Title: A Very Good Plan
Fandom: Star Wars NJO
Words: 1764
Notes: for CL Solo: a Christmas fic ... although I owe her it from the summer. shifty It's not quite to the terms of the challenge, but close enough for me. :)

Zekk lay sprawled on top of the biotics building, peering over the edge to the clear landing pad, close to the hangar. One of the X-wings nearest to him was being worked on at the moment: Derek "Hobbie" Klivian was lying across the snubnose, working on a compartment. Tahiri Veila sat on the grass, leaning back against one of the supports, passing tools up using the Force and talking to Hobbie in her usual bright and cheerful manner.

Zekk scowled.

"She still talking to him?"

"Yes," Zekk muttered, then blinked and turned his head to see who'd spoken.

Wes Janson stood there looking out at the X-wing, the sleeves of his yellow flight suit tied around his waist. He pulled a face and sat down beside the young Jedi, legs swinging over the edge of the roof.

"Um," Zekk said. "What are you doing up here?"

"What are you doing up here?"

"...point made."

Janson grinned at him, then looked out at Tahiri and Hobbie for another moment before lying back, hands behind his head. Staring up at the sky, he said, "I've hardly seen him since he got here."

Zekk made a non-committal sort of noise.

"And I bet you've not spoken to your girlfriend much since then, either."

"She's not my girlfriend," Zekk told him sharply.

"Ah," Janson said in an understanding tone. Zekk glanced over and saw a smirk on the older man's face. "You haven't got that far yet?"

"I don't want her to be my girlfriend."

"'Course," Janson said smoothly. He lifted his head a little to look at Zekk. "Not into her then? Playing for the other side?"

"No!"

"Okay."

There was a very long pause, while Zekk glared at Janson's smirk. Then he said, "What about you?"

"Well, I believe in equality, so--"

"I mean, why are you here?" He sighed, because they'd been over that already, in a way. "And what are you going to do about them?"

"Not a thing," Janson replied easily, lying back again. "I mean, if you're not upset..."

Zekk shrugged and turned to look back at the pair by the fighter again. Hobbie seemed to have finished his work and was leaning over the edge of his X-wing, chatting to Tahiri while the girl tilted her head back to smile at him.

"...of course, if you change your mind, I could maybe come up with something..."

With another sigh, Zekk nodded. "All right, Janson. Tell me what you've got."

Janson sat up again, holding the edge of the roof and grinning lopsidedly at Zekk. "Well..."

"No."

"Go on."

"Nope."

"Please."

"No."

"Please."

Jaina eyed Zekk critically. "Are you begging me?"

Something flashed in Zekk's eyes and then he looked away stoically. "Nope. Forget I asked."

A little exasperated, Jaina shook her head. She could sense her friend's annoyance at the question in the Force and, as he turned to leave, she touched his shoulder to stop him. With a resigned sigh, she said, "Just explain to me again why Janson wants my datapad?"

Some of Zekk's stubborness faded; he almost smiled at Jaina. "He needs codes on it, because he lost the ones General Antilles gave him--"

That certainly sounded like Wes.

"--and he doesn't want to admit it because he says Antilles will kill him, and he thinks you're -- this is a direct quote, by the way, not my words -- kind and generous enough as a Goddess to bestow such a favour upon one of your favourite subjects."

Definitely Wes.

"Are you sure that's what he said?" Jaina couldn't sense a lie from him, but when she thought about it, she couldn't really sense much of anything when he'd said that.

"Like I said, an exact quote."

Well ... no, even with that, she wasn't going to entrust her datapad to Wes Janson. He could come and ask for the codes himself if he wanted them that badly, and she told Zekk as much.

"But--" He seemed to try and think quickly. "--he's too in awe of your. Um. Majesty."

There was a pause, and then: "Tahiri's right. You've been spending way too much time with Janson."

Zekk blinked and looked a little sulky for a moment. "No, I-- Tahiri said that?"

It was Jaina's turn to blink, and she almost smirked at the feeling she could sense in the Force at that. It amused her, and she clung to that, trying to ignore the stab of resentment. "Yep. I think she's jealous."

"Of Wes?" Zekk asked incredulously.

"Like I said, way too much time." She eyed him again. "Actually, even I'm suspicious now. What have you been doing with Janson?"

Zekk glared at her and opened his mouth to answer, and Jaina covered her ears, quickly adding, "On second thoughts, I don't want to know."

"Oh, you're all comedians in this place. Almost as funny as Wes. What else did Tahiri say?"

Again, Jaina felt that odd mix of amusement and resentment. Why do I care? I love Jag, don't I? "I think you should go talk to her yourself."

Zekk seemed very conflicted about that thought, though it didn't show on his face. He stood at Jaina's door for another few moments, then nodded decisively. "Okay. I will."

Jaina felt his nervousness and put a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "Good luck, okay? And ... be nice. She's like a sister. I don't want to have to beat you up or anything, because you know I will. It's my right as a goddess."

He cracked a small smile and nodded. "Thanks." He moved to go, then turned back. "Um, if Wes comes to you ... tell him the plan's off."

"...plan? What plan?"

But Zekk was halfway down the corridor already, turning to throw her a jaunty salute that he'd obviously learnt from Wes.

Jaina sighed and watched him run off to find Tahiri, then closed her door, looking at it thoughtfully. That had been a very odd experience, and she hoped it didn't happen again. One friend under Wes Janson's influence was far more than enough.

Wes had been waiting by the entrance of the mess hall, but after an hour of no show from Zekk, he'd retreated to the far corner. From there he could still see the door, but he could also hide and drink Whyren's without Wedge seeing him and telling him off.

Apparently though, he'd started to pay more attention to the bottle than to the door, because it was rather a surprise when Hobbie dropped into the seat beside him.

"'lo there," Wes said, shifting his feet from the table to the floor and putting the bottle down. "Long time no see."

"Been doing a lot of work on my ship." Hobbie shrugged, looking rueful. "Had to fly it after a crash, didn't I? Burned out the hyperdrive."

"Oh yeah, you might've mentioned that in, huh, the hour or so I've seen you since you got here."

"You," Hobbie said, reaching over to pick the bottle up, "are jealous."

"I am not." Obviously in an effort to prove this, Wes shook his head and asked, "Have you seen Zekk anywhere? He was supposed to meet me here an hour ago."

"New boyfriend stood you up?"

"Shut up." Hobbie looked almost shifty, and this made Wes suspicious. Hobbie looking shifty wasn't a good thing. That was his job. "Might've done."

"When? Where?"

"About, hmm, just over an hour ago. Out by the landing pad."

Wes eyed him, then waved for him to continue. This seemed to amuse Hobbie, so he did.

"Tahiri and I were just finishing off the connections for the sublight drive -- she's not so good at the flying thing, but she knows a few tricks for ship repair, I guess cause she hung around the Solo kid--"

"Skip to the end."

"--right. So Zekk turns up and asks to talk to her, and she says that anything he wants to say to her, he can say in front of me."

Wes stared at Hobbie, mildly uncertain for a moment. He didn't like the sound of that, Tahiri being that close. Hobbie was his-- best friend.

"Wes?"

"Um. So what did he say?"

Hobbie just sort of cringed, but it was an amused cringe. "You know teenagers. Young love. Cute from a distance, but up close it's just embarrassing. I tried not to pay too much attention; they're off talking things out now themselves, I think."

Wes stared for another moment, then grinned, snickered, and finally laughed out loud. "Sithspit! She actually likes him back? I didn't see that coming." He shook his head, then asked, a little hesitantly, "What about you?"

Hobbie looked confused, and then incredulous as something clicked. "Are you joking? Wes, she's sixteen -- you didn't seriously think--?"

Wes tried very hard not to go red, and when it didn't work, he stole the bottle of Whyren's from Hobbie and took a swig. "'Course not. Nuh uh. And like I said, not jealous, either." There was a pause, then he sighed. "We had a whole plan though. It involved searching Jaina Solo's datapad for dirt." There was another pause. "It wasn't a very good plan," he conceded.

"You're an idiot sometimes." But Hobbie sounded amused. "I've just been talking to her a lot -- she's had a pretty hard time, y'know. Lost a lot of friends, been captured by the Vong... she's just a kid. But not. Y'know?"

"Yeah," Wes said slowly, and he did. War was a pretty rough thing. "When I was that age..."

"You hadn't even joined the Rebellion. I'd just entered the Academy."

"'s a different kinda war, this," Wes noted, taking another drink of Whyren's and handing the bottle to Hobbie. He grinned a little. "So you're not--"

"No."

"Good." And he leaned over as Hobbie drank from the bottle, kissing his cheek and making him jolt in surprise.

"Aw, Wesss," he whined, staring disdainfully at the liquor on his shirt. "You made me spill the Whyren's."

"Makes you smell like whiskey."

"That's a good thing, is it?"

Wes grinned his lopsided grin, and he didn't even care how obvious his relief about Tahiri was. "It is if you're off duty."

Hobbie studied him for a moment, then stood up, pulling Wes to his feet by his shirt. "Absolutely, Captain Janson. Free 'til tomorrow morning."

"A fantastic coincidence, Colonel Klivian," Wes said, waving Hobbie -- and the bottle -- towards the door, following close behind. "So am I."