Wraith Headquarters, 0930
Tynian Afyon sat quietly inside Wraith headquarters' lounge. A door across the hall was open and in that room was the computers that his twin and her best friend worked on. His Aunt Adra and Aunt Tyria worked in there as well and were extremely fussy about who could touch their precious hacking machines. He knew that Garik wasn't allowed to do more than send a datamessage on them and that was all because of the time he had accidentally overloaded the computer and caused the system his mother was hacking to clam up. He remembered his aunt absolutely flipping and that was about it, other than Garik's disappointment in himself. He was, however, an ace at navigation. He spent so much of his time immersed in holocubes' recordings of the many star systems his parents had traveled to that he could sense where they were through the Force even if he couldn't see where they were.
Garik's twin, on the other hand, seemed to have acquired quite a few of her mother's skills. Well, other than her lack of sarcasm. In truth, Kai Loran's life revolved around computer hacking, explosions, Jedi training and flying. Tynian let out a mental sigh, wishing he could better understand the girl. She was almost a full two years younger than him. In truth, her life day was in two days. She'd be turning fourteen and then he'd only be a year older than her for half a year until his life day. He didn't know why, but even though she'd never spoken to him, he found himself interested in her merely because she was a type of mystery. She was also, so his father said, very gifted in the Force. That might've been another reason he liked Kai so much...he saw her enough in action around with his parents and siblings that he found he needn't hear her string together a complete phrase.
"Sassur!"
A voice broke across his thoughts; it had drifted from the computer room, in fact. Slightly surprised by the sudden outburst in a voice he vaguely recognized but couldn't place, he got up, put his datapad in a pocket of his jumpsuit and walked across the hallway. To his surprise, only one person was in the room, ruling out asking who'd spoken. Kai was sitting in front of the computer screen, her dark eyes appearing even more so by the circles around them, indicating a lack of sleep. Absently, as if she hadn't even noticed him enter, she punched in another command. Watching with a bit of interest, for she was a far better hacker than he even though he could do it well enough, he saw the files begin to open onto the screen. Abruptly a smile flashed on Kai's face. She'd obviously been successful. She saved whatever the files were onto a datacard and pocketed it.
Kai turned in her chair to look at him, raising an eyebrow. She was undoubtedly waiting for a remark on his part. Tynian cast his thoughts around, trying to come up with something factual to say that would justify his watching her progress. He must've taken too long because Kai just shook her head and stood up, collecting other datacards in one of her hands. Mentally he cursed his stupidity, but quickly got over it to give her a slight grin. To his surprise, the usually unsmiling Kai stopped her work for a moment, giving him a scrutinizing look before surrendering the smallest of smiles. It was more in her black eyes than on her lips, but it was a smile none-the-less. It was gone after a few seconds when a datapad fell off a shelf above and knocked her pile of datacards to the floor. Tynian moved to help her collect the two dozen heavily scattered datacards, a bit surprised to hear not her talking very fluidly, but a string of curses pouring from her mouth as her words. He knew his Aunt Adra had an extremely extensive vocabulary, but that didn't account for how his aunt had slipped around her children.
Ty went to grab a disk fallen beneath the desk chair just as Kai grabbed at it. Tynian stopped his grab for it, instead going to collect more disks. By the time he was finished, he had about ten datacards. Kai was setting the others in a plasteel container at the moment, but when she finished, she looked over to Tynian. Her smile returned when he handed over the disks.
"Thanks, Ty."
He grinned back at her and nodded. "No problem." He paused, unsure of whether to continue, but then decided for it. "Hey, Inyri, Meli, Lis, Koyi and I are going to be siming in a few, you wanna come? I still need to find a wingmate."
Patiently waiting for her answer, he saw her glance at the computer for a second, as though debating flying over hacking. Finaly she turned back to him and nodded. Realizing he wasn't going to get anything else out of her verbally, he grinned again.
"Alright, well, the sim's starting in about ten minutes...I guess I'l see you there," Ty watched her nod, then store the box of datacards above the computer monitor. Done quickly, she turned and raised an eyebrow. He turned and led the way out to the hall, hearing Kai's footsteps following his to the simulator rooms. The others were already there, obviously having been waiting on him and whoever he was going to bring as his wingmate. Inyri took one look at the pair of them, then looked over at Meli and Lis. Koyi rolled her eyes at the other three before nodding to Kai.
"Someone finally decided to come practice? That's okay, I'm still the slacker right now- I haven't been pulling my weight on the computers." Koyi said this as she walked over to Kai, grinning at her.
The thing that really got him was that Kai's face was totally calm, not even a hint of unease. That probably had to do with the fact that she spent an awful lot of time with Koyi. If that wasn't enough, Kai started talking as if she had never spent more than ten minutes silent in her life.
"Yes, well, someone's twin decided that they'd ask me to be their wingmate in the sims and I said sure. Sims are good, even if hacking has different advantages. I gotta show Dad what I found after though...I got new stuff on Thrawn."
Ty could see he wasn't the only one shocked. Inyri was staring at her sister, dumbstruck, the same as Lis and Meli. Kai looked around, a shadow of a smile on her face. "What? Come on people, we don't have all day. Either in the sims or not, but if we're not going to, let me get back to my computers."
That got everyone moving. Koyi climbed into a sim cockpit, Meli climbing in to a sim cockpit next to her. It was obvious that those two were going to be wingmates, just as Inyri and Lis were. But then again, Inyri and Lis always were wingmates- both in their squadron roster and in being partners in crime. Well, Meli was in on that too, but you were more likely to hear 'Inyri and Lis' in the same sentence. Realizing he was daydreaming, he quickly walked over towards the sim cockpit next to the one Kai was climbing into. Feeling the Force moving actively around the five others, he opened himself to it, awed, as always, but the sheer Force strength that radiated around his older sisters and both the Loran girls. He felt his sister all but desert him in the Force, instead her 'being' linking with her wingmate's. Unconsciously, he realized that in her place was Kai's level headed calm.
* * * * *
As the simulators powered up, she fell back upon her familiar silence and went through the pre-flight check inside the cockpit. Through the Force, she felt an easy connection with Ty, her wingmate. Speaking tactics through the Force to each other was always much easier than over the open comm. Tentatively, she stretched out her Force sense to poke at Tynian. The reply was instantaneous.
Yeah?
Kai debating not replying, but decided it would be better to be on speaking terms with you wingmate. Nothing, just making sure this works. That's all, sorry for bugging you.
She felt him laughing, and then received the projected image of him shaking his head. The feeling of 'not annoyed' came back with it. Sending him a smile of her own, she looked up onto the screen, aware that it had just changed. Looking at it closely, she blinks. Small, yet visible to one side was a Supe. The Knight Hammer, to be precise. Realizing what sim this was, she flicks on her comunit, trying hard not to let annoyance and anger get a latch on her thoughts.
"What the Kriff is this, Liselle!" Kai's voice echoed over the comm's silent frequency for a minute, before Lis and Meli started talking at once.
"What the..."
"...not what we chose..."
"Not right..."
Kai muttered a few Huttese curses and then waiting for silence to fall once more. They were still in the Coruscant Control hanger bay, watching the battle overhead. It was Inyri who spoke next.
"You're right, we didn't choose this. We must've put the datacard in the slot to another sim. This is what Mom and Dad were using with the rest of the Wraiths." Inyri paused for a moment, then continued. "Let's do this, guys. They wouldn't be practicing on the Bilbringi sim unless something like Bilbringi was coming again. Lis, you want command or can I take it?"
Kai listen as her sister was given command of their squadron. Quickly she glanced over her shoulder to find that there were six more X-Wings behind them, obviously being played by the computer itself.
"Launch on my mark. Three, two, one, mark."
All six of them lifted off the durasteel hanger floor, the computer played X-Wings rising with them. In a practiced formation, Inyri led the squadron out, shooting for space. Once they were out in space, Kai felt more than six Force presences. Looking at the tactical display, she gaped for a moment. Every other current New Republic squad was on the screen, including Twin Suns. The Twins hadn't been reestablished until after Bilbringi. A voice over the comm nearly caused her to freeze.
"Hey, I thought you weren't taking the Wraiths into this thing again until later, Loran." Sharp realization of who had spoken came across her. Someone had hooked the squadrons' sims together so that they could all interact in them. It might only have been for this one sim, but it was still an amazing feat.
"Antilles, what did you say?" That was Jaina Solo's voice.
"I was commenting on Face bringing the Wraiths in again so soon. I thought he said he wasn't coming back into the fight until later today."
Kai listened with interest, all the while very aware of the TIEs that were swarming around. Inyri seemed to have frozen, both in flight and in the Force. Deciding there was nothing left to do, she turned on her comm.
"Alright guys, let's get this going. Inyri, Lis and Meli, you guys are trio one. Koyi, Ty and I are trio two. The computer driven X-Wings will split once we get moving."
"Negative, Kai. We'll split into trios once you tell us who's flying where." Kai blinked at the comm, unsure if it was really her father's voice speaking.
"Daddy?" Reaching out in the Force as she rolled away from laserfire, she felt her answer. This wasn't an accident they were flying Bilbringi. Their parents had set them up. "Fine, Nicola, Asyr and mommy are shield three. Master Bror, Elix and daddy are flight four." She completely dropped the 'aunt' and 'uncle' titles, knowing they'd take too long. As soon as she quit talking, dozens of voices filled the comm.
"Wait, who's leading the Wraiths? Face, why do you have your kids up here?" That would be Wedge Antilles.
Her squadron split apart into their respective trios, all of them breaking around to vape the two squadrons of TIEs coming towards them.
"Kaizan's in charge of the Wraiths? Did I miss something?" That was Mara Jade. Kai couldn't help grinning at her words.
"No, that's not what's up. They got into the wrong sim and we had no choice but to help them out," her father answered.
A murmur of 'oh's filled the comm frequency once more. Abruptly Kai rolled her X-Wing away from the TIE fighter that was tracking her. The TIE rolled with her easily, then a green ship flashed past, blowing it to smithereens.
Tahiri Veila's angry voice cracked instantly over the comm. "Anakin Skywalker! Quit showing off that sithing ship of yours and get back in formation!"
Kai grinned slightly, sending a 'thank you' to the Jedi Master through the Force just as he answered.
"Come now, One, surely you don't expect me to do that. Besides, I'm still with my flight."
An Advanced TIE darted overhead and Kai jerked her X-Wing up and around, ready to shoot the thing down. Before she hit the trigger for a proton torpedo, however, she noticed it was flying just off Anakin Skywalker's Sekot ship and wasn't firing at him. The Sekot ship wiggled it's wings slightly, as if waving to the TIE fighter. Realizing that the Advanced TIE was Anakin Solo, she grinned and pulled herself off, ignoring the commclutter pouring into the cockpit.
"Kai, stay away from the Knight Hammer, you understand that?" Her mother's voice came across, speaking directly to her. At the same time, Tynian called for assistance through the Force connection they'd established before the sim started.
Cursing silently, she flipped around on her port wings, lasers firing at the seemingly unshakable TIE on Tynian's tail. "Why's that, mom?"
The TIE exploded and Kai felt the relief seeping through the Force now. "Because you're flying my number and all the other times we've run this sim, the Hammer has tried to grab that X-Wing in it's tractor beams."
Understanding now, she double clicked her comm before leading her shield trio off towards a new group of TIEs. There was a good two dozen of them, all exiting from the Knight Hammer at the same time. Unconsciously she registered her mother cursing and glanced at the screen to see why. The TIEs weren't aimed at Kai's fighter; no, they were attempting to grab another craft behind her. With a sudden understanding, she saw her mother's distinct helmet and realized why she'd cursed.
"Kriff, what is it with these TIEs! Did someone change the program in this thing to target me specifically?" With the annoyance high on her mother's voice, Kai vaped another Imperial vessel, all the while watching the way the battle was unfolding. Though she'd seen her mother fly other times, she was amazed at the stunts she was pulling now. Still firing at her targets, Kai watched in something close to reverence as her mother performed a series of X-Wing maneuvers, tumbling through the tightly packed formation. The TIE fighters she'd driven through jerked down after her.
Tynian, Koyi and she quickly refocused, blowing skips to space dust again and again. The battle was nearly over, the New Republic forces beating the Imperials soundly, so unlike what had really happened at Bilbringi. When the last eyeball blew, the other squadron leaders congratulated everyone, stopping only when the screen went black. Her canopy opened, allowing natural light to flood into her cockpit. Cheers were emanating around the sim room, undermined by congratulatory chatter. Kai climbed out of her cockpit, smiling in spite of herself. Inyri, Lis and Meli were talking with Aunt Nicola, Koyi with Uncle Elix. The rest of the adults were chatting in a group, smiled evident. Kai walked quietly to the simulator's main computer, looking it over. Through the Force, she felt Ty come up behind her. He appeared to look a bit uncertain, but his face quickly went blank when he saw her looking at him. She raised an expecting eyebrow, waiting for him to talk.
"I...er..." Tynian began uneasily. "Thanks, Kai."
A smile played on her face as he offered a hand to shake. Casting a glance to it, she stepped past the offered hand to hug him. "No problem."
After a moment, she pulled away and walked out of the simulator room, heading back towards the quarters she shared with her twin. She changed out of her jumpsuit, changing the tank top underneath as well. Instead of finding another flightsuit, she pulled on some comfortable black pants, the opposite color of her white tank top. As she moved to grab a hair tie, the door rolled back to reveal her twin entering the room, the door closing after him. He grinned at her, and she nodded in return. Most people hadn't ever heard her string more than two words together. Her Jedi Master had, of course, as had her parents. Inyri and Ciny had, just today, but her talk over the comm was the first time ever. And, of course, her twin heard her. They talked, more often than not, through the twin bond though.
Garik was grinning at her, his dark green eyes twinkling. Immediately suspicious, she quickly tied her hair in a ponytail and turned 180 degrees to face him. He was still grinning, just like her father did when he had one up on her mother, and Kai's suspicion left to be replaced with anxiety. After a few minutes she grew tired of her brother's silence.
"What?" she asked.
His grin broadened when the said that. Kai opened her mouth to repeat the question but he spoke first. "So, do you actually like Tynian?"
The question floored her and she stood staring at him in absolute silence. Did she like Tynian? She'd known him all her life...she couldn't just end up liking him, could she? No, no! She couldn't do that...he was her Jedi Master's son, for Force's sake! By the stars, she did like him. Searching her twin's grinning face, she sighed.
"I guess so, yeah. Why?" Upon her answer, Garik's face bloomed into a full-fledged, Face Loran patented diabolical smile. He slumped in a chair by the door, seeming to be plotting something. Kai shook her head sadly at his form, wondering as she tightened her ponytail how it was that boys had to be so difficult.
Abruptly, her brother stood up and walked back to the door. Kai rushed over and pinned his wrist to the wall before his hand could touch the control panel.
"Where the Sith are you going?" she hissed at him.
"I'm going to talk to Ty. I wanna know if he likes you," Garik said, grinning. Kai glowered and debated punching him. Her twin seemed to know what she was thinking for he ducked out of her grip quickly, hitting the control panel as he went. He paused his fleeing in the open doorway. "Don't worry, Kai; I'm not going to repeat anything."