Disclaimer: I know I have one of these in this story somewhere. It applies
here too!
Author's note: THE NEXT POST WILL BE ADDED ON MONDAY!
Jaina Solo Fel- I'm glad you're interested. Thank you for reading.
Nike's Zero- I'm glad you like Cem. I tried hard to give her an interesting backstory.
Jaina sat easily in the chair left for her at the large table. She had seen Jag, and she had felt the waves of anger, mostly directed at her, pouring off of him through the Force. She didn't think about the inevitable confrontation that they would have at the end of the meeting. Even through the myriad of thoughts moving through her mind: concerns about her squadron, what Callista's reappearance might mean, thoughts about her twin and the upcoming mission, she could still feel Jag's eyes boring into her.
She knew that she needed to focus on what was being said. Jaina had completely forgotten about Jag's ability to thoroughly distract her. It was a danger that she couldn't really afford years ago, and it would only succeed in getting her killed quicker now. His ability to distract her angered Jaina, and she had to bite back the urge to snap at him to stop it, and she resisted that urge only out of a desire to keep him from knowing that he had gotten to her.
Cem was surveying the room carefully from an extra seat that had been pulled up next to Jaina, while Jag hovered close enough to Jaina ensured she wouldn't have a chance to avoid him, as they listened to the officer speaking at the moment. The officer was an older Corellian officer that Iella Antilles had recruited into the Insiders herself. Jaina had worked with him on a few occasions before, and she was relieved to see that he was the person starting the meeting.
"At the moment we have Grand Admiral Pellaeon's support, although he knows none of our mission parameters. He has given us access to anything we might need. However, as most of you know, the Insiders, even small detached segments such as this one, are largely self-sufficient. That said, I give you our mission planner, Jaina Solo," he wrapped up a moment later.
Jaina pushed back her chair and stood, and drew the Force around her as she did. "This will be the largest independent mission that the Insiders have attempted since the invasion of Borealis." With a flick of her hand, the overhead holoprojectors switched on. Following a few more quick commands, the view zoomed on a small star system. An unfamiliar star dominated the system as Jaina let the image hang in the air above them. Its coordinates were easily visible in the bottom corner of the holodisplay, and most of the people in the room would recognize where it was: deep in the heart of Yuuzhan Vong territory.
"As many of you have already suspected, our mission is to retrieve the missing prisoners," she said gesturing at the cluster of planets in the system. "This mission will also be under tighter security than normal. This time only a handful of people- five at most- will know the entire mission plan. Individuals will only know enough to fulfill their own role in the mission." She looked around at the gathered people. "I don't know all of you that well, but I do trust you with my life. You wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't. That is the whole point of the Insiders. However, I will only say this once: you will agree to this now or you won't be a part of this mission. You will obey orders as they pertain to the mission plan, unquestioningly, no matter what they may be or however you may disagree with them. Dissention between members of the strike team got many Jedi killed on Myrkr, and that will not happen here." She looked carefully around the room. "If you can't agree to that, get out. Now." Her tone carried all of the warning that was necessary.
The room was motionless for a long moment and then there was a flicker of motion at the back of the room. Jaina watched, motionless, as a solitary Gand filed out. A moment later as the Gand was almost at the exit, another woman, one Jaina recognized as one of the few remaining Jedi, followed him. Jaina hadn't known the woman well, but she had known enough of her to know that she had been directly opposed to Jaina's stance on the Force and her recent actions in general. Jaina was unhappy to lose the woman's skills, but she wasn't entirely unhappy about the situation.
Jaina glanced around the room, waiting for anyone else to make a move. A bust of motion that she had seen out of the corner of her eye, caught her attention then. Her gaze shifted to regain its focus and she found herself staring into Kyp's eyes. He met her gaze openly, but she could sense that he was on the cusp of a decision. She closed her eyes for a second that could have been an eternity, and for the first time in years, she voluntarily opened the Force bond that she shared with Kyp. As the connection between them flared to life, she opened her eyes and allowed one simple word to slip out towards the Jedi Master. 'Please.'
Kyp's eyes widened slightly in a barely perceptible show of surprise at her request. He didn't try to draw out the suspense of his response; instead he simply nodded once, firmly. She looked away from Kyp then and found her gaze fixed on Esmen a moment later. There was no debate in her second in command, simply a firm confidence that she was where she needed to be. Jaina appreciated the sentiment, as much as she could. She had been aware of Esmen's doubts about her, and it was reassuring to see that Esmen was still willing to choose to fly with her.
In her mind she was keeping as silent running count of those who left and those who stayed. Finally, she realized that there was only one person left in the room who had yet to the decision. With uncanny certainty, she knew who it was. She turned at last, to face Jag.
At one time, she would have known without question that he would always be there to help her, whenever she asked or even when she didn't. Now she truly didn't know. She was aware of the fact that her decision to bring Cem into the Insiders was a slap in his face, and she couldn't deny that it had been a deliberate decision on her part. Years ago, he had told her about his family and his sisters in particular. She knew that he cared about them, and that he was fiercely protective of them in a way that Jaina had come to think of as a trait unique to male Corellians.
Jaina had recruited Cem to be used as a bargaining chip. She had known that he would never abandon his sister to a mission, even if it went against his sanity, better judgment and morals to undertake it, and she had chosen to use that to deliberately force his hand. With a sinking feeling, she realized that he knew it, too. He had always known her too well.
His expression was icy as he stared at her, but Jaina refused to back down or to offer him a calm, easy exit. A weaker man would have accepted the forgone conclusion with a show of defiance and possible a vow of vengeance. Jag gave her the satisfaction of neither response.
"What's your plan, Goddess?" What had once been almost a term of endearment coming from his lips, now sounded like an epithet.
Jaina surveyed the room, directing her answer at everyone and not just Jag. "As I said earlier, individuals will only be aware of their own portion of the mission. In a few hours, you will all be receiving a secure datapad with finalized and explicit orders. Don't worry about any of your current assignments. They'll be taken care of." She searched the room, focusing finally on the group of squadron leaders in the rear corner. "I would suggest that you very discreetly review your squadrons. Let me know or go through the usual channels to get anything that you need. The same goes for replacement personnel. I want all squadrons flying at their fully capacity. Slarne," she addressed the Corellian, "I want you to take a look at all of your people, here in the system; I need to see lists of the best people- those who you think we can trust."
He nodded and rose to his feet, "If you'll excuse me then, Goddess. I'll get started."
She nodded without hesitation, "Thank you." She looked at everyone else. "If no one has any questions, that's everything," she added quietly.
A murmur of conversation almost immediately rose up around her, sharp in some places and a dull roar in others, but no one volunteered any questions. Slowly, in pairs and trios, beings discreetly filed out.
Jaina watched, without making a move to join them, as they left, hanging back from everyone carefully. Kyp, after several long moments, moved from where he had been standing and headed towards the exit. "Kyp," she said softly, "hold on a minute." She took a deep breath and looked directly at Jag. "I want you to stay, as well. When I said that there would only be a few people who knew the entire plan, I was referring to the two of you." She looked back in forth between the two men who she had done so much to hurt through the years, and then continued, "I know that the three of us aren't friends now, but I'm not asking for friends. All I want is your tactical knowledge. We worked well together, and this mission is going to be massive in terms of logistics and tactics. I can do this. I have been doing this for years now, but I'm asking for your help with this mission."
Kyp eased down into a chair. Jaina could still see the worry and concern for her in his features, but at least he was willing to listen for the moment. Jag's face, in contrast, bore a look of contempt, and Jaina steeled herself for whatever he would say. Once before she had been wrong about what Jag would say. That had ended in a sweet kiss- their very first kiss. This time she wasn't wrong.
"You threaten me about what you'll do if I don't agree to rejoin the Insiders, and then you coerce me into joining this mission that I know nothing about, except for the fact that it's likely to be the equivalent of a suicide mission, given its creator, by dragging my sister into this." His voice was low and cold as he paused to take in a lungful of air. "Jaina, you're insane, and I do not mean that in a good way."
Jaina watched him without apparent concern, her face a mask of indifference. "Is that all? I certainly hope it is, because the Jag Fel that I remember would never shirk his duty like this. You used to be willing to undertake any mission to fight the Vong, especially if it involved protecting innocent people."
"You call this shirking my duty? Jaina, you know nothing about what I've done."
Kyp sighed and momentarily tore his eyes off of the fight exploding in front of him. Cem Fel was watching her brother in awe, as if she had never seen anything like his outburst before, which, Kyp had to concede, was probably true. Whether Jaina and Jag were screaming at one another or simply working with one another, they each seemed to bring out something in the other that otherwise remained hidden. As the yelling reached a high point and the swirling turmoil in the Force began to give Kyp a headache, he decided to step in.
He rose from his seat and stepped closer to Jaina and Jag. Without warning, he moved between them and pushed them apart. He didn't even bother to use the Force; he simply gave them a sharp shove. It didn't even seem to penetrate their argument. Without even taking her eyes off of Jag, Jaina slapped Kyp's hand away from her and used the Force to push him away from her. If he hadn't been able to feel the waves of pain and anger rolling off of them, the Jedi Master might even have laughed at their mutual stubbornness.
Instead, Kyp took a mental step back to examine the situation. He could always use the Force to seriously knock Jaina and Jag apart, separating them to the far corners of the room, but they needed to get started on the mission planning. Changing the focus of Jaina's wrath from Jag to himself was not the goal.
He almost laughed out loud at the next idea that crossed his mind. It was perfect and it should get them back to the point of the meeting with the minimum amount of violence. With one quick thought, Kyp channeled a rush of energy through him and sent it towards Jaina and Jag. Instead of pushing them apart, though, he shoved them together.
Both stumbled forward, their balance becoming a temporarily lost cause. Instinctively they reached out to catch one another and ended up in something that almost resembled an intimate embrace, with their faces only inches apart. The moment stretched into eternity, and the room echoed with the sudden absence of their yelling.
Cem's cough broke the silence as well as the private universe that had seemed to spring up around them. They both almost jumped away from one another. "We need to discuss this plan, Great One," Kyp prompted into the silence.
Jaina's eyes lingered on Jag and then she refocused on Kyp. The flash of anger in here eyes, directed at him, didn't escape Kyp. "Yes, we do." She took a moment to refocus her thoughts as Jag took a seat at the table as well.
"What kind of numbers are we discussing?" Jag queried a moment later as he studied the datapad that Jaina had to slid to him a moment before.
"Ours or theirs?" Jaina countered.
"Both," Jag answered quickly as Kyp simply watched. Jaina slid him another datapad quietly.
A moment later, Cem's jaw hung open at the expletives that her brother had just uttered as he looked at the sheer amount of Yuuzhan Vong forces that they would be facing.
"Well you certainly didn't learn those on Csillia."
Reviews are loved!
Author's note: THE NEXT POST WILL BE ADDED ON MONDAY!
Jaina Solo Fel- I'm glad you're interested. Thank you for reading.
Nike's Zero- I'm glad you like Cem. I tried hard to give her an interesting backstory.
Jaina sat easily in the chair left for her at the large table. She had seen Jag, and she had felt the waves of anger, mostly directed at her, pouring off of him through the Force. She didn't think about the inevitable confrontation that they would have at the end of the meeting. Even through the myriad of thoughts moving through her mind: concerns about her squadron, what Callista's reappearance might mean, thoughts about her twin and the upcoming mission, she could still feel Jag's eyes boring into her.
She knew that she needed to focus on what was being said. Jaina had completely forgotten about Jag's ability to thoroughly distract her. It was a danger that she couldn't really afford years ago, and it would only succeed in getting her killed quicker now. His ability to distract her angered Jaina, and she had to bite back the urge to snap at him to stop it, and she resisted that urge only out of a desire to keep him from knowing that he had gotten to her.
Cem was surveying the room carefully from an extra seat that had been pulled up next to Jaina, while Jag hovered close enough to Jaina ensured she wouldn't have a chance to avoid him, as they listened to the officer speaking at the moment. The officer was an older Corellian officer that Iella Antilles had recruited into the Insiders herself. Jaina had worked with him on a few occasions before, and she was relieved to see that he was the person starting the meeting.
"At the moment we have Grand Admiral Pellaeon's support, although he knows none of our mission parameters. He has given us access to anything we might need. However, as most of you know, the Insiders, even small detached segments such as this one, are largely self-sufficient. That said, I give you our mission planner, Jaina Solo," he wrapped up a moment later.
Jaina pushed back her chair and stood, and drew the Force around her as she did. "This will be the largest independent mission that the Insiders have attempted since the invasion of Borealis." With a flick of her hand, the overhead holoprojectors switched on. Following a few more quick commands, the view zoomed on a small star system. An unfamiliar star dominated the system as Jaina let the image hang in the air above them. Its coordinates were easily visible in the bottom corner of the holodisplay, and most of the people in the room would recognize where it was: deep in the heart of Yuuzhan Vong territory.
"As many of you have already suspected, our mission is to retrieve the missing prisoners," she said gesturing at the cluster of planets in the system. "This mission will also be under tighter security than normal. This time only a handful of people- five at most- will know the entire mission plan. Individuals will only know enough to fulfill their own role in the mission." She looked around at the gathered people. "I don't know all of you that well, but I do trust you with my life. You wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't. That is the whole point of the Insiders. However, I will only say this once: you will agree to this now or you won't be a part of this mission. You will obey orders as they pertain to the mission plan, unquestioningly, no matter what they may be or however you may disagree with them. Dissention between members of the strike team got many Jedi killed on Myrkr, and that will not happen here." She looked carefully around the room. "If you can't agree to that, get out. Now." Her tone carried all of the warning that was necessary.
The room was motionless for a long moment and then there was a flicker of motion at the back of the room. Jaina watched, motionless, as a solitary Gand filed out. A moment later as the Gand was almost at the exit, another woman, one Jaina recognized as one of the few remaining Jedi, followed him. Jaina hadn't known the woman well, but she had known enough of her to know that she had been directly opposed to Jaina's stance on the Force and her recent actions in general. Jaina was unhappy to lose the woman's skills, but she wasn't entirely unhappy about the situation.
Jaina glanced around the room, waiting for anyone else to make a move. A bust of motion that she had seen out of the corner of her eye, caught her attention then. Her gaze shifted to regain its focus and she found herself staring into Kyp's eyes. He met her gaze openly, but she could sense that he was on the cusp of a decision. She closed her eyes for a second that could have been an eternity, and for the first time in years, she voluntarily opened the Force bond that she shared with Kyp. As the connection between them flared to life, she opened her eyes and allowed one simple word to slip out towards the Jedi Master. 'Please.'
Kyp's eyes widened slightly in a barely perceptible show of surprise at her request. He didn't try to draw out the suspense of his response; instead he simply nodded once, firmly. She looked away from Kyp then and found her gaze fixed on Esmen a moment later. There was no debate in her second in command, simply a firm confidence that she was where she needed to be. Jaina appreciated the sentiment, as much as she could. She had been aware of Esmen's doubts about her, and it was reassuring to see that Esmen was still willing to choose to fly with her.
In her mind she was keeping as silent running count of those who left and those who stayed. Finally, she realized that there was only one person left in the room who had yet to the decision. With uncanny certainty, she knew who it was. She turned at last, to face Jag.
At one time, she would have known without question that he would always be there to help her, whenever she asked or even when she didn't. Now she truly didn't know. She was aware of the fact that her decision to bring Cem into the Insiders was a slap in his face, and she couldn't deny that it had been a deliberate decision on her part. Years ago, he had told her about his family and his sisters in particular. She knew that he cared about them, and that he was fiercely protective of them in a way that Jaina had come to think of as a trait unique to male Corellians.
Jaina had recruited Cem to be used as a bargaining chip. She had known that he would never abandon his sister to a mission, even if it went against his sanity, better judgment and morals to undertake it, and she had chosen to use that to deliberately force his hand. With a sinking feeling, she realized that he knew it, too. He had always known her too well.
His expression was icy as he stared at her, but Jaina refused to back down or to offer him a calm, easy exit. A weaker man would have accepted the forgone conclusion with a show of defiance and possible a vow of vengeance. Jag gave her the satisfaction of neither response.
"What's your plan, Goddess?" What had once been almost a term of endearment coming from his lips, now sounded like an epithet.
Jaina surveyed the room, directing her answer at everyone and not just Jag. "As I said earlier, individuals will only be aware of their own portion of the mission. In a few hours, you will all be receiving a secure datapad with finalized and explicit orders. Don't worry about any of your current assignments. They'll be taken care of." She searched the room, focusing finally on the group of squadron leaders in the rear corner. "I would suggest that you very discreetly review your squadrons. Let me know or go through the usual channels to get anything that you need. The same goes for replacement personnel. I want all squadrons flying at their fully capacity. Slarne," she addressed the Corellian, "I want you to take a look at all of your people, here in the system; I need to see lists of the best people- those who you think we can trust."
He nodded and rose to his feet, "If you'll excuse me then, Goddess. I'll get started."
She nodded without hesitation, "Thank you." She looked at everyone else. "If no one has any questions, that's everything," she added quietly.
A murmur of conversation almost immediately rose up around her, sharp in some places and a dull roar in others, but no one volunteered any questions. Slowly, in pairs and trios, beings discreetly filed out.
Jaina watched, without making a move to join them, as they left, hanging back from everyone carefully. Kyp, after several long moments, moved from where he had been standing and headed towards the exit. "Kyp," she said softly, "hold on a minute." She took a deep breath and looked directly at Jag. "I want you to stay, as well. When I said that there would only be a few people who knew the entire plan, I was referring to the two of you." She looked back in forth between the two men who she had done so much to hurt through the years, and then continued, "I know that the three of us aren't friends now, but I'm not asking for friends. All I want is your tactical knowledge. We worked well together, and this mission is going to be massive in terms of logistics and tactics. I can do this. I have been doing this for years now, but I'm asking for your help with this mission."
Kyp eased down into a chair. Jaina could still see the worry and concern for her in his features, but at least he was willing to listen for the moment. Jag's face, in contrast, bore a look of contempt, and Jaina steeled herself for whatever he would say. Once before she had been wrong about what Jag would say. That had ended in a sweet kiss- their very first kiss. This time she wasn't wrong.
"You threaten me about what you'll do if I don't agree to rejoin the Insiders, and then you coerce me into joining this mission that I know nothing about, except for the fact that it's likely to be the equivalent of a suicide mission, given its creator, by dragging my sister into this." His voice was low and cold as he paused to take in a lungful of air. "Jaina, you're insane, and I do not mean that in a good way."
Jaina watched him without apparent concern, her face a mask of indifference. "Is that all? I certainly hope it is, because the Jag Fel that I remember would never shirk his duty like this. You used to be willing to undertake any mission to fight the Vong, especially if it involved protecting innocent people."
"You call this shirking my duty? Jaina, you know nothing about what I've done."
Kyp sighed and momentarily tore his eyes off of the fight exploding in front of him. Cem Fel was watching her brother in awe, as if she had never seen anything like his outburst before, which, Kyp had to concede, was probably true. Whether Jaina and Jag were screaming at one another or simply working with one another, they each seemed to bring out something in the other that otherwise remained hidden. As the yelling reached a high point and the swirling turmoil in the Force began to give Kyp a headache, he decided to step in.
He rose from his seat and stepped closer to Jaina and Jag. Without warning, he moved between them and pushed them apart. He didn't even bother to use the Force; he simply gave them a sharp shove. It didn't even seem to penetrate their argument. Without even taking her eyes off of Jag, Jaina slapped Kyp's hand away from her and used the Force to push him away from her. If he hadn't been able to feel the waves of pain and anger rolling off of them, the Jedi Master might even have laughed at their mutual stubbornness.
Instead, Kyp took a mental step back to examine the situation. He could always use the Force to seriously knock Jaina and Jag apart, separating them to the far corners of the room, but they needed to get started on the mission planning. Changing the focus of Jaina's wrath from Jag to himself was not the goal.
He almost laughed out loud at the next idea that crossed his mind. It was perfect and it should get them back to the point of the meeting with the minimum amount of violence. With one quick thought, Kyp channeled a rush of energy through him and sent it towards Jaina and Jag. Instead of pushing them apart, though, he shoved them together.
Both stumbled forward, their balance becoming a temporarily lost cause. Instinctively they reached out to catch one another and ended up in something that almost resembled an intimate embrace, with their faces only inches apart. The moment stretched into eternity, and the room echoed with the sudden absence of their yelling.
Cem's cough broke the silence as well as the private universe that had seemed to spring up around them. They both almost jumped away from one another. "We need to discuss this plan, Great One," Kyp prompted into the silence.
Jaina's eyes lingered on Jag and then she refocused on Kyp. The flash of anger in here eyes, directed at him, didn't escape Kyp. "Yes, we do." She took a moment to refocus her thoughts as Jag took a seat at the table as well.
"What kind of numbers are we discussing?" Jag queried a moment later as he studied the datapad that Jaina had to slid to him a moment before.
"Ours or theirs?" Jaina countered.
"Both," Jag answered quickly as Kyp simply watched. Jaina slid him another datapad quietly.
A moment later, Cem's jaw hung open at the expletives that her brother had just uttered as he looked at the sheer amount of Yuuzhan Vong forces that they would be facing.
"Well you certainly didn't learn those on Csillia."
Reviews are loved!