It had only been a week since Memily had left Coruscant, rather anxious to get back home and away from bustling Coruscant, but Coruscant had managed to suck her back in and she was already itching with the usual unease and claustrophobia that Coruscant gave her. People everywhere, headed to all sorts of places, a buzzing of commute surrounding the pedwalks and narrow walkways between skyscrapers and brilliant holoboard advertisements. The grand Jedi Temple was stationed in a sacred spot devoid of- such buzz. There was some space surrounding the structure, positioned on one side of an open plaza. Memily often wondered of it were only due in thanks to the Temple's slanted pyramid structure of transparisteel panes which reflected bright beams of Coruscant's artificial lighting and cast them outward upon the plaza. 'Too much sun' was the joke among the young padawans when they were forced from sleep in their small chambers in the pyramids, the light of daybreak eager to greet them.

Memily's last stay at the Temple had only been for a few weeks while the Masters and elders of the Jedi Council assessed the younglings and those who wished to accomplish the status of a Jedi Knight. Soon, these wiser and older Jedi Masters would be choosing among them for a Padawan to take under their wing and guide them through their journey of the Force. She was already sure Jaina would be fighting the Council for the chance to train her little sister and Memily could only relish the thought for so long. She probably would be matched with her sister. And what fun that would be …

How was Memily to compete with that? Her sister the Sword of the Jedi, the expectations that were sure to follow. It was just as likely that their cousin Ben would undergo his official training with his father, but the last they'd spoken, Ben hadn't seemed to mind. Only a few years ago, their family had been so sure that Ben was going to be trained by Jacen-

It wasn't that she didn't like Jaina because Memily loved her older sister dearly. It was wonderful to have a sister and she often wondered how Jaina had gotten along when it had just been her, Jacen, and Anakin. But Jaina was- everything Memily wasn't. She was the Sword, an aged and battle-weary soldier who had seen wars and death and the dirtiest muck of the bowels of the galaxy.

Trained by a warrior who's been tempered like steel, to become a warrior. Why can't I just settle with that? I don't want to be a warrior or take lives. I don't want a lightsaber. I don't want to be like the rest of my family.

Even Ben was destined to be a warrior and Memily couldn't deny that. He would be a strong and great one with the blood and the example of his parents. And he seemed to be just fine with that path.

You're a Skywalker by blood. This is your destiny. Get a grip, Mem, and figure it out because this is your life no matter what little, pure and innocent dreams you have. Why can't you just face that?

She and Jarik slipped away to one of the smaller training gyms where their sister taught most of her classes. Though she didn't have a class in session, they found Jaina there with a few of her own friends as well as their cousin Ben. Memily caught sight of their auburn-haired cousin and she reached for him excitedly, tugging at him with the Force.
Ben, the Solos' only cousin, was older than Memily, but only by a mere few months. Both had been born in the middle of the galaxy's war against the Yuuzhan Vong and grown closely together since infancy. Often, whenever Mara and Luke had had to leave for missions or battles, Han and Leia would keep watch over Ben and he would have a playmate in Memily. But their similarities ended with their birth year and the two best friends and cousins were about as alike as durasteel and flimsi.

"Hey!" Ben Skywalker whirled around to see them coming, grinning. He was dressed in all his tan robes with his first lightsaber hanging proudly at the front of his utility belt. Such a proud Skywalker, Memily thought, proud to embrace your heritage. "What are you doing back? You just left."

Memily came to meet him where he stood with Jaina, Tahiri, Tesar, and Zekk. "Mom has- business on New Alderaan and Dad wanted to go with her."

Immediately, Jaina's gaze grew sorrowful. She reached out to take Memily and Jarik into a single hug before she walked past them, asking, "Are they still here? I think I'll go see them off."

Ben raised a doubtful brow. "Business?"

Memily shrugged. "Personal. Mixed with some bad timing."

"Sounds typical. For our family, at least."

Memily even smirked. "True."

"Now that I think about it, Dad might have mentioned something yesterday about having guests over for a while. To be honest, I was kind of tuned out. But I'm glad you'll be staying longer."

"A few days at least," Memily assured him.

"Hey! Maybe we'll get our assignments before you have to leave."

Memily's stomach curdled at the mere thought and she silently prayed that the Council would take their sweet time while they deliberated. Surely, it would take them weeks to decide the future of the Order's next Jedi Knights. Wouldn't it? "That soon?" she found herself gasping aloud and Ben chuckled at her. "I already know who I'm going to end up with," he reminded her. "And I think we both know who you'll probably get."

"Yeah, I know. It just … it's coming so fast. It's hard to imagine that we're this much closer to our futures."

Ben snorted, moving past her. "It's about time. Dad will have to let me build my lightsaber any day now."

"You haven't built one yet?"

Ben looked at her, surprise flashing across his blue-eyed gaze. He wrinkled his freckled nose. "You already have?"

Reluctantly, Memily shrugged her bag off her shoulder. She rustled through it, then offered forward a simple hilt. Amazed, dumbfounded, and envious all at once, Ben's eyes bulged and he eagerly reached to touch it like it was a sacred stone. "You're kidding! Dad let you build yours?"

Easing up enough to smirk, Memily suggested, "Probably can't trust you. My mom said Jaina was a few years older than me before she got hers."

"Ouch. Just rubbing it in, huh, Solo?"

She quickly stuffed the lightsaber back into her bag. "Hey! You asked."


As if sensing the need to intervene, Jaina had suggested to their uncle that Memily might not want to share quarters with three guys. Thus sparing her, her older sister allowed Memily to room with her. Though Jaina had her own matters to tend to across the Temple, so Memily wandered the corridors while her uncle took Ben and Jarik out to look at the StealthXs. She had no destination or purpose wandering the bustling halls, but hoped for a good distraction to take her mind off of things. She was already homesick for family's modest house on Corellia and the small bedroom she occupied just down the hall from Jarik's and the floor above her parents'.

Mom and Dad. She hoped they were well, hoped that Rieekan was- she knew he wasn't well, so she hoped instead that his pain wasn't so great and that he might return to his true home with Alderaan in the stars soon.

Memily didn't want to think any longer about General Rieekan or the grief her parents might be feeling. She withdrew from internal thoughts to find herself on a lower level of the Temple, a secluded area she didn't recognize. She could only see one corridor and it led to bigger rooms, laboratories, observation rooms. Memily froze, one hand holding the wall as she surveyed the white corridors, polished floors, and each room's label. It all made her feel like she was in a hospital.

Memily thought she should leave. She figured the labs were Master Cilghal's workspace and if no one had shown her this ward, then she didn't belong here. She knew she probably didn't belong down there, and she should leave.

But the feeling that glued her there as she considered turning back was so strong … Memily almost could have sworn it was the Force.

From where she stood at one end of the corridor, Memily could see one room had its light on, the door kicked wide open. She followed it like it was a beacon calling her forward, summoning her. Its source cast a long shadow of light down the hall and Memily followed the path to a small lab room. Sure enough, she found Master Cilghal inside, leaned over an array of files and datapads. Memily winced before she realized that the poor creature was not alive, her Force instincts spared.

"Miss Solo? What are you doing here?"

Memily jumped. "I- I'm sorry, Master Cilghal. I've just been wandering the halls when I found this ward. I apologize for intruding." She quickly turned to leave, but the Mon Cal pulled her back with only a silent suggestion. She turned back to see what the Master wanted.

"I am not upset with you for being down here." The gill sacks at her neck flapped and made a funny bubbling noise that Memily thought meant she was chuckling. "It isn't often I get visitors. While you are here, do you mind handing me a tool from my tray?"

"Of course." She stepped in and crossed the room to where Cilghal had a rack of assorted medical tools and supplies. "What do you need?"

"I have a pile of bioscans on the bottom rack of that shelf. If you can reach, do you mind hanging a few of them up?"

Memily retrieved the scans and found a step stool to use. As asked, she clipped a few of them to a lit-up bulletin Cilghal had hanging on one wall. They were mostly gray and black, but with sporadic blotches of bright red and orange across each image.

"What are the scans of?" Memily asked out of pure curiosity.

"They are chemical scans of Mandalore's atmosphere."

Without further explanation, Memily felt sick to her stomach and her guts filled with unease. Her voice hush and weak, she asked, "The red spots are the nanovirus, aren't they?"

Cilghal was quiet for a moment before she confirmed. "Yes. They are."

"What are you doing with these scans?"

"I've been trying to create something like an antibody either to neutralize Mandalore's atmosphere … or to allow Boba Fett and his granddaughter to breathe in Mandalore's air."

The air and atmosphere of the world of Mandalore was not toxic- at least, to most people. But a nanovirus had been created and released across Mandalore's atmosphere, strategically created to be toxic only to Boba Fett and his granddaughter Mirta Gev. That nanovirus had been created at the order of her own brother Jacen-

"Do you think they'll be able to return to their home one day?"

"If I can do anything about it," Cilghal said hopefully, "I should pray they'll return home soon."

Another nanovirus had been created at the same time, now some years ago. An airborne virus designed to take out any relatives of the Hapes Consortium's esteemed Queen Mother. A virus which had succeeded in killing Memily's niece Allana when she'd been only an infant.

"I hope they'll be able to return to Mandalore too," Memily agreed.

Cilghal looked at her, her bulbous Mon Cal eyes wide and unblinking. It was another moment before she even moved. "The Jedi Order owes no apologies for the actions of a member gone stray. I only long to help Fett's family recover from these wars as many of us have now managed to."

"Yes. They deserve the same homecoming we've found for ourselves."

"And Fett has helped us much over the years. He deserves our help."

Memily only nodded.

"Come here. Look at these scans. What do you see?"

Though the sight made her so sick inside and could have reduced her to tears of guilt, Memily studied the images, took in the sight of the red splotches and how far across each image they spread. Where the blooms of red didn't occupy, dust trails of a lighter orange connected each splurge, cementing the bloackade of nanovirus that surrounded Mandalore like a great wall. Her throat thick and her stomach curdling, Memily offered, "I see Alderaan."

Surprised, Cilghal looked at her. "Please explain."

"I remember when news of the nanovirus broke out. Both of them. Jaina was in the makeshift medcenter at the Jedi base on Shedu Maad. You were taking care of her. I remember Mom trying to explain to me what had happened to Mandalore and what it meant for Fett. She said it was like Alderaan. The Empire had taken Alderaan from her so she'd never see her family or home again." She recoiled from the wall and averted her gaze from the chemical scans. "He took Fett's home from him. Just like Mom's home had been taken from her."

"Yes, I suppose that's right. But I intend to save this Alderaan. It's the least we can do for Fett and his family."

Memily glanced at Cilghal's arrangement of datapads and scans and different readouts and all the data sheets she had printed, laid out across the floor and counters. All this work- just for Boba Fett. All this dedication just to help a loner of a man who- most would agree- deserved at least half the cards life had dealt him. It was so like the Jedi Master and healer, to devote all her time and energy to such a project. Because Cilghal only cared about saving lives and preserving humanity. That was something that Memily understood.

Eyeing the readouts and results more carefully, Memily asked excitedly, "Master is there anything I can do to help?"