About an hour after Ben was taken once again, the Jedi StealthX fleet dropped out into the system where Zonama Sekot chose as her hiding place.
Jacen couldn't help but notice, along with everyone else in the Jedi fleet, that there were Chiss Star Destroyers as well as Sekotan fighters orbiting Zonama.
Jacen was both surprised and not surprised at this. On the one hand, he was somewhat taken aback by the fact that the isolationist Chiss Ascendancy would offer this kind of protection to the planet that willingly harbored the Yuuzhan Vong. But on the other hand, he remembered the alliance that Sekot had with the Ascendancy in combating the fanatical Superior Chiss, so Jacen supposed that it made sense that the Chiss were willing to offer some forces to protect a valuable ally. He also couldn't help but wonder what happened to the Superior Chiss; in spite of his Jedi upbringing, he couldn't help but hope they'd all been wiped out since he'd been freed from them months before.
A transmission was broadcast throughout the entire fleet from the living world; its Magister, Jabitha Hal, was the one who spoke.
"Greetings, Jedi," she said. "One of your Knights, Tekli, contacted me in advance and explained your situation with this Lost Tribe of the Sith. Although many on Zonama resent you bringing your war to us, Sekot has agreed to help you as repayment for the debt she owes you for bringing the Yuuzhan Vong to us years ago. We have many ships, both our own and from our allies in the Chiss Ascendancy, who are willing to help you in your coming battle with the Sith."
Kyp Durron's voice came over the transmission. "Thank you, Magister Hal; we greatly appreciate this."
"You're welcome, Master Durron; I will now refer you to Admiral Peecar for military questions."
The voice of an elderly male Chiss came over the frequency. "This is Admiral Peecar. How much time do we have before this ChaseMaster fleet drops out for us?"
"I'd say about another half-hour, give or take ten minutes I estimate," Kyp said. "However, given that at one point, they actually managed to get ahead of us through whatever backdoor hyperlane they must have found, I wouldn't be surprised if they got here even sooner than that."
"Very well; we're already well-prepared and well-rested. We will be ready."
Mere seconds later, however, the ChaseMaster fleet dropped out of hyperspace; and in no time flat, the battle over Zonama Sekot began.
. . .
In the hours after Mirta's Bes'uliik fleet, and the two Firesprays that accompanied those starfighters, were chased out of the system where Jag declared his "divorce" from Jaina, the retreating vessels returned to the Mandalore system.
However, before they arrived there, they managed a few hyperspace dropouts where Mirta took the time to make some holocomm calls to several reliable friends and allies to meet them in that system. These calls had to be spaced out between dropouts given that Mirta's fleet couldn't stay in any one system for long before they had to jump again to avoid getting into another firefight with some very angry Imperials with Mando allies of their own who could have dropped out behind them at any moment.
In the first of these hyperspace dropouts, however, Partner transmitted over the Bes'uliik fleet frequency.
"This is Partner; I can't aid you any further here, Mandalore Gev."
"Why not?" Mirta asked; she kept the frequency open so that everyone could hear his answer.
"I work for Jagged Fel," he reminded them. "Now that he's against you, this is where we have to part ways. Besides, my ship needs a lotta repairs; it took quite a beating getting into Mandalore's atmosphere."
"I understand," Mirta replied; her tone conveyed only professional courtesy and lacked any animosity that she might have had toward him for bailing on her fleet. "You do what you need to do."
"Thank you, Mandalore," Partner replied.
A few moments of silence passed as Partner's Firespray reoriented itself back toward Imperial space even as the the Bes'uliik fleet readied itself for another jump back to Mandalore.
"Partner," Jaina finally said over the frequency.
"Yeah, Fel?"
"When you meet up with my husband again, can you find out what's wrong with him?"
"Only if he pays me to do that."
Jaina didn't say anything in response; she just returned to readying the Slave I for another jump with the rest of the fleet. They were all gone mere moments later.
Now, after Partner's departure from the Bes'uliiks, the Slave I had joined the Mando starfighters over Mandalore itself, bolstered as they were by the other Bes'uliiks that Mirta had called in. The reinforced fleet held position in high orbit of their homeworld, looking outward in anticipation of whatever the Imperials would throw at them.
As Jaina waited patiently with the rest of the fleet, a part of her hoped that Partner would go beyond his pithy promise and actually find out what had overcome Jag to make the decision he did. The waiting prompted Jaina to think about how and why Jag sided with Rhal so quickly; could he have been under some mind-control? Sith influence, perhaps? Could the One Sith have returned, or was there some new Sith sect out there?
Come to think of it, Jaina realized, during the course of the events that started since she got herself involved in the investigation with Partner, she hadn't contacted her family or anyone else in the Jedi Order. She figured that Mom and Dad would need to hear about all of this, especially if they hadn't heard about it from the news already.
Jaina was about to open a channel to her parents when over a dozen Imperial Star Destroyers dropped out of hyperspace before the Bes'uliik fleet and began opening fire.
As Jaina immediately dove into a series of evasive maneuvers and firing off the Slave I's laser cannons for the TIE fighters that poured from the Star Destroyers, she managed to feel something that shocked her.
Jag's presence aboard one of those Destroyers; and with him, two Sith who flaunted their presence at Jaina, as if they were deliberately taunting her with the fact that they had her husband under their control.
Because they were deliberately taunting her with this fact.
It was this distraction that brought Jaina into a collision with a Rhal-aligned Bes'uliik, careening her away to be nicked by a Destroyer's giant laser bolt. These shook her out of her shock and brought her back into the game; but as she shot down a TIE fighter that was heading right for her, Jaina still managed to send out a taunt of her own for those Sith.
I'm coming for you, she transmitted through the Force.