Subject: [OTL]: (alt. Betsy/Star Wars) Fanged Butterfly 2: Knightcross 1/? (PG-15) From: Phil Hartman Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 03:24:48 +0000 will1@earthling.net Knightcross Chapter 1 by Phil Hartman DISCLAIMER: Marvel's are Marvel's. LFL's are LFL's. Any original characters are mine. The rest belong to their owners/creators. No money is being made off of this. Please don't sue. NOTE: The LONG-overdue sequel to "Fanged Butterfly" ... and a fan-geek wish come true ;) WARNING: Language, the occasional mature theme, violence (WARS, remember), some imagery, etc. SETTING: EXTREMELY AU ... for those following Star Wars Expanded Universe, it opens near the end of Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines. TAGLINE: Years after being resurrected, Betsy Braddock finds herself needed ... far, far away ... ---------------------------------------- 40 ABY (After the Battle of Yavin): Coruscant, Core Worlds: ---------------------------------------- His head was still spinning. Ben Skywalker wobbled, the flash of his lightsaber's blue blade replaying in his mind - *the blade's afterimage fading, leaving that burned fabric smell, overlaying something like the smell from Chewie's campfire on Kashyyyk, Captain Shevu and the other Guard troopers searching the room* - and he tried not to trip over his feet. He'd wanted to belong so BADLY - to not be Luke and Mara Skywalker's 13-year-old kid, to be one of the Galactic Alliance Guard's best. To be what his Master, Jacen Solo, thought he COULD be. Five years, Ben had studied - had struggled - to get past his childish fear of the Force, after experiencing pain through it as an infant during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. He'd been eight when Jacen, one of the war's heroes, had come back from a galaxy-wide journey of studying new Force knowledge and an offer to help Ben realize who he could be. Jacen hadn't treated Ben like a little kid, either - teased him, maybe, but it was always kind, as he traveled the galaxy with his "Master." It was an informal arrangement, but the Council had trusted Luke and Mara's judgment in letting Ben work with Jacen. Some had muttered *Anakin* Solo might have been a better choice for Ben's Master, but Ben and Anakin had never quite ... clicked. "Ani" - the youngest son of Han and Leia Solo *hated* that nickname - was just too *loud* in the Force for Ben, even if Anakin was a good person. Jacen's quiet assistance and teaching had felt more comfortable to Ben. And Jacen's twin sister, Jaina ... ... well, the Empress Fel of the Empire of the Hand rarely visited the Core Worlds these days. Then the Corellian crisis had erupted. Ben had been part of a mission to stop the Corellians from using the starkilling Centerpoint Station - one of those relics from Force knew what species - to blackmail the Galactic Alliance. The adventure had stopped there. No longer was Ben completely innocent. Not after he'd "killed" a droid based on the personality of his cousin, Anakin Solo, whose biometrics were hard-programmed into Centerpoint's control core. The real Anakin, of course, wasn't about to oblige the Corellians by granting his biometric measurements to help attack the Alliance. Centerpoint had shaken Ben to his core. The droid had been based off of Anakin's teenaged self, and to convince a droid that thought it was a teen to self-terminate ... it haunted Ben, who hadn't wanted to hurt anyone, even a droid. He hadn't been able to look Anakin, Uncle Han or Aunt Leia in the eye since that day. That had been easy, though, compared to the past few weeks. After Bimmiel. Ben and Jacen, with Nelani Dinn - a young human Jedi woman assigned to the planet Lorrd - had followed a lead in an assassination case to an asteroid in the Bimmiel system. They'd fought a woman named Brisha Syo, who'd used dark-side Force powers ... and that was as much as Ben remembered about Bimmiel, other than the awful guilt he'd felt about Nelani being dead. Ben's fuzzy memory was from hitting his head in the fight, Jacen claimed. But there was something very, very wrong. Ben had gone to a 2-1B unit just to be sure, and there'd been no sign of concussion. Then things had gotten too crazy for second guesses. Corellia had been invaded by the GA forces. Jacen had gotten a military commission - Colonel - in the GA defense forces, and had brought Ben with him into forming the Galactic Alliance Guard. They were *supposed* to be digging out infiltrators and spies from Corellia, hiding on Coruscant - all of a sudden, "little Ben" was a soldier, standing at attention, snapping to when barked at. He'd helped raid suspected insurgent bases with his Force powers. Ben had been issued black fatigues instead of Jedi robes, and he'd even gotten his red hair buzzed, except for his Old-Republic-style apprentice's braid, to look like one of the guys. There were been the post-mission debriefings, then a few rounds with the rest of the troops - OK, so he had fizzade instead of Coruscan mead (Corellian ale was both unpatriotic and in short supply these days). They didn't laugh at him. He was "Lieutenant Skywalker," or just Ben - he was *accepted.* And Jacen had smiled approvingly. Dad, of course, had ... not been happy. Mom - being an ex-Imperial assassin - was more understanding. Mara Jade, former Emperor's Hand, got the point that Ben needed to NOT be Luke Skywalker the Second. That wasn't fair; Dad might pester, but he cared. He'd kept the door open to the Skywalkers' family apartment, said Ben could always come home. Ben hoped that door wasn't about to slam shut. Because Ben had just killed for the first time. It'd been a standard raid, although Ben had been given point for the first time, using his danger sense to help clean out a restaurant and its upstairs apartment. In one of the rooms had been two dissidents. One had had a blaster, and Ben had protected his Guard superior officer, Captain Shevu (almost a friend, if the chain of command had allowed). The other hadn't even had a vibroshiv. Ben had almost collapsed when he'd realized what he'd done, but Jacen had made him look at his handiwork. Then, and ONLY then, had his beloved cousin let the boy wander outside. It'd been bad enough when Jacen had killed that suspected assassin in Guard custody during questioning. Jacen's quiet kindness had ... faded, since Bimmiel. Jacen wasn't such a Jedi anymore, either - - so what was Ben, who'd killed without *thinking?* ~An innocent, walking in shadows.~ Ben gasped, spinning - he WAS falling, the walkways didn't always have rails in this part of Coruscant - and the shadows gently brushed him into oblivion. --------------------------------------------- He vaguely remembered being walked to an apartment after an air-taxi ride, then being given his privacy and undressing alone. He stirred; he was covered by a sheet, wearing only his Guard-issue shorts. And this wasn't Jacen's apartment, or his parents' - Twilight was streaming in through closed blinds, his uniform black pants and shirt tossed over a chair in the corner with his belt and lightsaber. His boots and socks were barely visible on the floor, as the orbital mirrors reflected sunlight away from this part of the planet for another engineered night. So much of the galactic capital was artificial, even after the Vong-forming. #Like me. I'm just a fake ...# Ben thought, fighting back tears as he threw off the sheet and sat up. If he'd killed without thinking - self-defense was too easy an out. Even protecting Shevu was an excuse. A *real* Jedi didn't go charging into a combat zone without trying to find a better way. Dad had been trying to tell him that. Ben hadn't listened until he'd seen Jacen use the Force to smack a middle-aged woman's head against a table during an interrogation. If Ben hadn't hidden from the Force as a child, he wouldn't have had Jacen as a Master. Jacen, the damaged Solo child, some whispered. Jacen, the student of Vergere - that bird-like, bizarre Force-user who'd claimed to be an Old Republic Jedi, who'd worked with and against the Vong, who'd tortured, then taught, Jacen after the Myrkr mission almost 14 years ago. Jacen, the hero of Coruscant, standing up to the Corellians ... by any means necessary. #Except asking questions first,# Ben thought, trying not to shake - who could he trust? Who'd trust HIM? ~Ben Skywalker, you are NOT falling to the dark side. You made a mistake - an honest mistake. I'm not saying it's a *good* mistake, but still ...~ He wiped his eyes, startled - she'd been on the other side of the Core, the other side of the Mid-Rim, for that matter - The door slid open, and Ben smiled faintly as his hostess walked in. "Thanks, Master -" he began, as she sat beside him. "No `'Auntie?' That's what I get for going off on my own five-year quest, I suppose ... you grew up on me. You've turned out well, I think, despite Jacen," the Jedi Master sighed, tossing a greying braid over her shoulder. Ben tried not to let his lip quiver as he rasped, "I - you're too NICE -" Amethyst eyes locked with his blue ones, and he didn't try to keep back the tears as she hugged him. "Cry. Stang, boy, soldiers cry on each other all the time - let it out, you're not any less masculine for it. Bottling up pain is a step toward the dark side," the Master assured Ben, as he sobbed into her shoulder. After a long time, he leaned back and accepted a synth-tissue - real plant-tissues were rare, in a galaxy where some of the plants WERE sentient - from his family's old friend. Ben wiped his eyes, as his benefactor smiled and tilted her head. "I won't even ask you to trust me," she said, and Ben had to laugh - why wouldn't he trust her? Stang, she'd babysat Ben more times than he could remember, before Jacen had become his teacher. He still blushed like a Mon Calamarian when he remembered he was in just his shorts. The Jedi Master just laughed gently and said, "Your feelings betray you, young Skywalker. Remember, I'm the one who danced through Hutt-space to Myrkr, and after that, helped treat the survivors. There are few members of the Order I haven't seen in less than full robes." Ben leaned against her shoulder - she was one of the few people he'd trust that much anymore - and asked, "So I'm not falling?" "You're thinking. And feeling. Jedi need to do both. You care. So no, you're not falling. Did those men give you any warning? Did you *like* killing them?" she asked. "Of course not! But - a warning - I didn't give them any -" Ben breathed, sitting up. "Jacen rushed things. Again. He's pushing. You had no chance to warn them," the Master said, trailing off as she stood and looked out of the blinds. Ben watched her; she was still something of a mystery to him, even now. The Council, and Aunt Leia and Uncle Han, knew. But they weren't telling. #Uncle Han and Aunt Leia ... what if Jacen tries to lock *them* up?# Ben thought, full of fear - he didn't *want* to fight them, but they'd left for Corellia, he'd heard - ~You're too old - too smart - just to follow blindly,~ the Master sent, and Ben met her gaze again. "Me, change the galaxy? I'm 13," Ben snapped - not very fair, he admitted, but he didn't WANT to be coddled. He certainly didn't want to be responsible for the galaxy. But he couldn't not help people ... "One person, at the right place, at the right time ... the Force shapes, and can be shaped, Ben," the Master replied, smiling sadly. "But, Aunt Betsy ..." Ben said, still ... lost. Jedi Master Elizabeth Braddock sat beside the boy she loved like her own child, and stroked his brow. "A trade, then, Ben. Your truths - even the ones you don't remember - for mine," she offered. "... you want me to come with you. To find out what happened at Bimmiel. Why Jacen changed," Ben realized. "I'll explain I needed a GAG liasion. But it's your choice," Betsy said, standing and walking to the doorway. She smiled back over her shoulder and said: "Remember, everything *I* tell you is the truth." --------------------------------------------- DEFINITELY tbc ... ;)