Sioux - Nailed it ;) Yeah, it's like Apple came to the SW universe. They really need a device like that. Wait till you see what I have her do with it in chapter 13 ;) Danni's sweater is fixed - I couldn't remember how to put it. The ships came from when the Jedi Order split from the GA back in Dawn of Chaos. Wedge took a third of the fleet and defected, the rest stayed with Soora.

Onimi - wait till you see the next two :)

A/N: on Onimi's suggestion, I've reordered the chapter a bit. It does read better this way. Thanks Onimi :)

Chapter 5 - Descent [[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Jaina's miserable mood continued well into the evening as they arrived at the Fel residence, a beautiful short building on its own near the edges of the dome. As was explained by the uncharacteristically chatty driver that picked them up in a hovercar, the houses on the outskirts were reserved for the most prominent members of Chiss society, like Baron Soontir Fel. The second the party of Jedi stepped into the front hall, Jaina understood why. Large portraits of members of the Fel family hung on the white walls of the cavernous circular entrance way that reached up to the top of the house. The ceiling showed what Jaina suspected would be the star patterns high above them glittering high above. Two red-carpeted stairwells hugged the curved walls meeting at a landing at the second floor with an ornate golden handrail accenting the regal colours of the room. And here Jaina was surrounded by the ostentatious environment in her least-worn Jedi robes with a Wookiee, her mom, two teenagers, and a blonde astrophysicist in a University of Commenor hoodie as her dates.

"Danni!" a shout resounded from the top of the stairs and a streak of blond hair came rushing down to tackle-hug the scientist. They both laughed as Danni almost fell backwards against the door and steadied herself against the hug. "Jag didn't even tell us you were coming!"

Jaina looked at the girl, who was probably about twenty five, with a mixture of annoyance and confusion. How did Danni get that kind of greeting from Jag's sister?

"I wanted it to be a surprise, Wyn," Jag said, appearing from another room to the right with a grin from ear to ear. Wearing his formal military uniform, aside from the stripe of grey hair over his eye, he looked every bit the perfect military man Jaina remembered from the war. "Everyone, this is my sister Wynssa. Wyn, our guests are Jedi Masters Leia Organa and Jaina Solo, Jedi Master Lowbacca, and Jedi Apprentices Erinn Sorinn and Ben Skywalker. Everyone, welcome to the Fel Residence. Please come this way."

Jag led them through two large ornate ostentatiously decorated sitting rooms, apologizing for the absence of his parents while Wyn chattered with Danni about her flying lessons and the challenges of learning to become a medvac pilot.

Jag finally opened another ornate double door so tall that Jaina could have stood on Lowie's shoulders and not reached the top of the frame, and gestured for them to enter.

"Please have a seat and the food will be right out. I'd also like to introduce our other guest of honour..."

"Prince Isolder," Leia smiled warmly as the Hapan Prince came into view and stood up, surprising Jaina and the other Jedi. "I thought I sensed your presence in Jag's office."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Despite a five course meal and being surrounded by friends and family, Jaina had a hard time ditching her foul mood. Leia and Lowbacca easily kept Isolder company sitting on either side of him at one end of the table to discuss the potential of recovery of the Hapan people, with Threepio translating Shyriiwook for Isolder. Jag sat at the other head of the table opposite Isolder, with Danni on his left chatting with him and Wynssa about her research and their current assignments like she was a member of the family. Ben and Erinn talked awkwardly between each other at the middle of the table, both feeling somewhat left out but with nobody else near their age to talk to. Despite sitting in a room full of friends and family having a great time together, and sitting beside Jag, Jaina could not help but feel out of place.

This is Jag, Jaina chided herself. Sure you haven't seen him in years, but just say something.

"So, Jag," Jaina finally said around a mouthful of her dessert. "You're no longer in the cockpit."

"I wanted something a bit more ground based," Jag admitted, swirling the dessert wine around his glass. "I still teach a hands-on class on starfighter battle tactics twice a week. After the war the government decided to keep some of the better skilled pilots closer to home to pass on knowledge."

"Makes sense," Jaina said. "But you still know I can fly circles around you."

"Sure," Jag said evasively, taking a sip of his wine instead of her bait.

"Are you still interested in me?" Jaina asked and Jag coughed, almost spraying his wine across the table and bringing everyone's attention to the two of them.

"What? You don't know?" Wyn demanded, oblivious to the panicked wide-eyed look she was getting from Danni. A horrible shock went through Jaina's system as the truth hit her a second before Wyn could say it. "He's engaged to Danni!"

Jaina looked around the room and saw Erinn and Ben's jaws wide open, Leia with a grim smile, Wyn looking like a kid on lifeday staring at a package of presents, and mirrored looks of embarrassed guilt on Danni and Jag's faces. Isolder alone looked completely impassive, and Lowie uttered something about the male offspring of a female canine that quite accurately covered Jaina's thoughts.

"Jaina," both Danni and Jag tried saying at the same time, but Jaina stood up suddenly, her chair screeching across the wooden floor. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at them with a mixture of despair and pain as her bottom lip trembled.

"Y-You knew he was the one we were looking for, and you didn't even bother to tell us? We could've done this over a holonet call, but we came all this way because you wanted to see your boytoy?" Jaina demanded of Danni. She then turned to Jag. "And you didn't think I'd want to know about this? Did I mean nothing to you?"

Jaina ran out of the dining room and before she reached the icy outdoors tears were already streaming down her face.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Leia found the crying, shivering mess of her daughter sitting on the front steps of the Fel house and gently placed a warm coat around her shoulders. Jaina barely seemed to notice, but did not object when Leia sat down beside her, taking Jaina's left hand in both of hers.

"You knew," Jaina accused between sobs, balling her hand into a fist.

"I suspected," Leia admitted. "But not until Jag visited us at the hotel today."

"I made an idiot of myself," Jaina sniffed, wiping her right eye with the back of her hand.

"Jaina, you haven't seen Jag in years," Leia said as gently as she could, knowing full well it was not what Jaina wanted to hear. "You're thirty two years old, and he's thirty four. Did you really expect him to wait for you forever?"

Jaina pulled her hand free and tugged the jacket around her tighter, as if the fluffy warm material could protect her from admitting the miserable truth they both knew she knew. She was so much like her father, right down to her fear of commitment.

"I know you don't hate them," Leia continued. "Danni had her reasons for not telling us."

"She could've saved us valuable time…"

"Yes, she could have," Leia admitted. "But she knew she would've put Jag in a very difficult spot. In Chiss society, giving out information improperly is considered treason. She kept the truth from us to protect him. And protect us. If he did send us information and the government discovered it, they would sever ties with the Jedi and execute him. We can't lose what shaky friendship we have with the Chiss at this time. Our allies are too few and far between right now."

Jaina wiped more tears, this time from both eyes, and sniffed her nose, but remained silent. She stared into the distance at the glowing lights on the hovercars speeding through the tall towers of the underground city with her mind caught somewhere between blank nothingness and jumbled thoughts about Jag, her friends laughing at her, her dad, needing to check the port power couplings in the Falcon, Danni betraying her, and some stray thoughts about how to improve energy efficiency in her lightsaber.

"We've all lost people we care about," Leia said, wiping a tear of her own from her cheek. "We should be grateful for the ones we still have with us."

Leia put her arms around Jaina and squeezed her gently before retreating back into the house. While lost in her thoughts staring at the lights in the distance, Jaina barely noticed when Jag sat down beside her and they both waited in silence. About five minutes passed where they sat watching the lights, each wondering what the other was going to say.

"I don't blame you," Jaina finally broke the silence. "I just wish you told me. Then I wouldn't…you know…"

"Keep hoping?" Jag finished. "Yeah, but I figured after you didn't call for five years…"

"Fair enough," Jaina said. "But, Danni?"

Jag laughed softly. "I didn't even see it coming. Neither of us did. After the war she kept visiting Wyn every month or so. They were closer friends than I had realized. She became like an older sister in the family. And one time she came by when Wyn wasn't around, but I was free that night and…"

Jaina smacked his arm and glared at him with a look that could melt durasteel.

"Nothing like that!" Jag exclaimed innocently, rubbing his arm at the impact point. "You really know how to hold a grudge, don't you? We went out for dinner and really enjoyed each other's company. The next time she visited we went for lunch. It started becoming a bit of a tradition where she'd come to visit my sister, and we'd meet up for a meal at some point. It took about three years before we both realized that our meals together were the closest things either of us were having to real dates and…things just started working out well."

"That's why you took the desk job," Jaina said. "Safer, more stable."

"Yeah."

"So now what?"

Jag grimaced slightly and took Jaina's hand in his, discretely slipping a data card into her hand. Jaina looked down and saw a sapphire ring she had not noticed earlier glowing faintly for a second.

"I wish I could help you," Jag said, turning to face her and tugging on her hands until she forced herself to look into his green eyes. "But giving information of certain sorts to outsiders is treason to the Chiss Ruling Council. I want you to promise me you won't hold anything Danni did against her. She was only trying to protect me."

"I…" Jaina looked away and pulled her hands from Jag's, slipping them into her jacket where she safely stowed the data card in her pocket. "I have no right to be upset with anyone but myself."

"Jaina…"

"I want to go back to the hotel." Jaina stood up and fastened her jacket together. "Now."

Jag stood up and looked down at her, surprised by the pain he saw in her brandy brown eyes as she avoided his gaze. He finally nodded.

"I'll have a driver sent around."

Jaina nodded and turned her back to him. He hesitated for a moment before going back into the house.

"You should know, at one time, you meant the galaxy to me."

Jag finally walked away, trying to ignore the sobs of the girl he once wanted to marry.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Having been the only apparent surviving members of an entire destroyed drop ship, the Jedi were able to escape having to check in with anyone upon arriving on Krayt's command ship. They disembarked from the crowded drop ship into a huge hanger bay that stretched nearly a kilometre to either side, broken up only by large transparisteel walls that partially blocked the view of the giant dull grey expanse. Luke noticed fighters on either side of the drop ships, absently noting the advantage of having drop ships covered from both sides immediately upon launch and wondered why the fighters were not launched with the drop ships in their failed raid. Racks suspended from the ceiling provided a second layer of storage for fighters and catwalks connected the racks to the interior wall of the hanger bay.

"Focus, farmboy," Mara whispered and nudged him as they followed the rest of the soldiers streaming out of the hanger.

"I'm gathering intel," Luke whispered back defensively, but focused his attention on not trying to be so obvious about it.

They marched through a double-wide door into a very wide hallway that two load lifters could drive down side-by-side. The troopers fell to the right side and they followed in formation until they reached a bank of cylindrical turbolift doors half embedded into the walls. While their unwitting guides took one lift, the Jedi waited for an empty one to arrive and piled into it. Jacen used one of his unusual skills to stop the video feed of the camera and Luke used the Force to lift Mara up so she could open the hatch at the top. With a faint metallic whine, the hatch lifted and swung away. A blast of air entered the lift compartment and the Jedi quickly worked against it to get on top of the lift car and brace themselves with the Force. After Luke levitated Jacen up, Mara closed the hatch and Luke settled his nephew on top of the hatch.

"Camera's back on," Jacen shouted over the wind. "I set the lift for the tenth floor. Intel suggests Kraty's quarters are between decks nine and eleven."

Close to a minute later the lift slowed and the Jedi came up level with the door to the ninth floor. They removed their helmets and tied them and their blaster rifles to the lift pod with some rope they brought. A quick scan in the Force showed the hallway to be deserted, so Luke Forced the doors open. They slipped into the hallway, extracted their lightsabers, and proceeded through the dark grey hallways. Unlike the areas closer to the hanger bay, these hallways were darker and narrow.

"There should be a data terminal," Octa said. "I hope that device your droid made works."

"Bash it if it fails," Jacen suggested. "Not before."

Eriana poked her head around a corner and then proceeded down it when it was clear. With Eriana leading the group and Jacen hiding their presences in the Force, the rest of them examined the red plates embedded into the walls at eye level beside each door frame, noting that almost all of them said "Supplies," "Weapons," "Quarters," or "Storage."

"Here," Luke said, pointing to one of the plates. "Security Substation Nine Besh."

"That'll do nicely," Octa said. She examined the keypad and let her fingers hover over the numbers, drawing on the Force for guidance. She suddenly hammered four buttons with her index finger and the door clicked open. Before she could proceed, Jacen put a hand on her shoulder.

"Let us," he whispered and disappeared into the room with Eriana right behind him.

Luke looked at Mara, who shrugged and pulled out her lightsaber. As Mara reached to push the door open, Jacen opened it from inside.

"Quickly," Jacen gestured to them and they entered the security substation. Luke was last to enter the room and behind the Jedi he saw three unconscious officers being bound and gagged by Eriana. By the time he looked up at the bank of computer monitors lining one of the walls, Octa had already plugged the module supplied to them by HK-47 into the astromech computer socket and the droid's rusty-red face appeared on one of the monitors.

"Announcement: HK-47 reporting in, meatbags," HK-47 said. An insistent chirp echoed through the connection and HK-47's eyes flashed. "The subspace connection appears to be working at full reception and Artoo has access to the entire network."

"Excellent," Octa said. "Minimize your data usage to reduce the chances of being detected for now."

"Belligerent reply: I am aware of how to hack a computer system discretely, meatbag," HK-47 replied. "Query: May I speak to the master? Your condescending remarks are activating my assassination protocols."

Luke, Mara, Kyp and Octa all turned to Jacen and spoke in unison. "Assassination protocols?"

Jacen ignored their question and stepped forward. "HK, access the cameras and look for Darth Krayt. Also, see if you can pull up a schematic of this ship. Please download it for your reference as well. We may as well extract whatever intel we can. We may not get another chance like this."

A wireframe image of the ship appeared on one of the displays to everyone's left displaying all of the hallways, infrastructure, and major points of ship operation. They all studied it in silence as HK-47 and Artoo perused the camera feeds from around the ship.

"Here," HK-47 finally said. "We have located the target."

A green dot appeared on the wire-frame display and a line connected their location to his. They were about a kilometre away and two floors up from Krayt's location.

"Find us the easiest route that is least populated," Jacen ordered. "We should avoid people if we can."

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

When Jacen had requested the least populated route to Darth Krayt's location he did not expect to be crawling and shimmying through air ducts for over eight hundred metres, but when he silently dropped into the long, dark room occupied at the far end solely by Darth Krayt, he felt the crawl was worth it.

Luke dropped next to him without a sound, followed by Mara, Eriana, Kyp and finally Octa. Luke nodded to his nephew and each Jedi extracted their lightsabers from their outfits. Luke and Jacen led, followed by Eriana and Mara with Kyp and Octa taking the rear, approaching the far end of the room where Krayt stared out the window.

"I've been expecting you," Darth Krayt's deep voice echoed through the room coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. "I'm impressed you got this far. But you have gone far enough."

Darth Krayt rippled into oblivion – as only a hologram would – and Jacen swore.

"It's a trap!" He shouted and two transparisteel walls shot out of the floor, trapping Luke and Jacen between them.

The doors behind Kyp and Octa opened and seven of Krayt's warriors streamed into the room with lightsabers ablaze. The Jedi activated their lightsabers in kind and the four free Jedi engaged their seven attackers. Before Jacen and Luke could punch their lightsabers into the transparisteel cage, a stream of energy shot out from the walls. The bolt grazed Luke, burning his shoulder as he twisted out of the way and fell to the ground, but Jacen held out his palms to catch the bolt of energy. Drawing on the Force, he allowing the energy to flow through him and dissipate across the cage into the wall.

"I've got this," Jacen said to his uncle through gritted teeth as the energy threatened to overwhelm him. "Cut the cage open!"

Luke's lightsaber bounced off the transparisteel and a loud hissing noise caught his attention.

"I can't cut through it - it's magnetically sealed!" Luke said. "They're sucking the air out!" He immediately pulled as much air as he could around him and his nephew, keeping them safe from suffocation. As he turned his attention back to the transparisteel wall and prepared to use the Force on it, several darts and canisters shot out from the walls. The canisters exploded inside their air bubble and the darts mostly deflected off the armoured suits they wore, but a couple found purchase on exposed skin on both of the Jedi.

The last thing Jacen thought as the world went black was Poison.

[[[[#]]]]]]]]=(=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Two walls slammed down around Luke and Jacen, trapping them fast, but the hiss of a door opening behind her brought Mara's attention to more pressing matters. As seven of Krayt's warriors rushed into the room with lightsabers drawn, she pressed the activation stub on her lightsaber and turned to engage them with Eriana at her side. As Kyp and Octa took on three warriors together, Mara deflected a downward swipe with a horizontal sweep, twisted with the momentum of her swing, back-kicked the first target with a Force-enhanced kick and sent the female Zabrak stumbling backwards against her male counterpart as Eriana expertly used her two blades to engage a Rodian and a Devaronian with almost effortless grace. Mara took her opponents' distraction to rush the Devaronian, letting Eriana's strike at his head distract him long enough for her to use Force-enhanced speed to rush past his back side and swing her lightsaber through his back, bisecting him from hip to shoulder. She continued her momentum toward the transparisteel wall beside Eriana and, as a bolt of lightning flashed across Luke and Jacen's cage, Mara ran up the side of the wall over Eriana and let the other woman distract the Rodian by dropping to the ground as she sprung off the wall and took his head off with a quick slash of her blade.

Mara landed on the ground, crossed half the room with a roll and came up with a twist as Eriana kipped to her feet, both of them on either side of the two Devaronians that were expecting to face Eriana or Mara alone. Using a series of fast diversionary strikes and quick steps, Eriana and Mara drove the two warriors together until they were fighting back-to-back, defensively trying to escape the cage of Jedi lightsaber strikes that kept them contained. On cue from Eriana, Mara swung high as she swung low, allowing Mara to bisect Eriana's enemy as he jumped to avoid Eriana's low slash, and Eriana chopped Mara's warrior's feet off at the ankle. A quick blow from Mara's lightsaber beheaded her warrior, and the two women turned to appraise Kyp and Octa. Or, more accurately, what was left of them.

Octa's limp body was pinned to the wall by a knife through her neck, and Kyp was on his back desperately sucking in air from the gaping hole that had obviously been carved into his chest by a lightsaber. Two of their opponents were dead and the third, a burly Besalisk with a lightsaber in each of his four hands, was sadistically watching the life fade out of Kyp.

"Go!" Kyp wheezed. He shakily raised his hand and pushed the Besalisk against the wall, holding him fast with the Force. The warrior struggled against Kyp's hold, but could not break free of the Jedi's telekinesis. "I'm dead already."

"Come on," Eriana grabbed Mara's arm.

"But…" Mara looked back at the transparisteel cage in the middle of the room, but it was already empty. She did not even notice their extraction.

"Now!" Eriana shouted, pulling on Mara's arm as she sensed Kyp gathering the Force around him. Together they disappeared into the hallway. After a few minutes of sprinting, using the Force to guide them to where they would not be noticed, Eriana skidded to a halt and pulled open an air vent above them. As Mara climbed into the air vent a wave of shock rippled through her - Kyp had finally passed into the Force.