Coruscant, 5 years after Fandom
While Jaina's actions at Qoribu prevented war and saved lives, the fact that she'd gone against the Taat to warn the Chiss meant that she and Zekk were expelled from the nest. This meant resuming life as normal, going back on missions as Jedi, even if Jaina missed the Taat with everything she had in her. And a year after leaving, she couldn't say that her time there with Zekk hadn't left them with some side effects. Namely, they were still bonded to each other.
Blame all the time they'd kept the meld open to each other, but now they seemed to have it open permanently. They were together all the time, they finished each other's sentences, it was often hard to tell who any thought might have come from, because the line between them didn't exist anymore. They were Jaina and Zekk, and slowly, eventually, everyone else had had to get used to the fact that this was just the way they were now. Jaina and Zekk didn't mind it, at any rate. The expulsion from their nest had left them feeling sad and lonely, and it made them feel better to have each other. And sure, sometimes it would be nice to finish your own thought, or to keep something private, but this level of closeness was comforting. Besides, they just worked better together.
They worked better together than the Masters were, at any rate.
Jaina and Zekk didn't know what happened, exactly. Leia and her Master, Saba Sebatyne, had been detained by the Galactic Alliance. Meanwhile, Han and Luke had been reported captives of the Killiks, leaving the Jedi without a leader. With the situation between the Chiss and the Killiks escalating, Cal Omas had just assigned Corran Horn to lead the Jedi without the okay of the rest of the Council. Kyp, of course, wasn't very okay with this or with what Corran intended to do, and put together a squadron to rescue Leia and Saba. Corran, of course, wasn't very okay with this or what Kyp intended to do, and so they weren't even getting clearance to leave the hangar. The only reason Kyp even left his cockpit rather than yelling at Control some more was that Jaina and Zekk assured him that Jacen was on his way, and wanted them to wait.
And when Kyp saw that the people marching into the hangar to meet them were Corran, followed by Kenth Hamner and several others, he turned to frown at Jaina. "That's not Jacen."
"He's on his way," Jaina assured him. She and Zekk could still feel Jacen through their twin bond, but he was being secretive again. That was happening more and more lately, and while it worried them, they were being patient. They would be there when he needed them. But for now, they knew he was coming, and that was all.
"He's too late." Kyp turned back around, then spoke over the squadron-only channel on the comm. "Button back up. We're leaving."
That was probably not the best idea. The rest of the squadron lowered the canopies on their StealthXs, but when Kyp tried to lift off, it led to Corran Force-leaping onto the nose of his ship and slicing a hydraulic line with his lightsaber in order to keep Kyp from going anywhere. That might have been overkill.
"Nizzze move," Izal Waz commed over the squadron channel. "Didn't think Horn had that in him."
"Hold the chatter," Jaina ordered, knowing this was probably going to get bad really quickly. "We don't need any zingers right now."
"Things are tense enough," Zekk added, finishing her thought for the others.
Kyp was already out of his StealthX and headed to confront Corran and the others, so the rest of the squadron opened their canopies again in time to hear Kyp yelling, "...wrong with you? You could have gotten killed!"
"I ordered you to stop," Corran told him.
"I heard you," Kyp said, checking out the damage to his ship. "And look what you did! That's going to set us back three hours."
"It doesn't matter," Corran said. "This mission isn't authorized."
"I authorized it."
Apparently that was the cue for Kyp to flick his wrist and send Corran flying across the hangar by Force push. And then Kenth did the same to Kyp, admonishing, "You were not appointed the leader of the Jedi order. Master Horn was."
"This is getting out of hand," Jaina commed.
"Everybody out," Zekk added.
"But leave your lightsabers in your cockpits," Jaina finished.
"Leave our lightsabers?" Wonetun asked. "They have their lightsabers."
All the more reason for them not to. "Doesn't matter," Jaina said.
"This isn't going to be a fight," Zekk added.
"Yet," Tesar finished.
The others in the squadron actually made it out of the ships and to the fight- yes, it was a fight- before Jaina and Zekk. There weren't any more physical jabs, but there was a lot of yelling among the Masters, talking about how Omas had staged a bogus meeting to give them orders. Once things settled down, the argument only started up again. They didn't seem to realize that maybe this sort of argument was setting a bad example for the Jedi Knights watching and sometimes participating, or they didn't care. And to Jaina and Zekk, it was worrying. Not only were they dithering on what to do because they couldn't decide who was in charge, but this kind of fight, if left to continue, could tear apart the order. Jaina and Zekk had worked literally their entire lives to establish it, and to see it this shaky now was scary. Obviously, they had to break Luke out of the Utegetu Nebula and get him back here.
When Jacen arrived, Jaina and Zekk were the only ones who seemed to notice. Rather than add to the noise, they wandered away from the argument to greet Jacen and Ben as they stepped off their skiff. Ben immediately took off for Jaina, demanding, "Where's Mom? What happened to Dad and Uncle Han and Aunt Leia?"
Well, whatever Jacen told him hadn't worked to soothe a nine-year-old's worries at all. "Nothing," Jaina said quickly, trying for reassuring. "They're okay."
"Why do you think something has happened to them?" Zekk asked.
Ben pointed across the hangar. "Because you're arguing about whether to rescue them or not, aren't you?"
Simultaneously, Jaina and Zekk looked to Jacen for information as to why Ben knew that.
"It's not my fault," Jacen protested. "He could feel it in the Force. So can half the students in the academy, I'm sure."
Simultaneously, Jaina and Zekk blinked and looked back to Ben. "It's not that kind of rescue mission," Jaina told him. "No one's in danger right now."
"The Killiks are sort of holding your father and Uncle Han," Zekk explained. "And we're, um, discussing whether we should allow that."
Ben considered this a moment, then frowned in suspicion. "Why aren't you talking about Mom and Aunt Leia?"
"Because they're in even less danger," Jaina said. "They're being held by the Galactic Alliance, on a Star Destroyer."
"So no one's in danger?" Ben asked.
"Not yet," Zekk said. And this was the truth. Jaina and Zekk weren't so much worrying about their parents' safety. If they'd survived this long doing what they did, it meant that they were good enough at it to take care of themselves. It was the ramifications of everything that worried them.
"Then what's everyone arguing about? Dad wouldn't like that," Ben pointed out.
"There are a lot of things happening right now he wouldn't like," Zekk said. "That's why we're trying to get him back."
"But that's not something you should worry about," Jaina said easily. "Why don't you tell us about your trip?"
"Was it fun?" Zekk added.
Ben had never seemed to have a problem with the weird duality of them these days, maybe due to his own exposure to the Gorog nest, so that couldn't be blamed for his uncertainty. "Uh, yeah." He hesitated for a moment, then frowned. "We went camping on the forest moon of Endor."
Jaina and Zekk gave simultaneous throat-clicks, then frowned and looked to Jacen.
"Ben, tell them about Moon Falls," Jacen prodded. "I don't think Jaina has ever seen them."
"It's awesome!" Ben said, looking a little more energetic about it now. "The upper lake drops over a ledge into the lower lake, and it's so far that the water turns to mist!"
"Tell them how wide the falls are," Jacen said, lifting his hand to ruffle Ben's hair. "And what happens when they face away from the planet."
"Right- the falls just stop!" Ben said. "I guess the planet pulls the lake back or something."
None of this sounded natural to Jaina and Zekk, which was cause enough for suspicion even if Jacen hadn't added in a suspicious gesture while asking leading questions. "And how wide are the falls?" Jaina asked, playing along.
"Twenty kilometers," Ben answered. "You can't even see from one end to the other."
"Astral!" Zekk said, sounding impressed.
"That's pretty big," Jaina said, also sounding impressed. She and Zekk weren't impressed, actually. It was just a waterfall. Their attention was on Jacen, and they stood patiently, waiting to see what he would do next.
What Jacen did was deflect. He turned to Ben, gesturing towards the hangar door, and asked, "Can you tell me who's coming through that door?"
Ben paused, thinking about it. "It must be Nanna."
A second later, then Ben's Defender Droid Nanna stepped though, it was impressive. "Very good!" Zekk said, smiling.
"You can sense droids already?" Jaina asked.
"Naw!" Ben shook his head. "It had to be her. Jacen called her on the way in."
They liked this kid. He'd come a long way since the days when Jaina tried to train him, though at the moment they were reluctant to give the credit to Jacen until they knew what was going on here. But that wasn't Ben's fault. And if he was able to get to the right conclusion anyway, more power to him. "Very resourceful!" she said, proud of him. "Using your mind is-"
"-even better than using the Force," Zekk finished.
"Go meet her." Jacen passed Ben's travel bag to him, then patted him on the back. "Tell her all about our trip to Endor."
"I will!" Ben nodded. "See you, Jaina and Zekk!"
Jaina and Zekk said goodbye, and as soon as Ben had gone, they turned on Jacen. Simultaneously. "Okay, what was that about?" Jaina demanded.
"What?" Jacen asked.
"The head rubbing," Zekk said. "We felt you using the Force."
"It was nothing," Jacen said with a shrug. "Ben saw something upsetting while we were away. I've been using a little Force trick I learned from the Adepts to block it."
"So you didn't go camping on Endor."
"We did. Afterward. I'll fill you in later. But first, what's that all about?" he asked, indicating the fight still going on.
Jaina and Zekk couldn't sense any lie from Jacen there. He wasn't even holding out on them this time, like he did so often now. So for now, they would give him the benefit of the doubt. For now. So they explained what had gone on while Jacen was gone with Ben, about Cal Omas and the Masters, and where their parents were, and what this all had to do with the Killiks. "So now half the order thinks we need to mount rescue missions for Mom and Saba and Dad and Uncle Luke," Jaina finished.
"And the other half thinks we need to support the blockade and intimidate the Colony into pulling out of the buffer zone," Zekk added. "Meanwhile, the Killiks are establishing nests all along the Chiss frontier."
It was alarming how pale Jacen went at hearing that. Jaina and Zekk didn't see him look anything but controlled anymore. "What's wrong?" Jaina asked. "Jacen?"
"It's happening," Jacen gasped.
"What's happening?"
"Another war," he said, still looking completely shell-shocked. "An eternal one."
That wasn't supposed to be happening. They'd stopped the war at Qoribu. It had gotten Jaina and Zekk expelled from their nest and the doublecross they'd pulled to keep the Chiss from destroying the Colony had made things shaky for them on that end, too, but they'd done it. "All right, Jacen," Jaina said. "You're starting to scare us."
"Good," Jacen said. "Because I'm terrified."
With the Masters still fighting, Jacen called Tesar, then Lowie, then Tahiri, to join them, one by one through the Force so no one would see what they were doing. When they were assembled, he began, "I need your help. Now."
Tesar didn't like that idea much, which wasn't surprising. Saba was his mother, and she was being detained by the Alliance. They were supposed to get her now, along with Leia. "Now? Sorry. Master Durron needz us to rescue-"
"That isn't important," Jacen said, shaking his head.
"It's important to us, " Tahiri said. "The Colony is holding Han and Master Skywalker hostage-"
"Free Uncle Luke or not, support Master Horn or oppose him, it makes no difference in the end. I need you to do something that will make a difference."
Lowbacca groaned the opinion that Jacen should tell them what in space he was talking about.
"I had a vision."
That set them all quiet. The last time Jacen had panicked over a vision had been ten years earlier. It had been enough to make him stop using the Force altogether out of fear that something he would do would tip the balance of the galaxy into darkness. "That can't be good," Tahiri said finally, in more of a whisper.
"It isn't," Jacen said. "A war erupts between the Killiks and Chiss, and the Galactic Alliance is drawn into it."
"That is what we're trying to prevent," Tesar said. "That is why we must rescue Master Skywalker and put an end to the Galactic Alliance'z blockade."
"The war has already started," Jacen insisted, "and the Killiks are the only ones who know it."
Now Jaina and Zekk had to speak up. "The Killiks?" She shook her head. "The Killiks are peaceful-"
"The Dark Nest isn't, " Jacen said. And he had a point, Jaina and Zekk remembered. They had learned that the Gorog nest, the Dark Nest, was led by Lomi Plo, a Dark Jedi who had survived the same crash as Raynar. The nest was secret to the rest of the Colony because Lomi wanted it to be, and because she was really in charge. So the Colony had no idea about the Dark Jedi, or the secret nest, or the fact that the Dark Nest wanted a war. That fact was simply erased from the collective memory. "The Dark Nest is leading the Colony astray again. The black membrosia, the Utegetu pirates, who knows what else- it's been working to destabilize the Galactic Alliance for months."
"Because they still want to expand into the Chiss frontier?" Tahiri asked.
"Because the Dark Nest still wants a war with the Chiss," Jacen corrected.
"This one is not so sure," Tesar said. "Why would the Dark Nest want a war with the Chisz?"
"The same reason they did last time," Tahiri said. "To conquer them."
"Remember how their larvae feed," Zekk said. That had been another trick of Lomi's; the Gorog nest used live Chiss captives to store their larvae, and the larvae would then eat the captive. Gorog was the only one that did that, none of the other nests used captives for food. Their captives just tended to become Joiners.
"It can't be easy to expand a nest when you need a constant supply of slaves to lay your eggs in," Jaina added. "A war is the ideal cover. When people disappear, they're casualties, not mysteries."
Jacen nodded. "Exactly. Everything the Dark Nest has done has been designed to neutralize the things that prevented the war last time. The Galactic Alliance is so angry about the black membrosia and the pirates that it won't lift a finger to interfere with the Chiss."
Lowbacca looked toward the argument, growing that the Jedi had been neutralized as well.
"So what do you want us to do, Jacen?" Tahiri asked.
"Stop the war." Jacen took a breath, sending calm through the Force, probably to keep himself steady in relaying this. "In my vision, the war starts in earnest when the Chiss launch a surprise attack against the new Killik colonies."
It was Tahiri who asked the question they were all thinking. It had nothing to do with the meld- she, Lowie and Tesar had been un-Joined for a year- it was just common sense. "If the Dark Nest is causing all this trouble, why aren't we going after it?"
"Two reasons," Jacen said, prepared for that. "First, that's what Master Durron and his squad will end up doing, after they get Dad and Uncle Luke back."
"And second?" Tesar prodded.
"We're either going to be in the middle of the war with the Chiss or stopping it. The Dark Nest will be coming to us soon enough."
The group fell silent, glancing at each other to get a read on what everyone was thinking. It had just been so much easier when they had been at Qoribu. They would have just known what was going through everyone's minds. Finally, Jaina asked, "When do we leave?"
It was really too bad that Jacen was just picking and choosing when to lie his ass off. It was worse when Jaina- and this was Jaina, nothing to do with Zekk- ended up with flashbacks to how Kyp had used her at Sernpidal to further his own vision for the war, thanks to the fact that Jacen used their willingness to help in order to stage a preemptive strike on the Chiss supply depot. While it put off a Chiss attack, it also meant that the fired the official opening shots of the Swarm War. And it was even worse later, when it came out that Jaina's flying style would be recognized by one Jagged Fel, and that given her military history and the fact that she was a sound strategist, she'd take at least some of the blame for Jacen's actions.
Before she'd even left her cockpit, Jaina and Zekk knew their days of being able to trust their brother were over, and they feared they knew where this was heading.
[NFB, NFI, OOC still okay. Dialogue taken from The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning. JACEN IS KIND OF A DICK, SORRY.]
Blame all the time they'd kept the meld open to each other, but now they seemed to have it open permanently. They were together all the time, they finished each other's sentences, it was often hard to tell who any thought might have come from, because the line between them didn't exist anymore. They were Jaina and Zekk, and slowly, eventually, everyone else had had to get used to the fact that this was just the way they were now. Jaina and Zekk didn't mind it, at any rate. The expulsion from their nest had left them feeling sad and lonely, and it made them feel better to have each other. And sure, sometimes it would be nice to finish your own thought, or to keep something private, but this level of closeness was comforting. Besides, they just worked better together.
They worked better together than the Masters were, at any rate.
Jaina and Zekk didn't know what happened, exactly. Leia and her Master, Saba Sebatyne, had been detained by the Galactic Alliance. Meanwhile, Han and Luke had been reported captives of the Killiks, leaving the Jedi without a leader. With the situation between the Chiss and the Killiks escalating, Cal Omas had just assigned Corran Horn to lead the Jedi without the okay of the rest of the Council. Kyp, of course, wasn't very okay with this or with what Corran intended to do, and put together a squadron to rescue Leia and Saba. Corran, of course, wasn't very okay with this or what Kyp intended to do, and so they weren't even getting clearance to leave the hangar. The only reason Kyp even left his cockpit rather than yelling at Control some more was that Jaina and Zekk assured him that Jacen was on his way, and wanted them to wait.
And when Kyp saw that the people marching into the hangar to meet them were Corran, followed by Kenth Hamner and several others, he turned to frown at Jaina. "That's not Jacen."
"He's on his way," Jaina assured him. She and Zekk could still feel Jacen through their twin bond, but he was being secretive again. That was happening more and more lately, and while it worried them, they were being patient. They would be there when he needed them. But for now, they knew he was coming, and that was all.
"He's too late." Kyp turned back around, then spoke over the squadron-only channel on the comm. "Button back up. We're leaving."
That was probably not the best idea. The rest of the squadron lowered the canopies on their StealthXs, but when Kyp tried to lift off, it led to Corran Force-leaping onto the nose of his ship and slicing a hydraulic line with his lightsaber in order to keep Kyp from going anywhere. That might have been overkill.
"Nizzze move," Izal Waz commed over the squadron channel. "Didn't think Horn had that in him."
"Hold the chatter," Jaina ordered, knowing this was probably going to get bad really quickly. "We don't need any zingers right now."
"Things are tense enough," Zekk added, finishing her thought for the others.
Kyp was already out of his StealthX and headed to confront Corran and the others, so the rest of the squadron opened their canopies again in time to hear Kyp yelling, "...wrong with you? You could have gotten killed!"
"I ordered you to stop," Corran told him.
"I heard you," Kyp said, checking out the damage to his ship. "And look what you did! That's going to set us back three hours."
"It doesn't matter," Corran said. "This mission isn't authorized."
"I authorized it."
Apparently that was the cue for Kyp to flick his wrist and send Corran flying across the hangar by Force push. And then Kenth did the same to Kyp, admonishing, "You were not appointed the leader of the Jedi order. Master Horn was."
"This is getting out of hand," Jaina commed.
"Everybody out," Zekk added.
"But leave your lightsabers in your cockpits," Jaina finished.
"Leave our lightsabers?" Wonetun asked. "They have their lightsabers."
All the more reason for them not to. "Doesn't matter," Jaina said.
"This isn't going to be a fight," Zekk added.
"Yet," Tesar finished.
The others in the squadron actually made it out of the ships and to the fight- yes, it was a fight- before Jaina and Zekk. There weren't any more physical jabs, but there was a lot of yelling among the Masters, talking about how Omas had staged a bogus meeting to give them orders. Once things settled down, the argument only started up again. They didn't seem to realize that maybe this sort of argument was setting a bad example for the Jedi Knights watching and sometimes participating, or they didn't care. And to Jaina and Zekk, it was worrying. Not only were they dithering on what to do because they couldn't decide who was in charge, but this kind of fight, if left to continue, could tear apart the order. Jaina and Zekk had worked literally their entire lives to establish it, and to see it this shaky now was scary. Obviously, they had to break Luke out of the Utegetu Nebula and get him back here.
When Jacen arrived, Jaina and Zekk were the only ones who seemed to notice. Rather than add to the noise, they wandered away from the argument to greet Jacen and Ben as they stepped off their skiff. Ben immediately took off for Jaina, demanding, "Where's Mom? What happened to Dad and Uncle Han and Aunt Leia?"
Well, whatever Jacen told him hadn't worked to soothe a nine-year-old's worries at all. "Nothing," Jaina said quickly, trying for reassuring. "They're okay."
"Why do you think something has happened to them?" Zekk asked.
Ben pointed across the hangar. "Because you're arguing about whether to rescue them or not, aren't you?"
Simultaneously, Jaina and Zekk looked to Jacen for information as to why Ben knew that.
"It's not my fault," Jacen protested. "He could feel it in the Force. So can half the students in the academy, I'm sure."
Simultaneously, Jaina and Zekk blinked and looked back to Ben. "It's not that kind of rescue mission," Jaina told him. "No one's in danger right now."
"The Killiks are sort of holding your father and Uncle Han," Zekk explained. "And we're, um, discussing whether we should allow that."
Ben considered this a moment, then frowned in suspicion. "Why aren't you talking about Mom and Aunt Leia?"
"Because they're in even less danger," Jaina said. "They're being held by the Galactic Alliance, on a Star Destroyer."
"So no one's in danger?" Ben asked.
"Not yet," Zekk said. And this was the truth. Jaina and Zekk weren't so much worrying about their parents' safety. If they'd survived this long doing what they did, it meant that they were good enough at it to take care of themselves. It was the ramifications of everything that worried them.
"Then what's everyone arguing about? Dad wouldn't like that," Ben pointed out.
"There are a lot of things happening right now he wouldn't like," Zekk said. "That's why we're trying to get him back."
"But that's not something you should worry about," Jaina said easily. "Why don't you tell us about your trip?"
"Was it fun?" Zekk added.
Ben had never seemed to have a problem with the weird duality of them these days, maybe due to his own exposure to the Gorog nest, so that couldn't be blamed for his uncertainty. "Uh, yeah." He hesitated for a moment, then frowned. "We went camping on the forest moon of Endor."
Jaina and Zekk gave simultaneous throat-clicks, then frowned and looked to Jacen.
"Ben, tell them about Moon Falls," Jacen prodded. "I don't think Jaina has ever seen them."
"It's awesome!" Ben said, looking a little more energetic about it now. "The upper lake drops over a ledge into the lower lake, and it's so far that the water turns to mist!"
"Tell them how wide the falls are," Jacen said, lifting his hand to ruffle Ben's hair. "And what happens when they face away from the planet."
"Right- the falls just stop!" Ben said. "I guess the planet pulls the lake back or something."
None of this sounded natural to Jaina and Zekk, which was cause enough for suspicion even if Jacen hadn't added in a suspicious gesture while asking leading questions. "And how wide are the falls?" Jaina asked, playing along.
"Twenty kilometers," Ben answered. "You can't even see from one end to the other."
"Astral!" Zekk said, sounding impressed.
"That's pretty big," Jaina said, also sounding impressed. She and Zekk weren't impressed, actually. It was just a waterfall. Their attention was on Jacen, and they stood patiently, waiting to see what he would do next.
What Jacen did was deflect. He turned to Ben, gesturing towards the hangar door, and asked, "Can you tell me who's coming through that door?"
Ben paused, thinking about it. "It must be Nanna."
A second later, then Ben's Defender Droid Nanna stepped though, it was impressive. "Very good!" Zekk said, smiling.
"You can sense droids already?" Jaina asked.
"Naw!" Ben shook his head. "It had to be her. Jacen called her on the way in."
They liked this kid. He'd come a long way since the days when Jaina tried to train him, though at the moment they were reluctant to give the credit to Jacen until they knew what was going on here. But that wasn't Ben's fault. And if he was able to get to the right conclusion anyway, more power to him. "Very resourceful!" she said, proud of him. "Using your mind is-"
"-even better than using the Force," Zekk finished.
"Go meet her." Jacen passed Ben's travel bag to him, then patted him on the back. "Tell her all about our trip to Endor."
"I will!" Ben nodded. "See you, Jaina and Zekk!"
Jaina and Zekk said goodbye, and as soon as Ben had gone, they turned on Jacen. Simultaneously. "Okay, what was that about?" Jaina demanded.
"What?" Jacen asked.
"The head rubbing," Zekk said. "We felt you using the Force."
"It was nothing," Jacen said with a shrug. "Ben saw something upsetting while we were away. I've been using a little Force trick I learned from the Adepts to block it."
"So you didn't go camping on Endor."
"We did. Afterward. I'll fill you in later. But first, what's that all about?" he asked, indicating the fight still going on.
Jaina and Zekk couldn't sense any lie from Jacen there. He wasn't even holding out on them this time, like he did so often now. So for now, they would give him the benefit of the doubt. For now. So they explained what had gone on while Jacen was gone with Ben, about Cal Omas and the Masters, and where their parents were, and what this all had to do with the Killiks. "So now half the order thinks we need to mount rescue missions for Mom and Saba and Dad and Uncle Luke," Jaina finished.
"And the other half thinks we need to support the blockade and intimidate the Colony into pulling out of the buffer zone," Zekk added. "Meanwhile, the Killiks are establishing nests all along the Chiss frontier."
It was alarming how pale Jacen went at hearing that. Jaina and Zekk didn't see him look anything but controlled anymore. "What's wrong?" Jaina asked. "Jacen?"
"It's happening," Jacen gasped.
"What's happening?"
"Another war," he said, still looking completely shell-shocked. "An eternal one."
That wasn't supposed to be happening. They'd stopped the war at Qoribu. It had gotten Jaina and Zekk expelled from their nest and the doublecross they'd pulled to keep the Chiss from destroying the Colony had made things shaky for them on that end, too, but they'd done it. "All right, Jacen," Jaina said. "You're starting to scare us."
"Good," Jacen said. "Because I'm terrified."
With the Masters still fighting, Jacen called Tesar, then Lowie, then Tahiri, to join them, one by one through the Force so no one would see what they were doing. When they were assembled, he began, "I need your help. Now."
Tesar didn't like that idea much, which wasn't surprising. Saba was his mother, and she was being detained by the Alliance. They were supposed to get her now, along with Leia. "Now? Sorry. Master Durron needz us to rescue-"
"That isn't important," Jacen said, shaking his head.
"It's important to us, " Tahiri said. "The Colony is holding Han and Master Skywalker hostage-"
"Free Uncle Luke or not, support Master Horn or oppose him, it makes no difference in the end. I need you to do something that will make a difference."
Lowbacca groaned the opinion that Jacen should tell them what in space he was talking about.
"I had a vision."
That set them all quiet. The last time Jacen had panicked over a vision had been ten years earlier. It had been enough to make him stop using the Force altogether out of fear that something he would do would tip the balance of the galaxy into darkness. "That can't be good," Tahiri said finally, in more of a whisper.
"It isn't," Jacen said. "A war erupts between the Killiks and Chiss, and the Galactic Alliance is drawn into it."
"That is what we're trying to prevent," Tesar said. "That is why we must rescue Master Skywalker and put an end to the Galactic Alliance'z blockade."
"The war has already started," Jacen insisted, "and the Killiks are the only ones who know it."
Now Jaina and Zekk had to speak up. "The Killiks?" She shook her head. "The Killiks are peaceful-"
"The Dark Nest isn't, " Jacen said. And he had a point, Jaina and Zekk remembered. They had learned that the Gorog nest, the Dark Nest, was led by Lomi Plo, a Dark Jedi who had survived the same crash as Raynar. The nest was secret to the rest of the Colony because Lomi wanted it to be, and because she was really in charge. So the Colony had no idea about the Dark Jedi, or the secret nest, or the fact that the Dark Nest wanted a war. That fact was simply erased from the collective memory. "The Dark Nest is leading the Colony astray again. The black membrosia, the Utegetu pirates, who knows what else- it's been working to destabilize the Galactic Alliance for months."
"Because they still want to expand into the Chiss frontier?" Tahiri asked.
"Because the Dark Nest still wants a war with the Chiss," Jacen corrected.
"This one is not so sure," Tesar said. "Why would the Dark Nest want a war with the Chisz?"
"The same reason they did last time," Tahiri said. "To conquer them."
"Remember how their larvae feed," Zekk said. That had been another trick of Lomi's; the Gorog nest used live Chiss captives to store their larvae, and the larvae would then eat the captive. Gorog was the only one that did that, none of the other nests used captives for food. Their captives just tended to become Joiners.
"It can't be easy to expand a nest when you need a constant supply of slaves to lay your eggs in," Jaina added. "A war is the ideal cover. When people disappear, they're casualties, not mysteries."
Jacen nodded. "Exactly. Everything the Dark Nest has done has been designed to neutralize the things that prevented the war last time. The Galactic Alliance is so angry about the black membrosia and the pirates that it won't lift a finger to interfere with the Chiss."
Lowbacca looked toward the argument, growing that the Jedi had been neutralized as well.
"So what do you want us to do, Jacen?" Tahiri asked.
"Stop the war." Jacen took a breath, sending calm through the Force, probably to keep himself steady in relaying this. "In my vision, the war starts in earnest when the Chiss launch a surprise attack against the new Killik colonies."
It was Tahiri who asked the question they were all thinking. It had nothing to do with the meld- she, Lowie and Tesar had been un-Joined for a year- it was just common sense. "If the Dark Nest is causing all this trouble, why aren't we going after it?"
"Two reasons," Jacen said, prepared for that. "First, that's what Master Durron and his squad will end up doing, after they get Dad and Uncle Luke back."
"And second?" Tesar prodded.
"We're either going to be in the middle of the war with the Chiss or stopping it. The Dark Nest will be coming to us soon enough."
The group fell silent, glancing at each other to get a read on what everyone was thinking. It had just been so much easier when they had been at Qoribu. They would have just known what was going through everyone's minds. Finally, Jaina asked, "When do we leave?"
It was really too bad that Jacen was just picking and choosing when to lie his ass off. It was worse when Jaina- and this was Jaina, nothing to do with Zekk- ended up with flashbacks to how Kyp had used her at Sernpidal to further his own vision for the war, thanks to the fact that Jacen used their willingness to help in order to stage a preemptive strike on the Chiss supply depot. While it put off a Chiss attack, it also meant that the fired the official opening shots of the Swarm War. And it was even worse later, when it came out that Jaina's flying style would be recognized by one Jagged Fel, and that given her military history and the fact that she was a sound strategist, she'd take at least some of the blame for Jacen's actions.
Before she'd even left her cockpit, Jaina and Zekk knew their days of being able to trust their brother were over, and they feared they knew where this was heading.
[NFB, NFI, OOC still okay. Dialogue taken from The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning. JACEN IS KIND OF A DICK, SORRY.]