Yavin 4, Tuesday Fandom Time
Sep. 25th, 2012 06:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nonelikemesinceWhat had started out as a simple discussion of Anakin's invitation to Centerpoint Station hadn't stayed a simple discussion for very long. When both Anakin and Jacen were involved, it never would have stayed that way: not when their views on the Force were such polar opposites.
Jacen had been opposed to the idea from the start. Anakin was more than willing to entertain the possibility of going. Neither of them would back down, and by the time Uncle Luke showed up at the Temple with Talon Karrde, Anakin and Jacen had been yelling at each other with enough animosity that Jaina was literally standing between them to keep them apart. They had an audience, too: Masters Cilghal and Streen Lowie, Kyp, Ganner, Kenth, and a few others, but none of the Solo kids were paying them any mind.
When Artoo spotted Luke and started making a fuss, though, they did stop yelling.
Jaina was the first one to address Luke. "They were just... discussing Anakin's invitation to visit Centerpoint Station."
"Finish the discussion," Luke said, looking at both boys; it was clear from his expression that he knew it hadn't been civil -- no Force-sensitive within a thousand kilometers would have believed that. You didn't argue with Uncle Luke when he looked at you like that, especially when you were his apprentices, like both Anakin and Jacen.
"I'll say it once more, then I'm done with it," Jacen spoke up, glaring vibrodaggers at Anakin the whole time. He curled his fingers around the hilt of his lightsaber for emphasis, adding, "Centerpoint is this on a gargantuan scale. Assuming the station can even be made operational, it should be used only for defense."
They'd been over this. They'd been over it so many times, and Anakin was out of patience. He sighed, exasperated. "And I'll say this one last time: I completely agree."
"Then keep away from Corellia. Don't have anything to do with enabling Centerpoint or any of the hyperspace repulsors," Jacen replied, and to Anakin it sounded condescending in a way that grated: his brother wasn't that much older than he was. "You were a kid the first time. We all were. You didn't know any better."
They'd been in-system when the First Corellian Insurrection broke out. Centerpoint Station, with its planet-destroying capabilities, had been a key part of the Sacorrian Triad's scheme to declare Corellian independence from the Republic. Eight-year-old Anakin's tinkering with Drall's planetary repulsor had keyed the entire system to him, so it had fallen to him to use the repulsor to prevent Centerpoint from firing on the twelve million inhabitants of the Bovo Yagen system. That was a lot of pressure for a little kid, and when he got too stressed out it'd been Jacen who had to convince him to stop hiding, quit sulking, and keep working. Not many people remembered that part, but Anakin did; it hadn't been his most flattering moment, and Jacen's tone of voice only made him think his brother was definitely being condescending now. His temper flared and he snapped, "You're leaving out that my ignorant actions ended up foiling the Triad's plans to detonate another star and annihilate every ship the Bakurans sent against them."
"That was defensive!" Jacen argued. "Your tinkering with the repulsor on Drall prevented Centerpoint from firing!"
"Tinkering." Anakin couldn't keep himself from letting out a derisive snort of laughter. "Let me ask you something: Are you against Jaina flying with Rogue Squadron?"
"Not in theory," allowed Jacen with a quick look at their sister.
"Are you against Mom and Tenel Ka going to Hapes?" Anakin pressed. This wasn't that different from their lightsaber spars, Jacen always more cautious, Anakin always looking for an opening, a way to push his advantage.
"Not in principle."
"Not in principle? The New Republic is hoping to bring the Consortium into the war. If you think of Rogue Squadron or the Hapans as weapons --" and since Jacen had been so considerate as to provide a prop a few minutes ago with his lightsaber, Anakin pointed to it now -- "an extension of that, then what's the difference between what Jaina or Mom are being asked to do and what I've been asked to do at Corellia? I said I'd help enable the station. I didn't say anything about firing it."
"Where do you stand on this, Uncle Luke?" asked Jacen, as fed up with the argument as Anakin was.
"As I told the Defense Force command staff, I'm opposed to reenabling Centerpoint on the grounds that its power is too unmanageable. And you all know that I was against Daeshara'cor's attempts to resurrect another Eye of Palpatine," Luke replied. Lucky him, having both of them as apprentices. "But if there's even a chance that Centerpoint Station can be used to defend Corellia and spare the fleets for service elsewhere, we're obliged to do what we can to help make it operational."
Ha. Uncle Luke was on his side. Anakin at least managed to refrain from looking smug, but he wouldn't deny himself a moment of satisfaction at the tight-lipped, less than pleased look on Jacen's face.
"All right, Anakin, have it your way," he conceded very reluctantly. "But I'm going with you."
He wasn't so thrilled with that, but Anakin was just glad to have won the argument. He could be a little bit magnanimous. "Glad to have you along."
With that settled -- for the time being -- everyone could calm down and listen to what Talon Karrde had to say, since there had to be a reason that Luke had brought the smuggler along.
It turned out to be an interesting proposition, too: the Hutts had made a deal of some kind, allowing the Yuuzhan Vong into Hutt space in exchange for advance intelligence on the Vong's next planned targets just so they could avoid those planets. Leave it to Karrde to use the spice trade for information: he'd been tracking the trade routes and noticed that supplies to Bothawui, Corellia, and Tynna had been cut off all of a sudden. It was convincing enough for him, but since the Defense Force would need a more solid case to mount a pre-emptive attack -- and he suspected that New Republic Intelligence had been compromised by an infiltrator -- he'd come to the Jedi to help him gather more evidence.
There was a bonus in it too, he argued, in that the public image of the Jedi had gone badly downhill lately; Anakin was surprised by how much worse it had gotten since the last time he'd been home, actually. If the Jedi just happened to be the ones to hand the New Republic intelligence that gave them a huge advantage, all the better for them.
Of course it was Jacen who had to object when Karrde asked if any of them would be willing to accompany him to a meeting with some of the spice-runners in the Hutt network. "This is Centerpoint all over again," he insisted, not bothering to hide his disdain for the entire idea. "The Jedi shouldn't have any part in this. It demeans us."
"It doesn't demean anyone," Anakin countered; yes, he was going to take that comment personally. He really didn't see a need for Jacen to bring that up again right now. "We can help without having to raise a hand -- or a lightsaber. You, if anybody, should be in favor of that."
But the final decision was Luke's, and after a few quiet moments of deliberation the Jedi Master spoke up. "I'm not interested in repairing our tarnished image. The New Republic isn't eager to sanction our actions, in any case. But if we can help provide information that will prevent the fall of another world, the choice is clear."
Once again, Anakin was very hard pressed to refrain from giving his brother the I-told-you-so look.
Jaina was the first to volunteer for the mission, but she was too young to make a believable spice buyer, and in the end the job fell to Kyp and Ganner. She wasn't happy about that, but nobody was as vocally unhappy as Jacen.
"Centerpoint, enlistment, espionage. I never thought we'd come to this," he complained.
This mission was going to be so much fun.
[OOC: NFI/NFB, OOC okay. TBC later. OMG CANON CATCHUP TIME. Dialogue from Agents of Chaos 2: Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno, from which this was adapted.]
Jacen had been opposed to the idea from the start. Anakin was more than willing to entertain the possibility of going. Neither of them would back down, and by the time Uncle Luke showed up at the Temple with Talon Karrde, Anakin and Jacen had been yelling at each other with enough animosity that Jaina was literally standing between them to keep them apart. They had an audience, too: Masters Cilghal and Streen Lowie, Kyp, Ganner, Kenth, and a few others, but none of the Solo kids were paying them any mind.
When Artoo spotted Luke and started making a fuss, though, they did stop yelling.
Jaina was the first one to address Luke. "They were just... discussing Anakin's invitation to visit Centerpoint Station."
"Finish the discussion," Luke said, looking at both boys; it was clear from his expression that he knew it hadn't been civil -- no Force-sensitive within a thousand kilometers would have believed that. You didn't argue with Uncle Luke when he looked at you like that, especially when you were his apprentices, like both Anakin and Jacen.
"I'll say it once more, then I'm done with it," Jacen spoke up, glaring vibrodaggers at Anakin the whole time. He curled his fingers around the hilt of his lightsaber for emphasis, adding, "Centerpoint is this on a gargantuan scale. Assuming the station can even be made operational, it should be used only for defense."
They'd been over this. They'd been over it so many times, and Anakin was out of patience. He sighed, exasperated. "And I'll say this one last time: I completely agree."
"Then keep away from Corellia. Don't have anything to do with enabling Centerpoint or any of the hyperspace repulsors," Jacen replied, and to Anakin it sounded condescending in a way that grated: his brother wasn't that much older than he was. "You were a kid the first time. We all were. You didn't know any better."
They'd been in-system when the First Corellian Insurrection broke out. Centerpoint Station, with its planet-destroying capabilities, had been a key part of the Sacorrian Triad's scheme to declare Corellian independence from the Republic. Eight-year-old Anakin's tinkering with Drall's planetary repulsor had keyed the entire system to him, so it had fallen to him to use the repulsor to prevent Centerpoint from firing on the twelve million inhabitants of the Bovo Yagen system. That was a lot of pressure for a little kid, and when he got too stressed out it'd been Jacen who had to convince him to stop hiding, quit sulking, and keep working. Not many people remembered that part, but Anakin did; it hadn't been his most flattering moment, and Jacen's tone of voice only made him think his brother was definitely being condescending now. His temper flared and he snapped, "You're leaving out that my ignorant actions ended up foiling the Triad's plans to detonate another star and annihilate every ship the Bakurans sent against them."
"That was defensive!" Jacen argued. "Your tinkering with the repulsor on Drall prevented Centerpoint from firing!"
"Tinkering." Anakin couldn't keep himself from letting out a derisive snort of laughter. "Let me ask you something: Are you against Jaina flying with Rogue Squadron?"
"Not in theory," allowed Jacen with a quick look at their sister.
"Are you against Mom and Tenel Ka going to Hapes?" Anakin pressed. This wasn't that different from their lightsaber spars, Jacen always more cautious, Anakin always looking for an opening, a way to push his advantage.
"Not in principle."
"Not in principle? The New Republic is hoping to bring the Consortium into the war. If you think of Rogue Squadron or the Hapans as weapons --" and since Jacen had been so considerate as to provide a prop a few minutes ago with his lightsaber, Anakin pointed to it now -- "an extension of that, then what's the difference between what Jaina or Mom are being asked to do and what I've been asked to do at Corellia? I said I'd help enable the station. I didn't say anything about firing it."
"Where do you stand on this, Uncle Luke?" asked Jacen, as fed up with the argument as Anakin was.
"As I told the Defense Force command staff, I'm opposed to reenabling Centerpoint on the grounds that its power is too unmanageable. And you all know that I was against Daeshara'cor's attempts to resurrect another Eye of Palpatine," Luke replied. Lucky him, having both of them as apprentices. "But if there's even a chance that Centerpoint Station can be used to defend Corellia and spare the fleets for service elsewhere, we're obliged to do what we can to help make it operational."
Ha. Uncle Luke was on his side. Anakin at least managed to refrain from looking smug, but he wouldn't deny himself a moment of satisfaction at the tight-lipped, less than pleased look on Jacen's face.
"All right, Anakin, have it your way," he conceded very reluctantly. "But I'm going with you."
He wasn't so thrilled with that, but Anakin was just glad to have won the argument. He could be a little bit magnanimous. "Glad to have you along."
With that settled -- for the time being -- everyone could calm down and listen to what Talon Karrde had to say, since there had to be a reason that Luke had brought the smuggler along.
It turned out to be an interesting proposition, too: the Hutts had made a deal of some kind, allowing the Yuuzhan Vong into Hutt space in exchange for advance intelligence on the Vong's next planned targets just so they could avoid those planets. Leave it to Karrde to use the spice trade for information: he'd been tracking the trade routes and noticed that supplies to Bothawui, Corellia, and Tynna had been cut off all of a sudden. It was convincing enough for him, but since the Defense Force would need a more solid case to mount a pre-emptive attack -- and he suspected that New Republic Intelligence had been compromised by an infiltrator -- he'd come to the Jedi to help him gather more evidence.
There was a bonus in it too, he argued, in that the public image of the Jedi had gone badly downhill lately; Anakin was surprised by how much worse it had gotten since the last time he'd been home, actually. If the Jedi just happened to be the ones to hand the New Republic intelligence that gave them a huge advantage, all the better for them.
Of course it was Jacen who had to object when Karrde asked if any of them would be willing to accompany him to a meeting with some of the spice-runners in the Hutt network. "This is Centerpoint all over again," he insisted, not bothering to hide his disdain for the entire idea. "The Jedi shouldn't have any part in this. It demeans us."
"It doesn't demean anyone," Anakin countered; yes, he was going to take that comment personally. He really didn't see a need for Jacen to bring that up again right now. "We can help without having to raise a hand -- or a lightsaber. You, if anybody, should be in favor of that."
But the final decision was Luke's, and after a few quiet moments of deliberation the Jedi Master spoke up. "I'm not interested in repairing our tarnished image. The New Republic isn't eager to sanction our actions, in any case. But if we can help provide information that will prevent the fall of another world, the choice is clear."
Once again, Anakin was very hard pressed to refrain from giving his brother the I-told-you-so look.
Jaina was the first to volunteer for the mission, but she was too young to make a believable spice buyer, and in the end the job fell to Kyp and Ganner. She wasn't happy about that, but nobody was as vocally unhappy as Jacen.
"Centerpoint, enlistment, espionage. I never thought we'd come to this," he complained.
This mission was going to be so much fun.
[OOC: NFI/NFB, OOC okay. TBC later. OMG CANON CATCHUP TIME. Dialogue from Agents of Chaos 2: Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno, from which this was adapted.]
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Date: 2012-09-25 02:22 pm (UTC)