Beyond - Legends Danni's Quest (Jacen/Tenel Ka, Danni Quee) Completed 11/19

Restra and Marne - wow, intrigue and they've been nabbed by someone official.

Jacen was terrific with the press. Has his dad's humor and his mom's warm candor.

Woot on Jaina's imminent arrival.

Glad Allana will be taken somewhere safe and Tenel Ka is recovering quicker than expected.

 

Nyota: I had actually intended to take their scene in a different direction, but as I wrote, it became apparent that where I wanted to take it was a huge rabbit hole...so, I went in a different direction.

Thanks! Would it be too self-aggrandizing to say I'm rather proud of how it turned out? I was a huge fan of 'The West Wing', so totally based this off of CJ Craig's press conferences. Anyway, I'm trying to 'let Jacen be Jacen' in the hopes that Hapes will see and appreciate why their Queen loves him so much.

I wanted to have Jaina and Jacen talk earlier in the story, but they both seem too stubborn to stop by and say 'Hi.' No way would Jaina see her brother's state and not respond, though...

I know that you know that I wouldn't have killed TK, but I still needed to make it as 'real' as I could. Head injuries are pretty tricky to treat and tough to give any certainty for recovery.

 

I'd love a tag on the new chapters.

 

Thanks! What the hell happened to 'self-effacing-wit' Jacen? Man, I wish we had him back.

JaegerDroid: No problem! Consider yourself tagged! Next update tomorrow...

 

jaegerdroid15; Nyota's Heart; Jedi_Lover; Kahara

A/N: Shockingly, this chapter clocks in at only a little over 2000 words...

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Chapter 42—Ties that bind​

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Jacen sat in the hospital cafeteria idly sketching in his ‘detective’ notebook, his mostly uneaten dinner still steaming in its heated plate and didn’t bother to look as the chair across from him scraped across the tile floor.

“Still as mediocre as I remember?” Jaina asked softly, gesturing to the meat patty on the blue plate.

Despite his glum mood, Jacen smiled slightly at the question; it was an ill-kept secret that despite all of her accomplishments, their mother could burn water. So, on the rare days when she was forced to cook for her three kids, Leia fell back on an ‘old family recipe’—something called ‘Jurannian steak’. Unfortunately for Leia, her kids could smell a con job and saw through the ruse. Even so, the three Solo kids always looked forward to the days when Han was out…it meant they could eat in the living room with Mom and watch a bad holodrama while eating dinner, something they never did when Dad was home—he always insisted on eating at the table.

Shrugging slightly, he pushed the plate closer to his sister, “Yep. But I was feeling…nostalgic.” Jacen would never tell anyone, of course, but he actually liked the gravy-covered steak, and suspected that his sister did, too.

Taking a tentative bite, Jaina took a long look at her brother and could sense his grief and pain, even as he was desperately trying to keep it bottled up. “How’s she doing?”

Jacen closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “She hit that wall so-o-o hard.” Opening his eyes, he started glance around the room, looking everywhere but at his sister. “I heard the impact from the living room in the apartment.” He paused a second, giving Jaina time to visualize just how far away he was at the time, and felt her sudden shock. Looking down at his hands, “I don’t know, Jaina.” He looked up again and met her gaze for the first time, “I don’t know how she is…and I don’t know when she’ll come back.” Not knowing what else to do, he took another small bite of the dinner sitting between them.

For a long while the two of them sat and nibbled on dinner, both unsure as to what to say. “What happened to us, Jaina?” Jacen asked quietly, not looking up.

“You left me.” Jaina whispered in reply, unable to hide her hurt. “You were my only constant for twenty years…and you left. You couldn’t deal with being a Solo…so you left.” Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she continued, “You left me to deal with Mom and Dad and Tahiri and Luke and the damned Order because you were too afraid to face life. You abandoned me.”

Jacen felt his sister reach out through their ‘twin-bond’ and felt her loneliness. He reached across the table to give her hand an apologetic squeeze, but she drew back, giving him an accusatory glare, “It took me years to understand that you didn’t leave because of me.”

Jacen closed his eyes and absorbed the feelings coming from his sister. By leaving, he thought he was doing the right thing; the last thing anyone wanted was someone asking more questions. But she was right—he did abandon her; he did abandon their parents. They had already lost one son to the war, and he had made it two with his selfish desires. It was no wonder no one trusted him upon his return; he had let everyone down…and he wasn’t sure if he could ever make it up.

“Why?” She asked softly, “Why’d you leave?”

Why? The most important question of all…and one that Jacen still did not have an answer for. He had told himself…convinced himself, really, that he needed to ‘find himself’. But mostly… “Everyone was expecting me to be someone I couldn’t be. I’m not Anakin, no matter how much I wish I were.”

“We didn’t want…”

“You didn’t, perhaps, “ he admitted, interrupting with a sad smile. “But everyone else did. Everyone wanted me to be him, wanted me to be the ‘next’ Grandmaster.” There was no regret in his tone, only quiet acceptance. Jacen had finally come to terms with the fact that most people would never understand his constant questions, that most view deliberation as indecisiveness. Sighing, he pressed on, “Jaina, there aren’t more than five people in this whole galaxy who look at me and wish that I would’ve died above Myrkr instead of Anakin.”

Jaina only nodded, not knowing what to say. Perhaps more depressing was that she didn’t know if he counted her amongst the five or not…and for a brief moment, she wasn’t sure herself. But as brave as Anakin had been, as good a person as he was, and as great a leader he might have become, he was still not her twin. With this startling revelation, she reached out and gave her brother’s hand a squeeze. She needed her twin back.

“Six. And we have a whole Consortium we can sway.” Jaina replied, letting her brother hold her hand. For a while, the two of them said nothing as they continued to nibble on their favorite meal. Finally, after the steak was gone, “So…what’s next?”

It was Jacen’s turn to look confused. “Next?”

Scowling, the eldest Solo sibling shook her head, “C’mon, Jace…you’re a lousy sabacc player; what’s your plan for winning over the Consortium?”

Giving his sister a hurt look, he shrugged slightly, answering her question with one of his own. “How would you like to spend some time in a M’ytil II? As an instructor?” Before she could answer, he started to explain how one of the Navy’s fighter patrols was tasked with escorting the Rock Dragon after they had returned to Hapan space, and how the Queen Mother challenged the patrol: Come and get us.

Jaina winced at the retelling, knowing how this was going to end. “How long did it take to vape ‘em?” While it was no question that Tenel Ka was pretty far down on her list of top pilots, she was also aware that her list was a bit skewed—the pilots she knew where some of the best the galaxy had ever seen. The poor Hapans had no chance.

Smiling humorlessly, he continued. “Well, we dispatched the first pair in less than a minute…the second took us about three.” Shaking his head at his sister’s raised eyebrow, clearly insinuating that it would not have taken her so long, he pressed on deadpan, “The Queen was most displeased that a simple freighter was able to take out a fighter patrol so quickly. Even if it was only a mock intercept.”

“I can imagine.”

“Anyway,” he smirked at his sister, “you were the first person that came to mind when we talked about interjecting ‘a fresh start’ into the instructor cadre.”

There was no questioning the raw desire in Jaina’s eyes; it had been months since she had last sat in a fighter, and to be given the chance to fly Hapes premier interceptor? Any pilot worth her salt would jump at the chance. Still…her duties forced her to remain on Coruscant.

“As much as I’d love to…” she trailed off, shrugging a ‘what-can-you-do’ shrug.

Jacen nodded, clearly expecting this to be her answer. “Worth a shot.” He paused for a second, before continuing, “That’s okay, Zekk’s been wanting an excuse to spend more time on Hapes.”

“Zekk?” She shot back, indignant. “You can’t use Zekk…. you’re a better pilot than….” She trailed off again, seeing her brother’s smirk. Shaking her head, she realized she’d fallen for it again; Jacen was about the only person who had ever been able to talk her into almost anything, and he’d always been so…smooth at doing it. You’ll make a great dad, she sent, and delighted in seeing her brother’s eyes regain some of their sparkle. “Nice try.”

Jacen shrugged non-apologetically, and went for the soft sell, “What if I sweeten the pot a bit?”

“I’m listening.”

“Turns out that Isolder’s a bit of an eccentric…got a thing for atmospheric flight.” He paused. Smiling slightly at his sister’s confused look, he shot her a wink. “Apparently, he inherited a My’chel fighter/bomber from his grandfather and I’m pretty sure I could persuade him to let the galaxy’s best pilot fly it.”

Jaina, of course, knew flattery when she heard it, but still could not stop her surprise: the graceful twin-engine My’chel fighter pre-dated Hapes foray into interstellar flight by a couple centuries, and was the finest example of aeronautical engineering of its day. Jaina still remembered the time her and her father walked around one during a visit to Coruscant’s Museum of Flight—both of them slowly taking in the craft’s design; her father every bit as mesmerized as she was. To a six-year-old aspiring pilot, the My’chel represented everything a fighter was supposed be: fast, menacing, rugged-looking, and bristling with guns. After they had gotten home, she had talked to her twin about the fighter for over an hour, explaining in great detail each graceful curve, gun placement, what the power output was of each supercharged engine, and how its range outclassed every other fighter of its time. For their next birthday, Jacen had gotten her a model of one. It remained on her bedroom shelf until the Vong overran Coruscant.

Jacen pressed on, ignoring a buzzing comlink and pretending not to notice the lustful look in his sister’s eyes.

“It’s really a full-size replica,” he explained apologetically, knowing that she knew the last authentic example was crashed by a wealthy aeronautics collector sometime before the Clone Wars. “The engines are turbofoils rather than recips and it’s got modern avionics…but otherwise it’s exact.” He offered a small smile, “I think it bothers him that he was never allowed to teach Tenel Ka to fly it.” His voice changed tone to that of almost wistful. “Perhaps the two of you could teach the rest of us non-aces how to fly it.”

Taking her brother’s lead, Jaina also ignored the buzzing comlink. As she did, it occurred to her that her brother was much too adept at this sort of flattery, but that his offer was also too good to refuse. An opportunity to fly Hapes newest interceptor? The chance to teach her niece to fly one of the best fighter/bombers ever made? Not even she was that stubborn.

“If memory serves, it needs a crew of at least three…and a full complement is six.”

The not-yet-named Crown Prince nodded and smiled, knowing he had won. “Correct.”

“Deal.”

Still smiling, Jacen nodded at her small handbag sitting on the table to her right, assuming her comlink was inside, “You gonna answer that?”

Jaina shook her head as she dug her comlink out of her pants pocket, “It’s not mine.”

Jacen frowned before finally realizing that his GAG comlink was in his jacket underneath his sister’s purse. Swearing one of Han’s favorite Corellian curses, he quickly grabbed his jacket and fished the comlink out of an inside pocket. “Solo.” The voice on the other end sounded rushed, but Jaina could not make out any words. “Okay. I’ll initiate.” Jacen pulled the comlink away from his ear and started entering a code on the keypad.

Jaina could not help herself, “Trouble?”

Jacen shrugged as he finished entering the code, and waited for the status light on the comlink to turn green, his voice confused. “It’s Linz.” He explained to his sister as he waited for the small indicator light to turn green, “She needed me to go secure.”

“Malinza? How’d she….”

Jacen held up a finger and started talking. “Okay Linz, I show you green. What’s up?” He narrowed his eyes in further confusion and tried to reply, “No. Why would….” Another pause, and he started to frown, “How long ago did….” Again, Malinza’s voice interrupted, sounding more irate, but Jaina still could not make out any of the conversation. “Stick to the plan, Linz.” Jacen tried to soothe, but his eyes grew wide at whatever Linz said, and his voice became sharp. “Don’t you dare take that tone; right now Isolder is hoping his daughter will still be alive tomorrow.” There was a slight pause, and Malinza’s tone turned sorrowful. Jacen shook his head, his voice apologetic, “It’s alright, Linz. I’ll see what I can find out.” Her brother nodded as Malinza spoke. “I hope so, too. I’ll give you a call later.”

As he terminated the call, Jacen looked at his sister and sighed, “Marné was arrested by CorSec about two hours ago.”

Jaina knitted her eyebrows, “You knew she would be picked up?”

“No.” Jacen interrupted, perturbed that Jaina would think he would purposely let his assistant get arrested, “But I knew it might be a possibility when I heard she had talked to Barad.” He let out a breath and got to his feet, “Don’t worry, we’ve got a plan.”

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A/N: Some discussion about Isolder's 'toy': we have to assume that the SW societies had to learn to 'fly' before they could learn to navigate the stars, so I don't think an 'atmospheric' aircraft to be too far out of the realm of possibility. Indeed, I find it odd that 'aircraft' don't exist in-universe...lift is essentially free, as is air, so why waste the money on rockets and repulsors when jet engines, propellers, and wings do the job cheaper and easier? Just my take. Feel free to discuss...we can move it over to the 'Pet peeves' section ('Cause I'm sure someone will bring it up) if you'd like!​

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Thanks again for reading! I'm going to try to get another chapter up this week since this one was so short.​

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Fantastic sibling talk. Candid and heartfelt! Yeesh! Malinza sure had some troubling news even if it wasn't unexpected. Glad Jaina will be sticking around.

 

Up through Chapter 15. Loving this story so far.
The scene with Han and Leia discussing their family. Natural-born and adopted.
I was crying on the inside.
Though, why no mention of Lowbacca and Lumpy?
And what on earth is up with Luke? Is Lumiya pulling some stupid sith voodoo ritual garbage on him?
This type of thing was lacking in the post NJO series.
There were some good moments but the whole era was a disaster for the Skywalker's/Solos.

 

I kept waiting for some sort of conversation like this in LotF when it was being released...kept hoping they'd Jaina would make the effort to see what was wrong. She didn't. Jaina and Jacen were really fun to read when they were teaming up in YJK, and I think they'd want to get back to that on some level...I know I do with my sisters.

I still feel bad for Marné...getting hauled off by CorSec can't be pleasant!

Thanks! I confess, I had to go back to check where'd you'd gotten! ***cringes***

Truth be told, it was an emotional scene to write...Leia doesn't lose her cool very often. Both Lowie and Lumpy still had family, so they weren't as reliant on the Solos for any sense of 'grounding'. Not like Tahiri or Zekk, at any rate.

What's up with Luke? In Joiner King and LotF, he acts arbitrarily, unilaterally, and contrary to previous doctrine. I'm trying to keep some continuity with that characterization for the purpose of storytelling. Again, I'm not trying to paint him as a 'baddie', but I DO think that the post-Vong War Order suffered from inconsistencies, and much of the blame for that can be placed on Luke.

This story is about Jacen's change, naturally, but also the change in others. Leia, Jaina, Luke...in order for this story to remain plausible, all had to remain 'in character' at the beginning and then change to something better.

 

I would have waited until I had caught up but that scene. I just had to comment.
Similar to when Anakin, Jaina, Jacen, Lowie, Zekk, Tenel Ka, Tesar and whoever else all met up for the first time in A Fate Unseen The Swarm War Fanfic on FFN right before the final battle in the Unknown Regions began.
Such a heart-warming scene.
Faith in humanity restored just a bit.
I can buy the explanation about Lowie and Lumpy but still..........

Luke has been through hell the last 40 years. I get it. But this feels out of left field. He had issues but this? You haven't gotten Ascension level bad but getting there. Just say things get better! Or am I just going to have to read and find out?

 

No worries! I appreciate the input and the conversation. I'm flattered that you compared this to Fish's work, but that conversation is a bit different, I feel...for one, in the conversation you mentioned, all of them knew that they might not be coming back...mine is more Leia venting her frustration. In truth, I don't really know how Fish keeps track of all of his characters...I only have a handful and have a hard time.

Does this get better? Absolutely. You're still in for a couple of rough chapters, though. Sure, Luke's been though a lot...but so has Leia, so I'm not inclined to give him a pass simply because of that.

Out of left field? I don't know. Was it out of left field to suddenly tell everyone '...you're either in or out...'? Or to banish a few Jedi to Dagobah? My point is that Luke was pretty arbitrary in those scenes, I'm just keeping his 'arbitrary-ness' for a few more scenes. Don't worry, I won't keep him that way.

 

They were about to fight a war that was pretty hopeless but it felt good to see practically everyone together for the first time all story.
No matter how long it has been or what has happened they were still friends. Still going to be impossible odds but I still felt like they could do it.
They were stronger united than they were divided.
Warmed my heart just as much as Han and Leia saying all of them were their kids.
Considering you forgot about Lumiya and then Jaina was out of the picture for a while lol.
Yeah how the heck do people write massive epics and remember all characters?

Well the conversation with Tenel Ka. What was that?
I love the Jedi as much as the next person but the handling of the Jedi after the NJO series was just bad.
At least you are trying to be consistent. Something the EU wasn't.
Though I am worried about Allana in regards to Luke and Mara. Something tells that that won't end well.

 

In fairness, I didn't really forget about Lumiya, just had her off-stage. There were a lot of characters that probably should have had a larger role, Jaina and Tahiri being the most obvious, but I didn't want to make this too much of a rambling epic...it turned into over 400 pages in Word, and I felt that some of the tangential chapters weren't really adding anything to the story.

The great thing about Luke and Mara is that they don't really hold a grudge, so this won't be as bad as you might think!

 

@jaegerdroid15; @Nyota's Heart; @Jedi_Lover; @Kahara; Force Smuggler


A/N: Sorry, I meant to post this last week, but didn't get it to my editor on time! Another short-ish chapter, and the next-to-last!

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Chapter 43—Checkmate​

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Magdo Keto Hospital, Chume’dan—

As Tenel Ka gradually became aware of her surroundings, panic started to set in. Where am I? Forcing herself to relax, she concentrated instead on what she could see and hear: the bland, white wall, the too-small-to-be-usable vidscreen on the opposite wall, all of the low ‘beeps’, and quiet ‘bongs’. It only took a few heartbeats for her to deduce she was in a hospital room. As if on cue, her head started to ache. Ignoring the dull pain, she continued to look around, using only her eyes. Why am I here? Frowning, she tried to think back as to why she might be in her lying in a hospital bed, but nothing came to mind. She forced herself to concentrate harder and was rewarded with a memory walking down the ramp of the Dragon towards her father…but realized it was not the memory she needed. That’s not it...try harder. She chastised herself and tried to focus, but nothing useful was coming. She could remember her coronation, could remember graduating the Academy, could even remember holding Allana for the first time, but nothing more recent, increasing her sense of unease. Trying to calm herself, she started to focus on the memory of Allana and used that memory as a signpost to anchor herself. As she did, more faces and events started to materialize: she remembered being in a café somewhere with her father, remembered seeing Gadell take his oath of office, remembered a feeling of euphoria as a ring was placed on her….she looked down at her right hand and saw the green corusca ring. Jacen! Instantly, her panic increased. What happened to Jacen? She wasn’t even sure why she knew, but somehow she knew that her Jacen would have stopped at nothing to protect her. If she were in a hospital, something dreadful must have happened to her husband. Oddly, she did not actually remember getting married, but somehow knew she was. As she became more agitated, the machine to her left increased its incessant beeping, the noise rousing someone at her bedside. She moved her head to see who it was and froze when she saw a pair of startled brandy-brown eyes looking at her.

For a long moment, neither of them moved as they the continued to stare at each other.

“Hi Tiki. How’re you feeling?” Jacen asked quietly, reaching out and taking her hand.

“B…better now.” She stuttered, her brow wrinkling at the amount of effort it took to talk.

Her husband’s smile faded a bit. “You took a rather nasty blow to the head.” He offered as explanation, “Gave us quite a scare for a while.” He squeezed her hand and smiled, “The doctors say that you’ll be back to normal in a few days.”

She nodded at the explanation as another question popped into her head. “Wh—where is A…llana?”

“Sphairistikè lessons.” He replied proudly, his face practically beaming. Seeing his wife’s eyes narrow in consternation, “Kenara thought it a ‘damned shame’,” he unconsciously made quote marks with his fingers as he said this, “…that the only use your court gets is for ‘sabre practice.” Giving Tenel Ka a pointed look, he only winked at her small shrug. “Turns out Kenara’s father coaches one of the local high school teams and he offered to teach us to play.” He paused and stage-whispered, “It’s pretty therapeutic, actually, beating the crap out of a little white ball.” His comment finally earned a smile, and he continued, “I thought it might be something we could learn together.” As a family, he left off, but knew she would understand.

As he continued to talk excitedly about the first lesson that he and Allana had taken the day prior, the thought of running around a strangely-lined court in the vain attempt to hit a white, felt-covered, ball with a strange-looking stick didn’t sound like such a bad idea after all, and she squeezed his hand affectionately. During his retelling of how Allana blasted a ball over the fence for the fourth time, he stopped, realizing that he had lost his wife’s attention.

“You okay?” He asked as he gently reached out through their bond and was surprised at the tenacity in which she ‘grabbed’ his presence.

She shook her head, fighting to keep the tears at bay. “I c..can’t r…re…member.”

Jacen leaned forward and brushed her cheek, “It’s okay. The doctors say you’ll regain most of your memory.”

“Wh…what h…hap...pened?”

She could see Jacen struggle with how much he should tell her right away, but, in the end, her need to know as Queen Mother overrode his desire to insulate her from reality a bit longer. With a resigned sigh, “Lumiya. Lumiya found us.” Offering a sad smile, he once again squeezed her hand, “Hapes is fine. The Fleet is currently at Defence Posture…” he paused, scrunching his brow in concentration, clearly trying to remember the current threat condition. “….Three. Your father downgraded the posture this morning.”

With the news, Tenel Ka slumped back in her bed in relief. Long ago, she had accepted that assignation attempts were all part of the job as being the Hapan Regent, but it was always her biggest fear that her citizens could die because someone was able catch her government and her military unprepared; the fact that a Sith Lord tried to kill her bothered her not a bit.

“Is sh-she…” she trailed off, realizing that Lumiya had to be dead, or she would not be alive to ask. Looking at her husband, “Wh…wha-at happened?” She asked again. “L-l-leave n-nothing out.”

With an understanding nod, Jacen told her about the model rocketry explosion in the city square, about Tenel Ka’s request for help, about sending Allana with Ensign Do’ma, about using the escape tunnel to get to the Throne Room.

“You s-sent our daughter with K..kenara?” Tenel Ka asked disbelievingly. “That p..poor girl is n-never going to want to t-talk to us again.”

“Oddly, her parents seemed more flummoxed by whole thing than she was. From what Jaina told me, Mr. Do’ma was pretty paranoid.”

“He r-r…remembers what Hapes was like a g-generation ago.” The Queen replied softly before gesturing with her hand, “C-continue.”

Nodding, he resumed his narration…

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“Do you hear anything?”

Teegan Kjus turned her head to get a better listen. Frowning, she replied, “That sounds like….”

Whatever it sounded like to Corporal Kjus was lost as Jacen scrambled to his feet and raced down the hallway. In an instant, he had recognized the low hums and crashes and called out to his wife in the Force, only to find a mental barricade. He had been so busy with the intruders that he failed to notice his wife’s withdrawal from their meld. Angry that he had not picked it up earlier, he hurtled the living room sofa, and heard a horrible CRACK from the floor below. Throwing open the hidden doorway to the Throne Room, he leapt down the entire flight of stairs, not even bothering to soften his landing at the bottom, his momentum causing him to crash into the wall on the small landing. Pushing himself off the wall, he pushed out with the Force and burst through the door to the Throne Room. On his left, he immediately saw his wife’s prone form on the floor, a growing pool of blood forming under her right leg.

“Kriff.” As he took a step in her direction, he was violently thrown back into the stairway.

“Now you will see what happens when you defy the Sith.” Lumiya screeched from across the room. “You could have been great,” she added as Jacen got to his feet. “Instead, you’re going to die next to your Hapan whore.”

Instantly, green lightning arced across the room, and Jacen raised his left hand to catch it. Gritting his teeth, he ignored the searing pain and knelt next to his wife, unbuttoning his shirt as he did. Quickly, he used his free hand to wrap the white shirt around Tenel Ka’s thigh just above the cut and tied it off as tightly as he could, using his teeth to pull the knot tight.

As he knew it must, Lumiya’s barrage ceased for a moment and he used the brief respite to strip off his belt, pulling it tightly on top of the knot as an improvised tourniquet. Almost immediately, his effort was rewarded by a dramatic slowing of her blood loss.

“She’s going to bleed out, and you are going to fry.” Lumiya commented casually as more lightning flew across the room. Absorbing the energy again with his left hand, he continued to ignore the pain as his hand started to blister. Delving into the Force to focus on his wife’s leg, he carefully probed her wound with his free hand and found her femoral artery, a one-centimeter cut on the anterior side.

Luckily, the artery had not been completely severed, giving him hope that he could repair the damage. Lumiya’s lightning barrage gave him an idea, and Jacen positioned his left hand so that his index finger and thumb were on both sides of the cut. Using the incredible amount of energy he was absorbing, he tried to close the wound closed by using his finger and thumb as a small arc-welder. Surprisingly, his technique worked and he was able to stop the bleeding in a relatively short amount of time.

Finished, he quickly noticed that his vision was narrowing considerably and he realized he was on the verge of blacking out. He immediately fired a blast of lightning into the floor in front of him in an effort to release some of the Force-energy he was catching. As he did, the pain subsided a bit and his vision started to return. Quickly, he scanned Tenel Ka with the Force and was alarmed at her severe cerebral sweilling.

“Don’t do this to me, Tiki,” he muttered and shuffled on his knees to her head. “We’ve come too far.”

As he moved, a strangely familiar low buzzing hum could be heard just above the sound of the crackling lightning. Before he could puzzle out why that sound was familiar, he heard two dull thuds of something organic impacting a metal surface followed by a sharp grunt. Immediately Lumiya’s lightning stopped and he heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber being activated.

“Brisha,” an odd-sounding voice called from the formal dining room, “we have unfinished business.” Jacen glanced over his shoulder and saw an out-of-focus Danni Quee striding purposefully towards the Sith woman, yellow lightsaber in hand.

Confused as to where Danni might have gotten a lightsaber, Jacen shook his head to try to clear his vision, grateful for the reprieve. Ignoring the sound of clashing lightsabers, he focused his attention on Tenel Ka’s injuries. Delving once again into the Force, he was shocked at how badly her brain was swelling. He needed to relieve the pressure now, or she would be in serious trouble.

Feel free to help. Nelani’s voice sounded in his head and he suddenly knew why Danni looked out-of-focus—Nelani was ‘occupying’ his friend.

In a second. Jacen started to trace his finger over Tenel Ka’s skull where he used Force lightning as a cutting torch. Carefully, he separated two plates of her skull at the existing joint to relieve the intra-cranial pressure. Almost there. Slowly, he continued tracing the joint a bit further before something in the back of his mind told him that he had done enough. Turning a quarter-turn, he rose to one knee and pushed out with both hands. Down!!

Danni/Nelani dove to the floor instantly as Jacen released a huge blast of Force energy at his former Sith mentor, blasting the woman across the room where she slammed into the far wall. As she fell to the floor, half a dozen blaster bolts flew over Jacen’s head. Surprised, he turned to see an angry Teegan Kjus leaning against the door jam, gun still at the ready.

Behind him, Danni/Nelani jumped to her feet and Force-yanked Jacen’s ballistic pistol from his waistband. The blonde woman limped across the room towards where Lumiya lie in a crumpled heap on the floor. The Sith lay at an unnatural angle, the five blaster wounds in her torso still smoking. From across the room, Jacen could hear her struggle for breath was labored, as she struggled to sit up.

Nelani raised the pistol as she approached and waited for Lumiya to look up.

“Vectivus sends his regards.” she said coldly and placed two rounds through the woman’s throat—the sound of the ejected shells echoing in the room.

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A/N: I totally based TK's 'waking up' off of something that happened to me. I was in a massive car wreck a few years ago and suffered a pretty severe concussion. Even though I was never unconscious, there is a 4-hour block of time that I have NO memory of. As the concussion wore off, I remember thinking, 'I'm in a hospital. Why am I in a hospital?' It was a real struggle for about an hour to remember where I was headed, what I had done earlier that day....but older memories were pretty easy to find. It's a surreal experience....I wouldn't recommend it.​

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One chapter left....hoping by the end of the week. As always, thanks for reading!​

 

I felt Tenel Ka's mental disorientation was very realistic and I am happy that she remembers Jacen as part of her family like an anchor like allana instead of thinking they were still estranged. Whew, what a flashback! Intense and another awesome Danni moment.

 

One chapter left? Sequel?
Great flashback.
At least Lumiya is no more.

 

Basing it off of my experience, she'll probably regain some of the memory of that morning...she'll probably remember eating breakfast with everyone, and maybe some of the meeting she had to go to...after that, it'll be a blank until she remembers waking up. The type of 'amnesia' we see in the movies, where someone gets conked on the head and forgets who they are, is really quite rare...the brain just has too many different ways of storing stuff for that to happen. From what I know (I'm by no means an expert), induced comas up to a few days long are relatively safe when it comes to memories and personality. After that...it's really a mixed bag as to what you might get. All of this, of course, is more than you wanted to know.

In my head, it was always Nelani who was going to take out Lumiya by 'possessing' Danni for a short time...I had intended to show their battle 'live', because I wanted to show just how good I thought Nelani would be with a lightsaber, but after writing the battle between Lumiya and Tenel Ka, the whole scene started to get repetitive...it's tough to make '...blocks and ripostes and parries...' sound exciting for too long.

Probably not a sequel. In my world, since Centerpoint doesn't get destroyed, Abeloth stays in her cage and the galaxy remains (relatively) safe. The whole idea of a planet of Sith just seems...dumb. Planets aren't evil, so someone being from Korriban doesn't make them a Sith.

However, I've got another story set in about the same timeframe as this one and it's 75% finished, so I'll start posting that...hopefully in a month or so. After that, I've got three ideas of 'one-offs' from this that I want to explore...one about Danni, one for Tahiri, and one for Tenel Ka.

Thanks for the reviews!

 

A/N: My apologies--this chapter is a bit more 'Sioux-sized.'​

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@jaegerdroid15; @Nyota's Heart; @Jedi_Lover; @Kahara; @Force Smuggler​

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Chapter 44​

Tenel Ka sat still for a long moment after Jacen had finished his account, not knowing how to react. She should be glad, she supposed, that another Sith threat had been neutralized, but she was acutely aware of how lucky she was to be alive. Not wanting to dwell on what almost happened, she gestured at Jacen’s left hand with her head. “How b-bad is it?”

Smiling the smile he only showed her, Jacen leaned forward and let her take a closer look at his bandaged left hand. “The bacta wrap helps a bit, but my palm is pretty badly burned.” He winced as she gently touched the center of his hand, trying not to flinch and shook his head, “Sorry, still hurts a bit.”

Tenel Ka knew just how high his pain threshold was and shot him a dirty look. “Okay, it hurts a lot.” He admitted sheepishly, “And because I refused the bacta dip, I’m going to need a skin graft, but I told them I’d wait until you woke up.”

Shrugging, he smiled again and changed topics, “Kjietele and Teegan are both doing okay. Teegan is going to be released today, as a matter of fact.” His smile faded, “Kjietele will probably be here a bit longer—she broke her pelvis, suffered a collapsed lung, three broken ribs and two cracked vertebra. I’m afraid that her Marine career is over.” Jacen had already made inquiries and found several firms who were willing to hire an ex-Marine Chemical Engineer, particularly a highly decorated ex-Marine with a letter of recommendation from the Palace.

As his wife thought on this, she took the water bottle Jacen offered with a small nod.

After she returned the bottle, Jacen leaned forward, his voice quiet; “I’d like to make a suggestion about your Intel services, if I may.”

Seeing Tenel Ka’s reproachful look, her husband raised his hands in surrender. “No, nothing bad; just an observation.” Her look softened, and he felt emboldened enough to continue. “The way I see it is that Fleet Intelligence is responsible for all of the SIGINT, and you rely on your ‘Eyes’ for most of the HUMINT, right?” The Queen frowned for a second as she considered the comment before nodding once in agreement. “Okay, here’s the problem we have—both agencies filter and interpret the data they’ve gathered before passing it along.” Seeing her confused look, Jacen paused, trying to better articulate what he meant. “I think we should combine both intel services under one umbrella organization to allow more sets of eyes to see the raw data.” He grimaced, not wanting to seem overly critical of her agencies. She had a lot of pride in her Attachés. Indeed, they had become one of the finest intelligence agencies in the galaxy, but there still needed to be better interpretation and coordination. “This will mean there will be some duplication of effort, since both Fleet and the Attaché’s Department will both be reporting on the same data, but it might yield better results.”

“I agree, actually.” Interrupted a voice from the doorway before Tenel Ka could reply. Startled, the two of them looked over to see Gadell leaning against the doorframe. Straightening, he continued into the room. “It’ll take us a while to fully integrate the services, but Jacen’s right,” he nodded at the other man as he said this, “…we need more eyes on the raw data.” Stopping at the foot of her bed, he gave his boss a critical look. “How are you feeling, Tenna?”

“L…ike I fell off a r…rancor.”

Jacen chuckled a bit, but Gadell allowed a small smile as he sat on the bed, his blue eyes full of guilt. “Tenna, I’m sor—“

He stopped as his Queen put her finger to his lips. “D-do not.” She interrupted, moving her hand to grasp his, gently raising it to kiss the back of his hand. Returning the ceremonial act of fealty that he had given her all of those years ago. “Th-thank you, Friend Gadell.”

Her Chief of Security said nothing, but nodded once as she carefully dried the tear that had welled up in his left eye.

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Next day, Ossining Prison, Coronet—

With a loud metallic clang, the door at the end of the corridor outside Marné’s cell opened and closed. “Pelter!” A guard shouted down the cell block. “Get ready.”

“It’s Peletier.” Marné grumbled to herself as she sat up on her well-worn cot, got to her feet and shuffled to the back of her cell. She tried correcting the guard on her first day, thinking his mispronunciation was due to lack of familiarity with Nubian names, and was rewarded with an elbow to the ribs. You are who I say you are. The guard sneered, and she hadn’t bothered trying to correct them since. Once against the back wall, she weakly attempted to stand at ‘attention’ and waited patiently as the guard took his time to get to her cell, his dull footsteps sounding on the corridor’s floor.

Finally, a hulk of a man stopped in front of her cell and stared coldly with his one good eye through the bars, “You know the drill.”

Marné nodded and turned around as a shiver went down her spine. Over the last few days she had learned that when ‘Mr. Big’ showed up outside her cell, the upcoming interrogation session was going to be unpleasant. After she had turned, she heard the sound of the cell door scraping open and put her hands on her head. Something else she had learned rather quickly was that the guards liked routine and life was much easier when you followed the script. Appreciating her cooperation, ‘Mr. Big’ pushed her not unkindly against the wall with one hand and placed a stuncuff on her right hand almost gently, pulling it behind her back and repeating the process with her left hand. Gripping her right arm firmly, he turned her around and led her out of her cell and down the corridor.

Eight times she had been taken out of her cell by one of the guards, seven to face an interrogator and once to meet Aric Vergne, the Nubian Councilor General. Perversely, she had held up under interrogation reasonably well, but had broken down upon meeting Naboo’s top diplomat on Corellia. I’ve let everyone down, she had told him. Nonsense. Mr. Vergne had replied, smiling proudly, The Queen is proud of what you’re doing. We’re doing our best to get you out of here. Marné was pretty sure he had said that to make her feel better; what sort of Queen is proud that one of her citizens got arrested? While she had no reason do doubt his sincerity about trying to get her out of prison, that was one of his tasks as Councilor General after all, it was pretty doubtful that the Queen even knew about her. As she mused about past events, they took another turn. Suddenly she realized she had not seen this part of the prison. This new corridor was a darker shade of grey and better lit than the prison’s other halls. The hallway seemed almost endless with door upon door lining both walls, none showing the dents and scrapes of other doors in the facility. As they walked down the corridor, a new feeling of dread washed over her. At her last session, her interrogator had promised a ‘…new feeling of pain…’ if she continued to resist. She had chalked it up simple bravado at the time, but now she was not so sure.

Suddenly, Mr. Big stopped almost at random in front of one of the black metal doors. “Pelter. Door 94.” He announced into the microphone to the right of the door, and moved his head to check the hall from both directions. “Clear.” After the door opened, he grabbed her arm brusquely and pulled her into a small, square, equally well-lit room. Blinking her eyes to get used to the white walls and floor of the room, she heard the door thunk closed behind her and noticed that the room was totally bare with a door on the opposite wall. “We’re going to try something new.” ‘Mr. Big’ announced gruffly as he leered down at her, “I promise you’ll like it.” He motioned at the near wall, “Against the wall.”

Marné had no choice but to obey, but she did not act fast enough for his liking so Mr. Big grabbed her arm and spun her around, pinning her face first into the wall. As he did, Marné closed her eyes and tried to fight her growing sense of panic. She bit her lip as his hand traced down her spine and she forced herself not to recoil in horror when she heard a button being undone. Suddenly, there was a click and the stuncuffs released.

“Pelter, room 94. Clear.” Mr. Big said again and the door at the far end of the room opened. Keeping his grip on her arm, he tugged her over to the open door and pushed her through. “Have a nice life, Marnie.” He remarked and closed the door, leaving her alone at the end of yet another corridor.

Marné stood stock still in the middle of another new hallway, not knowing what to do. After a few moments, a stern-looking woman leaned into view at the far end of the hall, “Ms. Pelletier? This way.”

Stunned at hearing her name pronounced correctly for the first time in three days, Marné blinked stupidly at the woman. Shaking her head, she quickly made her way to the end of the corridor, taking a right turn at the end and found herself in another small room. Along one side, the same woman sat behind a transparisteel partition, a wall of video monitors behind her. The other wall had some sort of bulletin board, and there was a normal-looking translucent door at the far end of the room. After a moment, the stern-looking woman cleared her throat to get Marné’s attention and placed the Nubian’s small red handbag in a metal box before sliding it through the small slot. “Inventory your belongings. If everything is still there, sign the receipt.”

Marné took a quick look inside and nodded. Her wallet, identification, two comlinks, family holocube, and hotel room keycard were all inside. Grabbing the pen from the box, she signed the receipt directly below where she had signed previously and took her belongings. Shoving the keycard into her back pocket, she slid the receipt back through the slot. To her right, the translucent door unlooked.

“You’re free to go.” The stern woman said, giving Marné a measured look. “Do I need to remind you that we’ll be keeping an eye on you?”

“No, ma’am.” Marné answered honestly and headed for freedom.

Once through the door, the Nubian woman found herself in a small lobby where a stylish black-haired woman wearing a bright plaid overcoat was getting to her feet.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Marné!” The slightly older woman proclaimed brightly as she approached, giving her a wicked grin. “Nice place you’ve got here.”

“Senator Thanas?” Marné replied dumbfounded, shaking the woman’s hand. Of course her new boss was bailing her out of prison. And of course Senator Thanas thought it not such a big deal.

Marné’s new boss shook her head amusedly, “Please, call me Malinza.” She gestured to the door, “Mr. Vergne is waiting outside. We have much to talk about.”

Like you firing me, the Nubian thought bleakly as she walked out the door and into the crisp Corellian night. Once outside, Marné stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Odd how the very act of being outside after three days in prison made one appreciate life’s simple joys. Opening her eyes, she saw Malinza’s knowing smile.

“Senator Thanas? I’m sorry about…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Malinza interrupted, her mis-matched eyes shining with amusement. “And I’m not going to fire you. Everyone except Jaina has been a political prisoner at some point, so consider this your ‘welcome to the family’ moment!” Her smile turned mischievous, “Of course, all of us broke out of jail, so you do have room for improvement.” Marné only chuckled as she got into Nubian Consulate’s speeder.

“Good evening, Marné.” Aric Vergne called over his shoulder as the two women slid into the backseat. “Are you okay?”

“I am now, Mr Vergne. Thank you.”

The dapper older gentleman nodded as he drove away from the imposing-looking prison, “No trouble at all.” He glanced at her in the rear-view mirror, “The Queen sends her compliments and would like an informal debrief at your convenience.”

Compliments? Debrief? The Queen? It was all too much for Marné to process, and the confusion must have showed on her face and she heard Malinza’s friendly chuckle.

“Our apologies, we’re moving too fast.” The Bakuran senator commented warmly, “Aric, do you still have the dossier?”

Mr. Vergne glanced to his right and wordlessly handed a small manila folder over the seat to Marné. As she opened the folder, he started to explain, “It seems that our Hapan friend was working as a double agent and passing information to CorIntel. Apparently, they also had three other women passing information to them.”

The two of them were silent for a while so as to let her read the headlines from the last three day’s news clippings, all detailing the sordid affairs of the Corellian Prime Minister. When he saw that she had finished, Mr. Vergne gave her a quick smile over his shoulder.

“Corellian Intel finally seen enough and gave the information to the Governmental Affairs Committee. Parliament voted a ‘no-confidence’ vote last night.”

Marné nodded absently as she continued to stare at one of the headlines: Barad sworn in as Gejjen removed. Charges likely. She looked over at Malinza, “I didn’t do anything.”

“Nonsense.” Aric replied from the front seat as he turned the speeder onto the spaceport access road. “You gave Barad the confidence that the Alliance wouldn’t intervene. You’ve changed history.”

After stopping at the Polstjärnan StarLines’ departure door, Aric Vergne got out and opened the door for Marné. “Enjoy your flight! We’ve booked you in a first-class cabin.”

“Where are we going?”

“Naboo, of course.” Malinza announced as she got out of the speeder. “You’ll have the privilege of introducing the new Bakuran Senator to the Nubian Foreign Secretary and to the Commerce Minister. I’m sure it’ll take days.”

Seeing Malinza’s friendly smile, Marné decided that working for her new boss might not be such a bad deal, after all.

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Two days later, Magna Keto Hospital, Chume’dan—

Jacen walked briskly into her hospital room, interrupting Tenel Ka’s reading. Grabbing Danni’s ‘CU’ cap from the top of the vidscreen, he put on top of her head, “We are going for a walk.” Grabbing her hand, he pulled to her feet as she offered a weak protest.

“W-why?”

Still pulling her by the hand, he stopped at the door by her ballet flats, letting her slip them on as she pulled the hat down to sit better on her head. “Well, Danni said that you were getting fidgety. Besides, your mood always improves when we walk around.”

She nodded slightly and gave him a small smile—he always could read her mood. It’ll do me some good to talk to the other patients. For the last three days, Jacen had escorted her around the hospital where they had talked to fellow patients, families, staff, security guards…pretty much anyone who wanted to stop and chat. In fairness, Jacen had done most of the talking for the pair, but no one seemed to mind. Most people seemed glad to just see the Queen up and around and today was no different: Jacen held her hand as they walked down random hallways, with him poking his head in the same rooms as last time and asking for updates. Captain Aamodt in Room 1143 had finally recovered from her collapsed lung and three broken ribs and was to be discharged later that afternoon; Jacen gave her a big ‘high five’ and told her to stop by the Residence when she felt up to it. The elderly man in Room 540 was recovering from his knee-replacement surgery earlier that day and was challenged to run the ‘Sea-to-Sky’ 10K road race, scheduled to take place in six months.

The gentleman was confused, “Why would anyone want to run ten kilometers?” Jacen just chuckled as he patted the gentleman on the arm.

They stopped at four more rooms as they made their rounds, Tenel Ka almost beaming as Jacen continued to lead her by the hand as they talked with the fellow ‘inmates’. As they were wandering around the big hospital, seemingly aimlessly, it dawned on Tenel Ka that no one even gave the sight of the two of them together a second thought. They both seemed so comfortable with each other that it automatically put everyone else at ease. She found herself thinking about what this implied for both her and Jacen.

Tenel Ka was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t noticed that they had stopped in front of a rather small door in the middle of some random hallway. Giving Jacen a perplexed look, she asked, “W-where are we?”

Jacen grinned widely. “Remember last night when the news showed the vigil that people were holding outside the hospital? This will put us on the roof of the awning above Magda Keto’s main entrance. We can show them our appreciation through here.”

A look of horror crossed her face. She looked down at her attire: a white t-shirt and a pair of blue cargo shorts. “N-no. Th-they cannot see me…this way.”

Jacen kept his smile. “Nonsense. You’d be beautiful wearing nothing.” His grin turned evil, “Come to think of it…” He laughed as she backhanded him across the shoulder. Jacen turned and reached for the doorknob, “Come: your audience awaits.” He pointed to the top of the one-meter tall door, and quipped, “Remember to duck.”

She forcefully grabbed his arm, causing him to stop. He turned his head and gave her a quizzical look. “I ca-a-an not be seen l-like this. Thhey will …think me weak. W-we have already expressed our g…gratitude.”

Jacen shook his head. He reached for her hand again. “No, I’ve expressed my thanks for you. It’s not the same thing. These are your people—let them see you.” His eyes softened and he was pleading now, “If you go through this door, they will always remember how strong you have become. They will see that you are not afraid of them seeing you in a white t-shirt and borrowed cap.” Her eyes lit up slightly. “That you welcome their concern.” He reached up with his other hand and caressed her face, nodding towards the door. “Tell me, what do you feel out there?” Tenel Ka smiled slightly, as she remembered saying the same thing to Allana not that long ago; apparently her and Jacen shared the same teaching style: subtly encouraging the student to expand her ability.

The Queen Mother did as he asked, closing her eyes and expanding her Force presence to include the crowd gathered on the lawn in front of the hospital. Opening her eyes, she said softly, “…Concern. Well w-wishes.” Her look turned quizzical, “Love?”

Jacen bent slightly and kissed her cheek. “Exactly. You are their queen. Let their love open this door.” He turned and started out the door. “Don’t forget to duck, though.” That earned him another backhand across the shoulder and Jacen disappeared out the small door.

Music drifted though the open door towards Tenel Ka. After seeing the assembled crowd the night prior, Jacen had gotten some speakers and a giant vidscreen set up on the lawn of the hospital so that the gathered crowd had something to watch while they camped out at the hospital. I am going to kill him for this. She calmed herself with a deep breath and ducked through the door, allowing Jacen to take her hand as she was halfway through.

The assembled crowd did not pay much attention to Jacen when he had come out of the half door. There was, however, a decided lack of one-armed, red-haired women on Hapes. Everyone recognized who had just come through the door, even wearing a borrowed black cap.

Nothing could prepare her for what she heard: she was suddenly assaulted by loudest roar she that had ever heard. A sound so loud it sounded like a tsunami had just crashed into the hospital. As she reached out with the Force, the Queen Mother’s eyes widened in shock at the intense outpouring of emotion. Love, concern, relief, happiness—it was all washing over her like a warm summer’s rainstorm and she moved her hand to cover her trembling bottom lip. After taking a quick breath, Tenel Ka offered a small wave and the roar of the crowd got louder, forcing her to cover her mouth again as she felt her eyes start to tear up. The Queen Mother had never experienced anything like this, not even on her Coronation. The crowds then had assembled in idle curiosity, or maybe because they were expected to see the Queen. This though, was…spontaneous. This was everyday Hapans simply expressing their relief and joy that she was recovering. Giving Jacen a quick glance, she saw him giving her a smirk that seemed to say: I TOLD you so. He nodded to the front of the awning, indicating that they make their way closer to the crowd. Jacen moved to her left side and gently held her arm to steady her as they made their way across the gravel rooftop. She risked a bigger wave to the crowd and was rewarded with an even LOUDER roar. Hidden in the roar, she could make out shouts of “We love you, Queen Mother!” and “Get better soon!” and a few other well wishes. She tried to wipe her tearing eyes as inconspicuously as possible. Through their link, Jacen’s gloating was almost unbearable. Still struggling for composure, she did her best to shoot him a dirty look.

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Prince Isolder had returned from his afternoon meetings, only to find his daughter’s hospital room empty and a small smile crossed his face. Jacen must have taken her on a walk-about again. Truth be told, he was impressed by Jacen’s political acumen. Without even meaning to, he had become the face of the Palace with his daily press conferences, and had become a good one. With his self-effacing wit and charm, Jacen had made the Royal Family appear approachable and warm. If the Queen Mother’s best friend was this likable, then perhaps the Queen Mother wasn’t as aloof as the public thought. Than there was the matter of these walks: for the last three days, Colonel Solo had insisted that Tenel Ka get some exercise by walking the halls of the hospital. Although Jacen maintained that he was merely trying to help her get her strength back, Isolder knew better. By walking around, it forced his daughter to interact with her fellow patients. People who otherwise would give the Monarchy only a passing thought and only felt a vague sense of loyalty to the crown suddenly had a real sense of affection for the Queen, and she for them. Jacen had done the impossible; he had outfoxed his daughter, and she was none the wiser. Leia would be proud. Smiling to himself, he turned on the vidscreen as he sat down in the over-stuffed chair in the corner of the room and started to read his briefing notes.

“…to the Magda Keto Hospital where it appears that the Queen Mother is making her first public appearance since the attack five days ago.”

Isolder jerked his head to look at the vidscreen. Sure enough, there was his daughter on the roof of the awning, almost overcome with emotion as she was carefully walking towards the front of the “stage.” He threw his notes onto the bed and ran down the hall to the turbolift lobby to get a view from the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the hospital lawn. Opening one of the windows, he heard the cheers of the assembled crowd. As he stood and soaked in the sound, Prince Isolder started to do something that he hadn’t done in over fifty years, not even when his Teneniel died: cry. He cried remembering all of the work he had done for charities as a young Crown Prince, hoping that his mother would not find out. He cried for all of the effort that he and Teneniel had put into making this very hospital one of the galaxy’s best, cried remembering when his daughter told him that she did not want to be Queen, cried as he recalled that horrible day when Teneniel died and Tenel Ka assumed the crown, and cried thinking back to all of the sacrifices that Hapans had made to keep the Vong out of Hapan space. After all of the hard work and heartache and loss, Hapans were cheering—and they were cheering his little girl. It was a sound he never expected to hear, and it was all for her.

In the reflection off of the glass, he saw a figure behind him turn on the vidscreen in the small turbolift lobby. He turned his head and saw Gadell Vessau smiling at him, his own eyes mysteriously damp. “Shall we see what Mr. Solo has planned?”

As the turbolift chimed and one of the doors started to open, Isolder asked, “Do you think he arranged this?”

“No.” Jaina answered, as she stepped off with Danni and Allana. “But nobody can improvise like a Solo.” Isolder only smiled and ran his hand through Allana’s auburn hair as he turned back to look out the window, noticing Gadell take Danni’s hand as he did.

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Once they reached the edge of the roof, Jacen knelt down and shouted to one of the hospital staffers down below, “Grab me a mic, please.” The young staffer nodded and ran to over to the speakers on the lawn. Jacen saw Tenel Ka’s quizzical look and merely shrugged. The kid sprinted back to the awning and tossed up a microphone.


Turning on the mic, he addressed the crowd. “God kväll Hapes!” The crowd’s roar increased again. As he waited for the roar to die down, he sat on the edge of the roof, dangling his feet over the edge. He looked at Tenel Ka and patted the spot next to him indicating that she sit next to him, but she only shook her head. Shrugging, he looked back at the crowd. When the crowd had quieted down a bit, “We aren’t sure how long security is going to let us stay out here, but we wanted to come out and say ‘Hello.’” The crowd cheered again and he felt Tenel Ka sit next to him on the roof. “Her Majesty insisted on coming out here, but I didn’t think that it was safe.” This got some loud Boos from the crowd. He shrugged, “Shows you what I know. That’s why she is the Queen Mother and I’m not.” Tenel Ka smiled as she looked over the crowd. “Anyway, I know that you all are getting tired of listening to me, so without further ado: The Queen Mother of Hapes, Tenel Ka Djo!” With this, the crowd gave a large cheer and Jacen handed over the microphone shooting her a wink as he did. She, in turn, gave Jacen the iciest glare that she could muster, which only widened his goofy grin.

Unbeknownst to either of them, one of the local news stations had kept their camera crew at the hospital, and they were now being broadcast on the big screen in front of the hospital and throughout the Consortium.

Tenel Ka plucked the microphone from Jacen’s hand, “I do-o not know what to say. Thh-ank you s-so very much.” As the crowd cheered again, Jacen heard someone ask, “How are you feeling?” He repeated the question into the microphone so that the crowd could hear the question.

Tenel Ka shrugged, “As you can…tell, my speech is a bit s-slurred, and I am s-slower with my motor skills, but th-the doctors say I’ll im-mprove in…time.” She expanded her Force presence again to gain a feeling from the crowd. What she found shook her to the core. Everyone was expressing concern, sympathy, and…understanding. She could see and feel some members in the audience start to cry. They hurt because she hurt—the attack on her had become an attack on them all. She was deeply moved by such a display of affection, and had to force herself to take a deep breath. Tenel Ka was so lost in the crowd’s emotion, that she missed the next question.

Jacen repeated it, “How’s the food?”

She gave Jacen an evil smile, “W-well, it is better th-han w-what Jacen cooked l-last w-week!”

Again, the crowd cheered over Jacen’s objection: “Hey, that was my mother’s recipe!”

“What’s with the hat?” Jacen heard and asked into the mic.

Tenel Ka rolled her eyes. “The…pro-cedure on my head f-forced th-he doctors to shave some of my hair, s-so…I wear the hat. My f-friend went…to the University of Comenor.” She smiled mischievously, “I s-still do not know w-why it is ‘CU’ instead of ‘UC’.’” That garnered some laughter from the crowd.

“Can we see?” Jacen stage-whispered into the mic.

Tenel Ka’s eyes grew big. Jacen chuckled as she replied, “No! A…girl has to keep s-some of her vanity!” More people laughed at the good-natured response.

“Are you coming to tomorrow’s concert?” Tenel Ka looked at Jacen with a confused expression and he had to explain that a benefit concert had been set up for the following night in Captain Aamodt and Corporal Kjus names for the Wounded Warrior Project.

Tenel Ka again wiped her eyes at the generosity of her fellow Hapans. “S-sorry, I have been out of the l-loop.” More chuckles. “We will definitely be here. In fact, th-hese are pretty good…s-seats!” This garnered another cheer from the crowd. Jacen could sense that she was getting tired and he stood up and indicated that they would answer just one more question from the crowd. Taking Tenel Ka’s hand he helped her to her feet.

Surprisingly, the last question was meant for him. “Do you love her?” Again, he repeated it for the benefit of the crowd except he put in the first person. Realizing that this was now being broadcast, he looked over for an answer, not wanting to embarrass her in front of Force-knows how many people. Do it. Tell them. He grinned and turned back to face the assembled crowd.

“I will tell you all a secret that I have been carrying around for the last seventeen years: I like and admire your Queen Mother. She is the bravest, most compassionate person I have ever known.” Another round of cheers came from the assembled crowd. “However,” Jacen started to shake his head, “I do not love your Queen Mother.” The crowd became eerily quiet and Jacen quickly continued before they became hostile.

“When I was a thirteen, I met a tall, pretty, reserved girl who told me that she was from Dathomir. I’m not sure when, and I don’t know how, but that girl is the one who stole my heart.” He turned to Tenel Ka, his eyes twinkling, “That half-Dathomiri girl and I have been through more than we could’ve ever imagined.” Jacen’s tone became thoughtful, “The loss of her arm, the deaths of her mother and my brother, my capture…” Pausing, he turned to look into her beautiful grey eyes, his own full of emotion, “So, no. I did not fall in love with a Hapan Princess.” He took her hand in his, running his thumb over her new ring. “I love…I adore… you, Tenel Ka.” A huge cheer came washed over them and Jacen was forced to shout, “JAG ÄLSKAR DIG, Tenel Ka Djo, Erenada av Hapes.”

The crowd noise became almost painful as Tenel Ka leaped at him and gave him the tightest hug that she could give. He turned the mic off as he pulled her as close as possible, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around a couple of times as the cheers got even louder. When he put her down, her face sported the biggest smile he had ever seen. Their kiss made the front page of almost every paper in the Consortium, and news broadcasts made it their lead story for two days, but Jacen did not remember even giving her one. All he would remember from that day was her smile.

Up on the eleventh floor, Allana turned to her Grandfather. “Papa, why are you crying?”

Isolder responded by picking his granddaughter up and kissing her forehead. With a big smile, “Because your Daddy just became the Prince Consort.”

“Is that good?”


Behind them, Jaina laughed. “Yes, sweetie. Yes it is.”

T​

_________|_________​

O(___)O ​

A/N: Well...we have reached the end of Danni's Quest. I had an epilogue set right before the wedding, but I like ending it here. There was no way I was going to be able to write a Royal Wedding and do it any sort of justice, so I will leave that to your imagination.

I want to say 'Thanks!' to all who read, skimmed, commented, cursed, or enjoyed my silly story. In particular, I'd like to give a shout-out to JL, Nyota, Kahara, Force Smuggler and snowduchess for all of your comments! And my apologies if I left anyone out.
Finally, a huge 'Thank you!' to my editor! My wife fixes a lot of problems...both with the story and with me.

 

What a good ending. Can't wait to see the epilogue.
That scene with Isolder was so touching.

 

Ending on a triumphant and wonderfully squeelicious note! Congratulations on finishing & so magnificently too! Character and relationship-centric fics are my box of chocolates & this has been one of the best!

 

I am still reading. I don't have much time nowadays. I am at chapter 42.

Awesome discussion. Bam! Jaina tells it like it is.

I will eventually finish. Congrats on finishing your story.

 

Thanks! No one really writes Isolder, so I was trying to flesh him out a bit more...I think he's an interesting character.
Umm....I didn't mean to imply that I was posting an epilogue...I just meant that I had one written, but didn't think it would really add much. This is it!

! I actually wrote this chapter AGES ago...I think it was the third or fourth section I wrote, so I've had LOTS of time to futz with it and get right. I tried to write the 'benefit' concert, but it turns out that concerts are really pretty boring to write and read.

I am pretty mediocre at writing lightsaber battles, struggle with describing air combat, but character development? Yeah, I can do that. Here's the thing, IMO, the Jedi Order worries so much about the 'Big Problem' that it forgets about the small. On his sojourn, MY Jacen learned that saving the 'small' will save the 'large' in time. By helping Tenel Ka, he helps make the Monarchy better...which makes Hapes better...which, in turn, helps make the galaxy a better place.

Well, my 'Sioux-sized' chapters didn't help you out any!

I think this is where the EU falls flat...nobody focuses on the 'interpersonal.' Just think how awesome the two of them would have been if they would've had this conversation. I get it, SW isn't a romance novel, and it isn't supposed to be 'touchy-feely', but SOME humanity would be nice. I've mentioned it before, but they only let relationships happen after they've exhausted all other options. See: Luke/Mara or Jaina/Jagged. And thanks!

 

This has been a phenomenal story from start to finish. The characterization is top-notch and the storyline itself is engaging -- which is not always easy for something centered so heavily on politics. Really liked the way that most of the threads came together at the end (I was a little confused at what was going on with Marné, but that's probably down to the fact that I read these things months apart), and the fight between Tenel Ka and Lumiya was excellent. Also liked that Jacen and Danni saved the day together in the end. It's a nice highlight to the theme throughout this story of friendship and cooperation being necessary to resolve problems well. I was glad that Jaina got her chance to talk to Jacen about what's been happening, and of course the Jacen/Tenel Ka stuff is lovely.

 

Thank you so very much! I do feel that I let a lot of you all down with taking so damned long with updates and with finishing. In truth, I really had more in mind to wrap up Marné's storyline, but I didn't want to drag the story out any longer than I have already had. There really needed to be more dealing with the Corellia issue, but I got lazy....sorry!

I think that's the most important thing about this story...we all need friends Friends don't let friends turn Sith. And we need more Jacen/Tenel Ka stories on here.

 

Can't believe i missed this !! i was following your writing on fan fiction but you only updated on theforce, although very much enjoyed the ending and found the isolder scene quite touching.

 

Sorry! I will confess to becoming addicted to FF.net, so I gave it up and posted over here instead. Glad you liked the ending! As I said, Isolder is not fleshed out very much, so I felt it important to give him some depth. I feel that he in particular, and Hapans in general, have been turned into a cartoon by the EU...almost as if they're the punchline of some joke.