Beyond - Legends The Journal of A Very Married Talon Tantiss [DDC 2014] 2014 Journal Is Complete!

Well, at least Zylie bet on Talon

 

Thanks! You'll find out soon enough.

Talon's mind is always in the gutter.

Thanks. I hate shopping, but my roommate when I was in the Army would always drag me to the mall to try on clothing. I would look at the price and say, "I can't afford this." She didn't care. She wanted to see how we looked in certain outfits...she had no intention in buying. To me that is a waste of time.

No, I think explaining what Talon was thinking would violate TOS.

Thanks. It's not much of a mission, but it will lead to more.

It is just getting some information from a friend of Luke's so they could have brought him along, but this contact was a friend of Luke's...so Luke might find out there was a young boy with Talon and Ben and start asking questions. It is best that they leave Marcus with the girls.

Yeah, I thought a thousand credits would get Zylie in on the gag.



I am sorry about how late this is. Darth Real Life really, really sucks right about now. It is very hard to get my muse going. I spend most of my day depressed, eating ice cream, and watching Amazon Prime streaming video of the True Blood TV series. That must have been an HBO show because it is basically vampire porn.

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Entry 36

Ben and I were to meet our contact at docking bay sixty-three located in a less than desirable area of downtown Coronet City. Gross. Why can’t we ever meet a contact while on a white sand beach and drinking fruity fizzes? No, it’s always in some seedy bar or docking bay that smells like urine and body odor.

The docking bay was currently filled with shabby crop freighters that barely looked space-worthy. Sentients and droids were busy unloading fruits and crops from various planets across the galaxy and loading them onto refrigeration speeder trucks.

I startled when a large scavenge rat ran across my boot. Ben chuckled and I gave him my best ‘I’m going to kill you’ look. “I’m not scared of rats. That one just surprised me.” Ben looked at me innocently. He knows I am still pissed at his Harch practical joke. I shivered at the memory of hugging that big hairy spider.

Across the bay a gray haired man walked toward us with a swift and purposeful gait. As he neared he extended a hand and smiled. “Jedi Skywalker.” He grabbed Ben’s hand and shook it enthusiastically. “I’m Tas Yanko. I fought alongside your father during the rebellion.” He turned to me. “You must be Jedi Tantiss. I have heard of your father and his famed mission to Byss."

As he shook my hand I have to force myself to smile. If Yanko knew how tore-up my father had been about the destruction of the planet Byss he would never had brought it up, but there was no way he could know. To the general population the planet Byss was a symbol of the Empire and its evil Emperor and deserved to be obliterated. Dad was not of the same mindset. My father was on the planet hours before its destruction and knew most of the people of that planet were hard working innocents simply trying to eke out a living working as taxi drivers, restaurant workers, plumbers, sanitation laborers…they were of all walks of life…not just Imperials.

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

The man’s smile didn’t fade as he motioned us toward a battered freighter. “This is my ship. Come on in. I have a holovid I want to show you.”

He continued talking as we walked up the boarding ramp of the freighter. “After the rebellion I went back to Corellia and became part of Corsec. We were doing a sting operation on one of our Senators. He had rented a room in a downtrodden part of town, which is usually the setup for a meeting. He was in some legal trouble, so we thought he might try to bribe some law enforcement official…and he was trying to get help, but at a much higher level than we could imagine.” We entered the flightdeck of his ship where he activated a holoscreen. A grainy image appeared of a man nervously pacing a room. “That’s Senator Bekker. Sorry about the quality of the holovid. We quickly ran a thumb-sized vid-droid through the ventilation system. This holo was taken through a ceiling vent. We thought he was going to meet a judge or prefect but what happened next was unexpected.”

A man entered the room and from the high angle of the holocam I couldn’t make out his features, but when he spoke I recognized the voice. “What the hell do you want Bekker? Why are we meeting in this flea-bitten piece of crap hotel?”

I looked over to Ben. “Is that Chief-of-State Mokk Streke?”

Ben nodded before our contact confirmed my suspicion. “Indeed it is. He was on planet for a galactic campaign conference and Bekker must have contacted him.”

Senator Bekker ran a nervous hand through his hair. “Mokk, I have always been one of your greatest supporters. I need your help now. I know you can make problems disappear. You don’t go from a rimworld planetary governor to Chief-of-state in a little over a decade without assistance. Maybe your friends can help me?”

Streke put his hands on his hips. “Friends? What the hell are you talking about?”

The senator looked around the room nervously. “I assume you have friends in high places…Black Sun, formidable labor unions…or perhaps power lobbyists.”

Streke stepped toward the man in an intimidating gesture. “Is that what you think? I came here because I considered you a friend. I’ve heard of your little problem, unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it. If you decide to diddle with underage Twi’lek girls and get caught on a holovid what can I do? I thought you were going to ask for asylum on some backwater planet to avoid your problems…instead you want me to…what? Kill witnesses? Are you kriff’n mad?” He pointed to the door. “Get the hell out of here before I make you disappear.”

The Senator moved toward the door but paused in mid-step. “I’ll take asylum…banishment. I don’t want my family to be publicly humiliated by a trial.”

Streke crossed his arms across his chest and lapsed into a thinking pause. “You’re family doesn’t deserve to have their lives ruined by your bad decisions. I’ll write up a decree banishing you to a planet in Wild Space and request the media to respect the privacy of your family. That’s all I can do.”

I could hear the Senator let out a relieved breath. “Thank you.”

As the Senator left the hotel room I looked over to the older Corsec operative and shrugged. “So? You have a pedophile Senator and we have a Chief-of-State that won’t be corrupted.”

The man pointed toward the holovid. “Keep watching.”

As soon as the door closed behind the Senator a deep voice rang out in the room. “You need to pick better friends.” The words had a mechanical sound to them, as if a person was talking through a translator mechanism.

Streke jumped and spun around his eyes searching the room for the source of the sound. “Where the hell are you?”

There was a flickering visual distortion against a far wall before a humanoid in a black stealth suit—a personal concealment system—appeared.

“Kriff!” Streke yelled out. “Why did you follow me? I hate it when you do that!”

The humanoid moved closer to the Chief-of-State and I could tell it was a large species. It could be a Wookiee using a voice translator. The suit covered every part of the body, so I couldn’t be sure what species we were dealing with. “I was ensuring your safety. My master and I spent a lot of money, time and effort getting you to the position of Chief-of-State. If you get caught up in some nasty situation our work is for naught.”

Streke stepped back from the man. “I’m not stupid.”

“That remains to be seen.” The large man circled Mokk before stopping in front of him. “You have a mission and your anti-Jedi rhetoric has done nothing. The Jedi are still on Coruscant and I want them off.”

Mokk threw up his hands in frustration. “They have their Temple there. It’s not like I can evict them.” He shook his head. “What do you have against the Jedi anyway?”

“Nothing. I have business on Coruscant and I don’t want Force-using Jedi in the way.”

“What kind of business?” Mokk threw back his shoulders in defiance. “If you and your Master belong to a criminal organization you can forget about getting further cooperation.”

There was an awkward silence between the two before the larger man spoke. “I am not a criminal, but I don’t want Jedi meddling in my affairs. My mission involves removing…malignant elements from society and not having justice-loving Jedi in the way will make my work easier.”

“Oh…you’re a bounty hunter.” Mokk shrugged. “I can put more pressure on them to move. I can ramp up the anti-Jedi sentiment and make life difficult for them. This could encourage them to move their temple somewhere else.”

The large humanoid shook his black masked head. “That will take years. I want them gone soon.”

“What the hell do you want me to do, kill them?”

The black figure’s arm shot out faster than humanly possible, grabbing the Chief-of-State around the neck and lifting him off the ground. “No! If you kill one Jedi you will alert them. Do you want the Grand Master marching into your office and sucking all the secrets out of your head before making you forget you ever saw him?”

Mokk tried to talk but barely had the ability to breathe. The man dropped him back to the floor. Streke gasped for a minute rubbing his neck before looking up at the menacing figure. “Can Jedi do that?”

“Yes!”

Mokk shook his head. “That’s hard to believe.”

“I have seen it done! Send them all on a mission, a quest, anything! Just get them off planet.” The mysterious person pointed to the door. “Now go!”

“Whoa,” Ben said as the Chief-of-State left the room.

Tas Yanko put up a hand indicating for us to be silent. “Watch what happens next.”

The large humanoid stood in the room for a second before he quickly turned and stared up at the vent where the vid-droid was transmitting. He walked closer gazing in the direction of the vent. I don’t know how he could possibly sense a tiny vid-droid from behind the vent grill and I also couldn’t understand how he could see a damn thing through the fabric covering his face. After a second, the man waved his hand and the holo went fuzzy before the transmission went dark.

Ben looked to Yanko. “Did he use a signal scrambler?”

The older man shrugged his shoulders. “That’s what we thought until we retrieved the droid. It was crushed, but there was no evidence that the vent was tampered with.” He stopped for a moment letting us consider his words. “We think he used the Force to crush the droid.” He pulled the holovid datachip from the projector. “I thought the Grand Master would be interested in knowing he doesn’t have a friend when it comes to Chief-of-State Streke.”

Ben and I both laughed. “We’ve known that since the beginning. He doesn’t hide the fact that he hates Jedi.”

“But we didn’t know he was being manipulated to get rid of the Jedi.” Ben took the datachip from Agent Yanko. “When was this taken?”

“Last month. We had our analysts go over it extensively. They determined the person was using a M-43 voice translator…but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t speaking basic. The M-43 can be used as a voxscrambler to alter a person’s voice.” He gave us a grim look. “Will you hand carry this to your father? I trust my people to keep quiet, but the Coruscant government is full of supporters of the Chief-of-State. I don’t know whom to trust. I thought your father would want to know that the leader of the government might be plotting against them.”

Ben bounced the datachip in his palm looking at it thoughtfully. “That is definitely something he would want to know.”


Entry 37

When we got back to the Vazy Princess we found a very irritated eleven-year-old boy wearing an outfit that only mothers or possibly aunts would buy a boy. He was wearing pleated khaki shorts, a red designer collared sport shirt, white socks and spiffy yachting shoes. He looked like a child model for some upper-class clothing catalog.

“Doesn’t he look cute,” Zylie gushed over the boy as Valla stood next to her sister admiring Marcus. I looked over to Ben and tried to suppress a smile.

“Very cute,” Ben said before losing his fight to maintain a straight face.

“Not funny,” Marcus said as he put his hands on our shoulders and pushed us down the corridor and away from the ladies. “You don’t know what I went through the last few hours,” he whispered through clenched teeth. “They had me trying on just about every outfit imaginable and model it for them.”

“Welcome to my world,” I said with a snicker.

Marcus glared at me. “I had to do a Jedi mind trick to get them to stop. I told them they were tired and wanted to go back to the ship.”

Ben chuckled. “You did a Jedi Mind Trick on Valla and Zylie?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

Marcus gave an earnest expression. “It’s true. Grandpa taught me how to do it.”

“Please. Your grandmother is better at influencing people than my dad and she doesn’t even have the Force.”

Ben grinned at me. “Let’s ask the ladies.” Ben went to call over his wife but Marcus grabbed him by the arm.

“No! They’ll be mad.”

Ben grinned. “I guarantee they won’t be mad.” He waved to Valla and Zylie. “Hey, did you know Marcus did a Jedi Mind Trick on you?”

Valla and Zylie looked at each other with an overly exaggerated look of shock and surprise. “Really!”

Valla smirked as she covered her mouth with her hand to hide her amusement. “Of course we knew. He is so adorable when he thinks he’s being sneaky.”

Zylie chuckled as she attempted to do Marcus’ voice. “You are getting tired.” She made a sweeping motion with her hand. “You want to return to the ship.”

Valla giggled. “Why do Jedi always have to make that hand motion? You’re not hypnotizing us, you’re using the Force.”

Marcus looked crestfallen. “What?”

Zylie came over and patted the boy on the shoulder. “Don’t be upset. I’m sure you were doing it right…but it only works on weak-minded people.”

Valla gave Marcus an apologetic expression. “Plus when you started using that goofy creepy voice and waving your hand we were expecting it.”

“We're also wives of Jedi. We’ve learned how to block out that nonsense.” Zylie turned to me and smiled. “Your mother taught us how she does it.”

“We realized you were getting tired and decided to bring you back to the ship by our choice.” Valla gave him a quick hug. “Don’t worry, we’re not angry we thought it was cute.”

“Cute, like his outfit,” Ben agreed.

Marcus glowered at us. “If you excuse me, I need to change into work attire. I don’t want to get vornskr poop on these adorable clothes.” With that said he marched off toward his cabin.

A wide grin crossed my face as I turned to Ben. “I think I sensed a hint of sarcasm with that comment.”

“Ya think?” Ben chuckled as he took Valla’s hand and walked down the corridor toward the flight deck.

I turned to Zylie and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for taking care of him.”

She grabbed my face and planted a slow, sensual kiss on my lips. “I don’t think he'll stowaway again.”

I had to laugh. “I think you’re right.”

 

Ha! I don't think Marcus will stow away again either.
But that holovid was creepy. Wonder what'll happen next.

 

Hmm, looks like the Chief of State has some interesting "allies."

And poor Marcus!

 

Entry #36 - ooh that's not good is it? Looks like the mysterious guest has an agenda and Force skills. Entry #37: Marcus is a hoot and Zylie and Valla are something else altogether.

A fun contrast to the mystery in the earlier entry.

 

Entry 36 well things are about to get very interesting and entry 37 poor Marcus trying to pull off a Jedi Mind trick and the girls pretending to fall for it because they thought he looked cute

can't wait to see where you're taking us

 

an interesting entry with the CorSec agent CorSec is always interesting
and a funny one with Marcus and the girls.

 

36-37

My master and I spent a lot of money, time and effort getting you to the position of Chief-of-State. If you get caught up in some nasty situation our work is for naught.

Umm, Streke? I don’t think your buddy sounds like a bounty hunter at all, actually…

They have had the best luck with elected leaders in the GFFA.


Zylie chuckled as she attempted to do Marcus’ voice. “You are getting tired.” She made a sweeping motion with her hand. “You want to return to the ship.”

Valla giggled. “Why do Jedi always have to make that hand motion? You’re not hypnotizing us, you’re using the Force.”

Tough luck, Marcus.

Can’t remember if I’ve said this before, but I really like how Talon and Zylie’s relationship has grown. They seem like a well-balanced pair, both very driven and opinionated (and seem to thrive on a bit of recreational argument) and still dedicated to supporting each other. And they have a sense of humor that will undoubtedly help along the way.

 

I read this the other day but didn't get a chance to reply. You know I love it, gal. I love how you're writing Ben and Talon and how good they are as Jedi. I love their jokes and fun. The ending with Valla, Zylie and Marcus was priceless. I love how he thought he got one over on them, but surprise! As always, I can't wait for moar adventures!!!

 

I bet Marcus learned something there

 

I just read this journal so far. It is a fun read and up to par with the other stories in this saga.
I always love how you do your research for every story. Your use of ‘real’ SW planets, food, etc. is great. I always find new things to add to my SW custom Word dictionary. J


'For sale: Jedi lightsaber—comes with poseable Jedi hand!' That cracked me up



“Talon, we're Jedi Knights. We don't play a version of Jedi cop, Sith cop."
All I could think of was when Luke and Corran read their report on the mission and that remark was included. They must have been hysterically laughing. For those who don’t get it, remember a scene from “I Jedi”.


Valla pinched the bridge of her nose. "Your son is a Prince, Jacen's daughter is a Princess and Jaina's son will one day be Emperor." She looked over to Ben. "What happened to your family? No royalty?"

Well there is the fact that Vader was most likely Palpatine’s heir and Luke is Vader’s heir (either by decree or Imperial law as the eldest male son)…
Looking forward to new entries.

 

Marcus I think learned his lesson.

If you read last year's diary Streke was mentioned as not liking Jedi.

Thanks. I would think wives of Jedi would know how to block out those mind tricks.

Thanks. I thought it would be cute if they went along with him. I can see them getting all glassy eyed and pretending they were mind tricked.

Thank you.

Thanks. Zylie was always a match for Talon...even when she was thirteen and getting her vornskr to attack the hapless Talon.

Thanks ginchy. And thanks for cheering me on with my other story.

He learned that it is more fun to be a Prince than to clean up Vornskr scat.

I read that book 15 years ago, so if I wrote something similar it must be subconsciously. I'm glad you liked it...now I have to pull out the book and reread it.

Thanks everybody. My Muse is on life-support lately. I had to force myself to write another diary entry. I hope it doesn't disappoint. Hopefully when DRL stopped messing with my life I can revive my muse.

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Entry 38

We stopped by Coruscant to hand deliver the datachip that Tas Yanko gave us to Ben’s father. I wasn’t sure what to do with Marcus while we were there. I was sure if we showed up at the Grand Master’s doorstep with a young boy there would be questions. Even with Marcus’ hair dyed and fake Kiffar tattoos painted over his face I was afraid his Force presence could be identifiable to my uncle and aunt. They had spent so much time with me that I am sure they would figure out Marcus was my son.

I contacted my brother Jaden and asked him to pick up Marcus at the spaceport. Since he was the temple doctor he could sneak him into the Jedi temple using the emergency entrance and into his quarters. It would be good for Marcus to see his uncle, aunt and cousin Jessa.

ID10T landed the freighter at one of Coruscant’s docking bays for oversized ships and we waited for my brother to arrive. Always punctual he was at the ship within minutes of our arrival.

He climbed up our boarding ramp with a wide grin. I noticed his dark brown hair was a little longer and his normally tanned skin was a shade darker.

“We’re you on vacation?” I asked him as he entered the ship. “Or did Uncle Luke have you doing missions on Tatooine?”

“Jysella and I went on a second Honeymoon to the Great Sea. Corran and Mirax babysat Jessa for us.” He went over to Zylie and gave her a kiss on the cheek and did the same for her sister. He turned to Marcus and gave him a hug. “I couldn’t believe your mom let you off Indupar, but your dad explained how you snuck on board. You are just like your father…always getting into trouble.” He released the boy and reached up to tousle his hair. “I like the new look. You look more like your grandmother’s side of the family now. Well, minus the tattoos.”

“Grandma has a tattoo,” Marcus said with a grin.

I looked at my brother questioningly. He just shrugged. “What tattoo?”

Marcus brought a hand over his right shoulder and touched his back. “It is really small, but she has the Indupar Bright Path symbol for love on her shoulder blade and the initials for grandpa, her children and grandchildren. M, J, T, M, J for Mark, Jaden, Talon, Marcus and Jessa. I saw it when we were swimming.”

I shook my head in disbelief as I looked to Jaden. “Our mother is inked?”

Jaden smirked. “I guess so.” He threw an arm around Marcus. “I guess I will get to sneaking him into the Temple. Meet us at my quarters when you are done talking to the Grand Master.”

I waved as my son and brother left the ship. The rest of us locked up the freighter and headed to the temple.


Entry 39

Ben and I sat in the Grand Master’s office as we watched the surveillance video. Ben’s mom brought our wives to her living quarters to keep them entertained.

After watching the video, Uncle Luke ran a hand over his jaw thoughtfully, looking very troubled. “What is Mokk Streke up to? Why does his mysterious benefactor want the Jedi off planet?”

“Streke believes he is working with a bounty hunter.” Ben shifted in his seat as he reached for the remote so he could replay the vid. “Do you think this guy is a Force-adept?”

We watched the black masked man wave his hand as the surveillance holo went to static and then black.Uncle Luke leaned forward gazing at the image. “I would say he is a Force-sensitive.”

“Sith, self-trained or former Jedi?” Ben asked.

“We have few former Jedi of that stature. That could be a Wookiee or an extremely large human.” He shook his head. “At the angle this vid was taken it is impossible to determine his height other than he is taller than Streke and his shoulders are massive compared to the Chief-of-State.” Luke scrutinized the holovid as Ben put it into a loop to watch. “Messing with a digital camera is not difficult, he could be self-taught. I just don’t know how he figured out the camera was there.”

“I’ve worked with that particular surveillance camera. The droid can make a slight noise as it focuses…but only somebody familiar with surveillance systems would recognize the minuscule buzzing sound.”

“A bounty hunter would know about surveillance, locks, slicing,” I pointed out.

“Pppsssfff,” Luke made a noise dismissing the idea. “He’s not a bounty hunter. If he were he’d ask Streke to get Jedi out of various sectors he planned to work in. Why would a bounty hunter want all Jedi off the planet?” He turned to us, his face terribly serious. “I could think of a reason that a Sith would want us all gone. If the Sith could infiltrate the office of the Chief-of-State then he or she might do as much damage as Emperor Palpatine. And if we are looking at more than one Sith…apprentice and Master or maybe more than two…they could infiltrate key positions within the government.”

“But we haven’t seen a Sith since…well since Jacen’s little indiscretion with Lumiya.” I frowned at the memory. Jacen turned to the Dark Lady of the Sith in an effort to protect his wife and daughter from assassins. My father ended up killing Lumiya on the planet Myrkr. He then performed a memory rub on Jacen so he didn’t remember that he almost went darkside. So far Jacen hasn’t shown any indication that he remembers his time with the Sith. We told him he received a blow to the head while fighting Lumiya. The resulting injury caused memory loss. It was a big lie, but the family so far has managed to conceal this major cover-up.

“Yes, Lumiya.” Luke sighed deeply. “At least we know that’s not Jacen. He’s about the same height or shorter than Streke.” The Grand Master stood and then leaned back, stretching his spine. “Mara was going to get a meal delivered. We can talk about this later.”

We left my uncle’s office and went to his quarters. There we could smell the aroma of Melahnese cuisine. The ladies were in the sitting area drinking some type of sparkling juice. My Aunt Mara ushered into the dining area remarking that she didn’t want the food to get cold.

The meal was nice, but the conversation was better.

“Soooo…” Aunt Mara drew out the word as she looked to Ben and Valla. “When are you going to get around to making me a grandmother?”

I thought Ben was going to choke on his food. He coughed a few times before he managed to swallow the large chunk of meat he had been chewing. “Mom, can we have this conversation after I have been married for a few years instead of a few months?”

Uncle Luke covered his mouth with his hand in an effort to hide a smile. “Your Mom went over to see Mirax while she was babysitting little Jessa. I think that got her biological grandmother clock ticking.”

Mara glared at Uncle Luke, but there was no fire behind her eyes. “My biological clock is not ticking.” She turned to Ben. “It’s just you took so long to get married…I’d like to see my grandchildren before I am too old. I’d like to be able to play with them without breaking a hip.”

Ben gave his mother a tight smile. “You do have other children, you know. Why don’t you bug Jak, Owen or Hanna to have kids?”

My aunt frowned. “Because they’re not married and I would like them in a committed relationship before they started bestowing me with grandchildren.”

Ben grinned. “Well then, you better start nagging them into finding somebody and settling down.”

“Oh, she’s doing that already,” my uncle said with a chuckle. “Your siblings pointed that you were already married and that’s where she should focus her efforts.”

Ben glowered. “That’s nice of them.”

When I snickered Aunt Mara turned to me. “Don’t laugh, I’m sure your mother has been giving you hints.”

‘Nope,’ I thought to myself. “My parents have little Jessa, so the pressure is off of me.”

Uncle Luke stabbed at a piece of meat and brought it up to his mouth, but stopped at the last minute and lowered his fork while gazing at me. “I was really surprised that your parents left Coruscant when they have a granddaughter here. If your father wanted to train Jedi he could have done it here. Why is he off training the Prince of Indupar?”

My stomach clenched. Ema made me promise to keep Marcus’ paternity secret until his coronation. Only my immediate family was to know. The only reason Ben knew was because he was the person who discovered I had a son. “You'd have to ask my father that?”

“Indupar is a beautiful planet,” Zylie added trying to be helpful. “Talon’s parents have all the benefits of living in a palace.”

“Masseurs on demand,” Valla said with a grin.

“And awesome food, a spa, pool, steam rooms, whirlpool baths in the ‘fresher, breakfast in bed, chauffeurs, and a mini-bar in the guest quarters.”

“And the masseurs come right to your room,” Valla clarified.

“Yes,” Ben said slightly irritated. “We all know about Ricky the masseur.”

“Roko,” Zylie corrected. “He’s Kira’s favorite masseur. He’s really good." She turned to my Aunt Mara. "If you ever go there you should request him.”

“Did you know one of the massage options available was a Fertility Massage.” Valla turned to Ben. “Maybe I’ll get one of those the next time we’re at the Palace.”

Ben blanched at the suggestion.

“Oh yeah, Roko told me about that.” Zylie turned to me and smiled. “The massage is supposed to help bring fresh blood to the reproductive tissues, reduce stress hormones and helps reposition a tilted uterus.”

Okay, that was way more than I wanted to know about that particular massage. “If you ever get that massage…it will be done by Dad’s Masseuse, Sensuna.”

Zylie made a face. “I don’t think so. I saw how she manhandled you. I’d probably end up sterile after she rearranged my internal organs.”

Ben pushed his seat away from the table and dropped his head into his hands. “Can we please stop talking about this? Mom, give me and Valla two or three years as a couple and then maybe…maybe we will consider children.”

“Until then you can practice the process,” I said with a grin. I notice both Ben and Luke turned the same shade of red.

Uncle Luke changed the subject to smashball and other manly topics for the remainder of the meal…much to Ben’s relief.

Ha!

After dinner Zylie and I went to my brother’s quarters. I couldn’t wait to tell him about this particular dinner conversation.

~~~

Author Note: The conversation about Jacen and Lumiya was covered in the story Second To None: Sacrifices. You can find a link to the story in my signature. It was also covered in Talon's first diary.

 

Bah! I loved the dinner conversation with the Skywalkers! Also, this:

It's good to see Mara pestering Ben for grandbabies!

 

Great discussions during dinner-time. Zylie really helped to steer the discussion away from Talon and his son.

 

Liked the speculating about who the mysterious guy was and chuckled at the dinner conversation. The humor and the warmth was terrific. Your game is still on and fine Jedi_Lover

 

Until then you can practice the process,” I said with a grin. I notice both Ben and Luke turned the same shade of red.

Father and son getting embarrassed at the same time, he really is Luke's son

more soon

 

Oh dear. Mara's on a granny quest. Love how there is no honor among siblings -- "he's married already -- bug him about it!" Also love Talon's glee at watching the whole thing, knowing that he's not the one in the hot seat.

 

Nice dinner conversation! Ben needs to get moving.

 

Mara's biological clock is not to be taken lightly

 

awwww but Granny Mara would be adorable!!! hahahaahaa you know I love Talon. I bet he was happy to see some of the pressure on Ben for once!

 

I can see her doing that also. I know as soon as my boys get married I am going to be asking the same question.

It has to irritate Luke that Mark left the Jedi saying he wanted to retire, but then turns around and is teaching some Prince outside the Galactic Alliance. Of course Luke doesn't know the truth from my fanfic STN:Sacrifices. Mark is keeping quite a lot of secrets from the Grand Master.

Thanks. I am having a heck of a time writing. Things are coming to a head this week and I will find out what DRL has in store for me. I think I should be able to write better next week.

I love that: Granny Quest! It sounds like a TV show.

I know, he is eleven years behind Talon.

Nope. I think there is a time frame when mothers expect to become grandmothers. My boys are teens...I don't want to be a grandmother. But 15 years from now I will definitely start nagging.

I think Mara would have been a wonderful grandmother in the profics. It is too bad that will never come to pass. Thank goodness for fanfiction.

Thanks everybody for reading. This is a short entry. I had trouble thinking of something to write, but I needed to get an entry in soon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Entry 40

After dinner Zylie and I said our goodbyes to the Skywalkers and left to see my brother and his family.

Jysella and my brother greeted us at the door and ushered us into their apartment. Both Jaden and Jysella are Jedi Healers at the Temple and have their quarters in the same wing as the infirmary. When I entered my three-year-old niece Jessa came running up to me yelling, “Unc Tayon!” That is her way of saying Uncle Talon, which I guess is better than the way she pronounces ‘Aunt Zylie’. I swear it sounds like she is saying ‘anxiety’.

I scooped the little brown haired girl into my arms and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. “Hey Jess, how are you?”

“Good,” she says before she puts on the shy act. I hand her over to Zylie and she cuddles and tickles our niece until Jessa squealed.

I look around for my son but don’t see him. I turned to my brother, “Where’s Marcus?”

Jaden threw a thumb in the direction of his study. “He’s looking through some of my medical books.”

In the distance I heard. “Oh gross!”

I frowned at my brother. “You’re not letting him look through your book of medical anomalies, are you?”

My brother shook his head. “No, that would be too disturbing. He is looking through my textbook of lesions, boils and carbuncles.”

I cringed in disgust. “That one is just as bad!” I heard Marcus make a gagging noise and I marched past Jaden and into his study. There I found Marcus sitting in my brother’s office desk chair and looking through a book called, “Disgusting Foods”. He grinned when I entered and held up the book so I could see the cover better (which showed a bowl of maggots. Ack).

“Uncle Jaden let me read a book on the weird foods different species eat. Did you know that Wookiee’s eat something called won-wons. They are slugs! Yuck. And Hutts eat grain maggots and crunchbugs!”

My brother came in behind me and chuckled. “Did you really think I’d let him look at a book on boils? The Queen would have my head.” I turned to him and punched him in the shoulder, which made him laugh louder. “I’ve missed you, little brother. How long are you staying?”

I gave a disappointed sigh. “Just for the night. I need to get Marcus back to Indupar or the Queen and his mother will have my head.”

Marcus looked up from his book. “You do know there hasn’t been a public execution on Indupar for two-hundred years.”

I rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t mean she couldn’t order it done privately.”

“That's true,” Marcus said casually before going back to his book.

I gave my son a double take at that comment.

“Just kidding, Dad,” he said without looking up from the text.

I decided to leave him to his disgusting reading material and do a little catching up with my brother. I put an arm around his shoulder and walked him out of the office. “So what have you been up to? Are you still researching disease epidemiology when you’re not mending broken legs or laser burns form practice droids?”

He shook his head. “For the last few months, I have been doing research on the existence of midichlorians. Dad had talked about them and I verified their existence through the Jedi Holocron, but I still haven’t been able to isolate that particular organelle in the human body or any other species. The Holocron gatekeeper Bodo Baas said the Jedi had a detector that could analyze blood and give a midichlorian count, but Master Baas didn’t know anything beyond that. He was neither a medical doctor nor an engineer.”

We went to the living room where our wives were sitting and talking while little Jessa played with toys on the floor in front of them. I dropped down on the couch next to Zylie and Jaden leaned on the armrest of his wife’s large padded chair. “What will you do with that knowledge?”

My brother shrugged. “I guess the best application will be weeding out Jedi candidates. We have way too many parents bringing their children to the temple claiming their kids have what it takes to be a Jedi. Instead of wasting time running them through trials it would be much easier to do a blood test. Of course, after I have isolated midichlorians I need to figure out a baseline reading for admission. I have taken blood samples of various Jedi to include Master Skywalker and dad. I wouldn’t mind getting your blood and maybe Marcus’”

“I’ll give you mine, but you’ll have to ask Marcus’ mother if he can be part of your experiment.” I looked at my brother questioningly. “If you were on Indupar to get dad’s blood why didn’t you ask her permission to get Marcus’ blood then?”

“I got his blood when he came to visit us last month.”

“Mom and Dad were on Coruscant? They didn’t mention that.”

Jaden shook his head. “Only dad. He said he had business in the core.”

My brow furrowed. “What about?”

My brother gave a slight shrug. “He said he was trying to purchase a Void Jumper suit for himself. You know how he loves collecting armor and weapons.”

I gave a roll of my eyes. I think the only reason my mother hasn’t put her foot down when it comes to my father’s hoarding is because they now had room within the palace to store his collection of military gear. “I hope he’s just buying it for his collection and not for some other reason.”

“What other reason would your dad have?” Zylie interjected.

I heaved a sigh. “Marcus is at an impressionable age. I hope dad didn’t buy the suit so he can talk Marcus into doing something dangerous like go to Jump School when he is old enough.”

My brother gave an incredulous snort. “Said the man who became a Jedi Guardian and then went off to the Galactic Alliance Jump School just so he could be like his dear old dad.”

“Yeah, well, that’s different. That's me…not my kid. I don’t want him getting hurt. So I hope dad is not telling him rousing stories about the glory of war.” After some thought I became convinced that that was exactly what was happening. “I’m going to find out.” I stood and turned toward my brother’s study. “Marcus, come here.”

After a few seconds he came out holding the book under his arm. “Yes?”

I folded my arms across my chest and gazed at him intently. “Did Grandpa bring a Void Jumper power suit back to Indupar recently?”

The boy’s eyes went wide and I could tell he was trying to figure out why I asked that question and if telling the truth would get his grandfather in trouble. “Yeah,” he finally admitted.

I turned to Jaden and Jysella. “See, I told you. Dad is trying to get a second generation to follow in his footsteps and become a Jump Trooper like him.”

Marcus shook his head. “No, grandpa doesn’t do that. I asked him to get a suit. I wanted to see how it worked.”

“So you can be like him,” I reiterated.

“Dad, no.” He blushed and looked away. “It’s because I want to be more like you. I wanted grandpa to train me the same way you were trained because I want to be like you.”

My arms dropped to my side as I gazed at him dumbstruck. He wants to be like me? I have no idea why that statement shocked me. It’s not odd for a son to venerate and emulate his father. I know I looked up to my dad and tried to be just like him…but Marcus was no ordinary son. He would be ruler of the Induparan Crown Worlds within months. I tried to find my voice but words failed me. I instead walked up to him and gave him a big hug.

He tolerated the emotional response until Jysella and Zylie made an “Ohhhh” sound followed by “They’re so cute”. At that point he pushed me away and gave a self-conscious smirk. “Why do women always call me cute?”

“Because you are cute!” Jysella laughed.

“Just like your father,” Zylie added.

He held up his book. “I think I’ll go into the study and read some more.”

“Okay cutie!” Zylie said teasingly.

The rest of the night went well. I got caught up with what was going on at the temple, friends and family.

I discovered Ben’s sister Hanna started dating an older Jedi Knight…much to Uncle Luke’s disapproval. Jaden said there were rumors that Uncle Luke was planning on sending him off to one of the satellite Jedi Academies in the outer rim, but my Aunt Mara intervened. She said Hanna was an adult and was quite capable of picking her own mate without her father’s assistance. That was probably a good decision because knowing Hanna she would have married the man just to go counter to her parents' wishes.

The Skywalker twins were still dating sisters they met at a twins conference, but they didn’t seem eager to settle down. I found out Jysella’s brother Valin finally gave up his womanizing ways and was now exclusively dating a preschool teacher from the local area. For some reason I can’t imagine Valin dating a woman whose profession doesn’t require the use of a dance pole and six inch stiletto heels.

My brother inflated a guest mattress for me and Zylie and Marcus slept on the couch. I know we could have slept on the ship, but I still get claustrophobic living on the freighter. It was nice being planet-side.

Tomorrow we travel back to Indupar. I wish Marcus could stay with me forever, but that’s not to be. I’m just glad we had some family time together.

 

great update

more soon

 

Great update. I bet Marcus will be glad to go home and get away from his step-mom.

Bahaha. We need this story, preferably from Luke's POV.

 

Liked the visit with Jaden and Jysella, and good to catch up on the rest of the family.

 

Great family time for Talon and Marcus.