Just as it felt like an eternity before Jacen said, "Hello, Uncle Luke," it seemed as if the same amount of time had passed before Luke himself responded to his nephew's query of whether or not they could speak to each other.
"Whatever you have to say to me, Jacen," Luke said with barely repressed anger, "you can say to everyone here."
Jacen, whose melancholic expression remained, only nodded before he broadened his attention to everyone else in the Great Hall. "My fellow Jedi-"
"Don't you dare call us your fellow Jedi, you treacherous bastard!" It was Hamner who shouted that as he waved his lightsaber before Jacen's face. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't strike you down where you stand!"
"Well, that's the thing, Master Hamner," Jacen responded calmly but loudly enough for everyone to hear. He remained still as Hamner's lightsaber now hung poised inches from his nose; except for the sweat pouring down Jacen's face, he gave no indication that the heat from the weapon was affecting him. "You needn't have any reason to strike me down because I never betrayed anyone here."
"Oh, are you going to try to sell us on some spiel about how it was we who betrayed you, Jacen?!" Kyp Durron exclaimed. "Or should I say Caedus?"
"No, Kyp, that was not my intention, either," Jacen said, still calm.
"That's Master Durron to you," Kyp growled.
"And I was never Darth Caedus," Jacen continued.
"Oh, pleaze, spare uz the spin that Jacen Solo and Darth Caedus were az different from each other as Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader," Saba Sebatyne proclaimed. "It will not save you, and you should know, Caedus, that Barabelz don't accept apologiez anyway."
"I didn't come here to apologize for the actions of my clone, Master Sebatyne," Jacen said. "I came here to clear my name and reconcile my position in the Jedi Order and especially among my friends and family."
"Clone?" Ben said, his thumb poised on his lightsaber's activation stud. "You really expect us to believe that nonsense, you monster?! You think you can just waltz in here and pass off all the atrocities you committed, like killing my mom, by placing it on a clone you can't prove?" Ben shook his head definitively. "It isn't gonna work like that here."
"But I can prove it," Danni interjected nervously as she took out a datapad from within her uniform. "I have the proof right here. Or at least it can show you that Jacen-"
Then Ben activated his lightsaber and moved to slice the datapad out of Danni's hand.
But it was Luke who halted him.
Ben's lightsaber-wielding hand was caught at the wrist by his father's mechanical hand, and right when the blade's tip was just inches away from the datapad. A second later, Danni hurriedly stepped back a couple of steps to prevent any other potential damage to her 'pad, such as whatever damage could have been caused by the lightsaber's heat.
Ben looked back and up at his father in shock.
"Let's see their proof, Ben," Luke stated firmly.
"But, Dad, it'll just be a bunch of-"
"Lies?" Luke interrupted. "I'm willing to at least give Danni here the benefit of a doubt." He then looked back at Jacen and said, "And if I find that they are a bunch of lies, then I'm sure Chief of State Daala will have an early Life Day when I present Jacen to her as a prisoner so that he could answer for his crimes. But in either case, I think I have a reason to have my exile reneged."
After a moment, Ben deactivated his lightsaber, prompting his father's to release the grip he had on his wrist. Everyone else in the room soon followed suit with the deactivation of their own lightsabers.
With great reluctance, Kenth Hamner was the last one to deactivate his weapon, but he never lowered his blade from Jacen's face a second beforehand.
After Hamner stepped back, Luke offered up his natural hand and Danni gave him the datapad.
Once Luke had finished reading the report that Danni had prepared which detailed Jacen's rescue from a Superior Chiss stronghold mere days ago, and the explanation that he gave about being held prisoner by a Sith organization beforehand, Luke looked up, promptly returned the datapad to Danni, and then looked back at the Solo clan.
There, Han and Leia were holding each other, with tears still streaming from Leia's eyes while Han looked like he could barely hold himself together. Jaina, meanwhile, who had been standing away from her parents as she was being embraced by the stoic Jagged Fel, had a mix of anger, grief, and terror all rolled up into one on her own face; from Luke's point of view, she looked like she was about to break down and collapse to the floor from ultimately crying even in spite of Jag's hold on her.
And little Allana, whose identity was that of the adopted Amelia Solo, stood hidden behind her grandparents, out of view but just barely as she peeked behind Leia's leg to look at the man who bore a resemblance to her father (and that was assuming that he wasn't her father, of course). No tears were evident in her eyes, but she did looked scared.
Luke then looked back at Jacen. "You may share what you have to say." He looked out to the rest of the Jedi. "And please, nobody interrupt. I want to hear exactly what he has to say."
"Thank you, Uncle Luke."
"Just start," Ben was the one to command impatiently.
Jacen cleared his throat and began explaining everything that happened to him; about his initial capture about ten years ago, his torture by a mysterious Sith organization, his unexplained escape, his second capture and subsequent enslavement by the Superior Chiss, and his freedom thanks to the Ferroan-Chiss alliance wherein he learned from Danni everything that had happened just two to three years prior.
Once Jacen was finished, Luke said carefully, "Ben has a point. What I just read from Danni could very well be lies." He then glanced at Danni and said, "You are now under suspicion, Danni."
"What?" Danni asked in shock.
Both Luke and Jacen held up a hand at her to cease any protestations she might have had; naturally, some of the nearby Jedi had their fingers twitch on their lightsabers' activation studs when Jacen made the move.
Once Jacen and Luke resumed their stoic positions and faced each other again, Luke said, "It would not be the first time a Sith had returned from the dead. My experience with the Emperor Reborn can attest to that. And just as clones are far from new in the galaxy, so, too, is the idea that a Sith could be reborn in the body of a clone, like Palpatine. So it would not surprise me if what you are trying to sell me, Jacen, about this clone and Sith business is a conglomeration of half-truths, at best.
"And with what Jaden Korr discovered not long after the last war ended, given his report of the clones of several members of our own Order being discovered in the Unknown Regions, I must wonder if you are not a clone instead. And even if you are not the consciousness of Darth Caedus in a new body, that would still leave the question of whether or not you are some new malevolent entity who has come to wreak havoc on everything we hold dear in the galaxy.
"However, the biggest curiosity is why I can't sense you. I did wonder, when you were walking toward me, if you were a Yuuzhan Vong; you feel as much of a Force-void as they had seemed."
Jacen took a moment before he responded. "I can easily disprove the Yuuzhan Vong theory. Pinch either side of my nose and you'd be able to unmask me; that's how an ooglith masquer works, as I'm sure you remember, Uncle Luke."
Luke did exactly that with his mechanical hand on both sides of Jacen's nose; and he did it one more time to each side for good measure.
And Luke couldn't help but feel a hidden pleasure at seeing Jacen wince under the slight pain that his uncle was causing.
When Luke lowered his hand, he said, "Of course, it wouldn't surprise me if the Yuuzhan Vong had developed a new kind of ooglith masquer that wouldn't be so obvious to undo."
"We both know they're not in that kind of business anymore, Uncle Luke," Jacen said as he scrunched up his noise. "Many of us in this room saw to that years ago."
"Indeed. Tell me, how did you like that banquet on Yavin 4 after Zonama Sekot took the Vong off to the Unknown Regions?"
"I don't wanna play this game," Jacen said, the first note of irritation creeping into his voice.
"What game?" Luke asked patiently.
"Where you test my memories to see if I'm the real Jacen and I confirm or deny them as appropriate," he replied.
"If you have any chance of convincing us of who you are, you'd better play that game," Luke said. "And keep in mind, even if you do succeed, the question would still remain as to whether or not you're Darth Caedus reborn. Now I'll only cover everything from the immediate end of the Yuuzhan Vong War and beforehand, as it seems that Danni's account of your presence would mean that the Jacen we met from the Killik crisis onward would have been your clone."
"And even that's assuming that's the truth," Hamner said.
Jacen's sigh was nearly inaudible. "It wasn't Yavin 4, it was Kashyyyk. Anakin's lightsaber was buried beforehand by Dad, who told Chewbacca that they won the war and that he could finally rest. He later told a joke that made everyone at the dinner table laugh; something about trying to have a vacation."
Luke couldn't help but look back and see that Han was crying now. He looked back at Jacen again.
"Okay then," Luke said skeptically. "Let's move on"
After a series of short questions that Jacen answered, either confirming or denying them as appropriate, Luke finally nodded. "Okay, that's it. You've convinced me that you at least have Jacen Solo's memories."
"Now what?" Jacen asked.
"Now we go back to why I can't sense you through the Force," Luke said. "Why is that?"
"I have a theory on that," Jacen said. "And just so you know, it may explain why I can't sense you either, Uncle Luke; or anyone else in the family."
"Please explain."
"I think it may have something to do with Jaina killing Caedus," Jacen said. "Just as he had my DNA, he also had all of my memories thanks to that Sith Master copying them from my mind; so he essentially was me down to my Force-presence, corrupted though it may have been. So when he died while I was still under that Force-repressing shock-collar, something must have happened where the loss of his Force-presence must have affected my ability to sense those who were closest to me. That's why some of you can sense me while a few of you can't."
While both Skywalkers maintained their varying levels of suspicious gazes at Jacen, no one from Jacen's immediate family could look at him as they quietly sobbed in their own corners.
"You can't expect any of us to believe anything he's said, Master Skywalker!" Kyp interjected. "I mean, listen to his story! That's probably the most convenient pack of lies I've heard to explain away his guilt in the last war!"
"Master Durron, I can tell you, the torture and enslavement were never convenient for me," Jacen said evenly.
"You shut up!" Kyp exclaimed. "Now while you present no active threat to us right now, I can assure you, Caedus, that it won't stop me from knocking you out and taking you to Daala myself so she can put you in carbonite with Valin Horn!" Kyp didn't even seem to notice the sobbing that was coming by from the Horn clan nearby that was prompted by the reminder of Valin being in suspended animation. "And that's saying something considering what that witch did to me years ago that I'd rather see her than you again!"
"Kyp, enough!" Luke shouted.
Even the sobbing from both the Solo and Horn clans ceased at Luke's pronouncement.
Luke sighed before he spoke to Jacen again. "Whoever you are, I have no choice but to present you to Daala. I told her that I was to retrace the steps in Jacen Solo's sojourn; perhaps she can repeal my exile as I hope. In the meantime, until we know more about you, we'll see about whether or not we can prevent you from being placed in carbonite."
Luke looked around at the assembly of Jedi and their non-Force-sensitive accomplices. "If none of you have anything better to do, I want you all to stay here until I return to explain what Daala has decided to do with this... new development." He looked down at Ben. "That includes you, Ben."
Ben didn't even try to argue.
"And you stay here, too," Luke said to Danni.
Jacen nodded at her to comply; she returned the nod obediently.
Luke didn't even have to tell his nephew to come with him to the turbolift that brought them to the Great Hall.