CHAPTER ELEVEN:  DEALING WITH UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS

          Late at night alone in his room at the praxeum, the dark-haired Knight made sure his door was locked before proceeding to open his closet.  He rummaged through his belongings he had shoved in there until he came across a scuff-marked bag.  Carefully, he removed the bag from the closet and put it down on the stone floor.  He reached inside and pulled out a medium-sized round ball.  The Yuuzhan Vong warrior that had given him the communications device had also shown him how to use the villip.  He never liked using the villip – it creeped him it – but he had learned to put his discomforts aside because it was the only way he could contact him.  He had never dared to ask them to use normal com channels.  That would only insult his Vong contact and probably cause him to terminate his relationship with him.

          Reaching out with his mind, the Jedi tried to sense anyone who might be in the corridor outside.  Thankfully, the hall outside his room was empty.  He would not have to worry about anyone listening in on his conversation.

          He stroked the villip as he had done many times before, and watched it come to life.  The ball formed itself into a near-exact duplicate of the Yuuzhan Vong tactical advisor, Zuh Veqq.

          He made himself sit up straight, attempting to hide his nervousness.  If there was one thing the Yuuzhan Vong were intolerable about – besides machines – it was fear.  Though, why he should be feeling afraid the Jedi traitor was not sure.  He had good – no, excellent news to report to his contact.  After weeks of failing to report any significant information, he had feared his usefulness to the aliens was coming to an end, but now what he had to tell Zuh would no doubt put him back in the Vong's good graces.

          He promptly received a response to his communications attempt.

          "What pathetic information do you share with the Yuuzhan Vong now, betrayer of Jeedai?"  The voice of Zuh through the villip growled.

          The Jedi traitor clenched his teeth together, not allowing the Vong to see how his words had affected him, which was undoubtedly what he had intended in the first place.  "I have information that will please you," he said confidently.

          "It is I who will decide what information is useful," Zuh corrected him.  "Speak now, and then I will decide whether to allow this liaison between us to continue,"

          He took a deep breath.  "The Jedi, Tahiri, who was believed to have been dead, showed up on Yavin Four alive," he began.  "She told us that she was rescued from one of your warships by a group of beings called the Tsirran,"

          He had never seen a surprised Vong before and even though the villip was only a representation of Zuh Veqq's face, he enjoyed watching its eyes nearly bulge out of the villip's sockets.

          "Why do you waste my time with lies?"  The villip hissed.  "You know nothing of the Tsirran, and the Jeedai Tahiri is dead,"

          "She was very much alive when she arrived on Yavin Four yesterday to tell us about the Tsirran.  I now know the Tsirran are the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a cousin.  They look like you, but they don't have your passion for war,"

          "Impossible," Zuuh spat.  "The one called Tahiri lies to you.  We destroyed the Tsirran more than one of your decades ago,"

          "Well, some of them managed to escape and found their way into this galaxy because Tahiri has been living with them for more than a month."

          "Where are the Tsirran hiding?"

          The Jedi shook his head.  "I don't know and I couldn't ask without making myself look suspicious.  But there's more," he was quick to add.  "The Tsirran want to meet with Luke Skywalker to discuss the terms of aiding the Jedi,"

          "They are betrayers of their own kind.  The Jeedai will never trust them,"

          "They might.  Luke Skywalker has agreed to the meeting.  He's sending a team of Jedi ahead – which includes myself – to make the planet more defendable in case the Yuuzhan Vong show up,"

          "What is the name of this planet?"

          "Anoth.  It's on no known star charts, and only a handful of people know of its existence.  Even fewer know the actual coordinates.  I'm afraid that includes me," he said, lowering his head.

          "You must learn the coordinates of Anoth and send them to me," Veqq ordered him.  "A treaty between the Tsirran and Jeedai must not be allowed to happen,"

          "I will not fail you, Zuh Veqq," the traitor assured him.  He had no idea though, how he was going to get the coordinates as of yet.

          The villip gave a curt nod.  "If you are successful, then perhaps I will reward you for your loyalty to the Yuuzhan Vong.  Perhaps even the unexpected resurfacing of the one called Tahiri will prove useful after all,"

          Before he could have a chance to comment further, Veqq terminated the communication and once again the villip became nothing more then a silent ball in his hands.

          For the first time since he had begun his liaison with Veqq, the conversation had not left him shaking when it was over.  He took that as a sign that the tactical advisor was finally starting to realize just how valuable an asset he was.

          Marching up the boarding ramp of the Fearless Rancor with her traveling bag in hand, Jaina ran through the coordinates for Anoth in her head for the hundredth time.  She would not find them in any known Republic or Empire databanks, so it had been her job as pilot to get them from her Uncle Luke and memorize them.  As leader of the mission to Anoth, Luke had entrusted Jaina with the coordinates to it.  There had been no reason to tell anyone else since she would be doing all the flying.  Sure, they were all on the same side, but the fewer the people that knew where Anoth was the better.

          Heading for the Rancor's newly refurbished lounge, she intended to drop off her bag there and then head up to the cockpit and prep the ship for take-off.  When she arrived at the lounge, she found she was not the only one who had decided to arrive early.  Zekk was shoving his own bag into a storage locker, but he stopped when he saw her.

She had not spoken to him since slamming the door in his face almost two nights ago.  She was tempted to turn around and walk away, but knew that she was going to have to learn to at least accept being in the same room with him or else this trip was going to be even longer and more uncomfortable then it already was for her.  Not that accepting his presence was going to make her feel any more comfortable around him, but she was mature enough to know they were going to have to act civilized in order for this mission to succeed.  That did not mean she had to pretend to like having him around, though.

          Without looking at Zekk, she walked over to the locker across from him and threw her own stuff inside it.  Hesitantly, she removed a metallic object from her bag and stood there grasping it in her hands for several moments before closing the door.  "Here," she said, practically throwing his lightsaber at him.  Then she stomped out of the lounge before he could say anything.

          Good riddance, she thought.  For months now, she had wanted to get rid of that thing.  She wanted nothing to do with him, and giving him back his saber was another step in that direction.  The right direction in her opinion.

          Safe in the confinements of hyperspace – as long as they did not run into any Vong Interdiction fields – Jaina was going over the information about the Tsirran that Tahiri had given her.  It wasn't a lot, but Tahiri had been as specific as possible with the information she had given Anakin to put into her data pad.  She found it somewhat comforting to know that she would not be going into the meeting totally blind.  But that did not help her feel any less anxious about having those aliens wanting to align themselves with the Jedi.

          She had not intended to read up on the Tsirran until they had finished what they were going to Anoth for.  The trip to Anoth was a long one.  However, it gave her something to do to help pass the time and to think about everything that was going on in her life.

          She had managed to avoid being alone with Zekk since their encounter in the lounge earlier.  But she refused to admit to anyone that his return had affected her more then she had thought it would.  Since he had been back, she hadn't been able to go more then five minutes without thinking about him – and she hated it.  She wished he would just go away and this time never come back.  It would make things so much easier.  Then there was Ganner.  He was a completely different story altogether.  She had been perfectly at ease with being around him until he had gone and kissed her the day before.  Now, she felt awkward and unsure of what to say whenever she was around him.  She didn't know how he was feeling because she never hung around him long enough to find it.

          It annoyed her to no end that two out of the three people she had been stuck with for this mission she could not even hold a conversation with.  She could talk to Riley, but she barely knew the guy.  Either then the fact that he had been born on Chandrilla, his parents had brought him to the Academy when he was ten-years-old, and he seemed like a decent guy, though her younger brother despised him and had landed him in the medical ward a few weeks back, she knew nothing about him.

          She could tell Anakin had been a little more then angry when he had learned that Riley would be going to Anoth because of the difference of opinion they each held regarding the Vong.  That didn't automatically make the guy a bad Jedi.  He just was not sure if the galaxy was handling the Vong crisis the right way.  An opinion shared by many in the New Republic.

          She didn't like what he had said any more then Anakin had, but that didn't necessarily make him a traitor.  Master Skywalker had explained to their team what Tahiri had told him about their being traitors among them Jedi.  He also told them they were not to discuss with anyone that they were going to Anoth.  As far as everyone else knew, they were just going on another routine mission to investigate Yuuzhan Vong activity.  Their mission was anything but routine that was for sure. 

Jaina had learned long ago that the assignments of a Jedi Knight were rarely ordinary or routine.  You learned to expect the unexpected to happen.

          "How much longer 'til we reach Anoth?"  Ganner asked, strolling into the cockpit.

          "Hours still," she replied instantly, not letting it show that he had surprised her.  "Getting deck fever already?"

          "I just wanted to know, that's all," he said coolly.

          "Okay," Jaina said and went back to reading her data pad.

          "It's quiet up here," Ganner observed.

          "It's quiet all over the ship," she said without looking up.

          "Up here, there's no one to talk to, no one to bother you," he went on.

          She gave up on reading and looked at him.  "What are you getting at, Ganner?"

          "I'm just saying you can't keep avoiding everyone.  I mean, it's fine while we're on the ship, but we're all going to have to work together down on Anoth,"

          "I'm not avoiding you,"

          "I never said you were,"

          Her expression quickly turned into a frown.  He had tricked her into saying she was avoiding him.  He knew she was avoiding him, he just wanted to hear her admit it.

          "Stop it," she told him.

          Confused, he said, "stop what?  What did I do?"

          "You knew I was avoiding you.  You just wanted to hear me admit it," she accused, jumping out of her seat.

          "That's ridiculous,"

          "Is it?"

          "Yes.  Even more so then this stupid fight you're trying to start with me,"

          "You started it,"

          Ganner rolled his eyes.  "That's real mature, Jaina,"

          "If you don't like how I'm acting then leave,"

          "Don't worry, I am," he said, and began walking away.

          "And for your information," Jaina yelled after him, "I'm in here by myself because I have reading to catch up on,"

          Ganner did not bother to acknowledge her.  He just kept on walking.

          Jaina plopped back down into the pilot's chair and crossed her arms over her chest.  She hated how easily he could get her going.  He would twist things around to make it look like it was her fault they were fighting, when in fact it was really his.  He could be so aggravating.  She wondered to herself why she even bothered trying to talk to him.

I'll be posting the next chapter soon!!