| Author |
Topic:
Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 6 7/21/08
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rebel_cheese
Registered:
Jul '06
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Date Posted:
5/12 7:41am
Subject:
Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 6 7/21/08
- Date Edited:
7/21 5:44pm (9 edits total)
Edited By:
rebel_cheese
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This is a "reboot" of sorts of an earlier story of mine that some of you might remember from two years ago. It collapsed and vanished somewhere deep in the bowels of the Beyond The Saga board, but now I've decided it is time for a long-overdue resurrection of this old story. It has been modified somewhat, with some extra bits not in this story before, contexts changed, and some new scenes inserted into existing chapters, and the old scenes has been updated with shorter paragraphs and more logical progression for easier reading.
I hope you enjoy this redo of the story if you've read this before. If you haven't seen this before, then welcome. You're seeing something better than it was back in the day. Regardless of whether you've read the old version before or not, I hope you like it, because this time we're heading straight to the finish line with a post each Monday.
Beginning's End
Setting: Coruscant, Naboo, Umgul, Myrkr, Tatooine primarily
Timeframe: 26 ABY, Major AU
Genres: Action, Adventure, Angst, Drama, Mush, Mystery
Characters: J/Tk, J/J, K/I, H/L, A/T, Luke/Tionne, Corran/Mirax, Raynar/Eyrl, Zekk/OC, Chewbacca, Mara, Nelani, okay, pretty much everybody, plus OCs.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, GL does, the usual thing. Someday, I will, though! I will! (Yeah, right.)
Summary: The Yuuzhan Vong made their move in 15 ABY. Now everyone's lives have been turned upside down eleven years later. Jacen Solo is a street urchin who's in love with a princess on a Coruscant razed by perpetual war. Jaina Solo, who believes her entire family is dead, fights alongside Luke, striving for revenge. Han and Lando lead guerrilla raids from Tatooine while struggling to keep their marriages intact Leia tries to live the life of a simple moisture farmer on Tatooine and raises Anakin nearly by herself. And, meanwhile, the Yuuzhan Vong, under the command of their mysterious Supreme Overlady, search for a way to finish the final resisting infidels off . . .
Dramatis Personae:
Ackbar: admiral (male Mon Calamari)
Anakin Solo: moisture farmer's apprentice, Podracer (male human)
Bartus Meredin: urchin (male human)
Ben Skywalker: newborn (male human)
Booster Terrik: resistance fighter (male human)
C-3PO: protocol droid
Cherith Fel: Spike Squadron pilot (female human)
Chewbacca: (male Wookiee)
Cilghal: Jedi Master (female Mon Calamari)
Corran Horn: Jedi Master (male human)
Czulkang Lah: warlord (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Danni Quee-Skywalker: Jedi Knight/scientist, Luke's adopted daughter (female human)
Elegos A'Kla: Chief of State (male Caamasi)
Eryl Besa: urchin (female human)
Finita: Supreme Overlady (female Yuuzhan Vong)
Gavin Darklighter: Rogue Squadron pilot (male human)
Gilad Pellaeon: admiral, Imperial Remnant (male human)
Han Solo: captain, Millennium Falcon, resistance fighter (male human)
Ikrit: Jedi Master watching over Anakin (male unknown)
Inyri Forge: Rogue Squadron leader (female human)
Jacen Solo: urchin (male human)
Jaina Solo: Jedi Knight (female human)
Jagged Fel: Spike Squadron pilot (male human)
Jysella Horn: toddler (female human)
Kam Solusar: Jedi Master watching over Anakin (male human)
Kari Skywalker: child (female human)
Kyp Durron: Jedi Master, Kyp's Dozen leader (male human)
Lando Calrissian: resistance fighter (male human)
Leia Organa Solo: moisture farmer, resistance helper (female human)
Lowbacca: Jedi Knight (male Wookiee)
Luke Skywalker: Jedi Grand Master (male human)
Lusa: Jedi Knight (female Centaur)
Malinza Thanas-Skywalker: resistance fighter, Luke's adopted daughter (female human)
Mara Jade: Jedi Knight (female human)
Mezhan Kwaad: shaper (female Yuuzhan Vong)
Mirax Horn: urchin overseer (female human)
Nas Choka: warlord (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Nelani Dinn: urchin (female human)
Nom Anor: executor (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Peckhum: scavenger (male human)
R2-D2: astromech droid
Raynar Thul: urchin (male human)
River Ulric: urchin (female human)
Shedao Shai: commander (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Sien Sovv: New Republic Supreme Commander (male Sullustan)
Tahiri Veila: helper on Leia's plantation, Anakin's crew chief (female human)
Tenel Ka Chume-Djo: princess of Hapes Exilium (female human)
Tionne Skywalker: Jedi Master and teacher (female human)
Tra'est Kre'fey: admiral (male Bothan)
Valin Horn: urchin (male human)
Yomin Carr: warrior (male Yuuzhan Vong)
Zekk: urchin (male human)
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Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost  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
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Date Posted:
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RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Redo Start 5/12
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1
The planet of Naboo had become yet another battleground in the seemingly endless war. Living ships entangled themselves with the metallic contraptions used by their enemies. Lights blasted back and forth throughout the gigantic vessels, as starfighters, and their invader counterpart, coralskippers, flew all around this fleet battle. Defense platforms burned, as they were little more than still targets for the invaders.
Luke Skywalker hurled himself into the madness. The XJ2 X-wing, a brand-new starfighter that had just rolled off the assembly lines at Sullust, responded to his commands perfectly.
"Artoo, you have a reading of the Dozen and Rogues?" he asked his faithful counterpart as he lead his twelve-man squadron into the heart of the battle. A nearby ship, belonging to the Yuuzhan Vong, was split in half and it vanished into an immense fireball. The closest flares halt close, but not dangerously so, to Luke's squadron. The squadron flew by, leaving the ship to die in pieces.
The Dozen is busy making everything a mess, Artoo's message scrawled across Luke's black message screen in green letters.
"I know that. I'm asking on a reading where they are," Luke clarified.
In front of him, a pair of E-wing were being chased by coralskippers, heading directly up in front of him. Using the Force as a guidance, he fired the moment he sensed the voids in front of him.
Red bolts fired from the X-wing's four cannons. Two coralskippers were immediately clothslined by the fire and both blew into fiery chunks. Luke and his squadron followed through the wreckage a moment later, the chunks of yorik coral imploding on the XJs' shielding.
"They're everywhere," a Jedi named Miko Reglia moaned over the com. Luke saw they had stumbled into the middle of a vast starfighter battle inbetween seven ships, three allied, four belonging to the Yuuzhan Vong. Luke immersed into the Force, and searched for a way through this mess of fighters shooting and destroying all around him.
Within seconds, he saw one.
"Twin Suns, follow me. I see a way out!" he ordered, and he forced the yoke hard left, spinning the X-wing left-and-down, and he accelerated through the battle, as golden-scarlet explosions, white allied starfighters, and dark-green coralskippers all flashed by him.
He searched through the battle meld, and found his wife, standing confident inside the Starchaser. Luke smiled at her comforting presence.
Don't worry, I'm fine. Ulaha, Danni and I are taking care of everything, she sent.
When will the jammer begin working?
When it does. Danni swears she got it right this time, she responded.
I hope so.
Suddenly, Luke pulled the yoke back and spiraled through a series of explosions on all sides. Yuuzhan Vong magma streaks and Republic green and red lasers criss-crossed inbetween the starfighter battle, blowing so many into coral and metal shreds yet still continuing on with only a minor loss in charge.
"Aw, man, I don't like this," Ganner Rhysode said.
"Cut the chatter. Luke knows what he's doing," Octa Ramis growled.
Luke sighed. The Jedi had somehow managed to increase their small numbers somewhat during the eleven years of war, but few, if any of these people could be considered true Jedi Knights by the Old Jedi Order standards. Rushed training, understanding only a moderate respect of the Force-it was a wonder why as many Jedi lived as they did. Especially when so many died on a daily basis . . .
They had come ten years ago. These creatures called the Yuuzhan Vong. They had attacked in the midst the Yevetha crisis. Suddenly, Republic, Imperial, and Yevetha all found themselves desperately fighting an invader with much greater power. The Vong had made several raids at the exterior of the Outer Rim, near Dubrillion, Dantooine, and Bimmel for two years before they suddenly struck with all of their fury, catching the Imperials and the Republic off guard. The Praetorate Vong, they were called back then. It wasn't until recently their real name had been discovered.
And then they never stopped coming. For every Vong that was killed another took its place. There seemed to be no end to them, and Luke couldn't help but wonder how. How could this race ferry trillions of people cross-galaxy like they had? And why. Why did they choose to attack instead of asking for shelter and refuge?
Questions whose answers he doubted he would ever know.
Coruscant was locked in a stalemate right now, had been for three years. Many Core worlds had fallen by now, and more seemed to become occupied by the day. And now the Vong looked to expand beyond the Inner Rim, which they had universally conquered. They were coming to rush one of the few remaining power centers in the New Republic, Naboo.
Luke would not let them get any farther than this. To let them past Naboo meant that the Vong would be at the border of the Mid Rim and the Outer Rim-and would be so close to Leia and Anakin. There was no way he would let them through and threaten his sister. Or anyone else in the Outer Rim.
He felt a furious, burning presence within the meld-Jaina Solo. He felt her swirling emotions, seething anger, and frothing hate spoiling the pure eddy the Jedi meld was supposed to be. She was such an angry young woman, Luke knew, and a person he would need to watch. She was dangerously close to tipping over to the dark side-and to suffering. Fading memories of the twin she had barely known remained in her head, and she fought to hold on to whatever faded, rubbed images remained. Her once brandy-brown eyes had transformed into a dark color that was close to pitch-black.
Jaina's voice always sounded wounded, and now it was a half-sob, half-hiss as her voice entered the channel. "Uncle, are we just gonna fly around all day or are you going to let us shoot something?"
"We need to link back up with the Starchaser, Jaina. Our mission today is protection. We need to make sure the yammosk jammer will work," Luke reminded, remembering he had once been an angry young man himself. Still, he had never stradled the dark side like Jaina did.
"I can't see a way outta here!" Miko Reglia wailed.
"Patience, Miko. Just follow our line and we'll make through it," Luke reassured. Reaching through the currents of the Force, he suddenly saw when.
"Now! Twin Suns pull up! And open fire!" he ordered.
As he turned the X-wing up, right as they finished passing under a Republic Star Destroyer, six coralskippers were starting a strafing run. Luke had perfectly set his squadron up for interception.
Blasting away, the squadrons annhiliated the two Yuuzhan Vong trios, and as they became little more than molten coral the squadron flew by, and then Luke saw the Starchaser. The magnificent vessel, the only one of its kind, had been assembled on Naboo itself. It had adopted the sleek shape of classic Naboo cruisers, only it was smaller, and far more heavily armed. It gleamed a pure silver all the way around, and was designed specifically for speed, even more so than armaments.
Green bolts flew out of the Starchaser's port and aft guns, firing at a coralskipper. The coralskipper dodged the bolts, but was vaporized a moment later when Luke stepped in, firing all out.
The coralskipper was little more than a whiff of flame when Luke heard his wife's voice over the meld: Thanks. I was wondering when you'd show up.
Anytime, Tionne. Luke suddenly was distracted a moment later, as a Vong destroyer came into view, but then he heard Tionne urge Danni.
Now! was the shout through the Force.
Luke expected something to happen immediately, but the status quo remained, as the destroyer loomed larger in front of the Starchaser.
Should something have happened? he asked.
We won't know for a few more seconds, Tionne replied.
Then Luke felt Tionne turn her attention elsewhere for a moment. Tionne had once been a songstress, extraordinarily gifted at composing songs and had a uplifting, strong, clear voice for singing. She still hadn't lost that voice that had endeared her to Luke during the Second Yuuzhan Vong Campaign, back before they were a serious threat. But she rarely had time to sing, now. She had more important matters now. Such as trying to put the Yuuzhan Vong on the defensive for a change.
It was a waiting game, now. Now the Republic remnants would only have to hold steady for a few more minutes. Minutes, Luke sensed, that he wasn't sure the Republic had.
But that was all he could do right now. Wait . . . and hope.
* * *
It starts with a bang loud enough to shake him from sleep. The six-year-old is thrown out of bed by a massive shockwave that knocks him to the floor. A strange, booming noise rings in his ears. He stumbles to his feet, only to be knocked down again by the unending earthquake. He hears footsteps running towards him, and looks up, as a door is slammed open.
It is his mother, wearing a white dress. She holds her hand over her chest for a moment, relieved that he still lives.
"Jacen, wake up! Hurry!" she urges, grabbing clothes that had fallen out of his closet and shoving them into his hands.
"We don't have time to stay here! Quick, get dressed while I get Jaina up!"
Jacen sways a few times, and reaches for one of the endposts on his bed and places his left hand on there to steady himself. His right hand rubs his eyes, and he fights to keep his eyes open, as he hears his mother's fast footsteps, too quick to be 'walking', yet too slow to be 'running', echo in the hallway outside.
This is when he hears it. The explosions outside. Loud rumbles off in the distance, slight tremors even right now. Loud, whooshing noises resonate in the sky above. He has never heard anything so loud in his life. It terrifies him. He throws on the clothes his mother had given him, and just as he finished, the power goes out. All is shrouded in darkness.
He hates the darkness. He sees thin white lines of light around the borders of the shuttered window. Without thinking, he walks over to it, and opens the blinds, unfolding them and raising them. And then he doesn't stop. He raises the blinds to the absolute top, far more than they were needed. He stresses the blinds, and his eyes widen at the sight. His hands become clammy, they sweat, and shake.
This is when Jacen Solo learns what fear is. As he sees the fires below him, and incinerated top floors of so many other skyscrapers. In the distance, an image of a smoking tower, fire embedded in its top floors, freezes him in place. There had been a twin tower assembled to its left. It is not there. Nothing has taken its place. And the grey smoke and ash rushes towards him like a nightmare wave, threatening to smother him.
He backs away, and regains enough control of his senses that he slams the blinds down, backs away from the window, up until he slams into a hard, bony substance behind him.
Startled, he whirls around, to find his father standing there. He has activated two flashlights. His older, jagged face is all planes and angles in the light. Suddenly, one of the lights is extinguished, but then Jacen finds himself holding one of the flashlights, and it's still on, shining through the open doorway and into the hall.
"Jacen, it's all right. That's not going to happen to you," his father says, and then bends down to Jacen's level, his face calm. His big hands grip Jacen's shoulders.
"Come on,.Jacen. It's time for us to get out of here. Chewie's already got Jaina ready. They're by the stairwell to our left, go join them. I'm going to help your mother with Anakin."
His little brother. He looks around, but doesn't see him, nor the gigantic Wookiee or his twin sister. Outside, he continues to hear the chaos of aerial battle, and explosions devestating all towers. He hears things crumble, shatter, collapse, crash. Now that something resembling rationality has entered Jacen, he knows what is happening.
They are under attack. At Coruscant. Now the Core is no longer safe. Struggling to come to terms with the impending death and occupation of this wondrous, peaceful, almost fairy-tale world, Jacen walks outside, and sees his father running the other direction, towards his mother and Anakin. Jacen glances once at his father's retreating form, and then hears a calling roar behind him. It is his friend, the Wookiee.
Chewbacca.
Turning around, he sees his twin sister, and the Wookiee, all the way down the hall. Jaina shouts "Hurry up, wampa-bait!"
Chewbacca then forces her down the stairwell, and motions for Jacen to run over, adding a forceful clamor to his powerful voice. Jacen finally, unquestionably, runs over to Chewbacca, but as he does, he suddenly hears a low rumble out of them. Suddenly, a whoosh, then glass breaking, then a massive thunderclap that makes Jacen slip and fall down the stairs, crashing into his sister.
Jaina shouts and cries in pain, and he does too. Looking up, he sees the Wookiee let out a small, stunned whimper. Chewie takes one step forward, and suddenly, smoke. Black, charcoal smoke billows into the Wookiee, and Chewbacca, coughing, stumbles down the stairs, his fur tinged with the color of the smoke now.
That is when Jacen hears the cracking of flames. And sees the direction where they came. In the direction of his mother. Father. Anakin. His voice, weak, stunned, cracking, he asks for all three of them before Chewie's powerful hands grab both Jacen and Jaina and carry them both down the stairwell.
His voice grows stronger. Suddenly, he begins screaming, wailing for them, as the Wookiee charges down the stairwell, heading down, down, down, and down some more, until they finally escape the building. And then all Jacen can see an inferno all around him, a living hell, as people scream, bleed, die in the streets. And they reverberate in him, the images sear his eyes, and he knows he will never forget.
Never . . .
* * *
"Jacen?" a small voice suddenly asked, startling Jacen Solo from sleep. Jacen jolted upright, his chest tight, his heart beating so hard he could hear each thump-thump like there was a timponi drum inside his chest. Grabbing his chest, he feeled drops of liquid pour off of him. Sweat. He felt like he had been in a saltwater shower.
Looking to his right, he saw a small girl, with dark, straight, raven-colored hair, standing next to him by the bed. Her grey eyes looked blank, cloudy, vacant, but Jacen knew this girl was anything but.
"Are you all right? You were screaming," Nelani Dinn asked.
Her voice, while the average voice of an eight-year-old like herself, was darker, more weighted. And her eyes were decades older than the rest of her. There was little, if any, innocence left in this child anymore. Combined with her dirty, wild black hair and pale skin, she looked as if she could play the part of a wraith nearly as well as a human.
"Just a nightmare," Jacen managed, grabbing his aching, pounding forehead. He could still feel the pounding of his heart, in his ears, in his head, in his chest. He tried to take deep breaths, but instead ended up making short, interrupted gasps, he attempted to relax, but failed and fell backwards onto the makeshift bed.
"You were screaming . . . for your Mom and Dad. It was . . . that nightmare again, wasn't it?" Nelani asked.
The sudden surge of memories seemed to burn his psyche. He didn't want to be reminded of the nightmares. Not now. Not ever.
"Perceptive. Give the girl a prize, she guessed correctly! Now leave me alone. Who sent you anyway?" Jacen snapped as he looked at Nelani.
Small tears came to Nelani's grey, cloudy eyes.
"No one did . . . I came here by myself. Because I actually care about you! Even if you don't care about yourself!" she yelled.
Then she ran out of the room, tripping over a long-broken mirror stand laying strewn in front of the door. Falling forward, she landed on the ground, scrambled to her feet, and ran down the hallway, sobbing.
Jacen laid back, and stared at the dusty grey, cracked ceiling above him. It was the dead of night currently, and all he could hear was silence, other than Nelani's fading sobs. Sighing, he got back onto his feet.
There was little choice, here. Nelani was the moodiest child he had ever met, albeit perhaps the most useful. No other person in existence could detect the Yuuzhan Vong. She could feel them . . . because for a time, she almost was one of them.
And then Jacen realized what he was thinking. He was thinking of Nelani as a machine, an item to use. Nelani was anything but a machine, and Jacen realized what he had done.
Rising out of bed, he looked out the shattered window, at the desolate cityscape. Where skyscrapers had once stood there was only rubble. Bars, stores, all vacant. Airspeeders lay crashed, abandoned, cannibalized, useless in the street. A grey overcast sky covered the above, and malevolent Yuuzhan Vong plantlife began to strangle the technology Jacen had once known so well.
Death. That was all he could see here. His death, his compatriots' deaths, his love's death . . . no, he scolded himself. He would not think of her as a dead woman. As yet another corpse strewn across one of the Republic compounds. Jacen had seen far too many people dead inside those compounds, rotting, decomposing in the days after the Yuuzhan Vong and the once-pures came.
The Vong were ferocious, definitely. They killed without mercy. They took, few, if any prisoners, and most of the people they took were teenagers and children. The adults were mercilessly slaughtered as a whole, or when they were taken prisoner they were sacrificed in some strange ritual. And then the children . . . they would return years later, as the once-pures, who were even more fanatical and truculent than the Vong ever were.
Jacen had seen it all. The full and complete inhumanity of it . . . of everything, really. And, in a fashion, Nelani was a once-pure herself, she wasn't entirely human because of what the Vong had done to her . . . Jacen thanked whatever deity must exist for allowing him to save this girl. And, seemingly in return, Nelani had saved his little gang on occasion as well, because of her ability to sense the Vong, something no one in any street gang or compound had.
Jacen left the window and continued down the decrypt hallway. Marshwood boards, forming the foundations of the walls, stuck out at jagged, random angles. A warm, seemingly unnatural breeze wifted throughout this hallway, blowing, howling through the worn gaps in the walls. In the large remnant of a living room next to him, the majority of Jacen's little group slept on their provisional, temporary beds.
Eryl Besa was the eldest in the group, at nineteen. Her green eyes were closed peacefully, her messy, unconforming red hair sprawled all over her pillow. There was Raynar Thul, whose once-pudgy face has hardened over the two years since Jacen had rescued him from a compound that had fallen to the Vong. Then there was the boy who would only go by the name 'Zekk', who had been Jacen's wingman since Jacen had come here. Snoring loudly was Bartus Meredin, a bulky kid who served as Jacen's brawn. Lastly, there was River Ulric, who was currently serving as the watch.
This wasn't their home. It would never be. The closest thing any of these vagabonds had for a home was about a day's walk from here. They had marched for two days to their destination, and were now at the halfway point on their way back. Four days was an uncomfortably long time, though, especially since Home had no real way of detecting the Vong without Nelani there.
The walk to that Bothan gang had been worth the risk, though. Inside Jacen's pockets there was medicine for one of the girls back at Home. It was well worth trading some basic food provisions, and agreeing to an alliance, in exchange for the medicine, considering who the recipient would be. Father Corran would be happy.
And as Jacen approached the corner of the wide room, there was Nelani, her raven-haired head buried inside River's chest, sobbing. River's ice-colored eyes stared at Jacen, and they made him want to shiver uncontrollably.
River was eighteen, blonde-haired, and motherly in every sense of the word, right down to how ferocious she could be when defending children. Well-fit for being Nelani's bodyguard.
"What did you say to her, Jacen?" River asked, her eyes glittering fiercely in the half-light of this forlorn place.
Nelani continued to gently sob in River's arms, and Jacen's heart fell. He hadn't meant to hurt Nelani this badly. He hadn't meant to hurt her at all. This had been an accident.
"I was . . . a little rough on her for waking me up. I was having one of the nightmares again," Jacen said, looking away.
"Yeah. I heard you screaming all the way down here. I'm surprised you didn't wake everyone up," River replied, cuddling Nelani softly as she spoke.
"Here, Nelani. I think Jacen has something to say to you," River said. Nelani turned around then, and looked directly into Jacen's eyes.
Jacen stared into Nelani's clouded eyes, where her clear tears continued to pour out off, and sighed.
"Nelani, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. Thank you for getting me up and stopping the whole thing," he said.
Nelani sniffed and replied, her voice broken, succulent. "Okay. I won't bother you again, okay?"
"No," Jacen said. Nelani froze in place, her eyes wide in shock. "When I'm screaming like that, I want you to wake me up. And it doesn't matter what I say to you after you get me up. I'm grateful, all right? The less time I have with the nightmares the better."
Nelani nodded slowly, and her right hand rubbed a few of her tears away from her eyes. Jacen bent down to her level, and rubbed her forehead as he smiled. As he felt Nelani's trio of scars, though, the grin faded, especially as he spoke.
"And I know what I have is nowhere near as bad as yours. You're a strong girl, Nelani. Stronger than all of us are in some ways. You're tough, tougher than Bartus, even."
Jacen hugged Nelani briefly and tightly for a moment, before letting go and placing his hands on her shoulders.
"Now let's have a good night's sleep, all right? If you need anything just ask River or me, all right?"
"Okay."
The response wasn't as vigorious as Jacen wanted, but at least she was accepting his apology, and his words. Jacen looked up, and saw River smiling for once, and River nodded encouragingly.
"All right, let's go to bed. Go stay by River, all right?" Jacen asked.
"Sure."
Nelani left Jacen and ran over to River, and crawled in a small, yet cavernous space in the wall, right next to River. There a small blanket and pillow had been placed, and Nelani crawled into it.
As Jacen turned around and left, he heard Nelani ask "Do you care about yourself?"
Jacen stopped. Do I?
Considering that he was the leader of this group, and that he was looked up to, and that for once he had found someone he could love, his life actually had meaning now.
And if he cared for others, he would have to care for himself, because who would care for these people if he died or wasted away?
"Yes," he said. "Yes I do. But everyone else comes before me."
"That's better than I thought." And then Jacen heard the shuffling of covers and a soft sigh as Nelani forced herself to relax and actually sleep.
Just as Jacen began to walk away, he heard "She likes you, you know."
Jacen turned around and saw River walking over to him, her sniper rifle slung behind her. River was smiling now, and looked a lot more cheerful, despite her tired eyes.
"You're like a brother to her. She needs you as much as all of us need her."
"Yeah. I know that." Jacen replied, scratching an itch on his neck as he spoke.
River folded her arms. "Then act like it, okay? All Nelani wants is to be loved. She remembers what the Vong did to her, and her family's long gone. We have to show her what it's like to be happy. To have a family. And if we do that, when this war finally ends Nelani can have the life she deserves."
"If the war ends. Seems pretty endless to me," Jacen replied, looking over River's shoulder and towards the now-dozing Nelani. The girl had been so exhausted she had fallen asleep almost instantly upon contact with the blanket and pillow.
"It'll end someday. I know it will," River said.
Unlike everyone else here, River still had faith, however misplaced in Jacen's opinion, that the war would end before she died or was killed, whatever happened first. Jacen was still finding out for himself whether he considered such thoughts either absurd optimism or sanguine hope. He wasn't sure what he would decide for himself before he met his inevitable end on the streets.
Jacen looked outside, past one of the holes in the walls that allowed him to glimpse the outside, with only a marshwood board obscuring the wrecked skyline.
"I hope it does."
That sentiment was true, at least. Everyone would universally agree with that.
"Let's go to bed. Got a long day ahead," Jacen said, and he turned away from the hole, from River, and walked towards his bed. Perhaps thoughts of the princess would occupy his dreams tonight, and he would not have to relive another image from the past . . .
Jaina . . . wherever you are, I hope you're doing better than me. I truly do.
-----signature-----
Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force Beginning's End: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28450077&brd=10477&replies=1
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jadesabre75
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Date Posted:
5/12 9:51am
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RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 1 5/12/
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Ooooooo. Me likey. 
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Stories are in my bio! Have at it!
"Writers block is when your characters get tired of everything you do to them and go on strike."
Lucky Member of the Jagateers: Jagateer of the Imperial Red Swim Trunks
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padawanlost
Registered:
Apr '06
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Date Posted:
5/12 1:25pm
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 1 5/12/
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  This was such a good surprise!
I'm so happy to see this story back. I'd almost forgotten how complex and layered this is. The depths you've gone to in making this universe "alternate" are both extreme and highly enjoyable.
I'm also glad to be reminded of how great a character your Jacen is. You've extrapolated on his character as a child and filtered him through a unique set of circumstances, and created someone that is perfectly Jacen Solo, yet completely new to us. The details of his nightmare are fabulous, while maintaining the disjointed feeling of a dream. No wonder Nelani is worried about him, its a vivid horror of a dream to keep having. I'm guessing that he doesn't remember much about the Force?
Do I remember incorrectly, or did Luke not know where Leia was in the first draft? I can't wait to see what the family dynamic is between them here. And I can't wait to see where you take the rapidly-falling Jaina. You know I have a lot of fun with Jaina's dark side. Leia should be a really interesting time too- she must have some serious guilt for letting the galaxy go down while she was Chief of State.
Now I've got a reason to actually be happy on Monday. Please keep this story coming. A premise this good deserves a brilliant conclusion.
xoxo, alex
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e-married to rebel_cheese , so read his stuff or else Padawan of NYCitygurl  Proud member of Charon Force. Check out our NJO AU: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/27537567/p1/?23
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NYCitygurl
Title: Railroad Baroness of SFFBC, C&G, and NSWFF
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
5/16 7:26pm
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 1 5/12/
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I'm so glad this is back!! I remember it from way back when, and I still like it now 
Poor Nelani!! I just want to pick her up as cuddle her And big-brother Jacen is sweet, even if he has to be realistic about a bad situation. However the Solos got separated, I hope Jaina can find her brother soon!
Please keep me on the PM list
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"We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things." ~ Master of padawanlost, Ultima_1 and Jedimaster_JainaSolo
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G__Anakin
Registered:
Apr '06
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Date Posted:
5/17 5:33am
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 1 5/12/
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I would love to be put back on the PM list! Thanks!
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Draconarius
Registered:
Feb '05
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Date Posted:
5/18 7:49pm
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 1 5/12/
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Love it. Glad to see this fic back.
Do throw me onto the PM list.
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Shattered Mirror - http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/28487856/p1/?1 Proudly A/T and J/J Knighted by the wonderful SilSolo "Damned if I'm gonna lose to you!" "Then damned you shall be!" - my brother and I playing Smash Bros.
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rebel_cheese
Registered:
Jul '06
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Date Posted:
5/19 10:45am
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 1 5/12/
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jadesabre75:
Ooooooo. Me likey.
Glad you do. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story too.
padawanlost:
This was such a good surprise!
Ha, I guess it was.
I'm so happy to see this story back. I'd almost forgotten how complex and layered this is. The depths you've gone to in making this universe "alternate" are both extreme and highly enjoyable.
I took a lot of time planning it out for something that came together quickly back a couple of years ago. There's some mild differences between the original version and this one, but I'm sure the changes are for the better.
I'm also glad to be reminded of how great a character your Jacen is. You've extrapolated on his character as a child and filtered him through a unique set of circumstances, and created someone that is perfectly Jacen Solo, yet completely new to us. The details of his nightmare are fabulous, while maintaining the disjointed feeling of a dream. No wonder Nelani is worried about him, its a vivid horror of a dream to keep having. I'm guessing that he doesn't remember much about the Force?
Wow, I don't think anyone's praised my characterization like this.  I really wanted to make Jacen come alive in a different way, while being faithful to the Jacen in late YJK/early NJO. I think that horrid memories can often take morbid and horrific transformations into nightmares, because they are so traumatizing. At the same time, though, the Yuuzhan Vong can be so surreal at times that just living on a planet like the way Coruscant is here is like being in a nightmare, or a dark fantasyland. I wish I knew for certain whether I'm grasping the concepts I'm conveying here.
Do I remember incorrectly, or did Luke not know where Leia was in the first draft? I can't wait to see what the family dynamic is between them here. And I can't wait to see where you take the rapidly-falling Jaina. You know I have a lot of fun with Jaina's dark side. Leia should be a really interesting time too- she must have some serious guilt for letting the galaxy go down while she was Chief of State.
Now I've got a reason to actually be happy on Monday. Please keep this story coming. A premise this good deserves a brilliant conclusion.
Do I remember incorrectly, or did Luke not know where Leia was in the first draft? I can't wait to see what the family dynamic is between them here. And I can't wait to see where you take the rapidly-falling Jaina. You know I have a lot of fun with Jaina's dark side. Leia should be a really interesting time too- she must have some serious guilt for letting the galaxy go down while she was Chief of State.
I am going to explain that in the future, but indeed, Luke (or, rather, someone in contact with Luke) just located Leia at the time of the chapter. That will be explained fully in future chapters, along with Jaina's lack of knowledge on the subject. And yeah, Jaina is rapidly falling, it's not going to be that much different, but she'll be steadied soon enough by multiple factors . . . or fall completely. In actuality, Leia wasn't Chief of State, Mon Mothma still was right before the fall, or so this timeline goes. Leia never got a chance to lead the Republic in this timeline.
Now I've got a reason to actually be happy on Monday. Please keep this story coming. A premise this good deserves a brilliant conclusion.
I hope to provide a good conclusion here. Hopefully this time the ride will not stop.
Thanks for reading, Alex.
NYCitygurl:
I'm so glad this is back!! I remember it from way back when, and I still like it now
It's hard to believe it was almost two years ago when it was first posted. I'm glad you still enjoy it.
Poor Nelani!! I just want to pick her up as cuddle her And big-brother Jacen is sweet, even if he has to be realistic about a bad situation. However the Solos got separated, I hope Jaina can find her brother soon!
Ha, yeah, Nelani is adorable.  At the same time, she has an unusual amount of maturity and understanding for a girl her age, but what she took to achieve that is something no child should have to deal with. Nelani is lucky that she has people like Jacen around to protect her (and yes, I'm aware of the irony when contrasted to canon). As for Jaina finding her brother . . . that remains to be seen. We'll find out in the future.
Please keep me on the PM list
Certainly.
G_Anakin:
I would love to be put back on the PM list! Thanks!
You got it.
Draconarius:
Love it! Glad to see this fic back.
Glad you're excited. It's going to be a great ride, hopefully.
Do throw me onto the PM list.
Will do. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
Postie coming shortly! This one contains a new scene that wasn't in the original version, along with modified versions of the original Chapter Two scenes. Kyp still smashes his hand on the cockpit, don't worry.
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Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost 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
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Date Posted:
5/19 10:53am
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 1 5/12/
- Date Edited:
5/19 10:53am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
rebel_cheese
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2
Dear Jaina,
It's grey and cloudy outside. I think it will rain soon.
Not like the Coruscant you remember, is it? Natural rain on Coruscant! Sounds insane, doesn't it?
At one time I thought it was impossible too. But when the Vong came they changed everything. There's so much foliage around now, and quite a bit of it wants to eat you. It seems the weather gets more humid each year, as well. The lines between urban buildings and jungles blur just a little more each day.
I wonder what other changes are happening wherever you are right now. I hope there's still somebody trying to fight. I have no doubt that if there is someone still trying to resist you're with that person. You would never give up. You've never been that kind of person, no matter how much despair you're in.
Nelani's finally sleeping without having nightmares. She's still readjusting emotionally, she's still getting used to being human again, after all that time with the shapers. If I had encountered her one day later I have no doubt that Nelani would've been gone, and her body would belong to Mesthia completely.
Now Nelani seems to be in increasing control of herself. The days when she would flip back and forth like a flipped switch are done, it seems. I'm thankful about that. I have enough scars from her Mesthia side to last me the rest of my life. I'm just glad there was a Nelani inside her body, though.
She smiles every now and then too. And I can't help but smile when she does. It feels like a miracle; I never thought Nelani would ever act like a human girl completely, ever. River gets proven right about Nelani again. Still, she's extremely mature for someone her age. She rarely complains, and she's so caring about us. I really hope someday Mesthia is completely defeated so Nelani has some peace.
Everyone else is doing okay, I guess. River's staring at me a lot lately, I don't know why, it frankly makes me nervous when she does that. Eyrl and Raynar seem to be befriending each other, that's nice, they didn't get along so well when raynar first joined up. Zekk found a cortosis sword a few weeks ago, he thinks he's cool wielding it. And Bartus is, well, Bartus. I dunno how to describe it better.
Bartus nearly blew negotiations for the medicine two days ago, but otherwise the trade went fine. Jysella's going to get her medicine, finally. I hope she'll still be alive when we get back. Hopefully, Father Corran and Mother Mirax and the others have kept good care of her. Jysella's something of the baby of the group, and everyone loves and pampers her as much as we can. She's special, I know it. Everyone seems to think so, at least.
I really wish I could get these stupid, short letters to you. Since our connection faded away I can't feel you anymore. I feel like half of me is missing. I don't feel whole. Tenel Ka, Zekk, everyone with me helps a little bit, but they only fill some of what I miss every day. They can't replace everything I've missed since you vanished.
I love you, Jaina, and I hope to actually see you someday. Before one of us is dead.
Love, Jacen.
-To the reader of this-I am dead if this is read by you. Please, do whatever you can to make sure this and all my other letters make it to Jaina Solo, daughter of Leia Organa Solo and Han Solo, sister of Jacen and Anakin Solo.
* * *
Lasers flashed around Kyp Durron's canopy the further he penetrated the lines. As the Dozen flew by a defense platform being swarmed by the Vong invaders, he saw three of the coralskippers fly in front of his field of vision. Without thinking he triggered his lasers, and was gratified to see one become enflamed after several hits.
"They don't stop coming," a Dozener commed.
Maybe if they finally get that jammer of theirs working, maybe they will, Kyp thought.
That was wishful thinking on his part. The jammer had been researched extensively since the war had began, but nothing had come of it . . . the jammer had become a symbol of the false hopes that had betrayed the galaxy over and over again to the Yuuzhan Vong.
"Listen up, Dozen," Kyp said. "All that matters is that we hold. At least until we know whether the jammer works or doesn't."
It was a perfectly reasonable thing to say. Unfortunately, reason didn't much matter in battle.
"Twenty 50 credit chits says it doesn't work," a Dozen pilot said.
"Nah, I bet thirty."
"Forty!"
"Twenty-five on it actually workin'."
"Dozen, shut up! That's an order!" Kyp yelled, and he got the silence he wanted.
"Good," he said. They traveled by a bunch of allied cruisers on their right that weren't completely engaged yet. "Now stay in formation. I see two squadrons of skips heading towards Platform C-009. I want 'em gone."
The Dozen peeled off from the cruisers and traveled to the left, following Kyp down into another battle below them, where coralskippers and allied starfighters circled around each other in a dizzying battle around engaging battleships. The ships were firing point-blank below, and each ship that was hit was being torn into two pieces. Lifeboats poured out of the Republic ships, nothing came out of the Vong except coral and bodies yanked out into space's abyss.
The defense platform in question was besieged below them. And the two squadrons of coralskippers were zooming out of a Vong ship's version of a hangar bay, literally just a few seconds from contact with the platform. Clusters of fire and destruction rained below, and Kyp saw the uncomfortable sight of a shield trio of X-wings get torn to shreds by the new, fresh coralskippers.
Let's see how fresh they are afterwe're through with them, Kyp thought.
Putting his breath mask to his mouth and hooking it on, Kyp shouted "Dozen, follow me! Split into pairs. We'll get 'em from above!"
As the Dozen entered position above the battle, Kyp noticed that the planet was directly below them. And it seemed awfully close. He could almost feel a little heavier, as if Naboo's gravity was starting to grip his fighter.
"And don't wind up in the atmosphere," he added. "Our fighters don't have the right shields for entry. We go down in there we'll burn!"
"Copy that," Dozen Three said, speaking for everyone else, for no one else had time to respond when Kyp suddenly gave the order to dive bomb.
The planet, and the defense platform, filled Kyp's eyes, along with the red-yellow flowering explosions all around, and occasionally on the platform itself. The twenty-four coralskippers were preparing to barrel roll into their attack pattern, but if this little ambush succeeded, they would never make it towards their targets.
"Lock on, Arsix," Kyp said as he activated his targeting computer. His sight was promptly bathed in a sea of pink and lavender, and yellow shapes illuminated the enemy. Aiming his lasers towards the closest yellow shapes, he began to pull the trigger rapidly, firing red bolts at as many targets as he dared. Coralskippers, caught by surprise, could not counterattack properly and Kyp was elated to see several coralskippers spiral away in flames, out of control. Some even exploded into little fireballs, yorik coral scattering in every direction.
Then Kyp realized his own error and he shouted "Dozen, pull up!"
He gritted his gnashing teeth as he forced his X-wing to get out of the collision course with the surviving coralskippers. Right before he would have crashed into the coralskippers, his X-wing managed to pull up just enough so he could fly above the coralskippers. Looking back, he saw his ever-so reliable Dozen pulling up as well, but a few had reacted too slowly, and were going to risk collision.
A Dozener shouted "There's too many of them!"
There was a sudden, piercing scream penetrating his ears. Kyp saw the X-wing flash on his display, along with one of the enemy's, and then they both vanished a second later. Forcing himself to weather the blow of the death of yet another pilot, Kyp began to focus on the battle again, when he noticed the remaining ten coralskippers peel away from their attack and accelerated behind the Dozen.
"Dammit!" Kyp snarled as he saw the coralskippers swing in behind his squadron. "Dozen, scatter! Reorganize by the Mon Mothma!"
Then he peeled hard to the right, as he saw lava streaks fly past his canopy, and there was at least two screams of blasted pilots. One of them managed to go EV, but his survival was precarious at best, if the resistance lost this battle the pilot was doomed to a forlorn death in space.
Two coralskippers detached themselves from their shrunken unit and gave chase to Kyp and his last wingman, Dozen Four, a young human from Denon, what remained of that place.
Four shouted "They're all over us!"
"You don't think I see that?" Kyp answered.
"Follow me. I think I see a way out of here," he added a moment later as he eyed a corridor with several allied vessels in it.
This little flotilla were some of the reserves in Ackbar's forces, but they were already being engaged by coralskippers. However, no major ship, outside of a couple of corvette-sized vessels, had managed to get this far.
But the coralskippers would be perilous enough, but Kyp was hoping that in the confusion he and his wingman could slip away and then easily make it back to the rendezvous he has described. At the rate this battle was going, there was little he could do besides hope.
That was one thing Kyp despised about the war. It took away all of his choices, his freedoms. And as the Vong pressed closer and closer towards the edges of the galaxy, more and more of his freedom to explore and discover was vanishing. He was tired of this war, of being a glorified soldier. He had had ten years of being an angel of death, he was ready to be something else now.
A resistance vessel splintered into two flaming infernoes suddenly, and Kyp suddenly realized that this supposedly secure path to the point had become officially hazardous.
"Dozen Four, you still with me?" Kyp asked, as the halves fell away, and oxygen and bodies leaked into space as the two starfighters passed by.
To his right, Kyp saw two Yuuzhan Vong cruisers manuevering in, attempting to slice open a gap in this particular allied line. With the way the Vong were finding breaches in the allied lines, this battle would be quickly over with, unless Luke's adopted children and his wife managed to make their latest attempt at a secret weapon work.
Suddenly, coralskippers began to come down upon him and his wingman from above, shattering Kyp's rather scornful asperity about the leader of the Jedi Order. First he had to live before he would think about his ill thoughts of this latest plan by the Jedi Master's wife and their supposedly-genius adopted children. He would believe the talk of Danni and Malinza being prodigies if their relentless experiments finally succeeded for once.
This time, the adopted children were trying to jam the yammosks, a tool the Yuuzhan Vong used to keep themselves coordinated and organized in a battle. It would be a particularly crippling blow if one were to succeed, but so far Kyp had not seen any indication of it working yet, if it had been activated by now.
And even if it was succeeding, it was far too late for Dozen Four. He was instantly hit, and had scarcely the time to cry out as he cascaded away, his X-wing transforming into a burning pyre. A hatch exploded and Kyp saw a flash of light as the pilot escaped right before the inevitable explosion, and Kyp sighed. Unless his side won this battle, the pilot had just sentenced himself to a cold, attenuated death.
Kyp immediately spiraled to the right, his head banging against the headrest of his cockpit. Biting his lip, and muttering a curse, he saw that three of them had peeled away and were now in pursuit. And their lava streams were channeling on all four sides, and only with desperate, perhaps fortuitous manueverings, Kyp managed to avoid immediately getting blasted.
Wreckage from the eradicated Republic cruiser flashed by him as he flew past where the cruiser had once been. Two starfighters, E-wings, flashed by, and Kyp had to dive low to avoid colliding with the coralskippers pursuing those poor souls. One of the pursuing coralskippers didn't dive down in time, however, and met an end against the fourth coralskipper, causing both of them to explode into miniscule little specks of light.
That was one of his pursuit down. But now he still had two on his tail. Kyp looked behind him, and saw the two other coralskippers expertly mimicking his every move, trick, and procedure. It was going to be exceedingly difficult escaping these two. And there the only way out was to fly closer to those two suddenly imposing and frightening Vong cruisers.
Great. Just kriffing great.
He accelerated towards the battle around the rightmost cruiser, which was being wearied by clusters of starfighters darting around in little blue lights around its body. Fire streams and plasma bolts were flung from the Vong vessel, some firing above Kyp's head, heading to quarry behind him.
As the fire grew in intensity, Kyp flung himself to the right, suddenly, and instantly felt his face tighten and the left side of his face grow increasingly heavy. Squinting by natural reflex, his eyes could scarely remain open. Suddenly, he saw a trio of X-wings approach him, and he saw red bolts being fired directly at him . . . no, around him. Suddenly, on his display, he saw the red dots blink repeatedly and then vanish into blackness.
The first thing he did before he spoke was breathe a sigh of relief. Then he opened communications.
"Thanks, whoever did that." he said on the open channel.
"No problem," an all-too familiar voice replied.
You just hadto come and rescue me, didn't you? he asked her.
She wasn't Force-sensitive, not by a long-shot, but through the increasing fondness and attachment for each other she was beginning to feel his thoughts much like he could feel hers. Through bonds like this, non-Force sensitives could communicate with someone he or she genuinely loved or was close to.
What can I say? You needed to be bailed out, Inyri Forge replied.
It was soft, distant, and required some concentration to understand, but she was getting there.
Kyp sighed. She was originally just a close friend, but for the last year . . . for the last year they had been becoming more than just close. The kiss just yesterday, in her room, where he had felt her presence in the Force grow to him, proved it. For some reason, he had fallen for her. And, he hoped, she was in love with him.
Kyp Durron doesn't need to be bailed out by nobody, Kyp said jokingly.
Kyp Durron better keep his eyes on the battle before he becomes a cooked piece of meat, she retorted.
Ah yes,, he thought, keeping that thought well away from Inyri's still-short reach. She loves me all right.
Then Kyp, looking at the display, saw her Rogue Squadron trio loop around behind him, and the four began to dive down, below a Bothan Assault Cruiser. Two coralskippers suddenly came right into their path, almost head-on. Without thinking, he pulled the trigger, incinerating one of the coralskippers. Inyri's X-wing and one of her wingmates destroyed the other, sending twisting in an uncontrollable gyre for several dozen feet before it exploded.
"Hey, Rogue Leader," Kyp said, remembering formality at the last second. "Have any idea whether our resident strategists' latest brilliant plan has begun yet?"
"I believe it's been activated, yes, Dozen Lead," Inryi answered, her voice sounding more comfortable in a military monotone than Kyp's voice did, or likely ever would.
"Why do you say that? I haven't had any confirmation," Kyp asked.
"Because I see the Yuuzhan Vong ships firing upon each other!"
"Huh?" Kyp looked up, and suddenly did see the impossible.
Vong ships were firing upon each other, their lava streams crossing and traversing paths and the beams burning through their hulls. Flames spewed from every impact, and Kyp saw more than one ship get shot completely through, leaving gaping, leaking holes on both sides.
"Yes!" Kyp whooped, raising his fist in the air, only to bang it on the top of the canopy.
"Ow," he mumbled, shaking his numbed right fist a second later and blowing on it.
Shaking his head, he saw the brilliant sight of the Yuuzhan Vong turning their weapons upon themselves, firing upon each other, believing their comrades were in fact the enemy. Just as Tionne, Danni, Ulaha and the other Jedi scientists had claimed the jammer would. For once, a plan had worked out according to plan.
"Yes! You see that! I knew they'd do it! I never doubted them for a second!" Kyp yelled cheerfully.
"Sure you didn't," Inyri said.
Kyp didn't care that he had temporarily deluded himself. All that mattered right now, yes, all that did matter in this endless war-was that they had finally found a way to succeed. The war could be won after all. The Republic had found a way to beat the Vong.
And that brought to Kyp's face a smile. It was the first time in a long while, other than with Inyri, that he had smiled, and he took care to burn the images into his mind. He wasn't sure when he'd laugh and celebrate like this again.
But maybe, just maybe, this was going to be the first of many victories.
But first, he needed to help finish this battle.
Seeing a coralskipper flying wildly in a course that would cross his, Kyp triggered his lasers, and basked in the sight of the coralskipper exploding.
* * *
"So, it finally worked," Ackbar said, as he stared outside as insanity suddenly, almost inexplicably, gripped each and every Vong vessel.
Coralskippers were suddenly, unmercifully, blasted by the cruisers they were protecting. Cruisers fired at every ship on every side as they blew each other apart. Coralskippers made assault runs on their own side.
All in all, the battle had suddenly become chaotic. Ackbar heard a presence walk by his chair and stand at his side.
"Yes, it has," the feminine, human voice of Winter Celchu spoke. "The Jedi have pulled through for us at last."
Ackbar nodded slowly, delicately. Over the course of the last several years, he had become frail, old. He could barely tolerate being outside of water right now. But there was nothing wrong with his mind, and today, he was finally proving it. The Yuuzhan Vong could be defeated. They weren't unstoppable, invincible. They were mortal creatures, just like every other being in existence.
They were beatable.
Even without the Force Ackbar sensed that morale was steadily rising among his forces. After years of empty promises, and total defeats, something, something, had gone right at last. Naboo would be the first world to be successfully defended from the talons of the Yuuzhan Vong. The Republic's first real victory in nearly a decade was going to come here. And it would come from the enemy's self-destruction, from the enemy firing upon itself.
Ackbar breathed a sigh of relief as the Yuuzhan Vong fleet continued to shrink further and further down in size. Eventually, there would essentially be so little left the Republic fleets could finish them off at their leisure. For now, Ackbar ordered his forces to pull back, to let the enemy cannibalize themselves as much as possible before the Republic would move in for the kill.
Ackbar, as his forces obeyed the order and regrouped in lines around Naboo, pulled up another map, one of a nearby planet.
Umgul.
Around there, Bothan Admiral Tra'est Kre'fey was struggling to withstand an enemy assault around that world. It had been Kre'fey's idea to lure the enemy towards these two systems, but Ackbar, who was shrewd politically, knew full well why the battle had been drawn out here.
Bothawui was extremely close to the front lines. A few parsecs of travel from Bothan Space and a traveler would find himself in Yuuzhan Vong lines. Kre'fey was trying to move the war elsewhere, somewhere far away from his homeworld. And Ackbar was willing to oblige to that, as long as there was a victory in the end.
And he had received one at long last. The battle was over, but combat would continue for some time. It had become a tragic comedy, really, what with the Vong slashing and tearing at themselves, slaughtering each other as the Republic watched passively. But it was a victory nevertheless. And Ackbar allowed himself a smile, awe-filled smile.
"When the enemy fleet is down to a quarter of their original strength we will counter-attack," Ackbar said. "Until then everyone should regroup. When the time comes we will strike, and then we will move on to Umgul and defeat the enemy there."
It sounded so simple in words. It was for more complicated to execute. But there wasn't any doubt there would be failure this time, in Ackbar's mind. Now, there would only be victory among this fight for survival.
And perhaps hope would be allowed to fester once more. And those happy thoughts accompanied Ackbar as he let his tired eyes close, and he began to rest. But before he closed his eyes, he saw Naboo's sun began to glare around the dark silhouette of Naboo. It felt symbolic, an omen, a promise to the broken galaxy.
The sun is finally coming up for us. For this hour, regardless. Now we have to make sure that the day continues.
Then Ackbar closed his eyes and took a well-deserved rest.
* * *
So, just like that, I'm leaving Csilla, thought Davin Fel as he stared at the entrance to the vessel he was going to be based out of.
From the outside, the vessel looked impervious. Like nothing would even have the hope of just scratching it. But it was anything but invincible, and Davin knew that all too well. If Chiss vessels were even just close to invulnerable there was no way the Yuuzhan Vong would have made it this far, where they were threatening Csilla itself. Even The Chiss' formidable array of Super Star Destroyers weren't enough to even halt the enemy, much less push them back.
His clawcraft had already been loaded into the vessel. There wasn't much tethering him to the ground anymore. He was supposed to get inside and into the staging area. He would be going into combat mere hours after this vessel took off. He would be part of the last, desperate action from the Chiss before the defense of Csilla.
If the Yuuzhan Vong weren't stopped now, there would be a battle for Csilla. Even with Csilla's shields and anti-ship guns on the ground, there was no way to tell whether that would be enough to keep the Yuuzhan Vong. Especially since chances were high that there would be an evacuation. Civilians and military escorts attempting to flee always interfered with the last stand.
But that's going to happen eventually no matter what we do, isn't it? There's always more of them. No matter how many we shoot down there's always replacements. Even if we do turn them away, they'll just come back with more, won't they?
He sighed and then moved to step into the line. It was time he boarded and left Csilla. It was freezing, here in the outdoor dock, and he wasn't wearing a coat. All he had insulating him from the freezing weather was his standard regulation military uniform. He didn't have a coat or anything else to make the chilling weather more bearable.
And he couldn't give in to his weakness and break military regulations. The Chiss dealt with, therefore, every member of an alien race trying to become worthy of the Ascendancy had to tolerate the weather as well, with no special advantages. So all Davin could do was stand there and tolerate the weather, without shivering and losing his mind to the cold.
It was even frowned upon to have his family seeing him off. He was an adult by Chiss standards, he didn't need family there to wish him well. He was supposed to be mature enough to do this alone.
To him, dealing with everything combined was rapidly becoming a tall order.
"Hey, Davin!" he heard a voice shout out from behind him.
He turned to see Cherith standing there, breathing heavily and looking like she had run a marathon.
"Thought you could just sneak out on us?" she said with a tired grin.
Davin flushed briefly and looked away. "Ah, no. That wasn't my intentions at all . . ."
Cherith walked forward and patted him on the shoulder. "C'mon, Davin. I was just messing with you. Don't be so serious all the time."
Davin internally chafed at that comment. He was about to go into a life-or-death situation. How could he joke around and pretend that everything was just peachy when he could be burned space slag by tomorrow? Cherith, Jagged, and Wynssa, they could relax and pretend everything was all right. They had that privilege, they were the younger siblings. He did not have that privilege, he was the eldest and supposed to be responsible!
Not to mention that if Cherith lingered here much longer he would be tarnished with the title of "child" to the Chiss. He was not supposed to have his little sister here. Farewells should have been said long ago. Davin thought he had said goodbye already.
Cherith had to go away, and quickly.
"What, and make myself out to be an embarrassment?"
Cherith's grin vanished. "What?"
"You and Jagged don't have to abide by the standards as much. You're younger. You two aren't the face of the family."
Cherith looked downcast. "Hey, Davin . . ."
"Listen. I don't see any other soldiers here having family saying goodbye. Now, unless you're getting on too, please leave."
Cherith just stared at Davin.
"Look. No one else came with you, don't you see? Even Jagged and Wyn knew better."
When he saw Cherith's face he realized he had been phrasing his words wrong. He didn't want to leave Cherith distraught like this, that wasn't his intention at all. He just wanted to tell her to leave, but not like this.
"Look . . . I don't want the people who I'm going to trust with my life wanting to do some depraved haze because my little sister said goodbye. We may not be of the same species, but we are all Chiss, Cherith. I am being judged as if I were a Chiss by blood, not by nationality."
Cherith looked away, and before Davin could say anything she turned around.
"Goodbye then, Davin," Cherith said, and she ran off, vanishing into the crowd before Davin could say a word.
Damn it, Davin thought. That wasn't the way it was supposed to go. How'd I screw that one up? I didn't want to leave Cherith like this.
He sighed and turned around, and advanced towards the docked Star Destroyer. My mom will just yell at me when we communicate. And I'll have to apologize to Cherith. That own't be too bad. I can make amends in private, then. Better than here in public where everyone can see me.
He just hoped he would be able to communicate with his family. He didn't want another regret on his shoulders if he didn't come back.
That was only if he came back.
He would apologize to Cherith when he came back. That wasn't an impossible thought, was it?
Even when considering the Chiss had lost practically every battle in this war?
He decided then he wouldn't die. Not without Cherith hearing his apology. But first, he had to come back home, preferably on this ship.
With a small sigh and a heart that was becoming heavier by the second, Davin got back into line, and waited to enter the ship.
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Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force Beginning's End: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28450077&brd=10477&replies=1
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NYCitygurl
Title: Railroad Baroness of SFFBC, C&G, and NSWFF
Registered:
Jul '02
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Date Posted:
5/19 12:18pm
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 2 5/19/
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"Twenty 50 credit chits says it doesn't work," a Dozen pilot said.
If 1 credit = 1 USD, I want their paychecks
I love this chapter!! Kyp + Inyri = = awwwww!! The part with Jacen's letter was so sad, and I want to cry for Davin (even though he's being mean). I REALLY hope he comes back, because that would be a terrible way to leave things 
Awesome post!!
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"We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things." ~ Master of padawanlost, Ultima_1 and Jedimaster_JainaSolo
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jadesabre75
Registered:
Nov '07
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Date Posted:
5/19 3:47pm
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 2 5/19/
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Yeah baby! Kyppie action! I love it! LOL
Great chapter. I so like this story. That was touching that Jacen wrote Jaina a letter. Very sweet!
Great job!
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Stories are in my bio! Have at it!
"Writers block is when your characters get tired of everything you do to them and go on strike."
Lucky Member of the Jagateers: Jagateer of the Imperial Red Swim Trunks
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padawanlost
Registered:
Apr '06
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Date Posted:
5/19 5:14pm
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 2 5/19/
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First off, I loved Jacen's letter. This story is really going to make me like Jacen again, and considering some of the things I've done with him lately in my own stories, that could take a lot- bravo. I like how he's forgotten about the Force, and just notices when people are "special." It should be cool when he discovers what it is that makes he and his friends special. I'm also guessing this is before Corran knew he was Force-sensitive too?
Kyp's combination of bravado, sarcasm and daring remind me a lot of Han, which is fitting since I'd always hoped Kyp was kind of like Han's little brother. I hope things go well for Inyri and his relationship. Good way to set some of the backstory on Dani and Malinza too.
You know I'm a sucker for almost everything Fel, so Davin and Cherith's appearances were more than welcomed, even if Davin was a jerky older brother to Cherith. I'm interested to see what you do with these two, as so little exists regarding them.
Good to know about the timeline too. So is Mon Mothma still around, or is it Ackbar and the military that are really running what's left of the Republic? I'd guess Luke would have a big part in that too, but I might be wrong.
I hope Jaina's coming up soon.
alex
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e-married to rebel_cheese , so read his stuff or else Padawan of NYCitygurl Proud member of Charon Force. Check out our NJO AU: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/27537567/p1/?23
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Draconarius
Registered:
Feb '05
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Date Posted:
5/19 7:57pm
Subject:
RE: Beginning's End (NJO-era AU, J/Tk/OC, J/J, A/T, H/L, Luke, Tionne, Nelani, more) Chapter 2 5/19/
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Loved it, cheese!
It is really, really nice to have the old YJK Jacen back again, especially after LotF. His letter was really sweet.
Kyp and Inyri together is certainly original. It's good.
Can't wait for the next chapter!</ | |