Second Chance

Chapter 1: The Dark Within

The Force, Caedus decided, had a very sick sense of humor.

Case in point, after being offered a second chance to set things right, he had woken up in a completely impossible situation. First, he was on Yuuzhan'Tar, but things were very different here. Even when he had first arrived on the planet with Vergere, there had still been about as much ruins of Coruscant as there was new Vong-formed land. After his escape and deal with the World Brain, that balance had been forcibly maintained.

This Yuuzhan'Tar, though, held none of that. From what he had seen as he looked out the window, there was almost nothing left to show that this world had once been Coruscant, with the exception of the small patch this building was standing in. This Yuuzhan'Tar was almost completely consumed by Vong life. At no point in his past had Coruscant been so thoroughly transformed, yet here it was.

The second impossible thing? He was staring at the smiling face of a younger version of himself. Caedus gaped, his mind struggling to come up with something to say but no sound came out.

Eventually, the hallucination apparently grew tired of the silence and rolled its eyes. "Jeez, you'd think you saw a ghost or something." It cracked. "I mean, this is kind of pathetic."

Caedus scowled. Great, now even his hallucinations were mocking him. "What are you supposed to be?" He demanded.

His younger mirror image drifted to the side, waving its finger at him. "That should be obvious. I'm you."

"That's impossible."

Suddenly the ghost was an inch away from his face. Caedus stiffened in surprise, clamping down on his body's automatic flinch away. The smile widened though, as it seemed the ghost had seen the flinch anyway.

"Impossible?" The image parroted, "And I suppose being brought back from the dead for redemption's more possible than seeing a ghost?"

Caedus held his ground. "It is when that ghost is me." He insisted.

Jacen's smile faded, replaced by an angry stare. "Forgetting something, aren't we? You said it yourself. You're not Jacen Solo anymore, Caedus."

The name was spoken with a powerful disgust, and Caedus felt his heart clench at it. It was the truth, he supposed, but it still hurt to hear it outside of his self-hating thoughts. Still, there were other things to focus on.

"That still doesn't explain anything. I, we, you never died at that age. So how is this possible?"

Jacen turned away from Caedus and floated over to the ruined window. A few tense moments passed as he stared out over the changed landscape with a melancholy-filled gaze.

"I said I was you," Jacen finally stated, "but that's only half true. Things here are a little… different."

Questions filled Caedus' mind, but he settled for the most obvious. "How are they different?"

"It's a little complicated, and to be honest, I don't know exactly what things were like for you. But things started changing when…" Jacen trailed off and his eyes seemed to glaze over. Before Caedus could ask, Jacen's eyes refocused.

"Hm, looks like I won't have to explain it after all." The ghost commented to himself. "You'll be getting a demonstration soon enough." With that, the image began to fade away.

"Wait!" Caedus cried, but it did no good.

Caedus stared around the now empty room. Questions and confusion filled his head as he searched desperately for some answer. He didn't get one.

Cautiously, the ex-Sith approached the window and looked out again. Shadows had smothered the landscape below. Yellow eyes watched with rapt attention as a ship appeared and crashed into the ground, exploding into an inferno that quickly spread. Caedus glanced up, a feeling of dread in his stomach.

Above him, an armada of Star Destroyers hovered in the atmosphere. Coralskippers and star-fighters buzzed around the larger ships in aerial dogfights. In the distance, Caedus saw transport ships landing, dropping off land troops for the invasion.

And then the world itself began to shake.

Caedus could hear every crack as the power of the bombing rattled the already ruined shelter he was in. Bits of ceiling plaster sprinkled down like snow. Caedus quickly realized that he had one option: get out. Now.

Looking around the room, though, Caedus realized there was very little time left and even less options that guaranteed him getting out. In fact, there was only one sure way to escape before the bombing brought down this place around his ears. It was also quite possibly the most dangerous way.

'Damned Solo genes.' He cursed to himself as he made his decision.

Without any more hesitation, the ex-Sith backed away from the window, and ran. Clenching his eyes shut, Caedus pushed off from the ground with all his might, including a powerful force push away from the ground. Throwing his arms around his head, he braced himself for what was coming.

Crash!

The sound of glass shattering filled his ears, and tiny bits dug in his skin, signifying he'd broken through the window. Wind took hold, and his hair was whipping behind him as his velocity increased.

Problem one was solved, he was out of the building. Now, to keep from falling to his death.

Caedus reached out in the Force, visualizing his surroundings as he knew he couldn't trust his eyes in such a situation. The flow of energy soothed his nerves, and the fallen hero took stock of his situation.

Luckily for him, the particular patch of land the Force had dumped him in still had quite a bit of Coruscant's classic structures left, which meant he had plenty of places to land. He just needed to find the right one.

'A little more…a little more…there!'

Caedus's hand shot out, grasping a dangling durasteel beam. The force of his fall hit him and the piece of metal at full force, and the momentum had to travel somewhere. Groaning with stress, the ruined piece of structure swung to the side, taking its passenger with it towards another building.

Once close enough, Caedus released the beam and began to fall. Focusing as hard as he could, he pushed off against the roof below to slow his descent. He hit the roof a few moments later in a roll. He had made it.

That didn't mean the landing hadn't kriffing hurt.

Distant explosions still rang in his ears as he made his way to a large amount of debris sitting on the roof. It wasn't much, but it would do to protect him from any rogue shots. Settling in, Caedus allowed his tense muscles to relax.

"Wow. Nice action sequence there."

Caedus almost jumped again, but quickly reined the reflex in. Turning around, he found himself face to face with his younger ghost-self again. Caedus just grunted in acknowledgement. The doppelganger rolled its eyes.

"Yeah, that brooding silence thing doesn't work for us, you know." Caedus rolled his own eyes.

"Oh, do you have something important to say now?" Sarcasm. Dad would be so proud.

Jacen took a seat, or as much as he could considering he was floating a foot off the ground.

"Sorry, but rules are rules. I can't give you too much information about this world you're in right now, you have to figure it out for yourself. You know the Force, loves all that cryptic self discovery stuff."

"So then what's the point of you being here?"

If the force ghost noticed the hostile tone, he didn't show it. "Well, I suppose you could say I'm your guide while you're here. Your conscience, if you will." He sighed. "There's a lot of chaos in this world and you're going to need my help if you want to make sense of it all."

Caedus steeled himself as another blast shook the ground beneath them. Soon he might have to leave this hiding spot as well, it seemed. "So, if nothing more is going to be explained to me, can we just get on with the test? Why send me here? Am I supposed to help the invasion force or something?"

Jacen got up and walked toward the building, unfazed by the damage going on around him.

He threw a lopsided grin over his shoulder before looking out over the edge.

"I think that's up to you to decide. But you should look around first." Carefully and quickly, the ex-Sith followed.

Caedus looked out over the edge of the building to see a dangerously swaying walkway. Stumbling across it was a cloaked figure, seemingly desperate to get away. Caedus realized the reason why soon enough, when a platoon of soldiers turned the corner in pursuit. The cloaked figure slid to a halt as rubble crashed to the ground, blocking the way to escape. One of the soldiers barked something to his men, but he was too far away to hear it.

"Now just sit back for a little while, and watch." The younger version of himself said.

Caedus focused in the Force, and soon the conversation started to drift up towards his ears.

"That's as far as you go, scarhead." The soldier growled, "This is where we make you pay for what you've done to our galaxy."

The cloaked figure did not react, and for a moment Caedus wondered if the Yuuzhan Vong beneath it had even heard them. Then a rasped laugh began to escape the cloaked figure, and its head raised up to stare at its pursuers.

"Foolish infidels." It hissed. "You think you have won? You think your plague and your fleets matter? How wrong you are."

The leader of the platoon smirked. "Oh? We'll see how 'foolish' we are when we take you in to command for interrogation." He turned to his men. "Set blasters to stun and fire."

Another rattling chuckle filled the alley. "First mistake, and last."

That is when Caedus heard a noise he was all too familiar with, a noise that he was not expecting at all.

Snap-hiss.

The alleyway was now bathed in the unmistakable blue light of a lightsaber.

"Force! It's one of the traitor Jedi!" the leader swore. He and his men wasted no more time and immediately pulled the triggers. A hail of laser bolts was unleashed directly at the cloaked figure.

Almost casually, the figure danced and weaved in between the lances of energy towards the troops. Once close enough, the cloaked figure lashed out, and a scream of pain and the scent of burnt flesh filled the area. One soldier fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

Caedus almost leapt down, but an ethereal hand blocked his way.

"Not yet." Jacen told him. "You don't understand the situation enough."

Without so much as a pause, the cloaked warrior pivoted and blocked an incoming blaster bolt. The soldier who fired the shot, now practically radiating fear, scrambled backwards to put some space between him and the rogue jedi.

Not that it did him any good.

Caedus felt the cloaked figure's presence in the force flare, and watched as the jedi grabbed the soldier with the Force and flung him towards his comrades. With a crash, the soldiers landed in a pile, the wind knocked out of them.

The figure overlooked this scene with a dark amusement, and Caedus could practically feel the smirk that was undoubtedly hidden beneath the cowl. The figure turned to the last remaining soldier, the leader of the squad.

"You were so confident before." The figure purred, "What happened to that?"

"I'll show you." He spat.

He raised his blaster up to take aim and the figure immediately slashed with its lightsaber, slicing the front portion of the gun off. This did not deter the man, who roared and actually lunged at the homicidal figure with the lightsaber.

Caedus wasn't sure whether to praise him for his bravery or curse him for his stupidity.

Caedus wasn't the only one taken by surprise, though. The person in the cloak was unprepared as well, and soon found themselves tackled to the ground, lightsaber knocked out of grasp. The two wrestled on the ground, trading blows. Even from his vantage point, Caedus could feel the emotions raging in them.

The figure in the cloak, which seemed familiar but somehow…altered, was simply filled with a cold irritation at the current situation. It was almost unconcerned about the fact that it was in a struggle to the death with a well-trained soldier.

The soldier though, was empty. There was no expectation of living, or winning this fight. The only thing that remained was a fierce desire to see his opponent suffer, and to give his living squad members time to escape. It was a kind of desperate fighting that was more common in animals than sentient species.

With a grunt of effort, the pinned figure in the cloak kicked up and launched the soldier into the air. The jedi twisted and extended an arm, calling for their lightsaber, which immediately flew to their hand. The figure pushed itself to its feet, seemingly unaffected by the previous battle.

Except for one thing: the cloak had been ripped off. The figure's identity was a mystery no more. Caedus stared in shock and horror.

The blonde hair was matted with sweat, and scars spider-webbed across every inch of open skin except her face. Thin vodun crab armor, damaged from who knew how many battles hugged tight to her body. This was the very picture of Yuuzhan Vong transposed over the image of a beautiful human woman.

This was Tahiri Veila.

"Not bad, infidel." She drawled. "But not good enough. Do-ro'ik Vong pratte!" She brought her lightsaber high above her head and cleaved downwards.

"NO!"

The Vong jedi's eyes widened in surprise, and her head lurched back to see Caedus falling towards her, crimson lightsaber drawn. Reacting on pure instinct, she held her own lightsaber up to shield herself.

The harsh screech of lightsaber meeting lightsaber echoed. Tahiri pushed back, flipping away from her sudden adversary.

"Jedai." She spat.

Caedus didn't acknowledge that. "What are you doing, Tahiri!?" He demanded.

The woman snarled. "Do not call me by your false name, human! You will address me by my true name. I am Riina Kwaad of the warrior caste, and you will die!"

Screaming with rage, she launched herself at him, lightsaber swinging. Caedus matched her strike for strike, but was surprised to find how much strength she threw behind each blow.

"You mock me?" She growled, "Fight back, Jeedai!"

"You don't know what you're doing, Tahiri," Caedus tried to reason, "I won't hurt you!" 'You've caused her plenty of pain before, what's different now?' a voice in his head taunted, but he pushed it aside. He couldn't afford to get caught up in his thoughts in a battle.

"If you won't fight me naturally, I'll just have to make you." She punctuated this with a lightning fast swipe at Caedus' head, which he barely blocked with his saber. He was unprepared then for her swift kick to his midsection, which sent him sliding back.

"Tahiri…" He warned.

"If you won't do me the honor of fighting with your lightsaber, let's see how you deal with your Force!" Tahiri raised her arm.

The fallen jedi's mind barely had time to register the sound of crackling electricity before a storm of Force lightning surrounded him. Every fiber of his being screamed in pain, and his mouth twisted into a silent scream.

His mind vaguely registered that Tahiri was saying something, but he couldn't make it out. The only thing he could hear was her laughing at his pain.

Her laughing at him. Him. The Dark Lord of the Sith!

Caedus was completely unaware as the darkness that had laid dormant inside him, the familiar anger and hate that had ruled him for so long, rose back to the forefront. He was Darth Caedus, he would not be embarrassed by some Vong-formed parody of his apprentice!

All thoughts of atonement vanished, replaced only by the cold malice of a Sith lord who had been insulted.

And those that insult Sith lords have a remarkably short life span.

Tahiri's laughter came to a sudden stop as she felt an invisible hand clench around her windpipe. Her hands immediately flew up to her throat, stopping the force lightning.

Rising to his feet, Caedus' face twisted into a monstrous version of his usual Solo grin as he took in his prey.

"What's the matter, Tahiri?" He mocked, "I thought you wanted me to fight back? Since you liked force lightning so much, maybe I should return the favor?"

Green tendrils of energy flared out from his hands and enveloped the other fallen jedi. Caedus chuckled as he her eyes bulge in pain.

Above him, the force ghost overlooked the scene with open disdain. "Don't make me stop him." He begged, "Don't make me ruin our only hope."

Unaware of this prayer, Caedus advanced on his squirming prey. "Well, Tahiri? Have any last words?"

As the light faded from her eyes, she gazed at him, but she was not seeing him.

"A…na…kin!" She choked out.

That word hit him like a blaster bolt to the gut. The anger bled out, replaced by horror and Caedus dropped her to the ground. Caedus stared at his hands.

"What…what did I almost do?" He breathed. "I almost…"

He rushed over to the fallen blonde, and hastily checked her over. He almost wept with relief when he found a pulse, albeit a weak one. She would live. Tahiri would live.

"Look again, Caedus." Came the grim voice of his younger self.

Confused, Caedus complied. At first, he saw nothing, until he happened to glance at her armor. It was bloated and pale, looking sick. More importantly, a small patch of skin adjacent to the armor had the same look.

Then another piece of information reached his mind. Before she had attacked the soldiers, she had mentioned some sort of plague launched against the Yuuzhan Vong.

While he had never seen the symptoms before, Caedus had heard of them many times. It was supposed to affect only Yuuzhan Vong, but it had once proven capable of turning on other sources.

"Alpha Red." He realized.

Jacen nodded solemnly. "It's already spread from her armor. Before, her immune system was doing a decent enough job of combating it, delaying it from doing serious damage too soon. But with what just happened…" The force ghost trailed off.

"It could spread." Caedus finished as a new wave of guilt hit him. Could he have killed her after all?

No.

He refused to accept that.

He had not taken this second chance to watch another person dear to him die, not if he could help it.

"There must be some way to help her." Caedus said, "You must know of something. There has to be a way!

Jacen hesitated, clearly conflicted, but after a long look at the broken woman on the ground he heaved a defeated sigh. "There is."

Caedus merely waited for an explanation.

Jacen pointed to the east. "There's an encampment of heretics in that direction, led by a few rogue shapers. They are supposed to hold a way to fight the virus, at least for a short time."

"Only a short time?"

"If the Vong had found a full-fledge cure do you think they'd have let their prized shaped Jedi contract this disease?" Jacen snapped. Caedus silently acknowledged the point.

"So, it will keep her safe for now, while we look for a full cure?" Jacen nodded to the question. "What about Cilghal, the Jedi. Could they help?"

Once more the force ghost hesitated. "I suppose it's possible, but…"

Caedus nodded. "Then it's settled. We see these heretics and then get off planet to find the Jedi as soon as possible."

"They're not exactly going to welcome a Sith Lord into their midst with open arms." Jacen pointed out.

His darker self sighed. "I know, but we don't have a choice. I had wanted to avoid them for as long as I could, but there's no other way for it now. I can't really expect really expect redemption if I abandon her after this."

Gently, the ex-Sith lifted the woman into his arms. With his goal in mind, he began to walk.

Ossus

It was a strangely peaceful day, and he allowed himself to revel in it. There was so little time for it nowadays, that every moment like this was precious.

He resolutely wiped all the dark thoughts of the war from his head, not wanting to dwell on them anymore.

"Master?" A young voice called.

The man felt a smile form on his face and turned towards the source. "Ah, Ben. You found me."

Ben Skywalker, Jedi padawn, threw his master a flat look that could only come from his mother's genes. The resemblance to the older redhead was somewhat unnerving, the man had to admit.

"With all due respect, Master, you're not exactly doing a good job of shielding yourself." The man chuckled at the dry comment and ruffled his apprentice's hair, knowing the boy hated it. Sure enough, the boy's face twisted into a grimace at the affection, and he squirmed away.

"You'll have to excuse me, Ben. I was just meditating."

The child snorted. "You? Meditating? Pull the other one?"

A deep, heartfelt laughed escaped him. "I suppose you're…"

Suddenly, the feeling of unimaginable pain hit him, paired with a desperate fear.

'ANAKIN!' a voice screamed in the back of his mind. It was a voice he had not heard in so very long, but one he could never forget. The pain, the need was so intense that he didn't even have to think about responding.

'TAHIRI!'

The man fell to the ground, clutching his head as the pain left him. "Master!" Ben cried from beside him, and soon two small hands were grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him up.

"I'm fine." He gasped to his student, "Just…taken aback."

"What was that?"

"Someone contacted me. Someone I haven't heard from in a long time." He muttered, pushing himself back to his feet. He started to walk as fast as he was able in the direction of his ship.

"Master? Where are we going?"

"To find someone." He responded.

He had only felt it for a moment, and he would readily admit to himself that the pain may have just been causing him to imagine things, but he had felt more than just Tahiri's presence there. There had been another familiar presence, very familiar, and yet tinged with darkness. Was this presence connected to the first time Tahiri had contacted him since they were captured? For that matter, who was the other presence? It was a mystery.

A mystery to solve, and a chance to find Tahiri again.

He was interested. And when something caught his interest, nothing could stop him from doing what he needed to.

Anakin Solo, Jedi Master, was just like that.

END

A/N: Err, wow. That took a long time…

Anyway, here's my first action chapter. I only have a little experience writing fight scenes, so I would love tips and critiques in that area more than anything. Did you like it? Hate it?

But yeah, other comments. It should be easy to guess that Caedus is an AU now, although I'm not revealing where the AU diverged from canon just yet, sorry. ;) Just know that things are different for characters here, and that's not always for the better.

I also wanted to make it obvious that just because he wants to redeem himself of his time on the dark side doesn't mean that Jacen's on the light side right now. He's in a precarious position right now, on the line between light and dark, and he can be pushed either way. He'll get his redemption eventually, but don't expect it to be easy. Not everyone can pull a Vader "Redemption Equals Death" moment. Not to mention, when Jacen goes into full-on Darth Caedus mode, I want to make him actually feel like a villain in the way that the canon EU botched up horribly. If he's supposed to be as bad as Vader, then you're actually going to see that, and not him getting made to look like a complete idiot by Luke in a starfighter and Mandalorians.

On the subject of pairings(because someone's going to ask eventually), J/TK and A/T will be making an appearance for sure. Jaina's a mystery for me, as she's got more than enough potential suitors that are good characters. If you have a preference on that front, go ahead and put it in your review.

That's…really all I have to say. Please review.