"Whatever Jacen has become, he was a hero once. Jacen Solo saved the galaxy." ―Leia Organa Solo [src]

Darth Caedus, born Jacen Solo, was a human male Sith Lord who turned against his family and friends, betraying his former principles and leading the Galactic Alliance he once championed into a reign of terror as he attempted to bring order and stability to a fractured galaxy. The son of Han and Leia Organa Solo, Caedus was once a leading Jedi Knight who proved crucial in defeating the Yuuzhan Vong and protecting the galaxy during the Yuuzhan Vong War. It was Solo's desire to protect the galaxy and his increasing willingness to accept any cost in that cause that facilitated his fall to the Sith, a trait that had similarly corrupted his grandfather, the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker, into Darth Vader.

Born in 9 ABY, Jacen Solo spent most of his early years as the target of various kidnapping plots and schemes against his famous parents. When he was thirteen, he and his twin sister Jaina began attending the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, where their uncle Luke Skywalker taught them the ways of the Force. There he made several friends, among them the Hapan princess Tenel Ka Djo, to whom he became strongly attracted. While training, he and his friends defeated numerous plots against the New Republic and, in 24 ABY, he and his younger brother Anakin were apprenticed to Skywalker.

A philosopher who struggled with the idea of employing violence to fight violence, Solo entered a personal crisis with the outbreak of the Yuuzhan Vong War. He preferred to serve off the front lines, but felt obligated to volunteer for the strike team assembled to eliminate the voxyn queen at Myrkr. There, Anakin Solo was killed and Jacen Solo stepped up to lead the team, killing the queen and ending the voxyn threat before he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong.

Solo spent nearly a year in captivity, during which he was tortured for weeks at a time. Solo struggled with his circumstances and with the teachings of his captor and mentor, Vergere. He slipped to the dark side before returning and embracing the idea of responding to the universe with unconditional, all-encompassing love. He escaped Yuuzhan Vong custody with Vergere, a former Jedi of the Old Republic, and rejoined the war effort. In the final battle of the war, Solo stormed Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane's Citadel and defeated Onimi, who was mentally controlling the Supreme Overlord, while Solo himself experienced a moment of unity with the Force.

Afterward, he spent five years visiting and learning from various Force-using sects. During his time with the Mind Walkers, he experienced a vision of a dark figure ruling the galaxy and became determined to prevent its fulfillment. He returned to the Jedi during the Dark Nest Crisis and, armed with a more ruthless philosophy of accepting various sacrifices in the name of the greater good, conspired to eliminate the Killiks to prevent another vision of galactic war and protect his infant daughter Allana, secretly conceived with Tenel Ka Djo. In 40 ABY, Solo agreed to become the Sith apprentice of Lumiya after probing the future and finding that, if he did not do so, he would kill Luke Skywalker and the galaxy would be consumed by chaos.

He embarked on a year-long descent into the dark side, slowly turning against the Jedi and his family as he grew darker and more extreme. After seizing control of the Galactic Alliance, killing Mara Jade Skywalker, torturing his former apprentice Ben Skywalker, committing multiple atrocities, taking Tahiri Veila as his official Sith apprentice, and ascending to Sith Mastery as Darth Caedus, he was finally killed by his twin sister Jaina.

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Biography

Earliest years

Target from birth

"I was just thinking about children. Trying to imagine what it's like to try to raise them. Wondering how much of their character a family can mold, and how much is innate in the children themselves. Wondering if the evil in a family's history can be erased, or whether it always passes itself on to each new generation." ―Leia Organa Solo, to the maitrakh of clan Kihm'bar [src]

Jacen Solo was a figure of galactic political significance before he was even born. The son of former smuggler, retired general, and Rebel icon Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa Solo of Alderaan, the New Republic Minister of State, Jacen Solo and his twin sister Jaina were immediately matters of public interest, and news of the pregnancy was spread throughout the New Republic.[19] Taking a different sort of interest in the developing twins, Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo, the new leader of the Galactic Empire's military, promised Organa Solo's powerful Jedi children to Joruus C'baoth, the insane clone of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth, as his to raise and make his apprentices in exchange for C'baoth's participation in the Grand Admiral's schemes. This resulted in several kidnapping attempts by Grand Admiral Thrawn's Noghri agents against Organa Solo during her pregnancy.[20] Organa Solo evaded all of them and was able to appeal to the Noghri to change their allegiance to her, exposing Thrawn's manipulations of their people and playing on their reverence for Darth Vader, the man who had been Organa Solo's father.[19][20]

As Jacen and Jaina Solo developed in their mother's womb, it was immediately apparent that they were Force-sensitive, and Organa Solo was able to make mental contact with their developing minds through the Force. She did so frequently to calm them when they were agitated.[1] When Jacen Solo was born in 9 ABY in the medical ward of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, Organa Solo did the same throughout the ten-hour labor, until Solo, born after his sister, had emerged from the womb a brown-eyed, brown-haired infant.[1][6]

The children were raised in the Solos' Imperial Palace suite, with Organa Solo's adoptive sister Winter serving as their nurse.[1] Their uncle, Luke Skywalker, tested their Force potential and found it astonishing.[21] Shortly after their birth, they were the targets of another kidnapping attempt by an Imperial Intelligence team. Trapped in their suite, they were nearly captured before smuggler ally Mara Jade intervened and saved the family. After that incident, when the Solos, the Wookiee Chewbacca—who owed the Solos a life debt—and Skywalker had to leave Coruscant on a mission that saw the defeat of Thrawn and C'baoth, they were left with Winter and a cadre of Noghri bodyguards, having sworn their lives to the defense of Vader's line.[1]

Shortly after Thrawn's defeat, a new threat presented itself: Emperor Palpatine reemerged from the Deep Core and conquered Coruscant. The twins were evacuated from the planet and hidden away from the resurgent Empire and the growing threat of the dark side of the Force on the uncharted safe-world of New Alderaan.[2][6][22] Winter cared for them, and a squad of Noghri warriors provided security.[23] They only saw their parents twice in 10 ABY before Han and Leia Organa Solo arrived on the Millennium Falcon to stay in seclusion with the children for the birth of a third child, Anakin Solo. They were quickly followed by members of Palpatine's Dark Side Elite, who sought to kidnap the children for the Dark Lord of the Sith. Defended by the Jedi Kam Solusar, Empatojayos Brand, and Rayf Ysanna, the twins were still snatched by Kvag Gthull before Ysanna freed them and their mother killed Gthull, causing the rest of the Dark Jedi to flee. With the arrival of Imperial All Terrain Armored Transports, Organa Solo had to take the children and flee. Evacuated to Nespis VIII, the twins were present when their brother Anakin was born.[22] They were once again forced to flee when Palpatine targeted Nespis VIII, the site of the New Republic's hidden headquarters, with the Galaxy Gun superweapon. Traveling to Onderon, they were followed by Palpatine, who managed to sneak into Organa Solo's room, seeking to transfer his spirit from his dying body to that of Anakin. Brand sacrificed himself to defeat Palpatine once and for all, and the Empire's resurgence was ended.[24]

As Skywalker feared that the young Solo children could be permanently affected by any further exposure to the dark side, they were once more taken into hiding, this time on the remote world of Anoth, the coordinates of which were known only to Winter, Skywalker, and Admiral Gial Ackbar. Only the children and Winter lived on the inhospitable rock, into which had been built a home provided with advanced security systems. Visits from their parents took place every few months until, in 11 ABY, the twins returned to Coruscant to live with their family, having turned two years old and, in Skywalker's judgment, passed the point of greatest vulnerability to the dark side.[3]

Winter flew Solo and his sister back to Coruscant, where they were greeted by their mother. Having so little contact with her for so long, they were more attached to their nanny Winter. They were given a tour around the Imperial Palace and their new home before being put to bed by C-3PO, whose attempts to tell a bedtime story Solo rebuffed. Later that week, Skywalker returned, and Solo got to know his uncle. When Winter left to return to Anoth to care for Anakin, Solo was extremely distressed by the separation from the woman who had raised him, and it required much adjustment to get him used to his new routine and caretakers.[3]

Organa Solo was called away from the children to receive the Caridan ambassador, Furgan, the next day. Angered at having to spend time away from her children, she took them to the diplomatic reception held that night at the Skydome Botanical Gardens, with C-3PO shepherding them. Solo and his sister quickly slipped away from the protocol droid and into the botanical exhibits, where they slipped past the spines of a tentacle-cactus to rest safely against its center. When C-3PO attempted to recover them, they sneaked away safely as the tentacle-cactus caught the droid.[3]

Only a few days later, Han Solo returned from his diplomatic mission to Kessel, which had seen him captured first by Moruth Doole and then by Admiral Natasi Daala of the Empire; thus reunited, Jacen Solo could begin to reconnect with both of his parents.[3] Han took the children to Coruscant's polar region, where they could play in the snow with C-3PO, but their vacation was cut short by the need to return to the capital region to greet their mother, who had been involved in a tragic crash during a diplomatic mission to Vortex.[7]

Organa Solo was safe, and the young Solo eventually settled into the new routine of dinners, baths, and bedtime stories. Yet another Solo family crisis intruded on their life when his mother was stranded on Mon Calamari during the renegade Imperial admiral Daala's attack on it and Han Solo rushed off to save her; Jacen and Jaina were left with C-3PO and Chewbacca. To occupy the twins, C-3PO and Chewbacca took them to the Holographic Zoo of Extinct Animals. There, the young Solos quickly became bored and evaded their guardians. Wishing to go home, they took a turbolift, thinking that, like the turbolifts in the Imperial Palace, it would take them home. Instead, after Solo hit the button for the first level, it took them to the long-abandoned surface of Coruscant. They wandered through the derelict and deadly undercity, attempting to use the lessons learned from their favorite bedtime story, "The Little Lost Bantha Cub," to reach their home. Eventually, they were captured in a trap set by one of the underdwellers to catch food. Rather than be eaten, they cooperated in using the Force to pull out the pins holding their cage together. Pursued by the creature's ferocious pet, they were forced to take shelter in a small crack. Moving through a small tunnel, they came upon a camp of undercity residents. Onibald Daykim, the king of the refugees from the Empire who had created the settlement, took an immediate liking to the children. He gave them food and then, using ventilation shafts and other utility systems, carried the twins up the many stories of Coruscant's worldwide city and safely back to their home, where they found their parents had returned.[7]

When Skywalker was felled by his corrupted student, Kyp Durron, the Solos flew to his Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 within the week.[25] Skywalker lay in state, comatose, and no efforts had been able to revive him. At dinner with Skywalker's Jedi trainees, Solo and the rest of the Force-sensitives were struck by a wave of death felt in the Force, the result of Durron's destruction of Carida with the Sun Crusher superweapon. Han Solo set off to track down and talk down Durron, leaving Organa Solo and the twins on Yavin 4. Solo and his sister, exploring the ruined Massassi temples, encountered a pack of woolamanders; through the Force, Solo was able to "speak" to them, a fact that greatly intrigued him. That night, both Solo twins felt through the Force that Skywalker was in danger. Their cries woke their mother, who with the aid of several other students was able to rescue Skywalker from the trainee Streen, manipulated by the spirit of the Sith Lord Exar Kun.[26]

The next morning, Organa Solo departed to save Anakin, having been informed by the traitor Terpfen that he had given the location of Anoth to the Imperial remnants on Carida. Solo and his sister were left in the care of Skywalker's students. Visiting Skywalker's bier, Solo was able to see and hear his uncle's spirit, standing in the room, as was his sister. They informed their caretaker, Jedi trainee Cilghal, but she did not believe them. That night, Skywalker's spirit appeared to Solo, warning him that his body was in danger from another of Kun's efforts. Solo woke his sister, who began raising the others, while Solo rushed to the Grand Audience Chamber, where he immediately sensed the dark side aura of the three Sithspawn battle hydras Kun had sent to attack. Fearlessly, young Solo charged the creatures to drive them away. At Skywalker's urging, he took up the Jedi Master's lightsaber and, with Skywalker fighting through him, defeated all three creatures. In the aftermath, the rest of the students realized that the Solos could see Skywalker, and Solo relayed Skywalker's message that Kun was behind the attacks and needed to be stopped before Skywalker could return to his body.[26]

The students arranged a trap for Kun, luring his spirit into the Grand Audience Chamber and surrounding him. The twins were part of the circle surrounding Kun, overwhelming his spirit with light side energy and, joined by the spirits of Skywalker and Kun's long-dead Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, eliminating the Sith Lord once and for all. Skywalker returned to his body and awoke, much to Solo's delight. Organa Solo succeeded in rescuing Anakin on Anoth, and thereafter all the children stayed on Coruscant with their parents, tended by Winter.[26]

Neither Coruscant nor his parents were absolute constants in Solo's developing life; 12 ABY saw the family travel to Ithor for the Time of Meeting, at which they were accosted by Drub McKumb. McKumb, insane, caused a commotion that sent the children to the nursery with Winter and Chewbacca for safety and sent Solo's parents off on a mission to Plett's Well.[27] In the same year, the Darksaber crisis and the creation of the Imperial Remnant again sent the adult Solos and Chewbacca scrambling while Solo was left with Winter and C-3PO.[28] Nevertheless, most time was spent with family. Skywalker began developing Solo's Force talents, training him in the use of basic powers. However, utilization of the Force was only allowed under Skywalker's supervision, to prevent misuse.[29]

In 13 ABY, Mirith Sinn was in charge of President Leia Organa Solo's security detail at the Imperial Palace, and was responsible for the safety of Jacen Solo and his siblings. One evening, shortly after distracting the President during a council session, thereby causing her to offend the representative from Rhommamool,[30] an attempt was made on the lives of the entire Solo family. Although the assassins were thwarted by Sinn and Nanna, a combat-modified TDL nanny droid,[31] Luke Skywalker traveled to Coruscant. Master Skywalker brought with him the identity of the man who sent the assassins, as provided to him by the Jedi Vima-Da-Boda: Devian,[32] leader of the "Restored Empire."[30] For some reason, Jacen Solo and all the other members of the Skywalker-Solo clan were afflicted by lazy eyes around this time.[30][31][32]

The Empire Reborn

"Your dear family is gone, my children. The Republic asked me to take you, to keep you, to protect you and teach you. I am so sorry…that your mama and papa are dead." ―Hethrir, to Jacen Solo, Jaina Solo, and Anakin Solo [src]

In 14 ABY, the Solo children traveled with their mother and Chewbacca on a diplomatic tour which saw them visit Mon Calamari, Gbu, and then Munto Codru. There, Solo spent time with Doctor Hyos, learning about medicine. As Munto Codru had a long tradition of political abductions—kidnappings played out along a set of traditional rules—the children were kept very secure. Nevertheless, while playing outside with Chewbacca and the son of Chamberlain Iyon, they were kidnapped—not by local Codru-Ji but by agents of former Imperial Procurator of Justice Hethrir's Empire Reborn faction. A pressure bomb knocked out Chewbacca while the children were spirited away, unconscious.[29]

When they woke on Hethrir's worldcraft, the Rebirth, they were frightened and alone. Their kidnapper came to them, presenting himself as their hold-father. Hethrir claimed that he had been coming to visit them when he witnessed an earthquake destroy the castle in which their mother—and, he said, their father and uncle—had been. He did not know the password which hold-parents were supposed to know, explaining that he had not yet met Organa Solo to learn it. However, he was now their guardian; Hethrir dismissed the fact that Winter was supposed to care for them if anything should happen to their family. Neither twin fully believed Hethrir's account, and so they mentioned that Jacen had been the firstborn of the twins. Hethrir, who had claimed to be present at the birth, agreed with the lie, exposing him as a charlatan. The twins went along, and young Anakin did not pick up on the subtext. When Hethrir attempted to separate the twins from Anakin, however, they resisted. Hethrir used his own command of the dark side to suppress their Force abilities and had his aide Tigris take the twins away and lock them into separate small bedrooms. Solo had been playing with a bat on Munto Codru, and it had been carried along with him when he was kidnapped. He covertly kept the animal in his tunic, caring for it throughout the coming days.[29]

The next morning, the Solo twins and several other captured children were roused and gathered in lines. Upset and disinclined to follow the orders of Tigris and Hethrir's Proctors, Solo refused to line up. He had to be forced into line, and even then he and his sister resisted, walking out of step and causing disturbances. Angered, Hethrir canceled breakfast for the children and sent them straight to study. They were provided with educational programming and expected to complete quizzes on it. Later in the day, the children were lined up and those who could not wield the Force, or who were not Human, were weeded out of the group to be sold as slaves.[29]

At breakfast the next morning, Jaina used the Force to put sand in the Proctors' food, causing a disturbance with the cook. Solo capitalized on the altercation and used his Force-driven affinity for animals to convince the myrmin-like insects in the dining hall to crawl inside the Proctors' clothing. When the Proctors began to stamp on the creatures, he felt intense guilt for causing their deaths, and immediately swept them out of the way with the Force. In doing so, he tapped into the Force strongly enough that Hethrir, constantly monitoring them through the Force, immediately suppressed Solo's abilities once again. The Proctors were sufficiently irritated by the insects' biting that they rushed from the room, leaving the children unattended after only minimal attempts to ensure order. The Solos, reunited for the first time since their capture, led the other students to the play yard in a canyon on the surface of the worldcraft. There, they distracted the fearsome-looking but mostly harmless sand dragon that guarded the end of the canyon while Solo approached the dragon and communicated with her through the Force. Before he could accomplish anything, however, the Head Proctor returned and sent all the children to their tiny rooms.[29]

That night, Jaina used her multitool to open her door and let Solo out of his cell. When the Proctor on watch awoke, the twins decoyed him into Solo's room and, pushing him inside, latched the door to keep him in before they freed the rest of the children in the dormitory. Going out the play yard, Solo used the Force to move air molecules fast enough for them to glow with heat, creating a light in the evening to distract the dragon as he again approached her. Communing with the creature through the Force, Solo befriended and convinced her to carry the escaping children on her back. As they rode away, he set his bat free. They eventually reached an artificial stream on the worldcraft's artificial surface, where they could drink and eat berries growing on nearby bushes.[29]

However, the five-year-old twins lacked any sort of plan for the escape group which they found themselves leading. They settled on crawling along a path through the bushes, where they hoped the Proctors could not follow them. They were only barely ahead of the Proctors, and the trail ended at a large and impassable field of mud. The Solos again manipulated molecules, this time freezing the water in the mud to create a solid pathway to a tree on the far side, which was hollow. They were able to ascend it, where they were quickly found by Organa Solo in her ship Alderaan. With the children aboard, Solo summoned his bat so that he could take it back to its home as well. Organa Solo and Chewbacca rescued the Proctors, who had been stranded in the middle of the muddy marsh, and obtained from them the knowledge that Hethrir had taken Anakin to Crseih Station. Organa Solo and Rillao, Hethrir's former lover and recently freed prisoner, took the worldcraft to Crseih after attending to the children and locking up the Proctors. Rillao was able to comfort the twins and ease their fear of Hethrir, convincing them that he could no longer smother their powers.[29]

At Crseih, they were able to track down Hethrir and his entourage. Solo and his sister were left with Chewbacca while Organa Solo and Rillao, along with Han Solo and Skywalker, who were on Crseih for another mission, rushed to save Anakin. However, the children and Chewbacca were unable to resist intervening when the sounds of a fight reached them. They arrived to see Anakin rescued, but Skywalker had been consumed by Hethrir's trans-dimensional ally Waru. Solo's parents leaped into Waru to recover him. The twins surrounded Waru, screaming for their parents and uncle. Their shouts reached the three and were able to cut through the haze of Waru's mental manipulations, allowing them to escape. Foiled in his attempt to acquire their power, Hethrir was consumed instead by Waru who then vanished to his home dimension.[29]

Family life

"Why do I have to be strong? Someday I'll be able to go anywhere I want, or get anything I want, just by thinking about it—like Uncle Luke." ―Jacen Solo, to Han Solo [src]

Over the next two years, Solo's life remained relatively stable. Han remained at home to parent, and when Organa Solo returned from the office, the family would gather to relax and play in their vortex pool. Skywalker spent more time at his Praxeum, allowing Organa Solo to handle the children's instruction in the Force, which consisted of simple exercises. The Solos moved to a larger estate outside the Palace that had a yard of its own. However, Solo spent little time there; as of 16 ABY, he was more interested in mastering the Force than in physical play. He believed that the Force would provide for all his needs, avoiding the need for strenuous activity. This caused him to become somewhat pudgy, and he, like the rest of the Solo children, lacked friends due to their strict security measures; they had few other children of their age with whom to socialize. Even more, Solo played less and less with his siblings, and Han became increasingly concerned with his son's lack of interest in sport.[33]

At some point in his childhood, Solo found a female rock lizard by a river and decided to keep her as a pet. She was happy in Solo's care and was kind to those who treated her well. However, she soon started trying to escape. After failing to calm the animal with the Force, he consulted his Uncle Skywalker about this problem and the Jedi was reminded of his friend Windy Starkiller's pet dewback, Huey, of whom he proceeded to tell Solo. Huey also had a kind disposition and was not very troublesome, but one night he started trying to escape. Starkiller and his father released Huey to the wild because it was the dewback mating season and Huey eventually returned, so Skywalker advised his nephew to try the same technique. Solo reluctantly agreed. His pet did later return, now carrying an egg sack. Skywalker later recounted this to Mammon Hoole, and the scientist included it in the dewback entry of his reference book, The Essential Guide to Alien Species[34]

In 16 ABY, Chewbacca left to be present for his son Lumpawaroo's coming-of-age ceremony, and Han was forced to leave to supervise the New Republic Fifth Fleet temporarily, leading to Winter returning to take care of the children during the day. Skywalker, meanwhile, retreated from the family into a hermetic life for personal reasons. Han was back after two months, but the crisis in the Koornacht Cluster, where the Fifth had been dispatched, quickly escalated.[33] Organa Solo, suffering from burnout in her position as Chief of State, took the family on vacation to Rathalay, where Solo happily played on the beach, eager to see one of the carnivorous narkaa. After they returned to Coruscant, Han was again sent to command the fleet at Koornacht, but he was captured in transit by the Yevetha of the Koornacht Cluster.[35] Organa Solo kept the news quiet, but it eventually went public. Solo was terrified for his father, but eventually Han was freed by the intervention of Chewbacca. Han had to spend time in a bacta tank on returning to Coruscant, but the children visited him. Returning home after their visit, they were delighted to find Luke Skywalker present. Rejecting his self-imposed hermitage, Skywalker was ready to take a larger hand in guiding the children's development.[36]

The family soon moved back to the Imperial Palace, where Solo and his sister enjoyed exploring the vast building.[37][38] They frequently used Anakin in their explorations, employing his uncanny talent with machines to have him open locks, interfere with security equipment, repair equipment, and otherwise facilitate their adventures. Getting out more, Solo overcame his previous sedentary lifestyle and no longer attempted to depend on the Force for strength.[38]

Later in 17 ABY, after helping Winter and C-3PO dismiss a nanny droid mischievously ordered by Anakin, Solo was stricken by a sensation of evil and death. Joining with his similarly affected siblings, he pushed back the feeling through the Force, but it was quickly followed by an explosion nearby that made the children worry their actions had caused it. However, the explosion was a terrorist bombing of the Senate Hall, which injured Organa Solo. Skywalker hurried from Yavin 4 and was able to catch up with the children at their mother's bedside and assured them that the explosion had not been their fault.[37]

With Organa Solo concerned about the children's safety, she had Winter take them to Anoth for the duration of the crisis. When another terrorist explosion struck Smuggler's Run, the children felt that as well, but were better able to deal with it. Ultimately, the ringleader of the plot, Kueller, was killed and the threat was neutralized, freeing the children to return to Coruscant.[37]

In 18 ABY, the Solo children joined together in an attempt to construct a droid secretly, which would serve them without any adults being able to take it away or place restrictions on it. Solo scavenged most of the parts from junk heaps while his mechanically-minded siblings assembled it.[38] Around the same time, the Solos met Zekk on Coruscant. A street urchin and expert salvager slightly older than the twins, Zekk befriended the children, and the three of them often spent time exploring the less reputable lower levels of Coruscant and skirting trouble.[39] When the droid was fully assembled, a bad actuator caused it to overload and shut down, ruining the droid and leaving burn marks in the room. As the twins attempted to figure out how to avoid blame, Skywalker entered the room, lectured them on responsibility, and made them clean up the mess. Solo was simply relieved that it had not been his parents who found out.[38]

Caught up in revolt

"We'll meet up with you when we can. Right now you have to do what Chewie says, and take care of your sister and brother."

"But, Dad—"

"No time for that now. Get in that ship and do what Chewie says. Tell your brother and sister that your mother and I love you very much. Now go. Go."

"Okay. We'll do our best. Good—good-bye, Dad."

"Good-bye, son." ―Han Solo and Jacen Solo [src]

A few days after the droid incident, Organa Solo was to attend a major trade conference on Corellia, Han Solo's homeworld. The whole family made an outing of it, traveling there ahead of the summit to see the world. The trip in the Millennium Falcon was long, but the time was filled with family activities and an explanation of the situation in the Corellian system from Solo's father. When they entered the system, however, the Millennium Falcon was the victim of an ambush beaten off by a squadron of the untrustworthy Corellian Defense Forces Space Service, which had clumsily staged the attack in an attempt to gain the dignitaries' trust. After the momentary scare, Solo and his family were able to make landfall safely.[38]

They were taken to the villa at which the family was staying, where Solo learned that he and his siblings were to have a tutor. On the next day, he was introduced to the Drall Ebrihim and his outspoken droid, Q9-X2. Ebrihim gave them lessons on the history of the Corellian system as they prepared for an expedition to an archaeological site near Coronet City the next day. Storms delayed the trip for a day, but the Solos, Chewbacca, and Ebrihim and his droid set out for the dig on the next day. Solo was bored by the tour, conducted by General Brimon Yarar of the Human League, the organization that was funding the dig. He was also suspicious, as he had read about archaeology and recognized that the Human League was not following proper procedures. Instead, they seemed to be looking for something. He and his siblings fell behind the group, and stopped when Anakin began to act strangely. Anakin had, with his Force-powered affinity for machinery, discovered a live power conduit beneath the floor. He ran off to follow it, and Solo and his sister went along. Anakin found and activated a hidden keypad, opening a likewise hidden door. Solo led the way into the revealed passage, onto a platform near the apex of a vast conical chamber. He was interrupted in his explorations by the arrival of Q9-X2, who had noticed their absence and tracked them down. Realizing they would be missed, Solo immediately took charge of the situation and insisted that they leave, knowing that they had found whatever Yarar was looking for—and that Yarar should not be allowed to find it. Leaving and making the others promise to keep the chamber a secret, they rejoined the group, with Solo using the Force to brush away their footprints so that they could not be tracked.[38]

The Solos spent the next several days touring before they moved into a suite in Corona House, the governmental center in Coronet, where the trade summit was to be held. During that time, when Solo felt that they were secure, he and his siblings explained to their parents about the chamber they had found. When the summit started, the children took advantage of their parents' absence to stay up late in their bedroom playing board games. While they were doing so, Mara Jade entered the apartment. Realizing that their parents would be meeting her and discussing exciting adult business, they returned to bed from the landing on which they had hidden, pretended to be asleep when their parents returned and checked on them, and once more sneaked onto the landing above the living room to spy on the discussion. Jade had been sent a message to deliver to the Solos and the Corellian governor-general, Micamberlecto. The message offered a list of stars and dates and was understood to threaten that, if the unspecified blackmailers' unspecified demands were not met, supernovas would be triggered in those stars, which harbored increasing populations as the list progressed. The first star, an uninhabited one, had already exploded.[38]

Early in the morning, synchronized species riots erupted across the Corellian system, with the Human League foremost among the offenders on Corellia. As the children, Chewbacca, Ebrihim, and Q9-X2 watched the violence from their suite, a series of explosions shook Corona House. The Wookiee immediately gathered the children and took them to the Millennium Falcon, docked on the roof, for evacuation. Solo answered his father's comlink call, and learned that his parents would be staying behind to deal with the crisis. Han charged his son with taking care of the others and following Chewbacca's instructions.[38]

As the Falcon attempted to escape the system, it was attacked by forces of the Corellian Space Defense Force, which had aligned itself with the treacherous elements. During the dogfighting, the hyperdrive was damaged.[38] Restricted to subspace travel, Chewbacca and Ebrihim decided to take refuge on Drall with Ebrihim's relatives. Over the course of the long, slow journey, Solo had to deal with the tedium of the voyage and with the necessity of managing Anakin—a challenging task even for adults. Upon landing at the estate of Ebrihim's aunt, Duchess Marcha, they were able to find safe harbor.[40]

The next morning, Ebrihim had the children describe the chamber they had found on Corellia to Marcha. Jaina also told Marcha about the secret message they had seen, against Solo's advice. Marcha and Ebrihim decided to take the children to a very similar archaeological site on Drall in hopes of piecing together the mystery of the chamber and its importance to the Human League, which had announced its control of the mysterious "starbuster" superweapon and the fact that its leader was Thrackan Sal-Solo, Han Solo's cousin. Approaching the dig in the dark, Chewbacca drilled an entrance into the tunnel system near where they suspected the entrance to the chamber to be, if the Drallish site corresponded to the Corellian one. They were able to find an identical copy of the Corellian chamber, and Anakin activated the protruding platform on which the group stood, and was able to open the top of the chamber to the surface. Observing it, Marcha came to the conclusion that the chamber was a colossal repulsor of a planetary scale, used to move Drall when the Corellian system was constructed, just as rumors had long suggested it had been. On Marcha's advice, they took their supplies and the Millennium Falcon and set up camp at the base of the repulsor itself, planning to study it.[40]

The group spent quite some time living inside the repulsor, with Anakin constantly exploring its functions. One night, Anakin crept away from the camp and found and activated the main control panel for the repulsor, firing it off. Tremendous groundquakes woke Solo, who rushed aboard the Millennium Falcon with the others and there safely rode out the massive energy output of the repulsor's firing. After the incident was over, Solo tracked down his brother and convinced Anakin, frightened and guilty, to come back to the ship.[41]

Before Chewbacca could repair the damage to the ship from the power surge, Sal-Solo and a squad of Human League troops arrived and took control of the repulsor. The Solo children, Chewbacca, and the Drall were captured and put inside a force field-stockade inside the camp the Human League set up at the base of the repulsor. Sal-Solo dropped the jamming that had kept the Corellian system isolated and broadcast a message demanding that Organa Solo and the New Republic accept his claims of sovereignty in exchange for the safe return of the hostages.[41]

When night fell, Ebrihim summoned Q9-X2, who had been hidden inside the smuggling compartments of the Millennium Falcon, with a hidden comlink. The droid was able to reduce the intensity of the force field, but was not able to turn it off without the key to the controls. Anakin began to push his way through the field, using the Force to strain and distort it. The twins joined him, and together they were able to escape the field. The technique could not effect the adults' escape, however. Ebrihim urged the children, the most valuable hostages, to escape in the Millennium Falcon with Q9-X2.[41]

Chewbacca directed the final repair efforts by comlink; when completed, Solo took the pilot's seat. With his sister as copilot, he tentatively powered up the ship while Jaina shot apart the force field generator and attempted to cripple Sal-Solo's assault boat. Solo put the Millennium Falcon into motion, escaping the repulsor. Before Solo had fully mastered flight, the assault boat was in pursuit. Wildly dodging Sal-Solo's shots, Solo's amateur flying was able to put him on the assault boat's tail, allowing Jaina to disable it. The Millennium Falcon was immediately seized by a tractor beam from the Intruder, a Bakuran cruiser which had entered the system in a New Republic rescue attempt and had been planning on seizing the Drall repulsor. Old family friend Lando Calrissian was aboard and was able to reassure Solo and explain the situation while conveying his compliments on their escape. The Intruder also picked up the assault boat, capturing Sal-Solo.[41]

Aboard the Intruder, the children were joyously reunited with their parents, who quickly came from negotiations on Selonia. As the Bakuran fleet went into battle against the fleet of the Sacorrian Triad, the real masterminds of the starbuster plot, the children were sent back to the Drall repulsor to help the New Republic crew that was attempting to use it to deflect the next starbuster shot from Centerpoint Station, targeting Bovo Yagen. The twins helped control Anakin, whom the control system had imprinted on, making him the only one who could control the repulsor. When Anakin got upset and stormed off before it was time to fire, Solo had to track him down and convince him to come back. When it turned out that the repulsor had been improperly aimed, Solo convinced Anakin to aim it by feel and the Force. Anakin made the shot that deflected Centerpoint's shot, saving Bovo Yagen. Meanwhile, the Triad fleet was defeated, ending the threat.[41]

Jedi training

Student of the Force

"As I have told you many times, I don't believe the training of a true Jedi comes from listening to lectures. I want to teach you how to learn action, how to do things, not just think about them. 'There is no try,' as Yoda, one of my own Jedi Masters, taught me." ―Luke Skywalker, in lecture to Solo's class [src]

In 19 ABY, Solo went with his mother and siblings to Shalam for a treaty signing, as Organa Solo hoped to expose the children to more high-level diplomacy.[42] Later that year, Organa Solo took a leave from the New Republic's presidency, and the family traveled to Wayland, where the Noghri had settled. Before they could take a tour of the ruins of Mount Tantiss, Organa Solo was called away to deal with Lak Jit, a scavenger who had found a collection of datacards in the ruins. Impatient to begin the tour, Solo entered the dukha where his mother was negotiating and began harassing her to hurry. When Jit settled and departed, Solo was able to sense the distress of his siblings as Jit dropped a smoke grenade and escaped with one of the stolen datacards still in his possession. Smuggler and information broker Talon Karrde, working with his lieutenant Mara Jade, was arriving on-planet at the same time and managed to capture Jit. When it turned out that the datacard held vital information implicating the Bothans in the long-ago attack on Caamas, a crisis seemed liable to erupt and Karrde quickly gave the Solos a ride back to Coruscant.[43]

As the Caamas Document Crisis gained in intensity, threatening to pull the New Republic apart, the children traveled to Kashyyyk with Chewbacca, there to see the Wookiee's family and homeworld and remain safe during the turmoil.[43] Once the political situation was brought to a peaceful conclusion, the children left Kashyyyk and attended the signing of the Pellaeon–Gavrisom Treaty, which brought peace between the New Republic and Imperial Remnant.[44]

During the crisis, Skywalker had proposed marriage to Jade.[44] Solo attended a more private Jedi ceremony before the large, public-event wedding. When that event was threatened with disruption by angered ex-Imperials, the Rogue Squadron ushers were called away to secure the facility, and Solo and C-3PO filled in for them. Still, former Moff Derran Takkar was able to infiltrate the ceremony and threaten to release a virus into the New Republic's communications system. Skywalker was able to talk him down, and the wedding went forward peacefully.[45]

In 22 ABY, the twins later spent a handful of months at Skywalker's Praxeum, training as Jedi. Solo enjoyed the outdoors, and familiarized himself with the wildlife of Yavin 4. When the twins returned to Coruscant, Anakin was sent off to begin his training.[8] In the next year, Solo and his sister returned to the Praxeum, where they befriended Tenel Ka Djo.[46] A serious young woman with whom Solo became rather infatuated, Djo rarely if ever laughed; therefore, Solo made it his mission to attempt to get a chuckle out of her with a daily barrage of jokes, which consistently fell flat.[39][46] Meanwhile, Solo worked to improve his quarters, where he kept an extensive menagerie of captured wildlife; he spent his free time acquiring even more specimens. The collection annoyed some fellow students, particularly Raynar Thul.[46]

One morning, Solo noticed that his nearly-transparent crystal snake had escaped. He recruited his sister to aid him in searching for it, and they found Thul in his room, passed out from the snake's soporific bite. He was able to retrieve it before Thul awoke, preventing the young noble from using the incident to argue against Solo's collection of pets. Later that morning, their lecture was interrupted by an alert at the Great Temple's landing pad. Skywalker left, and, eager to see what was happening, the Solos scaled the temple's exterior with Djo, a persistent outdoors-woman, to get there before the crowd of students. Outside, they found that a massive beast had emerged from the jungle, and was menacing the supply ship Lightning Rod. Solo watched in amazement as his uncle calmed the creature and sent it back into the jungle.[46]

The next morning, the Solos eagerly awaited the arrival of their father, who was bringing a new Jedi trainee. The new student turned out to be Chewbacca's nephew, Lowbacca. They gave Lowbacca a tour of the academy, and sat with him and Djo at lunch. The crystal snake had again escaped, and Solo noticed it as it prepared to bite Thul. He tried to knock Thul out of the way, but as no one else saw the nearly invisible snake, the action was misinterpreted and precipitated a food fight. Eventually, Solo recovered it and was able to lock it away once again.[46]

When Han Solo and Chewbacca departed, they left Lowbacca a gift: a disassembled T-23 skyhopper. The Solo twins aided their Wookiee friend in rebuilding the craft, and Lowbacca then took it out for a test flight. When he returned, he told the twins and Djo of a mysterious artificial object he had seen from a distance. They took the skyhopper out the next morning and found the wreckage of a TIE fighter, which Jaina decided the group should fix. They spent the next days traveling to the crash site, working to restore the wreck. While exploring around the crash site one day, Solo found a trail, which he followed to find the encampment of the TIE fighter's pilot, who had survived the crash after all. He rushed back to the others to alert them, but the pilot showed up just as he attempted to warn them. Armed, Qorl, the Imperial pilot, took the twins prisoner—Lowbacca and Djo were quick enough to escape.[46]

Qorl took the pair back to his settlement, where he fed them. The next morning, he forced them to work on repairing the TIE fighter, demanding that they finish work on it immediately. They were able to complete the last repairs, and Qorl set off in the TIE, which included an added-on hyperdrive unit, abandoning the twins in the jungle. Qorl planned to attack the Jedi academy, but his weapons were non-functional, and Han Solo and Chewbacca, summoned from assisting Calrissian's new venture over Yavin Prime, chased the TIE off Yavin 4 before picking up the twins.[46]

Temptation at the Shadow Academy

"You were right: I'm not ready. The weapon of the Jedi is not to be taken up lightly."

"Even so, you learned to use it. Didn't Brakiss teach you?"

"I'm physically capable. I know how to fight an opponent with it—but I'm not sure I'm ready mentally. Maybe I'm not mature enough emotionally." ―Jacen Solo and Luke Skywalker [src]

When a field trip to Calrissian's GemDiver Station was scheduled, Solo was extremely disappointed that Djo declined to attend. Calrissian took the Solos and Lowbacca on a tour of his Corusca gem-mining facility, and at their insistence allowed them to ride along on a mining expedition. Calrissian let them work the trolling controls in turn, promising any catch of the extremely rare jewels to the children. Solo was the only one of the three to succeed, snaring a very large and valuable stone. On returning to GemDiver Station, they found a fleet entering the system and bearing down on the station. They were boarded by stormtroopers, and it became clear that it was the Jedi children, not the Corusca gems, that they were after. Calrissian did all he could to protect them, but he and the students were stunned and the children were carried away.[47]

The trio awoke in a cabin aboard a ship, and were soon visited by the woman who had commanded the stormtrooper assault, Nightsister Tamith Kai. Kai took them to the cockpit, where they saw their destination: the Shadow Academy. There Kai intended to turn them to the dark side and make them servants of the Second Imperium, an Imperial splinter state in the Deep Core. In the cockpit they also found Qorl, who had joined the Second Imperium. On landing, they were introduced to the Shadow Academy's headmaster, Brakiss, who Solo knew to be a failed former student of Skywalker's. They were split up and put in small cells, but Solo was determined to remain defiant, mocking his captors and rejecting Brakiss and Kai's pronouncements. When all of the Shadow Academy's students were gathered for Brakiss's lessons, which suggested that the power of the dark side must be added to that of the light, Solo rejected his arguments, but it was Jaina who voiced her objections, causing Brakiss to attack her with Force lightning. Lowbacca began attacking the stormtroopers in the room before Solo talked him down. Brakiss sent all three students away to their cells as a result of the disturbance.[47]

Solo was later brought in for one-on-one training with Brakiss. The headmaster gave the boy a lightsaber, something that Solo had long wanted. Solo distrusted Brakiss and refused the lightsaber, but Brakiss pressed the weapon on him and Solo gave in. The headmaster left the room, which began projecting a holographic simulation for Solo to fight—though, as an incentive to perform, he suggested that he might slip in genuine beasts as well. The training continued, until eventually Brakiss had Solo fight in a holographic disguise, calling it training for possible deployment in disguise. He battled the holographic specter of Darth Vader for some time, until Brakiss dropped the holographic shrouds and found that he had been fighting his sister, with both fighting as Darth Vader. They angrily ended the sparring match.[47]

The next day, the three Jedi students were brought together for an exercise. The Solos would be inside a chamber, blindfolded, and targeted with flying objects. Lowbacca would be in a control room operating drones that could protect them in addition to the sticks given to the twins. Standing back-to-back, they used the Force to sense the incoming projectiles, but as the onslaught intensified, Solo was increasingly battered. Once the systems began firing knives, Lowbacca was able to crash the computer controlling it and bring the test to an end.[47]

Back in his room, Solo hit upon the idea of using his Corusca gem, which he had secreted in his boot, to cut his way out and escape. From within the room, he used the extremely hard gem to slice out the back of the control box that opened the door from outside, allowing him to hot-wire the door open. Reaching out in the Force, he found Jaina and Lowbacca and freed them. Lowbacca sliced into the main computer system and locked down the station before the group fled to the docking bay. There, they found Skywalker and Djo, who had just arrived in a rescue attempt after tracking down the station's location, and escaped.[47]

The threat of the Second Imperium

"The forces of darkness are gearing up for a full-scale war."

"Do we have to just wait for them to make the next move? Can't we try to prepare ourselves for the coming fight?"

"Yes, we can. A great battle is coming. The Jedi Knights—all of us—have no choice but to prepare for it." ―Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo [src]

On returning to Yavin 4, Skywalker offered Solo his lightsaber, instructing him to show what he had learned. Solo refused it; he had realized that he was not yet ready to take up the weapon of the Jedi.[47] Afterward, Han Solo took the children and their friends Djo and Lowbacca back to Coruscant for a break. On their approach to the planet, the twins played their customary game, competing to see who could shoot down more orbital debris with the Millennium Falcon's quad laser cannons. Reunited with his parents and little brother, Solo enjoyed visiting with his family. He offered his mother his Corusca gem as a present, but she insisted that Solo keep it. The youths spent the next day with Zekk, exploring the Coruscant undercity and assisting him in retrieving a hawk-bat egg. When the hawk-bat mother returned with Solo in the process of stealing the egg, he used the Force to calm the creature and allow the group to leave. On their way back, Zekk took them through the headquarters of the Lost Ones, a gang of malcontent youths. The Lost Ones emerged, seeking to rough up the explorers, but the Jedi fled with Zekk to the urchin's mid-level apartment, which he shared with Peckhum, the supply pilot for the Praxeum.[39]

The next day, the Solo family took a private vacation to one of Coruscant's polar ice caps, where they rode tauntauns, turbo-skied, and played in the snow. They also convinced their mother to allow Zekk, Lowbacca, and Djo to attend the diplomatic banquet for the ambassador from Karnak Alpha that night. They attended, where Solo found that the egg Zekk had sold yesterday was presented to the ambassador as a gift for Karnak Alpha's collection of rare animals. Zekk was not fully prepared for the banquet, wearing an outdated suit and accidentally eating his bouquet, thinking it a salad. He stormed off, embarrassed, at the conclusion of the dinner.[39]

The next day, the youths went to visit Zekk, but he was not in. When he still did not turn up at his apartment after an hour of waiting, they were convinced that something was wrong. They left a message for him, but when they came back the next day, there was still no sign of their friend. Solo led the search for Zekk, thinking the older boy was hiding out of embarrassment. The next day Peckhum arrived at the Imperial Palace, having returned from his tour of duty aboard an Orbital Solar Energy Transfer Satellite. Zekk had left no notes for him, and he was convinced the boy was not simply hiding; something had happened to him. Peckhum offered a list of suggestions as to where they might look for Zekk, and Solo took charge of the effort as his sister and Lowbacca went back with Peckhum to the OSETS in order to make badly-needed repairs. Using Anakin and C-3PO as well as Djo, he began systematically combing the areas the old pilot had suggested.[39]

Paired with Djo, Solo searched the undercity, with Djo's quick thinking saving him from a crumbling bridge. They pressed on, and Solo was able to use the Force to sense Zekk. They found him speaking to the Lost Ones; he urged them to leave. When Tamith Kai emerged, it became clear that Zekk, a Force-sensitive whom the twins had never even suspected, had been recruited by the Shadow Academy. Solo argued against the promises of the Second Imperium, trying to persuade Zekk that he was making a mistake. When Kai and her assistants were made to intervene, Solo and Djo attempted to flee, but were stunned. The agents of the Second Imperium simply left them, and they only came to when Organa Solo arrived with Anakin, having tracked the students down. Solo alerted his sister aboard the orbital mirror, and she realized that the Shadow Academy had been hiding, cloaked, in the Coruscant system. She exposed it to the New Republic fleet, but the mobile station fled into hyperspace before it could be disabled. Zekk left the twins a message pod before he departed aboard the station, promising that he held them no ill will, but was determined to make something of himself at the Shadow Academy.[39]

Skywalker picked the students up from Coruscant, taking them back to the Praxeum.[39] Skywalker grew increasingly worried about the threat that the Shadow Academy posed, expecting war to erupt with the growing power. He determined that it was necessary for the students to accelerate their training. For the four most experienced students—the Solos and their friends—it was time to craft their own lightsabers. Taking components from Jaina's store of spare parts, Solo spent a week meticulously assembling his weapon. The Corusca gem he had acquired became the focusing crystal of his lightsaber, creating a green blade.[48]

Devastating accident

"I guess all I really need is for you to accept my apology."

"Apology accepted. I…forgive you, if that is what you desire. Jacen, my friend." ―Jacen Solo and Tenel Ka Djo [src]

The trainees spent weeks practicing, first with sticks against dueling droids, and then with their lightsabers against targets. When Skywalker deemed them ready, they used remotes for blaster-deflection practice, their eyes covered with a visor that filtered out the sight of the remotes so that they were obliged to trust in the Force. After that, they moved on to sparring with each other. Solo faced Djo, and attempted to keep her off-balance with constant banter while aiming to maneuver her onto bad footing. Djo would not be distracted or caught unaware. The pair ended up locking blades, each pushing to overpower the other. The clash took a tragic turn when Djo's lightsaber, hastily made with flawed crystals, failed. Meeting no resistance, Solo's blade swept through Djo's left arm, severing it above the elbow.[48]

Solo was aghast, and was left wandering the halls of the academy in shock as Skywalker took Djo in to receive treatment. Skywalker maintained that the girl was not yet ready to see visitors, preventing Solo from apologizing. Unable to keep from dwelling on the incident, he finally fell asleep that night, only to be awakened by the feeling that Djo was in trouble. He rushed outside, where he saw a ship departing from the landing pad, with Skywalker watching. Djo had been picked up by her family; Solo never had a chance to say goodbye.[48]

Tionne Solusar, one of the Praxeum's teachers, attempted to help guide the remaining friends through their lightsaber training. Now uncomfortable with their weapons and still horrified at what had happened to their friend, they were counseled by Solusar, but still did not overcome their grief. Deciding Djo could use a visit from her friends, Skywalker took the three to Hapes in the Shadow Chaser, the craft he had captured from the Second Imperium. When it became clear that they were visiting Hapes rather than Dathomir, the world Solo believed to be Djo's homeworld, Skywalker finally explained that the girl Solo had known as Tenel Ka was in fact Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo, daughter of the Hapan Prince Isolder and Queen Mother Teneniel Djo, originally from Dathomir. She had kept her identity hidden to keep her friends from letting her standing as heir to the Hapan throne influence their view of her; she identified more with her Dathomiri heritage at any rate.[48]

Solo joyously greeted the young princess on landing, and Skywalker, knowing Djo's ever-scheming grandmother Ta'a Chume was determined to prevent Djo from becoming a Jedi, arranged for the students to remain with Djo for a month. After settling in, Solo was visited by the princess, and each tried to take blame for the accident; finally, Solo attempted to defuse the tension with his trademark phrase, "Want to hear a joke?" That brought Djo to laughter for the first time since Solo had met her, glad to be reunited with her friend. They decided to contest blame no longer; Djo accepted Solo's apology and the pair hugged tearfully.[48]

They spent the rest of the day in Djo's quarters with Jaina and Lowbacca. When it came time for dinner, Ta'a Chume summoned them to the dining hall. Djo refused, preferring to take her meal with her friends. Almost immediately, a bomb detonated in the dining hall. They were immediately evacuated to Reef Fortress Island, a royal stronghold. There, Djo picked out a special room for each of her friends; Solo's was lined with a vast aquarium, a fact he greatly appreciated. They relaxed for a few days, but eventually grew bored and restless on the small island. Their caretaker, Ambassador Yfra, offered to let them take a wavespeeder out for the day. Pre-programmed, it was to take them out in a loop, but when the craft traveled across a vast, foul-smelling expanse of eye-flower seaweed, Jaina and Lowbacca disengaged the autopilot and attempted to turn around. However, Solo, touching the seaweed curiously, was ensnared by a tentacle that tried to pull him overboard. He was saved, but the carnivorous sea life lashed the wavespeeder with multiple tentacles. Solo lit his lightsaber and defended against the creature, from which the wavespeeder escaped. On examining the autopilot, Lowbacca found that it had been programmed to strand them in the middle of the dangerous stretch of sea.[48]

They returned to Reef Fortress, where private investigation confirmed that the wavespeeder had been sabotaged. Djo suspected Yfra was making her own play for power. That night, Djo woke the other students; the power had been cut and Bartokk assassins were infiltrating the fortress. Ta'a Chume, who had arrived at the retreat that day, was the target. The Jedi rushed to defend her, and Solo made his first kills as he cut down assassins. As more Bartokks attempted to gain access to the Queen Mother's chambers, the group fled out of the window and into a wavespeeder. Jaina and Lowbacca piloted the craft through the rock formation known as the Dragon's Teeth, and when that failed to wreck their pursuers, over the patch of carnivorous seaweed. There, Ta'a Chume was able to shoot down the pursuing craft, plunging the Bartokk to their deaths.[48]

They returned to the mainland, where Yfra, who had attempted to assume power, was arrested. Djo declared her intention to return to the Praxeum, and the return of her parents to Hapes overruled any objection Ta'a Chume might have raised. Skywalker returned the youths to Yavin 4, where Djo built a new lightsaber. She insisted that Solo spar with her once more, a sign of trust and a way of moving beyond the accident; the duel went flawlessly.[48]

The Second Imperium strikes

"This is Jacen Solo. Attention, New Republic. We have an emergency! This is Jacen Solo on Yavin 4, requesting immediate assistance. We are under attack by the Shadow Academy! Repeat. Imperial fighters attacking the Jedi academy—request assistance immediately. Our shields are down. We've got ground battles taking place and air strikes from TIE fighters. We desperately need immediate assistance." ―Jacen Solo [src]

When Lowbacca became withdrawn, Solo noticed that something was wrong with his friend. Eventually, the Wookiee shared that he worried for his sister, Sirrakuk, who was approaching the age for her hrrtayyk coming-of-age ceremony and might act on her own, as Lowbacca had, and endanger herself in an attempt to prove her status. Moreover, Raabakyysh, Sirrakuk's friend and Lowbacca's romantic interest, had gone missing when she earlier attempted to duplicate Lowbacca's solo feat. Lowbacca was traveling to Kashyyyk to accompany Sirrakuk on her hrrtayyk, and the Solos and Djo promised to accompany him. Chewbacca took the group to Kashyyyk aboard the Shadow Chaser, and Solo attempted to fill the time in transit by explaining humor to Djo, a lecture which had no impact. In the Force, Solo sensed a creature aboard the ship; he found a rodent living in the ion shield generator circuits. Just as he retrieved it, the Shadow Chaser was pulled out of hyperspace by an ion storm. Without the protection of the shields, its navigational computer was disabled, but the two Wookiees were still able to lay in a course for Kashyyyk.[49]

They arrived in Thikkiiana City, where they stayed with Lowbacca's family and toured the advanced electronics factory in the treetop city. After a few days spent on Kashyyyk, Solo, Djo, Lowbacca, and Sirrakuk received a distressed message from the factory suggesting that the Wookiees' parents, who were employed there, had been injured. As they arrived, a squadron of TIE fighters began strafing the facility. The young Jedi rushed to the defensive turrets surrounding the station, where Solo shot down a TIE bomber before it could deliver its payload and brought down a few more fighters. When more Wookiees rushed to the scene, Solo abandoned his turret in favor of searching out the core of the problem; Lowbacca had pinpointed the traffic control tower as the site from which the automated defenses had been compromised and the attack was being directed. Rushing to the tower, they were intercepted by Zekk—the Second Imperium warrior commanding the strike—and the Nightsister Vonnda Ra. When stormtrooper reinforcements arrived, Solo decided the battle could not be won and ordered a retreat.[49]

Hotly pursued, the Jedi descended to the lower levels of Kashyyyk's jungle with Sirrakuk. Solo and Djo followed the Wookiees through the darkness, hoping to evade the Imperials. However, they were forced to ignite their lightsabers and reveal their position when they were attacked by one of the myriad dangerous creatures of Kashyyyk's depths. Surrounded, they were forced to surrender. Solo was able to persuade a fierce slug to come to their aid, allowing them to flee once more. They were caught again, but Djo dispatched the stormtroopers while Sirrakuk and Vonnda Ra, struggling, fell into the maw of a syren plant. Working with the other Jedi, Solo helped free Sirrakuk by soothing the plant, but left Ra inside to be consumed. While inside, Sirrakuk seized the prized fibers from the plant which completed her hrrtayyk.[49]

They tracked down Jaina, who had followed them with Chewbacca, hoping to arrange a rescue. A branch had given way and plunged Chewbacca lower, breaking his leg. Alone, Jaina had been visited by Zekk, who warned her away from the academy, claiming it would be struck soon, before departing. They brought the injured Wookiee to the surface, where he was treated and repairs on the Shadow Chaser were completed before they rushed back to the defense of the Jedi Praxeum.[49] They landed before any attack had been made and alerted Skywalker, who immediately began organizing a defense. He had Solo monitor communications in the system and admit Peckhum, making his regular supply run, under the newly installed shields. No sooner had Peckhum landed than the Second Imperium forces entered the system.[50]

A saboteur was able to land and take the shields down, forcing Skywalker to consider evacuating the Praxeum. Solo rushed to his room to set his pets free so they would not be killed in any bombing before reporting to the Grand Audience Chamber with the rest of the Praxeum's occupants. There, Skywalker ordered the Jedi to evacuate into the jungle, where they could better fight the invaders. Solo and Peckhum took the latter's Lightning Rod into orbit to move outside the range of the Shadow Academy's jamming and broadcast a distress message to the New Republic. He was able to get an open-channel transmission past the jamming before the ship was beset by TIE fighters. One, piloted by the Lost Ones leader Norys, relentlessly pursued the Lightning Rod back into atmosphere—where Norys was shot down by Qorl, who was leading the TIE assault on the Praxeum, for insubordination and disobedience. The Lightning Rod went down, breaking Peckhum's arm in the crash. Solo was forced to pilot the badly damaged ship from its landing site to an emergency landing at the Great Temple. He put down at the very conclusion of the battle—after the Shadow Academy had been destroyed, Brakiss and Kai killed, the Dark Jedi routed, and the Second Imperium fleet defeated by reinforcements summoned by Solo's distress message—as Jaina dueled Zekk and a saboteur's bomb caused damage in the Great Temple.[50]

With the battle resolved and the Second Imperium thoroughly defeated, the students traveled to GemDiver Station to recover in Calrissian's bacta tanks.[50] Rebuilding of the Great Temple began, and the students participated in the construction work. Meanwhile, Zekk went into a coma upon returning from GemDiver Station. Solo was at his side when the former darksider woke up four days later. Zekk still felt awkward and guilty over his time at the Shadow Academy, but he worked with the group of friends to repair the Lightning Rod and bonded. When it was repaired, Zekk departed aboard it, not yet ready to train with Skywalker.[51] During the battle, Qorl had been shot down. The pilot returned to his ways as a hermit, renouncing galactic conflict. Solo and his friends eventually ran into the old pilot once more, and were able to consider him something of a friend.[52]

The search for Bornan Thul

"I guess you're pretty scared."

"How would you feel if somebody in your family was missing and maybe even dead?"

"Believe it or not, that situation isn't completely uncommon in my family. I know how you feel." ―Jacen Solo and Raynar Thul [src]

Soon thereafter, Djo was given a ship, the Rock Dragon, by her parents. This pleasant surprise was soon joined by the arrival of Anakin, with Han Solo and Chewbacca, at Yavin 4. Anakin believed that his puzzle-solving mind could be put to work in the rebuilding effort, and Organa Solo would be arriving in less than a week to spend her birthday with the rest of the family. Jaina suggested to Han that the twins and their friends travel to the Graveyard—the ruins of Alderaan—in Djo's ship and retrieve a piece of the rubble as a memento for their mother's gift. The elder Solo reluctantly agreed to allow it, and soon the party set off for the Graveyard. They entered it and found one asteroid almost entirely composed of pure metal, a former part of Alderaan's core. Landing, they donned spacesuits and cut out a section of pure metal.[51]

As soon as they attempted to leave, the Rock Dragon came under attack, and the Jedi had to fake an explosion and take cover inside an asteroid in order to lose their pursuer. The students worked together to make what repairs they could, but as they attempted escape, the enemy ship showed up at the mouth of the cave and fired, collapsing the cave and burying the Rock Dragon. Lowbacca's translator droid M-TD, plugged into the ship's systems, detected that the ship's data banks were being accessed by remote slicer. The trainees left the ship to check on the cave-in, but their attacker soon blasted through the rubble and demanded information on Bornan Thul—Raynar Thul's father—who the youths knew had recently gone missing, with Han Solo searching for him.[51] Their attacker identified herself as Boba Fett, but unknown to Solo or his companions, she was Ailyn Vel, Fett's daughter, in disguise.[51][53] On being told that she had misinterpreted a transmission the Jedi had made to Raynar Thul—that they had not found Bornan Thul, only a birthday gift for Leia Organa Solo—Vel left, causing another cave-in to trap the friends once more and suggesting that she would use them as bait for Han Solo, who might know more.[51]

Meanwhile, M-TD had tapped into the Slave IV's records with the Rock Dragon's own remote slicer, and files showed that Nolaa Tarkona, the Twi'lek politician whom the elder Thul had been on his way to meet, had issued the bounty on Thul which Vel hoped to collect. M-TD also detected a decoy distress message sent by Vel to Solo's father. Solo and Djo went back outside to clear a way out while Jaina and Lowbacca worked on repairs. When they were ready, they burst into the asteroid field, and Solo broadcast a warning and distress message. Vel disabled the Rock Dragon, but before she could destroy the ship, Zekk arrived in the Lightning Rod and drove off Vel. The Lightning Rod disappeared once more, and the youths were left to drift in space until the Millennium Falcon arrived and towed them to safety. Zekk returned from his pursuit of Vel and announced that he intended to become a bounty hunter himself and search for Thul.[51]

They returned to Yavin 4, where the Solo family celebrated Organa Solo's birthday, at which she greatly appreciated the twins' gift.[51] Solo made a conscious effort to be more friendly toward Raynar Thul, and when he learned that Thul was being sent to his mother, Aryn Dro Thul, during the stressful time for his family, Solo suggested that he and his friends go along to keep Thul company and work on his Jedi exercises.[54]

Aboard the Thul flagship Tradewyn, they were warmly received and given a tour of the bridge. While on the bridge, they witnessed the next hyperspace jump of the Bornaryn Trading Fleet—in which the Tradewyn emerged alone, routed into a bounty hunter's trap. When Raynar and Aryn Dro Thul were ushered to safety in a secure cabin, Solo felt through the Force that something was amiss. He and Djo followed the guard assigned to them, Kusk, to the docking bay, where they found Kusk attempting to take the Thuls prisoner. Using the Force, the three Jedi captured Kusk, while the bounty hunter's ship was destroyed in battle.[54]

On learning that Bornan Thul had last been seen on Kuar, Solo decided that the young Jedi ought to examine the world for leads. Raynar remained safe with his family while the other students set out in the Rock Dragon. On Kuar, they found a landmark which seemed to be the likeliest site for any meeting on the abandoned world. Landing, they searched and found a House of Thul sash; on it was written a message from Bornan Thul warning that there was great danger for the galaxy's Humans if he was captured. While further investigating, the group was attacked by a combat arachnid. They were saved by the sudden appearance of Raabakyysh, the friend Lowbacca had thought dead. They fled attacks from more combat arachnids and made it back to their ship. Lowbacca spent time catching up with Raabakyysh, who seemed ill at ease around the other Jedi. The female Wookiee had been injured attempting her rite of passage, and had fled the planet in shame. The next morning, Solo suggested that he visit the other Wookiee on her ship, the Rising Star, with Lowbacca. From her, he learned that a trader named Fonterrat had been on Kuar recently, sent by Raabakyysh's employer, Nolaa Tarkona's Diversity Alliance. It was he whom Raabakyysh had sought on the planet. Solo immediately surmised that it had been Fonterrat whom Thul met before departing Kuar. At that moment, Tyko Thul, Bornan's brother, arrived. After they had left the fleet, he had determined that he ought to aid them in their search. His disparaging comments about Tarkona caused Raabakyysh to leave the group, and they did not discover any new clues on Kuar.[54]

That night, they were attacked by several ships, which deployed assassin droids led by IG-88A. They fled into the caves nearby, where they were cornered between the assassin droids and more combat arachnids. Both the droids and the Jedi battled the arachnids, but when Thul was seized by one, IG-88A rescued Thul and left with him. The Jedi had to withdraw to their ship, repair the damage it had suffered in the droid attack, and return to the Praxeum.[54]

There, Raabakyysh eventually visited, taking Lowbacca back to Kashyyyk with her so that they could announce her survival. Soon afterward, Lusa arrived at the academy, a Chironian who had been one of Hethrir's Force-sensitive captives when the Solo children were kidnapped and whom the twins knew. Lusa told the Solos and their friends that she had joined the Diversity Alliance, which taught hatred and resentment of Humans; she left after being assigned to what was effectively an assassination mission.[55]

Raynar Thul returned from the Bornaryn fleet and decided that, with his uncle kidnapped, he would travel to Mechis III to watch over the droid assembly lines of the planet Tyko Thul administered. The Solos and Djo volunteered to take him there in the Rock Dragon. On landing, Tyko Thul's protocol droid, 3D-4X, insisted no visitors were allowed, but they entered the main office anyway. On attempting to use the equipment, they activated a security lockdown and had to eliminate automated security blasters before they could unlock the door and leave the office. Just outside the door, however, was IG-88A, and with him Tyko Thul. The elder Thul had faked his kidnapping, hoping to draw his brother out of hiding. They became Thul's guests, but while fitting M-TD with a repulsorlift enhancement, Zekk arrived. As a bounty hunter, he had been contracted by Bornan Thul—disguised but found out by Zekk—to rescue Tyko.[55]

They were interrupted by a strafing run by Dengar, a bounty hunter who had followed Zekk. Convinced that Bornan Thul was with them, Dengar was distracted by Zekk and Jaina in the Lightning Rod while Solo, Djo, and Raynar Thul attempted to flee in the Rock Dragon. Before they could get to the ship, though, Dengar landed and held them at gunpoint. Solo joined with the other students to distract Dengar by threatening to topple his ship over the edge of the rooftop. IG-88A arrived and disarmed Dengar, forcing the bounty hunter to retreat. With the threat over, Jaina and M-TD reprogrammed IG-88A so that the former bounty hunter droid would track down Bornan Thul and protect him.[55]

The Diversity Alliance

"First we send a message. Then we blow up a weapons depot."

"Hey, just another day's work for a bunch of Jedi trainees." ―Bornan Thul and Jacen Solo [src]

While on Mechis III, the group received a message from Lowbacca's parents, stating that he, his sister Sirrakuk, and Raabakyysh had traveled to the Diversity Alliance's headquarters on Ryloth.[55] Though the young Jedi returned to Yavin 4, they remained worried that their friend had fallen in with the dangerous anti-Human group. While camping, they decided to travel to Ryloth to get news of Lowbacca, who had been out of contact too long for their liking. When Thul was injured by a rakhmar attack, the arrival of Lusa, announcing that Ta'a Chume had arrived demanding to see Djo, allowed a way to get Thul back to the Great Temple. On their return, Solo accompanied Djo to see her grandmother. The Queen Mother had researched the Diversity Alliance, and her numerous sources had revealed that the organization was profiting from the sales of Ryloth's ryll spice and regularly hired bounty hunters to eliminate any defectors; its leadership appeared to be far more menacing than it let on to the public. Lusa confirmed the account and warned that Lowbacca would be in great danger if he attempted to leave the organization.[56]

The Solos, Djo, and Thul took it upon themselves to leave for Ryloth, refusing to alert any adults lest it become a diplomatic matter or a New Republic crackdown put Lowbacca in danger. They sneaked onto the planet by clamping the Rock Dragon onto an automated freighter, then transferring to one of the ship's cargo pods. Undiscovered in the search of the Rock Dragon, they were able to skulk into the tunnel network of the Diversity Alliance's headquarters. While attempting to contact Lowbacca, they were found out by Hovrak, Tarkona's adjutant and head of security. Outnumbered, the students were captured and dragged before Tarkona. Raabakyysh exposed their identities as valuable hostages, but Solo attempted to attack Tarkona by telekinetically manipulating their captured lightsabers. His control was insufficient to do any damage, however, and he was again forced to surrender.[56]

The young Jedi were sentenced to labor in the ryll mines. Solo and Djo were assigned to harvest stalactites of concentrated ryll from the ceiling of the caves. Eventually, Lowbacca discovered that his friends had been imprisoned and, posing as a guard, took them into his custody. Rearmed, they headed out of the cave network into the open air of Ryloth while Lowbacca retrieved Sirrakuk. Before they could escape fully, they encountered several guards. Jaina covered their escape by destroying a weapons cache, creating a cave-in that cut Solo and Djo off from Jaina and Thul. They ultimately emerged outside Ryloth's temperate zone, on the frigid night side of the planet. Solo and Djo forged through the bitter cold and rocky, hilly terrain toward the habitable zone, sharing warmth and emotion. When a heat storm entered the night side, they had to take shelter from the fierce, scalding heat. In the cave where they took refuge, they found Kur, a former Twi'lek clan leader who had been defeated and exiled by Tarkona. Briefly regaining their strength in Kur's cave, they set out again with the old Twi'lek in tow. They were rescued by Lowbacca and Sirrakuk in the Rock Dragon before they even reached habitable land. Meanwhile, Skywalker, Zekk, and Lusa arrived and picked up Jaina and Thul, allowing the group to depart Ryloth.[56]

They recovered on Coruscant, where Organa Solo dedicated the resources of the New Republic to stopping the Diversity Alliance, which they now knew from Zekk's investigations and Hovrak's statements intended to release a plague across the galaxy, killing all Humans.[56] After they healed, Organa Solo had the young Jedi speak before the New Republic Senate about their encounter with the Diversity Alliance. Several nonhuman senators were critical of their testimony, as the youths had broken into the headquarters of another government. Cilghal, a Jedi Knight and senator, proposed a fact-finding mission to which the Senate agreed.[57]

As Zekk had earlier planted a tracking beacon aboard Bornan Thul's vessel, he set out with Raynar Thul to bring the wanted man to safety. The Solos, Lowbacca, and Djo decided to back up their friends, arriving at the rendezvous in time to drive off Ailyn Vel, still posing as her father, and rescue the elder Thul. Before Thul had abandoned his ship and programmed it to self-destruct, he had noticed Vel slicing his computers, which gave her the location of the Emperor's Plague Storehouse, where the anti-Human virus Tarkona desired was stored. Deciding it was vital they set out for the storehouse before Tarkona could get there, they sent a message to Coruscant requesting reinforcements meet them there and headed for the secret former Imperial base.[57]

Reaching the asteroid base after twelve hours of travel, they found that the main chamber contained multiple canisters of the deadly disease. They planned to use the munitions stored at the depot to destroy the asteroid and the plague with it, and split up to plant their explosives. Before they had finished, the Diversity Alliance arrived, and Solo, his sister, and Djo found themselves chased by Diversity Alliance agents. They fled to the Rock Dragon, setting up explosives to cover their launch and catch their pursuers. Once they launched, they were attacked by the Diversity Alliance fleet, but the swift arrival of a New Republic task force under General Solo saved them and put the Diversity Alliance's armada on the defensive. The Jedi returned to the asteroid to place and trigger the rest of their explosives. The New Republic fleet bombarded the asteroid as well, after Zekk, Lowbacca, and Raynar Thul had escaped; Bornan Thul had given his life attempting to destroy the plague and kill Tarkona. Tarkona escaped in a shuttle with Raabakyysh, but she had already been infected with another of the artificial diseases stored in the depot and was dying; Raabakyysh had chosen to flee and quarantine the pair rather than risk spreading the disease farther.[57]

The Diversity Alliance was thoroughly defeated, and Solo and his friends became involved in the settlement of the situation on Coruscant, weeding out the ringleaders of the Diversity Alliance captives from those who had not known of the group's more extremist plans and helping the former members of the Diversity Alliance rejoin the New Republic.[57]

Making peace

"We'll find a way to help your planet."

"Right. A few pampered kids and one former smuggler will fix everything. I feel better already." ―Jacen Solo and Anja Gallandro [src]

Lusa and Zekk both decided to begin Jedi training, which pleased the other Jedi trainees immensely. In the aftermath of the Diversity Alliance crisis, they enjoyed some downtime, reflecting on the gravity of the events that had occurred. When Solo expressed doubt that any future events could shock them after the deeds they had already done, he was proved wrong, to his great delight, when Djo kissed him.[57] After some time spent training, Han Solo arrived on Yavin 4 to take his children, including Anakin, to the 24 ABY Blockade Runners Derby at Ord Mantell, for which he would serve as Grand Marshal. The Millennium Falcon served as the pace craft, taking a trial run through the course. During that flight, the ship narrowly avoided an ambush involving several mines. The race was put off to the next day, at which time the Solos were quite surprised to witness Zekk win the race with Lowbacca and Djo in the Rock Dragon.[58]

After the intense media attention died down, the youths turned their attention to analyzing the debris of the mines that had nearly killed them, hoping to find out who wanted them dead. During a lunch break, an uneasy feeling in the Force led them to check the evidence, which was in the process of being stolen by camouflaged, color-changing creatures. Fighting the thieves, they were surprised by the arrival of a lightsaber-wielding woman. The thieves were able to get away with the evidence, but on one of those killed in the fight was a Black Sun tattoo. The woman introduced herself as Anja Gallandro, the daughter of an accomplished gunfighter Han Solo had once battled. The elder Solo tried to explain to her that he had not killed her father; when Gallandro drew his blaster to shoot a fellow treasure hunter, automated security systems in the area had killed Gallandro. However, the young woman would have none of it and left, castigating the Solos for never having aided her nearby war-torn homeworld, Anobis.[58]

Solo found his mind turning to Gallandro's obvious pain and anger—and by his father's incomplete answer to her accusations, as Han Solo had not been able to explain the actual circumstances of her father's death before she left, saying only that the death was not his fault. Solo had sensed his father's sense of guilt over the matter, and discussed the matter with his siblings. When his father entered the room, Solo pressed him to explain, which he did; the elder Solo had avoided giving all the detail to Gallandro so as not to tarnish her image of her father. Still, Jacen Solo could not quite shake his doubts over the incident and his father's clear sense of guilt.[58]

The next morning, the Solos set out for Anobis on a fact-finding mission with their Jedi friends. Before they left, Gallandro approached them, and Solo invited her along when she mentioned her intention to return to Anobis. She explained the origins of Anobis's civil war in the conflict between Rebellion-aligned valley farmers and mountain miners dependent on Imperial trade, and Solo found himself sympathizing with her miner background. She also explained the lightsaber she used, telling them she had bought it, and was not a trained Force-user. On entering the Anobis system, they encountered the Rude Awakening. Suspecting it of gunrunning after it released space mines and attempted to flee, Han Solo boarded the craft in his function as New Republic emissary, and with the Jedi students he found the hold full of illegal munitions. The New Republic representatives forced the pilot, Lilmit, to jettison and destroy his cargo before they landed in a farming village on Anobis. There they learned that the farmers' fields had been mined by the mountain villagers.[58]

That evening, the village came under attack from a migrating herd of carnivorous knaars. The Jedi volunteered to stand and fight against the massive herd while as many villagers as possible were evacuated in the Millennium Falcon. Resistance proved impossible against the tremendous numbers, and instead the Jedi led the villagers though the treacherous minefields safely. As the villagers moved beyond the traditional territorial boundary of the knaars, Solo sensed the predators' unease and used the Force to convince them to give up their pursuit. In the aftermath, Han flew several leaders to a mountain village for refuge and to discuss peace, while the Jedi led the rest of the villagers through the dangerous forest and to the village. When they arrived, after avoiding most of the booby traps with which the forest had been seeded, they found themselves captured by hostile miners.[58]

The villagers were imprisoned while the leader of the miners, Elis, attempted to persuade the New Republic emissaries that the farmers were the real villains of the civil war. Both sides inflicted vicious damage on the other, but each was tired of the endless destruction and wanted the war to end. When Elis's brother, Protas, was killed in an accident while placing burrowing detonators in the abandoned farming village, and the New Republicans revealed that Lilmit had been selling weapons to both sides, the diplomats were able to convince both sides to put aside their twenty-year feud and once more work together to clear their traps and make a life on Anobis. Using the Force, Solo and his friends were able to sense traps and remove them from a safe distance. In the aftermath, Solo suggested that Gallandro attend the Praxeum and explore her seeming Force powers.[58]

Battling Black Sun

Calrissian: "Why is it that every time I try to take a simple vacation with you kids, something disastrous happens?" Jacen: "I have a feeling we just draw adventure to ourselves." Jaina: "But since we're trying to be real Jedi Knights, I don't suppose there'll ever be a time when the New Republic doesn't need us." ―Lando Calrissian, Jacen Solo, and Jaina Solo[src]

Gallandro spent weeks at the academy, during which both Solo and Zekk found themselves attracted to and spending time with Gallandro, who did not get along with the rest of the group. The two boys worked with her on lightsaber technique, and found themselves aggravated by the hot-tempered woman's aggressive, risky fighting. Solo nearly lost his own arm in practice with her, and Skywalker admitted to him that he felt no Force-sensitivity in Gallandro, only a darkness. Solo and Zekk's closeness with Gallandro drove a wedge between them and the rest of their friends, but a visit from Lando Calrissian offered an opportunity to bring the group together. Calrissian was planning to invest in an amusement center in Cloud City, SkyCenter Galleria, and wanted the Solos, Lowbacca, Djo, and Zekk to test the center and provide ideas. Solo suggested that Calrissian invite Gallandro along.[59]

On arriving at Cloud City, however, they learned that Calrissian's business partner, Cojahn, had died in what was ruled a suicide. They toured the facility, but it was hard to enjoy the attractions after Cojahn's death. Calrissian was not convinced that it had been a suicide, and the Jedi suggested that they investigate. The next morning, before their investigation began, Calrissian told the students that he recognized Gallandro to be under the influence of andris. Solo found this hard to believe, but on questioning she admitted to using the spice. Upset, she vowed that she was not addicted and stormed off.[59]

When Calrissian learned that a band Cojahn had booked—Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes—had fled Cloud City for Clak'dor VII, he left to investigate the lead with Jaina and Zekk. Solo, Djo, and Lowbacca poked around SkyCenter Galleria looking for suspicious activity, but Gallandro was largely uninterested in their inquiry. When they noticed an Ugnaught who matched the description of the former construction foreman Cojahn had fired, the Jedi students followed him into the floating city's network of service tunnels and into Port Town. There, the Ugnaught led them into an ambush by seven armed thugs of the Black Sun crime syndicate. The Jedi ran, chased by the hit men, but the Ugnaught managed to drop them down a chute to Cloud City's exterior. Lowbacca and Djo were able to catch an antenna, but Solo plummeted into Bespin's atmosphere. He sent out a cry for help through the Force, causing a thranta rider named M'kim to direct his mount to catch the falling boy. M'kim refused to take him back immediately, suggesting that Solo should allow the assassins to believe him dead for the moment. Instead, M'kim took Solo to a floating mat of algae and told the Jedi that he had seen Cojahn fall to his death, pushed by Czethros—the old bounty hunter foe of Han Solo and supposed legitimate businessman Solo had met on Ord Mantell during the Blockade Runners Derby.[59]

M'kim then took Solo back to Cloud City, where he shared a happy reunion with his companions, who had thought him dead. Calrissian and the others returned, having learned from D'an that Black Sun had been attempting to muscle into Cloud City's entertainment sector and pressuring Cojahn. Calrissian demanded an investigation, and Solo, Djo, and Lowbacca were summoned for a debriefing on the assassination attempt. On reaching the supposed site of their report, however, it was deserted except for two of the Black Sun assassins and a pair of corrupt Wing Guard officers. The Jedi fled in a pair of cloud cars, with Solo shaking his pursuers by flying into a storm cell and using the Force to direct a pack of velkers to attack the following cloud car. He returned to Cloud City, and there, with the conspiracy uncovered, Calrissian began to break up Black Sun's influence over Cloud City. Czethros himself, however, slipped out of the grasp of the New Republic.[59]

After the students returned to Yavin 4, Gallandro eventually ran out of andris, driving her to steal the Lightning Rod and take off in an attempt to secure a new supply of spice to feed her addiction. Skywalker assigned the Solos, Lowbacca, Djo, and Zekk to find her, recover the ship, and help their friend battle her addiction. The ship's course as it fled Yavin, and Gallandro's addiction, suggested that her destination was Kessel, where andris was mined.[60]

Solo felt that something was wrong with the mission, and on arriving on Kessel, the Jedi met with Nien Nunb, the Sullustan who administered the spice mines of Kessel for their owner Calrissian. Nunb offered his aid, but warned the students that he suspected some of his employees may be acting against him and the Jedi should be alert for betrayal. While the youths searched for any sign of the Lightning Rod, they noticed that the Rude Awakening, which they had earlier encountered running guns to Anobis under Lilmit, had docked in a secluded area, authorized by the former Second Administrator Torvon—who had died in the process of attempting to assassinate Nunb. The Jedi felt they should look into Lilmit's presence, and on confronting him were able to learn that Gallandro had visited and spoken with Lilmit before leaving for Mon Calamari. Additionally, the smuggler was desperate to leave Kessel quickly, suggesting that whatever conspiracy was acting against Nunb would soon come to a head.[60]

The Jedi decided to divide their forces, with Solo, Zekk, and Djo pursuing Gallandro in the Rock Dragon while Jaina and Lowbacca remained behind to protect Nunb. Solo thought to signal Cilghal ahead of time, requesting assistance. When they arrived on Mon Calamari, Cilghal had already begun inquiries and arranged to meet the Jedi on Foamwander City. Cilghal was able to track the Lightning Rod to Crystal Reef, an elite arctic resort city. There, the resort's information systems were able to locate Gallandro, at that moment attempting to procure a submersible. Accompanied by Cilghal, the students approached Gallandro. They were able to convince her to explain herself, at which the young woman finally let down her guard and admitted her addiction. Additionally, she revealed that she had been working for Czethros, only to realize she had been manipulated and used by the Black Sun kingpin. Solo's friendship had helped convince her that she had been mistaken to hate the Solos, and she no longer wished to harm them. Instead, she was determined to destroy Czethros's cache of spice under the ice cap.[60]

Taking a submersible, they were able to locate and destroy the cache. As they finished doing so, a gigantic and very rare Great Arctic Skra'akan began to harass the submersible. When it consumed some of the free-floating andris, its attacks became frenzied. They were able to escape by sealing their damaged submersible inside a fissure in the ice cap, but being thus trapped presented its own problems. As Gallandro became overcome by withdrawal in their cramped quarters, escape efforts came to a halt. Solo and his friends gathered around Gallandro to support her as Cilghal used her skills in healing to remove the toxins causing the woman's symptoms. With that complete, Djo suggested they use their lightsabers to clear the ice around the craft. Suiting up for the frigid waters, Solo helped carve away ice until the submersible could move freely.[60]

They returned safely to Crystal Reef, where Zekk recovered the Lightning Rod, leaving only Solo and Djo to pilot the Rock Dragon back to Kessel. Solo and Djo enjoyed their time together, but were alarmed to learn that on Kessel, Jaina and Lowbacca had narrowly foiled a takeover attempt by Black Sun, capturing Czethros and preventing Black Sun from enacting a scheme to take over various major galactic institutions and locations.[60]

Skywalker's apprentice

"Okay, the thing of it is that you were shaped as a weapon by Jedi Masters who were part of a tradition that had developed into peacekeepers. I get the feeling, though, that's not how the Jedi began. I think the Jedi philosophy started as something that strengthened people within. The powers we manifest—I think those are all outgrowths of the internal strengthening, but a lot of those teachings were lost along the way. I mean, I feel the need for something inside." ―Jacen Solo, to Luke Skywalker [src]

The students made their way back to Yavin 4. There, Solo made a gift to Djo, with whom he was increasingly close, of a necklace made of precious gort-egg shells. Skywalker took the students aside individually, and spoke with them about their futures as Jedi.[60] It was decided that Solo and his younger brother would become their uncle's apprentices, traveling with him and being personally tutored in the ways of the Force. Jaina would be apprenticed to Mara Jade Skywalker.[12]

A celebration was to be held to honor the students' progress and accomplishments, and the students' families were invited. Solo was able to apologize to his father for doubting his account of the elder Gallandro's death, and Anja Gallandro herself apologized before taking her leave of the Praxeum. Lacking ability in the Force, she instead took a job with Calrissian. At the ceremony, all the Solo children, Djo, Lowbacca, Zekk, Thul, Lusa, Gallandro, and even M-TD were honored for their roles in foiling the recent plots against the New Republic.[60] After the ceremony, the Solos and Skywalkers took a vacation to Crystal Reef, where they had been invited to enjoy a trip by the local authorities when Solo and his friends had first arrived.[12][60]

As Skywalker's apprentice, Solo found himself looking to rediscover more aspects of the ancient Jedi, aspects that involved more than battling to uphold the peace.[12] Despite this, Solo disapproved of his Master's desire to reestablish the Jedi High Council, as he had come to believe that being a Jedi Knight was a deeply personal, spiritual matter and Knights should be internally, not externally, guided. A Jedi Council, he felt, would only lead to politicking and corruption. In the same vein, he felt that the Praxeum from which he had recently graduated was a poor idea, too formal and stifling of individual growth. In Solo's eyes, students should find their own way to the Jedi before being taken on individually by a Master to explore the Force. Solo's unorthodox, authority-challenging views led to several discussions with Skywalker, who had a more traditional view of the Jedi's role but valued Solo's opinions and insights nonetheless. Solo also argued fiercely with his brother, who saw the Jedi as bringers of peace and keepers of order whose martial skills were of vital importance. Solo rejected that view, seeing internal harmony and understanding of the Force as a Jedi's goal; the Force was not to be used as a tool to project individual interpretations of the good. Despite this view, Solo felt it his responsibility to lecture his younger brother until Anakin accepted this as truth.[61]

In 25 ABY, after accompanying Skywalker to a meeting of new Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya's Advisory 