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Author Topic: Shattered Mirror (Post-TUF, Major AU, J/J, A/T, Kyle, Danni) SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 5/7/08
rebel_cheese 
Registered: Jul '06
42800_Anakin Solo
Date Posted: 7/31/06 6:33pm Subject: Shattered Mirror (Post-TUF, Major AU, J/J, A/T, Kyle, Danni) SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 5/7/08 - Date Edited: 5/7 10:22pm (47 edits total) Edited By: rebel_cheese
Title: Shattered Mirror
Author: Draconarius/rebel_cheese
Genre: action/alternate universe
Timeframe: a little under a year after TUF
Characters: Jaina, Jag, Kyle Katarn, Anakin, Tahiri, Wynssa, Valin, Zekk, OCs
Summary: Jaina and Jag are hurled into an alternate universe where the Vong won the war.
Link to old thread: Previous Shattered Mirror Thread

Disclaimer: I own nothing! GL owns Star Wars, and Draconarius owns not only the first nineteen chapters, but this story as well. I am merely continuing and finishing it for him. Any changes and additions I have made have been with his permission.

This is Draconarius' extended summary from the old thread:
Jaina and Jag have just gotten engaged on Csilla and are now on their way back to Denon to break the news to Jaina's extended family. They are just about to arrive at Denon when, durnig a routine course correction, the fiances run into an ion mine. Since their ships are seemingly unaffected, they decide to jump to hyperspace. When they come out, they find themselves in an alternate universe where the unthinkable has happened: the Yuuzhan Vong won the war!

Anyway, I don’t want to give too much away here (and, trust me, the alternate universe thing is the LEAST of the surprises I have!), so I’ll stop rambling and let you all get down to the reading. Enjoy!

CURRENT PM LIST (Just ask if you wish to be added/removed):

voxynking
zettazofia
The_Silent_One
skywalker64089
oldjedinurse
Lola64
Chilla
Stickster
RevaDurron
Fiana_Novarr
Inara
SilSolo
SpiritofEowyn
princess_of_naboo
ChissGoddess
Danni_Quee_Solo
alanna_mara
jaina_clan_solo
goddess45
G__Anakin
nikjo88
jasa
DARTH_MU
ikarit
Jek_Windu
Ultima_1
for a grand total of 26 pms every update tired

Dramatis Personae

Anakin Solo; Jedi knight (male human)
Artran Kharran; Warmaster (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Azias Sharn; Jedi apprentice (male human)
Ben Skywalker; child (male human)
Blaine Harris: Prime Minister of Bakura (male human)
Cirila Keryln; Jedi apprentice (female Chiss)
Danni Quee Durron; Jedi knight (female human)
Denn Jerrevick; Bakuran military officer (male human)
Derek 'Hobbie' Klivian: Halo squadron leader (male human)
Grell Panib: Deputy Prime Minister of Bakura (male human)
Inyri Forge: fighter pilot (female human)
Jagged Fel; CEDF officer (male human)
Jaina Solo; Jedi knight (female human)
Johnarath Ducaris; Bakuran admiral (male human)
Jysella Horn; child (female human)
Kittasallia "Kitty" Charlas; captain, Requiem (female human)
Kyle Katarn; Jedi master (male human)
Malinza Thanas; Bakuran military officer (female human)
Myri Antilles; child (female human)
Nas Choka: Yuuzhan Vong warlord (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Nek Bwua'tu: captain, Challenger (male Bothan)
Nom Anor; prefect (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Omini; Shamed One (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Riina Kharran; warrior (female Yuuzhan Vong)
Sharrvon Kharran; captain, Sunslayer (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Shimrra; Supreme Overlord (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Tahiri Veila Solo; Jedi knight (female human)
Valin Horn; Jedi knight (male human)
Wedge Antilles; captain, Lusankya (male human)
Wynssa Fel; fighter pilot (female human)
Yannik; captain, Archangel (male from Yoda’s species)
Yakown Reth: fighter pilot (male human)
Zekk; Jedi knight (male human)

Again, the first nineteen chapters were written by Draconarius. I hope, whether you are one of the original 21 PMers or a complete newbie to Shattered Mirror, that you will enjoy reading his writing, whether for the first time or the hundredth.

I also hope that you will enjoy my additions to Draco's fantastic saga.

-RC

 

-----signature-----
Padawan of princess_of_naboo
E-married to the amazing padawanlost love
Member of Charon_Force
Beginning's End: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28450077&brd=10477&replies=1
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rebel_cheese 
Registered: Jul '06
42800_Anakin Solo
Date Posted: 7/31/06 6:35pm Subject: RE: Shattered Mirror (Post-TUF, Major AU, J/J, A/T, Kyle, Danni )*RE-POST IN PROGRESS*
CHAPTER ONE


“You know, Jaina, I still think we should have taken a shuttle,” Jag said into the comm after he had successfully reverted to realspace.

“Only because you want to use me as a way to keep yourself occupied,” Jaina replied from her X-wing.

“No!” Jag snapped. “Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to sleep in a Clawcraft?”

“About as uncomfortable as it is to sleep in a X-wing?”

“You’re a Jedi, I’m not!”

“Stop complaining,” Jaina told him. “We’ll be at Ossus soon enough, my dear fiancé.”

Jag smiled as she said that. “I love hearing that.”

“What? We’ll be at Ossus soon enough?”

“No, the word fiancé. Spoken by you. In reference to me,” Jag corrected. “I’m so glad you changed your mind about us.”

“It’s been eight months since what I said on Sekot, Jag. And I never said I didn’t want to be with you!” Jaina replied. “I guess I was just more lonely than I expected I would be.”

“Are you saying you missed me?”

“Of course I missed you!” Jaina replied. “I love you, Jag. I think I always wanted to marry you. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make this work. I don’t care if I have to resign from—.”

“I won’t let you resign, Jaina,” Jag stated.

“We’ll figure it out later,” Jaina sighed. “Right now, I just want to get to Ossus and tell everyone. I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces.”

“Neither can I, Jaina,” Jag sighed, but more to himself. “Neither can I.”

“Ready to jump yet?”

“Just about—.”

Suddenly, Jag’s eyes were hit with a massive burst of pure white light directly in front of him, and he felt his Clawcraft get knocked hard to the left at the same instant. Over the comm he heard a cry of surprise from Jaina, just as he looked away from the Clawcraft’s canopy and covered his eyes with his hand.

“What in the name of the Force was that?” Jaina demanded. “Are you alright, Jag?”

“Yeah,” Jag replied, blinking to try and get the white spots out of his eyesight. “Oh, damn it…that’s better.”

“Is your ship okay?”

“Haven’t checked,” Jag sighed as he reached for the main console and started a diagnostic. Jag watched as each of the systems came up green. He thought he saw the hyperdrive safeties come up red, but as soon as he blinked it turned green. Jag dismissed it as his nearly blinded eyes playing up. He rubbed at them, trying to make them focus, before looking at the display again. Everything came up green.

“I’m fine,” Jag said.

“Same here,” Jaina replied. “Looks like that was an energy discharge. No source for it, though.”

“Oh well,” Jag said. “Weird things happen in space. Let’s get going to Denon, we can get a survey ship to check this out.”

“Right,” Jaina replied. “Jump in three…two…one…now.”

--------------------------------------

“What in the name of…? Sir! Two fighters just—!”

Everyone on the Archangel’s bridge, including Jedi Master Kyle Katarn, ducked as two fighters flew over their heads, mere metres from the ship’s hull.

“What the?” Kyle sighed to himself as he stood again, watching the two fighters fly away. Kyle took one look around the ship’s bridge, which was identical to all of the other Star Destroyers in the now-wiped-out Imperial fleet, spotted the ship’s captain standing halfway down the walkway, and started walking towards him.

“Identify those ships!” Captain Yannik ordered as Kyle approached. The green, two-foot-tall alien didn’t take his eyes away from the two fighters as he ordered his crew. “Where did they come from?”

“They just…appeared right on top of us,” A crewman from the left crew-pit replied. “One looks like a XJ, the other looks like a Chiss Clawcraft.”

“Clawcraft?” Kyle repeated in surprise. “That can’t be right. There’s none in existence anymore.”

“Yet, one seems to have just flown past our bridge,” Yannik commented, looking up at Kyle.

“You don’t think I noticed?” Kyle replied.

“No, I am sure you noticed. I was just grabbing an opportunity to point out one of the few ignorant comments that come out of you,” Yannik replied. “Where did they come from?”

“You expect me to know?”

“You are the Jedi Master here, correct?”

“Doesn’t make me all-knowing, Yannik,” Kyle stated. “Comm, try and tap their comm system!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Are you sure that is wise?” Yannik asked. “They might not like us spying on them.”

“They have two fighters, we have a Star Destroyer,” Kyle said. “They have no say in the matter,” Kyle took a deep breath before he continued. “Might be a good idea to double check the cloak. Make sure the field wasn’t disrupted by that little flyby.”

“Yes,” Yannik replied, and then began ordering the crew again. “Perform a diagnostic on the cloaking systems! Get the Black Knights ready for launch!”

Kyle took one last look at the two fighters before leaving Yannik to his job and heading for the comm station at the back of the bridge. The officer there was already busy tapping the fighters’ comm systems. Kyle took a quick look at her progress before taking his commlink from his belt and activating it.

“Danni.”

“Yes, Kyle?”

“Get up to bridge at once,” Kyle ordered. “We have a little problem.”

“Sir,” The communications officer interrupted. “Got it…”

-------------------------------------

“What in the name of the Force…” Jaina breathed as soon as the reversion to realspace was complete. She was staring at her destination, but at the same time, she knew it couldn’t be her destination. It couldn’t be Denon.

The planet slowly spinning in front of her ship looked more like Serpindal than Denon. What parts of the planet that weren’t burning were covered with city-size craters. Jaina couldn’t sense anything alive down there. The whole thing was dead. Beyond dead. There was nothing. No people, animals, not even plant life. The whole thing was just…empty.

“Jaina…what happened?” Jag stammered from his Clawcraft.

“Denon…” Jaina sighed. There was only one explanation for what the planet looked like; bombardment. “This isn’t possible. It would take weeks to do this much damage…we’ve been only been gone for two.”

“Coordinates are right,” Jag said. “This is Denon.”

“It can’t be,” Jaina sighed in astonishment. “Uncle Luke…mom…dad…”

“They’re alright, Jaina,” Jag said in his very-effective reassuring voice. “They would have made it off planet in time.”

“Jag…” Jaina whimpered. “Jag, they didn’t. I can’t sense them through the Force. Any of them! Mom, dad, Uncle Luke, Jacen, Aunt Mara…no one!”

“Calm down, Jaina—.”

“Calm down?” Jaina screamed. “My family is dead, Jag—!”

“Jaya, you said yourself that this can’t be Denon! It isn’t possible!” Jag interrupted. “It’s probably the Force playing tricks on you.”

“Jag—!”

“Jaya, stop it!” Jag snapped. “This won’t help anyone!” Something on his side of the comm suddenly got his attention. “Jaina…I’m picking up a ship. Bearing three-five-five mark four-seven.”

Jaina tore her eyes away from the burning sphere that used to be Denon to look at her sensors. Sure enough, there was a ship sitting there.

“Cappie, ID that ship,” Jaina instructed her Astromech.

[Class is unknown, but, judging by size, it’s a frigate] Cappie answered. [Its design is definitely Yuuzhan Vong in origin]

“A Vong ship?” Jaina asked in shock. “Here? Now?”

“But…” Jag stammered. “But…the peace treaty. The Vong should be…oh no.”

“What is it?” Jaina asked.

“I think it’s seen us,” Jag replied. “It’s coming at us, picking up speed.”

Jaina checked her sensors to confirm that. The Vong ship was flying straight towards them, and launching Coralskippers.

“Oh no…” Jaina sighed. “Not again.”

-------------------------------------------

“This can’t be a trap,” Danni stated quietly. “Not even the Vong would underestimate us like this.”

Kyle nodded, acknowledging that he had heard Danni, but he didn’t say anything. The Vong escort frigate was rapidly approaching the two starfighters, as was its force of Coralskippers. That kind of force would annihilate the X-wing and Clawcraft.

“We could help them, Kyle,” Danni whispered. “De-cloak, blast the frigate, and get the Black Knights to take out those skippers.”

“We don’t know if there are more Vong out there or not, Danni,” Kyle replied. “I don’t want to risk the Archangel like that.”

“You’d rather lose a chance like this?” Danni asked. “Those are two perfect-condition fighters out there, and, by the looks of things, they have experienced pilots. We could use them!”

“Danni…” Kyle sighed. She was right; opportunities like this were far too rare to be passed up. But the last time something like this had happened it had turned out to be a trap. Kyle didn’t want to make another mistake that would cost him ten Jedi knights. He didn’t even have ten Jedi knights, himself included. “It’s too risky, Danni. We can’t.”

“Kyle!” Danni said hurriedly. “Luke would agree with me! You know that! This is too small scale to be a trap. We should help them!”

Kyle folded his arms across his chest, deliberating on what to do. They were so close to Coruscant…if this was a trap, fifty Vong ships would be on them in a heartbeat. And, even if it wasn’t a trap, if they took too long to kill the enemy, just as many ships in would arrive just as quickly.

“Kyle, those Coralskippers will be on them in a few seconds!” Danni stated, almost pleadingly. “That frigate is in weapons range. We can kill it before they know we’re even here!”

Kyle didn’t reply.

“Kyle!”

“Captain Yannik!” Kyle shouted.

“Master Katarn?”

“Lock all guns on that escort frigate and open fire!”

-------------------------------------

“Damn it, they’re too fast!” Jaina snapped. “Since when can coralskippers move that fast?”

“They can’t!” Jag corrected. “Jaina, there’s only six of them. We can take them!”

“We can’t handle six Coralskippers by ourselves, Jag!”

“Why not? Uncle Wedge beat twelve by himself, and he wasn’t even a Jedi!” Jaina’s console beeped loudly, warning her that the Coralskippers were almost within weapons range. Jag’s console must have done the same thing, judging by the hurried tone he suddenly began using. “Jaina, we don’t have a choice! We either turn and fight now or get shot in the back!”

“Argh…fine!” Jaina snarled, hauling back hard on her control stick. “Stay close, Jag!”

“Right with you, Jaya,” Jag replied.

The two fighters looped around and aimed themselves straight back at their pursuers—six fully armed and operational Coralskippers. The chunks of coral began to hurl plasma at the X-wing and Clawcraft, all of which Jaina had little trouble dodging. Jag was a little less fortunate; several blasts scraped along his shields. Both pilots began returning the plasma with energy, all of which was absorbed by the skip’s dovan basals. The skips broke away at the last second, letting Jaina and Jag fly straight past them, right towards the escort frigate’s cannon-covered bow. Jaina tensed, ready to start jinking through a hail of orange lava.

She didn’t need to. She and Jag weren’t even within weapons range when massive bright green hyphens on energy appeared out of nowhere from behind the Vong frigate. Caught utterly by surprise, the dovin basals hadn’t even begun to devote themselves to absorbing the incoming fire when the heavy turbolaser blasts slammed into the frigate’s stern, vaporising yorik coral and sending the ship into a lazy tumble. Blast after blast hammered the frigate, sending chunks of coral off into space and leaving gaping wounds in the ship’s back and belly. Behind it, space seemed to shimmer as the green hyphens appeared from out of nowhere, until finally the shimmering stopped and a massive, pure-white warship appeared in its place, starfighters already pouring out of its belly.

“What in the name of…” Jag sighed.

“This is Captain Yannik of the Archangel to the X-wing’s pilot,” Whoever was calling had a peculiar accent. Jaina had no idea what species he was. “Three Scorcher fighters will form up alongside you and your wingman and escort you both to our docking bay.”

“But what about the coralskippers?” Jaina demanded.

“They are already dead. Please follow the escort ships to the hangar, young lady. They are under specific orders to destroy you if you deviate from that course.”

Already dead? Jaina thought, looking back towards the coralskippers. There was no way that it could be that easy to deal with six supped up coralskippers!

As she watched and began to realise that she was wrong, the space around the enemy ships suddenly became full of burst of red laser fire. It was only then that Jaina spotted the pure-black starfighters that were ripping the coralskipper force to shreds. The black starfighters darted around the coralskippers, seemingly aiming for one skip before darting right and letting off a quick round at a different one. To the untrained eye, they seemed to have no discernable formation or coordination, but to Jaina…she could easily pick up the Force-bond between all twelve pilots as they darted around like a swarm of excited insects. Each pilot knew exactly what the other five were going to do before they did it, allowing them to coordinate and attack from three or four angles in just a split second. Jaina had never seen any squadron—including Jedi ones—fly like that!

“Attention, X-wing and Clawcraft!” That was one of Jaina and Jag’s three escorts, who were only know forming up around their fighters in a triangle. “You will follow me into the Archangel’s hangar bay, understood?”

“Wait a minute!” Jag replied. “Wyn? What the hell are you—how—what?”

“How the hell do you know my name?” Jag’s little sister replied.

“Wyn…it’s me!” Jag said, shocked that his own sister didn’t recognise his voice. “Your brother!”

“My brother’s been dead for four years, you impostor!” Wyn snapped angrily. “Now follow me to the Archangel before I decide to blow you both back to Coruscant!” The channel closed.

“Jaina…” Jag stammered. “Jaina…that’s not possible. Wyn can’t be here! She’s at Csilla! I saw her three kriffing days ago!”

“Jag, get a grip!” Jaina snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed, Denon is gone, there’s a cloaking Star Destroyer in front of us, and that squadron that just wiped out the coralskippers is full of Jedi! Considering all that, is your sister being here so shocking?”

“Jaina, none of this can be happening!” Jag replied. “We…I…they…Jaina, what the hell is going on?”

Jaina took a deep breath before she answered. Now was not the time to be trying to figure things out. Not when they had an entire Star Destroyer threatening to destroy them if they didn’t cooperate. “Look, Jag, the captain of that thing was serious when he said that he’d shoot us down if we didn’t do as he said. Maybe he can tell us what’s going on around here.”

“Jaina—.”

“Jag, what choice do we have? If we don’t land, we get blasted. If we do land, we might just get some answers.”

Jaina heard Jag take a breath himself. “Alright…alright, we’ll land. That’ll give me a chance to talk to Wyn, anyway. What the hell was she talking about? I’m not dead!”

“Ask her once we’re on the deck,” Jaina replied, following Wyn’s fighter underneath the Star Destroyer. “I’ve got a few questions for her, myself.”

-------------------------------

“We have them, Kyle,” Wynssa reported over the comm.

“Is something wrong, Wynssa?” Danni asked before Kyle could. He had also picked up the tidal wave of emotion surging through the girl. Wyn wasn’t the easiest person to read, especially over a comm channel, but when something really upset her it was as obvious as a charging reek.

“He…the clawcraft’s pilot…he said he was…was my brother! Jag!” Wyn stammered. “He can’t be my brother! Jag’s been dead for—.”

“Settle down, Wyn,” Danni said softly. “Just get back onto the Archangel, and then we can see if it is your brother or not.”

“But it can’t be—!”

“Listen to Danni, Wyn,” Kyle ordered. “She and I will meet you on the deck, alright?”

“Right,” Wyn said, finally getting her composure back. “Right. I’m sorry.”

“Just get back onto the Archangel,” Kyle repeated before closing the channel and turning to Danni. “I watched Jagged Fel die at Borleias. There was no way that he could have ejected in time. And even if he did, the Vong would have tortured him to death within a week!”

“The Vong frigate has been completely destroyed. Once the Black Knights land, we will cloak and jump to hyperspace,” Yannik reported as he approached the two Jedi standing at the comm station. He only then seemed to notice the look of puzzlement on Kyle’s face. “Is something wrong?”

“Wynssa—Lieutenant Fel just told us that the clawcraft’s pilot is claiming to be her brother,” Kyle announced. “He’s been dead for almost four years.”

“And the X-wing’s pilot?” Yannik asked.

“She didn’t say anything,” Kyle sighed. “But she’s a Jedi. Anakin told me that just before Wyn called.”

“Could any of the other knights tell?” Yannik inquired.

“No,” Kyle admitted. “Which is puzzling.”

“As puzzling as Wyn’s dead brother flying a fully-operational Clawcraft?” Danni asked.

Kyle nodded in agreement. “I’ll be in the hangar, Yannik.”

Yannik nodded and turned back to his crew as Kyle and Danni headed for the turbolift, hell bent on finding out who these two pilots were.

 

-----signature-----
Padawan of princess_of_naboo
E-married to the amazing padawanlost love
Member of Charon_Force
Beginning's End: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28450077&brd=10477&replies=1
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rebel_cheese 
Registered: Jul '06
42800_Anakin Solo
Date Posted: 7/31/06 6:36pm Subject: RE: Shattered Mirror (Post-TUF, Major AU, J/J, A/T, Kyle, Danni )*RE-POST IN PROGRESS*
CHAPTER TWO


Jaina didn’t even wait for her X-wing to shut down properly before she tore off her crash restraints and pushed her canopy open and all but vaulted out of her X-wing.

The first thing that struck her about the Archangel’s hangar was that it looked more like a freighter’s cargo hold than a warship’s hangar deck. There were four fighters on the floor, all in various stages of maintenance and repair and all without tech crews. Equipment and parts lay scattered around the ships. Up in the racks that would, Jaina guessed, have supported TIE fighter craft at one stage, were dozens of the pitch-black fighters that had just wiped out the coralskipper squadron outside the ship. Jaina had never seen anything like them—Scorchers, Captain Yannik had called them. She instantly recognised that the main hull was that of an X-wing, but the wings were gone, replaced by blocky engine pods, one on each side. Each pod had two laser cannons installed in the front, in addition to what looked like two more built into the nose, above the torpedo launchers, for a total of six laser cannons.

Nice upgrade, Jaina thought. At the same time, she wondered how she could never have been told about a ship like that. Why would the Alliance keep a new fighter craft secret from their single best pilot?

Yet another thing that didn’t make sense. That made well over a dozen in the past five minutes. Denon blasted…cloaking Star Destroyers…amazingly good coralskippers…the war still on…Jag’s baby sister flying one of those Scorchers…she was already getting a headache trying to think all of those things through.

“Jaina!” Jag called as he jumped down from atop his Clawcraft and raced over to his fiancé. “Jaya, are you okay?”

Jaina let Jag wrap his arms around her. “I’m fine, Jag. My X-wing didn’t even take a scratch,” Jaina wriggled out of Jag’s arms and looked around the hangar, fixing her eyes on the three Scorcher fighters that had escorted her and Jag into the hangar. The lead one’s cockpit was already opening, and the pilot scrambled out before her cockpit had even opened halfway. Wyn, Jaina realised. She was about to point her out to Jag when she heard the unmistakable sound of a dozen blaster rifles loading.

Jaina turned to face the loaded rifles, and wasn’t too surprised to see a dozen stormtroopers advancing towards her and Jag, ordering them not to move. Wynssa saw the stormtroopers walking towards her brother and raced over, discarding her flight helmet like an empty blaster cartridge.

“Back off!” She yelled. “Lower your weapons, damn it! Back off!”

“Sorry, Lieutenant Fel, but Captain Yannik—.”

“I don’t care what Captain Yannik told you to do!” Wyn howled at the officer, shoving him back as she rushed past him and straight towards Jag. She stopped a few metres away from Jag, face covered in shock.

“Wyn,” Jag sighed, finally glad to see someone he recognised. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Wyn, what’s going on?” he demanded.

“Jag…?” Wyn asked softly. “Jag…it…can’t…you’re dead…”

“Wyn, what are you talking about?” Jag asked. “I’m not dead! I left you and mom and dad at Csilla three days ago! How the hell did you—?”

“Csilla?” Wyn repeated in shock.

“Yes, Csilla,” Jag said. “You know, where our family’s been living for the past couple of decades!”

“J-Jag…” Wyn stammered. “Jag, Csilla doesn’t…doesn’t exist anymore! The Vong, they…they…”

“Csilla’s gone?” Jag snapped. “That’s not possible! I saw you and mom and dad there a week ago!”

“Jag, that can’t be right,” Wyn stammered. “Csilla’s been gone for almost three years! Mom and dad are dead. And so are you!”

Jag’s face screamed confusion. “Wyn—what—I—.”

Jaina was just as confused as Jag was, which was part of the reason why she hadn’t spoken up yet. As Jag and his sister talked, Jaina became increasingly aware of a large number of Jedi in the hangar. She glanced at the space near Wyn’s fighter and saw six more Scorchers landing near it. The pilot of one of them was out of his ship before it even touched down, flipping in the air with the ease that the Force granted and deftly landing, already sprinting over to Jaina and Jag, calling out Wyn’s name. Wyn pulled away from Jag and let the pilot enwrap her in his arms.

“Valin…” She whimpered into his shoulder.

“Valin?” Jaina demanded, finally recognising the young man. She had seen him less than a month ago, on Ossus, but the young man who was holding Jag’s sister looked a lot different. He seemed…darker. His left hand was gloved, and Jaina could clearly see a pronounced scar running from his right eyebrow back up into the hairline of his pure-white hair. “Valin…what the heck happened to you? What happened to your hair? Where’d you get that scar?”

“Wyn, who the hell are these two?” Valin demanded, intently examining Jag.

“That’s my…brother,” Wyn answered.

“What?” Valin snapped, studying Jag all the more. “That’s not possible, you’re dead,” Valin glanced at Jaina. “And who the hell are—Oh. My. Force. You…that’s not…oh Force…”

“Valin, what are you going about?” Jaina demanded.

“You…you’re…” Valin’s eyes darted frantically from Jaina to Jag and back again. “You’re both dead!”

“Do I look dead to you?” Jaina demanded.

Valin just stared at Jaina and Jag in disbelief. “You…” He said to Jaina. “You’ve been dead for just under three years. And you…” he looked at Jag. “You died just over a month after she did. There’s no way you two can be alive!”

“Valin, what’s going on?” Yet another pilot pushed his way past the group of very confused stormtroopers. Jaina took one look at him—

And froze.

As did he.

Both their looks were identical; they were both staring at a loved member of their family who had died in front of their eyes.

“I think you already know her, Anakin,” Valin remarked.

Anakin didn’t even acknowledge the younger Jedi’s presence. The only thing he and Jaina could focus on was each other. Anakin was the first to move, taking the final few steps towards Jaina very slowly and laying a wary hand on her shoulder, as if trying to prove to himself that he wasn’t staring at a ghost or a hallucination. Seeing her long-dead little brother standing before her was enough to put Jaina into shock; feeling his hand on her shoulder was enough to make her mind just stop. Jaina didn’t even notice her vision begin to narrow or her legs begin to collapse.

By the time she did notice, Jag and Anakin were already trying to catch her as she fainted.

------------------------------------------

Kyle shook his head as he stared through the glass at Jag Fel and his unconscious fiancé. “This isn’t possible,” He sighed. “Those two are dead. I watched Jagged Fel’s fighter get turned into a supernova at Borleias.”

“Jaina died in that torture chamber on Myrkr,” Anakin added from his seat. “She died in my arms, for heaven’s sake.” The young Jedi’s voice was getting increasingly choked by the tears he was fighting back. The only thing that was keeping Anakin from collapsing and breaking down completely was the loving embrace of his wife.

“It’s alright, Anakin,” Tahiri said softly.

“Tahiri, stop it!” Anakin snapped, a little too angrily. “Just…that’s my sister in there, damn it! That’s Jaina…but…she’s…she’s dead. The Vong tortured her to death.”

“And I watched them do it,” Wynssa sobbed from her place in her boyfriend’s arms. Kyle saw her flinch as she remembered the nightmarish torture session she and Jaina Solo had been put through on Myrkr. Both Wyn and Jaina had been horribly tortured; the only reason that Wyn was alive while Jaina wasn’t was because the Vong had used the former girl as a test subject for their torture methods, so they were reluctant to kill her. With Jaina, however, they hadn’t been as restrained.

“Shhh, Wyn,” Valin whispered into his girlfriend’s ear. “Stop talking about it.”

“I’m open to suggestions,” Kyle announced, looking around the observation room at the eight Jedi and two officers gathered there. “If anyone can think of a way this is possible, I’d like to hear it.”

“Clones?” Zekk suggested from where he was leaning against the wall.

“Why would the Vong go to so much trouble?” Captain Yannik asked. The green alien was standing atop the centre table so that he could look through the observation window at Jaina and Jag.

“Shimrra has been obsessed with destroying the Archangel ever since we…took it,” Danni added. “One of them might have a tracking device on them.”

“No,” Cirila Keryln said. The young Chiss woman was standing near Kyle, not paying much attention to Jaina and Jag. “The Vong had absolutely no idea we were going to be at Denon. They couldn’t have set this up. And, even if they did, why just pull out an escort frigate? Why not hide an interdictor and a few battleships around somewhere and jump them in when they lost contact with the frigate?”

“Cirila’s right,” Zekk said. “It wasn’t a Vong trap. Besides, them using a X-wing and Clawcraft is a little out of character.”

Kyle nodded in agreement. “The Vong wouldn’t break their hatred of technology, not even to kill us off.”

“Still, clones are a possibility,” Tahiri said. “They might have wanted to try to turn Jaina into a Vong warrior, or something.”

“But why clone Jag?” Azias Sharn said, putting an end to Tahiri’s argument.

“Let’s go through what we’ve ruled out,” Kyle said. “We know they can’t be clones, and we also know that they can’t be Jaina Solo and Jagged Fel. Jagged Fel was shot down at Borleias, and Jaina died on Myrkr. What does that leave us with?”

“Not much,” Yannik commented.

“Perhaps we should ask them,” Danni suggested.

“I’ll do it,” Anakin said.

“No,” Kyle ordered. “If Jaina has another reaction to seeing you like she did in the hangar, I doubt you’ll get very much out of her,” the Jedi master turned to Valin and Wynssa. “Wyn, you’re Jagged’s brother. You and Valin might be able to get something out of them.”

“I…I’ll try,” Wynssa said. Anyone could tell that the girl was shaken by seeing her long dead brother. Kyle had never seen her so emotionally stressed before. Well, he thought, except for when they brought her back from Myrkr. I’ve never seen another person that traumatised.

“We’ll give it a shot,” Valin agreed.

“Good,” Kyle sighed, turning to Cirila and Azias. “Cirila, take Azias and look at the X-wing and Clawcraft. Get some of the technicians to help you.”

“Yes, Master,” Cirila nodded.

“Anakin, Tahiri, you two can stay here and monitor Valin and Wyn, if you want,” Kyle suggested.

Anakin shook his head. “No, I…I need to work on…finish the MJS-01. I…”

Kyle nodded in understanding. Anakin needed a little time to work through the huge shock of finding a clone—or whatever this girl was—of his dead sister.

“Danni, Zekk, the three of us need to consult the archives and try to find anything that could explain this,” Kyle said as he pointed at Jaina and Jag.

“I will get us as far away from the core worlds as possible,” Yannik stated. “After our attack here, the systems will be littered with Yuuzhan Vong battleships within a few days. And if we run into Warmaster Rvarren’s ship again we won’t have any chance of escaping a second time.”

“We all know what we have to do, then,” Kyle announced. “Get to it.”

-------------------------------------

Jag glanced back at the mirror behind him. He knew that someone was watching him and Jaina. He didn’t particularly care, though; from Wyn’s reaction to seeing him and Jaina, to hearing her talk about Csilla being gone, to seeing Jaina’s little brother alive, he was pretty well beyond caring about little stuff like that.

Jaina still hadn’t woken up yet; the medics here on the Archangel had said that she had just fainted in shock. Jag hadn’t seen Wyn since he had walked into the med lab. He hadn’t seen Valin either. The boy had seemed a little too close to Wyn for Jag’s liking. I swear, if he’s slept with her, I’ll break his neck, Jedi or not! He thought.

The door hissed open behind Jag. He turned, and wasn’t surprised to see Wyn walk in, her face still blanched, as if she was staring at a ghost. Jag could only see the left side of her face; she had the right covered by her hair. It looked…weird. Not altogether unattractive, but still weird.

“Wyn,” Jag sighed in relief. Finally, he thought, someone I can talk to!

Wyn reached up and touched Jag’s cheek as he put his hand on her shoulder, trying to see if she was indeed looking at a ghost or not. Once she confirmed that Jag wasn’t a spectre, she leapt into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck. “Jag…” She whimpered, sobbing onto his shoulder.

“Wyn, what is going on?” Jag demanded, giving Valin a distinctly evil look as the Jedi walked in and shut the door behind him.

“Colonel,” Valin began. “You might have figured this out by now, but you and Jaina there have both been dead for getting near three years now.”

“Yes, I gathered that much,” Jag replied. “And, if you hadn’t noticed, we’re not dead! What the hell made you think that?”

“You got shot down at Borleias,” Valin explained. “You tried to take on the Warmaster’s coralskipper. You lost. Badly.”

“What?” Jag demanded. “We won at Borleias! We killed that Vong worldship, and Czulkang Lah! Jaina saved my life there! That’s how—.”

Valin let out a long sigh. “Colonel, Jaina was already dead by the time we tried to hold Borleias. She…she died at Myrkr.”

“No. No! Jaina didn’t die at Myrkr!” Jag tried to correct. “Anakin did.”

Valin opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t bother. “Colonel, I don’t know where you’ve been for the past couple of years, but you seem to have a lot of things mixed up.”

“What’s to mix up?” Jag snapped.

“Colonel, calm down,” Valin said. “Look, just sit down, and we’ll see if Wyn and I can bring you up to speed.”

Jag let out a long sigh and released his little sister and took the seat he had been in before Valin and Wyn walked in. Valin leant against the wall behind the chair that Wyn took.

“Alright, Jag, what’s the last thing you remember?” Wyn asked.

“Leaving you and mom and dad at Csilla three days ago,” Jag answered.

Wyn shook her head and brought her hand to her eyes. “That’s…not possible, Jag. Csilla’s been gone for years.”

“And I’m telling you, that’s not possible,” Jag replied. “Eight months ago, we won the war and—.”

“Won?” Valin looked at Jag like the colonel was crazy. “Colonel, eight months ago we lost the war! The Vong took Mon Calamari and wiped out most of the galaxy in less than a week. The only reason any of us are alive is because Kyle and Luke stole the Archangel from the Empire!”

“We lost?” Jag demanded. Why was everything so screwed up all of a sudden? “That’s…I…damn!”

Jag’s outburst made Wyn flinch. “Jag, calm down!” She ordered. “Look, you said you left me and mom and dad at Csilla, right? Did anything happen between then and when you arrived at Denon?”

“No, nothing,” Jag replied. “No, wait! There was that…thing Jaina and I hit. An energy blast, or something. Then we arrive at Denon and find this!”

“Energy blast?” Valin asked. “What energy blast?”

“We dropped out of hyperspace to make a course correction, and we both ran into an energy blast,” Jag said. “It didn’t do anything to our ships. Except for…”

“Except for…what?” Wyn asked.

“I thought I saw the hyperdrive safeties come up damaged for a second, but they turned green again, so I didn’t think about it,” Jag explained. “Could that have done something?”

“Maybe,” Valin ran a hand through his hair. “I need to go talk to Kyle,” He reached down and put a warm, loving hand on Wyn’s shoulder. “Will you be okay, Wyn?”

Jag glared at Valin as he heard the Jedi use Wynssa’s nickname. Neither Valin nor Wyn noticed. “I’ll be fine, Valin,” She reached up and kissed him. “Thanks, sweetie.”

Jag waited for Valin to leave before he started talking again. “So…you and Valin.”

“Yeah, me and Valin,” Wyn replied. “You don’t like him?”

“The guy’s dating my little sister,” Jag said. “That means I automatically hate him.”

Wyn smiled briefly. “Jag, look…I…I know you think that all of this is impossible, but…I’m so happy o see you again. I really am. After Csilla got invaded and I got captured, I—.”

“Captured?” Jag snapped. “The Vong captured you?”

Wyn nodded, slowly. Painfully.

“Wyn, did they torture you?” Jag asked carefully.

Wyn nodded again. The one eye that Jag could see closed as a tear forced its way out of it.

“Oh, Wyn,” Jag said softly, reaching over to his sister and putting his arms around her. “What happened?”

“The Vong attacked Csilla just before they took out Coruscant,” Wyn said, resting her head on Jag’s shoulder. “We never stood a chance. They had only half our numbers, but their admiral was incredible. As good as Thrawn, if not better. Our fleet was wiped out, and then they attacked the planet. Mom and dad and I tried to get off the planet, but we didn’t even reach our ship. Mom and dad were killed, and I was captured. The admiral…he made a special point of torturing me himself. I only escaped because—.”

Jaina let out a soft moan, interrupting Wyn and grabbing Jag’s attention. He turned to look back at his fiancé, then turned back to Wyn, and then back to Jaina. “Wyn, do you mind if—?”

“No, it’s fine,” Wyn sobbed. “Just go make sure she’s okay.”

Jag squeezed his sister one last time before he let go and went over to his fiancé. Jaina’s eyes fluttered open slowly, locking on the ceiling first before she looked at Jag. “Jag, where are we?”

“In a med lab,” He answered.

“Where?” Jaina repeated.

“On the…Archangel,” Jag said.

“How my Force,” Jaina sighed. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?”

Jag shook his head.

“Jaina?” Wyn asked, joining Jag at Jaina’s side. “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” Jaina said as she sat up. “Wait a minute—Anakin! I thought I—!”

“Yes, he’s down in the hangar right now,” Wyn said. “Why?”

“Why?” Jaina yelled. “He’s supposed to be dead, that’s why! He died on Myrkr! We brought his body back and burnt it!”

“Jaina, you’ve got things mixed up,” Wyn interrupted. “Anakin didn’t die at Myrkr,” The young girl took a deep breath. “You did.”

“I did?” Jaina yelled. “What the hell are you—?”

“Settle down, Jaya,” Jag said softly. Calmingly. “Look, I know everything’s a little confusing right now—.”

“Confusing—!”

“But I think Wyn’s telling the truth,” Jag continued, completely ignoring Jaina’s attempt at an interruption. “She told me that Csilla got wiped out, and that she got captured by the Vong. She’s not making it up.”

“Jag, what are you talking about?” Jaina snapped. “This—all of this is impossible! We must have been captured by—.”

“Jaya, we didn’t leave our fighters since we left Csilla,” Jag said. “Look, Valin said that he had an idea just before he left. He’s probably gone to confirm it. We just need to wait for him to get back.”

“Alright,” Jaina relented. “Alright. We’ll wait. But…look, this is really hard for me to…I just…some proof would be good!”

“What about this?” Wyn asked. Jag turned towards his sister, just as she pushed her hair back behind her ear, revealing—

“Oh Force!” Jag sighed as he laid eyes on the scars on Wyn’s face. Her entire right cheek was covered in scars of a dozen different lengths. The longest went from her jaw up to her ear, and it was surrounded by dozens of others. The whole thing looked like an intricately designed pattern, almost like someone had—Oh no.

“Wyn, where did you get those?” Jag asked softly, even though he already knew the answer.

“Myrkr,” Wyn replied. “They’re torture marks.”

“Oh my Force,” Jaina sighed. “You really aren’t making this up.”

“That admiral did that, didn’t he?” Jag asked, putting one hand on Wyn’s shoulder while he touched her scars with the other, just to make sure they weren’t fake. To his horror, they were all too real. Wyn replied with a nod.

“Which admiral?” Jaina demanded. “When did she get tortured? The Vong never even attacked the Chiss! How—?”

“Jaya, I know this doesn’t make sense,” Jag said comfortingly. “But…it does. Somehow. I don’t know how, but everything’s different. We’re the only ones who seem to remember anything otherwise.”

Jaina let out a long sigh. “Wyn, can I see Anakin?”

“Just let me—,” Wyn reached for her commlink, but it beeped before she could pick it up. She grabbed it and answered the caller, turning away from Jaina and Jag to keep them from hearing. A few seconds later, she turned back to Jaina and Jag. “Kyle and Captain Yannik have decided to give you two one of the guest quarters. I can take you right there, if you want.’

“We’re not doing anything sitting around here,” Jaina said. “Whatever.”

 

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rebel_cheese 
Registered: Jul '06
42800_Anakin Solo
Date Posted: 7/31/06 6:42pm Subject: RE: Shattered Mirror (Post-TUF, Major AU, J/J, A/T, Kyle, Danni )*RE-POST IN PROGRESS*
CHAPTER THREE

Valin strode swiftly out of the turbolift the same instant that its doors hissed open. It took him less than a second to spot Kyle, Zekk, and Danni standing over one of the back bridge consoles, studying the information that the officer was bringing up.

“Kyle!” Valin called as he approached them.

“Valin?” Kyle replied. “You’re supposed to be down in the med lab with Wyn and—.”

“They’re fine,” Valin replied. “Wyn needed a chance to talk to her brother privately, anyway. Have you found anything?”

“A few theories, but none of them seem right,” Kyle replied. “Why?”

“Have Cirila and Azias told you anything about the fighters yet?”

“No,” Kyle took his eyes off the screen to look at Valin. “Did our guests say something?”

“Yeah,” Valin replied. “Wyn’s brother said that he and Jaina were on route from Csilla to Denon when they were hit by an energy blast.”

“What kind of energy blast?” Zekk asked.

“He doesn’t know,” Valin replied. “A mine, maybe. In any case, it screwed up his and Jaina’s hyperdrives. Could that be important?”

Kyle shook his head, returning his gaze to the computer screen. “I don’t see how.”

“Actually, it might,” Danni contradicted, getting the attention of the other three Jedi knights.

“How?” Zekk asked.

“Well…” Danni sounded like she was about to say something that would make her look immeasurably stupid. “Hyperspace accidents aren’t unheard of.”

“All of the rumours I’ve heard say that any ship that doesn’t come out of hyperspace gets stuck in there forever,” Zekk said.

“That’s one of the rumours, yes,” Danni continued. “Another one is—.”

“That the unfortunate ship gets thrown into a different dimension,” Valin finished.

Kyle looked at both of them incredulously. “So you’re saying that our two guests down there aren’t from this dimension?” He shook his head. “Sounds like something out of a bad holodrama.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Zekk objected. “It’s not possible.”

“Neither is seeing Jaina alive,” Valin pointed out. “But we all did less than ten minutes ago.”

That comment brought a brief look of sorrow to Zekk’s face, reminding Valin exactly how hard the older Jedi had taken Jaina’s death. Valin glanced away guiltily and moved on.

“Alright, so, if Danni and I are right, how do we prove it?” Valin asked.

Danni, the only real scientist of the group, spoke up. “Well, assuming they are from another universe altogether, their galaxy would be different from ours. People who are dead here are alive over there, and vice versa.”

“Jaina and Jag, for instance,” Kyle pointed out.

“Jag also seems to believe that we should have won the war,” Valin added.

“Won?” Zekk snapped loudly. “How the hell could they have won?”

“What’s stopping them?” Valin snapped right back.

“Don’t be stupid, Valin!” Zekk snarled. “How could they possibly have beat Kharran? Huh?”

“Maybe he never existed,” Valin said. “Died as a child on the way to this galaxy. His parents never met. His parents died as children. His grandparents died as children.”

“We get the idea, Valin,” Kyle interrupted, looking at the three other Jedi gathered around the console. “It is the best explanation we have. The only other reasonable explanation is that the Vong are behind this, and we all know that’s about as likely as Kharran switching sides,” The Jedi master paused for a moment. “I think you’re right.”

After a moment spent in thought, Zekk nodded his agreement.

“Alright then,” Kyle sighed. “My next question is this: who’s going to tell them?”

“What about Wyn?” Zekk asked. “She is Fel’s sister.”

“Wyn’s going to have a hard enough time dealing with this herself!” Valin snapped instantly. “She thought she had gotten one of her family back, and now we’re going to have to tell her that he isn’t her brother at all!”

“That depends on how you look at it, Valin,” Danni said carefully. “He is Jag Fel. Chances are that most of his memories and our Jag’s memories would be the same.”

“The only real difference between them would probably be that that Jag’s still alive,” Zekk added.

“Let’s just let Wyn decide for herself,” Kyle said, cutting off Valin before the young man could utter another argument. “Zekk, I want you to go tell Anakin. Gently,” Kyle looked at Valin. “Valin, you come with Danni and I. I told Wyn to take Jaina and Jag to the guest rooms a few minutes ago; we’ll meet them there. While Danni and I talk to Jaina and Jag, you can take Wyn aside and tell her.”

“Yes, Master,” Valin said with a respectful nod. He would have told Wyn anyway, whether Kyle had told him to or not. In fact, he would have done it whether Kyle had allowed it or not.

But, Valin mused as he, Danni, and Kyle headed towards the bridge turbolift, there was that rather troublesome issue of how to tell Wyn about this. Danni was right; depending on how you looked at it, Jag either was or wasn’t Wyn’s brother. If Valin worded this even slightly wrong, Wyn might break down completely. Valin still remembered how she had been after Jag died at Borleias. He would hate to see her like that again. Absolutely hate it.

------------------------------------------------------

“This is it,” Wyn said as she palmed the controls to open the guest room door, revealing the rather Spartan room beyond.

“Ah, Wyn,” Jag said as he walked in and looked around. “I expected a little more from the ship’s guest quarters.”

“The Archangel’s a warship, Jag, not a hotel,” Wynssa replied, looking around the room herself. There was no carpet; the floor was the same dull metal as the walls and ceiling. The only furniture was the two bunks, couch, table, and two chairs. “Besides, would you rather sleep in your fighters?”

“We’ll take the room,” Jaina said instantly, almost cringing at the thought of spending another night in her X-wing’s cockpit.

“I hope your boyfriend can figure out what’s going on here,” Jag said to Wyn as he sat on the couch.

“Boyfriend?” Jaina snapped, half to Jag and half to his sister. “Her and Valin are dating?”

“For the past month,” Wyn said. “Valin’s been my best friend since Myrkr. Especially after you died, Jag. He nearly died a month ago, and afterwards, we kinda…kissed.”

“Have you slept with him?” Jag demanded.

Wyn nearly laughed. “You know, I’d nearly forgotten just how protective you can be.”

“Well? Have you two had sex yet?” Jag repeated.

“Isn’t that a bit of a private question?” Jaina asked her fiancé quietly.

“It’s fine,” Wyn laughed. “And no, Jag, we haven’t. The last thing I want right now is to get pregnant, and the last thing Valin wants is a pregnant girlfriend. Not when either one of us might not come back from a dogfight.”

“Don’t you have any contraceptives?” Jaina asked.

“Nope,” Wyn said. “We ran out long before Valin and I got together.”

Jaina chose then to jump in and change the subject, much to Wyn’s delight. “Wyn, in the med lab, you said that the Myrkr team scrapped trying to kill the voxyn after we got massacred. Were you saying that the voxyn are still alive?”

Not Myrkr. Why did she have to say Myrkr? Wyn thought, forcing down the horrific memories that name always brought up, and trying to ignore her scars tingling as she remembered how she got them. “Yeah…they’re s-still alive.”

“Wyn, if you don’t want to talk about Myrkr, you don’t have to,” Jag said caringly.

“No, I-I’m fine,” Wyn stammered, still fighting back those horrible memories.

“No, you’re not,” Jag said quietly, turning to his fiancé as he walked over to his sister. “There’s nothing else you wanted to know?” It was not a request.

“Jag, I said I’m fine,” Wyn protested verbally, though she didn’t protest physically as Jag wrapped his arms around her. She let out a short, soft sigh, nestling her head onto her brother’s shoulder. “You have no idea how much I missed you, Jag.”

“No, I don’t,” Jag agreed, squeezing his sister a little tighter.

Wyn lifted her head off Jag’s shoulder and looked at her brother’s fiancé. Jaina was looking away, leaving the siblings to their cuddly moment. “Jaina, I’m sorry I can’t help—.”

“It’s alright,” Jaina said, waving her hand dismissively just for effect. “I’ll ask someone else.”

Wyn nodded and returned her head to Jag’s shoulder. She was really enjoying this. “Is there anything you wanted to know, Jag?”

“Not really,” Jag replied.

Jaina did, though. “Wyn, do you know how many Jedi are left?”

“There’s eight,” Kyle announced from the doorway.

Wyn gasped in surprise and pushed away from Jag, whirling towards the door. Standing there was Kyle, Danni, and—damn it—Valin. Kyle was wearing black trousers, dark grey shirt, and an even darker grey jacket, which concealed the Jedi master’s lightsaber and blaster. Danni wore a white and brown Jedi robe, hiding the slight bulge in her stomach. Valin was wearing his pitch-black Jedi robe, making his white hair stand out like a Krayt dragon on Dantooine.

“Valin,” Wyn said, looking around nervously. “You, ah—.”

“Need to talk to you,” Valin said softly. “Now.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Wyn asked, shrugging off Jag’s hand when he tried to put it on her shoulder. Jaina walked up beside her fiancé.

“Nothing,” Valin assured her and the two newcomers. “I just need to talk to you. Privately. Now.”

“Alright, alright,” Wyn muttered, looking at Jaina and Jag. “Do you two already know Kyle and Danni—?”

“Wyn, please,” Valin insisted.

“Alright!” Wyn growled, giving Valin her best evil glare. “I’ll be back in a minute, Jag.”

Wyn went to join Valin outside, but was stopped by a concerned hand no her shoulder. She turned to give Jag a quick, what she hoped was reassuring glance, and then shrugged his hand off her shoulder and followed her boyfriend outside.

“Alright, Valin, what is this about?” She demanded as Valin closed the door behind them. “I’ve believed Jag to be dead for three years! You should know how much I want to stay with him!”

“Wyn, settle down,” Valin said quietly. “Look, this is going to sound a little weird…”

-------------------------------------------------------------------

“I thought I sensed you on board,” Jaina said to Danni after the door closed after Wyn. “I didn’t pick you up, though, Master Katarn.”

“Not surprising,” Kyle Katarn replied, using the Force to pull a chair over from the table. “All of the Jedi on the Archangel try to keep a low profile in the Force. Most of us can do it unconsciously by now.”

“By now?” Jaina asked. “You’ve doing it for a while? Why?”

“First things first,” Danni interrupted. “You two might want to take a seat.”

Jaina turned to Jag, just in time to see him drop onto the couch, still staring at the closed door. She knew what was on his mind: Wyn. He was worried about her. She sat down beside her fiancé, slipping her hand into his. That managed to get his attention off Wyn for a moment.

She’ll be fine, Jaina planted her thought into Jag’s mind. They had figured out this little trick a month ago; Jaina would plant a thought into Jag’s mind, and he would think his response and let her read it. It wasn’t the same as a Force bond—nowhere near as efficient—but it did give them a way to communicate like a pair of Jedi. Jag especially liked it.

I don’t think so, Jag thought as Jaina read, why did she get so defensive when they walked in?

“It’s good to see you two,” Kyle said once everyone was seated—Danni sat on the edge of the bed. “I can imagine that you’re both very disorientated right now.”

That’s an understatement, Jag thought.

I heard that, Jaina replied. “Master Katarn, everything’s just screwed up. I don’t want to go through everything—.”

“You might have to,” Danni interrupted. “We do have a theory that explains how you two have returned from the dead, but before we tell you, we want to ask a couple of questions.”

Jaina nodded. “What is it?”

“First of all, what was the outcome of the battle of Mon Calamari?” Kyle asked.

“The Yuuzhan Vong retreated back to Yuuzhan’tar,” Jaina replied. She still refused to call the planet that the Galactic Alliance took from the Vong Coruscant. It wasn’t Coruscant anymore; the Yuuzhan Vong had changed it too much.

“Alright,” Danni sighed, rubbing her eyes. “How many Jedi survived the Myrkr mission?”

“Ten,” Jaina replied instantly.

“Colonel Fel, did the Yuuzhan Vong ever attack Csilla?” Kyle asked.

“According to Wyn—.” Jag started.

“Do you remember it happening?” Danni interrupted.

Jag shook his head. Where is this going? He thought.

I don’t know, Jaina replied. “Danni—.”

“Just two more, Jaina,” Danni interrupted. “Did the Yuuzhan Vong attack Yavin IV?”

Jaina and Jag nodded.

“Who got captured? Tahiri, or Anakin?” Kyle asked.

“Tahiri,” Jaina answered. “That’s your two questions, Danni, now what are you getting at?”

“Just one more question,” Danni said, adding considerably to Jaina’s frustration. “This is the most important one. Have either of you ever heard of a Yuuzhan Vong named Artran Kharran?”

“No, we haven’t!” Jaina snapped. “Now, what is the point of this?”

Kyle was the one who answered. “Valin was the one who suggested this. My first response was that it sounds like something out of a bad holodrama, but we know think that he was right. He suggested that you two might not be from our galaxy, or even our universe.”

“Universe?” Jag asked. “You’re…are you seriously talking about—.”
“You’re saying that we’re—this is an alternate universe,” Jaina stated. Her first instinct was to object simply because of just how ridiculous Kyle’s suggestion sounded, but she decided against it. It was the only explanation that Jaina could think of. “Well…this is certainly a little weird.”
“A little?” Jag snapped. “He’s—.”

“Calm down, Jag,” Jaina said. Unless you have another theory for them.

Jag let out an angry sigh and looked towards Danni and Kyle. “Are you two sure about this?”

“It is the best explanation we have,” Danni explained. “Unless you two can think of another one, that is.”

“Wait a minute!” Jaina snapped, suddenly realising the most important implication of Danni and Kyle’s theory. “If this is an alternate universe, that’s mean that Anakin isn’t my brother.”

“Technically,” Danni sighed. “I had this same discussion with Valin. Except he was talking about Colonel Fel and Wynssa.”

Oh Force, Jaina thought. Poor Wyn. That was why Valin had taken her outside; he was going to tell her—

Clang!

Jag was the only person in the room startled by the sound of someone’s fist hitting the other side of the door. Kyle and Danni had probably been expecting it before they even walked in, and Jaina had just figured out that Wyn was going to do something like that.

“Valin just told her, didn’t he?” Jaina asked.

“I would say so,” Kyle replied.

“Wyn…” Jag sighed, barely able to keep himself from rushing outside.

“This is going to be hard on her,” Danni said. “You have no idea how much she missed you, Colonel. Your death tore her apart. Finding out that you’re not her Jag is going to be a difficult thing for her to work through,” She took a deep breath and moved on. “I wanted to find out how different our galaxies are, as a little extra evidence for our theory. If you two existed in both of our galaxies, then they can’t be too different.”

“Well I’d like to know how different they are, as well,” Jaina said, squeezing Jag’s hand to settle him down. I don’t think that Wyn would want to see you right now. Just give Valin some time to talk to her. He’s a nice kid.

In our galaxy, he’s a nice kid. You’ve got no idea what this Valin’s like!

He hasn’t slept with her yet, so how bad could he be? Jaina replied. “Danni, are you going to tell us, or what?”

“Where do you want to start?” Danni asked.

“How about we start with you losing the war,” Jag suggested.

“That is thanks to the Yuuzhan Vong we mentioned,” Kyle said. “Artran Kharran. He is the single most dangerous man in the galaxy at the moment. He single-handedly destroyed Csilla, wiped out the Myrkr strike team, and conquered Hapes, Borleias, and Mon Calamari.”

“One Yuuzhan Vong did that?” Jaina and Jag demanded together. Jaina asked the next question. “Who the hell is this guy?”

“He showed up just before the Myrkr disaster,” Kyle explained. “The first we ever heard of him was when he led a fleet against Csilla.”

“Wyn told me about that,” Jag replied. “She said that we outnumbered him two-to-one, and he still beat us.”

“While only losing a quarter of his fleet,” Kyle added. “Only a few Chiss warships survived the battle. Yours was one of them, Colonel. Unfortunately, your father’s wasn’t. Your mother and Wyn tried to escape. Tried. Syal was killed when her ship crashed, but Wyn was captured.”

“She told me the rest,” Jag said quickly, before Kyle could explain how Wyn got those scars on her face. He didn’t want to know the details of Wyn’s torture session with this Vong monster.

“Did she tell Jaina what happened at Myrkr?” Danni asked.

“Some of it,” Jaina replied. “She said that I died there, not Anakin.”

“Did Anakin die in your galaxy?” Kyle asked, surprised. “What happened to him?”

“He tried to help me when I got stuck to a wall. He got himself stabbed in the process, and then…Lomi and Welk stole the ship we were going to use to escape in. Gave him a death sentence,” Jaina explained quickly. “What happened here?”

“Kharran ambushed you,” Kyle said. “Half of the team died in the first fight, and you and Raynar were captured. Anakin and the others tried to rescue you. By the time they got to you, they had lost another Jedi, and Kharran had already tortured Raynar to death. Anakin, Zekk, and Tahiri rescued you and Wyn while Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, and Jacen held Kharran off. He killed all three. You died in Anakin’s arms outside the torture chamber.”

“Wyn told me about that, too,” Jaina sighed.

“After Coruscant fell, Kharran somehow became the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster,” Kyle continued. “We’re not sure what happened, but we can safely assume that Kharran killed Tsavong Lah in an honour duel of some kind, and then usurped Lah’s position. Over the next two years, he took down Hapes and the Empire, and then he led the invasion of Mon Calamari. That pretty much ended the war.”

“Then how come all of you are still here?” Jaina asked.

“A few months before Mon Calamari fell, I was contacted by an Imperial scientist by the name of Caselle Mirion,” Kyle explained. “Have you ever heard of her?”

Jaina shook her head, glancing at Jag to see if he had. He also shook his head.

“Caselle did say something about an accident that nearly killed her as a child,” Danni said to Kyle. “Maybe in their galaxy it did.”

“Whatever the case may be, in this galaxy, she lived,” Kyle continued. “She was an engineer for the Empire, working on a brand new Imperial starship—.”

“The Archangel,” Jag finished.

“At the time, it was called the Night Hammer,” Kyle said. “Caselle was one of a few smart people who could already tell that the war was over. She and the commander of the Night Hammer didn’t want to waste a cloaking Star Destroyer on an already lost war. So they arranged with Luke and myself to…liberate the vessel.”

“And Uncle Luke agreed to that?” Jaina asked.

“Yes, he did. Quite readily, in fact,” Kyle’s bearded face saddened as he mentioned Luke. “He knew as well as our Imperial co-conspirators that the war was over, and we had lost it. The Archangel was just the thing we needed to survive. The Vong couldn’t—and still can’t—detect it while it’s cloaked. After fighting our way out of the Imperial shipyard the Archangel was being built at, Luke moved the entire Jedi Order onto it, and we started our little war against the Yuuzhan Vong.”

“Is anyone else left?” Jag asked.

“Some of what’s left of the Empire, Hapans, and Galactic Alliance has built up at Bakura,” Danni said. “But quite a few task groups have gone into hiding, like we have. We meet up with Wedge’s Lusankya every month—.”

“The Lusankya’s intact?” Jaina interrupted, aghast. “Didn’t you use it as a missile at Borleias?”

“We were planning to, but Kharran was just too damn fast,” Kyle replied. “Did the Borleias campaign work in your galaxy?” When Jaina and Jag nodded and mentioned that Borleias was where they first kissed, Kyle added. “I suppose with no Kharran, it would have been doable. Over here, Borleias was almost as big a disaster as the defence of Coruscant. Colonel Fel, you died in a dogfight with Kharran’s personal coralskipper, and we lost everything except for the Lusankya and two Star Destroyers. Wedge somehow managed to pull the Lusankya through every major battle after that. When Mon Calamari fell, he took a small group of survivors and started hiding. We meet up with his fleet every month.”

Jaina couldn’t stop her mouth dropping once Kyle finished his brief history lesson. She just couldn’t fathom how one Yuuzhan Vong could cause such a huge difference. She was glad that this ‘Kharran’ had never shown up in her and Jag’s universe, or things might be just as bad over there.

Wait a minute! Our universe! “Kyle, Danni, have you two thought of a way to send Jag and I back?” She asked hurriedly.

Kyle didn’t take his eyes away from Jaina and Jag. “There isn’t one. The Archangel’s a warship, not a science lab. We just don’t have the resources to put into finding a way to send you two home.”

“What?” Jaina howled. “But…but our families are back in our galaxy! Our lives are over there! We have to get back! What…what if we just took our ships and jumped again, maybe the hyperdrives—!”

“Jaina, that’s suicide!” Jag interrupted. “We’re lucky we even came out of hyperspace this time! If we try it again—.”

“I don’t care, Jag!” Jaina snapped. “Don’t you want to go home?”

“Yes, but—.”

“There’s just no way to do it,” Danni stressed to Jaina and Jag. “The closest thing we have to a scientist is Caselle, and she knows nothing about hyperdrives. The only thing she studied was shielding technologies, which let her develop the Archangel’s cloaking device.”

“And Colonel Fel is right,” Kyle added. “Letting you jump in your ships is just too risky. For you to have a chance at succeeding, everything would need to be exactly the same as the last time you jumped. Time, location, heading, speed—.”

“Perhaps even the breakfast you two had that morning,” Danni jumped in. “There’s just too many variables; it’s too risky.”

“But—.”

“Jaina, I’m sorry. I really am,” Kyle interrupted. “We just can’t. Maybe, if we had a full science station, we might be able to find a way, but we just don’t have anything to work with. Like I said, the Archangel’s a warship, and nothing but a warship. You have to understand—.”

“Understand?” Jaina screamed. “All I understand is that mine and Jag’s family is back in that galaxy! You have to find a way to send us back! You can’t expect us to just forget about all of our loved ones back there!”

“You think you’re the only person who’s lost family members?” Danni’s voice was so vicious that Jaina almost flinched. “There isn’t a single person on this ship who hasn’t lost someone—.” Danni stopped, her voice wavering. It was only then that Jaina glanced at Danni’s stomach and spotted the slight bulge there. What the—she’s pregnant?

“But...” Jaina stammered. “How…who’s the—.”

“Kyp, if you must know. He died a month ago,” Danni growled, letting all of her anger into her voice to cover the tears threatening to burst through her composure as she stalked towards the door. “At least someday you might see your families again. The rest of us never will.”

With that, Danni opened the door and left, leaving Jaina feeling miserable. Kyle walked over to her and Jag and placed his hand on Jaina’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Jaina. I wish we could send you back. But Danni’s right; one day, we might be able to send you two back. You are the only two people in the universe who even have a chance of seeing your families again.” The Jedi master removed his hand and, after a nod from Jag, left the room.

“Mom…Dad…” Jaina murmured after the door closed behind Kyle. “Jacen…I’ve never going to see them again.”

“Yes, we will,” Jag said softly, pulling his fiancé up against him and wrapping her in a warm, protective hug.

“Jag, we can’t get back!” Jaina whimpered. “They won’t even know what happened to us.”

“We’ll find a way, Jaina, I promise,” Jag said.

“How?” Jaina screamed at him, tossing his empty reassurances aside. “We can’t get back! They won’t help us! We’re never going to be able to go home. We’re stuck here! We’re stuck in this screwed up, Vong-infested universe with no way of getting home!”

Jag stroked her hair softly, trying to calm her down before she started lashing out at something. “Do you think I like the idea of being here?”

“No,” Jaina sobbed. “But at least you have Wyn—.”

“And you have Anakin—.”

“I didn’t want to trade my entire family just to see Anakin again!” Jaina howled.

“Jaya, stop yelling,” Jag soothed. “We’ll find a way back,” After a moment, in which Jag realised how empty that reassurance was, he added, “I hope.”

Jaina looked at her fiancé, her face twisted in frustration and anger and tears welling up in her eyes. Jag looked back with those dark eyes and handsome face, fighting back tears as well. Jaina just looked at him, hovering between crying and screaming, trying in vain to enjoy his nice, warm hold on her, until she finally just let her head drop onto his shoulder and screamed into it. Then she let the tears out.

“We’ll be okay,” Jag said, holding her even tighter. Holding Jaina always made him feel better, no matter what the problem was. It was, at least, a way to get his mind off things. And, damn, did he need to get his mind off this. “Wyn and Kyle and Danni won’t hurt us. We’ve got all the time in the universe to think of a way to get home. Maybe we’ll just get lucky and—.”

Jaina snuggled into Jag’s shoulder. “Jag…”

“Yes?”

“Just shut up and hold me.”

 

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rebel_cheese 
Registered: Jul '06
42800_Anakin Solo
Date Posted: 7/31/06 6:43pm Subject: RE: Shattered Mirror (Post-TUF, Major AU, J/J, A/T, Kyle, Danni )*RE-POST IN PROGRESS*
CHAPTER FOUR


Nom Anor walked quickly up the steps, skipping every second one in his rush to reach the large landing field at the top. This building had once been the headquarters of a galaxy-wide trading company; the flight deck that was the roof had been used to load freighters with hundreds of kinds of cargo. Now, however, it was almost completely eaten away by the shapers’ green, metal-eating algae, and the metal had been replaced by yorik coral. The staircase was the only metal left in the entire building. Some of the more religious shapers—and even some warriors—wouldn’t go anywhere near them. Which suited Nom Anor fine, since it let him get to Kharran that little bit quicker. The landing field was one flat slab of coral, providing the perfect place to land shuttles and transports. At the present moment, there was a fleet of such vessels sitting on the landing field, being loaded with troops, crew, and supplies for Warmaster Artran Kharran’s personal battleship, the Sunslayer. The Warmaster himself was overseeing the loading; he always made a point of watching his ship’s supplies being loaded.

Kharran was easily visible as Nom Anor stepped out of the door at the top of the stairs. To any normal infidel out in what was left of the galaxy, the Warmaster looked like every other Yuuzhan Vong; few people had seen him in person, and most of those that had were long dead. But, to Nom Anor, Artran Kharran looked all too…human. His forehead wasn’t quite as sloped as perhaps it should be, and his fingers weren’t quite as slender as some other Yuuzhan Vong. Even the Warmaster’s hair looked human; he still had a good head of the stuff, scruffily parted in the middle so that it fell either side of his face. Nom Anor doubted if any other Yuuzhan Vong had noticed the Warmaster’s unusual characteristics. His hair partially covered his forehead, and the only time you would get a good look at his fingers was when they and the amphiblade they usually held were hurtling towards your face. And, apart from those two minor details, he did indeed look like every other Yuuzhan Vong; his face displayed many elaborate scars, and the only reason one couldn’t see the other ritual scars that no doubt covered his body was because he was always wearing his signature crimson suit of vonduun crab armour. On his shoulders, the Warmaster wore a cape of dark turquoise, stretching all the way down his six-foot frame to his ankles. His amphiblade—a custom made, sword-like amphistaff—was curled around his right arm, head resting on the back of the Warmaster’s hand.

Kharran made no sign that he had noticed Nom Anor as the prefect approached. This annoyed Nom Anor, considering the importance of his news; Supreme Overlord Shimrra had summoned both Nom Anor and Warmaster Kharran to his throne room. Shimrra had been unable to reach the Warmaster himself, so he had dispatched Nom Anor to inform Kharran of the summons.

“Warmaster!” Nom Anor called as he finally joined the Warmaster at the small raised platform, overlooking the numerous shuttles and transports.

“Prefect Nom Anor,” Kharran replied uncaringly, still looking out at the mass of Yuuzhan Vong warriors loading the Sunslayer’s transports. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Nom Anor narrowed his eyes at the Warmaster in disgust; he hated Kharran’s sarcasm. It was another all-too-human characteristic. “Supreme Overlord Shimrra wants to see us immediately.”

“Us?” Kharran asked, only slightly more interested in Nom Anor than he was a few seconds ago.

“Yes, us,” Nom Anor repeated. “Whatever this is about, the Supreme Overlord believes that both of us should be there to hear it.”

“It’s about the Archangel,” Kharran stated. “Obviously.”

“How do you—.”

“The Archangel has been the only thing in this galaxy that Supreme Overlord Shimrra has been concerned with since the ship launched,” Kharran explained. “And it showed up at Denon yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” Nom Anor spluttered.

Kharran smiled. “Yes. It destroyed a patrol ship, as well, which is interesting. It’s not like Katarn and Yannik to go after such a small target.”

Despite his sheer dislike of the Warmaster, Nom Anor had to agree with him. “Then what were they after?”

“Obviously, something caught their attention,” Kharran replied. “Or something caught the patrol ship’s attention. The patrol ship tried to destroy something that Katarn and Yannik wanted to protect, so they decloacked the Archangel and took the patrol ship out,” Kharran switched his gaze to three individuals standing near the closest shuttle. “It’s rather simple, Prefect.”

Nom Anor looked at the three Yuuzhan Vong that Kharran was staring at. One, he instantly recognised; his name was Sharrvon Kharran, the commander of the Sunslayer and Artran Kharran’s older brother. Sharrvon didn’t have the sheer tactical genius that Artran did, so had stood aside, and even helped his younger brother become Warmaster, for the greater good of the Yuuzhan Vong empire.

The other two people, Nom Anor didn’t know. One of them was quite obviously a subaltern, conversing with Sharrvon Kharran while his men boarded the shuttle. The other person was a female Yuuzhan Vong, standing underneath the shuttle’s wing and staring up at Nom Anor and Warmaster Kharran. Even though he was more than fifty metres away, Nom Anor could plainly tell that she was a strikingly beautiful woman. She wore a dark suit of vonduum crab armour, and Nom Anor was reasonably sure that there was an amphistaff curled around her waist.

“Who is that?” Nom Anor asked Kharran, assuming that, since she was staring at him, the Warmaster knew who he was.

“Who?” Kharran replied, looking at Nom Anor like he was crazy. “Commander Kharran?”

“No, her!” Nom Anor corrected, pointing at the woman—

—who was no longer there.

Where’d she go? Nom Anor thought, scanning the landing field. “Wait a minute—.”

“I don’t think the Supreme Overlord will take too kindly to being kept waiting forever,” Kharran said suddenly, turning and heading towards the stairwell behind him and Nom Anor. Nom Anor spent another moment trying to locate the woman he was certain he had just seen, then decided that the Warmaster was right and keeping Shimrra waiting was not a good idea and turned to follow the Warmaster.

-----------------------------------------------

Warmaster Artran Kharran waited for the membrane to completely open before he stepped through into Supreme Overlord Shimrra’s throne room. It was almost completely empty, at least when compared with the amount of Yuuzhan Vong that would be in the room when Shimrra was conducting an official meeting. Artran’s entrance brought the number of people in the room up to six; himself, Supreme Overlord Shimrra, Nom Anor, Shimrra’s Shamed One pet, Omini, and two Slayers—genetically enhanced Yuuzhan Vong warriors, far superior to any combatant they might come up against.

“Warmaster Kharran! I ordered you to come instantly!” Shimrra bellowed suddenly. The angered call would have made any other Yuuzhan Vong cringe in fright; to Artran, it did nothing at all. Artran had faced down some of the best fighters this galaxy could offer, including several very powerful Jedi masters, and bested every last one of them, and Shimrra was nothing to Artran when compared to some of them.

No sense angering him further, Artran reminded himself. “I beg your forgiveness, Supreme Overlord. I received an urgent report from Bakura—”

“The situation at Bakura is not the most important matter you need to worry about!” Shimrra howled. “You already know of the attack launched by the Archangel yesterday. What do you make of it?”

“Katarn and Yannik were protecting something,” Artran replied instantly, as if it was beyond obvious. “The frigate tried to destroy whatever it was, so they took the frigate out.”

“What was it?”

“I can’t read their minds, Supreme Overlord,” Artran said respectfully. “And they didn’t leave anything behind, except for what was left of the frigate. I have no idea what they were after.”

“So, yet again, the Archangel has slipped you through your fingers,” Shimrra stated. “I am beginning to doubt if you are capable of stopping that ship, Warmaster!”

“Supreme Overlord, I can’t stop that ship!” Artran replied. “No one can! Not until the shapers can find a way to eliminate their cloaking device. Until then, there’s no way to track it.”

“You did manage to corner it once,” Shimrra pointed out. “Why can you not do that again?”

“Katarn and the other Jeedai won’t fall for the same trick twice,” Artran answered. “They may be infidels, but they aren’t fools. Once I have destroyed the infidel fleet at Bakura, I can devote the entire military to destroying the Archangel, Lusankya, and all of the other infidel task groups scattered across the galaxy—.”

“The fleet at Bakura is not an immediate problem!” Shimrra scolded. “They are attempting to negotiate with us! They won’t dare attack. The Archangel is under no restrictions whatsoever! I want that ship tracked down and destroyed!”

“It’s not possible. Not unless the shapers can provide me with a way to read Yannik’s mind,” Artran replied simply, glaring at Omini as he felt the little Shamed One attempt to put some pressure on his mind. You can’t touch me, Shamed One, Artran thought, carefully keeping it away from Omini’s prying Force presence. He was even tempted to use the Force to give Omini a taste of his own medicine, but decided against it. For now.

“Which is why I am sending Prefect Nom Anor here to assist you,” Shimrra continued, regaining Artran’s attention. “He spent years amongst the infidels as an executor. He undoubtedly knows them better than you do. Perhaps together you two can rid the Yuuzhan Vong of that abomination.”

“Supreme Overlord—!” Artran began. He was somewhat surprised to hear Nom Anor join in his protest.

“Silence!” Shimrra bellowed, silencing both.

Artran wasn’t about to let himself be intimidated like that, though. “Supreme Overlord, Nom Anor might know the infidels in general, but he has no idea on how Yannik’s mind works!”

“I agree, My Lord,” Nom Anor joined in. “I only studied certain cultures, not—.”

“I said silence!” Shimrra bellowed again. “Prefect Nom Anor will accompany you, and you two will destroy the Archangel, Katarn, Yannik, and every other living being on that ship! Is that clear?”

Artran’s first impulse was to try to argue his way out of getting stuck with that snivelling coward of a Prefect on his ship, but he forced himself not to. It would only serve to get Shimrra angry, and that was never a good idea. He would just have to deal with this.

“As you wish, My Lord,” Artran growled. “I’ll have to return to Bakura to gather my fleet first.”

“Just destroy that ship and all the Jeedai on it!” Shimrra ordered. “Now go!”

Artran scowled and turned, giving Nom Anor a decidedly disgusted look before he stalked his way back to the entrance and stormed through it. He continued through the Supreme Overlord’s citadel, emanating a powerful aura of ‘do NOT get in my way!’ as he strode past the warriors, shapers, and workers throughout the citadel’s corridors. Hearing Nom Anor’s voice from behind only served to make his mood even worse.

“Warmaster,” The Prefect said as he approached. “Do you really think we can pull this off?”

“Of course we can’t!” Artran snapped in return. “Our only chance of finding that ship is if the gods see fit to hand it to us on a silver platter. So, until the gods see fit to do so, I’m going back to Bakura to oversee the situation there. You’re welcome to come.”

“The Supreme Overlord made it clear that I don’t have a choice,” Nom Anor replied. “I’ll be on your ship in under an hour.”

“See that you are,” Artran said, still making no attempt to disguise his disdain of being stuck with Nom Anor on his flagship as he slowed down to allow the Prefect to walk ahead. Once Nom Anor was a metre or so in front, Artran darted into a side corridor, moving down through a maze of yorik coral corridors into what was left of the old Imperial Palace. Admittedly, it wasn’t very much anymore; the only real room that was left was a small storage room on the lower levels. No other Yuuzhan Vong even knew that it existed, so the chances of Artran being noticed down here was virtually nil. Which was good, since it finally gave him a chance to take off the holo-shroud he was always forced to wear.

“You were saying,” Artran prompted as he walked into the dark room, deactivating his holo-shroud as he did.

“I’m still surprised that you haven’t sensed it,” Riina Kharran replied as she approached the Warmaster and stroked his neck.

“I have been busy trying to keep this accursed empire together,” Artran muttered, brushing her hand away. “Shimrra just ordered me to destroy the Archangel.”

“You have your work cut out for you then,” Riina replied before continuing the discussion she and Artran had been conducting just before his entrance into the Supreme Overlord’s throne room. “As I was saying, there’s a new Jedi aboard the Archangel.”

“Are you certain that this Jedi’s on the Archangel?” Artran asked, finally free of the annoying Yuuzhan Vong pronunciation of the word.

“Where else could it be?” Riina replied.

“The Archangel destroyed a patrol ship yesterday,” Artran explained. “And then, all of a sudden, we can sense a Jedi who isn’t hiding from us. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Is it someone we know?”

“I don’t think so,” Riina answered, shaking her golden-haired head. “It doesn’t really matter, though. You and I can use him or her to find—.”

Artran shook his head. “Katarn will have her hiding her Force presence within a day. We won’t have enough time.”

“Her?” Riina asked. “How do you know it’s a female?”

“I don’t,” Artran replied after a moment, his eyes darting from side to side as he pondered why he had said that. “I just…never mind. We’re leaving for Bakura in two hours.”

“I’ll meet you up on the ship,” Riina said, heading for the door.

“Wait,” Artran ordered. “Nom Anor saw you back at the landing field. We decided that—.”

“And what if he did see me?” She retorted. “Like he can do anything with the information.”

“Just try to be more careful, Riina,” Artran said. “Nom Anor’s one thing; that idiot’s no threat to anyone but himself. But if someone more loyal to Shimrra realises that you exist, that blows our only wildcard—.”

“I can handle it, Artran!” Riina snapped. “You just play the loyal Warmaster; Sharrvon and I will handle the rest. Whatever happens, though, we need to get rid of the Archangel.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Artran said surely. “If I can find a way to corner that stupid ship again.”

“This new Jedi might give us a way to do that,” Riina said just before she left. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”

Artran let her leave, and, once she was gone, closed his eyes for a moment, reaching out into the Force to get a sense of this new Jedi. It was surprisingly easy to find her—why do I keep thinking that?—but that probably had something to do with the fact that Katarn hadn’t taught her to hide yet. This new Jedi was there, though. And she—curse it, why do I keep doing that?—did seem a little familiar, despite what Riina had just said.

“Warmaster Kharran.”

Artran’s eyes snapped open the millisecond that Omini’s voice reached his ears. He whirled on the intruder, reaching for the holo-emitter on his waist—

“Don’t bother,” Omini said. “I know who you are. Who you really