Night had fallen on some virtually unknown Mid-Rim planet; the artificial lighting provided the street lamps cast a strange glow upon the scene. The nearly empty streets still smelled of the rain that had just fallen nearly three hours previously and a slight dampness of humidity could be tasted in the air. The sound of a band playing in a nearby club could be heard through the walls. A few of the club's patrons were outside of the establishment, their conversations intermittently halted by the puff of a cigara. It was in this unlikely location that two families met for the first time.
I hate to think about it, but this is a bucket of fuel just waiting to explode, Jorec thought as he witnessed the two families meet each other from his hiding place. He was dressed in civilian clothing appropriate to the area: a simple blue shirt emblazoned with the logo of the band that was playing in the club and pants that matched the color of the shirt. A jacket kept him warm, as well as serving for a perfect hiding place for his lightsaber as well as a holdout blaster pistol. There was an extremely minimal Imperial presence on this planet, but that still didn't stop him from being well prepared. After all, he had said only a few days ago that paranoia was sometimes completely warranted.
"Rinoco, they're here," Jorec reported to his Xexto friend through a comlink. "I don't see anyone else out of the ordinary in the area, but if I haven't contacted you in some way in the next 20 minutes, follow through with the contingency. Take Lia and Gavin away to a safe place."
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Rinoco replied.
"Me neither," Jorec added as he closed the connection. He placed the comlink back in his pocket and began walking towards the two families, who were now conversing about something. "I'm sure that all of you have been wanting to see me for a long time," he said as he came within four meters of the group. The younger couple looked up at him first, a look of surprise in their eyes. A look of surprise that was soon followed by tears.
"Jorec," the Jedi's mother whispered, her words barely audible, "is that really you?"
You--you--" Lia's father began to say as he saw another man that he believed was unworthy of marrying his daughter. The man that, in his opinion, had used his Jedi powers to force his daughter into the relationship.
"I know what you're thinking," Jorec replied to Lia's father, "and I'll have a good talk with you later. Before the big argument begins, let me have this moment with my own parents," Jorec said before embracing his mother.
"We thought you were dead for so long," Jorec's father said as he patted his son on the back. "When we saw the Temple burning we all but lost hope. I'm glad that you weren't in that place like we originally thought."
"From what I've heard, I'm glad that I wasn't in there as well," Jorec replied, remembering the stories that Senator Organa had told him about Obi-Wan and Yoda's trip inside of the Temple.
"Where's my daughter?" Lia's father asked a second later.
"Yes, where is our daughter-in-law and our grandchild?" Jorec's mother echoed.
"Lia and Gavin are in a safe place," Jorec replied. "I'll take you to see them soon." Jorec's explanation seemed to appease Lia's father, who relaxed.
"So they're fine?" Lia's mother finally spoke up, leading Jorec to nod his head.
"Yes, they're perfectly healthy. In fact, let's go see them now," Jorec said as he pulled out his comlink. "Rinoco, I'm heading up there," he spoke into the comlink.
"Who's Rinoco?" Lia's father asked. "Is he trustworthy?"
"He's one of the few people I trust with my life," Jorec replied. "He's the one who helped me escape from Imperial custody."
"You're going to have to explain that to us, and why you didn't tell us at first," Jorec's mother chimed in.
"I'm sorry about that," the Jedi replied. "We can talk about that later."
"You left my daughter and grandson in the care of an alien!" Lia's father exclaimed as Rinoco opened the door of the hotel room that served as a safe house.
"Yeah, so?" Jorec asked, partially disgusted at his father-in-law's speciest attitude. "He's saved both of our lives before."
Rinoco sneered at Lia's father as he entered the hotel room before giving a polite smile to the other four people as they entered.
"Is this where you three live?" Jorec's mother asked as she looked around the sparse hotel room.
"For the past few days, yes," Jorec replied. "It's by no means permanent, but we can't tell you where we've been and where we're headed after this."
"We understand," Jorec's father said, "I think…"
"You mean this could be the last time we see our daughter?" Lia's father exclaimed. "And the only time we actually see our grandchild?"
"You know, they do have to have their secrecy. After all, our daughter's husband is a Jedi and they were involved in one of the biggest local news stories since the Clone Wars," Lia's mother said as she broke her silence. In the months since Jorec and Lia's escape from Gevest, the perilous ride from the apartment complex to the rundown spaceport had been plastered across the planet.
"Of course he's a Jedi," Lia's father attempted to explain to his wife, "and look what his kind has done."
As the argument between Lia's parents about whether or not Jorec was a suitable husband for their daughter continued, Jorec's family quietly slipped past them and towards their son and his family. Jorec's mother sat down on a chair opposite of the bed that her son and daughter-and-law were sitting on, and accepted the infant that her husband handed to her. She held her grandson for a while, before shifting her focus. "Jorec," she began to ask, "is Gavin Jedi material like you?" she said, the word 'Force-sensitive' slipping her mind.
Jorec and Lia nodded at the question. "Don't worry," Lia said. "Not that many people actually know about it."
"And we can absolutely trust those that do," Jorec added to his wife's comment. "You don't really need to worry about us. We'll be fine."
"It's a little hard not to," Jorec's father stated. "We think you're dead for ten years, and now we found out that you were captured by the Empire. What exactly happened?"
Jorec then noticed that Lia's parents had stopped their short argument and now stood a short distance away, eager to hear this untold portion of their son-in-law's life. "I think it began about a week before the actual capture. Under the guise of sightseeing and hunting, some rebel leaders had hired me. Probably to scout out the area," Jorec guessed. "I had no idea they were rebels, I just assumed that they were a little eccentric."
"The Imperials would later capture the group of rebels that those two came from," Rinoco explained, adding his experiences to the story. "They must have figured out from one of my compatriots about the last known location of our two leaders."
"They eventually found their way to me. To tell the truth, I really don't know how. I was ambushed in my apartment by Stormtroopers one morning," Jorec said, saddened by the look of shock and horror on the faces of his parents. They apparently wanted to capture me alive, and that's what they did. They managed to stun me after I was able to kill two or three of them. I was later placed on this prison ship," he said, skipping the 'unneeded' portion of his captivity; a portion that he himself disliked to visit. "The ship eventually crashed, and Rinoco and I were one of the few survivors of the ship. There were a few Stormtroopers that had survived, but we were able to either evade them or defeat them in combat," Jorec stated. "I'm just thankful that the crash happened and Rinoco and I survived."
"What were the Stormtroopers going to do with you?" his father asked.
"I think they were trying to get me to turn evil," Jorec surmised, simplifying a major portion of Force philosophy to those he was speaking to. He continued to relate the story to the four people in the room that hadn't heard the true version of the events that had happened, pausing only to put his son to bed and sometimes backtracking to relate other bits of info.
"So, the Empire tried to kill my daughter with no provocation at all?" Lia's father quietly asked Jorec as the realization finally dawned on him. "And the Jedi didn't try to bomb Gevest at the outset of the Clone Wars?"
"No, we didn't," Jorec simply said, detesting that once again he had to relive and retell probably the most traumatic experiences of his life.
"But the official reports--"
"The official reports were wrong, father," Lia interrupted.
"But why would the Clone Troopers turn on the Jedi if they weren't up to something?"
"I'm sure you heard about the assassination attempt on then Chancellor Palpatine; it was one of the reasons the Palpatine declared the Empire, wasn't it?" Jorec asked. "According to the public information that was released, about three or four Jedi Masters entered that office. None of them left alive… The Emperor is a Sith Lord, an evil Force-user. There's no other explanation. From what I've heard and learned, the Sith have always tried to destroy the Jedi. It looks like this time they succeeded, at least for the time."
The information was nearly too much for Lia's father to register. He had believed the official reports when they told of the treachery of the Jedi, and he had been a staunch supporter of the Empire ever since the Republic had been reorganized into it. The destruction that Gevest and the rest of Selvernos had seen during the long battle had put a load of doubt concerning the Republic's bureaucratic tendencies. Part of him wanted to immediately dismiss the whole multi-hour story that had been told to him; wanted to rely on the stereotypes and propaganda that he had been fed for the past years. After all, he and his wife were probably the only sane people in this room; everyone else was under the thrall of the Jedi.
Yet, common sense eventually prevailed in his mind. "You're all telling the truth, aren't you?" he asked.
Jorec nodded his head and uttered a simple "yep" before standing up. He stretched his legs and walked over to his sleeping son. It was hard to hold back some of the information from both his and Lia's parents, yet there were certain pieces of information that he could not reveal to them, a result of the sources that he had gotten most of the information from to begin with. "Although I wish I was lying about a lot of things…"
"It's getting late," Lia said as she glanced up at the small chronometer hanging up on the wall, "and Gavin's already asleep. We can continue this little conversation tomorrow."
"Do you already have lodging?" Jorec asked. "Because if you don't, there are two vacant rooms next to this one."
"We already have a place to stay," Jorec's father said as he stood up and hugged his son. "It's good to actually see you again."
"It was good to actually see you for the first time," Jorec replied, directing the comment to both of his parents. "I wish that Calena could make it here. I had no idea that I had a sister until you told me."
"Well, she had to attend school," his mother explained. "We'll tell her you said 'hello' when we go back."
Jorec hugged his mother before allowing her to leave the hotel room. "I hope you aren't leaving so soon. Lia and I have at least three more days here until the lodging budget runs out."
"We're staying for a few more days; after all, we can't let this opportunity go to waste," she said.
"I'm glad we got to see you," Lia said. "And we're glad that you got to see your grandson."
"He's absolutely adorable," Jorec's mother replied. "See you tomorrow!" she said as she and her husband walked out of the hotel room, leaving only Lia, her parents, Jorec, and Rinoco as the only adults in the room.
"I know that you and I haven't always seen eye-to-eye," Jorec said to Lia's father. "I'm glad to see the ice is seemingly starting to break. I love your daughter; very much in fact. I know what you're going through when it comes to your faith in the Empire being shattered. My whole life was turned upside down once, too. And I really think that it was for the better. I'm not evil, I haven't mind tricked her into this relationship, and, most of all, I've loved and respected your daughter ever since I met her. I'd like to thank you for being so civil this evening, even to Rinoco."
"From what I've heard of aliens, he has acted rather nice," Lia's father conceded.
"Well, you've heard a lot of bad stuff about Jedi before. I happen to think that your first face-to-face meeting with one went rather well, didn't you?"
"I think it went very well," Lia's mother spoke up, causing her husband to begrudgingly agree with her.
"I have to admit, a lot of the information I've heard about Jedi seems to be wrong, at the moment."
"In time, you may see that all of it is wrong," Jorec said. "Goodnight Mr. Garent, Mrs. Garent," he said as his in-laws moved past him to say goodnight to their daughter.
"I can't believe I actually saw them again," Jorec whispered. "Even though I barely know them, it still felt good to actually see them again."
"It was good for me to see my parents, too," Lia said, a hint of relief in her voice. "Especially after the last piece of communication that I received from them."
"Well, at least your father didn't disown you. And he seems to at least accept me," Jorec replied. "That seems to be a great improvement."
"I'm headed out, too," Rinoco said as he turned to leave the room. "What about security? You want me to tail any of them to make sure they don't run to tell any Stormies?"
"No, it's not going to be necessary," Jorec replied to his slightly jumpy friend. "I think everything's going to be fine."
"Alright," Rinoco said as he opened the door. "G'night, you two."
"Is something wrong?" Lia asked her husband after Rinoco left. "Was it about what you told them?
"Yeah, it was," Jorec said as he made sure that the door was locked. "Every time that I've had to retell that story I've had nightmares, as you can probably remember."
Lia remembered the various times she had been awakened by her husband's nightmares, and how they seemed to trouble him afterward. "Hopefully you won't have to deal with them for very longer."
"I certainly hope so," Jorec replied. "I certainly hope so."