Chapter 43
Catastrophe
Jag watched in horror as the coral skipper smashed into Jaina's ship. Seconds later the explosion that shattered the whole right side of her ship made Jag close his eyes from the amount of flames he felt coming from the collision. Jag wasted no time in moving his ship to help Jaina. Something told him he could save her if he just moved quickly enough.
Carriers were slipping freely by the scattered squadron that Jaina had been leading. Jag noticed that many of the X-Wings were pulling back to defend closer to Coruscant. But Jag was focused only on getting Jaina out of her dilemma. He wasn't even sure why he wanted to help her, and it wasn't just about loyalty to a fellow pilot, something else bothered him. Jag knew he didn't like it. Just like all the other things Jaina caused him to feel and do, Jag hated that she had such power over him. Nobody should have that kind of power. Yet Jaina Solo did.
Jag seethed inwardly and at the same time sucked in some of his pride, he would at least do what was right, even if that meant rescuing the very person who was causing him endless mind flops. He flew straight through the small squadron of coral skippers in front of him, shooting down those he could and ignoring the blaring alarms as other blasts hit his ship. Jag shot through and reached Jaina's ship, or what remained of it. Jag secured his flight suit and his space breathing mask then opened his cockpit's glass, coming up alongside Jaina's X-Wing. He stopped his Crawler and leapt onto Jaina's ship, avoiding the still burning pieces. The cockpit was still burning but Jag reached through the flames and dragged Jaina's unconscious form out, holding her in his now lightly burned arms. Jaina cringed but went back to his own ship and sat with Jaina still in his arms and piloted around her. The battle in space was a lost cause. Coral skippers were busy shooting down the rest of the X-Wings and the remains of Crawler hulls, wookiee ship hulls, and loose parts floating around. They would not leave a single Republic defender alive, whether it was a ship or a living being.
Jag steered his ship away, signaling to the others. "This is Jag Fel, retreat, the enemy is breached, move closer to Coruscant. Fel out," Jag then switched off his com channel. He piloted his ship closer to Coruscant, firing at the coral skippers who crossed his path. It was best to take out as many as possible before he reached Coruscant's surface, because the ground forces would have to handle anything the space defenders didn't.
Jag passed through the atmosphere and approached one of the landing pads near the med-center. As he landed, he noticed all the healers running around carrying stretchers filled with ground troops who were so badly injured their faces and limbs were unrecognizable. Jag hardly noticed because he was used to this type of warfare. Besides he had his own charge to worry about. He exited his ship and hailed a healer.
"What happened?" The healer asked as she examined Jaina.
"Coral skipper crashed into her ship, I pulled her out." Jag replied flatly. The healer was already calling a stretcher over. Two more healers lifted Jaina onto the stretcher and were off in a hurry. Jag started away but the healer caught his arm.
"You're injured as well. Come with me." The healer jerked her head to the med-center. Jag shook his head.
"I think you should be worrying about more important things." Jag said coolly. He pulled his arm away from the healer and strode off without another word. A few burns weren't of consequence, and Jag still had a duty to fulfill to his father.
Jacen had slept on the hard ground that night. He had never felt so strange before. Right now he had all the memories of what had happened on Coruscant flooding into his mind. Jaina's outbursts at Anakin, Tenel Ka's harrowing words about not being able to feel him and then her expression as Jacen told her he didn't know who she was. Then the worst memory of being killed by the Vongcor, the blood around Jacen as he lay in his sister's arms, indefinitely dead kept coming into Jacen's mind. He'd been dead. Even for a short while, Jacen had died and everyone felt it. Then because of that he'd lost his memories. His mind couldn't cope when the battle on Hapes revived his memories of being killed.
Above all Jacen couldn't cope with the idea that he still felt like part of him had truly died. That he wasn't himself any more. Jacen could only imagine how Anakin felt having been in the void. Jacen hadn't even gotten there. Something pulled, or rather shoved him back out. He never saw the world Anakin had. But the person Jacen Solo was before didn't exist anymore. He was different. Not only could Jacen not use the force right now, he was unable to see the living beings around him in the same way. Everything seemed more daunting and he was more aware that he had scraped by death too many times for comfort. Every movement, every moment, every second, Jacen considered one step closer to being in the void, for the first and last time.
He turned his head slightly, and looked up into the cold gray blue face of a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. It pointed its staff at Jacen, who immediately jumped to his feet and slashed the warrior in half with his reflex ignited lightsaber. Jacen breathed heavily as he noticed more warriors were coming from the direction of the village.
Sith spawn, Jacen thought, and decided he'd meet the warriors rather than run away. He'd have to fight them without the force and without any chance of escaping or being rescued. No one could feel him. Jacen could tell that much. If he couldn't feel the force, nobody else could feel him. Jacen gritted his teeth and stabbed the first warrior to come at him. He slipped to the side, dodging the attack, and then crossing blades. He soon found that fighting was easy when he paid attention to the life around him, and the life was there even if Jacen couldn't feel it through the force. Jacen listened to the sounds of the Yuuzhan Vong breathing, to the wind as their staffs cut into the air, and then their grunts and the way their bodies moved when making each motion. Jacen loosed a blow on two warriors, felling them with sharp cuts to their skulls. He then pivoted, ducked and slashed a warrior to his back right. Jacen groaned as the warrior clipped his shoulder, and then Jacen bashed it in the kneecap. The warrior bent over for a split second, and that was all the time Jacen needed to decapitate the warrior. After that he was alone. Jacen stood up, holding his lightsaber in his hand, and looked around. He would have to live here. For the time that the war was still being fought, he couldn't leave.
Jacen started back to his sleeping spot. He had no first aid so he washed his cut in the still flowing river caused by the burst dam.
It stung like nothing Jacen had ever experienced. Where he was, he was a nobody, and no one else existed here who knew who Jacen Solo used to be, and it would probably be that way for a while. The force had abandoned him for one reason or another and as far as his family and friends were concerned, Jacen Solo was dead. Just like the incident at Mykyr, this strange situation had left Jacen feeling wholeheartedly confused as well as lonely. He wanted to go back to Coruscant and see Jaina and Anakin. He wanted to tell his parents he was ready to be a father and was confident he could be one. Most of all he wanted to tell Tenel Ka he was sorry for his loss of memory. It caused him pain that after all they'd gone through he'd just forgotten it all. Jacen scowled deeply at the thought.
As far as he was concerned, nothing made sense any more.
Anakin dove out of the way for the fifth time as a coral skipper opened fire on the second level of the defenses. Having lost the first level, Anakin was now on the second level where his uncle was. Anakin couldn't risk using force fire again because he knew his uncle would report it, or at least one of the older Jedi around Anakin would. At that, Anakin remembered that Kirk had seen him use force fire. Anakin wasn't sure what the Jedi Master thought, but it probably wasn't good.
Anakin noticed that his left leg was bleeding profusely. It had been struck by some debris that was still protruding from his leg. He winced and tried standing, but his leg gave out.
"Here, let me pull that out." Anakin turned to find Tahiri kneeling next to him. She pulled a first aid pack out of the pack she had on her back and began to put anesthetics on Anakin's leg before slowly moving the piece of debris out of Anakin's leg. He watched in slow amazement at the calm she had when she worked the piece out and then chucked it aside before dressing his wound. Tahiri had clearly developed a knack for medical administration. He guessed his own injuries were probably part of that. After all, most abilities were developed out of interest or necessity, or both.
Anakin gingerly stood up and lifted his leg up and down a few times to see how much pressure he could put on his leg. Tahiri watched this for a minute before giving her input.
"You should try not to use that leg heavily. Because of the anesthetic you can't feel what's happening to your leg." Tahiri put the first aid kit back into her bag. Anakin nodded. Her reasoning, however inhibiting during a battle, was sound. Her advice usually was, even if Anakin decidedly ignored it.
He smiled at her then walked off to fight more warriors. Tahiri joined him, drawing her lightsaber once again. She hacked down a warrior trying to slip past and get to the cannon, which had been moved to the second level.
Tahiri's mind raced as another wave of warriors arrived, this time filled with ones that were heavily scarred. She pulled out her Sytar blaster and shot two of them before the others were upon the defenders. She brought her blade up in defense, locking her lightsaber with the staff of a warrior. It snarled at her, and Tahiri stabbed it. The warrior let out a low moan but it was hardly one of dissatisfaction. Figures, Tahiri muttered to herself.
She went out again, this time slipping under the warrior's defenses and bringing it down for a second before it got up and used its sheer force to bash her backwards across the second level's platform.
If the warrior had any time to consider that it might be in danger, it didn't take it. In seconds its body was wrapped in a swarm of flames and it was thrust backwards into its fellow warriors, who also were burned. Then it lay still on the ground. Its burned flesh let out a foul odor that the defenders had to turn their heads to the side to avoid.
Luke's could hardly believe his eyes. He didn't want to believe he'd just seen Anakin, the nephew Luke placed so much belief in for the future, use force fire. Something Luke himself had never seen before. Luke could only think that it was of the dark side. Anakin had almost willingly used it to protect as well as get revenge for Tahiri's injury.
Anakin was now kneeling next to Tahiri, cradling her head in his hand and then looking over at the warriors, who weren't too willing to come near Anakin. He had instilled fear in others, and that was what bothered Luke the most. Anakin was a gentle hearted person, quite possibly one of the most gentle hearted people Luke knew. Anakin wasn't the type to purposely create fear or to harm others. At least the Anakin Luke knew wasn't like that. Of late Anakin had been acting strangely and Luke almost lost his faith that Anakin would succeed Luke as the new Grand Jedi Master. With Anakin's current path, Luke would have to talk to his nephew. Luke couldn't be sure of the dark force power in the force fire until Luke examined Anakin as he used it.
"Tahiri! Tahiri!" Anakin scooped his friend into his arms, then with his mind roiling with both slight anger and with his deepest protective passion, raised his hand and shot force fire at one warrior after another. As it shot out, the flames changed from a bright red to a purple shade. One final blast sent the warriors backwards and they lay still. Another carrier was on its way, but Anakin was now preoccupied with getting Tahiri to a healer. He started back and saw a healer running through the crowd of defenders. The healer noticed Anakin then came over.
"She's badly injured." Anakin said, and carefully passed Tahiri into the healer's arms. He glanced at Anakin.
"What about you?" The healer looked at Anakin's leg, but Anakin was already starting back to the front line. With that the healer rushed towards the med-center.
Anakin resumed fighting with his lightsaber and caught several blows on his body. But none of them hurt since he was still having the effects of the anesthetic. Anakin slashed a warrior, who parried and slipped under Anakin's defense. At this point Anakin couldn't even feel the staff as it sunk its way into his chest. Anakin's breath left him then he blasted the warrior aside with force fire. The resounding boom that followed made Anakin turn as he knew it wasn't from his own actions. He looked to his right as a new force of warriors was already pushing through the frontlines and were overtaking the space where the cannon was located. Anakin raised his blade and charged, pushing the warriors back as the soldiers fired to keep the warriors back. Luke also joined his nephew. Anakin turned to his uncle.
"Help the soldiers get the cannon to the next level down." Anakin commanded, putting the force behind his voice. Luke stared at his nephew.
"You can't handle them alone, Anakin." Luke's statement expressed the concern Luke knew everyone felt right now. The battle was not going in the favor of the defenders.
"I don't intend to. Just go." Anakin then blasted the warriors back and slashed out. He nodded to Luke before jumping into the center of the warriors, letting loose with his blade. Luke knew Anakin wouldn't retreat until the cannon was out of the way.
"Move the cannon down!" Luke cried and the soldiers scrambled to move the cannon as it blasted another line of warriors before being carted down the elevator to the next level. Anakin stayed, noting the cannon's removal from the level. He hadn't told his uncle this, but he had noticed the presence of the supreme leader of the Yuuzhan Vong forces, Shimrra, a long time ago. Anakin's force awareness was so sharp, it hadn't taken long for Anakin to notice the arrival of the leader, he knew it was Shimrra because the leader had more power in him than the others. Anakin was going to meet the leader. A high ranked leader couldn't refuse a challenge to a duel.
Anakin faced the warriors. "Take me to Shimrra. I challenge him to a duel." Anakin said, using what he knew of Yuuzhan Vong, mainly from listening to Tahiri who had implants of the language in her brain. The warriors looked from one to the other, then gestured for Anakin to follow. With that the second level fell and the Yuuzhan Vong warriors not escorting Anakin charged forward to the next level.
Jaina blinked her eyes open to see she was lying on a hospital bed surrounded by doctors. She gasped and coughed. Then noticed the breathing aid over her mouth, Jaina could only guess what had happened to her. The last thing she remembered was seeing the corral skipper flying straight at her X-Wing. Then it was all a blank. One of the doctors smiled at her and the others left, seeing she was awake.
Jaina felt the pain in her body, but it was better than she had felt a while ago, even unconscious the pain was unbearable. The main thing Jaina wasn't sure about was who had gotten her out of her ship. She was sure the coral skipper had either blown up her ship or crashed into it, so who got her out?
"You're lucky that Chiss man saved you. We thought we had lost you a few times." The doctor said, coming over to Jaina's bedside. "But your vitals are stabilized."
Chiss? Jag. Jaina's mind clicked. Jag had saved her. Why, she wasn't sure. But she knew that Jag was the only one near enough to get her out of the ship and who else would do that? All the other Chiss didn't give a sith about their allies, at least not enough to pull them out of a completely wrecked X-Wing. Though why Jag actually cared was beyond Jaina. She couldn't tell if he was just showing off or if his pride disallowed him from letting her die. All she knew was that she thought it was a self centered reason that drove Jag to save her life.
Jag at the moment was having trouble holding up the fort on the third level. Of the twenty floors of defense, the third was about to fall and the Yuuzhan Vong were now unloading on the other floors as well as the third. Jag grunted, opening fire with his blaster on the incoming warriors. A large group of warriors pushed forward and breached the first line of defense on the third level, then two warriors came at Jag, their staffs drawn. Jag took one down by firing at its head, but the second attacked too quickly for Jag to react. The staff swooped down and went straight through Jag's chest and out his back. He gritted his teeth and shot the warrior between the eyes before falling to the ground.
As he fell, the third floor flooded with warriors on their way down to the fourth floor where the cannon had been moved at Luke's command. He cast a glanced upwards, feeling that his nephew was alive, but where he was, Luke didn't know. The only thing Luke did feel was apprehension as his family members were felt to be injured or away. Jacen was dead, and Han and Leia were helping to get the citizens of Coruscant to safety. Luke knew Han would want to be with his children, the two that remained, but it was more important that he pilot the Millenium Falcon with the surviving citizens of the attack.
Luke gazed over at the new waves of warriors laying siege to the fourth floor. It was only a matter of time before the cannon was destroyed. Luke reached out in the force, hoping that someone on the Jedi council could send reinforcements.
Even that was a narrow chance, and as much as the force was with them, it wasn't enough.
A/N- Cliff hanger! Ha, ha! I'm trying to keep up with my postings despite my busy college schedule- which will get busier when Orientation ends and classes officially start. But for now, please bear with me. Oh, and please review! Thanks!
