Chapter 7

Catalyst

A/N- Hey all! Sorry I didn't get to posting chapters over the weekend. It was parents' weekend at my college and you know how things get when your family comes to visit- no time to yourself (not that I didn't enjoy eating off campus for a change and seeing my parents), and you're tired when you get back. So pretty much I kept going out all day and I'd come back wiped out and I didn't get to my fan fiction because of it. I'm sorry!!

I'll be trying to get more chapters up in the next few days (no promises on the number though) and over the weekend. I've also got a long weekend coming up from the 16th to the 19th, and I'll be home for that weekend. So I might get more posting time then too.

Woohooo!!

Please excuse my dear aunt sally (even though I don't have one),

-Don ^_^

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"This," James said with an air of amusement as well as disbelief as he looked around the place that Wynnessa had brought him to, "Is the best place to hang out?"

She scowled at him, "Yeah, it is. You have some sort of ego problem, Jimmy?"

"It's James." He replied icily. He would never allow anyone call him Jimmy. Except for one person, and that person was dead. The dead were gone and James preferred to let things lay that had no place in his future. Dwelling on the past was something that James never did without good reason, and often that reason was to fuel his often angry or apathetic views towards life. He stepped forward and scanned the small room. It looked as though it was once some kind of factory. The machines were rusted and falling apart at their hinges and the floor looked like it had at least five layers of dust, dirt, and dried up oil all over it.

James had an easy time seeing why a mechanics junkie like Wyn Fel liked coming here. But the place gave James the creeps. He wasn't sure why because he'd spent time enough in factories when his parents were picking up goods to be traded and shipped to other planets. He walked through one of the narrow pathways between the machines and stopped instinctively at a door. With a small push it creaked open and James' breath caught in his mouth.

Wyn came up behind him, having heard his sharp intake of breath. "What's wrong, Jimmy-?" She froze, now realizing what he was looking at. All this time she'd come to hang around the factory and James couldn't believe she'd never bothered to look and see what the factory had been used for.

Gray eyes focused on the split glass tubes and wires suspended from the ceiling. It was clear what this place was: a former cloning factory.

Anakin shifted his bag onto his back and started to make his way around their campsite. He'd gotten up early enough that he could explore before Tahiri woke up. He knew she'd been worn out from all their travels and he wasn't about to let her suffer because of his impatience. He was only curious to look at the planet. Now that the war was over, he got the feeling he could see some things he wouldn't have before.

Anakin tread lightly across the ground, casting a wary glance to his right then to his left before his foot sunk into a damp puddle. He quickly backed up impulsively then cast a look down to find he'd sunk his foot into a puddle, but it wasn't a puddle of mud. The liquid was too dark to be anything but blood. But it wasn't a human's blood, that much Anakin could tell. He crouched down and reached into the puddle with his gloved hand, rubbing the liquid between two fingers. It was thick and smelled. Yuuzhan Vong blood maybe? Anakin wasn't sure. It wasn't a good first sign. Blood was always a sign for bad things about to occur. Anakin was pretty sure he didn't like having to run into yet another situation where he'd have to kick the force out of an enemy or what was the more likely option, Anakin getting the force kicked out of him.

He sensed moved movement then drew his blaster faster than he'd ever felt himself draw his lightsaber.

"Ah. Peace to you as well, young warrior," Anakin's eyes narrowed on the speaker who was approaching from the woods on Anakin's right. Anakin didn't lower his blaster. In fact, Anakin's instincts were screaming at him to shoot this stranger right away. The only thing keeping him from doing so was his better judgment against shooting someone he'd never met. Though if it were his father, Anakin knew Han Solo would shoot first and ask questions later. It was a motto that was generally a good solution if you wanted to get into trouble and that was exactly what Han Solo wanted every time he took a step outside his front door. Although with Leia there, Han hadn't gotten too much action time aside from the odd jobs assigned to him by the New Republic.

"I'm not about to negotiate anything with you," Anakin said coldly, his blue eyes flaring.

"Oh, but I'm not here to negotiate. You see, I have the upper hand." The stranger then stepped into the open, revealing a man, or what used to be a man. His face was badly scarred and looked as though it had been beaten into being unrecognizable and he had unusual markings along his neck and face. Anakin's eyes widened then narrowed. He'd seen those markings before. They were the same ones that Tahiri had.

"Ah, so you noticed my dementation, have you? Not the best of appearances to greet other people with. I imagine you would not trust me. But I figured that I could get your attention with this," The stranger drew from his thick brown cloak a lightsaber. Anakin frowned then realization struck him.

"You're one of the prisoners of that village we raided." Anakin's grip tightened on his blaster. He wasn't sure whether to expect vehemence or gratitude so he figured it was better to not do anything.

"I'm sure you'll understand then if I tell you that you must come with me," He gestured into the forest, "Or your friend might never wake up."

Anakin's eyes narrowed further, as far as they were go and his brow furrowed as fiery fury danced in his eyes, "You touch her and I'll make sure you wake in the void."

The man's eyebrows went up with bemusement, "So you've seen the void as well? Then I will not have to explain very much to you. You see, I, like many others here on Mykyr, are members of a society."

"A what?" Anakin's anger turned to curiosity, though he still wanted to shoot this man, Anakin was sure that wasn't such a good idea until he got his facts straight.

"If you'll come with me, I'll explain things further, but you must come with me now, and do so without alerting your partner."

"You think I'm stupid?" Anakin shot at the man, "Leaving her here would only give you the leverage you need."

"Make no mistake, young warrior," The man said carefully, "I have no intention of forcing you to do anything. I merely wish to show you something that you protected inadvertently when you attacked this village."

Anakin watched as the figure walked over and then pressed the lightsaber into Anakin's free hand. Anakin looked at the handle and then clicked it on. A red blade flashed out and cast the darkened jungle in a red light.

"Sith." Anakin said with bitterness in his voice. He scowled at the man who was now standing with his hands folded behind his back as two more people came out, also with tattered cloaks and scarred faces.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Jesse Veila," He called the lightsaber back into his hand, "And I am the last of the Veila line." His smug expression stared at Anakin, who suddenly comprehended what the man was saying. This man, whoever he was, was somehow related to Tahiri and there was no doubt as to what they wanted Anakin to do.

"No," Anakin's eyes glinted, "I don't care who you say you are, but Tahiri is a Jedi."

"Can you really deny her what is her heritage?" Jesse asked. "I have heard a lot about you, Anakin Solo. That is why I thought you would understand who we are, and what we are about."

"You're sith, what else is there to know?" Anakin demanded, his insides suddenly boiling and a spark of flame leapt from his fingers and lit a pile of roots on fire. Anakin hardly noticed as his attention was on Jesse.

"Ah, naturally you wouldn't trust us, would you? After all, what proof is there that we are even related to Tahiri? Her parents are dead, no?" Jesse chuckled and said a few words in a strange language to his companions who laughed and stared with interest at Anakin. "Allow me to prove it to you, Anakin, from one Fallen Jedi to another."

Anakin's eyes went from one cloaked warrior to another. "Fallen Jedi?"

"Outcasts, renegades, exiles from the New Republic, whatever you want to call us, our ways were not that of the new Jedi Order or the Old Order. We used both light and dark force tactics. So it is no surprise that we were forgotten, oh, yes, wiped off the records and left to die on Mykyr. As you can see, we were among the first to find that the Yuuzhan Vong were not pleasant to Jedi, even ones who had been cast out of the Order."

Anakin paused, and lowered his blaster slightly, readying his force fire just in case any of them tried something funny.

"All I'm asking of you," Jesse continued, "Is that you think about joining us. We know you do not fit in with the other order, and that if your ability," He gestured with his head at the flames licking away at the roots, "Is discovered, you will be exiled."

"What does this have to do with Tahiri?" Anakin asked.

"Surely you don't expect to just abandon her when you leave?"

"You make it sound like I've got no choice." Anakin said, his gaze never leaving the lightsaber.

"You don't, really. It's just a matter of time. It could be a few years, a few days, a month, but soon your Order's patience will waver and their fear of you will force them to cast you out," Jesse looked sadly over at Tahiri, "Think of how broken Tahiri would be if you do not take her with you."

"What do you know of that?" Anakin asked, not bothering once again to tamper the flames leaping from his hands. This time flames caused the blaster he was holding to spark then explode, sending Anakin flying. The two cloaked figures jumped nimbly through the trees and hauled Anakin to his feet. One of them held his hand over Anakin's severely burned hand and a blue flame glowed. Anakin gazed at the man in wonder. Unlike Jesse, who was dark haired and had somewhat more tanned skin, narrow eyes, and fierce brown eyes, this man was blonde haired and had green eyes like Tahiri's.

"Hold still," He said, and in seconds the skin on Anakin's hand was healed. Anakin stared at the man.

"I'm Tyrus," The man stuck out a thick huge hand with layered muscles visible from inside his cloak sleeves."

"You're using force fire to heal?" Anakin asked, stunned. Jesse came over and stood next to Tyrus, who was kneeling to be at Anakin's height. The man was a giant, at seven feet he could pound anyone with just his feet.

"Tyrus, myself, and Korener," Jesse gestured to the man still standing at a distance, "Are the few that are left of the runaway members of the fallen Veila clan. Tahiri's parents were force users as well, at least they had the ability to be, but they didn't want to engage in dangerous activity or anything Jedi related. For many years, their side of the family avoided their talents. Now Tahiri had found her path as a Jedi and has found another force fire user," Jesse grinned, "Who is not a Veila."

Anakin's eyes went wide again, "You mean nobody outside of the Veila clan could use force fire?"

"No, that is why we were the ones banished, not anyone else. It was considered a dark technique and we were forbidden to use it."

"Why weren't there any-?" Anakin then stopped himself, remembering what Jesse had said about the Veila family records having been destroyed. Nobody knew. That's why Uncle Luke had been surprised to see me use force fire, he didn't know, and all the records about it were destroyed. Instead Anakin decided on saying, "The records of your family, they were destroyed, weren't they?"

"Yes, all of them were obliterated. We could do nothing to stop it. To the other Veilas, us active Jedi were dead. Now you came here. No doubt you felt something." Jesse lifted his hand and a blue flame shot out to douse the flames on the roots. Anakin looked at Jesse.

"Unlike you, our flames only have healing capabilities. It is fueled by different emotions and can recreate," Jesse looked over in the direction Tahiri was, "I would really like to talk to my sister."

Anakin blinked. He had to be joking. Tahiri's parents only had one kid, right? Just Tahiri. "You're lying, she can't be your sister. Tahiri's an only child."

"Is that what they told you?" Jesse asked, his voice suddenly cold.

"I never met her parents." Anakin said.

"What do you mean you never met them?" Jesse asked. "How did you meet her then?"

"She was found by my Uncle, Luke Skywalker on Tatooine while she was being raised by Tusken Raiders. They were the tribe that killed Tahiri's parents."

Jesse's face, if it had been harsh before, certainly became tightly stern, "You're telling the truth, I can sense it. No wonder she was here with you, she was alone all this time."

"Not completely," Anakin said, straightening, "She was adopted by another family and my family is as close to her surrogate family as any. I'd never leave her either."

Jesse smiled at Anakin, a genuine expression that Anakin, in the short time he'd been talking with the man, had never thought he'd see. "For being with my sister, even if she is adopted now, I thank you, Anakin Solo."

Anakin felt himself going a little red from embarrassment, "Um, you're welcome," He quickly changed the subject to hide his discomfort, "How are you two related anyway?"

Jesse looked curiously at Anakin, "Surely you know, our parents went and-"

"No, not that," Anakin made a face, was this guy seriously going to explain to Anakin in detail about sex? Anakin decided to avoid thinking about that, "I meant how did you get separated if you two are siblings."

"Oh, very simply actually," Jesse said with a wry smile, "You see, we look nothing alike, neither my parents, nor Tahiri bear any resemblance to myself. I look like none of them. When I was born, the outcast members were fed up with having no more heirs to carry on the Veila line, so the night we were born,"

"We?" Anakin was finding this a little ridiculous. First this strange man was telling him that he was Tahiri's brother and then he was saying they were long lost twins. Anakin felt like this was out of some weird story. It was too bizarre and improbable to be true. Though, he reminded himself, his mother, Leia, and her brother, Luke, never knew they were siblings until Luke figured it out later on. Still, this was stretching things a bit.

"Oh yes, Tahiri and I are fraternal twins. I look a bit more like our grandfather, but we are brother and sister without a doubt. The night we were born, Tahiri's father went out for a while to grab some food and the birth happened while he was out. My mother passed out, and while she was sleeping, two of the fallen Jedi of the Veila line here came and took the first baby they could see."

"Meaning you," Anakin filled in, still not believing it. "How did you find this out if you were just a baby and the only witnesses were either a baby or," Then Anakin nearly smacked himself for not realizing it before. "They told you? After all that, they told you that they kidnapped you? Why didn't you go back?"

Jesse laughed, "You think after all the trouble they went to in order to kidnap me, Anakin, they'd let me just waltz off again?" He looked thoroughly embittered about the whole thing, "I wanted to see my sister. But as I discovered later, the doctors, not wanting to hurt the parents, said I had died during the night. Of course, neither of my parents wanted to see the body of a child they'd never get to see grow up. So I was supposedly a buried secret. Though they probably knew what had really happened, I was gone to them." Jesse's glare in the direction of the village told Anakin that the old members were probably dead.

"The Yuuzhan Vong killed the rest of the Veila family, didn't they." Anakin stated. Jesse nodded.

"You have good intuition, but it's not hard to figure out. Good riddance too. Those of us who are left are more than glad to start fresh. I had been meaning to go find Tahiri for a while, but when I saw your Jedi attack, I knew I'd found her. I saw Tahiri. I felt it was her through the force."

"Then why didn't she know you through the force?" Anakin asked, his skepticism picking up again.

"Oh, easily enough. When you don't recognize a force presence, namely one you've never known existed in the first place, it's easy to not notice it in a sea of other presences. I noticed she was focusing on your presence in particular," He raised an eyebrow. "I wanted to ask you, without my sister here, what's the nature of your relationship?"

Anakin forced himself to not get blush again though he felt his insides twisting. Was this man for real? He wanted to butt into his long lost sister's love life? Boy, when Tahiri found out, she would never speak to him again, period. She hated it when people butted into her life. Even Anakin wasn't allowed to tell her or even suggest to her what she should do. Not without a fight at least.

"Why in the name of Jabba the Hutt, would I tell you what my relationship with Tahiri is?" Anakin asked crossly. Jesse cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't make me force you to tell me, Anakin."

"Tell him what, Anakin?" A low and annoyed voice asked. Anakin's gut wrenched. Tahiri was standing with her arms folded across her chest and looking thoroughly pissed off. "I sleep a little late and find you talking to some random guy about our personal life?" She muttered something in the Sand People's tongue, "When are you going to be responsible for a change, huh?" She stepped over and smacked Anakin over the head.

"Hey, what was that for? I was telling him I wasn't going to tell him anything?"

"Oh, besides what you've already said? You might as well have told him that they can just shoot you right here because we're alone and nobody knows where we are!"

Anakin stared at her as Tyrus, Jesse, and Korener exchanged glances. "Uh, Tahiri?"

She snapped around to glare at Anakin, "What?" She then smacked herself on the head, "I told them, didn't I?" She didn't wait for answer and drew her blaster. "Well, we might as well get this over with."

Anakin's mind whirled, "Wait, Tahiri, these guys aren't enemies."

"How can you be so sure?" She asked, taking a look at each one of the cloaked men in turn. "Maybe they're all lying, did you ever think of that?"

"I did actually." Anakin replied defensively.

"Well, that's a good start." She said with a roll of her eyes. "Now they can just kill us while we're arguing!"

"Hang on, since when was this my fault? I'm not the one who started this!" Anakin bit back when both his head and Tahiri's snapped around to look at Jesse who was laughing loudly at their antics.

"I can assure you, Tahiri, the moment you use your senses, everything will become clear." Jesse looked at her with gentle brown eyes. Tahiri looked over at Anakin for his opinion for a change, then when he nodded and gave her confidence through the force, she reached out towards Jesse, and suddenly felt a warm bond flooding into every nerve of her mind and body. She stared at him.

"No way, that's not possible."

"I assure you," Jesse said with a sad voice, "That it is."

James nearly staggered out of the room, and into Wyn who was standing right behind him. "This can't be," He knew Thrawn had been the Admiral of the Empire's fleet, but James never would have put it past the Chiss to have a cloning facility. This more than anything made James' face become pale with each passing second. This factory sent shivers up and down James' spine. He couldn't say why, but it seemed to be giving him immense headaches. With the heaviness pressing down on him and odors blocking the oxygen to his brain, James staggered out of the door, not hearing Wyn as she called his name. Then he slumped over, his vision blacked over with flashes of the facility cluttering his mind.

A/N- Sorry, a bit of typical Star Wars stuff there, and I'm sorry for making this incredibly dumb, but this is an important piece of the next series "Jedi Mastery" that I'm writing. So you'll at least see later on why this made sense. Until then, please don't flame me for doing something so stereotypical! ^_^ Please?

As always, reviews are welcome!