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Acceleration pressed Jagged Fel back into his seat as he pulled his clawcraft out of a tight roll that would have knocked him unconscious if he had been in an x-wing. He didn't even allow himself a grunt of acknowledgement at a maneuver well executed, before he pushed his clawcraft into another tight maneuver. Halfway through a flat spin, he cut his engines and let his fighter drift through space.
From his perspective, Shelter hung below him. He had managed for the past day in a half to avoid Jaina. It hadn't been an easy feat. Even after that short period of time he missed her greatly, but he had wanted to put some distance between them for the moment. He needed space to think. Not that Jaina would invade his privacy, if she knew that was what he wanted. He just hadn't confided the nature of his recent messages to her, yet. He needed to make his decision first.
"Twin Two, this is Control. Stand by for Twin Leader." A generic voice commanded him on his chosen frequency.
He only waited a moment before Jaina's voice filled his cockpit. "Jag, Twin Three and myself are scrambling as we speak. We have a ship with an injured Jedi coming in and standard procedure calls for an escort in. We'll be there in less than two minutes."
Jag double clicked his comm acknowledgement, his own worries forgotten for the moment. "Are we expecting any trouble," he asked all business a moment later. It was always best to be fully prepared.
Jaina responded a moment later, "We're not sure. Stay alert and start scanning for Vong just in case." Her voice was tense and guarded and Jag suspected that something more than what had said to him was going on. Still the fact that Jaina hadn't scrambled the rest of Twin Suns was a good sign.
"As you wish, Great One," he answered automatically and flipped on his scanners looking for the distinctive signature of the Yuuzhan Vong. He looked up as he saw the blips that represented Jaina's and Kyp's x-wings approaching him and stared out of his cockpit at them.
They settled into position on either side of him in silence. After a moment, Jaina said quietly, "They revert to realspace in less than five minutes."
"Who is it," Jag asked a moment later, switching to a private channel for the conversation. "Is it anyone I know?"
Her reply was short. "It's Zekk. You might have met him on Hapes." Her words were loaded with worry that only a few people close to Jaina could have heard.
"Were you two close," Jag asked carefully after a moment. He knew that most of the Jedi that had gone on the Myrk mission had been close friends, but Jaina and Zekk's behavior towards one another on Hapes, what little of it he had seen, had been cold and distant.
Her reply when it came back was neutral. "Zekk and I were close friends growing up on Coruscant. The only person closer to me back then was Jacen. Thing changed during my first year n Yavin four, but we were close.friends after that until the war started. Since then we've pretty much found ourselves on the opposite side of most issues." She sighed, "I still want to be okay, though."
Jag smiled content that in the privacy of his cockpit it wouldn't ruin his grim reputation "I never doubted that for a minute, Oh Great Leader."
"Good," she said quickly, and then added as an after though, "You really have been spending too much time with Wes." She stopped abruptly as a freighter suddenly appeared in front of them.
"This is it. Kyp, ask them for the confirmation codes. Jag, drop into escort position behind them, but stay alert until Kyp get their confirmation. I'll lead them in."
Jag felt the protest start to fly out of his mouth. If these being weren't who they said they were, then Jaina, in front of them would be their best target. He had learned to bite back his own doubts about Jaina as a leader, though, when he realized that she was just as competent as he was. He didn't really relax, though, until Kyp had received the codes and then he loosened his grip on his controls and removed his finger from the firing stud.
With ease he followed the flight path that Jaina was leading them on. As they begin to settle down towards Shelter he began to flip off his non- essential systems, preparing for shut down. His hands froze though, when he saw the sensor readings that he was only now noticing. The results weren't clear yet, but if it revealed what he suspected then they were in serious trouble. He put his clawcraft down without conscious effort and reached to activate the comm. link on his collar as he yanked his helmet off and climbed impatiently out of his cockpit.
"Jaina," he called urgently into his comm. link, "I think we may have a problem." Jag cursed as she didn't respond. Her comm. link must have been turned off. He started towards the freighter where he knew she would be waiting for Zekk.
The string of explicative he let off as he tried to push his way through the rapidly formed crowd were words he had learned from Jaina, not picked up at the Chiss Academy.
Jag rarely let his impatience get the better of him, but this was important. Lives could be at stake here. He was desperate enough that he was about to start yelling her name, just to get her attention, wherever she was.
"Hello, Colonel," a calm voice interrupted his semi-panic. A small, but strong hand touched his shoulder and turned him to face her. "Is something the matter, Colonel Fel," Mara Jade Skywalker asked as she took in his appearance.
Jag took a deep breath, but only hesitated a second. He didn't personal know Mara that well, but he did know that she was Jaina's aunt and that Jaina trusted her. For the moment that was all he needed. Within a matter of seconds he had told Mara everything he knew.
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Moments earlier
Jaina struggled to keep her flight speed to the maximum safe speed for this landing. Zekk was injured and aboard that ship. Her mind was screaming at her that every second of delay weakened her friend more. Despite she and Zekk's recent differences, the thought of loosing another old friend was unbearable and devastating. She would not allow it. Even if she had to help him into a healing trance herself!
The moment her x-wing touched the ground, she was running towards the ship that held Zekk. She froze for a second as she felt a whisper of warning brush her, begging for her attention. She ignored it though, dismissing it and tightened her mental shields, returning to her recent mission.
She stopped running and skidded to a halt as she found the medics pushing Zekk out on a repulsorsled. She fell into step with them quickly and asked, "Will he be okay?"
She reached out to the force, even as she asked, to make her own assessment of his physical condition. He was severely injured. He had extensive external injuries, a few broken bones and some internal bleeding. What worried her more and caused her to look up at the medics in surprise was the rapid, but unexplainable, at least with her rudimentary medical knowledge, degeneration of some of his cells.
Overriding her earlier question, she demanded, "What's the matter with him?"
The man, a Galactic Alliance med tech, didn't even waste the time it would have taken to look up at her. "You're not family or a healer. I can't tell you."
"He's an orphan, he has no family," Jaina exploded as they shoved their way through the crowd of people. "I'm his friend. Tell me what's going on." She was incredibly close to using the force to make the man tell her, when he finally blurted out a response.
"We don't know. We've never seen anything like this. That's why we're bringing him to Master Cilghal."
Jaina's step faltered for a moment. This was not good news. She took a quick step back up to the side of Zekk's repulsorsled. Silently, quickly, she guided them to where Cilghal was waiting. She stood back and watched as the renowned Jedi Healer began to calmly call out orders to the various medical personnel, instructing them on how she wanted his more mundane injuries taken care of as she held her hands inches over his body and used the force to discover what was wrong.
Jaina could see the tension in the Mon Cal's face as she concentrated on her patient. Abruptly her eyes snapped open and she used one of her flippers to activate her comm. link. In a calmer and less commanding voice than she had used before she said, "Tekli, please come assist me." She switched it off and waved Jaina forward, without sparing the young Jedi a backwards glance. "I will need you assistance as well, Jaina."
She looked at her appraisingly, seeing the young child who had help defend her uncle from jungle beasts driven by Sith Lord Exar Kun as much as the young Jedi Knight that Luke Skywalker had named the Sword of the Jedi. Yes, Jaina's strength both of the force and of her own will power would be necessary for this task.
Tekli joined them and following Cilghal's brief instructions worked together in tandem, using the force to heal Zekk. The effort they were expending and their total concentration created a timeless effect. The small part of Jaina's brain still available for trivialities didn't know whether they had been working on him for days, hours or minutes. She jerked back to an awareness of her surroundings as a hand gripped her shoulder tightly.
After a wildly disoriented moment, she whirled around to find Mara staring at her, looking tense and serious. The words that poured out of Mara hit her brain like a plasma missile and dumped ice into her veins. "Fel's sensor scans show Vong here, on Shelter."
Acceleration pressed Jagged Fel back into his seat as he pulled his clawcraft out of a tight roll that would have knocked him unconscious if he had been in an x-wing. He didn't even allow himself a grunt of acknowledgement at a maneuver well executed, before he pushed his clawcraft into another tight maneuver. Halfway through a flat spin, he cut his engines and let his fighter drift through space.
From his perspective, Shelter hung below him. He had managed for the past day in a half to avoid Jaina. It hadn't been an easy feat. Even after that short period of time he missed her greatly, but he had wanted to put some distance between them for the moment. He needed space to think. Not that Jaina would invade his privacy, if she knew that was what he wanted. He just hadn't confided the nature of his recent messages to her, yet. He needed to make his decision first.
"Twin Two, this is Control. Stand by for Twin Leader." A generic voice commanded him on his chosen frequency.
He only waited a moment before Jaina's voice filled his cockpit. "Jag, Twin Three and myself are scrambling as we speak. We have a ship with an injured Jedi coming in and standard procedure calls for an escort in. We'll be there in less than two minutes."
Jag double clicked his comm acknowledgement, his own worries forgotten for the moment. "Are we expecting any trouble," he asked all business a moment later. It was always best to be fully prepared.
Jaina responded a moment later, "We're not sure. Stay alert and start scanning for Vong just in case." Her voice was tense and guarded and Jag suspected that something more than what had said to him was going on. Still the fact that Jaina hadn't scrambled the rest of Twin Suns was a good sign.
"As you wish, Great One," he answered automatically and flipped on his scanners looking for the distinctive signature of the Yuuzhan Vong. He looked up as he saw the blips that represented Jaina's and Kyp's x-wings approaching him and stared out of his cockpit at them.
They settled into position on either side of him in silence. After a moment, Jaina said quietly, "They revert to realspace in less than five minutes."
"Who is it," Jag asked a moment later, switching to a private channel for the conversation. "Is it anyone I know?"
Her reply was short. "It's Zekk. You might have met him on Hapes." Her words were loaded with worry that only a few people close to Jaina could have heard.
"Were you two close," Jag asked carefully after a moment. He knew that most of the Jedi that had gone on the Myrk mission had been close friends, but Jaina and Zekk's behavior towards one another on Hapes, what little of it he had seen, had been cold and distant.
Her reply when it came back was neutral. "Zekk and I were close friends growing up on Coruscant. The only person closer to me back then was Jacen. Thing changed during my first year n Yavin four, but we were close.friends after that until the war started. Since then we've pretty much found ourselves on the opposite side of most issues." She sighed, "I still want to be okay, though."
Jag smiled content that in the privacy of his cockpit it wouldn't ruin his grim reputation "I never doubted that for a minute, Oh Great Leader."
"Good," she said quickly, and then added as an after though, "You really have been spending too much time with Wes." She stopped abruptly as a freighter suddenly appeared in front of them.
"This is it. Kyp, ask them for the confirmation codes. Jag, drop into escort position behind them, but stay alert until Kyp get their confirmation. I'll lead them in."
Jag felt the protest start to fly out of his mouth. If these being weren't who they said they were, then Jaina, in front of them would be their best target. He had learned to bite back his own doubts about Jaina as a leader, though, when he realized that she was just as competent as he was. He didn't really relax, though, until Kyp had received the codes and then he loosened his grip on his controls and removed his finger from the firing stud.
With ease he followed the flight path that Jaina was leading them on. As they begin to settle down towards Shelter he began to flip off his non- essential systems, preparing for shut down. His hands froze though, when he saw the sensor readings that he was only now noticing. The results weren't clear yet, but if it revealed what he suspected then they were in serious trouble. He put his clawcraft down without conscious effort and reached to activate the comm. link on his collar as he yanked his helmet off and climbed impatiently out of his cockpit.
"Jaina," he called urgently into his comm. link, "I think we may have a problem." Jag cursed as she didn't respond. Her comm. link must have been turned off. He started towards the freighter where he knew she would be waiting for Zekk.
The string of explicative he let off as he tried to push his way through the rapidly formed crowd were words he had learned from Jaina, not picked up at the Chiss Academy.
Jag rarely let his impatience get the better of him, but this was important. Lives could be at stake here. He was desperate enough that he was about to start yelling her name, just to get her attention, wherever she was.
"Hello, Colonel," a calm voice interrupted his semi-panic. A small, but strong hand touched his shoulder and turned him to face her. "Is something the matter, Colonel Fel," Mara Jade Skywalker asked as she took in his appearance.
Jag took a deep breath, but only hesitated a second. He didn't personal know Mara that well, but he did know that she was Jaina's aunt and that Jaina trusted her. For the moment that was all he needed. Within a matter of seconds he had told Mara everything he knew.
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Moments earlier
Jaina struggled to keep her flight speed to the maximum safe speed for this landing. Zekk was injured and aboard that ship. Her mind was screaming at her that every second of delay weakened her friend more. Despite she and Zekk's recent differences, the thought of loosing another old friend was unbearable and devastating. She would not allow it. Even if she had to help him into a healing trance herself!
The moment her x-wing touched the ground, she was running towards the ship that held Zekk. She froze for a second as she felt a whisper of warning brush her, begging for her attention. She ignored it though, dismissing it and tightened her mental shields, returning to her recent mission.
She stopped running and skidded to a halt as she found the medics pushing Zekk out on a repulsorsled. She fell into step with them quickly and asked, "Will he be okay?"
She reached out to the force, even as she asked, to make her own assessment of his physical condition. He was severely injured. He had extensive external injuries, a few broken bones and some internal bleeding. What worried her more and caused her to look up at the medics in surprise was the rapid, but unexplainable, at least with her rudimentary medical knowledge, degeneration of some of his cells.
Overriding her earlier question, she demanded, "What's the matter with him?"
The man, a Galactic Alliance med tech, didn't even waste the time it would have taken to look up at her. "You're not family or a healer. I can't tell you."
"He's an orphan, he has no family," Jaina exploded as they shoved their way through the crowd of people. "I'm his friend. Tell me what's going on." She was incredibly close to using the force to make the man tell her, when he finally blurted out a response.
"We don't know. We've never seen anything like this. That's why we're bringing him to Master Cilghal."
Jaina's step faltered for a moment. This was not good news. She took a quick step back up to the side of Zekk's repulsorsled. Silently, quickly, she guided them to where Cilghal was waiting. She stood back and watched as the renowned Jedi Healer began to calmly call out orders to the various medical personnel, instructing them on how she wanted his more mundane injuries taken care of as she held her hands inches over his body and used the force to discover what was wrong.
Jaina could see the tension in the Mon Cal's face as she concentrated on her patient. Abruptly her eyes snapped open and she used one of her flippers to activate her comm. link. In a calmer and less commanding voice than she had used before she said, "Tekli, please come assist me." She switched it off and waved Jaina forward, without sparing the young Jedi a backwards glance. "I will need you assistance as well, Jaina."
She looked at her appraisingly, seeing the young child who had help defend her uncle from jungle beasts driven by Sith Lord Exar Kun as much as the young Jedi Knight that Luke Skywalker had named the Sword of the Jedi. Yes, Jaina's strength both of the force and of her own will power would be necessary for this task.
Tekli joined them and following Cilghal's brief instructions worked together in tandem, using the force to heal Zekk. The effort they were expending and their total concentration created a timeless effect. The small part of Jaina's brain still available for trivialities didn't know whether they had been working on him for days, hours or minutes. She jerked back to an awareness of her surroundings as a hand gripped her shoulder tightly.
After a wildly disoriented moment, she whirled around to find Mara staring at her, looking tense and serious. The words that poured out of Mara hit her brain like a plasma missile and dumped ice into her veins. "Fel's sensor scans show Vong here, on Shelter."