Chapter Six

When Jaina arrived in the cockpit, Jacen was absent and a tired looking Ganner sat at the controls.

"You all right?" Jaina asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Hmm?" he asked, looking up. "Yeah, I'm fine." He gave her a once-over and raised an eyebrow. "What were you up to?"

"Oh, uh, sparring with Lehada," she said, turning away.

"Ahh, I see," he replied, winking.

Jaina shot him a look and he changed the subject. "So, there aren't too many kinds of things out there that are going to kill us," he continued. "Unfortunately, the kinds that there are are the worst of the kind."

Jaina looked at him, confused. "What was that again?"

Ganner laughed, a deep, masculine laugh that for some reason made Jaina's stomach flip. She caught herself and looked at him again, smiling. "Seriously. Totally missed that."

Ganner smiled. "What's out there, while there's not a lot of it, it's bad," he said simply.

Jaina nodded. Noticing that the rain had slowed, she asked, "Want to go take a look at the damage?"

Rhysode nodded and stood up. "I'll go tell the others. Go get your cape--it's cold out there."

* * * * *

The damage was worse than they thought. All though the hyperdrive was fixable--Jacen and Kamik-Ir were diligently working on it--and the motivator needed and overhaul--Lehada was in charge of that--Jaina and Ganner noticed several other things that would need to be repaired before they could safely go wherever it was they decided to go from here. Jaina returned to the ship to grab a few tools needed for the repulsor that she and Ganner were working on, and noticed that Lehada looked liked her needed a hand.

"You all right in there?" she called. The Jedi was squatting on the floor, cursing something and throwing his expander across the room.

"Me? I'm fine," he replied. "It's the damn ship that's not."

"What's wrong?" she said, squatting down next to him.

"Look," he said, pointing. "It's all fried." He was right; the wires were blackened and beyond repair. "I'm going to have to replace them all." He looked at Jaina with a frustrated face. They were sitting close now, each not knowing what to do next.

"Here," Jaina said, reaching forward to pull out one of the wires. "If you--ouch!" she yelled, quickly pulling her hand back. "Force, that hurt!"

"Let me see," he said, gently taking her hand in his. "It's not too bad, just a burn. Here," he said, placing her hand on his, and laying his palm over that. Closing his eyes, he concentrated. Jaina's pain slowly vanished.

"Where'd you learn that?" she asked. "I'm impressed!"

Lehada smiled, but didn't let go of her hand. She tried to pull it away, but he resisted. "Let go of my hand," she whispered.

Lehada smiled his roguish smile and gently let her hand drop. "Sorry, sweetheart."

Jaina simply shook her head and stood up. Leaving the room, she called, "Good luck with that."

In truth, she really wanted to scream. Why wouldn't he leave her alone! She had no feelings for the man, yet he seemed to keep advancing on her. He reminded her so much of someone...

* * * * *

"You all right?" Ganner asked when she returned outside a few minutes later. "I though you fell asleep or something."

"I was only gone a minute!" Jaina snapped back. Ganner looked hurt but didn't respond. "Sorry," she said softly. "It's just that..."

Ganner held up his hand. "Please. You don't have to explain."

Jaina smiled. "Thanks," she said, and handed him the supplies he needed. "He just pisses me off, that's all."

Ganner smiled. "Like I said, no need to explain. He does that to everyone."

"Really?" she smirked sarcastically. "Just seems to be more annoying than usual...and he just reminds me so much of someone, but I can't place him."

"Kyp." Ganner looked at her, and Jaina just sat there stunned. "He reminds you of Kyp." Jaina's eyes darted back and forth because she didn't know how to respond. "You don't have to say anything," Ganner continued. "I know that's a tough subject."

"Excuse me?" Jaina demanded, suddenly regaining her composure. "And why would that be a tough subject?!"

"Face it, Jaina. Everyone knows what you went through with him." Ganner's eyes softened. "He led you on, and then treated you horribly. He was a jackass."

"You don't know the half of it," she snapped back.

"Maybe you can tell me sometime," he responded harshly, somehow spurred by her anger.

"Yeah, maybe I will," she returned, standing quickly. "But it's not likely."

As Jaina huffed quickly away, Ganner simply shook his head. Women were one thing. Solo women were another.