Chapter 16

Promises Made to be Broken

James couldn't tell which was worse, the fact that Claus would not stop talking, no not even talking, boasting about what he'd done to the Peace Brigade members he'd captured or the fact that Tahiri had suddenly decided to be mad at him for some reason. That really wasn't the reason, but as soon as they had arrived on Yavin 4, she'd ignored him and gone off somewhere in the jungle, and Kirk, wanting to keep James close in case Claus decided he wanted to interrogate James further about his past, as Kirk said Claus was well known for doing.

Claus was something of an anomaly as a Jedi He had somehow bypassed all the regulations that Jedi typically followed: including following the rules of the places they lived in unless it threatened the justice of the people. The Peace Brigade had on many accounts proven that they were not to be trusted on matters of morality because they were trading Jedi to get back other prisoners from the Yuuzhan Vong but the way that Claus handled the situation was just as bad. He was to put it simply, a hypocrite.

It was only a few moments after they had landed that Luke Skywalker had run out to call them all in for a meeting and that was when Tahiri had found it impossible to stick around. She went off into the jungle without a word to anyone, and before James could catch up with her, Luke had called him back.

It did not take James long to notice the shape the Academy and jungle was in when he returned to Yavin 4 on the Wild Fox with Tahiri and Kirk . The tops of the trees were burned and had no leaves left, there were burn marks all of the outside walls of the Academy and small fires were being exstinguished by JedI students and teachers.

It was just a feeling he had, but James' gut feeling told him he should be careful about what he said to anyone. But he wasn't sure why, there was no way that this catastrope or whatever had happened here, was his fault. Still he had his doubts about his own conviction, which wasn't good because he rarely had doubts, he was a normally overly confident person by nature.

Luke's voice made him shiver as he said, "James, I need to talk to you and Kirk. Alone."

Once inside the office and out of earshot of Claus and his Silver Blade Squad, Luke began speaking in serious and sober tone, "What I have to say here must stay here. I'll begin by stating the obvious. The Academy was attacked while you were on your mission. I am actually pleased you came back early because I was about to recall the mission all together."

"Recall it? Why?" Kirk frowned.

"James, I trust you, but I want you to be honest with me." Luke turned to James, Luke's expression pained. Luke didn't seem happy with what he was going to say to James, so he braced himself.

"Did you know that the Peace Brigade was responsible for the attack today?"

James' face immediately contorted with frustration, "What? You think I told them to come here? Are you even sure it was them?"

Luke nodded, "Quite sure. They practically were screaming that they were Peace Brigade and that we'd better surrender." His expression became fierce, "This is not a light attack, they came last night and attacked early into the morning. The only thing that made them leave was the fact that they picked up on Claus' radar signal."

Kirk laughed in the amusement at the irony of their savior, "So his violence finally does come to something." Kirk seethed inwardly. Even if Claus had saved them, it didn't make Kirk happy that the only thing standing between the Academy's safety and its destruction was Claus Nero's Silver Blade Squad. Nothing would make Kirk happier than to wash his hands of his old comrade and fellow Jedi Academy graduate.

"The truth, James." Luke insisted.

"You don't believe me, do you?" His tone was accusing and disgusted at Luke's insistence on his repetition of his comment. "I told you I had nothing to do with this. So if you have a problem with my answer, you can just shove it up your Jedi-"

"James!" Kirk shot the young man a sharp warning with Kirk's dark green eyes. James smirked.

"You both deserve it. Just because you both have the force you think you can accuse anyone of lying and think you have the right to because the force tells you to." James let out a hollow laugh, "Let me tell you something, the attack wasn't my fault but I commend the one responsible because it deflated your heads that have been floating on Cloud City since the beginning of this cursed Academy." He nodded, "Yes, cursed. You want to know why you can't catch a break? It's because you're here." He glared at Luke. "It's your fault because you don't bother to tell your students that everyone wants you dead. That includes Claus. The sooner the bounty hunters have a knife in your stinking back, the sooner we can all have peace of mind. That includes the Yuuzhan Vong." He got up without waiting for a response and headed to the door, "And me." He added and slammed the door behind him.

Luke's face became sullen and strained as the slammed door sent shivers down his spine. James was a very honest person, Luke admitted to himself. He had asked James for the truth and Luke had gotten it. James had spoken what he'd been thinking and as far as Luke could tell in the force, James had not lied. Especially about the last part. The thought of James wanting him assassinated worried Luke. Not for the obvious reason, but because the idea had probably been planted in James' head by the Peace Brigade.

"I can't believe he actually said those things." Kirk shook his head in disbelief. He thought James was pretty cold towards Jedi but James' level of hatred was deeper than Kirk had suspected.

"Even though they were truthful?" Luke's expression was wistful and full of thought. Kirk stared incredulously at his teacher.

"Are you sure you're not more worried about you being killed?"

"By James or the Peace Brigade?" Luke closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"By anyone."

Luke reopened his eyes and returned his eyes to Kirk. He had become very strong in the past months, different from the eighteen year old boy who had left the Academy graduation in a hurry to be away from the world that had hurt him. Luke felt truly old seeing his student now a fully fledged master. Kirk had taken on a few students of his own, or so Luke had heard. He had formed a small school for a brief time, teaching for no more than a few months at a time then moving on to the next planet. Then for a long time Luke had heard nothing from his student.

What was most surprising was how collected Kirk seemed. Luke was even sure Kirk would have settled down by now with the amount of progress he'd made.

"Master Skywalker?" Kirk's words probed Luke's thoughts and he finally broke his reverie.

"Now when was the last time I'd heard you call me that, hmmm?" Luke's lips curled into an amused smile. Kirk returned the smile.

"Possibly a decade, maybe longer."

"For the longest time you called me Vader incarnate." Luke raised an eyebrow.

"That was only because you made me scrub all the floors in the temple." Kirk retorted.

"You decided it was a good idea to use the lightsaber in my office to cut the freezer in half to get some ice cream." Luke sighed. He couldn't believe they were rehashing this incident. It had happened when Kirk was eleven.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time. So what's it matter now?"

Luke smiled, letting his blue eyes soften. "Indeed, what does the foolish past have to offer the future we have now?"

"You'll be glad to know that two students took up your legacy." Luke chuckled. Kirk looked interested and grinned.

"Oh really, who?"

Luke indicated with his head towards the direction of the jungle. "You met the first one."

Kirk's eyes lit up. "Sounds like a trouble maker. But she's a good girl."

"She's the brightest student I've had in years." Luke's praise surprised Kirk. Luke didn't like to single out favorites. Realization of what Luke's statement meant dawned on Kirk. His face was filled with extreme sadness.

"Her friend, the one I didn't rescue in time, he was the second one." Kirk knew it from the look on his Master's face.

Kirk swore loudly, "Kicking rodian shit! How could this have happened a second time?" His face contorted and he leaned against the wall to steady himself.

"I'm sorry, Master, I've got to go." He went to the door and opened it, only pausing to hear Luke's words before closing it behind him.

"May the force be with you, Kirk." Luke said, as though saying it as a consolation.

"Yeah." Kirk said as he got outside. "Whenever that happens the world will boil over."

One thing was for sure, Kirk was not going to let himself become seemingly obsolete like Luke Skywalker was. Although he respected Luke, for more reasons than one, Kirk knew Luke had lost his grip and that it had been slipping for a long time now. It was no longer up to the heroes of the Rebel Alliance to save the world from the Yuuzhan Vong. Kirk was sure that Luke knew this as well and that was why he hadn't done anything.

But it was Luke's inactivity that had pissed everyone off and made Luke look like the puppeteer in an obscure show called "war." Luke was the high ranked general who watched from afar while his underlings did his work. Kirk had to kick the students up a notch. Even if that meant bringing non-Jedi into the picture.

Kirk bumped into Tahiri on his way down the hall. "Tahiri, oh, I was just looking for James, have any idea where he's gotten off to?"

"Actually, I'm not sure." She furrowed her brow, "I was just wandering around the jungle and I went to find him but he wasn't in his room but his door was open."

"Open?" Kirk's eyes narrowed in his most stern frown yet. Kirk hated doing either of those things because it made him look like a stern old man.

"Yeah, wide open, like he ran out for a moment and was going to come back."

"Burning Hoth Alive!!" Kirk yelled and ran down the hall to James' room, and looked at the door. It was cleaning opened like nothing had happened. Which meant it had to have been picked by a JedI who left no trail. Not only that, they left in a hurry.

"Tahiri, did you see anyone around the door when you came out?"

"To Master Skywalker's office?" She thought for a moment, "Yeah, Claus was." She gazed curiously at Kirk as he leaned against the wall, scratching his head and messing up his hair as he concentrated.

"We have to go talk to Master Skywalker." He started off at a fast walk with Tahiri close behind him.

"Why?" She ran to keep up with Kirk's long stride. "What's going on?"

"James has been kidnapped."

"What?" Tahiri's eyes went wide, "Why would he be kidnapped?"

"Because Claus overheard our conversation about him being in the Peace Brigade and the Peace Brigade is number one on Claus' hit list." Kirk let loose another series of swear words and barged into Luke's office.

"Kirk? What-?" Luke looked from Tahiri to Kirk.

"Luke, I need to borrow a ship. Now." Kirk stated without explaining. Sensing his old student's tension, Luke straightened.

"What's going on, Kirk?"

"James has been kidnapped by Claus. We were overheard. Someone should have been watching Claus! He's gone and taken James!"

"Calm down, Kirk. Aren't you jumping to conclusions?"

"Aren't you being a little overly trusting?" Kirk glared at his master, not waiting for an answer. "James was right. You've grown soft and comfortable. Not even the war is making you jump into action." Kirk started out of the office, "I'm going after Claus. I know him well enough to guess that he's up to no good." Kirk slammed the door and Luke sighed.

"Everyone seems to be slamming my door a lot." He laughed a little. Tahiri looked curiously at her teacher. He did seem to be too lax about all the recent events, so many of his students were kidnapped by the Yuuzhan Vong and a guest who was staying was just abducted. Or maybe he was simply out of ideas for a solution. He wasn't omniscient after all. It was easy to forget that when you were talking to the Grand Master Jedi.

"Master Skywalker?" She came around to his desk and stood there, firmly planting her feet on the stones. They felt nice under her toes.

"Yes, Tahiri?" He sensed her anticipation and nodded, "You may go with Master Dekim to retrieve James."

Tahiri shook her head. Luke looked surprised, he'd sensed wrongly about what she wanted? Maybe he really was getting old. "No, I was going to ask something else." She said.

Tahiri made her way back to her room. She had managed to ask Master Skywalker permission to visit the place she'd been longing to go back to for so long. But he'd told her she would have to wait at least a month before going there. Maybe three. Simply because Luke had a lot on his plate to deal with and he wanted her to settle down and make a rational decision.

Going back Tatooine was not going to be easy.

After all she had a family here, her adoptive parents Tionne and Kam Solusar were loving and the best parents a person could ask for, but there was a gap they'd never be able to fill and questions that they wouldn't be able to answer for her. Even Master Skywalker couldn't answer all the questions that kept appearing in Tahiri's mind.

In forefront was the fact that James had been a prime suspect for the attack recently staged on Yavin 4 and its Jedi Academy. She had been sure that James would never let the Peace Brigade in on the inner secrets of the Jedi, no matter how much James hated the Jedi and what they did, he'd never sell them out.

She'd seen the guilty look on his face when they'd been on Coruscant and she'd mentioned the fact that the Peace Brigade sold out the Jedi, he was ashamed, that much was evident. So why did he go and sell them out now?

She couldn't believe it, but that was the only way the Peace Brigade could know there was a Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 in the first place. In a way he had promised he'd never do anything of that sort by saying "Yeah, but I'd never do anything like that." He was honest about it, she hadn't sensed any lies. It was hard to believe someone who obviously felt so badly about what his "family" had done was going to become a hypocrite when the first opportunity presented itself.

Moreover it reminded her of Anakin's empty promise to her when he told her that was leaving Yavin 4 to join the in fighting Yuuzhan Vong war with his family.

Anakin had stood on the docking bay, his duffle bag in hand, boarding the ramp when Tahiri up to him, blocking his way. She folded her arms across her chest. He'd told her he was leaving but Tahiri was too stubborn to let him leave without at least getting an explanation.

"So you're leaving?" She had asked him incredulously, "Just like that? Nothing to say, no one's opinion to ask?"

"Yeah, until this war gets resolved I don't think I can just stay here doing nothing."

"What about being here and staying best friends?"

He had raised an eyebrow at her when she said that, "You don't think we'll stay best friends if I leave?"

"You'd stay if we were." She retorted.

"Come on, Tahiri, don't do this."

"Do what? You want me to just say 'it's okay, come back soon'? It doesn't work that way, Anakin Solo. You don't just up and leave your best friend behind, I bet you even wanted to slip off without a word to anyone." She had given him a cold look and upon seeing his hurt expression softened, "Anakin, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I deserved that."

"No you didn't."

"Yes, I did." He sighed, "I'm not a kid anymore, Tahiri. I can take the truth."

"What about me? You still think I'm a kid, right? That's why you won't take me with you."

Anakin rubbed the back of his head, making his hair seem even more unruly than it already was. "Oh, boy." He hoped he'd get a good opportunity to explain his comment when he came back but now was not the time.

"What?"

He shook his head, "Nothing. Look, Tahiri, I promise you I'll come back. Even before the war's over, I'll come visit."

"You know I get to kick the bantha dung out of you if you don't keep the promise, right?"

He smiled and nodded, placing a hand on her hand and ruffling her hair. Then he boarded the ramp and was gone.

He'd promised to come back and explain a lot of things to her and he didn't. He didn't come back, he didn't get to explain anything because he took off and was killed. If that wasn't enough, Anakin left her feeling like a kid for yelling at him when Anakin clearly knew what he was doing. He'd gone to do what he could for the galaxy and she'd just made it hard for Anakin to leave by being stubborn.

I'm the one who's the kid, Tahiri thought to herself. Because I don't understand anything.

Jacen planted a new tree where a crater now lay. It had once been the spot of a Massassi tree but the Peace Brigade had destroyed it. It broke Jacen's heart to have replant a tree that wasn't like its predecessor, but at least he was doing something.

He'd turned down the opportunity to go with his sister to look for James. He didn't feel like flying again. Jacen also didn't want to leave the feel the outdoors. It relaxed him and made him feel alive even though he clearly was feeling the most dead he'd felt in a long time.

Now he clearly understood what Tahiri had been going through all this time. Just thinking about anything he'd done at the Academy in the past was painful, so he focused on his task of planting. His Uncle had suggested he come in to eat earlier but Jacen stayed out long after dark, planting trees where the craters were.

After finishing, he lay back on the ground, his hands behind his head, looking up at the stars. He wished the night would go on. The little dots formed shapes that he could trace all night long and no one would tell him what he had to see. No one had to tell him he had to move on to look at something else.

He heard footsteps and turned his head slightly to see the small form of Tahiri Veila making her way over to him.

"Mind if I join you?"

He shook his head. "Go ahead."

She lay down and looked up at the sky. The two of them didn't say anything. Though between the two of them was an understanding of loss, that no where in the stars above them was an answer to their search but it was enough to just stare into the endless galaxy wondering if there was another dimension or ring where their other selves were happier and living in galaxy free of the Yuuzhan Vong.

"Miss him?" Jacen asked.

Tahiri nodded. "I don't think anyone here understands what it's like to lose your best friend."

"You don't have to look that far." Jacen replied in a pained voice, it was almost cracking even though he was trying to make a joke. Tahiri couldn't believe how broken Jacen seemed. She only knew a little about him from what Anakin had told her, but he didn't seem like the type to be so grief ridden that he wasn't able to complete a joke.

"She was my best friend since I came to the Academy for the first time. All I wanted was to come up with a joke that she'd finally laugh at."

"She didn't laugh at your jokes?" Tahiri asked. For some reason that seemed hard to believe. Even if someone's jokes weren't funny, most people laughed to have a good time.

"She didn't laugh period."

Tahiri smiled to herself. But told Jacen, "It's a good goal."

"Thanks." He watched as a shooting star flew over the heads millions upon millions of miles away in the dark sky. But I can't ever accomplish it now.

"I wanted to prove to Anakin I wasn't a kid. I know he always thought I was."

Jacen raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so."

Tahiri chuckled, "You don't have to lie to me, Jacen. I know Anakin pretty well."

"Obviously not enough."

"Does Anakin usually break promises?"

"What?" The question brought Jacen to sitting position. Tahiri kept her eyes on the sky as she lay on her back. "Well, no, not usually."

"Then you don't know him as well as I do." She felt rain drops on her face and was glad because her own eyes had started to water.