Author: Allison Munroe
Title: All I Want (Formerly titled White Shadow)
Summary: Three years after the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Jaina Solo is dispatched on a recovery mission...and encounters more than she bargained for.
CONTAINS MAJOR STAR BY STAR SPOILERS!
Email: alliem321@hotmail.com If you email me I PROMISE to get back to you! Thanks for your comments and suggestions!
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. All are property of George Lucas and Lucasfilm, etc. There is no profit from this work.
Author's Note: I began this story before Star by Star was published, and updated it accordingly. We'll see what happens after the next NJO book is released. Also, it was written with no knowledge of the Young Jedi Knights or Junior Jedi Knights series. Enjoy!
All I Want
By Allison Munroe
Chapter One
The white stars of hyperspace blurred by as the FireRunner buzzed through the galaxy. A young woman sat at the controls, checking readouts and adjusting dials. She sighed and leaned back into the pilot's chair.
The young woman was a Jedi Knight, niece of the great Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Jaina Solo ran her fingers through her long brown hair and blinked her eyes. She was getting awfully tired. Jaina closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about just what she had gotten herself into this time.
She was racing through hyperspace onboard a New Republic issued space cruiser, which basically meant that she was aboard a piece of crap. Next to her, her brother Jacen, handsome and wise beyond his twenty years, sat in the copilot's seat, dozing. Jaina had closed her eyes and was trying to do the same when she heard heavy footsteps on the metal floor behind her.
She swiveled around to see a tall figure in a black tunic and pants. "Everything looks good back there," Ganner Rhysode said, sitting in the seat behind Jacen's. He pointed to her brother. "I see we've lost one already. And only an hour in."
Jaina shook her head. "Jacen'd be asleep in the middle of combat if he could close his eyes for ten seconds without getting his head blown off."
Ganner laughed, and Jaina had to hide a wince when she looked at his face. A little over two years ago Ganner had literally had his face taken off by a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Although surgery could have repaired it to almost normal, Ganner had chosen to keep the scars on his face as a reminder of his downfall. That face that had once been so chiseled, handsome, attractive, was now so...deformed.
His new looks did little to change his personality, though his alliances had been reformed. Ganner had once been a flamboyant and obnoxious supporter of Kyp Durron; he was now a flamboyant and obnoxious supporter of Luke Skywalker.
"So, what did Skywalker get us all into this time?" Ganner asked, leaning his head back in his chair, stretching out his legs, and crossing his ankles.
"I don't know," Jaina sighed. The group of five, which included the small blue Jedi female from Crion named Kamik-Ir and a very handsome young Jedi named Mat Lehada of Corellia, were on their way to Najeme III as ordered by Luke Skywalker and the newly installed Jedi Council. They had designed this mission through heavy pressure from the New Republic government. There they would begin to piece together the remnants of a civilization that had been all but destroyed by the Vong, in hopes that the people would once again trust the Jedi.
"It seems simple enough," Jaina continued, playing with a string that had pulled out of her tan flight suit. "I mean, these people are so desperate that they're probably going to want help, no matter who it's from."
"It's nice to think that," Ganner replied. "But we're probably the last damn people they want to see. Remember that it was a Jedi that led the Vong to Najeme III in the first place."
Jaina eyes sunk. Her brother Anakin had been that Jedi…
"Anakin," she said softly.
"Yeah," Ganner answered, and they were both silent for a minute. It was too painful to think of him, even though he had been gone for over a year. She missed him so much…
Jaina spoke again after a moment, reminding herself that Anakin would have told her not to dwell on the past. "What do you think this place will be like?" she asked, changing the subject.
"I have no idea," he responded. "Reports say that much of the capital city is still intact, but the people are gone. The good people, at least. There are apparently a great deal of people living in the run down and destroyed buildings who have nowhere else to go. Many of them were once fairly affluent," he continued. "They're going to be the hardest to convince that we never did anything wrong."
Jaina nodded in agreement and Ganner continued. "The government was evacuated before the Vong arrived, and has been reinstalled in a new capital city that has built itself up fairly well in the past year. However, they're having a great deal of difficulty enforcing any laws," he added. "And they can't control the people like they should.
"The Vong killed most of the farmers that once supported the economy of Najeme III. The few that remain are trying their best to reestablish their crops, but they are finding it difficult because the Vong altered the terrain and climate. That's where our equipment comes in."
Jaina nodded, thinking of the large amounts of money that the New Republic had spent to provide the farmers of Najeme III with new machinery for refining the soil and planting new crops. "We're going to have to visit all of these places?" she asked. She really hadn't been briefed before takeoff, so Ganner's information was enlightening. And at least someone had done his homework.
"Just the new capital to begin with. We can see if they require us to venture off."
Jaina glanced down at the dashboard and sighed again. "Sounds like fun."
Ganner smiled and leaned forward. "Missing something, Solo?"
The young woman looked up and smiled. "Take a guess."
"You've made quite a name for yourself with Rogue Squadron," he replied, leaning back again and nodding. "Quite a name."
"Oh Force, what have they been saying?"
He scrunched up his already wrinkled face and rubbed his chin. No goatee, Jaina noted. He'd finally lost that ugly display of manly "Look! I can grow hair on my face" nonsense. Jacen had gone through that, but all he'd gotten was some brown fuzz that looked like baby Ewok fur and it had quickly been removed.
Although Jaina supposed Ganner's beard had been shaven for medical, not personal, reasons.
"They were all just impressed, is all. We all were. Never expected it from you."
"Thanks, I guess," Jaina responded. Probably the best compliment she could hope for from someone like Rhysode.
"No problem," he said. "Do you think you'll go back to it?"
Jaina sighed. "I hope so. Someday. If they'll take me."
"They will," he replied, standing. "Anyone would."
She gave him a quizzical look but he didn't notice. And if Jaina herself had been paying more attention, she would have noticed Ganner staring at her as she moved to look out the large window into the vastness of space.
Ganner turned as footsteps were heard on the metal-floored hallway. "Company."
Jaina looked to see whom it was, and tried her hardest not to make a face. Her stomach flopped inside, but not the way it did for most women when they saw this young Jedi.
Jaina's flopped out of disgust, not lust.
"Solo."
Jaina nodded once curtly. "Lehada."