Author's Responses at the end.


Chapter Twelve: Girl Trouble

"So, is she really going to do it?" Jor asked.

Karia looked from her brother to Jacen, who shrugged. The three of them and Anakin sat at one of the tables in the cafeteria in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant eating lunch.

"She's seventeen now, so legally she can. I'm not sure how happy mom is about it," Jacen said. "She really wants to fly."

"What about your dad?" Karia asked.

"He's worried. But you know Dad. Jaina had the highest index score of any pilot candidate ever. She scored even higher that Captain Celchu and General Antilles. I heard a rumor she might even be in line for Rogue Squadron. Dad's worried, but at the same time he's so proud he's tripping over himself."

"Are you thinking about joining?" Jor said.

Jacen shook his head. "I'm a fair pilot, but I don't have the passion for it that Jaina does." Although it seemed as if he would say more, the young Jedi stopped speaking.

"What about you, Jor?" Anakin said.

Jor snorted. "Yeah, you know I'm pilot material," he said. He finished off his second roll and stared down at his tray. "I'm a few months away from my lifeday anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

Anakin and Karia shared a look, and then turned to their respective older brothers. "If you two start fighting, can we take bets?" Anakin said.

"We aren't fighting," Jacen said indignantly.

"And there wouldn't be any point in it anyway," Jor added.

Jacen's brow shot up. "No point?"

"It's not like there is any reason to hide the full extent of our abilities," Jor said. "So, it would be unfair for you to even try and fight me."

"Oh you are so full of bantha poodoo!" Jacen said loudly.

Others around the cafeteria heard. Jor-El Naberrie shrugged. "Why would I lie?"

"You think she cares what you say?" Jacen said. "She knows who the real Jedi is."

"Who's she?" Karia asked Anakin.

"I think they're talking about Danni Quee," Anakin said. "They've been visiting her and sending her flowers."

"You mean the scientist Jor saved?" Karia looked at the two glaring padawans and then snorted in disgust. "Come on, she's like thirty or something!"

"She's twenty-one," Jor said.

"And you're only sixteen," Jacen added.

"Oh, and your five months makes you so much older?" Jor snarled.

"You're both behaving like you're eight," Karia said. Both ignored her.

"Salle 8," Jacen challenged.

"Two hours," Jor agreed.

"Taking bets!" Anakin called.

Karia threw up her hands in abject failure. "You are all idiots."

Two hours later, Jedi Master Katarn joined Masters Horn and Cairnwick in the observation gallery along with fifty padawans and a fair sprinkling of knights. Nearby Anakin stood with a chastened expression on his face. His holopad rested squarely in hands of Master Cairnwick. "We don't object to a friendly contest," the former Rebel commando and survivor of the Empire's Order 66 said, "but we do object to betting on it."

Karia lingered by Master Horn as she stared down at the two padawans. "This is just stupid," she muttered.

"Yes," Horn said. "Girls do tend to make boys stupid."

"This whole thing is about Danni, then?" Kyle asked.

Horn nodded and Karia shook her head in disgust. Kyle merely shrugged. "She is pretty cute."

"Did you see her at the debriefing?" Horn said. "Once she got a few square meals behind her, she turned into quite the looker," Horn agreed.

Karia stared at her two masters. "You're trying to make this whole affair Danni's fault? Master Cairnwick, can you believe these two?"

The elder of them all, Cairnwick made a point of looking over first Kyle, then Horn, before smiling at Karia. "Yes."

Below, Jacen and Jor shed their outer robes held their lightsabers at bay. "So, any last words?" Jacen asked.

Jor merely shrugged.

The Solo children were widely acknowledged as the Jedi's Jedi. Raised almost from birth in the ways of the Force, they were as close to the old Order's ideal padawans as could be achieved in the new Order, where children were no longer recruited before age four. All three had superior dueling abilities, but Jacen was acknowledged as the best of them.

He stepped into the room with his saber at the ready, prepared for another episode of embarrassing Jor. Jor-El Naberrie had never won a sparring match with his distant cousin. His saber technique was considered passable by all the masters, but he lacked the inspired genius of Jacen's technique.

Most considered this match to be over before it began.

They were right, though not in the way they thought.

Jacen flashed his saber down with a classic opening blow that was supposed to cause Jor to roll to the side in order to open up his flank for a short, quick blow.

Jor did not cooperate as he had all the other sessions in the past. This time, the son of Kale Naberrie snapped out his hand with lightening reflexes and caught Jacen Solo's lightsaber. Then he held it.

Jacen stared in open shock. He barely blinked when Jor's blue saber hovered a few centimeters from his neck.

"You won," Jacen muttered. He stepped back and deactivated his blade. He noticed that Jor's palm bore an angry burn, but even as he watched the burn seemed to be healing. He could not see a hint of pain on his cousin's face.

It was at that moment that Kyle came down from the observation gallery and stepped into the room. He looked up at the shocked faces of all those watching, then finally at Jacen. "There is only one reason we allowed this contest to take place," Kyle said loudly. "And it was so you could all see this one simple truth. Jor-El Naberrie is his father's son. He is Kryptonian. That means he is a hundred times faster than the fastest Jedi, a thousand times stronger. Still not the best pilot…" That elicited a few chuckles. "…but nonetheless he and his sister are not ordinary padawans. They hid their abilities because they were ordered to by their father, but that time has passed."

Kyle did not like slipping into the Master role Leia had thrust on him, Karia knew, but when he had to, he wore the mantle well. "Don't think the other masters and knights haven't noticed the way you have treated Jor and Karia. You have all made presumptions, which we masters have been lax in correcting. No more. Kryptonian or not, Jor and Karia are your brother and sister. They are here as padawans to learn the ways of the Force. They are here to form the bonds that all Jedi should feel toward each other. The time has come for all of you to grow up, and accept them as the family they are!"

Kyle turned back to the two padawans, both of whom were under his care. In a very quiet voice, he added, "That was for them. This is for you. You are the two greatest padawans of your age. I will not have you stain this order with this stupid little feud of yours. Do I make myself clear?"

Jor and Jacen had the decency to drop their eyes. "Yes, master," they both said.

"Good. Besides, I have it on good authority Danni likes older men," Kyle said with a sudden, mischievous grin.

He turned and walked away before having to view the stricken expressions of his two students.

* * *

Leia stared dumbfounded first at Jacen, then at Jor. Then finally at Kyle. "I don't know what's worse—that my son and the son of one of my only cousin fought each other over a girl, or that the co-founder of the Jedi Order let them."

Jor and Jacen looked appropriately chastised. Kyle was grinning broadly. "That's nothing," Kyle said. "Anakin was trying to start a betting pool."

Very little shook Master Leia Organa Skywalker Solo, so when she literally started sputtering, the two padawans knew they were in trouble. Leia turned away and stalked back to her desk. Her aides were gone for the day, thankfully. "Kyle, you're not making me feel better about any of this," she finally said.

The venerably Jedi master held up both hands, and with his thumb and middle finger thumped each padawan squarely in the back of their heads. "You're both dismissed," he said. "Get out of here before she kills all three of us."

They scampered out as Leia continued to glare. "I wasn't done with them," she said a little coldly.

Kyle shrugged and took a seat across from her desk. "Too bad."

Leia sputtered again, but Kyle forestalled her with a hand. "Look, Leia. You're having to wear a lot of different hats right now. Jedi Master, politician, diplomat. You're looking at this situation with every perspective but the right one—a mother."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Danni is a beautiful young woman, with whom both Jor and Jacen spent time alone. Granted, Jacen was clothed so Jor definitely has the advantage there, but nonetheless you have two boys either at or near seventeen years of age both with an attraction to the same girl. Not even you can stop them from being competitive about it. Even the Force has limits."

"Danni doesn't view either one of them like that," Leia said. "She's an educated, intelligent woman, not a girl. They are both just boys."

Kyle shook his had. "You're wrong, Leia. I know it's hard for us to look at them and see the truth. Every year everyone around me looks younger and younger. But Jacen and Jor are men. In a way, Jor has already been through his trials. What he went through at Helska—what he did to save Danni—was extraordinary. Even for someone of his lineage, maintaining a Force-bubble without food for a week was just amazing. And don't dismiss Danni either. Jor is the spitting image of his father, and you yourself have told me how women twice his age would swoon over him when he was still in his teens. Danni may be too mature to act on it, but I've seen her around Jor enough to know there is an attraction. Jacen realizes this. That's why he made the challenge, and why Jor accepted."

"What do you mean?"

"Jacen was always the top of the food chain. And before you say anything, I don't mean to imply he abused it. All of your kids, Leia, are honorable, extraordinary Jedi. You have every reason to be proud, and so do they. But nonetheless when Jacen learned what Jor did, and realized just what Jor was, he felt threatened. Then you throw Danni into the mix, and frankly they were going to fight no matter what. By letting this match go through in a training salle, surrounded by three masters, a dozen knights and a whole horde of padawans, I made sure the fight was not dangerous. That's the best we could have hoped for."

Leia looked out the window of the tower over the glistening city at twilight. "I feel almost like I'm losing my own children," she finally said.

"You are," Kyle told her bluntly. "Leia, they're growing up. Fast. I have it on good authority Han's going to let Jaina's application go through unchallenged, and with her rating index she'll be in uniform before the end of the week no matter what he last name is. Anakin's almost fifteen, and frankly I think he has more potential than Jacen and Jaina combined."

"What do you mean?"

"In group exercises, his teams always perform better, Leia. I'm not even sure he's aware of it, but he has a profound battle meditation ability. Plus he has none of Jacen's moodiness or Jaina's obsessions. As good as you did with the first two, you really nailed it the third time around."

As intended, the comment roused a smile on Leia's lips. The two old friends sat in silence for the longest time, sharing each other's company. She knew over the years that Han harbored suspicions of the two of them, and had good reason. She genuinely loved Kyle, and not in a sisterly fashion. In many ways, the two men in her life were very similar.

But despite his many jokes to the contrary, Kyle was, is, and would always be wholly devoted to his wife Jan, and Leia was devoted to her husband.

"I had a vision," she finally said.

"Oh?"

"A darkness was coming. Long dark hands were reaching for me and my whole family. I heard screaming, Kyle. Someone calling for me. For Mother. But I couldn't help them." She took a long breath.

Kyle no longer smiled. He leaned forward and stared at her intently. "You told me once what Master Yoda would say. 'Learn to let go that which you fear to lose.'"

"You don't believe that any more than I do," she said.

"Yeah, it's pretty stupid," Kyle agreed. "It's a philosophical way of saying, 'Just deal with it,' which is less than helpful. But the only thing you have to be careful about is following in your grandfather's footsteps. Don't take an action out of fear of a thing that makes that very thing come true."

"And how do I do that?"

"Trust in your children," Kyle said. "Knighted or not, all three are powerful Jedi. And barring that, keep them in sight all the time."

"And the whole moral of this conversation is that I should take Jacen and Jor with me to Bastion, right?"

Kyle smiled. "Yep."

Leia shook her head. "Daala and Pellaeon are going to think we're invading," she said.

"That would be a refreshing change," Kyle said. "Oh yeah, let's not tell Jor his parents are coming. After what he did to Jacen, it wouldn't hurt to have his ego dropped down a few pegs as well."

* * *

The man known as Dorn Shaguer stood near the customs station as his charge stepped through the last security check with her odd companion. Nom Anor, the Yuuzhan Vong within the skin of Dorn Shaguer, felt a surge of anticipation inside for the chaos he would soon be spreading.

Elan was not just the daughter of the Most High Priest, she was, by Yuuzhan Vong standards, a woman of exceptional beauty. Anor had been among the infidels long enough to know that with her ooglith masquer she was beautiful even by human standards.

She walked like a queen, shoulders straight, expression disdainful and haughty. Behind her came the strange, bird-like creature that served as the priestess's familiar, Vergere. Elan noted the figure waiting for him and stepped directly to him.

He bowed. "I am known as Dorn Shaguer, a reporter for an important public information source. You are Elan Dartine, a fellow reporter." He handed her a small packet. "This is your identification and credentials."

Elan took the material, and they went on their way. As they started out, Vergere paused and looked toward a far column in the kilometers-wide customs station. In the distance she saw a figure leaning against a pillar, watching them.

She continued to stare a moment, before she moved on after her mistress.


The-Knight2000--I will say for the record that Darth Caedus will not make an appearance in the story. However, we may eventually see Hoth again. ;)

Dajohu--Anything for you, buddy. I agree making an a$$-whole have a heroic death just doesn't sit well.

Roosterman71--You took the words right out of my mouth. Literally.

Mireilles3--I have special plans for Mara that do not involve her completely idiotic and unnecessary death.

David Relffehs--Danni being able to drink water through it was supposed to be a clue. I was so subtle no one knew what I was tryng to say. The bubble was semi-permeable adn allowed the exchange of gases. It didn't become dangerous until the very end when the whole cavern froze up around them. Good question, though. As for Jacen--I may present him as a little punk initially, but I give him a lot more honor and depth I think than the wanker in the NJO.

Cat in a box--NJO was so bad I never finished it. So I'm right there with you. ;)

Thanks for reading.