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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Beyond - Legends The End of All Light (Post-NJO AU: Anakin Solo, Jacen, Jaina, L/M, H/L, many more) Updated 11/29/14!

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by YodaKenobi, Apr 16, 2010.

  1. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Seventh.

    YK: Yeah, feel free to repost it It was awesome.

    Will do. [face_peace] I'll even toss the Killzone 2 one in as well for kicks. :p


     
  2. Spike2002

    Spike2002 Former FF-UK RSA and Arena Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 4, 2002
    I have to say, Darth Havok >>>>>>>>> Darth Caedus. Brilliant betrayal. The midget goats get what's coming to them [face_laugh]

    If only we had you on board for LOTF, YK, instead of Karen Travissty. We could've salvaged a book series out of it.
     
  3. Diamond_Revelation

    Diamond_Revelation Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2003
    Well that was thoroughly evil and manipulative - Jacen is definitely doing a good job of being a sith lord.

    I am left wondering what the point was though - were the Rathians trying to get rid of the Bothans to prevent them switching sides or something?!!

    Great chapter - looking forward to the next.
     
  4. Goddess_At_Heart

    Goddess_At_Heart Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Mar 20, 2010
    :eek: Give me a minute I'm recovering from semi-shock.

    Okay, all better. :p

    Danni & Jacen's little talk was an intresting moment. Truth be told, I reread it several times. [face_whistling]

    I'm seeing 'DANGER' writen all over this update.

    [face_hypnotized] So intresting.
     
  5. FORCEBlLADE

    FORCEBlLADE Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 2, 2003
    Please let it be that Sekot is just playing along with this. I'd hate to think Jacen could actually fool it too.
     
  6. YodaKenobi

    YodaKenobi Former TFN Books Staff star 6 VIP

    Registered:
    May 27, 2003
    Maggy: Thanks for reading :D





    Magnuskn: What, not even a pithy one-liner for Kre'fey before he got vaped? Tsk, tsk.

    It appears so :( Poor guy.

    Okay, I saw the double-cross coming, but not how Jacen would make Sekot fall for his lies.

    Yeah, you still called it though :p

    Good work! Good chapter.

    Thanks, I'm glad you liked it :)

    It was definitely the wrong way to go. Now, they have to push all the burden on Jaina and Ben, which necessitates making them interesting enough to carry the franchise. With Anakin, they had a very popular character who already had garnered enormous fan sympathy, but they chose to kill exactly that one character off. It's just beyond me how their decision-making process went on that, but maybe I simply don't have enough of a lack of foresight, when it comes to serial literary works. Comes with the territory of reading serial comics for such a long time. ^^

    Well, I believe they picked Anakin at the beginning (after GL said he couldn't be the hero, supposidly) so it could be they didn't anticipate him becoming the most popular Solo. Or maybe they did and thought that was good because it would be more "shocking." Who knows...

    There really wasn't much to get excited about. Blood Trail would have been a much better sequel.

    I appreciate your enthusiasm on that one :D

    Well, I can argue from the perspective of already knowing what is to come, so for me the "crazy Jedi" thing makes more sense. But the Baran Do sages were exactly as boring as I always imagined them to be.

    Wait until you get to the Aing-Tii :p Huge disappointment.

    Because you are a reviewer and are under an NDA, yes yes.

    Pretty much.

    IIRC, he had just recovered from an heart attack when he wrote it? It certainly lacked Wedge being incredibly awesome. Also, Voort SaBinring, aka Piggy, would have been nice in that little Wraith Squadron reunion on Kessel.

    Actually, he had the heart attack just after it was released. Backlash was the book that was pushed back because of his heart attack, and that one was excellent?go figure :p

    I believe Allston has had some other health troubles over the years though. Some problems with his eyes or something like that? I can't remember for sure.

    Thanks again for reading and replying :D





    PointGiven: Whoa.
    Now thats how you do a last sentence!


    lol! One sentence kills hundreds of thousands of people :p

    Thanks for reading and replying :D





    GMK: FOURTH!

    Way to go =D=

    Wow! Jacen played the Bothans, Sekot, the Yuuzhan Vong, Danni Quee, Jabitha, and Traest Kre'fey.

    He is a Sith now after all :(

    Lying to Sekot about the Jedi giving the location of Zonama Sekot to the BOTHANS!

    Yeah, that was pretty horrible...

    Are they really sure that Jacen's telling the truth, or can Sekot not even feel that?

    Sekot can't tell. It was never omniscient and had to test Jacen and Luke back in Reunion to trust their motives. Now it can't get a sense of Jacen at all because he's all shrouded in dark side energy :(

    Either way, he's going to have sooo many enemies when this hits the ears of the Jedi.

    I don't think he's going to have to worry about that "Jedi Knight of the Year" award :p

    Some how I get the feeling that things are only going to get worse . I dread to think who else Jacen will manipulate to get his and Maligs way by the end of the fic.

    There are going to be some terrible things to come :( And Jacen has taken his cues from Malig on manipulations.

    Great post.

    Thanks and thanks for reading and replying :D





    corran: Definetly a gutsy move, killing an established character like Kre'fey off without even seeing him. I respect it though.

    Thanks. Kre'fey kind of did himself in, destroyed by his own hatred.

    I wonder if Sekot doesn't still suspect Jacen and is using him for other purposes?
     
  7. TahiriSoloFan

    TahiriSoloFan Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 20, 2003
    Sekot obviously needs to work on honing its danger sense. [face_beatup] :p

    Thanks for the Mother's Day wishes. [:D]
     
  8. Treborani

    Treborani Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 18, 2009
    Alright. I've read Blood Trail and loved it (I'm real excited for the sequel of that one, whenever you decide to complete it), but I've only read part of The Age of Heroes. I thought I'd test your thought of being able to read this one without reading the other ones in Legacy of the Sith.

    It was a good call. I have the gist of what's happening and am thoroughly impressed with your work. I can't wait to see how Havok develops as I've always been a Jacen fan. Also, I love the Malig character.

    So, great chapter. :D Can you please add me to the PM list for this?
     
  9. Draconarius

    Draconarius Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2005
    That alone would have been worth it. :p

    Awesome chapter. Jacen is taking to his new job quite well. Frighteningly well.

    A pity about Kre'fey, but given he was out to commit genocide I can't say it wasn't entirely deserved.

    Looking forward to more.
     
  10. Magnuskn

    Magnuskn Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 14, 2002
    Sometimes all that experience with how stories are told which I claim to have actually works. :p

    Whatever may have been the exact situation, they definitely couldn't recognize what kind of opportunity they had with Anakin, after he got so popular. And people ( like us ;) ) are still giving them grief over it.

    Oi. I thought the second book would make it all more interest. Oh, well, at least the paperbacks come out with one month delay to each other only, until the third book is out.

    My guess would be that he suddenly was preoccupied about what his legacy would be, with every book possibly being his last. A heart attack puts a lot in perspective, I'd say.
     
  11. L0B0

    L0B0 Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 4, 2008
    I gotta hand it to Jac...er,...Darth Havok, he put on quite a show. I'm surprised that Sekot would fall for this ploy so easily. As a matter of fact, it almost seems too easy.

    I can't decide if Havok is delusional or just way too overconfident. Sith do not love. Darkness does not abide such weakness as mercy, and yet he choose to spare Danni & the shapers for now. Was this compassion, or did he just want an audience? Perhaps Jacen is feeling subconsciously guilty, and letting them live somehow assuages his conscience.

    Whatever the case, Sekot obviously has little choice but to acquiesce for the time being. However, I am not convinced that the true nature of this charade is lost on the sentience which choose to appear as Anakin Solo, of all people. Something tells me that Sekot is not as clueless as Jacen would like to believe.


    One thing is certain: Now...matters are worse.
     
  12. PirateofRohan

    PirateofRohan Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 11, 2009
    Happy late Mother's Day to you too?8-} Except your a guy and I'm a guy.:confused: Happy Bro-day?[face_whistling] Anyway, wow am I shocked.:eek: Jacen er, Havok is just....EVIL!!! Funny though, it makes me think of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. Jacen is the nice-ish niave Smeagol and Havok is the sinister Gollum. Even though he's still very much in love with Tenel Ka, he thinks it's almost Anakin's fault. The key word there being "almost". He just finds it easier to blame Anakin. Kind of like Vader, the way that he blames Anakin even though he knows it's Malig's fault. He also thinks he'll be able to kill Malig which is, how should I put this, not very thinky of him. I think that's it.
     
  13. YodaKenobi

    YodaKenobi Former TFN Books Staff star 6 VIP

    Registered:
    May 27, 2003
    TSF: Sekot obviously needs to work on honing its danger sense.

    Stupid sentient planets :( Will they ever learn? I'm sure if it really goes along with what Jacen says, it will come to regret it eventually.

    Thanks for the Mother's Day wishes.

    [:D]

    Thanks for reading and replying :D







    Treborani: Alright. I've read Blood Trail and loved it (I'm real excited for the sequel of that one, whenever you decide to complete it),

    It'll probably be awhile, as I'm not sure I want to write two stories like this at once again, but we'll see. Maybe there will be something later in the year.

    but I've only read part of The Age of Heroes. I thought I'd test your thought of being able to read this one without reading the other ones in Legacy of the Sith.
    It was a good call. I have the gist of what's happening and am thoroughly impressed with your work.


    That's good to hear. With so much backstory now I'm sure it's going to be difficult to follow at times. Feel free to ask any questions if it gets confusing :) And thanks for giving this story a shot.

    I can't wait to see how Havok develops as I've always been a Jacen fan. Also, I love the Malig character.

    Awesome :D Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying both of them. There will be lots of Jacen and Malig in this story.

    So, great chapter. Can you please add me to the PM list for this?

    Sure thing. Thanks again for reading and replying :D






    Draconarius: That alone would have been worth it.

    I guess you're right [face_laugh] Of course, I would have replaced them with Squibs 8-}

    Awesome chapter. Jacen is taking to his new job quite well. Frighteningly well.

    Running the same scam that Malig has been, really :( I guess he's learning...

    A pity about Kre'fey, but given he was out to commit genocide I can't say it wasn't entirely deserved.

    Yeah, it's hard to really shed many tears for him. He also led the attack on Ossus that got Kam Solusar and some other unnamed Jedi killed, so :p

    Looking forward to more.

    Thanks! There should be more on Friday.

    And thanks for reading and replying :D






    Magnuskn: Sometimes all that experience with how stories are told which I claim to have actually works.

    Feels good, doesn't it? :p

    Whatever may have been the exact situation, they definitely couldn't recognize what kind of opportunity they had with Anakin, after he got so popular. And people ( like us ) are still giving them grief over it.

    Here, here.

    Oi. I thought the second book would make it all more interest. Oh, well, at least the paperbacks come out with one month delay to each other only, until the third book is out.

    That's good. Omen is definitely not worth purchasing as a hardcover. There's really not much to it.

    My guess would be that he suddenly was preoccupied about what his legacy would be, with every book possibly being his last. A heart attack puts a lot in perspective, I'd say.

    Could be. He's got a pretty damn good body of work, IMHO, even if I haven't been crazy about the series he's involved in as a whole.





    L0B0: I gotta hand it to Jac...er,...Darth Havok, he put on quite a show. I'm surprised that Sekot would fall for this ploy so easily. As a matter of fact, it almost seems too easy.

    Yeah, maybe Sekot didn't really fall for it after all?

    Then again, Jacen never really fell for many of Malig's tricks and it still brought him down.

    I can't decide if Havok is delusional or just way too overconfident. Sith do not love. Darkness does not abide such weakness as mercy, and yet he choose to spare Danni & the shapers for now. Was this compassion, or did he just want an audience? Perhaps Jacen is feeling subconsciously guilty, and letting them live somehow assuages his conscience.

    Excellent points, and a great question. I like the idea of him needing an audience for some reason, th
     
  14. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006
    YK: Even funnier (and more apt) the second time around

    Lol. Just a little. :p Really wanted to play the Helghast Theme from Killzone 2 after reading that chapter.

    And no, I haven't forgotten about Resident Evil-fying the EoAL cover. Just got some school work to get through, and other stuff. 8-}


    Did you mean that they would look alike as well? That would at least explain Jacen and probably Callista recognizing him.


    Yeah, I did mean to imply that they'd look similar. Still wouldn't explain how Faybol and such recognized Malig though.


    What's this a reference to?

    Mass Effect 2. Joker says that line at a point in the game.


    Yeah. They let their own genocidal vows do them in Sad.

    Almost makes Anakin Sr's reasons forgivable. :p


    New post on Friday. Again, three months pass between chapters 3 and 4, so there's a little jump in time. But we're done with Jacen for the time being and will be catching up with our other characters across the galaxy for a few weeks. I'm not going to say what character(s) we'll be seeing, but I will tell you we're going to Coruscant

    So, by the time we're caught up with everyon, I should be getting near finals. Nice. Oh, and I'll just take a random guess and say that the person (or one of them) is.... Fyor.

    Hey, why not? :p
     
  15. PirateofRohan

    PirateofRohan Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Dec 11, 2009
    Corusant? Yay!! Now if only we could stop in Corellia... I know almost every detail of Han Solo's life. Or do I? Sorry I love questions that can eventually annoy people.[face_mischief] Who is this Super-villain? Thrawn? Havok, the fleet commander(he is a fleet commander, right?[face_thinking])? Namtar, someone of a nameless evil? Sorry I got the "Hong Kong Phooey" song stuck in my head.
     
  16. Magnuskn

    Magnuskn Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 14, 2002
    Of course. [face_mischief]

    Yeah, hardcovers are not happening anymore, even if I got to wait another full year for the paperbacks. Not until the story has gotten so good again that it is worth it.

    Ah, the Wraith Squadron books were very good. And the Rebel Lines duology stands out from the second half of the NJO as being their best part ( even if Tahiris portrayal was much too chipper for being so soon after Anakins death ). Czulkang Lah remains my favourite Vong. :p
     
  17. Darth_Mediocre

    Darth_Mediocre Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Nov 22, 2008
    Definitely agree with Spike, Darth Havok > Cadeus (who I refuse to dignify with the title of Darth). I continue to like the alternating between calling him 'Jacen' some of the time and then 'Havok' if the mood is darkening. Is that pointing to my earlier suspicions that something of Jacen might be salvageable from this mess. Or is that me being overly optimistic and (puts on Darth Vader voice) "there is no conflict".

    Sekot appearing as Anakin is interesting. Did I read this right, and the Anakin it's appearing as is from circa Star by Star. Using that form to reproach him clearly, and it would be doubly effective given the recent *ahem* history between the two. Jacen has clearly learnt the Sith arts of deception well though. I suspect, like the world brain, Sekot will come to regret its trusting him.

    Three chapters in, and already a canon character blown to stardust. Starting as you mean to go on?:p
     
  18. YodaKenobi

    YodaKenobi Former TFN Books Staff star 6 VIP

    Registered:
    May 27, 2003
    Wedge: Lol. Just a little. Really wanted to play the Helghast Theme from Killzone 2 after reading that chapter.
    And no, I haven't forgotten about Resident Evil-fying the EoAL cover. Just got some school work to get through, and other stuff.


    No worries. I look forward to seeing it when you're done though [face_peace]

    Yeah, I did mean to imply that they'd look similar. Still wouldn't explain how Faybol and such recognized Malig though.

    True... but what was Faybol's reaction exactly? [face_thinking]

    Mass Effect 2. Joker says that line at a point in the game.

    That was what I was going to guess.

    Almost makes Anakin Sr's reasons forgivable.

    Many Bothans died creating that last post :(

    So, by the time we're caught up with everyon, I should be getting near finals. Nice. Oh, and I'll just take a random guess and say that the person (or one of them) is.... Fyor.

    That's a very good guess, considering what we're going to learn about Coruscant. Things have changed. [face_mischief]





    PirateofRohan: Corusant? Yay!! Now if only we could stop in Corellia...

    No Corellia in this story, unfortunately. There is a ton of Han Solo though [face_cowboy]

    I know almost every detail of Han Solo's life. Or do I? Sorry I love questions that can eventually annoy people.

    lol. Han is the best.

    Who is this Super-villain? Thrawn? Havok, the fleet commander(he is a fleet commander, right? )? Namtar, someone of a nameless evil?

    By super-villain, I assume you mean "Malig." I think the answer is "Namtar," but it's probably not the answer that matters.

    Sorry I got the "Hong Kong Phooey" song stuck in my head.

    I don't think I'm familiar with that :p





    Magnuskn: Yeah, hardcovers are not happening anymore, even if I got to wait another full year for the paperbacks. Not until the story has gotten so good again that it is worth it.

    I think that's definitely a wise decision. There really hasn't been anything worth rushing out on release day for anyway.

    Ah, the Wraith Squadron books were very good. And the Rebel Lines duology stands out from the second half of the NJO as being their best part ( even if Tahiris portrayal was much too chipper for being so soon after Anakins death ). Czulkang Lah remains my favourite Vong.

    No wai. You're forgetting Nom Anor, Vua Rapuung, Nen Yim, and Onimi [face_talk_hand] :p

    Seriously though, Czulkang Lah was great too :D




    Darth_Mediocre: Definitely agree with Spike, Darth Havok > Cadeus (who I refuse to dignify with the title of Darth).

    Glad to hear it :D

    I continue to like the alternating between calling him 'Jacen' some of the time and then 'Havok' if the mood is darkening. Is that pointing to my earlier suspicions that something of Jacen might be salvageable from this mess. Or is that me being overly optimistic and (puts on Darth Vader voice) "there is no conflict".

    I think it's possible, but I guess it will depend on what actually happens. There are a few hints of the compassion that Jacen used to have for others in this chapter. He says he doesn't feel anything for Sekot's life, but he also admits that this absense makes him sad.

    Sekot appearing as Anakin is interesting. Did I read this right, and the Anakin it's appearing as is from circa Star by Star. Using that form to reproach him clearly, and it would be doubly effective given the recent *ahem* history between the two.

    I figured someone would interpret it that way given Anakin's age and the mysterious wound, but no, it's actually Anakin from "The Living Force" when he was on Sekot. The wound is not explained. It might be a reference to Star by Star, or the fight in Lands of the Dead, or something else.

    Good guess though and I like that interpretation.

    Jacen has clearly learnt the Sith arts of deception well though. I suspect, like the world brain, Sekot will come to regret its trusting him.

    I'm afraid you're right :
     
  19. Rew

    Rew Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2008
    And--just to get you guys ready--it's one of my personal favorite chapters in this series so far! [face_dancing]


    Anyway, to go back to these Jacen chapters, I know that Havok is not like Caedus--i.e. he's not (yet) an avowed enemy of the Jedi or anything. For the purposes of taking Sekot, they just happen to be a convenient scapegoat. In truth, the only Jedi I can think of whom Jacen genuinely hates and wants to destroy is his brother Anakin. (I imagine his opinion of Luke remains pretty low too, but not deadly low like Anakin.) I'm sure Jacen still considers it within the realm of possibility that he'll make nice with his parents, sister, wife, and the others someday. He probably still considers a kind of friend many of those in the Jedi Order. Despite the fact that he's separated from everyone and in thrall to Malig.

    But here's the thing. At some point, Jacen has to know that his actions are going to bring him into direct conflict with the Jedi Order and his predominantly Jedi family. And by direct, I mean martial, physical, deadly, violent conflict. It's the way of Sith with regard to Jedi--especially in a war where Jacen and the rest of the Solowalkers are leaders on conflicting sides. What exactly is his long-term plan regarding the Jedi? Is he just hoping they'll stay out hiding while he does his thing on Zonama? What does he think they're going to do if he were to fulfill his plans of using the Reckoner to unleash the dark side on the galaxy, slay Malig (and probably Faybol too), and become sole Lord of the Sith? And especially if he were to get his other desire of killing Anakin? What does he honestly think that Han, Leia, Jaina, Luke, and everyone else connected to his family are going to do then?

    Now I doubt the plot itself is going to go in those directions, but I'm pretty sure Jacen has to be thinking ahead to all the variable situations that could arise from his turn.

    I do like how he's taken Danni under his wing. I think he did that because it's important to him that--however delusional it might be--he needs someone to acknowledge that he's still not a monster. Not that Danni's necessarily going to acknowledge that. Just as long as Jacen is deluded into thinking she will, he can convince himself he hasn't become such a bad guy after all.

    And my theory on Sekot appearing as Anakin: Just as Jacen is playing Sekot, I honestly think Sekot is playing Jacen right back (though not as elaborately as Jacen is). Sekot, with its planet-sized consciousness and link to the Force, penetrated pretty deep into Jacen's psyche. I believe that it caught threads of Jacen's memory of his duel with Anakin and appeared in that guise in order to taunt and/or test him. That temporary wound on his chest (dealt by Jacen at Centerpoint, which just about killed Anakin) sealed the deal for me on this theory.

    The long and the short of it is, my theory is that Sekot has a plan and isn't completely playing along with Havok. ;)
     
  20. Magnuskn

    Magnuskn Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 14, 2002
    Yeah. Spoilers about the newest book aren't exactly encouraging either.

    All pale before Czulkang Lah. :D
     
  21. Maggy

    Maggy Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 2, 2004
    Wizardy Devil:

    Why not just turn the frozen donkey wheel? :(

    Because first the island needs to be found ... and well somehow in the alternate line it?s on the ground of the ocean :(

    Yeah, that almost never happens in these stories :p

    I nearly forgot now why I love to read your stories when you posted the last chapter of them 8-} no need to wait a week :p

    Interesting comparison.

    ty

    Yep, that is very true. I imagine we'll get all three characters POVs soon on this matter.

    do they sit together and discuss what is right and what is wrong? :p 8-}

    You're right. You'll find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

    Kenobi :p



    Chapter 3: Ar'krai

    That sounds already really bad [face_worried]

    A storm of red blaster bolts cascaded across the clearing, filling the night with a haze of smoke, animal screams of anguish, and the acrid stench of ozone and scorched flesh. Most of the Yuuzhan Vong were caught unprepared by the Bothan assault and were cut down before any coordinated defense could possibly be mounted in the village. Their bodies collapsed in smoking heaps upon the rippling grasses that had served as their village plaza, a place of assemblage where the Vong tasted the first sips of democracy after suffering millennia of theocratic rule in a severe caste system? where most of them had begun to grasp concepts like "hope" and "freedom."

    That is :eek:
    [face_not_talking] it is all Jacen?s fault or Darth Havoc or whatever silly name he gives himself those days. He brought the Bothans to this place

    It was a massacre.

    Urgh ... the poor Yuuzhan Vong.

    From Nen Yim's implanted hand shot a whip-like tendril that stretched in a stinger and stabbed into the throat of one of the Bothans. The assassin dropped his weapon and clutched at the gushing wound as he fell to his knees and gurgled his last, incomprehensible words. In a flash, Nen Yim pulled the stinger loose and sent it in a sharp arc that slashed across the throat of the other Bothan, hurling him aside in a spraying fan of gore.

    She is really good [face_mischief], really, really good.



    "I told you," he responded. "To see Jabitha."

    Danni paused for a long moment, mulling over his answer. "But you're the one leading the way. You certainly don't seem to need us to show you where the Magister is."

    The Sith Apprentice actually snorted and grinned, on the verge of surprised laughter. "True enough."

    "Then why did you bring us with you?" Danni asked timidly.

    A shrug raised Jacen's shoulders as he snapped branches jutting crookedly across his path. "I suppose because I didn't want to see you harmed."


    That might only be because they will have some role to play in his plans or maybe Malig?s [face_thinking]

    "I don't know what you might have heard about me," Jacen began tentatively without looking over his shoulder, "but there is a lot of confusion. Contrary to the popular belief among some, I'm not a monster."

    That depends on the POV :p

    "Oh," Jacen replied.

    His time to be surprised 8-}
    Did he expect something else?

    Jacen shook his head as he began to pace back and forth in front of the Magister. "I didn't bring them here," he said. "I need you to impart to Sekot just how important it is that it speaks with me now. I can help it, but not if it ignores me."

    He lies [face_plain]

    Anakin Solo stepped out from the darkness.

    *chuckles* awesome choice

    This time Jacen's hand did drop to his lightsaber. He backpedaled a few steps in surprise, not believing what he was seeing as the figure moved more clearly into the slivers of moonlight that stabbed through the broken canopy above.

    *chuckles amused* mighty Jacen is taken by surprise :p

    "Hello, Jacen," Sekot's projection greeted with his brother's lopsided grin.

    Darth Havok's eyes narrowed. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

    "Joke?" The planet asked.


    Really childlike [face_thinking]



    In less than an hour, every Fifth Fleet vessel that had been brought to Zonam
     
  22. YodaKenobi

    YodaKenobi Former TFN Books Staff star 6 VIP

    Registered:
    May 27, 2003
    Rew: And--just to get you guys ready--it's one of my personal favorite chapters in this series so far!

    Thanks :D

    Anyway, to go back to these Jacen chapters, I know that Havok is not like Caedus--i.e. he's not (yet) an avowed enemy of the Jedi or anything. For the purposes of taking Sekot, they just happen to be a convenient scapegoat. In truth, the only Jedi I can think of whom Jacen genuinely hates and wants to destroy is his brother Anakin. (I imagine his opinion of Luke remains pretty low too, but not deadly low like Anakin.)

    I agree. I think you have the right read on Jacen at this point. He only really wants to kill Anakin for what happened. I don't think he hates any of the other Jedi, though he does see Luke as weak and too flawed/corrupted to guard the Force.

    I'm sure Jacen still considers it within the realm of possibility that he'll make nice with his parents, sister, wife, and the others someday. He probably still considers a kind of friend many of those in the Jedi Order. Despite the fact that he's separated from everyone and in thrall to Malig.

    You might be right here, or he may have given up on them at the end of Lands of the Dead when he was completely broken by Malig, realizing he had to separate from them for good.

    But here's the thing. At some point, Jacen has to know that his actions are going to bring him into direct conflict with the Jedi Order and his predominantly Jedi family. And by direct, I mean martial, physical, deadly, violent conflict. It's the way of Sith with regard to Jedi--especially in a war where Jacen and the rest of the Solowalkers are leaders on conflicting sides. What exactly is his long-term plan regarding the Jedi? Is he just hoping they'll stay out hiding while he does his thing on Zonama?

    I think his and Malig's plans will probably become clearer in this regard around chapter 10ish. Though Malig and Jacen may not be on the same page here :p

    But you're right, eventually this is going to have to lead to a very bloody battle between Jacen and the Jedi, whether he's accepted it or not.

    What does he think they're going to do if he were to fulfill his plans of using the Reckoner to unleash the dark side on the galaxy, slay Malig (and probably Faybol too), and become sole Lord of the Sith?

    Good question. We know he plans to kill Malig, and Faybol would have to go too, but beyond that...? Perhaps Jacen thinks once the Force is in its natural state everything will be okay and whatever happens to him won't matter.

    And especially if he were to get his other desire of killing Anakin? What does he honestly think that Han, Leia, Jaina, Luke, and everyone else connected to his family are going to do then?

    Maybe he thinks he can convince them that Anakin was the evil one :p

    Now I doubt the plot itself is going to go in those directions, but I'm pretty sure Jacen has to be thinking ahead to all the variable situations that could arise from his turn.

    Yeah, we got hints of it when he said he was going to kill Malig when all was said and done, but we really don't know how he sees his family at this point or if he sees himself as some part of their lives in the future. Perhaps he realizes that just won't be possible after this.

    I do like how he's taken Danni under his wing. I think he did that because it's important to him that--however delusional it might be--he needs someone to acknowledge that he's still not a monster. Not that Danni's necessarily going to acknowledge that. Just as long as Jacen is deluded into thinking she will, he can convince himself he hasn't become such a bad guy after all.

    I think that may be at least part of it, but this question will be answered pretty clearly the next time we see Jacen, and your opinion might change.

    And my theory on Sekot appearing as Anakin: Just as Jacen is playing Sekot, I honestly think Sekot is playing Jacen right back (though not as elaborately as Jacen is). Sekot, with its planet-sized consciousness and link to t
     
  23. YodaKenobi

    YodaKenobi Former TFN Books Staff star 6 VIP

    Registered:
    May 27, 2003
    Chapter 4: Sector Zero

    In the night, Galactic City on Coruscant was at its most beautiful. The colossal skytowers which so defined the planet were black shadows that glittered with millions of glowing lights spangling their obsidian faces like the stars sparkling in the heavens above. They stretched to impossible heights, their needle-like spires splitting the contrails of carbon-black clouds rippling overhead and bathing themselves in shimmers of opalescent moonlight.

    The ferrocrete superstructures from which most of these startling monoliths were rooted were thick gray expanses that could encompass an entire megablock, and their plateaus were spattered with what looked like glowing embers in the darkness, but were really a blur of street lamps and landing lights, all clustered into stoked planes of golden brilliance. Crisscrossing streams of airspeeders seemed to drift through the skylanes wreathed in the auroral gleam of their headlamps when they were really blazing hundreds of kilometers an hour. Space traffic rose and descended in thinner, angled dashes to and from domed spaceports or floating landing pads suspended above the gloom-wrapped depths between superstructures and the fathomless abyss that made up the undercity.

    The effect was simply dazzling.

    It was difficult for anyone to believe that only four years had passed since Coruscant's restoration had begun. The Senate District had been completely rebuilt to a near mirror image of what it had been before the Yuuzhan Vong had razed it and terraformed the planet into a grotesque parody of itself the invaders called Yuuzhan'tar. The identical restructuring had been more an act of defiance than unwillingness to change, a way of proclaiming to all that anything knocked down on the Galactic Capital would be built up again.

    For two months, the world had once again been home to the galaxy's government, relocating from Denon which had temporarily held the title of capital in the years since the war's end. It had been called the New Republic when Coruscant fell—it was the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances now.

    Little had changed besides the name.

    Most of the Senate's surrounding districts had been similarly rebuilt, while construction continued night and day across the rest of the world. The lower levels were said to still be infested with crusts of yorik coral, tangles of slashvines, patches of glow lichen, and even haunted by the occasional feral Yuuzhan Vong creature, but the World Brain, which was still swimming in a sulfur-steaming pool of bubbling slime in the planet's heart, had reversed most of the Vongforming and allowed the construction droids to ground unsalvageable towers down to Coruscant's hidden surface and rebuild them anew.

    The Sah'c District was again home to some of the galaxy's wealthiest and most powerful beings. The Works had returned to filling the skies above it with pillars of smoke. The Financial District was flourishing. The Palace District was crowded with galactic leaders and ambassadors. And the Uscru Entertainment District had reclaimed its place as the heart of Coruscant's vibrant nightlife.

    Uscru was aglow with neon promises, bright pinks and blues and greens that shone happily from clubs and cantinas, large panel viewscreens, scrawled beneath streaming bridge displays in Aurebesh, or in stunning holographic advertisements that rotated as floating silos of light to be seen in every direction, inviting Coruscant's inhabitants into the night to satisfy all manner of proclivities. The searchlights in front of the Galaxies Opera House swept across the sky, powerful beams that flagged down passing airspeeders with their majesty and burned into the stratosphere. Beyond them was a plaza of neon-emblazoned establishments for drinking and dancing and gambling—virtually any sort of socializing beings wished to do to standing, sitting, or even lying down.

    One such club was Sector Zero.

    Its name came from an old military designation for Coruscant and its neighboring star systems. Sector Zero was composed of a central, large room ringed by a second floor near its high ceiling accessible by a pair of turbolifts. Both the main floor and its upper tier branched out to several private party rooms and balconies that overlooked Coruscant's hypnotic cityscape and the open skylane of Uscru boulevard.

    At the center of the main floor was a massive circular bar with glowing panel tops and a half dozen beings tending to the patrons rimmed around it. Beyond that were relatively open pockets of dance floor crowded by beings from a myriad of species, many of whom were clustered together and talking rather than dancing. Those that were in motion were swaying to the sounds of the human band packed on the small rectangular stage in the club's right. The band called themselves "Hyperdrive Shaft" and seemed to favor beat-heavy dance tunes with percussion loops and electronic distortion, and the occasional instrumental Scrak stomp number.

    Outside the dance area, the main floor was cluttered with round tables that could hold little larger than a pitcher of ale where more patrons drank and socialized. Dejarik tables and sabacc games were in progress deeper in the room or in the booths against the wall. In the back were a series of large, ultra-def viewscreens with HoloNet casts of a variety of sporting events.

    Most of Sector Zero's patrons were young and dressed in expensive, stylish clothing. The females wore alluring dresses and heavy makeup while putting their hair, headtails, or feathers into an elaborate array of exotic braids, sculpts, and bindings in an effort to capture attention and secure one form of company or another for the evening. Their skin seemed to glitter in the dance lights.

    The males appeared to put far less effort into whatever had drawn them out for the night. Most of them seemed disinterested in dancing and more focused on striking up conversations with groups of attractive females in the most obnoxious manner possible. The others occupied themselves with gambling or drinking or a combination of the two.

    There were a few rough-looking figures—thieves, spice dealers, bounty hunters, criminals, and all-around scoundrels—but Sector Zero seemed a reasonably safe place for people who minded their own business around these beings. There might be a fight or two as the evening wore on, most likely between males over an indifferent female, but it was unlikely anyone was going to die there tonight.

    At the far right end of the bar, a young woman was retrieving a drink from the fidgety Duros bartender. She retracted her hand from the tumbler when she realized he had clumsily sloshed a stream of pink nebula down its side. The woman licked her hand like a child before recapturing the tumbler and skipping away from the bar unfazed by the Duros' sloppiness.

    At a sweeping glance, she might have been mistaken for one of the club's servers, who were all female, bright eyed, and conspicuously gorgeous, but a closer look revealed she was wearing a dark green sleeveless shirt rather than the black of the servers. It was an odd shirt, with what looked like giant staples running up the seams of its missing sleeves and an open back save for where a pair of straps crossed over bare flesh. She wore a pair of black pants from which thick strips of synthleather hung down from the waist, fanning out and whirling when she moved.

    Her hair was a feathery blonde half-secured in a loose, bouncy tail, while the tips of that which hung on either side of her face and around her ears had been dyed a dark pink that matched the angled swaths of eye shadow which swept out past her dark brows. A pair of large brown eyes peered out from thick, fluttering lashes that were almost certainly fake and her deep red lips quirked in a grin when she spotted a man seated by himself on a stool at the other end of the bar.

    "I know you from somewhere," she smiled when she closed the distance between them. "Don't I?"

    "I don't think so," the man replied, looking up from the drink he was quietly nursing long enough to offer her a polite smile before returning to it.

    "I'm sure I do," the woman insisted, sliding into the seat beside him even though it required knocking the unfortunate Chadra-Fan who'd been perched there to the floor. He looked up at her from where he'd been dislodged, ready to grumble, but saw she was beautiful and settled for slinking away with a sour look. "You're famous or something, aren't you?"

    "Not really, no."

    The man was younger than her by three or four years, with tousled brown hair that hung just above his thick brows, a slightly dimpled chin, and ice-blue eyes—handsome by anyone's appraisal. The dark blue jacket and black trousers he was garbed in bore no insignia or markings to offer her any clues as to his identity.

    "What's your name then?" She asked, pressing closer against his side so that he could hear her above the static-throb of the band and din of patrons. "I'm positive I know you."

    "Bail," the man said, looking up from his drink again with a sort of lopsided grin. "Lars."

    "Bail Lars..." the woman repeated to herself, her brandy eyes rolling up as though physically searching her mind for the name. "Not firing any thrusters."

    "I told ya."

    "I'm Cyra," she smiled.

    "Good to meet you," the man replied, raising his glass slightly and tipping it towards her.

    "Have you been on Coruscant long?"

    "I used to live here actually," he admitted. "But I just arrived a few days ago, if that's what you mean. The last time I was here, this place was covered in yorik coral."

    "You saw it when the Vong shaped it? Were you one of the refugees that got left behind?"

    "Something like that."

    "That's incredible," Cyra said, looking for the first time a little frightened of him. She seemed to assess in the next moment that he wasn't dangerous, however, but her demeanor turned serious. "So tell me about it—the last time you were here."

    "Believe it or not, the last time I was in the Uscru District I actually killed the Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord."

    Cyra laughed, shaking her head. "I thought you were serious about the whole refugee thing for a minute."

    The man only offered her a brief, wistful smile.

    When Cyra had finished her fit of giggling, she managed to compose herself well enough to begin another tangent. "I can't believe we're already in another war. It never ends, does it?"

    "That's true."

    "And the Jedi turning on the Alliance like that—I would never have believed Skywalker would do something so manipulative if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," she went on, referencing the now infamous holovid of Luke Skywalker discussing with Lando Calrissian and Talon Karrde how they'd blackmailed senators during the Yuuzhan Vong War to ensure that Fyor Rodan's bid for Chief of State was a failure and Cal Omas was installed to power instead.

    "That was very surprising."

    "Why would they do that? I always looked up to the Jedi, even with all the Vong War stuff."

    "I don't know."

    "And I never trusted the Chiss."

    "They're very secretive."

    "Yes, exactly. I'm not surprised the Remnant has joined them. They've just been waiting for an opportunity to take back territory they think belongs to them—you don't seem to be enjoying your fogblaster."

    "I'm not much of a drinker," the man admitted.

    "Everything just seems to be going crazy again," Cyra said, ignoring his answer and downing the last of her pink nebula. When she resumed speaking, her cheeks were a little flushed and her voice slightly strained. "Did you hear about Antilles and his Corellian buddies?"

    "I did."

    "They're finally being brought here tonight from Denon to the new Borsk Fey'lya Detention Facility. Their trial for that whole Centerpoint diversion they pulled with the Jedi is supposed to start in a few days."

    "That seems very fast."

    "It probably would have been better if they hadn't tried to run. The HoloNet pundits all think they were headed for Chiss Space to help the Jedi."

    "That makes sense—"

    "But they got caught in hyperspace," Cyra said, shaking her head. "I actually had a little crush on Wedge Antilles when I was a girl. I thought he was cute when he was with Rogue Squadron. Can you believe that?"

    "I suppose."

    "At least the Raithians are here now. They're the real heroes, you know?"

    "Mm," the man said thoughtfully.

    "They are! They saved us from the Vagaari, and you just know the Vagaari were the front line of the Chiss."

    "I've heard that."

    "I saw some of them yesterday, you know? A squad of Raithian soldiers patrolling the pedwalks in the Senate District. They looked very gallant in their blue armor."

    The sighting was not a unique one. The Raithian army was now providing much of Coruscant's security, patrolling the walkways tangled around Galactic City while armored speeders and ships protected the skylanes. With the Alliance military stretched so thin, it was the only way to safeguard the world against the threat of another Jedi attack.

    "I've seen them too."

    "Quite impressive, huh?"

    "Unforgettable."

    The woman laughed. "You don't talk much, do you, Bail?"

    "I—"

    "Hey, I'm not annoying you with all this political stuff, am I? 'Cause we can talk about something else if you want."

    "No, I'm really enjoying it," the stranger insisted. "Very insightful."

    "I just didn't want you to think I was one of those clueless cantina girls, you know?"

    "I don't."

    "You don't?"

    "Think that. I didn't think that about you."

    "Oh, good." Cyra seemed genuinely relieved as she signaled the Duros bartender for another pink nebula, then she turned back to the man, with her elbow on the bar tacky with a wax of spilled ale dried to its surface. "So what are you doing here if you don't like drinking?"

    "I'm just waiting for my ride."

    "Oh," the woman said, visibly drawing back. "Girlfriend?"

    "No."

    "Oh—hey, where are you going?"

    "I just want to get some fresh air out on one of the balconies," the man insisted as he stood up from the bar, taking his fogblaster with him. "You're welcome to join me."

    "Okay, that sounds nice," Cyra smiled. "It's very loud in here."

    She gestured toward Hyperdrive Shaft on the side stage, still wailing away above a crowd of gyrating bodies.

    The man nodded and together they made their way toward one of Sector Zero's open turbolifts, which whisked them to the upper floor in a matter of seconds. A welcome breeze of cool night air bathed hot skin as they emerged from the lift. The balcony was crowded with other patrons, drinking and flirting and kissing amorously in Coruscant's electric glow while speeders whirred by like beams of light, but the man who called himself "Bail" was able to move through the cramped gathering with uncanny deftness. It was almost as though people were compelled to step out of his way, even without seeing him coming.

    He led the way to the edge of the balcony with Cyra, where they could look across Coruscant's dazzling cityscape, or into the lava flow of headlamps coursing through Uscru Boulevard and its gloomy depths.

    "It's a beautiful night," Cyra said, hugging her arms around herself as a cool draft from the skylane raised a million little bumps on her bare shoulders. The stars almost seemed visible, though everyone knew that was close to impossible with the light pollution from Galactic City.

    Before her companion could comment, however, Cyra's eyes seemed to catch something else in the skylane a few blocks away. "Oh my stars, there it is!" she exclaimed, pointing frantically at a dark shape lumbering in their direction. The man's eyes followed her wild gesticulations to the object hurtling through the skylane as others on the balcony pushed up against the railing to see the cause for commotion.

    The speeder was a large black transport, three times as wide as a normal airspeeder and stretched nearly twenty meters in length. Its cab was squat and heavily armored, with room for the pilot, a side passenger, and up to three others in its back seat, while the bulk of the vehicle was taken up by a enormous prison that flared out from its center, a solid block as impenetrable as the hull plating on a star destroyer. From beyond the hold stretched a long flatbed crowded by a half dozen soldiers in glistening blue plasmasteel armor and two spindly constructions known as sentinel droids—all were armed.

    "It's Antilles and the Corellians!" Cyra seemed to call to everyone on the balcony as she continued to gesture. A gasp of excitement worked its way through the crowd as they surged forward, pressing harder against the railing and nearly knocking the fogblaster from her companion's hand.

    The prison transport was flanked by four black security speeders and trailed by a Raithian assault ship decorated with intimidating weapons emplacements. The shuttle peeled away to ward off traffic in front, blazing a trail toward the Senate District and the detention facility there. Behind the transport and its guards, a growing tail of news speeders dispatched several hovercams to film the transport's progress. The cams zipped around the procession and weaved between the knot of speeders until they were floating even with the transport, seemingly recording the vehicle from every angle and broadcasting the feed across the HoloNet, where it would be seen live on thousands of planets.

    "Wow," Cyra sighed, turning back to her new friend. "Can you believe this?"

    He appeared completely uninterested and not at all surprised, nodding at her while taking a gulp of his fogblaster. The transport was nearing and would blast by just below the balcony at any moment. Cyra cast it another glance before looking back to the man called Bail, her brow beetling in agitation at his lack of enthusiasm.

    "Is something wrong?"

    "No. Can you hold this?"

    "Sure," she frowned, accepting the glass as he handed it to her.

    "Thanks."

    "Wait! What are you doing?"

    But it was too late.

    He had already grabbed the balcony railing and vaulted over it. Cyra's scream died in the rush of wind that engulfed his falling body and he didn't even hear the glass shatter as it slipped from the woman's shock-numbed fingertips.

    Anakin Solo plunged through the skylane head-first, the updraft and slipstreams of passing speeders pressing up against his body at the same time as the more powerful force of gravity dragged him down. He dropped quickly, diving between a pair of airspeeders while the biting night winds stung his eyes, blearing them with rippling rims of tears and tearing at the roots of his whipping hair. The light of the headlamps splashed over him as he fell through the beams with mere centimeters to spare—a microsecond faster or slower in his drop and he would have been spattered against the rocketing vehicle's right fender, and the Ryn pilot's horror-filled expression would probably have exploded with screaming hysterics, if the crash didn't kill her too.

    But the young Jedi wasn't relying on his own eyes or ears or reflexes to guide him through the gauntlet of speeders. No human could have negotiated such a course with the limited senses of the physical world. He let the Force guide his movements, relied on its warnings to tell him when to dive and slow and swerve. He could feel it all, every speeder in the skylane and every molecule of displaced air, every being and their intentions, all making faint waves in the Force that pulsed through him and directed his actions as instinct.

    Anakin spread his limbs and called on the Force to slow his fall, creating as much drag as possible when he realized he was dropping too quickly, then let his arms fall to his sides and legs come together in order to knife through the next stream of speeders and avoid crashing through the windguard of a red Incom Skyslicer. He could see the prison transport now, a dark blur streaking beneath him, and he knew that he would not have an opportunity to reduce his speed again with the Force and cushion his fall.

    Anakin twisted his body and angled his fall, swooping over the transport as it hurtled by. He crashed down into its stretched bed between the Raithian guards stationed there. The metal seemed to crumple beneath him, leaving a dent in the bed the size of a rancor's fist and causing the transport to oscillate wildly for a breath without really throwing it off course.

    Fiery jolts of pain spiked up the Jedi's legs when his boots thumped against the transport's metal armor and he immediately threw himself into a forward roll to dampen the impact. When he came up on his feet he could tell the Raithians were still in shock at the sight of him falling from the sky even with their jet black faceplates masking any emotion contorting their features, because they were a second too slow in wheeling the barrels of their blaster rifles in his direction, and that was all Anakin needed.

    He pulled the lightsaber from the loop hidden inside his jacket and thumbed on the activator all in one motion before his feet had settled on the transport bed. A glowing cobalt blue blade flashed into the night with a snap-hiss just as the Raithians opened fire. It was the lightsaber that had been constructed by his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, and later used by his Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara. The Jedi's blade swept up to intercept the bright blasts before they could torch through him, colliding against each one with a thrum and electronic crash that sent them streaking away into the darkness. There were no wide undulating rings of stun blasts to be seen in the onslaught—these were full-powered bolts meant to burn his life away.

    Anakin advanced on his attackers, spinning through the barrage as his lightsaber surrounded him in spiraling fans of blue energy. Blaster fire ricocheted out in the skylane, burned smoking pits in the transport's armor, or went back to their sources. Chest plates, shin guards, and gauntlets were peppered with return bolts, but the plasmasteel shells held strong beneath the bursts, scorching them black but never breaking.

    A burst of Force-aided quickness brought Anakin low under the rifle of the Raithian nearest him in the transport bed. All the guard saw was the dark blur of Anakin's jacket and the flash of blue light as the Jedi lifted his blade in a rising hack that clipped the barrel of the rifle. Foolishly, he pulled the trigger again, his brain unable to keep up with the young man's speed and not yet registering what had occurred. The rifle exploded in his hands, hurling him back.

    Anakin rolled beneath a flurry of bolts from the Raithian's comrades, trailed by a crescent of smoking furrows as he came up to the right of a second soldier. He swung the nozzle of his rifle around him but Anakin caught its barrel with his right hand before it could center on him and steered it away. Deactivating the lightsaber in his left hand, the Jedi brought the pommel down on the man's helmet hard enough to crack his faceplate to bloody shards and knock him unconscious.

    Immediately, Anakin's right arm snaked around the limp trooper's neck in a headlock and he spun around, making a shield of the man's body between him and the other Raithians. A pair of blaster bolts scorched the trooper's back plate and coughed miniature showers of sparks from charred circuitry fused with the alloy, but Anakin's momentum did not stop and he flung the unconscious man into a Raithian on the other side of the bed. It was a female by Anakin's estimation despite her unusually thick build, and the collision knocked her to the ground.

    Before the pair had even landed, Anakin sprang into the air over a torrent of bright bolts and caught another trooper in the chest with a flying kick that almost sent him tumbling over the edge of the transport’s bed.

    Of the four Raithians Anakin had knocked down, two—the woman and the man he'd kicked—were already staggering to their feet as he reignited his lightsaber and whirled around to face those that remained. The transport's two sentinel droids stepped past the only pair of Raithian soldiers Anakin had yet to engage. One of the spindly monsters had set aside his blaster for a long vibrosword and the other was twirling a Raithian warstaff crowned by a menacing blade.

    Anakin fell into a ready stance with his humming blade held diagonally at a low, two-handed guard. Behind him he could feel the armored speeders that flanked the transport dropping back for a better firing angle while the HoloNet hovercams swirled around them in every direction and the transport itself continued to zoom through the skylanes.

    Things were about to get interesting.

    The sentinel droids were towering machines a half-meter taller than Anakin and covered in a durasteel-hard chromium armor. It was no surprise that the first shambled forward with a swift strike that would have cleaved the Jedi's head off had he not ducked the blow, but it left him no time to avoid the warstaff of the second coming from the right. Its serrated blade ripped through the shoulder of his jacket and the flesh beneath, leaving a five centimeter tear across Anakin's shoulder from which spread a surge of heat.

    If he hadn't jerked to the side, he might have lost the limb completely.

    Anakin spun away from the blow and brought his blade around in a bright fan that slashed across the first sentinel's chest, leaving a glowing groove in the metal plating that seemed to be filled with steaming lava, but it remained standing. The staff-wielder came at him again as Anakin's blade flared across his counterpart, but this time the Jedi Knight continued his spin and took his left hand from the hilt of his lightsaber before extending it palm-out at the second sentinel and hitting him with a Force-push that sent the machine stumbling back two steps.

    The pair of Raithians Anakin had knocked down were back on their feet by then, and the young man was suddenly assailed by streams of blaster fire from four different directions when the troopers could get them by without striking the sword-wielding sentinel.

    Anakin blocked a half dozen volleys, angling one back into the thigh of the female trooper, before dashing forward toward the first sentinel. He closed the distance with a final hop-step and a one-handed spin of his blade, ending the motion in a downward hack that sliced through the droid's wrist. The vibrosword tumbled from the lifeless grip of the sentinel's severed appendage and immediately fell into Anakin's free hand, before he whirled around in a wide arc of the metal blade that slashed across the other sentinel's throat, decapitating it. Anakin completed his spin by plunging his molten lightsaber into the droid's chest, then pulling it free of the glowing orange pit, reversing his grip on the Jedi weapon and stabbing straight backward to impale the first sentinel. Both mangled droids clanked to the transport bed in a warbling stream of incoherent tones and fizzle of sparks.

    Again the Jedi was assailed by the four remaining Raithians, but when he raised his lightsaber's incandescent blade to fend off the new barrage of crimson bolts he felt his skin prickle with a more dire warning. The armored speeders tailing the transport had found a desirable firing angle and their side-mounted blaster cannons whumpfed thick streams of orange plasma bursts into the night.

    Anakin ducked the first salvo as it blazed overhead and the Raithian troopers aboard the transport scrambled to do the same, abandoning their attack on the Jedi menace to avoid being incinerated by the sudden barrage of friendly fire.

    The speeder to the left of the transport managed only a dozen chugging eruptions from its side cannon when it inexplicably ignited in a rolling blossom of fire. An earsplitting explosion rumbled through the skylane trailed by a shower of flaming debris. Anakin felt a rush of heat as the explosion managed to ripple out across the transport even as it was lumbering away at several hundred kilometers an hour.

    In place of the demolished security speeder was a smaller single-passenger air-speeder that punched through the debris cloud and surged after the transport. A ribbon of smoke wafted from the crudely welded laser cannon fixed below its cockpit.

    Seated at its helm, a look of unflinching concentration on his face, was Kyp Durron.

    The other security speeder took its sights off of Anakin with the emergence of a new threat and swiveled its cannon toward Kyp's speeder—they never got a shot off. All that was left of the barrel of the Raithians' blaster cannon was a smoking stump wreathed in a ring of glowing amber, where Saba Sebatyne's lightsaber had amputated it. The Barabel Jedi Master was crawling around the speeder upon which she had fallen in a blur of red scales, her long talons digging into the black armor as her lightsaber glowed from one hand. Foolishly, the startled pilot attempted a few maneuvers meant to buck his new passenger off the speeder but it would take a herd of reeks to knock a determined Barabel off of anything.

    Anakin rose to his feet just as the four Raithians still conscious on the transport's bed did the same, leveling blasters at him and resuming their onslaught of streaking red fire. He fell back in a defensive stance, his lightsaber filling the air with winding thrums as energy bolts peppered the bright beam with miniature blasts. A swerve of the transport as it continued its rush to safety nearly caused him to lose his footing but was even more disruptive to his attackers, who were forced to grab the bed's barriers in order to keep from stumbling.

    "Looks like you could use some help there."

    Sparing a glance over his shoulder, Anakin saw Kyp sidling up to the transport with the canopy of his speeder popped open and his dark hair blowing wildly in the winds. The rogue Jedi Master set the airspeeder's autopilot and wasted no time in vaulting from his seat into a high arcing flip over the transport. Somewhere in the cascade of his swirling green cloak an amethyst blade split the night, and Kyp came down with a bone-cracking dive-kick to the helmet of the Raithian nearest Anakin.

    Panic flooded the Force as the Raithians suddenly found themselves facing two Jedi attackers instead of one and witnessed the dismantling of their security team beyond the transport. Saba had leapt from the speeder she'd maimed onto another and was in the midst of crippling its weapons systems with a few messy slashes of her lightsaber when Jedi Master Tresina Lobi dropped onto the fourth and final security speeder to attempt the same.

    The female trooper seemed to be the first to calculate how desperate their situation had truly become as she went for the grenades looped in a belt over her torso, despite the fact that using any of the explosives in the relatively close confines of the transport bed to kill the Jedi would mean annihilating herself and her compatriots. Kyp recognized her intent immediately and dropped in a low lunge through the streams of blaster fire. He slid across the bed with a wide slash that bisected the trooper at the waist.

    Anakin used Durron's blitz as cover and dashed across the bed toward another of the blue-armored soldiers. He whirled on the Jedi with his blaster rifle before Anakin could hope to knock the man unconscious, forcing Anakin to bring his blade up under his enemy's arms to avoid taking a full-powered salvo to his chest. Anakin's lightsaber shredded through the man's elbows in a rainbow arc that filled his nostrils with the nauseating stench of charred flesh.

    What remained of their enemies was dispatched when the last of the Jedi rescue team arrived, dropping from a stolen speeder onto the thick container at the transport's center—Jaden Korr and Evlyn Tabory. While Evlyn remained an agent of the Chiss Ascendancy and not a Jedi, the CEDF's newest Chief Syndic, Jagged Fel, had insisted she accompany them to Coruscant, no doubt, Anakin presumed, because of his personal investment in the success of the mission. He couldn't imagine Jag's mother would be very happy with a failure there, and while Jag would never surrender to sentiment in such a way publicly amongst the Chiss, dispatching a covert agent like Evlyn was something he could do without notice.

    The black garbed Ascendancy agent cartwheeled off of the container and came down on the last of the Raithians with her ruby blade, carving a two-inch deep gouge through the heavily-muscled man from right shoulder to left hip.

    "Sorry we're late," Evlyn said, shutting down her lightsaber as Jaden joined them on the transport bed. "He drives like a Sullustan."

    "Excuse me if I wanted to get here in one piece," Jaden scowled.

    Anakin looked back over his shoulders to find that Saba and Tresina Lobi had finished disabling the security speeders and actually hijacked the last of them. The Chev Jedi Master was piloting the black vehicle while Saba operated the blaster cannon, searching for any threats that might respond to the flurry of distress calls which must have come from the transport and its protectors in the last two minutes.

    Anakin grinned as he turned back to the others. "Looks like we're about done here."

    Kyp had already plunged his violet lightsaber blade into the prison hold at the transport's center and was slowly carving an opening in its reinforced durasteel door. Anakin moved to join him when one of the hovercams that was circling the transport buzzed too closely to his head. He waved his right hand dismissively as he passed and the hovercam was hurled out into the skylane where it collided with another of the floating devices. The pair ruptured in midair, broken casings and mangled circuitry raining down into the gloom of Coruscant's underlevels.

    "The less people that see this, the better," he said to Evlyn.

    She nodded and followed him toward the door. By the time they arrived, Jaden had already added his lightsaber to the effort, dragging its blade through the alloy in a molten groove that made up the other half of the panel Kyp was sculpting. Once the two glowing trails met, Kyp reached out with the Force and lifted the metal plug free, its edges trailing long curtains of smoke, and set it aside on the transport bed next to the dead and unconscious Raithian troops.

    Anakin stepped into the glowing-hot mouth and the darkness of the cell beyond as soon as it was clear, peering through the shadows and finding the silhouettes of four beings shuffling around anxiously inside.

    "Anakin?"

    A man with a thick head of hair that had once been black and was now mostly white stepped into the column of nightlight that shimmered through the hole in the door. He squinted out at Anakin and a smile twisted his lips when his dark eyes were satisfied.

    "It's good to see you, Wedge," Anakin said.

    "I wasn't sure you Jedi were going to be able to send anyone after us," the former Rebel hero replied. "With everything going on and Luke being gone."

    "Uncle Luke's back actually—he sends his regards."

    "That's good news," said Wedge. "We haven't exactly been allowed HoloNet access the last four months, or little things like advocates, so we're a bit out of the loop."

    "Well, we'll be sure to catch you up later," Kyp grumbled, sticking his head inside, "but now isn't the best time, so we need to get going."

    Instantly Wedge's brow flattened in a glower at the other man. The pair had never been friends, going back to the days when Kyp had stolen the Sun Crusher and destroyed the mind of a female named Qwi Xux that Wedge had been in love with, and it was apparent in the aging man's eyes that the old bitterness was still there.

    "Lead the way," Wedge replied gruffly.

    Anakin gestured for Wedge and the others in the cell to come out, taking a few paces away from the smoking hole in the door and casting another glance over his shoulder to see how things were proceeding. Masters Lobi and Sebatyne were still in their stolen security speeder a few lengths behind the lumbering transport and in front of the horde of HoloNet news vehicles hurtling to keep up with them, but the dark shapes of more security speeders could be seen streaking into the skylane just beyond them, their lights flashing in brilliant strobes and cacophonous sirens dissuading traffic from nearing them.

    "Looks like we're about out of time," Jaden frowned.

    "So what's the plan?" Wedge asked. The three others who were with him—two men and one woman—were dressed in black prison coveralls and wore gleaming binders around their wrists. Like Wedge, they were Corellian military leaders who'd been instrumental in helping the Jedi stage a diversion at Centerpoint Station over a year earlier. "We overtake the pilot and steal this thing? Get to some ship you have waiting for us and cook jets out of here?"

    "Not quite," Anakin said. "I don't think this thing is fast enough to give those speeders any problems. We decided to go another route."

    The Jedi gestured to the right of the transport where a green ZRX-42 weaved its way into the skylane beside them. Wedge's gaze followed Anakin's motion and immediately fell on the airspeeder's pilot.

    "Well, this almost makes up for Durron being here," Wedge grinned.

    Iella Antilles waved to her husband from the open cockpit of the speeder as it came alongside the transport.

    "All right, let's get moving," Evlyn said impatiently, gesturing for Wedge and his fellow prisoners to hop in.

    "You've got to be kidding me," the female prisoner said. "No way we can make that jump! At these speeds we'll end up missing and falling into the underlevels if we don't just splash across the windguard."

    "You'll be all right," Evlyn insisted.

    "How can you be so sure?"

    "Because in about a minute that ronto-head flying this transport is going to see the flashing lights behind him and realize he's got help on the way. He'll come to a stop thinking we'll be stuck here."

    As if on cue, the transport suddenly hit its air breaks, swerving to a halt several hundred meters from where it began. The prisoners were all knocked to the transport bed by the force of his stop and the Jedi only managed to maintain their footing with the help of the Force.

    Iella matched the transport's deceleration and stop, wasting no time in landing on the transport bed.

    "Nice of you to drop in," Wedge said, falling into the passenger seat beside his wife. She kissed him as the rest of the prisoners piled into the speeder's backseat. There was not enough room for the four Jedi on board.

    "We'll meet you at the spaceport," Anakin said.

    Iella nodded and hit the vehicle's repulsors, lifting the airspeeder from the bed she'd been parked in and then opening its throttles to speed away. In the next instant, Saba and Tresina Lobi's stolen security speeder took its place.

    Saba stuck her large head out of the passenger window.

    "This one thinkz you would like a ride?

    "This one thinks you're right," Kyp said, drawing a brief spasm of sissing from the Barabel.

    Anakin looked back as he climbed into the stolen vehicle and saw that their Raithian pursuers were closing on them quickly.

    The four Jedi squeezed into the back of the security speeder—it was a tight fit but much more comfortable than being captured or killed by the Raithians. Tresina Lobi took off from the transport just as the security speeders arrived, and they fled through the city in a hail of cannon fire.




    Seven hours later, Anakin Solo sat in the cockpit of his maroon-painted Eta-7 Jedi Interceptor, floating in an otherwise unremarkable swath of space in a system with no name. It was, for this reason, the rescue team's rendezvous point, where they had split up after leaving Coruscant by way of an old, but surprisingly fast, freighter loaned to them by smuggler, gambler, all-around-scoundrel, and friend, Booster Terrik.

    The others had departed quickly after arriving at the rendezvous point, taking the vessels they'd left there and abandoning the freighter in case any tracking devices had been placed on the space craft while they were on Coruscant or in the off-chance the planet's security forces had done a supernatural job of tracking their vector through hyperspace despite several decoy jumps. Though this was entirely unlikely, it just wasn't worth the risk. They couldn't allow the location of the secret Jedi base to be found.

    If it ever were, all would be lost.

    "Everything worked out just as you said," Anakin said to the small three-dimensional hologram of Luke Skywalker projected in shimmering blue light over his flight instruments. The Jedi Master wore a thoughtful expression as his nephew explained all that had transpired on Coruscant. "The prison transport took the exact route we were told they would, the number of escorts was correct as well as the calculations for emergency response, and when we fled the planet there was a convenient hole in the planetary blockade for us to slip through with nothing more than a customary shootout—whoever this new source is that's feeding us information knows their stuff."

    The projections head inclined in agreement. "It appears, whoever it is, can be trusted."

    Though neither man spoke of it, there was a great feeling of unease that came with giving their trust over to the unknown. Lorra Klorne, Commander of the Galactic Alliance Fourth Fleet was a secret ally of the Jedi, working with others in a small band of rebel agents hoping to expose the Raithians for what they truly were and free the Alliance from their hold. Several months ago, Klorne had contacted them with information of a high-ranking Alliance official who had joined their cause, and so far, every bit of intel this secret source had funneled them had turned out to be true. Still, Anakin couldn't shake the feeling that they were being set up—that the truths the source relayed to them were meant solely as a means of gaining their trust so that they would foolishly walk into some final trap when it betrayed them.

    "Iella has Wedge and the others with her. They should arrive at Halo before the end of the day," Anakin reported. Halo was a mobile Jedi space station created by Lando Calrissian's company Tendrando Arms with help from the now outlawed Independent Traders Union that the Order had been using as a base of operations since Ossus was attacked and their temple raided. "Masters Sebatyne and Lobi should be on their way back with Jaden too. I don't know if Evlyn is head back or not—she doesn't exactly disclose that sort of thing... And Kyp said he was going somewhere else first."

    "I sent Kyp to check on Zonama Sekot," his uncle explained. "It's been months since we've heard from Danni Quee and I want to make sure everything's okay."

    "The Alliance flotilla that protects Sekot is probably just monitoring communications."

    "That's my suspicion as well," Luke admitted. "But it's worth checking on..."

    Anakin frowned. His uncle seemed to be leaving some thought unfinished, and he began to wonder if Luke Skywalker had seen or felt something in the Force that had compelled him to investigate Danni's whereabouts. The Raithians had been hunting Jedi for over a year—had they now moved on to former Jedi recruits as well?

    "So I guess I'll be coming back now," Anakin said, deciding against prying.

    "Not quite," Luke corrected. "There's something else I want you to do first."

    "Another mission?"

    In the past, the prospect might have excited Anakin. Even after the Yuuzhan Vong War, all the horrors he'd suffered and maturing he'd done as a result, he would feel a thrill at being deployed on another adventure. It was a side of him he tried hard to deny but knew deep inside was an inseparable part of his spirit.

    Now, however, the proposal brought on only feelings of confusion and agitation, as though his uncle was trying to distract him with busywork when there was something more important Anakin Solo needed to be doing—the problem was that he had no idea what that something was or if it even existed.

    How could he set right all he'd done wrong?

    For Anakin, everything had changed with a failed rescue attempt of his uncle and brother on Denon. The Raithian "invasion" had taken place more than a month earlier, the Jedi Temple on Ossus attacked, and those in the Order who hadn't been killed or captured across the galaxy had been taken captive and were being held on the Alliance's temporary capital. After receiving a message from his brother Jacen that detailed the security and schematics of the facility the Jedi had been imprisoned in, Anakin, his parents, and Tahiri Veila had been part of a small team intent on freeing the Jedi.

    The message had been a trap and the Solos found out the hard way that Jacen had fallen to the dark side and was now with their enemies. In the chaos that had followed, Anakin had found Tahiri dead.

    The young woman had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, his girlfriend since before he was really an adult, and for the briefest of times before the tragedy, his fiancée. They'd shared a bond that went beyond anything Anakin knew of the Force, and, as his late mentor Master Ikrit had once proclaimed, together they were "greater than the sum of their parts."

    When he was with Tahiri, it was as though they became a single entity. And when she was killed Anakin felt as though he had died as well.

    In the months that followed, it was as though Anakin had been moving through a fog, a dead man wandering through the living world—there but apart from it at the same time. He'd lost everything that day on Denon. All that remained was his anger and his need for vengeance. Without that, Anakin would have simply disappeared.

    That anger ate away at him as he went through the motions of continuing to aid the beleaguered Jedi against the Raithians, and boiled over after fate had led him to Darth Vader's fortress on Vjun and Korriban. In that time, Anakin found a dark link between him and his grandfather—his namesake—and the loss of his wife that had propelled Anakin Skywalker into the armor of Vader.

    When Anakin Solo left Korriban, he'd done so with a plan and renewed determination to see justice done for Tahiri's murder. Using the Empire of the Hand's 501st Stormtrooper Legion, he attacked Centerpoint Station and took control of it from the Raithians who'd been overseeing it since the diversion that had taken place there months before, that had eventually led to Wedge Antilles's imprisonment. He'd tricked Tenel Ka into accompanying him under the guise that he was trying to draw her husband Jacen out so they could save him from the darkness of the Sith, making an irresistible trap for his brother, whom Anakin blamed more than anyone for what had happened on Denon.

    Jacen came to Centerpoint with a fleet even more powerful than the Imperial forces that had aided Anakin, and it hadn't taken his brother long to board the space station in an attempt to rescue his wife.

    When he arrived in Centerpoint's control room, Anakin tried to kill him.

    What followed was the most brutal and agonizing fight of Anakin's life. Jacen had tried to convince him that Tahiri hadn't died on Denon and that she was in fact being held with the other captives on the Raithian homeworld. This only served to enrage Anakin more, and Jacen's own fury seemed to grow with Anakin's refusal to release Tenel Ka. Over the course of the battle, Anakin watched as Jacen transformed into something completely inhuman...

    In the end, it was Anakin who came up short when one of the maintenance bridges overlooking Centerpoint's Glowpoint collapsed. Anakin tumbled into the abyss below. Jacen managed to save himself.

    But Anakin had miraculously survived the fall thanks to Centerpoint's artificial gravity, a handful of local refugees, and R2-D2. After the Centerpointers had patched him up, his uncle's astromech droid had revealed a hologram recording stored within him that had not been in Darth Vader's records—one of his grandfather strangling his wife with the Force, the woman he had claimed to love.

    It had been something of a wake-up call for Anakin, who realized then that his hatred would lead him to destroy everything he loved if he continued to nurture it. He made his way back to the control room and rescued Tenel Ka from Jacen as his brother attempted to kidnap her.

    The Queen Mother had gone into labor when they escaped Centerpoint in the Millennium Falcon and Anakin helped her deliver the baby. When they returned to Halo, Anakin found his friends and family had returned from their voyage into Raithian Space where they had managed to rescue Luke and the other prisoners—including Tahiri Veila.

    His brother hadn't been lying about Tahiri—she'd been captured, but not killed. And Anakin's own anger had served to drive Jacen completely to the dark side.

    It was his fault.

    And his relationship with Tahiri...

    "I need you to travel to Dathomir," his uncle said, interrupting Anakin's wandering thoughts.

    "Dathomir? Why?"

    "I sent your sister there with Tenel Ka and a small team of Jedi a few days ago. I haven't heard from them since."

    Anakin frowned at this, his brow creasing in concern. "What did you send them there for?"

    Even in the hologram that stood little more than twenty-five centimeters, Anakin could see that the Jedi Master was troubled as well. "Some of our sources in the military have reported Raithian fleet movements around Dathomir. I sent Jaina and the others to investigate."

    The hologram fizzled for a moment with static, and Anakin looked over to the astromech droid plugged into the droid socket on his interceptor's port side. Fiver adjusted the signal and Luke Skywalker's image returned in full.

    "All right," Anakin said. "I can be there in a few hours if I hurry."

    Luke nodded. "Contact me the moment you learn anything."

    "I will, Uncle Luke."

    "May the Force be with you, Anakin."

    This time the image of Luke Skywalker dissolved completely and did not return. Anakin turned to Fiver, whose primary photoreceptor blinked as he warbled a question.

    "Set course for Dathomir, Fiver," he said. "We need to get there as soon as possible."

    As the astromech began to calculate their hyperspace jump, Anakin reached out in the Force to find his sister. He could still feel her there, her presence distant and diffuse, as though she was hiding.

    "Jaina," Anakin murmured, "What have you gotten yourself into now?"
     
    Last edited: Sep 4, 2019
  24. Maggy

    Maggy Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 2, 2004
    Jaina always ends up in trouble ... then her brother is a specialist for that too :p
     
  25. Treborani

    Treborani Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 18, 2009
    Great chapter, but it didn't seem long enough. :p And thanks for adding me to the PM list.

    "I hate it when he does that."

    Anyway, can't wait to see what happens when Kyp gets to Zonama Sekot and I really hope that plenty of Yuuzhan Vong survived.