Chapter 1
Hapes (62 ABY, same time as the Fel wedding)
The Phantom-X dropped out of hyperspace and immediately the comm began to buzz. The pilot looked down at it and frowned, but he chose to ignore it for a moment as he turned his bright blue eyes to the viewport and looked out at the turquoise ball before him. It had been nearly a year since he had been here. He didn't particularly like coming "home", mainly because he did not consider Hapes his true home. To him home had always been, at least since the age of seven, the Jedi Academy on Ossus. But he knew his duty as a Hapan and so here he was at the urgent summons of the Queen Mother.
He thought about his sister's vague message and wondered what was wrong. It was not like her to be so worried. Even her presence, which burned as brightly as his parents', seemed concerned. She hadn't been trained as a Jedi, the agreement that Jacen Solo and Tenel Ka D'jo agreed to with the Royal Houses of Hapes disallowed it. Jacen had used his mother's title and claim to Alderaanian royalty to ask for and receive the hand in marriage of Tenel Ka. However, because many in Hapes did not want a Jedi on the throne demanded that Allana, who had been born before their marriage, could not be trained as a Jedi. However, their parents made sure she knew enough about the Force to sense danger and protect herself.
He sent a nudge of reassurance to her through their weak sibling bond and felt her gladness at him being close come back to him. He wished he was closer to Allana but their years of separation as well as their status differences in the eyes of Hapan society prevented it. He loved his sister and she him, but he knew that they would never be close.
Suddenly, the comm demanded attention as a commanding male voice from the Queen's security patrol came through, "Unidentified ship, identify yourself immediately or face detention. This is your last warning."
The pilot sighed, and as he switched the mike on, suddenly wasn't just a Jedi Knight any longer, "This is Prince Bail Solo D'jo requesting landing coordinates to Her Majesty's Palace."
"Oh, Your Highness, I am gravely sorry," came the stammering voice that only a second ago threatened to detain him. "We were unaware that it was your X-wing coming into system." Bail looked at his sensor display and immediately saw the intercept patrol ships turn and head back to base.
Bail shook his head and snickered at the over compensating, placating voice, "That is the point of it being a Phantom, Major." He didn't know for sure that it was a major he was speaking to but he would be willing to bet his title that it was. The first time he ignored the comm, the control officer would have fetched his superior, who more often than not, was always a middle aged, bitter major who did not show enough valor or ambition to ever go any further in his career but always assumed that he should.
"Yes, of course, Your Highness."
Bail only let the snicker turn into a chuckle; he wouldn't be losing his title today, because if he hadn't gotten the rank correct the officer would have corrected him. "Major, how are those coordinates coming?"
"You should be receiving them now, Your Highness."
Bail said into the comm mike, "Thank you, Major." Then as he watched them come up on his navicomputer display, said to the R-9 unit that, as with all X-wing class ships, acted as a sort of co-pilot, "Vader, set the course. It's time to play prince."
X
Bail brought the latest and greatest design of the X-wing expertly into the Crystal Palace hanger. The Phantom-X was painted matte black and its systems were designed for stealth. But the most impressive advancement that made the new fighter craft of the GFFA, X-wings, Tie Fighters, Eta's, A-wings, and Clawcraft, almost unbeatable was that they could cloak themselves, making them invisible to their enemies.
He landed the sleek fighter and as he popped the canopy, looked around the hanger and was glad it was void of the usual horde of courtiers that would follow him around while he was on Hapes. All of them trying to woe the young prince either for possible marriage or a possible fling, it really didn't matter. Bail was known as something of a playboy but he had no intentions of such entanglements this time. He was glad to see that either his sister tightened her security or the control officers were slower at releasing the news he was on his way. Again, if he was a betting man, he'd lay odds on the first.
He stood on the side of the fighter and pulled his helmet off and shook out his nearly waist length sandy blond wavy hair. Suddenly, he felt the techs approaching and sighed, they were coming with a ladder. His astromech, which he had named on a whim after his infamous great-grandfather because it was painted black to match the X-wing, twittered and Bail looked at him and grinned lopsidedly. "Yeah, I know, Vader. They don't get it, do they?" Then the lanky Jedi Prince, whom was said, looked a lot like the great-grandfather who he named his astromech after, leapt from the ship and landed gracefully on the hanger floor. A second later Vader landed beside his master after ejecting from the socket.
"Your Highness," both surprised techs bowed.
Bail acknowledged them politely and then reached out to locate his sister. Something suddenly, didn't feel quite right. He found her and she seemed distressed, in pain. He wondered what was going wrong with her pregnancy. He moved by the techs then turned and inquired, "What is going on? It's too quiet around here."
The techs looked at each other then back to the prince, one of them said, "It's the Queen Mother; she is in the medical chambers to deliver the princess."
Bail stared at them for a moment and then quickly moved away, headed to the tunnel that would lead to the palace, the black astromech following behind. Bail called gleefully over his shoulder as he took off on a jog, "Come on, Vader, I'm about to become an uncle!"
The droid only whistled a reply that would have normally warranted a memory wipe, but he did not move any faster.
X
Prince Consort to Tenel Ka, Jacen Solo-D'jo watched his son-in-law Rodtic Le'Dole D'jo as he paced across the outer chamber of the small medical ward of the palace. He could understand his frustrations, Jacen remembered his own while waiting for his son to be born. Sadly, he hadn't known about Allana, his daughter, until after she had been born. Now that same daughter was about to make him a grandfather. Where had the past twenty-seven years gone? he wondered.
"What is taking so long," Rodtic stopped in his pacing long enough to look in the direction of the inner chamber then immediately began again.
Jacen looked over at his still beautiful wife who had a slight smile upon her lips and an amused gleam to her grey eyes. Then he stood up and stretched, "Rod, I think we should go for a walk." Allana had been in labor for over ten hours.
The current prince consort of the Hapes Consortium spun so fast his long blond tail whipped around. Incredulous turquoise eyes flashed, "I cannot leave her now."
Jacen only closed his eyes and stretched out with the Force, when he opened them he smiled and said, "I don't think we will miss anything. She is progressing but the baby is as stubborn as her mother, I'm afraid."
"How do you know that?" he asked disbelievingly.
Jacen only smiled but it was Tenel Ka who answered as she gracefully stood and laid her hand on her son-in-law's forearm, smiling she said, "The Force, Rodtic. It will be a while before it is time. She is having a hard time but she will be alright. Go, you both need the exercise."
The handsome Hapan nobleman, who had somehow managed to steal his daughter's fancy then her heart, looked from Tenel Ka to Jacen and finally decided to trust their insight that the Force-blind prince could not understand. He nodded and said, "Alright, but I will not go too far. I want to be here when she is born."
Jacen smiled broader and patted the younger man on the shoulder, "Of course, and you will be, I promise."
They moved out of the medical ward and headed out to the balcony that overlooked Tenel Ka's Jungle Garden. They stopped by the railing and Jacen looked out over the garden that had over the years become their secret hide away. He reached up and pushed a lock of his grey streaked long brown hair back and rubbed his equally grey streaked, but neatly trimmed, beard. Then after a moment of quiet Jacen, without looking at his daughter's husband, said, "I remember when Bail was born. I was a nervous wreck. I could not understand why I couldn't be in the room with Tenel Ka. I felt that she needed me to be with her. We hadn't been married for year and I was still getting used to Hapan society. I had a hard time standing by feeling like there was nothing I could do."
"I don't need to be there to watch the birth," the Hapan said surprised that Jacen could even suggest such a thing. Jacen looked at him and for a moment they held each other's unwavering gaze. "It is forbidden to see the Queen Mother in such a vulnerable state, even for her husband."
"Of course," Jacen said and looked back over the garden. He wasn't about to get into a discussion about Hapan matriarchal society. He often wondered how he had survived it. His marriage to Tenel Ka hadn't always been easy because of it either. He, after all, was brought up believing it was a man's place to rule the roost and after the newly wedded bliss of the first year of marriage wore off, Jacen realized just how hard it was for him to swallow all he was taught and bow literally before Tenel Ka and to keep his mouth closed. He didn't necessarily agree with her decisions on how to best govern Hapes always, but he had no right to even question her decisions. However, he had decided early on that there was one room he would not bow and it was probably that determination on his part and the need to be dominated on Tenel Ka's that saved their marriage. Ironically, that room had been their bedroom.
Suddenly, Jacen felt a presence he hadn't felt in a long time. He had felt his son when he first emerged from hyperspace but now he was close. Jacen had to admit that he wished he had been closer to his son, but Jacen had resigned from the Jedi Order not long after he was born. With the two children, he decided his place was with them. Tenel Ka had a government to run and, although Jacen loved being a Jedi and had greatly missed it over the years; he didn't want his children to be raised by droids or strangers. He had long ago forgiven his own mother for putting her role as Chief-of-State before him and his siblings, but he was eternally grateful that his father had been there to watch out for them. But in the end, Jacen knew he hadn't always been there for Bail. Bail had been sent to the Jedi Academy when he was seven years old. Although, his son tried to be Hapan, Jacen knew that he was more Jedi than prince which didn't really bother him. Jacen only regretted that he really didn't know his son as well as he wished and that he hadn't been Bail's Jedi Master when that time had come.
Finally, realizing Bail was in the medical ward. Jacen turned and said, "Come, Bail has finally arrived."
"How—" Rodtic began then swallowed and smiled, "I know, the Force." He shook his head and fell into step with Jacen as they headed back into the palace. "I wonder if I will ever get used to that."
Jacen only laughed and in a fatherly gesture laid his arm across the younger man's broad shoulders, "If my own father, who was as Force-blind as you, is any indication, the answer is no."
X
They sat in the outer room as another two hours clicked by. Jacen was beginning to become worried. Something wasn't right. He stretched out into the Force and reached for his granddaughter. What he felt had him leaping to his feet.
Tenel Ka and the rest who now included her elderly father, Prince Isolder, raised their concerned gazes to him. He was headed toward the inner room door. "Jacen, what is it?" she asked as she stood.
Jacen turned to look at her and said as he moved his gaze to Rodtic, "Something's wrong." Then as he looked back to Tenel Ka, "I'm going in there."
"Jacen, you cannot enter that room. You know that," Isolder reminded him.
Jacen looked down at his father-in-law but before he could answer Bail also stood and said, his expression as concerned as his voice, "I feel it too. The baby is in distress."
With that said, Jacen turned and opened the door. "Jacen," Tenel Ka stopped him by laying her hand on his arm, she saw the fear and determination in his eyes. He watched as she reached for the Force and their daughter and granddaughter. Her eyes became sharp when they met his again and she dropped her hand, letting him go.
Jacen entered the room and immediately the female doctor, Allana's chief bodyguard and the two maternity droids stepped before him. "Prince Jacen, what do you think you are doing in here?" the doctor demanded.
Jacen glanced at the middle aged medic and the bodyguard, he then pushed past the droids as he said, "I'm going to save my granddaughter."
She quickly turned on him and said excitedly, "But, Your Highness, you know it is forbidden for a man to see the Queen Mother so exposed."
Jacen only stopped and turned on her, his anger coming to the surface, "Doctor, I am her father; I used to change her diapers for Force sake. And I am a Jedi. I know what is wrong with the baby." Then he turned back to head to the bed and was stopped by the imposing, but beautiful presence of the bodyguard. He said to her, "Isha, she wants me here." The guard who was Dathomiri must have sensed the truth, bowed her head in acknowledgement and moved away.
"How do you know something is wrong?" the doctor asked astonished.
He spun on her and said through gritted teeth, "I can feel the baby's distress. And I can feel my daughter's worry. I know what to do." With that he turned again and headed to the birthing bed.
He looked at an exhausted Allana as she lay on the bed, sweat wetting the brow of her unusually pale face. As with Tenel Ka when she delivered both their children and as was Dathomiri tradition, a woman did not accept any pain suppressants to ease the pain of childbirth. It was considered a weakness to do so.
"Daddy, what is wrong," she cried. "She seems to be growing weaker." She reached for Jacen's hand as he moved to stand beside her.
He laid his free hand on her swollen abdomen and as he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and reached for the baby. Instantly he realized the problem. And then he angrily turned on the doctor. "The baby is not turned and she has the umbilical cord around her neck." At the woman's astonished gasp, he went on, "Please, do not tell me that you didn't have any idea."
She swallowed and then after a moment got her professional demeanor back, "Yes, Your Highness, I know the baby's situation." She sent a sideways glance at the young queen then straightened and after returning her gaze to Jacen's hard brown eyes said, "The Queen would not allow me to perform the necessary surgery to extract the baby. She insisted that you could do it without."
Then Jacen understood his daughter's urgent blast into the Force. He had always been close to Allana. He was often the only parent she had around as she grew up and they had a bond that few fathers shared with their daughters regardless of them both being Force sensitive. That was when he made his decision. He quickly unbuttoned his jacket and took it off; as he rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt he turned toward the surgical tray and then squeezed a glob of sterilizer onto his hands. After rubbing them until it evaporated he moved to the bottom of the bed and placed himself between her legs. Then he met his daughter's watery, fearful, pain-filled brown eyes.
"I'm going to save her, Sweetheart. Do you trust me?" he softly said.
She vigorously nodded her head and as yet another labor pain ripped through her she screamed through gritted teeth, "Yes! Please, Daddy, save my baby!"
Jacen then took a deep breath and laid both hands onto her abdomen. Reaching out with the Force, he used it to gently unwind the umbilical cord from around the baby's neck. He instantly sent a reassuring nudge to the infant as she seemed to become more agitated. Finally, he used a Force grip to turn the baby, guiding her head until it fit into the birth canal. Jacen was totally immersed in the Force, he stayed with the baby, helping Allana with her contractions and silently urged her to push. Suddenly, the head appeared and Jacen seemed to come out of the trance. With the next push which was accompanied by a loud scream from Allana, Jacen Solo became the first man in recent history to deliver a future queen of Hapes.
As he held the tiny red, screaming baby girl he unabashedly let his tears fall. One of the droids cut the cord that would have cost her life if he had not intervened. Then he realized something as an old memory of saving his brother-in-law came to mind. Over twenty-five years ago he had used the Force to restart Kyp Durron's poisoned heart, saving his life. He suddenly realized he had saved another life and possibly two today. As he looked up to the overjoyed face of his daughter from the tiny face of his granddaughter, Jacen Solo was overwhelmed with a satisfaction in the Force he had never felt before and he finally realized his true calling—that of a healer.
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