Star Wars Legacy of the Force: The Last Stand

IC: Aden Kya
Above the ecliptic

This was utter chaos.

In half a minute, at least three squadrons of Corellian fighters had been shredded, and as many GA ones.

As Aden guided his flight up above the fighting, he lost track of Tahiri, and then saw her. She was being pounced on by Vigilance’s and K-wings and TIEs -

“Valentina,” he snapped. “Hold back. Do not, repeat, do not, assist Veila.”

He fired at the Valorum from a distance, hurling a few opportunistic torpedoes at it. The Carrack’s were threading the GA Second Fleet with fire, and the Blue Diver responded with brilliant laser fire. Of course, the Second had an Interdictor and it’s gravity wells were up.

If anyone wanted to get away, they’d need to be far away, to make it. Aden’s eyes slipped to a motley array of fighters that looked far too old to be here - like the Valorum. They’d carved some space for themselves, around a black angular transport pegged as the Fury.

At maximum range, Aden locked on six proton torpedoes and hurled them all at the formation centred around the Fury, which included Marie, Loriana, Trec -

Worse still, two GA frigates were reaching the fighter scrum. The Mawrunner was in the lead, and its anti-starfighter weapons stitched a hole in the Corellian formation. Through that gap slid a second GA frigate, the Merriweather, which rushed forward towards the fighters amassed by the Valorum. The big but elderly VSD couldn’t fire at the corvette without firing at Adam’s team -

So it was down to them to take it out and get moving, but they’d likely notice Aden now. How could they not?

A voice came across an open channel. “This is Admiral Limpan of the Galactic Alliance Second Fleet. Corellia has betrayed these peace accords. I call upon all enemy combatants to stand down and surrender. This battle was unnecessary, and you can’t win.”

Captain Hoclaw spoke back across the open channel. “This is the Valorum. Colonel Solo is the new Palpatine and Admiral Niathal a fishy Tarkin. Anyone who props up that regime is an idiot!”

In the middle of it all were Syal and Rhoen, their enemies just shredded by fire from the Mawrunner - by Tiom - when a call sounded out across the GA comms.

It was Jacen Solo.

Syal grit her teeth; they were free from the fight thanks to Tiom. She wagged her wings in thanks to the GA frigate, and turned aside as the Merriweather began firing on Fury, and the others, just to add more chaos to the mix -

“Come on, squad. Let’s save Colonel Solo.”

She turned her Aleph and goosed its engines towards the source of Jacen’s signal.

Of course, Adrian and Ilona were out in the distance, watching all this - and they would realise how lucky they had been. Their micro-jump had put them out of range, but the Second had just created an artificial well -

Nobody else could micro-jump out!

At least they could listen to Limpan and Hoclaw... but the Corellians had betrayed the meeting...

Aden for his part didn’t watch his torpedoes.

No, he could see two fighters high-tailing it for a gunship by the name of Warrior. “Valentina, on me.”

He had found Adalia.

TAG: @Adalia-Durron, @darthbernael, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @Anedon, @adaml83 (please all see below too especially Force users)
—-
IC: Luke Skywalker
Battles edge

In this new situation, Luke merely needed to give the others a sense, in the Force, of his direction and began heading towards the spot Twool had pointed out to him. As they neared Jacen, their own passive sensors, less sensitive than Twool's, would pick up the signal from the tracking device that Seha had placed on his cloak. When they were near enough, Luke would open fire on Jacen's fighter, and simultaneously initiate a battle-meld.

Each of the three Masters had a Jedi Knight as his wingmate, and Luke's was Sanola. Because she was the youngest Jedi Knight on this mission, she was paired with the most experienced Master, which bothered Luke neither intellectually or emotionally... except that he was reminded, approximately three times per second, that it should have been Mara's StealthX pacing his own.

A glance out the port side of his canopy showed him that the Confederation capital ships were nearing the starfighter engagement zone. Streamers of dueling vessels were now flowing away from the zone; it appeared that the outmatched Confederation fighters were fleeing, pursued by their vengeful GA counterparts.

Luke frowned. He felt no sense of panic from that direction. But that was not his concern.

It was time. Luke reached out for the other Jedi and felt his awareness merge with theirs, combining into the battle-meld that made them so effective in group missions. Simultaneously, not bothering to work with targeting computers, blips, and brackets, he swung his snubfighter's nose a trifle starboard, located his target by feel, and fired. Four lances of red light leapt from his StealthX and converged on a distant point in psace.

Caedus felt the change a moment before he understand what it meant.

With a curse he had not intended to utter in front of his daughter, Caeuds grabbed the Blur's control yoke and hit the thrusters.

Not fast enough. The inner surfaces of his solar arrays flashed red red and his Blur kicked as it was hit from behind by a full-strength laser shot. the Blur spun from the impact, then the thrusters kicked in and he was hurtling away from that spot in space, executing one more tumble before he could gain complete control over his prototype TIE.

He could begin to make out the identity of his ambushers now. Luke, the shining presence. Kyp Durron. Corran Horn. Two or three others he didn't know well enough to recognise.

Three Masters this time.

Both times they'd attacked when he was in the presence of his daughter. His anger grew, ready to fuel his powers.

He felt his enemies seeking him, felt them turning after him. He made himself smaller in the Force, reducing his presence to nothingness. He would give them nothing to work with.

Lasers erupted behind him, missing by meters. He veered to starboard. The laser burst tracked his movement, clipping his port solar array wing before the burst ended. Caedus growled. They were doing a fine job of tracking him. Either the Blur was not all it was cracked up to be, or they had some other means of determining his location. (Which they did, the tracker on his cape!)

Then Allana started crying again, and Caedus knew he had his answer.

They were homing in on Allana's Force presence, they had to be. They were using her to target him. Hypocrital opportunists - for all their talk of protecting the innocent, they were now going to use a blameless little girl, shredding her life to get to him.

His anger grew, consuming him, casting everything he saw in the cockpit, ever star outside the viewpoint, in a haze of redness. So great it was that he could no longer contain his presence in the Force - his anger flowed through him, through his pursuers, through everything in tune with him or the Force.

Luke, Kyp, Corran, the other Jedi, Leia, Jaina, Zekk, sneaking out aboard the Love Commander, Adalia, Marie, Bernael, Renn, Rom, Rem, Aden -

Leia, for her part, aboard the Commander, was hit by a wave of hatred. Redness and heat swamped her, as it would all Force users in-system.

Hatred for the Jedi.

Hatred for Luke.

For the Confederation.

For lasers and explosives and chaos.

She gasped, her back spasming from the overload of emotion. In the starboard seat ahead of her, she saw Jaina jerk, but her daughter was elss affected than she had been.

"Sweetheart? Leia? What's wrong?" In an instant Han was by her side, gripping her flailing hand, helpless concern on his face.

"It's Jacen. He's out there." She gestured to starboard, well away from the Anakin Solo. "He's... I don't know. I've never felt him like this." She shook her head to clear it ."Luke's there, too."

Han's expression shifted from concern to grim determination. "All right. We're going now, turbolasers or no turbolasers. Time to prove that I can fly a a sand bucket through an ion storm." He returned to his seat, strapped himself in.

Jaina's voice was a rebuke. "That we can."

"Right. We'll argue over who's second best when we're out of here."

Shields, then.

Caedus disengaged the electronic countermeasures and activated his shields. Since he could not evade detection by his enemies, he would have to elude them for a while. Nor was there any need to maintain comm silence. "Solo to Anakin Solo. Am under starfighter attack. Get me some starfighter support here now. Bring the Anakin Solo, as well."

Tebut's smooth, controlled voice answered him. "At once, sir."

That put Syal and Rhoen - and the other ten fighters of Dancer Squadron - up against Kyp Durron and Corran Horn and three other StealthXs piloted by Sanola Ti, Twool, and Tyria Tainer.

Four modern Aleph’s and eight X-wings against five Jedi-flown StealthX’s.

Luke doubled down on his intent to end this now, targeting again the TIE Blur.

And Luke... did not hate.

Luke remained calm, reactive, ready to defend.

Ready to kill.

TAG: @The Real Kyp Durron and @Corellian_Outrider and @galactic-vagabond422

 

OOC: Adalia's going to kill me...Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC Bernael and company
Aboard the Fury

The battle raged, Romulus and Remus kept them on the move, their defense systems battling the incoming fire that the GA ships, swiftly including a pair of GA frigates, was aiming at the ship and the fighters around it. Bernael turned to Face, ”I’m sure you have your contacts high in the GA, I’d suggest you use them to convince them that you’ve been on an undercover mission and this Fury is your staging area.”

Moments later he bent over the holotable, a growl coming from deep inside him. Deeper in the ship a loud thump and string of curses sounded from where Renn had been working. Both Rom and Rem were writhing as their minds fought the influence of the hate and pain that Cadeus was letting loose of in wave after wave.

Bernael was the first to recover, to block his mind from most of the effects of Cadeus energy. He scanned the display and a cold smile crossed his face. Gazing at Face, the smile turned darker, ”As you try, I have my own means of trying.” He opened the crypto programs of the holo table, scanning every available frequency that the GA was using or had ready for use. Eventually he found one he was sure he could use.

On an audio only channel he keyed the comm, ”Aden Kya, good to see you out of a prison cell. You are in much better shape than last we spoke.” He paused, ”Oh, you may think you are after your prize right now but I have one for you that makes petty revenge pale in comparison. And if I must fight your little toys it will be difficult for us to discuss it and I pass it on to you.” He knew the enticement might not fully work but it was a start. ”I know you have contacts with the other Sith. Did Wyrlokk tell anyone why he failed?”

Aden, gunning his ship to chase after Adalia, hesitated. “I did not know. But it is no surprise; the One Sith are echoes of the failed Empire, not the revived Sith. It is not them who have a clear succession, just scraps of knowledge taped together like a monstrosity.”

He juked and swerved around long distance laser fire. “You are that shadow, are you not? The one from the Dodonna?”

”The Dodanna, hmmm? Wait, was that the ship that some idiot decided to send to bombard innocents?” he asked casually. ”I am hurt that you do not recall our meeting. Or recall that I saved your life when Cadeus almost took it. I did, and still do, believe you have potential, hence the Holocron.” he said.

“Hence,” Aden groused. He wasn’t having any of it. Nobody just reached out to another in the middle of a space battle. He eyed Adalia’s distant ship.

Was he interested in her fate?

Aden resisted the urge to ask whose Holocron it was; that would just kindle his temptation from a spark to an inferno, born too dissimilar to the one consuming Kashyyyk.

“What do you want?”

Bernael chuckled, a dark sound, ”Me and mine care about your war only in that it not fully upset the Balance of the galaxy. Cadeus is too much for this Balance but one must be able to rise in the Dark. You do not have the strength for that, yet.”

He sat back, in the lounge facing the holo pickup, the Holocron floating from his quarters to his outstretched hand, and into view of Aden. As he turned it in his hand, the lights of the lounge glinting off the faces of it, ”I offer the opportunity to become that Power, to gain that strength. But...before I let anyone, GA or otherwise, destroy me, my people, or my ship, I will destroy the Holocron. So...the clock is ticking.”

"I take it you're aboard that damaged Fury," Aden said, following the signal.

"Are not my torpedoes' on their way?" He grinned slightly. "I could deactivate them, and then you'll owe me."

”There’s damaged and then there’s Damaged. You’d be surprised what an engineer with as many arms as they need can do. As to your torpedoes…” he left the channel open as he spoke to Rom, ”That one, chicken time.” he pointed toward the frigate that was currently firing at them, ”Bring our stragglers, and scramble the IIF codes of everyone in range so no one can use it to aim their weapons.”

Turning his attention back to the channel Aden was on, ”Negotiations work both ways. And right now you have a heavily armed ship, almost the same size as your frigate, bringing gifts for them. So, the offer stands or I keep doing this to your larger craft.” he replied calmly.

“I don’t care about the frigate,” Aden sneered. “I bombarded a planet and killed millions.”

He clicked off, and gunned his engines towards Adalia. Worse, the Merriweather opened fire and ripped in the Corellian formation -

The Fury took a sudden, hard hit -

“We have a breach!” Rem shouted.

Face looked to the consoles; Renn would be able to tell them that they were losing air pressure throughout the Fury, and that the cockpit and the three of them was cut off from the rest of the ship -

Face looked over. “They’ll need to get to pods. Those gun turrets won’t be vacuum sealed!”

Engines were fine, and the countermeasures - it was just dumb bad luck.

Bernael simply smiled at Face, a finger pressed a stud on the lounge, a compartment under it opened and he reached in, pulling a small package out. He tossed it to Face. ”You think I’ve had this ship and lived this long without being prepared?” Face would find a full vac suit in the package.

’Rom, Rem, suits, now. If you must evacuate, do so, but this old girl has a few surprises.’ he sent them. A flick of his head and his helmet formed around his head, a precaution for now.

His smile was cold as he looked at Face now, ”Time to have a little fun.”

Using his chin to change frequencies for a moment, ”Rom, target one is a go, let’s drag the battle to them.” The nose of the Fury swung and, even as they fought the gravity generator, soon they were directly behind Aden. He keyed the comm hacking into Aden’s frequency once more, ”Of course you don’t care about the freighter, but you might care about some capital ship killing torpedoes that are now behind us both.”

“Or,” he clicked over to Rem, ”Fire them.” He clicked back to Aden, ”Maybe you may want to stop the GA torps I just sent at Adalia, right along your flight path. MAD is a thing, my friend.”

Aden didn’t answer.

The missiles flew, and they were simply enemies.

For now.

The missiles continued their flight, unerringly aimed at Adalia. The Fury sped up and closed on Aden’s fighter. Clicking over to Rom as a devious smile formed on his face as he glanced at Face. ”Open the hangar and once at close enough range engage it on his fighter, pull it in.”

TAG: @Sinrebirth, @Adalia-Durron, (all others for reference to battle positioning) @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @Anedon, @adaml83, @The Real Kyp Durron, @Corellian_Outrider, @galactic-vagabond422

 

IC: Darth Caedus
Surviving, Battle of Rendezvous Point

Caedus stifled a curse.

If anything, his rage grew.

And with each increase in his anger, Allana's sobbing grew louder, her body shaking against his.

He could not comfort her. To comfort her now would be to die.

He became lost in time, lost in his rage, existing in the moment. He could not have remembered his name, only that he had to fly, that he had to protect his daughter. Sweat poured from him. His flight suit had ceased absorbing his sweat long ago. Now it pooled in his boots.

Then there was... intrusion. More presences. Kyp and Corran were suddenly farther away, reducing the number of inbound attacks.

Caedus hazarded a glance at his sensor board. It showed a changed battlefield.

He was now far away from the Alliance formation. In fact, it no longer was an Alliance formation. The Alliance and Corellian capital ships had merged in a single formation, one in which the antiquated Corellian vessels were taking a horrible beating but fighting on. The GA Interdictor was down. Most of the engagement's starfighters were away from that zone, the Corellians leading the Alliance away in the distance.

Escape pods had to be launched from the Fury; Rem and Rom among them - Bernael, Renn and Face safe in the pressurised cockpit.

A pursuit was on-going - the traitors chasing the fighters of Aden, Valentina and also Tahiri, them chasing Adalia and Mirax, the two of them heading towards the distance ship that had carried the rest of the group in. More starfighters heading towards the GA X-wings - A-9s, a whole swarm of them -

Closer, there were Alliance-marked starfighters in Jacen's vicinity, trading fire with StealthXs, tracking them by their laser emissions.

Not Luke. He stayed on Caedus's tail, still pouring laserfire at the Blur, as did Luke's wingmate. But a trio of Alliance starfighters had broken through - two XJ7 X-wings and one of those ungainly round-nosed Aleph starfighters - Syal, Rhoen and a third Dancer by the name of Jen - just the one name, and she wasn't sure how she'd managed to keep up with the others but here she was. They now harassed Caedus' pursuers!

Some distance away, a red blip showed that the Love Commander was in-bound.

Beyond that, so too was the Anakin Solo, it's weapons firing carefully at what StealthXs it could, too, identify.

Caedus nodded. The Anakin Solo would reach proper range, and its turbolasers and ion cannons would chase the Jedi away, and he could return to safety.

---

Luke stayed on Jacen's tail, but the situation was worsening. Sanola Ti dropped back to engage the enemy X-wings and Aleph, but if the pilots were good, she couldn't hold them. And without the two other Masters to herd him, Jacen could turn back to the Anakin Solo. Luke had to finish this now.

He opened himself further to the Force, hoping that it would give insight not just into where Jacen was but also where he intended to be be in the next second. Jacen was not concealing himself in the Force now. He was... he was...

He was with a little girl.

Luke started.

He took his thumb off the laser trigger and probed again.

Luke's StealthX shook. A quad laser blast from the pursuing Aleph had grazed him during his moment of surprise!

Syal had hit him!

Kill Jacen... kill an innocent.

Luke veered away from his target and sent a nonverbal command for the other Jedi to for up on him. He felt surprise and distress, but he made his intent stronger - insistent.

The other StealthXs piloted by the wingmen of the Masters veered away, towards empty space.

---

Caedus sagged as he gave way to exhaustion. Allana looked up at him, red-eyed, her tears unabated, hiccuping in distress.

"Colonel Solo to starfighter escort. Who's piloting the Tee?"

A woman's voice came back, immediately. "Dancer One, sir."

"I mean your name," Caedus tried not to sound aggravated.

"Yes, sir. Lieutenant Syal Antilles, sir. Off Blue Diver." Syal tried to keep the wince out of her voice; he had addressed her on open GA comms, so Rhoen could hear her too, as well as basically anyone with access to GA codes.

Caedus grimaced. He'd been helped by the oldest daughter of an enemy, yet another traitor to the Alliance.

Still, he always promised to reward loyalty and merit, and moments ago ad decided to do just that for the Aleph pilot. "It's Captain Antilles now."

"Uh." It wasn't so much a word as an exhalation. Caedus couldn't tell whether she sounded more pleased or pained. Through the Force, she felt only shocked, though the other presence in the cockpit with her, doubtless her gunner, felt elated. Rhoen, of course, would be able to tell she was surprised, and were Tiom listening, he would too. "Thank you, sir," Syal managed to say.

"And be advised that the StealthX pilot you chased off was a pretty good pilot himself, Antilles, you just sent Luke Skywalker into retreat."

Ahead of him, space far in the distance behind the Anakin Solo, back in the vicinity of the capital ships, was suddenly transfixed by a column of light, kilmeters wide, that twisted and writhed like something alive.

---

Space curled and wrenched, as though a vengeful child were playing with the controls of a monitor. Caedus saw ships, silhouetted within the beam, elongate as though they were being drawn through a wire. Ships contracted to tiny dots and disappeared entirely.

The Mawrunner among them

The Blue Diver, too, and the rest of the Second Fleet.

With the brightneess and distortion came a blow in the Force. It hammered at Caedus, at Luke, at Kyp, at Corran, at Aden, at Tahiri, at Adalia, at Bernael, at Renn, at any and all of the Force users here.

Allana's sobs cut off. She slumped in Caedus's lap, mercifully relieved of the burden of consciousness.

The space darkened and twisted back to its normal shape. Where once scores of ships had floated and fought, now there was only nothingness - or perhaps twisted wreckage, with no destructive beams or running lights to illuminate it.

Numbed, Luke considered his options. Turn back to help...help whom? With six StealthXs? Look for the cause...

Jacen was alive. Luke could feel him. He could feel Leia, too, not far away, and Jaina and Zekk and dozens of others - starfighters that had been far enough away to avoid the blast. Dry-mouthed, he activated his comm board and transmitted the jump route. "Let's go."

For Leia, it was like that day, long ago, when she had seen Alderaan destroyed. She hadn't known then that she was Force sensitive, hadn;t realised that she was feeling the shock of those millions of deaths as well as her own sense of loss and horror. This blow through the Force was much less severe, but her sensitivity to such things was much greater.

"Centerpoint." Jaina's voice was subdued "That has to be Centerpoint Station firing."

"Yeah." Han banked sharply. "It's time to go."

The battle was over.

There were plenty of combatants left, but what was there to fight over?

The Anakin Solo gave out a call to GA fighters to return to their hangar; the ship that had conveyed Trec and the others remained, ready to accept survivors on the Confederation side, but ships with hyperdrives, they could leave, and go.

It was over.

It was all over.

Syal sat in utter silence; in horror. She shut off her comms, and put her head on the controls.

She wept.

Her gunner took over the ship - he had limited ability to do so as gunner but he could plot a course for them to the Solo, at very least. The Sullustan stayed very, very quiet, his momentary happiness crushed.

Aden gulped, and reached out to Tahiri and Valentina, the first to make a decision.

"We're leaving." He sent coordinates for Coruscant, and jumped.

Ships from across the galaxy came to the disaster site, to see the results, yes, but also to offer relief to the survivors. The Sabaton arrived with Admiral Babo to assist, and the Errant Venture, commanded by Booster Terrik. The Anakin Solo would take on board the GA ships that had made it, and the Warrior those pilots of the Rogue Wing. Luke would not oppose any of those in his squadron who handed out the coordinates for the Jedi base - he trusted the Jedi Masters with him.

Even if they were looking to leave separately, everyone was here.

Corellia had crossed a line today, and it changed everything... and nothing, perhaps. The war was still on, but now, once again, the GA was losing... but would that stop the war?

No, it would not.

Not as long as Darth Caedus lived.

TAG: @adaml83, @Adalia-Durron, @The Real Kyp Durron, @galactic-vagabond422, @Corellian_Outrider, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @Anedon, @darthbernael - single responses and then I shall put together the finale combos.

 

IC Bernael, Face, Renn, and a touch of Romulus and Remus
Aftermath of destruction

The Fury jolted as Rom and Rem shot free of it in escape pods. At least they had gotten loose. The pursuit of Aden had run it’s course and it was time to move to another tack. Bernael glanced at Renn and Face as they worked together to get free of their foes. He refocused on the controls and angled his ship up and away from the battle, heading in a direction most didn’t think of when fighting, north of the system plane.

Renn muttered under his breath at the maneuvering that the vampire was doing with the ship, it wasn’t helping the astromechs that were working to get systems functional again and patch the holes that had vented the majority of the ship to space. As the Fury finally escaped the chaos Bernael glanced back and in that moment space turned white. Even a ship the size of his shook, rattled, bounced around and was spit even further from the battle.

As the systems began righting the craft, leveling it, he looked back out, a hand touching his chest, so much death, so much loss and none of it he’d fed upon. He’d been right, there was a trap but it was the Corellians. They’d activated Centerpoint. And a vast majority of the fleets both GA and the one Adalia’s people had brought, were in tatters or simply gone.

He let his senses loose and they spread out, touching those that survived. A sigh reached his lips when he felt that Adalia yet lived, a frown when he realized both the strongest of the foes in the Force as well as the Jedi also lived. Their struggle would continue and would cost many more lives. But...he touched the Force, it was slightly more Balanced and that was what his task was.

He sighed, glancing over at the other two once more. ”Renn, it is time. Our task here is done. It is time once more to return to the shadows.”

Renn chuckled, ”As though you can stay out of it for long, vampire.”

A small smile touched Bernael’s face, ”True, true.” His eyes met Face’s, ”We will drop you on a planet that you can find your way back from. It would, perhaps, be wise to not keep any records of your time here, all it does is make you more of a target for those that would seek to end the work we do.” He tapped the pad on the arm of his command couch, sending a simple message as he looked around the chaos of both sides falling back and regrouping.

Renn glanced over at Bernael once more, ”The usual, my friend?”

A nod, ”Yes, we’ll drop him off then return to…” he glanced at Face, ”one of of our stashes to repair and rearm.”

He reached out to ’Adalia, I shall contact you again when it is time.’ One last time he reached out, ’Rom, Rem, enjoy your vacation…’

The space the Fury had occupied suddenly was vacant as it leapt into hyper and was gone.

---------------------------------------

When the blast ripped through the system the pair of escape pods were sent flying even further than the Fury had been. Rom and Rem were flung back and forth against the restraints of the couches in the pods as they flew like bolts fired from a blaster. It took many long minutes for the minimal thrusters of the pods to right them and bring the two small slivers back together.

When they were situated it was apparent they had been flung to the outer edges of the system, distant from the various factions, even an almost impossible to return distance from the Fury. When the thought came from their Father it proved that he was preparing to become a shadow once more and that they were going to be able to disappear as well, if they got picked up.

Several hours passed as they waited for other forces to depart the battlefield before they activated the distress beacons, no need getting picked up by foes, or even possible allies that may not recognize they were allies. A flash in the corner of the window of their pods spoke of a ship hypering into the system nearby.

Its path took it near where their pods were located, the state of it speaking to it being one of those scavengers that appeared at battlefields after major engagements. Before they could react and attempt to get free a grappling arm had secured both pods and was bringing them into the belly of the ship.

The pods were set gently on the floor of the cargo bay. The hatches of the pods were opened, revealing beings beyond the doors. The hatch to the bridge of the scavenger opened and one dressed less like a scavenger and more like a defense force officer of a planet emerged. She nodded as she saw both nagai step out. “Father sends his regards.”

The ship’s engines roared and then fell more quiet as they leapt into hyper and away from the battle.

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, @Adalia-Durron, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @Anedon, @adaml83, @Corellian_Outrider, @galactic-vagabond422

 

IC Adalia Tehanis-Durron, Kyp Durron - @The Real Kyp Durron
I'm done, let's get out of here. - Thank you to Kyp for this, we always have fun.



Luke’s objective had change. Confusing as it was it meant that his had as well. Kyp was confused for a moment till he sensed what Luke did. A child on board with Jacen. His own recent life change event gave him pause. He had the opportunity to speak to her and reached out through the Force to find her. He was shocked when he did. Kyp could feel her fear and determination. He decided to risk it and sensed her channel. “Vixen?”

She was still fighting the following torpedo's and they were hot on her. “What?” She snapped as she slapped the comm. “Busy!” She added jerking the controls to port and then pulling up.

“Need help?” He asked knowing she must be in danger to react like this.

“Yes!” Adalia cried, “Oh Stang yes!”

Kyp did not hesitate turning his craft and accelerating in her direction. He could sense her fear and as she was usually a strong woman he was no used to it. The comm was close but he murmured “Hang on Ads. I’m on my way.”

She was running out of moves, running out of time and Adalia could almost hear Aden chuckling with amusement as he watched. Hate was a harsh word, one she rarely used and one she felt was only reserved for a privileged few. Aden was close to falling into that category.

What was she flying? He could see the brightly coloured A Wing but wasn’t sure he was believing his own eyes. Reaching out as he approached he confirmed it was her. The Headhunter attempting to help her was Mirax. She was safe. For now. Focusing his mind he was able to pinpoint the torpedoes and release two of his own.

She was almost done, almost too exhausted to keep flying. The last month had been so draining on her emotionally and physically and it was now showing as she struggled to stay alive. Spinning and diving she felt his touch, felt his support. Tears welled up as she realised her was there, he was helping. She had no droid to tell her what was happening and she had no time to look over her shoulder.

He closed his eyes to see them through Force and smiled as he could see his torpedoes closing in on their targets. “Won’t be long now love.” He could feel she was near exhaustion. With his assistance the targets were reached and he opened his eyes in time to see the explosions. He opened his comm to her. “You’re clear. Where’s our project?”

Adalia heard his voice and slumped forward, bathed in sweat and almost sick from her efforts to stay alive. The sound of it was all she needed, then his question caused her to smirk. “Projects in safe keeping.” She responded knowing he was trying really hard not to know more. They were risking it already and neither of them could risk Aden or worse Jacen knowing about Jesse. “I’m out for good, had enough.” She’d decided that she wasn’t fighting anymore, she was only making things worse as she was now a target. Being a target put everyone around her at risk, it was time to go to ground.

He heard her words and a part of him breathed a sigh of relief. “Understood. I’ll leave a light on.” Truth was he wanted to just go with her but he had a duty. “Find the light.” He closed the comm before pulling a hard 180 degree turn and re-joining Luke’s team. As he got there a massive light shot through space. Destroying large ships and causing chaos. He knew what had happened.

Centerpoint had been fired.

The rules had changed suddenly. Corellia showed its hand and it was strong.

Adalia saw the flash reflected on her console, she instantly reached out to make sure he’d gotten clear and found him, breathing a sigh of relief. She’d need to find him, she’d need to go to Jesse, maybe stay there for a bit till this nightmare was over. She needed to get out of this.




TAG @Sinrebirth @Corellian_Outrider

 

IC Adalia Tehanis-Durron
On board the Warrior.


Adalia had hidden herself away since returning to the Warrior, she’d come to an important decision. That had been close, too close for her now. Only 12 months ago she would have just smiled and snorted thinking ‘got away again’, but that was a different woman.

She was a mother now and that changed everything. In previous situations she knew if she died, she only left him behind and he would survive without her. That was the past. Her Son needed her now, her son needed his mother. The loss of Mara brought this sharply to her attention as well, young Ben was without a mother now, and sure his father will do a fantastic job, but Luke will never be his mother. She never wanted young Jesse to not know her, to not be hugged and held by her and to not love her. Adalia had come to a decision.

This war was over for her.

How to tell those who had assembled to support her was the big question. She’d decided to give them options, and offer them, but she knew this wasn’t going to go well. Sitting quietly in the empty room, she fiddled with her wedding ring as she stared at the wall. If Kyp had not been there, had not helped her, she may not be here to make this decision. Aden would have won the war he’d waged on her for 15 years or more. She still didn’t know why, but he’d made her his primary target. She was tired, tired to fighting, tired of being chased and tired of thinking for others. She just wanted to be a wife and mother for now.

Twenty minutes later she had grabbed a crate and was now standing on it, waiting for all who wanted to hear her to gather. There was a hum of quiet discussion as she stood scanning the faces of those she’d grown to love; some had gathered that she didn’t know but she had this covered. At least she hoped she did.

Finally, she adopted her traditional method of getting attention, putting two fingers in her mouth and making a shrill sounding whistle that almost pierced eardrums. The group fell silent. She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, allowing her cheeks to puff a little.

“You all know why we are here and the numbers against us were just dealt a heavy blow, but that blow has changed the course of this war. I am Force sensitive, you know that, but I don’t need the Force to know what Solo’s next move is going to be.” She paused for a second. “He is going to want that weapon, Jacen Solo will go after Centerpoint station next, and he will throw everything he has at that now as I know he will believe he will control the galaxy if he has it.” She put her hands on her hips as she looked to her boots for a moment before returning her gaze. “That’s a fight we cannot wade into without more support or firepower. I know Adam had done his best to get us as much as we can get our hands on, but it won’t be enough. So, the way I see it, we have a few choices.” This was the catalyst. “We find more people, more fighters, we join up with someone else out there who has knowledge and skills and need our support, or we go to ground – maybe back to Hawkbat and wait this out, or………we all go home.” She let that sink in, she herself couldn’t go home right now, truth was most of them couldn’t just go home till this was over. They’d be arrested on sight, she’d been told via heavily encrypted messages that her home was under surveillance, Jacen or Aden would have made sure the estate was watched. She was grateful very few knew Amber was her cousin. “So, with all that information, I’m giving you some time to figure out what you want to do.” She dropped her arms, “As you all know, I gave birth less than a week ago, and right now that’s all I want to be, a mother. I plan to retrieve my son and go to ground till this is over. I’m sorry if that goes against everything you all came here for, but when this started, I didn’t know I was having a baby and that has changed everything. I hope you understand.” She sighed and gave a nod, “You have around an hour to make your decision. If you choose to link up with another group, I have ideas and connections, so will cover that when the time comes…….Dismissed.” Before anyone could ask her questions, she stepped off the crate and turned to disappear into the ship, she needed space.



TAG @Sinrebirth @Anedon, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha @galactic-vagabond422 @The Real Kyp Durron @Corellian_Outrider @adaml83

 

IC: Darth Caedus - from the pages of Legacy of the Force: Fury - as abridged
Aboard the Anakin Solo, Coruscant space





The Anakin Solo, its hangars stuffed with surviving starfighters not only from its own complement but also those of several Second Fleet vessels, including those of Syal and Rhoen, its hyperdrive damaged by the gravity-wrenching effect of the attack, limped back into Coruscant space.

Caedus paced the bridge, not having slept since the catastrophe.

The enemy had made Centerpoint Station's primary weapon operational, and had used it to kill him - him personally.

It was a tribute. They knew he was the most significant individual in the galaxy, the one person who could lead the Alliance to victory. They had panicked. And they had failed to kill him. It was the kind of megalomania that would even cause Aden Kya to pause.

Captain Nevil approached. The Quarren was as upright and formidable looking as ever, but the skin of his face and mouth tentacles was paler than usual. "Sir, we're in planetary orbit. I'd like to transmit a request for permission to take a berth at the orbital shipyards - get repairs under way immediately. Admiral Niathal has sent a request that you meet with her immmediately at the Senate building."

No. I'd be away when Allana wakes. "I can't leave the Anakin Solo at a time like this. Reply that we can hae the meeting here, or by holocomm."

"Yes, sir."

The meeting took place in his private office. Again, Admiral Niathal stood and paced while Caedus, imperturbable, sat. "The Second Fleet is in shambles."

Caedus nodded.

"The flagship, Blue Diver, was lost, and Fleet Admiral Limpan with her."

Well, she wasn't all that spectacular an admiral anyway, was she?

"We just lost a lot of unlucky commanders and ships we cannot replace. The Corellians traded us a flying junkyward for modern ships of the line. Confederation military strength may exceed ours now. With Centerpoint active, it certainly does."

Caedus smiled. "Admiral, we've just won the war."

That soft-spoken assertion stopped Niathal in the middle of her pacing. "Say that again?"

"We go to the Corellian system and take Centerpoint Station from them. And then we point it anyone we choose."

The Admiral stood there for long moments, and once again studying him, her own face inscrutable. "Do you have a plan?"

"I will by tomorrow."

---
The Hangar



It was pandemonium aboard the Anakin Solo. Syal couldn't cope seeing Rhoen, and she just couldn't bear heading to her assigned lodgings and find him. Only him. She threaded through the main hangar, now overcrowded with starfighters, packed in far more tightly than the floor markings indicated was normal.

She searched for floor markings. V17 was her destination, and only after she squeezed between two armoured troop carriers did she spot it - an ordinary Lambda-class shuttle. She climbed the ramp with quick, nervous steps and pitched her voice to carry throughout the ship. "Lieut - uh, Captain Antillies reporting as requested." When the tech had delivered her the order, she had fled, looking for a place to hide aboard a Star Destroyer bursting at the seams with people.

Her comlink was still off.

"Welcome back, Syal."



"Uncle Tycho!" She ran to him, wrapped her arms around him, and held him close for a moment. "It's so good to see you." It really was.

"Captain Antilles. I thought that was a glitch when I saw it on the rescue roster."

She tried, but she couldn't keep the pain, the bitterness out of her voice. "A consolation prize for losing all but one pilot under my command. My fiance."

"Fiance?" Tycho registered shock. "I knew you were seeing someone -"

"Tiom Rordan, off the frigate Mawrunner." She didn't want to mention Rhoen. They hadn't had the talk, they'd just existed in this happy bubble where definition wasn't required. Where it didn't matter who was what to who. But now it was popped? Did Syal know how to be with Rhoen if Tiom wasn't here?

He just shook his head. "I'm so sorry."

Syal changed the subject. "Is Winter alright?"

Tycho nodded. "She's fine. Syal, good as it is to see you, I actually sent for you in an official capacity."

"Ah." She straightened. "General, what can I do for you?"

"What I need from you is, well, the truth. The truth with no protective coloration, no filtering."

She considered. "Off the record? And have you swept this shuttle for listening devices?"

"Yes and yes. Remember, like you, I live in a mixed household. Pilots and spies."

That almost fetched a smile from her. She didn't have any smiles left. "Fire away, General."

"I need intelligent observations from a field officer's perspective. About morale. The course of the war. About Colonel Solo."

She provided context, and went on about how this was is just us and us, it's not like the Vong War. But when it came to describing Jacen, she was almost scathing. "Everyone's afraid of him. Everyone. Nobody talks about him. Have you ever heard of that? Someone whose own people never talk about him?"

"Once or twice. A long time ago." Tycho sighed. "Syal, do you want out?"

Jolted and angered by his words, she sat upright and glared at him. "I don't want to run. I just want it to make sense."

"You're talking to a man who used to fly for Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine, whose subordnates never spoke about him." He studied her. "You'll get new orders in a day or two. They'll look awful. They'll look like something no commander with any sense would do to an ace like you. Don't protest, don't make waves. Just go where they tell you. I'll be there."

Two days to avoid Rhoen.

Syal was pained thinking it. But she couldn't handle it right now. She was in too much pain.

It was all too much.

She knew it was selfish, but she just couldn't cope.

So she replied.

"Yes, General."

---
Sanctuary Moon of Endor, Jedi Outpost



Luke and Ben, similarly clad in dark Jedi robes, swept into the communications center.

Han's hologram offered them a lopsided smile. "Hey, old buddy."

Leia nodded. "Luke, Alema Rar is dead."

Luke let out a long breath. The prime suspect in the murder of Mara. "She gave you no choice?"

"None." Leia's tone was decisive. "Jag is badly injured. Zekk is a bit... perturbed, but coming out of it. Jaina is unhurt. We're going to transport Jag to you. Jaina and Zekk will escort us in."

"See you in a couple of days, old buddy." Han reached off to the side, and the hologram winked out.

Luke felt like sitting down, letting gravity overcome him, but that might worry Ben.

Perhaps Mara could rest easy now.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

Luke nodded. "Better. Mara's murderer has met justice and we can put that uncertainty behind us."

"Yes."

Luke turned to face his son. There was something in Ben's reply... "You think something is wrong."

"Wrong is one of those kind of relative things. If I think something is wrong and you think its right, which one is correct?"

Luke nodded. A good response. "I suspect I would be. It's the whole Master-apprentice, father-son, wise old man-foolish young man thing."

"Right. It snice to be older and always right. I can't wait to be older?"

"So?"

"I'm trying to figure out why you don't have any energy."

"I have energy. It's waiting, in reserve."

"Yeah... maybe. Except your energy used to empower other people, too. Get them moving. Make them enthusiastic. Not anymore. Ever since Mom died, you've been like someone with a landspeeder resting on his back. Crushed flat, hardly able to move because of the pain. I mean, me too. But for me, over time, that speeder has slipped off me, mostly. I kind of expected when we learned that the one who'd killed her was captured or dead, the speeder would be gone from your back, too. That you'd be able to move again."

"I can move."

Ben shook his head. "You're still not you. People are asking questions. Things like, When is Luke Skywalker going to find his center and make things better again? Nobody knows what to tell them."

"Make things better?" Luke tired not to let his surprise show, but it crept into his voice. "You mean snap my fingers, end this war, and cause flower petals to rain down on all civilised worlds?"

"Yeah, just like that." Ben grinned, then sobered.

"You can't turn back time. It's not a landspeeder resting on my back, its the weight of years and events. I can't cast them off, and if I could, I'd undo everything I've learned from them. Today I'm more useful as a teacher. I really out to be thinking about grooming a viable candidate to become the next Grand Master."

Ben didn't speak for a long moment. Then there was a jolt of stronger emotion from Ben; fear - naked alarm on his face. "You want to be with Mom."

"Of course I do. Don't you?"

"Yes, but for me its different. I want her to be here, with us." A pause. "You want to be with her where she is."

"What do you mean?"

"You want to be dead. At peace. With her. dead."

"That's ridiculous."

"No, it isn't. When Uncle Han and Aunt Leia told us Alemar Rar is dead, you should have said, Now I can get back to work. Instead, you saying, Now I can turn over the Jedi to someone who's worthy. You're getting ready to die."

"Ben that is so, so... you're just leaping to the wrong conclusion." Luke struggled for the right argument against such a ridiculous notion.

But the argument just wasn't there.

"That's what attachment is, isn't it?" Ben began pacing. "It's not loving someone. It's not marrying somebody. It's not having kids. It's being where, if something happens, there's nothing left of you. Mom wouldn't want you to be this way. So why are you?"

"I can't help it." Luke was on his feet and the words wrenched out of him before he realized it. He rocked, unbalanced by the sudden violence of his emotions.

Ben spun to stare at him. "You've got to!"

"How?"

"I don't know. You're the Jedi Master, you figure it out."

Luke felt real anger stir within him, a fire fanned by the insolence in Ben's tone. No, that was another lie, Luke lying to himself. The fire was being fanned by the fact that Ben was right.

I'm sorry Mara. Knowing it to be a betrayal, Luke slowly, carefully stepped out under his grief.

It didn't leave him entirely - just as Mara was still part of him, the pain of losing her would always be with him, too. But suddenly it was easier to breathe, to think. He wondered how long it had been since he had truly thought clearly.

And curiously, it didn't feel like a betrayal at all.

Then there was that other weight, the weight of duty. He had carried it throughout his entire adult life, and at times it had ground him down. But at other times it had sustained him, helped keep him alive.

Perhaps that was why he had been so willing to abandon it; it had been keeping him alive at a time when he did to want to live. With meticulous care, he picked up and shouldered that other weight.

He opened his eyes.

His son stood before him, anxious, but now Ben sighed, a brief exhalation of relief.

---
The shuttle Reveille, on approach

Syal Antilles, at the pilot's controls, banked the shuttle over the Jedi base, taking note of objects and living things on the ground - the Millennium Falcon, X-wings, shuttles, Jedi, droids, Ewok. Moments later, following the landing beacon being transmitted to her, she brought the Reveille down to a smooth, wings-up landing near the Falcon. A quick postflight checklist later, she, Tycho and their passenger stood at the top of the ramp.

As the ramp lowered, it revealed the face of the uniformed man standing below.

Tycho leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Antilles, you're off-duty."

"Thank you, sir." The ramp touched down and she ran down its length, throwing herself into the arms of the man waiting there. "Daddy."

Luke grinned at, but otherwise ignored, the Antilles reunion and waited for General Celchu to descend.

Tycho shook Luke's hand. "Grand Master Skywalker, allow me to introduce - "

"Dr Seyah," Ben trotted up, a hand extended to the black haired man. "I'm surprised you're not dead or something."

Seyah smiled. "Good to see you Ben. You've grown taller."

"Good!" Ben turned to his father. "Dr Seyah isi the man who briefed me on Centerpoint Station. He's a gravitic physicist and a spy."

"Doctor Seyah is on Colonel Solo's arrest-interrogate-and-execute list. For presumed treason, which I know to be incorrect. I, uh, picked him up before the GAG goons came for him." Tycho smiled. "Grand Master, I was hoping we could leave him with you."

Luke snorted, amused. "At least you have the courtesy to identify your splies when you try to place them with us."

Wedge decided that the group that Luke subsequently led through the Death Star wreckage was a mob. Following him and Luke were Han and Leia, Jaina and Zekk, Zyal, Tycho, Saba Sebatyne and Corran Horn, Ben and Kyle Katarn, who trailed the pack but otherwise seemed to be moving well.

Without preamble, Luke began. "I've had a brief talk with General Celchu here, and I'm going to go over some points he made and some other details that have come up recently. Together we're going to make some decisions about a course of action."

"Let me make this clear though," Luke fixed Tycho with his gaze. "We serve the Galactic Alliance. When Jacen is longer a factor, we will return our seat of authority to Coruscant. We retain trust with Admiral Niathal."

Luke looked among the others. "Now, in the spirit of serving the Alliance - at least what we want the Alliance to be - and of serving the greater good, we're going to sketch out our next operation. Which in part, will be to be rescue Allana, Chume'da of the Hapes Consortium, from captivity at the hands of Jacen Solo."

"The Corellians just used Centerpoint Station to destroy the Second Fleet. They also tried to kill Jacen. Now, thinking the way Jacen does, the way he must, it's inconceivable that he would not make an all-out effort to capture the station and have in his possession the most powerful weapon in the galaxy. We're not going to let the Corellians have it, and we're not going to let Jacen have it. We're going to destroy it... probably at the same time Jacen mounts his operation to capture it."

"General Celchu brought us an expert who can help us figure out how to destroy it."

"That's not what I brought him for."

"Regardless, he was willing to help it up once, he'll be willing to help blow it up a second time." Luke shrugged apologetically and moved on. "Meanwhile, we sent a unit of Jedi abaord the Anakin Solo to distract Jacen... and to retrieve the Chume'da."

Luke began looking from face to face. "Wedge, handpick a starfighter squadron. We'll use it to chase the shuttle to safety aboard the Anakin Solo, then to support any operation against Centerpoint Station. I'll lead a unit of Jedi to distract Jacen; our job will be to take him out if possible, and to distract from the rescue operation. Ha Leia, I want you to lead that part of the mission; Master Katarn, I want you in reserve for the extraction of our teams. Doctor Seyah and our scientific staff will come up with the best way to destroy the station. Ben, owing to your experience there, I want you on that misson."

Ben shook his head. I'd be more useful distracting Jacen."

"How do you figure that?"

"Because with both of us boarding, Jacen will conclude that we're there to kill him, and he won't be wondering where I am and what I'm up to."

Luke gave his son a close look. "And will diversion be your genuine intent? Not revenge?"

"Yes, Grand Master."

"All right, then."

Tycho passed Luke a datacard. "I present you with our special envoy, Captain Syal Antilles, who will remain with you and communicate with my office whenever you permit."

Syal's jaw dropped. "Wait. What?" By now, she needed to speak to Rhoen. It had been too long? What would he be thinking?

Tycho fixed her with a stern look.

Wedge looked proud and reflective. "I was years older than you when I became an ambassador for the first time. Remember that, Tycho? How did we get through that assignment on Adumar anyway?"

"Pretty much, we opened fire on everyone who disagreed with us."

Wedge nodded and turned to his daughter. "When all else fails, just do that."

---
Days later, Anakin Solo, the bridge

The war was almost done. In a day, he would own Centerpoint Station. In a week, the major allies of the Confederation would have surrendered.

"Sir?" Lieutenant Tebut approached from the stern of the bridge. Today, Caedus recalled, her duty station was ship security. Her voice was distant. "New anomaly." She moved towards him. "Sir, this is perhaps none of my business, but it has been my observation that you get rid of clothes when they become worn or stop being able to hold creases."

Caedus nodded. "Not just clothes."

"Yes, sir. So why are you wearing a patched cloak? If I may ask."

"Patched?" He look down at himself.

Tebut stooped, then rose, bringing up the lower hem of his cloak, turning it so Caedus could see the back side. There, placed in a slightly crooked fashion, was a square cloth patch. He tugged at the corner of the patch. Reluctantly, it yielded, coming up from the cloak material, revealing glue and flexible circuitry beneath.

He undid the cloak clasps, folded the garment, and handed it to her along with the black patch. ""I want to know the range of its abilities. Soonest."

"Yes sir," she saluted and left.

Once she was through the doors, Caedus turned and found Captain Nevil. "Did you see?"

"I did, sir."

"I run a meritocracy, and she shows merit. Put this on her record."

"Consider it done, sir."

---
Near the Corellian system, Errant Venture, hangar





Syal settled in her X-wing - borrowed from one of the Jedi, and she hoped she'd be able to supply in perfect shape - and ran through her checklist as the comlink crackled to life on her squadron frequency.

"Rakehell Leader to Squadron." Her father's voice, and it jolted her to realise that she was finally going to fly with her father, in combat. "Count off by number, and indicate readiness. Rakehell Leader ready."

"Rakehell Two, armed and ready." It was a woman's voice, heavily flavoured by an exotic accent - Sanola Ti, the Dathomiri Jedi, one of several squadron members Syal had not met before they transferred to the Errant Venture.

Tycho was next. "Rakehell Three, all green, optimal."

Syal cleared her throat. "Rakehell Four, four lit and green." Her knee began bouncing. Nerves - she had never flown an X-wing in genuine combat, all her live-fire experience having been with Eta-5s, A-wings and Alephs.

That and Rhoen should be on my wing.

Other members of the squadron counted off, their roll cal suggesting a Starfighter Command hall of fame. "Six, Twool - a Rodian Jedi. Seven, Tyria Tainer, a Jedi who had flown with Wedge long ago. Eight, Cheriss ke Hanadi, one time vibroblade instructor for Starfighter Command; an Adumari.

"Rake Nine, optimal," that was Jaina Solo, leading the third flight. Zekk called in as Ten; Volu Nyth, a Kuati woman who had flown with Rogue Squadron during the Yuuzhan Vong War, was eleven; Wes Janson, Twelve, asked. "Is it over?"

Nerves. Syal wasn't nervous about the prospect of dying - no more than usual. What terrified her was that she might manage to look like a rookie in front of her father, and her father's friends. Dying would be less painful.

In the belly of the troop carrier Broadside, Kyp Durron snaped his visor shut and turned to Dr Seyah. "What do you think?"

Seyah looked him over. He was dressed identically - in a good simulation of the all-black Galactic Alliance Guard uniform. "Not bad. At least you have the build to carry it off." He patted his own, more expansive stomach. "They're going to take one look at me and think, rear echelon banthna fodder."

Kyp looked back across the personnel bay of the Broadside and the other ersatz Guard troops - Jedi such as Jaden Korr and Valin Horn among them, anonymous behind their visors. He raised his own visor and shouted back across the troops. "What's our motto?"

"Let the enemy do the work!"

Kyp nodded and gave them an appreciative smile. "That's the spirit."

---
Aboard the Anakin Solo, Coruscant

Captain Nevil approached Caedus in his usual quiet fashion. "Boarding shuttle and Rogue Squadron are positioned, sir. They report ready to jump."

Maintaining his Sith battle meditation through hyperspace was going to be tricky enough. But he felt he was ready. He opened his eyes and turned to Nevil. "Go."

The Quarren turned and gestured to his communications officer.

The word was given.

A moment later the starfield beyond the viewport seemed to elongate and twist as the task force made the jump to hyperspace.

---
Corellian Space, near Centerpint



Rakehell Squadron dropped out of hyperspace, the stars snapping back to single unwinking gleams, and directly ahead of Syal was Centerpoint Station in all its majestic homeliness. A round-tipped cylinder 350 kilometers long, with the central third bulging out to a width of 100 kilometers, it was the largest artificial construct she had ever seen and even at her current distance - hundreds of klicks away - it seemed vast. Alongside it, a Super Star Destroyer would appear as a speck.

And there specks nearing it. She saw tiny triangles and lozenge shapes hurtling toward the station, and more moving from the station's vicinity to intercept them. Names began popping up on her sensor board: Anakin Solo, Vinsor, Panther Star, Saxan's Pride.

Rogue One, Rogue Two, Rogue Three...

Syal's breath caught. Rogue Squadron was here, the fighter unit Luke Skywalker and her father had founded, the elite force whose reputation alone was enough to turn back some enemies. At least it's not Dancer Two.

She couldn't shoot at Rhoen.

"Rakehell Leader to Rakes," Wedge's voice did not suggest he was rattled by the fact that his former command was ahead in the battle zone. Perhaps he hadn't seen them on his sensors. "Reveille reports ready. Her target is the Anakin Solo We'll follow her in, shooting. Do remember to miss. Three, Four, you can follow us in if you like, but I have a feeling that your participation here may be seen as treasonous..."

"Leader, Three." Tycho sounded similarly unconcerned. "No, I'll follow... holocams blazing away. The recordings could prove interesting later."

"As you wish. Don't get shot. I don't want Winter hunting me down."

"No, you don't."

Tycho's shuttle, Han Solo at the controls, moved out ahead of the Rakehells and accelerated towards the distant conflict.

---
Centerpoint Station, Fire-Control Center

Sadras Koyan used a handkerchief to mop away the sweat running down his cheeks. He address the head technician on duty - the barded man who called himself Vibro. "Any response from Admiral Niathal?"

Vibro looked back towards him and shook his head.

"How can I -" Koyan cut his word short before asking the technician a question the man could not answer. How can I compel Niathal to surrender if she won't talk to me? He couldn't just destroy an uninhabited world of the Coruscant system as a warning shot - Centerpoint's main weapon might fail again, be inoperable for several days. When he fired, it would be on the world of Coruscant itself. But if he fired without first talking to Niathal, while he might win the war, the Alliance forces here wouldn't know to give up, and they might take the station - and kill him - before they realized they were defeated. And then they wouldn't be defeated.

As if reading his mind, Vibro grinned. "I think you should just do it, sir."

"What?"

"Destroy Coruscant. Show them what this station is made of."

Koyan stared at him, aghast... aghast at the notion of killing billions for the sake of seeing what it looked like, rather than for real political gain (as if that was any better). "Get back to work."

---
Battle of Centerpoint Station

"Rake Six to squad," Twool's voice was as musical as any Rodian's, but Syal could hear the strain in his tone. "Incoming starfighters dead ahead, coming over the curve of the station."

"Squad, Leader, loosen up, by flights." Wedge's starfighter suddenly rose, relative to the shuttle they pretended to pursue, and Sanola and Syal followed. Corran's two wing pairs rolled to starboard and descended; Jaina's drifted to port.

And then the enemy were there, cresting Centerpoint Station, lined up so their angle of approach was directly between the Rakehells and the star Corell. Syal gave the enemy points for effectiveness - though thye weren't attacking in atmosphere, they were still diving on their foes out of the sun.

They were X-wigs, and their sensor designation was Rogue.

Wedge and Sanola began juking and jinking just as Syal recognized the designation. She followed suit instantly, just in time for a long-distance salve of quad-linked lasers to flash through the space her starfighter just vacated.

Two X-wings came after Wedge; one each angled at Sanola and Syal. Syal dropped back, putting all her X-wings discretionary power toward her rear shields. She hadn't yet fired; still didn't fire. She couldn't fire on an ally.

She saw her father riddle one enemy with laserfire, damaging the starfighter but not putting it out of combat. His other enemy chewed at his tail, just as Syal's opponent was hammering away at hers.

She couldn't fire on an ally.

Nor could she do anything less than give her whole effort for her father.

The two absolutes were mutually exclusive. They swelled up inside her like a bomb going off.

She heard a cry of outrage and confusion before she knew it was hers and acted before she fully understood what she'd decided. She decelerated hard - far more sharply than was normal for X-wing pilots, but she was used to being tossed around by the violent maneuvering of her Aleph - and her opponent overshot her, beginning a sudden roll to starboard, but her lasers caught him, stitching away at his thrusters -

He disappeared in a flash. She turned after her father, tracking his second opponent, firing at him -

She saw a tiny flash to starboard - her father's target was still flying, but his R5 unit had just exploded under persistent laserfire.

Her own target wobbled, beginning a climb - then suddenly decelerated. Syal ranked her yoke back, assuming his climb was fake, and hit her thrusters. Her enemy seemed to fly in reverse, passing beneath her. nose now pointed downward. Her reflex had been correct, and he was oriented away from her, unable to bring his lasers to bear. She continued her climb, looping around in a tight 360-degree curve, and saw her target doing the same, coming back toward her for a face-for-face pass.

---
Centerpoint Station, hangar

The Broadside's Captain shouted. "Clear away, clear away! We're coming in hot, half our systems shot out!"

The crew of the shuttle currently docked at the air lock dead ahead apparently believed him. Through the cockpit door and the viewport beyond, Seyah, saw the shuttle thrust fee of the air lock.

The Broadside's pilot did bring her in hot, beginning declaration at the possible moment. The shuttle did not so much dock as slam into the air lock and stock. Seyah was thrown forward, held in his seat by the webbing, and a moment later fake GAG troopers all around him were unbuckling, rising, reading their rifles.

He managed to get unstrapped and rose, snapping his visor down. He fell into line behind Kyp.

The side door slid open. Troopers poured into the air lock. The door closed, and the air lock cycled.

The far door opened. Blasterfire poured in through it, hitting two fake troopers, throwing them back and down, smoke rising from their burns. A hand on his arm yanked him to his feet and Kyp Durron hauled him against the wall to the left. The Jedi grinned at him, white teeth barely visible through his visor. "I suggest you fire your weapon. Don't hit us."



Seyah glared and did as he was told.

Firing was good. It was something to concentrate on. Something other than throwing up.

---
Battle of Centerpoint

Syal's starfighter rocked. Everything outside the canopy glowed in eye-hurting red, and then she was past her opponent, curving around for another exchange.

Wait - her enemy, designated Rogue Six on the sensor board, was breaking away. And Rakes One and Two were headed in toward her position.

Wedge and Sanola drew alongside her. "Four, this is Leader. Report status."

"I'm intact. Minor damage to my thrusters and starboard topside laser." As she continued, pain crept into her voice. "A minute ago, I just vaped a Rogue."

"I did, too. Rogue Leader. A Duros named Lensi. A good man. They've made kills against us: Six is dead, Eight is dead or extravehicular and Two here is so shot up I'm sending her out of the combat zone."

Sanola's voice came across, a protest laced with pain. "I'm still fit to fly -"

"Then you're fit to obey orders. Get back to the Ranger."

"Yes, sir."

"Four, you're my wing."

"Yes, D- sir."

---
Centerpoint Station

Seyah slid to a stop, looking intently at the surrounding walls and doorways, at the letters and numbers painted by Corellian mappers, at the symbols incised in the walls by ancient builders and scholars. He nodded. "Here."

Kyp, alert for more attackers, came alongside. "Here, what?"

"Here I implement my master plan to destroy Centerpoint Station."

Kyp scowled. "Excuse me, but that's what you said half a kilometer back. When you made me fight all those CorSec personnel in what you said was the spin thrust control chamber."

Seyah nodded. "That was my first master plan. This is my second. Cup your hands."

Kyp slung his GAG blaster rifle and did as requested. "Out of how many?"

"Well, I'm doing three. Plus, there are hopes that if the Alliance successfully takes charge, the remaining crew will initiate some sort of self-destruct plan installed since I left." He placed his left boot in Kyp's hands and stood. Kyp held him just high enough that he could reach the passageway ceiling. Rapidly, with tools at his belt, he undid a ceiling panel, revealing wiring above. "At the chamber, I spiced in programming telling the station to count down a certain amount of time, then reverse the spin of the simulated gravity."

"Which, if it did so rapidly enough, would tear the station to pieces."

"Anyway, the programming resists change. It may reject my plan, for all that I worked years setting it up. Just as I worked years on this one."

"What does this one do?"

"I'm tapping into data feeds that supply the star map databases used by the targeting system. I'm redefining every star and planet in the galaxy - starting with the near ones, graduating out farther and farther - with the same set of coordinates."

"Which coordinates?"

"Here."

"Right here?"

"Well, no, but the effect of the hyperspace beam is so broad that the station and everything for kilometers around will be squashed down to the mass of a pan of rsyhcate, but not as sweet."

"U-huh. And how much time does this approach give us?"

Finished splicing, Seyah reaffixed the ceiling panel. "As long as it takes form now until they fire the weapon. A day... two seconds. Unless, again, the programming rejects the data."

Kyp dropped him. Seyah landed awkwardly but came upright, unhurt.

"And what's master plan three?"

"If we can get to the fire-control chamber, we can splice programming that might cause Glowpoint, at the center if Hollowtown, to overload and explode." He was referencing the artificial sun at the heart of the station.

"Radius of the explosion?"

Seyah shrugged. "A few thousand kilometers? I'm guessing here."

Kyp nodded, expression fatalistic. "Facts, exact numbers, reassurance... a Jedi seeks not these things."

"Good! Let's get going."

---
Bridge, Anakin Solo







Caedus watched on the monitor as Luke, Saba and Ben approached the bridge doors from the corridor beyond. There were a few guards on the duty, not that it mattered. They fired, the Jedi rushed, fists and lightsabers swung, the guards went down.

Not good; both Masters remained intact.

All was not lost though. Caedus had resources still available to him. He was fresh. He had eight YVH droids.



The blast doors slid aside. The Jedi stood there in a triangular battle formation, Luke and Saba now in front, Ben behind. Cadus and his YVH droids stared back at them. The ebridge officers pretended to ignore the situation; they kept their eyes on their screens, conducting the space battle around Centerpoint Station.

Caedus offered a smile that in no way reflected how he felt. "Uncle Luke. Ben. Master Sabatyne. Care for some caf?"

Luke shook his head. "Care to surrender?"

"If I did, I'd never be able to have more fun with Ben, like the last time he was here." Caedus fired the taunt like a blaster bolt - a pair of them, one at Luke, one at Ben. Last time Ben had been here Caedus had tortured him with an Yuuzhan Vong Embrace of Pain.

And yet, in the Force, he felt not one flicker of anger from either of them. That was.. surprising. Distressing. Time away from him appeared to have undone all the good he'd done Be during their last session.

Caedus sighed. "All right. Kill."

---
Centerpoint Station, Fire Control Chamber

The head technician sat, restless, and listened to the intensity of the firefight outside the open chamber door. The noise grew and grew. It had started with the shouts of CorSec troopers retreating to this location and setting up a choke point in the corridor outside. More had joined them.

Now the two forces were exchanging fire. Blaster bolts kept flashing outside. Sometimes there were screams. It was all very annoying.

And the technician had a secret. Several, really. One was that his real name was Rikel, and that he despised it; that his nickname, Vibro, suited him far better, especially after his eighth caf of the day. Another was that he had been married, in secret, concealing the news from his family and hers because they didn't approve. Still another was that he had been widowed in secret, his wife had been picked up on Coruscant on a security sweep early in the war, never to be seen again... until her body was positively identified.

Hatred was his biggest secret, not the flippant disregard for pain or death with which he concealed it. Hatred or the Alliance. Hatred for the Coruscanti.

Idly, he punched up astronomical coordinates for Coruscant. Idly, he transferred them over to the targeting output of the station's primary weapon.

Now to activate the power source...

From the relative cover of a doorway into a darkened office, Kyp and Seyah looked down the corridor toward the fire-control chamber. The air began to vibrate, accompanied by a hum, rising and falling, form the distant direction of the said chamber. Seyah frowned, listening.

Kyp looked over the two forces shooting at each other. "This is going to be tricky. I'll have to use my lightsaber. It's going to take a while to get through them all."

Seyah gave him a dubious look. "How long?"

"Three minutes or so. Why?"

"I'm not sure we have that long."

"Why not?"

"That sound you hear is them powering up the primary weapon."

"New plan."

"Let's hear it."

"We abandon your third master plan and get out of here."

Seyah nodded. "I like it."

He led the way, sprinting back the way they'd come, and raised his comlink. "Seyah to Broadside. We're headed your way. The remainder of the mission is scrubbed. Prepare for immediate lift-off."

---
Bridge, Anakin Solo

Luke and Saba flanked Ben, their lightsabers up, and caught the barrages of blaster damage being hurled their way. Caedus waited, patient. They couldn't sustain that amount of fire for very long. Either they'd die, or they'd figure out how to put the combat droids down fast.

Curiously, Ben returned his own lightsaber to his belt. The boy gestured out in either direction. Something flew from each hand, down to the YVH droids in the officers pits, adhering to their chests.

Caedus sighed. Of course. The Jedi had plundered grenades from the enemies they'd defeated.

As the thought occurred to him, the detonators went off. The combat droids disappeared - not vaporised, but hurled into and through the bulkhead armour behind them. The shock wave hammered everything at the stern end of the bridge, shredding officer's stations, setting men and women on fire. Screams and alarms filled the move.

Ben repeated the move, planting a grenade on each of the chests of the two YVH droids flanking the Jedi - Saba and Luke lashed out, each kicking a different direction, and the two droids, toppled over backwards into the pits where their comrades had just been.

Caedus acted to whittle down the enemy numbers has they had been whittling down his. He gestured, exerting himself telekinetically, and Sava slipped laterally into the starboard pit, almost atop the doomed droid there.

Her leap to safety was almost instantaneous, but almost wasn't good enough. The detonators went off. The blast caught the Barabel when she was only a meter or two in the air. It propelled her like an old-fashioned munition in to the port-side wall, slamming her into the surface five meters above the wall, and she slid, flaming, down into the pit.

Luke and Ben looked Caedus' way. he smiled at them and shrugged. "One down."

The four droids nearest him kept firing.

---
Deeper in the ship

They found Allana two compartments down, a frightened little girl in a party frock. When Leia opened the door she lunged at them, an injector pen in hand, but Leia caught her wrist, stopping the blow, and as quickly released the girl.

"I bring a message from your mother."

Suspicious, scowling, Allana backed away. "Tell me."

"I'll show you instead." She reached into her robe pouch and brought out a hand-sized holoprojector. A hologram of Tenel Ka, doll-sized, swam into resolution. "Allana, time is short. First: bantha excess glow rod."

Allana smiled; her thoughts were so transparent that Leia could hear them as speech carried through the Force. The words. The real words.

"These people are going to bring you to me. Go with them, and trust them as you do me. And know that I love you, and I've missed you more than I can say."

Allana looked up at her rescuers. "We can go now?"

Leia nodded. "We can go right now."

---
Bridge, Anakin Solo

Impossibly, Saba stood, even got her lightsaber up to deflect the next wave of blaster bolts aimed at her. Smoke rose from her back and legs and stretches of her skin were charred, bleeding... but she was upright, standing on shaky legs.

Luke didn't towards Ben, but pitched his voice so he could hear. "Get her out of here."

"Remember why I'm here, Grand Master."

Vexed, Luke tightened his jaw and nodded. He raised his voice. "Master Sebatyne; extract."

"This one iz still -"

"Leaving." Luke's tone was unyielding. He gestured toward Jacen. Jacen raised his lightsaber and left hand, ready to ward off any attack, but Luke's gesture was a diversion. his exertion in the Force picked up one of the YVH droids and hurtled it backwards, against the faltering viewport.

Air, rushing past the Jedi, tugged them forward, and Jacen staggered back, but then the shutters came down, sealing the bridge. Saba leapt up the walkway and walked - limped - off the bridge.

Three YVH droids left. And Jacen against Luke and Ben. Jacen was Luke's match, which meant Ben had to cope with three combat droids. The odds weren't good.

But then the odds changed.

As he battered laserfire, Luke felt a surge of emotion in the Force; innocent joy, a little girls' delight at going home.

Jacen visibly paled. "Allana..." Suddenly he charged, crossing his own combat droids streams of fire, forcing them to cease for brief moments. He came at Luke but leapt laterally, flying across empty air to one of the doorways leading aft, utterly ignoring the Jedi.

Luke snapped a command to his son. "Extract! Warn Leia, Jacen's coming!"

"Aunt Leia, extract! Jacen's coming!"

Leia's voice came back clear and calm: "Already extracting."

"Go fast."

Luke glanced over at him. "Time to go."

---
Battle of Centerpoint

Syal heard the two-tone musical tone over her com board, followed by her father's words. "Extraction has begun. All free Rakehells, maneuver to the Anakin Solo's port side, amidships to bow, and draw off its fire."

Most of the Rakehells were free. When the remnants of the Commenori fleet had joined the battle, the Rogues and other Alliance squadrons broke off and attached the Commenori Star Destroyers, leaving the Rakehells unencumbered.

Wedge let the remaining pilots of his squadron into proximity of the Anakin Solo, skirting just within firing range, drawing turbolaser fire, responding with quad-linked lasers and the occasional proton torpedo at weapons batteries. Mostly they just distracted the Star Destroyer's gunners and worked to keep themselves alive.

In the midst of all this, Jag and the Millennium Falcon flashed by, weaving through a reduced screen of incoming fire, and managed to arrive just above the Destroyers hull, too close for its guns to target.

With the Force lending him speed, Caedus hurtled down the side passages, his leaps carrying him over the bodies - some injured and moaning, some dead- of ships security personnel and, here and there, their severed arms.

But by the time Caedus rounded the corridor, the air lock hatch at the far end was closed and he could see a gray-white hull speeding by. Gasping for breath, he raised his comlink. "This is Solo. Do not fire on the Millennium Falcon. Anyone who fires on her dies. Use tractor beams only."

Finally it came, the report he dreaded, the one he could not forestall no matter how strongly, lovingly, hopelessly he reached out to his daughter through the Force. "Sir, I'm sorry to report that the Millennium Falcon has entered hyperspace."

His legs failed him and he sank to the deck plates, kneeling in his pain and sudden grief.

---
Centerpoint Station, Fire Control Center

Vibro looked over the controls before him. Everything was ready. All it took was a finger on the button.

The Corellians were losing. This chamber would fall to the Coruscanti. The station would fall to them.

But it would be too late. They wouldn't be able to call themselves Coruscanti anymore.

He hit the button.

The crew and passengers of the Millennium Falcon, outbound, with their escort of Rakehell X-wings, felt something hammer the freighter. Han, in the copilots seat, his expression suggesting he never again in his life allow a situation in which he sat there, flicked the cockpit monitor to show the rear view.



Centerpoint Station was a glowing ball, a perfect sphere of light perhaps five hundred kilometers in diameter. As he watched, the sphere contracted almost instantly. Leaving nothing behind in the volume it had occupied.

Everything that had been there was gone - Corellian ships, GA ships, Commenori ships... and the station itself.

The Anakin Solo, safely beyond the boundary of that momentary sphere, seemed unharmed, as did every ship and fighter in the vicinity.

Caedus walked onto the bridge

His cloak should have been swirling behind him. It wasn't? Why? Oh yes. He'd given it away. It had betrayed him. The bridge had changed. There was extensive damage; bodies everywhere, and medics working on them, carrying them out."

The officers began shooting questions at him. "Orders, sir?" "Sir, the Confederation forces outnumber us. They're stronger than the forces we have left." "Sir, Admiral Niathal wants to talk to you at once."

Allana.

"Recall our squadrons. set course for home. We're leaving. Tell Admiral Niathal there has been a problem."

A question formed in his mind. "How did they come aboard my ship? Luke Skywalker and those with him?"

The officers looked among themselves, then Lieutenant Tebut, at the security station, stood. "Sir, we were approached by General Celchu's shuttle, which was being fired upon by several X-wings. We allowed the shuttle to land. As it turned out, it was a ruse. The Jedi were aboard the shuttle, and General Celchu was in one of the X-wings, trying to destroy the shuttle. General Celchu is in the medical ward, recovering from a stun shot."

Caedus regarded her. "Who allowed the shuttle to land."

"I did, sir. It broadcast all correct identification and passwords."

"It was full of assassins, saboteurs and criminals, and yet you allowed it to land."

She fidgeted under his gaze. "Yes, sir, I was following security protocols."

"So the protocols say for you to allow assassins, saboteurs and criminals aboard."

"No, sir."

Then you were not following security protocols. You did not follow them, and because of it many people have died, and I could coordinate our attack on Centerpoint Station, and this mission is a failure. Correct?"

Caedus gestured, raising a hand, and under his exertion of power Tebut floated into the air, putting her slightly above his level. "Sir..."

Caedus closed his hand into a fist. Now no more words came from her, just pained gasps. She grasped with increasing desperation at a choking hand that was just not there.

He continued, his voice still level, controlled. "Lieutenant, we can't have that. Gross incompetence. Gross insubordination. The deliberate contravention of orders and top-level plans. Nor can we let it go unpunished. can we?"

Nevil approached. "Sir, this is not the time or the way -"

Not looking at the Quarren, Caedus gestured with his free hand and Nevil was suddenly flying backward.

Amazingly, Tebut was still trying to talk. "Sir... can't... loyal..."

"LOYAL?" The word exploded out of Caedus, raising his voice a screechy octave. "How dare you use that word? You may not use that word ever again. Loyal officers do not betray their command, their comrades, their oaths!" His outrage turned everything he saw a reddish hue, even Tebut's face.

And there was only one way to restore everything to its proper colour. He tightened his grip.

The sound of Tebut's neck breaking was startlingly loud over the hum of the bridge monitors and computer gear.

Caedus dashed his hand down. Tebut's body slammed to the deck plates below her. More bones snapped. She lay behind her security station, bent at an odd sideways angle at the waist, her eyes fixed open, staring at the ceiling.

Caeuds breathed out all his rage. Colours returned to vibrant normalcy

He turned and walked towards the stern. As he passed Nevil, still laying where Caedus had thrown him, he said. "I'll be in my quarters."

TAG: No-one

@Adalia-Durron, @Corellian_Outrider, @Anedon, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @galactic-vagabond422, @darthbernael, @adaml83 for pertinent mentions only, next post to follow

 

IC: Jaina Solo - from the pages of Legacy of the Force: Revelation - abridged
Jedi Outpost, Endor: Twelve Weeks After the Death of Mara Jade Skywalker



My brother died in the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Not Anakin: Jacen.

It's taken me years to work that out, but I should have seen it from the start. Jacen, the brother I loved, my twin, never came home. It just looked as if he did.

I think the core of Jacen probably died in the Embrace of Pain at the hands of Vergere. Whatever came back was another person, a total stranger.

It's the only explanation of what he's become.

So that's why I've reached the point of doing something utterly unthinkable, because unthinkable is the last card we have to play, the only way I can stop Jacen and his war from swallowing the galaxy whole. It was the Mandalorian crushgaunts that made my up mind. As Jag has proven, they certainly work. They're nasty weapons. Mandalorian iron - beskar- is pretty well nearly lightsaber proof.

I almost expected the things to detonate when Dad opened the package. Since when did Boba Fett ever send my father gifts?

Since his daughter was tortured to death by my brother, actually. We've been waiting for Fett's revenge but so far... nothing. Just the gift of crushgaunts and armour plate, all made form Mandalorian iron.

So I'm packing for a journey I didn't think I'd ever make. I'll give Jag this much; he never said I told you so. He's the one who said I needed to learn from someone who had a track record of bringing down Jedi.

If anyone can stop Jacen, then, it's me. I'm his equal, and I'm the Sword of the Jedi. I just don't have his... training. I've no idea what he learned from Lumiya, let alone what he picked up on his travels during those five years. But he'll make a mistake sooner or later. He's way too cocky not to overestimate himself.

I just hope it's sooner. And if being a Sith made Jacen invincible, he'd have taken over the galaxy by now.

I have a chance, and Fett's going to help me make the most of it.

It can't be that heard to find him. He's a bounty hunter. I'll hire him just like any other client, except I'm not just any other client - I'm Han Solo's daughter, and I'm a Jedi, and Fett has spent a lifetime hunting us.

And now I'm asking him to train me to hunt and capture my own brother.

For all I know, he'll laugh in my face - if he ever laughs, that is - and tell me to get lost. But I have to ask him. Swallow pride, eat humble pie, and beg if need be. Dad seems to have thawed a little toward him; I still despise him.

But if he says yes - I swear I'll be the best pupil he's ever had. Come on, Fett; show me how it's done.



---
Admiral's day cabin, Imperial Star Destroyer Bloodfin, Ravelin dockyard, Bastion





Daala, sans eyepatch

"How many years?" Pellaeon asked. "And I can't get over how lovely you are. You've worn very well.

Daala drummed her fingers in the exact rhythm he'd transmitted as the emergency call. She smiled; a real smile, genuine warmth. "You called. I promised you I'd always come if you used that code, just like Daerkaer. What's the problem?"

"The Galactic Alliance."

"Yes, Jacen Solo, unhindered by Admiral Niathal. Going for the galactic record for the fastest plunge into bloody anarchy and most stylish black outfit. So, are you all dressed up to go to Fondor?"

"Impressive. Most impressive."

Daala laughed. "You never could quite do the voice, but the intonation is perfect. Yes, I might prefer to live in obscurity, but I'm neither deaf nor blind."

"I won't even ask about your intelligence network, my dear..."

She smiled and lit up the cabin again. "I never reveal my age or my sources."

"I'm please to see that the Ryn intelligence community still makes a good living."

"And they're not the only ones," Daala said, thinking of Adam Lyons and his recent assistance.

"I miss our little verbal sparring sessions, my dear."

"So do I, Gil. But I'm here. What can I do for you?"

"I'm asking you to watch my back," he said. "At Fondor, and probably for some time after that. Perhaps some sweeping up if Solo can't hold what he tries to grab. If he keeps winning, I want a counterweight ready to throw in before he turns on us like he's turned on his allies and family. If he gets too cocky and loses, we'll have to step in and restore order, because the Confederation isn't capable of forming a galactic administration, and the remaining unaligned worlds are a complete shambles."

"We do at least know how to run things."

"How much weight can you add, Daala."

"I can," she said at last, "have a full fleet at Fondor with one standard hour's lead time."

"How much? How many?"

"Let's just say I don't waste resources I find, and a lot of worlds the GA doesn't notice owe me favours after the Vong War. The fleet won't be modern, but it will be deadly. Does that answer your question?"

Pellaeon thought of all the prototypes and technology that the old Empire had funded and that had vanished and never seen the light od day. Daala must still have had capital ships in readiness; she'd escaped with the Scylla, at the very least. But a battle was a lot less about big ships these days, and more about flexibility and agility - small vessels could be much more of an asset.

"Solo has half the GA Fourth Fleet," he said.

Daala nodded. "Fondor can rival that firepower. Not beat it, but it can give a good account of itself."

They exchanged idle chit-chat about the idea of the Empire epitomising responsibility, and what Pellaeon intended to do. Eventually, he said. "I'll pick my moment, but I'll inform the Moffs that you are officially back on active service, advising me."

"Yes, the word fleet would start a panic..."

"Might scare Fondor into compliance, of course."

"Let's keep it as our little secret." Daala took his hand in both of hers and squeezed it. "You keep a secure comlink open to me at all times, you tell me as early as possible when you plan to jump, and I promise I will be there in minutes."

"Minutes."

"I have a marshalling area in mind. One final short hyperspace jump. Trust me."

---
The Battle of Fondor, days after the destruction of Centerpoint Station



The Anakin Solo was in a hurry, and plowed between two orbital platforms on a direct course for Oridin, the capital city of Fondor. A wave of fighters broke from an attack on the cruiser Armistice - pounding away on a yard that was venting gases into the atmosphere - and headed for the Destroyer. Balls of white flame flared and died in the viewscreen, gone in an instant, and Caedus couldn't tell - at least in the moment - if they were fighters exploding or strikes on vessels.

The fleet needs to shelter.

Caedus concentrated on projecting an impression that the GA Fleet and its allies had been driven off, and now ships needed to return to base under the protection of the planetary shield. There was an urgency to it, because many of the vessels were damaged and needed to land before atmo vented or hulls gave way.

Open up. Let us in.

He flooded the operators minds with an urge to get the ships to safety as soon as possible - all kinds of worries and concerns about family members who might be on board, a burning sense of saving people, of pulling out all the stops...

Now. Drop the shields, we're going to crash let us through for pity's sake help us -

"Shields down!" It wasn't Nevil's voice, it was the weapons officer. "Conc section, fire when ready -"

On the monitor, he could see a fireball spreading and debris billowing up into the atmosphere on a plume of rolling smoke. Now he needed other GA vessels to turn toward the planet and press home the advantage.

"Sir, Admiral Niathal is on the comm."

"Tell her to wait. We need to hit Fondor hard now, before their fleet closes in on us."

---
Aboard the Ocean, flag of the GA Third Fleet element



Ocean

"Bloodfin, this is Ocean," Niathal said. There was no response over their personal link, she tried the bridge channel. "Gil, are you still there?"

"Clever trick," Pellaeon said. His tone was wary; he had company. "Lieutenant Veila is just explaining some of the basics of the Force to me."

"Jacen's destroying Oridin. I'm comming Vadde and offering terms," she said, referring to Fondor's Prime Minister.

"Are you asking my opinion, or just telling me?"

It didn't take much for Niathal to convince Fondor to rejoin the GA and accept aid.

"We surrender," Vadde said at last. "Call off your ships, and I'll call off mine."

"All Galactic Alliance and Imperial Remnant vessels, cease fire immediately," Niathal said on open comms. "Cease fire. Fondor has surrendered."

"What are you doing?" Jacen's voice wasn't his usual self controlled facade of irritating reason, as if he was explaining something to the very dim. He sounded annoyed. "You can't stop down."

"I've accepted Fondor's surrender."

"We broke through." He paused. "I broke through." She could hear him snapping orders at someone, and it seemed to be a demand to find out why his ships had obeyed her order to cease fire. So he was on his own now. "I will not accept this. We have to seize the advantage. You're letting them regroup."

"They've surrendered, Jacen. Surrender means cease fire."

"I refuse." Jacen said. "I intend to carry on fighting." There was a pause. "Nevil? Where's the captain? Find him. I'll have him -"

Niathal had no other option, but it was one she felt almost glad to take. There was an inevitable cleanliness about it. "Colonel Solo," she said. "If you don't honour the ceasefire, I'm relieving you of duty. An admiral outranks a colonel, remember, and I will order your ship to be disabled."

"I don't recognise your authority."

"Stand down, Colonel."

"All GA vessels, this is your Chief of State ordering you to fight on. All Imperial vessels - under the terms of our agreement, I insist you rejoin the battle."

On the chart, a battle group of amber icons began to move towards Fondor. Some of the Imperial commanders had heard and heeded him, at least.

Pellaeon's voice boomed over the bridge comm. "The Imperial fleet will withdraw immediately, and respect the ceasefire. Wyvern battle group, resume your position at once." The amber icons slowed to a halt. "We now take our instructions solely from Admiral Niathal."

---
Aboard the Bloodfin, off Fondor



Bloodfin

Pellaeon considered what he'd do in Niathal's position, because he was walking a knife-edge himself. Grand Moffs and some leaders of the Council cliques had gathered aboard the Bloodline to pick over the warm remains at this bizarre half-time interval. Pellaeon knew that some of the Moffs would rather obey Jacen, but they'd seen sense at the last minute.

"Solo can't retain power after this," Grand Moff Siralt whispered. "He's totally discredited now. Is Niathal going to honour the Borleias-Bilgringi agreement, though?"

"We won't know for now."

Moff Quille- ah, Jacen's new lever inside the Moff Council - didn't take the hint. "They're in disarray, and Fondor is still restorable, even if its crippled in places. I'd trade a couple B-list planets for this."

"They're not in disarray," Pellaeon said. "The headless body of the administration twitching out there is one thing, but they still have fully operational warships all around us, with rules of engagement, and if anyone here tries to pull a stunt like moving in on Fondor - without even a plan, you fool - then it won't end well."

"I said, Moff Quille, do you understand me."

The command staff went about their business, occasionally glancing Quille's way, because most of them had seen Pellaeon smack a wayward Moff into line before and there was no novelty in the spectacle.

"Yes Admiral," Quill backed down. "I was just thinking outside the box."

"I'm all for creative solutions," Pellaeon said. "But thinking like that can put you inside a box all too easily. Now let's see what happens next."

"Sir, the Anakin Solo is moving." The midshipman projected his path o nn screen. "Getting quite tense in Ocean, sir. She's powering weapons again."

Tahiri was slinking around now, still silent, but checking out the status of the GA fleet and - maybe Pellaeon was imaging it - getting worried. Here she was, stuck with the obstinate Imperials while her master tried to dig himself out of the pit.

The midshipman turned sharply, one fingertip against his earpiece, at the exact moment one of the sensor scan operators snapped. "The Anakin's fired." Then reports flooded in.

"Fondorian cruiser Prosperity's taken a direct hit on the bridge, sir."

"Looks like several enemy vessels responding."

"Fondorian fighters - "

"Ocean for you, sir."

Pellaeon took the comm, audio only. He hoped Daala was paying attention. "Cha, what's going on?"

"Sorry Gil, but Solo's not responding to reason, and I can't rely on his commanders to follow me. I'm going to in now to put some buffer between him and Fondor, and stop him the hard way. I need your help." A pause.

"Understood." This was the inevitable cleansing Pellaeon though might be a longer time coming. It was as good a time as any. "All ships, identify GA vessels not responding to Admiral Niathal, and engage any that attack Fondorian targets immediately."

There was a ripple of uncomfortable breaths among some of the Moffs.

"Are we clear in our purpose, gentlemen?"

"Yes, Admiral," Quill said.

Pellaeon turned for the hatch. A private conversation with Daala seemed a good idea. "I'll be in my day cabin for a few minutes. It's my age..."

He swept past Tahiri and strode down the passageway. He slipped into his cabin and secured the lock. Daala can hear all this anyway. I just want to hear her take on this. She's more at the Jacen end of the ruthless spectrum.

Then the hatch opened.

He'd locked it.

Tahiri Veila stepped in, head slightly lowered as if she was sorry to interrupt him.

There was a back and forth, where Tahiri explained that he could change everything.

"I've no reason to refuse Admiral Niathal's request. Subject closed."

Tahiri pressed her lips together and sighed, mild annoyance, possibly joking, but the GA-issue officer's blaster she drew from her belt was quite serious.

"Please Admiral, just do it." She flicked the safety catch off and aimed it at her chest. Her voice had a harder edge and lower tone now.

"I won't ignore a surrender, and I won't enable the bombardment of civilian centers afterward, and I will not lend the Empire to a petty despot."

"You know you're going to die," said Tahiri.

"I'm ninety-two years old. Of course I'm going to die, and quite soon, but it's how I die that maters to me. Please - get out of my cabin."

"Last chance." Tahiri leveled the blaster. "All you have to do is call a halt. The Moffs obey you."

"My son died to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong and Jacen's as set on destroying everything I hold dear as they were." He opened his comlink. "Pellaeon to Fleet." Tahiri paused, probably expecting him to cave to her threat, like she would. Life mattered more to her than how it was lived. "Fleet, this is Admiral Pellaeon. I order you to place your vessels at the complete disposal of Admiral Niathal and take down Jacen Solo, for the honour of the Empire -"

The blaster bolt hit him square in the chest and flung him back against the bulkhead.

---
Bridge, Anakin Solo

"... all ships, Colonel Solo no longer holds command. You are to pursue and disable the Anakin Solo, or, if necessary..."

"Traitor," he whispered. "Traitor... traitor!" His voice rose to a snarl. "Traitor! Shut that comm down, Inondrar. Look at her! She thinks she's a martyr, a hero!" Caedus jumped up and stalked to a holochart showing the close view of Fondor. "She's spending our lives to shield the traitors. What does she think, that Fondor's going to make her a national hero now? They better, because she's never setting foot on Coruscant again. Never."

Inondrar paused and waited for him to return to his seat. "Yes, sir." The Anakin Solo's executive officer now filled the breach left by Captain Nevil. "Sir, there's -"

"Nevil's betrayed me, too, hasn't he?"

"There's one escape pod missing, and Captain Nevil can't be found. But -"

"Save your time. I don't feel him aboard the ship."

"Sir, the Imperial Remnant - the fleet is turning toward us, and Lieutenant Veila is comming you."

"Admiral Pellaeon is dead, and the Imperial Remnant is rejoining your forces."

Caedus gestured to Inondrar to take over, and moved to a comm station where he couldn't be overheard. "Did you finish the job yourself, Tahiri?"

"I - I shot him, sir."

"You've probably saved the Galactic Alliance."

"I don't feel much like a saviour. He was just an old man."

But Caedus noted that she had done it anyway; no sentimentality, no weakness. "Are you ashamed, Tahiri? Are you ashamed because you killed an old man?"

Tahiri didn't answer for a moment. "It's not quite the heroic role I had in mind."

"But you did it."

"Yes."

"Tahiri, in the long term, it's easier to kill a powerful enemy than it is an apparently weak one. If you bring down a giant, you're a hero. If you kill something weak - even if it has to die - the you endure contempt. Being willing to be despised for the common good... that's the mark of a true Sith. You're going to make a fine apprentice for me, Tahiri."

"Oh. I'm... official, then."

"You may call me Darth Caedus. I shall be known only by my true name from now on."

"Yes.. my lord."

He had the GA on the backfoot. It was numbers, always numbers, and now he had more.

"Ah..." said Loccin on sensors, even after these long hours. "Ships dropping out of hyperspace."

"It's Skywalker," Caedus said. "Try to filter these apparitions out from the real threats."

"Oh, you're kidding me..." clearly Loccin, and another junior officer, Duv-Horlo, were seeing what he was. "Did someone raid a museum?"

"Steady," said Caedus. "It looks real, but beware."

None of the ships transponders registered pennant codes - and the two young officers tried to identify the vessels by class alone. There were now two Crusader cruisers, a Victory-class Star Destroyer, and a squadron of TIEs. A Venator and two Republic-class star cruisers dropped out of hyperspace at exactly same moment like a choreographed party surpise of the worst kind.

The motley fleet kept growing, falling out of history into Caedus' hear and now, and their weapons were real. The sensor teams was flat-out trying to assess the battle elements ranging against them.

"Fierfek, those are Assassin corvettes "

"How many more?"

"I thought the Scimitars had gone for scrap by now."

Flaring into existence like the avenging swoophawk that the Jacipri sages said would herald the end of the universe, an Imperial Star Destroyer was now on a ramming course for the Anakin Solo.

It had an identifiable pennant code.

Caedus took a slow breath. He recognised it, too, but this time he believed.



"Chimaera," said Caedus.

"You know what we girls are like," said a slightly rasping patrician voice over the open comm. "We just can't throw anything away in case it comes back into fashion years later."

"You have me at a disadvantage, madam...."

"My apologies, Colonel Solo. Where are my manners? This is Admiral Daala, flag officer of the Maw Irregular Fleet, and I ask that you stand down and leave Fondorian space now."

"As Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"As you please, sir," said Daala. "Maw Fleet, patch into Admiral Niathal's battle net and give the lady a hand." The satisfied polish to Daala's voice was tarnished by some pain and regret, though. Caedus heard it. "This one's for Gil Pellaeon."

Chimaera opened fire. The battle with Daala's scrapyard fleet had begun.

---
Aboard the Ocean

The Chimaera cut a swath through the battlefield and headed straight for the Anakin Solo.

Niathal was still assessing the strength and firepower of the eclectic fleet that had just fallen into her lap. Her immediate guess was that she now had 30 percent more hulls than the Moff-Jacen fleet, as she now thought of it.

One destroyer bearing down on Chimaera's port beam appeared to be targeting her bridge, and a cruiser was on intercept course from starboard. Chimaera opened fire on both, with apparently little effect, and held her course.

"What was that, Vio," Niathal asked of her sensors officer. "Turbolaser?"

"Unknown, ma'am."

"This isn't time to admire what she's done with the refit, but I haven't seen anything like that. Tell me what she has in the way of armaments. I just hope this isn't just some massive bluff, because Jacen will sense that very fast." Niathal, still watching the developing collision, moved to watch one of the feeds from the remotes nearest the Anakin Solo. She waited for signs of impact from the Chimaera's weapon. What she saw instead was the hull of one ship deforming and then simply bursting apart like a bag of grainmeal, but there was no explosion. The aft was intact, but there was a large enough hole to span five decks, maybe more, and expose compartments to vacuum.

It was an oddly silent, unfit end for the cruiser. It rang a bell with Niathal.

"Yes, I do believe she has some novel weapons." Niathal commed the Maw flagship. "Ocean to Chimaera, thank you for your assistance. Are you armed with unconventional weapons?"

"Ocean confirm that, we have metal-crystal phase shifters." MCPS weapons altered crystalline structures. An area of the unfortunate destroyers hull had simply fractured under the stresses to break up. It was as good as a laser strike but penetrated shields.

Other destroyers were leaving ruptured, dead GA ships in their wake, with a weapon that conventional shields could not counter.

And now the Anakin Solo was exposed. The battle group ranged around it was being picked off, in an eerily peaceful but equally lethal way; no spectacular explosions breaching hulls, but large voids from crumbling, altered metals that lost their strength.

"Commanders of the GA Third and Fourth fleets that have chosen not to accept my command," she said. "This is your opportunity to rejoin the legitimate forces of the Galactic Alliance. Power down your weapons and withdraw now to the designated fleet assembly area. I will not, repeat not, take disciplinary action against any commander who withdraws now."

Niathal sat back and waited to see who would rally to her.

---
Aboard the Anakin Solo, Battle of Fondor's climax

"Sir, we've got no countermeasures for whatever it is." Commander Inondrar darted from screen to screen, checking the data from the stricken ships. "My guess is that it's a phase shifter. This might be the prudent point for tactical withdrawal to regroup," he said. "Reassess the situation."

Caedus usually heard retreat when someone said withdrawal, but he was outnumbered, and with the addition of Daala's unorthodox weapons probably outgunned too. If he delayed, he could lose most of the fleet. It was humiliating to run, but it was one more battle of many, not the whole war.

"All ships - this is Colonel Solo. Admiral Niathal is acting illegally and I call on you to remain loyal to the Galactic Alliance. Signal your intentions and stand by for orders." He looked to Inondrar. "If we retain fewer than we hoped - it'll be a good time to withdraw. If we get more, we pull back to Coruscant, and Niathal's left high and dry. We lose Fondor, but we can still fight that another day."

The word went out .

"Comms, how are we doing on responses?" He asked. "How many loyal commanders do we have?"

"About two-thirds of all GA ships."

"Good. Send them the RV coordinates." He turned back to Inondar. "Commander, you have the ship. I'll notify you of my location when I've extracted Lieutenant Veila. Withdraw the fleet to Coruscant, and if Niathal attempts to follow - repel them."

---
Ocean

"STANG!"

Several heads turned, even in the middle of a battle. Niathal never swore aloud - hardly, anyway - and for the crew it was an indicator of very bad news.

"My apologies," she said, fuming aside. "Some of our comrades have decided to leave the party."

Niathal was now in the bizarre position of having beaten back Jacen's combined fleet, but losing her hold on power. She stared in dismay at the modest tally of ships loyal to her on the screen, with fellow Admiral Makin leaning over her shoulder. "How has he managed to hold so many ships?" She asked him.

"Charisma, terror, and the natural tendency of beings in uniform to follow procedure." Makin shook his head. "What are we going to do? Chase him? Fight him for control of Coruscant? Because we'd need Daala and some additional hulls to make that happen, and invading the capital with another planet's forces would be a step too far polticially, I think - even if we could pull it off militarily."

"No, I'll give him a headache instead," she said. "We'll withdraw to another base, and set up a GA government in exile. Provide a rallying point for his enemies, and we know he's got a growing collection."

She relayed as much to Luke, flying a StealthX through the battle, protecting Fondorian escape pods.

"Ocean, where will you go? Where can you go?"

"Fondor would have been handy, but we appear to have worn out our welcome..."

"Commit rescue teams to the planet, and I'll see what I can arrange with Prime Minister Vadde. Stopping Jacen might have bought you some points with him. And you're no longer the official GA."

"I'm very grateful for your assistance, Master Skywalker."

"I'm sure you'd do the same for me, Admiral..."

She'd left port as the joint Chief of State and now she couldn't go home - not until or unless Jacen Solo was deposed.

"Resilient reports that they've recovered Captain Nevil, Admiral," said the comm officer. "He asks if he can join Ocean."

Nevil, one saved out of so many lost.

"Tell him, permission granted."

Nevil's wife didn't have to lose both a son and a husband within weeks of each other. Niathal grasped it as one brought one in a day of dark.

TAG: No-one

@Adalia-Durron, @Corellian_Outrider, @Anedon, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @galactic-vagabond422, @darthbernael, @adaml83 for pertinent mentions only, next post to follow

 

IC: Darth Caedus - From Legacy of the Force: Invincible - abridged
Sixteen weeks after the death of Mara Jade Skywalker, Roche system

He had made a few mistakes. Caedus could see that now.

He had fallen to the same temptation that all Sith did, had cut myself off from everything he loved - his family, his lover, even his daughter - to avoid being distracted by their betrayals. He could see now blinding himself to his pain had also blinded him to his duty, how he had begun to think only of himself, of his plans, of his destiny... of his galaxy.

Self-absorption.

That was the downfall of the Sith, always. He had studied the lives of the ancients - such greats as Naga Sadow, Freedon Nadd, Exar Kun - and he knew that they always made the same mistake, that sooner or later they always forgot that they existed to serve the galaxy, and came to believe that the galaxy existed to serve them.

And Caedus had stepped into the same trap. He had forgotten why he was doing all this, the reason that he had picked up a lightsaber in the first place and the reason that he had given himself over to the Sith, the reason that he had taken sole control of the Galactic Alliance.

To serve.

Caedus had forgotten because he was weak. After Allana had betrayed him by sneaking off the Anakin Solo with his parents, his pain had been a distraction. He had been unable to think, to plan, to command, to read the future... to lead. So he had shut away his feelings for Allana, had convinced himself that he was not really doing this for her and the trillions of younglings like her, that he was doing this for destiny - for his destiny.

It had all been a lie. Even after what Allana had done Caedus still loved her. He was her father, and he would always love her, no matter how much she hurt him. He had been wrong to try and escape that. Caedus needed to hold on to that love whatever it cost him, to cling to that love even as it tore his heart apart.

Because that was how Sith stayed strong. They needed pain to keep the Balance, to remind them they were still human. And they needed it so they would not forget the pain they were inflicting on others. To make the galaxy safer, everyone had to suffer - even Sith Lords.

And so there would be no angry outbursts when he confronted the Moffs over their unauthorized adventures, no demonstration killings, no Force choking or threats to have his fleet attack theirs, or intimidation of any sort. There would be no consequence at all, for how were they to know of the worrisome things he had been seeing in his Force visions lately - the Mandalorian maniacs and burning asteroids, his uncles inescapable gaze - if he failed to tell them? Whether blunder or master stroke, the taking of the Roche system was as much his doing as the Moffs, Caedus saw now, and he was beyond punishing others for his mistakes. Starting today, Darth Caedus was going to rule not through anger or fear or even bribery, but as every true Sith Lord should, through patience and love and... pain.

Caedus stepped through without hesitation and found himself looking down a sunken conference put where a couple dozen Imperial Moffs - most of the survivors of the slaughter of the Bloodfin - were rising to their feet, some reaching for their sidearms and others looking for a place of cover. Across from them, a small swarm of insectoid administrators from other Verpine hives squatted on their haunches, their shiny heads cocked in confusion and their mandibles spread wide in an instinctive threat display.

"No, please." Caedus extended his arms toward the Moffs and motioned for them to return to their seats - using the Force to compel obedience. "Don't get up on my account."

"Jacen Solo, where will the hives ever gather the wealth to settle our account?" The Verpine Hohh Coordinator spoke with an ancient thrumming voice that seemed to resonate from the very bottom of her long abdomen. "First, you rescue us from the Ancient Ones, and now you come with your fleet to send away the whiteshells. Welcome."

"Thank you, your Martnellence. But the name now is Caedus. Darth Caedus." He turned his attention to the Moffs, who were studying him with expressions ranging from impatience to annoyance, depending on whether they were brave, astute or just plain foolhardy. "But you're misinterpreting our presence. My fleet and I aren't here to free the Roche system - but to hold it."

It was difficult to tell who was more outraged - the mandible-clicking hive mother or the grumbling Moffs. Caedus raised his hand and - when that failed to produce quiet - used the Force to muffle the clamor. "This will be best for everyone. The conquest of the Roche system has given it a significance far beyond the value of its munitions factories."

The hive mother raised her thorax off her couch and demanded. "What significance? The hives are neutral? We have nothing to do with your war."

"You have been selling munitions to all sides - and profiting handsomely," interrupted a combat-trim Moff with close-cropped grey hair. "That makes you a legitimate target."

"Moff Lercersen makes a good point," Caedus said. "And I did warn you that the Mandalorians lacked the strength to protect you." Before the hive mother could argue, he turned to Lecersen. "But the Moff Council should have consulted with me before acting. There have been indications within the Force that this invasion could be a mistake."

"Spare us your dark prophecies, Colonel Solo," Moff Bhao said loudly. "Everyone at the table sees what youre trying to do."

The bile began to rise in Caedus's throat, but he reminded himself of his resolution and resisted he urge to the snap the young Moff's neck - as he had Lieutenant Tebut's not so long ago. Instead, he said in a calm, durasteel voice. "You really should listen more carefully, Moff Bhao. "He made a dipping motion with his index finger, and Bhao's head sank toward the table as if bowing. "It's Caedus now. Darth Caedus."

"We are all aware that you are very powerful in the Force, Darth Caedus," a Moff with a round-face and a roll of red neck-flab hanging over the collar of his button tunic said. "But you seem to be forgetting that we are quite powerful in our own right. If not for us, that catastrophe at Fondor would have been the end of you and the Galactic Alliance."

"Nor do we need to consult with you about anything," Lecersen added. "The last I checked, the Empire was an ally of the Galactic Alliance, not its territory. We don't need your permission to conduct our operations... and we surely don't need you fleets to hold what we take."

After a moment's silence, Caedus said. "You don't believe me." His tone was more disappointed than angry. "You think this is about spoils."

Lecersen exchanged suspicious glances with several of the other Moffs, then asked. "You don't really expect us to believe you came out here to protect us, do you?"

Caedus had to stifle a laugh. "I suppose that does sound absurd." Realizig that only events themselves would convince the Moffs of his sincerity, Caedus turned and started toward the exit. "The truth so often does."

---
Two weeks later, as the Battle of Roche rages, in the Shaedu Maad system, location of the new Jedi base

An approaching battle fleet crept into view a distant crescent of blue pinpoints shining bright against the shadowy depths of the Transitory Mists of the Hapes Cluster. To one side of the formation hung the nebulous smudge of the gravity well the fleet was skirting, a barely glowing protostar so deeply purple it was almost black. To the other side lay a hazard even more dangerous, a Mist-cloaked field of icy monoliths that had once been the third gas giant in an unstable triple-world cluster.

Caedus would be forced to make a long realspace approach through a narrow "safe channel, with barely detectable gravity wells and moon-sized icy chunks hiding in the Mists to every side. All Jaina had to do was to lure him in - and make him believe this was the route to the secret Jedi base.

It was a simple plan, really - at least in theory.

So far, she seemed to be doing a good job. Her next task was to head back down the Throat - as Saba nicknamed the channel where Tenel Ka would ambush Caedus. Jaina had to make it look like she was rushing back to base to sound the alarm.

They had been travelling down the Throat for about two minutes when Jaina felt a prickle of danger sense. Not only had she and Zekk been spotted, they were about to be fired upon. This was something the Masters hadn't anticipated, and it was going to complicate things. If she and Zekk returned to Ururo station under fire, Caedus would sense the trap - it would like they were trying too hard to lead him right to their "secret" base. So they would have to dodge into the ice field and make it look like they were attempting to lead Caedus away from the station.

Jaina smiled and brought her StealthX in a little behind Zekk's allowing him to take the lead. It was good to be flying with him again - even if it was going to be nearly impossible to survive the next two minutes.

---
Aboard Ururo Station, Shedu Maad system

All eyes shifted to the portable wall display that had been affixed along one side of the deck. The Throat was depicted as a white ribbon snaking down the center of the screen toward a spoked wheel labelled URORO STATION. Coming down the center of this ribbon was a collection of simple designator codes identifying the vessels of Caedus' fleet. From what Han could see, it included a handful of Remnant Star Destroyers that had escaped destruction in the Roche system, along with a sizeable support flotilla of heavy cruisers, pocket destroyers, and frigates.

But it was what lay at the heart of the fleet that made Han's stomach sink. Floating alongside the Anakn Solo was a designator reading MEGADOR with a question mark. Han glanced back at the red ball of turbolaser fire boiling down the Throat, and began to feel queasy. The Megador was a Super Star Destroyer. It carried more than five times the firepower of a typical Imperial II like the Anakin Solo. And there had been rumours of a weapons upgrade that included three new batteries of new long-range turbolasers. If that was after Jaina and Zekk, he didn't know how long they would last.



"I don't think we'll be giving anything away by launching the defences now, Master Horn," Luke said. "Give the order."

"About time," Han muttered.

Corran acknowledged the order and relayed the command. The Jedi fighters did not begin to automatically stream from the station's dilapidated hangars, however. To avoid any possibility of making Caedus suspect an ambush by reacting a little too quickly, Luke had insisted that the pilots remain in the ready rooms with their helmets off and flight suits open.

At long last, lines of starfighters began to stream away from the station. There was a squadron of Wookiee-piloted Owools, another squadron of new blastboats piloted by Alliance deserters who had chosen to seek out the Jedi instead of heeding Niathal's call to join her. Then came the StealthX wing, a black tide of cruciform shadows that remained silhouetted against the firelit depths of the Throat for only a moment before winking out of sight.

Right now, the young Jedi kids and support staff brought along to act as decoys were waiting in the docks on the bottom level of the station, packed into transports and ready to evacuate when Luke gave the order. The idea had been that the kids would leave before the attack on the station came. But with those long range turbolasers, Caedus was almost close enough now to open fire - and it was beginning to look like he intended to stand off and do just that. "The Megador is getting close enough to open up on us, and this place isn't exactly well shielded." he snapped the comlink from his pocket and opened a channel to the convoy commander. "Time to get out of here, Ben - but don't send everyone at once. We've got to make it look good."

A few seconds later, a motley assortment of light transports began to shoot away from the station. The first part of their trajectory carried them directly up the Throat towads Caedus. But within a minute or so, they started to arc around the bulge of Qogo's amber-striped gas giant sphere, heading for the ice field where the Hapans lay in ambush. If all went went according to plan, Caedus would pursue, Tenel Ka would ambush him, and the assault fleet would be destroyed.

But battles never went according to plan. As it grew more apparent that the transports were fleeing, the Remnant fleet did begin to accelerate down the Throat again, moving to pursue them into the ice field just as Luke and Tenel Ka had hoped. But the Solo and the Megador remained behind with a handful of escorts, moving down the Throat to fire on Ururo Station.

"That's not good" Leia observed.

"It could be worse," Han said reassuringly. "I'm not sure how, but it could be."

They evacuated, of course.

The Jedi would be right behind Jaina.

---
The Throat

Like the little brother it was named for, the Anakin Solo hung in the shadow of the mighty Megador. The Megador was punding away with its long-range turbolasers, pouring a river of crimson fire down the Throat toward Uroro Station. With it's own long-range battery till out of commission after the sabotage at Kashyyyk, the Anakin Solo was concentrating on perimeter protection, using its normal turbolasers and point-defence arrays to build a shell of anti-starcraft fire around both vessels.

Jaina and Zekk were hanging on the edge of the ice field, directly between the Remnant assault fleet and the two Alliance Star Destroyers. When the Hapans sprang their ambush, the Anakin Solo and the Megador would rush to support the assault - and when they did, the Anakin Solo would be turning straight into the two SteathX's. The Megador continued to spit crimson beams down the Throat, striking the target half a dozen times in as many seconds. Uroro station started to come apart in chunks large enough to identify, and Jaina began to see sections of spokes and wheels tumbling toward the amber-striped faces of the twin gas giants.

Then the Force shuddered with the surprise of thousands of Imperials, and the Mists began to flash and flicker with a never-ending cascade of turbolaser fire.

"Time to arm the shadow bombs, Sneaky," Jaina said to her astromech droid.

The Anakin Solo fired its ion engines and began to accelerate, starting to bank towards them almost immediately. The Megador lagged behind, its huge mass requiring more energy to move, and its big engines more time to reach peak efficiency. Through the gap between the two, the starfighter battle raging in the Throat was just visible, a colour-laced mesh of streaking light and sudden eruptions. Jaina could already make out the sickle nose dots of a few Wookiee Owools and the sleek cylinders of about half a dozen Skipray blastboats, along with the tiny cruciform shapes of the Xj7s swarming them.

What truly surprised her, however, were the blocky silhouettes of the StealthX wing already coming up toward the Anakin Solo's belly. Leading the pack was the charcoal wedge of a Mandalorian Bes'uliik - large and somewhat ungainly, but still fast and powerful. It was taking more fire than the StealthX's, since it was leaving a long stream of blue efflux in its wake and its sensor-negation technologies weren't as efficient. But it hardly mattered, because it was being flown by the best starfighter pilot Jaina had ever seen - Luke Skywalker, of course.

An image of a generator dome - the one on the far end of the Solo's bridge - flashed through Jaina's mind. Zekk was letting her know which dome he was targeting. She pointing the nose of her StealthX at the other one. "Launch, Sneaky!" she ordered into her throat mike. "Launch, launch, launch!"

An instant later, Jaina's StealthX began to buck hard, and everything below her went orange as her own bombs hit. A shockwave from behind sent the StealthX spinning. The cockpit began to shake and shudder as pieces of starfighter began to fly off the craft - cannons, sensor cones, hull armour. The Anakin Solo drifted into view and stayed there, but she found herself more or less in one piece.

Actually, it was less, because Zekk wasn't there anymore. Jaina couldn't feel him in the Force, couldn't even find the combat meld. She hadn't felt him die, hadn't experienced a sudden shock of fear and pain, could not even remember a wistful pang of regret or farewell. He was just gone.

The Anakin Solo was only about the length of her arm from this distance, but she could see that both ends of the bridge were gone, along with the generator domes that had once been attached to them. Luke and his wing were just beginning their run, popping up over the Anakin Solo's nose while the Megador dropped down behind them desperate to keep the StealthX's off its companion ship. The Anakin Solo itself was pouring fire into the ice field in an attempt to drive Tenel Ka's Home Fleet away from the Remnant assault fleet.

It was a doomed effort. As Jaina accelerated toward the fight, the Jedi began to loose their shadow bombs. Geysers of flame shot up all along the unshielded hull, travelling down its long spine in long rows, leaving in their wake jagged, star-shaped breaches ringed by red-hot durasteel. Bodies, equipment and atmosphere began to rise from the ruptures in long plums of steam and flotsam.

The Bes'uliik held fire, weaving through the stabbing flashes of laserfire toward the bridge. Jaina thought for a moment that Luke meant to crash his fighter into the bridge but at the last instant he opened up with all systems, pouring cannon bolts and concussion missiles into the thick blast shielding, then Luke pulled up and vanished over the stern with the rest of the Jedi wing.

The Megador was right behind him, dropping over the smaller star Destroyer like a mother velker over her chick. Still, the Jedi wing tried to come around for another pas, wheeling up in a dark curving swarm... that was quickly shredded by the Megador's sweeping turbolasers. By this time, Jaina was almost on top of the Solo, close enough to see half a dozen StealthX's explode and several more disintegrated from near-miss shock waves, and suddenly there were EV beacons and pieces of StealthX tumbling everywhere.

An instant later cannon bolts began to stream up at her from all directions. The StealthX bucked half a dozen times as it took hits, then something popped, and the cockpit went red with warning light.

It didn't matter. Jaina could not have pulled up if she had wanted to - and she didn't want to. She blew the canopy and ejected, then watched, enthralled, as her flaming StealthX crashed the thin shell of the cloaking cone and exploded through the decks below.

Get ready, Caedus. Here I come.

---
Commander's Deck, Anakin Solo

Victory was within his grasp.

Caedus had, of course, spotted the Bes'uliik. When he realized Luke was flying it, his intestines had filled with ice. Knowing that Luke was coming for him - just as Caedus had seen in his visions - he had leapt from his meditation chair and rushed into the Tactical Salon, barely sealing the hatch before Luke launched his missiles.

The hatch had held, and was still holding. And now here Caedus was, staring at the holodisplay but seeing a throne - a white throne in a brightly lit chamber. There was no one on it, but it was surrounded by a hundred beings regal enough to belong in the seat. They were beings of all species - Bothans, Hutts, Ishi Tib, Mon Calamari, humans, Squibs - and they all had the easy, amicable bearing of old friends.

But what held Caedus there – what kept him staring at the vision with no regard for the screaming alarms sirens – was the tall, red-headed woman at the center of the crowd. She had her mother’s thin arcing brows and full lipped mouth, but her nose was her grandmothers – small and not to long, with just a hint of a button at the end.

“Lord Caedus!” Tahiri’s voice had grown as shrill as the lockdown alarm, and she was tugging him, trying in vain to move him away from the holodisplay. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Wrong? Nothing – nothing at all.”

The white throne and the regal friends of the grown-up Allana all faded away, and the face of his beautiful daughter twisted into the angry, hateful visage of his sister Jaina.

Get ready, Caedus, she was warning him. Here I come.

Caedus laughed. “I am ready, Jaina.” He turned his back on the vision, finally allowing Tahiri to pull him away. “And I’ve already won.”

Tahiri looked more worried than convinced. But rather than argue the point, she seemed content to just pull him into the turbolift. As they descended toward the Auxiliary Command Center hidden deep in the well-protected bowels of the vessel, she took a moment to straighten her own robes, then stepped in front of him and began to tug his robes into place. “The Moffs are in a bad state,” she warned him. “They’re scared –“

“Of course they’re scared,” Caedus said. “They think only of themselves, and they fear only for their own lives.”

“Actually, they’re just as worried about their assault fleet,” she explained. “They’re afraid we’re about to lose the war.”

“Lose?” Caedus scoffed. “Haven’t they been viewing the Intelligence briefings?”

“They’re more concerned about our situation here,” she said. “Actually, so am I.”

Caedus’s temper began to rise. Bwua’tu had already wiped out Niathal’s traitors and trapped both the Bothan and Corellian fleets at Carbos Thirteen in the Roche Asteroid Belt. Admiral Atoko was neutralizing the Mandalorian nuisance by inflicting some sorely needed urban renewal on Keldabe – with just the remains of the Fifth Fleet. And yet, the Moffs were worried because they had run into some relatively minor resistance here. Did they really expect Jedi to be defeated as easy as Mandalorians and Corellians?”

“I appreciate the warning, Tahiri, Caedus said. “I’ll be sure to reassure them.”

“It might be better if we had never been ambushed.”

“It’s hard to argue against that,” Caedus said. “But I don’t see what it has to do with our situation.”

“Fix it,” Tahiri said. “I think that’s what it’s going to take to keep their faith.”

“Fix it how?” Caedus asked. “Are you under the impression I can change the past?”

Tahiri looked confused. “Well… yeah,” she admitted. “You did it for me?”

Now Caedus understood. “The kiss, you mean.”

“What else?” she asked. “You flow-walked me back to the battle on Baanu Rass, and I kissed Anakin. If you could do that, why not flow-walk back and warn someone about the ambush.”

“The flow-walking as real,” Caedus interrupted. “We did return to the battle at Baanu Rass, and you did kiss Anakin. But the past didn’t change. It can’t.”

Tahiri’s eyes burned with denial. “That makes no sense,” she said. “If I really kissed him, then we changed the past.”

Caedus shook his head. “When you drop a pebble into a river, what happens? There’s a splash, and then the splash disappears. The splash is real, but the river doesn’t change. It continues on just the same.”

“But it does change,” Tahiri objected. “Maybe you can’t see it, but the pebble is still down there, rolling along the button.”

“And the kiss is still there, too,” Caedus said. He reached out and gently tapped Tahir’s temple. “In there. That’s where the bottom of the flow is.”

“In my mind?”

“In the way you perceive the past. We went back to the battle on Baanu Rass, and you kissed Anakin. What changed? The past – or your memory of the past?”

“What about Tekli and the rest of the strike team? You were worried about them seeing us?”

“About them remembering that they had seen us.”

Caedus could tell by Tahiri’s crestfallen expression that she was beginning to understand – but she wasn’t quite ready to give up.

“What about being harmed?” she said. “If we’re just splashes, how come we had to be so careful about reacting to the past? A splash can’t be harmed.”

Caedus shook his head. “Tahiri, you know the answer. The mind is a powerful weapon – especially for a Force user. If we started to remember being harmed…” The doors slid open. “I’m sure you understand.”

For a moment, Tahiri was speechless, her face red with fury, her eyes damp. She stepped out of the turbolift. “I understand Lord Caedus. You’re the slime under a Hutt tail. Feed on that.”

At the first chance she had, Tahiri left. Her heart was no longer in it; she'd been tricked - she was no Sith.

A thousand years and more of Sith succession finally came to an end.

---
Jaina vs Jacen









---
Hangar, Anakin Solo

If you were a GAG commando posted to the Anakin Solo, the last thing you wanted to see right now was most of a wing of Jedi StealthX’s storming the already battle-torn hangar you were assigned to defend. Han was pretty certain of that. And he was absolutely certain that you didn’t want to see the Millennium Falcon following them in – not after the announcement Tenel Ka had just made… not when you were protecting were Imperial Moffs.

With the StealthX wing cannons blasting away and GAG defenders returning fire from every hatchway and corner, the hangar was already one big eruption. But that didn’t stop Han from firing a rackful of concussion missiles into the control booth, or stop Leia from turning the cannons on anything wearing a black uniform.

The conflagration quickly faded as Han and the Jedi eliminated the defenders heavy weapons. As one the StealthX’s dropped to the deck and popped their canopies. Out came a dozen Jedi Masters leading fifty Jedi Knights, all leaping and whirling as their lightsabers batted a hail of blaster bolts back at their attackers.

Luke and the other Masters led the way toward the back of the hangar. The driving tip of the Jedi wedge, they were Force-hurling and Force-blasting any GAG trooper foolish enough to send a bolt their way. A squad of sharpshooters began to fire from the smoking ruins of the control booth; Saba raked a taloned had and they came flying down to the deck headfirst. A late arriving E-web cannon opened fire form inside a ventilation grate; Kyo Durron made a tapping motion with his finger, and the barrel sagged, causing a misfire and explosion. A platoon of black-armoured GAG commandos rushed through a hatchway; Luke glanced at a shuttle and sent it tumbling through their line.

Within moments the Jedi controlled the hangar, and the few GAG commandos who had not already died or surrendered were either fleeing or tossing their weapons aside. Han set down the Falcon and unbuckled and turned to Leia. Her eyes were already fixed out the forward viewport and she had the Look.

“Threepio, go load the baradium missile.”

“The baradium missile, Captain Solo?” C-3PO asked. “I don’t believe Master Skywalker’s plan calls for a baradium missile.”

“It doesn’t,” Han said. “But you heard Tenel Ka’s announcement. They killed Allana. If Jaina is gone, too, nobody who was a part of it is leaving this…”

Han felt Leia’s hand on his arm and let his sentence trail off, but he didn’t look over. He was just too afraid.

“It’s Jacen.” Her voice cracked. “Jaina got him.”

---
The End



---
Auxiliary Command Center, Anakin Solo

The Elite Guard Stormtroopers probably knew that one platoon could not stand against so many Jedi Masters. But they had been ordered to hold the Anakin Solo’s Auxiliary Command Center at any cost, and brave men were born under every flag. So they tried.

And they died.

A series of tremendous bangs sounded from deep within the blast door. Han looked over to see Luke holding a hand out and the door slowly creeping open. Protruding up form the sill was the stub of one of the thirty-centimeter locking pins holding the heavy door in place.

As soon as the door slid upon far enough to permit entrance, Saba dived through, with Kyp, Kyle, Corran and the other Masters close behind. There followed a short flurry of blaster screeches and surprised cries, and by the time Han and Jag’s turn came, all had fallen silent inside.

There were few left since the Battle Roche had begun; even fewer since the Battle of Fondor had slew a quarter of their number. Those that remained – Lercersen, Quillan, Calron, Wolbam, Vansyn, Trevin, Malvek, Jawar, Poliff, Garreter, Rezer, Westermel – they were a ruthless sort, but varied as they were. Dangerous, one and all.

Finally, Luke entered the room and went to the head of the table. “As I’m sure you’d heard by now, Darth Caedus is dead.”

The Moffs gave an affirmative murmur; some looked worried, none appeared sad.

“Good. That leaves you with two choices.” Luke said. “The first is this: you become Hapan prisoners of war and face a war crimes trial for your nanokiller attack against the royal family.”

Several Moffs paled visibly, but one – Lecersen – actually looked relieved. “That doesn’t sound like a very attractive option,” he said. “What is your other proposal?”

Luke turned and studied the man for a moment, then said, “Frankly, Moff Lecersen, my other proposal sickens me. But we need the Remnant’s support – and its fleets – to end this war. The easiest way to achieve that is to invite the Moff Council to join us in reestablishing the Galactic Alliance.”

A murmur of relief rounded the table, but now Lecersen looked worried, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. “That seems more than generous, Master Skywalker,” he said. “What’s the drawback?”

Luke waved Jag forward, then pushed him to the front of the table. “Him,” he said. “I can had you over to the Hapans, or I can hand you over to someone who will let you live – as long as you stay in line.”

Lecersen leaned back, contemplating Luke, then contemplating Jag. Finally, he asked. “Do you think you’re up to it, son?”

Jag frowned. “Up to what, sir?”

It was Luke who answered. “Taking Pellaeon’s place,” he said. “Administering the Moff Council, at least until the current crisis is resolved.”

“You’d be doing us a favour, Commander Fel. You have good Imperial blood, and the alternative is –“ Lecersen paused and glanced around the table, directing the rest of comment to his fellow Moffs – “… well, most likely a long unpleasant incarceration, followed by an even more unpleasant death.”

A light seemed to come on in the eyes of several of the other Moffs, ad they began to nod their enthusiastic agreement. But Jag seemed as stunned by the whole thing as Han, and he simply stood at the head of the table frowning, trying to sort through the implications of what Luke was proposing.

Finally, he turned to Luke. “Why are you springing this on me now?” he asked. “It would have been good to have some time to think it over.”

“For you,” Luke said, nodding. “But I wanted it to be clear to the Moffs that this isn’t something you arranged – that you’re doing them a service, not making a power play.”

“And doing the galaxy a service, as well,” added a round-faced Moff with beady eyes and two chins – Vansyn. “Without our support, the Jedi Coalition will have a difficult time convincing Bwua’tu and his fellow Admirals that they’ve rejoined the Galactic Alliance.”

“And with our fleets, the Alliance will have the power it needs to force the Confederation to the bargaining table,” another Moff added. “You could send the war, Commander Fel.”

Jag sighed, and Han’s inside began to twist into an angry knot.

“Seen in that light,” Jag said, his voice strong but lacking enthusiasm. “I really have no choice.”



This was too much for Han, he quickly stepped between Jag and Lecersen, then whirled around to face Luke. “That’s it?” he demanded. “You’re just going to let them switch sides?”

“It’s the best thing for the galaxy,” Luke said. Where there was a hint of sorrow in his eyes, his face remained composed.

“But they’ve got to pay for what they did. Maybe set up a Mission to help our worlds in poverty or something – a real generous mission.”

Lecersen scowled. “I don’t think we have the resources for –“

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” interrupted a Moff that Han was on the verge of shooting. “And I hope you’ll join me in being one of the largest contributors, Moff Lecersen – considering that you’re the one who suggested the delivery method.”

Lecersen’s face paled. “You make a persuasive argument.”

“Good,” a familiar voice said from the doorway. “I’m sure Allana would be honoured to have such a mission undertaken in her memory.” Tenel Ka stopped at Han’s side and acknowledged the bows she received from everyone – except the Moffs – then said. “Thank you, Captain Solo, for suggesting it – and for not spoiling a rare moment to end this war.”

Han’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re okay with letting them off?”

“No, I am not ‘okay’ with their treachery, and I never will be. I cannot put my desire for personal vengeance before my duty to end this war.” Tenel Ka turned an icy glare on the Moffs. “And that, gentlemen, is the only reason you will be permitted to live. I suggest you never test my forbearance again.”

The Moffs all nodded with understanding, and Lecersen even bowed. “We won’t, your Majesty,” he said. “The Council sincerely apologizes for its indiscretion.”

“It was not an indiscretion,” Tenel Ka said. “And if anything like that ever happens again, it won’t be the Council we come hunting.” She spun on her heel, her face still clouded with anger, and started towards the door.

“Come with me, Captain Solo,” she said, motioning for him to follow. “There is something I really must tell you.”

---
Epilogue

The crimson stains left by her brother’s blood had finally faded from Jaina’s face and throat, but perhaps not from her heart. Why hadn’t she believed him when he had said he was trying to save Tenel Ka and Allana?

Jaina wasn’t foolish enough to believe it might be enough to bring her brother back into the light. He had gone too far into the darkness for that. But if she had just believed hm, had not been so sure it was just a Sith trick, she might have given him the two seconds he needed to explain.

And Allana might still be alive.

A silence fell over the room just long enough for her mother to shoot her father a ‘be careful’ look, then Leia said. “Well, we do have some good news.”

“Jag is coming to see me?”

“As soon as he can,” her father promised. “He’s pretty busy with the peace conference right now. The Moffs seem to keep getting the idea that they’re the ones who won this war.”

“Won?” Jaina raised her brow. “The war is over? Completely?”

Her mother nodded. “They’re having the ceremony now.” She retrieved the remote from the storage pocket in Jaina’s hoverest cabinet – she was suspended in a bacta curtain at the moment – and pointed it at the vidscreen suspended near the ceiling. “We might be able to catch the last part.”

As the screen activated, it showed the image of a large dais that had been erected in the vast main hangar of a Star Destroyer. At the front of the dais stood a podium and a high table bearing a single sheet of flimsiplast covered in scrawls that appeared to be the signatures of the long row of dignitaries seated at the rear of the platform.

A tall, regal-looking woman in a white admirals uniform, with green eyes and long copper hair going to gray, was taking the podium to tremendous applause, and a caption at the bottom of the screen read NEW ALLIANCE CHIEF OF STATE DAALA.

“Daala?” Jaina gasped.

Her parents glanced nervously at each other, then her father said. “No joke, kid. That’s the only hitch of the peace deal. Bwua’tu wouldn’t take the job – he said he’s an admiral, not a liar-“

“What he actually said was that he didn’t think he was cunning enough to last in the job,” her mother interrupted. “And then he recommended Daala instead. But Daala turned out to be the only universally accepted choice.”

“Universally?” Jaina asked. “Really?”

“Well, some of the Moffs squirmed a bit.” It was true. No Alliance politician was acceptable to the Confederates; and vice-versa. The Jedi of course refused, even if a Force user taking power was remotely palatable after what Caedus had just done, and the Moffs were not even candidates. That left Daala, who acquired support from Buwa'tu and Niathal - and other unscrupulous matters had came to a head leaving her the only neutral party.

Jaina’s head was spinning. Daala in charge of the Alliance. That wasn’t going to be good for the Jedi. But maybe it didn’t need to be, if it meant the end of the war.

“Daala might not be that bad,” her father said. “Give her a chance.”

“Okay.” Jaina turned her gaze back to the vidscreen, where Daala was at the podium, waiting for the applause to die down. “Let’s see what she has to say.”

Jaina’s mother turned up the volume. “What can I add that has not already been said here today?” Daala said in her deep, cultured voice. “If this war has taught us anything, it is that we all lose when we fight. My friends, the time has come to try a new way –“

Here, she had to stop and wait for the applause to die down again – which took nearly a minute.

When she finally was able to continue, she said. “A way of cooperation, so we can all win together.”

More thunderous applause.

Daala motioned for quiet, and continued. “My friends, it is my promise to you here today that sometime in the not-too-distant future, we will live in a galaxy where our space navies exist to better our societies, not defend them – where we won’t need Jedi to sort out our differences and mete justice, because we will be living under a government that is just.”

The crowd rose to its feet, roaring and cheering, and Jaina realised with a cold shudder that Jacen had not failed. He had sacrificed everything – his name, his family, his reputation, his life – to unite the galaxy. And now here Jaina was, watching the birth of a new galaxywide league of worlds dedicated to working together in peace.

Had Jacen won after all?

“Hey, take it easy kid.” Her father stepped in front of the vidscreen. “Daala’s not that scary.”

“Sorry, Dad,” Jaina said. “It’s not Daala. I was just thinking of… of what Caedus sacrificed. At the end, there was a second where he just stopped fighting so he could war Tenel ka.”

Jaina could not bring herself to look at her parents when she told them this next part, but she had to tell. They deserved to know.

“I think he became Jacen again for a second before I… before I killed him.”

“Jaina, it’s okay,” her mother started to reach for her arm, then barely caught herself; it would have hurt if she had. “If you had hesitated, you would be the dead one.”

Jaina shook her head. “I could have given him a second,” she said. “If I had, he could have made Tenel Ka understand in time to save Allana.” She forced herself to look back at her parents and was amazed to see that they didn’t appear all that upset. In-fact, they looked a little bit guilty.

“Yeah, about that,” her father said. “There’s something we haven’t been able to tell you yet.”

Jaina frowned. “What?”

Her mother went to the door and opened it, then said, “Amelia, would you come here for a minute?”

Jaina looked to her father. “Amelia?”

“A war orphan,” he said. “Turns out the kid’s Force sensitive. You mother and I are going to be acting as her guardians while she’s at the Jedi academy.”

Jaina began to grow very suspicious. “An orphan?”

“That’s how it was explained to us,” her mother said. “But it’s possible her mother just felt the Jedi Academy would be a safer environment than she was able to provide.”

She ushered a nervous-looking girl of about four or five into the room. The girl had a swarthy complexion and short-cropped black hair, and, for a minute, it actually fooled Jaina. But the button nose was a bit of a giveaway - as was the familiar hint of her brother and Tenel Ka in the girl’s Force presence.

“Hello, Jaina,” Allana’s small voice said. “They tell me we’re going to be sisters now.”



Jaina smiled, her heart filling with an unimaginable joy she had not thought imaginable just ten second earlier. “I guess we are, Amelia. Welcome to our family.”

TAG: No-One

@Adalia-Durron, @Corellian_Outrider, @Anedon, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha, @galactic-vagabond422, @darthbernael, @adaml83 for pertinent mentions only, next post to follow

 

EPILOGUE

IC: Aden Kya
After the war, Contruum

It had been a strange two months.

To think, he had been close to becoming the Sith apprentice to Darth Caedus - a Skywalker - a God in the Force. But instead, after the Centerpoint battle he’d just…

… shattered.

It had taken some days to realise it, but he had been devastated by how close he had came to death. Not just death, but pointless and irrelevant death. Caedus didn’t even check in with him; he just moved on, elevated Tahiri Veila to become his official Sith apprentice, and, well, that was that.

Aden just didn’t figure into Caedus’ world view anymore. And now? He had risked betraying the One Sith for nothing - especially now Caedus was dead. Worse, Tahiri had abandoned her Sith path.

One of the greatest and most powerful Sith had no legacy at all. It was violently depressing, and now Aden could not sleep, he moved from world to world within this new Galactic Alliance, keeping to the shadows. Obsessing over death, over mortality, over his own imminent passing.

That was when the Anzati found him again.

TAG: @darthbernael (combo)
—-
IC: Luke Skywalker
After the war, Kashyyyk

It had been nearly fifteen years since the Solo and Skywalker family had last gathered to this grove of wroshyr trees on Kashyyyk. Then it had been five years, but not to the day, of the passing of Chewbacca, and nearly three years since Anakin Solo had joined him in the Force. And now they were here to remember two other members of the family who had since passed – Mara Jade Skywalker and Jacen Solo.

The grove had changed quite a bit since they had last visited, and for new additions to the extended family such as Tenel Ka, Amelia Solo and Ben Skywalker, it was a sad sight to behold. Their retinue included Chewbacca’s widow, Mallatobuck and their son, Waroo, as well as Chewie’s nephew Lowbacca. Several of the other Wookiees who had met them there fifteen years ago could not join them – Ralrra was missing, Jowdrrl was searching for his mate at the fringes of the raging inferno, which still had yet to burn out and Attichitcuk had exiled himself, for the sins of his extended family. Somber, they had trekked for a day from Thiss, near the burnt out remnants of the village of Rwookrrorro. The fallen branch that had served as a memorial to Chewbacca was similarly burned, having been caught in Jacen’s pyromania over five months beforehand.

Han, with Lando at his side, was peeling away at the branch, which had folded inward in the heat. The trunk of one of the trees that supported the fallen branch was concealed, and as Han pulled away at the dead wood he found that the likeness of Chewbacca, which had been carved into the trunk to remember him, had survived the cataclysm.

Tears touched at the edges of Han’s eyes, and Lowbacca explained. [The branch had protected Chewbacca’s memorial, by folding itself around as it burned.]

Leia crouched down beside her husband, tears in her eyes. Luke was somber, as was Jaina, who had been pale since killing her brother. Even now, she clutched her hands to her chest, and was reticent. Amelia huddled near her mother – Tenel Ka – while her ‘adopted parents’ grieved. Ben squatted down by Chewbacca’s face. “Do you think that the Wookiee’s will ever forgive us?”

[All wounds heal with time, Ben], said Malla, sadly. [We will rebuild, and recover.]

“And learn,” said Luke. “Learn from our mistakes. We will find out what happened to Jacen, for all of us, and the galaxy.”

“Redemption,” said Leia, softly. “That is what our family is known for. The family which redeemed Darth Vader.”

As Han pulled clear more debris from Chewbacca’s face, a lump of wood came free, revealing the lightsaber of Anakin Solo, unharmed, and untouched. He reached down for it, and saw, beneath the brittle and burned exterior of the great felled branch, there was pristine, untouched wood, even insects and other creatures within the nooks and carved-out burrows. The family took in the significance of that as one – even under the devastation that Darth Caedus had caused, there was life still beating beneath.

Tenel Ka, with Amelia clinging to her leg, reached for Jaina’s shoulder. “And scars only go so deep...” She looked into Jaina’s eyes. “If we allow scars to break us, then we give in to despair, and that is the seed of the dark side.”

Jaina, her eyes forlorn, seemed to understand that , and she lowered her hands, revealing what she held to her chest – in one hand, the lightsaber of Anakin Skywalker, passed by Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke, and then, eventually, to Mara, as a symbol of them breaking the past. In her other was the lightsaber hilt of Jacen Solo, taken from him by Luke during their duel on the Anakin Solo, above this world.

It was a symbol of the light and darkness within the Skywalker and Solo families. She strode to the fallen tree, and held the two lightsabers out, passing Mara’s, hesitantly, to Ben. Jaina looked to her father. “Are we sure it’s okay for us to leave these here?”

Lowbacca answered for Han. [Tojjlenoot was the one who suggested you do so – to help your family heal as the greater family of Kashyyyk does so too.]

Her eyes brimming with tears, she, Han and Ben ignited the three blades – blue, violet and emerald – and dug a furrow each into the tree, just as Han had done with Anakin’s fifteen years earlier. They each stuck the hilts in fast.

Luke took a step forward. “Should the need arise, these blades can be drawn by our future sons and daughters, who find themselves walking down paths that they recognise from the past of our family. The Wookiees will keep this grove secret, and guide our descendants here should they ever lose their way.”

Jaina gave her uncle a smile that could only be described as bittersweet. “And now we have a galaxy to put back together again.”

“Oh come on,” said Han, cracking a grin. “Do we have to? Can’t someone else do it this time? We have a whole Jedi Order now to abuse!”

Luke shook his head, and turned to leave the grove. “Not yet. We can’t hand the torch over just yet.”

“I don’t believe I’m old enough to hold a torch, for one,” remarked Ben.

“No,” said Luke, mussing his sons hair. “You’re still my son, and you get to be him for a little while longer. No running off and saving the galaxy while I’m not looking?”

Leia adopted a playful expression, and smirked. “You can go and focus on girls and other teenage habits for a while.”

Luke and Ben shuddered, as one, and Ben answered. “I’m a bit busy for that, you know.”

[I heard from Valin that Seha found you attractive], noted Lowbacca.

“Octa told me the same thing,” said Han, with a chuckle.

“Hell, even I heard about that crush from Karrde.” Lando added, as Ben’s cheeks reddened.

Tenel Ka nodded gravely. “Trista mentioned it as well.”

Ben pulled a face, and looked at Jaina. “Well, I heard from Booster that Jaina was seen sneaking Jag into a room aboard the Venture.”

Jaina’s mouth opened, and then she placed her hands on Amelia’s ears, who giggled. “No comment.”

“Oooooh,” said Han. “Is that what the Empire told you to say?”

Luke shook his head. “I can see that Solo blood has attracted her to royalty again.”

Leia laughed, a little bittersweet, as she reflected on how Han had hooked up with a Princess, and Jaina with, Jag, as the Emperor, for all intents and purposes. Even Jacen had fallen in love with a Queen. Leia looked over, and saw Tenel Ka’s face cloud over, and Leia drew her into a hug.

Han joined, embracing the two of them, and Luke, wordlessly, placed a hand on Leia’s shoulder as Ben moved close to his father, sadness in his eyes. Little Amelia clutched her grandmothers leg, while Lando, Lowbacca and the others looked on with soft smiles.

Later on that day, as they shared a meal with the members of their extended family and friends – the Antilles, Celchu and Horn clans, Talon and the Smugglers Alliance, the retired Wraiths and the Council – Ben Skywalker found himself thinking of the war and what they had lost. He thought of Lon Shevu, the man who had saved him from his own personal darkness, and of Lekauf, and Nelani, and so many other friends.

As he stared out, across the treeline, ignoring the Ewok tune in the background, he saw a single person sitting with her back to the party, her legs swinging over the edge of the wooden platform. He walked towards her, to bring whoever it was back into the party, as much as he, too, had to return, and recognised it as his mother.

Ben took a hesitant step towards her, as she turned to look at him, a sad smile across her face. “Is it time for you to go?”

Mara nodded, cupping Ben’s face in her hand, the blue haze surrounding her giving her hand a kind of weight. He closed his eyes, momentarily recalling the warmth of his mother’s skin on his, and a tear trickled down his cheek. She caught it with a finger, and wiped at the corner of his eye. “You are my legacy, my love. You could not have made me prouder than you have now in passing through your own trial – but I know that you will do so much more for me to be proud of.”

Ben choked back a gasp, and squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears. “Love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Ben.”

He opened his eyes, and she was gone, and for a long moment he stood there, separate from the others, remembering his mother for all time. After a while, his father came out, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come back, son.”

Ben squeezed his father tight in a hug. “I love you, Dad.”

Luke smiled. “I love you too, son. And your mother does, too. I can feel it.”

Looking up at his father, Ben Skywalker smiled, because he could tell, right here, right now, that everything would be alright. That they would both heal, and they, and the family, and the galaxy with them, would recover and that from this point onwards, everything would get better. Because his family was strong in the Force, and the Force was full of light, no matter how much the shadows tried to convince people that this was not the case.

Because love is a candle, and a single candle can illuminate a galaxy.

“I know it.”

Valin stood at the edge of it.

He’d had his own adventure in the final months of the war, starting a relationship, facing down his failure against Darth Caedus, and foiling a dark side welding bounty hunter from stopping Wedge and the others from saving Tycho and Winter from the care of Admiral Bwua’tu; long story.

But now he stood before his father and family and smiled. They’d won.

TAG: @Corellian_Outrider, @Adalia-Durron, @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha
—-
IC: Chief Daala
After the war, Coruscant

Natasi Daala, former Admiral and occasional Supreme Commander of the Empire, depending upon which faction she represented or led at that time, surveyed the landscape of Imperial Center – of Coruscant, she reminded herself, a forty-year old tendency resurfacing – and marvelled at the nature of the galaxy.

Even as Coruscant was ravaged by the lingering remnants of the storms Caedus had inflicted upon it, Daala’s optimism could not deflated. She had just been appointed as ruler of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. A four year term, in which she had emergency powers to reassemble the economies and alliances that had fallen to the wayside during the brief Second Galactic Civil War. She could hardly believe her luck.

Of course, Caedus had placed in carbonite the majority of the opposition – and Daala had every intention of keeping them in carbonite if she happened to locate them - and the rest of the Senators and officers had simply not been options for the leaders of the Confederation, Galactic Alliance and Imperial Remnant. Fyor Rodan was too angry; Teppler didn’t want the job; the Jedi didn’t want to rule; and the Moffs, well, they were Moffs. Daala, as an outsider with no support within their respective factions, was the perfect figurehead for them all.

She snorted to herself, softly. The galaxy thought her a figurehead, with no support base – they thought of Natasi Daala as toothless. But she had the Maw Irregular Fleet, the Mandalorians, and other friends and allies across the galaxy. Niathal and Bwua’tu had provided her with the support of the military. Now all she need do is expunge the legacy of Darth Caedus – those officers such as Eldo Davip, Face Loran, Atoko and others who had either publicly supported the Sith Lord or simply refused to denounce them – and promote those officers who had served diligently but without political affiliation – good, reliable officers who had acted in the background of the conflict such as Parova, Thaal and Bwua’tu.

And then she would wait until she could have her revenge.

The Jedi had to know that she still loathed them. But, it would seem, they did not. She had spent years training herself to present an entirely different interpretation to Force users, having practised with captive Jedi and her own Intelligence agents for many years. And, if Caedus’ fragmentary journals suggested anything, only a darksider could detect the simmering resentment within her. A Sith, Caedus had described her as, in the way she presented herself in the Force.

Daala laughed to herself as the lightning crashed across the sky. For a brief moment, she was illuminated by the fork of energy, and she saw her reflection, for but a second – the shadows had been cast from the corners of her laugh, to touch her very ears, and then it was gone.

She was so much more than just a Sith.

She turned from the glass as the secretary droid announced her visitor.

Daala imagined he had bought at least some of his retinue. Caedus had smashed Adumar as almost an afterthought, allowing Remnant forces to take a swipe at it. Rumours had it that the Perator was dead, as well as former Imperial Admiral Rogriss. She had invited whomever the man needed to bring, but at very least him.

“Ah, Colonel Lyons. We have some things to discuss.”

TAG: @adaml83 (combo option)
—-
IC: Syal Antilles
After the War, Corellia

It had been two months since the Centerpoint battle. Two months to grieve Tiom, and to miss Rhoen. She hadn’t expected to be essentially held hostage by the Jedi for the duration of the crisis, even if she did fight and fly at the Battles of Corellia, Fondor and Roche. She could have ran, sure, but she would have ran out on her duty to save the Galactic Alliance.

She wrote, and passed letters to Tycho and Talon Karrde, but they could not guarantee they would reach Rhoen, nor would they be able to get correspondence back from him. Syal wrote every day after the destruction of Centerpoint - almost sixty letters.

The last one was this.

The wars over. I need to see you. I appreciate if you hate me, but I love you, and I know Tiom loved you and I loved Tiom. Only your pieces missing, and we have a full squadron. I’ll be on Corellia, at the Blue Moon Cantina. See you there.

She attached a date, and sent it from Syal Antilles. Winter had been able to supply her with a full contact address at last.

And she waited, her knee bouncing.

Of course, she wouldn't know about what had happened shortly after she had last seen Rhoen...

... a meeting with Lensi, the leader of Rogue Squadron.

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 (extended combo intended as discussed)
—-
IC: Welmo Darb
End of the War, Eriadu

He’d been kicked out. There had been a thorough purge of the military after the fall of Caedus. Most of the Admiralty had been replaced or retired to irrelevant outposts, apart from Admiral’s Bwua’tu and Darklighter. Individuals had been tried and their sentences decided as they were rounded up or released from whatever faction held them.

The Jedi Coalition handed Welmo over, recovered from his injuries, to the Galactic Alliance, and they considered his crimes too minor to warrant a lengthy term and he was given a suspended sentence on the basis he’d already spent three months in captivity with the Jedi by the time he was tried.

The first thing he did was connect with his GAG contacts - reduced as they were - and booked a flight to Eriadu. He had a final reckoning to attend to.

He would find her, the woman who had ruined his old life and his new one in the GAG, and he would kill her.

Simple enough.

With some ID trickery he made it by customs, and with the last of his credits bought a blaster on the black market and headed to her location. He didn’t care that he was being unsubtle - he wanted Ilona dead.

He simply marched up to the new Malek Estate, pretended to be a beggar and shot the guards when they approached, palmed their pass cards and opened the gates. Taking the weapons of the fallen, he suddenly had smoke and flash grenades and a rifle, and he shot out cameras as he went with his pistol until he drained it.

He wanted them to know he was coming.

TAG: @Anedon (combo option)
—-
IC: Captain Girdun
End of the War, Kuat

The commanding officer of the GAG had managed to escape in the chaos after the death of Lord Caedus. They all knew that GAG officers would suffer the most in the trials to come. The military would be ran through the lens of ‘just following orders but at what point should they have stopped’ but GAG? All part of the Sith Lord’s personal retinue.

It didn’t take much for Girdun to escape, and put out feelers for other Caedus hardliners, as the news was calling them. Kuat had a good memory of Darth Caedus - he had seen the value of their contribution, and bent the entire galaxy to defend them, no matter the cost to the GA. So a family - influenced by Kuati Senator Treen, he suspected - had put them up in a lockup they owned.

Girdun let the GAG know, and waited for others to turn up. Valentina was one of those who received the call.

TAG: @Anedon (combo)
—-
IC: Face Loran
After the war, Chandrila

He’d been purged.

Well, technically he’d been forcibly retired, but it had been a purge of the military, just a bloodless one. Chief Daala wanted everyone who had didn’t condemn Jacen Solo at birth out, unless they could demonstrate they had opposed him, or had acted completely unpalatably morally and ethically. That wasn’t a very long list, and Face Loran wasn’t going to betray his friends and their joint actions just to keep his job.

So off he went, and ended up, for now, on Chandrila, waiting for his family to catch up with him.

He turned to Rem and Rom, who had recently been freed from a GAG prison. Originally feared dead at the Centerpoint attack, the GA had picked them up, unconscious, and kept them that way for some months - in carbonite until Caedus got around to them. Face had sprung them, and of course lost his job to protect the Society.

So when he met up with Renn, he fully intended to join up.

What else could he do?

TAG: @darthbernael (combo)

These are the last pieces of your stories, or, until they are picked up elsewhere by you. On 1 August 2021 I will shut the game with the End post, and I will let the credits role. Thank you so much for this game, it has been a real treat, and added detail and love to my favourite character's fall.