Space

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina's Gamma-class light cruiser was in hyperspace, and she walked back to where a weakened and asleep Searcy lay. Brushing away the stray hairs that lay across his forehead. Leaning over him, she kissed his forehead and walked back up to the cockpit. Her R3 unit rolled up and plugged into the astromech station. She smiled at his long series of questioning beeps.

 

"No, Sparky. We're going back to the Last Call."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina looked lovingly at the sleeping figure next to her. Her lips still tingled from the light touch, and she smiled as she took the ship out of hyperspace. Coruscant loomed before her, and she headed for a remote place on the planet she knew as the home of the Last Call.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

In the cold, still silence of hyperspace, Jaina, sitting in the enclosed cockpit of an X-Wing, took the time to recollect. The surprised look on Michael's face when Talon accused him of being a Sith, the turmoil in Talon's heart, the disappointment from DJK's perspective, and overall, the impending issue of switching masters. Breaking into sobs, she searched herself and said to the sleeping controls,

 

"I didn't want everything to end up like this. Especially not with Michael and Talon. I've heard that the worst thing anyone could do is turn a master against an apprentice, or vice versa." She winced, and a fresh wave of tears filled up in her eyes. "And that's exactly what I've done. How could I? How could anyone?"

 

Taking a deep breath, she poured out her troubles as a new fire burned in her eyes. "Do I love him, or am I fooling myself? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?" Falling into the Force, she sought the guidance and wisdom that supposedly came in times of need. Sobs wracking her body, she slowly cried herself into a deep sleep.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Seeing the two dreams, one of the master, and one of the former apprentice, stirred something in Jaina. With the last traces of doubt, fear, and guilt shaken from her mind, she began to build up a new determination.

 

One that I'll need, if what I think is coming actually is. One that I'll definitely need.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

In a sharp spurt of pain, Jaina awoke. She was floating in the air, suspended by forcefield binders. Looking at her surroundings, she noted from the slowly-moving stars that they were going sublight speed, avoiding hyperspace. Whoever "they" were.

 

A door behind her gave out a hydraulic hiss as it opened, and light footsteps fell, coming ever closer. A new touch of pain was added, and electric bolts jumped all around Jaina's body. Twisting in the effort of seeing her attacker, Jaina realized that she no longer needed her eyes to see, and tried to fall into the Force like she had been trained to do, but there was one problem.

 

The Force was not there.

 

A cruel laugh broke out behind her, and the giver of her pain stepped into view. A feminine figure, her face hidden by a dark cloak, addressed her.

 

"Jaina. Brave, Jaina. Poor, sick, deluded little Jaina. Did you really think I wouldn't come looking for you? After all you did to me?"

 

Jaina's eyes flashed, but a new spurt of pain was added to the mix, and the dark figure spoke again.

 

"You stole my family from me, you worthless wretch. You stole everything I ever was. You even stole my freedom."

 

But Jaina no longer needed her eyes or the Force to identify her attacker.

 

Liana Jade Skywalker: Darth Electra.

 

"Liana!"

 

"Yes, it's me, my poor pathetic cousin. And don't try your silly Jedi Force tricks; I had my people pick up a whole shipment of ysalamiri. You won't be getting away from here unless I want you to leave."

 

"What do you want out of me? We could arrange a deal."

 

The blue eyes glinted as they narrowed, and Liana said the worst possible thing that could be said.

 

"I want the location of the planet Chad."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina, bloody, beaten, tired, and weeping, whispered out the coordinates.

 

"Eight five seven three point two nine."

 

Doing a mental count, she decided almost every part of her body was injured.

 

Oh boy, I'm going to need serious bacta treatment when--or if--I get out of here alive.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina's limp body hung in Michael's arms, enveloped and so used to pain that she was numb to his touch. Feeling the jolts of his steps along the corridors, she raised her head to look around, and as they rounded the bend, she watched Talon ignite his lightsaber. Her mind registered that they were going away from him, and she yelled "NO!" at the top of her lungs. Michael stopped, set her gently down on the ground, and stared hard into her eyes.

 

(M) "Jaina, listen to me. We--"

 

(J) "No you listen! That's my sister, not my cousin! If she has those coordinates, she'll find Acrid as well as Chad!"

 

(T) "Go, both of you, go..."

 

Jaina struggled with Michael, trying to get back down the corridor she had just run from.

 

(J)"I can't leave him, I can't! You both have done so much, if I did that I would be--"

 

(M)You would be ruining the sacrifice he's making. Do you want that memory?"

 

Jaina began weeping, and Michael gathered her up in his arms and took off running again, but Jaina could hear the cold, cruel laughter of Liana Jade Skywalker in her mind...

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

OOC: LoL, this is kinda funny, Cory's the only one remaining intact...

 

IC: Jaina could feel Michael very strongly, but Talon was drifting in and out of the Force, like he was alive, then dead, but kept coming back to life again. Becoming restless, she tried to sit up. Big mistake. As soon as she reached a sitting position, her pain was so intense it almost knocked her back down, and her senses and mind screamed at her. Reaching out with the Force again, she got a grasp on Talon's mind and pulled with all of her strength, donating the last of hers to give him life. Whispering deliriously, she barely saw the MD droids wheel into the room.

 

"Talon--this is what strength--I have left. Use it--for the good-of the Jedi. You are--stronger--more valuable--than I--tell Michael I love him--tell my family--and try--oh, try--to turn Electra--with the resources you have--and tell--Rogue Squadron--that they are--powerful--they can do--the impossible--if they only--try."

 

With that, she sank back on her pillow, not hearing the cry of anguish from the one beside her.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Her eyes, glazed over from delirium and pain, darted from one side of the room to the other. As she felt strength feeding into her, her hope arose. But just as quickly, it died. Electra was connecting through their bond as sisters and taking whatever strength she had left. Using her last moment of consious state, she whispered,

 

(J)"Do not mourn--when I leave--if I leave. Use--your strength--defend--Chad and Acrid--alert Dhan-Jaroe--find someone to take my place."

 

(M)"No! You'll be all right, you'll be here with me! No one could ever take your place!"

 

(J)"Michael--do--not--argue--there is--no time--either give me--strength--or let me--die. There--is--no--other way."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

As her eyes opened, they had lost their glazed and delirious look, but they were the same greenish-brown Michael had known, yet older, wiser. Her mind cleared, and everything that had happened registered. She looked around, at her scabbed hands and Michael bending down over her.

 

(J)"It's good to be back, you know."

 

He smiled. "I'm sure it is." His face slowly dropped it's smile and he uttered three words that were so small, yet they ment so much. "I love you."

 

Raising an eyebrow and giving him that mischevous smile she was known for, she whispered hoarsly, "I know."

 

Levitating her body with the Force, she came to rest in a sitting position and began to pour what little energy she had to spare into Talon's body, hoping his weakened mind would accept the gift she was giving him--the gift of life.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina jumped into hyperspace, her knees shaking, her mind filled with fiery images from Chad. A stiffened but shaking finger activated the ship's comm unit, and she keyed in the frequency for Akka's X-Wing.

 

"Akka? This is Jaina. I'm going back to Almania, and the wedding is postponed. For now."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina awoke to screaming pain. She was disoriented and had no idea as to where she had been taken. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by the anxious gaze of Myth.

 

"Jay, you all right?"

 

This sudden burst of friendly worry, however light, sent Jaina's wounded spirits soaring as high as the recent turn of events could let them. She reached behind her to push herself into a sitting position, and - nothing happened. Looking down to the right first, then the left, she saw again what reality had not-too-kindly brought to her: she was unarmed. Literally. She glanced up and meekly groaned,

 

"As well as can be expected for having both of my arms ripped off and my life as I knew it stolen from me, I guess."

 

A haunting feeling entered her senses as her gaze turned towards the door.

 

"Where am I?"

 

Myth regained her arrogant Imperial composure. "In space, aboard the Hand of Bishop. You're not going to remain a Jedi for long, if they can help it."

 

Jaina nodded sullenly, and a fresh burst of pain ran up and down her nerves.

 

"I was afraid of that."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina, seated in one of the chairs behind them, looked to the lightsaber dangling off of her belt.

 

"I didn't get too far. Basic lightsaber skills, a little bit of fine-tuned Force sensitivity. Mostly my master wasn't interested in training me - which angered Dhan-Jaroe Kenobi quite a bit."

 

The girl shrugged. "If I knew what it was like, being trained as a Jedi, I would have definitely come to the Sith first. Everything that I hoped to learn - none of it was there."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina nodded in what appeared to be delight, but her stomach was tying itself up in knots. Activating the landing boosters, she let the ship descend to the planet.

 

Talon, oh, Talon...I'm sorry...I'm very sorry I ever met you - I'm sorry you ever came to Almania...I'm sorry I involved you in this...

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

The quiet solitude of deep space, reknowned for its reflective qualities, found Jaina mooning over her past. Silently, she stared out the viewscreen at the starlines that were searing past the Traitor's Hope. Ish came up silently behind her, and she turned to smile.

 

"Hey," she said warmly. "You bored?"

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina laughed, the sweet, lighthearted sound seeming to brighten up the darkened interior of the ship.

 

"Very cute," she laughed. "So - Ish - tell me about yourself, and where you came from. I get to hear so little about 'normal' peoples' lives."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

She smiled genuinely. "Well, even if you did become longwinded, I really wouldn't mind. I have a tendency to that myself..."

 

She sighed, and returned her attention to the viewscreen. "Look," she began again, "this might seem a little impulsive. But I have the strangest feeling that we're going to be around each other for a very long time. So I might as well tell you about myself."

 

Taking a deep breath, she began.

 

"I was born on Chad, the sea-world that's the home of the Chadra-Fans. My parents died when I was very young: there was a disease that only humans were susceptible to, and it was spreading along the main continent, which unfortunately we lived on. My parents were farmers...only they didn't work with plants. They worked with sea creatures. I had two sisters...one of whom turned to the Sith, and eventually a confrontation was forced, and I - I killed her. Which, after, I turned to the Sith...but that's a longer story for another time. The other sister I have yet to find...she was much older than I, and left when I was very young. I still have dreams about her...she was beautiful, and strong...but I'm getting off the point.

 

"When I got old enough to be out on my own, I worked in the depths of the research stations on Chad until I saved up enough to buy myself this ship. And trust me," she added, "it wasn't cheap. Then I flew to Almania, and established a Rogue Squadron base at 15. I met a man - you may have heard of him, he is a Jedi - by the name of Talon Flick, and through him a man named Michael Searcy, the one we ran into back in the Last Call." She snorted, a bit of irony entering her mind. Irony, and another touch of painful reminiscence.

 

"Talon Flick, as I said, was a Jedi. He'd trained Searcy, and Searcy, over time, took me as a Padawan Apprentice. As I grew to know Searcy and Flick a bit better, I alternated pleading with them to take me back to my homeworld - the Traitor's Hope was broken down. We went, in the aftermath and midst of many different happenings.There - I got to know them both a little better, but Talon Flick had to leave on a mission for the Jedi Council. And, the situation being what it was, Searcy and I left alone - on a sea world with the most romantic sunsets you could ever ask for - what else was there to do? He fell in love with me, and I fancied myself in love with him. But I wasn't...I was lying to myself the whole time." Through the determination in her voice, Ish could almost sense that she was trying to convince herself. "WE planned the wedding...had everything ready. But Liana - that's my younger sister - was waiting for me. After a forced confrontation with her, I gave into my anger, slew her, fleeing from Searcy and a wounded Flick and made my way to the Sith base on Aracoun Morion. I began instruction under Sith Master Bishop of Battle, whose hatred insured that I was fully under his control.

 

"I'd been there for a while when I began to sense that it was not for me...all the hatred, and the pain, and the denial. I'm too tenderhearted for that...as you'll probably come to find...but I'd finally found a place where I belonged. Who cared about morals?" She forced a smile.

 

"After taking apart the lightsaber I'd made for myself, he made the crystal into a necklace and gave it to me as a memento of my turning completely from the Jedi order. It was the crystal Searcy had given me, the crystal that was to be set in my wedding ring." With a private little smile, she added, "And I really am still too young to even think about getting married. After training for a while, I was brought into a high council of Sith Lords...the very assembly of which you could feel the Dark Side's embodiment in. Raynuk Montar, JGoD, Lord Ar-Pharazon, Tarrian Skywalker, Rocketblaze, and my master - a powerful mixture of deadly enemies. I wish I would have slaughtered them when I had the chance.

 

Their plans orchestrated an attack upon the Jedi base at Sullust. The attack, which I was to use to prove my full use of the dark energies of the Force, ensued, yet the Jedi called reinforcements. Jedi Master - you should have at least heard of him - Adi-Wan Tinova's summoned me - I know not yet how he was able to know me so thoroughly so quickly - and I turned back to the light. I would have become his apprentice, but I remained on Sullust by some accident, and I've not been able to find him since. I made my way to the Last Call, and there I found you. And now we go to Manaan."

 

She looked down at her hands. "There are, of course, more details to the story, but I'm boring you," she laughed nervously.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

She shook her head and frowned slightly. "I highly doubt it. I did a microjump in one direction and recalculated the navigational points to get us back on course. I also did a thorough check in Coruscant's atmosphere AND in hyperspace for homing devices...just in case it was one of those triggered ones. But no, I think we're safe. and if he did follow us somehow..." she shrugged. "We could probably deal with it."

 

Leaning back in the pilot's chair, she threw Ish an abbreviated grin. "You'll have to come to my knighting ceremony on Manaan. It'll be interesting."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Nervously, anxiously, she continued.

 

"Well, I don't exactly know how it'll be conducted...I don't even know if they'll bother to hold one. But..." She swiveled her chair to face him. "If I am knighted, even self-knighted...I've been wanting to take an apprentice." She left the statement blank, though she could feel the confusion, the expectation swirling around in his mind. It was a very open feeling: almost assuredly he hadn't been trained on how to block out his thoughts from others. It was exhilarating...

 

...a slow deceleration indicated they were on approach to Manaan.

 

"Oh, finally," Jaina said, relieved. "Why don't you take the copilot's seat and I'll take her in."

 

(To Manaan. We can continue the discussion there.)

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina and Ashley, aboard the Traitor's Hope, rocket through space towards Coruscant and the Last Call - to join with Hale and Andon.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

The Traitor's Hope blasted through hyperspace, carrying the Jedi and her sister Ashley.

 

Jaina, left in the Captain's quarters while her sister took the helm, was meditating, when a sharp jolt informed her that their hyperspace engines had failed. Dashing up to the ****pit in panic, she took one look at the panels that Ashley was rapidly tapping and gasped.

 

The engines had indeed failed, but none of the rapidly flashing lights were there.

 

"Oh, no," she muttered.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

"Move," Jaina ground out tightly. Ashley returned to the copilot's seat, and as the Jedi's hands brought the ship around, she saw it.

 

"Get to the guns, Ash." Her voice was cold - menacingly cold. "We're in for a fight."

 

"Sublight engines..." her fingers flew on the keyboard as she opened the intercom to Ashley. "Online. Hyperdrive's busted."

 

Hailing the rapidly approaching ship, she narrowed her eyes.

 

"Unidentified ship, this is the Captain of the Traitor's Hope. Stand down."

 

Closing her eyes and getting the feel of the Force, she sent out a rapid Force message to Andon.

 

"We're under attack by unidentified enemies. Hyperdrive failure - don't wait for us."

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

The keyword phrase flowed into Jaina's ear. Allowing a small smile to creep onto her lips, she echoed it, with just the slightest bit of malice creeping into her tone. "Bring it on..."

 

"Captain Pretty-Flower - if you like - let's not play games," she said, switching the comm back on. "Your name and purpose."

 

Let the lightning flash... she thought, with sinking heart.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

"I didn't." Warily, she gazed out the viewport. The ship seemed to be harmless enough - a damaged freighter - but there was something about it that Jaina couldn't shake. Jedi intuition, perhaps?

 

"All right then, Sunshine, what is it you'd like me to do?"

 

Tapping a few buttons on the console, she typed out a message to Ashley - instructions.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Jaina bit her tongue to keep from swearing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The oldest trick in the book.

 

"Ash," she said concedingly into the comm. "Why don't you come back down here. I doubt we'll be using the guns. I'll be in the cargo area."

 

Unhooking her lightsaber from her belt, she readjusted the power setting.

 

"Prepare to be boarded."

 

Going at a run towards the cargo hold, she threw open the smuggling panels and jumped down into them, pulling the lid shut behind her.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Or so he thought. The smuggling compartments doubled as escape pods - or really, they were escape pods used as smuggling compartments. By the time the missiles had reached the ship, Ashley and Jaina had ejected, their trail covered by the explosion of the ship.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

OOC: Why don'tcha. I still think yours was an OHK. Besides - it wasn't even Ob. *shrugs* It was a minion, yes - an NPC? - but it wasn't you. And I didn't even get a hit in. I was gone when the whole thing happened, and I told you so.

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

Silently, staring out the window at the starlines, questions filling her mind, Jaina finally worked up the courage to confront Raynuk with some of the darned things.

 

"Why did you do that?" The silence was as thick as ice - and Jaina's voice was the hammer that came down none too gently. "Why didn't you kill me?"

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

"Power?" Jaina, despite the círcumstances, grinned rather mischievously. "The first thing Bishop told me after I became his apprentice was that I had no power. I was nothing. And yet you say I am powerful. Interesting."

 

Turning her face back to the soaring starlines, it was a while before she spoke again.

 

"Where are we going?"

[Jaina Jade Skywalker]

The question caught her off-guard, as did his smile. This is no way a Sith Master, she thought ironically, smiling back gently, yet a bit hesitantly.

 

And that's when it hit her. Where would I like to go...

 

She looked up with tearful eyes, abashed at letting herself cry in front of one of her most feared enemies.

 

Or rather - she didn't know what he was anymore.

 

"I want to go home," she whispered quietly.