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Jedi Headquarters, Imperial City, Coruscant
Mara went over to the com station to place a call to Han and Leia, while Luke answered the door. A smirking Tahiri stood behind it, with two well-dressed adults Luke didn’t recognize. The woman carried a briefcase, and slightly resembled Leia. The man carried his jacket over his shoulder, smelling of rotten milk. One glance at Ben, sucking his thumb, and Tahiri’s grin, Luke had a pretty good guess of what had happened.
Tahiri spoke first. "Hey Master Skywalker, this is Claria Daris, Julie’s mom!" She gestured to the woman. "And Richard." She pointed to the man, who smothered a smile and nodded to Luke. "Ben spit up on him."
Luke blinked, extending his hand to Claria. He had been under the impression that no one could leave Naboo. Perhaps she had snuck out too? And was Richard her husband? No...Tahiri hadn’t said parents. Luke wasn’t sure what to say. His small family of eight was growing rapidly. "Hello," Luke said, shaking their hands and stepping out of the doorway. "Please, come in." He turned to Richard. "I am sorry about your jacket..."
Richard waved his hand. "It’s no matter, I have others," he said. "Do you have a washcloth that I may use, however?"
"Of course," Luke said graciously, recovering from his initial shock. He led them to the kitchen, where he located a washcloth, moistened it, and handed it to Richard.
Tahiri adjusted Ben in her arms. "Can you take Ben back now, Master Skywalker? I need to go."
"Sure," Luke said, taking his son into his arms. "Are you going off to find Anakin?"
Tahiri placed her hands on her hips. "Do you think my whole life revolves around Anakin?" she demanded.
"No," Luke began. "I..."
"He’s with Julie somewhere anyway," Tahiri said, a sour look on her face. "Anyway, I have to go, bye!"
Luke watched her leave, an amused expression on his face. "If Julie wasn’t his cousin, Anakin would be in trouble."
Claria smiled. "Those two clicked the instant they met."
Mara entered the room, turning a surprised glance to Richard and Claria. She arched an eyebrow at Luke. "We have guests."
Luke nodded. "This is Claria Daris and Richard..."
"Naberrie," Richard said, looking up from cleaning his jacket.
Luke raised his eyebrows, Richard carried his mother’s last name. He nodded. "And this is my wife, Mara Jade."
"What brings you two to Coruscant?" Mara asked, stepping forward to rest her hand on Luke’s arm.
"Keeping family ties," Richard replied. "We Naberries are a close family. I apologize that it took this long to come to you, Luke."
"It’s alright," Luke said. "I know that the Naboo had to go into hiding for their protection." Luke didn’t add that he’d never expected to meet his extended family anyway. "You took a great risk coming here, since no one is allowed to leave Naboo."
Richard shook his head. "No risk. While my father was alive, that was the case. But ever since he died, and I was elected King, I have been working to re-open negotiations with the outside galaxy."
Luke’s eyes widened. Ben had spit up on the King of Naboo? Mara, sensing Luke’s embarrassment, caught his eye and grinned. "You dropped everything to come here?" Luke asked.
"Of course." Richard smiled. "Any descendants of Amidala are potential heirs to the throne, therefore the King’s business." He gave Luke a good natured wink.
Claria laughed. "So that’s what you told Drusilla."
Richard grinned. "That is exactly what I told her."
"You’re incorrigible," Claria said, shaking her head.
"Perhaps," Richard agreed. "But we didn’t come all the way to Coruscant to discuss my shortcomings." He turned to Luke. "I’m afraid all that I know of you, Luke, is what little information I received from my son, and rumors my...informants picked up circulating around the Galaxy."
"Rumors?" Luke asked, his face a mixture of intrigue and weariness.
"Basically, you killed Palpatine and Darth Vader single handedly, blew up ships with enough power to destroy worlds, and saved the Galaxy with one grand sweep of your lightsaber. The rest I would not justify with a mention." Richard gave him an expectant look, obviously wondering which, if any, of the rumors were true.
Luke sighed, wondering how many times in his life he would be forced to explain the final battle aboard the second Death Star. He couldn’t fault Richard for not knowing, the man had been completely isolated from Galactic events for decades. Luke started to explain to him the truth behind his encounter with his father and Palpatine, that he actually had blown up a ship, the Death Star, that could and did destroy a star system. He also mentioned that he now let others help him save the Galaxy, so that there was more than just one lightsaber doing the grand sweep. Artoo entered the room then, tootling a cheerful greeting to Luke and Mara, and beeping an inquiry about Richard and Claria. "Hello Artoo," Luke said affectionately, patting his dome.
Richard and Claria exchanged glances. "It’s not Artoo Detoo, is it?" Richard asked finally, peering at Artoo with interest.
"Yes," Luke said slowly, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"Interesting," Richard said, catching Claria’s eye once more. "It’s a pretty famous little droid, well known for courage and loyalty on Naboo. It belonged to Queen Amidala once." Richard smiled. "Did you know that when you purchased it?"
Luke shook his head. "I had no idea, he belonged to Captain Antilles before me." The door annunciator went off. Luke reached out to the Force expecting Leia, but what he sensed was a whirling storm of barely contained anger, ego, and impatience: Kyp Durron.
***
Anakin sneezed as dust assaulted nose. Julie continued kicking up more dust. There was something strange going on here. Julie claimed to have seen two people enter the building, but the only things Anakin could sense in the Force were rodents, insects, and an underlying darkness infiltrating the building. Anakin knew that if he deepened his connection with the Force, the darkness would grow, smothering his light with the terrible deeds of his grandfather. No bodies lined the corridors, but traces of their deaths lingered at the edge of his awareness. The hallway was littered with personal belongings, most of them broken or shredded. Even pieces of white armor could be found.
Following Julie deeper into the temple, Anakin noticed that his somber mood had fallen over her as well. Very little conversation flowed between them. Anakin observed that the temple had to have been beautiful once, judging by the cracking marble and fallen pillars. Beauty that had been ruined by his grandfather. Anakin closed his eyes for a moment. Bearing Anakin Skywalker’s name had been a shadow that had loomed over him his entire life. He’d spent all sixteen years of his life trying to redeem it. In that way his life paralleled Kyp Durron’s, they were both trying to redeem their name, only Kyp’s ways were harsher, far more reckless. A ruthless smile tugged the corners of his mouth. He could just picture his uncle or father saying that anyone whom Anakin would call reckless, would willingly charge a group of twenty or more blaster armed guards, alone, with only a vibroblade to protect him.
"Anakin?" Julie asked, her tone of voice worried.
"Yes?" Anakin asked, noticing they had stopped.
"There’s something wrong here," she replied softly.
Anakin shook his head. "Julie, there’s no one here but us."
Julie’s dark eyes flashed. "I saw them come in."
"Maybe they’ve already left," Anakin suggested, shrugging his shoulders.
"No," Julie said curtly, quickly cutting off his line of thought. "Reach out to the Force, Anakin, you’ll find them."
"Okay," Anakin said, struggling to keep the doubt from his voice. He extended his senses throughout the temple. It didn’t take long to find two other people, Corran’s apprentice Lainey, her confusion, hurt, and anger infused the Force; and her very worried companion who seemed vaguely familiar. Anakin froze as he received a warning.
Julie’s brown eyes widened. She had performed a Force search of her own. "Armand’s here."
Anakin was about to reply when the hallway erupted with blue laser fire, surruonding the pair.
***
After a few seconds, Armand pulled away from Lainey, feeling like the Galaxy’s cruelest person to cut her off so suddenly. She immediately turned her gaze from him, causing him to touch the side of her face with his right hand, trailing his thumb beneath her chin and lifting it towards him. Her eyes met his.
Armand winced at the pain he saw behind them, but held his composure. "You’re in danger, Lainey. There are men outside looking for you, I don’t know what they want." He paused. "We have no weapons."
Lainey gave him the barest hint of a nod. Traces of fear barely graced her blue eyes before turning into acceptance, then finally into hard resolve. "Then we will have to find some."
"Or evade them," Armand said, taking her right hand in his left. With his right hand, he pulled out his comlink. "Comming for help," he answered her questioning gaze as they headed towards the room’s exit. It certainly wasn’t the most romantic thing to do, but he wasn’t going to sacrifice her life for his foolish pride. He entered Pavol’s code. "Pavol."
"Where are you?" Pavol’s voice demanded a few seconds later, placing all formalities aside in his worry.
"The Old Jedi Temple," Armand informed him. "I’m afraid Lainey and I have stepped into a rather sticky situation."
Pavol was silent for a moment. "It’s never a good sign when you admit you need help. We’ll be there momentarily. Where will you be?"
"Around," Armand replied. "Our best chance is to keep moving. I’ll keep you informed." He switched off his comlink as he heard footsteps outside the door. Moving in front of Lainey, he slapped the door release and stepped out as the door slid open. He felt Lainey breathing against his neck as he peered down the corridor, seeing nothing but a few rodents scurrying past. Lainey’s hand tightened in his.
"Someone’s been hurt," she said, tugging him down the hall. "I can sense no one else in the building." She frowned. "Whoever is chasing me, Armand, has already taken a trained Jedi down."
"Who?" Armand asked, sudden dread threatening to slow his steps.
"I’m not sure...he’s kind of familiar." She pursed her lips. "And powerful." She started to run. "Whoever did this to him can’t be far."
"You intend to fight?" Armand asked, easily keeping her pace.
She turned her head to look at him. "I promised myself I would."
Armand nodded, vowing to stay beside her. She was moving from confusion, to despair, to fighting... he didn’t feel she would be stable enough to be left alone for awhile. Armand called for lights as they ran down the corridor, giving them faint light to navigate the corridors Lainey was rushing through. Soon they came upon two fallen figures. Recognizing Julie, Armand’s breath caught in his throat. He knelt beside Julie, feeling her wrist for a pulse. Lainey was similarly bent over Anakin, checking him.
"There you are, Helaine," a smooth male voice said.
Armand’s head snapped up, surprised to find a human in his twenties standing in front of them. He hadn’t heard anyone approaching them. A shiver ran up his back, and he hopped to his feet.
Helaine looked up as the stranger approached, locating and removing the young man’s lightsaber, surprised to find they left him armed. She rose slowly to her feet, maneuvering her body in front of Armand’s and the victims. Having been trained to defend the helpless, putting other people's lives before her own, she had to protect the other people in the hall with her. Even if she was not yet a Knight, this was her arena. She met the stranger’s cold brown eyes. "You’re a changeling."
The man was surprised. "What brings you to that conclusion?"
"Your shields are failing," Helaine replied, taking a step towards him. She suppressed the urge to comment on his lack of control of the Force. "It is me you want. Why did you attack them?" She gestured to the two fallen Jedi.
A nasty smile spread across the man’s lips. "He’s Anakin Skywalker’s grandson, what do you care?"
Helaine glanced at the young man... Anakin, his name was Anakin, like his grandfather. Grandfather... she’d been asleep for a long time. He had his grandfather’s profile, and blue eyes, but his hair was much darker and he was shorter. Still, he reminded her enough of his grandfather to send goose bumps up her arms. She averted her eyes from Anakin, finding it easier to fight the feelings of anger, and pain, his image and name evoked. She focused on her soon to be opponent. "Why did you leave him armed? You don’t strike me as the type to take such risks."
He shrugged his shoulders. "You’ve lost your lightsaber, Helaine, and I’ve always wanted to test my skills against a Jedi of the Old Republic." He reached into his dark robes, producing his own lightsaber. "Shall we?"
Helaine hesitated. "Why must we fight?"
"Because I am going to take you to my employer," he said, his eyes glittering.
"Who do you work for?" she asked, subconciously taking a fighter's stance.
"Valdemar," the man replied, grinning as she took an involuntary step backwards. "He looks forward to seeing you again, once I have won our little duel of course."
Sudden fear raced through Helaine’s emotions, turning into anger and leaning towards hatred. She took a step forward. "Your overconfidence will be your downfall." She ignited Anakin’s lightsaber, moving forward again. Her opponent thumbed his on, stepping forward on his right foot, advancing his green saber towards her left. Helaine easily swept his thrust aside, parrying low towards his right side, then moving left before he had the chance to riposte. Her blade grazed his side, causing him to cry out and dance back.
She didn’t give him time to recover. Advancing towards him, she swung her lightsaber in a grand arc, almost scoring on his leg before his saber came down to block hers. Helaine moved her lightsaber up, aiming for his shoulder. He moved back, bringing his saber to meet hers. The blades sizzled on contact, only for a second. Helaine removed her blade quickly from his, feinting a low attack, sweeping her lightsaber up the instant he moved his down to block her, her saber singed the tiny hairs on his neck before he was able to parry.
The duel continued on in this fashion, Helaine cutting quick, hard, and aiming to kill, forcing him to defend in the middle, then the inner ring. She never gave him the chance to move into the offensive, he was inexperienced, and she was taking full advantage of it. He was no longer the stranger she’d just met who attacked two innocent people. He had become her outlet for every emotion she’d pent up since regaining her memory. She released her pain, her anger, hatred into every lightsaber thrust, feeling that if this man died, her suffering would end.
Only when she had him backed up against the wall, her lightsaber touching his chest, did she realize how close she was teetering on the edge of darkness and light. She wanted to kill him, but knew she could not, and should not. He was not the man who had killed her Master, or the Jedi. Even if he had been... she could not kill him with hatred or anger. She took deep, calming breaths, purging the dark feelings with what little light she’d been able to hold to. She turned her gaze from him long enough to call a fallen blaster to her hand, choosing to stun him instead of kill. When she turned back, Master Caine stood pinned to the wall, a horrified expression on her face. Shocked, she took a stumbling step backwards. "Master?" she asked softly, confused as his lightsaber suddenly moved up and stabbed her in the stomach.
Copyright 2002 by Luney.
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