Jade Shadow
"Wait," Ben Skywalker said. "You kissed Aunt Leia."
His father, Luke Skywalker, frowned. "It was more like she kissed me."
"That's not much better," Ben commented, shaking his head in amusement, and trying not to burst out laughing.
"We didn't know we were related," Luke went on, somewhat defensively. "This conversation never happened," he said, in mock sternness.
A mischievous smirk took possession of Ben's face as he looked at his father. Luke had seen that look before, when Ben was up to something. "Not as long as you promise to never do anything to embarrass me ever again."
Luke frowned. "Blackmail," he muttered, feigning contempt. "You've been spending too much time with your Uncle Han. And what kind of parent would I be if I didn't embarrass my own son from time to time? That's what parents are supposed to do, you know."
Ben raised a doubtful eyebrow.
Luke smiled. "Need I remind you that there are plenty of planets in the area with a breathable atmosphere?"
"Dang it," Ben muttered. "This is worse than playing Uncle Han in Dejarik." He looked back at Luke. "And what kind of parent would threaten to abandon his son-"
"What kind of son would threaten to expose one of his father's darkest secrets?"
Ben shook his head. "Touche'."
"Like I said, 'this conversation never happ..." he trailed off as the comm began beeping. The Jedi Master tapped a button, and a grim blue face with red eyes rippled to life. "Aristocra Formbi," Luke greeted. Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano had become an ally of the Jedi. He had been instrumental in ending the Swarm War at the Battle of Tenupe over a decade ago.
"Hello, Grand Master Skywalker," Formbi said, sounding worried. "Fleet Commander Thorden has just informed me that the four Jedi you sent to rendezvous with his fleet never showed up. If you can spare someone else... Thorden will help organize a search for the missing Jedi. I would suggest more experienced Jedi." There was something peculiar in Formbi's tone when he mentioned Thorden's name. Almost as though the younger Chiss man was family.
Luke nodded slowly. He didn't want anymore Jedi disappearing. "My son and I, unfortunately, are otherwise occupied." They had been investigating recent sightings of a Sith Meditation Sphere named Ship. The sentient vessel had become the personal transport of Vestara Khai, Ben's former girlfriend. She'd almost killed Luke's grandniece and had been responsible for the deaths of almost thirty thousand people at the Sarnus Refinery the year before. It had become clear that she could not be saved from the dark side. And so the mission was to find and kill the Sith Saber.
Neither Luke nor his son had been looking forward to this inevitable mission, but it had, unfortunately, become necessary. Ben was going to need his father's support when the moment came.
The Jedi Master sighed. His sister Leia wasn't too far from the area. She and Han had just picked up their granddaughter Allana. Luke would hate to put them in any danger. And he didn't know if he'd be able to live with himself if anything happened to Allana. Not just because she was his grandniece, but also because she was supposed to, eventually, take the Throne of Balance, and become the Queen of the Jedi. If she didn't take the Throne, it would go to the Sith, and be taken up by a mysterious dark man, whoever the Void that was. If Allana died, the Jedi Order would be doomed. It wasn't the easiest decision, and it didn't help that there wasn't much time to make it.
Millennium Falcon
Allana Solo's pet nexu, Anji, purred happily as the girl stroked her head. "Well," she responded, "on the surface it seems like a good thing that the Hutts have gained the upper hand. It means that the spice war with the Yaka will end sooner. But the fact the Hutts started winning so suddenly means someone's probably helping them. It could be the Sith for all we know."
"That's right," Leia said.
"So it might not be a good thing," Allana concluded. "If the Sith really are helping the Hutts, then they must be allies. So then the end of this spice war could actually be a bad thing." She looked, sympathetically, at her grandmother. "And you had to deal with this kind of thing all the time when you were Chief of State," she added.
"It was usually a lot worse," Han commented with his trademark crooked grin. "She had to deal with politi..." He trailed off and scowled as his wife delivered a playful punch to his shoulder. "Relax, sweetheart. I wasn't calling you a politician." He looked conspiratorially at Allana. "I hate sleeping on the couch," he whispered.
Leia rolled her eyes. "Well, just keep it, then. Sometimes you're a bad influence."
Han shrugged. "What would you expect from a scruffy nerfherder smuggler?"
Allana rested her head in her hand and sighed. "Should I go take a walk with Anji while you two flirt?"
Leia looked over at her husband. "Let's wait until after she goes to bed."
"Looks like we're the only grownups here," she whispered to Anji. The massive feline mewed softly, as though in agreement with the girl.
The comm suddenly buzzed to life. Han reached over to the dejarik board, which doubled as a holonet terminal. Holographic renderings of Luke and Ben's faces materialized above the game board. Greetings were exchanged, and then Luke's expression turned serious.
"What's wrong?" Leia asked.
"Tahiri and the others never met up with Fleet Commander Thorden," Luke replied.
"They were supposed to come out of hyperspace near Qoribu," Leia recalled with a frown. "Unless there was someone waiting for them..."
"Maybe Black Sun figured it out somehow," Luke said with a shrug. "Formbi says he and Thorden can help put together a search effort, if they have a Jedi or two to work with."
"Or two," Allana repeated. "Well, it can't more dangerous than any of our other adventures."
"I've learned never to say stuff like that," Ben cautioned, eliciting a scowl from Allana.
"We're far enough away that we can completely circumvent Bigbugistan," Han commented. As a younger man he'd had a rather ghastly experienced with large insectoids. And of course, it would just be stupid to walk into the same sort of ambush or whatever as Tahiri and the other Jedi on her team.
"We'll do it," Leia said, just a bit reluctantly. Tahiri was almost like a daughter to her and Han, and would have eventually become their daughter-in-law, had their son Anakin not been killed in the Yuuzhan Vong War.
Nrogu
Tahiri came to with a peculiar, somewhat familiar fogginess in her mind. She opened her eyes; her vision was a bit fuzzy at first, but soon cleared up. She was lying on the ground, in a large cavernous space. With a number of giant, dark insectoids moving about. Killiks. On Nrogu. Something, or someone, had hidden a whole nest from her perception.
Tahiri groaned. Their attacker had counted on her and the others surviving, in hopes that the Killiks would turn them into Joiners. She'd been a Joiner once before. Perhaps, since she knew the warning signs better, she'd be better able to resist their influence. Or maybe she'd be more vulnerable because she'd been part of a Nest before. Tahiri hoped to the Force it was the former. Being a Joiner once was more than enough.
Tahiri quickly examined herself in the Force, like a ship's diagnostics systems. Some bruising and pulled muscles. Nothing major; she was barely in the yellow. She reached toward her waist, and frowned
when she didn't feel her lightsaber. Of course they have removed it. Tahiri couldn't fault the Killiks for their caution, though she could still be annoyed.
Tahiri reached out toward the others, sifting through the muted tangle of semi-sentient life forces. There seemed to be something... off about them. A subtle, yet profound tension. The sort that might exist between different ethnic groups. Tahiri frowned. She only saw the large, dark Killiks. There must have a different sub species somewhere in the nest.
Tahiri sighed; she'd deal with that later, once she'd found Seff, Kolir, and Yantahar. She easily located Seff, but she couldn't find the two Bothan Jedi. That didn't necessarily mean Kolir and Yantahar were dead. If they were at the other end of the nest or something, then perhaps their Force presences had simply gotten 'lost' among all the others. Or maybe they'd already been made into Joiners.
