Star Wars Jedi Knight IV: Sith Empire

Chapter 18: Rogue

"If I'm supposed to be the Sword of the Jedi, it's time I took it seriously."

―Jaina Solo

It had been nearly a week since Ben left to check on Lando's droid situation, and outside of a confirmation that Ben had landed at Cloud City, he hadn't heard from him since. Kyle didn't like that. 

He decided to give Lando a call. He checked his datapad to see what time it was at Cloud City. There, it was 0524, early in the morning. Decidedly it would be a bit rude, but lives could be at stake, and he had a feeling that Lando would appreciate the follow-up.

He keyed in Lando's comm frequency on the holoprojector on his desk.

After a moment, Lando answered, bleary eyed and still in his nightclothes. "Hey Kyle, what's up?"

"Hey Lando," Kyle greeted. "I haven't heard from Ben in a while, is everything going alright?"

"I wish I could say yes, but honestly I don't think so," Lando said. "It looks like the Lost Tribe was involved in the attack, and his old girlfreind Vestara may be the mastermind. While we were talking, she initiated the self-destruct sequence on his shuttle and blew it up right on the starpad."

Kyle rolled his eyes. What was it about these Skywalkers that somehow always managed to drag the whole galaxy into their personal drama?

"I hate to break it to you Lando, but it looks like we've got two Sith factions loose in the galaxy," Kyle said.

"Two? What's the second one?"

"I don't know, but they managed to infiltrate us and the Remnant," Kyle said. "We were attacked on Shedu Maad by Remnant Star Destroyers. They stopped attacking once the Academy was destroyed and let us offplanet. My guess is they were tracking us and they now know of our facility on Ossus."

"Grife, that's bad." Lando said.

"Tell me about it," Kyle replied. He took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "So where is Ben now? I bet he went after her."

"He did," Lando confirmed. "She left a cryptic message and some coordinates by the shuttle. It said to meet him at Fellowship Plaza because 'he owed her' for blowing up his shuttle."

"And Ben fell for it hook line and sinker." Kyle said.

Lando nodded. "And I haven't heard from him since. I imagine he's pretty busy though. I suggested that he let Wynn know of the developments, and they're probably working together to try and capture Vestara and interrogate her."

"That's not bound to go over well with an emotionally wounded Skywalker." Kyle stated matter-of-factly. 

"I know," Lando said. "I wish I could have done more to help."

"You did fine, thanks Lando. I'll send Corran and Mirax to check out the Venture since Ben is a bit tied up."

"Thanks buddy," Lando said. 

"No problem," Kyle said with a smile as he closed the comm channel. 

The smile quickly left his face as he was brought back to his current situation. Jaina had gone missing. She left a note for Jag, which he showed Kyle and left on his desk. The note, quickly scrawled on a piece of flimsi, read:

Jag,

I hate to do this to you, but I think Allana is in danger. I'll know more when I get to Hapes.

We talked about this before, about our duties and responsibilities. This is mine. I'm the Sword of the Jedi, and if Allana is killed, the Jedi won't be the only ones suffering for it.