Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of these
characters (though like many people I wish I did). They are all the property of George Lucas, or Kevin J. Anderson
and Rebecca Moesta.
Author's Note: This story takes place approximately three
months after my other story "Ghosts of the Past", and ignores everything that
has happened in the New Jedi Order except for the events in the novel "Vector
Prime". I'm writing a whole series of
alternate universe stories that take place after Vector Prime. This is the third story in the series. The first two are "Second Chances" and
"Ghosts of the Past". Oh, and if I made
a few mistakes, it's because I didn't read the Junior Jedi Knight novels. So, if there are any mistakes, just let me
know and I'll fix them.
And now, on with the
story…
CHAPTER ONE: STARTING
OVER
Alone in
the dense, humid jungle, with nothing but the wind whipping by her face and the
strange yet familiar sounds of the creatures who lived there, Jaina Solo
finally understood why Tenal Ka enjoyed running so much. It gave Jaina a sense of freedom she had not
known she had been looking for, until one day – against her better judgment –
she had offered to join Tenal Ka on one of her early morning runs. She knew her body would regret it later, but
she needed to try something new.
A month later she was still doing it,
but like Tenal Ka, preferred to go out on her own.
Yes, she had nearly collapsed the
first few times, even though her friend had slowed down her pace considerably,
but within a few weeks, Jaina's body had adapted to the demands of the newfound
hobby of hers.
She never thought she would actually
consider running to be fun, but there was something exhilarating about it that
she could not describe. Each day she
pushed herself farther, stretching her body to the limit – and then some. She was no Tenal Ka but could keep up a
pretty respectable pace, which was a lot more than she could have said about
herself a few weeks ago.
She knew her twin brother worried that
she was spending so much time alone, but Jaina found it better than hanging
around the academy where everyone kept giving her those pitying looks and
treating her like she was going to fall apart at any moment. She neither wanted nor needed their pity.
Zekk was gone and she was moving on
with her life. It was as simple as
that.
If he came back now, she would take
apart his precious Lightning Rod piece by piece and then put the parts
in a scrap yard where they belonged.
He had been gone for over two month's
now on his quest to fix what he felt he was becoming all over again – a victim
of the dark side.
Her and Jacen's seventeenth birthday
had come and gone without so much as a holo message from Zekk. Not that she had really been expecting one
after the way things had ended between them.
Deciding she had run far enough for
the morning, she changed direction and headed back to the praxeum, recalling
the recorded holo message Zekk had left for her on her nightstand before
leaving. A miniature holo of Zekk had
appeared when she had turned the holo recording device on. His expression had been full of a dozen
different emotions playing across his features at once. She had only listened to it the one time but
remembered exactly what he had said in his final attempt to make things right
between them:
"Once you hear this, I'll be long
gone," the holo of Zekk began. "I don't
really know where I'm going but I do know that I can't stay with you and
everyone else on Yavin Four anymore," the holo Zekk hesitated, "even after what
you said. You have to believe me when I
tell you that I have never meant to hurt you, even though it usually ends up
like that anyways. You mean more to me
then I'll ever be able to tell you. I
know I have a funny way of showing it, but my leaving again is for the
best. I know for a fact that if I had
stayed I would have ended up hurting you more than if I had left."
The image of Zekk phased in and out
for a second before coming back into focus.
"As you've probably already noticed," he went on, "I left my lightsaber
behind. I don't have the right to use
it until I can be sure that I'll use it for the right reasons. I left it with you because I can trust you
to take care of it…and as a sign that I'll someday be back for it.
"Until I can prove to myself that I
can control my dark feelings and desires, I'll be out of contact. I won't even tell Peckum where I'm
going." The image swallowed. "I don't know what else to say except I'm
sorry for everything and that I love you.
I always will, no matter how things turn out between us. Good bye, Jaina." The miniature holo projector turned itself off, the holo of Zekk
disappearing inside it.
After she had
finished listening to the holo recording, Jaina had shoved it away along with
his lightsaber in one of her drawers.
If he ever did come back, she would show him his error of leaving behind
a deadly weapon with her.
Initially, she had blamed herself for
his leaving because she had been unable to help him deal with the mistakes from
his past. She soon got over that. Zekk had made the decision to leave on his
own. It was not her fault he would not give
her the chance to try to help him. Zekk
had always been like that, though. He would
never let anyone help him except for himself.
Even after years of being friends with her and Jacen, he was still a
loner at heart, and that would never change.
Zekk had hurt her so many times she
thought she would have learned her lesson the first or even the second
time. But no, she continued to let
herself fall for him even after everything he had put her through. No more.
He could fly through a supernova and she wouldn't shed a tear. She had already spent too much time crying
over him.
Rounding the
last hurtle of massassi trees, Jaina became aware of a presence that had become
exceedingly familiar to her in recent weeks.
"Solo!" Shouted a well-cultured voice just as Jaina exited the jungle.
If Zekk was the last person in the
galaxy she wanted to see right now, then Ganner Rhysode was second on that
list.
She suppressed a grimace as the older
Jedi made his way over to her. She had
barely held an entire conversation before a month ago, and now he made it seem
like they were old friends. Ganner was
most definitely not her friend.
He may have cornered her into a few conversations, and at the very least
she would consider him a well-known acquaintance. But friends? No. He may be the only person at the praxeum
that did not walk on eggshells around her, but that was all the praise she
would give him. She hated to admit it
but he was also good-looking, and even more so since he had finally decided to
shave off that annoying goatee of his, but that did not change the way she felt
about him at all.
Ganner had something of a reputation
at the academy. He had dated most of
the female population there, and went through girlfriends faster than a hungry
rancor could finish its meal. Jaina was
one of the few females he had never been romantically involved with. She suspected that his recent hovering
around her though, was due to the fact that with Zekk now out of the picture,
he thought he had a chance with her. He
had not made any advances towards her.
Yet. And she hoped it would stay
that way. She had no interest of
getting involved with anymore, and she had a feeling that Ganner Rhysode was not
use to being turned down.
"Another good run, Solo?" He said to her, that charming smile of his
present on his face.
It annoyed her to no end that he
continued to refer to her by her last name, and she knew that's why he did
it. Well, two could play at that game.
"Too bad you were too busy dazzling
the female population of the academy to join me, Rhysode,"
"I could make time," he said in a seductive voice, stepping closer
to her. He laughed when he saw her move
away from him. "It was a joke," he told
her.
Irritated, Jaina said, "isn't there
someone else you could be bothering?"
"No, I've already annoyed the hell out
of everyone else at the praxeum, so I decided to come bother you," when she frowned,
he added, "That was another joke,"
"You should talk to Jacen. I'm sure if you two combined your jokes you
could manage to alienate yourselves from everyone at the academy, permanently,"
she remarked dryly.
"You just don't have a sense of
humour,"
Sweating
profusely from the humidity and her run, Jaina was in no mood to continue
exchanging retorts with Ganner. All she
desperately wanted to do was take a shower.
Running out of patience, she said,
"why did you really come out here, Ganner?"
His face turned serious for the first
time since joining her. "I thought you might want some company on your morning
run. But," he added, looking her sweaty
outer appearance over, "I can see I got up too late."
Jaina tried to sense any ulterior
motives in his words, but to her utter astonishment, he was being completely
honest with her.
"I prefer to go early because there's
no on around then," she explained.
"I see,"
"If you think you can keep up with me,
you're welcome to join me sometime."
What was she doing? Had she
really just invited someone she could hardly stand on a run with her? I must be losing it, she thought to
herself.
She half-expected him to make some
smart-ass comment, but he surprised her once again.
"Maybe I'll take you up on that," he
said to her.
Before Jaina could say another thing,
she noticed her centaur friend, Lusa, galloping towards them at a hurried
pace. Her long, cinnamon coloured mane
flying wildly in the wind behind her.
"Jaina, Master Skywalker is looking
for you," her friend said upon reaching her side.
Jaina sensed concern coming from her
friend. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Your mother is on the comm in the
communications room. She sounds really
upset,"
Her mind whirling through a dozen
different scenarios of what may have happened, she raced with Lusa back to the
academy. She noticed Ganner following
at a close distance behind them.
"Did my Uncle tell you what's wrong?"
"He
didn't say much," Lusa answered, "just that it has something to do with
Anakin,"
