Entry 29

Once arriving in orbit around Coruscant, my parents, along with my brother and I, took an Indupar shuttle to the Jedi Temple docking bay. There my former Master, Mara Jade Skywalker, met us. My father was the first off the shuttle. He limped over to Mara and grabbed the Jedi Master up in a big hug. "Hey Sis," he said with a wide smile.

Despite being a Luke Skywalker clone, my father saw Mara as family far more than the Grand Master himself. Dad said it was because Mara was the first person to befriend him and she stood by his side during the most difficult time of his life. When he decided to be his own man and disguise his resemblance to my Uncle Luke he dyed his hair and eyes to be the same red and green as my aunt's. He even told people he was Mara's brother, therefore firmly establishing the Tantiss and Skywalker families as related.

My aunt smiled as she stepped out of his embrace. "I see you are still getting in trouble." She looked over to my mom. "Kira, you are going to have to put a leash on this guy."

"I'll get right on that," my mother said with a soft laugh. "But with his damaged leg, I don't think I have to worry about him straying too far while here."

Mara looked down at my father's twisted prosthetic limb and frowned. "You know we have to special order those extra large sizes." She grinned. "Unless you want a cybernetic Wookiee limb."

"Funny," my father groused. "I was told Luke wants a full debrief."

Mara shook her head. "You'll be giving me the brief. Luke is not here right now."

My brow rose slightly. I am fairly certain the Grand Master is available, but he probably thinks Mara would be the person most likely to get the truth out of my father.

"Sure," my dad said as he waved me over to his side. "Talon was there. We'll let you know everything we can." He turned to my mother and brother. "We'll meet you later at Jaden's quarters."

We followed Mara to her office where we took seats in front of her desk. "Where's Luke?" my father asked.

As Mara sat down in her desk chair I noticed a flash of worry cross her face. "He's talking to Hanna and Valin about something that happened on Ramis XII."

"Hanna and Valin?" I said questioningly. "Valin didn't put the moves on Hanna did he?"

Mara glowered at me. "No…or if he did, Hanna is not complaining. They had a run-in with that antislavery group…or whatever they are."

My father and I both sat forward in our seats extremely interested. "What do you mean by run in?"

Mara opened her mouth to answer but then closed it and instead grabbed her datapad off her desk. "I think it is easier to just show you." She pushed a few buttons on the device before passing it over to my father. I scooted my chair closer to my dad so I could see what he was watching. "This was taken by Hanna's body Holovid recorder."

We watched as the imaged captured from Hanna's recorder moved through brush and then up over a ridge. From her location she could see a battle raging between a small outpost and a large number of jumptroop ships floating overhead. I watched as dozens and dozens of jump troopers performed precision jumps to the ground below before advancing on the outpost with blasters in hand.

"We should get closer," I heard Valin's voice somewhere off camera. Hanna turned and I could see the Jedi pointing to something in the distance. "Our informant was right. They are stealing the slaves. You can see them being forced into personnel craft."

There was a roar overhead and I could see another landing craft approaching the warzone. "We've been spotted." Hanna turned and I could see Valin looking up at something overhead.

"Stang!" He unclipped his lightsaber and activated it just as a dozen jumptroopers in battle armor and full-face helmets landed around them. By then Hanna activated her blade and pointed it at the nearest trooper.

"Stay back." She flicked the blade slightly warding off the helmeted soldier.

The troopers were armed, but they didn't point their weapons at the Jedi. Instead they silently stared at her for a moment before looking back and forth towards each other. I knew those head movements. They were talking to each other via their helmet comlink.

"You all are under arrest," Valin said boldly.

I still couldn't hear a word from the troopers but by the movement of their shoulders I knew they were laughing. Finally one activated his external speaker system and conversed with the Jedi. "This planet is not part of the Galactic Alliance," the trooper said with a thick Basic accent. "You have no jurisdiction here."

"Neither do you," Hanna shot back.

This time I did hear a chuckle from the trooper. "Do you know who I am?"

"No," came Hanna's response.

"Then how do you know I don't have jurisdiction?"

Hanna turned toward Valin who gave a shrug of his shoulder. "It doesn't matter who you are. We're not going to allow you to steal slaves for your own benefit."

I could hear the distinct sound of another jump trooper descending and then the loud impact of boots on the ground. Hanna swung around to see a jump trooper with a gold cape standing to the rear of his men. "So, we can't steal slaves, but it is acceptable for the original slavers to keep them?"

Hanna's holovid shook and I realize she was probably shaking her head at that comment. "There shouldn't be any slaves. They should be free."

The man stepped forward, his troops making a hole for him to pass. It was then that I noticed the lightsaber on his belt. "Then why hasn't the Galactic Alliance freed them?" He gestured in the direction of the firefight. "That is what we're doing here. We are executing an operation that the Alliance should have done years ago."

As he moved closer I could see Valin's blade jab at the man, keeping him at bay. I was very surprised when the armored trooper backslapped the tip of Valin's blade away from him. "Don't point that thing at me unless you want a ship full of Phrik clad troopers on your ass." The man lifted his hand and showed Hanna and Valin that his gauntlet was not damaged. "Our armor is made out of Phrik infused with refined cortosis. It is impenetrable to lightsabers."

"We have more than lightsabers at our disposal," Valin hissed before reaching out a hand and Force-shoving the man back three meters and onto his butt. It was then that the other troopers moved forward to defend their leader. Valin tried the same technique on them, but nothing happened. I almost laughed when he looked down at his hand mystified…like the Force misfired. The urge to laugh quickly passed as the troopers grabbed up the two Jedi and disarmed them. Hanna was being twisted around but eventually she was facing in the direction of the leader. He stood, mumbling profanities and brushing dirt off his armor. "Okay, you got the jump on me that time." He gestured toward his men. "But as you can see your Force-tricks don't work on all of us. And unless you want to get hurt, I suggest you don't try that again."

"What are you going to do with us?" I heard Valin ask.

The mask man looked at Valin and then Hanna. "Nothing. We are leaving and you are not going to follow us. We spotted your shuttle a kilometer away and I had my men pull out some important pieces. It will eventually fly again, but it may take a few hours to repair."

"Why are you doing this?" Hanna questioned the man.

He stared at her for a long pause. "Because it should be done…and because I can. Now go home Hanna."

It was then he shot up into the sky followed by his men.

As the holovid ended I looked over to my visibly shaken father. He handed the datapad back to my aunt and cleared his throat. "Is Hanna and Valin alight?"

She took the proffered datapad and nodded. "They weren't harmed, and that's surprising after seeing the destruction at the slaver facility. Everything was burned to the ground, along with their ships."

"Were there any survivors?"

"Yes," my aunt said slowly. "There were a few casualties, but most of the slavers were stunned, but the slaves are missing."

"He must be a Jedi," I interjected. "He not only had a lightsaber, but he knew Hanna by name."

I can see my aunt chewing on her lip in thought. "The entire Skywalker family is renowned…especially the only daughter of the Grandmaster." She took in a deep breath before letting it out abruptly. Eventually, she looked up and smiled. "There is a upside to this. You two are now off the Chief-of-State's list of possible suspects when it comes to the identity of the lightsaber brandishing jumptrooper. This holovid was taken while you two were on Bastion."

My brow furrowed. "Should that even be in question? The leader is less than two meters in height. That is why we were ruled out after the first sighting."

Mara sat back in her chair. "The last sighting was based solely on eye-witnesses and eyewitnesses are notoriously wrong. It didn't definitively exclude anybody, but this holovid did. The Galactic Alliance computer experts analyzed the images and by comparing him to the background rocks and trees it was determined that this man is slightly over two meters in height. We can account for the whereabouts of every Jedi Jump trooper at that time including you two. Plus voice analysis rules out all of our Jedi."

"Voice comparisons don't work when words are processed through the communication systems of Jump Armor," my father pointed out. "Their voices are altered slightly."

My aunt gave my father a tight smile. "Why don't you keep that fact to yourself. At this point the Chief-of-State has shifted his focus from the Jedi to other possible suspects. I'd like to keep it that way."

My father nodded. "That's fine with me."

"Good." My aunt pulled a voice recorder out of her desk and activated it. "I'd like to get to your debriefing about what happened in Imperial Space."

My dad started to speak, but my Aunt interrupted. "From the beginning. I'd like to know everything that happened from the time you arrived on Bastion until now."

My dad gave a pained expression. "That's going to take a while."

"That's fine," my aunt said. "I have all day."