Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own any of this, the characters, the setting
nothing.
Author's note: Thank you very much to everyone for reviewing and my sincerest apology for taking so long to get this posted. I promise I'll try to get the next chapter posted sooner.
Another week passed and nothing changed. Then Jaina returned to duty from her vacation. In Jaina's absence, her second in command, Lowbacca had faithfully continued Jaina's training regimen with her squadron. Her pilots were now, no longer considered rookies, but instead a part of an elite fighting force, known for its combination of jedi fighting tactics with other more normal tactics. The first day Jaina returned to duty her constant companions were, as they had been for the past week, Jacen Solo as her twin Yuuzhan Vong god and Kyp Durron as her faithful manservant.
As Jaina looked at her schedule for her first morning back on duty, she groaned. She was scheduled to be in various meetings all morning. First, an intrasquadron meeting giving her a squadron status update, then a Goddess tactics meeting with Shar and Piggy, a boring session with the High Council to decide whether Kyp would remain with his Dozen or rejoin Jaina and finally a meeting with Wedge Antilles that had called for all ranking command personnel. By the time she was done with her third meeting, Jaina was exhausted, but yet exhilarated. She had forgotten how she thrived under this element of pressure.
As she entered the conference room and started to take her place at the table, she was greeted warmly by Wedge. "Jaina," he corrected himself quickly, "My apologies, Goddess, I merely meant to say I was glad you could join us again."
"Thank you, General," Jaina replied formally, distantly, playing her role perfectly, although Wedge could see the glimmer of amusement in her eyes.
"I believe we're ready now," Wedge said in a slightly louder voice as the last of the officers filed in and the doors were closed. "All right, Ladies and Gentlebeings we have a situation. As you all know after our victory at Ebaq 9 there has been a lot of confusion among the Vong especially with the death of the Warmaster." He paused a moment as many of the officers clapped and cheered. After they calmed down he continued speaking. "However, as much as we need this chance to regroup we can't allow them time to regroup as well. So, we're sending half of our forces here to Hapes under the command of Admiral Kre'fey. The rest will stay here to defend Mon Calamari, or until they are needed elsewhere, understood?"
At the general chorus of agreement, Wedge nodded and said, "All right, people, all of you are dismissed except for those of you in Admiral Kre'fey's task force. That is General Farlander, General Sien," both people Jaina was happy to see included in Kre'fey's squadron.
Unlike General Farlander, General Sien had never worked with Jaina before but the middle aged Rodian's reputation of ingenuity under pressure and fairness towards Jedi was encouraging. As Wedge continued down the list of Captains, Majors, and Colonels, Jaina was unsurprised to here her name among those mentioned as well as Kyp Durron's, but only her Jedi control kept her from jerking in surprise as she heard Jagged Fel's name called. She hadn't noticed him when she entered, but now that she looked, she easily spotted Jag back in one of the dark corners of the room. When their eyes met across the room, it was as if a jot of fire and ice passed from Jag and into Jaina, forcing Jaina to look away in hurt and confusion.
Even as the meeting continued and Jaina listened to Admiral Kre'fey laying out the details of their mission to Hapes, she continually felt Jag's cold presence behind her.
At last the torturous meeting was over, but as Jaina finally began to gratefully escape, she heard Wedge Antilles call out, "Just a moment please, Great One."
"Yes General Antilles," she questioned formally.
"We require your input, Goddess."
Keeping up her act for any watching Vong or peace brigaders, Jaina inclined her head gracefully and approached Wedge almost defiantly as she noticed Jag standing next to him.
"Jaina, Kyp, Jag is going to be the official liaison with the Jedi as well as a fighter squadron commander."
He paused, almost stopping dead as he noticed the unusual almost suffocating tension between the three, but he plowed on. "Since he worked with you two before in Twin Suns, he will help you coordinate the instructions from the Jedi meld to the others. Any questions?" At the trio's negative responses he added, "Very well dismissed."
Kyp turned almost immediately to Wedge asking politely about Wedge's family leaving Jaina and Jag standing together awkwardly. They stood in stiff silence for a moment before Jag said in a distant formal tone. "Congragulations on your promotion, Lt. Colonel."
"Thank you," Jaina replied equally formal. Then she tentatively reached a hand out towards his arm, "Jag," she began only to be cut off by him.
"Congragulations as well on you new companion, I hope your happy with him, whoever he is."
Before Jaina could even begin to process what he had said, he was already stalking away down the corridor. Kyp who had watched the whole encounter with Wedge, ran out after Jag, this time not allowing Jaina's call for him to stop to dissuade him.
When he finally caught up with Jag several moments later, he was furious. Forgoing the force, Kyp bodily grabbed Jag, turned him around and threw him into the wall.
Standing before Jag, the epitome of the dark warrior, Kyp demanded, "What in the Sith are you talking about, Fel? Why are you doing this to her?"
Despite the sensible side of him that was saying not to provoke an angry Kyp Durron, Jag no longer cared. Furious he bit out mockingly, "I'm doing this to her. Well, Durron, I'm sorry if you think that I should stay with someone who's cheating on me, but I guess she is a goddess after all. Jaina Solo can do whatever she wants no matter what the consequences are. Well , Kyp," almost screaming in fury Jag didn't notice Jaina standing in the corridor behind Kyp, "I hope you realize how dangerous she is before she gets you all killed."
Abruptly he turned away storming off down the corridor, leaving a stunned Jaina in his wake.
* * * * * * *
As Kyp expected the following days were not pleasant. Jaina had not cried or even raged about what Jag had said. She had simply thrown herself back into her work. All the good her short vacation seemed to have done her disappeared. The only people she would relax around were unsurprisingly, Jacen and Kyp and occasionally her parents.
Jaina was once again accepting the most dangerous missions, always leading, always pushing herself and the members of her squadron to be the best. Within months, months of rigorous training, brutal but successful fighting and avoiding and ignoring Jag Fel, Twins Suns squadron, under Jaina's command became known as the equal of Rogue Squadron. During these months, Jacen had become Jaina's constant companion. When she wasn't flying, brother and sister prefered to spend as much time together as possible.
One day, almost six months after Jaina and Jag's last fight, Twins Sun's patrol was unexpectedly cancled and Jaina called in for a meeting, an Insider's meeting. The meeting led by Wedge Antilles, illustrated the Insiders first independent campaign against the Vong. The Insiders were no longer merely "interpreting orders," they were creating their own. Han Solo, recently rejoined general was to lead the strike. To everyone's surprise, he immediately brought Jaina in to coordinate his various starfighter squadrons.
"Dad," Jaina asked the next day, "which fighter squadron's have you been assigned?"
Han's smirk showed complete satisfaction and, Jaina suspected, more than a little smugness at the squadron's he had wheedled out of Kre'fey, Sovv and Bel Iblis. "Well, Kid, Bel Iblis gave me three squadrons of a-wings, Sovv gave me the Rogues and another squadron the Tierfron Yellow Aces." He merely ignored Jaina's groan as he continued down the list. "Kre'fey is also giving me Kyp's Dozen, Twin Suns obviously, and one other squadron, a conglomerate. I'm not sure who they're led by. Is that good enough for you, Princess?" Han asked affectionately.
"Sure, Daddy," Jaina replied teasingly sounding much younger than her actual age or experience.
"There's already about half a dozen Jedi spread through those squadrons. Do you want to see if I can get Jacen and a few more Jedi and set up a meld?"
"Sure, Jaina," he replied hugging his daughter, grateful she had warmed up since her distant attitude at Hapes, "but don't make to much fuss. This is supposed to be a secret mission."
A knock on the door to the office where they were conferring, interrupted Jaina.
Not expecting anyone, Jaina glanced questioningly at her father who only said calmly, "Come in." The slid quickly open to reveal Jagged Fel.
If nothing else, Jaina reflected as she saw Jag, these months of separation from Jag had given her plenty of opportunity to perfect the technique of making her face into a mask to cover her emotions. To cover the sadness, to cover the hurt and to cover how much she had missed him, missed everything about him these last few months. Oh she was angry with Jag all right, Kyp and Jacen could attest to that, but mostly she was hurt and confused. The most infuriating thing about the whole situation was that Jag wouldn't talk to her, except for screaming at Kyp in the corridor he had been the consummate professional.
Sometimes Jaina was sure it was all a façade; she had seen a different side of him. Now, though she wasn't so sure. Jag had always been a mystery, and now it looked as if that would be how he remained.
"Jaina," she was abruptly brought out of her reverie when she heard her father calling her name. He looked at her a bit oddly, but then, when she said nothing he continued. "Jag here," he informed her looking at a data card, "is in charge of that conglomerate squadron I was telling you about."
Realizing that she would have to be spending more time around Jag now, Jaina struggled to come up with a polite response. "I look forward to working with you again, Colonel," she settled on, using a formal response to cover her unease.
Ten minutes later, ten minutes that seemed like an eternity to Jaina, the informal meeting was over. Almost running out of the office, Jaina was shocked when Jag stopped her in the corridor.
"If I could have a moment of your time, Goddess?" he asked.
Surprised at Jag's request, Jaina was barely able to sustain her now habitual regal look and as they began to walk down the corridor, Jag asked stiffly. "With your permission, Great One, may my squadron participate in sims against yours this afternoon? My pilots need the experience and discipline that only comes from flying, but in an arena that won't get them killed."
Jaina appeared to ponder for a moment, although Jag knew she had already decided. "Very well, Colonel, but do not be late. Keeping a Goddess waiting is not smart."
* * * * * * *
Jacen Solo glanced around uneasily. His sister would be very upset if she knew about this. Consciously blocking his unease and impatience from his bond with Jaina, he sighed with relief when he heard someone approaching.
Turning Jacen said in a surly voice, "It's about time you got here, Durron." The two men, although not altogether agreeing on the way of the Jedi and their philosophies about the force had reached a strange understanding in the past months.
"Hey, I had to get rid of Jaina. You wouldn't want her to find us would you, Solo?"
Ignoring Kyp's sarcasm, Jacen turned and knocked on the door of the Skywalker suite. The door immediately opened for them and Jacen felt his Aunt's familiar presence in the living room. With Kyp in tow, the two Jedi walked into the living room to find Mara sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the living room, meditating. Coming out of her trance like state, she raised a questioning eyebrow at the two Jedi.
"Hi Aunt Mara," Jacen started cheerfully, if a little nervously.
Glancing over at Kyp before focusing back on Jacen, Mara asked, "What brings you two here?"
Deciding to speak first, Jacen started quietly. "Do you remember several months ago when we asked you to come comfort Jaina because she was really upset, but she wouldn't tell you what she was upset about?"
After Mara nodded in remembrance and took a seat on the couch across from them, he continued. "Jaina was upset because Jag Fel, who she had been kind of dating, had blown her off in the mess hall."
"And for no reason, too. Although Jag did keep saying something about Jaina cheating on him, but we all know Jaina barely had time for one guy much less two."
"Jaina's doesn't know why he's upset does she?" Mara asked directly.
"No," replied Jacen.
"What did you want me to do about it?" questioned Mara darkly, "because I don't think Jaina would appreciated you two meddling in her private life."
"No we were just wondering if you had heard anything." Jacen stated.
Kyp once again surprised Mara saying, "She's starting to withdraw again, like she did at Hapes. Oh, it's nothing dark," he reassured them at their worried looks, "but, Jaina's downfall was always despair. Jaina's strong but one way or another no one can fly with despair sharing their cockpit for long."
* * * * * * * *
Jaina Solo ran down the corridors of the Errant Venture as alarms screamed, heading towards the hangar bay where Twin Suns Squadron was housed. The eight fighter squadrons that had been assigned to Han Solo were all housed on board the Errant Venture, although Han Solo still maintained that he would lead only from the Millennium Falcon.
Scrambling into her fighter and rushing through preflight checks, Jaina and Twin Suns received clearance and were the first to reach open space. "General," Jaina called over the comm, "What's the situation?"
* * * * * * *
In the same part of space, Jagged Fel in his clawcraft led his squadron into position. Fortunately today they weren't the bait. Today it was Jaina and Twin Suns. In order to keep his squadron in touch with the Jedi meld, a Jedi named Zekk had been assigned to him. It wasn't, Jag thought, that he didn't like the man. It was just that Zekk wasn't that good of a pilot. He really was too moralistic and he truly seemed to have a problem with Jaina. Not that he didn't have his own problems with Jaina, but those problems were personal not professional, not withstanding what he had yelled at Kyp. And, now on top of everything he had to keep Zekk safe.
Zekk interrupted his thoughts abruptly, "Control says Twins Suns needs backup."
"Very well, Banthas," Jag winced at his squadrons name as he always did, "let's go."
The second they reverted to real space from their micro jump, Jag knew that things weren't good. All of Han Solo's fleet was fully but equally engaged and now it seemed to be down to a slugging match. That would always be the worst type of fight, Jag reflected as he dove through space towards Jaina's squadron. Twin Suns and Kyp's Dozen were engaged in the same fight but were still outnumbered over ten to one. Kyp's Dozen had been cut in half and Twin Suns had faired only a little better.
"Twin Suns One, Dozen Leader, requesting permission to join the fight."
"Granted Bantha Lead," snapped Jaina and despite the dire nature of the situation Jag could hear her amusement. "Get this skip off of my tail, Nine," she rejoined a moment later.
Jag and his squadron moved in, training taking over and pilots intuitively maneuvering into all the right places. Jag guided his shield trio to where Jaina was engaged.
Shooting the skips off of her tail and noting that Jaina didn't seem to have a wingmate, Jag called, "I have you wing, Goddess."
"Acknowledged," replied Jaina. "Dive right," and then they were lost in the deadly dance of battle. But eventually as Jaina had long suspected the end of the dance was coming and when it did she knew she would be forever be sitting the rest out.
Leia Organa Solo would late describe what she saw as horrifying and yet unrealistic. The battle had dragged on for hours with neither side getting the upper hand, when Leia felt the first warning through the force. She felt Jaina's first twinge of fear in her daughter's usual ocean of detachment and then a slowly growing wave of panic. Not for Jaina, herself, Leia noted, but for her wingmate Jagged Fel. Glancing at the 'Falcon's sensor displays, Leia soon picked Jaina's ship out of the swirling mass of ships and laser bolts. She immediately saw the problem. Jaina and Jag were totally cut off from their squadrons with more and more Vong surrounding them every second.
There were too many to skips to fight their way through and no one available to come to their aid. Almost screaming at Han, Leia quickly urged him towards Jaina's position when she sensed what Jaina was about to do.
* * * * * * * *
Jaina Solo felt confident and strong. She knew what she had to do. She wondered idly if this was how Anakin had felt at the last there on Myrk. Like Anakin this mission was bigger than her, in the end the death of Jaina Solo really wouldn't matter as long as she accomplished one last thing. It wasn't the fate of the galaxy that hung on her shoulders, but the fate of Jag Fel. To her surprise his fate meant more to her, much more to her than the fate of the galaxy. They had long ago, hours it seemed, although it had probably just been moments, stopped talking to one another, now totally focused on the fight.
There was only one way to get Jag out, Jaina knew and it would take flying the likes of which had never been seen in the galaxy, before. At the age of sixteen, Jaina had shown her piloting potential in Lando Calrissian's asteroid field and earned herself a place in Rogue Squadron. So now Jaina flew again, taking joy in flight for the first time in years, mesmerizing both New Republic and Yuuzhan Vong forces with her piloting. But like with Anakin Solo and Ganner Rhysode before her, she was gradually being worn down.
Jaina had flown beautifully and with deadly effectiveness and Jag was almost clear when it happened. The Yuuzhan Vong cruiser near them that was already under attack was hit with one of trillions of random laser bolts streaking through the void. Hitting the cruiser in just the right place, the ship erupted into fragments of all sizes.
When the brilliant blaze of force energy that was Jaina Solo winked out of existence, the very void that had witnessed it seemed to ring with the screams of the Jedi. In all of the following chaos and the resulting destruction of the Vong fleet it was a week before anyone noticed that the last time Jagged Fel had been seen was before that great explosion.
Thanks for reading. To make this author very very happy please review.
Author's note: Thank you very much to everyone for reviewing and my sincerest apology for taking so long to get this posted. I promise I'll try to get the next chapter posted sooner.
Another week passed and nothing changed. Then Jaina returned to duty from her vacation. In Jaina's absence, her second in command, Lowbacca had faithfully continued Jaina's training regimen with her squadron. Her pilots were now, no longer considered rookies, but instead a part of an elite fighting force, known for its combination of jedi fighting tactics with other more normal tactics. The first day Jaina returned to duty her constant companions were, as they had been for the past week, Jacen Solo as her twin Yuuzhan Vong god and Kyp Durron as her faithful manservant.
As Jaina looked at her schedule for her first morning back on duty, she groaned. She was scheduled to be in various meetings all morning. First, an intrasquadron meeting giving her a squadron status update, then a Goddess tactics meeting with Shar and Piggy, a boring session with the High Council to decide whether Kyp would remain with his Dozen or rejoin Jaina and finally a meeting with Wedge Antilles that had called for all ranking command personnel. By the time she was done with her third meeting, Jaina was exhausted, but yet exhilarated. She had forgotten how she thrived under this element of pressure.
As she entered the conference room and started to take her place at the table, she was greeted warmly by Wedge. "Jaina," he corrected himself quickly, "My apologies, Goddess, I merely meant to say I was glad you could join us again."
"Thank you, General," Jaina replied formally, distantly, playing her role perfectly, although Wedge could see the glimmer of amusement in her eyes.
"I believe we're ready now," Wedge said in a slightly louder voice as the last of the officers filed in and the doors were closed. "All right, Ladies and Gentlebeings we have a situation. As you all know after our victory at Ebaq 9 there has been a lot of confusion among the Vong especially with the death of the Warmaster." He paused a moment as many of the officers clapped and cheered. After they calmed down he continued speaking. "However, as much as we need this chance to regroup we can't allow them time to regroup as well. So, we're sending half of our forces here to Hapes under the command of Admiral Kre'fey. The rest will stay here to defend Mon Calamari, or until they are needed elsewhere, understood?"
At the general chorus of agreement, Wedge nodded and said, "All right, people, all of you are dismissed except for those of you in Admiral Kre'fey's task force. That is General Farlander, General Sien," both people Jaina was happy to see included in Kre'fey's squadron.
Unlike General Farlander, General Sien had never worked with Jaina before but the middle aged Rodian's reputation of ingenuity under pressure and fairness towards Jedi was encouraging. As Wedge continued down the list of Captains, Majors, and Colonels, Jaina was unsurprised to here her name among those mentioned as well as Kyp Durron's, but only her Jedi control kept her from jerking in surprise as she heard Jagged Fel's name called. She hadn't noticed him when she entered, but now that she looked, she easily spotted Jag back in one of the dark corners of the room. When their eyes met across the room, it was as if a jot of fire and ice passed from Jag and into Jaina, forcing Jaina to look away in hurt and confusion.
Even as the meeting continued and Jaina listened to Admiral Kre'fey laying out the details of their mission to Hapes, she continually felt Jag's cold presence behind her.
At last the torturous meeting was over, but as Jaina finally began to gratefully escape, she heard Wedge Antilles call out, "Just a moment please, Great One."
"Yes General Antilles," she questioned formally.
"We require your input, Goddess."
Keeping up her act for any watching Vong or peace brigaders, Jaina inclined her head gracefully and approached Wedge almost defiantly as she noticed Jag standing next to him.
"Jaina, Kyp, Jag is going to be the official liaison with the Jedi as well as a fighter squadron commander."
He paused, almost stopping dead as he noticed the unusual almost suffocating tension between the three, but he plowed on. "Since he worked with you two before in Twin Suns, he will help you coordinate the instructions from the Jedi meld to the others. Any questions?" At the trio's negative responses he added, "Very well dismissed."
Kyp turned almost immediately to Wedge asking politely about Wedge's family leaving Jaina and Jag standing together awkwardly. They stood in stiff silence for a moment before Jag said in a distant formal tone. "Congragulations on your promotion, Lt. Colonel."
"Thank you," Jaina replied equally formal. Then she tentatively reached a hand out towards his arm, "Jag," she began only to be cut off by him.
"Congragulations as well on you new companion, I hope your happy with him, whoever he is."
Before Jaina could even begin to process what he had said, he was already stalking away down the corridor. Kyp who had watched the whole encounter with Wedge, ran out after Jag, this time not allowing Jaina's call for him to stop to dissuade him.
When he finally caught up with Jag several moments later, he was furious. Forgoing the force, Kyp bodily grabbed Jag, turned him around and threw him into the wall.
Standing before Jag, the epitome of the dark warrior, Kyp demanded, "What in the Sith are you talking about, Fel? Why are you doing this to her?"
Despite the sensible side of him that was saying not to provoke an angry Kyp Durron, Jag no longer cared. Furious he bit out mockingly, "I'm doing this to her. Well, Durron, I'm sorry if you think that I should stay with someone who's cheating on me, but I guess she is a goddess after all. Jaina Solo can do whatever she wants no matter what the consequences are. Well , Kyp," almost screaming in fury Jag didn't notice Jaina standing in the corridor behind Kyp, "I hope you realize how dangerous she is before she gets you all killed."
Abruptly he turned away storming off down the corridor, leaving a stunned Jaina in his wake.
* * * * * * *
As Kyp expected the following days were not pleasant. Jaina had not cried or even raged about what Jag had said. She had simply thrown herself back into her work. All the good her short vacation seemed to have done her disappeared. The only people she would relax around were unsurprisingly, Jacen and Kyp and occasionally her parents.
Jaina was once again accepting the most dangerous missions, always leading, always pushing herself and the members of her squadron to be the best. Within months, months of rigorous training, brutal but successful fighting and avoiding and ignoring Jag Fel, Twins Suns squadron, under Jaina's command became known as the equal of Rogue Squadron. During these months, Jacen had become Jaina's constant companion. When she wasn't flying, brother and sister prefered to spend as much time together as possible.
One day, almost six months after Jaina and Jag's last fight, Twins Sun's patrol was unexpectedly cancled and Jaina called in for a meeting, an Insider's meeting. The meeting led by Wedge Antilles, illustrated the Insiders first independent campaign against the Vong. The Insiders were no longer merely "interpreting orders," they were creating their own. Han Solo, recently rejoined general was to lead the strike. To everyone's surprise, he immediately brought Jaina in to coordinate his various starfighter squadrons.
"Dad," Jaina asked the next day, "which fighter squadron's have you been assigned?"
Han's smirk showed complete satisfaction and, Jaina suspected, more than a little smugness at the squadron's he had wheedled out of Kre'fey, Sovv and Bel Iblis. "Well, Kid, Bel Iblis gave me three squadrons of a-wings, Sovv gave me the Rogues and another squadron the Tierfron Yellow Aces." He merely ignored Jaina's groan as he continued down the list. "Kre'fey is also giving me Kyp's Dozen, Twin Suns obviously, and one other squadron, a conglomerate. I'm not sure who they're led by. Is that good enough for you, Princess?" Han asked affectionately.
"Sure, Daddy," Jaina replied teasingly sounding much younger than her actual age or experience.
"There's already about half a dozen Jedi spread through those squadrons. Do you want to see if I can get Jacen and a few more Jedi and set up a meld?"
"Sure, Jaina," he replied hugging his daughter, grateful she had warmed up since her distant attitude at Hapes, "but don't make to much fuss. This is supposed to be a secret mission."
A knock on the door to the office where they were conferring, interrupted Jaina.
Not expecting anyone, Jaina glanced questioningly at her father who only said calmly, "Come in." The slid quickly open to reveal Jagged Fel.
If nothing else, Jaina reflected as she saw Jag, these months of separation from Jag had given her plenty of opportunity to perfect the technique of making her face into a mask to cover her emotions. To cover the sadness, to cover the hurt and to cover how much she had missed him, missed everything about him these last few months. Oh she was angry with Jag all right, Kyp and Jacen could attest to that, but mostly she was hurt and confused. The most infuriating thing about the whole situation was that Jag wouldn't talk to her, except for screaming at Kyp in the corridor he had been the consummate professional.
Sometimes Jaina was sure it was all a façade; she had seen a different side of him. Now, though she wasn't so sure. Jag had always been a mystery, and now it looked as if that would be how he remained.
"Jaina," she was abruptly brought out of her reverie when she heard her father calling her name. He looked at her a bit oddly, but then, when she said nothing he continued. "Jag here," he informed her looking at a data card, "is in charge of that conglomerate squadron I was telling you about."
Realizing that she would have to be spending more time around Jag now, Jaina struggled to come up with a polite response. "I look forward to working with you again, Colonel," she settled on, using a formal response to cover her unease.
Ten minutes later, ten minutes that seemed like an eternity to Jaina, the informal meeting was over. Almost running out of the office, Jaina was shocked when Jag stopped her in the corridor.
"If I could have a moment of your time, Goddess?" he asked.
Surprised at Jag's request, Jaina was barely able to sustain her now habitual regal look and as they began to walk down the corridor, Jag asked stiffly. "With your permission, Great One, may my squadron participate in sims against yours this afternoon? My pilots need the experience and discipline that only comes from flying, but in an arena that won't get them killed."
Jaina appeared to ponder for a moment, although Jag knew she had already decided. "Very well, Colonel, but do not be late. Keeping a Goddess waiting is not smart."
* * * * * * *
Jacen Solo glanced around uneasily. His sister would be very upset if she knew about this. Consciously blocking his unease and impatience from his bond with Jaina, he sighed with relief when he heard someone approaching.
Turning Jacen said in a surly voice, "It's about time you got here, Durron." The two men, although not altogether agreeing on the way of the Jedi and their philosophies about the force had reached a strange understanding in the past months.
"Hey, I had to get rid of Jaina. You wouldn't want her to find us would you, Solo?"
Ignoring Kyp's sarcasm, Jacen turned and knocked on the door of the Skywalker suite. The door immediately opened for them and Jacen felt his Aunt's familiar presence in the living room. With Kyp in tow, the two Jedi walked into the living room to find Mara sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the living room, meditating. Coming out of her trance like state, she raised a questioning eyebrow at the two Jedi.
"Hi Aunt Mara," Jacen started cheerfully, if a little nervously.
Glancing over at Kyp before focusing back on Jacen, Mara asked, "What brings you two here?"
Deciding to speak first, Jacen started quietly. "Do you remember several months ago when we asked you to come comfort Jaina because she was really upset, but she wouldn't tell you what she was upset about?"
After Mara nodded in remembrance and took a seat on the couch across from them, he continued. "Jaina was upset because Jag Fel, who she had been kind of dating, had blown her off in the mess hall."
"And for no reason, too. Although Jag did keep saying something about Jaina cheating on him, but we all know Jaina barely had time for one guy much less two."
"Jaina's doesn't know why he's upset does she?" Mara asked directly.
"No," replied Jacen.
"What did you want me to do about it?" questioned Mara darkly, "because I don't think Jaina would appreciated you two meddling in her private life."
"No we were just wondering if you had heard anything." Jacen stated.
Kyp once again surprised Mara saying, "She's starting to withdraw again, like she did at Hapes. Oh, it's nothing dark," he reassured them at their worried looks, "but, Jaina's downfall was always despair. Jaina's strong but one way or another no one can fly with despair sharing their cockpit for long."
* * * * * * * *
Jaina Solo ran down the corridors of the Errant Venture as alarms screamed, heading towards the hangar bay where Twin Suns Squadron was housed. The eight fighter squadrons that had been assigned to Han Solo were all housed on board the Errant Venture, although Han Solo still maintained that he would lead only from the Millennium Falcon.
Scrambling into her fighter and rushing through preflight checks, Jaina and Twin Suns received clearance and were the first to reach open space. "General," Jaina called over the comm, "What's the situation?"
* * * * * * *
In the same part of space, Jagged Fel in his clawcraft led his squadron into position. Fortunately today they weren't the bait. Today it was Jaina and Twin Suns. In order to keep his squadron in touch with the Jedi meld, a Jedi named Zekk had been assigned to him. It wasn't, Jag thought, that he didn't like the man. It was just that Zekk wasn't that good of a pilot. He really was too moralistic and he truly seemed to have a problem with Jaina. Not that he didn't have his own problems with Jaina, but those problems were personal not professional, not withstanding what he had yelled at Kyp. And, now on top of everything he had to keep Zekk safe.
Zekk interrupted his thoughts abruptly, "Control says Twins Suns needs backup."
"Very well, Banthas," Jag winced at his squadrons name as he always did, "let's go."
The second they reverted to real space from their micro jump, Jag knew that things weren't good. All of Han Solo's fleet was fully but equally engaged and now it seemed to be down to a slugging match. That would always be the worst type of fight, Jag reflected as he dove through space towards Jaina's squadron. Twin Suns and Kyp's Dozen were engaged in the same fight but were still outnumbered over ten to one. Kyp's Dozen had been cut in half and Twin Suns had faired only a little better.
"Twin Suns One, Dozen Leader, requesting permission to join the fight."
"Granted Bantha Lead," snapped Jaina and despite the dire nature of the situation Jag could hear her amusement. "Get this skip off of my tail, Nine," she rejoined a moment later.
Jag and his squadron moved in, training taking over and pilots intuitively maneuvering into all the right places. Jag guided his shield trio to where Jaina was engaged.
Shooting the skips off of her tail and noting that Jaina didn't seem to have a wingmate, Jag called, "I have you wing, Goddess."
"Acknowledged," replied Jaina. "Dive right," and then they were lost in the deadly dance of battle. But eventually as Jaina had long suspected the end of the dance was coming and when it did she knew she would be forever be sitting the rest out.
Leia Organa Solo would late describe what she saw as horrifying and yet unrealistic. The battle had dragged on for hours with neither side getting the upper hand, when Leia felt the first warning through the force. She felt Jaina's first twinge of fear in her daughter's usual ocean of detachment and then a slowly growing wave of panic. Not for Jaina, herself, Leia noted, but for her wingmate Jagged Fel. Glancing at the 'Falcon's sensor displays, Leia soon picked Jaina's ship out of the swirling mass of ships and laser bolts. She immediately saw the problem. Jaina and Jag were totally cut off from their squadrons with more and more Vong surrounding them every second.
There were too many to skips to fight their way through and no one available to come to their aid. Almost screaming at Han, Leia quickly urged him towards Jaina's position when she sensed what Jaina was about to do.
* * * * * * * *
Jaina Solo felt confident and strong. She knew what she had to do. She wondered idly if this was how Anakin had felt at the last there on Myrk. Like Anakin this mission was bigger than her, in the end the death of Jaina Solo really wouldn't matter as long as she accomplished one last thing. It wasn't the fate of the galaxy that hung on her shoulders, but the fate of Jag Fel. To her surprise his fate meant more to her, much more to her than the fate of the galaxy. They had long ago, hours it seemed, although it had probably just been moments, stopped talking to one another, now totally focused on the fight.
There was only one way to get Jag out, Jaina knew and it would take flying the likes of which had never been seen in the galaxy, before. At the age of sixteen, Jaina had shown her piloting potential in Lando Calrissian's asteroid field and earned herself a place in Rogue Squadron. So now Jaina flew again, taking joy in flight for the first time in years, mesmerizing both New Republic and Yuuzhan Vong forces with her piloting. But like with Anakin Solo and Ganner Rhysode before her, she was gradually being worn down.
Jaina had flown beautifully and with deadly effectiveness and Jag was almost clear when it happened. The Yuuzhan Vong cruiser near them that was already under attack was hit with one of trillions of random laser bolts streaking through the void. Hitting the cruiser in just the right place, the ship erupted into fragments of all sizes.
When the brilliant blaze of force energy that was Jaina Solo winked out of existence, the very void that had witnessed it seemed to ring with the screams of the Jedi. In all of the following chaos and the resulting destruction of the Vong fleet it was a week before anyone noticed that the last time Jagged Fel had been seen was before that great explosion.
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