Disclaimer: I know I have one of these in this story somewhere. It applies
here too!
Scott- Here's more. There will also be another update posted on Sunday.
x-woman1- The insane plan isn't quite ready to be explained yet and as for Luke and company, they'll come into a play in a few more chapters.
Jaina strode briskly down the hallway, trying to inhale her caf quickly. As a Jedi, she didn't really need stimulants like the ones in caf to wake her up, but she did enjoy it. She took a final and almost regretful sip of the still steaming liquid before she ducked into a small room off of the main corridor.
"What do we have," she asked briskly, while keeping as much distance from the Gotal officer as possible. She knew how distracting her presence could be for a being like the Gotal, who could detect a Force Sensitive, although he couldn't use the Force.
"Nothing yet. Everything's going as planned, Great One." He gestured to the monitoring equipment and the specially designed comm. headset that he was wearing. "Our surveillance hasn't yet been interrupted or spotted to our knowledge."
Jaina nodded and shot a glance down at her chrono. She had ten minutes before she had to be in action and half an hour before she had to be in the Insider's meeting. This would have to be done before then. "What has she been up to," Jaina asked.
This was the important point, if any irregularities came up here, then Jaina would have to deal with the problem. Jaina found herself hoping that nothing came up.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," the Gotal tech admitted, "At least not as far as we can tell. We've eavesdropped on all of her conversations and monitored all of her actions. She hasn't made contact with anyone we suspect of being affiliated with the Vong or other wise suspicious, and at the moment she's on her way to the conference room." He handed her a datacard, "All of her activities today are on here."
Jaina smiled, "Good." She couldn't quite shake her feeling of unease, as she glanced down at the monitoring equipment. When she had arranged this the previous night, it was supposed to be simply a routine precaution. Now she wasn't certain that was the case. "Who's following her now?"
"Chean Timpur. She's one of our best. She was trained by the Wraiths, but she doesn't quite have their flare, which makes her excellent for blending unobserved into any situation."
Jaina started for the door, "Tell her to drop back and report to her post. I'll take it from here." She ducked out into the corridor again, moving around the corner and headed down the short distance to the primary conference room. Jaina hit the activation code and the doors slid quietly open for her. She expanded her Force sense carefully outward as she took a seat at the large conference table in the middle of the deserted room. Jaina felt her approach the conference room at almost exactly 0800. This would be the final test. Jaina couldn't detect anything suspicious about her with the Force, but the scanners in the conference room door would be able to detect any monitoring devices or any bioengineered Vong technology as she walked through them.
Cem walked through the doors at precisely the appointed time.
Jaina watched her look curiously around the almost empty room and then glanced down at the datacard that she held in her hands. The tech that she had been talking to would know to send the results of the scan directly to her datapad. The list of Cem's most recent activities that had been at the top of her datapad caught her eye as she tried to access the new information. Jaina hesitated as the information caught her attention and then she slowly shot her gaze back up to meet Cem's eyes. Slowly she rose to her feet, her chair clattering noisily backwards as she stood. She threw the datacard towards Cem and watched as it skittered across the surface of the conference table as it came to rest in front of Cem.
"You didn't tell me that you were working with CEDF intelligence, or that you were part of their elite non-existent division." Cem's mind was almost as tightly guarded as her facial expression, but Jaina could still feel her surprise.
Cem covered whatever she may have been feeling easily. "I don't know what you're talking about and besides, as you've pointed out that division is non-existent, purely a rumor, so I couldn't be a part of it."
It all sounded right, like the usual precise and logical Fel answer. Jaina was far from convinced. She folded her hands behind her back and started to pace, keeping her movements deliberately casual. In moments like these, the more casual someone looked, the more deliberate the move appeared. She hid a smile; she had learned well from Mara.
"I don't believe you, and I'm a Jedi so that's not an unsupported claim." Actually it was. At this point she couldn't yet tell the cause of Cem's surprise at Jaina's accusation, but she would have easily bet that she was right. The information on the datacard wasn't conclusive, but it was.....informative.
"You have no information to back up your claim," Cem returned calmly with small smile.
This time Jaina sensed the tiny hesitation of uncertainty as Cem voiced her statement. It was all the confirmation that Jaina was looking for. "I do." She said simply, neglecting to mention what she had found. A short conversation with a young imperial officer early that morning outside of the mess hall was normally nothing suspicious. Jaina, however, had spent years leading a squadron and maintaining the persona of a Yuuzhan Vong goddess. In those years, she had managed to build contacts, and resources by gaining access to information that very few other people had. Her varied sources of information also allowed her to make connections where others saw none.
She studied Cem appraisingly, "I know who you met with this morning, and I know who that officer really works for. I also have enough information that I could prove that your non-existent division does in fact, exist." She paused pointedly, "I simply chose not to for the moment, because it's not in anyone's best interest, mine included. However, that can all change with a moments notice." She didn't even bother trying to appear threatening. The way she was feeling at the moment she didn't need to try. The Gotal tech wasn't to blame, but she couldn't believe that her own people in Twin Suns had missed the connection. She wondered if, in fact, Cem was really just that good that she had avoided detection even through Twin Suns intense inspection before Jaina had approached her, or if she had simply been lucky. "Give me the information that I want and I won't compromise any of CEDF's current operations."
She saw Cem's recognition that her threat was not an idle one. "What do you want?" Suddenly Cem looked much younger and almost a little afraid, perhaps of what would happen when she had to face her superiors or of what Jaina was about to ask her.
Jaina snorted, "You're good. You must have inherited your mother's talent for acting." Her message to Cem was clear: That tactic wasn't going to work on her. "And as for what I want to know. Who are you reporting to? Does your chain of command go through your squadron leader or is it independent from that?"
"I don't know who I'm actually reporting to. I meet only with contacts, but they change constantly. I never meet with the same contact more than twice and, as for Jagged," her eyes met Jaina's and this time Jaina could feel the truth of the emotion behind them. "Jagged doesn't know what my other mission here is. He thinks I'm just a pilot, and," she hastened to add, "As far as I know Jag's never worked for Intelligence."
Jaina's chrono beeped breaking the tense silence that had hung over the room after Cem's last statement. She glanced down at the warning tone and then stepped around the table. Cem took a wary step back, but Jaina ignored her simply picking up the datacard from the table. "Let's go."
Cem looked at her, leaving her question unspoken. "The Insiders meeting. We don't want to be late."
"You told me that the meeting was supposed to take place here." Cem stated warily.
Jaina looked back over her shoulder at her, "I lied." She noticed the foot traffic flowing past in the corridor outside the conference room and stepped reluctantly back into the room. "You already know about the Insiders. I could change that if I wanted to, but that's not my current inclination." She had actually been considering that possibility since she had first realized who Cem also worked for. The will of the Force, at least for the moment, however, seemed to be pushing her away from that possibility. It simply wasn't a decision that.....felt right. It was nothing that she could put into words, but Jaina was willing to trust her feelings on the matter. The Force was not a crutch, but it was a Jedi's greatest ally. "I haven't decided what to do with you yet, in the long term. For the moment, you'll come with me to the Insiders meeting and then after the meeting we'll decide what to do about the situation."
Cem didn't look pleased with Jaina's pronouncement, but she had little choice in the matter. She started to follow Jaina out the door, but hesitated one last time, "Will Jag?"
Her question faltered there, but Jaina knew what she was asking. Would she tell Jag about what his sister was involved in? Jaina considered it carefully for a moment. She could imagine what Jag's response would be when she introduced Cem as the newest member of the Insiders. This little piece of information was on a different order of important. Keeping this information from him would violate in microscopic remaining threads of their former friendship. It was also unprofessional in the sense that he should be notified of the development as Cem's commanding officer. On the other hand, keeping the information from Jag seemed to be extremely important to Jaina and that could be valuable. In the end, her decision was purely tactical. "I won't tell him, for now." She let the implied threat hang in the air.
=========================================================
The next conference room that they entered was larger and also filled with people. Those with the highest rank sat at the actual conference table while other beings pulled up chairs behind them or lounged against the walls. Jagged Fel had taken up a place in a shadowy corner of the room. It had been years since he had been an active member of the Insiders and he was content to merely observe. He hadn't exactly been pleased when Kyp entered the room and immediately made his way to where Jag was standing. It reminded Jag a little too much of the occupation of Borealis, when he and the Jedi Master would take up similar positions behind Jaina. He had almost felt a sense of camaraderie with the Jedi Master back then and his feelings for Jaina had been almost painfully obvious to anyone who knew him well enough. He had been wrong for about so many things back then.
The Jedi Master was still glowering at Jag at any opportunity that he received and despite his interference when Jaina had hit him, Jag didn't harbor the delusion that Kyp was on his side. He had the feeling that Kyp blamed him for hurting Jaina or turning her into the much changed person that she was today. Jag wondered idly what skewed version of the truth that she could have possibly told Kyp to make him think that when Kyp had actually been there that day. Kyp had actually witnessed that...kiss between Jaina and-
He was caught off in the midst of his thoughts as Jaina entered the room. It wasn't the interruption that Jag would have asked for, but anything was better than being forced to relive that scenario again in his mind for the billionth time. His eyes tracked Jaina as she moved towards the table and stood in front of the last vacant seat. It was only then that he noticed the young woman beside her. He pushed away from the wall quickly as her identity immediately caught his attention. He opened his mouth to ask, to demand to know why his sister was here, when Jaina purposefully focused on him.
Her brown eyes bored into his as she smiled and stated loud enough for everyone to hear, "I would like to announce the newest member of the Insiders here in the Bastion system, Cem Fel."
Reviews are loved! The next post will be added Sunday, if anyone is interested.
Scott- Here's more. There will also be another update posted on Sunday.
x-woman1- The insane plan isn't quite ready to be explained yet and as for Luke and company, they'll come into a play in a few more chapters.
Jaina strode briskly down the hallway, trying to inhale her caf quickly. As a Jedi, she didn't really need stimulants like the ones in caf to wake her up, but she did enjoy it. She took a final and almost regretful sip of the still steaming liquid before she ducked into a small room off of the main corridor.
"What do we have," she asked briskly, while keeping as much distance from the Gotal officer as possible. She knew how distracting her presence could be for a being like the Gotal, who could detect a Force Sensitive, although he couldn't use the Force.
"Nothing yet. Everything's going as planned, Great One." He gestured to the monitoring equipment and the specially designed comm. headset that he was wearing. "Our surveillance hasn't yet been interrupted or spotted to our knowledge."
Jaina nodded and shot a glance down at her chrono. She had ten minutes before she had to be in action and half an hour before she had to be in the Insider's meeting. This would have to be done before then. "What has she been up to," Jaina asked.
This was the important point, if any irregularities came up here, then Jaina would have to deal with the problem. Jaina found herself hoping that nothing came up.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," the Gotal tech admitted, "At least not as far as we can tell. We've eavesdropped on all of her conversations and monitored all of her actions. She hasn't made contact with anyone we suspect of being affiliated with the Vong or other wise suspicious, and at the moment she's on her way to the conference room." He handed her a datacard, "All of her activities today are on here."
Jaina smiled, "Good." She couldn't quite shake her feeling of unease, as she glanced down at the monitoring equipment. When she had arranged this the previous night, it was supposed to be simply a routine precaution. Now she wasn't certain that was the case. "Who's following her now?"
"Chean Timpur. She's one of our best. She was trained by the Wraiths, but she doesn't quite have their flare, which makes her excellent for blending unobserved into any situation."
Jaina started for the door, "Tell her to drop back and report to her post. I'll take it from here." She ducked out into the corridor again, moving around the corner and headed down the short distance to the primary conference room. Jaina hit the activation code and the doors slid quietly open for her. She expanded her Force sense carefully outward as she took a seat at the large conference table in the middle of the deserted room. Jaina felt her approach the conference room at almost exactly 0800. This would be the final test. Jaina couldn't detect anything suspicious about her with the Force, but the scanners in the conference room door would be able to detect any monitoring devices or any bioengineered Vong technology as she walked through them.
Cem walked through the doors at precisely the appointed time.
Jaina watched her look curiously around the almost empty room and then glanced down at the datacard that she held in her hands. The tech that she had been talking to would know to send the results of the scan directly to her datapad. The list of Cem's most recent activities that had been at the top of her datapad caught her eye as she tried to access the new information. Jaina hesitated as the information caught her attention and then she slowly shot her gaze back up to meet Cem's eyes. Slowly she rose to her feet, her chair clattering noisily backwards as she stood. She threw the datacard towards Cem and watched as it skittered across the surface of the conference table as it came to rest in front of Cem.
"You didn't tell me that you were working with CEDF intelligence, or that you were part of their elite non-existent division." Cem's mind was almost as tightly guarded as her facial expression, but Jaina could still feel her surprise.
Cem covered whatever she may have been feeling easily. "I don't know what you're talking about and besides, as you've pointed out that division is non-existent, purely a rumor, so I couldn't be a part of it."
It all sounded right, like the usual precise and logical Fel answer. Jaina was far from convinced. She folded her hands behind her back and started to pace, keeping her movements deliberately casual. In moments like these, the more casual someone looked, the more deliberate the move appeared. She hid a smile; she had learned well from Mara.
"I don't believe you, and I'm a Jedi so that's not an unsupported claim." Actually it was. At this point she couldn't yet tell the cause of Cem's surprise at Jaina's accusation, but she would have easily bet that she was right. The information on the datacard wasn't conclusive, but it was.....informative.
"You have no information to back up your claim," Cem returned calmly with small smile.
This time Jaina sensed the tiny hesitation of uncertainty as Cem voiced her statement. It was all the confirmation that Jaina was looking for. "I do." She said simply, neglecting to mention what she had found. A short conversation with a young imperial officer early that morning outside of the mess hall was normally nothing suspicious. Jaina, however, had spent years leading a squadron and maintaining the persona of a Yuuzhan Vong goddess. In those years, she had managed to build contacts, and resources by gaining access to information that very few other people had. Her varied sources of information also allowed her to make connections where others saw none.
She studied Cem appraisingly, "I know who you met with this morning, and I know who that officer really works for. I also have enough information that I could prove that your non-existent division does in fact, exist." She paused pointedly, "I simply chose not to for the moment, because it's not in anyone's best interest, mine included. However, that can all change with a moments notice." She didn't even bother trying to appear threatening. The way she was feeling at the moment she didn't need to try. The Gotal tech wasn't to blame, but she couldn't believe that her own people in Twin Suns had missed the connection. She wondered if, in fact, Cem was really just that good that she had avoided detection even through Twin Suns intense inspection before Jaina had approached her, or if she had simply been lucky. "Give me the information that I want and I won't compromise any of CEDF's current operations."
She saw Cem's recognition that her threat was not an idle one. "What do you want?" Suddenly Cem looked much younger and almost a little afraid, perhaps of what would happen when she had to face her superiors or of what Jaina was about to ask her.
Jaina snorted, "You're good. You must have inherited your mother's talent for acting." Her message to Cem was clear: That tactic wasn't going to work on her. "And as for what I want to know. Who are you reporting to? Does your chain of command go through your squadron leader or is it independent from that?"
"I don't know who I'm actually reporting to. I meet only with contacts, but they change constantly. I never meet with the same contact more than twice and, as for Jagged," her eyes met Jaina's and this time Jaina could feel the truth of the emotion behind them. "Jagged doesn't know what my other mission here is. He thinks I'm just a pilot, and," she hastened to add, "As far as I know Jag's never worked for Intelligence."
Jaina's chrono beeped breaking the tense silence that had hung over the room after Cem's last statement. She glanced down at the warning tone and then stepped around the table. Cem took a wary step back, but Jaina ignored her simply picking up the datacard from the table. "Let's go."
Cem looked at her, leaving her question unspoken. "The Insiders meeting. We don't want to be late."
"You told me that the meeting was supposed to take place here." Cem stated warily.
Jaina looked back over her shoulder at her, "I lied." She noticed the foot traffic flowing past in the corridor outside the conference room and stepped reluctantly back into the room. "You already know about the Insiders. I could change that if I wanted to, but that's not my current inclination." She had actually been considering that possibility since she had first realized who Cem also worked for. The will of the Force, at least for the moment, however, seemed to be pushing her away from that possibility. It simply wasn't a decision that.....felt right. It was nothing that she could put into words, but Jaina was willing to trust her feelings on the matter. The Force was not a crutch, but it was a Jedi's greatest ally. "I haven't decided what to do with you yet, in the long term. For the moment, you'll come with me to the Insiders meeting and then after the meeting we'll decide what to do about the situation."
Cem didn't look pleased with Jaina's pronouncement, but she had little choice in the matter. She started to follow Jaina out the door, but hesitated one last time, "Will Jag?"
Her question faltered there, but Jaina knew what she was asking. Would she tell Jag about what his sister was involved in? Jaina considered it carefully for a moment. She could imagine what Jag's response would be when she introduced Cem as the newest member of the Insiders. This little piece of information was on a different order of important. Keeping this information from him would violate in microscopic remaining threads of their former friendship. It was also unprofessional in the sense that he should be notified of the development as Cem's commanding officer. On the other hand, keeping the information from Jag seemed to be extremely important to Jaina and that could be valuable. In the end, her decision was purely tactical. "I won't tell him, for now." She let the implied threat hang in the air.
=========================================================
The next conference room that they entered was larger and also filled with people. Those with the highest rank sat at the actual conference table while other beings pulled up chairs behind them or lounged against the walls. Jagged Fel had taken up a place in a shadowy corner of the room. It had been years since he had been an active member of the Insiders and he was content to merely observe. He hadn't exactly been pleased when Kyp entered the room and immediately made his way to where Jag was standing. It reminded Jag a little too much of the occupation of Borealis, when he and the Jedi Master would take up similar positions behind Jaina. He had almost felt a sense of camaraderie with the Jedi Master back then and his feelings for Jaina had been almost painfully obvious to anyone who knew him well enough. He had been wrong for about so many things back then.
The Jedi Master was still glowering at Jag at any opportunity that he received and despite his interference when Jaina had hit him, Jag didn't harbor the delusion that Kyp was on his side. He had the feeling that Kyp blamed him for hurting Jaina or turning her into the much changed person that she was today. Jag wondered idly what skewed version of the truth that she could have possibly told Kyp to make him think that when Kyp had actually been there that day. Kyp had actually witnessed that...kiss between Jaina and-
He was caught off in the midst of his thoughts as Jaina entered the room. It wasn't the interruption that Jag would have asked for, but anything was better than being forced to relive that scenario again in his mind for the billionth time. His eyes tracked Jaina as she moved towards the table and stood in front of the last vacant seat. It was only then that he noticed the young woman beside her. He pushed away from the wall quickly as her identity immediately caught his attention. He opened his mouth to ask, to demand to know why his sister was here, when Jaina purposefully focused on him.
Her brown eyes bored into his as she smiled and stated loud enough for everyone to hear, "I would like to announce the newest member of the Insiders here in the Bastion system, Cem Fel."
Reviews are loved! The next post will be added Sunday, if anyone is interested.