AN: Not to give anyone the impression that I'm presumptuous or demanding but it's a little annoying when I post chapters and receive no reviews but get frequent e-mails informing me of the fact that my story has been added to the "story alert" function by pen name "soandso". I prefer blatant flaming to lurking. Please review. Thank you in advance.

Jacen brought his StealthX into the rear hangar of his brand new Horizon-class star yacht. His astromech voiced appreciation on his choice by sending some complimentary message over the in-ship computer that Jacen barely registered. As the StealthX came to rest on the metallic surface of the hangar he was overcome by a bit of nostalgia. Jacen, even when driven by the dark side had not enjoyed killing Mara. It was something he did out of what he deemed necessity. And that was no doubt the insidious trap of the dark side. The idea that the wielder was actually capable of deciding what was necessary. It was a blatantly obvious arrogance, clearly perceptible from an outside perspective yet completely veiled from sight to the person himself.

Jacen retracted the cockpit and maneuvered himself out of the vessel. Before he had left High Port he had managed to get his hands on an actual crutch. He pulled it out of the cockpit and leaned it against the StealthX. Using the force to cushion him he jumped off the side of the vessel and floated to the hangar deck.

"Arnine," he said, looking over at the droid still in its socket behind the StealthX's cockpit. He gestured with the force and floated the protesting astromech to the deck beside him. "Let's peruse our new home, shall we?"

The little droid beeped back a response and followed Jacen out of the hangar into the corridor that led to the frontal cockpit. They passed a few dorm rooms, one of which Jacen mentally set away as his own cabin, and reached their destination. There was an astromech slot in place that Arnine promptly located and connected itself to. Jacen limped to the pilot chair and sat down. He placed the crutch within arm's reach against the wall but made sure it was placed in a way that only a rough turn would cause it to tumble all over the cockpit.

He glanced across the consoles slowly, trying to commit to memory were everything was. He thumbed a few switches and an audible, rhythmic hum passed through the vessel. "Seems we got sublight…" he said more to himself than the droid, who was no doubt aware of everything he was doing through the navigator jack. "Let's see what this ship can do." He pushed a lever to maximum and the yacht visibly jumped forward, propelling past a stationary freighter. Not bad… he thought. After a few maneuvers and some adjusting of the inertial inhibitor he was satisfied.

"Arnine?" he called out.

The droid warbled a response.

"We're pretty close to the edge of the Unknown Regions. We have a planet to find and if I remember correctly this particular planet likes to hide." He closed his eyes for a moment, reaching out with the force as much as he dared without alerting Luke to his survival. "I have a set of coordinates for you." He listed them and Arnine forwarded them to the navigation console. Shortly thereafter they appeared on the console followed by an "are you certain" query. "Those are the coordinates to Mobus a gas giant in the Klasse Ephemora system. An old friend of mine used to make that area his home."

Shortly thereafter the computer displayed an absurd number of successive jumps required for the safe navigation to that particular planet. "Twenty jumps? 24 day travel duration? That can't be right…" Jacen had a sudden revelation.

"One moment…" He rose from the chair, summoned his crutch and left the yacht's cockpit. After a few minutes he returned. He went to the navi-computer's data jack and inserted a holodisk. "Download all of the StealthX's data, Arnine. It's originally from my old skiff I used during my five year sojourn. It even has some special touches, compliments of Talon Karrde."

The droid seemed uninterested in the comments, the only audible response Jacen could hear from its corner was the occasional quiet beep. Jacen walked towards the piloting chair, noticing a small datapad with a miniature silvery antenna lying on the floor. Must have fallen off something when I dialed the engines to max sublight... He was about to grab it with the force when he realized that he was allowing his injuries to make him complacent. He bent down and picked it up. He sat down and read the ship's id. Well… what to name her… A sardonic voice inside him told him to go with "Jade" followed by a nominative noun. He quickly silenced that part of him.

"The Wayward Knight, vessel of the former Sith Lord and Jedi Knight, Jacen Solo." He said to out loud after a few minutes of brain storming. "Why not…"

He typed the name in and hit the accept button. He glanced at a monitor displaying an image of the vessel. It displayed the vessel rotating with Horizon-class star yacht written beneath it. After a moment the text changed to Wayward Knight.

"Arnine, I trust you've downloaded the data by now. Recalculate the quickest route to the destination."

A moment later the navi-computer's display read: 4 jumps; 3 day 14 hour travel time.

Jacen allowed himself a smile of appreciation. "Engaging hyperdrive."

A moment later the stars streaked into lines and the jump to light speed was achieved. Jacen leaned back, put his foot on the consoles and let himself drift off into a dreamless sleep.

Many hours later Jacen awoke cold and uncomfortable. He stumbled out of the cockpit in a daze. He instructed the astromech to dial up the heat for the yacht on his way out. He entered his previously chosen cabin and gave it a quick once over. It had an adjacent fresher and a decent sized bunk. There was a small closet yet the entirety of the place was pristine in a cold way. It struck him that the few possessions he had were all still on Coruscant. That included some priceless holocrons that he had picked up on his five year journey to various force cultures. He knew they would more than likely find themselves into Luke's hands. That eased his worry. At least he would know what to do with them.

He sat down on the bunk and began to undress. More than likely he will toss them to Tionne who will promptly compose a sappy ballad. Once he had stripped himself to his undergarmentshe crawled underneath the covers and closed his eyes. It struck him that for someone as rational and calculating as himself it was absurd to go running off into the Unknown Regions chasing something that could be anywhere in the galaxy for no other reason than because it seemed like the right thing to do. It also struck him as absurd that in a moment of greed he had jeopardized his life for credits that would be next to useless in the Unknown Regions. He made a mental note to store the cases somewhere other than in the corner of the hangar bay where he had spotted them earlier. A few minutes later he drifted off to sleep.

"We will be dropping out of hyperspace in fifteen minutes in order to readjust course and proceed to the next set of coordinates!"

Jacen sat up straight in the bed, adrenaline rushing through his body at the loud female voice blaring through the speakers. "What in the name of the force…"

"I merely wished to inform you of the traveling schedule."

Jacen grimaced. He grabbed his crutch and hobbled into the cockpit of the yacht. He found his astromech droid beeping and warbling and tooting to itself.

"Arnine, did you program the in-ship communication to blast that message over the speakers?"

The droid let off a long, and entirely too innocent sounding, questioning beep.

"Well I see a few hours of interaction with the ship's computer has developed your personality quite a bit. Learned the meaning of mischief already have we?" Jacen said with a smirk. "Now if you don't mind I'm going to return to my cabin and put myself into a healing trance. If you wake me again I'm going to give you a memory wipe."

With that said the former dark lord returned to his cabin and lay back down. He reached out to the force and let its power wash over him. With a sigh of relief he put himself into a healing trance.

Two days later he awoke from his healing trance, feeling like a new man entirely. He rose from his bunk and put his weight on his right foot, that was still in the cast Dr. Jorg had put it in on High Port. Jacen felt no pain and decided it was time to remove the nuisance. He ignited his lightsaber and with the precision gained from decades of combat and fatal duels he sliced the cast on both sides in two clean swipes. The sting of heat he felt was painful but he knew he had not actually injured himself. With the force he detached both sides of the cast and tossed them into the garbage disposal unit on one of the walls of the room.

He reached out with the force and scanned his leg and noted with approval that the adhesive had fully dried along with the skin supplement. His body had not rejected the artificial substances and visually there was no difference between his right and left leg. He rotated his foot in a circular motion and smiled. His days of being dependent on a crutch were over and not a day too soon in his mind. He walked into the fresher and stepped into the shower. He let the water wash away the dirt and grime borne from a week of hyperspace travel. After washing himself thoroughly with every amenity the vessel had to offer he dried himself off and gave himself a once over in the mirror.

Aside from the arm I'm actually technically a human being once again. If he had had the time he would have had a prosthetic attached to his arm, however, the whole running from the senate and soon to be proclaimed presumed dead war criminal made any minute spent in civilization a minute in which he could be discovered. And it wasn't like he could not wield a lightsaber with the alacrity and skill necessary to defeat nigh on any foe with only his left arm. He had always had a liking for Makashi anyway and Form II was a primarily one handed art. Much to his joy he found three different robes in the Fresher's closet made from a material that absorbed water without becoming wet easily. He donned the medium sized one and found it fit him almost perfectly. Then he grabbed his clothes and with them under his arm he left the cabin.

He entered the cockpit and found Arnine in the exact place he had left him two days prior. "Arnine?"

The droid warbled a response.

"Does this ship have a clothes' washing unit?" He asked it, glancing on the navi-computer's display.

The second cabin on the right from the cockpit's perspective... It contains a well stocked synthetic food generator and various washing units.

"Thank you." He replied, returning to the main corridor.

The mention of food reminded him that he had not eaten in over two days, not since he had left High Port. When he entered the small room the droid had pointed out he tossed all his clothing aside from his boots into the designated unit. Once he had turned it on he treated himself to some food, if one could call it that, and sat down at the single table in the room. He ate methodically, not tasting the bland nutrient bar, merely chewing and swallowing. His war time experiences had taught him one thing: to eat when he could.

Once he had finished he left the room and returned to his cabin, sitting down on the bunk in a meditative pose. He had a strong desire to open his twin bond to his sister merely to have some company. He was used to being lonely. He had once spent three months on a planet attempting to find remnants of a legendary force culture that had been buried by sand and earthquakes. Yet now, after being amongst people for so long, and no longer being weighed down and constantly burdened by his questions, the very human need for company was almost suffocating. Especially when he had so very much on his mind…

However, he was too worried that his mother might very well sense him if he reached across half the galaxy merely to converse with his sister. She had always been surprisingly astute when it came to which one of her children was alive, which was dead, and which was in trouble. He blamed it on motherly empathy. In light of all this he began to meditate on the force, allowing it to wash over him, consuming all his negative distracting emotions. He continued to meditate for several hours before rising and leaving the cabin.

He went to the hangar bay and transported all the cases of money into his cabin, depositing them in the closet. Afterwards he returned to the hangar and went through an elaborate lightsaber routine. Once he felt satisfied with the performance of his leg whilst doing the katas and routines he decided to further strain his newly healed foot. In succession he practiced ever higher back and forward flips gradually putting more and more pressure on his foot, using the force to see the effect it was having on the tendon. After thirty minutes he felt content and left the hangar.

He entered the cockpit and sat down in the piloting chair. "Arnine, how long until we reach our destination?"

18 hours and 42 minutes.

"What I wouldn't give for a good holobook. At least I had the foresight to stock on entertainment the last time I went somewhere unsure of what I was looking for. That's nothing if not a premise for boring tedious hours spent in hyperspace." He said.

The on-Ship computer has a decent sized library of holovids.

"Really?" Jacen asked, smiling for the first time in days. "That may be the first bit of good news since Dr. Jorg told me that the operation had been a success. Bring a list of them up on screen."

Jacen scanned the list that appeared and noted with disdain that the overwhelming majority of them where romantic vids. Not surprising, considering the fact that he had purchased a vessel that was by all accounts primarily used by the wealthy as a pleasure yacht. He picked one that sounded remotely action oriented and let it play over the ship's secondary monitor. He paid halfhearted attention to it and began fiddling with the automatic pilot. He knew from experience that it was always advisable to program a few evasive and combat maneuvers that the autopilot could draw upon in dire circumstances. One could even string them together and shuffle them so that the autopilot randomly picked one. It had saved his life in some previous circumstances.

He followed the lack luster plot of the holovid disgusted by the gratuitous violence that seemed to be used as a filler whenever the action and romance flat lined. When the credits finally rolled he informed Arnine that he would return to his cabin and place himself in a fourteen hour healing trance. "I'll be awake in time for the return to sublight."

Fourteen hours later he arose and, after washing, eating, and dressing in his now cleaned clothing he returned to the cockpit. He sat down in his chair and queried when they would revert back to realspace.

One hour and fifteen minutes.

"Good." Jacen responded.

He had a feeling that Zonoma Sekot would still be there considering that according to his sources the Bothan Ar'kai never actually located Zonoma Sekot. The eradication of the True Victory Party also played a role in the elimination of potential threats to Zonoma Sekot. At least one bit of good that came from dabbling in the dark side. That's probably a little harsh. He suspected that his newly embraced condemnation of the dark side was borne more from the bad experiences than anything else. There had been numerous times when his willingness to do what had to be done despite idealistic Jedi platitudes had served him well.

He was pursuing further ruminations when Arnine alerted him to the fact that they were about to drop out of hyperspace. After a few moments the swirling light blurred back into a solid picture and they dropped out of hyperspace.

Jacen keyed some sensors and flicked a switch engaging the sublight drive. He checked a holo-projector that informed him of the state of the system. The gas giant Mobus was usually orbited by seventeen moons. Unless of course Zonoma Sekot was still orbiting the planet, in which case it would be eighteen. Jacen was relieved to see M-18 designated on the far side of the planet. He set a course around the gas giant's diameter. As they were clearing Mobus, Jacen pondered just how he was going to be received.

Once he came within a couple hundred thousand kilometers of the planet he realized his reception was now the least of his worries. A large fleet of warships was engaging a much smaller force of Yuuzhan Vong vessels. As the Wayward Knight drew closer he realized that, although the Yuuzhan Vong vessels were extremely well coordinated and were holding their own in one on one and even two on one engagements, they were being overwhelmed.

Jacen rose from his seat. "Arnine, I've activated the autopilot. If any vessel comes within firing range or draws closer with obvious hostile intentions engage it. The autopilot is programmed to use a wide variety of evasive maneuvers… call it foresight."

He rushed out of the cockpit and entered the hangar bay, opening the blast shield with the force. He swung himself into the StealthX's cockpit and fired up the engines. The StealthX rose and Jacen backed it out of the hangar. He dived beneath the star yacht towards the battle taking place ahead. He did not know exactly what he planned to do but he knew that remaining idle in this confrontation would not serve in his best interests.

As he drew closer to the battle he noted some odd bulbous shapes on the hull of the largest alien vessel. They looked like a layer of bubbles. As he reached out with the force he felt a flood of panic wash over him. Either the crew of that vessel was severely overestimating the prowess of the few Yuuzhan Vong ships opposing them or there were some truly terrified individuals aboard. He also noted with surprise that amongst the Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers he spotted two or three Sekotan ships.

It was at that point that he allowed himself to be drawn completely into the battle. One of the alien vessels was pursuing a coralskipper close to his StealthX desperately trying to overcome the shielding effect of the dovin basal. He skimmed in behind it and took it out with a concentrated volley of his laser cannons. He engaged full throttle and rushed pass the Yuuzhan Vong skipper that was now clear.

A moment later he yanked his ship sharply to the right barely evading a salvo of laser fire from a nearby frigate like vessel. He swerved towards it and noted as he closed that it too was surrounded by the same strange bubbles he had spotted on the larger cruiser like ship. As the proximity between him and the frigate diminished he made out shapes within the transparisteel and with sudden realization came to the aghast conclusion that these must be Vagaari.

The Vagaari were in a state of perpetual war with the Chiss Ascendancy and they were known slavers and pirates. They used sentient beings as shields for their craft by forcing them into transparisteel bubbles. They were supposed to serve as a deterrent by playing on the compassion of most sentient species. The salvo of fire from the frigate began to angle in on him despite his maneuvers and Jacen scanned the ship with the force. In his mind the vessel turned into a crystalline structure floating in a stark white background. He could see exactly where the most vulnerable spot of the vessel was. With single determination he swooped down beneath the vessel and skimmed along its hull. For a split second he felt remorse for the innocents that were being held aboard the ship but he knew that there was no way he could force the frigate to surrender.

He keyed a location into his targeting computer and let loose two proton torpedoes. He broke off his attack run and swerved away just as the torpedoes impacted at the base of the vessel's engines. The explosion was quickly followed by a chain reaction of smaller explosions until the entire vessel turned into a single ball of flame. Jacen cleared the debris and returned to the rest of the battle.

It was obvious that the sudden appearance of a completely different type of vessel had disconcerted the attacking Vagaari. An entire flight of smaller fighter craft broke off from the battle with the Yuuzhan Vong and Sekotan vessels and closed with him. Jacen reached out with the force, using his battle meditation technique against them, touching the minds of the Vagaari pilots. They resisted his touch but it caused them to lose focus, which Jacen took advantage of and opened fire on the first two ships with his laser cannons. They tore right through the vessels shields or lack thereof. Two down, five to go. He thought.

Jacen disengaged and pushed the throttle to maximum output. He knew that the other three fighters were giving chase. He corkscrewed the StealthX and then followed up with a dive. He felt the three fighters break off to follow him in and he disengaged the lower two engines of his StealthX and pulled back on his joystick. The ship spun around so drastically that even with the inertial compensator dialed to full he felt like he was going to pass out. Now facing the three approaching ships he reengaged the engines and raced to meet them. The fighters were still diving to follow his previous maneuver and he had the advantage of knowing that, since their cockpits were opposite to his approach, they were unable to make eye contact.

As he realized this he saw one of them begin to spin to correct the mistake but Jacen did not give them the chance to be sorry. He opened up with his cannons and shredded another one of their vessels. The remaining two seemed to become acutely aware of the fact that they were facing a vastly superior pilot for Jacen sensed their fear. They did not even complete their dive but broke off, vectoring towards their cruiser. Jacen chased them down and took them out quickly.

He checked his sensors and noted with pleasure that the remaining fighters that had stayed behind to take care of the Yuuzhan Vong ships had been destroyed. The remaining Vagaari frigate and cruiser had engaged their sublight and were making themselves scarce. Jacenconsidered for a moment to hunt them down but just as those thoughts crossed his mind the two ships streaked away into hyperspace.

It was at that moment that one of the Sekotan ships opened communications with him. He switched the holocom on and keyed the correct frequency and opened communications.

"Sekotan vessel hailing Galactic Alliance X-wing," A humanoid face with glowing eyes appeared. "This is Commander Akri of the Zonoma Sekot defense force. We're grateful for the assistance."

"This is," he paused wondering what title to give himself, "Jacen Solo, captain of the Wayward Knight. I was happy to help out."

"Welcome Master Jedi." The response was quick. "We would be happy to escort you to the planet's surface if you wish."

"Thank you Commander. I just need to return to my vessel and I will follow you into the atmosphere."

"Of course."

Jacen cut off communications and returned towards the Wayward Knight. He flew through the shield and landed the fighter gently. Shortly thereafter he entered the cockpit and informed Arnine that they were going to land on the planet. He engaged the sublight drive. Once he came into range with the small Yuuzhan Vong force he was hailed and informed to follow them in. He complied and the fighters and skippers settled into formation around his craft.

They broke through the atmosphere and Jacen took in the lush green scope of the planet. It was mainly covered by land but some small oceans were identifiable here and there. The lead craft guided him ever closer to the ground. He finally spotted a large collection of buildings in a valley bordering a river. He realized that this was their destination. They approached a large clearing in the northern part of the community were Jacen was instructed to land. He flipped a few switches and dialed down the repulsors and after a moment the Knight thudded onto the ground lightly.

He rose from the chair and instructed Arnine to remain aboard. "Some of the people here don't take very kindly to droids. So unless you wish to be reduced to spare parts I suggest that you remain on the vessel and shut down."

The droid complied and Jacen turned on his heel and left the cockpit. Long strides carried him to the boarding ramp. He pressed the button that began to lower it and with a deep breath he prepared himself for what was to come.