Five days after the incident between Jaina and Alema, Jacen had finally arrived. He set his YT-2400, the Solo Quest, into the same hangar cave where Jaina and the others had parked their StealthX fighters. Upon disembarking, Jacen was naturally met by his sister and their friends, all of whom had been part of the tragic Mission to Myrkr seven years before.
"Jacen, hi!" Jaina exclaimed in happiness as she quickly wrapped her arms around her brother. "Oh, it's so good to see you after so long!" Indeed, the last time that Jaina and Jacen had seen each other was on Kashyyyk when they and their family had dined over a celebratory meal after the Yuuzhan Vong War ended. "We thought you'd be coming earlier, but we're glad you're here now!"
As Jacen reciprocated the hug with a smile of his own, he said, "Yeah, it took me a while, sorry. I missed you, Jaina." They pulled back from each other, allowing him to look at their friends. "And I missed the rest of you guys, too. How are you all doing?"
Lowbacca roared that they were as good as things could be, considering the threat they were all facing.
When the Wookiee didn't elaborate, Jacen asked him, "Yes, this threat you guys are facing. The Chiss Ascendancy, is it?"
Jaina and the others all nodded in unison. "They're hurting Taat and all the other nests, Jacen," his sister said. "They're trying to starve them out, make them leave their territory."
"So I take it then that all that arid landscape outside is part of the Chiss' doing?" Jacen asked as he waved an arm back toward the hangar exit.
"In part, yes," Zekk spoke up. "So we're doing what we can to make sure that the Colony can stay where it is and do what it can just to survive, if not thrive, here."
Jacen nodded with some hesitation as he looked around the rest of the hangar. Every now and then, he saw members of Taat scampering in, out, and around the hangar, just as he had seen many members outside darting here and there trying to harvest what food they could get from the cursed soil.
"You guys wouldn't mind taking me to this nest, would ya?" Jacen asked. "I'd like to know as much as the rest of you what's going on here."
Jaina nodded with certainty. "That's a good idea, Jacen. And on the way there, we can catch up."
Jacen smiled. "Yes, that would be a good idea."
"C'mon, follow us," Jaina said as she and the others turned to walk further into the hangar.
Jacen followed wordlessly, his gaze washing over the hangar as the Killiks around him seemed to walk and crawl not only along the deck, but also along the walls and ceiling. In between all of the Killiks, he saw racks of dart-like vessels, no doubt what the insectoids piloted and what many of them were working on right now through various tasks. And as he passed by the working Killiks, Jacen couldn't help but notice a low, rhythmic rumble among them, as if they were all singing some kind of tune that he couldn't pick up on; he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Yet, despite the mundanity of the activities going on around him, Jacen still got a strange and uneasy notion that the Taat were watching him more closely than any of the other Knights.
Especially these particular Killiks whose bodies were more blue-black than their counterparts.
"Hey, c'mon, Jacen!" Jaina called several meters in front of him from an empty berth. Her brother saw that the berth led down a waxy passageway that required people as tall as him to duck down to enter. "I know this is all new to you, but trust me, you're gonna get used to it real soon."
"Oh, yeah, sorry," Jacen said as he hurried to catch up. He deliberately avoided making eye contact with any of the Killiks, all the while making sure his Force-presence was still as muted as it had been once he dropped out into the Gyuel system.
One by one, the Knights filed into the passageway, with everyone but Tekli having to bend forward at the waist. Once all of them were travelling downward through a cavernous warren to their destination, Jaina decided that now was the time to catch up figuratively.
"So, Jacen," she said as she allowed herself to cut back through the gathering to walk next to her brother, "how'd that sojourn of yours go?" She was referring to Jacen's solitary journey of exploring other Force sects across the galaxy following the war's end.
"It was very enlightening," Jacen said, "though not in the ways I expected it to be."
"Oh?" Tahiri was the one to ask. "How so?"
"Well, I admit it may have been a little much to expect to unlock the secrets of the Force from one of those other sects," Jacen said, "but, honestly, I found myself more disappointed than anything."
"You didn't get the answers you wanted?" Zekk asked.
"Not even that," Jacen replied. "I mean, I knew that I would never again experience what I felt at the end of the war, even though I would paradoxically try to attain it again anyway. But at the same time, I thought I would get something other than a few new abilities and the realization that with all these other sects having their own interpretations of the Force, none of them were more or less valid than the Jedi Order's."
"Any examples?" Jaina asked.
"A few," Jacen said with a nod. "Like the Fallanassi. To boil it down so I don't bore you guys, their use of the Force, or the White Current as they call it, has the user immerse herself in these sort of ripples and currents instead of delving into the Force in the wholesale approach that we Jedi tend to do. It's really quite fascinating, as the Fallanassi tend to focus in on their own mental faculties than to try to affect the physical-"
"I'm bored already," Alema piped up.
"Alema," Zekk said, "that's not very nice." Jacen couldn't help but notice that Zekk's tone made it seem as if he and the Twi'lek had a conversation of a similar nature before.
"Hey, I'm just sayin' what everyone else here is thinkin'," Alema said. "So I did everyone a favor."
"Yeah, you're probably well-known for your favors around a lotta men," Jaina muttered.
Alema snickered bitterly. "Oh, that's a good one."
"Jacen, you said you had gained new abilitiez," Tesar cut in abruptly. "Like what?"
Jacen allowed a moment to pass as he observed the tension that had quickly developed between his sister and Alema; with his Force-presence dampened, he could only pick up what he saw with his own eyes. But when it became obvious that neither were willing to resume their tension thanks to Tesar, he said, "Uh, well, for instance, if we wanna move away from the Fallanassi as a talking point, I picked up a coupla' things from the Aing-Tii monks, over in the Kathol Rift. They taught me how to teleport objects over short distances and how to flow-walk."
"Teleporting?" Tekli asked. "That sounds impressive."
"Well, I can only do it for small objects," Jacen admitted. "And maybe about a few meters or so. Plus, I have to be in physical contact with the object in question. I haven't even tried to do it with anything living, and I'm kinda not looking forward to seeing the results."
"What's flow-walking?" Jaina asked.
"Well, it's... kinda like time travel," Jacen answered.
At that, everyone else stopped in their tracks, prompting Jacen to do the same as his sister and friends all looked at him in mild disbelief.
"Well, when I say time travel," he elaborated, "it's not like in holodramas where I can go back or forward in time. No, it's more like... actually, using holodramas as an example is kind of apt, because it's like playing back a recording. When I flow-walk, I can see the history of whatever location I'm standing on."
"Oh," Jaina said as she and everyone looked much more relieved. "So you're basically just able to look back in time without actually interacting with it."
"Essentially, yes," Jacen said. He looked away at that.
Jaina tilted her head. "Jacen?"
"Yeah?" he asked. He still didn't look at anyone in particular.
"What are you not telling us?" Jaina asked.
It was a wonder, Jacen thought, why his sister of all people would ask that question but not ask him why his Force-presence was muted. While he was grateful for that, the fact that his own twin wasn't calling him out more thoroughly was puzzling.
Regardless, Jacen sighed before he looked his sister back in the eye. "Okay, look, I think I may have used flow-walking to travel back in time earlier."
"You think you did?" Zekk asked incredulously.
"And maybe a little bit forward in time as well," Jacen added with a reluctant tone.
Lowbacca roared, Oh, I gotta hear this. It was obvious from his tone that he didn't exactly like what Jacen was implying; and by the looks on the faces of everyone else present, it was apparent that none of them did, either.
"Okay, look," Jacen started, "on my way here, I made a stop over on a planet called Yoggoy. There, I found a ship, the Tachyon Flier, which, in case any of you remember, was the ship that those Dark Jedi used to kidnap our good friend Raynar Thul. Remember them?"
"Lomi Plo and Welk," Tesar hissed. "Thoze treacherous Sithspawn! They left us to fend for ourselvez on that worldship!" He was referring to the Baanu Raas, the Yuuzhan Vong worldship over Myrkr.
"Yeah, well, anyway," Jacen said, "when I was at the Flier's crash site, I flow-walked back to the point when the crash occurred. And when it did, Raynar, he... he looked at me, like he knew I was there."
"He never told any of us that," Zekk said.
"You guys have seen him?" Jacen asked.
"Of course," Jaina answered. "He visited us here when we first arrived."
"Though he's not exactly what he used to be, I don't think," Tahiri said.
"What do you mean?" Jacen asked the blonde.
Jaina and the others who had been on Jwlio the longest were all silent for quite a few seconds before Alema finally said, "He's become something else, Jacen."
"Something else?"
"He is the Prime Unu now," Alema elucidated. "He is the voice of all the nests. And through him, the Colony will find its way to prosperity, no matter what the Chiss bring upon us."
After a while, the only thing Jacen said as he titled his head back was, "I see."
"Perhaps we can get you to see him again," Alema said. "Or, rather, what he was become. It may take some time, but I assure, it will be worth it, and I believe seeing you again will be worth his time."
"Okay, hold on, let's not get side-tracked here," Zekk said. "Jacen, you just said that although this ability doesn't necessarily allow you to time-travel back, you somehow did?"
"Yes," Jacen said with a guilty tone.
"And you also said that you travelled forward in time, too?" Zekk asked. "Please explain."
"Well, moments after Raynar saw me, I saw my mom. But she wasn't really there; at least she wouldn't be for quite sometime, but I knew that I saw her when she would be there, if that makes any sense. And when my guide to the crash site told me where you guys were, I told her."
"How?" Zekk asked. "If what you say is true, that flow-walking isn't a technique that can allow you to travel back or forward through time, how is it possible that you did?"
Jacen shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Perhaps it's the will of the Force."
"The will of the Force allowed you to somehow transcend time in both directions?" Zekk asked in disbelief. "Jacen, do you have any idea how incredible this is? And not in a good way! The Force isn't supposed to allow anyone that kind of power! I mean, the implications of this are astounding!"
"Why is it so unbelievable, Zekk?" Jaina was the one to ask. "You know about when Jacen achieved oneness with the Force at the end of the war. I was there, I saw it myself. If the Force allowed him to time-travel both back and forward, it's not exactly something that I think is beyond his limits."
"And what implications does such a power have, Zekk?" Alema asked. "What frightens you about what Jacen can do?"
Zekk sighed. "I don't know, and that's what frightens me. I doubt it's something that even Master Skywalker can comprehend, and that frightens me even more. All I know is that if this kind of power fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be... unimaginable."
"It also makes us, or at least me, wonder," Tahiri said, "whether or not the future is always in motion. If Raynar had seen Jacen when the Tachyon Flier crashed all those years ago, and Jacen would be there years later for that to happen, then it implies a sort of inevitability, doesn't it?"
"A predestination paradox," Tekli said. "Yes, Tahiri, Zekk's right, the implications are astounding. Never mind the idea if, say, a Sith were to gain this kind of power; what if we're all trapped in some kind of predetermined path that we can't escape, whether for better or worse? The philosophical implications of free will at that point are something for the more introspective members of the Jedi Order to ponder on."
A heavy silence dominated the group as they all soaked in everything that they had all said.
Tahiri was the one to finally break the silence. "You know, as interesting as this conversation has been, I think a much more pressing matter to keep in mind is that if Jaina and Jacen's mom will be here soon, how much does anyone here wanna bet that Han Solo and the Masters Skywalker will be here, too?"
"This one's mother will also come," Tesar pointed out. "I can feel it. She drawz near."
"I take it your absences didn't go unnoticed?" Jacen asked everyone.
"We were all in the middle of something in some part of the galaxy," Jaina answered. "Though I guess we shouldn't be surprised. I wonder if Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara can help you understand how and why you saw Mom, Jacen."
"More importantly," Zekk said, "what will their responses be when they get here?"
Jaina looked at him in askance. "Surely, they'd understand. The Killiks are the victims here, Zekk. Any Jedi worth their salt would be able to understand that, least of my parents and aunt and uncle especially."
"I'm not quite so sure if that'll be the response from them, Jaina," Jacen said.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, I might not have the political acumen that Mom has," Jacen said, "but look at it this way. We're on the side of some insectoids in a conflict against a major galactic power like the Chiss Ascendancy, who were allies to the Galactic Alliance during the last war, and who are more or less fair as a civilization even in spite of their isolationist tendencies. I somehow doubt that Mom, Dad, Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, or even Master Sebatyne will see things quite the same way."
"Can you really call the Ascendancy a major galactic power when they seclude themselves in the Unknown Regions, Jacen?" Tekli asked.
"They're certainly a major power in the Unknown Regions, so I think that qualifies, Tekli."
"Okay, look," Jaina said, "maybe things might look a little grey from the outside, Jacen. But when Mom, Dad, and the others all get here, if they don't think we're in the right, we can convince them otherwise by talking to them."
"I hope you're right, Jaina," Jacen said. "I hope you're right."
Jaina's brows narrowed in consternation. "I am right, Jacen. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here." Her tone was full of confidence that Jacen hadn't seen from his sister even during the war. Had he been able to read her Force-presence at the moment, he had a feeling that she was, indeed, as set in her ideals as she sounded.
"And if you have any doubts regarding our cause, Jacen," Alema said, "by the time we're done getting you up to speed, you'll be on our side completely."
He looked back at the Twi'lek as his internal assessment of her changed from mild concern to a less mild suspicion.