Jacen was on his way to the hangar. The frigate they'd been on since their departure of Killik Space and the greater Unknown Regions had finally reached Coruscant. He'd been standing at a viewport when the ship had dropped out of hyperspace. The glistening, silver planet stretched out before him. Jacen wasn't prone to nostalgia and it would be difficult for him to call any one planet his home. But he had a certain connection with the planet. The presence of the worldbrain on the world, the many years he'd spent at the Imperial Palace during his childhood, and the Jedi Temple being situated on the planet combined to make Coruscant the closest thing he had to a home.
As the ship approached the planet, it struck him, as it sometimes did, that there was no way he would ever be able to see it all. When one was on the ground, the city did feel as though it was one singular entity, but that was misleading. While Coruscant was both the planet and the city, the segmented levels and various districts, segregated the planet into many layers and partitions. And in order to see them all one would have to devote almost a lifetime to the task. During his forced stay on the world, while it was being vongformed, during the Yuuzhan Vong War, almost a decade earlier, he'd seen some of the more unknown parts of the underbelly of the world. He briefly wondered just what secrets were buried beneath the trillions of tons of steel, permacreet, glass, and transparisteel.
He'd left those thoughts behind as he strode off to the hangar bay, however. He had gathered the few belongings he had brought with him, and packed them in a bag. Once he had removed all traces of his occupancy, he made haste in order to catch the first available shuttle to take him down to the planet. The "we're sorry for your loss" looks the soldiers had given him the day before on the bridge had partially subsided, but he still sensed most of them emanating sympathy and pity. Some even felt genuine grief of their own. He inwardly scoffed at that. They'd probably never even met Luke Skywalker. Not that Luke would have been aloof or distant if he had—in fact, quite the opposite—but Jacen found their grief somewhat absurd, considering the conspicuous lack of any personal relationship. He brushed past all these soldiers, unwilling to meet their eyes, lest they draw him into a conversation.
He entered the spacious hangar and was surprised to find Mara already somewhere in the hangar. He picked up on her force signature, even though he couldn't see her. He wasn't particularly keen on talking to her at the current juncture. He would be the first to admit that he was no expert when it came to memory-rubbing. He was reasonably certain that it had worked; in regards to her memory at least. When it came to side-effects, he was less sure. Side-effects were still preferable to straight up killing her, however, so he didn't feel too guilty; at least not anymore. He shrugged off the incapacitating train of thought. This is not the time or place.
As he walked over towards the shuttle, the captain approached him. He granted Jacen a perfunctory nod, and clasped his hands behind his back. "Your aunt asked me to direct you to this shuttle, should you fail to arrive. Since you have, that makes my task easier. She's already waiting inside."
"She asked to see me?" Jacen asked, a little worried.
Captain Tesel shrugged, "Not in so many words, but the implication was there."
Jacen nodded and made a move to step past him. Then he came to a halt and fixed the captain with a serious look. "Has the Navy recovered my Uncle's body?"
"I am told that they have," the captain affirmed in a solemn tone. "It's being transported with all due honors to Coruscant. They say Admiral Traest Kre'fey was visibly mourning when the body was placed in a stasis chamber, aboard his flagship."
Jacen smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Captain. I relieve you from the burden of our presence now. If you ever have need of anything, don't hesitate to contact me. What little influence I have, is at your disposal." He had, almost spontaneously, decided to begin behaving more politic. The captain would ascribe his comments to gratitude, while Jacen may gain an ally in the future.
Jacen ascended the boarding ramp, and entered the shuttle. Jacen used the force to find Mara's presence. She was sitting towards the front of the vessel. Jacen walked between the arranged chairs, which were mostly vacant. Aside from the ship's quartermaster and a few marines the vessel was empty. He acknowledged their nods of recognition with one of his own, and kept walking. Mara was sitting at the very front, Jacen noted with amusement. Most of the better pilots that he knew always seemed to sit near the front of any vessel they utilized as passengers. Pilots preferred to be in control, and short of flying themselves, they would sit as close to the cockpit as possible. It gave them the illusion of control, even if it was nothing tangible.
Mara smiled at him, but Jacen wasn't sure if it was genuine or pretense. When she motioned him to sit beside her, he all but exhaled in relief. If she had been suspicious of something, or uncertain in regards to him in any way, she would have asked him to sit opposite of her, within easier striking range. Jacen did as she bid and sat down, buckling himself in.
"I slept really long." Mara pointed out, a certain tinge in her voice; perhaps skepticism.
Jacen went along with it. "I thought you could use the rest," he admitted, half-truthfully.
"I suppose I did," she agreed. "I do feel replenished."
Jacen smiled at her, turning his head to look at her, trying to gauge her reaction. "I hoped you would. It's not going to get easier for a while. There will be many events and people who will keep drenching up the pain. You won't be able to work through any grief for some time to come. I hoped to give you time to rest and gather strength."
Mara met his eyes and smiled a smile, the genuineness of which, even he couldn't doubt. "Thank you, Jacen. I'm glad you're here. You'll serve to ground me in the days to come, I think."
Jacen clasped her hand in his. "It would be my pleasure to be there for you in the days to come." He decided to divert attention from him. "I just talked to Captain Tesel about—" He fell silent, waiting to see if she would prompt him to continue.
"It is fine, Jacen. Just say your part," she said relaxing her head by returning her gaze towards the front of the ship. When she didn't withdraw her sword hand from his grasp he calmed considerably.
"I asked the Captain whether they recovered Luke's body. He affirmed that… his body is on its way to Coruscant." Jacen said, slowly, measuring his words.
Mara's force signature hardened, and he felt her emotions draw inward. "That's… good." She replied, her voice breaking slightly.
Jacen felt the engine thrumming life, and the shuttle rising up off the hangar's floor. Looking through the viewport, Jacen watched silently as they passed through the hangar bay's shield and into space. The vessel veered off towards the planet after the minimal safety distance from the frigate was achieved. The ships intercom crackled and the pilot informed them on the length of the planet fall, and their destination. Jacen was surprised to hear they'd been cleared for landing at the Jedi temple hangars. Captain Tesel or the pilot must have dropped Mara's name and perhaps his own. He stretched out his senses and searched for a presence on the planet below.
It took him a few moments, but he finally located a very subdued force signature, surrounded by many more active ones. Ben seemed to be in the Jedi Temple already. That's good, Jacen mused. He needs to be with family right now. He felt Mara's grief through the force, but when he looked over at her, her face was an impassible mask. She was pouring her grief out, now, while they were still alone, so she could be strong for her son, and in the eyes of the other Jedi, and any potential reporters, which were no doubt going to be lurking in many places on the planet below, hoping for some comments from any of Luke's immediate and extended family. Jacen withdrew his hand from Mara's and folded them in his lap, the very picture of formal relaxation.
He observed their ship passing into the atmosphere, noting several stations in orbit, some of which he recognized. The tell-tale coming and going of interplanetary traffic and shuttles around Corsucant was as busy as ever. It was striking and morosely poignant that things were "business as usual" although the most famous person in the galaxy had died. That wasn't to say that Luke hadn't left a legacy. Luke was and would, no doubt, be remembered when Jacen, Mara, and other contemporary famous people like Jedi Master Corran Horn and Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon had passed from all but the scholarly works on famous personages of the post-Imperial era. Luke had made that particular brand of impact which defied attempts at description . . . but Jacen knew what it was in the simplest and most striking terminology: he'd been 'great'.
As they passed through the last vestiges of the atmosphere, a gust of turbulence rocked the vessel. He turned his attention to Mara. "How did you get to the shuttle?"
"Are you inquiring as to my health?" Mara queried, frowning.
Jacen nodded. "Yes. Are you feeling better?"
"The medical droid intoned that I need to be careful not to stress my lower abdomen, but that I could move about, if careful." She explained methodically.
"That's good," he replied.
The pilot announced that their approach to the landing bay was about to commence. The outside view opened up the magnificent panorama of the senatorial district that housed most of the more well-known public buildings, as well as the Jedi Order's temple, which, although not public, was functioning, much to Jacen's chagrin, as an arm of the government. But then again, old habits die hard. And the Jedi Order had been performing the role of peace keeper for the Republic for over twenty thousand years, and a large part of the order was lobbying for the continuation of that role. Luke had thrown a wrench into the cog works when he relegated the high council, previously the liaison between government and order, to a secondary position. Nominally the Jedi still obeyed the source of their funding, aka the Galactic Alliance.
Jacen could see by the buildings they were passing that they would land any moment. He mentally fortified himself and put on an emotionless mask. It had become his preferred way of interacting with other Jedi. Jedi in general were highly perceptive, and via the force, could garner knowledge that was of the utmost private nature. Not necessarily because they didn't respect privacy, though some did not, but because it was almost involuntary. It wouldn't have been so much of a problem if Jacen did not have things to hide, but he did. And as such he needed to protect himself and his plans. He sensed a minutiae level of disapproval from Mara at his withdrawal but that did not stop him. Partially because the last thing he wanted to do was wipe her memory again. He doubted that it had any side effects… Am I just telling myself that? Jacen wondered, all at once. Perhaps I can only sleep at night if I tell myself that Mara and Ben won't come to harm because of what I did. After all, I destroyed the mind of Tenel Ka's grandmother using a similar, but more offensive method.
Jacen tore himself out of these irrelevant musings just as the vessel set pilot wasn't the best he'd ever flown with, but certainly not the worst if the gentle landing was any indication. Jacen rose to his feet, and helped Mara up. She nodded at him in gratitude, and followed him to the boarding ramp. The other occupants had already left the vessel, mainly because Mara and Jacen were moving at an incredibly slow pace. Jacen knew what to expect when he stepped off the shuttle, but he was still assaulted by a wave of compassion and empathy that staggered him the moment the assembled members of the order caught site of Jacen, and more specifically Mara.
Jacen withdrew into himself as he worked his way through the crowd, responding with unfelt kindness and warmth to the myriad of different well-wishers. The strangely spiritual phrases by the varying species set his teeth on edge, particularly. He did not know how to respond to them exactly, and he did not like people insinuating that their back water spirituality was, in fact, going to claim his uncle's soul or some such. After all, if all of them were right, Luke's soul would have to be split into quite a lot of fragments in order to accommodate them all. And although tolerance was practiced in the majority of the Alliance, he knew that deep down most of these spiritual adherents who said those things to him as he passed by them, believed theirs was the only true perspective and other people were fools.
Jacen was honing in on the faint signature of his cousin, attempting to penetrate the crowd. He started to move away from Mara, who was sort of passing through the clearing Jacen was making through the 'jungle' of people. As he drew away from her, he was forced to a screeching halt when he felt her alarm through the force. He turned towards her instantly, and when he met her eye he could tell that she did not want to be left alone in this crowd. He nodded imperceptibly, and took her hand, drawing her with him.
They had almost reached Ben when Jacen was completely caught off guard by a pair of arms wrapping around him. It was his mother who had surprised him in this manner. He was shocked that she had escaped his awareness so entirely, his focus on Ben apparently blinding him to her presence. Jacen automatically returned her embrace and began to feel genuine empathy when he sensed how distraught his mother really was. Mara went on, subtlety sidestepping and disentangling herself from the mournful scene taking place between Leia and her son, and made a b-line for her own son. Leia's pain was palpable and Jacen felt his own dulled and ignored sadness spiking in response.
Leia pulled back a moment later and looked up at Jacen with tear stained eyes. "How did it happen," she asked, choking down a sob.
Jacen sniffed a bit himself. "Luke being Luke I suppose. He saved the galaxy once more," Jacen said, a little bitterly, feeling a bit of his anger return when he thought of how he'd warned Luke not to go alone. "But this time, he paid the ultimate price."
Leia's face darkened. "Don't speak about him in that way. He died doing what he believed to be right."
Jacen nodded, dejectedly. "You're right. I just wish he wasn't dead. Without Luke…" He trailed off, not wanting to worry his mother.
Leia put her hand on his cheek. "It'll be alright," she reassured him.
Only now did Jacen see his father standing beside Leia. He must have kept out of sight purposefully, being unusually considerate. But that was Han. Tactless and brash unless true tragedy struck . . . and suddenly Han could be the epitome of subtlety. It disconcerted Jacen to see even his father's eyes reddened by grief. He wasn't crying of course, but he must have earlier, in private. People sometimes forgot how close Han and Luke had been all their life. Destiny had very different plans for them, but their paths were interwoven intricately. They had become even closer when Leia and Han had married. But for some reason, true brotherhood never really developed. Perhaps this was because Luke had been so focused on reviving a mystical legacy destroyed by the emperor, combined with Han's life teaching him to keep people at arm's length. These specific aspects of the two men contributed to a measure of distance between them; they were nonetheless friends, and after Chewbacca's death perhaps even best friends, but that was the most they'd allowed between one another.
When Jacen felt his father in the force it was remarkable how seemingly absent he felt. It was reminiscent of how Han had acted, emotionally and physically, when Chewbacca had died. Perhaps Han had been more attached to Jacen's uncle than Jacen had previously assumed. Han gave his son a short but heartfelt hug. "Good to see you kid."
"You to, dad," Jacen responded.
Han shook his head. "I should have been there with him."
Jacen put his hand on his father's shoulder. "Luke was set on doing it on his own. He didn't even want to wait for Mara or myself to recuperate. He felt the need to do this alone."
"Luke always was stubborn…" Han said thoughtfully, and a little angrily.
Jacen caught site of his sister who was working her way through the crowd towards her aunt. Jacen moved to join her, his parents in tow. Mara was hugging her son fiercely. The site of the two of them kneeling on the cold hangar floor, wrapped in a tight hug, stirred even Jacen's strongly guarded emotions. Jaina walked up to Jacen and, uncharacteristically, hugged him. Since becoming a Joiner, something she had only recently been liberated from, she had lost much of her basic human social awareness. However, at this moment her old self apparently won through. Jacen returned her gesture.
"It's good you're here Jaina." He said quietly, so only she could hear.
"We . . . I am happy to be back." She responded, a bit automatically. She was obviously still wrestling with the part of her that had been submerged in the hive mind of the Killiks.
Jacen drew back and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Recover quickly. I may soon need your help."
Leaving her to mull over the cryptic statement he made his way over to Mara. Ben Skywalker must have sensed his approach for he raised his head off of his mother's shoulder and looked at Jacen with wet eyes. He pulled back from his mother, and came over to Jacen who knelt on the cold floor of the hangar bay. Ben stopped a pace from his cousin and peered up at him quizzically.
"How are you feeling?" Jacen asked his young cousin.
Ben sniffed. "Sad."
Jacen nodded in understanding and placed his hand on Ben's shoulder. "Your father died a hero."
Mara, Jacen's parents, and Jacen's sister stood quietly by listening to the exchange. Ben looked at the floor. "He was a hero too often." Jacen projected his confusion so that Ben could sense it. "He wasn't a father enough." Ben explained.
Jacen pulled his cousin closer, and Ben reluctantly approached. "It takes a very special type of man to put the good of all before the good of those he loves the most . . . it takes the very best of men to do that. That's who your father was: all that is good and virtuous in the galaxy. Don't be angry at him. Aspire to be him one day, instead." Jacen whispered so only the two of them could hear.
Ben shook his head. "I don't want to be like him. I'd rather be selfish and happy than a tragic hero."
When Mara overheard her son say those words she audibly sobbed, but instantly chocked off the crack in her façade. Jacen grasped his cousin's shoulders more firmly, but not painfully. "He was not tragic Ben. He died with the gratitude of the Galactic Alliance. That's the opposite of tragic. It's glorious."
Ben looked at him thoughtfully. "But what about the people who knew and loved him, who are still there when he is gone?"
Jacen smiled sadly. "It's our job to remember him well and respect his memory… and if necessary, to carry on his fight."
Ben sniffled a little, at his angry visage broke a little. "But Nomi is dead right?"
Jacen shook his head sadly. "Yes she is, but there will always be threats and dangers directed at the good in the galaxy, the lawful, and the civilized."
"So what should I do?" his little cousin asked him, finally seeming more the young boy, only a decade old.
Jacen lowered his voice even more. "You have to grow up fast. Even faster than I, or even Anakin had to. I'm deeply sorry that it has to be that way, but you are the son of the most powerful Jedi who ever lived and Mara Jade, a powerful Jedi in her own right. You're the unparalleled force user of your generation. The galaxy will need you well before you reach technical adulthood. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Ben gave him what was his best impression of a serious expression, "I can do it, Jacen. And you can teach me how, right?" And with those words, Ben embraced his cousin, and finally let his tears flow. Jacen returned the embrace and said in a soothing tone: "Of course Ben, I wouldn't want it any other way."