Memory 16

[sticksofthejedi]

Memory: Urging the Jedi Council to let Jaina, as Sword of the Jedi, kill Caedus.
Received: Day 87, mid-morning
Form: gold necklace, 2/5 uses
Summary: Jaina proposes a plan of action to negate Jacen's military advantage, using it as a lead into "hey as long as we're at it you guys should let me go kill my twin." Han and Leia declare there is no Jacen--only Darth Caedus. The Jedi Council makes Jaina explain why she should be allowed to kill her twin, then reveal they already planned to let her. Jaina's reaction to this memory: OH SHIT OH SHIT OHSHIT. Seriously there's a reason this is Negative Significant.

THIS DEEP IN THE TRANSITORY MISTS, THERE WERE NO STARS TO relieve the night's gloom, no constellations to make the black skies seem less alien. The vista outside the viewport was an inky fog of light-swallowing gases that never thinned and never lifted--and never failed to leave spacegazers feeling a little lost and alone.
The Jedi had retreated to the abandoned mining world of Shedu Maad to hide from Jacen, and ever since joining them here, Jaina had been wondering whether this dark corner of the galaxy would become their tomb. Like most good refuges, it felt safe and secure--and that was an illusion. After the trouble the Jedi had caused at Fondor, Jacen would be searching for their secret base with every resource he could spare--and this time, he would give them no time to evacuate. He would have a strike force waiting to pounce the instant he had any idea where they were.

Their only hope was to get him first.

The Jedi would never leave Shedu Maad aliv--not unless they hunted down and killed Jacen before he hunted them down. Jaina knew that in her heart.

But could she convince the Masters?

Several of them were gathered around a table behind her, holding an impromptu war council with Luke, Jagged Fel, and her father and mother--the renowned Han and Leia Solo. Not for the first time in her life, Jaina wondered whether she could ever live up to her parents' legend, how she could possibly impact the galaxy as they had during their long and illustrious lives.

"And are we sure Jacen sent them?" Corran Horn was asking. "The Remnant is still an independent government."

Not wishing to involve herself in the conversation until she was invited--or at least until the time was right--Jaina kept her back to the table and continued to stare out the viewport.

"This might have been the Moffs' play," Corran continued.

"Could be," said Jaina's father--Han Solo. In this context--in the company of so many other greats, trying to plan a response to her brother's latest outrages--it felt wrong to even think of her parents as Mom and Dad.They were bigger than that, along with her uncle Luke, the most legendary of the many legends sitting at that table. "Maybe all Fett did was streamline their decision-making process."

Nobody laughed. During the wildly confused Battle of Fondor, nearly a quarter of the Remnant's Moffs had been executed by Boba Fett and his Mandalorians aboard Admiral Pellaeon's flagship, the Bloodfin. Most coalition intelligence agencies had concluded that the survivors would fall into a bitter power struggle and scurry home to protect their turf. But Luke and the Jedi Council had realized that, somehow, the only Moffs who had been trapped aboard when Fett arrived were those who had been a problem during Pellaeon's reign. The rest had managed to escape and rejoin the main body of the Remnant's fleet--again, somehow.

The Masters had concluded that those somehows were the doing of Pellaeon's aide, Vitor Reige. They had also realized that a shrewd leader such as Pellaeon would have made provisions to ensure a smooth succession of power after his death. Unfortunately for the Verpine--and the Jedi coalition--it appeared they had been right.

After a long pause in the conversation, Luke said, "I don't think it matters whose idea it was to enslave the Verpine. If Jacen doesn't control the Remnant already, he soon will."

There followed another silence during which no one disagreed. Then Kenth Hamner said, "Which means he's reaching the tipping point. Once he has full control of the Remnant's fleets, he'll be able to project more power than all of his enemies combined."

"We could always accept Admiral Niathal's offer to assume supreme command of all coalition forces," Kyp Durron said, his tone clearly mocking. "That would give us, what, another dozen hulls?"

"At least," Kenth said, joining the others at the table in a bitter chuckle. "And all she wants in return is to negate our nonaggression pact with the entire Confederation."

The laughter trailed away into dumbfounded silence, until Jaina's mom--Princess Leia--said, "All the same, I'd suggest the Council phrase its rejection as politely as possible. It's never good to alienate a potential ally, no matter how inconsequential they may seem at the time."

"Thank you for the reminder, Leia," Kenth said. "I will be careful with my phrasing."

"In the meantime, we'll just have to sign up the Chiss Ascendancy," Kyp said. Jaina could not tell from his tone whether he was still joking or actually believed there was any chance of such an alliance happening. "Then, if we can get the Corporate Sector--"

"Forget the Ascendancy," Jag interrupted. "You won't involve Csilla in this. Even if the Nine Ruling Families would take sides against the Imperial Remnant, they won't get involved with Jedi problems."

"Still stinging from Tenupe?" Han asked.

"That, and the Jedi habit of telling interstellar governments how to run their sovereign territory," Jag replied. "No offense meant, of course."

"Not much taken," Corran assured him. "At least there's no question about the coalition's situation."

"No question at all," said Leia. Her voice was dignified and calm, but the Force was smoldering with her frustration. Just days before the Remnant invasion, she and Han had failed to persuade the Verpine to withdraw from their treaty with Mandalore and join the Jedi coalition instead. "I believe the term is borked."

"Sorry, Luke," Han said. There was a bitter edge to his voice that Jaina suspected only she and her mother would recognize as a personal sense of failure. "We told Siskili what you've been seeing when you look into the future. But the Verpine's mutual-aid deal with Mandalore was exclusive, and he was too afraid of Fett to break it."

"Nor would Fett let them modify it," Leia added.

"Buckethead skull!" Saba spat. "Does Boba Fett think one world of dirt-comberz is the match of thousandz? Mandalore has been hunting too far up the chain, and now the whole jungle will suffer."

"Fett does what works for Fett," Han replied. "The rest of us can suck entropy."

"That's not true anymore," Jaina said, turning from the viewport.
The decor of the makeshift conference room could only be described as mining-complex salvage, with age-yellowed sturdiplas furniture and poured plastoid walls the color of dust. The sliding door at the far end of the small chamber--it had probably been a break room when the mine was still in operation--remained open because of a corroded actuator arm that had not been serviced in centuries.

Most of the war council sat on benches beside a long dining table that had probably once been some color other than stained amber. Their cloaks were fastened tight against the chill of a not-quite-repaired environmental control unit. Only Luke wasn't seated, standing on the near side of the table with his back to the others, gazing out the same viewport through which Jaina had been looking. Judging by the casual acceptance of this position by everyone else at the table, it had not been unusual of late.

"Fett has a family now," Jaina continued, "and he has Mandalore. He still cares about his word, too."

"Then I guess this war has accomplished something," Leia replied bitterly. She was dressed in a white robe that was only a few shades lighter than the gray wisps now running through her hair. "Boba Fett has grown as a person. And here I was wishing the kriffing war had never started."

"I'm not defending him," Jaina replied. She could see the sad pain swimming just beneath the surface of her mother's brown eyes, and was not surprised to find that it only served to make her appear more regal than ever. "I'm just saying he has more vulnerabilities now, and we should remember that. Of all the things I learned training with Boba Fett, the most important were these two: he isn't a good guy, and he'll never be our friend."

This drew a crooked, deep-wrinkled smile from her father. "I always said you were our smart one."

He was seated next to Leia, who sat on a stool at the end of the table--very much her own woman, but still with Han, as always. It was a stark contrast with Fett's fifty years of loneliness, and Jaina found herself glancing at Jagged Fel's square jaw and squarer shoulders, hoping she would survive long enough to someday have what her parents did.

Then Jag caught her looking at him, and his grim frown was replaced by a passably warm smile. Jaina glanced away without returning the gesture, telling herself that she had only been looking in Jag's direction because Zekk wasn't present, that she wasn't ready to think about choosing anyone until she had finished with Jacen.

And to do that, she needed to win the support of the Jedi Council. The first step was to convince Luke and the others that the Jedi had to challenge Jacen no matter how strong he was; that they did not dare hide in the Transitory Mists until they could find some way to shift the balance of power back in their favor.

Jaina stepped to the corner of the table closest to her parents. "If I may, I'd like to express an opinion."

Leia turned toward her with an air of attentiveness, but everyone else seemed taken aback. Her father's jaw fell, Jag's gaze grew even more penetrating, and the brows of several Masters rose in shock. During her tenure as a Jedi Knight, Jaina had hardly cultivated the reputation of someone who followed proper procedure.

"You're requesting permission to talk to us?" Kyp asked. For once, his brown hair was neatly trimmed at his collar, his face was clean-shaven, and his blue robe had only a few wrinkles. "Jaina Solo?"

"That's right." Jaina checked her posture, drawing herself up straight and formal. "I think it's important."

Kyp whistled in disbelief, then looked to Han. "I don't know what Fett did to her, but I'll help you hunt him down."

"Come on," Jaina complained. "Can't a girl learn from her mistakes? I just want to do this right."

"Then by all means, proceed," Kenth said. He placed both hands flat on the table and glanced around at the others. "Unless there are objections?"

Saba snorted. "This one did not realize you had such a good sense of humor, Master Hamner." She let out a long siss of Barabel laughter, her forked tongue flickering between her pebbled lips. "Who would not want to hear this?"

Jaina was fairly sure she could name two people at the table who were not going to like what she intended to propose, but she nodded her thanks and began.

"It's obvious that we have no hope of actually stopping the takeover of the Verpine munitions industry," she began. "By the time I left the system, the Remnant had already captured Nickel One and most of the other important hives. With the advantage of their aerosol weapon, it's clear that they'll have the rest before the coalition can mount any sort of response."

"If we can mount a response," agreed Corran. "Most of our partners? fleets are already engaged near their own sectors, and they're not going to pull out to defend an unaligned system--especially when that system has been selling arms to all three sides."

"That doesn't mean we can afford to ignore the Roche system," Kenth objected. "Once Jacen has control of those munitions factories, the war is over."

"Not necessarily," Jaina said. She could not allow the Jedi to slip into a defensive frame of mind. She had to keep them focused on going after the enemy. "If Jacen can't get the munitions to his navies, it doesn't do him any good to control the factories."

"You think we should forget the Verpine?" Kyp asked.

"Not forget," Jaina corrected. "But the Mandalorians are the ones who have the mutual-aid agreement. All I'm suggesting is that we let them honor their contract and leave the asteroid fighting to Fett. In the meantime, we?ll concentrate on what's important to us and--"

"Raid the supply train," Kenth finished. "Classic guerrilla tactics--for which we happen to be perfectly positioned."

"Exactly," Jaina said. "We make them choose between defending their munitions convoys against a concentrated StealthX campaign, and keeping their fleet in the Roche system to protect their new munitions factories against a Mandalorian counterattack. They don't have enough hulls to do both missions well, so I'm betting they'll want to protect their new factories."

"And that leaves the Jedi free to demolish their freighter capacity," Jag said. "How many cargo vessels do they have?"

"Um--there wasn't a lot of time to count," Jaina admitted. She could have kicked him for jumping to details now, before she had a chance to talk about the other half of her plan, but that was Jag--focused, careful, and alert. "And I wasn't thinking demolish. More like, um, appropriate."

"You mean steal," her father said, smirking in pride. "I like it. It shows your Solo blood."

"This one likez it also," Saba said. "There will be fewer pointlesz killz this way."

"Yeah, that, too," Han said. He winked at Leia. "But mostly I'm looking forward to playing pirate again."

"All you had to do was ask," Leia replied sweetly. "I'm always happy to clap you in leg irons, flyboy."

"Okaaaay," Jaina said, feeling herself blush. "We really don't need to hear more--at least I don't."

A chuckle ran around the table, then Kenth, all business as usual, brought the discussion back to strategy.

"I think we've all heard enough to agree this is an idea worth exploring," he said. "We can refine our tactics when we have a better idea of their shipping capacity, but fundamentally this plan makes sense. We're just about directly between the Roche system and the Core, so we can knock out their convoys almost at will. And when they do decide to come after us, we can fade into the Mists and take them by ambush. Master Skywalker?"

Luke nodded without turning around, and Jaina congratulated herself for achieving the first part of her plan. Now all she had left were parts two and three--the hard ones.

Luke's gaze shifted from the darkness outside to Jaina's reflection. "Now--Jaina, why don't you tell us what's really on your mind?"

Jaina nodded, then summoned to mind the speech she had been rehearsing about how the coalition couldn't win the war through military might alone; their only real hope was to dismantle the enemy command structure from the top down.

But then she glanced in her parents' direction and saw the pain lurking in the depths of her mother's brown eyes, and how her father seemed to have aged ten years in the weeks she had been gone, and she knew she couldn't do that to them. It would be more honest to just come out and say it, to simply tell them about the awful decision she had made not so long ago, looking out over the beautiful Kelita valley with a forgotten Jedi general.

"Mom and Dad, I'm sorry for this." As Jaina spoke, she did not take her eyes from her parents. "But I think we have to go after Jacen. I think it's our duty."

Their eyes grew instantly glassy. Her mother's lip began to tremble, and her father's face grew red and grief-furrowed, but they did not look away.

Neither did they speak. It was Saba Sebatyne who asked, "Go after?What do you mean by go after? Arrest? Capture?" She ruffled her scales in disapproval. "This one knowz you have been training with Boba Fett, but that has not worked before."

Jaina shifted her attention to the Barabel. "I know, and it cost us some good people." She glanced around the table at the other Masters. "I mean eliminate. I mean hunt down and kill."

Not too surprisingly, it was her father who responded first. "No." Instead of looking at Jaina or anyone else, he stared at the table and just shook his head. "That's not Jacen. Jacen died in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, just like Anakin did."

Jaina frowned, wondering how badly she had misjudged the impact her decision would have on Han Solo. "Dad, Jacen didn't die," she said. "He escaped with Vergere and?"

Her mother grabbed her arm, silencing her with a short squeeze. "Jaina, we haven't lost touch with reality. We're just saying that the man you're talking about isn't our Jacen."

"Jacen was a hero." Han's voice was as harsh as forge fumes. "He killed Onimi and won the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, and then he died of his wounds." He stopped talking for a moment, drawing in a loud breath and seeming to gather his strength, then finally looked up at Jaina with more anger and despair in his eyes than she recalled seeing, even when Chewbacca died. "Caedus is just the monster who stepped into the hollow shell that was left behind--and if anyone here is capable of taking him out, I'll gladly arm the detonator."

Jaina did not know how to react to the raw hatred in his voice, perhaps because she had not allowed her own anger to play a part in her decision--because she had decided dispassionately that it was appropriate to put a blaster bolt through her twin brother's head.

So Jaina merely nodded and reached over to take his forearm. "Okay, Dad--Caedus must die. We have to hunt him down and kill him."

Jaina had not used Jacen's Sith name earlier because she could not allow herself to pretend that she was thinking these things about someone other than her own brother--because when the time came, she knew it would not be Darth Caedus she saw in her sniper sight, but her brother, Jacen Solo, and if she wasn't ready to kill him, then she would be the one who died.

Jaina shifted her attention to Leia. "Mom?"

Her mother's eyes grew distant and unreadable; then she merely looked at the table and nodded. "That's not Jacen," she said. "And even if it was, I don't think we'd have any choice."

Luke finally turned away from the viewport. With sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, he looked like he had not slept in many nights. But there was also an eerie tranquillity about him that seemed both frightening and vaguely reassuring, as though he had been staring out that viewport for days, waiting for just this moment.

"Thank you," he said, and Jaina knew she had accomplished the second step of her plan. Now all she had to do was convince them she should be the one to send. "I've been wondering when someone else was going to come to the same conclusion."

"Then you approve?" While Kenth's voice was condemning, there was something in it that did not sound quite sincere to Jaina--as though he secretly agreed with Luke's decision, but felt the argument had to be made for form's sake. "Assassinating a Head of State?"

"I doubt we'll be fortunate enough to get away with simple assassination," Luke replied. "But yes. For some time now, it's been clear to me that our survival--and civilization's well-being depends on ridding the galaxy of Darth Caedus."

Corran shook his head. "There are a lot of legitimate ways to be rid ofJa--" He caught himself and stopped, casting an apologetic look toward the Solos. Again, there was something missing from his tone, and Jaina had the sense that while he was sincere in what he was saying, he already knew that this was an argument he had no chance of winning. "To remove Caedus from power. Assassination isn't one of them. It would make us no different from him."

"We have tried arrest, and we have tried politicize," Saba replied. "And we have failed because we refuse to see the truth: Caedus remainz in power because he never balkz at the kill. If we wish to remove him, neither can we."

Kyp nodded in agreement. "That's right. Caedus won't be taken alive--and if we try, we'll be the ones who end up dead." He turned to Luke. "But if you've already decided we have to do this, why wait until Jaina brings it up?"

"To tell the truth, I was worried that my judgment might be clouded by a desire for vengeance." Luke glanced in Jaina's direction, and a look of genuine relief came to his eyes. "So I wanted to hear someone else say it first."

Jaina's heart sank. It was beginning to sound like Luke intended to go after Caedus himself, and she could not decide whether to feel betrayed or confused. She had no hope of convincing anyone--maybe not even herself--that she was more capable of slaying her brother than Luke. But what of the vision he had experienced on Mon Calamari, when he had promoted her to Jedi Knight? Hadn't he foreseen that she would be the Sword of the Jedi, always leading the fight against enemies of the Order?

Then Jaina had a terrible thought: perhaps the vision had not referred to what was,but to what was to be--perhaps she would become the Sword after the current one fell.

"I'm going with you," Jaina said. When she saw a look of disappointment flash across his face, she realized that she had reverted to the old Jaina--the Jaina who pronounced instead of offered--and amended her approach. "I mean, I'd like to help."

Luke surprised her with a sad smile. "There's nothing I'd like better, Jaina," he said, "but I'm afraid that won't be possible."

"Do you mind if I ask why not?" Jaina knew by Luke's tone that she would not get him to change his mind, but she intended to keep fighting until after the battle was over--something else she had learned from the Mandalorians. "You're going to need support, and I have been preparing."

"I know you have," Luke said. "But I'm not going to need support because I can't kill Caedus."

There was a short silence while everyone contemplated this startling statement. Then Saba Sebatyne began to siss.

"Master Skywalker," she said, "you are alwayz making jokes at such strange times."

"I don't think he's joking," Han said. He turned toward Luke. "Look, buddy, if this is about our feelings?"

"Han, it's not." Luke met the gazes of both of Jaina's parents, then said, "To tell the truth, I've been looking forward to running him down."

Jaina winced inside, and not just for herself. Her parents had told her that Luke claimed to hold only himself and Caedus responsible for Mara's death--that he had not let slip one bitter remark or asked a single pointed question. But all the Solos realized how difficult it must be for him not to blame the parents for the crimes of the child. It would only be natural to blame them for raising a monster, to wonder how they could have gotten it so wrong. So if Luke had finally let slip a vengeful remark, Jaina knew her parents would be willing to overlook this one moment of human imperfection--as would Jaina, had she not understood what he was really saying.

"You've been looking forward to it a little too much?" she asked. "Is that what you mean?"

"Exactly." Luke's gaze slid away from the table. "Every future that begins with me going after Caedus ends in darkness. I know I'm the only one who can be sure of stopping him, but no matter how I envision it, it always leads to darkness."

"Because you want it too much," Kyp said. "You said yourself that your judgment was clouded by vengefulness. If you could purify yourself, maybe go to Dagobah and meditate?"

"It is not Master Skywalker'z judgment that is clouded," Saba said. "It is him."

"What?" Han demanded. "He's not allowed to get mad when someone kills his wife?"

"This one does not think it is anger that cloudz him," Saba replied. "This one thinkz it is what he did to Lumiya."

"I think the word you're looking for is taints, Master Sebatyne," said Leia. "You're saying that killing Lumiya in vengeance tainted him with the dark side."

"Yes." Saba glanced in Luke's direction, then lowered her chin in apology. "This one fearz that if you go after Caedus, no matter how the hunt beginz, it must end in vengeance. That is why you can see nothing but darknesz down that path."

"And this one believes you're right," Luke replied. "Thank you for your honesty, Master Sebatyne. It's only one of the reasons I value your friendship."

Saba lifted her chin again. "It is only this one's duty."

She paused and began to glance around the table at the other Masters, and Jaina knew that the Barabel was trying to decide whether any of the other Masters were better prepared than she was to hunt down a Sith Lord.

Before Saba could act, Jaina stepped to her uncle's side. "Let me go."

"You?" This came from the other end of the table, where Corran sat looking surprised and worried. "You're only a Jedi Knight."

"So is Jacen," Jaina replied, relying on a technicality--but knowing that it would work in her favor if anybody tried to argue that a Jedi Knight wasn't powerful enough to confront Caedus. "I know that you Masters--and several Jedi Knights--are more skilled in both Force and lightsaber than I am. But I'm his twin sister. I'll have advantages no one else will."

"What kind of advantages?" Kenth asked.

Relieved to discover that she was actually being taken seriously, Jaina turned to address the table--and tried not to look toward her parents, whom she could feel beaming fear and dismay into the Force like a nova ejecting its gas shell.

"First, I've been preparing with the Mandalorians," she said. "He'll expect me to fight like a Jedi, and I won't."

"It'll take more than Fett tricks," Corran said doubtfully. "Caedus has plenty of his own--and he won't fight like a Jedi, either."

"I know," Jaina said. "But it will trouble him that it's me coming after him. We know from debriefing Allana how misunderstood he feels, how betrayed he feels because we've all chosen to stand against him. It won't protect me in a fight, but I can use it against him in other ways."

"And he won't use your feelings against you?" Kyp asked. "He's your brother, and you still love him. I can feel that."

"I still love him," Jaina admitted. "But that won't make me hesitate--not even for a nanosecond."

Then support arrived from an unexpected quarter.

"And there's the whole Sword of the Jedi vision Luke had when he made Jaina a Jedi Knight." His voice was cracking, but Han Solo didn't falter as he spoke--and he didn't balk. "That's got to mean something."

Jaina's heart beat an extra time in surprise, and she looked over to see her parents shining approval at her through tear-filled eyes.

"You understand Force visions better than I do," Jag said from the other end of the table. "But I suspect that doesn't guarantee her survival."

"Jagged, the Force never guarantees," Leia replied. "That doesn't mean you can ignore it."

"Thanks, Mom," Jaina said, sufficiently recovered from her shock to react."You, too, Dad. Your support means a lot."

"It better," Han said. "Because you're not doing this without us. Got it?"

Jaina was too surprised to react instantly, though she knew she should't have been. Of courseher parents would want to be her support team; their feelings about Jacen had to be as strong as her own, and they would want him stopped just as much as she did. And Jaina knew better than to think she would have any chance of keeping them away when she was placing herself in this kind of danger--her mother might have had the strength to let her go after her brother alone, but not her father. He was going to be watching her tail whether she wanted him there or not.

Besides, if it was going to trouble Jacen to know that it was his sister hunting him, then it would trouble him even more to have all three Solos after him. It would hurt anyone to discover that his entire family was determined to kill him.

Finally, Jaina nodded. "Okay, got--" She choked on the lump in her throat and paused, hit hard by the realization that she would be placing the entire Solo family in harm's way--and that it was possible, maybe even likely, that none of them would survive the chain of events she was setting in motion. She looked at both her parents and nodded again. "Got it--and thanks."

"Do not assume too much, Jedi Solo," Saba warned sternly. "Your parents' support does not mean you have ourz. You said you wanted to do this right. Why?"

Jaina gulped away the lump that was still in her throat and thought for a minute, then turned to Saba. "Because I need Jedi resources?"

Her honesty drew an appreciative laugh. She waited for it to fade, then continued, "And because I want to eliminate Darth Caedus--not replace him. If I go after him without sanction, I'll be just another murderer--like him."

"But if we send you," Kenth concluded, "you're a soldier."

"Close enough," Jaina said. She would have said executioner, but soldierdid feel better. "This isn't about me, or even Mara or Allana. It's not about anything that Caedus has done--it's about what he's going to do, and that makes this a lot bigger than I am. If I don't have the Council's blessing, then I won't even try it."

Saba blinked twice in what was either approval or surprise--even after dozens of missions with Tesar, Jaina still couldn't read Barabels well enough to tell which--then steepled her taloned fingers, propped her elbows on the table, and turned to Luke.

"Perhapz we should send more unruly young Jedi Knightz to Boba Fett for training," she said. "If the one before us is any example, he has a gift for teaching them their place in the pack."

Luke smiled, but did not laugh. "Then you agree that she's ready?"

Saba took a moment to gather nods from the other Masters present, then turned back to Luke and inclined her own head. "It seemz you were right, yes." She turned back to Jaina. "You have the sanction of the Masterz. What else do you need from us?"

Jaina's relief did not blind her to the implications of what Saba had just said. "Were right?" she asked. "The Masters have already been discussing this option?"

"Of course," said Kyp. "We're Jedi Masters. Anticipate is what we do."

"Every day, it growz more clear to us that this fight will be won or lost in the mystic realm, not the physical," Saba added. "And the Force has named you Sword of the Jedi. We would have been foolz not to discusz your request."

"Even before I made it--that's the creepy part." Jaina turned to Luke. "You knew I was going to ask for the Council?s sanction, didn't you?"

"I've seen some things that have led me to expect it, yes." A note of distress in Luke's voice suggested that not all those futures turned out well. "I apologize for not being more direct, but we had to be sure you were ready."

"So this was a test," Jaina said, turning toward Kenth and Corran. "Your reservations about killing Caedus?"

"Have already been discussed at length in your absence," Kenth assured her. "We just wanted to be sure everyone present appreciated our reluctance in granting this sanction."

Jaina frowned, trying to read through the multiple layers of the Master's meaning. "Are you saying that if I can bring Caedus in alive, I should try?"

"And get yourself and the rest of your family killed?" Kenth responded. "Absolutely not."

"A couple of us had been holding out hope that Master Skywalker would be able to pursue a less drastic course," Corran explained. He glanced in Luke's direction. "We didn't realize that wasn't an option."

"I'm sorry about that," Luke said. "But I didn't want that to influence your decision."

"And you didn't want us to know what you were seeing in your own future," Kenth surmised, "in case Jaina wasn't ready."

"I never doubted she would be, Master Hamner." Luke turned to Jaina. "Ben will accompany you to Coruscant."

"Ben?" It was Han who asked the question, but only because Jaina had been slowed by the cold lump of fear that had formed in her stomach. "Luke, that's got to be your worst idea since apprenticing yourself to Palpatine's clone. You do know we may not be coming back from this?"

"I know that Ben is a Jedi Knight," Luke said. "And that Jaina will need his connections inside the Galactic Alliance Guard to get to Caedus. Anything else I know is irrelevant to my decision."

Luke folded his hands behind his back and turned toward the darkness outside, then caught Jaina's gaze in the viewport reflection.

"I'm afraid your brother is already expecting someone to come after him," Luke said. "I'll be doing everything I can to keep him from seeing that it's you."