Zekk was the first to recover from whatever spell that he and the others around Tenel Ka were just under. However, his wife, Taryn, her sister Trista, and the rest of Tenel Ka's escorts still had their attention focused completely on the writhing Queen Mother, now on the ground.
That left Zekk to be the only one who saw Allana climb aboard the open landing ramp of the Millennium Falcon in the Fountain Palace's hangar bay. Quickly, he raced after the legendary freighter even as its ramp extended upward to close.
Seeing that he had very little time, the Jedi Knight put forth a burst of Force-speed that carried him the few dozen meters from the exit of the hangar to the closing ramp of the Falcon. By the time he arrived at the freighter, the ramp was a foot away from closing the ship up, so he leaped up and into the vessel, landing in a forward tumble that ended in a crouch that he sprung up from. He then trotted along to the cockpit, where he found Allana standing at the threshold, facing him with that same unreadable expression that she gave her mother only a few minutes earlier.
"Allana, what are you do-"
Zekk's words were cut off as he started to writhe in agony from a hot, burning sensation that came from the depths of his body. In moments, the pain ceased, but so did his consciousness, and he dropped to the floor on his back.
.
Allana watched Vergere's ghost exit from Zekk's body even before the Jedi Knight collapsed unconscious to the floor. The Chume'da looked at the ghostly Fosh in incredulity.
"You know, something just occurred to me," Allana said. "Just- oh, wait, sorry, do I still have time for another question or two?"
"A few or so," Vergere replied with a nod. "Need to get something off your chest now?"
Allana nodded before indicating Zekk's form with her head. "Considering what you just did to him, just how powerful can Force-ghosts be?"
"As powerful as our wills desire," Vergere answered. "Unfortunately, many Jedi, particularly older Masters such as Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, refuse to use their power out of that naive notion that they would be abusing the Force in some way."
"Are you sure that's all there is to it?" Allana asked. "Because if that were the case, I think you would have used that power to save my father from the dark side- Oh, sorry, I forgot you didn't believe in the dark side. No, what I meant to say was-"
Vergere waved Allana's statement away. "I know what you're saying. But like I said, it was because Jacen had too much darkness in his own heart to accept me."
"Okay, but here's another question," Allana said. "Why didn't you look to anyone else for help, like Great-Uncle Luke?"
"He and the other Jedi in his Order did not embrace the Unifying Force as your father did, Allana," Vergere said. "Therefore, they would not have accepted me.
"However, you are correct in saying that there is more to my resurfacing than just a refusal to use power."
"Really?" Allana asked. "And what is it?"
"Abeloth's recent destruction," Vergere replied.
Allana's eyebrows were raised. "What does Abeloth's death have to do with any of this?"
"When her most recent forms were killed in combat, they unleashed a wave of power that was felt by the spirits of the dead," Vergere elaborated. "Many dead Force-users either refused to accept it, they weren't powerful enough, or they just missed it altogether. I was the only one, out of the countless dead Force-users in the Netherworld, who was able to latch onto the power that Abeloth's deaths unleashed."
"And you used it to return to this world as a ghost," Allana concluded.
Vergere nodded. "Of course, it took a little while to find someone who was willing to accept me even on the subconscious level. And when I sensed the doubt in you, Allana, I knew I could count on you to accept what I may teach, and not risk you falling to your own darkness as your father had."
The dead alien then cocked her head, as if she were sensing something. "My power on your mother's guards is waning. They will come out of it soon. We must leave before they recover completely. You can worry about strapping Zekk on this ship's medbay table once you have the Millennium Falcon on autopilot."
"What, you can't carry him yourself?" Allana replied wryly as she sat down in the Falcon's pilot seat and began the coldstart sequence.
"Well, I cannot do everything around here," Vergere remarked just as wryly as she looked down at Zekk's unconscious form.
.
In the dark recesses of Tahiri's mind, she continued to linger on the long-dead form of Yuuzhan Vong Master Shaper Nen Yim.
"How is this possible?" the Jedi Knight asked in incredulity. "You died! I watched you die! And you had no soul when that happened."
"Naturally, that would be believed after it was realized that the Yuuzhan Vong had been cut off from the Force, Tahiri Veila," Nen Yim said in passable Basic. "But just recently, Zonama Sekot has successfully returned the Force to my species. And now she is doing the same for every dead Yuuzhan Vong, from the very first who were stripped of the Force, to the very last who died before Sekot managed to return the Force to our living members."
Tahiri's eyes widened in surprise and joy. "Well, that's incredible!" Then her expression changed to its confused state again. "But... why are you contacting me?"
"Because, Tahiri, you are the key to delivering the afterlife that every dead Yuuzhan Vong deserves," Nen Yim answered. "You see, your connection between the Force and the Yuuzhan Vong is the perfect bridge for Sekot to build on in order for the souls of the dead Yuuzhan Vong to come into being."
"If that's so, then why doesn't Sekot just contact me about it herself?" Tahiri asked. "Why are you talking to me about this?"
"Because as much as you are the key, I am the key-hole, if we are to continue using this metaphor," Nen Yim elaborated. "You see, while I may have been one of the last Yuuzhan Vong to have died before our species found their home on Zonama, Sekot is using the connection that we had - my memories incorporated into your Riina Kwaad persona - in order to begin the process of giving every dead Yuuzhan Vong an afterlife."
"So... that voice I heard back when I was awake, that was you?" Tahiri asked.
Nen Yim nodded again. "I am terribly sorry for that, in, how you say it, drudging up old, painful memories of what Riina, even if those memories were subconscious at most. But it was necessary to make sure that you would fall into this state once you were shot in the head."
"So Sekot guided my actions that led me into my death-"
"Not death, Tahiri Veila," Nen Yim corrected. "You are not dead. Sekot needs you alive for this to happen. And, no, Sekot did not guide you into this state; it was the Force itself."
Tahiri nodded in understanding, looking away from the dead Yuuzhan Vong. "The Force. It's always the Force."
"Indeed, it is," Nen Yim added.
"Okay, but here's one problem," Tahiri said. "The timing. I was kinda in the middle of fighting a group of terrorists. Couldn't this have waited at a more convenient time-"
"I understand what you were in the middle of, Tahiri Veila," Nen Yim said. "But this needs to happen as soon as possible. Countless Yuuzhan Vong souls have not come into being for eons. The becoming of their manifestations should not be allowed to be delayed any further than is absolutely necessary."
"And me being in the middle of a war while the Hapes Consortium is practically falling apart isn't an absolutely necessary delay to Sekot?" Tahiri asked.
"If it does not have anything to do with the fate of the Force itself, then a mere political revolution is nothing to Sekot, even if it is part of your duty as a Jedi," Nen Yim said. "But do not worry. Your body will be escorted to Zonama after it is in safe hands."
.
Having commandeered a still-functional hoverbike among the debris around him and Tahiri, Corran zoomed through the streets of the rioting Ta'a Chume'Dan with the comatose young Knight leaning against his back behind him. One hand was gripped on the steering bar while his other was still gripped around the pommel of his humming lightsaber, batting off blasterbolts from terrorists along the street.
Earlier, after he deposited Tahiri on the backseat of the hoverbike, he commed Leia to ask her where she and the others were. After she gave him the street address where they were holed up, he took the bike and headed off.
Minutes after his takeoff from where he took the hoverbike, Corran saw a sign up ahead along a lamp that had the name of the address that Leia gave him. After batting off a few more blasterbolts and sending them back to their terrorist senders, the Jedi Master accelerated the bike and sped along toward the street. Using his Force-senses to sense the Jedi in the group that he was in, Corran soon arrived at the intersection and a tight turn that was characteristic of his years as a starfighter pilot. Looking ahead, he saw the blockade that Leia told him about and then he raced toward it, hoping against hope that none of the Hapan women at the blockade would mistake him for a Free Man, even with Han, Leia, and the others there to tell the women of Corran being on their side.
In the meantime, as he headed over to the blockade, Corran continued to deflect incoming blasterbolts from rioting Free Men and sent the bolts back to their firers, downing them in an instant.
Halfway to the blockade, however, a bolt slipped past the defenses of Corran's shimmering white blade and hit the housing of the engine compartment. Another bolt passed by two seconds later, coincidentally entering the hole that was just made by the previous bolt, and hit the engine itself.
Seeing what was coming less than a second before it happened, Corran, releasing his other hand from the steering grip of the bike, quickly threw up a Force-shield. Though he and Tahiri were spared from the intense heat of the explosion from the engine's destruction, they were nevertheless thrown back. Corran and Tahiri's body rolled backward and across the street before they came to a stop several meters away from the destroyed hoverbike.
Five seconds later, however, Corran was back up on his feet, lightsaber still active and in his hands, and he began weaving a circle of white defense around him as he blocked off the incoming laser bolts from the Free Men around him and approaching him.
A moment later, Corran saw Jaina mount the blockade from the other side and come rushing in toward him, weaving her own purple lightsaber strikes against the incoming blasterbolts headed her way. Once she joined Corran, the Sword of the Jedi acted as the elder Jedi Master's own defense as he deactivated his lightsaber, hooked it back to his belt, and then leaned down to pick up Tahiri.
Once that was accomplished, the Jedi Masters turned and headed back to the blockade, with Jaina continuing her defense of herself, Corran, and Tahiri. Seconds later, the Masters mounted the blockade and crouched down to join the rest of the defenders against the Free Men around them.
"What happened to her?" Jaina asked Corran.
"She was shot straight in the forehead by one of the terrorists," Corran hurried. "Strangely, she's still alive."
Jaina looked over at Tahiri's comatose form. "She doesn't have any blaster burns on her head. That's even stranger."
"Yeah," Corran agreed. "I sense the Force at work around Tahiri. Do you?"
Jaina nodded. "Do you want me to look after her or...?"
"She's your friend," Corran said. "I understand you not wanting to trust anyone else to defend her." He thought it wouldn't be wise to mention the fact that Tahiri was the only remaining link to Jaina's long-lost brother, Anakin, aside from her own parents.
"Alright," Jaina said as Corran lifted Tahiri's body to the Sword of the Jedi, who had her lightsaber deactivated but still in hand for this action. She then turned her head to one of the female defenders of the blockade. "Hey, does anyone here have a pillow or something?"
"What, you thinking of taking a nap now, Jedi?" the female Jaina addressed replied.
"No, I just don't wanna lie this woman down on the hard pavement like this," Jaina replied in a straightforward tone. At any other time, she would have made some kind of equally snarky comeback against the Hapan woman, but she wasn't in the mood; Tahiri was out of the fight but not dead, and Corran could tell by the Sword of the Jedi's expression that she was obviously worried by that.
Paying no more mind to Jaina's worries, he turned back, hefted his personal blaster from the inside of his Jedi robes, and then crouched up to fire on some approaching Free Men.
He fired on some male terrorists for a little over half a minute before he heard the distinct whine of a freighter pass overhead. Defenders and attackers alike temporarily halted their battle among the blockade to look up at the saucer-shaped shadow pass over them to see the Millennium Falcon beginning to descend from the air.
"Leia, please don't tell me Allana's aboard my ship, flying it again," Corran heard Han say a little way down the blockade.
Corran felt Leia's answer through the Force before she even answered her husband's question.
"Sorry, Han. It's her."
And just as Leia finished that, the Falcon's gunnery, including its retractable lower automatic turret, began firing upon the Free Men firing on the blockade across from where Corran and the rest of the group were crouched. Several terrorists were instantly blown apart or outright atomized by the massive laser bolts that made the bolts from their own blasters look like mere pinpricks in comparison.
It was then that Corran's sight shifted to the side of the blockade behind him, where he saw a light-skinned Free Men heft up a laser bazooka and aim it at the Falcon's general direction.
"I don't think so!" Han practically shouted as he aimed his blaster right at the bazooka-wielding Free Men.
But even as his own laser hit the terrorist square in the chest, the Free Man had already fired off a shot at the Falcon, and Corran watched helplessly as the giant laser bolt headed toward the ship carrying the future Jedi queen.
The massive laser hit the freighter right at its underside. However, Corran's hopes for the fate of the Hapan Chume'da were raised when the Falcon's shields took up almost the entirety of the laser. But the only thing that the shields couldn't take was the impact that the laser left in its wake, as it sent the Falcon caroming forward. Corran couldn't help but wince as he watched the freighter spin against Allana's limited piloting skills before it crashed into the side of a multi-storey building.
Aside from the thunderous crashes that the Falcon made as it plowed its way through the building, the only other sound that Corran could hear were the uncontrolled screams and sobs from both Leia and the seemingly-unflappable Han Solo.
After only a moment that seemed to stretch out forever, even for Corran, the Falcon finally emerged from the other side of the building as the latter structure collapsed to the ground in a pile of rubble, dust, and debris. The Falcon itself, upon entering the other side of the building, began plummeting straight for the ground, with its forward fuselage facing the destination of its imminent impact.
Seconds after its exit from the building, the Millennium Falcon crashed upon the ground, taking with it the area where its cockpit was... and where, Corran hated to think, where Allana Djo Solo might have been.