5 Things That Never Happened To Jaina Solo
I
"Mistress Jaina? Are you ready?" Threepio toddled up to Jaina Solo, who didn't answer.
"Hey, Sis, we're waiting for you out there." Jacen Solo looked at his twin. "What's up, Jay?"
What was up was this; Jaina Solo, Sword of the Jedi, one of the galaxy's best known Jedi Knights...
Was scared to death.
Han said, "Take it easy, Jaina. This is the easy part—it's not killing him because of the arguments in the forty years or so to come that's hard."
"Thank you very little, Dad," Jaina mock-glowered at her father.
"Do you, Jagged Fel, take this woman to be your lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold, and to cherish forever in marriage?"
Jag did not hesitate. "I do."
"And do you, Jaina Solo, take this man to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold, and to cherish forever in marriage?"
She did not hesitate either. "I do."
"Then, by the power vested in me by the Galactic Alliance, I pronounce you husband and wife." Then Wedge Antilles turned to him and said, "Well, what are you waiting for, Jag? Kiss the girl!"
And Jag did.
II
"Rogues." Gavin Darklighter's cry caught Jaina off guard. "Somebody just sucked Champ's shields. Get clear!"
What had they done, brought in another big one just outside Jaina's line of sight? She wrenched her stick and punched for full speed.
She was passing Champion's port nacelle when light broke through from deep inside. Slowly, with an eerie, fatal beauty, a seam opened on Champ's glossy side.
"Sticks," a voice shouted in her ear. "Eleven, get clear!"
"Full power, Sparky!" Jaina called to her R2. "Go—"
The blast flung her against her instrument panel. Rudder panels seemed to crush up through her legs. Her cockpit's sides buckled, then vanished. A siren shrieked in her ears, blaring in rhythm with a synthesized voice.
"Ejection. Ejection."
She flailed down into the Force, grasping desperately. Almost...
A white explosion of pain washed awareness away.
Then a black tide washed the pain and everything else away for all time.
III
"A new queen will be named very soon."
Another faint murmur rippled through the hall, rising in volume as two young women strode forward. The crowd fell back to let them pass.
Jaina noticed that Ta'a Chume's eyes flickered from her to Tenel Ka, lingering on neither. The queen removed the crown she'd just donned and handed it to the prince. Through the Force, Jaina felt the woman's faint, feline satisfaction.
Suddenly, she understood. If Isolder offered Jaina the crown now, at a time of crisis and before a roomful of people, she could hardly refuse it. Ta'a Chume fully expected Jaina to eagerly seize the power. With stunning clarity, Jaina glimpsed herself through Ta'a Chume's eyes. When the queen looked upon the Jedi pilot, she saw a younger version of herself.
They stopped at the front of the audience chamber. Tenel Ka turned to face Jaina. "There are times when personal inclinations must be put aside. But I can see that this is not one of them. I have no desire to lead others, and I can see that it is a skill that you possess far more readily than me. You will take up my mother's crown, and I will defend it and you if I must. But for now, we have a common foe."
The Jedi women regarded each other for a long, silent moment.
"Let's go," Jaina said.
A faint smile touched Tenel Ka's lips. Jaina strode over to Isolder, and dropped to one knee. Without hesitation he placed the crown on her head.
IV
Jaina awakened from the vision with a start, breathing as hard as if she'd just run a twenty-kilometer sprint with Tenel Ka. Slowly she became aware of an urgent voice, and turned dazedly to face it. She recoiled at the sight of Kyp Durron's concerned face.
"You brought me out of the trance. Why?"
He rocked back on his heels and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe I have some sense of what you were going through."
She shook him off, but she couldn't dismiss that there was something compelling in Kyp's watchful green eyes that, for once, had nothing to do with the Force. And something else there, too...
"Whatever you're planning, forget it." Jaina scoffed, and started to move away. "I get the feeling you're about to toss your life away, sacrificing it as Anakin did. Not long ago, you told me that Anakin might have had the answers. We can't let them just disappear into mist along with you."
We can't, or you can't, Kyp? "Don't put that on me," Jaina said slowly. "You really think I'm on a journey to discover what the Jedi should be?"
"It makes sense," Kyp said. "You've got the talent, the heritage. Maybe there's something to all this talk of destiny."
She would not look at him. "Get out."
"No."
Then she turned. "No?"
"No." He stepped towards her. "I'm not leaving you to get yourself killed, and I'm not going to just quietly go out of your life." He got very close to her then, and said softly, "Did you really think that I'd just walk away?"
Then Jaina lashed out with a right that, had he not caught it, would have knocked his nose to the other side of his head. His grip was soft but firm, unrelenting. As was his gaze. Then she angrily threw a left, which he also caught. Emotion overwhelming her, she started to cry. Using his grip on her arms, he pulled her into an embrace that she could not have escaped, even if she wanted to.
Which she didn't. As she sobbed quietly into his shoulder, he said softly, "I'll never leave. No matter what happens, I'll always be here for you. Always."
Those were the last words he said to her before their lips met.
V
"Lady Viraga?"
The girl did not turn. Lady Lumiya came and stood beside her. "Quite a sight, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."
They both gazed out through space at Yavin IV. "It has been a long time since I was here."
"Yes, I know. Painful memories?"
"Mostly from the Shadow Academy."
Lumiya flinched. "What happened to you there was horrid. No child should ever go through that."
Viraga, her name rooted in the word 'virago', turned to Lumiya. "It was, until you came and destroyed it. Rescuing me, my brother and Lowie, sending them back to Yavin IV, that was very kind of you."
"It just goes to show that not all people who take the title 'Sith' are evil."
"And that not all those who don't take the title are good." She shuddered, remembering, despite what Lumiya had tried to help her forget, what horrible things Brakiss and Tamith Kai had done to her and Jacen. "I'm glad I came with you."
"And so am I, Lady Viraga." Then Lumiya closed her eyes, focused, and became Shira Brie.
"Jaina, ready to go home?"
Lady of the Sith Viraga, once called Jaina Solo, smiled with Jaina Solo's smile, and spoke in Jaina Solo's voice. "Yes, I am."
