Kyp Durron wearily climbed out of the cockpit of his XJ class x-wing. He
pointedly ignored his blue-skinned guards as he took off his helmet and
flight gloves and gave them a slight force boost back in to his cockpit.
As he turned to face the approaching dignitaries, Kyp struggled to assume
his usual cocky and confident expression, simply because that was what was
expected of him as Kyp Durron.
If he wasn't so emotionally numb, he would have been shocked that he couldn't summon that expression. It was just too much effort and in the face of all the loss, the loss of Jaina, his partner, and Jag a pilot he trusted to be his wingman, he simply did not care what the dignitaries coming towards him thought of him.
It had only been an hour since Kyp had arrived in the Nirauan system. The moment he had headed towards the system's only inhabited planet, he had been fired upon and once he had made the pilots listen to him he had been bombarded by questions relayed from pompous bureaucrats on the ground, demanding to know why he was here. Finally, reluctantly, he had been allowed to land. He didn't protest at all as his Chiss guards guided him towards the approaching beings.
One of the approaching Chiss stepped out in front of his companions and said curtly, "I am Sepren of the Chiss house Phlanx Nuruodo. What brings you to Chiss space, Jedi Master Durron?"
Kyp simply looked at the Chiss in front of him and then said in the most commanding and intimidating voice he could muster. "I have a personal message for the ears of only Baron Soontir Fel and his wife."
The Chiss's disbelief rolled off of them in waves, but did not appear on their tightly controlled faces. Two hours later after much convincing on Kyp's part, he stood in the office of Baron Soontir Fel. The man's features were different than Jag's Kyp noticed, but the lack of emotion and the cool indifference were identical.
"You told Sepren Nuruodo that you had a personal message for Syal and I?" He prompted noncommittally.
Kyp paused for a moment before he spoke. He might not particularly like this man in front of him, but news like this was not lightly delivered. "Sir," Kyp began formally, "I regret to inform you of the death of you son, Jagged, during a Yuuzhan Vong skirmish above Hapes."
Kyp saw Soontir Fel flinch as if he had been struck, but then his face showed no other emotion. The pain spilling off of him, through the force more than made up for the lack of it on his face, however. Fel turned away from Kyp and then demanded, "How did it happen?"
Kyp had been waiting for the question, had known it was coming, but he still felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He stuttered slightly, caught off guard. "H-he was caught in a large group of coral skippers with no way out. Jaina Solo was trying to get him out. She was almost successful when a near by Yuuzhan Vong Cruiser exploded. They were both caught in the explosion."
The Baron turned back towards Kyp but still could not meet his eyes as he murmured a gruff, thank you.
Kyp spoke up again after a moment of silence. "Leia Organa Solo asked that these be given to you wife, sir." He held out the holos to the older man. "They are the most recent ones taken of Jag."
Soontir took the holos out of Kyp's hands and turned it over slowly in his own. He started to speak, but was interrupted by a briskly efficient Chiss Lieutenant. "Sir a Yuuzhan Vong Frigate just entered the system."
* * * * * * * *
They hung in space, drifting above the planet below them in a high orbit. "What do we do now?" Jaina asked uncertainly.
"I.I'm not sure," replied Jag, "What systems are operational on here?"
"Well, as you probably guessed something seems to be wrong with the navigation system, but fortunately the ships weapons and life support are still working. We can probably fly manually, but I wouldn't recommend going to hyperspace until we can figure out what's wrong with it."
She thought for a minute and then donned the cognition hood. A few seconds later she asked distractedly, "Is there anywhere we can set down on this planet without getting vaped?"
"Jaina," Jag snapped sharply, "we have bigger problems. A squadron of claw craft are coming out to investigate."
Jaina quickly sorted through the information the Frigate's brain was sending her and found the approaching squadron. Before she had even consciously thought about it, Jaina was maneuvering the Frigate into a retreat as the squadron flashed towards them in an attack formation. Trying to keep the panic from her voice, Jaina demanded tersely, "Any suggestions Jag, because if these guys start shooting, I really don't want to shoot back."
Concentrating on putting distance between them and the claw craft, Jaina didn't notice when Jag didn't reply for a moment. When she did she snapped, "Jag.Jag." The second time she managed to catch his attention.
"I have a plan," he said in a rush, but then he added quickly, "but you won't like it."
"We don't have many options," Jaina responded, stating the obvious. With their navigation system down they had no way to escape and no way to communicate with the Chiss either.
"So," Jag said continuing Jaina's statement, "I think that we should eject. They'll have to come pick us up."
"You're right," Jaina snapped deep in concentration, "I don't like it. but I don't see any better options. Do you know where the Ooglith Cloakers are stored?"
Three minutes later Jaina stood with Jag next to the Vong equivalent of an outer airlock, holding the squirming creature in her left hand as the frigate shook under the first of the Chiss squadron's barrage.
She smiled up at Jag, "Good luck," she said and then leaned in to kiss him, trying not to think about the wriggling creature she would soon stick in her mouth.
When they pulled apart, Jag whispered quietly, "I thought Jedi don't believe in luck."
"No," she replied, "but Solo's do."
The ship shuddered again and Jaina felt a tug, the tug of swiftly spreading decompression that drowned out Jag's reply. It was time to go.
Forcing herself not to gag and spit it back out, Jaina allowed the creature to position itself so that she could breathe. Quickly she grabbed Jag with one hand, making sure his Ooglith cloaker was in place, she used her other hand to cut the airlock open with her lightsaber. As the last burst of decompression propelled them away from the frigate, Jaina used a combination of her Jedi talents to create a small bubble of artificial atmosphere around them from the remnant of the ship's atmosphere, not to help them breathe per say but to protect them from the freezing ravages of vacuum.
* * * * * * *
With a smile Mara Jade Skywalker continued to feed her son the chopped pieces of gula fruit as she waited for Luke to return. He was currently in a meeting with the High Council. The subject of their meeting was Jaina. Since the information Tekli had uncovered that suggested that both Jaina and Jag were alive, no new leads had been found.
Her smile wavered slightly as she reflected back on the conversation she and Tahiri had, had with Jacen concerning his twin. Jacen's reaction to the suggestion that his sister was still alive disturbed Mara more than Jaina's Dark reaction had after the mission to Myrk. Up until the time she had pointed out that Jaina had similarly refused to believe Jacen was alive, Jacen had been despairing and depressed. When she mentioned that however, his Dark outburst had left Mara so shocked, that her jaw had actually dropped at her normally pacific nephew's actions. Tahiri had rationalized that it was Jaina's apparent death, while Mara simply hoped that was all it was.
A lump of Gula fruit paused in mid air and the spoon it was residing on was clumsily pushed back towards Mara, snapping her out of her reverie. She gently scolded her son, although secretly she was very proud of him. The boy was barely a year old and he already controlled telekinetic powers superior to those of some full Jedi knights.
She slipped the last bite of fruit into her son's mouth and then grabbed a damp cloth from the counter next to her to wipe away the sticky fruit juices that had dripped on to the little boy as she fed him. He babbled happily at her as she picked him up from his small high chair. He wasn't talking in sentences.yet. But, he did know a few words and he was picking up more, fast. She knew from Leia that force sensitive children picked up communication skills quickly. Soon she would have to remind Han, or Uncle Han as he liked to be called these days, to watch what he said around Ben.
With Ben content on her hip and happily watching her every move, Mara sat down at the makeshift desk she and Luke shared. She quickly rummaged through the data cards on her desk until she found the one's she wanted. They were data cards that Intel had sent her containing intelligence reports from locales all over the New Republic. She hadn't given up on finding Jaina, and in fact, Tahiri was looking for leads this morning. These reports, however, had temporarily demanded her attention.
As she looked over the reports she began to softly explain their contents to her young son. She knew he really couldn't understand them, but he still seemed intently focused on her. She enjoyed sharing the skills she had gained throughout her various careers and lifestyles with Ben, even if he would probably never remember. So, she spent the next two hours explaining to Ben why the Yuuzhan Vong agents acted as they did, where they had made their mistakes as well as how to be a much better covert agent than any of the rank amateurs working for the Vong. She was still talking to her son when her comm. link buzzed interrupting her and demanding her immediate attention.
She kissed her son's forehead drawing a giggle out of him as she plucked her comm. link off of her belt. "Jade-Skywalker." She said into it.
"Mara," Tahiri's voice answered her, "I haven't found anything yet, but Tenel Ka's arriving in a few minutes for a conference with Cal. I thought I could talk to her before they get started."
"That sounds like a good idea, Tahiri. If we can convince her, maybe she can help us convince, Jacen."
"Okay, Mara, I'll talk to her." Tahiri flicked off her comm. link and strode towards Tenel Ka and her entourage. When Tahiri was within a few feet of Tenel Ka, she bowed and called out, "May I have a moment of your time, Queen Mother."
Tenel Ka glanced up distracted, just noticing Tahiri. A small smile flitted across her face. "Friend Tahiri."
Tahiri took that as her cue to stand straight and walked towards the approaching Queen Mother. They embraced warmly when they reached one another. The two had never been close at the Jedi Academy, but had grown closer after the mission at Myrk and the loss of Jacen and Anakin and had a very fond mutual respect.
Tahiri immediately said, "Tenel Ka, I know you have a meeting with Cal Omas, but I need to talk to you. It's important."
"Of course, Friend Tahiri. Walk with me?"
Tahiri nodded. As they began walking, she started explaining. When Tahiri had finished talking, Tenel Ka's face was grimly serious, although Tahiri could feel the beginning of a cautious excitement building in Tenel Ka.
"What can I do to help you, Friend Tahiri?" She asked.
"Mara and I want to go after Jaina and presumably Jag, but we really need Jacen to help us locate her through the force. The problem is," she paused in sympathy to Jacen as well as frustration, "Jacen is cutting people off almost more than Jaina was and he won't listen to us, much less help us."
"You want my help in convincing Jacen?" Tenel Ka asked.
"Yes," Tahiri said succinctly.
"I will try to persuade him, but I do not know how much weight he will give my words. We are not as close as we once were." She paused taking a deep breath. "However, no matter what Friend Jacen says, I will help you as much as I can."
"Thank you, Tenel Ka." Tahiri said as the two Jedi went in opposite directions-Tahiri to report to Mara and Tenel Ka to meet with Cal Omas.
* * * * * * *
Hours later Tenel Ka stood before an anonymous door in an anonymous corridor. For the first time in weeks, she was lacking her entourage of bodyguards and advisors. She felt wonderful. She paused and took a breath before knocking on the door of the oldest and best of her friends, Jacen Solo.
A force probe brushed across her and she held her breath, waiting for Jacen's response. He was the only person in the galaxy that could do this to her. With everyone else she remained in perfect control, of both the situation and her emotions. Jacen was different. His presence overloaded her with emotions and sent her into a nauseating whirl of confusion.
The door to his quarters hissed open and drew her out of her thoughts. She looked at him, standing in the doorway of his quarters. She had only seen him twice since the disastrous mission to Myrk, once at their Knighting ceremony and again at Jaina's funeral. At both times it hadn't been opportune or appropriate for them to talk. She mentally took in Jacen's appearance. The beard he now wore still shocked her, especially in its current state of disarray. His skin was pale and pasty against his once lustrous, deep brown eyes that now merely looked like sunken pits. He had also lost weight, she noticed, even since he had returned.
She took all of this in, in a fraction of a second and said simply, "Jacen."
His voice was muted, the tone apathetic and showing none of the passion and compassion that she had always associated with him. "Tenel Ka."
"May I come in, Friend Jacen?" Tenel Ka asked after a moment of devastating silence.
He simply fell back from the door and retreated back on to the bunk in his quarters. His depression seemed to suck the very life out of the air and Tenel Ka could even feel it beginning to eating away at her determined nature. She beat it back with a memory of she and her friends swimming in a lake on Yavin IV. It was one of the happiest times in her life and the only time she had ever come close to admitting to Jacen her feelings, for him. But something had stopped her back then, after all they had only been fourteen.
She drew herself out of her reverie and decided to use her customarily blunt approach with the subject. "Friend Jacen, I know Jaina is alive. Mara and Tahiri have discovered this much. We need your help to find her."
To her shock Jacen didn't react. In fact, Jacen didn't move, he only said dully. "My sister's dead, Tenel Ka, so go away."
His emotionless words hit her like a charging Rancor and she physically stumbled back. Jacen's response, the absolute antithesis of Jaina's, dismayed her.
Tenel Ka had long ago acknowledged Jacen's tendency to pacifism but even Jaina's Dark reaction to her brothers' deaths was preferable to Jacen's response or his lack therof. Her mind was in hyperdrive the moment she regained her mental balance, trying to come up with the words or actions to persuade Jacen to help her, or at the very least stimulate enough of a response in him to get Jacen to kick her out of his quarters. Nothing came to her mind. There was no way she could goad him or persuade him while he was like his.
"Jacen," she repeated his name again allowing emotion, desperation to seep into her voice, and not just desperation for Jaina, but for Jacen and herself as well. Jaina might have ostensibly been the reason she came to talk to Jacen, but she would have seen him regardless. She had cared about Jacen for a long time, she thought, as she retreated a few steps towards the wall and away from Jacen.
It had all started when she had first met the twins at the age of fourteen at the Jedi Academy. The trio, along with Lowbacca had all immediately become friends, but she had always been closer to Jacen. Throughout their years at the Academy and later through the Vong war, Tenel Ka's original crush on Jacen had given way to deeper feelings. She was painfully, acutely, aware that Jacen wasn't conscious of her feelings towards him. She had privately seethed when she learned of his crush on Danni Quee, but despite her increased monosyllabic response to the world, she had not reacted to it.
Only Jaina and a few of the other Jedi that had been near by when they had felt Jacen's apparent death were aware of her feelings for Jacen, because of her emotional outburst. She loved Jacen, she knew that now as did several others, Jaina included. She needed Jacen, even if it was only as friend, not this new Jacen, but the old Jacen.
However, she needed to find Jaina to bring the old Jacen back. So seizing the initiative as she had done, once, many years ago, she walked swiftly forwards and kissed Jacen. She poured all of her feelings and emotion into it. Emotions, both painful and joyous, also conveying them to him through the force, trying to make Jacen feel anything at all.
The moment she pulled back, from Jacen, trying to rein her raging emotions in she noticed the shock in his eyes. It wasn't the fiery determination she had wished for but it was better than the apathy of moments ago. She stood and before he had a chance to protest she used her single arm to pull him up off of the bunk and propel him towards the door. It automatically opened and he stumbled out into the corridor.
Catching the sleeve of his tunic as she walked out behind him, Tenel Ka pulled him down the corridor with her. As they walked, she flicked on the comm. link pinned to the collar of her royal robes, using the force.
"Darina," she snapped at her head mechanic, "prepare my personal vessel and inform Captain Casal that she is to report to my private vessel immediately." She snapped off Darina's startled reply as she stormed down the corridor with Jacen in her wake. Changing the frequency on her comm. link, Tenel Ka, this time commed Tahiri.
Less viciously than she had with the mechanic, she said, "Tahiri if you want to find Jaina, meet me at the private Hapan docking bay in ten minutes ready to leave."
"Acknowledged," answered Tahiri efficiently, thankfully not asking questions.
If he wasn't so emotionally numb, he would have been shocked that he couldn't summon that expression. It was just too much effort and in the face of all the loss, the loss of Jaina, his partner, and Jag a pilot he trusted to be his wingman, he simply did not care what the dignitaries coming towards him thought of him.
It had only been an hour since Kyp had arrived in the Nirauan system. The moment he had headed towards the system's only inhabited planet, he had been fired upon and once he had made the pilots listen to him he had been bombarded by questions relayed from pompous bureaucrats on the ground, demanding to know why he was here. Finally, reluctantly, he had been allowed to land. He didn't protest at all as his Chiss guards guided him towards the approaching beings.
One of the approaching Chiss stepped out in front of his companions and said curtly, "I am Sepren of the Chiss house Phlanx Nuruodo. What brings you to Chiss space, Jedi Master Durron?"
Kyp simply looked at the Chiss in front of him and then said in the most commanding and intimidating voice he could muster. "I have a personal message for the ears of only Baron Soontir Fel and his wife."
The Chiss's disbelief rolled off of them in waves, but did not appear on their tightly controlled faces. Two hours later after much convincing on Kyp's part, he stood in the office of Baron Soontir Fel. The man's features were different than Jag's Kyp noticed, but the lack of emotion and the cool indifference were identical.
"You told Sepren Nuruodo that you had a personal message for Syal and I?" He prompted noncommittally.
Kyp paused for a moment before he spoke. He might not particularly like this man in front of him, but news like this was not lightly delivered. "Sir," Kyp began formally, "I regret to inform you of the death of you son, Jagged, during a Yuuzhan Vong skirmish above Hapes."
Kyp saw Soontir Fel flinch as if he had been struck, but then his face showed no other emotion. The pain spilling off of him, through the force more than made up for the lack of it on his face, however. Fel turned away from Kyp and then demanded, "How did it happen?"
Kyp had been waiting for the question, had known it was coming, but he still felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He stuttered slightly, caught off guard. "H-he was caught in a large group of coral skippers with no way out. Jaina Solo was trying to get him out. She was almost successful when a near by Yuuzhan Vong Cruiser exploded. They were both caught in the explosion."
The Baron turned back towards Kyp but still could not meet his eyes as he murmured a gruff, thank you.
Kyp spoke up again after a moment of silence. "Leia Organa Solo asked that these be given to you wife, sir." He held out the holos to the older man. "They are the most recent ones taken of Jag."
Soontir took the holos out of Kyp's hands and turned it over slowly in his own. He started to speak, but was interrupted by a briskly efficient Chiss Lieutenant. "Sir a Yuuzhan Vong Frigate just entered the system."
* * * * * * * *
They hung in space, drifting above the planet below them in a high orbit. "What do we do now?" Jaina asked uncertainly.
"I.I'm not sure," replied Jag, "What systems are operational on here?"
"Well, as you probably guessed something seems to be wrong with the navigation system, but fortunately the ships weapons and life support are still working. We can probably fly manually, but I wouldn't recommend going to hyperspace until we can figure out what's wrong with it."
She thought for a minute and then donned the cognition hood. A few seconds later she asked distractedly, "Is there anywhere we can set down on this planet without getting vaped?"
"Jaina," Jag snapped sharply, "we have bigger problems. A squadron of claw craft are coming out to investigate."
Jaina quickly sorted through the information the Frigate's brain was sending her and found the approaching squadron. Before she had even consciously thought about it, Jaina was maneuvering the Frigate into a retreat as the squadron flashed towards them in an attack formation. Trying to keep the panic from her voice, Jaina demanded tersely, "Any suggestions Jag, because if these guys start shooting, I really don't want to shoot back."
Concentrating on putting distance between them and the claw craft, Jaina didn't notice when Jag didn't reply for a moment. When she did she snapped, "Jag.Jag." The second time she managed to catch his attention.
"I have a plan," he said in a rush, but then he added quickly, "but you won't like it."
"We don't have many options," Jaina responded, stating the obvious. With their navigation system down they had no way to escape and no way to communicate with the Chiss either.
"So," Jag said continuing Jaina's statement, "I think that we should eject. They'll have to come pick us up."
"You're right," Jaina snapped deep in concentration, "I don't like it. but I don't see any better options. Do you know where the Ooglith Cloakers are stored?"
Three minutes later Jaina stood with Jag next to the Vong equivalent of an outer airlock, holding the squirming creature in her left hand as the frigate shook under the first of the Chiss squadron's barrage.
She smiled up at Jag, "Good luck," she said and then leaned in to kiss him, trying not to think about the wriggling creature she would soon stick in her mouth.
When they pulled apart, Jag whispered quietly, "I thought Jedi don't believe in luck."
"No," she replied, "but Solo's do."
The ship shuddered again and Jaina felt a tug, the tug of swiftly spreading decompression that drowned out Jag's reply. It was time to go.
Forcing herself not to gag and spit it back out, Jaina allowed the creature to position itself so that she could breathe. Quickly she grabbed Jag with one hand, making sure his Ooglith cloaker was in place, she used her other hand to cut the airlock open with her lightsaber. As the last burst of decompression propelled them away from the frigate, Jaina used a combination of her Jedi talents to create a small bubble of artificial atmosphere around them from the remnant of the ship's atmosphere, not to help them breathe per say but to protect them from the freezing ravages of vacuum.
* * * * * * *
With a smile Mara Jade Skywalker continued to feed her son the chopped pieces of gula fruit as she waited for Luke to return. He was currently in a meeting with the High Council. The subject of their meeting was Jaina. Since the information Tekli had uncovered that suggested that both Jaina and Jag were alive, no new leads had been found.
Her smile wavered slightly as she reflected back on the conversation she and Tahiri had, had with Jacen concerning his twin. Jacen's reaction to the suggestion that his sister was still alive disturbed Mara more than Jaina's Dark reaction had after the mission to Myrk. Up until the time she had pointed out that Jaina had similarly refused to believe Jacen was alive, Jacen had been despairing and depressed. When she mentioned that however, his Dark outburst had left Mara so shocked, that her jaw had actually dropped at her normally pacific nephew's actions. Tahiri had rationalized that it was Jaina's apparent death, while Mara simply hoped that was all it was.
A lump of Gula fruit paused in mid air and the spoon it was residing on was clumsily pushed back towards Mara, snapping her out of her reverie. She gently scolded her son, although secretly she was very proud of him. The boy was barely a year old and he already controlled telekinetic powers superior to those of some full Jedi knights.
She slipped the last bite of fruit into her son's mouth and then grabbed a damp cloth from the counter next to her to wipe away the sticky fruit juices that had dripped on to the little boy as she fed him. He babbled happily at her as she picked him up from his small high chair. He wasn't talking in sentences.yet. But, he did know a few words and he was picking up more, fast. She knew from Leia that force sensitive children picked up communication skills quickly. Soon she would have to remind Han, or Uncle Han as he liked to be called these days, to watch what he said around Ben.
With Ben content on her hip and happily watching her every move, Mara sat down at the makeshift desk she and Luke shared. She quickly rummaged through the data cards on her desk until she found the one's she wanted. They were data cards that Intel had sent her containing intelligence reports from locales all over the New Republic. She hadn't given up on finding Jaina, and in fact, Tahiri was looking for leads this morning. These reports, however, had temporarily demanded her attention.
As she looked over the reports she began to softly explain their contents to her young son. She knew he really couldn't understand them, but he still seemed intently focused on her. She enjoyed sharing the skills she had gained throughout her various careers and lifestyles with Ben, even if he would probably never remember. So, she spent the next two hours explaining to Ben why the Yuuzhan Vong agents acted as they did, where they had made their mistakes as well as how to be a much better covert agent than any of the rank amateurs working for the Vong. She was still talking to her son when her comm. link buzzed interrupting her and demanding her immediate attention.
She kissed her son's forehead drawing a giggle out of him as she plucked her comm. link off of her belt. "Jade-Skywalker." She said into it.
"Mara," Tahiri's voice answered her, "I haven't found anything yet, but Tenel Ka's arriving in a few minutes for a conference with Cal. I thought I could talk to her before they get started."
"That sounds like a good idea, Tahiri. If we can convince her, maybe she can help us convince, Jacen."
"Okay, Mara, I'll talk to her." Tahiri flicked off her comm. link and strode towards Tenel Ka and her entourage. When Tahiri was within a few feet of Tenel Ka, she bowed and called out, "May I have a moment of your time, Queen Mother."
Tenel Ka glanced up distracted, just noticing Tahiri. A small smile flitted across her face. "Friend Tahiri."
Tahiri took that as her cue to stand straight and walked towards the approaching Queen Mother. They embraced warmly when they reached one another. The two had never been close at the Jedi Academy, but had grown closer after the mission at Myrk and the loss of Jacen and Anakin and had a very fond mutual respect.
Tahiri immediately said, "Tenel Ka, I know you have a meeting with Cal Omas, but I need to talk to you. It's important."
"Of course, Friend Tahiri. Walk with me?"
Tahiri nodded. As they began walking, she started explaining. When Tahiri had finished talking, Tenel Ka's face was grimly serious, although Tahiri could feel the beginning of a cautious excitement building in Tenel Ka.
"What can I do to help you, Friend Tahiri?" She asked.
"Mara and I want to go after Jaina and presumably Jag, but we really need Jacen to help us locate her through the force. The problem is," she paused in sympathy to Jacen as well as frustration, "Jacen is cutting people off almost more than Jaina was and he won't listen to us, much less help us."
"You want my help in convincing Jacen?" Tenel Ka asked.
"Yes," Tahiri said succinctly.
"I will try to persuade him, but I do not know how much weight he will give my words. We are not as close as we once were." She paused taking a deep breath. "However, no matter what Friend Jacen says, I will help you as much as I can."
"Thank you, Tenel Ka." Tahiri said as the two Jedi went in opposite directions-Tahiri to report to Mara and Tenel Ka to meet with Cal Omas.
* * * * * * *
Hours later Tenel Ka stood before an anonymous door in an anonymous corridor. For the first time in weeks, she was lacking her entourage of bodyguards and advisors. She felt wonderful. She paused and took a breath before knocking on the door of the oldest and best of her friends, Jacen Solo.
A force probe brushed across her and she held her breath, waiting for Jacen's response. He was the only person in the galaxy that could do this to her. With everyone else she remained in perfect control, of both the situation and her emotions. Jacen was different. His presence overloaded her with emotions and sent her into a nauseating whirl of confusion.
The door to his quarters hissed open and drew her out of her thoughts. She looked at him, standing in the doorway of his quarters. She had only seen him twice since the disastrous mission to Myrk, once at their Knighting ceremony and again at Jaina's funeral. At both times it hadn't been opportune or appropriate for them to talk. She mentally took in Jacen's appearance. The beard he now wore still shocked her, especially in its current state of disarray. His skin was pale and pasty against his once lustrous, deep brown eyes that now merely looked like sunken pits. He had also lost weight, she noticed, even since he had returned.
She took all of this in, in a fraction of a second and said simply, "Jacen."
His voice was muted, the tone apathetic and showing none of the passion and compassion that she had always associated with him. "Tenel Ka."
"May I come in, Friend Jacen?" Tenel Ka asked after a moment of devastating silence.
He simply fell back from the door and retreated back on to the bunk in his quarters. His depression seemed to suck the very life out of the air and Tenel Ka could even feel it beginning to eating away at her determined nature. She beat it back with a memory of she and her friends swimming in a lake on Yavin IV. It was one of the happiest times in her life and the only time she had ever come close to admitting to Jacen her feelings, for him. But something had stopped her back then, after all they had only been fourteen.
She drew herself out of her reverie and decided to use her customarily blunt approach with the subject. "Friend Jacen, I know Jaina is alive. Mara and Tahiri have discovered this much. We need your help to find her."
To her shock Jacen didn't react. In fact, Jacen didn't move, he only said dully. "My sister's dead, Tenel Ka, so go away."
His emotionless words hit her like a charging Rancor and she physically stumbled back. Jacen's response, the absolute antithesis of Jaina's, dismayed her.
Tenel Ka had long ago acknowledged Jacen's tendency to pacifism but even Jaina's Dark reaction to her brothers' deaths was preferable to Jacen's response or his lack therof. Her mind was in hyperdrive the moment she regained her mental balance, trying to come up with the words or actions to persuade Jacen to help her, or at the very least stimulate enough of a response in him to get Jacen to kick her out of his quarters. Nothing came to her mind. There was no way she could goad him or persuade him while he was like his.
"Jacen," she repeated his name again allowing emotion, desperation to seep into her voice, and not just desperation for Jaina, but for Jacen and herself as well. Jaina might have ostensibly been the reason she came to talk to Jacen, but she would have seen him regardless. She had cared about Jacen for a long time, she thought, as she retreated a few steps towards the wall and away from Jacen.
It had all started when she had first met the twins at the age of fourteen at the Jedi Academy. The trio, along with Lowbacca had all immediately become friends, but she had always been closer to Jacen. Throughout their years at the Academy and later through the Vong war, Tenel Ka's original crush on Jacen had given way to deeper feelings. She was painfully, acutely, aware that Jacen wasn't conscious of her feelings towards him. She had privately seethed when she learned of his crush on Danni Quee, but despite her increased monosyllabic response to the world, she had not reacted to it.
Only Jaina and a few of the other Jedi that had been near by when they had felt Jacen's apparent death were aware of her feelings for Jacen, because of her emotional outburst. She loved Jacen, she knew that now as did several others, Jaina included. She needed Jacen, even if it was only as friend, not this new Jacen, but the old Jacen.
However, she needed to find Jaina to bring the old Jacen back. So seizing the initiative as she had done, once, many years ago, she walked swiftly forwards and kissed Jacen. She poured all of her feelings and emotion into it. Emotions, both painful and joyous, also conveying them to him through the force, trying to make Jacen feel anything at all.
The moment she pulled back, from Jacen, trying to rein her raging emotions in she noticed the shock in his eyes. It wasn't the fiery determination she had wished for but it was better than the apathy of moments ago. She stood and before he had a chance to protest she used her single arm to pull him up off of the bunk and propel him towards the door. It automatically opened and he stumbled out into the corridor.
Catching the sleeve of his tunic as she walked out behind him, Tenel Ka pulled him down the corridor with her. As they walked, she flicked on the comm. link pinned to the collar of her royal robes, using the force.
"Darina," she snapped at her head mechanic, "prepare my personal vessel and inform Captain Casal that she is to report to my private vessel immediately." She snapped off Darina's startled reply as she stormed down the corridor with Jacen in her wake. Changing the frequency on her comm. link, Tenel Ka, this time commed Tahiri.
Less viciously than she had with the mechanic, she said, "Tahiri if you want to find Jaina, meet me at the private Hapan docking bay in ten minutes ready to leave."
"Acknowledged," answered Tahiri efficiently, thankfully not asking questions.