Chapter Two
"Nice place," Kyp commented dryly, letting his eyes wander over Bast Castle for the first time. "Little creepy though."
"You should see the inside," Jaina remarked.
"Am I the only one wondering what you're all doing here?" Jacen spoke.
"You can thank your mom for that," said Kyp. "Did you really think she was going to let you all go off on your own walking into what was so obviously a trap? No offense to Corran but she was right in knowing you'd need back up. But when we showed up in the Mandalore sector there was nothing but space debris. From there we started searching nearby systems and eventually stumbled upon Vjun. Where is the infamous CorSec Jedi Master anyway?"
"Master Horn's whereabouts are unknown at the moment," Tenal Ka responded.
"Come again?"
"We got separated. He went after Tahiri and we had to leave before the Drifter self destructed," Jaina explained.
"So Tahiri's not here either?"
"No," Jaina replied, casting a quick glance at her younger brother. His expression was guarded but it didn't take much probing to know he wanted to be out there searching for Tahiri as quickly as possible. Jaina, of course, intended to help with that. "We think she's with Master Horn."
Jaina could tell Kyp wanted to ask how she could be certain the two were even still alive but seemed to think better of it considering everyone in attendance. Jaina was grateful for his rare show of tact.
She turned her attention to the tall dark haired person standing behind the Jedi Master. As surprised as she had been to see Kyp, it was even more surprising to see Jag. She figured he had long since returned to the Chiss Ascendancy. Memories of their last conversation surfaced and she remembered thinking that might be the last time she ever saw him. It had been a memorable conversation but not in a good way.
"I thought you'd be back in Chiss space by now," she said to him.
"I've been asked to start training the pilots of the Remnant," he explained. "The Ascendancy is looking to ally our forces given the recent Yuuzhan Vong attack on Csilla. The Remnant is also preparing to fight the Yuuzhan Vong in galactic space."
"Are the Yuuzhan Vong planning an attack against the Remnant?" Anakin asked.
"More like the Remnant's striking back with a little help from the Galactic Alliance," Kyp answered. "I'll explain everything on the way," he added at seeing a group of identical confused looks. "We better get back to the fleet before your dad gets tired of waiting and takes the Falcon out to look for you."
"We need to make a small detour at Hapes first," Jaina said.
"Of course," said Kyp with a nod. "It's practically on the way. We'll have you back there in no time, your Highness."
Tenal Ka inclined her head in appreciation.
Within minutes, they left Bast Castle and Vjun behind. Their short reprieve from the war was over and now it was straight back into the thick of things.
[*[*[*[*[*[
Corran Horn watched with some relief as the latest Yuuzhan Vong platoon headed off in the opposite direction of where himself and Tahiri were safely concealed behind a mass of tree roots and rocks that looked to have been some kind of dwelling at one point in time. After three days of playing hide and seek with the Yuuzhan Vong who had tracked them to Mandalore, Corran was very much hoping they could avoid any more encounters. This latest group was smaller than the others they had dealt with previously, only having four warriors in it. One would think with the destruction of their ship that they'd have more important things to worry about than hunting down a couple of Jedi. Unfortunately, for Corran and Tahiri that was not the case. Apparently, hunting down and killing Jedi didn't stop even when there was no longer a commanding authority around.
Of course their escape pod had to land in one of the most remote areas on the planet, which meant there was at least a hundred miles, and who knew how many Yuuzhaing Vong, separating them from the nearest signs of civilization. He tried to look on the bright side – Tahiri and himself were relatively unharmed, at least physically.
He glanced back at the sleeping form of his apprentice. After days of trampling through mud and vegetation, avoiding Yuuzhan Vong where they could and battling them when they could not, he saw occasional sparks of the Tahiri Veila he had taken on as his student. She kept herself heavily guarded though and he could count on one hand the conversations they'd had that didn't relate to avoiding Yuuzhan Vong or battle tactics. She was still obviously trying to come to terms with what had transpired on the Drifter – killing almost an entire crew of Yuuzhan Vong out of revenge; choosing to leave her friends because she believed she no longer belonged; initiating some kind of merging - and even he wasn't sure that was the right word for it - with her Yuuzhan Vong persona, Riina. On top of all that she seemed to have an obsession with pain that was borderline addiction like. And all of this had happened on his watch.
Well done, Master Horn, he chided himself. You've done a bang up job with your very first apprentice. All he had to do was teach her, guide her and even those basic tasks had turned out disastrous. He hadn't even realized she was drowning in her pain addiction until it was too late.
"They're getting close again."
"You're supposed to be sleeping."
"It's kind of hard when you're thinking so loud," Tahiri remarked, sitting up. "Besides you should have woken me up almost an hour ago."
"You could use the extra rest."
"You're right to think you failed as a teacher," she said suddenly, her eyes dropping to the ground. "After all, I was a lousy student."
Corran exhaled loudly. For all of Tahiri's faults, he had to admit that speaking her mind wasn't one of them. Though it quite often landed her in trouble with others, he secretly found it refreshing most of the time.
"Is it the student who's actually lousy, or just the end result of having a poor teacher?"
Tahiri's response was to uncoil the pair of amphistaffs she had collected a split second before Corran ignited his lightsaber. There would be no more hiding from this latest group of Yuuzhan Vong stalking them. They would have to be eliminated.
[*[*[*[*[*[
It was almost eerie the way in which they dealt with the Yuuzhan Vong. Corran knew a large part of that had to do with Tahiri's ability to sense them through the Force. Not only did that help herself but she could yell out warnings to him as well. It wasn't quite the same as being able to sense them himself but it definitely gave him more of an equal footing with the aliens, even helping him from losing a limb or worse on more than one occasion.
"I think that's the last of them," Tahiri declared, eyes closed in concentration. "If there's more they're too far away for me to sense them."
"That's the best news I've heard since we crashed here," said Corran, sounding visibly relieved and exhausted as he clipped his lightsaber back onto his belt.
"It's still the student who's lousy."
Corran blinked, confused by her statement.
"Your question before we had to deal with these guys," she spoke again, gesturing to the dead Yuuzhan Vong on the ground. "I made all the wrong choices," she continued, forcing herself to look at him. "Disobeyed you, lied to you and then of all people I turn to my messed up Yuuzhan Vong personality for help and went on a rampage."
"Tahiri – "
"So if you're still evaluating whether or not to keep me as your apprentice, I'll make it easy for you – don't waste any more time on me than you already have."
Tahiri took two steps away from him before Corran grabbed her arm. It wasn't in response to her words but to warn her that they were no longer alone – only this time it was not the Yuuzhan Vong who had found them. From the shadows of the forest, dozens of well armored Mandalorians appeared. Each was armed with a heavy duty blaster assault rifle aimed at the two Jedi.
"Master Horn?" Tahiri spoke, looking for his lead on how to proceed.
Corran quickly considered the options available to them but all seemed to end the same way – in a blood bath. Maybe if he hadn't spent the last three days trampling through the forest fighting two hundred pound warriors with little food or rest, he would have considered using his telekinesis skills on them. But on a group this large – not to mention well armed – he didn't think the success ratio was very high.
Ever so slowly, he took out his lightsaber and placed it on the ground. He signaled to Tahiri to do the same with her own weapons. He would just have to hope that he could talk his way out of the situation they were in. Since Mandalore was yet to fall under Yuuzhan Vong rule, he was counting on that. Then again, maybe they would just use himself and Tahiri as bargaining chips to keep the Vong out of their territory. He wondered when he had turned into such a pessimist.
[*[*[*[*[*[
"You look like you could use a pick me up," said Kyp, dropping a steaming mug in front of Jaina.
"Thanks." She wrapped both hands around the mug of caf saying, "I can't believe we haven't even been gone a week and so much has happened." She was combing through several data pads worth of information on upcoming battle strategies and assault tactics; all part of the joint Galactic Alliance and Imperial Remnant initiative to take back the Core.
Kyp took a seat across from her in the Timber's nearly deserted mess hall. "Nobody expects you to get caught up in a day. You might be a Solo but you're only human after all."
"Ha ha," she said, taking a sip from the mug. "If I'm going to be out there flying, I need to know what the strategies are."
"And here I was thinking you were suffering from a case of insomnia. But it's just the soldier in you that doesn't know how to stay out of the front lines."
Jaina snorted. "You're one to talk. Do you even know what a vacation is?"
"Never heard of it, but it sounds awful." Kyp regarded her closely. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you seem happy – almost cheerful."
"Is there anything wrong with that?"
"No, of course not. I'm just not used to seeing you like this. Would I be correct to assume it has to do with a certain dark haired Jedi?"
"Kyp..."
"What? I'm just making friendly conversation. Or maybe it's a dark haired Claw craft pilot – though I did notice a bit of tension there."
Jaina raised an eyebrow at him. "So this is what it's like to be a Jedi Master? Using your great Force powers to nose around in other people's love lives?"
Kyp shrugged, not at all offended by her remark. "Only those I care about."
"I'm touched, Kyp, but there's no way I'm talking about Zekk or Jag with you. It would be, well, weird. I mean you're old enough to be my dad."
"Ouch. Way to make me feel old, Solo," said Kyp, looking wounded.
"You're only as old as you feel," she said smiling sweetly at him.
"You know, I think I liked the darker, edgier Jaina better," he remarked. "At least she didn't seem to have fun at my expense."
"Speaking of the darker, edgier me," Jaina started, suddenly looking apprehensive. "I've been doing some thinking about my future as a Jedi. Since the start of the war being the best pilot I could be was more important than furthering my skills as a Jedi. In a way I've always kind of resented my mom for never finishing her training and always putting some bureaucratic or political nonsense first. But I seem to be doing the exact same thing. In looking at my brothers, I've seen how far I've fallen behind them in terms of skill. I could barely keep up with them on the Drifter and Anakin nearly got himself killed because I wasn't fast enough. So I guess what I'm saying is if you want to – I mean if your offer still stands – I'd be willing to give being your apprentice a try."
There were a number of sarcastic remarks Kyp could have made at that moment but chose not to. He knew Jaina had not come by this decision lightly. "You won't regret it, Jaina."
"I hope not."
"It means you'll need to start calling me Master Durron."
"Never going to happen."
"I can foresee respect being a major obstacle in our teacher-student relationship."
Jaina laughed as a junior officer approached their table.
"Excuse me, but I've been asked to relay a message that there's a Master Horn on the comm looking to speak with you."
The stunned look on her face matched the one plastered on Kyp's. After they dropped Tenal Ka off they had intended to start the search for the Jedi Master and Tahiri, but it looked like that wouldn't be necessary after all. If Master Horn was contacting them it meant he wasn't lying dead in a pile of space debris that was now the Drifter.
She and Kyp practically bolted from the mess hall, barely hearing the officer say, "you can take the call in the conference room down the hall. Anakin Solo is in there already."
[*[*[*[*[*[
Anakin did his best not to let his disappoint show when after listening to Master Horn's recap of his escape, he asked to speak with Tahiri – to see she was really fine with his own eyes – and the Jedi Master told him she didn't want to speak to him.
"Anakin, don't take it personally," Corran was saying to him then. "She's just not ready yet. There's a lot for her to deal with. It's going to take some time."
Anakin barely nodded to show he had heard the elder Jedi. After everything they had been through together, what they meant to each other – and she didn't even want to see him? How was he supposed to take that? Worse yet he could feel her blocking him. He could still sense her through the Force but it was without the intense connection they had shared since childhood. That hurt the most.
Before he could ask any more questions, his sister showed up with Kyp. They both stepped in front of the HoloNet screen.
"It's good to see you, Corran," said Kyp. "Though I have to say you've looked better," he added, taking in the older Jedi's haggard appearance, along with the flecks of mud and blood on his face.
"Let's see how you look after spending days being chased by relentless Yuuzhan Vong," Corran responded dryly.
"I assume Tahirii's with you?" Jaina asked, casting a sidelong glance at her brother. He looked miserable but if there was something wrong she was sure she would have picked up more than that.
"She is," he replied, nodding. "Anakin can fill you in on the details but she's fine. The Mandalorians are getting a transport ready for us so we can get out of here."
Kyp raised an eyebrow. "Made some new friends, have you?"
"Actually, yes. They're quite impressed with the way we handled the Yuuzhan Vong."
"Sounds like you made quite the impression," Jaina observed. "The Jedi could use all the allies we can get."
"Speaking of allies, the Hapans could probably use Tahiri's help." Kyp quickly explained the situation facing the Hapes Cluster where it was believed there were a number of Yuuzhan Vong operatives having invaded high ranking positions and yet Teneniel Djo had not detected any Force voids.
"We'll meet you on Hapes," Corran said to them once Kyp had finished.
"Are you sure Tahiri's up for this?" Jaina asked him. Her last memory of the blond Jedi was still fresh in her mind. Tahiri turning into a rage-filled Yuuzhan Vong killer, who refused to come back with them when they had tried to rescue her.
"She may not be herself just yet but I know she'll want to help."
"In the meantime, we'll let the Queen Mother know some extra help is coming," Kyp told him.
"See you in a few days."
Before the holo screen had darkened completely, Jaina turned to her brother who had been silent since she had walked in the room. "Anakin, are you all right?"
"Tahiri's alive. That's all that matters."
"Did you talk to her?"
"No. She didn't want to see me. It's fine, Jaina," he added, knowing what she would say. "I'll see her when she gets to Hapes. That is, if she's ready to see me by then."
Jaina watched him walk from the room, wondering why her brother and Tahiri just couldn't catch a break? There always seemed to be some force working against them. As much as she hated to admit it, she wasn't sure what could be done to change that, especially with Anakin's violent visions being tied to Tahiri. She hadn't yet given up hope on finding a solution to that but it no longer seemed as easy a task as she had once thought.