You Were My Brother
By Dash Nolan
Part I
"You were my brother!"
"I still am."
The cloaked figure continued his slow progress forward, each instinctively-measured step resounding against the metal grating beneath. Behind him, through the floor-to-ceiling glass, flashes of green and red shot by like comets, often colliding with crackling layers of blue. Flaming hulks of metal soared to-and-from the direction of the bridge, sometimes falling to pieces, sometimes colliding into the hull below. The impacts were insignificant, the momentum of the Strident-class Star Defender enough to simply brush aside such collisions. The Confederate gunners had been hand-picked by their commanding officers, and the ship's captain was certain in their ability to swat away any threat to his flagship.
"No you're not! You're nothing like the boy I looked after on Yavin, collecting his animals and studying the life around him. He was one with everything in the galaxy; he was full of compassion and empathy."
The cloaked figure stopped in his tracks. She was unable to tell whether it was by design or if he was physically reacting to the scathing remark. She had no idea what hold she, as his sister, still had on him. Had he brushed their years protecting one-another aside, or did a small glint of connection still glimmer in the dark depths of what he had become?
"That boy was a stepping stone," the hooded man said as he resumed his procession. "It was one of many that lead to my formation. Do you claim to have seen every side of me; every day of my life? Did you see the vision that kept the Chiss and Killiks from destroying each other? Did you nearly cripple the only person you've consistently cared about your entire life? Don't presume to know my entirety, Jaina."
Jaina had to step back, her heart having grown so heavy that it threatened to put the Jedi on her knees. She simply couldn't grasp how her brother had grown so cold. Jaina's mind was racing, searching desperately for some sort of reason behind the transformation, making her question whether she had, in some way, contributed to it.
"So, Jacen was just another link in the chain." It was only partially a question. "So every minute we spent together, teaching each other, fighting together, is now just a piece of Darth…"
She knew his new Sith title, but she wanted to hear him say it. Some part of her needed the words to come from his mouth to finally believe them.
"Caedus. And until that strike on the Chiss shipyard, you had done nothing that would send me down this path. You were good to me, if not a little constricting."
Jaina's mind easily recalled the assault. After having foreseen a catastrophic war, Jacen had convinced her and a few other Jedi to launch a pre-emptive assault on a shipyard in order to force one side's hand. While it had, in fact, prevented a major war, her brother's brazen disrespect for the lives of the yard's workers during what was supposed to be a casualty-free action had caught her off-guard. It was a direct betrayal of her respect and love. And it was, as she could now see, the beginning of the end of Jacen Solo.
"You fired on me, mom, and dad at Hapes, and you tried your best to corrupt our young cousin just as yourself." Jaina continued to choose her words carefully so as to signify their familial bond.
Caedus stopped once more, now a mere six or seven meters from his sister.
"Han and Leia did what they felt was right restoring peace to their galaxy," His voice was calm and collected, bordering on condescending. "And I am doing what I feel is right to restore peace to mine."
In the background, a Galactic Alliance X-Wing took a concussion missile to one of its starboard engines and erupted in a cascade of red plasma and blue lightning. A TIE Interceptor with green markings running along its wings soared through the fading ball of flame, an A-Wing hot on its tail. The center of battle was slowly-but-surely shifting further away from Coruscant. The first clashes had erupted mere kilometers outside the world's outer atmosphere, but as a result of Darth Caedus' direct control over the fleet, the assaulting forces were being pushed back toward their original jump-in locations.
"Your galaxy?"
"If the congress and statesmen cannot agree, then someone shall move into a position to make them agree. Someone wise; someone just."
"Those aren't your words," Jaina was certain of it, but couldn't place where she had heard it before.
Once again, her words had been carefully chosen to avoid showing Jacen that he knew more than she did. Unfortunately, it seemed like her feelings had betrayed her anyway. She could feel the invisible tendrils of Force finding their way into the outer layers of her consciousness, dancing across her most visible of emotions and grasping at words before she thought of them. Without any outward signs, Jaina drew upon just enough Force to shield her cognitive mind from the invasive motions.
Darth Caedus' lips betrayed a smirk.
"They're the words of my predecessor, Anakin Sky-"
"Vader," His sister shot in.
Caedus' smile shifted from arrogant to calm wisdom. "Yes, eventually he did take on his Sith mantle, just as I have now."
Jaina shifted into a ready stance as subtly as she could. "Vader died just after one last act of redemption. I can only hope you have the same luxury."