CHAPTER TEN:  PLOTTING A COURSE AND STICKING TO IT

          Strolling into the hanger bay in the next morning, Anakin was checking to see if the Lightning Rod was still there.  It was, but it did not look like it would be around for too much longer.  Neither did its captain.

"Taking off again?"  Anakin said, noticing the duffle bag Zekk had strapped across his shoulder.

"Why wouldn't I?  I brought you and Tahiri back here.  I talked to Master Skywalker about the Tsirran.  What else is there left to do?"

"Leaving again isn't going to make things any better between you and Jaina,"

"This isn't about her,"

Anakin gave him a skeptical look.

          "It's not," Zekk said, trying to convince him.

          "You can't fix what's wrong between you two if you're half way across the galaxy,"

          "Jaina made it quite clear last night that there's nothing left to fix,"

          "I thought you said this wasn't about her,"

          Frustrated at having been caught in his lie, Zekk said, "I'm not doing anything except hurt her by being here,"

          "So, you're giving up after one conversation with her?  Did you really expect her to be happy to see you again after not hearing from you for months?"

          "Look, Anakin," Zekk said, losing his patience, "there's no reason for me to stick around.  Jaina doesn't want me here,"

          "Then don't stay because of her," Anakin said simply.  "Stay because of what's been going on in the galaxy.  Have you looked around lately, Zekk?  There's a war going on – a war that we're losing – and you've been off trying to hide from yourself and everyone else.  You're a Jedi, and in case you've forgotten you have a responsibility to the rest of the galaxy to act like one.  If you still decide to leave, that's your choice.  But you'll be turning your back on your own kind and the rest of the galaxy,"

          "Hey, Anakin – "

          But Anakin was through listening to him.  He marched out of the docking bay and nearly knocked Luke Skywalker over in the process.

          Luke watched his nephew go and then said to Zekk, "is Anakin right?  Are you leaving again?" 

          He wanted to say yes. That one more Jedi wasn't really going to make much of a difference – especially one that had come close to falling to the dark side a second time – but what Anakin had said about responsibility and duty had struck a chord in him.  And for the first time in months, he found himself at a different kind of crossroad.  Instead of deciding whether or not to let himself fall to the dark side, he was facing a completely different choice altogether.  He could run off and hide, and feel sorry for himself – like he had been doing for months now, or for one of the few times in his life he could follow the right path and do the right thing.

          He had wasted so much time trying to figure out what he was when he had known all along.  He was a Jedi, something he had worked so hard to become, and no matter how many times he messed up that would never change.  He had earned the title of Jedi Knight, and it had been quite a while since he had put that title to good use.  It was time he started again.

          "I'm not going anywhere," he said at last, and he meant it.

          Master Skywalker gave him a small, approving smile.  "I'm glad to hear that, Zekk, because I have something I need to ask you,"

          "Damnit!" Jaina muttered to herself in disgust.  She let go of her hydrospanner, which dropped with a CLANK to the deckplates, and grabbed her stinging hand.  How could she have made such a stupid mistake?  In trying to realign the ship's power converter she had unintentionally crossed it with the cable from the weapon's systems instead of the power coupling.  That had ended up causing the power converter to overload because there was too much energy being directed into a single system, and it had nearly ended up electrocuting her and blowing up the ship if she had held the cables together for a second longer.

          Still gingerly holding her hand, Jaina inspected the damage her error had caused.  She had burned through quite a few vital cables.  She let out a loud sigh.  It would take her the rest of the day to get them fixed.

Maybe she could keep Tenal Ka out of there long enough so her friend would not see the accidental damage she had caused her new ship, the Fearless Rancor.

Tenal Ka's parents had given her the ship to replace the Rock Dragon, which had been destroyed on Rygelia.  Jaina had assured Tenal Ka that she could fix up the ship and make it even more powerful – and deadly – then the Rock Dragon ever was.  Tenal Ka had agreed to let Jaina perform all the modifications and upgrades she wanted as soon as she and Jacen came back from the trip they were going on.  Jaina had been extremely curious as to just what kind of a trip would be so important that her brother and Tenal Ka would take off in the middle of a war that they were losing.  When Jacen had told her it was because their Uncle Luke had given them some leads as to where they might find something or someone to help cure Tenal Ka's disease, Jaina had understood their need to go away.

Jacen had been very vague about all the details, most likely because he did not know too much himself.  Jaina had offered to go with them, but Tenal Ka had adamantly refused Jaina's offer.  She had not even wanted Jacen to go with her, but she would not allow anyone else to help her chase around the galaxy for a cure that was probably not even out there.  She had said there was more important things at stake then her health.

When the Fearless Rancor returned to Yavin Four more than a week later, Jaina knew the instant they stepped off the ship that they had been unsuccessful.  Then for almost a week after, the air between the two had been uncharacteristically tense.  Something had obviously happened while they were gone – and it must have been pretty bad because Jacen and Tenal Ka never fought – but Jaina had stayed out of it.  She had no desire to get in the middle of their problems.  Neither one of them had said a word to her about it, but eventually everything went back to normal – at least she hoped it was.

Using her good hand, she picked up her fallen hydrospanner. Then letting the Solo side of her take over she slammed the panel shut over the mess of burned circuits so hard it fell off and clanked against the deck plates loudly.

"Did anyone ever tell you anger leads to the dark side?"  Ganner said, stepping into her line of sight.

"It's kind've the motto in my family," Jaina said, tossing her hydrospanner into her toolbox.  She left the plate covering on the floor where it was.

"Maybe you shouldn't work when your mad," Ganner suggested.

"And maybe you should leave me alone when I am," Jaina snapped, directing the frustration she was feeling at him.

"Your wonderful mood wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that your Uncle's sending me, you, Riley and Zekk to Anoth, would it?"  Ganner said, not backing down.

Jaina wished she hadn't slammed that panel because then she could have had something to hit right then.  "No, it doesn't,"

"If you're going to lie, you could at least try to sound convincing,"

"It's no big deal," she said to him.  "Uncle Luke put me in charge of the mission and I'll do what needs to be done.  We'll get as much of Anoth's defense systems up and running as we can and then we'll wait for the Tsirran and my Uncle to arrive.  It's as simple as that."

"Jaina, nothing's ever that simple,"

"That's because there's always someone around to complicate things," she grumbled.

          "Are we still talking about the mission?"  Ganner said, a bit confused.

          "Yes,"

          "It doesn't bother you that Zekk's back?"

          "Does it bother you?"

          "Don't change the subject,"

          "I could care less about Zekk," she was more than happy to inform him.  "And no, I'm not going to have a problem with him being on this mission," she said before he could ask the question.  "Now, can we talk about something else?"  She decided then she was not going to tell him about the fight she had with Zekk last night, because he would only ask questions and then she would get more upset then she already was.

          "Sure," Ganner said, "how about the way your brother's been staring at us ever since he walked in on our little water fight yesterday,"

          "Jacen?  He's just going through one of his 'overprotective brother phases'.  He gets those every once in a while," she explained to him.

          "I see," Ganner said, nodding his head in understanding.

          Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "does he have a reason to be overprotective?"

          "I dunno," Ganner said, moving closer to her, until their lips were almost touching.  "You tell me,"

          The next thing Jaina knew, she found herself standing in the middle of the ship letting Ganner kiss her.  It wasn't long before she had her arms wrapped around him and was kissing him back.  She had almost forgotten what kissing him was like – and how much she enjoyed it.  But their previous encounter had not been nearly as intense or as passionate as this one.

          When Ganner moved his lips away from hers and began kissing her neck, was what broke Jaina out of her trance and made her realize what was happening – what she was letting happen.  She abruptly broke away from him.  But Ganner didn't let go of her, so the two were still in extremely close proximity.

          "I should go pack," she mumbled lamely, trying not to look at him.  Before she lost her nerve to leave, she removed herself from Ganner's embrace and hurried out of there, not wanting to give him a chance to try and convince her to stay.

          "Luke, I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Leia Organa Solo said to her brother.

          "I don't see why it's such a big deal sending them there alone,"       Luke said to the image of Leia on the holoscreen in front of him.

          "Not them.  I'm talking about Zekk and Jaina.  I don't think they should be stuck together so soon.  And Ganner – " Leia broke off, shaking her head.

          Luke leaned forward.  "What about Ganner?"

          "I get mixed emotions from Jaina whenever she talks about him,"

          "Ganner's been good for her," Luke said to his sister.  "She let him in when she kept pushing everyone else away," Luke stopped himself from going into further details when he realized what Leia was getting at.  "You think there's something going on between them that goes beyond friendship?"

          Leia shrugged.  "I'm just her mother.  She doesn't tell me anything.  You see her more then I do, what do you think?"

          "They've become good friends, but that's all I know.  I'm just her Uncle after all," Luke said with a smile, "she doesn't tell me anything,"

          Leia rolled her eyes.  "Luke, I'm serious,"

          "I know you are, but they're Jedi and they have a mission to complete.  That means they'll be responsible and not let their emotions get the better of them or cloud their judgment,"

          "And if we keep telling ourselves that maybe it'll come true," she said.  "I understand their Jedi Knights, but they're also teenagers – at least Jaina and Zekk are – that's why I'm telling you it's not a good idea to send them wherever it is their going, alone,"

          "They won't be alone.  There's another Knight going,"

          "Boy, do I feel sorry for whoever you're sending with them," Leia remarked.  "I hope he's a good diplomat,"

          "They'll be fine," Luke tried to assure her.

          "You keep telling me that, but I'm not so sure,"

          "Just trust me.  When have I ever let you down before?"

          Leia frowned.  "What if they get into trouble?"  She should have said when they get into trouble.

          "Then they'll have to work together as a team and use everything they've learned in their training to get through it,"

          Leia was not nearly as confident as her brother that the trip would go smoothly.  It had been a long time since either one of them had been teenagers, but the one thing she did remember was cooler heads did not prevail no matter how bad a situation got.

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