"So, Wedge," Mirax said, "have you considered my offer?"
The miniature holographic representation of Wedge Antilles, retired general of the Rebel Alliance, New Republic, and Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, sighed before he answered. "Yes, I have, Mirax. And I talked it over with Tycho and the others about it."
"And?"
Wedge sighed again. "Nawara can't make it; too busy on Denon with his legal practice. Neither can Gavin, Deuce, or Pash. But aside from them, the Rogues are aboard."
They were referring to the discussion that they had shortly after Corran's funeral; in it, Mirax had asked if he could gather the veterans of Rogue Squadron who served alongside Corran during his time with them and bring them to the Corellian system to help hunt down Tahiri Veila.
Mirax grinned. "Good." Her expression dropped as a thought occurred to her. "You're sure the others won't tell anyone what we're planning?"
Wedge shook his head. "They say they'll take our secret to the grave, and I believe 'em; they won't let Veila go unpunished for killing Corran, even if they can't take part in taking her out."
"If you say so, Wedge. So when will Tycho and the others make it to the Corellian system?"
"Two days, three at the most. But, tell me, Mirax, how are you gonna look for Veila without asking for help from the Jedi Order?"
"You haven't checked the news lately? It occurred just a couple hours ago."
"What did? I'm sorry, Mirax, I haven't been keeping with the news lately in my retirement unless Iella says it's really important. And sometimes she doesn't keep up to date, even with this Chiss War going on."
"That's fine, Wedge," Mirax replied without humor. "Let me show you." She tapped a button on the Pulsar Skate's pilot console, and right beside Wedge's image sprang a recording of a report from the Corellian system's local HoloNet.
In that recording, Head of State Thrackan Sal-Solo stood on a podium with a banner displaying the Centerpoint Party's logo behind him. Standing on either side of him was a stoic, dark-haired version of Veila and a man who looked like a slightly uglier version of Jacen Solo, who was just as stoic as his female counterpart.
"After speaking with Prime Minister Aidel Saxan," Sal-Solo announced to an unseen audience, "she has agreed to give Miss Leary Trest, standing right next to me, a pardon for the death of Corran Horn. This pardon, however, is conditional; should Miss Trest work for me as one of my personal bodyguards for one whole year without any misconduct on her part, she will be allowed to resign and leave this system a free woman. Failing that, she will get life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now I may answer any questions the press may have."
Mirax ended the recording there. "So none other than Thrackan Sal-Solo has made our job easier for us," she said dryly.
"And to think he was such a problem for Corellia in the past," Wedge remarked just as dryly.
. . .
As much as Han and Leia wanted to head directly to the Corellian system to see if they could find Jaina there, they reluctantly promised both Masters Hamner and Katarn to swing by Kashyyyk and recover the still-comatose Jaden Korr; after all, the Kashyyyk and Corellian systems were relatively close by, so it wouldn't have been that much of a detour to pick up Jaden. Thus, they were just about to board the Millennium Falcon in the Jedi Temple's hangar bay when Kyle ran in, proclaiming, "Han! Leia! Wait!"
The spouses turned and regarded Kyle as he hurried toward them; behind the Jedi Master, several Jedi Knights, as well as Octa Ramis, were also hurrying into the bay and heading to their StealthX fighters.
"What is it, Master Katarn?" Leia asked once the higher-ranking Jedi reached her and her husband.
After taking a moment to calm himself, Kyle succinctly relayed the details of Thrackan Sal-Solo's announcement of Tahiri Veila being pardoned for killing Corran Horn provided that she work for him.
"But what's really concerning," the Jedi Master went on, "was that during that announcement, Jacen, in his disguise as Candak Hecluse, was spotted next to Thrackan."
"What?" Han asked incredulously. "What the hell could he be doing? Isn't he supposed to seed misinformation about Centerpoint being a weapon or something like that?" He then looked to his wife. "Leia, help me out here; can you reach out to Jacen and tell me what he's thinkin'?"
Wordlessly, Leia shut her eyes and attempted to reach out to her son through the Force. A moment later, she said, "I'm not sure if I'm just too far or if he's 'making himself small,' as he would put it. But whatever the reason, I can't reach out to him right now."
"Great," Han said sarcastically with a slight but frustrated wave of his hands.
"And whatever the reason Jacen is acting as Thrackan's bodyguard," Kyle interjected, "it's made Omas and Bwua'tu move up our timetable in making our move against the Chiss in the Corellian system."
"But how could that be?" Leia asked. "Was Jacen successful in seeding that misinformation?"
Kyle shook his head. "Not even close. Which is why we're going to Plan Besh."
"Plan Besh?" Han asked.
Kyle hesitated before he sighed. "We didn't tell Jacen this in case he got caught, and we didn't tell you this in case you were going to tell him, but... in the event that Jacen was caught or otherwise compromised in his mission, the fallback plan was to shift several dozen GA ships and thousands of troops throughout the various contested territories in this war in a massive movement for the Corellian system."
"And how is that supposed to convince the Chiss of Centerpoint being a weapon again?" Leia asked.
"It's a gamble," Han said almost immediately.
Kyle nodded. "Omas and Bwua'tu, with Peecar's tenuous advisement, say that might lure Admirals Iosha and Ulaska out of hiding."
Realization dawned on Leia's face. "Because even if they couldn't be fed the false info about Centerpoint's status, the mass fleet movements away from multiple systems to the Corellian system will make the Chiss admirals wonder what's going on."
"Like the GA having crucial information successfully shielded from them," Kyle said.
"And if we're to assume that Tahiri is the Sith's only agent at Centerpoint, if not the whole system," Han said, "Thrackan's not gonna let her communicate with any of her fellow Sith; which means that, for all the Chiss know, maybe the Corellians will have gotten the station active again sooner than expected."
"Which is why we're shippin' out now," Kyle said.
"Think it'll work, Master Katarn?" Han asked.
The Jedi Master shrugged. "I hope so; it's all I can say."
"Do you still want us to stop by Kashyyyk to get Jaden first?" Leia asked.
"Yes, I do," Kyle replied. "Master Ramis and I have to lead this squad; I can't shirk this responsibility. I just wanted to let you know of this development so you don't get surprised if you drop out of hyperspace into the middle of a battle in the Corellian system."
Han and Leia nodded simultaneously. "Thank you for informing us of this development, Master Katarn," the latter said.
Kyle returned the nod. "You're welcome, Princess Leia. Captain Solo. May the Force be with you."
"And with you, Master," Leia replied diplomatically.
Kyle turned and headed to his own StealthX, leaving Han and Leia to turn back and enter the Falcon via its opened boarding ramp.
"I hope Jaden doesn't get eaten by a terentatek or something before we get to Kashyyyk, or I'm gonna be pissed about the delay to Centerpoint," Han remarked as he sat in the pilot seat and began flipping switches to get his ship up and running.
"Han, if you're worried about Jaina," Leia said as she sat in the copilot seat and began helping her husband get the Falcon on sooner, "believe me; we'll see her again."
Han stopped doing what he was doing and looked at his wife. "Is that the Force telling you that?"
A second later, she stopped, too, and returned his gaze. "No; it's just a feeling."
They held each other's gaze for a few more seconds before they turned back and finished booting up the Falcon.
. . .
In the dead of night on the side of Shedu Maad where its Jedi Temple resided, Ben Skywalker walked into the Temple's medbay. The diffused light from the corridor outside spilled in, waking up the medbay's lone occupant from inside her transparisteel cell.
From beneath her veil, the immobilized Dark Lady of the Sith, Lumiya, grinned maliciously. Then that grin, and the rest of her, was once more doused in darkness as the door closed behind Ben a mere second before he turned on the medbay's lights.
After Lumiya's eyes recovered from the sudden onset of brightness, she resumed her evil glare toward Ben. The boy, meanwhile, looked back at her with barely-contained anger on his face.
"So how will you do it, young Jedi?" Lumiya asked, as if she were excited instead of scared by what would happen next. "How will you kill me without the Force as your ally?" She tilted her head to indicate the sleeping ysalamir next to her cell. "There are, after all, plenty of chemicals that you could get in any of those cabinets." She waved her arms-both her dismembered one and the deactivated one-to indicate said cabinets around the room, all unlocked in case of emergencies. "And I'm unable to defend myself like this, so you could administer those drugs in any way you wish that could kill me. With your natural ignorance of medical science, there is virtually no way you could not; you do not need the Force to embrace its dark side, child. So go on: kill me and be free of the pain and grief that you feel for your mother's-"
"Shut up," Ben interrupted harshly.
Lumiya sat back, her body language indicating that she wasn't even remotely offended by Ben's interruption; in fact, she seemed more amused by it.
"If I'm going to kill you," Ben said, "I want to feel your pain through the Force when you die."
"Ah," Lumiya said with a satisfied tone, "now we're talking."
Ben walked over to the ysalamir, perched upon its comforting artificial tree-branch, and lifted it up. The docile animal awakened sharply but otherwise remained passive as Ben walked it over to the medbay's exit. He opened the door, set the ysalamir down, and lightly patted its behind to send it scampering down one direction of the corridor outside.
With the animal gone, Lumiya felt the invigorating energy of the Force flow through her again, and she could practically taste the hatred and anger running in Ben's being for her.
"Now," he said after he turned to face, "you die." He reached both hands up toward Lumiya and proceeded to use the Force to strangle her where she sat.
But even without any of her limbs, the dark side of the Force resided much more strongly in the Dark Lady of the Sith than in the child before her. As such, she swatted away Ben's relatively pathetic attempt to strangle her and instead repelled him by pinning him to the wall next to the door leading out of the medbay with the stump of her dismembered arm.
"If killing his wife and Talon Karrde wasn't enough to turn your father to the dark side," Lumiya said, "then surely your death will."
She could make this quick; she could snap Ben's neck as easily as Darth Judicar could do to any one of her victims. But she wanted to make this slow; she wanted it to be so that when she could convey her thoughts of Ben's death to his father, Luke could be fully mired in the depths of not only renewed grief, but also dark side-inducing despair over how his son died.
So as Lumiya began to strangle the life out of Ben with the Force, she relished the feeling of his imminent demise, practically giggling with glee like a schoolgirl over the would-be look on Luke's face when he rushed in and found his son dead on the floor; oh, how she looked forward to that feeling of triumph.
After everything that he had done to her—taking Palpatine from her, reducing her to these cybernetics from that fateful dogfight years ago, only for him to take even those from her on Ziost—it would only be fitting that she took everything from him.
As Ben's face started to turn blue under her efforts, the medbay's door opened to admit Jedi Master Cilghal and her two medical subordinates. The concerned Mon Calamari didn't say anything; she just lifted up a hand and pinned Lumiya back against the cell behind her, prompting the Dark Lady to involuntarily lessen her grip on Ben's airway. However, this prompted Lumiya to redirect her Force-efforts on Cilghal as she telekinetically blasted the Mon Cal out into the corridor; she was knocked out by a single blow to the head upon hitting the wall behind her. And before either of Cilghal's assistants could do anything to counter Lumiya's efforts, the Sith broke the neck of the male Rodian, much to the shock of the female Quarren, before doing the same to her and letting both of their bodies drop dead to the floor outside the medbay.
Ben, meanwhile, took this brief reprieve on his airway to use the Force to open up the door to Lumiya's cell; and with the Dark Lady exposed, he Force-flung a scalpel toward her face. She, of course, had the presence of mind to redirect the scalpel's trajectory and send it right back into Ben's hand, pinning it to the wall behind him and eliciting a pained yowl that Lumiya allowed him to scream; the more pain he felt, the worse his death would be. Then she went back to strangling him again.
Several seconds in, and just as Lumiya could feel Ben losing consciousness, Luke Force-sped into the medbay.
After Luke looked in horror at his dying son, he took a moment to lock gazes with Lumiya.
And just like that, he activated his lightsaber and threw it right toward her; she didn't have time to react before it skewered her right through the chest.
Luke paid her no more mind, as indicated by his lightsaber automatically deactivating and dropping to the floor where Lumiya's feet would have been. Ben, meanwhile, collapsed to his posterior with his right hand still pinned to the wall above him.
"Ben! Ben!" Luke cried after he rushed over to his son and bent down toward him. After he removed a strip of cloth from his own robe, the Grand Master carefully removed the scalpel from Ben's hand and hurriedly wrapped the cloth around the wounded limb to stop the bleeding. He then grabbed each side of his son's face and tried to shake him awake. Quickly, he sucked in a lungful of oxygen and breathed it into Ben's mouth; he did this twice before he used his natural hand to feel Ben's pulse along his bruised neck.
It was there; it was slower, but it was steady and there.
He was going to be alright, he felt. He was going to be alright.
And as Luke felt relieved joy over this, Lumiya felt bitter defeat over the sense of Ben surviving, as well as her final failure to corrupt Luke to the dark side, just moments before she died.
