"Let's try down here," Tahiri said, dragging Anakin down a side-street. Jaina shook her head, and followed after them.
They'd wandered half-way round Capital City, debating the best way to get to the archaeological facility on the site of the old Lothal Jedi enclave, several thousand kilometers to the north, and looking for someplace to grab a cheap lunch.
The first step in saving the Galaxy, it turned out, was deciding where to eat. With most of their wardrobe unavailable thanks to Jacen's hijack of the Turtle, the only current credits they had to hand were a few loose chits that had been in Jaina's jacket pocket, barely enough to cover a taxi back to the spaceport to pick up her TIE Defender. Anakin had tried to argue that they should head straight back, rendezvous with Ravelin and grab some rations from the galley, then take the cruiser in as low as possible above the Jedi ruins - if they were walking into a trap, he figured that showing up with a capital ship might be a good way to defeat it.
Jaina, who just wanted to fly her fighter directly to the site, had responded with a determined attempt to find a satisfactory take-out that left enough change for the fare back to the spaceport.
"We should have just gone for that Twi'lek place two blocks back," Jaina sighed, scowling at the menu of an overpriced tapcafe, the sort of anonymously urban eatery that tried to look Chandrillan. "There's nothing worth trying here."
"Let's head down here. Should lead us back to the main street."
They'd only gone a few paces down the side road when they realised it was unnaturally empty.
"That's far enough."
Jacen and Alema Rar stepped out onto the street, lightsabers in their hands, held in low casual guards, shrugging off whatever trick they'd been using to mask themselves in the Force.
Jacen had changed into an approximation of his old Jedi gear, a pale tabard and brown boots, but he couldn't hide the tension in his dark-eyed gaze - a sense of hostility and betrayal that Anakin simply didn't understand. Alema Rar looked more amused, almost flirtatious - and she seemed to have found a tight black jumpsuit several sizes too small for her breasts; but her underlying posture left no doubt she was ready to back Jacen up without the slightest hesitation.
"Easy," Anakin said, lifting his hands, palms-up. "We're on the same side here, Jasa."
Tahiri, who had been fishing inside her shoulder-bag for her lightsaber, gave him a questioning look.
Jacen answered with a sound that was perhaps meant to be a laugh. "Are we?"
"Maybe they can buy us lunch?" Tahiri offered hopefully. Though something in her eyes suggested she was thinking about lekku kebab.
"I heard that," Alema Rar purred, sounding simultaneously amused and intimidated. "Nice to know I've got you attention, Blondie."
"I'd say go kriff yourself, but I doubt you'd take that as an insult."
"Are we really going to let our girlfriends do the fighting for us?"
"Speak for yourself. I don't think their little feud has anything to do with you."
"Anakin!" Jaina did her best to look disapproving.
"Stay out of this, Jaina." Jacen's blade described a circle that encompassed both Anakin and Tahiri. "This is entirely to do with them."
Anakin gave his brother a genuinely baffled look. "I'm lost here. What is it you want?"
"You could stop lying for one thing."
"What's that meant to mean?"
Jacen gestured with his blade at Tahiri. "She's a Vong and you're her slave. Jaina was right to be suspicious of you two."
Anakin frowned, his brother's words provoking thoughts that he normally evaded with the same practiced ease of a Jedi deflecting stinger bolts from a training remote. Almost unconsciously, he checked the pair of modified remotes he'd cached in his jacket pocket.
"Should we tell him?" Tahiri asked, with a playful shrug as they exchanged thoughtful glances, adding unspoken layers to their interplay.
"Anakin?" Jaina asked, sounding uncertain.
"Jaina," Jacen said, looking straight at her, without blinking. "They're not who you think they are. Not any more."
Jaina just frowned.
"I took a look at the Turtle's flight logs when I was setting up my plants to test the time-jump system," Jacen said. "And I'll admit I used a couple of little Inquistition tricks to listen in on some of their pillow-talk."
Jains's expression became even more confused. "What do you mean?"
"They're both Yuuzhan Vong," he sighed. "She's gone completely over to their side, and she's taken him with her. They've been lying to you for years..."