You Set Me Free-Chapter 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~

Several moments of awkward silence passed on the bridge of the Jade Shadow. Jacen was painfully aware that Danni was only a few feet from him. Apart from a few beeps and clicks coming from the controls, it was so quiet that he could almost hear her breathing--- or maybe it was just the pounding of his own nervous heart. He had to keep himself from laughing out loud at his own foolish inexperience. Sure, he had fought against the strongest of the Yuuzhan Vong--- and won. Yes, he had survived their capture, their attempts to break him, even to the point where they were ready to make him a deity. But when it came to the fairer sex, he was woefully inept.

True, when he was younger, he had a major crush on Tenel Ka, the warrior princess from his Jedi Academy days. Maybe the fact that she had been his complete opposite was what had attracted him. He recalled trying desperately to make her laugh, but to no avail. His father had mentioned something about men liking a challenge, and Jacen hadn't understood exactly what Han had been talking about. Now he did, and he knew that Tenel Ka probably did care for him even if she didn't laugh at any of his jokes.

Then there had been their brief time together before the Myrkr mission. She'd made it clear that she was still interested, and he thought he had been, as well. However, destiny did not direct him down that particular path, and now here he was, alone with a woman he was beginning to care for beyond his usual concern for all things living.

No, Danni Quee was a different story altogether. Instead of a warrior, she embraced her femininity wholeheartedly, yet still maintained her superior intellect in a non-threatening manner. She loved to laugh, loved to learn, and loved to touch. It was something he had noticed on more than one occasion. If someone was hurting, she never shied away from offering a reassuring pat or hug. Even Saba Sebatyne had learned to appreciate Danni's sincere display of affection despite the Barabel's initial instinct to attack anyone who dared touch her.

And not only did Danni never fail to touch others, but she loved to be touched in return. The memory of being pressed up against her in the stylus ship all those years ago, of her willingly letting him, a total stranger, hold her while she cried, made his palms sweat-again.

"Jacen?"

His head jerked around and he hastily wiped his hands on his pant legs. "Yeah?" he stammered, still a bit flustered from the heated memory. She stood up and walked toward him with a smile, and for a split second he feared she had read his mind.

"I've been thinking," she stated leaning back on the counter next to him.

"A-about what?"

"When we were back near the hatchway earlier."

"Uh-huh," he mumbled. Like I could forget?

"You called me a 'damsel in distress'."

He shifted uneasily in his chair. "I- I was only kidding, Danni," he defended. Her hand instantly reached out and covered his.

"I know you were, but--- but it made me realize something." Jacen glanced down at their hands and then back up to her face. "I may not always have someone like you or Saba around to rescue me. It's not that I don't have faith in my friends, but I just feel the need to better defend myself.

"I always believed that as long as I used my brain, I could manage any situation. But if these last several years have taught me anything it's that while brains are effective in most predicaments, sometimes a little bit of brawn doesn't hurt." She shrugged in surrender.

Jacen grinned at her confession. "True," he agreed with a nod.

"So I have a proposition for you." She smiled widely as she pulled him from his seat.

"Uh-oh. I've got a bad feeling about this," he teased.

"Oh, it's not that awful," she assured him with a playful swat on his shoulder. "Jacen Solo," she announced, standing tall, "will you teach me how to use a lightsaber?"

For a moment, he was speechless, but not because of her request. It was her eyes. Gazing deeply into her sparkling green eyes, he lost himself--- or found himself, depending on how one chose to look at it. Either way, she left him breathless. Danni waited anxiously for his response, but began to worry when he didn't speak.

"You-you don't have to if you don't want to," she said softly, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She began to pull her hand from his, but he stopped her.

"Oh, no, I'd love to, Danni. Really," he declared giving her hand a tender squeeze.

"Whew!" she exclaimed with a big sigh of relief. "For a minute there I thought you were going to say no." She chuckled and patted his arm.

"Well, I almost did, but it seems your powers of persuasion have far surpassed my will to refuse you."

Danni glanced up at him and grinned mischievously. "Oh, is that so? I'll have to remember that little advantage. It may come in handy one day."

Is she flirting with me? he asked himself. His stomach did a strange little flip, and he got the sudden urge to grab her and kiss her senseless.

At that very moment, the ship jerked violently plunging Danni forcefully into Jacen, her head busting his chin as his back slammed into the console. Another lurch sent them in the opposite direction, and for the next few seconds, the two ricocheted around the room, Jacen holding fast to the woman in his arms.

Finally, the moving stopped, and the first thing Jacen felt was the pain. It was everywhere--- his back, his sides, his head, and his chin. A soft moan made him suddenly aware that he was also feeling something else, or rather someone else. Opening his eyes, he found a mass of gold blocking his vision. Danni was on top of him, and they were both on the floor. She moaned again, easing herself up a bit and pushing her hair out of her face. Jacen raised himself up on his elbows and studied the woman now straddling him.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern.

"I-I think so. You?" she responded looking at him after finishing her own self-check.

"I'm going to hold my answer for a few minutes seeing as it hurts to even breathe."

"Oh, Jacen, your chin!" Danni exclaimed. Immediately, she took her sleeve and began dabbing at the bloody gash. "I did this, didn't I? I'm so sorry."

He let her fuss over him, although the wound on his chin was minor compared to the pain in his back. "It's okay. Another scar will only add to my mystique. At least that's what I'll tell myself."

She laughed softly as she continued to tend his face. "So what happened anyway?"

"I don't know. Why don't we---."

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

Danni and Jacen both snapped their heads around to find Mara and Luke standing in the doorway. Jacen burned with embarrassment, and he could tell by the instant tension in Danni that she was equally mortified.

"Sorry, guys," Luke apologized, averting his gaze for the second time that day.

Danni scrambled backward off of Jacen. He quickly jumped up and then offered her a helping hand. Mara sauntered onto the bridge grinning wickedly.

"I could make some really smart remark about finding you two like this, but by the looks on both of your faces, I think my job is already done."

"We weren't---," Jacen tried to explain, but Luke put up a hand to stop him.

"Jacen, we know. Mara's just teasing. Now, what do you say we find out what's going on with the ship." Luke moved to the main controls, Mara right on his heels. Danni and Jacen exchanged glances and nervously straightened their rumpled clothes.

"Well, we're definitely out of hyperspace," Mara announced, "and not at the coordinates we had planned. Something yanked us out." She turned to look at the other three, her lips pursed in seriousness.

"What could do that?" Jacen asked.

"An interdictor ship," Luke suggested.

"Or dovin basals," Danni added somberly.

The bridge fell silent. They hadn't expected another confrontation with the Yuuzhan Vong so soon after Borosk. Actually, they had hoped to avoid any more conflicts during their trip to the Unknown Regions period. The silence ended abruptly when the comm beeped in alert.

It was the voice of their Imperial escort. "Widowmaker hailing Jade Shadow. This is Captain Yage. Do you read me?"

Mara answered the call while the others contemplated their next move.

"We need to know exactly what pulled us out of hyperspace as soon as possible," Jacen declared.

"I know," Luke added. "If it's an interdictor, we need to know who's controlling it and why."

Danni surveyed the other faces around her. "And if it's the Vong?"

Luke sighed heavily. "Well, then, we need to get out of here---- fast."