Fear and Love
Season 1
Episode 2

Previously on All My Jedi…

Jysella's hot and Kyp's in deep...

Valin Horn has Mojo and ain't afraid to use it...

Tahiri left the Order *gasp* and is shackin' up with an old Tarkin *double gasp*...

And what is the deal with Jacen?

Well you can bump and grind

If it's good for your mind

Well you can twist and shout

Let it all hang out

But you won't fool the

Children of the revolution

No you won't fool the

Children of the revolution

No no

Children of the Revolution/ Marc Bolan

Hapan Embassy, Senate City, Coruscant
40 ABY
Ten Years After The Yuuzhan Vong War

Jagged Fel looked out at the sea of beings crowding the massive ballroom of the Hapan Senatorial Embassy. He had seen his Uncle Wedge and Aunt Iella on the other side of the room ages ago and had been trying to make his way to them ever since.

It seemed like everyone he had met during his first days in the Known Regions was here and good manners and political cunning would not allow him to pass any acquaintance without a greeting of some sort. Of course, adding to the length of each conversation was the need to introduce his date.

Halfway across the ballroom Jag passed Master Tresina. He only nodded to her though, after all he'd spent two hours in a meeting with her and the rest of the Jedi Council that day. Seeing her did remind him though; time was of the essence. He briefly considered giving up on seeing his aunt and uncle and heading out for the next party. It was no small feat that he had avoided Jaina for so many years, remarkable even, but if he didn't leave his luck would come to an end.

Jacen had pulled him aside, when he'd stopped to drop Valin off; warned Jag that he was on his way to get Jaina and would be returning soon. Jacen's message was clear - if Jag wanted to continue the game of avoiding his sister he had better finish up with the Hapans and clear out. Jag knew Jacen loved him and would do almost anything for him, including running interference with his own twin, but he would not be late to dinner, or incur Tenel Ka's annoyance, to do it.

Before leaving, Jacen had pointed out that Jag was lucky to have a legitimate reason for going elsewhere, and since so many other beings were doing the same, there was no way anyone could accuse him of specifically trying to avoid running into his ex-girlfriend; or having to introduce his fiancée to her. Jag had agreed that it was indeed fortunate he was obligated to be in two places at once. Then the two of them had downed the contents of their glasses and saluted each other.

Tenel Ka and Tahiri had invited so many of the same people to their events that half of the guests seemed to be starting at one for drinks then heading off to the other for dinner. It sort of reminded Jag of a hostage exchange. Adding to that feeling was the abundance of uneasy political and personal feelings between the two groups. It was almost like the Hapans and the Jedi vs. the Phelarions and Tarkin. An image of Tahiri popping out of a giant ryshcate for the winners crossed Jag's mind and his chest tightened a bit.

When it first came out that Tahiri had decided to leave the Order many of her fellow Jedi were stunned, others filled with disgust. He'd heard countless stories of the unpleasant insults and shabby treatment she had received upon running into former colleagues and acquaintances over the years. She'd insisted that she knew it would be that way, and that she wasn't bothered. The Jedi had been nearly wiped out in the Yuuzhan Vong War and to finally be done with that nightmare and lose another of their brightest young knights was not good for morale, so she understood their animosity. When it later came out why Tahiri had left the Order - to launch a singing career - any semblance of respect those former colleagues and acquaintances still held evaporated. Some whispered that Anakin's death had affected her worse than anyone had realized and that this was her version of a nervous breakdown. Still others insisted that it was some kind of twisted joke, or a sign of how severely damaged her brain had been by her shaping, yet even that didn't garner her much sympathy.

Alone, and with few credits when she left Ossus, Jag had taken her to Csilla where his parents fell in love with her. Both respected the strength with which Tahiri had faced all the losses in her short life, but it was his mother who had initially been the most taken; overjoyed at the prospect of sharing her holostar knowledge with Tahiri.

Syal had lectured her on a wide range of topics, ranging from performing, to how to negotiate a contract. Certain that her expertise would help Tahiri, she devoted every waking moment for months to seeing that the younger woman knew everything that Syal could remember, or think up. Jag and his father would come home to the sound of instructions on fashion, style, and what the rest of the entertainment industry was doing, then Syal invested her own money when Tahiri began recording her first chip of songs. The men had teased Syal that after raising six fighter pilots the gods were finally rewarding her by giving her a 'starlet' to mold. Tahiri joked that she had no idea Jag was dragging her off to Fel Finishing School. Jag said that this experience would make her a Fel Finishing Fool.

The Jedi fury would probably have died down in time; after all, they were the closest thing Tahiri had had to a family for years. However, Tahiri's talent and beauty made her a popular target of the sludge news reporters. They followed her tirelessly all across the galaxy, snapping holos of her doing the most mundane things. Then, a few weeks into her relationship with the grandson of the infamous Grand Moff Tarkin, holos of the two of them in a passionate embrace surfaced on the holonet. This final indignity was more than most of Tahiri's former associates could bear and all but a handful of close friends from the Order had refused to speak to her since.

Wilhuff Tarkin III readily admitted to being on the conservative side of most issues, and while he claimed that he was not an Imperial in the vein of the vanquished regime, and that he had no desire to see a return to the kind of government his grandfather had sought to impose, Jag had spent last several years carefully watching the man and knew otherwise.

Tarkin's main political stance could be summarized as follows: The galaxy was in turmoil because its vastness made rule by a full-scale central administration ineffective, and Omas's post-war reconstruction government had not been successful in settling the vast number of refugees in a timely manner. As a result, the galactic economy was in the 'fresher and crime was on the rise.

Huff's solution was to divide the galaxy up into regions, give localized control to a Sector Head, and then each region would have a representative that reported to the Chief of State, chosen - naturally - by said Sector Heads. Of course, that would effectively reduce the GFFA Senate to a ceremonial figurehead as opposed to an actual governing body. And Jag couldn't believe that Tarkin didn't imagine himself as a beneficiary of having fewer layers between him and the top.

After the deaths of his father and grandfather on the first Death Star, and his mother's suicide following the Battle of Endor, Huff's grandmother had taken him to the planet of her birth. Lady Thalassa Kozima Motti Tarkin had remained very active in her widowhood and trained Huff from early on for a future role in the running of their world. He was the newly-elected governor of the planet when, in the early days of the war recovery, someone in Cal Omas's cabinet had suggested commandeering several megonite moss mines on Phelarion, with little concern for the world's, or the Tarkin's, dependence on that income. Huff had, very loudly, cried foul and immediately garnered the support of neighboring systems.

That political misstep by the GA gave Tarkin the incentive to travel from one Outer Rim planet to another, convincing the other leaders that the GFFA was coming to pick their pockets of all that the Vong had not already taken or destroyed. He offered them ideas, and helped negotiate trade treaties that would ultimately rehabilitate their economies. It didn't help the GA's image in these areas that the first race to receive a new home planet, and credit subsidies, were the Vong themselves.

When Tarkin's ideas started working for others, interest in his theories increased and it didn't take long for other systems to recognize that by espousing some good old fashion Imperial ideas they could bring their crime rates down and their standards of living up, and economies in the Outer Rim began to flourish. However, if one were to scratch the surface of these prosperous veneers, and had any concern for social justice, it was not difficult to find the worst attributes of the very same old fashion Imperial ideas.

For instance, while medical advancements on these 'Tarkinized' planets were far exceeding the galactic norm, birth defects, infant mortality, and unexplained disappearances in non-human species were on the rise; a phenomenon that had some whispering about inappropriate biological experiments. The military and law enforcement on these worlds were superior to most, with training rigorous and well rewarded. But the law enforcement agencies were known for their ruthlessness and the court systems didn't give any allowance to individual rights or circumstances. Therefore, while the crime rates were dropping, the prisons began to overflow. The zero-tolerance policy on minor crimes did not take into account the levels to which desperate parents would stoop to feed their children. Theft of foodstuffs on Phelarion carried a minimum penalty of five years in a work camp. Jag knew that the GA was looking into these matters because they were disturbed that as a way to address the overflowing 'prisons' Tarkin and his minions allowed government contractors to use inmate labor to rebuild the infrastructure. What that really meant, or some asserted, was that Huff was allowing his rich friends to utilize state sanctioned slave labor.

Tarkin's system was the classic example of man serving the machine rather than the other way around. A classic example of the implementation of bad Imperialism.

Jag had grown up with what he liked to think of as 'good' Imperials; people who saw hard work and discipline as core values that resulted in a well structured society. Huff was not that kind of Imperial. Huff was a dangerous, power hungry, pro-human whose arrogance was deafening when he let his guard down. Jag had read hundreds of intel reports on Huff's suspected activities, and the man made his skin crawl.

An interesting quirk of Tarkin's was his secret obsession with the infamous Mitth'raw'nuroudo. Evidently he'd failed to understand that it was the long dead Grand Admiral's respect for 'foreign' cultures that inspired his preoccupation with their art, and that that was what drove him to look there for insight - and that it was that very respect, and willingness to look deeper, that ultimately gave him the information he used to formulate so many of his successful military campaigns. Tarkin simply saw Thrawn's art fetish as him being better educated and more sophisticated than other non-humans. He'd never openly admit to his adoration of Thrawn though, that would not sit well in his social circle, but Jag suspected that the Fel family's connection to Thrawn was one of the mental games Tarkin played with himself to justify accepting Tahiri's link to them.

As if his politics and pro-human views weren't bad enough, Huff, in a rare moment of candor, had shared with Jag the delight he took in knowing that the Jedi hated the idea that Tahiri, a once respected war hero, now belonged to him. This made him shiver, though with the discrimination against women on Phelarion it shouldn't surprise him that Huff referred to Tahiri as a possession. Jag would never understand how she could live with the man. In fact he'd have nothing to do with Tarkin if it weren't for her. He only continued to see this vile despot, as he would tonight, because he knew that it made her life a little easier, but secretly he very much looked forward to the day that Wilhuff Tarkin III was brought down.

Senate City, Coruscant

Jaina watched her brother as he pushed the speeder a little faster and weaved between other vehicles.

At a jammed intersection he pursed his lips. "Amazing how bad the traffic is."

"Well, this section of town wasn't really intended to handle the speeders of the entire Senate body showing up for all the parties being thrown tonight. Even so… for a Jedi Master you sure aren't working the 'serene' thing to the best of your ability tonight."

He scowled, though she wasn't sure if it was meant toward her, or their situation. "I know. It's been a hectic couple of days."

Jaina smiled, pleased that her brother, viewed by many in the galaxy as the biggest hero since… her uncle was still all too obviously human.

"Poor boy. The shock of being here after days of lazing around on a Taftna beach must be difficult."

"Don't mock me, Jaina, it's really unbecoming."

That actually made her laugh. "Yeah, but it's fun and I am your big sister, it's my birthright. Anyway, what was so bad about the flight? Didn't you travel back in the lap of luxury with Tahiri?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did. Tahiri, and her pompous, rich, wannabe Imperial boyfriend."

"Oh, c'mon, he can't be that bad."

Jaina laughed again, at her twin's incredulous look.

"You're hardly an unbiased judge;" he scowled. "You always have had a weak spot for Imps."

Now her mood matched that of her sullen brother.

"Nice Jace. Thank you for that. Especially given that I'm about to see him."

She allowed her pain at the inference to Jag to radiate through the Force, knowing Jacen would pick up on it, and instantly felt the remorse coming off him in waves.

Lock…

"Jaina…" Jacen began repentantly.

Fire...

"I shouldn't have said that."

Hit…

She glared at her brother, feeling only slightly guilty for manipulating him this way.

"And you know I love Jag… he's one of my closest… I'm not making this any better am I?"

Jaina finally turned to face the front of the speeder again.

"Whatever. Anyway, at least you don't have to listen to Tarkin and his long winded friends speak all day tomorrow."

Jacen seemed relieved that she wasn't in the mood to harass him for remaining friends with Jag, and he plowed on. "Actually I do, I'm going to the opening with Tenel Ka. And I did have to spend hours watching him paw at Tahiri during the trip here."

"Pleasant. And you went to the Phelarion event already?"

"Unfortunately. Then I dropped Valin off at the Hapan Embassy, and then I went to the farthest space port from Embassy Row…"

"Sorry about that, I didn't pick my landing spot."

"…to pick you up and now here I am again."

"Well, at least you won't have to leave again tonight. And you're driving like an Ewok on spice. Do you want me to take over?"

"No, I don't want you to take over; you handle every vehicle like a starfighter combat. I'd like to get there alive. And I'm going fast because I'm at the Queen's table for dinner and I don't want to be late."

"Ah ahh, afraid you'll get in trouble with the Queen?"

"Didn't you agree three minutes ago to not mock me? You need to start showing me a little more respect."

"Oh, don't push it, buddy. I'll stop teasing you, for now, but I am not going to start showing you respect, too."

"Thanks, Sis."

"Anyway, back to Tahiri…"

Jacen blew out a breath, forcing the hair falling into his eyes off his forehead. "Honestly… I'm at a loss. I know she enjoys making music and performing, and clearly she's good at it, but her personal life is not… right."

"What do you mean? Her and Tarkin?"

"Yeah. I can't shake the idea that she doesn't love him, but she won't leave."

"You think she's using him to help her career? That seems so unlike the Tahiri we know. But then again, we never imagined she would sever ties with the Jedi either."

"She's not the one who did the severing."

Jaina instantly recognized the overprotective tone in his voice. "Jacen, you know I don't think her treatment by some in the Order has been fair, but you have to admit, she hasn't been very receptive to some who've tried to apologize. Luke and Mara haven't seen or spoken to her since she left. She probably only sees you so often because you go to her."

Jacen nodded thoughtfully, but didn't answer.

"Has she been to see Mom and Dad lately?"

"She spent a couple of weeks on Corellia with Dad last month. She said it was nice. She worked on some new songs and they hung out and talked and watched holos. He did all the cooking, she did all the pouring, and after he had passed out every night she levitated him up to bed and tucked him in. A totally symbiotic relationship."

"It's always easier to get along with other people's parents."

"After all these years, I'm not so sure. She talks back almost as much as you now."

"Hey, you talk back, too."

Jacen laughed, then nodded, looking thoughtful. "You know she and Mom are still having it out about her leaving the Order?"

"Yeah… ironic, considering how long it took for Mom to train."

"That may be why Mom is so hard on her. And Tahiri's convinced that Dad still thinks of her as a fragile, and doesn't really take her seriously."

"But she knows they love her, right?"

As they arrived at the Hapan Embassy, Jacen continued; "Of course. And I know for a fact that she doesn't want to lose that love. Emperor's bones, this place is massive."

"You say that like you haven't seen it before."

Ignoring his sister's comment Jacen powered down the speeder. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be for a political function at which I will be seeing my ex-boyfriend and meeting his fiancée."

"Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll have left for Tahiri's party already."

Jaina reached over and squeezed her brother's hand because she suddenly realized that he had probably worked to set the night up that way.

"I've been that lucky for years Jasa. My luck's bound to run out sooner or later."

Hapan Embassy, Senate City, Coruscant

Jag finally reached his uncle and was wrapped in a warm embrace, then passed off to his aunt for more of the same.

"Wedge, Iella, it's so good to see you again," Jag turned to the woman beside him, "and I'd like you to meet my fiancée, Noya Parck. Noya, my uncle and aunt, Wedge and Iella Antilles."

Noya smiled politely. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you both. I've heard so much about you."

Wedge mumbled a greeting as Iella said; "It's a pleasure to meet you, too. And I guess congratulations are in order. When is the big day?"

"At the end of the Senate term, The actual invitations won't be going out for a few months yet, but the 'save the dates', are going out next week. And I'll be going back and forth all year helping our mothers prepare, but I just couldn't stand the thought of being so far from Jagged for any length of time. He would have been so lonely and wouldn't have taken care of himself."

Iella raised an eyebrow, "I've never known Jag to be particularly helpless, but how nice for him that you were able to come along." She then turned back to Jag and, squeezing his hand said; "We've missed you. When did you arrive?"

"Just a few days ago. I'm sorry I haven't comm'd or stopped by. Between setting up the office and our apartment, meetings... I've been swamped. I'm looking forward to spending some time with you both soon though."

"Of course. I suppose the upside to Wedge being part of the design and construction team for Senate City is that we've been 'living' here for some time. We haven't had to deal with settingling in over the last few weeks like so many others. Just let us know when you're available."

The four continued exchanging pleasantries. Talk revolved around the fact that after 10 years the galactic government was once again housed on Coruscant, and how impressive it was that Wedge's team had managed to clear enough land to build the city. The conversation had moved on to Syal's bliss over the arrival of Wyn's baby when Mara Jade Skywalker approached them.

"Jagged Fel, how wonderful to see you."

"Hello, Master Skywalker," tipping his head slightly, Jag took Mara's hand and said; "always a pleasure. We missed you at the Council meeting today. The other Master Skywalker said you were dealing with something Ben related. All's well I assume?"

"Normal beginning of school term stuff. Thank you, for asking. He was upset at being left home tonight, though. He knew we'd be seeing a lot of people he knows." Turning to Noya she said; "Hello, I'm Mara Jade Skywalker."

"Forgive me. Master Skywalker, this is my fiance, Noya Parck."

"Parck… any relation to the Admiral?"

"He was my grandfather. And it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person."

Jag bit his lip as Wedge and Iella smirked.

"I'll never live that down, will I?" Mara sighed.

"Not in the circles Noya and I grew up in." Jag said.

Clearly not in the mood to revisit her sabotage of the Hand of Thrawn Base, Mara went on; "Luke told me you made quite a presentation at the Council meeting today. He also reiterated how glad he was that Cal Omas asked that you be made a Council Member and he again lamented the fact that since the Ascendancy are allies, and not a GA member, you don't have a senate vote. He's quite impressed that someone so young has such astute political and social insights."

"I'll let you in on a little secret; I'm not that young anymore."

"Bite your tongue! You're still 19… ish, and I'm still... whatever age I was when we first met on Borealis."

After the laughter died down Mara asked: "Speaking of which, have you seen any of the rest of the old gang from Borealis tonight?"

Jag could feel the good cheer drain from his face. Leave it to Mara to try to stir the hornet's nest. However, he could see immediately that she regretted bringing up Jaina in front of Noya, indirectly or not, and decided it might be a good time to get a Solo head count.

"Are Ambassador Organa Solo and the Captain here as well?"

"Their plan was to stop by the Alderaanian Embassy first. And I'm sure they'll feel obligated to put in an appearance at the Phelarion party, to say hello to the hostess if nothing else."

Jag fought the urge to call Mara out for that statement, and her use of the word 'hostess' instead of Tahiri's name. Both Luke and Mara knew damn well how to work a comm, but he'd realized years ago that it was hurt on their part, rather than malice, that had prevented them from making any attempt to contact Tahiri, so he let it go. Instead he decided to focus on the Solos.

"Well, since we're due at Ri's as well I'll keep an eye out for them and say hello. Now, if you'll excuse us, I have a couple of colleagues standing at the bar that I'd like to speak to before we depart."

And with that, Jag and Noya walked away.

Next time on Fear and Love…

Jag and Mara dance around some issues...

Jag and Jaina dance around each other...

And…

Jacen sees the Queen...