Anakin needed a healing trance. ( Even a few minutes to stop and rest . . . )

They'd killed at least nine or ten voxyn by now -- Anakin wasn't even trying to keep count any more -- and lost their last combat droid to a coralskipper attack, but the team was intact despite the growing tension in the battle-meld. Anakin wasn't willing to make it worse by adding his stress and concern to the mix, so he'd channeled his father's ( Read more... )

( Anakin, this has to be done. )

( With the rest of the ship's Yuuzhan Vong crew put off in the shuttle and a hyperspace course set for Myrkr, Anakin's team finally had a chance to rest up, repair the droids, and heal a bit. )

( The strike team was still all accounted for when Anakin came to again. )

Lando's staged betrayal of them had been a success, though even knowing that it was all part of the plan hadn't made the entire experience any less terrifying. None of them had to try too hard to feign shock; the whole thing felt too real, and their shared emotions through the battle-meld only made their reaction more convincing.

( As had the knowledge that they were deliberately putting themselves into enemy hands. )

So far, the entire trip had consisted of going over their plan point-by-point and going through training drills with the YVH combat droids who would be accompanying them. ( That might've been more stressful if it wasn't the best way to keep themselves from freaking out over how they were going into a mission with a statistically less than optimal chance of success. )

( No one had made any formal distinctions, but there were effectively three separate groups of Jedi assembled in the crater room on Eclipse Station. )

( Last Sunday night in Fandom, Anakin had been in his dorm room, on the comm with Tahiri. )

Mom had been in the Hapan battle fleet at Fondor, a fact Anakin could confirm because he'd been able to sense her afterward. (Which was a relief.) He didn't envy her the task of trying to repair the damage to the New Republic's alliance with Hapes after this disaster, that was for sure, but he and Jacen had left the system before the cleanup even ( Read more... )