The Jedi Temple- Coruscant- Wednesday afternoon
When you'd been sitting in your quarters doing research on the bounty hunters who'd gone after Valin, you generally didn't expect to be greeted by your dead brother at your door, but that's what appeared to be happening today.
For a moment after Jaina saw the man standing in her doorway, all she could do was stare in shock. This wasn't Anakin as she remembered him, seventeen and dressed in Jedi garments and, you know, dead. He was older, fully adult, and taller, perhaps a centimeter taller than Jacen had been. He wore street clothes in black and crimson and had a professional-quality holorecorder on a strap around his neck.
He smiled as he came in, extending a hand toward her. "Jedi Solo."
"Uh," Jaina said eloquently, automatically shaking his hand with her suddenly sweaty one.
"You probably don't remember me. It's been more than fifteen years," he said. "My name is Dab Hantaq."
"Dab Hantaq," she repeated, frowning. "I know that name."
"During the war, the Yuuzhan Vong War, I mean, I was kidnapped by Senator Viqi Shesh-"
It was an amazing relief to know who he was and that no, he was not in fact her dead little brother come to life, because she could only handle that sort of thing so many times. "-and you were used in her plot to try to kidnap my cousin Ben."
"That's right. You might remember me better as Tarc, the name she gave me."
"Right, right, little Tarc," Jaina said, taking a deep breath as she sat back down, trying to regain her calm. "Have a seat."
Dab looked around, and saw that there was nowhere else to sit. "I'll stand, thanks," he said with a smile.
"What can I- what are you-"
"I've been assigned to you," he said, and unclipped a small identification folder from his belt. "I'm really a documentarian, but also a licensed investigator because that helps, and there was just a mad hiring scramble for people with certain skill sets and any experience with Jedi-"
Jaina looked at him with no small amount of horror. "You're my observer?"
He nodded. "The whole Alliance marshal thing is more a matter of convenience, really. They gave it to me so I could bully my way through all sorts of obstacles when following you around. I'm really more about capturing the moment-"
"This will never work. Never, never."
"Because of my resemblance to your brother," Dab said, sympathetic. "I knew when your name came up for me in the random rotation that it was going to create trouble. Since it's going to cause you distress, I'll have myself put back in the pool."
"Yes. I mean, no. I didn't mean it would cause me distress," Jaina said, distressed. "I meant, this whole observer thing will never work. In general."
"Oh." He paused. "Would you let me record a reaction from you on this whole observer program, something expressing your thoughts?"
"No! That's not part of your observer role, is it?"
"Well, no."
"You aren't recording anything for personal or professional use, are you? Everything you record has to be turned over to the government, right?"
"Uh, sure."
Ugh, this was never going to work. And now she was worried because she was a public figure with famous parents and was dating a galactic leader and she had her dead brother's lookalike following her around as part of the government's stupid plan to make things more difficult and this was never going to work. "Look, I'm in the middle of some record keeping here…"
"I understand," said Dab. "Master Hamner has set up a waiting room for us observers in a chamber off the Great Hall. The old youngling lecture hall, he called it. Did he mean old younglings, or old hall? Never mind. I'll be there. You need to check in with me if you decide to leave the Temple so I can accompany you. And I have to check in with you at intervals to make sure you haven't, you know, wandered off. Sorry."
Stunned, she just nodded. Dab waited to see if she'd say anything, then sort of awkwardly left the room, closing the door behind him.
"Random rotation, my eye," Jaina grumbled. "This is somebody's idea of a joke, and whoever it is will find himself dumped in a garbage compactor."
She quietly freaked out about this in her quarters for a while before deciding that she had to Find Somebody about this and have them Do Something, and that somebody was apparently Kenth Hamner, who she found outside the Masters' Chamber.
"Have you seen my new observer?" Jaina demanded.
"Can you tell me where your mother is?" he asked, equally distracted.
"Come down to the old youngling hall, which he seems to think is a schoolroom for old younglings."
Kenth fell into step beside her. "Is that where your mother is?"
"No, what's where he is. And you know, he's not to blame."
"Perhaps you know where your father is, and could tell me, and he would know where your mother is."
"He's not to blame for looking like my brother Anakin."
"Your father? Of course he's to blame for looking like your brother. I would have thought it would relieve him. It does, most fathers."
"Master Hamner, please concentrate," Jaina said. "Having an observer who looks like my brother can't be coincidence. It's a cruel joke or an insult, and if my mother and father see him, it's going to make them feel very bad."
"Ah. Excellent. Where might your mother and father be, that they might see him?"
They stopped at the former youngling lecture hall, where Jaina spotted Dab and pointed. "That one. Tarc."
Kenth looked and tilted his head. "He does look like Anakin Solo."
"So you think it's a coincidence?"
"You'd have to ask your father about that, too."
"No, no, that he was assigned to me."
"Oh," he said, and shrugged. "Really, I couldn't tell. The assignments are handed out of the Chief of State's office."
"Well, I want him swapped out for someone else," Jaina said, like she couldn't have had Dab arrange for that himself a few minutes ago.
"Then you shall have to contact the Chief of State's office. I am certain she will be receptive to the suggestion. The Jedi are among her favorite people."
Jaina glared at him. "Do you have any dead relatives you'd like to be followed around by?"
He took her by the arm and started leading her away from the door. "You know, you have your mother's mouth. By which I do not mean that the configuration of your chin and lips resemble hers, although they do at certain angles, but that things that come leaping out of your mouth- words, invective, insults- have a distinctive Organa family flavor to them."
"Thank you. What were you asking about Mom?" she asked, beginning to focus.
"Where she is."
"At home, I suspect."
"It appears that the Millennium Falcon took off for space at just past dawn this morning, with your father, your mother, and your adopted sister aboard," Kenth told her.
They'd totally left to escape the observers. Jaina had no way to know that reasoning. But it was totally what they did. She wouldn't have been able to blame them if she knew, either, though she could be kind of mad they didn't take her along to get away from this.
"Oh. Well, perhaps they wanted to take Amelia out for a field trip."
"Into space," Kenth said, doubtful.
"Pretty normal for my family." That was how she'd gotten kidnapped, or nearly kidnapped, a lot of the time. Hell, that was how Allana got kidnapped a couple months ago. Han and Leia should probably stay home more.
"The comm recorder at their quarters, responding to my code, said to make requests for direct contact to the office of Lando Calrissian, Tendradno Arms."
"Well, there's your answer." It wasn't out of the question that they'd go to see Lando and his family. Allana was friends with his son Chance. Visits happened.
"And the office of Tendrando Arms says they do not know where Lando Calrissian is, but they will pass the message along. So I was wondering if you had any other means to get in touch with your mother, any back-door method."
"No, I'm afraid not." It was a total lie. Jaina had ways to get in touch with her parents practically anywhere, but she was so good at this particular lie that even a Jedi couldn't tell that it was anything but the truth.
"Very well," Kenth said.
"I apologize, Master Hamner. Parents like mine, they stay out all hours, they never tell you where they're going, they keep secrets… They're making me old before my time."
He blinked, and Jaina sensed that, somewhere deep beneath his Jedi calm, he was resisting the urge to throttle her. "Very like your mother."
"I need to go off and contact the Chief of State's office," Jaina said. "Can I help you with anything else?"
"No, thank you, I've had all the help I can endure."
[NFB/I, OOC is welcome and happymaking. Dialogue and a few lines from Outcast by Aaron Allston, who I love forever and ever.]
For a moment after Jaina saw the man standing in her doorway, all she could do was stare in shock. This wasn't Anakin as she remembered him, seventeen and dressed in Jedi garments and, you know, dead. He was older, fully adult, and taller, perhaps a centimeter taller than Jacen had been. He wore street clothes in black and crimson and had a professional-quality holorecorder on a strap around his neck.
He smiled as he came in, extending a hand toward her. "Jedi Solo."
"Uh," Jaina said eloquently, automatically shaking his hand with her suddenly sweaty one.
"You probably don't remember me. It's been more than fifteen years," he said. "My name is Dab Hantaq."
"Dab Hantaq," she repeated, frowning. "I know that name."
"During the war, the Yuuzhan Vong War, I mean, I was kidnapped by Senator Viqi Shesh-"
It was an amazing relief to know who he was and that no, he was not in fact her dead little brother come to life, because she could only handle that sort of thing so many times. "-and you were used in her plot to try to kidnap my cousin Ben."
"That's right. You might remember me better as Tarc, the name she gave me."
"Right, right, little Tarc," Jaina said, taking a deep breath as she sat back down, trying to regain her calm. "Have a seat."
Dab looked around, and saw that there was nowhere else to sit. "I'll stand, thanks," he said with a smile.
"What can I- what are you-"
"I've been assigned to you," he said, and unclipped a small identification folder from his belt. "I'm really a documentarian, but also a licensed investigator because that helps, and there was just a mad hiring scramble for people with certain skill sets and any experience with Jedi-"
Jaina looked at him with no small amount of horror. "You're my observer?"
He nodded. "The whole Alliance marshal thing is more a matter of convenience, really. They gave it to me so I could bully my way through all sorts of obstacles when following you around. I'm really more about capturing the moment-"
"This will never work. Never, never."
"Because of my resemblance to your brother," Dab said, sympathetic. "I knew when your name came up for me in the random rotation that it was going to create trouble. Since it's going to cause you distress, I'll have myself put back in the pool."
"Yes. I mean, no. I didn't mean it would cause me distress," Jaina said, distressed. "I meant, this whole observer thing will never work. In general."
"Oh." He paused. "Would you let me record a reaction from you on this whole observer program, something expressing your thoughts?"
"No! That's not part of your observer role, is it?"
"Well, no."
"You aren't recording anything for personal or professional use, are you? Everything you record has to be turned over to the government, right?"
"Uh, sure."
Ugh, this was never going to work. And now she was worried because she was a public figure with famous parents and was dating a galactic leader and she had her dead brother's lookalike following her around as part of the government's stupid plan to make things more difficult and this was never going to work. "Look, I'm in the middle of some record keeping here…"
"I understand," said Dab. "Master Hamner has set up a waiting room for us observers in a chamber off the Great Hall. The old youngling lecture hall, he called it. Did he mean old younglings, or old hall? Never mind. I'll be there. You need to check in with me if you decide to leave the Temple so I can accompany you. And I have to check in with you at intervals to make sure you haven't, you know, wandered off. Sorry."
Stunned, she just nodded. Dab waited to see if she'd say anything, then sort of awkwardly left the room, closing the door behind him.
"Random rotation, my eye," Jaina grumbled. "This is somebody's idea of a joke, and whoever it is will find himself dumped in a garbage compactor."
She quietly freaked out about this in her quarters for a while before deciding that she had to Find Somebody about this and have them Do Something, and that somebody was apparently Kenth Hamner, who she found outside the Masters' Chamber.
"Have you seen my new observer?" Jaina demanded.
"Can you tell me where your mother is?" he asked, equally distracted.
"Come down to the old youngling hall, which he seems to think is a schoolroom for old younglings."
Kenth fell into step beside her. "Is that where your mother is?"
"No, what's where he is. And you know, he's not to blame."
"Perhaps you know where your father is, and could tell me, and he would know where your mother is."
"He's not to blame for looking like my brother Anakin."
"Your father? Of course he's to blame for looking like your brother. I would have thought it would relieve him. It does, most fathers."
"Master Hamner, please concentrate," Jaina said. "Having an observer who looks like my brother can't be coincidence. It's a cruel joke or an insult, and if my mother and father see him, it's going to make them feel very bad."
"Ah. Excellent. Where might your mother and father be, that they might see him?"
They stopped at the former youngling lecture hall, where Jaina spotted Dab and pointed. "That one. Tarc."
Kenth looked and tilted his head. "He does look like Anakin Solo."
"So you think it's a coincidence?"
"You'd have to ask your father about that, too."
"No, no, that he was assigned to me."
"Oh," he said, and shrugged. "Really, I couldn't tell. The assignments are handed out of the Chief of State's office."
"Well, I want him swapped out for someone else," Jaina said, like she couldn't have had Dab arrange for that himself a few minutes ago.
"Then you shall have to contact the Chief of State's office. I am certain she will be receptive to the suggestion. The Jedi are among her favorite people."
Jaina glared at him. "Do you have any dead relatives you'd like to be followed around by?"
He took her by the arm and started leading her away from the door. "You know, you have your mother's mouth. By which I do not mean that the configuration of your chin and lips resemble hers, although they do at certain angles, but that things that come leaping out of your mouth- words, invective, insults- have a distinctive Organa family flavor to them."
"Thank you. What were you asking about Mom?" she asked, beginning to focus.
"Where she is."
"At home, I suspect."
"It appears that the Millennium Falcon took off for space at just past dawn this morning, with your father, your mother, and your adopted sister aboard," Kenth told her.
They'd totally left to escape the observers. Jaina had no way to know that reasoning. But it was totally what they did. She wouldn't have been able to blame them if she knew, either, though she could be kind of mad they didn't take her along to get away from this.
"Oh. Well, perhaps they wanted to take Amelia out for a field trip."
"Into space," Kenth said, doubtful.
"Pretty normal for my family." That was how she'd gotten kidnapped, or nearly kidnapped, a lot of the time. Hell, that was how Allana got kidnapped a couple months ago. Han and Leia should probably stay home more.
"The comm recorder at their quarters, responding to my code, said to make requests for direct contact to the office of Lando Calrissian, Tendradno Arms."
"Well, there's your answer." It wasn't out of the question that they'd go to see Lando and his family. Allana was friends with his son Chance. Visits happened.
"And the office of Tendrando Arms says they do not know where Lando Calrissian is, but they will pass the message along. So I was wondering if you had any other means to get in touch with your mother, any back-door method."
"No, I'm afraid not." It was a total lie. Jaina had ways to get in touch with her parents practically anywhere, but she was so good at this particular lie that even a Jedi couldn't tell that it was anything but the truth.
"Very well," Kenth said.
"I apologize, Master Hamner. Parents like mine, they stay out all hours, they never tell you where they're going, they keep secrets… They're making me old before my time."
He blinked, and Jaina sensed that, somewhere deep beneath his Jedi calm, he was resisting the urge to throttle her. "Very like your mother."
"I need to go off and contact the Chief of State's office," Jaina said. "Can I help you with anything else?"
"No, thank you, I've had all the help I can endure."
[NFB/I, OOC is welcome and happymaking. Dialogue and a few lines from Outcast by Aaron Allston, who I love forever and ever.]