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Chapter Four
The dining hall was magnificent and radiant with all the luxurious splendors of a Senator. Leia dined with the finest dishes and silverware, and the finest food any could ask for. She had cooks at her beck and call, and the finest furniture ever created.
Jas sat down at a large banquet table, even though there was only seven place settings at the top part it. It was made of gorgeous greel wood that was dark and polished. The chairs were made of the same material. Rei'Ka took his place beside Jas, as Leia sat at the head of the table. Han sat on her left, Luke sat beside him, the Chewie next to Luke.
"In honor of your return, we've had the best food Coruscant has to offer." Leia said to Jas.
"You didn't really have to go to all this trouble." Jas said.
"Oh I wanted to." Leia replied. "It's not everyday we get to see you." She smiled and put a napkin over her lap. She had a point. Jas liked to lay low, away from the political spotlight and the crowds of media attention that all of that entails. She felt bad for the Solos and Luke for having to deal with it.
"Yeah well, we don't get to Coruscant very often." Rei said with a shrug.
"It must be hard, Jas. Being a smuggler and not getting any good shipments." Luke said, as the food arrived. Anything and everything imaginable was set before them. Jas looked on in awe at all of the food, then shook her head and looked at Luke.
"We get by. It's not like we can't improvise." She said.
"Where did you and Rei'Ka meet?" Han asked.
"I was taken as a prisoner on a space port swarming with Imperial officials." She said, shoving a piece of Bantha steak in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed it. "I got out, but I noticed Rei in a quarry with other Togorians, just roaming around, all homesick and what not. So, I sprung Rei and we left." She said, eating another piece of steak.
"How did you get so smart, Rei?" Han asked.
"The Empire was doing experiments on Togorian males. Enhancing their brain patterns to make them more intelligent." Rei explained.
"I found him and busted him out." Jas said, eating another piece of her steak.
"Because of that, I owe a life-debt to her." Rei said. "Much like you and Chewbacca." He said to Han. The former smuggler nodded in understanding.
"Besides, it's nice to have someone to talk to on long trips." Jas said.
"Will you be staying long, Jas?" Luke asked her.
"As long as Leia allows. I don't have any work right now, so I was hoping I could be the New Republic's silent partner. Nothing political, just an informant or something." Jas said.
"I'm sure there wouldn't be a problem with that." Luke looked at his sister.
Leia smiled. "There isn't a problem with it at all." She said. Jas looked at Rei and smiled, not because that she managed to get into the New Republic, but because she was with her friends again. That was all that mattered.
Later that night, Jas was taken to an apartment in the Senate's living quarters. She shared the room with Rei'Ka, after he argued that he wouldn't be parted from her. It was sweet of him, she supposed. But you can only take a life-debt so far.
"What do we do?" Rei asked as Jas'Lyn grabbed some comfortable clothing from her dresser. She took her jacket off and threw it on her sleeping cot as she started for the bathroom.
"I'm telling Luke. I can't not tell him. I can't betray him, I won't. He means too much to me." She said, as she went in and closed the bathroom door behind her. She set the safety on her Blaster before taking it off and stripping out of her flight pants and shirt.
"Why do I have an idea that your feelings for Luke Skywalker go beyond friendship?" Rei asked from outside the door. She pulled on some comfortable cloth pants that were baggy on her and a button down shirt.
"Why is it any of your business?" Jas'Lyn asked as she came out. She ran a brush through her long dark red hair and set it on the table beside her cot. "Maybe I do have feelings for Luke, but they aren't the real reason I don't want to hurt him. Luke is my friend."
"So you would rather die? Let your family die?" Rei asked. She sat down on her cot and put her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees.
"Rei, if I tell Luke soon, we can get to Endor before Savan's men and get my family out of there." She said. She looked up at him, still leaning on her knees, her dark hair fell over her shoulder. "I don't care if I die, just as long as the people I care about are safe."
"You're noble and honorable, but you're also insane." Rei said.
"I'm not insane." She argued.
"Yes you are." He countered. "You're willing to throw everything away."
"So I don't hurt my friends, yes, I'll throw everything away. Rei, you don't understand. I fought in the war with the Empire along side those people. We have bonds that could never be severed. Luke and I…we came toe-to-toe with Darth Vader on the first Death Star. On the second, I was stuck on Endor while he risked his life against the Emperor. Can you imagine how much I wanted to be there to help him? If you can't use your superior Togorian intelligence to figure out my motives here, then the Empire must have done something wrong." She said.
"It's still a crazy idea." Rei pressed.
If you don't want apart of it, that's fine. I'm honored that you're willing to stick it out with me this far, you are my friend, which is making it hard for me to tell you this." She told him. Rei's ear twitched. "I release you from your debt. I no longer need your protection."
"Like hell you don't." He said. "You need it right now."
"Rei'Ka, I know what I'm doing." She told him.
"No doubt that you do. I am willing to stay on and see this thing through until the end. We'll take down the Black Sun and make them a thing of the past." He said. "And we'll do it together. No arguments."
Jas'Lyn sighed. "Alright." She replied. "Sounds like a plan."
"I'm going to get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning." He said and laid down on his cot. Within a few minutes he was asleep and purring quietly. Jas'Lyn got up off of her cot and left the room to him. She looked down the hall to the left and to the right and tried to remember where Luke said his apartment was. She started to the right and met C-3PO in the hallway. Possibly coming back from a meeting with Leia.
"Hey Threepio." She said.
"Mistress Jas'Lyn, welcome back." The protocol droid said. "I heard you had returned and I was anxiously awaiting your company."
"Some other time, Threepio. Where's Luke's apartment?" She asked.
"Oh. Three doors down and to the left I believe." He replied.
She put her hand on the golden droid's shoulder. "Thanks, my friend." She smiled and walked down the hall. She announced her presence on Luke's door. The door opened and she walked inside. The room was dimly lit with a lamp on at a nearby table. Luke was sitting in the middle of the floor, dressed in nothing but his black pants. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Meditating she supposed. Before her eyes, Luke slowly began to lift off of the ground. He levitated in the air until he was a foot or so off of the ground. Quietly, she stood by as he lowered himself again and opened his clear blue eyes to look at her.
"Hello, Jas." He said with a smile.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting something." She said.
"Not at all. I was just meditating before I went to bed. It clears my mind so I can sleep better. You should try it." He told her.
"Nah, that's alright. Not my thing." She said. "I actually came here to talk to you."
"Oh?" He asked. He got up from the floor and sat on his cot. She crossed the floor with bare feet and looked out the large picture window at the city beyond.
"It's about why I'm here." She started.
"Is something wrong?" He asked.
She turned and leaned back against the windowsill. "Something is very wrong." She replied. "I didn't come here on my own accord, Luke."
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I was sent here. By my employer. Savan of the Black Sun." She told him.
"What?" He asked.
"She sent me to dissolve the New Republic from the inside so the Empire could take control again. " She explained. He stood up and looked at her. "I told you business was hard. You have to get what you can now. My services go to the highest bidder." She pushed off of the windowsill and paced slowly around the room.
"How long have you been working for them?" He asked.
"After I got out of that Imperial encampment. I didn't know they were pro-Empire. Not until she sent me here to destroy the New Republic." She replied. Luke looked away then sat back down on his bed, he looked disappointed in her. "Savan is holding my family's lives over my head. If word of my betrayal to her gets out, she can kill them."
"Family?" He asked her. "You have a family?"
"The live on Endor. My mother and Father, as well as my younger brother, Allek. They went there after my homeworld became Imperial territory. They took refuge on Endor with the same Ewoks that helped us fight. Savan knows this and she can destroy them just by snapping her fingers. " She explained.
"You're a smuggler, doing things like this is your job. Why are you telling me?" Luke asked her as he invited her to sit next to him.
She sat down. "I don't want to hurt you. I care about you…about all of you…so much that I can't do what is expected of me. Savan used my loyalties to you against me. She told me I was the only one that could do this." Jas'Lyn explained. "You have to believe me, do that Jedi mind-reading stuff you do if you don't."
"I trust you Jas." Luke said.
"I need your help, Luke. I need to get my family off of Endor." Jas said. "Preferably without letting Savan find out."
"We'll do what we can, Jas. I'll talk to Han and Leia if you want me to." He offered. "What about Rei? Is he safe?"
"He has a family on Togoria. A wife and children." She said, then shook her head. "Togoria is far out of Savan's jurisdiction. If she even tries to harm them, she'll be discovered and arrested. She won't take that risk, not even for revenge."
"Good. We'll leave for Endor the day after tomorrow. That way I have a whole day to talk to Han and Leia about this. You may be able to help dissolve Black Sun forever." Luke said kindly. He smiled kindly at Jas'Lyn, "Don't worry, everything will be taken care of."
"Thank you." She said with a smile in return. She got up from his bed and crossed the floor toward the door.
"Jas'Lyn." He said. She turned and looked back at him. "I'm glad you came to me. I'm glad you're alive and I'm glad you're back." He said.
She smiled and nodded, then left Luke's apartment and went back to her own. Luke kept his eyes on the closed door and thought about her. She was willing to risk everything to not betray her friends. To not betray him…he smiled, then laid down to sleep.