Beyond - Legends This Little Light (L/M AU Challenge)

I love this! What a fun story...if only THIS was how the universe turned out! Everyone together. I especially like the appearance of Ganner...I've got a soft spot for him.

Add me to the list, please??

 

I'll continue this story at some point, guys. Promise I'll do my best. School has been super-busy, and when you throw in work and stuff...yeah, writing hasn't exactly been a possibility of late.

 

Hey, guys, gonna try to update this here pretty soon!

 

jcgoble3, Briannakin, Annia Piet, Falcon, JadeLotus, divapilot, TrustyTrooper, Jedi_Lover, mavjade, WarmNyota_SweetAyesha in which "soon" means almost a month.

* * *

Jag and Jaina were just entering the maintenance levels when Jaina sensed the other Jedi arriving. Relief swept through her. Good, then we'll be able to box this guy in. If he hasn't escaped yet, that is. She kept her thumb near her lightsaber's ignition switch. She didn't want to be caught off-guard by a quick-firing shooter. Jag's blaster was leveled at his shoulder, ready to fire.

Jaina sensed somebody ahead, and she could hear footprints. Behind tangles of pipes and wires, she thought she saw a dark-clad body darting around a corner. She put a finger to her lips and motioned to Jag that she was going to cut left and try to cut him off, and that he should continue to pursue the shooter from behind. He nodded and threaded around the pipes.

Soon enough, Jaina was totally lost, but she knew exactly where she was going. She tightened her grip on her saber and prepared to spring at a moment's notice. Odds were, if this guy was willing to assassinate Chief Omas, he wouldn't come quietly.

She rounded the corner and found herself face-to-face with the shooter. He jerked in surprise and swung a fist at her face. Jaina barely blocked the blow in time and returned the punch, striking at his temple with the butt of her hilt. He pulled his head back to avoid the blow and swung a punch with his left hand, while reaching down to his thigh with his right. Okay, that's enough.

Jaina ignited her lightsaber just as he jerked up his blaster and fired a rapid series of shots. All of them deflected harmlessly into the pipes and cords around them. Jaina tried to swing her blade, but in the close, claustrophobic space, he managed to duck and her blade only sheared through the machinery around them. Grunting, Jaina turned off her saber and opted to return to hand-to-hand combat. She kicked his blaster aside and jabbed an open hand at his throat. He parried that strike and kicked Jaina in the knee.

Ouch!

* * *

Mara and Kyle took a turbolift down to the maintenance level from the other side of the building. Mara could sense Jaina down here somewhere, moving toward them. Hopefully, they could box this guy in and take him out.

The two Jedi Masters kept their saber hilts in-hand as they proceeded through the maintenance tunnels. It was a tight fit, even for someone as slim as Mara, and she realized with a start that, once she developed farther into her pregnancy, she'd almost certainly have to give up on missions like this for some time. She'd had to do the same when she was carrying Ben.

Blasterfire rang through the tunnels. Mara and Kyle exchanged alarmed looks and sprinted in that direction.

* * *

Jaina had had enough. She Force-pushed the shooter backward. He landed on his back with a grunt, but unfortunately he happened to come to a stop right beside his blaster. It was in his hand and aimed in an instant.

"Freeze!" Jag shouted.

He came up behind the shooter and trained his own weapon on the man. The shooter growled and dropped his blaster. Jaina picked it up as Jag put a pair of stun cuffs on the guy. Then, he pulled the shooter's mask off.

"Who are you?"

The shooter was a man with olive skin, black hair, and gray eyes. He tightened his jaw and glared unflinchingly at Jaina and Jag.

"I won't tell you anything, Republic pig!"

Jaina rolled her eyes. "How original."

At that moment, Mara and Kyle rushed around the corner, lightsabers ignited. When they saw that Jaina and Jag had the situation well in-hand, they sighed in relief and returned their sabers to their belts.

"Blasted young 'uns," Kyle grunted, "getting all the action before we old folks can even get out of bed."

Jaina chuckled. "Sorry, Gramps, you just don't have the goods anymore." She pulled out her comlink. "This is Jedi Solo; we've got the suspect in custody. You can shut down the lockdown."

"Roger that, Jedi Solo," the Republic Security officer on the other end replied. "I'll send my people down to get him."

"Don't have the goods?" Kyle asked. "Really?"

Jag took the shooter away while Mara, Jaina, and Kyle trailed behind.

"Who would want to order a hit on the Chief?" Kyle asked.

"That's a loaded question," Mara said. "Who wouldn't? But the question is: who's bold enough to actually do it? We're looking at a pretty gutsy assassin, plus an even gutsier contractor."

"This is big," Jaina agreed. "Jag and I will see what we can get out of this guy. Maybe, if all goes well, we'll get a name and can take out whoever hired him before this gets out of hand and another assassin is hired."

Mara nodded. "Do that. See what comes of it."

"Do you think Republic Security will let us have the prisoner?"

"Maybe with a little influence from Commander Fel, yeah. If not, Fel's still got the credentials to interrogate him personally. Who knows? Maybe he can bore him to death by reciting rules and regulations."

"Aunt Mara!" Jaina gasped.

"I heard that," Jag said over his shoulder, his tone deadpan.

Mara and Kyle chuckled.

"At least I'm more interesting than him," Kyle stage-whispered. "....right?"

 

I had to reread the entire story to remember what was going on.

Love how the fight with the shooter went down. Sometimes hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for some old-fashioned brawling.


"Blasted young 'uns," Kyle grunted, "getting all the action before we old folks can even get out of bed."

Jaina chuckled. "Sorry, Gramps, you just don't have the goods anymore."




Who knows? Maybe he can bore him to death by reciting rules and regulations."

"Aunt Mara!" Jaina gasped.

"I heard that," Jag said over his shoulder, his tone deadpan.

 

Great action, naturally. More answers hopefully about who's behind everything and also anxious for Luke's return.

 

jcgoble3, Briannakin, Annia Piet, Falcon, JadeLotus, divapilot, TrustyTrooper, Jedi_Lover, mavjade, WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

* * *

Jag led the prisoner over to the CSF speeder while the other officers packed up the barricade and informed everyone that the lockdown was ended. Jaina, although disappointed her date was cut short, was relieved to have caught the shooter. She hoped Omas would recover from the shooting soon, despite the tense relationship the Jedi had with him. He was far from the worst Chief of State who could be running the Republic, as far as she was concerned.

She, Mara, and Kyle gathered at the landing pad and the other Jedi began to rejoin them. Kyp ran a hand through his long hair and gave Jaina a thumbs-up. Jaina grinned and returned the gesture.

"Everyone can return to the Temple now," Mara said. "Might as well get a little sleep tonight. If Commander Fel can manage to get the prisoner transferred to the Temple, we'll begin interrogation in the morning."

Kyle nodded. "You heard her. Pack it up, Jedi."

As the Jedi began to depart, Jaina walked over to Jag. He turned and smiled at her.

"Not what you were expecting from a first date, probably," he said.

"True," Jaina agreed. "Still, it was...fun. I'd like to see you again sometime."

"I'd like that, too. Tell you what, if I can get the prisoner transferred to the Temple, I'll talk to you there tomorrow. If not, I'll contact you and we'll figure out a time we can see each other again."

"Sounds good."

They hugged briefly, and then Jaina walked back to her speeder. She looked over her shoulder once, waved goodbye, and then got in and took off. She hadn't realized how tense she was until she got in the speeder.

A good night's sleep would be good for her.

* * *

To Anakin's surprise, nothing happened as they checked out the freighter. He kept his guard up the whole time, but nobody jumped from the shadows to hold up the freighter, nobody tried to flee...it was a calm night. When they were sure no tracking devices could be found on the freighter, they gave the dockmaster their assurances that the transport would be protected. He thanked them, and they returned to their X-wings.

"How can these pirates, or whoever, get these transports if they're not tracking them?" Ben wondered.

"That's a good question," Kam replied. "I'm afraid we'll find out before long. Come, they're waiting for us to take off."

The Jedi climbed into their fighters, started them up, and flew into orbit. Before long, the transport appeared, a tiny dot against the planet below. As it came up, Anakin kept his finger close to the trigger. If anything happened before the jump to hyperspace, he'd be ready. But the transport grew to the size of a thumbnail, and then bigger and bigger, until it was in line with the X-wings.

"Ready to go," the pilot of the freighter said. "Setting coordinates for Coruscant."

"Anakin," Ben said suddenly, "there was a guy down there. Dressed in black with a gray trench coat. Not sure why, but I got a funny feeling about him. I didn't see him around the freighter, though, and he didn't do anything, so maybe my feelings were amiss."

Anakin frowned. "Thanks for the warning, Ben. We'll make sure to keep a lookout. What'd this guy look like?"

"Pale skin, shoulder-length black hair, icy blue eyes."

Anakin committed the description to memory. "Got it. Good work, Ben. If this guy shows up, we'll know the leak's on Garqi."

The freighter jumped to hyperspace.

"Let's go, Jedi," Kam said. "Be on guard. If anything's going to happen, it'll be soon. May the Force be with us."

Anakin, Ben, Tahiri, and Kam jumped to hyperspace in unison. Now, Anakin thought, we can only wait.

* * *

"Welcome back, Master Skywalker."

As Mara parked her speeder, she looked up. Her apprentice, Rey, stood with her hands loosely at her sides, her dark brown eyes sparkling. The girl seemed to have a never-ending pool of enthusiasm somewhere inside her. Seeing her, interacting with her, was always a source of joy for Mara.

"Thank you, Rey," Mara replied. "What are you doing awake at this hour?"

Rey was nineteen, so she could take care of herself, but Mara always felt a bit over-protective of her, like she was another of her children. Rey knew Mara didn't mean any offense by it, and she never took any.

"I heard about the shooting," Rey replied. "I figured you'd go check it out. I wanted to greet you when you got back. So, did you catch the guy? The one who shot at Chief Omas?"

"We caught him," Mara confirmed. She and Rey walked out of the hangar and down the halls. "He's in CSF custody right now, but Commander Jagged Fel is going to try to get him transferred here, to the Temple, so we can interrogate him ourselves."

"I hope we can," Rey said. "We need to catch whoever's behind this hit before he can send another assassin."

Perceptive, Mara thought. "Very true, Rey. Now, it'd be best if you went back to bed. We've got training as usual in the morning, and you don't want to be sleep-deprived, understood?"

"Yes, Master Skywalker. Good night."

"Good night, Rey."

Mara turned to head to her quarters, but stopped when Rey called out, "Oh!" She turned and looked back at her apprentice.

"What is it?"

"You feel...different." Her eyes brightened anew as realization dawned. "Congratulations!"

Mara fought to hide a blush. Whoops. "Uh, thank you. Thank you. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Get some sleep, Rey."

With that, she rushed back to her room before Rey could ask any further questions. Apparently, it would be harder to hide her pregnancy amidst a temple full of Jedi than she'd expected. She snorted. She should've guessed this would happen.

Luke, get back soon, before the entire Order finds out before you do.

 

The scene with Jaina - good that she has a tentative thingy to redo the first date

Hmm, glad Anakin and the rest of the team have some sort of lead on the possible saboteur and then ...

Apprentice Rey cool thing that! And yuppers, Luke needs to get back ASAP ... Everyone will know before he does!

 

Hey, working together to catch an assassin sounds like my idea of a good first date. (Maybe that's why I'm 29 years old and have never been on a date? )

The situation Ben and Anakin are in feels like a ticking time bomb. It's going to go off soon, but will they be caught in the blast?

Yay for using the name "Rey"!

I knew it would be impossible to hide the pregnancy from Jedi. If Mara herself detected the baby through the Force, so can just about everyone else in the Temple. Did she really think she'd be able to hide it?

 

jcgoble3, Briannakin, Annia Piet, Falcon, JadeLotus, divapilot, TrustyTrooper, Jedi_Lover, mavjade, WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

* * *

When the freighter dropped out of hyperspace, Anakin was nearly blown to atoms. Only the Force's split-second warning allowed him to juke his ship aside and avoid the turbolaser blast that would've annihilated his shields, his hull, and his flesh.

"Scrag!" he shouted. "Evasive maneuvers!"

He had expected the attack to be by pirates in light freighters and cobbled-together starfighters. He hadn't expected a Star Destroyer. TIE Fighters spilled from the Destroyer's hangars. These weren't his parents' TIEs: their solar panels were shaped like hooks or talons. It made the ships look predatory, more intimidating than the old TIEs. And Anakin could instantly tell they were a force to be reckoned with.

"The Destroyer's tractor beam is pulling in the freighter," Kam said. "We've got to free it before we jump to hyperspace."

Three TIEs swooped in toward Anakin and opened fire. Anakin dodged and spun around behind one of the TIE, peppering it with laser fire. The TIE rolled and avoided most of his shots. A few hit, but they were deflected by its shields. So these TIEs have maneuverability, shields, and better weapons. He gritted his teeth and fired again. This time, he hit, and the shields fluctuated, but the ship's pilot rolled before any of his shots could do permanent damage.

"There's no way," Tahiri said. "We've got enough issues with these fighters; we can't deal with that Destroyer without leaving ourselves open to these fighters. We'll be crushed and still won't free that freighter."

"We can't shake loose!" the freighter pilot said.

"Get to escape pods," Kam said. "Leave the freighter to the Destroyer; just get out of there with your lives."

"We'll...we'll try!" the pilot said. "Abandoning ship!"

Anakin tried to get a line of sight on the freighter, but his view was blocked by more TIEs swooping in. He finally managed to destroy one, but two more had peppered his shields and they were now fluctuating. His astromech chirped in alarm.

"Pods away," Kam said.

An instant later, the Destroyer's turbolasers opened fire again and the pods were destroyed. Anakin gasped in horror as the freighter's pilot and crew were obliterated in an instant.

"Get to hyperspace," Kam said. "We can't do anymore good here."

"We can't just leave!" Ben said.

"We don't stand a chance; we've got to go."

Ben sighed. "Yes, Master."

Clenching his jaw, Anakin entered the coordinates to Coruscant in his navicomputer. He launched to hyperspace, leaving the freighter in the clutches of whoever controlled that Star Destroyer. One thing was for sure: whatever was going on here, it was a much bigger threat than anyone had expected.

 

Looks like Anakin and Ben almost were caught in the blast. Literally.

Wow, that was not what I expected at all. I wonder how they're going to figure this one out.

 

That was something and definitely shows their adversaries are seriously formidable.

---

Revanfan1 -- now that I've discovered Fame & Truth I just had to wander back into this thread. Hope this continues

 

I was just thinking about this story the other day! I definitely do want to continue it. Glad to know you're enjoying it!

 

Enjoying the idea of Mara being pregnant again since Ben is grown in your story. Please continue when work and school give the the time to you and please tag me in.

 

This...is awesome. I kept thinking I didn't miss the old EU...well, I miss the characters in their normal, living, non-Dark Side state. Tenel Ka and Jacen acting like a normal couple is the fulfillment of all my preteen dreams. Jaina going on a date is amazing. Jacen's remark about Fel being as 'stiff as a board' had me rolling! Mara is alive with grown-up Ben, now expecting a late-life Skycrawler, WHEEEE! AND you found a way to stick Rey in there??? I might cry.

Now you have to get back to this....everyone is dying to see Luke's reaction. Please, please, please, please!!!