Once again, I apologize for the length of time it takes me to get these chapters up. Thanks for your patience and your enthusiasm, I hope I continue to please. Saw Revenge of the Sith last night and was very pleased, particularly after the debacles of Episodes I and II. Please continue to submit your reviews. Thank you and enjoy.
Jaina was leading the other Jedi through the downlevels. She didn't know where she was, didn't know where she was going, didn't know what lay ahead of them. All that Jaina knew was she had to keep moving, had to keep the memories at bay.
Jovan Drark, gentle Ulaha Kore, gaudy but loyal Raynar Thul, little Anakin, and most painful, smiling Jacen. Now Ganner.
She couldn't take it anymore. Too many friends dead, and not just Jedi. Wingmates and friends in Rogue Squadron and with Twin Suns. Chewbacca. Countless other faces whose names she never knew.
Jaina hadn't even realized she'd stopped until Jag laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Taking a look around, she realized that they stood at the separation of their passage, and it branched off into three other possible routes. Her chest heaved, and her breathing came ragged.
Jag turned to look at the rest of the team. Kyp's customary scowl had returned to his face, and Zekk's dark eyes burned furiously. Lowie and Tekli were unreadable to him.
"Take ten," he ordered, "Tekli, see if anyone's hurt. Alema, check to make sure everyone gets a round of rations."
The Jedi immediately began following orders, and Jag was proud of that. He knew that they followed Jaina because of respect, not rank. If one of them gave a necessary order, he knew the others would follow it, because they respected and trusted each other. Even with Ganner's death, it was heartwarming to know that they considered him one of their own.
Jaina had sat hard on the stone floor, and tears began flowing as Jag wrapped his arms around her. She tried blinking the tears away. She was a Jedi, and colonel in the Alliance military. She shouldn't be crying. But she was. The past five years had been too much… too much war, too much death.
She'd never liked Ganner. He'd been arrogant and had a chip on his shoulder ever since he arrived at the Academy. Something had changed in him after his mission with Jacen and Corran Horn before the destruction of Ithor. He'd come back more subdued, and a strong supporter of Jacen and Uncle Luke, opposing the beliefs that Kyp espoused at the time and the actions of Wurth Skidder. Ganner had stood staunchly with Jacen at Myrkr and, like her mother, had never accepted that Jacen was dead.
She knew that five years back he'd gone hunting for her brother after rumors had arisen that people had seen Jacen. Jaina had heard from others that Ganner had passed out in the corridor of a camp ship, proof, he said, of a powerful Force-sensitive.
Jaina pulled out of Jag's gentle embrace and met her husband's eyes. This war had cost her Chewie and both of her brothers, and had nearly claimed her parents on several occasions. If she lost Jag…
"I love you, Jag," she whispered.
He reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. "I know. I know," he replied in his soothing voice, "I love you too."
"I can't lose you, Jag," continued Jaina, "if I lose you, then that's it. I know I'll lose myself to the Dark Side. I'll just go on a rampage and kill every Vong in front of me and anyone who stands in my way. Jag you have to go back to the ship. Wait there, be ready to take off when we need you too, or…"
"Shhhh," he whispered, silencing her with a light kiss, "I'm not going anywhere, Goddess. Not back to the ship, and certainly not to my death. When I married you, I planned for it to be a heck of a lot longer than a couple months. We have a lot more living to do together."
Jaina didn't even try to stop the tears this time as she grabbed her husband and pulled him into a Wookiee hug.
A few meters away, Kyp watched the two of carefully. He didn't want to intrude, but he did intend to keep an eye on his friends. At one time, he loved Jaina, but he knew it wasn't something that would last. What she had with Jag, that was something else.
I swear by the Force or whatever gods may be listening, I'll die before I let anything happen to those two. Emperor's black bones, don't let me fail them.
Farther away, Tekli knelt next to Tahiri bandaging a minor cut on the blond Jedi's upper arm.
"Do you think Jaina's all right?" asked the diminutive Chadra-Fan.
But Tahiri wasn't listening, there was something on the edge of her senses, something…
"All glory to the Jeedai," whispered a voice.
Tahiri spun to her feet and lit her lightsaber in the blink of an eye. Its pale silvery-blue glow illuminated the faces of a trio of Yuuzhan Vong.
"We're surrounded!" called Zekk as his own crimson lightsaber was activated.
Five more lightsabers joined the others and Jag had already readied his repeating blaster. From the light of the glowlamps and their lightsabers, the team could see that they were surrounded by only a few dozen Yuuzhan Vong, all of them sporting some kind of deformity.
"Shamed Ones," said Tahiri in confirmation.
One of the Vong approached Jaina slowly and cautiously, then knelt at her feet.
"Jeedai Yun-Harla," he said reverentially, "Your coming to Yuuzhan'tar was foretold by the True God and his Word was relayed to us, his worshippers, by his Prophet. Commanded we were, to bring what would be needed."
Two more of the Shamed Ones came out of the darkness near Tekli and laid two bundles next to her. Slowly, with Alema Rar standing next to her for protection, the Jedi healer examined the contents. She looked to Jaina in amazement.
"Food," she said simply, "mostly some kinds of grubs, but they look safe to eat. And this looks like the contents of most of a full medkit. Where did you find these?"
"The True God knows the ways of the Jeedai and the Galactic Alliance," answered one of the Shamed Ones who had brought the bundle over, "As the True God commands, we obey, and searched the ruins to gather supplies for you."
Slowly, hesitantly, Jaina lowered her lightsaber and extinguished the blade. One by one, the others followed their lead. When Tahiri finally deactivated her lightsaber, the Shamed One who stood in front of Jaina bowed deeply.
"Jeedai Yun-Harla, we must bring you to the Prophet," he told her, "He can help you on your quest here, and we can lead you there by routes that the warriors of the Supreme Overlord do not know."
Still unsure, Jaina turned to the others, getting a couple of nods and a few more noncommittal shrugs. It was up to her.
"All right," she said heavily, "lead the way. But if you betray us, you will be the first one I strike down."
Fire licked at his nerves and the pain became a blanket that smothered out Ganner Rhysode's perception of everything else. He knew, intellectually, distantly, that he couldn't have been in the Embrace of Pain for more than a few hours, but it felt like centuries.
Most of his wounds had been left untreated, only those that threatened his life had been healed by Jacen.
Another wave of pain washed over him, obliterating whatever his next thought might have been.
Ganner sought the glory of the Force, he could feel it, sense it, almost touch it, but he couldn't draw it into himself. He couldn't use the Force to ease his pain. It was as if there was something blocking his ability to call upon it. He could still barely sense things, such as the Yuuzhan Vong that surrounded the room, and distantly Ganner wondered how. Only Tahiri, shaped by the Vong, and Anakin, who had attuned himself to the lambent crystal he'd used for his lightsaber had been able to sense the Yuuzhan Vong at all. He could only guess that the Embrace of Pain monitored him telepathically, and therefore currently made him a part of the Yuuzhan Vong's world.
Jacen Solo is a Traitor.
The thought rang in Ganner's ears over and over again. What had they done? How could Jacen have joined the Vong?
While he still could, Ganner swore an oath to himself that he would do everything possible to bring Jacen back to the Jedi, even if it meant his own death.
Pain rolled through him again, destroying his next thought. Ganner screamed in pain.
Standing in the Hall of Confluence at the throne of Supreme Overlord Shimrra, Jacen could feel Ganner's agony through the Force. He consciously drew the entirety of that pain into himself, while at the same time blocking Ganner's ability to call upon the Force. He couldn't allow the others to feel his pain. If they did, there would be no stopping Jaina, or Kyp for that matter, from marching right to the Citadel and trying to fight through the entire royal guard.
Jacen didn't want that. At least, not yet.
"My agents report that the Jeedai have been spotted in the blasphemous underground of the planet, guided by Shamed Ones," spat Drathul, "and now I learn that the Lord Slayer has one of them in his control."
"Hardly my control, Prefect," countered Jacen, smiling without warmth, "I merely desired to capture him. The other Jedi are of little concern right now."
"Little concern!" repeated High Priest Jakan, "Little concern! Must I inform you, Lord, that your twin sister leads these Jeedai? Be wary of the Trickster."
"I have doubts of Jaina Yun-Harla's trickery," answered Jacen, "but at the moment she is harmless, and if you brenzlits would not hinder my divine plans, her threat can be easily negated."
Shimrra sat above them all on his throne, Onimi was seated a few steps below. While the Supreme Overlord seemed to observe the debate with amused interest, his familiar seemed not to pay attention at all. Jacen noticed this, and knew that it was just an illusion. Onimi was carefully listening to everything that was said and storing it in that brain of his. Jacen knew his next words would have to be very carefully chosen.
"Negate the threat of a team of Jeedai on our sacred homeworld?" commented Drathul sarcastically.
"Remember to whom you speak!" roared Jacen, and for a moment it was gratifying to see both of the Yuuzhan Vong fall to their knees and grovel, "You speak before the God-I-Am. Do not try to understand the plans of the divine, for you are not gods. The Jedi are simple pack animals. Separate one from the rest, and that one is easy prey."
"What are your plans, Lord Slayer?" asked Shimrra, speaking for the first time.
"Overlord, I will break this Jedi," replied Jacen darkly, "His capture has already thrown the Jedi into despair and chaos. If the High Prefect were to deliver more accurate facts, he would have informed you that the reports of the Jedi in the downlevels showed them much farther south of the Sacred Precinct than their previous path. They are highly distracted.
"Today I will return this Jedi and share with him the Light of the Truth. Ganner Rhysode will be converted to the True Way and willingly offer his life to the True Gods. But that is not my plan. For he will be returned to the Jedi."
"Return the Jeedai to the others of his kind!" exclaimed Jakan.
Jacen grinned darkly. "Yes Eminence. He will be returned to them. Then he will be able to quietly spread the Truth to the infidel Jedi. Their conversion will begin, and at the time and place of my choosing, I shall finish their training to have them acknowledge me as the God-I-Am and offer up their lives to the True Gods."
"But my Lord Slayer, how are you certain that you can convert this Jeedai? Others have tried and failed before. How can we know he actually accepts the Truth unless he is extensively tested?" asked Jakan.
"Do you dare question my power as the God-I-Am?" replied Jacen, as waves of power rolled off him and brought the priest to his knees, "Do you think I could fail to bring the Light of the True Way to an unbeliever?"
"Belek tiu," whimpered Jakan.
Above them, Shimrra rumbled with laughter. "Well said, Lord Slayer. There is no doubt of your power as the God-You-Are. But I too, have doubts that a Jeedai can be so easily converted to the True Way. Therefore, it is my word that you have until moonrise to convert this Jeedai. At that time, the High Priest can test him for worthiness, and if he fails, he will be sent to the gods."
Ganner was barely conscious that the pain was receding, and he could again open his eyes. Something rock hard held his head firmly in place, he could only look around a small area, but what he saw was enough. The room was small, and two or three tentacles with what looked to be eyes hung from the ceiling, watching him.
But the worst was right in front of him. Jacen Solo. Jedi. Hero. Traitor.
"Ease your mind, Jedi Ganner Rhysode," said Jacen imperiously, "for the time has come to relieve you of the lies that pervade all society of the infidels. Three Gifts have the True Gods given to us. Life, that we may serve them, this is their lesser gift. Pain they gave us so that we might know the suffering that created all things, this is their greater gift. But their greatest gift is Death, that we might rejoin with Yun-Yuuzhan, creator and destroyer of all things."
"Jacen," whispered Ganner harshly, his throat thick and scratchy, "it's okay. No matter what they've done to you, we can fix it. We need you Jacen, you're a hero. You're a Jedi."
"Silence blasphemer!" hissed Jacen.
Ganner tried to reach out to the Force, to gain some semblance of normalcy against this aberration that appeared to be Jacen Solo.
But nothing happened, and he heard a barking laugh.
"Oh, the Force," said Jacen mockingly, "Your precious Force is a crutch for the weak. Infidels do not deserve to touch the lingering power of Yun-Yuuzhan. I have prevented you from accessing this power ever since you were captured. After all, we couldn't have your fellow infidel Jedi following you to the Citadel, could we?"
Ganner was ready for the younger man to go on another tirade, but Jacen didn't. Instead, he simply looked around the room. One by one, pinpricks of light on the walls winked out, and the tentacles that watched them fell limp. Only once did the eyes of the two men meet, and Ganner's confusion was plain.
Jacen answered the unspoken question with a confident wink.
Finally, when all the tentacles had gone slack, Jacen came up to Ganner and touched whatever it was that held him in its grasp. Ganner could instantly feel the bonds around his hands and wrists loosening, and he steadily sank towards the floor.
Jacen came and knelt next to him, his eyes watering.
"Sithspit, Ganner," he said, with, amazingly, a chuckle, "you look like you came out of the Corellian hells."
"Well, you know those crazy gods," replied the older man, "can't make a vacation spot worth a damn."
Jacen laughed as he brought his tear-soaked hands to Ganner's wounds. Once again the pain washed away and injuries vanished in front of his eyes. Ganner was astounded. This was far more than any Jedi healing trance could have done for him, even in a matter of hours.
"It's a good think that you still have your sense of humor," Jacen told him in a much more sober voice, "You're going to need everything you have for the trials ahead of you."
"What are you talking about Jacen? Right now I have one mission: to get you out of this saarlac pit."
Jacen raised one eyebrow in amusement. Then he nodded. "Yes, I suppose you would see it that way. But after five years, Ganner, I have come to terms with what Yuuzhan'tar is. But we must hurry. Listen to me Ganner, it's true that I'm not the same person I used to be, and trying to remember who I was before my death will only get in your way."
Before my death, the words echoed in Ganner's ears. Jacen spoke them with a tone of utter sincerity and simplicity, as if it should make perfect sense. But if there was one thing he'd learned over the years since Myrkr, it was when to keep his mouth shut, especially when it was Jacen Solo who was talking.
"Warriors of the High Priest will be coming shortly, even quicker than usual once they realize that the sensing biots have lost consciousness. When they arrive, they will be expecting myself, and a Jedi wholeheartedly converted to their religion. Will you help me, Ganner?"
"Help you?" repeated Ganner, "Sithspawn Jacen, I have no idea what's going on here. How do I know this isn't just some trick to get me to betray the others."
"You don't have to know," was the answer, "all you have to do is choose."
"Choose?"
"All of what we are is made up only by the choices we make, and the consequences of those choices," explained Jacen, "You were right before, I am a traitor. A traitor to far more than you can possibly imagine. And I want you to join me."
"Join a traitor?" spat Ganner, "How do I know you're not just lying to me to get to Jaina and the others?"
"I am lying to you. Everything I tell you is a lie."
Ganner shook his head in confusion. Nothing that Jacen was saying was making any sense in the least.
"The thing is, Ganner, everything that everyone tells you is a lie," continued Jacen, "The only truth is within each of us, and our choices. We don't have to know anything, we just have to choose who we are. Once you make that choice, the rest becomes easy."
Ganner mulled it over, then turned back to a man he once considered his friend. "So just who, or what, are you?"
Jacen smiled broadly, as if he had been waiting for the question. "Me? I am Jacen Solo. What are you?"
The question too him aback, and for several long moments Ganner just sat there thinking.
What am I? he wondered. At one time he would have said the greatest Jedi alive, but he'd grown past that years ago. He didn't know what he was. Ganner shivered as the thought came to him. He wanted to know, he needed to know. He turned to Jacen for an answer, but the younger man just stood there expectantly.
We just have to choose who we are.
What did Jacen mean by that?
Suddenly, Jacen turned his head towards to the door. "High Priest Jakan is coming with a squad of warriors. Listen to me, Ganner, if you choose to side with me, you must remember this line. 'I have seen the Light of the True Way, and go to the gods with joy in my heart, full of gratitude for their Third Gift.' Choose, and act Ganner Rhysode."
Moments later the muscle-like door opened with a wet smacking sound, and in marched over a dozen Yuuzhan Vong, at their head was a lightly scarred male in a blood-red tunic.
Jacen met them and seemed to be angry as he spoke in the Yuuzhan Vong language. Ganner didn't understand a word of it, or rather he wouldn't have if he had been listening. Instead, he was thinking about who he was.
Ganner Rhysode had once been the most arrogant Jedi in the order, always striving to be a hero. Then came Garqi and he decided that he wouldn't try being a hero. He was sick of it all. He was sick of himself.
He was tired of being a crappy Jedi, a mediocre pilot, and a bloody lousy leader of men. Now what Jacen had said made sense. Ganner Rhysode was none of those things. It wasn't that he was a poor Jedi or pilot, he was only who he was. All he could do was be the best Ganner Rhysode he could be.
He looked over at Jacen arguing with the priest. At Garqi, Ganner's arrogance had cost him his face, and yet Jacen had never stopped trying to help him. From that point on he had considered Jacen a friend, someone to emulate. Jacen's sacrifice at Myrkr had only made him more noble in Ganner's estimation. Whether or not he was a traitor didn't matter, he realized. Jacen Solo was a friend, and Ganner would stand by him no matter what.
"I have seen the Light of the True Way," he said quietly, as Jacen and the priest turned to him, "and I go to the gods with joy in my heart, uh, full of, full of gratitude for their Third gift."
Jacen gave a slight grin and tossed a wink at Ganner before turning back to the priest.
"You see, High Priest Jakan," he said in Basic, "this pathetic Jedi understands the lies of his infidel culture. He stands ready to serve the True Gods. Even to the point of destroying the Galactic Alliance."
Sithspawn Jacen, thought Ganner, I hope you know what the kriff you're doing.
Jakan was not entirely convinced. It had taken nearly a year for Jacen to accept his conversion to the True Way, so it was hard to believe that this other Jeedai had been fully converted in a matter of hours.
"Even so, my Lord Slayer, I should like to see this Jeedai face these Purifiers. If his conversion is genuine…" Jakan let the thought hang out in the open.
Jacen haughtily turned back to Ganner and pulled something from inside his robe. Ganner almost gave a start at seeing his lightsaber.
"Take up the weapon of the infidels, my warrior," ordered Jacen, "face these warriors purified by Yun-Yuuzhan. Show the priest that you now serve me."
Ganner took his lightsaber and activated the sulfurous yellow blade. Its light mixed with the ambient light of the chamber, giving everything a strange glow.
Two warriors leapt forward, but Ganner wasn't even conscious that he moved to face them. He was fully in the flow of the Force. He could sense the warriors at the edge of his consciousness, he could feel what they were going to do a split second before they did it, just enough time to anticipate and plan his next move. Even when the entire squad came down on him, Ganner was calm, he stood centered around his lightsaber, while all about him faced the storm.
His lightsaber was a blur of motion moving in all directions at once. Purified by Yun-Yuuzhan perhaps, but they seemed even less skilled than other warriors. To Ganner, the warriors didn't exist, Jacen didn't exist, the priest didn't exist, even he didn't exist. There was only the lethal dance he now performed. All is the dance. All simply is.
Several moments later, Ganner cleared his eyes. He stood in the center of the room, the warriors lay dead around him. He knew what he had to do.
Two strides took him before Jacen, then Ganner fell to one knee, stabbing his lightsaber into the ground. "I have seen the Light of the True Way!" he declared loudly, "And I go to the gods with joy in my heart, full of gratitude for their Third Gift!"
Jacen smiled warmly. "Then rise, my warrior. My friend." Then his eyes hardened and he advanced on Jakan, who edged back in fear. "Do you still doubt my power as the God-I-Am, High Priest? Must you be sent to the True Gods to answer for the sin of doubt?"
Jakan fell to knees. "Belek tiu. Lord Slayer, I could not believe it could be done. I still am in awe. I cannot believe you did it so quickly."
"That, is why you fail."
Despite all the coaching Jacen had given him on the way over, the sight of Supreme Overlord Shimrra was certainly one that Ganner decided he could have done without.
"So, you have given up the ways of the infidels, have you Jeedai Ganner?" rumbled the gigantic lord of the Yuuzhan Vong, "You worship the God-Before-Us as the Lord Slayer, Yun-Yammka?"
Ganner remained on his knees, then brought his face lower to the ground. "I do, Dread Lord."
"What is it that the Lord Slayer has planned for you?"
"I am to be returned to the infidel Jedi who remain on the holy planet," Ganner wished he could wash his mouth out when he was finished with this drivel, "I am to sow confusion and doubt in their bankrupt religion, to prepare them to accept the True Way when our Lord Slayer comes to show them the Light."
Shimrra's laughter echoed through the Hall of Confluence, but both Jacen and Ganner remained calm and focused as the Force flowed through them.
"Very good, Jeedai Ganner," said Shimrra, his ma'ip eyes shifting through shades of green, "Now Lord Slayer, what plans do you have for your servant."
"He must be returned to the infidel Jedi who remain in the underlevels of the city, and even now are led closer to the Prophet of the Shamed Ones," answered Jacen, "I have already alerted my spies within the Shamed Ones to my plans. Have Ganner led out of the Citadel by a small group of priests without warriors. My spies will plan a 'rescue' with other heretics. Ganner must spend some more time in the Embrace of Pain so that he appears injured when he is brought to the Prophet and the Jedi. At that time, Ganner will prepare the Jedi to receive the Light of the True Way."
With his head bowed, Ganner smirked. Oh, he would prepare the other Jedi all right. But not for the Yuuzhan Vong's religion. Oh no. Jacen had other plans, which Ganner had wholeheartedly agreed to.
Here's where the fun begins.