When Luke awakened, he found himself stripped to his undergarments and floating in a bacta tank with the expected rebreather over his nose and mouth. Through the blurred transparisteel before him, he could just barely make out that he was in a small medbay; he had little doubt that he was still aboard the F8 freighter that FealaTaat led him to.
As his senses came back to him, the reality of his circumstances started to sink in. He had felt UnuThul's death through the Force even as he felt the freighter jump into hyperspace, and that was just before he passed out from his injuries from Centerpoint Station. Now that he was more or less cognizant again, a stab of sorrow entered his heart for the Joiner King who was once known as Raynar Thul. That sorrow further intermingled itself with his grief over the loss of the Jade Shadow and the terror he now felt with the knowledge that this entity known as Abeloth may very well come loose upon the galaxy. With everything that UnuThul had told him about her—and Luke had little to no reason not to believe in this entity's existence—he knew that something had to be done and soon.
Luke had to talk to FealaTaat, or, really, anyone. He had to know where they were going and see if the Mon Calamari Joiner could be persuaded to bring him to Shedu Maad and-
His thoughts were cut off as the medbay's door opened and FealaTaat walked in. At either side of him were several Killiks that varied in size from that of the average adult human to a human thumbnail. And even through the transparisteel, Luke could make out the worry on FealaTaat's face even before the Mon Cal stopped less than a meter from the bacta tank.
"We are so sorry, Master Skywalker," the Joiner said in a tone that matched his facial expression.
Luke assumed that he was talking about their failure to defend Centerpoint; he doubted that the Joiner or any of the Killiks with him—which Luke now believed to be among the last members of their respective nests to escape from the Corellian system—even knew about the Shadow's destruction with the station.
"You don't have to apologize, FealaTaat," Luke said; his voice reverberated through the rebreather so that his words were conveyed via the speaker on the other side of the medbay. "If anything, I should be. But just because Centerpoint is gone doesn't mean that-"
"This is not about Qolaraloq, Master Skywalker," FealaTaat interrupted. "This is about Shedu Maad."
Luke's heart sank in fear as his thoughts instantly went to Ben. So much had been lost already in the past day that he couldn't imagine that it could get worse if something happened to his son or the Jedi Temple on Shedu Maad.
Nevertheless, he still had the fortitude to ask, "What about Shedu Maad?"
"There was a Sith attack there earlier," FealaTaat explained softly. "We just learned about it. We are proceeding there as we speak; it is what the Prime Unu would have wanted."
"What happened in this attack?" Luke asked anxiously. "What... what happened to my son Ben?"
"All we know is that there was an attack," FealaTaat stated as calmly as possible. "We don't know who-"
"Shut up," Luke said tersely. He knew it was uncharacteristic for the Grand Master of the Jedi Order to say something like that, but right now, he didn't care. "Let me meditate."
FealaTaat kept silent and let Luke close his eyes as he fell into a meditative trance. Before he could even learn who among the Jedi was lost, he had to know if Ben was alright. He doubted that his son was dead—if he was, he would have felt it as keenly as when Mara died—but the fear he felt still prompted him to reach out to Ben and see if he was okay.
Luke didn't know how long he bobbed up and down in the tank for before he finally felt his son's distant presence moving far from Shedu Maad; he could even sense several other Jedi children around him.
But before Luke could convey anything to his son—his love, his fear, anything—he felt Ben abruptly shut himself off from him.
Luke's eyes snapped open, and FealaTaat almost instantly asked him, "What is it, Master Skywalker? What did you feel?"
"I... I felt... Ben is alive and unhurt," Luke finally stated. "But that's all I know."
FealaTaat nodded. "We will be at Shedu Maad in less than a day. You rest; hopefully, by tomorrow, your wounds will have healed over completely. With some Force-healing-"
"Thank you, FealaTaat," Luke said. "I know what to do."
"Very well," the Mon Cal said. He then turned with his clique of Killiks and headed to the medbay's exit.
"FealaTaat," Luke spoke up just as the bay's door opened.
The Joiner and the insectoids with him turned back to the floating human.
"I'm very sorry for your losses," Luke said sincerely; with his worry for Ben now put on the back of his mind for now, he could allow himself to actually convey his own sympathies to FealaTaat and the Killiks with him. "I can't imagine what sacrifices that the Colony had to go through to-"
"We will survive and repopulate our numbers, Master Skywalker," FealaTaat interrupted harshly. "You just make sure that the Prime Unu's sacrifice will not be in vain by killing Abeloth." The respectful tone that the Mon Cal had given to Luke had vanished, and in its place was a bitterness that the Jedi Master understood all too well to be that of a deep and painful grief.
Luke wasn't sure what else to say in that moment; but he didn't have to, for FealaTaat and his Killiks turned back and filed out of the medbay to leave the Jedi alone with his fears.
. . .
In the cargo bay of the Khai Pride, Gavar looked at the frozen form of the Jedi who had killed so many Sith Sabers aboard the Exiled Warrior while he and his battalion of warriors went down to Shedu Maad to retrieve Vestara and all those Jedi children who chose not to die by his surviving men's hands. According to Ben—the boy for whom Vestara vouched—this man's name was Jedi Master Kam Solusar, and he was now encased in a block of carbonite while both ChaseMaster frigates fled through hyperspace away from the Maad system.
Following the retrieval of Vestara, Ben, and the other children who would either be turned into Sith or die, the last of the Jedi StealthX fighters had been destroyed; very few Sith starfighters and pilots remained to return to the Pride's hangar bay, and those Jedi who ejected from their vanquished craft in time chose to hide among the system's plentiful asteroids. But knowing that firing on the asteroids might end up doing more damage to the ChaseMasters than they would to those last few Jedi, Gavar ordered his people not to fire and instead slave the Warrior with the Pride's systems so that they could leave the Maad system as soon as possible.
Of course, that was all after Gavar was informed of the slaughtering of the Warrior's crew by a single comatose Jedi. Gavar's immediate subordinate, Benzal, had taken charge of the situation in the leading Saber's absence when the deaths of the Warrior's crew were felt through the Force by the Pride's crew. But when Benzal and the Sabers under her charge got there, she had commanded them not to simply kill the dormant Jedi.
"Why not?" Gavar had asked the former One Sith member with a tinge of anger; this had happened as soon as she gave him her report following his return to the Pride.
"Because I felt something from him, Saber Khai," Benzal had replied evenly. "A darkness within him."
Khai's head tilted in curiosity. "Where is he now?"
From there, Benzal led him to one of the Pride's medbays where the comatose Jedi was held down by simple safety straps.
"You kept him alive because you feel he might have the dark side, Benzal?" Gavar asked.
She nodded. "See for yourself. Had I only sensed the light side of the Force within him, I would have had his body spaced."
Warily, Gavar turned to the comatose Jedi and placed a hand on his head as he closed his eyes in concentration. Within a moment, Gavar felt something, and it did feel like rage.
Then, all at once, he felt an explosion of both that rage and a certain amount of fear overcome him, and it all came from the comatose Jedi.
Somehow, Gavar found the power to wrench himself away from the dormant human in front of him before he swiveled around to face Benzal again.
"So," Gavar said, "I assume that you kept him alive because...?"
"We could use him," Benzal explained. "Turn him to our side like we can with those children you brought. He has the inclinations, as you just felt."
Gavar shook his head. "He's an adult; he would be much harder to turn than any of those children."
"Much more difficult, yes, but not impossible," Benzal countered. "And you know as well as I do that the Lost Tribe needs all the help it can get. We cannot turn down an opportunity to have a fully trained Jedi come to our side. Especially with his skills; you know he killed so many Sabers on his own! He did that all alone! Imagine how useful he could be if-"
"Have him frozen in carbonite," Gavar interrupted.
"What?" Benzal asked.
"You heard me, so do not press your luck. The fact that I do not kill you right now for letting this Jedi live is a testament to my openness to your suggestion, Benzal. But I don't want him waking up unexpectedly as we return to the main fleet; I'd rather not give this Jedi a chance to run around my ship killing what few Sabers I have left over from this operation. When we return to Grand Lord Vol, we may thaw him, but from there, I will leave his fate in your hands, and that is if the Grand Lord ultimately approves of your idea. Is that clear?"
Benzal's careful nod was offset by the eager smile on her lips. "Very."
Gavar mirrored that nod. "Then carry out your orders." He walked past her and left the medbay.
Now he stood before the frozen Jedi Master, informed only of his name by Ben Skywalker, wondering if this man, should he be thawed out by Darish Vol's approval and somehow awakened from his coma, could indeed be turned into an asset or end up being a ticking time bomb among the Lost Tribe of the Sith.
Gavar's reverie was cut off as soon as a male voice asked from behind him, "Saber Khai?"
He turned and regarded the Keshiri before him. "Yes, Tyro Hiulk?"
"I dug into Kam Solusar's personal history from the Jedi Temple's archives," Hiulk answered as he presented a datacard before Gavar. "From what I've found, I believe there may be some credence to Commander Benzal's idea that he could be turned to our side, difficult though that might be now."
"Thank you for your opinion, Tyro Hiulk," Gavar said with an annoyed growl as he swiped the card out of the Keshiri's hand. "Now return to your duties at once."
"At once, Saber Khai," Hiulk replied with an obeisant nod before he turned and hurried to the cargo bay's exit.
Gavar turned back to Solusar's frozen body as he lifted the card up to his face to regard it warily. A part of him wanted to simply smash the thing beneath his boot heel this very moment, disregard Benzal's suggestion, chuck Solusar's carbonite-encased form out into space, and maybe even have his second-in-command executed for her insolence.
But if even a Tyro like Gebb Hiulk was willing to vouch for what Benzal said based on his research into what the Sith strike team took from the Temple before they left with Vestara and the Jedi younglings, then Gavar supposed it might be worth a look.
. . .
After the tearful reunion between the Solos on Adumar, they had spent over an hour catching up in the Millennium Falcon's living area before it was reluctantly agreed between all of them that they had no choice but to return to Shedu Maad with Jaina as Jacen's prisoner again. So Han and Leia took off in the Falcon while Jacen returned himself and his sister to the Solo Quest II, and within minutes, both ships had soared out of the atmosphere and into hyperspace.
For several minutes, though, as the blue tunnel through the Quest's forward cockpit viewport sailed by, both siblings sat in their seats silently. And while Jaina was glad to not be strapped into the copilot seat against her will like before, and while she was glad to see her parents again before she was brought back to Shedu Maad, there was still a tense atmosphere between her and her brother as the implications of the near future went unsaid between them.
But when the tenseness of the situation started getting to her, Jaina finally said, "I'll still be executed."
Jacen looked over from the pilot seat. "What?"
"Whoever's gonna judge me for my crimes after the last of the Lost Tribe is defeated, and that's assuming they're taken down in the near future, might give me a stay of execution for what I did on Coruscant and the Venture just so I can have my baby. But after that-"
"Hey, hey, don't think that way," Jacen said as he swiveled his seat around to fully face her. "You might still have a chance. After all, you're not Judicar anymore, and that's a plus. I mean, look at Kyp. After Carida, he still got to be part of the Order and now he-"
"What happened with Kyp doesn't apply to me and you know it, Jacen," Jaina interrupted bitterly. "Because as bad as what he did was, Kyp used the Sun Crusher to destroy an Imperial academy, which was still pretty much at war with the New Republic back then, so he couldn't really be charged under their laws. He killed way more people than I did under Exar Kun's influence, but let's face it, he got off the hook because wartime circumstances were on his side. I, on the other hand, did what I did on my own accord; I wasn't even on the Chiss' side in the war against them. Not to mention the fact that no one I killed on the Venture was part of that war to begin with. Besides, there's no way I could ever be accepted fully as a Jedi again. Not by Uncle Luke, or anyone else in the Order, really. Not after Mara."
Jacen sighed. "That's true. But if we can convince the court about your-"
"Even if I'm ruled to be genuinely repentant for my actions, Jacen, I'll still end up rotting behind a prison cell for the rest of my life, and that's the best-case scenario." Her voice cracked as she added, "And I'll never be able to raise my child."
Jacen placed his natural hand on her shoulder as tears formed in her eyes again. "Whatever happens, Jaina, we'll get through this. You have my word," he said confidently and with a soft smile.
She chuckled weakly as she opened herself up to their now-fully-repaired twin bond so that they didn't have to communicate in words for at least a few moments. Jaina let him know then that she could sense his own doubts about her future under the Galactic Alliance's justice system and that he didn't believe his own words; at least not fully. But she still let him know that she appreciated his efforts in trying to relieve her anxieties about what was to come.
When those moments passed, and the smile on his face dissipated into one of worry that mirrored his sister's, he turned back to the viewport.
After some more time, they came out of hyperspace for a course correction, only to find that there was a message on the Quest's comm console, as indicated by a flashing yellow light. Jacen pressed a button, and a recording of Leia sprung up.
"Jacen, Jaina!" their mother exclaimed fearfully. "Something happened at the Jedi Temple on Shedu Maad!"
Then whatever fear that the siblings had for Jaina's future was overwhelmed and replaced entirely by what they heard next.
