AN: Well, here's some more in the lives of Jaina Solo and Jagged Fel... Thanks for the reviews, especially Mia because you have no clue who some of the people are but you're reading this for me anyway! : ) I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!
Chapter Four: Good-mornings, Goodnights
After a night a dreaming, in which she was haunted by a pair of pale green eyes, Jaina awoke with a groggy stretch and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before reaching for the glass of water beside her bed. Drinking deeply, she woke up a little and stumbled to the refresher. Ten minutes later, thanks to the marvels of caffeine, she became Jaina Solo, Jedi Knight, pilot, and holovid quality cover girl.
She knew Wedge would most likely be there around 8:00 in the morning, so she grabbed her datapad and walked casually down the hallway to the docking bays, humming "I love you baby!" unconsciously under her breath.
She was looking at something on her datapad and ran directly into Jag Fel.
Thump!
Jaina's datapad went flying across the floor, and Jag had to grab her shoulder to keep her from rebounding off him onto the floor.
Jaina opened her eyes when the expected fall didn't come and instead of finding herself on the floor, she was gazing up into the very same eyes that had captured her subconscious last night. For a moment, both of them seemed to freeze, as they found themselves in an awkward, yet not unwanted position. When they both realized they were gawking, Jaina promptly broke eye contact and coughed into her hand. Jag released her quickly.
"Um, sorry," said Jag, bending down to pick up her datapad.
"No, it was completely my fault," argued Jaina, taking her possession.
"Are you going to meet General Antilles?" Jag interrupted before they could start to fight.
"Yes," Jaina answered as they started to walk again. "Jag, he's your uncle, why don't you refer to him as that?"
Jag paused for a moment and said, "I guess it's because I've only really met him once before. He certainly feels like my uncle and I think only good of him, but I don't feel comfortable or familiar enough yet."
Jaina found this understandable, but, being Jaina, she saw it as a situation that could be, and therefore would be fixed, whether by her powers, or by persuasion.
"Jag," she told him seriously, "Now that he's here, why don't you take the opportunity to spend some time and talk to him?"
Jag stopped walking and touched her arm to make her face towards him and Jaina obliged, standing still to look up at his face, which had an expression she had never seen before on it, something like a cross between pain and steadfastness, a riot of conflicting emotions.
"What if," he said quietly, and took a steadying breath, "There are other people I want to know better instead?"
Jaina's eyes widened and she looked scared, and then confused, and finally breathless. His pale green eyes looked straight into hers, trying to make her understand. She didn't know what to say, and she had no idea what she was supposed to do or how she was to act. She felt dizzy and panicky, like she'd been hit in the chest, because there was something constricting her breathing. A sense of surrealism overtook her and the only thing anchoring her in reality was the depth and sincerity in his gaze. Slowly, everything around them seemed to blur and a strange sense of wonderment captured her. He started to close his eyes and tilt his head towards her, but was very rudely cut off by the sound of someone clearing his throat.
Jaina and Jag both looked up, startled out of their wits, and saw Wedge Antilles standing there, arms folded across his chest, trying to keep from laughing.
Both pilots snapped their feet together and brought their hands up in a salute, but Wedge waved his hand to make them stop.
"Sorry to interrupt," Wedge said, smiling, "But could you inform Booster that I'm here."
Giving them a wink and a smirk as he walked away whistling, Wedge continued down the corridor.
Jaina was blushing hard, and she felt a tinge of anger with her embarrassment. With a sigh and a shake of her head, she composed herself and brushed past Jag in the directions of her quarters. Jag watched her retreat with mixed feelings, and cursed bad timing. The moment had passed and he would need to wait for it to come again.
There was a knock at Jag's door about an hour after he'd returned to his quarters, and Jag opened it to see his uncle standing there.
"Hello Jag," Wedge said kindly, "Mind if I come in?"
Jag gestured him into the room, "Not at all."
Wedge seated himself at one of the two chairs arranged by a table in the room kitty-corner from the refresher. While looking apparently at ease, Jag knew that his uncle would be a little more interrogative this meeting. Jag braced himself and sat down across from Wedge.
"Booster told me everything that's going on, and I have to say, I'm very curious about the change in your military's decision," Wedge said calmly.
This line of conversation was one that Jag could deal with. The next half hour or so was devoted to talk about the Chiss military, Jag's father, the well-being of his mother and sisters, and a bit of bragging about various exploits. At that point, Wedge finally brought up the subject Jag wasn't ready or willing to talk about.
"You like Jaina Solo, don't you?" Wedge said bluntly.
"Of course I like her, she's a very talented woman, with a lot of accomplishments for someone her age, she's…" Jag began to say in a rush.
Wedge stopped him, "You know what I mean Jag."
Jag opened his mouth, preparing to protest, but he stopped, snapped his jaws shut and looked at the laminated surface of the table.
"Yes," he replied softly, "You saw that for yourself."
"It was a surprise. Not entirely unexpected, but I blinked for a second or two," Wedge admitted.
"How much did you see?" Jag questioned, a slight colour rising in his cheeks.
Wedge grinned, "Only the part where you were staring at each other like the other was the only thing in the galaxy that mattered."
Jag's face reddened a little more and he mumbled, "I should really learn to pick my times."
"Hey," Wedge consoled him cheerfully, "You're a starfighter pilot, you live for the moment."
"She just seems so brave," Jag explained, "Like she's not afraid of anything and if you try to tell her something she doesn't like, she'll tell you where to go and how to get there, not giving Sith about what anyone else thinks. Yet, she's not as naïve and innocent as she was when I first met her, though she wasn't exactly sheltered then either. She's seen her comrades killed, she's been spending months at the front, fighting a very difficult and dismal war. I could try to figure her out till my head explodes, but the only conclusion I reach is that I feel something for her, something that isn't going away."
Absorbing this confession quietly, Wedge kept his eyes on Jag's face and was very attentive to everything he said, and when Jag was done, Wedge reached out and placed a hand on Jag's shoulder. Jag jerked his head up and Wedge's calm, appraising gaze met his eyes.
"You can't change what you feel inside of you Jag. You can try to ignore it, but sooner or later, it's going to break through your defenses. Take my advice and don't wait Jag, if you love someone, tell her you love her. Because in these times, there might not always be a sooner or a later," Wedge urged with wisdom borne of experience.
Jag nodded to show he understood.
"I'm working out, I'm working on it," Jag assured him.
It was nearly 18:00 hours when Jaina knocked on the door of Jag's quarters. Opening it to find her standing there, loaded down with disks, datapads, and a holoprojector, Jag commented dryly, "Taken up slicing have we?"
"Very funny," Jaina said indignantly, "Give me a hand with these please."
Jag reached out to grab a stack of disks, but Jaina transferred the weight before he had a hold and the whole stack went skittering across the floor.
"Oops," said Jaina, almost offhandedly. She stooped to set her other material on the floor and began to gather the misplaced objects.
Jag bent down to help her and his hand ran into hers as they both reached for one at the same moment. He was very still suddenly and Jaina gave a nervous laugh before standing up and moving her equipment over to the table.
Jag berated himself silently and leaned to pick up the disk before joining her.
Jaina, meanwhile, was jacking a datapad into the holoprojector and inserted a disk. A green and brown planet with bodies of blue water floated in front of them.
"This is Gobi, obviously," Jaina explained, "It's nearness to it's sun keeps it from developing polar ice caps or freezing temperatures. There are large stretches of desert, combined with jungle on the edges of freshwater oceans. Its major cities are Salam, Ephaisus, Kalahari, and Menfe. The planet's main economy is in rare desert fruit, called kiwashi. It's used to make some kind of wine apparently. The other attraction is the giant pyramids and other archeological significant ruins. They're obviously a planetary treasure."
"Let's take a tour," Jag said sarcastically, "Pyramids, what I've always wanted to see."
Giving him a dagger glance, but trying unsuccessfully to keep from smiling, Jaina continued, "Historians are greatly intrigued by the mysterious, decadent tombs of ancient kings that dominate large areas underground, beneath the pyramids."
"Alright Jaina, forget the history lesson. Where are we going to land? What time are we going to land? Where are we going to meet Luke and Mara?" Jag questioned, cutting to the point.
Jaina feigned reproach, but grinned and gave the vital information.
"We leave tomorrow at 8:00. We'll land at Kalahari and meet Luke and Mara somewhere in there," Jaina prompted, looking relieved to be through with her educational spiel.
"Meet them somewhere?" Jag inquired sternly, "There is not a definite location to converge at?"
Knowing it would have been hard to slip that by him, Jaina nodded bashfully.
"I'm sorry, I know you would like to have the specifics, but I just can't get them Jag," she shrugged, "Come see this though."
Jaina took out a small datapad and pressed a few buttons, a look of concentration on her face. Jag moved his chair beside hers and looked over her shoulder to see what was displayed on the screen. Almost immediately, he realized that he was very, very close to her. He was able to smell the floral scent of her hair, to hear the even sound of her breathing and if he looked out of the corner or his eyes, the absorbing way her lips were set in a line of youthful determination. He sat back abruptly, not wanting to think about her, and not able to stand against those attractions.
Jaina turned her head around and the look in her eyes told him that she knew what he'd felt. Her Jedi senses seemed to be naturally attuned to probe his feelings. It made him feel naked, exposed, and he suppressed a frown.
"Here," Jaina said, placing the data into his hand, "These are maps of the city and the spaceport. I'd better get packed, we could be there a week or two."
Jag nodded, "Make sure you take some water. It's heavy to carry, but you never know the quality of local stuff on desert planets."
Jaina smiled as she got up and moved towards the door, "If you say so Flyboy."
Jag grinned and settled back in his chair, about to start reading over the data she'd given him. As Jaina opened the door, however, Booster Terrik was standing immediately outside of it. The look on the aging smuggler's face expressed mild annoyance and bewilderment.
"There you are," he said, frustration evident in his voice, "I've been looking for you two. Were you just planning to waltz right down to the planet without any kind of planning? It's dangerous to be ignorant you know."
A puzzled frown came over Jaina's face.
"But we've just been looking over information on the planet for the past half hour. One of the people on your communications team gave it to me!" Jaina protested, confused.
This appeared to be news to Booster, because his eyebrows furrowed and his forehead creased.
"One of my people? Who?" Booster asked.
"His name was Harlit, about 180 cm, 85 kilos, dark haired.." Jaina started to describe.
"Oh that communications person," realized Booster, cutting her off, "Ah yes, well that figures. He's new, but very bright, very hardworking. He keeps to himself but a very efficient young man. He was the one who was able to decrypt and deliver the text message from Luke and Mara in the first place. Never mind, it makes sense he would give you the proper information."
Jaina looked relieved.
"Well, if that's the case," she replied, "Then I still have packing to do. Goodnight Sir."
Booster nodded, "Good night."
He turned to Jag, who had been sitting silently, watching this exchange, "And goodnight to you too Colonel."
With that, Jag's door was closed and he was left alone with his thoughts. And no matter how hard he scrutinized the datapad, his thoughts kept wandering elsewhere. Like to what Jaina was doing at the moment. In an effort to distract himself, he started to pack the appropriate belongings for the trip to Gobi. A week in the company of Jaina Solo… he was sure he would either be dead or in love.