Hapes Cluster, Kavan

Jacen maneuvered his stealthX into an expansive ship hanger hollowed into the side of rocky hill on the Hapan planet of Kavan. The ship bay was part of an elaborate and wide-ranging maze of excavated tunnels used by the local Kavani people as emergency shelters in the winter. Since it was the middle of the summer the tunnel system would be empty and an idea place to meet somebody discreetly. He had transmitted a copy of the tunnel map to Lumiya and requested her to dock in another hanger on the other side of the hill; he didn't need their ships to be seen together.

He powered down and climbed out of the StealthX and immediately found himself sweating in the Kavan summer heat. He pulled out his Jedi Robe anyway and threw it over his shoulder. He knew once he got into the tunnel system it would cool to its near constant temperature of twelve degrees Celsius. He took a deep breath testing the air for breathability and frowned. It was tolerable, but very humid and with an underlying organic odor that reminded him of decaying foliage. He shrugged his cloak on and then pulled out his datapad and displayed a diagram of the tunnel system. He oriented himself and then moved down a tunnel to the area where he was to meet Lumiya.

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"Kavan?" Mara muttered to herself once she exited hyperspace. She went to her ship computer and pulled up all data available on the planet while hoping she could discover a perfectly sensible and benign reason for Jacen to be here at this time and place. The records indicated that Kavan was a sparsely populated planet whose pronounced axial tilt meant there were extreme variations in temperatures. The area Jacen traveled to had emergency underground shelters where the populace could hunker down and endure the extreme winters.

She frowned in confusion. Since it was summer the emergency tunnels should be vacant and there were no towns or occupied facilities within fifty kilometers of where he landed.

'So why are you there, Jacen?' Mara wondered to herself.

She sat back in the pilot's chair looking grief-stricken. She had hoped she wouldn't find anything suspicious concerning her nephew. She would have been happy to discover he was off on these unauthorized jaunts to gamble and party on some seedy pleasure yacht. Unfortunately, Jacen went to a desolate planet and landed near what should be an abandoned tunnel system. It was a perfect place for a clandestine rendezvous.

Mara gave a despondent sigh. If he was meeting with Lumiya, the Sith must be misleading him somehow. That was the only reason she could fathom. And if that was the case Jacen may very well be in trouble. She needed to confirm his association with the Sith and then she and Luke could plan their next move.

Mara maneuvered the Shadow into low orbit and prepared to descend.

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Hapes Cluster

As they came out of hyperspace Mark Tantiss looked over the Navigation controls of his Headhunter and then checked the homing beacon sensor. "It looks like Jacen has been all over the place."

Ben was sitting next to him in the cockpit co-pilot chair. He leaned over to look at his uncle's datapad. "Where is he now?"

Mark ran his fingers over the datapad screen to update the information. "It looks like he is on Kavan."

Ben sat back in this seat and gave his uncle a somber look. "I still don't understand all of this. Jacen isn't power hungry. Do you think something happened when he was out on his search for Force knowledge?"

Mark shrugged. "I don't know. We don't even know if Jacen is working with Lumiya. I could be completely wrong about that woman who was with him."

"Mom was obviously watching him. Why wouldn't my parents tell us about Jacen?"

Mark thought about it. "You would have to ask them that, but my guess is they don't want to harm Jacen's reputation unless they had proof. Some activities are seen as so indefensible that the mere suspicion can devastate a person's standing in the community, especially in the Jedi Order. If it got around that Jacen was suspected of colluding with a Sith, that would destroy his repetition and the accusation would probably haunt him even if it's proven false. I don't think your parents wanted to stigmatize Jacen unfairly. They needed proof before they told anybody."

Ben nodded. "That makes sense." A haunted look crossed his face. "What if he is Sith?"

Mark didn't answer right away. He wasn't sure what he would do. He didn't want to kill his nephew. He was sure Leia and Han would never forgive him, even if the situation was justified. He would have to capture him and hold him until an answer could be found—if an answer could be found. He wasn't sure how one deprograms a Sith. Vader was supposedly redeemed, but he didn't know of any other Sith that repented for their misdeeds. He looked over to Ben and gave him a hesitant smile. "We'll capture him."

Ben didn't look reassured and it didn't help that Mark's words sounded more like a question than a statement. "Capturing him could be difficult," Ben ventured. "He's good with a lightsaber—better than you or me."

Mark snorted. "It's not hard to be better than me. I prefer a blaster. Decapitating and eviscerating people up close and personal never appealed to me. A blaster bolt through the head of the enemy at a thousand meters out using a high power sniper blaster suits me just fine. I don't like to see the horror in a person's eyes when they suddenly realize their arms are gone." Mark shuddered. "I'll never get used to that."

"It's not one of my favorite parts of being a Jedi either," Ben admitted.

Mark looked over to Ben and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about Jacen. Nobody's going to die today." He gave Ben's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I promise."

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Jacen pulled his cloak around him is an effort to ward off a chill as the temperature dropped the further he went into the tunnels. Solar powered glowpanels on the ceiling provided enough light for Jacen to study the map on his datapad and allowed him to maneuver through the passageways to the designated meeting place. He moved hurriedly. He wanted this done and over with. If Tenel Ka was expected to be on Hapes at the end of the week he wanted Ta'a Chume dead by tomorrow.

As he came around a bend he could sense Lumiya in the distance. He followed her Force signature until he could make out her outline in the dim light.

"Did you come alone?" she asked, sounding uneasy.

"Yes," he said as he came up to the petite woman. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial. "Here's the virus," he said as he handed it to Lumiya. "It's mircroscopic spores. If you can get them into a room Ta'a Chume will be in, that should be enough to infect her."

"I don't know about getting that close to the former Queen mother, but I can get the virus into the ventilation system. The person who hired me sent me information on the Palace duct system. I just need to know if and when Ta'a Chume will be in the Palace." Lumiya said as she examined the nanovirus ampoule.

"She should be there all week. She is meeting with representatives of the other royal families. They are trying to oust my wife from the throne."

Lumiya raised an eyebrow. "If she wasn't Queen, wouldn't that end the assassination attempts?"

He gave a faint embittered nod. "It might, but she is opposed to the idea."

Lumiya rolled the vial over in her hand. "I have a forged passport and visa. Of course, I'm sure the person purchasing my services made sure the documents are eventually traceable to me in order to pass suspicion off of them." She gave him a hard gaze. "When this is done I will be the most wanted woman in the galaxy. Swear you will come and train afterwards."

Jacen nodded somewhat reluctantly.

She put the vial in her pocket. "Fine. I'll get this done and then you will come to The Home."

Jacen shivered as an uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty washed over him. He wasn't sure if it was nerves or the Force trying to tell him something. For probably the hundredth time since he embarked in this endeavor, he was having doubts. Was he doing the right thing? He stood there in a frowning silence, debating with himself. He was about to order an assassination and once it was done there was no going back.

Lumiya must have sensed his hesitation. "Jacen, She deserves to die."

He closed his eyes tightly. "I know," he muttered reluctantly.

"I should go before you change your mind." She turned to leave but Jacen grabbed hold of her arm. "Wait, I need…"

Lumiya's head snapped up abruptly, interrupting his sentence. "You've been followed!" She growled as she gazed down the tunnel he just came from. "You led me into a trap!"

Jacen looked at her in confusion until he sensed the Force essence of Mara Jade Skywalker approaching. "I didn't bring her here. She must have followed me."

Lumiya scowled as she upholstered her blaster and aimed it down the tunnel.

"No!" he shouted as he knocked the blaster upward toward the ceiling. The weapon discharged and a large chunk of rock dislodged from the tunnel roof and fell to the ground. Jacen quickly brought his free hand up and wrapped it around her throat tightly as he glared at her angrily. "I won't let you hurt my family!" The words came out in a roar. He would go along with her plan to learn more about the Force and the darkside, but he was not going to let her harm any of his loved ones.

Lumiya glowered at Jacen before she put a hand to his chest and Force shoved him away. "I'm not shooting her. Do you even see her? She's too far down the tunnels. I'm going to block this route. We can make our escape in my ship." She aimed the blaster up again and this time he didn't stop her. She fired out a number of quick blasts that fractured and crumbled the ceiling until there was a loud crack and a ton of stone and gravel toppled down, completely blocking the corridor.

Lumiya turned to Jacen with a furious look on her face. "For Sith sake, Force cloak. There's a chance she didn't sense your presence with me."

"Even if she didn't, she's probably seen my ship!" Jacen protested but cloaked his Force signature anyway.

"That's why you need to come with me," Lumiya said as she grabbed the sleeve of his cloak and urgently pulled him in the opposite direction.

Jacen jerked his arm out of her grip. "No! If you sensed her, then she sensed us. She knows I'm here and if I run away I'll be cutting my ties to my wife and child, to my parents." He hesitated in thought, frantically trying to think a way out of this situation. "I can talk my way out of this. I'll tell them I was approached by you and I was going along until I could figure out your motives. They'll believe me." He gestured for her to leave. "Just go, and get the nanovirus to the Royal Palace. I won't betray you," his voice was tinged with desperation and panic. His world was crumbling around him, but if Ta'a Chume could be eliminated it would be worth it. At least his family would be safe. "Please go," he pleaded.

Lumiya swore under her breath. "You don't have to betray me. Once Grand Master Skywalker has confirmation that you were with me, he's capable of pulling whatever knowledge he wants from your mind. I'll end up with a hundred Jedi at The Home."

"He wouldn't do that."

She shook her head in disbelief. "Maybe… but only if he wasn't sure you were with me. I think I know a way out of this mess," Lumiya said quickly as she groped for something in her side satchel. "If Mara Jade could forget we were together, then we're in the clear. Here." She pulled out what looked like an anaphylaxis auto-injector. "This is a Lecapanine dart. It's a tranquilizer but it also causes short-term memory loss. Use it and she won't recall sensing us. She possibly won't remember why she even came to this planet."

Both jumped as they heard the sound of a lightsaber cleaving at the rock on the other side of the rubble. "If she forgets, you'll have an easier time lessening their suspicions. We'll have to be more careful when meeting in the future." Lumiya gave Jacen a determined look. "Ta'a Chume will soon be dead and you will resume your training." She then turned and ran down the corridor to the direction of her ship.

Jacen watched Lumiya disappeared down the tunnels as she made her escape. He looked down at the dart. Could it be a way of salvaging this disaster?

Despite the chill in the tunnels he felt light perspiration break on his arms and face as a feeling of helplessness wound its way down his spine.

He gave a low, miserable moan. "Oh kriff."