Title: Changing Course
Chapter: Chapter Eleven
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 Eleven
A goddess took priority over two colonels and a Jedi Master. At 0900 local time, Twin Suns Squadron was first out of the special operations docking bay. Jaina led her motley assembly out to the kill zone in formation. They hovered on repulsors and waited for the other three squadrons and the four cobbled-together ships that were involved in Operation Starlancer.
Jaina had her people form their shield trios and orient with noses toward the eastern horizon. She didn't need visual scanners to watch the other squadrons. The Rogues followed the Twins, forming up by flights less than a hundred meters from her. The Vanguards were next. They'd recently been certified elite and fit for special operations. Wedge had accepted his nephew's efforts. Jag Fel had taken a ragged group of volunteers and turned them into an elite unit. Even a goddess was impressed.
'But then, it does run in the family.'
Saba Sebatyne led her Wild Knights into the morning sunshine, the last group of Starlancer escorts. Through their Force bond, Jaina felt a spike of emotion from Kyp. Where he had failed, Saba had succeeded. But it wasn't jealousy Kyp was feeling-it was admiration mixed with regret and a tinge of guilt.
That puzzled Jaina. And brought her closer to feeling sorry for Kyp Durron than she wanted.
Operation Starlancer's ships came last. The New Republic forces had taken to calling the experimental ships 'pipefighters' for their unusual design: a Y-wing cockpit with three wide, round pipes protruding at right angles from each of them.
They were ugly. They were a gamble-an incredibly expensive gamble. And not one many people believed would pay off.
There was grumbling in the ranks because of Operation Starlancer. Precious resources were being poured into a project that may or may not work. The strain on supplies was just one more thing for the New Republic forces to be bitter about.
Jaina could sense the growing animosity. Most of the personnel at Borleias were displaced Coruscant defenders. They were angry at having lost their home and their base of power. Many were natives of planets already under Vong control, and their anger had only intensified with the capture of Coruscant. They were all frustrated with having to guard a lost cause. On top of it all, their resources were being consumed by a Jedi princess playing goddess and some cobbled-together uglies that had no promise of any real return on the investment.
If she hadn't been in on the conspiracies, she would have been just as angry and frustrated. But Wedge and Tycho had filled her in. And Jaina had a newly developed appreciation for Wedge's genius, despite his apparent insanity.
"Twin Suns Leader to Control. Operation Starlancer is ready to test-fire." As she said that, Blackmoon Squadron eased out of the docking bay, followed by three freighters. The Millennium Falcon was one of them. Jaina felt a flash of resentment at that; once again, her parents were leaving. To take care of someone else.
Despite the link she had to both Kyp and Zekk and the knowledge that there were at least three other people who cared deeply about her, Jaina felt as alone as ever.
"Leader, this is Control. Launch at will. And may the Force be with you."
"We certainly hope so." Jaina toggled mission frequency. "Let's go."
A series of comm clicks from the other commanders acknowledged her. Jaina disliked the irreverent way she'd been told to handle comm traffic. It lacked dignity. And when she heard her own pilots cluttering up the comm with irrelevant chatter, she wanted to snap at them to keep the channel clear. But she didn't. Sharr claimed that the Vong were listening, and when they heard how undisciplined Jaina and her pilots were, they'd know that Twin Suns was different. Special.
Jaina had her astromech open both the mission frequency and her squadron frequency. She also had him put the command line on stand-by. She wanted to be able to switch between them easily.
"Form up on me, Twins," she ordered. "Stay tight. Time to see if that ugly really works."
Jaina led the Twins up through the Borleias atmosphere in a gentle arc. It was a leisurely ascent. No one was sure exactly how much stress the pipefighters could take because the simulations never agreed. No one involved in the project had any desire to have the Starlancers break up on-planet. So they took their time. At least she got a good view of the Borleias scenery.
Rogue Squadron took up position aft of the Twins and a considerable distance to port. Vanguard slid in to mirror the Rogues to the starboard and slightly below. The four Starlancer vehicles stayed in the middle, protected on all sides as the Wild Knights brought up the rear.
Blackmoon had split up into three flights. Each flight protected one of the freighters. Jaina was pleased to see that Captain Reth and the first flight had taken up flanking positions around the Falcon. Reth was competent, if unimaginative, and like any good pilot, he hated to lose. His pilots were capable. The Shelter mission was well protected.
Her ship shuddered as she passed through each level of the atmosphere. Finally, they were free of the planet. Jaina glanced at her scans.
"Are you running the records, Streak?" she commed.
Lowie barked affirmative.
"Good." She switched to mission frequency. "All right, Starlancer. Deploy."
"Acknowledged, Goddess." There was a trace of amusement in Gavin Darklighter's voice. "Rogues away."
Colonel Fel commed a similar acknowledgment, without the amusement. Vanguard Squadron peeled away from the main group, Vehicle Three protected in the midst. Saba followed suit with Vehicle Prime.
Unobtrusively, the Shelter mission began to move toward the first jump point.
Jaina took the Twins and Vehicle One to a set of coordinates marked by a subspace beacon. It flashed rhythmically on her sensor board. She had her squadron split into shield trios and fan out, being careful not to get in the way of the signals coming in from the other three ships.
On screen, blue blips that marked friendlies broke similarly. With little fanfare, the Millennium Falcon, the Red Sunset, and the Honey Girl, escorted by Blackmoon, headed for the outbound jump point. The Shelter mission would jump away from the Jedi base, then follow a set of jumps that would make following them without detection nearly impossible. Blackmoon would only take them halfway. In a day or so, Captain Reth would return. The freighters would be back in less than a week.
Jaina was aware of how drastically things could change in that short a time. It was almost enough to make her regret the last meeting she and her mother had shared.
Almost, but not quite. She still believed what she'd told Tahiri on the rooftop. And she was stubborn enough to cling to it, even if something inside her was whispering for her to forgive.
The comm came alive. "Starlancer One, on-station."
"Starlancer Two, on-station."
"Star Three, I'm ready."
There was a long burst of static before Starlancer Prime announced her own readiness. She had the most difficult responsibilities; Prime had to be on-station at a very precise set of coordinates. If she was off by any more than an eighth of a millimeter, the whole mission would have to be scrubbed. The pipefighters would have to be set down and repaired. The test-fire would have to happen another day, and time was not an abundant resource.
That was a lot of pressure.
"Starlancer Prime is on-station."
"Twin Suns Leader, this is Starlancer Leader." Vehicle One. "Operation Starlancer is ready to fire."
"Twins Leader to Starlancer. Fire at will."
Jaina floated several kilometers away, and she, Zekk, and Kyp were actually watching the pipefighter's back. As she watched, the ends of the two opposing pipes flared. Meter thick lasers leapt from the oversized laser cannons and poured out in a continuous stream.
Starlancer One, Two, and Three announced that primaries had been fired. Starlancer Prime monitored the laser beams, keeping up a running commentary on the estimated time to impact.
Several hundred kilometers away, the Shelter mission made its first microjump without so much as a farewell.
Danni Quee's panic-tinged voice sounded over the command line. "Wild Knights here. We have multiple enemy contacts bearing-" A burst of buzzing white noise, and then the scientist rattled off a string of numbers.
"Rogues have unfriendly contacts, bearing three-three seven."
Colonel Fel and Vanguard Squadron reported enemy incoming. Fel gave a number: twenty-four. And a vehicle type: coralskippers.
On the mission channel, Starlancer Prime was reporting lower and lower numbers. "Impact in five... three... one. Impact. Positive connection One, Two, and Three."
"Fire central units," Starlancer Lead ordered.
Another meter-thick laser beam leapt from Vehicle One. Starlancer Prime resumed her countdown.
"Wild Knights engaged!" Danni's voice rose.
"Rogues, too. Standard incoming tactics. Two squadrons." Gavin broke off. He added after a moment, "Two incomplete squadrons."
"Vanguards engaged. Same numbers."
Jaina's eyes danced over her sensors. Six enemy squadrons had attacked her mission mates. And had ignored her squadron. "Keep your eyes open, Twins. Something's wrong."
Then she saw it. A cloud of tiny blips at the extreme edges of her sensors. They were moving faster than usual, and laser straight.
Behind her, the Starlancer vehicles made positive connection. "Prime weapon powering up now," Starlancer Prime announced.
The blips grew closer. Two complete skip squadrons were aiming for Jaina's position and the pipefighter she was protecting.
"Pick your targets and go," she ordered over the squadron channel. "Fire at will. Protect your wing mates and Vehicle One. Do not let the enemy fire at the pipefighters."
A chorus of comm clicks joined target alarms as the soundtrack for the approaching storm. There was nothing for Jaina to do but wait and watch it come.
They came at her, six yammosk-coordinated corralskippers to three Force-connected X-wings. Two to one odds. Each of her shield trios was dealing with the same situation. Lowbacca was free to help whoever needed helping.
Things weren't as bad as they could have been.
As one, Jaina, Kyp, and Zekk rolled to meet the incoming trio of enemy wing pairs. Through their Force connection, Jaina told Kyp to pick a target. He did. Kyp's shot arrived first and was sucked in by the dovin basal's miniature black hole. Zekk's shot ripped into the skip, tearing through the hull and punching through the other side. Jaina's set of dual-linked lasers punched through the crystal bubble of the cockpit's canopy.
Then they were past and banking to follow the five skips or line up for another head-to-head. Jaina spared a glance at her sensors. Two of the other shield trios were playing touch and go with their six skips-none had been destroyed. Alema and Tesar had eliminated two of their skips, reducing their enemy to four. As Jaina watched, Alema scored another kill.
Something wasn't right about the engagement, though. Jaina's gaze swept over her sensors as she wondered. These skips hadn't attacked until the other three squadrons had been engaged. They attacked in double the number of the enemy, but had not chosen tactics that would allow them to exploit their superior numbers.
And they were not attacking the pipefighter. Jaina saw it, unmolested, floating in an otherwise empty sector of space. Vehicle One had shut down the lasers that connected it to Vehicles Two and Three; it was exerting all energy to keep the meter-thick beam of red light pouring into Starlancer Prime.
The skips had again lined up for Jaina's trio to pick off a target. Jaina fired even before Kyp had confirmed his selection. Her shots were gobbled up by a void. Zekk's shots hit second, punching a clean hole right through the same skip from bow to stern. Kyp's shot finished it off. Its wing mates had to deal with the debris. As they did, each Jedi pilot selected a target and poured a steady stream of fire into it.
Jaina's mark exploded. Kyp's began venting atmosphere from its canopy. The skip Zekk had aimed for side slipped; Zekk's shots caught the wing mate in a clean kill.
Starlancer Prime's voice sounded soft in Jaina's ear. "Commencing test-fire. In three... two... one. Fire."
Behind Jaina, a beam of dense light leapt from Starlancer Prime. In less than a minute, it had disappeared. Mission accomplished.
And still none of the skips had moved against Starlancer One.
"It's a trap," Jaina murmured to herself. She followed Kyp around in an extended loop after the remaining two skips. They'd wizened up; after two head-to-head passes, they were ready to turn it into a chase. "Why?"
"Starlancer One to Twin Suns Leader. Operation Starlancer test-fire successful."
"Good work, Star One. Return to base. Streak will escort you." As she said that, one of the skips dropped into her sights and she fired. Her shots didn't so much as scorch the coral.
"Copy that, Twins Lead. Do we need to ask for the escort?"
"Tell him the Goddess commands it."
"Thank you, Twin Suns. And good luck."
On her sensors, Jaina saw Vehicle One break toward Borleias. He was joined shortly by Prime and Two; Vehicle Three was trapped between two different engagements, both featuring his escorts versus skips.
Lowbacca's roar sounded over the squadron channel.
Jaina winced as she fired again. A quick, rolling maneuver to avoid a grutchin presented her answer. Then she said, "I did order it, and I'm well aware of the trap."
Lowie wanted to know what she was going to do about it.
Jaina growled. "I don't know yet. You worry about the pipefighters and let me worry about the Vong, will you?"
Her only response was a double-click on the comm. She didn't have time to feel regret, because the rest of the trap chose that moment to arrive.
It began as two large red blips on her sensor screen, arriving at opposite sides and moving at high speed toward the Starlancer target zone. The blips, she decided, were large enough to be corvette analogs. As she watched, smaller blips began spewing from them.
Jaina keyed mission frequency. "The second wave has arrived."
She received terse acknowledgments from the other commanders.
Another one of Zekk's lucky shots hit one of the remaining skips and separated its fuselage from its maneuvering dovin basals. The skip spun away, out of control.
Kyp closed on the last skip. Jaina kept its dovin basals busy as he moved in to make the clean kill.
It had been running for its war group, she realized. Just as the surviving skips from the rest of the first wave were now doing. As they retreated, the reinforcements advanced. A whole wing of coralskippers from each big ship. Converging on one point.
Jaina saw it. They were not converging on the other squadrons charged with protecting the Starlancer vehicles, although a few squadrons had been deployed in those directions. The pipefighters were heading back to base without being harassed.
They were converging on her. In a matter of moments, she would be surrounded. There would be no escape for the Goddess this time if she didn't do something. And quickly.
Piggy's voice crackled over a private channel. "They've come for you," he said simply.
"I know. Can you plot us a course out of here? No, wait-" Jaina eyed her sensors. "The others first. Let them think I'm sending away the lesser beings so I can fight them alone. But give me several escape routes, and-damn. Lowie's not here." He had all of the special weapons. She and Kyp and Zekk had only their torpedoes and a few shadow bombs.
"It is done. And Sharr says good thinking."
Jaina remembered that she was allowed to thank him. "Thanks. Hurry."
"Yes, Your Greatness."
A moment later, a red line appeared on one of her screens. It showed an escape route. Jaina toggled squadron frequency. "All right, mortals. Follow the course you see on your screens. Fight your way out if you have to, but get back to base. Now."
Her order was met by a series of clicks.
Jaina switched to a private channel she used for voice communication with her wing mates. "We'll go last. Follow my lead."
"Do you have a plan?" Zekk prompted.
"Not a very specific one. It pretty much just involves flying and shooting. Do you?"
"Not a better one than you can come up with."
"Are you with me, Kyp?"
"Always, Goddess."
"Good." Adrenaline spiked through her. Jaina straightened up in her seat and gripped the flight stick harder. On her screens, the ships of Twin Suns were tiny blue blips moving away from her. The route Piggy had mapped was the most direct course to Borleias, but it was not the clearest. The Wraith had ignored the obvious choice precisely because it was the obvious choice.
Red blips swarmed around the blue blips, plugging the route ahead, obscuring the space between sets of shield trios. Every now and then, a red blip or two would disappear. A cry of triumph would come over the comm. A surge of relief might accompany it.
And then Piggy's shield trio broke free. There was nothing but open space between them and home. But they lingered.
Jaina's problems were a bit more immediate. The dozen or so skips that had swarmed around her, Kyp, and Zekk had been joined by two more squadrons. Her vicinity alarms were going haywire; Jaina cut them off. Coralskippers passed by so closely that she could make out the details on their bumpy hulls.
She shuddered as the first traces of panic skimmed her awareness. She pushed it away and hauled back on the stick to avoid a skip. She kicked the rudder and turned her X-wing port to avoid another skip. For the moment, she was clear.
Fear and panic. She felt it out there. Jaina narrowed her focus and found it. Ganner and Tany and Nelea in front of her. The feelings didn't last, they were mere impressions. But they were there. And she knew why.
They had no escape. There was nowhere for them to go.
Jaina keyed the private frequency. "We'll launch shadow bombs. Link them and throw them to clear a path for Seven's trio."
Kyp and Zekk copied.
In mere moments, three shadow bombs were hurtling through space. Their controllers used a combination of the Force and technology to avoid coralskippers and maneuver them into position. Before Jaina gave the order to detonate, she warned Three Flight.
The shadow bombs exploded. A squadron's worth of coralskippers was either killed or damaged. What was damaged, the pilots took care of, and then some. The skips had to divert energy from maneuvering to protect against the debris. That gave the rescued Twins precious moments to escape.
Ganner sent out a general thank-you, and then they were clear. Jaina felt a moment of relief. Half of her people were safe.
But her situation grew worse by the moment. Recent moments had brought trouble in the form of an interdictor corvette. As it moved toward Jaina, skips cleared its path. They zipped to the sides or moved into position to cut her off from escape and from her squadron. Dread settled in her belly. She understood how soundly she'd been outmaneuvered. She would lose. And worse: she would fail those she'd sworn never to fail again.
Desperate, Jaina swung her ship around. She keyed her lasers to cycle faster and she began shooting wildly. Her shots were swallowed. Every now and then, one would slip by. It would scorch a yorik coral hull. Jaina opened her throttle and tried to run. She made an effort. Kyp and Zekk stayed close.
She gave the order to launch more shadow bombs to clear a path for them. Desperation grew as a pressure inside her chest. Her cannons kept up a steady stream of laser fire. But the big warship kept coming closer. Her path became ever more muddled.
Suddenly, there was nothing between her and the big ship.
Jaina realized she was going to die and she accepted that fact. The corvette would only have to fire once. The plasma would overload her shields and rip through her ship. If she was lucky, it would rip through her, too. If she wasn't, it was going to be a cold wait for death to claim her.
A strange calm settled over her. She was not afraid to die. It was almost a welcome relief. If she were dead, she would not feel.
And maybe being numb was preferable to this constant pain and tension.
The corvette did not open fire. She was almost sorry for that.
The dovin basals on the big ship's port side turned to her. Her X-wing shuddered as they found her and locked on. And despite her throttle, she was moving toward the corvette. Fear gripped her. What did they intend?
She had a brief, powerful memory of torture.
"No!" Zekk's voice came loud and clear over the comm and in her mind. He had felt her fear, remembered her memory. "Jaina, starboard, full throttle, on my mark!"
Jaina didn't ask questions. She opened her throttle and hauled her stick to the right. The X-wing bucked and strained against the pull of the dovin basals.
"Mark!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of something small and white sweeping between her and the corvette. And then she was free, streaking away.
Zekk had built up momentum and raced through the hold. It worked on normal tractor beams-and these dovin basals had apparently been keyed to Jaina specifically. Zekk was as free as she was, speeding toward her. Kyp was close again, lasers blazing. He was clearing a path for them.
"Thanks, Zekk."
'Nobody touches my Goddess.' It burned clear, white.
"Hey, she's my Goddess, too," Kyp called.
Jaina even allowed herself to smile. They had cheated death, one more time. They still had to fight their way home, but that was minor. With the way she was feeling, she could have taken on the entire Yuuzhan Vong space navy.
Which wasn't that far from the truth.
"Zekk, get up here."
"I'm coming, Goddess."
But his words were followed by a spike of surprise through the Force. Jaina looked at her screens. "Zekk?" At least her voice didn't shake.
Jaina and Kyp were in the clear. The skips that had surrounded them had fallen back, closer to the corvette. Which was moving toward Zekk. Who was now surrounded.
"Oh, no," she murmured.
There was no way out for him.
Kyp's voice in her head. 'You can't go back. You'll just throw away what he did.'
There was logic in Kyp's argument. There was even logic within Jaina. Zekk was not crying out for help-just the opposite. His presence in her mind was telling her to go and be safe. He'd succeeded, she was alive, and there was nothing she could do for him.
She wavered. They were all telling her no. Did they know something she didn't?
But an old familiar feeling welled up inside her. Failure. This felt like the promise of failure. Had she really done all she could?
"No," she said softly.
Panic from Zekk. Not for himself-for her.
"Jaina," Kyp began. His words were drowned out.
"This is Colonel Celchu. Jaina, General Antilles is issuing the order. Do not reenter the combat zone."
Inspiration struck. "But we can save him, sir!"
"No, you can't."
"But we can! Trust me, sir, please."
She never gave him the chance to answer. She wasn't going to hear no. Jaina looped her X-wing around.
Alarm and confusion from Zekk.
A mad sort of eager happiness in her.
More confusion from Kyp. "Jaina, what...?"
Years ago, at Ithor, Luke Skywalker had used the Force to turn a dovin basal against the thing it was protecting. He had told the Jedi about it-it was an effective strategy, but only as a last resort. The sheer amount of energy that it required left the Jedi who did it completely drained and beyond exhausted.
"Uncle Luke. Rakamats. Do it to the interdictor. You're strong enough, and I'll keep the skips off your back." Desperation crept into her voice. "Save him, Kyp. Please."
But that was Uncle Luke. He'd been over forty at the time. And he wasn't as powerful as Kyp. It didn't bother her to admit that now. Kyp was simply more powerful than her uncle, Darth Vader's son.
"Please, Kyp," she murmured again.
"Yes, Jaina. Cover me."
They plunged in to the battle zone.
Half a wing of coralskippers and one full-size interdictor versus three X-wings. If Jaina had checked the odds, they would have told her to go home and try it some day when she was suicidal.
Zekk needed to be saved. If that meant asking Kyp for help, so be it.
Jaina fired continuously, hanging stubbornly at Kyp's side. She used a shadow bomb to clear away some of the skips. The rest disappeared by sheer force of will: she wanted it more than they did. She would win.
And then she saw the side of the interdictor warp and elongate. It bent, and then disappeared. The coralskippers near it were also sucked in to the singularity.
Jaina's sensors screens filled with blue blips. She felt the tears of relief pour down her face. A pressure was released. "Thank you, Kyp," she said softly.
She wasn't sure he heard her. It didn't matter. The last Twin Suns shield trio began its slow descent back to Borleias, intact. That was all she needed.