Disclaimer- I do not Own Star Wars or any other characters within.
"Speaking"
'Thoughts/Forcebond'
' Ship name'
Luke smiled as he heard those words from Jacen. It had been too long since he had heard those words from his nephew. Ben knelt by his father and looked down, a mixture of emotions running across his face.
"I would love to hear a joke Jacen. But first we have to get you back to the Shadow. Ben, I need you to help me pick him up. Gently, we don't know what other injuries he may have incurred while imprisoned."
"Got it dad."
Luke leveraged Jacen into a sitting position and slid his arm around his waist as Ben did the same on Jacen's other side. Sliding their free arms under his legs, they stood up carefully, trying not to jostle him as much as possible. Jacen's eyes closed as his arms rested around their necks.
"Vestara, we need you to open the Shadow for us and clear the way into the med bay."
"R-Right."
She nodded and turned around leading the way through the damaged corridors, tracing their steps back to the Jade Shadow. Once they reached it, She palmed the access panel as Luke used the Force to trip the latch hidden inside the door. Once inside they carried Jacen to the med bay and laid him gently down on the cot.
"Ben begin scans and give us an idea of the damage."
Ben hit a few buttons and began running the scanner over his cousins body. Hearing it beep he turned to the readout.
"Severe malnutrition and dehydration, just the bare minimum was given to him to keep him alive, if only just." Hitting a few more buttons he began to scan Jacens brain searching for any neurological damage left behind.
"Brain scans read negative, there are a couple of hairline fractures though."
Jacen's eyes opened again. Looking around him in slight confusion. Licking his cracked lips he spoke.
"This…this isn't a dream is it? I'm really on the Shadow, Uncle Luke you and Ben found me?"
"Yes Jacen we found you. We heard your Force call and came immediately. We didn't know what to believe till we saw the recordings, especially the one you left behind."
"What happened to that clone? The last one that finally took me out?"
Luke's face became stony in response to Jacen's question.
"Don't worry about it for now. We'll tell you after you rest. Can you still enter a healing trance?"
"Yeah, it's been awhile though."
"Then do it and get some rest, we will be here when you wake."
"Alright. And Uncle Luke?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
With those words, Jacen focused inward and entered the healing trance, letting his body relax after its long imprisonment, and take it's first steps to healing.
"You're welcome Jacen."
Stepping out of the med bay, he motioned to Ben to follow him to the main area of the ship, where some of the Shadows more advanced systems were installed, along with the food prep station and sat down, motion Ben and Vestara to do the same.
"What are we going to do about this Uncle Luke. I know our exile was revoked, but still, we have a powder keg on board in the form of Jacen. It could all be a plot created by him to destroy everything once and for all."
"Quiet Ben. You couldn't sense in the Force that Jacen was telling the truth? No matter what do not be so quick to judge. Your letting your emotions rule your actions and words. This is the Jacen that helped you reconnect with the Force and did so much good in the galaxy. The same Jacen who ended the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Would you deny Allana the possibility of meeting her REAL father and not that thing that said it was?"
"No but.."
"But nothing, we have this data to correlate his words. We're going to run it through the systems of the Shadow and see if its been tampered with at all. Once the scans come back we decide from there."
Ben nodded and pulled up the data and downloaded it into the computers of the Shadow, checking to see if any of it was fabricated. Vestara chose this moment to speak up.
"So this is the Hero of the Jedi? The one who stopped Shimarra?"
"Actually it was Omnimi who was truly in control, Shimarra was his puppet. But yes, Jacen was the one who stopped the Yuuzhan Vong, and was the only Jedi next to his brother who culd communicate with the Vong life forms."
Some hours later the computer banks of the Shadow beeped, signaling that they were done. Ben was the first one to pull up the readouts and let his father look them over.
"So it's true then."
"Yes, the data we pulled proves Jacen's story. It was a mad clone that nearly destroyed us all."
A noise was heard form behind them and all three turned their heads to see Jacen leaning heavily against the doorway. His hair had been cut, putting it to a length just below his chin, and as for his facial hair he had trimmed it into a goatee but left stubble along his face, revealing the scar that began above his eyebrow and cut at a diagonal line across his left eye, down into his jaw line with a second scar cutting from his ear to the center of his chin.
"So, that's what happened huh?"
"Jacen…"
"Because I wasn't good enough, fast enough, strong enough, that kriffing clone took my place and nearly destroyed the galaxy and killed Aunt Mara. SITHSPIT!"
The vehement curse that left Jacen's lips, stunned them all into pure silence. Vestara, who was not prepared for the words that made up the curse stood up and advanced on Jacen angrily.
"Do NOT use that word ever again! We aren't…"
Vestara was stunned into silence by the glare Jacen leveled at her. His eyes, normally such a warm, soothing color, burned into her soul as he felt his fore presence blasting through her consciousness. Turning to Luke, he raised an eyebrow.
"This is new, allying ourselves with the Sith to defeat this Abeloth. So she was the dark evil that I felt when I left on that journey."
"You were aware of her?"
"She's the whole reason I did what I did. I just didn't know she would drive JedI mad and could absorb other beings to make herself more powerful."
Turning around, he sighed and rubbed his face, his fingers rubbing against the scar. Getting up, Luke walked over to him and set his hand on his shoulder, sending a soothing calm to him through the Force.
"Were you able to find my crystal Uncle Luke?"
Digging into his pouch, Luke fished out the Corusca gem from it and held it up to Jacen. Now fully able to see it under light, both Ben and Vestara were amazed at how beautiful the rare gem was, its perfection and the Force presence it held. Reaching up Jacen gently took it and held it in his hand, the feeling of the gem calming and centering him.
"I didn't know that a light saber gem could radiate the force like that."
Turning to his cousin Jacen smiled.
"At one time, the crystal caves of Ilum was the place of the Jedi to manufacture their light sabers. The entire planet radiated with the Force and the crystals were in tune with them. Same with certain caves on Dantooine. And before you ask, I found out the information from a holocron. It was hidden in my x-wing for safe keeping, but I can tell it's either gone or destroyed."
"What kind of teachings did it hold."
"Anything and everything you could think of relating to light sabers, their designs, styles, attacks, as well as different parts and crystals to use in them. It was an interesting find."
Luke cocked his head at Jacen's find and raised his eyebrows.
"Designs?"
"Yeah, there were some pretty unique creations there."
"Like what Jacen?"
Ben voiced his opinion and leaned forward, eager to hear more and Vestara copied him.
"Well there were dual lengths like Corran's, dual wielding, shotos and even, which was very unique and intriguing, a double bladed light saber."
"A double bladed light saber?"
Vestara spoke up next.
"The double bladed light saber was used mainly by the Sith for the wide range of attacks and the ferocity that one could derive from it, but some JedI did find it to their taste and adapted it to their own styles. Anyone who was able to master this style of light saber were known as some of the best masters of the light saber. I even heard of a JedI that used a single blade and a double blade at the same time."
Luke was surprised by this information and brought his hand to his face.
"You need a light saber don't you Jacen."
"Yeah, I was thinking about doing a single one similar to my first one, and then constructing a double bladed saber. It would lead to quite a surprise for anyone who attacked me."
"Well you need some clothes and we need to resupply. That's when we can pick up the materials needed for your new light sabers. Thankfully with the hair and scars, you don't look much like Jacen Solo anymore."
"Yeah I was thinking I should probably be disguised as a smuggler."
Luke nodded and went over to a section of the wall and typed in a sequence, causing the panel to retract and revealing a complete storehouse of weapons. Reaching in he pulled out a wide brimmed hat and a jacket and tossed them at Jacen. Pulling out a pair of pants, shirt and a light armored vest, he handed them to him.
"Get dressed, we are going to send this information off to the JedI temple and your parents. When you come back out, choose your weapons, we're going to Nar Shadda."
"The Smugglers Moon eh? Well dad did say that was the best place to procure anything you needed."
Stepping off into the refresher, Jacen began to change. Luke headed to the holo station and requested a link with Han and Leia. Waiting for a few minutes, their image finally coalesced. Breaking into a grin at each others faces, they nodded to each other as Allana popped up and waved at Ben and Luke.
"Hey Luke, whats going on? You know you guys can come back now right? Whats taking you so long?"
"Luke it's so good to see you again."
Jaina walked into the frame and smiled, waving to Luke and Ben.
"Hey uncle Luke, hey Ben."
Luke smiled and nodded to them all and Ben was grinning and waved at them all.
"Hows things going with the state of affairs over on Coruscant?"
At this Han, Leia, and Jaina all got a grim look, and they looked at each other uneasily. Leia was the first to speak up.
"Its not good Luke. The council did a vote of no confidence in Kenth and he ended up attacking them, thinking he was doing the right thing in just letting everything standby and wait."
"Yeah Uncle Luke, Kenth was hiding a plan to help the Jedi and wouldn't divulge the information and so he was restricted to quarters and broke out and started to knock out everyone and attacked Saba who was going to launch the Stealth-X's."
"Why were they going to launch?"
"Things with Former Chief of State Daala came to a head. A raid on the offices led to her arrest and not even a week later she was busted out of prison by Boba Fett supposedly. The Mandalorians started to attack and kill everything under her orders."
Rubbing his face, Luke sighed and looked up biting his lip.
"Well with what I have to say and show you now, things are going to be in even more turmoil."
"What is it Luke?"
Han spoke up, leaning forward as his brow creased.
"I found out information concerning Jacen."
At this all their faces became stony and sad, Han's grip on the console of the Falcon tightened.
"What about Jacen?"
Taking a deep breath Luke looked at them all.
"I received a Force call, and it led us to an abandoned asteroid. Upon landing we disembarked and began our investigation. There we found Jacen's Stealth-X and astromech droid, destroyed completely."
Jaina became confused and cocked her head.
"But Master Skywalker, Jacen was flying his Stealth-X when…it all went south."
"On further investigation of the base, we found…Spaarti cloning cylinders."
At this Han and Leia's eyes grew wide. Speaking Leia leaned forward.
"What was in the cloning cylinders Luke?"
"They were clones of Jacen."
A fist slammed down onto the console, recovering from the shock of the sudden noise they looked at Han who was seething.
"So Cadeus wasn't content huh? He wanted to live forever like Palpatine. That kriffing bastard!"
"Han calm down."
"Like hell I will. That maniac destroyed our family with no regard for anything but himself."
"Dad, at the last moment, he came back to us, he reached out to save Allana and Tenel Ka."
"Right Jaina, but Han, Leia, what I'm trying to say is this. Cadeus wasn't making clones of himself. We found a holo recording showing Lumiya was the architect of everything. I'm transmitting the contents now."
Pushing a few buttons, the file compacted and sent itself to the Falcon's banks. Han flicked a switch and pulled up the file next to the projection of Luke. As they watched, Leia covered her mouth as tears poured down her face. Han's face softened as tears threatened to spill from his eyes. Jaina looked back at Ben and Luke.
"How do we know that's not falsified?"
"We thought the same so we ran it through the Shadows computers, its all real."
"So…does that mean my daddy wasn't the bad man?"
Having completely forgotten about Allana in the confusion and revelations Leia looked at her.
"That's right honey, that wasn't Jacen who did everything to you and your mother, to any of us. An evil woman used Jacen and created a clone of him to fulfill her wants when Jacen wouldn't submit to her."
"Then daddy was a good man."
"Theirs no need to use past tense Allana. I went further into the antechamber and found someone chained to the wall, held their with nutrient tubes just barely keeping him alive."
"Keeping who alive Uncle Luke?"
"Keeping me alive. As their trophy."
Stepping forward into the field of the viewer, Jacen stood there confronting his family, the wide brimmed hat held in his hands, the scars on his face drawing their attention.
"Hey mom, dad, Jaina….Allana."
He bit his lip as he looked at them.
"I'm sorry for not being able to stop them. I thought I could handdle them and I couldn't get ahold of anyone. I messed up badly. I'm so sorry."
As he spoke, tears ran down his face, his eyes fixed on his family on the other side of the galaxy.
"Jacen?"
Leia spoke, reaching her hand out and trying to touch his image as Han held onto Leia tightly tears now fully spilling from his eyes. Jaina stood in shock as the image of her long dead brother by her own hands stood, confronting her. Allana smiled and reached out her hands to his image.
"Daddy."
At her words Jacen fell to his knees, sobbing loudly, wanting to touch her, his hands passed though the images in fornt of him.
"Hey Allana." His words were choked and every one hurt him.
"I missed you, and I'm sorry for not being there for you and your mom to protect you from the bad me."
"It's ok Daddy, I forgive you. I'm just happy I can see you again."
The pure innocence of the little girl hit everyones heart at seeing the father and daughter speaking to each other.
"How do we know that's not a clone though."
Jaina being the first to recover spoke up glaring at the image of her brother.
"He's not Jaina. While he was recovering, we took samples and I did a Force scan on his mind. He truly is Jacen and not a clone.
"Hey Son, looking good, trying to show up your old man huh?"
Looking to his mother and father he stood up, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of the coat.
"Yeah decided to change things up a little. Don't wanna cause too many problems for anyone."
"How did you get…the scars?" Leia asked, her eyes fixated on the marks.
With a wry grin Jacen slid his fingers along them.
"Parting gift from Lumiya and my clone. Vibroblade and Lightwhip really does a number on ones skin."
"I hate to cut this short but we've gotta get going. If you want to meet up with us, we're heading to Nar Shadda. Jacen needs some stuff to build his new light sabers."
Cocking their heads at the plural use they refrained from asking.
"Well Artoo will be glad to see you again Luke, and Threepio will be thrilled to see you again as well Jacen. We will meet you there. Take care Jacen…May the Force be with you. And we love you."
"I love you daddy."
Jacen nodded and waved to them unable to speak due to the overwhelming amount of emotions he was experiencing. Luke spoke for him, to give him time to recover.
"And also with you. We will be on Nar Shadda in 12 standard hours."
Shutting the link off, Luke spun around to face his nephew. Getting up he wrapped his arms around him, Ben coming over to join, albeit slowly. Returning their hugs, Jacen smiled.
"Thank you for saving me and giving me the opportunity to fix everything."
"It's alright Jacen. We're family. Now lets get going."
Jacen nodded and wiped his face, releasing Luke and Ben from his grasp. His mind going forward to wondering how their reactions will be in person.
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