A/N - Sorry, no apologies for the delay...I had to make sure it was good enough to publish and that the parts I hadn't written made sense all the way through. I'm actually posting a week earlier than I expected, so enjoy!

Sioux - That comment Eriana made was one of the last additions before I posted. I thought it was pretty appropriate :) As for Krayt...he wants to wipe out the Jedi and he has some incredibly powerful ships. Taking out their new home is a pretty good strategy.

Part 2: Renewal

Chapter 7: Second Chances

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Eight massive fifteen kilometre long arrow-shaped warships fell into formation and took up firing position at the planet before them. With their targeting computers synchronized on the core of the planet and the final adjustments being made by automation, the all-ready signal was transmitted to Darth Krayt. On his command, the three superlaser generators on each ship spun up to full power, glowed with angry green energy and directed the power to the main emitter at the forward-most point on the top of each of the ships where, as one, the beams of light lanced through space toward the heart of Zonoma Sekot.

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Jacen's watched helplessly as the destructive beams of light sliced through the black of space toward the surface of his planetary friend. The beams continued for a full ten seconds before deactivating for their recharge cycle. Krayt turned to face Jacen with a look of absolute fury, and the young Jedi merely shrugged as best he could while still holding the weight of his uncle.

"Guess who taught me how to create a black hole with the Force." Jacen smirked. "I just have one question: What made you think you could attack a Force-sensitive planet and get away with it?"

A stream of nebulous light lanced out from the surface of Zonoma and engulfed two of the Bogan warships, ripping them apart and scattering the parts through space as if the ship had decided that every bolt and rivet would be undone at once. An explosion behind Jacen blew the door open and without even bothering to look, he fired a telekinetic shockwave at Krayt, launching the Sith Lord off his feet and back against the transparisteel window overlooking Zonoma. Mara raced up to Jacen and took Luke on her left shoulder, supporting him with the Force while holding her blue lightsaber ready in her right.

"Here!" Eriana shouted, tossing Jacen his lightsabers from the door. He caught them and activated them just in time to stop a strike from Krayt, stepping back to deflect his assailant's lightsaber into the deck plating.

"Go; I'll cover you!" Jacen shouted, dropping beneath Krayt's blazing lightsaber as it scythed over his head. He jumped back up with a spin and kicked backwards, connected hard with Krayt's chest and staggering the Sith Lord for a short moment. Back peddling toward the door, he used the Force to launch streams of lightning at Krayt, which absorbed harmlessly into his opponent's lightsaber. Switching it up, he grabbed the durasteel ceiling with the Force and pulled it down. The entire section of metal dropped in front of Krayt like a curtain, blocking the larger man, but also dropped three of Krayt's Bogan warriors in from the room above along with a cascade of furniture.

"Shavit!" Jacen shouted and hit them with another telekinetic shockwave to send them in a tumble before they could get to their feet. He sprinted to the door and followed his aunt and uncle out of it. As the door closed, Jacen used the Force to rip the control panel out of the wall, temporarily sealing it behind him. Emergency klaxons blared in sync with flashing red lights in the hallway and every officer and soldier was running around to respond to the imminent crisis. Jacen felt two more ships falling apart as Sekot unleashed her counterattack and urged Eriana to move faster as she led the way. Jacen took up Luke's other arm and together he and Mara carried the Jedi Master between them, running through the hallways with Force-enhanced strength and speed.

Eriana turned a corner and spun sideways on instinct, narrowly dodging the slash of a red lightsaber. Her own golden lightsabers were activated in a flash, driving the Bogan warrior back against the wall and quickly overwhelming him.

"Keep going!" Eriana shouted as she disarmed and de-armed the warrior. One final swipe bisected the man and she sprinted back ahead of with the others to take point.

A line of soldiers took up position further up the hallway and opened fire on the Jedi as they came around a corner, forcing them down a perpendicular hallway that took them to the last hallway along the outside of the ship. Eriana covered their backs, deflecting blaster bolts back at the enemy with uncanny precision, taking several of them out in the process.

"Woah, woah," Jacen suddenly said, pointing to the wall. "Escape pods. We can escape to Zonoma."

"We heard the superlaser fire," Eriana said. "Is Sekot...?"

"She's fine," Jacen said. "I was able to warn her in time. Everyone's in a panic because she's pissed off and ripping all the ships apart. There's going to be too much debris for them to notice escape pods, and there's no way we'll get to a ship in time."

Mara punched the control panel on the escape pod and the door opened. She stepped into it and between her and Jacen they eased Luke into the pod.

"Only big enough for two," Mara said. "What happened to him?"

"Vong poison," Jacen said. "I healed myself. I'll heal him on Sekot. Go!"

A cry from Eriana took Jacen's attention back to her and he saw her caressing one arm with a blaster burn on it, haphazardly deflecting blaster fire with the damaged arm.

"Go!" Jacen shouted again and Mara finally slammed her fist on the ejection button.

Jacen stepped to the next pod and opened it.

"Get in, I'll cover you," Jacen said, igniting his lightsabers and stepping in front of her. As she retreated into the pod, seven Bogan warriors came sprinting at Jacen, lightsabers drawn.

"I'll help," Eriana said, trying to get out of the pod as Jacen sprinted at them to intercept.

"No, get out of here!" Jacen shouted, disappearing from view as the Bogan warriors surrounded him. "Help Luke!"

Jacen engaged the Bogan warriors in a furious battle, lightsabers flashing with the power of the Force, but Eriana knew there was no way he could overcome seven warriors on his own. One warrior broke off and started running at her pod and, realizing Jacen made his sacrifice so she could live to fight another day, she swore and reluctantly punched the eject button. A burst of pain shot through her hand from punching the button, but she hardly noticed it. The last she saw of her best friend as the pressure doors slammed shut was him on his knees with a pair of lightsabers at his neck.

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The amber liquid in her glass flowed around as she gently rolled it around on the bottom edge, watching it take shape to whatever way she held the glass, always trying to remain level with the bar. She was on her eighth double shot, an impressive feat for a woman of such small build. She hefted the glass up, looking through it at the distorted image of the holonet news report, barely able to keep her eyes open from the amount of alcohol in her system.

"...the Synergy Technology LinkCom device has already sold eighty billion units as sentients across the galaxy line up in droves to get their hands on the groundbreaking technology. In other news, domestic house cats have from Telos have been imported to Coruscant for the first time since..."

She sighed and drained the remainder of the whiskey, then rested her forehead against the cool glass as she struggled to down the last of the amber fluid without coughing. She finally swallowed it and dropped her hand with the glass to the bar with a solid echo.

"'nother," she said, barely making eye contact with the barkeep.

"I think you've had enough," the barkeep said. He grabbed the glass, but was unable to pull it from her grip with his gentle tug.

"One more."

"There are laws against that," he said gently. "I'd lose my license. You've had too many."

She glared at him with her brown eyes that would've been pretty if they were not blood shot and ringed with dark circles underneath. Her disheveled hair and unkempt clothes added to her rough appearance, but the bartender felt like he recognized her from somewhere.

"Wha's your name?" she asked.

"Mike."

"Mike, give me 'nother shot."

"I can't do that," Mike said with a smile.

She waved a hand in front of his face. "You will give me another shot."

"What, do you think you're some kind of Jedi?" Mike finally tugged the glass from her grip and her head fell to her arm that was draped across the wooden surface of the bar. When she lifted her head off the bar, he saw tears on her cheeks. "Look, I can't legally give you more alcohol, but do you want to talk?"

"No," she said, pointing to the shelf full of bottles behind him. "I jus wanna drink."

"A pretty girl like you shouldn't be drinking so much," Mike said with a smile.

"You think I'm pretty?" she asked, seemingly confused by his statement.

Before he could answer, a man approached her from behind, and Mike saw him pull a blaster from his jacket. The man pushed the muzzle against the girl's back and whispered something in her ear, but she barely seemed to react.

She stood up and stumbled against the bar.

"Sorry," she said. "Mike didn't give me 'nuf."

The mysterious man tossed a five-hundred credit coin to Mike.

"You saw nothing."

By the time Mike looked back up from the coin, the man and woman were gone.

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"You've been asking too many questions, Jaina Solo" the man with the blaster said as he escorted her down the alleyway between the bar and an apartment building. "My employer needs to have a word with you."

"He got booze?" Jaina asked, stumbling on an uneven cobblestone. "'cuz if he doesn', I don' wanna see him."

A black hovercar pulled up to the road at the end of the alley and another person came out with a roll of space tape. With her mind stuck somewhere between inebriated and indifferent, a strip went over her mouth and another bound her wrists before she could react. A black hood went over her head and they unceremoniously pushed her into the back of the hovercar, locking her in. At some point she fell asleep from the gentle rocking of the hovercar and the amount of alcohol in her system and was woken as she was being pulled out of the car. She was carried into a building over someone's shoulder where she was dropped into a chair, the tape was cut from her wrists, and the hood pulled from her head. She barely noticed when the tape was ripped from her mouth for she did not expect to see the man standing in front of her.

"Welcome to Iope, Jaina," Talon Karrde said. "You've been busy, haven't you?"

He picked up a glass full of clear liquid from his table he was leaning against and handed it to her.

"Here, it'll help with tomorrow morning," Karrde said. "Han sure taught you how to drink, didn't he? Getting kicked out of eight bars in one night is quite a feat."

"Dad taught me a lot," Jaina said miserably and drank half the glass of water. She could already feel a marching band parading through her skull. "Why'd you have to go send your boys to ruin my night?"

"You've been asking questions about Wedge," Karrde said. "He asked me to intercept you."

"Why?"

"Well, for one, he wants me to tell you where to find him so you stop asking everyone and their pet where he is," Karrde said. "Two, if other people are looking for him, the wrong people will start hearing the same answers you are. Time is far too precious right now for what he is doing."

"So where is he?"

"Leia has the coordinates already," Karrde said. "We'll head over to the Falcon after my team is done looking for tracers and bugs. Wedge wants all ships travelling to his location to be clean."

"How long will that be?"

"Not very," Karrde said and checked his LinkCom from his pocket. Apparently satisfied he dropped it back into the pocket. "I'm just waiting for the all-clear. Now, enough about Wedge. From what I've heard, you've been a little out of sorts lately."

"It's been a bad month," Jaina muttered. "I'd appreciate if you didn't tell her where you found me."

"All information has its cost," Karrde warned. "And I don't mean I'm going to charge her for it. But I will share some good news for free. The Chiss were able to repel the attack on their home world. Apparently it was quite the slaughter. It takes a very special sort of stupid to attack the Chiss on their home turf."

"If you say so," Jaina muttered. Between her anger and lingering feelings for Jag, she was not quite sure if she should be grateful to hear the report. She suspected that the lack of news on the attack in the holonet was because the Bogan Empire wanted to avoid reporting a failure, but knowing the outcome from the fight she ran away from did ease her mind a bit.

Jaina felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck just before the door exploded inward. She narrowly deflected it with the Force, barely clipping Karrde's shoulder with it as it passed. The last thing Jaina remembered was seeing red lightsabers come through the door and a vague flying sensation.

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The haze of unconsciousness lurked around him like a theatre curtain being pulled aside far too slowly. Light found his eyes through his fluttering eyelids as his mind fought the anesthesia, requiring him to use all of his will power to finally force his eyes open. He took in the plain dark grey ceiling above him for the second he could keep his eyes open until the anesthesia won again, shutting his eyelids. This battle went on four more times before he was finally able to keep his eyes open. Some small eternity later he sat up on the hard metal slab of a bed he had been on and undid the safety straps. He eventually realized that the dull throb he felt through the metal was the hyperdrive of a small ship and pieces of memories came back to him, but none told him what he needed to know.

As his consciousness won more ground against the anesthesia, he finally got onto his feet and stumbled his way out of the small room. A narrow corridor greeted him, one end ending in a diagonal wall, the other end the cockpit of the ship. He could see his captor in the cockpit. The captor's chair swivelled around away from the controls as if he knew he was being watched. He wore a casual blue buttoned up shirt and navy blue pants and held a white porcelain mug in his left hand that matched the colour of his hair. The man's beady eyes lit up at the sight of his prisoner, and a smile came to his face.

"Finally awake, I see," the captor said in a softly accented voice. "Please, come join me."

Unable to avoid his captor's request, he cautiously entered the cockpit, walking along the wall with his hands to keep himself upright. He noted many illegal modifications, but recognized the ship as an AIAT/i gunship. For some reason that was important, but he could not remember why.

"Would you like some tea?" the captor asked, gesturing to the cup in his hand. "It is a delicious blend I picked up on Gallinore before it was destroyed. The Hapans certainly knew how to make good tea."

"No," the man spoke his first word. "Who...?"

The captor smiled gently. "I forgot; your memories. The scientist said they would return in time. The procedure was largely successful, but likely unstable. My name is Boba Fett."

Boba Fett. That name rang a bell. Bounty hunter. Mandalorian.

"Why have you captured me? Who...who put a bounty on me?"

Boba Fett smiled again and put his cup on the console behind him.

"When your memories return, you will recall that I did not capture you," Fett said gently. "But that I offered you a second chance which you were more than happy to take."

"A second chance at what?" the man asked. "What was the first chance?"

"We are both dying," Fett said. "About a year ago my DNA began to destabilize, an unfortunate by-product of being a clone. When I found out about your condition, the scientist that has been helping me told me about an experimental procedure to reconstruct your neural pathways. The effect has only ever held limited success, and your brain will likely destabilize in under a month, which is also as much time as I have. You agreed with my thought that we might do some good together. I've always wanted to go out with a bang, and your flare for the dramatic is legendary."

The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And what 'bang' would that be?"

"There is a Sith Lord who has started taking over the galaxy using some very powerful ships," Fett said. "And I happen to know exactly where his ship yard is. Destroying that shipyard is a suicide mission that I cannot accomplish on my own, but it will slow his progress and give our children a fighting chance at defeating him. I think that is a mission any father would take, and you had agreed to it before the procedure."

"I have children?"

"Two," Fett said. "Their names are..."

"Jacen and Jaina," he said, the two words jumping out of the depths of his distant memory. His head shot up and he looked up to his only friend in the galaxy. "What's my name? Who am I?"

"Your name is Han," Fett said softly, meeting his new partner's anxious gaze with a gentle smile. "Han Solo."

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A/N: I wrote Boba Fett as Jeremy Bulloch…he was such a nice guy when I met him I decided to carry that on a bit. We never really see Fett when he's anything but the badass…but I'm sure he had a nice side, and if he did, I think it would've been like Mr Bulloch. And did you really think I'd kill Han off that pathetically? I'm cruel, but not that cruel.