Summary: Jacen and Tenel Ka head to Ansion several months after the events in TUF. Canon to TUF. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, locations, names, or situations in this other than those created for this story. I am doing this solely for the amusement of myself and other readers. I am making no profit on this.
Renewal: Book One
Winds of Change
By: ZebulaNebula
Chapter One: New Start
All the victory celebrations were over, and life was returning to at least some semblance of "Normal" for most of the citizens of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Nevermind that the central authority had changed capitals twice and constitutions once. The war with the Yuuzhan Vong had utterly devastated thousands of worlds and cost untold billions of lives. The denizens could not linger in the past. They must press on and build for themselves new lives.
And rebuild they did: all remaining shipyards and factories were well above prewar levels, and new facilities were opening daily. In eight standard months the shipyards at Sluis Van alone had produced two hundred thousand vessels of all types. And this was merely typical of the economic boom. It was the largest boom in all recorded galactic history
The biggest source of trouble were disputes over natural resources. And where there was trouble, as smoke marks fire, the Jedi were not far away.
"What is it that are we supposed to do on," Jacen Solo checked the name of his destination from the datapad in his left hand, "Ansion?" Curiosity played across his sepia gaze, "And why have Tenel Ka and I been selected for this mission?"
"To answer your second question first, you've been selected because you're the only two available knights with both diplomatic and wilderness survival skills; both of which are critical on this mission." Mara Jade Skywalker told him matter-of-factly. "And your objectives are twofold: first untangle the mess between the Alwari and Kuat Drive Yards. Second, get your sorry butt out of the blue funk you've been in for the past four months!"
"Don't remind me," Jacen sighed, "Ten months out the airlock," he muttered.
Mara just about smacked him for talking back, but held herself back: her nephew was well beyond the age at which spanking ceased to be effective discipline. If what the Vong did to him on Yuuzhan'tar didn't make him kriffing-near immune to pain to boot she thought to herself. But nothing could stop her from firing off a verbal barrage so blistering, that if said commentary were subject to broadcast profanity standards, the resulting clip would contain more frequent bleeps than a waste-retrieval speeder in reverse.
The tongue-lashing ended when Tenel Ka Djo returned to the impromptu briefing room. At which point Jacen's eyes lit up like glowpanels. The warrior-queen's silver gaze locked with his. They were snapped out of it by the sound of Mara whacking the blinds with the hilt of her lightsaber.
"I said 'if there are no further questions, you are dismissed.'" Mara waited for a silent count of five, assumed their silence implied a negative, and told them to get packing.