.”

Plekos returned the nod, then turned and headed back to the Decent Chance.

Oh, yes, he thought. This Jedi-Yuuzhan Vong hybrid would be very interesting as a One Sith... once she was given enough time and conditioning.

. . . 

Jag stood on the forefront of the Guardian's bridge staring out into the space that was visible through the viewport before him. Right now, even though he was on duty, there wasn't really anything for him to do but wait out the final few minutes before he received the information that he had been anticipating. Even the unpleasant business of disposing of Saba Sebatyne's halved body was taken care of, as it had been incinerated.

When he heard the clang of footsteps upon the deck behind him, Jag remained stock-still nonetheless.

“Sir?” the male Chiss lieutenant behind him asked.

Only then did Jag turn around and return the man's salute, which allowed him ease. The lieutenant then provided Jag a datapad.

“The repairs have all been complete,” the Chiss informed him.

“Excellent,” Jag said as he sifted through the progress report as quickly and efficiently as possible. He spotted no irregularities and only glowing statements about the newly installed turbolaser cannons. When he had finished reading after a few minutes, he handed the 'pad back to the lieutenant. “Inform the rest of the crew to return to duty immediately. We join the rest of the fleet at once.”

“Certainly, sir,” the lieutenant said before he saluted again. Once Jag returned it, the Chiss turned and headed off the bridge.

But passing him by came an ensign with a datapad of his own. After he stopped a meter from Jag, he saluted; the human returned it and asked, “What do you have there for me, Ensign?”

“A message, sir,” he said as he passed the 'pad over to Jag, “passed on from a hypercomm courtesy of the cruiser Oranas. It was meant for your eyes only, sir.”

Jag activated the 'pad and looked through its contents. 

What he saw widened his eyes in shocked remembrance.

When he looked back up to his subordinate, he said, “You're dismissed, Ensign.”

The subordinate nodded wordlessly and turned to leave the bridge. When he was gone, Jag hurried to his command salon, sat down, and began typing away on his 'pad. When he was done, he patched in a call to Admiral Peecar.

It took several anxious minutes for the call to come through, but eventually, the elderly Chiss' holographic representation appeared.

“Yes, Captain Fel?” Peecar asked patiently.

“Admiral Peecar, I've just received information on the whereabouts of Jaina Solo. I request permission to break from our intended rendezvous with the fleet to track her down.”

“Is this information reliable, Captain?”

Jag nodded. “It is, Admiral. I'm certain of it.”

Peecar was silent for a moment before he said, “Jaina Solo was last reported to have stolen a shuttle after having somehow infiltrated the cruiser Aranok following a crew transfer that took place at one of our stations. The forces we sent were unable to find her from her last known hyperjump point. Tell me, what exactly did this message of yours say, Captain?”

Jag hesitated before he responded. “It is of a personal nature, Admiral. I would rather not say.”

“Captain Fel, if I am to even consider allowing you to break from your rendezvous with the fleet to locate Jaina Solo, I order you to tell me what this message said.”

Again, Jag hesitated. But then he said, “Sir... the message said... 'Everyone is going away. They keep going away and I can't stop it. I didn't want you to go away... anymore than I wanted Zekk to.' The message then ended with a set of hyperspace coordinates.”

“What is the meaning of this message, Captain?”

“As I said, Admiral, it is of a personal nature. And it relates directly to Jaina Solo.”

“What makes you think that this message isn't a false one, Captain?”

“Because, Admiral... I remember when those words were first spoken to me.”

“When, Captain?”

“About eight years ago, Admiral. When I fought on behalf of the New Republic against the Yuuzhan Vong at Borleias. Jaina Solo spoke those words to me after one of the battles there.”

“Why did you remember these words, Captain?”

“Because those were the words that she spoke to me... before I kissed her for the first time. Except, of course, that last part about Zekk. He was a Jedi whom I learned had died during the Battle of Yoggoy. He and Jaina had been close friends, and they had become closer when they were Joiners.”

Peecar fell silent again for a moment. “I see, So this is Solo's way of luring you out into a trap. Send me the coordinates, Captain. I will task another Star Destroyer to apprehend or neutralize her. You will rendezvous with the fleet as scheduled. I assume that the Guardian's repairs have been completed?”

“They have, Admiral,” Jag replied evenly.

“Good. The coordinates then, Captain?”

“I will send them to you, Admiral.”

“Show them to me directly, Captain,” Peecar said curtly.

Jag allowed for two seconds of hesitation before he replied with, “Very well, Admiral.” He held up the datapad so that Peecar could see the contents; as the admiral looked at them, he input them into his own 'pad.

Once he was done, the Chiss said, “Thank you, Captain. Now is there anything else that you have to report?”

“No, Admiral.”

“Then this call is over. I will see you as scheduled, Commander.” Peecar signed off.  

Jag stood up, typed some more on his 'pad, and waited the remaining minutes before his bridge crew filed in and reported directly to their stations.

When the officer who gave him the repair reports reached him, Jag said, “There has been a change of plans, Lieutenant. We will not be rendezvousing with the fleet against the Jedi Order; we have a new mission, and that is to hunt down and apprehend Jaina Solo.”

“Aye, sir,” the lieutenant said without question. “Do you have the coordinates, sir?”

He handed the lieutenant back the 'pad. Now all it had displayed were the coordinates.

“Very well, sir,” the lieutenant said after he looked back up from the 'pad. “I will feed these instructions to helm.”

“Excellent,” Jag replied before he let the officer go about his business.

Within a matter of minutes, after everything was up and running, the Guardian reoriented itself away from its previously established rendezvous point to the new coordinates provided by Jaina.

Jag knew that what he was about to do would cost him his career, if not an outright court-martial, but he knew that he couldn't allow anyone else to handle Jaina. He had to see her again, even if it meant risking her killing him. It was clear from that message, from that reminder of what they once had, that she had some words for him. 

He knew that that was petty, that all of what he was about to do was petty, just as it was all stupid. But he couldn't just let all of this go without some kind of resolution, and he knew he wouldn't get that if he couldn't see her one last time.

So when the Guardian finally entered hyperspace, Jag knew that there was no turning back.

Chapter Text

Since the departure of the standard military defenses for the war/hunt for the Jedi in Galactic Alliance space, the Chiss world of Sarvchi was left virtually defenseless. Sure, the planet had its fair share of orbital defense cannons, and it still had a few thousand ground troops who were ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. But without any Star Destroyers or cruisers in orbit or even in a nearby system, the inhabitants of the snow-covered world carried on with their days in fear that, at any moment, a Vagaari fleet or some other group of ships belonging to one of the Ascendancy's enemies would drop out of hyperspace and bombard their world to oblivion.

Indeed, such was the state that most other Chiss worlds were currently in. Even Csilla, the capital of the Ascendancy itself, barely had a token force of two Star Destroyers, two cruisers, and not even a hundred clawcraft; and with no other vessels nearby to help in the event of an invasion, many in the Ascendancy, such as those on Sarvchi, had started to wonder what had gone on in the heads of those who ran the Ruling Council. 

So when a fleet of Vagaari warships and plunder vessels dropped several million kilometers from this world's orbit, many people on the surface who had looked up to the sky pointed and panicked. Within minutes, all across the globe, word spread of the Vagaari's arrival as the invading forces took up positions for any surprise attacks from Chiss ships that would have dropped out of hyperspace. As such, the plunder vessels rocketed toward the surface eagerly; the occupants of each ship were elated at the prospect of getting such easy prey because of a stupid decision made by the Chiss' elites.

However, even as the planet's anti-air cannons fired upward to down the plunder ships, a fleet of six Victory-class Star Destroyers and eight Interdictor-class heavy cruisers dropped out of hyperspace. Within virtually no time, the Vagaari warships launched their compliments of starfighters just as the Destroyers and cruisers launched their squadrons of TIE fighters. The plunder ships, meanwhile, were promptly recalled to the warships, which tried their best to retreat from the advancing Imperial battleships that, relatively speaking, quickly and efficiently tightened their forces around their enemies.

Half an hour later, all of the Vagaari warships, plunder ships, and starfighters were destroyed. The Imperials, meanwhile, lost only barely more than a dozen TIEs; two of their cruisers had sustained significant damage but the repairs on each of them wouldn't take too long. 

Afterwards, a broadcast was sent to the communication devices of both the ground forces and the civilian population. A holographic display of a heavily dark-skinned human man, who appeared to be in his forties, had appeared over the devices of those Chiss who had them.

In perfect Cheunh, the human said, “Citizens of Sarvchi, my name is Admiral Juaput Hesklon. I am the leader of this task force that will, in the absence of your proper military defense force, protect your world. And even now, the other worlds of the Chiss Ascendancy that have had their defense forces vacated have been replaced by the warships much like ours. For we are the Empire of the Hand, and we have finally come out of hiding to fulfill our true calling: protection of the Chiss Ascendancy from threats both foreign and domestic.”  
. . . 

The intercom that was set to the desktop of the Chief of State of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances pinged. When the Chief himself answered it, the voice of his secretary emanated from it and said, “Chief Omas... your next appointment is here.” The trepidation in her voice matched the anxiety that her employer felt in his gut.

Omas sighed before he replied with, “Send him in.”

Moments later, Admiral Peecar of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force marched into the office. As agreed before they set the time for this meeting, the admiral came in bearing no weapons or guards, armed or otherwise. Omas, for his part, was just as defenseless, even if he and Peecar were meeting in his office.

The Chief stood up and stretched across his desk to shake the Chiss' hand. “Admiral Peecar.”

“Chief Omas,” Peecar said as he returned the handshake.

When they were done almost immediately, Omas silently waved Peecar to sit down in one of the two guest chairs, which the Chiss did with startling military precision for his advanced years. The human, meanwhile, seated himself much more casually, as befitted a civilian; though Omas had also been a military man from his years in the Rebel Alliance, it somehow didn't feel appropriate for him to do so in this setting.

“So, Admiral, I understand that you have something for me?”

“Yes, I do, Chief.” He then brought out a datapad from the folds of his uniform—for a moment, Omas feared that Peecar had somehow subverted his security force's checks on him before he entered the building—and slid it across the desktop.

Omas picked the device up and looked through its contents. Two minutes later, he set the 'pad down carefully and looked at Peecar sternly.

“Do you understand why I would take issue with this proposal, Admiral Peecar?”

The Chiss nodded. “Yes, I do, Chief Omas. However, you must understand that the Chiss Ascendancy is in a state of war with the Jedi Order. They could hide anywhere within your territories, so by giving us as much freedom as possible to-”

“How much freedom would that be, Admiral?”

“Excuse me?”

“Am I just supposed to allow you direct access to buildings and locations that contain vital secrets to the stability of the government that I serve, Admiral? Surely, you would understand if one of my senior admirals were to make such a proposal to one of your leaders if the Galactic Alliance were to-”

“We have no interest in learning any secrets that the Galactic Alliance government or military has, Chief Omas,” Peecar interrupted pointedly. “We only want the Jedi.”

“Well, even if I were to trust that none of your people were to obtain any crucially important information from any key GA locations, where exactly would you prevent your forces from looking, Admiral? Would you go so far as to burst into normal people's homes, thinking that they're hiding Jedi under their floorboards or some such nonsense?”

“If we had sufficient reason to believe so, yes, Chief Omas.” Peecar's tone was glacially cool.

Omas, naturally, looked as if he would burst a blood vessel. “And what sufficient reason would you have, Admiral Peecar?" His tone was civil as it could possibly be, considering his mood. "Some anonymous tip from someone with a grudge against a particular neighbor, maybe? A prankster looking to get his jollies by providing false information? Your forces could easily be led astray and-”

“I understand your reticence in this matter, Chief Omas. But the fact of the matter is that if we simply allow the Jedi to hide wherever they can, that sends a clear message to our enemies that we are weak, that we are unwilling to seek and obtain justice from those who have wronged us.” 

Something about Peecar's even tone made Omas' eyebrows draw together in consternation. “Do you truly believe that, Admiral?”

“Whether or not I believe in it personally, Chief, is of no consequence. What matters is what my leaders believe and say, and they believe and say that it would be wise to pursue this government-sponsored campaign to eradicate the Jedi Order.”

Omas took a moment of silence to himself as he sat back in his seat. “You know, Admiral, a long time ago, many Imperial officers saw the tyranny that their government was abiding by, and they decided to fight for what was right instead of-”

“I am aware of your history as a Rebel, Chief Omas, so please spare me of whatever rhetoric you would use to try to dissuade me from carrying out my orders.”

Omas was silent again as he sat forward. “Admiral Peecar, I cannot and will not allow you or your forces to go wherever you please within my territory to execute whatever means that you think are necessary to look for the Jedi. Now you have already received my cooperation in allowing you to have free reign with Ossus, but this-”

“I can see now that we have reached an impasse, Chief.”

An uneasy silence hung between them for a long moment before Omas said, “I suppose we have, Admiral.”

“Well, then... if you are unwilling to allow any of my forces to go through your territory... would you be kind enough to tell me where you suspect that the Jedi Order would be hiding?”

Omas sighed. “I don't know where exactly, but there are, or rather were, rumors that during the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Jedi had a secret base in the Maw Cluster to hide not only from the invaders, but anyone and everyone who wished to do them wrong.”

“Rumors, you say?”

Omas nodded in a defeated way. “From what I understand... this secret base was called Eclipse Station. That's all I know.”

Peecar regarded Omas silently before he spoke. “Tell me what you know about this Maw Cluster, Chief Omas.” 

. . . 

When Peecar returned to the bridge of the Csilla's Pride, he approached the captain and handed him a datapad. 

“Chief Omas has been kind enough to have his senior military staff come up with a map of the Maw Cluster,” Peecar informed Captain Yushaj. “Verify that it has not been tampered with and that it is, indeed, accurate. Afterwards, chart us a course for the world of Eclipse.”

“Of course, Admiral,” Yushaj replied. “However, before I do so, I am obligated to inform you of two major developments that we have been made aware of since you met Chief Omas down on Denon.”

“And what would they be, Captain?”

“The Empire of the Hand is occupying our planets, Admiral,” Yushaj replied gravely.

Peecar thought he was going to have a heart attack. “What?” he stammered before he composed himself quickly. “Show me.”

Yushaj nodded and led Peecar over to a holoprojector over at one of the comm stations. There, the rest of the bridge fell into silence as the message from the human Admiral Juaput Hesklon over Sarvchi, as well as similar messages from other admirals of other species across other Chiss worlds, played out.

When the stream of messages ended, Peecar looked over at his immediate subordinate and asked, “What else did you wish to inform me of, Captain Yushaj?”

As the captain spoke, it was clear from his tone that he attempted to keep his dread over the appearance of the Empire of the Hand in Chiss space out of his voice. “The Guardian, under Captain Jagged Fel, has not made its rendezvous with the rest of the fleet, sir. Moreover, the Erassi was led to an empty star system.” That was the name of the ship that was assigned to locate and either kill or capture Jaina Solo.

It took every bit of Peecar's will to keep himself from screaming at the top of his lungs. “Make contact with the Guardian. If no contact is made within the next half-hour, we have to assume that Captain Fel has gone rogue and we will have to dispatch a task force to track down and apprehend the Guardian.”

“Would you like me to give this datapad to our computer analysts first, sir?”

Peecar took a moment to respond. “Yes. And before we jump for the Maw Cluster, I am going to try to contact Aristocra Gnascan and ask him what should be done now.”

Yushaj nodded, even though the reluctance in the rest of his body language was obvious. Peecar understood his captain too well; every fiber of his being ached to return to their people's space and reclaim it from an empire that had too many non-Chiss in it. But Peecar wasn't Jagged Fel; he wasn't just going to outright disobey a direct order on the whim of emotions, especially when the admirals of the Empire of the Hand promised that they would protect those Chiss worlds.

So, after Yushaj turned to attend to his duties, Peecar was left alone to march over to his command salon and immediately input a call for Aristocra Gnascan's comm frequency. 

It took ten minutes of patient yet anxious waiting on Peecar's part, but finally, the holographic representation of the Aristocra appeared.

“Admiral Peecar,” Gnascan said with an amicable smile. “How goes the hunt for the Jedi?”

“We have a lead, Aristocra Gnascan,” Peecar answered reluctantly. “And it will be especially difficult. Which is why I am calling to ask about the recent developments over on our worlds.”

“Ah, you heard, have you not?”

“I have seen the messages from those admirals myself, Aristocra. Tell me, were they the contingency plan that you and the other heads of the Ruling Council depended on while we were gone?” Anger leaked through Peecar's calm professionalism.

“Well, now that you know that the Empire of the Hand occupies our space, Admiral, it is fair to tell you that, yes, they were the contingency. You see, after your forces departed from our worlds, we had the forces of the Empire of the Hand lie in wait in anticipation of any impending threats. Quite frankly, we were surprised it took the Vagaari that long to attack Sarvchi, but that was all that was needed to finally allow the Empire of the Hand to reveal itself to the Ascendancy.”

“And you did not tell me or most of the other fleet commanders about this because you know how... controversial the Empire of the Hand is.”

“But of course. Now that you know, Admiral, are you going to carry out your orders?”

Peecar stifled a defeated sigh. He wondered if this was how Omas felt when they spoke. “No, Aristocra Gnascan. We will carry out our orders and hunt down the Jedi.”

“Excellent,” Gnascan replied with a winning smile. “Report back to me same time tomorrow, Admiral.” The Aristocra signed off without another word.

Peecar stood up from his seat and met with Yushaj again.

“Tell me, Captain, have Luke Skywalker or Ambassador Formbi's whereabouts been made known yet?”

“I am afraid not, sir.”

Peecar breathed in and out through his nose at that. “Then I suppose we have no good news today, do we?”

“No, sir, we do not,” Yushaj replied in a deceptively disciplined tone.  

. . . 

After the triumphant appearance of the Empire of the Hand over the worlds of the Chiss Ascendancy, Sihsak thought that his Bothan handler would be happy that their plans weren't foiled so far.

He was not.

“You still haven't contacted Admiral Peecar,” the handler reminded him sternly.

“As a matter of fact, I did. Or, rather, Gnascan did; Peecar was completely in the dark about the Empire of the Hand until he saw the messages right after the raid at Sarvchi.”

“You still failed in your task; you were supposed to have contacted him before then.”

Sihsak had to control himself from rolling his eyes in annoyance. “Peecar gave regular updates to Gnascan the whole way through, as I've told you in my previous reports to you. At no point did the geezer have any clue that the Empire of the Hand was about to take his place in protecting the Chiss worlds; and since I let you know that I was in on those conversations without Peecar even knowing I was there, I don't see how I failed in my duties.”

“You want to know how you failed in your duties? By not being sure! By leaving things to chance! By not probing even harder! You should have had Gnascan ask Peecar questions, see if he knew anything that he wasn't telling!”

“What the hell did you want me to do, I can't read Peecar from lightyears away! I'm not that powerful! I'm not... I'm not...”

“Yes?”

It was only then did Sihsak's eyes widen. “This was a test, wasn't it? To see whether or not I was worthy of being... what we are?”

Now the Bothan gave a feral grin. “Yes, it was. And you passed. You did everything correctly. You did everything that our people set themselves up to do. What I just did there was make sure that you acted not as a coward, but as... an agent for our... employer.”

“I have the anger within me, as you have seen,” Sihsak replied. “So will I get to leave my assignment?”

“Not yet. There is still much to do. Whether or not Peecar returns from the known galaxy a success or failure in his mission to hunt down the Jedi, the transition of military power from the Expansion Defense Force to the Empire of the Hand must be overseen closely. And you are our prime agent for that because of your link to Gnascan.”

“I understand,” Sihsak replied resignedly.

“I know you do. Good day.” The Bothan signed off.

Sihsak stood up and moved to the nearest window of Gnascan's penthouse. He looked up and found the Empire of the Hand Star Destroyers and cruisers that now orbited with the token Defense Force ships that were also there.

One day, he thought. One day, through actions that would take place through the very empire formed by Thrawn decades ago, Sihsak could leave this assignment behind and be with his true brethren; for they were not the Chiss.

Chapter Text

As the tunnel of hyperspace seemed to whir past the stolen Chiss shuttle, Luke and Formbi sat patiently and silently in an attempt to stifle their shared anxiety while they made their way to Csilla. Because not only did they know without having to check that there would have been at least one capital ship dispatched by Admiral Peecar to come after them, but their destination, on top of being the capital of the Chiss Ascendancy, might very well have at least one Sith there.

When Formbi had awakened mere minutes after his kidnapping from Ossus, Luke had to use the Force to pin him to the copilot seat so that he wouldn't do anything rash. Once that was done, the Grand Master had asked him, “Are you willing to listen to what I have to say, Ambassador, or are you going to sit there and struggle until you get a heart attack?”

With some measure of dignity, Formbi allowed himself to relax in Luke's Force-grip and said, “Very well. Why did you think it was prudent to kidnap me and steal one of the Expansionary Defense Force's shuttles, Master Skywalker?”

“Because I suspect that there might be dark siders involved in this whole thing, if not Sith.”

“Would you be so kind as to elaborate on that point?”

Luke nodded. “Ambassador, surely you must understand that sending nearly the entirety of the Chiss fleet out here just to hunt down and destroy the Jedi Order is a tactical blunder that would make even a novice commander in your civilization wince, right?”

“If you really want my opinion, Master Skywalker, I do think that this whole affair is, indeed, diverting too many resources away from the defense of our worlds. But why do you think that that justifies your thinking that there are these Sith involved?”

“It's the only other explanation, even though if it's true, it might mean that I had been right to be fearful even after Lomi Plo and Welk's deaths.”

“Why would that be?”

“When Plo told me that she and Welk were Sith, I had assumed that they were the only Sith left in existence, that they must have somehow picked up the mantle from Palpatine or some acolyte of his in the past. After all, the Jedi Order has been aware of the Sith's philosophy of the Rule of Two, which meant that there was to only be a Master and an apprentice. But the Sith have been known to have been plentiful long before the Rule of Two had been put into play. So, after you made your announcement to the galaxy where you asked me to give myself up for the rest of the Jedi Order or else your Ascendancy would declare war on the Galactic Alliance, I had a feeling something was up. And I thought, 'Who else would want the Jedi Order to be exterminated that badly?' I would have understood if you had asked for the heads of my niece and nephew Jaina and Jacen, Corran Horn, Lowbacca, but you didn't; my head was the one that was asked for.”

“So you believe that the Ruling Council of my civilization is being run by Sith, Master Skywalker?” Formbi asked incredulously.

“That's exactly what I'm saying, Ambassador Formbi. And if you still don't believe me, while you were unconscious, the clawcraft that your capital ships had brought with them tried to blow this shuttle up and they knew you were aboard. In fact, Peecar told me via comm that he had orders to destroy this shuttle even with you here.”

“What proof do you have of this?”

Luke turned and used his free hand to play back the recording of the conversation that he had with Peecar before the shuttle's escape from the Adega system. When the recording finished, Peecar looked at Luke in stunned silence before he asked, “Wait, how did we escape? There were too many ships for you to move your way through.”

“Fallanassi illusion. Something I picked up years ago around the same time as the Black Fleet Crisis.”

“Illusion, you say? That sounds like something that your nephew had utilized against the Guardian's forces at Hlest.”

“Yes, he went on a sojourn after the Yuuzhan Vong War where he learned from the very same Master that I did. But let's get back on point; can you tell me if there was anybody around Aristocra Gnascan that seemed shady or suspicious to you? Somebody who may have been in a position to influence or manipulate him?”

Formbi fell into thought as he looked away from Luke. A few moments later, he looked back at him and said, “I'm not quite sure about this, Luke. On the rare occasions in which our species breeds a Force-user, they would be either exiled if they are of a lower class or have their inclinations suppressed by medical means. Moreover, any Chiss caught using the Force is executed without exception. So I don't know how it would be possible for a Force-using Chiss to be able to attain a position so highly within our society without getting caught.”

“Palpatine was able to do it for years when he shared the same planet with the Jedi. Believe me, Formbi, when it comes to Sith, never underestimate their deceitfulness or sneakiness. Now is there anyone who might have been able to influence Gnascan that you know about?”

“There maybe. Gnascan has a lover, a young man, whom I have seen waiting outside during council meetings in which the Aristocra has been involved with. Indeed, in the few parties I've attended in which Gnascan was present, this young man was constantly hanging by his side; their affection for one another is quite well-known.”

“What's this young man's name?”

“Sihsak, I believe. Nobody, aside from perhaps Gnascan himself, knows what the young man's core name is.”

“If there is a Sith influence among the Chiss, this Sihsak may be that. But there maybe more still.”

“If what you say is true, Luke, that there is Sith manipulation going on within the Chiss Ascendancy, what benefit would there be for them to leave our worlds virtually defenseless?”

“I could think of a few reasons. For now, I want to keep those theories to myself until after we meet with Gnascan and his consort.”

“Very well. Let's just hope that when we reach Csilla, our government won't have fallen because of the Vagaari or some other threat.”

“I hope not either, Formbi.”

After that, Luke and Formbi fell into an uneasy silence for the rest of the trip. Neither of them knew what to say to the other; given everything that had happened lately, they found that they could do nothing more than eat, drink, sleep, and wait out the journey to Csilla without saying another word. Even the prospect of a casual, friendly conversation about their social lives seemed inappropriate; to Luke, it was as saddening as it was nerve-wracking.

About two days before they were set to arrive at the Chiss capital world, they were abruptly pulled out of hyperspace and found themselves in an empty system occupied by an Interdictor cruiser and two squadrons of clawcraft.

Immediately, before Luke could take control of the shuttle, they were caught in a tractor beam. He thus closed his eyes and concentrated as he reached out to cripple the cruiser's tractor emitter like he did to all those other ships over Ossus.

But when he did, his eyes shot open when he felt a presence out there that was all too familiar.

Himself.

In an instant, his mind was overwhelmed by a psychic attack that brought him to the deck; he writhed in pain as he grasped vainly at his temples. Formbi knelt by his side and gripped his shoulders, unsure of what else to do aside from asking Luke, “What's wrong?” over and over again.

Within moments, Luke was rendered unconscious just as a horrifying realization dawned upon him.

Whoever it was—Sith, Chiss, or some other faction that that Interdictor out there was a part of—they had managed to create another clone of him. 

. . . 

As Jag had remembered, the coordinates—the actual coordinates that Jaina's message had given him, not the fake ones that he provided to Peecar—led the Guardian back to where all his and Jaina's troubles started: the Gyuel system.

And since Jag ordered comm silence from outside the ship, as he told his lieutenant that their mission to track Jaina required it, he had no fear of being contacted by Peecar or any of his subordinates. Moreover, since they didn't know where they were, there was virtually no fear that Jag and Jaina's impending reunion would be cut short by the former's superiors.

As Jag looked out through the viewport of the Guardian's bridge, his lieutenant, Kilop, sidled up next to him and asked, “What are your orders, sir?”

“You have the bridge, Lieutenant,” Jag replied. “And until I say otherwise, you will hold here. I will go out by myself.”

Kilop's eyes widened in mild shock. “By yourself, sir?”

“That is what I said, Lieutenant Kilop,” Jag stated sternly. “For this, I must be alone.”

“But, sir-”

“Do not question my orders, Lieutenant. Jaina Solo maybe powerful, but the plan I have will be far more effective than any you could come up with. We will not apprehend or kill her by using our ships' weapons, tractor beams, or any of our clawcraft. She is too cunning to be defeated that way. And for my plan to work, bringing along even one guard to protect me will ruin this one chance that we have. Is that understood?”

Kilop hesitated, but he swallowed visibly and nodded. “Yes, sir. I understand, sir.”

“Good. And remember to maintain comm silence; there are to be no interruptions from outside this system until we have achieved our mission objective.”

“Aye, sir.”

Jag then brushed past Kilop and left the bridge. The lieutenant turned back to the bridge's viewport and exhaled anxiously.

Minutes later, a clawcraft was seen flying towards one of the moons of Qoribu; and by then, Kilop looked to one of the comm officers as he started to doubt the veracity of his superior officer's orders to maintain comm silence. 

. . . 

Ten minutes after he launched his personal clawcraft from the Guardian, Jag set down several meters away from a cave entrance on the night side of the moon of Jwlio. Upon disembarking, he walked with military precision toward the cave and entered.

He stopped in the middle of it and looked around as he wondered where the object of his search was. When he felt a sudden stiff breeze blow past from behind, he turned around casually; he was not surprised to find who stood there silhouetted against the night sky that shone with the radiance of the other nearby moons and the gas giant of Qoribu.

Jaina stood there silently, two meters from Jag, with a blank expression; her posture was straight and stiff, and her arms remained at her side, as if she were a soldier that Jag would have commanded.

“You came alone,” she said; her tone was just as blank as her facial and bodily expressions.

“Of course I did. I only wanted to speak to you.”

“What do you have to say to me that you couldn't back on the Guardian?”

“That I still love you.”

“Oh?” A tilt of her head was the only thing that changed in her stance.

Jag took a step forward. “I know that I did and said some things to you that weren't... ideal. But you have to understand that what I did was out of necessity. Everything I did—torturing Zekk, attacking you emotionally—were all things that I had been obligated to do as a military man. But now that we can finally speak on these terms, I want to reconnect with you, Jaina. I want to... revive what we had. Can you please take me back?”

Her head returned to being set straight again; yet everything else about her appearance remained unchanged. “You would be able to get me out of here? Without being taken in by your forces?”

“Yes,” he answered immediately and with great enthusiasm.

“How? How can you do that while we could still be together? From what I understand, I don't think your orders will allow me to be your little plaything on the Guardian. The entire Jedi Order is being hunted down by the Ascendancy; you could be charged with treason for harboring me.”

He shook his head. “It won't matter. I promise you, it won't. I'll make a special commendation for you; I can make you exempt. Admiral Peecar will underst-”

He cut himself off; he just remembered what he had done. He had deliberately disobeyed orders when he deceived Peecar over Jaina's whereabouts so that he could be with her right here, right now. It was then that he realized—fully realized—the depths to which he had ruined any chances in which he and Jaina could have possibly had a future together.

“What was that about Admiral Peecar, Jag?”

He looked at her with a newfound desperation. He took another step forward as he effectively closed the physical gap between them. 

“We'll find a way, Jaina. I know it. It may take some time, but we'll be together like we used to be.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded; for some reason that he couldn't fathom, a smile broke out across his face, which elicited a nervous chuckle from his being. “You can trust me on that, Jaina. If you still love me like I still love you, then you know I'll come through for you. You're the most important thing to me in the galaxy.”

Slowly, a smile crept across her face. “I am, aren't I?”

His next nod seemed to be much more wild; he felt as if his head would nearly fall off of his body, but he nodded like that anyway. “You are. Yes, you are. Now, please, can you take me back? Please?”

Her smile widened further. “Yes. Yes, Jag. I will.”

“Oh, yes!” he exclaimed before he hugged her fiercely. He pulled back long enough to kiss her full on the mouth.

When the kiss ended fifteen seconds later when she pulled back, she asked, “But tell me, what would you be willing to sacrifice to get me back?”

He was startled into asking, “What?”

“What would you be willing to give up for me, Jag?”

A moment of hesitation later, he answered with, “Everything, Jaina.”

“Everything, you say?”

His next nod was less certain and much more controlled.

“I see. Would that mean your place within the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force?”

At that, he found himself at a loss. Once upon a time, he thought about it. But in the years since the Yuuzhan Vong War ended, the time in which he and Jaina drifted apart because of distance and other duties and obligations brought him further in line with being the standard, disciplined military man that would make his father proud. Indeed, he had almost forgotten about Jaina before she reappeared in his life here at Qoribu, when she had sided with the Killiks; by that point, he had been formed, molded, into being the type of officer who would shunt any and all personal feelings to the side to do what had to be done for the greater good of the Chiss Ascendancy.

“Can't answer that, Jag? Well, then, let me ask you, what were your thoughts when we saw each other again in that interrogation room? Because I couldn't tell because of those damn Force-shunting cuffs on me.”

He thought back to that day. He remembered feeling... betrayed at seeing her again. To see her siding with the Killiks, with the enemy, was something that broke his heart and only fueled his drive to get the information that he needed to help his military, to help his people. If he had to admit it, he felt a little satisfied at seeing the shock and fear on her face when he had Zekk—that blasted Jedi Zekk—zapped. 

Jag didn't even have the opportunity to answer her last question before she grabbed onto him and said, “You know what? I don't really care.”

In an instant, he was overcome by great convulsing pain as electricity started to cover his entire being. Unable to move, all he could do was stare back into her eyes and watch as they changed from their characteristic brown to a fiery dark red.

As the pain intensified, he was unable to scream even as he felt that his hair and then his flesh burned away.

And within a matter of moments, even the sockets in his eyes were hollowed out into nothingness before he finally died. 

Then she released the smoking, burnt corpse and allowed it to collapse to the ground before her. And without giving it further thought, she turned as she heard the sounds of clawcraft breaching Jwlio's atmosphere.

With her eyes still fiery red, she smirked. But before she turned back, she stopped when she saw a shocked Jacen standing there looking back at her. A moment later, as a squadron of clawcraft came into view, Jacen's form dissipated into nothingness.

She snarled before she turned away to venture deeper into the cave. 

Chapter Text

Jacen's scream was audible throughout the Millennium Falcon, which prompted Han and Leia to shoot up from the pilot and copilot seats respectively and rush to their son's temporary quarters. There, his scream had died down, but once they entered, he looked up at them from his seat on the bed with a haunted look in his eyes.

“Jacen, what's wrong?” Leia asked worriedly.

“It's Jaina,” her son replied.

Han looked at Leia. “She's not dead, is she?” His tone was, obviously, full of anxiety.

Leia shook her head. “I would've felt it.” Neither of them had to say a word about when she felt their son Anakin's death years ago. 

“No, something worse,” Jacen said, which made his parents look back at him. “She... she has... turned completely dark.”

“Leia?” Han asked.

She closed her eyes and reached out to feel her daughter. When she opened her eyes, she said to him, “I'm afraid Jacen's right, Han.” Her look mirrored her surviving son's as she continued with, “This was worse than when Jaina dabbled in the dark side on Hapes during the last war. Far worse.”

“So what does that mean?” Han asked worriedly.

Jacen stood up. “It means Jaina just committed an act that has irrevocably tainted her soul, Dad.”

“Irrevocably tainted her...” Han trailed off before he asked, “Are you saying that... whatever Jaina did, she can't turn back to the light side?”

“I really hope that isn't the case, Dad. All I know is that what I just felt was all-too familiar. The last time I felt something like this was... when Vergere was training me.”

Han and Leia fell silent before the latter asked, “You said you didn't believe in the light or dark sides of the Force, Jacen. That we're all part of the Unifying Force, is that right?”

Jacen nodded. “But like I told Uncle Luke, that doesn't absolve us of any moral responsibility. If I had thought that, I'd have had no reason to help defeat the Yuuzhan Vong or to help the Killiks against the Chiss... or to get Jaina back to us.”

“If that's the case, that means there can still be hope for Jaina, right?” Han asked desperately. “If you went through something like this, Jacen, but came out the other side as you are now, surely, Jaina can, too?”

“I hope so, Dad. I truly hope so.”

. . . 

Having left the Guardian's bridge to a subordinate lieutenant, Kilop looked down upon the charred naked corpse that lay before him on the medbay bed. He never took his eyes off of it as he waited for the ship's doctor to confirm that the body before them belonged to his immediate superior officer.

“Lieutenant Kilop?” the doctor asked.

He looked over at her and handed him a datapad. “To summarize, based on dental records, this man was, indeed, Captain Jagged Fel.” 

Kilop restrained himself from giving into his shock even as he skimmed through the details on the 'pad anyway. When he was done, he handed the device back with mechanical military precision without even looking at the doctor.

“Thank you,” Kilop said even as he refused to look at her. He then turned and left the 'bay to return to the bridge.

Once he arrived, he went directly to his now-second-in-command.

“Have there been any other ships that have departed from the moon since our forces returned?” Kilop asked him.

“None, sir.” Indeed, the shuttle that Jaina Solo had stolen from the Aranok was found inside the very cave where Fel's body was discovered by the pilots of the clawcraft squadron that went down to investigate. That investigation had been prompted by the fact that Fel's life-signature had spiked dramatically before it ceased altogether.

“Good,” Kilop replied. “What about life-forms?”

“None have been reported, either, sir. However, we cannot discount the possibility that Captain Fel's killer, if it is Jaina Solo, is able to use the surrounding environment to cloak her own life-signs.”

“Very well. Standby for orders.” He then headed directly to one of the comm consoles and promptly ordered the officer there to activate the Guardian's shipwide intercom. 

After the officer informed Kilop that the intercom was on, he said into it, “Attention, all personnel. It is my regretful duty to inform you that Captain Fel has died. That leaves me to assume responsibility according to the chain of command. As such, my first command is for all personnel to standby for further orders until after I have consulted with someone in High Command. That is all.”

He turned off the intercom himself, then turned to find his second-in-command standing there expectantly.

“Lieutenant Kilop, Captain Fel said that comm silence was necessary for-”

“I know what the captain said, Lieutenant Grosp. However, as I must reiterate, with him now dead, command of this ship falls directly to me, which means that, in light of this major change, I find it prudent to countermand those orders. Do you have a problem with that, Lieutenant?”

“No, sir,” Grosp replied obediently.

“Good. Now make sure that Captain Fel's death warrant is sent out to High Command. I will be in the command salon.” He then headed to the station that Fel had occupied for years up until this point.

Ten minutes after he put in a request to speak with either Admiral Peecar or one of his immediate subordinates, Kilop finally got through to Peecar himself.

“Lieutenant Kilop? Where is Captain Fel?”

“Captain Fel is dead, Admiral Peecar. I have had one of my officers relay that information to you. If you have not already received it, you will soon.”

Peecar looked away from Kilop to something out of the subordinate Chiss' line of sight in the hologram. The admiral then brought up a datapad and, after a few moments, looked back at Kilop with a look of disappointment.

“I have received the notice of death by your ship's doctor, Lieutenant. Effective immediately, you are now Captain Kilop. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir. It is an honor, sir.”

“Do not consider it an honor just yet, Captain. Jagged Fel's notice of death described that he was rendered into a charred corpse, but the report did not say how. Was there anyone in the crew who was with him when he died?”

Kilop shook his head regretfully. “I am afraid not, sir. Captain Fel specifically demanded that he not be accompanied by anyone else when he went to meet with Jaina Solo.”

“I presume he also told you that a comm blackout with anyone outside the Guardian was also necessary, Captain Kilop?”

“Yes, sir, he did.”

“Hmm. Very well; since you were simply carrying out orders, no charges will be directed at you or any of your crew, Captain, for Jagged Fel's insubordination.”

“Insubordination, sir?”

“He had been specifically told not to follow that lead for Solo; he even gave me the wrong coordinates for the task force that I assigned to go after her. Now enlighten me: what is Jaina Solo's fate?”

“We believe that she is still alive, Admiral, and down on the moon of Jwlio. What would you like me to do?”

“Commence orbital bombardment, Captain Kilop. Make sure that nothing can survive down on the moon's surface. And after it has been rendered thoroughly burned, send down a strike team to make sure that Solo is dead, starting with the location where she murdered Captain Fel. Is that understood?”

“Yes, it is, sir.”

“Very well. Report back to me as soon as you have either eliminated her or if she escapes from your grasp, Captain.” Peecar signed off.

Kilop stood up and returned to the main bridge where he first announced his promotion to the present crew before he relayed Peecar's orders to bombard the Jwlio.

It took a little less than an hour, but by that point, the moon had been rendered into an even more lifeless wasteland than it had been before. If the Killiks had a hard time trying to grow anything there, it would be nigh-impossible now.

“Are we reading any life-forms?” Kilop asked the sensor officers.

“None so far, sir,” one of the sensor officers reported.

“Very well.” Kilop turned to his second-in-command. “Dispatch a strike team down to the same site where Commander Fel's body was found. I want them to comb every inch of that cave system until they find her and kill her if she is not dead already.”

“Aye, sir,” Grosp replied before he set to his duties.

. . . 

As quickly as the Jwlio's orbital bombardment came, its effects had cooled quickly enough so that its air was acceptable for most oxygen-breathers like the Chiss, even if its heat was highly noticeable by them. As such, the assault shuttle that contained the strike team to hunt down Jaina Solo landed near the same cave where Fel's corpse was discovered, which was blasted open by the shuttle's turbolaser cannons given that the cave had been collapsed thanks to the orbital bombardment.

With that out of the way, the strike team, composed of twelve Chiss men in all, disembarked and jogged over to the entrance. Their leader, Commander Nevask, stopped right before they reached the threshold and wordlessly signaled for them to halt. He then directed two of his subordinates into the cave—again, without having to use any words—to see if there were any potential booby traps that Solo may have somehow laid for them. Ten seconds later, those subordinates signaled an all-clear, which prompted Nevask to direct the rest of his team inside. 

As they all carefully made their way inside, all the while still on the lookout for setups to any traps, the strike team made it further and further into the cave system. Within a matter of minutes, Nevask discovered a waxy passageway that forced him to bend down at the waist. He checked for any traps here, and after a few moments, he waved the rest of his squad to follow him; along the way, they all had to take out their emergency glowsticks from their utility belts as they entered total darkness.

Less than ten minutes later, they came across a massive cavern that swallowed up the light of their 'sticks as they brought them upward. 

Then, without warning, all of the light sources suddenly exploded, and shards of glass and glowing chemicals splashed upon each of the soldiers. Nevask was one of the soldiers who screamed as several shards embedded themselves in his eyes and blinded him as he flailed about in confusion and pain.

But even amidst all that confusion and pain, Nevask heard a pair of boots land next to him. And when he heard a lightsaber activate, he knew it was too late even before he died.

. . . 

When Jaina appeared at the entrance of the cave where she killed Jag, she saw that the pilot of the Chiss assault shuttle saw her. But before he could do anything, whether take off or notify his superiors up in space, Jaina reached out through the Force and broke his neck. 

After she boarded, she threw the corpse out before she closed the hatch. Then she sat herself down in the cockpit and initiated the engines. In a matter of moments, she took off and rocketed through the skies on a vector well away from the Guardian. Of course, even before she broke through the atmosphere to enter space, she saw that the Star Destroyer had launched a clawcraft squadron for her.

She knew she couldn't outrun them in this shuttle, and she doubted that even her legendary pilot of a father could be able to outmaneuver and destroy them all without a great degree of help or set of obstacles, like asteroids, that he could use against them. But one thing that Jaina had that her father didn't was the Force; and if she could use it to propel shadow bombs, she could use it to snap necks even from a greater distance than down on Jwlio.

So, after she made it out of the atmosphere, it was with the Force that she reached out to one pilot and snapped his neck like she did with the shuttle's previous pilot. That clawcraft careened into the one off to its port, which destroyed both vessels instantly. 

She repeated that trick for two more pilots; one of them collided with one of their fellow fighters like the previous two, while the other only drifted toward Jwlio. However, each of the remaining seven entered range of Jaina's tail and opened fire with their laser cannons.

Naturally, Jaina threw the shuttle into a steep dive that prompted all the clawcraft to follow while they spat fire at her back. She soon pulled up to try to shake them, but to no avail, and with the amount of fire that she was taking, she couldn't get enough concentration to break any of the surviving pilots' necks.

Thus, she wheeled the shuttle around, drove straight toward the leftmost clawcraft, and fired upon it even as she still executed various slaloms to dodge the incoming laser projectiles. She blew that clawcraft up easily, but the next one broke upwards, which left her to focus her fire on the next one in line.

Jaina failed to bring that one down before they passed each other, during which the shuttle took a few shots to the prow; however, that left her clear to break upwards and fire upon the clawcraft that had gotten away. Her first two shots missed, but the third broke off the clawcraft's bottom right wing. That left her able to blow it to atoms before she turned to take on the last five clawcraft.

The next one she engaged was as easy as the first one that she obliterated, but by then, the remaining four had broken off and reformed in pairs; one gunned from Jaina's port and the other from her starboard. They closed around her as they fired upon her shuttle, which had taken on more hits and was having its shields dropped to dangerous levels. 

Nevertheless, she took that opportunity to repeat her neck-breaking Force-trick to one of the pair to her left. As had occurred the first two times, the fighter with the dead pilot collided with the one with the living one, and then they were both atomized by the result. Hence, Jaina was able to turn her attention completely to the last two pilots, who broke off from each other.

With a victorious smirk, Jaina broke the neck of the pilot who was now to her port even as the last fighter had circled back to open fire on her again. All it took was a simple veer to starboard for her to dodge her remaining opponent's next round of lasers before she broke his neck, too.

With that out of the way, Jaina saw that the Guardian, instead of dispatching another squad of clawcraft, elected to move toward her, no doubt to capture her in a tractor beam and blow her to oblivion. She thus gunned it past the drifting dead clawcraft and, in a matter of seconds, exited the Gyuel system's gravity well.

With the Guardian still well out of range behind her, she launched the shuttle into hyperspace.

Chapter Text

When Luke awakened, he found himself laying on a thin cot in a darkly-lit metallic room with a door directly across from him and the toilet and sink off to his right. His robotic hand, which he found that he couldn't operate now, was cuffed to the frame of the bed by a long glowing cord that gave him just enough room to use the refresher facilities in what was no doubt his cell.

He had little doubt that the mechanism to these cuffs were keeping him from accessing the Force. If that were really the case, then these cuffs were not unlike the ones that had been used on Jaina while she was incarcerated aboard the Guardian on both occasions, as she and Corran had told him.

Instead of yelling out, “Where am I?” or “What's going on?” or anything like that that would rob him of his dignity, and most likely play into the hands of his captors, Luke simply sat up on the cot and folded his legs under him to begin meditation. Even without the Force, he thought that it would do him some good and pass the time until whomever held him entered his cell and explained the circumstances of his capture. Without knowing more information, he wasn't confident in forming an escape plan.

Unsure of how much time passed before his cell door opened, Luke opened his eyes and found a male Zeltron dressed in a grey Imperial uniform who stoond along the threshold. The lightly pink-skinned alien regarded him for a few seconds before he walked inside but kept the door opened.

The Zeltron stopped a little more than a meter away from Luke and said in a Coruscanti-esque accent, “Hello, Master Skywalker. My name is Lieutenant-Commander Elbas of the Star Destroyer Meklon. I assume you're wondering why you're here?” 

“The thought has crossed my mind,” Luke replied flippantly.

Elbas grinned sardonically. “We have brought you aboard, alive, so that you may stand trial, which shall take place in three days' time, on behalf of your Jedi Order for the events surrounding the Guardian over Hlest. Not that it can save your precious Order now since your kidnapping of Ambassador Formbi, but-”

“Where is Formbi?”

“Ah. Well, the ambassador is doing quite well, if you must know; we have him secured in guest quarters aboard this ship, which, of course, you shall never see. He does go on and on about a Sith manipulating the Ruling Council's decisions over on Csilla; I assume that was some poison that you spoke into his ear?”

“Not poison, Lieutenant-Commander Elbas. A likely theory. And speaking of which, what concern do you have for the Chiss Ascendancy? Judging by your uniform, I don't take it that you're like Jagged Fel who can get to the ranks he attained by-”

“No, Master Skywalker, I'm not part of the Chiss Ascendancy. I'm an officer of the Empire of the Hand.”

Luke's eyes widened. “Empire of the Hand? What are you doing here in the Unknown Regions instead of Wild Space? Why are you in the Chiss Ascendancy's domain?”

“Why, to fill out the vacancy that they left for their worlds when they went to hunt down your Jedi.”

“Of course.” Luke's eyes drifted from Elbas' as realization struck him. “It all makes sense.”

“What is it?” the Zeltron asked suspiciously.

Luke looked back at him. “Lieutenant-Commander Elbas, I know that you believe that this Sith theory that you heard from Formbi sounds unbelievable, but you have to listen, the Empire of the Hand is also being manipulated by the Sith and-”

“I have done my duty. I have informed you of your circumstances. Good day to you, Master Skywalker.”

As Elbas turned to leave, Luke asked, “What about the clone of me you have aboard?”

The Zeltron stopped right at the threshold and turned back to regard him. “I beg your pardon?”

“I was found unconscious in the cockpit of the shuttle when your forces took me, right?”

Elbas turned back to fully regard him. “Of course. Ambassador Formbi was at a loss when he told us that you had fallen to the deck as if you had an 'overwhelming headache,' as he put it.”

“You didn't stop to think about what might have caused that, Lieutenant-Commander?”

The Zeltron shrugged. “You're of advanced years. I assumed that it must've been due to some kind of malignant tumor or-”

“You didn't bother to check any medical reports from your ship's doctor about why I might've fallen unconscious? Because I had my physical a few months back, and I can tell you, I'm very healthy for my age in all regards.”

“It was none of my concern as to why you were found in the state that you were in. You were put in custody and that was that.”

“So you have no idea that you have a clone of me aboard your ship, Lieutenant-Commander Elbas? Because he was the one who knocked me unconscious. You should ask your superiors, see if they know.”

The Zeltron's eyes narrowed before he turned and left the cell, with it being closed and locked, without another word.  

. . . 

For the past few days, Peecar and his crew, as well as the crews of half of his fleet's Star Destroyers and cruisers, did virtually nothing but wait in the Kessel system as the other half had waded in and out of the Maw Cluster. Peecar wondered if the crews of the three Galactic Alliance Star Destroyers—a token force compared to even his halved fleet strength—were as bored as he was or if they were constantly on the verge of panic for being outnumbered in the same system as Peecar's present ships.

If it hadn't been for the Maw's ability to disrupt communications from outside its black hole cluster, Peecar would have been among the ships currently looking for the Jedi's Eclipse base. And because of the need to make very careful maneuvers and hyperspace dropouts at necessary points to avoid being consumed by one of the black holes, it had been agreed by Peecar and the other senior officers in his fleet that, although sending in half of them was dangerous enough as it was, it was estimated to be suitable to take on whatever Jedi were hiding in the Maw.

Of course, Peecar's desire to be among the ones to stay in the Kessel system was motivated, in part, to hear any updates from the Guardian. He could scarcely say that his patience had been rewarded in that area when Lieutenant Kilop—now Captain Kilop—informed him that Jagged Fel had gotten himself killed by Jaina Solo because of his affection for her. Still, he would love to know if and when that Jedi witch was either killed or somehow captured; he preferred the former, if he was being honest with himself.

Fel had been a good man, Peecar thought, especially for a human. Looking back, he had thought that the relationship that Fel had developed with Solo during the Yuuzhan Vong War would have prompted him to depart from the Ascendancy, with or without his family who remained on Csilla, just for her after the war ended. But when the Vong were defeated, Peecar had been mildly surprised that Fel decided to return to the so-called Unknown Regions and make his way further up the ranks of the Expansionary Defense Force, as if that was all that mattered to him.

The fact that Fel had successfully presided over Solo's interrogation to coax the location of the Killik Colony's Prime hive-mind was something that impressed Peecar; the young man had proven himself to really remove any and all inclinations that he had developed for the woman. And even after the Chiss' defeat at Yoggoy and their reluctant allowance to let the Colony, sans the Dark Nest Gorog, leave with that Hapan fleet, Peecar figured that Fel's actions would no doubt lead him to become an admiral in due time.

What a shame, then, that in the end, Fel was as human as they came. Though his father seemed to compose himself like a Chiss when Peecar had the unfortunate news of relaying that information to Soontir just two days before. The admiral wondered how the elder human didn't rage when he was informed that his son's rather humiliating death was preceded by an act of deception to a superior officer and dereliction of duty. However, Peecar promised that Jag would still receive an honorable military funeral for his exemplary service beforehand and that the charges that he would have had to face had he still been alive would be ignored.

“Thank you for informing me of this news, Admiral Peecar,” Soontir Fel had said. “Is there anything else?”

“No, Baron Fel. I will leave you to grieve.” Peecar had let Soontir sign off.

Now the admiral sat forward in his chair, uncaring of what this posture might do to his elderly body later, as he waited for a report from one of the commanders who actually went into the Maw. 

His boredom was interrupted when one of his sensor officers reported, “Sir! We have a ship coming out of hyperspace behind the GA Destroyers.”

“Identify it,” Peecar's immediate subordinate for the Csilla's Pride, Captain Jeftre, ordered.

In a moment, that sensor officer reported, “It is the Jade Shadow, sir.”

Peecar stood up from his chair. “I shall take command from here, Captain Jeftre.” He directed his attention to comm. “Tell those GA Destroyers to get out of our way if they are not going to help us destroy that ship!”

As the officer relayed Peecar's demand, the admiral looked to one of the other comm officers and said, “Dispatch the cruiser Hesku to pursue the Jade Shadow at once!”

But even as a sensor readout displayed the Hesku turning to pursue the Shadow, the yacht had already turned away and launched itself back into hyperspace.

“Sir!” the comm officer who was ordered to communicate with the GA Destroyers spoke up. “One of the Alliance ships is telling us that the Jade Shadow left a communication package meant for us.”

“This changes nothing!” Peecar barked. “We may listen to it, but only after it has been verified not to have any computer viruses or programs that might cause any catastrophic failures within any of our ships!”

Still, even as the Hesku launched to pursue the Shadow, he wondered, if the message package was genuine, what content in it was so important that Mara Jade Skywalker would have risked such a close call with this Chiss fleet.

. . . 

Before the Millennium Falcon dropped out of hyperspace for where Jacen last sensed Jaina to be, Han, from the pilot seat, placed a hand on Leia's shoulder as she slumped in the copilot seat. 

“Look, honey, if you can sense that Luke isn't dead-” Han tried to say.

“It doesn't make it that much better, Han,” Leia interrupted curtly. “With everything that's happened—the Chiss hunting down the Jedi, Jaina going dark, and now Luke missing with his Force-presence somehow cut off—I have a feeling that things are only going to get much worse. And I'm not sure if they're going to get better this time, Han.”

“Hey, c'mon, we've been through worse scrapes than this, right? I mean, there's the Vong-”

“Han, please, just... stop. Okay? I know you're trying to make me feel better, but there's just something, I don't know if it's my gut or the Force, that's telling me that the worst is yet to come.”

“So is giving in to despair going to make things any better?”

“It might not; but I don't know how else to feel about it.”

Han fell silent just as one of the Falcon's beeping indicators notified him that they were nearing their destination. He turned from his wife and brought his ship out to a system that they hoped they wouldn't have to come back to.

Jacen joined them in the cockpit and said, “Jaina was here. I can feel it. Whatever she did, she did it in this system.”

“Wanna narrow it down, kid?” Han said more harshly than he intended. His concern for Jaina made him a bit more snappy with his son. “Lotta moons here.”

“Only one moon that would have meant the most to her here,” Jacen said. “Set a course for Jwlio, Dad.”

“Right, you're the captain, son,” Han said sarcastically even as he piloted their way toward the stated moon.

“Hey, I'm just trying to help,” Jacen said sincerely.

“If you really wanna help,” Han said without turning away from his duties, “find a way to make your sister work right again.”

Jacen looked between his parents, neither of whom looked back at him. He was surprised that his mother didn't even try to mildly berate Han for speaking to his son that way. But instead of voicing any concerns, Jacen just shut his mouth and waited out the rest of the ride.

It helped his self-imposed silence that he agreed with his dad; right now, without any way to truly reach Jaina through the Force, he felt worse than useless right now. He couldn't even blame his mom for her tacit agreement with Han's attitude toward him through her own silence.

Minutes later, they had set down a few dozen meters away from the cave where Jacen arrived to join Jaina and the other Myrkr survivors to help the Killiks repel the Chiss. He was the first to disembark from the Falcon and walked by himself, well ahead of his parents and his mother's Noghri bodyguards, toward that cave.

When he was slightly more than a dozen meters from the entrance, he sensed, very clearly, that that was the exact spot where Jaina committed her dark deed. Taking a deep breath, Jacen allowed himself to commence a flow-walking session to see what had transpired here.

He watched as Jaina, with her back turned to him, conversed with Jagged Fel, whose sight was so riveted upon her that he didn't seem to notice Jacen standing there from the future. From this distance, Jacen was surprised to find just how uncouth Jag's behavior was; there wasn't a hint of the composed military man that he heard from Leia to be similar to that of Grand Moff Tarkin. Instead, Jag was acting like an irascible teenage boy who was irrevocably smitten with the girl before him as they kissed and talked.

When the thought occurred to Jacen to step forward so that he could hear what was being said between his sister and Jag, they had embraced again. Only this time, electricity enveloped the man, which figuratively shocked Jacen as Jag was literally. Jacen could only watch in horror, as he knew that this had already happened and there was nothing he could do about it, as Jaina used her ability to use Force-lightning to char Jag to death.

After Jaina finally allowed her ex-boyfriend's corpse to collapse, she turned away to look upwards, as if in response to some approaching ship(s). And even before she looked directly at him, Jacen was horrified at the fiery orange-red that colored his twin sister's eyes.

This brought him out of the flow-walking, and he turned to find his parents and the two Noghri approach him.

“What did you see?” Leia asked when all four of them stopped.

“She did it,” Jacen said with a defeated tone. “She killed Jag.”

“Can't say I'll miss him,” Han said. “But what about Jaina? That's our concern, in case you forgot. Any clue where she went, Detective Jacen?” His tone carried more aggression than flippancy now.

“Just give me some time,” Jacen said as calmly as he could. “Let me see if I can-”

“Do whatever you have to, but make it quick,” Han said abruptly.

Again, Jacen looked at his mother; Leia looked as impatient as her husband.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Han asked bitingly.

Jacen nodded once before he turned back to resume the flow-walk. He must have skipped past the part where Jag's corpse was collected by whatever forces were sent from above, because now there was a Chiss assault shuttle before him. From his vantage point, he saw Jaina enter through the side—he doubted that she spotted him this time—before she threw out a Chiss corpse. Once the hatch closed, she lifted off into the sky.

The flow-walk ended there, and he turned back to his parents and said, “She stole a Chiss assault shuttle. I saw its number on the back. We return to the Falcon, input that number, we might get a better lead on Jaina than my sense of her.”

Neither Han nor Leia said anything before they turned and headed back to the Falcon with Cakhmaim and Meewalh. Jacen followed wordlessly in their wake; he supposed that would be the best response from his parents.