Coruscant

Jacen returned to Coruscant feeling ill and with a sinking sensation that he had just backed himself into a bad emotional and spiritual corner. He was a Jedi. He had killed before in combat and against people who were trying to murder him at the time, but he never planned a person's death. He was always taught to encourage the enemy to surrender before hostilities broke out.

He wasn't allowing Ta'a Chume to surrender. What he was considering was the cold, calculating premeditated murder of an old woman…albeit an evil piece of skidcrud that more than deserved to die. Still, it didn't sit right with him and people were starting to notice his unease.

His brother Anakin gave him an odd look when they met and asked if Jacen was alright. His mother and father also gave him worried looks . The guilt he was carrying was tearing him up inside.

He realized he had changed and not for the better. It was only a matter of time before the Grand Master started asking questions…questions he definitely did not want to answer. He decided it was time to start practicing his Force stealth. He didn't want his family to see what evil was festering in his heart.

He sat meditating in his temple quarters, concentrating on making himself small in the Force and hoped he was able to cloak his intentions. When he thought he was ready for a real-world test of his abilities he walked out of his living quarters and down to the Temple lobby filled with dozens of Jedi. He clamped down on his Force signature until he knew he was no longer perceptible within the Force. He was reassured when he walked through a crowded hallway full of Jedi students without as much as a glance. He suspected the intense currents of the Force swirling in and around the Jedi students made it difficult to detect if anybody was missing their Force signature. He supposed it would be analogous to having a room full of people all wearing perfume, but one. It would be nearly impossible to tell who wasn't carrying a scent.

A small smile of relief crossed his face as he realized he may not be caught; maybe everything would turn out alright after all. He crossed the main lobby of the building and traveled down a near vacant hallway. He walked around a corner and nearly collided with his Aunt Mara. He was so focused on cloaking himself that he wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him.

"Sorry Aunt Mara," Jacen said quickly and intensified his Force-stealth. He couldn't drop the cloak now; seeing a family member made him extremely nervous and a horrendous feeling of guilt surged through him causing his stomach to clench tightly.

His aunt smiled. "No problem," she moved aside to allow him to pass, but then her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "I can't feel you in the Force."

Jacen swallowed hard then steeled himself to make his voice sound casual. "Yes it is a skill I am trying to perfect. I learned it a couple years ago during my travels."

She stared at him for a moment with no trace of emotion. She searched his face quizzically and he knew he had just fallen under his aunt's radar. Her expression softened for a moment, but her eyes remained alert. "You should show Uncle Luke how you do that. It could be an aid to your fellow Jedi."

His shoulders relaxed a little, but he kept the cloaking firmly in place. He forced himself to smile. "I will." He pointed down the hall. "Sorry, I am late for a meeting."

She gave him a long level look before she nodded. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Yes," Jacen said as he hastened down the hall. He hoped to get back to his room before he ran into anybody else, but he was never that lucky. Coming up the hall was his cousin Ben.

"Hey Jacen," Ben said with a broad smile which slipped off his face when he noticed something was off with his cousin. Ben frowned. "Are you carrying a ysalamiri?" Ben hesitated, "No that can't be right…I can still feel the Force." He cocked his head to the side and gave him a curious look. "How are doing that so perfectly? I've seen Force shielding but nothing like this."

Jacen was sure his cousin could hear his heart beating it was thumping so strongly in his chest. "I just perfected the technique. I learned it from the Jensaarai during my travels."

"That's amazing. Will you teach me?"

Jacen nodded. "I will, but I have to be somewhere now. I am late for a meeting." He moved past his cousin and walked swiftly down the hall.

He finally made it back to his room and once inside he leaned heavily against the door. Lumiya was wrong. This technique couldn't protect him. It just made people more suspicious and wondering why he was hiding in the Force. He was sure his uncle would easily see past his deception. He needed to contact her. She gave him her contact information and he had a heavily encrypted Subspace transceiver he used to contact his wife. He needed to talk to her now.

.

.

.

"It doesn't work, I tell you!" Jacen said through clenched teeth. He was glaring at the veiled holo image of Lumiya over his transceiver. He didn't know why she insisted on hiding her face when their conversation, if unencrypted, would be damning in itself.

"It does work." Lumiya insisted. "You're panicking and anybody can see the terror in your face. You don't need the Force to see that. Even my cleaning droid could perceive you are hiding something." She stared at him accusingly. "Why are you acting like this? Did you tell somebody about me?"

Jacen shook his head. "No, why would I?"

She gave him a cold stare. "Jacen, what have you done? You weren't this jumpy when you left Lorrd and I doubt simply meeting with me is enough to cause the nervousness I see etched on your face."

He averted his eyes. "I did something I shouldn't have." His teeth nervously chewed his lower lip before he continued. "I ordered a nanovirus to kill Ta'a Chume."

Lumiya gave him a bewildered smile. "Is that all? You should get a medal for that."

He glared at her. "Is that all? I'm a Jedi! We don't plan assassinations."

She gave a derisive shrug of her shoulders. "But you did. So let's get back to business. You are now in need of my services and I am in the need of yours."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "How so?"

She cocked her head to the side and he could see a glint of amusement in her eyes. "Are you planning on delivering the virus to the Hapan Palace yourself?"

Jacen's face dropped. He hadn't planned that far ahead. "No, I was hoping you would do it for me. You were given paperwork and visas to get onto the planet incognito, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was. And it would make sense for me to deliver the virus," she said. "We don't want suspicion focused on you. But, if I do help you, you can't back out on our agreement."

He shook his head. "I don't think I can fool my Uncle Luke. He will see through the cloak. I barely got past my Aunt's scrutiny."

"I'll tell you what, Jacen. If I can walk into the Jedi Temple and prove to you your uncle can't see through this technique will you stop running scared?"

He bristled at the suggestion that he was scared, but he knew deep down she was right. He was going against every moral code he was ever taught by his family and the Jedi and he was afraid of what he might become. "If you get caught here it will be the end of your plan for redemption and preparing me to save the galaxy."

"If that's the will of the Force, so be it." She gave him a stern look. "I'll end up in a prison for the remainder of my short life and the Jedi will probably give you a slap on the wrist for talking to me and if they ever find out about the plot against Ta'a Chume…well I am pretty sure they'll understand. Your uncle is married to a former assassin, after all. He'll forgive just about anything."

Jacen stared at her image for a long pause. He almost wanted to be caught—to end this before it started. He wished Ta'a Chume dead, but he didn't want her blood on his hands. He cursed himself for his indecision. He knew exactly what he needed to do to save his family, but he was lacking the intestinal fortitude to make the hard choices. He sighed with an air of resignation. "When can you be here?"

"It'll take me a few days."

He nodded. "Let me know when you get on planet, out." He switched off the transceiver before he could change his mind.

Now, all he could do was continue waiting. He waited for Tenel Ka to request his presence on her ship, he waited for the geneticist to finish his work and now he waited for Lumiya's arrival. He hated waiting…especially when he had an overwhelming sense of doom closing in on him.

He had a bad feeling about this.