Tahiri grudgingly helped Tekli. She knew Anakin and the healer were correct, but it was also very unfair. Unfair in the sense that they'd been through so much together. Before this damnable war, he had saved her so many times. 'Shoot I feel obligated to save him,' she thought with a sigh.

            She continued levitating Tesar and Tekli as the Chadra-fan worked on the Barabel. She was attempting to move them to a place farther from the fighting and closer to an escape route.

            As Tesar was lowered to the coral floor, she felt it. 'Oh Force, NO!' she screamed silently. She did not have to turn to see the Force glow. She knew it was Anakin. They had been together too long and had too close a connection for her not to recognize his Force presence.

            The tears came, unbidden and silent. She knew she should have gone with him. But he had insisted, as if he knew this would be the outcome. ~Damn you, Anakin Solo! ~ She inadvertently sent as she opened their link.

            She sent near all she had to aid him, but it was already too late. As her mind melded with his, she felt a ghostly warm whisper across her lips. When the all too brief contact ended, something seemed to red to pieces within, bringing more tears to her eyes.

            A hand on her shoulder startled her, causing her to inhale for the first time in several minutes. She turned her head to see Tesar had awakened.

            "The time will be later," he said to her, "Thiz one thankz you."

            She nodded an affirmative. He was right. Grieving would come later. Now they had their hands full getting off the worldship with their lives intact. Anakin's sacrifice would mean nothing otherwise.

            "Thiz one will go help the otherz while you aszure the pazzage over there iz zafe for our ezcape."

            Tekli watched as Tahiri nodded another acknowledgement and motioned for her to follow. The healer knew something had happened to her blonde friend when Anakin died. They had all felt his passing, but there had been more between the two-a much deeper connection. She sensed that only time and love could heal the wound that Tahiri had sustained. Only time and love.

            A thud bug landed in pieces close to the Chadra-fan, reminding her that now was not the time to be distracted by thoughts not aimed at escape and survival.

            Tahiri whirled at the first sign of trouble. A feral light gleaming on her distorted features. Lightsaber at the ready, all her grief and anger there to be used, she caught a thud bud on the edge of her blade.

            She did not attack, though, as her friends came rushing down the corridor- a number of Yuuzhan Vong on their heels. Instead, she did her best to deflect or destroy any stray bugs that came her way.

            She was so wrapped up in defending the retreating group, she failed to notice when the last of the strike force passed her position. She also missed the cold accuracy with which Jaina set a thermal detonator. She wasn't even fazed when the roof caved in behind the bomb. She did not realize she was lost in her own world until Jacen's voice intruded.

            "Tahiri."

            In one smooth motion, she deactivated her blade, clipped it to her belt and turned to face him. He could see the pain and sorrow in her eyes. It was so much like his but seemed amplified ten times. He also noted a certain resignation in her, as if her life didn't matter anymore, but she could last log enough to see the others to safety.

            The explosions from the other side of the downed ceiling grew louder and closer in those few second he took to analyze his comrade. Noting that none of the others had stopped log enough to do more than cause the cave in, he clamped his hand around her wrist and pulled the unmoving young woman behind him.

            Once Jacen got her moving, she broke out of her stupor and began to move of her own accord. She could sense Jacen reaching out to Jaina to find the location of the others. Several twists and turns and a couple of lifts later they were unceremoniously yanked into a room.

            She oriented herself quickly and found a corner where she could sit and sulk. She flopped into it, like a puppet with its strings cut, and brought her knees to her chest. Circling her arms around her legs, she rested her chin on her knees and stared at the prisoner.

            She knew that some of the others were watching her. Tekli for certain. Alema Half-heartedly, as were Ganner and Zekk, when they felt they could spare the attention from the others in the room. The team was coming apart at the seems and no one cared enough to stop it. 'Anakin was the adhesive. He may have been second-guessing himself but, at least while he was here, there wasn't this chaos.' She thought morosely.

            Ever so slowly, she stretched out with her senses. She knew none of the others were keeping tabs on Tesar since he left to do reconnaissance. They were all going to make it out. She would not let another one die. His sacrifice would not be in vain. 'It's too bad none of us are doing anything.'

            The bowl of bland pulp splattering on the wall roughly a meter from her head recalled her to the reality of the tiny room. A heated exchange between the remaining Solo children was nearing fistfight proportions when Tenel Ka jumped into the debate. Hot on her heels was Zekk to defuse the fight.

            She had discerned the core of Jaina's thoughts, long before Lowie's "I found him growl," came over the comlink. Jaina spun on her heel, headed for the door.

            Jacen caught her by the arm. "What are you doing?"

            "Going after Anakin's body," Tahiri's flat, mechanical voice rang eerily in the silence giving everyone a start, "What do you think? They're not taking him anywhere." She rose and moved to Jaina's side, noting that Alema and even Zekk joined them.