For the coordination of the triple assault on the Ufesha, Kelska, and Gerdrush systems, Admiral Hesklon agreed to allow all of the Jedi members in the Dark Nest task force to meet up in the Thrawn's Vindication's war room. Also joining in the meeting was the Hoth's Counter's Captain Gushko and Colonel Eshk Jesta, the female Zeltron flight leader of the temporary X-wing squad appropriately named Exterminator Squadron.

In preparation, Luke had met with Kyp, Kyle, Lowbacca, and the other Jedi Knights on the Vindication to inform them that Tahiri would be among them, but that they were not to call her out in front of Hesklon, his people, or even anyone that was part of the Galactic Alliance section of the task force. Lowie was, naturally, shocked at hearing that one of his friends, who had last been known to have sided with the Dark Nest, was among them, but he had agreed, along with the rest of the Jedi, to do as Master Skywalker commanded.

The Wookiee Jedi had kept his word even as he had to stand next to Tahiri, still in her guise as Saharis Dhreat, during the meeting. However, Luke could feel the sense of hurt and betrayal coming from Lowie's Force-presence even as he held it together in front of everyone else present while the Grand Master coordinated the details of the attack with Hesklon, Gushko, and Jesta.

With a total of nine Force-users in the task force, it was accepted that three Force-users were to be a part of the invasion of each Gorog-held system, with one Jedi Master leading each team. Luke was taking Lowie and Tahiri to the Ufesha system, while Kyp was taking both Horn siblings with him to the Kelska system, and Kyle was taking Seff Hellin and Natua Wan to the Gerdrush system. Between all of them, each team was getting at least five GA starfighters for support as well as a detail of Empire of the Hand TIE fighters and bombers to take on the Gorog dartships and nestships that they would inevitably encounter.

As part of Luke's generosity, and to shore up the lesser experiences of the Horn siblings, Seff, and Natua, Kyp and Kyle's teams were each given one extra GA fighter, which allowed all of the government-assigned craft to be used. Gushko and Hesklon agreed to have the Counter and Vindication hang back in an empty system that intersected with all of the target systems via hyperspace routes. That way, they could aid the strike team that would locate the system that had Alema Rar present at the notice of a hypercomm call.

Over two hours after the meeting's conclusion and the subsequent divisions of the strike teams, all of them had made it to their target systems at exactly the same time. They all hung back hundreds of millions of kilometers away from the Dark Nest fleets ahead of them, which had yet to take notice of the new arrivals, as the Jedi in each team reached out with their Force-senses to see if Alema was where she was.

It was Luke, from the Jade Shadow's cockpit, who detected that said Dark Jedi was aboard one of the nestships in the Ufesha system. And when the Twi'lek felt him personally, she reached back and communed in a mock-cordial tone, Master Skywalker, so good to feel your presence again! And we see you brought Lowie and Tahiri, too! Such a shame you couldn't get the other Myrkr survivors here, because then we could all have a big happy Jedi reunion! She then added with a more bitter note in her tone, But then, we suppose that not all of us could come back, now could we?

Luke then received an image of Zekk and Tekli side-by-side in his mind's eye, which he blocked out as he tried to make a hypercomm connection with the Hoth's Counter. But as each second passed, he realized that something was wrong as the connection wouldn't establish.

Alema's mocking laugh seemed almost physical in her Force-communion with him. Oh, yes. We had the foresight to establish a hypercomm jamming signal for any unwanted guests not only in this system, but also in the other two we took. Oh, don't worry, you and your Galactic Alliance buddies can still talk to each other over their short-range comms... for all the good that'll do 'em! Her guffawing resumed.

Luke then established the short-range frequency for the Ufesha system task force. "Listen up, everyone! We can't make contact outside this system, so unless either Admiral Hesklon or Captain Gushko take the initiative in our favor, we're on our own here! You all remember the battle-plan; stick to it and maybe most of us will get out of this alive! The nestship on which Alema Rar is aboard is at the following coordinates." He input a brief series of numbers in the comm console and then transmitted them throughout the task force. "Mark that nestship on your sensors. Now go, and may the Force be with us all!"

With that, he shut off the frequency and the rest of the task force zoomed ahead to meet the swarm of dartships and even armed Joiner vessels that seemed to outnumber the combined GA-EH forces ten-to-one. To the naked eye, it looked as if Gorog's enemy forces were either stupid or suicidal in making such a bold charge.

But what the Dark Nest didn't know was why the Jade Shadow was hanging back by her hyperspace dropout point.

Once each of the engaging fighter forces were in range of each other, Luke reached out to Alema's individual presence and exerted a pressure in her mind that prevented her from using the Force to kill anyone in the GA-EH task force. In a matter of moments, he could feel the Twi'lek writhe in pain through the Force even as she tried to muster her power, enhanced as it was thanks to her time within Gorog's hive-mind, to try to counter his mental attack.

However, to add a certain level of unpredictability in his Force-powers, Luke, now having pinpointed Alema's exact presence through the Force, projected a Fallanassi illusion right before her.

And through what would have been the eyes of that illusion, Luke could see the Twi'lek Dark Jedi look back at him with shock and horror in her eyes.

"Alema, please," Luke said in the voice of Alema's dead sister Numa, "let go of all of this. What will all this pain and death get you? It won't bring me back; nothing can. But what you could do, to go on to make peace yourself and to make the galaxy a better place-"

Luke was cut off from saying anymore when Alema screamed and unleashed a combined torrent of Force-lightning from both her hands toward the Numa illusion. However, the lightning merely phased right through and struck a section of the bulkhead of this nestship's throne room, and when Alema ceased the torrent, she used her enhanced power to strike back at Luke mentally.

Don't you dare use my sister's memory against me, Skywalker! Alema shouted through their connection.

His hands clasped to his temples as he tried to block out the pain from Alema's—no, Gorog's—mental attack. But somehow, Luke found the strength to counter the hive-mind's assault before he found himself invading Alema's individual mind with a mental attack of his own. This one was also aided by a Fallanassi illusion as he dug deep into Alema's memories and brought up probably the most traumatic moment in the Twi'lek's life.

The day Numa had died.

And from there, two of the most powerful Force-users in the galaxy kept each other at bay as the Galactic Alliance-Empire of the Hand task force began blowing through the distracted Gorog dartships and Joiner vessels as if they were part of a shooting gallery.

Amidst this attack, Tahiri and Lowie coordinated with each other in a mind-meld that was only a fraction of the strength of the battle-meld that they had shared with the other Myrkr survivors. But through this new two-person meld, they worked well in manuevering their respective X-wings and shooting down dartships and the occasional Joiner vessel that got in their path as they made their way toward Alema's nestship.

And that was especially considering the fact that there was still so much to be said between them since they saw each other aboard the Thrawn's Vindication. With no downtime made since then, it was agreed between them in their mind-meld that they would say everything that needed to be said after Alema was neutralized one way or another. Until then, they would work as they had before Tahiri aligned herself with Gorog.

It took several minutes for Tahiri and Lowie to reach the nestship that Luke had tagged for the GA-EH Ufesha strike force; it seemed almost too easy for their ships to dock in the capital vessel's hangar bay, given that neither of their X-wings suffered so much as a scratch on their paint-jobs, before they each stepped foot on the deck.

But just as they did, the bay was suddenly swarming with Gorog Killiks out of every orifice on the ship. Without much more prompting, Lowie unhooked and activated his lightsaber from his belt while Tahiri brandished two vibroblades, one in each hand, as they readied for the incoming swarm.

A few seconds later, both Force-users began cutting down Killik after Killik in quick fashion. However, neither Tahiri nor Lowie could stay in one place for long, as the mass of insectoids was so great that at various times, the human and Wookiee had to leap or flip away to dodge an attack from a smaller Killik that ranged from reaching the height of Tahiri's knee to being as small as a fingernail.

Do you sense Alema? Lowie asked through the mind-meld after a little over a minute. By this point, both he and Tahiri were several meters from each other and neither of them had an opportunity to let up in their defenses against the Killiks.

I'm a little busy, but let me try, Tahiri returned.

In exchange for the elegance and grace of her defensive attacks, Tahiri began exerting more effort through the Force by applying brute strength to throw back entire waves of Killiks before her. This allowed her to get a brief moment's respite as she diverted part of her attention away from battling Gorog to locate the individual presence of their queen.

It only took Tahiri thirty seconds of divided attention between the Killik-slicing and locating Alema before the human succeeded at the latter.

At the top of this ship! Tahiri communed to Lowie.

Then let's get to it! Lowie returned.

The Wookiee then unleashed a circular Force-wave of his own; and once he was briefly freed of cutting down Killiks, he turned toward a marked turbolift and rushed towards it. With a burst of Force-speed, during which she cut down over a dozen more insectoids, Tahiri joined Lowie at his left just before the latter cut down the turbolift's doors. They then jumped in and began bounding back and forth up the walls of the turbolift shaft to make it to their former friend.

. . .

When the Solo Quest II dropped out of hyperspace, he sighed at the sight of the planet before him. He knew he was coming here after tracking the exit vector that Jaina's X-wing took from Corulag, but all the same, the feeling of dread that he had developed in his gut wasn't lessened by the expectation.

Coruscant.

What had once been a grand ecumenopolis for what had to be millennia was now a grotesque biotechnological parody of itself. Thanks to the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of the planet almost a decade ago, the invaders were able to Shape this world into what it was now. And even after the Galactic Alliance retook Coruscant by the end of the Vong War, it was projected by the government's scientists that it would take decades for the planet to ever return to what it once was, if that, through their reformative efforts.

However, the dread that Jacen had developed came not from what was done to Coruscant specifically, but rather from the memories that he had here while he had been tortured by the Vong and educated on the Unifying Force by Vergere. Yes, he attained enlightenment under her tutelage, and he had ultimately achieved oneness with the Force over Coruscant when he ended the war by killing the Vong's true Supreme Overlord Onimi. But even so, Jacen still looked upon this world with a manner of disgust from the horrifying memories that he had.

No doubt Jaina brought him here because of that very intention.

And speaking of Jaina, her presence in the system was elusive, but Jacen had a feeling that she was there on Coruscant itself. There was nowhere else she would be, he thought. So, with a deep breath, he brought the Quest forward to bring it back down to the planet.

As he made his way to Coruscant, he wondered if he would feel anything should he pass by the place where he had achieved oneness with the Force. He recalled a story from his mother when she returned to Endor during Grand Admiral Thrawn's military campaign against the New Republic, which, of course, happened while she was still pregnant with Jaina and Jacen. When Leia had passed by the location in space where Emperor Palpatine died before the second Death Star exploded, she had felt the aftereffects of his death through the Force before everything returned to normal for her.

Because the destruction of Onimi's ship was what prompted Warmaster Nas Choka to sue for peace with the Galactic Alliance, which prompted the formal end of the Vong War, the importance of where it had blown up above Coruscant was marked by GA historians from holofootage taken during the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar. So, even with the anxiety he had for Jaina's well-being, Jacen couldn't help but drift the Quest toward where he had achieved oneness.

But there, he felt nothing. Nothing but emptiness. Not even a sliver of what he had experienced.

It was interesting, he thought, that a dark sider like Palpatine could leave a mark with his death, while nothing was left by Jacen for what he had achieved. And it was that thought that deepened his sense of emptiness and his anxiety for Jaina.

He closed his eyes and tightened his fists before reopening them. Then, without anymore thought for what he had once achieved, he began entering Coruscant's atmosphere.

Within minutes, he set the ship down several kilometers from the Well of the World Brain. Though the GA security forces on this world were minimal to the point that the Chiss War took away the planet's orbital meager defenses, Jacen thought it was wise not to the disturb the activity of the scientists who would have been working with the dhuryam to reclaim Coruscant for the government. It would have been nice to see the World Brain again, but as it was, all he could offer it was a brief greeting through their slave-seed connection.

But when he reached out to it, he found nothing. In fact, now that he was reaching out to the World Brain, he realized he couldn't sense any life there whatsoever, even from the Force-presences of the GA scientists who would have been in the Well.

And once the horrible thought crossed his mind, that the World Brain was dead along with the scientists with whom it was working, Jaina's darkened presence reached out to him and said, Now you know.

Know what? Jacen couldn't help but ask.

What I felt when I lost Zekk, Jaina returned.

Gritting his teeth, Jacen redirected the Quest away from the original landing point and then pushed it toward the Well.