Jaina Solo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-01-01 04:27 am
sticksofthejedi) wrote2013-01-01 04:27 am
Entry tags:
Memory 52
Memory: Versus: gun-toting dinosaurs.
Received: Day 204, late afternoon
Form: Memories are in the form of little teddybear head-shaped wagashi in your team's color. Awwww. I'm sure their beady little candy eyes won't stare at you judgingly all.
Summary: The meat of the plot of Force Heretics II: Refugees. Jaina and friends thwart an evil plot by soul-stealing dinosaurs.
You heard me.
--
Jaina's Twins Suns squadron, which has assimilated part of Jag Fel's Chiss clawfighter squadron, the Falcon, and the ship "Selonia," arrive in Bakura, where the two remaining battle cruisers left to defend intercept them. Leia and a general exchange words, Leia announcing they're on a diplomatic mission, but someone cuts into the transmission, telling them they aren't welcome at Bakura anymore. The other two battlecruisers that had been there were taken and LOST in fighting the Vong, and people want Bakura to find new allies.
Ssi-ruuk battle droids start launching out of one ship's fighter bays. Jaina and Jag ready Twin Suns to engage. The Bakuran general panics, and has A-wings and B-wings scramble, telling Leia's group not to engage, to let themselves be peacefully escorted into orbit. Han retorts they don't want to be enteched and used by the Ssi-ruuk to run droid starfighters. Entechment is a process in which the Ssi-ruuk (dinosaur people) steal a humanoid's life essence (soul) and use it to power their stuff (Shinra).
The Jedi in the group aren't so quick to engage as Han would be, though. The technology on the local fighters has advanced, and the Jedi can feel the minds of the beings enteched in the fighters -- they're alien, and not in agony the way someone enteched would be. Leia has Twin Suns take position behind the Selonia and Falcon, not to fire unless fired upon. They're quickly surrounded by fighters. Leia and the general talk again; she wants to meet with Prime Minister Cundertol. Turns out Bakura's under martial law until a crisis is over. The general reveals that the Ssi-ruuk fighters are piloted by the P'w'eck, who were slaves of the Ssi-ruuk.
They are escorted to dock with the Sentinel. Leia, Han, Jaina, Threepio, Tahiri Veila, and Leia's Noghri ninja guard meet with the general, Grell Panib. A lizard steps out, and Leia, still jumpy from the last incident at Bakura 25 years ago, draws her saber. Trusting her mother, Jaina draws her own, announcing it's a trap (this is Star Wars, after all). The guards also prepare their weapons. Panib introduces it as Lwothin, and Threepio translates that it is the leader of the P'w'eck Emancipation Movement. The P'w'eck, it turns out, are a subspecies of the Ssi-ruuk, just smaller in size than the ones encountered in the past. Leia and Lwothin speak diplomatically, but Leia grows unfriendly when Lwothin indicates the Ssi-ruuk still use entechment. Lwothin assures the process has changed, refined. Supposedly anyone going through the process now does so voluntarily. Jaina follows the entourage, keeping a hand on her saber at all times, considering the situation. She's concerned about the reputation for the Ssi-ruuk to perform mental coercion, and she notes the weapons when two more join Lwothin -- "paddle beamers," energy weapons that can't be deflected by sabers. A saber only bends the beam a little. Lwothin speaks of history.
"It has been almost thirty years since the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium waged war in this section of the galaxy," he began. Jaina knew the story. Initially courted by Emperor Palpatine, the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had expanded aggressively into Imperial territories, starting with Bakura. Unfortunately for the Ssi-ruuk, that advance had been immediately repelled by the local Imperial government, with the unlikely help of the Rebel Alliance. Further incursions into the galaxy were discouraged by the New Republic, which forced the Imperium back to its homeworlds. Nothing had been heard from them since. Jaina gathered that everyone assumed they either had learned the error of their ways, or were gradually stockpiling for a more determined surge. Just like the Yevetha, she thought.
"In fact," Lwothin said, "our former masters were assessing more than just their tactics in the wake of their defeat." Ssi-ruuvi society was strictly clan-based, he explained, with each clan designated by the color of their scales. The absolute ruler was the Shreeftut, assisted by the Elders' Council and the Conclave. The Conclave advised the Shreeftut on spiritual matters-another aspect of life considered very important by the Ssi-ruuk. Their belief system taught that the spirit of any Ssi-ruu who died away from a consecrated world would be lost forever. It was for that reason that the Ssi-ruuk preferred to use combat droids powered by the enteched souls of captives to fight their enemies rather than risk their own lives in battle.
The Ssi-ruuk entechment has been improved so it is no longer painful, and the drain on life energies of keeping a machine running is reduced, so it keeps going much longer. The P'w'eck savior was born, called the Keeramak. While the Ssi-ruuk are divided into castes by scale color, the Keeramak has all colors. It had no gender. It became the ruler of the Ssi-ruuk, and make the P'w'eck the dominant bunch in the imperium. They came and offered a treaty to Bakura just two weeks before the Solos arrived. Bakura's government took the offer, causing some of the populace to riot. The Keeramak comes to Bakura to perform a ceremony in two days -- the Ssi-ruuk don't want to be on a planet that isn't consecrated due to religious beliefs about what happens when they die away from consecrated ground. But Prime Minister Cundertol is missing. They talk about the civil unrest; one of those rioters was supposedly the one who cut into the transmission. Han points out this makes no sense, since it sounded like the person on the comm thought the Solos were coming to take the ships away, which would have also taken the Ssi-ruuk away. The Bakurans say the resistance rarely makes sense.
The party is invited to stay and witness the ceremony as representatives of the Galactic Alliance. The Solos discuss the makeup of the Bakuran resistance. Leia thinks the unrest may have the Peace Brigade's hand in it. Time passes, and Cundertol is finally found; Jaina's keeping herself busy tangling herself up in security duties, but the party, and eventually her, learn that Cundertol apparently overpowered a ship of seven kidnappers without being harmed -- and Cundertol refuses medical examinations. It fits that Cundertol wouldn't agree, since the physician is alien and Cundertol is speciest, but Jag questions why Cundertol would agree to a treat with the Ssi-ruuk if he hates non-humans. More things aren't adding up.
Jaina keeps side eying Tahiri while things go on, because Tahiri's in a bad mental place and it's worrying. Talking has proven useless, so Jaina has given up on addressing it until something changes. The party meets with the Senate, and Jaina remembers the day as an exhausting bout of political nonsense. Cundertol is a good-looking figurehead but definitely too self-interested to be a good leader. She does find that Bakura's prize liquor, "Namana nectar" is a treat, but she only takes a sip, not wanting to dull her senses in the situation. She observes and analyzes the actions of Cundertol and other politicians. Things seem to be looking positive for the politicians' plans. Jaina points out to the others that they're sitting on troubles. Tahiri finds a note from a friendly Ryn spy, who wants them to be careful. The Ryn wants them to meet with an imprisoned resistance leader. Jaina will go because Leia is needed on the diplomatic front.
Jaina tries sneaking into the prison compound, but the Bakuran security is tight, and security goes on alert. So she pulls back, surveys the place for half an hour, and eventually remembers the party's been named visiting dignitaries for now. She marches up and demands to see the prisoner. Jaina bullies her way in using diplomatic status, a first for her. It turns out the prisoner, Malinza, is Luke's sponsor daughter, adopted because the girl's parents died heroically. Jaina's actually indignant a moment over Malinza calling Luke her uncle ("Who was this girl she'd never met, claiming Jaina's uncle as her own?"); once recalling the circumstances, she chides herself. They agree it wasn't the best time for a visit. Jaina concludes Malinza looks old for her age. Malinza has heterochromia. The girl denies that she was involved in Cundertol's kidnapping, but the charges of disturbing the peace are true; she's even roughed up from resisting arrest. Boasts it took soldiers and two droids to take her down. Despite the boasting, Jaina notices a weariness that she likens to what she felt when Anakin died ("of there being nothing left to lose; of desperation; of despair. It was easy to mistake the signs of self-destruction for battle scars.").
Malinza explains she's leader of a resistance cell fighting the Imperials. Jaina's confused -- it's been thirty years since the Empire was driven out of the Bakura system. Malinza explains that as far as the Bakura system is concerned, the New Republic is the Empire all over again, just with a different name. "Of course, you don't call it the New Republic anymore, do you? It's been given a new name ever since it lost its war against the Yuuzhan Vong. No one wants to be associated with losers, do they? Therefore, your only hope of fighting back was to pretend to be something else. But cratsch droppings by any other name still stink, don't you think? If you do beat the Yuuzhan Vong, you'll just chain everyone up like before. And if you lose, you'll drag everyone else down with you."
. . .
"You'll probably tell me that we'll all die unless we band together to defeat the common enemy. But there's always a common enemy, Jaina. Oppressive regimes don't function without them. The Empire had its Rebel Alliance; once, we had the Ssi-ruuk; and right now, you have the Yuuzhan Vong. Who will it be next time you feel the cracks spreading?"
Jaina asks what Malinza would do if the New Republic/Galactic Alliance does lose the war, if the Vong turn up on Bakura's doorstep and the galactic government isn't around to help the way it did when the Ssi-ruuk attacked? Malinza says they'd fight and probably all die, but it'd be their decision, not a faceless bureaucrat's. Does it really boil down to who makes the decisions, Jaina asks -- the New Republic has only ever asked Bakura for resources in the war, never demanding. Malinza answers that's what galls her most -- how Bakura abased itself to the Republic, let it steal the defense fleet and families. Malinza has tears in her eyes, and Jaina. . . is actually glad to see that this fifteen-year-old still has some of her youth.
Jaina puts a hand on her shoulder, and apologizes for Malinza's mother's death. She met the woman when Jaina was a little kid, during the Centerpoint incident, and knows Luke held her in high regard. Malinza barely remembers her, trying to look casual as she clears her eyes. She blamed the New Republic for her mother's death, too; it's part of the Cosmic Balance. Jaina asks what she means, and Malinza explains every action causes a reaction, so a great force for good can't exist without there being a counterbalancing force for evil somewhere. So good works lead to evil results for someone, somewhere, even unintentionally -- her mother died doing a very good thing, and Malinza suffered for it.
Malinza accuses Jaina of thinking the girl's stupid, for considering the possibility she participated in Cundertol's kidnapping. The resistance group is only out to get the galactic government's fingers out of the star system. It's supposed to be sixteen people against a galactic civilization. They've been using private funding to look for evidence of corruption, brutality, nepotism, etc. Jaina suspects the Peace Brigade got involved -- it'd be the perfect place to help stir up defense to weaken the New Republic against the Vong invasion. Malinza admits while none of the founders of the cell would commit violence, there were people who joined and might have stopped to worse behavior. She thinks, though, that she's still being held because the cell got too good at what it was doing. Malinza notes an insane amount of government money went off-world about the time the P'w'eck showed up. She asks Jaina if the Republic was trying to grab money from Bakura; Jaina doesn't answer, but she does think trying to take money from Bakura would be like taking small change from a child to finance a starship purchase. Malinza's just going to hope the balance eventually gives her a good to balance out the bad of being wrongly arrested, then asks Jaina why she's there anyway.
"I'm just doing my job. You know what Jedi are like: we're always getting in the way." When Jaina moves to go, alarms go off; Malinza claims it has to be Vyram, one of the cell's core members, slicing the system to get her out. Jaina says it doesn't feel right, but Malinza's going anyway. Unable to shake her suspicions, Jaina at least decides to make sure she's going the right way. They get out of the prison and start ninjaing across the cityscape. As a Jedi, it's easy for Jaina to keep Malinza's pace, only staying behind her to guard the girl's back. Jaina stops her eventually, sensing a trap. There's a click in the trees above; in an instant, Jaina's saber is active. The ambushers aren't visible, but they consult. "She's fast." "Who is she?" "Look at the libber. She's a Jedi." "One lightsaber against three blaster rifles. She couldn't be that fast." "Just try met and find out." Malinza identifies her, and introduces her to her resistance friends.
"You sure picked a bad time to visit," Malinza said as she moved to make room for Jaina to sit down. Jaina can feel a spark of ~feelings~ between Malinza and Vyram. They head into the cell's hideout. Turns out the cell tried hacking the prison, but failed; they thought Jaina broke her out. Jaina says it had to be someone in the government -- maybe Cundertol. They sit down to go over data. Vyram tries slicing in again to get a little more information, but he only accidentally comes across a homing signal. The cell immediately turns on Jaina, until Vyram notes Jaina's not the source of the signal -- it's coming from Malinza. The government let her out to track down the resistance cell. The perimeter alarm goes off. Malinza shouts down suggestions by other cell members that they fight or have Jaina fight for them; Jaina suggests removing the bug and giving it to her. She'll lead the government away. A Rodian offers to guide her through the streets, and she accepts only because of the advantage that kind of knowledge gives. Everyone sets out.
When Jaina and the Rodian get outside, it doesn't take long for an aircar to swoop in, a woman opening fire with a blaster. Jaina deflects and the two retreat. They give the pursuit the slip, run into them again, and then the cell's hideout blows up -- a "distraction" set up by Vyram. Using the Force, Jaina jumps and takes them into an aqueduct. She drops the government's bug into the water current, and they climb out. They're getting on a two-person speeder the Rodian had stashed when she gets a last-minute flash of danger -- and turns just in time to see the alien stun her with his blaster. A Rodian always an escape plan.
(Meanwhile: security droids have collected images of Jaina assisting the escape of Malinza; she's wanted on changes of aiding and abetting, along with sedition. Listed as armed and dangerous.)
When she comes to, the only thing she can feel is a burning sensation at the spot in her back where she'd been shot. She's tightly bound, with a translucent hood over her head. The Rodian says he's taking her to a person with a lot of money; she accuses him of selling the cell out, and he counters they did it to themselves. She tries a mind trick, telling him she's of no importance. It works, but not with the result she intended -- he agrees, draws his blaster, and shoots her again.
When she wakes up, it's to a bright light; she recoils as though she had a hangover. Having taken two high-power stun bolts in a short time all of her muscles are in pain. While her nervous system still sorts itself out, eyes starting to focus again and regaining some movement. Her saber and commlink are gone. The man who's paying the Rodian . . . is Deputy Prime Minister Blaine Harris. Jaina proposes he's the one who's been syphoning a ton of Bakura's money. "Sorry to disappoint you, Jaina, but I'm not your thief. I was interested to learn about it, though, and I'm as curious as you are to find out who is responsible. When this ridiculous farce is over, I'll certainly make a point of looking into it more closely."
He's definitely up to something, though, he admits. He activates a cam feed of the amphitheater where the Keeramak's ceremony will take place. People are already filling the seats. Jaina asks if he's trying to stop the ceremony. He claims his intentions are far more complex, but the stun bolts on her brain have her moving a little slowly. They watch P'w'eck soldiers work on a security sweep of the amphitheater, and Harris muses on similarities between the Ssi-ruuk and the Yuuzhan Vong -- both cultures xenophobic, stratified, religious and expansionist. Both tending toward violence and both enemies of the New Republic. Both using defeated foes as slaves. He feels the P'w'eck are leaving behind the use of slaves and xenophobia, and hopes by allowing their ritual, they might also become less violent because of their acceptance at Bakura, and then work on the cast system from there. He states that Bakura can make its own decisions, and doesn't need the New Republic breaking down their necks. Allying with the Ssi-ruuk/P'w'eck, he feels, is the door to Bakura's independence. He finds irony not just in that this goes against Luke's work saving Bakura from the Ssi-ruuk invasion, but also that Bakuran belief in a Cosmic Balance is so similar to the Jedi ideology of a cosmic system of checks and balances ensuring that life thrives. Bakura, he comments, could have followed in the Jedi's footsteps, yet no one on Bakura ever goes to become a Jedi.
Three people are arriving; the Rodian puts his blaster to Jaina's chin and covers her mouth with one hand, walking her out of sight of the rest of the room. The three newcomers are Malinza and other members of the resistance cell. Blaine is playing them; a member has been shot, Malinza's framed, they're using her escape to make things look worse . . . but then Malinza manages to spot Jaina, as the Rodian reveals himself. Blaine draws his blaster on them, and tells them to disarm. Blaine gloats like a proper civilized villain, saying his plot is to make sure the reptiles come to Bakura, but put him in charge of the planet. He wants to kill Jaina and Malinza to raise public outrage. Malinza tries fighting, but one of her friends gets shot, and blasters are pointed at Jaina to get Malinza to finish backing off.
"Why didn't you do something?" Malinza asked, her words steeped in accusation and her cheeks soaked with tears.
Jaina shook her head. There was no way to say it nicely.
Harris saved her the trouble. "If Jjorg hadn't resisted, she'd still be alive." Jaina would have perhaps phrased it less bluntly-and added something to the effect that there would come an opportunity to escape later, when they found out what exactly Harris was up to-but that was the essence of it.
He does figure he won't have to shoot another resistance member, though. He's got the body he needs from them; the Jedi remains. Harris takes them to the amphitheater, into a large, sealed equipment locker. He has Jaina press the button to activate a remote detonator, threatening to shoot Malinza if she doesn't. Once done, there's ten minutes on a timer; Harris gloats that now Jaina's fingerprints are on the button, so next she'll die and be incriminated in the explosion -- which will kill Prime Minister Cundertol, much of the planet's senate, and her parents. It'll look like she planted the bomb to derail the P'w'eck treaty and keep Bakura in the Galactic Alliance. Harris will step in, take control, and ensure the ceremony and treaty go ahead. While Malinza and Harris exchange a few barbs, Jaina takes stock: she can get loose from her bonds, but she has a timer on how long she has to deal with Harris and his flunky, as well as deactivate the bomb.
The ceremony is beginning. Jaina uses the Force to warn Leia they should be on the lookout for themselves; Han and Liea realize they'd best get out of there.
Jaina tries twice to distract the Rodian, both attempts failing. She's frustrated, but with blasters trained on Malinza, the Jedi can't attack openly. Another presence is moving in -- Tahiri. Something unnerves Jaina about touching minds with the young woman (for good reasons not detailed in this memory), but it has to be done. She makes it clear where she is to Tahiri. Harris, unaware, produces Jaina's saber, activating it and saying he'll have to use it on Malinza for a set-up in which Jaina had been killing anyone and everyone to carry out the bomb plot. Jaina can't wait anymore; she uses telekinesis to knock the saber out of Harris' hands and kicks the Rodian down. Harris pulls his blaster and gets two shots off before Jaina knocks him out with her saber hilt. Malinza has finished restraining the Rodian. Jaina cuts the resistance members out of the bonds -- and then they notice that one of Harris' blaster bolts has destroyed the remote detonator case. They can't deactivate the bomb from here. She threatens the Rodian for the bomb's actual location, but he says they can't do anything about it. It's going to take time to get out of the sealed locker, so Jaina takes a commlink from the enemy and uses it to contact Tahiri, telling her what she's learned from the Rodian. She starts interrogating him for how to disarm the bomb. Jaina leans on Force persuasion hard enough that the alien's eyes glaze over, but he still says it can't be disarmed anymore, not since the detonator is destroyed. Tahiri's going to try disarming it anyway. Jaina doesn't have much of a Force bond with Tahiri, but concentrating, she's able to get flashes of perception -- sight of the bomb, a spark and burning as the girl tries messing with wires. Hopelessness, when Tahiri runs into a dead end. Jaina orders her to get out of there, and tells her not to die like Anakin, which essentially twists a knife in Tahiri's emotional problems. Something dark cuts off their Force link, and Tahiri spouts something in the Vong language before the young woman tells her in Common to leave her alone. A Vong war cry, then; Jaina addresses Tahiri now as Riina, who responds that Anakin killed her, and she's choosing her own end. Another Vong cry, and the mob goes off. Jaina can't find the girl in the Force.
Her mind is, however, filled with psychic pain from all the wounded and dying in the amphitheater. The locker survived mostly unscathed. Leia finally gets on a commlink and assures Jaina she's not to blame for how things turned out. When Tahiri's partner finally gets the thing open, she and the partner go to find Tahiri before anything else. They do find the girl in the middle of the blast zone; Jaina proposes Tahiri managed to use the Force to protect herself, but has passed out. Problem is, now she's invisible to the Force -- like a Vong, Jaina thinks.
Among the dead of the incident, is the scorched body of Prime Minister Cundertol.
Jaina feels bad; she was trying to do good, but it seems to have all gone awry. Her efforts had all gone awry, Luke's efforts for the Bakurans have all gone sour. . . considering the trend, how will things go if the treaty with the P'w'eck goes through? How will the "balance" handle things then? Since Jaina lived, she's able to confirm Harris' bomb plot. Bakura's essentially stripped of its highest levels of authority, so General Panib declares martial law. And of course, reminds the Jedi he'd really prefer they didn't take direct action on things. Jaina, Han and Leia are watching the cleanup in the aftermath, when they notice the P'w'eck have recommenced the ceremony, reptiles dancing in a circle with the multicolored Keeramak prowling in the center. Storm clouds are gathering. Han says their persistence is admirable, finishing the job after all this; Jaina thinks it's more insensitive, and notes it doesn't make sense for them to do it -- shouldn't they wait for the area to be more secure? Leia asks Threepio for a translation of the chant.
"The gulfs of space are not home to us,'" he translated, "'and neither are the barren worlds. The worlds of fire and the worlds of ice are not home to us. Where oxygen burns and water flows, where carbon bonds and ozone protects-there we plant our roots. The seed of our species is fertile; all we require is the soil in which to plant it.'"
Jaina considers what Harris said earlier about the similarities between the Ssi-ruuk and the Yuuzhan Vong. The Vong wouldn't consider going into battle without making appropriate sacrifices to the gods; the Ssi-ruuk don't want to risk their souls on a world that hadn't been consecrated. It's possible the sudden carnage around them made them want to get the ceremony done as quick as possible. They notice three of the alien's troopships descending on the amphitheater. A crowd of Bakurans are gathering, shouting angrily; they theorize it's increased security while the P'w'eck finish their ceremony, and maybe a quick getaway due to the locals being angry at the bombing crisis. Threepio tries wedging in on the conversation and is as usual talked over. There's three more ships approaching; the troopships are small, all things considered, but still about four stories tall each. The Solos are apprehensive at this; something's not right. Threepio is continuing to gesticulate and is now drowned out by the noise of the ceremony and the dropships. Shortly, the ceremony is complete and everything stills; Threepio notes that at the conclusion, the Keeramak renamed the planet Xwhee and dedicated it to the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. Rain begins to fall as the priests around the Keeramak straighten -- they aren't dealing with P'w'eck at all, but true Ssi-ruuk.
The Solos all have something of a ". . . ffffffuuuuuck" reaction. The concept the P'w'eck had become dominant in the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium and the treaty itself was a ruse by the reptiles all along; now that they've consecrated the planet, they have nothing to fear in coming to fight there directly. Rust-colored Ssi-ruuk warriors begin marching out of the dropships.
(In orbit, Jag and Twin Suns squadron sees the aliens begin to launch fighters, and he prepares to fight. Communications are being jammed, and alien fighters are using the comm silence to tractor and steer defense ships to the carriers, where the pilots will surely be put through the entechment process. Twin Suns engages the enemy.)
On the surface, the crowd scatters and runs from the now quite-obvious hostiles; Bakuran security forces open fire; the Ssi-ruuk start firing back with their . . . paddle beamers . . . also they start leaping into the fray as dinos are wont to do. Jaina recommends a tactical retreat; they might be able to fight mass numbers better with the Falcon's weaponry. She takes a moment to direct rescue workers and civilians out through the hole in the amphitheater created by the bomb, since the Ssi-ruuk are moving to block the main exits. One civilian protests leaving the Prime Minister's dead body to the "Fluties;" Jaina considers arguing the practicality for a moment, but concedes to keep people moving. She spots the body bag and goes to tie it to Tahiri's gurney; if it gets in the way, she'll cut it free. The most efficient solution she can think of.
When she grabs it, though, the bag is now empty. She doesn't really care what's happened with the body; the living take priority. Blasterfire is dying down. The Ssi-ruuk have nearly finished off the Bakuran guards at the amphitheater. Jaina doesn't want to leave them to their fate, but Han tells her she has to; they need to protect the retreating civilians. As they go, Threepio and Han start bantering about how it sucks that it's raining. Eventually, when they reach the end of a tunnel, there's a problem: Ssi-ruuk are everywhere outside there, too. They find Malinza and her friends there, with Harris in tow; the deputy prime minister is surprised and scared to learn the truth of what the Ssi-ruuk have been up to. His ambition's not dead, though -- he suggests that Jaina might not like him, but a strong leader will be needed in the crisis. Jaina cuts him off, telling him it's too late for that -- there's a good chance he won't even survive the next hour, much less become Prime Minister. He tries turning to the Bakuran resistance members, pointing out how all of a sudden Jaina's acting like she's in charge; didn't they want to be free of the Galactic Alliance's meddling? Jaina rebukes him for selling his soul to the Ssi-ruuk -- and someone steps out, announcing it wasn't Harris who sold his soul.
It's Cundertol, almost unrecognizable with his hair and skin burned from the bombing earlier. He boasts he was only stunned by the bomb; he draws a blaster. Cundertol is only pointing it at Harris, but Jaina and Leia's Noghri bodyguards move into defensive positions. Jaina pokes him with her Force senses, trying to see if maybe Cundertol was a Vong spy, but there's just a strange presence she's unfamiliar with. Leia, diplomatic as ever, apologizes for the party's surprise and the two talk briefly about how to repel the attack. Jaina winces as Cundertol uses the slur term of Fluties again. Harris refuses to provide information on escape routes, and Cundertol shoots him. Jaina's displeased with the idea of cold-blooded execution, even if Harris was a mass-murderer. She steps over to keep Cundertol from shooting Harris' Rodian accomplice as well, but Cundertol moves the blaster over to Malinza's head instead, laments that there are no better options to escape, and calls out in the Ssi-ruuvi language. She tries a mind trick, but Cundertol is unfazed; Jaina asks what his is, and the prime minister answers "New."
Malinza states the obvious, that Cundertol knew about the Ssi-ruuk and betrayed Bakura. Retorts are useless, as six large Ssi-ruuk warriors find them, with five ordinary-sized following, along with four golden Ssi-ruuk priests and the Keeramak, a group of P'w'eck warrior slaves in the back. The largest is a red female warrior with a black harness and silver medals. Threepio translates as the Ssi-ruuk chastise Cundertol for wasting one of the captives. The Keeramak and Leia talk; of course it was a lie when they said they only use entechment on volunteers, though the length a soul lasts has been stretched nearly indefinitely. Leia draws her saber, finally. Cundertol tells the Solo women they're fools for preparing to fight, that entechment isn't the end, it's liberation. "Imagine being the controller of your own droid ship, the heart of an interstellar drive, the overseer of an entire city! Imagine the freedom you will achieve when you've been cut loose from the shackles of flesh and blood. You'll be able to live forever!"
He continues, and it becomes clear Cundertol sold out Bakura for a shot at immortality. Sure, they'll be slaves, but he thinks it'll just be servitude for a few years, then centuries of nothing but rainbows and sunshine. He's already enjoying the benefits of the deal. The P'w'eck move into fighting positions, and Jaina feels bad that they not only have to fight, but will have to fight and possibly kill slaves first. That first P'w'eck they'd met comes up and is ordered to subdue the captives; it raises its weapon and fires. The author jumps the narrative to Jag's space battle, making a cliff hanger like a true dick.
The Keeramak is shot dead. Ssi-ruuk are stunned, and the P'w'eck press their attack -- the false P'w'eck rebellion is no longer a falsehood. The Ssi-ruuk are stronger, better trained, and better equipped, so start regaining the advantage when Jaina joins the fighting. Yep, she starts killing dinosaurs larger than herself. After fighting the Vong, it's actually easy, since she can sense them in the Force. She can't effectively deflect Ssi-ruuk lasers, but she does prove competent at using her saber to at least redirect the beam enough to stay safe. She telekinetically disarms one dino and tosses the weapon to Vyram, who puts it to Cundertol's face. As the Ssi-ruuk finish being killed or subdued, Cundertol lowers his weapon, saying they've ruined an opportunity for everyone. Han goes about grabbing the rest of the Ssi-ruuk weapons and arming bystanders.
The P'w'eck talk with Leia briefly, and they agree, albeit suspiciously, to a plan to interrupt the communications jamming and order Twin Suns and Bakuran pilots to allow the P'w'eck enteched fighters to tractor all the ships. They pretend, on open channels, that they're surrendering. A Bakuran captain lies to Jag to get him to go along with it: she tells Jag the Ssi-ruuk have captured Jaina. In space, the P'w'eck enteched fighters tow the "captured" pilots in behind the Ssi-ruuk shields. . . and set them loose again.
On the ground, Cundertol disarms Vyram and makes a break for it while Jaina's checking on Ssi-ruuk captives. Jaina gives chase, surprised at his speed. It's a long chase, winding as Cundertol takes twists and turns to avoid P'w'eck. She has to draw on the Force to keep up with him, even using momentum to barrel through a stairwell basement door. As she gets through, she reflexively deflects a projectile with telekinesis and dodges another projectile by moving her head to one side. She realizes belatedly that he's throwing rocks at her with superhuman strength. A Force shove only makes him stagger, and he resumes his flight. Eventually she senses him stop moving, but can't pinpoint him; he's set up an ambush in a dark corridor. They exchange typical words about not getting away with this, but he's certainly planning to. As he drops down behind her, she spins to strike, but he's too fast and strong; he knocks her aside easily. Jaina bounces herself off the wall and comes at him with her saber, but he dodges, punches her five meters across the room. She backflips and swings again, but when they engage he's still too agile, landing another blow to her chest. Her grasp on her weapon fails.
Cundertol moves over her to finish the Jedi off; typical "you fought well," "it's not over" exchange, and Jaina calls her saber back toward her, igniting it on the way; he rolls aside, but the saber still clips his arms. Jaina gets back on her feet, but after being knocked around, everything feels like it's swaying around her. Cundertol manages to get to his feet faster and goes on the run again. Han and Leia finally catch up to her; they check on her before leading some Bakuran and P'w'eck extras on the continued chase. Leia stays to check on her daughter. Jaina pulls away to pick up Cundertol's severed arm. Leia thinks Jaina's going into shock, and assures Jaina she can let Han handle the chase, especially if Cundertol's injured. Jaina has realized, however, that Cundertol is now a droid.
Leia: It's okay, Jaina. It's over now. They'll get him -- especially if he's injured.
Jaina: No, they won't. Even injured, he's going to get away.
Threepio reports the P'w'eck say some of the Ssi-ruuk have surrendered, and Jag is leading the attack on the remaining enemy vessel. Leia tries emphasizing again that things aren't Jaina's problems to handle anymore and Jaina needs to let it go. Maybe Leia's right -- but Jaina's not going to be able to relax until they're well away from the threat of entechment, she thinks.
The Solos get bundled off to a Bakuran medical facility. Jaina is initially restrained because of her injuries, but she quickly gets herself out and has been holding onto Jag's hand; they've been worried about each other. Tahiri appears to have sunk into a worrying coma. Leia tells Jaina the Bakurans have signed a true treaty with a now actually freed P'w'eck leadership. Leia confirms Jaina's suspicions about Cundertol -- his consciousness has been transferred to a Human Replica Droid body, with the same basic specs of the droids made by Simonelle the Ingoian over thirty years ago. "The bones are poly-alloy; the muscles and other organs are made from biofiber; his skin was grown in a clone vat; and everything else is just synthflesh. Despite it being an abomination, it's actually an incredible piece of work."
Project Decoy made HRDs, but failed all those decades ago because they couldn't get droid brains up to snuff. Back then it would've cost 10 million credits to make one. Jaina puts together that Cundertol managed to squander millions for his replica, uses the smuggling ship Jaunty Cavalier to pick up the droid, fakes his own kidnapping, entechs himself into the body by promising the Ssi-ruuk the planet they've wanted. Jaina says she has to feel sorry for the crew to have been killed for doing nothing more than take on a passenger; Leia says Cundertol's actions are the sign of an evil mind. He did get away.
(Cundertol manages to kill a P'w'eck ship's crew and retreats to Ssi-ruuvi Imperium remnants, meeting with a Ssi-ruuk general. It's revealed that the Keeramak really was a prophesied being in Ssi-ruuk culture, but the Ssi-ruuk general behind all this is actually a Yuuzhan Vong impostor maneuvering all sides in the conflict to make the Imperium and Bakura vulnerable to Vong invasion.)
Received: Day 204, late afternoon
Form: Memories are in the form of little teddybear head-shaped wagashi in your team's color. Awwww. I'm sure their beady little candy eyes won't stare at you judgingly all.
Summary: The meat of the plot of Force Heretics II: Refugees. Jaina and friends thwart an evil plot by soul-stealing dinosaurs.
You heard me.
--
Jaina's Twins Suns squadron, which has assimilated part of Jag Fel's Chiss clawfighter squadron, the Falcon, and the ship "Selonia," arrive in Bakura, where the two remaining battle cruisers left to defend intercept them. Leia and a general exchange words, Leia announcing they're on a diplomatic mission, but someone cuts into the transmission, telling them they aren't welcome at Bakura anymore. The other two battlecruisers that had been there were taken and LOST in fighting the Vong, and people want Bakura to find new allies.
Ssi-ruuk battle droids start launching out of one ship's fighter bays. Jaina and Jag ready Twin Suns to engage. The Bakuran general panics, and has A-wings and B-wings scramble, telling Leia's group not to engage, to let themselves be peacefully escorted into orbit. Han retorts they don't want to be enteched and used by the Ssi-ruuk to run droid starfighters. Entechment is a process in which the Ssi-ruuk (dinosaur people) steal a humanoid's life essence (soul) and use it to power their stuff (Shinra).
The Jedi in the group aren't so quick to engage as Han would be, though. The technology on the local fighters has advanced, and the Jedi can feel the minds of the beings enteched in the fighters -- they're alien, and not in agony the way someone enteched would be. Leia has Twin Suns take position behind the Selonia and Falcon, not to fire unless fired upon. They're quickly surrounded by fighters. Leia and the general talk again; she wants to meet with Prime Minister Cundertol. Turns out Bakura's under martial law until a crisis is over. The general reveals that the Ssi-ruuk fighters are piloted by the P'w'eck, who were slaves of the Ssi-ruuk.
They are escorted to dock with the Sentinel. Leia, Han, Jaina, Threepio, Tahiri Veila, and Leia's Noghri ninja guard meet with the general, Grell Panib. A lizard steps out, and Leia, still jumpy from the last incident at Bakura 25 years ago, draws her saber. Trusting her mother, Jaina draws her own, announcing it's a trap (this is Star Wars, after all). The guards also prepare their weapons. Panib introduces it as Lwothin, and Threepio translates that it is the leader of the P'w'eck Emancipation Movement. The P'w'eck, it turns out, are a subspecies of the Ssi-ruuk, just smaller in size than the ones encountered in the past. Leia and Lwothin speak diplomatically, but Leia grows unfriendly when Lwothin indicates the Ssi-ruuk still use entechment. Lwothin assures the process has changed, refined. Supposedly anyone going through the process now does so voluntarily. Jaina follows the entourage, keeping a hand on her saber at all times, considering the situation. She's concerned about the reputation for the Ssi-ruuk to perform mental coercion, and she notes the weapons when two more join Lwothin -- "paddle beamers," energy weapons that can't be deflected by sabers. A saber only bends the beam a little. Lwothin speaks of history.
"It has been almost thirty years since the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium waged war in this section of the galaxy," he began. Jaina knew the story. Initially courted by Emperor Palpatine, the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had expanded aggressively into Imperial territories, starting with Bakura. Unfortunately for the Ssi-ruuk, that advance had been immediately repelled by the local Imperial government, with the unlikely help of the Rebel Alliance. Further incursions into the galaxy were discouraged by the New Republic, which forced the Imperium back to its homeworlds. Nothing had been heard from them since. Jaina gathered that everyone assumed they either had learned the error of their ways, or were gradually stockpiling for a more determined surge. Just like the Yevetha, she thought.
"In fact," Lwothin said, "our former masters were assessing more than just their tactics in the wake of their defeat." Ssi-ruuvi society was strictly clan-based, he explained, with each clan designated by the color of their scales. The absolute ruler was the Shreeftut, assisted by the Elders' Council and the Conclave. The Conclave advised the Shreeftut on spiritual matters-another aspect of life considered very important by the Ssi-ruuk. Their belief system taught that the spirit of any Ssi-ruu who died away from a consecrated world would be lost forever. It was for that reason that the Ssi-ruuk preferred to use combat droids powered by the enteched souls of captives to fight their enemies rather than risk their own lives in battle.
The Ssi-ruuk entechment has been improved so it is no longer painful, and the drain on life energies of keeping a machine running is reduced, so it keeps going much longer. The P'w'eck savior was born, called the Keeramak. While the Ssi-ruuk are divided into castes by scale color, the Keeramak has all colors. It had no gender. It became the ruler of the Ssi-ruuk, and make the P'w'eck the dominant bunch in the imperium. They came and offered a treaty to Bakura just two weeks before the Solos arrived. Bakura's government took the offer, causing some of the populace to riot. The Keeramak comes to Bakura to perform a ceremony in two days -- the Ssi-ruuk don't want to be on a planet that isn't consecrated due to religious beliefs about what happens when they die away from consecrated ground. But Prime Minister Cundertol is missing. They talk about the civil unrest; one of those rioters was supposedly the one who cut into the transmission. Han points out this makes no sense, since it sounded like the person on the comm thought the Solos were coming to take the ships away, which would have also taken the Ssi-ruuk away. The Bakurans say the resistance rarely makes sense.
The party is invited to stay and witness the ceremony as representatives of the Galactic Alliance. The Solos discuss the makeup of the Bakuran resistance. Leia thinks the unrest may have the Peace Brigade's hand in it. Time passes, and Cundertol is finally found; Jaina's keeping herself busy tangling herself up in security duties, but the party, and eventually her, learn that Cundertol apparently overpowered a ship of seven kidnappers without being harmed -- and Cundertol refuses medical examinations. It fits that Cundertol wouldn't agree, since the physician is alien and Cundertol is speciest, but Jag questions why Cundertol would agree to a treat with the Ssi-ruuk if he hates non-humans. More things aren't adding up.
Jaina keeps side eying Tahiri while things go on, because Tahiri's in a bad mental place and it's worrying. Talking has proven useless, so Jaina has given up on addressing it until something changes. The party meets with the Senate, and Jaina remembers the day as an exhausting bout of political nonsense. Cundertol is a good-looking figurehead but definitely too self-interested to be a good leader. She does find that Bakura's prize liquor, "Namana nectar" is a treat, but she only takes a sip, not wanting to dull her senses in the situation. She observes and analyzes the actions of Cundertol and other politicians. Things seem to be looking positive for the politicians' plans. Jaina points out to the others that they're sitting on troubles. Tahiri finds a note from a friendly Ryn spy, who wants them to be careful. The Ryn wants them to meet with an imprisoned resistance leader. Jaina will go because Leia is needed on the diplomatic front.
Jaina tries sneaking into the prison compound, but the Bakuran security is tight, and security goes on alert. So she pulls back, surveys the place for half an hour, and eventually remembers the party's been named visiting dignitaries for now. She marches up and demands to see the prisoner. Jaina bullies her way in using diplomatic status, a first for her. It turns out the prisoner, Malinza, is Luke's sponsor daughter, adopted because the girl's parents died heroically. Jaina's actually indignant a moment over Malinza calling Luke her uncle ("Who was this girl she'd never met, claiming Jaina's uncle as her own?"); once recalling the circumstances, she chides herself. They agree it wasn't the best time for a visit. Jaina concludes Malinza looks old for her age. Malinza has heterochromia. The girl denies that she was involved in Cundertol's kidnapping, but the charges of disturbing the peace are true; she's even roughed up from resisting arrest. Boasts it took soldiers and two droids to take her down. Despite the boasting, Jaina notices a weariness that she likens to what she felt when Anakin died ("of there being nothing left to lose; of desperation; of despair. It was easy to mistake the signs of self-destruction for battle scars.").
Malinza explains she's leader of a resistance cell fighting the Imperials. Jaina's confused -- it's been thirty years since the Empire was driven out of the Bakura system. Malinza explains that as far as the Bakura system is concerned, the New Republic is the Empire all over again, just with a different name. "Of course, you don't call it the New Republic anymore, do you? It's been given a new name ever since it lost its war against the Yuuzhan Vong. No one wants to be associated with losers, do they? Therefore, your only hope of fighting back was to pretend to be something else. But cratsch droppings by any other name still stink, don't you think? If you do beat the Yuuzhan Vong, you'll just chain everyone up like before. And if you lose, you'll drag everyone else down with you."
. . .
"You'll probably tell me that we'll all die unless we band together to defeat the common enemy. But there's always a common enemy, Jaina. Oppressive regimes don't function without them. The Empire had its Rebel Alliance; once, we had the Ssi-ruuk; and right now, you have the Yuuzhan Vong. Who will it be next time you feel the cracks spreading?"
Jaina asks what Malinza would do if the New Republic/Galactic Alliance does lose the war, if the Vong turn up on Bakura's doorstep and the galactic government isn't around to help the way it did when the Ssi-ruuk attacked? Malinza says they'd fight and probably all die, but it'd be their decision, not a faceless bureaucrat's. Does it really boil down to who makes the decisions, Jaina asks -- the New Republic has only ever asked Bakura for resources in the war, never demanding. Malinza answers that's what galls her most -- how Bakura abased itself to the Republic, let it steal the defense fleet and families. Malinza has tears in her eyes, and Jaina. . . is actually glad to see that this fifteen-year-old still has some of her youth.
Jaina puts a hand on her shoulder, and apologizes for Malinza's mother's death. She met the woman when Jaina was a little kid, during the Centerpoint incident, and knows Luke held her in high regard. Malinza barely remembers her, trying to look casual as she clears her eyes. She blamed the New Republic for her mother's death, too; it's part of the Cosmic Balance. Jaina asks what she means, and Malinza explains every action causes a reaction, so a great force for good can't exist without there being a counterbalancing force for evil somewhere. So good works lead to evil results for someone, somewhere, even unintentionally -- her mother died doing a very good thing, and Malinza suffered for it.
Malinza accuses Jaina of thinking the girl's stupid, for considering the possibility she participated in Cundertol's kidnapping. The resistance group is only out to get the galactic government's fingers out of the star system. It's supposed to be sixteen people against a galactic civilization. They've been using private funding to look for evidence of corruption, brutality, nepotism, etc. Jaina suspects the Peace Brigade got involved -- it'd be the perfect place to help stir up defense to weaken the New Republic against the Vong invasion. Malinza admits while none of the founders of the cell would commit violence, there were people who joined and might have stopped to worse behavior. She thinks, though, that she's still being held because the cell got too good at what it was doing. Malinza notes an insane amount of government money went off-world about the time the P'w'eck showed up. She asks Jaina if the Republic was trying to grab money from Bakura; Jaina doesn't answer, but she does think trying to take money from Bakura would be like taking small change from a child to finance a starship purchase. Malinza's just going to hope the balance eventually gives her a good to balance out the bad of being wrongly arrested, then asks Jaina why she's there anyway.
"I'm just doing my job. You know what Jedi are like: we're always getting in the way." When Jaina moves to go, alarms go off; Malinza claims it has to be Vyram, one of the cell's core members, slicing the system to get her out. Jaina says it doesn't feel right, but Malinza's going anyway. Unable to shake her suspicions, Jaina at least decides to make sure she's going the right way. They get out of the prison and start ninjaing across the cityscape. As a Jedi, it's easy for Jaina to keep Malinza's pace, only staying behind her to guard the girl's back. Jaina stops her eventually, sensing a trap. There's a click in the trees above; in an instant, Jaina's saber is active. The ambushers aren't visible, but they consult. "She's fast." "Who is she?" "Look at the libber. She's a Jedi." "One lightsaber against three blaster rifles. She couldn't be that fast." "Just try met and find out." Malinza identifies her, and introduces her to her resistance friends.
"You sure picked a bad time to visit," Malinza said as she moved to make room for Jaina to sit down. Jaina can feel a spark of ~feelings~ between Malinza and Vyram. They head into the cell's hideout. Turns out the cell tried hacking the prison, but failed; they thought Jaina broke her out. Jaina says it had to be someone in the government -- maybe Cundertol. They sit down to go over data. Vyram tries slicing in again to get a little more information, but he only accidentally comes across a homing signal. The cell immediately turns on Jaina, until Vyram notes Jaina's not the source of the signal -- it's coming from Malinza. The government let her out to track down the resistance cell. The perimeter alarm goes off. Malinza shouts down suggestions by other cell members that they fight or have Jaina fight for them; Jaina suggests removing the bug and giving it to her. She'll lead the government away. A Rodian offers to guide her through the streets, and she accepts only because of the advantage that kind of knowledge gives. Everyone sets out.
When Jaina and the Rodian get outside, it doesn't take long for an aircar to swoop in, a woman opening fire with a blaster. Jaina deflects and the two retreat. They give the pursuit the slip, run into them again, and then the cell's hideout blows up -- a "distraction" set up by Vyram. Using the Force, Jaina jumps and takes them into an aqueduct. She drops the government's bug into the water current, and they climb out. They're getting on a two-person speeder the Rodian had stashed when she gets a last-minute flash of danger -- and turns just in time to see the alien stun her with his blaster. A Rodian always an escape plan.
(Meanwhile: security droids have collected images of Jaina assisting the escape of Malinza; she's wanted on changes of aiding and abetting, along with sedition. Listed as armed and dangerous.)
When she comes to, the only thing she can feel is a burning sensation at the spot in her back where she'd been shot. She's tightly bound, with a translucent hood over her head. The Rodian says he's taking her to a person with a lot of money; she accuses him of selling the cell out, and he counters they did it to themselves. She tries a mind trick, telling him she's of no importance. It works, but not with the result she intended -- he agrees, draws his blaster, and shoots her again.
When she wakes up, it's to a bright light; she recoils as though she had a hangover. Having taken two high-power stun bolts in a short time all of her muscles are in pain. While her nervous system still sorts itself out, eyes starting to focus again and regaining some movement. Her saber and commlink are gone. The man who's paying the Rodian . . . is Deputy Prime Minister Blaine Harris. Jaina proposes he's the one who's been syphoning a ton of Bakura's money. "Sorry to disappoint you, Jaina, but I'm not your thief. I was interested to learn about it, though, and I'm as curious as you are to find out who is responsible. When this ridiculous farce is over, I'll certainly make a point of looking into it more closely."
He's definitely up to something, though, he admits. He activates a cam feed of the amphitheater where the Keeramak's ceremony will take place. People are already filling the seats. Jaina asks if he's trying to stop the ceremony. He claims his intentions are far more complex, but the stun bolts on her brain have her moving a little slowly. They watch P'w'eck soldiers work on a security sweep of the amphitheater, and Harris muses on similarities between the Ssi-ruuk and the Yuuzhan Vong -- both cultures xenophobic, stratified, religious and expansionist. Both tending toward violence and both enemies of the New Republic. Both using defeated foes as slaves. He feels the P'w'eck are leaving behind the use of slaves and xenophobia, and hopes by allowing their ritual, they might also become less violent because of their acceptance at Bakura, and then work on the cast system from there. He states that Bakura can make its own decisions, and doesn't need the New Republic breaking down their necks. Allying with the Ssi-ruuk/P'w'eck, he feels, is the door to Bakura's independence. He finds irony not just in that this goes against Luke's work saving Bakura from the Ssi-ruuk invasion, but also that Bakuran belief in a Cosmic Balance is so similar to the Jedi ideology of a cosmic system of checks and balances ensuring that life thrives. Bakura, he comments, could have followed in the Jedi's footsteps, yet no one on Bakura ever goes to become a Jedi.
Three people are arriving; the Rodian puts his blaster to Jaina's chin and covers her mouth with one hand, walking her out of sight of the rest of the room. The three newcomers are Malinza and other members of the resistance cell. Blaine is playing them; a member has been shot, Malinza's framed, they're using her escape to make things look worse . . . but then Malinza manages to spot Jaina, as the Rodian reveals himself. Blaine draws his blaster on them, and tells them to disarm. Blaine gloats like a proper civilized villain, saying his plot is to make sure the reptiles come to Bakura, but put him in charge of the planet. He wants to kill Jaina and Malinza to raise public outrage. Malinza tries fighting, but one of her friends gets shot, and blasters are pointed at Jaina to get Malinza to finish backing off.
"Why didn't you do something?" Malinza asked, her words steeped in accusation and her cheeks soaked with tears.
Jaina shook her head. There was no way to say it nicely.
Harris saved her the trouble. "If Jjorg hadn't resisted, she'd still be alive." Jaina would have perhaps phrased it less bluntly-and added something to the effect that there would come an opportunity to escape later, when they found out what exactly Harris was up to-but that was the essence of it.
He does figure he won't have to shoot another resistance member, though. He's got the body he needs from them; the Jedi remains. Harris takes them to the amphitheater, into a large, sealed equipment locker. He has Jaina press the button to activate a remote detonator, threatening to shoot Malinza if she doesn't. Once done, there's ten minutes on a timer; Harris gloats that now Jaina's fingerprints are on the button, so next she'll die and be incriminated in the explosion -- which will kill Prime Minister Cundertol, much of the planet's senate, and her parents. It'll look like she planted the bomb to derail the P'w'eck treaty and keep Bakura in the Galactic Alliance. Harris will step in, take control, and ensure the ceremony and treaty go ahead. While Malinza and Harris exchange a few barbs, Jaina takes stock: she can get loose from her bonds, but she has a timer on how long she has to deal with Harris and his flunky, as well as deactivate the bomb.
The ceremony is beginning. Jaina uses the Force to warn Leia they should be on the lookout for themselves; Han and Liea realize they'd best get out of there.
Jaina tries twice to distract the Rodian, both attempts failing. She's frustrated, but with blasters trained on Malinza, the Jedi can't attack openly. Another presence is moving in -- Tahiri. Something unnerves Jaina about touching minds with the young woman (for good reasons not detailed in this memory), but it has to be done. She makes it clear where she is to Tahiri. Harris, unaware, produces Jaina's saber, activating it and saying he'll have to use it on Malinza for a set-up in which Jaina had been killing anyone and everyone to carry out the bomb plot. Jaina can't wait anymore; she uses telekinesis to knock the saber out of Harris' hands and kicks the Rodian down. Harris pulls his blaster and gets two shots off before Jaina knocks him out with her saber hilt. Malinza has finished restraining the Rodian. Jaina cuts the resistance members out of the bonds -- and then they notice that one of Harris' blaster bolts has destroyed the remote detonator case. They can't deactivate the bomb from here. She threatens the Rodian for the bomb's actual location, but he says they can't do anything about it. It's going to take time to get out of the sealed locker, so Jaina takes a commlink from the enemy and uses it to contact Tahiri, telling her what she's learned from the Rodian. She starts interrogating him for how to disarm the bomb. Jaina leans on Force persuasion hard enough that the alien's eyes glaze over, but he still says it can't be disarmed anymore, not since the detonator is destroyed. Tahiri's going to try disarming it anyway. Jaina doesn't have much of a Force bond with Tahiri, but concentrating, she's able to get flashes of perception -- sight of the bomb, a spark and burning as the girl tries messing with wires. Hopelessness, when Tahiri runs into a dead end. Jaina orders her to get out of there, and tells her not to die like Anakin, which essentially twists a knife in Tahiri's emotional problems. Something dark cuts off their Force link, and Tahiri spouts something in the Vong language before the young woman tells her in Common to leave her alone. A Vong war cry, then; Jaina addresses Tahiri now as Riina, who responds that Anakin killed her, and she's choosing her own end. Another Vong cry, and the mob goes off. Jaina can't find the girl in the Force.
Her mind is, however, filled with psychic pain from all the wounded and dying in the amphitheater. The locker survived mostly unscathed. Leia finally gets on a commlink and assures Jaina she's not to blame for how things turned out. When Tahiri's partner finally gets the thing open, she and the partner go to find Tahiri before anything else. They do find the girl in the middle of the blast zone; Jaina proposes Tahiri managed to use the Force to protect herself, but has passed out. Problem is, now she's invisible to the Force -- like a Vong, Jaina thinks.
Among the dead of the incident, is the scorched body of Prime Minister Cundertol.
Jaina feels bad; she was trying to do good, but it seems to have all gone awry. Her efforts had all gone awry, Luke's efforts for the Bakurans have all gone sour. . . considering the trend, how will things go if the treaty with the P'w'eck goes through? How will the "balance" handle things then? Since Jaina lived, she's able to confirm Harris' bomb plot. Bakura's essentially stripped of its highest levels of authority, so General Panib declares martial law. And of course, reminds the Jedi he'd really prefer they didn't take direct action on things. Jaina, Han and Leia are watching the cleanup in the aftermath, when they notice the P'w'eck have recommenced the ceremony, reptiles dancing in a circle with the multicolored Keeramak prowling in the center. Storm clouds are gathering. Han says their persistence is admirable, finishing the job after all this; Jaina thinks it's more insensitive, and notes it doesn't make sense for them to do it -- shouldn't they wait for the area to be more secure? Leia asks Threepio for a translation of the chant.
"The gulfs of space are not home to us,'" he translated, "'and neither are the barren worlds. The worlds of fire and the worlds of ice are not home to us. Where oxygen burns and water flows, where carbon bonds and ozone protects-there we plant our roots. The seed of our species is fertile; all we require is the soil in which to plant it.'"
Jaina considers what Harris said earlier about the similarities between the Ssi-ruuk and the Yuuzhan Vong. The Vong wouldn't consider going into battle without making appropriate sacrifices to the gods; the Ssi-ruuk don't want to risk their souls on a world that hadn't been consecrated. It's possible the sudden carnage around them made them want to get the ceremony done as quick as possible. They notice three of the alien's troopships descending on the amphitheater. A crowd of Bakurans are gathering, shouting angrily; they theorize it's increased security while the P'w'eck finish their ceremony, and maybe a quick getaway due to the locals being angry at the bombing crisis. Threepio tries wedging in on the conversation and is as usual talked over. There's three more ships approaching; the troopships are small, all things considered, but still about four stories tall each. The Solos are apprehensive at this; something's not right. Threepio is continuing to gesticulate and is now drowned out by the noise of the ceremony and the dropships. Shortly, the ceremony is complete and everything stills; Threepio notes that at the conclusion, the Keeramak renamed the planet Xwhee and dedicated it to the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. Rain begins to fall as the priests around the Keeramak straighten -- they aren't dealing with P'w'eck at all, but true Ssi-ruuk.
The Solos all have something of a ". . . ffffffuuuuuck" reaction. The concept the P'w'eck had become dominant in the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium and the treaty itself was a ruse by the reptiles all along; now that they've consecrated the planet, they have nothing to fear in coming to fight there directly. Rust-colored Ssi-ruuk warriors begin marching out of the dropships.
(In orbit, Jag and Twin Suns squadron sees the aliens begin to launch fighters, and he prepares to fight. Communications are being jammed, and alien fighters are using the comm silence to tractor and steer defense ships to the carriers, where the pilots will surely be put through the entechment process. Twin Suns engages the enemy.)
On the surface, the crowd scatters and runs from the now quite-obvious hostiles; Bakuran security forces open fire; the Ssi-ruuk start firing back with their . . . paddle beamers . . . also they start leaping into the fray as dinos are wont to do. Jaina recommends a tactical retreat; they might be able to fight mass numbers better with the Falcon's weaponry. She takes a moment to direct rescue workers and civilians out through the hole in the amphitheater created by the bomb, since the Ssi-ruuk are moving to block the main exits. One civilian protests leaving the Prime Minister's dead body to the "Fluties;" Jaina considers arguing the practicality for a moment, but concedes to keep people moving. She spots the body bag and goes to tie it to Tahiri's gurney; if it gets in the way, she'll cut it free. The most efficient solution she can think of.
When she grabs it, though, the bag is now empty. She doesn't really care what's happened with the body; the living take priority. Blasterfire is dying down. The Ssi-ruuk have nearly finished off the Bakuran guards at the amphitheater. Jaina doesn't want to leave them to their fate, but Han tells her she has to; they need to protect the retreating civilians. As they go, Threepio and Han start bantering about how it sucks that it's raining. Eventually, when they reach the end of a tunnel, there's a problem: Ssi-ruuk are everywhere outside there, too. They find Malinza and her friends there, with Harris in tow; the deputy prime minister is surprised and scared to learn the truth of what the Ssi-ruuk have been up to. His ambition's not dead, though -- he suggests that Jaina might not like him, but a strong leader will be needed in the crisis. Jaina cuts him off, telling him it's too late for that -- there's a good chance he won't even survive the next hour, much less become Prime Minister. He tries turning to the Bakuran resistance members, pointing out how all of a sudden Jaina's acting like she's in charge; didn't they want to be free of the Galactic Alliance's meddling? Jaina rebukes him for selling his soul to the Ssi-ruuk -- and someone steps out, announcing it wasn't Harris who sold his soul.
It's Cundertol, almost unrecognizable with his hair and skin burned from the bombing earlier. He boasts he was only stunned by the bomb; he draws a blaster. Cundertol is only pointing it at Harris, but Jaina and Leia's Noghri bodyguards move into defensive positions. Jaina pokes him with her Force senses, trying to see if maybe Cundertol was a Vong spy, but there's just a strange presence she's unfamiliar with. Leia, diplomatic as ever, apologizes for the party's surprise and the two talk briefly about how to repel the attack. Jaina winces as Cundertol uses the slur term of Fluties again. Harris refuses to provide information on escape routes, and Cundertol shoots him. Jaina's displeased with the idea of cold-blooded execution, even if Harris was a mass-murderer. She steps over to keep Cundertol from shooting Harris' Rodian accomplice as well, but Cundertol moves the blaster over to Malinza's head instead, laments that there are no better options to escape, and calls out in the Ssi-ruuvi language. She tries a mind trick, but Cundertol is unfazed; Jaina asks what his is, and the prime minister answers "New."
Malinza states the obvious, that Cundertol knew about the Ssi-ruuk and betrayed Bakura. Retorts are useless, as six large Ssi-ruuk warriors find them, with five ordinary-sized following, along with four golden Ssi-ruuk priests and the Keeramak, a group of P'w'eck warrior slaves in the back. The largest is a red female warrior with a black harness and silver medals. Threepio translates as the Ssi-ruuk chastise Cundertol for wasting one of the captives. The Keeramak and Leia talk; of course it was a lie when they said they only use entechment on volunteers, though the length a soul lasts has been stretched nearly indefinitely. Leia draws her saber, finally. Cundertol tells the Solo women they're fools for preparing to fight, that entechment isn't the end, it's liberation. "Imagine being the controller of your own droid ship, the heart of an interstellar drive, the overseer of an entire city! Imagine the freedom you will achieve when you've been cut loose from the shackles of flesh and blood. You'll be able to live forever!"
He continues, and it becomes clear Cundertol sold out Bakura for a shot at immortality. Sure, they'll be slaves, but he thinks it'll just be servitude for a few years, then centuries of nothing but rainbows and sunshine. He's already enjoying the benefits of the deal. The P'w'eck move into fighting positions, and Jaina feels bad that they not only have to fight, but will have to fight and possibly kill slaves first. That first P'w'eck they'd met comes up and is ordered to subdue the captives; it raises its weapon and fires. The author jumps the narrative to Jag's space battle, making a cliff hanger like a true dick.
The Keeramak is shot dead. Ssi-ruuk are stunned, and the P'w'eck press their attack -- the false P'w'eck rebellion is no longer a falsehood. The Ssi-ruuk are stronger, better trained, and better equipped, so start regaining the advantage when Jaina joins the fighting. Yep, she starts killing dinosaurs larger than herself. After fighting the Vong, it's actually easy, since she can sense them in the Force. She can't effectively deflect Ssi-ruuk lasers, but she does prove competent at using her saber to at least redirect the beam enough to stay safe. She telekinetically disarms one dino and tosses the weapon to Vyram, who puts it to Cundertol's face. As the Ssi-ruuk finish being killed or subdued, Cundertol lowers his weapon, saying they've ruined an opportunity for everyone. Han goes about grabbing the rest of the Ssi-ruuk weapons and arming bystanders.
The P'w'eck talk with Leia briefly, and they agree, albeit suspiciously, to a plan to interrupt the communications jamming and order Twin Suns and Bakuran pilots to allow the P'w'eck enteched fighters to tractor all the ships. They pretend, on open channels, that they're surrendering. A Bakuran captain lies to Jag to get him to go along with it: she tells Jag the Ssi-ruuk have captured Jaina. In space, the P'w'eck enteched fighters tow the "captured" pilots in behind the Ssi-ruuk shields. . . and set them loose again.
On the ground, Cundertol disarms Vyram and makes a break for it while Jaina's checking on Ssi-ruuk captives. Jaina gives chase, surprised at his speed. It's a long chase, winding as Cundertol takes twists and turns to avoid P'w'eck. She has to draw on the Force to keep up with him, even using momentum to barrel through a stairwell basement door. As she gets through, she reflexively deflects a projectile with telekinesis and dodges another projectile by moving her head to one side. She realizes belatedly that he's throwing rocks at her with superhuman strength. A Force shove only makes him stagger, and he resumes his flight. Eventually she senses him stop moving, but can't pinpoint him; he's set up an ambush in a dark corridor. They exchange typical words about not getting away with this, but he's certainly planning to. As he drops down behind her, she spins to strike, but he's too fast and strong; he knocks her aside easily. Jaina bounces herself off the wall and comes at him with her saber, but he dodges, punches her five meters across the room. She backflips and swings again, but when they engage he's still too agile, landing another blow to her chest. Her grasp on her weapon fails.
Cundertol moves over her to finish the Jedi off; typical "you fought well," "it's not over" exchange, and Jaina calls her saber back toward her, igniting it on the way; he rolls aside, but the saber still clips his arms. Jaina gets back on her feet, but after being knocked around, everything feels like it's swaying around her. Cundertol manages to get to his feet faster and goes on the run again. Han and Leia finally catch up to her; they check on her before leading some Bakuran and P'w'eck extras on the continued chase. Leia stays to check on her daughter. Jaina pulls away to pick up Cundertol's severed arm. Leia thinks Jaina's going into shock, and assures Jaina she can let Han handle the chase, especially if Cundertol's injured. Jaina has realized, however, that Cundertol is now a droid.
Leia: It's okay, Jaina. It's over now. They'll get him -- especially if he's injured.
Jaina: No, they won't. Even injured, he's going to get away.
Threepio reports the P'w'eck say some of the Ssi-ruuk have surrendered, and Jag is leading the attack on the remaining enemy vessel. Leia tries emphasizing again that things aren't Jaina's problems to handle anymore and Jaina needs to let it go. Maybe Leia's right -- but Jaina's not going to be able to relax until they're well away from the threat of entechment, she thinks.
The Solos get bundled off to a Bakuran medical facility. Jaina is initially restrained because of her injuries, but she quickly gets herself out and has been holding onto Jag's hand; they've been worried about each other. Tahiri appears to have sunk into a worrying coma. Leia tells Jaina the Bakurans have signed a true treaty with a now actually freed P'w'eck leadership. Leia confirms Jaina's suspicions about Cundertol -- his consciousness has been transferred to a Human Replica Droid body, with the same basic specs of the droids made by Simonelle the Ingoian over thirty years ago. "The bones are poly-alloy; the muscles and other organs are made from biofiber; his skin was grown in a clone vat; and everything else is just synthflesh. Despite it being an abomination, it's actually an incredible piece of work."
Project Decoy made HRDs, but failed all those decades ago because they couldn't get droid brains up to snuff. Back then it would've cost 10 million credits to make one. Jaina puts together that Cundertol managed to squander millions for his replica, uses the smuggling ship Jaunty Cavalier to pick up the droid, fakes his own kidnapping, entechs himself into the body by promising the Ssi-ruuk the planet they've wanted. Jaina says she has to feel sorry for the crew to have been killed for doing nothing more than take on a passenger; Leia says Cundertol's actions are the sign of an evil mind. He did get away.
(Cundertol manages to kill a P'w'eck ship's crew and retreats to Ssi-ruuvi Imperium remnants, meeting with a Ssi-ruuk general. It's revealed that the Keeramak really was a prophesied being in Ssi-ruuk culture, but the Ssi-ruuk general behind all this is actually a Yuuzhan Vong impostor maneuvering all sides in the conflict to make the Imperium and Bakura vulnerable to Vong invasion.)