Knight-Errantly Chapter Twelve


Luke frowns after sipping his tea. The tea comes from Gatalenta, one of the first planets that he visited in his quest for Jedi lore after the death of his father. Gatalenta tea is prized as one of the best in the galaxy, and Luke loves their tea. But there's something wrong with it.

"Did a fly land in your tea?" Brendol asks as he spreads apple butter over the tea crumpet.

"No. There's something off."

"It didn't steep long enough?"

"It's not the tea."

"The Force?"

"No. I feel it in my gut like an existential dread."

"Can't really do anything about it but wait and see what the universe will throw at you."

"I hate waiting."

"Waiting is always the worst."


Bruck Chun spent his time after being kicked out Desolous's room by returning to his search for the Barsen'thor, but this time he's looking for amulets hoping that one will connect back to this elusive figure. The problem is there are hundreds of amulets, mostly Sith, mentioned throughout Jedi history and most don't name the person who discovered them. So, he decides to hunt down a helper: Aurora Adasca.

He goes up to the library desk and tells the archivist on duty, a Draethos with an excessive overbite, he wishes to give a message to Aurora regarding a book that he just finished. The Draethos takes his message and promises to deliver it when she comes back.

He smiles and thanks the archivist. He then returns to his room and just waits for his message to be delivered.


Dead-Star is almost happy not to have control of their body; he can just be a spectator at the family disaster unfolding before him. The Jade Twins delight in the chaos for a moment, but they returned their attentions to their little party. Han is speechless, while Chewie makes confused noises. Leia is a volatile cocktail of emotions in the Force, but her face is as blank as the ambassador's. Anger subsumes him briefly until he realizes the true source of it.

Why are you so angry?

I'm angry because of the deception.

We literally just met the twins.

Not them. Our Wistie.

You're angry that he lied about them?

He hid them from us. Remember? He said their names once and then went quiet about them. He knew they were our cousins and hid that fact from us!

Probably because he knew this wouldn't make you happy, or, more likely, he knew the twins would've pulled something like this if they knew about you.

Too late now! I never thought he'd deceive us!

Aren't we deceiving him by hiding our plans from him? Were we really going to tell him about how we'll the Great Dragon and steal his body? Or how we'll down the Academy? Or how we'll burn his uncle's cape?

That's not one of our plans.

Well, add it. I doubt the Great Dragon is going to appear right now, so we've got time to do everything else.

I doubt the uncle will let us near his wardrobe.

We'll get our Wistie to sneak us in; it'll be his penance for the deception.

We're not any better.

No, we aren't. And you should start paying attention to the girl. She's looking at us.


Ben cannot figure out what the girl is thinking. Her sabacc face yields nothing, while her green-gold eyes are bright with alertness. She gets into his personal space within a blink.

"Um, you're kind of close."

"You're in the way! I need to use the 'fresher; I've been drinking nothing but tea." She explains reasonably enough. Her mind doesn't broadcast thoughts and feelings like the rest of the children; her brother is almost the same, but there's a coldness to him.

"You could've said please, move."

"My bladder is about to burst, princeling!" The girl shouts, and Ben's nearly knocked aside by the girl's escape.

I guess she really needed to go.

Tea will do that.

"Mother, do we need to tell uncle?" Ben whispers and keeps his eyes on the boy. Jacen is chatting it up with the Zeltron girl, ignoring his newfound family for his friends.

"Ben, I think we need time to prepare him. He's never planned for children of his own, and the mother may not want him to be involved."

"If they have a mother."

"Whoever is caring for them would like to put their two credits into this."

"Okay, but should we really keep this—" Ben stops when he hears the clatter of boots hit the room's floor.

Another human enters the fray. This time it's a man with brown hair and brown eyes. He holds a stack of little boxes that smell a lot like freshly cooked fish. The man freezes in his place when he sees them.

"More clones?" Ben hears his dad mutter.

"What?"

"He looks exactly like that Imp."

"Who?"

"General Veers." His mother finally grits out.

"No, I'm his disappointing son: Zevulon." The man says deprecatingly. The ambassador moves to let him by, and the Veers son delivers the children their meals. Jacen waits patiently for everyone to get their box before grabbing the last two.

"Thank you, Zev." Jacen says with all the politeness that was absent with the family revelation. However, the ginger boy doesn't leave to eat with the rest of his party. He sticks to the man's side like a protective watchdog.

"So, what—" Zevulon begins.

"We told them that Luke Skywalker is our father." Jacen interjects.

"Ah." Zevulon gives an awkward if a bit pained smile at the young boy. "Where is your sister?"

"In the 'freshers." Zev frowns at the answer.

"She drank a lot of tea." Han says dryly.

"She hates tea. And if she was going to the 'freshers, I would've passed her in the hall." Zev looks pointedly at Jacen. The ginger boy incriminates himself with his silence.

"Jacen, where did she go?"

"To send a message."


Armitage wakes form his medicinal sleep to see Waster hovering above him with a comlink. Armitage takes the comlink and looks to see Ben's frequency.

"Your friend is hailing you. Be brief and return to resting." Waster orders and then returns to sanitizing his medical equipment.

"Hey, Ben, how's—"

"Hi, Armie!"

"Jaina! What are you doing with Ben's comlink?"

"I stole it right from his pocket, and he didn't even notice. I would've thought that Han would've taught his baby boy the ins and outs of thieving!"

"Jaina, please tell me you didn't say anything to his family."

"It wasn't just me. Jacen and I informed them of our familial connection. Benny-boy didn't take it too well."

"I don't think your family reunion with Skywalker is going to go like you want it to."

"Daddy dearest deserves to know! I'd love to stick around and chat, but dad's waiting for me."

The transmission ends with a monotone beep. Armitage drops the comlink on the bed and buries his head into his pillow and screams.


Brendol washes the dishes, while Luke dries and puts them away. There is a dishwasher that was jerry-rigged to the kitchen during the Rebellion days, but it only works half of the time. Luke thought it was better safe than sorry to just do it the old-fashioned way. There's not talking just companionable silence in a shared chore.

Then, his comlink chimes.

He puts the wet plate down and goes over to the table. He picks it up and sees Ben's frequency. He frowns and wonders if Ben and Leia got into trouble.

"Ben, are you—"

"I'm not him." A girl declares with a slight Coruscanti accent.

"Who is this?"

"I am Jaina Jade, daughter of Mara Jade. Remember her?"

"…"

"By your silence, I take it you do. Don't worry, she remembers you!"

"Is she in trouble?"

"That's so sweet you're worried about your ex! I can't say the same the concern is mutual."

"Then, why did you get into contact with me?"

"I always wondered what your voice sounded like. You sound nice and like you smoke a death stick a day. But I know you're too straightlaced for that. Aunt Beru and Uncle Own raised you better!"

"…You are her daughter all right." Luke mutters sourly.

"No need to be so put out! I've come bearing great news! I'm your daughter and I want to get to know you!"

"…W-What?"

"When your sister and her family got to the fortress, I knew that this would be my one chance of getting in touch with you. It wasn't hard to get your nephew's comlink. Don't worry, they're in shock but fine. We broke it to them gently."

"Wait, there's more of you!?"

"Yeah, the twins gene skipped Leia and cursed you instead as mother dearest puts it. I have a twin brother; his name is Jacen. And FYI, he wants nothing to do with you, so I wouldn't concern yourself with him."

"….."

"I understand this is a lot to take in. And you might not believe me. I am willing to submit to a DNA test; Nagai's clinics are quite discreet, the Warlord assured me."

"…"

"I hope to see you soon, father."

The comlink beeps once, signaling the end to the conversation. He stares down at the comlink for such a long time that he only looks up when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Brendol.

"I heard all of it." The older man admits bluntly. "Do you need anything?"

"…A hug."

And so, Brendol gives Luke a much-needed hug.


Desolous stopped his verbal reaming of Anakin when Luke received the hail. Now, they both sit in stunned silence at the bomb that was just dropped on Skywalker's son. Desolous finally gets up and shuts off the holoprojector.

"Desolous."

"Yes, Skywalker?"

"Luke has twins."

"Yes."

Then, Anakin stands straight up and then shouts like an absolute maniac for all the Afterlife to hear.

"MY SON HAS TWINS!"


Author's Comments- No links this time.

In Legends/EU, General Veers had a son named Zevulon with his unnamed wife. The wife died when Zev was a young child from a disease she caught while they were vacationing. Her death caused Veers to dedicate himself further to the Empire while also distancing himself from his son. Zev grew up like any well-to-do Imperial youth, but he saw right through the Empire and hated the enslavement of non-humans that the Empire promoted. He barely got into COMPNOR's Sub-Adult Group (an analog to Hitler Youth) and somehow managed to pass his junior officer training. His father then forced him to join COMPNOR's CompForce, which is basically if Stormtroopers became security guards and political officers for Palpatine. Anyways, some Rebels break into a base stationed in, kidnap him, and befriend him to the point that he defects to the Rebellion. In 10 ABY, he learned that his father died and that is the last time he's heard from in EU. Some of you may recognize him as one of Rama's best friends in The Nightbrother where he's a kid in it. Here, he's a man about Luke's and Leia's age who happens to be caring for the Jade Twins. I will get into the how he ended up with them in future chapters.

Next chapter: Luke leaves Brendol in charge of the initiates, Anakin sees his newfound grandchildren, and Armitage has a nightmare.