CHAPTER TWO - Struggle of Hearts

(Co-Authorship by CourtneySolo Krista Fett and BrantFlir Jax Ores)

Space was an endless sea of stars. A peaceful ocean... until the sentinents came and turned it into a boundless battlefield and graveyard. This was true of Geonosis as well, for in its asteroid ring drifted debris from battles of old. Skeletal bodies of old wedge-shaped troop transports and ring-like cargo haulers spun silently, their dead still inside many of them. Jax Ores coldly took this in as the Imperial fell out of hyperspace and he made his way towards the red planet that hung below him, his craft cuttign speedily through space towards the Geonosian Battle Arena, known to Jax and his former mentor Levi Varss as the Old Meeting Spot, which had gotten his name after Jax, Varss, Ex-Jedi and Antarian Ranger Krista Fett, and a moltly group of scouts and soldiers- such as the Wookiee Rorworr and the Sector Ranger Joran Hoarce- used as a hidden base during the Ossus Conflict of the Pirate Wars.

Behind him, plugged into a computer interface, was Jax's astromech, T3-M4. T3-M4 was an ancinet astromech, more than a thousand years old, from the time of the Mandalorian and Sith Wars. Jax had found T3-M4 in the Unknown Regions along with a ship it identified as the Ebon Hawk, and had taken the ship and the droid to his private estate on Naboo where he upgraded both the ship and the droid to modern standards and higher, and had taken the droid wit him on his newest ship. "T3, prepare to land," Jax instructed and dived into the planet's atmosphere. "Trinity, whats the situation planetside?"

Suddenly the holoboard next to Jax lit up with a woman in her twenties. Trinity was a brand new piece of AI created by himself, T3-M4, and his Sector Ranger friend Joran Hoarce. Trinity could interface with any and every computer, including Jax's armor, communicator, chrono, and much more. She could also operate every part of the ship when she was in its main computer and even be transmitted via radio waves to different computers rather than physical transportation to it. "Geonosian patrols have spotted and cleared us and we are free to head to the colliseum."

"Good," Jax smiled, and turned his ship masterfully around and set her down on the red sand and dirt of the arena's floor. "T3, stay with the ship. Trinity, you're with me." With a swipe of his hand through Trinity's holo she uploaded herself into his armor's computer system and via a computer implant, directly into Jax's brain. 'Home sweet home. Wow, you sure you don't want me to organize this thing you call a mind?'

"Yes," Jax smiled as he walked from the ramp and into the hot sun. Taking a deep breath he made lifted the hood of his old Jedi cloak over his face and walked swiftly into one of the gates and towards the comman center Team Molten Rock, Master Varss' strike force during the Ossus Conflict, has erected years earlier. As he neared its breifing room, the room directly through the neterance, he heard the voice of Levi Varss speakign to the strike force he had assembled.

"Do you understand your mission, Krista?" Levi asked soothingly as Jax entered the room and leaned against the door assembly. Levi's eyes only momentarally looked up at the newcomer and then returned to the buetiful girl a year younger than Jax nad had streiking blue eyes and lovely brown hair. She was dressed in simple Jedi robes, and if Jax hadn't known she was an Antarian Ranger now he woulc have said she was a Jedi, which she used to be.

"Of course, Master Varss," Krista smiled and nodded at the older Jedi. A lump rose for a second in Jax's throat. He hadn't known she was goign to be on this mission. A thousand images flashed through his head. Their yougn romance as teenagers, the trips to Mon Calamari and Coruscant and the lake near the Yavin Temple. The first kiss under the sunset on a Mon Calamari beach... He quickly pushed them away and regained his solid steel composure. The Jedi Master's gaze then moved to Jax.

"And our final member of our strike force is here. Everyone, welcome Jax Ores, fellow Jedi and licensed bounty hunter. He will be joining Boulbog's pirate organization as a bounty hunter and will gian trust until the time comes when we will destroy the slave ring. Jax, I belive you already know Krista, Rorworr, and young Jedi Cay Sunrider," Varss said, referring to the buetiful woman, the hairy Wookiee scout, and the yougn Alderaanian boy of only thirteen years sittign nearby. Cray was Jedi apprentice to the Jedi Knight Tantalum, and Cray has strong Force talents and was rumored to someday become one of the order's most powerful Jedi with Kyp Durron and Jax himself, for Jax was said to be as powerful as Anakin Solo, and was quickly gaining power in the force as he used it in different ways as in bounty hunting. "The ones you don't know: Lynne Hacar, a Galactic Alliance intellegence officer, and Gaf Orn, a friend of mine's contact who was lookign for a Job."
Jax nodded at the two new people, and then to the rest of the room, where he saw Krista madly trying to catch his eye, but he ignored her coldly and focused on Varss. "So, once the team is in place we shall slowly turn Goldran the Hutt, the administrator of Boulbog's slave ring, and then we will shut it down. Completly. Do we have any questions or comments?"
Jax shook his head slightly, causing his hood to fall, and then raised a hand. "Levi, i have arranged to have some friends from my bounty hunting guild be nearby to act as a failsafe in case something goes wrong anf we need to be extracted, but there is one problem with this plan: how do we all get in system and join the gang withouit lookign suspicious? It seems that a horde of newcomers would be strange and arose questions."
Varss nodded and then answered the question. "Our team scout Rorworr has found a transport that will be passign through this system tomarrow that is carrying new recruits. It will stop here to refuel and take on any recruits it can find, which will be all of us besides you and Rorworr, who will travel directly there to join Goldran. You will stay unknown from the people we recruit until the time comes. When the rest of us arrive we shall rendverous with an informant who has information on the Hutts. This informant's alias is Fringer. Once we get his information we will decide how to continue. Anythign else? No? Alright, dismissed. The suites adjacent to this room are ready, you may go and stay there tonight."
Jax was the first to leave the room, and as he left he saw Krista hurring towards him, once again tryign to catch his eye. Once again he ignored her. Jax wasn't too keen on facing her after he had abondoned her alogn with the Order without so much as a goodbye...

Jax rounded a corner and almost jumped in surprise when he came face to face with a beautiful woman who had just been behind him not two minutes ago. Instead, he stopped. It was hard to keep his composure; after all, his teenage self would have broken into a grin to hide his surprise. But his old self was gone now, only dwelling inside of him in a place that no one could see. "What do you want?" He asked dryly. Krista pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "Well?'

"A 'hello' for starters-"

"'Hello',"

"-and an explanation."

"Well, okay, I should've known you weren't paying attention. Your objective is-"

"-you know what I mean, Jax," Krista interrupted.

"Oh?" He broke into a grin. He couldn't think of a monotone response, besides, this was too much fun.

"Oh?" Krista teased back, allowing a radiant smile to creep onto her beautiful features. The features he remembered so vividly from his teenage years. The features that his fingers used to trace …

Jax stopped thinking about the old days immediately as he realized that he found a part of him wanting to run back to her, images of that sunset on the beach coming back to him. The locket. The kiss. But instead he merely set his jaw and walked swiftly past her. Krista looked confused at his change of attitude.

"Jax, I know what you're going through," she sighed.

He turned around. "How could you possibly know what I'm going through?"

She stepped towards him slowly. "I know how it feels to want to know who you are. I know about the feeling of trying to change into something that sounds like who you thought you were. That's why I'm an Antarian Ranger," Jax scowled outwardly, but inwardly his mind was awhirl. Could she really know his new self well enough to have sensed his conflict? "But, Jax, mistreating your friends is no way to solve it. You have to let your soul and the Force do the work," she took a deep breath. "That's why I'm considering joining the Jedi again."

Jax's eyes widened, anger flashing through him as he turned back towards her. "And what do you know! I'm not searching for my self! I've found myself! And the Force? What power does the Force really have? It didn't help me save my sister! Or my parents! Or Rebecca! No, the Force is merly a tool to use as its wielder sees fit. And what is this? Do you know what I went through to get us away from the Order? Even after what you did? No, Krista, you are the one who needs to find yourself. The Force isn't in control, you are!

"I was hoping to ask for your forgiveness about how I treated you when we were younger, but it's clear to me now that you don't intend to give it," she began to walk off. He let her go.

"You're a good friend, Krista. Or at least you were," he called after her. She stopped. Jax's heart jumped. She stopped! Once again Jax pushed his feelings away, falling into coldness, and then he grunted, "You go follow the Force, I'll follow my own way!"

"What was that?" Krista demanded.

"Nothing…"

"Uh-huh,"

"No, seriously,"

"Is your 'new self' gonna let Jax return?"

"What's wrong with my new self?" Jax grinned.

"Your old self was 'Jax', the guy who had great potential in becoming someone special to the galaxy and to me. Your new self is a 'Jackass', no potential that I can see, and … stingy. Your new self is self centered. You only think about yourself, and you only attempt to make the galaxy a better place to make yourself look better!" Krista stated, a single tear began to swell in her right eye. It made the human part of Jax hurt. For only a second, but once again he became under his own control.

"Just looking out for number one, baby."

"Don't call me that! You need something Jax."

"And what is that?"

"You need more women in your life," Krista smiled, hoping he would take the bait, but then fell into dispare and he answered.

"Who says I don't have one already," he growled and stalked off towards his room.

---

Night came swiftly as Jax lay on his back, thinking of the fight he had just had. The past flashing through his mind. The beach… The locket… The kisses… The love… Then their ditching the order. The look on his former master's face as his former student, perhaps the most powerful Jedi since Anakin Solo and Anakin Skywalker, threw away the Force. The scowling of Jedi Master Ben Skywalker as he watched his fears come to life…. The fight he had just had…

Maybe you should apologize? Trinity offered, seeing his thoughts through his mental uplink.

Jax sighed and rolled over in bed and sighed as he closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Trinity."

-

Krista made it to his room finally, ready to try and get through his thick skull again. As she took a deep breath before she knocked she absently fingered her pendant, and then moved her hand to knock but stopped when she heard something.

Jax rolled over in bed and sighed, and then Krista heard soemthing that made her heart crack and her eyes stream. "Goodnight, Trinity."

The words he had said earlier echoed through her mind as she ran towards her room in tears… 'Who says I don't already have one?'