Chapter 41

Leia smiled as Jaina entered, the smile Jaina had seen her use a thousand times at political functions. Jaina didn't return it. Instead she began without preamble, "Don't you know it's unwise to cross a hormonal pregnant woman, especially a Jedi one?" She continued into the middle of the family room, the last place she had seen her father before he died.

Leia's smile remained fixed, if a bit stiff. "Funny, I hadn't been informed of the happy event until Pellaeon mentioned it to me."

"Is that what this is about?" Jaina questioned, putting her hands on her hips. "Because that's really rather petty of you, Mother, especially when you know I'm right."

Leia rose gracefully, the vestiges of her smile now gone. "Petty, to be upset over hearing from the leader of another government that your daughter is having a baby? Do you even know what you're getting yourself into? For Force's sake, Jaina, you're not old enough to be having a baby!"

Jaina licked her lips, fighting back her anger. "You assumed I was old enough to get married. What makes this any different?"

"It's a wholly different responsibility," Leia stated flatly.

Jaina felt the edges of her mouth quirk upward. "How would you know? You never had any children."

Leia scowled at the comment. "I thought we'd walked this road."

"So did I. Why are you doing this?"

Leia met her eyes then, and all Jaina could see in them was sadness. "Is this a foreshadowing of what is to come? Am I to be excluded from the life of my grandchild?"

Jaina took a few shallow breaths, not sure what to say. "I...I never really thought about it. But why would you want to? She would just be another responsibility for you to ignore."

Leia looked hurt. "When I pulled the Republic into this war I thought I was mending the rift between us. I thought we could start over. I want to know my granddaughter. You did say she was a girl?"

Jaina swallowed hard, observing the woman who had given birth to her. Then, "We're naming her Hanna."

Leia's countenance softened, her eyes misting. She sat, seemingly weak-kneed. "Han would have loved that."

Jaina fought back her own tears, the progesterone once again having its cruel effect on her. Even without that it was a painful thought, remembering the loss of her father. "Sometimes it's hard to believe he's gone."

Leia nodded, wiping her eyes. "I've woken up before without him there and simply thought he must be in the 'fresher. I've even yelled for him, asking where he's at. Then I remember and..." She stopped, choking on her words, unable to go on.

Jaina sat, most of her anger fading to make room for grief. "Do you really want to know Hanna, or is this just another game? Because I swear mother, if it is—"

Leia was already shaking her head. "I see this as another chance, another chance to redeem myself. To make up for all that I've done. I'm going to be the best grandmother in the galaxy."

Jaina laughed in spite of herself. "I think you and Syal will have to fight that one out."

Leia smiled. "Does Syal know?"

Jaina nodded. "She's thrilled."

"I thought she would be. We were both so excited to see you two marry again. It was disappointing that you left before you could." There was no mistaking the hint in her tone and eyes.

Jaina pursed her lips, sitting back. This again. "Don't you think this should be our decision? Especially since the first one wasn't?"

Leia gave her her most innocent look. "I didn't say anything."

"Of course you didn't. Thanks, but no thanks. If we remarry, it will be in our own time, and after this is over. Which reminds me, are you going to support the plan I proposed or not? You know it will work."

Leia shrugged as if it was of little consequence. "Yes, of course. Don't worry."

Jaina stood, readying herself to leave. "Thank you. I'll see you at the meeting, then."

Leia nodded, if a bit sadly. "I'll see you then."

Mara sat down next to the shaper who was going to save her life. She didn't look at her, but rather the scene in front of them. This particular room on the Roughshod had a transparisteel wall and roof, giving a wide view to the expanse of space. Bastion hung on the edge of the viewport, making its slow yearly curve around the sun. Mara had been there several times in her youth as the Emperor's Hand, but never for more than a few hours. She had never stayed anywhere long. But Bastion was a different place now, as was everything else she had once known, including herself.

"Do you ever wonder at how people's live can change in an instant?" she asked into the air more than to the Yuuzhan Vong beside her.

"No," Nen Yim answered readily. "The only thing that changes the Yuuzhan Vong life instantly is death."

Mara ran an affectionate hand over her swollen stomach. She was over a month closer to her due date than Jaina, but the extra time showed. Though she wasn't nearly as large as she would be, Cilghal assured her, it was readily apparent that she was carrying a child. "Well it does. I was an assassin, once. And in one moment my whole life came crashing down around me. I had no purpose, no direction, no connections or places to go. I was utterly alone. And now...well, now I'm a Jedi Master, have a husband, a baby, and a job. There's so much to live for."

Nen Yim didn't answer, just flicked the digits on her shaper's hand.

Mara smiled. "I have so much to live for. And if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have that option. Now my child will have a mother, and that is a debt I can never repay you."

She refused to meet the Jedi Master's eyes. Mara continued.

"I had never even considered having children, even after I met Luke. We had already lived so much of our lives apart, we were past the age most people had children. It would have been inconvenient, and unrealistic. But now that it's happened, I can't imagine a future without him."

Nen Yim muttered something in her mother tongue.

"What?" Mara asked.

Nen Yim stood suddenly, her living robes twirling angrily around her disheveled frame. "I cannot do it," she blabbered, the reverted back to Vong. She began to pace, gesturing wildly and speaking in frantic, hurried sentences Mara didn't understand. Mara watched her, not sure what had set or off or what it was about. Her hand trailed nervously to her lightsaber, but she sensed no danger.

"Nen—" she tried, but was interrupted. "Nen Yim!"

She didn't listen. Instead, she pulled a small brownish orb from the folds of her robe. Mara had seen one like it before, but for the life of her could not remember where. To her surprise, the shaper threw it forcefully onto the deck and proceeded to stomp it vigorously. When she was done she stood panting over the mess she had made, wild eyed. Slowly Mara stood. "Master Shaper, are you all right?"

Nen Yim shook her head. "Now you must kill me. Let me die an honorable death, without letting my people no of my shameful infidelity."

Mara took a slow step forward. She reached out in the Force, alerting Luke to the fact that something was wrong. "I don't want to kill you, Nen Yim. You have done nothing but help us."

The Yuuzhan Vong turned her gaze away. "My shame is great. I am kin to none, traitor to all. I have no home."

Mara swallowed hard. "Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

"The truth changes nothing. Kill me, and know that it is just."

Mara smiled softly, trying to assuage her fears. "I'm not going to kill you. You are my friend."

"No!" she screamed. "No. I am not."

"Why?" she asked.

There was a long, tense pause. "I could not do it."

Mara extended a tentative hand, letting it come to rest on the tatooed shoulder. "What couldn't you do?"

She licked her tattered lips, sorrow filling her eyes. "I am not what you think. I am a spy, a traitor. I am here to poison you and the ones you love. I already would have, but you're damned Jedi sorcery prevented me."

Mara recoiled, not knowing what to think. She wasn't sure which was more shocking, the fact that they had trusted her or the fact that she had confessed.

"I deserve your hate," Nen Yim continued. "But I could not do it. What has happened to you is wrong, even if it was my people who did it. You, and Luke, and Anakin, and Cilghal—none of you deserve death. There is no malice in you. I am ashamed of the barbarity of the Yuuzhan Vong. We have fallen from our once-great race."

Mara's eyes widened at the admission. This was all too much. "What—what was that thing you just destroyed?"

Nen Yim sighed. "It is my villip. I was to use it in emergencies. When I was captured I did, and my contact told me to kill you all."

"And you didn't," Mara breathed.

"No. If I was to slay your child, and Jaina's, I could not live with myself, even if it was my own salvation."

Mara nodded. "Thank you."

The shaper straighted, raising her chin. "And now you know. So kill me, I do not fear death."

"No," Mara whispered. "But we need to go talk to Luke."

Anakin sat back, a triumphant grin on his face. "I knew it. See, and you all didn't believe me."

"We believed you, Anakin," Luke said distractedly, still eyeing the shaper. "Now the question is what to do with you now."

"I ask only for an honorable death," she whispered.

He shook his head slowly. "You saved us all, Nen Yim. I would not kill you. But I would ask, where does your allegiance lie?"

She sighed heavily. "My people will never forgive my transgression. And truthfully, I would not have them. They have forsaken me to you, and have no interest in a logical end to this war. They are foolish in their pride, and it will be their downfall. They will not let me save them, and I will not die with them."

Luke smiled. "Perhaps there's a way for you to save them still."

The shaper looked uncertain. "You would help me? How?"

He stood, his eyes roving over everyone in turn. "It will take a lot of time, a lot of planning, and a great deal of risk and faith. But it can be done, if you are willing, Nen Yim."

She looked up at him, eyes full of hope. "Tell me."