Beyond - Legends THE EIGHTH CORTEX (NJO: Anakin Solo, Jacen, Jaina, Tahiri, H/L, L/M, Kyp,others) Completed 5/12/04!

Just checkin' in. Finally found a library. I'll print out the chapter(s) you've posted so far.

 

YK: Alright, but only because I'm in a good mood about the Minnesota Timberwolves winning

Okay...

*makes Luke horse face from that scene in ESB* NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Nah, like Visions of the future (notice I didn't say SBS)

I noticed...

I promise not to kill Jag if Jaina and Kyp end up together. That would be too convienent.

But... Strift?!

*resumes the beating of Thrawn McEwok*

Ow! Ow! Ow! Kyp/Tahiri, dammit - I tell you, it's the Han/Leia of the post-NJO! Ow!

Yeah, I agree.

Yay! Will you - ow! - stop hitting me, then?!

Maybe, but he's the first one to try that Force-link thing in VP which seems a lot more powerful than battle meditation. It can't be battle meditation because Jaina talks about it as if it's something that's never happened before.

Have they done battle meditation before VP, though? And then Jaina's surprised when the Barabels do the meld in SbS...

on that note too, isn't it funny that Jacen only got to go on the Myrkr mission because he was supposidly the only one who could "meld" the Jedi team (even though we've never seen an example of him doing this before that point). Man, did Denning think out anything?

I suspect he thought of everything, actually... right down to Luke and Han's unpardonable stupidity in not killing the Myrkr mission, and Lando's breathtakingly ambiguous role in the whole thing...

What? A few kids for a million lives? What would you do?



I did love that book

Why, because Jacen got tortured horribly in it for a long time?

those are really good. I think I like "the living force" better than anything else I have for an idea. Thanks Thrawn

No worries!

_Destiny_: Welcome back!

- The Imperial Ewok

 

Whoa.

Thanks, TheCrazyRodian



Just checkin' in. Finally found a library. I'll print out the chapter(s) you've posted so far.

Good to see you again, JOD How's the new place?


But... Strift?!

Well the same would apply to her.... and I said "IF".

Ow! Ow! Ow! Kyp/Tahiri, dammit - I tell you, it's the Han/Leia of the post-NJO! Ow!

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Yay! Will you - ow! - stop hitting me, then?!

Alright, but only because my hands are starting to hurt

Have they done battle meditation before VP, though? And then Jaina's surprised when the Barabels do the meld in SbS...

Luke finds books on battle meditation in DE2 I think, so it would be weird if the Jedi didn't know about it. It seemed like what Anakin was doing in VP, and the barabels' melding that quickly gets adopted was a little different.

I suspect he thought of everything, actually... right down to Luke and Han's unpardonable stupidity in not killing the Myrkr mission, and Lando's breathtakingly ambiguous role in the whole thing...
What? A few kids for a million lives? What would you do?

*Kicks his copy of SBS*

[i[Why, because Jacen got tortured horribly in it for a long time? [/i]

Well, that was a nice feature, but I just really thought it was a great story. Even if I do have some issues with Jacen's character development at the end...

No worries!

Yeah, it fits in really well, I think I'm going to use it

 

YK: Well the same would apply to her.... and I said "IF".

I noticed... just checking...

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Tahiri/Kyp, I tell you - it's the way forward!

Alright, but only because my hands are starting to hurt

Heh. Don't beat up on the Ewok, 'K?

Luke finds books on battle meditation in DE2 I think, so it would be weird if the Jedi didn't know about it.

Yeah. That would have been a continuity flub...

It seemed like what Anakin was doing in VP, and the barabels' melding that quickly gets adopted was a little different.

Oh. Hmm... hang on...

How different was it than what Han and Chewie were doing at Dubrillion, on the most fundamental level...?

Or, given Biggs Darklighter's ability to bull's-eye womp-rats, could he have taken out the Death Star...?

*Kicks his copy of SBS*

That's one solution...

Another is asking how he could have been so stupid.

[goes off to check SbS]

A stab in the belly is no excuse to turn into a human lightsaber and burn yourself up from the inside out, kid - and three bites, a leg wound, and a blunt hack across the ribs do not a dead Jedi make.

Anakin Solo had no need to die...

Which now really disturbs me...

Well, that was a nice feature, but I just really thought it was a great story. Even if I do have some issues with Jacen's character development at the end...

What, leaving Ganner to die, you mean?

Yeah, it fits in really well, I think I'm going to use it



- The Imperial Ewok

 

Okay, so I'm not gonna only post one-word replies to this thread, like I intended to with the last one. Of course, that first post was because I was so speechless.

As a devoted fan of Jacen Solo and his progression through the New Jedi Order, I'm just gonna say that your discussions here have been really interesting, but I don't entirely follow in some of them. I think the whole point of the NJO was to unbox the Jedi idea of the Force, make it fuller and larger. In my opinion, then, if that was the purpose, Jacen seems to be the most likely candidate for accomplishing such a feat.

It's true that Anakin was originally planned to be the one to save the galaxy, but I never really saw him as being the Unifying type. Powerful, yes, really awesome, yes, one of my favorite characters, yes, but not entirely open-minded enough for him to Unify everything.

When I read Star by Star, then, my first reaction upon Anakin's death was to throw the library book at the wall. Kind of like what I did to Animal Farm when Boxer got sent to the knacker's. As I read it several times more, though, Anakin dying and not Jacen started to make more sense. He basically is the synthesis of Luke's sheer power, Han's courage, Leia's determination, and all three's selflessness. In fact, though I think Jacen has the same sort of unselfish care for others that his brother does, I would suggest that Anakin is (in the time of SBS) the one who would be more likely to sacrifice himself in order to save his friends.

Then there was the fact that his death was so meaningful. Really, I think it was one of the defining moments of the whole series. I think that it gave the series hope, rather than the opposite. It at least made me realize that goodness still existed in the galaxy. I thought it was a well-conceived, well-written death fitting for a character like Anakin's.

I see him as a sort of exclamation point fixed to the end of the sentence that is the Jedi order from Palpatine's purges to the NJO. Because Luke had little knowledge about the less martial aspects of the Force (i.e., control and the like), he kind of had to rediscover what the Force actually was. Consequently, his teachings (passed on by his teachers, of course) were more or less limited to a martial perspective; even though he emphasized that Jedi were not warriors, he still viewed the Force like he would have viewed a battle, one side versus the other. Good versus evil. Light versus dark. While that's not necessarily a wrong perspective, it's not entirely accurate. Personally, I rather wondered a long time ago whether or not someone would present this theory about the Force, that it's not the actual power but the user who is bad.

Anakin, I think, realized part of this, that you need to decide what is right and just plain do it. I think he knew that the Yuuzhan Vong needed to be resisted, too, and that not all YV are necessarily evil. This is way more than the rest of his Jedi compatriots figured out. But the fact remains that Anakin was ultimately too much like Luke, minus the self-doubt. Luke was meant to be a bridge Jedi, one that would be humble enough to admit his own mistakes, inquisitive enough to learn new stuff about the Force, and powerful enough to train others as best as he could.

I think Anakin's the closest of the young students to his master in terms of philosophy. I'd say he more or less idolizes Luke, and not just for his accomplishments as a warrior-Jedi. But because of this, it would have taken him a lot before he would abandon his uncle's view of the Force. I think that the choices he made leading up to his death were exactly the choices that someone needed to make, and I think Anakin was the only one strong enough to do so.

And then Jacen, I think, is the only one open enough to do what he does. Of course, I would maintain that he is still a highly capable warrior, but that's because of his intense attunement to the Force. I don't think he's necessarily averse to fighting; he's just more aware of the consequences of doing so.

Blah. I thought I wa

 

Tahiri/Kyp, I tell you - it's the way forward!

*shakes head* you're hopless.

Heh. Don't beat up on the Ewok, 'K?

Yeah, I could never hit an Ewok

Oh. Hmm... hang on...
How different was it than what Han and Chewie were doing at Dubrillion, on the most fundamental level...?

One is "dumb luck" if I remember right Wasn't Han's knee hitting the yolk at just the right time and stuff like that. lol

Or, given Biggs Darklighter's ability to bull's-eye womp-rats, could he have taken out the Death Star...?

Good question.

That's one solution...

I didn't say that, but it's all I have

A stab in the belly is no excuse to turn into a human lightsaber and burn yourself up from the inside out, kid - and three bites, a leg wound, and a blunt hack across the ribs do not a dead Jedi make.

I'd be all right with it if there was a purpose to it....

Anakin Solo had no need to die...
Which now really disturbs me...

Exactly.

What, leaving Ganner to die, you mean?

Yeah, but really more than that, the fact that he didn't decide to do either. If Jacen was going to leave Ganner, and that's the type of character he was going to become, then it would have made sense I guess. Instead, at the very climax of the book, he doesn't make any decision. The whole theme of the book was that Jacen needed to "Choose and act". At the very end, when Ganner's life is on the line, he does neither. He just stands there talking to Vergere until Ganner's dead and there is no choice left.

And then, what was the point of the World Brain thing? Jacen used it to make things difficult for the Vong for a little while, but Shimrra controled it in the end. Was that really worth Ganner dying? It had nothing to do with the end of the war? And why when the world brain was about to destroy Coruscant in TUF, did Jacen NOT go with Han and Leia into the Well of the World Brain? WOuldn't he be the ideal choice, not sending him to Shimrra's palace? IF anyone was going to control it, it would be Jacen, even though Harrer said that only Shimrra could override it... and yet that shaper did...... oh no, plot hole overload!





Okay, so I'm not gonna only post one-word replies to this thread, like I intended to with the last one. Of course, that first post was because I was so speechless.

Thanks

Now, I'm going to have to disagree with a lot of what you say here, CrazyRodian, and I'll try not to be a jerk about it

As a devoted fan of Jacen Solo and his progression through the New Jedi Order, I'm just gonna say that your discussions here have been really interesting, but I don't entirely follow in some of them. I think the whole point of the NJO was to unbox the Jedi idea of the Force, make it fuller and larger. In my opinion, then, if that was the purpose, Jacen seems to be the most likely candidate for accomplishing such a feat.

First I want to preface this by saying that I don't hate Jacen, even if I do joke about it sometimes. He's a fictional character, and I just think his characterization in the NJO was terrible. I don't think the NJO had a point in the end... what was it? Unbox the Jedi and make the Force bigger... Did it do that? We never get an answer on what the Force is, if there is a dark side. Luke and Jacen have their little discussion midway through TUF but it doesn't seem like either of them really come to a conclusion, at least not one that's much different from what they believed the Force to be pre-NJO.

It's true that Anakin was originally planned to be the one to save the galaxy, but I never really saw him as being the Unifying type. Powerful, yes, really awesome, yes, one of my favorite characters, yes, but not entirely open-minded enough for him to Unify everything.

Anakin was the first to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force. I'm not talking about the lambent and developing a Vongsense (though he was the first to do that as well), if you go back to hi

 

Ugh, I'm supposed to be revising an essay, not replying to you. Of course, you're reading this, so you know which of the two activities is most prominent in my mind right now

I don't think the NJO had a point in the end... what was it? Unbox the Jedi and make the Force bigger... Did it do that? We never get an answer on what the Force is, if there is a dark side. Luke and Jacen have their little discussion midway through TUF but it doesn't seem like either of them really come to a conclusion, at least not one that's much different from what they believed the Force to be pre-NJO.

Hmm, I thought it had a point, at least. I thought Vergere was pretty convincing, from an outside perspective, that the Jedi had been too narrow and self-absorbed in their view of the Force. Even, and especially, the Old Republic Jedi. It's understandable, though, that someone like Luke and all the other Jedi would be confused and wouldn't be able to make their minds up immediately. Think about something like racism in the real world--for so long it was a part of various cultures, that even now people have trouble identifying their own covert or obvious habits of prejudice.

I'm not saying the two examples are exactly equivalent, of course, but in some sense they are parallel. Part of the problem with the Jedi's view of the Force pre-NJO and through most of it was that it led them to hate the YV, and that they considered the YV to be somehow inferior. Even non-Jedi had this prejudice against the YV, and most of them hardly even blinked at creating something like Alpha Red (can we say "genocide"?). The only ones who said anything against it were the ones who believed at least part of what Jacen and then the other Jedi were saying, that the extermination of life is just plain wrong. I think that even in the beginning of the NJO, Jacen had that funny feeling you get when you know something is wrong but you don't know why; in his idealistic, naive youth, though, he wrongly chose to abandon the Force entirely (which, incidentally, meant putting into danger the people around him). Hey, a kid can make a mistake, can't he?

What I see about Jacen's understanding of the Force is that it's exactly what Obi-Wan said it was in A New Hope: an energy field that is comprised of, surrounds, penetrates, and binds together all things. It's not some sort of divine presence, because the Star Wars universe isn't a universe of deities, but it is something immortal and timeless. All powerful, too, if the final fight of TUF means anything

The Jedi, then, are to serve as conduits for that power, nothing more. Where Luke's Jedi order viewed the Force as a tool (and so did Anakin, might I point out, even up through Keyes's series and Star by Star, even though he was beginning to question that theory), Jacen realizes that he is really the tool. And in the beginning of the series, he really acts like a tool, too

Sigh, the double entendres.

if you go back to his death at Myrkr, Anakin can sense them in the Force as clearly as anyone.

Too bad I don't have a copy of SBS here with me...

I think, though, that Anakin's sense of the Yuuzhan Vong had to do with his decision to sacrifice himself for the others. Allow me to offer a quote from The Unifying Force, which is sitting on my desk as I type

This is from the fight with Onimi, referring to Jacen:

"He had attained the ability to cut through any resistance in himself; to sever the bonds of preconception; to open a gaping hole into a reality more expansive than any he had ever dared imagine; to heal....All that had been required of Jacen was complete surrender" (Luceno, 470).

In the middle of that, where the ellipsis sits, is more of the same stuff. I just think the last part is really important; what it comes down to here is an act of complete selflessness in order to understand and experience the Force fully. I think Anakin does experience this (note the similar descriptions of him and Jacen when they have the "aura" about them) and it's because he decides to sur

 

YK: *shakes head* you're hopless.

From disbelief through outrage and anger to mild amusement... next, you're going to start seeing just how much sense it makes...

Yeah, I could never hit an Ewok

Heh!

One is "dumb luck" if I remember right Wasn't Han's knee hitting the yolk at just the right time and stuff like that. lol

In Obi-Wan's experience, there's no such thing as luck...

Good question.

And, in a way, a moot one, inasmuch as Biggs got blown out of the sky... but then again, that was only because they'd given Luke the lead, wasn't it...

I didn't say that, but it's all I have

You too, huh?

I'd be all right with it if there was a purpose to it....

I think that's the point. Damn dumb intellectual rationalists, messing with thing they don't understand...

Exactly.

Yeah. I kew there was something about that kid's death that bothered me...

Yeah, but really more than that, the fact that he didn't decide to do either. If Jacen was going to leave Ganner, and that's the type of character he was going to become, then it would have made sense I guess. Instead, at the very climax of the book, he doesn't make any decision. The whole theme of the book was that Jacen needed to "Choose and act". At the very end, when Ganner's life is on the line, he does neither.

Isn't that, in itself, the point?

A propos of nothing in particular, during reading this paragraph, I was bitten by a hoojib that I may have to run with...

He just stands there talking to Vergere until Ganner's dead and there is no choice left.

So, what you're really saying is, he's learnt nothing and is, in effect, using the same psychological trick that he did in... ah, every NJO novel... wait until everything's gone horribly, irrevocably wrong with the tactical situation, leaving the other knights to go down fighting, or wait until the damsel is distressed, disarmed and helpless so he can save her...?

Right. Strip away the turgid waffle of 8,000 pages of prose, and you're left with the bald fact that Jacen Solo is a monumentually selfish little ****.

And then, what was the point of the World Brain thing? Jacen used it to make things difficult for the Vong for a little while, but Shimrra controled it in the end.

Shimrra did?!

Was that really worth Ganner dying? It had nothing to do with the end of the war? And why when the world brain was about to destroy Coruscant in TUF, did Jacen NOT go with Han and Leia into the Well of the World Brain? WOuldn't he be the ideal choice, not sending him to Shimrra's palace? IF anyone was going to control it, it would be Jacen, even though Harrer said that only Shimrra could override it... and yet that shaper did...... oh no, plot hole overload!

Yeah, but then Jacen couldn't have been the hero of the series... I mean, he's the one who's been looking for answers, right? He's the one who's special... so he's the one who has to win out at the end...

Right?

TheCrazyRodian: wow! Why can't people post this sort of stuff over in Lit.? That was one of the best-argued and most sensible and comprehensible pro-Jacen cases I've seen...

Needless to say, I'm going to have to disagree - Luke inherited a dualistic framework of Light and Dark from Ben and Yoda, and passed on what he had learned... but what gave Luke his strength, his ability to do what he did, wasn't what he thought he believed in, but his basic goodness - an ability to reach out to anyone, even Vader and C'baoth - even Kyp and Mara - and help them...

I'm not sure whether or not Ben or Yoda understood the logical flaws with Jedi dualism, consciously or unconsciously - but it's pretty clear that Farmboy doesn't... and I suspect his lack of any actual articulate, properly-expressed understanding of what he was doing or why, coupled with his sense that he was trying to revive a thousand-generation-old Jedi tradition, played a large part in enabling hi

 

Thrawn McEwok, my boy, you are a man among men. Er, an Ewok among men.

He needs to learn how to laugh again... he seems to believe that being a Jedi requires the amputation of the sense of humour...

This is exactly right. Jacen needs to learn how to live again. Vergere even admits that she killed Jacen, and I think he learned the lesson about dying pretty well. Now he just needs a woman, so he can rediscover his vitality. Too bad Tenel Ka went and got all queeny on him; I'm rather partial to their pairing.

I mean, my whole support of Jacen is predicated on the fact that he always seemed very much alive during the YJK books, and that his character as presented by those made him the best choice to figure out at least part of the mystery of the Force and pass it on. Unfortunately, I think R.A. Salvatore really muffed things up in Vector Prime in terms of characterization, and I would say that about almost all of his characters. Other than Miko, Danni, and Nom Anor, his people just didn't seem like they should be. The established characters weren't genuine. I can't tell you how many times I cringed when he made Threepio say something--even the movie droid wasn't that stupid and annoying. And Mara--don't get me started on her.

And another thing... you know, other than a handful of "sweetheart"s or "dear"s, Salvatore doesn't seem like he even recognizes the fact that Luke and Mara are married, and still a relatively young married couple. I mean, seriously, can't a farmboy who's waited that long to marry a woman at least get a kiss or two?

Anyway, I'd get into a more detailed response to your post, but I really, really need to finish revising this essay, or I'll fail it. And that'd be dangerous to my grade. I think you're right about Jacen's deficiency in character; I just think that it's leftovers from Vergere's attempt to shake up his preconceptions properly.

One question, though. Who are probably Anakin clones? I couldn't find the right "Methinks" from my own post to make sense of that. I said it at least five times, meth--I mean, I think.

Bah, I changed my mind. I will say a couple more things before I go revise my essay. I don't agree with all of the things you say about Anakin and his death, but that's just an honest difference of interpretation of his character.

I do agree completely with what you say about Luke, though. I think that his inherent unselfishness is the reason Yoda and Obi-Wan knew he was the one who had to remake the Jedi Order. I think his basic goodness is, in fact, his basic simplicity, which is, in fact, the same simplicity that allows Anakin Skywalker to renounce his own selfishness and save his son from the Emperor.

The one thing I would suggest about Anakin Solo that makes him very different from his uncle and grandfather is that he legitimately was born into his Force potential. Whereas Luke was raised when Jedi were anathema, Anakin was from the very beginning recognized to be a one-day powerful Jedi. Forgive me for paraphrasing such a classically cheesy line, but it is his destiny

I think that's one plausible argument for all the little Solo's characterizations at the beginning of the NJO--they're just plain too used to being Force-sensitive. That's why Mara teaches runt Solo that the Force shouldn't be taken lightly. I mean, he's grown up with it being encouraged and trained, so he's not really gonna think that it can be damaging to his own personal abilities.

Jacen and Jaina are the same way, except Jacen sort of comes to the realization that the Force shouldn't be taken lightly, either. He just, in a very painful fashion, takes it to the extreme other end. I think Jacen surrendering his connection to the Force was foolish, and I think in doing so he gave up a huge part of his life, namely his sensitivity to life. I don't think he lacks basic goodness, though; rather, I'd say in his attempt to figure out his own place in the scheme of things he ignores at least some of that basic unselfishness. He judges the other Jedi on their self-g

 

Hmm, I thought it had a point, at least. I thought Vergere was pretty convincing, from an outside perspective, that the Jedi had been too narrow and self-absorbed in their view of the Force. Even, and especially, the Old Republic Jedi. It's understandable, though, that someone like Luke and all the other Jedi would be confused and wouldn't be able to make their minds up immediately. Think about something like racism in the real world--for so long it was a part of various cultures, that even now people have trouble identifying their own covert or obvious habits of prejudice.

What makes you think someone who didn't use the force for 60 years like Vergere would know more about it than the other Jedi of the old republic? There's really no reason to believe she's right as far as I can see. Just my opinion of course.


he wrongly chose to abandon the Force entirely (which, incidentally, meant putting into danger the people around him). Hey, a kid can make a mistake, can't he?

Yeah but does he ever admit it was a mistake, or gain anything from it?

It's not some sort of divine presence, because the Star Wars universe isn't a universe of deities, but it is something immortal and timeless. All powerful, too, if the final fight of TUF means anything

I'll remember you said that and bring it up later

And in the beginning of the series, he really acts like a tool, too

hehehe

I think, though, that Anakin's sense of the Yuuzhan Vong had to do with his decision to sacrifice himself for the others. Allow me to offer a quote from The Unifying Force, which is sitting on my desk as I type



In the middle of that, where the ellipsis sits, is more of the same stuff. I just think the last part is really important; what it comes down to here is an act of complete selflessness in order to understand and experience the Force fully.

How was what Jacen did in TUF completely selfless?

That whole scene with Jacen and Onimi was a little too "matrix" for me

My only real gripes with Star by Star are Viqi Shesh, whom I loathe, and the fact that I couldn't ever quite visualize the whole Myrkr mission. The descriptions weren't enough to get me to understand where in the h-e double toothpick everyone was on that worldship. I just felt lost during that whole part.

Yeah, that's one of my big problems with it. I've reread it alot and I couldn't draw the shaper's grashal for you, and definitly couldn't diagram where everyone was when events occur. Denning's descriptions of actions and environments were extremely confusing.

As far as the mission goes, it's pretty suicidal, but given the importance of its objectives, I let it slide. I'm not entirely sure what people understood about the Yuuzhan Vong shaping tech by then, so I don't know if they could have been sure that the YV couldn't have shaped another Voxyn. For some reason I imagine nearly all of the shaping genius to reside in Nen Yim (and Onimi, incidentally, whom I suspected to be the force behind the YV since he was first introduced), and that only they could manage to shape another voxyn. Perhaps it was Onimi in the first place who created it, or at least helped in his covert way. It's not in any of the seven cortexes, if my memory serves me right.

Yal Phaath makes the voxyn I believe. Still, no reason is given why they cannot make another, or why the Jedi believe it will stop them to kill the voxyn queen.

I like the fact that you have them trying to reshape the voxyn in your story, though. It seems logical that there were other heretical shapers besides Nen Yim, simply out of common sense. Though the slayers in TUF were pretty deadly, until they ran into Luke, Jaina, and Jacen. Another Onimi creation, one to succeed where the voxyn failed? Methinks yes. Too bad Luke's Yun-Yammka. What a slayer-slayin' monster

I forget the name of the YV female who made the slayers, but it wasn't Onimi. It's too bad they waited so long to introduce slayers in the series, i

 

Chapter 57

Jaina ran so fast through the medical bays long halls that she thought her legs went numb and her lungs burned, still fatigued from the long battle. She'd left her brothers' room as soon as she'd heard the news, and she hoped that her father would still be there as well.

Jacen was recovering nicely and his skin was beginning to return to its normal color, while Anakin was still unconscious-- though the doctors assured them that he was fine. All the tests showed that his brain was not damaged and just needed rest and a chance for his body to repair itself. Cilghal was on her way to lend her healing capabilities and Tahiri had not left Anakin's side since they'd landed on Mon Calamari.

Jaina reached the end of the hall and made a quick right turn, putting her next to her destination. She activated the controls on the door to room 6-33A, and stepped through without a moment’s hesitation. She saw him immediately and he looked up, pulling gauze away he was using to dab his oozing blisters.

His face and hands were covered in the raw, red blisters, and his fingernails holding the gauze were as black as a dovin basal's voids. The whites of his eyes were now the color of tomatoes, and a once thick mane of black hair was singed and stringy, longer in some places than in others.

Kyp's face was sorrowful, but Jaina could sense through the Force that it wasn't for himself.... but someone else. She rushed forward and embraced him tightly, burying her head in his chest. She knew physically, the contact hurt his sensitive skin, but emotionally he found it reassuring.

Jaina reached out with her hands to grab his face, but thought better of it and pulled them away, before gently pressing her lips against his, and then breaking contact completely.

"What was that for?" Kyp asked.

“I don’t know...” Jaina stammered, but stayed close to him. "I thought we lost you."

"Almost," Kyp admitted, clearly taken aback by Jaina's greeting, then ran his hand through his frayed hair.

"You look like you're ready to join Sith in Stuncuffs," Jaina joked, referring to a loud Corellian band that was famous for their uneven haircuts.

"Yeah," he said starting to smirk. "I'll have to do something about it when I get out of the tank."

"What about the rest," Jaina asked, touching her own face, trying to imagine the pain Kyp must have been in.

"You mean the burns?" Kyp asked. "I don't know; the doctors seem confident that the bacta will take care of it."

Her eyes began to tear up as she looked at his seared flesh. “What happened, Kyp?”

"I...uh..." Kyp just shook his head.

"Did you find my mom? Where is she?" Jaina asked.

Kyp scowled and looked as though he was searching for the right words. "I think you should talk to your father-- and tell Master Skywalker that I need to see him as soon as I'm out of this tank."

"Why can't you tell me?" Jaina asked incredulously.

"It's something you need to hear from him... Is it true about Anakin?" Kyp asked. "Han left here as soon as he heard."

Jaina's fear about her mother's whereabouts lessened as she was reminded of her little brother's miraculous return. Her face stretched in a big smile. "Yes, he's alive, Kyp."

"Unbelievable," Kyp said shaking his head. "At least that's some good news then... He's a great Jedi."

Jaina nodded, face now streaming with tears. "I feel like we've been given a second chance with him."

Kyp nodded. "It's amazing; you'll have to fill me in on the details when I get out," he said. Then touched his lips with the tips of his fingers and added. "We should probably discuss other things too."

Before Jaina could inquire, two Mon Calamari physicians and a trio of aids entered the room, followed by the blonde woman Jaina had seen dinning with Kyp two weeks before-- which felt like years.

The woman was now garbed in coveralls stained with dust and grim, rather than the green dress she'd been clad in earlier. She handed Kyp a glass of water and touched his arm in a way that made Jaina's face burn.

"Thanks," Kyp said, sipping the water as the doctors began to check his vitals and prepare the bacta tank.

"Jaina, this is Strift Zonn," Kyp said, gesturing to the woman, who stepped towards Jaina and stuck her hand out.

Jaina shook Strift's hand hesitantly and said," I'm Jaina Solo."

"I know, I remember you from the cafeteria," she said with a smile.

Jaina found almost everything about Strift Zonn irritating, but none more than the single prominent dimple on her right cheek, that appeared whenever she grinned.

"Nice to meet you," Jaina lied, then looked at Kyp. "I'm gunna go check on little brother; see you when you get out."

Jaina turned to leave, but was quickly stopped when Kyp wrapped her in a hug, and kissed her on the top of her head.

"Say hi to Anakin for me; I can't wait to see him," Kyp said, slowly letting Jaina loose.

"Sure thing," Jaina answered, trying not to blush as she stumbled out of the room.





Luke Skywalker burst into the hospital doors, still clad in his sweat soaked flight suit he'd been wearing for days, and his heart racing with the adrenaline he'd thought lost during the fight. Shortly after docking with Mon Mothma, Luke had learned that the Yuuzhan Vong dreadnaught Savior was brought down to the planet's surface, where the Jedi team they'd sent to Coruscant, minus one, disembarked. Corran Horn had died on the former capital, but there was a flare of good news, as the Jedi had brought back a fallen hero, and a beloved family member.

Luke had so many questions, but all were overridden by the exciting prospect of seeing his nephew once again. Anakin had somehow survived the Myrkr mission and was thought to be in a coma-like state.

Waiting in the lobby near the entrance was his green-eyed wife, who smiled broadly when she spotted him. Luke immediately changed course and rushed to his wife, embracing her tightly.

"I told you, you shouldn't have left," Luke whispered. "Look what happens when you're gone."

Mara laughed a minute but Luke could tell his wife was on the verge of crying. “You’re blaming me?” She asked, not letting him loose from the fierce hug. "I came back and cleaned up the mess, didn't I? Besides, we had to pick up someone who needed a ride."

"How is he?"

"By all signs, he's just fine," Mara said. "He's just... resting. If you're asking how he is when he's awake-- it's nothing short of astounding."

"That's nothing new, I've suspected Anakin is the strongest of the Jedi for a long time, stronger than Kyp or myself."

"Yes," Mara agreed. "But I can't even begin to describe some of the things he can do now... but I know I want to be there when you see them"

"It felt to me like Jacen had his moments as well," Luke said.

"Yeah," Mara agreed. "That's another on the subject of I can't explain. You'd be better to ask him about it. Anakin on the other had, will have to show you."

"One thing at a time," Luke said, still holding the fire-haired Jedi Master. "Let's wake him up first."





His sand brown hair was only a few centimeters longer than Han remembered it being when he last saw his son, and his features hadn't changed much either, as Anakin's chest slowly rose and fell with each peaceful breath. His eyes were shut, and his face serene, but Han could almost feel the life flowing from the boy...man, he thought he'd lost forever.

Anakin looked as though he was sleeping, not still and dead as the body they'd burned at Hapes had been, but sleeping like the child he had tucked in all those years ago.

Han leaned over and ruffled Anakin's grimy hair as he would have when he was a child, then sat back down in the chair next to his bed, waiting for Anakin to awaken.

Jacen was sitting up in the bed next to Anakin's, a breath mask and oxygen tank attached to his face as the young man caught up on his breathing. The color had begun to return to his skin, and Han had been amazed by the story Danni Quee was telling near Jacen's bedside, though he was only listening absently.

None of it seemed real to him. His youngest boy returning after two years... Han had never even hoped for it. When Leia had screamed that awful cry the day Coruscant fell, Han felt that his son unquestionably was dead. His guilt at not hoping, at not searching for Anakin after he was apparently abandoned on Myrkr, was unstoppable, and the sadness of his wife's absence ruined what should have been, cause for the greatest celebration of his life.

Leia was the prisoner of a demented Sith Lord, and had no idea that Anakin was alive. She could not feel the joy and hope that Han felt between the sadness and guilt.

Young Tahiri sat on the opposite side of Anakin's bed, jade eyes fixed on the sleeping boy while her posture and demeanor suggested meditation. Han was glad she was here at least; the young girl had become a kind of fourth child to he and Leia, and he knew how important Anakin had been to her, and vice versa.

Han's attention was averted when Jaina entered the room, followed by the Jedi Master, Cilghal, who'd volunteered her healing abilities to help Anakin. Han stood and tightly hugged his daughter, while extending a hand to Cilghal, which she shook with her own, slightly webbed hand.

"Thanks for coming," Han said.

Cilghal shook her head. "It is my honor," she said simply.

The Mon Calamari female approached Anakin and laid her hands on his face. Han turned to watch, keeping one arm wrapped around Jaina's shoulders. Cilghal moved one hand to Anakin's right thigh and checked the bandage that had been applied.

"It's badly infected and his body was having trouble fighting it," she said, "but the bacta seems to be working."

"Then why won't he wake up?" Danni asked. 'Everything is fine, and yet he sleeps."

Cilghal shook her bulbous head. "He's very fatigued, that much I can tell. It is possible he put himself into a healing trance instinctively, or the yammosk did something to him in his weakened state."

Cilghal was clearly more informed than Han felt, catching only bits of the story from Danni, and Cilghal picked up on Han's feelings.

"I've spoken with Wrev, Alema, and Lowbacca already," she explained. Then Cilghal reapplied her hands to the sides of Anakin’s face. Han hadn't a clue what the Jedi master was doing, but he assumed she was doing some Force healing technique, as her large eyes were closed in concentration. Cilghal began to slump as her efforts appeared to be draining her, but she suddenly pulled away completely, and Anakin's eye lids flickered open, revealing pair of blue eyes that had never looked more alive to Han.

Anakin smiled slightly when he recognized Cilghal, and his eyes soon found Han and Jaina on his left, and his mouth turned to a broad, crooked grin, reminiscent of Han's own. Before Anakin could speak, and was only half sitting up, Han embraced him, cradling his head in the crook of one arm as his hands gripped Anakin's broadened shoulders.

"My boy..." Han managed, daring not speak more, as he felt his eyes well with tears, and knew there would be no stopping them if he uttered another word.

Han put Anakin at arms length again, so he could see his son's face, hoping it was not a dream. Anakin wiped a few tears from his own eyes, still grinning with joy.

"I've missed you so much," Han said finally. "I... I can hardly believe you're sitting here."

"Yeah... the Vong captured me, but when they found out I was a Solo, they said they didn't want me anymore," Anakin joked.

Han chucked.

"I've missed you all too," Anakin said sincerely. "When I remembered you anyway... When I remembered who I was."

"What happened to you?" Han asked.

"It's a long story," Anakin sighed.

"Well, you've go plenty of time now," Jaina said. "We all do, thanks to Jacen."

Jacen smiled meekly under his oxygen mask, and Anakin turned to regard his older brother. "I know; while I was out, I could feel what was happening with Jacen and the yammosk, in the Force."

Jacen looked startled, and was about to ask a question when Luke and Mara entered the shrinking room.

"Uncle Luke!" Anakin shouted, leaping out of his bed. He grimaced as the movement appeared to hurt his injured leg, but he rushed to Luke and gave his life-long role model a hug.

Han had not seen Luke as happy as he appeared since Ben's birth, but the moment was quickly squelched when Anakin's brow furrowed and he turned back to his father.

"Where's mom?"

Han's eyes averted as he prepared to deliver the tragic news, trying desperately to find the words.

"Yeah," Jaina added. "Kyp wouldn't tell me; where is she?"

Han inhaled deeply, and when he released his breath, the story came off his tongue. He told them of the Peace Brigade plot to capture Leia and deliver her to the Yuuzhan Vong, of B'wen Evathas and Dest Ornax, of Lomi and Welk. His children looked terrified as he continued the tale, Tahiri rising from her seat to stand next to Anakin, gripping his hand tightly.

When Han got to Callista's involvement, he was surprised by Luke's reaction, or lack there of. The Jedi Master didn't seem as shocked as Han would have been, had a former lover become a Sith Lord and kidnapped his sister.

Jaina sat down on the edge of Jacen's bed and began sobbing as Mara patted her shoulder in an attempt to console her.

Han continued to explain everything, including Callista's ranting about the Potentium and Kyp sensing she was a Sith.

"What are we going to do?" Jaina asked helplessly, the well-lit room making her mournful features perfectly clear.

"We're going to find her," Anakin said confidently.

“Yes,” Luke agreed. "I will call the Jedi council to meeting; the emergence of a Sith Lord demands our full attention.

Han shook his head, focusing on his brother-in-law. "No. Zonama Sekot will be here soon, right? The Jedi will have more important things to do with the Yuuzhan Vong. I will find Leia," Han said, determined. "And when I do, I won't be worrying about the dark side when I encounter Callista."





"Seems like years since I've seen you," Jag said, his arm draped around Jaina's shoulder, hugging her to his body while they sat on the couch in the hospital's lobby.

Jag was showing an unusual amount of affection towards her, and in a public setting at that, which Jaina found pleasantly surprising. He was still wearing his black flight suit from battle, and Jaina could still smell his aftershave, though it'd been days since he shaved.

"I know," she agreed. "I feel like I've aged a decade in the last week-- finding Anakin, losing Kyp, losing Corran, finding Kyp-- it's been one emotional hyperspace jump after another."

"I'm so happy for you," Jag said. "When Anakin died, I know it tore you apart, I can't begin to understand the sadness and anger you felt-- then to gain him back... It must feel amazing; the same with your friend Kyp. It's too bad your mother isn't here, we could have had a full celebration."

Jaina couldn't help but smile at the thought her family being together again, but the knowledge that her mother was in incredible danger, kept the moment of happy dreaming short.

She would find her mother. Jaina hadn’t added to the list of emotional trials, her confusing feelings for Kyp Durron. Jaina knew she loved Jag, and her feelings for Kyp were just... something she couldn't explain She didn't want to have romantic feelings for a man fourteen years older than her... Why was she so jealous of Strift?

Jaina hugged Jag closer and laid her head on his chest, trying to push the thoughts of Kyp away. She would worry about frivolous things, like here love life, when her mother was safe again, and the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated. At the moment, Jaina wanted to sleep, and she could think of no better or safer place than in Jag's arms.





The only illumination cast into the Skywalker's apartment on Mon Calamari was from the underwater lights and that of the heavy submersible traffic. Jacen watched as dozens of the submersibles past by the large window in the living room, each one brightening the room for a fraction of a second before dimming, and another followed.

He felt Luke approaching him, emerging from the darkened bedroom.

"Mara's sleeping," his uncle said, "so we'll have to keep it down."

Jacen turned and nodded as his uncle stood shoulder to shoulder with him, gazing out the large window at the life outside. Mara had suffered only a few scrapes and bruises from her fight with Nas Choka, but like most of the survivors from Coruscant and the battle at Mon Calamari, had spent the last two days resting.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Luke asked.

Jacen continued to stare out at the black ocean depths. "Yes," he admitted.

Luke nodded, keeping his hands clasped behind his back. "Me too."

"I just have so many questions," Jacen said. "I can't quiet my mind enough to rest... Does that make sense?"

"Yes," Luke agreed. "What's been bothering you?"

Jacen shook his head. "Everything-- the Force, Vergere, Anakin, Zonama Sekot, Callista's Dark Jedi... take your pick."

"Vergere is bothering you the most," Luke said simply. "More than your mother's capture I think."

"Why do you say that?" Jacen asked.

Luke was silent for a long moment as the traffic continued to pass the window. "Because it makes you feel lost," Luke answered. "Deep down, you know we'll find your mother and she will be okay, but what Nom Anor told you about Vergere has you doubting yourself."

Jacen held his mouth in a firm line, not wanting to confirm his uncle's assessment. "I keep wondering... Vergere helped me, but she was responsible for the Jedi deaths at Myrkr... Now we find out she saved Anakin too, but never mentioned him to me. Instead she used the Force to project his image to me, tormenting me... I keep wondering, was she just crazy?"

"Jacen, she spent about sixty years with the Yuuzhan Vong," Luke said. "You can't do that and not be warped by their mentality."

Jacen grimaced as his uncle said the words he dreaded were true.

"I can't begin to guess why she kept Anakin alive and handed him over to the Shapers... Perhaps she saw him as a backup plan, incase she wasn't able to manipulate you."

"I wasn't manipulated," Jacen cut in.

Luke didn't say anything in response, but continued to stare through the transpersteel, as Jacen began to pace back and forth from his uncle to the end of the window.

"For whatever reason," Luke began. "Vergere knew there was something special about you. Whether it was a vision or some other sort of premonition, I don't know.

"That's the thing," Jacen said, crossing his arms and keeping his back turned to his uncle. "You had some insight about the coming attack on Mon Calamari, and you knew I would be the one to stop it. Vergere said I had a special destiny-- was that it? Did I fulfill her prophecy on board Savior?"

"I don't know," Luke admitted.

Jacen shook his head and turned back around to face his uncle. "I thought it would be something where... I thought I would know when it happened-- but if Vergere was just mad, maybe everything she told me really was a lie."

"Maybe it doesn't matter," Luke said. "If you feel you learned something from the lessons Vergere taught, does it matter that she was deceitful? You told me you learned the importance of making a choice and acting on it-- as near as I can tell, that's exactly what you did on Savior. Anakin went down, and you made your decision-- then executed it."

Jacen smiled for a moment. "That's almost exactly what Danni said... So you think that was what Vergere meant about my destiny?' He asked, turning grim again.

"No," Luke said. "I think it doesn't matter."

Jacen was shocked by Luke's response at first, but then realized the Jedi Master was correct. It didn't matter. What Vergere saw for him wasn't important-- what was important was what he really would do.

"I'm thinking too much about the future again, aren't I?" Jacen asked.

Luke smiled. "Perhaps."

"That's what Wrev said," Jacen went on. "What do you think will happen to him?"

"He will be brought before the Jedi Council soon," Luke explained. "We have questions for him."

"And his punishment?"

"May not be as severe as you would like, Jacen," Luke sighed. "Wrev deceived us, but it wasn't malicious. He thought he was doing the right thing-- maybe he even had a vision of some kind."

"I doubt it," Jacen snorted. "He'd have to stop spinning his saber for ten seconds and listen to the Force... So you think he won't be punished at all?"

"Well, if Wrev hadn't led you all to Coruscant, Nen Yim would have created more voxyn, the Alliance would have been annihilated by the slave pilots, we wouldn't have found Anakin, and Nom Anor might still be running things for the Shamed Ones-- I have a hard time punishing anyone who is responsible for keeping that list from being a reality."

Jacen nodded. He didn't hate Wrev, or even dislike him. In many ways, he thought Wrev showed a degree of empathy for the Shamed Ones that was similar to his own-- but with an entirely different approach. He wasn't sure if Wrev should get off without any reprimand, considering the lost lives of the pilots that tried to capture Purchased with Pain, or Corran Horn's death, but he didn't like the thought of what would have happened had Wrev not manipulated them.

"Have you been watching the HoloNet?" Jacen asked, switching gears.

"Some; Mara is calling it the Anakin Solo Net," Luke chuckled.

Jacen smiled. Anakin's return was the talk of the galaxy-- or what was left of it-- and was the leading news story since Savior landed on Mon Calamari. A constant loop of file footage, most of it was Anakin at state dinners when he was no more than eight, was running non-stop with holo journalists telling a host of different stories about his return. Some even suggested that Anakin's death had been faked by Leia so she could use the sympathy as a power grab for the crumbling New Republic, pointing to her announcement of Anakin's death on the HoloNet while Coruscant fell as proof.

Anakin however, had not made a single public appearance since his return, and was staying with Jaina in her barracks, and from what Jacen had seen, Tahiri was spending her recovery time there as well.

"I actually was referring to the military's report-- they tractored the last of the coralskippers in this afternoon," Jacen said, grinning.

"Yes, that is good news," Luke agreed.

The Alliance had been feverishly working to recover the coralskippers Jacen and the Yammosk had led away from the battle since the Yuuzhan Vong had left the system. The skips were pulled into the larger transports with tractor beams and the slave pilots were brought down to the planet's surface. The Alliance's brightest scientists, including Cilghal and Danni, were doing their best to remove the coral implants from the newly freed beings. Their studies might also come a long way in disrupting the connection with the Yuuzhan Vong and the coralskipper pilots again, with a new yammosk jammer. Jacen hoped the yammosk he'd bonded with on Savior would cooperate.

"Do you think Nen Yim will be allowed to help?" Jacen asked.

"I can't see anyone trying to stop it, even Scaur," Luke answered.

Nen Yim and the fifty-three Shamed Ones who crewed Savior, including Gelaa and Uhla, had been taken into the custody of Dif Scaur and the GFI. They were currently thought to be interrogating them.

"I hope they're all released soon, or put under real protection. Scaur and the GFI don't have the best record when it comes to keeping Yuuzhan Vong defectors alive," Jacen added, referring to the death of Eiia, the Shamed One Wrev had brought from Garqi.

"I hope so too," Luke agreed. "Speaking of the HoloNet, did you see the slaves Anakin rescued talking about what Anakin did in that arena?"

"Yeah," Jacen confirmed. "How long until that story is made into a holodrama?"

"I don't know," Luke said smiling, " but it will be a good one-- an amazing story."

"Do you think Anakin will be able to teach us how to sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force?" Jacen asked.

Luke placed his mechanical hand on the transpersteel and leaned into it. "I can only hope," he said, then arching an eyebrow asked," you're not jealous of him and the attention he's getting are you?"

"Of course not," Jacen said honestly.

Jacen's heroics on Savior had been withheld from the media as his yammosk connection was vitally important to the military, should they ever need to use it again. While Anakin's return and his battle in an arena on Coruscant were strategically released to push the Jedi heresy among the Yuuzhan Vong who tracked the information flow on the HoloNet. Jacen was glad not to have the same spotlight pressures that his little brother did.

"I just thought that I would be the one to make that connection-- with the whole Vongsense thing-- I kind of thought I would make the discovery... but now I think Tahiri has a greater command of the Vong Side of the Force, if such a thing exists."

"Tahiri has become a very important Jedi Knight," Luke agreed.

"Do you think that's why the Force granted her a vision?" Jacen asked.

“If the Force has a will, I think it granted Tahiri a vision because she was the one that needed to see it,” Luke explained. "Had you or I been given the same vision, it would have been wasted. We wouldn't have recognized Nen Yim or made the connections she did. The Alliance would have lost the battle-- it had to be Tahiri."

Jacen nodded. "All things considered, I guess it all worked out fairly well."

Luke shrugged. "It could have been worse."

He knew his uncle was still bothered by the deaths of the slave pilots, including those he shot down himself, and would probably be haunted by the battle for the rest of his life.

"Do you really think mom will be okay?" Jacen asked. "Would Callista hurt her?"

"I wouldn't think so," Luke answered. "Leia and Callista were never close, but she did save your mom's life on Nam Chorios years ago. I can't believe she would harm Leia, but after what she did to Kyp, I can't be sure."

Jacen's stomach turned at the thought of Callista unleashing a Force storm on Leia as she had Kyp Durron.

"Do you think Callista knows of Zonama Sekot? If they're calling their side of the Force the Potentium, it seems eerily close to what Sekot told us."

"I don't know," Luke admitted. "But it's possible that the Potentium was common knowledge among Jedi of the Old Republic, and being one herself, Callista might have always known."

"Perhaps Sekot will tell us more when it arrives," Jacen said, facing the window again.

"It shouldn't be long now," Luke agreed.

The pair continued to stare out the transpersteel window, the possibilities whipping through their minds as often as the submersibles passed the window.





Kyp was anxious to leave the medical facility, but the doctors seemed intent on running an endless string of tests on him, to insure the bacta had truly healed him. His skin was now smooth again, showing no burns or scaring from the lightening that coursed through his body, and his eyes had returned to a healthy white. Touching his cheeks, he was reminded that his skin was still tender and he could not get use to the missing mane of hair flowing down the back of his neck. Kyp couldn't remember a time when his hair had been this short, no more than a couple of inches at its longest.

Kyp looked over at Strift, who was napping in the chair beside his bed. The woman had cut his hair, and Kyp had to admit, she'd done a nice job. With his hair now cropped so short, it was hard to see the white strands that had once been obvious.

He continued to stare at the sleeping woman. She was gorgeous, and Kyp was tempted to get out of his bed and curl up with her in the large chair, but didn't know if their relationship had progressed to a point where that would be acceptable. The Jedi Master still felt like a novice in that area, so he continued to watch her blonde locks hang over her milky skin, and chest rise with each sleeping breath.

The dull gray metal door to his room slid open and snapped Kyp out of his trance. Han Solo stepped through, looking serious, but tried to flash Kyp a confident smile when their eyes met. Kyp could tell the act was a brave front from a concerned man.

Strift was awaken by Han's heavy footsteps and Han turned to her apologetically. "Sorry, didn't know anyone was sleeping," Han said.

"That's all right, Solo," Strift said, covering her mouth as she yawned, and then smiled.

"Just thought I'd come and see how you were doing," Han continued, addressing Kyp. "I'm not sure your face looks better, but you look like your old self."

Kyp laughed. "Thanks."

"Hey, I like it," Strift said, giving Kyp a roguish wink.

Kyp fought hard to keep from blushing in front of Han.

"When do you think you'll be getting out of here?" Han asked, changing the subject and saving Kyp some embarrassment.

"If I had my way, I'd have left already," Kyp answered, running a hand through his short black hair with a sigh. "The Jedi Council has about a million things to discuss and Zonama Sekot will be here soon... But the doctors won't let me go yet. They want to run some more tests."

Han nodded. "The Jedi certainly have a full plate; I haven't seen Luke since after the battle."

"He commed me earlier today; sounded like he was busy," Kyp agreed. "How's Anakin?"

Han's smile was suddenly big, and sincere, his eyes glistening at the mention of his son. "He's doing well," Han answered. "Been resting a lot, like everyone else. I spent the afternoon with all three of my kids yesterday... It was like a dream."

Kyp smiled, feeling his friend's joy and pride at having Anakin back.

"Almost complete," Han sighed, his smile vanishing completely.

"Well find her, Han," Kyp assured. "I promise."

Han nodded. "Anyway, I also wanted to thank you two for your help," Han said. "I can't ever repay you for the sacrifices that were made, especially you, Kyp... You almost died."

"I owe you my life," Kyp said. "Master Skywalker as well."

Han shrugged. "Been awhile since we spent that much time together-- if nothing else, that was nice."

"Do you two want to be alone?" Strift joked, sending Han into a fit of laughter.

"Tell Neget I said thanks too... Where is that guy?"

Strift rolled her eyes. "Neget is hitting the Mon Calamari cantina scene pretty hard," she explained. "He's telling girls he's a war hero now, and trying Kyp's Jedi mind trick."





The golden sun settled into Mon Calamari's horizon, half of it in the dark purple sky while the rest sent billions of gold lights on the shimmering waters. Anakin was reminded of watching the sunset on Yuuzhan'tar after the fight in the arena when he'd first met Uhla. He remembered longing to reach out to his family and Tahiri, and his heart wrenching sorrow at his inability to do so. Now he need only reach out with his own hand.

Anakin placed his hand in Tahiri's, interlacing his with her soft fingers and locking the thumbs. As they sat on the rocky shore watching the sun dance off the ripples of the vast ocean, Anakin knew the moment wasn't perfect. His mother was missing, apparently the prisoner of a Sith Lord, the Yuuzhan Vong were still in control of the galaxy, and Tahiri still seemed different to him. The hand was the same, but the touch....

Perhaps there are no perfect moments.

He turned his eyes from the waters and the sun extinguishing itself to look at Tahiri. The lingering sunlight shined in her green eyes and the ocean winds pushed her blonde curls away from her face. Her supple lips and furrowed brow showed she was worried, thinking of far more than the setting sun or coral reefs.

She was beautiful-- more so than he'd remembered. When he'd met her they'd been children, and even when they'd fallen in love, Tahiri encompassed a childlike innocence. Anakin was sad to see that gone; it had died alone with him at Myrkr. Tahiri had grown into a woman, one hardened by war and the loss of the one she loved. Her grief had allowed the dormant Yuuzhan Vong personality of Riina Kwaad to assault her, until Tahiri forged an alliance with Riina, and became... Someone else.

It was different from Anakin's own shaping. He'd been shaped completely into the warrior Yuusung Saa, leaving no room for a dual persona. When Yuusung Saa discovered the inarguable truth of the Force and who he truly was, there was no way from him to exist any longer. Anakin was too strong in the Force for the warrior not to recognize the truth. He'd thought Tahiri had done the same, defeated her shaping before the Myrkr mission, but apparently, Riina Kwaad was only laying low for Tahiri's vulnerability, and a chance to take over.

For all Tahiri had changed, the connection that had always been there between them, that was greater than the Force in Anakin's eyes, and had grown stronger after he rescued her on Yavin, still existed. Anakin just wasn't sure Tahiri wanted it anymore, or at least, not in the same way it had been before his own capture.

She was her own person now.

Tahiri seemed to notice he was looking at her for the first time, and turned to face him, smiling as their eyes met. "Isn't it beautiful, Anakin?" She said, squeezing his hand and turning back to the setting sun.

When Anakin's eyes didn't track back to the sun, she turned back to him with a confused smirk. "What?"

When Tahiri reached out with the Force for the first time, to touch Anakin on Yuuzhan'tar, it had felt for a moment as if nothing had changed, and there were no barriers between them. Anakin found himself wishing that moment had lasted longer; he wished it were like that now.

Her smile turned mischievous and Anakin longed to lean over and place his mouth against Tahiri's own pink lips, delivering the kiss she'd denied him two years ago on Myrkr... but he was afraid-- afraid that if that was different as well, if he felt the same barriers between them, then he would lose all hope that their connection would ever be as strong as it once was.

Anakin decided that if he was going to tear down the walls between them, the best way was to be honest himself, and answer Tahiri's question.

"I'm just afraid that things will never be the same," he said, "between us."

Tahiri's smile evaporated as she nodded in understanding. "They won't Anakin. Too much time has past and so much has changed. We can never get those years back."

Anakin felt his heart sink at her words-- his worst fear falling off of her lips so casually, that he felt as though he was on Myrkr again, life draining from his body. Tahiri sensed his unease through the Force.

"Things can't be the same, Anakin, but that doesn't change the way I feel about you," Tahiri said. “The old Tahiri and Riina merged, but the part of me that loved you, the part that loves you, still exists. I always have, even when we were kids and I didn't really understand it."

Anakin grinned sheepishly, averting his eyes for a moment and looking at the rocks they were seated on, trying not to blush.

Finding her eyes again, he said, "It's just a lot of changes to get use too, I guess. I feel--."

Before Anakin could finish his thoughts he was interrupted by the voice of a man stepping on the stones behind them. Anakin had felt his presence coming to them for a long time, but had been too preoccupied with Tahiri to notice.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Anakin and Tahiri exchanged glances, then she turned back to their visitor and said, "Of course not, Jacen."

Not what my answer was going to be.

Jacen sat on a large rock to Anakin's left, farthest from Tahiri.

"What's on you mind?" Anakin asked, tearing his gaze away from Tahiri to face his older brother.

Jacen chuckled and patted Anakin on the shoulder. "So much, I can't think straight. I stayed up all of last night talking to uncle Luke, and I still have so many questions. I went to Jaina's and she told me you two were here, so I came... If you want, I can leave and talk to you later."

Anakin shook his head; the moment with Tahiri was already ruined. "No, it's okay. What's been bothering you? Is this about mom?"

Jacen shrugged. "Everything seems to be about her anymore... I'm worried about her, but after talking to Luke, I think she'll be okay. I guess I should just cut to the chase-- the Force is bothering me."

Anakin's brow furrowed in confusion. It was not a usual thing for his brother to say, over the years Jacen had been struggling with deciphering the true nature of the Force and what it meant to be a Jedi.

"What do you mean?" Tahiri asked, pulling her hand away from Anakin's and resting her chin in the palm.

"I mean... I developed my Vongsense over a year ago, and I can sense Yuuzhan Vong, and even bond with them in a way... Like I did with the yammosk, I can convince them to do what I want. And Tahiri seems to be able to manipulate simple Vong biots-- but neither of us is using the Force. Our abilities are consequences of our own experiences, our imprisonment with the Yuuzhan Vong-- yet you, Anakin, can sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, and even use it against them. I saw you push the warriors in the Marook field, and attack the yammosk's mind-- you were using the Force."

Anakin nodded. "Yes, I can sense them in the Force," he answered, smiling. "They exist within it."

Jacen smiled back, but his expression turned perplexed again as the sky continued to darken.

"How?" Jacen asked. "Was it a byproduct of your shaping? How is it you under went the same process as Tahiri, yet you can sense the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force and she cannot?"

"No, I don't think it has to do with my shaping-- at least, not completely," Anakin explained. "On Myrkr, when I was protecting the strike team's escape, I just... Fell into the Force in a way I never have-- in a way I probably never will again. I could sense the warriors in the grashal, as clearly as I sense you now. I don't know if I could use the Force against them then, as I can now, that may have come from the shaping... but I know it started in the grashal."

Jacen's eyes stared at Anakin, hanging on his every word. The rivalry between the two was long gone now, and both were just eager to learn from each other and find the truth.

"How did you do it?" Jacen asked. "How did you make the connection?"

Anakin shrugged again. "I don't know for sure, I don't understand why I can sense Yuuzhan Vong life. Maybe my lightsaber lambent was the genesis, but it’s certainly not what I use now."

Jacen looked at the silver cylinder that hung from Anakin's left hip, but said nothing for a long time.

"We'll figure it out, Jacen," Tahiri said confidently. "We're so close now, I can fell it."

Jacen turned his attention to the younger girl. "Is that another Force aided premonition?"

Tahiri smiled slightly. "Could be," she said. "I'm still a novice when it comes to visions."

"Well, you handled the first one well," Jacen praised. "Followed your path perfectly, and were able to find Nen Yim... You saw everything, hints of Anakin's survival, the voxyn, the slave pilots, the eighth cortex, and Wrev's betrayal."

Tahiri shook her head. "Wrev's betrayal?

Jacen's forehead creased in confusion. "Yes, you said you felt that a Jedi would betray us."

Tahiri shook her head slowly again. "No, that can't be it. If not for Wrev, we wouldn't have been able to stop the Yuuzhan Vong and Nen Yim's eighth cortex. He deceived us, but did not betray us. I felt something else... Someone betraying us all."

Anakin scratched his head and his brother's question mirrored his own thoughts, as the sun disappeared from the horizon and the sky turned black.

"Who?"



***



Lieutenant Sartoin held his blaster rifle in formal Chiss guard, standing at attention in front of the cool metallic doors of the lab, buried deep under the crust of ice that covered Csilla. He knew the scientists inside were doing important work. He wasn't privileged to that level of information, and the Chiss were strict enough to keep their special scientists from fraternizing with a lowly lieutenant.

However, he had heard rumors that beyond those chilled metallic doors, the Chiss inside were hard at work on a weapon that would end the threat known as the Yuuzhan Vong. Whisperings among the other soldiers was that it was a virus that would wipe the entire race, all their creatures, and their living biots, from the galaxy.

So it was with great pride that he stood guard in front of the lab, knowing that he was a small part of a very important project. It was his job to only let authorized personnel through the lab doors, and he was good at it.

Most of the people coming in and out of the doors were Chiss like him, with blue skin, stark black hair, and glowing red eyes. However, they had received several Galactic Alliance envoys to the labs in the year since the project started, so he was not surprised when the female human, cloaked in black arrived.

Her eyes were hypnotic, and her white skin looked far softer and warmer than any thing he'd ever seen on Csilla. Her smile made her even more attractive and she gave a small bow to him as a greeting.

"Identification, please," Sartoin said, not letting the human's beauty hamper his stiff demeanor. A lifetime of Chiss training had left him unflappable, even in the most intense situations.

"Hello," She said warmly, and handed a small data card to him. "There you are."

He looked over the data card running a search, and the name quickly matched up, along with the holo in his datapad's memory. Face recognition technology matched more than a million of the points on the woman's face, and the air receptors that captured the microscopic dead skin that humans shed every second, matched her DNA with near 100 percent accuracy.

Sartoin nodded. "Very well, ambassador," he said. "You may enter. He handed her back the small identification card and entered his code in the door pad, before the heavy metal doors slid open, and cold air billowed out.

“Thank you,” the woman said, with a wave of her hand. "You have been most helpful."

As the woman stepped through the closing doors, her black cloak rippling behind her, Sartoin found he hardly remembered the exchanged, and he had no memory of meeting Leia Organa Solo at all.



--End.

 

Message to the readers of this fic:

This fic has been up for 6 and 1/2 months, and I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to read it. This took me about 2 months to write, and is the longest thing I've ever written in my entire life It probably wouldn't have gotten written at all if it wasn't for all that encouragment I got from the first one, so again, I would like to thank everyone.

Thanks, Tahi, Tahiri-Solo, _Jedi_of_Destiny_, Thrawn McEwok, Whitey, FamousAmos, TahiriSoloFan, JainaDurron, JDH3, Morgoth_The_Enemy, Star_Lead(and all variations ), Hispanic_girl88, The_Jedi_Ambyr_Rose, Lethar, AT4EVER, Anahiri, TahiriVeilaSolo69, Moff_D, Jade_Walker, Tahiri, TheCrazyRodian, stih_lady17, JediMaster0001, SaberBlade, Force_Addict, and anyone else who took the time to read (I hope I didn't forget anyone, I'm sure I missed some people who posted once, sorry).

Special thanks to Tahiri-Solo for looking a handful of things up for me when I was to lazy

The last fic in this series should be up in a few weeks, and I'll post updates in this thread for awhile like I did with Revolution.. Right now, I'm pretty sure I'm going to use the title provided by Thrawn McEwok, as it fits better than he could have guessed So look for "The Living Force" soon

Thanks again to everyone, I love you all It was a blast writting this and I feel really honored that you guys take the time to read it. Hope you enjoyed it half as much as I enjoyed writing it

 

Holy monkey, great job with the last post! So evil to end it like that, though. You sure you aren't taking lessons from TMcE or -Tenel Ka-?

Thanks for having a bit of discussion with me at the end, there. Maybe I'll post back a couple more times once my schoolwork is finished with. For now, though, it's the books or my life.

 

YK, TheCrazyRodian: [I'll deal with all that when I have time to do it justice]

And as to the 'fic?! Wow!

- The Imperial Ewok

 

That's the end? I finally caught up and delurked and you finish the fic. Not fair

Anyway, this has been a really great story (actually, stories, since I had to read all of Revolution as well before I could read this one ). I love the fact that Anakin is alive, and that Vergere had a hand in it. Very cool. Plus, you had perfect characterization of all of your characters, especially Jacen. Good for you

And talk about a cliffhanger ending. Whoa... Please post the next story soon, or I'll die of anticipation!

 

Holy monkey, great job with the last post! So evil to end it like that, though. You sure you aren't taking lessons from TMcE or -Tenel Ka-?

Thanks, CrazyRodian TMcE has probably influenced me but I'm pretty sure that end was written before he corrupted me

Thanks for having a bit of discussion with me at the end, there. Maybe I'll post back a couple more times once my schoolwork is finished with. For now, though, it's the books or my life.

My pleasure I don't get to the lit boards hardly ever anymore, so it was a nice change of pace.




And as to the 'fic?! Wow!

Thanks, Thrawn



That's the end? I finally caught up and delurked and you finish the fic. Not fair

aww, sorry Nice to meet you, whats-her-face (great name BTW) Hope you stick around, there will be the final fic soon.

Anyway, this has been a really great story (actually, stories, since I had to read all of Revolution as well before I could read this one ). I love the fact that Anakin is alive, and that Vergere had a hand in it. Very cool. Plus, you had perfect characterization of all of your characters, especially Jacen. Good for you

Wow, thanks That's quite a lot to read. Jacen has been a lot of fun to write (maybe my favorite to write) and there will be more on Vergere in the next one.

 

Well... that was an incredible story. You've really done a wonderful work. And what a cliffangher... I cant wait for the next story!

 

Hi Yoda - I'm so far behind and now you're finished! Gah! I'm typing this en route north - so will catch up week. Will be out of computer access until then. Can't wait to read the last few chapters.

 

Well... that was an incredible story. You've really done a wonderful work. And what a cliffangher... I cant wait for the next story!

Thanks, sith_lady17 It feels good to have it done, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Sorry about the cliffhanger (wait, no I'm not ).

New story will be up soon I hope




Hi Yoda - I'm so far behind and now you're finished! Gah! I'm typing this en route north - so will catch up week. Will be out of computer access until then. Can't wait to read the last few chapters.

hey, Tahi; there's no hurry of course Hope you have a good trip and return with a new post in MHR

 

Okay...*Picks jaw up off ground and applauds loudly* Yodakenobi, I say this without reservation or ego (Sorry, I had to steal a line from Kill Bill) THAT was the best post you have ever done. I am amazed that you constructed such a machiavellian piece of fanfic art. (I never get to use the word machiavellian, so I thought now would be a good time)

considering how I read the ending quickly, and so am not really sure of what I read, Has Leia gone the way of her dear old dad? if so, love it. I like dark characters, they're fun to read.

The scenes between everyone were brilliant, the end scene with A/T/J was great and I cannot wait for the next story to begin. As soon as the first post for the next installement is done, tell me so I can read it! Knowing my luck, I'll not spot it on the boards until about four posts have gone by. Over all, this fic rocked and if it's any indication of what we are in for in the next installment, then that will rock too.

 

YK, that was awesome!!

I can't believe its over

Its been such a long, emotional ride. But it was a hell of a ride, and an even better story

Can't wait for the last installment, I'm sure it won't disappoint

 

*has a heart attack from shock*
*new clone comes in*

Now that, I did not expect. You're almost as good with cliffhangars as Ambyr-Rose herself.

At first I was a little worried that you'd make Danni an evil traitor like some Tenel Ka fans do in their fics. Shows how obsessed I am.

This has been one of the best fics in these forums, and it's been one hell of a ride. Can't wait till the next story!

 

Okay...*Picks jaw up off ground and applauds loudly* Yodakenobi, I say this without reservation or ego (Sorry, I had to steal a line from Kill Bill) THAT was the best post you have ever done. I am amazed that you constructed such a machiavellian piece of fanfic art. (I never get to use the word machiavellian, so I thought now would be a good time)

Yeah, I've never heard anyone say that before either, so thanks

considering how I read the ending quickly, and so am not really sure of what I read, Has Leia gone the way of her dear old dad? if so, love it. I like dark characters, they're fun to read.

Yeah, that's pretty much it

The scenes between everyone were brilliant, the end scene with A/T/J was great and I cannot wait for the next story to begin. As soon as the first post for the next installement is done, tell me so I can read it! Knowing my luck, I'll not spot it on the boards until about four posts have gone by. Over all, this fic rocked and if it's any indication of what we are in for in the next installment, then that will rock too.

Yeah, I'll probably PM everyone I think is interested in reading it when I first post. I did the same thing when this fic started, but I think I didn't PM you sorry.

Glad you liked the ending and our looking forward to the final fic



YK, that was awesome!!

Thanks

I can't believe its over

In many ways, it's just beginning

Its been such a long, emotional ride. But it was a hell of a ride, and an even better story

It does seem like a really long time when you think back to the first chapter with Dest Ornax and Leia I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Can't wait for the last installment, I'm sure it won't disappoint

Nah, it will be the best







*has a heart attack from shock*
*new clone comes in*

Now that's the way this fic needed to end With Whitey dying one more time.

Now that, I did not expect. You're almost as good with cliffhangars as Ambyr-Rose herself.

I'm honored Glad you didn't see it coming. Having Leia fall was the first legitimate idea I had for this story.

At first I was a little worried that you'd make Danni an evil traitor like some Tenel Ka fans do in their fics. Shows how obsessed I am.

Nah Danni is good all the way through to her death... I mean the end of the story

This has been one of the best fics in these forums, and it's been one hell of a ride. Can't wait till the next story!

Thanks again Whitey that's a big compliment. I hope the wait won't be too long, but it seems like there is quite a bit to go.

I'm already through 2 notebooks and starting a third. The chapters in this fic are longer, but I think there will be fewer posts overall.

 

Danni is good all the way through to her death... I mean the end of the story

Nah, you wouldn't kill her off... Would you? [face_shocked]

 

nah, that would be pointless