OK, here's the next chapter. I know this story is a little different than most, but it is the first time I've posted a story here and I'm just wondering if anybody likes it. So, if you could please please review, I would appreciate it a lot.
CHAPTER 2
The two little boys watched the two little girls warily. The two little girls watched the boys just as warily, while the baby played her own game, oblivious, in the middle of them all. The mother of the little boys and the baby girl watched them all, a smile on her face.
Her older two were called Corrie and Jadrek. Their father was three years dead—her husband now was the only father either of them could remember. He was back home with his other family at the moment. He had left Miri and her children with his brother's wife and her two daughters. Miri's nieces, Kirinna and Kasaia, had unfortunately entered into their boy-hating stage at the same time Corrie and Jad decided they didn't like girls. Now Miri's sister-in-law had gone back to Coruscant to see her husband, leaving Miri alone with the five children—though there were others there who were only too glad to help her any way they could.
Miri picked up her youngest child, little Lei, getting her out of the line of fire as much as anything else. She took her to the window and looked up at the sky.
"Come back to me soon, Anakin," she said softly.
*
Jacen and Tenel Ka stood together. Tenel Ka, stoic as always, regarded her husband with veiled worry. He looked as if he hadn't slept for days; as far as she knew, he hadn't. She laid her hand on his shoulder.
"We will get her back, Jacen," she said in her usual calm voice. "Do not worry so much."
"I can't help it," Jacen replied. "She's my sister. My twin sister. And she's evil." He turned to face Tenel Ka. "She didn't even know me. I was face-to-face with her, and she didn't even know who I was."
"Jacen, my Jacen," Tenel Ka said softly, moving close to him. "We will get her back. I promise you."
"How do you know?" he asked.
"I can feel it. Don't you trust me?" she asked, smiling her rare smile that she saved only for him and their daughters. He laughed despite his sullen mood.
"Yes, I trust you," he said, pulling her into a hug. Tenel Ka laid her head on his shoulder.
"Then stop being so hard on yourself."
"I just feel like I could have done something," Jacen said dejectedly. "I should have captured Jaina and brought her back—even if it meant hurting her, but…I couldn't."
"That is what makes you Jacen Solo. You wouldn't hurt anyone if you could help it, least of all your sister." She pulled back to meet his eyes.
"But if I had, she would be here now…" he started.
"Shh," Tenel Ka said, raising her fingers to his lips. "It is not your fault. If you had done anything, she might have hurt—even killed you. You did what was right. She would still be wrong, even if she had been captured. She would not be here of her own free will." Tenel Ka hugged him again and spoke in a quieter voice. "And I could not live if anything happened to you."
*
Lady Misery turned her lightsaber in a simple maneuver, showing the twins what to do. She was a little preoccupied, thinking of the person she might have been. Lord Elbakni had not seen fit yet to tell her anything. She was starting to remember a new person, a boy, with a lightsaber bloodred as her own and hair one shade lighter than black. She didn't have a clue as to who he was. There was something about him…
"Lady Misery," Luc said in a slightly whiny voice.
"What?" Misery snapped. The twins shrank back, startled after she had been so nice to them. "What is it?" she asked more patiently.
"Um…when do we get real lightsabers?" he asked hesitantly.
"When you can fight," she responded automatically.
"We can already fight," Nova muttered.
"Don't take that voice with me, young lady," Misery warned. Nova rolled her eyes.
"You're not my mommy."
"Go to your room!" Misery shouted, finally losing control of her temper. "Now!" Both of the children ran off, leaving her to brood alone.
*
Zekk Dallinger sat with his head in his hands. He was relaxing on the bridge of the Lightning Rod, enjoying the peace and quiet after the kids were finally asleep. He hadn't known what he was getting into when he had agreed to take care of Luke and Mara's three daughters for a while, so that they could help look for Jaina. Maya, Aurora, and Destiny Skywalker were enough to make a sane man want to sleep for a week. He was glad he knew them so well; he felt sorry for some of their other baby-sitters who at first hadn't been able to tell the twins apart.
Suddenly, he heard a loud thump followed by a high-pitched scream and giggles. With in involuntary curse, Zekk jumped and ran to where the three girls had been fast asleep. Now, Maya and Aurie were on the top bunk, giggling hysterically while Destiny was lying on the floor, tangled up in her blanket. Zekk gave the dark-haired little imp a pitying look.
"Don't tell me you fell out of bed?" She nodded. "Again?" Zekk gave the entire room a careful glance. The twins were sharing the bottom bunk while Maya slept on the top. Unfortunately, Destiny had the habit of rolling around while she slept, and she kept falling off. Although her sisters had been scared the first time, now they just thought it was funny.
Zekk grabbed her pillow and Maya's blanket and made a little bed for her on the floor. Destiny laid down on it and Zekk spread her own blanket on top of her. Then he got his own out of his cabin and gave it to Maya. He wasn't planning to actually sleep now, anyway. He had too much to think about. He was technically flying the ship, even though it was mostly up to the navicomputer. If he needed to grab a couple of hours, he could do it in the pilot's seat.
"Goodnight, girls," he said, closing the door, hopefully for the last time that night. He then returned to the bridge. Just a few minutes later, he heard feet shuffling behind him. He turned to find Maya standing there, blanket wrapped around her.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked, a serious look on her face.
"Sure," he said, patting the co-pilot's seat. Maya hopped up, her feet dangling high above the floor.
"Zekk," she said, "My little sisters are just babies. They won't even be five for another whole week. But I'm seven. I'm old enough to handle things, and I think I deserve to know the truth. So will you please tell me?"
"You're right, kid. I think you're old enough to know pretty much everything I know. That's still not very much, mind you. Still, if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them, okay?" Zekk asked. Maya gave him a sad half-smile. She was getting good at those.
"I want to know about Jaina. Where is she?" Maya asked. Zekk frowned.
"I don't know the answer to that." Maya pouted. "I really don't know! None of us do. I did get a message from Jacen, and I think he might know something. That's where we're going right now, to meet him."
"You're not taking us, are you?" Maya asked. "If you find out where Jaya is, I mean. If Jasa knows, you'll just drop me and Aurie and Des someplace out of the way, and you'll go save her yourselves. Right?"
"That was the plan," Zekk admitted. "If we find out where Jaina is, it will probably be someplace dangerous. I for one wouldn't want it on my conscience if you three kids got hurt…" Or killed, his mind finished.
"But I'm not a kid," Maya said, and despite the fact that she was wrapped in a blanket and sitting in a chair miles too big for her, she managed to look very grown-up indeed. "I'm a Jedi, or I will be, and you're never too young. That's what my daddy says, anyway. The little ones, you should probably leave behind somewhere. I mean, they don't even know Jaya like you and me. She was like my mama when I was little, and she's always been there for me. I really think I should be there for her now."
"That's quite a speech," Zekk said when she stopped for breath. "You're right, of course. Let's make a deal. If I find out anything about Jaina, I'll take you with me. However, if it's something that's likely to hurt you, you have to stay behind. Deal?"
"Deal," Maya said, nodding. Then she slid down to the floor. "Well, I guess I'd better go to bed now." Zekk turned back to the controls, but looked at the girl out of the corner of his eye. The way she got out of a chair…sliding out of the side and then popping straight up…that was how Jaina stood up. It was uncanny.
"Go on if you're tired," he said, forcing his voice to sound bright. "Of course, if you want to help me fly this thing, I'd sure love the company."
"Really?" Maya asked.
"Sure," Zekk replied. The little girl clambered up into the seat beside him, and the two of them worked together, flying the ship in comfortable silence.
*
A few hours later, Zekk woke up alone on the bridge, the blanket spread on top of him clumsily but lovingly, by the hands of a certain seven-year-old. He must have been more tired than he'd thought. Zekk got up and went to check on the girls.
Maya and Aurora were together in the bottom bunk, sleeping peacefully together, Aurie's arm lying across her big sister's stomach. Destiny was on the floor, the blanket that had been underneath her now on top, and the one that had been on top somehow underneath. They all looked so little while they were sleeping, even Maya, who somehow managed to seem at least twelve when she was awake.
With a little smile, Zekk pulled the covers up over Aurie and Maya and returned to the bridge, not quite allowing himself to think about his own set of twins, out there, somewhere, who knew where.
*
Misery was quite taken aback. She had decided to pay a visit to the children at night, and she had discovered that they slept in a room that was tiny, barely big enough for them both to lie down in. There was no furniture, nothing to keep them amused, and not even a pillow to sleep on. They slept on a soft spot on the floor. This stirred up new memories in Lady Misery. For one thing, she remembered making a light by rubbing air together. She taught this trick to the children, so they would at least have a little light.
She also remembered a multitool. Not a real one, just a toy, so she must have been very young. Surely she had a real one, too. She didn't know where it might be, though. Finally, she had returned to her quarters. In the morning, she would talk to Lord Elbakni about getting them a better room.
Lady Misery had never poked around in her own quarters before. Now she did. There were not many places to poke, so she took the most obvious, under the bed. Along with a half-kilo of dust (don't we have cleaning droids?) she found a little wooden box. Sitting on top of the bed, she carefully opened it. Inside, she found many things. A little book, a lightsaber, a multitool, and what looked like Jedi robes. The lightsaber was the kind with a button. She ignited it, discovering a violet blade. The multitool was different from the one she remembered, higher powered, and with sharp blades. She opened the book. It was a diary.
I am Jaina Solo. This is my diary, my thoughts and feelings. This is the truth. I love Zekk, but we have drifted too far apart to ever get back. Kanyen…Do I love Kanyen? I don't think so. I like him, but love? Not yet. Luc seems to like him, but Kanyen has told him…something. I don't know what, but Luc acts different around me now. Nova does not like Kanyen at all. She always has been the stubborn type. (She gets it from Zekk—you will never convince me otherwise!)
Just then, Misery felt Lord Elbakni's call. She hastily threw everything back into the box and shoved it back under her bed. She took the turbolift to Lord Elbakni's office. Was he ever in his quarters? Misery had never seen him there. When she got to his office, she paused for a moment to compose herself, then walked in, saluting.
"May the Empire live forever."
Lord Elbakni saluted quickly and then walked to her side.
"Accompany me to the hangar bay, Lady Misery," he said. As they walked, Lord Elbakni spoke. "My Lady of Darkness, there is a new, urgent mission for you. The children of the Solo and Skywalker family must be captured, now. We must use them as bait for their parents, since your earlier mission failed," he said, giving Misery a significant look. "After you capture them, we will, of course, enlist them into our ranks. Five of the children are on the world called Dathomir. Get them first; they are the ones that we want most for our side. The other three are in the ship Lightning Rod. They are Luke Skywalker's children, and therefore very important as bait, but since they are too old for our plans, you may kill them once they are here."
"Yes, Master," Misery said, but inside she was wondering if any of these children were hers as she now believed Luc and Nova must be. Then they arrived at the docking bay.
"Lady Misery," Lord Elbakni said in a low voice. "Do not fail me again…"
*
Maya was stuck with the job of baby-sitting while Zekk used a comm to talk to Jacen from outside. It wouldn't have been so bad if her sisters would just do what she told them.
"Aurora Jade Skywalker, get down!" Maya shouted. Standing on top of the pilot's seat, Aurora just laughed. "Destiny, don't you dare!" Destiny scrambled up onto the co-pilot's seat and stuck out her lip defiantly. "Destiny!"
"Maya," Aurora retorted.
"Maya, Maya, Maya Jain, has a saber in her brain," the twins sang together. Maya sat down on the floor, despairing. Suddenly, she had an inspiration. Using the Force, she touched the minds of her little sisters to create an image of a very angry Zekk moving in on them. With a shriek, the twins jumped to the floor. Maya laughed, while her sisters gave her angry glares.
"I'll do that again, too," Maya warned when she was done laughing. "Every time you're bad, and you won't know which one's really Zekk."
"I wasn't scared," Destiny said with a sniff.
"Yeah, right," Maya replied. Just go sit somewhere, and I'll make you some lunch." The twins walked off sullenly, but at least they did it.
"Nicely handled," a voice said behind Maya when they were gone. She yelped and jumped two feet in the air. "It's just me," Zekk said.
"I didn't hear you," Maya said sheepishly. She knew the twins didn't have the power to create an image that actually talked, so this was definitely the real Zekk, not a trick to get back at her. "What did Jasa say?" Zekk bit his lip. "Hey! You promised you'd tell me everything!"
"All right, kid, don't blow a fuse."
"What am I, a droid?"
"Never mind," Zekk told her. "There's good news and bad news. Good news is, Jaina's alive."
"Yay! I knew Jaya would be—"
"Bad news is, she's turned."
"—okay. Jaya's not evil."
"No, but Misery, Bringer of Darkness, is. That's who Jaina thinks she is now. She shot Anakin and your uncle. They're okay, but she escaped." Maya stood with her mouth hanging open. It was so hard to connect this evil father-and-brother shooter with the special, sweet cousin she'd always been so close to. She felt tears start to come to her eyes. Don't cry in front of people, her mind told her. She ran off to the room she and her sisters were sharing and jumped onto the top bunk, where she buried her face in her pillow and sobbed. For once, Aurie and Des knew enough to leave her alone.
*
Miri was just putting the kids down for a nap when she spotted a TIE fighter landing just outside the village that was Tenel Ka's home on Dathomir. Not that many years ago, Miri had never even seen a ship. Now she could identify different kinds from a distance.
Miri left the children and went outside to see who was in the TIE. She knew that it was traditionally an Imperial vessel, but these days non-Imps flew them as well. Wishing that she was a Jedi, Miri walked closer to the TIE. It opened, and someone stepped out, the last person Miri had ever expected to see: the missing Jaina Solo.
"What are you doing here?" Miri cried. Jaina said something that almost sounded like Miri's name, although she couldn't quite hear it over the wind. Then Miri was blasted back.
*
Misery stood on top of her TIE fighter. The only person sent out to meet her was, she assumed, a warrior of the Clan. The black-haired young woman was dressed in sky-blue lizard skins. Misery was surprised to find that she was not Force-trained or even Force-adept. Odd, most women on Dathomir are…No matter.
"Stand aside, Dathomiri," she called. When the woman didn't move, Misery used a Force-shove to throw her back. Then she jumped to the ground. The woman was either unconscious or dead. Misery didn't waste the energy to check. Instead she searched for the five children. She found them quickly and went to get them.
Inside one of the houses, she found three small girls sleeping peacefully, and two boys wide awake, staring.
"Who're you?" one asked. He looked about three.
"I'm here to take you home," Misery said kindly. "Your father is waiting for you."
"Where's Mama?" the other boy, who was a little younger, asked.
"She's waiting for you too, of course," Misery told him.
"I'm Corrie, and that's Jad," the older boy said. "And that's Lei, and those are my cousins," he said, sweeping out his arm to include the sleeping girls. "Does Dad really want us to come back to Yavin 4? Is Mom on your ship? Where is your ship? What kind is it?"
"Come with me, and I'll show you," Misery said.
"I want to say bye to my friends first."
"We need to go now, before your father decides to get someone else to help him," Misery said impatiently.
"You Aunt Jaya," little Jadrek said softly.
"Hey, you do look like Aunt Jaina," Corrie said in surprise.
"Come on, you two. We have to hurry," Misery said.
"What about the girls?" Corrie asked.
"They're coming, too."
"Oh." He sounded disappointed. "Hey, you guys. Wake up." He shook the two girls awake. Misery noticed that one resembled Jacen Solo, while the other looked like someone else, but she couldn't quite remember who.
"What's going on?" the red-haired one asked.
"We're going home now," Corrie told her.
"'Kay," she said with a shrug. Misery picked up the baby girl, who was still sleeping.
"Let's go, children," she said. She led the way back to her ship. Surprisingly, she wasn't questioned by any of the warrior women—in fact, she only saw a very few of them, who all seemed to be otherwise occupied. All these witches have grown weak. A generation ago, I would never have gotten past that first one. Misery led the children around the spot where the fallen warrior lay. She knew they would only ask questions, and the longer she stayed, the more chance she had of getting caught.
"Hey, that's a TIE fighter," the older of the girls said. Her eyes were the colour of Corellia's famous brandy, and her sister's hair was curly and light brown. It was easy to see that they were both related to Jacen.
"That's right," Misery told her. "Don't worry, it's been modified a bit. There's plenty of room for us all."
"That's not the problem," the little girl said, but she got in along with the other children. Misery was about to get in when she felt someone coming behind. She turned to find three Dathomiri running out to meet her, hands raised and glowing faintly.
"Blast it," Misery whispered. The women were about to attack when they saw that Misery was holding the baby. They wouldn't attack. Foolish, but good for me. Misery used the Force to levitate herself up, still facing the witches. One of them reached up to her with a tentative lightning attack. Holding the child with her right hand, Misery deflected the lightning so that it enveloped the three on the ground, magnified just a bit by her own strength. They would wake up in a few hours with terrible headaches and perhaps minor burns.
She floated up into the cockpit. As she prepared for the flight back to Lord Elbakni's star destroyer, she gave each of the kids a piece of candy. Once they ate it, they shouldn't wake up for a day or so. If there was trouble, she had enough to last them all a week.
*
"I talked to Zekk," Jacen said to his younger brother.
"What did he think?" Anakin asked. Now that he'd had a few days to heal, he could walk around some, but he still had to sit and rest more than he felt was necessary.
"He was naturally upset, but I guess he took it pretty well," Jacen replied.
"That's good," Anakin said thoughtfully. "Do you think he'll want to come with us?"
"Come with us?" Jacen repeated.
"We're going to rescue her, aren't we?"
Jacen sighed. "I guess he would want to come. Shouldn't we say something to Mom? Or maybe Uncle Luke. He's definitely noticed something's wrong. Pretty soon, he'll figure it out anyway. We might as well tell him and save trouble all around."
"I don't want to give Mom and Dad that kind of stress. I mean, they already think she's dead. Why make it worse?"
"What do you mean?" Jacen asked.
"Can you image what would happen if we went 'Hi, Mom. Your daughter isn't dead after all. It turns out that she just changed her name to Misery and tried to kill us all. Remember that chick with the blaster? Well, we're going off on a crusade now to save her, and we'll probably never come back. See ya!"
"Good point," Jacen agreed. "We are coming back, though. And so is Jaina."
"Then let's go," Anakin said sensibly. "But we can't tell anybody, or they'll try to stop us."
"Fine," Jacen said, grinning in spite of himself. "Let's just go. And soon."
*
Aurora and Destiny were asleep for the "night," but again, Maya was wide awake. Once again, she went to join Zekk on the bridge. It was now becoming a habit. Every time she felt worried, couldn't sleep, or just wanted to get away from her little sisters, Maya flew. Not that there was much to do in hyperspace. At least she could look at the pretty colors, and enjoy Zekk's grown-up, mature company.
"What's on your mind, Rusty?" he asked as she slid into the co-pilot's seat. Rusty, of course, was for her rust-red hair.
"I just couldn't sleep," she said.
"I know how you feel, kid," Zekk said. He reached out to touch the sleeve of her long yellow t-shirt. "Say, do you know where that shirt came from?"
"Sure. It was Jaya's. She gave it to me a long time ago," Maya replied.
"That's right," Zekk told her. "Before that, it was mine. I gave it to her just after she was Knighted. She was going back to her room, and it started raining. You know the way it does on Yavin 4, sudden and hard. Jaina got soaked, and since my room was a lot closer than hers was, she changed clothes there. That was the only thing I had that fit her, and somehow she never got around to giving it back."
"Then why do I have it?" Maya asked, noticing how different Zekk's voice sounded when he mentioned Jaina, but wanting to pursue the subject anyway.
"Do you remember when you were living with Jaina on the Belin? You lived there from when you were a baby to when you were about two," Zekk said. Maya nodded. "There were two reasons for that. One was because your mom was so sick, and your dad was so busy taking care of her. But the other reason is that if a Jedi has any contact with the Dark Side as a baby or a toddler, she could be warped for life. So you were sheltered from other, potentially harmful, people. Jaina did the same thing with our kids, Luc and Nova. We were especially worried about them, so even I almost never got to see them."
"Why were you so worried?" Maya asked.
"Um…never mind. It's not important. The point is, the third year of our marriage was our first year living together. They say that's the toughest. We had a pretty serious fight, and Jaina took off for a while. She took the kids with her. I tried after a while to get her to come back, but I guess I didn't say the right things. Her reply message was a bonfire made of everything she had that belonged to me. She even burned our marriage document. The only thing she didn't burn was that shirt you've got on. She sent it to you because she knew yellow is your favourite colour. The next thing I knew, I was single and she had a boyfriend. Then the four of them disappeared without a trace." They were silent for a moment.
"Zekk?" Maya asked finally. "What was your fight about?"
"Another time, Rusty," Zekk said. "We're about to come out of hyperspace. Get ready for…Alderaan."
Maya leaned forward in the seat, eager to get a look at the asteroid field that had been her Aunt Leia's home planet. Instead, a ship appeared, right before her eyes. Maya knew what it was. Jaina had taught her its name.
It was a TIE fighter.
Almost before this fact sank in, Maya was nearly blinded by a flash of green light, then almost knocked from her seat as the ship shook wildly. The TIE was shooting at them!
"Check on your sisters!" Zekk snapped, raising the shields. Without a word, Maya ran off.
*
Lady Misery waited patiently for the Lightning Rod to appear. Through a combination of the Force and careful calculations, she had pinpointed exactly where the ship would appear. She targeted the engines, wanting to cripple, not destroy. Surely Master Elbakni wouldn't mind if these children were destroyed right off, though. They were merely a secondary mission for her. Extras.
When the ship came out of hyperspace, Lady Misery instantly hit the firing button. Her aim was true. Although it didn't cause much damage, a few more good hits and Luke Skywalker's children would be hers for the taking.
But then, Misery got a good look at the ship. I don't want to do this, she thought in a panic. As the larger ship returned fire, Misery took the defensive stance. As she jerked to avoid one of the larger chunks of Alderaan, she shot at the Lightning Rod, aiming for the other ship's lasers. Unfortunately, she was pointed straight at it, and it was pointed straight at her. And they were both shooting. And a very important rule was: Don't Cross The Beams.
The beams hit each other head-on. The resulting shock sent Misery's little TIE fighter screaming back toward an asteroid.
It's heavy. What is it, a rock? The memory returned to her mind with crystal clarity as she slammed into the chunk of rock. The Lightning Rod filled her vision.
Zekk… was the last thought in her mind before the TIE fighter that Lady Misery was in exploded.
*
"Jaina…" Zekk whispered, staring at the place where the TIE should have been. If he had turned, he would have seen Maya staring at him, her green eyes wide and accusing. But Zekk didn't turn. His gaze remained locked on the spot where he knew his closest friend and lover had been just moments before. "Jaina…no…"
*