Pale sunlight streamed in through the cut-stone windows, casting golden shadows on the smooth white walls.
Jaina Solo slipped quietly through the door to her quarters into the hallway.
She looked around with a smile, trying to remember if she'd ever seen the Academy this early in the morning.
Two robed Masters she didn't recognize passed her, too engrossed in their hushed conversation to even notice her.
It was just the way she liked it.
She could remember racing through these halls when she was younger, dodging younger students and older mentors in an attempt to escape Jacen and Zekk.
She imagined her uncle still shuddered at the memory of the terrors they had all been.
She laughed quietly her thoughts causing her unconsciously reach out, sensing her groggy brother across the Academy, in the wing of family housing, mentally griping about the time of the morning.
She knew Zekk was somewhere in the far-rim region, on Academy business, probably making a greater name for all the Jedi.
She scowled darkly when another life-signature crept into her awareness, and tried vainly to shove it away.
She turned and shot an angry glare over her shoulder, though she knew there was nothing there.
Don't you dare try to follow me. The mental words dripped with barely-checked fury.
Her reflective mood ruined, Jaina quickened her pace to the small hangar off the south wing of the temple.
As she entered the hangar, she paused, looking around, simply soaking up the sight.
Their three fighters sat in a stiff block, looking insignificant next to the Falcon and the Jade's Shadow.
For a moment, Jaina considered taking either of the two freighters up instead of her x-wing, but the thought of the look on the respective owners' faces was enough to deter her.
Besides the fact that she wanted solitude.
"Cappie?" she looked around the shadowy hangar for her little astromech.
The diminutive droid whistled cheerfully from somewhere behind her.
Jaina turned with a smile. "Whatchya doin' up there?" she called to where he sat in the socket on the back of her fighter.
The little astromech whistled back a lengthy answer.
"Oh. Ok." Jaina replied vaguely, having no universal idea what he had said. "Aren't you a little cramped up there?"
All she could tell this time was that his answer was affirmative.
"Ok, well, run the pre-flight checkup, will ya?" she ducked under the bell of the x-wing to check the coolant fluid. She frowned and turned to the filling lines. "I swear I just refilled this stupid thing." She grumbled, hooking the line to the tank valve.
Cappie whistled inquisitively as the x-wing began to hum.
"No" Jaina replied, eyeing the fuel gauge before grinning. "I just felt like going up into orbit. It's quiet up there." She tapped the coolant gauge, before peering at it and unhooking the umbilical. "You about done?"
Something about the droids tone bothered her, but it sounded positive.
"Good!" Jaina cleared the repulsorlift blocks and hopped on the x-wing's ladder. "Let's go, then."
Cappie was already raising the hatch.
Jaina paused half-way up the ladder, a strange sense of foreboding suddenly grasping her. She looked around the hangar for a sign of something out of place.
There was nothing.
She finally shrugged and finished climbing the ladder, dropping into her seat and pulling on her helmet as the hatch closed over her.
"As soon as we get up into orbit, you can power down, Cappie." Jaina said into her helmet, flipping the throttle to auxiliary and keying the engine startup.
Nothing happened.
"Oh, squill." Jaina groaned, smacking one fist on the control board. "I must not've turned the power shunt off. Can you pop the canopy, Cappie?" she pulled off her helmet and undid her crash webbing.
The canopy remained closed.
"Cappie?" Jaina jerked the helmet mike out of its jack to talk directly into the speaker phone. "Open the hatch."
NO. The word appeared on her tactical display.
"What?" Jaina frowned.
THE ANSWER IS NO, JEEDAAI.
"Knock it off, Cappie." Jaina said angrily. "That's not even funny."
STOP! DO NOT SPEAK TO YOUR ABOMINATION! DO YOU THINK A MINDLESS MACHINE HAS THE ABILITY TO DEFY YOU?
Jaina chilled, doing her best to ward off the fear beating at her defenses. She turned around in her cramped seat to find the manual hatch release.
It was gone, a dripping white image in its place.
Yun-Yaamka.