Prologue
Love Is Stronger Than Death
44 ABY
Eclipse Station, Deep Core
Tahiri Veila gazed about the room taking stock of all she saw, a small smile curving her lips. Never would she have imagined that her own impending demise would bring her so close to bliss.
She'd spent two days sealing the room; liquid silicone adherent now lined every wall seam, the outline of the doors to the hall and fresher, and the window. Ten canisters of compressed air, all linked together, were hooked up to the portable air-scrubber in the corner, and gauges resting on the desk monitored the oxygen and carbon monoxide levels. As far as she could tell, no air was leaking out and only good air was in. Anakin's room was as close to hermetically sealed as she could make it. As long as she accomplished her goal before the last of the canisters was empty or the batteries on the air-scrubber wore out, she'd be ok.
Ok being a relative term of course.
A light covering of dust was still visible on many of the surfaces around her, except where it had been displaced due to her preparations and tests. So far, all had gone as she had hoped it would. As she had known it would. The only thing left to do was begin the journey that would change destiny.
When she'd first entered Anakin's room the few possessions he hadn't loaded into the Falcon's storage holds had been right where he himself had left them. During each of her Flow Walking trips she'd rearranged those items, making mental notes of where she'd placed them, anxiously returning to the present to see if the datapads, water bottles, and machine parts remained where she had moved them to. Each time they had.
Jacen Solo could go kriff himself… and his pebbles… on whatever plane he currently existed.
Now, confident that she was ready to undertake the task that had brought her here after so many years, she gave into the memories that had been calling to her since she had landed; allowed the images fighting to come to the forefront of her mind to present themselves, and let the waves of agony that were part and parcel to these mental journeys wash over her.
In her mind's eye she could see herself with Anakin, holed up in this very room, wrapped in his arms as they planned and dreamed of what their life would be like after the war. She saw herself sitting next to a food prep unit, Anakin's legs sticking out from under the machine, handing him tools before he had a chance to ask for them. She saw them in the work out room dueling, Anakin teaching her everything he could think of, because he wanted her to be able to defend herself, in any situation, against any threat. Then she remembered the sick feeling she got while standing in the great meeting room, listening in horror as the center of her universe explained in sketchy detail his idea for how he could deal with the Voxyn threat. It was amazing that the sixteen years that had passed between then and now had done nothing to diminish the joy and sorrow that these memories evoked. It was as if any one of these events could have happened yesterday.
As far as Tahiri knew, and if the condition of this place was anything to go by, no one had been to Eclipse since the Jedi fled to the Maw shortly after the fall of Coruscant. She'd expected this, and was not surprised to find that there was no food or water, and that the air-filtration system was completely shot. She had felt a slight pang of regret at discovering this last bit, but only because she so clearly remembered the hours upon hours that Anakin had spent trying to beat the machine into submission, or rather, working order. But this is how she had hoped to find the station; this was all part of her plan.
When she arrived she had unloaded her small supply of air tanks and water bottles, enough to last her ten days, and stored them into Anakin's old room. Then, she'd very methodically sealed his room. Every wall juncture, every crevice, every vent, had been stuffed with rubberized poxy sealant; the air vents had been covered and sealed as well. Once she'd accomplished her task, she'd programmed her astro-mech to take off, then had detonated a self-destruct mechanism and watched her X-wing blow into a million pieces. If she managed to accomplish what she had come here to do, then, in theory, she wouldn't care about breathing or eating any more. If she failed… then provisions would be unnecessary because she would simply put the hilt of her lightsaber to her chest and activate it. This station is where she had last known joy, and therefore seemed like a fitting place to die.
Taking one last good look around the room, Tahiri settled herself onto the floor, legs crossed, hands on her knees. She was going to spend a few moments thinking, going over in her mind all that she had planned out; contemplate the magnitude of what she was about to do. She had learned three very important things during her year with the Aing Tii Monks; one, that Jacen Solo had been a simplistic and literal thinker. Two; that there was truth in Luke Skywalker's 'a certain point of view' adage, and three; that life was one giant game of semantics. At the very moment in her studies that she had realized that Jacen had been right when he said that it wasn't possible to bring Anakin back to life, she discovered that it was possible to save Anakin.
Certain that she was as ready as she could possibly be, that she was prepared to see Anakin, to speak to him, to handle the disappointment he would undoubtedly feel when she told him of all the mistakes she had made, of the disaster she had made of her life, she allowed herself to slip into the currents of the Force and look for a specific place and moment in time.
She knew exactly where she wanted to go; this very room, four nights before the Strike Team was to board the Lady Luck. She remembered that particular evening well and steered clear of the five hours after evening meal, just as she had specifically avoided her old room; avoided the time she and Anakin had spent alone in there. She'd spent plenty of time over the years thinking about that, and the many other nights that had played out the same way.
Tahiri sighed and let the thoughts of other people and other times flow away from her and focused on the task at hand; sinking deeper into the Force and looking for that specific moment, that familiar calm. She looked for peace, she looked for love.
