Disclaimer: I own none of the characters and I'm not making any money off
of this. Star Wars in its entirety belongs to George Lucas and other
companies and people who are not me.
Jaina jerked the flight stick of her x-wing away as a spray of Yuuzhan Vong plasma projectiles tracked towards her. She ignored them, and ducked into another flight path. She flew in between a clawcraft and another skip. The second skip exploded into molten coral a moment later as the line of plasma fire that had been tracking behind her hit it.
She twisted into another dive and then inverted her ship, so that she came rocketing back up above the clawcraft that she had just passed behind. As the coralskipper that had been behind her continued to follow her with the intensity of tunnel vision, it set up the perfect shot for the pilot of the clawcraft. And then the skip was just so much coral dust.
The flight had long since turned into a few for all. The three squadrons that had come to investigate had long since been outnumbered. Pilots were separated from their assigned wingmates and even from their squadrons. Jaina had lost her wingmate early in the fight and managed to team up with an available clawcraft. She hadn't been able to find her temporary partner through all of the comm. clutter of the battle, but it hadn't yet been a problem. The pilot, whoever he or she was, seemed to be able to match her move for move whenever necessary. Jaina wondered for a moment, if the pilot had been among those at Borealis years ago as they executed a maneuver that she had invented there as the new leader of Twin Suns. Or, maybe Jag had just taught it to his pilots. After all any little edge could be beneficial to a pilot.
The loop that she and the clawcraft had taken thought the fight had been erratic at best as they had dodged incoming globules of molten plasma and engaged several skips. Now, however, they were back facing the three larger coral ships. Jaina was surprised when she saw the first Vong ship facing off against the two late arrivals. It was odd to see Vong ships facing off against one another.
After only a moment of hesitation, Jaina pushed the throttle of her x-wing forward, weaving towards the three larger coral ships. It went against everything her mind told her to help any Vong ship, and she wasn't sure what Jag's mention of Callista had been about, but for the moment she was interested enough in the fate of the first ship, especially if there were people who were trying to escape from the Vong or Callista, to try to save them.
She danced through the streams of molten plasma pouring off of the Vong ships, drawing as much of the first Vong ship. She dove towards the nearest of the ships and waited, plunging closer and closer to its hull. She pulled up at the last second, but not before she had released two torpedoes at point blank range into the hull. It wouldn't be a mortal wound for the large living ship, but it would definitely get the ship or its controller's attention.
Jaina winced as the barrage of molten plasma coming her way intensified. Apparently someone had taken notice of what she had done. She pulled away from the larger ship quickly, opening up her exit trajectory with a barrage of laser fire and rejoined the larger brawl of fighters. She risked a glance at her chrono a moment later. 3.14 minutes left before the combined Imperial, Galactic Alliance and Chis forces appeared. Her squadron, the Spikes and the Dozen or at least what was left of the squadrons only had to keep the Vong ships occupied for that long before their reinforcement arrived.
As far as Jaina was concerned they couldn't come too soon.
Two minutes later Jaina's sensors registered the incoming ships, just as she saw the tell tale flicker of the shields on the clawcraft that she had been flying with. With no shields the next burst of plasma from the skip would blow the clawcraft and its pilot into so much space debris. She maneuvered her x-wing in front of the incoming plasma projectiles but couldn't reroute power to her forward shields in time. The projectile slammed through the whole in her shields and ripped away part of her wing. Her destabilized x-wing stumbled into a nauseous out of control spin.
Jaina's first instinctive reaction was panic. Her response was calm, absolute centered Jedi calm made all the eerier by the circumstances. Statistically, even with a healthy Corellian disregard for the odds, there was no way for Jaina's out of control spin to be stopped without interference from an outside force. She didn't hesitate. Her grip on her flight stick loosened and she feathered the stick with confident easy movements. With the Force to guide her hand she had every confidence that she could get her x-wing under control. The only things that she would need were time and concentration. Time was something that she didn't have to spare. Her squadron was still fully engaged in the fight.
As the spinning started to slow, she aimed a furious glance at her wing. She didn't regret making the effort to save that pilot, but she hated being disabled and out of the fight, while the rest of her squadron was still there. Like so many other things in her life though, there was nothing that she could do about it.
==========================================================================
Jagged Fel paced the small eight by eight room that he had been given for a temporary office on Bastion. The fight had ended almost four and a half hours ago and she Spikes had gone off duty only an hour ago. He had three pilots in the medbay, two from serious injuries as their clawcrafts exploded around them and another with a minor head injury from a particularly jolting hit that her fighter had taken. It wasn't a good sign, of course nothing had turned out well. The reinforcements had arrived barely in time and the first Vong ship had actually been taken into joint Galactic Alliance and Imperial custody.
The coded message that he had just begun to unravel before the fight was incomplete and worrisome. It gave him plenty to speculate on and all he had managed to decode was the line containing Callista's name. That name alone was enough to send a shiver down his spine.
Jag wasn't a coward, but he did remember his last encounter with Callista. He remembered it vividly. He would, however, find out what was developing with that situation in about an hour. A general briefing for key military personnel had already been scheduled. He stopped pacing for a moment and stepped towards his desk. Jag eaned over the desk and started to pull up any available information on Callista. He hadn't been completely out of touch since he had left the Known Regions, but he hadn't kept a close eye on everything.
Jag paused and glanced up as the door to his office burst open. A blur of blonde hair crossed the room and caught him in a hug.
"Jagged," his sister's voice was full of relief.
He wrapped his arms around her, as well. He and Cem hadn't always been the closest of siblings and they only rarely demonstrated their affection for one another. That didn't mean, however, that they didn't care about one another. It was Jag's greatest fear as her older brother and squadron commander that someday he would have to go home and tell his parents that Cem was dead.
"I'm fine, Cem," he said quietly. He stepped back away from her and took a seat at his desk. He flashed her a small smile of brotherly pride and said tiredly, "You flew well today."
"Thanks," she said, but her voice was laced with solemnity, "That's such a compliment coming from the great Jagged Fel."
Normally it would be cause for at least a glare which would result in a round of mild sibling bickering. Tonight Jag just stared at Cem. This was unlike his sister. Yes, Cem was normally the serious one- at least compared to Wyn- but when they were out of uniform, she still teased him mercilessly.
"You flew well today, too," she commented after a moment and Jag felt his muscles tense.
He had flown with Jaina again today, for the first time in years. They had worked as an excellent team, at least, he admitted once they had been unable to communicate with one another. His face got a little bit grimmer as he remembered the verbal blows that they had traded. It had been painful, more painful than he had anticipated. He pushed the thoughts away as Cem spoke again, this time looking away from him instead of meeting his eyes.
"I saw today, Jag....when that skip," she hesitated, "Your shields were down." She choked back a sob, "I don't want to lose another brother."
"I'm fine, Cem," he said tightly, surprising even himself as he felt his throat tighten. He had been scared today, too. Somehow he had known that the pilot of that x-wing was Jaina. It couldn't have been anyone else. When her wing had been blown off he, Jag Fel, had almost panicked. If Jaina had died saving him after their argument......he pushed the thought away and stood up. "I'm fine," he repeated and hugged her again letting her tears soak into his shoulder. He glanced at the chrono on the wall. He had to get to that meeting but his first priority was Cem. Jag would take her back to her quarters and instruct her wingmate to ensure that she got to sleep. Then he would attend this meeting. Then he would face Jaina. This didn't mean he owed Jaina anything. In truth he was still furious at her. He wouldn't let the remnants of things that he had thought he felt for Jaina in the past to intrude into how things really were.
Jaina jerked the flight stick of her x-wing away as a spray of Yuuzhan Vong plasma projectiles tracked towards her. She ignored them, and ducked into another flight path. She flew in between a clawcraft and another skip. The second skip exploded into molten coral a moment later as the line of plasma fire that had been tracking behind her hit it.
She twisted into another dive and then inverted her ship, so that she came rocketing back up above the clawcraft that she had just passed behind. As the coralskipper that had been behind her continued to follow her with the intensity of tunnel vision, it set up the perfect shot for the pilot of the clawcraft. And then the skip was just so much coral dust.
The flight had long since turned into a few for all. The three squadrons that had come to investigate had long since been outnumbered. Pilots were separated from their assigned wingmates and even from their squadrons. Jaina had lost her wingmate early in the fight and managed to team up with an available clawcraft. She hadn't been able to find her temporary partner through all of the comm. clutter of the battle, but it hadn't yet been a problem. The pilot, whoever he or she was, seemed to be able to match her move for move whenever necessary. Jaina wondered for a moment, if the pilot had been among those at Borealis years ago as they executed a maneuver that she had invented there as the new leader of Twin Suns. Or, maybe Jag had just taught it to his pilots. After all any little edge could be beneficial to a pilot.
The loop that she and the clawcraft had taken thought the fight had been erratic at best as they had dodged incoming globules of molten plasma and engaged several skips. Now, however, they were back facing the three larger coral ships. Jaina was surprised when she saw the first Vong ship facing off against the two late arrivals. It was odd to see Vong ships facing off against one another.
After only a moment of hesitation, Jaina pushed the throttle of her x-wing forward, weaving towards the three larger coral ships. It went against everything her mind told her to help any Vong ship, and she wasn't sure what Jag's mention of Callista had been about, but for the moment she was interested enough in the fate of the first ship, especially if there were people who were trying to escape from the Vong or Callista, to try to save them.
She danced through the streams of molten plasma pouring off of the Vong ships, drawing as much of the first Vong ship. She dove towards the nearest of the ships and waited, plunging closer and closer to its hull. She pulled up at the last second, but not before she had released two torpedoes at point blank range into the hull. It wouldn't be a mortal wound for the large living ship, but it would definitely get the ship or its controller's attention.
Jaina winced as the barrage of molten plasma coming her way intensified. Apparently someone had taken notice of what she had done. She pulled away from the larger ship quickly, opening up her exit trajectory with a barrage of laser fire and rejoined the larger brawl of fighters. She risked a glance at her chrono a moment later. 3.14 minutes left before the combined Imperial, Galactic Alliance and Chis forces appeared. Her squadron, the Spikes and the Dozen or at least what was left of the squadrons only had to keep the Vong ships occupied for that long before their reinforcement arrived.
As far as Jaina was concerned they couldn't come too soon.
Two minutes later Jaina's sensors registered the incoming ships, just as she saw the tell tale flicker of the shields on the clawcraft that she had been flying with. With no shields the next burst of plasma from the skip would blow the clawcraft and its pilot into so much space debris. She maneuvered her x-wing in front of the incoming plasma projectiles but couldn't reroute power to her forward shields in time. The projectile slammed through the whole in her shields and ripped away part of her wing. Her destabilized x-wing stumbled into a nauseous out of control spin.
Jaina's first instinctive reaction was panic. Her response was calm, absolute centered Jedi calm made all the eerier by the circumstances. Statistically, even with a healthy Corellian disregard for the odds, there was no way for Jaina's out of control spin to be stopped without interference from an outside force. She didn't hesitate. Her grip on her flight stick loosened and she feathered the stick with confident easy movements. With the Force to guide her hand she had every confidence that she could get her x-wing under control. The only things that she would need were time and concentration. Time was something that she didn't have to spare. Her squadron was still fully engaged in the fight.
As the spinning started to slow, she aimed a furious glance at her wing. She didn't regret making the effort to save that pilot, but she hated being disabled and out of the fight, while the rest of her squadron was still there. Like so many other things in her life though, there was nothing that she could do about it.
==========================================================================
Jagged Fel paced the small eight by eight room that he had been given for a temporary office on Bastion. The fight had ended almost four and a half hours ago and she Spikes had gone off duty only an hour ago. He had three pilots in the medbay, two from serious injuries as their clawcrafts exploded around them and another with a minor head injury from a particularly jolting hit that her fighter had taken. It wasn't a good sign, of course nothing had turned out well. The reinforcements had arrived barely in time and the first Vong ship had actually been taken into joint Galactic Alliance and Imperial custody.
The coded message that he had just begun to unravel before the fight was incomplete and worrisome. It gave him plenty to speculate on and all he had managed to decode was the line containing Callista's name. That name alone was enough to send a shiver down his spine.
Jag wasn't a coward, but he did remember his last encounter with Callista. He remembered it vividly. He would, however, find out what was developing with that situation in about an hour. A general briefing for key military personnel had already been scheduled. He stopped pacing for a moment and stepped towards his desk. Jag eaned over the desk and started to pull up any available information on Callista. He hadn't been completely out of touch since he had left the Known Regions, but he hadn't kept a close eye on everything.
Jag paused and glanced up as the door to his office burst open. A blur of blonde hair crossed the room and caught him in a hug.
"Jagged," his sister's voice was full of relief.
He wrapped his arms around her, as well. He and Cem hadn't always been the closest of siblings and they only rarely demonstrated their affection for one another. That didn't mean, however, that they didn't care about one another. It was Jag's greatest fear as her older brother and squadron commander that someday he would have to go home and tell his parents that Cem was dead.
"I'm fine, Cem," he said quietly. He stepped back away from her and took a seat at his desk. He flashed her a small smile of brotherly pride and said tiredly, "You flew well today."
"Thanks," she said, but her voice was laced with solemnity, "That's such a compliment coming from the great Jagged Fel."
Normally it would be cause for at least a glare which would result in a round of mild sibling bickering. Tonight Jag just stared at Cem. This was unlike his sister. Yes, Cem was normally the serious one- at least compared to Wyn- but when they were out of uniform, she still teased him mercilessly.
"You flew well today, too," she commented after a moment and Jag felt his muscles tense.
He had flown with Jaina again today, for the first time in years. They had worked as an excellent team, at least, he admitted once they had been unable to communicate with one another. His face got a little bit grimmer as he remembered the verbal blows that they had traded. It had been painful, more painful than he had anticipated. He pushed the thoughts away as Cem spoke again, this time looking away from him instead of meeting his eyes.
"I saw today, Jag....when that skip," she hesitated, "Your shields were down." She choked back a sob, "I don't want to lose another brother."
"I'm fine, Cem," he said tightly, surprising even himself as he felt his throat tighten. He had been scared today, too. Somehow he had known that the pilot of that x-wing was Jaina. It couldn't have been anyone else. When her wing had been blown off he, Jag Fel, had almost panicked. If Jaina had died saving him after their argument......he pushed the thought away and stood up. "I'm fine," he repeated and hugged her again letting her tears soak into his shoulder. He glanced at the chrono on the wall. He had to get to that meeting but his first priority was Cem. Jag would take her back to her quarters and instruct her wingmate to ensure that she got to sleep. Then he would attend this meeting. Then he would face Jaina. This didn't mean he owed Jaina anything. In truth he was still furious at her. He wouldn't let the remnants of things that he had thought he felt for Jaina in the past to intrude into how things really were.