Embers: Sequel to Crash and Burn

Six years later...

“Well, look at that.” Anakin smiled when he stepped into the living room, and he let the door close behind them. “We finally got a new couch.”

“It was time,” said Jacen.

“About ten years ago.” Anakin sat down on the new green velvet couch and bounced up and down on one of the cushions. “This is nice.”

“Dammit, don’t bounce like that. I don’t want more broken springs.”

“I can think of better ways to break the springs than sitting,” Anakin said, and he pulled Jacen down on top of him.

Jacen kissed Anakin hard, then reluctantly climbed back off him. “Not now, Ani. Allana will be going over to Jaina’s in a little while, and we can have our fun then.”

Anakin pretended to be upset and pouty, but he got up and went into the kitchen to get a snack. Jacen sat down on the couch and picked up the holo remote.

“DAAAAD!”

Jacen jumped. “What’s the matter, Allana?” he called out.

“DAD! Come here!”

Jacen went down the hall to find Allana curled up on her bed, a pillow over her head. “All right, what happened?” he asked.

“You need to take me to the medic center. Now.” Allana pushed the pillow aside and looked up at him. Her eyes were red, and he could tell she was scared.

“Why? Are you sick?” He put his hand on Allana’s forehead, but she didn’t have a fever, and he didn’t detect anything wrong with her through the Force.

“I don’t know. I’m bleeding.”

“Where?” Jacen didn’t see any cuts on her arms, and her clothes weren’t stained.

“In. My. Pants,” she whispered, then made a face and buried her head again.

“Oh, blaster bolts.” Jacen sat on the edge of the bed. “Allana, there’s nothing wrong with you.”

“How do you know?” Allana demanded.

“Because, well, this is what happens when girls grow up. You’re twelve now.” Being Allana’s father had introduced him to many new experiences that he probably otherwise wouldn’t have had – but wouldn’t really have missed, either.

For instance, there was the problem that Allana was growing out of all her clothes, and needed an entirely new set of clothing by the time she’d been there a year and a half. And that was even after the dresses with adjustable sizing had been run through. And last year, he actually had to take her to the lingerie shop to buy a bra, although she wouldn’t go in with him or alone, and in the end he had to send Jaina in with her.

She needs her mother, that’s the problem.

Jacen and Anakin were doing their best, but it wasn’t the same now as when Allana was little. Now she needed a mother figure in her life, and Tenel Ka was simply too far away. Sure, Allana had sometimes gone back to Hapes for a little while to visit, under the cover of some Jedi business or a training mission, but those only came about twice a year.

Now he was going to have to have The Talk with Allana.

“All right, Allana, here’s the way it is. You know when you learned about animals at the Academy, and you learned about the way girl mammals make eggs and boy mammals of the species make the eggs turn into little babies?”

“Yes,” Allana said.

“Humans are the same way. But if a girl makes a microscopic egg and a few days go by and it doesn’t get fertilized, then the egg washes out with some blood. It’s normal. It happens about once every five weeks to most adult women and teenagers. I guess you’re just growing a year or two early.”

Allana's face twisted into horror. “I’m going to lay an EGG?”

“No, of course not! Well, you could think of it that way. But they’re so tiny you can’t see them, and there’s only one at a time.”

“Oh.” Allana didn’t get up, but she stretched out. “That’s disgusting.”

“Pooping is disgusting, and you have to do that, too,” he said.

“Point. Does this mean that I have to have babies now?”

“Absolutely not, Allana. In fact, you can’t. Because I forbid it. Not for another ten – no, twenty years.”

“What if I met somebody in only eight years?” Allana said, and folded her arms.

“Well, we can talk about it then, but not now.”

“Um, Dad?”

“What?”

“Do humans also, uh, mate like mammals?”

Kriff. So much for keeping it simple. “Allana, we are mammals, so, yes. That’s how you got here.”

“Yuck. I had no idea that being a grown-up was so gross.” She made another face and stuck out her tongue. “I thought maybe it was just Force magic or something that made the babies.”

“Not in most cases, no.” Jacen sighed and stood up. “Are you all right now? Did that clear everything up? I’ll send GN-9 down to the store to pick up some, uh, pads. Pants liners that you can throw away.”

“Yeah, I think so. Thanks.” Allana nodded. She looked thoughtful. “Only a girl and a boy can make a baby, right?”

“Yes, if they’re humans.”

“So why do you try to make one with Uncle Anakin all the time?”

Jacen felt red heat creep up his neck and cover his cheeks. “We don’t.”

“You do too. I figured it out. When you’re not doing anything you leave the door unlocked and when you are, you lock it. Door’s locked a lot of days.”

Jacen wasn’t going to get out of this one. He sat back down and tried to think of how to explain things. He’d promised her an explanation, and now it was time to deliver it. “That’s… different. We have sex because we love each other and it brings us closer together. And because it feels good, to grown-ups. Real grown-ups. Twenty and over.”

“I learned in my history class that the ruling family of Dorvial was overthrown because they kept inbreeding and siblings married each other and the people got mad.”

“That’s an interesting fact, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“You’re Uncle Anakin’s brother. And you’re not supposed to have sex with him.”

Jacen folded his hands together. “You know what? You’re probably right. But we went through a lot of terrible things together, things that most people never even see, let alone experience. We both would have gone insane if we weren’t together and didn’t hold onto that love we had for each other as a way to get through the worst times. Somewhere along the way, it grew and grew and got twisted up, and he was everything to me – every relationship that I should have had with other people, I had with Anakin, because there was nobody else. We were alone on a planet and thought we’d never be able to leave.”

Allana nodded. “But then why didn’t you just stop all that stuff later?”

“Because we couldn’t. We crossed a line and couldn’t undo it. You know how time always moves forward, never backward? Well, a few Force techniques aside? It’s a lot like that. Once he and I made love the first time, there was no way we could just act like it didn’t happen and put it behind us. Things were going to be weird between us forever, or we could accept our relationship and keep it up.”

“So... it’s kind of like he’s not your brother anymore.”

“Kind of. In the technical sense, he still is. In the way we feel – that part has almost been lost. We couldn’t go back. We tried.”

“That’s sad,” said Allana.

Jacen glared at her, but then realized that she didn’t mean it in any smart-alecky way. “I guess it is. But I love him, and he loves me, and we’re life partners now.”

“That’s kind of like being married, right?”

“Right. We can’t get married anywhere in the New Republic because we’re both boys. We’d have to find some other place that could marry people and have it legally binding in the Republic, but somewhere that isn’t technically part of the New Republic and bound by all of its laws.”

“I can’t think of anywhere like that.”

“I can’t either, not right offhand. Dathomir, maybe, but none of the witches would perform the ceremony.”

“No. They’d capture you both and make you their slaves.”

“I’d like to see them try,” Jacen said with a grin.

“No, you wouldn’t, because they’d hit you on the head and drag you off.”

“Maybe. Now you lay down and get some rest, and I’ll send GN-9 out for you.”

Allana picked at nearly-invisible pilling on the bedspread. “I still want to go to Jaina’s house. She’s a girl. I need to talk to her about girl stuff. I know you tried and thank you a lot but it’s not the same.”

Jacen sighed, and stood again. “All right, I won’t tell her not to come over and get you. And I’ve been thinking… maybe you should go back to Hapes.”

“What?”

“Not forever, Allana. Just for a few days, maybe a week. You haven’t seen your mother in months.”

Three days later, Jacen talked to Tenel Ka and arranged another pilot-training mission to Hapes, and sent Allana along with her other friends at the Academy. Nilla and Verayan went with her, as well as Ben, and the youngest of the group, Xander Horn, who was the ten-year-old son of Valin Horn and Tahiri Veila-Horn.

“She’s going to be grown and out on her own before you know it,” Anakin said.

“Oh, come on. She’s only twelve.”

“And she was only six when she came here, and that doesn’t seem like six years ago. She’ll probably be going through her Trials before another six go by.”

“Damn. When you put it that way, it makes me feel old.”

“You’re not old, Jasa. If you are, then I am, too.” Anakin put his arm around Jacen’s back. “But I don’t care that much. I’m still going to love you when you’re a hundred.”

“What about a hundred and ten?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. I’d have to think about it.” Anakin winked and slipped his hand down the back of Jacen’s pants. Which were on the floor a few moments later.

---

“No jobs? How can there be no jobs?” Ingvor waved her hand at the empty posting board inside the smoky bar.

“Too many bounty hunters, not enough bounties,” Harrigan said. He shrugged and plunked himself down on a nearby barstool.

“Yeah, good idea,” said Ingvor. “Hey, bartender! Two rounds over here.” She lit up one of her thin mint cigarras, and absently thought that it might be a good idea for her to quit soon. She didn’t need to be losing her edge, what edge she actually had, and she was already starting to notice signs of getting older. She’d found a silver strand in her hair just that morning, and she was only thirty-six.

She felt a presence behind her and slowly spun around. A tall, muscular man with long brown hair and a noble poise stood there, but he appeared to be only lightly armed and wasn’t reaching for his weapons. “Ingvor Gord?”

“Yeah, that’s me. What do you want?”

“I have a job for you. Please follow me.”

“Uh… yeah, sure.” Ingvor got up and mouthed “sorry” to Harrigan. “Here’s the deal, though. I’ll follow you as far as that corner booth.” She pointed to an empty booth about fifteen meters away. “Not farther. If you’re thinking about something fancy in a hotel, then you can take your hundred creds and stick them where the suns don’t shine.”

“What I was thinking, Madame Gord, sounds a lot more like ‘three million credits.’”

“Three mi-what? All right, you got my attention. Just so long as it’s not really ‘three million millicredits’ or some dumb shavit like that.” She slid into one side of the booth and waited for the man to sit on the other side.

“Three million credits, Madame.” The man pulled out a plastic-wrapped stack of hundred-credit chips and laid the stack on the table. “This is a ten-thousand credit stack. You will receive three hundred of these stacks upon the successful completion of your task.”

Ingvor was doing better at her work, and ten thousand credits was no longer an unimaginable sum. She could make three times that in a year. But three hundred times that with only one job? That sounded way too good to be true. “So, who do I have to catch? Cal Omas?” She snorted. “And to be honest, I don’t know why you’re coming to me with this. I’m still working my way up the ranks, you know?”

“It’s because we’ve been watching you.”

Ingvor patted the blaster in her thigh holster to make sure it was still in place and still easy to grab if she needed it. “Excuse me?”

“You rescued a Jedi trainee from a falling I-beam a few months ago. How did you do that? How did you know where he was? Aha, you see, you have your tricks.”

“The kid’s my nephew, okay? And I didn’t know where he was. I knew where his parents were.”

“Thank you for confirming what we suspected. We are an intelligence network under the rule of the Queen Mother.”

“Tenel Ka sent you?” Ingvor frowned and sipped on her drink.

“No. The true Queen Mother, Ta’a Chume.”

“Ta’a Chume is technically a title. Tenel Ka is the Ta’a Chume.”

“We are discussing her grandmother,” the man said shortly.

“Oh. All right. So what do you want?”

“Now that we’ve confirmed how you’re able to track people through that mystic power of the Jedi, we are offering this job to you, and a few other people with longer track records. You should be able to find Tenel Ka with this power.”

“I could, but it’s pretty hard,” Ingvor admitted.

“All you have to do is kill her, and three hundred money stacks are yours.”

“What the hell? Tenel Ka is practically my sister.”

The man stared at her, impassive and blank.

“Well, she’s my twin brother’s wife’s twin brother’s ex-wife.”

“That’s nothing. Here. Take this.” He held out one of the money stacks to her. “Two hundred ninety-nine more of these await you when Tenel Ka is dead.”

“Excuse me, but this is a big pile of dung. You’re dropping the bounty every few minutes or something? Am I a contestant on Guess That Sound?”

“No, that one is yours. Do you accept the money?”

“Well, hell, sure. I mean, ten thousand credits. Score.”

“Good. That also binds you to the contract.”

“Wait just a second, mister whats-your-name, I never agreed to any contract.”

“You did when you took the money. And you know what happens when people break their contracts.”

Ingvor ground her teeth. “Damn it all. Well, what happens if someone else gets to her before I do?”

“Then you pay back the money and all is well.”

“So it’s not really mine, then. It’s sort of a loan that I don’t have to pay back if I get lucky and manage to race ahead of Dengar and Fett?”

“How did you know that we had hired them?”

“Because everybody with this much money hires them. Emperor’s black bones. Well, I guess I’m stuck, then. Fine. Where do I collect the rest of the money?”

“We’ll find you,” the man said, and got up.

Ingvor buried her head in her hands and groaned. Kriff, kriff, kriff! She was most certainly not going to try to assassinate Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo. She’d never met Tenel Ka, but they had mutual friends, and Ingvor wasn’t going to hurt her. Or try to. She doubted she’d have much of a chance of success even if she did make the attempt, with her only advantage being that she could get Tenel Ka’s location a little bit earlier than Tenel Ka would sense her in the Force through ordinary Jedi means.

She stared through her half-empty mug for a few moments, but then stood up and flicked a ten-cred chip towards the bartender. There wasn’t any time to waste if other hunters were headed to Hapes.

She had to warn Tenel Ka. And there was no way she was going to get to Hapes before the Slave I.

Jacen will know what to do, she thought, and jumped into her speeder car. She raced through the fast lanes, weaving in and out of lines of other cars. She saw bright amber lights flashing behind her and made a sharp turn to the left, through a busy shopping center. Ingvor flew right through a fabric awning and kept on going.

She got to the apartment a few minutes later, and by that time had managed to lose the police behind her. They’d catch up and find her car, but she didn’t care; Jacen could explain it all to them and get her car out of the pound. She ran up the stairs and burst into the hallway, then banged on their door.

A minute later, Jacen came to the door, looking disheveled and smelling like sex and sweat. “What do you want?” he asked.

On any other day, Ingvor would have taunted him, but now she didn’t. “I need to talk to you, and fast. I just got a job assignment and I’m not taking it, but I kinda got roped into taking it. So I’m going to be in hot water when I don’t do it, but that’s not the point.” She took a deep breath. “There’s going to be a hit on the Queen Mother.”

“What? You’d better not be making this up.”

“I’m not. I promise.” She produced the credit chip stack. “This was the down payment. Ta’a Chume’s spies either figured out Allana is still alive, or got sick of waiting for the Hapan assassins to do their job. Anyway, they offered three million credits for someone to kill your ex-wife. And I’m not the only one they talked to. Someone has to warn her.”

“And Allana,” Jacen said, and he grabbed the back of the couch. “She’s on Hapes right now. Give me five minutes and we’ll be on our way.”

“What about me? I’m going with you, right?”

“Of course you’re not – wait, it might help. You can help us find her on the way down to the surface. I’ll call Jaina on the way and tell her to come, too. Her kids are with them.”

Ingvor nodded and waited for Jacen to throw his shirt on. The two of them, with Anakin, wasted no time in getting to Jacen’s car, and they sped on towards the spaceport.