Part XVIII

Two Months Later

It was a fast touch, so fast that he was scarcely sure that he'd felt it, moments later. Consequently, he was more than a little inclined to believe that he imagined the identity of the presence that had brushed him, considering that the man had been on his mind with unusual frequency lately, after his talk with Luke. But as he reached out and searched for the suddenly vanished presence, his gut told him that he had not been mistaken, that the subtle sensation had come from Zekk, the errant Jedi who had so glaringly defied Master Skywalker.

Not that anyone knew that, besides Luke and himself, and perhaps Mara.

Kyp had been furious when Luke had somberly informed him of what had transpired, first and foremost at Zekk for knowingly endangering Jaina- and possibly Syal and Wyn Fel- more and more with every day they remained in Chiss space, with every passing moment that they could be discovered.

A brief debate had ensued- to tell Jaina or not, to move her or not. Kyp had flatly refused to do either, insisting that telling her would only make her worry about Zekk and would just remind her about what she was trying to move beyond. And, quite frankly, nowhere was safer than Ossus, with its dozens of Jedi and Jedi trainees, and especially with the presence of Master Skywalker. Between the two of them, Kyp was confident that any danger would be well foreseen.

Therefore, it was only with a slight unease that he sought out Luke a short while later, rather than a full-fledged panic. He found the Jedi Master on the roof of the temple, meditating, and he sat cross-legged opposite him, waiting to be acknowledged.

Some five or ten minutes later- which Kyp had spent again searching the area with his attuned senses for anything out of the ordinary- Luke opened his eyes slowly. "What troubles you, Kyp?"

He wasted no time. "Have you heard from Zekk or Tahlia recently?"

Luke sighed. "No, not since I last spoke with you on the matter." Two months, then. "Why?"

"I… thought I felt Zekk's mind brush mine briefly. Just for an instant."

The older man bit his lip in consternation. "I'm sure nothing bad has happened to them," he spoke lowly. "But beyond that…"

"Any news out of the Ascendancy?"

An exhausted laugh greeted that question. "What little news we get… nothing horribly surprising. A prominent member of one of the Ruling Families went missing sometime around a week ago. Tensions are mounting as the progressives are resurging…"

"Well that wouldn't have anything to do with Zekk and Tahlia," Kyp reasoned.

Luke nodded slowly. Kyp, of course, didn't know about Cem and Ashik, from whom Luke's concerns truly stemmed. "You may have been mistaken about the presence," Luke murmured. "I sense no evidence of either of them here on Ossus, though it is always possible that they're masking themselves, I suppose. I'll look into the flight logs, see if we have any recent arrivals."

Nodding tersely, Kyp stood and took his leave, winding down stairs and taking a turbolift to the ground level, where he headed swiftly towards the cabin he shared with Jaina. She was in the temple, he knew, and as safe as she was going to be while on the forested planet consequently; but a lingering unease made him want to check on their small abode, verify that everything was alright, and determine if he still felt that they could remain on Ossus after all.

X-X-X-X

"Lieutenant Solo, there's someone asking to see you at hangar alpha-one-six."

She frowned heavily as she pulled her comlink from her utility belt. "Who is it, sergeant?"

"I'm sorry, Great One, he wouldn't give his name. He indicated that he would be… expected."

A faintest tingle of fear flickered in her stomach, but she suppressed it quickly. Her uncle would have alerted her if Kyp had escaped and, in any case, she would have sensed his presence if he'd come looking for her…

Which meant… probably… Jag.

She sighed. "I'll be right there, thank you, sergeant."

X-X-X-X

"You're getting big," Leyla remarked matter-of-factly.

Jaina shot her a look and reached over to ruffle her hair. "Thanks for that."

Leyla shrugged. "I think it's exciting. It means I get a sibling soon. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" her eyes widened in excitement.

A flicker of pain flashed through Jaina's eyes. "No," she murmured. "I'm not sure." She was almost positive that Kyp knew- or at least that he could have figured it out if he'd wanted to. But she wouldn't- couldn't- look for herself. Not yet…

"Do you want me to try?"

Jaina met Leyla's eyes sadly, wondering just what her daughter thought at that moment, realizing how withdrawn her mother had become, that she wouldn't reach out in the Force to touch her own baby, growing inside her. "I think I'd like to be surprised," she finally murmured softly. "What about you?"

But Leyla's smile was all encouragement and reassurance. "I'd like that too."

Grinning, Jaina took Leyla's hand and pulled her down a corridor, towards a large chamber filled with fountains and little streams- a favorite place for many students to meditate or just congregate, but for the moment, it was mostly empty. Choosing an isolated corner, they settled down on a bench. "What about names?" Jaina asked. "Should we start thinking about some good ones? We only have a couple months now, it might take that long to agree on something," she teased.

Leyla bit her lip. "If it's a boy, could we name him after dad?"

The flash of pain was less intense that time. "That's a good idea," Jaina murmured, though the thought had occurred to her several times already. "We'll… have to see what Kyp says."

Leyla nodded solemnly, recognizing what Jaina was doing, reminding her about the ruse. They were in public, if anyone so happened as to hear them, it had to sound real…

"How about Azalea?"

Jaina shook her head immediately and scrunched her face.

"Cyrus?"

"Eh…"

"Oriana?"

"…maybe…"

"Nuru?"

"Where do you come up with these?"

"What about-?"

"How about Zekk?"

Jaina whipped around as a familiar, deep voice rang out over the sound of nearby flowing water. A slow smile spread across her face and she stood quickly- as quickly as her bulging middle allowed, anyway- and crossed her arms as he approached them. Leyla, familiar with and fond of the tall Jedi from a young age, ran forward a few steps to meet him and he hugged her quickly, an amusing sight due to the height differential. He released her and turned his attention to Jaina.

For a moment, they stared. "You've been off the radar for quite some time," she said pointedly, a gentle smile tugging at the corners of her mouth still.

"I've been rather busy," he returned somberly. He covered the distance between them in two strides and studied her at arm's length. "Sorry I haven't been in touch."

"Not like you've missed much of anything." She hadn't intended the words to sound bitter, but that's how they came off. Flushing, she looked down, sighed, and met his eyes again. "And don't say it, I know."

He blinked. "You know what?"

She cocked a sardonic brow. "Either I've been doing some stress-eating, or I'm pregnant."

His expression turned to one of discomfiture. "Jaina, look… about that…"

He might have continued talking, she wasn't sure. A sudden jolt shook her, and the next moment she was leaning heavily against the wall, gasping for breath. She wasn't in pain, but something was wrong, and she couldn't figure out what for a long minute as she stared glassily ahead into nothingness.

"Jaina?"

"Kyp," she muttered.

"Mom!" Leyla tugged on her hand and tried to get her to focus her gaze. "Mom, what is it?"

And in a heartbeat, she knew. A sense of panic was bubbling up inside her, but it wasn't her panic… "I can't feel Kyp," she murmured, swaying with sudden dizziness.

"No, Jaina, it's fine," Zekk said urgently. "Kyp is fine, it's just ysalamiri… Jaina?"

He caught her before she sank to the ground.

X-X-X-X

It was a long walk, but the painful and frustrating thoughts running through her mind made it feel like half the usual time. She hadn't really expected Jag to just accept her departing without a word, but if he'd just tried to send her a message, she could have ignored it- and continued ignoring further communications- until he gave up. But for him to show up here- how he'd finagled that one from Antilles, she could only guess- it meant that she'd have to hurt him enough to convince him to go and not come back. And she didn't want to do that, didn't want to hurt him more than she already had, than she already would when the truth came out… but it would be the only way.

As she rounded the corner of the corridor, the stiff posture made it evident that it was Jag, even from behind. Her footsteps were soft as she neared him, but he turned to face her when she was still several meters away. She stopped walking, and he covered the remaining space instantly. "Jagged," she addressed him as coolly as she was able to muster. "I'm impressed… I wasn't expecting you for at least another week."

"But you were expecting me?"

"I thought you'd comm first."

"I didn't expect you'd take the calls." He didn't need the Force to catch the guilty flash in her features. "Jaina…" he murmured, reaching a hand out to cup her cheek. She backed away, scowling, and looked angrily up at him… and stopped.

Where she'd expected confusion, anger, frustration… there was only compassion, understanding… affection.

Why did he have to make this so hard on her?

X-X-X-X

Once inside the cabin, Kyp checked the bedrooms and the security codes on Jaina's door. There was no sense of another presence, nothing indicated that anything had been tampered with, but the damned feeling would not abate, so he continued to pace sullenly for a few minutes, wondering what to do, what to tell Jaina and Leyla…

He started suddenly as he felt a surge of emotion from Jaina… unusual because it was a good emotion, even more unusual because she was projecting more strongly in the Force than she had in months, since before they came to Ossus. He stretched out, extending his awareness to touch Jaina's mind more clearly, and he felt happiness, joy at seeing an old friend after a long absence…

Zekk.

"Shavit," Kyp muttered. So he had felt the young Jedi's presence. Why he had masked it so quickly though… why he was still masking it…

The sensation cut off abruptly and he gasped at the suddenness of the lost contact. At first, he thought Jaina had re-suppressed her emotions, had pulled back in tight around her own mind, around her womb to protect the vulnerable life there…

And then he realized a split second later that he couldn't feel that either. A millisecond of further panic passed before he realized that he was completely blind in the Force and that it was he who was being blocked now, not Jaina. Or maybe both?

The only plausible explanation was ysalamiri, and it had to be close by. Cursing under his breath, Kyp pressed himself to the wall next to the door- unlocked- ready to spring on whoever dared come after Jaina, or perhaps after her unborn child. Deep down, he wondered if there was any possibility that Zekk's betrayal had been intended, or whether he had been tracked here. Perhaps the Chiss had been aware of his and Tahlia's presence in the Ascendancy all along, and were merely biding their time, waiting for them to get them close enough to get access to Jaina, even surrounded by Jedi trainees and Masters…

Missing the Force intensely, wondering how outnumbered he was about to be, wondering if he had time to reach his comlink and alert Luke that Jaina and Leyla were in danger, he reached slowly down for it… and froze as the door slowly opened, concealing him temporarily against whoever- or whatever- was entering the room.

He was surprised when only one black-cloaked figure crossed the threshold. Hooded, gloved and booted, it was impossible to tell from behind if it was a chiss, but that was hardly relevant. As the figure scanned the room, paused, then began to half-turn to gently press the door shut, Kyp sprung.

There was a brief and furious battle, made more or less even by Kyp's lack of the Force- he had the element of surprise, but the other was strong and perhaps better skilled in the grappling-style combat that ensued. In just a few seconds though, Kyp's lightsaber- a remarkably persuasive instrument, he thought ruefully- was ignited centimeters in front of the intruder's neck, and all struggle ceased as Kyp pinned his arms behind his body with his free arm.

"She's not here anyway," he snarled lowly. "So don't bother trying to summon any help. Now… how about you turn around nice and slowly, and we'll talk about why you think I shouldn't just kill you right now."

The figure- a man, or male anyway, Kyp thought- began to turn, and Kyp released his arms but kept the lightsaber well within a dangerous proximity. Once he was fully facing front, he raised his hooded head and met Kyp's eyes evenly… and he bit back a cry and took a step back in shock, reflexively disengaging the lightsaber blade.

The man opposite him took advantage of this distraction and hauled off and punched him clean in the jaw. Kyp stumbled and fell, but made no move to get off the floor as he rubbed his jaw tenderly, watching in horror as the man flexed his knuckles before lowering the hood of his cloak.

"We aren't even close to even yet, Kyp," he muttered bitterly before extending a hand.

Mouth working silently, no sound able to come forth, he took the hand and was pulled to his feet…

…by Jagged Fel.

A/N: Well there ya go, Future ADA- what you've been waiting for ;-P