When the Faux Harla and Captain Ford's Mindabaal Custom yacht dropped out of hyperspace to enter the Coruscant system, neither the Muun or droid in the former vessel nor the droid in the latter vessel expected so much debris littering the space around the heart of the galaxy. Nor did either of them expect the long lines of starcruisers that spanned for light years toward Coruscant, all of which were being patrolled by the Coruscant Defense Force.
"Well, this is going to take a lot longer than we thought," Ford, seated in the copilot seat of the Faux Harla, remarked to his Master, Darth Plagueis the Immortal, who was piloting the YT-2400.
"I have all of eternity," Plagueis countered idly. "I can wait. Although I do worry about Five-U."
"Master?" Ford inquired.
"If and when he is searched," Plagueis said, "he could potentially ruin everything by telling the authorities about me."
"Oh," Ford said. "Well, don't worry, Lord Plagueis, if he is in danger of revealing your plans, he will explode."
Plagueis looked in askance at Ford.
"Precaution I took on him and myself before we brought you back from the dead," Ford explained. "On the off-chance that we would, you know, succeed in giving you another chance at becoming immortal."
"Good thinking," Plagueis remarked.
A few minutes later, the Harla and the Mindabaal were boarded. The soldiers who searched the former vessel were strong-minded, but Plagueis was still able to perform a successful mind trick on them, telling them that they had no need to see his identification. And because of the false transponder code that Ford had installed for the Harla, the authorities had no reason to suspect that this was the ship that had belonged to Jedi Master Jaina Solo Fel, who violated the Jedi exile from Coruscant by coming to the planet weeks ago. As for Five-U, the soldiers found nothing more odd or strange than his pornozines. Hence, the two ships were allowed to pass through for Coruscant.
"Where do we go?" Plagueis asked Ford as he piloted the ship through the planet's skies.
"The business district," Ford told him. "I keep my wealth there, as well as an apartment. I made sure it would be comfortable for you, Master."
"No one asks a droid why they would want Muunoid comforts when you're one of the richest beings in the galaxy," Plagueis reflected. "I love how business can deflect obvious questions... And lead to the rise of the first truly immortal Sith Lord in the galaxy." He couldn't help but smile viciously.
.
When Tenel Ka finally returned home with Allana and the Hapan fleet from Coruscant, night had fallen over the Royal Palace, and the Queen Mother took it upon herself to tuck her daughter into bed.
"Mommy?" Allana inquired after she was all snuggled up.
"Yes, honey?" Tenel Ka asked.
"If I never wanted to go back to the Jedi Order," she said, "would that be okay?"
A faint smile touched Tenel Ka's lips. "It would be just fine, Allana. I would definitely be okay with it."
Allana nodded. "Being with the Jedi Order has brought us nothing but misery and death," Allana continued, her tone drenched in sadness. "Grandma Tenenial died because she was a Jedi. Grandpa Isolder died because he defended the Jedi. Daddy, for all he did, died because of his sister, who was a Jedi. And now, because of all that happened with the Killiks..." Water began to limn her tear ducts.
Tenel Ka immediately enfolded her one arm around her daughter, hugging her as she cried, too. What was now known as the Second Swarm War, while not as disastrous to the galaxy as the conflicts with the Yuuzhan Vong or Darth Caedus were, was unarguably the most personally damaging to Tenel Ka and Allana. Essentially, all of their remaining relatives - Luke, Han, Leia, Jaina, Jag, and Ben - perished during the conflict around the time Allana became part of the Thuruht hive mind.
"You even lost your arm because of the Jedi," Allana whispered. "You lost so many friends, too. I'm glad you left the Order."
After a moment, Tenel Ka replied with, "Me, too."
Allana then pulled away. "So why are we still supporting them?! Why are you allowing them to continue to live in the space of the Hapes Consortium?!"
"Allana." Tenel Ka tried to quiet her down, resorting to the tone of a queen.
"They'll only bring you more harm!" Allana exclaimed. "You have enough to deal with already! So many treacherous, disloyal Hapans you have to lead! How could you do this to yourself? How could you do this to me?!"
"What I do with the Consortium has nothing to do with you," Tenel Ka said firmly.
"Yes, it's always been about the Consortium!" Allana screamed. "What all those snobby nobles and greedy money suckers think! That's why you never allowed Daddy to trust in anyone with me! It's because of you that he became bad!"
Tenel Ka's mouth dropped in shock. "Allana... you don't really mean that..."
"You know what Great-Uncle Luke told me?" Allana asked, ignoring her mother's question. "After he woke up from fighting Abeloth for the last time? He told me that Daddy became bad because he saw me stand next to a dark man on the Throne of Balance; a man who helped him beat Abeloth. He feared that I would fall to the dark side, so he fell for me! He did that because he loved me! He sacrificed everything he loved and cared for, killed his own aunt, supported a pointless war, died under his sister's hands, because of me! And what did you do? Force him to keep me as a secret from the people you would later trust to protect me? How could you do this to me?! To him?! To yourself, even?!"
Tenel Ka simply sat in silence, regarding her daughter blankly as Allana glared back at her mother angrily for a moment. Then the little girl swiftly turned away and allowed herself to collapse to her side on the bed, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. The Queen Mother reached out her only arm for her daughter's exposed shoulder, only for it to be shrugged off by Allana with a grunt from her.
Taking the hint, Tenel Ka wordlessly stood up from the rocking chair next to Allana's bed and turned for the door. Upon reaching it, she opened it up and allowed herself to pause, hoping that, maybe, her daughter might call her back to her side, apologize for all she said, telling her she didn't mean any of it, and that she just missed her relatives so much. Instead, Allana continued to sob incessantly.
Heaving a sad sigh, the Queen Mother walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.