From the moment Jaina left Mandalore she knew this moment had been coming. She'd prepared for it, rehearsed speeches, and dreaded having to formally ask the Jedi Council to kill her brother. She'd never been invited to meetings with the Council before unless she was being given an assignment or being asked to explain herself, though this was really more of a war council. Her parents were in attendance, along with herself and Jag, but she was betting she was the only one of them with a plan. And much as she didn't want this moment to come already, there wasn't much of a choice. The Jedi had caused Jacen a lot of problems at Fondor, and now he was coming for them. They were hidden on Shedu Maad, deep in the Transitory Mists, but it was only a matter of time before he found the base.

And they had to get to him before then.

The meeting went on around her, but Jaina wasn't really focused on it. Instead she was standing near the viewport, looking out at the night sky, completely black with no stars to give any sort of illumination. Somehow it was helping, even as she listened to everyone speak behind her. They discussed whether the Empire had been involved in the Mando raid that killed a quarter of the Moffs and Niathal's offer of alliance and why the Chiss wouldn't help, and it wasn't that this didn't concern Jaina or that she wasn't interested. It just wasn't why she was here.

It wasn't until the Fett-bashing started that she decided that was her cue to step in. "Fett does what Fett wants," Han was saying. "The rest of us can suck entropy."

"That's not true anymore," Jaina said, turning to face the table finally. "He has a family now. And he has Mandalore. He still cares about his word, too."

"Then I guess this war has accomplished something," Leia said bitterly. "Boba Fett has grown as a person. And here I was wishing the kriffing war had never started."

"I'm not defending him," she explained. "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."

That actually got a lopsided smile out of her father. "I always said you were our smart one."

Jaina wondered if it hurt him to say that. She knew this was hard on both of her parents, and she felt a little bad that she wasn't spending more time with them, making sure they were okay. But she looked at them now and they didn't need her for that. She'd seen it after Anakin died, too; they'd gone through it together, and they were stronger for it. They were both their own people, definitely, but they were a team, and they'd always have that support from each other. Jaina had never been that person who needed to have a relationship or anything, but when she looked at her parents, it was hard not to want something like they had.

She couldn't help it. Her gaze drifted to Jag. He caught her looking at him, and offered her a little, warm smile that no one else probably saw or believed he was capable of... and she looked away. She resolutely told herself that it was pointless to think about it. She was about to do something that would very possibly lead to her death. Her entire focus needed to be on Jacen. If she made it through this, she'd worry about her personal life later.

Right. Back to business.

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

Leia looked up at her with interest, but everyone else just looked shocked. That happened when you developed a reputation. "You're requesting permission to talk to us?" Kyp checked. "Jaina Solo?"

"That's right," she said, drawing herself up to her full- shut up- height. "I think it's important."

Kyp whistled in disbelief and 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 my all means, proceed," said Kenth.

She nodded her thanks and explained her plan. They needed to stop worrying about whether or not they could get the Verpine on their side and let the Mandalorians deal with them, since they already had a deal. This would leave the Jedi to concentrate on things like raiding the supply train, hitting the Galactic Alliance where it hurt and forcing themselves to spread themselves too thin with too few supplies. It went over well with the others, especially Kenth, who was similarly military-minded.

Then Luke nodded, finding Jaina's reflection in the viewport he'd been looking out of, just as she'd been doing earlier. "Now- Jaina, why don't you tell us what's really on your mind?"

She'd had a speech. She'd gone over it a hundred times between Mandalore and Fandom and here. It was a good speech, it covered all the reasons why they had to do this and how... and then she looked at her parents, and she couldn't be anything but honest. "Mom and Dad, I'm sorry for this," she said. "But I think we have to go after Jacen. I think it's our duty."

They'd probably known that was coming, but they looked about as happy as one might expect, no matter what their current feelings on what their son was doing.

"Go after?" Saba repeated. "What do you mean, go after? Arrest? Capture? This one knowz you have been training with Boba Fett, but that has not worked before."

"I know," said Jaina, "and it cost us some good people." It'd managed to put Kyle Katarn in the hospital, which said a lot. She glanced around the table at the other Masters. "I mean eliminate. I mean hunt down and kill."

It was Han who responded first. "No." He wasn't looking at anyone else, just at the table, shaking his head. "That's not Jacen. Jacen died in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, just like Anakin did."

Um. Jaina had a very real fear now that she'd broken her dad, and she really needed her parents to hold it together through this. "Dad, Jacen didn't die. He escaped with Vergere and-"

Leia reached up to squeeze Jaina's arm. "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 went on, his voice hard. "He killed Onimi and won the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, and then he died of his wounds. Caedus is just the monster who stepped into the hollow shell that was left behind... and if anyone here is capable of taking him on, I'll gladly arm the detonator."

Wow. Jaina honestly didn't know how to respond to that. She'd seen her father angry over the years, and he was capable of carrying some pretty nasty grudges. But this was different, and she didn't know what to do with it. So she said, "Okay, Dad... Caedus must die. We have to hunt him down and kill him." She turned to Leia, wondering just what her reaction would be. "Mom?"

Leia went quiet for a moment, her face unreadable, and then she looked at the table and nodded. "That's not Jacen," she said. "And even if it was, I don't think we have any choice."

Luke finally moved away from the viewport. He'd been there the whole meeting as Jaina had, not ignoring the conversation, but separating himself from it. "Thank you," he said. "I've been wondering when someone else was going to come to the same conclusion."

"Then you approve?" Kenth asked, but there was something in his tone- while condemning- sounded like maybe he was on board with the decision. "Assassinating a Head of State?"

"I doubt we'll be fortunate enough to get away with simple assassination," Luke said. "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 get rid of Ja-" He glanced at the Solos with an apologetic look. "To remove Caedus from power. Assassination isn't one of them. It would make us no different from him." Like Kenth, there was something missing from how he said it, like he secretly agreed.

"We have tried arrest, and we have tried politicz," 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. "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. So I wanted to hear someone else say it first."

It was very strange being Jaina at that moment. It sounded to her as if Luke intended to go after Jacen- Caedus, whatever- himself. It wasn't that Jaina wanted to kill her brother. It was just that she'd had this idea in her head for half her life that she was going to have to, so to realize that maybe she didn't... She felt both relieved and cheated out of her destiny at the same time, and felt horrible for both.

"I'm going with you," she decided, and then when she saw the look of disappointment on his face, she realized she was sliding into old habits. "I mean, I'd like to help."

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

"Do you mind if I ask why not? You're going to need support, and I have been preparing."

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

No one had expected that, and the room fell into silence.

Then Saba began to siss with amusement. "Master Skywalker, you are alwayz making jokes at such strange timez."

"I don't think he's joking," Han said slowly. "Look, buddy, if this is about our feelings-"

"It's not," Luke said. "To tell the truth, I've been looking forward to running him down."

Jaina winced inside. It wasn't a pointed comment or anything, but all the Solos had probably been waiting for something like it. When your nephew killed your wife, when your son killed your sister-in-law... Add Ben's torture onto that, and... How did you come back from that? How could there not be some sort of blame placed on people other than just Jacen? And because it'd taken Luke so long to get to the point of admitting a tiny bit of weakness there, they'd all let it slide.

"You've been looking forward to it a little too much?" Jaina asked, so glad to hear him admit what she'd been noticing from him for months. "Is that what you mean?"

"Exactly," admitted Luke. "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."

"It's not Master Skywalker's judgment that is clouded," Saba realized. "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 went on. "This one thinkz it is what he did to Lumiya."

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

"Yes," Saba said, and 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 the darknesz down that path."

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

And here it was. When she was fourteen, Jaina had stopped in the middle of an attack on the Jedi academy in order to ask Luke permission to try and bring Zekk back from the dark side. She'd been formally training for less than a year and had had a lightsaber for less than that and it'd been very possible she'd succeed only in getting herself killed. But if anyone had a shot at doing it, it'd been her, and so she'd squared off against her best friend and luckily it worked out for the best. The only difference between then and now was that Jaina knew there would be no 'for the best' here.

Jaina stepped up to her uncle's side and said, "Let me go."

"You?" Corran said, looking surprised and worried. "You're only a Jedi Knight."

That actually had not even factored in to her. A title had never once stopped her from doing something dangerous and getting through it. "So is Jacen," she pointed out. "I know that the 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 will."

"What kind of advantages?" Kenth asked.

They were taking her seriously. That was good. She tried to avoid looking at her parents as she said, "First, I've been preparing with the Mandalorians, among other things." Best not to go into too much detail about her time in Fandom. "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. 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." That happened when you went crazy, Jacen. "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?" asked Kyp. "He's your brother, and you still love him. I can feel that."

"I still love him," Jaina agreed. "But that won't make me hesitate- not even for a nanosecond." In the silence that followed, she added, "And in Fandom, when this happened to the Ben there... I was the one who did it."

That only lengthened the silence. Once things had started getting bad, it'd become fairly common knowledge to the people in the room that this had happened in at least one other reality. But it seemed like Luke especially realized just how long she'd been carrying this around.

"And then there's the whole Sword of the Jedi vision Luke had when he made Jaina a Jedi Knight." That came from Han. His voice cracked a bit when he said it, but that was it. "That's got to mean something."

"You understand Force visions better than I do," said Jag from the other end of the table. "But I suspect that- nor the fact that it happened in another reality- doesn't guarantee her survival." Which got the slightest bit of an eyebrow raise from Jaina, till she realized he was feeling protective, and that was another thing she didn't know what to do with right now.

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

"Thanks, Mom," Jaina said, feeling the tiniest bit better thanks to her parents' reactions. "You, too, Dad. Your support means a lot."

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

And she was surprised again. She knew she shouldn't have been. They had just as many reasons to want this over as she did, and they knew just as well how it had to be. And if they were going to support her in this, they weren't going to do it halfway. "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. She had to just remind herself that they were fine in Ben's time. It wasn't something she'd use as a crutch for herself, but she was perfectly happy to assume they'd be okay because of that. "Got it- and thanks."

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

Jaina paused, taking equal time to think and to get rid of the lump in her throat. "Because I need Jedi resources?"

There was a light laugh around the table at that, but she 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 inferred, "you're a soldier."

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

Luke smiled. "Then you agree that she's ready?"

Saba looked to the other Masters, who all nodded, and then inclined her head. "It seemz you were right, yes." She turned back to Jaina and said, "You have the sanction of the Masterz. What else do you need from us?"

While relieved, Jaina didn't miss what they were saying. "Were right? 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 went on. "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." And Jaina wasn't sure she liked it. She 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," he said. "I apologize for not being more direct, but we had to be sure you were ready."

"So this was a test," she realized, looking to Kenth and Corran. "Your reservations about killing Caedus-"

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

No, she didn't like it, Jaina decided. She much preferred when people just cut to the chase rather than putting on a show while she was coming to terms with this and what it meant for her family. But there were other things to worry about right now. "Are you saying that if I can bring Caedus in alive, I should try?"

"And get yourself and the rest of your family killed? 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. "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 in case Jaina wasn't ready," said Kenth.

"I never doubted she would be, Master Hamner." Luke gave Jaina a look, and she realized that maybe he'd come to his own conclusions about her role in this long before she ever admitted anything to anyone else. "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. Ben didn't need any more potential trauma, she knew that. "Luke, that's got to be your worst idea since apprenticing yourself to Palpatine's clone. You do know we might 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." He looked again to Jaina. "I'm afraid your brother is already expecting someone to come after him. I'll be doing everything I can to keep him from seeing that it's you."


[NFB, NFI, OOC OK, ABC, 123, WWJD, BYOB, you get the idea. Dialogue and some text taken from Invincible by Troy Denning. Well, the good news is this is the last book...]