Dramatis Personae

Abeloth; female entity

Allana Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)

Ben Skywalker; Jedi Knight (male human)

Darth Plagueis; Sith Lord (male dark side manifestation)

Dif Scaur; Galactic Alliance Director of Intelligence (male human)

Han Solo; Captain, Millennium Falcon (male human)

Jaina Solo Fel; Jedi Master (female human)

Leia Organa Solo; Jedi Knight (female human)

Luke Skywalker; Jedi Grand Master (male human)

Nek Bwua'tu; Galactic Alliance Admiral (male Bothan)

Tahiri Veila; Jedi Knight (female human)

Thrace Solusar; Jedi Knight (male Chiss)

Vestara Khai; Sith Saber (female human)

Author's note: The first 2 chapters of THE RETURN OF DARTH PLAGUEIS will help explain how Plagueis returned.

54 ABY: Hapan Royal Palace

Tenel Ka hugged her daughter, Allana Solo, after the Millennium Falcon disappeared into the sky. "So, how was your vacation, baby?"

"It was wonderful, and no one tried to kill us this time," Allana responded. "Thrace has never been so excited to see me," she added, referring to her blue-skinned Chiss friend, as she and her mother walked toward the Hapan Royal Palace.

"I sort of figured that when he kissed you on the forehead, before you guys left," Tenel recalled, as a pair of female guards opened the main doors of the palace for the two gorgeous redheads.

Allana blushed slightly. "It's just a friend thing," she said, a bit defensively.

Tenel Ka laughed. "Oh, Allana, you are so adorable. If you two like each other..."

"Mom!" she protested.

"Okay, okay," Tenel said, putting her hands up in a gesture of peace. "But if you ever want to talk..." She trailed off when her daughter started frowning at her. "Thrace wasn't on the Falcon when Han and Leia brought you back," she commented, changing the subject.

Allana sighed. "The poor guy was literally walking up the boarding ramp, when his darn comlink went off," she complained. "It wasn't anything too serious. He was just taking care of something before it got bad."

Allana was silent for a few short moments as she and her mother made their way to the sitting room, to have tea. The palace was incredibly opulent, perhaps too opulent for Allana's taste. It just felt sort of cold and sterile. I guess all that time on a ship like the Millennium Falcon could do that to a girl. She was starting to find that she preferred the more 'lived in' quality of her grandfather's most prized possession.

"How is Anji?" Allana asked, of her pet nexu, as she and her mother sat down on a luxurious divan. It consisted a beautiful red marble wood, imported from Dathomir, and light pink cushions. And of course, matching furry pillows.

"Anji has really warmed up to me. She was napping the last time I checked. She'll be thrilled to see you."

"I missed her, too." Allana was silent a moment. "Why do I feel like there's something else?" she asked suspiciously.

"Julius asked me if you'd go to the ball with him," Tenel told her daughter, getting straight to the point.

Allana rolled her gray eyes. "Tell me you didn't say yes." She frowned at her mother's silence.

"I need the support of his mother and grandmother for that bill I'm trying to pass."

"The one making it a capital offense for politicians to assassinate their rivals," Allana recalled.

"That's right, sweetie," Tenel told her. "If you don't go to the ball with Julius, people could get murdered."

"Ugh. That's really low, mother. But I'll do it for the greater good."

"Thank you. Perhaps after the ball we could go for a swim," Tenel Ka offered.

"That would be nice. And I'll get to try out that new swimsuit."

Tenel Ka shook her head. "I still can't believe you got that indecent little thing. I almost need a microscope..."

Allana frowned. "You said it looked adorable," she said, somewhat defensively.

"No, baby. I said you looked adorable. And I also told you not to let Grandpa Han see you in that thing, unless you wanted to give him a massive heart attack."

"I won't be going for that swim with you if I die from embarrassment," Allana responded, her face trying to match her red gold hair. She sensed that her mother was about to say something else. "How about that tea?" Allana asked, before her mother could continue to embarrass her.

The Hapan Queen Mother Tenel Ka Djo shook her head as she watched the news broadcast. Yes, she agreed that the government had become corrupt, and that the male citizens of the Hapes Consortium deserved the same rights as women. But she could not support the Hapan Freedom movement since it was clear that this Freedom Federation had become a terrorist organization.

"The bombing has been blamed on the Hapan Freedom Federation," continued the reporter, a woman with long brownish hair. The view switched over to a massive pile of rubble that had once been a stately building. The Hapan Queen Mother had been there on several occasions, mostly for royal banquets.

The reddish haired woman sighed as she finished preparing for another such pointless event. Another royal waste of her time. Among corrupt politicians for hours on end. Allana would be there, and Tenel Ka was grateful for that. But there were so many ways their time could be better spent. Just walking through one of the Hapan Palace's gardens. Or, perhaps some mother-daughter sparring time to perfect their combat skills. Real quality time together. There'd been far too little of that over the past few years.

Tenel Ka felt the mental prickle of her danger sense. She thought immediately of her daughter, and sent her a sense of warning. The Queen Mother's rancor claw hilted lightsaber snap-hissed to viridian life as she summoned it to her hand.

Tenel Ka ducked down and created a field of defensive Force energy. Less than a second later, one of the walls exploded inward with a great bang. Alarms wailed to life, cutting through that annoying ringing which had invaded her ears, as the room filled with dust. As she stood up and brought her lightsaber to a guard position, two crimson shafts of light whispered into existence through the haze.

She twitched her truncated left arm, Force hurling one of the Sith, a human woman into the far wall. The other, a lavender-skinned male Keshiri charged at her.

Tenel Ka and the Keshiri's blades buzzed angrily as they exchanged vicious blows. The Sith woman used the distraction to roll back to her feet. The Queen Mother's lightsaber flashed with tremendous speed as she blocked two red shafts of light. Tenel Ka leapt into the air, spun, and kicked the man in the chin. She swept her lightsaber toward his neck, and heard two thumps as she landed to face a younger woman with long brown hair and a scar at the side of her mouth. Tenel Ka kept her shock under control, as it would only get her killed.

Vestara Khai. The same piece of Sith garbage that had tried to murder Allana on multiple occasions. And she'd succeeded in murdering so many others.

The Sith Saber summoned her fallen comrade's lightsaber to her free hand. Tenel Ka Force-slammed Vestara into the wall behind her, and began hammering down on the two crimson blades. The Queen Mother twitched her truncated arm, banging her opponent's head into the wall, and elicited a grunt.

Vestara used the momentum of the blow to propel her lower body upward, and delivered a Force-aided kick to the Queen Mother's chin. As Tenel Ka stumbled backward, Vestara allowed one of her lightsabers to clatter to the floor, and launched an arc of azure Force-lightning at her. She summoned her fallen partner's lightsaber back into her hand as she charged at the Queen Mother.

"You better hurry up and finish it already, sweetheart," Vestara said, as the two women circled around, waiting for some sort of opening. "Before my friends find and gut your precious daughter. I would hate to hear that sweet, adorable girl screaming as her intestines spill from her body. She doesn't deserve that kind of death." She let a tear roll down her cheek.

"You're going to hell!" Tenel Ka shrieked, charging toward the Sith harlot. Vestara flashed her cutest smile, and poured a disturbing calmness into the Force. Which only made Tenel angrier and more reckless.

"That's right, honey. Let your rage make you strong." Vestara let the older woman advance, backing her toward the wall. She slammed her red blade down on Tenel Ka's green blade. And swung her other blade toward the Queen Mother's waist. Tenel Ka twitched the stump of her left arm, Force-pushing Vestara back. The wall, however, caught Vestara after only a few inches. Tenel screamed in agony as Vestara's blade burned through her middle. "I'm so sorry I had to do that to you, but maybe you'll live long enough to say goodbye to your daughter."

Allana was a blur as she ran toward her mother's chambers. She nearly stumbled as a sharp, burning pain sliced through her middle. Her mother. Allana could feel her agony. Allana felt fire burning down her cheeks. She was too late.

But Allana continued running. She came to the doors leading to her mother's chambers. Allana couldn't sense anyone else in the room. Only her mother, her life Force slipping away. One of the doors began to rattle. The doorway groaned as hinges began to twist. The hinges were no match for the Force, and the door went flying down a side corridor.

Her lightsaber lit, Allana cautiously made her way into her mother's chambers. And there she lay. In two pieces. "Mom!" she screamed. A blade of fire burned through her heart, and she stumbled forward toward her mother.

The beautiful woman who had given Allana life was crying softly. She was in so much pain. He manage to reach a shaky hand toward her daughter's cheek, to wipe away some tears. "Oh, my beautiful girl. I'm so sorry."

Allana caught her mother's hand, as it fell along with her tears. "I don't want you to go, mommy," she squeaked.

"I don't... want to go... either, baby," Tenel said, trying to squeeze her daughter's hand.

Allana squeezed her mother's hand, and bent down to kiss her forehead, as her pulse began to fade away. Tenel's hand suddenly went limp, and so did Allana. This couldn't be real. Her mom couldn't be dead. She just couldn't. Allana screamed. And kept screaming, for what seemed like forever. It was the only vaping thing she could do.

Allana switched to a soft sobbing when she heard several guards enter her mother's chambers. She sat up as one of the guards offered her a glass of water. She drank it quickly, then handed the empty glass back to the guard. She placed her mother's head on her lap, and started stroking her hair. She almost smiled when a sadly mewing Anji nuzzled her. She tried to say something, but her throat and lungs hurt too much. Allana just sat there, for several hours, unable to function.

"Oh, sweetie," said a familiar voice. Allana looked up to see her grandmother walking over to her, with her grandfather close behind. Allana hadn't even sensed them in the Force. She brushed her grandparents in the Force, and found them struggling to keep it together. But she had nothing left to try to keep together. Leia wrapped her arms around her.

Allana suddenly noticed that her mother's face seemed unnaturally pale, and not because she was dead. Her face was becoming paler by the second. Allana gently stroked Tenel Ka's cheek. Her skin felt strangely insubstantial. Tenel Ka's face had paled to the point where Allana could now see through her, to the carpeted floor below. And then her mother was gone.

"I'm so sorry," Leia said. "Come on, sweetie. You're coming with us." She helped her granddaughter to her feet.

"Ma'am," said one of the guards. "As Tenel Ka's heir-"

"Allana can't be the Queen Mother if the Sith murder her, too," Leia said. Her voice surprisingly calm, but Allana could sense her roiling storm of emotions beneath.

"I'm going... with them," Allana managed, her throat tormented by every syllable.

"If that is your wish," the guard conceded. She handed Tenel Ka's rancor-hilt lightsaber to Allana. "You should have this."

Han hugged Allana, as Leia led her out of Tenel Ka's chambers. "You'll be okay, sweetheart." The three made their way to the Falcon with Anji in tow.

Shedu Maad

Allana stood in the Falcon's right hand corridor as she watched the boarding ramp lower. It seemed to take an eternity. An eternity in which she could not escape that first image of her mother lying there, dead. That vacant, soulless gaze up toward the ceiling. Allana could still see, so vividly, her mother's body lying in two pieces. Separated at the waist. Like a mother and daughter separated by death. She had known her mother would someday die. But to be murdered, and with such brutality?

Allana closed her eyes as the boarding ramp made contact with the ground. Maybe, when she opened her eyes she'd wake up. Lying in her own bed at the Hapan Palace. She opened her eyes. That blasted ramp was still there. She still stood in that blasted, rounded corridor. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, and could hear her grandfather breathing. Night began to fall as Allana walked down the boarding ramp, as though warning her that dark times lay ahead.

A young man with blue skin and red eyes walked over to her. He wore a black flight suit with a pair of pink lines going down the sides. "Hi, Thrace," Allana said, her voice sounding like sandpaper, as he hugged her.

"Hi, Button," Thrace said, using the call sign he'd come up with for her, almost eliciting a smile. "I can't tell you how sorry I am about… what happened."

"Thanks," Allana mumbled, barely able to speak through her grief. The lump in her throat that felt like a large pill that refused to be swallowed.

DARK NEST IV: SLAVE NEST will better explain how Thrace and Allana met, and how Vestara had wound up on Nrogu.