The Rebel Faction

They say some people are likes birds in gilded cages. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this phrase, let me break it down fo’ a brotha’. In other words, what it means is they are like beautiful wild birds who are caged in golden, sparkling cages. They are fed well, kept healthy, and seen after quiet well...but they aren’t happy. The wild bird was to be free, not caged, no matter how wonderful the cage they reside in.

I think this whole gilded cage bit fits me well. From the start, I’ve been a bird in a gilded cage. I was born millions of feet above the planet of Corellia. That in itself is a weird start. Not to mention I was a twin. The older twin in fact. Bah, but that’s old news, right? You want to hear the nitty-gritty, eh?

...I thought so.

Things were good, I suppose, when I and my brother were babies. I don’t really remember ‘cause....well....I was a baby. The first thing I do remember, however, is sitting in my playroom. I was stacking blocks...or something like that. Jacen, my twin brother, was coloring in the windowsill. And our newborn baby brother, Anakin, was resting peacefully in his playpen. There was a scream, and a yell. My mother burst into the playroom and grabbed up my baby brother, my father stormed in shortly afterwards. She screamed, he screamed, the baby screamed. Jacen and I whimpered and clung to each other. Our parents had never fought in front of us before, even though we knew it went on. Then...she slapped him.

At that moment my entire view of my mother changed. She went from grumpy old sourpuss, to a big ol’ meanie. She had slapped my beloved Daddy, and he looked like he was gonna cry. Well, I promptly walked over and kicked her in the shin...which promptly got me pushed back onto my ass. I don’t remember what happened after that, since I was crying so hard. When it was all over though, my mother and baby brother weren’t around, neither was Jacen. From that day on, it was mostly me and Dad. Oh sure, Mom and the boys were around, but she stayed gone and busy–on purpose–and she’d always take the boys with her. At six years old, I didn’t understand. I didn’t know why Mommy didn’t like Daddy. I didn’t know why my brothers were never around to play with me. So, I had to grow up faster than most kids. I had to make my father my playmate, and Daddy didn’t like to play with blocks and coloring books.

My Dad liked ships, and some whispered word that I didn’t understand till many years later...smuggling. It was his deity, his life, his passion. He cared for nothing more than to work on his ship, hang out with Uncle Lando and Uncle Chewie, and smuggle. Mother didn’t like it...that I figured out on my own. My brothers disapproved, but only because Mother told them to. I, however, was intrigued. This thing called smuggling must have been awful fun, because he left to do it a lot.

From age six to age nine, I had three main parents: Dad, of course, and my ‘uncles’ Lando and Chewbacca. They were my heros; they were my friends; and I loved them more than anything. I don’t think I would have passed primary school without Chewie and Lando. The three of us shacked up together when my father was out of town and my mother couldn’t be found. I hated staying with the old witch anyways.

And so things went...
Dad slowed down in his smuggling when I turned ten. He stayed at home more, tried to become a little more respectable. This, unfortunately for me, made my mother come around more. It was good to see my brothers, but seeing her was a different story. Eventually, my parents became ‘normal’ again. They even started sleeping in the same room, which came as a stomach-churning shock to all three of us kids. By the time I and Jacen turned twelve, things were looking up. Our parents were together and happy. We had graduated primary school. Our kid brother was an amazing force user. Life was good and times were sweet. The Solos could do no wrong. Then it happened...

One day after coming in from playing with my pal Zekk, I found mine and Jacen’s bags packed. I knew that couldn’t be good...and it wasn’t. They were shipping us off to our Uncle’s Jedi Academy. Jacen was ecstatic...I would have rather hanged myself by my shoelaces. Uncle Luke was a nice guy, but a real nerdy fella who pushed his Jedi hocus-pocus on everything and everyone. He was a nutnut sometimes, even though he did mean well.

No one can say I didn’t try though. I gave the Jedi bit my best shot. I was pretty good too. ...ok, ok..so I was fair............I sucked alright?! I sucked horridly at everything. Last of the class. The lowest GPA in recorded Jedi history. I uberstunk, and everyone knew it. Luke tried to play it off as me not paying attention enough or some bullshit like that, but the truth was just too painful to play off. I felt like a failure, and I didn’t take that too well.

By my sixteenth birthday, I’d had enough.

It's been 3 years since I've been on the run from the Hutts. This story here tells why...

I had just been posted to guard duty as majordomo at the Hutts Place, doing some undercover Sith work. I had been there for 1 month, ever since my 20th birthday. And I had yet to find evidence of what I was looking for.

Ah, Miss Jaina Solo. And I was told there was going to be a Jedi Master on her way, NOT a Jedi Knight. Oh well, shite happens, then you flush, I always say. This had proved to be rather interesting though...as you'll see.

I awaited for Miss Solo to climb the stairs to the door, as majordomo, it was my job to announce her arrival to my boss. A moment later, she attempted to stride past me, but I carefully...gently...No...I firmly put my arm out to block her path. As soon as she stopped, the snobby little Jedi knight shot a piercing brown gaze at me. I rolled my metallic silver eyes, and made it obvious to her that I was not amused by her stare.

"Excuse me, miss, but I was requested to arrive here. Now please move aside." She attempted to move my arm as she spoke; so brazen this one was.

"I am aware of your arrival, Miss Solo. However, you must be announced, so please wait here. If you do not, I will be forced to take you to a holding cell." I told her, blocking her way more by holding the door frame.

The little girl who called herself a 'Jedi Knight' scoffed and took a step back. "Fine, whatever. Do what you must. But make it snappy. I have other places to be."

I gave her a short bow and exited to announce her to my employer. I came back out to where she was to wait and found her gone, as I suspected I would. I had been prepared for this. My eyes closed, and concentrating, I found her force signature. She IS a Solo, after all, and wasn't that hard to find. So I went over to where she was and soundlessly stepped up behind her, drawing one of my blasters from one of my thigh holsters. "Find anything you like?" I asked her.

Just as she turned around to respond to me, I lashed out with the blaster in my left hand, slamming the butt against her thick skull with a loud crack. After that, she hit the floor with a dull thud, then remained otherwise still.

"Damned hard headed little Jedi."

I had picked her up rather easily, and swung her over my shoulder. I carried her down a flight of stairs, then down another flight of stairs all the way down to a hidden sub-basement where the holding cells were kept. I opened a cell
and tossed the kid in none too kindly, letting her land face first and split a lip open. Having chuckled rather evilly, I slammed the door shut, which awakened the young Jedi Knight. I gave her a smirk and just stood back, watching her carefully to see if she would attempt an escape. All I was informed of, was to take Miss Solo to her holding cell; regardless of her blantent disrespect for orders I had given her to obey, I was not allowed to kill her myself. The Hutts had big plans for that girl, and right then, it was to kill her...themselves...slowly. A few moments later, I received a message on my comlink, saying that they would use her as a smuggler. Apparently, she was worth more to them alive rather than dead. So I was given the order to have a slave tattoo put upon her.

God. Damned. Jaina. Solo. As I sit here thinking back on my badly acted past, I also remember my feelings of her. At first, when I first saw her, she looked like a hard-ass, someone who was rude and obnoxious like me. Someone I could have grown to like after some time had passed. Obviously, I had been wrong. She was worse than I had imagined. The way her attitude was, she should have been a Sith Disciple instead of a Jedi Knight. She sure was nasty and bad-tempered and VERY stubborn. Wouldn't have been hard for her to have made Sith Master.

Three fragging years of running and hiding and dodging the Hutts at every little moment have passed since our first meeting. Now, a Shadow Jedi, I'd hoped the slight change in my force pattern would have throw the bloody Hutts off guard. That was not the case as I found out yesterday. I was on my way to Corellia for power converters when I was suddenly attacked on my YT-1300 called Jade's Dragon, all because of that b*tchy little so-called Jedi Knight's services had become more valuable to them than my services.

I tell ya, once I get my hands on that.....that.....I DON'T EVEN HAVE A NAME FOR THE LIKES OF HER....I'm gonna rip her a new @#%$, Shadow Jedi or not. I'll risk becoming Sith just to get a sliver-of-an-inch even with her. And my female black panther Sumohn is gonna help me...

Right now, I am merely reflecting on a bad past and lurking somewhere on Coruscant, just biding my time, patiently, waiting for the day that Solo and I meet again...

Alright, let's back up for a moment here. Jai has had her say about her side of the story, but let's go back to the beginning and talk about the real Jaina Solo. We're twins, that much she got right, but she forgot to say a lot of things about her...(Jai is going to kill me)...

Things were going well during our childhood; we had everything we ever wanted. Toys, money, food, droids, sims, everything.....except there was one thing that Jai and I lacked: attention from our family members. There was no real place for us to fit in; we were just two young Force-sensitive twins in a galaxy that was pre-occupied with war and turmoil. In a place like that, with so many threats, it is easy for two small lives to fall through the cracks. Jai and I did just that. I don't want to sound like a cheesy, stuck-up, rich brat...this is just how it happened.

Jai told you about the fight that split our family like a bluffavian egg; what she didn't tell you is that it wasn't just a spontaneous incident. There had been tension in the air for months prior to it; I don't know if Jai didn't know, or if she has willingly blocked it out of her memory. That night was inevitable, and it was then that Jai and I really started to connect as twins. Anakin was always off with our mother, and we were left alone with droids to care for us. Not a good thing for children to grow up with, but we lived. We stayed together, following each other, and quickly learning from the other's mistakes. It was when we went to the Jedi Academy that things started to strain on her.

You see... Jai was not one that liked the whole 'Jedi' thing. Looking back, I can't say that I do either. Anakin and I took it easily though, it came naturally to Anakin, and, well, I just wanted to upstage him. Jai tried though, she probably tried more than Anakin and I combined, but she just couldn't get it. It was one day, during practice, that I realize Jai and I where going to end up separating. We were in the Docking Bay, I watched as Jai was fixing some ship, muttering to herself about how much she hated the place, and how she wanted to go off on her own. I know now that she didn't know I was there, but that was the time that I should have stopped her.

The day she left, I knew something was wrong. I had rolled over in the middle of the night, and had a strange feeling in the pack of my mind that something was wrong. I walked down to the Meditation Chamber, and that was when Uncle Luke told me that Jaina was gone. My world ripped apart in that second; those few words tore through me and forever changed my future. It was then that I had set off to find her, alone. I left Anakin, Luke, everything behind on Yavin-4. The only thing to guide me was my anger, vengeance, and the Force. That was the night that I fell into the Darkside.

My first stop was the polar Ice Caps on Coruscant. That was where Jai and I had spent many winters talking about our parents and what had happened with them. We spoke of becoming famous, of becoming Jedi Knights....I should have known then that she wasn't really into it, but she faked it for my sake. Now that I think about it, she did a lot of things for me. She would have given her life for me, and I was too blind and arrogant to have helped her when she needed it.......

.....back to the story. Needless to say, she wasn't on Coruscant, and I check countless other space ports and docking bays through out the galaxy, trying to find her. It seemed that Jaina Solo had ceased to exist, and I was left alone, again. I joined the Rebellion, quit. I joined the Jedi, again, quit. I found some Darksiders, joined and quit. Finally, I joined a smugglers group, and left after hearing a rumor about a female smuggler named ‘J’. I dropped everything I was doing, even stole a ship, and left for Smuggler's Run to find my sister. Alas, no luck.

I had given up. There was no way that I could find her anymore. I had come to think one of two things had happened. Either Jaina didn't want to be found, and had changed so much that I would never find her. Or, she was dead. Knowing Jai the way I did, the second one seemed more likely. Though, I was wrong, and the galaxy hadn't given up on young Jaina Solo. It was a chance meeting in a two bit bar that brought me back to Jai. It was then I saw how different she had become. After that five minute meeting, Jai and I parted ways, and I haven't heard from her since. I didn't tell her then, but it hurt me more then anything, and sometimes, I think it would have been easier if she had died...and...maybe, in a way, she did.