"A few extra jumps?" Ben grumbled to himself. "More like a few hundred."
Ben knew it wasn't that many, but it sure seemed that way after sitting in a cramped fighter for two days. It seemed like he would never get to his destination. Unfortunately, he couldn't slip into a Jedi hibernation trance, because he needed to plot the many jumps. This meant that he had far too much time to think. And doubt. There was a lot of doubt.
~O~
Talon Karrde was a cautious man. As soon as the Millenium Falcon had attached itself to his ship, he had sent some of best mercenaries over to ascertain the identities of his new passengers. Only then had he left to go greet his guests. The second he walked into the sitting area, he was met with a hearty clap on the shoulder from Han Solo.
"Hey, buddy. What's with all the security? You think someone's trying to kill you?"
"A sarcastic remark and physical abuse. Typical Han Solo." Karrde said dryly, before turning his attention to the rest of the boarding party. "Jagged Fel, haven't seen you in a while. And Jaina, you look as beautiful as your mother, who is suspiciously missing."
"Not missing," said a small voice from the back of the group. "She went to the Jedi Academy."
Karrde feigned surprise. "Now who is this charming young lady?"
Allana drew herself up, looking the picture of royalty. "My name is Allana Djo Solo, Chume'Da of the Hapes Cluster. And you never answered my grampa's question. Is someone trying to kill you? 'Cause that's not very nice.
"Well, Allana." Talon said, "You don't get to be this powerful without making a few enemies."
"But we're not your enemies, so how come you had your guards come get us?" Allana asked, her face screwing up with confusion.
"It never hurts to be careful." He turned back to look at the group of adults. "Now, I assume you didn't travel all the way out here just because you missed me. So, what can I do for you?"
"We need to know if who bought Ysalamiri from you in the past few months." Jaina said. "And we need to know everything about them."
"I'm confused." Said Karrde. "You think I sell Ysalamiri?"
Jaina looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well, yes I mean-"
"Young lady," Talon interrupted, "Whose side do you think I'm on? Did you really assume I would make the bane of the Jedi available to the general public?"
Allana poked her head out from behind Han. "You said general public. That doesn't mean everyone."
"You're pretty sharp, Kid." Said Han, ruffling Allana's hair. "So who do you sell it to?"
"No one. I merely grow them, in case of emergency."
"So, you breed them to supply to the Jedi in case one of them goes barvy." Jag clarified.
"For a price, of course." Talon said, smiling. "Everything has its price."
"So," said Jaina, "Who got their hands on one recently?"
"As far as I know, no one. I'll call my base on Myrkr just to make sure. Please, follow me.
They followed Karrde down several long metal hallways until they came to a small sitting room.
"Wait here please," Karrde said, and swept out the door.
~O~
Sleep. That would be wonderful. If slightly impossible. Oh, Ben, where are you!?
Vestara was tired. More than tired, in fact. Exhausted would be a better word. And her patience with the whole situation was rapidly draining. Several times she had been overcome with the strange urge to smash little Davin's head against the wall. These thoughts terrified her, but she kept trying to convince herself that it was just the lack of sleep speaking, and not her Sithly inclinations.
Jedi. I'm a Jedi now. She repeated this to herself over and over, wishing she could believe it. Always there lurked a nagging doubt at the back of her mind. You're no Jedi, it said. You're just pretending, so you can be with your precious boyfriend.
It seemed that the harder she tried to banish these thoughts, the stronger they returned, bent on destroying her hope and sanity.
Please. Please hurry, Ben. I know you can't hear me but please…please.
~O~
After a wait of fifteen minutes, Talon returned, his face grim.
"Chin says no shipments, but someone stole a large group of Ysalamiri two months ago. It had to have been an inside job, or else the ship wouldn't have made it past security, but no one's willing to 'fess up."
Jaina leapt to her feet. "And he didn't think it was important enough to let you know?! So you could have warned us!?"
"Calm yourself child. Chin is getting up there in years; his memory is not quite what it used to be."
Jaina, still bristling at being called a child, sank back into her chair. "So, we're at another dead end."
"Not quite, my dear." Talon said. "It was smuggled off the planet, but we managed to tag the vessel before it blasted out of the system. The Skykiller."
"That better be either a joke or a coincidence," growled Han. "Who's it registered to?"
Talon shrugged. "No one. It doesn't show up in any of our files. We've sent a request for info to Galactic Intel, but I doubt they have anything on it if we don't."
"Then how the kriff does that help!?" Jaina yelled. Jag put his hand on her shoulder, obviously trying to calm her, but she knocked it off and rose. She began pacing the room.
"Where's the incredible Jedi patience I've heard so much about?" Talon asked teasingly.
Jaina snapped. She hurled herself across the room at him. Jag leapt up and grabbed her just in time, but that didn't stop her from screaming, "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU BE PATIENT WHEN YOUR SON HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED, YOU SON OF A SCRUFFY NERF-HERDING-"
She was cut off as Jag practically dragged her from the room. "We'll be on the ship!" He said with false cheerfulness as the door slid shut.
An awkward silence filled the room for several long moments.
"Wow," said Allana. "Auntie Jaina is really sad."
"Sad?" Talon, white-faced, managed to say. "That was sad?! I'd hate to see her when she's angry."
"No, no. She looks angry, but she feels sad, you know?"
Han sighed. "No we don't, sweetie. We can't 'feel' her, remember?"
"Oh yeah. Well, she feels sad."
Talon cleared his throat. "Well, before she left, I was planning to tell her that we did manage to get the hyperspace coordinates of their next stop. Whether it is their destination, we cannot know for sure, but it's something."
~O~
"I'm a failure."
Aboard the Falcon, Jaina lay huddled in Jag's arms, her anger spent. He squeezed her closer and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
"Hey," he said softly, "if anyone's a failure it's me. But what good is it going to do, dwelling on what we can't change? We'll find him, somehow."
"But you saw me back there. I'm losing my grip. What kind of Jedi am I if I can't even control my anger?"
"Jaina, this isn't about you being a Jedi; it's about you being a mother. What kind of mom would you be if you weren't panicked and worried?"
Jaina sighed. "I guess."
"I know you, and I know you are not going to rest until Davin is back in your arms. And right now," Jag said, his voice shaking. "That's the only thing that's keeping me sane."
Jaina looked up at him, startled by this revelation. He smiled at her sadly and, bending his head down, kissed her. Just then, they were interrupted by frantic knocking on the cabin door.
"Hey, guys!" Allana shouted. "Guess what?! Talon was just kidding! He knows where the ship was going and-"
She was cut off, and barely managed to keep her balance, as Jaina raced past her, Jag following at a more sedate pace.
~O~
Finally.
Ben heaved a sigh of relief as he exited hyperspace for the last time.
Now I just need to find Ves, and we can have a nice talk, we can figure this out, and then I can go home.
"R-7? Do a scan for life-forms."
Affirmative Jedi Skywalker
There was a brief pause.
Human life forms located at coordinates 34-74-13
"Thanks. Input that into the navicomp, will you?"
The droid did as he was told. Ben was so focused on finding Vestara that he hadn't even noticed that R-7 had said life-forms.
~O~
Vestara was awoken not by the baby as was the usual case, but by raised voices at the front of the cave.
"What do you mean he's here already!? He should've taken much longer!" Karick's angry voice was easily recognizable. There was a pause, and then Alyah spoke. "Of course, Master. Everything will be ready for him. We go now to prepare."
Seconds later, Karick appeared, dragging his supply pack and muttering to himself.
"Three minutes warning is all we get? So much for our Master's omniscience."
Vestara quickly wrapped Davin in her cloak and tucked him in small nook in the back of the cave, to keep him safe. Then she positioned herself at the very front of the force-field. Karick saw her and smirked.
"Ready to watch the show? I'm very excited. You know why? Because I get to kill your boyfriend in front of you, and that's not even the best part. After that, I get you all to myself."
Vestara raised her eyebrow. "You have to survive first."
"You doubt me? I will squash Ben Skywalker like the bug he is."
"Why? What do you have against him? He's never done anything to you."
Karick looked puzzled. "Because he's a Jedi of course."
"You could be one too, you know," Vestara said. "I've managed it."
He snorted. "There was never a chance of me becoming a Jedi. No one ever cared about me to wonder why I could do strange things. No one ever stuck around long enough."
"Believe it or not, I understand."
"Of course you don't," he said contemptuously. "You had parents."
"And now I don't."
"You don't- you can't possibly understand what it was like. Living alone in the undercity. Every day new horrors, new fears. I didn't sleep at night! I couldn't! I watched people be killed every day, and it's a miracle I wasn't one of them! In fact-"
"What are you doing, you idiot?! He's going to be here any minute," Alyah yelled, "and there's still stuff in the front cave! Are you trying to tip him off?!"
Karick spun and whispered angrily at her. "And yelling is going to help so much. Calm yourself."
"What do you mean, 'calm yourself'? That's Jedi sentiment."
"Being calm is better than being scared."
Yes, just keep arguing, Vestara thought anxiously. Please, please let Ben hear you!
"Enough of this," Alyah snapped, "get into position."
They both stepped backwards until they were inside the field of blankness created by the Ysalamiri, then Karick fiddled with the force-field controls for a minute. "Sorry about this, but we can't have you warning him. That would give it all away."
Alyah smiled tightly. "And now we wait. Let's see if Skywalker really is as stupid as Master says."
~O~
Ben pulled off his flight helmet and ran his hands through his messy red hair. He had landed at the base of a small mountain, which had a cave halfway up. According to R-7 Vestara was in there, but he couldn't sense her at all. Shrugging, he began the climb up to the entrance of the cave.
When he reached it, he paused for a moment, composing himself.
I have no idea what I'm going to say to her. None.
His heart was beating fast, and doubts were beginning to push their way into his mind again.
What if Dad was right? What if it's a trap? What if she's not even here and I'm getting my hopes up for nothing?
"Cut it out," he muttered to himself, and stepped inside. It was a dark cave, but there was a glow coming from a passageway in the back of the cave. He strode through a short twisting tunnel until it opened up into a large cavern. What he saw took him aback for several crucial moments. What was Vestara doing in a force-field? As he took a step forward he abruptly went Force-blind. He couldn't feel anything. The snap-hiss of a lightsaber sounded from behind him, and a red glow blossomed, fighting with the blue light emanating from the force-field. Ben spun and barely managed to block a swing directed at his legs. He stared across the blade into the blue eyes of his opponent.
"Now, now Alyah, we mustn't be rude. We haven't even introduced ourselves." A voice sounded from directly above Ben's head. He looked up, and someone dropped from the ceiling to stand behind him. "Nice to meet you, Ben. You're about to die."
~O~
Thank you all for your continued support and patience! If you have any comments I could really use the constructive criticism.
May The Force Be With You
VJ
