Star Wars Jedi Knight IV: Sith Empire

Chapter 10: Dark Burden

"The weapon of the Jedi is not to be taken up lightly...I'm physically capable. I know how to fight an opponent with it—but I'm not sure I'm ready mentally. Maybe I'm not mature enough emotionally."

―Jacen Solo

"Breathe," Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo said. "Breathe in the Force, and breathe out your anxiety."

Thirteen-year-old Allana Solo held her mother's lightsaber in a defensive poise. She couldn't see either the remote or the teal beam of the saber: she was blindfolded. Per her mother's instructions, she breathed in, feeling the Force flow through her. She could almost see the remote in the Force. Almost.

The remote fired again, and she blocked it. It fired two more times, the shots very close together. Allana blocked them both, keeping the saber in position to block more. She heard the hiss of the remote's maneuvering thrusters. It moved. 

Allana let the Force guide her. Left. She raised the blade to block before the remote even fired, and blocked the shot perfectly. 

Her mother's comlink chimed, and shattered her focus. The remote fired again, hitting her in the rear with a sharp sting. It's maneuvering thrusters hissed again. Allana had completely lost it now. She tried to find it again, but it fired once more and hit her on the arm and elicited a yelp of surprise from her. The pain almost caused her to drop the saber.

"Ta'a Chume," Tenel Ka answered, sounding oblivious to Allana's struggling. She tried to re-center herself, determined not to get shot in the backside again. The voices emanating from her mother's comlink didn't help matters. The remote fired, and Allana blocked. Twice, three times. 

"What?!" Tenel Ka exclaimed. Allana turned in the direction of her mother's startled voice, and was promptly shot again in the rear, in almost the exact same spot as last time. 

Allana wanted to lash out in the direction of the remote with her mother's saber. She quickly bit down that vengeful emotion, and extinguished the blade. She heard three sharp hisses as the remote floated over to Tenel Ka. Allana took the black cloth from over her eyes.

Tenel Ka had a look on her face that Allana almost never saw: one of great distress. She looked as if she were about to break down crying. Allana tried to listen to the voice over the comlink. 

"--destroyed. There's nothing left. We found efflux signatures that match Imperial Star Destroyers, but there is no indication as to why they chose to attack."

Tenel Ka swallowed hard. "Did you try contacting the Academy on Ossus?"

"We don't know anything for sure, your highness, but if the Academy on Shedu Maad was destroyed, it is likely the Academy on Ossus was attacked as well." 

Tenel Ka fought back tears and took a deep breath. "Send a scout ship to check on Ossus." She said. 

"Right away your highness." 

The Queen Mother switched her comlink off. 

"Did the Jedi Academy--" Allana left her question hanging. The Queen Mother just nodded. Allana let her mouth gape.

"If you did well today I was going to enroll you there," Tenel Ka remarked. "But now it appears that won't be happening any time soon. I'm sorry sweetie."

"D-Did anyone die?" Allana asked.

Tenel Ka sighed. Allana was wise beyond her years, and sugar-coating things for her usually didn't go over well. "It's possible, but no ships or wreckage from the Jedi were found on the planet. So it sounds like at least most of them did manage to get off in time."

Allana was relieved, but still puzzled. "How did the Empire even find Shedu Maad?" She asked. "That would mean they found a way through the Transitory Mists, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would," Tenel Ka confirmed, unable to hide her own uneasiness. "Obviously the only way the Empire could find out is if someone who knew told them." She mused aloud. She had already whittled her staff down to a fraction of what it should be because of her recent mistrust for them around Allana. So one of her own people leaking this information would be highly unlikely...

"Could the Jedi have told them?" Allana asked. Tenel Ka hadn't even considered it. She had automatically trusted them, and still did: the Jedi wouldn't knowingly pursue their own destruction. But she did question a non-Jedi that was allowed to stay with them...Jagged Fel. If there was anyone questionable among the Jedi, he was: he had Imperial ties. But even that scenario didn't make much sense, either.

"No honey I don't think the Jedi would have told them." Tenel Ka reassured her daughter. But I think I know who did. She thought as she reached for her comlink. "Lyra, if you get through to Ossus, can you request that Jedi Master Fel meet me in person here?"

"As you wish, Ta'a Chume," The voice responded. 

Allana handed her mother's lightsaber back. "We're done then, right?"

"For now," Tenel Ka confirmed. "But I've still got a surprise for you." She smiled at her daughter, though it was obvious she was faking it for Allana's sake. Her worry for her friends and family was self evident. She led Allana in from the pavilion where she was training.

Anji was sleeping just inside. As soon as Tenel Ka and Allana stepped inside from the pavilion, the snoring and drooling nexu, now fully grown, perked up and stretched. Anji's claws, each at least as big as Allana's face, scratched the polished stone floor. As the monstrous creature yawned, two rows of long, sharp teeth reached out into the air. Anji blinked her compound eyes, and followed the Queen Mother and the Chume'da into Tenel Ka's royal chambers. 

You wait here. Allana commanded Anji with the Force. The last time Anji was allowed in Tenel Ka's bedroom, she tried to kill her down bed...everything in the room was coated with feathers, and priceless Hapan quilts had been destroyed. Anji was almost banished from the palace that very day. The nexu blinked her four eyes and cocked her head, coming as close to "cute" as a creature like that could. Allana did her best to ignore the begging beast. 

Tenel Ka glanced around the room. Her eyes settled on a drawer in her dresser. She pulled it out partway, and reached under it. To Allana's surprise, she pulled something rather large out. A lightsaber. Allana's jaw dropped for the second time in a span of less than ten minutes. 

"Is it--?" She was too stunned to finish the question. Tenel Ka nodded solemnly, and held the weapon out for her daughter. Cautiously, Allana took it, letting the weight of the device sink into her hand. She took in the feel of the cold, brushed durasteel with her sweaty palms. Wide eyed, she thumbed the activator. With slight recoil she was't braced for, a brilliant emerald bar of light shot from the hilt with a snap-hiss. The semi-dark room was suddenly illuminated in a green hue. Allana had her eyes fixed on the blade, in awe.

Tenel Ka wiped her eye. "It...was Jacen's." Allana suddenly understood, and swallowed, a weight had been added to her shoulders that wasn't there before. She knew now what Jacen was and who he had become, to the extent of what the Jedi knew. Tenel Ka took a breath. "Now when you do undergo your Jedi training, you will be ready."