***
Jaina, hair damp and wearing a clean jumpsuit, stood in the Pilot's Lounge, or so it was called. Usually, only pilots were admitted to this area of the ship; and the pilots had a strict 'no décor' rule. Tables and chairs had been drug aside, allowing more space for the party. Groups of fighters mingled around, laughing and chatting. Not crazy enough for a true Rogue party- yet.
Shawnkyr looked faintly amused, standing by herself off in one corner.
Jaina approached her, a smile brightening her features. "Not used to parties?"
Shawnkyr nodded. "And, it's hard to believe that there's a party being thrown in honor of my safe return."
Jaina grinned. "You know those Rogues. They look everywhere for a chance at liquor, sabacc and to brag about their exploits."
Shanwkyr nodded again. "True. Back home, our pilots are more reserved; not quite as proud or cocky."
"The New Republic X-wing pilots are renowned for their pride and egos." Jaina said, eyes sparkling.
"Miss Solo!" exclaimed Janson, approaching. "I see you are without an adequate amount of alcohol! Allow me to correct this terrible wrongdoing!"
Jaina rolled her eyes. "Later, Wes. Don't you have a game of sabacc to be playing?"
He grinned. "Actually, I was looking for players. Interested, Great One?"
"No. Ask me later."
Janson shrugged. "Your loss. Excuse me, O Great and Glorious One Who Must Be Obeyed, I must go harass other beings into a game of sabacc with me."
Jaina nodded, a smirk forming on her lips as she watched him head towards Wedge. She shook her head. "Hopeless, isn't he?"
"Quite."
Jaina grinned, suddenly tugging Shawnkyr towards the bar. "I'm thirsty. Aren't you?"
Shawnkyr shrugged. "I am fine."
The server droid, a protocol droid cobbled together of silver and gold parts, approached the two. "What do you two young ladies want?"
Jaina glanced at Shawnkyr. "I want a lomin-ale, please." A grin tugged at her mouth, recalling the amazingly annoying song Wes had been singing earlier about lomin-ale.
The droid turned expectantly to Shawnkyr. "And you, miss?"
"A brandy."
"Of course." He shuffled off, returning a moment later with a mug of foaming ale, and a glass of golden brandy.
Wes approached again, taking the mug of ale. "Thanks, Squeak."
If the droid could have glared, Janson would have been receiving the hardest stare possible of a droid. "Please return the drink to the young lady, Janson."
Wes cracked a grin, blowing off the foam and passing the mug to Jaina. "I'll take one of those, too, Squeaky."
The droid half turned. "You will be served as soon as there are no other patrons waiting for drinks. It would do you good to not attempt to irritate me again."
Wes raised an eyebrow. "Someone fried a servomotor." He muttered, before brightening. "Ah, yes, that reminds me. I forgot to ask you, Miss Nuruodo, do you play sabacc?"
Her eyes took a feral glint. "I do."
"Care to join in a game?" he inquired. "Me, Wedge, Tycho, Han and Lando are playing as well."
Shawnkyr considered, before turning to Jaina. "You would not mind, would you?"
Jaina smiled. "Go ahead. Under one condition, of course."
"What would that be?"
"You don't lose to any of the old guys."
Something close to an amused smile spread on her face. "I'll remember that."
"Right this way, Miss Nuruodo," Wes said, steering her towards the sabacc table.
Jaina sighed, leaning back against the bar. She took a swallow of her lomin- ale when Jag approached, a small smile on his lips. "Hey, Colonel." Jaina greeted him.
"No décor, remember, Lieutenant?" he whispered.
Jaina chuckled. "It's Goddess to you, and don't you forget it."
Jag rolled his light emerald eyes. "I won't."
Jaina grinned. "Enjoying the party?"
"Enjoying the company, more so."
Jaina's eyebrows shot up, and she blushed noticeably. A grin blossomed on her face. "Some one's been reading Wes's copy of 'Smooth Talking For Nerfs and Their Herders', hasn't he?"
Jag feigned shock. "How did you know?!"
Jaina laughed; a rich, beautiful sound to Jag's ears. He noticed as her face lit up and he decided then and there that he was going to try to make her laugh more often. He resisted the very strong temptation to kiss her right then and there. *Not in the middle of the party, not with all these onlookers…* he reminded himself. He was aware of someone trying to get his attention. "What?" he said, jolted back to reality.
Jaina giggled again. " Spacing on me, Jag? Squeaky was asking what you wanted to drink."
"Can I get a whiskey, Squeak?"
"Most certainly." Said the droid, squeaking off towards the other end of the bar.
"Well," he said, "This is a nice party. Do the Rogues throw parties often?"
Jaina snorted. "Yeah, yeah, they do. But, you wouldn't call an official Rogue party nice. More like, insane, heavy drinking, bragging, fighting, discussing and bar brawls all rolled into one night."
Jag laughed. "Sounds like fun."
"Yeah, they were. Haven't been a Rogue for awhile, though, so I'm not sure how much they've changed." She said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"They haven't trust me, Jaina." A voice said from behind her, startling her.
"Gavin!" she exclaimed, spinning around to hug her old commanding officer and long-time family friend.
"Just wanted to say congratulations on a successful mission, Jaina. I'll leave you and Jag alone now." He said, winking.
Jaina's cheeks burned and she saw out of the corner of her eye that Jag was similarily blushing.
Gavin laughed at the two, before moving on to another group.
*Sithspit, *Jaina thought, *Is it really that obvious?!*
***
Jaina strolled into the briefing room, a smile on her face. This morning a joint squadron briefing was being held, with the Rogues and Twin Suns. "Good morning, people!"
She got a half-mumbled response from the group, and she grinned. "I said, Good morning people!"
Someone called, "Good morning, Goddess," but other than that, most of the pilots had their heads on the table tops, or resting in their hands, or they were sleeping.
"Still recovering from a hangover, Major Janson?" she asked.
The pilot raised his head from the table, bleary eyed and grumbling. "Stop shouting, Great One." He hesitated, before adding, "Please."
Jaina exchanged an amused glance with Gavin Darklighter, the leader of Rogue Squadron. "Caf's on the way," he said.
"Good. Better be brewed strong and hot enough to melt transparisteel." Janson mumbled, resting his head on the table.
Just then, Squeaky came in, a hovercart of pastries and caf behind him. Most of the pilots rose to grab a drink and a pastry.
"Anyways," Jaina said, raising her voice, "I guess you all need another day's worth of rest."
The group nodded, and she smiled sweetly. "But you won't get one."
Rogues and Twin Suns groaned in protest.
Jaina held a hand up. "I'm not finished yet. General Antilles has yet to inform us of our new base location, so we're going to be sticking with the Dream until further notice."
Gavin took over from there. "This gives us plenty of time to sim, and practice. This is not leave, so I want all of you down in the sim chamber; not all at once, but everyone needs to log at least an hour down there. If you don't: kitchen duty, peeling tubers, and that sort of thing."
"Questions?" Jaina asked.
"Yes," said Wes.
"What?" Jaina asked irritably.
"Who brewed this caf?! It's terrible!"
"No questions." Jaina said to Gavin, ignoring Janson's comment.
"Good." Gavin said.
"Dismissed." They both said, and the half of the pilots rose, while the others stayed put.
Jaina pushed her way through the pilots, catching up with Jag. "Want to sim with me?" she asked.
He nodded. "As long as you won't cry because you'll have lost so terribly."
She rolled her eyes. "If anyone's crying, Colonel, it's gonna be you."
"We'll see about that." he said, smiling.
***
"Break port, Two!" Jaina called to her wingmate, Kyp Durron.
The X-wing behind hers slipped to port.
"Thanks, One." Kyp said.
Jaina heeled her fighter hard to starboard, dropping behind another X-wing and started painting its shields with ruby laser fire. The fighter jinked, and Jaina followed the pilot's movements closely. An alarm went off suddenly, announcing a target lock. She jammed the stick forward, diving down, and rolled out of the lock.
"Sithspit…" she muttered, sliding her X-wing on to its port s-foil. She snapped a quick stutter shot at the other ship, before banking around and racing off towards the other enemy ship. "Two, give me a hand here!" she called.
"Sorry, One. Little tied up here myself." Kyp said back.
Jaina gritted her teeth and flipped over to quad-linked lasers. Jaina chased the fighter, snapping off shots when she could, and she realized the pilot was leading them towards Kyp. She noticed the blip that had been designated enemy red on her sensor board disappear. "Good shooting, Two." She said, and before she could call a warning, the enemy she'd been pursuing turned Two into a flaming ball of debris.
Jaina cursed softly to herself, and she decided right then and there that she was going to get the pilot. She was almost certain it was Jag, but she was too focused on the sim to check. She knew if her concentration slipped for just a moment, the other pilot would gain the advantage, and possibly catch her. They raced on, neither one catching the other, and Jaina was about to call a stalemate, when she suddenly grinned as an idea formed in her head. She dropped two shadow bombs, but left them drifting, and she flipped her s-foils to cruise.
Jaina nailed the thrusters, and rocketed back towards the direction she'd just come from. Jag bit the bait, and yanked his ship around in pursuit. As soon as he'd passed over the bombs, Jaina used the Force to guide them, now sending them racing after Jag.
She grinned triumphantly; she knew she'd won, when the sim terminated, and the canopy popped open.
She was about to protest, figuring Jag had cut the sim because he knew he'd lost, when Kyp's voice filled her comm speakers. "Isn't three and a half hours long enough for you two? Don't you ever tire of playing cat and mouse?"
"No." Jag said stiffly, barely keeping his irritation in check. I was about to win! Another thirty seconds, and I'd have had her! he thought, frustrated.
"I was about to win, Kyp. Couldn't you have waited another thirty seconds?" Jaina asked tightly.
"No. Me and Shawnkyr left to grab a bite to eat, and then we waited, observing for quite sometime. And then, we got sick of watching." Kyp replied.
Jaina yanked off her helmet and flight gloves, tossing them to the sim chair. She leapt out of the sim, furious. "Dismissed, Durron." She spat.
He looked stunned for a moment, then nodded, his smile icy. "As you wish, Goddess."
He turned sharply, and Shawnkyr left with him, leaving the two storming pilots in the sim room alone.
Jaina hissed out a sigh of vexation, turning to face Jag. "Children these days."
He nodded. "What is society coming to, that two pilots can't even sim together without being interrupted?"
She half-smiled. "A shame."
Jag nodded again. "I almost had you beat, too."
She frowned, a smile creeping on her face. "What are you talking about? I almost had you ."
"No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. You were retreating! I had a lock on you, in a matter of seconds, I would have had you free floating atoms."
"I released two shadow bombs, which had just conveniently begun their deadly pursuit of you, Colonel."She returned.
Jag's emerald eyes narrowed. "They would have missed; my sensor board would have alerted me in time-"
"Would not! You would have been fried before you knew what hit you!" she argued.
Jag stepped closer to her, looking down into her eyes. "No, I wouldn't have been fried. I am the superior pilot here, I would have been able to jink out of the way in time, and then, your precious shadow bombs would have locked onto you. "
"Think what you will-" and then, Jag leaned down and kissed her, effectively ending any attempt at a response. Jaina was stunned for a moment, but she returned the kiss, her arms snaking around his neck as his wound around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
"Eew! What are you two doing?!" yelped someone.
Jaina jerked out of the kiss, and turned, embarrassed and irritated.
The commentator's eyes widened as he realized whom it was he'd just caught kissing. "Oh…oh, this is too good! I've got to tell the others!" he turned and sprinted off, and Jaina's eyes widened in horror. "Wes Janson! Get back here, now! "
She took off running after the pilot, Jag on her heels. She sensed his embarrassment at being caught, and he felt guilt about it as well. She smirked. This is so not good…
***
Jaina, hair damp and wearing a clean jumpsuit, stood in the Pilot's Lounge, or so it was called. Usually, only pilots were admitted to this area of the ship; and the pilots had a strict 'no décor' rule. Tables and chairs had been drug aside, allowing more space for the party. Groups of fighters mingled around, laughing and chatting. Not crazy enough for a true Rogue party- yet.
Shawnkyr looked faintly amused, standing by herself off in one corner.
Jaina approached her, a smile brightening her features. "Not used to parties?"
Shawnkyr nodded. "And, it's hard to believe that there's a party being thrown in honor of my safe return."
Jaina grinned. "You know those Rogues. They look everywhere for a chance at liquor, sabacc and to brag about their exploits."
Shanwkyr nodded again. "True. Back home, our pilots are more reserved; not quite as proud or cocky."
"The New Republic X-wing pilots are renowned for their pride and egos." Jaina said, eyes sparkling.
"Miss Solo!" exclaimed Janson, approaching. "I see you are without an adequate amount of alcohol! Allow me to correct this terrible wrongdoing!"
Jaina rolled her eyes. "Later, Wes. Don't you have a game of sabacc to be playing?"
He grinned. "Actually, I was looking for players. Interested, Great One?"
"No. Ask me later."
Janson shrugged. "Your loss. Excuse me, O Great and Glorious One Who Must Be Obeyed, I must go harass other beings into a game of sabacc with me."
Jaina nodded, a smirk forming on her lips as she watched him head towards Wedge. She shook her head. "Hopeless, isn't he?"
"Quite."
Jaina grinned, suddenly tugging Shawnkyr towards the bar. "I'm thirsty. Aren't you?"
Shawnkyr shrugged. "I am fine."
The server droid, a protocol droid cobbled together of silver and gold parts, approached the two. "What do you two young ladies want?"
Jaina glanced at Shawnkyr. "I want a lomin-ale, please." A grin tugged at her mouth, recalling the amazingly annoying song Wes had been singing earlier about lomin-ale.
The droid turned expectantly to Shawnkyr. "And you, miss?"
"A brandy."
"Of course." He shuffled off, returning a moment later with a mug of foaming ale, and a glass of golden brandy.
Wes approached again, taking the mug of ale. "Thanks, Squeak."
If the droid could have glared, Janson would have been receiving the hardest stare possible of a droid. "Please return the drink to the young lady, Janson."
Wes cracked a grin, blowing off the foam and passing the mug to Jaina. "I'll take one of those, too, Squeaky."
The droid half turned. "You will be served as soon as there are no other patrons waiting for drinks. It would do you good to not attempt to irritate me again."
Wes raised an eyebrow. "Someone fried a servomotor." He muttered, before brightening. "Ah, yes, that reminds me. I forgot to ask you, Miss Nuruodo, do you play sabacc?"
Her eyes took a feral glint. "I do."
"Care to join in a game?" he inquired. "Me, Wedge, Tycho, Han and Lando are playing as well."
Shawnkyr considered, before turning to Jaina. "You would not mind, would you?"
Jaina smiled. "Go ahead. Under one condition, of course."
"What would that be?"
"You don't lose to any of the old guys."
Something close to an amused smile spread on her face. "I'll remember that."
"Right this way, Miss Nuruodo," Wes said, steering her towards the sabacc table.
Jaina sighed, leaning back against the bar. She took a swallow of her lomin- ale when Jag approached, a small smile on his lips. "Hey, Colonel." Jaina greeted him.
"No décor, remember, Lieutenant?" he whispered.
Jaina chuckled. "It's Goddess to you, and don't you forget it."
Jag rolled his light emerald eyes. "I won't."
Jaina grinned. "Enjoying the party?"
"Enjoying the company, more so."
Jaina's eyebrows shot up, and she blushed noticeably. A grin blossomed on her face. "Some one's been reading Wes's copy of 'Smooth Talking For Nerfs and Their Herders', hasn't he?"
Jag feigned shock. "How did you know?!"
Jaina laughed; a rich, beautiful sound to Jag's ears. He noticed as her face lit up and he decided then and there that he was going to try to make her laugh more often. He resisted the very strong temptation to kiss her right then and there. *Not in the middle of the party, not with all these onlookers…* he reminded himself. He was aware of someone trying to get his attention. "What?" he said, jolted back to reality.
Jaina giggled again. " Spacing on me, Jag? Squeaky was asking what you wanted to drink."
"Can I get a whiskey, Squeak?"
"Most certainly." Said the droid, squeaking off towards the other end of the bar.
"Well," he said, "This is a nice party. Do the Rogues throw parties often?"
Jaina snorted. "Yeah, yeah, they do. But, you wouldn't call an official Rogue party nice. More like, insane, heavy drinking, bragging, fighting, discussing and bar brawls all rolled into one night."
Jag laughed. "Sounds like fun."
"Yeah, they were. Haven't been a Rogue for awhile, though, so I'm not sure how much they've changed." She said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"They haven't trust me, Jaina." A voice said from behind her, startling her.
"Gavin!" she exclaimed, spinning around to hug her old commanding officer and long-time family friend.
"Just wanted to say congratulations on a successful mission, Jaina. I'll leave you and Jag alone now." He said, winking.
Jaina's cheeks burned and she saw out of the corner of her eye that Jag was similarily blushing.
Gavin laughed at the two, before moving on to another group.
*Sithspit, *Jaina thought, *Is it really that obvious?!*
***
Jaina strolled into the briefing room, a smile on her face. This morning a joint squadron briefing was being held, with the Rogues and Twin Suns. "Good morning, people!"
She got a half-mumbled response from the group, and she grinned. "I said, Good morning people!"
Someone called, "Good morning, Goddess," but other than that, most of the pilots had their heads on the table tops, or resting in their hands, or they were sleeping.
"Still recovering from a hangover, Major Janson?" she asked.
The pilot raised his head from the table, bleary eyed and grumbling. "Stop shouting, Great One." He hesitated, before adding, "Please."
Jaina exchanged an amused glance with Gavin Darklighter, the leader of Rogue Squadron. "Caf's on the way," he said.
"Good. Better be brewed strong and hot enough to melt transparisteel." Janson mumbled, resting his head on the table.
Just then, Squeaky came in, a hovercart of pastries and caf behind him. Most of the pilots rose to grab a drink and a pastry.
"Anyways," Jaina said, raising her voice, "I guess you all need another day's worth of rest."
The group nodded, and she smiled sweetly. "But you won't get one."
Rogues and Twin Suns groaned in protest.
Jaina held a hand up. "I'm not finished yet. General Antilles has yet to inform us of our new base location, so we're going to be sticking with the Dream until further notice."
Gavin took over from there. "This gives us plenty of time to sim, and practice. This is not leave, so I want all of you down in the sim chamber; not all at once, but everyone needs to log at least an hour down there. If you don't: kitchen duty, peeling tubers, and that sort of thing."
"Questions?" Jaina asked.
"Yes," said Wes.
"What?" Jaina asked irritably.
"Who brewed this caf?! It's terrible!"
"No questions." Jaina said to Gavin, ignoring Janson's comment.
"Good." Gavin said.
"Dismissed." They both said, and the half of the pilots rose, while the others stayed put.
Jaina pushed her way through the pilots, catching up with Jag. "Want to sim with me?" she asked.
He nodded. "As long as you won't cry because you'll have lost so terribly."
She rolled her eyes. "If anyone's crying, Colonel, it's gonna be you."
"We'll see about that." he said, smiling.
***
"Break port, Two!" Jaina called to her wingmate, Kyp Durron.
The X-wing behind hers slipped to port.
"Thanks, One." Kyp said.
Jaina heeled her fighter hard to starboard, dropping behind another X-wing and started painting its shields with ruby laser fire. The fighter jinked, and Jaina followed the pilot's movements closely. An alarm went off suddenly, announcing a target lock. She jammed the stick forward, diving down, and rolled out of the lock.
"Sithspit…" she muttered, sliding her X-wing on to its port s-foil. She snapped a quick stutter shot at the other ship, before banking around and racing off towards the other enemy ship. "Two, give me a hand here!" she called.
"Sorry, One. Little tied up here myself." Kyp said back.
Jaina gritted her teeth and flipped over to quad-linked lasers. Jaina chased the fighter, snapping off shots when she could, and she realized the pilot was leading them towards Kyp. She noticed the blip that had been designated enemy red on her sensor board disappear. "Good shooting, Two." She said, and before she could call a warning, the enemy she'd been pursuing turned Two into a flaming ball of debris.
Jaina cursed softly to herself, and she decided right then and there that she was going to get the pilot. She was almost certain it was Jag, but she was too focused on the sim to check. She knew if her concentration slipped for just a moment, the other pilot would gain the advantage, and possibly catch her. They raced on, neither one catching the other, and Jaina was about to call a stalemate, when she suddenly grinned as an idea formed in her head. She dropped two shadow bombs, but left them drifting, and she flipped her s-foils to cruise.
Jaina nailed the thrusters, and rocketed back towards the direction she'd just come from. Jag bit the bait, and yanked his ship around in pursuit. As soon as he'd passed over the bombs, Jaina used the Force to guide them, now sending them racing after Jag.
She grinned triumphantly; she knew she'd won, when the sim terminated, and the canopy popped open.
She was about to protest, figuring Jag had cut the sim because he knew he'd lost, when Kyp's voice filled her comm speakers. "Isn't three and a half hours long enough for you two? Don't you ever tire of playing cat and mouse?"
"No." Jag said stiffly, barely keeping his irritation in check. I was about to win! Another thirty seconds, and I'd have had her! he thought, frustrated.
"I was about to win, Kyp. Couldn't you have waited another thirty seconds?" Jaina asked tightly.
"No. Me and Shawnkyr left to grab a bite to eat, and then we waited, observing for quite sometime. And then, we got sick of watching." Kyp replied.
Jaina yanked off her helmet and flight gloves, tossing them to the sim chair. She leapt out of the sim, furious. "Dismissed, Durron." She spat.
He looked stunned for a moment, then nodded, his smile icy. "As you wish, Goddess."
He turned sharply, and Shawnkyr left with him, leaving the two storming pilots in the sim room alone.
Jaina hissed out a sigh of vexation, turning to face Jag. "Children these days."
He nodded. "What is society coming to, that two pilots can't even sim together without being interrupted?"
She half-smiled. "A shame."
Jag nodded again. "I almost had you beat, too."
She frowned, a smile creeping on her face. "What are you talking about? I almost had you ."
"No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. You were retreating! I had a lock on you, in a matter of seconds, I would have had you free floating atoms."
"I released two shadow bombs, which had just conveniently begun their deadly pursuit of you, Colonel."She returned.
Jag's emerald eyes narrowed. "They would have missed; my sensor board would have alerted me in time-"
"Would not! You would have been fried before you knew what hit you!" she argued.
Jag stepped closer to her, looking down into her eyes. "No, I wouldn't have been fried. I am the superior pilot here, I would have been able to jink out of the way in time, and then, your precious shadow bombs would have locked onto you. "
"Think what you will-" and then, Jag leaned down and kissed her, effectively ending any attempt at a response. Jaina was stunned for a moment, but she returned the kiss, her arms snaking around his neck as his wound around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
"Eew! What are you two doing?!" yelped someone.
Jaina jerked out of the kiss, and turned, embarrassed and irritated.
The commentator's eyes widened as he realized whom it was he'd just caught kissing. "Oh…oh, this is too good! I've got to tell the others!" he turned and sprinted off, and Jaina's eyes widened in horror. "Wes Janson! Get back here, now! "
She took off running after the pilot, Jag on her heels. She sensed his embarrassment at being caught, and he felt guilt about it as well. She smirked. This is so not good…
***