Allana Solo sat facing the speaker, her master, Ben Skywalker.
Ben was telling the new apprentices about a man that, according to him, should be both respected and hated.
"Jacen Solo was a Sith lord, ,you all know this, correct?"
There was a chorus of 'yes' from the audience.
"some of you may be too young to remember, but he brought untold suffering to the galaxy.
Some of you may have lost family members in the war, I lost my mother, and you may hate Jacen for what he became.
But what you have to understand is that, that man was not Jacen Solo, but Darth Caedus, a sith lord who was led awry by his own good intentions."
Allana was glad that Ben was defending her father, but still had no idea where this speech was going.
"now, I'm sure that you all think that I'm going to warn you about the dark side and how you should never turn out to be a monster like him."
Allana was stung, her memories of her father had nothing to do with him being a sith lord, but being a man who couldn't tell his daughter who he really was, yet cherished every moment with her.
"but he was more than that, Jacen Solo was a good friend, my cousin, and above all, he was my master."
This drew some sharp gasps from the audience, not many of them knew of the respect that Ben gave to his idol even now, ten years after the war that Jacen had led.
"Jacen had a hard life, not many people can understand what he went through, he and his siblings were always subject to assassination attempts, or kidnappings, then came the Vong war…"
Be let his voice trail off before speaking again with renewed vigor.
"Jacen Solo was the hero of the Yuuzahn vong(correct spelling if I'm wrong!) war, he sat out the first part, torn over his nonviolent commitment and duty as a Jedi, eventually giving up use of the force altogether, to avoid misuse."
The entire audience was shocked, again, at what Jacen Solo had done, which contradicted their image of him, painted by the other masters of the order.
"he eventually helped the Jedi to win the vong war, and later did another impossible feat…"
Once again ben paused for dramatic effect, then said softly, "he managed to convince me to reconnect with the force."
The crowd was stunned silent, Allana didn't even know about this.
"I was born during the war with the vong. The brutality of that war, and feeling the deaths of billions, caused me to cut myself off from the force, Jacen Solo was the one who convinced me that the force was not the source of the pain I felt.
He them taught me the ways of the force, he showed me how to be a good jedI, and yes, he taught me some of the dark side, teachings I carry to this day."
Allana was stunned, she had no idea that ben had held onto her father's teachings, specially after what he had done.
"hopefully over the next few weeks I can help show you all that Jacen Solo was not a mass murdering psychopath, but a kind gentle man, who was ambushed by his own good intentions.
Class dismissed."
Ok…so this is my true muse. I'm so glad to be writing a star wars fic.
It's been going around in my head for a while now, Jacen wasn't such a bad guy, and ben knew him very well, so he should redeem him in the eyes of his only child.
Ben is training her for reasons that I will or will not (there is no try) make clear in the rest of the story, but I will explain to the rant-readers only, ben felt that he owed it to Jacen for helping him to reconnect to the force, so he agreed to train her when Han and Leia felt she was ready.
Also points if you spot the oak ridge boys reference : )
And as per usual, props to the rant readers!