Ascension: REVISED: Chapter 2
Jaina Solo, Luke Skywalker's niece, knocked on the guest cabin to Vestara's quarters. Normally, either, she, Luke, or Ben would simply unlock the guest cabin and walk in to discuss whatever they wanted or needed to discuss with her. But after Jaina's talk with Luke about what Ben told him he did to Vestara, Jaina figured that even the young Sith woman in the room needed some time to herself if she wanted.
"Go away!" Jaina heard from the other end expectedly.
"It's me, Jaina," the Jedi Knight announced herself. "May I come in?"
Instead of immediately answering, "No," and telling Jaina to go away again, there was some hesitation before Vestara eventually asked, "Why?"
"I just wanna talk to you, Vestara," Jaina answered. "If you let me."
Hesitation. "Come in."
Jaina then opened the door and walked into Vestara's guest cabin. She closed the door on her way in, and looked at the young Sith woman, sitting on the edge of her bed, rubbing the last few tears running down her face. Vestara looked up at the Jedi Knight with a red-smeared but otherwise blank face.
"What do you want?" Vestara asked, neither rude nor polite.
"May I sit down?" Jaina asked, deflecting Vestara's question aside.
Five seconds later, Vestara nodded, and Jaina took her spot next to the young Sith.
"Vestara," Jaina began, "may I ask... what exactly you were writing at that computer over there?" Jaina nodded her head in the computer's direction.
"Why don't you read and find out," Vestara replied. "It's what Ben did."
"Vestara, I don't want to intrude on your privacy–"
"Then what do you wanna do with me?" Vestara abruptly asked. "You said you wanted to talk to me, not find out what I was writing. Or why don't you just go talk to Ben and find out what I was writing from him?"
Instead of mentioning Ben, at least directly, in the conversation, Jaina said, "Vestara, listen, as a woman, like you, I know the value of feminine privacy. And I won't tell anyone what you wrote, not even Master Skywalker. If you allow me, I just want to know what you were writing that caused this... incident."
Vestara looked directly at Jaina. "You mean you're not here to find out what I wrote for Master Skywalker?"
Jaina looked away when asked that. "Vestara, I swear, I promise you that what I'll have to inform Master Skywalker, it will depend on how it concerns us as Jedi."
"That's what I thought."
After a few seconds of awkward silence, Jaina asked, "So... may I?"
Vestara looked at Jaina again and said rather aggressively, "Go ahead."
It took Jaina another few seconds before she stood up and walked over to the computer. She took a seat, pulled up the files that Vestara had saved, and she began reading the first entry.
At first, Jaina was disconcerted when the first two words in the entry were, Dear Papa, thinking for a few seconds that Vestara had been selling Luke and Ben out to the Lost Tribe of the Sith. But even after what he did to Vestara, surely Ben would have told Luke about the severity of these letters–which meant that they were indeed personal for Vestara.
Sure enough, it was, as Jaina read on. When she was done, herself having shed a few tears over what Vestara had fantasized about being, she looked to the young Sith woman, whose back was still on the older Jedi Knight who just read her personal journal entries.
Jaina stood up from her seat at the computer and retook her spot next to Vestara. "Oh, Vestara," she said. "I'm so sorry." She felt like hugging Vestara, comforting her, but she doubted that it would be appropriate; and that was only because a Jedi consoling a Sith like that would have already been too much.
"So is that it?" the Sith asked. "Is that all you came for?"
After some hesitation on Jaina's part, she reluctantly said, "Yes." She felt like talking some more with Vestara, but she honestly didn't know what to say. She recalled that not so long ago, after Vestara was forced to kill her own father in combat on the former Sith world of Dromund Kaas, Jaina had told Vestara that she had to face a similar situation nearly three years earlier; she had no choice but to strike her down Darth Caedus, formerly her brother Jacen Solo, in order to end the Second Galactic Civil War. And to this day, Jaina still felt grief and loss over her brother's death, even as she was the one who administered it.
Here, Jaina was honestly at a loss for words. She had never been in a position like this, where a beloved male family member or friend had struck her in any way. There were no consoling words for Vestara this time; she was on her own here, for better or worse, and Jaina had to report to Master Skywalker.
Vestara snorted at Jaina's simple answer. "Go figure." She turned away and simply stared forward at the exit. Jaina stood up and walked to the exit. After she opened the door, she looked back at Vestara for a brief moment, who had a minor look of contempt on her face, as if Jaina had wasted a good amount of time on something better she had to do.
The Jedi Knight, without saying a word, turned back around and left the room, closing the door on her way out.
~o~
"So what did Vestara's private journal entries say?" Luke asked Jaina when she met him in his quarters to discuss what she found.
After a brief moment, Jaina sighed and replied, "I made a promise to Vestara that I won't tell you exactly what were in those entries."
"Jaina, you know you can't withhold any necessary information in any of your reports, and you sure are old enough to understand that by now," Luke said mildly, even with the weight of authority behind his words.
"Well, what were in those entries hardly presented any necessary information at all, Uncle Luke," Jaina said. Before Luke could reply, Jaina said, "Look, all I can tell you is that what she wrote doesn't pose any threat to us or the rest of the Jedi. What was written was for Vestara only."
"Really?" Luke asked, an eyebrow raised.
Jaina nodded.
"Well, if that's the case then," he said, "I see no harm in bringing her over to Coruscant."
"What?" Jaina said. "You mean you're finally returning to Coruscant?"
"My ban has been lifted since Daala's deposition, correct?" Luke elaborated.
"Well, yes, it has," Jaina confirmed for no good reason. "But even so, you're still bringing a Sith back to Coruscant, Uncle Luke."
"You did say that Vestara doesn't pose a threat to us, right?" Luke asked.
"I said that alone, what she wrote in her private journals isn't a threat to us or any of the other Jedi," Jaina clarified. "But Vestara is still a Sith, and she can pose problems to the Jedi and the Galactic Alliance without the help of either the rest of the Lost Tribe or Abeloth."
"Well, regardless," Luke said, "I still have to return to Coruscant. It's time for the Jedi to unite against Abeloth and the Sith, and wipe them off from the face of the galaxy."
"And what're we going to do about Vestara?" Jaina asked.
"We'll do what we've always done with her," Luke answered. "We'll keep an eye on her, and whatever problems she'll cause us, we'll deal with her as it comes."
"And what about the Galactic Alliance?" Jaina asked.
"What about it?" Luke asked back.
"The Alliance already has more than enough problems on its plate to deal with as it is," Jaina elaborated. "Not since the last war has it needed us."
"The government can handle its own problems," Luke said. "The Jedi have a much greater responsibility on its shoulders–to eliminate those who dare to threaten the safety and stability of the galaxy that we've worked so hard to achieve."
"So wait, what're you saying, Uncle Luke?" Jaina asked. "That the Jedi are to separate from the Galactic Alliance just to deal with Abeloth and the Sith?"
"We are going to separate from them, but not just to deal with Abeloth and the Sith," Luke confirmed. "I suspect that at this point, the Sith have already infiltrated Coruscant and the government itself. We'll have to remove ourselves quickly from the government's hold if we're to avoid any unexpected attacks upon us by the Sith. Besides, I see now that the Alliance has been holding us back from what right needs to be done. I thought since the Dark Nest Crisis that working with the Galactic Alliance would be better for both the government and the Jedi. But ever since all this occurred, the war, Abeloth, Daala, the Sith, etc., the Order can't be hindered by the mundane affairs of the galactic government like the previous Jedi Order was limited; and look where that got them."
Jaina raised an eyebrow. "Good point," she said. "Well, then, in that case, I see no reason to question your judgment, Master Skywalker. But how do you know for certain that the Sith are already on Coruscant?"
"I don't," Luke replied. "It's just a feeling based on my years of military experience. Though these Sith have been cut off from the galaxy for more than five thousand years, I'd think that by now, nearly three years after they become spaceworthy, they'll have already been able to have spread out many of their resources throughout various regions of the galaxy in preparation for their would-be takeover of the galaxy. Considering that you and Lando had to fight off Sith pirates after our first battle with Abeloth, I don't think my suspicions are too far out. That, and what my intuition in the Force tells me that something very big and very bad is going to happen, and that if the Jedi don't stop it soon, the galaxy will be in some very big trouble."
"If you have such concerns, Uncle Luke," Jaina replied, "why haven't you brought it up to anyone else in the Order, or in the Galactic Alliance?"
"If I let on my suspicion, the Sith will be on to us, and they'll be more difficult to defeat in the long run," Luke replied. "And that'll be on top of trying to defeat Abeloth and her own Sith allies. Besides, like you said, the Galactic Alliance is already too busy in its own affairs, and having them get involved in this will simply complicate matters. No, we have to deal with Abeloth and the Sith in our own way, our own time, and our own jurisdiction as guardians of peace and justice throughout the galaxy."
"Well, what if your suspicions that the Sith have already infiltrated Coruscant are false?" Jaina asked.
"If they were, I wouldn't be worrying about it," Luke replied. "And if my concerns do turn out false after all, we'll still be leaving in order to become a separate entity from the Galactic Alliance, in order to become independent of any government, and to deal with Abeloth and the Sith once and for all."
Jaina sighed, and then grasped the bridge of her nose in contemplation before she said, "All right, Master Skywalker. We'll do this your way." She turned around to leave his quarters, but stopped at the door after she opened it. Jaina turned around and asked her uncle, "Oh, and Uncle Luke, what will be done about Ben?"
Luke looked at his niece. "What about him?"
"Well... considering what he did..."
Luke held up his artificial hand. "I'll deal with Ben," he said after lowering it back to his desk. "You just worry about your own duties in the coming days, Jaina."
Jaina nodded. "Very well then, Master Skywalker." She turned around and walked out the door. It slid shut behind her, leaving Luke to sit and contemplate what will be done with his son.