{{ urbania's void - chapter 13
...nightmares and aftermath (day twenty / +20)
Awaking to the drone of the spacestation, Jacen Solo sat up and rubbed his head, trying to let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room.
It was all a dream... a dream.
His breath was coming at short intervals as his mind raced back to the dream he had just woken up from. His mind was stuffed with random thoughts and ideas as he kept his Force presence in the back of his mind.
Me, in my Mindmap, and Tenel Ka...
The dream plagued him. It was one of the most horrible things he had ever seen in his mind's eye. He passed it off as another one of the visions that still seemed to haunt him every once in awhile, slid out of bed and threw on a shirt, not even bothering to clasp it shut. Smacking the panel beside his door, he shielded his eyes from the light streaming into his room and stepped out into the main area of the apartment, rubbing his bloodshot brandy-browns. He didn't even register the fact that Khee and Rez might be out there, and here he was emerging as the General of the Galactic Alliance's fleets, calling Zekk by his name. He could've given it all away... but miniscule streams of thought that snaked through his brain told him that it wasn't a dream at all.
"Zekk, I just had the worst dream." Jacen took his hands away from his eyes and opened them, surveying the dining area and the living area. "I dreamt that Tenel Ka was Re----"
He stopped when he saw the Admiral of the Hapan fleet sitting across from Zekk.
"Gadell..."
The Admiral didn't even make eye contact with him. "General."
The room hung in an awkward silence for what seemed like eons.
Zekk's eyes snapped upwards, like he heard something in his head, and he slowly vanished from the room, stalking back into his own bedroom.
Silence.
Finally, Gadell turned his head, his calm eyes narrowed and calculating, "I thought you loved her."
Quickly answering, Jacen fumbled over his words, "I did--- I mean... I do. I don't know what was happening... Kaidin he... I..."
Launching out of his chair, Gadell shoved Jacen back against the wall, his hands clutching the collar of his undone shirt. "Do you have any idea what you almost did to her?!" Gadell let go of the thin fabric, after he pushed the General back into the metal wall and he turned around, his back facing Jacen.
"I didn't know what I was doing... everything just sort of happened. It was like Kaidin took over my mind and just let everything happen... it was the Mindmap... it wasn't my mind... it... it---"
Gadell spun around and punched Jacen square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. He let a few seconds pass before he spoke up. "Right. Your mind wasn't yours." Kneeling beside Jacen, Gadell lowered his voice to a hiss, "But I know of other things that are yours. And if you're not careful, you will be Jaina Solo's sister, not brother."
Zekk exited his room with an empty water glass in his hand. His emerald eyes landed on the sprawled out Jacen and the stony Gadell, who was perched over the General like a hawkbat, hissing threats into his face.
"Boys."
Gadell twisted his head to the side and Jacen looked to Zekk from his place on the floor.
"This isn't solving anything." Sitting back down his chair at the table, Zekk crossed his arms over his chest. "I know it's odd for me to be the voice of reason... but we have other things to worry about here."
He drew in a deep breath.
"Like Tenel Ka, Ryled Mirdele, Raynar Thul and everyone we haven't found yet. So why don't we just sit down at the table like grown men and figure out what the kriff is going on."
Pulling himself off of the ground, Jacen staggered to the table and sat down beside Zekk. Gadell took his chair across from the black-haired man and stared him in the eyes. "So where do we start?"
Silence drifted around the room once more, the only sound breaking it being the hum of the spacestation and the breathing of the three men.
Zekk sighed. "You, Gadell."
Gadell arched an eyebrow, waiting for Zekk to elaborate.
"What are you two doing here?" Zekk spoke of Gadell and Tenel Ka.
An expression of disbelief crossed his face, "We got the distress message he sent." Gadell motioned to Jacen. "And of course, Tenel Ka, being the stubborn girl she is, knew we had to help him."
Confusion struck Jacen and Zekk like a hydrospanner to the head.
Quietly, Jacen jumped in the conversation, "What message?"
Gadell turned to the General, "It was a message over a general com channel. A distress call. We picked it up on Hapes and it was you... well someone who... wait... you didn't send out a distress call?"
Jacen and Zekk exchanged worried glances, "No."
Gadell recalled the message in his head, a man... black hair, red eyes, a scar... a disguise, obviously. But Jacen was using a Mindmap on the Urbania. There would be no need for another disguise. And Gadell had seen Jacen in his Mindmap... and he looked nothing like the man in the message.
"The man in the message claimed to be Jacen Solo. And Tenel Ka seemed to think so as well. She was adamant about coming here and finding you. We thought you were in trouble." Gadell leaned back in his seat, his lanky body still clothed in an outfit of Khee's style, colors thrown together to create a mad array of dark mismatched splotches. Jacen could make out dark patches of blood on it, in different places of the fabric. It made his stomach churn. That was Tenel Ka's blood.
"So when I found out that Tessick was Zekk and you... found out about Rez..." Gadell swallowed, his throat parched.
"Where is she?" Jacen rested his hands on the table in front of him, changing the subject and blinking.
"She's in my room. Resting." Zekk let his eyes wander to the floor. "She's been in there since it happened, the night before last."
Jacen's eyes widened.
"Yeah Jacen, we had to pull you out of the bath that night after we got Tenel Ka into bed and patched her up. You were shivering and screaming and crying. You slept all day yesterday, and pretty much all of today." He paused, releasing a sigh. "Between your feverish outbursts and Tenel Ka's confused ramblings and questions, Gadell and I haven't slept a wink."
Jacen noted, as the room lapsed into that same unforgiving silence, that Zekk was still in the same clothes Tessick had been wearing the other night. Sniffling, Jacen let his Force sensitivity drift to the forefront of his mind. To his right, he sensed Zekk's calmness. Knowing Zekk had to take charge in this situation, with him and Tenel Ka out of it and Gadell in a fit of rage, Jacen commended his friend. To his left was a presence filled with anger. Jacen knew it wasn't malicious feelings, like the type that led people to the dark side.... but more of an anger for Tenel Ka. Jacen knew Gadell cared furiously for her and he had heard they had grown closer since he got sent away. He toyed with the thoughts in his head... he knew why Gadell why angry, he would feel the same way if someone did something like that to Jaina.
He let his mind wander to Zekk's bedroom. Jacen wanted to break down and cry when he felt what was inside. Feelings of emptiness, grief, sorrow, loss and even a bit of anger and hatred washed over him and he quickly shut his mind off from it as Zekk spoke up again.
"Wait, how come you two, as Khee and Rez, were seated right over there while we watched the holonet the other night... they said you were promoted to Admiral that day. And how did you two leave Hapes?!"
Gadell nodded slowly, taking Zekk's questions into deep consideration. He answered them curtly," That footage was taped before we left. We told them not to release it until a certain number of days after we left."
"What about the conference, with the questions and the holo-reporters and stuff?" Zekk steepled his fingers in front of his face. “They kept saying that was live.”
"To answer that question and the last one you asked..." Gadell paused and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table in front of him. "Anhaje."
Jacen's voice came out in a hoarse inquiry, "Anhaje?"
"She makes a pretty convincing Tenel Ka, don't you think? The footage of my promotion was recorded days earlier and Tenel Ka was in that. But we left Anhaje on Hapes, posing as the Queen Mother. Everyone thinks Tenel Ka is still there. She's been around Tenel Ka so much; she easily picked up on the mannerisms, ways of speech and her everyday way of life. So Anhaje is Tenel Ka right now, and Tenel Ka is out here on this spacestation..."
His eyes trailed to Jacen as his voice raised a tad.
"She came all the way out here to look for the man she loved because she thought he was in trouble... and look what happens! He tries to rape her! Well! Now I know what to do when I love someone!" The sarcasm stabbed Jacen over and over again as he watched Gadell's outburst. The Admiral buried his head in his hands after that, shaking them back and forth.
Moments passed. Tense moments.
Nothing short of a whisper, muffled behind his hands, "I'm sorry." Gadell moved his hands, letting them fall back to the tabletop. His eyes were bloodshot and there were clearly visible bags under them from all the stress he felt. "I shouldn't have said any of that... I shouldn't have hit you either. I guess... I guess I'm just angry."
Jacen and Zekk watched him carefully.
"Zekk has told me many times that it wasn't your fault. Hopefully. It was your Mindmap."
Zekk finally spoke up, glancing over to the General, "Now that you've blown our cover and opened up to the Force, smart one, you might as well use the time to try and meld yourself more with Kaidin. Something you should have done on the way to the Urbania."
"What were you doing on the way here if you weren't doing that?" Gadell arched an eyebrow.
Jacen opened his mouth to answer, but Zekk cut in before the words passed Solo's lips, "He was whining and feeling sorry for himself. He missed Tenel Ka. He wanted to go back and see her."
Gadell replied flatly, with a snicker, "And what a beautiful reunion they had, huh?"
The sarcasm didn't even register in Jacen's mind; he was busy thinking about how Tenel Ka and Gadell had gotten off of Hapes without notice. Anhaje, the Queen's handmaiden, took her place on the throne, disguised as the Queen herself.
How odd. It seems so familiar.
That scenario seemed familiar to Jacen somehow, but he quickly passed it up and the thought never crossed his mind again.
A ripple in the Force brought him out of his reverie and he looked to Gadell, who was standing up and staring at Zekk's closed door. Gadell and Zekk had felt it too.
"I'll go."
Zekk nodded in response.
"And I'll tell her about Jacen not sending the message."
Another nod.
Gadell vanished into Zekk's bedroom and after the door shut behind him, Zekk reached over and smacked Jacen clear across the back of his head. "What were you thinking, man? I told you that you should've worked with the Mindmap, but nooooo, you were too busy thinking about Tenel Ka... and look where all that thinking got you, buddy. It got you Tenel Ka back alright." He ran his right hand though his unruly mass of cropped hair and then scratched at his stubbly chin. "You're lucky I had a whole day to calm Gadell down. After we got Tenel Ka into bed the other night, he was ready to drown you in the bathtub."
Jacen stared straight ahead, out towards the balcony, towards the city, towards space. He felt like a little kid again, being reprimanded for something he shouldn't have been doing. But he knew he needed it. He knew he needed every word, every intention and every bit of hostility that was being flung at him. What he attempted was something he never thought he would ever be capable of. Mindmap or not, they were still his hands and it was still his body. Jacen set his forehead on the table, placing his hands in his lap.
Silence fell. Minutes passed.
Gadell emerged from Zekk's bedroom, a morose expression settling on his face and stepping over to his chair, he seated himself, the men accustomed to the silence now.
Jacen picked his head up off of the table and leaned back in his chair, staring to the door of Zekk's bedroom.
Should I go in there?
Zekk seemed to read his thoughts as he glared over to Jacen, an empty look crossing his pale visage. Gadell picked up on his thoughts too and let his eyes trail to Jacen, "What are you going to say? 'Hey there, Ten! Sorry about that mishap in the 'fresher! My hands must've had a mind of their own!' ...Hmm?"
Jacen shook his head. Gadell was right. How could he ever face Tenel Ka after what he tried to do? Would things ever be the same? Just weeks earlier, they had stood under the light of Hapes moons and shared kisses and secrets and then Jacen was ripped away from her to come here. How was Tenel Ka involved in all of this? Who did they receive a message from? Jacen knew it wasn't from him. He would've remembered sending a message like that.
Questions raced through Jacen's mind and slamming his fists down on the table, he wanted them answered. Stumbling out of his chair and mustering his nerves, he paced towards Zekk's bedroom.
"Oh no you don't." Zekk stood up and grabbed Jacen's shoulders, spinning him around. Gadell was up in an instant beside them, ready to help keep Jacen away from the room if the need arose.
Struggling against Zekk's grasp, Jacen tried to wiggle his way free from the older man. Gadell noticed his fight and helped Zekk hold Jacen back.
Without warning to anyone, something large in size whizzed past the balcony and dropped something, which landed on the hard ground of the deck. It was some sort of ship, but it went by too fast for any of them to catch. All three heads turned to look, stopping mid-struggle so that all three were still contorted together. And after the drone of the ship vanished...
...a scream broke out of Zekk's room.
All three heads twisted to the direction of the door, Zekk, Jacen and Gadell still holding onto each other.
"Tenel Ka." Jacen whispered breathlessly.
Everything became silent.
Gadell's eyes found their way back to the deck, where an item sat. The Admiral squinted, trying to make out what it was. It looked like a datapad. He let go of Jacen and began to stalk over to the balcony door, forgetting Tenel Ka's scream for the moment. She had acknowledged his concern through their connection and he knew she was alright.
Sliding the balcony door open, Gadell crouched in front of the datapad and reached out to grab it, until he heard a firm shout from inside.
Surprisingly regal and collected.
"Do not touch it."
He turned his head back as he straightened himself, standing up. Zekk and Jacen were still frozen in their struggle and there was Tenel Ka, clasping at the doorframe of Zekk's bedroom, her chest slowly heaving up and down.
Jacen's heart, as well as his breath, just about stopped by the time she emerged from the bedroom. She looked extremely tired, worse than Zekk and Gadell. Her hair was knotted and her skin was bruised, battered and torn. Jacen couldn't even begin to count the number of scratches on her exposed skin.
And the only skin she had exposed was her face and her hands.
She was wearing a pair of Gadell's flightsuit pants, a large jacket of his, and her feet were in a pair of Zekk's favorite socks. The night they put her into his bed, after the incident, they changed her out of the bloodstained robe and put her in one of the outfits she wore as Rez. And she had asked for more clothes.
They gave her one of Zekk's big short-sleeved undershirts to throw over her outfit.
She wanted more.
They kept giving her any article of clothing they had lying around, which led to Tenel Ka wearing about five layers.
"She wants to keep her skin covered," Zekk and Gadell were seated in the living room hours after putting her in bed. "Must be a mental thing." Zekk sighed. "I mean... we weren't in there long before I got Jacen out of the Mindmap..."
"Yeah..." Gadell had nodded and stared at the ground, "But you saw what he was about to do to her."
Zekk knew from the moment he realized Kaidin was in the refresher with her, what he would do to her. And now Tenel Ka stood in front of Zekk and Jacen, with roughly five layers of clothing on, telling Gadell not to pick up the mysterious datapad that was delivered to them via their twenty-ninth story balcony.
Swiftly passing Zekk and Jacen without even looking to them, Tenel Ka wandered to the balcony and picked the datapad up herself, staring down to the message on it.
"Reap the benefits."
Snapping the compartment on the side open, she saw a Mindmap.
"Tenna..." Gadell already knew Tenel Ka would try it on, he could sense her calculating the options. "It's dangerous."
"Fact," with that simple word, she placed the Mindmap in her eye.
Waves of disbelief rippled around the room. Tenel Ka knew who the Mindmap was of just by the first memories rushing into her head.
The oceans in Gadell's eyes began to grow stormy as a hiss escaped him, "Ta'a Chume."
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