Title: The Chosen Trilogy Book Two: The Forging of an Empress
Author: Flowerlady
Timeframe: Legacy Era (Warning: LotF spoilers)
Characters: Jag/Jaina, Kyp, Zekk, Kyle, Jacen
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Summary: Upon the birth of her son and Imperial Heir, Empress Jaina Fel remembers the events that forged the Sword of the Jedi into the Empress of the Galactic Empire and co-founder of the Imperial Knights.
Disclaimer: I own nothing…
Author's Notes: First, big speculation here… But here are some facts just so we are all on the same sheet of flimsy…
This is written with the events and time line that I set out for What Counts in the End as the basis. I strongly recommend that you read that first, because not everything is re-explained in this piece. Book One was Ben's and the Jedi's story of the events between Bloodlines and the first hints of what occurred in the first Legacy comic book, this is the story of Jaina, the Empire and the first Imperial Knights.
This is a sequel to What Counts in the End (Ben/Jysella, Jacen, young Kol Skywalker)
As with Book One, this will be posted in three parts.
The Chosen
Book Two: Jaina Solo
The Forging of an Empress
Part I
Bastion, Imperial Palace, 54 ABY
Empress Jaina Solo Fel gazed down at the tiny bundle in her arms and smiled. Leaning back against the dozen or so plush pillows that surrounded her on the large bed, she sighed as she moved the soft pale blue blanket away from the four hour old baby boy. His face was round and flushed with the rigors of birth. Jaina gently caressed her fingers over his cheek and he more vigorously mouthed his fist. She grinned as she moved her fingers up over the silkiness of his skin to the thatch of thick black hair that graced his scalp.
"Hey, there, Alezander, are you hungry?" She asked in a gentle voice. The baby wrinkled his nose and she laughed. "Oh, that's such a noble expression for the heir to the Empire." She shifted him and reached over with her free hand to open the flap of the nursing gown that she wore. Once she had the baby settled at her breast, she settled herself deeper into the pillows wishing again that her husband were there to witness this, but she didn't dwell on his absence. She knew that he loved her and it wasn't his fault that he missed the birth; Alezander was the impatient one, arriving almost three weeks early.
The new mother relished the sensation of her son feeding, taking nourishment in the most intimate of ways, and she let her love and wonderment pour into him. He was her miracle child and truly a gift from the Force. The Emperor and Empress had tried since their marriage nearly nine years ago to have a child but after five miscarriages, it appeared that Jagged Fel would not have an heir. The best physicians in the galaxy, the Empire at any rate, could not really understand the problem. Jaina could become pregnant easily enough, she just couldn't maintain it. But Zander was different, she could feel it. He was destined for great things, she just knew it.
The baby made gurgling noises as he hungrily suckled and Jaina held him even closer. She closed her eyes and let her mind wonder to a place she rarely thought about, to a time she viewed as her defining moment, more so than the mission to Mykyr and her brush with the Dark side, more so than the battle with the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Tsavong Lah, or even her stent as a Joiner. She swallowed as she remembered the two people who would never see their second grandchild and never knew about their first until it was too late. However, thinking about her parents brought to mind the person she hated most in life and whose betrayal hurt the most—that of her very own twin.
As the new mother held her newborn babe, Empress Jaina Fel remembered the most painful moment of her life that occurred twelve years before.
"No!" She shook herself against the sudden sharp pain that came crashing down upon her. "No, no, no, no…"
Two loving and strong arms reached around her, pulling her into his embrace and held her against his warm bare chest. "Jaya, what's the matter?"
She thrashed against him, but he didn't let go. He used the Force to turn the lights on in the Mid-Level Coruscant apartment bedroom where they had been living since her court-martial a year before. "Jaina, are you okay?" Zekk's concern radiated through the Force.
Finally, she let the last of the sobbing go and said into the comforting warmth of his strong chest, "He found them, Zekk," she pulled away and he let her. She looked into his eyes and she felt his shudder that ran through him at the intensity of her gaze. "Zekk, Jacen's found Mom and Dad. I can't feel Mom any more. I think he's—"
Zekk looked horrified at her implied meaning, "Jaina, maybe their hiding. You don't know for sure if he's done anything to harm them."
She pulled completely away from him and shook her head, "No, I know something's happened. He said that he'd do it, Zekk." She was getting out of bed and pulled on a robe over the old tee-shirt that she wore to bed. He followed her lead and donned his. Then he followed her out of the small bedroom into the main room of the apartment.
"Jaina, that makes no sense. How could Jacen—" Zekk paused as if just forming the words was as impossible as the deed, "How could he kill your parents?"
She spun on him with a commlink in her hand, "How could he kill Tenel Ka, Zekk? No one gets it. I don't even think Uncle Luke understands, but maybe this will prove to him that Jacen just hasn't touched the Dark side, Jacen is completely lost to it."
Jaina turned away from her long time friend, her lover and her partner since they were Joiners in the Killiks hive of Taat. She opened the commlink and within seconds her uncle's voice greeted her, "Uncle Luke, I felt something terrible tonight. Did—"
"Jaina," Luke's voice was weak, tired and strained as if he had been crying himself. That was when she knew the truth. The terrible, awful truth. "Jaina, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Uncle Luke, you felt it too?" fear painted her words and caused her voice to tremble.
"Yes, Jaina, I'm afraid that your mother is gone. I can't feel her any longer either. But I don't know about Han. We can hope that he's—"
"No," she swallowed the welling pain and grief and went on, "No, Uncle Luke, he's gone too. He's killed them, Luke. I told you he was turning evil. I told you! Jacen killed our parents. Why?" she was beginning to become hysterical. "I want to know why?"
She fell to her knees in a lump of boneless grief. She had never experienced anything so profound. Zekk removed the commlink from her shaking hand and spoke to her uncle but she had no idea of what was said nor did she care. Her brother just killed her parents because he saw their encouragement of Admiral Pellaeon and the Imperial Remnant to join the fight on the side of Corellia and its Insurgent allies as treason.
The next few days went by in a torrent of painful emotions, most of which Jaina blocked. Jacen returned from Taris with the bodies of his parents. The Jedi were appalled that a Jedi Master could do such a thing, but yet, they were not willing to accept the real truth. Jacen was getting results and several of the Council saw Leia Solo as a rogue Jedi Knight by her unyielding support for Corellia. Many felt Jacen may have went to extremes, but when the newly appointed Supreme Commander of the Defense Force stood teary eyes beside the new Chief of State Cha Niathal at the press conference everyone saw what Jacen wanted them to see—a grieving son who does what he had to for galactic peace.
Jaina didn't buy his remorse or his story that Leia and Han attacked him when he had gone to arrest them for treason. She knew that their parents would have never threatened to harm one of them. But then it was the same story he told about Tenel Ka and his need to defend himself against her the year before.
Jacen had gone to Hapes with the story that he was going to talk to the Queen Mother and ensure that she was supporting the GA and to shore up her fleet if the GA needed it, especially since his appointment as Commander of the Galactic Alliance Guard angered Admiral Pellaeon. Pellaeon, who still was the head of the Remnant's government along with the Moffs Council, began to distance themselves from the Coruscant government. The Imperial government saw the attack on Corella as a sign of things to come. The question on Moffs' mind was simply this—What would stop Coruscant from forbidding the Remnant from having their own military? It was a question that too many of the Moffs were not ready to see the answer to.
Tenel Ka somehow knew that he was coming and in preparation called Leia and Han, who had earlier saved her from an assassination attempt by extremists from Corellia. Those extremists wanted the queen gone in order to place a pro-Corellian on the throne. However, this time Tenel Ka must have sensed that Jacen was there to do more than visit her. She had mentioned to Leia that she was sensing an increasing darkness in him and that she wanted to try to save him from it. The queen introduced them to the young princess and immediately Leia knew that she was Jacen's daughter. Jaina never discovered all the details but apparently Tenel Ka asked them to take Allana to Dathimir where Jacen could never find her, but if Tenel Ka succeeded they could bring her back to Hapes. No one would know about the princess until she returned several years later to reclaim her throne and her mother's legacy.
Jacen again came back to Coruscant after the battle in the Hapan palace that ended with his onetime lover dead. Again the Jedi were stunned that he could do such a thing but his story was believable. Tenel Ka was planning to join with Corellia after receiving pressure from her nobles. She attacked her former friend and he simply defended himself which ended with the queen's death.
The action did the opposite and Hapes rebelled against the GA by withdrawing its charter, but instead of joining the Corellians, Hapes became neutral and isolated itself as it had been for hundreds of years.
Jaina looked down at the still suckling baby and softly said, "My Force, you are a hungry one, my little Prince." Then she settled back again and continued in her memory.
Jaina entered the office of the Supreme Commander and stared at her brother. He sat behind a massive desk and was impeccable in the white uniform of the top admiral of the GFFA. He finally looked up and flashed her a sad smile, but somehow Jaina knew it was fake, "Jaina, I'm glad that you stopped by. Today had been a trying day."
Jaina stood there staring disbelievingly at the man who was her twin brother and, yet, he was a complete stranger. "I bet. But then double state funerals tend to be a bit trying." She pretended to look around the office that Cha Niathal vacated when she won her bid for the Chief of State's office. "So, tell me Jacen, how does one go from no military experience to being the Supreme Commander in less than two years?"
Jacen stood up and moved from around his desk. Leaning against the front he crossed his legs and folded his hands. "I'm sorry that it has come to this. But Chief Niathal sees what I see. She knows that strong leadership is the only way to prevent an endless war and she sees me as a strong leader. I've proven myself in the GAG and as a wing commander. I only want peace, Jaina. I do what I must for others to know peace."
"And killing our parents has brought peace?" She seethed.
Jacen stood and stepped toward her, she glared at him but he said almost soothingly, "Jaina, I'm truly sorry it had come to that. But Mother was breaking the law and taking Father with her."
Jaina didn't miss his formal use of their names; it seemed that he was distancing himself from them. She nearly screamed, "The law? What law? Dad was Corellian, Jacen. He was only fighting for his home."
Jacen didn't let her near hysterics bother him, calmly he said, "A home that he never really lived in. Jaina, our mother broke the law and you know it. It was brought down just six months ago that made the Jedi formally an agency of the GFFA justice and military departments. And as such all Jedi are agents of the GA. By Mother joining the Corellians she broke that law, which I was willing to over look; however, when she began to petition the Imperial Remnant to join the fight for the Corellian Insurgents, she had to be stopped because it was a direct act of treason. I had hoped to do so peacefully, but they would not see it my way."
"So you murdered them!"
"They attacked me, Jaina," again the tone was that of a parent trying to calmly sooth a naughty child. "They had disowned me after Fett's daughter died and then with them blaming me for your court-martial…"
"A court-martial that should never have happened. But that explains a lot of your actions over the past seven years, doesn't it, Jacen?" She felt her hand brush the hilt of her lightsaber and she considered pulling it. She had never hated him, but in that moment she hated him more than she ever thought imaginable.
Jacen must have sensed her bubbling emotion and smiled as he held his hands out from his sides, "Jaina, please. I did not want to kill them. However, it needed to be done." Then his whole demeanor changed and Jaina actually took a step away from him, his eyes even seemed to become lighter, "Just as I will kill you if you continue to stand in my way, dear sister. I am not afraid to do what needs to be done to achieve my ultimate goal."
Jaina felt cold fear run through her and her voice quivered as she inquired, "Jacen, what has happened to you? You have become so dark."
He actually chuckled but it held no hint of mirth, "Yes, Jaina, you could say that I am. But I'm not a Dark Jedi. I've mastered the last of the Force philosophies that I'd set out to all those years ago and I intend to use all of my knowledge to bring a total and lasting peace to the galaxy, whether the quaint Jedi see it as Dark or not." He paused and Jaina held her breath as she tried to figure out what he meant. Finally he said, "I've been studying the Sith, Jaina. I am what Grandfather had wanted to be, what he should have been. However, unlike him, I'm not bound to my attachments; I understand what I need to suffer to gain what is good for all."
Jaina shook her head in utter horror and total disbelief. "You've become a Sith? But how? There aren't any more Sith. The Emperor and Grandfather were the last."
Jacen stepped away from the edge of the desk and stepped before her. He smiled, "No, Jaya they weren't. Lumiya was adapt enough in the ways of the Sith to teach and she has taught me very well. However," he ignored her shocked expression, "she wasn't my initial teacher."
"Who?" it came out breathless.
"Vergere. Who else?" He stepped even closer and laid his hands on her shoulders. She was too astonished to do anything but let his calm and soothing voice wash over her as it ripped her already fragile heart to shreds. "She had actually been studying under Darth Sidious but when she realized just how demented he was she ran away." His cold smile sent a chilling shudder through her as he went on, "It seems the Yuuzhan Vong came by just in time to save her from Palpatine's wrath."
Jaina backed away from the stranger that had once been her brother, her twin. She shook her head in disgust and fear and then ran from the office. She made her way to the Jedi Temple where she planed to see Luke. One thought came to her mind as she raced through the vaulted corridors of the Temple—Ben had to be taken away from him before it was too late.
Zander stopped his nursing and Jaina realized that the baby had fallen to sleep. She knew that she should put him down in the warmed bassinette but she couldn't bring herself to part with him. She enjoyed the comfort she felt with him in her arms.
She sighed and continued to hold her son as she remembered the next event. The moment she knew she no longer was or could be a Jedi.
She ran into the Council Chamber where she found her uncle, aunt and several other Masters talking about the sad events of the day. Earlier that morning in a state funeral Jedi Knight Princess Leia Organa Solo, second Chief of State of the New Republic and her husband Retired General Han Solo were cremated as was tradition for both the Jedi and the Corellians.
"Uncle Luke!" she ran into her uncle's arms and let the torrent of emotion run through her. "You have to get Ben away from Jacen. You must. He hasn't just become Dark he claims he's—"
"I'm what, Jaina?"
Jaina spun to see Jacen step through the door of the Council Chamber. "Jacen—" she gasped. How did he follow her so closely?
As if he had read her mind, he walked in and answered her unspoken question. "I knew you'd come here and I felt that it was pertinent that I come and plead my case. You were going to pass judgment on me before all the facts were laid out."
Jaina stepped away from Luke and folded her arms defiantly over her chest. "All the facts? Why don't you tell them, Jacen? Why don't you tell them what you really are?"
"What are you talking about, Jaina?" Kyp Durron stepped forward. She could feel concern coming from her lifelong friend.
Jaina turned toward the seven Masters in the chamber and then back to her brother. Jacen raised a brow and said, "Go on Jaina."
She turned back to the Masters and said, her voice full of the loathing she felt for the monster who had once been her brother. "He has pledged himself to the Sith."
A gasp from several of the Masters and a breathy, "What?" from Mara was all that sounded in the room.
Finally, Luke asked, his voice betraying nothing, "I this true, Jacen?"
Jacen stepped away from the rest of the Masters and walked over to the massive window that surrounded the chamber. She watched as if she was watching a holodrama and wasn't witnessing the end of the Jedi. Jacen slowly turned with a smile frozen in place. He explained about Lumiya and her teaching him. He related that Vergere had actually been a Sith apprentice and had captured him with the sole purpose of turning him to the way of the Sith to end the war with the Vong and bring lasting peace to the galaxy. Then he explained how his years of learning from the other Force users in the galaxy had made him stronger and wiser in the ways of the Force. He did not believe in only the Light Side or Dark Side. He believed that there was only one Force and that the Sith philosophy that he was taught by Vergere and Lumiya was just one more aspect of the Unifying Force. He ended with a recounting of his vision that the galaxy would never know peace unless he brought it. He said that he was using his powers not selfishly as the Sith of old, as Palpatine or even Vader had done, but using them to better the galaxy for all. To bring the peace to it that no one else had been able to.
Jaina was stunned to watch Kenth Hamner and Clighal debate this. She watched in horror as Luke and Mara simply stood there staring at Jacen. Finally, Mara said, "Jacen, are you teaching this to Ben?"
Jacen looked from Mara to Luke and shook his head, "No. I have not been teaching Ben anything that would not be totally within the expectations of the Jedi. I feel that when the time comes he will choose his destiny."
"Ben will not be your apprentice after today, I can assure you that," Luke calmly said.
"I don't believe this," the usual reserved Kyle Katarn spoke up. He turned to Jacen and the older man pulled his saber. "You are a disgrace and an enemy to the Alliance."
Jacen looked at the hilt of the inactive saber and said, "Kyle, I believe you are the one in the wrong. I am the rightfully appointed Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force. You are threading on traitorous ground, my friend."
Kyp stepped forward and pushed Kyle's hand down, "He's right Kyle. To harm him is to mark yourself as a traitor and we all know how his secret police handles those who they deem as traitors. So, Jacen, I will admit I thought it interesting that the HoloNet was comparing you to Vader. You know, all dressed in black, busting down doors and followed by a horde of legalized armed thugs. I guess the 'Net finally got something right. You have become a second Vader. And you have us under your heel and can simply squash us like a bug. Is that it?"
Jacen didn't say anything instead the door to the chamber opened again and this time a fifteen year old Ben entered. He looked around the chamber and after nodding a greeting to his parents he stepped before the admiral and saluted, "Sir, I have been sent to find you by Chief Niathal."
Jacen peered at his aide and said, "At ease, Ensign, what is it."
Ben looked back at the Jedi Masters and at Jaina and then turned and announced, "We have a report from the Imperial Remnant, Sir. It seems they have seceded from the Alliance and have joined with the Corellian Insurgents."
Jacen's expression never changed as he took this all in then he asked, "Is that all, Ben?"
"No, Sir, Pellaeon has stepped down as Grand Admiral." Ben looked back at Jaina and then went on, "It seems the Moffs Council has appointed Admiral Jagged Fel to replace him."
Jaina was shocked but she looked at Kyp and Kyle and said, "It seems the Empire has just become the Alliance and the Alliance the Empire. Don't you think?"
Jaina will never forget the thrill that went through her as she heard Jag's name. She knew what she had to do. She ran from the chamber and never looked back. Four days later Zekk, Kyp, Kyle and Jedi Knight Jaden Korr escaped like common thieves in the middle of the night. They made their way to Corellia and eventually they met up with Admiral Jagged Fel.
However, a soft knock at the door drew her out of her past and back into the here and now. She reached out and smiled at who she found. Shifting the sleeping baby in her arm and closing the nursing flap, she called, "Just a second." Then making sure she was presentable she smiled and called, "You may come in."
Two men entered the massive room and moved toward the large bed that she shared with her husband. They both bowed and as the older of the two straightened she couldn't help to see the mischief in his dark green eyes. "Empress, sorry to interrupt but Master Zekk and I felt that in light of the Emperor's absence we should check up on you to make sure all is well."
"Kyp, will you knock off the formality. It is so fake that even the droids can see it," Jaina smiled at two of her dearest friends. They had always been there for her along with Kyle Katarn and Jaden Korr and together they built a new order of Force users. "Thanks for coming and seeing me. I've been here all alone."
Zekk came forward and stood by the bed; he smiled and looked down at the infant in her arms. As his emerald eyes met hers, she felt a hint of longing, but her former lover covered the pain of lost love well, and as her friend he said, "Aww, Jaina, he's beautiful."
She beamed at him and looked back at the sleeping infant, "Yes, he is. I think he'll look a lot like Jag."
Kyp moved to stand beside his younger friend and grinned, "He even has Jag's patch of white hair. I always thought that came from his scar."
Jaina shrugged, "I did too, but Zander seems to have inherited it."
Both men, Masters in the order of Imperial Knights, were dressed in basic robes of black and red. Jaina remembered the first time she suggested that they no longer be known as Jedi and how the five of them couldn't consider themselves anything but. However, over the years they settled into the role of protectors of the Empire.
Kyp reached out and touched the baby's soft head and smiled. Then he said as he looked at Jaina, "Kyle has reported that he and the Emperor will be returning by tomorrow. I'm sorry Jag missed the big event. He'll be upset."
Jaina swallowed and looked down at the baby, "Yeah, but at least Zander is healthy. That's what is really important. Jag will understand just as I understand his trip to Fondor. The Empire is spread out with Alliance planets scattered in between. I know what it takes to hold it all together, especially when the Alliance is trying to recruit our worlds when they can't take care of the ones they already have."
Zekk looked at Kyp and Jaina narrowed her eyes, she knew they were not telling her something. "What?"
Zekk cleared his throat and plunged, "Jaina, Kyle also said that he ran into Jedi Knight Valin Horn and he was asking about you. Apparently, Ben and his wife Jysella would like to meet with you."
"Absolutely not. If I ever see another Jedi it will be a day too soon. In my opinion that order has reaped everything it sowed and deservers what it gets as well."
Jaina never saw her family after the night she left Coruscant. In fact, she never wanted to see any of them again. Her family became the four other Jedi that left with her and eventually the Fel family too.
Zekk bowed his head and said, "As you wish, my Empress."
Kyp sighed and smiled, she knew that they wished that she would see Ben; after all, he eventually defeated Jacen and returned the Jedi to what it had been before Jacen tried to control it. But she couldn't, she still felt every bet of the betrayal that had led to her leaving the order and the subsequent warrants for her arrest that followed.
However, leaving the Jedi was the best thing that ever happened to her. It had become the beginning of her own destiny in which the Sword of the Jedi would become the Empress of an Empire.
--------------------------------
All reviews are welcome...
Thanks for reading...