Entry 38

We stopped by Coruscant to hand deliver the datachip that Tas Yanko gave us to Ben's father. I wasn't sure what to do with Marcus while we were there. I was sure if we showed up at the Grand Master's doorstep with a young boy there would be questions. Even with Marcus' hair dyed and fake Kiffar tattoos painted over his face I was afraid his Force presence could be identifiable to my uncle and aunt. They had spent so much time with me that I am sure they would figure out Marcus was my son.

I contacted my brother Jaden and asked him to pick up Marcus at the spaceport. Since he was the temple doctor he could sneak him into the Jedi temple using the emergency entrance and into his quarters. It would be good for Marcus to see his uncle, aunt and cousin Jessa.

ID10T landed the freighter at one of Coruscant's docking bays for oversized ships and we waited for my brother to arrive. Always punctual he was at the ship within minutes of our arrival.

He climbed up our boarding ramp with a wide grin. I noticed his dark brown hair was a little longer and his normally tanned skin was a shade darker.

"We're you on vacation?" I asked him as he entered the ship. "Or did Uncle Luke have you doing missions on Tatooine?"

"Jysella and I went on a second Honeymoon to the Great Sea. Corran and Mirax babysat Jessa for us." He went over to Zylie and gave her a kiss on the cheek and did the same for her sister. He turned to Marcus and gave him a hug. "I couldn't believe your mom let you off Indupar, but your dad explained how you snuck on board. You are just like your father…always getting into trouble." He released the boy and reached up to tousle his hair. "I like the new look. You look more like your grandmother's side of the family now. Well, minus the tattoos."

"Grandma has a tattoo," Marcus said with a grin.

I looked at my brother questioningly. He just shrugged. "What tattoo?"

Marcus brought a hand over his right shoulder and touched his back. "It is really small, but she has the InduparBright Path symbol for love on her shoulder blade and the initials for grandpa, her children and grandchildren. M, J, T, M, J for Mark, Jaden, Talon, Marcus and Jessa. I saw it when we were swimming."

I shook my head in disbelief as I looked to Jaden. "Our mother is inked?"

Jaden smirked. "I guess so." He threw an arm around Marcus. "I guess I will get to sneaking him into the Temple. Meet us at my quarters when you are done talking to the Grand Master."

I waved as my son and brother left the ship. The rest of us locked up the freighter and headed to the temple.

Entry 39

Ben and I sat in the Grand Master's office as we watched the surveillance video. Ben's mom brought our wives to her living quarters to keep them entertained.

After watching the video, Uncle Luke ran a hand over his jaw thoughtfully, looking very troubled. "What is Mokk Streke up to? Why does his mysterious benefactor want the Jedi off planet?"

"Streke believes he is working with a bounty hunter." Ben shifted in his seat as he reached for the remote so he could replay the vid. "Do you think this guy is a Force-adept?"

We watched the black masked man wave his hand as the surveillance holo went to static and then Luke leaned forward gazing at the image. "I would say he is a Force-sensitive."

"Sith, self-trained or former Jedi?" Ben asked.

"We have few former Jedi of that stature. That could be a Wookiee or an extremely large human." He shook his head. "At the angle this vid was taken it is impossible to determine his height other than he is taller than Streke and his shoulders are massive compared to the Chief-of-State." Luke scrutinized the holovid as Ben put it into a loop to watch. "Messing with a digital camera is not difficult, he could be self-taught. I just don't know how he figured out the camera was there."

"I've worked with that particular surveillance camera. The droid can make a slight noise as it focuses…but only somebody familiar with surveillance systems would recognize the minuscule buzzing sound."

"A bounty hunter would know about surveillance, locks, slicing," I pointed out.

"Pppsssfff," Luke made a noise dismissing the idea. "He's not a bounty hunter. If he were he'd ask Streke to get Jedi out of various sectors he planned to work in. Why would a bounty hunter want all Jedi off the planet?" He turned to us, his face terribly serious. "I could think of a reason that a Sith would want us all gone. If the Sith could infiltrate the office of the Chief-of-State then he or she might do as much damage as Emperor Palpatine. And if we are looking at more than one Sith…apprentice and Master or maybe more than two…they could infiltrate key positions within the government."

"But we haven't seen a Sith since…well since Jacen's little indiscretion with Lumiya." I frowned at the memory. Jacen turned to the Dark Lady of the Sith in an effort to protect his wife and daughter from assassins. My father ended up killing Lumiya on the planet Myrkr. He then performed a memory rub on Jacen so he didn't remember that he almost went darkside. So far Jacen hasn't shown any indication that he remembers his time with the Sith. We told him he received a blow to the head while fighting Lumiya. The resulting injury caused memory loss. It was a big lie, but the family so far has managed to conceal this major cover-up.

"Yes, Lumiya." Luke sighed deeply. "At least we know that's not Jacen. He's about the same height or shorter than Streke." The Grand Master stood and then leaned back, stretching his spine. "Mara was going to get a meal delivered. We can talk about this later."

We left my uncle's office and went to his quarters. There we could smell the aroma of Melahnese cuisine. The ladies were in the sitting area drinking some type of sparkling juice. My Aunt Mara ushered into the dining area remarking that she didn't want the food to get cold.

The meal was nice, but the conversation was better.

"Soooo…" Aunt Mara drew out the word as she looked to Ben and Valla. "When are you going to get around to making me a grandmother?"

I thought Ben was going to choke on his food. He coughed a few times before he managed to swallow the large chunk of meat he had been chewing. "Mom, can we have this conversation after I have been married for a few years instead of a few months?"

Uncle Luke covered his mouth with his hand in an effort to hide a smile. "Your Mom went over to see Mirax while she was babysitting little Jessa. I think that got her biological grandmother clock ticking."

Mara glared at Uncle Luke, but there was no fire behind her eyes. "My biological clock is not ticking." She turned to Ben. "It's just you took so long to get married…I'd like to see my grandchildren before I am too old. I'd like to be able to play with them without breaking a hip."

Ben gave his mother a tight smile. "You do have other children, you know. Why don't you bug Jak, Owen or Hanna to have kids?"

My aunt frowned. "Because they're not married and I would like them in a committed relationship before they started bestowing me with grandchildren."

Ben grinned. "Well then, you better start nagging them into finding somebody and settling down."

"Oh, she's doing that already," my uncle said with a chuckle. "Your siblings pointed that you were already married and that's where she should focus her efforts."

Ben glowered. "That's nice of them."

When I snickered Aunt Mara turned to me. "Don't laugh, I'm sure your mother has been giving you hints."

'Nope,' I thought to myself. "My parents have little Jessa, so the pressure is off of me."

Uncle Luke stabbed at a piece of meat and brought it up to his mouth, but stopped at the last minute and lowered his fork while gazing at me. "I was really surprised that your parents left Coruscant when they have a granddaughter here. If your father wanted to train Jedi he could have done it here. Why is he off training the Prince of Indupar?"

My stomach clenched. Ema made me promise to keep Marcus' paternity secret until his coronation. Only my immediate family was to know. The only reason Ben knew was because he was the person who discovered I had a son. "You'd have to ask my father that?"

"Indupar is a beautiful planet," Zylie added trying to be helpful. "Talon's parents have all the benefits of living in a palace."

"Masseurs on demand," Valla said with a grin.

"And awesome food, a spa, pool, steam rooms, whirlpool baths in the 'fresher, breakfast in bed, chauffeurs, and a mini-bar in the guest quarters."

"And the masseurs come right to your room," Valla clarified.

"Yes," Ben said slightly irritated. "We all know about Ricky the masseur."

"Roko," Zylie corrected. "He's Kira's favorite masseur. He's really good." She turned to my Aunt Mara. "If you ever go there you should request him."

"Did you know one of the massage options available was a Fertility Massage." Valla turned to Ben. "Maybe I'll get one of those the next time we're at the Palace."

Ben blanched at the suggestion.

"Oh yeah, Roko told me about that." Zylie turned to me and smiled. "The massage is supposed to help bring fresh blood to the reproductive tissues, reduce stress hormones and helps reposition a tilted uterus."

Okay, that was way more than I wanted to know about that particular massage. "If you ever get that massage…it will be done by Dad's Masseuse, Sensuna."

Zylie made a face. "I don't think so. I saw how she manhandled you. I'd probably end up sterile after she rearranged my internal organs."

Ben pushed his seat away from the table and dropped his head into his hands. "Can we please stop talking about this? Mom, give me and Valla two or three years as a couple and then maybe…maybe we will consider children."

"Until then you can practice the process," I said with a grin. I notice both Ben and Luke turned the same shade of red.

Uncle Luke changed the subject to smashball and other manly topics for the remainder of the meal…much to Ben's relief.

Ha!

After dinner Zylie and I went to my brother's quarters. I couldn't wait to tell him about this particular dinner conversation.

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Author Note: The conversation about Jacen and Lumiya was covered in the story Second To None: Sacrifices. You can find a link to the story in my profile. It was also covered in Talon's first diary called The Journal of Talon Tantiss.