A/N: Quick note I forgot in the prologue- some of the background plot of this story is drawn from elements of Legacy of the Force- nothing major, and Jacen isn't even IN this story, so it's still quite AU and we can skip that whole nonsense. But just so you know for later. ;-)

Part I

"Master Durron," Gavin Darklighter, admiral of the Galactic Alliance Armed Forces, commander of the Fourth Fleet, stood at his desk and beckoned the two robe-clad Jedi into his office. His gaze was locked on the second Jedi, however, who stood to Kyp's left and half a step behind. "And you must be Leyla. Do I address you as 'Apprentice Solo-Fel'?"

Her tone was soft but even. "Leyla is fine, sir."

"Very well then," he smiled lightly as he studied the girl's appearance. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you," he shook their hands in turn. "I have very fond memories of the times when your mother flew under my command in Rogue squadron."

Leyla and Kyp took the proffered seats, and Leyla leaned forward slightly as she addressed the admiral. "As does she, Admiral," she assured him, soft brown eyes twinkling mischievously. "Though she seemed to believe that your memories of her would be tainted by a certain amount of trouble-making on her part…"

He laughed. "I expect no less from Rogues," he drawled seriously before turning, almost reluctantly, to face the Jedi Master seated beside the teenager. "Master Durron," he nodded, "it's been a long time."

It had been; going on eighteen years, in fact. Kyp remembered their last conversation- with its fair share of raised voices and heated words- quite well, and he was confident that Darklighter remembered it even better.

"Indeed it has," was all he murmured evenly in returned.

The two men regarded one another carefully for a minute while Leyla sat somewhat awkwardly, peering around the office with affected nonchalance. Kyp had warned her that there might be a certain amount of tension between him and the admiral just before they had arrived- she just wished that she didn't have to be in the same room with it.

Then again, her presence very well may have been keeping the tension from developing into an argument- so she supposed her presence was really just a sacrifice for the greater good, and that's what the Jedi were all about, right?

The moment ended. Darklighter slid a datacard over the desk to Kyp. "Do I correctly understand that you'll be remaining with the Fourth for a standard month? Unless your presences are required elsewhere, that is?" They both nodded. "Very well; you'll be informally attached to Trinity squadron, under Colonel Lassiter; I think you'll find that Trinity suits your training purposes, the colonel has a certain… flexible outlook on training technique. A couple of Jedi pilots should mix things up nicely in the squadron."

"Yes, sir," Kyp grinned wryly.

Darklighter gestured to the datacard. "That has any access codes you'll need for the simulation rooms, your quarters, that sort of thing; I've found you some empty billets near the Trinity ready-room, there's little sense bunking you with the pilots for a month… you can report to Colonel Lassiter at thirteen hundred for sim training. Questions?"

They shook their heads.

"Excellent; my aide will see you to your quarters. Leyla," he redirected his gaze to her, "I wonder if you'd mind waiting in the outer office for a moment?"

"Of course not," she stood smoothly, surprise at the request not betrayed in her facial expressions nor in her body language. "Thank you, admiral."

They watched her leave, and Kyp turned back to Darklighter, brow cocked questioningly. "Admiral?"

The other man was still looking after Leyla, despite the fact that the door has closed behind her already. "She's certainly the daughter of Jaina Solo, isn't she?" he murmured.

"Physically, perhaps," Kyp answered slowly, trying to get a sense of what Darklighter wanted. "As she's gotten older though, her personality is more Jag than anything else. She's much more controlled than Jaina was at her age."

Darklighter's brows rose a moment before he chuckled softly to himself. "Yes, I remember. Tell me, how are Jaina and Jagged? Still enjoying the quiet life out on Ossus?"

"Hm," Kyp nodded, "though with Leyla running around with me now, I suspect they'll be spending more time at their place on Coruscant so the little guy can get to know his grandparents and his uncle a little better."

"Understandable." They regarded each other quietly for a moment. "Durron," Darklighter finally sighed, "you and I have had our fair share of differences…"

Kyp held up a hand. "Please, admiral; a lot has happened since then." Darklighter glanced pointedly towards the door through which Leyla had just disappeared. "I'm not the brash young man you last saw getting slapped on the bridge of the Ralroost."

After a moment, the admiral sighed. "No indeed," he conceded. "I daresay we've all grown since then, whether by choice or force…" he grinned sardonically. "But you'll forgive me if I continue to regard that memory with a great deal of fondness?"

Kyp snorted. "As long as somebody does; hell, Wedge probably pulled the security footage and made a copy for his own personal enjoyment."

That actually drew a laugh. "Alright, Durron, get out of here… you've got about an hour to relax and freshen up before sim training. I have to welcome some transferring communications-intel officer to my command- honestly, when it matters, you can't move people around if it's life-or-death, and when it doesn't, someone in command just gets a kick of showing that they can say 'go' and lesser-beings will obey."

Kyp chuckled. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." He ducked out of the office and found Leyla waiting patiently beside a wide-eyed female ensign- probably Darklighter's transfer, Kyp decided. At a desk was a young lieutenant who stood, turned, and led the way out of the office to show them where their respective quarters would be for the next month.

"What was that all about?" Leyla murmured close by his side as they followed the stiff-postured man towards a turbolift.

He leaned down by his daughter's ear and replied, "The admiral just wanted to reminisce about the last time we had the pleasure of serving together in a military capacity." She shot him a wry, sidelong glance, well aware of what had happened during that experience. "Really, as long as I can survive the next month without getting slapped, I think I'll be able to count this a success."

"Aren't we here so that I can get experience flying a snubfighter in a squadron setting?"

"Your training is secondary," he said flippantly, and then reached over and mussed her hair as she opened her mouth to protest. "Don't argue," he admonished jokingly. "You're the apprentice, you do what I say."

X-X-X-X

An hour later, Kyp and Leyla entered the training room indicated on the datacard Darklighter had given him. Leyla took a moment to look around, wide-eyed, at the two dozen flight simulators, about six of which were already up and running. Another few pilots were entering the room from other doors, or generally milling about and getting ready.

Kyp zeroed in on the nearest pilot, a slender woman sitting at a computer console, her blond hair pinned up in a low bun, typing quickly. "Excuse me," he stood over her shoulder as unobtrusively as he could manage, "I'm looking for Colonel Lassiter."

She swiveled the chair around and sat back, arms crossed, regarding him closely. "You must be Master Durron."

His eyes took in her rank insignia and he smiled wryly. "And you are, in fact, Colonel Lassiter."

"You're faster than most," she observed, sharp blue eyes dancing merrily. "And yes, I'm Gennevi Lassiter; have you already gotten on Admiral Darklighter's bad side, Master Durron?" she queried.

Leyla shot him an accusing look as she approached, but he just chuckled. "Not today, colonel; he just has a long memory."

"Hm," she cocked her head and glanced between the two Jedi before her. "Well, he told me to give you a hard time. You, on the other hand," she pinpointed her look on Leyla, "I was told to watch out for."

"Oh?" Leyla frowned lightly in confusion. "May I ask why?"

She grinned. "The admiral seems to feel that if you fly half as well as your mother, I'm in danger of embarrassing myself in front of my squadron by getting vaped by a rookie in your first trial run."

Leyla's returning smile was a little self-conscious. "I'm afraid the admiral may be disappointed, colonel," she remarked ruefully. "I'm a fair enough pilot, but I never quite developed the enthusiasm that made my mother great. By my age, my mother was flying with Rogue squadron and my fa- stepfather," she amended mildly awkwardly, "was a commander in his own right leading a Chiss house phalanx."

"Perhaps circumstances dictated their paths," Lassiter pointed out. "What you see as enthusiasm could have been, in their minds, necessity." She smiled. "You have the good fortune of growing up in a time of relative peace and stability." Her gaze swung back to Kyp. "And yourself, Master Durron? I understand you're a formidable pilot yourself; what were you doing at the age of sixteen?"

His lips quirked in a wry smile. "At sixteen? I was in my seventh year of an indeterminate sentence as a slave in the spice mines of Kessel."

Lassiter's eyes flickered and she pursed her lips. "Of course," she murmured. "My apologies." He waved her off and smiled easily, and she relaxed again and glanced towards the last pilots who were disappearing into the simulator units. "We're doing straight training today- XJ-seven model sim, every pilot for themselves, no wingmates… last one alive wins."

"What's the reward for being the winner?" Kyp asked with a smirk.

Her grin was mischievous. "I'll let you know when someone manages to beat me." Leyla looked between the two of them a moment, a light frown playing across her features. "If you two would rather sit out the first run and get comfortable with the controls, feel free."

"A Jedi must adapt quickly and efficiently," Kyp deadpanned, before shooting a glance at his daughter. "Leyla?"

She shrugged. "I'm in."

X-X-X-X

Leyla did not vape the squadron commander in her first run; she did, however, take out two of the other eleven Trinity pilots before Lassiter's second-in-command took out her shields and another ship swooped around for the final kill while she was still trying to dodge Major Norski.

Kyp was on a whole different level from her, however, despite the fact that he hadn't really flown a fighter in combat in years. Most of the Trinity pilots seemed to recognize that early on, and left him more or less to Lassiter's devices, and the two of them danced around each other for several minutes after everyone else was out before she got off a lucky shot that tore through his canopy.

They ran three more simulations over the next hour. In the last one, Leyla managed to survive the rest of the squadron, save the colonel and Kyp, and she did manage to tear Kyp's shields down- and an instant later, Lassiter came from nowhere and got a quick kill on both of them.

The squadron was in good spirits when they assembled afterwards, peering interestedly at the Jedi Master and his young apprentice. It was a mostly human assemblage, though Major Norski was a duros and there was a weequay, a rodian, and a ho'din among the rest of the pilots.

Lassiter held up a hand and the murmur of chatter died away instantly. "Good run today, everyone," she said. "As usual, you'll have an analysis report before dinner, go over it and make any notes of how you could have improved in any of the trials…" she glanced down at her datapad before switching it off and sliding it in a pocket. "For the next month, we'll be joined by Jedi Master Kyp Durron here and his apprentice, Leyla Solo-Fel." Unsurprisingly, the name 'Solo' drew some interest among the assembled crowd. "I trust that you'll make them feel welcome and that you'll restrain yourselves from any immature initiation pranks…" she looked pointedly at a young man and the female rodian who grinned abashedly.

"Yeah," Kyp broke in, "we're Jedi, we can see right through those… so they better be some good pranks…"

Most of them laughed; Lassiter rolled her eyes. "Don't encourage them," she muttered. "Dinner at eighteen hundred; four, five, and six flights, you're on patrol duty tonight from twenty-one hundred until oh-three-hundred."

She nodded sharply and they dispersed. Leyla fell into step beside her father with a broad grin on her face. As they turned down the corridor towards their quarters, he glanced warily at her and cocked a brow. "And just what are you so amused about, young lady?"

"You like her."

He scowled. "What?"

"The colonel."

He pursed his lips. "She seems to be a very able squadron leader."

Leyla's eyes narrowed. "That's not what I meant."

She stopped at her room and he continued a few steps before turning and regarding her seriously. "Leyla, you better watch it- or I'm going to tell your mother that you almost shot me down today."

"Won't that just make her proud?"

He paused and considered before heaving a sigh. "Point."

X-X-X-X