Jalaen trembled with excitement when the Martyr entered the atmosphere of Kalee. Even though the reason she had returned home was sinister, she was happy to see her home planet again.
Jalaen, in her quarters, was meditating and deep into the Force. Something had been nagging at her mind for the last two days and Jalaen wanted to calm it. Slowly, a feeling of trepidation came over the Kaleesh. Something on the cruiser was not right.
Rubble came rushing in. "Disable bomb?" He asked.
Then it hit Jalaen. "Abesmi," She swore.
The ship started trembling, a clear sign that it would blow soon. Qymaen's deep voice resounded from the pilot's seat. "Jalaen, I'm having an all systems failure! Hurry!"
Jalaen rushed to the cockpit, as the Jenuwaa Sea and Grendaju became vastly larger as the dying ship set itself into a death spiral.
"Jalaen, you and Rubble take the escape pod!" Qymaen shouted. "Go! I'll ride this."
"No," Jalaen retorted. "I will not let you sacrifice your life like this. Father, come on!"
Qymaen shook his head sadly. "Jalaen, go," He said softly. "Only you, with your turquoise lightsaber, can defeat Darth Sidious. You must live through this."
Jalaen sighed, and picked up Rubble. She ran to the escape pod. Nearby was her father's rifle. The old thing had been used by her great-grandmother in the Bitthaevrian threat. Jalaen wouldn't let that go down with the ship.
Jettisoning the escape pod, Jalaen looked at the frigid sea that the pod was rapidly falling to. Too late, she realized that she had left Rubble on the ship with Qymaen. She began to weep. Jalaen prepared herself to embrace the icy blast of ocean when the pod hit the water. Grendaju's white bulk expanded before her eyes, and the pod buried itself in the ice.
Jalaen quickly fled the smoking wreckage, to see the Martyr, a small blip, race across the sky and burst open the moment it hit the water. Glistening tears ran down Jalaen's face. Her father and Rubble had been blasted to smithereens and their charred flesh was left to the ocean for a watery grave. No burial, no recognition of their sacrifice.
Jalaen quickly stopped weeping. Her eyes narrowed. Her four fingered hand clenched into a fist. "Revenge is the foundation of justice," Jalaen shouted. "Justice began with revenge. For me, for Qymaen, for Ronderu, for Rubble, revenge is the closest to justice that we'll ever get!"
000
Qymaen felt the heat that the Martyr was generating as it twisted and corkscrewed into the Jenuwaa. He felt sick as the vast expanse of ocean grew nearer and nearer with each second. At least Jalaen's and Rubble's lives would be saved. His life was worth something.
"We die?" Rubble asked.
Qymaen turned. Jalaen hadn't taken Rubble with her!
All of a sudden, he remembered he had not unrigged the pilot's seat to jettison on command. There was some hope for them.
Blue ocean.
Red fire.
And then,
Nothing.