Chapter 5

While the Jedi Order contained his immediate family, with his aunt, uncle, and sister among the masters and his mother training as a Knight, the Solo Quest had become Jacen's true home over the last five years. The heavily modified YT-2400 Corellian Freighter, willed to him by an affluent Jedi sympathiser who died in the Vong war, was rebuilt with an impressive array of military-grade hardware. Almost everything from the power plant to the quad-laser cannons, to the structural supports could be found on one military ship or another throughout the galaxy and were considered as illegal as many of the Millenium Falcon'ssystems. Jacen sometimes wondered if the Quest was a Star Destroyer that was rebuilt to look like a YT-2400 freighter. However, not all the equipment was military-issue. Black market slicing devices, torpedo launchers, acceleration coils, seismic charges, and a wide range of other upgrades Jacen never had a desire to use, nor discover, were also part of his mobile home.

Upon landing on Ossus, a week after setting a course for his family, Jacen was greeted suspiciously. Jacen was surprised to find out the administrative staff, all of whom were non-Jedi, did not know who he was or of his latent status as a Jedi Knight. Levitating objects, such as the chairs that the head secretary and the other five administrators were sitting in, did not have any more affect on the staff than his claims of being Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo's son or Grand Master Luke Skywalker's nephew. They must have decided he would not be much of a threat until he pulled out a weapon and they had obviously seen many Jedi tricks working at the Academy. Finally, Jacen contacted Lowbacca through the Force, and had the two metre tall Wookiee come to vouch for him. While Jacen had learned mind tricks that would have the administrative staff referring to him as "Master Seybatine," he disliked such usage of the Force. When finally cleared as a Jedi Knight he was issued a key card for access in the Academy and a room. He accepted the key card, but declined the room. The Solo Quest was his home, and he was used to sleeping there from his five-year voyage.

However, when he returned to the ship from his meeting with Luke, Jacen had to wonder if it really was his ship.

Astro, his Vornskr, was sprawled out across the boarding ramp, basking in Ossus' afternoon sun. No doubt Astro's fierce features and reputation as a Jedi hunter were keeping everyone away from the ship, but Jacen knew Astro would not harm anyone without Jacen's permission. Astro made a rather unhappy grunt as he sensed Jacen's approach. The two of them had developed a strong sense of communication over their five years together thanks to the Vornskr's ability to use the Force and Jacen's own empathy.

Wondering what Astro was referring to, Jacen stepped over the lazy furball, walked up the boarding ramp to find out what was wrong, and opened the inner door to hear the sound of angry shouting coming from the far side of his ship. Curiously, Jacen walked around the inner corridor towards the shouting and found various wall panels removed, components littering the floor, and wires dangling out of the walls. In the middle of a technological mess that might go unnoticed on his father's ship, his two friends were engaged in a fierce battle of words. The actual words were difficult to determine even within two metres of the oral combatants. Jacen eventually figured out that Eriana and Womprat were both trying to fix the same problem in three different ways. Neither noticed Jacen's approach.

"Excuse me," Jacen said, loudly enough that they should be able hear, but neither stopped.

"Excuse me!" Jacen shouted, still unheard.

Drawing on the Force, Jacen trapped Eriana's voice in her throat, and stopped the power flow to Womprat's vocabulator.

Without moving parts, Womprat appeared to freeze, while Eriana kept "shouting" soundlessly. Both finally realised their efforts were futile and that Jacen was standing beside them. Eriana's face faded from a bright red to a more natural skin tone as she turned to look at him, and Womprat's dome rotated to centre Jacen in its optical sensor.

"Why is my ship being disassembled?" Jacen asked simply, releasing control over their voices. He did not bother to ask why they were shouting, as he knew first hand how stubborn and irritating Womprat could be.

"We got this request –"

"Statement: The Jensaari Saboteur –"

Both started at once, and Jacen waved them off.

"R12-47, shut up," Jacen said irritably. "Eriana, what is going on?"

She brushed a long strand of blonde hair behind an ear and exhaled a deep breath. "We received a request from the Jedi asking that we install a communications package with their encoding systems. I was attempting to do so, when Womprat decided I wasn't doing it properly."

"Interjection: Master, you and I both know that the droid brain of the Solo Quest likes me more. Mynocs of a feather, and all that good poetic..."

"Mynocs don't have feathers, Womprat," Jacen replied. "Eriana, install the package and get this cleaned up. Womprat, listen to her. But first, both of you come with me."

"Where are we going?" Eriana asked.

"We have some planning to do before dinner."

-! #$%^&*()

The Millennium Falcon set down in an open field five kilometres south of Del Velmor. From the flyby, Han made note that Del Velmor appeared to have suffered significant damage during the war that was still unrepaired. He found it ironic that they were landing in a farmer's field outside the city while the spaceport was being used as a shelter for the homeless. The traffic control tower from the spaceport directed them to an area occupied by a dozen other freighters haphazardly parked as if the pilots were unsure if they wanted to land at all.

They're not the only ones who didn't want to be here. Han thought to himself. Kriffin' planet looks like it should be abandoned.

Five beaten up landspeeders that looked to be cobbled together by more random parts than the Falcon approached as Han shut the systems down and activated various security protocols.

"I don't like this," Han commented, watching a security team file out of the landspeeders and take up positions on either side of the boarding ramp. The lack of uniforms made them look more like a pirate gang than a diplomatic escort, and their weapons were as random as the outfits. After the team was in position, another man with long black robes exited the nicest looking speeder and stood at the end of the column of guards.

"What do you like?" Leia asked bitterly. His comments from her interrupted training session still hurt.

"Tropical beaches and drinks served in cups made of fruit."

Leia glanced at the welcoming party again.

"Not likely. Let's get out there before they start knocking and scratch the new paint job."

"Scratch my ship, indeed," Han muttered, reaching for the control for the hidden anti-personnel weapon.

"Han!"

"Just kidding!"

-! #$%^&*()

"Leia Organa Solo, it is an honour and a privilege to meet you!" The man in the long black robes greeted Leia as she descended the boarding ramp of the Falcon. He was shaking slightly in excitement, though Leia sensed there was more to his shaking than just meeting a celebrity diplomat. "On behalf of Los Othrul, the Prime Minister of Velmor, I, Deputy Prime Minister Zeeal Antillies, wish to formally greet you to Del Velmor."

"Thank you," Leia said gratefully. "But I find myself confused. What happened to the monarchy?"

"The Vong," Zeeal said darkly.

"I…understand," Leia said distractedly as the vision of Jacen's ferocity suddenly flashed across her mind. She suppressed it as quickly as it came and focussed herself. "I'd like to introduce you to Jedi Master Tresina Lobi, my husband Han Solo, See-Threepio, and my bodyguards, Cakhmaim and Meewahl."

Han grumbled something to himself. Tresina bowed at the mention of her name. Threepio appeared to want to say something, but a pre-emptive nudge from Han quieted the droid. Like usual, the Noghri simply stayed silent like a pair of shadows.

"A pleasure to meet you all," Zeeal said around his nervous smile and gestured to the idling speeder he had emerged from. "The Prime Minister will be unable to meet with you until tomorrow. He is a very busy man. Your sudden arrival caught us by surprise and he had some very important meetings to attend today. I have taken the liberty to make arrangements for your stay overnight, and for as long as you would like to remain here."

The group entered the speeder after the Noghri guards inspected it, and joined what remained of the main traffic circuit towards the centre of Del Velmor. The traffic consisted of the five vehicle convoy pushing pedestrians out of the way, following a single stubborn animal that zigzagged across the broken road refusing to let the speeders pass.

"As you can see," Zeeal pointed at the surrounding buildings. "We suffered considerable damage at the hands of the Vong invaders. Even now, five years after the war, we are slow to rebuild because of the lack of materials needed."

They passed by what looked like a sporting arena with lines of people waiting outside.

"Nearly seven-eights of our population are living in group shelters and are receiving food rations. The other eighth of the population, mostly those that escaped and came back after the war ended, have been recruited to acquire Alliance-sanctioned foodstuff and distribute it to the people. A small percentage work for the government directly, and we are finding ourselves swamped in administrative tasks."

"Have you considered organizing a work bee?" Han grumbled as he examined a building that looked like it was hollowed out by a barrage of Yuuzhan Vong plasma torpedoes.

"Sorry, Captain Solo?" Zeeal's confusion was obvious.

"Han brings up a valid point," Leia took over before Han could speak his mind. Han could be undiplomatic when in a good mood, and he currently was in anything but. "Velmor has bountiful reserves of raw material. Organizing the unemployed masses to extract those materials and process them would go a long way to rebuilding the planet."

"We tried that," Zeeal said sarcastically. "But it can be rather difficult to motivate people into mining duranium with their bare hands! The GA didn't provide the tools needed for us to harvest the raw materials. Within a month it all broke apart because everyone was standing around doing nothing."

"That guy's not doing nothing," Han pointed out the window. A man was using some makeshift tools to knock an old house apart. "Looks like the smartest guy I've seen since..."

"It appears that there may be room for some more ingenuity in your approach to rebuilding," Leia cut Han off, glaring daggers at the back of his head. "We do realize situations are unfavourable on Velmor, but the Velmorians are not alone in this hardship. Nearly two-thirds of the former-Republic planets are in similar - or worse - situations. Take Duros for example: they have a planet-wide forest where there were manufacturing facilities."

"Diplomatic excuses," Zeeal snorted as the speeder slowed down. "At least our problems are clearing up. Here we are, the Parliament. We have some guest rooms here, nothing special, though."

Zeeal opened the door and exited before anything more could be said. Leia exchanged glances with Tresina and Han as her Noghri exited, and followed them out. Zeeal led them down a once well-decorated corridor that had suffered from the results of the Vong war. The marble floor was scuffed, bright curtains that once hung on the windows were now dirty and torn, and most of the windows themselves were missing the transperisteel and filled in with whatever material was on hand.

"Think they're showing this to us because it looks bad, or because this really is the state of things?" Han's whispered question mirrored Leia's own thoughts. She merely shook her head.

"This will be your room," Zeeal gestured to one of the few rooms with doors. A guard opened the door, allowing them to enter. Cakhmaim went first, and a minute later signalled his approval. Unlike the hallway, the room was quite nicely furnished, and in decent shape.

"This room maintains a higher priority to maintain for our guests," Zeeal explained. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. Dinner with the Prime Minister will be in one hour. Please, do not hesitate to ask the guards for anything you might require."

Zeeal left the room, and the guards resumed their posts outside the door.

"I'll break out the scanning equipment," Han said, digging into one of his bags.

"I'll test the bed," Leia sighed, collapsing onto a mattress that looked much softer than it really was. "Are we in for it, or what?"