So, after an insanely long hiatus that had nothing to do with writing, and everything to do with this site, I'm trying again. The good news is, even if this is never completed here, it has been finished elsewhere (link to my off-ff.n fic index is in my profile). I'll focus on updating this one regularly anyway.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Chapter Fourteen: Aarie and Krista

-x-x-x-x-x-

Jaina had accused her friends of avoiding her, but she was old enough to realize that she could be blamed for the same thing. Of the people in her head, however, Sanar was the only one technically old enough to go face that, which, of course, meant that it might be a while. Eventually, however, Sanar's well-ingrained self-hatred propelled Jaina to face one of the people she certainly didn't want to see.

The Empire had not touched a single hair on Lusa's head, but her emotional agony screamed at every Force sensitive on the planet. It had been this way ever since a Nightsister slaughtered Raynar in front of the Jedi healer. Raynar's sacrifice had not been in vain, and the Nightsister had never seen Lusa, but Jaina wondered if the centaur woman wasn't the most bitter about that very thing.

The last thing Lusa had ever said before locking herself away was, "All that blood. Why could it not have been mine? I would have spilled a vein, if I had thought it would help."

Jaina knew how the centaur felt. Perhaps that should have made her more patient with Lusa, made her more willing to reach out and comfort her friend.

She had only been able to see Lusa once, for little more than fifteen minutes. Even if she could have born it, Jaina was one with Zekk and the Empire in Lusa's mind. Lusa hadn't screamed, but Jaina might have been able to deal with it better if she had.

Instead, she received that stare. That dead, furious, pleading, tragic stare. It had demolished every protective wall Jaina possessed.

Jaina shuddered at the memory, and almost turned around and back to her room. There was no reason for her to see Lusa – not really. Lusa wanted to see no one, least of all Jaina. The Solo daughter would probably have a difficult time getting past the doctors, simply because of her last reception. Onyx had exactly zilch to do with Lusa's trauma, and Jaina had never even seen the Nightsister who killed Raynar.

None of it was her fault, in any way. No one even looked at her when they mentioned Lusa's pain. No one offered comfort or recriminations, like they did when other war victims were brought up. Why should they?

Why should Jaina feel that she had to face Lusa?

The white hallway seemed to close in around her, choking her. Her breathing became irregular, and Jaina felt a slow kind of panic take hold. What if she had an attack, away from Zekk and anyone who even half understood? What if it was one of the worse ones – the type that sent her consciousness flying from her body for hours at a time – when Zekk wasn't around to help?

"Shavit. I guess there's something to the rumours, after all."

Jaina whirled around, one hand over her stomach and the other on her lightsaber hilt. When she saw who it was, her heart slowed down again. "Hello, Tir, Aarie," she greeted, swallowing.

Tiran Lee-droy stepped in front of Aarylia, hiding her from view as if Jaina was going to attack. "They told me you were alive again, but I didn't believe them. I still don't."

Jaina flinched. "Well, it's me."

"Kip would say the same."

Jaina tried to get a feel of Aarie's emotions, but they were too chaotic, and too clouded by Tiran's turbulent aura. "I'm not a clone."

"Well, then, definitely stay away from me," he retorted, his voice hard. "No one survives death."

For perhaps the first time since her death, only Jaina was in her head. Her Sanar-part was conspicuously silent, and even her generous bond with Zekk was closed. It felt lonelier than she remembered.

"Not exactly the welcome I was hoping for," she heard herself say with awkward bravado. "You might have at least said hi."

Tiran took Aarie's hand in reassurance. "If you were really the Jaina Solo I knew, you would have come home a month ago."

Jaina's throat was too dry to respond out loud. Yes, I was selfish! she wanted to yell. I didn't think you would have my funeral, and steal my apprentice, and hate me! I took the time I needed to recover, and I'm glad.

Tiran shouldered past her with Aarie staying close to him, her orange hair sticking out every which way. Jaina thought the girl wouldn't even acknowledge her, but at the last minute Aarie's blue eyes flew over her shoulder to see Jaina. At the pain in Aarie's eyes, the Jedi felt something within her rip.

"Aarie…" She spoke without thinking, and as consequence her voice was raw with emotion. "I'm so sorry."

The little girl sobbed and ran to the woman, nearly bowling Jaina over. "I hate you!" she screamed, even as she burrowed herself in her former master's arms. "How could you?"

Ignoring Tiran's mixed expression, Jaina dropped to her knees and held the girl close. "I'm sorry. So, so sorry," she whispered, rocking the apprentice gently. "I came as soon as I was healthy. I didn't want to scare anyone."

Aarylia's torrent of tears became a miserable drizzle. "Don't go again. I'll be brave. I won't let them catch me," she cried. "Just don't go – please…"

"I'm right here. It's okay."

Tiran would just have to deal, and Lusa…well, maybe it wasn't Lusa that the Force had wanted Jaina to see.

"I'm not going anywhere."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Zekk arrived on the remote planet with an attack of nerves. He had found Krista only through intensive investigation, and almost by accident. Although not quite sure if he would ever get over the humiliation of the how, he kept his focus on the image of Jaina's smile.

He would see her again, free of his restraints – or at least as much as he could be. He would fight…for her, if nothing else.

Krista Harif could help him with that. It was impossible to pin her as one thing, for she was everything – dancer, mechanic, gossip, humanist, and smuggler, among other things. But the thing that drew Zekk to her was Krista's fixed position in the NR Intelligence world. She was young, true, but with one brother in the business, and with her quick maturity (if it could be called that), she had wormed her way into the world of political secrets.

Secrets: Onyx found his only use in them. Onyx had been indispensable for years – it was probably the only thing that kept him alive. The Empire would have fallen apart very quickly if anyone else knew even half of what Onyx did.

Zekk was going to enjoy seeing just how true that was.

If, that is, Krista was willing to trust him. To his embarrassment, she had had a crush on him, once, but five years of knowing about his evil would no doubt have erased that infatuation completely. Krista was an acquaintance of Jaina's, but with rumours of Jaina's death flying around, that would probably only lower his standing in the young woman's eyes.

"You'll never know until you try," he told himself, but the pep talk did nothing to help.

The abandoned military base where Krista had set up camp was not exactly encouraging to the dark-haired man. The reasons for her disappearance to the backwater planet of Hhu'tini were ambiguous, to say the least, but Zekk suspected it had something to do with her overprotective brothers. In which case, she was probably grounded, and he might be able to bargain with getting her off planet.

If he wanted to face her brothers, of course. Which he didn't, really, but one couldn't be picky with the conditions of redemption.

The door of the base opened even before he touched it, and Zekk's head shot up to see a surveillance cam. Krista knew he was coming, now. He could only hope she hadn't booby-trapped the entire base to blow up the instant he stepped inside.

"I kind of expected you to be a lot earlier," Krista's voice boomed, even before Zekk was fully inside the front reception area. "It's been a month, after all. But then again," the young woman considered out loud, "I suppose you've been busy escaping."

Zekk looked around, but couldn't locate the blond woman-of-all-trades. "I'm that predictable, am I?"

"People in your situation usually are."

He started to ask what she meant, but decided to wait. "Uh…Krista? Where are you?"

"Oh. Right." Krista laughed, light and airy. She still sounded like a child, but that was deceptive – to her brothers' disappointment. "Just follow the lights – on the floor, you know."

At her command, a series of lights created a path in the western direction. "I take it you were bored," he remarked, noting how intricately she had planned everything. "Did your brothers lock you up again?"

"They stranded me, if that's what you mean," the seventeen-year-old moaned. "Can you believe it? They just dumped me on this backwater planet." Just as he was about to ask why, she continued. "It's not like I was doing anything wrong. I swear it looked worse than it was."

Although quite certain he would regret it, Zekk asked, "What did you do this time?"

"I'm almost eighteen! I should be able to do what I want. If that happens to be spending extra time…ah, training…with my boyfriend, so what?"

No doubt her brothers had caught Krista about to do an Unforgivable, Adult Thing with her newest fling. "How's your boyfriend doing?"

"Oh." Krista's voice was almost scornful. "Gryq said Mikhail will recover…eventually."

Zekk stopped, momentarily paralysed. "Your brothers aren't here now, are they?"

"Oh, no. Gryq is on Mon Cal pretending he has work to do when he's really making out with Tayra. The other two are creating havoc for the Empire. I swear, I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that they met up with the Wraiths…"

Zekk sighed in relief. The Solo family was terrifying, but at least they had a diplomat to hold them back every now and then. Krista's older brothers – Gryq, Bull and Cel – were fiercely protective of their sister ever since the four siblings were orphaned. Zekk had made it a point to never cross them.

The tone of Krista's voice suddenly sunk in. It was typical of her – gossipy, pouty and impatient. What if she didn't know about him and Onyx? How couldn't she? "You do know who I am, right?"

Krista rolled her eyes. "You were Lord Onyx of the Sith," she recited in a bored voice, "galactic bad boy and Brakiss' lapdog. However, after Brakiss murdered your true love, you turned back and became that lovely, sweet, good guy we always knew you were. Your first act was to avenge said love-of-your-life, and you promptly chucked Brakiss over a balcony. Honestly, what kind of Intel operative do you think I am?"

She sounded genuinely offended, and Zekk flushed. "You just sound so…normal."

"Sorry," Krista offered dryly. "Would you rather I jump around screaming?"

He opened the final door and walked in. Krista had set up camp in the base control room, and the place was a mess. "It's what I've come to expect," he admitted.

She spun around in her chair and casually saluted with her blaster. "I don't shoot people who give me information. This war is losing its finesse. You know, when we started, this whole business had an order in it. You could get a job done without seeing team members die. Now it's all just one big, bloody, vengeful mess."

"When has war ever been anything else?" he replied, confused.

The girl shrugged and half-grinned. "I like backstabbing. That's fun. There are rules for that. Besides, if someone starts ticking you off, you can shoot them under the table and walk away without a problem."

Zekk stared at her. "Why do I have the feeling you'll end up in politics?"

Krista's eyes gleamed, but she didn't respond. "So, what do you need to help me bring down the Big Bads?"

"At the very least, something that will keep me from being killed by NR operatives."

Krista studied him. "I heard through the grapevine that Jaina is still alive. Is that peasant rabble, or should I start mingling with the little people again?"

Briefly, a smile stole his expression, and his eyes softened. "Start planning your outfits: she's alive."

Krista sighed, but her eyes were content. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to languish in my self-pity for a while, then." Seeing his expression, she grinned harmlessly. "Don't get me wrong: I'm ecstatic you had your happily ever after. You know me – always the romantic."

"But…?" Zekk's eyes narrowed.

Krista had the newfound decency to blush. "Well, you know, turning your back on evil because someone's love changed you… it's kind of, well, it's kind of sexy."

" 'Sexy'?" he repeated, aghast.

She smiled devilishly.

Zekk's cheeks burned. I really need to learn how and when to keep quiet. "It is not," he muttered.

Krista shrugged, her blush fading. "Calm down. It's not like I'm going to jump you. I mean, Jaina would kill me, and I wouldn't even be able to make a good show of it. My old training lightsaber's rubble. I value my life, thank you very much."

"Could we, uh, talk about something else…please?"

Krista beamed pleasantly. "Of course."

He mentally flailed for a moment before finding a safe topic. "I don't know how much influence I still have – "

"You have enough," Krista answered. "Brakiss is trying to keep your betrayal quiet."

Brakiss. Zekk still wasn't used to thinking of his former master as still alive. It would figure, the young man thought darkly, that the one time he murdered someone who actually deserved it, he would screw it up royally. "He may have changed my passcodes, in any case."

Krista dismissed his concern with a casual wave. "Of course he has. It's been a month, after all. But he couldn't change too much without people noticing. Rumours would start up, and Brakiss can't have anything undermining his authority – not now. Don't worry, though – a good hacker can do plenty with what you left behind."

She stood and began to pace. "Every Imperial knows your face – you've threatened or otherwise spoken to them at some point or another." The blonde ignored his flinch at the reminder. "The Empire is built out of iron," she continued, "but they always put too much into faulty ideas."

Her movement slowed as she thought, and then she snapped her fingers in enlightenment. "I've got it. You're going to take me off-planet first, though."

He stared at her bleakly. "You do realize that your brothers will have to take a number for the 'kill Zekk/Onyx' line, don't you?"

The young woman rolled her blue eyes. "We'll talk about that later. Besides, you don't really have a choice. If I continue to receive information without being able to help, I'll go insane. Cel rigged my comm. so that I can only get reports." She sighed in self-pity. "I couldn't have had sisters, could I?

A second later, she perked up. "Now, here's what we'll do…"

Comments are, as always, love.

-Tjz