CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
--The Alderaan's Requiem--
Jaden Korr could not sleep.
Indeed, he had not been able to for the past few days. But today he felt particularly lethargic and would not have mind getting some rest before they reached Mandalore. Meditation had done nothing, nor had immersing himself in the Force. Nothing could rid him of what continued to press his mind. Nothing but validation.
The problem, of course, was that he did not know where to even find such validation.
He had thought to ask Toah back on Ossus, for he knew more about Darth Vorath than anyone else, but he feared how Toah would react to finding out that his fellow Jedi was possibly the clone of a Sith Lord. Then there was Kane, who had trained under Vorath and knew him just as well, but the clone of Anakin Skywalker had not been seen by anyone since the end of the Glorian War.
Besides those two, Jaden knew of no one else to go to. The dreams he had had since leaving Abeloth's planet had provided him with nothing to go on; if anything, they had only further clouded his thoughts.
After several hours of tossing and turning, Jaden finally gave up on his efforts and got out of bed. Perhaps a small stroll would help him clear his mind.
After donning his Jedi apparel, he made his way towards the door... and stopped, hand centimeters over the control panel.
Someone was standing behind him.
Closing his eyes, Jaden took in a deep breath and said, "How long have you been here?"
"I have been waiting for quite some time," hissed Abeloth, her voice like acid in Jaden's ear. "You know it is very rude to keep your mother waiting."
"You," Jaden stressed, "are not my mother."
At that, Abeloth simply laughed. It was a sound Jaden never wished to hear again. He could sense the eldrich woman step closer to him and he could feel her hot breathing on his neck as a tendril-like finger traveled through his hair.
"I can sense your conflict. You seek answers. You seek truth." Abeloth leaned in as she whispered into his ear. "I can give it all to you... if you do something for your mother."
"Forget it," Jaden growled. "You are not my mother and I am not your child. Find someone else to do your dirty work."
"Oh, but Jaden, I do not ask something reprehensible of you. I merely have a simple task for you to perform."
Jaden wanted to refuse. He willed every bit of himself to say, "No."
But instead he said, "What is it?"
He could hear Abeloth smile. Her skin cracked from doing so.
"Well, child, listen closely...."
* * *
"Anakin?"
The roller he was on squeaked as he rolled out from underneath the E-wing starfighter he was working on. Putting down the hydrospanner and wiping his hands clean, Anakin Solo got to his feet and came to stand before a blonde-haired woman.
"Tahiri," he said. "You should be getting some rest. We have a battle ahead of us."
"Says the man working on ships rather than doing the same," Tahiri replied, smiling slightly.
"Yeah, well... these ships aren't gonna prep themselves."
"I thought that was the engineers' job."
"It is, but... Goss was getting tired and I offered to fill in for him and he said sure and--"
Tahiri silenced him with a finger to the lips. She smiled as he blushed slightly. "I guess we both can't get any sleep."
"Um, yeah," Anakin murmured. He took her hand and removed it from his lips but did not let go of it. "So... what brings you down here?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
"I gathered as much. About what?"
Tahiri bit her lip and Anakin could see water welling up in her eyes. "I'm... I'm worried, Anakin. About you."
Anakin looked puzzled. "Me? Why?"
"I... I had a dream. You were on this walkway with another man. A dark man. He had his lightsaber drawn and... and he was about to strike you down...."
"Tahiri." Anakin's gentle voice silenced her and she met his gaze tearfully. He smiled at her as he raised a hand to her cheek and wiped away the tears beginning to stream down her cheek. "It was just a dream. Nothing's going to happen to me."
Tahiri sniffed. "You don't know that."
"No, I don't," Anakin admitted. "But I do know everything will turn out all right in the end. Trust me on that."
"I wish I could," she murmured, bringing her face closer to his. "I don't want to lose you, Anakin."
"You won't," he said gently cupping her face. "I promise."
He then leaned forward and met her lips with his. She returned the kiss as she brought her arms around him and pulled him into a loving embrace.
Lost as they were in their love, neither Jedi noticed as Jaden Korr entered the hangar bay and made his way towards the E-wing....
* * *
"Errant Venture has reported in, General. As has Wild Karrde."
Standing on the bridge of the Viscount-class Star Defender, General Leia Organa nodded curtly to the Mon Calamari officer. "Good. I'm glad we still have the smugglers on our side."
"Ah, they wouldn't miss out on something like this," said Han Solo, standing off to his wife's side. "I mean, especially considering how much we're paying them."
Leia gave her husband a glance before turning back to the officer. "And the Revenger?"
The Mon Cal was silent for a moment as he studied his screen before saying, "Yes, General. Revenger has reported."
Han cleared his throat as he stepped closer to Leia. "You don't trust them at all, do you?"
"They're Glorians, Han. Our former enemies. They have killed many of us, including Chief Omas, a number of senators, countless soldiers, and stars know how many civilians. Yes, of course I trust them."
Han blew out his breath. "Look, I don't like them any more than you do, but we have to get all the help we can get. Stars know we're gonna need it...."
Leia sighed, knowing that she could not argue with that. The past few weeks of planning and gathering had been hectic and she considered it a miracle that they had as many Alliance ships as they did without raising any suspicions. But if they were to wage this conflict with Darth Taral, they would need as much strength as they could gather, and if that meant accepting help from third parties and former enemies, then so be it.
The bridge was silent for a while, interrupted only intermittently as the Mon Cal officer continued to report other vessels checking in. It was broken fully when a Sullustan officer turned from her station to face Leia.
"General! An E-wing fighter has departed from hangar three, unauthorized!"
Leia looked out the viewport in time to see said craft dart past the bridge. Before anything could be done to stop it, it jumped to lightspeed and vanished into the blackness of space. As Leia exhaled in exasperation, Han put a hand on her shoulder.
"Easy," he said softly. "It was probably just a newbie who got cold feet. I mean, considering what we're risking here, can you blame them?"
Leia was saddened to realize that she couldn't.
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