2 NRE
The younglings had gathered in the outer gardens of the Jedi Temple for their monthly training session, their youthful exuberance easily matching the nervousness of their instructors. Or at least Leia found herself nervous, since it was the first time she was joining Luke and Mara in giving lessons. But she steeled her resolve, reminding herself that she'd faced down Sith Lord and Admirals and Senators in her time, and a few rambunctious children weren't going to unsettle her - although she couldn't quote shake the sadness from her heart.
But Leia ignored that now familiar ache, concentrating on instructing the youngest about correct lightsaber grip, as Luke had once taught her in the aftermath of the Endor celebration. They'd laughed and drunk berry wine and Leia had demanded he show her, so Luke had given her his saber and guided her hands into the right position. She hadn't known then the significance of the act, or that he had thrown that very weapon away on the Death Star in a show of defiance. He'd explained to her a long while later how much it had meant to him that the first act following his defiance against the Sith and Jedi of old had been one of instruction rather than violence.
"Very good Arwin," Leia told the young Mirialan, patting her on the shoulder. "Just slide your hand a little lower, Yollo," she advised the Rodian boy, and helped him adjust his grip. Leia felt a tug on her robe, and looked down to see young Kara Ravenlok looking up at her with large dark eyes.
"I is watching, Leia," the girl told her seriously. At almost three years old Kara was too young to start training, but Sidel had brought her along to observe. She'd told the girl to watch the other students closely, and evidently Kara took the instruction very seriously, her keen eyes absorbing everything.
"I know, Kara," Leia said fondly, and patted her on the head. There was a pang in Leia's chest as she spoke, a reminder of the emptiness that would not go away. Leia touched the locket the hung around her neck for comfort, and then reached into the Force to find solace.
"You should call her Master Organa," admonished Meghren, a young Nautolan girl, and Kara stuck out her tongue in response.
"It's alright," Leia said calmly. "Kara hasn't started proper training yet, she'll learn." Kara tugged on Leia's robe again and lifted up her arms. Leia picked the young girl up obediently and held her tightly, her thoughts drifting once again to all that she had lost. The girl's hair smelled of snizzle berries and Leia's felt hot tears behind her eyes.
"Keep practicing," she told her young troupe as she turned away. "And when I get back maybe I'll let you turn the practice sabers on."
The three students turned eagerly to their task, and Leia sought distraction, drifting over to where her brother was instructing Caleb Syndulla and Kyp Durron.
"Your footwork is excellent, Caleb," Luke was telling his young student, patting the young Twi'lek on the back. Then he turned to Kyp and gave an approving nod as he led them through the stances of Form I. "That's right, but don't tense," he added. "Let yourself move freely."
Mara was over the other side of the courtyard, teaching Eren Pax how to handle her saber properly to compensate for the girl's height. It seemed that Mara had taken quite a shine to Eren, and Leia anticipated that once the girl was sixteen Mara would take her as a padawan. Although Leia reminded herself that Mara was yet to commit to the Order once she completed her own training, something she had sensed Luke was anxious about. The reason, of course, was obvious.
"Will you take a walk, Luke?" Leia touched his shoulder, and gave him a slight nudge through the Force.
Luke looked over at Mara, and happy that she had things under control, linked his arm in Leia's as she shifted Kara to her hip, the girl hanging onto her by the neck. She led him across the gardens where they could still see those training in the courtyard, but were well out of earshot.
"Mara must be nearly ready to be knighted," Leia began conversationally as they walked through the gardens, and Luke made a noncommittal sound in his throat. "I know you're worried she might leave."
"I always knew it was likely she would," Luke nodded, and although he did not pull away his posture stiffened slightly. "I promised I would accept her decision, and not try and convince her otherwise."
"In terms of her Jedi training only," Leia pointed out. "But what if you asked her to stay because you love her?"
Luke sighed. "Is it that obvious?"
"After all this time?" Leia smiled ruefully. "Yes."
"You should be focusing on Knighthood yourself, not playing matchmaker," Luke admonished her.
Leia laughed tugged on his arm lightly. "It may be my duty as an apprentice to heed my Master's words, but it is my duty as a sister to question them. You love her, Luke, and you must know by now that she loves you too. What are you waiting for?"
Luke pulled away from her hold and turned away, distressed. "I can't…have a relationship with Mara, no matter how much I…" he trailed off, running one hand through his hair in frustration. "I mean, how would it look?" he continued in a hushed whisper as he turned back to her. "A Jedi bedding his student? What would people think?"
"They would think you fell in love," Leia answered simply, shifting Kara up further on her hip, the girl resting her head in the crook of Leia's neck and watching Luke silently. "It's not a crime, Luke."
"The Old Republic Jedi eschewed attachments," Luke countered. "It was for a reason."
"The Old Order failed," Leia argued, a little exasperated by his stubbornness. "This is our new Order, and we can make it however we like. Loving one person doesn't mean you stop loving everyone else."
Luke looked distressed, and Leia could feel his anguish through their bond. But she knew how counter-productive denying love was, no matter how inconvenient. She wanted her brother to be happy, and over the past few months she had come to see that Mara made him so.
"What kind of Jedi will you be if you are constantly denying your feelings?" Leia rested a hand on his arm. "Denying yourself? Would you have me divorce Han in order to become a Jedi?"
"No!" Luke protested. "Of course not."
"So why hold yourself to a higher standard, when it is a ridiculous standard?"
Luke sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair again. Kara wiggled, and held out her arms towards him, breaking the tension. Luke accepted her into his embrace, allowing the young girl to pat his face fondly.
"No sad, Luke," Kara said, and then wetly kissed his cheek. "No sad."
"The wisdom of youth," Leia suggested with a grin.
"She has great empathy," Luke said as he wiped his slobbery cheek and Kara lay her head on his shoulder. Leia felt a great surge of longing emanate from him, and his gaze drifted to where Mara was still teaching the students in the courtyard.
"It's not wrong to want something more, Luke," Leia told him softly.
"What if she doesn't want the same thing?"
Leia smiled ruefully. Her brother was daring and reckless except when it came to matters of the heart. As long as she'd known him Luke had always kept his feelings close, at least when something was important to him. Even when he had been so adamant about redeeming Vader, he had not shared it with her until it had become absolutely necessary and even that had been reluctantly. But Leia felt as if they had grown closer since then, and didn't want him to shoulder his burdens alone.
"How will you know," she pressed him. "Unless you ask?"
29 NRE
In the lower levels of Coruscant Zeb kept to the shadows as he followed the Denizens of Chaos through the streets. He'd been watching them all morning, somehow sensing that he needed to do so - that it wouldn't be long before they made their move.
Jaina had no idea where he was, of course. She'd left his apartment that morning with a warm kiss and a reminder that she was flying with Rogue Squadron that day, and that they could continue their investigations that evening. Not willing to wait that long and taking the opportunity to keep Jaina as far as possible from his former gang, Zeb had gone straight down into Coruscant's underbelly to keep an eye on things.
The Denizens had patched up the hole in the street Jaina had made with her saber, but they'd abandoned their hidey-hole all the same and moved to the nearby bar where they'd lounged about most of the morning. Zeb had kept his distance, waiting for some kind of word from Mara as to what the silver discs were. Maribelle kept fingering hers, removing it from the chain around her neck and twirling it between her fingers. Eventually, she had jumped as if by electric shock and held the disc flat in her palm, squinting at it as if divining some kind of message.
Then she had smiled, putting the disc back on its chain and rising with a satisfied smile. "Let's go," she ordered her gang, retrieving a pair of black fingerless gloves from her pocket and pulling them on. Silver spikes glistened at the knuckles, giving a dangerous edge to Maribelle's otherwise fragile appearance.
As Zeb followed them through the streets Maribelle stalked proudly at the head of the pack, her assorted gang all brandishing weapons including blasters, pulse spikes, batons and vibroblades. It was clear they were anticipating a fight.
Ducking into a close, Zeb activated his wristcomm and held it close to his mouth. "Mara?" he whispered. "Come in."
"Mara's a little busy at the moment," the voice of Shada D'ukal crackled through the comm. "Can I help?"
"Shada?" Zeb was confused why she'd be answering on the Jedi frequency. "What's going on?"
"Nothing much," Shada answered dryly. "Just a fleet of Star Destroyers and a droid army attacking the Jedi Temple."
"What?" Zeb shook his head. "Never mind, we don't have time. I'm following the gang down here, they're up to something - it looks like they're headed towards the surface chute, but that doesn't make sense. They'd never get past security." At least not without extreme bloodshed, Zeb thought grimly to himself.
"They might today," Shada told him. "Those discs contain some kind of virus - they've infected all the security systems."
"Is Jaina alright?" Zeb asked anxiously.
"She's fine," Shada's amusement was obvious. "She took down a Star Destroyer almost single-handedly."
Zeb breathed a sigh of relief, before purpose reasserted itself. "I'll have to head them off at the entrance to the chute," he said, taking off in a run knowing that the gang now had some distance on him.
Luckily, he knew a shortcut.
Jaina landed her X-Wing by the steps of the Jedi Temple, the landing pads screeching against the paved thoroughfare in her haste. As the ship careened to a stop and the cockpit flung open Jaina launched herself out, igniting her lightsaber in mid air. She took down two battle droids as she landed, quickly assessing her surroundings.
A group of padawans streamed out of the entrance to the Temple, their lightsabers ablaze as they attacked the droids that littered the steps, so Jaina turned her attention to the thoroughfare where the Destroyer lay, amidst the wreckage of hundreds of battle droids. The rest were being effectively dealt with with by the Jedi - it was simply taking time.
But Jaina also saw her Aunt Mara in the distance fighting a male Zabrak, and her mother fighting the female. In style and technique they were clearly outmatched, but the Zabrak kept disappearing, blinking into thin air only to reappear in a different position, making them very difficult targets.
With only a moment's indecision, Jaina sprinted towards her mother who was closer, and engaged the female Zabrak in combat. She turned to Jaina, surprised, her curly dark hair flipping as she did so. Leia used the distraction to deliver a powerful blow, knocking the woman's red-bladed lightsaber from her hand. But the Zabrak simply grasped the chain and silver pendant around her neck and disappeared, blinking back into view a few metres away to pick up her saber again.
Jaina shared an annoyed glance with her mother, who shrugged as if to say: what do you want me to do?
The Zabrak laughed. "You cannot win," she said in a high, clear voice. "Not when I can escape your grasp every time."
"Get back to me when you've escaped a Death Star," Leia said dryly. "Maybe then I'll be impressed." She sent Jaina another look, and she immediately understood her mother's instruction. Leia advanced to engage the young woman again, while Jaina threw her saber, still lit, in a graceful arc through the air.
Leia and the Zabrak's sabers clashed a few times, Leia bringing her green shoto down to hold the Zabrak's red blade between her blue and green beams. The Zabrak's eyes widened at the pressure, and she released one hand from her blade to spin away but Jaina was waiting, grabbing the woman's free hand and forcing it away from her body for she was unable to activate her transporter. Then she caught her lightsaber with her other hand and held it to the Zabrak's throat.
"You see Mom," Jaina called over to her mother, who forced the Zabrak to drop her lightsaber to the ground. "I listen to you sometimes."
Zeb's heart was racing as he stood at the entrance to the surface chute, the cavernous passageway which would take those with security clearance up to the city above. Usually the checkpoint was milling with security personnel, but they'd been called up to the surface as reinforcements leaving only two paltry guards - and Zeb.
He'd armed himself with his usual blaster as well as a vibrating baton from the guard's reserve. It felt comfortable in his hand, a reminder of his own days in the gang when it had been his weapon of choice. But Zeb cast those thoughts from his mind as he saw the Denizens of Chaos approach. They'd been joined by a gang of Gamorreans and a group Zeb recognised from their tattoos as the Midnight Warriors from the Drachili district. That made a total of fifty beings marching towards him, making Zeb swallow heavily. But he held his ground, knowing that if they were allowed to reach the surface they'd rampage and kill indiscriminately.
Maribelle was at the head of the mob, and she stopped a short distance away, holding up her hand. The crowd stopped obediently behind her, and Maribelle looked at Zeb with a smug smile.
"I'm going to give you one chance, Zeb," she called to him in a deceptively light voice. "For old time's sake. Stand aside."
"You know I can't do that."
"You can't stop us, Zeb," Maribelle told him.
"Maybe not," Zeb nodded, steeling his courage. "But we can slow you down." On either side on him the guards nodded in agreement despite their obvious fear. "What are you planning on doing if you get up there?" he stalled for time.
"Never you mind," Maribelle smiled. Then she turned to her compatriots. "Bring him to me - unharmed."
"The other two?" asked the scarlet-skinned Zeltron at her side.
Maribelle waved her hand airily. "I don't care."
Zeb raised his blaster and fired on the first two men that came at him, hitting both squarely in the chest. This made the group surge forward, and Zeb along with the two guards fired indiscriminately, felling at least a dozen of them. But the rest continued towards them, and Zeb holstered his blaster as it would be no good in such close combat. Instead he swung his baton with remembered ease, cracking a Gamorrean in the skull, and then taking out the kneecaps of a female Rodian.
His companions didn't fare so well, and they soon dropped to the ground overwhelmed by the brute force of the group. Zeb was soon overpowered as well, a Gamorrean grasping him by the arms and forcing them behind his back. The Zeltron hit him in the stomach with the butt of his blaster rifle, winding Zeb so forcefully he dropped to his knees. He gasped for air, his lungs burning with the effort and his face warm from failure and shame.
"Stop."
Everyone halted at Maribelle's order, and the crowd cleared a path for her as she walked towards him slowly. She gently caressed his face, tucking her index finger under his chin and forcing him to look up at her. Zeb remembered that once after a stoush with a rival gang she'd found him bleeding in the gutter - when he'd looked up at her then she'd reached out her hand to help him rise. Then she'd taken him back to her brother's place and cleaned the cuts on his face and the blaster burn on his arm, not a rebuke passing her lips. But now he only saw harshness on her, as if that compassion had long been drained from her soul and Zeb couldn't help but wonder if his leaving had opened the wound.
"I gave you a chance, Zeb," Maribelle said sweetly, and then punched him in the face. The spikes on her gloves cut deeply into his cheek and Zeb cried out in pain, his neck flicking sideways with such a force it made him dizzy, her strength beguiling her scrawny frame.
Zeb forced himself to look back up at her, although he could feel hot blood seeping down his cheek. "What do you have to gain from this?" he asked weakly. "Some rampaging on the surface? Is that really worth it?"
Maribelle punched him again, this time on the other cheek, and Zeb felt his body sag under the agony lancing through him and the metallic taste flooding his mouth. But the Gamorrean held him firm by the neck, forcing his head upright even though it lolled back against the thick grip. Maribelle loomed over him gleefully flexing her hand, and Zeb's only comfort was that she must have broken it on his cheekbone.
"It is once people know that it was us - that we helped," she told him smugly, and then she punched him again, her spikes cutting even deeper this time, making fresh marks over the old scars. Zeb howled in pain, his vision going fuzzy but he willed himself to stay conscious.
"Helped do what?" he rasped.
"Destroy the Jedi," Maribelle almost purred, kneeling down to look Zeb right in the eyes. "All of them - including your precious princess. They may be able to defeat the droids, but that isn't the only surprise." Her companions laughed, calling out encouragement and desire to get up to the surface and see it already. But what did they want to see?
"You've put something in the Temple, haven't you?" Clarity dawned on Zeb as he remembered the gang wars from his youth. "A pulse bomb?"
"Not even the Empire destroyed the Jedi Temple," Maribelle said as she rose. "But we will. Not that you'll be around to see it." She raised her fist again, but before she could swing one of the checkpoints to their left collapsed, falling to the ground and crushing at least half of the men and women gathered.
Maribelle looked around, confused, and Zeb felt the Gamorrean's grip being ripped away from his arms. Freed, Zeb stood and backed up, trying to get his bearings even though his eyes were clouded with his own blood. Shots were fired from the top of a nearby building, someone with a sniper's precision picking off the Denizens one by one. Then Zeb saw the large purple form of Quix Treelaj, swinging his bo-rifle and taking out gang members with a mighty roar. Zeb bent down to grasp his baton again, fighting off his attackers with renewed fervor.
Quix was in a rage - Zeb had never seen him fight like that. In fact the Lasat prefered not to fight at all, but Zeb felt his spirits lighten with the knowledge his old friend had come to save him. He knew it must be Petar Sillow up on the roof, and between the three of them they soon dispatched the remaining gang members, the rest fleeing back into the darkened streets. Only Maribelle was left, standing defiantly in the street.
"Ready for some payback, luv?" Quix asked, flexing his claws.
Maribelle looked frightened, backing away from them, but Zeb knew a feint when he saw one. He stepped towards her to grasp her arms and keep her immobilised, but she suddenly grabbed the disc around her neck and squeezed.
"No!" Zeb's hand closed around thin air as Maribelle disappeared.
Quix whistled. "That's a neat trick."
"I'll say," Petar said as he jogged up to them, long blaster rifle propped up against his shoulder. "We would have kept that disc if we knew it did that."
But Zeb's adrenaline was fading, and the pain in his face burned anew. He stumbled slightly, but found Quix was there to catch him.
"It's alrigh' Zeb," Quix said uncharacteristically tenderly. "I've got ya."
Shada sprinted purposefully through the hallways of the Jedi Temple, intent on finding whatever had been placed there to destroy it. A pulse bomb, she'd heard Zeb say through the comm, although what possible form it took she had no idea.
She had to give it to the kid, it was clever muting his comm but leaving his mic on so that she could hear every word of his confrontation with the lower-level gangs. Shada's heart had gone out to him hearing the beating he'd been taking, but she'd known she never would have been able to get down there in time to help. Luckily, assistance had arrived and Shada was free to look for the bomb.
Shada knew how they'd been able to circumvent NRI security - Micah had told her of the datapad which had been stolen from Syal Antilles. None of them could have guessed it could have been used to attack Coruscant in such a way, or that they would have so effectively shut down the Temple's systems. The orange glow of the emergency lighting still glowed throughout the hallways and the access points were down so she had to search for the bomb manually - but how could she find it?
Obviously it wasn't the discs themselves - their purpose was to release the virus and it had been pure chance they'd had one at the Temple. From what she'd heard over the secure NRI channels, the virus had been activated at dozens of locations, NRI headquarters and the Admiral's Super Star Destroyer included. Which meant infiltration or coercion of NR staff.
But the Jedi could not be infiltrated or coerced unless it was the dark side, and Shada was sure Mara would have picked up on any of that. Which meant a civilian had planted the bomb. Shada checked the Archives first since that area was open to the public. She swept the scanning device on her wrist unit around the room, knowing that to do a proper sweep could take hours since the range of the device was limited.
Unless the bomb wasn't there, Shada reasoned to herself. A surprise, the woman Maribelle had called it, and with a flash of insight Shada recalled Mara's earlier words: I'm sick of nerf surprise.
The caterers, of course! Shada realised that this had been planned for a long time - going back weeks when the Academy caterers had been let go due to a case of food poisoning and replaced in the interim by a local company...one who used day-workers from the lower levels.
With renewed purpose, Shada took off out of the Archives and sprinted down the hallway towards the Temple cafeteria. She could only hope she made it in time.