Jaina Solo settled herself down into the cockpit of her X-wing as Cappie was lowered into his socket by a maintenance tech. She began the startup sequence of the fighter as the canopy started to close.
She glanced across the hangar bay at Jag's clawcraft. Jaina desperately wanted him out there today to fly her wing during the squadron's live-fire exercises, but he was still in the bacta tank. Hopefully, he'll get out tomorrow, she thought. I miss him so much.
Cappie trilled and Jaina looked down at her board for the translation. She had to will herself to keep breathing when she saw the words on the board: You are not Yun-Harla. You are nothing but a blasphemer.
"Cappie, what's wrong with you?" Jaina asked, fear creeping into her voice. She tried to clamp down on her fear. Fear is of the Dark Side. I've already been there, and I have no intention of visiting again.
Nothing is wrong with me, the translation of Cappie's beeps said. I have become enlightened. You blaspheme the Gods. You will die for your blasphemy.
Jaina flipped on her comm unit, but got an error message on her main board: Comm unit is non-functional. She hit her fist against the board and cursed: long, loud, and colorfully. "Blast it, Cappie! Let me use my comm!" she demanded.
I cannot allow that, her droid told her.
Kyp, I've got a problem, she called out mentally to her second-in-command. She reached up to pop her canopy, but Cappie had already vacuum sealed it. There was no way she was getting out unless Cappie wished it. Which he obviously doesn't.
What's wrong? Jaina felt more than heard the words from Kyp. However, she could plainly feel his concern and worry. Everyone had been on high alert since it had been announced that there was a Vong traitor in the base. Somehow, Kyp knew that something was, in fact, horribly wrong.
Cappie's been sabotaged, she sent to him, along with the image of her droid turning into a Vong warrior. He's got me stuck in here.
She felt his mind begin to race and saw the canopy of his fighter start to rise. He hopped down to the floor of the hangar and she watched him sprint over to her ship. He jumped up and crouched on the nose of Jaina's X-wing, right in front of the canopy. He pulled something out of his pocket, and held it up for Jaina to see.
Cursing her stupidity, Jaina pulled out her own comlink and flipped it on. "How are you planning on getting me out of here?" she asked.
"If I have to, I'll just cut through the canopy," Kyp replied. He clipped his comlink to his collar and began to feel around the edges of Jaina's cockpit. "But I hope that it won't come to that. It might be hard to get a replacement all the way out here."
Jaina thought for a moment, trying to come up with an alternate course of action. "Kyp," she said suddenly, startling the Jedi Master. "If you can get Cappie out of his socket, then I can override the astromech programming and get out of here."
Cappie trilled, and Jaina looked at the board for the translation. There is no escape. The ship started to rise, and Jaina looked in alarm at her board. The repulsorlifts were active. Cappie was going to take them out into space.
"Kyp, I suggest you hurry," she told him, a note of urgency in her voice.
Kyp didn't waste anytime. He crawled over Jaina's canopy so that he was almost lying down on top of it, right in front of Cappie. Jaina twisted around in her seat so that she was kneeling on it and could see the astromech socket. She felt Kyp reach out and get Cappie in a Force-grip. She reached out, lending him her strength. He pulled, and Cappie went flying upward, his information jack getting sheared off in the process.
Jaina dropped back down into her seat. She punched in her override codes, then punched the button that shut down the repulsors, hoping against hope that her plan worked. She breathed a sigh of relief when the X-wing dropped heavily to the ground, jolting Kyp off of the canopy. Not even noticing her fellow pilot's situation, she popped her canopy, letting cool air flood in.
Jaina flipped off her comlink, stuffed it in a pocket, took off her helmet, then vaulted from her ship to the floor, landing gracefully on her feet. Kyp was just now getting his feet under himself and standing. He scowled at the back of Jaina's head, but she didn't notice. All her attention was on the droid before her.
Being careful to avoid the sparking wires from where his information jack had been torn off, Jaina crouched in front of Cappie. "Cappie, what's gotten into you?"
The droid tootled a reply, but Jaina couldn't understand it. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a maintenance tech showed up and attached a restraining bolt to the astromech's side. The tech pressed a button on a remote, and walked off, the droid obediently following her.
Jaina held her hand out, and Kyp dropped his comlink onto her open palm. She tuned the device to the Twin Suns tactical frequency. "All units, this is Lead. Our exercises for the day are canceled," she told them. "I will contact you later about tomorrow's exercises. Lead out." She flicked off the device and handed it back to Kyp.
"What's wrong with your droid?" Kyp asked, rubbing his arm where he had fallen on it. He watched as Jaina hopped up on her X-wing to crouch just aft of the astromech socket.
"Something Vong related," she told him, looking down at him. "He said that I wasn't Yun-Harla and that I deserved to die for my blasphemy." She leaned down so she could see into the socket and carefully pulled out the end of Cappie's information jack. At the end of the jack was some sort of opaque creature.
Hopping down, Jaina showed her find to Kyp. "This look Vong to you?" she asked, handing him the jack.
Kyp studied the creature, but made sure not to touch it. "You're our resident expert, but it looks Vong to me," he told her, handing her back the jack. He looked her in the eye, emerald gaze meeting brandy. "I guess this proves we have a traitor working with the Vong."
He didn't say anymore, but Jaina knew what he wanted to add. And he/she/it/they have access to the hangar bay and our ships.
"We'd better go show this to Uncle Luke," Jaina said, heading towards the hangar door, Kyp falling into step beside her. "We need to find this traitor soon. Before someone winds up dead."
Luke Skywalker sighed as the door closed silently behind Kyp and Jaina. He looked down at the opaque creature lying in the middle of the desk in front of him. It was obviously Vong, and that was a problem.
The Jedi Master looked at the still-holos on the desk in front of him. This being Kam's office, there were numerous holos of Tionne and Yavin 4. There was even a holo of one-day old Mekira. I hope I won't have to tell Kam that we have to move the Jedi again, he thought wearily. The students need stability.
Slouching down into the hoverchair, Luke closed his eyes. And we thought that this was the safest place in the galaxy. All of the sudden, though, the Maw wasn't safe at all. Even if the Vong weren't there yet, they would be soon.
The door chimed, and Luke jumped. He had been so deep in contemplation that he hadn't even felt anyone approach. Slipping the Vong creature into the bottom desk drawer, Luke called out, "Enter."
Ganner Rysode entered, but stopped a meter into the room. He bowed respectfully, then asked, "You wished to see me, Master?"
"Yes, I do. Please, have a seat," Luke told the younger man, gesturing to a chair on the other side of the desk. He waited until Ganner was seated before continuing. "I have a mission for you, Ganner."
The younger man raised his eyebrows in polite surprise and curiosity, but said nothing. However, Luke could feel his strong curiosity just under the surface.
"I need you to escort Queen Mother Tenel Ka from Hapes to here and back again," Luke said. Ganner opened his mouth to say something. "Before you complain, let me explain my reasons." The other man shut his mouth obediently. "Tenel Ka is coming here for the Knighting ceremony. And, as you probably know, almost the entire Vong invasion corridor is between here and Hapes. If she doesn't get here safely, and then get home safely, the Hapans will hate the Jedi even more than they do already."
"But why me?" Ganner asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. "I mean, I can pilot, sure, but I'm no Jaina Solo in that regard. Why not send her?"
Luke pondered that. I can't just tell him that Jaina had a vision that had him and Tenel Ka married. But he'll know if I lie to him. Come on, Luke, think!
"You'll just have to trust me on this, Ganner," the Jedi Master finally said. "I can't tell you why, but you have to go, and escort Tenel Ka here."
Ganner rolled his eyes, but nodded as he stood. "If there's nothing else, I'll go prepare a ship."
"Wait, there's one more thing," Luke told him, pulling two datacards from a desk drawer. He handed the two wafers to Ganner. "The top datacard has reports on it that I want you to send off to Borleias. The bottom one is a message for Tenel Ka and Prince Isolder. Hand it to no one but them."
"Yes, Master," Ganner replied, turning. He began to head towards the door, but stopped when Luke called out to him.
"Make sure you take one of the academy's unmarked shuttles," the older man said. "We don't want the Vong to connect the shuttle to either Tenel Ka or the Jedi."
"Yes, Master," Ganner said again, then was gone, the door shutting quietly behind him.
Luke sighed again, folding his arms on the desk, and resting his head on his arms. "I really hope I know what I'm doing," he murmured quietly. I hope I'm not messing up the future that Jaina saw. Because if I am, I will never forgive myself.
Ganner Rysode walked down the corridor, the two datacards Master Skywalker had given him in his hand. He was puzzled, though. Master Skywalker isn't telling me something. He's got something big that he's not telling me. Why would he send me instead of a better pilot to bring Tenel Ka here?
The obvious reason was that all of the better pilots were need to stay at Shelter to protect the Jedi against a possible Vong invasion. But if that's the case, then she won't be any safer here than at her home.
Sighing in frustration, Ganner rounded a corner and ran smack into someone. "I'm so sorry," he said, looking up at who he had run into.
"That's okay," Valin Horn said. "There's something obviously on your mind. You're preoccupied. And I'm fine. No harm done."
Ganner nodded. "So, how're you doing, kid? You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Valin answered. "I mean, delivering a baby can mess with your mind a little, but I'm more worried about Master Tionne and Mekira. I was just on my way to check on Master Tionne in the med bay. How about you?"
"I off to escort Tenel Ka from Hapes to here and back," Ganner told the teen. "Sorry if I sound rude, but I have to go and get ready. We need to get back here as soon as possible, for the Knighting ceremony."
"May the Force be with you," Valin told him, walking away towards the med bay.
"Thanks. And with you, too." I don't know about you, but I'm sure I'm going to need it.