Title: Changing Course
Chapter: Chapter Seven
Author: bactaqueen
Author's e-mail:
Category: New Jedi Order, Alternate Universe
Keywords: Kyp Durron, Jaina Solo, NJO
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: New Jedi Order up to Rebel Stand
Summary: Jaina Solo had a tough road back from the Dark Side after the death of her brother. In the process, according to canon, she earned Colonel Fel. But what if she hadn't? What if Kyp Durron was her redemption?
Disclaimer: "Star Wars" copyright George Lucas. Characters copyright respective owners. No profit is being made and no infringement is intended. Characters and situations inspired by the Enemy Lines duology, written by Aaron Allston, and in some cases, the situations have been modified for the purposes of this story. Again, here, no profit is being made and no infringement is intended.
Changing Course: Chapter Seven
Misty fog hovered over the charred landing field like indecisive ghosts over a graveyard. In the predawn darkness the morning was damp but not cool; the humidity made the air thick and oppressive. Shadows seemed alive at the light's edge, and in the distance, a predator howled triumphantly.
Jaina Solo left her quarters and the biotics building and crossed the kill zone, heading for the special operations docking bay and the first day of practice with Twin Suns. It had only been a week since her late-night arrival on Borleias. In that time, Jaina had been witness to military efficiency at its best.
Twin Suns Squadron had been rotated out of the formal command structure. Word had been spread that Yun-Harla was in direct command, and officially collaborating with the infidels. Ambiguous command codes had been attached to all of the squadron's files. Spare parts, munitions, support personnel, and priority clearance codes had been given to the Twins as if they were more than an elite unit. They'd even been afforded an entire floor of the biotics facility. Each pilot had his or her own suite complete with a personal 'fresher; other pilots bunked two or three to a room, and shared a common 'fresher.
The other pilots and personnel were already grumbling. But it was part of the plan. As General Antilles had explained it, before they could make the Yuuzhan Vong believe she was the Trickster incarnate, they must make the New Republic personnel believe it.
The special operations docking bay loomed ahead, huge blast doors open to the morning, spilling harsh yellow light into the darkness. The hangar bustled with familiar pre-mission activity. Jaina drew to a halt just inside the bay to take it all in. As she watched the pilots and the support crew and listened to the sounds of loose chatter and firing engines, she wondered how long it had been since the last time she's flown anything smaller than a freighter. She tried to remember the last engagement. It was before the Jedi mission. 'Before Jacen and Anakin died. A lifetime ago.'
Jaina slammed her shields down. Remembering the last kill she'd made in the last dogfight she'd participated in was not important. The impending training session was important.
With sharp eyes, Jaina located the center of the hangar's activity. At this hour, only one squadron was preparing for departure. And only the Jedi of Twin Suns were taking part in this first training exercise.
Jaina was the last to arrive, and she was late. That was on purpose. It would not do for a goddess to wait on mortals.
Off to her right rested the eleven ships that belonged to Twin Suns, all of them individually decorated. The ten fighters were X-wings; number eleven was the disc-shaped Hapan freighter. Zekk, Kyp, Alema, and Lowie were all visible, all of them at various stages of preflight inspections. Tesar Sebatyne was present and he, too, was performing his preflight. Jaina had a sneaking suspicion that the Barabel Jedi had signed on because of a little urging from Lowie.
Jaina's gaze drifted from one pilot to another. Kyp was in his fighter's cockpit, carefully performing every item on the standard X-wing preflight checklist. Alema, too, was in her fighter. Jaina wondered briefly if her lekku ever hurt after time spent under a flight helmet. Tesar was balanced on his X-wing's port S-foil, adjusting the laser cannon for a more precise shot. He glanced up and gave Jaina a very toothy, very human grin. She smiled back. Once she'd developed an ear for the Barabel's dry sense of humor, they'd gotten along fine.
Her gaze lingered on Zekk, in the shadows of his X-wing, his arm extended above his head as his fingers played over the marked hull of the used snubfighter. He was in the middle of the walk-around inspection. The garish orange of his flight suit clashed with the faint green tinge of his skin. His fine, shade-lighter-than-black hair was tied back in a loose braid that fell past his shoulders. Had she failed to notice before that he was letting it grow out?
As if he sensed her gaze, Zekk looked up. He smiled, and it reached his eyes. There was the warmth of old friendship in those eyes, in that smile. There was also the hint of something more. Jaina's breath hitched, but she smiled back. Once upon a time, that hint, that hope, had meant something to her. On the day Jaina was apprenticed to Mara, Zekk had kissed her-lightly-and promised more the next time they saw each other. Then he had left.
It was too late now. They'd both hurt each other too badly to be anything more than friends. Zekk was afraid of her. And Jaina didn't want to be the cause of any more of his pain.
But she couldn't help wondering: if the war hadn't come, what would Zekk have meant to her?
A familiar presence approached, and Jaina turned to find Lowbacca striding toward her, arms and legs moving all at once. She smiled up at him. The Wookiee paused, and lifted his nose as if to scent the air. He let out a curious woof.
Jaina's smile faded. "I am not sad. I was thinking."
[What about?]
She shrugged. "Just thinking," she repeated, non-committal. Jaina eyed him. He always seemed to know when something was bothering her. He was always willing to offer support, to be a friend. On impulse, Jaina gave Lowie a quick, hard hug. Their relationship was uncomplicated. She was grateful for that.
When she stepped away, he gave her a puzzled look and barked a quick question at her.
Jaina's smile held no sadness. "For being you and for not making being me any more difficult than it already is." She glanced around. "Are you ready to go?"
Though capable of fitting into the cockpit of an X-wing, Lowie had opted to operate the Hapan freighter as a mobile Goddess HQ. While Jaina had been dealing with niggling little administrative details, Lowie had been having fun.
First, he'd renamed and repainted the Raider's Prize. It was now the Sleight of Hand and painted the same glossy white base as Jaina's X-wing. In purple, on the top of the ship and where the identification marks would go, was the symbol of Yun-Harla the Jedi confederates had been using on Hapes.
More than cosmetic details, Lowie had armed the freighter. The top-mounted quadlaser had been kept, but control of it had been patched to the cockpit since Lowie would be flying alone. The out-of-date ion cannon had been scrapped and replaced by a newer, more powerful ion cannon. It cycled faster and had a setting for biological technology. The concussion missile launcher on the port side now had a partner on the starboard side, and the Hand even carried a full payload of missiles. The single, forward-pointing laser cannon had been scrapped. Instead, the Hand sported two new laser cannons, one on each side, mounted on swiveling cradles. Now, Lowie could cover his own engines.
Lowie assured her that he was ready and the equipment had tested fine.
"What about EV recovery? Jaina asked suddenly.
Lowbacca's moan was almost regretful. The equipment to pick up extravehicular pilots had only been installed the day before and he hadn't had a chance to try it out. The gear would work, he was sure, but it wasn't perfect.
Jaina patted his arm. "That's okay," she assured him. "We're just practicing today. I'm not planning on leaving any of my pilots EV."
Lowie rumbled something about being thankful. After a moment, however, he revised his reply and growled a question.
It stung, but Jaina pretended to look thoughtful. "I suppose. But you'd still have to pick him up, and I'd have to explain to General Antilles why I shot up Kyp."
She wouldn't have too much explaining to do, Lowie pointed out. General Antilles didn't like Kyp much, anyway. Remember?
Jaina couldn't help the wince. "I remember." Being accepted back by family and friends was easy enough, she'd found. Right up until it became obvious that Kyp was part of the package. Jaina sighed softly and turned away from that particular line of thought. She lowered her voice and leaned close to Lowie to ask, "And the tractor beam?"
Officially, the powerful little tractor beam she and Lowie had installed was for use in conjunction with EV pilot recovery. Unofficially, Jaina had other plans for it. Plans that involved living up to her title of Trickster to the Vong.
Lowie told her that it was operational, but he still had tests to run.
Jaina grinned up at her friend. "All right. Sounds like the mobile HQ is almost good to go. The recorders are ready?"
Lowbacca barked, [Yes.]
"Excellent. I still have pre-flight, so I'll see you up there." And with that, Jaina darted for her fighter.
It had been Lowie's idea to paint Twin Suns fighters as their pilots saw fit. Jaina had given the order. As a result, each of the fighters followed their own theme. There was no uniformity in a Goddess's squadron. (Flight suits excluded.)
Her X-wing had been new... right after the fall of the Empire. Mara had surrendered the X-wing to Jaina, knowing how "Sticks" had earned her nickname. All the newer X-wings came with the wheeled yoke instead of the flight stick Jaina preferred.
After a quick inspection of her ship, Jaina climbed into the cockpit.
She settled into the ejection seat and yanked on her helmet. She took just a moment to enjoy the feel of the cockpit wrapped around her, and then she was running through the checklist, going through familiar motions and realizing how much she'd missed it.
Once she'd finished the checklist and sealed the canopy, she keyed the comm.
"Twins Suns Leader to Control. Permission to lift off?"
"Of course, Your Greatness." The voice held humility.
Jaina winced. She'd forgotten she was playing a role. "Good," she said, and toggled squadron frequency. "Twins, check in."
"Twin Two, ready to shield a Goddess." That was Kyp, flying as her second, chipper and glib.
"Three, four green and ready to meld." Zekk was the third member of the shield trio, and that was a sort of forgiveness between them.
"Four, ready to learn from a Goddess." Alema there, and Jaina was surprised that the Twi'lek Knight made any sort of comment.
"Twin Sunz Five iz ready to hunt," Tesar hissed.
Lowbacca's roar cut off Jaina's reply to the Barab pilot. Streak was ready to launch.
"On me, people. Stay tight. Let's go."
As one, five X-wings and a freighter lifted up and out of the special operations docking bay. They rose into a dark sky just beginning to tinge with light.
Jaina climbed and the clouds dissipated around her. The stars twinkled, and as she broke atmosphere, they ceased to twinkle. Instead, they shone with a cold, precise light.
"Form up," Jaina said.
Immediately, Kyp and Zekk tucked themselves in close. Their shields overlapped with hers, adding their protection. Aft of the shield trio, Alema and Tesar paired up, Tesar sliding into wing mate position just starboard and aft of Alema. Lowie trailed behind all of them, recording everything.
The Record Time hung motionless in a sector of otherwise unoccupied space. The transport had been damaged during the recapture of Borleias and was currently cobbled together. It carried targets in the same holds it had carried troops in not a month before. The Time would release those targets, and Jaina's Jedi would practice.
As the Twins approached, they slowed until they, too, hung motionless in front of the Time, facing her. Jaina hailed the transport. She was rewarded with a chipper, "Good morning, Goddess."
Jaina grinned. "Ganner. They're letting you play with grown-up toys now?"
The older Jedi laughed. "I have special permission. Are your people ready?"
"That's why we're here."
"All right then. Stand by." The comm clicked, and Jaina watched the Record Time through her X-wing's canopy.
The transport's engines flared, and slowly, it began to move. It turned awkwardly and made a pass by the line of X-wings.
"Targets away," Ganner said.
"Thank you, Time," Jaina replied. Then she switched to her squadron's main channel. "S-foils in attack position," she ordered, and suited action to words.
Her fighter's strike foils opened up, and Jaina powered up her weapons. If she craned her neck, she could see Zekk off to her port and back some. He waved. His ship opened up, no problems.
"All right. Tesar, Alema, you two start at the other end. Pick your targets and watch your times. Remember, you're trying to synch. Practice maneuvers, too. I want you to have a lot of options in a battle."
"Yes, Goddess."
On her sensors and through the canopy, Jaina watched them go. She turned to her own set of wing mates. "The same goes for us."
"I'm open, Goddess," Kyp said.
"So am I," Zekk agreed.
Here was the challenge, Jaina thought. Opening once again a battle meld. Linking herself to others. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and centered herself. This was her idea, after all.
Slowly, she lowered her shields. Slowly, she reached out for them. First to Kyp, who was indeed open to her. He grasped at her, found her, and suddenly, they were linked. It was not unfamiliar.
Next came Zekk. Jaina used Kyp's connection to the other Jedi as a bridge. She crossed it, and was welcomed at once by warmth and understanding.
'How does a girl get so lucky?'
Kyp chuckled. Jaina heard it, both over the comm and through their connection. "She attains the status of Goddess," he said.
Jaina commed Lowie. "Recorders on-line?"
Lowie barked an affirmative.
"Then let the games begin."
Jaina picked the first target. It was a large drum barrel, used for storing starship fuel. It was empty. It was also wired. As soon as she received confirmation from both Kyp and Zekk that they understood what she intended, she fired.
Red lasers cut through the void to hit her target. Two more sets of lasers followed hers, and the drum exploded.
Jaina checked the readings and frowned. "Kyp, why'd you hesitate?"
"I didn't."
"You didn't? Why is your shot three-eighths of a second behind mine and Zekk's?"
Only static answered her at first. Then low chuckles.
"What's so funny?"
"Goddess, you're eighteen."
Her frown returned. "So?"
"Hunter's twenty-one."
"Yes." Zekk's voice was sober.
Kyp's voice held mirth. "I'm more than a decade older than both of you, Goddess. Give an old man a break, will you?"
Understanding tickled Jaina's mind. "Your reflexes."
"Right in one."
"So what do we do?"
"We could let him pick," Zekk suggested.
"Or you two could hesitate," Kyp offered.
Jaina considered. "No," she said. "I won't hesitate. Too dangerous. But Kyp could pick the target. Come on." She hauled back on her stick and brought her fighter around for another pass. "Let's try it again. I want to get this right."
When Kyp picked the target, there was no delay between shots fired. When Kyp picked the maneuver, neither Jaina nor Zekk chanced running into him.
Jaina was about to make a comment about Kyp using his age to control the situation when she felt a ripple of distress through the Force.
Zekk's voice came first. "Did you-?"
"Yes," Jaina and Kyp replied in unison.
"Thiz one senzez pain," Tesar hissed.
Jaina nodded, knowing they couldn't see her. And she put in a call to Control. "This is the Goddess." She remembered not to be polite. "Tell me what's going on in sector four-two-one-bantha."
"One moment, Goddess," came the anonymous voice.
Jaina didn't have to give the order, over comm or through link. All five snubfighters and the freighter oriented toward the distress signal. That's when Jaina realized that Pyria was between the Jedi and the signal.
Iella Antilles replaced the anonymous voice. "Do you sense something, Goddess?"
"Yes."
"Just one moment." A burst of static and Jaina felt a surge of urgency. She opened her throttle as Iella said, "We're getting some unusual readings. The general requests that you take a look. Please."
The general requests. Jaina shook her head in disbelief. "Of course. On my way." She keyed the squadron. "Let's go, Twins. Control's getting weird readings. Leave the records running, Streak."
Comm clicks acknowledged her. Jaina felt a surge of pride. These were her people. Who obeyed her. Now, she almost understood General Antilles. Almost.
They used Pyria's gravity to sling them into sector four-two-one-bantha. Borleias couldn't point their sensors that way-Pyria was in the way-so the unusual readings were being gathered by small space-buoy sensor packages.
Jaina had the Twins form up and keep the link open. As they came around, she didn't need sensors to see what had just appeared in-system; it was visible to the naked eye. It was made her blood run cold and her chest constrict. And she wasn't the only one having this reaction.
Through her link with Zekk and Kyp, she could feel Zekk having the same reaction. Over the comm, a gasp let her know that Alema felt it too; a hiss marked Tesar; a low moan marked Lowbacca.
Kyp queried, "Goddess?"
Filling her view port was a Yuuzhan Vong worldship. Not the one from Myrkr, but that didn't matter to the primitive portion of her brain, the portion that protected her from future mistakes and dangers by recalling past. It was surrounded by a screen of Yuuzhan Vong capital ships, an entire battle group.
Jaina keyed the comm. "Control, the party's here."
Wedge Antilles responded. "What?"
"It's a worldship. A big one, even by Vong standards. It has a battle group for company." Jaina scanned the scene, using the Force to find the disturbance.
"It's there," Kyp said quietly. Jaina started, then found that he was routing the communications through their droids. "The frigate analog. They have prisoners aboard."
"Understood," Wedge said, responding to Jaina's earlier broadcast. "Suggest you return to base, Goddess."
"Neg that." Jaina made a course correction, to intercept the frigate and its cloud of coralskippers. "The disturbance is on that frigate." It felt like pain. "And we need to find out what they intend to do with the first probe."
"The same thing I'd do," Wedge said, sounding weary. "Test enemy defenses. All right, Goddess. I'll have Vanguard Squadron stand by for support, and I'll move Rebel Dream into position to assist."
Jaina resisted the urge to say thanks. Instead, she clicked her comm. and switched back to squadron frequency. "You all feel that, right?"
A chorus of affirmatives met her question.
"What do we do?" Zekk wanted to know.
Again, Kyp routed direct communication to Jaina through their astromechs. "Let's take them," he suggested. "Maybe we can force the frigate down."
"Heads up, people," Alema commed. A third of the frigate's support screen-four of the twelve skips-broke off and vectored for the six ships of Twin Suns.
"A diversion," Zekk remarked. "We take the skips and let the frigate go by, or we ignore the skips and take fire up the exhaust."
Jaina considered. "We're two complete flights, though. Alema, Tesar, Streak, you go for the frigate. Kyp, Zekk, on me. We'll take the skips."
"As ordered, Goddess."
On screen, Tesar and Alema peeled away, followed closely by the Hand. "Let's use the new tactics," Jaina suggested to her wing mates.
"As you wish, Goddess."
The skips were firing even before they were in range.
Jaina, Zekk, and Kyp slipped into their earlier formation and the tight Force link that let them move as one. They slide slipped, rolled, twisted, avoiding the incoming fire.
Kyp chose their target, the port lead skip, and they all fired, overloading the Vong fighter's dovin basals. It exploded in a spectacular fashion, sending hunks of yorik coral in all directions. The skip's wing mate had to use its dovin basal shields to protect itself from the debris. Almost immediately, all three X-wings fired on the second skip. Again, dovin basals were overloaded, and again, the skip was blasted into shards of yorik coral.
"Good!"
The other two skips flashed past, plasma splashing against the X-wings' shields. Dovin basals absorbed all of the laser shots.
Then they were past, and making the loop around for another head-to-head.
In quick order, the X-wings dispatched the two remaining coralskippers. They sped through the cloud of debris, opening throttles wide and aiming for the skips and the frigate analog.
They caught up quickly, following the frigate. The course took them close to Pyria, the reverse of their earlier course, and it became clear that the frigate was heading for Borleias.
Jaina glanced at her sensors and did a double take. Alema, Tesar, and Lowbacca had dealt away with another four skips. That meant there were only four of them left, plus the frigate: five ships. And Jaina had six.
"Good work, Two flight," she commed.
Clicks were her thanks.
Ahead of them, between the frigate and the planet, the Rebel Dream was moving into an intercept course, as promised. Fighters were launching from it and from the planet. Comm traffic confirmed her sensors. The frigate would not get close enough to Borleias to do any harm.
"Shall we take the rest of the skips?" Kyp queried.
Jaina eyed her scans and was about to give the order when Lowie reported that the frigate was slowing and vectoring away.
"Maybe they've accomplished their mission," Zekk suggested.
"What, losing two-thirds of a fighter unit for no apparent reason?" Alema's voice was sharp, followed by a burst of static. Then, "No. Focus on the belly bay. It's opening."
Alema and Tesar were still close to the frigate, less than a klick aft and port, and they had the best view.
Jaina set her visual scanners on the frigate's underbelly just in time to see a seal open. Small, wiggling shapes began spilling out, streaming toward the planet along the frigate's original course.
More organic weapons, Jaina assumed. She throttled forward. The frigate and the skips were turning back, mission accomplished. The NR forces would have to clear away this bio threat.
Alema swore. Tesar hissed. Lowie growled.
"What is it?" Jaina demanded. Then she felt it.
The disturbance in the Force was coming from those wiggling shapes. Jaina sharpened her visuals on them.
"Oh, no. No. Oh..."
Those weren't biological weapons. They were Yuuzhan Vong captives, mostly human, but a few Sullustans and Rodians and Devoranians, all ages, male and female. They wore some variation of the ooglith cloaker; they were covered by a transparent bodysuit, a bubble of transparency inflated around their heads. They would live only a few more minutes, hence the fear and pain radiating through the Force. They could freeze to death, run out of air, hit the Borleias atmosphere and burn up...
Jaina swallowed hard. She was going to be sick if she didn't calm down, and sick in the cockpit of an X-wing was not a good thing to be. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed deeply. Finally, she keyed her comm.
"Control, the frigate has ejected hostages. They're wearing ooglith cloaker suits, but are otherwise exposed. There are twenty-two of them. And they're all hading for the planet. Request EV recovery units now."
"We copy, Twins Leader. Is there anything you can do for them now?"
Kyp's voice sounded soft in her ear. "No, Jaina. That won't help."
He'd known she was looking at the departing frigate and skips. And again he was being her voice of reason.
"We can try, Control." Jaina switched to her private channel, linking to Lowie. "Can you use the tractor beam?"
Lowbacca pointed out that he'd only be able to get the ones on the edges. The Hand was too large to enter the cloud of hostages.
"Do what you can." Jaina switched back to squadron frequency. "Use the Force and your links to slow them," she ordered. "We have to save these people."
"Jaina-" Kyp's voice was a warning.
"No!" She wanted to slam a fist into something. "We have to save these people, Kyp. Do it!"
"Yes, Goddess."
Lowbacca was only able to recover seven of the ejected hostages. Of those, three never made it to the planet alive. The Jedi of Twin Suns weren't able to have a noticeable slowing affect on many of the hostages-the one or two they did manage to slow to a stop froze to death before the EV shuttles could recover them.
Most of the remaining hostages died before the shuttles arrived. The rest hit Borleias and burned up in the atmosphere. There wasn't enough left of them to identify.
Jaina bore the failure in silence. Once they'd recovered the bodies, she ordered the Twins down and canceled the rest of the day's practices.