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Star Wars

The Wild Side

By

obsidian Reaver

2014

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Captain Ceeda groggily returned to consciousness, placing pale green fingers atop her throbbing lekku. Silence hung heavy in the smoke-filled air, permeated occasionally by the sharp hiss of static or bright luminescence of showering sparks.

Her eyes unable to pierce the fog surrounding her, she shakily tried to rise, but found her right leg unable to support the full weight of her battered body. An anguished cry escaped her lips, the bruised Twi-lek crumpling back to the ground almost instantly. Searing pain lanced through her injured leg, and Ceeda decided against a second attempt to rise.

"Report..." She rasped, almost inaudibly as the word struggled to form in her deeply tender and raw vocal cords. "Anyone...report!"

Nothing.

Another burst of shimmering sparks cut through the heavy haze around Ceeda, and she glimpsed a control console. The glow surrounding the console seemed extremely faint and on the verge of being swallowed up completely at any moment. Figuring any information she could glean from the crash might be helpful, Ceeda found the nearest handholds and began sorely dragging herself towards the damaged terminal. Her pace was excruciatingly slow, but any quicker and Ceeda feared the pain wracking her body might overwhelm her and plunge the struggling Twi'lek into dreamless sleep once more. Given the debris and skewed deck under her, Ceeda didn't think speed was an option anyway.

Grimacing as she pulled herself over the mangled corpses of her crew, she nearly jumped as an alarm began blaring through the shattered vessel.

"WARNING...Structural integrity at sixteen percent...hull breach imminent..."

Fear, cold and hair-raising, washed over the quivering woman. As if to accentuate the point, Ceeda listened as a long, almost mournful groan echoed throughout the bridge. Durasteel beams creaked overhead, and Ceeda realized instantly that time was no longer her ally. Pulling herself harder now, more insistently, she whimpered and screamed as a dozen new aches flared to life within her. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she doggedly climbed over the disfigured railing separating the helm from the command section of the bridge. Finally, with a quiet cry of relief, Ceeda wrapped her arms around the console, hugging it tight as she strained to reclaim her breath. The sound of the squealing infrastructure all around her returned Ceeda's attention to the terrible situation, and she strained her eyes as she tried to make out the faint information on the console.

Emergency power online...reserves at thirty-four percent...

Ceeda tapped the console, attempting to scroll down. At first, the console failed to respond. After a few more frantic attempts, however, Ceeda was rewarded with a new screen.

Her eyes widened with fear as she activated one of the ship's external sensors, and saw the tangled mess of what remained of her ship. Upon crashing, it appeared the ship had skidded and slid a fair distance, before coming to rest at the edge of a yawning chasm. The entire aft section (or rather, what Ceeda guessed was the aft section) appeared to be hanging over that edge. The Twi'lek canceled the image and read on.

Hull breach imminent...atmospheric composition unstable...biohazard protection is advised...

Inputting command after command, Ceeda sought desperately for a solution. Knowing full well she couldn't stop the breach from occurring, given the ship's precarious position and the critical damage it had sustained, she instead searched for ways to protect herself against Garr's insidious virus once it began seeping through.

_ Emergency bulkheads have been activated._

Ceeda frowned as she surveyed an overhead map of the Redoubt. Though the emergency bulkheads were indeed in place, and the bridge was sealed off, it wouldn't much matter once the ship was sundered. Stress levels indicated the breach would occur beyond the reach of the durasteel shields, exposing the bridge and multiple decks to the toxic atmosphere outside.

Emergency ray shields offline...insufficient power.

The pale green Twi'lek cursed under her breath, her amethyst eyes racing over the console as she tried yet another avenue to save herself and whoever else might have survived the crash. Frantic, her options narrowing as she watched the integrity of the ship drop another percentage point, Ceeda typed one final command.

Directions to the Infirmary from Bridge-level-

Ceeda didn't bother reading the rest. Downloading the data directly to her personal datapad, she flinched and looked away as the console sparked and caught on fire, at last spent. Summoning all her strength, Ceeda pulled herself up and leaned against the crushed railing. The Infirmary wasn't far, even without modern conveniences, but it was located just over the edge of the cliff-face. Pulling up the directions on her pad, she watched the integrity drop to just over twelve percent. Taking a deep breath, she knew she had to move...now.

Hobbling, keeping as much weight off her broken leg as she could, Ceeda peeled open one side of an inoperative door and muscled her way through the debris. The pain in her leg was almost unbearable, as if the limb was being immolated from the inside-out. Falling repeatedly, she listened as the ship continued to groan once again, the emergency lights of the corridor flickering, uncertain. Ceeda scrabbled and clawed, picking herself up again and again. For all she knew, death could all but be inevitable at this point. And that was fine with her...given the alternative.

An ear-deafening BANG made Ceeda stumble, and she looked up to see enormous cracks beginning to form in the durasteel ceiling above her. Thousands of smaller failures began to form shortly after.

Nine percent.

Turning the corner, Ceeda heaved an involuntary sigh of relief as found the Infirmary doors already ajar and mostly unobstructed. Practically falling through the doorway, she clambered for a medical locker that had fallen on its side. It was mercifully unlocked.

Pulling the door open, she nearly cried with joy.

A single armored space-suit greeted her smoke-reddened eyes, and she wasted no time in pulling it free from the locker.

"NO!" Screamed a voice from behind her, and Ceeda turned over onto her back just in time to see a nightmarish figure descend on her.

"I NEED IT!"

The air left Ceeda's lungs in a pitiful gasp as a heavy knee came down hard on her chest. A pair of grotesquely scorched hands, both more or less a mess of melted tissue and blackened bone, reached for Ceeda's neck. A skeletal face peered down at her, the man's one remaining eye clearly conveying the shock-induced madness that had enveloped him. Devoid of flesh and breathing though mere nasal cavities, the man's horribly burned visage reminded her of a Yuuzhan Vong's, and it utterly terrified the Twi'lek Captain down to her very core.

"Don't you see, Captain?!" The man hissed as he strangled Ceeda, a charred tooth falling from the scorched and gaping hole in his right cheek. "There's only one! Only one! One! That's it! No more! I deserve it, me! Not you! You did this!!!"

Ceeda struggled, but found the man's grip as unrelenting as a labor droid's, his strength fueled by desperation. She could feel his gnarled finger-bones digging into the soft flesh of her neck, his still smoking knee crushing her sternum. Ceeda flinched away, feeling her consciousness fading as the ship's infrastructure screamed in protest once more. As if oblivious to the impending doom he was railing against, the crewman above her redoubled his efforts, his focus intent on ending Ceeda's life in order to save his own.

Her vision narrowing, Ceeda reached out all around her, searching for something, anything.

She found it.

Snarling, blood-specked saliva dotting covering her lips, Ceeda brought the object up against the man's jaw, shattering the already weakened bone. Howling incoherently, the man fell sideways from the force of the strike and clutched at what remained of his mouth. Ceeda rolled away and pointed the object at the quaking crewman, recognizing her liberator as a simple blaster pistol. Taking no care to aim, Ceeda fired randomly and rapidly, heaving through clenched teeth as she poured fiery red blaster bolts into the deranged man. Only after he was little more than a withered, smoking husk did Ceeda drop the exhausted weapon and scramble for the spacesuit.

Putting it on as hastily as her wounded leg would allow, Ceeda glanced down at her pad on the ground.

_ Four percent._

Leaving it behind, Ceeda raced through the now darkened corridor, her pace aided by the suit's internal power. Through the suit's comm, she could hear the ship's infrastructure failing. Durasteel warped, plasteel cracked, and transparisteel shattered as Orinda's gravity finally took its toll on the Redoubt's aft section. Stumbling, bathed in the muted light of Orinda's star as the cracks in the hull widened rapidly, Ceeda lunged through the doorway and into the bridge. Groping for anything to hold onto, she felt the durasteel deck under her legs fall away and heavy fragments pelting her back. The sound was haunting, years of engineering and manufacturing being torn asunder by the remorseless power of a planet's gravitational field.

Screeching, moaning, dying.

Ceeda held on as tightly as she could, praying whatever it was she was grasping wouldn't succumb to that same force. Eyes squeezed shut, she waited.

And then it was over. As quickly as it had occurred, so too did silence return. Still unwilling to open her eyes, her grip unyielding, Ceeda simply listened to the only sounds she could make out...her soft, ragged breaths and the irregular thumps of her heart pounding hotly in her ears.

And then, like warm velvet, darkness overtook Ceeda once more.

***

Luke Skywalker felt a small disturbance ripple through the Force once more, sending pangs of discomfort through him.

_ Death._

Shaking his head, the Grandmaster turned to Zas Rin, the Warmaster of the battleship Jhum'Kar.

"I think we've waited long enough, Warmaster." Luke nodded. "Go ahead and jump in-system."

"If you insist, Grandmaster Skywalker." Zas replied coolly, motioning for the Yuuzhan Vong at the helm to begin communicating with _Jhum'Kar'_s dovin basals. Luke activated his comlink and hailed the Solo's, letting them know it was time.

It had taken nearly nine hours for the swarm of mynocks to disperse from the Orinda system, and Luke felt that every minute they were delayed was another minute Garr had to take advantage of. Luke felt the ship shudder underneath him for a brief moment, and knew they were underway.

"Hold on, Jaina." Luke murmured.

***

"Captain Solo! Captain Solo!" C-3PO wailed fretfully, waddling after Han Solo's grizzled form. "Are you perfectly certain your rebreather is properly fitted? This particular strain is highly virulent and the slightest inhalation is enough to compromise-"

"Yeah, I'm sure Golden-rod." Han yelled back over his shoulder irritably as he stepped down the Falcon's boarding ramp, cutting off the overly-worried protocol droid.

"It's just that, assuming the medical droid on Coruscant was providing me with the correct information, this virus-"

"Dweep-dood...*whistle*" Bleeped R2-D2, casually rolling by the loading ramp as he made his way to the Falcon's engine room.

"No I don't believe I'm being especially worrisome today, you glorified operating system!" C-3PO shot back, throwing his metallic arms in air, exasperated. "I'm merely trying to warn Captain Solo of the dangers-"

"Threepio?" Leia intoned flatly as she walked past the flustered protocol droid.

"Oh! Yes, Princess Leia? How can I be-" He responded, instantly cheerful as he prepared for usefulness.

"Shut up."

"Oh, oh my." C-3PO sighed dejectedly.

"Just stay with the ship, Golden-rod." Han motioned for the droid to go back inside the Falcon. "And if anyone comes within a thousand meters of it...open up on 'em. You got it?"

"Quite right, sir." Threepio replied, not at all sounding thrilled with the notion of combat but nonetheless dutiful to the end. His servos whining quietly as he turned and retracted the Falcon's ramp, the quaint protocol droid watched as Leia, Han, and R2 made their way to link up with Master Luke. Behind the Grandmaster, Threepio could see a truly prodigious strike force of Jedi and Yuuzhan Vong steadily assembling.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." He whispered apprehensively, his static features tilted to one side in contemplation.

***

Yin stared down at the fallen Sith Saber in front of him, peering directly into the man's now glossy eyes. Yin supposed he was lucky to be in his position, rather than the corpse's. Not nine hours ago, several of Darth Siberis's Sith Sabers had attempted to assassinate both Yin and Garr right in this very chamber. And yet, somehow, the duo had come out on top.

Twelve.

The number of Sabers that had attacked them.

Five.

The number of Sabers that had died during the attempt.

Fifty-six.

The number of Sabers who'd willing denounced Darth Siberis.

The Sith Lord had left more than enough soldiers to end Garr and Yin. But after Garr had showed them the futility of their assault, the Sabers had wisely choosen to cast their lot with the Togorian and his Yuuzhan Vong pet.

"If you're finished being useless, you can go help our _re_newed allies fortify this position." Garr growled, shaking Yin out of his train of thought.

"Yes, Master Garr." Yin replied quietly, bowing.

"I sense Skywalker is approaching...I sense victory..." Gar mused, smiling like the predator that he was.

"Yes, Master Garr."

"I want the Sword combat-ready by the time Skywalker arrives. Let's give the Jedi a warm welcome, shall we?"

"Yes, Master Garr."

Yin turned on his heel and set about doing exactly as he was instructed.

***

Luke, adjusting his rebreather, stood just outside the cave entrance and waited. Before landing, R2 had carried out an impressively thorough scan of Orinda in an effort to pinpoint Garr's hidden lair. The astromech's tremendous effort had paid off, thanks in part to the Han's retrofit of the Falcon's powerful sensor array. In little more than an hour, R2 had compiled enough energy signatures and interference logs to report, with eighty-two percent accuracy, the location of the vile Togorian.

Reaching the site had been an entirely different matter.

Deep inside a staunch and rugged chain of mountains, the lair's location afforded few, if any landing areas for anything larger than a single starfighter. So, Luke and his team had walked, hiking over the difficult terrain as quickly as they could manage. With the Force to aid them, the Jedi had made considerably more progress than their Yuuzhan Vong allies. Even so, the warriors had proven themselves to be more than just formidable warriors. They were simply formidable, period, and had kept up with the Jedi to within a few hundred meters.

Just as Orinda's star, partially obscured by the spread of Garr's virus through the atmosphere, had begun to dip toward the horizon, the Jedi-Vong strike force had arrived at the lair's entrance. Conspicuously unguarded, Luke eyed the unassuming hole in the mountainside warily.

"Of all the places he had to hide..." Han muttered through his rebreather, trying not to sound out of breath. Leia patted her husband briefly on his shoulder.

"Could be worse." She teased, eyeing the entrance alongside her brother now. "Could have been on a block of ice."

"Or hanging precariously above the clouds." Luke chuckled, if only to ease the tension he felt roiling off the Jedi behind him. Still, he kept his eyes focused on the cave's entrance, and his Force awareness expanded; there was little use hiding from Garr in the Force at this point.

"Frailty will not serve our purpose, Captain Solo." Warmaster Rin broke in, his demeanor stern as he made his way towards the three. Like the rest of the Yuuzhan Vong assembled there, he wore no rebreather over his face; the Yuuzhan Vong appeared immune to the effects of Garr's virus, as they'd discovered after refusing to wear the rebreathers or any other form of protective technology. Zas had taken the discovery as nothing less than providence; that they would be victorious in this showdown. "If a simple walk has defeated you, then I fear for your chances in the coming battle."

Han shot the glaring alien a scathing scowl, but before he could rejoin, a sudden gasp from Leia silenced everyone.

"What is it?" Luke grabbed her arm gently, giving her rebreather a cursory glance for fear it may failed in some way. Leia didn't respond, and her eyes appeared almost sightless as she simply stood there, motionless. Han regained his footing and stepped over quickly to the woman he'd loved for over forty years, placing a hand on her shoulder. Then, without warning, her lower lip began to quiver and misty tears welled up in inwardly-focused eyes. Luke was about to repeat his question, when he too began stiffened, feeling a presence in the Force he'd not felt in what seemed an eternity.

"I feel..." Leia sobbed, almost inaudibly.

"Feel what?!" Han exclaimed anxiously. Leia liked to boast that she had Han down to a science; that she'd figured him out_over the years. While that may be true (though Han would _never admit it), Leia wasn't such a mystery to him these days, either. After decades of marriage, of dodging Imperials and politicians alike, and raising three kids only to watch two slip fade from their lives, Han and Leia had been through a lot together. They knew each other very intimately; their ticks, their habits, their moments of weakness and times of impossible strength. Han knew that look on Leia's face, and it made the old scoundrel ill at ease; either something great had just occurred, something only his Force-sensitive companions could feel...or their mission was already a failure.

"Leia." Han spoke her name, his voice soft now as he peered into her eyes. Her eyes refocused on the here and now; on Han.

"Her." She whispered, so low that Han hadn't even heard her. He'd seen her lips move, though, and that was enough for Han Solo.

Something great.

***

"Oh I do hope Master Luke is alright, Artoo." C-3PO fussed in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, sitting beside his stalwart companion. The little astromech droid issued a series of whirls and beeps, his chassis shaking a bit to emphasize his inquiry. If Threepio had the capacity for expressions, he would have leveled a scathing glare at the blue and white droid. "Well of course I'm worried about Captain Solo and Princess Leia! What a ridiculous thing to suggest!"

Artoo replied with a simple buzzing noise and turned his single photoreceptor away from Threepio. The golden protocol droid fixed his own photoreceptors on Artoo and cock his head.

"Favorites?" Threepio shot back, before raising his arms up in exasperation. "As if!

*WHISTLING*

"Oh just you never mind, you rolling scrap-heap." Threepio turned away, his servos whirring with the motion. "Don't you have anything to repair? That is your function, is it not?"

Artoo squawked indignantly.

"Absolutely. And if Master Luke needs me to translate something for him, I will!" Threepio stood up, at the end of his patience with the intolerable astromech. Making his way through the corridor, he stopped suddenly as the _Falcon'_s comm unit beeped for attention. Artoo whistled for C-3PO's attention, but the shuffling protocol droid was already on his way back. "A message? How odd...I certainly hope it isn't a distress signal."

Threepio tapped the comm unit with one of his cylindrical digits.

"Hello, this is C-3PO, human-cyborg relations." Threepio introduced himself. "How may I-"

"Threepio?" Came a familiar voice over the comm. "I guess that means everyone's already on the hunt, then."

"Master Ben?" Threepio halted, confused. "What are you doing here? Orinda has become largely inhospita-"

"Yeah, save it Threepio, I know." Ben cut in again, and this time Threepio could make out the distinct sound of turbolaser fire in the background. "Listen, Dad's in a lot of trouble, you all are."

"Trouble?" Threepio repeated. "What do you mean, Master Ben?"

More turbolaser fire screeched over the comm before Ben could muster a reply. The youth sounded strained, as if trying to concentrate on a dozen things at once.

"The GA fleet is under attack." Ben said at last, cursing loudly at one point. "Imperial Star Destroyers just started dropping out of hyperspace all around it. Looks like this was a trap all along."

"Oh no!" Threepio wailed in shock. "But if the fleet's destroyed, there won't be-"

"Exactly." Ben guessed what the fretting protocol droid was going to finish with. "Threepio, I need you to-*STATIC*"

"Master Ben?" Threepio inquired anxiously. Leaning closer to the comm unit, C-3PO repeated, "Master Ben?!"

When only static poured back over the comm, Threepio slowly hauled his golden frame upright and looked through the _Falcon'_s viewport towards the sky above.

"We're doomed."

***

"Kark!" Ben growled as he tried raising Threepio yet again, dodging a trio of turbolaster beams as they lanced out towards his Stealth-X. Failing to reestablish communications with the protocol droid, Ben knew he was being jammed.

Could it get any worse, Ben thought.

Battle cruisers and heavy frigates of the Galactic Alliance found themselves under withering fire from the newly arrived Imperial Star Destroyers. So numerous were the ships, Ben wondered exactly how they had remained hidden for so long.

As he weaved and darted, Ben watched in horror as two powerful Star Destroyers concentrated their fire on the Yuuzhan Vong warship, Jhum'Kar. The living vessel's dovin basals were overwhelmed by the energy beams as they stabbed downwards. Quantum singularities, the ship's primary defensive measure, opened wide to swallow the colorful rays of death, but there were simply too many to divert. Over and over again, Jhum'Kar was hammered, large slabs of yorrik coral melting away as atmosphere began venting from its numerous wounds. Then, under the blistering assault, the ship simply crumbled into pieces, huge sections drifting away in random directions. Bleeding from the disintegrating ship were the Yuuzhan Vong crew, small specks of life struggling for oxygen...before going slack in the empty void of space.

Ben juked his control stick hard to the right, banishing the sight from his mind. Just as he was plotting a new vector, something caught the young Jedi Knight's eye. From one of the Star Destroyers, a small shuttle emerged, heading down toward the planet. A few Galactic Alliance ships trained their weapons on the tiny vessel and fired, but the shuttle dodged every last blast. Ben was impressed, and also put on edge.

"Jedi reflexes." Ben muttered, confirming his suspicions as he reached out with the Force towards the shuttle. His mind touched a dark presence, and Ben felt himself shiver unconsciously. The pilot's Force aura left Ben physically cold...and then suddenly, it was gone.

"Oh, I don't think so, buddy." Ben twirled his starfighter and punched in an intercept course. Just as he was beginning to gain on the shuttle, his fighter chirped in alarm. Glancing down in mild annoyance, Ben was surprised to see a distress signal flashing on his console. Raising an eyebrow, Ben opened a channel and found himself listening to an automated message.

"Galactic Alliance vessel, Redoubt_, in distress. Please assist at these coordinates...Galactic Alliance vessel,_ Redoubt, in distress. Please-"

Ben silenced the comm as he allowed his onboard computer to upload additional information from the distress signal. The young man frowned; the Redoubt's distress signal had just been activated...which meant someone was actually alive down there. The ship had obviously crashed down onto the planet's surface and not been obliterated in orbit, as had been assumed.

Ben looked up at the speeding shuttlecraft in front of him, and back down at the Redoubt's last known coordinates. Shaking his head in frustration, he relented to the latter's desperate plea. Rotating his Stealth-X away from the shuttle, Ben dove into the planet's atmosphere, suddenly on a mission of mercy.

***

Garr paced, somewhat nervous. Skywalker's presence was growing nearer by the second, as if the accursed Jedi knew exactly where Garr had taken refuge. He refused, however, to diminish his presence in the Force...to take any further steps to hide from Skywalker. The sheer cowardice of the thought made Garr bare his teeth and clench his fists almost painfully. Stopping, he turned to the tunnel where Skywalker would likely emerge from.

Where Garr would bury him.

And then, suddenly, Garr froze. A powerful sensation washed over him, and for a moment Garr thought it to be nothing more than the bio-enhancing drugs coursing through his veins, courtesy of his Yuuzhan Vong underling, Yin. But the more Garr concentrated, the more the sensation began to grow almost familiar. Like a presence he'd not felt, since...

Turning, Garr couldn't help but reflexively take a step back. Standing at the threshold of an enormous tunnel where Garr had imprisoned her for almost three months, Jaina Solo starred at the Togorian with distinctly human eyes that were absolutely unwavering. A fraction of her former size, she wore the black and form-fitting garments of a Sith Saber, and held tightly in her right palm a silvery cylinder object gleamed. Garr recognized it immediately, and unconsciously his hand went down his belt, where Jaina's lightsaber should have been clipped.

It wasn't.

"Impossible." Garr hissed, his voice echoing in the cavernous chamber.

Jaina said nothing. Her only reply was to take a step forward, her pilfered boot making almost no sound as it came to rest on the dirt-covered floor once more. Another step, and Garr fumbled for his own weapon, the giant blade he'd constructed to compensate for his greater size. As Jaina moved closer, Garr began to notice something about her movements. Her steps were somewhat halting, as if the restored Jedi was having trouble with even the simple act of walking. Twice she nearly stumbled and Garr could sense that she was drawing on the Force to stabilize herself. The Togorian, despite the impossible situation he found himself in, couldn't help but sneer at Jaina as he realized the Jedi's predicament.

Jaina looked terrible. Her features were gaunt, and her body language did not convey the energy or strength she usually exuded. In their place, Garr sensed fatigue and discomfort, awkwardness that only time could hope to heal. He could see that the woman was trembling, and her inaudible breaths disconcertingly shallow. Even her brown hair, normally rich and vibrant, seemed dull and not at all glossy.

"Not easy walking on two legs again, is it?" He mocked, unclipping his lightsaber. "Understandable, considering that you've spent the last six months practically sliding along the ground on your belly...which you will again very soon, I assure you, Jedi."

Jaina remained silent, her dry and cracked lips pursed, her brown eyes never deviating from the golden slits that were Garr's. At least part of what Garr had said was true; Jaina was finding it difficult to walk upright. His other statement, however, Jaina vowed mentally that it would never come to pass.

"What do you plan to do, Jedi?" Garr continued, seeking to distract and disorient Jaina. Lifting his arms, he gestured grandiosely around the vast chamber. "Though you may not see them, you're woefully outnumbered! There is no escape for you...and there never will be..."

Jaina set her jaw.

"You're mine, Jaina Solo, Sword of the Jedi." Garr whispered, though his voice carried through the cave with surprising strength. "You're mine, and only when the last star in the galaxy winks out of existence will you ever taste freedom again...the freedom that only death can grant!"

Jaina stopped, mere meters from Garr now. As if her strength of will had been utterly sapped away, Jaina slowly lowered her eyes to the ground and closed them. Her head bowed, framing her soft features in a mane of tangled brown hair. Garr chuckled, and then bellowed as he saw Yin stepping out of the shadows from where Jaina had just emerged.

"You may have had a destiny at one point, young Jedi, but you possess it no longer." Garr half-snarled, baring his wickedly fierce fangs. He watched as the Yuuzhan Vong moved closer to Jaina, while the Jedi still too no action. Figuring at first that Jaina simply had not sensed the Vong in the Force, Garr's self-assured grin began to melt away once Yin was practically on top of her. Even a novice Force-user wouldn't have missed a void in the Force that near to them, and regardless of Jaina's weakened state, she was certainly no novice in the ways of the Force.

No, Garr thought, something else was at work. Garr's suspicions were confirmed as soon as Yin came to stand beside Jaina, his hideous visage staring back at the Togorian.

Betrayal.

"You." Garr's eyes widened, burning orbs of gold fire. "This is your doing..."

Even as he spoke the words, a mechanical voice began to echo over the chamber's comm system.

Perimeter compromised...hostiles detected...perimeter compromised...hostiles detected...

"Correct, Master Garr." Yin replied evenly, making no move.

"You sniveling WRETCH!" Garr roared, his fury a palpable wind scalding the cave walls. "What, in this soulless galaxy, could possibly serve as an impetus for you to betray me!? WHAT!?"

"You." Yin murmured simply, before leaning toward Jaina and whispering into her ear. Garr watched as Jaina raised her head back up, and reopened her eyes. Her gaze held his, and the Togorian suddenly realized his second mistake of the day. His words had done little to erode Jaina's will. Rather than bow to them, she'd merely centered herself in the Force, allowing it to coalesce soothingly within her weary frame.

Garr heard the characteristic snap-hiss of a lightsaber.

"So be it." He muttered.

***

Luke Skywalker ducked and rolled forward, weaving past the crimson blade than had been angling for his neck. Twisting, he swept his leg under his attacker's and brought the man down, hard, on his back. The lavender-skinned Sith lost his grip on his lightsaber, and he knew it was all over. A nanosecond later, his head separated cleanly from his body as a bar of emerald plasma seared through flesh, muscle, and bone with terrifying ease.

Luke had no time to recovery, however. At least four other Sith were vying for his own head. Calmly, he baited them, falling back through the tunnel and parrying their strikes effortlessly.

A hail of thug bugs whizzed over his shoulders, the incredibly dense beetles breaking bones and snapping necks as they impacted as their targets. A single Sith managed to evade the living swarm and leapt forward, intent on battling the Grand Master of the Jedi Order all by himself.

He was never granted the opportunity.

A single well-aimed blaster bolt screamed over Luke's head and took the Saber dead center in his chest. Bright fire erupted from the point of impact, reversing the Sith's momentum and sending him tumbling back down the tunnel.

Sensing no further danger at the moment, Luke lowered his blade, but dared not deactivate. Han, his old DL-44 Heavy Blaster still smoking, ran up beside him.

"Still got it." Han grinned, ever the rogue. "So, what, that's number fifteen, right? Can't be that many of 'em left."

"I honestly can't say, Han." Luke breathed, watching as the rest of the strike team formed up behind them. Of the fifty Yuuzhan Vong warriors Zas Rin had supplied, nine had been slain already. The Jedi were faring a little better, though; eighteen Knights remained of the twenty who had agreed to the mission. Though Luke mourned the loss of every life, he had to admit, they were doing surprisingly well...and that made Luke more than a little uneasy.

"I doubt fifteen Sith warriors is all Garr's able to muster, though."

Han snorted through his rebreather.

"Fifteen. Thirty. Two-thousand, it really doesn't matter." He said, waving is blaster nonchalantly. "Nothing's standing between me and her."

Leia joined them, cyan lightsaber blazing at her side.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Leia smiled, before taking the lead and charging down the tunnel. "Come on, flyboy, Jaina needs us!"

"...I love that woman." Han chuckled, glancing up at Luke before taking off after Leia.

Luke turned to motion for the rest of the strike team follow. Zas Rin, the left-side of his Vonduun Crab armor still smoking from a vicious lightsaber hit he'd sustained, relayed the order for those who could not see the Grand Master.

"Move!" He growled, baring his teeth in as he relished the thrill of close-quarters combat.

Luke and Han rejoined Leia as she stood near an imposing durasteel hatch.

"Sealed tight." She glanced over her shoulder at the two men. "Looks like a dual-phase chamber."

"Two atmospheres." Han murmured to himself and shaking his head. "I really hope this isn't going to involve some sort of decontamination shower..."

"It doesn't mean anything if we can't crack the code." Leia shot back as she poked and prodded the control console located beside the locked door. She was still working on it when she heard a sharp hiss and crackling sound erupt at her side. Turning, she watched as Luke calmly began dragging his blade through the durasteel material, slicing through the door like a hot knife through butter.

"Luke, if we cut our way through, we risk exposing everyone on the other side to the virus."

"We can't stay here." Luke replied evenly, about three-quarters of the way through. "We're too concentrated, too tempting a target."

Drawing his blade back, Luke pushed on slab of durasteel he'd isolated and sent it flying into the small room beyond.

The strike team poured through.

***

"Warning...exterior containment chamber has been breached..."

Garr paid the automated warning little mind as he juked left, and then right. Jaina's violet blade swung high, and he brought his own weapon up to block. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the traitorous Yuuzhan Vong, Yin, slowly backpedaling away from the fight. The anger he felt towards Yin fueled the Togorian, and he went on the offensive.

Jaina's lightsaber seemed more an extension of her will than a mere tool in her palm. With mastery that can only be gained through heart-wrenching perseverance, Jaina maneuvered her violet blade to intercept each and every one of Garr's powerful blows. Her footwork was ceaseless, keeping her one step ahead of Garr as he poured his hatred and fury down upon her. And though she was succeeding in defeating the Togorian's every attack, she was in fact still losing the precious momentum she'd started the fight with. Little by little, the snarling dark lord was pushing Jaina closer and closer to a wall lined with an array of computer equipment. It wasn't long before Jaina felt her back pressed up against cold durasteel.

End of the line...or so Garr believed.

Garr swung, determined to strike Jaina down where she stood, trapped. Rather than crash against her Jedi weapon with bone-jarring force, his emerald blade simply passed through empty air. Overhead, Jaina was corkscrewing. She landed on her feet precisely, and Garr suddenly realized that their positions were now reversed.

And so too were their fortunes.

Cornered in the very trap he'd created, Garr turned with barely enough time to halt Jaina's killing blow. Amethyst energy crackled and sparked against the emerald glow of Garr's lightsaber as Jaina bore down on him. Suddenly, however, Jaina was forced to abandon her position, leaning back away from Garr as a crimson blade spun between them. She ducked as it boomeranged around, and angled her lightsaber behind her to catch a pair of glass parangs before they could embed themselves into her spine. The glassy daggers sizzled and vaporized as soon as they made contact with the superheated plasma, but the defensive gesture had left her belly dangerously exposed. Garr leapt, wasting no time to exploit the opening.

Jaina backflipped, bringing her legs up just as Garr's scintillating blade cleared the air above her. Her boots connected cleanly with his jaw as she allowed the momentum of her evasive maneuver to carry her away. Garr howled in rage as he stumbled back.

Expecting to have a millisecond to reinitiate her defenses and take stock of the new arrivals who threatened her, Jaina landed softly and gazed up. She gasped in surprise as she was once again airborne, this time caught up in a whirlwind of Force energy emanating from Garr's outstretched palm.

She tumbled back, out of control, as the force of the attack wrenched her lightsaber from her grip.

***

Luke's lightsaber paralleled Leia's own, the siblings working in tandem to bring down the final durasteel bulkhead obstructing their path. Their lightsabers flared around the molten durasteel, and it wasn't long before the slab of metal dropped away of its own according, revealing a raging battle beyond.

"Jaina!" Leia gasped, watching in horror as her daughter was pummeled by a vicious blast of the Force. Her chaotic tumble was brief, and both Luke and Leia could feel the last surviving Solo child draw on the Force to correct her descent. They watched as, just before landing, she summoned her errant lightsaber back into her hand and flipped its ignition switch. Her boots hit the ground, just moments before she drove the point of her blade into the ground, using the unwavering shaft of light to slow and, eventually, halt her slide across the rough stone. In no time, she'd launched herself back in the direction of her attacker, closing the distance with the velocity and power of an overcharged blaster bolt.

Luke caught movement in his peripheral vision, and watched as countless dark shapes began emerging from the shadowy recesses of the chamber. They moved to surround Jaina, and only a few had noticed the pair of Jedi Masters standing just beyond the glowing edges of the breached decontamination chamber.

Luke resolved to change that.

Even with the growing number of Sith Sabers flooding the room, which Luke noted was many times that of his quaint strike force, the Jedi Grandmaster charged forward with his verdant green blade held erect at his side. Leia was quick to mimic her brother's swift response to the scene before them, and one-by-one, Jedi Knights poured through the breach. Flanked by howling Yuuzhan Vong warriors, the Knights thumbed their own blades to life and fearlessly challenged their darkside counterparts.

Legions of Sith Sabers turned, astonishment marring their features as they suddenly became aware of the Jedi plague advancing on them. Tamping down their surprise, many replaced their alarm with boiling fury and, in an instant, the two sides had engaged themselves in the life-and-death struggle that was the hallmark of war.

Five blood-red blades vied for Luke's life, and the Jedi Grandmaster coolly sidestepped each of them, retaining the use of his own sword. Green energy tore through two of his attackers as he took advantage of their overzealous assault, and a third fell shortly after. The remaining two Sith, now rightfully wary of Luke, tempered their strategy and engaged Luke with even strikes.

Leia hopped and somersaulted, trying to work her way towards her daughter. A trio of Jedi Knights followed close behind. One by one, however, they were forced to break off, engaging swarms of Sith Sabers as they drew nearer. Leia herself was halted in her advance when four Sabers deftly surrounded her and immediately went on the offensive. Leia's cyan blade crackled and hissed as she clashed with the Sith.

"Remember!" Zas Rin shouted to the Yuuzhan Vong under his command as they charged forward, amphistaves raised in challenge. "Glory in battle...and in DEATH!"

The Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster joined his warriors. A speck of black caught his eye as it arced overhead, and he raised his amphistaff in defense. A crimson blade crashed heavily against his staff, and the Warmaster found himself locked in a fierce struggle with a lavender-skinned woman. Her eyes burned a fiery yellow, and she bared her teeth as she bore down on him. Zas, his powerful muscles bunching as he pushed back against her blade, bared in own teeth and laughed out loud.

The Sith, he thought, were turning out as to be a more entertaining opponent than the Jedi ever were to his people.

Han, well aware of his lack of Force powers or Jedi training, hung back and took aim. Rather than firing off a barrage of blaster bolts, Han took his time, lining up each shot. More often than not, his bolts were ineffectually batted away. Occasionally, however, his DL-44 found its mark. Those Sith that were not outright slain were often staggered nonetheless, and if the only thing Han managed to do in this fight was to drain an enemy's defense, he considered that a victory.

Jaina breathed deep as she traded strikes with Garr, wrapping the comforting presence of Uncle Luke and her parents around her like a suit of armor. Garr tried once again to go on the offensive, but Jaina noticed that the Togorian seemed to be breathing hard now, and his attacks were growing more and more sluggish.

The Sword of the Jedi showed him no mercy.

Ducking away from a burst of Force lightning, Jaina roundhouse kicked Garr square in the jaw. Before she could follow up, however, she found herself fending off a pair of Sith Sabers who'd moved to flank her position. Jaina alternated catching their attacks on her violet blade, and managed to sever one's entire arm up to the shoulder before Garr was on her again. Aided by the remaining Sith Saber, Garr twirled his blade and brought it crashing down towards Jaina. Parrying a quick jab from the Sith Saber accosting her, Jaina grabbed the warrior with the Force and tugged him towards her while she sidestepped away. Garr's powerful blow split the Sith completely in two. Jaina flicked her blade and scorched the flesh along Garr's right arm, leaving a deep, smoking furrow in his massive bicep.

"Cursed Jedi!" Garr winced, almost panting as he struggled to raise his blade. "It's not a fair fight! I'm weakening!"

Jaina did not reply, merely swallowing hard as she apprised herself of the Togorian's deteriorating defenses. Adjusting her tactics accordingly, she began to advance on him once more.

"Yin...Yin has done something to me." Garr spoke again, absently, as he deflected a probing attack from her. "Treacherous Vong...I...I'll kill..."

Garr noticed three Sith Sabers crouch-walking towards Jaina, staying out of her sight and raising their glowing blades in preparation for a killing blow. Garr averted his eyes from them, and decided to play for time. If he timed it just right, even if Jaina's would be assassins failed to take her down, Garr could leverage the opportunity to his own advantage. Keeping his green blade in a low guard, he launched a series of rapid strikes against her. His assault was appallingly lethargic, as Garr knew it would be at this point, and Jaina parried each attack with minimal effort. Still, the quick offensive had served its purpose, causing Jaina to take a step back...a step closer to the assassins.

Garr looked up. Skywalker and his Jedi were still too far away to offer any aid. Jaina's lightsaber was just coming off his own.

It was time.

The Sith lashed out.

Garr watched in horror as three heads thudded heavily to the ground behind Jaina, their necks smoking and blackened.

Last chance.

He swiped at Jaina. Sensing the attack, she instinctively rolled to avoid it.

Too late.

Emerald plasma melted the black material covering her calf, and the acrid stench of burned fleshed filled Garr's nose. Jaina cried out as Garr's blade dug a two-inch gash in the back of her right leg. Her roll devolved into a sprawling fall, and Garr reversed the grip on his blade, intent on driving it through the Jedi's soft back.

"Now Jedi," Garr spoke, falling to his knees as he drove the blade down with all that remained of his strength, his eyes gleaming in victory. "You're fin-"

Amethyst light blinded Garr for a moment, and he no longer felt the slightly warm touch of his lightsaber grasped in his fingers. And instant later, searing pain exploded in his brain, and fried his nerves as it coursed through them. The dazzling flash, as quickly as it had come, vanished, and Garr's sight was restored.

Jaina Solo was still underneath him, held up by one arm and half-twisted around to face him. Her lightsaber was held off to her side, its hum loud in Garr's ears as if it were the only sound in the war-torn chamber. Garr tried to speak, to ask, bluntly, what exactly had just happened. His jaw didn't seem to be working, though, and it was immediately apparent why. Looking down his snout, Garr shivered involuntarily; it was no longer there. His nose, his jaw, his tongue, the majority of his fearsome fangs...all gone. Wisps of dark smoke curled up over his vision, partially obscuring the world around him. In shock, he reached down, searching for his lightsaber. He could feel his fingers probing for it, but the wounded Togorian found only air. Looking down, another gruesome sight gave life to the fear that welling up deep inside him. Lying on the ground on either side of him were his charred forearms, blistered and smoking at the elbow. In one palm, his lightsaber rested, deactivated. The fingers on each hand were curled upwards, motionless.

The search for his lightsaber only moments ago, the feeling of his fingers against the ground; it'd all been an illusion, a sensory trick played by a brain that had not yet recognized the disconnect between itself and those lifeless digits.

Garr gurgled in revulsion, trying in vain to voice his alarm as he stumbled upright. Stumps flailing in shock, he watched as Jaina rose to her own feet. Wincing in pain as she stepped calmly towards Garr, she flipped her lightsaber in an 'X' formation in front of her. Garr raised what remained of his arms, in a desperate bid to ward off her attack or scorch her with lightning, Jaina couldn't say. A nanosecond later, it really didn't matter.

Jaina's lightsaber struck Garr's shoulder and sizzled down his chest diagonally, and she saw the life drain from his golden eyes as the amethyst blade emerged, hissing, from his hip. The dark lord fell to his knees before pitching forward, splitting into two lifeless pieces.

***

The last Sith Saber, his head only moments ago divorced from his neck, toppled forward onto the ground before Leia. A small bloom of gray dust puffed up from the impact, but quickly drifted back down. Leia glanced around quickly, extending her senses and expecting another Saber to assault her at any moment. When none did, she lowered her arms and calmly deactivated her lightsaber. Listening, she could hear other lightsabers falling just as silent. Only one remained lit, its magnetically-contained plasma humming softly in the stillness of the cadaver-strewn cavern.

Jaina stood over Garr's mutilated corpse, motionless. Her mother took a step towards her, but Luke laid a hand on the former Chief of State's shoulder.

Her knuckles white from gripping her lightsaber so tightly, Jaina betrayed few other outward signs of the chaos roiling through her at that moment. She gritted her teeth, and her jaw trembled imperceptibly from the tension. Warm tears stung her brown eyes, and she at last found the strength to deactivate her weapon. The cavern fell into total silence as Jaina dropped to her knees and rested the hilt of her lightsaber against her thighs. Bowing her head, confident that her unruly hair was blocking her face from the others, she allowed the tears to slide down her cheeks unchecked as she began to meditate.

Luke and Leia could feel the waves of pain, grief, and rage pouring off of Jaina like tidal waves in the Force. Though they concerned Luke initially, the moment Jaina had deactivated her lightsaber and knelt to center her being, the Grandmaster knew he had little reason to fear for his niece. She was damaged by the six month ordeal, that much was obvious, and Luke had expected it. But he was certain that, in time, the proud Jedi would recover. She simply needed that time, and perhaps a little space.

So when Leia again moved towards her daughter again, Luke squeezed his sister's shoulder gently in disagreement. To his surprise, Leia roughly rebuffed his grip and made her way to Jaina at a sprint. As soon as she was less than a meter from her, Leia fell to her own knees and embraced Jaina so hard, both women nearly toppled over onto the ground in a heap. At first, Jaina hesitated and made no move to reciprocate. Finally, however, her lightsaber rolled from her palm and she hugged her mother fervently. Jaina could no longer hold back her anguish, and her silent tears erupted into a torrent of sobs.

Luke and Han listened as the two women wept in each other's arms, and the latter started making his way over.

Luke followed soon after, admonishing himself in his mind for failing to remember that even though Jaina was the Sword of the Jedi, sworn to defend the galaxy without regard for her own welfare, she was still a human being...with a family whom loved her dearly. As proud and strong as she may be, she could still be wounded, deeply, and no amount of Jedi calm or discipline could ever replace the convalescent strength of familial love.

***

The reunion was a brief affair. Though the Jedi had triumphed over the Sith threat and recovered Jaina, they had been gravely weakened achieving both goals. Besides Luke, Leia, and Han, only five Jedi Knights survived the conflict, and none of the Yuuzhan Vong contingent had done so. Even their fearless Warmaster had fallen to a trio of crimson sabers, though not before inflicting fatal injuries of his own.

Though Luke was loathe to do so, he knew spending any further time on the planet would be a mistake, and so he left the bodies where they lay. He told himself that he would return to retrieve them as soon as the GA found a way to purify the planet, making a recovery mission more practical.

Yin was nowhere to be found. A search of his lab had turned up nothing but a few inconsequential elements. Everything of value, including the Yuuzhan Vong himself, had seemingly vanished.

A mystery for another day, Luke mused grimly.

"I know an alternate way out of here, Uncle Luke." Jaina's tired voice jogged Luke from his pensiveness, and he turned to her with a quizzical frown.

"Oh?"

"That passage," Jaina pointed back towards the tunnel she had emerged from only a short time ago, "it splits off into a series of smaller tunnels. One of them leads to Yin's personal lab, obviously, but another branches off to a small hangar. There may be a few ships there we could, well, borrow."

Jaina's cracked lips formed the hint of a smile, and Luke felt a smile coming to his own. Still, a number of nagging questions kept that smile from blooming fully.

"Jaina," Luke began hesitantly as Leia and Han began making their way towards the two, "you said it was Yin who gave you the antidote, just before you confronted Garr, right?"

"Close." Jaina replied, nodding slightly as her eyes rapidly searched her uncle's. "He explained that it behaved as both an antidote and inoculation agent...hence, no breath mask."

Luke had observed Jaina's lack of protective gear as soon as the strike team had breached the chamber. While it had intrigued him, it wasn't the biggest question on his mind.

"I see. Given your weakened state, and your knowledge of this cave system, though," Luke pressed, crossing his arms as concern began to etch itself across his wrinkled brow, "why did you confront Garr rather than try to slip away and escape?"

"I considered that option." Jaina replied, far too quickly for Luke's liking. His niece was a gifted individual when it came to deflections and half-truths, but not now. Everything about Jaina at that moment told Luke that she was lying through her teeth. Nonetheless, Luke decided to just play along.

"And?"

"And I dismissed it immediately as impractical." Jaina fired back, a bit defensive. "Before you came along, I assumed it was still on my own. The tunnels were well-guarded, and even if they hadn't been, I'm still a Jedi. I have duties to perform, and one of those duties was to stop Garr."

"But the vision you sent through the Force?" Luke continued, slipping his way through the web of deceit Jaina was trying to weave. "You and I communicated through that vision. You must have known I would mount a rescue op. You must have known we were coming."

"I didn't know how soo-"

"Jaina, even if we_hadn't_ showed up," Leia broke in, coming to stand beside Luke and Jaina with her husband, "you would've been killed. You might have succeeded in killing Garr, but the rest-"

"Look," Jaina interrupted testily, exasperation and the hint of something else giving a sharp edge to her tone "I _didn't_die...so can we please just get out of here?"

Her eyes passed over each of them, and all three could see that the feeling behind those brown, bloodshot orbs did not match up with the frustration in her voice, at least not entirely. The frustration was there, certainly, but it wasn't directed at Luke, Leia, or Han. It was inwardly focused, complete and utterly. And Luke saw through the web at last.

And apparently, so did everyone else.

"You knew it was suicidal." Rumbled Han's gruff voice, the aging smuggler placing both hands on his hips as he stared at Jaina reproachfully. Overwhelming disappointment marred his features when he continued. "You _wanted_it to be."

"Jaina?" Leia's tone was soft, sounding very wounded. Jaina lowered her head and looked away, clenching her gloved fists in both frustration and shame.

"Is that true, Master Solo?" Luke demanded gently, but firmly. For long seconds, there was no reply.

"Uncle Luke was right." Jaina whispered at last, still avoiding eye contact as she gestured helplessly. "I was weak...violated, imprisoned...and angry."

Jaina whirled on them, her eyes burning.

"I didn't see an end!" She growled. "My mind trapped forever in a body that was no longer mine! Even when Yin restored me, it changed little. I felt...I feel used...not myself."

Jaina trailed off with an anemic shrug of her shoulders.

"Death was your only option?" Luke asked calmly after a moment of difficult silence passed between them. Again, Jaina did not immediately respond.

"I...I'm a fighter." She said finally, looking as if she was struggling to find the right words. "I'm good at it; fighting. I've been doing it my whole life, so I guess I should be. And when I'm fighting, I've always felt alive."

She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, and when she spoke again, it was with a greater sense of resolve.

"Garr had to be dealt with. That couldn't wait. Yes, I knew it was a suicide mission. But...I didn't care at that point. I just wanted feel something...to die on my feet, my lightsaber in my hand...feeling in my last moments the very thing that monster had taken from me...my freedom and my life...my fight..."

Leia looked away for a brief moment, and Jaina winced on the inside. She knew her explanation would be tough to hear, which is why she'd always planned to keep it to herself. But with the nexu out of the bag, so to speak, Jaina regretted every word she'd spoken. The last thing she'd want to do was hurt her loved ones, but that's exactly what she'd done.

"We can discuss this more fully onc-" Luke stopped abruptly, causing everyone to shift their eyes to him in a nanosecond...which was about the amount of time it took for Jaina and Leia to feel the same disturbance rippling through the Force.

"Ben." Luke murmured, sensing not a flood of emotion from his son, but a single sensation that raised the hair on the back of his neck.

"What?" Han looked from Luke, to Jaina, and finally to Leia, noticing that same, familiar expression on their faces he'd seen many times before. "Oh, right, Jedi stuff." He grumbled to no one in particular as he shook his head and waited to be filled in on the weekly Force revelation.

"He's not far." Leia muttered, furrowing her brow as she concentrated. "Possibly in this system, or even planetside."

"He isn't part of the mission, is he?" Jaina focused on Luke, adding, "He's not supposed to be here."

Luke shook his head, his eyes closed as he opened himself more to the Force, allowing its current to flow through him.

"Danger." Luke snapped open his eyes. "We need to go."

"What's wrong, Luke? Leia? Jaina?" Han looked again between the three Jedi standing beside him, and finally rolled his eyes when they appeared just as inscrutable as before. "Is someone going to let me in on the big secret, or am I going to have to go beg one of the junior knights over here to clue me in?"

One of those 'junior knights', a Zabrak female by the name of Razzir Chonck, turned and raised an eyebrow at Han. "Come again, Captain Solo?"

"First priority is to get out of here." Luke continued on his previous line of thought, before glancing at Han to clarify. "Ben's conveying danger and caution through the Force. I'm not sure if it's intended for him or us, but we don't really have time to ponder it. We need to move."

"Let's find Ben, then." Leia supplied, her tone determined.

"What about Jag?" Jaina asked, the hope of seeing her husband after so much time apart served to brighten her eyes. "Is he here? I don't sense him."

Luke shook his head again.

"We didn't know where to search for you when this all started. "Luke explained. "So Jag decided to take a team into the Unknown Regions, a place he's obviously familiar with and somewhere Garr might have taken refuge."

"Oh." Jaina replied, a bit crestfallen. "Make sense, I suppose."

"You'll see him soon enough. I promise." Luke smiled, before turning to the others. "If everyone's ready?"

"An overly-simple plan with vague objectives." Han smirked, his mood beginning to improve as the conversation steered away from Jaina's recent self-destructive thoughts. "Yeah, you're the Jedi Grandmaster alright..."

Luke shook his head is mock annoyance before gesturing to Jaina.

"If you're up to it, will you lead the way?"

"Absolutely."

***

"I've got a lock on his Stealth-X." Came Luke's static-warped voice over the Solo family's pilfered YE-4 gunship. "Razzir, Sav and I will link up with Ben and see what he's found."

"Copy that, Luke." Leia replied.

"Need any help, buddy?" Han chimed in, leaning toward the cockpit's comm console, much to Leia's irritation.

"No, I think we can handle this, but I'll let you know if we can't." Luke's muffled voice replied. "Just get Jaina to the Falcon; I think she's earned a little time off. We'll be back soon."

"Understood, Grandmaster." Han replied playfully, looking back at his daughter and smiling in that roguish manner he was infamous for. Buckled into her seat harness, Jaina caught his brief smile, and returned it, even as Han returned his full attention to piloting the YE-4. Relief, once a distant memory, flooded her at last.

She was going home.

"Han, I can't raise the fleet." Leia said, her tone laced with concern. "There's nothing but static."

"Probably just atmospheric distortion, like with Luke." Han replied casually, though Jaina noticed his shoulders tense for a fraction of a second. "The _Falcon'_s has-"

"An enhanced communication package, yes I know sweetie." Leia finished, glaring at her husband. "How long have we been married?"

"Sorry." Han shrugged. "She's my baby, is all."

Leia rolled her eyes.

"Might as well be your wife."

When Han said nothing and merely inclined his head as if considering the possibility, Leia smacked him in the arm, Han threw his hands up.

"Hey!" He shouted, trying to sound offended. "It was your suggestion!"

"Just get us to the Falcon, Han." Leia asked, feigning exasperated politeness.

Jaina's smile widened, and for a moment, she didn't feel like a thirty-five year-old Jedi Master trying to face down the darkness of an entire galaxy on a daily basis. She simply felt like a kid again, listening to her parents banter back and forth and trying not to fall asleep.

***

"Captain Solo, we're in danger!" Threepio wailed as the _Falcon'_s loading ramp hissed into the locked position and the small party of Jedi (and Han) began dispersing through the old Corellian freighter. "The fleet's been destroyed!"

"Who says?" Han shot back, one eyebrow raised as he headed toward the cockpit with Leia close behind. Threepio was struggling to keep up with Han and Leia's rapid pace, a fact not lost on either of them.

"Master Ben, of course!" Threepio replied frantically. "He died telling R2 and I!"

Leia stopped and turned, her expression incredulous.

"Threepio, that's impossible." She explained, hoping to calm the fuzzy droid down. "Ben contacted us through the Force. Luke's on his to Ben's position even now."

"Master Ben's not dead?!" Threepio exclaimed. "But his comm signal cut out as he was-"

"Communications are iffy, right now, Goldenrod." Han growled. "Just because a transmission cuts out doesn't mean the other person is automatically dead."

"Oh, oh of course not." Threepio, bobbing a bit back and forth. "Oh, thank the Maker!".

"Jaina, I hate to bother you after all you've been through..." Leia looked at her daughter pleadingly.

"I'll take him." Jaina breathed, tapping Threepio on the shoulder. When he turned quickly to look at her, she crooked her index finger in front of his photoreceptors. "Come on, Threepio...maybe I can pawn-erm...let you tell Torm, Kaiya, and Vonar the complete history of the Old Republic!"

"Ouch." Han muttered.

"Yeah, that seems like true torture to me." Leia smiled a bit as she watched Jaina walk down the deck with the protocol droid.

"No, not that." Han replied, annoyed, prompting Leia to turn to him. "Hyperdrive system isn't coming online. At all."

"I've heard that before." Leia commented dryly.

"Sure, spend all your time making jokes." Han shot back at her with a glare. "Some of us have work to do."

Leia suppressed a chuckle as her husband sidestepped her, heading toward the ship's engineering bay.

"Can I give you a hand?"

"Nah, I think I'll get someone who actually knows how hyperdrives work to help me." Han glanced back with a twinkle in his eye.

"Han, we just rescued her." Leia called after him. "Isn't it a little early to start assigning her engineering work?"

"Hey, you saddled her with Threepio!" Han called back. "I'm doing her a favor and _re-_rescuing her."

***

Jaina and Han stared at the hyperdrive unit, both utterly perplexed, within the confines of the darkened engine room.

The unit itself seemed completely fine. It's structural integrity had passed, and their initial tests showed no signs of electrical or mechanical failures. And yet, it remained stubbornly offline.

"I don't get it." Han sighed in frustration, his arms covered in coolant. "It should be fine!"

"Well, we've only run one round of tests." Jaina reminded her father. "Maybe it's something deeper."

"Yeah, maybe." Han allowed, wiping his forehead as he stared down at the unit. Jaina began rummaging through the toolbox, and Han's gaze left the unit and passed over her. For long seconds, he stared at her. As if finally sensing his stare, Jaina turned stopped what she was doing.

"What?" She asked, looking left and right before cocking her head to the side. "Dad?"

"Why?" He asked simply, lowering his eyes to the soiled rag he was cleaning his hands with.

"Dad, don't." Jaina turned back away and started sifting through the toolbox once more. Well aware of what it was her father was referencing, she wasn't in the mood to discuss her recent actions and thoughts.

"Just answer the question." Han pressed, more forcefully. "I just want to know why you, a Solo, would even-"

"Of all people, I would think you'd be the least interested in talking about this!" Jaina fired back, before tempering her response and lowering her voice. "Dad, I don't want to talk about it. Not right now."

Han was quiet for a few moments, running the rag in-between his fingers.

"Honey, I care-."

"I know you do." Jaina sighed. "But did you want to talk about it when Chewie died?"

"I..."Han started to retort, but stopped. Closing his mouth, he lowered his eyes. "No, no I don't suppose I did. And...I didn't."

"What did you do instead?" Jaina turned back to Han, her expression softer.

Han worked his mouth for a bit before finally finding the right words.

"I, um, made it a mission to kill as many Yuuzhan Vong as possible."

"Yes, you did." Jaina affirmed, cracking a smile as she humorously considered Han's answer. "And actually, considering that you tried commit genocide, maybe it is a good idea for me to open up-"

"Shut up." Han growled, smiling too as he chuckled.

"You and I are a lot alike, Dad." Jaina continued to smile.

"You made your point, kid." Han relented, setting the rag down on a nearby bench. No sooner had he turned back to face Jaina than both heard the signature sound of a lightsaber snap-hissing to life.

Han gasped, and Jaina found herself mere centimeters away from eating the crimson blade that was protruding from her father's chest.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAD!" Jaina screamed as she stumbled back, grabbing frantically for the cylinder hanging from her belt. From behind Han, a silhouette began to take shape within the darkness. From beneath a cowl of pure shadow, two yellow and red-speckled eyes bore into Jaina.

***

"She looks to be the only survivor." Ben said through his rebreather, kneeling beside Captain Ceeda. The Twi'lek naval officer, no longer hanging precariously from the sundered remains of her vessel, was still peacefully unconscious. Luke, also kneeling, peered down at Ceeda's face through her environmental suit's visor.

"Sav," He called over his shoulder to the Devaronian Jedi standing nearby, "see what medical supplies we have aboard the ship. Razzir, give the Redoubt a quick search for the same. And be careful."

Both Jedi nodded and went about their respective tasks. Luke and Ben listened as their boot steps faded away. When all was quiet again, save for the howling wind blowing through the exposed bridge, Ben looked up at his father.

"As far as I can tell, she's suffered a lot of bruising, and there might be some broken bones, but I don't know." Ben offered with a shrug. "I didn't want to remove her suit given the, well, you know."

"A wise decision." Luke acknowledged, looking around at the shattered ruins of the bridge. "Well, at least we know what's become of the Redoubt."

"Speaking of that..." Ben began.

"Oh boy." Luke grimaced. "Yes?"

"When I dropped out of hyperspace-"

"In a system I specifically ordered you _not_to drop into." Luke added helpfully, before motioning for his son to continue.

"Right." Ben allowed, quirking his lips in mild embarrassment. "So, when I dropped out of hyperspace...I found the GA fleet engaged with what looked like a large Imperial force."

"Something tells me that isn't the worst part of this story." Luke mused, eyes on the ground.

"The Imperials had the advantage."

"That's...not good." Luke chuckled a bit, despite himself. He looked at Ben, and noticed the boy clearly had something else on his mind. "It gets worse?"

"Before I answered the distress call, I came across an Imperial shuttle heading toward the surface. The pilot possessed extraordinary skills...Jedi skills."

"More Sith." Luke rubbed his forehead, contemplating what his next move should be in light of this new information. "Do you have any clue as to where this Sith-piloted shuttle was going? Did you Stealt-"

Luke stopped suddenly as shock, pain, and devastation rippled through the Force, stinging him like salt on an open wound. It rolled through him in ever greater waves, each one more powerful than the last. Something terrible had just happened...something not far.

"Oh no..." Ben breathed, echoing his father's thoughts.

***

In the one and half seconds it took Jaina to reach her lightsaber, unclip it from her belt, and place her thumb on the activation plate, Han's assailant had already tossed him aside and landed a punishing kick to Jaina's midsection. Jaina gasped and fought the instinct to double-over, which would have left her neck dangerously exposed to a killing strike. Still, even as she maintained her composure and tried to refill her lungs with precious oxygen, the Sith was on her again.

Surprisingly, he deactivated his lightsaber and brought his heel around in a lightning face roundhouse. Jaina ducked, and thumbed her weapon to life. Just as quickly as it had snap-hissed to life, the amethyst blade was kicked from her grasp. The humming bar of plasma winked out of existence as the hilt went sailing out of the engineering bay.

Jaina lamented its loss immediately; without a weapon, she was at a severe disadvantage. Still, with more than a quarter-century of Jedi training and combat experience under her belt, she was far from defenseless.

Jaina sidestepped a swift jab at her midsection again, and pulled back to avoid a swing meant to shatter her jaw. Dashing forward, she blocked a chop at her neck and took advantage of an opening near the Sith Lord's exposed ribs. Keeping the Sith's arm blocked, Jaina reared her free arm back and allowed it to explode forward with as much power as she could muster.

And made contact with nothing.

With exceptional agility, the Sith back flipped at the last moment. Jaina stumbled, her unspent momentum carrying forward. Taking advantage of her unbalanced position and forward motion, the Sith kicked her shin with incredible force, knocking Jaina head-over-heels onto the durasteel floor. Jaina winced in pain and arched her back, feeling sharp pain shooting up her spine.

"Echani." The Sith commented, his words ice cold and methodical. "Your execution is poor."

Lifting his boot above Jaina, he sent it crashing down toward her chest. Rolling away, she reached in the Force for the box of tools on the work bench above her. Gesturing as she regained her footing, she sent the box's contents rocketing in the Sith's direction.

"Child's play." The Sith dove forward, spiraling and managing to avoid every tool. Jaina's eyes widened, and she grunted loudly as the Sith practically tackled her, knocking her prone yet again as the two tumbled out of the engineering bay and into the _Falcon'_s passenger lounge. Jaina kicked, and this time the blow connected, sending the Sith rolling away.

"Jaina!" Leia cried as she sprinted down the corridor leading to the cockpit, lightsaber in hand and already ignited. Noticing the dark-robed figured regaining his footing, Leia dropped into a guarded lightsaber stance.

"Dad!" Jaina shouted to her mother, pointing at the engineering bay. "Don't worry about me! Dad's been stabbed, you have to help him!"

Leia looked at her daughter as the latter rose to her feet, her eyes wide and her jaw agape. Regaining her composure rapidly, Leia shook her head and returned her gaze to the Sith, as he began to advance slowly, his gait almost casual.

"First we deal-"

"GO!" Jaina demanded, reaching her hand out and summoning her lightsaber back to her. "Me and others can handle this sithspit. _You_need to help dad. Mom...please!"

Leia gave her daughter one final look, and then muffled a strangled acknowledgement. To both women's surprise, the Sith actually stepped back, and allowed Leia unopposed access to the engineering bay.

"Please, by all means." He offered, almost politely. Jaina thumbed her blade to life and dropped into stance similar to her mother's. Both women advanced forward, Jaina providing a buffer between the Sith and Leia as the latter ducked into the bay. Her blade held firmly in front of her, Jaina came to a halt no more than a meter from the Sith.

"Siberis." She said simply, trying to tamp down the anger and malice she felt towards the Sith at that moment.

"Very observant, beast." Siberis replied coolly, lightly dusting off his robes. "It's nice to know Garr allowed you to retain a bit-"

"Do I look in the mood to chat?" Jaina spat, allowing her disdain to sharpen her tone. "You stabbed my father, Sithspawn."

"And murdered the...others you referred to." Siberis replied matter-of-factly, waving towards the cargo bay where Torm, Vonar, and Kaiya had been left with Threepio and R2.

Jaina took a deep breath, and expanded her Force awareness. Indeed, their familiar presence was gone, and Jaina gripped her weapon tighter.

"You'll pay for that too."

"Unlikely."

"How did you get onboard?" Jaina's words were like venom. Siberis, however, seemed unfazed, offering only a snort.

"It was my understanding that idle conversation was out of the question." He mocked, taking a step forward. Jaina raised her blade higher, prepared to go on the offensive at a moment's notice. Siberis merely shook his head, as one might do with a petulant youngling.

"Fine." Jaina shot back. "If you're so eager to die..."

Calling on the Force to enhance her speed, Jaina closed the gap between them in less than a heartbeat. Swinging her weapon, she slashed at the Sith Lord diagonally. Calmly, he dodged to the opposite side. Jaina repeated the attack and followed it up with alternating strikes to his head and ankles. The Sith Lord dodged, jumped, and ducked in rapid succession.

Growling in frustration, Jaina launched into a flurry of frenzied strikes.

Siberis dodged each and every attack, and the only thing Jaina's weapon had actually managed to damage were the walls and floor of Falcon. Jaina, unsettled but nonetheless determined, lifted her blade up high and brought it crashing down onto Siberis. This time, however, the Sith Lord did not dodge nor make any attempt to evade.

Instead, he did something Jaina could never have expected.

He_caught_ the blade in his bare hand.

The amethyst plasma hissed and crackled in the Sith Lord's grip, and Jaina could only stare at the sight in undisguised amazement. The Force was extraordinary, and it wasn't an uncommon application to use it to negate bursts of energy. But to hold a lightsaber, even for a fraction of second, was a feat Jaina couldn't recall any Jedi having performed.

Her eyes shifted to Siberis.

"What are you?" She breathed, more than just a little disconcerted now.

"The Future." He replied softly, his voice straining a bit. His burning eyes never left hers.

Siberis released her weapon and summoned a Force blast that threw Jaina nearly halfway up the cockpit's corridor. Jaina slid on her back a meter or two more after landing before coming to a halt.

Siberis was on her in an instant, and she barely had time to stand and jump away before he planted his heel directly under her chin. Jaina slashed at the offending limb, but caught nothing on her blade. Pressing, she lunged, trying to take advantage of the corridor's narrow profile to deliver a piercing strike. Siberis placed one hand firmly on the corridor wall and lifted both feet to the opposite, not only evading Jaina's attack but following it up with one fluid counterstrike.

_Walking_his feet across the wall, he brought one down across Jaina's jaw, and, once that leg was on the floor, he allowed his other foot to slam against her shoulder. The double attack half-spun Jaina and careened her face-first into the bulkhead. She was just regaining her balance when she felt her gut again explode with agony, followed swiftly by her entire chest as Siberis blasted it with a Force-enhanced punch. Faltering, Jaina had no choice but to give ground if she wanted to stay out of the Sith's reach. Unfortunately, there wasn't much ground to relinquish, and she soon found herself backed up against the cockpit's chairs.

More than happy to take the ground his opponent was giving, Siberis stalked forward.

"End of the line." He said simply, causing Jaina to shudder involuntarily; she really didn't like how his words seemed to chill her very bones.

"Not quite." Jaina exhaled, pivoting her blade and lashing out at the Sith Lord.

Or so Siberis believed.

To his genuine surprise, instead of following through with her original attack, she rushed forward and shoved her shoulder into his breastbone. Siberis groaned in pain, and then hissed in agony as Jaina exploited his surprise further by burning his right arm with her lightsaber.

Seeking to keep her newfound momentum going, Jaina crouched low as Siberis reached for her neck with both hands. Fist clenched, she shot back up and drove it into the underside of his chin. Siberis stumbled back and grabbed a tangle of wires hanging down from the ceiling. Jaina leapt toward him, lightsaber poised to strike.

Gripping the wires tighter, Siberis pulled himself up and kicked with both legs, and was rewarded with the sound of snapping bone as he connected with Jaina's left flank. A strangled cry escaped her lips, and she went tumbling back. Siberis released his hold on the wiring, and immediately sent another Force blast hurtling at the struggling Jedi.

The blast of Force energy took Jaina square in the chest, lifting her off her feet and blowing her straight through the Falcon's canopy. Shattered transparisteel and twisted chunks of metal accompanied her as she fell. Twisting in midair, she tried to roll upon hitting the ground, but found her aching core not quite up to the task. Her tumble rapidly devolved into a series of chaotic rolls, each one more jarring than the last. Coming to a halt sprawled out on her stomach, Jaina couldn't help but open her mouth wide in silent agony as the pain in her side exploded.

Slowly, painfully, she rose to one knee. Dozens of tears, each dripping a dark, slightly viscous liquid, had opened up all across her dark suit. Taking a deep breath, she coughed suddenly and doubled-over, one hand clutching her side as the other propped her up. Her stomach heaved, and blood oozed from her parted lips and stained the grass in front of her boots.

The spasms ceased after a few seconds, and despite the pain it brought, Jaina drew in that much needed breath. Carefully, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and, shaking with the effort, finally managed to haul herself fully upright. Hand outstretched, she summoned her lightsaber back into her hand once more and immediately reignited the weapon.

Taking stock of her surroundings, Jaina wished that she hadn't. Moving to encircle her were more than a dozen Sith Sabers. From out of every conceivable nook and cranny, the Keshiri-born warriors emerged. Crimson lightsabers sprung into existence, and for the first time since the fight had begun, Jaina felt real fear beginning to coil itself around her.

Turning to look at each of them as they moved to surround her, her eyes suddenly fell on Falcon. She watched as a dark-robed figure came to a halt just within the breached cockpit.

"I must confess," Siberis spoke, his voice carrying much further than it might otherwise naturally, "I had predicted with ninety-six percent certainty that you would die alongside that fallacious Togorian. And yet, here you are, restored and standing before me...at least for the moment."

Jaina said nothing in reply, and merely watched in stunned fascination as the Sith Lord seemed to phase through the mangled remains of the Falcons canopy and drift slowly to the ground below. His body language betrayed nothing but poise and purpose. As shards of transparisteel crunched and popped under his boots as he landed, his robe neatly gathered itself around him.

Just then, a familiar presence touched Jaina's mind.

Luke.

Though unable to determine his distance, she could feel that her uncle was on his way back. The knowledge rekindled Jaina's resolve, and with a shallow breath, she tried to center herself in the Force.

Siberis seemed to sense the Grandmaster's rapid approach as well. Taking note of Jaina's brief look of renewed confidence, Siberis simply shook his head, the gesture less arrogant and more admonishing. As he neared the circle, the Saber's nearest to him parted.

"It would be a mistake to garner any courage from this." He rebuked her mildly, taking a step forward, and then another. "Your Grandmaster cannot save you, or the others. Your father lies dying and your mother has been exposed to the plague that once ravaged you. Skywalker rushes only to his death."

"The Jedi draw strength from one another." Jaina countered, her voice growing stronger as she opened herself more fully to the Force and allowed it to suffuse her in ever-increasing magnitudes. In doing so, she managed to repress from her mind the dire truths Siberis had just spoken about her mother and father. "Uncle Luke has faced down greater threats than you."

"I'd wager he's never faced the Sith'ari." Siberis shot back smoothly, placing one hand behind his back. Though he appeared relaxed, the gesture caused alarms to begin blaring inside Jaina's head. Despite the severity of her wounds, the Force continued to fortify her body and allowed her to deftly raise her lightsaber into a more combat-ready position.

"So you think you're special." She snorted, breathing a little easier now as the Force dulled the pain in her side and eased the stinging agony of countless lacerations. "Doesn't every Sith? Seems like a requisite for your Order."

Siberis nodded his head softly, as if acknowledging the validity of Jaina's sardonic jab.

"Order." Siberis repeated quietly, and again twice more. "The Jedi fancy themselves the Guardians of Peace and Justice...but not Order." Siberis continued, his musings almost poetic. His smoldering eyes flicked to the ground in front of him, and he began to circle Jaina rather than advance any further against her. Jaina followed his every step, her gaze intense. "And because of that they fail, perennially, to secure neither Peace nor Justice; over and over and over again, the Jedi come up short, and the galaxy suffers for it."

Jaina couldn't help but roll her eyes in disbelief.

"Please, tell me I'm wrong." Siberis continued, glancing in Jaina's direction and noticing her eyes on the sky behind him. "How many trillions perished during your war with the Yuuzhan Vong? How many Killiks were displaced and murdered because of your failure to find a peaceful resolution? How many met their end at the hands of your brother?"

That last one boiled Jaina's blood, and she had to bite her lower lip to keep from losing her composure.

"We defeated the Yuuzhan Vong. We brought an end to the Swarm Wars before they could engulf the galaxy. And I killed Jacen to stop his reign of terror." Jaina fired back systematically, even as her tone and expression betrayed the storm roiling within her. "And not only did we end these threats, we made peace_with them; the Yuuzhan Vong are integrating with the galaxy. The Killiks and Chiss are no longer bitter enemies. And in his final moments, rather than kill his own _sister, my brother saved a life. Please...tell me I'm wrong, Siberis. Tell me the Jedi have failed."

"You're wrong." Siberis said without hesitation, coming to a stop one-hundred eighty degrees from where he'd started. "The Jedi have failed...and their worst failure is Abeloth."

"The Jedi destroyed-"

"False." Siberis interrupted with a wave of his hand. "The Jedi merely banished Abeloth, nothing more. She still exists, and it is only a matter of time before she, unlike you, recovers her strength."

"You realize that if we truly failed to stop Abeloth, then Sith share that failure." Jaina countered irritably, more than just a little tired of this game. However, if she could keep Siberis prattling on for just a little longer, Luke and his team could join the fight. Already, she could see his ship growing larger on the horizon. "I mean...KARK, you ALLIED with her!"

"True," Siberis seemingly acquiesced, before adding, "and they too will pay for their short-sightedness."

Jaina raised an eyebrow, and cringed afterward; that large cut above her eye really stung, despite the Force.

"Care to elaborate on that?" She asked, somewhat genuinely intrigued. Siberis glanced at her again, and then at the sky. Jaina winced, realizing that the Sith Lord was fully aware of Luke's present location, which was now very near.

Siberis merely shrugged.

"Certainly." He replied, and suddenly ignited his blade. Jaina stepped back and raised her own lightsaber in preparation for the inevitable assault. With astonishing speed, however, Siberis stretched his free hand out in front of him. Bolts of dark side energy arced in Jaina's direction, and she barely had time to reposition her lightsaber. Her blade hissed and cracked as the lightning coiled around its shimmering form, and Jaina found herself fighting hard to keep the weapon steady. Siberis, meanwhile, continued his line of thought as if nothing else had actually occurred. He simply raised his voice an octave to be heard over the barrage. "It's very simple. It's not the failures of the Jedi that are so damning. Rather, it's their audacity in believing they were ever fit to defend this galaxy. Pure arrogance, and this time, it will destroy us all."

Luke's ship was settling down beside the Falcon_now, but Jaina didn't see it. Her eyes were burning from the intensity of the electricity flowing across her blade, and she could feel the weapon sliding back towards her. She dared not remove the blade from the lightning's path, however. So when her own lightsaber began to burn through the flesh on her right shoulder, Jaina bit her lower lip, _hard, and pushed back with everything she could summon. Eventually, she managed to muscle the weapon back up and away from her shoulder. Siberis continued to pour on the dark Force energy, stepping closer and closer to the struggling Jedi.

"If the Jedi are allowed to remain in power...Abeloth will return to find a galaxy that is soft and weak, and she will_consume it. That is why the Jedi, _every Jedi, must be eradicated. Collectively, they alone wield the power to ensure the continued existence of the doomed status quo; they alone stand in the way of change."

The ramp on Luke's ship extended down just as the vessel's repulsors began to fade into silence.

The storm pouring from Siberis's fingertips came to an abrupt end and Jaina stumbled forward for a fraction of a second. Siberis caught her blade on his and pressed, forcing Jaina to press back or trip. Their faces were mere centimeters from one another when Siberis spoke again, his voice no more than a soft whisper.

"I will lead the Sith in destroying the Jedi, and then burn the galaxy they so foolishly guarded. From the ashes, a new galaxy will be forged; a stronger galaxy... when Abeloth returns, she will not find a galaxy guarded by feeble philosophers. She will find the Sith, reborn and tested in battle...and she will die."

After a moment, Siberis smiled (the first Jaina had ever seen) and quickly added,

"You didn't think you were truly stalling me, did you? I just wanted Skywalker to see his Sword broken once and for all!"

Jaina gasped as Siberis suddenly sidestepped and landed a heavy punch to her injured ribs. No longer burdened by the incredible weight of the Sith's lightsaber pressing down on her, Jaina swiveled and leveled a strike at his flank. The Sith Lord caught her blade, as she had expected. Taking advantage of that, she firmly planted her boot directly in his chest, and called on the Force to augment the battering blow.

Siberis faltered, and Jaina could see out of the corner of her eye four brown-robed figures racing in her direction. The Sabers surrounding her and Siberis flourished their blades as they turned to confront the newcomers. Summoning what little strength she had remaining, and placing her trust in the Force, Jaina, Sword of the Jedi, went on the offensive.

***

Luke, Ben, Sav and Razzir barely made contact with the ground as they sprinted to Jaina's aid. Not wanting to land too close, for fear the Sith might turn the vessel into a weapon, the Jedi had opted for an area a bit removed from the Falcon. With the Force lending them much-needed speed, they were rapidly closing the distance between themselves and their besieged friend.

Lightsaber already drawn and ignited, Luke watched as his niece and the Sith traded one brutal blow after the other. The sheer savagery and intensity of the fight unsettled the Grand Master; both combatants were virtually inseparable, with Jaina's mix of Juyo and Ataru weaving a web of frenzied amethyst slashes and the Sith's apparent mastery of Makashi and Soresu deftly parrying each and every attack. Combined with a flurry of martial strikes that were being exchanged whenever the situation allowed, and to Luke's trained eye the battle seemed downright personal.

What's more, it was obvious Jaina was in tremendous danger. Her control over the situation growing more tenuous by the millisecond. Despite being one of the strongest Jedi in the Order, a Master on the Jedi Council, and a veteran of too many sorties for Luke to count, Jaina was losing the fight...badly.

Luke recognized this and tightened his lips in grave concern. His niece, the last surviving child of Han and Leia, was teetering on the edge of life and death. Whomever it was she was struggling with, it was clear to Luke that the Sith possessed a superior relationship with the Force. And because of that, Luke guessed, even had Jaina been fully rested and at the height of her strength, she'd never stood a chance against this warrior.

And as if to confirm his theory, Luke watched in dismay as Jaina made the mistake that would cost her dearly. It was a simple mistake to be sure, almost certainly borne out of severe fatigue, but it was all the unusually patient and reserved Sith needed...all he'd been waiting for.

Jaina sliced at the Sith laterally, and Luke noticed that her backswing lingered for a fraction of a second too long. The Sith took full advantage of this opening in Jaina's defense.

His crimson blade lashed out at her like a striking adder, and she failed to recoil in time to avoid it. The plasma carved a glowing path of destruction through her upper thigh, vaporizing leather, flesh, and muscle alike. Jaina cursed in anguish and fell to one knee, even as she tried desperately to bring her blade back in line. The Sith moved with blinding speed, however, and his own blade was already zipping back around to finish the fight. With a flourish as graceful and fluid as Makashi could offer, the Sith skillfully batted Jaina's weapon aside. In that same motion, the crimson plasma of his lightsaber slid down her flashing blade like a screeching mynock and burned its way first through her thumb, and then her entire wrist.

Severed, both her right hand and her lightsaber fell to the ground below, with the amethyst blade dying just before it made contact with blades of grass.

Jaina didn't even have a chance to scream out in pain as the Sith Lord gripped her throat through the Force and squeezed. Jaina gagged and coughed as she reached for her neck instinctively with both her remaining hand and the charred stump of the other. Slowly, her body seized by the Force, she began to rise up off the ground.

"Dad!" Ben shouted. "He's going to kill her!"

But Luke heard nothing. He was already flipping high through the air, intent on cleaving the Sith Lord into two halves and ending this battle. Half a dozen Sith Sabers leapt to intercept him, as Razzir, Ben, and Sav clashed with the remaining darksiders below.

***

"Artoo, please come back!" C-3PO wailed as he frantically worked to repair the carbon-scored astromech droid. With the Falcon's main power offline, Threepio was forced to work in near-complete darkness. Not that it impeded the protocol droid's photoreceptors drastically. In fact, Threepio found the darkness preferable. At least with the lights out, he didn't have to see in perfect clarity the bodies of the slain Jedi all around him. "Artoo, you can't be gone! Whatever will I do?! Curse my circuits, if only I'd had your courage!"

The appearance of the Sith had surprised all of them, Jedi and droid alike. With terrifying efficiency, the dark-robed figure had slain the Jedi before they'd even ignited their lightsabers. R2-D2, ever the plucky and heroic droid that he was, engaged the Sith. Armed with only his shock prod, the Sith had made quick work of the little astromech droid with his lightsaber. In the end, only Threepio had remained standing and operational. Rather than obstruct the Sith and risk his own life, the protocol droid had shuffled away into a corner.

"A coward." Threepio lamented, staring down at his companion's shredded frame. Sparking circuitry hung from gashes in Artoo's cylindrical frame like eviscerated innards, and smoke billowed from singed hole in his only photoreceptor. The situation seemed positively hopeless to Threepio, and the droid merely removed his hands from Artoo's scarred dome. "I'm a coward and because of it, you're gone. They're all...WAIT!"

Threepio's photoreceptors brightened in the darkness as his processor began to hum with a novel idea. Certain he could find the necessary tools, and possessed at least enough technical skill to give it try, Threepio set to work removing Artoo's dome. Rummaging through the astromech's internal parts, he came across the very thing that made Artoo, well, Artoo. Gripping the heuristic processor, Threepio unhooked it and made certain it was relatively undamaged. Seeing only minor scorch marks, Threepio rushed the processor over to a nearby terminal and set it down. Now all he needed were a few tools.

Artoo's droid body may have been destroyed by the Sith, but the astromech's brain remained completely intact. All Artoo needed now was a new body, Threepio knew just where to get one.

If the protocol droid weren't composed of durasteel and electrum, Threepio would have been grinning from ear-to-ear with newfound hope.

***

"Goodbye, Master Solo." Siberis said, his tone more matter-of-fact than arrogant. Hanging a good meter in the air, Jaina watched helplessly as the Sith Lord angled his lightsaber and pointed it directly at her abdomen. Every nerve in her body was exploding in white-hot pain, and she knew there was no way she could muster the concentration necessary to break his Force grip. Inside, she was screaming. Disbelief, shock, and anger coursed through her broken body. She was going to die, here and now, utterly defenseless. After all she'd been through in the past six months, after breaking free and finally slaying her captor, and within mere meters of her father's beloved transport, she was going to die on a Sith's blade.

Siberis reared back...and stumbled.

Both he and Jaina felt the Force flow over them with overwhelming intensity. Jaina sailed back and tumbled to the ground. Siberis twisted in midair and back flipped over her prone form, coming to a halt only a few meters away. His aura radiated irritation, and his posture suggested that his patience was finally beginning to wear thin.

Half-propped up on her elbows and coughing violently, Jaina felt a breeze tickle her cheek. The clash of lightsabers followed soon after, and Jaina turned to see Luke dancing the ultimate dance of death with Siberis. Both warriors ducked and weaved as they probed each other's defenses, and the Force roiled around them.

Gasping for breath and clutching her charred wrist to her chest, Jaina turned back to see Ben, Razzir, and Sav already engaged with several of the Sith Sabers. Two of the Sabers, however, had their eyes focused on her. As they strode toward her, their casual gait betraying the confidence they felt, they ignited their lightsabers and held them at their sides.

Jaina's eyes darted as she searched for her own lightsaber, but found nothing. Struggling to stand, she managed to rise to her knees before an unbelievably strong wave of nausea caused her to double-over. Thinking that perhaps Siberis had gutted her afterall, Jaina looked down. Her eyes widened as she witnessed the impossible.

The charred flesh around her wrist began to flake and crack. As it did so, four nubs started to emerge from the center of the stump. A fifth nub followed soon after, and it wasn't long before the distinct outline of a hand began to take shape. Jaina shivered and her breath quavered as a new hand steadily grew from the remains of the lost one. Even the Sith Sabers stopped in their tracks as they witnessed the unlikely regeneration of her sundered limb.

None of them had any time to ponder this unsettling change, however, as yet another wave of queasiness overtook Jaina. She cringed, and failed to stifle a whimper as the nausea morphed into something else...something entirely different, and yet intimately familiar to the young Jedi Master.

"No!" Jaina breathed, hunched over as terror seized her.

***

"It worked!" Chimed C-3PO, undulating his metallic arms in jubilation. The protocol droid's photoreceptors beamed as his golden digits danced over the control console in front of him. Surrounding the droid were a myriad of parts and robotic innards, most more than a little carbon-scored. Included in the mechanical mess was the heavily damaged chassis of R2-D2. The little astromech's dome was missing, and a series of cables were linked to various ports along his exterior.

"Artoo?" Threepio queried expectantly. When he received no reply, he began tapping in a new sequence of data. Designed for inter-species relations, and not electrical engineering, Threepio's efforts were halting at best. The sheer fact that he had even managed to upload Artoo's subroutines into the Falcon (with limited power, no less) was nothing short of miraculous. Now all he needed to do was to patch Artoo's linguistic algorithms into the _Falcon'_s comm system. That part, unfortunately, wasn't going so well.

"Artoo, can you hear me?" Threepio tried once more, quirking his expressionless face as awaited a reply.

Beeep-*STATIC*-Broop-Bleep!

"Artoo!" Threepio wailed in elation. "Bless the Maker, you're ali-wait, what do you mean whoever repaired you did a sloppy job? You just listen here you ungrateful slag heap, I-"

Twoodle-Bleep-*STATIC*

"That's right you're in my debt, and don't you forget it." Threepio shot back haughtily. "More importantly, however, you must restore main power to the Falcon."

Beep

"Why?" Threepio looked at the console, incredulous. "So we can escape!"

Tweedle-Blurt-Bleep

"I don't know where the others are...dead, most likely." Threepio mused, his tone suddenly morose.

*Whistle*

"Well, no...I suppose I didn't check to see." Threepio considered in response, before fixing the console with a withering gaze. "But then who would've fixed you?"

Bleep-Bloop-Tweedle-Dwrooo

"I beg your pardon." Threepio fumed, rising from his chair. "I am not too cowardly to see for myself!"

The door leading into the room suddenly wrenched itself open, and a shadowy figure sidestepped through the narrow gap. Threepio whipped around and threw his arms up shield himself.

"Oh!" He cried in alarm, looking away. "I surrender, don't destroy me!"

"Easy, Threepio." Croaked Leia's voice as she held her ignited lightsaber aloft. The weapon's cyan glow flooded the room, illuminating Threepio and the ghastly scene that surrounded him.

Leia grimaced.

"I need the emergency medical supplies." She demanded, pushing aside the obvious carnage from her mind. "And...what're you doing with Artoo?"

"He, well..." Threepio began, but simply allowed his photoreceptors to fall on the slain Jedi in the room. Leia nodded grimly.

"They weren't the only ones." Leia sighed, jumping over the bodies as she searched for the compartment that contained the Falcon's emergency supplies.

"Not Captain Solo!" Threepio gasped.

Leia said nothing as she rummaged through the room.

"You hear that, Artoo?" Threepio cast a glance at the console. "If you don't restore main power soon, Captain Solo will die! Oh, how dreadful..."

"Artoo?" Leia frowned. "I thought-?"

"Oh, I managed to transfer his operating system to the Falcon." Threepio supplied helpfully. Leia thought she detected a hint of pride in the droid's tone. "He's been fully integrated into the ship's main computer."

As if to prove the point, the lights inside the room flickered and a low hum began to emanate from the Falcon itself. Leia looked up just as the lights were fully restored, and Threepio took an involuntary step back.

"Mistress Leia!" He cried, servos whining as he gestured. "Your eyes!"

Leia lowered her gaze to Threepio, and closed her eyes as she nodded.

"I know." She replied quietly, before raising her hands into view. Threepio could see that not only had Leia's eyes darkened to complete blackness, the former Princess of Alderaan's fingernails had lengthened considerably. Worse, the droid's sensitive photoreceptors could see that the nails were still sharpening, albeit slowly.

Leia lowered her hands and went back to looking for the supplies.

"The_Falcon'_s breached." She explained, suddenly sounding very distracted. "I wasn't wearing my rebreather..."

"Oh dear..." Threepio bemoaned, his frame slumping. "What about-"

"Jaina engaged the Sith as I tended to Han." Leia snapped, cutting off the droid as she surmised his line of thought. Realizing her outburst was unwarranted, Leia sighed and softened her tone. "The last thing I heard was transparisteel shattering...and the last thing I felt from her was...agony."

Tweep-Dooo-Bleep

"Artoo says that the _Falcon'_s external sensors will be online after-" Threepio began, before a faint scream echoed through the ship's now brightly-lit corridors. Threepio cocked his head as he increased power to his auditory sensors. Leia, however, cringed and fell to her knees; in the Force, the scream came through extraordinarily amplified...an unbearably shrill echo.

"Mistress Leia!"

***

Luke held his guard low as Siberis advanced on him once more. The Sith's blade was angled for a belly strike, and Luke had no desire to see his internal organs up-close.

"You should not have intervened, Master Skywalker..." Siberis taunted mildly, launching a few exploratory strikes against Luke defenses. The Jedi Grandmaster batted the attacks aside, and made a few test strikes of his own. As he expected, the Sith parried each and every one of them. "You have only perpetuated her false sense of hope."

"Perpetuated?" Luke mused, feinting to the right in a bid to draw the Sith out. "Or merely affirmed that it was never false to begin with?"

"Jedi double-talk." Siberis crooked a grin, not taking the bait and remaining in a guarded stance. "Just another weakness that will be purged from this galaxy."

"Someone already tried that." Luke offered helpfully as he mirrored Siberis's stance, content to wait and allow the Sith's natural overconfidence and lack of patience to undo him.

It was the weakness of all Sith, after all.

"Palpatine wasn't the Sith'ari." Siberis rejoined cooly. "His failure was inevi-AGH!"

Siberis stumbled and grasped his skull as an ear-splitting cry tore through the Force. Luke, too, cringed and took a step away back as the echo reverberated through his mind. For a moment, both warriors stood stunned and unguarded. Luke could hear gasps and shouts of pain behind him and figured the others must be experiencing the same unpleasant echo. One voice in particular, however, caught his attention; it belonged to the same being that'd just seared the Force with their pain.

Jaina.

***

"NAAGHHHHHH!" Jaina screamed suddenly as she fell onto her hands and hunched her back, the nausea in her belly having turned into a raging fire. She could feel the Force swirling around her, lightly grazing both her flesh and her mind. Her eyes squeezed tightly shut, she tried with what little strength she had left to ward off what she knew was coming.

"It's...not...possible!" She grunted. Her fingers gripped at the dirt and grass beneath her, and as she opened her eyes, she could see the nails on all ten digits beginning to tear through her gloves. Jaina's lip quivered, and she suddenly bit it as a pressure began to build near the base of her spine. Shaking, a whimper emerged from her throat as the synthetic material covering her bottom began to stretch and rend.

The two Sabers near her shook their heads as they began to recover from the stun effect of her scream. The two had already seen Jaina regrow an entire hand. The sight of her simply growing caused them to recoil.

Jaina paid them no attention. In truth, she couldn't. Her body was morphing at an accelerating pace, and she simply couldn't stop it. The seams of her flight suit were beginning to strain and pull apart, while the existing tears in the suit tore ever wider. Jaina shook her head and half-sobbed, half-groaned as she grabbed her skull with both hands. Her boots were becoming agonizingly tight, and the thick nub of flesh emerging from her tailbone was lengthening rapidly.

"Why...errgghh...have you done this...to me!?" Jaina growled through teeth that were growing more pointed by the second. "You said...uhhgghh...said you cured..."

***

"Oh my, are you hurt!?" Threepio rushed to Leia's side. As he helped her to regain her footing, she leaned on him for a moment before a wave of discomfort washed over her.

"Worse." Leia breathed as sweat began to form on her brow. "My concentration's been weakened. I'm losing containment over the virus..."

Even as she spoke, her robes were starting to feel just a little looser in places, and tighter in others. Taking a deep breath, she motioned toward the door.

"Get to the cockpit. I have a feeling we can't wait for a full sensor diagnostic." She urged, heading toward the door herself. "Artoo, try to form a link with the Falcon's belly turret. We'll go from there."

"But Mistress Leia," Threepio began hurriedly, even as Leia was practically shoving him through the partially open doorway, "what about Captain Solo? We haven't found the medi-"

"The best treatment for Han, for all of us, is to get off this planet." Leia shot back, edging past the dawdling protocol droid and sprinting toward the cockpit. "Artoo, how about that link?"

Bwoop-Bwoop-Tweedle-Bleep

"Artoo says the turret is primed and combat-ready." Threepio called after her.

Leia failed to reply.

Fearing she may have collapsed again, Threepio threw caution to the wind and tried to accelerate on limbs hardly designed for sprinting or running of any kind. Still, he managed to eventually make it to the cockpit. There, rather than prone on the _Falcon'_s deck plating, Threepio found Leia simply staring out through the shattered remains of the ship's canopy. Moving closer, Threepio looked over her shoulder and spied at last the scene that had captured Leia's attention.

***

"So the beast returns..." Siberis almost spat the words. Both he and Luke gazed on Jaina as her body spasmed and swelled. For the moment, neither warrior appeared interested in crossing blades. One looked on in concern, while the other viewed the scene with disgust. Both, however, pondered the ramifications Jaina's transformation.

"Yin didn't cure her." Luke deduced, keeping one eye on Siberis.

"Obviously." Siberis replied casually. Before Luke could react, the Sith's blade was twirling through the air and heading straight for Jaina. Unable to stop the blade, Luke did the next best thing and merely nudged its trajectory. Rather than bisect his niece, the crimson lightsaber burned through the necks of the two Sabers advancing on her. Luke turned and brought his weapon around, but Siberis was prepared. The Sith Lord ducked the blow and kicked at the Grandmaster's elbow. Luke winced as the powerful strike caused his arm to erupt into tiny pinpricks of pain. Luke allowed the blow to twist him around, and as he did, he brought his own leg up in a roundhouse kick.

Siberis caught the attack against his neck and tumbled away. The hair on the back of Luke's own neck prickled, and he fell prone just as the Sith's tossed lightsaber came sailing back to its master. Siberis rolled to his feet and snatched the blade with minimal effort.

Luke glanced back at Jaina, and could see she'd grown significantly. Her flight suit was in two pieces now. The top portion did nothing to cover her abdomen, and it was clear the bottom portion was deteriorating rapidly. A short length had emerged from the seat of her pants, and it was quickly becoming covered in coarse-looking, brown fur. As Luke took a moment to look closer, he could see that the same fur was beginning to spread across her flesh.

The hum of a lightsaber brought Luke back to his more immediate problem, and he somersaulted to avoid Siberis's overhead thrust. Luke whirled to his feet and calmly motioned for a nearby tree. The ground surrounding the enormous deciduous plant trembled for a brief moment, before the entire tree was wrenched free. Luke wasted no time in launching the entire thing at Siberis, while tossing his own lightsaber as well.

Siberis split the trunk down the middle, as Luke had guessed he would. The Sith was just starting to move forward when he caught sight of Luke's blade spinning toward him at an extreme velocity. Siberis pivoted away, but no quickly enough. The verdant lightsaber nicked the Sith Lord on the side of his cheek and burned through a portion of his cowl.

Siberis hissed in indignation and touched a hand to his charred flesh. Turning, he glared at Luke.

"That," he said seethed, "was a mistake."

***

Jaina had her hands wrapped around her exposed belly as she felt herself growing yet again. Already, he toes were shredding through the front of her boots and her flight suit in general was little more than a tattered memory. Centimeter-by-centimeter, she was becoming more and more exposed. And second-by-second, she was becoming more and more a beast.

Still, something else was beginning to trouble her. Unlike the first time she'd succumbed to Yin's virus, Jaina was starting to feel...flushed. Something about this change was actually arousing her. The fire that had originated in her belly had all but transferred itself to her loins. Her skin was red-hot, and she knew that she had to be blushing. The feeling was becoming almost...euphoric.

"This shouldn't feel...ooohhh...so..." Jaina moaned, trying in vain to suppress the arousal she felt. Though preferable to overwhelming pain, Jaina really didn't think now was the appropriate time to feel, well, good. Still, the urges built, and try as she might, Jaina couldn't stop one of her trembling hands from snaking down and gingerly cupping the crotch of her shredded flight suit.

Bad idea, she realized swiftly.

Her womanhood was soothingly warm and slick excitement, and as soon as she'd placed her palm against it, the heat throughout her body had surged. The fur erupting from her skin began to spread more rapidly, and Jaina gasped as her spine cracked and popped. The leather surrounding her feet began to split at the seams, and it wasn't long before Jaina's enlarging feet were completely exposed. Her toes dug at the ground, merging together and swelling as the bones within melded and grew. Jaina's breathing grew erratic, and she tried to smother a shuddering moan as her toes merged into three enormous digits, but failed. Jaina's fell forward onto her hands, watching helplessly as they too swelled and distorted right before her eyes.

"Can't...noooo..." Jaina tried to say, whining in defeat as her body continued to broaden. The remains of her flight suit snapped off her body like a taut rubber-band, and Jaina found herself completely nude, changing into a monster, and dripping like a love sick teenager. The harder she tried to resist, though, the more incredible the sensations became. It wasn't long before she was essentially shivering with a mixture of ecstasy and power.

The Force continued to coalesce around her, surrounding her in a shimmering cocoon of brilliant energy. Jaina could feel it absorbing into her, filling her every cell in her body with inconceivable power and vitality. As she felt herself nearing release, she could feel her consciousness beginning to slip. Fear gripped her, and Jaina tried one last time to repel the changes sweeping over her. Gritting her teeth, her grunts steadily warped into animalistic growls. She whimpered in pleasure as the bones of her jaw and nose cracked and reformed sporadically, until finally, Jaina howled in climax.

Down on all fours, her brown hair and fur a tangled mess, Jaina fixed her now amber eyes on the first thing she saw.

Siberis.

Her eyes widened, and her fur rippled with animalistic rage. In a blur, her speed exponentially enhanced by the whirlwind of Force energy suffusing her cells, Jaina was on him. The Sith Lord turned, and just managed to lunge backwards before Jaina's dagger-like claws could impale him. Siberis back flipped and stretched out his own hand just as Jaina made another leap at him. Electricity poured from his fingertips and caught Jaina square in the chest, throwing her back and slamming her against a nearby tree.

Growling menacingly, Jaina righted herself, even as she caught sight of Luke. The Jedi Grandmaster looked at her, unsure. Jaina bared her fangs and went on the attack yet again, this time intent on rending the flesh from Luke's bones. Surprised, Luke tumbled, and barely had time to bring his lightsaber up to catch a volley of Force Lightning from Siberis. He was forced to leap into the same tree Jaina had just impacted as his niece took another flurry of swipes at him.

Luke looked down at Jaina with a mixture of concern and Jedi calm. She resembled a member of the Shistavanen species, although far more bestial in form and far more aggressive. Her presence in the Force was unstable and chaotic, making her both difficult to read and predict. Her mind had clearly been subsumed, and Luke knew that any attempt at Force persuasion would only end in failure. Still, the Force was incredible, and had many applications. One of those applications even allowed for the taming of a wild beast.

"Calm." Luke whispered through the Force, sending eddies of peace in her direction. "Friend."

Jaina roared in frustration, and both Luke and Siberis felt the Force begin to quake, just as the latter was preparing to hurl another barrage of Force Lightning. A blast of raw Force energy exploded in all directions from Jaina's body, shattering the tree Luke was perched in and doing the same to Siberis's hastily erected shield. Both warriors went flying in opposite directions.

Siberis landed on his back nearly ten meters from where he'd been only moments before. Groaning, he lifted himself upright. As he did so, a peculiar mechanical whine caught his attention. Furrowing his brow, Siberis half-turned and found he was staring down four conjoined barrels that were actively tracking his every move.

"Good news!" Came an irritatingly hollow voice from somewhere above. "Artoo says the external sensors are back online!"

Tweep-dwoodle-beep

"And there's a Sith Lord right under our nose!" The voice translated, aghast. A human female poked her head through the wreckage of the ship's cockpit.

"Leia Organa Solo..." Siberis intoned, glancing up at the woman.

Leia raised a single eyebrow.

"Well then by all means, Artoo," She said coolly, "fire."

Siberis raised his hands in front of him, and immediately felt the searing bolts strike his palms. Each bolt drove him back and staggered him, and he was finding it increasingly difficult to absorb each attack. Gritting his teeth and averting his eyes to shield them against the brilliant bursts, Siberis rolled.

The blaster bolts followed, and the Sith Lord found himself leaping and sprinting simply to stay one step ahead of this Artoo. As he evaded the turret's concentrated fire, Siberis tried to take stock of the situation. He could see only three of his Sabers still fighting, and all three Jedi remained on their feet. Siberis sighed, even as he dashed behind a small outcropping of rocks.

The Sith Lord was no fool, nor was he oblivious to the tactical snafu he found himself in.

Drawing the Force to him, Siberis scowled in mild annoyance as he allowed it to enter his body and in a sudden flash of light and thunder, he was gone.

***

"What do you mean no target?" Threepio asked skeptically. "He's behind those rocks. Keep firing, Artoo!"

Tweep-dood-beep

"You_are_ the ship's sensors!" Threepio waved his arms, exasperated.

Leia heaved an impatient sigh (the virus was becoming almost overwhelming to the experienced Jedi) and jumped down from the cockpit. Lightsaber in hand, she moved forward slowly; she dared not use the Force to enhance her speed, as she was well aware of the consequences of doing so while infected. Edging toward the outcropping, she lowered herself against a carbon-scored stone and gathered her strength.

Then, she leapt.

And found no one.

Frustrated, Leia glanced over and then really wished she hadn't. What had been her daughter was now stalking her brother like a cold-blooded predator. Luke, like the serene Jedi Master that he was, simply kept backing up. His pace was measured; not too fast so as to trigger Jaina's instinct to attack, and not too slow so as to keep Jaina at a distance. Jaina's amber eyes burned with intensity, clear as day even at this distance. A low humming caught Leia's ear, and she turned to see Luke's commandeered vessel rising from the ground.

"Kark." Leia muttered, watching the vessel's ion drives flare to life. Reaching for the comlink, she hastily opened a channel to the Falcon. "Artoo, form a link with the topside-oh...never mind." Leia belayed the order, dejected. Siberis was all but gone. Closing her eyes, she shuddered as another wave of changes threatened to overwhelm her.

Another sound caught her attention; a humanoid's death cry.

Spinning on her heels, Leia dashed toward the still raging confrontation between Siberis's Sabers and the remains of the Jedi strike team. Lightsaber in hand, and well aware that she'd have to call on the Force if she intended to aid her companions, Leia ignited the cyan weapon and went on the offensive the moment she closed the distance.

***

"Easy, Jaina." Luke spoke softly, sending waves of soothing peace through the Force as he matched his niece's circling steps. Jaina twitched with agitation, and she growled menacingly. In the Force, she was an inferno of uncontrolled power; a chaotic maelstrom of primal energy. Even as Luke poured calm into the Force, the chaos that was Jaina's presence tore it asunder. Her fury lanced through the Force in unpredictable pulses, and it wore against Luke's concentration. Raising his hands in a non-threatening gesture, Luke repeated his attempt to tranquilize Jaina. "If you can hear me, Jaina, you must control yourself. You must-"

Luke ducked and back flipped as Jaina pounced and unleashed a flurry of vicious swipes against him. Her speed was astonishing, and though Luke was managing to stay one step ahead of her, the task was far from easy. Neither stayed in one place for more than a nanosecond, and each existed as formless blurs as the Force lent them both supernatural speed and agility. Further and further they flipped and dashed away from the Falcon, Jaina driving Luke past the nearby tree line and, eventually against a craggy cliff-face.

The proverbial dead-end, Luke mused dryly.

Still, despite the danger he found himself in, he refrained from ignited his lightsaber. The Jedi Grandmaster had no intention of harming his niece, even if she was intent on dismembering him. Right now, Luke had only one goal, and that was to simply stay out of her reach.

Well, that, and save her.

Twisting away from one of her attacks, Luke made a snap decision, well aware that failure would likely mean his death. He could feel the Force gathering in Jaina, a pent-up wellspring of destructive energy on the brink of being released. If he didn't act now, Jaina would release that power and even Luke couldn't guess how much ruin might be done. Jaina roared, and Luke came to a standstill. Trusting in the Force, he closed his eyes and raised one hand towards Jaina.

"Remember..." His voice echoed from within both his own mind and Jaina's, causing the latter to stumble. The energy burning at her core began to fluctuate, and Luke knew he'd gained a foothold in the frenzied anarchy that was Jaina. Unwilling to sacrifice his advantage to hesitation, Luke delved deeper. Jaina screeched, enraged at the intrusion and raised five, clawed digits against him.

"Remember who you are..." Luke pressed, calling on a powerful technique he'd learned from the Listeners, and had used against Abeloth to liberate an old friend. Memories of his niece as a young child bubbled up into his thoughts, and streamed into Jaina's own mind. The beast in front of him recoiled and gripped her head, whimpering in confusion.

Images of a young girl and her brother saving their comatose uncle from the servants of Exar Kun flooded Jaina's mind, and she gripped her unruly hair in frustration. The fur covering her body began to recede, and the claws on her fingers and toes were starting to shrink steadily. More memories invaded her consciousness, and Jaina shuddered helplessly. The destructive power within her had all but dissipated. Luke's comlink chimed suddenly, but he ignored it; he dared not divide his attention at this crucial junction.

"You are Jaina Solo Fel," Luke continued with his mnemotherapy, "Jedi Master and Sword of the Jedi Order."

Jaina howled as the image of a young woman piloting an X-wing fighter burst into her mind. The woman appeared confident, with a lopsided grin on her lips, as she vaporized a pair of Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers. Jaina's bones popped and crunched as her bestial physique began to revert, and she fell to one knee. The coarse, brown fur was but a memory itself now, and her once bushy tail had become nothing more than a rapidly shrinking nub. Luke's comm rang out yet again, but still, he paid the device no heed.

"You've borne more hardship than anyone should ever endure."

"UUUGGGgghhh..." Jaina groaned, her snout withdrawing into a normal human visage. The images were coming faster now, snapping into place like puzzle pieces. The young woman was back, bruised and burned, and weeping over the body of a severely wounded boy. The image quickly shifted, and the young woman was older now. This time she was hugging a fallen man in dark robes, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"But your strength has never faltered." Luke whispered, drawing on the Force more heavily now. "Nor has the love that fuels it."

"Unnhhh...uncle..." Jaina murmured, seeing the woman one last time before darkness consumed her consciousness. She was dressed in an all-white wedding gown, standing beside a strikingly well-dressed man, and surrounded by a crowd of jubilant individuals. The woman and man shared a warm kiss, before turning to the others and smiling brightly.

Suddenly, at that point, Jaina recognized the woman for who she truly was.

Herself.

With a barely audible gasp, Jaina collapsed to the ground, unconscious, but her humanity restored.

Luke opened his eyes, and gazed down at his niece. Concern and sympathy darkened his features. Removing his outer robe, he gently placed it over her still form. For a third time, his comlink demanded his attention and Luke decided that now was a safe time to answer.

"Finally!" Came his son's voice over the static-filled channel. "Where have you been?"

"I was...indisposed." Luke replied simply. "I take it the Sith has escaped, given that you're not?"

"In the ship we arrived in, no less."

Luke winced. Not only had the Sith stranded them on the planet, given the _Falcon'_s insecure hull, but he'd also managed to take a prisoner.

Captain Ceeda.

Luke shook his head, not quite sure how the situation could get any worse. But if there was anything he'd learned in his sixty-plus years in this galaxy, it was that things could always get worse.

"And that imperial fleet in orbit is preparing to bombard our position." Ben added flatly.

Luke sighed.

"Get back to the Falcon, and-"

"We're already here." Ben interjected. "But with the-"

"I'll explain when I get aboard." Luke cut back in. "Just make sure the engines are primed and we're ready for takeoff."

"Will do." Ben replied dutifully, before adding, "What about Jaina?"

"I have her." Luke replied solemnly. "Skywalker out."

Kneeling, he wrapped his arms under Jaina and lifted her. Cradling her close to his chest, Luke turned and made his way to the Falcon.

***

"Come again?" Ben cocked his head in confusion as his father strapped Jaina into a chair. Luke fastened the last strap, and made sure it secure. Satisfied that it was, he turned to his son.

"I'm going to try to form a Force bubble around the Falcon, which should serve as a buffer between us and the vacuum of space." Luke explained once more. "If I'm successful, Artoo will make for orbit."

"And what-"

"I've placed Leia in a Force-induced stasis, but Han's too weak." Luke interrupted, guessing his son's next question. "That's where you come in...Threepio recovered the emergency medical supplies. Han needs more than what's available, but Leia did an admirable job of stabilizing him. You need to keep him that way."

Ben nodded.

"Good." Luke patted his son on the shoulder and made his way toward the cockpit, just as a weary-looking Razzir took up positon near Jaina. Though she, Sav and Ben had successfully killed the Sabers, the price had been dear. Sav, like the majority of the Jedi strike team who'd taken part in this mission, wouldn't be returning home.

"Artoo, plot a course for Ossus." Luke's voice echoed from the cockpit, and moments later, Ben could feel the Falcon begin to rumble. The whine of mechanical servos caught his attention, and he turned to see Threepio shuffling toward him with a large medical case.

"Let's get to work, then." Ben said, taking the supplies from Threepio.

***

Ossus, Jedi Temple.

Surgical Wing

18:49 hours

"I don't understand how," Cilghal began, raising a webbed hand to her chin as she studied the results of Jaina's medical findings, "but the virus appears to have mutated. It's actually become intertwined in her genetic code."

"It's permanent." Luke drew the conclusion swiftly. Standing beside the Mon Calamari healer, he breathed deeply as he absorbed the implications of that conclusion.

"I'm afraid so." Cilghal confirmed gravely. "Even with the cure that I've synthesized, there's no way to eradicate the virus from her DNA completely. The cure might suppress the effects for a very short time, but the virus will simply reconstruct itself from her own genetic sequences. Once that occurs, well, we're right back at square one, so to speak."

Luke grew pensive. Though the situation sounded grim for his niece, there was at least one silver-lining that he could see.

"You said the cure can suppress the effects?" He asked. "Besides inoculating her for a short time, could the cure also be used to stop a transformation in-progress?"

"Theoretically, I suppose." The Mon Calamari shrugged. "Without testing, I can't say for certain."

"Have you told her?" Luke asked abruptly, taking note that despite being back on Ossus for only six hours, Jaina's bed was already unoccupied. Cilghal nodded her bulbous head in affirmation.

"As soon as she was conscious, I informed her of everything." She replied. "Her reaction was...well, cavalier, to be honest, Master Skywalker. It seemed almost like an afterthought to her."

"And that's when she left the Ward?" Luke cocked an eyebrow.

"Yes." Cilghal affirmed. "Despite all she's been through, I've never seen a humanoid recover so quickly. On the surface, she's completely healed, though her internal injuries will require at least a few more days. Still, not even a Jedi healing trance can replicate that kind of convalescence."

"How is that possible?" Luke furrowed his brow, though he suspected that the question was unanswerable at this point. To his surprise, however, Cilghal pointed at the datapad in her hand.

"The virus." She said simply, before adding. "It's mutation was not a random event...it was _engineered_that way."

"Yin."

"Stands to reason." Cilghal agreed. Tapping the datapad, she continued. "We already knew that the virus affected Force-users differently than non-Force sensitives. For Master Solo, Yin appears to have taken it a step further. For the most part, the virus is dormant in her. Even dormant, however, it still augments her physiology considerably. In general terms, the virus has made her stronger, quicker, and more resilient overall. Remarkable, really."

"And?" Luke prodded, noticing Cilghal's slight hesitation. "I get the feeling that's not _all_that's remarkable."

"Correct, Master Skywalker." Cilghal nodded, tapping the pad once more. "The Falcon's external sensors were able to scan Master Solo once they were restored. Using some of our own instruments to interpret the data, I discovered that the Force is similarly amplified whenever she undergoes a transformation."

Luke studied the pad for several moments before handing it back to Cilghal.

"Fascinating." He frowned, genuinely intrigued but extremely concerned at the same time. "The last time I saw readings like that, Jaina was in a state of Force Euphoria...and dying as a result." Luke added grimly, recalling when he, Jaina, and Corran Horn had battled Abeloth on Coruscant.

"Yes, the readings are very similar, which may explain why she appeared stimulated by the experience."

"I've never heard of Force Euphoria causing that kind of...stimulation." Luke countered, hands clasped behind his back.

"Well, generally Force Euphoria causes a sensation of pleasantness, even as the victim's cells are immolating with Force energy." Cilghal held up her hand to forestall Luke. "However, the virus is capable of repairing Master Solo's cells at an astonishing rate. As a result, while a normal victim might burn out after a very brief period of time, Master Solo is capable of drawing in ever greater amounts of energy...which in turn intensifies the pleasure."

"Convenient."

"Not entirely, Master Skywalker." Cilghal cocked her head in what Luke recognized as her species version of a sly grin. "It serves a very important purpose. I mentioned earlier that the virus is dormant most of the time. Well, what triggers it to become active are emotional extremes. Physical trauma, heightened states of arousal, ect. So, becoming extraordinarily stimulated could serve as a catalyst for a transformation."

"Same for losing a hand." Luke added. "Extreme trauma. But I don't understand why it would have such triggers."

"Neither do I." Cilghal admitted, before adding, "However, all things that are engineered are engineered for a purpose. Yin had a purpose for engineering Jaina's virus in this way."

"Indeed." Luke turned toward the door and tapped its console, causing the durasteel portal to slide up. As he stepped through, he turned back to Cilghal. "And since we don't have Yin to question, perhaps his victim might be able to shed some light on this mystery. Any idea where she went?"

"Mess hall." Cilghal replied, angling her head once more.

Epilogue

Jaina tore into her third nerf steak with the same enthusiasm as she had with the first. Dressed in a black and green flight suit, the top of which was wrapped around her waist, Jaina looked less like a Jedi Master and more like a Coruscanti patrolwoman. Despite the injuries she'd sustain only hours before, she appeared unarmed, save for the bandages wrapped around her midsection and barely visible through her white tank top. Surrounding her were plates and utensils nearly licked clean. Chewing, she didn't even wait to swallow her latest bite of food before she raised her second blue milkshake to her lips and drank greedily. Replacing the vessel on the table, she speared hubba chip after hubba chip and shoveled them into her mouth, paying no heed to table manners. Luckily for her, the mess hall was empty at this point, and she dined alone at one of the lengthy tables.

Until now.

Footsteps echoed through the grand chamber as a robed figure entered, but Jaina seemed not to notice. It was only when the figure was standing beside her that she suddenly stopped eating and glanced up. Smiling down at her was the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order and her uncle, Luke Skywalker. Her mouth full of nerf steak and hubba chips, Jaina chewed as quickly as she could and, finally, swallowed.

"Mind if I join you?" Luke asked pleasantly.

"Not at all." Jaina replied even, before grabbing her plate and milkshake with an impish grin. "But I'm not sharing."

Luke's smile broadened, and Jaina's did the same. As she was seated at the head of the table, Luke settled down on the bench perpendicular to her. His light blue eyes roamed over the assorted dishes on the table, and gestured in defeat.

"Well, I suppose I should inform the younglings they're out of luck tonight." He joked coolly. Jaina, who was already taking another long drink of her milkshake, merely shook her head.

"It'll be good for 'em." She replied as soon as she swallowed and wiped away the frothy blue mustache over her upper lip. "They need to rough it a little."

The two shared another brief laugh, before an awkward silence descended on them. Jaina poked at her food, but suddenly found her belly full. Pushing away her plate, she sat there for a moment, seemingly unaware that her uncle was studying her.

"Well, don't stop on my account." Luke offered as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I was only joking, after all."

"I know." Jaina smiled, though it was subdued. "I'm not really hungry anymore. Which is surprising, considering that Garr rarely fed me anything edible."

"You didn't eat?" Luke asked, a little shocked. "For six months?"

"No, I ate." Jaina replied with a dismissive shake of her head. "Just not what Garr served."

"Which was?" Luke inquired, a bit hesitant.

"Sentients." Jaina retorted darkly, her eyes lowered. "He brought them in every so often and demanded that I eat to maintain my strength. I retained enough of myself to refuse, at which point he'd spend around fifteen minutes electrocuting me in a bid to..._persuade_me to reconsider. Once he left, I scavenged what plant matter I could find."

"A poor diet for a krayt dragon." Luke surmised. Jaina merely nodded.

"Yin, though, would occasionally sneak me something more palatable." Jaina grinned faintly. "Even if it was just some nutritional paste tossed on the ground."

"Yin cared for you?"

Jaina looked up at Luke now.

"If it weren't for Yin, I probably would have died of starvation months ago." She replied, her brown eyes dark. "As much as I hate to say it, I owe that sithspawn my life."

Both Luke and Jaina remained silent for some time, each lost in their thoughts. It was Luke who again broke the silence.

"Speaking of Yin, I don't suppose you know why he re-engineered your virus?"

"I don't know." She replied softly, looking at a loss for words. "Before I...changed again, I'd assum-Uncle Luke, I'm so sorry!"

Jaina turned to him suddenly, her eyes pleading and full of guilt. Luke could the remorse in her aura, and it tore at his heart.

"Jaina, it's fine. You weren't in control of your actions." He assured her, placing his hands over hers and squeezing gently.

"But I could have killed you." Jaina persisted, her voice starting to shake. "I could have killed everyone."

"But you didn't." Luke countered. "I'm fine, Ben's fine, and your mom and dad are going to make a full recovery. Even Artoo's being rebuilt, even as we speak." Luke added wryly, trying to lighten the mood. He was pleased to see Jaina's smile gradually return.

"No doubt Threepio is hovering nearby." She quipped. "Now I feel bad for Artoo's mechanic."

Luke nodded in agreement, sincerely pitying whomever had the uneviable task of restoring the little astromech droid.

"Thanks." Jaina said suddenly. "For everything."

"Think nothing of it." Luke replied warmly, before steering the conversation back to the Yuuzhan Vong Shaper. "So did Yin say anything to you after he supposedly cured you?"

Jaina considered for moment Luke's words as she struggled to recall that blurry memory.

"Yes." She said finally, looking back up at Luke. "I remember he that he spoke to me soon after I was human again. He helped me off of the ground, and offered me a spare suit. He'd even pilfered my lightsaber from Garr."

"Which Ben retrieved, by the way." Luke added. "You'll find it in your quarters."

"Good kid." Jaina teased. "I knew my cousin was good for something."

"He tries." Luke smiled. "Please, continue."

"Well, after I got dressed, I grabbed my lightsaber, I started out of the lab." Jaina explained. "I was so intent on killing Garr, I didn't even care what Yin had done for me...or rather, as I know now, what he'd done to me."

Taking a deep breath as she tried to recall Yin's words, she held one finger up as she reconstructed the memory.

"He stopped me, and told me that while Garr may be my enemy," Jaina's eyes moved rapidly, and Luke could tell that she was no longer viewing the present, "the Togorian was not _the_enemy."

"He was referring to this Siberis." Luke inferred, tilting his head. Jaina nodded.

"I realize that now." She said. "But at the time, I was so tired...so angry...I just wanted to fight someone. I didn't have time for riddles."

"Did he say anything else?"

Jaina thought back, and her eyes widened.

"Yes." She murmured.

"What?" Luke probed, leaning forward with a puzzled expression.

"As I was leaving, I heard his voice echo from behind me." Jaina revealed. "He chanted, 'Yours is a restless life, and never shall you know peace, though you shall be blessed for the peace that you bring others. Take comfort in the fact that, though you stand tall and alone, others take shelter in the shadow that you cast..."

Luke's curious expression melted into one of ominous unease.

"I remember when I spoke those words." Luke said. "I suppose it's not difficult to believe Yin could have gained access to-"

"He called me 'Yun-Harla.'" Jaina interrupted. Luke looked at her, confused.

"Your codename from the War?"

Jaina nodded.

"Just before I engaged Garr, Yin whispered into my ear, 'Life is pain, and pain is truth...succeed or fail, you will know the truth, Yun-Harla'"

"Cryptic." Luke shook his head. Jaina, returning from her thoughts, smirked.

"I really hate riddles." Jaina sighed. "Exhausted or not."

"Anything else?"

"No." Jaina replied with a shrug of her shoulders, before leaning back in her chair and fixing Luke with a conspiratorial stare. "How about you?"

"I'm sorry?" Luke raised an eyebrow.

"Any word from Jag?" Jaina crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. "You said he was due back soon, but I haven't heard of any transmissions."

Luke took a deep breath and leaned his elbows on the table.

"I was hoping you wouldn't ask that," Luke responded, his voice low, "or at least not so soon."

"Where's Jag, Uncle Luke?" Jaina repeated, more firmly this time. Her tone was pleasant, but Luke could tell his niece would tolerate no deflections on the matter. "Did he even go to the Unknown Regions?"

"Of course." Luke nodded, "Whether or not he's still there, I can't say."

"Why?" Jaina demanded.

"Because his team was supposed to report back a month ago." Luke admitted with a sigh. Jaina's eyes flared. Luke held up a hand to forestall Jaina's fiery rebuke. "I didn't want to worry you, Jaina. You'd already been through so much when we finally found you. The last thing I wanted to do was-"

"Worry me?" Jaina finished with a scowl. Blowing out her frustration, she rubbed her face and sighed. "Okay, I'm going after him."

"Jaina-"

"Luke, listen." Jaina interrupted as she rose from her chair. "If my husband is in danger, I can't just sit here and do nothing. I know I'm infected with a virus that can't be cured. I know that makes me a wildcard. I know the dangers." Jaina emphasized, placing her hands on her hips. "But there's too much at stake for me to just take it easy. And I'm not just talking about Jag, either. There are millions of sentients out there who've fallen victim to this virus. We have a cure, and it's our duty as Jedi Knights to try and help those in need. Not to mention the self-proclaimed Sith'ari roaming the galaxy, who appears to possess the power to back up that claim, by the way."

"Your point?" Luke asked, serenely looking up at Jaina.

"My point is...I'm still a Jedi, Luke." Jaina replied firmly. "I still have a duty to perform, and I'm still capable of performing it. So please...please don't treat me like an invalid who needs special care." She finished with a subtle shake of her head. Luke considered her argument, and saw the validity of it. He had been planning to suggest that she take some time off and recuperate, while he and the others dealt with the galaxy's many problems. But Luke could see that would've been an error in judgment.

"You're Han and Leia's daughter, there's no doubt." He grinned as he rose from his own chair. He was gratified to see her smile again, a wide and full smile that put her teeth on display. "I'll have Cilghal put together some supplies for you, including several vials of the cure. I don't have to tell you to keep it close to you at all times."

"Thanks, Uncle Luke." Jaina hugged him tightly, and he returned the embrace. "And I will."

"Contact me as soon as you find Jag." Luke pulled back from the embrace and laid both of his hands on her shoulders. "And May the Force Be With You."

***

Captain Ceeda awoke to a world of total darkness. She bolted upright suddenly, and immediately regretted doing so. Her head exploded into blinding pain, and her muscles ached to the point of paralysis. Leaning back against what she assumed was a ship's bulkhead, she groaned in agony. Touching her cheek, she could feel that her environmental helmet had been removed, and panic suddenly gripped her.

The virus.

Willing herself to move, she fell forward and began crawling, not at all sure if she was even heading in the right direction...or if there even was a right direction. For all the twi'lek knew, she was dead, and this was the afterlife.

After a minute of crawling along the ground on her belly, something near her hissed and light flooded the room. Pain lanced through her eyes and Ceeda raised a hand to shield her eyes. Something dark was standing in the middle of the light...a humanoid's silhouette. Ceeda opened her mouth to speak, but found her blood suddenly chilled when the shadow spoke first.

"Captain Ceeda." The horrifyingly familiar voice caused her skin to crawl and her body to shiver. "I'm pleased you're finally awake..."