Chapter 48

The comm was blaring wildly, blinking in its insistence to be answered. Jacen didn't need to answer it to know who it was. "Don't answer it," Jaina said softly. "I don't need him trying to talk me out of this, especially now."

Jacen scowled in her direction. "I shouldn't have brought you. You just had a baby. Jag's right to want to talk you out of it. And didn't I tell you to go put yourself in a healing trance until we get there?"

Jaina returned his defiant gaze from the pilot's chair. "I'm afraid you'll turn around if I go to sleep."

Jacen rubbed his eyes in weariness and discouragement. "I promise I won't. You were right, someone needs to take advantage of this access, but I shouldn't have let you come. Hanna needs you, Jag needs you...I shouldn't have let you come."

Jaina turned to look out the viewport. A tunnel of safety had been made for them between the two sides, a small window both the Republic and the Vong had been instructed to leave open. Jacen piloted them quietly through the wreckage, the only noise the constant beating of the comm. "I bet the first thing Mara did when we left was tell Jag," Jaina said, gesturing to the communication center.

Jacen looked at her sideways. "You should answer him."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I refuse to say goodbye," she said, raising her chin slightly. "I'm coming back, and I don't want to be put in that position."

"That's a bit selfish, don't you think?"

She shot him a menacing glare. "I'm risking my life for his brother and you have the audacity to call me selfish?"

"There is no such thing as a selfless good deed," he stated flatly. "There are two natures to everything."

"I can't believe that," she said softly.

"Why not? It's true."

"Because then what hope do any of us have?"

Silence reigned once again, the only noise the persistent beeping that Jaina refused to yield to. "Jacen, I want to thank you for coming with me," she said finally.

"I wasn't going to abandon you to this for anything," he returned. "Especially not in your condition. I love you."

She reached over and took his hand. "I love you, too, Jacen. Let's make sure Hanna not only has a mother but an uncle, okay?"

He squeezed her hand and smiled. "You can count on it."

Jag hit the bulkhead with enough force to dent it. His knuckles immediately swelled, but the pain was not a worthy distraction. "I can't believe you let her go," he snarled.

Mara's eyes were as fiery as his own. "You know her well enough to know when she sets her mind to something no one can stop her. Especially when Jacen's siding with her."

"I'll kill him," he said flatly. "How can he do this?"

"You're wasting your time arguing," Luke interjected. "Go after her!"

The light clicked on inside Jag's head, and he ran towards the turbolift; stopped, turned back around. "I don't have a ship that could carry us all, and Jaina took the last Imperial model."

"Take the Jade Sabre," Mara offered.

Jag looked shocked. "Really?"

"Go, damn it, go! We'll take care of Hanna."

Jag ran back quickly, hugged them both, and ran back to the hangar.

Jacen proceeded her down the ramp, lightsaber in hand but turned off. Jaina went behind him, slowly, wincing with each step as her traumatized body rebelled against the movement. She wasn't even close to completely healed, but she couldn't change time. This needed to be done now, and so she had to fight as she was. She could only hope it was enough. "We're here to see the Overlord," Jacen announced loudly to the ranks of warriors and workers watching them with a distasteful eye.

One male stepped away from the others and approached the two Jedi. He looked familiar, and Jaina wracked her brain until she realized where she had seen him before. It was the Yuuzhan Vong who had tried to kill her after that first battle in the Ascendancy. "Nom Anor," she breathed, coming to stand beside Jacen.

He smiled wanly through his torn lips. "I see you have not forgotten me. How touching."

She narrowed her eyes at the spy who had almost ruined her. "You tried to kill me."

"Nevertheless, that is all behind us. Shall we go and see the Supreme Overlord?"

Jacen looped his arm through Jaina's in an attempt to comfort her, restrain her, and help her remain upright. "Of course, lead the way."

Shimrra was the biggest Yuuzhan Vong Jaina had ever seen. He stood taller than a Wookiee, and his head was easily three times the size of her own. He was also more mutilated than anything she had ever seen. His face was barely recognizable as a face, and all of his limbs seemed to be second-hand. He sat upon his coral dias, eyes roving over them both, measuring them up. But it was not his monstrosity that held her gaze, rather the hunkering figure beside him. Chak Fel looked even worse in person.

His eyes were sunken into his skull and surrounded by dark circles. The body that had once held the physique of a fighter pilot had deteriorated into a rack of bones and skin and bruises, accompanied by odd patches of dried blood. He looked horrid, and she could have cried at the sight of him. Whether it was for Chak or Jag or the suffering of all her fellows she didn't know, but he was terrible to behold.

Jacen had not yet let go of her arm, and she hoped he didn't have to. With each passing moment it became harder and harder to stay on her feet, the recent injury of childbirth wearing hard on her. She was starting to wonder if maybe they all hadn't been right to warn her against coming. She would likely be more of a hindrance to Jacen than a help.

"You are the infidel who wishes to trade a life for the one of this creature?" Shimrra boomed, raising a hand towards Chak.

Jaina stepped forward slightly, drawing on the Force to sustain her. "I never said I would trade a life for his."

"But you came. And I demand payment for his freedom."

He was buying time, and they both knew it. He wanted the New Republic distracted just long enough to crush them beneath his heel. They had to make sure that didn't happen. "We will leave here together, alive, and Chak with us," she told him.

Shrimraa stood and a huge amphistaff slithered down his arm and into his hand. A dozen warriors appeared on either side of him, also clad in armor and carrying an array of biological terrors. Jacen ignited his lightsaber and said softly to Jaina, "Kill Shimrra, take Chak and run. I'll take care of the others."

Jaina turned pained eyes to him. "There are too many, Jacen. You can't handle them all."

He gave her a cocky smile that was classically their father's, one that warmed her from the inside out. "You just worry about you. I'll handle me. I love you Jaina."

"I love you too.

"On three."

"One," she said.

"Two," he countered.

"Three."

They both moved, igniting their weapons and charging as one, thinking as one, hearts beating as one. Breathing what was likely their last breaths as one.

Shimrra met her stride for stride, and before she had taken two steps up to his dias he swung, the force of his blow jarring her off her feet, throwing her back to the floor. She backflipped in the air, but didn't land on her feet as she should. It had been months since she had practiced, and even longer since she had studied in truth. Mara had been right. The battle would be won or lost here, and she had let them all down by not preparing for it.

She landed heavily on her left side, and rolled just in time to avoid the downward slash of his staff. Coming to her feet she struck out, slicing upward along his right bicep. The lightsaber bounced off the vonduun crab armor. Cursing, she struck again, this time for his exposed head. This one he blocked, then countered by bringing the staff up in an arch, trying to twist her weapon from her grasp.

She held on, but had to bend backwards almost double at the knees to avoid his following jibe. She flipped back onto her feet and returned to her defensive stance. Her lower abdomen throbbed with the unwanted movement, and she was sure she had torn her stitches as she felt blood trickle down her leg.

He struck for her legs, trying to sweep them from under her. She jumped over them, over his head, swinging as she did so. By a stroke of luck, her blade managed to graze his scalp, burning the tender area and severing the scrap of an ear. He howled in anger, but only retaliated.

The flat of the amphistaff slapped against the left side of her face, drawing blood and knocking her to the ground. Her lightsaber was jarred from her hand, and went skittering across the deck. Before she had time to retrieve it a massive swing came crashing down towards her skull.

Time slowed, and she became acutely aware of several things at once. First, she remembered a lesson her uncle had taught her many years before. When the Force is all you have, he had said, that's when you realize it was all you ever needed.

Second, she experienced and almost out-of-body moment with Jacen, where she saw everything through his eyes. She felt the cut along his right thigh that was bleeding much to heavily, the sting as an amphistaff bit into his skin, the crack as a well-placed kick shattered his ankle. But she also saw herself as he saw her, laying helplessly on the deck, awaiting her death. She heard his silent thought, the knowledge that if she acted at a certain moment she might be saved.

And last, she saw Hanna. She was so small, such a beautiful little wonder. And then she saw her years later, as a young child scampering happily through the trees of some planet, as a young woman in the cockpit of a starfighter, as an adult holding her own children. And as she looked at Hanna with pride, suddenly she looked back, and so much was read from those green eyes. They seemed to say, Be there to watch me live. Don't leave me now.

And with a rush she was back in the present, and time was moving normally again. Her death was rushing towards her when she raised a single hand to stop it. The staff bounced off her invisible Force shield, sliding away from her and burying itself in the deck beside her head. With a swift kick Shimrra was knocked from his feet, and before he ever hit the deck she was standing over him. She plucked the discarded amphistaff from the deck, and flicking her wrist in an easy, deft motion she plunged it solidly through his windpipe, all the way through to the coral deck, nailing him to the floor of his own throne room.

She didn't waste another thought on him, but instead retrieved her lightsaber and ran to where Jacen was still battling it out with the other Yuuzhan Vong. Numerous bodies lay scattered around him, and from their perspective he looked impenetrable. But Jaina could feel him waning, sense the slow leaking of his life energy.

She started to ignite her weapon and join him, but suddenly the air was knocked from her lungs by an unexpected punch. It sent jolts of pain to her injured loins, and she doubled over with the remembered wound. Another attack was launched at her head, cracking over the back of her skull and driving her to her knees. She couldn't move, was paralyzed by the trauma. It was too much, she was too weak. She had nothing left to defend herself.

"I have worked for decades to get to where I am now," a voice hissed behind her, but she barely listened. She delved deep inside herself, touching the wellspring of the Living Force, the pulsing veins of energy that seemed to call to her. It would all be over soon, no more suffering, no more pain. Only the Force. "And I will not let you take it all from me," the voice continued.

As welcoming and inviting as it was, she wasn't ready to die. She wanted to kiss Jag just one more time, to hold Hanna in her arms. There was so much she hadn't done yet, a thousand dreams she hadn't achieved. But there seemed no hope. Her limbs were mutinous, unwilling to move for her. She closed her eyes and reached out to the only entity that had never deserted her, had never let her down. It's all you ever needed.

It was like the Force took possession of her body, shoved her spirit out of the way and filled her with unimaginable light. Her body suddenly worked and moved of its own accord, and she couldn't have stopped it if she wanted. Her fingers twitched, and she lightsaber in her hand leaped to life. She bent at the waist, swinging around just as an amphistaff passed through the air where her head had just been. She twisted around in one smooth motion, burying her lightsaber deep into the shoulder of her attacker.

Nom Anor stumbled backwards off her blade, clutched the wound in pain and surprise. But instead of attacking he ran, leaving the battle in a flurry of blood and robes. Jaina let him go.

The energy quickly left her, leaving her a puddle of uselessness again. But she had a drive now, her purpose reinstated. With slow, agonizing movements she crawled to where her brother-in-law lay across the coral deck. His eyes didn't register as he saw her, and pity swelled inside her. She reached out to him with the Force, trying to touch the spirit inside. He was hollow, devoid of self, no memories, no emotions. He just existed. Tears leaking out the corners of her eyes, Jaina forced her atrophied body to move, to haul him into a sitting position. "Can you walk?" she asked helplessly.

His pale eyes rolled to look at her, uncomprehending. Driving pain stabbed at her with every motion, but she came into a crouch, took him by the arm, and pulled him into a standing position. He was strong enough to stand, but she had to lead him. It was when she turned around that she remembered Jacen.

He was propped against the opposite wall, bloodied and beaten, but alive, which was more than she could say for his opponents. The gruesome scene was worse than some land battles she had seen, and to think her twin had done it all was unfathomable. She could sense his pain like her own, and she swallowed down the urge to vomit. "Jacen," she said, her own voice hoarse, "Jacen, we have to get out of here."

He nodded weakly and attempted to stand. He staggered over to Jaina and Chak, helping Jaina lead the older man out of the throne room and back towards their ship which had probably been long destroyed.

Mara held Hanna in her arms, watching out the viewport on the Roughshod's bridge anxiously. Luke paced behind her, holding Ben close to his chest. "They're in pain," he said finally, stopping.

"I know," Mara said. "There's nothing we can do. At least they aren't dead yet." Mara understood her husband's anxiety. She loved Jacen and Jaina, but to Luke they were like his children. He had raised them when no one else would, had been a father to them in every sense of the word except biologically. They were as dear to him as Ben, and she wondered if he would be able to go on if they didn't make it.

"Sir, an entire fleet just entered the system!" an officer yelled to Captain Onan.

"Friendly or enemy?" Onan asked anxiously.

"Friendly!"

Mara and Luke exchanged a hopeful glance, just as a familiar voice crackled over the comm. "Uncle Luke?"

"Anakin!" Luke said, diving for the comm officer's station. "Anakin, you did it!"

"This is Admiral Pellaeon, reporting for duty," another voice broke in. A chain of ranking New Republic and Imperial officers called out their presence and request to assist.

Onan, lacking experience in what to do in such an occasion, turned to Luke. Luke smiled and said into the speaker, "All galactic officers, commence the attack. Don't stop until every Yuuzhan Vong ship has been swallowed by the Maw."

"Luke," Mara said, "Jacen and Jaina are still in the frigate."

Luke nodded slowly, letting her know he already understood. "We'll just have to trust Jag to get them out in time."

The way the Yuuzhan Vong ship shook and rumbled Jaina supposed the battle outside had started up again. The warriors in the frigate must have been told of their leaders purpose in bringing the Jedi there, because they all ran past without giving them another thought, as if they were meant to be there.

Chak had lost the will to move perhaps halfway there, and Jacen and Jaina had resorted to dragging him. His bare shins scuffed the rough floor, leaving a small trail of blood, but the twins had no other option. They themselves were quickly running out of time.

When they finally reached the hangar, both could have collapsed in despair. Their ship was gone, destroyed as a metal abomination. They had no way out. "What are we going to do?" Jaina asked, pained.

"Jaina," Jacen said very softly, "I need a medic. I...those amphistaffs bit me. I can feel the poison..."

Jaina gripped his hand tightly in her own. "We'll get you out of here. Somehow." She started to drag Chak further into the hangar.

"Where are you going?" Jacen asked.

"To steal on of their ships," she said, as if he should have known.

Neither of them said another word, because a terrible screeching of engines and ripping of the hull screamed through the ship. Both of them resisted the urge to drop Chak and cover their ears, but Jaina did close her eyes. When she opened them the Jade Sabre was landing gracefully into the coral deck, having entered through the open bay. Jaina reached out to her aunt and uncle, but instead found Jag aboard. Tears of relief and joy and exhaustion poured down her face and she shuffled as quickly as possible across the floor, helping Jacen drag their defenseless comrade with them.

The hatch to the Sabre lowered, and Jag came bounding down, Charric in hand. His eyes settled on Jaina, and in a heartbeat she was wrapped in his embrace, being lifted off the ground in his joy. "You're alive," he breathed, as if he couldn't believe it. But when he pulled away his eyes were reprimanding. "How could you do such a thing? To me, to Hanna, to everyone?"

She buried her face in his chest and cried. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

But he wasn't listening any more. His eyes were fixed on his brother, the kin he had thought he had lost almost three years ago. He moved away from her, kneeling beside the man who had always been his hero. "Chak," he said quietly, choking on the words as they cracked in his throat with emotion. "Chak, it's me. Jag. Do you remember?"

Jaina laid a hand on his shoulder, but kept her eyes on her brother-in-law. The coral implants running along the ridge of his spine were painful looking, sprouting from his skin like a tumor; and eating away the person he had once been. "Jag, he doesn't understand."

He stood, swallowing hard, but refusing to look away. "Is he going to die?"

"No," she promised. "No, none of us are going to die, not in this war. He's coming home with us." The emptiness of the words were not lost on her. They had no home.

Jag lifted his brother from the ground and carried him into the ship, while Jaina helped Jacen up the ramp. His skin was a terrible gray color, and she was growing afraid for his life. "Just hold on, Jacen," she whispered, leading him to the small medical wing of the light freighter. She laid him on one of the two bunks, across from Chak. Jag was hurrying to ready the medical facilities, but she stopped him with a hand. "Go, get us out of here. I'll take care of them."

He nodded, but before leaving kissed her fiercely. She returned it with what strength she had left, then shoved him in the direction of the cockpit. She turned to Jacen first, sensing his situation was more dire. She eased him into a healing trance, then searched the medicine cabinets for one of the antidotes Cilghal had come up with while searching for one for Mara. She found a generic one that should suit most poison injections, then hooked him up to and IV, pumping the fluid into his veins.

Next she went to Chak. Where to begin with him? He needed everything. First she hooked him up to an IV full of essential vitamins and nutritious elements to promote healing. Then she slathered him with bacta patches and set his numerous breaks. She was no medic, but it would do until they got back to the Roughshod with Cilghal.

It was only then that she rested herself. She laid down on the bunk beside Jacen, curling against her twin's side. She would never be able to thank him for what he had done for her that day. Closing her eyes, she fell into the rhythm of the Force, letting it's healing hands cover her in sleep.

Under better conditions, Jag would not have been able to resist joining the final fight. But the mother of his child, her brother, and his own brother were in desperate need of medical attention, and so he stayed as far away from the skirmish as possible. A ship such as the Sabre begged to be pushed to its limits, but Jag knew better. Mara wouldn't stand for an extra scratch.

So he watched as he followed the perimeter of the fight, circling back to the Roughshod. Things were going remarkably well. Ship after ship were being sucked into the compression of the black hole cluster, destroying their enemies by the thousand in just an instant. It seemed almost like cheating, but after all he and his loved ones had been through Jag didn't care. He just wanted the war to be over.

It wasn't until he reached the welcoming bay of the Roughshod and watched the Supreme Overlord's flagship disappear into nothingness that he tore his eyes from the death of the greatest threat the galaxy had ever seen.