Disclaimer: See all of the previous chapters
Author's Note: Telepathic thoughts are like this **blah, blah**
Their return to Shelter was full of tension. Jaina and Mara were both expecting a hail of grutchkins to follow them into hyperspace, or to be pulled back into realspace by a dovin basal mine with a Yuuzhan Vong task force waiting for them. Neither the former, nor the latter happened, though. Jaina sitting in the copilot's chair, glanced up at Mara and Ben was currently sleeping in his mother's lap. She would have smiled at the picture that they presented had she not know what Ben had recently gone through.
The little boy was resting his head on Mara's chest, with one hand clinched into a fist around a section of his mother's black tunic. Mara had an arm wrapped carefully around him, half-possessively and half a shield from the galaxy at large.
It was different, Jaina decided, being on this side of a kidnapping. The fear was different, but just as paralyzing and the sense of helplessness was identical. As she let the detached part of her mind wander, she involuntarily called up images she seldom contemplated. Her parents thought that she had stopped having nightmares years ago about those attempts, but they were wrong. She had simply grown used to hiding them. She hoped Ben wouldn't have to. He and billions of other little children like him were what kept her fighting this war when everything else seemed hopeless.
Jaina felt the change in Ben's emotions seconds before he woke, screaming. Mara was reacting to her son's distress immediately. She scooped him up even more securely in her arms and whispered to him in soothing words that Jaina couldn't quite make out. He quieted after a moment, but continued to sob in his mother's arms. Surprising herself, Jaina reached out towards Ben. She hesitated for a moment and then carefully laid her hand on his tiny shoulder.
She felt his physical and emotional flinch and then she was caught up in the unique Force bond between Mother and Son. But even before she could consider that she was overwhelmed by Ben's terror. Mara could only do so much to comfort and soothe him. Jaina felt like an inadvertent intruder, invading the personal space of her aunt and cousin. She had invaded this private domain for only one reason, though, she reminded herself through the endless pain and terror of Ben's emotions.
She, Jaina, along with her twin, had been given a gift long ago by a Jedi healer now long gone from the Order and now she had a chance to repay that freely given gift. It was difficult for her. Healing wasn't her gift and she always worked better on this sort of thing with Jacen. Instead of focusing on her despair, though, she focused on the Force, the whole Force, not seeking to form it or bind it to her will but creating the purist, blinding lightside energy that she could. She focused on the feeling of a gift given and freedom received, freedom from fear and she channeled all of that into Ben.
She had expected a reaction but not a response from Ben. It was just as overwhelming as his fear. Ben was strong in the Force, but still untrained. His response to her gift was immediate if clumsy. He reached back towards her in the Force. At first she didn't understand. Jaina had felt his relief, the way the Force had taken away the edge of his nameless terror, she didn't know why he was reaching back out to her, through the Force.
She felt Ben touch her mind, and it was if he was unlocking something, or maybe showing her something that she didn't even know was there. The Force expanded around them infinitely and instantaneously. Jaina's mind was assaulted by a chaotic rush of images too quickly for her to even try to understand them. Moments later the vision and her consciousness deserted her at the same time, leaving a much calmer Ben and a worried and perplexed Mara staring at her neice and wondering about her bizarre behavior.
============================================================================ ===============
Jaina Solo stood on a beautiful world. Soft sunlight and clean, fresh air spilled gently around her. As the alien grass waved in ripples and the breeze danced lightly through it, she looked around curiously. She didn't know where she was or even how she had gotten there. Something insider her knew that she should be panicking, analyzing, struggling to figure out who was responsible for leaving her here and if she was in danger. But for whatever reason- this place seemed to be having some kind of effect on her- she wasn't.
Jaina looked around curiously, noticing little oddities as she did so. She was dressed in her Jedi robes, and not the black combat gear that she had been wearing. She was also, in a very detached way, glad when she noticed that she still had her lightsaber and her blaster.
She turned slowly, taking in the scenery, the gently rolling hills and the total absence of any beings of any recognizable sentient species. After surveying her surroundings for a moment, she began to move towards the nearest hill and started easily up it. It wasn't that high, but it would at least give her a slightly better view than her current one. She reached the top of the hill without the slightest change in her breathing.
"Hello."
She whirled around, and even despite her surprise, she had her lightsaber and blaster aimed at them before the woman in front of her could say another word. "Who are you," she demanded, her disorientation returning as she was forced to confront this new situation. What she needed was time, time to figure out what was going on here.
The young man smirked and directed a look of infinitely superior wisdom at her. "My name is Anakin Skywalker," he gestured to the woman at his side. "This is my wife- your grandmother- Padme Amidala."
A blaster bolt bit into the ground at his feet. He didn't even flinch. "You're lying. Next time....... I aim higher."
The man smiled wildly, looking for a moment as if he were enjoying himself. Instead of backing down, he raised his hand and invited her to try it. "It's been far too long since I've had a good fight. Maybe you'll listen once I've taught you to respect your elders. I was a Sith Lord, you know." He still smiled, but something, something in his voice or maybe a look in his eyes made Jaina pause for a moment. There was no way that this man could be telling the truth, but he believed what he was saying.
Before either of them had made a move, though, the woman stepped forward and shot an angry look at the man. "Stop that, Ani. We might look young," she gestured at their bodies, "but you're old enough to know better. It's not the way of the Jedi or the reason that she's here. Besides," she added with a knowing glance at Jaina, "She thinks we're dead. She doesn't know where we are."
Jaina looked back and forth between them. Something was wrong; she could feel the wrongness of her being here. A sharp pain ripped through her head and she involuntarily staggered back a step. Images began rushing her head of the last few weeks. Finding Callista, spending time with Jag, arriving at Shelter, learning about sensing the Vong with the Force, the fight with Callista- both of them- and then finally the way Ben had touched her through the Force. Suddenly two much more pertinent questions popped into her head. What had happened to her and where was she?
Jaina suddenly found herself on the ground looking up at the couple. Their faces morphed rapidly until she was looking up at Mara and Ben. "Jaina? Jaina, wake up." She heard Mara command and then they were gone. A phantom pressure on her face, and she was looking up at the man who claimed to be her grandfather. It was his hand on her face and he- she suddenly sensed- was the one who was responsible for keeping her here.
**Keeping you mind here,** She heard the man say. She only realized belatedly that his lips had never moved. He was speaking directly into her mind, which was something only the most powerful of the Jedi could do. Suddenly he was speaking again and she was hearing so much more than the words that he was saying. She could feel his intentions, and she could also feel that he was telling the truth. That simple thought filled her with a very real fear, because that could mean only one thing. If this couple was truly her grandparents, then she was dead.
**Not dead,** For the first time, Jaina was glad to hear his voice, *You're just unconscious.**
She sat up abruptly, and struggled back, away from him with an awkward, clumsiness that would have given Mara a fit, had she seen it. "I've been unconscious before," she snapped defiantly, "I don't usually see dead relatives."
The man's- her grandfather's- chuckles filled her mind, **True, but this time you needed to speak with me.** He stood up and offered her and hand up. He seemed to sense her next question before she even asked it.
"Why would I- "
"Because you are the Sword of the Jedi and I am the Chosen One." He looked at her steadily. He was speaking out loud again, but she could still feel his emotions. A deep sense of regret mixed with the supreme wisdom of hindsight poured off of him and suddenly he seemed much older than the image of the young Jedi Knight standing in front of her.
She stood up without saying a word, letting him speak when he would. They walked in silence for a long moment until they stopped in the middle of a small meadow.
"From the time I was accepted into the Order, I was known as the Chosen One- he who would restore balance to the Jedi." His eyes grew serious, "What the Jedi didn't know was how the scales would be evened. In the end only two were left for each side, but it was, nonetheless, a balance. One very powerful Master and the incredibly powerful servants that they had mentored. Obi-wan and myself. Yoda and Palpatine. In the end it all came down to Luke. He tipped the scales of the balance once again, but at the same time maintained the balance between Light and Dark within himself." He looked appraisingly at Jaina. "What I am here to tell you, is that I didn't have to turn to the Dark Side to restore the balance of the Force. The same thing could have been accomplished if I hadn't turned. I could have mastered the Light Side and led the change and reform necessary to the Order, from within."
"At your knighting ceremony you were named Sword of the Jedi. The same burden- that of the future of the Jedi- was placed on you. Jaina, you have the same choice that I did. You can become the Dark avenging Sword the drives the Vong from this galaxy in oceans of their own blood and rule both their galaxy and ours with a Dark fist," he was pleased to see that she looked stunned and even a little revolted at the idea, "Or," he continued, "You can become the Sword that defends, that stops harm before it is done, that stands firm until the last challenger has fallen. You can save your galaxy from the threat from without and prevent the unleashing of the threat from within them. It is your decision."
Please delurk and leave a review for this chapter to let me know what you think.
Author's Note: Telepathic thoughts are like this **blah, blah**
Their return to Shelter was full of tension. Jaina and Mara were both expecting a hail of grutchkins to follow them into hyperspace, or to be pulled back into realspace by a dovin basal mine with a Yuuzhan Vong task force waiting for them. Neither the former, nor the latter happened, though. Jaina sitting in the copilot's chair, glanced up at Mara and Ben was currently sleeping in his mother's lap. She would have smiled at the picture that they presented had she not know what Ben had recently gone through.
The little boy was resting his head on Mara's chest, with one hand clinched into a fist around a section of his mother's black tunic. Mara had an arm wrapped carefully around him, half-possessively and half a shield from the galaxy at large.
It was different, Jaina decided, being on this side of a kidnapping. The fear was different, but just as paralyzing and the sense of helplessness was identical. As she let the detached part of her mind wander, she involuntarily called up images she seldom contemplated. Her parents thought that she had stopped having nightmares years ago about those attempts, but they were wrong. She had simply grown used to hiding them. She hoped Ben wouldn't have to. He and billions of other little children like him were what kept her fighting this war when everything else seemed hopeless.
Jaina felt the change in Ben's emotions seconds before he woke, screaming. Mara was reacting to her son's distress immediately. She scooped him up even more securely in her arms and whispered to him in soothing words that Jaina couldn't quite make out. He quieted after a moment, but continued to sob in his mother's arms. Surprising herself, Jaina reached out towards Ben. She hesitated for a moment and then carefully laid her hand on his tiny shoulder.
She felt his physical and emotional flinch and then she was caught up in the unique Force bond between Mother and Son. But even before she could consider that she was overwhelmed by Ben's terror. Mara could only do so much to comfort and soothe him. Jaina felt like an inadvertent intruder, invading the personal space of her aunt and cousin. She had invaded this private domain for only one reason, though, she reminded herself through the endless pain and terror of Ben's emotions.
She, Jaina, along with her twin, had been given a gift long ago by a Jedi healer now long gone from the Order and now she had a chance to repay that freely given gift. It was difficult for her. Healing wasn't her gift and she always worked better on this sort of thing with Jacen. Instead of focusing on her despair, though, she focused on the Force, the whole Force, not seeking to form it or bind it to her will but creating the purist, blinding lightside energy that she could. She focused on the feeling of a gift given and freedom received, freedom from fear and she channeled all of that into Ben.
She had expected a reaction but not a response from Ben. It was just as overwhelming as his fear. Ben was strong in the Force, but still untrained. His response to her gift was immediate if clumsy. He reached back towards her in the Force. At first she didn't understand. Jaina had felt his relief, the way the Force had taken away the edge of his nameless terror, she didn't know why he was reaching back out to her, through the Force.
She felt Ben touch her mind, and it was if he was unlocking something, or maybe showing her something that she didn't even know was there. The Force expanded around them infinitely and instantaneously. Jaina's mind was assaulted by a chaotic rush of images too quickly for her to even try to understand them. Moments later the vision and her consciousness deserted her at the same time, leaving a much calmer Ben and a worried and perplexed Mara staring at her neice and wondering about her bizarre behavior.
============================================================================ ===============
Jaina Solo stood on a beautiful world. Soft sunlight and clean, fresh air spilled gently around her. As the alien grass waved in ripples and the breeze danced lightly through it, she looked around curiously. She didn't know where she was or even how she had gotten there. Something insider her knew that she should be panicking, analyzing, struggling to figure out who was responsible for leaving her here and if she was in danger. But for whatever reason- this place seemed to be having some kind of effect on her- she wasn't.
Jaina looked around curiously, noticing little oddities as she did so. She was dressed in her Jedi robes, and not the black combat gear that she had been wearing. She was also, in a very detached way, glad when she noticed that she still had her lightsaber and her blaster.
She turned slowly, taking in the scenery, the gently rolling hills and the total absence of any beings of any recognizable sentient species. After surveying her surroundings for a moment, she began to move towards the nearest hill and started easily up it. It wasn't that high, but it would at least give her a slightly better view than her current one. She reached the top of the hill without the slightest change in her breathing.
"Hello."
She whirled around, and even despite her surprise, she had her lightsaber and blaster aimed at them before the woman in front of her could say another word. "Who are you," she demanded, her disorientation returning as she was forced to confront this new situation. What she needed was time, time to figure out what was going on here.
The young man smirked and directed a look of infinitely superior wisdom at her. "My name is Anakin Skywalker," he gestured to the woman at his side. "This is my wife- your grandmother- Padme Amidala."
A blaster bolt bit into the ground at his feet. He didn't even flinch. "You're lying. Next time....... I aim higher."
The man smiled wildly, looking for a moment as if he were enjoying himself. Instead of backing down, he raised his hand and invited her to try it. "It's been far too long since I've had a good fight. Maybe you'll listen once I've taught you to respect your elders. I was a Sith Lord, you know." He still smiled, but something, something in his voice or maybe a look in his eyes made Jaina pause for a moment. There was no way that this man could be telling the truth, but he believed what he was saying.
Before either of them had made a move, though, the woman stepped forward and shot an angry look at the man. "Stop that, Ani. We might look young," she gestured at their bodies, "but you're old enough to know better. It's not the way of the Jedi or the reason that she's here. Besides," she added with a knowing glance at Jaina, "She thinks we're dead. She doesn't know where we are."
Jaina looked back and forth between them. Something was wrong; she could feel the wrongness of her being here. A sharp pain ripped through her head and she involuntarily staggered back a step. Images began rushing her head of the last few weeks. Finding Callista, spending time with Jag, arriving at Shelter, learning about sensing the Vong with the Force, the fight with Callista- both of them- and then finally the way Ben had touched her through the Force. Suddenly two much more pertinent questions popped into her head. What had happened to her and where was she?
Jaina suddenly found herself on the ground looking up at the couple. Their faces morphed rapidly until she was looking up at Mara and Ben. "Jaina? Jaina, wake up." She heard Mara command and then they were gone. A phantom pressure on her face, and she was looking up at the man who claimed to be her grandfather. It was his hand on her face and he- she suddenly sensed- was the one who was responsible for keeping her here.
**Keeping you mind here,** She heard the man say. She only realized belatedly that his lips had never moved. He was speaking directly into her mind, which was something only the most powerful of the Jedi could do. Suddenly he was speaking again and she was hearing so much more than the words that he was saying. She could feel his intentions, and she could also feel that he was telling the truth. That simple thought filled her with a very real fear, because that could mean only one thing. If this couple was truly her grandparents, then she was dead.
**Not dead,** For the first time, Jaina was glad to hear his voice, *You're just unconscious.**
She sat up abruptly, and struggled back, away from him with an awkward, clumsiness that would have given Mara a fit, had she seen it. "I've been unconscious before," she snapped defiantly, "I don't usually see dead relatives."
The man's- her grandfather's- chuckles filled her mind, **True, but this time you needed to speak with me.** He stood up and offered her and hand up. He seemed to sense her next question before she even asked it.
"Why would I- "
"Because you are the Sword of the Jedi and I am the Chosen One." He looked at her steadily. He was speaking out loud again, but she could still feel his emotions. A deep sense of regret mixed with the supreme wisdom of hindsight poured off of him and suddenly he seemed much older than the image of the young Jedi Knight standing in front of her.
She stood up without saying a word, letting him speak when he would. They walked in silence for a long moment until they stopped in the middle of a small meadow.
"From the time I was accepted into the Order, I was known as the Chosen One- he who would restore balance to the Jedi." His eyes grew serious, "What the Jedi didn't know was how the scales would be evened. In the end only two were left for each side, but it was, nonetheless, a balance. One very powerful Master and the incredibly powerful servants that they had mentored. Obi-wan and myself. Yoda and Palpatine. In the end it all came down to Luke. He tipped the scales of the balance once again, but at the same time maintained the balance between Light and Dark within himself." He looked appraisingly at Jaina. "What I am here to tell you, is that I didn't have to turn to the Dark Side to restore the balance of the Force. The same thing could have been accomplished if I hadn't turned. I could have mastered the Light Side and led the change and reform necessary to the Order, from within."
"At your knighting ceremony you were named Sword of the Jedi. The same burden- that of the future of the Jedi- was placed on you. Jaina, you have the same choice that I did. You can become the Dark avenging Sword the drives the Vong from this galaxy in oceans of their own blood and rule both their galaxy and ours with a Dark fist," he was pleased to see that she looked stunned and even a little revolted at the idea, "Or," he continued, "You can become the Sword that defends, that stops harm before it is done, that stands firm until the last challenger has fallen. You can save your galaxy from the threat from without and prevent the unleashing of the threat from within them. It is your decision."
Please delurk and leave a review for this chapter to let me know what you think.