Jaina let it all in; all the pain, love, hatred, fear, lust and the rage. Oh Gods she let the rage in.

She'd always been exceptional at keeping her emotions at bay, or at least keeping them apart from the Force. It always seemed the easiest way to stop the Dark Side from creeping through, but right now, there wasn't time for control, there wasn't enough time to figure out how this would worked. That Thing was on board the Falcon with her Father, twisting, and turning his will.

She paced back and forth, sucking in the Force sending it to every part of her body, then sucking more in. Stretching out, she spotted a boulder on the ground, a quick flick of her wrist sent it flying into the tree line, and rolling out of sight.

The power felt incredible, like somebody just turned the lights on. It was no wonder Jacen found it all so irresistible...

Jaina's last memory of Jacen flashed into her mind, he'd been at the height of his power as Darth Caedus, and she'd attacked him. He'd opened the door, and she'd stabbed him with her lightsaber.

The power surging through her veins was incredible, if Jacen had even a fraction of this, then it wouldn't have been too much for him to defeat her, she knew her limits, and like this, she would have been undefeatable.. Unless he let her win?

She felt wet drops forming in the corner of her eyes, and sucked in air through her nose to stop that running too. Not now damnit. She tried to push the emotions back, but it didn't work, she couldn't stop them. Why couldn't she stop it?

She'd opened up her rawest emotions and summoned all the Dark energy she could muster, and it made her cry? This wasn't right. When Jacen turned into a Sith, it destroyed him, turned him into a monster. Why was the same thing just making her cry?

She'd been bottling everything up for so long, keeping it locked in the back of her mind, and just waiting for time to pass, and her to forget. However, there wasn't enough time that could pass for her to forget. She'd never forget.

Blinking through cloudy vision, Jaina stood to her feet, pointing her palms to the ground and simply let go. She dropped any mental barriers she'd formed; any defences to the Dark Side, inhibitions; everything and just breathed. She didn't consciously summon the Force, it just seemed to come from nowhere, and fill an emptiness she didn't even know was there.

She shut her eyes, and the world flashed up at her in excruciating detail. She narrowed onto the smallest cell in a part of some moss on the ground, watched as it shared and linked with the cell next to it, forming into something more. She followed the flow and links of the living cells, as it merged with more life, turning into a wave that pulsed from one cell to another, giving strength and support to all the other life.

The energy swarmed clear as day, danced between everything living, and she followed the energy into the Jedi surrounding her. Watching as the waves concentrated and flowed into the bodies surrounding her - and suddenly, she understood everything about the Jedi - it wasn't their ability to control the Force that made them special, it was so much more.

If the Force as a flame, the individual cells in the moss were a candle; able to extend and give warmth to each other; in the Jedi surrounding them, it was a fierce furnaces. Some like Master Luke & Kyp were brighter still. Almost as if the Jedi were magnets, the Force clung to them, and was sucked up from all life. Only, there wasn't a light or dark side to the energy.

She took another breath, and focused on herself, saw the fire as it danced between her cells, and built into something breathtaking. She was incredible.

Stretching out her fire to the life around her, she felt them all warm to her, wanting to link and be one, she let it happen, let herself flow into the life around her, and the life to come back to her. Only as she stretched out, she looked into herself, and saw a cube surrounding part of her brain. Something that wasn't from her. Something that seemed to have a void of the Force inside of it.

She knew instantly what Anakin had done, no idea about how he'd done it, but he'd blocked the logical parts of her brain off from the Force. It wasn't an Light side he'd blocked, merely a logical part. She watched as the others used the Force, some tempting to the darkness, but the energy didn't come out as different in any way. Was there even such a thing as the Light and Dark side?

It took a mental flick and the cube dissolved, and suddenly the miraculous world around her disappeared. She tried to see it again, but it was gone. She opened her eyes and stared at the others surrounding her, all wearing expressions of fear.

Master Luke tried to sooth her, "Jaina, don't let the Dark Side consume you, it isn't part of you."

Jaina looked towards her old Master, "Actually, it is."

***...

"How is it the lightsaber doesn't hurt you?" Tahiri asked.

She watched as Anakin hunted through the utility cabinet, searching for something. He replied without looking out of the draw, "Why do you think the Jedi started using lightsabers in the first place?"

"I've read the holocrons, it was because of the adoption of personal energy shields, blasters were useless, so melee weapons were far more useful."

"Maybe a little, but that's not the real reason."

For somebody who'd been a recluse for the past 70 years, Plagueis stepped into the conversation far too smoothly. "I've flow-walked to the times the first lightsabers were around, the young Jedi is quite correct."

Anakin pulled out of the cabinet, holding a small vibroblade. He shook his head, "You've seen what we wanted you to see, nothing Jedi originally used the lightsabers because they couldn't use it against each other, but in the course of a few too many Jedi-Sith purges, the technique was forgotten."

Anakin eyes seemed to narrow onto a muscular part of his arm, he continued as if only partly interested, "It's really not that hard of a technique to learn, however, you have to know what you're doing before you stab yourself with a lightsaber."

Without any warning, Anakin swung the vibroblade down and slid it through part of his forearm, talking off part of the flesh. His face flashed with a momentary pain, but the wound didn't bleed, and a wave of his hand started a very slight glow emanating from the open wound. Anakin looked up at Plagueis and said, "You've had more experience than me manipulating Midi-Chlorians, could you trick this into believing it brain material, only far more dense?"

Plagueis gave the flesh an unsure look. "I'm not sure what you mean, could you show..."

Anakin's eyes narrowed on the Sith Lord, a deadly malice creeping into his voice, "Don't play games with me. You've done this before, and let it go wild to see what would happen, and if I didn't come back it would have eventually destroyed everything."

Plagueis didn't show a hint of emotions. He said, "Very well."

Tahiri felt every flash of emotion coming from Anakin, he wasn't even trying to hide it like Darth Caedus did, the anger and rage beneath the surface couldn't be missed. She asked, "What am I missing here?"

Anakin seemed to take a breath, and the rage coming from him seemed to dissipate, he said, "When Plagueis died, he clung to the midi-chlorians in his body, but he crossed over far enough to discover the conscious Force, saw the network of Jedi and Sith manipulating this realm. Since then he's done his best not to trust them, and not to follow any warning steering him in other directions."

"The Conscious Force has tried to kill me several times. Unsuccessfully mind you."

Anakin shot the Sith Lord another look, he said, "Do you actually think if the Conscious Force wanted you dead, you'd still be alive right now?"

"There has been several attempts, Jedi stumbling onto me, Yuuzhan Vong cruisers just happening to break down near my base. If that wasn't attempts, then what was?"

"The problem with the Conscious Force is the amount of individuals minds in there, they will always be disagreements. The only reason you haven't had a hyperdrive dying in the middle of nowhere, or a virus mutating into something deadly, is simply because we needed you to bring me back."

Anakin continued, "Hell, if I didn't change their minds, the Yuuzhan Vong would be controlling the Galaxy right now, and we wouldn't be in this mess."

Tahiri asked, "Why would the conscious Force be helping the Yuuzhan Vong?"

Anakin's shoulders slumped, "The Yuuzhan Vong were the only ones capable of actually defeating what's coming, if they had the resources of the entire galaxy behind them, they would have had a good chance of surviving. And if I had my way again, I'd have let them win."

Han growled, "The Yuuzhan Vong killed 300 trillion sentient beings during the war, and you expect me to believe that was better?"

Anakin's body turned to face his Father, he said, "After they conquered the galaxy, wiping out far more than 300 trillion, their numbers would have been diminished and spread out, they would have turned the surviving species to their way, and come to a form of peace with this Galaxy. With what was left behind the Yuuzhan Vong, they would have had a chance of beating what's coming. The Galaxy would have survived and had a chance to rebuild.

"And right now, I don't think I can do it, and if I do actually manage it, the Vong way might have been preferable."

*****...

Leia had never felt her daughter like this before, even after Anakin's death when she'd touched darkness, it'd never been this raw. But she couldn't call it evil either, just raw, and uncontrolled.

As she pulled the Stealth X around into the clearing, swinging it in for a landing, she laid eyes on her daughter. She didn't look hurt, or damaged in any way, but something was different, and nobody else was waiting near her.

Leia had never been much of a pilot, she'd co-piloted in the Falcon many times, but never really solo flying. Her Master Saba Sebatine insisted that she needed more training in a fighter, honing her skills, but Leia knew it was more to keep her off the ground when whatever it was returned. Even if it wasn't her son, she wouldn't be capable of raising her lightsaber against something that looked identical. So she hadn't put up too much of an argument. Not that an argument would work against Saba anyway.

Cracking open the canopy, Jaina stood waiting on the wing. She said, "Mum, I need the Stealth X, I know where he's going."

"Jaina, think for a moment. He was up against an entire squadron of Stealth X's up there, and he was toying with us, and down here he beat everybody unarmed, within a minute. What chances do you have?"

"He made a big mistake, he tried to disable us, but unlocked something so much more powerful."

Leia looked down at her daughter's stomach, the bump hadn't shown yet, "You don't just have yourself to think about anymore, you have to think about Jag, and your baby."

Leia almost thought she saw a fire behind her daughters eye, and the cold voice coming from her daughter sent chills down her spin, "You're one to talk. When did you ever put family ahead of duty? How much of my childhood were you there for? How often was I palmed off to Winter while you were off on some important mission?"

Leia had been waiting for this for quite some time, none of it was a lie. Would more of her children still be around if she had put family first?

Leia said, "Well now it's your chance to do better than me."

Jaina seemed to pause and think about that for a moment, it didn't last very long before she felt a powerful Force grip around her body pulling her up and out of the cockpit. Leia didn't fight it, Jaina said, "I'll make the Galaxy safer for my child by ridding it off a threat."

Still not fighting as she floated out of the cockpit in the grip of her daughter, Leia replied, "Do you know how many times I told myself that? Just win this battle, secure that ally, defeat this threat or that threat. And all the while you grew up without me. There will always be another threat, another battle, but you can choose to be a better Mother than I was. Don't go. Please."

Another pause. Followed by Jaina jumping into the cockpit, she replied, "I'm sorry you weren't a good mother, I really am. If I die, know I was just following your example."

And with that, the canopy sealed shut and the craft lifted off the ground and shot into the air. Leia felt her knees buckling, and she fell to the ground, tears streaming down her cheeks. Han was taken and gods knew what was happening to him right now, and her only child was rushing off on a suicide mission.

Slamming her fingers hard against the navicomp, Jaina had no idea how she knew the location she was going, but she couldn't get the system of Honoghr from her mind. After she'd taken the block from her mind, the system just jumped around her mind. It was the Force guiding her, she had no doubt. She'd unlocked a power strong enough to defeat this beast, and nothing would stop her, not even her mother.

Hovering her fingers over the initiate button, Jaina did have to pause for a moment, she was going to be a mother herself soon. It'd happened quicker than she'd initially expected, but it wasn't something completely unwanted. She hadn't even told her husband Jagged Fel yet, her mother had felt it in the Force when they'd met up on Yavin 4, but there hadn't been time for anything.

She hadn't meant to be that mean to her Mother, but the words exploded out of her mouth before she could stop them. And part of her didn't care it'd come out.

Slamming the button to the ground, the stars streaked into starlines around her. She thought about taking a few calming breaths, but the anger felt good. The Force didn't choose sides, and she could control her emotions, they didn't control her. She let the anger nourish her and waited as the Stealth X shot through the stars at unbelievable speeds.

****...

Han sat behind the controls of his ship, and watched as the navicomp kept counting down. He still couldn't decide on what was happening around him. Everything inside of him wanted to believe his son was back, but the flashes of anger he'd seen gave him doubt.

And thinking of the Emperor's black bones, Anakin stepped into the cockpit, and dropped into the co-pilot's seat putting his feet up on the dash. Anakin asked, "How are you holding up Dad?"

Han shrugged, "You tell me."

"You've been kidnapped by your dead son, on a ship with a very deadly and powerful Sith, and you can't decide if you really want to leave or not?"

"Something like that."

"You're welcome to leave at Honoghr if you want, the Noghri will look after you."

"And why am I supposed to believe you?"

"Would it help if I told you about the time I flew off without Chewie on Sernpidal, or maybe when you taught me how to rebuild my first repulsor unit."

Han couldn't help but laugh, "You managed to triple the output, sent it through the workshop roof. Gave the Falcon another beauty mark. I was furious."

"I was five at the time. Can't really blame me that much."

"I really do want to believe it's you. But I can't help but think you're not the same person."

Anakin seemed to pause for moment. He admitted, "I'm not the same person. I've shared memories with Sith who made the emperor look tame, watched as history kept repeating itself with countless Jedi versus Sith wars. So much wasted life and talent. So no, I'm not the same person, but I am your son."

Han thought about it for a moment, and gave his son another look. It wasn't just his physical appearance that'd aged, the eyes said it all, they'd been through so much, seen so much. Han asked, "So why are we going to Honogri?"

"I need a bodyguard. And somebody should be here who isn't."

"Who?"

"Time is still out of sync for me, or the present has changed from what I saw. There should have been a Force sensitive noghri on board. Everybody should have seen him as a standard Noghri bodyguard, but he'd have been watching and learning in secret. Once trained, he'll be the most loyal and fearsome protector you could imagine."

Han leant back in his seat, and stretched his feet onto the dash as well. "So what is your grand plan?"

"The visions that everybody had actually weren't that far off."

"So you're planning on committing genocide?"

Anakin didn't reply straight away, he eventually said, "How would you like to be my first Bornish Pig?"

Han turned to stare at his son, he asked, "What are you talking about?"

"Most of what I've learnt is theory, I haven't put it into practice. Would you let me fiddle with your Midi-Chlorians?"

"I'm not a Jedi, I don't have Midi-Chlorians."

"Everything has them, I just want to make yours regenerate, and multiply. See if we can do something about those wrinkles."

"I like my wrinkles, your mum says I look dignified for once."