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

Whew! Wow! I'm speechless. I like Danni did expected this but it's still a shock. How will this affect her next encounter with Jacen, because it has to?

 

If this was a teenager slasher movie Danni would go to Bimmiel System alone and without telling anybody where she's going, and naively thinking the murderous Jacen wouldn't possibly hurt her. The next thing she knows she's trapped in a dark room on an iron mining asteroid with her foot chained to the ground, a hacksaw in her hand and five minutes to escape before Lumiya pumps poison gas into the chamber.

I hope Danni is smart about this and brings back up.

 

It was also kinda annoying to write, truth be told. I still don't know why this scene popped into my head the way it did, but who am I to argue with the muse? In my original draft, their conversation lasted a bit longer, but I didn't like the way it turned out, so I shortened a bit.

For obvious reasons, Nelani's death in Betrayal is the 700 lb gorilla in the room, both for Danni and for me as a writer. When I started writing this, I thought about setting it during the events of Betrayal so as to avoid Nelani's death altogether and incorporate her into the overall story, but decided against it; Jacen just does not represent a large enough danger prior to killing Nelani and prior to becoming head of the GAG to have anyone be overly worried about his path. Furthermore, my Jacen would wrestle constantly with what he had done on that damned asteroid and I think it would forever haunt him...in fact, I used these nightmares to strengthen his 'bond' with Danni. As much as it kills me to write about, it would be disingenuous for me to ignore Nelani's death and it is my hope that I deal with the repercussions in a believable manner.

I tried to put myself in Danni's position: she is alive only because of the actions of Jacen Solo and this will forever 'color' her view of him. I think she knew what Jacen had done, but clung to the hope that she was misinterpreting what she was seeing; the scientist in her needed proof. Will this affect her next encounter with Jacen? Like you said, how could it not.

Hmmm....honestly, your version of what is going to happen in the Bimmiel System is much more interesting than what mine will be! In full disclosure, slasher flicks give me the willies, so your idea honestly never crossed my mind...I'm more of a 'political thriller' kinda guy when it comes to movies.

Well...if Jacen wanted her dead, he would've killed her by now...and Lumiya doesn't know who she is...so there is no need to worry....yet.

 

Very good story! I loved how it played out. (Mainly because I am also a fan of Jacen and hate how LOTF and most fanfics play him.) This is one of the few fics I have read in one sitting, but I enjoyed this fic immensely so i'm not terribly upset.

Hope this continues regularly!

Though one thing I will add is that I hope that Jacen is not punished terribly for her death. Well, as long as he stays on the road upwards.

Kyp killed billions under the guidance of a Sith, and he is one of the leading Jedi. I feel Jacen is in the same predicament.

 

You're the second person to tell me that you've read this whole thing in one sitting, and I feel like I should buy you a beverage because some of my chapters get a bit lengthy. It is my biggest hope that everyone can see my characters as being 'in-character' even if they don't agree with everything that has happened.

IMO, Kyp's actions are worse than Jacen's...Kyp wiped out an ENTIRE planet, and escaped any sort of penance, but there are fangirls everywhere who still crush on him. But you're right, how DO you find justice for people like Kyp or Jacen or Mara? Is simply saying, 'Sorry.' enough?

 

I find your lack of updates disturbing.

 

Me too!!!! This fic is the last bastion of Jacen acting with some sense

 

I agree. I want to see a smart Jacen. What the professional writers did to Jacen was horrible. He was the hero of the Vong war. He saved the freaking galaxy. Couldn't they have given him a few years of happiness at least before they totally destroyed his character?

 

Dude! Color me interested. I'm still at the beginning but I'm really interested. I think that we both love Jacen Solo as a character and like to explore his many facets. So it'd be great to see him from someone else's perspective. Please put me on your PM list. (If you have one)

 

I shall redouble my efforts!

Sorry guys, my personal life went in the crapper over the last couple of months...long story...and I've been trying to get headed in the right direction again. I'm not too embarrassed to share, but you'll have to PM me if you want the sordid details. Anyway...I've been writing for the last couple of weeks on this, so we'll get started again in the not-too-distant future. Sadly, I write most of my stuff long-hand in a notebook, and then write/edit on the computer so it takes me a while to get something 'post worthy'.

I think what bothers me the most is how most fans HATED the fact that NJO really was a 'hero journey' for Jacen. They hated the fact that a bleeding heart, looking-for-meaning-everywhere liberal became the main focus of the story. I think what gets overlooked by many fans is this: when it really mattered, Jacen came through. He rescued Danni, he saved his Mother, he killed the Voxyn queen, he helped find Zonoma, he killed Onimi. I know that I'm preaching to the choir a bit, so I'll stop my mini-rant here before I go off on a tangent on how I really don't like what his 'voyage' has been turned into. But thank you for thinking my Jacen worthy of your time!

Jacen, to me, represents everything that the Jedi Order should be...always looking for new facets of the Force...the Temple should be like a University, everyone wanting to LEARN. Profic has killed this ideal, IMO, treating it as a 'Jedi factory'. I don't really have a PM list...I borrowed a technique from Jedi Lover and just PM'd people who'd left a review...but I'll add you when I get the next chappie up.

Again, thank you all for your inputs and your patience. I promise that 'my' Jacen, Danni, Tenel Ka, and Allana will be returning in the not-too-distant future!

 

@windu4; Ewok_Slayer; Nyota's Heart; snowduchess

A/N: My apologies for taking much too long to update my silly story. I promise to make a better effort to keep updating in a timely manner! I appreciate all of your notes telling me to ‘…hurry up already…’; you have all brightened my spirits at a time when they were at a low point. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled story!

​

​

​

Chapter 23—Wrench in the Works​

Awakened by a knock on his bedroom door, the Prime Minister Dur Gejjen disentangled himself from the three young women in his bed, slipped on a robe and cracked the door to the Master Suite. “Yes?”

With a bemused sigh, his butler replied, “Sir, there is a veiled, older woman here to see you,”

Gejjen shook his head, “Not today Emil…” he nodded his head at the bed, “…I’ve got enough women for today.”

The butler gave him an amused smile, “She mentioned that you would say that.” Slipping a small piece of flimsi through the door, he continued, “She also said you’d change your mind.”

Unfolding the flimsi, Dur read the contents:

Imperials and Hapans and treaties….oh my!

Grimacing in distaste, Dur looked up at his butler, “Tell her I’ll be right down.”

The older man nodded once, giving him a knowing smile, “She also said you’d say that.”

Shaking his head, the Corellian Prime Minister closed the door and walked over to the drapes, opening them and flooding the room with light. “Sorry ladies, Daddy’s got to go to work…out you go.”

With a few whines of protest, the three women slowly grabbed their clothes from the floor piece-meal and started to file out of the room. Shaking his head at the nearly-naked women leaving his room, Dur headed to the refresher to get a quick shower before meeting with the woman who knew about the offer of diplomatic negotiations with the Imperials and Hapans—an offer his Foreign Office had only told him about the previous evening.

​

_________|_________​

O O(___)O O​

After the butler returned to bemusedly tell her that the Prime Minister would be down momentarily, Lumiya waited patiently, making herself busy by using the Force to juggle the breadfruit that had been sitting in the silver bowl on the caf table in front of her. After about fifteen minutes or so, she finally heard footsteps coming from the other side of the double doors and quickly replaced the fruit to the bowl, completing the task just as the door opened. Standing, she addressed the Corellian, “Thank you for seeing me, Prime Minister. I trust that I’m not interrupting anything?”

Smiling knowingly at the mysterious veiled woman, Dur Gejjen allowed a small chuckle as he politely made the banal double-entendre common to political gatherings, “Not at all, it was just a long night.”

Lumiya’s eyes twinkled in amusement, “I can imagine….so many affairs of state to attend to.”

“Indeed.” The Corellian replied drily. His tone became more serious, “So tell me, Miss Syo. How is it you learned about a back-channel request from the Hapan External Affairs Ministry only twelve hours after I did?”?” He paused, looking at the older woman expectantly.

“Well…” Lumiya purred, “…I happen to work with the author of said plan.” Letting that hang in the air for a second, the Sith woman hid a smile at the young politician’s feigned indifference. “I also know these negotiations are hiding their true objective.”

|​

_________|_________​

O O(___)O O​

The problem with asteroids, Danni discovered, was that they were constantly in motion, a fact that made docking with one a bit of a challenge. MZX32905 not only spun about a vertical axis, it also tumbled slowly about it’s lateral one, forcing Danni to match two different planes of rotation with the Survivor as she flew the approach. Not impossible, of course, but far from easy, not for her. Knitting her brow in concentration, Danni found herself wishing that she would have asked Jaina to join her on this ‘fact-finding’ mission--the eldest Solo twin would have laughed at the challenge and landed on their first attempt. Danni, however, was no where near as accomplished a pilot and had to ‘go-around’ on her first three attempts, and was getting more and more frustrated. Finding solace in the fact that she was getting better at lining up with the hangar, the blonde took a deep breath to calm her nerves and tried to channel Jacen’s relaxation techniques. Tweaking the rudder pedals a tiny bit to the right, she lined the Survivor once again with the hangar mouth and adjusted the yoke a little left to match the rotation of the opening as she orbited the asteroid. Fourth time’s the charm! Pushing the throttle forward ever so slightly, she made another slight adjustment with the rudder to maintain zero movement relative to the hangar. Nice and easy…Another couple of inputs and the Survivor remained in position relative to the door.

Encouraged by the fact she was now closer than on her previous attempts, Danni took another deep breath to quiet the negative thoughts lurking in her mind; she was closing in on the point-of-no-return and if she screwed up this approach now…well, it might be a long time before anyone would find her here…she’d commed the Queen Mother before she left Lorrd to inform her that she was headed to the Bimmiel System to track down a lead, but had left out the exact destination, not trusting the connection enough to admit she had gotten her travel plans from a Force ghost. Only now was Danni realizing the folly of her actions: the Bimmiel system contained quite a few asteroid belts and it might take a long time for the Hapan navy to find one Lambda-class floating amongst all of the flotsam.

Inhaling a long breath to steel her nerves, she again advanced the throttle a tad, and made another couple additional inputs with the rudder and the yoke to keep her ship lined up with the hangar entrance. As it got within five meters, the Survivor started to drift downward relative to the hangar opening and Danni jammed the throttle forward in panic, hoping to not hear the sickening grind of durasteel against rock. Thankfully, no such sound came, and the Survivor was suddenly in the hanger floating about two meters off the hangar floor. Surprised at herself, the astrophysicist pulled back the throttle and gently lowered her ship to the hangar floor. As the quiet thunk reverberated through the ship, Danni slumped into the pilot chair, wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a quick breath; she was exhausted. Running through the ‘Engine Shutdown’ checklist, she tried to ignore the slight trembling of her hands and again found herself reliving all of those pre- and post-mission briefings with the Wild Knightz; briefings in which she had paced nervously at the back of the room, trying to hide her shakes from the rest of her squadron mates.

After putting the Survivor on auxiliary power, the blonde got up to take a look at the sensors to analyze the asteroids atmospherics. As expected, the hangar bay itself was devoid of atmosphere and the asteroid’s gravity was not much, but sufficient enough not to have to wear any special ‘gravity’ boots. Additionally, the sensors were picking up a pressurized interior just beyond a bulkhead door at the back of the hangar, about 10 meters in front of her ship. Nodding to herself, Danni left the cockpit and made her way to the locker to don her vac suit, yawning on the way. Stopping in the small hallway, she shook her head at the memory of what Mara had told her once on their mission to find Zonoma: nap first, eat second, explore third. Changing direction, Danni made her way to her cabin and fell onto the bed, conking out almost immediately.

|​

_________|_________​

O O(___)O O​

“Ah.” The Corellian Prime Minister replied, his tone smug; “Is this where you tell me that your boss trusts you implicitly and that for just a few million credits you will share your secrets with me thereby ensuring the successful independence of Corellia?” Shaking his head condescendingly, Dur continued his mini-rant as he made his way to the door, “Thank you for waking me, Miss Syo, but I’m afraid your assistance is not really needed in this instance.” With this, Gejjen turned to leave and the door hissed open.

“What if I were to tell you that Jacen Solo was my ‘boss’?” Lumiya purred.

Dur Gejjen, Prime Minister of Corellia, one of the ten most powerful men in the galaxy, stood silent in the doorway, waylaid speechless by a woman in a veil. Ignoring the curious look from one of his security guards, he palmed the door control closed. “That might change things.” He admitted quietly, turning around again to face the woman now sitting calmly in front of his large desk.

The Sith Lord nodded, “I thought it might.” As she watched the politician make his way to his chair behind the desk, she continued, her voice smooth. “You recall, of course, what Solo tried to do on his last visit here.”

The dark-haired man nodded as he tried to keep calm, “Centerpoint.” Gejjen still seethed at the sure arrogance of the Alliance High Command; the audacity of them authorizing a strike against Corellia’s most prized possession still rankled. Even inoperable as it was, the station remained a symbol to the galaxy that Corellian independence mattered; that Corellia would not meekly submit to Omas’s totalitarian regime on Coruscant.

Nodding, “It seems that Solo is a bit obsessed with the place.” Lumiya replied, her green eyes sparkling mischievously, “Perhaps because he’s failed twice now to destroy it.”

“And he is planning a third attempt.” Gejjen added in a cold voice. “Using the ‘peace talks’ as a diversion to land another spec ops team on the station…perhaps even lead it himself.”

Inwardly, the Sith grinned at the way people always fell prey to their deepest fears. Truth be told, she really did not understand the Corellian fascination with what was, after all, a derelict space station. But, here she was, calmly lying to the Prime Minister that Corellia’s useless heap of metal was targeted for destruction on his watch, and he jumped at the bait like a ghost fish. Shrugging slightly, “It does seem to be his style; he likes to lead from the front.” Despite herself, she could not keep the tone of admiration out of her voice; for all of his faults as a Sith-in-training, and there were many, Jacen certainly did not lack for courage.

“He’s as vain-glorious as his father.” Gejjen replied bitterly as he leaned back in his over-stuffed desk chair, clearly trying to decide what to do with this newfound information. Leaning forward again, he gave his guest a scrutinizing look, “So what’s the catch? Why are you telling me this?”

Carefully masking her joy at being able to successfully bait the Prime Minister, Lumiya leaned forward, “Well...here is what I propose we do...”

|​

_________|_________​

O O(___)O O​

After the status light blinked green, indicating the door to the pressure-equalizing chamber was closed, Danni put down her glow rod and started to shuck herself out of her vac suit, piling it on the floor next to the door. Stretching out with the Force caused her to shiver involuntary—she could feel a definite sensation of someone pressing against the edge of her awareness, the unmistakable feeling that she was being watched. Oddly, the presence did not seem malicious, just…darker. Even more strange was that it seemed…amused. Bravely, or perhaps foolishly, she ignored the sensation and continued to search the Force for clues, finding only the increasingly amused, dark presence and an underlying feeling of something...oily. The blonde scowled at the sensation as it occurred to her that the last time she encountered such a feeling was in Jacen’s office. Jacen. Immediately, she started to get angry as she realized that her friend had betrayed her, playing her for a fool, laughing at efforts to ‘save’ him from himself. Before she knew what she was doing, Danni angrily stuffed one leg into her vac suit, determined to head back to Coruscant to confront her ‘friend’. Nobody makes a fool of…. her thoughts stopped, one leg in the suit, the other foot off the ground as the unmistakable sound of deep laughter started to echo in her head followed by a pleasant baritone.

You should have paid more attention to Skywalker, Ms. Quee: the dark side is powerful.

“How do you know who I am?” The scientist demanded as she removed her leg from the vac suit again.

We’ve been watching you for a while. The voice admitted, not answering her question. Who do you think has been showing you Jacen’s visions?

The scientist reeled at his comment as a wave of nausea almost overwhelmed her. This whole journey had been based on nothing but a cheap con--a simple parlor trick by some faceless Force phantom; she had fooled herself into believing there was a link between her and…Perhaps I misspoke, the voice interrupted kindly, clearly able to read her thoughts, What I meant was that I saw that your link with Mr. Solo was still there and…strengthened it a bit.

“Who are you?” Danni replied as she forced down her anger, mollified a bit by this last admission, her glow rod shining around the dark cavern, vainly searching for whomever it was that was talking to her.

The disembodied voice sounded amused. A friend. A foe. The voice paused, and she imagined him giving her a shrug. It really depends on you.

“Depends on what?” The blonde demanded, continuing to shine the light around as she removed her right leg from her vac suit.

Tell me: is the lugubrious presence you sense here that of Jacen Solo?

Danni considered the question for a moment before shaking her head. “No.” She paused, before elaborating. “Jacen always seemed…troubled, I guess, but I never got this same feeling of maliciousness.”

Her answer seemed to satisfy the voice, and she got the impression of a warm smile. In that case…welcome to The Home.

With a loud thunk, several arc lights blazed into life twenty meters above her, illuminating that portion of the asteroid. Blinking rapidly to clear the spots from her eyes, the first thing she noticed was a small villa-style residence tucked away about two hundred meters away in the right corner of the large cavern she was standing in, its pastel colors a sharp contrast to the dull grey rock of the rest of the asteroid. “Nice place.”

Frowning slightly at the lack of a response, Danni bent to pick up her glow rod and went about exploring the asteroid, trying to match the reality of the place with what she had seen in her first vision. After twenty minutes of exploring a several passageways that turned out to be dead-ends, she finally found one that started to feel vaguely familiar. Taking a deep breath, she continued to explore deeper into the asteroid, her sense of foreboding increasing seemingly with every step that she took. Two hundred meters in, the passageway opened into a medium-sized cavern and her sense of foreboding turned into a raging torrent of panic and she had to fight the overwhelming urge to turn and run. This was it; this was the place where her friend had done something unspeakable. Shining her glow rod around the cavern, she quickly found a narrow, deep, alcove from which she could ‘flow-walk’ and know for certain what had happened here.

Taking off her utility belt and laying it on the cavern floor, Danni started to wedge herself into the small space, killing her glow rod as she did. With the only light being what filtered down from the main entrance cavern, Jacen Solo’s apprentice reached out with her left hand to feel the rock face and stretched out with the Force and the almost overwhelming feeling of panic starting to fade. After a moment, she could start to decipher the ‘timeline’ of MZX32905 and just as it was starting to become clear enough for Danni to follow…

“Only pain will you find there, Ms. Quee.” The voice interrupted, only this time it sounded not in her head, but came from somewhere out-of-sight to her right.

Keeping her hand on the rock wall, trying to maintain her link to the ‘timeline’, “I need to know the truth.”

“The truth?” The ‘phantom’ voice asked in an amused tone, “You’ve spent too much time with the Jedi: the Force won’t show you the truth…only your eyes can do that.” He snapped his fingers and more lights blazed into being, illuminating this cavern with the same orange-tinted hue as in the other chamber, their buzz clearly audible.

With a resigned sigh, Danni wormed her way out of the small alcove and found herself face to face with another ghost; this one a tall, portly, gentlemen with muscular arms, a round face, and disconcertingly black eyes.

“Who are you?” The scientist asked, no longer trying to hide her frustration with all of the ghosts she seemed to be meeting on this trip.

“Who I am is unimportant.” He grinned mischievously, “Who I was is what matters.”

Exasperated, Danni rolled her eyes, “Fine. Who were you then?”

The ghost ignored her tone as he gave her a deep bow, and affected a Coruscanti accent, “Milady, you may call me Vectivus.”

The way he said it made it sound more like a title than a name, causing Danni to frown slightly; the only people who would use a title like that were… “You’re a Sith?” she demanded harshly.

His grin fading, Vectivus tsk-ed as he stood and his tone became accusatory, “You know nothing, Danni Quee. Jedi, Sith, Light, Dark…these are all just adjectives. Used by people to explain what they don’t understand.” His expression turned quizzical, “Surely Mr. Solo has explained this to you.”

“Yes. But…”

“You didn’t really think about what it meant.” Vectivus interrupted, shaking his head as he did. Sighing, he continued, “It means that it is possible to be a Sith and not be a megalomaniac--or that you can be a Jedi and be one.”

“Yes. But…”

“Judge me by my name, do you?” The ghost asked in a mocking tone.

Letting out a defeated sigh, the scientist shook her head. “No.” At the time, she had assumed her and Jacen’s discussions about the nature of the Force were purely academic, merely philosophical musings by two like-minded people. Now, faced with the obvious fact that there were Sith, some of them even possibly alive, and that believed that there was no Dark Side made her skin crawl. At its core, the Sith mantra: Through strength, I gain power was totally at odds with everything she went into science for. Still though, she was forced to admit there was nothing inherently wrong with power…it all depended upon how one wielded that power.

Returning her attention to the Sith Lord, “What do you want from me?”

“I want you to look.” Vectivus smiled, and gestured at the medium-sized cavern, “What do you see?”

Scowling, Danni turned and cast a cursory look around the cavern. “I see….” nothing, she was about to say, but stopped herself: she did see something. After taking a few steps forward she knelt down to look closer at the footprints visible in the dirt floor. Her frown deepening, she ran a finger lightly across one of the depressions and suddenly the unmistakable sound of clashing lightsabers broke the silence. Startled, the blonde yanked her hand away and glanced at the former Sith Lord.

“Find something?” Vectivus asked in a bored tone as he sat on the stool he had conjured up.

“You didn’t hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Shaking her head, Danni tentatively replaced her hand and the sound of a pitched battle resumed. Seeing the apparent direction of the footprints, she shuffled forward, making sure to keep her fingers running over the imprints. As she did, the feeling of panic resumed and the battle sounds became louder and she could make out each separate clash, each grunt of exertion or pain, each rapid breath, the ever-present hum of two lightsabers; she saw watched as the footprints became less precise, more chaotic, matching to desperate clashes and slashes she could hear. Following her ‘trail’, the battle got even louder, the clashes of the lightsabers faster, the breathing more rapid and then….nothing.

Suddenly she was overcome by a sense of despair and guilt so powerful it caused her collapse onto all fours and she lost her lunch right there on the cave floor. Forcing herself not to collapse in agony, her breath ragged, the guilt and despair started to fade and she took a couple of deep breaths to try to calm her nerves. As her stomach settled down, Danni suddenly recognized that she was kneeling over an impression in the dust that could only have been made by a body and another wave of nausea caused two more rounds of dry heaves. Finally, her stomach empty, she forced herself up to a kneeling position, wiping her chin as she did and glowered at the former Sith. “I thought you said the Force wouldn’t show me the truth?”

Shaking his head sympathetically, Vectivus floated her canteen over to her as he explained, “I did nothing…your mind is much more powerful than the Force; you only heard and felt what your mind wanted you to hear.” He waited for a moment as Danni wiped her hands on her grey cargo pants and took a quick drink from her canteen. After she had replaced the cap, he asked quietly, nodding at the wall behind her, “What else do you see?”


Danni did not want to look around any more. For the first time since she first boarded the Survivor after that first vision, she wanted nothing more than to return to Zonoma and hide from life…let someone else clean up this mess. Willing herself to her feet, she slowly turned to her left and saw a freshly disturbed section of the cave floor some four meters away. Rectangular in shape, the section was about two meters long and a meter or so in width…slowly the realization of what this section was became apparent, and the blonde scientist was too busy seething to notice as her world started to fade to black until it was too late.

 

I think the Prime Minister and Danni both fell into two very different but equally death-dealing traps. This was very much worth the wait but now I'm on the edge of my seat again LOL

 

Danni telling the Queen she is going to be in the Bimmiel System is about as bright as me telling my family if they need to contact me I'll be on Earth.

I never really understood Vectivus' motives in the profics. He supposedly was a Sith who used his Sithy powers to increase his personal wealth through his business dealings and he was a well loved man that died surrounded by his loving family. So why was he involved with Lumiya and the corruption of Jacen? There were so many books spread out over years that it was hard to keep things straight in my head. Hopefully, you can do a better job than the professional authors in shedding some light as to what makes him tick. I find him an interesting character.

Nice update.

 

Yep, Gejjen has made a deal with the devil, so to speak. Danni? Well, Danni fell afoul of silly decision making-- the '...don't go in there…' problem in horror movies!

I don't know about you, but sometimes the smarter people get…the less common sense they have!
IMO, Vectivus was introduced as an example of the type of Sith one could be if you weren't terribly power hungry. I thought maybe that LFL was going to explore the 'grey' area of the Force more and have Jacen use Vectivus as a role model as he started down the road to Sithdom. Like many other storylines in LotF, this got tossed to the side in the interest of 'simplicity'. You're right, though, he is an interesting character and I'm trying to 'flesh' him out a bit here.

Thanks again for reading and reviewing!

 

So happy to see this is still in progress!

Lumiya seems to be getting impatient with Jacen's failure to run on schedule, unless this plot (whatever it is) was already in place before recent events. It will be interesting to see what she does next.

Danni's investigation seems a little more doomed by the minute. It's understandable how she didn't want to give out details, but it's awfully convenient how she's in a desolate, abandoned asteroid with no witnesses except for Vectivus the Friendly Sith Ghost. Wouldn't trust that guy any further than I could throw his incorporeal presence... though it might not be him causing whatever happened to Danni at the end there. Their conversation was by far the most fun part of the chapter, by the way. It's so rare that you see a somewhat reasonable
"bad guy" in Star Wars. There are obvious reasons for that, but scenes like this show what's missing when they aren't there.

Actually, he's one of the things from that series that seem kind of wasted -- it sounds like they started out intending something more nuanced and then just settled for Evil Sith are Boring Evil. (While I don't want them to all be actually very nice, boring is boring. If no antagonist ever brings any real challenge to anyone's ideals because they're cardboard cutouts, it seems like cheating.)

 

Thanks!

I haven't really shown it, but I'm trying to stay with the fact that Lumiya had about 4 things going on at the same time…she was talking to the Corellians, the Commenorians (I think), and had a couple more plans that I can't recall right now. Anyway, I tried to show that she had clearly been talking to Gejjen before and that this was merely another visit in their relationship.

Betrayal had all kinds of interesting plot points going on that got dropped. As you said, both Vectivus and Lumiya were nuanced in that book…and it led me to think that maybe Jacen being a Sith wouldn't be all that bad…after all, Vectivus seemed to be able to pull it off. I'm not sure if the writers decided to change course, or if LFL wanted a 'clear' baddie. Either way, if I learned nothing else from LFL it's that they don't like nuance…everything must be black and white. In a world where very little is, I find that disingenuous and lazy.

 

I know this is my first time actually commenting, but I've been lurking and reading, and really enjoying this! I hated what profic did to Jacen, and never understood why no one seemed to try and do anything about it. I like what you're doing with this. For the first time ever, I actually like Danni Quee! And I really like Jacen and Tenel Ka in this as well. If you have a PM list or something, will you add me to it please?

 

Shavit is getting real. I'm definitely looking forward to what happens next!

I do have a question, though. Are we ever going to see Ben? I might have missed a chapter where he was featured but so far all I've learned is that Jacen dropped him as an apprentice.

 

Yay, another lurker comes out of the shadows! Funny, if you talk to a lot of fans, everyone tried their best to help Jacen--I mean, they talked to him once. What more could they do?

I never really understood why Danni wasn't more popular…she's smart, strong-willed, pretty good in a fight, and a survivor. And consider yourself added…

Thanks…and no. It's not that I don't like him; honestly, I don't really know him well enough as a character to form an opinion about Ben. I DO think that LFL is setting him up to be the next leader of the Jedi, and I'm not really a fan of that thought process…are the Jedi a monarchy? Back to the question…I had a chapter in my head where Luke and Mara talk to Ben about being 'dumped', but it didn't really seem to add anything to the overall story…so I dropped it. I've got too many 'tangents' in this story as it is. Sorry!

 

@windu4; Iverna; Kahara; Ewok_Slayer; Nyota's Heart​

​

Chapter 24—Burning Down the House​

As the ramp closed behind the Dark Lady, Ship decided to make small talk. The talks go well?

Lumiya allowed a chuckle as she buckled into the pilot’s seat, “Gejjen is a typical politician; once you know the tune, you can make him dance.” In all honesty, she had not expected Dur Gejjen to jump so quickly at her lie about Solo wanting to destroy Centerpoint, but he had. She could see the regret in his eyes after he had committed himself to her cause, but she did not fret too much over that; all she had to do was leak another threat to his beloved space station and he would roll over like the useful dog he was. A dog that still had plenty of bite, to be sure, but so long as she offered up treats to her pet, he should remain loyal enough.

So-o-o…Ship drawled, interrupting her reverie, …what is the next part of your plan?

“Well…” the Sith answered, “...I’m going to take a page from Vader’s book.” She affected her best impersonation of her former master, “If Solo won’t turn—perhaps she will.”

Ah. Ship replied, knowingly, Back to Coruscant, then?

“Eventually.” She replied with a half-shrug, “However, I’ve kept you cooped up for far too long. Take me somewhere…interesting.”

As you wish, my Lady. The vessel ‘replied’ in an amused tone.

|​

O​

_____(___)_____​

​

“Ms. Quee?” A voice called, though it was muffled, far away and difficult to hear. “Ms. Quee? Take a deep breath, Ms. Quee.” Who is that—and why is he telling me to breathe? Not having any reason to not trust the voice, she complied and her vision started to return. “That’s it, Danni…just relax.” The voice sounded closer and she could start to make out a portly man…well, he used to be a man…looking at her concernedly. “Where are you going, Ms. Quee?”

Going? Confused she glanced down and saw that she was fully dressed in a vac suit, helmet in hand. Shocked, she looked up and started to answer, “I don’t….” her voice trailed off as she remembered finding what she assumed to be Nelani’s grave; remembered as her anger built at the discovery—disgusted at Jacen’s obvious disregard for Jedi custom. Thinking back, she realized that, in her blinding rage, she was going to find Jacen Solo and drag him to Bimmiel to be brought up on murder charges. “…Coruscant. I was going to Coruscant to arrest Jacen.” As she started to shuck herself out of the vac suit for a third time, “What happened to me?”

Darth Vectivus smiled kindly, “There is a strong Force nexus in this asteroid. It is what allows me to talk to you…” he floated the canteen to her again as he continued, “…allows me to interact with you. It also magnifies a person’s emotions. It magnified your anger and you let it consume you for a time.”

Clearly shaken, Danni took a sip of water. Replacing the cap, she quoted Yoda to herself, “Quicker, easier, more seductive.”

“Perhaps.” Vectivus replied as he started walking back to the gravesite, clearly not convinced. “Also harder to control. I would argue that being a Sith takes more discipline; you have to harness your emotion without succumbing to it.” He paused, waiting for Danni to catch up. Glancing over at her after she had reached his side, the ghost continued. “When my…” unbidden, a grimace formed on his face, “…colleague…approached us with her proposal, we could see that her plan had merit.” Smiling, he continued, “Jacen has the proper control; your friend would make a fine Sith.”

Danni stopped dead, stunned speechless. Jacen? A Sith? Why? Why would he do such a thing? The Sith were evil…weren’t they? “If turning Jacen into a Sith is your plan, why have you been watching me?”

Offering her a sad smile, the pair resumed walking, “My…colleague…has corrupted what it means to be a Sith. She is only interested in revenge now; her plan to…” Vectivus made quote marks with his hands, “… ‘prove that the Sith can be responsible’ was only a con job to get us to agree.” Giving Danni a wry smile, he pressed on. “Luckily, a wise man once told me to always have a backup plan.”

“And that plan is…?” Danni asked, not really wanting to know. Her life had gotten nothing but more and more complicated over the last thirty days, and seemed to be on the verge of becoming even more so.

“To keep the galaxy from destroying itself, of course.” Vectivus replied, as if the answer were self-evident. Nodding at Nelani’s grave, “Come. Let us give Nelani the proper respects.”

“No.” She replied hotly, and saw as her companion gave her a quizzical look. Shaking her head, she steeled her resolve, “ No. Nelani’s body must be shown to the authorities before we can perform rites. Justice must be served.”

“Justice?” Vectivus paused a beat before nodding absently, his tone flat. “Always a noble goal.”

Incredulous, Danni let her voice turn colder, “You disagree? You think I should let Nelani’s killer run free?” Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that she was disassociating Jacen from what he had clearly done and that she had lost her objectivity.

The ghost shrugged. “What do you know of the Corellian crisis?”

Suppressing the overwhelming urge to scream in frustration, she scowled at the non sequitur. What did she have to do to get a straight answer from someone? And why did everything seem to center on Corellia? Releasing a long breath to calm down, “Only what I’ve seen on the news…that Coronet is unhappy with the GFFA and wishes to leave the Alliance.”

“Should Omas simply let them leave?”

The blonde woman could only offer a disgusted sigh as she considered the ten thousand-credit question (to paraphrase a popular holovid show) on everyone’s mind. Could star systems leave and enter the Alliance at their leisure? Once Corellia left, what would stop other systems from following suit? Wasn’t the whole point of the Alliance to provide stability? How stable could the Senate be if members were allowed to leave if they did not like the new tax structure? Or education policy? Or the next Chief-of-State? Rationally, she realized that in order for the Alliance to function it had to be with a ‘…United We Stand…’ mindset. Shaking her head, she answered, “No. Corellia was an original signatory of the Common Charter.” Absently, she started to pace back and forth like a caged pantera, too preoccupied to notice Vectivus’s wry smile, “The Alliance is not a links club, star systems don’t get to resign just because they don’t like the dress code or the weather on Coruscant.” She stopped pacing and looked over at the Sith, her tone icy, “Regardless of how Gejjen spins this, secession is an illegal act…and akin to treason.”

Vectivus nodded, clearly impressed with her political acumen. “I agree.” Looking at her meaningfully, he asked another leading question, “Tell me, what do you think will happen to the Imperial peace initiative if you successfully have Mr. Solo arrested?”

Indignant, the blonde opened her mouth to retort that his arrest would change nothing, but closed it. When she had talked to Jacen from Commenor, he had mentioned that he was running with her ideas and was trying to find a way out of the current crisis. Because they were on an unsecure line, he could not provide any details so she only know learning that the Remnant was trying and broker a peace. Instinctively, she realized that Jacen had been doing all of the behind-the-scenes arm-twisting, wrangling, and cajoling a plan such as this would need to get past the planning stages.

“Paelleon would still pursue a peace plan.” Danni retorted meekly, knowing that the Grand Admiral would indeed try his best to keep the galaxy from fracturing again.

Nodding, Vectivus replied sadly, “Doomed to fail, of course.” Danni cringed, knowing that the ghost was right; arresting Jacen would force Omas and his Cabinet to distance themselves from him and his plan, dooming any support from Coruscant. Without this tacit approval from Omas, the Remnant did not have the diplomatic muscle to broker any sort of deal.

Seeing her grimace, the Sith snapped his fingers and the lights in the cavern went out. As they did, a holoprojector started and images of a space battle flared into life on the opposite wall…images that seemed oddly familiar to Danni: visible were four Hapan Battle Dragons and three Nova-class cruisers in a tight defensive position arrayed around a single Victory II-class Star Destroyer. Facing this formation were seven Imperial-classStar Destroyers and two Super Star Destroyers. The battle had clearly been going on for a while, and it was clear that the Hapans were on the losing end. Three of the Battle Dragons were listing badly and two of Novas looked to be without power. As she observed the scene, Danni started to say that she had seen this before, but stopped; her last vision centered on a battle above a burning planet, this one was in open space and did not involve as many ships. Confused, she could only watch as the camera point-of-view changed and they were standing behind a tall, red-haired woman standing on the bridge of the Victory II-class, looking out at the incoming Alliance ships…

|​

O​

_____(___)_____​

​

“We are badly outgunned, Tenna.” Called an eerily calm-sounding voice from their right.

The woman nodded and answered in the same calm voice, clearly not caring that the gentlemen used her nickname. “Yes we are, Admiral. Yes we are.” Glancing to her right, “Any word from Tahiri?”

“No. I was hoping she’d contacted you via the Force.”

The Queen Mother shook her head and was about to reply when a voice rang out from the communications pit. “Admiral, Queen Mother, we are being hailed by the enemy.”

“He means to offer us terms, no doubt.” Tenel Ka said quietly, earning a small chuckle from the man on her right.

“Probably. You interested?”

Even in profile, Danni could see the fire in her friend’s eyes. “I might have been before they destroyed Bastion and killed my nobility.”

Her companion answered with a loud sigh, “My thoughts as well.” The gentleman’s voice got louder as he answered the communications officer, “Answer their hail…on the viewscreen, if you please.”

On the screen appeared the weathered face of Wedge Antilles. “Queen Mother, Admiral Pellaeon, you have fought well, but it is….”

Pellaeon interrupted with a growl, “Save your breath Antilles, we know how the Corellians treat prisoners.”

Wedge’s face blanched, “That was not my doing.”

“No.” The Queen Mother agreed quietly, as the message board on her console flashed with an incoming message. “But you did know it was happening. Tell me, how would you feel if my government poisoned your family?” Pulling up the new message, she suppressed a small smile. Package intercepted. Awaiting instructions.

Beside her, the Grand Admiral relaxed slightly; Tahiri had completed her mission…just as always. Keying in one last entry into the ship’s computer, she smiled at General Antilles. “Wedge, the problem with your position is that we have nothing left to live for.” Suddenly, this tiny remnant of the once mighty Hapan/ Imperial fleet accelerated, all of them remotely piloted by a small crew of six aboard the Grand Admiral’s flagship, and all aimed at General Antilles’s SSD.

Killing the connection, Admiral Pellaeon looked to his left, “It’s been a pleasure, Tenel Ka.”

The Queen Mother nodded and grabbed the elderly man’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “Likewise, Gilad.” As their star destroyer closed the remaining distance shockingly fast, Tenel Ka reached out one last time to her love, the man Tahiri had just sprung from his prison on Bimmiel: Run! Take Allana and….

|​

O​

_____(___)_____​

​

With a blinding flash of light, the holo ended and with another snap of his fingers, Vectivus re-activated the lights. “This is what will happen if you arrest Jacen Solo now.”

Danni stood shaken, but would not be cowed so easily, not by a long dead Sith. “You don’t know that…Force visions are inherently inaccurate.”

The ghost conceded the point with a half-shrug. “Perhaps. You’re a numbers person: we’ve run this scenario six hundred and fifty times, and have ended with that scenario eighty-eight percent of the time. In ten percent of the scenarios, the Hapan Consortium collapses into civil war because of the backlash against the Queen Mother being ‘friends’ with a convicted killer; Corellia uses the distraction to secede…culminating in a civil war which ends as shown.” He paused, sighing, “Only two percent of the time did the personalities involved actually come to a negotiated settlement of this crisis.” He looked over at the scientist. “Given these numbers, which option would you choose?”

“He must face trial at some point.” Danni argued, not wanting to cave into relative moralism, not wanting to admit that she had to ignore the law for the time being.

Vectivus responded lightly, knowing she was only arguing for appearances, “Of course. But Nelani is dead…a few months more will not bring her back.” With an audible pop a shovel and her holocam appeared to her right as he continued, “Jacen needs to fulfill his destiny…he needs to help save the galaxy one more time.”

Danni nodded and said nothing as she picked up the holocam and carefully made her way over to Nelani’s unmarked grave, taking a series of pictures to turn over to the police later.

Her documentation complete, she angrily grabbed the shovel out of the ground and started to dig. “Who’s this ‘us’?”

Vectivus scowled at question, “Pardon?”

Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, “You said, ‘…she approached us.’ Who is ‘us’? And who is ‘she’?”

“Ah.” The ghost replied, “We are a trio of phantoms…two of whom are wishing to remain anonymous. She…well, you’ll meet her at some point, I’m afraid.”

Nodding, the scientist continued to dig and asked matter-of-factly, “She knows about me?”

“She knows that someone is derailing her plans.” Vectivus saw as Danni’s face turned grim, and smiled gently, trying to reassure her, “Don’t fret about her; you won’t face her alone.”

Danni said nothing and continued in her grim task, the only sound being the quiet scraping of metal on dirt as she methodically dug. “So tell me…” she started, more to get her mind off of her task than anything, “…what’s a Sith like you doing in a place like this?”

“Well…it’s rather a long story.”

Pausing to shoot him a dirty look over her shovel, Danni said nothing and continued to dig.

“Ri-ight.” The ghost winced at the size of the hole his companion needed to dig. “It all started on this very asteroid coincidentally…” Vectivus explained how he was the director of a molybdenum-mining company that was given rights to mine the asteroids around Bimmiel. When they had started mining MZX32905, he started getting reports of an increase in assaults, rapes, and suicides among the miners. Curious as to the cause, he came to the asteroid and immediately felt the energy contained within the asteroid. After moving the mining operations to another part of the asteroid belt, he became obsessed about trying to find out why the energy that caused so many others to become violent or suicidal instead caused him to feel…omnipotent; at least when it came to the mining industry. He was able to ‘see’ deposits where others could not, ‘see’ when a competitor was ripe for a take-over, ‘see’ when new metallurgy techniques were going to make use of a previously discarded metal. Finally, his quest for why led him to a Dark Lord of the Sith, one Darth Latentis. Under Latentis’s tutelage, he became immersed in the way of the Sith, earning his ‘Darth’ moniker a few years later. Although fascinated by Sith lore, Vectivus was first and foremost a businessman and returned to his company, his Force curiosity satisfied.

“So…” he concluded, “…that is how I became a Sith.” Suddenly he realized just how tired his companion was becoming and snapped his fingers again. With another ‘pop’, a small tin appeared. “How ‘bout we rest for a spell?”

Danni nodded and stepped out of the small hole, but gave the can of foodstuffs a wary look.

Vectivus smiled, “They’re fine; military rations have a shelf-life of more than eighty years, and these have only been here for twenty.”

The blonde picked up the tin gingerly and checked the expiration date—a date sixty plus years in the future. Shrugging, she opened the can and, after giving the contents a cautionary sniff, took a small bite. To say that the contents could be classified as ‘good’ was a bit of a stretch, but it still was better than some of the food she had eaten on Zonoma. With a resigned sigh, she sat cross-legged on the floor and started her ‘lunch’.

“So, now that you know my tale, what persuades a woman like yourself to go into astrophysics?”

Danni could only shrug until she finished swallowing her mouthful of rations. “My mother was an astrophysicist, so it was just assumed that I’d follow her footsteps…”

As she continued to eat, she explained how her parents divorced when she was quite young. They were both in their mid-thirties when they decided to become parents, both of them clinging to the hope that a baby could save their marriage. Like many couples, they found that having a little girl only exasperated their problems, and the two split up when Danni was two. Because he did not want his daughter to grow up fatherless, Danyel Quee remained in the same small town as his ex-wife; making sure to pick up Danni after school on the days that her mom had to work nights…which happened quite often seeing as she was taught astrophysics at the local university.

Getting up, Danni again started to dig as she continued her story: about how her mother became consumed with work, obsessed with becoming Dean of the Department; how her mother looked down on Danyel for not moving up the bureaucratic ladder as quickly as she had. Danni got so used to being at he father’s house after school that when it was time for Danni to go away to college, it only seemed natural that Danyel would transfer so that he could live in the same city. “It was only after I started college that I found out he had turned down a position in Munto four different times.” Looking over at Vectivus, “Oddly, I found out from his new girlfriend. When I asked why he turned the promotion down so many times; why he put up with Mom’s belittling tone for all of those years he just said, ‘…fathers will do anything….’” Danni broke off suddenly and stared into the hole she was digging.

“…Fathers will do anything for their children.” Vectivus finished quietly, fully understanding what Danyel Quee had told his daughter. Nodding once, he added, “He was right.”

Nodding absently, the meaning of her father’s words taking hold, Danni had an epiphany: Allana. Somehow this all revolved around Allana…but how?

Not having an answer, Danni once again resumed her grim task as the two of them made small talk about the mining business, about gravitational physics—pretty much anything to avoid thinking about what they were doing. Just when she was about to take another rest break, she felt her shovel hit something. Quickly, and with a sense of great trepidation, she quickly cleared off the remaining dirt off of what she discovered to be a large canvas bag.

Grimacing, she clawed herself out of the grave and grabbed her holocam, intent on gathering all of the pertinent evidence. After taking a dozen holos, Danni put the holocam down and gazed into the grave, clearly trying to figure out how to best get Nelani out of her grave with some sense of decorum. “We might be best served to levitate her out.” Vectivus suggested helpfully.

“Yeah…I’m just not very good at that sort of thing.”

The Sith Lord smiled warmly, “Well, it’ll give us something to work on, then.”

With a resigned sigh, Danni closed her eyes and visualized the body-shaped canvas bag at the bottom of the grave. Taking a deep breath she drew deeper into the Force and could feel Nelani’s body start to rise. After she rose it a couple of centimeters, a small stone fell from the side of the grave, hitting the foot of the bag. In her surprise, Danni lost her ‘grip’ and Nelani fell with a quiet thump. Furrowing her brow in concentration, she tried to push he creeping doubts aside and tried to calm herself in the Force. “No.” Vectivus’s warm voice sounded in her head, “Don’t ignore your doubts. Embrace them. Use them. Control them.” Suddenly, all of her biggest doubts came screaming back into her consciousness: That she’d never as good enough a scientist as her mother; that she’d never be accepted by the Jedi; that she was on a fool’s errand. Perhaps the most crushing was that she knew that she’d never be able to find someone; that she’d die alone, buried along with her name.

As the doubts got louder, her frustration and anger started bubbling up. “Good.” The voice said drawled calmly, “Let them wash over you like a warm rain.” Immersing herself deeper into the Force, she started to understand what he meant. Instead of the cool, relaxed feeling she usually felt in the Force; this was turbulent and very warm, almost to the point of being uncomfortable. “Relax.” He commanded, “Drift with the current.” Danni took a deeper breath and was able to float on top of the warm surface. “Now…raise Nelani.” Stretching out, Danni again visualized the canvas bag and started to levitate the dead Jedi out of her grave. Again, the body wobbled and Danni felt her frustration increase and she started to sink as the fluid suddenly became very hot. “Relax.” The voice interrupted before she could break her link, “Remember, you control the Force, not the other way around.”

With this reminder, she dialed down her anger and the sensation cooled. It was still warmer than before, but not to the point scalding. Danni relaxed and once again started to float on the current, luxuriating in its warmth. After a minute or so, the voice sounded again, “Well done, Ms. Quee.”

Curious, Danni opened her eyes and saw that the canvas bag was lying serenely at by the side of the grave. Surprised, she looked over at the Sith, “What just happened?”

Vectivus raised an eyebrow, “You, my dear lady, just used the ‘dark side’ of the Force.”

Danni nodded, trying to absorb what she had just done. Did she really use the ‘dark side’? What did that mean? She certainly didn’t feel any different…how was it that this act would forever control her destiny? Not knowing how to feel, and not wanting to think about what it all meant, she again grabbed her holocam and walked over to the canvas bag and took a few more holos.

Taking a deep breath, the scientist pulled a small vibroblade out of her cargo pocket, cut the cords at the head and foot of the bag, and gently unwrapped the canvas from the young girl inside. As she did, the objective, scientific part of her mind was confused as to why Nelani had not started to decompose, or why the unmistakable smell of death was not present. Taking additional holos, it occurred to her that she should be horribly depressed by what she saw, but she couldn’t find any more emotion…she was just too numb. Only after she had taken all of the holos did she finally notice just how young Nelani looked, and how dirty she was. Floating her canteen over, she wetted down a handkerchief and gently started cleaning the young woman’s face. As she did, she asked quietly, “Why? Why would he bury her? He knows the Jedi traditions.”

“Why do you assume it was him?” Vectivus answered softly, his tone bitter. “She did this—she promised that she would give Nelani proper rites and then buried her here in an unmarked grave; her anger with the Jedi ruining her ideals.”

Danni said nothing as she detangled Nelani’s hair with her fingers and then started to gently braid the young woman’s dark hair; all while trying to figure out how Nelani could have been a threat to Allana—a girl that it is doubtful she even knew existed. What had Nelani done or said to make Jacen want to kill her? As she continued to braid, she glanced over at her ‘friend’. “Would you have killed a woman to protect your kids?”

Darth Vectivus nodded sadly, “If the circumstance had called for it? Yes, yes I would have.”

Nodding once, the blonde closed her eyes and stretched out to immerse herself into the Force, hoping to find some guidance as to what she should do. Suddenly, she was bombarded with hundreds of images swirling around in her mind, all of the blooming and then quickly fading from view. Concentrating harder, she made out an image of Jacen being led out of a courtroom, his hands bound behind him; in another, she was kneeling in front of Allana showing her how to grip a smashball; there was one of the Queen Mother leaving the Galactic Senate Building, a grim look on her face; Jacen gently handing her a slim velvet box, looking dashing in his tuxedo; an image of the Millennium Falcon firing on a green-striped X-Wing; another one of herself, this time standing behind a desk in a classroom, smiling as a young man worked on a calculus problem at the whiteboard; Jaina leading a squad of Mandalorians storming down a curved hallway; her and Tenel Ka standing in front of a mirror, the Queen Mother helping her into her wedding gown; a Super Star Destroyer as it rapidly grew in size on a viewscreen…

As the images faded an unfamiliar male voice sounded in her head, “There are times…” he said in a friendly voice, “…when we have to choose between what is just and what is right.”

A softer, more feminine voice sounded in her head; a voice she recognized, “Choose and act, Danni.”

Sighing, the scientist realized that there really was no choice at all. Straightening her back, she concentrated a little harder and with a soft pop the stack of wood pallets she had seen by the front airlock appeared a couple of meters away and clattered to the floor.

Opening her eyes, she watched as Vectivus gave her a proud-looking smile before turning and heading out of the small cavern, leaving her to her thoughts. Hoping feverishly that she had made the correct choice, she turned back to Nelani and gently levitated the young woman, placing her on the improvised pyre. It was only after she had finished that she noticed she had not struggled with the task. Confused by what her new-found aptitude, Danni went about straightening Nelani’s Jedi robes, placing the woman’s arms on her chest, with the quiet clattering of a cart being pushed into the cavern coming from behind her. With a half-turn, she smiled sadly as the Force ghost floated a small vase of violets towards her.

“They’re fake, of course.” Vectivus explained, “But it they’re the best I can do.”

“It’s the thought that counts.” Danni replied quietly as she removed the silk flowers from the vase, placing them gently in Nelani’s hands. Shuffling to her right, Danni gently kissed the Jedi’s forehead. “I’m sorry, Nelani.”

Once she had finished dousing the base of the pyre with the kerosene Vectivus had found, the Sith Lord floated a silver cylinder over to her. Seeing Danni’s confused look, he explained; “She was going to keep it, but I relieved her of it before she left.” Again, the blonde smiled sadly and took a look at Nelani’s lightsaber hilt…impressed by the subtle engraving she had etched over the top of the grip.

With an overwhelming sense of finality, the ‘sort of’ Jedi ignited the ‘sabre, the hum of the aureolin blade deafening in the silence of the cavern. Darth Vectivus moved to stand next to her, and said solemnly, “There is no death, only the Force.” Lowering the yellow blade, the kerosene caught fire with a quiet whoosh and Danni backed away.

For a long while, the pair stood and watched as the flames took hold and started to lick at Nelani’s body, the wood crackling as it burned. As they watched, the woman’s Jedi robe started to smoke before finally igniting. As soon as the robe caught fire, Danni was blinded as a bright green flash exploded soundlessly in the cavern, forcing her to turn away. After her eyes had recovered, she noticed that the flames changed from their usual yellows and reds to an emerald green as they started to consume the Jedi’s body.

After only a few minutes, the green flames gradually subsided before fading out entirely, leaving only a small pile of ash behind as a reminder of what once had been.

“Huh.” Came a voice from the alcove Danni had squeezed herself into a few hours…a lifetime…ago. “I always wondered how that worked.” As Nelani Dinn walked toward the pair, she gave Danni a warm smile before finally getting close enough to embrace the scientist. “Thank you, Danni.”

The blonde woman, her mind reeling from the events of the last couple of days, could only nod in reply.

|​

O​

_____(___)_____​

​

A/N: I’m not going to lie: this was the hardest chapter for me to write and took me two-and-a-half weeks to finish; I needed to have Danni come to the decision to ‘let Jacen off’ in a believable manner without it being ‘cheap’. It is my hope that you find it reasonably satisfying and decently plausible. As always, thank you for reading!

 

Bravo on accomplishing a major turning point in a believable non-cheesy fashion. I can believe that you struggled with that one. Whew! Wouldn't it be ironic if Danni's decision still leads to a fractured GFFA and no peace with the Remnant? Sorry, I'm being cynical LOL but when politicians are involved. And Lumiya probably has a backup plan too.

 

Thanks! And there's the rub…the future is never guaranteed, and even if this turns out okay, there's nothing to say that the NEXT crisis won't explode. I had Vectivus talk about the Force vision as a type of computer model to tie these visions to something less abstract: we use computers all of the time to predict the future…weather, sports, politics…but, in the end, it really does come down to chance and luck (good or bad). I imagined Vectivus and his cohorts meditating a lot and comparing notes on what they saw…and then passing this data on to Danni so that she could make an informed decision.

 

​

​

​

@Nyota's Heart; windu4; Iverna; Kahara​

​

​

​

Chapter 25—All Bad Things Must Come to an End​

Coruscant—Thirteen days later…


Danni was just pulling on a pink pullover sweater when the doorbell rang. Reaching out with the Force, she smiled as she sensed the unmistakable calm presence of Tenel Ka. Plucking her Vong bracelet off of the bathroom countertop, she made way her way to the door.

Her smile died after opening the door; before her stood a tall woman with jet-black hair and two arms—clearly not the Queen Mother. Warily, she appraised the woman as she again reached out with the Force. Sensing her apprehension, the woman smiled. “Yes Danni, it is I. May I come in?”

Opening the door wider, the blonde woman could not stop blurting out the obvious, “You have a mechanical arm!”

Tenel Ka nodded as she gave her friend a wry look. “And a new hair style,” she deadpanned as she rolled up the left sleeve of her teal polo shirt to show Danni the sock at the top of the prosthetic that fit over what remained of her left arm. As she gestured at the sensors embedded in the cloth, she explained. “These sensors,” she turned to allow Danni to see the prosthetic’s harness that ran across her back. “And ones running between my shoulder blades along my spine, allow some semblance of real movement and allow some feeling.”

Danni could see where the harness ran all the way across Tenel Ka’s back, looping around her other arm. The curious scientist in her mind got the better of her, “May I look?” After her friend nodded, Danni raised the back of her friend’s shirt to get a closer look. Curious, she ran her fingers along the skin underneath where the sensors were located and felt a small metal strip just below the skin on one of the Queen’s vertebra. “The interface system?”

Again, Tenel Ka nodded, impressed with Danni’s understanding of robotics. “Yes. There is a sensor just under the skin that looks exactly like the one on my harness and that is spliced into my nervous system.” She could feel Danni move the sensor on her harness to take a look. The now black-haired woman continued, “The harness gives the arm decent stability, so I don’t have to worry too much about what I can and cannot do with it. It is not as dexterous as a full-up prosthetic, but it serves its purpose rather well.”

Danni snorted as she continued to examine the sensors, “And that purpose is?”

“Escape.” Tenel Ka answered. “There is a shortage of one-armed Jedi women in the galaxy. With my shorter hair, I can either color it quickly or wear a wig. Combined with my new arm, I can disappear.”

Her scientific curiosity quelled, Danni pulled Tenel Ka’s shirt down. “Maybe sing in a band?” The blonde added.

Tenel Ka spun around, “How did…” She stopped, seeing Danni’s amused look.

“Gadell and I were at the Blue Oyster a few nights ago…” she paused, noticing the queen’s satisfied smirk. Frowning, she continued, “It’s not like that.” Tenel Ka’s smirk got bigger. Danni sighed, “Anyway, we were at the Oyster to watch Kenara’s band, ‘The One-Armed Bandits’, play. Imagine my surprise when I sensed a familiar presence from the lead singer.”

Tenel Ka tried, and failed, to keep from laughing. After a few moments, she sobered, “Did you tell Gadell?”

“Are you kidding? He’d have a heart attack!” Danni smiled, “No, your secret is safe with me.” Her smile turned predatory, “For now.”

The Queen Mother tried to glare at her friend. “You would not…”

Danni interrupted, “And pass up a chance to blackmail royalty? I think not.”

In mock seriousness, Tenel Ka chastised her friend. “It is a treasonable offense to threaten the Crown.”

Danni laughed as she shook her head. “Only if I am Hapan.” Winking, she continued, “Besides, who would threaten a fancy hairpiece?” She paused, thinking for a second, “Speaking of Gadell; where are he and Allana, anyway?”

“They were going to grab a bite to eat and then return to the Survivor for tonight.”

Danni nodded. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

Tenel Ka’s expression turned serious. “Yes. The longer we wait, the more dangerous it gets.”

“True.” Danni agreed and looked at her chrono. “Okay, I’m supposed to meet him in about thirty minutes. We will return here after dinner.”

Her friend nodded. “I will be ready.”

|​

O​

_____(___)_____​

​

​

Jacen had come over to Danni’s hotel suite after dinner again. It beat being by himself in his sparse apartment, and he enjoyed being with her. He liked her easy smile, liked teaching her, and liked the way they could talk without her getting judgmental. To be sure, she often disagreed with him, but she always had logical reasons for why she thought him wrong. After a while, Danni was the first to break their comfortable silence as they sat together on opposite ends of the couch, their feet in each other’s lap, watching some holo-drama. “Can you spend the night again?” After that first night, they each slept separately in her two-bedroom suite; they both enjoying just being in each other’s company after spending so much time alone. Jacen wondered briefly what might have happened if he hadn’t been so keen to wander the galaxy searching for…well, he still didn’t really know what he went searching for. Perhaps it is better to revel in what is rather than what might have been.

Smiling, “I’d better not. You know how the neighbors talk.” She snorted a small laugh. He shifted on the couch so as to be able to look at her directly. “I’ve sensed that you have been on edge ever since you got back. What’s wrong?”

Danni refused to look at him. As she stared out the patio door at the lights of Coruscant, she answered, “I’ve been meaning to ask you a question since I returned, but I could never seem to find the right time.” He furrowed his eyes, not sure where she was going with this. Danni took a deep breath, trying to brace herself for the storm certain to come as soon as she finished her next sentence. Vaguely, she noticed that her hands started to tremble slightly. Her voice was very quiet. “Why did you do it? Why did you kill Nelani?”

Jacen’s eyes grew very wide. “What did you say?” His voice was composed, but he was shocked by her question.

She had gotten off of the couch and took a couple of steps towards the patio door. “I know that you killed her. I just would like to know why.”

Jacen stood, but remained in front of the couch. He said nothing as he watched Danni stare out into the night and realized that this was it: this was his sacrifice—he always had assumed that it would be someone closer to him. At that moment, however, Jacen realized that he was close to her, that he did love her. Perhaps not the way she wanted, or even deserved, but it was the truth just the same. No one, not even Tenel Ka, made him think things through the way that Danni Quee did, and he loved her for it. He felt his eyes moisten as he realized what he must do. I’m sorry, Danni. You will save the galaxy. Jacen looked down at the floor as he delved into the Force for some clue as to what the future would hold but, strangely, the Force was silent this evening. Taking a deep breath he drew his lightsaber from his belt and drew it back as he prepared to ignite it. He looked up…

…Right into the muzzle of a blaster a meter and a half from his face. Danni had turned and drawn her holdout blaster so fast, that Jacen didn’t even hear her move. Her positioning was perfect; she was too close for him to be able to block a shot, and too far away for him to knock the blaster from her hand before she could fire. It was as if she expected this to come about. Impressive. He lowered his hand with the still unlit lightsaber down to his side. Danni backed up a pace, still keeping the blaster leveled at his face. She had gotten the drop on him once; she doubted that she could do it again.

Acidly, the blonde spit out, “I’ve been dead for a decade; you’d be doing me a favor.” She paused, taking a deep breath, “Are you planning on burying me in some unmarked grave as well?” For the second time that evening, Jacen furrowed his eyes together in confusion and Danni’s tone stayed ice-cold, “Your quest to rule the galaxy ends here.”

“I have no desire to rule the galaxy. I just want to make the future a safer place.”

Danni shook her head slightly, “By killing Nelani?” Her tone got a little more desperate, “I’ve had visions, Jacen. I’ve seen you burn a planet, I’ve seen you dueling with Mara, I’ve seen you flying with Allana in your lap in a snub-fighter engagement…this has to stop. You have to stop. Now.”

Jacen allowed a small smirk. He took on an air of condescension, “Don’t believe all that you see, Danni. ‘Always in motion, the fu…..” His smirk disappeared and his tone became one of uncertainty, “…ture….. is.” Every Jedi knew of Yoda’s lesson to Luke Skywalker, but Jacen had never really taken time to think about what it meant. Until now. He killed Nelani because of a possible future. His lightsaber slowly dropped from his hand as he backed a couple of steps into the wall behind him, clearly shocked. As he raised his hands in front of his face to look at them, his voice dropped to a whisper. “What have I done?” His danger sense flared, and he looked up at Danni who still had her blaster pointed at his face, never sensing the person in the other bedroom with a large blaster pointed at his chest. A look of surprise flashed across his face as he felt an incredible icy pain coming from his ribcage. As his world faded to black, his last thought was…Most impressive!

​

|​

O​

_____(___)_____​

​

A/N: This is the first half of the first scene I actually wrote for this story, so it would be accurate to say that this whole thing revolves around what my muse made me write two-plus years ago. Stupid muse.

I know that this is a bit short by my standards, but I felt that this chapter works better when broken up here. Thanks again for reading!

 

Awesome and gripping. Danni did just what she needed to do. Kept her head through all of it too. Yup, this looks a perfect break-off point for the chapter. Sets up good edge of seatness for the next scene.

 

Nice cliffhanger. Tenel Ka without the arm always bothered me. I mean having a prosthesis isn't like getting hair plugs for vanity sake. Having two hands is incredibly helpful, especially when trying to avoid assassination attempts.