Chapter 11

When Moving on Becomes Disloyal

"I'm going to Tatooine." Tahiri voiced out loud without remembering that James was still sitting there next to her.

"Tatooine? What for?" James could not help but gawk at her. One minute she was talking about her parents then she was talking about going to Tatooine.

"I want to return to my home." Tahiri replied, though not really to James, it was more of a self affirmation.

"Wait, back up, go home? Tahiri, don't you have parents here?"

She shook her head. "No, my real parents are dead, James, I just told you that."

"Still, they've raised you these past few years, right?" He felt this really wasn't any of his business but something about her suddenly leaving her parents, even if they were only her adoptive parents, seemed wrong. "Don't you think they'd miss you?"

Tahiri shrugged, "I can't stand it here much longer though."

"Why? Because you can't move on?"

Tahiri's face became flushed, "Didn't you learn anything about being sensitive?"

"You're overly sensitive! Anything anyone says about moving on or even trying to make some kind of progress is wrong to you." James felt himself getting desperate for some reason. He didn't usually let himself become desperate, it put him at the mercy of whoever was in power to make the desperation fade. He hated depending on others.

"Yeah, what do you care?"

James frowned, "I care a lot. You may not think much of it, but I was there when your friend died, okay? You get it? There's nothing we can do about it. You said so yourself."

"I didn't mean it like that." She said defensively. James regarded her carefully before coming up with a response.

"Then what did you mean?" His voice had an edge now, "That I'm the one who has to move on, but you can keep moping around?"

Tahiri stood up, "I'm not moping!" She prodded him with her fingers. James stood up himself and stepped forward then without realizing he had done so, pushed Tahiri close enough to the edge of the rocks that Tahiri lost her balance and fell into the water.

"Tahiri!" He jumped in after her, thinking this time he might have actually hurt her. He swam over to where she'd come up and grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Hey are you-" He got a large amount of water splashed in his face. "I'm trying to help."

"I can swim you know. I may have spent most of my life in the desert but I learned how to swim from Anakin." His name came out without her noticing it and suddenly she fell silent. Again Anakin's name came up in her thoughts. That was really why she wanted to go to Tatooine, because everything she did at the Academy reminded her of Anakin and disallowed her from moving on because she had to move her life beyond what her childhood had been with Anakin.

"You don't have forget about him, you know." James said, bobbing next her. His dark hair was plastered against his forehead and for the first time he actually sounded normal. There was no bitterness or desire to fight with Tahiri in his tone. His gray eyes watched her. "It's probably better if you don't."

Tahiri laughed a little, "That's what Master Ikrit said."

"Who?" James was now confused. He'd met just about every teacher so far but not a single one was named Ikrit.

"Oh, you'll see him around. He's kind of hard to miss." Which was true enough. Despite his size, Master Ikrit, when he wanted to be known to someone, could make himself quite apparent. He was also the type who went to find others and not the other way around.

"He's the one who helped Anakin and I-" Tahiri stopped herself once again. She couldn't talk about Anakin, she couldn't. The thing she wanted least of all was to admit that Anakin was part of the past and that she wasn't going to see him any more. She wanted to see his boyish face again, his smooth and soft brown hair, and those icy blue eyes that made Anakin look like his mother.

"Tahiri, really, it's okay. You can talk about him all you need to." James said, reaching over to place a hand on her shoulder.

"I can't." She blurted. James then dove under the water for a moment and then came back up and splashed Tahiri. She glared at him then with a glint in her eyes splashed him back. James smirked.

"Okay, let's see you dodge this!" He scrambled out of the water then jumped cannonball style into the water, soaking whatever was still dry on Tahiri, which was just the top of her head.

"Okay, that's it!" She swam after him and pulled James into a headlock and pushed his face halfway into the water.

"Surrender?" She asked, grinning at James.

"Nope," he picked her up, surprising Tahiri with his strength and dropping her into the water beside him then began casually swimming the backstroke. Tahiri came up and pulled him under and as they came up, a furry white creature was sitting at the top of the rocks, watching them.

"Oh, Master Ikrit." Tahiri said and James let go. "James, this is Master Ikrit."

"Um, nice to meet you." James waved his hand, unsure of how to greet the furry creature that Tahiri had just informed him was a Jedi Master.

"You two seemed like you were having fun." Ikrit observed with a smile. He cast a glance at Tahiri who was getting out. "Though I must inform you that Master Skywalker wishes to talk to both of you."

James pulled himself onto the rocks, dripping wet, and pushing his wet hair out of his face. "Both of us?"

Ikrit nodded. "Best go get dried off." He nodded to James who ran off. Tahiri picked up the towel he'd forgotten. Ikrit's voice stalled her in mid-step.

"You seemed to be happier today." He walked over so that he was in front of Tahiri rather than behind her. "A smile or two can't break your mouth."

She felt her heart sink into her stomach, "I think it just did." She could not help but feel guilty because deep down she felt she should rightfully dislike James. But for some reason that wasn't how she felt. Just now he'd been so nice to her, instead of saying she should move on, he said she could talk to him about Anakin.

"Oh?" The Jedi Master flicked his tail. "I am not so sure you are right. After all, just now I think you were able to have a decent time at the Academy for the first time in a week."

Had it only been that short of a time since Anakin had died and already she was enjoying herself without him. Suddenly she felt sick. There was no way she could possibly enjoy herself so quickly without there being something wrong with her. Did she really not care that much about Anakin? Because right now she felt as though she'd insulted his memory by having fun so soon after his death. Anakin should hate her now.

"I'm going to get dried off." She told Master Ikrit. The Master nodded and watched her go inside, shaking his head. It was hard sometimes to explain to a student that enjoying life while one was still alive, was not an insult to those who have passed on. It was normal but could feel so wrong. Ikrit sniffed the air. He would have to watch over his students, like always, this time though, a closer eye on Tahiri and James. Perhaps James would help Tahiri to truly heal, Ikrit thought. We shall see.

Anakin listened to Synthor as he briefed them on their most recent findings on a scouting mission. The Sytar had a brisk and business like tone so it was sometimes hard to take interest in what he was saying, especially since Anakin figured he would not be taking part in the newest excursion. He was but one week into recovery and despite that most of his wounds were healed, he was still in a considerable amount of pain.

"Therefore, we must strike immediately or risk this planet being overtaken by the Yuuzhan Vong. There will be a strike force going out tomorrow morning." Synthor then turned to Anakin, "The force will be lead by our Jedi friend, Anakin Solo."

Anakin felt his stomach tense into knots. What was Synthor thinking? Anakin knew he wasn't in any condition to do anything, let alone lead a strike team on a mission. He zoned out as Synthor gave the rest of the details. When Synthor was finished Anakin approached Synthor.

"What was that about?" Anakin asked, his voice serious.

"A mission." Synthor replied in his simple way. Sometimes Anakin really hated how straight forward Sytars, and in particular this Sytar, were.

"I know, but you know that I'm not in any condition to lead a strike team, I'm still injured."

"I thought you might be bored." Synthor looked at him, "Such a long time in recovery can make a creature crazy."

Anakin had to admit the Sytar had a point but he still had his reservations. His boredom was not enough to make him take unnecessary risks. Anakin would have felt more inclined to participate if he was doing the mission with his friends or family back on Coruscant and Yavin 4 but this was different.

"We are rescuing your fellow Jedi. Is that not of an appeal to you, Anakin Solo?"

"I want to but I think my injuries will slow everyone down."

"You are not in any danger. Your body is healed as far as it needs to be. We have seen to it that your broken bones are healed. Our medical methods are the best because it is all we know. We have no experience with fighting."

Anakin's eyes went wide. You've got to be kidding me. That's why they want my help? They can't fight on their own? Anakin felt his reservations go up several levels. This was not good. If the Sytars couldn't fight, how could they expect to fight the Yuuzhan Vong?

"Wait, how did you defeat them before?"

"We used our fleets. We are builders and healers. It turned out that our armor deflects Yuuzhan Vong attacks well enough that we needed no skills."

Anakin groaned. So it was dumb luck. Great. He could see just how badly things were going to go if he left the Sytars to try their luck again. He would have to lead them. Even if that meant he might get them killed because he still felt at only half his full strength.

"Ten minutes approaching time!" One of the soldiers in Lando's control room on Cloud City said. Lando went onto the loud speaker.

"Attention all residents, please evacuate to the nearest shelter. The Yuuzhan Vong are approaching, I repeat, evacuate to the nearest shelter. All soldiers to their posts!" Lando clicked off the loudspeaker and turned to the group of Jedi behind him.

"I hope you guys are ready for a fight." Lando rubbed his chin, "Because we're sure going to get one."

Jacen, Jaina, Zekk, and Tenel Ka followed a group of soldiers to the front docking bay of Cloud City, where Lando said the Yuuzhan Vong were sure to let their warriors unload. Lando's lack of confidence in his air defense was troubling but couldn't be helped. Jaina pulled out her lightsaber followed by the rest of their group. The soldiers knelt down behind them, ready to fire the moment the Yuuzhan Vong arrived.

It wasn't long because a patrol ship exploded and then coral skippers followed by a carrier came out of the clouds. The carrier lowered itself to be level with the docking bay and its ramp went down, unloading hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Jaina ignited her lightsaber and charged the warriors down. The soldiers opened fire, taking down a warrior per five blasts to their armor.

Zekk ignited his own lightsaber and stabbed a warrior in the armpit, the place he knew was their weakest point. The warrior shouted something at him and swung its staff to strike Zekk on his shoulder. He grimaced then cut the Yuuzhan Vong's head off.

Jacen was in the thick of the warriors, cutting down the warriors with his blade, slicing into their armpits then striking them at an upward angle to blind them before stabbing them. One after the other, the warriors fell until the warriors stepping out of the ship were more scarred and had thicker armor. One of the higher warriors came after Jacen at a run, yelling in its native tongue, Jacen dodged an attack from another warrior and went to meet the higher warrior.

He stabbed up towards the armpit but the warrior stepped nimbly to the side. It laughed and then brought its staff back and caught Jacen in his side. He jumped back only to be struck by the warrior he had dodged before in the back.

"Jacen!" Tenel Ka rushed over, her blade clearing a path to her friend. Jacen was holding his side with one hand while fighting the two warriors at the same time. Tenel Ka reached him and cut down the lower ranked warrior before standing with Jacen to face the higher warrior.

She stood her ground, watching the warrior's every movement, when he struck out, parried and then struck the warrior in his blind spot. The warrior struck out at Jacen who blocked the blow then stabbed the warrior's armpit. Before either of them could strike again, a blast from above blew up the side of the carrier, sending all the warriors and Jedi sprawling.

Jaina looked up to see ships arriving from the skies, it only took her a moment to recognize the symbols of the wookies from Kashyyk. The ships fired again and took down more warriors. Jaina gave a whoop and with a refreshed attitude went after the Yuuzhan Vong.

Tenel Ka supported Jacen as they watched the wookie warships raining lasers down on the Yuuzhan Vong warriors and their ships. A ship landed and a wookie with a dark patch over his eye leapt onto the platform, lightsaber in hand, followed by other wookies with bows.

The wookie growled a greeting as he ran over.

"Lowie!" Jacen called and watched as his friend cut down down a warrior with his lightsaber's bronze colored blade. Jacen pulled away from Tenel Ka and took down another warrior.

"I'm not finished yet." He flashed a Solo grin at the warriors then charged forward with Lowie not far behind.