Myrkr

Mark watched Mara Jade Skywalker's ship, Jade Shadow, slowly land on the duracrete pad outside Karrde's secret base. Mark gave a reminiscent smile as he recalled the day Luke gave Mara the ship as an engagement gift. It was during a Sweetheart's Day party at the Manarai Restaurant on Coruscant.

The ship's ramp lowered and Luke, Ben and Jaina Solo exited. Mark's stomach fell as he saw Jaina unclip and activate her lightsaber. Luke motioned for her to turn it off. She gave him a scathing look, but obeyed.

Mark sighed as he put on his shoulder harness and set his pet ysalamiri on the leather carrier. He scratched the animal behind her head and talked to her in a soothing manner. "Hey Nibbles, we have company. Maybe with you on my shoulder they won't be too jumpy."

He walked down the hall. "Jaden, Talon," he called out to his sons. "Luke's here with company. Try not to act Sithy."

He heard his son Jaden chuckle in the room where Jacen was located. "Jacen's under sedation. Do you want me to wake him up?"

"Yeah, they are going to want to talk to him," Mark said as he moved to the front entrance and slowly opened the doors. He walked out a step, hands out to his side to let them know he was unarmed. "Luke, Ben," there was a slight pause as Mark gazed into Jaina's angry eyes. "And Jaina."While keeping his hands visible he motioned with his head to the entrance. "Come on in. You're probably looking for Jacen."

"Damn right we're looking for my brother," Jaina shot back. "What did you do with him?"

Mark gave her a sad look. "I think I may have saved him."

Jaina didn't respond, just stalked by the man she once called 'Uncle' and into the building.

Luke and Ben came up to Mark and looked intently into his yellow eyes. Mark gave a sheepish smiled. "They're still a little yellow. I think the energy I used saving Mara interacted with the natural pigmentation of my eyes and the dye I use to make them green. They'll probably stay this way until they're dyed green again. Don't worry Luke, I haven't gone Sith."

Luke looked at him with unsure eyes, but then reached out and hugged him. "Thank you Mark for saving her."

"I couldn't let her die," he said while returning the embrace. They eventually separated and Mark could see tears in Luke's eyes. "Is she conscious yet, Luke?"

The Jedi Grand Master shook his head glumly. "She will probably wake up in a day or two." He gazed at Mark questioningly "Ben couldn't tell what you were doing with the Force because he was holding your ysalamiri. What happened?"

Mark ran his fingers nervously through his beard, his head down and pensive. "I um…I had to use a Sith resurrection technique…I had to draw on the dark side heavily to make it work."

Luke put a hand on his old friend's shoulder. "Mark, that was dangerous."

"I know," Mark fought to keep his voice steady. "I'm sorry. I had to do it…no matter what the cost."

Luke's posture stiffened as he drew in a sharp breath. "Those were the words in my dream."

Mark gave Luke a curious look. "What dream."

Luke made a distracted gesture. "It doesn't matter…just a misinterpreted vision." He motioned his head in the direction of the building. "What does Jacen have to do with this?"

Mark frowned as they moved toward the doors. "He's the one who killed Mara."

"Mark how do you know that?" Luke asked as they entered the building.

Mark stopped and faced Luke. "Mara showed me through the Force. I asked her who attacked her and she sent me an image of Jacen," he said softly.

Luke's face grew tight. "Maybe she was trying to tell you something else. I can't believe Jacen would hurt her. It must be Lumiya's doing."

"Speaking of Lumiya. I have something to show you."

Mark turned to Ben. "Your cousin Jacen is down that way." He pointed down the hall. "Can you make sure Jaina isn't terrorizing my sons."

"Sure," Ben nodded and moved down the hallway where Jaina could be heard berating one of her cousins.

"This way," Mark said as he gestured for Luke to follow. They moved down the vacant hall and into the room that held Lumiya's remains.

Luke's brow rose in surprise upon seeing the Sith. "You killed her?"

Mark nodded. "Blaster trumps lightwhip on Myrkr." He turned to Luke. "She said she came for her apprentice. She came for Jacen. She was to train him so he could become a Master of the Unify Force. He was to be the savior of the galaxy."

"She could have been lying," Luke pointed out. "It's hard to sense if a person is being deceitful while on this planet. I just want to make sure you are not blaming the wrong man."

"I'm not blaming the wrong man, trust me on this."

A buzzing sound came from Luke's robes. The Jedi reached into his pocket and pulled out a comlink and looked at the message. "There is a communication coming in to the Shadow." Luke tapped in a code on the small pad. "I'll patch it to the comlink."

As Luke pushed one final button a Mon Calamari's face showed up on the tiny view screen of the device. It was the Jedi healer Cilghal.

"Luke, Mara woke up for a few minutes, but she was so agitated that I had to sedate her again." The healer's gravely voice lowed before she continued. "She kept saying 'Jacen is the one who attacked me' over and over again." The healer averted her eyes from the holocam. "I'm sorry Luke, I know that is not what you wanted to hear."

Luke's shoulders slumped as he leaned heavily against the wall. "No, it's not. When Mara comes to tell her I will be back as soon as possible. Tell her we have Jacen with us."

Luke turned off the comlink and ran a hand over his face. "I didn't want to believe it."

Mark reached out to Luke and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "We'll find a way of bringing him back."

Luke sighed heavily. "I hope so." He stood straight and squared his shoulders. He closed his eyes and took a couple deep calming breaths. "Let's go see him."

Mark nodded. "Sure," He pointed down the hall. "This way," he said as he led Luke down the hall where Jacen was located.

.

.

Jacen Solo slowly came out of sedation feeling worse than he had ever felt in his life. He had a throbbing headache, his jaw hurt and his throat was parched. Noises intruded at the edge of his mind making his head pulsate in pain. He heard the sound of voices; people were talking around him. He thought he could make out the voice of his sister, Jaina.

'I can't believe you are doing this to my brother, Jaden.' Jaina's voice was quivering in anger.

This was followed by Jacen's cousin Jaden defending his actions. 'I am just trying to keep him safe and comfortable until Uncle Luke arrives.'

Jacen opened his eyes slowly and blinked at the overhead light, his mind groping through the mental fog affecting his brain. He was lying on his back, that he knew, but he couldn't remember where he was.

"Jacen? Are you alright," Jaina asked.

Jacen turned to the sound of his sister's voice and he could make out a blurry outline of his sister.

"I would step away Jaina. He becomes agitated when awake and he's acting paranoid." Jacen turned to the speaker. He saw a man standing next to the bed. Jacen blinked his eyes to focus. Finally he could make out the image of his cousin Jaden.

Jacen turned his head back to his sister. There was something important he had to tell Jaina, but his mind was muddled.

"He'll be okay, Jaina." It was the sound of Ben Skywalker's voice. Jacen looked over and saw his cousin's Ben and Talon leaning against a sidewall. He needed to tell Ben something important also, but what was it? He dropped his head back down on the bed and tried to think.

Two men then entered the room. Jacen recognized his Uncle Luke standing in his Jedi robes. The other man was huge and had an animal sitting on his shoulder.

Jacen's eyes went wide when he remembered the warning he needed to give. "Watch out Luke! Mark's Sith!" Jacen managed to croak out despite his dry and hoarse throat. "He brought you here so he could kill you. With everybody Force blind he would have the advantage. He's going to shoot you!" Jacen pulled at his restraint again. He looked up and saw his sister. "He plans to kill you, Ben and Uncle Luke!" he yelled frantically. Jacen couldn't understand why they didn't trying to apprehend Mark. Why weren't they listening to him. Something needed to be done before they all were killed.

"It's okay, Jacen," Jaina said in a soothing voice. She turned and looked at her Uncles standing at the entryway. "Uncuff him, Mark."

Mark shook his head. "Jaina, you see how he is."

"He's that way because you have him chained up like an animal!" She leaned over her brother once again. "Calm down Jacen, we're going to get you out of here."

Jacen realized he still had one hand free. His uncle never re-secured it after he let him urinate. His eyes wandered to his sister's blaster on her hip. He needed to take care of this threat. He would be damned if he was going to be used as bait for his family's slaughter.

"Jaina, I wouldn't get that close to him. He might…"

Jacen heard Mark's voice call out as he made his move. Adrenalin coursed through his veins as he lunged toward his sister and quickly grabbed her blaster. He heard gasps within the room as he turned and pointed the weapon directly at Mark Tantiss. The large clone pushed Luke and Ben away from him. That was good…Jacen didn't want to accidently shoot the wrong person. He took aim and with the blaster set to kill he shot at Mark at point blank range.

Jacen saw his uncle's hand jerk up in a defensive manner. Jacen smiled knowing the ysalamiri on his shoulder would prevent him from performing Force deflection or absorption—a technique to defend against blaster fire without the use of a saber.

But then the impossible happened. The blaster shot hit Mark's hand. The burning energy of the blaster glowed and spread around his wrist and down his arm before it harmlessly dissipated. Jacen's jaw dropped in surprise. He aimed again intent on taking a second shot, when the blaster was suddenly jerked out of his grip by some unseen force.

He could only watch in disbelief as the blaster landed in Mark's hand. "Why'd you have to do that Jacen?" His uncle asked as he turned Jaina's blaster over in his hands inspecting it.

He looked up at Jacen and gave a wane smile. "You have been wrong about so many things…and one thing is your assumption that I can't touch the Force."

Mark raised the blaster and fired. Jacen could only watch in horror as the blaster bolt streaked toward him and impacted against his chest. His last image was his uncle's yellow eyes staring down at him before his world went black.

.

.

Mark lowed the blaster and let out a relieved breath. "Stupid Sith," he muttered under his breath before he looked around and realized everybody was staring at him in shock and horror.

"What?" Mark asked. "It's on stun." He pointed at the blaster setting. "I stunned him."

Jaden was the first to come out of his stupor. "Shavit Dad, I told you to stop stunning him."

"He had the blaster set to kill," Mark defended himself. "I just stunned him. I don't know why everybody is upset."

"It's not that," Luke said slowly. "Mark, none of us can feel the Force. We're surrounded by a forest filled with ysalamiri and you have one on your shoulder. How did you do, what you just did?"

"Oh, that." Mark said with a discomfited chuckle while rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Over the last few years the ysalamiri's effect on me has slowly diminished." He pointed to Jacen. "That's how I knew Jacen was lying when he said he didn't attack Mara."

"I still don't believe it," Jaina defended her brother. "He would never hurt Aunt Mara."

Luke looked at Jaina sadly. "It's true Jaina. Mara woke up and confirmed it was Jacen who attacked her."

The blood appeared to drain from her face and her legs went weak. Jaina slowly sat down on the floor and stared at her brother in disbelief.

Mark turned to Luke. "What should we do now?"

Luke frowned and gave a soft sigh. "Sedate and secure Jacen for now until we find out exactly what's going on."

Jaina was about to protest but Luke held up his hand stopping her. "Jaina, he's already tried to kill two people. That is enough for a twenty-year term in prison. We may have to face the fact that something bad happened to him. But that doesn't mean he can't be redeemed." Luke turned to Mark and guided him toward the door. "Come on, we need to talk."

"Is that safe?" Jaina asked. "What if Jacen is right about him being Sith. Look at his eyes."

Luke heaved a sigh. "Jaina, if Mark can utilize the Force on this planet…then he could have killed us seconds after we walked out of the Shadow." Luke looked up at his overgrown clone. "Mark, walk with me. I really want to hear your explanation about you, the ysalamiri and the Force."