Across from the Imperial Storage Center- Coruscant- Saturday
It had been a busy few days for everyone. After returning to the Council with the news from Wuul, they put forth a no confidence vote for Kenth Hamner, who'd been more or less shoved to the sidelines. The other Masters were coming up with a plan to aid Luke without having to deal with the GA, and that meant that someone else had to be assigned to rescue Valin and Jysella Horn, who were still frozen in carbonite at the GA storage facility. Naturally, when you wanted what was essentially a jailbreak/theft, that task went to the Solos. They'd gotten some help, mostly from the Horns and a few of the formerly-insane Jedi, and because Jaina couldn't tell Jag any of it, she'd had to blow him off with a "Can't talk about it" ever since they made up.
Currently she was in an empty chamber in a building across the skylane from the detention center/storage facility along with her parents, the droids and Zekk and Taryn, watching the intel come in from the trackers they'd set up inside.
“They’re on to us,” Zekk said. “GAS knows we’re coming.”
"Not necessarily," Jaina said from her spot between Leia and Natua, across from Zekk and Taryn, where they were looking over a holograph of the building's layout. "We’ve given them plenty of reason to be cautious. Running the pods around to confuse tracking devices could be standard procedure.”
Taryn nodded agreement, then reached up and draped a hand over Zekk’s shoulder. “When she’s right, she’s right,” she said. “Jedi Solo has already embarrassed Colonel Retk once, and Yakas are beyond smart. Of course he would take precautions.”
“What difference does it make if they are just taking precautions? We still don’t know where they’re keeping the pods, and that means we’ll be inside too long. This will be a running battle, not a quick grab.”
Taryn cocked a brow. “Are you suggesting we leave that poor Horn girl frozen in carbonite? I’m afraid I just won’t allow that.”
It was always a little weird, watching Zekk and Taryn. He'd had a thing for Jaina for half their lives, which had been really weird during their time as Joiners when neither one of them knew who was the one feeling what… and now he was engaged to a woman Jaina didn't know all that well and she had very little insight into that relationship. At least Jag and Zekk were friends, albeit ones who'd fought over her once. She liked Taryn, and was happy for them and all, but… weird. Everything with Zekk was just forever weird.
Like now, Taryn's comment seemed tinged with just enough annoyance to signal the start of an argument, and Zekk knew exactly how to handle it. "The decision is Han and Leia's," he said calmly. “And Valin is frozen, too. Don’t forget about him.”
“What makes you think I did?” Taryn turned to Han and said, “If we’re going to do this, I need to get moving. It won’t be easy to make myself look like an uptight female boss, you know.”
"We’re gonna do it,” Han assured her. “But let’s make sure we know what we’re getting into, okay?”
As Han spoke, the green path report suddenly stopped advancing.
“Stang! They just found one of the bugs.”
Zekk turned to Taryn. “Didn’t you say Hapan trackers are undetectable?”
“I did, but they can’t overpower a signal neutralizer,” Taryn said. “If that tracker doesn’t come back online, it’s probably because GAS has a neutralizer in the pod vault.”
The yellow path report suddenly stopped advancing as well. Jaina pointed to it, and asked, "And if that one doesn't come back? Would that be because there are two signal neutralizers in two pod vaults?”
“Probably,” Taryn considered. “If GAS is worried about security, it would make sense to keep the prisoners in separate locations.”
“That’s certainly a possibility, Taryn,” Leia said. “But raiding two locations is going to complicate things, even if we could be sure you’re right. Is there a way to confirm that the trackers are still in operation?”
“They are. I can’t prove it, but our devices use nanotech to fuse with anything they attach to. In less than a second, they become completely invisible. And they mask their transmissions as backgro-”
Taryn cut herself off when C-3PO entered the room, followed by a flustered-looking Seff Hellin… and Jag. Who wasn't supposed to know what they were doing or where they were.
"What are you doing here?" Jaina asked.
“Head of State Fel is requesting an audience with Captain Solo and Princess Leia," Threepio said, and added apologetically, "I asked him to wait in the foyer, but he was most insistent that he be seen at once.”
“It’s okay, Threepio,” Han said, nodding to Leia before they followed Jag and Jaina outside to the outer office.
Jag was alone, which was good. He'd had to be followed almost nonstop by Ashik or his security team since the last assassination attempt, so it was telling that he'd slipped them for this. But that didn't stop Jaina from a half-accusatory, “Let’s start with how you found us."
Because they were supposed to be letting each other do their own thing when it came to work and she didn't want to fight in front of her parents.
“I do have one of the best intelligence services in the galaxy," Jag said with the tiniest of smirks.
“Great,” Han groaned. “If the Imperials know we’re here-”
“There’s no need for concern,” Jag said, raising a hand to stop him. “Ashik assures me that GAS is not aware of you.”
“I need details, Jag,” Han said. “We’re putting a lot of lives on the line here, and Ashik’s assurances don’t cut it.”
“I’m sorry, Captain Solo,” Jag said. “As you yourself are fond of saying: trust me.”
“That might be easier after we know what you’re doing here,” Leia said. “And why you couldn’t wait for us to come out.”
“I couldn’t wait because the Horns aren’t the only ones with a team of GAS agents tailing them. Unless I’m back in the lobby soon, the ones tailing me are going to start wondering if I had some business in the Graser Building other than a meeting that ended...” Jag paused to check his chrono. “...twelve minutes ago.”
“Fine,” Jaina said. “So let’s get to it. What do you need?”
"That's a reversal," Jag said pointedly. "Very well. First of all, I know about the Sith. And the fact that the Jedi have been working with them."
Jaina's jaw dropped, but it was Leia who answered. "The leak couldn’t have come from Wuul,” she said. “He didn’t know about the arrangement with the Sith.”
“Then it’s true?” Jag asked.
"I’m afraid so,” she said. “Our StealthX wing has been trapped here on Coruscant- as I’m sure you’re aware. And Luke and Ben needed some major support to destroy Abeloth.”
“Abeloth?”
"That huge threat I told you about, but couldn't tell you about," Jaina said. Everything about this sucked.
"All right," Jag said, accepting that. Their arrangement had all sorts of problems and they'd both known it from the start, but it was his fault. "If you would be kind enough to explain this Abeloth problem, I’ll fill you in on how I heard about the Sith.”
“Fair enough,” Leia said. Apparently she didn't want or need to get caught up in her daughter's romantic issues for once. “Abeloth is an ancient… well, entity that Luke and Ben found imprisoned in the Maw. When we hid our young ones at Shelter during the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, she made contact through the Force and planted the seeds of the madness that afflicted them recently.”
“I see,” Jag said. “But why would the Sith help Grand Master Skywalker destroy this Abeloth? I would think Sith would be happy to see Jedi Knights going insane.”
“They said Abeloth was driving their apprentices mad, too,” Jaina replied. “It turns out they were just trying to capture her. She’s immensely powerful- and that makes her immensely useful.”
He knew exactly what a problem that was, by the look on his face. "Please tell me they didn’t succeed. “Master Skywalker did destroy her, correct?”
“Well, we thought so,” Han said. “But it turns out she escaped. We think she’s on Pydyr right now, hiding out with the Fallanassi.”
Yeah, that had happened, too.
“I see,” he said. “And the Sith? Do they know where she is, too?”
“Not yet,” Han said.
“Not as far as we know,” Jaina corrected. “But it’s not going to stay that way. These are Sith, Jag- and there are thousands of them, maybe even millions. They’re going to find her.”
Jag shook his head. “Unbelievable. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, you tell me they have," he said, and looked directly at Jaina. "And this is why the Jedi remain determined to launch their StealthX wing?”
“Right."
“Thinking like that, I see why Luke set you up to be Imperial Head of State,” Han said.
“Yes, I must remember to thank him for that someday,” Jag said, sounding super pleased. “In the meantime, you need to contact the Temple. The Jedi should launch now, before the public learns about the arrangement with the Sith.”
“And that’s going to happen how?” Han asked, warily.
“The same way I learned of things. Daala has a vid of Jaina and Lando at the trial on Klatooine.” Jag turned to Jaina. “It’s bad, Jaina. Even I had trouble believing there was an acceptable explanation.”
But he did. And he'd come here and asked about it, and didn't seem intent on trying to stop anything. So while Jaina hated hearing that, she asked, “If Daala has the vid, why hasn’t she released it yet?”
“You Jedi really stirred things up when you sent Saar and Arelis to Blaudu Sextus. Daala wants me to send Imperial fleets to put down the revolts popping up along the rim," Jag said, and almost smiled. “She seems to believe I would actually do that in exchange for not using that vid to embarrass the Jedi.”
Jaina grinned. "And you're letting her?"
"For three days now."
She loved when Jag got sneaky. Loved it. "You're the best."
"It's not entirely for you, Jaina," Jag said evenly. "I’d like the Empire to develop a good relationship with the Jedi.”
Jaina was still smiling. For once, they were actually on the same side, working towards the same thing. Maybe this really could work. "Close enough."
"Unfortunately," Jag continued, "the Pellaeon is preparing to break orbit, and Daala is going to know that I’ve been playing her soon enough. I wanted the Jedi to know before she did.”
“Won’t this kill the deal to bring the Empire completely into the Alliance?” Leia frowned.
“It will,” Jag replied. “But the more I come to know Daala, the more I realize that my Moffs are right this time. We wouldn’t be joining an Alliance, we would be stepping into chains.”
Leia clasped Jag’s forearm. “Thank you for telling us first. That means the world to me- and I know it will mean the world to the Masters, as well," she said, and turned to Han. “I think our decision has been made for us, dear. We have to go after Valin and Jysella now, even if our intelligence isn’t quite complete.”
“Isn’t that what I’ve been telling you?” Han said, clapping Jag on the shoulder. “We owe you one, son.”
“Not at all, Captain Solo,” Jag said. “I’m only doing what’s right for the Empire.”
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Butchered from Vortex by Aaron Allston, who made me fill in a bunch of blanks, the bastard.]
Currently she was in an empty chamber in a building across the skylane from the detention center/storage facility along with her parents, the droids and Zekk and Taryn, watching the intel come in from the trackers they'd set up inside.
“They’re on to us,” Zekk said. “GAS knows we’re coming.”
"Not necessarily," Jaina said from her spot between Leia and Natua, across from Zekk and Taryn, where they were looking over a holograph of the building's layout. "We’ve given them plenty of reason to be cautious. Running the pods around to confuse tracking devices could be standard procedure.”
Taryn nodded agreement, then reached up and draped a hand over Zekk’s shoulder. “When she’s right, she’s right,” she said. “Jedi Solo has already embarrassed Colonel Retk once, and Yakas are beyond smart. Of course he would take precautions.”
“What difference does it make if they are just taking precautions? We still don’t know where they’re keeping the pods, and that means we’ll be inside too long. This will be a running battle, not a quick grab.”
Taryn cocked a brow. “Are you suggesting we leave that poor Horn girl frozen in carbonite? I’m afraid I just won’t allow that.”
It was always a little weird, watching Zekk and Taryn. He'd had a thing for Jaina for half their lives, which had been really weird during their time as Joiners when neither one of them knew who was the one feeling what… and now he was engaged to a woman Jaina didn't know all that well and she had very little insight into that relationship. At least Jag and Zekk were friends, albeit ones who'd fought over her once. She liked Taryn, and was happy for them and all, but… weird. Everything with Zekk was just forever weird.
Like now, Taryn's comment seemed tinged with just enough annoyance to signal the start of an argument, and Zekk knew exactly how to handle it. "The decision is Han and Leia's," he said calmly. “And Valin is frozen, too. Don’t forget about him.”
“What makes you think I did?” Taryn turned to Han and said, “If we’re going to do this, I need to get moving. It won’t be easy to make myself look like an uptight female boss, you know.”
"We’re gonna do it,” Han assured her. “But let’s make sure we know what we’re getting into, okay?”
As Han spoke, the green path report suddenly stopped advancing.
“Stang! They just found one of the bugs.”
Zekk turned to Taryn. “Didn’t you say Hapan trackers are undetectable?”
“I did, but they can’t overpower a signal neutralizer,” Taryn said. “If that tracker doesn’t come back online, it’s probably because GAS has a neutralizer in the pod vault.”
The yellow path report suddenly stopped advancing as well. Jaina pointed to it, and asked, "And if that one doesn't come back? Would that be because there are two signal neutralizers in two pod vaults?”
“Probably,” Taryn considered. “If GAS is worried about security, it would make sense to keep the prisoners in separate locations.”
“That’s certainly a possibility, Taryn,” Leia said. “But raiding two locations is going to complicate things, even if we could be sure you’re right. Is there a way to confirm that the trackers are still in operation?”
“They are. I can’t prove it, but our devices use nanotech to fuse with anything they attach to. In less than a second, they become completely invisible. And they mask their transmissions as backgro-”
Taryn cut herself off when C-3PO entered the room, followed by a flustered-looking Seff Hellin… and Jag. Who wasn't supposed to know what they were doing or where they were.
"What are you doing here?" Jaina asked.
“Head of State Fel is requesting an audience with Captain Solo and Princess Leia," Threepio said, and added apologetically, "I asked him to wait in the foyer, but he was most insistent that he be seen at once.”
“It’s okay, Threepio,” Han said, nodding to Leia before they followed Jag and Jaina outside to the outer office.
Jag was alone, which was good. He'd had to be followed almost nonstop by Ashik or his security team since the last assassination attempt, so it was telling that he'd slipped them for this. But that didn't stop Jaina from a half-accusatory, “Let’s start with how you found us."
Because they were supposed to be letting each other do their own thing when it came to work and she didn't want to fight in front of her parents.
“I do have one of the best intelligence services in the galaxy," Jag said with the tiniest of smirks.
“Great,” Han groaned. “If the Imperials know we’re here-”
“There’s no need for concern,” Jag said, raising a hand to stop him. “Ashik assures me that GAS is not aware of you.”
“I need details, Jag,” Han said. “We’re putting a lot of lives on the line here, and Ashik’s assurances don’t cut it.”
“I’m sorry, Captain Solo,” Jag said. “As you yourself are fond of saying: trust me.”
“That might be easier after we know what you’re doing here,” Leia said. “And why you couldn’t wait for us to come out.”
“I couldn’t wait because the Horns aren’t the only ones with a team of GAS agents tailing them. Unless I’m back in the lobby soon, the ones tailing me are going to start wondering if I had some business in the Graser Building other than a meeting that ended...” Jag paused to check his chrono. “...twelve minutes ago.”
“Fine,” Jaina said. “So let’s get to it. What do you need?”
"That's a reversal," Jag said pointedly. "Very well. First of all, I know about the Sith. And the fact that the Jedi have been working with them."
Jaina's jaw dropped, but it was Leia who answered. "The leak couldn’t have come from Wuul,” she said. “He didn’t know about the arrangement with the Sith.”
“Then it’s true?” Jag asked.
"I’m afraid so,” she said. “Our StealthX wing has been trapped here on Coruscant- as I’m sure you’re aware. And Luke and Ben needed some major support to destroy Abeloth.”
“Abeloth?”
"That huge threat I told you about, but couldn't tell you about," Jaina said. Everything about this sucked.
"All right," Jag said, accepting that. Their arrangement had all sorts of problems and they'd both known it from the start, but it was his fault. "If you would be kind enough to explain this Abeloth problem, I’ll fill you in on how I heard about the Sith.”
“Fair enough,” Leia said. Apparently she didn't want or need to get caught up in her daughter's romantic issues for once. “Abeloth is an ancient… well, entity that Luke and Ben found imprisoned in the Maw. When we hid our young ones at Shelter during the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, she made contact through the Force and planted the seeds of the madness that afflicted them recently.”
“I see,” Jag said. “But why would the Sith help Grand Master Skywalker destroy this Abeloth? I would think Sith would be happy to see Jedi Knights going insane.”
“They said Abeloth was driving their apprentices mad, too,” Jaina replied. “It turns out they were just trying to capture her. She’s immensely powerful- and that makes her immensely useful.”
He knew exactly what a problem that was, by the look on his face. "Please tell me they didn’t succeed. “Master Skywalker did destroy her, correct?”
“Well, we thought so,” Han said. “But it turns out she escaped. We think she’s on Pydyr right now, hiding out with the Fallanassi.”
Yeah, that had happened, too.
“I see,” he said. “And the Sith? Do they know where she is, too?”
“Not yet,” Han said.
“Not as far as we know,” Jaina corrected. “But it’s not going to stay that way. These are Sith, Jag- and there are thousands of them, maybe even millions. They’re going to find her.”
Jag shook his head. “Unbelievable. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, you tell me they have," he said, and looked directly at Jaina. "And this is why the Jedi remain determined to launch their StealthX wing?”
“Right."
“Thinking like that, I see why Luke set you up to be Imperial Head of State,” Han said.
“Yes, I must remember to thank him for that someday,” Jag said, sounding super pleased. “In the meantime, you need to contact the Temple. The Jedi should launch now, before the public learns about the arrangement with the Sith.”
“And that’s going to happen how?” Han asked, warily.
“The same way I learned of things. Daala has a vid of Jaina and Lando at the trial on Klatooine.” Jag turned to Jaina. “It’s bad, Jaina. Even I had trouble believing there was an acceptable explanation.”
But he did. And he'd come here and asked about it, and didn't seem intent on trying to stop anything. So while Jaina hated hearing that, she asked, “If Daala has the vid, why hasn’t she released it yet?”
“You Jedi really stirred things up when you sent Saar and Arelis to Blaudu Sextus. Daala wants me to send Imperial fleets to put down the revolts popping up along the rim," Jag said, and almost smiled. “She seems to believe I would actually do that in exchange for not using that vid to embarrass the Jedi.”
Jaina grinned. "And you're letting her?"
"For three days now."
She loved when Jag got sneaky. Loved it. "You're the best."
"It's not entirely for you, Jaina," Jag said evenly. "I’d like the Empire to develop a good relationship with the Jedi.”
Jaina was still smiling. For once, they were actually on the same side, working towards the same thing. Maybe this really could work. "Close enough."
"Unfortunately," Jag continued, "the Pellaeon is preparing to break orbit, and Daala is going to know that I’ve been playing her soon enough. I wanted the Jedi to know before she did.”
“Won’t this kill the deal to bring the Empire completely into the Alliance?” Leia frowned.
“It will,” Jag replied. “But the more I come to know Daala, the more I realize that my Moffs are right this time. We wouldn’t be joining an Alliance, we would be stepping into chains.”
Leia clasped Jag’s forearm. “Thank you for telling us first. That means the world to me- and I know it will mean the world to the Masters, as well," she said, and turned to Han. “I think our decision has been made for us, dear. We have to go after Valin and Jysella now, even if our intelligence isn’t quite complete.”
“Isn’t that what I’ve been telling you?” Han said, clapping Jag on the shoulder. “We owe you one, son.”
“Not at all, Captain Solo,” Jag said. “I’m only doing what’s right for the Empire.”
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Butchered from Vortex by Aaron Allston, who made me fill in a bunch of blanks, the bastard.]