Story written for Legends Family Week on tumblr.

Day 3: Lightsabers

Without the Sword

Usually, Jacen was sure of his decision to travel the galaxy and learn about the Force on his own. This wasn't one of those times.

He was only stopping by on a small planet Ugus IV to refuel and resupply before continuing on his way to Kathol Rift. The planet had been a part of the New Republic before the Yuuzhan Vong war, so he had no trouble with payments, they accepted his Republican credits without a fuss. The locals were a mixed population of Uguans and humans, with some other alien minorities.

The capital city appeared largely undamaged from the war, however, as Jacen walked around, he couldn't help but notice a strange tension hanging in the air. Also, he was the only outworlder around which was easy to tell by his utilitarian style of clothing, different from the local patterned garments. As he recalled, he'd even gotten the landing permission at the spaceport very fast. It must have had something to do with the fact that there was no queue of other ships waiting to land. It shouldn't be that strange with the planet's relatively remote location from the main hyperlanes, but it still planted a niggling suspicion in the back of his mind.

Jacen put these troubling thoughts on hold when he witnessed a child running onto the street to pick up a toy. A landspeeder was rushing at the child over the speed limit. Without thinking, Jacen held out his hand and used the Force to pull the child back to safety on the sidewalk.

"Are you alright? Where are your parents?" Jacen asked the confused youngling. He looked around at the crowd, all staring silently at him. "Anyone lost their kid?" he tried asking again, hoping the parents would come forward. In another case, he'd have to contact the local police so they would return the child home.

"Are you a Jedi?" an Uguan middle-aged male asked in a trembling voice.

Jacen nodded. "Jedi Knight Jacen Solo, at your service," he said calmly, not showing that he picked up on the hostile feelings among the people. Inwardly he sighed. He knew many planets like this where people were turned against the Jedi by the Peace Brigade and the fear of the invaders.

"Stay away from my son, Jedi!" A woman burst out of the crowd and grabbed the kid.

Jacen couldn't help frowning. "A thank you would be nice after I saved his life," he pointed out, but the woman's fear and anger didn't abate. Jacen turned around. "You're welcome and goodbye," he said over his shoulder and walked away swiftly. He needed to beat a hasty retreat; he'd seen people in the crowd making discreet calls, no doubt to alert the authorities to a Jedi walking free on the streets.

He reached the hangar bay only to find his ship impounded and a welcoming committee of heavily armed troops waiting for him.

"Stand down, Jedi! You are under arrest!" the officer in the lead called out.

"On what charges?" Jacen asked mildly, taking a non-threatening stance.

"By the executive order of Prime Minister Selblag, the Jedi are banned from Ugus IV! Your presence here is a violation of the law!"

Jacen raised his hand, slowly, but the soldiers still cocked their blasters at him. "If I am not allowed to be on this planet, you should be happy to let me leave as fast as possible," he suggested in a placating manner.

The logic took the officer by surprise. Jacen watched hopefully as the Uguan's face contorted while he worked something out.

"I won't listen to your false rhetoric! Surrender, Jedi! Give up your weapons or we will shoot you on the spot!" he barked.

Jacen surveyed his surroundings but found no viable escape route. He didn't want to lose his ship anyway. He figured it was better to talk to these people, find out why they were against the Jedi and solve the issue. Uncle Luke could thank him later.

"Very well, I surrender," Jacen said and raised his arms.

The soldiers quickly cuffed him and patted him down. After they relieved him of his lightsaber and a handblaster, they manhandled him into an armoured speeder transport.

"Where are you taking me?" Jacen asked.

"Where you belong, Jedi!" a soldier snarled at him. But Jacen sensed that under all that bluster the man was deeply afraid, but of what?

"Why are you scared? I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "You took my weapons."

The soldier paled and opened his mouth. Jacen leaned forward in interest, knowing that he was going to let something slip…

"No talking with the Jedi!" the officer yelled. "And you, don't talk!" he told Jacen. "We know of your Jedi tricks, so don't even try anything!"

Jacen didn't deign that with a reply. "I'd like to speak to your Prime Minister," he said firmly instead.

"And mess with his mind? That's not going to happen, Jedi! Now be silent or we will put a gag on you."

Jacen rolled his eyes and looked outside the small window. The engine roared to life and the transport took off. The Jedi took the time and quiet granted to him by the ride to enter a light meditative state. Through immersing himself in the Force, he hoped to discern the root of the problem.

The planet was chock full of fear, but it wasn't aimed at the Jedi in specific… it was a confusing and general kind of fear, but it was shared by the majority of the inhabitants. There was also a lot of hostility and resentment, the cause of which he couldn't tell. Jacen sighed. He needed to talk to the locals more.

He was sitting in the middle, flanked by two guards, disarmed and handcuffed, but he had no doubt he could free himself without much trouble. Even if they knew about the Jedi Mind Trick, that didn't make them any less susceptible to it. The question really wasn't if, but when. When would be the right moment to pull his escape?

The sense of a watchful anticipation in the Force told him to wait. Jacen tensed his muscles in preparation.

Something slammed into the transport and threw it on the side. Jacen had the forewarning to brace himself, but his guards didn't. They went flying and crashed into the durasteel-enforced walls of the transport.

Jacen wasted no time. He picked a fallen soldier's pocket and located the key to his stuncuffs. After he took them off, Jacen used the Force to wrench the door open and leapt out of the transport.

The people gathered outside flinched in surprise. They wore scarfs around their mouths to conceal their faces. Jacen concluded they attacked his prison convoy. There was a smoking delivery speeder they must have rammed into the armoured transport.

"How do we escape?" he asked impatiently.

Before anyone could answer, blaster bolts were fired at them. One of the men toppled over with a smoking hole in his chest. Jacen cursed and picked up the dead guy's blaster. "Go, I'll cover you!" he shouted. He may have been a Jedi and so preferred his lightsaber, but he was still Han Solo's son and knew how to shoot a blaster well.

A man waiting in a landspeeder honked the horn at them. "Get in! Hurry!" he popped his head out of the side window and yelled. Jacen recognized his voice. It was the same man that had asked him if he was a Jedi when he'd saved that child earlier!

Jacen concentrated his fire on the officer and soldiers shooting from the front of the overturned transport, then he ran and quickly hopped into the speeder after the members of his rescue party.

"Go!" he shouted.

The driver stepped on it and the speeder shot forward with a jerk that almost threw Jacen out the windshield. He grabbed the back of the front seat, saving his nose from getting smashed painfully against the headrest. Then he leaned out the window and peppered blaster bolts at the opposing forces to discourage them from going into pursuit.

The speeder took some complicated twists and turns to lose any potential tail before driving out of the city and into the sparse farmland. It stopped at the old wooden cottage that looked abandoned.

"Alright, anyone care to tell me what is going on here?" Jacen turned to his companions. "As much as I'm thankful for your help, I need to know the reason."

They exchanged looks then the driver took off his scarf, confirming his identity to Jacen. "It's a long story, Master Jedi. I'm Konag, the leader of this cell. Please come inside and I'll tell you everything."

Jacen crossed his arms and nodded. "Very well."

Despite the outside appearance of disrepair, on the inside the cottage was clean and well-maintained. They went to a large room with holoprojectors, probably a living room turned a briefing/strategy room of the group. Jacen refused to sit down on a chair, instead he remained standing by the large window, hands buried in his jacket's sleeves. He looked at Konag and his people as he listened, sensing for misdirection and falsehoods. He didn't find any.

"As you already know, the Prime Minister banned the Jedi from Ugus. And that's because he doesn't want people to know the truth!" Konag began speaking with agitation.

"The truth?" Jacen inquired.

"That he's lying to us! Are the Yuuzhan Vong even still out there?"

Jacen's eyebrows shot up. He was beginning to see what the problem was. "As a matter of fact, the Yuuzhan Vong are gone. They were defeated by the Galactic Alliance and left for the Unknown Regions where they found a new home. They won't bother anyone anymore," he explained shortly.

The group looked at each other in jubilation. "I kriffing knew it!" Konag exclaimed triumphantly.

Jacen learned from him that Ugus IV had been attacked but not invaded in the beginning of the war. Peace Brigade also reached it with its propaganda and many people in their fear gave belief to it. After Coruscant was taken, the planetary communication relays were damaged and the world became isolated from outside information. Convinced that the New Republic was finished, Ugus IV collaborated with the enemy, but at some point Yuuzhan Vong stopped showing up. Despite that, Prime Minister Selblag did nothing to restore the communications and kept the planet isolated from the larger galaxy, only allowing limited contact within the sector. When the people started getting suspicious, he used the special forces to crack down on any outspoken dissenters and send them to prison.

"Selblag's term ended around the fall of Coruscant. He stayed in the office only because he instated the martial law," Konag said.

"And if the people learn that there's no war, he'd have to step down," Jacen finished the thought. "That's why they came to arrest me. I'm a Jedi, I have a duty to the Alliance. How do we let the people know the truth?"

"Selblag controls the media. We had underground press, but they're all in prison now," Konag informed him with a shake of his head. "We're on our own. I hoped a Jedi would be able to help us. Can you contact this Galactic Alliance?"

"I'd have to get back my ship and leave the planet to alert them," Jacen responded with a negative. "But I might be able to help you with this Selblag in another way."

Jacen wasn't sent to Ugus IV in any official capacity, he merely stopped by on it, but he thought it wasn't a mere coincidence. The Force led him there because this planet needed a Jedi. And he was the Jedi it had gotten.

He sat at the table with Konag and his compatriots and began to plot. It took a few days to get everything together, do reconnaissance and hammer down the details, but finally Jacen was ready to act.

"Are you sure you'll be fine? You don't even have your laser sword. Maybe take a blaster with you?" Konag asked worriedly after dropping Jacen off at the edge of a forest that bordered with the Prime Minister's manor.

Jacen pulled on the hood of the long robe and waved the concern off. "I'll be fine. The Force is the most powerful ally I have. I won't need other weapons."

"I hope you're right," Konag replied dubiously. Uguans weren't very religious.

Jacen stepped into the trees. There was an Uguan deer trail that he followed. He'd made sure to scout this place before with the help of some of his new animal friends.

Selblag's manor had high-tech security measures and the weakest part of the system was the forest. Half of it belonged to the property and the animals were tenacious to get to their feeding grounds on the other side of the fence. Jacen trekked through the forest in the darkness, casting out his senses for any danger. He didn't even bring a glowrod, so he had to rely on the Force not to twist his ankle in any unexpected pits in the ground. The planet's single moon provided only a little pale light for him to see by.

Jacen tracked an Uguan doe grazing in a meadow. He approached her cautiously. The species apart from having antlers were also omnivorous. They were known to attack and chew on careless sentients that approached them.

Jacen called the doe with the Force. They already knew each other, but he wasn't taking any chances. The doe pricked up her ears and swiveled her head around. When she saw him, she bounded up to him and bumped him in the shoulder playfully. Jacen chuckled and gave her his hand to sniff before pulling out an apple. The doe ate the gift happily.

The young Jedi touched her dappled coat and gently stroked her back. The doe leaned into the caress with a sense of contentment. A wild animal like that wouldn't allow such a close contact with people, but Jacen was an exception. He was a Jedi and his special talent was connecting with the animals. He knew this doe, how old she was, her habits and places she visited, and she knew him in return.

"Hello, Beautiful," Jacen murmured to the doe. "I asked you about the manor, remember? Can you take me there?" He sent an image to the doe and she snuffled in agreement, before bending her knees.

"Thank you, my friend," Jacen said and climbed onto her back.

The doe lifted him up and trotted through the forest on a path she only knew. Jacen was on the lookout for the low branches that could knock him off her back.

There was a hole in the fence made by the animals. Jacen hooked his limbs around his ride, hanging himself under the stomach of the doe as she took him to the other side. He felt a faint tingle on his skin when crossing through. However, he was sure that the sensors would only register the animal, not a human attached under it. He doubted many others knew this trick so Selblag's security had no reason to protect against such an eventuality.

The doe avoided any other traps that were along the way and took Jacen to the edge of the forest. The manor was visible from there, well-lit and opulent. There was even a fountain in front of it.

Jacen hopped off his ride's back and clapped her on the side. "Thank you, Beautiful," he said again and fed the doe with another juicy red apple. "I need to go there, to the lights. Will you wait for me?" he asked.

The doe panted and nuzzled him, so he took that as an agreement. Jacen smiled and stroked her muzzle some more. "Alright, I'm going," he whispered under his breath.

Jacen set off towards the lights.

Prime Minister Selblag was sitting in his home office which nowadays became his normal office. Leaving the mansion was too dangerous with the high risk of an assassination attempt by the rebel element in his society. The politician was getting more scared and paranoid with each day.

This evening he'd already had two drinks, but he poured himself another, then pulled out the smooth silver cylinder out of his desk's drawer. Captain Turag presented it to him almost a week ago. The Jedi it belonged to was still out there, doing who knows what on his planet. Selblag took a gulp of the good old Corellian brandy to settle his nerves. He stood up and turned the cylinder over in his hands. So this was that vaunted lightsaber, the weapon of a Jedi? It didn't seem that dangerous compared to a normal blaster. Selblag found the activation button and pressed it. A green blade of light sprung out of the handle and he looked at it, mesmerized. He felt the power within the lightsaber as it thrummed in his hands. Selblag licked his lips and took an experimental swing, spinning from too much force and barely missing the back of his chair. The lightsaber was lighter than he expected.

"I suggest you turn that off and set it down. A lightsaber is not a toy," a voice came from the window and Selblag jumped up, almost dropping the cylinder on his foot. He fumbled to deactivate the weapon before he cut something important off.

"You! Who? Who are you?! How did you get here? Guards!" he bellowed.

"You'll find all your guards went to sleep early," the hooded man replied and hopped inside. He took off his hood. "I'm Jedi Knight Jacen Solo, at your service," he said, sketching a bow.

Selblag gasped. "You're that Jedi!"

"Indeed. And you're Prime Minister Slag."

"Selblag," the man corrected indignantly. "This is outrageous! You have no right to be here, this is a private property!"

"Oh, is it? I was under impression this manor belongs to the government of Ugus IV. Your citizens' money paid for all of this," Jacen replied as he circled the room, looking at the art pieces on a tasteful display.

"I-! You-! This-!" Selblag stumbled over his words, unable to come up with a good comeback. "You still can't be here! I'm calling security!"

Jacen smiled. "That won't be necessary, I already told you they won't come."

Selblag opened the internal comm frequency. "This is the Prime Minister, there's a Jedi intruder in my office! Captain Turag, please, respond!"

But all he got in return was a crackling static. Selblag called again in futility.

"Do you believe me now?" Jacen asked.

Selblag glared at him, still clutching the lightsaber in his grip. "How did you do that?"

"I have my ways," Jacen told him mysteriously.

"Jedi tricks!" Selblag accused.

"More or less." Jacen shrugged. In reality, he found an interesting local species of a wasp whose sting could knock out an adult humanoid. Then it was just a matter of levitating a nest of wasps into the security barrack and directing the insects to attack the personnel around the manor. "Your men are fine. We'll see about you," he said.

The politician paled and took a step back. "What do you mean?"

Jacen cocked his head and smiled secretively. "Why do you think I came to Ugus IV, Prime Minister? Just to sightsee? You can't possibly believe that."

The politician became as white as a sheet. "They- They sent you? The New Republic, or the-the Galactic Alliance, right?"

Jacen's smile showed teeth. "I hear after the war Admiral Kre'fey is hunting collaborators. You know what's the Bothan punishment for treason? They use a dull knife for it. Very unpleasant, from what I hear," he said, giving a shudder.

Selblag gulped. "It wasn't my fault! The Yuuzhan Vong made me! I couldn't possibly stand up to them! They would've killed me!"

Jacen's smile dissolved and his brown eyes became dark and unmoving. "If the Chief of State Fey'lya himself could have stood up to them, sacrificing his life, then you could have done the same too," he said, quiet and deadly.

The politician in front of him was an opportunistic scum of the lowest order. Fey'lya, despite all his odiousness, had still retained a shred of nobility. His final act of defiance during the Battle of Coruscant had been worthy of a true man of state.

"Are you… are you here to kill me?" Selblag asked, shaking like a leaf.

Jacen frowned. "Jedi aren't killers, Prime Minister."

"What do you want then? They must not pay you much, do they? I'm sure we can come to an agreement," Selblag suggested. "Something that can benefit both of us?" he asked hopefully with a nervous grin.

"Well…" Jacen pretended to think. "For starters, I want my ship back."

"Done!" the politician cried out and pushed a few buttons on his console. "You can have it! Here, I sent the order to the spaceport! Anything else?"

Jacen gave him a wry look. "I want you to end the martial law, release political prisoners, repair the communication array, lift the Jedi ban, resign and turn yourself over to justice. Exactly in that order," he listed his demands.

In the following silence one could hear a pin drop. Selblag's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"You're completely crazy!" he exclaimed. "I won't do any of that!"

"Why?" Jacen leaned towards him in interest.

The politician waved his hands in agitation. "How is that mutually beneficial? Or fair? Don't you Jedi understand basic meaning of those words?!"

Jacen couldn't believe that the man had the gall to talk about fairness. "I assure you, it is beneficial to you if you want to save your skin."

Selblag took in a long breath, then sat down slowly and took a swig of his brandy. He rubbed his chin. "I need to think about this." After a moment, he looked up. "What if," his eyes flashed with more intelligence and awareness than before, "what if you're lying?"

"I'm a Jedi, why would I lie?"

The politician played with the ring on his hand. After he calmed his nerves, he was capable of clear reasoning again. "I haven't heard anything from this Galactic Alliance for months. No ships, no envoys, no communications, nothing… And now I get one single Jedi under my roof that claims an admiral is coming after my head." He smirked, gaining confidence in his deduction. "I have people monitoring all neighbouring sectors and there's no sign of a fleet. You could be telling the truth, which I will prepare for. What I know for sure is that the New Republic didn't care much for a small, insignificant planet in a remote part of space like Ugus IV. The Yuuzhan Vong attacks were only training exercises for their young. Exercises!" The politician shook his head and laughed. "That's how much we don't matter. If the Galactic Alliance is the same, it won't care too. No one out there does."

Jacen's eyes blazed. "I care," he replied. "And the people of Ugus IV care too."

Selblag scoffed. "People! They're sheep. I can keep them in line. They're so scared they will do what I tell them to."

"Is that why you are lying to them about the Yuuzhan Vong and the Galactic Alliance?"

"And why would I tell them the truth, that the war is over and there's this Alliance? There's no benefit in this for me."

"So you're just another opportunistic leech that wants to stay in power as long as possible," Jacen summed up in disgust. "Your tyranny won't continue unopposed. Resign when you still have time."

"And who will stop me? You?" Selblag mocked, still turning the ring around his finger. "There's nothing you can do, Jedi. You said you won't kill me. Even if the Alliance really sent you, when I say you've never arrived, no one would suspect anything. Space is big, ships go missing… accidents happen…" Selblag grinned and Jacen had only a split second warning to react.

The Prime Minister pulled on the ring's gem and dropped under his desk. Two blaster cannons emerged from the ceiling right above it and started blasting the office to pieces. When the carnage was done and the weapons retracted as their sensors indicated no surviving life forms, Selblag emerged back. His desk had been the only safe zone in the room. He looked at the destroyed works of art from his collection and sighed sadly. That's why he didn't want to use his last resort. "Needs must," he muttered to himself.

Then he checked in front of his desk. For a second he stared in shock. Where he expected to see a charred, bloodied body, he found only an empty space riddled with blaster burns. Where did the Jedi go? It wasn't only stories that they disappeared after dying?

Before Selblag could wrap his head around this, Jacen dropped behind him from the ceiling with a feline grace. Only his Jedi speed and agility had saved him from the automated blaster fire.

"You've lost, Prime Minister," he said.

Selblag whirled around and backpedaled away from the Jedi, getting closer to the door, which didn't escape Jacen's notice.

"I haven't lost anything! You may have survived this, but you won't get away from this planet alive!" the politician cried out threateningly.

"That's not what I mean." Jacen shook his head and opened his collar to show a black wire glued to his skin. "Our whole conversation was transmitted live. Uguan citizens know the truth now, from your own mouth. You can't kill them all. I bet the prosecution will come here soon. This is your time of reckoning, Selblag."

The Prime Minister stared at him with fear and hatred, then rushed for the door, choosing escape to save his own skin. Jacen closed his eyes and concentrated. A wasp perched on his sleeve took flight after the running coward and stung him in the neck. Selblag dropped on the floor unconscious.

Jacen looked around and sighed. Dealing with corrupt politicians was difficult. Now more than ever he admired his mother for making a career out of it.

Jacen rolled his shoulders and picked his lightsaber from the desk. He briefly activated it to check if it was still in a working order, then clipped it back on his belt where it belonged.

Half an hour later, when the prosecution arrived at the manor with an arrest warrant for Selblag, Jacen was already gone.

The same night, his ship lifted off from the spaceport and left the planet. Jacen took one last look at Ugus IV through the viewport, knowing that they could handle the rest themselves.

He revved the engines and entered the hyperspace, resuming his journey for the Kathol Rift and the mysterious Force sect of the Aing-Tii.

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AN: Thanks for reading! I made up Ugus IV for the needs of this fic, so don't search for it on Wookieepedia :) I hope you liked the story. Please share your thoughts in a review!

Happy Legends Family Week and may the Force be with you!