Grief could never last forever, no matter how hard it tried. There was always something else that begged to be done.
The war might have been over but Tenel Ka still had plenty of cleaning up to oversee. Her security team was still investigating the events leading to the attack on the Dragon Queen. They had already taken care of Ducha Requud, who'd attempted to declare herself the new queen of Hapes during the chaos of the attack, but other aristocrats were being investigated for potential ties with the Imperial Remnant.
What really concerned Tenel Ka, however, was the search for Zekk. After already suffering so much loss it was especially painful to be trapped in limbo, not knowing whether her old friend was alive or dead. Despite Admiral Baas' restrained protests, she'd detached ships from the Hapan Home Fleet to help the Jedi search the Transitory Mists.
The search had already begun shortly after the battle's conclusion, and once Isolder was buried and Jacen Solo only ashes, the rest of the Solos and Skywalkers took up the search as well. Jaina, Ben, and Master Skywalker spent hours in their X-wings combing the debris still drifting through the Throat, while Allana, now known to the rest of the galaxy as Amelia, joined her grandparents for her first tour through the Millennium Falcon. What kind of conversations she was having with her grandfather, Tenel Ka couldn't imagine, though the very thought of it brought a smile to her face.
Unfortunately, nothing made her smile about the search for Zekk. The combined manpower, techno-logical capabilities, and Force-based prowess of the Jedi and the Home Fleet scoured the Throat for days and found no sign of Zekk. Every time she commed Jaina, the Falcon, or Master Skywalker for updates, she heard the same weary resignation in their voices.
The time would soon come to call an end to the search, and Tenel Ka dreaded that for another reason. Once that was done, Allana and her grandparents would leave, and the Skywalkers would go to Shedu Maad. She didn't know where Jaina planned to go yet but in the end it all came to the same thing. She would be alone in her palace, alone without friends or allies or even her daughter.
It was that crushing loneliness that had driven her to seek consolation in Jacen's arms seven years ago. His visit after such a long absence had seemed like a blessing from the Force then; looking back now, it had been the beginning of a long horrible spiral, and some-times, just sometimes, she allowed herself to wonder what might have happened if she hadn't taken Jacen that night. There would have been no Allana and perhaps no Darth Caedus; just the same lonely march she'd had before.
She was in the middle of such grim thoughts when her guards reported that Master Skywalker's X-wing had landed at the Palace. Bracing herself for one last wave of bad news, Tenel Ka went out to meet him.
When she reached the landing pad, he'd already taken off his helmet, revealing a mess of blond-tinted gray hair that he was trying to comb into straightness wit his fingers. Rather than wear a combat pilot's flight suit he'd kept his black Jedi robes on beneath, and when she saw him standing beneath the nose of his black X-wing Tenel Ka could not decide if she was looking at an elder sage or a scruffy farmboy. But Luke Skywalker was, if anything, a combination of both.
When he saw her approach, he didn't try to muster a smile. It made Tenel Ka's last few steps heavier, but she appreciated that he didn't try to cushion the coming blow.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he said, "But I think it's time to consider calling off the search. We simply haven't found any clues as to what's become of Zekk."
Tenel Ka nodded. "I understand. I shall advise the Home Fleet to wind down operations."
"I'm very sorry, Your Majesty, but we tried the best we could."
"I don't doubt that, Master Skywalker. Thank you for the effort."
It took effort on her part to keep her speech rigid and formal, and she could tell that Luke wished to speak somewhere private. She volunteered, "Please follow me, Master Skywalker. We can find a place for private talk and, perhaps, refreshments. I'd very much like to show you my gratitude."
"I'd very much like to receive it, Your Majesty." He bowed with a little wry smile on his face; he knew it would do the Queen's reputation no harm for the Jedi's Grand Master to be seen showing her deference.
Yet all the games were tiring. After leading Luke through a series of marble hallways and into one of the palace's walled-off gardens, she leaned close and said to him, "It is all right now. There is a comm jamming field all over this garden. We can speak freely."
"What a relief." His lined face finally relaxed in a smile.
She walked slowly along the dirt path, down a land shaded by arching tree-branches. "Tell me, Master Skywalker, what is it you wish to talk about?"
"I was out helping the search for Zekk," he explained, "But that wasn't all I was doing. I also made a stop at Uroro Station."
"I thought you'd moved all of the Jedi to Shedu Maad."
"We have. I went there to have some talks with Jagged Fel."
"Ah. Aha," Tenel Ka said simply.
At the conclusion to the battle in the Throat, when it had still been unclear to outsiders whether Tenel Ka and Allana had survived the attack on Dragon Queen, Master Skywalker had cornered the Imperial Moffs who'd organized the nanovirus attack and essentially forced them to recognize Jagged Fel as their new head of state. Tenel Ka had nothing against Jagged Fel, far from it, and she knew he was not responsible for the heinous attempt to kill her and Allana. Nonetheless, relations between the Imperial Remnant and the Hapes Consortium had never been worse, and Tenel Ka knew that any attempt to open official diplomatic dialogue with the Remnant would be considered misguided, weak, and possibly treasonous by many Hapans.
"Jag Fel has been launching his own investigation into the nanovirus attack," Skywalker explained. "That's included some, well, aggressive interrogations of the Moffs and their personnel."
Luke was a Jedi Master and his tone included mild reproach, but Tenel Ka did not blame Jagged Fel for using extreme methods. The Remnant was almost as rank with deceit and scheming as Hapes, and more than once she, too, had been forced to use an iron hand to keep her domain stable.
"It seems a number of the scientists who developed the weapon have already gone into hiding," Skywalker continued. "That is to say, those who developed it further. The original genome it was based on was created by Palpatine's scientists during the last stages of the Clone Wars."
She shook her head. "This is a wretched business."
"I know. But it seems Jagged can keep the situation under control for now."
"I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that. Send him my gratitude."
"Of course." Luke's tone was still grim, and she knew he must have had something else on his mind.
"Did he tell you more, Master Skywalker?"
"I'm afraid so. Unfortunately, this is a little more complicated. It seems one of the Moffs confessed knowledge of research into another bio-weapon. This one was designed to target Force-users."
A shudder ran through her body. "Another one of Palpatine's toys?"
"I'm afraid not. Apparently, this one was being designed by the Yuuzhan Vong."
"The Vong? How do the Imperials know of that?"
Luke's voice became hoarse. "Apparently, they learned of it from Darth Caedus."
She stopped and stared at him. "He was trying to develop a bioweapon to use against the Jedi?"
"It seems that during the late stages of the war, Caedus was working closely with Imperial scientists. He initially wanted to use a nanovirus of the type they deployed on Dragon Queen to go after Boba Fett."
"I heard it was used. Didn't the Imperials dump it into Mandalore's atmosphere?"
"Ensuring no one with Fett DNA can ever set foot on it surface," Luke nodded. "According to the Moff who's been cooperating, Caedus wanted scientists to find and develop this bioweapon the Vong were working on. According to him, it was being worked on by shapers but never deployed."
"Have you asked the Alliance about this? They have better intelligence resources than anyone."
Luke shook his head. "I'm still trying to get on good footing with the new Alliance government. As you know, Chief of State Daala isn't exactly friendly toward the Jedi. To be frank, I'm not even sure I want her to know this bioweapon might exist."
It was a grim place to be, with potential enemies on all sides. She asked, "What about Zonama Sekot? Are there any shapers on the planet that might know of the weapon?"
"I'm not sure. I don't think it would help anyway. From what I've heard, Caedus knew that the weapon was being developed somewhere in known space. Of course, there are still hundreds of worlds that have been Vongformed irrevocably, and dozens of warships and worldships that were abandoned when the Vong all moved to Zonama Sekot. Maybe he just told the scientists to search, or maybe he knew exactly where it was. I can't say."
"How did he even know about this weapon?" Tenel Ka couldn't bring herself to use his name, either of them.
"That's uncertain, but as you know, he did spend quite some time in their... company during the War."
"Does Fel's contact know where this weapon is being kept?"
"I'm afraid not. At least, he insists he doesn't. It could be he was just repeating a rumor in hope of clemency. There might not even be a bioweapon at all."
"Master Skywalker, you would not tell me this if you thought that the case."
"No. There's no guarantee this weapon exists, or that it's usable, but this has to be investigated. Naturally, the Jedi will be using their own resources-"
"And I will use my special agents to look into it as well," She nodded firmly. "Hopefully different teams working independently to the same goal will produce faster results."
"That's my hope as well. Thank you, Tenel Ka."
"It's not problem at all. There are still many in the Hapan court who retain their hatred of the Jedi. I know some of my nobles have already been in contact with the Imperials, and if some of them heard about this weapon, I'm sure they've already started searching for it."
"Jaina said the same thing. She told me to mention a scientist named Sinsor Khal. Is that familiar to you?"
Tenel Ka frowned and shook her head.
"Jaina said she had some… experience with Khal on Gallinore during the Yuuzhan Vong War. He was working for your grandmother and it sounds like he was performing some less-than-ethical experiments with Yuuzhan Vong biotech. If he's still alive, and if the Imperials enlisted Hapan help in developing the weapon, he might be someone to look into."
"I will definitely look into him. Thank you, Master Skywalker."
"It's good Allana will be with her grandparents," he said softly, "Away from all this."
"This is a fact. I will miss her, of course. But now more than ever I'm glad she'll be safe with them."
Luke put both hands on her shoulders. "I know you'll be lonely here, Tenel Ka, but you have to be strong."
"I am always strong," she said, and could hear the defensiveness in her own voice.
"Of course," Luke smiled fondly. "But even if we're not close by, the Jedi will never abandon you. Your family never will."
She blinked away the sudden sensation in her eyes. "Thank you, Master Skywalker. That means… a great deal."
He squeezed her shoulders and said, "You gave the Jedi help when we needed it. If you ever need help yourself, don't hesitate to call. We'll always come running."