Ch. 10 Lost

         Ben and Vix fought side-by-side, Ben's green lightsaber slicing henchmen on one side while Vix's blue one killed henchmen on the other side. The Hutt was waddling up to the Palace as fast as it could. Finally, all the henchmen were dead. "Vix, stay here and see if you can heal any of these Bo'marr!" exclaimed Ben as he ran up the sand dune toward what used to be Jabba's Palace. He had never been much of a healer, so Vix was better for that. Ben was more of the rugged weapon type. "Ben, be careful!" yelled Vix. Before he could continue, she ran up to him and kissed him again. Ben grinned a lopsided grin that was definitely inherited from the teenaged Anakin Skywalker and moved to intercept the Hutt as Vix began transferring healing energies into the bodies of the Bo'marr who were still alive.

     Ben caught up to the Hutt and sliced its right arm off. The loathsome creature bellowed loudly in pain. "Alright Fatso, who are you and what the Sith is this plan of yours?" asked Ben, pointing his lightsaber at the Hutt's face. This was not Hikta, but it might be someone else from the Desilijic clan. The Hutt stared at Ben with his bulging yellow eyes before laughing loudly, apparently ignoring the pain in the stump of his shoulder. Ben scowled and waved the lightsaber in front of the Hutt, in an attempt to intimidate him. The over-sized slug just continued laughing. Vix looked up from her work to see what was going on. Ben remained focused on the Hutt. Suddenly, he felt a warning in the Force and turned around just in time for a thud bug to hit his left arm as some Vong-like warriors charged out of Jabba's Palace. Ben groaned and collapsed to the ground, yelling, "Vix get back to the Shadow!!!"

    Instead, Vix rushed past Ben and the Hutt and attempted to attack the warriors. With a gasp of air, Ben yelled, "Vix, just get back to New Coruscant and warn Jacen!!! He'll know what to do!!! Trust me!" Jacen and Ben had been living and working together for so long, and they were so close, that they could sense each other's location from anywhere in the galaxy. The last thing he saw as the darkness clouded his vision was Vix turning on her heel and heading back to the ship, a warrior in hot pursuit of her. Then he slipped into unconsciousness on the sand.

***

       "Look Jag, I love you too, but I don't want you to throw away your life by marrying me," said Jaina angrily from behind her desk in the Defense Force Headquarters. Commander Jagged Fel of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force, and leader of Comet Squadron, stared at Jaina, pain evident in his eyes. "Jaina, I don't want you to close yourself from everyone. Especially not me. We've been together for so long! I love you, and I want to be your husband!" Then he quietly added, "I can't live without you, Jaina."

    Jaina's face softened considerably she sagged slightly, but she replied, "Jag, I am not breaking up with you. I just don't think we should get married. At least not yet." Jag pleaded, "Jaina, we're 40 years old! If we wait another twenty years, I…" he broke off and shook his head. "Can't we at least talk about it over dinner. Jaina stared at him for a long uncomfortable moment before finally nodding. "Sure, Jag. Tonight at eight. We'll go to the Calcour Club." Jag nodded. The intercom droid came on and said, "Miss Solo, your brother is here to see you."

   Jag nodded and left the room. As he passed Jacen, the Jedi Master read his mind, smiled and whispered, "Don't worry Jag. She's been like this to everyone lately. She'll come around," and patted Fel on the shoulder. Jag smiled hopefully and Jacen walked into the room. He stood in front of Jaina's desk and said, "Jaina, that attacker at the Senate that I thought I recognized…she's been interrogated, and the authorities have discover that she used to be Jedi. She's Inama Thar." Jaina's eyes flashed. Inama used to be Jaina's Padawan. Jacen continued, "I just want to say I'm sorry. And I've got more bad news. Five Padawans have been kidnapped from the Temple. I was wondering if the Defense Force had received any leads…"

  "No we haven't Jacen!" snapped Jaina. Jacen was startled. "Jaina, it's okay. Just because she was your Padawan…" he began. "Just go away, Jacen. Just shut up and leave," said Jaina coldly as she stared angrily at him. Jacen was shocked and stood there for a second. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, then thought better of it, sighed, and left the room. As he left, he suddenly felt a surge in the Force. Something terrible was happening…to Ben!

***

      Jaina sighed and put her head on her desk for a minute. Then she sat up and dialed a number into her comm. Her contact needed to know this whole thing was getting out of hand. "Yeah, it's me," she said. "Listen, we need to finish this fast." Her contact chuckled and hung up again. Jaina dropped her comm, lay her head on her desk and cried.