After the Solo Quest jumped back into the Denon system with the Jade Shadow and Kyp's Dozen, they were all hailed by different officers of Orbital Control.
Jacen was hailed by a male being who had the deep guttural tone of a Bothan. And while he did not want to judge that - for all he knew, it could have been a human with a sore throat or something - or stereotype any members of races and species, he still hesitated before he told the officer about his prisoner. He still recalled that the Bothan species, as a whole, had declared ar'krai - the act of total war - against the Yuuzhan Vong for the death of Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya during the war's Battle of Coruscant. Jacen understood that not every Bothan was behind this - after all, Admiral Traest Kre'fey had been part of the Sekot Accords after the war ended - but he was still wary.
"This is Captain Jacen Solo of the Solo Quest," Jacen said. "I have the Yuuzhan Vong war criminal and pirate leader Nom Anor aboard my ship." Even if Orbital Control didn't have life-sign sensors that would have detected a Yuuzhan Vong presence aboard the Quest, Jacen wasn't sure if he could have lied about this unless it was absolutely necessary.
There was silence on the other end of the comm for such a time that Jacen thought that maybe the connection had inadvertently cut out. But then the guttural officer returned with, "Please proceed to these coordinates. Do not deviate from this path or you will be arrested for harboring a Yuuzhan Vong criminal from Galactic Alliance custody."
"Understood, Control," Jacen said. He then engaged the Quest for the coordinates that showed up on one of the ship's console screens. Alongside him, the Jade Shadow and Kyp's Dozen descended toward Denon with him for the coordinates that would lead back to the Jedi Temple.
Minutes later, however, Jacen found that he wasn't approaching a GA prison for Nom Anor to be held for his arraignment, but instead, there was an abandoned factory building in one of Denon's slum districts. On the roof of this building were two Bothans that had an ion cannon mounted and aimed for the Quest. Once Jacen realized that he had been led astray by the treacherous Orbital Control officer, the cannon was fired.
Jacen veered the Quest hard to starboard, but before he could fire off a laser to destroy the ion cannon, another burst was fired from the mounted weapon. The Quest was veered to port this time, then upward, then downward, but just as Jacen was finally about to fire off a shot, the ion cannon finally got a burst right through his shields.
And just like that, the Quest and all of its internal systems went dead as it dropped like a stone to the ground hundreds of meters below. Jacen used the Force to cushion the impact that the ship would make once it landed; and even with the Force-cushioning, the impact was still bone-jarring. But once the impact passed over, Jacen dropped the Force-cushioning, unbuckled his safety harness, and rushed to the guest cabin where he left Nom Anor.
He opened the door up to find that the eye-patched Yuuzhan Vong was lying prone on the cabin's bed, his entire body trembling as he grasped the bed's sides. When he finally noticed Jacen standing there, he quickly pushed himself off the bed and swiped away anything on his form that would make him look undignified, as if it wasn't too late for that.
"What happened?" Nom Anor asked.
"We were shot down by an ion cannon," Jacen answered.
"By whom?"
"Bothans."
Nom Anor's eyes widened. "I see they haven't dropped their vow of ar'krai then."
"It's the True Victory Party. They..." Jacen trailed off as his eyes widened from his danger sense tingling. He then spread out his arms quickly, and then he and Nom Anor simply disappeared from the Solo Quest's guest cabin.
When they next appeared, they were over a dozen meters away from the outside of the ship, where three different barrages of lasers - each coming from a different rooftop around the city block that Jacen and Nom Anor stood in - were firing away on the downed Quest.
When the Bothans who were firing the mounted, high-powered laser rifles noticed Jacen and Nom Anor, they all shifted their aim for the two of them.
Jacen was about to grab Nom Anor's forearm to turn him around so they could run away together, but he found that the Yuuzhan Vong coward had already turned away and was running away for himself. Jacen quickly caught up to him, however, and erected a thick Force-shield to protect him and his prisoner from the high-powered laser blasts raining down upon them.
After a few moments, though, Jacen's strength rapidly waned, but it was enough to run with Nom Anor into an abandoned apartment complex to their left. From there, Jacen dropped the Force-shield, but he and Nom Anor continued to run for the apartment's basement via the nearby staircase ahead as the laser blasts broke through the weakened duracrete that the complex was made of.
Once the two of them were in the basement and Jacen had the wooden door closed behind them - which he doubted would stand up to a high-powered laser attack - he and Nom Anor hurried over to the window ahead that would get them out to the other side of the building.
Once they had climbed back outside through the window that Nom Anor opened up, he and Jacen continued sprinting for the alley on the other side of the dead street. However, the Bothans that continued to fire the mounted rifles noticed them, and fired at them again.
Nevertheless, they missed just in time for Jacen and Nom Anor to enter the closed-ended alley on the other end of the street. There, they rushed for the sewer grate in the middle of the alley, which Jacen used the Force to lift up and waved Nom Anor inside.
"And I thought I'd never have to go underground like this ever again," the Yuuzhan Vong muttered before climbing down.
Once Nom Anor was far enough down, Jacen began climbing on down after him. He used the Force to levitate the sewer grate back into place over his head.
By the time both of them had reached the bottom of the sewer, Nom Anor asked, "So what do we do now?"
"We go to the Jedi Temple," Jacen said. "That's probably the safest option for you, even with Aunt Mara around."
"I suppose you know that sewers well enough that we can make it there without getting lost along the way?" Nom Anor inquired with an indignant tone.
"I can use the Force to sense where the Temple's inhabitants are," Jacen said. "We can use that as a beacon. The trip may take us a few days, though."
"And what are we going to survive on?" Nom Anor asked as he waved around. "Sewer rats? The urine and fecal matter of different aliens and beings that populate this planet?"
"We can resurface to get something after we have the True Victory Party off our tails," Jacen said. Then he cocked his head in the realization of the flaw in that plan. "Well, I can resurface to get us something to eat and drink. I mean, you don't have an ooglith masquer and... yeah."
"By your lead, then." Nom Anor waved in the direction they were facing.
"Actually, I'm sensing that the Temple's inhabitants are that way," Jacen said, pointing in the opposite direction.
Nom Anor scowled, but said nothing as he let Jacen lead the way.
A couple minutes later, after rounding some bends, they heard voices and footsteps echo down behind them.
"I have a Force-sound-buffer up now," Jacen said after a moment. "So let's hurry."
Indeed, they both resumed their running forward in time to meet a three-way split.
"Which way?" Nom Anor asked.
"This way," Jacen said as he pointed to the leftmost bend.
Once they were in the leftmost sewer tunnel, and had rounded the bends there, Nom Anor asked, "How long can you keep that sound-buffer up?"
"Just a few more seconds and..." Like that, regular sound returned to them as they could hear voices and footsteps behind them again.
"Oh, come on," Jacen muttered as he and Nom Anor continued on their way.
Soon, they came up on a ladder that led back up to the surface.
"Can you sense anyone waiting for us back on the surface?" Nom Anor asked.
After a short moment, Jacen shook his head. "No. This is our best option."
Nom Anor nodded and hurried up the ladder with Jacen after him. At the top, the Yuuzhan Vong pushed the sewer grate up and open onto another dead street, and Jacen leaped up and past his alien charge as the shadows of their Bothan pursuers appeared around the last bend they passed. Once Nom Anor was on the street with Jacen, the latter used the Force to replace the grate back where it was,
"This way," Jacen said as he pointed to the one abandoned apartment in the street. He and Nom Anor headed in, with Jacen sensing that not a single soul on the street was looking out to spot a Yuuzhan Vong running out in the open, and then the two of them collapsed on their buttocks against the door that Jacen closed behind them.
"Let me guess," Nom Anor said. "The True Victory Party are a group of Bothans who want to take ar'krai all the way, even after the war ended."
"Yeah," Jacen answered.
"Say, how did you just... teleport us out of your ship like that?" Nom Anor inquired.
"A technique I learned from a Force-sect," Jacen explained. "It's how I stopped my aunt from killing you back over Belkadan, as a matter of fact."
"Well, then, why didn't you use it so you can teleport us to the Jedi Temple?" Nom Anor asked.
"I can only use it once every few hours or so," Jacen said. "Best guess is five."
"Well, even with that, why did you say we had to make a walk that would take us a few days?" Nom Anor inquired.
Jacen grinned. "That was just to mess with ya, like I did when I deflected all your shots back aboard your Onimi-like escape ship."
Nom Anor scowled. Then his expression became contemplative again. "Wait a minute: If you can sense the Jedi here, can they not sense you in turn?"
"They can, and I know what you're thinking," Jacen said. "But I just gave them the telepathic impression not to look for us."
"Why?"
"Because the Jedi who come looking for us, the True Victory Party members hunting us will use the Jedi as a guide," Jacen answered. "So right now, we should rest here and wait for the next few hours or so before I can teleport us into the Jedi Temple."
Nom Anor nodded before he said, "Something just occurred to me."
"Hmm?"
"I've heard about this Unifying Force theory that you Jedi are going by now," Nom Anor elaborated. "It's a gray view of the Force, is it not?"
"If by gray, you mean that it requires the Jedi to balance out their own inner light and darkness in the Force, then yes, the Unifying Force is a gray view of the Force," Jacen answered.
"Was you 'messing' with me back aboard my ship you balancing out your inner light and darkness?" Nom Anor asked.
"I guess so, sure," Jacen answered.
Nom Anor smirked. "You know, given our past encounters, and the encounters I've had with your friends and family during the war, I could have taken advantage of your little indulgence and have found a way to escape. How would you have felt about that?"
Jacen's eyes widened as he looked at Nom Anor. "That's a good question. I never thought of that." He looked away and adopted a contemplative look; no doubt, Nom Anor thought, because he was thinking about the possible ramifications of his procrastination.
Jacen then smirked and looked back to his charge. "I guess I got to learn the easy way, huh? And, really, that was bad for you because you, the expert on escaping, were caught that easily. You've gotten rusty in this, haven't you?"
Nom Anor groaned as he then looked away from Jacen. "I suppose I have. Spending all those years hiding out, letting those pirates work for me while I lived comfortably in that base..." He shook his head in disappointment of himself. "I have gotten soft, I will say."
"Good thing I saved you then," Jacen remarked. "Because if you're that soft, Aunt Mara would have eaten you up."
"Indeed," Nom Anor said. "And is it weird if I say that I'd rather take my chances with the True Victory Party than your aunt?"
"Would you?" Jacen replied with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Nom Anor said without hesitation.
"And that's where your cowardice matches your intelligence, Nommy," Jacen said.
"Nommy?" Nom Anor asked.
"Hey, if I'm gonna spend the next few hours with you, I guess we should try to be quasi-friends, at least," Jacen said.
"After all I've done to you, your friends, and family?" Nom Anor asked.
Jacen shrugged.
"And you say I have gotten soft," Nom Anor remarked.
Jacen made a wry smile at Nom Anor before looking away again.