”Good Morning and Welcome to Atlantis! We know this must be unsettling but our people need you, and you need us. Here in Atlantis, we are fighting a war for the very survival of our people, and yours. You may not know how you came to be here, or that your world is in trouble, but we are fighting to ensure the creativity of all worlds continues to thrive and grow....”
“What in space?” Jaina blinked at the holo in front of her as it continued it’s spiel. She'd never heard of this Atlantis and her eyes narrowed, part suspicion and part exasperation. “Another griffing war?” she asked no one in particular. Her entire life for the last several years had been war. She'd lost Anakin, Chewie, countless friends and she'd nearly lost herself. The prospect of diving in to another war so soon wasn't remotely appealing.
When Jaina explored the room she'd woken up in, she found a number of familiar objects as well as most of her clothing. There was her multi tool and a few other mechanical bits. Her lightsaber and blaster were on her belt right where she'd had them before she'd picked up that strange looking coin. The room itself was nice, large and fairly reminiscent of her old room at the Coruscant apartment before everything had gotten so kriffed up. It was equally comforting and unsettling.
Opening herself up to the Force, Jaina sensed that she wasn't the only Jedi here in Atlantis. The very familiar Force signature of her Aunt Mara sang out to her and Jaina allowed herself a relieved smile at that. She could feel Jacen, too, and there was another she felt in the Force who she didn't recognize, but Jaina chose to focus on the familiar instead. With one last glance around the room, she set off, following that thread through the Force to search for her aunt or her twin, whoever she happened to come across, first.
Mara had been in the kitchen when she’d felt it and at first she couldn’t believe it. She recognized it immediately as Jaina but it felt different from when she’d been here before. Which could mean a lot of things but most likely that she was from some different point in time. It didn’t matter, she was still thrilled to feel someone from home, even if the version of Jaina she knew at home was still in diapers.
She picked up her travel mug and headed for the door, hoping she’d find Jaina as she made her way to work. Cassian had already left but she hadn’t been feeling well so she was running a bit late. As she started toward the base, she looked at the people she passed but realized she’d be better off using her senses because Jaina could look very different for all she knew. She hadn’t gotten very far when she felt it and she stopped, smiling at the young woman walking toward her. “Jaina? Kriff it’s good to have you back. Unless you don’t remember being here before and even then it’s good to see you.”
Jaina blinked quickly when she saw a woman who was unmistakably her Aunt Mara, but who was definitely way too kriffing young. The Mara who stood before her couldn’t have been more than a decade older than Jaina, herself, which was just really kriffing weird.
“Aunt Mara?” The question was rhetorical, because Jaina knew it was her. She could feel it in the Force and even seeing with her own eyes, she could see the familiar features, no matter how young she looked.
“Back? What do you mean back?” If Jaina had ever been here before, she definitely didn’t remember it.
“This place is an alternate reality I guess you’d call it. You’re here but you’re still wherever you were as well. You were here before but you were younger than you are now, Jacen was here too and Tenel Ka and their daughter. But you all went home.” She suddenly realized that Jaina might not know that Jacen and Tenel Ka had a daughter. She hadn’t known the Hapan princess before meeting her here although she did know the name. “It’s strange, I know and it gets weirder. But regardless of all that, I’m glad you’re here.” Mara missed having people from home, from hertoo surprising, but it still threw her a little. So did seeing Mara looking so young or hearing that she’d been here before, even though she didn’t remember it.
“Kriff, I need a drink,” she muttered. This was all just insane.
“I can help you with that. I’m on my way to do some work so I can’t drink but you certainly can and I will take you to a place that will look familiar to you. We have the Mos Eisley cantina here, it just showed up last Christmas, it’s definitely authentic and you can order Corellian Ale there which I imagine you could use right now.” She turned in the direction of the village and pulled out her phone, sending out a quick message that she would be late and explaining why. Thankfully they were pretty good about this sort of thing since everyone was a bit confused when they first arrived.
At least something about this place was familiar. Jaina summoned up a smile and nodded her agreement of that plan. “Lead the way,” she said. Corellian Ale sounded like just what she needed.