Shedu Maad- Thursday

[solo_sword]

Considering just how badly Jacen had kicked Jaina's ass on Nickel One, she wasn't sure if it was comforting or not that even while healing, she could still take out four guys without getting out of breath. Cilghal had finally cleared Jaina to go all out with her training again even though she wasn't completely healed yet. Naturally this meant sparring against Lowbacca, Tesar, Jag and Zekk all at once, and flattening all of them with everyone watching, followed by practice with some Jedi techniques she'd been learning.

Like shatterpoint. Jaina couldn't believe she'd learned that one. Shatterpoint was an ancient technique, supposedly lost when Mace Windu was killed, but Jacen and Luke both knew it, and Luke had taught it to her. It had two sides to it: a physical side, where she could see exactly where the weak part in a material in order to hit it at just the right place and shatter it, and a metaphysical side, where once could look for the moment in a chain of events where things could be changed. Funnily enough, she realized that by trying to find the time when Jacen could be steered away from the dark side before it happened, she'd almost been on the right track. She just hadn't known how to utilize it.

It was just that today's training session got more than a little off track with the arrival of Ben. Since his escape they'd had a report from him, including information about a friend of his who had been killed and the involvement of Tahiri. She'd survived Mirta after all, though after hearing the report, Jaina wasn't sure that was a good thing. Ben arrived escorted by two redheaded Hapan twins, clearly relatives of Tenel Ka, and then he proceeded to lecture Jaina when she'd worried when he had been captured on her watch. (She was going to continue to worry when things like that happened and he was just going to have to deal.)

And of course he had to end his hellos with, "But there was a problem with my escape- a big one."

"There always is, kid," said Han. "What's this one?"

Ben paused. "Maybe I'd better let Tenel Ka explain it. She has the intelligence reports."

"Tenel Ka is here?" Zekk asked, as surprised as Jaina felt.

Ben looked at him like this should be obvious. "Of course she's here. You didn't think the Dragon Queen came all this way just to deliver me, did you?"

Yeah, okay, Jaina was confused. She looked to her mother, who was not at all confused, and said, "What did I miss?"

"Sorry," Luke said. "I didn't want to interrupt your sparring. The Dragon Queen arrived an hour ago with most of the Hapan Home Fleet."

"What's the Home Fleet doing here?" Zekk asked. It was a very good question. A fleet hanging out around a secret base wasn't exactly stealthy.

"Her Majesty will explain all that shortly," said one of the twins. And then she strolled over to Zekk and looped her arm through his. "In the meantime, why don't you show me around, handsome? My name's Taryn."

Zekk looked as surprised by this as he had about Tenel Ka being here, but he recovered pretty quickly. "Maybe we can do that later... Taryn," he said, but nodded towards where Tenel Ka and Allana were being escorted into the courtyard by a large security detail. "Right now, I'd like to hear what Her Majesty has to say."

Taryn looked a little annoyed, but let it go. "Later is good, too. But don't disappoint me. We have a date."

"Uh, sure." Though he looked at Jaina as if asking if she was cool with that. And an irrational part of her was a little bothered, sure. Not because someone else was interested in him romantically, but because it felt like he was asking permission to not follow her around anymore, and if he didn't follow her around, then their entire relationship had changed. And then she decided it was a good thing that it had. She and Zekk would both just have to trust each other to not go away on each other just because things were different now.

Though Jaina could do without Taryn eyeing her like she was wondering what was so special about her, or Jag's smirk at catching all these looks. Damn him.

The other twin was rolling her eyes, though. "We're supposed to be on duty, Taryn."

"Don't be such a Dug, Trista. I can have fun and do my duty."

...So Jaina would trust Zekk to not go away on her while the anti-Jaina had her sights on him. Fine.

Anything Trista might have said to that lost its chance to be said as Tenel Ka finally arrived. She was holding the hand of a little girl with her mother's features, the red hair, the gray eyes, but who looked so much like Jacen at that age that Jaina's heart broke. She'd never seen Allana before, not even in holos, and she wanted to be able to go up to her, to give her a hug, to introduce herself to her niece, or something, but she couldn't. The fact that Jacen was Allana's father was a closely guarded secret, and this was far too public for that.

"Your Majesty," Luke said. "Thank you for visiting us here on Shedu Maad. We're honored."

Tenel Ka smiled, but motioned for everyone to hurry up and stop bowing at her. In another circumstance, Jaina might find it funny that all these years into queendom, her friend would still do without that kind of stuff unless she had to. "There is no need for formalities when we are alone, my friends. Nor do we have the time. I'm afraid I've come with some alarming news."

"We suspected as much when you arrived with your fleet," Luke admitted. "What is it?"

"As Ben may have told you, my father was captured and taken aboard the Anakin Solo."

Ben hadn't gotten to that part, so there was a shocked silence from the crowd. Ben did, however, begin, "It was my fault. I thought I was clean, but-"

"It wasn't your fault, Jedi Skywalker," Trista assured him. "You told us we were being watched."

Leia stepped over to take Tenel Ka's hand. "I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. If there's anything we can do-"

"Perhaps later, Princess Leia." Always down to business, that Tenel Ka. "But Prince Isolder knew the location of this base. Apparently Darth Caedus forced him to reveal it, because the Anakin Solo has broken out of the Roche system with the Remnant assault fleet. They were last seen entering the Transitory Mists near Roqoo Station."

"Caedus is coming to us?" Saba asked. She actually seemed to be looking forward to it. "You are certain."

Tenel Ka nodded. "And there may not be time to evacuate. The Mist Patrol informs me that with the right charts, Caedus could be assaulting the Maad system within twelve hours."

"What are the chances he has the right charts?" Han checked.

"Even if he doesn't, the Force will guide him," Luke told him, and turned his attention to Tenel Ka. "But I doubt your father revealed our location. I think Caedus may have found us another way." He motioned Jaina forward, and he pointed at the spots that still stained her face and neck. "Do you recognize this?"

Tenel Ka recognized it, if her jaw dropping was any indication. "Those are not burns?" she asked, leaning in closer to get a better look at Jaina's skin. "That's Caedus' blood?"

Jaina had a bad feeling about this. "I knew it. It's from his arm, and it won't come off-"

"Because it's a blood trail," Tenel Ka told her. "Some of the Nightsisters used the technique to mark their slaves- so they could always track them down."

The bad feeling only got worse, and this time it was tinged with guilt. Yes, more of it. "So I led him here." Jaina looked to Luke, asking, "And you knew? Why did you let me stay?"

"I knew Caedus would be coming," Luke said. "For me."

"But he saw me cut off his arm," she reminded him. "He must know that I'm the one hunting him."

"He knowz you are the Sword," Saba corrected. "Does one win a battle by breaking the Sword, or the warrior who wieldz it?"

That didn't make Jaina feel any better. She really wasn't in control at all here, and aside from all the pressure and responsibility she was taking onto herself, she wasn't even the one Jacen was aiming for. When this was all over, it wouldn't surprise her at all if she just sat down crying and never stopped. As long as it didn't start until after.

"Thank you for the warning," Luke told Tenel Ka. "I don't mean to be an ungracious host, but we have to prepare, and we may not have long. Perhaps you and Allana should leave while there's still time."

"We are staying, as is my fleet," Tenel Ka replied. "If the Jedi fall, so does my throne. Better to defend it here among friends than on Hapes, with more enemies at my back than in front of me."

As everyone else started discussing plans, Jaina found herself tuning out. When Jacen had let her escape, when he'd had the stormtroopers redirect their fire away from her, she'd begun to hope again. She'd hoped that the reason had been that it was her. That the part of him that had grown up with her, gotten into trouble with her, gone into fights with her, just didn't want his twin sister to die and that he didn't want to kill her or order her dead. That part of her certainly existed. But no, he'd let her live because he needed her to lead him to Luke. That was it. He didn't care about her at all. Not only that, but he'd made that decision immediately after losing his arm. She'd removed a limb and he'd simply stood up and decided to use her.

She noticed Han watching her with the kind of expression that said he knew what she was thinking and understood. "It finally happened, didn't it?"

Jaina knew exactly what he was talking about. In fact, suddenly a lot of Han's words and actions over the last few months made more sense now. It was why everyone else called him Darth Caedus and she still called him Jacen. "Yeah. I think it did."

Ben did have to ask. "What happened?"

"Her last hope died," Leia said. Obviously she'd had that moment, too. "She realized that Jacen is totally gone. There's nothing left to bring into the light."

It was more complicated than that for Jaina, actually, but she nodded. She wouldn't say there was nothing left; she knew Anakin Skywalker as himself. If Darth Vader could come back to the light after twenty plus years of terrorizing the galaxy, Jacen could. But. She knew from experience that he wouldn't allow himself to be brought in alive. She still had to go in with every intention of killing him, or she wouldn't survive it to redeem him. That's what it came to now. And frankly, she knew that her grandfather had regretted what he did, maybe even as he did it. Jacen had tortured a woman to death, ruined his sister's career while starting his second war, tried to kill his parents, taken over a government by having the Chief of State killed by a fourteen-year-old, murdered his aunt, tortured his cousin, set fire to Chewbacca's homeworld, turned Tahiri, ordered Pellaeon killed, took the kids at the Jedi academy hostage, and kidnapped his own daughter and his ex-girlfriend's father and seemed to have absolutely no remorse for any of it.

"I started to wonder again when he ordered those stormtroopers to redirect their fire," she said. "But whatever I thought I saw- it was in my eyes, not his."

Ben was looking thoughtful. "But how do you know when someone can be brought back to the light?"

It was Tenel Ka who answered. "First, they must want to be redeemed. All Caedus wants is to control everything he sees. There is no use wishing otherwise, Ben."

"I did some pretty terrible things. And no one gave up on me."

"You got a little confused, kid," Han said. "That happens. But you didn't go around killing family members and burning planets."

Jaina couldn't help but think back to her Fandom days, thinking about that Ben, and his reactions to Jacen... and what he was thinking had nothing to do with him, she knew that now. "Ben? Are you talking about Tahiri?"

He looked just uncomfortable enough that he wouldn't have had to verbally confirm it. "I think Tahiri hated what she did. She almost-" Ben stopped himself, like there was something he didn't want to reveal to everyone. It was probably best that he didn't. "Tahiri tried everything she could to avoid hurting me. And when Shevu died, she felt horrible. She's not like Caedus. Not yet."

It was little Allana who spoke up then, still standing next to her mother. "Jedi Jacen likes hurting people," she said. "He scares me."

That was something no five-year-old should be able to say about their father. Especially when that father was Jacen, who'd once been the most caring person Jaina had ever known.

Jaina crouched in front of Allana, taking her hands in her own. Sad that this was her first interaction with her niece. "He'll never scare you again, Allana. I promise."

Allana looked like she didn't believe it. "You really promise?"

"Sure," Jaina said. "I really promise."

[NFB, NFI, OOC pleases me. Dialogue taken from Invincible by Troy Denning.]