.
15
.
Hanging halfway out of an access panel approximately three meters above ground on a berthed starship was not the best time to get a sharp shooting pain in your ankle, Jacen realized. Especially when said sharp shooting pain was caused by a stubbornly slow-healing gash from an alien weapon.
Grimacing, he put his hydrospanner down and tried to let the Force wash the pain away. It helped a little bit, but there was still a lingering burning sensation that he couldn't quite eliminate.
Trying to get his mind off the pain, he looked out across the hangar floor of the Great Temple. Directly opposite the Rock Dragon was Kyp's X-wing, sitting in a mostly disassembled state for the time being as he and Lowbacca cannibalized parts from a salvaged fighter to fix it. The port S-foils and most of the external plating had been removed, allowing access to the damage from the strange space creature.
He looked down at the hydrospanner and shook his head. When Tenel Ka had spoken to her mother on their return to the Praxeum, the Hapan queen had immediately wanted her daughter to bring the Rock Dragon to one of the shipyards in the Cluster for repair. Jaina, however, had talked Tenel Ka out of the idea, convincing her that they had all the parts they needed already.
Predictably, they hadn't. A Hapan courier had arrived three days earlier with a new main power conduit and other parts to replace the ones damaged by the alien creatures. The end result was that he had spent far too much time crawling around the ship with Jaina barking instructions out at him. Sure, he was pretty good at fixing simple things-his dad wouldn't have had it any other way-but when it came to troubleshooting a malfunctioning system, Jaina and Anakin were much better.
"What's going on?" Jaina's slightly irritated voice filtered through a nearby hatch. "Just how long does it take to put in a new reverse power coupling?"
He sighed. "It's already installed... go ahead and test it out."
There was a slight pop as she applied power, followed a few seconds later by a slightly louder sizzling noise. Jacen turned around as quickly as was possible in the cramped space, and saw-
"Turn it off!" he shouted. "There's a short here!"
The sparking stopped a moment later, and Jacen leaned forward to see what the cause was.
"I can't tell what it is," he said after studying it for some time. "It's just a melted blob."
"All right, get out of there and let me take a look," she replied.
Awkwardly, he levered himself back up onto the hull of the Rock Dragon, wincing as his heel dragged over the edge of the access hatch. Trying to come to his feet was yet another exercise in agony, as icy, burning spears of pain shot through his leg.
A moment later, Jaina brushed past him without a word and hopped down into the hole. "Yep, that's what I thought... the power surge from when that ugly thing chewed through the main conduit must have overloaded the relay here. Good thing we caught it, or it would have left us stranded somewhere. Can you go run and grab another relay from the spares bin?"
"What kind of relay is it?" he asked absent-mindedly, trying to ease the echoes of pain that were still radiating up from his heel.
"A 500J-LR235," Jaina shot back a moment later. "You know what, get two. The one next to it's got cracks in the housing."
Jacen pulled himself back to his feet and immediately regretted it. "I don't think I can really run right now."
She popped her head out of the panel, looked at Jacen, then hoisted herself up. "Sorry... I forgot your ankle was still acting up. You need help getting down?"
"I'll manage," he lied.
Jaina gave him a glare that seemed as though she was looking right through him. Which was true, in a sense. "Sure you will."
.
After getting the Rock Dragon functioning two days later, they left for Sernpidal. Leia had contracted a still unknown infection almost a year previously, which forced her to resign her position as Chief of State. After her condition continued to worsen on Coruscant, she and Han made the decision to move to a relatively undeveloped world in the Outer Rim. Lando had suggested Sernpidal due to some business interests he had there, and surprisingly Han had agreed to give it a try.
Jaina silently watched the unassuming, white-capped ball of verdant green, azure blue and mottled brown grow larger through the forward viewports. Her parents had moved there only a couple months before, with the help of Anakin and Chewbacca. She and Jacen had been tied up on a mission on the other side of the galaxy at the time, which made this the first time she had been to Sernpidal.
She shook her head and tried to focus as Tenel Ka brought the Hapan transport into the atmosphere. There was a brief flash of plasma around the ship when they hit, which disappeared as soon as the repulsors activated. Then, the view of the planet's disc from space was replaced with horizon as they lost altitude. She picked out snow-capped mountain ranges, tiny lakes and meandering rivers as they shot past them, finally coming up on a downright diminutive city near the edge of a large, grassy plain. Although it didn't seem to have any buildings over three stories in height, there nevertheless was a busy air about it. Jaina noted with some amusement that the spaceport consisted of a few crumbling concrete pads and a long runway for airskimmers.
Even Mos Eisely's spaceport is bigger than this, she thought.
"Your parents live about seven kilometers to the northeast, correct?" Tenel Ka asked.
"That's what they said," Jaina replied.
Less than a minute later the Rock Dragon arrived at the house. As they settled down on a cleared field beside the familiar disc shape of the Millennium Falcon, Jaina unbuckled her restraints, jumped up, and ran out of the cockpit – only to crash headfirst into her brother, who probably had the same idea.
"Are you two combatants knocked out yet, or do I have to bash your heads together again?" Tenel Ka asked in a deadpan tone as she approached the twins as they were lying on the floor. She offered Jacen her hand as Jaina climbed to her feet.
"Ow. Don't remind me." Jacen reached up and rubbed his forehead where he'd smacked into his sister.
"For a Jedi, you are remarkably clumsy at times," Tenel Ka observed with a smile on her face. "Whatever am I going to do with you?"
"Well, your grandmother thought you captured me for marriage. What more can you do with me?"
The redhead tilted her head slightly to one side. "Do you really wish to know the answer to that question, Jacen Solo?"
Laughing softly, Jaina stepped in between the two Jedi. "Alright, knock it off you two. You know the rules. No kissing while Mom and Dad are around."
"We are not kissing," a suddenly serious Tenel Ka protested. "Nor are your parents present."
Jaina winked at her. "But you know you want to." Then she turned and walked toward the ramp, glancing back when she reached the release button. Tenel Ka's slightly freckled pale cheeks had flushed a bright shade of crimson red, and Jacen was having trouble keeping a straight face. So the feelings are still there, she observed, despite all of their denials.
The landing ramp hissed downward, and there was a sudden roar of recognition behind her. Then a massive, furry brown blur flew past her and down the ramp before tackling Chewie. As the two Wookiees landed in a heap, growling and roaring, Jaina reflected that if she hadn't known about their customs she would have thought that Lowie was attacking his uncle.
As Chewbacca and Lowie continued catching up in rapid bursts of Shriiywook, Jaina walked down the ramp and toward the house.
Apparently alerted to their arrival by either the roar of the landing ship or the continued roars of the two Wookiees, Han was already standing on the front porch of the spacious house.
"So my little girl's come to pay us a visit finally," he said with his typical lopsided grin. As she approached and he looked at her face, the grin changed to a frown. "What's with the eyepatch?"
"Long story," Jaina replied with a sigh. "I got hit with some kind of poison that blinded it. I think I'm going to have to get a bionic replacement eventually."
Han let out a low whistle. "Those aren't cheap. Do you want us to get one for you?"
She shook her head. "No, please. Don't worry about me. I'm old enough to take care of myself now... I mean, I'm a Jedi Knight for crying out loud!"
"You're also my daughter," Han replied. "It's my job to worry about you." He turned to look at the ship behind her. "So... where are those two lovebirds, anyway?"
She turned around to look at the ship.
"Hiding in the bunks, huh? You'd better go... interrupt them before they get too serious," Han said with a teasing tone.
Jaina snorted. "You know Jacen. Shy as hell. He still hasn't worked up the nerve to kiss her since she kissed him at that celebration at the Academy a couple years back."
Han adopted a wounded look. "I thought I would have rubbed off on him more. He was supposed to be a regular scoundrel like his dad."
"Funny," she replied. "I thought you would have realized something was amiss back when he started being more interested in plants and animals than fixing ships." She turned back toward the house and the two Wookiees. "Anyway, how's Mom doing?"
Han's face darkened. "She's struggling," he finally said after a long pause. "You know how there were about twenty other people who caught the same disease? Well, she's now the only survivor. The last of the others died about a week ago."
"That's horrible," Jaina replied.
"I know. The doctors think the Force meditations she's been doing might be the only thing keeping her alive this long."
"What about Cilghal? Didn't she come out here a couple times?"
"Poor girl worked herself sick trying to do that purification thing she does," Han answered. "Leia improved for about a month afterward before relapsing. Nobody's seen anything like it before... almost like this disease sprung up out of nowhere. Thank goodness it doesn't seem to be contagious."
Jaina slowly shook her head. "And did the NRI find out who was responsible yet?"
"They think it was some two-bit tinpot dictator named Nom Anor. Everyone who caught the disease was in contact with Anor around three years ago. The whole thing was related to some sort of anti-technology movement on the planet Rhommamool. I don't even know why Leia bothered meeting that lunatic in person."
"But they got him, right?" Jaina asked, spotting Jacen exiting the ship.
"Nope. Not a chance. Two days after Leia met him, Rhommamool's twin planet Osarian fired off their entire strategic missile arsenal at them. It was absurd, something like fifty thousand warheads. Irradiated most of the planet for hundreds of years. I'm not sure who was more pissed over the incident-the sector government or the Senate. The Navy sent in one of the new Mon Cal cruisers, but it arrived an hour too late to do anything.
"That sucks," Jaina remarked. "I remember Mom said that it was a complete disaster. Didn't that sector get fined by the Senate for failing to enforce local strategic weapon limitations?"
"Something like that," Han agreed as Jacen walked up behind his sister. "Hey kiddo. You got something on your face."
Jacen reached up to touch his face where his father had been pointing at, and then realized that he had been pulling his leg.
"Don't worry, I won't tell your mother," Han half-whispered conspiratorially.
He rolled his eyes. "Right. Thanks, Dad."
"Oh!" Jaina grinned. "Dad, you know how we told you we were going to be stopping by Dathomir? Well... when we landed and went to meet Tenel Ka's grandmother, she thought that Tenel Ka had captured Jacen!" She burst out in a fit of giggles at the memory, and after a moment Han also cracked up, then slapped Jacen on the back.
"What didn't you tell me you were getting married?"
This time Jacen tried to play along. "Well, I was going to but we couldn't decide on the invitations. Then Tenel Ka didn't know whether she wanted the ceremony to be on Hapes or Dathomir. We finally went to an all-night chapel at a casino on Nar Shaddaa."
"I bet Teneniel and Isolder were thrilled," Han deadpanned. "So did you enjoy the honeymoon?"
"Honeymoon?" Tenel Ka suddenly asked from behind them, causing Jacen to jump slightly. "Who got married?"
"Apparently we did," Jacen said, giving an almost-perfect imitation of his father's trademark grin.
One eyebrow went straight up. "Aren't you supposed to ask the girl before you marry her? Or is it a custom here for marriages to take place without the bride present?"
"Actually, it is." He gave her a funny look. "What, you don't remember signing the papers?"
"It is difficult to remember something that never occurred," she stated in a very matter-of-fact tone that suggested the joke was finished.
"Right. Sorry," Jacen replied.
Despite all of her brother's efforts to improve Tenel Ka's sense of humor, the warrior / princess still had some difficulty picking up small nuances and implied meanings. "Relax," Jaina said, leaning toward the red-haired girl. "I was telling Dad what happened at Dathomir and it sort of went downhill from there."
"Ah." Tenel Ka nodded, looking over at Jacen who winked at her in return. "Aha."
After a long, awkward pause, Han cleared his throat. "Well, let's go inside and see how Her Worshipfulness is doing, shall we?"
.
They found Anakin sitting across from the bed where Leia was resting. As usual, he had some unidentifiable piece of electronics in his lap, and a number of tools were strewn about at the foot of the bed along with bits and pieces of other components.
"Hey guys," he said, jumping up to greet them. After they had all exchanged greetings, Jaina pointed to the bed. "So how's Mom feeling right now?"
"She's been better," Anakin replied. "It usually helps when she goes outside, walks around, and rests out there. I don't know what happened today, but Dad and I found her collapsed on the ground near the garden.
Jaina turned to get a better look at her mother. Her skin was pale and blotchy. Her cheeks, which she had always remembered as being full and rosy, were now stretched tightly against her face.
She dropped to her knees at the side of the bed. "Mom?" she asked softly, taking Leia's hand - which felt thin and bony compared to before - and clutching it gently.
Leia stirred, slowly turned toward Jaina and opened her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Jaina asked.
She gave her daughter a weak smile. "I'm still alive, aren't I?" Then the smile turned into a frown. "Are you injured?"
"We went to investigate some strange events further out in the Tingel arm," Jaina explained. "Jacen and I were attacked by some sort of alien agent. He had this weird staff-like animal that was able to block our lightsabers and spit poison. I got some in my eye and he used it to cut Jacen's heel."
Leia glanced around the room at everyone. "You kids have to be more careful. I don't want to lose any of you."
"Uh, I'm OK," Jacen quickly said. "I can walk - it hurts a little but it's healing."
"And your eye?" Leia asked, looking directly at Jaina.
"It's blind," Jaina admitted.
She shook her head slowly. "You're both Jedi. You should know better than to get yourselves into a situation you can't get out of."
They both nodded. "We know."
"Good." She smiled again. "How long will you be here with us?"
"About a week," Jacen replied. "Uncle Luke has us and other Jedi spread out through this area of space, watching to see if there is any more activity or other attacks. He said he'll be stopping by to check in with us before he goes to Coruscant."
A flicker of concern passed across Leia's face. "Do you think we're in danger here?"
He shrugged. "It looks like the aliens are based in the Helska system, which is right on the edge of the Tingel arm, almost into Wild Space. So far, all we know they've done is attack an ExGal observation station on Belkadan, destroy a few merchant ships and a pretty well-armed pirate ship."
She slowly nodded. "Well, I'm sure you'll let us know if you find anything, right?"
"Of course."
.
They all walked back into the kitchen area, where Tenel Ka stopped Han. "Have you been in Sernpidal City recently?"
"I haven't, but Chewie was there looking for some parts for the Falcon a couple days ago," Han replied.
Tenel Ka turned and stepped through the front door, onto the porch where the two Wookiees were still, apparently, having their conversation.
"Chewbacca," she began, "did you see anything unusual when you were in Sernpidal City?"
The Wookiee momentarily gave her what might have been an annoyed look before saying something.
"He asked, what do you mean by 'unusual,'" Han translated from behind her.
She re-phrased the question. "Did you see anyone who seemed out of place, or was acting suspiciously?"
Chewie gave a short bark for "no."
"Look, Princess," Han said, "things out here aren't like they are on Hapes. Sernpidal City is the closest thing to a trading town in this part of the sector, but it's a far cry from Mos Eisely. The city's almost completely natives, only a handful of spacers pass through here. And I'd dare you to find me a spacer who isn't unusual."
"You are not," she observed.
Han looked slightly offended. "Come on," he protested. "I'm a Corellian who got kicked out of the Imperial Starfleet for saving the life of a Wookiee, who now happens to be my co-pilot. I fly an antique rustbucket of a tramp freighter that keeps breaking down, and I'm married to an Alderaanian princess who was also the Chief of State of the New Republic! We have three kids, all of whom are Jedi. How is that not unusual?"
She tilted her head to the side in contemplation. "I suppose, when you put it that way, it could be considered unusual."
Han threw up his hands and smiled. "Thank you."
There was a loud yelp from behind, and he turned to look outside. "Right, Chewie. The sun's going down." He turned back to face Jacen. "How do we want to do this? Do you and Tenel Ka want to share a room?"
Jacen was dimly aware of his cheeks flushing some embarrassing shade of red. He was about to reply when Tenel Ka answered for him.
"Thank you for the offer, but that will not be necessary. I can sleep out in my ship."
Han's expression changed to a pained look. "We have plenty of rooms for everyone. I was just joking about you two sharing a room, anyway. Her Worshipfulness wouldn't allow it."
She thought for a moment before speaking again. "In that case, I suppose that would be acceptable."
.
The following day, after going through all the usual motions of breakfast, the four Jedi piled into an enclosed landspeeder with Han.
"Never thought you were the landspeeder type," Jacen remarked as they rocketed out over the grassy meadows toward the city.
"Son, if it moves, I can fly it," Han replied.
Lowie chuffed a question, and Han raised an eyebrow.
"Well, maybe not always on the first try."
The Wookiee made another remark.
"What, do you think you could fly something without controls? I'd like to see you try!"
Lowie gave an affirmative bark.
Han turned to look over at him. "Just how do you plan on doing that?"
While Jacen missed most of the details, he did catch the gist of the explanation.
"So let me get this straight," Han said after processing it. "You would wire in controls? Well, I could do that too, but then it wouldn't be a ship without controls anymore, would it."
"Dad, pay attention," Jaina quietly reminded him. The landspeeder was hurtling toward a small group of trees. He put it into a hard turn, managing to avoid the trees, then there was a loud scraping noise as the bottom of the landspeeder skimmed over an exposed rock.
Han threw a glare at Jacen. "You're fixing that."
"What did I do?" His expression was equally indignant.
"You started the conversation," Han answered, before catching the still-sour expression that Jacen was wearing. "You of all people should know when I'm kidding."
"About fixing the speeder or blaming me?"
"Don't start slowing down on me now, Jacen. Of course I mean both."
"Uh-huh."
.
The only way that Jacen could tell they had entered the city limits was because the buildings had become more closely packed. However, he still had yet to see a building higher than two stories.
"Don't let the appearance fool you," Han remarked. "This city also has a seedy underside."
"And where might that be?" Jacen asked.
"Downtown." Seeing the disbelieving looks he was getting, Han added, "Yes, there actually is a downtown. Only bad thing about it is that they roll up the sidewalks at night."
"That must be difficult," Tenel Ka remarked in complete seriousness. "What do they make them with? Flexible duracrete?"
Jacen couldn't help himself, and his pent-up mirth suddenly erupted as a loud snort followed by laughter. A few seconds later, everyone in the car was laughing so hard they were grabbing at their sides.
They continued zipping through mostly similar-looking streets, finally coming to a part of town that had more three and four story buildings that for the most part appeared to be built either out of rough-cut stone, clay blocks or permacrete. In some cases, the buildings were a mixture of the three.
"So, is the water here even safe to drink?" Jaina asked as she looked at the somewhat crude buildings.
Han snorted. "Yeah, I checked. They have a proper filtration plant here, believe it or not."
Finally, he pulled up and stopped in front of yet another nondescript block building. "Jacen, you wanted the seedy underside, so here it is."
"This is it?" Jacen asked, then muttered under his breath "You have to be kidding."
There was a small sign, letters peeling off, that said "Cantina" mounted over the door. He took a breath and stepped inside, waiting for his eyes to adjust.
The cantina was nearly empty. Recorded jizz-wail music was playing over the speaker panels; there was no band in sight. A Duro was sitting over in one corner, nursing his drink while a furry Talz was seated at the bar; the rest was filled out with a mix of Sernpidalans and humans.
"Hey, Han." The bartender waved a hand as they entered. "What's the occasion? You don't usually bring company."
"Aldred," Han said to the bartender, "these are my kids Jacen and Jaina, Chewie's nephew Lowbacca, and their friend Tenel Ka."
Aldred nodded and shook their hands. "So, what brings you all out here? Just visiting?"
"Sort of," Jacen answered. "We're Jedi."
The bartender took a step back and his expression soured noticeably. "Well then, you've probably found the wrong place. I don't do anything illicit here."
"We're not here for anything like that," Jaina said as she stepped up to the bar. "We've been hearing rumors of some pretty strange stuff going on in this part of the galaxy and wanted to know if you'd heard of anything.
"Strange?" Aldred asked. "No, you've definitely found the wrong place. The strangest thing that happens around here is when two drunks get into a fight. Now that's something the town can come and watch." He looked the group over. "Well, can I at least get you Jedi anything?"
"I'll take a cup of caf," Jacen said.
"Black or sweetened?"
"Sweetened."
"And the rest of you?" the bartender asked as he began pouring the hot caf.
They all ordered their drinks and then stayed in the cantina for about an hour, talking to some of the spacers inside. Han threw some credit chits to Aldred, and then they all left.
There were only a few other cantinas and bars in Sernpidal City, and by the end of the day they had visited pretty much every last one, getting pretty much the same reactions to their questions each time. A few spacers had heard rumors of attacks on shipping, but it was all hearsay.
"I guess we should just call it a night," Jaina finally suggested around sunset.
"See why I said they roll up the sidewalks at night?" Han asked. "There's just nothing to do here."
"Must be a tough change for you," Jaina said.
He shrugged. "If being here helps your mother, then that's just something I'll have to put up with."