Chapter

4

Over the next few days, Zak made repeated trips to the dead cruiser hidden in the heart of the jungle, each trip an attempt to ascertain whether his original assessment of its viability was still valid.

He knew that the ship as a whole would never be repaired with any of the tools they had in store at the academy or on Lando's station in orbit of the gas giant. But he had at least hoped that there'd be one working data terminal somewhere aboard that he could use to recover more information from, perhaps even command log entries. It was a magnificent ship, mechanically speaking, but Zak had a nagging suspicion that there was just something not quite right about its presence on the moon.

Eventually, he came to the decision to make it a point to do more detailed research later, preferably when his head didn't feel like it was hosting a live cantina band which played continually at beyond-regulation decibels.

Other than that, his original suspicions were confirmed with no more than cursory glances. That was how bad the condition of the ship had gotten. Upon the briefest of investigations of the ship's passageways and chambers, he saw that a lot of the systems had been fried to the fiery pits of Mustafar by damage the ship had taken, and from the Imperial boarding parties.

Some of the damage looked like intentional sabotage—he could only guess by the boarding party—while some others looked like they'd been the victims of some ill-placed blaster fire. The remaining systems had been gutted for other uses since the ship's crash landing on the moon, and there was no way that they could simply be repaired.

There was little left of the ship's fusion generators in the secondary operations section—a secondary section which was not listed on the typical design specs for this class of ship—aside from a jumble of cables and wires and a few sheets of durasteel casing. He didn't even bother trying to gain access to the hyperdrive section.

Having given up on his excursions now, Zak was back at the Praxeum again on a fulltime basis; his few mandatory days of passive reintegration into the academy's populace were officially over.

Luke Skywalker had called a mass summons to the Grand Audience Chamber on the topmost level of the building, its apex, to impart something of obvious importance. Without knowing how, without touching the Force openly to find out, Zak knew already what it was that Skywalker wished to talk about. It was as if the moment the wizened Jedi had made the decision to make the announcement, Zak had inadvertently, and unknowingly, plucked the thought from his mind.

While the Grand Audience Chamber was certainly large enough to encompass the building's entire population, and then some, it rarely held such a number at any one time. Zak could recall only one instance since he had begun his training that it had happened, and he hadn't even been there with them. Not physically.

Still being kept in the infirmary under observation, he had resorted to delving into the mists of the Force to hang off Skywalker's every word, just as any dutiful student might, and bearing the resultant drilling migraine as best he could.

Returning back to the building from his trip to the cruiser that morning, Zak stopped by the infirmary to see if he had the all-clear to be around such a mass of people. When Geesev noted that it was acceptable, Zak had then gone straight to his quarters on the third floor and changed into a dark green pair of slacks and a white top opened at the neck—new clothes tailored to his new measurements. He threw his robe and tunic into the laundry bin by the door and left the room, closing but not locking the door behind him.

"Hey! Zak!" he heard a familiar voice call while waiting at the lifts.

He looked to his right to see Jacen Solo jogging down the hall from the corner. He slowed as he approached and dropped entirely to a steady walk until he reached Zak. Then he stopped beside him. "Going up?"

"Where else?" Zak responded automatically.

The lifts opened and Zak and Jacen jumped into the left one as a small group jumped into the one on the right. The door closed and shot them up to the next level before opening again to allow departure.

They waited for the group from the other lift to go ahead of them, and then followed them past Luke Skywalker's office and the supply room and through the double doors into the Grand Audience Chamber.

Looking around, Zak noted that Luke himself had not yet arrived, though he could sense the older Jedi nearby. Everyone else, mentors included, was either there already or coming in behind Jacen and Zak.

It was the first time Zak had been in the chamber, hidden memories notwithstanding. He found it to be wonderfully designed. It was basically squarish in shape, with a three-step in the middle of the platform where he and Jacen stood down to the main floor, and an identical three-step similarly placed directly opposite them.

On that other side of the chamber, there was a staircase, the beginnings of which were visible to Zak, on either side of the platform against the wall, ascending to roof entry doors that were probably security sealed. Angled between the platform Zak and Jacen stood on and the walls on their respective sides were banks of seats bolted to raised stone step-like blocks, each bank raised a little higher than the one in front.

Most of the seats were full by now, with Mara Jade Skywalker standing against the western wall near the front and Master Maru Chidor standing near the eastern wall. Both had their eyes closed, as if communing telepathically or meditating on their feet or simply concentrating on using the Force to filter out the chatter of the assembling students.

From his vantage point, Zak saw two empty seats in the western segment, down in the mid-rows, and he cringed at the prospect of sitting in either.

One of them was next to Jacen Solo's sister—and someone Zak had felt quite fondly of during their brief captivity together—Jaina. The other was next to Zak's own sister, Tash. For a moment, he entertained the possibility that they had sat that way deliberately to force him into an uncomfortable position, but dismissed it almost immediately as paranoia.

He'd already judged from their non-existent visits and Jacen's hesitation to discuss them with him for the past several months that neither woman saw him in a particularly flattering light at this point. Though, it stung him that Tash, who knew him probably the best, could feel that way.

Jacen attempted to urge Zak to follow him to the empty seats, but Zak merely shook his head and encouraged him on without him. His friend shrugged and continued on alone, greeting both of the girls with a smile and a nod before sitting down next to his twin, leaving the seat beside Tash empty.

Zak felt a mental probe reach out in his direction just enough to confirm that he was there before it snapped back into the mind of its origin. Zak stretched out with his own mind, following it back, and touched only briefly upon Jaina's thoughts before she shut them off entirely.

In that moment, across the bond that he shared with her, he sensed resentment, and that she did not turn around, or even ask Jacen about him, confirmed that. Tash said not a word the entire time.

He walked along the back wall to the east side and followed the path down behind the banks of seats until he stood beside the Zabrak, Maru Chidor, who merely nodded at him. From there, he could see Tash, Jacen and Jaina perfectly, and see as well as sense whatever reactions the girls had to his presence there.

He watched the last few stragglers make their way into the Audience Chamber; Lowbacca following Rebekah and Catoxle along the second row on the eastern section and sitting down as seats became available. Tenel Ka parted from them when they entered, and deposited herself in the seat between Jacen and Tash without a word to either of them.

Zak smiled when he saw Jacen and Tenel Ka's hands clasp between them, when he felt the emotions burn between them, and then rushed to wipe the smile away when Jacen shot him a playful glare that said "mind your own business."

When Luke finally entered the chamber, it was from the staircase against the eastern wall, and he smiled at everyone as he made his way to the centre point of the landing he was on. When he stopped at that point, and silence had fallen amongst the young Jedi before him as if muted by an unseen force, he swept his gaze over them all, as if searching for anyone that was missing. They came to rest upon Zak and though he did not smile, he projected gratitude towards him at his presence.

Zak lowered his eyes for an instant, noting upon the long slashing cuts that looked like they had been roughly cut into the stone by what appeared to be lightsaber activity. He wondered about that.

Lightsabers clashed, flashed, and sparked as they swung through the air over and over; one blade red, one blade green.

I danced around in a wide path as they wailed through the air towards each other again, and the blades crashed and hissed some more.

I was in the danger zone, and I needed to get out of it fast. The way those blades were swinging was dangerous, and yet somehow artful. There was grace behind the swing of the green blade, there was purpose. Behind the red one there was just strength, anger, brutality, the desire to hurt.

Combining those two was beautiful in a way, and scary in another—but mostly beautiful.

I focussed mostly on the green blade, watching where it went and judging by the illumination it shed as it arced through the cold air where the other person was. I couldn't see them. It was too black.

Zak yanked himself with great effort from the memory and found he was looking over at Luke Skywalker as the Jedi again swept his gaze left to right across the chamber, taking inventory. Apparently satisfied that he had everyone's attention, he began to speak.

"Good afternoon to you all," he opened, fanning the great chamber again with his gaze. "It's true that we rarely have a congregation of this size in this chamber, but I felt that it would be prudent to tell you all at once, rather than wait until each class's individual lessons with me.

"Your mentors and I have been conferring with regards to your studies and training to this point and we feel that, with the brief interruption to our schedule, you have all performed amicably." Zak ignored the one or two sets of eyes that turned his way, including Tash's piercing gaze, and shut off his thoughts from the few Force probes he felt incoming. "And while some of you may be willing, even eager, to continue to study, we have all come to a consensus that you deserve a brief respite."

A great deal of murmuring broke out amongst the crowd from those last words. Not everyone was reacting as yet, but Zak could see and feel the excitement in Jacen as he restrained himself from bouncing up and down in his seat.

In an instant, he gleaned his friend's intentions for his free time from his mind. In spite of his headache and his mood, it actually made him smile.

"Now, a lot of you have been working—overworking, really—yourselves far too much since the incidents last year, and while this is a rare thing for a teacher to say, I am not proud of this. There is such a thing as too much work in too little time. While it is true that recent events have probably spurred this new drive and determination as well as reminded us that we must forever be prepared for even the most unlikely of circumstances, rarely, if ever, are any of you getting enough time for yourself and your own personal interests or extracurricular activities."

Luke paused to take a breath before he continued. "As you are aware, this past year has taken a definite toll on the morale of all of our attendees, and the staff of this facility …"

I glanced up again as the green blade whizzed by too close to my ear. Frowning, I spun away and twirled my own lightsaber around my fingers, and snarled.

The other person similarly twirled his lightsaber, and charged forward.

I charged ahead, and was caught off-guard when he grabbed me by the forearm and spun me away from him while leaping in the air to avoid the wild strike I launched with my own lightsaber.

When I came out of the spin, I roared in outrage and flung out with my free hand, sending an invisible wave of the Force screaming through the air and slamming hard into the other's chest. I heard the discomforted "oof" of pain and grinned as I somersaulted through the air to cut off the attempted retreat of my foe after he recovered.

"… the attention of the Jedi Council and the Republic Senate, I'm afraid. It seems to be in the interests of the Senate, or should I say our illustrious Chief of State, that a Republic oversight delegation may be arriving here shortly. The last I heard, the Senate was still debating the issue, however."

Luke's face slackened into a look Zak knew represented the disdain he had for the idea. "Assuming the Senate passes the idea, the Republic's representatives intend to spend a week overseeing the structure and viability of continuing to support us here.

"Unfortunately for you all, their visit would happen to coincide with what I and my fellows had originally intended to be the halfway point of your rest period, so it has been cut down to a month, rather than two, so that the Republic reps will be able to oversee your classes and make appropriate observations."

Zak picked up on the undertone behind Luke's words, though he sensed that no one else in the great chamber had.

Either the New Republic's Chief of State, or someone in the Senate, wasn't happy with the Skywalkers' work at the Praxeum, or their methods of training young Jedi. And they were using the events of the previous year to establish their argument that Republic oversight of the installation needed to be put into effect—if only temporarily.

Briefly, a strange thought crossed Zak's mind; that the person who was convinced the Jedi needed Republic oversight needed to be reminded just who had brought the Jedi order back from the brink of extinction. And that that same Jedi had been an instrumental figure in overthrowing the Emperor and bringing peace back to the galaxy.

Instantly, he shook the thought away, unsure exactly where it had come from.

"There will be a formal greeting dinner on the night of the representatives' arrival. While highly unorthodox as it is, I do recommend abstaining from the usual dress wear just for that one occasion. Let's show them we can be civilised, hmm?" Zak saw the frown that settled in on the older Jedi's expression, and didn't doubt that others would have noticed it as well. "And I, of course, will expect nothing less than the most respectful behaviour from each and every one of you."

Luke continued to speak, but Zak couldn't concentrate on the words.

He felt someone attempt to probe the barriers to his thoughts that he had set up a moment ago and was about to strengthen them when he felt Jaina's thoughts and feelings colouring the probes.

She wasn't using the usual method either. She was using the telepathic bond that had formed between them from their time together last year. He looked over at her, but saw that her gaze never wavered from her uncle at the front. He didn't reach out across the link for her. He didn't need to.

We need to talk.

Then she withdrew the probe, back into her own mind, leaving the bitter-sounding telepathic impression upon his.

He watched as Skywalker finished addressing the crowd, and bowed his head as a signal that they were all dismissed.

Jedi students from every seat began to rise and make their own ways out of the crowded chamber, most attempting to rush to the lifts at the far back of the level and beat the crowd while others chose to exit more slowly to avoid it.

Maru Chidor next to Zak placed a hand on his shoulder and looked down at him with an encouraging smile before he hurried off into the crowd to attempt to maintain some semblance of order, while Mara, Luke and Jacen all approached Zak from their own places in the chamber. Together, the four of them watched as the others left until there was no one left in the chamber other than themselves.

Luke sighed heavily next to Zak. "I don't need the Force to foresee the result of this one," he said. "Jacen, we'd like a private word with Zak, if you would permit it."

"Sure thing, Uncle Luke," Jacen replied with a knowing smile. He placed his hand on Zak's shoulder for a moment and gave it a gentle squeeze. "See you in the hanger bay later?"

"Possibly," Zak said. "If I'm not there by midday, come looking for me," he added.

"Make that fourteen hundred, Jacen," Luke corrected.

Jacen nodded and left. Zak turned back to the two adults.

"You haven't yet spoken to either Jaina or your sister," Luke said, his eyebrows knit in worry. It wasn't a question, and Zak recognised as much.

"Not yet," Zak replied honestly. "Though Jaina did just request to see me. She would like a word."

"Ah, I wondered what your reaction was about. I couldn't sense the request." Luke smiled hopefully. "Jaina's mostly like her aunt, but she's a little like me in that she can be forgiving when it counts. If I could forgive you for what transpired—and I have—she will too.

"But"—he glanced at his wife—"women do take things a lot more personally than we do. She needed all this time to overcome it on her own steam."

"Yeah," Zak started uncomfortably, "about what happened …"

"Still no memory?" Mara asked curiously.

Zak started to shake his head, the automatic response of late to that question, but stopped himself and frowned. "I don't know. Just now, I saw flashes of something. I don't know if it was memory or whatever it was."

"Could be memory," Luke mused. "Would you like to share what it was that you saw?"

Zak nodded and delved into his mind for the images he saw, and dropped the barriers shielding his thoughts so that the older Jedi could see them as they were brought forth.

And another memory hit him without warning.

Again, the blade came close, but this time there was another coming in from the other side. Whereas the first was green, the new one was a lighter blue, and thrummed with just as much danger as the green.

But I had the second blade of my lightsaber already ignited, and I flicked my wrist to drive the blade down to block the surprise attack. The impact sent the tip of my blade punching into the ferrocrete-reinforced stone of the floor and I yanked it back out in an instant, whirling on the spot and twirling the hilt of my lightsaber through my fingers before slicing laterally at the one with the green blade.

Threats were everywhere, and I reached out to try and find others, but no … there were only the trio present—one presently out of the way.

I twisted my crimson blade around the green one, driving it deep into the floor and kicking hard at the face of the owner, sending him staggering backwards away from me. With that threat temporarily stunned, I turned to the surprise attacker, and reached out with my hand.

The blue-bladed lightsaber dropped to the floor, the blade sucked back into the hilt, and suddenly my hand was gripped tight around someone's throat and squeezing hard.

When the memory ended, Zak found himself in the most unexpected position and feeling very, very uncomfortable for it.

Luke Skywalker was flat-backed against the stone wall of the chamber and Zak was upon him, his left hand clenched around the Jedi's throat and just starting to squeeze tighter and tighter. There was a feral snarl in the air that he couldn't pinpoint at first, until he realised that it was hissing from between his own lips. Luke's eyes were wide with shock, but not fear, Zak noticed.

He felt pressure at his throat and reached out to sense that Mara was behind him, one arm wrapped around his throat and the other under his left arm, pulling backwards in a futile attempt to pry him off her husband.

His own eyes shot open. Horrified with himself, he released Luke and shook himself free of Mara's hold before stumbling away from them, almost tripping over a nearby seat. He regained his balance quickly and averted his eyes from both Jedi, who neither looked afraid nor angry with him. If anything, they both looked sad and concerned.

But why?

"That was most definitely a memory," Luke said softly, reaching out a hand to touch Zak's shoulder.

"What's happening to me?" Zak exclaimed, cringing away from the contact, his hand at his throat massaging away the residual pressure from Mara Jade Skywalker's chokehold on him.

Luke hesitated, but it was Mara that responded. "We don't exactly know," she said honestly, sitting in the chair next to Zak and looking him square in the eye.

She flicked a lock of red hair back over her shoulder as Zak took a few minutes to compose himself, to drive away whatever it was inside him that had caused him to lash out in his moment of distraction. It was then that he caught from his teachers' minds that there had been a reason they had wanted a word with him, and he wanted so much to forget what he had just done.

"Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked almost pleadingly.

Luke raised a surprised eyebrow and Zak read the meaning behind the expression.

Obviously, the elder Jedi had not expected Zak to read him so readily when he was actively concealing his thoughts from him—which Zak sensed he was doing. Zak had to admit to himself that his own strength, his connection to the Force now, was astounding, and sometimes it frightened him. Though, he would not admit it to anyone save himself.

Since his release from the infirmary, he had been actively trying to restrict his use of the Force as much as possible due to the pounding in his head that got worse with each instance he reached for it. Yet, somehow, he was using it without knowing, without trying, in fact despite his efforts to the contrary.

He'd first noticed it when he had regained consciousness some time after the operation nearly a year ago. No one had told him why it was that he was suddenly so much stronger than before, so much deeply connected with the Force than he could ever remember being or hoped to be, but Luke had assured him that he would one day understand, and that his newfound power had a purpose, a destiny to be fulfilled.

"Yes." Luke nodded.

"I would like to see you on the last day of the rest period to discuss plans for our first new combat class and, more than likely, improve on any ideas that I have thus far," Mara added on queue. "With some luck, enough of those suppressed memories will have returned that we can work with what you were able to accomplish and what you learned under Brakiss's tutelage."

"What if I have another outburst like that?" Zak asked, looking from her to Luke and then back again. "What if I have one that's worse, and I actually hurt someone? Luke is one thing … but what about someone who might actually fight back?"

"We'll be ever watchful of you, Zak, in case of such episodes," Mara assured him with a grim smile.

Zak saw a light frown form on Luke's face as something occurred to him and Zak read the thought at once, deliberately.

"We're going to need a way to prevent it from happening while the Republic people are here, aren't we?" he asked. Luke nodded.

It would do no good for Zak to have another violent episode while they were hosting representatives from the Senate, and possibly the Jedi Council, who were most likely being dispatched to ascertain if there was any threatening behaviour at the academy.

"If you wouldn't mind continuing your private sessions with me over the course of this rest period," Luke started apologetically, "perhaps there is something we can do about it.

"I know you want to get this vision thing under control, and I apologise for yet another delay in that, but I think that this constitutes a much more serious problem to be solved. We can always go back to your visions once we've managed to get you to a state where you can experience these buried memories without the outbursts. Our only other alternative is to keep you in isolation, which I'm not entirely sure will benefit your condition in the long run."

"That's fine with me," Zak said. Mara turned to her husband and sent him a private thought which Zak chose not to listen to before she smiled at Zak once more and departed for the stairs.

Luke took Zak by the shoulder gently and led him back to the other side of the chamber towards his office.

"Starting right now, I think," he added cheerfully.

Zak walked with him, deep in thought. It appeared he was starting to realise just what had happened that had the Senate so worried.