New Jedi Order AU: "The Journey of Jacen Solo"
(this is for @solitaire-06 who encouraged me to think what it'd look like if Jacen Solo didn't go dark and become a Sith Lord)
Jacen Solo makes a personal pilgrimage at the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War. In the final battle, he achieved a state of oneness with the Force and defeated Onimi, the hidden Force-sensitive ruler of the Yuuzhan Vong Empire and the secret mastermind behind the invasion. However, as capable as he remains as a Jedi Knight, Jacen feels a return to his philosophical roots, as well as an interest in meeting and befriending animals from a variety of planets he’s never seen before. With his Uncle Luke’s permission, Jacen gets leave to wander the galaxy and seek out other Force-using traditions to learn how they perceive the Force.
First, he seeks out the Theran Listeners on Nam Chorios, learning how to “hear” the Force in all living things—including the crystalline Tsil—in order to stop the plague-bearing drochs from leaving their planet and contaminating others.
Jacen’s second destination is the Sunesi on Monor II. They do not have a native Force-using tradition, but Jacen owes a debt to Gnosos, who helped him escape a trap back on Duro. The Sunesi elders teach him about the Maker and the role their deity plays in their adolescent metamorphosis.
Third, he seeks out the Jensaarai on Susevfi. Their order follows a syncretic mix of Jedi and Sith teachings, grounded in the twin arts of crafting battle armor and striking from the shadows. The Saarai-kaar teaches the value of aggression in battle and the need for patience at all other times.
Fourth, he goes to the Baran Do sages on Dorin. They show Jacen how to meditate for long periods of time, even days on end, opening his mind to the Force in such stillness that he can “ride the storm” of future events and see when to make the most critical move to protect himself or another in battle.
Fifth, he makes an effort to find the Aing-Tii at the Kathol Outback. Jacen earns their respect when he directs them to a slaver’s ship that had crossed his path en route. They show him the gift of flow-walking, allowing them to surrender their emotions and move their conscious vision to perceive events in the past or the future. The danger lies not in seeing other moments of time, but in trying to anchor oneself there. Most of their ability is used to navigate spacetime and teleport their Sanhedrim ships with instantaneous jumps beyond hyperspace itself.
Finally, Jacen arrives on Pydyr to study with the Fallanassi. Akanah Pell, their current leader, introduces Jacen to the White Current and their techniques for immersing oneself in its flow. Their means of protecting themselves and others is nonviolent, using the Current to vanish or project illusions that no one can see through by organic or technological means.
Over his journey, Jacen compiles his lessons. He also renders aid as a healer and a protector, but he comes to each world to learn first and foremost. These other Force-users see his Jedi training in the speed at which he goes to help others. The Aing-Tii monks refer to him as “Wanderer.” The Sunesi call him “Jacen the Hesychast.” The Saarai-kaar refers to him as “Jiaasjidai.” The Tsil shine a green light with a golden flicker at its core whenever Jacen approaches them.
Jacen learns from them how to listen, how to surrender the ego and see the flow of spacetime, how to read the signs of danger and critical moments in battle, how to vanish into thin air, and how to teleport an object through space in concert with others. When he returns to the New Jedi Order, Jacen is far more grounded and patient than ever. He sees the work of the Jedi in being rooted on hundreds of worlds and tending to local communities as the galaxy rebuilds after the last war.
He opens a dojo on Ossus, where the next generation of Jedi are being trained. Jacen teaches his fellow Jedi how to stay immersed in the Force like a Fallanassi adept, how to teleport like an Aing-Tii monk, how to hear like a Theran Listener, how to strike with the conviction of a Jensaarai Defender, how to predict storms like a Baran Do sage, and how to endure pain like a Sunesi undergoing metamorphosis. He demonstrates a style of self-defense through evasion and counterattacks, finding shortcuts through time and space to avoid being hit and staying perfectly centered in the Force to know when to strike back—if at all. It’s nowhere close to the oneness Jacen achieved in the Battle of Yuuzhan’tar, but he considers it somewhere along the way to that state of harmony.
Jacen names this art “The Shadowmoth Style,” recalling one of the first lessons he received from Vergere in captivity. As he reminds his students, the aim of the shadowmoth is to wrestle on the inside and fight no one on the outside. “Give the enemy nothing to target, and they cannot wage war against you. Become like a mirror. Reflect back what they throw at you. Be fluid and free and deep in the Force.”
